"Remind me again why me and Lucy need to be the ones doing the hand-off?" Kiwi asked, rubbing her temples. "Don't know if you've noticed but we're not exactly suited for field work."
"Speak for yourself," Lucy grinned, "I can handle myself if I need to."
Rebecca slapped Kiwi on the shoulder, "Yeah! You should come with us to the range sometime! It'll be a girls night out!"
"Fuck off, both." Kiwi glared.
David chuckled, some things never change, he thought. He hoped Maine and Dorio could see them, wherever they were.
"El Capitan sent me some info about these guys." he said, "Scavs, work with the Tyger Claws, Jotaro Shobo specifically."
Rebecca bristled at the name. Lucy scowled as a dark gleam entered her eyes.
"They're skittish." he continued, "They get a whiff of trouble and they'll bolt, or worse, they'll start blasting."
"So we just let the hag and Luce walk in alone?" Rebecca blurted out, "Fuck that!"
David raised a hand soothingly.
"I'm not done." he said with a smile, "Becca; I want you and Falco to be ready close by. I'll tail 'em from high up, give you some time to move in."
"You? You're gonna be the one watching our backs?" Kiwi deadpanned, "Oh I feel safer already..."
"He's been working really hard on his aim, Kiwi." Lucy defended. David smiled, taking her hand, "Give him a chance!"
"Yeah because that's the saying I'm known so well for." Kiwi rolled her eyes, though the bite was gone from her voice. "Trust everyone unconditionally, they won't stick a knife in your back."
David and Rebecca burst into laughter, Falco too chuckled from the drivers seat. Kiwi shot Lucy a strange, searching look.
"Alrighty everybody." Falco called out, "Comin' up on the meet up location!"
"For the record, I still think this is a bad, bad idea." Kiwi's voice echoed through David's ear, the group call held, even this high up.
"Noted." David said, adjusting the sights on his rifle.
He observed everything from his vantage point. The meetup would happen inside of an old, derelict warehouse. David looked through a gap where the roof had fallen in, seeing the Scavs waiting already. At the door, Falco and Rebecca waited, hidden behind the car.
"Remember, Lucy." David said, "You get any bad vibes, any at all, call the deal off. Becca, Falco and I will cover you."
"I know." Lucy said.
"And the job?" Kiwi responded, David wasn't sure what to make of her tone. "What about the client?"
"I'll talk to Cap if I need to." David said with a smile. "What matters is you two getting out safe."
David observed the meet take place.
Every scavenger in the area stopped to watch the two women walk in.
Kiwi placed the briefcase their fixer had provided on a stack of crates.
He couldn't make out what the scavs were saying from this high up, but he heard Kiwi through their group call just fine.
"Fuck did you say?" she growled.
"Let it go, Kiwi." Lucy said calmly, "I don't care what he calls me."
David's eyes narrowed.
Calm. he reminded himself, Good edgerunners stay calm.
One of the Scavs- the leader, presumably- got close to Lucy, saying something indistinguishable.
Lucy slapped a wandering hand away, Kiwi immediately grabbed the briefcase.
"Fuck you." she said, "Deal's off."
Several things happened at once:
The leader tried to grab Lucy by the arm. Going down screaming, clutching the bloodied stump of his arm as the netrunner's monowire emerged with a flourish.
Rebecca and Falco sprinted towards the warehouse, the shorter woman already firing the two assault rifles she held in her arms.
David breathed in deep, trusting in his friends. Tap, tap, tap.
Several scavengers fell, smoking bullet holes in their heads.
"They got snipers!" one of the men shouted.
"Scrap these bitches!" another called out, "Shobo can have what's left!"
David took aim at the second man. Glaring.
He was well aware of Jotaro Shobo's reputation, knew exactly what losing Lucy to him would mean.
Lucy was capable, his friends were strong, it would never happen.
But that didn't matter to David. He was going to make that son of a bitch bleed.
Two shots to the chest, one to the leg.
The scavenger fell, groaning. A final bullet rocketed through his skull, ending his suffering.
As the smoke cleared, several scavengers aimed upwards, looking for the snipers that had caused them so much grief.
One of the men spotted David.
"No fuckin' way!" he whimpered, "One fuckin' sniper did this?"
He aimed at David, pulling the trigger, nothing. He looked at his gun in confusion.
Kiwi breathed out, her hack had gone through just in time.
"Lucy, now!" she shouted.
The pale haired woman began uploading the cocktail of hacks she had been loading up. As Falco took cover near her, firing his pistol over the crates they had hidden behind, several scavengers fell to the ground, screaming as their optics burned out.
The scavengers were beginning to thin out now. One goon tried to sneak around, flank them from behind. David showed him the error of his ways with a bullet.
"Igor! The sniper!" one of the few remaining men called out.
A heavy set scavenger stepped out from cover. Bulletproof mask on his face, he hefted a heavy machine gun aimed at the roof.
Oh shit.
David's eyes widened.
The scavenger let loose a barrage of bullets.
David fired off two shots.
The first shot struck the scavenger man, ricocheting off of his mask. He groaned, clutching his face.
The second shot sank itself into his other shoulder, causing him to drop his gun.
David relished in his aim for just a moment, feeling the roof groan and creak.
The weakened metal buckled, the last of it's reinforcement destroyed by the wild shots of the machine gun barrage.
With a screech, the roof beneath David's feet gave way.
"David!" Lucy screamed, watching the younger man plummet.
Glaring at the remaining scavengers, she breathed in deeply.
They were all connected, linked to the same localnet. She could see the flows of data from every man, saw how the streams intersected.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath Lucy's feet shifted. She was in a more complete version of the warehouse, made up of data. Advertisements, remnants of data shards, messages.
She could see her friends as if through a dull filter. Kiwi shone the brightest out of them, yet even she looked subdued, muted.
She reached out, grasping a stream that flowed towards the group of scavengers, her prey. She tore it open, yellow strands of code leaking out.
Sticking a hand in, she released the daemon she had prepared. Slowly, the data stream turned an angry, bright red.
She closed her eyes, blinking. And all of a sudden she was back in the present.
"Fuckers!" Rebecca screamed, firing the last of her current clip at the scavengers.
Lucy counted the seconds, her daemon should be kicking in any moment. As she heard a panicked scream, she decided to risk it. Running out of cover to where she saw David fall.
A quick glance confirmed her hunch, every remaining scavenger had fallen victim to her hack, all eyes wide as their bodies betrayed them.
They pleaded with her as their hands grasped clumsily for their weapons, bringing it to their heads.
Die. she glared.
Several gunshots rang out.
David groaned weakly, gasping. A stack of boxes had broken his fall, but not by much.
He smiled as he felt familiar hands on his face.
"David!" Lucy called out, "David can you hear me?"
"Thanks for having my back." he groaned, smiling wider as he felt the woman pull him into a hug.
"You scared me you gonk!" Lucy sighed, relieved.
Opening his eyes, he saw the rest of his crew gather round. Kiwi had the briefcase in her hands, Falco had grabbed a duffelbag, presumably what their fixer had sent them to find. Rebecca was the last to come, holding the gun that the scavenger- Igor- had used.
"That was some fine shootin' Falco said with a smile, David returned it confidently.
"Been practicing." he said. Kiwi rolled her eyes at the two.
"Luce." the older netrunner turned to her protégé, "What you did back there... what was that?"
"Just something I've been working on." Lucy said, avoiding her mentor's gaze, "Reverse engineered something I found, that's all."
David got to his feet, dusting himself off.
His netrunner looked him over for any wounds, gripping his face tightly and looking into her eyes, making sure he wasn't concussed.
"Lucy," David grinned, placing his hands on hers. "I'm fine. You finished 'em off before they could do anything."
Lucy nodded, releasing a shaky breathe she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Alright." he said, turning to the rest of the crew, "Let's drop off the case and the bag, I'll let Cap know we ran into... some issues..."
"David!" El Capitan said with a smile as he answered the call, "Good news, I hope?"
David sat watching his crew squabble. Rebecca was pestering Kiwi about her lack of gunplay, Falco chuckling as the older netrunner rolled her eyes.
Lucy leaned on him, tracing soft circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. He closed his eyes, enjoying her touch.
"Sort of..." he said, "We're on our way to the drop point now, dropping off what you wanted us to get... and the case you gave us as well."
The fixer roared with laughter, "Trouble?" he asked.
"Yeah..." David cringed slightly.
"Don't worry about it." El Capitan reassured, "The case had a bomb in it anyways. Long as those scavs are dead, I'll consider the job completed in full."
David smiled, El Capitan always did try his best to look out for Santo kids, even if his mom hadn't approved of him associating with the fixer.
"Anyways," the Fixer continued, "I hear you're no longer a Santo boy, David. Livin' up in Japantown now, eh?"
David felt himself blushing slightly, he supposed it was true.
Not like I moved because I hated Santo... he thought, looking at the woman who had his right hand in both of hers.
"Yeah..." David said.
"Don't worry about it, kid." El Capitan smiled warmly. "Your 'ma would have wanted you to move up in the world."
"Thanks, Cap." he said with a soft smile.
"Anyways, thanks for the heads up. I'll organize someone to pick up the package when you drop it off" the fixer said, "I'll put in a good word with Wakako for you."
"Anytime, Cap." David said with a smile, "I'll give you a call whenever I'm in Santo, could always use more work."
As he was about to end the call, something the fixer had said caused him to frown.
"Wait, did you say we're carrying around a bomb?"