Chapter 35 - Gig: Investigation (Part 2)
Sophie woke up just before midday. Sasha lay beside her, snoring away without a care, causing the younger girl to smile. She slipped out of bed and quickly got herself ready. The flight data that the netrunner had pulled sat in a shard on the table. The merc popped it into her neck, reading through the info.
The AV had departed from an unremarkable building in Downtown and flown around the city, seemingly with no destination. When it passed over Santo Domingo, in the area that the two girls had investigated the night before, there was an incredibly brief stop. Only four minutes afterwards, the AV was flying away and the brief pause had been flagged as ‘maintenance’.
So the kidnapping only took four minutes. Who owns the AV? Sophie answered her own question. Registered to a Militech exec, huh. All of the evidence is pointing towards Militech but something about it seems strange.
With her thoughts racing, she checked out the other, extra data that Sasha had collected. The same M.O can be seen multiple times elsewhere, all with different AV’s? Yet all of them point towards Militech. Very suspicious. All of them stop off at a different location, identical to the locations the merc crews disappeared. Then they all end up at one particular building.
“Mornin’ Soph,” a voice behind her called.
“Morning Kitten. Sleep well?”
“Yeah. How’s the data?”
“Very helpful. I’ve got the location. Once you’re ready, we’ll get going. I want to scope it out, see what’s there. The building is unmarked according to the data, so we’ll be going in blind.”
“You talking about the place all those AV’s stop off at?” She asked, yawning.
“Mhm. My guess is they take the captured mercs there, then transport them somewhere else.”
“So, another infiltration mission?” Sasha said with a groan.
“Don’t worry, you can stay outside this time,” Sophie flashed her a grin, only making the older girl groan even more.
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Sophie’s Quadra purred as she zoomed through the streets of Night City, heading Northwards into Watson. Not too long later, the pair of mercs pulled up at the end of a street and got out, making their way over to the target location.
As was routine, the younger girl climbed a building on the other side of the street in order to scout it out. Meanwhile, Sasha was looking for a camera to breach into.
“I’m in, Soph. I’ll cycle through the cams, see what I can find.”
“Sounds good. I’ll monitor the externals.”
They watched for hours, slowly piecing together a plan of action. During their observation, they had discovered an absolutely ridiculous number of guards in and around the building. At least 50 of them were stationed across the facility, which told the mercs all they needed to know.
“Whatever’s going on here, it’s a big deal. This is the kind of guard presence I’d expect from Arasaka or Militech. Strange that none of the guards have an identifying mark on them.”
“Whoever they are, they’re well equipped. I’ve found a number of security turrets around the place,” said Sasha. “I also haven’t been able to find any sign of the mercs. The only suspicious area is a stairwell that leads to nowhere and has no cameras.”
“Might be on a different network. Means there’s a hidden space under the building.”
“That’s what I thought as well. You confident you can get in?”
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“Yeah, I’ll be able to. Just need you to keep an eye on things via the cams.”
“Nice and easy. You’ve got a good opportunity now, are you going in?”
Sophie scrambled down from her vantage point, sprinting over to the building’s fence. With her enhanced jumping ability, she leapt over the barrier, activating Ghost at the same time. “I’m in now. Tell me where I’m going.”
Sasha began guiding her through the building. It was trivialised with the Ghost trait, considering she had set the netrunner as someone that could see her even when it was active, an ability the younger girl rarely employed.
“To your right is a guard. You’ve got to get past him if you want to reach the stairwell.”
“Which way are they looking?”
“Away from you.”
Sophie poked her head around the corner. The guard was easily found, standing at the top of the stairwell. There was a door beside him, which the girl became interested in.
“What’s behind that door?”
“No cams inside, so it’s probably just a storage closet.”
Perfect. She crept closer to the guard, drawing a katana from the sheath on her back. The blade whipped out, slipping straight through the back of the man’s neck. The thermal edge ensured no blood escaped the wound. Sophie caught the corpse, hauling it over to the door. Inside, as predicted, was a number of cleaning supplies. The body quickly found itself a new home amongst them.
Honestly, Night City buildings are so good for hiding corpses. While she thought that, her feet carried her down the stairs. She ran into a significant issue however, in the form of a door.
“Kitten, can you get this open?”
“I’ll breach through your optics, shouldn’t take me too long. Be careful inside, I won’t be able to guide you.”
“No need to worry, I’m sure I can find an access point to get you in the system.”
“I’m through.” The door slid open, allowing Sophie to creep inside.
It was significantly different from the previous area. The grey walls of the above-ground building had been replaced by cold white walls, reminiscent of a science lab. The thought made the girl shudder. Still, she wandered around, hunting for a terminal. When she found one, Sophie slipped her Personal Link into it, allowing Sasha to work her magic.
“Soph, this is some serious ICE. Whoever we’re dealing with here, they’ve got a lot of resources.”
“Normally I’d agree but this whole thing feels weird. I feel like there’s more to this gig than we think.” Once the netrunning merc was in the system, they continued on. The younger girl wandered into a room, immediately stopping dead in her tracks. “This is why it feels weird.”
In front of her were stacks of crates, all labeled with Militech logos. She cracked one open, finding it to be full of Ajax assault rifles. Another was filled with ammo.
“Why’s this weird? Doesn’t it mean we’re dealing with Militech?”
“I think that’s what the culprit wants us to think.”
“You saying someone’s trying to frame one of the biggest megacorps in the world?”
“Militech…They’ve got some of the best troops in the damn world. I’d know,” she whispered the last bit, memories flashing through her mind. “The whole thing feels like someone is trying to make it look like a Militech op. But if it really was one? There’d be no tracks or at the very least, there’d be nothing pointing directly at them.”
“Huh. Fuck.”
“Exactly. But enough of that. Have you found anything interesting through the cams?”
“I have. There’s a garage. Seems to be the only occupied area too.”
“Lead the way then.”
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Following Sasha’s instructions, Sophie quickly made her way to the underground garage. Once inside, she began hunting for a good vantage point. It was over two stories high, with structural support beams crisscrossing near the roof. As quietly as she could, the girl parkoured her way up to them, jumping from a parked truck and catching her hands on the beam. She hauled herself up and began her reconnaissance.
All around the edges of the garage, an assortment of vehicles were parked. Guards were spread out across the area, each armed with a rifle and pistol. However, it was the centre of the room that caught Sophie’s attention.
A small fleet of Behemoth trucks were lined up, complete with drivers and guards.
“Soph, you’ve got incoming. An AV has just landed on the roof.”
“Who is it?”
“I’m checking the cams,” she paused briefly. “Looks like these might be our kidnappers. Eight of them, all heavily armed. One looks like a netrunner as well.”
“Make sure the ‘runner can’t find you in the system. Anything else of importance?”
“Yeah. They’re carrying bodies. Look like mercs.”
“Alright, I’m calling Rogue. We’ll see what she wants done.”
“Wait! There’s another AV!”
“What? Who is it?”
“Hmm,” Sasha hummed. “Looks like a corpo rep…Zetatech. So you were right. Zetatech must have wanted to frame Militech. He’s also got a tough looking bodyguard with him.”
“Send all the evidence to Rogue while I call her.” Sophie cut the call, immediately ringing the fixer.
“Sophie. I trust you have something for me?”
“Sasha should be transferring you some data now.”
“Give me a moment,” a minute passed, meanwhile Sasha was describing the movements of both the corpo and the kidnappers. All of them were heading to the garage. Eventually, she spoke again. “I know this rat. He’s the Zetatech rep that the Afterlife deals with. Fucking scum! I’m sending you support. I want everyone in that facility dead, except the corpo. Squama will be your contact.” New contact details appeared in Sophie’s system.
“Sasha and I can do this by ourselves, there’s no need to send anyone.”
“I have my reasons. I’ll be there soon as well. Good luck, Sophie.”
“You got it boss.” The merc didn’t dare act playful with the fixer. Fuck, she’s pissed. The call cut out, allowing the younger merc to contact her partner.
“Rogue’s pissed so she’s sending us some extra hands. I’ll need you to coordinate with them when they arrive. Also, you’ll need to deal with that ‘runner because they’ll probably be the biggest threat.”
“Sounds good. What are you gonna do now?”
“I’m gonna stir up some trouble.”