Chapter 4: Suspected
A bag filled with boxes of tofu chow mein swayed gently in Symon's left hand as he walked through the streets of the Northside. With his right hand, he ate a large, crispy egg roll drizzled in spicy mustard and sweet duck sauce. The egg roll was the last part of Symon's breakfast as he headed to the Graturn Northside distribution center. He picked up both articles of food at a restaurant in Kabuki. He was dressed in a gray uniform with light green shoulders.
Trash and flattened cardboard was strewn about the streets of the Northside. Most of the buildings were lower to the ground and often in various states of disrepair. Unlike the large skyscrapers in City Center, the buildings in the Northside gave way to an open sky that was shared with rectangular AVs flying high through the air and the occasional megabuilding. Many of the buildings in the Northside were industrial. They were often made of concrete and adorned with smoke stacks, metal railings, and pipes. Graffiti often coated the walls. Streets in the Northside were somewhat sparse, save for the occasional pedestrian and small shop.
Symon crunched away at the last bit of his egg roll. He balled up the wax paper and tossed it into an overflowing trash can. He began heading towards a dirty alleyway. In it, he saw two people. One was a sleeping beggar named Friday. He wore a wool cap and blue light coat with many pockets. He was lying against the wall with his possessions in a large backpack beside him. Another man was standing by, looking at a cracked phone. He wore a dirty set of dark red jogging clothes. His face and neck showed many signs of cyberware upgrades, but most were stripped from him. The man's name was Isaac. Despite everything that had been taken from him, he managed to hold onto his Militech-issued phone. The phone had been freed from its corporate software and constraints. At the moment, Isaac was trying to find ways to get back into a corporate position,
Friday noticed Symon walking in first. He smiled when he saw Symon and the familiar plastic bag. He called over to Isaac. Isaac looked up quickly from the screen and nodded.
"Chow mein. Still warm," Symon stated as he began to set it on the ground.
"Now, now, gourmet food like this shouldn't be on the floor," Friday responded, moving a box underneath the bag.
"No wine with our feast?" Isaac said, jokingly.
"I suppose you could suck on the duck sauce packets. There are two water bottles in there, too," Symon replied.
"Please, let me pay for this," Isaac requested.
"No, pay me by not being hungry. Take care," Symon insisted before leaving. As he turned the corner, Friday and Isaac opened up the bag. Inside were packets of condiments, fortune cookies, two bottles of water, and tofu chow mein. They broke apart the chopsticks and began eating.
"If a third of the people in this city were like him, it'd be paradise," Friday exclaimed.
Most people would call Symon crazy for walking in the Northside. They were probably right, but Symon was familiar with the area. In addition, having a car doesn't make you immune to crime in Night City. You could be carjacked instead of mugged, if not both. Still, even the Northside was relatively safe during the day. Symon eventually came up near the loading docks of the distribution center. Every so often he would have to come by to run reports, audit records, inspect the area, and speak with the operations managers. Once all that was done, he would lend a hand to help out with miscellaneous office tasks or even work on the floor. He had to do this every couple weeks. Symon put on a working cap and rang the electronic greeter.
Several hours later, Symon was walking out of the distribution center and on his way to the metro. For the most part, it was an uninteresting day. Nothing unusual showed up on the audits, and the center was as busy as always. That said, three days had passed since the transport in the Northside was attacked. In Night City, this was a somewhat common occurrence. What caused discussion in the distribution center was the involvement of Arasaka in retrieving the packages.
Director Serra only stated Arasaka retrieved packages they were due, and nothing else. Rumors began to spread about exactly what was going on and why. Some thought the packages were stolen, and Arasaka was reclaiming them. Others thought Arasaka was confiscating someone else's cargo. Even those who expressed Arasaka likely made the delivery request wondered why they would use Graturn Logistics instead of one of their own transporters. Symon had his own thoughts on the matter, but it was not a concern to him. Arasaka took what they wanted and said nothing else.
There was still some sunlight out as Symon walked through the Northside. However, the sun was setting and people retreated to their homes. Symon walked briskly, his eyes constantly scanning the streets and alleyways. The Northside was mostly empty save the occasional shambling pedestrian. However, as Symon got closer to the station, he noticed something odd in an alleyway up ahead. He thought he saw someone peering out of it.
Symon crossed the street to the other sidewalk and continued towards the metro. As he walked by the alleyway across the street, he saw a silhouette running off. Even through squinted eyes, Symon couldn't make out who they were. Now distracted, Symon failed to notice the men in the side alley just up ahead of him. As he got close, a man in a purple hoodie jumped out and swung a fist at Symon.
Almost out of an innate reflex, Symon deftly dodged the blow and shoved the other man hard into the wall. Symon began to take off towards the metro, but two other men sprinted from the alley and grabbed him. They had trouble pulling Symon into the alley until one stuck a pistol in Symon's face. One of the attackers grabbed Symon's pistol and tossed it aside.
"Don't be a gonk, we just gotta chat," the man with the pistol stated. He wore a faux leather jacket, had a high fade haircut, and cyberware lines on his cheeks. Symon stopped struggling and took a look at his assailants. The one with the purple hoodie switched places with the man with the gun and held Symon against the wall. This way, the man with the gun could stand in front of Symon. The other man holding Symon was wearing a combat vest and had camouflage pants. All three showed signs of cyberware upgrades.
"Are you with Graturn Logistics?" the man with the gun asked. Symon looked at him in confusion. "Are you with Graturn Logistics?" the man repeated.
"Yes," Symon replied.
"3 days ago, a van got blasted. What was inside?"
"I don't know."
Symon saw the blow coming and rolled to the side as the man struck him with the gun. It still hit hard.
"Don't screw with me, choom. What was in the van?"
"I… I would need to find out for you. That's private information," Symon claimed, looking down. The man grabbed Symon by the chin and lifted his head. He scanned Symon's tired expression.
"I get it. Let's take you somewhere you'll be more cooperative," the man declared.
"What?"
With a gesture, the man ordered the two to take Symon deeper into the alley. They began dragging him back with the jacketed man following behind. As the two men dragged Symon by both of his arms, he saw the view of the street growing smaller. The only warning Symon gave for what was to follow was a blink longer than most.
Symon pulled both his feet behind him and planted them firmly on the ground. In one swift motion, he yanked both arms out of the grasp of the two men and lunged towards the man with the gun. One man's arm broke from the speed and force of the movement. Both lost their balance. With his left arm, Symon caught and crushed the jacketed man's wrist holding the gun. With his right arm, Symon grabbed his head and smashed it into the wall, killing him instantly. He caught the gun as the man's hand went limp. Symon turned around and fired two rounds into the man with the hoodie between his neck and chest. All this happened in less than a second. As the man in the hoodie crumpled, the other man began stumbling back, fumbling for his own gun.
"W-wait!" he stammered. Symon fired three rounds. Two went into his chest and combat vest, but one landed in his head, directly between his eyes and nose. He spoke no more.
Once all three men lay dead on the floor, Symon turned the gun towards the darkness inside the alley, then back towards the street. Then he looked up for anyone looking below. Once he saw he was alone, he wiped down the gun with his sleeve and set it in the hands of the jacketed man. He took out his phone and took pictures of the bodies. An eerie silence followed the violence. Symon picked up his own gun and holstered it. He walked out of the alley and towards the metro. The streets of the Northside were as empty and dirty as before.
Symon boarded the train out of the Northside. Once he was back in Wellsprings, he walked without stopping until he reached his apartment. Rather than head to the kitchen like he usually did, he walked into the bathroom.
Why me?
Symon looked into the mirror. A red bruise was starting to grow and swell under his right eye.
Why Graturn?
Symon washed his hands and face before getting changed. He pulled out his phone and looked at the images of the men he killed. It was then, he noticed they were wearing patches on their shoulders. It was a dark red oval with what looked like a black coiled snake. Electricity seemed to spark from the snake. It wasn't an insignia Symon recognized.
No. Not again. In 2 days, this ends.
Instead of his usual comfortable dinner, Symon grabbed soy nutrient paste and protein packs. He pulled a map of the Northside and studied it carefully. For the rest of the night, he began looking into each aspect of what happened. Despite everything, Symon still slept at his usual time.
"What happened to you?" Kingston asked Symon.
"Just an accident," Symon replied. The bruise had some purple under it now in addition to the swelling.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, it looks worse than it is," Symon insisted, drinking from his cup of synthtea.
"How does the other guy look?"
"Well, he was a stop sign, so, red, I guess?" Symon responded. Kingston couldn't help but crack a smile. That said, he tried to hide it.
"Sorry, I meant-"
"No, it is kinda funny. Did you need anything?"
"Yes, actually. We've had complaints about discrepancies regarding some packages with multiple items. Some clients insisted that counts were off. I wanted you to start trending the reported miscounts and look into when they happen. It's part of a preliminary investigation," Kingston explained while giving Symon the data shard. Symon put the shard into his PDA.
"Usually it's just record keeping errors. Have they been happening more frequently?" Symon asked.
"Yes. That's why we're looking into it now."
"Alright. I will review this and then we can talk further about how to present the analysis," Symon stated, looking over the information.
"Thank you Symon. Talk to you later." With that Kingston went back to his desk to respond to messages and emails. He had to fill quite a few reports on the event with Arasaka in the Northside. Though he knew Symon responded to it that night, he knew he wouldn't get any more information out of Symon than policy allowed, even "off the record." Still, Symon's strict adherence to policy made some things easier. He was reliable and predictable when it came to work.
Unofficially, he heard rumors about what happened in the Northside. Kingston was just as in the dark as everyone else. Was this a ploy by Arasaka to sabotage Graturn? Were they transporting some form of weapon? How did the attackers know to attack that transport that night? The more Kingston looked into it, the stranger things got. Though he was usually able to find more information regarding transports upon request, the one 3 days ago had a rare confidential designation. Not even Kingston could access more details.
As the day went on, work in the office continued as usual. Some of the workers like Jacob stopped in to give updates on their projects. Symon stopped by Kingston's office to clarify aspects of the data and go over the types of reports they needed. At the end of the day, he gave Kingston a shard with his work-in-progress. Symon would be off the next day so someone else would have to continue his work. Symon then said goodbye and left the office. As soon as he was gone, another man walked into the room. His name was Randy. He was a skinny man with a well-trimmed brown beard and mustache.
"Randy, what can I do for you?" Kingston asked
"Here to talk about that special task," Randy replied.
"Is he gone?"
"Yes he is. Just to be perfectly clear, I am done following him. You'll need to find someone else," Randy declared. Kingston was surprised.
"What? Why? What happened?"
"I'll show you what happened." Randy pulled out his PDA and began opening up files. When he found what he was looking for, he set it down on the desk. On the screen were pictures of 3 dead men in an alley in the Northside.
"He gets pulled into the alley, he walks out, and that's what's left behind. Sorry, but man frequents the no-man's land of the Northside often. There's no NCPD there. He could dump my body in a dumpster and that would be the end of it. Whatever you're offering is not worth my life," Randy explained while taking back his phone.
That probably explains the bruise, Kingston realized. "Wait, what happened exactly? Who are these men?" Kingston asked.
"Gang members? Muggers? Who cares, there were three of them and one of him. Also, in his spare time, he doesn't do anything! He doesn't even go to bars. He doesn't hang out with anyone. I've barely even seen the man drive! I'm either wasting time or risking my life. No thank you."
"Randy, can we talk about this for a second?"
"What did we just do? See you tomorrow." Randy turned around and walked out of the door.
"Randy, wait," Kingston called, but Randy continued on his way out.
"Son of…" Kingston sighed. It was hard enough convincing Randy to spy on his co-worker. Now that deal is broken and he still has not learned much about Symon. Of what he just learned, what surprised Kingston most was that Symon did not do much outside of work. Everyone had vices and distractions. The idea that Symon just went to work and went home was unreal. While Kingston was surprised about the dead men in the Northside, it wasn't altogether unheard of. High ranking corporate executives often had dangerous cyberware implants. This just told Kingston that Symon was potentially dangerous if he had to defend himself. All of this just ended up leaving Kingston more curious about who Symon really was.