III Mona Lisa Labyrinth
The high speed train made the ride seem short, even though she had crossed half of the country, the ride to the station in Houston was the longest, 11 hours by bus, but planes were not the best mode of transportation for someone who was probably already in some sort of watchlist.
Well nobody knew who Marisa was, not even the AOU military who were actively looking for her, she was for all intents and purposes a ghost. They were now pinning the blame on COU, but there was so little evidence they couldn't let it be known.
Marisa had no idea she had passed through all the checkpoints, they expected the robber to carry some first grade ICE breaker, a last generation deck, or to at least drive something with the nuclear warhead. Not an underdog engineer with a deck as old as herself and nearly no money to her name. Marisa stashed the loot in a place she knew nobody would look at, it didn't exist, it wouldn't exist only Marisa knew of it. Perfect for her purposes, they were looking for a motif, Marisa just did it to know how good she was.
Now Marisa unboarded the speed train, a 2 hour ride to cross the country, plus 11 hours to cross her own state. Gensokyo city, the heart of the Sprawl. Originally a small settlement to work as a corporate town close to Pittsburgh US, once the war began Pittsburgh was no more, but the shielded server rooms worked as perfect bunkers, the city got rebuilt by the very corporations that rooted here. Four major conglomerates known as the sages of Gensokyo.
Gensokyo was perhaps one of the few cities that survived WWIII without much of a scratch, while everyone had to rebuild Gensokyo was worrying on housing and public transportation. Of course this meant unrivaled growth, a thick forest of houses surrounded the area.
The sages of Gensokyo controlled the entire economy of the Sprawl, and this of course meant they basically held economic power over the entire AOU. Probably the military-use Kappatech server she infiltrated is nothing compared to the ICE that protected either of these corporations. After all Kappatech was but a subsidiary of one of those conglomerates, in this case Kasen Systems.
The GCPD, a rundown old police station with a single police officer. Why would Mima need the personal computer in that place? Maybe it's the only thing of value, maybe it's revenge.
Well Marisa jacked into the Matrix in the train station and tried to seek the GCPD from there, maybe get an access code or something, Marisa found herself in the train station, jacked out, she didn't even get to see the ICE.
She hopped onto the Matrix once more, once more she found herself out. Marisa searched in her pocket for her wallet, her student ID from college, she smiled, it made more sense now, she was already in the ICE, it did the same trick to her that she tried to do herself.
The ID was not supposed to be there, she lost it years ago, but in her mind it was still there. Well in the construct she made of her wallet. The ICE had to take information from her brain to make such things, Marisa had control over it.
She checked her neck, the jack was not there, for all intents and purposes she was trapped in this simulation. Marisa considered overloading the simulation, but this probably would cause the ICE to turn hostile and fry her own neurons instead.
Mona Lisa, labyrinth of sweet infinity, that's the name of this trick, the whole point was making it seamless, perhaps the hardest trick to get out of, but the easiest to avoid. Mona Lisa Labyrinths require a lot of processing capacity, they become obvious traps in the ICE.
But the ICE of GCPD was invisible, it hid itself so well you never noticed when you approached it in the Matrix. The police station for sure was poor and rundown, but the police officer there was for sure an expert.
Marisa awoke from the simulation hours later. In front of her a cup of warm tea and a piece of bread. She was inside a cell, Marisa checked her pocket, her wallet was there, her student ID was not. Well she was glad to be back in reality.
"Another victim of the broken justice of this hell?" Said a voice in a cell next to hers. Marisa turned to see a girl with purple wing modifications on her back, wings over her head too "What did this one do? Beg for food to survive on the streets? Tell the truth out loud like I did?!"
Marisa smelled her tea, she sipped it, it was good tea, well Marisa had never tasted real tea, but this had tiny leaves dragging on the bottom, at least this came from a real plant. "I tried to break into GCPD ICE" Marisa laughed.
The girl looked at Marisa as if she were insane.
"She got to the labyrinth" Said yet another voice, a sound of sipping "She appreciates good tea and went undetected for a good while"
"Your poison will not work on me!" Said the bird girl "It tastes weird, you must have added something"
"I'm pretty sure this is how the actual thing is supposed to taste like…" Marisa said "You have the best ICE I've ever seen, nothing compared to Kappatech"
"Thank you!" The police officer finally made herself shown. Her uniform was red and white, a ribbon tied her hair on the back, her bangs were encased on translucent tubes that flickered at times with different dancing lights. "You just confessed to breaking into a Kappatech server. Do you know how many cowboys break into Kappatech? I can count them with one hand"
Marisa sipped her tea "Shut up girl! Never tell anything to a cop!"
"I was supposed to release you just now… But you are making it real hard for me to remember the password to your door" The cop told the girl
"I did nothing wrong!" Said the girl
"You threw a brick at me!" The cop said
"You don't release me and I will recite the divine comedy in italian! I have it loaded riiiight up in my brain"
The cop hurried and opened the door "Do not assault me with your ancient crap… If hell is real I live next to it" she laughed.
The girl stared at the door "And my books?"
"Lost media" Said the cop "They were dangerous propaganda!"
The girl huffed and left with her arms crossed.
The cop laid back in front of the cell Marisa was at, she waited a good minute before speaking "I pawned them" She laughed "First edition Das Capital in the original German"
Marisa thought about it "Das what?"
"The mother of all commie books… A rich girl yelling about communism in the middle of the street. The book she was holding costed more than what the so called workers she tried to liberate made in their lifetime. You see the irony?"
"So you pawned her books?" Marisa laughed "You bought expensive tea with the money or what?"
The cop nodded "100 year old raw pu'erh. What do you think of it?"
Marisa turned her cup upside down, it was empty "Best thing I've tasted in my life"
"I did some digging" The cop said "And really you can say whatever you want, unless you tell me where you put away the missile nobody is going to believe that you did it. Everyone blames foreign countries, but they are afraid of even admitting to it because it may cause war"
Marisa sat back "I've always found girls in uniform quite… Endearing"
"I could have left you in the labyrinth until you confessed" The cop said with a smile
Marisa winked "So the safeword is my confession? I am down for it if you want"
The cop covered her face, Marisa was quite glad she could make a girl blush even in this situation.
"You are a creep" Said the cop
"So you would rather have me speak as an ancient knight and refer to you as milady?" Marisa shrugged
"Creep is much better" said the cop "I am Reimu"
Marisa nodded "Nice to meet you Reimu"
Reimu waited for a while, she sighed and realized this was all she could get from her prisoner as of now.
It was night when Mima came, she ripped off the door using an angle grinder. Marisa looked rather puzzled at the great hacker using such a tool to break into a lock. Though Marisa considered that is how one got into the Mona Lisa Labyrinth to begin with, just avoid the GCPD ICE.
Mima handed Marisa a gun, a Smith and Wesson Fletcher, Marisa opened the magazine, caseless hollow points and graphite shrapnel bullets.
Marisa nodded, they sneaked out of the hallway, there Reimu was sleeping, her uniform neatly folded besides her bed under the desk. Mima smirked and aimed her gun at Reimu's head, sweat came down from her forehead.
"I couldn't get this far without you. Thank you Marisa" Said Mima before cocking the gun. Reimu opened her eyes, in a flash the gun fired but Reimu's hand had forced the barrel out of the way, her right arm was fuming and glowing slightly. Reimu had forced it to move at that speed, probably muscle implants.
Reimu lost strength on that arm, the implants had burned along with the muscle fiber. Mima forced the gun once more at her head. Reimu was reaching for a pistol of her own under her pillow. But the moment where the guns would finally ensure their mutually assured destruction another bang was heard.
Mima laughed "Thank you thank yo…" She looked down and noticed the bullet was not aimed at Reimu, her shooting hand was blown off from her arm, the gun, and her hand landed on the ground. Reimu used her pistol to hit Mima on the throat, Mima fell gasping for air.
Marisa kept aiming her pistol at Mima. Reimu slumped on the floor, an old maid drone came and dragged Mima onto one of the cells. "Thank you Ruukoto" Reimu said.
"Was that thing armed?" Marisa looked at the drone walking away with Mima.
"Of course she is armed!" Reimu laughed "You think I would go down so easily?"
Marisa dropped her pistol "Do you want me to take you to a clinic? Do cops go to clinics?"
"I just need it to cool down" Reimu raised her right hand slightly "See? The department may be underfunded but my implants are not cheap"
Marisa sighed and began to walk out of the station.
"Hey do you have a place to stay?" yelled Reimu before Marisa left the room.
Marisa remained silent.
"Not here of course, I hate roommates" Reimu got up, her arm was now moving, slowly but moving.
Marisa shook her head
"Kazami Tech is hiring. Tell me your name and phone so I can refer you" Reimu smiled "They will pay me good money if you get in"
Marisa laughed "Kirisame Marisa" She said then wrote down her number on a piece of paper on Reimu's desk.
Well a cute girl asked for her phone number, so far it had been a lucky day. As if Kazami Tech was hiring someone like Marisa, they always asked for years of experience, expertise in their field, always ensuring that you needed at least a masters degree to be considered a candidate.