Day 9: Best laid plans

9 pm

Moving along the path leading to the meeting spot. Aint' doing this on the grid. A good meetups still in person. We get to meet, drink and talk. Feeling powerful again, feeling less dead. Doc did a good job on the patchworking.

The old Chinese theater is the meet up once called the Golden Dragon, bastion of the holo flicks. Long shut down here in section 2, the triads and the yakuza rule this sector dubbing it the dragon quarter.

I brought the beer. Someone else claimed chips and salsa. Someone else said this and that, in a matter of moments, a decker Potluck was going down. Fuck yeah, I was pumped as I leap into the booth, unlocking it with a swipe of my finger. I rented this place out for the evening, all ours.

Moving into the lobby, the sound of a click as I'm staring down the barrel of a dozen live guns. Aint' Chaser, Aint' Yakuza, Corporate drones. Then, they fade into the ether fucking holoprojector turning off, as a laugh greats my ears. Mary Fucking Mary, cartwheeling towards me, with a wicked look, always good for a laugh.

We talk for a bit waiting for the others; she is the same. It seems she just got out of the mind wipe. It took them 46 hours to crack her back into place. She says she aint' sure it's all back, but it's good a fucking enough for a run. I'm worried, but ya know what, I ain't got a whole lotta fucking options.

When they reprogram ya for the state, Mind Wipe for the city to be productive and healthy. To get you back on fucking track, ready to be a good citizen of our glory, that is the city of Dreams. But I'll watch her like a hawk as I greet the others.

The others seem skilled; we talk about the job. We make our plans, our goals, and our pay rates submitted to the client. I aint' got the flash to pay for this team as we start on the next round of brews. A beeping in the lower corner as I flick my eye upwards to read it over. It was approved, this shit never gets approved this quick, good news, and we got paid right there four jobs. Paid upfront, no-one is excited, I mean, they ain't turning down the flash.

Turn around is normally a week, as I send out the encryptic to each of them to seems I aint' plan this one either. Each of us read our orders. As we stand now, the friendly is done. Tomorrow we do the first job, it seems, hitting a data bank.....wipe it clean.

Data bank is holding data for Nonstop Media, contracts, and files. They want us to grab the goods, destroy the server and send them to the contact. It seems this is a major attack on the company.

We look at each other. 12 hours, we will be in the belly of the beast, but we needed someone on the inside to do it. She drops down on silent feet. Her blade is sharp as death. The afro is how I remembered it as she is walking forward, flicking her blade in a semi-circle, as I watch her remember my gear and her feet on the ground.

This woman was not a guardian solo; no, she was a teammate now. She whispers into my ear. I'll be her ears and her eyes, and she will destroy it all, burn it and make sure we don't fuck up.

I shudder now. I officially know I'm over my head. Playing with the sharks out in the deep end, now to drown with them till I get me some gills. She makes us run through the plan for the next 8 hours, long 8 hours. No more of a decker party, it felt so coporate.