Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 14 - Settling In (Patreon)

He taught me how to seize power, and yet, he was surprised when I turned that on him. He should have been proud I learned the lessons so well.

Nora Lancaster

I knelt at the edge of the roof, looking across the street at the megabuilding I’d once called home. For three days, I’d remained in place, studying the comings and goings of my uncle’s killer. I knew that Nora hadn’t actually pulled the trigger. She hadn’t been the one to personally torture him. However, she was ultimately responsible. Without her betrayal, none of it would have been possible.

I also knew that my uncle bore some of the blame himself. After all, he’d been a taciturn, immovable man who’d spent most of his life angering his enemies, contemporaries, and underlings alike. It was only fitting that someone would eventually turned on him. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to make them all pay, starting with Nora herself.

My reconnaissance hadn’t told me much, save that she had taken up residence in Jeremiah’s penthouse. I’d yet to see Heather, so I had no idea what had happened to her, and even though we’d never really gotten along, I feared the worst. She wasn’t a bad person; she’d just chosen the wrong person to latch onto. I hoped that Nora had shown her mercy, though judging by what I’d seen over the past three days, I wasn’t optimistic.

Finally, I got the alert I’d been waiting on, and I retreated from the edge of the building. At last, the hired contractors had finished with my new home, and I was eager to see the compound that would become my base of operations. I knew it had great potential, and I had sunk hundreds of thousands of credits into making it work. So, I was understandably excited to see the results of that investment.

So, I backed away from the edge and crossed the roof to the access door. When I’d first entered the building, I’d jacked in and used Mistwalk to fake my credentials. Now, the system saw me as an administrator, so I enjoyed full and unlimited access. All I had to do was go to a security terminal, and I could access the building’s surveillance and security features. Not that it was useful for much aside from getting in and out; the megabuilding had no real value to me aside from its proximity to Nora’s – and subsequently, the Specters’ – territory.

If I’d wanted to, I could have killed Nora at any time. She was right there, acting as if she was completely untouchable. One Empowered Shot from my sniper rifle, and she would be thoroughly obliterated. I chose not to do so for three reasons. First – and most importantly – I knew that my uncle’s demise hadn’t come only at her hands. There were plenty of other people involved, and she was my only real link to her co-conspirators. I had no intentions of ending my crusade with one dead body, so I had no choice but to use her to find the others.

But more personally, I wanted to make her suffer. A simple shot wasn’t enough. Instead, I wanted to tear it all down, to bring everything she cared about crashing down around her. To do that, I would have to pick apart the entire organization. Meanwhile, I had a plan to make her losses more personal. Nora didn’t care about many people, but I knew her weak points as well as anyone. And I intended to attack them.

Finally, my uncle had taken great pains to teach me about actions and consequences. I needed to watch. I needed to learn. And I needed to plan. Otherwise, things might not work out like I wanted them to.

This wasn’t some inconsequential mission to a backwater like Bayou La Batre. I didn’t have a safety net waiting in the wings to pull me out if things got too hot. I was on my own, and while my vengeance was foremost on my mind, I had no intention of throwing my life away to get it. So, I’d resolved not to act until I was absolutely certain that things would go according to my plans. Anything else would be an insult to my uncle’s memory.

Once I went through the door, I quickly descended the steps and found my way to the top floor. This megabuilding was designed slightly differently than the one where I’d grown up; instead of a single block, it had a hollow core, creating a courtyard of open air. The layers of various apartments occupied the outer perimeter, with a multitude of shops making a home along the edge of the open courtyard. Residents clogged the walkways; some of them loitered in groups and looked like they were up to no good, but others were clearly occupied with one task or another as they traversed the ramps that connected the floors.

I knew there were some people who almost never left their buildings. After all, they were like cities unto themselves, with access to all the necessities. For a lot of residents, there just wasn’t any reason to go elsewhere. Instead, they were happy occupying themselves with various virtual reality chips, the entertainment feeds, or with their preferred inebriant. They were sad people with sad lives, but I knew I didn’t have any real call to judge them. The real world was a depressing place, so it was understandable that they’d retreated into fantasy, especially when it made your life that much easier to bear.

Still, it was difficult not to feel a mixture of pity and revulsion when I saw those sorts of people, so I wasted no time lingering in the megabuilding. Instead, I headed straight to the elevator, which was a metal cage studded with various screens playing advertisements, most of which featured sexually suggestive material that still made me a little uncomfortable.

Once, Nora had explained it to me. In the old world, there had been a saying: sex sells. And given the greed of our rulers, who were in turn funneling a good portion of those credits back to their unseen alien overlords, selling was the name of the game. On top of that, it was a distraction. It was the same reason that pornography and prostitution were so well represented within Nova City. In fact, there were so many entertainment options that I found it difficult to believe that the average person couldn’t see through the ruse. Entertained people – whether the source of that entertainment was sex, drugs, or virtual reality chips – were placid people. Why fight for a better life when you could go home and watch your favorite program? Or when your next hit of dust was waiting on you?

It was disgusting, how easily we’d let ourselves be subjugated by our own interests. In the past, wars had been fought over fewer rights. But now? We accepted our own oppression so readily, and in exchange, we got slightly better porn.

Sighing as the elevator took me down a few dozen floors, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. If I let myself focus on it, I knew I’d spiral. And that wasn’t productive. After all, there wasn’t anything I could do about any of it. There were plenty of people in Nova City screaming for the rest of the citizens to wake up, but that didn’t do any good. It was a prison, but a comfortable one. And nobody wanted to risk their amenities or vices for a chance at freedom.

The elevator clanked to a stop, and the cage slid open to reveal a parking structure. Technically, I didn’t need one, but it seemed the most appropriate place to summon my hover bike. Once I was sure there was no one around, I activated the cybernetic link, and the bike materialized before me.

It worked similarly to my Arsenal Implant, using Mist to access a quarantined section of quantum space where the bike was usually stored, but unlike my Arsenal Implant, the space was reserved for the Kyrobe Cutter. In its natural form, the Cutter was comprised of a sleek, black fuselage that didn’t look so dissimilar from the motorcycles I’d seen back in Mobile. However, it differed in a few key ways. First, instead of wheels, it had four Mist vents; each one was about eight inches in diameter and half as thick, held in place by metallic clamps. When I was riding it, those clamps would move up and down to account for steering. For propulsion, it had a Mist engine that could push it to speeds in excess of three-hundred miles an hour. I hadn’t had a chance to really let it loose yet – Nova City was far too cramped for that – but I’d spent a few hours putting it through its paces as I raced around Algiers. And I was more than impressed; even with Observation and the enhanced reaction times from my high Mind attribute, it was capable of pushing me to my limits.

However, while its performance was a cut above the rest, that wasn’t what made it so much better than the other hover bikes I’d seen around Nova City. No – where it really showed its worth lay in the fact that it was categorized as and integrated like a normal cybernetic implant. It technically wasn’t; I could take off the band that housed its quantum space if I wanted to, but my interface – or more importantly, my skills – didn’t seem to care. As a result, when I used Mimic, I could extend that camouflage to the bike.

I did so, and its image shimmered. A moment later, it looked like a much cheaper, far older, and barely functional hoverbike. It would retain its high performance, but it wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention.

Just like me.

The new appearance was boxy, a little rusted, and only had two Mist vents. But it had the same basic shape and size, so there were no issues as I straddled the seat, leaned forward, and took off.

The Mist engine hummed to life as I rocketed forward, twisting and turning as I descended the parking structure until, at last I burst forth into the street, cutting off a hovercar in the process. The driver shouted at me, but I gave him the finger as I sped away.

I had to resist the urge to let out an excited shout as the bike accelerated; piloting the Cutter was everything I ever hoped it could be, and despite the grim thoughts that had followed me through the megabuilding, I couldn’t keep the grin from spreading across my face. For the first time in my life, I felt free in a way I couldn’t really explain. It wasn’t just the speed, either. It was the knowledge that if I so desired, I could just head straight to one of Nova’s gates, burst through the Enforcer-guarded barricades, and leave the city. I could go wherever I wanted, too. The Cutter wasn’t subject to the same restrictions as most hover cars, and even when the Mist grew chaotic, it could still work – at least for a while. It would cost a fortune in Rift Shards, but I’d saved a few of them just in case. Nothing would constrain me. I could just leave my revenge plot behind. I could just live my life.

But would that be any different from most of Nova City’s citizens, who chose comfort over fighting for their rights? I knew it wasn’t a one-to-one comparison, but to me, it felt similar. Either way, I knew I would never – could never – do that.

The possibility that I could was comforting, though.

I raced through the Garden, weaving in and out of traffic. The hoverbike wasn’t as fast as the monorail, but it did have the benefit of being completely under my control. Plus, the monorail followed a defined course, and there were no platforms near my destination. So, the bike was a better option.

Plus, you know – hover bike. How could I not want to play with it every chance I got?

Still, as fast as my form of conveyance was, Nova City was enormous, and it still took me about thirty minutes to reach the spiraling ramp that led down to Algiers. When I began my descent, my grin widened. The ramp itself was wide, and the gradient was fairly shallow; as a result, the spiral almost felt like a racetrack as I sped around it. By the time I reached the bottom, I was flush with excitement, and I had to resist the urge to head straight back up and do it again.

But I had other things on the agenda, so I pushed those thoughts to the side as I headed out into Algiers. The poorest district in Nova City was the same as always, meaning that the buildings looked half-abandoned, the people were malnourished, pale, and dejected, and the streets were scattered with random trash. There were no utility drones to clean this district, and the people didn’t care enough not to use the sidewalks as dumpsters. It was a disgusting way to live, and it, along with the distinctive odor of the multiple factories’ emissions, gave the whole district a very unpleasant atmosphere. I ignored it, though.

The hoverbike got a few casual looks, some of which were predatory, but I didn’t stop long enough to get into any trouble. Even the old and barely functional appearance of my bike caught attention in a place like Algiers.

Eventually, I made my way to my neighborhood. After pulling into an alley, I dismissed the bike and used Mimic to once again change my appearance. Before, I’d looked like a nondescript man with brown hair, but now, I used one of my old standbys – a middle-aged woman with short black hair. Once I’d adopted the new identity, I ran toward the other end of the alley, leapt over a fence, and used Stealth before creeping toward my property. It took me almost ten more minutes before I reached the building, and I knew I was probably being a bit paranoid. But I refused to make the same mistakes I’d made during my training.

Outwardly, the property itself looked much the same as it had when I’d first bought it. A square, four-story building without any windows. The whole lot looked abandoned, but with Observation, I could notice the slight distortions on the corners of the buildings. They were concealed cameras and auto-turrets. If any unauthorized personnel came to visit, they’d get ripped to shreds.

I glanced up; the sun had already begun to set, so the lot was cast in deep shadow. Still, I decided to wait a few minutes until the sky darkened enough that my Stealthhad a few more shadows with which to work. Once night had enveloped the area, I crept across the lot and entered the building.

If the outside looked like an abandoned building, the first floor followed that same theme. Piles of detritus were deliberately placed throughout; if someone made it past the cameras or auto-turrets, they’d be disappointed to find that the building was precisely what it appeared to be.

I crossed the lobby – I’d discovered that the building had once belonged to a shipping company – and entered a hall on the other side of the large room. Once inside, I quickly traced a path through the maze of corridors until I found a specific closet, which I entered. The moment the door closed behind me, I placed my hand on a seemingly innocuous piece of the wall. A slight beep sounded, and the hidden elevator took me up two floors.  When the door slid open again, I was greeted by a perfectly modern apartment. It was almost completely bare, but given that it took up the entire floor, there was enough space to accommodate almost two-dozen people. As for the décor, it contained the bare essentials and not much else. In that respect, I had similar taste as my uncle, which shouldn’t have been surprising.

Patrick, who was sitting on a couch and looking at something on his interface, looked up. I saw his hand creep toward the pistol at his hip before I said, “Canary candy three-four-seven.”

He relaxed. “That’s a different disguise,” he said.

I dropped my ability, my appearance reverting back to normal. “I’ve used it before,” I said, crossing the room to sit next to him. Finally, I let myself relax. I glanced at him, asking, “You studying?”

He nodded. “There’s way more to [Cybernetic Engineering] than I expected,” was his response. “Until I can pass Dr. Montague’s tests, she won’t even let me in the office.”

“Shouldn’t be that hard,” I said. I’d had so much information crammed into my brain that learning a few textbooks’ worth of material didn’t seem all that difficult. “Besides, it’ll probably help your Mind attribute, right?’

“I guess,” he said. “Slow going, though. Did you find what you’re looking for?”

I shook my head. “Still nothing,” I answered. “But it’s probably coming soon. I know she hasn’t stopped.”

“I guess,” was his response. Despite wanting revenge, he wasn’t quite as committed to vengeance as I was. He was still onboard, but I could see Patrick’s resolve chipping away by the day.

“Did they finish?” I asked.

“Earlier today,” he answered. “Everything should be ready downstairs.”

I grinned. “Fantastic,” I said. “You want to come give it a whirl? Training can do a lot to take your mind off of things.”

He shook his head. “I need to work on this material,” Patrick said. He summoned a chip from his own implant, adding, “Which reminds me – Gunther sent this over.”

“Nice,” I said, taking the chip. I quickly slotted it, and I was happy to see that it was the next stage of my puzzle program. Instead of the rudimentary A.I. creating puzzles for me to solve, I was expected to create puzzles for the A.I. to solve. The whole thing was meant to push my Mind attribute to the next level while preparing me to write more complicated Ghosts.

“That chip cost more than my gun,” he muttered.

“That’s because Dex had to special order it,” I said. “This kind of thing isn’t normally available on quarantined worlds.”

“I don’t know if we should trust those aliens. They’re just here to exploit us, right?”

We’d had the discussion before, and I knew we’d probably do it again. But I wasn’t in the mood, so I just said, “I know it’s not without dangers, but I’ve got to take a few risks if any of this is going to work.”

I sighed again, then said, “You sure you don’t want to come with me? You’re going to have to train with that pistol at some point.”

“Tomorrow,” Patrick said.

I shook my head, saying, “I’ll hold you to it.”

With that, I retreated back to the elevator and mentally commanded it to take me down to the refurbished basement. It really was amazing what a little money and some men and women with the right skills could accomplish in a few days. I’d been skeptical the contractors could work so quickly, but they’d come through with everything they’d promised. And, according to Gunther, the people he’d hired would be completely discrete. Otherwise, they’d have to deal with him.

Nobody in Nova wanted that.

But then again, the same could have been said about my uncle, and see where that got him. Nobody was invincible. No reputation was unassailable. So, I’d spent almost six hours going through the building’s security terminals looking for weaknesses or hostile programs. I hadn’t found anything, but I’d already resolved to continue my sweeps just in case.

You could never be too careful, after all.

But all thoughts of paranoia faded when the elevator reached its destination and the door slid open to reveal my new training hall.

I smiled broadly, mumbling, “I’m home.”