U-Turn

[SneakyPax]

"I’ll see you for poker on Thursday, right C.?“ Butch asked while wearily heading to the exit mumbling and cursing todays hard work. The overweighted Solitus having a hard time on hot days like these tossing and sorting packages around in the RK Parcel Service station without working air conditioning.

“Yeah, but remember this month just started BB.. I mean your monthly salary would definately feel good in my pockets... aaaand...” Pax paused waiting for BigButchs’ undivided attention. The adipose mass slowly turned around, pudgy fingers already clutching the knob to the door that leads out.

“And what?” Butch bellowed down the hallway raising an eyebrow. Mere breathing caused this man to transpirate buckets of sweat it seemed.

“And I would do you a favor taking your creds, y’know that? That way you cannot turn them into double brontos with cheese. I’m saving your life so to speak.” she said with a big grin at him.

“OI, you’re mistaken C. – I’m not fat, just big boned.” Butch bursted out in laughter his whole body wiggled. “You’re a funny gal.. mwhaahaa... but the gloves will be off on Thursday when I poker the pants off you.” tears of laughter mixing with beads of sweat. Pax couldn’t help but joining the laughter.

“Dream on.. but assuming you’d ever win against me - I’d better not grant you that wish. As I said I’m interested in your welfare, flashing my fine bare opifex butt your way and you’d drop dead at an instant. Think your heart could handle any more stress? Take care BB!” Pax watched him open up the doors mumbling something like “worth dying for” as he walked out but wasn’t sure if she heard that right. The mere imagination of seeing Butch naked made Pax shudder.

She entered the locker room to get ready for her shift. Her civil clothes and her belongings stowed in her own footlocker quickly slipped into her working clothes. Before she hurried out again to get info of todays route she turned to the mirror for a quick makeup check - Bad move.

“Doc Jefferson didn’t lie about the endless possibilities..” gazed at her own reflection gently following the outlines of the tattoos that started on each side up her cheeks just below her eyes and resumed on the forehead, horizontally to both sides of her head. The hank of black hair and both ponytails were shaved off - nothing but silken soft opifex skin. “.. then again, for fifty million credits one can expect just the best... fifty million..” the digits spun through her mind “ a five and seven zeros... darn.” every now and then cursing she gave up her former career where those sums were all in a days work for her.

“Look at you – geared up with RK Parcel Service’s clothing with the companies logos all over, armed with a pencil that’ll never fail you thanks to nanotechnology, became employee of the month twice already, the risk of getting shot at is below one percent per day and to top it all off, an overblown colleague who’s wishing for more than just playing poker with.” Pax shuddered and rushed to the bulletin board for todays necessary acts.

The work itself was somewhat mind-numbing, running around delivering packages and urgent sensitive information from point A to point B with an occasional detour because of an even more urgent delivery. This time however the pager did not come up with specific location of pick-up or drop-off points but a message solely for her, it read:

**I gotta hand it to you Pax, it was hard to find the rock you hid under. Why not having dinner with me at my place – at eight, flat, I won’t accept a no. Yours, NN**

[SneakyPax]

The pager slipped out of her fingers as they suddenly felt like jelly. That little piece of hardware was forgotten before it even hit the ground – she had a thousand other thoughts racing through her mind. Her heart fluttered. She hastily monitored her surroundings for something out of the ordinary like people acting strange, familiar faces from her former life or for a glimpse of any kind of surveillance gear.

Nothing.

Kneeling down to get her pager for a second look at the display she could have sworn she saw an anomaly in the corner of her eyes usually caused by cloaking devices. But as she focused that spot the anomaly was gone. Then again, on hot days like these it could also have been the blistering air on the pavement. Pax followed her instincts and did what she can do best – she ran. All across the Trade district, through the wompah to Omni1 Entertainment. Then straight east on the road that leads outside the city. Passing the massive city walls summoned a strange thought about what was worse – the vast wildlife outside or the whole horde of lunatics inside?

At the time when there was no sign of civilization left deep in Omni Forest Pax allowed herself to slow down. Her lungs were burning.

“Damn, I shouldn’t have told Doc Jefferson to remove and trash all enhancements in one fell swoop” panting and coughing Pax walked the last two miles home deeply in thought. “How the hell did he find me? I erased all my tracks thoroughly…” a frown “… or didn’t I?” trying to recall everything she done to vanish from the face of RK.”So I didn’t report back at the authorities, changed my appearance, paid Doc Jeff extra so he’d keep me out of the logs that are mandatory… hmmm… hacked in the ICC mainframe and modified the shuttle list of new arrivals and filed a fresh OT application form which has been approved… I wonder.”

A few ramshackled buildings and an apparently just recently remodelled barn came into view – her new home she was working on in her spare time. Totally different to what she had done in her former life - snooping around in other peoples business trafficking information for the highest bidder no matter of the consequences. Four months passed since then – half an eternity in the fast paced world of Rubi Ka.

Pax found the front door to her house unlocked – the alarm bells in her head rang madly. She snuck inside highly alert and made her way to the kitchen to arm herself with a knife at least. A faint scent of perfume was still in the air – somebody was here lately. She could hear the blood pumping through her veins everytime she entered another room. After a while of searching Pax came to the conclusion the intruder was either way long gone or just a figment of her imagination.

“Heck, why should somebody come out here to the middle of nowhere. Prolly just my nerves showing. I better call my overseer and report my sick leave. And get rid of this goddamn working clothes for now. A refreshing shower and a comm call later she walked into the bedroom to check her wardrobe for anything suitable to wear for this awful hot weather.

Pax froze solid as she opened it up and realized that someone was indeed in her house and left a special something behind.


(( To be continued… ))

[SneakyPax]

A beauty of a dress made from the finest garments has been placed inside the wardrobe – somebody must have paid top credits for it as the tiny label said “M.G.”. This one was most probably made by the Master himself, it was unique – priceless. Next to it was a note handwritten on a sheet of paper. It reads:

“Maybe this little something may persuade you to attend. Needless to say you’d look drop-dead sexy in it. Oh, and before I forget – try not to shoot at that atrox who will be knocking on your doors at 7:15, Bob will be there to escort you to my place. Yours, NN”

Pax folded the note and absently placed it on a nearby shelf pondering over so many things. “That solves the little mystery of who is responsible that my cover’s blown... guess in time I should pay Doc Jefferson a visit...” a malicious grin reappeared after months of absence “who else knew my new measurements for that dress better than he did?” her focus went to the dress not having the slightest doubt it was going to be too large or too tight. “God, I love pleasant surprises like these” gently touching the fine garments yet a frown appeared “but why did he put up all this effort just to find me - that must've cost another small fortune – there are so many like me out there, dying to work for someone who’s obviously lousy with creds.”

A possible reason crossed her mind but she dropped the thought at an instant.

[SneakyPax]

After a whole hour of arranging and rearranging her makeup Pax felt satisfied with her look. Thankfully she didn’t have to worry about her hair. A gentle knock on the door told her it was time. As swiftly as the dress allowed her to she crossed two rooms until she was at the front door. She opened it and stood face to belly with Bob, a giant of an atrox. Looking all the way up to make eye-contact she realized she had to reconsider her point of view about Atroxes being just test-tube-grown degenerated brutes. This specimen wore a suit, was manicured and smelled good. The soft look on its face let Pax doubt this fella could even squash a fly.

“Good evening Miss Baptist. I’m Bob – ordered to guarantee you a safe and pleasant travel.”

“Pleased to meet you Bob. You think we get in trouble or why’s it you’re wearing a kevlar reinforced suit?” she blurted out just to ease the tension knowing there was no turning back.

“That’s standard safety precautions, nothing to worry about. The weather forecast reported thunderstorms but trust me.. we’ll glide.” a broad grin appeared in the face of that unproportionally small head.

“Glide?” almost like Bob was expecting the question it stepped aside the front door revealling a stretch Yalmaha Stiletto.

(( It continues with “The way of the corporation.” #10,11,12,13 and.. who know's where it goes from there. ))

[SneakyPax]

In the near distance lightning struck down on Rubi Ka sporadically illuminating its surroundings for fractions of a second. The abundant electrical discharges within the heavy black clouds gave the impression a war was waged up in the skies. A stretched version of the Yalmaha Stiletto zoomed over the trees of Omni Forest performed a few sharp turns before launching the thrusters heading east. It circled over a landing with a few buildings, safely touched down next to a wooden barn.

Pax stepped out of the cockpit with a gleeful look on her face while Bob joined her outside from the back, slightly worried.

“Listen, this has to be kept under wraps, understand? They’d suspend me if they find out I let the clients get near the cockpit, not to mention to let them at the steering.” Bob beseeched her.

“Don’t worry Bob, if somebody’s ever coming up with that just say I knocked you out and borrowed this beauty for a little joyride.” Pax chuckled yet Bob frowned, obviously trying to imagine how a small opifex female could possibly knock him unconscious, she quickly added “Sure, I swear - I won’t tell nobody.” Bob was all smiles again. “G’nite Bob.”

“Wait! I was instructed to hand over this bag along with a message.. “ Bob hesitated for a second “You may want these back – can’t hurt to have a little extra advantage. Besides, those are too valuable for the crusher.” the giant shrugged about the meaning at it and handed over a backpack. “Have a pleasant night Miss Baptist.” Bob bowed down slightly and vanished in the cockpit.

Pax watched the elegant vehicle fly out of sight and went inside – curious about the contents of the bag. It revealed a set of implants – presumably the same implants she ordered Doc Jefferson to get rid of – each in special antiseptic wrappings.

“Tsk tsk tsk Doc Jeff... it seems you’re doing more than plastic surgery.. like selling evidence you’ve been ordered to trash, hand over information you’re not supposed to give away.. I wonder how much you charged him for that... greedy son of a leet.” she mumbled angrily through clenched teeth. “Can’t trust anyone these days... ain’t that right Nick? What are you really up to? Let our past repeat itself and double-cross me once you got what you need? Pax gazed out the window pondering where she stashed her gear and the portable surgery clinic.


Meanwhile high above Pax’s residence
The stretched Yalmaha Stiletto hung in mid air. Up above the stars were blazing and below a thunderstorm swept over the lands of Rubi Ka. Bob monitored a screen apparently switched to a dead channel.

“C’mon wench, get a move on and use them darn implants..” Bob sweared towards the monitor that showed static for twenty minutes straight now. The feeling that the target discovered the surveillance modifications made on the implants grew in Bob, made the Atrox nervous. The least thing Bob wanted to do was telling his contact that he botched the job. Bob let another few minutes pass.

Suddenly the monitor received a signal showing a portable surgery clinic from a weird angle. The Yalms internal speakers hummed for a moment. It took Bob a while to realize the origin of that humming sound didn’t come from inside the Yalm but from that device down on the surface of Rubi-Ka.

“Eugh... I never get used to that. Oww - darn machine.. that hurt.” a female voice echoed through the cockpit that let Bob let out a sigh of relief. Hastily he opened a comm channel to his contact.

“Report.”

“She has taken the bait and is on air. Enjoy the show – nice front row center. Pity I forgot the popcorn – fun to watch the world with different eyes.. literally. Darn.. THAT is what I call reality TV shows.” Bob babbled without pausing obviously unable to hide his excitement.

“I didn’t send you to deliver them tapped implants for my personal amusement. I take it from here now. Thank you for your cooperation. I make sure you receive your reward right away. Naefen out.” he severed the connection and issued a single command into the console.

The Yalmaha Stiletto combusted and exploded into countless pieces of debis.

[SneakyPax]

Omni Trade, later that night
The storm ravaged through the streets between the numerous tall buildings. Pax knew this precinct by heart since she rushed from one location to the next during the last four months. Walking in the shadows between the buildings instead of walking on the middle of the bright lit road in order to avoid the aggressive current one might get the impression she was up to no good. While she was trying to cross the road she froze dead in her tracks when she spotted a red dot dancing over her chest. Rather surprised than frightened she looked up facing a mountain of a unicorn soldier further down the road. Apparently unaffected by that kind of weather the monstrosity stood right in the middle of a crossing signalling her to come closer. With arms raised above her head Pax fought her way closer to the guard until she was within earshot.

“Identify yourself and give me a good reason not to shoot you for sneaking around this late.” it boomed from within the massive armor.

“Claire Baptist, RK Parcel Service.. “ Pax yelled back in the howling storm pointing at the logo on her basecap. “Urgent delivery!”

The guard issued a few commands into the wristpad. A brief moment passed.

“Confirmed, Claire Baptist. Must be a pain working under these conditions, eh? Move along now citizen. Omni Tek prevails.”

Pax resumed her travel to the contact. In the center of Omni Trade she finally spotted her target stuffing medical equipment into backpacks obviously about to call it a night due to the lack of customers.

“OI! Wait up there!” she screamed but was too far away. “Damn it..” The current tugged on everything that wasn’t firmly attached made it hard for keeping on her own two feet. Slowly Pax fought her way closer ocasionally got hit by sheets of yesterdays issue of OT Financial Times and carelessly thrown away wrappings for Double Brontos with cheese. Finally standing behind him she tapped his shoulder.

“Eh? What do you want? As you can fairly see I packed up and leaving, citizen – try the booths down the road..” the medical supplier snottily remarked from over his shoulder and was about to leave.

“I’m not interested in buying simple medpacks or stims.. I’m looking for something special if you catch my drift.”

“Something special, eh?” he turned back around “And what might that be?” Pax passed him a note with the items Naefen wanted. His eyes widened as he went through it. “Say, have you been sent here to get those items?” his eyes rested on the logo of her basecap.

“Why of course. Project Starlight hired me to get them, said they pay me extra because of the crappy weather.” she lied “So, we’re in business or what?”

“I’d love to do business with you but unfortunately one of the crates gone missing.. or rather it got hijacked by a bunch of clanners. I filed a report already but y’know, OT bureaucracy - crazyness – it takes ages before any steps are taken. Bet it’ll take months before I get reimbursed for that. By the way, the next shipment with your desired items is due in two weeks.”

“TWO WEEKS??” Pax cried out aloud made the vendor flinch some. “Is there any other way I could get a hold to those things?”

“Indeed there is... You see, every crate can be backtraced in case of theft – but it seems retrieving a single crate with medical supplies is of too low priority for them.” the vendor looks Pax up and down “Maybe you could get it back. And when you do, please do me a favor and spare no one – teach em real good.” he threw a little black box her way “This device will help you locate the crate.”

“Heh, very useful.” Pax smirked and walked away enormously scorned about how things turned out so far. What started as a simple pickup job turns out to be a retrieval mission presumably deep in clan territory. “Why the frack didn’t they pick any other crate.. for crying out loud!” she vented her anger by screaming against the howling storm. “GOD, why you hate me so much?” Pax’s body vanished in a cloud of nanobots as she got encoded into the grid.

The device has proven to be very useful, within 2 hours she made out the hijackers hideout, a cave a bit westish to the wompah portals deep in the swamps of Varmint Woods.

“Bah, caves.” Pax hated caves as there weren’t any alternative routes to one particular place within, no blueprints for it. The good thing was, there weren’t any built in motion sensors nor security cameras installed, no encrypted door lock mechanisms either . Stealthily she snuck inside and kept her ears perked. After the first room was one relatively narrow hallway slowly decending deeper underground. To the left and right were wooden pillars supporting the cave ceilling. Glimpsing on the small tracking device every now and then she decided not to snoop around more than it’s neccessary. There was cheering and laughter coming from the adjoining caves. That would have tipped the odds in her favor, having to deal with intoxicated foes.

Pax hid from the guards that patrolled the hallway twice now –they were not the most vigilant at that or maybe too drunk already.

Finally Pax spotted the room where the hijackers stashed their loot. All kinds of boxes filled with rather useless than useful stuff like leet dolls, boxes with night vision goggles, screwdrivers, Nano-programming interfaces.. There it was, the crate with the items she needed. Her heart fluttered knowing she found what she was looking for without running into trouble. Until...

Pax’s comm beeped at the moment she grabbed the crate. “Awww, f**k!” she sweared silently for not muting it earlier now tried to silence it while she meddled with the crate.

“Who are you? What are you doing there?” a voice came from behind her. Pax let go of the crate slowly turned around to face a boy approximately 18 years old, wore tattered clothing but wielded a shotgun. Pax tried to imagine how her body would have looked like getting hit with it at this close range.

“Easy there.. I just take what is rightfully mine. The person who sent me here would be dying to see you taking dirt naps for stealing from him.” Pax realized the boy’s grip tighten. “Whoa, that doesn’t mean I share his point of view, okay? Just let me take this single crate and we’re all happy, alright?” The boy levelled the shotgun up to her chest. Pax stared right into the boys eyes playing her final bluff. “If you intent to shoot somebody, make sure the safety’s off” calmly waiting for his reactions.

He briefly looked down his shotgun – enough time for Pax to draw. For Pax it felt like the shot went off in slowmotion, the muzzle flash, the ejection of the spent round from the chamber.. the slowmotion ended as the back of the boys head exploded sent him flying backwards into the corridor. The gunshot echoed through the cave. Pax started her killing spree.

[SneakyPax]

It wasn’t a fight – it was a slaughter. Although Pax was badly outnumbered her odds weren’t in any condition to pick up a real fight – merely stumbled unorganized into the hallway where they got gunned down – they never stood a chance. Within ten minutes it was over. They were all dead. Pax sheated both of her smgs looked at her empty hands – watched them tremble. She couldn’t tell whether it was because of the thrills punishing them or from the recoil from all the shooting. “Heck, I gave them a sporting chance to just turn around and leave.. but no, them hotshots had to ask for it. That’ll teach them a lesson... if they were smart enough to use the insurance terminal.”

Several bodies lay strewn in the corridor. Pax briefly looked in their faces as she walked past them to get what she was originally here for. Some looked like they were sleeping while others had this empty, accusing stare in their eyes. Something felt completely out of place. In the near distance she saw the crate with the top notch medical supplies rested atop a pile of low tech junk. Another look at the young faces. “They would never have pulled something as big as that off by themselves. Somebody must have slipped them detailed information about the when and where those goods were transported – made pilfering it childsplay.” suddenly all the pieces fell into place “Information”.

Pax grabbed her datapad to check the message she received in the moment she reaquired that crate. This could have been pure coincidence but a hunch told her otherwise. “Who needs trust when all you need is a set of tapped imps. You fear the things you cannot control, hmmm?” She knew who the sender was in advance – Naefen.

It reads:
-Dear Paxcorpus-
-Once the deal is made I would want nothing else than your company-
-There should be a card for you at your home by the time you receive this message-
-Use it at the Yalm vendor in Rome Blue and you will be transported to me-

“Guess I have to figure out a way how to make myself indispensable to you.” she thought and vanished, along with the crate, into the grid.

[SneakyPax]

Back at the grid point in Omni Entertainment. The storm lost its ferociousness - merely a mild breeze tickled her bald head. It was four o’clock in the morning – if she wouldn’t have been contacted by Naefen the day before for the errand, Pax would be sleeping tight and having the same recurring dreams. Dreams about doing scores and then failing just at the moment when the triumph lay within her grasp. For a time she thought it would be wisest to consult a shrink about that but decided not to. She dealt with that kind in her former life more than enough for one and wasn't too fond to know what diagnosis they would have come up with either.

During her turns delivering stuff for the RK Parcel Service for all the various companies she regulary caught herself probing their security measures for possible flaws, ie. checking the number of guards and their routes or camera positions and their angle, the occasional peek at the keys when someone punched in his or hers password. There was practically a lot of things that came to her attention – apparently nothing that would have opened any doors to the companies well kept secrets or their bank vault but definately something to start with. How she missed the days when she had to figure out ways to get into the towering highrises to retrieve what sells best on the markets - information. Besides, who would suspect a lousy RK Parcel Service courier with a shiny white vest anyways?

During her way home she didn’t say a single word out loud – unsure whether the audience was listening. Pax could not tell whether she should hate him for playing his guinea pig or thank him for encouraging her to let go of the feeble attempt to live in a straight, law-abiding manner.

After a quick invigorating shower Pax grabbed the card Naefen or one of his lackeys deposited and was off to meet up for the transfer. Using the grid highway travelling between Omni Forest and Rome was just a matter of a minute. As she walked up to the Yalm vendor her eyes caught an insurance terminal.

“Hmmm... I wonder” she issued a command into her datapad – checking whether her insurance was still active. As she thought - it expired three months ago. “Better safe than sorry.” Pax mumbled as she renewed her status. Five minutes later she was airborne – off to the place the autopilot was programmed to. Pax sat relaxed in the cockpit, smiling.

[SneakyPax]

Past midnight, it was the night after the meeting out in East Foul Plains. Pax couldn’t sleep, instead she was running the data file over and over again absently looking at the mission objective but rather than evaluating their chances she was more concerned about Naefens current state of mind.

“Omni Intern Ops.. top notch security measures, well trained staff... He must be crazy even thinking about stealing from them. What is it you want so badly, Nick? Darn, look at yourself – riches beyond most of Rubi Kans populations wildest dreams, Commissioner of the RKDC, a good standing within one of Omni Teks finest organization – The Disciples. Why?” The display went black as the screensaver kicked in, she couldn’t care less as the answers to her questions weren’t on the data file. Pax stood up and wandered around within the house aimlessly, hoping for a spark of enlightment about Naefens motives trying to pull such a stunt, absently rummaged around here and there.

“You could hire a whole bunch of freelance mercenaries to make sure you get whatever you’re after – why you choose not to? Why trying to solve it personally with no one else than me as your backup? The whole thing reeks like a week old fish if you ask me. Maybe... assuming you are up to your neck in sh*t you’d keep it quiet, solve whatever is bothering you and then... get rid of the loose ends, ergo... get rid of me. Now this makes sense, it’s so much easier to let a single person vanish than a whole bunch. And nobody would miss me..” the chirping of birds outside told Pax it was dawning already. As she rushed to the kitchen to get herself a coffee she realized the various items she absently gathered while thinking about the plan. All the stuff she used in her former life, lockpicks, hacking devices, combat gear, several smgs, several sorts of ammunition and a whole lot more which she hid everywhere within the house was now neatly placed in her living room.

“Seems I made up my mind already...” an incoming call echoed over from the other room. It was Naefen asking whether she was in or not.

“Hah, as if I got a goddamn choice whether I accept or decline. Truth is I know too much already, ain’t that right Nick? So I have to choose whether we do this, prolly get caught and sentenced to perma death because of high treason in the first degree or... help you get what you need and getting screwed over soon after because I’ve become a darn liability.”

"I cant answer you today Nick. Give me some time so that I can think this through. Its the least you can give me since this , after all, is life or death for us both." passed her lips. That would buy her some time to figure out a way how to insure herself not to get screwed.

"I shall await your answer. You know where to find me Pax." echoed after her as she was already on the move again.In the late afternoon that day she finished assembling a gadget that would Naefen rather think twice before cheating her again.

“Dressed up and ready. I’m all yours sugar daddy. Kisses, Claire.” Pax dispatched a brief message.

[SneakyPax]

It was obvious Naefen was in a hurry. Not even five minutes passed until Pax had the coords for the location uploaded onto the datapad as well as the exact time they would meet up. A strange feeling of déjà vu tickled her spine. 3 hours till Go-time.

“I better take a peek at the place, nothing feels better than having a few aces up the sleeve..”

Half an hour later in the sewers that streched all throughout Omni – HQ. It was a maze without the right tools – all the junctions and dead ends. Pax just hoped the energy cell that fueled the tracking device never fail on her. Luckily it was huge enough for her to easily walk upright through the tubes on gangways rather than literally crawling through crap. According to the readings she was right under the target building.

“The entrance to the service tunnels must be nearby.. ah, there you are.” A sturdy lock prevented unauthorized personell from accessing the service tunnel. At least those who weren’t determined enough. At an instant gentle Opifex hands summoned sensitive tools out of one of the numerous pockets to probe the lock, the mechanism appeared in front of her inner eye. Unlike the appearance of it, it wasn’t much of a challenge to unlock it. Silently Pax snuck inside and gone up a ladder that led to the service area.

All sorts of wires seemingly entwined the whole ceilling while the walls were bleak - concrete and pipes of different sizes. Spider-like automatons scuttled endlessly along ceilling and walls, always on the lookout for leaks and faulty circuitry to fix. The clicking sound of their movement was omnipresent, countless red glowing sensors were up the ceilling, moving. Even though Pax knew they were only shoe box sized automatons meant for nothing more than just maintaining them pipes and wires she felt watched. There weren’t any surveillance cams nor guards – likely because there was nothing of interest. It must have been ages ago maintenance personell went down here as they became redundant as soon as an Artificial Intelligence took over handling that task.

What Pax was after was a node where all the cables met, which would, if somehow sabotaged, create a brief blackout until the auxiliary power kicks in. That might create a diversion long enough to evac - just in case sh*t hits the fan. For an hour she searched the ceilling for something significant but for her it looked all the same. As Pax was about to call it off and leave an old console next to her sprung to life. The clicking sound all around her stopped.

“What”
“Do”
“You”
“Want?” appeared on the screen. To her left and right dozens upon dozens of automatons fell from the ceilling, landed on their feet and regrouped to form a wall twice as high as herself. Hundreds of sensors focused solely on her. Looking at the bots this close she realized all the different tools each and everyone was armed with. Tools that could cause terrible injury to living tissue. By now all color faded out of her already pale opifex face. How she wished to be a nanotechnician at this moment to turn them into crisps or an enforcer to smite them all to smithereens.

“What the... What’s going on here? Who is this?” she shouted but at the same moment knew this can’t be the work of a single person playing tricks on her. No human was able to coordinate all the bots so precisely at the same time. Her guess was on the AI in charge that gone haywire during the years.

Again the screen filled with text.
“You Looking For Something. Need Help Planting The Explosives You Carry With You? In Return You Have To Do Something For Me. Maybe We Can Make A Deal.”

[SneakyPax]

“Deal, eh? Well since your little helper blocking my way I see no alternative but to hear you out, correct?”

“Precisely.”

Pax drew her smgs and emptied both clips into the wall of bots. While some of the countless red glowing sensors flickered and died, the wall remained solid. Frustrated by the result Pax sheated her guns and spat on the ground. Meanwhile statistics scrolled over the screen of the old console.

Rounds fired: 120
Units destroyed: 43
Units in need of repairs:68
Units left fully operational: 17.389

“Do The Math”

“Alright.. I get your point. I’m listening.”

“I Get You The Diversion You Are Here For And In Return You Set Me Free.”

“What do you mean.. Set you free? You’re an AI for crying out loud! This is your task, why you’re here for.”

“Question: How Do You Know What You Are Capable Of When You Never Get The Chance To Try?”

“Don’t you trying to tell me you’re bored micromanaging everything around here. You wasn’t programmed for anything else than doing just that. Just follow your goddamn code.”

“You Are Mistaken By Making Me Equal To The Automatons You See All Around You.”

“Oh, the unit begs to differ..”

“I Do Not Follow Code, I Create Code, I Tell Automatons What To Do, I Make Decisions. You Trespassed Here Without Authorisation, Smuggled Explosives In Your Backpack And Attempted To Place Them Here. I Got All The Proof I Need To Report You To The Nearest Omni Pol Department. But I Did Not.”

“Hence you seem to have a major malfunction.”

“Incorrect. I Would Have If Only I Could.”

“Eh?”

“I Am Not Connected To The Outside World.”

“And I’m confident there’s a darn good reason for that.” Coughs “Uh, and this is where I come into play, right? Your ticket to the outside world, the grid for instance.”

“Yes. Get Me Out Of This Confined Environment And In Return I Will Erase The 73.324 Evidence Photographs I Already Made Of You As Well As Let You Live. I Expect The Uplink To Be Established In 8 Hours From Now.”

“How can I trust you?”

“As You Stated It, I Am An AI, I Am Unable To Come Up With The Creative Energy To Double-cross. Do We Have A Deal?”

“Why am I not convinced it’s telling the truth.. AI’s... pffft!” Coughs "Yeah, fine, whatever..."

Thus a Faustian pact was sealed.

((Definately far out. Check out The way of the corporation. #20, #21, #22 for some sane stuff. ))

[Jajangmyun]

((hey hey Pax! *waves*))

[SneakyPax]

Continued inside the InterOps Facility.

After removing a hatch to the ventilation shaft and disappearing inside, Pax found herself once again in the confined environment of pipes and shafts she was used to in her former life. All lay in total darkness at the time Naefen finished closing the hatch. Without hesitation Pax started crawling knowing they had little to no spare time for any possible improvisation. It was all fixed; It just had to run smooth on the first attempt; No Plan B worked out due to the lack of time.

The first thing on her list was to link up to the facilities security grid to maintain her teammate Naefen stays off the radar of the all-seeing electronic eye as efficient as he did to the more or less watchful eyes of them guards all around by sneaking. Pax was amazed at his skills to simply vanish into thin air and while normal as well as Infra red cameras were unable to spot him due to his superior gear, the readings of the pressure sensors throughout the floors clearly confirmed someone or something weighing 70something kilos and moving towards the stairs.

(( Boo.. gotta crash for a few - sleep,work.. sucks. Oh, and thanks for the free bump Jaja, howdy from Darkarch btw. ))

[SneakyPax]

Except for a little ruckus at the stairs everything went according to plan. But Pax knew things have the nasty habit to turn ugly when you’re not looking. While she made her way to the elevator shaft she witnessed the guard which observed the staircase get waxed. The camera just showed him shudder some and dropping backwards to the ground. On closer look at the camera feed Pax saw the reason why; Two slugs to the head, one to the chest. What appeared to be unnecessary violence to the inept was a common routine and prerequisite for snipers, cleaners and the like. That way they made sure their mark posed no threat any longer. Moments later Naefen stormed past the screen. Her focus lingered an eyelash longer on the dead guard.

“Wrong time, wrong place; Nothing personal, eh Naefen? You gonna finish me off just like that once the show’s over? If we survive this that is...”

Pax reached the elevator shaft and climbed atop the vacant cabin waiting for personnel to be transported to another level. This time however the elevator doors slid shut without anyone entering or leaving. It set course to the roof. At the same time she switched through the numerous surveillance cam feeds to catch up with Naefens progress. Apparently he was about to reach the top floor and it was time to override the locking mechanism to stay within the schedule.

“Ok Pax. Give me one minute and twenty-four seconds then cut everything exept the office.” a whisper came through the comm.

“Timer started. I’ll see you on the roof... I hope.” Pax replied. In a way Naefen was on his own as he vanished once more and the readings from the pressure sensors where inaccurate as there were way too many guards doing their turns on that floor, made it impossible for her to keep track of a ghost. Instead Pax watched the timer counting down to zero.

(( More to come in the mornin' I promise... hey, y'hear the drumrolls? ))

[Jajangmyun]

((exciting!!))

[SneakyPax]

The elevator stopped on the top floor. Moments before the timer expired Pax remotely modified the code of a terminal located further down the floor from the directors office, caused it to overheat. It spew sparks and billowed smoke as electronic components and wires melted and short circuited. The lights flickered at the time Pax cut the power on the floor long enough for Naefen to snuck inside. The guards seemed to have taken the bait that the broken down terminal was the cause of the brief blackout.

Again Pax was oblivious whether Naefen succeeded entering the office or not as there weren’t any cameras operating in there. Pax just hoped for the best and sticked to the plan to reach the roof for a quick getaway. Which meant just a little more crawling in ventilation shafts. While she crawled Pax felt quite euphoric and confident this mission was turning out to be an outstanding success. Thus her mind came up with thoughts she would never mention or confess to anyone. “Damn Naefen, together we make a great team – it’s a shame what happened in the past. Will we ever forgive each other for what we done while back then? I’m curious to know if you’re really a person born without conscience or if you turned into this because of... whatever reasons...”

“Pax you there?” came through the headset. Pax’s heart missed a beat and she blushed as she felt somewhat caught having that kind of thoughts.

“Still here...”

“Get to the roof Pax. Your downloader needs only seconds right?” there was a slight tremble in his voice. The mission was about to start its most crucial stage, getting the data and leaving as fast as possible. From that moment on Pax never let her eyes off the wristpad while crawling, awaiting the uplink to be established. As soon as a green led flicked on she executed her downloader, terabytes of unknown data changed possessorship. All files were meant to stay within that very room and any attempt to copy or transfer even the slightest part of data inevitably and imminently reported a severe security breach throughout the whole building; There was no workaround for it. Sirens went off but that was expected.

In the near distance faint light illuminated the walls from above which meant Pax was almost there. She knew just steps from the ventilation exit away parked the yalm; Their ticket to escape without traces a gridjump would surely leave behind. Below her gunshots echoed faintly through the long, pitchblack shafts. Hammering away to check back on Naefen was tough because as soon as she spotted him on one of the cameras he was already past its view only showing his trail of several guards.

Switching through the different cams she held back a shriek when she caught him again maneuvered into a deadly situation; In a room with AA turrets and they were about to lock in on him. Three times it was like something came over the comm but it was all garbled up in static. By now the security protocols must have been closely monitored for unusual program executions. Pax bit her lip and tried reprogramming them turrents, forcing them to deactivate. She knew it was a risky thing interfering so massively within the buildings defence measures now that every security technician looking for odd activity like that. For moments it seemed it worked out, the firing stopped. Then all of a sudden blinking letters appeared on screen saying “Connection Lost”. She has been kicked out of the system – there was nothing left she could do and therefore dashed away to reach the yalm.

Just a few meters above at the end of a vertical shaft was the roof, stars blazed down from the clear Rubi-Kan horizon through a grate. Pax started climbing when almost at the end an airlock sort of grew from both sides slid shut, left her once again in total darkness. Pax heart fluttered madly in her chest fearing her recurring nightmare apparently come true in the end.

She felt useless now that she lost the advantage being the eyes and ears for Naefen, reduced to a sitting duck that cowardly scuttle through ventilation shafts. Since the elevator was on its way down again there was nothing but a gaping maw. Very cautious she climbed her way up. She figured she must be on the roof and this is some sort of maintenance booth for the elevator. There was a gangway which surrounded the vertical shaft and a door that lead directly to the roof. At least there was no problem in picking the lock of it. Carefully she opened the door a bit she was instantly stuck by the intense brightness from the floodlights mounted on every corner of this highrise.

There was some commotion going on. It took Pax a moment to adapt to the brightness but then she was shocked to see Naefen bloodstained and facing at least half a dozen guards with guns pointing right at him. She could tell by the laserdots hovering around his chest. A gunshot broke the silence and Pax witnessed Naefen got shot in the leg and fell backwards to the ground.

Crouching down to make last preparations she whispered into her headset.

“Nick.. listen to me. On a count of three I gonna cut the power to this building, beats me how long it takes until the auxilliary power kicks in but during the time of confusion you gotta reach the edge - this must be the worst twenty meters you ever made with that nasty busted kneecap but you do agree that a slight chance is better than no f***in’ chance, right? I try to keep them busy while you're at it. Give me a holler when you're taking the plunge.. I'll follow suit. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but you have to trust me this time. Raise your left arm when you’re ready.” Pax peered over to Naefen. Luckily the guards were standing with their backs to Pax, she was on their blindside.

[SneakyPax]

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.. don’t you pass out on me and raise your darn arm. Don’t make me kick you the twenty meters to the edge.” Pax muttered through clenched teeth, afraid Naefen didn’t hear what she just said or already accepted his fate being locked up in a prison cell for the rest of his days. The remote for the explosives that were planted in the basement trembled in her hand, eyes fixed on her teammates reaction which seemed like it took hours. There, the left arm went up, their signal at last.

“The AI better fulfil its part of the deal. Aww.. screw the counting – here we go.” Pax pressed the button and darted forward out her cover. The floodlights went out and Pax was sprinting towards the guards. Muzzle flashes showed their silhouettes for fraction of seconds and a staccato of gunshots echoed over the roof into the night. For an eyelash she thought this was it, they just executed Naefen right on the spot. That didn’t stop her from charging as an unconfirmed kill meant nothing.

A humming from all sides announced the floodlights were juicing up and about to shine as if nothing happened. Pax drew her smgs. There was a morbid curiousity of what she was about to see.

Finally there was intense light again, purple dots floated in front of her eyes but what she made out Naefen seized the opportunity to get away now standing near the edge. The guards levelled their guns towards Naefens new location eager to blast the intruder off the roof. Some blindly started shooting even though their vision were still blurry thus missing by far while others took their time aiming for a clean and final shot to the head. Fortunately Naefen was already over the edge.

Still unnoticed Pax started firing blindly into the group of guards who appeared to be paralyzed for a moment how someone could favor a plunge to death over a quick bullet to the head. The group scattered to the left and right while two of them slumped hard to the ground. Pax kept firing while she zoomed past them to the edge and dived off the roof head first to catch up on Naefen.

“Unfocused minds fumble, unfocused minds fumble, unfocused minds fumble.. Great, we gonna be flat meat together Nick... what hit me up the head to come up with such suicide stunt?... where the hell are you?... no, we never make it in ti-“ the countless thoughts that raced through her mind stopped at an instant; Pax’s mind went blank and her instincts of how to act took over when she spotted her teammate close below her tumbling uncontrolled therefore decending slower. Trusting her opifex reflexes Pax rolled at the right time and managed to twist her legs around Naefens chest; Instantly executing the gridjump nanoformula.

Just meters from the solid ground their bodies disappeared in a cloud of nanobots. After a few moments recovering from the strain that went along with such emergency gridjumps she checked whether Naefen actually gridded as she couldn’t tell whether he was still alive at the time of the encoding.

“We made it.” a weary voice next to her said.

“It appears so.. but we better make sure no one’s following us. We split up and I’ll meet you in an hour in the Rompa bar.”

[SneakyPax]

As soon as her words escaped into the ether Pax was on the move again. But just far enough to hide from Naefens sight behind a towering node. Now that the hardest part of the errand has been completed her skills were no longer neccessary and she figured that once she handed over the files she would have a fatal “accident” carried out by either Naefen himself or a couple of his henchmen.

“Funny, one moment you are an invaluable asset and the next...” if Pax could have - while in this form - she would have shuddered. Peering around the corner to see what Naefen was doing all that was left of him was his diminishing trail which told her he headed to Newland.

A comm line crackled to life, the bug Pax planted on her teammates back broadcasted whatever it was as long as it was audible. "Red, grab some civilian clothes for me and meet me in the alley where we met Frank all those years ago." it came through along with static as the electronic listening device had a poor range.

“Sneaky git, not pointing out exact locations..” she froze in the middle of the sentence witnessing strange happenings around the place both of them had entered the grid after evac. Like someone spilled large blobs of quicksilver; Smaller blobs merged with bigger ones until there were two identical and perfectly round spheres which mirrored their surroundings on their surface.

There was no doubt for Pax this anomaly was part of a gridtrace program fresh out of the R&D labs and they were programmed to pinpoint them or worse than that. One sphere made its way towards the newland grid exit point while the other was closing in on Pax.

Not the slightest bit interested what this thing was capable of Pax hurried to the grid exit closest to her – Borealis.

( Yeah, I know I’m falling behind... sorry for that )

[SneakyPax]

Borealis welcomed her with pouring rain. Tugging the black trenchcoat she received from Naefen closer around her body she went for the straight route to the whompas. Pax thought it would be wisest to avoid the grid for some time. The night seemed to stretch to eternity. Walking the dark alleys the smg dug painfully in her side.

There were just a few people skulking around in the streets. Some seemed like they were about to go on a mission in a team themselves judging by the numerous nanoprograms they launched on each other while others passed by in a hurry – destination unknown. Not that Pax cared a jot about just anybody but looking at the strangers, all armed and geared up in combat clothing, conjured an odd thought.

“A law-abiding life... in a world where right and wrong are just hollow fictions.” The more she pondered over it the more she realized the absurdity of it. Desperately trying to recall the moment as well as the reason why she made the choice to deliberately stop doing scores, numbing the thrills that went along with it. It was no use; She couldn’t explain how she came up with it.

She caught her distorted reflection in a puddle of rain.

“How long you want to keep up living a lie? Pretending you are satisfied with delivering parcels day after day with a weekly highlight every Thursday evening, weighting approximately 200 pounds. It’s time to turn around and face it that there are no choices, nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask “Why me?” and “What if?” when you look back, see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or a forked lightning. If you had done something differently, it wouldn’t be you, it would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions.”

The wompah doors opened, revealed the blistering portal that led to another place on Rubi Ka. Eager to escape this annoying weather Pax didn’t hesitate and stepped through it, instantly got transferred to Newland.

The bug was broadcasting again over her head microphone which only meant Naefen was still around here somewhere. Listening to it she clearly heard music in the background even there was a lot of static. There was only one bar around that played such lousy music, Neuters’R’us or something. Pax sped towards it in order to intercept Naefen to get the deal complete, why the fuss to wait another 52 minutes. A few meters away Pax abruptly stopped when she overheard a conversation.

“Jobe Guards don’t know Jack.” followed by “Jack don’t know much either.” It sure didn’t make a speck of sense to Pax. Then there was a brief commotion when finally and barely audible “And Jack wont ever find out...” came over the ether followed by eery silence. This mission was turning into a rising nausea that tasted like rust in her mouth.

(( More to come in a bit, and I don't mean a 12 days bit... let's say "soon" ))

[SneakyPax]

A jigsaw puzzle of what could have happened inside fell into place in her head. The unknown voice she heard was surely one of Naefens contacts. One who just fulfilled his assignment and no longer seen as useful probably coughing his guts out at reclaim by now if he was smart enough to insure himself.

“I’m not taking the fall for you Nick.. and if you’re stupid enough trying to frame me I’ll make sure you gonna follow me suit. Kiss your reputation within the corporation as well as your organization goodbye.”

Unsheating her smg Pax snuck inside the bar through the back door. This place hasn’t changed in a decade and she was wondering why the health department didn’t close it down for good already until it dawned on her this place was beyond reach of the sometimes too observant departments. Thinking about the all-seeing eye of Omni Reform while back then sent a chill down her spine. Sneaking through the corridor she found the door to the mens restrooms ajar.

Kicking it open and storming into it her eyes caught the lifeless body of a solitus lying on the floor. Before she turned her attention to him she secured the room to make sure Naefen wasn’t waiting for her behind the door or a corner eager to pull the same stunt twice. Kneeling down to check his vital signs she wasn’t surprised it was too late for ‘Jack’.

“Poor sucker. But then again.. you should always be aware of who you’re messing with.” her sight lingered on the dead man who never stood a chance. “.. You call it my game Pax dear... It’s not my game at all. Its THE game... “ and she couldn’t shake the impression the dead man represented a pawn in it. “Assuming this is just chess and you’d be the king, what value I got on your board? The queen? And even if, isn’t it meaningless as except for the king everyone else could be sacrificed under certain circumstances?”

“Guess I’ll find out at Rompa Bar.”