OG: Chapter 24

As soon as I had the elevator down to the Labs hacked, I jumped in and headed down. My Xipe Totec was reloaded, and I was ready to come out blazing, Iron Hot, ready to zero whatever Cylons I had to in order to get things done. As soon as the doors dinged open, I flattened myself against the wall, grabbing one of the few Frag Grenades off my harness, pulling the pin, and rolling it out of the open doors. I counted down as I did so, and as my internal countdown reached zero, the blast from the frag rang out, as did screams. That done, I engaged my Sandy and Kerenzikov, stepping out of the doors and looking out over the atrium to the lab space as time slowed down for me.

The Frag had zeroed a trio of Cylons, wounding three more bad enough that I could immediately zero them with a trio of shots. The others, of which there were sixteen, moved for cover behind various pillars or desks while another pair of unhackable electrochemical turrets began to fold out of the ceiling. My course of action clear from running the numbers, I lined up my first shot on the Right Turret as time sped back up, a plasma round accelerating out of the Magnetic Plasma Accelerator and shredding the turret even as I popped off a quick pair of shots from the Autogun Part of my Iron, zeroing two of the wounded Cylons.

As the Left Turret finished folding back out, I stepped back into the cover provided by the elevator doors as a burst of Electrochemically propelled rounds from the turret lanced out, trying to find me. They punched through the back of the elevator car, leaving holes that would stop most non-armored vehicles in the alloyed steel as I reloaded my Plasma Launcher, stepping back out and firing a second plasma round that junked the turret. Two of the remaining wounded Cylons' Chooms were trying to drag the poor Gonk to safety behind a pillar, and I immediately fired off a pair of Autogun rounds, zeroing them, before moving into the main area and stomping the wounded Cylon's head with my Enchanted Armored Boot, spattering his brains across the floor as I did so.

"Jesus fuck! He's in the open, someone fucking Zero this Gonk! It's just one guy!" Shouted one of the random Saka Cylons.

As several of them popped up out of cover to take shots at me, however, I proved I wasn't just any one guy, Zeroing six more as my Iron barked and cleared the Cylons popping out of pillars and desks to my right. Those to my left blazed away at me, of course, but with my armor being what it was, and them being so rattled, most shots went wide, and the ones that didn't failed to do anything. Bullets spanged off my armor as I rushed toward one Desk where a trio of Saka Cylons were just ducking back into cover, reloading as I went. I vaulted over the desk, Iron spitting bullets as I did so, Zeroing two of the Saka Cylons. The third let out a curse in Japanese and tried to come at me with a Kaiken Monotanto, I hauled off with my cybernetically and chemically enhanced strength as he came in, punching him with my gauntleted off-hand. My fist smashed the front of his skull in with his blade an inch away from my throat. He fell to the floor, and I stomped on his neck just in case the first blow hadn't zeroed him.

Eleven down, eleven more to go, as I racked another plasma round into my plasma launcher and popped up from behind the Desk I'd been using as cover. Firing Hot Plasma, I burned through the cover being used by a knot of four Saka Cylons, two of them went down to molten shrapnel while the other two were staggered, all caught follow-on Autogun Rounds just to be sure. Then, I felt something hit the side of my head hard enough to partially bleed through the Vibranium-reinforced ballistic nanocloth and bruise my ear. If I didn't get that treated, it would turn to cauliflower after today. Turning, I saw that some bright spark had pulled a Hiyari Fifty-Caliber Anti-Material Sniper Rifle out of some armory somewhere to try and put an end to me. Given how those were known to put holes in APCs like the Militech Behemoth, I felt kind of flattered that I could tank a shot from one and just get a cauliflower ear.

Regardless, he needed to be dealt with pronto, and that particular Saka Cylon took the next bullet as I set my Iron to do its deadly work. As I zeroed five others in rapid succession, Iron barking even as their own rounds ricocheted off my armor, failing to so much as penetrate, I grinned. Only one Saka Cylon left, I turned to face the last man standing as I reloaded, advancing on him.

"It's nothing personal, but you know how cutthroat Biz can be. Literally, even." I offered to the Man as I reloaded.

In response, he began chanting something in Japanese over and over again under his breath. It took me dialing my hearing up using my Cranial Implants to catch it, but when I did, I couldn't help but laugh. The idea of a Saka Cylon uttering that prayer of all things, knowing the sort of Skeevy Scop they got up to? That just tickled me.

"Deathbed Nembutsu, huh? Let's be honest here. If there is an afterlife for you, it's not gonna be one where you enjoy the fruits of the Buddha's Compassion, now is it?" I questioned.

In response, the Saka Cylon put the barrel of his pistol to his head and fired, splattering his brains all over the nearby directory that was mounted on the wall. I shook my head at that, not only had he pussed out like a bitch, but even zeroing yourself wasn't exactly kosher with the Boddhisatva Precepts of Buddhism. Definitely headed to the Hell of Being Cut to Pieces for that one. As I turned to read the directory to find out where it was I needed to go, though, I was confronted with four possible paths.

Path one led to the weapons lab, off to the Northeast. It was there I'd find the data and any prototypes for the Thermal Wave Cannon and Railcannon projects, securing my primary and one of my secondary objectives. Path two to the Southeast was where the Security Station and Armory were. I would need to head there to jack into the Air-Gapped Net on the lower levels that controlled the Cameras and Turrets. The Third path to the North led to the offices. Any Potential Administrator-level access would be found there, including any backdoor passwords into the Saka Tower Mainframe. Lastly, Path Four to the West led to the Vehicle and Drone Labs, where any information on the Octant Project would be held.

I decided to head for the Security area first, hopefully I would be able to jack in and seize control of the Local, Air-Gapped Net from there. As I moved through the hallway, I only came across a quartet of Saka Cylons and one turret, all of which were easily dispatched with rounds from my Iron. I had to splice some wires to get into the door to the Security Station, since they'd put the door here on Manual Lockdown, but with my various knowledge of technology and omnidisciplinary science, I managed to jury-rig a solution. As soon as I entered, a quartet of Saka Cylons opened fire on me, but the bullets from their Shigure Submachine Guns and Nowaki Assault Rifles just didn't have the stopping power to punch through my Armor, and my Iron barked four times, zeroing all four of them.

The last Saka Cylon had been trying to do something at the Security Terminal, but he hadn't had enough time, letting out a curse before snatching the Yukimura Pistol off the desk next to the terminal and spinning about to fire. He didn't get the chance as I put a bullet right between his eyes as he raised his pistol to fire at me. Moving forward, I checked the terminal. It seemed he was trying to access all the turrets remaining in the Black Site but hadn't had the time to input his Security Codes. I grinned, immediately Jacking in with my Cranial Implants. Between those, my enhanced intellect, and my Netrunning Skills, I managed to seize control of the Air-Gapped Network from the single, hardwired, security terminal that controlled it all.

Looking up the Gonk I'd just zeroed, it turned out that he wasn't the Security Chief, but the Vice-Chief. A guy the actual Chief Delegated to when he wasn't around. That begged the question, where was the Chief? Flicking through camera feeds, I spotted researchers and someone who had to be the Administrator of the Site locking themselves in their offices for the duration. No Chief there, though. The Drone and Vehicle Labs were empty, as was the armory next door. It wasn't until I switched feeds to the weapons labs that I saw what was going on.

Some sort of bulky Combat Android was being fitted with the Prototype Saka Thermal Wave Cannon. At the same time, someone that the system ID'd as Chief of Security, Joaquin Lopez, was tooled up in a Custom Armorjack with Custom-Tooled Iron and badgering the remaining bunch of Saka Cylons into some sort of formation. Between the Chief and his Cylons, I counted fourteen Saka Cylons, plus the Android. It shouldn't be too much of an issue, but there was no sense in taking chances. I spoofed an IFF Code that only worked for me in the system and set all other IFF Codes at the Black Site to Hostile, rigged up a backdoor, then set to wiping the camera data before setting the Cameras to view only with no storage of data, all on a time-delayed countdown. Then I unplugged from the system.

The effect was immediate as the sounds of Gunfire rang out from the Weapons Lab. With the Security otherwise preoccupied there, I made my way toward the Vehicle and Drone Labs at a leisurely pace. The deserted corridors, patrolled by my hijacked Autoturrets, posed no challenge for me to move through. As soon as I reached the Vehicle and Drone Labs, I immediately went toward the research terminals and pulled the Data off of them. They had info not just on the Reverse-Engineering of the Zetatech Octant, but also on the Mark Three Enforcement Drone, which I was sure would net me an extra bonus. I made two copies of the data, one for me and one for Militech, before wiping the systems clean.

Then I headed for the Weapons Labs. When I arrived, I found all the Saka Cylons Zeroed, including Chief Lopez, but the Mark Three Enforcement Drone, with its Prototype Thermal Wave Cannon, had destroyed the turrets in here. It turned toward me, raising its cannon and blasting me with a wave of superheated air that would parboil normal flesh and fry normal chrome. My flesh and chrome were anything but normal, however, and my armor was enchanted against fire and heat-based attacks anyway. The wave of superheated air washed over me, doing little more than scorching my armor a bit and singeing my eyebrows.

"I think you may have given me a mild sunburn. Care to try again?" I queried, taunting.

The Enforcement Drone didn't say anything. Instead, it raised its left hand, and an odd-looking barrel protruded from out of the palm. It fired, and suddenly, my eardrums had burst, and I was bleeding out of my ears and nose. I couldn't hear shit because of that, and all I smelled was blood. Snarling, I raised my Iron. This thing had to be zeroed before it could fire again. Unfortunately, the quick-firing nature of what seemed to be some kind of sonic weapon meant that it fired again, and I had to jump to avoid the path of the invisible waves of sound, my head pounding even from a glancing blow. I flipped about in mid-air, launching a plasma round at the Enforcment Drone from above. The projectile burned through the alloy-ceramic armor and cored into the Drone as I landed, only for a massive explosion to rock me off my feet and send me hurtling through a stack of crates filled with gun parts.

I stood up, shakily, before pulling a MaxDoc out from my tactical harness, breathing it in as the medical nanites patched up my eardrums and set to fixing the other internal aches and pains. A second dose managed to fix every wound I'd taken, including my impending Cauliflower Ear and cut-open scalp. Then I headed for the Computer Terminals. The database had been partially corrupted from damage, but I was able to recover the Schematics for both the Railcannon and the Thermal Wave Cannon, once again making two copies of each. I then turned to see that Militech's sole condition, that the Thermal Wave Prototype be destroyed, had been completed. It looked like the explosion had been due to a reactor cookoff from the plasma round I'd hit the thing with. Literally all that survived of the Enforcement Drone and its prototype cannon was scrap.

Lastly, I headed for the offices. It was distasteful, but I couldn't leave any witnesses. I spliced open doors and zeroed a trio of Saka Researchers, two Asians and one Latino. Unfortunately, it seemed they didn't have anything worthwhile on any of their Personal Terminals. They hadn't even tried to fight back or plead for their lives either. It was when I made my way over toward the Administrator's Office that all that changed.

As soon as I got the doors open, I took fire from a VladiCom Mark Seventy-Four Bogatyr Flechette Pistol being welded by a dark-haired Russian Corpo Exec. That was a rare sight, usually something you only saw in Corpo Execs who could be expected to go Highrider and need something that wasn't gonna punch through a bulkhead and depressurize a shuttle cabin.

VladiCom likewise wasn't something you saw much outside of the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. It was still a brand that saw a lot of action in places like the Soviet Far East, United Korea, and both China and Taiwan, but you didn't really get much of them outside those areas. It was a regional Corp owned by Saka as a subsidiary since Twenty-Ten or so. The cursing in Russian from the Exec in front of me suggested regional loyalties as the reason why it was turning up here.

Of course, if it couldn't punch through a shuttle bulkhead, it wasn't gonna punch through my armor. The Flechettes bounced off my Sardine Can to no effect as the Russian Exec emptied the clip of her Iron, swearing all the while. Finally out of flechettes, she resorted to throwing the weapon at me, which I caught out of mid-air reflexively, checking it over before setting it down on the office desk.

"That's no way to treat a delicate piece of Iron like that." I admonished.

"Just get it over with." Spat the Russian, coldly.

"And if I were to offer to spare you in exchange for any executive clearance codes you might have?" I asked.

"Don't bullshit me. We both know you won't let me live now that I have seen you. Besides, my Clearance Codes will be revoked the moment this massacre is discovered." Scowled the Russian.

"Fair enough. For what it's worth, this isn't personal, it's strictly biz." I shrugged.

"Fuck you and get this over with!" Scowled the Russian.

Shrugging, I fired my Iron one last time, zeroing the Exec. Then I began to Klep any loose Eddies, coming up with fifty grand. The Iron I left where it was. It was all part of the plan that I'd concocted. See, I'd done a bit of digging on the Wraiths, and while their leader, Dogkiller, might be willing to work for a few eddies from Saka here and there, what he really wanted was a big score. He didn't care who he had to double-cross to get it, so slipping an anonymous tip to his lieutenant, Nash, who I knew was also having problems with a member of the Hungarian Mafia whom he owed Eddies to, about some free loot, was child's play. Then I just had to power off the turrets, leave the Black Site, and wait.

I staked out the Parking Lot of the Laguna Arms from a safe distance in my Paladin Five-Hundred, and sure enough, a bunch of Nomad Kombis in Wraith Colors rolled up to the place to begin looting just as the time-delayed countdown on the cameras in the Lower Levels expired. I stayed just long enough to see them begin to pull guns and eddies out of the Black Site, then high-tailed it out of Laguna Bend and back to Night City. With any Luck, this will make it seem like the Wraiths double-crossed Saka and turn the Corpo Cylons and Ninjas on the Wraiths instead of on Militech, or more importantly, me.

Once I'd returned to Night City, all that was left was to arrange another meeting with Meredith Stout. That would happen in three days. Until then, I was going to continue my current job with Suzie Q and the Mox like nothing had happened. I didn't know it now, but I would be heading into the endgame for my time in Cyberpunk in the coming week.

And I would just have to survive until it was all over with to jump out. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. The SI handles the Arasaka Black Site like a Goddamned Professional and even manages to turn the Arasaka response onto a false lead against the Wraiths, which will make Panam's Life a lot easier out in the Badlands, not that he's met her. At the same time, he'll deliver extra tech to Militech that will help their position against Arasaka both in R&D terms and in the Courts. Now all that he has left to do is deal with the remaining Tyger Claws and Organaskaya Forces in Japantown, including Aleksander Yurinov, and he'll be ready to jump to his next world. We're heading into the endgame for the SI's time in Cyberpunk, folks.

At any rate, the next chapter will be a return to fighting for Suzie Q and the Mox as the lockdown on Japantown is lifted and the Gang War resumes. I'll also have Character Sheet Updates out before then as well.

Stay tuned. . .