Maine stared out the window, doing his best to ignore the itching in his hands. It was all phantom signals. Mixed-up inputs. More fucking fuckups from that- He took a deep breath, finding his footing and unclenching his fists. Nothing. It was nothing.
Doc did good enough work for what he was paid, didn't ask questions, and handed over meds as needed. It was on him to handle the rest. As always.
…It still amazed him to think. All this time, they'd thought they'd been chasing after something decent at Faraday's direction, something to put them on the map, but instead they'd found something that would make them the envy of every Edgerunner in Night City.
The thing was, while they'd struck gold, they were expecting copper, and now the whole crew was suddenly struck dumb, unsure about what to do with their lucky break. Moving something this big, this valuable, was well beyond the experience of everyone present. He'd shot and smashed his way out of shootouts that would make gang wars look like bar room brawls, but he'd never even thought about selling one of Arasaka's biggest secrets.
Unfortunately, they were down a member. Lucy had made it clear that the run had taken too much out of her. Whatever ICE had been in that Data Fortress had done a number on the girl, he could see it in the bags under her eyes, and while he hated the idea of letting a member just drop out from the job, he hated the idea of having to deal with dead weight even more. He needed everybody at their best for this. So, reluctantly, he'd had Falco deliver her closer to the city, with a combat cab on the way to pick her up.
Falco and David were the only ones available who wouldn't be at the meeting. Falco had nerves of steel, skill behind the wheel and more knowledge of the Badlands than the rest of them put together, but something between him and guns just didn't gel right. Even so, he would be hanging around nearby in his vehicle on the lookout, ready to extract them if need be. David, meanwhile, would be hiding nearby, ready to zero Faraday on his signal.
They'd all gotten together in the morning, far from where anyone else could hear, and hammered out a plan the best they were able, but some of them were more out of sorts than others. Lucy looked like she'd seen a ghost, and while Kiwi had a tighter handle on it, she'd also been more than ready to get rid of the data as quickly as they could.
Maine understood why. The data was worth a hell of a lot more than the lives of his crew, as far as the fucks who could afford this sort of thing were concerned, and if Faraday or anyone else had the time to put together a plan and zero them while they still had it on them, then they wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
The data needed to go. The question was to who.
Faraday was a bitch and a half to work with, and his chipped-in corpo attitude made Maine want to punch his teeth out, but he was the one that undoubtedly knew the most, and therefore understood its value the best. Maine doubted that the paranoid bastard had let much slip to anyone else, so anyone else they tried to sell to would have to be convinced of the data's legitimacy and worth, though depending on the buyer, they'd have an inkling judging by the intensity of the job they'd just performed.
The problem was, Faraday was also a fucking snake, and chances were if they tried to set something up with anyone else, the corpo Fixer would most likely try to ambush them for what they had. Hell, the prick had probably been watching Tanaka's penthouse since he'd given Maine the gig. And the chances that he'd been rustling up a kill squad for his crew ever since last night were definitely non-zero.
If they could get their client's security between them and whatever Faraday tried to pull, that'd be great, Maine would love to see Faraday try and sneak something by the Afterlife's security team.
But then Kiwi had brought up a helluva idea. If Faraday wouldn't take them selling the data lying down, then why not zero the gonk first? They had the perfect bait, and if he didn't bite, then all that meant was that they'd have to sneak back into the city once they'd secured a buyer, which they were going to have to do anyway if they didn't deal with Faraday. If he showed up with a squad, it would be a lot more manageable than whatever he'd send after them later, with more time and intel to work with.
If by some miracle he showed up and paid, then they'd take the money and disappear. Hop a few states to get away from his clutches. Maine still had contacts in the South of the NUSA he could draw on, other veterans he'd had spotty contact with. They'd have to get someone to escort Lucy safely out of Night City, though, but they'd have the eds to hire someone reputable for that.
It was a risky plan, but it was the plan with the most obvious chance of success. And nobody who'd had to put up with Faraday's bullshit could resist the chance to zero the smug corpo gonk. Of course, if screwing over their Fixer was bad for business, then doing him in could turn out a lot worse, but Faraday wasn't an idiot, and Maine had no doubts that the corpo was going to try something sooner or later. And when he did, they'd justifiably ice him.
Maine was looking forward to seeing the look on the bastard's face when he blew his brains out.
…There was a noise coming from somewhere, at the edge of his awareness. Like a buzz, or maybe a ringing. He pounded his ear a few times, and infuriated snarl on his face.
He'd only taken a few airhypos of meds with him to the job, not suspecting that he was going to be out of the city for so long. He'd run through them throughout the night, trying to clear up his jitters so that he could catch some sleep, and now he was regretting the decision a little. Fucking everything was acting up. He'd had half a mind to call the meet off, but it was well and truly too late. All that was left to do was to stick to his guns and lead his crew through whatever came their way.
"-aine." The sound was getting louder. More insistent. He pounded his ear again. Goddamnit, when was Faraday going to show up? "Maine!"
Maine blinked, awareness of his surroundings suddenly reaching his mind. David was looking at him from the side, looking confused. "Maine?"
He shook his head. Fuck everything- "What." He snapped, glaring down at him. "Can't concentrate with you yapping in my ear."
David hesitated for a moment before gesturing to the side. "Kiwi saw an aerodyne headed our way. It's probably Faraday. Or at least, she thinks it is."
Maine let out a grunt as he searched the sky from the vantage point of the window for a black AV. "And you couldn't tell me that over the line?"
"...She said she did." David said, looking confused.
Maine paused, before glancing at the corner of his eye. Shit, there it was. A message, followed by a short string of her asking for a response, growing shorter with every line. How had he missed-
Fuck. "I need to wash up." Maine grunted as he turned away from the window and brushed David aside, "Keep an eye on him. I'll be out to greet him in a few. Kiwi stays on overwatch. And tell the rest of the welcoming party to gather up." He paused and gave David a side eye. "Remember, stay out of sight until I say so."
"Yeah." David nodded, more slowly than Maine's liking. His eyes flickered to his fists, and Maine clenched them tighter, willing them to remain still. "...You need anything?"
"No." He curtly replied, before pulling open the door, and slamming it shut behind him.
Maine made a decent distance to the restroom, simmering in his own thoughts, before the sound of familiar feet running up behind him caught his attention again. "This had better be important." He intoned, turning around to give David a look.
David twitched as he stared up at him, with an expression that immediately lost his focus as he pulled an airhypo from his pocket. "Here. Had some immunosuppressants left over from the tower, since I didn't really go too hard. Didn't need to dose myself or anything, so…" He held it out, waiting for him to take it.
As an Edgerunner, as a leader, he couldn't show weakness. That had been one of the lessons he'd taught David- the first time he'd shared his experience with a member of the crew in such a way. The rest had been ready, knowing this lesson before he'd ever met them. They were good sorts. Capable. They deserved this break just as much as he did.
He couldn't possibly fail them now.
Maine's body moved before his mind could conjure up the reasons to stop it. The airhypo slammed into his arm in an almost instinctual motion. Cool relief flowed through his veins as the device hissed, and all at once, the aches and twitches stopped, held at bay by medicine.
He worked his hands for a moment, unsure of what to say. Remaining silent was the obvious answer, but it rankled him. Things were already bad enough, he needed to say something, at bare minimum he needed to make it clear that the newbie could count on him no matter what. "...Thanks." He muttered before turning away, loosening his shoulders as he went with a growing savage grin. "Now get to your spot. Let's make the sheets scream."
When Faraday's AV touched down in the relatively open parking lot, scorching the ground beneath its thrusters, Maine was at the back door, leaning against the frame with feigned casualness while Dorio, Kiwi and Pilar backed him up.
So he'd sprung for an aerodyne ride to be on time, huh? Maine thought to himself as he watched the doors glide open. He'd half-expected Faraday to be stammering apologies and excuses to him all the way over from his car, but the less time he had to put a plan together the better, he supposed.
Faraday's bodyguards stepped out first, scanning the area and looking him over impassively. He recognized a few of them from prior appointments, when Faraday had been first feeling him and his crew out for gigs. Their over-the-top pink and purple clothes and ostentatious caps drew the eye, but it was the ones he didn't recognize filing out after them that nabbed his attention.
Faraday was a Militech Fixer. That meant certain things, like which overlords signed his paycheck, the sort of thing he'd pay more for, and who's toes he was more likely to tread on. It also said things about the kind of forces he could call up on a short notice. Militech hired out mercenaries all the damn time, but most of the time they just lent out rank-and-file infantry, with none of the special training or implants that made them a force to be reckoned with without overwhelming numbers.
Maine doubted that the pair of men across the parking lot were standard infantry. Their faces were entirely covered up by their helmets, and their vision was substituted by a red glow emanating from a device set where the eyes would be. In their hands were unusual shotguns, modified with electromagnetic barrels. Sataras, his mind supplied.
He'd worn one of those helmets before, back when he'd signed on with Militech. Maine knew that they were probably cluing the Militech soldiers in on his biometrics and cyberware, not that Faraday didn't already know all about the latter. It was obvious that Faraday had seen fit to bring more than anticipated. As the red light seemed to scan over the four of them, Maine sent off a message, the characteristic golden glow hidden by his shades.
- - -
Maine: kiwi, what-what are we looking at?
Kiwi: Sandies. Mk2. At least, t-that's what the scans say.
- - -
Maine avoided tensing. Not the best on the market, but still a cut above most of the rank and file. Faraday wasn't playing around. Things could very well get ugly, and quick. He doubted the soldiers would be able to get out of the way of a spray of flechettes courtesy of his projectile launch system, but the damn thing had been on the fritz for a while now, and on top of that, nothing David owned would get through their armour.
- - -
Maine: rebecca. swap with david. get him something that can get past some serious armorjack before we come up.
Rebecca: gottit
- - -
Now, all he could do was act as though the suppressants had done the trick.
Faraday stepped out of the aerodyne, combing back his hair with a hand before fixing him with a venomous look. "I'm here. On time, as you requested." He ground out.
"So you are. How was the trip?" Maine said, stalling for time while Rebecca kitted David out.
Faraday didn't seem to feel like playing ball, however. "The Data. I have your payment. I need evidence that it exists before talks continue."
"And let your chromed-up goons try and klep anything? No." Maine retorted with the same heat.
"Then this meeting is over." Faraday responded coldly.
Maine refused to let Faraday's play shake him. "You say it is, but if it really was, you wouldn't be just standing there, and neither would your boys." Maine said, baring his teeth at the men standing impassively beside him, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. "A million. Up front. That's the entry fee. Otherwise, you're not seeing shit."
Faraday narrowed his eyes, but his face twisted into a scowl as he reached into his coat and pulled out a credchip before he tossed it over. Maine caught it, and passed it over to Kiwi for her to scan without taking an eye off Faraday's mercs. Faraday glared at him, the tension building up between them as the scan ran its course.
"...It's real. A million eds. All here." Kiwi stated out loud, unable to keep a hint of awe out of her tone. Maine felt his crew shift behind him, not quite relaxing, but definitely relieved. One mil wasn't enough for all of it, but it was a hell of a start.
- - -
Rebecca: done.
- - -
Maine gave a firm nod to dispel any distracting thoughts. "Alright, the money's good. Come along now. We'll show you the data you want so bad."
He and Pilar backed into the motel, waiting for Faraday and his men to follow. The Fixer, after a short moment, stepped forward, and that was the signal for the rest of his men to join up in a loose formation around him. Dorio and Kiwi filled in from behind, surrounding Faraday's squad. Maine kept his posture relaxed, but he still made sure that none of Faraday's men entered his blindspot.
They made their way up to the second floor in the mostly deserted motel. Maine wasn't sure how this place was operating as far out into the Badlands as it was, but he wouldn't turn down the privacy.
When they reached the room, Maine stepped in first. Rebecca was sitting in the corner, watching Faraday's men like a twitchy hawk as she tapped the chair leg with her foot. As everyone assumed their positions, Maine reached under the bed and pulled out the server rack from beneath, before stepping on its side and leaning in, not quite putting his weight on it.
Faraday's eyes darted to the server rack, and he sneered. "Is that all you managed to collect?"
"It's all we needed to collect." Maine corrected. "Kiwi. The sample."
Another datashard was tossed through the air, this time from their end. One of the Militech Operatives caught the shard, but at a sharp glance from his employer, they passed it over to one of his bodyguards. When it was wordlessly passed to Faraday after a quiet scan, he slotted it in and stopped.
- - -
Falco: seeing something coming up the road
Falco: looks like trouble, might be faraday's
Falco: get ready
- - -
As Faraday focused on a small sample of the data they'd collected, Maine prepared a message for David, hovering his mental finger on send like the trigger on a gun.
"Satisfied it's all there?" Maine demanded, after about a quarter of a minute had passed. "Because it is. Now, where the hell is the rest of our pay?"
"Our pay is an interesting term, given the terms of the deal I laid out, and your subsequent breaches." Faraday neutrally noted.
Something barely audible registered in his ear. The sound of cars and engines, rapidly growing louder and louder. Faraday was stalling. He had to be. Maine's eyes darted to the other men in the room, trying to keep his heartbeat steady in order to not alert them as he sent the message and began to say the code phase. "Well ain't that a-"
-An ear-rending blast issued forth from Rebecca's Carnage which interrupted him and smashed a massive chunk of the wall into mutilated rubble. A few of Faraday's men were caught in the blast, reducing a massive chunk of their torsos and hips to mulch as they fell screaming to the ground. As Maine raised his arm, the projectile launch system unfolding from within smoothly for once, thank fuck, the Militech operatives became blurs, shoving Faraday behind them as a massive array of weapons was levied at them.
A flash of yellow blitzed through the room, and David became visible by his side right as one of the Militech guards staggered, a bullet hole suddenly appearing in his helmet, though he was still moving. Faraday's usual bodyguards were quickly shredded, their subdermal armour only able to stand up to so much punishment so quickly, but the Militech operatives were still shifting from side to side rapidly, most of their movement tied up in dodging shots where they could.
As Rebecca racked another round in her Carnage, Maine took aim at the one operative that hadn't been wounded. As they raised their Satara in a sudden motion after slipping out of the way of another pistol round, Maine willed for his launch system to fire.
Instead, a metallic click echoed past his ears and through his skull. A malfunction, a jam, at the worst possible fucking time.
Time seemed to slow. Maine's heart sank. He could see the muzzle raise, aligning with his head. He stared into the empty void of the Satara's barrel dead on as it charged up, and looked Death in the eye-
-Before there was the sound of erupting glass and a blur.
----------------------------------------
[1 Minute and 42 Seconds Prior]
I'd honestly forgotten what it felt like to go without the burden of an overstuffed inventory. The weakness in the limbs, the ache in the chest, like a constant, never-ending minor case of heartburn, keeping me from pushing my limits too far, like my system was taxing my body to do what it wasn't supposed to.
And now it was all gone. Everything felt… right, for lack of a better term. Part of it was that my body was finally working as it was meant to, able to move properly without the aid of [Mortal Engine] or [Hamon] pushing me beyond my limits. The part I hadn't expected was how refreshing it was, like waking up on the right side of bed, healing sore muscles, and punching somebody you hated in the face all at once. Triumph, but without winning.
Another part of it might have been the [Hamon] coursing through my veins as I breathed deeply and rhythmically in the interior of the Rayfield Caliburn, causing my skin to thrum with the energies of life. With that stuff flowing through you, who wouldn't be on top of the world?
Despite all that however, I was at wit's edge. The Caliburn had a top speed of 200 miles per hour, and it was taking every bit of attention I had to hold it steady-ish at 140, even down a length of relatively straight road. Every turn threatened to send me right off the edge of the road if I went too hard, too fast. I was passing by cars like they were crawling. And even still I wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time.
The vision in my cybernetic eye shifted to Faraday once more as I noticed a momentary lack of cars ahead, and my face pulled taut as I saw him stepping out of his aerodyne and making his way to the motel, flanked by a combination of weirdly dressed street-level muscle and a few Militech operatives so covered in armourjack and tactical gear I couldn't see a hint of skin. I recognized the former, having seen them constantly around and at his beck and call for nearly all the time I'd watched him. The Militech personnel, on the other hand, were new additions.
And they weren't the only ones.
I'd tried to keep stock of the forces approaching the motel, but I'd started to lose track after the fifth squad he'd called in. Even with barely any time to call in favours, Faraday had a small army bearing down the road, from hired thugs of every stripe to squads of other Edgerunners to even a Trauma Team squad tearing through the skies in what I was pretty sure was a breach in protocol. He'd started making calls from the moment he'd left the office and he'd kept calling until he'd gotten off his ride. Thirty minutes of non-stop orders for more men of relatively acceptable loyalty.
I was pretty sure all the cars on the road heading the same way as I was were enemies, and-
My spine tingled and I eased my foot onto the break, as far as I trusted the breaks to manage. The tires squealed so loudly that I could hear them even from within the sound-proofed all-encapsulating Crystaldome as a van cut me off, and a man painted with tattoos and with three green mechanical lenses in place of eyes popped out from the passenger side and flipped me off as he jeered.
-There were a lot of cars. Most were behind me, but there were still a decent number up front.
I was screaming down the highway to the mother of all firefights, and as great as solving the Faraday problem would be, I had no actual way to defend the people I actually was doing this for from bullets.
…Well, there was [Mana Barrier], but I'd rather hide the hilariously out-of-place power and figure out a way to resurrect Rebecca later if…
If… it came down to…
…
Fuck. Fuck. I wouldn't, would I? I wouldn't hide it if it came down to it. I just fucking knew it. How the hell did she have that much of a hold of me already? I was planning to leave her and her stupid crew for dead a month ago! Fucking-
As I passed the van, I felt a shiver up my spine and then a sudden shudder as they tried to drive into me, only succeeding in clipping the back of the Caliburn as I gunned it, [Reflex] giving me the moments I needed to think and correct the course without flipping the car like a hamburger, if only barely.
Focus. How do I solve the problem without revealing too much? By killing the problem racing down the street towards them. And how the hell do I accomplish that? No obvious answer sticks out to me as a sound not unlike heavy rain echoes inside the car as bullets bounce off the car's back, Crystaldome technology keeping me safe for the moment.
At my current pace, I'm going to get to the motel in a couple of minutes. By the time I get there, Faraday's not just going to have his personal protection squad, but his first reinforcements with him.
Even if I gunned it, pushing the Caliborn's engine to its absolute limit, I wasn't completely sure I'd make it before hostilities started.
I held the accelerator down nonetheless, eyeing the brief stretch of empty road ahead as [Reflex], relatively fresh, activated and started ticking down.
Reflex
Lvl 10
Is it just me, or is everything moving slower than usual? Well, more like you're just thinking twice as fast. Take care, though. Your body still needs the usual amount of time to catch up to your thoughts, and you can't keep this up forever before you need to cool off for a long, long while. Mana isn't the issue here, it's that your brain can only handle so much, so keep that in mind before you pull a David.
Max length: 16 seconds, 2.5x time dilation.
The Caliburn's nightmarish pace was reduced, but remained well beyond the line I was comfortable with, and it was still getting faster. I was getting closer to moving 200 miles per hour, about 300 kilometres per hour, or a soccer field a second. I had sixteen seconds of dilated time to think, and then I'd be down my greatest tool. Even less than that before I crashed. If there was any time to crack open my stockpiles, it was now.
[Status].
Numbers flew up on the side of my face. I didn't have the time to acknowledge them in the slightest as my slow, unresponsive hand found the Dex stat and held the arrow down until I ran out of unspent stat points, before I punched the 'accept changes' button.
And then the world suddenly started making sense.
Ron "Razzle" Robinson
Level 15
Cred 4
Title: Four Aces
XP: 100/6500
HP: 970
MP: 830
STR: 104
VIT: 67
DEX: 107 -> 163
INT: 68
TECH: 25
CHA: 29
Unspent Points: 56 -> 0
Oh.
Oh those poor bastards.
You know how there's this gap between awareness and understanding, don't you? The time it takes for text to become words, for symbols to become meaning. It takes time for you to notice how many people there are in a room, or to realise the punchline to a joke.
The part of my brain that processed that sort of thing?
If there was a dial on a scale of 1-10, it would have been at 10 already, with my superhuman DEX score. Now, I'd turned the thing so far past 10 that it had gone full circle and hit 10 again, only to keep going and hit 11 because that's just how fucked these guys were.
Before, I'd struggled to keep my attention on everything at once, the car, the vision provided by [Sorairo Days], the status screen, all this… stuff that constantly demanded my attention from every direction. Now, I was acutely aware of every single thing around me. I noticed the cars and all their tiny little details, the colour of their paint, the rust, the scratches, the tiniest nick. I noticed the cracks in the road, the dying bushes and trees. The way the air moved, the clouds moving across the sky, and the dust getting kicked up by my wheels.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
I noticed the guns being held by some of the thugs in the cars. The way the sun reflected off the barrel. The fact that there were dents and scratches in a few of them. The fact that they were exposed. To me.
The Caliburn's systems attempted to warn me as I pushed the command on the dashboard for the doors to glide open, wind rushing into the cabin at speeds that would have left anyone normal deaf. My hat threatened to soar off before [Sorairo Days] secured it to the top of my head. I gripped the side of the opening to brace against the air pressure and pulled myself out as more circuitry grew out into the car interior, holding the pedal to the metal and keeping the steering wheel steady for me.
A moment of demented inspiration struck, and I formed a small, curved rectangular [Mana Barrier] on the ground, before stepping on it to test my weight. The resulting mana depletion was... acceptable. It felt firm to my foot. Barely visible at all.
That was all I needed before I hurled myself out of the driver's seat, and onto the top of the brick-sized board with one foot, and the car quickly began to outpace me before a bundle of wire from [Sorairo Days] securing me to the car interior pulled taut. The gunmen behind had been firing, but they weren't aiming at anything. Not really. They were spraying and praying and hoping for a lucky hit as I put more and more distance between them and I, their van's engine having not even slightly enough power to outspeed a sports car of the Caliburn's calibre.
In one smooth motion, I spun on my one heel, drew my Kolac from my back and fired.
I'd gone to Wakako hoping for a Nekomata. She'd politely but firmly turned me down. Apparently, a gun capable of penetrating nearly any obstacle, perfect for assassinating something like a corporate executive, or maybe even a high-up politician, was 'too concerning' to leave in my hands. I then tried asking for the SOR-22 from Midnight Arms, my fallback plan which traded penetration for firepower, only to be unequivocally told that I was not going to be sold an anti-tank rifle. Even the Grad was apparently out of stock.
So I'd had to settle with the Kolac, a dependable, accurate, and powerful weapon that just-so-happened to be using the highest calibre that Wakako was willing to sell me. On the bright side, it was precise. On the downside, it bucked like a mule.
The recoil strained against my enhanced physique, but the gun only went where I wanted it to. Still, I needed to let it bleed off some of the force so that it didn't shake itself apart in my hands, so that's what I did, balancing the force exerted against my shoulder with the friction the rushing ground was putting on my shielded foot to put myself into a near-sitting position.
The shot obliterated the windshield and the two in front, reducing them into tomato paste with a stray eyeball splattered against the window. The truck began to slow, swerving, but I was already on the next phase of my idea, forcing the circuitry to grow out the other car door and trail behind it like a streamer. My already-present momentum was such that I swung around towards it, grabbing it and wrapping it around me.
[Gained 400 EXP x 6]
And just like that, I was kinda-sorta water skiing on tarmac. The wind was whipping at my face with force I didn't really expect with how comparatively slow it felt. It wasn't that everything was moving like molasses, but more so that it just didn't really feel like I was going that fast. It took me a moment to get the hang of stabilising myself, but with the Caliburn in front blocking most of the wind and the wire keeping me secure, I was able to line up one of my Overtures with the armed inhabitants of a sedan as I passed it by and empty the barrel before any of them realised that it wasn't the car that they needed to be paying attention to, but the man surfing behind it.
One round entered the driver's head first, keeping him from swerving out of the way of the second that iced the occupant on the right, and the third that drilled a hole in the head of a man who'd just realised he needed to lift his gun. The last of the first four empowered shots was spent on a difficult angle through the corpse of the first man and the seat behind him to strike a man who was in the backseat just as they tried to bring the gun out the window towards me, enough to distract but not kill. The last, panicking man in the back seat was gawking in mute horror before the fifth and sixth bullet killed him and his buddy respectively, leaving the car empty of life.
[Gained 400 EXP x 5]
[Reflex] shut off with only a handful of seconds left over, as the world went from relatively sedate to requiring my attention. Let's see… Plan: Kill every last one of Faraday's forces as I speed towards him, murk him, and then slaughter everyone who tries to get to the motel, hopefully before they could even take a shot. All of a sudden, this was seeming actually doable.
Not easy, but doable.
Breathing in the specific manner that generated [Hamon] was almost second nature to me now. With such awareness of my surroundings and control over my entire being, I had to intentionally disrupt my rhythm in order to slow it down. Thankfully, I doubted that anybody would notice the sparkling energy crawling over my body in the middle of the intense sun, especially considering the fact that everybody moving in the same direction quickly enough to comprehend what they were seeing was a dead man, but if I was still glowing by the time I got to the motel, things would be a little harder to explain.
But until then, I was pulling out the stops.
My vision from [Sorairo Days] flipped away from the meeting in progress to scry the road ahead on the minimap. I saw three vehicles filled with red dots, and I flipped through the interiors one by one as I scanned them for relevant details.
Of the three vehicles in front of me, two of them were filled with serious concerns, Edgerunner squads, judging by their augments and the higher-tech firearms scattered around their crews. A shot from one of those might actually damage my ride, and who knew if they had the speed to go toe-to-toe with me?
One of them though… oh-ho ho boy. I knew that Militech was basically just another part of the American Government at this point, and it made plenty of sense that it included the military, but I hadn't been expecting a high-tech armoured transport truck with half-a dozen men in the back, their faces obscured with optics that glowed eerily in the dark interior. And if that wasn't enough, I was pretty sure I could spy a grenade launcher in one of their hands. Almost certainly enough to total my ride.
Thankfully though, the Militech transport truck and it's inhabitants didn't seem to notice my little interruption, whereas the other two cars were taking notice of the ruckus I was causing, especially when the cars behind me crashed and rolled into each other, the crash still audible despite being hundreds of metres away at this point, the people inside turning around and checking their rear view mirrors to see me rapidly approaching.
I tilted my body over to the side and gave the closest car a cheery wave, before my other Overture was ripped out of its holster, joining its companion in being pointed at the car. I watched the driver attempt to swerve and let them go for it, making minute adjustments to the steering inside the Caliburn to swing me slightly to the right before whipping me towards the left, briefly manifesting a [Mana Barrier] in my hand and holding it against the ground to keep the road from skinning me. As the full brunt of the wind hit me I squinted, pulling on the mostly spent [Reflex] to give me time to aim despite the roaring in my ears.
The first bullet, to my surprise, was actually mostly stopped by the glass. Apparently whatever this crew was had seriously invested in their vehicle. So I fired again, and again, until all eight of the empowered shots in both pistols had filled the door and the driver with holes while the car was still in the middle of turning. The car resumed its course as I released my hold on [Reflex], and though the merc in the passenger's seat tried to seize control of the wheel, they couldn't keep the vehicle from smashing into an advertising board, crumpling both the side of the pole and the car with a cacophonous crash.
[Gained 600 EXP x 3]
My rapid recognition filled me in on the board's contents and other things as I rocketed by, and I made a face of disgust as I was quickly brought back to equilibrium behind the Caliburn by the forces acting on me. Ugh, I did not need the mental image of EEZYBEEF combined with a car crash mangling the people inside in the middle of a high-speed shootout.
I focused my attention on the Militech transport briefly before swapping to the next vehicle as my hands automatically began reloading, the vision in my cybereye switching to show the interiors of each car. The men in the transport seem to be taking more notice than before, and while they couldn't see anything from the solid plating in the back, I doubted they hadn't heard the crash, especially with this one being so much closer.
The SUV holding the other Edgerunner crew, however, was pretty clearly taking action. The driver had a mask of concentration on his face while beside him, a shaved woman in a Netrunner suit was glaring at my car, flickering green light playing over her irises. The triggermen in the back were holding their fire, seemingly aware that I wasn't inside. I fought a grimace as my mana levels ran lower and lower even as my overtaking of the vehicle slowed.
[Mana: 214/830]
I was quickly reaching the limit of my mana pool, and while this skiing trick had kept the car between me and most of my targets, more important than my health pool was my speed. I needed this car in top condition, and if I crashed into anything at the pace I was going-
I suddenly felt myself flying as the Caliburn went over a bump in the road, my gut suddenly where my heart was and my heart taking vital space up in my throat as my leg was shoved into my gut and my arms were nearly wrenched out of their sockets. I was airborne for a nightmarish handful of seconds. Intelligent thought escaped me, but instinct had me pull the wires close, reeling myself onto the roof of the Caliburn.
My ride hit the ground as I landed in a crawl, my hands, knees and feet doing barely anything to hold me to the smooth top of the vehicle. I shoved whatever hesitation I felt into the pit in my gut as I pulled myself forward, fighting the air as it pushed against me like a river.
The men with the guns started taking shots, and I curled my arm protectively against my head as I slung myself to the other side of the car and clung to the roof, using it as cover. I ignored the feeling of bullets ripping past my jacket and into my flesh the best I was able. It was just a flesh wound, and my flesh was nothing to me.
[Health: 832/970]
As my wounds filled in, vanishing along with most of the pain, I leaned into the opening the car doors made, aiming at whatever I could hit before pulling back. Shots tore into flesh, bone and an array of artificial materials that sparked as blood splattered everywhere. The only confirmation I had that I'd killed even one of them was a notice of EXP, which I took to mean I'd killed one and wounded a few others.
[Gained 800 EXP]
[Level Up! You are now Level 16.]
[You gained 5 stat points.]
I felt myself get that hint more stronger, faster, a little of everything trickling in. That barely registered, though. The Netrunner was doing something to my car, and I had no idea how effective the Caliburns systems were at keeping people out, which meant I needed that Netrunner dead. I shoved Bill's Overture between my teeth and pulled an EMP grenade out of subspace, activating it as quickly as I could with one hand before giving it a few moments to 'cook'.
But while I was acting, so were they. I heard shouting, just barely, over the din of the air. "-BLEEDING OUT!" A voice yelled, "-DO SOMETHING!" In my cybereye, I saw the driver's eyes narrow as his eyes flickered to my vehicle, and as he tensed, I knew with absolute certainty that he was going to try and sideswipe me.
In one moment, I had dropped the grenade and was swinging myself into my vehicle as the driver twisted the steering wheel in my direction. In the next, I had launched myself through the inside of the car towards an incoming SUV, curling and twisting in the air with precision I'd never had until now. In the one after that, I was smashing into the vehicle's side with a flying dropkick.
With the burdened inventory and only [Mortal Engine] to keep me moving, I could break bone and crumple a man with a kick. With the power of sunlight coursing through my veins on top of that and my training weight now serving as transport… Well, I didn't crumple the car, but I certainly left a dent in its side in the shape of my boots as everybody inside was thrown off their seats.
Of course, every action had an equal and opposite reaction. The backlash of the kick was such that I was sent tumbling back into the interior of the Caliburn, past the driver's seat and nearly all the way out before I latched onto the side of the door, taking advantage of the momentum swinging myself onto the hood in a crouch. As the Edgerunners inside tried to recover, I saw the driver's eyes widen as he saw me, and he immediately swerved away from the Caliburn, desperately trying to put distance between his ride and mine.
All that meant was that when my Kolac's second empowered shot pierced his door, then him, and then punched through his passenger while the third obliterated the back seats and the triggermen situated there, the car continued to veer off the road, leaving my ride alone.
[Gained 700 EXP x 3]
I could see the Sunrise Motel in the distance, but the Militech Transport captured my attention as the back opened up and gunmen in black and yellow were revealed, already lined up. I dove behind my car as I lined up the shot in mid-air, aiming for the one with the heaviest armour before letting it rip.
[Health: 629/990]
We both fired at the same instant, my Kolac's last empowered shot forcing the gun into my shoulder as half a dozen automatic rifles rained fire in my general direction. A few hammered into my legs and hips, weakening me for just a moment and rendering my plan of getting back into the skiing position non-viable, so instead I clung to the back of the car for my safety as I desperately tried to formulate a plan and reload at the same time as bullets whizzed over my head.
I'd seen it clearly. The man I'd aimed at had dodged. And he wasn't the only one, a few of the others had also leaned out of the way at an unnatural speed, the motion looking almost mirrored across the squad.
It had to be the work of a powerful Kerenzikov or a Sandevistan souped up with combat software. I'd only read about that sort of thing, and had never seen it in action in person before today. As a rule, human bodies couldn't dodge bullets. I doubted that nothing short of David's Sandevistan could dodge a bullet already in the air, and I'd doubted even he could manage such a thing. Bullets moved at truly unreal speeds.
But if you were already plugging a device to enhance the speed of the synapses into a man's body, why not program it to perform a dodge in response to seeing a gun being pointed in your direction and fired? A step to the side at speeds normally impossible for the human body, right as the enemy pulled the trigger. That was the essence of speedware combat programming.
Of course, the question was whether or not their combat software could recognize every attack. The answer was no, but finding the one that worked was going to take some doing. I took aim with my reloaded Overture with one hand and a Nova in the other, blasting both at speed, watching through my cybereye as I fired at every squad member over the top of the car.
All but one of them did nothing, with only a single member of the Militech squadron taking an Overture shot right to the visor. The rest of the shots were cleanly dodged.
[Health: 595/990]
I pulled back down as a shot ripped into my hand, wincing in pain. I checked behind me and saw nobody anywhere close behind. My only obstacle was the Militech transport and the people inside, now. I dropped [Mortal Engine] for the moment, letting the built-up [Hamon] energy actually fill my health pool.
[Health: 726/990]
If I wanted to keep my current pace, that car needed to be gone in maybe a few handfuls of seconds. The way it occupied the centre of the road made slipping by practically impossible, but fighting my way past it seemed just as sketchy.
But then again, if I didn't take care of them now, they'd get to the meeting place about the same time as I would. Meaning that Rebecca and David might enter the crossfire. Putting the problem off would just make the problem worse, so I needed to solve it now.
In the game, the answer to a Sandevistan enemy dodging all your shots was getting into melee and pummeling the shit out of him or using a quickhack to fry his brain. There were other methods, but those were the obvious two. Of course, real life wasn't a fucking videogame, but if so much else matched…
I needed to test it. As [Mortal Engine] firmed my flesh again, I dug into my inventory and pulled out a knife, as one of the men prepared to fire the grenade launcher, I flung it at him with everything I had. The blade soared headfirst into their face, bouncing off the plating with a clang that was barely audible despite the roaring wind. As a few stray bullets rocked my shoulders and one penetrated my cheek, I leaned back.
[Health: 678/990]
It worked. Where a gun had failed, a goddamn thrown knife had worked. It didn't do any damage, but it had hit. Proof of concept, there and then.
…Back to monke it was, then.
I focused on my lungs, drawing in a breath as deep and long as I was able, feeling the energy surge through my skin, glowing brighter and brighter until it was obvious, even in the bright sunlight.
My mana was near its bottom, but I still had enough for one last trick. I gathered [Sorairo Days] into my hand, and then launched myself forwards as I lashed out with a wave of force, the first offensive use of mana I'd ever used in the open.
Their implants failed to grasp the attack, and they simply stood there as a wave of translucent blue washed over the six of them, staggering and shoving them back as my wires lashed themselves to everything possible. Grasping around the seats, imbedding themselves in the walls, even curling around the people. I noticed one of them tensing near a button of some kind, but by the time he hit it and the doors slammed shut, it was too late.
I was already inside.
To their credit, or maybe to the credit of their company's technology, they reacted to my sudden entry into close combat without hesitation. Those I was focusing on dropped their guns as they put their hands up, while behind me I could almost feel barrels being raised in my direction. I focused on the latter first, using my awareness to kick one man's legs from under him, sending him to the ground as I punched forwards, meeting a surprising level of resistance as the man in front guarded against my blow, though he was smashed into the wall, his enhanced arms held firm.
As the doors to the back finished slamming shut and left us all in dim lighting, I leaned back and seized ahold of an assault rifle, pushing it's barrel away from me and towards another Militech Commando, I followed the momentum through when I met little resistance, keeping myself on the move as I tore the gun out of his hand and repositioned near the front of the car.
I tried to pull the trigger only for it to refuse to budge, and I bit back a snarl as the knives began to come out. DNA lock or something, the specifics didn't matter. I let the gun drop and lunged for the most armoured man, who had pulled a nasty looking knife out of his belt.
[CRITICAL STRIKE TAKEN!]
[Health: 385/970]
Without warning, the armoured man suddenly surged, reaching my speed and passing it as he lashed out with his blade, slashing at my throat in a sudden motion. He didn't hesitate when he encountered resistance, swinging again and again in a flurry of blows as the last embers of [Reflex] burnt themselves out, giving me just enough time to correct my course and back the hell up, protecting my neck with my arms. His knife slashed into my armoured skin with surprising effectiveness, drawing blood and tearing flesh where none of my knives previously could.
[Health: 343/990]
I bore the assault the best I was able as it continued, keeping my breathing steady and letting [Hamon] continue to flow through me. I knew the Sandevistan could only last for so long.
[Health: 316/990]
The question was would I be alive to take advantage of the cooldown.
[Health: 260/990]
Moments passed, yet they felt like seconds as all around me, soldiers suddenly became blurs to the untrained eye. I could see some approaching and others holding back, grabbing at side arms but not firing in fear of hitting their fellows. The only benefit I had was the rest not having the skill chips or the training to take advantage of their strengths as a group, with the armoured man's relentless aggression keeping them from getting in close.
[Health: 221/990]
The armoured man lashed out with another slash that threatened my jugular, and I glared at him as his teeth clenched. How many seconds had passed? How many seconds had passed for him? In the game, the Militech Falcon was considered one of the best Sandevistans you could get, and the lore had mentioned that they had only just been released for consumer consumption. A time that hadn't yet passed in the present.
[Health: 196/990]
I could barely remember the numbers in my head, now. He must have dilated time to at least three times faster. Magazines had talked about how four times was the limit for most, and only for a few seconds from the user's perspective at most. He couldn't have more than ten seconds from his perspective, and three from me.
[Health: 162/990]
Even as [Reflex] screamed in my brain, at the edge of its limitations, I held out. Just a little more. Just a little more.
I saw it as his foot left the floor as he put everything into one massive stab aimed at my chest. His fellows were following suit in unison. As I took in the trajectories, I realised he was aiming for the heart.
I timed the strike with the last of my enhanced perception, catching his forearm and letting the force of his charge push me to the ground, pulling him along with me before I booted him into the ceiling with just enough force to not bounce him off, the man now a living trap for his fellows.
As gravity began to drag him back down, I twisted onto my feet and leaned out of the way of a knife strike, and caught another to the chest as the last of their time dilation wore off, and with it, their hopes of killing me.
[Health: 104/990]
The knife embedded in my chest didn't defend the man wielding it from an elbow to the head with so much force behind it that it snapped his neck. Shoving the suddenly-limp man into one of his armed fellows as the armoured man fell on top of the one who'd missed his knife strike. I shoulder checked the only other one with a gun, feeling and hearing his ribcage shatter under my charge, the air driven out of him with a wet gurgle.
I spun around and kicked. The distracted gunman, still recovering and staring at the corpse of his squadmate, had his head smashed into the wall with a loud bang. His head didn't pop, but he was down for the count nonetheless, his brain having been rocked with such force it could only go kaput in response.
[Gained 1500 EXP x 3]
Three left, I counted. One was irrelevant, so I ignored him as I straightened up. The armoured man stood up and shifted into a practised stance as he warily watched me, the glow of my aura washing over his visor. Without warning, I leapt back, landing on the side of the wall and then launching myself at him, my fist pulled back.
He braced the best he was able, but he was still knocked flat on his ass and off his squadmate as I caught myself and skidded to a halt. The man underneath tried to get up, but I stomped down, crushing the bicep of his knife arm under my foot as he let out a scream, his pain editor apparently not turned up to the degree that it would completely block out the sensation of having his bones ground to shards.
As the man in armour recovered, I drew my Overture and blew out the brains of the man pinned under me, even as I kept my eye steady on him. He tensed as his ally died, but didn't move otherwise as I holstered my pistol.
[Gained 1500 EXP]
The two of us stared each other down for a second, waiting for the other to make a move. Then, I remembered that I had no time to waste, his Sandevistan was cooling down, and behind us, my ride was coming closer and closer to rear-ending the transport.
I took a deep breath as my glow brightened, and then I took one step forward, and then another. The two of us remained tense as I approached, and when I got into arms reach with him, he slashed at me with his knife, but whereas before he'd been an opponent that I could only put up my guard against, now his strike seemed sluggish and telegraphed.
I simply backhanded him before he could complete his attack, batting his arm to the side. With his guard now opened up, he couldn't stop me from taking another step and driving my other fist into his stomach, smashing him a short distance into the wall behind him. Nor could he stop the punch after that from dislocating his shoulder, or the one after that which shattered a reinforced rib.
Just because overflowing rage doesn't impair my thought process doesn't mean I don't feel it. For bringing me so close to death, I was going to beat the living daylights out of him.
My fists moved like lightning, striking blow after blow at an incredible pace, sounding more like an automatic weapon than a pair of arms. His bones broke. And then fragmented. And then pulped. The light flitting across my skin grew brighter and brighter as my assault accelerated, until from his perspective, it may as well have been raining sunlight.
I broke away, drawing my fist as far back as I could manage before I swung it with all the force I could muster, aiming dead between the eyes. The result was his face collapsing inwards as his metal cranium lost cohesion with the bone structure supporting it. A wet stain splayed out on the wall behind him as his skull collapsed and his body, now barely held in a human shape by his armour, slumped to the ground lifelessly.
[Gained 2000 EXP]
[Level Up! You are now Level 17.]
[You gained 5 stat points.]
Again, I felt the little surge that makes everything that tiny bit easier. It might be a trick of the mind, but I swear I could see the [Hamon] on my skin glow brighter. Even the wounds seem to hurt less, but that might have been the satisfaction of triumph talking.
As I started reaching out with more filaments of [Sorairo Days], dragging the bodies into my inventory, I turned to the last one left. The man who's visor I'd struck with a bullet earlier was desperately pounding against the door as he screamed at the driver. He'd backed up earlier, not having the nerve to fight in close quarters, and once the tables had turned he'd panicked and tried to flee the only direction he could. His eyes were now visible, wide and terrified as we made eye contact. "OPEN UP! OPEN THE FUCK UP! OPEN-" He was cut off as I smashed into him, knocking the door off its hinges.
Right as I broke into the driver's compartment, I instantly lashed out with a foot, pinning the driver against his door as my other foot held the accelerator down. Despite my awkward position, I kept the gunman in the passenger seat from shoving his assault rifle in my face by pushing it to the side. Seated as he was and with his weapon stuck, even though he blurred into greater speed, there was nothing he could do as I ripped the gun out of his hands and clubbed him with it as I pushed him down, repeatedly battering him until I was sure his Sandevistan had run out.
I drew my sidearm and took aim. With the man without the visor having no space to manoeuvre, the driver pinned and the passenger bloodied and bruised, none of them were in a condition to resist as I drilled three empowered shots into each one of their heads, and as they went limp, I inventoried the corpses, shoved open the door to my left and wrenched the steering wheel to the side before flinging myself out of the transport.
[Gained 1000 EXP x 3]
I landed on the roof of the Caliburn with a pained wheeze as the Militech Transport ran off the road. The wind roared in my ears as I grinned at the sight of the bulky, armoured vehicle being left behind. The wounds on my body were gone, but I still felt like shit. Nonetheless, I'd done it. I was more wounded than I'd ever been, but I'd pulled it off.
Now all that was left was Faraday.
The Motel approached at incredible speed as the Caliburn's engine made noises I'd never heard before. I hesitated, but let [Mortal Engine] drop as I disrupted my breathing, letting my vanishing [Hamon] fill my health pool as much as it could.
[Health: 413/1020]
Would I survive falling at this speed? Probably, if I didn't hit anything sturdy. Was everything reloaded? I was pretty sure it was, but I checked my Kolac and the Sheriff just to be sure. Was I missing anything?
I'd inventoried the corpses of the Militech soldiers because they'd seen me pulling impossible powers, and after JK's stunt with the cyberpsycho I'd had enough of people pulling dangerous data on me out of corpses. I wasn't risking them having BD scrollers I wasn't aware of and people going after me after seeing footage of me manipulating the stuff of the spirit.
But I was getting the sense that I'd forgotten something… Oh, right. I tugged the knife out of my chest and inventoried it. Doy.
The vision in my cybereye snapped into a scene from up ahead, giving me a view of a standoff in progress. I tensed and grit my teeth as I watched, unable to do anything but prepare to jump. My meat eye trained itself on the motel as it rapidly approached. It would only be a matter of seconds before I whizzed by.
Now, all I had to do was gather the courage to jump.
And I did.
Compared to all the other leaps I had made, this one was the most painful. I curled myself up like only one with my level of agility could, contorting myself into a sphere-like shape, but even so, I'd been travelling at 200 miles per hour.
[Health: 361/1020]
And with my enhanced perception, I could feel every bit of it as I tumbled across the rocks, dirt and dust. My leather and armorjack did it's best to protect me, but I was bouncing like a fucking basketball.
[Health: 323/1020]
I felt impacts along my head, my spine. My joints felt like they had popped. My bones felt like they were threatening to snap under the strain. And as my body fought to repair itself, they broke all over again as my systems were subjected to shocks no human was meant to endure.
[Health: 297/1020]
But my skin was tougher than that, and so were my bones, and as long as I had even a sliver of health left…
[Health: 288/1020]
I would endure.
My tumbling ceased as I unfurled myself and skidded along the ground in a slide which kicked up massive amounts of grit. I could see the Caliburn racing away, slowing due to me no longer holding down the pedal, but with enough momentum to keep going for a while yet. Above me I could see outlines in orange, one diminutive outline and another scrawny one, but what truly seized my attention and refused to let go was the sound of gunfire. Shit. I ignored the protests of my body as I shoved myself to my feet and began to run.
The stairs would take too long. Every second counted, now more than ever, so instead of bothering with any of those I jumped, forcing the ground away and reaching for the railing on the second floor. Clenching ahold of it, I pulled myself up, aligned myself with a window, tensed my legs-
-And smashed my way into the room, eyes blazing and with my gun at the ready as shards of glass followed me. The heads of the Militech Operatives snapped around to face me, and the closest one rapidly realigned his charging shotgun with me, but before the gun could fire, I kicked upward, redirecting the muzzle to the ceiling where it discharged harmlessly. I then whirled on my heel, dislocating his head from his shoulders with a kick that went right past his neck and through the door behind him. The other was perforated by a hail of bullets from the other mercs in the room as the moment of distraction cost him dearly, the shots too many and numerous for his combat software to predict and dodge on its own.
[Gained 1500 EXP]
My head twisted around, finding Faraday as he clambered up to his feet, his back against the wall. His eyes were wide with disbelief as his head followed my course to reach my current location. His mouth was open in a wordless shout that seemed to stretch on and on as I raised my revolver, and before anyone could stop me, I unloaded the chamber into the space between his four eyes.
[Gained 100 EXP]
Six shots barked out in rapid succession, and Faraday's cranium was plastered across the wall. His body seemed to take an age to hit the ground, his gaze now glassy and vacant. I kept my revolver up for a short while before lowering it, waiting for some other shoe to drop. Everyone in the room had aimed their weapons at me but none of them fired as they seemed to recognize who I was. After the initial shock of violence a strange calm descended upon the room. The people around me took heavy breaths as they recovered while I tried to turn around and look at them.
Keyword being tried. I tugged at my leg once, then twice with a normal human's level of strength. I was pretty damn strong, if I really needed to I could easily rip my foot out and be on my way, but something told me that maybe I didn't want to give the impression I was in that much of a hurry.
I twisted my leg somewhat, leaning in to get a better look at the way that my leg had speared through the door, before a voice calling out to me made it clear I had far more pressing concerns. "Raz?"
At first I wanted to jerk my head around, but then it occurred to me that if I turned as quickly as what felt normal to me, that could seem somewhat threatening from a normal human perspective, and that really wasn't the impression I wanted to give right now. So… I slowed down, moving at only a fraction of the speed I had previously been manoeuvring at, with a few extra inefficiencies and human error mixed in, such that I didn't seem uncanny.
I turned to look at Maine's crew with a blank expression in a way that felt awkward and forced, before amusement quickly edged out the discomfort. The reason why was easy enough to identify; I looked like a total idiot, and the juxtaposition of all the horseshit I'd just pulled off and the state I'd found myself in was downright comical.
What a fucking universe.
Rebecca looked stupefied, pink and yellow eyes wide and uncomprehending as she slowly lowered her pistol. Her mouth opened wordlessly as her eyes flickered from Faraday's corpse to me trying to disengage myself from the door, as if trying to connect the two sights together.
David was much the same, but he was further along on the road to understanding, his gun already pointed at the ground as he stood there. I understood what had happened quickly, he was in the middle of using the Sandevistan when I'd busted in, so he'd had the time to process that I was here, but was still trying to puzzle out the why.
I hadn't expected my intervention to get this awkward, I'd admit, but in the same way it made me want to bust a gut from the absurdity of it all. I gave another tug at my leg, letting my eyes twitch around the room, as if taking them all in, even though the first glance had already told me what I needed to know. Meanwhile, I checked in on how far out Faraday's men were with [Sorairo Days]. When I saw them still mostly working their way around the truck I'd left far behind, I relaxed slightly. I guess I had a little time for leisure.
…It suddenly occurred to me that I could have tried sniping the Militech Operatives through the wall. They had no way of knowing I was there beyond hearing my ride roaring past, the walls probably couldn't stand up to an empowered Kolac shot, I could have done this all without being seen at all, like I'd originally planned. Fuck, why didn't I think of that sooner- Anyways.
The rest of their crew was tense, but one by one they followed Rebecca's lead in lowering their weapons. Though, the way that they moved made it clear to me that they'd bring them right back up if they felt threatened. They shot sidelong glances at the two among them who knew me best, waiting for them to take the lead.
I beat the two of them to the punch, tugging a nearby chair under me before sitting and tilting it back, throwing my free leg over the stuck one and then slinging an arm over the back of the seat. "Hey 'Becca. Hey David." Their faces went from shocked to incredulous as I shot the two of them a light grin. "We really gotta stop meeting like this."