According to the information we received, the location of the supposed netrunner was a small motel. We were informed that the netrunner was located on floor 1B, so we walked up the stairs and made our way to the corresponding apartment.

Upon reaching the door, I pulled out one of my handguns and knocked on the door, expecting someone to answer, but there was no response. I tried knocking again, but there was still no response.

"No response, hermano. I don’t like this." Alejandro commented,

I tried the door handle, and to my surprise, the door was unlocked. Upon entering the apartment, we discovered that the place was left clean and tidy, but there was a sense of unease in the air. We prepared ourselves in case someone was lurking in the shadows.

As we moved through the apartment, Alejandro called out, "Hermano! You better come see this!"

I rushed towards his voice and found the netrunner. Alejandro and I were in a difficult situation. We needed to safely remove a netrunner from the net without flatlining them, but we didn't have the expertise to do it ourselves. In a moment of desperation, I decided to contact Suzi.

I quickly dialed her number and explained the situation we were in. I asked her for her expert opinion on the best way to get the netrunner out of the net.

Suzi began asking all sorts of questions on the condition of the netrunner, such as how they were positioned, the type of software they were using, whether they were in an ice bath, and how long they had been plugged into the net.

I tried to answer Suzi’s questions to the best of my ability before asking, “Can’t I just pull the plug?”

“What! No, you idiot, do you want them dead?” Suzi responded furiously.

She started giving me detailed instructions. The pressure I felt was immense, as I knew that if I messed up on my part, it would kill the netrunner. The whole process felt like performing heart surgery, and I was sweating profusely as I followed Suzi's instructions to the best of my abilities.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long hour of stress, panic, and yelling, Suzi finally gave me the all-clear to unplug the netrunner. The relief I felt was overwhelming, knowing that we had managed to get the netrunner out of the net safely and without harm.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

But the relief was short-lived as armored trucks arrived at the motel, fearing as though it were the Patriots again. I withdrew my other handgun and told Alejandro to get ready, as things were about to get messy.

“You got a plan?” He asked.

“Not really. But I'll wing it... Stay here and give me a covering fire; I'll go meet our uninvited guests.”

Alejandro said that I would be killed, but I reassured him that I would be fine. “Don’t worry, I have this.” I pointed at my neck, indicating that I had a sandevistan. “Top of the range too. I managed to swipe one from Militech.”

I left the apartment, closed the door slightly, began walking to the railing, and started to watch over the car park with a sense of dread in my heart. As I watched our uninvited guests sweep the area, the sense of dread I felt went away when I saw that the group was not the Patriots but rather Militech.

While this meant that we didn't have to engage in a gunfight, it also meant that we had probably done something that had attracted the attention of the second-most powerful and ruthless corporations in the world, just behind Arasaka.

I hurried back to Alejandro, who was waiting for me anxiously. I told him what I had seen, and we began to brainstorm ways to escape without being caught. Just as we were discussing our options, there was a knock at the door.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

We froze in place, unsure of what to do. In the end, we decided to split up and try to hide. I crouched behind a bookcase while Alejandro hid in the bathroom, holding my breath as four Militech soldiers entered the room. They began to search the apartment.

I waited as silently as I could, hoping that they wouldn't find us. Finally, one of them yelled out that they had found the netrunner. This was our cue to make a break for it. We dashed out of the apartment, moving from car to car until we reached my vehicle. Just as we were about to get in,

“Freeze!”

We turned to see a swarm of Militech soldiers surrounding us, their guns aimed at us.

“Get on your knees!” One yelled out.

“I wasn't your mother last night,” I responded.

That might have been a poor choice of words, as the man swung a right hook, connecting me in the face and causing me to go down on one knee.

I got back on my feet, still clenching my jaw, and said, “Okay, mother fucker, you want a fight, then let’s go then.”

The two of us were held back by Militech soldiers.

“Get them in the car!” One instructed.

Within a moment, we were handcuffed with a bag placed over our heads, put into a truck, and taken for questioning. The ride to the location wasn’t a pleasant one; it was made obvious that Militech didn’t care about my and Alejandro’s safety as we were moving around, banging into the wall, unable to do anything as our hands were handcuffed.

We reached the location where our bags and handcuffs were removed before getting pushed into a cell.