Two things happened in a very short period. First, I heard my door lock rattle near silently. A flush of Insight hit as yet another spell was cast. The lock on my door went silent, though it still moved as I watched it.
And secondly, I pulled the pins of my two grenades and boldly threw them out the window. I counted the seconds, hoping my locks could hold up for just a few monts longer. I still had the elent of surprise, but it’d be over as soon as the door opened-
Two great fireballs erupted on the street, flashing brightly as they illuminated the entire place. My two grenades had perfectly landed inside of the vans in the optimal spot to cause the most damage, turning their vehicles into giant bombs. Windows all along the street shattered as two shockwaves burst out.
As soon as the flashes of fire erupted, I crawled out the window and onto the faux balcony. Rain splattered against , pressing down on my body. I fixed my grip so I wouldn't slip on the wet ledge.
With the raging fires acting as distractions and casting shadows for to hide in, I stealthily edged my way around the ledge, carefully going out and around the corner. Honestly, the rain was nice. It acted as yet another screen to cover my actions from the casual observer.
I turned the corner into the alleyway of the building-
A plu of fire erupted out my window as every single grenade went off. The building shook, nearly knocking off the ledge. I barely managed to hold on, working my way around the building to the fire escape. I hopped over the tal rail, taking the stairs two at a ti as I ran up to the roof of the apartnt building.
I hesitated briefly on the last flight, pausing as I peeked over the edge. They were well hidden behind the clothes racks and machinery cluttered up here, but not hidden enough. Yet another squad was set up, rifles raised and ready at the roof’s door. Five squads then. Maybe more. Mother was quite serious about taking hostage, it seed. Even a couple borgs.
Seriously though, five squads? For little old ? Quite the honor... I would say if it'd been anyone else getting hunted down like a dog. I'd rather not have such an honor.
I shifted directions, silently leaping from the fire escape onto an air conditioning unit on the building across the short alley. The bolts creaked and groaned quietly as they bore my weight. The scent of rotten water and rusted tal hit like a hamr.
I lifted myself onto the air conditioning unit. Springing off of it, my hands barely wrapped around the lip of the roof. In a feat of agility that I wouldn’t have even hoped to pull off months ago, I flung myself up and over the roof, casually landing on my feet.
High ground successfully acquired. And this building was a floor higher than the other. I kept low and into the shadows as I looked around the street to better understand the situation.
Five more vans had pulled up at so point, dropping off even more enemies to hunt down. Even more borgs. If at first they'd stayed light to keep subtle, now they no longer cared. Fighting wasn’t an option. There were simply too many, and a ton of people would also die in the crossfire. My bike… also wasn’t an option. They had the whole street sealed off. Getting it out would be a pipe dream.
How did they even find in the first place? It wasn’t through the Crusade. They didn’t have my ho address. Soone could’ve followed ho, I guess, but I think I would’ve noticed or gotten so warning from Insight.
It wasn't through a search of tenets either. My na wasn’t even on the contract with the landlord. If anything, my renting the apartnt was off the books. Or, at least, as off the books as could be. Illegal? Probably. But who really cared? It was win-win, or at least had been.
So kind of tracker then? But I’d swept everything with the Bughound when I ca ho from the Night Market just to test it. Nothing but my own tech. Sothing wasn’t adding up.
I shifted my gaze back streetside as I pulled my hat lower to block the rain. Twenty more had appeared on the streets, heading for my apartnt-
No, they walked past it. Instead, they started surrounding the current building I was on. I glanced up, looking down across the roof. The squad up there had even subtly shifted directions, moving in towards . How’d they know?
I couldn’t stay here. I needed to get out. I pulled up the map of the city in the back of my mind as I made my way to the backside of the building. Without hesitation, I threw myself off the roof. The several-story drop to the next roof over was taken care of by my Drop Chutes.
Before my handy tech could even power back down, I was moving. I sprinted across the roof before throwing myself down into the damp alley below. I moved, carefully dodging mounds of wet trash.
I made my way down the alleys, flowing through connecting streets as I burst out onto a relatively popular street full of bars. I imdiately slowed down to match the tempo of the average drunk stumbling down the street, rging into the crowd naturally.
I also dropped my rifle. It was too big and would only make stand out more. Down to just my pistols and such.
My hand scratched at my neck as I walked. At the… mosquito… bite… it should’ve healed by now. No reason Quick Healing shouldn’t have taken care of it. Unless…
I worked my way into one of the bars, becoming just another patron. I slunk back into the bathroom. It was a ssy place reeking of drugs and covered in graffiti, but I needed the mirror. I turned my head, barely managing to spot the bug bite on my neck.
It looked normal. Absolutely normal. If I didn’t have Quick Healing, I might not have noticed anything was wrong in the first place. Aetherial Perception flicked on, revealing the source of my current problem.
Dark green, nearly black ooze sat inside the bug bite. The corruptive aura emitting from it left no doubt in my mind where it ca from. Mother. A sigh left . I should've been paying more attention.
I raised my hands, squeezing at the mark to try and force it out. Nothing but blood squirted out even as I practically tore the skin off. It was stuck there. Mundane thods probably wouldn't be able to take care of it.
“Hey, you lot of voyeurs, any clues on how to get rid of this?” I raised a hand to my neck as I stared in the mirror.
「Request - Visit Fox's Shrine - Received
Fox would like you to visit Her shrine. Assistance outside of shrines is limited thanks to the Scion Accords.
Reward: Cleared of Trackers」
“Thank you.” Fox’s Shrine, eh? That would be… rough. I was currently on the north side of Little Yukoto. Fox’s Shrine was on the complete other side of the district, close to the Corporate Quarter. Without a ride? Hours to get over there, and I’d have to cut through the Ryu Container Yard.
Hmm… what to do, what to do… backup? Could I call for backup? The Jade Fangs would probably shelter if I asked, though I’d have to owe them even more… And there was a chance it could blow up on even worse... The Crusade-
A commotion from outside the bar drew my attention. I flicked my hood down, exposing my face entirely as a plan slowly ford. They’d be looking for so covered-up, so hiding in plain sight was my best bet. And Master of Disguise should take care of most of my problems.
I left the bathroom, finding several heavily ard troops in full black tactical gear. Rifles, ballistic armor, grenades, flashes- they were fully set up and ready for a fight. Two of them held the door, inspecting everyone as they went by, while another three moved in between the tables checking faces.
Out the window, a similar scene played out. The massive group, practically a small army, was dispersed amongst the crowd as they looked for . Several shops all around were in similar states, with squads heading through them.
”Oi! What are you doin’ in shop!” The bartender called out as he finally got annoyed with the group.
One of the squad looked up, a massive borg with subdermal armor fully exposed. His eyes flashed. A mont later, a tip jar set up on the bar overloaded with Rayn. At least two thousand if not more.
“Have a good ti.” The bartender did a complete one-eighty as he went back to serving patrons.
I acted normal, Cues assisting as I staggered around like an average, annoyed drunk. My small stature slightly gave it away, but that didn’t matter too much as I staggered for the door. There were plenty of shorter people in the world.
“Stop!” One of the guards stopped with a heavy paw on my shoulder as I ‘fell’ into him. Hidden Hands and Swipe flashed montarily as I stood back up like nothing happened.
The guard, completely unaware, looked down at a picture before comparing it to my face. It was a picture of , though not a good one. And not recent in the slightest. My feature scrubber kept safe from most caras these days.
He looked back and forth a couple of tis before shaking his head. His eyes glimred with a trace of familiarity, and yet confusion of equal parts. He stared a mont longer before letting by. “Not her.”
Master of Disguise for the win! Never thought it'd pay off like this, but oh man, am I glad I picked it.
I wasted no ti staggering out into the crowded streets, twirling a flashbang pin around my finger. The trigger was still compressed when I left the guy, but if he shifted just a little bit? I twirled the pin one more ti before launching it off into an alley-
Bang!
A bright flash erupted behind , illuminating the space as several screams erupted. I joined the crowd naturally as people scread and shouted. They pushed and shoved to flee the area. The scattered squads tried to calm everyone down, recognizing the flashbang for what it was- a distraction. Nothing like pack ntality to bulldoze over dozens of heavily ard combatants, though.
Their efforts proved for naught as everyone surged over their much smaller numbers. I followed the crowd, bumping into several of the troops. Hidden Hands kept my actions stealthy while Swipe helped get it done quickly. As I left, I went with three more grenades and eight more flashes to my na.
I ducked down several more side streets, losing my hunters to the best of my abilities. I used my superior agility once more to clamber up the side of a building. I found purchase on window sills, climbing up them as I tried not to disturb the residents.
I nearly kicked a TV set up in a window, barely managing to shift my ascent to the side as I caught myself. I t the eyes of a young kid as he played with an action figure. He waved the figure’s arm at . I waved back, shifting the motion into a shh. The kid nodded before going back to playing like he never saw .
There were no other accidents as I pulled myself up and onto a roof. I looked around, plotting several escape routes as I added my ntal map of the city to better plan. From my vantage point, my stalkers were in full view as they closed in on once more. They were still a few alleys away; I had a few minutes before they’d reach .
In the distance, Crusade lights flashed brightly as flyers seed to converge towards the HQ. Hope nothing too crazy was going down with the Crusade. Though, if sothing was, it'd be just my luck.
I took a deep breath, throwing together a hasty plan. My ultimate goal was to reach the other side of the district where Fox’s Shrine sat. It would be hard with what felt like the full might of a PMC company after , but not impossible. Especially if I called in so help.
Rifling through my pockets, I pulled out my Crusade phone and dialed one of my only contacts. It rang a few tis before the Inquisitor's tired voice answered. “What-“
“They’re after .” I cut him off. My voice… didn't even shake in the slightest. Crazy how much I’ve changed in the past several months. This sort of thing would’ve had a much harsher effect on my ntality back then, but now I just felt cool and calm. “The Circle. Several squads.”
“Where?” The grogginess imdiately vanished as the Inquisitor’s voice went ice cold.
My phone started to warm up as the call progressed. ”North of Ryu Container Yard. I set a flash off in a crowd. I can’t stick around here, though.”
“Right. Shtay moving.” The sound of ruffling papers ca across the line. Was he still in the office? “I’ll alert the Commander. We’ll get reinforcentsh as shoon as we can. Numbers?”
I shifted my phone in my grip, adjusting it as I felt my hand start to get hot. “At least sixty heavily ard troops. Sentinel gear, and at least a dozen borg murdermachines. You can’t miss them. They’ve got-“
My phone wasn’t just getting warm, it was burning. Scorching hot. A streak of Insight hit , causing to throw my phone off to the side mid-sentence. Before the device could even hit the ground, it exploded into a spray of shrapnel.
There was only one cause for such a thing to happen; they had a Netrunner too. Things just got so much more complicated.
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