Lost Rain
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Outrun - Chapter 158
🕑 Added 2024-10-14 22:04:01 +0000 UTCRain tapped against a far window of the Jagged Clover, drawing my attention away momentarily as a yawn stretched my jaw. My phone buzzed as a city-ordained warning about mass shootings in Bricktown came, shortly followed by a strict order to stay indoors. Good thing I was on the other side of the city.
For a moment, I wondered if I’d get called in to work the case by the Inquisitor. Then that curiosity passed as I realized he was probably too drunk off his ass to care much about such a simple thing. Better off leaving it to the Knights. It was their job, after all.
I swiped up on the notification, hiding it as the file I originally looked at came back into focus. I scrolled on my phone, my eyes blurring as I read yet another memo about budget cuts and mass firing of a different kind.
I’d already looked through the budget reports over the past decade. Kuzo dumped so much money into the failed Project Methuze that he single-handedly turned a well-established mid-sized corporation into a micro one only kept alive by suckling a large corporation’s savants. Truly the largest of idiots. I have no idea why my father made him the new CEO in his will.
Not only had he dumped all the money of CMS into the project, he also dumped the main sources of the corporation's income. Shortly after my parents died, about the time I left to live in the Ryu Container Yard, he cut contact with the Jade Fangs entirely. A five-decade supply contract gone just like that. It’s no wonder he moved the corp to Bricktown. Not that it would’ve mattered if the Matriarch actually wanted to do something about him.
So far, my search through the files had yet to turn up anything of major interest. Barely even a blueprint I could copy. In the later years of the company, Cold Moon Solutions turned entirely away from R&D of new tech. Simply put, there wasn’t enough Rayn. Everything would probably be back about a decade, which meant even at best anything I pulled would be too old.
I was just about to flip to the next page when the tiny-handed bartender came by and tapped on the table. “Lass, the boss is ready for ya’.”
I slid out of the booth. I’d already been waiting nearly an hour. The woes of not making an actual appointment with a busy woman. However, to be fair, she was the one who invited me over to discuss the new job in the first place. “Thanks.”
I slid out of the booth, throwing my phone into my pocket as I headed for the stairs leading up to Athena’s private booth. It was a short jaunt down the hall and I arrived before her usual door.
”C’mon in!” Athena called as the door slid open.
The blood had long been cleared up since the last time I was here, and it looked back to how it was the first time. Athena lay strung out across the booth’s seat, her back against the wall and her booted feet dangling. A man I’d never seen before sat across from her, drinking what looked like whiskey from a cup.
The man, like most of Athena’s merc I’d seen so far, had a rugged militaristic look to him as if he’d been freshly discharged and had yet to merge back into society for one reason or another.
He was chromed out, the top left of his head replaced with shielded processing banks, and his eye an inhuman blue glow. A lazy mop of dirt blonde hair covered the majority of the chrome, flopping over from the rest of his flesh head. He wore clothes in the technical style that I was fond of with lots of pockets and useful features. A blocky, black ballistic vest covered his chest. At least tier IV. A red cross patch sat on his shoulder, though it was made from heavily bowed fangs and clearly not the same as a medical one.
Just like Athena, both arms had been replaced with chrome. Some high-end Raijin models are based on the aesthetics of the pieces. I caught the barest of seams on the top parts of the arm as he put his cup down. Maybe some kind of hidden gun or launcher? The rest of his figure hid under the table, though I imagined it wasn’t too far behind the rest of him.
”Ah, Zuku, welcome.” Athena waved a hand to me. “This is the girl I was telling you about. Roger, Zuku. Zuku, Roger.”
The man eyed me, his blue glowing eye seeming to grow several pitches darker as he analyzed me. “Hmm… You sure?”
I had the feeling as if I was intruding on a conversation halfway through as Athena answered. “Chek. She’s perfect to join you.”
”Um… what am I joining?” I asked as I arrived at the foot of the table. Both of their eyes snapped at me uncomfortably. A flicker of Cold-Blooded kept me from twitching too harshly.
Athena tilted her head at me and nodded to the other side of the booth next to Roger. “Take a seat. We were discussing the new gig I have lined up.”
Roger slid over, allowing me space to sit down as he drained the last of his whiskey. “I don’t bite. Much.”
He said it in such a bland and cool voice. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or not, so I just turned back to Athena. “What is it?”
“I recently acquired the cords of a stash in the Outlands. Now, normally, I’d ship this out to my Nomad contacts. Unfortunately, my usual contacts have been… disposed of. My secondary contacts are also busy at the moment.” She was probably referring to the Leper-Khans? “Though she doesn’t look like much, Zuku here is competent at getting into places. And tech skills?”
”The last job give it away?” The detonator was… well, I tried to make it look as terrible as possible, but you really can’t hide something from a competent Fixer. Though saying I didn’t look like much was a little hurtful.
Athena sent me a side-eye. “The cords are in the Outlands. That, and it's right in the middle of Dune Walker territory. Roger here is the Captain of the Crimson Company.”
Damn, so this guy was a big shot, eh? The Crimson Company though… I think I might’ve heard something in the past about them, but I didn’t have the foggiest idea what it was. There were far too many mercs between the solo actors and the companies in Aythryn City to remember all of them. Most of the latter were typically defense contractors.
”What’s the pay?” Always the most important question. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted to take this job in the first place anyway. It would be nice to get away from the city for a bit, but heading out into Dune Walker lands was… well, it would be the first for me. But I’d heard horror stories. I’d need to pack plenty of silver bullets. And be careful with using the canteen too much. Provisions weren’t an issue for me, but I had to at least make it seem as though they were.
”Five thousand upfront hazard pay, and more based on what y’all pull from the stash and bring back split between all of Roger’s company and you.” Athena shrugged. “Potential payout in the tens of thousands if not more.”
Damn, where was this back when I needed money so desperately? Hmm… though it wouldn’t have come around if I didn’t prove myself with Athena over the last gig. Mercs really do live and die by rep I guess. Bringing me in on this makes it all the more apparent Carone has only been giving me the slop. That bastard.
“What exactly do you want from me?” I asked.
Athena tilted her head as her beautiful chrome eyes seemed to mechanically twist and twirl with an intelligent light. “Simple. Roger needs a techie who can get into the stash. You’ll be responsible for getting in, and then fixing everything so he and his men can pull the cargo out. The place was supposedly stuck in a lockdown protocol shortly before it was abandoned. Oh, and any in-field repairs.”
Okay… I could probably do that. A stash in the Outlands could mean anything though. It could be a hidden depot from one of the Big 7 filled with all sorts of active defenses and lethal traps. Or it could be something from a time long, back before the wicked sands of the Eternal Sandstorm buried the continent.
The Internet Crash and subsequent chaos left millions of places full of goodies abandoned as humanity scrambled to put itself back together. Netrunners specializing in digging up the past would occasionally find such locations and sell them to PMCs or Fixers.
There was another question in the back of my head though. “Why me? Does the Crimson Company not have a techie?”
Roger rubbed the back of his head as his gaze dropped slightly. Although the man’s micro-expressions were incredibly hard to see as if his face was a stone wall, I could pick up on embarrassment. “Our- uh- our usual guy made a severe and continuous lapse in judgment in testing an old, erm, joybot that he fixed. He’ll be with MedTech for the next several months recovering.”
Athena snorted. “I knew your group was as gonk as everyone else working under me, but ole’ Frank really takes the cake with this one.”
”You’re the one that sent him to me. He barely knows anything other than drinking and fixing cars!” Roger shot her a glare, though it lacked any true anger. If anything, it felt as though their conversation was more of a chat between old chooms.
”What is it you want me to get into though?” I shifted the conversation back onto the track.
Athena nodded her head to Roger. Roger eyed me for several long moments before nodding to himself and withdrawing a small, silver puck from one of his many pockets. He slid it onto the table and tapped on it. His blue eye flashed, and a moment later a hologram lit up from the puck.
The hologram blew up to reveal… an opera house? The faintest of memories tickled at the back of my head. My grandfather used to love operas, though personally, I didn’t see the attraction. The hologram itself was old, dated back to before the K-10 Convention. What would be so valuable at an opera house? “What kind of security would be in a place like this?”
“This is Acumen Industrial’s Laurus Opera House.” Athena’s face lit up as her eyes took a faraway look. Ugh, another opera fanatic. “They used to do all sorts of legendary operas here, like The Mystic Lute. Ah, it must’ve been quite the experience back in the day.”
Acumen Industrial… the name tickled a memory. It took a second until I realized why that was. Acumen Industrial was one of the many fallen corporations in history. Unlike most, though, they were once on par with BosSpace. Yeah, not just one of the Big 7, but the top dog of humanity. They fell just as the Solar Storms nuked the planet a while ago.
No telling what they kept in the Laurus Opera House in terms of security. Still, it was bound to be sorely outdated since that was forty years ago. I should be able to get in just fine. Makes sense why they’d need a techie though. A lockdown protocol from Acumen Industrial would probably have some nasty stuff if it was still running. And all sorts of fail safes if it wasn't.
Unfortunately, the hologram wasn’t a complete schematic of the place. It was more like a public model shared around by the company to show how well-designed everything was. That meant most of the technical stuff I was interested in had been stripped from it. Still, I memorized all the halls and routes from it just in case I’d need the intel later.
“Okay… um, sure. I could do that. How long till we go? I’ll need a couple days to prepare some stuff.” I should hurry up and finish building Blackout just in case at least. Maybe look at some other stuff too while I was at it. It wouldn’t hurt to hit the gun range several more times either. I’d be with the Crimson Company, but I’d be a fool to entirely entrust myself to them.
“Five days from now,” Athena replied. “You’ll be moving a shipment to the Deseran Nomad Family. They just moved back into the area and need some supplies. If that all goes smoothly, the Patriarch agreed to send a small escort for fire support. You’ll set off from the Nomad meet-up and head directly to the cords.”
Roger retrieved the puck from the middle of the table and slipped it back into his pocket. “I’ll be in charge. If you have any conflicts with anyone on the team, bring it to me. Otherwise, do your job and you’ll be fine.”
Athena slid out of the booth, popping her back as she went. “Alright, I have another meeting to get to. Room is all yours.” She stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder back at Roger. “I need this one back. You better make sure she returns.”
“Who do you take me for?” Captain Roger put on an affronted look before slowly nodding. “Not an issue. It’s a job from you, after all. We’ll ensure it goes smoothly.”
Athena glared at him before turning back and leaving the room without another word. Nice to see she cares though. Gotta protect her profits and all that, right? Finding talent was hard, especially with the squads of mercs that semi-recently got wiped out by the gigs from Cold Moon Solutions. I’m sure that was probably a big blow. And, not to toot my own horn, I was pretty great.
I immediately stood up and headed for the door. Roger’s voice stopped me. “Not so fast. I need to know your capabilities to plan accordingly.”
“Right…” I turned back and sat down on the opposite side. “Uh, what do you want to know?”
”Athena vouched for your capability to get into places… but what about your tech skills? She didn’t say much about that.” Roger pulled out a data pad from one of his many pockets. He seemed like the type of guy to have all sorts of fun toys.
“They’re decent. I can fix whatever needs to be fixed. Vehicles wouldn’t be an issue, but some of the more complicated stuff might take more time.” I imagine vehicles might be a recurring problem since we were headed out into the desert. I knew from experience with my bike how easy it was for the sand to wear down on the surprisingly delicate machines.
Roger wrote something down. “You able to drive?”
”Anything landbound. Oh, that includes tanks and such too, I guess. Doubt that’d ever be helpful though.” The Land Vehicle Perk was definitely the most underwhelming of all my Perks. Guess it makes somewhat sense though considering Driving was also quite underwhelming. And it still hadn’t leveled up since I first got it.
His only remaining eyebrow raised. “Interesting. Doubt it’ll be brought up, but I’ll add you to the emergency driver list. And what about combat? The company should take care of anything that crops up, but plans usually shatter in the field.”
”I can shoot, but I’m not particularly skilled.” Although it might not look like it to an outsider. Insight and Dexterity were a powerful enough combo to make me look somewhat competent to the average viewer.
“Same as Frank. Okay, I’ll assign a guard to you then. Never know when the Dune Walkers will spring up. Speaking of, you have silver bullets for them?”
”A few. I’ll load up before we leave.” Silver bullets were a hard requirement to kill Dune Walkers from what I’ve been told. Never had the displeasure to face one of the shambling corpses myself, but supposedly they only truly died under the effects of silver. Something about the metal interfering with whatever magic voodoo witchcraft shit that makes them get up and walk.
"Okay... for ten percent of the profit, up to five thousand, the company will provide all the ammo and supplies you need. It's the standard price for the rest of the guys underneath the Crimson Company. Is that fine with you?"
It sure beats having to cart out food and water for myself. Even if I didn't technically need it thanks to the canteen, I'd rather not show off a priceless relic that could infinitely keep someone sustained. That was just asking for problems. "What all is included?"
He handed me a long list of supplies, including but not limited to ammo, various provisions, medical assistance, and various other services. I briefly glanced through it before my eyes glazed over. Worth ten percent though, especially considering it capped out at five thousand if we really hit a jackpot. "Sure, I'll go for it."
”Nova. One last question. Have you ever left the city?” He put a bit more weight on this one. Probably trying to figure out if I was just another street rat or someone with at least some experience.
“I’ve been out. Had a job a while ago that took me out to Sunderland.” Nice. Made it sound as if I was a bit more capable, though Sunderland was definitely the furthest I've gone.
“Good. Load up on any tools or weapons you want to bring. The Crimson Company will take care of provisions. We’ll set off from the company headquarters five days from now.” He tapped around on his datapad before showing the location and time of the meet-up. Quite early in the morning. Probably wanted to get a move on before the desert sun blitzed us too hard.
He asked a few other questions, such as blood type and some more medical-related concerns in case I was injured in the field, and then I was free to go. Could definitely see the more corporate side of things behind an official mercenary company from him. As soon as I got back out onto the streets, I immediately headed back to the Speakeasy and got to work preparing for my newest gig. I had a feeling this one could get complicated.
Comments
Gardor
It is probably just me noticing the similar first lines with the preview on the patreon app, and absolutely no one would notice it otherwise.
Lost Rain
I changed the couple paragraphs there. You make a good point.
Lost Rain
I don’t know either. I went ahead and rewrote the beginning bit though
Gardor
"Bringing me in on this makes it all the more apparent Carone has been treating me with kiddie gloves this entire time." -> I feel like "kiddie gloves" is an idiom used to denote when someone is being gentle for someone's else's benefit, which doesn't quite seem like correct phrase to talk about "sending me the child jobs to keep from paying me real money" situation. "What kind of security would be in a place like this?” Picking up on the slightly condescending tone of my voice, Athena replied coolly. “This isn’t just any opera house" -> alright so I'm kind of split on this one. Athena saying "this isn't just any opera house" is the natural response to Shiro saying "what could be in this opera house?" I guess I'm trying to say, Athena's comment only seems natural if someone else already broached the topic of opera houses. However, I also think it'd be weird for Shiro to immediately identify the plans as specifically an opera house, cuz I'm not sure how common knowledge of opera house architecture would be. Unless it's a subtle call back to Shiro growing up rich, and then you should put in some description of Athena clocking it, an eye brow raise at this street rat knowing about opera houses sorta situation. So that us readers can get context for the availability of opera house knowledge.
Gardor
Dunno if this matters, but it's a similar opening line to last chapter. Actually, most chapters seem to open with "I [verbed] in [noun] of [location]". Usually I know if my pedantry is referring to something positive or negative, this time I legit have no clue.
