'Nothing but a milk run', Monika said.
Funny, now that I'm thinking about how it all started, I should have known better. There's no such thing as a 'milk run' for a shadowrunner. These words coming from lips of Monika Schafer? Recipe for disaster. At first, I thought it was just another stroke of bad luck dragging behind me. But no. It took a lot of blood and sacrifices, even more fear and reckless bravery; but in the end I've realized that this, supposedly easy, mission was not the end but merely a beginning...
Life in Seattle was easy. Not in usual terms, but easy for a decent shadowrunner, like I was back then. A job here and there, a little gunfight and a little bit of hacking. Nothing big enough to put me on anybody's shit-list, but not so small I would starve. Good life it was... But of course, things had to go south at one of those run-of-the-mill jobs. Long story short, I had to hop off the grid, otherwise my carcass would be feeding the rats, while sporting a fashionable bullet wound on the skull. As usual in dire times, acquintances turned off their phones or straight up forgot they knew me. Noose around my neck was tightening fast, but by some twist of fate I've been contacted by an old friend, Monika Schafer.
Years passed since our last meeting, but she was still the same rebellious german girl with platinum blonde hair and smart mouth, always going on about some social revolt. Still, she hooked me up with a transport from Seattle all the way to Berlin. Her price? She needed a trusted runner on some jobs. She paid for my long and costy trip from UCAS; got me a not-too-shabby fake ID too, just in case. Everything required to settle me down and get me up to speed.
And now, it was time to start paying off the debt. I've found myself thinking that if this run would pan out, I'd stick around for longer this time. Maybe even settle some old matters with Monika...
"Don't sleep, Rai, we're nearly there." Schafer's chirp interrupted my thoughts. Good thing I've still remembered german back from my old days with her, I'd be doomed around here without it.
"I'm awake. Just thinking..." I reply and lean back in the passangers seat, trying to ease off the stiffness in my neck. "Mind telling me what are we doing...over an hour away from Berlin?"
"Ugh...You weren't listening the first two times?!" Monika groans, but then giggles shortly. "Harfeld Manor, an old castle holdfast. That's where we're going. I've got tipped off that someone or something in there can be a threat to the Flux-State-"
Oh right, Flux-State. Social experiment best summed up as 'By anarchists for anarchists'. Berlin was a place outside of reach for any corporations or goverments. And surprisingly, not a war zone ravaged by gangs. Not all of it at least. From what I've heard in the few weeks of being here, Flux-State harbors a lot of people decent by principle if not actions.
Maybe germans finally got their freedom-related shit together better than americans? Can't say I'd have a problem with that.
"Right, so what exactly is our job? Recon?" I finally ask Monika who keeps steady hands on the driving wheel of the van. Between me and her, she seems more relaxed and to the point than she was in front of the rest of the team which's currently enduring the ride in the back of the truck.
"Get in, get the vault, crack it open and see what all the fuss is about. Some blackmail data probably", Monika replies and turns the lights off. "We're here. Let's get outside and check for any surprises."
As I jumped out of the truck and noticed heavy silence around, Monika began her usual pre-run ritual: match appears between her lips, providing something to chew on while she hacks. Few twists of the neck and cracking her fingers and Miss Schafer is ready to work. I've prided myself with being among top ten of deckers in Seattle, but man was I wrong about my skills once I've seen Monika working. She was beyond usual decking, knowing ins and outs of systems and circuitry, allowing her to directly tap into main lines and bypass external security of the Matrix.
Explains why she was the boss and how she had such good intel about everything. In modern times of 2054, a decker is your plug to the world. Without one, you're blind and deaf.
"We're on schedule here, guys. Ten minutes after we stepped through the gate I want us packed back in the van and getting the hell away from here, understood?" Monika spoken in a more commanding voice, lacking any giggles she displayed on the way. I've always wondered which side of her was more true...
"Trying to get back in time for 'Wyrm Talk', love?", a bald-headed man in leather jacket asked with haggard voice. Dietrich, the old man of our group. Sage, grumpy veteran and every other older character have been condensed into Dietrich. He's also a shaman or something close; he must be with all these tattooed markings covering all of exposed skin. Age hasn't slowed him down yet - I've seen him delievering a brutal beatdown to an armed security guard, with nothing but brass knuckles. Only that dodgy smell of alcohol have been worrying me from the start.
"Maaaybeee?" Monika singsongs in reply, knowing very well it'll trigger Dietrich who seemed to get all worked up against everything related to dragons.
"How many times I'll have to tell you, Monika? That stuff rots your brain! It's meant to do so!" Dietrich delivers as always, immediately reddening on his face in anger.
"I say it's educational..." Monika shrugs in response and clears her throat to get back on track. "Anyway, we should be good. We're hitting kindergarten grade security here - a few guards patrolling premises, with cheap guns and no armor. Milk run if there ever was one."
"You know there's no such thing as milk run." I immediately counter. After the screw up in Seattle, even the phrase itself makes hair on my neck stand up.
"Some wise words from the new guy." Detached, cold voice comes from under shock of black hair. Glory finally spoken...That chrome-clad lady fits the unhinged personality of Monika. Who else would team up with a woman with stone face, dead eyes, and old-fashioned arm prostethics that have razor-sharp claws springing from fingertips? Still, can't say she wasn't attractive in her own way; so calm and unfazed while everyone else was flipping out.
Maybe Monika would tell me more about Glory after the run. But for now...
"Hey, don't you worry, kay? We're professionals." Monika retorted and opened her commlink. "Eiger? You there?"
"Ja. Standing by. All clear around the Manor." Low but quite soft and feminine voice chimes into my ear. Now Eiger is not someone I would expect to see here. Troll or not, muscular, long haired blonde or not, she clearly is a meticolous and hard-assed professional. Either former military, or really good gun for hire. I'm not ashamed to say she's been intimidating in these few interactions I've had with her so far.
"Terrific... Did you cut the alarm cables?" Monika continues.
"Jawohl." Short and rough, the usual way for Eiger to communicate.
"See, guys? I've got it all covered. So we're gonna go in, grab the thing and disappear. Quick, quiet and... quick."
"You've said 'quick' twice, love." Dietrich crosses arms on his chest.
" 'Wyrm Talk' is on tonight" Monika grins and motions us to move on. "Rai, grab whatever you need from the van and follow."
I open the back of the van and whistle shortly. What a selection Monika have been hiding away from me... I'm not a sharpshooter like Eiger, but pretty much second gun in the team. America taught me how to shoot first and foremost...
Slinging an automatic rifle and bandolier with spare ammo I reach out for my special backpack. Bullet- and shockproof case holds my deck. Time to go to work, ladies and gentlemen.
Breaking the lock of the side doors would take me a minute, but Monika barely frowns and doors click open. Slipping into hallway I notice usual items, like a parked turbo-bike and the light controls panel. Nothing out of ordinary. But then I've stepped into adjacent room and-
"Woah." I've let out in awe, staring at a private museum. And I mean literal museum, with glass cases full of vases, necklaces and other stuff... and then, right next to an exquisite wooden table, a dinosaur. Whole skeleton set up from old bones. I didn't even have to doubt that it was real fossil.
"Damn one-percenters..." Dietrich mutters and makes a motion like he wanted to spit on the plush carpet, but Monika's stare stops him. No traces.
Entering the lobby, I look at three more doors. Damn, that mansion is huge!
"Intel says that the elevator should be to the north. That way." Monika pointed at one of the doors.
"How 'bout little digging around?" I suggest, feeling in the mood for looting. "They usually have some computer room or working office at the ground floor. Maybe we'll score some intel?"
Seeing Schafer crack a smile I know she agrees. Moving as silently as I can on the marble floor, I approach nearest doors and examine the doorframe. Clear. Fast scan of the handle - no alarms. Pulled it.
"What the hell?!" I hear a yelp, and once the doors open I'm staring at a terrified security guard. Oh shit... Internal implant floods my bloodstream with adrenaline, making time slow down drastically. Seeing guard's hand moving towards the holster I hurl myself towards her and ram into the thin woman with the weight of my body. She made a faint squeak when I stood up, staring at her flattened figure pressed into the wall like a bizarre decoration. Rummaging through my pockets I quickly produce a small piece of gauze and press it against her nose and mouth.
"Chloroform. No dead bodies outside of contract." I whisper to the squad peeking from behind the doorframe.
"I'm not going to ask why you carry chloroform in your backpocket, man." Dietrich speaks while sneaking in.
"Because sleeping darts and other fancy gadgets exist only in stories." I grunt through clenched teeth. "There." I sigh once guard stopped struggling. "Ten minutes of nap for a tiny thing like that."
"While you boys were busy with new girlfriend, I've just opened the doors to the elevator... Turns out they had a silent alarm. Had." Monika chirped from the other side of the room, sitting behind a security console. With a few moves she rolled the flexible keyboard into her pack and grabbed the rifle again.
After tying up and gagging the guard, we emerged back into the lobby.
"Silent alarm, huh?" I manage to cry before we all had to duck away from the hail of bullets. "Cheap guns, huh?!" I mock Monika while crawling behind the nearest of the postuments which were littering the lobby.
"Shut up and shoot!" Schafer yells in response while sending a long burst from her AK97 towards the four guards emptying their clips in our direction. I wasn't taking more breaks and rose from behind my cover, placing three bullets in the chest of an orc holding a shotgun. I've immediately ducked back, cursing silently as echoes of the shooting must've been heard in entire Berlin. At least that's how my ears perceived it, rewarding me with a deafening shriek.
"I got this!" I barely hear bass of Dietrich's. Split second later, a lightning bolt passes next to me with a blinding flash. Crackle of electricity got drowned in the howls of people being electrocuted. Looking again from behind the cover, I saw all three remaining bodies now twitching on the floor from shocks.
I look at Dietrich who still stands where he was, holding handfuls of crackling mana in his open hands.
"Good job!" Monika pats the shaman's arm. "Let's go before any more alarms come up, move it!"
We burst into another room and a second later I'm finding myself on the floor again. This time it was thanks to Glory's reflexes saving my skin, as thunderbolt that was meant to fry me hits the wall. Without time for thanks, I unstrap a flashbang and throw it in general direction of enemies while diving under some sturdy furniture.
*BANG* erupts, hurting my ears again, but with another surge of adrenaline I'm focused enough to line up a long burst aimed at the mage woman who now was stumbling around, hands clutched to her eyes. As ejector emits dry click, indicating an empty mag, I see red blooming on the chest and forehead of another orc gunman. Heavy thump meant Glory's high-caliber pistol was in action.
Finally I manage to snap another mangazine into the slot, pull the ejector lever and shoulder my AK to shoot again, only to see the last guard falling onto his knees with a throwing knife sticking out of his eye socket.
"It's easy when they fly straight." Dietrich chuckles, patting broad belt on his stomach filled with these deadly blades.
"I don't like this, Monika. That's not security for an old mansion." Glory voices her concerns while arching an eyebrow.
"We've got through them, we must be close! Come on!" Schafer deflects, already busy with unlocking another set of doors. "Yes!"
I've expected the elevator we were riding to fall down, stop or burst in flames but nothing happened. We disembarked, but stopped after a few meters in front of giant doors that resembled more of an airlock than a vault.
"That's one big-ass doors, liebe" Dietrich exclaims.
"Schematics don't match." Glory chimes in.
"I get it, something's off. I agree. But we have a job and it's important. We can't bail out now." Monika tries to reason a bit but I know her mind is occupied by the target. "Be right back!" she calls after pulling her hair to the side, revealing a data-jack socket on her temple. One click of the cable and Monika Schafer wasn't with us anymore, but dangerously gliding through Matrix. At least she wanted to, but suddenly Eiger bursted through comms, demanding to know who's in charge during Schafer's 'absence'.
"Ugh! Your KSK bullshit is killing me Eiger..." Monika groans then looks both at distant Glory and zoning out Dietrich, evidently trying to sense magic or spirits nearby. "Rai? Keep them alive for a minute for me."
"You kidding?" Mine and Eiger's voice ring in unison. "You put a rookie in command?!" Eiger continues.
"I'm no rookie, Eiger. We both know it. Now cut the chatter and keep overwatch for reinforcements." I cut her off. If she really was military, orders should shut her up...
Eiger lets out a grunt of displeasure and cuts the link. Shrugging, I've met Monika's brown eyes.
"Sorry about that. Eiger is...having problems with adjusting to shadowrunning. She likes rules and everything she had in KSK."
"It's been only a few weeks since I'm here and that's our first job. She has the right to doubt...I'll see us through, Moni. Get that door open for us." I calm her down and instinctively hug the wall next to the vault. Schafer sends me coy smile and pushes the button, engaging stream of her conciousness into Matrix.
Seconds stretched, time measured only by tapping of Monika's fingers running across keys of her deck. Then I've heard a high-pitched sound, so high it was nearly unhearable, and suddenly Monika's back arched; she screamed at the top of her lungs, violently jolting away from her deck. I've managed to lean towards her when she hit the floor with her back, snapping mouth shut and shooting streak of blood into my face.
"Monika!" I've screamed, pressing her convulsing figure to the ground with one hand and grabbing handful of data-cable with the other. Seeing Glory holding Schafer steadily, I've yanked the cord away, not even thinking about consequences of of sudden un-plugging. Oily smoke came out from empty data-jack, odour of burned circuitry emitted from Monika, making me gag. Nauseous imaginations already done their part, picturing how much cyberware inside her head fried when Monika's bloodshot eyes snapped open and glared at me with intensity I've never seen before.
Bleeding from eyes and nose, she tried to say something but blood filled her mouth. She coughed, staining me with crimson again. As a decker I knew what happened. At least a bit. Biofeedback was the biggest danger in the Matrix but to see someone have a massive stroke like this...I didn't knew back then what could've done so much damage.
"Ffffeeeuerschwinnngeee..." She utters to me in pain, making my heart sink. Her body trembles in one long spasm and then she withers.
"Monika? Monika!" I don't know what I've really said, screamed, at her there. I remember tears building up in my eyes, seeing my last good friend dying from brain hemmorrage on a low-key job.
"Rai!" Thundering bass of Dietrich breaks me back into reality, making me stare into inside of the supposed vault. I was staring at some lab or a facility. Hallway in front of us begun spitting out guards. Guards, not some cops for hire. Instincts taking over, I throw myself against the wall next to the doors, leaving Monika's corpse on the floor.
Throwing another grenade into the hallway, I look at Monika once again, only to see her staring at me again. Eyes usually filled with joy and mischief now full of pain were boring through me. Slowly, her stare moved towards the hallway. Following her stare I've noticed working console, with LED glowing in the corner as it held a new message. Looking at Schafer I wasn't sure, maybe she did tried to smirk one last time and winked at me? Maybe it was just a hallucination.
"They're falling back!" Glory yelled, reloading her pistol.
"Doors behind us are locked!" Dietrich seconded.
We were trapped. Oh my God, We were trapped. We were-Mentally slapping myself, I've gritted teeth so hard they almost broken. Terminal. Monika pointed at it. Guards firing. Glory reloading. Dietrich gathering mana for another spell. Terminal...
"D, light 'em up! Glory, cover me!" I scream at the top of my lungs and hurl towards the console. Landing behind solid desk I've only lift my hand and press the ON button on the keyboard.
"What'cha doin? We're in deep shit here!" Dietrich screamed at me after sending another lightning bolt.
"Monika inserted a bug in the system! She shown me!" I yell back, not caring whether he believed me or not. Screen flickers to life and I'm staring at decoded plans of the entire facility, base even, hidden right under the mansion.
"Milk run my ass" I grunt, trying to memorize as much as I can, telling myself that if I'll get outta here alive, I'll be coming back with huge bucket of vengeance for Monika. Screen flickers again and some commands run through the screen. For a non-decker it was rubbish, for me it was common tongue. An escape route was within reach, a service tunnel that only needed to be unlocked.
I press 'Y' on the keyboard and blood drains from my face. "Damned loading!" I snap at the displaying reboot procedures.
"We need to get out from here now!" Glory calls. Hearing her out of all people screaming indicates we progressed beyond shitstorm.
I inhale deeply, taking exactly one heartbeat for myself. "Both of you come here! We're getting out!" I yell and empty another mag into a guard trying to flank me. Then radio static fills my earpiece. Great, like I do not have enough problems...
"What's happening?! Monika's signal flatlined!" Eiger calls.
"She flatlined! KIA!" I scream through gunfight, not caring that my laryngophone probably deafens the sniper. "New evac point! Get the truck to the back of the mansion!"
"Roger that." Eiger's voice sounded so thick that only later I've realized that a second longer and she'd cry or snap into rage. Thinking about that night many times later, I wouldn't blame her or anyone else.
"What's the play?" Glory asks, sliding behind the desk next to me. Back again she moves like a robot and speaks with artificial, emotionless note.
"Way out will open in a minute. We sit tight, hang on and then we get the hell outta here." I clarify before throwing another flashbang. I don't know what deity or spirit I should thank for that gut feeling, but hoarding these grenades was the best idea I've had in a long time.
"By 'hold tight' you mean 'kill every drekhead son of a bitch in here', right?" Dietrich chimes in, reaching for another throwing knife. Last victim of his resembled a pin cushion with so many steel razors in his face.
"Pretty much, yeah! Kick arses and stay alive!" I agree and see broad grin, crooked by scar running across bottom lip, painting on Dietrich's face.
I was used to fighting in the streets; hell I've faced gunfights in close quarters for nearly a decade. But the brutality we were forced to employ just to survive here... Out of all moments about Dietrich and Glory I would like to forget, the sight of the shaman sending a lightning that melted flesh off three guards, and brunette's claws hacking off that mage's arm, these made to the very top. Can't say I was very far behind them with firing point blank at a shotgunner, pulling pin off his grenade and then kicking that recently-living bomb into a group of his allies.
Finally, the glorious beeping sound announced end of the system reboot and opening of the doors leading to our freedom. I was about to scream from joy but the cheer died on my lips as from the adjacent doors stepped out... this.
An orc, deffinietly, but the biggest one I've ever seen. Giant pile of flesh and steel, scarred face was only thing not covered in thick combat armor. That thing was a walking tank, and, of course, holding a damn cannon too!
"Playtime's over, shadowrunners!" Orc boomed with gravelly voice. "Stealing something unimportant, I might've let it go... But you've seen too much." His hands gripping Vindicator minigun tightened on the handles, forcing the engine to start spining the barrels.
"Oh schiesse!" Dietrich gasps and without any command he grabs Glory's metal arm and pulls her towards the doors. I'm right behind them, throwing only thing I've had against something so robust as this orc.
As the white raven known as a pulse grenade flies from my hand and my legs begin to thud against metal grating I only prey for another two seconds that the fuse will go off faster than that Vindicator. Stationary guns have litle to none spinning time but those portable models need good three seconds before they'd start tearing me in half-
"Fuck ja!" Dietrich cries mid-run, hearing exploding crackle followed by a roar of enraged orc who's minigun got disabled for additional two or three seconds. Enough to get to the doors. We stumble across the corridor and into the elevator. Punching 'Up' I pray for this maintenance elevator to be on isolated circuit and note stop half way through.
Doors open suddenly, and we make a mad dash across another corridor, aiming for the glass doors leading outside. Not in the mood for pleasantries I bash through them, for once happy I weighted nearly hundred kilos without any spare fat. Midnight air chokes me as I stumble across the lawn and over the hedge, towards the van waiting with backdoors opened.
"Go!" I croak jumping into the back with Glory and Dietrich following right after me. Pile of gear hits me once Eiger floors it and rides away from the Manor at a neck-breaking speed.
"What the hell happened there?!" Sniper screams at me from her seat. I open my mouth twice and can't force even one word out. Seeing Dietrich literally fuming with mana discharge from anger and exhasution, and Glory being unmoving like a statue, I know that Eiger won't get any answer soon.