Community Written Story - The Zetatech Job

[SigilFey]

Sard stopped and leaned back against the wall of the sewer. "That's it. That's as far as I'm going." His voice was as low as he could make it and still be heard. Damned echo. It was like trying to sneak through a megaphone.

Jay's voice was quiet even over the coms, but the contempt and lack of patience was crystal clear. "Damn it all, Sard. I told you you wouldn't be able to handle this yet. Damn the both of you, and damn this entire fucking plan. You're gonna get yourselves killed, and now you've hung my people out, too."

Joanna shot a glance at Teabag. Teabag just shrugged.

Sard listened until Jay had finished, then spoke unconcernedly: "Too set in your ways. Plug your grumbling. I'm fine. Not stopping because I can't go on. I'm stopping because we're not pulling this off with that surveillance bot trying to crawl up our ass." He had produced a small pack from somewhere under his coat and was rummaging through it.

"I told you already, that's a secondary concern. Nothing that thing can do but try to watch. It's not worth directly exposing ourselves over it."

"I disagree."

"We already had this out. You agreed to leave it and stick with -- "

"Never agreed. Just stopped arguing."

"God damn it, you son of a bitch..." Jay cut off the rest of his own rant. There was nothing he could do about it anyway.

Lilayah moved a short way back, her hushed voice carrying nearly the same level of annoyance. "So, what are you going to do? What are we supposed to do?"

"Continue on," Sard answered. "I'll catch up to you when it's done."

"Staying here by yourself is crazy. You can't."

"Absolutely not." The edge in Jay's voice was wary, not worried. "Joanna. Watch him."

Sard let out a sigh. "Fine." He slid the magazine of his pistol smoothly and silently out, replacing it with another.

Lilayah shook her head and immediately moved off. Teabag cocked his eyebrow at Joanna. She nodded and waved him away. He followed closely after Lil. Joanna faced Sard squarely, took her Minami 10 pointedly in hand, and backed off a few steps.

Sard showed no sign of caring. "Stay low and try not to let it notice you. You know they're fast. If I start shooting, don't move."

* * *

Racquel sipped her drink again, studying the small cafe for anything of note. The shards she had found in Andrew's apartment had contained pre-written summaries for different versions of things to come between IEC and Zetatech. She couldn't help but enjoy herself as she read them. It seemed that Andrew had been very naughty lately. She couldn't wait to find out what he was really up to. None of it had hinted at where he may have gone, though. She had cross-referenced his account with company spending, and the last place he had paid a bill was this cafe -- to reserve something labeled as "C Room". Small as it was, she could only think of one place it might be. She casualy waved as a waitress passed by. "Do you have a bathroom?"

"They're being remodeled. Sorry," answered the waitress.

"I'll take my chances, hon, if that's okay."

The waitress smiled sympathetically and pointed to a small hallway beside the main entrance. Racquel smiled graciously back and slid out of her seat.

She had moved only a short way down the hall before she started thinking of going back. Just beyond the bathrooms, it looked like there had been a fire, but fires don't also make bullet holes or result in a police cordon. She hesitated. She should report back now. The fun had suddenly gone cold. She linked into her coms and dialed Dowe's office. No answer. The call should have gone directly to Jonathan if she wasn't at her desk. She called again. No answer.

She almost stamped in frustration. She couldn't decide what to do. Taking a few breaths, she scolded herself for being a child about it. People didn't get ahead in life if they ran away every time they encountered something uncomfortable. Still not confident, she forced herself to tiptoe past the cordon. What could they do -- fine her? She would just claim she was curious.

It seemed the room had been a mix of private dining and board room. Something had blasted it to hell, though. Looked like the police had already been there. It was still a mess but had been roughly swept up. No crime scene holos or anything left. She quietly moved through the space looking for... She shook her head. What? What was she looking for? This was stupid. She needed to get back to the office. She took a few brisk steps to leave.

A tug left her off balance, and immediately a hand was on her mouth and metal was against the back of her head.

She screamed, but could barely hear it herself. The hand was gloved; the fabric eating up the sound. Whoever had her was incredibly strong. She was too scared to even struggle.

"You be quiet. I'm going to ask a few questions. If you don't answer, I will ask...harder. Okay?" A thick Russian accent. She nodded. The hand slowly left her mouth. "What are you looking for?"

"I...just wanted to see...I'm sorry..."

The cold metal pushed painfully against the back of her head. "That's not what I asked. What are you looking for?"

"I...don't know...I don't know!"

"Shhh. Think more. Are you looking for a thing? Are you looking for a person?"

"I'm sorry -- I'm sorry. I just wanted to use the bathroom..."

"Is that why you needed to call a number at IEC headquarters two times then snoop around a crime scene? Do you want me to show you how I use the bathroom? It's different." He put a hand in her purse and felt around. It came back up with several of the data shards. Tears were running down either side of her face. "What will I find on these if I look?"

"Please...please let me go...I won't say anything to anyone..."

"That's lying, miss. You'll have to eventually talk to someone about something. Why don't you talk to me now? That would be better."

"Okay. Okay. I work at IEC. For Mr. Dowe. A man named Andrew Driscoll is missing. I'm just...trying to find him..."

"Do you know why?"

"No, I don't. My boss -- "

There was a sharp pain in the back of her head. Images blurred and swam and swirled. Time wasn't time anymore. Everything was...nothing.

* * *

Serg eased the body to the floor, the blood was everywhere, but he doubted he could have found a better lead than whatever this girl had been carrying. No need to stick around.

No one saw him enter; no one saw him leave.

* * *

Koffi put out the cigarette and lit up another one. Not unheard of for her to take her time on a break, but this was pushing it. She again pretended to mill aimlessly about until she could see around the corner. Still no one.

Wait -- motion barely caught her eye, and she barely resisted the instinct to look toward it. Using just her periphery, she continued ambling along, giving no indication that she had seen it. There it was again. A wave. Someone at the far end had waved to get her attention. What the hell...?

Not right. Not even remotely right. Her contacts had always been a bit over-the-top about being as discreet as possible, as if Zetatech had a camera on her 24/7. Especially, the latest guy. The young one: Andrew. Sometimes, she would hardly notice him even if he was standing right in the open. Now, they were not only late, they sent some chick with bright pink hair to wave at her?

She sauntered back as she finished the cigarette, oblivious for all they knew. As soon as she was back inside, she B-lined for the nearest elevator to get back to her workstation as quickly as she could. They'd eventually contact her again, and when they did, she wasn't sure how she'd respond. She knew when she was being played. That's how all of this had started in the first place.

 

[4meg]

Davis lit another cigarette, took a drag, and immediately stubbed it out. He’d been living on nicotine and coffee for the last three days. The room he’d taken over to search CCTV footage was awash in loose paper, food and drink containers, and had taken on a distinct pong of sweat and frustration. Davis, himself, was bleary-eyed, wrinkled, and angry.

Three days of searching had revealed very little. It seemed like smooth sailing at first. The local cameras had revealed two suspects, one male and one female: the male had obviously been hurt and had required immediate med-aid.
Davis hadn’t even bothered to check the hospitals. No, this pair was headed straight for an underground ripper-doc. Literally, it seemed like the cameras had lost the pair when they had clearly entered NC’s labyrinth of a sewer system.

No, the frustrating part had been the little drone that had appeared shortly after the suspects left the diner. The little thing had only shown briefly in that first image, and then it stayed out of sight of all cameras. Cho suggested that they ignore it, but that scampering bit of tech was like an itch under Davis’ eyelid.

That was nothing compared to the other group of suspects. The footage was pretty clear. Twelve black-suited and heavily armed figures go into the diner. Ten minutes later eight figures carry out four more and a suspicious looking box. The enter an unmarked, armoured transport, and then…nothing.

The city CCTV had been completely scrubbed of any trace of this merry band of savages. Night City’s supposedly uncrackable network had been cut and gutted, it seemed. Now, all Davis could do was wait until the two suspects appeared back on CCTV. Davis started as the door swung in.

“Jesus, Davis, have you been home at all?”

“Home, Cho? What’s that?”

“You know, the box where you keep your bed and a change of clothes. And a _shower_. This place smells like rotting feet. And, what’s with all the paper?”

Davis stretched, yawning. “I like paper. It gives me something to touch and crumple. It makes things feel more real. Did you come up with anything?”

Cho smiled at his partner holding up a disc. “I’ve got this.” Cho inserted the disc into the computer’s drive. “After we found that the NC CCTV had been scrubbed, I didn’t want to send this over the network.”

“Good thinking, Cho. I’ll have you reading books, smoking cigarettes, and drinking whole milk before you know it,” said Davis.

“Right.”

The computer read the information on the disk and spun it up onto the screen. It was two photos. The male suspect and the female suspect. Davis grunted and leaned in to get a closer look at the two.”

“Well done, Cho. Where did you get this?”

Cho chuckled. “You won’t believe it.”

“Try me.”

“The big guy is Sard Eckhart. I got this from Homeland Security. The photo was taken when he entered the country.”
“Where from? Germany? Russia? Ukraine?”

“Canada.”

Davis spun to look at Cho in disbelief. “Canada? Snow-and-apologies Canada?”

“Say what you like, but this guy has a jacket so black and so well-sealed that even H-Sec couldn’t get it opened.”

“Fine, he’s a tough guy. NC is full of tough guys. What about the girl?”

“She was harder to scope. She’s not on any criminal databases, travel databases, or employment databases. I had a think, and finally, I got lucky.”

“Where did you find her?” asked Davis with real interest.

“The National School Database.”

“She’s in school?”

“No. Well, technically, I guess she was, but it seems Lilayah…er, Lilayah managed to ‘graduate’ early and left the school system at fourteen. She hasn’t shown up until now.”

Davis gave a low whistle. “Impressive,” he said, meaning it. Leaning back in his chair, Davis scrubbed his face with his hands. This was good information, he just didn’t know what to do with it. Yet.

* * *

“Did you get the item?”

“Yeah.” Farras set the box containing the rep’s head on the table.

“You know you didn’t have to kill him.”

“Unavoidable. He had company, and when we breached the door, he was in the way.”

“I...see. Who was he with?”

“Unknown, but I lost four men, and two more are injured.”

“Really?” Surprise tinged the tone.

“Really,” Farras said tightly.

“Well, it’s of no consequence. See to your squad, and get some rest. In a few days you could be very busy.”

Wordlessly, Farras turned and left the room. As the door clicked shut, the wall lit up to show a dozen views around the city.

“Highlight Drone 591432.”

All the other views faded, and a single scene filled the wall. It showed a sewer as the drone made its spidery way in the world.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

The cab curved at the entrance of the bar and stopped. It was crowded with questionable figures like it always was that late. But there was no class discrimination around these parts. Here the raggedy punk was at the same social level as the upstart wanna-be corps and rockerboys, all walking the same streets and nobody looked above the other, nor gestured so. This was one of those parts of the city everyone wanted to get out of, but only a few ever did. A place that motivated dreamers of great things. But as it so often was, dreams remained dreams and the dreamers lived and died with their futile attempts at pursuing them. And the lucky ones that got out were rarely heard of again. Most died of overdose in some distant penthouse, or were murdered for crossing the wrong people. Such was life, and there was no escaping it.

Serg paid the driver and got out. The cabbie had been a pleasant surprise and kept his mouth shut the whole trip. His player had Johnny Silverhand’s Greatest Hits loud, but at least it had been music. Normally, these wretches tried their best to get inside their customers' heads, trying to pry out even the most personal affairs. And, god help you if you let something too private slip out. They’d sell the info to the first fixer they met, and you’d wish you were living in a bunker or had your trauma team payments through the roof. Nobody did anything about it either. The cabbies were like leeches. Sucking the vitals out of you and leaving you marked, bleeding for bigger predators.

He had to push a few drunkards away to get to the door. People were so self-centered. They wouldn’t move unless someone moved them. Serg eyed the flock of prostitutes beside the bar entrance. Among the usual skanks one wouldn’t want to touch stood a woman in a very elegant, dark, red suit. Perhaps she was also beautiful, but she wore a mask. A mask of a cat that covered her face up from the nose. Below the mask Serg saw an undecorated chrome jaw. No skin implants, just a metallic jaw. She looked weird for her company. The skanks eyed her nervously, but there didn’t seem to be any schism between them. Serg had seen weirder stuff. People sought attention in many ways. Some freaks had their figures molded to look like animals. He had once seen a man with the trunk of an elephant. Anything to get their foot through the door. Even sick shit like that, he thought as he walked past the whores into the bar.

Serg pushed his way to the counter and ordered once again a glass of that piss-blended bourbon he both hated and loved. He was accustomed to its taste and smell, that disgusting aroma. Something that bad couldn't be healthy. But it was something he could afford in abundance, as relative as that term was.

A young punkster couple was making out in his usual lodge. The girl rubbed the man fiercely inside his pants and they were both squirming like maggots. Serg had once seen a man cut open during an interrogation, and his intestines were so full of tapeworms that they were moving on their own. That's what the couple reminded him of.

”Piss off, kids. Your mothers get worried,” Serg snarled at them, waving his hand towards the door.

They stopped their act, and while the girl was so high she probably didn’t even know where she was, the boy looked at Serg defiantly. ”Why don’t you make us, asshole”, he said and stretched his back to look taller and perhaps more intimidating. But he was just a skinny kid who wanted to show off to his likely first girlfriend who, in turn, was probably going to lose her virginity tonight and not remember it tomorrow.

Serg grabbed the boy by the sleeve with one hand, lifted him up and brought him to his face. ”I swear, boy, if you make me spill my drink, I will quarter you and your little whore right here.”

”Ok, ok. Were going,” the boy managed to say. Then, he helped his girl up and started to walk her out. He was whispering something in her ear and pointing at Serg as they went, but Serg doubted the girl had any idea of what she was told. Poor creature.

Finally, Serg thought and sat down. He took a sip from his glass and started to roll the data shards in his pocket. Andrew Driscoll, he muttered half-silently. Should that name ring a bell? Gotta get those shards opened up and...

His thought was interrupted by someone sitting next to him. It was the catwoman from outside. Jesus Christ these people. They just can’t leave me alone. ”Listen, missy, I’m not looking for company, so why don’t you go purr on some of the junkies over there?” He pointed towards a bunch of deviants making noise near the jukebox.

There was no response. The woman just stared at him from behind her mask. She tilted her head very elegantly to the left as if studying him, or...like an animal, a pet trying to figure out his owner's gestures.

”Ok, cupcake. If you don’t piss off right now, I’ll-” Serg felt someone to his other side sit and turned, ready to punch whoever was coming at him.

On his left side sat a man. Just as elegantly dressed as the woman. He was also wearing a mask, but of a fox. Serg eyed both of them quickly and edged his hand closer to his gun. They were both around their 30’s and in a weird way, looked alike. They looked agile. If there was to be a fight, it might be a tough one. But they just stared at him. No gestures of any kind. Just a stare.

”What the fuck is this? Who are you and what do you want?” Serg asked and got ready to pull out his gun. ”I’m not going to ask twice.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought the woman smiled very briefly and very subtly.

”Don’t worry about them”, said a voice from the other side of the table. ”They’re harmless. As long as they need to be.”

The man who sat in the chair wore a black suit and had oiled hair combed neatly backwards. He had dark shades that must’ve made him blind in the bar's darkness. He looked like he didn’t belong among this crowd. Way too expensive. And there was something...wrong about him. Serg had heavy eyeware that could analyze heartbeats, breath warmth, electrical currents flowing through the cyber, but this man gave no readings at all. He was practically invisible to detection. Red flag, Serg thought immediately. Those kinds of jammers weren’t for public use.

What the fuck is going on here? ”Who are you?” Serg asked, still eyeing the freaks that surrounded him.

”I'm...Steve. I'm an observer,” the man said very formally.

Steve? Steve the observer? Of all the names in the world. ”You don’t look like a…Steve,” Serg said and immediately wished he hadn't.

There was a short moment of tense silence that could be felt even through the racket in the bar. ”I’ll get right down to it,” Steve said, shrugging the comment off. "Certain parties have taken interest in what's going on here, and they’ve decided that you would be the best tool to use in certain matters that need dealing with.”

Play it cool. Let’s see where this goes, Serg thought. ”I'm preoccupied right now. What’s in it for me to agree?”

Steve was silent for a moment and then said: "I know you’re getting the first symptoms of the psychosis. That’s something I could assist with. Furthermore, there are certain interconnections here with your current assignment. The benefit is mutual. In part.”

Serg felt cold. How could anyone know about the symptoms? He hadn’t even told Katya. ”How did you know that?” Serg asked.

”I know a lot of things. I know where you live and with whom. I know who hired you and for what. I know about the woman in the cafe. And, I know what she gave you before you shot her.” Steve still showed no emotion, he talked almost like a machine.

”Who are you people? Militech? Arasaka? That kind of surveillance is…out of proportion here. How can I be of any consequence to people like you?”

”This isn't the Russian far-east anymore, Sergey,” Steve said. ”Everything’s connected, one way or another. Little streams connect and form rivers. You can’t bow in one direction without bending over to another, and there’s always someone watching and taking notes.”

”How can I trust you? You just came here with two circus freaks and started dictating my future. What kind of loyalty do you think that evokes?” Serg asked.

The catwoman tilted her head again, but there was no other discernible emotion than mild curiosity. Or…did she smile again?

”I’m afraid you are going to have to take my word for it. For now,” Steve said. ”But as a token of good faith, I’ll give you a free bit of something that will help you out. There is a mole in Zetatech. She’s not exactly an agent, she has...self-interest in mind, and a weird name. Get to her, and you are much closer to the goal you’re getting paid for.”

”Weird name? Why not just tell me who she is? What do you benefit from holding that back?”

”That’s all you need to know right now. Figuring her out will lead you to more answers. But enough of that. Once you’ve come to terms with your answer being a 'yes', appear at the northern docks by Warehouse 8.”

”I haven’t agreed yet,” Serg said.

”'No' is not an answer here. Think about it for a while. And, think hard. When you’re done thinking, be where I told you to be, but don’t take too long. The ball is rolling, and it can’t be stopped.”

”What if I just shot you and your sideshow right here, right now and went on with my business? Hypothetically speaking.”

”Trying would be inadvisable. I assure you.”

Serg rubbed his jaw trying to think ahead. But there didn’t seem to be any way out of this. ”You’re not leaving me much choice, here. How do I contact you?”

”You don’t. I’ll know when you’re coming.” With that, Steve and his freaks got up and headed to the door. Before exiting the bar, the catwoman sent a very theatrical kiss at Serg. It looked contemptuous and almost threatening, but also charming in a weird way.

 

[Draconifors]

Case swallowed hard. He could see that the man was being dead serious, and so he had better come up with something convincing, fast. There were two options that seemed obvious: switching to his rockerboy persona or telling the whole story. Case wasn’t a particularly strong liar, especially under intense pressure, so he didn’t even consider trying that.

“You’ve got ten seconds,” growled the other man, while the woman who’d shot the drone nodded her agreement in the background. “Ten seconds, and you better have given me a solid reason to spare your worthless life before I’m done counting. Otherwise, I’ll pull this trigger and whatever’s inside that head of yours will become our new home decoration. This place could use a bit of a fresh look, and killing a piece of corp scum like you is always a pleasure, so either way it’ll be a win for my crew. The choice is yours.” He glared at Case, and began to count, “One, two...”

Case made his decision. Telling the whole story was the only truly viable option; nothing else would really explain the drone that had just been destroyed. Plus if he was lucky, these people, whoever they were, might be willing to help him hide from future attempts on his life that would surely be coming.

“Okay, I’m gonna tell you who I am and why there are drones after me. Dunno if you’ll believe the story, as even I have trouble believing the mess I’ve gotten myself into, but if I have to choose between death for not saying anything and death for telling the truth, then I sure know which one I’ll pick.” Case loaded these words with as much defiance and courage as he could muster, which wasn’t much, and was slightly relieved to see the gun-wielding man’s expression change into one with the subtlest hint of curiosity in it. The woman behind him still looked highly suspicious, but she seemed willing to follow the man’s lead and hear what Case had to say. That was a start.

Case took a deep breath and launched into his story, “Right, so this entire thing started a couple months ago, and it’s all because of that media bitch...”
--------------------------------------------
Melena was running as fast as she could. She had to get to her safehouse, one that she had prepared years ago, when first properly getting started with her career. She had always known she might one day need to run from her employers, her audience, and various other people as well. That was the cost of aiming high no matter the consequences.

From the moment she had left Tugger’s apartment all those days ago she had been hunted. She had hid at a friend’s place for the past week or so – until said friend had turned against her. Melinda had always been somewhat unpredictable, but also a fiercely loyal friend. Melena had been sure it would be safe to explain everything to her, but as it turned out Melinda wanted nothing to do with someone hunted by corps. She had, in the end, allowed Melena to continue hiding in her apartment, but only for two more days. In three days’ time Melinda was going to be having important guests, and she wanted every last sign of Melena gone before then. She wanted it more than she let on, which Melena found out the hard way the very next night.

The two women had been good friends, but now Melinda was lying dead in her cozy apartment after she had tried to attack a sleeping Melena. Melena, who had a tendency to react violently when suddenly woken up had grabbed her gun from under the bed and fired without a second thought. It had been an unusually violent reaction, even for her, but she had spotted Melinda with a syringe in her hand thanks to a mirror that was positioned just right. There had been no mistaking Melinda’s intention, not after she had almost kicked Melena out after hearing her story.

After that unfortunate incident Melena had had no choice but to head for her safehouse. It was located on the opposite side of the city from Melinda’s apartment, and the long road had not been easy. Melena had spotted two drones and a group of what she suspected had been people looking for her. She had not been detected by any of them, but she had had a couple of close calls. She hadn’t seen anyone or anything suspicious since the latest drone, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. There were ways to see without being seen, listen without being heard, and lay traps without being detected. In this case the people after her were powerful corps, so they would certainly have no shortage of resources to use to track her down and, most likely, eliminate her after digging out every last nugget of information she had. The only thing in her favor was the fact that Tugger was also involved. Splitting resources, however massive they might be, between two separate chases was never ideal. Melena also believed herself to be the lesser target; she would not have been able to write her reports without the info trafficked by Tugger.

She was close to her destination; only a few more minutes at her current pace. Good thing, too, for she could feel rain starting to fall from the steel grey clouds far above her. The last thing she needed was to get soaked. Wet ground would also mean footprints once she reached her safehouse, because it wasn’t built along a street. Melena had wanted to be extremely careful with the placement, and after weeks of deliberation she had finally decided to build her hideout right next to a sewer entrance. No one ever wandered around the area due to the rather disgusting stench. The ground was muddy, though, so footprints could be an issue during rainy weather like this.

Melena sped up a bit as the raindrops landing on her started to feel more and more constant. They also felt…more solid?
What the hell is this? Almost as if the rain is turning into hail…but that can’t be right. It would simply be far too big of a coincidence that an unforeseen hail storm hit Night City just as Melena was, probably quite literally, running for her life. Yet, she could not deny what she was now beginning to see. Solid, white chunks were falling onto the street. Large chunks, too.

Glancing upwards at the cloud-covered sky Melena muttered to herself, “Shit, that hail looks big enough to knock me unconscious if I get hit in the head by one of those chunks.” She could already see the building she was heading towards, though. Right, so once I get inside, the first thing I’ll do is check how much money I still have left. I need at least a couple thousand –

The thought was left unfinished as the very thing Melena had thought about only a minute before happened. A particularly large hail chunk struck her from above, mere seconds before she reached her safehouse.

 

[Rawls]

Contacting Koffi meant Lil and Teabag leaving the sewers without Sard or Jo… but they might not get another opportunity to see this thing through. Desperate times call for desperate measures, thought Lil. Teabag and Lil had first tried to contact Koffi once they IDed her near Zetatech, but either she hadn’t noticed or wasn’t interested in meeting there. Either way it made Lil nervous. So they had waited, and tailed their mark after she left work.

They followed Koffi from a safe distance as she led them on a stroll through city center. Lil and Teabag knew they needed to avoid cameras and any potential authorities, but no matter how careful you were, it was almost impossible to avoid surveillance here. The best thing they could do was try and blend into the crowds and hope nobody was watching too closely with facial recognition tech.

After a bit of a walk, their mark had gone into a small garden diner, the kind that vegans and health junkies would rave about. It wasn’t a high-class, corpo-yuppie spot, though: had more of the mom-and-pop feel going for it.

Teabag and Lil had waited five minutes outside and then decided to go in. As soon as they entered, Lil spotted Koffi on the other side of the room, staring at them in the doorway. She knows we’re tailing her.

Teabag glanced at Lil, “Well, I guess the jig is up kiddo. Might as well go introduce ourselves.” Teabag headed straight to the table with Lil in tow.

"I always hated those fancy salads," said Teabag, not even saying hello. "There's no substance to them, just a bunch of expensive crap that has no real calories in it. I'd almost prefer kibble with some hot sauce..."

"And I hate being interrupted by idiots while I'm eating," retorted the woman without batting an eyelash. She looked younger than Lil had expected, and she was decked out in some serious hardware. Based on the tone in her voice, she not only expected them, but was very annoyed. The fact that she came here means one of two things: either one, she’s interested in hearing what we have to say, or two, we’re probably about to die. Lil tried to keep her pulse under control.

"You aren't an easy person to find," Lil offered.

"Well, you two couldn't have been more obvious if you walked up to the place chanting, ‘We’re here to help out with a hostile takeover!’"

"Hostile takeover?" Lil asked before she could stop herself. Crap. She had slipped and everyone at the table knew it. Koffi's face flashed a lament that she was dealing with someone who didn't know the whole story.

Teabag had managed not to smack Lil right then and there, which must have taken some restraint. Instead he spoke as though Lil never had. "We're interested in some data and understand that you might be able to help us," Teabag offered.

"Listen bud, you've shown me nothing but pure amateur hour so far. So, whoever you think I am, I don't know what you're talking about. Leave me alone before I call someone over," Koffi replied

"Koffi," pleaded Lil softly. The fact that they knew her name clearly intrigued her.

Teabag just glared at Lil. To hell with it, she thought. "Listen, I don't like this crap, either. I’ve seen your files. I know those shitheads have been passing you over for years in your work. You should be managing by now, not stuck on the line with Sami. But I'm gonna level with you. I think you're in danger, and not from who you think. When we were getting the job..."

"Lil..." Teabag tried to interrupt.

Lil snapped at him, “If she’s not interested, we’re probably all humped anyways.” Lil said it without looking at Jay, staring straight at Koffi trying to get a read. Koffi just stared right back.

"I'm listening for now…” said Koffi.

"When we were getting the job, things went south and the room got hit by somebody. Our contact got zeroed and we reverse-engineered the job from the info on his shard. We know what we're after, but clearly somebody had the drop on the job, which means we, and most likely you, are very likely to be expendable if the job doesn't go as planned. So, all we can really think to do is get the data, get out, and hope that the right people win. Otherwise, we're all screwed, anyways."

For the first time, Koffi looked away. "Never should have gotten involved in the first place."

"Yeah, but we're all here now, so what are you gonna do?"

"The only thing I can." She dropped something on the table. "Codes are on the shard. You can disable every lock and security system in Zetatech for the next 48 hours with that. Also has a current map of the HQ layout and access to all cameras within the system. In the right runner's hands, it should be all you need."

Teabag grabbed the shard off the table, and stood up. "Thanks. You should still get something real to eat. Enjoy the meal.” He threw a hundred EB cred chip on the table and walked away. Realizing the meeting was over, Lil got up.

“Seeya soon.”

“You just worry about yourself, rookie,” said Koffi as she pocketed the chip. She focused back on her salad, and Lil left without another word.

...

Sard and Joanna had sat silently for hours. They had split up on two different sides of the sewer junction, trying to catch anything sneaking through the sewer in the direction they had come, just lying in wait. Joanna didn't talk, so she was the type of conversationalist he appreciated.

Come on, you piece of junk, I got your number right here. His tech stared out into the black, seeing more than a human eye ever could. Sard's stuff wasn't quite state-of-the-art, but it was the best a freelancer could buy. If the bot came this way, they would hopefully see it before it saw...

His thought was interrupted by a short burst of fire from Joanna. He almost cursed at her. What the hell is she shooting at!? Then he picked it up. The bot. Son of a...

The bot returned fire at Joanna's location and sprang to the side. It almost hit her, but she had started ducking as soon as her blast was done. How had she seen it? Didn't matter now; it had definitely seen her.

The bot darted around the tunnel with such speed it was hard to track. But Sard hadn't moved, and the bot was focusing on Jo's position. It moved into his field of fire, so Sard took his chance.

The report of the gun sent a burst down through the black and found its target's side. It lurched a moment, but immediately shifted its attention to Sard. Metal came flying down back in Sard’s direction faster than the speed of sound. Shit. Duck and cover. The lead storm seemed to last forever, though Sard knew only a few seconds had passed before he heard an explosion. Then nothing.

"Clear?" called Sard.

"Should be," came the reply from the other side of the junction.

"Should? What the hell did you hit that thing with?"

"Small-range, EMP grenade. Was a little worried it would affect us, but it seemed necessary. That little tick was armored. My system reports it's functioning normally."

As soon as Joanna had said EMP, Sard had started running a scan of his own systems. "Yeah, mine looks good too. Not scanning any movement from it… you?"

"Nothing."

"Alright, I'm gonna check it out. Cover me from there," Sard called.

Sard calmed his nerves, poked his head out, and was grateful that he hadn't immediately lost it. The bot lay on the floor about fifteen meters away. As he approached, his heart sank. On the side, it read: "I.E.C."

"Jay?"

"Yeah?" came the old man's voice through the coms.

"Bot's down, but we need to find the others... things just got more complicated. This thing belongs to our own people." Damnit. I hate Corpos.

 

[SigilFey]

Big Gin sat on a metal crate, trying to take it in. Yelefe leaned against the doorjamb, blocking the only exit, watching her man take it in. The rockerboy they had nabbed was on the floor, tucked into a corner of their makeshift apartment, babbling through his story a second time: hookin' up with some reporter, the places they would hang at, their favorite poisons, his music, meeting with some corpo, how much money he had made, his new guitar with authentic, active pickups -- no fake-ass, optical shit -- some article or whatever that was supposed to be a big deal, going to a meeting point twice and getting shafted both times, his girl freaking out when he told her there were no more shards, then his car getting roasted-toasted, stealing some bike, and that fucking drone chasing him all over the fucking place until he was sure he was dead -- but they had saved him, which he was seriously thankful for -- and the fact that they hadn't killed him -- and were giving him a chance...like seriously...

Big Gin had figured giving the guy a few hours' nap would bring the disjointed rambling he had been spewing into better focus. Instead, the dude just seemed to cram even more useless shit into every sentence. He had never heard that many incoherent tangents come out in a single breath before. It was painfully obvious the idiot had no fucking idea what was going on or exactly where he fit into things. Gin would have shut him up a while ago, but listening to it all come out like a fire hose spraying multicolored crap was...hypnotizing. Besides, it seemed he was starting to reach the end. An end?

* * *

He finished, "...whatever I can. Do you right. Like my own brothers and sisters. Swear to god, on my own blood, and all that shit. I owe you hard, man. Real hard." He leaned his head back against the wall and panted like he had sprinted a mile. An afterthought, "Oh, yeah...fuck. My name's Case, man. People call me Tugger."

The big guy across from him continued to sit, massive arms on his knees, custom sawed-off hanging loosely in his grip, like he had forgotten he was holding it. For a moment, he stared in silence, before honestly asking, "You some kind'a asshole, or somethin'?"

Case balked, staring back at him like a gerbil studying calculus.

Yelefe shifted her rifle, nearly as tall as she was, and tapped the butt against the floor a few times to get their attention. "First off, sugar-pop," she said, eyeing Tugger with a very unfriendly smile drawing a line on her face, "you're thanking the wrong person for saving your lucky, little ass. Ginny had nothing to do with that. That was me and my true love here." She ran a hand suggestively along the length of the rilfe's barrel.

"You love me, too," said Big Gin, purring like sleeping bear.

"Wouldn't ever want to have to choose, baby."

"Always the other man," Gin growled, but flashed a wide, contented smile.

Yelefe moved gracefully over to Case and squatted down to put her eyes level with his. Case flicked his glance nervously between her and Big Gin. The cutting smile never left Yele's face. "He's deep in his ocean of shit, babe. All covered in stink. You think he's worth more to us or the corpos?"

"Wait...fuck...wait a sec!" Tugger shifted like he was about to stand up, then seemed to think better of it and plopped back down. "I told you, didn't I? I thought we had something going here..."

"Shhh, sugar," Yele interrupted. Case slumped away from her.

"I think we gotta go see if any of his ramblin' means anything." Big Gin stood, grabbed a couple boxes of kibble from a nearby shelf, and threw them on the ground at Tugger's feet. "Bowls're right there. Water from the tap's usually okay. Smell it first. Wanna run? Run. Your ass. You still here when we get back, we'll talk." He thumped out. Yelefe smoothly cradled that monstrous rifle and sauntered out after him in her own time. The door stood wide open.

Case sat for a long while, caught somewhere between unable and unwilling to move. Finally, with a snort, he grabbed one of the boxes, opened it, and chewed through a mouthful of the bone-dry pellets. It fucking sucked. All of it.

* * *

Teabag tossed another look over his shoulder at Lilayah. She sat there on the bench, completely zoned out. The metro station was mostly empty. There were only a handful of people, down at the far end. No one was interested, but, "This is stupid. We don't need to worry about it now."

"Just watch the stairs. I'm almost done." Lil's vision was filled with the virtual overlay of an incredibly complex encryption tree. She didn't need to crack it completely...not yet...but she wanted a quick look at what Koffi had given them. Even that quick look was taking time and concentration, though. Not something she could accomplish inconspicuously while walking down a thronged street and trying to keep an eye out for trouble. So, she had ducked down here. Just for a minute.

She moved as fast as she possibly could through the file structure. She had bypassed the macro encryption for the actual shard easily enough. But each of the individual directories on the root had a separate form of encryption that followed its own, separate pattern. Smart. A hacker might assume that it was simply part of the operating system for the shard. Those codes seemed to be keys to other encrypted files -- not the Zetatech access codes themselves. It wouldn't be hard, just time-consuming to sort it all out. She came across the access logs for the system and took a quick glance at the most recent entries...

A username caught her eye: janette_greyson62. She inhaled sharply. Quickly searching the records backwards over the past few weeks, four matching entries appeared, all within the last 10 days. Memorizing the dates and timestamps for each of them, she deleted them all.

"What's wrong?" Teabag was obviously dividing his attention between her and the entrance. "Did she fuck us over?"

"No." Her voice was actually choked. She fought down the emotion that had bubbled up, and cleared her throat. "No. Nothing to do with that. Something else. Maybe a lead. We can go."

As they walked back out of the metro station and onto the street, Lil brought up the city-wide public net. She projected, Melena Rosetta, into a search function with enough mental force that it actually created a little feedback pain. The woman's last article popped up. The title alone was damning. It set a fire under Lilayah's skin.

* * *

Jay scoured the grid again, but it only confirmed what he was expecting: the team had been separated. Teabag and Lilayah had left the sewers. Sard and Joanna hovered around the hatch to a low-traffic alley, no doubt debating how to dispose of what remained of the drone. Bunch of fuck-ups. He sighed. Me, too. Maybe that goddamned whoreshit, Sard, has a point. There had been a time when a plan could go to hell, and he would have been the first one rolling with it. Well, that was before he had figured out how to fucking plan, and to recognize when a job would wind up spraying blood after a few steps. He sighed again and shook his head in spite of himself. Too set in my ways, alright. They needed to keep cool while the mission was still on, not gripe about what had already gone wrong.

He turned his head. The patter of feet on metal began to intensify.

And this is fucking why! he mentally screamed at himself. Didn't even notice it because you were busy being a bitter, old fuck! The patter had become a hammering of boots clearly rushing down the steel-grid staircase outside the room.

He reached for his pistol as he sent out his emergency code, Sometimes, we need the fog... to the team. The heavy door flew open under a massive blow. A couple of objects were flung into the room. He aimed. The air around him seemed to flash black several times, leaving him blind. He fired. His ears were ringing, and it felt like someone had given his head a good shake. He squeezed his eyes shut against it, firing again and again in the direction of the door. A weight on his right arm nearly took his shoulder out of the socket -- the pistol went flying. An instant later, the same sort of impact landed on his other arm and slammed him back into the seat. The I-Face was ripped violently from the jack in the back of his neck; a wave of nausea left him limp in the hands of his captors. It didn't stop them from landing a punch to his gut. The second slug managed to get a loud grunt out of him as the air left his lungs. He knew he was licked, stopped struggling, and patiently waited for the spasm in his diaphragm to pass. Over several seconds, his breath and senses returned.

NCPD body armor filled the room. Techs were already dismantling his hardware. Two grunts had him pinned, and another held a short assault rifle, the barrel nearly in his mouth. Two more figures walked calmly through the door, only street clothes under their uniform jackets. One detective he recognized well enough.

"Just dropping by, Davis?" He hated that his voice sounded strained, but that had been a hell of a beating.

"Why not? You've been such a good host lately, Jay."

 

[Suhiira]

Out of nowhere, "Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves that all of life is not black and white," came over the com. What the hell was that? Sard’s confusion was erased by the look of shock on Joanna’s face. Something’s wrong.

The next sound crystalized the dire nature of the situation. 'BAROOM,' thundered from the com. Jay.

Joanna sprang to her feet and ran in the direction her friend had gone. Sard grabbed her as she passed.

Gunfire erupted from the com.

"Runnin over there ain't gonna do nuthin' but get us tagged too," Sard whispered, trying to help Joanna keep her cool. Her attempt to rip free was hard enough Sards' entire body moved; but his grip held.

The distinctive sound of multiple flash-bang grenades followed.

Joanna glared at him, her concern turned to rage. Sard prepared to counter the the inevitable blow from the butt of her rifle. He'd duck under the swing and follow through with a leg sweep, letting Joanna’s momentum take her to the ground. It would be easier to subdue her without seriously harming her that way. The bonds forged in the firefight they'd just survived were being severely strained.

The tension was cut by more gunfire through the com. Joanna stopped struggling and stood frozen.

The sounds of a scuffle...and finally silence.

No more than three seconds had passed.

*****

Lil followed Teabag back through the streets towards Sard and Joanna. What did Melena have to do with IEC? Things were starting to get heavy. She jerked to a halt as Teabag kept her from walking into the street.

“Jeeze!” exclaimed Teabag, “You there?”

“Sorry,” said Lil. “Just thinking about our next move.”

"Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves that all of life is not black and white,” interrupted from the com.

Then, both were momentarily dazed as an explosion assaulted them through their earbuds, weirdly echoed by the same sound not far ahead, where Jay had holed up.

"We need to get back to Jay now!" Teabag said in a somber tone she'd never heard him use before.

"What the..." Lil started.

Gunfire from the com and ahead. They started jogging. Can’t draw too much attention to ourselves, thought Lil.

Muted explosions, more like loud pops, flashbangs.

Teabag started sprinting, Lil followed as fast as she could. More gunfire in their coms was duplicated just ahead, around a corner. Lil threw herself at Teabags legs as they rounded that corner, tackling him. "Cops!"

The comparatively faint sound of a tussle came through the com. Then, the link went dead.

*****

Sard was still more concerned about the immediate threat that Joanna would run off to get herself killed, and possibly him in the process. “Jay’s a tough guy, he can handle himself. But even if he can’t, there’s nothing we could have done. Whoever won, it’s over, no sense in getting fried over it.”

All Jo said was, “Shit.”

She'd stopped struggling and seemed to have regained control, so Sard slowly released his grip. She didn’t even look at Sard, but kept her eyes down the tunnel. "Damnit!"

Jo moved back to cover, dragging her feet the whole time, but doing it. Good soldier, thought Sard. Fight, flight or freeze is the natural response; to be able to listen to reason in that moment…she’s a pro. And she’s waiting for Jay to contact her rather than potentially give up their freedom. What the hell are we doing in this Godforsaken sewer? Sard returned to cover himself. He would give Jo a minute before he he brought up the truth. If they didn't hear from Jay soon…they'd need to move.

*****

As Lil and Teabag got untangled, they saw an AV hovering over the roof of the building Jay was holed up in, and what looked like a tech team descending the fire escape toward the room he'd occupied. Cops atop the building were scanning the area, and they both scooted back around the corner before they were spotted.

"Jeeze! Are we Night City's most wanted or something?" Teabag whispered.

*****

Farras and his ComTech listened carefully as the NCPD scanner broadcast the raid taking place near where the Runners had surfaced. Seemed his boss wasn't the only one interested in them.

*****

Melena staggered into the safehouse, rubbing her head where the ice golfball had left a knot. Just what she needed, another headache. She sank into the nearest chair, pulled out her compact, and used it's mirror to check the lump on her head, no blood at least. Having reassured herself, she went to the cache she'd left here and took inventory. Blankets, kibble, water, and...not much else. Wonderful, she could spend a couple weeks here twiddling her thumbs, out of contact with the outside world unless she dared use her personal phone or puter link.

*****

Koffi thought long and hard about the Runners as she finished her dinner. It was obvious they were amateurs. First, they wave at her, then they follow her into a public place to talk! Well, if they got themselves caught breaking in before getting to the lab she could easily disavow any knowledge of them. Once they got to the lab, and her system, she was stuck with them. Guess I'll just have to take charge at that point, she mused.

 

[4meg]

“Madame Valkyrie, such a pleasure to see you again,” fawned the maître d' as he abandoned the couple to whom he’d been explaining, in carefully clipped tones and manners that only the French could achieve when insulting someone directly to their faces, that no matter who they thought they were, there were absolutely no tables available.

“Henri, I’m expecting a guest this evening,” said Miranda by way of greeting.

“Bien sûr, Madame Valkyrie. Your table is ready. This way s’il vous plaît .” Henri gave a slight bow.

Miranda followed Henri, her heels clipping smartly on the marble floor, to a table set apart slightly from all the others. If she noticed the fact that two waiters were ushering a couple from the table as they placed fresh linens, crystal, and cutlery on the now empty table, she didn’t give any indication.

Henri sat Miranda at her table with typical flair and extravagance, then faded from her world.

Sitting there Miranda lit a cigarette while she waited. The indoor non-smoking laws were very severe in Night City, however, no one made a move to mention that to her. Sitting there, thinking, Miranda was fairly certain of the outcome of this meeting but she felt she should try. And she might succeed. Stranger things have happened.

Miranda stubbed out her cigarette on the bread plate as Jorge Gundensen glided towards her.

“Miranda, it’s wonderful to see you again,” Jorge said in his mannered, Nordic tones as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“Jorge,” Miranda accepted the kiss. “You are looking extremely well, as usual.”

Jorge Gundensen stood back to allow Miranda to admire his form and his suit. “It’s getting much harder to maintain as I get older. Only my tailor knows the truth.”

Miranda laughed despite herself. Jorge Gundensen was an extremely charming man and used his charm as a rapier. Both men and women were susceptible to it.

Jorge finished showing off and sat across from Miranda. A waiter slid smoothly to the table and poured each of them a glass of Petrus ’22. Miranda knew Jorge was an oenophile and hoped the ’22 would set the tone for their tête-à-tête.

Jorge took the glass, swirled carefully, brought the glass to his nose and inhaled deeply. The wheels of his mind were minutely weighing the information his senses had brought him. Putting the glass to his lips he took the smallest of sips.

Miranda watched this ritual intently. Jorge’s nose wrinkled slightly. Miranda signalled the waiter, and the glasses and bottle were removed. Miranda had brought in a case of the ’22 and would have given the rest to Jorge if things went well. Now she’d have the case destroyed.

“Jorge, it’s good of you to meet me here.”

“Miranda, it is always a pleasure to associate with one’s peers.”

Miranda smiled tightly at being labelled one of Jorge’s peers. She considered Jorge to be a lucky upstart. “Of course it is, Jorge. You’re also probably wondering why I asked you to meet me.”

Jorge waved the question away. “Of course not. You’ve gotten wind that Zetatech is about to come to the market with some revolutionary tech that is going to make IEC and the rest of the world very jealous. You want to know if you can buy Zetatech.”

There was no use in denying it. “Precisely, Jorge.”

Jorge Gundensen smiled that Nordic smile. “Thank you for not hiding your intentions. Militech and Arasaka both made a show of not wanting to buy Zetatech before finally making offers.”

There was a pause as Henri appeared with a bottle of ’82 Latour and poured two glasses.

Jorge took the glass and drank deeply, smiling appreciatively. “So, Miranda, what can IEC offer that neither Militech or Arasaka could?”

Miranda smiled and leaned conspiratorially forward, giving Jorge an enticing glimpse of her décolletage. Jorge leaned in with her. “Well, Jorge, IEC is in a position to offer you twice whatever your highest offer has been so far, plus a substantial bonus for your personal discretion.”

Jorge nodded at this information and leaned back in his chair. Grabbing the Latour, he poured some more wine for himself and lifted the glass with a thoughtful air. He set the glass down.

“Money isn’t the issue, Miranda,” said Jorge. “I have money enough. Plus, Miranda, my highest offer was probably higher than you think. No. No, I don’t think I’ll sell to you.”

Miranda watched as Jorge sipped the wine in smug satisfaction. Henri approached the table with a phone on a silver tray looking like a mouse with its tail caught in a trap and its head caught in the cat’s mouth.

“Madame, there is a call for you.”

Miranda gave Henri a warning glare. Henri blanched and leaned closer, lowering his voice. “It is Madame Dowe.”

Anger flashed in Miranda’s eyes but faded instantly as she took the proffered phone. Henri retreated with the fearful alacrity of someone who knows not to be there.

“Yes,” said Miranda into the phone. “Yes. Yes. No. I see. Yes.”

Miranda put the phone on the table, already forgotten.

“Jorge, it seems your value has gone up. I’m in the position to offer you any sum you name.”

Jorge’s smile faded and the wine turned to vinegar in his mouth. Until now he had treated all the fawning, pleading, cajoling, and offerings as a game. He enjoyed the attention but didn’t take any of it seriously. He was going to say no to any offers. Or almost any. Jorge set the glass down shakily.

“I can name a sum, and IEC will pay it?”

“Essentially, yes.” Miranda’s stomach burned in anger. She hated being superseded. By anyone.

“That is a most tempting offer, Miranda. May I think about it?”

Miranda nodded in acquiescence. “Please do, but don’t take too long. We may change our minds and seek other… alternatives.”

The not so thinly veiled threat was not lost on Jorge. He was now entering dangerous territory. He knew he had to either accept or prepare for war. He needed time to think and room to manoeuvre.

“If you don’t mind, I won’t stay to dinner.” Jorge rose smoothly and bowing gently, left Miranda to her table and her thoughts.

Miranda watched Jorge’s back. She sighed silently, regretting the fact that now she had to have Jorge killed. Perhaps Camilla Dowe thought she could win this round without showing her hand.

 

[Rawls]

Nothing yet. It's time, thought Sard. "Jo, we gotta move."

"Just another minute."

"In another minute we might be toast."

"They haven't fried Jay yet."

Sard was getting irritated. "We don't know that."

"You don't know that. You think that message about fog was nothing!? Jay's got more programmed responses in his systems than even I know about. The minute he's zeroed, you'll hear a song by the Clash."

Fair enough, Sard thought. "All the same, they could be spreading out. Also, for all we know IEC is inbound on this God-forsaken place, looking for its merchandise before someone finds it."

"Give. Him. Sixty. Seconds." Jo whispered the words, but it was clear her patience was waning.

"Fine." Sard started a timer in his optics. "Sixty seconds."

...

"Tsk-tsk-tsk. You know, shooting at law enforcement is generally pretty high on the bad ideas list, Jay. Lucky your aim is crap. Still...six counts of attempted capital murder is...let me do the math...what is that Cho? 30 years?"

The man next to him was younger, looked liked a noob. "Maybe more," he said dryly. "The Harris brothers got more than that last year if I recall."

Jay was humped. "I didn't know it was you, all alright. Just defending myself, man. You could have been anybody barging into zero me. Maybe announce yourself next time! Let me go!"

"I think not," Davis said with his typical drawl. "But let me get to the point. I heard you've had a few visitors this past week." Davis began pacing around the room.

"Well, you know, Davis, disgraced systems specialist just doesn't pay like it used too...thought I'd set up a Motel 2."

"Motel 2 is a bit generous don't you think," cut in the man next to him. "It smells like shit down there."

Down their? Home. They're searching home. Jay executed a neural command to run protocol signal 19.

***

"Hey, ho. Let's go!
Hey, ho. Let's go!
Hey, ho. Let's go!" cut into the speakers. Really? The Ramones? Old man would like that crap. Sard shook his head.

Jo got up immediately and made her way towards the surface. Sard followed without question.

Without looking back, Jo said, "Home's not safe, we need to meet up with the others and figure out our next move, Jay will figure things out on his end. We're heading to a safe house."

...

Davis laughed. "Come on, Cho, that's the man's home. Show a little respect, Jay used to be one of the best. Now he's just your usual go between for hot info. Isn't that right Jay?"

"If you say so."

"Oh, don't be modest. Word is your a hot commodity, but I'm not sure you want these two stowaways. Do you know what they're into?"

"Enlighten me."

One of the officers handed Davis a scanner. Davis looked at Jay with a bit of disdain. "He's broadcasting, jam him.”

Another of the agents pulled out a device Jay assumed was a jammer, and sure enough soon Jay’s deck told him his signal was cut. Run people, get the hell out of this city. I can only stall so long.

"I'm insulted. You don't trust me anymore? I was just about to tell you that your friends messed with the wrong people, apparently. Half the power-players in the city took notice of their shenanigans last week. Some black-ops, corpo shit came in and cleaned up after. We know Sard and Lil came this direction, and he looked pretty beat up. According to our crew their you have a lot of medical supplies and a few extra cots. Hair samples will take a few hours to come back, but things are faster now than even when you were there."

"What friends? What does this have to do with me?"

"Harboring fugitives does sound pretty bad to a jury in an attempted capital murder trial."

"Fugitives? Even if I knew what you were talking about, I haven't heard anything about a warrant."

"Ah, and here we come to the point. You're right Jay. No warrants, not yet anyways. But I do wanna talk to these friends you don't know. I'm worried about them. The balance in this city is thin on it's best days. When upstarts corps and giants start getting physical, it doesn't do much for my nerves. I'm tense in my old age you see? Haven't been able to drop all my cares like some people. The last thing we need is another corporate war exploding out of some molehill that we can stop before it starts. Listen, it's in my interest, and theirs to not start anything that can’t be stopped. Don't you agree?"

"You of all people know nothing's ever that simple, Davis."

"Perhaps, but come on, I want to chat."

The two men holding Jay threw him to the ground and clamped on some cuffs. Davis said, "You're under arrest for assault on law enforcement and attempted murder. Maybe a few hours down in the station and you'll be a bit more talkative. If we can come to an understanding, then maybe I'll forget about some things."

...

Lil followed Teabag through some fencing and into what looked like an abandoned apartment complex. They went up six flights of stairs and turned left down the hallway. Teabag counted aloud to himself as he walked, "621 ... 623 ... 625 ... here we are, 627."

He took out a key and unlocked the door. They stepped into the small studio, it was about 10 x 15, and had a rusting kitchen, table with three lawn chairs, and a mattress on the far end. Nobody home. Teabag called. "Jo, you here?"

The floor popped up. Under the faux wooden boards was about 3 feet of space that Jo and Sard had laid in.

Jo looked at Teabag, "This whole plan is a mistake. I haven't heard anything since the second broadcast. Whoever they were, they got Jay."

Teabag walked straight to Jo and hugged her. "I know. It's okay. NCPD I think. They were all around Jay's room when we approached."

"I tried to help but this fool stopped me!" She pointed at Sard. "We take you in, we patch you up, and you presume to tell me what I can and can't do to protect the only family I have left! Who the hell do you think you are!?"

Sard replied calmly, "Hey, you wanna split? Fine. No hard feelings. I just didn't see any sense in getting one more person humped. If they're NCPD, that's probably a good thing under the circumstances. They're about the best people to be abducted by. Better than disappearing with IEC or Zetatech, yeah?"

Teabag cut in, "Forgive me man, but our friend and boss just got busted, and going back home is a no-go for us. We're short on creds, supplies, and options. Forgive me if I can't see a silver lining."

"We're not out of options," Lil reminded them. "More creds on the line here if we do this job than you could ever need."

"Seems to be everything's closing in, might just be best to cut our losses and run," replied Teabag.

"Corporations don't have jurisdictional limits, and if IEC was following us with a bot, they have to have ID'd us all by now. Only way out I can see is the job."

Jo looked at Lil solemnly. "Why did you bring this misery to us? Couldn't you have gone somewhere else."

Lil looked right back at her, "At the time, no. I had no other options. Look, I'm sorry, we can try to make this right for everybody, including Jay. But were low on intel right now, and if we just lay low here some Corp is going to find us. The best way out is forward. Do the job. Hopefully IEC makes good on their end."

"Hopefully..." Teabag said mockingly. "If your plan relies on hope, it's not much of a plan...but fine. How long you need before we go?"

"It's 2:00 pm now. We'll need to go after hours, and tonight's probably too soon to run the programs on the new layouts," Lil said. "So, tomorrow night."

Teabag looked at Jo, she nodded once. "Fine," he agreed.

Lil looked at Sard. "Works for me," he said. "Do your analysis on the new data, I'll watch the door." He looked at Jo, "If it's okay with you, that is? You all have had a shit day, could probably use a break."

Jo just looked at him.

Sard turned and began to set up by the counter to watch the door. Then Jo spoke, "Sard?"

"Yeah."

"If we all manage to get through this, I suppose that'll mean you were right." Jo said softly.

Sard actually looked a bit relieved. "There is no right and wrong here, just a whole lot of crap the Corpo gods have rained down on us all. I'm sorry I brought it to your door."

Teabag smile, "If your going to ruin our lives, you could at least bring Bourbon next time."

Sard smirked. "Noted."

 

[SigilFey]

Big Gin poked the toe of his boot into the man's gut again. The idiot kept snoring. "Gotta' be kiddn' me." He put his foot into him hard enough to roll him over.

"Th--fuck--!?" Case came to, arms flailing aimlessly.

It would have been comical if Gin and Yelefe weren't silently shitting themselves. "You know how ta' shoot, rocky-boy?" Gin asked, tone blunt. Tugger's hesitation was all the answer he needed. "Fuck me." Rolling his eyes and following them up, he paced a few steps away, kneading his fist.

"Well, you're gonna learn fast, sugar-pop. Whole 'hood is swarming with cylons. Some of the gangs are tag-teaming, looking for a payout. It's drawing pig-rigs like flies to shit. My big boy's expensive to fire off." She tapped the rifle cradled in her arm. "He'll never take'em all down. I can fire off Ginny much as I want, but he's only gonna take me down."

"Ain't time for cute, love," Gin said, turning. The stubby shotgun leveled off at Case's head. "I zero this muzak-man, I zero all our woes."

Case scrambled backward into the corner, sputtering, "...fuckin' come on...fuck off with that shit...please, fuck off, man!"

Yele moved between them. "Come on, baby, think up, now. You burn him, what do we get? We bought in when we holed that drone." She was pressing herself into Gin, forcing him a few steps further back as she spoke. "We knew that was dice, baby. We're still in this game. If we go now, they don't find us. Gotta move before they start kickin' doors. Long as we got what they can't find, we got something to sell. We splash him now, we got nothin' but clean-up." Gin held the barrels on Case for a long moment, then his arm smoothly dropped. Yele reached around him and pulled a pistol he had concealed somewhere at his back. She tossed it at Tugger. He awkwardly caught it. "We're going for a walk, sugar. We don't know what the fuck is going on, and we don't care. Shouldn't be too hard for you. Anything starts growing hair, you don't touch that glock before we do. If we start spraying, you better keep up. You get shot up, instead, we ain't gonna carry you."

"Where're we going?" Case sounded like he wasn't sure he should ask.

Big Gin holstered his sawed-off. "We're gonna figure that out right now. Let's start," he reached down and pulled Tugger up with one, massive hand, "with you telling us somethin' useful 'bout that reporter you were rolling." Case accidentally dropped the pistol. Gin raised his eyebrows, waiting.

* * *

Lilayah worked through the calculations again. "Shit." Teabag snored softly. Jo stirred.

Sard was already sitting up, pistol in hand. "What?"

"This bit I was working on: I thought it was system diag or something. It's not. It's a timer."

"You're supposed to be watching."

"You're supposed to be sleeping."

The breath he drew spoke of far more frustration than he was letting on. He paused before speaking again. "So, a timer."

"A countdown, actually. That bitch. Get the others up. We don't have tomorrow. The codes expire in 10 hours."

* * *

Jonathan entered the office with something between apprehension and impatience. A classical design: steel and glass, clean lines, simple function. It was not truly that spacious, but the vast cityscape before him, lights of every hue sweeping off in every direction, gave it a sense of boundlessness. A constellation of majesty and life. Overwhelming. He had not witnessed it enough times that the effect was wholly lost. He exerted conscious effort, peeling his eyes away from the glimmering spectacle of Night City in its true element. The woman, herself, was seated behind her desk, screen aglow, back straight but relaxed. Dark hair, accented with grey, sleekly wrapped into a loose chignon. Her skin teased an age far below her actual years. "A bit late for this type of thing, wouldn't you say, ma?"

"Oh, then, let's not waste time fencing with words and get right down to it." Camilla Dowe's voice was reminiscent of the aged aunt that everyone loved but only got to see on rare occasions. She wore professionalism casually, with an aloofness that made any situation seem like an absent distraction. Except to people that knew the vicious cunt. She was a woman that would dandle people with compliments as she sliced them cleanly open, and they would feel awkward interrupting her. She'd take what she wanted from their insides and never get a drop of blood on her fingers. Or the carpet. "Join us if you would, angel?"

John nearly started as Miranda rose from a settee among a few pieces of furniture facing the windows. He hadn't even noticed her against the backdrop. She walked over to stand in front of Camilla's desk, projecting self-assurance. She wasn't entirely successful. He moved, kissed her on the neck, and took a seat. "Offering my wife the preferential invitation? Or were you two having some girl-talk?" Miranda sat as well.

"No, John, she simply arrived on-time."

Jonathan perfectly supressed the wave of loathing and anger that swept through him. He could still hear her voice echoing over the years: On-time is ten minutes late... She always managed to find something to pinch and twist. "It's nice to have everyone together, all the same."

Camilla smiled warmly at him. He imagined it was the same way a cat would smile at a bird. "Sorry to keep you kids up, so I'll be brief." Her face brightened. "We'll need someone to accept responsibility for the street theatre."

John fought down another wave of emotion, some definite fear worked into it this time. "I have no idea what Andrew was trying to pull, or what he was involved in..."

Camilla's harumph was derisive enough to cut him short; she blended it into an airy laugh. "It was as foolish for you to use him as it was for you to send that stupid bint to track him down. I trust you're aware that both of them are dead?" She could have been talking about her wine being slightly off. "And what do you have to show for it? Excuses? Apologies?" Before he had a chance to do either or try to deflect her, she continued, "At least you tried to handle things quietly. A cafe severely damaged, the police involved, classified data in the hands of the media, two productive employees killed, Zetatech on their guard... Do you even know where your runners are?"

"I've been working on the contingency since..." John began.

"Sorry, dear," Camilla cut again. "I wasn't really speaking to you." She shifted her gaze deliberately to Miranda. The smile widened.

Miranda stared, frozen for a moment. "I thought we had an understanding."

"We did, angel. But things have become a little loose between the sheets. We had an understanding that I would loan you the funds you needed to safeguard our interests. Nothing more. I certainly did not agree to you jeopardizing the operation to further your own agendas." John glared between them, not understanding. "Oh, my boy, I left a trail as clear as a comet for you to follow. I knew the game your wife was playing. I play them, too." Her chuckle was openly amused. "No sense in spoiling all of the fun, but it was only fair that you should have at least a chance. Besides, she was right, in the end. Things could have turned into a true mess had Driscoll managed to feed more data to that sassy, little reporter. I admit, I love her voice. Have you managed to track her down, yet, angel?"

"No." Miranda's face was as flat as Camilla's was lively.

"Shame. I definitely hope we can come to a working arrangement with her. I have a number of spots that she'd be just perfect for. But, ahhh..." Camilla waved away the thought, "...first things first."

Jonathan turned coldly on Miranda. She didn't meet his gaze. "Do you want to tell me exactly what the hell you've done?" Camilla laughed a with a clear, musical sound. It was a sound that John hated more than gunfire. His mother always preceded a scathing session with that belittling note.

"If you had been doing the job I pay you for instead of obsessing over how to cover your lovely ass, you would have accounted for the marketing reports days ago. I thought the full 2.2 million would manage to catch your interest enough that you could focus on getting at least some of your work done efficiently. But you were off playing evil overlord and enjoying every moment." Miranda's trembling was barely perceptible, and the flush that John could see at her neck only happened in two situations. One was when she was enraged. "Don't take it so hard, angel. The last time I saw him so wound up in something was when he was trying to marry you." His mother was loving this.

"So, do you want to fill me in on everything I've been missing, trying to fix the disaster you two have created for me?" John's hand tapped on the arm of the chair.

"Careful, son." Camilla let her smile fade just a little, the closest she ever came to being openly angry. "Despite the level of skill and hardware your wife brought to bear, somehow, your team managed to get closest to the goal. I'm going to give you a task, now, John, and I want you to ensure it gets done: find them and bring them here. With or without the prize. Then, we'll worry about the other loose ends."

Jonathan forced a smile back at her with all of his strength. He imagined his lips must have at least moved. He rose and gallantly offered a hand to his seething wife.

"Not yet. Angel and I need to talk about one more thing. In private. If you'll be so generous, John?"

Shit! If anything could brighten up his day, that was it. He could see the red in Miranda's skin actively retreating. His next smile came a bit more easily. He left the office, knowing that his mother intentionally let him hear her begin:

"I had a short chat with Jorge. My, but you do like to dig..."

 

[Suhiira]

Back in the sewers, oh joy! Thought Sard as they circled the Zetatech building searching the underground labyrinth for ways in and out, and came up short. None of the tunnels or drains was large enough to move thru so they settled on an exit to the surface as close to the building as they could get.

"OK, this is as far as we go." Jo said in a soft voice. "Teabag and I will set up here and keep your backtrail clear while you two do your thing."

"Thanks for coming this far." Lil said. "I know you're worried about Jay, and your own asses. But once we get whatever we're getting we'll have a bargaining chip, right now we've got jack." Sard grunted in what was presumedly agreement.

As he and Lil emerged from the underground Sard felt crosshairs on his forehead, but shook it off. He'd have thought he was over these sort of pre-mission execution jitters, but they never really went away no matter how many times you saw the elephant.

Using what was left of the night to carefully scout out the buildings surrounding Zetatech Sard and Lil eventually found themselves in a broom-closet sized former noodle shop that had been abandoned. "Well, looks like we have three options. Front door, loading dock, or smokers/break area. I'd go for number three." Said Sard.

"Yeah, looks like our best bet. Have to take out a cam or two, get into the area, then follow someone that has an access card into the building." Lil replied. "I'm thinking we infiltrate the area ASAP then hole up inside it while the inevitable alarm goes off. Problem is where to hide inside?"

Sard pondered for a few moments. "In plain sight 'o course. We get in, stash our gear and find a quiet corner, then act like lovers looking for a place to do the dirty deed. They find us we get all indignant and shame-faced. Chances are they'll just get an eyefull, harass us a bit, then keep on looking for intruders."

Lil choked back her first reaction to Sards idea and considered it on it's merits. "Mmmmkay ... have to make sure we don't let em check us for IDs, but not wanting to be ID'd when caught like that sorta makes sense, so could work. But you get to handsy and I'll turn you into a saprano! How do I get myself into situations like this..."

Sard bit back a reply that would get him kicked where it mattered and said. "No more then's needed to keep 'em distracted from checking us to closely. Just save any objections for after they leave."

With that they moved near the wall enclosing the break area. While Sard focused his attention on the shot, silenced, needed to take out the cam Lil watched the enclosure for activity and when it was finally clear of people softly said "Go." Sard put four shots into random parts of the building near the cam, the fifth into the cam itself, then two more random shots. With luck security would figure it was stray gunfire and sheer bad luck the cam was hit. "Move it!" He scooped up his rifle and followed Lil to the wall. She braced herself at the bottom and let Sard climb her like a ladder to get to the top. Once there he extended his hand, and rifle, for her to grab and pulled her up. Then both dropped into the break area.
Then they sprinted toward fairly concealed area behind some decorative bushes and a large piece of machinery and tossed their weapons and other gear under it then scrambled to get most of their clothes off.

When they heard the sounds of a security team rushing into the area they dropped to the ground and Sard hoisted Lil into his lap, her panties the only thing between them. "Hey!" she whispered. The things I do for a paycheck. She leaned down, nuzzling his cheek, pretending to kiss him.

He hooked his finger in her bra and pulled down sharply. "Give'em something to see." He ran his hands over her sides and waist.

Lil tilted her head at him and yanked his underwear down. When he didn't seem to react, she planted hard into him. Getting a grunt. He grimaced at her. "Don't get too far outta line," she breathed. Their hands worked as the scuff of footsteps grew louder behind them.

"Fuck -- come on." A voice groused.

"Gonna watch?" Lil had no trouble working annoyance into her voice. She gyrated, and Sard responded by grabbing her arms and wrenching her down.

"Clear the fuck outta' here. Fucking punks..." The sound of heavy boots shuffled, then retreated.

"Now, we can take our time." Sard's voice sounded as direct as ever, but somehow, the edge of smugness came across clearly. Lil belted him across the face with a fair amount of force. He hardly seemed to notice. "Did your part well enough." He smoothly caught her next slap and grinned at her.

They slowly redressed, listening to the security team search. She cleared her mind. Cameras.

When the team finished their search Sard and Lil exited their grotto and joined them at the facility entrance. The looks, catcalls, and raised eyebrows were all that Lil needed to make her embarrasment real. But Sard played it up, she slapped him across the back of the head, earning them a new round of comments.

"Shit! Forgot my datapad." Sard complained and returned toward the grotto. Lil let the team enter and caught the door after the last one, seemingly waiting for her boyfriend to retrieve what he'd forgotten. When the team was out of sight she gave a low whistle and Sard emerged carring all their gear, weapons, and body armor. Inside they quickly located the nearest restroom and entered. It was a men's room so Sard got to sit in a stall with their gear while Lil located a utility room.

After they'd relocated to the somewhat safer room, and redonned their gear Lil tapped into the facility LAN and spent some time learning what she could about the layout and security. With the data and passwords Koffi had given them it was hardly a challenge.

 

[4meg]

Farras looked over the shoulder of his tech as she tried to break through the encrypted signal. He didn’t offer any encouragement or discouragement. She was a tool and you couldn’t blame your tools for poor craftsmanship. Farras was being paid to do a job and he intended to get it done.

Suddenly the speaker crackled and fizzed and a few sporadic words burst forth. “…you! Your machinations and… jeopardized… demand that…”

There was more static and then another voice broke through “no time for this. If you would only listen… he’s right where… Zetatech wouldn’t be…”

The static resumed.

“Sorry sir,” said the tech “The encryption is shifting too fast for us to follow with conventional methods. An AI could do it.”

Farras sighed inwardly. “It was a long shot, Smith. Even with the bug, it was unlikely to break through their jamming systems.” Farras turned away from the tech without another word but made a mental note to have her released. Returning to his spartan office, Farras was about to encrypt a message to his employer when the door swung inwards. Jonathan Dowe entered and sat down across from Farras.

“Mr. Dowe, I wasn’t expecting you.”

Jonathan looked irritated. “Did it work?”

Farras usually didn’t discuss ongoing operations with assets, but Jonathan Dowe was no ordinary asset. “No, not really, but then we didn’t expect it too.”

“What? Then what was the point of me planting the bug if it wasn’t going to work?”

Farras’ lip twitched. “The point was to determine if the bug could be detected. Whether it sent a good signal was immaterial.”

Jonathan looked exasperated. He was tired of playing catch up. “Look, Farras, I’m paying you a lot of money to get the information I want. I expect results. And fast.”

“Mr. Dowe,” Farras’ voice took on the tone one would use when explaining the obvious, “IEC is a very secure company, and
Mrs. Dowe and Ms. Valkyrie are particularly well…insulated...from observation. This is the first step in getting what you want. Please, be patient, and you’ll get everything you want.”

Jonathan looked unconvinced but said, ”I’d better. I’ve put up with those two shrews long enough."

Farras regarded his client. Jonathan’s anger was obvious and, Farras thought, faintly comical. “I’m sure, Mr. Dowe.”

A knock sounded at the door. “Come,” said Farras.

Tech Smith entered. “Sir, I just picked up a report that NCPD pulled off an unscheduled raid and made an arrest. They’re taking the suspect into custody as we speak.”

“Thank you, Smith. Tell the team to be ready to go in five minutes.”

“Sir.” Smith went.

“Ah, Mr. Dowe, you can see I have many irons in the fire. If you would be so good as to return to your home, I will inform you the moment I have anything salient to report," said Farras and gave Jonathan a tight smile.

“Hmph,” Jonathan rose. “Just see that you get the information.” Jonathan left in a strop.

An alert flashed on Farras’ desk. He touched it. “Did you hear all that?”

“I did. That man is fool. I hope you’re taking him for everything you can?”

“Indeed. Mr. Dowe is paying a considerable premium for our services," said Farras.

The voice chuckled. “If this wasn’t so serious, I would turn this into a screen program. It’s a shame we can’t reveal to Camilla just how stupid her son truly is.”

“I’m sure she knows. Mrs. Dowe is nobody’s fool.”

“Hmmm. Too true, too true. And that’s what makes this all the more dangerous.”

“And all the more rewarding if we succeed.”

“That’s right. I won’t keep you Farras. I know you have visit to pay to our friends at the NCPD.”

The line cut off abruptly and Farras made his way to the staging area. The NCPD would not be expecting him or his team to show up on their doorstep.