\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 51 - School of Hard Knocks
The sound of a door being yanked open causes the stray neon light of the city to flood into the house. Netty rushes into his home.. passing by the dark living room and racing to the basement. He waves his hand over a passlock on the door causing the light to turn green and the door to slide open. Netty steps into his dark basement that nearly has a bigger square foot radius than his house itself. Clearly re-modeled, the space was a Netrunner's paradise... housing all the necessary and unnecessary bells and whistles needed to manage anything pertaining to netrunning. He slowly reaches for his father's personal netrunning jumpsuit and stops midway... he looks down before stepping past it and placing his hand firmly on the arm of his father's large, custom designed runner chair. His eyes glow blue to turn the lights on in the basement, illuminating the space and turning on the various runner equipment. The heavy whirs and beeps of equipment powering on that hasn't been used in quite a long time fills the underground space. Netty takes a deep breath and pauses before hopping into his father's chair and jacking in. The neurological surge of jacking into the net floods his brain as he connects.
As he enters the net, he traces back to the notification he received, forwarding him to an isolated and secure communications domain him and one of his closest chooms setup as an emergency contingency. The text message he received: = Sweet Wire causes cavities = was an agreed upon cypher to only be used as an urgent form of notification... when it was a matter of life and death. The follow up of = 47 Seduction = also had a clear meaning: Desperation has set in.. and events are imminent. Uncertain of what he might encounter, Netty prepared his most dynamic and refined arsenal of counter-offensive and defensive programs. Netaniel has always entered the net with the state of mind of someone preparing for war... where the matters of life and death take priority over exploration and discovery. It was and never will be a place he ever intends to let his guard down.
Netty enters the domain and proceeds to slowly walk around it. The neon red hue of the domain soaks the area contrasting his light-pink avatar. The communication domain was pretty much exactly how he remembered. A large, grassy island platform in the middle of the Pacific ocean looking out into a warm orange and red sunset. Although it was something they cobbled together a long time ago, it carried with it fond memories he holds onto tightly. In fact, the more he thinks about those memories, the more he realizes just how ridiculous it is for him to be back there. He then suddenly starts to hear the aggressive yet feint whispers of an unrecognizable voice echoing in and out of existence and tickling his sense of hearing.
"What Wicked Webs We Weave"
"What Wicked Webs"
"We Weave"
"Wicked Webs"
"What Wicked Webs We Weave"
Hearing the ominous whispers continue puts Netty on edge while they sound far too close for comfort. He quickly scans the area for traces of activity but finds nothing.. further putting him on guard... raising the tension and making him hyper alert. He then feels the light sensation of a hand touching his shoulder from behind, causing him to quickly turn around. He again sees nothing. Netty then emits a neon yellow pulse covering a radius as large as the entire communication domain itself designed to ping any active avatars or traces of encrypted command codes.
As a result of this pulse, a lone avatar is revealed toward the end of the domain. With its back turned toward Netty, it overlooks the beautiful digitized rendition of the pacific ocean at the edge of the platform during sunset. The unknown avatar was a bright neon white and nearly distorted beyond recognition... his passive attempt to scan them brings up an unknown error causing the code to just spurg out. Netty slowly approaches the avatar causing them to glance back at him over their shoulder then back at the sunset. The avatar finally speaks.
"This scene is truly beautiful... Its not very reflective of urgency or desperation i must say... I can tell this is an old ocean... Long before it was tainted... So serene... so light." The avatar speaks in a calm, distorted and cybernetically altered voice.
"Guess it depends... what you consider urgent... or desperate" Netty says in a soft tone as he takes a few steps forward toward the avatar. It glances back at him again.
"I see you've shown up here prepared for a fight... Unnecessary. I merely wish to talk. Make an introduction."
"By using my dead friend's encrypted panic ping? Not a good first impression choom."
"I meant no disrespect. However... I guess there are any number of ways one could go about making contact."
"Who are you and what do you want."
"Your involvement with the Black Wall is... peculiar to say the least. I'd be remiss to say what you did isn't worth a meeting."
"I have no idea what you're talkin' about."
"A lie i'd be more than willing to accept... if I didn't witness you do it myself."
"What...?" Netty says in disbelief. The avatar continues.
"I've spent... i'm not sure how long now... day in and day out watching various runners use it for various purposes. Whether its the VDBs doing their weird rituals in front of it or the occasional suicidal shut in looking to end it all." The avatar finally turns around to face Netty as he sees nothing but a white, unidentifiable silhouette of a person shorter than himself. "Then... one day... I saw you."
"Saw me huh.."
"You looked... empty... like so many i had seen before. Like you had nothing left... nothing to lose. The numbness in you.."
"I'm not speakin' on this with an anon. Could be anybody. Who are you?"
The avatar deflects and switches subject. "Your friends... They're walking into something dangerous. Something i think they're not prepared for. Figured i'd tell you considering you took the time to meet... gesture of good will n all."
"How does that make any sense..? Thanks for the tip but in doing that, you're holding me here away from them... not answering any of my questions. This the work of someone trying to help me or someone that needs to be moved out of the way..."
The avatar takes the kid's threat to the chest and sits in it unfazed... pausing for the first time allowing the sounds of a gently flowing ocean to take over briefly and fueling the unnecessary tension. Their nature instinctually compels them to respond.
"If I wanted to hold you here. It wouldn't be a problem."
"You sure about that choom? Try me. Make a move." He quickly responds in a confrontational tone while taking a step toward the avatar.
It takes a deep breath and sighs. The reaction of someone who's found themselves in this moment countless times.
"Mm... you remind me so much of him y'know... your father Nathan."
"WHAT!?"
The avatar initiates a stasis program. Netty suddenly feels his motor functions instantly begin to dramatically slow down almost as if he was shocked... along with his vision beginning to fade. As he strongly tries to resist with his defense it slowly begins to take over like sky blue quicksand leaving him nearly immobilized. He falls onto the floor of cyberspace stiff as a board, completely helpless.
"The circumstances around us meeting aren't trivial... We have a lot that we need to talk about. You'll be fine... but you're coming with me... for now." The Avatar says as they begin to walk away atop of the ocean and off into the sunrise leaving Netty to use the last of his strength to helplessly resist with his vision gradually fading to black.
He hears the feint, muffled sound of BugBear's voice screaming through the voids of cyberspace. "NETTY!"
BugBear is next seen rapidly typing on the terminal connected to Netty's chair while her eyes glow red and his body twitches uncontrollably. After a brief ordeal, she quickly turns around and disconnects him from the chair. Netty's eyes open wide as he gasps deeply for air as if re-surfacing from under water after nearly drowning. He coughs recklessly as he begins to hyperventilate and struggle while gasping for air.
"NETTY! Hey.. Shh, shh.. its ok.. its ok. shh.. its ok.. I'm here. I've got you... i've got you." BugBear says in a frantic, whispered tone filled with emotion while cradling his head and shoulders in her arms tight, pulling him in close and rocking back and forth.