NT Runner 4 - Yeong - ChesAn (Patreon)

The abandoned warehouse that Kai picked out was empty. No leftover material or scrap metal. Just boarded up windows and cracked stone floors covered in a layer of dirt. If that was all it was, the place would have been far too spartan. The ocean breeze blew through the factory floor, making it no better than sleeping outside. Thankfully Kai lead Yeong and Lacie up to an office that overlooked everything in the barren building. The windows were not intact, but they were boarded and taped well enough to not create a draft. Yeong was surprised upon entering to actually feel a bit of warmth. The walls were decorated with posters of attractive stars. The Idol twins, the famous action star Lance Reddig and even one famous black and white still of a specific goblin scientist sticking his tongue out that Yeong had seen at least once. In between those were theories, names, companies and Net sites all connected by painted red lines like a discount conspiracy theorist's cork board.

It was not just a hideout but a living space. That was made clear by the small space heater kept going on a low setting and the hot plate set down on a plastic event table in the center of the room. In the far corner a thin, unmade bed lay on the floor, though making it nice and neat would not have done much to improve the aesthetic of it or the room. Kai plopped down onto one of her flimsy event chairs and sunk.

“Was expecting a bit more from a hackers hideout. A wall of screens. Machines buzzing at every corner.” Yeong commented, taking one of the event chairs for himself.

Kai opened her arms, motioning towards the wall of connected names, sites and contacts. “This is my workstation. My 'screens.' I write down the important places. The things I need to do. They're like open tabs. I don't have any of that stuff because I don't need it.”

“Isn't it harder? You could fix a phone or a computer like you fixed mine, right?”

“Can't afford one. It might make it more efficient but.” She paused and lowered her gaze.

“What?”

“It feels better to do things this way.”

“What does that mean?”

Kai leaned forward and poked Yeong. “Because I can feel it when I do it my way.” She glanced over at Lacie wistfully.
“Believe it or not, for some reason the compatibility for sensory input. Touch, sound, sight, sense... All that was built into the original Root Net before sensory compatibility. Before AR and VR. It's like magic, almost. The Nets that were set up and especially this new project are all like their own worlds. That mean anything to you, Mama?”

Lacie smiled brightly. “You can make appointments through the Net without having to visit or talk to anyone.” She pulled up a seat and sat down close to Yeong.

“Is she going to be an issue?” Yeong asked. He felt guilty about sleeping with the woman, but she was irresistible and it did not truly affect anything significant. If anything, he felt like he got a bit of important information out of the exchange.

“I can't be her 'client' forever.”

“Awwww.” Lacie pouted convincingly, her ears and tail drooping as she leaned on Yeong.
“But you'll visit me lots and lots whenever you can, right?”

Kai shuddered. “I'm jamming her Tekk so that she can't be tracked by ChesAn and I'm spoofing her appointments so that Den thinks she's with a client. They don't care so long as they're making money so we should be fine.”

Yeong shook his head. “Not so sure.” Kai offered a questioning glance in his direction.
“She's got more hardware than a Platinum-Grade super soldier.”

Kai was shocked. “Wait, seriously? That much?”

“Did you not check?”

The girl growled. “I make it a point to not x-ray my mom's body. I knew she was getting modded out by her bosses but I had no reason to believe she was getting made into a super soldier.”

“That makes sense.” Yeong did not think that Lacie had a reasonable amount of Tek for her position. She was extremely over-kitted and in ways that were not completely necessary.

“Wait...” Kai stared suspiciously at Yeong.
“How did you figure that out?”

“I am able to sense the flow of vital force circulating through the body. Tek gives off different signals than normal organs or body parts.” Yeong lied. It was something that he knew could be done, but he trained in Soma, not Aura, and was therefore completely oblivious to vital forces.

Kai seemed to buy it. She relented and granted a nod. “I mean... You've done a lot of weird shit I can't explain, so sure.” She straightened her posture.
“Anything weird going on with my body that you can sense?”

Yeong deflected with a safe guess based off of her lack of any electronics. “You are all natural and the technique would not be able to determine base gender, anyway.”

“The fuck?” Kai bared fangs at him.
“What's that supposed to mean? Still wondering what I've got under the hood?” She asked angrily.

“W-well...” He had just let it slip since it was on his mind. Yeong held up his hands defensively and leaned back into Lacie. She began idly rubbing his shoulders as Kai slid her chair closer, the metal legs squealing on the concrete floor. Kai forcefully grabbed Yeong's hand and placed it over one of her small breasts. He squeezed as soon as he felt it in his palm.
“Real, right?” She demanded, her cheeks flushing.

“Yeah.” He realized what he was doing and immediately stopped groping until she released his hand. Once she did he pulled away. They were real. That was for sure. Once he admitted they were real she stood up and spread her stance wide. She traced the subtle outline of her figure in front of him.

“Do I look bad?” Kai tilted her head quizzically, a mad look in her eye.

“You look...” Yeong inspected her. It was the same thing he saw before. Slender waist, defined hips and a firm rear. Her figure was subtle but it was feminine. That was for sure. Yeong could not see anything past it.

“You look great, Kai!” Lacie complimented.

Kai looked defused by that. She plopped back down and slid her chair back. “Thanks.”

Yeong gulped and quickly changed the topic. “We going to talk about why this is happening?”

Kai rested her head on her hand. “It's not a long story. My mom was the inventor of the original Net.” As Kai spoke Lacie leaned forward and embraced Yeong while resting her chin affectionately on his shoulder from behind.

“Her?” Yeong was not fully in disbelief, but he felt it to be an odd change from engineer to stripper.

“Stephanie Briggs was her business partner. She handled marketing and deals with investors while my mom handled everything technical, basically. From what I gathered, at some point, as soon as the initial framework for the revolutionary Net product was laid out and a huge deal was made, Stephanie cut my mom out. That basically broke her.” Yeong turned his head. As sad as that story sounded, Lacie did not seem at all concerned or affected.

“That was when I was really, really young. She was super depressed and could barely do anything. She lost the will to work at anything technical. She didn't seem to understand or even look at any of her old notes. She couldn't get jobs that fit her credentials. A total wreck, basically.”

“At some point she was recruited by Den?”

Kai nodded. “I don't feel... Terrible about them doing this to her because she was miserable before. When she started working at something else, getting Tek and other mods that helped her forget... I think it gave her a new start. I don't really care care about the money she was able to help me out with. It was mostly just good that she was able to move on. Now she doesn't even remember what happened.” Kai snapped her fingers to get Lacie's attention.
“Right Mama? What do you think about Stephanie Briggs?”

“Steph?” Her ears perked.
“I love Steph!” She offered cheerfully.

Kai shrugged. “See? When she was first betrayed all I remembered her muttering was that she could not believe 'Steph' did it. Or that 'Steph was a different person.' Complete denial.”

“So why now? You were off the grid, but Lacie obviously wasn't.”

“I thought about that. It may not have been your fault entirely... I mean, you're definitely how I got pinpointed but I think them targeting me and her is coinciding with the launch of the new Net. It's huge. It's not just a private business network or something. It's a centrally run and operated worldwide service...” Kai began digging through stacks of papers and magazines.

“If they wanted to tie up loose ends it seems like they would do that way sooner. Your mom has claim to all those old Net's, too, right?”

Kai exhaled through her nose. “None of those are my Mom's.”

“Huh?”

Kai smiled as she found a particular page in a beige folder and pulled it out. “All of the old Networks weren't even close to what she came up with. They were derivatives of a system that was waaaay too big and expensive to be realized at the time.”

Yeong covered his mouth with his hand as Kai held up a drawing of what almost looked to be an inverted tree within a globe. It had spiraling roots spreading out over the entire planet.

“That's-”

“I think that's what they're new project really looks like.” Kai lifted one of her thin, crimson brows curiously.
“Why are you looking at it like that?”

“It fits the bill of 'something big?'” Yeong pondered out loud. It also fit another description he had heard at one point.

“Huge... It would be as wide as that whole ChesAn complex and deep enough to fit dozens of 'Orr's on top of one another.” As they spoke Lacie stared enchanted at the picture. Kai noticed and hid it back under a stack of papers.

“My Halmeoni was right about Fate.” Kai looked up curiously as Yeong spoke.
“I didn't understand at first but now I do. She said it was not going to be a matter of finding what I needed to, it would be what I do when I find it.” Yeong corrected himself.
“Well... The first parts I understand. Not the second. I am supposed to be here with you.”

Kai brightened significantly. It looked as though her heart was beating quickly as she asked. “Does this mean you're gonna stick around and help us?”

“I have to.” Yeong stood up and approached the poster wall. He tapped the poster of the twin idols, Joseph and Janna.

“I thought I was supposed to find them, but I think they're just meant to help, as well.”

“Huh?” Kai looked very lost.

“My Halmeoni didn't have a lot to go on, but she did tell me that two people that may be of help were where I needed to be. Supposedly they are descendants of one of two very significant people.”

Kai stared skeptically at the poster of the two Ciar elf twins. Pale skin, long ears and dark hair. One neat, one messy. Both were dressed in casual clothing. The poster was from their 'down to earth' phase.  “I mean... They're exiled royalty. Blood is all they got so she's probably not wrong. Your old lady friends with the pre-DEZ government up there? How old is she?”

“Definitely predates that war.” Yeong offered unhelpfully.

“They're pretty inaccessible.” Kai argued.

Yeong gave the hacker an appraising stare. “Can you make them accessible?”

She shrugged, leaning on the back of her chain with crossed arms. “Mmmmaybe? You follow pop-culture at all?”

“Not really?”

“Didn't think so. Joseph and Janna broke up. They hate each other so getting both of them to help seems like a long shot.”

Yeong did not feel that to be a huge issue. He was more just dwelling on a peculiar fact. “You live in an old warehouse and you follow pop-culture?” Kai narrowed her golden eyes at him.
“It's cute.” With that her apprehension diffused and demeanor became more demure. She shakily scratched one twitching ear and offered a short nod.

“I'll look into whichever one you want to track down, Yeong.” She lifted a finger.
“Also, thanks for telling my about my Mom's Tek. I'll up my passive defense to keep Den off our back more effectively.”

“I never had a job go on this long!” Lacie commented in a chipper tone.