"Well, we can always try and set up a video feed if you want," I said, taking down the black cargo pants that I was wearing. Despite the comic book name, the Snowman didn't exactly go out looking like anything out of the ordinary. Pulling them up over my hips, I cinched the belt in tight, noting that after shifting to mostly healthy eating since Sophie's pregnancy, I'd lost some weight, and not in a good way either. I didn't sport a lot of body fat to begin with, and if I was losing weight, that meant I was losing much needed muscle and strength for my night patrols.
"I think I'm going to add in some more fats to my diet," I noted. "These pants are hanging off of me."
"I still think you look like a million bucks," Sophie replied. "Well, I'll let you finish getting dressed, just come give me a kiss before you leave for work, okay?"
"Okay."
Sophie left, and I finished pulling on my patrol uniform. Since the downfall of the Confederation, I didn't need to carry quite as much firepower as I did when I patrolled earlier. Still, I was headed into the area of the city known as The Playground, which despite the innocent sounding name, contained some of the darkest corners of the city. Illuysas Petrokias, the Confederation member that Sophie put a bullet into, used to own about half of the area, which was now more or less up for grabs. It was one of the most frequent areas I patrolled, as drugs, prostitution, and all forms of vice competed with each other.
I pulled on the tactical vest (with integrated body armor) I preferred over top of the long sleeved hooded t-shirt that went with the pants, before finishing by lacing up the short boots that worked best for me. There's a time and place for full on tactical or combat boots, but not for most of my patrols. I did enough running and jumping that the extra shoe height wasn't helpful. Instead of preventing twisted ankles it just slowed me down.
The last part of my outfit was in a electronic safe in the closet, my favored twin 9mm Glock, which went into holsters against my ribs. Pausing, I double-checked that the safety was on before I slid the first magazines in, but knew I wasn't going to chamber a round until I was in The Playground. No need to be stupidly risky.
Coming out into the television room, I found Sophie and Tabby both seated on the large bean bags that made up the furniture of the room, two cups of herbal tea ready for them. "What, no desserts?"
"With those suits I have to wear to work?" Tabby said with a smirk. "You're crazy if you think I can do that. Even working out four times a week with you two isn't going to overcome nightly ice cream and cheesecake."
"I hear that,” I said, kneeling down and giving Sophie a kiss. "By the way, we're still on for tomorrow evening, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, six o'clock, with Sophie here playing both training partner and taskmaster for us. Now go, have your fun playing around with the criminals of the city, and I'll make sure Sophie's not too tired to reward you when you get home."
I rolled my eyes and kissed Sophie again. "Stay safe," she whispered, looking me in the eyes. Despite all the playfulness of our banter about my job, we both knew that what I did multiple times a week was deadly serious, and her eyes were filled with that knowledge now.
"I will," I whispered back, laying my hand on her stomach.
Riding my midnight black Energica Ego sportbike (it was more than just a case of being ecologically friendly. The electric motorcycle was lighter and went zero to sixty in three seconds if I wanted it to), I focused on the patrol at hand. Tonight wasn't so much about actual confrontation as intimidation, although there was one bit of nasty work that I wasn't looking forward to. With my mirrored visor on my helmet and silent motorcycle, I created quite the figure cruising the neon splattered, grungy streets. Once it became known that I was in the neighborhood, the streets cleared quickly, and within twenty minutes there was hardly a person in sight. That task completed, I found a dark alley where I could stash my bike then set off on foot. Despite the similarities to television superheroes, I kept my hood up and wore a Kato style mask over my eyes, held on with spirit gum. There were times to be fashion conscious, and times to cover my ass.
Stalking down the alley, I made my way two blocks over to a door that was my other main target of the night. There was no sign, no advertisements, but if you were into very hardcore BDSM, Mistress Blood's was the place to go. While BDSM is nowhere near the sort of thing I was into, I have no personal vendetta with it. I understand that there are lots of different things that people do to have fun. Sophie and I have our own little quirks that fall outside the 'norm' that people talk about, and we don't feel guilty about them at all.