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***
- Bookwoman, you start and I'll cover you.
- Roger that, Quiet...
Becca walked forward, I walked about five metres away from her and watched her actions carefully. It's not that I didn't trust her, but it was necessary to cover her, because the opponents could surprise her completely unexpectedly. Especially considering that she has a Sandy, although it's a military model, but it's old and not experimental in any place.
- I see the enemy.
- Work with a guarantee, your Sandy doesn't allow the same kind of antics as mine.
- I know.
Becca was a little annoyed.
- Sorry, I'm a little worried.
- Mm-hmm... forgot...
Becca was already near the entrance to Malstrom's base and immediately drove the uncomprehending bandit's knife through his chin upwards, straight into his brain. Before he could fall, a second guard was already falling to the ground next to him.
- Entrance clear...
The door slowly opened after we put a chip in the maintenance slot. I wish I could say that, but this time the control panel had apparently been severed from the system by cutting the cables completely. In short, a new passageway had to be found.
However, Malström is a gang, not a corporation, and it was not that difficult to find a gap in their defence, and after a dozen minutes we found ourselves inside the building through a window. Naturally, we didn't just break in, but peeked inside with my optics and made sure there was no one inside. After that, I picked up the metal shutters and just rolled them up.
- We're in.
- I see... Put a chip in some computer, it's like we're blind....
- Quiet?
I nodded at Becky's question and snapped out of my seat, switching the sandi on at a higher power, so that soon a couple of comps and access points had been found and even chips inserted, but I decided not to go back to Becky. She might take offence if I followed her around for the whole mission. After all, she's not a little girl or a green beginner....
Although if you're talking about quiet infiltration and working quietly...
Though I have to admit, if she had no experience at all, I wouldn't be afraid to offend her and would follow her around for the whole assignment.
- Bookwoman, I'll go to the upper floors while you clear this one.
- Roger that...
I calmly found the stairs and started climbing up. The building was three stories, so I decided to start at the top and move towards Becca.
Once on the third floor, I turned the sandi to its usual acceleration level and quickly zeroed in on all of Malstrom's representatives, then stood next to the stairs, looking down at the first floor.
Fuck... this way, I'll do everything myself, as always, and Becca will be out of a job... And then why did I campaign her for a quiet job?
I sighed and decided to walk around the floor using my optics to the max, but I didn't find anything interesting and after ten minutes I returned to the stairs.
- Bookwoman, how's it going in there?
- Finishing up the ground floor....
- Right.
- Have you cleared the third and second floors yet?
Becky sounded sad.
- No, I've decided to leave the first floor to you, and I'm thinking that we should probably divide the team into smaller tasks. It's a little too--
- Easy for you?
- Yeah... even though you know that it's tasks like this that are the foundation of our well-being.
- Well, I'm not arguing with you, but I'd rather work with Snowflake!
- Hello?! You want to ask me?!
- Do you mind?
I could hear the sadness in Becky's voice.
- No... it's just that being confronted with such an important issue isn't very nice.
- But you're okay with it, right?
- Yes, Bookwoman, I do.
- That's great! And Cherry will be joining us.
- I'm in.
- Well, fuck you, and Mentor and I will do a great job with Tihonie.
Judy sounded a little offended.
- Scribes, you seem to have offended our Clever Girl.
- Hey, it's nothing like that. It's just that I personally feel more comfortable and convenient working with Snowflake and Cherry....
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
- Okay, Smarty, stop sulking. You're not happy about working with me?
- I am.
- Then what's the problem?
- It's the fact that I'm faced with a fact, not a choice or a draw. I mean, we're a family, and this is a blow, almost a spit in the face.
I could tell from her tone that she didn't mean it.
- You're overplaying it.
I shook my head and sat down on the stairs.
- Okay, I found my way to the basement...
- Then the first floor is on me?
- Mm-hmm... action.
I switched on the sandi and went down to the first floor, and there in one of the rooms was a panicked Hal, literally sweeping the room from corner to corner. I even switched off the sandi.
- What the hell is going on here?! When are these degenerates going to get a connection?! What's wrong with their network that they can't get through to anyone on the first or third floor?!
His eyes lit up, but immediately went blank and he turned pale.....
- Damn... it must be him... but it's not like he's taking zeroing orders... why is he here!!! Calm down Hal, he hasn't come to you yet, so there's still time. And she couldn't have figured me out that fast! She couldn't! So he's here because of Malstrom.
Hal froze, and his panicked face smoothed out.
- Fuck, it's bad luck to run into him, but you can play that clean-cut guy. I doubt Regina gave him all the details. I'll find something to put in his ear. I'll get him to come closer to me.
I still haven't switched off the cloaking system and it would be hard to notice me, especially considering the place I was standing in, so I was watching with interest, and considering that my optics were recording all the time....
I think my girls would love to see the target tie herself up.
Hal, meanwhile, found some rope and quickly put it on the radiator, then found a knife and hid it so that it could be pulled out, and then put a knot on his hands, which, judging by his tests, would allow him to untie it with a quick jerk of his hands and stab me.
And the guy's really good at tying things up...
Activating the sandi, I slipped out of the room for the sake of interest and went inside again, but this time with the cloaking system disabled.
- Hal?
I pretended to be very surprised to see him in this room.
- Quiet! It's so good to see you! Can you help me?
I smiled.
- Of course I can...
I grinned, catching his gaze, but my gaze was unkind.
- ...As soon as you explain why the fuck you reduced the poor girl to cyberpsychosis.
- It was an accident!
- Yeah, yeah...
I nodded my head.
- ...more details.
- Well... she turned me down and I got really pissed off. She's a Shelma, you know....
He wiggled his eyebrows as if he was implying something, but he was implying something. Helms have a reputation for being a bit sex-crazed, but that's only because they have Lysis and they practically run a ring of hookers, as well as selling brans with sex. In reality, not a single hooker working in the industry is in a gang.
Helmets aren't prostitutes, so it's just a rumour. But all in all, for the shallow kid that Hal thinks I am for some reason, his story might work.
- Well, that's no reason.
- Come on, I offered her money, status, everything, and she blew me off. Me! So I freaked out a bit, it wasn't supposed to end like this, the girl would have gone into a coma... it wouldn't have been a big deal, but she was too unstable and....
- I see...
I sighed.
- So it was an accident?
- Quiet, it's about time, isn't it? You don't think he's telling you the truth, do you? It's impossible to put Braine into a coma... well, it's possible, but you have no idea how hard it is to get the brain load right. So difficult that with all my experience and knowing you like the back of my hand, I wouldn't risk doing that to you...
- Good girl, stay out of the way... there's a whole show going on... and I want to see what else this guy comes up with to try and lure Tychonia into stabbing him in the heart.
- Erm... are you being literal or figurative about the knife?
- Of course I'm being literal!
- Um.
- You just weren't paying attention to your surroundings at first, Tycho was just standing there in disguise for a bit, watching this one running around the room, talking out loud about his plan....
- Um... and I missed it?
- Yeah... but the fun part is, you know what?
- Um.
Judy had a little doubt in her voice.
- ...that other people didn't see it?
- Almost...the fact that the Bookwoman didn't see it.
- Pfft!
The whole conversation didn't take long, and I kept glaring at Hal with a suspicious look.
- I'm not lying! I really just wanted to send her to a coma! And not long, well she would lie down for twenty-four hours, then she would wake up and for a week the chrome would be a little malfunctioning! Nothing more!
- Are you sure? I don't know anything about hacking, but when my ranerchis are free from hacking systems, I'll ask them....
- That's right, that's right! Untie me already!
Saying that I'm not working alone and that I have someone to check this information with had an effect on him... It made him rush me into action.
- Okay.
I take a couple of steps towards Hal, see the look of triumph in his eyes and freeze.
- ...Are you sure you're not giving me the heebie-jeebies?
I look at him suspiciously.
- I'm sure I am! You have ranners, they'll tell you everything if I'm lying, and I won't have time to go anywhere!
- Argument...
I nodded thoughtfully and came even closer to him.
Jerk!
I didn't even have to activate the sandi, I calmly intercepted his hand in which the knife was clutched, by the wrist, forcing him to tighten his grip on the knife, and then twisted it to a very loud crunch.
- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
- Oh, I'm sorry, I think I broke your arm....
I took a look at it with my optics.
- ...in two places.
- Bitch!
- I'm not a bitch.
I shook my head.
- I'm a dog. I would even say a dog... You know, I can understand a lot of things, the anger at the girl, the desire to take revenge on the lady who dynamited you, although I certainly wouldn't take revenge that way... I'd arrange a couple of small nasties... and maybe even put her out of my mind, just dreaming about how she'd suffer....
I sighed.
-Da fuck with you, I can not understand and accept, but still... here explain to me fool, why the fuck, for the sake of a momentary revenge you decided to risk work?
- What the fuck are you talking about? Aaaaaaaaaaah!
I jerked his hand, which I never let go.
- You don't touch my mum...
I frowned slightly and shook my head.
- ...And my girls... This is a warning for the future. Do you understand me?
- I understand! Got it!
- Good, now tell me why. Answer my question?
- I don't understand!
- I guess you still think I'm here by accident?
I chuckled.
- Well, I'm here because of you, you were ordered....
- But you don't do zeroing!
- For a bastard like you, who almost drove a girl crazy just because he wasn't given, I decided to make an exception. But since you won't talk...
I hit him by knocking him out, then I put a splinter in the socket.
- Ladies, get to work... Get everything out of this body.
- Got it.