A Hard Knock Life: Feel Good Inc. (ch. 14) (Patreon)

You ever have a moment where you realize you were an absolute idiot of the highest order? I think I’ve had more than most in the grand scheme of things. Part of that was just being a teenager without parents to raise you. But, of all those moments, never before had I felt so stupid. So utterly moronic that it was an honest wonder how I managed to keep drool from running down my chin all the time because I was clearly, undoubtedly, a slack-jawed nitwit.

The world around me was data. Running streams of it that gave the world shape. Most of it was figureless, shifting and changing. The only thing that was solid was the code beneath my feet. That, and the castle in the distance. Cyberspace… I understood it conceptually. It was the net, that thing that pretty much all of humanity was connected to. It used to be bigger, however huge sections of it had to be sealed off by the Blackwall.

Postwar AIs ruled beyond it, living in what was the old net. So, it wasn’t really relevant at the moment.

I understood it conceptually but seeing it was something else. Experiencing it was something else. Especially when the only solid thing before me I could see was the data castle. It’s walls put the greatest of megabuildings to shame -- they were huge, dauntless, solid pieces of code that demanded the death of everything that would dare approach them. In a sea of blues, reds and green… the walls were black. Black ICE.

My foot took a step forward, and I crossed what should have been a hundred miles in a single step. Everything was fast, snappish… instant. I wanted to be somewhere? I would be there. I just had to want it to happen. Which is how I found myself standing before the black gates of the ABB data fortress. Up close, I could see the code that made the walls and gate.

Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were code to. Spiraling code… that was me. The shifting code that made my hands, my body, and my awareness -- it was me written out on the most fundamental level. It was my sentience written out. It was insane to think about, but this wasn’t the time for that. Instead, I thought about my spellbook and it appeared in my hand as an actual book for easy visuals. I looked at the code that they offered and found myself ashamed of them. Code that I had worked on for a week… I could barely stomach to look at it.

A week had gone by, and they should be so much more than what they were. I had been distracted. Negleliant. Worse, I hadn’t even realized that I had been doing it wrong. I had been doing it so very wrong… pressing my hand to the spellbook, I pushed it through the surface, plucking some code from the book. The foundation of the Breach spell.

Breach, at its heart, was an ICEbreaker. It was only limited to how much power it had and how thick the ICE was. My power seemed to sing with approval as the code began to spiral in my hand. Layers were added to it as quickly as I could think of it. The foundation was building and building and building, becoming more elaborate and larger. A week of work was undone, all the progress lost, and every bit of it was regained and improved upon in an instant.

In another instant, the code became more. The heart of the code rested in my left palm, layers of it circling around my hand, around my fingers, up my forearm -- coating me like armor. It would have taken me months in the real world to accomplish this, I realized, looking at the shining gold code. Maybe longer. But, that’s why I was an idiot.

Why would I ever code in the real world when cyberspace was so… made for it? The language that I was building… this is where I would perfect it. Even then, it would take time. More than I could spare, I thought mournfully. But that would give me time to prepare equipment for it because what I sported now was dreadfully underequipped.

I took a step forward, flashing across the minimal distance between me and the front gate. Reaching out, my golden encased hand pressed against the black gate, my hand slipping through. What happened next… The easiest way to describe it is that… it was threading a needle. Only it was a thousand needles with the same piece of string. To avoid the Black ICE, each needle had to be threaded on the first try… in addition, all previous needles couldn’t touch the string I was threading, or I would die.

That should have made me nervous, but it didn’t. Simply because I knew Breach was up to the task. It wasn’t perfect. Not yet. I would need my language first to do that, but this challenge? It was more than enough. The thread went through the first needle with the same ease that it went through the thousandth. With each needle, the gold began to seep into the black of the castle. Just a trickle at first, then it exploded outward, rapidly devouring the Black ICE until there was none of it left.

The gates pushed open at my touch, granting me full access to its contents. There, I saw it all. Bank accounts, contacts, locations, dates…

I found Bakuda and I realized how Lung had found her. Just like me, he had a backdoor into her systems. He could see through her eyes, he could find her anywhere in the city. Looking now, I saw that she had someone wrapped in a headlock and was giving them a noogie. Despite it, I heard them both laughing.A young boy, no older than ten at the oldest. He was missing both legs and an arm. Beyond the scene was a workshop, several bombs on it… including a time-reversal one.

“Good on you, Bakuda,” I decided. She made her choice. She decided to be worth the second chance I gave her. So, I shredded the backdoor and mine too for good measure. Bakuda had earned that much.

With that done, my focus turned to the other data. There was so much of it. Almost too much of it. This was where all the data was compiled and hidden away. Once it was on the net, it was there to stay… but the net was a broken, fractured thing compared to what it had once been. What gangs did, what corporations did, was that they swept all the evidence of every dirty deal into a server. There, it was an island and you could only see it if you had the key.

The ABB deserved to fucking burn, I decided. Murders, sexual slavery, drugs, guns, kidnapping, extortion… the list went on and fucking on and fucking on. All the evidence was there. Each and every member of the ABB was hooked into the ABB subnet on some level. I hadn't managed to penetrate beyond the surface level until now, but I saw how expansive it was. I saw everything.

Data flowed to my hand. Locations. Safehouses, storage houses and brothels… evidence. Video recordings, call transcripts, texts, pictures… everything. Their bank accounts… there was a central one. Offshores kind of deal. Each month, the ABB had to send a kick up. Every member, every business, and it all funneled into that central account. Hundreds of millions.

No. Fuck no. These pieces of shit did not get hundreds of millions. I grabbed it, draining the account and I could not have given less of a shit about the flags I tripped. You know what? Fuck the upper management. Fuck the middle management too. Their accounts were connected to the main one, and I drained them dry. I had damn near a billion eddies in my hand.

Didn’t think about it. Didn’t hesitate either. I looked through the camera feeds and there were so many that my brain felt like it was going to pop. Even still, I looked through them all. A simple Ping gave me the information that I needed as I got a real time feed of the victims of the ABB. The families of their victims. To the people that were still suffering at their hands. And I gave it all to them. Every single enny. All of it. Nearly a billion eddies slipped through my fingers like sand, and I didn't feel a single regret.

I’d rather take a fucking vow of poverty than let a single one of those eddies enter my pocket.

The evidence? Went to the NCPD. All of it. The only piece I held back was the job goal -- evidence of collusion that the ABB was being supported and funded by the corporation Arasaka. Someone way up top. High enough I could only guess who.

My actions didn’t go unnoticed, I realized when I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eyes. Slowly, I looked up to see… cycling green code in the shape of a dragon. It landed on the edge of the castle I was dismantling brick by brick, and it was incomprehensibly huge. A large head filled with teeth, a slender neck that went to a bulky body that was framed with large wings that were fanned out until it became the only thing that I could see. The solid green code made the red ring around its neck stand out that much more.

“Who… are you?” The dragon questioned, tilting its head as it looked down at me with intelligent green eyes.

“Oh, hell no,” I replied and I pulled out.

…

My chest heaved as my eyes snapped open. Despite the cold room, I felt unbearably hot. Sweat gathered on my brow, and I think I sweated through some of my money. Something touched me, and I flinched a hand grasping for my gun before I saw it was Lisa. I couldn’t see her face, but she was crouched down next to me.

“Are you okay? You were under for a few minutes, and you started sweating real bad,” she informed, glancing over at the others. They all looked at one another, Jackie holding the door.

I dragged my sleeve over my face, my heart pounding in my chest. “Yeah, I’m good. I… I got the data. Arasaka was supporting the ABB,” I said, grabbing the jack and yanking it out of my head before I stood up. My legs felt a little wobbly, but other than that, I was fine.

The rest of the data was downloaded into my OS card. Like blips on a map.

“We need to get out of here,” Lisa decided as I stood up, looking at the others. She spared me a glance but said nothing. Jackie looked over as well, his expression concerned, but I nodded, showing that I was all good. Lisa was right -- we needed to get the hell out of here. If we didn’t… then the ABB would start scrambling. Moving around.

Maybe I should have held off on sending all that evidence to the NCPD, but I didn’t have enough room to download it all. At least that way, there was a chance that it would be good for something, however unlikely. There was too much to do for us to sit around like this. I needed… I needed to fucking hit someone and I wanted it to be the ABB.

I knew… I knew that’s how the city was. I knew that. I’ve always known that Night City… Night City is just pure fucking evil. I knew that, but I’ve never seen it like that before.

“You alright, mano?” Jackie questioned as I slung my rifle in its harness on my back while I pulled out my crusher shotgun. He looked uncertain and it was only then that I realized that my face was twisted into a scowl.

“I’m good, Jackie. Just… how do you feel about hitting some ABB compounds after this? I’ll send Skitter a text,” I questioned, striding forward. I still had the keys to the castle so I saw the ABB gathering up, waiting for us to approach the hallway. Even as I composed that text to Skitter, my arm began to shift, becoming a blaster.

Jackie seemed a bit caught out by the question, his eyes darting to my prosthetic as he followed me out of the server room. The others did the same, trading their own looks that I saw with the camera. Rounding the corner, I saw the stairway while Jackie answered. “I’m down for anything, V.” He decided and I wondered if he would say the same if he knew I was planning to hit… all of the ABB if I could.

“The rest of you?” I extended the offer, but before I could hear the answer, I aimed my prosthetic. With a thought, I pulled the trigger. Pale blue charge blasts fired out of my arm, punching through the ceiling and stairway, and using up most of my allowed shots for the day The cameras let me see the blasts hitting the ABB -- I didn’t try to kill any of them, but I probably did.

“Cool arm,” Alec remarked as I continued to walk forward, reaching the stairs, and walked up them without hesitation because I knew that they were clear. “And does the gig pay?”

“We,” Brian spoke up, sounding like he was speaking for the three of them, “aren’t available for hire. It’s in our contract,” he informed, earning a careless shrug from me. Sucks, but I could manage without them.

“Fine,” I flicked the data over to Lisa. “There’s my end. Tell our fixer that I expect his soon.” I told them, walking up the stairs and past the bodies. The entire heist had taken less than ten minutes, most of which was spent loading up money and spent in the data castle. I’m sure that there was a retaliation force on the way, but they hadn’t arrived yet.

We approached the door and I sparred one last look at Lisa before we went our separate ways. “You were right,” I told her, seemingly catching her off guard. I didn’t say what she was right about. I would let her figure that out. Instead, I simply started walking down the street as my eyes scanned the row of parked cars. I found a Villefort Columbus in ABB colors, meaning that I already had the key.

I walked to it, got in and Jackie did the same. He spared a look at me as he took his seat. “You okay, V? You aren’t acting like yourself,” he said as my hands took the wheel. Pulling out, I picked out my first destination.

However, before I could answer, my phone rang. An unknown number, though I could guess who it was. “Hello?”

“What did you do?!” Lisa shouted in my ear loud enough that I winced and from the look of it, Jackie heard her to. “My boss’s contacts in the NCPD are lighting up! V?!”

“I stole all of the ABB’s money and sent a bunch of evidence to the cops,” I answered promptly, making Jackie sputter. Lisa made a sound that barely sounded human, a cross between incomprehension and maddening rage. “Hey, don’t be like that. I upheld my end of the bargain -- you got the data you wanted.”

It was a point of pride that I made the girl speechless. The kind of speechless where they were trying to find the words, but they just couldn’t. After a moment, I heard her bark and order at Brian to follow me, but we were already long gone. “V, I wish I had an arm long enough to strangle you from here.”

That gave me an idea for a mod to my arm.

“Looks like you’ll have to do it in person then,” I compiled a data packet. “I’ll be at one of those locations eventually. We can meet there.” Lisa took all of a second to realize what the list of addresses were.

“Why are you hitting ABB safehouses?! Aren’t you a millionaire?!” Lisa raged, the question catching me off guard as I took a turn. I got a response from Skitter, saying that she was game. Excellent.

“Huh? Course I’m not. I gave all the money away,” I answered Lisa. Made her speechless twice in about as many minutes. That was a good feeling, I had to admit. Especially after the absolute pain in the ass she’s been all day. Next to me, Jackie just started to laugh. Real laughter. The kind that came from the gut that made you unable to do anything but laugh uncontrollably. He reached out to thump me on the shoulder, only to hit my chest, but I don’t think he noticed or cared because of how loudly he was laughing.

“You… I- You. You!” Lisa half snarled into the phone, unfortunately settling on anger rather than confusion. I was going to blame her power for that.

“Taking eddies I didn’t earn isn’t my style,” I decided. Pulling a heist on a casino? I earned every eddy that was clinging to me uncomfortably. Taking hundreds of millions from a data castle? Logic said that was more of a risky task, but not for me. It had taken me all of a second to create an ICEbreaker to let me inside. “I think it’s a challenge thing. If there’s no difficulty or risk, then I don’t want the eddies. So, I sent them to people who might.”

There was dead silence as Lisa processed that. I gave her more time to process that by hanging up and blocking the number. All the while, Jackie’s laughing had trailed off into breathy chuckles as he shook his head. “Most people call that style of yours insanity, mano,” Jackie told me.

Couldn’t really argue with that, I guess. “Then I don’t want to be sane,” I told him, coming to a stop. I sent a text to Skitter, wondering if they were close. The reply was a blunt statement of that we weren’t in their range. I looked at the message for a long moment, looking at the list of places that we had to hit… yesterday.

“We’ll have to hit this one on our lonesome,” I informed Jackie, untucking my shirt and letting the bundles of money spill out onto the floor of the car. The windows were tinted, so no one should be able to tell that there was approximately a fuckton of money in the car. Jackie and I both got out, looking to a small squat building that could best be described as ‘pretty ugly.’ My shotgun was in hand -- knowing that it would be tight quarters.

I had sight into the ABB systems that made my previous experiences look like child’s play. Every system that they had was in someway hooked up to their personal net. Before, I could only scratch the surface. Now? Now I had seen the depths of the ocean.

Their cameras were mine, swiveling to my command. I could see the interior -- five men standing guard, none of them paying attention. None of them even aware that the ABB was done for. Jackie fell in step behind me as I walked to the door, it sliding open to let me inside.

My gun turned left, taking aim at three thugs playing a card game. They looked up at me just in time for buckshot slugs to tear through them like it was nothing. Three shells rocked my prosthetic, shaking my arm badly, but I didn’t care. They dropped dead, catching the attention of two more. One was still in view of a camera, so I hit him with Breach.

His legs failed him, making him fall face first in the hallway. The second, Jackie took out. I walked by the fallen guy, who had his hands up in surrender. I looked down at him, my jaw clenched… my finger itched to pull the trigger. Because, in the short, ugly building… behind each door was a person. A person that was kidnapped. A person that was kept high out of their minds so they weren’t even aware that they were being raped.

Instead, I shot his legs, thoroughly ruining his chrome. If he got away from the NCPD, he would fucking have to drag himself. He cursed at me, but Jackie kicked him in the head. The doors slid open, revealing a girl that looked around my age, no clothes, face down in a bed…

Jackie hissed behind me, looking away. The girl was alive. High out of her mind, but alive. The city… the city wouldn’t give a shit about her. Couldn’t care less. Hell, the cops might not even care about checking this place out, so even if I flagged it to them. Even if I put a great big neon sign in front of the door, announcing that the building was a sex slave brothel, I’d bet it all that the NCPD would drive right by.

It shouldn’t mean shit to me. I knew that. I knew that. But it did.

So, I did the only thing I could do. I dialed a number.

“PRT speaking, please state the nature of your emergency-”

“I’m a cape. The little clusterfuck you’re dealing with right now? That’s me. I’m dropping you a location to meet,” I said, sending over our current location before I ended the call. Taking in a deep breath, I look to Jackie, trying to gauge his reaction to all of this.

He looked at me for a moment, looking at me like it was the first time he had really seen me before. His head bobbed, “Last time you did some loco shit, I was passed out. Not this time,” he decided. A knot of tension that I hadn’t been aware of eased out of me. If he had backed out… I wouldn’t have blamed him, but I felt a lot better that it wasn’t just me.

“Come on then. Let’s go fuck the ABB’s day up a little more.” And right some wrongs. The city might not give a shit about the people here… but, with a few million each, that just might change.

…

We ended up hitting another three brothels before Skitter showed up. Each time I called the PRT, and each time I got that automated voice. If there had to be a saving grace was that I saw that the PRT had arrived at the first one that we hit. Assault and Battery. A well-known pair that seemed to realize why they had been duped.

If they had left them there…

But they didn’t.

“Are you set, Skitter?” I asked, sliding a new magazine into my shotgun. A swarm of flies at the dash shifted as if thinking for a moment.

“YeS,” Skitter agreed as I looked to Jackie, who had finished loading up his own gun. The brothels were lightly defended. Hardly anyone there except for some muscle. The one that we were hitting now was the last one in the area. At least, the last of the rape based ones. There were other brothels, but, as far as I could tell, the people there wanted to be there. Even if they were treated like shit.

But, if treating people like shit was enough to put you at the top of my shit list, then I would have to burn this whole city to the ground.

“DOne,” Skitter informed, making me freeze for a moment.

“You took care of them already?” I asked, still getting out of the car. This one didn’t have cameras to see anything but the exterior of the building. Skitter didn’t answer until I reached the relevant floor of the building… and in there, I saw what could best be described as a hellscape. Bugs were absolutely everywhere, crawling over every inch of the living room. Six thrashing bodies dressed in ABB colors that muffled their screams because they didn’t dare open their mouths. That didn’t stop bugs from crawling in their ears, up their noses or underneath their eyelids.

It seemed a bit cruel. Not the style that I expected from Skitter.

I didn’t understand why until I reached the next room…

“They deserved it,” I told Skitter through the bugs. Dropping another point for the PRT to follow as I walked into the bedroom. I couldn’t look at the bed. Just didn’t have it in me. I’ve seen a lot of ugly sides of the city before but never had I seen something that ugly. I grabbed a blanket that was resting on a chair, a surprisingly soft one, and I dropped it over the small body on the bed.

The insects in the living room were buzzing with righteous anger. Indignant rage. Good. “We aren’t done yet. Skitter… Look, I’m going to be honest. We need speed to hit as many places as we can as fast as we can. I don’t know what kind of situation you have going on with your power, but… it would be simplest for us both if we could meet. Travel together, work together. I know you want to take these guys as much as I do.”

As I spoke, I walked through the living room, trying to pretend that the surface of bugs didn’t scare the hell out of me. I didn’t hear a reply as I walked down the steps. Jackie was waiting by the car, likely protecting the loot that we had gathered so far. I looked to him and shook my head.

I went for the door before I heard someone speak up. “Wait!” I heard them shout, making me look over. Stepping out of an alleyway was a cape. No doubt about it. Not with that costume. Flat black and molted grays, the only color was the bright yellow eyepieces and wavy brown hair that they let loose for their helmet. The voice was feminine, even if the body type looked boyish.

She strode forward with an awkward gait, but still carrying themselves well. I looked her up and down -- to be honest, I figured that Skitter would be a guy.

“Nice costume,” I remarked, making Skitter shift where she stood.

“I’m not done with it yet,” she responded, looking over at Jackie for a moment before her gaze settled back on me. “Let’s go.” There, I decided, she was absolutely correct. Nodding, I slid into the driver seat, Jackie giving me a wide-eyed look as he got in the passenger while Skitter got in the back.

She made a noise when she saw the money that was piled up at our feet, “You’ve all been busy,” she remarked. In response to that, I drove off, heading to our next destination. A major safehouse. Warehouse by the city river. Heavily guarded, but between the three of us, that meant less than it should. They were guarding guns there. That, and possibly something else that I wanted.

Jackie let out a somewhat nervous laugh, “You should see the back, Skitter.” The back of the van was filling up with items -- guns for the most part. Other things that caught my eye as we raided the brothels. Nothing too special. Skitter didn’t return the laugh, but I saw her head bob.

The silence that fell upon the car could best be described as tense, uncertain. She was here in person sooner than any of us expected. What’s more, the circumstances weren’t particularly great either, but there was no choice. Skitter needed to move faster -- we couldn’t hit three warehouses to her one each time.

Jackie decided to kill the silence by hitting the radio. Unsurprisingly, there was an emergency broadcast. “-ooks like someone might have a grudge against the ABB! A mass hack of the ABB data castle seems to have just occurred -- details are scarce at the moment, but the story is developing. As such, parts of Kabuki and Little China are officially under lockdown. No one is getting in or out, ladies and gentlemen.”

“Things don’t seem that bad,” Skitter remarked, a frown in her voice. Jackie let out a huff at that.

“It’s not because of the ABB. V here baited out the PRT by telling them he was a tinker,” Jackie informed, making Skitter look at me. I shrugged as I continued to drive. A lockdown wasn’t uncommon, but rarely of this size. Usually it only lasted a few hours before the city demanded to move again. Not to mention, that was usually on much smaller parts of Night City -- a few blocks at most. Not a huge chunk of the city.

However, it also meant that the ABB couldn’t scatter and that other gangs couldn’t move in to sweep everything up. I could kiss the city official that decided this was the best move -- they practically lined everything up for me. I just needed to avoid the PRT for a few hours, and I would be golden.

With that thought in mind, I drove towards the ABB safehouse at the edge of Japantown. Shanties clung to the river that flowed through Night City, a toxic putrid one at that. As soon as we stopped, I started getting out. “Will you have enough bugs?” I asked, eyeing the warehouse. I should be nervous about this. I really should be. I just wasn’t.

“If it was possible for me to have too many, then it would be happening now,” Skitter muttered more to herself than to me. I shot her a look -- she didn’t have an upper limit in how many bugs she could control? That was… actually kinda scary to think about. Cockroaches outnumbered people in this city twenty to one, and Night City had a growing population of twenty million.

“Your power is stupidly overpowered,” I couldn’t stop myself from saying as I started to walk to the warehouse. The mondus operate was practiced at this point -- cameras and Breach. Kill their cellphones, kill the alarms, kill their implants. As such, because they were guarding this place, they were modded up to their gills. Bugs began to flood into the warehouse, Skitter following me with no hesitation.

It was a sight to see on camera. Bugs just launching themselves at people, crawling all over them…

“I’d rather be a tinker,” Skitter admitted, casting a look at my arm. I looked down at it too, more ideas how to shove more cool shit into it floating around in my head… and… yeah. Fair point.

“Agree to disagree,” I met her in the middle, reaching the door. It slid open with our arrival, and the swarm of bugs buzzed in response, no longer muffled by the sound of thick concrete and metal walls. The swarm wasn’t so thick that it blotted everything out like Grue’s smoke, but… well, there were a lot of flies in this area.

My gun rose, and I started shooting. Aiming for the legs as much as I could, though I didn’t see much of a point anymore. The warehouse was wide and open -- our arrival should have been met with gunfire, but it was instead met with panicked screaming. The bugs were everywhere -- I saw them crawling into people’s eyes, into their ears, up their nose… most of them just dropped to the ground and tried to cover every entrance that they could.

It was more like we were mopping up for Skitter than attacking a well-defended warehouse. If we weren’t capes…

Lock had once passively dismissed capes altogether before we had robbed that deal that started everything. All we needed was a gun, he said. Just had to shoot them. Most capes aren’t bulletproof, so it didn’t matter if they had powers.

Looking at the devastation that was wrought before we could even reach the door?

Lock and I had been utter idiots. But, I suppose I knew that already.

“What are we here for?” Jackie asked, looking at the bugs that swarmed around him nervously. It was weird and uncomfortable to look at -- dozens of flies hovering in the air, all looking directly at you, all moving perfectly in sync… it was enough to make my skin crawl. However, through the swarm of bugs, I saw the truck that I was looking for. A transport truck.

“That,” I answered, pointing at it. A flat gray hunk of junk, but it had massive cargo space. A transport car made for the city. My smile grew when I approached it, “They even started packing it up for us.” These guys had been in the middle of grabbing everything they could, loading it up, and start driving. I glanced at Jackie, who eyed the flat black crates somewhat warily.

Skitter was the one to break the surprise to him, “That’s all Militech cargo,” she realized the same moment that I turned a crate so that Jackie could see the logo. “How?”

“Long story short? The ABB had some interested parties. My guess they were trying to court Lung. One of them was Miltech -- all of this cargo was ‘lost’ and it fell into the ABB’s lap,” I explained. It was a little difficult to do with all the screaming from the people still being terrorized by bugs. Or their missing kneecaps. Either was a rather valid reason, honestly.

A slow grin spread on Jackie’s face, “And now they’ve fallen into ours.” He said, walking forward before he started helping me finish up the loading of the truck. Skitter stood off to the side for a moment before deciding to help out. As much as she could, at any rate. As a Master, she didn't need to worry about upper body strength.

"Skitter, we should transfer what's in the car into the truck," I offered, carrying a crate. Should be easier for her to manage. Skitter seem to freeze up for a moment.

"Aren't you afraid I'll just take it and go?" She wondered, looking at me. The bugs shifted around her, looking at me as well as they hovered in place. It was seriously creepy.

I offered a shrug, "Will you?"

She sputtered at that, "I- No. I won't," she reassured. In that case, I wasn't sure why she brought it up. I flicked her a cyberkey to the car -- Skitter awkwardly shifted from foot to foot for a moment before her head bobbed.

While she was doing that, Jackie and I continued loading the truck. There were a variety of crates -- some heavier than others. I didn't know what was what, but I did have an inventory list. Heavy-duty equipment -- Spider bot, various types of Corpo grade guns. The cherry on top was the smart gun and their ammo types. I lacked the implant to use them, but it was software-based and I already had one piece of the puzzle.

Skitter proved that she was deserving of the trust she got because she drove the car to the garage and started hauling the money that was in the duffle bags. However, I caught the exact moment so etching went wrong when I saw her go still as she started to unload the guns. Her head whipped to me so quickly I spared a worry that she'd get whiplash.

"The wards are coming -- Kid-Win and Gallant!" She informed, making both Jackie and me go very still. I just about dropped the crate I was carrying. That was… kinda not good. Actually, it was very not good.

If capes were the rock stars of today, then the wards were the teen celebrities. I'd rather take on the entirety of the ABB than a Ward because at least with the ABB… hell, I could kill them all and dump their bodies onto the streets and people would only be upset at the cleanup. A ward? If I so much as touched a hair on their heads the Protectorate would bring down the wrath of God on me for harming their teenage heartthrobs and moneybags.

They were looking for me. Was the entire fucking Protectorate here? If so, I really underestimated their willingness to get their hands dirty… or I underestimated my value to them.

“Jackie, Skitter -- you take off in the truck. Here’s the map,” I flicked the map to the both of them as I strode towards the car. “They won’t be looking for it. Hit what you can, and lay low.” I ordered, not looking at either of them as the car door popped open until I slid into the driver seat. I offered them both a thin smirk, “I’m going to give them something to talk about.”

There wasn’t any time to wait for a response. I put my foot on the gas pedal and the car lurched forward -- Jackie could handle the loot. I could handle the wards. I knew their playbook because it was the obvious playbook. It was the same playbook that all corpos used -- start with the soft sell to hook me into the deal, and trick me into signing my soul away so I could never leave. I could use that as wiggle room. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.

This was stupid and it totally wasn’t going to work. I was going to do it anyway.

Though, as a precaution, I snagged a facemask from the glovebox -- a stupid looking one that reminded me of Oni Lee’s mask.

A mass of flies drifted up from underneath the money pile at my feet from where I emptied my shirt, “TheY’rE oN MaBle StrEet,” Skitter told me, earning a shallow nod as I calmed my racing heart. I was more nervous dealing with the wards than I had been hitting ABB safehouses by half. My eyes flagged Mable Street as I raced down the way, swerving in and out of traffic.

Slamming my foot on the brakes, I whipped the car around a corner that took me to Mabel Street, and there I saw the two capes.

Gallant was a fairly tall cape with broad shoulders that was clad in a blend of modern tech and old school medieval armor -- sleek gray armor that covered him from head to toe highlighted with neon blue lines. One of which was his visor. The color was matched by the light blue flames that propelled him up into the air from the bottoms of his feet and his hands.

Kid-Win was the opposite -- his color scheme was red and gold. He only bothered to wear a red faceplate that covered his eyes and nose, leaving his curly brown hair out in the open and to reveal his pale skin. He stood on a hoverboard, riding over the cars like waves. There was a broad smile on his face that I saw falter when they saw my car.

Taking in a slow breath, I had a moment of clarity.

At the end of Mabel Street… was one of my blimps on the map. And it was one that I wanted.

I had a terribly stupid idea.

The petal hit the metal and the car lurched forward, racing down the street towards the wards. The engine roared in response, smoke drifting up from the tires. The wards zeroed in on me, Kid Win circling around while Gallant didn't even bother with that as I neared. He landed on the hood of the car directly before me. The engine still went strong and I could see through the sensors.

"Stop the vehicle," Gallant demanded, raising a hand to blast me with as Kid Win raced to catch up. Didn't take him but a moment as I swerved out of the way of a car, drifting into oncoming traffic, before rejoining the proper lane.

I sped up.

The speedometer rapidly climbed higher, pushing me to very unsafe levels of speed in the inner city. Much less with a superhero blocking my view. The palm of his hand grew bright, a swirl of colors mixing into it, only he failed to fire it. "You aren't Asain?" He questioned, sounding caught off guard.

"I'm a diversity hire," I lied, yanking the car left and nearly dislodging Gallant in doing so. By the time he righted himself, I slammed on the breaks while I headed around a curve. His hands tore into the hood of the car, but he managed to remain in place. My foot slammed into the pedal again, the engine roaring as I raced towards my destination.

The loss in momentum let Kid Win catch up, pulling up next to me, he took out a tinker-tech weapon. Didn't know what it was, and I didn't care. I lashed out with my prosthetic, it shifted into the charge rifle state. He flinched back before falling back to trail behind me. Gallant, however, seemed to realize I wouldn't shoot based on the fact that he didn't react.

"You're the tinker," he seemed to realize.

"No, I'm about to crash," I refuted, still gunning the engine. Gallant looked behind him and realized that I was on a collision course with a building at an intersection. At that same moment, I slammed in the breaks, they locked up as the tires skidded across busted asphalt, trying to take the edge off my speed. Gallant didn't have any interest in sticking around, so he jumped off the hood. The car jumped the curb, thankfully avoiding any civilians before the car itself slammed through concrete and glass.

I was prepared for the crash this time. Bracing myself, I felt the airbags hit me as the seatbelt kept me in my seat. The sound of breaking glass and concrete hitting the ground was the only thing I could hear, not counting my heart thundering in my ears. Despite preparing myself, the breath was still knocked from my lungs and my already tenderized ribs seemed to creak under the strain.

But there was no time to stop. I lunged down at the money at my feet, scooping as much up as I could, I made a basket with my shirt as my shoulder knocked the door open. Ignoring the pain in my ribs, I got out of the car, and I saw ABB thugs looking absolutely bewildered. They weren't shooting at me.

"Capes! Capes!" I shouted, pointing at the hole that I made with the car. It had hit a support pillar, which explained the abrupt stop. The word made the ABB snap into action -- some simply took off running, but when Gallant and Kid Win revealed themselves at the hole, the ABB started shooting. Taking advantage of the confusion, I sprinted to the back of the building -- it was some kind of hibachi place, I think. Wasn't sure.

Gallant called out to me, demanding me to stop, but I gave him a pretty good distraction, I think. I knew what I was looking for. I knew where it was. Basement, third door on the left. From there, if I continued down the hallway, I would find an illegal tunnel connecting the building to the one on the other side. I opened the doors in advance as I continued to sprint, leaping down the stairs in one go. Each jolt sent a flash of pain from my ribs, but I didn't have any choice but to ignore it.

I found the door and it slid open as I approached. Inside was a flat black case. An item to be sold on the black market. Something that the ABB should not have their hands on, which was why I was absolutely delighted to take it off of them.

A Visual Cortex Support -- they were fairly common among dedicated Merc's, but there was a sliding scale of quality. The kind I was looking at? It was supposed to go to Max-Tech -- the super cops that killed first and asked questions later. All of them were almost full Borgs, equipped with the heaviest of weapons because they were the cops that got called in when a cape was acting out of hand. Instead, the ABB got their hands on it. And now it's mine.

Snagging the case, I took off running, ignoring the shouting and gunshots that echoed down the hall. At the end of it was a door, and when it slid open, I saw the tunnel. A short smuggling one. I couldn't guess why it was there, but there could have been a bank or something on the other side at some point. Now it was just a clothing store. A fairly high end one at that.

Striding through the back hall of the clothing store, walking through their storage, I breached the systems. They had ICE, but it wasn't good enough anymore. Breach was a beast, deserving of a title. I saw myself on the cameras, a blurred out shape because of my personal ICE. As I walked, I scrubbed the footage, taking a clip of the empty hallway and looping it.

However, the sound of my footsteps seemed to attract the employee in the store -- Vanessa, according to the systems. A middle-aged woman poked her head around the corner, her expression confused before her eyes narrowed into slits. She opened her mouth, but I cut her off.

I had grabbed the money because… money, but now I had a better idea.

"I was never here," I told her, tossing her a fat stack of cash. Her eyes widened as she caught it before it quickly disappeared into her cleavage. I couldn't imagine it was a comfortable hiding place.

"Of course sir," Vanessa agreed, turning away.

"Thanks, Vanessa," I said, dropping her name as I walked towards the door. From my view of the camera, I saw her send a frightened look at my back as I pushed open the door. When I left, she didn't alert security. Good. Between the money and the name drop, it would make sure she stayed honest.

Looking to my left and right, I peeled off my mask with my free hand, tossing it into an alley on the left before I pivoted and started going right. Cutting across the street, I saw a number of homeless gathered up in an alleyway. They looked up at my approach, fear in their eyes. Looking at one around my size, I saw that he had an old, tattered, stained dark blue -- almost black -- long coat.

"Like your jacket," I said, grabbing a handful of eddies. The homeless man looked to me, to the eddies, then to his jacket. He couldn't have taken it off fast enough. I didn't have the hands to put it on, so I just shrugged it onto my shoulders.

"Thanks," I said, turning to another, "like your hat." A moment later, I was sporting a tattered old beany. Then I tossed each one of them a bundle. To make sure they stayed quiet. With the coat, my guns were hidden. All except for my rifle, which was slung onto my back. Carrying my money and case in one hand, I grabbed my assault rifle and dumped it into a dropbox where it would be dismantled to the molecular level.

None of it would mean a thing, though because one thing about me stood out the most. At least, until I turned it off. My ICE was suspended, leaving me open for viewing. Meaning if this little gambit didn't work, they had me dead to rights. My name, my address, the people I knew…

But, as Kid Win sailed right past me a minute later without a second look?

That when I knew I got away with it.