Chapter 8

The Dewdrop Inn was a rundown little place in Arroyo. The Front Desk Lady was currently out and there was a sign saying back after lunch sitting out on the desk. Of course, none of us were stupid enough to think that meant that this place was unguarded. While Jackie and V kept a lookout, I went looking around back for the Access Point I knew would be there. I managed to fairly easily hack it and datamine it for about seventy-five-thousand eddies and a ton of quickhack components. I may or may not have used this access point to also datamine some of JJ's accounts. The Gonk had his keyboard plugged into the local net.

He must've been getting high on his own supply to pull shit like that. If he hadn't had his Terminal Plugged in Old School like that, I never would've gotten to the account I managed to datamine. Scopsucking Dorphhead's, man. They do the dumbest shit. Of course, once that was done, there was the little matter of the security Gangoon in the office to take care of. Thankfully, that's where my newfound capabilities came in.

I found the Gonk sitting at his own Keyboard, watching some Rimbo out in the London Combat Zone gun down a bunch of Posergang Gonks in Bowler Hats. It must've cost a pretty Eddie to get that kind of import. The UK was pretty much Zeroed, thanks to them pulling a bombshell and leaving the EEC which really hurt their ability to recover from the Time of the Red. I was willing to bet that those Pendejos out in the UK had charged this Gangoon an arm and a leg for this vid. Guess Vidiots gotta feed their addiction the same as Dorpheads do.

Either way, the goal was unchanged. Engaging my Sandy and Kerenzikov, I rushed forward in a blur, pulling a mono-edged combat knife from a sheath. The Gangoon barely had time to stand up and turn to find out who'd opened the office door before my blade punched into his eye, bursting the Kiroshi Sentry Optics he'd had installed and slicing into his brain. For good measure, I pulled the monoblade out and stabbed him in the throat and chest as well. In a handful of moments, it was all over, and I had a dead body to hide if I wanted to maintain stealth.

That was accomplished after stripping the body of weapons, and coming up with a Malorian Arms Overture Revolver and Punknife, plus another two-hundred-fifty eddies. On the desk though, I found a couple of mods the Gangoon had been too busy watching his Imported UK Vid to install before getting Zeroed. A Silencio, presumably for his knife, a Zenith, and a Kanone Scope. I klepped all those, plus the seven-hundred-fifty eddies on the desk and the Datachip of the Imported UK Vid, and then hefted the body up. I moved it over to a locker, which only took a second or two to open, grinning when I saw what I'd found.

"That's real leather, isn't it? Preem shit. Mine now, this Pendejo certainly won't need it anymore." I grinned at the Black and Dark Red Leather Trenchcoat.

I swapped that trenchcoat for the dead Sixth Street Gangoon, grinning at the aramid-weave lining that added just that bit extra armor, and then closed the locker. Then I moved to the security terminal to cycle the cameras. It seemed like JJ and the Gangoons upstairs still had no clue we were here, and from the camera feeds I was going through, they still didn't. There were five of 'em upstairs including JJ, but there were a couple of other folks renting rooms right now, plus the maintenance man in the stairwell.

That meant we had to be quick, stealthy, or preferably, both to Zero JJ and the other five Sixth Street Gangoons. Otherwise, the Bennies in the rooms on the ground floor might just get it into their heads to call the Lawmen in. Honestly, while that was our plan too, we didn't want to call in the tip to the NCPD till we were good and ready. If the Badges showed up while we were still klepping shit, that'd be bad for us. Regardless, I set the Sixth Street security systems to register that nothing was going on. With any luck, we'd be able to Zero the Gangoons here, plus JJ, Klep whatever we could carry, and Bombshell all before anyone noticed anything was wrong.

I headed back out into the front area after taking care of security. Seeing the front lobby was still empty save for my Chooms, I grinned at Jackie and V, offering them both a nod.

"All right, I got good news and I got bad news Chooms. The Good news is that these Cabrones still don't know we're here and they won't for a while if everything goes right. I also Klepped a bunch of Eddies and other stuff from them. I'm gonna want this stuff stashed away before we continue." I began.

"Hey, Preem Jacket." Grinned Jackie.

"Hands off, Jaquito. It's mine. I zeroed the Gonk to grab it, so I get it, comprender?" I Questioned.

"Si lo comprendo. I'm just messing with you, it looks too small for me anyway, around the shoulders, I mean." Chuckled Jackie.

"What's the bad news?" Queried V.

"The bad news is that we've got a couple of rooms booked by Bennies on the ground floor underneath the Lab. One of 'em won't be an issue, since they've got a Joytoy in there right now. I doubt they care much about anything aside from the bit of stuffit they've got going on right now. The other one, though, is some Gonk who looks like a Corpo in from some Beaverville out in the sticks. Not even Middle Management, but still that's the type to call for the Lawmen the second shit goes down." I answered.

"So we do this quiet? Can Jackie handle that?" Asked V.

"Oi, Chica, you try acting like some Saka Shinobi when you're my size." Scowled Jackie.

"The other option is we can do it fast. Go in, Zero everyone, grab what we can, and Bombshell quick before the badges show." I pointed out.

"Now that's more my style." Grinned Jackie.

"We'll be leaving a lot of stuff we'd klep otherwise." Frowned V.

"Fortunately, I managed to drain one of JJ's accounts via an Access Point Earlier. I klepped seventy-five grand from it, so we should be able to console ourselves with the Eddies." I shrugged.

"Right, let me stow this stuff back in V's Kombi and then we head on up." Nodded Jackie.

"I guess fast and dirty it is." Sighed V.

A few minutes later, we managed to bypass the locked door to the rooms with a bit of hacking and head up the stairs. The Maintainance Guy spotted us, but paying him a grand from the dead Security Office Gangoon to Bombshell worked to get him to fuck off just fine. Then we got ready to breach as we arrived at the block of rooms on the second floor that was supposed to be the location of JJ's lab.

As we entered JJ's lab, it was a total mess. A couple walls had been knocked through to accommodate the drug lab, but it was still cluttered with all kinds of equipment and Scop that wasn't even related to the Lab, like empty beer cans and used Dorph Hypos. There was also a trio of quarter-barrel tanks, two of Beta Acid and one of actual beer, sat waiting to be tapped as a number of other tanks of various chemicals were being hooked up to tubes and equipment by a trio of Sixth Street Gangoons while JJ directed them with one hand while pressing a Dorph Hypo to his neck to shoot up with the other.

"Wait, what the fuck? Who the fuck are you guys?" Demanded JJ as we entered, startling him.

I activated my Sandy and Kerenzikov by way of response and got to work. Time slowed down for me as I started running the numbers to allow me to figure out the right timing and angles for a devastating opening salvo. As the three Sixth Street Gangoons had been caught as they were setting up for another round of Neomphetimene creation, they wouldn't have time to pull their iron before I could riddle them with bullets if I timed this right. The big problem was that if any of my shots hit the tanks they were setting up, that would cause a big kaboom, so I needed the right angles. My brain constantly calculated the approach and degrees, phantom geometry flashing before my eyes as time stood still while my powers and implants ran the numbers.

As time sped up, they fed me the proper angles and timing. My Lyndwyrm barked out nine times in rapid succession, emptying the magazine into the enemies. Three shots apiece smashed through Subdermal Armor, ruptured organs, and riddled the three Sixth Street Gangoons with bullets even as they turned and tried to draw their weapons. One of them, a Sixth Street Lieutenant, had almost been able to fire back with his heavily modified Constitutional Arms Liberty when my last bullet popped the top of his skull off like a melon.

As my Lyndwrym clicked empty, I pulled a Combat Knife and raced toward JJ, who had grabbed a Millitech Crusher that was so heavily modified as to be a unique weapon off a table and slapped a magazine in just as two other Sixth Street Guys barged in. One armed with a Unique Millitech Lexington Pistol in one hand and a Unique Overture Revolver in the other, and the Second armed with a similarly Unique Millitech Ajax Submachine Gun. Fortunately, V and Jackie unloaded on the new arrivals, leaving me free to knife JJ before he could begin unloading shotgun rounds into our flanks.

I raced forward, stabbing out three times in rapid succession just as JJ fired a shotgun slug from his Millitech Crusher directly into my chest with a loud roar that the bennies downstairs definitely heard. Fortunately, that was what my armored vest was for, though it was unfortunate that the Red and Black, Synth-leather, Trenchcoat I'd been wearing this whole time was torn up. The slug slammed into my vest, but the plates held admirably. After all, even a Hand-Cannon like that was nothing compared to the sort of shit that got tossed around in the Grimdarkness of the Forty-First Millenium. My skin was bruised from the impact, but with the Upgraded Scarab Bone Sheathe, my ribs weren't so much as tickled.

In response, I stabbed out three times, taking JJ in the throat, eye, and chest, before snapping his neck for good measure. Jackie fired his Foehammer Stubrevolver at the Sixth Street Gangoon with the Pistol and Revolver Combo and took him right in the face, the heavy round punching through the light subdermal and skull plating and causing the Gangoon's head to burst like an overripe melon. Meanwhile, V grunted as she took a round to the shoulder from the SMG Gangoon, but her return fire zeroed the Gonk with a sustained burst from her own Submachine Gun practically sawing the Gangoon in Half.

Silence suddenly descended on the lab as the last of the Sixth Street Gangoons fell to the floor. Grabbing what I could off JJ's Body, which included three grand in Eddies, that Unique Militech Crusher, and what seemed to be the keys to a Quadra Type-Sixty-Six Six-Eighty-TS, I looked around and called out to my chooms.

"Everyone still breathing?" I questioned.

"Don't have a scratch on me, E." Responded Jackie.

"V? You alright over there, Chica?" I queried.

"Gimme a sec." Grunted V, before pulling a MaxDoc out of her pocket and taking a pull of it. She sighed as the medical nanites did their job.

"What about you, Hermano? I heard that handcanon bark." Asked Jackie.

"Didn't go through the Armor. It's pretty heavy iron, but my Vest is better." I brushed off.

"Damn, I gotta get me one of those." Grinned Jackie.

"Later. Right now we need to grab what we can and Bombshell. There's no way the Bennie in one-oh-three didn't hear that. He could be calling the Lawmen right now, so we've got at most fifteen minutes before they show. Grab what we can and let's bombshell." I ordered.

We wound up grabbing all the fallen weapons, about twelve and a half grand in loose eddies, and the three, untouched, half-kegs, both ones of Beta Acid, and the one of Beer. We exfiltrated fast, out the back door. Loading up V's Yacatecuhtli as best we could. Fortunately, there was only one Quadra parked outside. That I had the keys for, and I got in.

"E?" Blinked V, seeing that.

"I'll meet you at El Moto Cielo, Chooms. No time to talk now, we need to Bombshell!" I called out.

"E's right, Chica. Step on it!" Insisted Jackie.

V nodded once before her Yacatecuhtli sped off down the street in one direction. I started JJ's Quadra and headed in the other direction. Fortunately, we just barely avoided the response from the NCPD. By the time I made it back to El Moto Cielo, the Radio was blaring that the NCPD had locked down the Dewdrop Inn on suspicion of gang activity.

Juan and Chela gave me a price of twenty-five grand for the Quadra. It wasn't an Avenger or it would've fetched some Really preem eddies. I asked him about the Vid Chip I swiped from the Security Gangoon's Terminal and he frowned at that.

"We don't deal in that sort of thing. You're gonna want to go down to Lizzie's Bar in Kabuki. The Mox is the Gang that deals in Illicit Vid Imports, BDs, and shit like that. Heard they got a new Techie there who knows all about that sorta shit." Offered Juan.

"Yeah, Punchin' Judy. Chica's scrappy, but don't get any ideas. You ain't her type, Comprender?" Added Chela.

"Si lo Comprendo. I have to ask how you know that, though?" I smirked.

"Psh, you think I'm satisfied with just Juan here?" Scoffed Chela.

"Moving on, if anyone knows where and to who to offload that Vid, it'll be them." Interrupted Juan.

And with that, he flicked over payment for the Quadra. As soon as I confirmed, I flicked over V and Jackie's cuts. Each of us wound up around thirty-eight-thousand-five-hundred eddies richer out of that. I sent Tio Padre the detes and he sent back encouragement to keep hitting the other satellite drug production facilities. Apparently, he wanted us to hit at least two more before considering this Biz finished.

Jackie and V helped me carry the stuff back to my Apartment, where I fed all the weapons, chemicals, and mods into my Autofactory for disassembly and reverse-engineering before we headed back to El Coyote Cojo to celebrate. It turned out the Beer that JJ drank was Broseph Lager, little more than goat piss, so El Coyote Cojo was chosen as a backup to drinking that half-keg. Jackie was able to pawn the Lager off on some college kids at Night City University for an extra hundred-twenty eddies. Making us all forty eddies richer.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking and celebrating at El Coyote Cojo. At some point, I promised to make V a better Submachine Gun and make Jackie a Vest like mine. Misty joined us after Vik let her go for the evening and we made a night of it. I didn't get back to my Apartment until three in the morning. When I did get back, I tucked myself into bed and racked out.

Fortunately, I didn't have any visions that night. I took that to effectively mean that everything was more or less going all right. I would be educated otherwise in the days to come. As it would turn out, Sixth Street was hurting from being constantly beaten and losing its drug production. They had gone running to Militech to help bail them out.

And I would see the fruits of that policy soon enough. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. Things are heating up with Sixth Street even more, as Big E, Jackie, and V continue hammering their Drug Production Facilities. It's going to get bad enough for Sixth Street that they're going to go running to their backers in Militech. How that plays out is still a few chapters out, however.

For now, Big E has to head to Lizzie's Bar to talk with Judy Alvarez about finding a buyer for the Illicit Imported UK Vid Chip that the Sixth Street Security Gangoon had been watching. Technically, buying and selling what is effectively filmed Gladiatorial Combat from a Combat Zone is illegal, after all, but then, so are the more sexual Brain Dances.

He also has to hit at least two more of Sixth Street's Satelite Drug Production Facilities to have Padre consider his contract fulfilled. He'll be doing that after going to Lizzie's, though.

That trip to Lizzie's is coming up next chapter.

Stay tuned. . .