[The kill Anna Marchand plan does provide a high degree of success with a very low risk factor, although the loss of her does represent an emotional health risk to the User and adversely effects User’s access to improvement opportunities in the near term from the loss of her resources and connections among other factors.]

So we’re blowing her up to avoid your existence from being known. It doesn’t sit well with me Sanctum, where does that end? Am I going to be putting down every colleague, friend and family member that finds out about you? What about mom? What about some random passer-by that fades into the crowd? Does the crowd have to go to? Just to be safe?

No, that particular hole never actually bottoms out Sanctum. I need to just make peace with Marchand knowing and deal with the response and the fallout and the vulnerability right now and prepare for it in the future.

I need safeguards, escape plans and hideaways. I need this to be fine because I can get mom safe even if I won’t be. Stuff I really should have had prepared before I started working with Marchand at all.

Not safehouses tied to Marchand either, that was a dumb idea I should have spotted from the outset.

Yeah, let’s just move in mom next to the old fixer of the water district, that’ll be nova and have no negative ramifications at all. No gangs after all! Just Marchand! Who’s worse, when you make her your enemy. I’ll just put mom right there next to her.

I checked the clock on my interface. It was seventeen hundred, I had four hours until Marchand’s deadline.

Breathing out slowly I stood up. Mom glanced at me from whatever it was she was reading on her interface.

“Something wrong Mal, you looks sick. Pale as a ghost there. Do you need me to run down to Dr. Wood and tell her your having a reaction to the cyberware or something?” Mom said, alarmed.

“No mom, I’m fine. Just realized I’ve forgotten something that’s all. I’ll need to get it squared away. I’ll be back in a moment.” I said, waving mom off I stepped into the bathroom and ran water over my face for a moment.

Then I opened my interface and send a call request to Ears, hopefully the gonk was connected. He was usually at the incarna bar in the afternoons with the gang chooms.

“Mal? Hey, how’s it going on corpo street? Haven’t seen you in a few days now. They haven’t got you locked up somewhere have they? You don’t normally call me you know.” Ears said as music played in the background. Likely are the bar.

“Ears, I’m calling in that favor, you know the one from the recycling plant? Yeah, you know which one.” I said as I heard Ears gulp even over the audio feed. “Don’t you worry Ears, I’m not actually going to take your feet like I told you I would. I want you to escort my mom to a safe house, somewhere secure in-and-out for at least three days. I know you’ve got a place like that you can get hold of, or one of your ganger buddies has one, even if it’s a warehouse or a garage.”

“Mal, your mom? What? Are you in trouble choom? I can round up some guys and be there in minutes if you need me, stuff it Mal, if you need I can call in some favors and get a damn army on your location if you need something serious.” Ears said soundly worried.

“It’s Marchand, Ears.” I said, quietly.

“Oh.” Ears said in response.

The line stayed quiet for a moment, distant dreamy electronica drifting through uninterrupted.

“Yeah Ears. Oh. So I need you to pick up my mom from where I say and walk her across to wherever you have a safehouse to put her for a few days and either sit with her there or lock her up. Whatever you need to do. After that we’re square and you don’t even know me anymore alright? Unless I call you again. You haven’t spoken to me in years.” I insisted.

“Damn Mal. No problem, just send me a map ping and consider your mom squared away safe. I’ll keep it hush, just me. She’ll be safe for three days like you said even if I need to lock her in, like you said. If I don’t hear from you though... I’ll check in on your mom from time to time though if need be.” Ears said with a bit of sorrow at the end. The music had gone quiet in the background, I guessed

Ears had left his friends and found a secluded area to talk.

“I don’t know the spread yet Ears, it’s just not looking good and I’m securing my delta, like I used to, you know. Like the old days.” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, Mal. Your always were cracked. Send the map ping and I’ll be waiting until she turns up, all night and tomorrow if need be. She turns up and she’ll be away safe, I promise you choom.” Ears said.

“I got other calls to make Ears. Thanks choom.” I said hanging up before he could respond. I didn’t need to hear any more.

Next I rang Noe, the only person on Marchand’s street I could safely trust.

“Mal, what you calling for? We live a street width away. I could throw a rock and hit you if you came outside. You miss me so much you couldn’t stand the time it takes to walk over?” She asked with a laugh.

“It’s not like that Noe, I just needed a quick favor. Nothing difficult or time consuming, just a quick favor. Call it a return for those little broken ganger guns I got you if you need to.” I said, grimacing a little.

“I don’t like that tone Mal, what’s wrong? You sound like you’re in operator mode, you’re putting on a front I can hear even through the call. What’s going on?” Noe said, concerned.

Stolen story; please report.

Damn it, Noe.

“I need you to take my mom for a short walk to meet a friend of mine. Then your jobs done, just need you to walk with my mom about four blocks away to the corner of Vermilion Rise, you know?

They call it red street over there. The border of the Rust Runners territory. Past the big wash house.” I said, trying to sound normal.

“Walk with your mom? That’s not a normal request you know Mal? People don’t just go for walks in this district. Tell me why I’m walking out there with your mom.” She said with an unimpressed edge to her voice.

“I just need someone to go with her, give her a little piece of mind and convincing until she reaches my friend. You remember Ears? The skinny kid with the carved up head? Yeah well he has ears now and he’ll be picking my mom up there for a bit more of the journey.” I said.

“Your scaring me Mal. I’m coming over. You’ll tell me what’s going on or I’ll beat it out of you.” Noe said angrily.

“Noe! I need you to do this. I need you to do this one thing for me, alright? It might come to nothing and this will be a big joke and I’ll look stupid and we’ll all laugh. But you need to do this and make everything seem fine for now, okay? You’re taking my mom out for shopping or something, because you need an adult or whatever. Just take my mom to meet Ears and play it cool. Alright?” I said, snapping a little at the start. I hoped mom didn’t hear me.

“Mal I… Okay I’m heading over. I’ll take your mom to Ears. Ping my map so I get the right place. I’ll handle it. But when I get back you’re explaining this and then I’m probably going to slap you a few times and then maybe cry. But you better be here when I get back. I’m coming over now, just leaving the apartment.” Noe said, muttering towards the end.

Turning around I adjusted my face back into normalcy and headed back out into the living room.

“You feeling better Mal?” Mom asked.

“Oh yeah, just a bit of panic over a missed thing with my work, deadline coming up soon and so on. Got it sorted though so panic for nothing. Still new to the netrunning after all. Actually had a message from Noe while I was in there, she’s heading over to talk to you about something? Something about girls only or something, Noe’s a gonk.”

“Oh? Well, it’ll be nice to see her for dinner I suppose. I wonder what’s wrong.” Mom said getting to her feet and going to the kitchen counter to check our food stores.

The gate buzzed and I walked over to the door and pressed the gate button, then opened the front door of the apartment for when she came in.

“Well, here she is then. Hey Noe.” I said a little awkwardly.

“Hi Noe!” Mom said with a wave from where she was sorting out a dinner set for us all.

“Hey Mal, how’s your programming going?” Noe said with a smile and normal body language, but her eyes were frozen solid looking at me.

“Oh it’s fine, I had a thing I forgot to sort out but I fixed it unexpectedly quickly. So it all worked out. You said you needed mom for something?” I said backing away and sitting down on the couch.

“Yeah, Miss Beckett can you help my with some shopping? I’d ask my mom but she’s not home right now.” She said a little awkwardly.

“What? Now? It’s a bit late in the day to start heading out to shop. The big stores will be shut in an hour or two.” Mom said, turning around.

“Oh, it’s fine Miss Beckett. It won’t take long at all and it’s not far away. Can you please give me a hand with it? I don’t really want to go with Mal.” Said Noe, glancing at me for a moment, ice still in glare.

“Um, sure Noe. We’ll go now then? Don’t want to be out too late around here, I know this street is safe but once you get further away you get all sorts like the old days in the other street.” Mom said, wiping her hands with a cloth.

“Thank you Miss Beckett! See you later, Mal. Won’t be long.” Noe said looking right at me.

“See you both in a bit, I’m going to double check some stuff with my work today while you’re gone.” I said, looking away.

“See you soon Mal, I just made a few sandwiches on the counter, there's one for you but if we take too long just eat them all, no sense wasting them.” Mom said as she pulled on her bag from the hooks by the door.

The front door closed.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

Opening them I checked my time remaining, three hours. Alright then.

Sanctum do you have any premade attack programs? Anything offensive I can use to defend myself using my netrunning cyberware? You said I need to work on them myself and I agree, but I don’t have the luxury of time right now so I need to know if you’re able to make or have any made now that can help in the current situation.

[There is a very limited number of program patterns that can be oriented into cyberattacks. Sanctum was never designed to function alone and never meant to be able to formulate strong cyberwarfare capabilities without User input.]

[A single design can be created that the User’s current cyberware can manage that also passes prerequisites. Sanctum can create a daemon with the function of disabling a hostile’s cyberware for an extended period with a constant upload link included in it’s buffer that then stays in the hostile’s RAM and continuously applies the daemon when it is purged though ICE, hostile daemons or rebooting affected cyberware. It would require a total reboot to purge the daemon entirely from hostile systems, unless they have extreme defensive measures.]

[The daemon will primarily target the hostile’s cyberware neurotranslators and may cause permanent nerve damage if left to run for a long period of time. But may also be rendered ineffective by spacer grade security protocols.]

I’ll have to take it Sanctum, it’s the only weapon I’ll have if it comes to it.

[Do you want to load your designed persona onto your cyberware and load the daemon?]

Oh, sure Sanctum. I haven’t learned that part yet. Guess I might not get to now.

[Loading PersonaV1.per by Mal…]

[Shell Loaded.]

[Avatar Loaded.]

[Platform Loaded.]

[PersonaV1.per Loaded.]

[Injecting subroutine KDCSB.ab by Unknown to Platform.]

[Injecting subroutine AABCSB.ab by Unknown to Platform.]

[Loaded program VlvtWrM1.dae by Unknown to Platform.]

Alright then. Thanks Sanctum. I guess I’ll go talk to my fixer then, more than that now I suppose. Literally my teacher. See what she thinks of a another resident living on the street without her knowledge, even if it’s a nanite ball.

I walked out of my apartment and locked the door, I still had my rig on from the morning so I had my knife with me. I kind of wished Noe had brought my gun over but at the same time that would likely draw too much attention as soon as Marchand began to grow the slightest suspicion.

Standing in the hallway for a moment, I knew I couldn’t linger in her hallway. She was likely already looking at me through whatever cameras she had set up around here. For all I knew my entire apartment was rigged and my effort to get mom out was useless.

Turning away I stepped across the hallway and down it a little to reach Marchand’s door. I pressed the buzzer and her voice came from the panel.

“Come on in Mal, no other visitors this time. I assure you.” She said.

Oh, you were wrong there Mrs. Marchand. There was at least one other visitor no matter how you counted it.

I crossed her apartments and reached her parlor, the door was already open for a change and I walked through without issue and sat in my usual seat. The arm and blood from before were gone. Just pristine carpet, Marchand’s staff were obviously magical in nature.

“You seem… hm.” Marchand seemed pleased to see me at first but as I sat down I guess something in my face gave me away.

We just sat there looking at each other for a few moments. Then Marchand pulled away from her forward leaning posture to lean against her chair. She reached across slowly to her cig and picked it up from it’s stand. It was amazing to me how maybe three seconds of time had changed the atmosphere.