DateTime Data:
June 28th, 2077, 4:35 PM
"…Sending you the contact info, now." Morgynn said over the holophone as her hologram's eyes glowed a bright blue, a sign she was transmitting data though her R.S.T.
"Thanks, I'll call once we're finished here." I returned, getting the info, causing Morgynn to shake her head at me.
"Don't call me, call Dex. He'll handle the bow-tying." She replied, hanging up the phone.
"Alllrighty then…what now?" Jackie said, leaning on his brand-new Arch motorcycle.
"What now is I gotta call this corpo-woman, Meredith, perhaps get some useful info. Wouldn't wanna go charging into All Foods without more to go on." I warned, resulting in Jackie responding my nodding his head. "OK. Gimme a sec, ima take this, privately." I told him, linking my holophone up to my R.S.T implant.
I made the call on the phone and it rang nearly six times, the final amount before the call is auto-declined. On the fifth, a woman's upper body appeared on my new optic display. She had blonde, slicked back hair and green eyes, similar to Sam's. She was dressed in typical Militech uniform. From what Morgynn had said, she was in internal affairs for them…a poor place to be—for anyone, but then again—what place wasn't. I could also observe that she was smoking a cigarette. Could be a sign of anxious behavior, nervousness, and could most certainly be something I could use. I thought. It was harsh to think this way about her, but I had to treat her as the enemy…it was the only way to deal with these sorts of people.
"Stout here. Start by telling me how you got this number." She commanded, right out of the gate. Couldn't say I was surprised however, in fact, I was relived. A cheery corpo was far scarier than one with a bone to pick, because that meant they'd already gotten their way, and someone was already at the bottom of a river somewhere.
"Know more than your number. Heard you misplaced a convoy." I replied, trying to substantiate my presence, so as to keep her interest.
I could hear groaning in the background, someone was most defintley already at the bottom of a river, or was soon to be. She looked off to whatever was at her right—whatever it was, it was out of my frame of reference.
"You! Shut him up!" She exclaimed angrily. She looked back to me with a look of utter egotism, as if I was nothing more than an ant under her boot… I'd need to change that—if I was to get anything out of this interaction. "Spill what you know. Don't make me wait." She ordered once again.
"Transport fuck-up's toxic for you, I know. So listen carefully." I said, once again trying to assert myself, it was hard over the phone, and not in a tense board meeting. But it seemed to be working already, I could see the ego in her eyes die ever-so-slightly, just enough to clear her head to hear what I had to say. "You an' me're gonna meet. See if we can't find a way to help each other out."
"Mutual self-interest, agreed…" She relented…although…a little too fast. "First exit off Skyline driving towards the NID. Storm channel under the overpass – meet you there." She finished, as I hung up the phone.
I turned to face Jackie and he was looking at me confused…as he should be. Assumedly, he'd only heard every other line out of my mouth.
"So? What happened? We got info, or what?" Jackie asked, having questions.
"Alright, rang her. She's in the area, hiding out in the storm channel around here, and we're gonna meet." I informed.
"Lemme guess – she's in hot corpo water, desperate, and you think you can use that?" Jackie said, smiling at bit at my low-cunning.
"I know I can…" I returned with a sly smirk.
After telling him to stop the bike, we got off, just under the overpass, right where she said she would be. We walked out way over to where the service bridge was that crossed over the storm channel. After getting a glimpse of their van, he and I both took cover, not letting them see us yet. I would need to analyze this situation. If I went it blind, that could mean I would mean my body would be spending the rest of its days at the bottom of a storm channel.
They hadn't seen us yet at all, not even an indication that they had. Since I needed to assess, I guess it would be a good time to use those fresh Kiroshi optics. Even without them though I could tell this was not going to be a meeting that was one-on-one. She'd brought two meathead bodyguards to make sure that I wouldn't just gank her right then and there. I began to scan the area, see what we were actually dealing with.
"Composite armor. Yeah, car's a fuckin' tank. Shit…" I whispered, I wasn't gonna bitch out or anything…but it was something to take into consideration…
"Yeah, Militech – no doubt about it. You sure you still wanna meet 'em?" Jackie whispered back, just loud enough that I could hear.
I moved my eyes to the corpo-woman. My Kiroshi optics couldn't even pick anything up off her… Corpo protection at its finest. But I needed to reaffirm my resolve to Jackie. If he saw that I was unsure, then he would be likely to either bail us both out of here or do something stupid while here.
"Yeah, gotta do this. But don't you move a damn muscle. Not unless I start, that is." I said, with Jackie's only reply being a silent thumbs-up.
DateTime Data:
June 28th, 2077, 5:49 PM
Song Choice: Fall – Eminem
Alex jumped down to where the three Militech personnel were stationed. They seemed startled at first, but quickly regained their composure.
"Look lively!" Meredith said, looking to her bodyguards, both of which had blue-dyed hair. "Meredith Stout. Take it you were the one to call…" She said addressing Alex now.
As he approached the armored van where she was standing, she reached out her hand to him, a silent gesture for him to shake it. He did not immediately say anything but reached his hand out to—
Just as he did so, Alex was grabbed by the bodyguard to his right and received a mean right-hook to his jawline. So hard it knocked his grey hood off, exposing his full face and black, short-cut hair. His body hit the ground with a thump and a scrape on the concreate. For a couple of seconds his eyes were turned to the partly-cloudy blue sky and sun. His vision darkened but refocused soon after as Meredith stepped over his fallen body, triumphant.
"Thought you could blackmail me, fucker?! Set conditions?!" She said, letting her unbridled fury loose on poor soul laying on the pavement. He had tampered with her most valued of things…her ego, and for that he could not go unpunished.
Alex began to look around frantically, catching a glimpse of Meredith's exceptionally angry expression. She walked away from him as her bodyguard restrained him from getting up. The other bodyguard then pulled an unknown man out of the backseat of the van.
"Got anymore for me?!" Meredith exclaimed again, perfectly fit to keep belittling him. The bodyguard then saw fit to hoist Alex up from his laying position on the ground.
"Calm the fu—ck down…! I just wanna talk!" Alex grunted out as he was slammed onto armored van's hood, hands behind his back. The bodyguard then turned him around, forcefully, taking his personal link and placing it into Alex's head. The bodyguard's eyes began to flicker red; an imitation of Alex's own emotional displays being reflected back onto the bodyguard.
The captive man, seemingly shocked at what she was doing, spoke up.
"Christ, Meredith…"
"Shut your trap!" She replied angrily, shutting him down. She came back over to see Alex, look him in the eyes, she wanted, no, needed to know who her opponent was.
"That fucking thing ready?!" She asked her bodyguard, implying the jack he'd placed into Alex's head, to which he replied with a nod of confirmation.
Alex knew what this was, or rather, what her what his direct connection was meant to do. It was a tactic that was used commonly among Arasaka CI. The fundamentals of it were that it functioned as a lie-detector. Considering that the brolic bodyguard had a pistol pointed directly at his head, resistance was not advised
"Now answer my questions. Honestly. Forthrightly. Are you here alone?" Meredith asked, not abiding any more antics and surely not an ambush.
Alex began to feel some panic… he began to think that bringing Jackie here was a mistake—and could possibly be a fatal error…for the both of them. But he couldn't give him up, he wouldn't. He'd need to channel a skill that as learned during his extensive training to become a CI officer at Arasaka, doublespeak. Doublespeak was a corpo's bread and butter, a perfect failsafe for nearly any situation…and a skill he'd not yet forgotten. He would just need to answer neutrally, to avoid triggering the lie detector and receiving a bullet to the face. Hopefully that would be enough…
"I'll tell you who's alone. You. Fail to recover that transport, and you're done. With not a soul willin' to help." Alex replied, shaking Meredith's resolve.
"Not another word!" She exclaimed, turning around to face her other guard, who was currently occupied with holding her captive at gunpoint. "Do a sweep. Now." She commanded, as a drone ejected from the van's side compartment.
Alex became significantly more worried at that sight. He'd just need to hope that Jackie was smart enough to leave before it found him.
Meredith turned her attention back to Alex once again.
"Now listen close. This piece of shit, Anthony Gilchrist, is he your contact? Is he the one who leaked intel on the convoy?" She asked, growing more, and more frantic.
Alex was able to steady himself enough to observe something, though. He noticed her line of questioning, it was nearly aimless, save for the captive's information. She really had no idea Maelstrom was involved…and she was shootin' in the dark. If he could take advantage of her ignorance, weaponize that, then he had a good chance of getting out of this alive.
"Got no ties to Militech. None." Alex replied, giving his first objective statement.
"Checks out." The jacked-in bodyguard said, confirming his statement.
"So how the fuck do you know so much?" Meredith responded almost immediately, her nerves starting to settle.
"C'mon, all corps use the same playbook. I know the game inside-out." He replied, resulting in Meredith's eyes squinting in suspicion. "Listen, I know where the transport is. I can help you. Just want a favor in return." Alex finished sternly.
Anthony seemed to be ecstatic at Alex's confession. As Meredith seemed to let up a bit on him, a look of perplexment clear on her face now, he'd broken her, now it was just a matter of getting what he wanted.
"I told you! I fucking told you! I'm not the mole! Jesus Christ!"
"Shut him up!" Meredith replied, more than annoyed at his outburst.
"Unhand me now before I—ungh!" He exclaimed before being cut off as he was shut back into the back seat of the van.
Meredith paced back and forth a bit, silently puzzled. After a few moments she came to her decision.
"Him you can let go – wanna hear what he has to say." She commanded, as the bodyguard released his pressure on his neck and unjacked from Alex's port, his eyes returning to normal. The bodyguard just backed off and still kept his gun trained closely on Alex.
Now in a civil speaking space, Alex cracked his neck to relive himself of the pressure and to at least appear loose.
"Couldn'ta been chill from the start?" He asked Meredith, with a faked smirk that was fishing for sympathy.
"Shut the fuck up. Tell me what you want." She replied, having no part in his jesting.
He just snickered a bit, and replied, hands still in the air.
"I need a bot – Flathead model." Alex said, finally getting to the purpose of this meeting. "Guys who ripped you off have it. Promise me that bot, I'll point the finger." Alex informed, being ever-so-careful to not reveal the name "Maelstrom" by accident.
"You have a plan how to deal with 'em?" Meredith asked, having no patience for this man, who was, in all likelihood, just some upstart with little, to no training who'd just get himself killed.
"Could just take it by force. But they're expecting payment, so I could go that route, too." Alex replied, as Meredith began to pace once again, thinking.
After a few more moments of silent thought, she responded.
"Hmm…Fine, the latter. But on one condition – you pay with our money." She ordered, causing Alex to inwardly laugh.
Meredith walked around to Alex's left side, brushing up against him, seemingly on purpose as she had no reason to. Her direction was towards the car door, which she opened and drew out a credchip.
Alex's inward chuckling turned into outward snickering. Just seeing Meredith's overly-confident face, like he didn't know exactly what she was up to. Too easy…
"That the kind of subtlety they teach at Militech? I'm disappointed. Chip's spiked with a virus, clearly." Alex said, proverbially spitting in her face. Her taken-aback expression was utterly priceless to Alex, he lived for these kinds of moments when his months of intense training and years of field experience was still able to pay off.
Meredith knew she'd been backed in a corner, she was just so…confused as to how he knew so much, and surely intrigued—the easy answer was that he worked at some other corp. But it couldn't have just been any position either, had to have been something higher-up. At every turn he'd intercepted her, and now she was forced to fess-up.
She looked down reflexively for just the smallest of seconds and admitted, "That is true."
"Somethin' goes wrong. I'm the one they'll fill full of holes, not you. Time you were straight with me. What's on there?" Alex questioned firmly.
"A tracing algorithm, latches onto financial streams. Nothing you need to worry your pretty-little-head about." She admitted, trying anything and everything to convince this man to take the chip.
Alex, still not fully trusting her, squinted his eyes. But decided to take the chip anyway.
"Sounds solid enough. I'm in." Alex said, grabbing the credchip out of her hand.
She gave a smirk and said, bidding him to leave, as she opened the door to the armored van.
"You pay with that chip, and that's all you gotta worry about." Meredith said, trying to encourage him. "Oh, and try to fuck me in anyway, and I'll be seeing you real soon."
The drone returned to its compartment in the van as it started up. And Alex could just barely hear Anthony's voice yelling,
"You're making a mistake! This cunt's already good as dead! And she'll take you down with her!" He warned as the van drove away and out of the storm channel.
"Ah! I see you cleared out quick." I said to Jackie as he was sitting on his bike just outside the All Foods center.
"Yeah, second I saw that drone come flyin' out… I was gone. Besides, you told me to let you handle it, do I did." He said with a grin. "Though… can't say it was easy just leavin' you there to get your shit kicked. But you're usually pretty good at talkin' your way outta shit. So, tell me, what'd ya get squared away?"
"Morgynn told you about Dex right? About how he's handled this Royce and Brick situation?" I asked, not completely aware of what he did and didn't already know.
"Yeah—and?" Jackie asked, a confused look on his face.
"Yeah, well, he payed… up front for the damn bot—to Brick. And we got no way of knowin' if Royce intends to honor the deal." I informed.
"You sure? Morgynn told me, but I wasn't sure someone like Dex would do something like that, but I guess now…? Hijole…" Jackie said as he looked to the pavement and shook his head. "Well, whatever. Let's go get this tech. You scheme yet? Corpo-lady tell you anything useful?"
"Since I'm almost certain Royce won't just give us the bot out of the kindness of his heart, I've come up with a plan. Militech and me, we found some common ground. They're footin' the bill for the bot." I explained, resulting in a skeptical furrowing of Jackie's eyebrows.
"That's a lotta scratch to toss away." He replied.
"Forget it, Jack. It'll be like we never had it in the first place. Anyway, who knows how this deal's gonna shake out. Besides, credchip's laced—know it for a fact." I said, continuing to explain my plan.
Jackie just shook his head again, trying to make sense of what I had in mind.
"Well, shit, soon as they learn that, it'll be our blood on the floor. Might wanna fill 'em in on that." He suggested
I was surprised that he would even suggest something like that. I laughed a bit as I replied, "Mean tell 'em we trade in toxic cash? Heh. They will be pissed."
"Well, hey? Sometimes it's better to play with an open hand, que no? Just sayin'." Jackie replied.
I didn't respond and we just sat in silence for a few moments, taking in the concrete scenery around us.
"So, into the borgbeasts' den?" Jack said, breaking the silence.
"Onward, sir knight." I joked back as Jackie snickered and hiked his leg over his motorcycle and began walking to the front door of All Foods.
"All right, let's knock on their door. See if they even open up." Jackie suggested as we approached.
Jackie stopped about midway and began to speak as we continued our walk up.
"I hate these borg fuckers. Just had to be them…"
I regarded him with surprise, Jackie normally wasn't one to get jumpy before a job. That was usually my job to be overly-cautious. "Just a gang like any other right." I responded, only because I had confidence in my own plan.
He put his left hand up almost as if he was pointing at something.
"Take the Valentinos. They follow God and the Santa Madre. Honor mean's somethin' to 'em." He said, beginning to make his point. "They know what they want, how to get it, aannd what pisses 'em the fuck off. With Maelstrom, you just never know."
We finally stood at the entrance, and Jackie suggested.
"Go on, let 'em know we're here." He said as I made my way over to the old intercom.
Most of the framework of it looked to be from around the turn of the century—maybe a little later. But it had certainly been messed with—upgraded. Case-and-point, there was a digital 'call' button that wasn't even in production until the 2030s. I pressed it and it rang for a few, before being picked up by one of the members. The camera above the 'call' button seemed to focus in on my face as the call was picked up.
"Hmm… don't know you." The member observed from the other side of the intercom.
"What an amazing observation!" I said, sarcasm oozing from my words "Just open the fuckin' door." I fired, already growing tired of this. If this was the type of intelligence level I was dealing with… It was going to be a long day.
"Yeah?! You make a fuckin' appointment? 'Cause I didn't see nothin' in my book." He replied.
Christ alive… I thought, just shocked that he would continue this shit as long as he as—he had to already know who we were.
"Wanna talk to Royce. Dex sent us." I spoke, stating my reason for being here.
I heard only silence for a moment or two.
"Main room. We been waiting." He replied, confirming my suspicions.
Jackass. I thought, as the garage-style door opened up and we entered.
Song Choice: Close Probing – Marcin Przybylowicz
As the door opened up, we were greeted with two .50 caliber turrets with intelligent targeting lasers. I was taken aback and did not dare move. This was not equipment that I had expected from them. Goons 'n guns maybe, but nothing this high-tech.
The turrets powered down and Jackie decided to take the first steps in.
"Cozy place. Could use a few plants, though." He joked, referencing the turrets as I began to follow him inside.
It was dimly lit and even the lights still flickered from time to time. Anything that wasn't within the bounds of pale white LEDs were drenched in shadow. Miscellaneous stuffs strewn around everywhere, reminded me of some suburb's garage sale. No organization to things, just shit left to rot, decay, and gather dust on aluminum shelves.
"Oh yeah, they look damn well prepared. Don't think I've ever seen security like this in an abandoned chow factory." I said, looking at their accumulated weapon's stock.
I looked and saw an old, rusted sign that read, "ALL FOODS". It reminded me of what I'd heard about the place when I was in Arasaka. Place was a pig slaughterhouse, and was ironically alive and kickin' up until Arasaka stepped in to control Watson…after that, this location got shut down. Now, it was one of the prime hideouts for the Maelstrom gang.
Me and Jackie walked a bit further until we came upon a small staircase leading upward. I almost tripped a laser that thankfully got powered down before I was stupid enough to just go waltzing though. I looked and saw that it was a mine, strapped to the lower part of the wall that hugged the staircase to the left. It had a logo painted on in white, I squinted my eyes to see it in the dim lighting. It read, "Militech"
"Gear from the jacked convoy…gotta be. Must've been all over it like maggots on dead meat…" Jackie commented.
"Yep, stuff's Militech all right. Anti-personnel mine, directional shrapnel spitter. My favorite…" I replied, looking back at him standing over my shoulder from my crouched position.
"Psycho borgs chromed out with military-grade hardware worth millions… Should be fun." He joked, as we progressed on though the vacant hallways.
We came to another metal door and it opened upwards revealing a supremely bright light. I put my hand up to block its shine, at least a little. I walked forward with little notion of where exactly "forward" was. As I put my hand up to gain some contrast back in my eyes. I saw it was someone manning a spotlight in our eyes. Jackie moved up with me and we kept walking as the man with the spotlight continued to follow us, at a profile angle this time. Another crossed the metal service bridge above our heads.
"Get in the elevator! Fuckin' sheep!" The man on the bridge said, pointing our way there.
Jackie must have seen me stop for a second as he turned around quickly with a look of comfort.
"Stay cool… They're just tryin to spook us."
We entered the rusty elevator as two other members slid the old doors behind us and sent us up. Jackie could see that I was breathing a bit heavier now.
"All right, keep chilled, Alex, 'member that confidence you had? Keep it. But remember, we're on their turf, now." Jackie warned, not really helping my case.
The rusty entrance door to the elevator opened up to reveal anther member, waiting…
"So, whaddaya want?" He asked us, obviously suspicious, but had a recognizable voice…it was the same one I'd heard from the intercom.
"Here to see Royce, we got biz to transact." Jackie responded for me as I regained my composure.
"Mr. Royce is busy just now. You'll deal with me." He replied, shutting my plea for Royce down, quickly.
"You got a bot – model MT0D12, called the Flathead." I said, now ready to speak openly.
"And? The hell you care?" He replied petulantly.
"Guy we represent already paid Brick for it. I'm just for the pick-up. We can talk direct to Royce, if necessary." I explained, resulting in the gangoon shaking his head.
"Nah, you'll talk to me. Name's Dum Dum." He answered, pointing over to his right. "Now, couch. Plant it." He ordered.
Amazing… I'm dealing with Dum Dum…Whoo hoo… I thought to myself as I walked over to the criminally dirty leather couch and sat down. Although Jackie didn't seem to want to oblige.
The one called Dum Dum didn't seem to take to kindly to this as Jackie's reaction to his… hospitality seemed to offend him.
"Ahh, well, shit. Goes for you too." He said, addressing Jack.
"I'll stand." Jackie stated defiantly, as the tension began to build.
Dum Dum made an impulsive move in his anger and jabbed Jackie in his side, with his pistol, no less. Jackie turned to face him, his face getting redder, it was obvious that he didn't respect these guys, and they could tell, clear as day.
"That so fuckin' hard?! Fuckin' ass on the fuckin' couch!" Dum Dum exclaimed at him, gesturing at the couch.
"Make me." He replied calmly, getting up in Dum Dum's cybernetic face.
As the tension continued to rise, I felt that It was becoming more and more likely that Jackie's pride could jeopardize an already risky plan.
Dum Dum smiled at Jackie's reply and said, "Thought you'd never ask…"
"Jesus, Jack, what gives?" I asked, growing frustrated.
"Primerito, I don't like this guy's tone. Segundo, sitting on your ass makes you an easy target." He responded, as I got up and tapped him on the shoulder. I gave him a look of plea, to not throw this deal away, and he seemed to understand.
"Jack, siddown."
His face softened a bit and he sat on the couch.
"This ain't gonna end well but… Shit."
"Well, all right." Dum Dum said, appeased now.
Dum Dum then came around and sat on the metal table in front of the couch to continue our conversation. Now that he was close, I was able to get more than a good glimpse at his face and body. His skin was sown and welded together, metal conjoining his shoulders to his torso, his hands to his arms. His face, the most obviously changed, had many metal eyes, like a spider. By my count, there were at least 7, and they all glowed a dark orange constantly. His nose bridge was completely plated in metal, surely to support the weight of his metal eyes and forehead. His arms had unorganized wires that would come to the surface, and would sit externally only to dive back beneath his skin to connect to other cybernetics. He, and all the other Maelstrom gang members, seemed to have this commonality of makeshift. The cyberware they were constantly augmenting themselves with wasn't high-end slick shit, it was thrown-together, and sometimes outright botched. His voice, as I'd noticed with the others, was distorted, clearly metallic. As if their larynx had been ripped out and replaced for no obvious reason. It frankly made them sound as if their voice was coming out of a radio.
He pulled an inhaler out of his pocket pant pocket and handed it to me.
"Come on, gotta lighten up." He said with a sickening smile. "Take a hit."
"What is it?" I asked Dum Dum.
"S-keef. Shit kicks you in the ass." Jackie said, apparently familiar with the stuff as he gave me a cautionary look.
"It's a fuckin' rush, man! Gotta feel it for yourself." Dum Dum encouraged excitedly. "Come on, give it a whirl."
Against my better judgement, and possibly at influence of my jumpy nerves, I took the inhaler in an effort to be cordial. And this wasn't some bitch shit either… the alternative was being filled with holes, by psychopathic cyborgs.
I took a hit of the inhaler and could immediately feel the after affects. Though nothing felt off…just everything felt better.
Dum Dum clapped his hands excitedly as he saw my pupils dilate, and asked,
"Better?"
I handed him the inhaler back as I nodded and he seemed to be pleased with that response. He himself took a long hit and shook his head, feeling the aftereffects quickly.
"Now we can talk…" Dum Dum stated, as another member came out of a backroom holding a large, obviously military, box.
The other member placed the box on the table next to Dum Dum.
"Here we go. The Flathead, model MT0D12." He revealed as he looked at the still-closed box next to him.
"Militech's not gonna come lookin' for it?" I questioned in an effort to play along.
"Fuck 'em. They can hop around and try." He replied, more aggressively than I anticipated. "We removed the serial number and lifted the access locks using our soft. Once it's yours, it's yours."
"Need to see it." I commanded.
"Suit yourself." Dum Dum replied.
He threw open the lid to the military box to reveal the bot. Once he did so, he reached in and grabbed a shard out.
"Fuckin' tricked out this thing. Dynamic, thermo-optic camo armor. Full cognitive immersion with a Raven controller." He explained before slotting in the shard from the box.
Morgynn's gonna have a field day with this puppy. I thought to myself.
As he did so, the lights on the robot turned blue as it activated climbing out of its box. Disappearing nearly disappearing before our eyes. If one focused hard enough though, they would see it's outline.
"Pimped out, prototype actuators made out of titanium-vanadium-Kevlar composite." Dum Dum animatedly. " 'N' watch this…" He said, commanding our attention as the bot jumped out of its box and began to run around, even going as far as to walk up the walls. It quickly made its way directly above us, and crawled a bit on the ceiling.
"Fully integrated link, too, so then the spider starts crawlin' up the walls, danglin' from ceilings…" Dum Dum explained, as he gagged a bit.
"Mhm, could lose your lunch." I finished as the tech-demo for the bot seemingly had ended as it made its way back into its box, perfectly.
"So whatcha think?" Dum Dum asked, wanting to know our final decision.
"Yep, we'll take it." I replied, taking their offer.
Dum Dum unslotted the shard and placed it carefully back into its housing compartment in the box.
"Preem, sure, yeah. Let's see your cred." He demanded, gesturing with his right hand for us to hand the credchip over to him.
"Brick got it. It's all paid up." I replied, telling him the truth.
Just then, another garage-like door flew to the ceiling, revealing another member of the gang. This time though, wearing fully black leather, from jacket to shoes. His face, exceedingly similar to his comrades seemed to be fuming with anger as he approached, and fast. Dum Dum quickly turned around and got out of the way. I assumed this to be Royce in that moment.
"Brick got it…" Heh." Royce mocked, as he drew his gun from the back of his pants, which was concealed by his jacket. He first aimed it a Jackie who was sitting to my left, then to me. I put my hands up, as he had me at point blank with what seemed like a Arasaka: JKE-X2 Kenshin. It was a pistol that was powered by railgun technology, a favorite of many Arasaka agents, including myself. There was no way drew my knife and killed him before I had two burning holes through my head, not to mention his other associates who were all also aiming weaponed at us.
"I don't see any fuckin' Brick around here, do you?!" He yelled at us.
I needed to speak up, and quickly. This was the kinda guy who didn't give two shits if you ended up in a ditch with yesterday's trash burying you.
"Fuck Brick, then! Let's cut a new deal." I said, really hoping this Militech should would come in handy.
Somewhat taken aback by my returned aggression in my situation he decided to impress upon me the reality of it. He took his gun and pressed it up against my forehead. Putting just enough pressure for me to feel it. I decided that it was just a test, a test of willpower, and stood strong. Thankfully he lifted the barrel off my head, but still kept the thing pointed at me.
"Hah! Now that's good business sense!" He said, in an oddly happy manner. "All right, you want the Flathead? I better see some eddies."
I offered the Militech credchip Meredith had given me without any hesitation… and Royce seemed catch on…
"Relax. Got 'em right here."
He seemed surprised, nearly suspicious.
"Just like that? Without battin' a fuckin' eye?! Hahah!" Royce replied, not taking the hint that I wanted to calm down the situation. Then again… maybe he just wasn't that kind of guy.
"I hand over the chip, you hand over the bot. Clean an' easy, no complications." I responded calmly.
He laughed at me again, and began to tease us as me and Jackie just sat there on the couch, helpless. Seems Jackie really was right to stand.
"Look at this fuckin' boy scout! You know all your knots, got all your badges?! Hahaha!" He laughed. "Y'know ya never did say who sent you, never did say who you're workin' for…" He trailed off, voicing his suspicion.
Royce began to annoy me… his constant teasing and aggression made for an agonizing cocktail, but I had to keep a cool head.
"Dexter DeShawn, that's who." I replied punctually.
He nodded his head in realization of what this whole situation was.
"Dexter DeShawn…" Royce said, making the catastrophic mistake to lower his gun. "The lard ass who punching-animal-fucked half of Pacifica? Mean he ain't dead?" He said, losing control of his laughter now as he turned away from us and for the slightest second, caused his other mates to begin laughing as well. Me and Jackie nodded to one-another and jumped up from the couch and pulled out our weapons on Royce and a couple of the other gangmates.
In this moment, Royce both a pistol at the back of his skull and a bowie-knife at his throat. Dum Dum, who was now holding an assault rifle, was looking at Jackie down the barrel of a .45 custom Tsunami Nue.
"No, he's alive and kickin'. An' he sends his regards." Jackie quipped.
Royce turned to even the scales and quickly jabbed the over-under barrel of his Kenshin to my ribs.
"So, you gonna consider my offer now." I asked confidently. Oddly enough, this was a situation I was much more accustom to this kind of situation and was less anxious. Before, I knew I had no control of the situation, they coulda done anything to me and I would've just been able to sit there. Now? I at least felt I had more—and that was all I needed.
He struggled to answer, not wanting to admit I'd gained power in the negotiation.
"Mmm…Mhm…"
"Cred's on this." I said, putting the chip to his jacket. He slowly moved his other hand to the credchip, just to show that he wasn't trying to grab the knife from me. He knew he would've been too slow anyway. Second he tried; I would've jammed the knife into his skull so far that the tip would've been lateral with his metallic eyes.
He raised the chip to show they he'd gotten it, and that his other members could relax a bit. Dum Dum seemed to be excited that we were back to being civil and acted as if nothing had happened. We sat down on the couch as me and Jackie waited for the credchip's funds to got through. But I was still cautious, hand still firmly on my knife handle.
"Phew, hey, Flathead's good gear. It'll do the trick for ya, whatever that trick is." Dum Dum said, resuming his excited attitude.
Soon, the lights began to flicker until they most exploded, leaving only a few to dimly shine. The shattering glass called attention from the members. As Royce began to yell from his computer.
"Shit. Shit, shit, shit chip's got a vector, they're breakin' in!" He yelled, as me and Jakcie jumped our feet. "Zero 'em! I want heads!" Royce finished as he closed the garage-like door to cover his escape.
I jumped behind the couch to get my bearing for a moment or two. Soon, shots began to fire at us in the darkened room. I drew my pistol and knife and began to fire back, killing a couple of the other goons before all that as left was Dum Dum, who Jackie took great pleasure in putting those orange, glowing lights out with a bullet directly though his center eye.
"Mierda! We're cut off!" Jackie exclaimed as he cased the area, seeing that we there was no obvious way out. I was more worried with the fact that sirens were going off everywhere. We would have to find a way out, and quick. If reinforcements arrived before we could… it was game over…
"Grab the gear – bot and control shard. Quick!" Jackie ordered as I examined the case, making sure everything was still there. I confirmed it was and shut the box.
"Got the set – bot and controller." I replied, resulting in a nod from Jackie.
"Then let's go. Quicker the better." Jackie said, finding a way out via a ladder. "I'm dyin' for some fresh air."
We took the ladder and ventured though the hallways, killing whatever stood in our way. For as chromed-out as they were. Most of the cybernetics Maelstrom had were purely cosmetic. For the most part, they went down just like anyone else. As we progressed on, Jackie seemed to spot something off. There was a man who was being kept in a seemingly ordinary room. But it looks like he was one of the Maelstromers. Why would they keep in locked up in here?
Jackie seemed to recognize the man and told me it was Brick, the former gang leader. It seemed that Royce as lying, he'd not killed brick, but simply locked him up. I noticed that seemingly ordinary room was laced with mines and bombs, and that was what was holding this massive man prisoner.
I searched the area and found a computer-case that had a code on it, addressed to Brick. Why Royce would keep something like that? I didn't know. But he didn't strike me as the brightest bulb in the room either.
I input the code and didn't immediately hear anything from outside the room. Though, Brick seemed to look around for a minute, but got up fiercely and threw open the sliding-glass door, shattering it. I thought he was gonna strangle us both, with the look in those trademark orange eyes. But he was just happy to get the hell out of that cell.
Me and Jackie tried to petition him to help…but he declined. Said he needed to get his bearings—firstly, get himself the fuck outta there. We offered to help him, but he insisted that he had it covered. He ran off down the hallway and that was the last we saw of him.
After making our way further. Dodging bullets, cutting, and shooting. We finally came upon the chamber where Royce ha seemingly fled to.
Jackie and I had come up with a plan. Royce hadn't seen us yet, as he was currently indisposed, distracted with his makeshift mech-suit. Jack told me to find an alternative way, a way to get Royce from behind, where his fuel canister was. He offered to be the bait and distract Royce, while I got in position. We confirmed the plan and I rolled up my sleeves, readying myself for what I needed to do.
With a single thought, my forearms began to split and contort. The fake skin separated and revealed machined-muscle fibers and metal, synthetic. My forearms were merely chambers that held inside, a most deadly secret. What arose from my now separated cybernetic forearms, were blades. These were the Mantis Blades. Specialized secret weapons originally pioneered by Arasaka themselves. I'd used them on many-a-mission in my time there. They were constructed out of a super light titanium alloy, that, when contracted, would add barely any weight. To me, they were no heavier than any other bone would be. Now, they were my secret weapon and one I fully intended to use with full discretion.
I slammed the point of the blade into the smooth concrete walls that surrounded me and began to climb. I would climb around, quietly, and ambush Royce from behind, giving him little-to-no time to react to me. He wouldn't see an ariel stealth attack coming…
Royce began to yell at his last-remaining assistant, growing frustrated at his mech-suits repeated malfunctioning.
"There's no link! Gonna cook your core!" The assistant exclaimed, concerned.
"Shut your trap! I'm ready! Lemme at 'em!" Royce replied, with no care for his own safety.
Jackie then jumped down from the railing and began to fire, exciting Royce even more. Jackie continued this as Royce charged his mech-gun and fired. It was like no gun I'd ever seen before. It fired a rectangular projectile that was superheated somehow. But I wasn't gonna waste time trying to categorize weaponry when I should be getting in position.
Nearly hitting Jackie a few times, Royce was gaining on him, stomping left and right, growing more, and angrier at Jackie's evasiveness. He never thought to question my lack of presence however… a fatal mistake.
I jumped down from my shadow-cloaked perch and drove my 2-foot-long blades into his back. He screamed loudly in pain as I kicked off of the flaming fuel canister and took cover as it looked like it could blow any second.
It did, and with-it Royce again screamed, as fuel and flames covered his body. I turned my attention quickly to his assistant who was now aware of my presence. He began to fire at me with his assault rifle, but I used my reinforced tendon's in my legs to propel myself upward. I launched high enough to evade him for a millisecond and kicked off of the pillar to my left, and let my Mantis Blades come down upon him separating him into two halves. His body simply stood there and I could see the bloody split his blood and some of his organs began to leak out of his head and torso. The two dead halves began to fully separate and fall on opposite sides, his guts and organs spilling everywhere around him.
I looked back to Royce who seemed to have gone unconscious from the extreme pain. I walked up to him—if for nothing else but to gloat.
"Y-you… You dirty little shitbucket kid. I'll blow your head off! Ill—"
"That won't be necessary…" I said quickly driving my right blade thought the burned flesh of his throat and though his cybernetic skull, now exposed in a mix of burnt-off skin and metallic bones. He stopped in his tracks, choking on his own fluids and the titanium blade. I stared into his flickering orange eyes as his life faded from him, before going completely limp.
I withdrew the blade from his head and throat, cleaning them off quickly before retracting them back into my forearms, and rolled my sleeves down—as if nothing had happened.
Jackie seemed to be a little shocked at my brutal attitude towards him but brushed it off. He came up and gave me a high-five as he pointed the way towards the exit.
"C'mon Alex, let's get outta here."
DateTime Data:
June 28th, 2077, 8:36 PM
We walked over to the door, and the second it opened I was greeted with the smell of industrial fuel and a great gust of fresh air. I observed that it was already nighttime. We got scanned by a Militech drone, but seeing as it didn't try to shoot us, Meredith was somewhere around. We were then assaulted by bright lights. We realized soon that it was a whole squadron. At least five different armored cars, and even a couple AVs sat outside, waiting.
"Ugh, Militech. They got those things buzzin; around everywhere." Jackie commented towards the drone as we pushed forward, our work, seemingly incomplete. The drone flew off back to one of the vans as I made eye contact with Meredith.
Another AV flew overhead as me and Jackie continued towards Meredith.
"Past the gate. We can talk there." He said a bit louder to get over the noise of the AV. Just before we were within earshot of Meredith, Jackie inquired, "That the Militech bitch…?"
"Mhm…" I replied softly.
I approached her and she had a sly smile on her face.
"Betcha didn't expect to see me here." She said, taking a draw of her cigarette."Y'know I like the way you operate. Maybe you'd do some more work for us?"
"Be more than glad to." I replied cordially, resulting in a confused look from Jackie.
"Till next time then, Alex. Corporate gods willing." She said with what someone could almost call a soft look. "Secure the area!" She exclaimed returning to her usual commanding demeanor.
Jackie bumped my arm and suggested,
"Time we were on our way, carnal."
We walked away, quite far enough to talk normally. Jackie's rough exterior broke down and he seemed to let some of that pent up anxiety out with a long sigh.
"Holy shit, Alex. Wasn't sure we'd walk out in one piece." He said with a relieved grin.
"Thanks, Jack. Solid as ever." I replied, feeling like I could also let a bit of that tension die.
He seemed a bit concerned at my wording though.
"Hey, yeah, you too, but uh… Hey, what's this about though? You feelin' all right? Head swimmin' again?"
"Nah, just—wanna make sure… you know? We work good together. I like how we do things, that's all." I replied trying to alleviate his worry.
He didn't immediately respond, just looked at me for a bit, acknowledging that I was being sentimental for moment, not something I, or anyone in the group did regularly, for that matter.
"I do too, Al. I do too." He said, relaying the unspoken companion moment we'd had. " 'Ey, let Dex know we got his toy for him. And then I say we hit the Afterlife tomorrow night, hahaha… You know, do some shots." He said, sobering up, and throwing us back into reality.
We arrived at his motorcycle and he hopped on and cranked'er up. He reached out his fist to me and I gave him a proper fist-bump as I pulled out my holophone from my pocket and dialed the contact info Morgynn gave me as Jackie drove off down the street and into the night…
Dex picked up the phone after a couple rings, smoking a thick cigar.
"And I assume you're Alex-Mercer then, or am I wrong? Dex greeted struggling to remember my name, as I continued to stand on the darkened street corner under the orange glow of the streetlight.
"Indeed I am." I replied.
"So, how're things lookin, Mr. Mercer?" He asked, taking the cigar out of his mouth, antsy to hear my reply.
"Got the bot." I replied slowly. I could feel the adrenaline fading and tiredness take its place.
"And how'd it go? Run into any trouble? And what about the Militech angle?" He continued to inquire.
"Sure. 'Course there was trouble. Royce could't've given two shits that you and Brick had shaken on it."
"How'd you get him on board? You use the corpo-woman?" He replied wanting to know every detail of a job well-done
I nodded and confirmed,
"Met with Stout. Managed to strike a deal."
He smiled and put the cigar back between his teeth.
"Well, well." Dex answered, becoming more, and more impressed as I went on.
"Gave me the chip with the scratch for Maelstrom. Virus attack their systems, scorched a handful of Maelstromers. Me and Jackie took care of the rest."
His hologram pulled down his glasses, shocked that I took that route…and lived.
"You got some balls, Mr. Mercer."
"Anything about Morgynn yet, how's that job panning out?" I asked, sure that he would know something by now.
"As a matter-of-fact I just got a call from your boy, Sam. Told me that they'd spoken to the client, eased her worries, and got some enlightening information for us to discuss—tomorrow."
"So then, seems we're all set. What now?" I asked him, somewhat surprised to hear that Morgynn and Sam took the initiative to talk to the client today rather than tomorrow, which they could've easily done.
"Now we do the job I hired y'all to do – grabbing that biochip. We'll talk about the rest at The Afterlife. See you there." He informed, which made my ears perk up a little.
Guess that why Jackie suggested The Afterlife then. I thought as Dex hung up the phone
I began my walk home as I called Morgynn and Sam to come pick my lone-ass up. I'm sure we'd have a lot of shit to catch up on…