//------------------------------// // Chapter 70 - Undercover // Story: The Freelancers // by OverHeart //------------------------------// “I’m going for the panel above me, remind me where it is.” “In a little residential corridor on the floor above you.” Sheet Rock mentioned after a quick check of a map she’d acquired. “Go up the stairs, turn left as you reach the top and continue on until you reach the back wall.” “Should I be concerned about the occupants?” “Those rooms are hardly prime real estate being so close to the atrium.” Sheet Rock replied confidently “That said, there’s only a few of them down that corridor, odd.” “The Arcology doesn’t really have a set layout as such.” Phantom remarked as she reached the top of the dark steel stairs, confidently striding past a tired looking police officer. “That’s why there’s a weird mix of residential, commercial, and administrative units on most floors.” “Maybe a pyramid wasn’t the best shape to use as the city’s overall shape, huh?” “Once you go underground it starts to make a lot more sense, but the above ground stuff is quite old in fairness.” Phantom pointed out, coming to a sliding glass door. “That’s why security is a little tighter on above-ground floors, there’s a lot of vulnerabilities that would take too long to bring up to modern standards so to protect them they just throw bodies at the problem.” “I’m guessing that’s why their hubs have been so easy to get to then?” “Exactly, lucky us.” Phantom peered down the hall as the door opened at her approach. The panel the hub was located inside was at the far end of the hall, situated inside a small alcove among a collection of assorted wires dangling from the ceiling and dented mailboxes. “Panel’s right in front of you, Phantom.” “I know, I see it.” Phantom grunted. “Really wish I thought ahead and grabbed a map for myself.” “Suppose a lot’s changed since you were here last?” “Can’t say I remember the placement of every access panel on every wall I ever passed, there’s gotta be hundreds of them.” Phantom pulled open the panel to reveal another network hub, along with some assorted environmental control machinery. Like before she connected a cable to it, and connected the other end to a port on her neck. This one was a little tougher to crack and the progress bar overlay her cyberware projected onto the hub seemed to crawl at a snail’s pace. From the data she’d already extracted, this hub seemed to have more access than the others, which was unexpected due to its proximity to a public area. It was clear that the Arcology’s sysops had done some network segmentation at some point, and only allowed certain hubs to access certain systems, perhaps someone in the apartments nearby needed some very specific access rights at one point. “I've just started to breach another hub, can you tell what this one is connected to on your end, Sheet?” “Door controls, if I’m looking at this readout right.” Sheet Rock replied. “Seems a SysOp has noticed something’s up too, not a runner thankfully, so his reach is limited. The most he can do is trigger ICE and lock a few doors.” Sure enough, a cursory scan of the subnet warned of a SysOp present in the system. Their signal was similar to that of a Runner, but they didn’t use a Cyberdeck to carry out whatever task they’d been given, opting for the simplicity of a computer terminal instead. It made them slow and ponderous, barely capable of keeping up with a Netrunner, but they had the advantage of being completely immune to Anti-Personnel programs. The only way to deal with this obstacle would be to trash their well-fortified systems, but that would remove any and all doubt their subnet had a small pest problem. The progress bar froze for a moment before it jumped to ninety-percent, only to start glitching erratically. It was a few moments more before a deep sense of panic started to form in the back of Phantom’s mind, and she reached to disconnect herself from the hub, but a loud crack, followed by electrical fizzling filled the hallway. In moments, Phantom was on the floor, writhing in pain from a sudden shock delivered straight to her neural interface. She couldn’t be sure, but there was the faint sound of voices all around her, although she couldn’t tell whose before everything turned black. Matterhorn stared intently at the doorway Phantom had gone through for several minutes, unblinking, completely unaware of the can of soda that had just been placed in front of him. At least, this was until Star jabbed him in the shoulder gently to get his attention. “No.” “I’m sure you can afford to spend a few moments doing something other than staring at that one specific spot.” Star remarked. “I don’t think you’ve been anything other than hyper-vigilant from the moment we sat down.” “Right now isn’t exactly the best time to be anything other than that.” “Other than the fact you’re getting a few looks.” Star rebuked. “The idea is to be inconspicuous.” Matterhorn counted no less than four members of Arcology security gather near to Phantom’s position, which wasn’t a good sign, even worse was the fact Phantom hadn’t checked in with them for quite some time now. He could risk going up there himself armed with an excuse or two, but bat ponies weren’t known to be the most forgiving if someone got in their way, which usually landed someone in a locked jail cell without a key. Alternatively, he could use his newly unrestrained mind and arcane abilities, but Phantom’s mistake of revealing his level of strength to Arcology authorities meant they’d deploy a precise and tailor-made response to deal with the issue, something that bat ponies excelled at. “We got a problem.” Sheet’s voice said over the comm link. “Something got Phantom, she’s alive but not really in any sort of state where she’d be useful, at least according to her bio-monitor implant.” “Guessing that’s what those ponies up there were dragging away.” Matterhorn growled. “What do we do now?” “Nothing’s changed, we continue with the job.” Sheet Rock said after a momentary pause. “Not unless you feel like taking on all those armed goons, of course. Phantom managed to get us enough access to open the way to our target though.” “But not enough to make this a cakewalk I take it?” “I can probably get you down there, but once you’re at the front door, it’s the loud way from that point onward.” Sheet Rock said apologetically. “She didn’t end up getting us as much access as she would’ve liked, but it’s better than nothing.” “And what do we do about Phantom, just leave her to the wolves?” Sheet Rock sighed. “They’re taking her to be treated at a hospital owned by GeneTech on the lower levels, which is where you’re going anyway, so you could… you know… insist they discharge her.” That was equal parts convenient and concerning, in the sense that once Phantom was conscious and able to answer the long list of questions they had for her, they’d probably spend no expense trying to find out why they found her crumpled into a ball on floor, still connected to something she shouldn’t have been. “What about our backup?” “We dropped some programs that should lead them to us so we can combine efforts, but more importantly, you two need to get moving downstairs.” Sheet Rock stressed. “I can open the way but you’ll need to be quick, take the main transit elevators just up the stairs when you’re ready.” Matterhorn shook his head with exasperation, rising to his hooves like a corpo who’d just been told he’d been volunteered for mandatory overtime. Star followed close behind, trying her best to mimic his sour expression whether it was real or not. The way the Arcology was built meant that it had many transit elevators of varying sizes that ran down the central “spine” of the structure. They could transport ponies or cargo as the need required to their desired destination, and more importantly, nobody would bat an eye if they needed one to themselves. Matterhorn jabbed the call button by the elevator impatiently and waited, though it wasn’t long until one arrived. Sheet Rock instructed them to board and simply wait, she would deal with sending it where it needed to go without leaving a trace. Inside the rapidly accelerating elevator, Star peered at Matterhorn strangely for a moment, something he caught onto quickly. “Problem?” “Since when does the Director’s pet do merc work?” “I couldn’t care less.” Matterhorn admitted. “I don’t think I mentioned what happened, did I?” “Feel like explaining now?” “Only because I respect you, I’d rather keep this as private as possible.” Matterhorn said as the elevator plunged below ground. “Riot was the one that found me, got me some medical help. Long story short, I got some cyberware removed from my spine that was probably intended to control how I think.” “My father wouldn’t have approved that.” “No, I don’t suppose he would, but I think you know who would.” “I find it hard to believe the Director would be that overt, considering the lengths she goes to protect her interests.” “It’s not really mind control, it’s far more subtle than that.” Matterhorn corrected. “It’s supposed to ensure an agent’s loyalty under penalty of remote execution. GeneTech would kill for this kind of technology, so they intend to copy it and use it in their own efforts.” “And you know this, how?” “I gotta eat, so I did a few jobs here and there for a few ponies, some of which had some very interesting things to say.” Matterhorn admitted. “It seems that a lot of corps in the genetics business are trying to copy the work the Director’s researchers carried out, it’s not just GeneTech.” “Does that mean Phantom was hired by the Crown?” Star inquired. “Because it seems that way.” “I don’t like to speculate.” Matterhorn answered. “But if I had to guess, the Crown wants its stolen assets back and hired Phantom knowing she’d more than likely get us involved.” “Either way they can say they weren’t involved, get what they want, and still have us dance to their tune like puppets.” The elevator suddenly decelerated sharply. The glowing display read that they were nearing their destination some fifty floors below ground, the Arcology must be massive in the vertical sense, dwarfing that of any city skyline. “Alright, you’re nearing the floor you need to get off at, I can guide you most of the way but I wont be able to track any staff milling about so you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled.” Sheet Rock remarked over the comm link. “That said, your first priority should be Phantom.” “Obviously.”