Chapter 84
Once everyone ate and had a break we jumped back in. I was back on the net. This time following the Van backwards along its path with my team helping out. And then to our delight, the van was on a different road back.
*Its on Longshore! It just came off the Ringroad!* Malcolm called out through the call.
The Van hadnt gone into City Central using the freeways through NC. It had been mostly on the street level. Using Congress St to go around Corpo Plaza to reach Corporation.
But if they were using the Ring road to come back? It meant Corporation St. Was close to where our scavs made their dropoff.
*Im checking what I can find around Corporation. If they are on the Ringroad I cant find any good cameras in that area, everything is high end. Im stretching out and looking for smaller shops.* I called out to my chooms as I blurred through cyberspace, trying to find something with eyes.
*Motoko. Check for 25/7s. They tend to be all over the place down there, since the corpos use them to buy cigarettes or a beer while working.* Hiromi cut in, and I blinked.
What the fuck was a 25/7?
It took me a few seconds to find out. They were capsule shops. They could be put just about anywhere, and were basically gas stations without the gas.
Interesting!
I did a quick net search for them, finding a few of the capsules all over the area.
The trouble came instantly as I slipped onto their server net.
All of the recordings for all the shops went to a main server. It was a chain shop after all.
But the place was crazy secure. I had to duck back out instantly just to avoid the security Daemons they had liberally placed throughout.
Slow Motoko. Take it slow. I reminded myself. Then I began breaching. Slipping my Daemons into their system in return. Blinding their security, as I wormed my way in.
It helped that I wasnt trying to access their most secure data. Their payment, and shipping information was heavily secured. The digital access point looked like a hallway full of lasers and things heading towards a vault.
But the camera data wasnt something they could store that securely. There would be just too much information coming in. It would make a weakness in the security. So it was far easier to access for that reason.
Or they just didnt care to protect it.
So I managed to slip into that section of the server without trouble, bypassing the security Daemons.
I was just starting to access the cameras, looking for the shops on Corporation st when I felt it.
Someone knew I was here.
Danger Sense.
I turned throwing up my ICE Shield, which saved me.
A Daemon shaped like a devil was rushing me, its open mouth full of chainsaw teeth that spun and buzzed. Honestly it looked more like a blender than a mouth.
But even as the Daemon hit my shield and slowed down frosting over it was the netrunner behind it that I was focused on.
Sorry kid. Nothing personal. He said as his hand shifted.
Barrier spun around me. The neon shields bursting to life, filling space with a flood of junk data, that when the ray of neon green light shot out, I was able to actually dodge as the incredibly fast hack stalled on the barriers before managing to work their way through.
Hell Flame burst around me slamming into the Daemon, causing the Daemon stuck in my ICE to begin to dissolve. Removing it as a threat.
Hey cant we talk about this? Not looking to cause trouble here. I called out even as I continued to prepare more defenses, and looking for an escape route.
Breaking into my server? That is trouble. He said and I had to sacrifice another of my barriers to keep the ray of light from striking me.
Not here to damage your biz! I called out, sending a wave of Hell Fire at the runner who stopped attacking to throw up a solid wall of ICE to fizzle it out.
Yeah this guy knew what he was doing, and he was in his own server. I was gonna have to delta.
Unfortunately he wasnt going to let me. Even as I started making my way to move out of the server lobby, the security Daemon dogs were gathering at the exits. Blocking my way.
Fucker.
Yeah what exactly would a kid netrunner be doing sneaking in here? Oh did you just trip and your access connector happen to slide into the server port?
I actually snorted, out a laugh at the joke.
Not exactly, how about we have a-fuck! I yelped as I dodged another ray. I was running low on barriers. Throwing up another set was only a stop gap measure. How about we have a minute where we talk! No need to go killing each other here.
I dont know from my angle. I seem to be on the winning side of this. He called out mocking, but, keeping him talking was keeping him from blasting me.
Fine I would just flip it around. A new set of barriers surrounded him now. Leaving me without my best defense, but the Daemon was dead, so ICE burst up creating a barrier between us.
Oh fuck off. He grumbled and started bashing the spam barriers with his laser.
I took a moment to get a scan of it and had to whistle. That was a nasty virus. Like my fire it would try to delete anything it touched.
How about we just talk, yeah? I called out and while it didnt make him stop blasting the barriers it did cause him to respond again.
Yeah? Why should I? Some thief coming into my server? Its my job to clean up the trash! He yelled blasting a few more of the barriers down.
Okay first? Ouch. Second. Im not here to steal anything! I just need your camera records to see if I can track down a Scav group. I waited, peaking my head out from around my ICE barrier. I was counting on the fact everyone hated scavs to give me a few seconds here.
My trash barriers were all gone, but he wasnt attacking me anymore.
Im supposed to believe you are hunting Scavs?
Well Yeah! Look at where I am! Im accessing your camera records. I said waving at the data I had been poking at.
I guess it was sleepover time. I rolled my eyes and just decided to go with it. Hiromi was right. No need to rush this.
-
The next morning we all drove out to the Marina to get a look at what we were facing.
My Quadra, and Ichis truck stood out like a sore thumb when we pulled out into the Marina from Corporation st.
But that was fine. We were just information gathering.
Look at that ship. Malcolm muttered, staring at the big black yacht that was one of the few ships in the marina. The thing looked like a stealth ship from the old world, but considering where it was, it was likely just a luxury yacht with a weird style.
Do you think thats it? Ichi asked me and I shrugged.
No way to know. They could be out on the seas right now. Or they could just be using a warehouse or something connected to the marina until a bigger ship comes by to pick it all up, right under the nose of customs If thats even a thing here. I muttered wondering what customs was even like in Night City.
It was technically a city state.
Interesting but unimportant.
Okay so yeah we arent getting in there easily. Ichi muttered looking across the small marina from the parking lot we were idling in.
There was only one way into the Marina which had barricades, a security station, and guards.
There were even cameras I could see all over the area.
Yep. They werent interested in having riff raff enter their marina.
Can you netrun into their stuff? You know like take over the cameras, or cause an alert that all the guards run to the wrong area to take care of or something? Malcolm asked, and I had to snort, shaking my head.
It doesnt really work like that. Considering the money in the place, Id be shocked if they didnt have a netrunner keeping an eye on things Which sucks, makes everything harder Ill probably have to get into their security room to get anything. I said looking at the small set of buildings in the marina. One of which had the computer I would need to access.
So got the pictures you need?
Yeah. I said with a smirk already seeing the perfect way in. Ill need to do this at night, so we should get out of here. Break up until later. Want to get some food?
I could eat. Malcolm said hand raised and grinning.
--
These fries are actually pretty good. I muttered staring at my plate of steak fries in surprise.
Yeah? What about them? Malcolm asked, looking like he was about to try and sneak one, since I didnt want to stab the gonk for stealing. I gestured at the plate that he could try and he did with a big smile.
I dont know, they just taste good. Im kinda surprised.
Pfft. Picky! Motoko is picky. Ichi said teasing, but I got a look of sympathy from Hiromi.
Made sense. While her parents werent the absolute high level executives in Arasaka, they were still rich. So they ate better than normal people. Hiromi must have grown up eating better foods.
I was just surprised these french fries actually tasted like french fries.
They werent. But they tasted close enough. No potato involved.
We had gone to a diner once we left City Center, and just crashed a booth. The four of us surrounded by food and just pigging out.
It was nice.
I still cant believe you became a netrunner so fast. I mean Omaeda worked on it for a while and he was only like Okay at it. Malcolm said changing the subject from food taste and once again Ichi didnt look happy.
Omaeda thought he was hot shit, but couldnt do anything. Ichi retorted coldly before stuffing some of his own fries in his face.
Kinda mean Ichi. He just didnt have much gear. You saw his deck.
Ah the suitcase Cyberdeck Yeah. I mentioned frowning. My own knowledge let me know just how out of date that thing would have been.
No wonder he couldnt break into the cars security on that gig so long ago.
Wow I hadnt thought about that night and my first kills in a long time.
Well I for one am perfectly happy with Motoko acting as our netrunner. And I dont want to split the payouts another way. So shh. Hiromi said as she stuck a piece of her Pizza? Lasagna? I have no idea what it was, but she liked it. Into her mouth.
Yeah I guess thats fair. Im just worried about him.
If you are worried about your choom Malcolm. Go check on him. I mean Im glad I reached out to you guys. This stuff would be way harder without you covering my back. Im glad I cleared the air. I said, earning smiles from Malcolm and a slow nod as he finished another bite of his own meal.
Yeah me too. Ichi said, smiling seemingly ignoring Omaedas existence. I do have a question Toko. Do we want to hit the first place we found? I know we got the big one to focus on, but that place is just sitting there. Ichi said purposefully not saying scav as we were in public.
No reason to let anyone know what we were up to.
I hummed at the idea.
Positives and negatives.
But I shook my head. As much as I hate the idea of leaving them to keep doing their thing. I dont want there to be any chance that someone realizes we are on to their higher ups.
While I knew everyone was unhappy with the decision we all nodded to each other.
In the end, there wasnt anything further we could do at the moment without the marinas cameras. So we all split up for the day.
We would meet up tomorrow after I hopefully had the records we needed.
