I had a ton of take out delivered to the apartment.

I feasted like a pig, while looking for the repair kits in the purchase options. Ah there we go, 400 creds poorer.

Two small cubes appeared, silvery and about a handspan, mine not yours, across.

I touched one to the Kraken, and a bright silver light burst forth. The barrel returned to true, and the jammed mess inside was ejected.

Yes. Back in business.

I took out my armor and laid it in a pile on the bed. I touched the other cube to the pile and again silver light radiated forth.

Ah good the armor set counts as one item. Not only is the dent on the back of the helmet repaired, the scratches in the paint are gone as well. I felt Wrap would charge through the roof for repairs given the, almost certainly rare materials in the alloys and ceramics. 200 creds for repair was a steal.

It was early evening, and I wanted to expand my ability to program, so off to the place Wrap recommended.

I geared up in my armor, I left the Kraken at home, but took every thing else.

The Place Retro Dreams was a few miles away between 10-E and 11-B, this area was classified as an entertainment district. Nightclubs, Casinos, Pleasure Houses, Themed Restaurants, and more. Everything from High Class VIP Experiences to PET flop dens. A wonderland of future foolishness.

Bright Neon Ads were ever more frequent here trying to overwhelm the filters on your MetEyes, course I didn't have any so it was an extremely painful drive. Traffic was lighter here, which brought it down to just slightly Suicidal.

Retro Dreams was a ten story building done up in Neo 1980s to 2010s stylings. Neon to LEDs, Miami Dreams to Vaporwave, Mron to Blank Mirror. Not bad at all.

The bottom floor was an Arcade, every machine was a replica, but the vibe was the same as the places I haunted as a child when I could.

Almost no one in there other than a few employees.

A Hundred way to Blast Aliens, Munching Pellets, Dig Deep.

Oh Hey!

They had the very awesome for the time, Dragons & Doritos game. The Elf as always reminded him of the Anime character from the 1990s, Ah the forbidden love of an Elf and a human. Before it got all weird as anime tropes progressed.

There was a guy sit behind a counter, trying to match the 1980s nerd aesthetic, or rather the stereotype where you look like you dressed in the dark with clothes your mom bought from goodwill while blindfolded. The ridiculous oversized glasses too.

Sigh. Fucking poser. I lived it, took the bullying like a champ, you haven't earned the right. I grumbled to myself.

"Where would I find someone to help me with some non-Metal equipment?" Don't ring his neck. He knows not what he does.

"Huh, ain't you a fulm?" Guy eyed me, like I was invading his way of life to turn it into a fashion statement. My eye was twitching

"No, not a ounce of Metal. I'm staying that way too. I need some filters installed on the helmet, to keep from getting Cyced, and a better ICBD for programming and growing mobs." I know he couldn't see my face, but I hoped my stare burned into his soul.

"Oookay, Fifth floor, Computers. Seventh floor modding." His offensive face unaware of how close to an asswhoppin' he was.

The Fifth Floor reminded me of Buryn's or Good Buy. Parts for ICBD devices everywhere, external drives, even stuff that looked like blade server racks. Still empty of shoppers, how do they stay in business?

I was there awhile picking parts, things to assemble myself back home.

10, 5 petabyte drives. One for Meowser, and one for each of the rest of the eight other mobs I had planned. 1 spare for whatever might be needed. Score.

New main chip, several augments to offload certain tasks from the main chip. New slot cube and a new case for the cube.

Once I got this all put together, I'd have roughly a thousand times the processing power. Sweet!

There were even parts that helped with projecting the will of the user into the ISL, so no more typing needed. My speedy Alfar Brain would make short work of most of the coding I wanted to do.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

More Robot than Robot came on the speakers in the shop, heh, felt appropriate.

On one hand the parts didn't really resemble the parts of my time, on the other who cared, better was better.

2000 NBs. Including delivery. Nice!

These were considered novelty items. As well as easy to print. So low demand, cheap.

A Good ISLC for Smithing might cost 3000 or 4000 NBs. to say nothing of the top of the line stuff.

The Seventh Floor looked like a TV Shack, electronics and gadgets everywhere. A couple of folks here, but I could tell they were just looking at stuff for a giggle.

I walked back to the counter. It didn't take long to explain what I needed to the rather normal, by 2121 standards, looking tech guy.

I handed over my helmet, and he said it'd take about an hour to install everything.

I wandered around looking at some of the devices, most having modern functionality but looking like things from a century ago. It reminded me of a steampunk computer with modern, 2020s, specs. weird, crazy, kind of cool.

I did notice two people come in the shop and start pretending to browse. A male and female pair, done up in almost military style corporate attire. Severe slicked back hair, no apparent Metal, which meant they probably had some of the best upgrades. I could tell they were more than a little interested in me.

A fight was out of the question, I didn't want to wreck the place, and besides they might be able to null me easily. Given the last couple of days, I'd say it's unlikely to be peaceful.

When my helmet was done, I was quick to put it on. Their attention, made me nervous.

1500 NBs down. Worth it provided the filters works.

I left the building knowing I was being followed. On one hand my size made avoidance almost impossible, on the other I had my other advantages.

I could feel the guidance of the Covert skills as I slid through crowds, Unnoticed keeping new attention off of me. Not sure how well they would work against the surveillance of the 2121 equipment, but I was going to find out.

I felt a tug at my mana, and let it connect. I could tell my presence in all spectrums diminished. Not by much but hopefully enough for now.

Fade I had shown itself when necessary. My skills were reactive, which was good. I'd like to get them proactive, which would be great.

I had already slipped behind my tails, out of their view, and working my way back towards the Anky. Good thing too, Fade burned mana at a point a minute. I couldn't keep it up too long.

In the car, I had time to become aware of the filters' first effects. Not only were there less signs and ads everywhere, the ones I continued to see were muted, not so glaringly bright. Money well spent.

I took a few detours, even taking four right turns a couple of time to check for anyone following me. They could be watching from a drone in the air, or they could have put a tracker on my car.

That made me stop, I grabbed a SMILE! cola from a nearby machine. I gave the vehicle a once over while drinking. Nothing.

Huh. How much ya wanna bet they're waiting for me at the apartment, or show up later tonight.

Sigh, I'm not a trained counter-intel specialist. Yet.

Sure Covert helps, but this is more specific. Do I want to use the points, trusting I be getting a bunch more in the morning, or do I just face the music and see what they want.

One thing's for sure, I'm not taking off the armor tonight.

After a few more roundabout paths I make it home.

Everything was quiet on the home front. My deliveries had beaten me home and were inside already. Sigh.

Security against drones, was a new priority. Send a maintenance drone up with some semtex or whatever modern explosive is common these days, and it's all over.

I assembled my server, and new improved ICBD, grumbling about poor instruction manuals and security protocols.

After some testing to ensure it's working smoothly, I engaged the sync link to my helmet. Viola! No more need to type. Some new sensors in the helm can read my brain waves, so well it'll be like I had a ISLC installed. Ya know other than actually feeling like I'm really in Metspace. Eh, I'll take it.

Time to give Meowser some upgrades. Queue up some montage music!

An hour later Meowser is ripping through Midlevel Wards like tissue paper, and gone from looking like a stick figure to looking like a Electric Blue Tiger on steroids. His shiny horns crackle with data and are excellent analyzer tools. My boy is growing. Soon he shall be the best around!

Ah-hahahahahaha!

I loved it. And this is just the beginning I'm gonna crank up the ISL Smithing skill, maybe take some mob and V.I. programming, then turn Meowser into a real menace.

"Nya!" deep and resonant, as befitting the future general of my Digital Army!

And once again the meatworld intruded on my digital dreams.

The knock was loud and measured, if anyone asked I'd have said it was a bot or a drone.

It was the two Corp stooges from before.

"Victor Simmons, we wish to speak with you." Perfect diction, perfect pitch, perfect imitation. Towertop Metal. Had to be. The Female's voice was vibrant but in the end too perfect.

"It would be better to cooperate." Same deal with the guy. Voice too good for realmeat.

I couldn't help it, I laughed in their faces. I mean it's the same anywhere, the tools of authority always sound like they expect you to simply obey. It's like they never learn. To be fair, most people do comply, and why not? When the puppets of the powerful have all the tools you don't, resistance feels futile, or worse suicidal.

At the end of the day, all authority is derived from power, in all it's forms. Go ahead argue against it, see how that works against a gun in the hands of someone willing to use it.

I've been on both sides of the equation, I know they already had enough info about me to predict my actions. They were expecting me to tell them to fuck off. So I didn't.

"So, speak." Not moving from the doorway, I was actually curious what this was about. A little bit.

They looked at each other, probably exchanging ideas, on how to proceed. They went with option one.

"You were observed engaging groups of hostiles this morning, they were in possession of a case. We want the case. You will be compensated." Her tone never deviated, but never sounded flat either.

"Already delivered to my Spider. Which you already know. He's probably already delivered it to the client. So, you want me to Cyc it back and give it to you, right?"

Snorting I give them my stare of Doom version 5. Patent Pending. Not that they can see it, but it's the principle of the thing.

"You show greater cognizance of the situation than expected. This saves time, retrieve the case, from Hanabi Corp. you will be given commensurate rewards." The guy's tone again never changed. This was getting old.

"One, I have no skills at Cyc work. Two, I am highly noticeable. Three, I'm not getting involved in an issue between Corps. I get jobs from my Spider, and I do the job. If I know the Corps are involved I say no. So, no. Have a good day." I shut the door, and pulled the Avenger, just in case they decided to push.

For a wonder, they didn't.

After waiting a while I went back to work on Meowser, gun still in hand.