House Protocol

Robin had several thoughts on his mind, fixing any kinks and bugs his suit was having, keeping his appearances as a humble mechanic outside the most dangerous city for fully organic beings, and wondering if Rebecca was planning something like asking him on a date. However, there was one thought that came to mind more and more as of late, and it wasn't something to do with Arasaka or his next move against them. No. His thoughts revolved around a certain person he saw had nothing to do with the world he was stepping into.

"Would you stop with the sourpuss look," Rebecca said as Robin was looking over her weapons. "You look like you need to go to the bathroom, or that you're pent up."
"Sorry, I'm a bit frustrated with going from a mechanic to a weapons engineer. You should take this to someone that knows about guns." Robin looked down the barrel of the disassembled gun. "It looks like the spring is busted. You should clean these more often, otherwise the gunk here will stop working and blow up in your face."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get more cleaning products with the next check. But seriously, what's up?" Rebecca looked him over. "You've been this serious since-Oh! Are you jealous of David?"

"What do I have to be jealous of?" Robin rolled his eyes. "He's a dumb kid that doesn't know what he's getting himself into."

"I mean, I get it. But he has some speedy chrome that got the job done. Sure there were some complications, but everything turned out alright in the end." Rebecca hopped out of her seat before joining Robin on his worktable. "Besides, the guy is kinda adorable, in the lost puppy sort of way."

"That's the problem, he's just some kid that doesn't know what he's getting himself into." Robin handed Rebecca the gun. "How did Maine even get in contact with a kid that looks like he should be in school?"

"Apparently David swiped a piece of chrome that Maine had paid for without knowing it. Him working for it is his way of repaying it." Rebecca fired a round at a can, making it fly into the air. "A sandevistan."

"Huh?" Robin gasped.

After running into different chrome junkies and punks armed to the teeth, Robin had made a list of different and deadly pieces of chrome. And while he was at the police station, he found one of them in the reports. A man had gone cyber-psycho and took down several officers, a former soldier with a piece known as a sandevistan. A military grade piece that could make whoever used it into a comic book speedster for a short while. It made the body of anyone into a weapon with super speed. But that kind of pressure could only be taken by people that were trained to handle it.

"How is that kid even conscious? That thing should've sent him spiraling in pain." Robin picked up Rebecca to look her in the eyes. "How can that kid even walk after all that?"

"Don't know?" Rebecca shrugged. "And what did I tell you about picking me up like this again?"

"Not to," Robin sighed.

"You've brought this on yourself." Rebecca punched Robin in the face, pouncing on him like a feral cat.

Rebecca wrapped her legs underneath his arms and started beating Robin with her fists. She wasn't trying to hurt him, but just teach him a lesson in the most Rebecca way possible. And that often involved punching and beating up. It was fun for her to remind him that she was not some dame that needed to be rescued or just any excuse to get his up and close to his face. His struggle against her hold got her breasts ever so closer to his face to the point that she was almost smothering him.

"Say it!" Rebecca pounded on him. "Say it, damn it!"
"Are you serious?!" Robin tried to push her off, but she was holding onto him like a baby koala.

"I warned you and you still did it!" Rebecca pulled on his ear as he tried to push her off.

She could feel him getting warmer under the collar, and on any other day, she would've kept on going until he submitted to her or finally asked her out to have some super fun time.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Rebecca the Great and Badass. You are superior to me in all senses," Robin groaned, doing his best not to let her see his blush at being so close to her breasts.

"And?" Rebecca smirked.

"And I will never see her as anything other than a badass that could kick my ass." Robin rolled his eyes.

"There. Now remember this whenever you treat me like a brat." Rebecca patted Robin's head like a puppy. "Now, going back to David. You don't have to like it, he chose to become part of the crew and that was his choice. Maybe he will only be onboard until he pays his debt to Maine, maybe he sticks around. Honestly, I feel bad for the kid. He kinda reminds me of a lost puppy." Robin couldn't help but look down at his feet at that comparison. "But don't worry, I'll cover his back until he gets wise." She smirked like she could knock out a guy with a simple smile.

Robin smiled back at her. His face was getting warmer at the thought of her covering his back as much as she would do for that David kid. Pulling up his bandana to cover his blush, he tried to clear his throat. He couldn't show any type of romantic affection if he wanted to keep himself and others from Arasaka's radar. He already had his hands full. Better to play it smooth and friendly.

"Thanks, Becca. I appreciate it." Robin started cleaning up his working space. "I take it that you'll be busy teaching him the ropes? Or is Maine doing that himself?"

"Nah, believe it or not, we're all supposed to be taking turns showing him the ropes, but it looks like Lucy is the one he's most interested in apart from Maine." Rebecca sat down on one of Robin's chairs. "I think he has a crush on her."

Robin chucked that latest tidbit of information as another reason the kid wasn't thinking straight. But again, like Becca had said, the kid had to make his own choices. He would just have to make sure to drop some bits of common sense here and there to help David along. At least that and Becca keeping an eye on him, he could sleep a little easier.

…Since when had it become Becca in his mind instead of Rebecca?

Robin shook his head before turning to Rebecca once more.

"I'd take it easy with your piece for a while, but also try not to get into too much trouble," Robin said. "As impossible as it may be for you to do either."

"Love you too man." Rebecca skipped away after paying him for his work.

With a tired sigh, he watched her go on her merry path before stopping himself from looking at her ass. The last thing he needed was to get his blood flowing south of his brain. He put his tools away and made his way to the inside of his workshop. There were too many variables that he couldn't control or put together in his own way. The thought of starting a relationship with someone was a compromise that he couldn't see himself doing just yet. He had to focus back on the mission and on what he could do at the moment. Turning on his transmission interceptor, checking up anything on Arasaka's front. They had been quiet ever since the Q-B episode, but that didn't mean they weren't up to something shady. He tried to think of what they would do but he was drawing blanks. There had to be something he wasn't seeing.

He spent a good thirty minutes listening in on different frequencies waiting, hoping even, for a sign from the rogue corporation. It was almost scary that they hadn't made any big moves as of late. Almost as if they were watching their step after getting one too many close calls. There were others trying to bring them down apart from Robin, so it wasn't something to easily discard or ignore. Maybe Alchemax or some other corporation was beating them at their own game. Or maybe someone was targeting-

"-need to move the files. This was far too close of a call. The guys upstairs and the other executives aren't happy."

Robin almost jolted from his seat at the sound of the voice.

"I understand. Who would've thought someone had the balls to steal Tanaka's personal car? Must be some stupid edgerunner or petty crook. Shall I begin movement to one of the safehouses?"

"Affirmative. Focus on the more experimental ones we got from Alchemax. The bigger ones will be dealt with by others."

"Understood. I'll set up a truck transfer of the assets to the safehouse number 77."

"Acknowledged. Be mindful that some of these pieces are dangerously experimental and should be moved with care. Asset MRVL-96 is particularly dangerous. Prepare the trucks to move out tonight at sundown."

Robin listened in more intently, making sure to write down everything the two voices were saying. If he found the safehouses then he could land a big blow on Arasaka and bring them down to heel. As a plus, he could take care of anything else they stole from Alchemax. There were some projects that he knew were dangerous if left in the wrong hands, but if they were anything like the ones that he'd faced and destroyed then they were nothing to sneeze at.

He wrote down all the information he listened to, including the location where they were going to upload all the assets. There was no address for where the safehouse was located, or how many other spots would be scattered around the city. The best bet Robin had was that if he could find one then he could locate the others. If old spy and police movies had taught him anything it was that the safehouses were connected with each other or with handlers to check up on should something happen. It was a gamble but one was better than none and the one with Alchemax's stolen projects would be the win he would look forward to the most.

"Time to roll out." Robin got up and started suiting up. "I hope Arasaka's goons don't mind having a little infestation in their little houses. But wherever there are sweets there will always be ants to munch on them."

Robin flew above the city as he headed to one of the many Arasaka facilities that worked as temporary storage houses. According to the address, he was in the right spot but he had his doubts. At first glance they looked like a normal storage building for everyday items like boxes of soda or packaged goods meant for stores. Robin wondered if it was all a trap, a set up in clase someone was hacking into the Arasaka conversations. Which was another reason he liked being so small that no one saw him. However, his doubts disappeared when he spotted different black armored vans moving into the loading bay with some security following behind them.

"Good to know I was not wrong." Robin commanded his ants to fly down for a closer look.

The doors opened up to reveal large containers that looked to be filled with clothes meant for some store at a mall. One of the members of the security team went up to the large container, opening it up. Inside the container were several boxes filled with unknown pieces of technology and chrome but what took the most space and attention was a large laser that looked as intimidating as it did dangerous. It was marked with the serial number of MRVL-96, aka the Inorganic Cleaver.

The faceless armored goon looked at what was inside and nodded in verification. He signaled the man to close the container before gesturing to the other members to load them up. What he and the rest of the security team were unable to notice was that they were not the only ones looking into the containers or what was inside. Robin and several of his ants snuck into the container with no one being the wiser.

But he wasn't the only one keeping an eye on things…

Across the street, hidden in the shadows of an alley, Maine and his crew watched as the security team loaded up all their containers. They were split into two cars, Maine, Dorio, Kiwi and Pilar in one, Falco, Rebecca, David and Lucy in the other.

"Well, well, looks like Faraday's contact was spot on." Maine smirked as he gripped the wheel. "Looks like Arasaka is putting all its eggs away for safekeeping. But at least we know what to expect this time. Kiwi, you got the signal?" He called Kiwi through their electronic brains.

"Faraday wasn't kidding. The weapon we're looking for is really something else. The energy signature is almost as strong as a city block." Kiwi kept a tracker on the van as they moved out. "We got the tracker, move out. I'll guide you."

"Alright, it's showtime." Maine drove off as the vans took off.

"Could we possibly get some action or something?" Rebecca moaned on the passenger's seat. "I'm bored out of my skull here."

"Relax, this is gonna be a simple snatching job like the one young David did not that long ago." Falco drove behind Maine, making it seem like they weren't following the other cars.

David looked away in a grunt, checking his newly acquired gun that rested in the back of his pants. The weight and the power it gave him were still new to him. He'd seen and lived through many using guns much bigger and deadlier than the one he was holding through the XBDs he used to sell for extra money. But real life had a way of making him doubt himself. He hadn't even been able to pull the pin on the targets Rebecca had taken him to practice on. But this job would be different. He had another chance to show off his skills in this line of work and he wasn't going to screw it up.

"You doing okay?" Lucy asked.

"Y-Yeah, just wasn't expecting to go after Arasaka again so soon." David shrugged off. "So, what are we after this time? Maine wasn't really clear."

"Some sort of science experiment from what I gathered." Lucy sighed. "What a waste of time."

"Hey, David, don't sweat it. This whole thing will be easy, we take out the security, we find what we're looking for and we bounce." Rebecca looked back at David. "So you just get ready to run through this like a dream." She gave him a thumbs up, making him feel a little better.

Rebecca could tell the kid had yet to take the plunge into this kind of life. It wasn't for the faint of heart or those that wanted to live a long life. Robin's words bounced on her head like an annoying alarm clock that wouldn't snooze no matter how many times you slammed that button. It was worse than having a consciousness constantly bitching at her about what was right and wrong in the messed up world she lived in. But she was also someone that knew that she was down for the ride and would kick ass left and right because of who she was. Best she could do until David wised up was to look out for him. Though, it would be harder to do so with him listening more to his balls whenever Lucy was around. Hormones were the worst at times.

"Everyone, look alive, we're taking a turn. The car is slowing down." Kiwi instructed the team.

They had arrived at the Arasaka safehouse.

"It's showtime, boys and girls."

The Arasaka safehouse was no different than a highrise building with the top floors still under construction. Or at least that's what everyone believed. They were covered with tarps and pieces of construction scattered about, but they were fully operational. The offices on the lower floors were all legitimate but none of them were none the wiser. It was the perfect spot for Arasaka executives and security to store people and dangerous artifacts without anyone looking at them twice.

The Arasaka security took the express elevator all the way to the top with the containers, unaware that they were bringing in someone they didn't expect. They placed the container on the top floor where it would wait before being transferred to another facility outside the city. The team did a quick sweep of the floor, making sure that no surprises were waiting for them. With the rifles at the ready, they looked up and down between the other containers they had scattered around the room.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"All clear sir. Motion sensors and cameras activated."

Once they all finished their sweep, the security crew left the room through the same elevator that they had entered a while ago. The room lights turned bright red, like a dark room to reveal photographs. The motion sensors scanned for everything that could be considered a threat, but not a creature was stirring, well maybe except a couple ants.

Robin cut open a hole with his sword sword for him and his ants to poke out their heads and see what was going on. He looked up at the sensors, noting that the whole room was under strict security.

"Looks like we're alone, but I need to disable the motion sensors," Robin said. "Okay, step one, get the information on the projects and the other safehouses. Step two, steal everything in this container and leave without anyone being aware I was here. Not bad for a day's work, right fellas?" Robin climbed down to look at the strange blaster.

The project didn't match anything he'd seen during his time at Alchemax, which meant that it had to have been created while he was shrunk down. From the design of the weapon, he could tell that the invention wasn't so much a weapon as something else. The energy core that it used was packed with energy, and ready to be used. But he had no idea what it would do if he shrunk it down like the rest of his gear. The invention must've been important if Arasaka wanted it and wanted it kept out of anyone else's hands.

"Based on what it looks like, this thing is meant to cut through things like a knife through warm butter. The nosselle looks to be made to focus a kind of beam for precision. So, this isn't meant to be used to blast people away," Robin spoke out loud. "Best guess, this thing was meant more for construction or cutting down hard materials with a surgeon's skill. But what does the whole inorganic thing mean?"

There was only one thing that could give him the answers. He needed the manifest to know what the container had inside of it.

Robin and his ants flew out of the container, looking at the room around them. Their eyes scanned the room, spotting the sensors. However, Robin noticed something next to the sensors: lasers that would trigger if something activated the sensors. They could disable them now but it would've gotten them attention they didn't want. They instead headed for the air vents next to the elevator. Going down without any disturbances, they reached the lower floors without any issues. The second floor was full of more boxes and weapons Arasaka was shipping to other countries.

"Wow, these guys really know how to store for a rainy day." Robin said as they flew looking for the manifest.

They found the main computer at the end of the room. A short hack and soon Robin would have all the information.

"Chirp."
"Whoa, what was that?" Robin asked.

The ant he rode on communicated that there were scents here that carried strong toxins and gunpowder.

"Toxins? Gunpowder?" Robin looked around and the ants were right.

They flew to the walls of the room, noticing small holes that were barely noticeable to the naked eye. Inside the holes there were tubes filled with a kind of toxin that could paralyze whoever inhaled it. They then flew all the way to the ceiling where there were secret panels with guns behind them. A look down showed them that there were laser lights on the ground. The room might not have looked like it but it was full of booby traps.

"Okay, first part, take out the cameras." Robin and his ants flew to the cameras.

The ants bit down on the cables while Robin pulled and tore the rest with his super strength. No cameras meant that no one could see him or activate the traps. The lasers were next, and their mechanism was easily triggered. So Robin had to carefully cut the wires without activating the alarm. Pulling the cables out was sweat inducing, without pulling something apart by accident. He found the one he was looking for, separating it from the others. With one swift cut, the lasers were turned off.

Robin jumped before the computer, growing back to his normal size. Once he was plugged in, he started searching for the manifest of the containers and all that was in them. He typed away at the list, going over the security measures the company had placed on the computer system. At times like this, he wondered if he should've taken some hacking lessons from some of the netrunners he'd run into. It certainly would've made things a lot easier for him in the long run. But that opened up a can of worms he didn't want to deal with.

"Come on, come on, show me what you're hiding." Robin continued typing at the keyboard until the screen lit itself green. "Yes. Now let's see what this piñata is filled with." Robin scrolled down, skimming through all the machines and pieces that had been put in the safehouse storage.

And what he learned wasn't to his liking. Most of the boxes were filled with weapons meant to be shipped and sold to other countries for both testing and to bring down any attempts at insurrection. Adding war profiteering to the list of things Arasaka was guilty of for later. Each of the weapons was more advanced than anything the common edgerunner had on hand, most looked to be straight out of a space opera. Lasers, energy disrupting grenades, incendiary rounds, multi-target seeking missiles and so on. The amount of danger that such things posed was great and if they were used by anyone, then wherever they were shipped to would become a burnt hole in the ground. But the thing that really took the cake for the most dangerous thing was the MRVL-96 asset, also known as the Inorganic Cleaver. It was a powerful piece that focused energy at a molecular level, capable of cutting anything that wasn't organic down to ribbons. Designed and created by Alchemax as a way to help clear out damages, collapsed buildings and hard to move objects for building companies, and rescue teams to work more efficiently. It was a marvel that could save many lives. But the modifications and alteration made by Arasaka turned it into a weapon that could easily cut through chrome like a hot knife. Another invention perverted for their corporate gain.

Robin shook his head. Everything had to go. He downloaded the addresses and communications before turning to the boxes filled with weapons.

"Alright, time to light this place up and take out everything Arasaka's saving for a rainy day." Robin moved to the grenades. "I just hope I can work without any interruptions."

At that moment, the whole room lit up with blaring alarms.

"Are you kidding me?!" Robin snapped. "I turned off the alarms, I swear! What is going on?" Robin rushed back to the console hoping to get answers.

"Goddamn it, Pilar, did you trip the alarm off?" Maine glared at the tall member of his crew.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that this place has sensors all over the damn place?!" Pilar argued. "Kiwi is the one in charge of clearing those out!" He snapped, pointing to the missing edgerunner.

"I did say that these guys had several things working for them, you strode inside like you owned the place." Kiwi said through an online call.

"Fuck off!" Pilar snapped.

Rebecca watched the whole exchange with a nice dose of embarrassment at her brother's idiocy. Pilar, for as useful in a fight as he was, was a dumbass that couldn't read the room as well as he should. Her best bet was that they could either shut the damn thing off or get out before anyone spotted them. As much as she was up for a fight, she didn't like to do it with the added weight of playing babysitter.

"Shit, what do we do?" David pulled out his gun. "Should we bail?"

"Nah," Maine replied.

"We stick to the mission." Dorio pulled out her own gun.

"Kiwi, Lucy, shut the damn alarms off. This place is gonna be filled with corpos soon, let's give them a warm welcome." Maine instructed.

"On it." Lucy's eyes lit up as she began hacking the alarms before they shut off. "By the way, they're coming from the elevator." Lucy got behind one of the desks as everyone else got their guns ready.

The doors behind them opened up as several security members rushed in, shooting at the intruders. Maine, Dorio, and Pilar fired back with their own guns. David activated his Sandevistan, picking up Lucy and Rebecca as he dodged the bullets coming their way. He ran behind one of the desks as Maine, Dorio and Pilar killed the security forces. It was a ruthless bulletstorm for the two sides, but only the Arasaka security came out losing.

"Everyone okay?" Maine asked.

"We're fine." David replied. "Now what? More might be on their way."

"I got it, you guys go to the stairs and head to the top floor, that's where the package is. Take it and get out of there." Kiwi instructed.

"What about the armed goons coming up?" Lucy asked. "Wait, there's a floor with their cameras disabled. Someone else is here. I'll tell them to head there instead."

"Good idea, let someone else deal with these gonks." Rebecca spotted the door Kiwi had told them about.

Rebecca kicked open a door where she spotted the stairs. Everyone ran in, going up the stairs to the upper levels.

"What the heck are they doing here?!" Robin snapped at the screen. "Of all the times I could've run into them it had to be now?! What is this mess?!"

Robin watched the monitor with shock and a good amount of anger. He'd always known, in the back of his head he'd always known that eventually he would run across someone he knew from one side of his life in the other. But he could never have guessed that it would be most of Maine's crew getting into one of his operations. Especially one that was filled with dangerous technology. A great sense of urgency filled him as he shut off the monitor. He'd gotten what he was looking for, but now there were more complications. He had to get out of there quickly and destroy all the stuff before things got out of hand.

"Get down!"

"Drop your weapons!"
"Get on the ground now!"

The door of the elevator opened up to reveal a small army of security Arasaka goons. They aimed their guns at him shouting orders about him getting on the ground. Robin turned to face them, knowing that as soon as they could, they would shoot him dead. A death sentence is what they wanted. And Robin wasn't going to give them an easy answer. Not when he still had his fight to fight.

"Get on the ground now or we will open fire!"

Robin activated his shrinking as soon as they opened fire on him. He dropped down as the rain of bullets tore through the monitor and the area behind him. But filled with courage and determination, he rushed forward as the ground around him got hit with other bullets. He fired his grappling hook at the bottom of one of the soldiers.

The security forces spread out, looking for him. Their scans didn't show anything to them. But they knew that the intruder had not gone far. They covered the area with their numbers waiting for any signs of their target.

"Clear."
"No signs of him here."

"Here's cle-!"

The third security officer was sent back, feeling the full force of a bullet punching him in the face.

Another officer turned to see their comrade crashing against the containers. Then he felt a punch to the face, sending him back. It came out of nowhere and yet it hit like a full-sized fist.

One by one the soldiers were pushed back and knocked back as Robin ran through them like a bouncing bullet. They were many, but he was used to fighting bigger odds.

Robin hopped from the last soldier onto the next one, running down the barrel of the rifle before springing to the face of the soldier. Landing his feet on the soldier's face, he used him as a springboard to land on the back of another soldier, growing back to his full size. Wrapping his arm around the soldier's neck, he pulled the soldier down to the floor as he pulled out his blaster. He fired at the downed soldier before shooting another soldier on the chest. Springing to his feet, he outran the other shots before jumping over one of the containers. He quickly opened up the large metal box, revealing several weapons that were meant to kill many. But all he needed were the grenades. He shrunk down to his tiny size, jumping up to one of his ants.

The soldiers surrounded the container, filling it with bullet holes. They expected to see a dead body, only for the grenades to roll down around them. They were sent back with a loud boom.

Robin was about to run out of the room, but more soldiers opened fire around the area. He flew around the shots, making sure not to get shot or killed. However, the shots landed on the booby traps, activating them.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Robin snapped as the turrets popped out, opening fire on everything that moved.

The soldiers were quickly taken out by the bullets as they rained down on them. Leaving Robin and his ants to fly around, narrowly dodging the constant fire that came at them. Robin narrowly dodged a bullet as it passed over his head. His eyes landed on the ventilation exhaust. It was the only way to get out of there alive.

Robin commanded his ants to follow him through the hail of bullets back into the vents as the room was filled with holes. The destruction was indeed useful to cover his tracks, but the thing that bothered him was that he was almost caught by the crazy shoot-first-ask-questions-later security forces. And it all stemmed from the unpredicted arrival of Maine and his crew. He needed to get them out of there before they got more involved in this mess. But something told him that they were also looking for the same prize that he was.

"I just hope they haven't been stupid enough to mess with anything else." Robin muttered as he and his ants flew through the air ducts.

Rebecca jumped on top of another security officer, shooting him on the crown of the head. Jumping off of him she fired her guns in the air, laughing like the angel of death.

"You guys really chose to mess with the wrong bitch, you gonks!" Rebecca landed on the ground as Pilar tossed his grenades at them.

The room was filled with smoke and fire as the security forces were torn to shreds.

Maine and Dorio punched their way through the last of the security soldiers, sending a few of them out the window with nothing more than their fists.

David covered Lucy, using his Sandevistan to run around, knocking the guns out of the soldier's hands. He slipped down between one of the soldiers as Lucy glared at them, hacking them with ease. They fell down as their eyes went wide and sparks shot out of their ears.

"That was fucking awesome!" Pilar cheered. "Arasaka ain't got shit!"

"You might be winning now bro, but don't think you're off the hook just yet!" Rebecca shot another gonk in the head. "How you guys doing?"

"Doing awesome, like always." Lucy stood up with David next to her. "I'm running a program to erase us from the cameras. No one in Arasaka will know we were ever here."

"Now this girl knows how to get the job done." Pilar wrapped his arm over Lucy's shoulder, giving her a smirk fit for a wolf.

David scoffed at the way that Pilar was getting chummy with Lucy. He needed to prove himself, and soon.

"So, what now? We keep going?" David asked Maine.

"What about the security team heading to the floor above us, Lucy?" Maine asked.

"No cameras, must've been hacked by someone good. I can't access them. But it seems the security measures have gone off," Lucy said. "So, best case they took themselves and the other intruder at the same time."

"In that case, we keep going. Just a couple floors until that container and the prize inside." Maine and the rest of the crew reloaded their weapons as they got ready for the next floor.

Rebecca loved these kinds of missions and the straightforward attitude that Maine often brought to the table. The only thing that she hated was that she never had enough bullets to take down the bigger gonks. She lived for the edge and went with the flow with her chooms by her side, maybe she could convince Robin to ride with them more often. After she convinced him to get himself a gun. But a part of her didn't want him to get any chrome in his body. She didn't know why but whenever she saw him being out and going through life like it was normal despite all the dangers made her intrigued and aroused. If she loved living on the edge for her job and kick-ass nature, knowing that he was all flesh and bone and the whole world was against him was just something that made her heart pound all the faster. Not to mention that there was an allure to him being ripped below all those clothes. It certainly put a fire in her belly.

She shook her head, getting her horny thoughts out before she got shot while being distracted. That was one of the ways many edgerunners got a bullet in the head. There were worse ways to go, but she didn't like to get a bullet before she bounced her ass on Robin's-Gaahh!

"Say, Maine, what exactly is what we're looking for?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah, a lot of these things look like they're worth a fortune." David backed her up.

"According to Faraday, the piece we're looking for was part of some Alchemax project. Something 'revolutionary' if you could believe that." Maine scoffed. "Bet it was just some new piece of chrome or something. Don't know why he said it was urgent to get it back."

"Alchemax? Isn't that company with weird products all over the place?" David asked.

Rebecca had heard the name before on the streets a few times. But she could've sworn she'd seen something about it back in Robin's workshop. Shrugging it off, she moved on to the next floor. It was probably her imagination. What would Robin have to do with Alchemax to begin with? Though it did make her curious about his past and how he ended up in the one place chrome was king and everyone saw meat as a weakness.

Robin placed the second to last charge inside the containers around the top of the room. The plan was simple, trigger the fire alarm then blow up this room with the grenades to break through the floor and have all the weapons of the storage rooms be destroyed with all the equipment along with it. It would be a good blow to Arasaka that would be followed by more blows to their other safehouses. He hoped that after this mess, Arasaka's executives wouldn't move the products and assets to some other location, but he would at least take down the ones they stole from Alchemax.

His heart felt a tug of shame when he thought of all the good that was being put to the flame to keep Arasaka from making an extra buck. The truth was that he had no idea what they were planning to do with the Inorganic Cleaver. Maybe turn it into a weapon to use against others. Or just sell it as it was meant to be used only to make an extra added million Eddie deal. Either way, it was a blow to science and a blow to the development of a better world.

"Alright, gotta set the timers right and then find a way to get out of here." Robin looked over the grenade, setting up the timers for a total of two minutes. "I bet Becca would've just make this thing go off within sixty seconds and jumped out the window as the whole place was coming down."

He stopped as he registered what he'd just said. Rebecca and the rest of Maine's crew were inside the building. And they were most likely coming up to this very floor if not to the one below him. He needed to get them out before they either got blown up or stole something they didn't understand. Curiosity overtook him as he looked around the containers filled with Alchemax and Arasaka projects. Which one of these had their target? Could they be after some kind of weapon or information on the production of Arasaka's next big product? He shook his head, regardless of the reason they were still there to give it to someone else. Someone that would use it to further a corporate race that no one would win. Maybe he could convince them that these things were dangerous and shouldn't be used at all.

The sound of a door opening cut Robin's thoughts. Slamming down on the button, he shrunk himself down. He ran to the side of one of the containers, secretly watching to see who was coming in.

And well speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Wow, look at this place, another storage room filled with containers," Rebecca said. "Just like the last one we were in, and the one before that." Rebecca stepped out of the door as the rest of the crew went in as well.

"At least this one isn't filled to the brim with Arasaka private security. Lucy, you program still running?" Maine asked.

"Yeah boss, all the recordings of this room about us just stopped recording." Lucy's eyes glowed as she hacked every camera and piece of surveillance that was in the room. "We're ghosts to anyone in Arasaka that was keeping track of this place."

"Nice going," David said.

Robin couldn't help but groan at the sight of the edgerunners. Of course they had brought the kids into the dangerous safehoused filled with deadly security. He thanked that he had a helmet on, he didn't want to look like he'd gotten a hand tattooed on his face. He secretly watched as they spread out, looking for something.

"So, what's the gift we're supposed to open up, huh?" Pilar asked.

"Kiwi says it's the one in the middle." Lucy pointed to.

Robin cursed his luck under his breath as they all made their way to the container. He had to get them away from the damn thing before it was discovered or worse, they accidentally activated the grenade charges inside the container. Hopping like a grasshopper, he reached the bottom of Rebecca's jacket before pulling himself up to the top with the aid of his grappling hook. He looked around to see what he could do, noticing that they were armed and ready. One false move and a fight could blow up like an old boiler. The best thing he could think of was to distract them before they found the grenades. He commanded his ants to crawl up their necks and to wait for his signal.

"Alright let's open this sucker up." Pilar reached for the container.

"Now," Robin whispered.

"Huh?" Rebecca turned her head at the sound of a voice. "Someone say something?"

"Yeah, I said let's-OUCH!" Pilar reeled back, feeling a bite on the back of his neck. "The hell was that-OW! OW!" He jumped and stepped back feeling bites down on his circuits.

"Pilar, what the hell are you doing?!" Maine snapped.

"Something is biting my neck!" Pilar scratched the back of his neck and back.

"Bro, did you take your meds?" Rebecca sighed.

"Good grief-Ow!" Dorio snapped, holding the back of her neck. "Something just bit me!"

"See?! I'm not making this up! Ouch, you bastards!" Pilar felt more bites behind his neck and back. "Lucy, please tell me this is your idea of a joke!"

"This isn't me! Do I look like the kind of girl that would do thi-Ow!" Lucy flinched as she felt a bite behind her.

"Luc-Ow! What the hell?!" David snapped.

Soon everyone was feeling the bites of the ants crawling all over them. Each bite was a painful sting that they had not felt in a long time. It burnt and stung like hell despite everything they did to shake it off. They flinched and jumped, trying to shake off whatever was making a meal out of them.

"The hell is going on!" Rebecca kicked the container, opening it. "Damn, nice gun there."

"That's gotta be the thing, let's grab it and go!" Pilar snatched the Inorganic Cleaver from the container without a second thought, knocking the grenade from its spot..

"STOP!" Robin called out, before covering his mouth.

The edgerunners stopped, pulling their weapons out at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. They looked around, ignoring the bites that had plagued them just a few seconds ago. They had assumed the room was empty, according to Kiwi there wasn't anyone with chrome on that floor. They all gathered in a circle as they looked for anything that moved or even so much as twitched out of order.

"Who the hell was that?!" Maine snapped. "Kiwi, I thought you said this floor was clear."

"It is. Apart from you guys, there is nothing there other than the containers." Kiwi replied from her secure location.

"Then how come we just heard someone talking?" Maine wasn't a fan of people hiding out ready to pounce out. "If you got the balls to talk, I suggest showing yourself. This here is our score!"

"Yeah, I'm about to use this thing on you if you don't show up!" Pilar added. "And I've got no idea what this thing does!"

Robin cursed himself and his slip up. There was no way that he could get them out of there without causing a scene. Which he was very tempted to do thanks to Puilar aiming that piece like a normal rifle. The last thing he needed was for Pilar's own dumbass to accidentally cut the floor in two and have them all fall down. He needed to put the damn thing back to where it had been taken. An idea popped in his head. He quietly hopped over to Pilar's shoulder, using his vest to hide himself. It was time to have some fun.

"Show yourself bitch! Who are you?!" Pilar demanded.

"Hello, sir." Pilar flinched, turning to see nothing behind him. "I am so sorry for disturbing you, but I am the AI assistant installed in the asset you are holding."

Everyone turned to the weapon Pilar was holding.

"Oh shit, the gun is haunted!" Pilar fumbled with the weapon passing it on to Rebecca.

"Careful you idiot/jackass!" Robin and Rebecca snapped at once.

"Well, you certainly have more personality than I thought." Rebecca looked over the gun.

"I am one of a kind. But listen, this weapon is not for everyday use, and it is incorporated with a tracking and self-destruct protocol that will activate as soon as you are out of a specific radius." Robin explained in the best robotic voice he could pull off. "So please, put the item back inside the container before someone gets hurt."

"Yo Maine, you heard this thing. Is it what we're supposed to get anyway?" Rebecca asked.

"Kiwi?" Maine asked.

"Nope, the thing we're looking for is still inside the container. No idea what that thing is, but there's no sound or anything coming from it." Kiwi revealed to Maine.

"That so, huh?" Maine turned to the container, he could smell a rat. "Alright let's-"

The doors of the elevator opened up to reveal another team of security bursting in. But these guys were not like previous security guards that had come before. These ones had brought larger numbers and were ready to use them.

"Shit!" Everyone called out before the security forces opened fire on everyone.

Robin used this distraction to jump off of Rebecca and grow back to his normal size. He grabbed her and David, pulling them behind one of the containers as the security forces opened fire on the group. The Inorganic Cleaver fell to the ground, but he didn't care, he wanted to keep these two safe even if he had to lose the element of surprise to do so. Wrapping his arms over their heads, he pulled them down as the bullets started flying over their heads.

"Stay down. These guys don't care if they kill you or take you alive." Robin explained as Maine, Dorio and Pilar fired back. "You guys need to get out of here, this place is all set to blow!"

"The hell are you-?" Rebecca stopped herself.

Rebecca turned to look at the Ant-Runner. It was like looking at a rockstar after only getting glimpses of them in holovideos and immediately knowing that this guy was on another level. She'd seen him twice but this was the closest she'd ever been to the guy and she could tell that he was something else. Not that she wasn't surprised to see him here.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Rebecca snapped.

"You know this guy?!" David asked.

"Knowing is a bit of a stretch, kid. Shouldn't you be at school?" Robin muffled his voice with the aid of his helmet. "And I'm here for the same reason as you and this ragtag crew. Only I'm not selling it to the next highest bidder."

"In my defense, I'm not exactly in the know of what we're stealing." Rebecca aimed her gun at him. "But hey, I didn't ask for the job, I just did it. I'm here for my crew and to keep their heads in their place. What were you planning on doing anyway?"

"Some of these things happen to be very dangerous to be out on the streets, so I'm getting them out of here." Robin countered, ducking under a passing shot. "Besides, it hurts Arasaka, so that's a plus." He pulled out his blaster, firing back at the security officers.

"Oh, so it's wrong when we do it but it's okay when you do it?!" Rebecca poked his chest before shooting another security officer in the face. "The only difference it seems to be is that you're doing this by your lonesome and because you think you're better than us!"

"I'm not better than you, I have my motives," Robin countered. "Arasaka stole this technology and they are planning to use it to hurt people, I want to stop them. It may sound selfish to you, but at least I don't drag kids to a warzone!"

"First off, what you're doing is pretty human to me. So no judging there," Rebecca shrugged. "But I didn't drag David here, he came because he wanted! Right, David!"

"Lucy!" David ran out to reach Lucy.

"Lucy?" Robin and Rebecca snapped as they saw David using his Sandevistan to reach the netrunner. "Is he serious?!" They asked each other.

"Alright, so we hold off on snapping at each other for later or do we let David and everyone else get killed first?" Rebecca asked.

"Cover me, and I'll get you and your crew out of here." Robin peeked out from the corner of the container to see what they were up against.

"As long as I get to shoot, I'm good." Rebecca smirked. "But how are you gonna keep yourself from getting shot?"

"Like this. Now." Robin shrunk himself, only for Rebecca to blink slightly.

She'd expected the camouflage gear to look differently, but she wasn't one to complain. She was a fighter, and she would shoot her way out if she had to. Jumping to her feet she opened fire back on the security guards, not knowing that Robin was flying around her bullets and towards their common enemy. Ducking under the shots of her enemies, she made sure not to hit any of her friends nor her brother. It was easy to accidentally kill someone in the middle of a gun fight through friendly fire. Taking a deep breath, she fired at the opening between Maine and her brother, taking out one of the security soldiers. Her fingers pulled the triggers of her guns like lightning as she continued firing like a woman on a mission. Her shots were wild, but she landed hit after hit on the security forces, pushing them back just as Robin reached them.

Robin jumped off of one of his ants, firing his grappling hook at one of the security guards, pulling himself down at top speed. Punching the first man down to the ground, he used the momentum to spring to the next soldier's gun. With a strong shove, the gun was turned on another soldier taking him down. It was a dance of hopping violence as Robin jumped from soldier to soldier before punching, kicking, and making them lose their balance. His knuckles felt every blow against their armored helmets, but it was worth giving the group a chance to head out.

To Rebecca and everyone else it looked like someone was messing with the soldiers, in a strange and bizarre manner, but it was working. It was working so well that Maine, Dorio, Pilar and Rebecca jumped into the fight, kicking and punching the rest of the soldiers. Maine's large size and built-in arm cannon made short work of one of the soldiers, splattering them on the wall before backhanding another one away. Dorio kicked one of the soldiers in the stomach, activating her foot gun, blasting through two soldiers with deadly consequences. Rebecca reloaded her pistols before firing at the rest of the soldiers with a mad cackle.

"Dance, bitches! Dance!" Rebecca shot the soldiers, not noticing one of the soldiers was about to shoot her.

Robin jumped in, growing back to his normal size, he fired his blaster at the soldier, putting a hole through his body.

"Keep your guard up!" Robin snapped as he blocked the butt of a rifle before kneeling the soldier in the stomach.

"You're one to talk with your invisibility trick!" Rebecca kicked one of the soldiers in the balls.

"Hey, asholes!" Pilar picked up the Inorganic Cleaver and aimed it at the soldiers. "Say hello to my little friend!" He didn't notice the sparks coming from the untested weapon.

"No, you idiot!" Robin snapped before Pilar pulled the trigger. "Get down!" He tackled Rebecca to the ground once more.

"What the hell is your-?" Rebecca watched as one of the discarded rifles was cut in two.

A light blue laser shot out from the tip of the blaster, cutting through the soldiers and the walls behind them. Pilar laughed as he fired over and over again at the soldiers leaving them with more holes than a piece of Swiss Cheese. He kept on pulling the trigger like a madman, going all out. But the device had not been built to withstand that kind of abuse, quickly causing more sparks to shoot out. But the damage had been done. To the untrained and completely dumb of ass, it looked like one easy victory for Pilar and Maine's crew. However…

"Hey, hang on. Why are you ass hats still standing?!" Pilar gestured to the soldiers as they opened fire on him.

"Pilar, you dumbass! Look what you're doing!" Rebecca snapped.

Pilar looked at the result of his wild firing with a weapon he had no understanding about. All he'd done was put holes in the suits of the security soldiers, the wall behind them and had cut off Maine's right hand and Dorio's leg by accident. With the two of them looking at Pilar with murder in their eyes.

"I don't… Why the hell are they still standing?!" Pilar aimed at the soldiers.

"That thing is known as the Inorganic Cleaver, it was designed to cut through anything that's not organic," Robin explained as the soldiers rushed Pilar. "You only messed with their armor and weapons but they can still beat you up!"

The soldier's surrounded the group as they gathered around the last container.

They were now caught between a rock and a hard place, but Robin could easily escape the place. But that would leave Becca and everyone else on their own. He had to take them out of there and blow up everything to cover their tracks. Robin looked at the grenades that were still active and ready to detonate. His eyes landed on the Inorganic Cleaver as an idea popped in his head.

"Hey, how good are you shooting?" Robin asked Rebecca.

"I can take out anyone with a shot." Rebecca smirked. "But I'm down to one shot."

"What about shooting the ground in a perfect circle?" Robin pulled out the grenade.

"Okay, color me interested." Rebecca could feel something cool was going to happen.

"Everyone, in the circle!" Robin snatched the rifle from Pilar's hands, tossing it to Rebecca.

David rushed Lucy, Maine and Dorio close to Rebecca and the rest with his Sandevistan. Rebecca fired the rifle at the floor, cutting through it in a perfect circle, causing them to fall down to the next floor. Using this chance, Robin activated the grenade in his hand, tossing it up. Aiming at it with his blaster, he fired.

The room above them exploded, with the grenade's explosion triggering the other grenades in the room. All the containers burned with the security soldiers being sent flying out of the floor. The ground crumbled along with the walls from all the damage, collapsing everything with fire and destruction.

Robin, Rebecca and the rest of the crew fell down two floors, holding on to dear life. They all clung to the piece of cut off floor with all the strength of their hands as gravity took them to the lower floors. They let out a sigh as the explosion rocked the building over their heads. But their sigh of relief didn't last long. The Inorganic Cleaver had cut more than just the ground they were on, it had cut a good chunk of the other two floors too. They bounced as they landed before passing through the floor. The sound of the explosion and the smell of burning metal accompanied them all the way down as they fell down to the normal offices. They groaned as they looked at all the people looking at them.

"Um, we're from the head office," Robin said, taking the Inorganic Cleaver. "And there will be some remodeling upstairs, so just a heads up." He shrank down before leaving with his ants.

"And that's our cue." Rebecca sighed as they all left.

Robin reached his hideout taking off his helmet with a tired sigh. The mission turned far more tiresome and complicated than it was supposed to be. Maine's crew showing up was an unexpected development that really drove him to the edge. Everything turned into a mess too quickly and many people would have gotten hurt. Many people got hurt because of the clash between the three sides, him, Maine and his crew and Arasaka. He would have to be careful not to get others involved if he could avoid it. As hard as that seemed like a possibility, he would still have to improve on what he'd learned and adapt to the craziness of the city. But the thing that made him curious was the weapon that he'd smuggled out of the collapsing building.

The Inorganic Cleaver's circuits were fried and the energy source was all spent up, but the design and ease it could be used was a marvel. If it had been used for anything other than weapons it would've saved many lives. Arasaka had turned something good into something twisted. At the end of the day, Rebecca was right, the only difference between him and the other edgerunners was that he wasn't getting paid. But that was okay, he wasn't a hero. At best, he was someone that ran on the edge but towards a goal of revenge. And that was something he could live with.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Maine," Faraday said.

"Whatever, getting this thing wasn't easy." Maine looked at the metal orb they'd taken.

"That's something that brought the job to me can answer." Faraday turned to an incoming car.

The car stopped before them as one of the doors opened up. Out of the car came, Mr. U, still sporting the look of a professional man of business and red glowing eyes.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Thank you for recovering the package." Mr. U reached for the metal orb.

"Hang on, we almost got killed by another one of your Alchemax toys. What the hell is in that thing that's got some strange energy signature?" Maine asked.

Mr. U picked up the orb, scanning the contents of the container. He smiled, deciding it wouldn't hurt to look inside. Opening the orb, it expanded to reveal a chunk of glowing purple metal ore.

"It is a special synthetic metal alloy known as Vb by the Alchemax scientists." Mr. U explained. "Arasaka stole it to crack how to replicate it. But they were unsuccessful. Good day, gentlemen." Mr. U put the ore away and walked back to his car, driving off.