Chapter 138

With the outside cleared out, I had some time to prep just in case something bad happened. So I went over to the HMG turret, it hadn’t spotted me yet, and with just a moment’s work turned it off, reset its targeting to the gonks data, and then started it back up. Then I aimed it at the entrance.

 

Heh.

 

If they were in a car and really moving, it likely wouldn’t hit them, but if they came out on foot, or came out in a car slowly, that HMG would tear them up.

 

I spent a few minutes looking around for anything else of use, but it looks like most of the stuff on the surface was trash. I mean there was literally a pit that they threw all of their trash away at. Gross.

 

With that I was ready. I walked back to the entrance, and once more slipped into the camera system.

 

There were a few cameras deeper into the cave, and I used them now. Slowly looking through the three additional viewpoints inside. One showed me the hallway just inside the mine.

The other was panning over a larger room that looked like their taken over garage.

 

I took a moment to scan the vehicles I could see, but didn’t find the car that I was here to find. The camera couldn’t see everything, but it was a sign that we were at the wrong place.

 

Which didn’t impact me at all, because these fuckers were Wraiths. There were a few non-wraith vehicles in the garage I could see that had very obviously been shot up.

 

Not even touching on the more civilian vehicles that were definitely people they had chosen for kidnapping.

 

I knew that because the last camera showed a fucking cage of all things. Thankfully it was empty.

 

With Ping I had locations of the Wraiths, and I started planning out my route.

 

Then I rose, my vision returning to my own eyes as I slipped inside. The camera at the end of the stone shaft only picked me up as a small blur as I darted in the darkness.

 

Three of them were in the garage room.

 

The three were doing normal things, checking out their rides, and relaxing. They had no reason to think there was any danger here after all. They had defenses, cameras, and even a watch guard.

 

I slipped in, slipping between the Nomad upgraded vehicles like a wraith myself.

 

FIrst gonk was out of sight of the others sitting in the driver seat of his car, fiddling with some dash installation. I slammed the knife into his throat and yanked him right down, so they couldn’t see him through the windows. I left him gurgling to death bleeding out over the tile with near silent drops onto the concrete.

 

Number two and three were close together, shooting the shit while they did maintenance. Luckily I had two weapons.

 

I leapt slamming my knife in and out of a throat in a rush of movement as I lined up the shot and fired. The near silent shot slammed into his skull, and I took a moment to shoot another two rounds into the man just to make sure he couldn’t send an alert or something.

 

Then it was quiet.

 

*500 XP Gained.*

 

*500 XP Gained.*

 

*500 XP Gained.*

 

*Ninjutsu skill level up!*

 

Ninjutsu level 9. I hadn’t even noticed it leveling while taking out this group, but that was amazing! I took a moment to just feel the minor adjustments it guided me towards, how to move just that much faster while remaining silent.

 

I moved on. The garage area led into a dense set of hab buildings. Probably the mines original offices, or crew quarters.

 

I moved up to the front entrance and readied myself. There were no cameras inside.

 

No way to know what was coming. Lexington was reloaded and ready, and I opened the door. Just a hallway with a few doors leading off. I blinked and the golden lights of Ping showed me where the people were. I smiled as I narrowed down on one that was alone behind the first door. I stalked over and slowly peaked the door open.

 

Bedroom.

 

Sleeping gonk. A few moments later he was dead.

 

*500 XP Gained.*

 

I crept out and frowned.

 

The next batch weren’t alone. They were all together.

 

I narrowed my eyes as the idea hit me. Okay, can’t go quiet anymore. Time to go loud.

 

I came up to the door, they were behind and slowly slid the door open just a crack.

 

It was a lounge room, food and a TV was set up, and everyone inside, all ten of them were relaxing and chatting. The main squad of the Wraiths. I scanned all of them, and held myself back from whistling. Most of them were just minor bits and bobs of chrome, but their leader was a borg. A real tough looking guy. Not Maine’s level, but someone that would give Jun a run for his money.

 

Okay, time to prep. I started breaching into each and every one of them, being extra careful with the leader. While I did that, my hands worked the grenade I kept attached to my belt free.

 

It wouldn’t be enough, on its own, but with a bit of extra netrunning havoc, I think I could do this.

 

I nodded as I breached into the last gonk. All of them had their defenses punched right through. It was time. I slammed Reboot Optics into their system. Only one of the gonks noticed something was wrong, as I saw a guy looking like a netrunner himself sit up as the hack was uploaded.

 

I opened the door, popped the pin on my grenade and chucked it right at him.

 

The tableau of frozen horror that I earned as they realized what was happening was perfect, as their sight was then instantly taken from them. I drew both my Lexington and my Burya, as their sight vanished, as they all started moving to try and grab a weapon.

 

Then the first round of my Burya roared out, right at the borg leader.

 

Something went wrong. Between one moment and the next he had disappeared. Sandevistan!

 

But that wasn’t all.

 

I had gotten a look at him face to face, eye to eye.

 

Only one of the man’s eyes was cyberware…

 

I instantly backtracked. Knowing what was coming leaping out the other way of the door, suddenly a gun started firing and the doorway I had been in was filled with shrapnel. More than a few fragments struck me, but nothing that got through my armor and subdermal. I started running.

 

The grenade made an echoing boom behind me, but I just booked it. This hallway was not a good place to stand around in, even with blinded gonks.

 

The walls were too thin and I really didn’t want to get randomly shot. Plus A Sandevistan borg was too much to face head on. Had to get better terrain.

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

 

Then I heard it. Boots on the floor running, and focused.

 

Sandevistan Borg was chasing just as I expected.

 

I kept running, leaping over cars, or sliding on top of their hoods to get to the other side, then gun fire roared behind me, and I winced as I felt something slam into my back.

 

I fell into a roll ignoring the burning in my back. I had my Kang Tao armor, my leotard and my subdermal stopping whatever just hit me, but it still hurt.

 

I let myself roll forward and then once I had my feet there I leapt again. Pushing myself far down the mine shaft giving myself a chance to respond. The distance was everything I needed. I turned around.

 

He moved fast, but he wasn’t David Martinez. He blurred as he zipped down the hallway, the noise of his movement coming in short bursts as he moved like a lot of low level Sandevistan users I’ve noticed. There was this stop and go to their movement, as if they needed to regain their grip on the ground before being able to push forward again.

 

It didn’t matter though. He was in my sight and his security was already in tatters.

 

“Get back here you netrunning bitch!” His voice roared, and I just rolled my eyes. Man, did these guys never get any better dialogue? It was always, Fuck you, or bitch this.

 

I uploaded my newest hack.

 

Short Circuit activated, there was an instant crackle of electricity as the borg dropped out of his hyper speed, lightning ran over his body as his batteries began an emergency discharge, but at the speed he was moving?

 

I smiled in enjoyment as the Sandevistan user went from charging at me, a very dangerous prospect to slamming face first into the concrete and sliding along leaving a trail of red in his wake as he became a meatmarker.

 

“Got you” I told him, as I raised my Burya and fired. His head disappeared in a splatter, and I just sighed and stretched, before refocusing. Reloading the Burya I hurried back to the room.

 

Some of the wraiths might still be alive. I led with my Lexington as I entered the hub and as I crept closer, I heard moaning mixed with calls for help, and even a few angry yells.

 

As I peaked in I relaxed. My grenade had done some serious damage. Outright killing the netrunner, and another gonk, while leaving the rest of them in no shape to do much. Especially since they were still blind.

 

I started lining up shots and firing as I stepped in. None of them were capable of stopping me, as the remaining wraiths freaked out at their own incoming silent demise.

 

Only once it was done did I truly relax, pinging the network again just to confirm there was no one else connected.

 

I pulled up a chair that was mostly intact from the table and plopped down, wincing a bit as my back touched the chair.

 

I sighed.

 

*Alright chooms. Place is clear. Not our target. Go ahead and get here to start looting, and inform Dakota we got some vehicles for her.*

 

Then I just relaxed for a bit, looking at my system.

 

*1000 XP Gained.*

 

*500 XP Gained.*

 

*1000 XP Gained.*

 

*500 XP Gained.*

 

*500 XP Gained.*