Before I ended the loop of the security caras, I used so of my various abilities to clean myself up and then put myself back in order. If you hadn't seen what happened, you would never know that Gloria had done anything. I then brought my howork back up on the viewscreen and laughed at how simple it was. Even just using the implanted mories and none of my own experiences, I could complete it all easily.
I finished my howork in re monts, thanks to my technomancy. I didn't have to write anything out or type anything because it just appeared on the digital paperwork according to my will and I submitted them. Since it was after the school closed for the day, they would never know that it didn't take all day to complete the assignnts. I also restarted the security cara's life feed and started watching the television.
It was interesting to see the not-so-hidden propaganda being used in both the news programs and the comrcials. So of it was so blatant that they used almost fully nude people to coerce you to buy their products directly or to beco a custor at their various businesses. In fact, after watching other television shows being aired on several different channels, the ratio of comrcials to actual show content was nearly 50-50.
That wasn't as much of a surprise as it should have been, though. There were vidscreens literally everywhere you looked when you were outside on the street, or inside businesses and comrcial vehicles, like buses and taxis. They played the sa or similar comrcials 24/7, which was blasting the sa 'buy our shit or you're a loser', all day every day.
Just as Synapse entered the apartnt to start her shift taking care of , I received a vidcall. I used the clicker to put it on the television screen and David's battered and bruised face appeared.
“Damn, choom. You look like drek!” I said with a laugh.
David gave my mummified form a glance. “Like you can talk, gonk.”
“Hey, you know why I'm like this.” I said and then grinned at him. “Just like I know why you're like that.”
David looked confused. “How'd you know mom found at Doc's?”
My eyes widened.”What? I thought she was just mad you didn't answer our ssages!”
David sighed and told what happened, which was not really a surprise. He had a higher tolerance than normal for using cyberware and high energy braindance recordings of people's mories were highly addictive, especially if you had a high tolerance and could really feel those huge spikes of emotions.
“Now that I've got you on the line, let check your gear for tampering.” I said and started doing so.
“Naw, choom. I got it. I clean my cache and backlog every day.” David said in clear denial.
I didn't stop what I was doing as I checked and cleaned out several spyware and malware packages that he couldn't detect, since they were embedded in his operating system. “Did Gloria show you the deets?”
“Yeah, she did. It's got a Tyger Claws netrunner signals all over it.” David said with a scoff. “It's like they weren't even trying to hide them, choom.”
My eyes narrowed. “Show .”
“I got better things to do...” David started to say.
“That wasn't a request.” I said and froze his cyberware. His eyes widened as I took control of his implants and downloaded a copy of everything he had. I also used telepathy to show what he ant and used that to direct my technology search to specific instances that I needed. When I was done, I released my hold on him.
David started panting heavily and stared at like he had never seen before. “What... what was... what did you do?”
“I'm not the top design and construction student for nothing, choom.” I said. “With a side in programming, there's literally nothing I can't do.”
David gained a manic gleam in his eyes. “Choom... choom... do you have any BDs?”
I shook my head. “Your mom would do worse to than what she did to Doc if I ever gave you anything.”
David huffed and crossed his arms. “You don't have to worry about that anymore, choom. Mom's not a problem anymore. The NCPD took her.”
That made imdiately seize him again as I read his thoughts. Gloria had been so upset over him spending all her hard earned money at Docs for substandard programs and updates instead of buying the real and approved software packages from licensed vendors, that she called the cops and reported him for selling illegal braindances to underage clients.
Unfortunately, Doc was quite the scumbag and imdiately cut a deal with the cops as he flipped on Gloia and ratted her out for selling black market cyberware that she had harvested off of corpses she picked up during her EMT job. Since they were technically at Wagon assets she stole, they arrested her for fraud, corporate espionage, tax evasion, and selling tech without a license.
I also caught the thought that he had raided her personal savings to try and gather enough to put a lawyer on retainer, not realizing that all lawyers were corporation owned and sponsored. If he hired anyone, even from a rival company, they would keep the money and barely do anything as they ensured she lost, since then they could bill her even more for making them waste their ti on soone that was guilty.
“Listen to .” I said and implanted the sa directives directly into his brain. “You are going to forget about hiring a lawyer on your own. You're not that stupid or trusting. Put the money you stole from her into another account and leave it there. It'll stop the cops from seizing it for evidence and keeping it, because she can't claim it when the trial is over. It's against the law to benefit from a cri, after all.”
David nodded his head several tis, or thought he did. He was still frozen by and hadn't moved.
“I'll find her and I'll deal with it.” I promised and he nodded again. “Sit tight and don't go anywhere or do anything else. The last thing Gloria needs is you going out to Doc's again to raid his stash.”
David looked terrified that I had guessed he was going to do that as soon as he felt well enough to leave the apartnt and not get mugged because of how he looked, already beaten up and an easy target that couldn't fight back.
“Later, choom.” I said and hung up.
Syn had stood there, just outside the vidscreen's pickup. “Veder, what...”
“Personal drek.” I said and glanced down at myself. “Can you cut free? I know there's nothing you can do with the casts, and that's okay. I'll need them for a distraction, anyway.”
Syn gave a questioning look and motioned to my immobile body.
“What's more sympathetic? A kid still in the Academy showing up to defend her, or another victim that's there to help soone else that's being railroaded by another corporation?” I asked her.
Syn had to nod at that and went to the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors. She ca back and went to work cutting away all of the restrictive wrappings and bandages around my chest. When she reached for the ones on the back of my skull, I shook my head to stop her. She shrugged and cut away everything below my waist and saved the best part for last.
Since I wasn't in the mood at all, I was still soft and she looked slightly disappointed. With the main restrictions removed, and casts only on my forearms, calves of my legs, and my shoulders and part of my neck, I could mostly move like normal. I just couldn't tilt my ankles or grab anything substantial with my hands.
“Can you grab my uniform from the bathroom and slit the arms and legs for ? After I put them on, you can tape them in place to stop them from flopping around.” I said and sat up.
It was the first ti I was doing so in this world and it was a relief I hadn't thought I would feel. I stood up and pretended to be shaky, just so Syn wouldn't see being completely fine after my accident and convalescence.
Her hand steadied and she handed the shirt from my uniform. I held it with my fingers and tried to slip it on. I couldn't fit the casts through the shoulder holes and Syn had to cut the arm off completely and out a small slit under the armpits.
“Why does that look sexier?” Syn whispered when I put it on and the shirt left my muscular arms bare. She cut all the way up each of the blazer's arms on the underside and added the sa cut under the armpit for my casts to fit.
I put it on and she didn't use tape to secure it. She had produced a needle and dark thread from sowhere and she gave a knowing look. When she was done securing the dark blazer and it didn't look too bad, she showed the thread and it was suture material. She had raided the first aid kit for it and I thanked her for being so smart. You couldn't even see it and it held much better than tape ever would.
She helped with the underwear first and she didn't even glance at down there as she did. The slices at the thighs wouldn't bother too much, since boxers were kind of loose anyway. The pants were next and the sutures worked for them as well. She even warned that I had to be careful with how quickly I sat down. That pulled on the fabric and stitches a lot and could rip them apart.
I nded them instead and the change was easily hidden, thanks to the dark fabric. If anyone asked to remove them, I could easily say I was sewn into them and they weren't coming off unless they were cut off.
Syn called for a taxi for and I searched through the local network for information about a ripperdoc selling BDs. I found him at the Third Precinct of the Night City Police Departnt and knew that was where they had taken Gloria. I grabbed my clicker and went into my bedroom and produced a briefcase and filled it with aningless legal docunts, just so I looked the part. I would have to search the net for legal precedents to help in this situation as I went there.
Surprisingly, Synapse chose to co with . She said sothing about making things more believable and I just thanked her for willing to put up with . She looked happy as she helped out of the elevator and Tank the security guard laughed at . I gave him the finger of course, which made him laugh more, and we left the building.
The taxi arrived and it was a relatively short ride that was extended because of the traffic. I had plenty of ti to research the case and I also downloaded the entire legal section from the online library. There were a lot of similar cases, which was quite telling. It also ant the police thought they had a slam dunk case and there wold be no trouble with it.
I tried sending a ssage to Gloria and it was blocked, which ant the police station had her in a Faraday cage that didn't let any signals in or out. I wasn't restricted by that, though. I used telepathy and then technomancy to let Gloria know that legal help was coming and to not say anything else.
“Veder!” Gloria gasped. The shock she felt at contacting her in a secure room must have scared the cops talking to her, because they hopped up from the interview table and had their hands on their guns.
Thankfully, they didn't shoot and I sent them calm feelings. They relaxed and one sat down and the other stayed standing, just in case.
The taxi ca to a stop and I used my clicker to pay the fee, then Syn helped inside the station. The guards gave us pitying looks and I whispered a thank you to Syn for letting play up the nearly helpless victim. She looked pleased and we went over to the front desk. I produced a legal contract with Gloria's signature on it that I was her legal council and I said I needed to see my client right away.
The man tried to delay by saying she was willingly talking to the detectives and I laughed in his face. He looked offended and I stated, plain as day, that anything she said without present, was not legally admissible in court. She could admit to killing Sarubo Araska himself and they couldn't use it to prosecute her.
With a grumble about smartass lawyers, he led Syn and myself deeper into the station to where they were interrogating Gloria and knocked on the door. It opened and a whispered conversation later, the door was opened and the desk sergeant left. Gloria looked genuinely shocked to see there, despite my ssage that help was coming.
There was a bit of shouting from the two detectives when they saw and my nurse, since they thought I was a young idiot and could be easily intimidated. I let them rant on and on as much as they wanted and just stood there with a small smile on my face.
It wasn't until they were slightly winded and were done making as many excuses as they could that they already had her confession and I was wasting their ti because I wasn't needed, that I finally chose to speak.
“Are you done?” I asked, calm as can be, and they nodded. “Then get out. I need to talk to my client.”
They both started ranting again, this ti about lacking respect, and I again stood there and let them get it out of their system. When they wound down and were winded again, I simply wiggled my fingers as I pointed to the door with a cast-covered hand and kept smiling at them. They both looked angry, as if they were going to start ranting for a third ti, then they both decided it wasn't worth trying the tactic again and left.
I sat down across from Gloria and Syn leaned against the wall under the visible cara. Shedidn't realise it was a decoy and the real cara was behind to keep Gloria fully in the shot as she was interrogated.
“How did you do that?” Gloria asked.
“Ignorance and persistence.” I said, without clarifying what exactly I was referring to. “David called half an hour ago and I found out what happened.”
Gloria sighed and used her hands to rub her face. “I was so angry that...”
“Stop!” I ordered and she jerked as if slapped. “Admit to nothing.”
“But, I already told them...” Gloria started to say.
“Nothing you said is admissible in court. You didn't have a lawyer present and they didn't ask you if you wanted one.” I said and she looked surprised. “At no point did you say you didn't need a lawyer and would willingly confess to things that you thought were cris.”
As she sat there contemplating the words I had just told her, I was ntally filing requests on the bounties for turning in illegal ripperdocs, and found out how much it was to turn in illegal BDs that were both gained without a license and were stolen, made copies of, and distributed. Needless to say, it was a lot.
After I touched Doc's mind to get the number he had and the police had found, I added them into the filed claim. The police were sitting on the whole thing, because if Gloria was convicted and didn't claim it, they could keep it all, free and clear.
I claid it on her behalf, as her lawyer, and could easily make her out to be a saint as she worked undercover on her job to find all of the criminals she could to sell garbage cyberware to. I even filed exceptions to her looting, since it was done before the bodies were loaded into the ambulance. Until at Wagon gained full possession of them, they were a looter's paradise.
Also, there was no physical proof she was the one to remove them. It easily could have been a bystander that approached her with scrap cybernetics after an accident and sold them to her for a pittance and she turned around for an even bigger profit. There was no law against selling reclaid salvage, after all.
The amount of reasonable doubt I could put on the case would have it thrown out before it ever reached a courtroom. Plus, I may have also deleted the footage they had of her telling them she was the one that harvested the scrap. I couldn't leave that floating around, after all.
A few pokes with telepathy put a similar viral bomb that Tanaka had used, altered for ntions of Gloria of course, into the two detectives and the other people in the area that had seen Gloria or heard about the case. I didn't wait for an arbitrary ti to set it off, though. I did it imdiately and all of that info about her just disappeared and none of them felt pain or would ever know it happened.
As far as the police were concerned, she was the naless woman that had turned in Doc for his cris. A quick scour of the police servers took care of the paperwork as well and all that remained were the requests for all the money they owed her.
After getting that handled, I sat there and reassured Gloria that everything was handled and she had nothing to worry about. She didn't quite believe until twenty minutes later when I gave the desk sergeant the ntal command to do up the bounty claim and to bring it to us. He entered the interrogation room and told us all to leave. Gloria didn't move and he huffed and pulled out a credit voucher and tossed it to her.
“There's your bounty. Get out.” He said and left.
Gloria stared at the thing for several seconds and then looked at .
“I may have filed a claim on your behalf for the bounty for turning in an illegal ripperdoc and the 1,435 illegal braindances that were stored at his place when you called in to report it.” I said and produced a copy from my briefcase and then dug out the paperwork for her exception to the looting rules, since all she did was sell reclaid salvage. “Here's your pardon for selling salvage, too.”
Gloria held all three things in her hands and looked lost.
“Those are just printed copies for you to have, by the way. It was all handled digitally.” I reminded her.
Gloria let out a sigh and slumped slightly, because her entire life had been overturned because her son couldn't stop wanting to experience strong emotions through braindances.
“Co on, let's get out of here.” Syn said and helped stand.
Gloria saw struggle and tucked the paperwork and the voucher away, then helped on my other arm and I grabbed the briefcase. The three of us walked out past the sa detectives that had been berating her for an hour to get her to crack. They didn't even look at her and Gloria barely hid her surprise at that.
“You got one over on them, choombatta. They're not gonna try to go after you again.” I whispered to her as we left the precinct.
“Call Gloria.” Gloria said and I gave her a surprised look. “You just saved my gonk ass from going to prison for the rest of my life, Veder. There's no way we're only staying acquaintances after that.”
I managed to not blurt out that we were far from that after what happened earlier today, then rembered Syn was right there and didn't know that Gloria had rocked my world. “Then you can call anything you want, just don't call late for dinner.”
Both Gloria and Syn barked a laugh and another taxi drove up and parked for us. We entered it, a little awkwardly with them trying to help and trying to let them, then we were off again and headed towards Gloria's place. She ntioned retrieving her dical backpack from Doc's place and we drove by, only it was covered with police tape and boarded up.
Gloria let out a curse under her breath. “That's going to cost .”
“Just quit.” I said and both she and Syn turned their heads to stare at . “Your undercover work was exposed when you had to turn in the local ripperdoc for intentionally hurting your son, so you can't keep putting your life in danger every night with all of his clients out to get you for costing them their fix.”
Gloria let out a few more curses and then sighed. “You're right. I can't... I have to...” She stopped and leaned her head back on the seat, her face full of worry. “What am I going to do now?”
“The first thing you're going to do is open another account, cash that enormous bounty, and not worry about anything for a few months.” I said and she looked surprised. “What? They only pay a piddly 50 eddies for turning in illegal braindances. With that and the ten grand for the ripperdoc, 82,000 eddies isn't going to last very long.”
Gloria gasped at that total and then her face lost the worry look and she bead a smile at . “You fucking gonk.” She said with affection in her voice, then she sat up and pulled in to give a deep and passionate kiss.
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