“Hm.
Working with you is actually pretty pleasant.
I put in all the shards, and now I barely even have to try.
Every active account is already under my control.
And there’s just an obscene amount of money here.”
I shrugged at Lucy’s comment.
At the moment, I didn’t really care.
I needed to get to the lower level.
Which meant taking the stairs.
“Stop.”
I hadn’t even touched the door to the stairwell when Lucy’s voice cut in.
“I found an old file.
They mined the stairs.
Nobody ever uses them.
The only way down is the elevator.”
I frowned.
“Shit.”
I closed my eyes for a few seconds and thought.
“Is the door mined?”
“Checking.”
Judy’s voice confirmed she was back in control.
Lucy had handed over the data and gone back to siphoning funds from the underground fight club.
“The door is clean.”
“Good.”
I nodded, cracked the door open, and activated my Kiroshis in multiple modes.
I spotted the mines immediately.
Sighing, I stepped onto the landing.
Okay.
Let’s see what I can do.
I activated my Sandevistan and took the first step.
A short push, and my foot hit the wall.
The mines were below me, mounted on the wall, using laser beams.
Breaking the beam would trigger the explosion.
So I stayed above them on the wall.
The landing was short.
I pushed off, flew to the opposite wall, and pushed off again.
Three minutes of subjective time later, I reached the lower level.
More mines sat directly in front of the door.
I adjusted my trajectory, grabbed my grapple gun, and fired it into the underside of the platform above.
“Judy, can you put together a daemon to disarm these mines?”
“Hold on.”
“Fuck, man.
How did you even do that?”
Bex’s voice was full of admiration.
“Sandevistan and strong legs.
But I couldn’t climb back up this way.
And pulling that trick twice would be hard.
I should talk to Vik about installing synthetic muscles.”
“Vik?”
Bex practically squealed.
“That guy’s going to talk you out of it.”
“Really?”
I was genuinely surprised.
Sure, Viktor was cautious.
He’d been against upgrading my chrome at first.
But that was just because he cared about his clients and insisted on full rehabilitation.
“Well, Maine tried to work with him.
He said Vik kept talking him out of new chrome.”
“But you work with him.”
“I mean…
yeah.”
Bex sounded surprised, like she’d never really thought about the contradiction.
“It’s all about approach.”
“Approach?”
“Vik’s a serious guy.
He doesn’t like rushing.
When I first went to him, he fixed my Sandevistan.
The only thing he didn’t oppose was replacing my optics.
And even then, only because everyone has them now.
Swapping one piece of chrome for another doesn’t affect the body’s load.”
“Done.”
Judy’s voice cut in.
I opened her message, downloaded the daemon, and quickly disabled all the mines on the landing.
Then I braced my hand against the slab where the grapple was anchored, pushed off, and ordered the tether to detach.
“There’s a security post behind the door.
But they’re pretty relaxed.”
“Can you distract them?”
“I can disable the soda machine and the TV.”
“Do it.”
A few seconds later, it was done.
I opened the door, activated my Sandevistan, and slipped past the empty guard post.
I ducked into a nearby room, which turned out to be a locker room for the fighters.
At least, that was my guess from all the lockers.
“Where to now?
Where’s the target?”
“Straight down the hall.
There’s a fork.
Take a right.
Then the security room.”
“Understood.
Moving.”
I activated my Sandevistan again, left the room, and made my way to the fork, turning as directed.
The door I approached looked solid.
The kind that made you think about installing gorilla arms.
The only thing stopping me was knowing those arms didn’t fit my style.
“I’m connecting to the door.”
I plugged in and felt my deck heat up as one of the netrunners started working through me.
I couldn’t tell which one.
Didn’t matter.
“There are no cameras in there.
We only know our target is inside because we overheard some chatter.
Be careful.”
Judy warned me.
When the door hissed open, I activated my Sandevistan.
That probably saved my life.
A shotgun blast tore through the opening just as I slipped inside.
If I’d been using a standard, off-the-shelf Sandevistan, I never would have reacted in time.
The shot came from a man who was also moving.
He was moving, just slower than me.
Which meant he had a Sandevistan too.
Just not as good as mine.
I partially dodged, grimacing as buckshot shredded my left arm.
Honestly, in that moment, all I wanted to do was hit the floor and scream.
The only thing keeping me going was experience.
I knew that if I dropped out of acceleration, I was dead.
He wouldn’t show me mercy.
He had no reason to.
At best, he’d keep me alive long enough to squeeze information out of me.
Then he’d kill me anyway.
That wasn’t an option.
My right hand drew my pistol.
I fired three shots on prediction.
The first hit the barrel, shattering it.
Shrapnel flew everywhere.
It hit him as much as it hit me.
My opponent froze.
He’d dropped out of acceleration.
I fired four more shots, aiming for his knees and elbows.
Even if he had good chrome, my pistol was powerful enough to pierce those obvious weak points.
I deactivated my Sandevistan.
He collapsed.
“Aaaaaah!
You fffffucking bitch!”
Staggering, I barely stayed on my feet.
I stepped back through the door and closed it.
“Can you hear me?”
“Are you okay?”
Judy’s voice was tense.
“Yeah.
The target had a Sandevistan.
And…”
I scanned the room.
“…a backup surveillance system.
He spotted me on the first floor.”
“I’ll kill you!
I’ll fucking kill you!
You think you’re getting away with this?”
I winced at the screaming.
I looked around, walked over to him, and unbuckled his belt.
He seemed confused.
I didn’t care.
My left arm was shredded.
I needed a tourniquet.
I applied it.
“How are you doing?”
Panam’s voice was full of concern.
“I think I’ll have to visit Vik.
Need a new arm.
Got hit by shrapnel from the shotgun.
But overall…”
“There’s panic in the building.
They know you’re inside.”
“What do we do?”
“Nothing.”
Lucy’s voice was calm.
“You put in all three shards.
I can send them on a false trail easily.”
“Good.
I still have more shards.
Connect to my optics.
Let’s sweep the office together.
Tell me where to place them.”
“Okay.
One minute.”
I pulled an injector from my pouch and pressed it into my shoulder.
Normally, you’d inject closer to the heart for faster distribution, but the shrapnel didn’t bother me as much as the pain.
The injector had painkillers anyway.
“Good.”
I sighed, then looked around the office.
The first thing I noticed was a golden pistol on his desk.
“Wow.
No ego issues there.”
I walked over to him.
He was unconscious.
His hands and feet?
I checked and confirmed my initial suspicion.
They were chrome.
The damage didn’t mean anything.
“Tch.”
I noticed a wound on his chest.
Looked like some of the shrapnel had damaged something important.
I grabbed another injector and jammed it into him.
Then I drew my pistol and put extra rounds into every joint.
“Okay.
I sent them all in the wrong direction.
We’ve got about fifteen minutes before they realize I just triggered the security system and gave Bex something to play with.
Let’s sweep the office and get out.”
“Got it.”
I stood, walked around the room, showing Lucy all the tech.
There was a safe glowing in one of my optical modes.
“Put shards here.
And here.”
I followed her instructions.
She cracked the safe effortlessly.
“Uh.
Jackpot?”
I stared at the pile of credit chips inside.
Also data chips.
And the best part?
They wouldn’t take up much space in my bag.
“Looks like it.
But I wouldn’t advise it.”
“Why not?”
“Some of those could have tracking chips disguised as credits.
Without the right hardware, we can’t tell which are real and which are traps.”
I sighed and closed the safe.
“Kh…”
Our target was waking up.
I walked over, checked his pulse, and made a decision.
“Okay.
I’m leaving.”
“Yeah.
Judy will guide you.”
I grabbed his arm, then stopped.
If he started screaming, it’d draw attention.
I looked around, found his shoes, took them off, pulled off his socks, and shoved them into his mouth.
I used his shoelaces to secure them.
Then I pulled one of Lucy’s shards and plugged it into his port.
“Lucy, make sure he can’t call anyone.”
“Done.”
“Path is clear.”
Judy confirmed.
I opened the door, stepped out, and dragged him down the hall.
He was muffled, trying to scream, but the guards were all on the other side of the building.
I made it to the elevator.
“The security post upstairs is too active.
They’re expecting anyone coming up.”
“Understood.
Stop the elevator one floor short.”
The elevator stopped.
I jumped, kicked out the maintenance hatch, climbed onto the roof, and secured a grapple.
I used it to haul our target up to the roof, then climbed back down.
“What about the floors above?”
“Residential.
But all the elevator doors are sealed.
The stairwells have armored plates blocking access.”
“Got it.
Send the elevator up and open the doors.
Let them shoot at an empty car.”
I did exactly that.
The guards opened fire, emptying their magazines into the empty compartment.
“Okay.
They’re pausing.
Confused.”
“Two are coming toward you.
Three are staying put.
Two are at the front doors, same as when you came in.”
I sighed, activated my Sandevistan, and felt a burning sensation in my back.
I was pushing the limit again.
A few more minutes of subjective time and I’d start burning nerves.
My muscles were already aching.
Sighing, I dropped back into the elevator and emptied my pistol into the guards.
Then I climbed back onto the roof, detached the grapple, dropped back down, and dragged my target toward the exit.
“How are things on your end?”
“Fine.”
Panam’s voice was relaxed.
“Fine.
You drew a little attention, but they still don’t know we’re in their system.
Their netrunners aren’t great.”
“There are netrunners.
I’m just better.”
Lucy’s voice was quiet and calm.
I left the building, activated my Sandevistan again, and put bullets through both guards’ heads.
I hated doing that.
But with one good arm, taking them down non-lethally wasn’t practical.
I grabbed the target by the leg and dragged him through the alleyways.
Soon, the Thunder pulled up.
I tossed him into the trunk and got in the front seat.