I cleaned up the inside of the vault, dusting off the tables and shoving them to the sides as I had planned. For now, I also tossed out the skeleton into the other stacked bones just outside the vault door. I still haven't decided what to do with all of them yet. Would anyone buy bones? Is that a thing these days?
Surprisingly, the interface chid up once more shortly after I dusted and shifted around my new furniture.
「Cleaning - 1 Acquired」
So there were Skills for this kind of thing too, eh? I do faintly rember seeing it when looking through the Skills list, but most of the stuff on that list had long faded to the back of my mind. I really should look through it again.
Still, Cleaning? What good would the Skill do for ? Give a job as a maid for so rich asshole? Might as well give a skill for sleeping… Actually, a Sleeping Skill sounds really nice. Maybe it could have Perks to give benefits for being well-rested... not that I ever truly was well-rested these days.
Anyway, the Cleaning Skill seed a bit odd. I might be able to find sothing of worth out of it. And who knows? Maybe its Perks were good? Sothing like using the Aether to clean dust would be cool. Super niche, but cool nonetheless.
Hmm… does cleaning rust off of tal count as Cleaning? Oh, could it help clean up blood maybe? It would be nice to be able to remove my DNA quicker from scenes. Maybe my initial reaction was a bit harsh.
Why hadn’t I gotten it already though? Surely I’ve cleaned up… before…. Now that I think about it, I haven’t really cleaned anything since I got the interface… and even before. I liked organized chaos, so while I had picked up so stuff here and there I hadn’t really spent ti just cleaning anything until just now.
I looked around the slightly less ssy space, picking apart everything I still needed to do. At the very least, I’ll be able to power-level it quickly.
I spent several more hours cleaning everything up. I even managed to shove all of the bones out into the trash chut- I an, dispose of them properly into the chasm…
Heh. Imagine in one or two hundred years from now, so archeologist finds the mounds of skeletons down there and thinks it's so kind of ritualistic suicide point. Maybe so cyber cult 'embracing the abyss' or sothing... maybe I should carve nonsensical signs and symbols and toss them down there too.
And I was right about power leveling Cleaning. I wasn’t sure how the interface calculated this particular Skill, but I did manage to level it up.
「Cleaning - 1>3」
Under the massive—and quite frankly disgusting—nest of bones and tattered skin, I managed to find quite a bit of chro. All of it was ancient, the newest one being forty or so years old. I could probably scrap them for so smaller parts and whatnot. At a glance, there were about two or three hundred assorted bits and pieces? Not a bad haul. If I were to sell it all, I might be able to get a couple grand, if I was lucky. It would be a serious pain in the ass to haul it up to the surface though, so most of it was destined to be scrap tal.
I stepped into the vault and looked over the door. It was fairly simple to get the back panel of it off. Although the vault door would be tough to get through from the front, the back panel was just bolted on to allow access to the chanics for maintenance.
I pulled off the panel and looked through it, carefully observing how the ss of gears and dials were set up. What looked like blood had dripped into the door at so point, making a chain reaction of damaged bits and pieces. Fairly simple fixes all around as long as I had the right parts.
Or I could go ahead and upgrade it directly instead of repairing the dial lock. Hmm… repairs first. I’d want to put in so kind of electronic lock, and I didn’t have the infrastructure in the vault setup for that kind of thing yet. In the future though...
Thankfully, I should already have most of the parts needed to fix it up. Older chro ran off of gears and hydraulics more than pistons and microservos like more modern stuff did. Or even synthetic muscles like more advanced pieces. Since they didn't have batteries powerful and small enough for chro, most of the older tech was built to run purely off of chanical energy. Quite impressive stuff, if I had to be honest. The biggest drawbacks to the old tech were precision, comfort, and a near-constant need for repairs.
I stripped several pieces from the stack of limbs in the corner of the cave, stripping them into several stacks of different parts. By the thirtieth piece, which just so happened to be a bionic lung of so kind, I found the right array of gears. I stripped out the several lock actuators that had gone bad, replacing their gear work.
A yawn escaped my lips as I also took the chance to reset the dial lock to my own code. It was buried under the rest of the chanisms in the door, but since I was already going through and replacing parts, it was easier to just get it all done now. I had to stop a few tis to get so specific types of parts, which resulted in a quarter of my stack of chro quickly turning into stacks of salvaged parts.
I reassembled the vault door and test-ran it a few tis. The internals were a bit grindy, but nothing so grease couldn't fix. Unfortunately, all my grease was left back under the speakeasy, and I didn't want to walk through the Underground just for so. Next ti I ca down here I'd fix it up.
After that, it was already getting super late. I barely managed to withhold a yawn as I shut the vault door and headed out into the relatively clean area outside my new stash. I’d have to power wash it or sothing to clean off the stains—and stench probably—but for now it looked way better than it did originally.
There was still a lot I needed to do, but for now, the rest of it could wait. I was incredibly tired after a long day, and there was no chance I wanted to sleep down here. At least, not until I reinforced the vault and cleared out the ventilation shafts.
I retraced my steps, this ti not running into anything that wanted to kill . The corpse of the giant-rodent tail-whip creature disappeared at so point, which was worrying. I’d probably have to track down and kill whatever scavenged it soti in the future. It would be unfortunate to get ambushed by my new neighbors.
The subway through the wall wasn’t as annoying to get through this ti around. The rodent hadn’t been near as kind as I had been when it entered the thing. Bits of tal were torn and gnawed into a rather gaping hole. Honestly, it was a bit strange; I hadn’t heard it in the slightest. Hmm... unless sothing else ca through here while I was checking out the stash. What were the chances it was friendly?
I backtracked to the small sewer, grabbed my stuff, and started the long ascent up the shaft. It was tiring as usual. Maybe I should get so kind of auto-ascender? If I was going to start coming and going from the Underground it would be a lot smarter than doing everything by hand… and far faster.
At long last, I reached up to the rotting wood and used the ledge to haul myself back up and into the speakeasy’s office. I took a breather, before finally stripping off my armor and returning back to plain clothes.
As I stuffed the armor back into my bag, I checked the spot on it where the vermin’s tail had struck . Although it was barely visible, a hairline fracture in the paint took away from the abyssal aspect of the armor.
How'd the paint guy say to fix it? Thermal absorption or sothing like that, right? I grabbed my lighter and held it under the fracture. Within seconds, the dark paint absorbed the heat and its self-repairing properties showed themselves. The hairline fracture healed, returning the armor to how it had been before the fight.
Honestly? I was quite impressed with the entire set. Sure, I hadn’t used any of my more exciting features down in the Underground, but the test still ended up being quite successful. And rather eye-opening.
The armor was durable enough to protect against the vermin’s tail whip, which had been a pretty strong strike. I still needed to test it against rifles, but it would probably pass without fail… I guess I could shoot it myself to test it at so point.
Its stealth properties worked like a charm- when they worked. Not even the Wendigo spotted ; It had single-mindedly been after the blood splatters. The biggest issue was the absolute voidness of the armor. I thought it might be an issue when I first painted it all up, but this test run proved the issue to be real. Once sothing saw , they were able to track quite easily. That issue would only beco more apparent the brighter the area. The Underground was near pitch black though so the effect wasn't that strong comparatively.
I did have so workarounds; so were quite simple while so were pretty complicated. The simplest would be to just wear a cloak over the armor. Classic rogue style. A camo cloak of so kind could easily help blend in, and if I lined the inside of the cloak with more paint, I would look like so kind of abyssal entity wearing the cloak like a shell. I'd also have to do sothing about the armor if I wanted to wear it out on the streets to get from point A to point B. It attracted the eye too much with it being voided out heavy armor.
Other than that, the armor was kinda hot. The Underground was usually pretty chilly and I was sweating down here. Specifically, my lower back right where the battery pack was. Maybe I should look at getting so small fans or sothing? Or- or maybe so kind of cooling enchantnt. I know the Crusade puts that kinda stuff on their armor. My opposition to magic was slowly starting to break down, so I might think about it. It would be quieter at least.
Course, there were so other things I noticed, but those were the main ones. Overall, I was happy with the armor. For the most part. Well... maybe not. But I could improve on a lot of that.
And my new stash location was pretty good! It would take a while to get fully set up down there, especially since carting stuff to and fro would be annoying. It was big enough to turn into a hidden workshop too so I could move my printer and stuff down there.
And now that I had a stash, I finally had a spot to store my goods. Speaking of goods, my current loot was a bit lacking... how bout I go get so new stuff?
-- -- --
The next morning, I headed to my first target on the long list of nas I acquired during the art gala: Christoph Von Franz. He was so kind of accountant for one of Sentinel’s many, many subsidiaries. The guy was quite low on my list. He didn’t seem all that wealthy, nor did he have anything that really spoke to .
Similarly, he didn’t have amazing security. The guy was drunk when I talked to him and hadn’t held back as he bragged about his ‘excellent’ security. He talked a big ga about so kind of Mount Knocks vault, but as best I could tell Mount Knocks was a clothing corporation under Sentinel. They did sell vaults, but they were slightly better than your everyday gun vault. If anything, they were insanely overpriced since they were a brand item.
The real issue would be the building's security, not Christoph’s private systems. Blackout was still in the plans for my armor, but I needed so precisely made parts, so it wasn’t an option till I got a 3D tal printer… or hired Tike tal Co. to make them. I didn’t exactly want the schematics for the parts to be floating around though, so I was better off just making them myself.
That, and it would be expensive to get such small and detailed parts made. At that point, might as well save for the printer. I wasn’t too far off either. If I pulled all my gold and Rayn together, I had about seventeen thousand Rayn. Carone said he could get one for thirty-five thousand, or a multi-dium for forty, so I was about halfway there.
Anyway, that brings back to the current heist. Nothing Christoph bragged about really spoke to , so I wouldn’t mind selling most of what I got for so extra Rayn. Might be able to get a couple grand here, which would be a nice supplental inco and good practice for the larger heists on my list.
Christoph Von Franz owned a penthouse suite on the hundred and nineteenth story of the Whitechapel Center. As best as I could tell, the first forty floors were shops of various kinds, with the forty after that rented out to various corporations. It was only the last forty that were actual apartnts. Similarly, it was the last forty that I’d have to watch closer for security.
Getting in would be easy. Just enter like any other custor then take the stairs to the top. It would be a long climb, but I could use an elevator to get up quite far without arousing any suspicion.
Getting out would be easy. Christoph’s penthouse suite faced out towards a building eighty stories tall. Said suite had quite the view, or so he bragged about. That also ant it had glass windows which would make the perfect jump point for the Drop Chute. Snatch the loot, smash a widow, and jump out to safety. Of course, after that descend out onto the streets of the city and either vanish into the shadows or enter the Underground for the perfect escape.
The only parts I was concerned about were moving through the apartnts section and actually getting to the Mount Knocks vault. The armor was a bit too conspicuous, even with a coat covering it up. But hey, that’s what casing the joint was for. It was really about ti I got on that.
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