The flimsy elevator gates clapped shut behind me as I stepped out into the megabuilding's garage space, the sudden cut in the relative silence startling the shit out of a trio of visibly drugged up teenagers as they fled from the factory fresh car they were trying to jack while falling over themselves.
Shaking my head at the sheer idiocy of leaving a new Quadra in the 'public' parking space, I continued on to the private area, the two Tyger Claws set up to 'guard' it tensing briefly at my soundless approach but quickly relaxing as I waved them down.
The two of them were used to me by now, and quickly returned to their game of poker.
'Probably should get them another pizza one of these days.' I decided as I reached my destination.
And waiting there, just in front of my personal garage stood the five goons, for of whoom were sitting around or leaning against the wall trying to look relaxed and hiding their obvious nerves while the fifth was openly pacing about, fingers tapping her crossed arm as she did.
"There you are!" My 'liaison' not quite hissed as she noticed me "We were starting to worry you wouldn't show."
Instead of answering, I merely offered her a slow deliberate blink before looking her fellow goons over, a good number of whom did fall over each other as they scrambled to get up.
"Fine." Senko sighed through her bandana "I was starting to get worried."
"Got held up."
A worried mother asking me if I had all of my ammunition ready and packed did not strictly fall into the stereotype but I'd take it.
"And I said to meet up early for this exact reason."
"Right." She nodded jerkily and looked away.
"Got the jitters?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah." She exhaled, voice just as low, her microshivers calming slightly "It's been a while since I got into a fight."
"Well, at least you are as ready as you are going to get." I raised my voice a bit, trying to sound encouraging as I briefly looked at the new helmets, ARs, shotguns, and vests I myself bankrolled for the five of them.
Even if I knew deep down that the dollar store gear would do fuck all against a properly borged out 'strommer.
And Senko seemed to agree as she winced under her bandana "Yeah... At least we aren't going straight into Totentanz."
"True." I said "If Jugo tried that I might have actually punched him."
Two of the Tygers tensed, faces scrunching up in anger, but a stare from their boss had them keeping their mouths shut.
Well mostly silent. One of them kicked the ground with a disgusted "Che." but that was downright saintly self control for a Tyger Claw teen.
"None of you tried getting in?" I asked as I turned to the garage.
"No." She shook her head and followed me, and her voice told me half of her nerves came from making sure none of her people did.
"Good." I said, deactivating the explosives.
The moment we stepped in and the lights came on, my Audioreceptors caught a couple of startled gasps at the sight.
My ride had gone through a bit of an... evolution recently-
Scratch that, I went completely and utterly overboard and ended up overhauling the damn thing so much I might as well have constructed the whole vehicle from scratch by the end of it.
It still held the vague shape of a Mahir Supron, but the black van was now almost a quarter size bigger, its wheels and tires made to be just as bullet, and likely low caliber shell-proof as the rest of the monstrosity, while frontal windshield was now fully covered with metal save for a small slit on the driver's side.
It probably didn't even count as the same vehicle anymore.
But once I started I just couldn't stop, and here we were.
My eyes flickered to the boxy portrusion in front of what would be the co-driver's seat and I allowed myself a slight grin at the memory of that addition before focusing back on the ride.
"Nani-the fuck?" Senko muttered lowly enough that only I could hear it, making me hold back a snort.
"Oi, Gunso." One of the other Tygers spoke up with a whistle, eyes straight up sparkling at the sight "You didn't tell us we were riding in style tonight."
"Apparently." Senko muttered while giving me a quick baffled look, before clapping her hands and putting her game face back on "Alright, enough gawking. What is the plan, Magos-san?"
"While we could theoretically do the whole gig from within the van." I began and some of the more eager Claws already seemed disappointed "I'm going to want to get as close to their mainframe as I possibly can to really make sure they can't fuck with us, so we are going to be infiltrating an apartment across the street where I can jack into the localnet directly."
Getting into the building Totentanz was located in would have been optimal but it would have completely defeated the point of trying to hide, as they definitely had lookouts posted all over the place.
Also, I was getting paid for my netrunning, not to go on another rampage.
Naturally, the eager Tygers immediately perked back up.
"All I am expecting from you five." I went on, pointing my hand vaguely in their direction and trying to sound authoritative "Is to keep your eyes peeled, call out any suspicious shit, and give me supporting fire if things go the way of Pacifica."
"Come on, borg-san." The only other female present tsked "Aren't you looking down on us a bit much here?"
"Can you take a shotgun to the face and live?" Was my immediate retort.
"Well..." She stopped raising her hand and looked away "No."
"Then you stay behind me and shoot any gonk that isn't armored up to the gills while I deal with the rest." I said sternly and felt a message spring up from Jugo's end "Alright, we've got to get moving now. No outside contact from this point on, I catch you calling someone I am taking it as you outing us and frying your ass, clear?"
Three of the four goons tensed and began shuffling on their feet.
"I said." I repeated slowly, opening my mouth for emphasis "Is that clear?"
Senko cleared her throat.
"Clear!" The three immediately shouted.
I gave them a long stare and scanned their faces for signs of deceit, but only found a growing unease as I stayed like that for a good few seconds, before nodding "Good. Get in, I'm driving."
-----
Isamu 'Jugo' Okada
He shared a look with his bodyguards as the limo stopped in front of the megabuilding.
Some of whom didn't bother hiding their disdain as a well dressed man stepped out of the co-driver's seat, opening the passenger's doors like some kind of high corpo valet before bowing politely to the one inside.
Isamu's fellow 'Captain' looked just as tidy on the surface as ever, the man wearing a full white old-school three piece suit adjusting his cravat as he leisurely made his way to Jugo, smiling 'politely' all the way.
"Okada-dono." Jotaro Shobo offered a slight bow, as if greeting an equal "A lovely evening for productive discussion, no?"
'Fucking slime.' Jugo growled internally "Shobo." Is what he said "Took your time getting here."
"We can't shame the Brotherhood by not appearing at our best." Shobo responded without missing a beat, tugging at the hem of his vest before making a show of scowling "Even if it is to negotiate with Maelstrom filth."
'Know all about that, don't you?' Isamu felt a vein on his forehead throb, but took a delightfully clear breath to calm himself "I don't care about you getting distracted by your pet boytoys Shobo, we have a display to make. Where are your soldiers?"
The implied insult passed through the man like so much air as he raised his hands reassuringly "Peace, brother. Peace. They will be riding a short distance behind us, I simply did not want to crowd the area and draw needless NCPD attention."
Jugo's eyes narrowed, but a quick mental ping confirmed that he wasn't getting fucked over and there was in fact a bunch of cars waiting just out of sight.
'Good.' He decided 'Even if the fuckers are good only for taking a few bullets, I'll take it.'
His men, real Tyger Claws, were gathered all around them, weapons at the ready and a thirst for battle in their eyes, prepared to fight and die for him and each other at every given moment.
A shame Shobo remained just as outwardly unflappable as ever despite being surrounded by dozens of them. Seeing him squirm would have made Jugo's night that much better.
"Still, I have to admit." The Tyger Claw in question spoke up "I did not expect one of your... honorable stature to accept negotiations from Maelstrom. It was quite surprising to hear, inspiring really." His tone made his irritation with being forced to join quite clear.
"We have a business to run." Jugo scoffed, fingers threatening to ball into a fist "And as much as I like smashing the cyberpsychos, stripping them for parts is Scav work."
"Hm." Shobo made a vaguely agreeing hum "While I do appreciate preparing a nice mise en place, I will agree that the ingredients Maelstrom offers are rarely of good quality."
Jugo gave him a look that practically screamed 'What in the fuck are you talking about?'
But Shobo just kept smirking at him in his frustrating, punchable way.
Thankfully, he was not given too much time to ponder the option.
[In position] The call still ongoing in his agent sounded out, followed by the telltale sound of a thermal katana being swung and a head falling from its shoulders, freely tumbling down the floor [Jacking in.]
Jugo held back a grin and addressed his brother "About time we met our adversaries, no?"
Shobo's smile was downright oily "Indeed, Okada-dono."
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
As the Tyger Claw delegation approached the Maelstrom night club, and my bodyguard detail was busy shoving the trio of Scav corpses whose home I just happened to decide on as my forward base, I allowed myself a moment to observe Totentanz.
The night club was located in the middle floors of what used to be an industrial office building, and was usually quite famous for being the perfect place for anyone to get high and go on a murder riot, so long as they didn't start shit with the gang of course.
Despite its popularity though, Totentanz was a complete and utter mess of a place, the trash from previous nights was only removed on a surface level and I could detect actual body and cyberware parts in places that were only slightly difficult to reach, stacked atop each other over the course of months.
Tonight, only Maelstrommers could be found within, still partying because most of them probably didn't even understand the concept of discipline, while their favorite pet band Tinnitus was blasting out the incomprehensible cacophony they called music at full volume.
Still don't understand what is so special about those guys-
'Wait.' I paused, rising my Audioreceptor sensitivity only to blink as I realized the music was actually layered, and surprisingly soothing to my cybernetic senses.
Shaking my head at the revelation, I left exploring the genre for later and moved my observation to the night's host.
Jason 'Powerpump' Rogers, was a mountain of mismatched chrome, heavy duty industrial grade cyberlegs attached to a torso that was more welded armor plating than practical musculature, all of that made to support the weight of the actual hand canon that replaced his left arm, leaving his right disproportionally small in comparison.
And of course, his face was almost completely missing save for the back of his head, the signature eight Optic visor of Maelstrom shining a baleful red that I found preem despite the lacking design.
Sprawled across a downright filthy couch, the eight feet of at most fifteen percent meat was actively twitching due to the differing OS signals streaming through his brain as his far more reasonably chromed, but equally inhuman looking, henchman kept trying to make him listen about actual negotiation tactics.
...Were the 'strommers actually trying to make peace?
Or was this one just particularly business minded?
'Did it matter?' I thought with dark humor as I unloaded my daemons into their network, slipping past their Dwellers who... were currently too busy to notice as they were all sharing an xBD.
Jugo and Shobo entering the club with their guards drew my attention back away from the freak show upstairs.
The less cyberized Tyger Claws all reacted negatively to the sudden wave of sharp red lighting and overloud music but their bosses still kept their composure and marched up to the Maelstrommer's own leader with confidence.
Or at least they were about to before the massive specimen of chrome stood up with a downright painful groan of cyberware, throwing his cannon arm up in something between a salute and a threat "'Hugo!" The cyborg damn near shook the room "Finally got yer ass 'ere ou coward?"
"Hello Jason." Jugo said as Shobo failed to react to not being addressed "Still haven't lost your mind under all that chrome?"
"NOT BEFORE YA LOSE YER 'EAD." The near cyberpsycho slurred blaringly and flipped him off with his normal hand.
The trio of bosses got into a short staredown before the big hunk of metal grunted and waved for them to come up to his booth, the mass of Maelstrom cyborgs making a path but leaving it narrow enough to be intimidating as many of them kept twitching threateningly at the Tyger Claw bodyguards, and threw insults that were lost in the blare of music.
Still, something had been bothering me ever since the target arrived to the megabuilding, and for once I decided to be appropriately paranoid while on the job.
The man, someone whom I knew for a fact was not willing to participate in this, looked far too at ease with everything. He still deferred to Jugo as the leaders began throwing further greetings disguised as insults at each other, and twitched in fear when appropriate.
But his eyes were focused. And so were those of his guards.
Naturally I decided those suspicions were enough to fry him in advance, and began my attack on his systems, only to briefly pause at what I found.
Since when did fresh Tyger captains have corpo grade ICE?
Just then, as I prepared to rip him apart despite this, I felt a signal behind me in my hideout and immediately jerked back to reality, my head twisting sideways to reveal one of the Tyger Claw goons stationed with me trembling in terror.
All I had the time to do as I flashed a [Ping.exe] through the building was reach for my Burya as a screaming cyborg blurred through the doors in an explosion of shards and dust.
Isamu 'Jugo' Okada
"We wan' access all the way to Kennedy North." Powerpump slurred, his normal hand trembling as he messily downed an unbranded beer, covering his cybernetic face in the liquid without a care.
"You want us to leave a megabuilding?" Jugo laughed openly as he downed a cup of his own sake "Do you take us for cowards, Jason? Or idiots for that matter?"
He wasn't going to drink the Maelstrom's swill.
"Ah don' care about yer fuckin' buildin' you scopsucker. And i's POWERPUMP!" The massive cyborg growled, smashing the bottle on the ground "We wan' access to tha-" He paused, head swaying a bit "Doesn't mattah'." He waved down "Deal or no deal?"
"That's not how negotiations work, Jason." Jugo's lips twitched almost eagerly as he used his given out of spite "If you actually want to make a deal make me a reasonable offer."
His hand fell on his sheathed katana "Or did you call me here just so we could have our rematch with an audience?"
"Hah!" Powerpump barked/growled, his glitchy synthetic voice made it hard to identify which one exactly, and leaned in, his optics flaring threateningly as he laid his hand canon on the drinking table, smashing the many bottles on it in the process "Yer think yer can set terms 'ere?"
Undeterred, Jugo leaned forward himself, his eyes promising violence "Yes. Yes I can."
The cyborg glared as his goons tensed and reached for their weapons, but only briefly as a moment later he made a garbled synthetic noise that came suspiciously close to a snort before leaning back and waving for him to go on.
Isamu smirked and decided to put his colleague on the spot for a while to give himself some time to plot "Got anything to add-" [Watch out for traitors] "-Shobo?"
When he turned he found his brother pointing a Nue at his head, the Maelstrom around him showing not even an ounce of surprise in their posture.
"My deepest apologies, Okada-dono." Shobo smirked "But Watson is simply too small for the both of us."
-------
Knock knock, I desire rock.
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