บท 20: Legal Problems Require Illegal Solutions (7)
"Hey everyone, how are you doing?" Mark greets the crew before sitting down, already ordering a drink for himself.
"If it isn't the guy with the dough." Maine greets Mark with a handshake, raising his glass to the Engineer. Mark answers in kind, glad that the service in Afterlife was fast.
"Let's get the business out first before we eat. Do you have the data?"
"Yeah, here." Maine passes the memory shards, and Mark confirms the contents from his Agent.
"Alright, you deserve the bonus too. Wiring the rest of the money."
"We also found some juicy data that's unrelated to your gig, if you're interested in buying." Pillar interjects, getting a slap from his sister for speaking over Maine.
"What Pillar said," the Solo nods, "since it wasn't part of the contract the info is sold separately, but because you hired us for the gig and gave us a generous offer, we're offering you first pick of the best intel we got. Interested?"
"Hmm, it hurts a little that I couldn't get everything first, but I should have included it in the contract. Alright, how much for what you have?"
Maine grins. "For you? 2K total."
Mark wires the money for the Solo, setting the info for later, however he notices something odd. "Where is Sasha?"
"She had to leave earlier," Dorio answers this time, "she will get back soon."
"Alright," Mark pauses once more, still feeling something amiss, "hey, how do I get the info you guys sold? Is there some specific info broker I should ask?"
"Oh, that's simple!" Rebbeca helpfully answers. "Just call the bar and ask for rumors and they will sell you all the information you need on a subject."
"Great, great, thanks." Mark nods in appreciation to Rebbeca, then he starts fiddling with his Agent.
'She just had to do something else, right? It's not like she had to rush to Biotechnica right away on her own, right?' As Mark finished those thoughts, his eyes widened as a particular piece of information appeared on his Agent.
"Maine," Mark turns to the Edgerunner with a barely restrained tone, "I found this info from the bar, but I want to hear it directly from you. Did you just accept a job from Dex DeShawn?"
Maine blinks his optics. "Mr. Cool? I mean, yeah, we did. Why?"
Mark ignores the question, taking a deep breath. "Did this job involve Biotechnica? Did he provide some kind of signal jammer? Did this job need to be done tonight?"
"Wha, how the hell did you know all that?"
"FUCK!"
Mark sprints away from Afterlife as if his life depended on it and as soon as he exits the building he puts on his new armor, the Power Armor Mk. I. The Power Armor Mk. I can accommodate more modules than the Modular Armor, alongside the usual benefits of better protection and increased inventory size. The Power Armor Mk. I also have a distinct look, with some people confusing the armor for a Fullborg Chrome.
"I better make it in time!"
…
Sasha leaves the elevator with a bored expression and walks straight towards the head office where the data is located. This kind of corporate espionage isn't new to her or the crew, and at the lower levels, it is expected as part of the business. Her current target involves financial reports on the sales of CHOO2, likely for insider trading purposes, and information on the "Immunosuppressant Prototype 0.091", this time for competitive advantages.
Thanks to Dex DeShawn providing the prep work, everything went smoothly for Sasha. 'Just take the data, dig a little bit, then delta.' Sasha repeated to herself like a mantra, maintaining a neutral expression on her face.
Finally, she reaches the terminal and starts to work. It doesn't take long for her to breach the local ICE and infiltrate the database.
Sasha suddenly receives a call from Maine. "Hey, Sasha, are you alright? What's going on there?"
"Everything's fine-fine. Why the rush-rush?"
"The Engineer just got out of Afterlife like a man possessed! He heard you were doing a gig on Biotechnica after accepting a job from DeShawn and he went mental! He's probably rushing to your position. Do you have any idea why he would be set off?"
Sasha's expression didn't change as she already found what she wanted.
"I'm sorry Maine, I will get back to you later."
"Sasha, wait!"
The Netrunner cuts off the connection and proceeds with her plan of revenge on Biotechnica. The first information she found on MH04 tipped her off, and the gig from Mr. Cool gave her the excuse necessary to act on it.
If she's lucky, she might even survive it!
…
Above the streets of Night City, a lone figure travels at speeds unmatched by anything else on the ground. Using a special weapon called a Grappling Gun, the Engineer covers one city block per shot until he reaches the Corpo Plaza. Firing the Grappling Gun one last time, the Engineer reaches the Biotechnica building top floor, and he can see Sasha setting up a bag of explosives.
Mark doesn't waste time, hitting the bulletproof glass with his axe, startling Sasha. After five swings, the glass shows signs of damage, and at fifteen swings Sasha is witness to a miracle as the entire glass panel disappears allowing Mark to enter.
"What?"
Raising his hand, a pair of stone walls appear in front of the large steel door of the office and seal the entrance.
"Are you done?" Mark asks the stunned Netrunner. "The security will come at any moment; you have to hurry!" From the other side of the wall, the pair could hear the walls being shot.
Without wasting any more time, Sasha resumes her task of uploading the database to a media outlet. The security outside places an explosive charge that blasts through the walls, only for the security robots to face the stone furnace acting as cover for the pair. With a thought, a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher throws a grenade, blowing up the robots, but more would come.
"Are you done?" Mark asks while quickly sweeping all the robot bodies for later study.
"Yes! We must-"
Sasha can't finish the sentence, as Mark tackles her and they both go through the window, seemingly falling to their deaths, until Mark activates the jetpack module and the pair flies away through the Night City landscape, eventually reaching a safe area behind a back alley.
When they land the pair sit down to catch their breath after the daring escape.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Mark asks Sasha as he recomposes himself.
Sasha, on the other hand, needs to take a few more deep breaths to regain her composure. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Yes, fine."
"Good, good. Now tell me, what the fuck did you expect to accomplish today? What, where you expecting to die or something?" Mark ignores the small flinch from Sasha, "how do you think your crew would feel? What about Rebbeca, Dorio, even Pillar? I met you guys for a little while and already I know you're friends, and you go and almost kill yourself! What do you think would happen to Maine? He's your leader, the one responsible for everyone! Did any of that cross over your pretty, little head?"
Sasha can't refute those words, so she doesn't bother. "You don't get it, I had to get revenge for what they did to me, my family!"
Mark looks at the young woman and realizes that she looks more naïve than he initially expected.
"This does not hurt the company," Mark says slowly and deliberately, "at worst, the company will release a public statement, potentially take the drugs off circulation, and maybe fire the ones personally responsible for the approval of commercial production. However, the company will live on because the environment and culture that allowed this travesty to happen in the first place didn't change. The only thing that happened is that they got caught this time, and they won't make the same mistake again. This is the best-case scenario, and you know it."
The worst case scenario, in Mark's understanding, is that Biotechnica releases an inoffensive, neutral language, an empty statement that doesn't address the issue, and the stocks of Biotechnica dip slightly for a couple of weeks, before rising back as the company releases their newest quarters profit.
"I'm sorry." Deep down, Sasha knew about this. This kind of cyber vigilantism was attempted in the past, yet the corporations are apparently immune from reprisal.
Looking at Sasha's tear-filled, defeated look, Mark sighs tiredly.
"I don't know what's worse, the cyberpunk lifestyle, or this damned city in this damned world that makes the lifestyle a legitimate choice for survival."
Unfortunately for Mark, the night was far from over. In his HUD, a series of alerts start to go off one after another.
The base is under attack.
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