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Quinn ushered the group through the door and then sealed it back up. They were in what appeared to be some ancient maintenance facility – possibly for the sewer and reclamation System, or maybe an ancient internet node before it was replaced by the Webnet. Jace saw pipes and wires in neat rows all along the roof and walls. The floor was a solid concrete, and despite the signs of age he saw, the place was clean and tidy.

Off to one side, in what might have once been a locker or break room, he spotted a mattress and a few baskets of clothing. There was also a nutrisludge dispenser in the corner of that room. As the lights flickered on, painting the whole place in a dull, yellow light, her room was instead lit up in a calming blue.

Quinn led them into the main area to a Webwalker console. The Webnet was what replaced the internet when the megacorps took over most of the communication infrastructure on Earth. Consoles like this were hooked directly into either a new Webnet port, or an old internet node. Since the Webnet was built off the existing internet’s infrastructure, a person with enough skill or time could get onto the Webnet from the older networks.

Quinn sat down in the chair and sighed with relief. “Home sweet home,” she said softly as she tapped some buttons on the chair. In front of her, where there was just a single desk, monitor, and keyboard – the surface opened, and five more panels slid alongside and above the single monitor. Two other keyboards popped out of the surface as well. “This is my triple computational setup. All the devices run independently of each other, so if I’m compromised on one of them, I can hard shut it down and transfer the processes to one of the others that are air gapped to the outside world.”

Priam just nodded along, “Makes…zero sense to me,” he said bluntly. “This is all way too advanced for me.”

Quinn nodded and turned in the swiveling chair to face the trio. “Right. The best way to describe it for you…it’s…it is a world-spanning…spell? Anyone with a sliverscreen can access it with a network tower in range.” She pointed up at the ceiling, “Sydney has two of them – both jerry rigged by my mom and dad.”

Greg nodded, “You’re a generational Webwalker. Good to know.”

“Born in this very room, raised in here, also.” She smiled with a fond look on her face, “My folks are still alive, thankfully, in Khrox nice and safe. They got to the portal quick.” She frowned, “Makes me wonder why there was a whole tent city there, still.”

“They weren’t from here,” Jace replied softly, feeling that kernel of hatred in the bottom of his gut. “You think the corps and governments that control the portals in other countries would let the street folk through without paying? And something they could never afford?”

He shook his head and kicked at the metal platform that Quinn was on – denting it slightly. “These are street folk who could scrape together money to get ship passage here, hoping to get through the portal. I’d bet everyone living her rushed through that portal immediately, and the people we saw all came over from other continents to try and get through this one.” And we’ve taken that chance away from them because of this lockdown.

Quinn sighed, “Don’t kick my stuff.” She turned around to face the monitors and her fingers danced along first one keyboard, then another, then the last. All of the monitors flickered to life, and Quinn pulled a cord from the top of the desk, tapped the side of her skull to reveal a small port, and slotted the cord in. “Right. Let’s do some digging.”

“You said you had weapons and gear in here,” Greg said. “Where?”

Quinn pointed without looking, “In the bedroom. Hidden wall behind the mattress. The code is…” she grabbed a pen from the desk and an ancient looking notepad, scrawling down some numbers before handing it to Greg, “Don’t leave anything behind. I don’t plan on coming back here.”

Priam stood next to her, watching with eyes glued to the screens as the various lines of code and number scrawled across. Jace left him to that as he joined Greg in locating the hidden panel. Greg took some time keying in the complex code, but eventually the screen pinged, turned blue, and then the wall slid open. Both took a sharp breath.

There were guns. Jace had seen them, saw his friend Verve killed by one, been shot at by them; but never held one. Those could be useful, he thought. But I have no training. “Ollie, should I grab one?”

“Swordmage Stance does not apply to firearms. But those odd throwing knives would!”

The two Aspirants set to clearing out the whole hidden storage space. Greg was muttering to himself as he grabbed guns and put them into a duffel bag along with maintenance kits and ammunition. “Four General Logistics 9mm pistols; solid model though I’d prefer the Sig-Saur manufacturing but those are rare nowadays. At least we have a ton of ammo – but it’s easy to buy. Two Enduralife Guardian assault rifles using 7.62x51mm NATO. Rarer ammo but packs a bigger punch and longer range. Not much in the way of modifications. Basic models.” He looked up at Jace and grinned, “Once I get these modified, we’ll be one hell of a Streetrunner crew.”

Jace shrugged as he grabbed the non-firearm items. He took the two packets of throwing knives each with twenty of the slim blades as slotted them into the bandolier built into the front of his armored clothing. Easier to throw and they’ll be easier to maneuver in a tight space, rather than the sword. He filled the bag with the two tactical knives, two Stunsticks – just like the one he saw on Greg’s hip – and ten micro–EMP charges. Pocketing two of those for myself. He knew how valuable they could be in a pinch.

There were other items, but Jace didn’t know half of what they were used for. Various tools and devices that he did not recognize and assumed were for Quinn’s Webwalking on the go. But two more sets of tools did catch his attention. Two small pouches – one with traditional lockpicks which, while rarer in the corporation buildings, were very common in more run-down and non-affluent areas. The other had an e-pick – lockpicks for tech-secured doors. He’d used them on a few jobs with other street folk before he swapped to being a courier post-accident. Taking these for myself as well.

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After the two had cleared out the wall panel, they returned and saw Quinn was in the process of packing up the various computers – breaking them down into their various components and stashing them inside a huge briefcase with padded compartments. “You both clear them out?”

“Them?” Greg asked.

“Both?” Jace followed up.

Quinn sighed and pointed, “Go back inside. There’s a second hidden panel. I’ve got disguises for every megacorp. Only one of each, but it should help us out. And there should be street clothes aplenty for everyone to throw over their armor.” She pointed at Priam, who was helping her with loading items on another side of the room into another duffel bag. “His robes stand out way too much, as does your armor, Greg. Can you take the helmet off at least?”

“Sure,” Greg said as he snapped his fingers and the helmet seemingly melted away, revealing his bushy beard. “I’ll go get the clothes.”

Jace looked down at his own outfit. Roguish leather armor with a hood and mask. “I think I’m good to blend in,” he said.

Quinn nodded, “You and me both. But those two need to cover up.”

Priam walked over with the larger-than-him duffel bag, but he was able to heft it with ease thanks to his Priest’s Benediction (Rank 13) [Persistent], which increased his physical, sensory, and cognitive traits by an obscene amount. “All done!” He grinned as he tipped his hat, “Anything else?”

“You and Jace can work on loosening the emergency hatch.” Quinn pointed to a well-concealed hole in the ceiling. “It’s a twenty-foot climb up and leads into the basement of a building on one of the main boulevards. It’s not been opened…ever. Good luck getting it open.”

“Why that instead of the way we came?” Jace asked as he crossed his arms.

“We want to get to the portal fast, jump to Mexico City, and then get out of the portal’s main area – all without being noticed. Your Cloak is handy, but costs energy. A good amount, considering how long we had to stop earlier.”

Well, I can’t fault that logic.

“Plus,” Quinn continued, “I am going to set this place to blow once we leave.”

“Why?” Priam asked.

“Because there’s nothing left for me here. My parents are in their forties. Even with The Eternal City’s healthcare extending their lives a bit – they won’t hit the 150-year maximum. And I’m the only other one that knows about this place. I don’t want someone finding it and there being any chance of them finding out about me.”

That explains why she was able to hack into a megacorp and blackmail them for those cybernetics, Jace thought. She’s an unknown. No record of if she was born here among the street folk. “Right, we’ll get on it. Come on, Priam.” Jace walked over and boosted the bunny-boy up to clamber into the five-foot wide tube. There was plenty of room for multiple climbers and even four sets of ladders going up. Jace curled his Dragonclaw Devastation Legs under him and leaped up, passing Priam before grabbing the ladder and clambering higher.

The metal plate blocking their path was sealed with several metal bars that locked it into place. They were heavily rusted over. Jace reached up and pulled one counterclockwise, feeling it slowly grind against its housing in the wall before the bar retracted. Repeating the process on the others, he left all but one unsealed. Being so strong made him grin with delight.

Looking down at Priam, he saw the bunny-boy hanging onto the ladder with a disappointed look. “Why am I even up here? You don’t need me.”

Jace frowned, “For this? No. But you’ll be invaluable at helping Quinn and Greg survive.”

Priam nodded but there was still a hint of disappointment. “I just…I don’t know anything about this world. I feel way out of my depth.”

“Ask your Wayfinder if she can put some content for you to learn on your sliverscreen.”

“Huh. Good idea. Bloopa?” Priam asked as his eyes looked up at the top of his head. The hat shuffled around and moved, and a tiny prism in a triangle shape floated out and tapped the sliverscreen in Priam’s front chest-pocket on his robes. “Thanks!”

Jace hollered down the tube, “We’re ready to open it!”

Quinn appeared and nodded, “Right. You’ve got a grapple line thing, yeah?” Jace nodded. “Then open the top, get into the basement and make sure it’s safe. Then you can start dragging the luggage up.”

“Right!” Jace shouted back as he turned to the metal bar. Moving it out of the way, he pushed up with his arm and his eyes shifted to the purple-sight as he peeked into the room. It was damp, covered in mold, and saw no sign of movement. Pushing the panel the rest of the way, he gently lowered it to the ground with a dull thud. Reaching a hand down, he helped Priam up. Then, pointing his right arm down, he fired off the Ghostlight Grapnel and pulled up the duffel bags, suitcase, and the extremely-heavy-duty briefcase.

Greg climbed up as did Quinn. The latter went to a corner of the room and pulled a lever. The aperture shut behind Jace as he, Greg, and Priam picked up the various bags. “That gives us five minutes. It’s a firebomb, and the ventilation slits will push it out into the old sewage network. No actual explosion, but no trace of anything will survive.” She looked at Jace, “Cloak us up, and let’s get to Mexico City.”

Jace nodded. Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group]. The four made their way out of the building and down the main boulevard. The rusted husks of old vehicles and worn-down buildings spoke volumes about how neglected this part of the world was. But there were signs of life. The first floors of many of the buildings looked lived-in, and there were even wires running above the street – dangling from old streetlamp to streetlamp – showing that someone had found a way to generate power and was supplying it to the town for free.

The opera house was a quick jog away, and the trio entered the portal unseen. Quinn went to the silver screen, but Jace dropped the Cloak. “Let me recover,” he said as he took deep, huffing breaths. “And let’s figure out our gameplan.”

Greg nodded, “I’ve been there. We’ll want to get to the outskirts of town. There are some scrapyards out that way, and we can buy a car.”

Quinn sighed, “I figured we’d be driving down the South America – but I was hoping we could take the rail line.”

“Too risky,” Jace muttered. “General Logistics knows my identity, and knows I have the CIF fluid. I step foot on a rail car – they spot me.” Another reason why I didn’t want to be part of the street crew. If this CIF in me is so valuable, then other corps have surely heard about it and the disastrous recovery effort to get it back. He sighed and stretched.

Priam was glued to his sliverscreen. “What is a car?” he asked the device. It shifted and he began to read in earnest. “Oh? That’s neat! I can’t wait to ride in it!”

“From Mexico City to São Paulo on the old Trans-American Highway, at top speed given the road conditions from the last time I was on it, we’ll take 3 days to get there,” Greg stated confidently. “We even have creds to pay off the Guadalajara Reconquista cartel – they hold a chokepoint on the highway in Colombia. But, they could choose to just try and run us off the road. It’s a crapshoot.”

Jace nodded, “I’m ready. Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group].” He walked over to the console and watched as Quinn tapped the button for Mexico City. Another blue portal opened, and the group walked through.