Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 400

The Roughrider dropped into a low hover, and the autopilot took over to settle it down onto the rooftop. Cameras swept the rooftop, but the Blinder module built into the Roughrider kept us invisible. “Cams?”Luna glanced at them, and the cameras instantly stopped moving. A second later, the white-haired netrunner let go of my waist and leaned away. “Got them. We’re clear.”

“Nova.” I shut off the Roughrider, and slid off the side of the vehicle. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Luna glanced up from her deck, and her eyes slowly focused on me. Vox, settled on her shoulder, cutely imitated the gesture. The setting sun far to the west reflected sharply off her metal chassis. ”’Course. I should be fine, though.”

As Luna walked off to the relay tower perched on the rooftop, Mira’s Roughrider skimmed low across the rooftop. The thrusters blew up a cloud of loose pebbles and dust before settling down just beside mine. She flicked off the vehicle, and leaned forward over the handlebars. “I thought you said this part would be hard?”

”Not for us.” I glanced back at the relay tower. It was the closest to the island complex, so all signals should route through here before spreading out to the wider city. Taking it over was integral to the plan. Not to mention it’d allow Saint’s stream to go a lot smoother.

As expected of a major relay, the thing was full of Black ICE and all sorts of countermeasures. A lesser runner would be fried just from trying to connect into the thing, let alone take it over. This part of the plan fell squarely on Luna’s shoulders.

I moved over to the rooftop’s railing, and looked out toward the sunset-lit bay. We were well into Portside, and just a few streets away from where the city infringed on the dark waters of the ocean. The stench of old fish, salt, and something close to rot radiated off the place.

Mira joined me at the balcony railing to watch the setting sun. As the light slowly bled out, the balcony rail glowed a brighter and brighter red from a neon sign hanging just below us. “How are we on time?”

I idly checked my HUD. Not that I needed to. Ever since I spread out the plan a day and a half ago, I’d been closely watching the clock. “Ahead of schedule.”

We already finished the preparatory heist that I was worried about. It was way easier than I expected. Really, I should’ve known. Saint and I had already broken in there once, and the trackers weren’t an issue between Luna and I. The biggest issue, surprisingly, was getting the thing to fit into my Aether bunker. I had to clear it almost entirely out, so my workshop now looked like a scrapyard.

“How’s your bots coming along?” Mira asked. She hadn’t had time to look around my workshop since the day I announced the plan.

All four of us had been so incredibly busy getting everything ready. Mira, in particular, was responsible for buying and transporting a bunch of stuff. I would’ve liked to make everything myself, but time was short, so getting pre-fabricated pieces sped me up drastically.

“They’re coming.” They were in the final stages of testing. Thankfully, the code was pretty much copy and paste so it wasn’t too big of an issue once Luna and I ironed out the kinks. “They won’t be pretty, though.”

”As long as they’re functional.” Mira shrugged off her poncho, and tossed it back toward her Roughrider. It wasn’t raining for once, and there was a nice chill in the air. “Did you see what Saint’s been up to?”

”I checked on the way out here.” Our reporter had been doing his job perfectly. With how much his viewership had jumped recently, it wouldn’t surprise me if every slag in the city knew that Dorrin had just arrived, what Tornado had done, and where the CEO would be staying.

It was all in preparation for tomorrow night. Everything was, really. Tomorrow night would make or break us… I was hoping for the former, ‘course. I suppressed a yawn, and just stared off the side of the building into the setting darkness. I had three more stims from the Crusade to get through tonight. Unfortunately, the stuff wore out of my system way too fast thanks to Universal Donor.

”You should take a nap, at least.” Mira glanced at my tensed jaw and drooping eyes. “We need you at a hundred percent.”

”I…” I shook my head. I wanted to argue a bit, but she was right. “Once I’m done tonight—“

“ you be done tonight?” Mira stared at me. The red light from the sign just below us illuminated half her face, giving her a rather intense gaze.

”Hopefully.” If I wasn’t, then I’d have to change some things last minute. I really, didn’t want to do that. The best backup plan still relied on far too much blind hope and luck.

Silence settled across the building, I glanced back to find Luna halfway up the relay tower with an ascender, and dangling precariously from the side. Vox was further up than her, wrapping a microwire around one of the support beams.

I forced myself to look away while my mind went through the plan again and again. It was perfect. The second riskiest part was already taken care of. Right, it’d go perfectly. If it didn’t…

Lightning flashed out across the bay. Storm clouds gathered over the dark ocean. The sun was fully set now, leaving almost no illumination out in the inky darkness. My chrome eye zoomed in on the island, and the night vision module flicked on. 

Out beyond the city limits, there was already action. The zoom of my eye was just enough to see armed flyers coming and going from the councilman’s island. Supplies were constantly being dropped off, and spotlights swept out over the water constantly. A boat exploded out somewhere on the water. Probably some slag who thought they could try their luck.

“How many people do you think are going to die tomorrow night?” I asked, breaking the silence that’d settled across the rooftop.

The plan half relied on Saint subtly stirring up mercs that wanted the bounty, and convincing them to attack all at once tomorrow night. There likely wouldn’t be any larger PMC groups mixed into the attackers, but there would be countless others attracted like flies by the bounty.

Mira didn’t immediately respond. She just leaned forward over the roof’s railing, and looked out toward the ocean. “Does it matter?”

“No… I don’t think it does.” It wouldn’t change anything. I’d signed off on the plan back when Viper and I made it. Regretting and wanting to change the plan right before the big night was impossible.

Everyone knew the risks of attacking a CEO. Not only did corporations usually like to make examples out of people that crossed that line, but even Saint’s articles hadn’t pulled punches when pointing out Dorrin’s security. Anyone that attacked knew full well what they were getting into.

“Did you know he had a son?” Mira asked after a few minutes of us looking out toward the ocean. “Dorrin, I mean.”

”Chek.” I’d read the full file from Sentinel. The CEO’s wife died in a botched assassination attempt that ultimately killed the wrong person, his son committed suicide, and his daughter didn’t speak to him. He was a sad, miserable man. One that took his misery out on everyone else. “Tommy Gale.”

“ODed on designer drugs… he was fifteen.” She shook her head sadly, and leaned back with a heavy sigh. “I can’t even imagine.”

”I can.” I usually tried not to think about my street-rat days much, but the memories welled up anyway. I saw far younger back then. “It’s easier than dealing with it all.”

“Still…” She ran a hand along the malignant black chrome sticking out of her body. “Do you think it actually feels that good?”

“To lose control?” I leaned against the retaining and looked at her. Her head was tilted down, and she had an intensely vulnerable expression that made my chest hurt. “No.”

“‘Course say that.” Mira nudged my shoulder playfully like we weren’t just having a serious conversation. She tilted her head up, and stared up at the stormy sky slowly approaching us. “Do you think it’s worth it? That it’s… quiet?”

Overdosing? Mickey Mays last moments were screaming and overheating. I had much, much older memories, though, of people just rotting away. Not everyone went out with a bang like that. “I… the ones I’ve seen never looked like they found what they were looking for.”

“No, I suppose they didn’t.” She stretched out a hand toward the ocean, and slowly clenched it into a fist. “It’s a good thing he kept me off the supper addictive stuff.”

”Chek.” Truly, Nael was the best Medek. If it weren’t for him back then, I didn’t even know what I would’ve done. “Are you still on anything?”

”Anti-depressants?” She laughed, though it was a sound closer to morbid amusement than true cheer. “I wish… he only gave me something for Desynchronization.”

“That’s good.” I didn’t get any medicine from Nael this last time around. Not that I needed it. Quick Healing and Universal Donor took care of most of the latent issues. Medicine didn’t stick long in my system anymore, anyway.

Mira shifted, and stared down at the street below us. Her fist stayed harshly clenched, and she sharply dropped it down toward the street. “I thought about it a few times back then, you know…”

I slipped my arm around her shoulders. Her skin was absolutely freezing. She tensed up slightly, though didn’t pull away from me. I idly traced a small pattern on her shoulder just underneath the Shift ExoCore. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No… not really.” She leaned lower on the balcony so my arm wasn’t so awkwardly angled thanks to the height difference. 

“Then we don’t have to.” I sighed, and looked out over the ocean once more.

“It’ll get better eventually,” she said after a moment. “This job’s just making me too introspective.”

”It’s a good thing it’ll be over soon.” Hopefully, by the end of tomorrow, everything would be wrapped up. One way or another.

Mira just sat there with my arm draped around her shoulder for awhile. Eventually, she took a breath, and bowed her head. “Are we doing the right thing?”

I didn’t have an answer to that question. I never had, and I doubted I ever would, to be honest. As much as I wanted to claim that we were, we existed in that ugly gray zone that most of the world had fallen into. “We’re still alive to worry about it, aren’t we?”

“Yeah… yeah, you’re right.” She laughed lightly, and shook her head. “I guess it only becomes an issue when we stop worrying, huh?” 

“Something like that.” I patted her shoulder lightly and moved a few steps away. 

“I’m done,” Luna called faintly from behind us. She was already back down from the relay, and stood awkwardly behind us like she didn’t want to ruin whatever moment we were just having.

”Nova.” I glanced back toward the ocean. “Let’s get out of here before the storm hits.”

— — —

Sean Sentinel sat on a couch inside of his private apartment. Just next to him, Brunhilde nursed a bottle of wine. His unhinged aunt drank directly from the bottle without bothering to get a cup. Just in front of them, several screens projected video feeds across the city. The central, largest screen, though, showed orbital footage of a particular island in the middle of the bay.

”Are you sure it’s wise to start drinking so soon?” Sean glanced at his aunt.

”When else would I start?” She tipped the bottle back, and took a long drag of the red wine. “Not like I can get drunk, anyway. Stupid chrome kidney.”

“You could get it replaced.” Sean offered, though he knew how she’d answer. They’d had this conversation several times throughout the years. 

“No point.” She took another drink, and settled back onto the couch. “Maybe you should get one, my dear nephew? It’d be a bad look to get drunk in front of your little girlfriend.”

“She’s not—“ Sean cut himself off and ignored her jest.

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved a lazy hand and laughed lightly. “You know, most guys get a box of chocolates or some flowers. Not a twenty million bounty that may very well kill the girl.”

“I’m not most guys.” He sighed, and refocused on an article he’d been reading on his phone. Sentinel’s bounty had blown up thanks to a certain site, and Dorrin’s information was practically given away for free. ”What do we know about City of Sorrows?”

“One of Inverse’s assets. Their popularity has been hit or miss in the past, but their stream of the Scath Heights made them explode. The one running it hasn’t let that hype drop, and exposés have been going out near constantly since.” Brunhilde flicked a finger, and one of the screens cut to a recorded live stream. “Look familiar?”

Sean eyed the blotch of darkness that his aunt showed him. It was definitely an unfamiliar figure, but the halo’d girl nearby told him all he needed to go. Although she was blurred out slightly and her identity hidden, there was no need to guess at her identity. “Think they’re aligned?”

”Maybe. Or maybe whoever’s running COS has good intuition. Several other mercs were blurred out too.” Brunhilde shrugged. “Think she’ll pull it off?”

”I… don’t know.” Sean wanted to say with full confidence that she’d pull it off without any issue. He knew the difficulty of this job better than anyone, though. She’d done some impressive things since he’d been watching, but this was on a whole other level. A large part of him worried he’d just killed her by handing the job over.

”I sure hope she does.” Brunhilde glanced at him. “Or, at least, does. For your sake.”

”Yeah.” Sean sighed, and ran a hand down his face. He had to sacrifice quite a bit to take over command. It was his idea to release the gig to the public instead of just sending Sentinel operators or hiring a specific merc team. It was about sending a message just as much as revenge. 

This wasn’t just a chance for her—it was a chance for him. If Sentinel captured Dorrin flawlessly, his standing in Sentinel would go up and his father might trust him with more things in the future. If this went sideways, then this might very well be the last thing he ever took charge of. 

He already knew his older siblings were watching with interest. Sean had kept quiet and out of the succession so far, so him suddenly starting to make moves naturally roused their attention. His father was also watching, so it was unlikely any of them would try sabotaging this time around. In the future, that wouldn’t always be true.

If this went through, then he’d try to push for more authority over just Aythryn City. Sean didn’t care all that much about the rest of Sentinel’s holdings around the world. He’d rather be the head of a dog than the tail of a dragon.

Brunhilde finished off the rest of her bottle, and shot to her feet. “I’ve got some things to do tonight… I’ve cleared the board to come watch the fireworks tomorrow night.”

“I’ll make popcorn.” Or get one of the chefs to do it, at least. Tomorrow night was the night. She hadn’t down anything tonight, and City of Sorrows made it evident that there wouldn’t be a chance for the bounty after tomorrow night. If she didn’t get it tomorrow, someone else would.

— — —

AN: Woah, I just realized this is chapter 400. Crazy. Has it really been that long? It’s also been a while since I made a patty plug. .com/lostrain if you want to read ahead or are interested in some of my other work. Thanks for sticking with me for so long! It’s definetly been an experience.

dot com/lostrain