The Kang Tao Research Centre didn’t look like anything special. In fact, if it weren’t for the Kang Tao logos painted on the high walls that surrounded it, the building would have looked like any other. Sophie had been surprised at its location, close to the place that Arasaka Industrial Park would be built in the future. The thief was crouched behind a low concrete wall on the other side of the road, her eyes locked on the main entrance. She had used the Class Experience Boost Token when she arrived to ensure she got the best gains for her Queen of Thieves class.
Two guards stood at the entrance on either side of a raised barricade. Above them was a camera and pair of active security turrets hanging from the arch that loomed over the guards. Sophie was less than pleased at the data Rogue had given her. In fact, the only good thing it contained was the full layout of the compound and the number of guards. 15 of them to be precise.
It was enough to formulate a basic plan at least. She was finalising her path when a Kang Tao transport rolled in. Sophie almost rushed over, wanting to use the truck to disguise her entry. Sadly, it was too late for her to do so.
Her failure turned into a blessing however, when a series of scans were performed on the vehicle. Sophie didn’t want to risk Ghost exposing her. Rogue’s data hadn’t said anything about a netrunner but after her encounter with the goon from Barghest, she wasn’t taking any chances. Once the truck was through the scanning, the thief made her move.
The guards had relaxed after no problems were found with the transport and the scanners had to be manually activated. They weren’t permanently on. With Ghost, slipping past the two guards was a breeze.
She followed the transport from a distance until they reached an open area. Four additional Kang Tao guards jumped out of the transport, bringing the total number in the compound up to 19. Sophie winced when they started working together to haul stuff out of the truck instead of leaving. That’s a problem for future Sophie.
She mentally checked her location against the layout provided by Rogue. She ducked in the direction of her first objective. Separated from the main building was a small storehouse. At least, that’s what it was marked as on the map. Secretly, the surveillance and security room was hidden underneath it. This was where Sophie believed the netrunner would be.
She made her way over, noticing multiple robot guards. Dammit Rogue. You didn’t think to mention the fucking robots!? Each one carried Kang Tao G-58 Dian smart SMG. Fortunately, Sophie wasn’t particularly worried about the robots. They couldn’t see her with Ghost active so there was no need to be afraid. Still, it was annoying Rogue hadn’t mentioned them.
It wasn’t long before she made it the “storehouse”. The merc slipped inside and found the hidden staircase detailed in the data. She crept down, coming face to face with a door. Sophie took a peek through the small window in it and spotted her target. Distracted by the computer in front of her, the netrunner didn’t have time to react before a silent bullet punched through her skull, splattering blood and brains all over the wall. The body fell forward with a wet thud and the woman’s killer cringed at the gross noise.
Sophie hurried in while dismissing her Talon. She grabbed the corpse and looked around. She spotted a cupboard in the corner. With a bit of struggle, the netrunner corpse was nestled inside. The door closed and Sophie took a deep breath. The first part of her plan was finished.
The girl tried to access the computer but had no luck. Inwardly, she decided to pick a netrunner class next so that she wouldn’t have a similar issue again. Grumbling, she made a quick purchase in the system store.
A shard appeared in her hand, a one time consumable that could unlock basic security systems. It was only 100 M-Coins, so Sophie didn’t feel terrible about the purchase. Once the shard was in, the girl watched in fascination as it melted like ice cream in the hot sun. Abruptly, the computer opened up. Perfect.
The thief quickly disabled all of the alarms, cameras and security systems around the compound. Once she was satisfied with her work, she left the security room to begin phase two of the operation. Silently eliminate every guard in the building.
The guards were the natural first choice. The robots wouldn’t notice anything suspicious unless they directly saw it. Sophie ran out from the surveillance room, heading for the back of the main building.
Pressed against the back wall was a cargo container. Sophie climbed up, then jumped onto the roof of the building’s first floor. She took a running leap and managed to latch her hands onto the lip of the second floor’s roofing. She entered the building from the available door.
Once inside, she began stalking the upper floor of the building. She was able to locate three guards on the second floor. The first was taken out easily and Sophie hid his body in a remote corner. The second was similarly easy. However, as she was dragging the corpse to a large, empty storage container, a new guard appeared behind her. The man had just come up the stairs nearby.
The pair froze, one in shock at seeing his dead colleague, the other in surprise she had missed the man. Still, she retrieved her Talon, silently eliminating the new arrival before he could alert the base. That was a little scary. Where did that motherfucker even come from? Sophie stashed both bodies in the storage container before moving on. The last of the original three guards was taken down quietly and shoved into a janitor’s closet. Thank you Cyberpunk, for giving me so many good spots to hide bodies.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The ruthless and efficient elimination of the human guards inside continued until none remained. The main building had been emptied and each corpse hidden in the event some rando came in. At that point, there were only supposed to be four more human guards scattered around the compound, excluding the two gate guards and the four from the transport truck.
Not even ten minutes later, all four of them had been hunted down, their bodies stashed away. She had seen something slightly concerning when she was hunting in the form of a Minotaur mech. After she took out the four transport guards, she could go searching for the person controlling it.
The young merc took some time to observe the four people unloading boxes from the transport truck. Unfortunately, there were no clean methods to eliminate them. Thus, she settled for a simple solution.
Sophie leapt from the first floor of the building, falling towards her targets. Her Talons fired quickly, causing all four targets to crumple to the ground. The Precision Shooting trait showed its worth as it ensured all of her shots were precise and clean. A problem arose however, when she realised there was no easy way to hide the bodies. Eventually, she stuffed them all into the back of the transport truck. That’ll do I guess. Time for the Minotaur.
Sophie searched all over the compound, carefully avoiding the robots but also noting down where they all were. It took nearly 10 minutes to find a hidden room, one that wasn’t in the data Rogue gave her. Inside, the Minotaur pilot was resting in a very comfortable chair. A bullet to the head meant the man would be resting in comfort for the rest of his life.
Finally, it was time for the robots to go. Admittedly, she didn’t need to get rid of them. But she wanted Rogue to take her seriously, which meant sending a message. Sadly, that was also where she got stuck. Her Talons probably wouldn’t work on them like they did humans. The robots could continue functioning unless their entire system was fried or they were totally destroyed. So, she turned to knowledge that had never been intended for use in combat.
The knowledge of mechanics that she had allowed her to put together a very simple taser after tearing apart a few computers and other electronics. The entire thing had the durability of a stick of pasta but it carried an extraordinarily high electrical charge. Sophie just hoped it would be enough to short circuit the robots.
It was. The Robot Poker Mk.1 as Sophie called it sent a surge of electricity through the last robot, meaning Sophie had eliminated all of her targets in the compound. She was leaving the two gate guards alive. Killing everyone silently but leaving the two at the front alive? In Sophie’s mind that was much scarier than simply killing everyone. After all, it meant someone had snuck in and silently eliminated all but the front two.
With all of her opponents down, Sophie proceeded to the main computer. She downloaded and transferred the data to Rogue. Once she disconnected her personal link, the gig had officially been completed. Now she just needed to exfiltrate, something that wasn’t particularly difficult. On her way out however, Thief’s Instinct caught her attention. She followed her instinct, discovering a fancy case nearby. Cracking it open revealed a smart SMG of unknown design. Sophie happily stashed it away. Maybe Rogue would pay more for it?
The mercenary left the Kang Tao compound the same way she entered. The two gate guards had no idea that a massacre had occurred in the area they were meant to protect nor that the culprit had wandered past them and out of the compound. A street over, the thief slipped into her Raven, speeding off in the direction of the Afterlife.
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Rogue had set aside her regular business that night, instead opting to watch the footage of Sophie’s gig. The girl undoubtedly interested her, hence she wanted to watch the op live. The young girl’s act of targeting the netrunner and surveillance systems first was a positive. Though Nix had still been able to get footage from the cameras at her behest. She made sure that it was all wiped afterwards though.
What really made an impact however, was the way she went about getting the data. There was something slightly disturbing abouting watching someone collapse, spraying blood across the wall before being dragged or carried away by an unseen figure. But it was impressive.
The trick with the makeshift taser was clever, and demonstrated that the girl had skills and knowledge far beyond her years. Overall, Rogue was very satisfied. The girl had demonstrated some truly terrifying capabilities, especially considering she was so young.
However, she had a use for such skills and Sophie didn’t seem like she was unstable. Instead, she appeared quite friendly. Rogue even suspected she’d grow to enjoy the company of the young merc. The playful behaviour was a nice change to the rather serious company the Queen of Fixers tended to keep.
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It was later in the evening when Sophie arrived. She got quite a few odd looks as she walked down the steps, considering she was currently around 110cm tall. She was hoping her growth spurt would start soon so that she wouldn’t look like a lost child wherever she went. The people that watched her, smirking as she approached the door, were gobsmacked when the bouncer stepped aside and let her in.
As she walked further in, a few brave souls tried to follow, thinking the rules might have changed. They were greeted with a stern Animal, refusing them entry. Sophie ignored it, heading in Rogue’s direction.
Squama gave her a grin as she approached.
“Da boss is waitin’.”
She nodded. Rogue’s booth was empty aside from the woman herself. As she stepped in, Sophie could feel the intense stares from across the room.
“Ignore them. Never seen anyone as young as you in here. Bet they’ll get a real shock when they realise you’re a new member of my crew.”
“Oh? I take it I passed your little test?”
“Definitely. Admittedly, your extermination of almost everyone in that compound will draw attention but I’ll deal with that. Don’t want a little killer like you to get grabbed by one of the mega corps.” Her optics lit up and Sophie received payment for the job. “Consider yourself officially invited to the Afterlife kid. Normally I’d tell you to go have a drink…Ah fuck it, if you want a drink you can have one.”
“Thanks but no thanks. You got anything for me now? Oh, I also grabbed this, if you want it.” She placed down the weapon prototype, which Rogue examined.
“Sure. I’m sure I can find a buyer for it. And no, there’s nothing at the moment. Swing by tomorrow, there are some things we should go through now that you’re working for me.”
“Don’t wanna do it now?” Rogue gave her a dry look.
“Kid, I’ve spent more time on you than I would for most up-and-coming mercs. I have work to do.” She waved her hand at her, “go on, scram. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sophie laughed as she got up, wandering out of the Afterlife with a swagger. As she got in her Raven, a system message appeared.
Hidden Mission Complete
Impress Rogue.
Difficulty: Hard
Rewards: 100 M-Coins, Shinigami Menpo
Sophie looked at the facemask that appeared in her hand. It was black and silver, her favourite colours. It would only cover the bottom half of her face, similar to the menpo that the Tyger Claws liked to wear. The design was simple, a skull like mouth and nose along with some artistic patterns.
She checked, finding it had a description.
Shinigami Menpo (Iconic)
Item Type: Cosmetic
Effects
Unbreakable
Damage Transfer
Resizing
Sophie checked the Damage Transfer effect.
Damage Transfer - Attacks that strike this item will pass through it, damaging the wearer.
It threw out the idea she could use her face to block bullets. Still, it would be part of her signature look in the future so the girl didn’t mind it too much.
“A Shinigami, huh. Sure. That’s what I’ll be.” With that, Sophie placed the mask on, feeling the comfortable fit. Thus, Night City’s very own Shinigami was born.