I was going through our contract on the terminal when I felt a small tugging at my arm. Smiling, I turned, "Hi Kate." I said, pulling her into a quick hug.
"I want to help Jess in the new gig." She said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Ahh. We were going to have to have this conversation now. Very delicately I said. "Sorry, sweetie, but I don’t think that would be a good idea. Even Nat and I aren't going. It's best to leave it to her and help if needed. I don’t think we'd be able to keep up with her."
I froze as she burst into tears and started to panic slightly. My family crying was my kryptonite. What the hell do you say or do? "What is it Kate? Wants wrong?"
Tears streamed down her face and she was crying so loudly she could barely get the words out. "Plea…please don’t leave me! I will work really hard and get better, I promise. Please don’t send me away!" She said hysterically. Her hands covering her eyes, her little body wracked with sobs.
My heart melted. "Ohh Kate." I said, sweeping her up into my lap and pulling her into a tight hug. One she leaned into. "We would never send you away!"
The crying didn’t stop, but it did slow. "You promise?" she said, peaking at me from behind her hands.
"I promise. You are ours and you can never leave our little family. We will chase after you and drag you back!" I joked.
With a small smile, she leant into me, returning the hug and we just sat there as she calmed down, with the occasional hiccup.
I didn’t know if it was a good idea to give her something to fixate on, but maybe it would help her. I pulled us back to the terminal, spinning her so she faced it with me. "Why don’t you help me?" I said, my hand moving back to the mouse.
"O… okay, what are you doing?"
I smirked. "The most dreaded of tasks—paperwork. These are the gigs we've been doing." I said, pulling up the extensive list. It probably wasn’t as well organised as it could be. But they were all there, so what more could anyone ask for. "When we get a new one, we need to read through the contract and make sure everything is on the level. It should be since they're all coming from Darrel. But better safe than sorry. No point being lazy and having it bite us in the arse."
"What can I do to help?"
I knew I shouldn’t be surprised. She was worrying about not being helpful but at the same time, it was hardly preem work. Nat and Jess had taken one look at it and ran for the hills, the traitors. I shrugged. "Why don’t you grab my laptop and then I can show you the steps I follow."
The job looked okay, not that I expected it not to, but I always liked to check. Kate and I spent a few hours going over everything, with me showing her all the research I did. Both on the job, any players involved and the locations.
We were settled in bed when I poked Jess, pinging the gig to our agents. "We are kleping a chip. So we will need you to plan it. We have its location, but still need to scout it."
"Yeppee!" Jess exclaimed, almost leaping out of bed. "We can scope it out tomorrow." It took a long time before Jess finally settled. This would be her first big 'ninja' gig and she had been looking forward to it for weeks.
The next morning we set off for the house. Our target was a small, unassuming Victorian house, just south of the river—so not too far from us. It looked like a nice place, well-maintained and cleaner than I'd come to expect. It didn't look like the meth lab it actually was. I scanned the building and hacked in, finding little to no security apart from the cameras and electronic locks. With the cameras I sketched out a quick floor plan for Jess. How helpful it would be, who knew, but she would have it at least.
It probably wasn’t strictly necessary for this gig; it was a small Victorian house. Once you'd been in one, you'd been in them all; they were that similar.
Having checked the plans and the few uninterested gangers guarding the place, Jess nodded, her face set. Or at least trying to, she couldn’t hide her excitement, but she was treating it seriously which was all I asked. "Hmm yeah I think we can do this. I can already see my way in."
"Do we need anything or can we come back and do it tonight?" Nat asked.
"No, we should have all we need already, so I think we are good to go." Heading off, we got home and started to prep. We changed into our night time gig clothes. I'd had input from Daniel and Avery, so I didn’t make the mistake and get pitch-black clothes which would have stood out. What I ended up with was very similar to what we normally wore but in much darker and muted greys. All armoured of course, although only lightly. We couldn’t afford the limited flexibility. The final bit of kit was a simple mask to cover our faces. It was just a bandana right now. But it would one day be a helmet. I ignored the small voice pointing out that I'd been promising it for years. I would get to it. I would. Just not yet.
"Everyone set?" I asked, seeing the nods I led the way, scooping up my rifle sitting by the door as I did. We got some odd looks as we left fully geared. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been; we were mostly taking our concealable weapons. So the rifle could fit under my jacket and be tucked out of sight. It wasn’t perfect but it wouldn’t be noticeable from a distance.
Jess had tried to convince Nat to leave her beefier rifle behind, but she'd been adamant and she could be as stubborn as a mule if she put her mind to it.
Once we were in position I hacked in and took control of their systems. Kate was covering me, with Nat picking a spot further down the road that provided good visibility of the street and Jess's entry point. Once inside, I used the [Cystal Ball] to take control of the cameras, manipulating them so we wouldn't be visible on them. Just like Daniel taught me.
My eyes flashed yellow. 'Aden: In control. Nothing has changed from this morning. 5 mooks downstair, but all clear upstairs. You're clear.' I sent over agent.
As soon as Jess got it, she exploded forward, parkouring up another building further down the street and then crept along the roofs.
At Nats' signal, she breached. Using her monoknife, an incredibly sharp but somewhat fragile knife that only cost us 200 eddies, she cut the lock on the window and levered it open, getting straight into the office where the safe should be.
I could actually feel the tension in Kate next to me. Although I was probably the same. This was the most dangerous part. We had no eyes on her, if things went wrong now…
I would need to run it past Daniel to see what could have done. Maybe have someone by the window?
I shook my head. Not now. I turned my attention back to the cameras, keeping an eye on the guards as best I could.
There was no sign they'd heard anything. They were all still relaxed, sleeping or watching TV, only very occasionally glancing out the window. Certainly not the best security I'd seen, but it made our lives easier, so all the power to them. Assuming they lived their boss's anger. With control of the system I pinged it with [Locate Remote], which gave me the physical location of all connections to the net. Like the cameras and the all-important electrical lock to the hidden safe.
I flicked the location (inside the wardrobe) to Jess. I had no eyes on her at first, but there was a PC camera pointed at the wardrobe, so after a few seconds saw her sculk into frame.
My heart missed 7 beats as the wardrobe door creaked open, but Jess kept cool and kept moving in the same manner she had from the start. For all her silliness there was a reason Daniel crowed about her.
The false back slid open and there was our safe. I messaged Kate and Nat about our progress. They had to be like me and starting to get antsy, what with her being in there for what felt like hours. I wanted to share the camera feed with Nat so she could follow along, but I hadn't found a way to do it in real time.
I would need to save the data on a chip and then send the files over to her via agent. Not very helpful right now. But I was still plugging away at it. There must be a way.
With the safe in sight, I reached out to the node and unlocked it for her. The safe keypad bleeped and flashed green with the bolts clicking open. I couldn’t see inside with Jess blocking my vision as she grabbed the goods, slipping them into her rucksack. Naughty, naughty, I thought as she slipped a bundle of cash in as well.
As she left she gave the camera a thumbs up and moments later my agent received a message.
'Jess: Got the chip. On my way out.'
Slipping through the window, she retraced her steps and was soon dropping to the floor and bouncing over to us.
I rolled my shoulders, letting the tension fade as we got away free and clear, them none the wiser. Scrubbing and then leaving the net, we set off for home.
Once there Jess couldn’t contain herself and showed off the pile of cash. Kate snatched it up and counted it up, coming to slightly off 3400 in total. Not bad. Not bad at all.
It would keep us going and would add to our nest egg. The data shard that Darrel wanted we put into the drop-off point, a heavily armed and armoured post box. Once it was placed inside, Derrel would get a message saying his parcel was ready to pick up and it would get to him. I also messaged him saying the job was done.
As normal for him, we would get paid in a day or so when he had the parcel.
I basked in our success, a hardboiled sweet in my mouth. Jess, curled up next to Kate, looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary.
---
The others didn’t fancy doing much the next day so they just vegged out. I, on the other hand, wanted to at least do something productive so messaged Calum. 'Aden: Sup, fancy doing some programming today? ' Unsurprisingly, I got an enthusiastic yes back.
Grabbing my laptop I made my way over to the sofas where Calum was already waiting, almost vibrating in excitement.
I wonder if he will still feel that way when he experiences the pain of debugging more code.
"Aden!"
Nodding at him, I plopped down next to him. After the usual pleasantries, I asked. "So what program did you want to work on?"
"Hmm, well I have the scan you set up. All the control programs I might need, like cameras and turrets. So that leaves me with my [Killer] ICE or something defensive. Oh… actually, I know. A breaching program. My breacher is pretty shit. It takes forever to get through datawall. It's not even quiet when it does."
"That we can work with. For now just use this." I said, as I passed over a copy of my [Killer III]. It was vastly better optimised than anything else and didn’t have any of the weaknesses of the bought models. I tried to create a [Killer II], but it came out a bit strong, so instead of trying to slim it down I rolled with it.
It did take up 3MU now, but it was more than worth it.
Even with all that had been going on, I still made time to code. I'd not made too many ICE recently, but did have one that turned out ace.
I called it [Smokescreen]. Like the name suggested, when activated, it released a thick smoke obscuring the node or even sections of the net. It made it significantly harder for enemy ICE and deckheads to detect me and my ICE. Best of all, it wouldn’t set off alarms and my ICE and I could see through it. So not only did it help me sneak through nets, boosting my invisibility to the next level, but it also helped in combat.
"You're still using the worm you started with right?"
Calum shook his head, his long hair whipping from side to side. "Naa. That was even slower. I moved to the [Hammer]."
Hmmm. Not a programme I'd ever used. It was almost the opposite of my style. The [Hammer] was as the name suggested, a blunt instrument. Smashing through datawalls with all the elegance of, well… a hammer.
"Yeah, anything else was just too slow for gigs."
"Got it. So you want something like the [Hammer]? What do you actually want changed? And how much MU do you want it to take up?"
"3 or 4 at most. If we can, I want it pushed to 2; that would be preem. Anything more than that's not worth it."
"How is your deck? Will you have space for anything else when slotted in?"
"Yeah man. Been following your guides, so have a bit more MU to play with."
"Preem. Let go then." I said, clapping my hands.
And that was what we did for the rest of the day, minus a few breaks in between. We were flowing and made massive headway by the time we called it quits.
We settled on creating our own [hammer]. Its icon was slightly different but it followed the same archetype, just better in every way. Stronger breaching so it would be able to smash through datawalls with ease and better optimised. We didn’t quite get it to the 2 he wanted, but settled for 3. That did decrease its strength lower than I wanted. But over the next few sessions we fixed that, increasing the strength back to where I wanted it while optimising it down to 2MU. The compromise would have been a non-starter for me, but for Calum it was irrelevant.
Whenever it was used, it would alert the entire net, activating all the ICE inside.
By the time we were done it was a work of art if I did say so myself. I pushed the laptop away and slumped into the sofa, content. Nudging Calum, I asked. "What do you want to call it?"
Calum shook his head and hands in denial. "Naa, you should name. You did most of the work."
I rolled my eyes, as if I didn’t have my own. "It's your program, you name it." Seeing him still hesitating, I smirked. "If you don’t name it, I will change its icon to a giant pink dildo and name it that, so unless you want a better name…" I said, starting to reach for my laptop once more to make real my threat.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, chill. Oi, slow the fuck down!" He reached out to grab my arm when I didn’t immediately stop. "Why not Sledge Hammer? Since it's better than the [Hammer]."
"Sounds good to me." Making a few copies, I passed one over to him and kept one for myself in case I ever needed it. "There you go, one finished ICE."
Chewing his lip, Calum hesitated before hugging me "Thanks Aden. When you have time, I would like to do this again, like before."
Surprised, I awkwardly patted his back. "Yeah sure, it was fun. Maybe we can make it a once-a-month thing?"
Suddenly embarrassed, Calum leapt away and grabbed his stuff. "Preem!" Shaking my head as he ran off, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste. He really was goofy, but I suppose it had a sort of charm to it. I definitely never thought I would code with the person who had taken my job within the gang.
I expected to hate him but here we are.
---
Whenever you forgot about the violence on the streets, not that you could, but if you did, it had a way to slap you in the face. It started as just another normal day at the clinic. I had a few easy ops, some diagnostic work and that was it. That went out the window when I heard shouting and the door downstairs was slamming open.
Heading down to see what it was all about, I saw Pete already there chatting to the guy clearly in charge. He was draped in gold, with a fancy loud cyberfasion tattoos that flashed an obnoxious blue and gold. Around him, there were a handful of gang members all dressed up in deep blue Aztec warrior outfits, with gold headdresses and tattoos like their leader. Most were wounded, with 2 of the men particularly worse off. They’d been rested on the floor, having been carried in.
Pete finished talking just as I arrived. "Bring the 2 worst up. Once they're looked at, we can do the others."
And there went my plans for the day. All appointments were cancelled, first for the day and then for the rest of the week. This was not a small fight but a full-on turf war that spilled out into the rest of the area, so we had a constant stream of people in various stages of borked.
So much so, I talked to the muscle on the door and with the girls to get an escort every day.
The 2 guys on the floor had multiple gunshot wounds. We patched them up as best we could, opening them up and removing the bullets while stopping their bleeding. For one it was enough and he recovered—the other was not so fortunate and passed away on the operating table.
He was tossed in the freezer for Pete to 'dispose of later', or organ harvesting as everyone else would call it. Life was cheap I suppose. I did want to have a closer look at the cyber arm; it had an interesting weapon attachment, but it would take me some time to get to him.
We were constantly busy that week as the gangs had exploded into violence, giving all the docs in the area a steady stream of bodies.
At least chrome prices would decrease with the sudden surge in numbers. Silver linings.
---
Jess bounced along the pavement. Even as she hummed quietly to herself, her head was on a swivel. The fighting had died down at last. Still, it had been a tense few weeks. In fact the war had looked to be evolving, pulling in more and more gangs. But then, as was always the case, they stepped onto someone else's bottom line. Be that one of the big 4, the largest gangs in the city, or in this case, the government and corporations.
They'd showed their displeasure in the only way the street understood. Which was why they were moving through what looked like a warzone.
Jess had just dismissed a gangoon hanging by the street corner when Nat muttered. "How much further?"
Kate answered before she could. "Just a few blocks until we reach the area."
Jess wanted to pout. She knew that! She was about to throw herself at Kate and complain, livening up the walk when she caught movement and the rumble of a large engine. That was particularly noticeable in the otherwise dead streets.
"Patrol!" she hissed, grabbing Kate's arm and dragging her into a side alley. Nat of course only a step behind. She probably heard it before her. But then Nat was the best. She had to be; she was her twin and Jess was the best, so it only made sense that Nat was the best as well.
She shook her head to stop from giggling as the patrol rumbled past.
There were a dozen mooks, each in heavy armour and moved as if they were cybered up. It wasn’t always obvious, but she had started to recognise the gait of those who were. There was just a way that moved that wasn’t natural.
The mooks might have been bad enough, but at the centre was an IFV, an infantry fighting vehicle. A Warrior to be exact. She'd heard Lilly and Nat raving about it and arguing which was better between it and some other one that Lilly liked.
They were so cute together, although they should know that ninjas were the best.
They waited a few minutes before the patrol was far enough away before setting off again. Jess had a bet with Avery that the patrols would only last a few more days. They'd already reduced in numbers so she was confident she was right.
"Let's go." Nat said, poking her head out of the side street.
Jess trotted to the front of the group again, her hand caressing her sword handle. She got an ace new sheath for it that strapped it to her back, with the handle poked out by her arse. It was preem, like a real ninja.
It was also actually helpful which was the true reason she had it. If it had messed with her, she wouldn’t have used it. Or more likely, bugged Aden to get it modified.
They didn’t bump into any more patrols and were soon in the area they were exploring. Kate had found it and the deets made it look promising.
She didn’t get why they were struggling at first. They had so much cash they could have rented anywhere. So what was the holdup? Even when Aden explained it still didn’t fully click. It was actually Helena who made it all make sense.
If they rented it would never be a home and could be taken at a moment's notice. It also wouldn’t be private and they wouldn’t be able to customise it as they wanted. So they needed a place to buy, which ran into its own problems. First of all, they didn’t have anywhere near enough money.
Even with the borked state of the capital, house prices were sky high. So they needed to find a place which was safe enough, stable and not controlled too heavily by a corpo or gang.
Jess noted the gang tags on the walls as they passed. They were old ones and the gang was already destroyed. She knew that for a fact.
"Okay. Here is the place. Let's have a look around." Kate said, her eyes flashing as she checked her agent.
The place didn’t look like much. It had clearly caught the bulk of the fighting with some of the buildings still smoking. But Kate said this was the place and she was so smart. How she could sit and stare at a screen all day, she would never know. Jess shuddered just at the thought.