Chapter 83
Motoko! Hiromi called out as she entered Lizzies.
Sure she looked a bit awkward about it, staring a bit too long at some of the Mox bouncers, but I waved her over and her nervousness faded as she got closer.
I guess it might be a little awkward for a girl like Hiromi who usually was covered in TC stuff to walk into the Mox home.
But honestly I wanted to get away from using the Ho-Oh club as our meetup place.
That stupid mask I now had hidden away in my room was taunting me with the fact that Fujimura was eager to recruit me fully.
I didnt want to deal with that.
Youre late. Ichi pointed out as he sipped on his drink. Malcolm and Ichi had actually been here early
A little too early if my estimation was right, but boys will be boys.
Pfft! I was busy! Reaching out to some contacts about potential buyers. Hiromi said eyebrows twitching in an insinuation about their future payday.
All is forgiven. Ichi offered with a faux bow and Hiromi cackled as she slipped into the seat next to me. We were at the bar for now, but I would drag my chooms into one of the private booths before we got to talking too much.
Hiromi ordered a drink, Ichi and Malcolm both happy to drink a bit on my tab. Because I am a generous leader.
So you found something? Malcolm prompted, looking eager. This wasnt his first attempt to pry information out, but I had told him to wait for Hiromi.
Not here. Get your drinks, and lets go grab a bit of privacy. Thanks Mateo. I said to the bartender, dropping a tip as I dragged my eager chooms out of the main room.
In the end we took over one of the booth rooms, as I settled my chooms around and then I called all of them just like last time.
Instantly I sent all of them the information I had gathered about the new scav den.
The office building looked run down from the outside, and closed off, that image moved inside giving a bit gruesome scenes of the interiors.
*Disgusting.* Hiromi muttered into the group call. *But it looks like they have a lot of product.* She said looking at the boxes of chrome the Scavs were collecting.
*How did you even find this place?* Ichi asked and I threw him a peace sign.
*I backtraced missing peoples reports and slipped into security systems all along the streets. Everyone has security cameras after all, and a lot of them are pointing at the street. So with a bit of finangling and a lot of illegal hacking I was able to track people.*
*Holy shit! That must have been pretty hard. Im surprised more people dont do that.*
I shrugged. *Its dangerous. One bad server that has some nasty ICE, and I could be in a lot of trouble.*
*Motoko! If you are going to do something so dangerous then call on us to help! We can at least get you to your ripper if something goes wrong.* Hiromi demanded glaring and I nodded hands raised at her anger.
*Yeah, probably smart.*
*Good!*
*Should be a good payday. Any issue with the numbers Motoko?* Ichi asked, *Need us to come in guns blazing this time?* He said while motioning with his hand as if shooting a gun.
*No. Ive already taken over their system, when I hit them, all of the scavs are going to lose their ability to see simultaneously! I chirped, grinning at the idea of what I was going to do to these monsters.
*Nice.*
*Malcolm: You grabbed all of their camera data here right?* Malcolm asked, still forced to send his question as a text as he didnt have an interior agent.
Gonna have to remind him he could get that upgrade now.
*Yeah, their security was good, but not that good. They had it all saved to a laptop. I actually think it might have been something one of them did as a mistake. The security for the network was set up by a netrunner, but this is the kind of amateur mistake I expect from someone who has no idea what they are doing.*
*Malcolm: Then, cant we use your little back trace trick to find more scav dens?*
I blinked at Malcolms text. That was possible.
While I had tracked the van back to this place. They still had to transport their gear to another site to sell, could I figure out where?This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.
Could I track their shipments to find even more? I could follow cameras like I had before
Well maybe not alone.
But I wasnt alone.
*Okay chooms. Malcolm had a great idea. I might be able to track the scavs, but Ill need your help. Rather than hit just one scav den. I want to find where all of the chrome gets sent.* I said and suddenly all three of my chooms sat up straight.
We had made bank on the small scav dens.
But if there was a central repository? If there was even just a storage space for where all the chrome went?
We could make
A lot of eddies.
Like a lot of eddies.
I blinked back in my flesh. I sat up slowly seeing my chooms all sitting around the basement in different levels of disarray. I looked at the clock and winced at how late it was.
Sorry guys. I shouldnt have kept pushing you all so late. Lets get some rest we can continue tomorrow. I offered and Malcolm and Hiromi both groaned but seemed willing to stop.
Ichis fist slammed onto the table, startling us all.
No. Motoko, youve been netdiving for like six hours. You must be exhausted, take a break. Grab some food whatever you need. But Im not You brought us in, its our turn to prove we arent just hanging onto your rep. Im not giving up. Not yet. He said and Hiromi instantly plopped back into her chair and focused on the laptop.
Malcolm let out a chuckle and shook his head. Yeah fair enough. Not like we havent done late nights before. I could use some chow though.
Ill go get some food! I told them cutting Malcolm off. I owe you guys for being so great! I said and before they could say anything I was there. Rushing in.
Malcolm got first hug since he was closest. I lifted him up and spun him around a bit before dropping him onto his wobbly feet and rushed at Hiromi who squeaked as I lifted her out of her chair.
Ichi tried to defend himself. But his Street Brawling was weak.
Something to work on in the future.
My grapple hugs completed, I hummed happily as I headed to the elevator. There was a diner down the street, I bet I could get a couple of to go meals there.
--
Bags full of steaming hot meals I walked back to the apartment. The diner was close enough I decided to just walk, it would take longer to have to park the car.
While I did I considered the problem.
The Scavs obviously had to have a way to get the chrome out of the city. That was the rumor, or at least my understanding. The Scavs stole chrome from the city and sold it off, usually in russia.
Okay so assuming that is right, they had to ship it. Its why I was so confused. Why would they drive into City Center? There were no docks big enough for a transpacific cargo ship there. You would want to go northside for that.
But they had come from the northside, traveling into City Center.
So why?
Why would you head into City Center? The truck they used was pretty big. More than enough for the many crates they loaded up. The same style of crates we had found in the original scav den. The only one that hadnt had the same style was Charles shop, but his was obviously a weird scav situation, since he was reselling the chrome he found.
So they brought in tens of crates, how do they get them out?
Did they load them into an AV for transport out of the city? But why City Center? There were better places to load an AV closer.
So a ship?
But why? The only docks in City Center were like High end Yacht club stuff. The sort of place that has insane security, that a bunch of scavs wouldnt be able to slip in.
Did they gather it up and transport it out in bigger trucks? I suppose the scavs could have a corpo working with them, giving them a place to store huge amounts of their loot.
In the end I just wasnt sure where to go next.
Luckily I could still be snack provider.
As I walked into the basement room it was quiet, my chooms were all still staring at the screens and I decided it was time for a break.
Food time! I called out holding up the bags of to go diner meals in the air.
Yeah I could eat.
Food! Malcolm and Ichi both spoke as one, and pulled away from the system. I settled the food on a table that Morgan had probably set up for just that purpose and parceled out the meals.
Its so frustrating! How can they just disappear like that! I just want to know where they went! Hiromi whined as she plopped into the chair.
Well they didnt disappear. Malcolm said after a moment as he finished swallowing a bite of the pasta that I was absolutely sure wasnt what the diner called it, but hey it was warm and filling.
We lost them though.
Yeah the fuckers drove down Corpo, I mean Corporation st. and we cant find a camera to hit them with after. Ichi offered, chowing down.
Yeah but like We know where they end up. Malcolm said, suddenly sitting up straight as he put the food down.
No we dont? We lost track of them. I reminded him but his eyes werent focused on me, he was a million miles away.
Malcolm?
They return to the scav den. He said in a mumble. When they are done. They return to the scav den.
Yeah?
So they dont disappear. We know where they are Motoko, instead of trying to track their path to where they are going. Try to track them on their way back! I considered it. They likely would take the same path back, but what if they didnt?
Either way it was more data.
Malcolm. Good job. I said throwing him a thumbs up, but as my chooms all stood to rush back to their stations I reached out and started pushing people back into chairs. Hold it! I demanded startling everyone.
Food first. Breaking a Scav ring comes after.
