Access looked out of his bedroom window and down to the dirty streets for a little while before he turned in for the night.
The sprawl was their home, it was dirty, smelly, and dangerous but they wouldn’t get away with half the things they did if they were anywhere else.
Access pulled the bed sheets over his head with a grumble.
“One day.” he whispered.
Morning arrived quickly and the light shone through the grimy windows of the apartment, which bathed the interior in a sickly yellow glow.
He grumbled as he rolled over onto his side and out the window at the sun, his mouth formed into a sneer as he threw back the covers and got up. He walked into the living room still bleary eyed and half asleep.
“Good morning!” Sheet Rock shouted over the sound of breakfast being cooked.
“Morning.” Access said with a yawn.
“How’d you sleep?”
“Like shit, as usual.”
Sheet Rock giggled a little.
Access looked longingly at his Cyberdeck, he wanted to deep dive into the Net right now but resisted.
Shortly after, Sheet Rock brought the cooked ready meal out to him. It was anyone’s guess what it actually was but their budget didn’t permit anything more extravagant.
“You’re too good to me!” Access joked as he stuck a fork into the pale mass.
Access took a bite of his breakfast and whatever this mass was, it smelt and looked awful. He went a comical shade of green as he swallowed.
“It’s a wonder how the entire sprawl isn’t up in arms if this is what we get to eat!” Access grumbled as he forced down another bite.
“Like they could, you know as well as I do that the majority of ponies out there don’t have the strength or the will to fight like we do.” Sheet Rock said.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to get you down, Sheet.” Access said apologetically.
“Well, we aren’t exactly many steps above them anyway.” Sheet Rock stated coldly.
Money was an issue for many citizens of the Sprawl, much of the work that used to be done by an organic worker could now be done by a machine.
Access shook off the thought as he ate.
“I’m going to get cleaned up, then we can jack in and find something to do.” Sheet Rock stated as she walked off.
“Sure.” Access said with a smile.
Access took this chance to head to his bedroom to get dressed, he threw aside many an item before he settled on a plain black jumpsuit with gray trim, a very common choice of clothing for a Netrunner.
He zipped up the jumpsuit and ran a comb through his mane, satisfied he returned to the living room.
The bathroom door swung open roughly with a slam as Sheet Rock strode out.
“Look who decided to get dressed for once.” Sheet Rock mocked.
Access didn’t take his eyes off the nearby vidscreen. “It’s good manners after all.”
Sheet Rock sat in her lounger, she looked serious for a moment.
“What’s wrong?” Access asked.
“I think we’re going about things the wrong way.” Sheet Rock sighed.
“How do you figure?” Access questioned.
“Between us we have the skills to be doing real jobs, not ones that pay a pittance.”
“What are you suggesting? It’s not as if we have the manpower to break into a facility where the juicy data is.”
“That’s why we should search for something on our own, rather than waiting for someone to hire us.” Sheet Rock stated.
Access wanted to disagree but instead he nodded.
“Jack in. I’ll be waiting.” Sheet Rock said as she slid her neural plugs into the back of her skull.
Access let out a huff as he watched his friend plug in before he laid on his own lounger, he picked up his own neural plugs and slipped them into the back of his skull.
He was blinded by bright white light briefly and as it subsided he found himself within the apartment block’s sub-net, an almost perfect copy of the real thing which glowed in bright neon.
Not all sub-nets were like this but the building manager of their particular block had put in some special effort, a rare trait in this district.
“Took you long enough, normally you can’t wait to get on the Net.” Sheet Rock grumbled.
“There's a first time for anything right?” Access shot back.
The two shared a laugh as they trotted towards the sub-net’s gateway ring, it could take them anywhere that was physically connected to this sub-net.
“We headed to Haven again?” Access asked.
“Definitely.”
“We should consider posting up something of our own when we get there, just a thought.” Access stated.
“Oh sure, what should we put on it? For hire, two Unicorn Netrunners, desperate for a job and will literally do anything.” Sheet Rock mocks.
Access laughed loudly. “That’s a good idea actually, someone might just take pity on us.”
Sheet Rock grumbled as she opened the gateway’s menu, she keyed in their desired destination quickly into the gateway and it sprung into life which bathed the immediate area in its golden light.
Access stuck out his tongue at Sheet Rock and vanished in a flash of light as he crossed the gateway.
Sheet Rock shook her head as she followed him. On the other side was the Haven sub-net, a very popular cybercafe modeled on a diner from Equestria’s past.
“To think ponies would still want to be reminded of the old days.” Access said.
“Nostalgia, I suppose.” Sheet Rock responded.
Access pointed towards the diner itself. “You go and socialize, I’ll post up our skills on the job board outside. Deal?”
“Fine by me.” Sheet Rock said as she turned to leave.
Access wandered away towards the nearby job board and looked at it’s contents, multiple jobs had already been posted that day and most of them paid very little.
One of the job postings caught Access’ eye and he inspected it a little closer for a moment before he took it from the board.
“Unsecured corporate system spotted in the Lower Canterlot region, the area is listed as a gray system but something smells fishy about it. Everyone avoid this one, unless you’re crazy.” Access mumbled as he read.
A nearby avatar noticed Access’ interest in the post and stopped him as he attempted to leave.
“I wouldn’t go near that one if I were you friend, real bad juju.” the avatar said.
“I’m just going to take a peek, I’ve got backup.”
“Not telling you what you can and can’t do friend, but everyone here gets a weird feeling off of that post.”
“Explain.” Access stated.
“Check it, the name of the poster is missing, as is their access point name.” the avatar responded.
Access checked and the details were indeed missing.
“If you’re that insistent on going, the location is embedded in the post. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”
Access laughed as he walked away, he knew full well Sheet Rock would be all over this no matter how dangerous it’d be.