Sam looked down at himself. The Aizutachi had equipped him with a cybermancing suit. Not quite state of the art, but definitely expensive and very effective in not letting your cyberware overheat so quickly. It was a tight-fitting bodysuit in deep black with red accents that seemed to be little more than design elements. He sat in a kind of armory and waited for Sara-, MoRa, to pick him up, as the recruiter Kazuto had said. Sam had gotten his weapons and other equipment, such as his external NetDeck, back. He had gotten right after checking the surrounding net to find some information. The security here was impressive. He set out to study some of the defense mechanisms. Maybe he could reverse engineer them to create some powerful daemons. He was so distracted that at first he didn't notice a small person entering the room. Only after clearing his throat did Sam look at her and withdraw his cybermancing from the system. Sara raised an eyebrow: "And learned something interesting? I doubt you'll get through my security measures" Sam looked at her: "Right. But I didn't need that at all, I looked at the measures themselves and tried to use them for myself in the future." The little woman smiled and threw something to Sam. He caught it, it was a small chip. "What's on it?" he asked, "The keys to my system. At least to the parts that are important to you and your work," Sam looked skeptically at the chip and opened a separate subsystem and placed the chip in his head. Careful to protect his own system, he opened the chip in the subsystem. They were access codes. As Sara said. So he deleted the subsystem and left the chip regularly. He applied the codes and had access to a part of the surrounding system that was far too small for him. But something seemed to have been hidden in the codes. Because he noticed how a kind of tracker got stuck deep in his head, it connected to its most important functions, that he couldn't take it out. Damn. This Sara MoRA was good. He looked at her and his surprise seemed to be written on his face, because Sara laughed when she saw him like that. "Don't worry, I'm the only one who sees your location and only until I can trust you" Sam didn't want to, but he had to admit to himself that she was a lot better than he was. But he would somehow be able to use that for himself to become better himself. "What am I supposed to do for you anyway? Nobody has told me yet," Sam muttered to himself, deep in his thoughts. "It's simple. We need a cybermancer for one of our mission teams. You won't be right in the action, but you'll be hanging back a bit and taking on the role of support. Open doors, hack CCTV cameras, disable enemy protections. Stuff like that. You'll probably be able to do it" "yes, but why. Don't you have your own people?" Sara looked at him, face cold." You're not the brightest, huh?" "What?" “... This is a test to see if you'll be useful to us, damn it. What's wrong with you?" "Oh, oh. Well then. Sara seemed a little surprised and confused about Sam. However, she regained her composure shortly afterwards. "If you need weapons or something, you can take what you need here, don't want my latest project to go off poorly equipped." With these words, Sara turned and left the room. Sam looked after her for a moment. What a strange woman. But hey, free weapons, Sam didn't need to be told twice. He went through the cabinets, most of the weapons were pistols and SMGs. Many of them are basic models or ordinary smart weapons with rudimentary targeting systems. Not really interesting for him. But then he found something that was more than just interesting. A huge rifle, with a large caliber and intelligent homing. He took it out of the closet and clearly underestimated the weight. It fell from his arms directly onto his foot. Cursing, he jumped backwards and looked around. No one there who had noticed. Good. He tried to heave the rifle back into the closet, which turned out to be harder than expected. After a few minutes he gave it up and instead leaned the rifle against the gun cabinet and walked quickly to the other side of the room. The weapons here, however, were again ordinary, although a little higher quality than the previous ones. With his Hamatachi SP45 he was dangerous enough. Especially since his real weapon was cybermancing anyway. So he left the armory and stepped out into the long white corridor, which had many doors to other weapons, armor and equipment rooms. The neon light from above him stung his eyes and he was happy when he stepped out through a steel door into a kind of garden. It looked like the Japanese Zen gardens from the history books. Not like the modern ones that could be seen in many Japanese Mega Corpo atriums, but with mighty stones surrounded by nature, through which artistic decorations and the finest sand and gravel stretched. To see something like this in New Berlin was unusual. Especially here in this part of the city. This exoticism made the entire garden not only beautiful, but downright mythical. Sam enjoyed a long moment here. As he soaked up the atmosphere, he realized that he wasn't just dealing with the Aizutachi that everyone was knowing, but with an organization that was many times more powerful, bigger, and more influential. The real Aizutachi seemed to be more of a corporation than a classic gang. But the ordinary people of the world had only ever seen the side they were supposed to see. Sam also thought until just now that it was just an offshoot of the Japanese Yakuza. But this was more. Similar to the Yakuza, to which it initially belonged, the Aizutachi was large and connected to the governments and corporations. This could still turn out to be a problem for Sam. If it were just a corridor like all the others, he would have no problems disappearing into the depths of this mega city. But when the local cybermancers were in contact with the right people, Sam was not really safe anywhere. So Sam's plan changed. Instead of spending some time disabling the tracker in his system and fleeing, with all the data he could steal so far, he would probably have to resign himself to at least a while here until he came up with something better.

With a last glance through the garden, Sam made his way to the coordinates sent to him by Sara. It was quite a distance away, but luckily a motorcycle with a key was ready. Sam was sure that it was one of the killed members who had chased him before. He swung on the machine, it was an old superbike, with a lettering of the Vanguard in question, with sharp edges and acute angles. Looking deep and evil, it lay on the street like a flash of blue. Sam had never ridden a motorcycle before, so he first looked for a manual from the net and carefully began to follow the instructions. Riding was easier than Sam expected, the superbike did a lot of the riding itself, he just had to steer in the approximate direction he wanted to go and accelerate and brake. The sound was intoxicating, the powerful but small engine screamed under Sam as it shot through the streets that were hardly used. That was something he could get used to. He left EEI and drove through the neighboring district of North Brandenburg, which was crammed with cheap apartments. Narrow streets that led deep into the concrete jungle, streets full of vehicles and the sidewalks full of people. There were food stalls on every corner and there were countless shops that stretched along both sides of the street. There was a lot of activity and there were isolated police officers to be seen. They were easily recognizable by their light blue, silver armor and helmets. They were ordinary policemen, there to keep the ordinary inhabitants in check and to solve minor traffic offenses, equipped only with stun-baton and small-caliber weapons. Many of them were poorly equipped than most gangbangers, which led to the fact that northern Brandenburg was largely ruled by the local gangs, which had made the police supple with threats and bribes. Ironically, this district was one of the quieter parts of New Berlin. The gangs here had existed for so long that clearly defined areas had formed that were respected by all. In addition, crimes were often solved by the gangs themselves and the perpetrators were punished immediately. This ensured that many criminals were more likely to carry out their gruesome work in the surrounding districts. Sam pulled up to a red light and saw a completely gold-painted Auverss polisher next to him. The heaviest and longest luxury vehicle released in the last 20 years. Inside, a driver sat in the front in a noble outfit, through the darkened windows Sam saw only a shadow in the back, apparently smoking a cigar and holding a glass in his hand. The rims showed a panther with an open mouth. Panthers. A local gang that also spread to other parts of the city. They were one of the largest factions in drug smuggling coming from Eastern Europe. Apparently, a high-ranking member was driven through his territory to remind the inhabitants who their leader was. When the light turned green, Sam pulled away on his motorcycle and continued to weave his way through the traffic. Until he came to the next district, Altes Zentrum. He only had to drive on for a few minutes until he arrived at the given coordinates. Sam parked his motorcycle in a small alley that led through the old buildings. He dismounted and looked around. Three people came out of the shadows, two tall and one small. As Sam approached, he saw that they were Aizutachi Ninja, standing in black polymer armor and with weapons without end. Faces completely obscured. "You the 'mancer?' asked the little figure. Her voice was soft and quiet. "Um, yes, Sam. Should help you out here, Sara had said". One of the big ones chimed in: "All right, come on, here's a port that you can use to access surrounding networks. Say when you're ready" With that, the three of them turned and went back into the shadows and seemed to have disappeared. Sam looked around for a short moment until he found the amateurishly installed City Port. It was not secured and had limited data flow. Instead of using this port, he activated the scan function of his eyes instead and looked around to see if he could find a suitable datatube. Even several. Perfect. He opened a channel to the three ninjas, who were now somewhere on the rooftops, to tell them that he had full access. The soft voice of the smaller one sounded: "The apartment we have to go to is number 312 in the 2D building." "Ok. Give me a mom- got it. The security devices are switched off, have camera access. So far no one at home." Shortly afterwards, one of the daemons Sam had placed answered. "Watch out, someone is trying to access the cameras. I play a loop, but I can't guarantee that it will fall for it." "Ok. We're done. Come out now. "Conceal all traces" Sam asked, "Conceal or destroy?" "If you can destroy it completely, then do it," the soft voice spoke up again. Sam didn't need to be told twice. With all the power of his expanded mind, he cut off all connections to the building and shortly afterwards ran a massive overload through the datatube, causing an EMP effect that destroyed all electronics inside the building.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The lights of the city died for a moment before they lit up again in a cacophony of alarms, screams and shards, destroying many of the lamps that could not tolerate this massive spike in tension. The usual headache of overheating cyberware washed over Sam as he stood up and had to orientate himself briefly. Cybermancing, in most cases, was a subtle, elegant art, in which reason was more important than pure power, mental or physical. But Sam wielded this elegant art more like a hammer than a scalpel. He had already gotten out of the habit of playing according to the usual rules some time ago. With his self-created programs, he hardly had to concentrate on his own mancing himself and could concentrate purely on the management of his cyberware in order to bring huge systems to their knees and prepare them for his daemons.

"Well done newbie. I send my report to Sara. Black Team out." it sounded in the voice channel that connected Sam with the others, before the channel was canceled and Sam was only with his own thoughts. He looked around and saw more and more people coming out of the buildings and decided that now was a good time to get out of the way. He sauntered over to his motorcycle while imitating the people around him and pretending to look for the reason for the chaos. The Vanguard howled as Sam pulled the engine out of its slumber and he shot into the traffic on his motorcycle. After a few turns, he was hardly traceable through the heavy traffic and Sam relaxed a little. The wind that blew through his hair helped. The drive back to EEI was longer than the way there, as Sam didn't weave his way through the traffic, but swam with the traffic to get lost in it, in case someone with access to CCTV cameras would be looking for him after his little stunt earlier. Before leaving the district, however, he stopped at a side street and looked for one of the countless food stalls that accompanied the street. He pulled his hood over his head and parked his motorcycle in a shady corner. Sam found a shop he liked, in a neo-German style that combined old German cuisine with today's influences from around the world. Since the expansion of German corps into Africa, there have also been many Central African elements in neo-German cuisine. A favorite of Sam's. He sat down on a small plastic chair, the one in front of a table, also made of plastic, and ordered a portion of Mchuzi wa Kamba with potatoes. The prawns in the coconut sauce were surprisingly good, must have been farmed locally somewhere underground. Obtaining fresh shrimp legally was incredibly expensive. Judging by the good food and the better décor than other shops, this was probably part of one of the gangs. Which explained why the shrimp were used without further ado without fearing legal consequences. The beer that came with the meal was of a similar quality to the dish. Sam enjoyed it, but was aware that such a thing was more than just unusual. Shops used by gangs were often of good quality, but outsiders were almost never allowed there. But here he sat, with a meal he hadn't had for 12 years. But since he had not yet been bothered, he began to hope. He may have come across a particularly spacious corridor. Certain. Sure. While he was still smiling inwardly at his little joke, he heard a chair being pulled aside behind him. The next moment, a well-dressed man of about 40 years old sat down at the table and looked Sam straight in the eye. He began to speak while taking a toothpick out of his mouth: "So, does it taste good? It's good here. I personally take care of it." Sam nodded and said, "Very good. It is not often that you find food that could compete with the lunch of a higher corpo." The man smiled and showed completely black teeth, which seemed to be made of a metal alloy, as they had elaborate shapes. "Don't come from the area, huh?" "Nope" The man paused his intense gaze for a moment to look at his hands before continuing: "Usually, people who get lost here are taken directly to one of my factories. Free work and stuff, you get the idea. But people with cyberware... I prefer to get to know them personally. Especially if it's something as high-quality as yours. My 'Mancer told me a lot about you when you were scanned earlier." It was scanned? When? He should actually notice when someone or something started a scan. The man continued, "I can see talent when it's sitting in front of me. And you, little one, seem to be just perfect for some of the jobs I offer." Sam asked, "You're looking for a cyberpunk to do your dirty work?" "Nope. No. Well. Yes. But don't see it as dirty work. They are legitimate gigs that I offer, each suited to the abilities of my staff. And I pay well." Sam finished drinking the beer and stood up: "Thanks for the offer, but I'm already in business with other bosses. But it was nice to have met you. Truly fantastic food here." Sam turned towards the exit, his senses completely focused on the man in the expensive outfit, ready to draw his weapon. From behind him came "You will get a message soon, if you do need a job, you can find me through the data in it. Have a nice day, Sam." Sam froze. It should be impossible to read your data, except maybe with military equipment. He turned slowly. The grin on the face of his counterpart widened. "I have ways and means to get even the best punks on my side. We hear from each other." With that he got up and went to the back of the shop towards an inconspicuous door. Sam wasted no more time and left the establishment after paying and jumped on his bike. A short time later, he came to a halt with smoking tires in EEI opposite the Aizutachi quarter.

While he was still sitting on Vanguard, he searched his systems to find the vulnerability that was being used to bypass his security. But even after dozens of checks, every single system, program and daemon, he found nothing. It should be impossible to scan it and access its data. "Hey freshman, what are you doing?" came a voice from the other side of the street. Sam looked up, a small, broad-built Aizutachi stood in front of the entrance in his usual suit and waved at him. "Come over, we don't need anything here that can draw attention to us." Sam took a deep breath. Then again. And again. Then he dismounted and walked towards the entrance to the quarters. "I'm sorry. Was lost in thought," Sam apologized. The little man patted Sam on the shoulder, which was about at his eye level, and just said: "Don't worry, you get used to all the rules at some point, then you hardly have to think about it to follow them. By the way, I'm Darwin." "Sam." "I was told that a freshman had joined, but I didn't know it was a cybermancer. You'll get up here quickly, I guarantee you" Sam walked past him through the door and said, "I'm just wondering if I want to. I'm not exactly willing here, which I'm sure you're aware of." The smaller one laughed: "Hehe, we all know that, but in our experience, those with special abilities quickly make a name for themselves here and as soon as they see what it's like to live as a higher member, they love to stay. No matter how they got there." "Mhm." With that, Sam went on and continued to brood over the conversation in New Brandenburg.

Sam realized at first that he didn't know what to do here, where to go and whether he should even be here in this well-equipped atrium. He looked around a little awkwardly. Many in suits, pursuing a wide variety of tasks, some apparent meetings in comfortable armchairs with various drinks on the tables. Sam saw some who were probably corpos, as well as police commanders and politicians. Apparently, high-ranking visitors were something common. "Sam, sit down somewhere, I'll be right there," a young Japanese woman called across the room, to Sam, who was still standing around helplessly. He hesitantly sat down in one of the deep, comfortable armchairs. That was absolutely not his world. He was not a business or political person, or a person person in general. He had to be patient for 15 agonizing minutes until finally someone came and sat down opposite him. It was the little Japanese girl from earlier. "Hi Sam, I'm Tomioka Nue, you can call me Nue" "Um, Hi, Sam." came back. "So, Sam, I'm part of the group that monitored you and received the report from the Operations Team. You did really well. We are impressed. I will make you an offer in Sarah's name.