Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 218

Netrunners. I’d been lucky these last couple months to only run into them when they weren’t prepared. Taking one by surprise and dealing with one that was active and ready were two completely different situations. Especially since I didn’t have a Netrunner of my own to defend me.

Not all was lost though. I’d intentionally prepared my gear to one day run up against a Netrunner. Almost everything was offline and hardwired, leaving little to no places for one of them to get in outside of my phones and deck.

My burner phone was gone now, and my deck was shut off entirely. That just left my main phone, but it was certified by the Jade Fangs to be nigh impossible to get into. At least, in a short time. As long as I didn’t leave a way in, such as calling someone or getting on the Net, it’d be safe.

Still, I fully shut down most of my devices anyway. Netrunners needed just the slightest gap to cause massive damage. I left only the hard-linked stuff, which meant shutting down my wrist pad. My sensors were completely offline now. I’d just have to trust that my gear was good enough to hold up.

I glanced around, trying to find how the runner spotted me. The building was high enough that the buildings around wouldn’t be able to spot me with their cameras. At least, not more than a couple of pixels. 

And I had a feature scrubber. My face was entirely obscured. It was safe to say my clothes gave me away. That was the most likely scenario, at least. There wouldn't be a repeat of walking right by the Circle’s squads-

Speaking of, I looked over the side, spotting the squads. They were at the entrance to the building. My idle time was gone. Still, that didn’t mean I had to keep running with my tail between my legs. I moved to the door leading onto the roof, setting up another trap with grenades and some micro wire. 

I wasn’t sure how effective the last one had been in my apartment, but anything was better than nothing. If I could slowly whittle down their numbers, I’d be able to get away much easier. Then again, there were at least sixty. My odds weren’t high.

With that all set, my mind churned as I rapidly planned my next move. I need transportation. With a Netrunner on watch, I was hesitant about going and getting just anything though. There were all sorts of things they could do to shut one down. And being in a vehicle would make me much easier to track. There were alternatives though. 

As I flung myself off the building towards the next one over, I completely bypassed the surrounding squads. They were completely clueless for several long seconds before their attention shifted away from the building I stood on. It seemed their tracking magic was in pulses, not constant like I’d feared. It gave me a bit of wiggle room.

I didn’t waste any time, moving streetside this time instead of toward the alley to get down like normal. I waited for an opportune moment and then jumped for a passing box truck. The Drop Chutes made my landing as light as a feather, though I nearly rolled off the slick roof. I managed to hold myself in place by slamming a knife through the top of the truck to use as a handhold.

I laid down, taking shelter on it as the truck drove by. Alternative transportation plan A acquired. And this would be much faster than moving on foot. The only issue was that I couldn’t control the direction the truck moved in, though thankfully the driver was headed further into the city.

I kept my eyes peeled, watching my surroundings intensely. The storm had picked up significantly, driving most of the people off the streets. Only a couple stragglers remained, rushing from one place to another without a care in the world. Then there were the ever-idle homeless, watching everything with hollow eyes from just inside of alleys.

More interestingly, the streets were bare of Crusaders. I was hoping to spot a couple of Squires scattered around that I could ask for help, but they were completely gone. Did the Inquisitor give up on me? 

No- I had a feeling something else was going on. The streets were too empty. Like someone intentionally moved everyone away and manipulated the situation so the hunter squads behind could capture me without interference. Just how far did She Who Grow’s reach go?

I easily moved a couple blocks, moving ever closer to the Ryu Container Yard. Once I got there, I was confident I’d be able to worm my way from one side to the other mostly unopposed. The people there were… quite frankly insane. In other words, fearless. No telling what would happen if they spotted a bunch of corpo-looking strike squads move into the area.

The truck underneath me slowed down. I peered over the edge of the box section of the truck to check the situation. Smoke poured up from the engine block, hissing sharply in the cold rain. My free ride was over.

I looked back, catching sight of several black vans making their way through traffic. Netrunner sabotage? Or just unlucky? I was hoping I’d get more space, but… fine then, onto escape plan B. 

I leaped from the truck, grabbing onto a nearby streetlamp. Its surface was extremely slick, making it difficult to climb up. Difficult, but not impossible. I gained height on the pole, then jumped off of it onto a nearby balcony. 

I crouched down, popping open the lock in mere seconds. Lockpicking had always been easy. Now that I could see the tumblers with Technical Expertise? Mere child’s play.

I slipped into the room- some kind of private booth for what looked to be a club. A bunch of guys sat collapsed in the booth surrounded by far too many bottles. One of them was singing without a care in the world while the others cheered him on. They were busy in a world of their own as I walked out of the booth and out into a hall. From there, I found the closest staircase and made for the roof. It was beginning to become a repeat tactic.

I wasted no time moving for the edge-

Insight tingled, making me jerk and drop to the ground back right as shots arched over the edge of the roof. The bullets whizzed by, slamming into a nearby building. They didn’t sound like normal bullets though. I focused on the impact sites, scanning them with my eyes. 

Gel rounds? They were a relatively new type of weapon on the street, one which I hadn’t had time to mess with. They were new enough that they were invented in my lifetime, back when I was super young. Nowhere near as prevalent as good ole fashioned FMJs, though were supposedly non-lethal. Still, getting hit by them usually resulted in incapacitation. Not something I wanted to deal with.

I tossed a Scouter onto the ledge of the building to get a better view of the surroundings, momentarily flicking it on before shutting off the connection to avoid the Netrunner. In a brief flash, I spotted several squads from the Circle encircling the building, set up and ready for me to get off from the roof. Just as I feared, they adapted their strategy.

What to do… what to do… A sigh left my mouth as I pulled a couple flash bangs and tossed them up into the sky. A moment later, they erupted in a blinding glare. I booked it for the staircase, using Burst Step to speed up my movements. Just as I ducked in, the surrounding area was lit up by a dozen more rounds.

Okay, okay. Take a deep breath. I scanned through my mental map, tracking my current location. New plan. This place had a basement. It didn’t exactly connect up to anywhere, but with a bit of explosives? I could fix that.

I raced down the stairs with silent footsteps, dropping down two of the seven flights of stairs. Just as I was about to go down more, the door below slammed open. The sounds of boots scraping the ground and tactical gear brushing up against itself rang in my ears. I peeked over the edge of the staircase- a squad had entered and was making their way up.

I waited for a moment, checking to see if there were any other people coming in. Nothing. Just the five-stack. Should I… take them? They were directly separating my escape… could I even take on a five-stack of armed and ready troops?

Don’t be hasty, Shiro. Think about this for a moment before committing. I had armor, so I could probably tank a few shots if need be. We were on a staircase, which favored me. It was tight, which would make it so I only had to fight one at a time.

I also had the drop on them. At least, as long as I moved in the next half a minute. I checked my gear, then looked down at the squad. None of them seemed like Magi or Adepts, at least. That was a massive boost in my confidence. Only one guy that looked somewhat heavily chromed, and he was at the front.

The sounds of their boots and heavy breaths as they climbed drew me from my thoughts. It was now or never. With a quick decision, I prepared myself to move.

— — —

Reggy climbed the stairs, mindful of his surroundings as he followed along the rest of his squad. He was at the back, watching their flank carefully as they moved for the stairs. He kept his SMG up and at the ready for even the slightest signs of movement.

His squad leader’s called out into the comms, “Overwatch, still have sight of the target?” 

“Negative.” A woman’s voice came across the line. It sounded slightly digitized. “Encircling squads lost LOS. Still suspected to be on the roof. Mother’s Magus is ten seconds off another pulse.”

”Roger.” The line went dead for a moment before the squad leader called out to the rest of the squad. “Right, stay close. It’s just one terrified girl running from us. There's nowhere to escape.“

Reggy heard something bounce off the top of the stairs. A moment later, the point man called out, “Contact! Top of the-“

Boom!

An explosion staggered Reggy, making him tumble down the stairs. His head heavily slammed into the wall, causing everything to go dark for a moment. By the time his vision returned, the rest of his squad was already engaging the enemy. The point man and the squad leader were down, taking the full force of a grenade. Neither of them moved.

The next two were firing at the top of the stairs, lighting up the shadows. Reggy staggered to his feet, joining them in suppressing fire a moment later. His head felt foggy, though he remembered to call out into the commlink. “Overwatch, contact on-“

Something popped over the ledge-

Bang!

A bright flash lit up the space, causing his aim to go off for a moment. The auto-darkening feature of his helmet kicked in a moment later, allowing him to see once more. Unfortunately, that moment was all their enemy needed to close the gap.

A lethal shadow moved, taking cover behind the foremost member of the squad. It was small, easily hiding its entire body behind the man as it moved into close combat. Reggy shifted to get a better view just as the first man moved into a grapple, grabbing onto the shadow and forcing them to the floor.

The grapple was easily successful. The man at the front had chrome arms, both of them double a normal person’s lift weight. With that much strength, there was no chance of the shadow escaping. He slammed the shadow into the ground harshly.

The second soldier whipped out his arm, deploying a shock baton. In the glow of the electricity, Reggy spotted the shadow for what it was; a girl, her facial features twisted in concentration. He tried to remember if he’d seen her before, but his memory completely blanked. 

One thing was sure though, the wicked gleam in her eyes and the faint curl of her lips sent a chill down his spine. For someone pinned down, she looked confident. Too confident. Why wasn’t the guy in front finishing the job? He was just standing there, in the way.

Reggy couldn’t get a clean shot, so he dropped his SMG back into its sling and likewise deployed his shock baton. Just one solid hit would completely incapacitate the girl.

He surged up the stairs-

“Ah!” A knife flew perfectly, slamming into his helmet’s visor. The visor protected him from lethal damage, catching the knife right before it could hit his eye. He instinctively blinked, feeling his eyelash brush against the sharp tip.

The entire visor was ruined, covered in a spiderweb of cracks that covered his vision. In a mere moment, he tore off his helmet, allowing him to see once more. The scene he expected—the girl down and his squad victorious—didn’t happen.

The middleman between Reggy and the one pinning her down was dropped onto the staircase railing, a knife slammed into the tiny gap between his helmet and his body armor. His eyes behind his helmet were hollow, staring out into nothing as his neck shot sporadic spurts of arterial spray around the knife.

Rage erupted inside of Reggy as he once more made his move. How dare this- this wench kill his squad mates? The ones he’d served alongside for months, working under the loving hand of Mother.

Reggy moved to help the guy still grappling, carefully watching the girl’s hands for signs of more daggers. Only- he had a hard time tracking her hands. He lost sight of them several times as he climbed the stairs.

“Gahhhhhh!” Just as Reggy finally reached her, the man in front let out an agonized shout. His chrome arm flipped the wrong direction, the metal compressing as the sound of dozens of servos seized all at once. Blood sprayed as the nerves of his arm were ripped out by the haywire chrome.

Reggy slammed forward with his shock baton, intent on ending it all. It was on full blast as the electrode on the end sparked with electricity in the humid air-

Reggy froze, feeling the sensation of a scythe at his throat. He instinctively dodged as a bolt of icy cold fear slammed his heart into rapid fire. His gaze shifted for the intangible reaper he felt. With a start- he broke free of the fear and returned to attacking their target.

The girl, in the time he was distracted, had swiped his squad mate's pistol. Before Reggy could even blink, he found the barrel pointed right at his face. 

Bang!