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The car came to a smooth stop not far from our destination, and I calmly got out. After that, I headed toward the nearest alley, where I simply and unceremoniously activated my optical camo. Under its cover, I got to the Claws' dojo.
The building was three stories high...
One of the open windows was on the second floor. I judged the height, took a few steps back, and activated my Sandevistan. I ran for about ten meters and jumped. A couple of subjective seconds of flight, and I literally flew into the window. Calculating the trajectory wasn't hard. I adjusted my flight as I touched the wall and killed all my speed with a roll.
After looking around, I turned off my Sandevistan.
"I'm in."
I let the girls know that I was inside the dojo so they would understand that they would have to get to work soon.
"That was fast..."
Becca was very surprised, but my runners didn't say anything, remaining silent.
"A window on the second floor was open."
"I see... where are you going to start?"
This time, Judy joined the conversation.
"I'll go up to the third floor and start putting in shards everywhere I can reach."
"Good plan... no zeroing out?"
"Well... Regina asked for no deaths this time, so we'll try to do it without deaths. Though I can't for the life of me understand why she decided to worry about these gangers."
"Got it... get to work, we won't bother you anymore."
This time, Kiwi was the one who answered me. After that, a silence fell on the comms channel again. I then turned my Sandevistan on again and went down the corridor. This time, I didn't care which way I went, as I didn't have the building's floor plan. And the girls had already figured out on the way that they wouldn't be able to connect to the building's systems from the outside.
On the way, I peeked into the rooms I came across, and if there were any laptops or computers in them, I would insert shards into them.
After opening another door, I saw a member of the Tiger Claws sitting there, clearly dressed in very expensive clothes. So I knocked him out extra carefully. In addition to the shard that he got in his personal port, and another one in his laptop, I thoroughly searched the office...
And it wasn't for nothing. I found a couple of chips on which they stored income that didn't go through the cash register. And about ten stacks of cash. It was interesting, but I didn't forget about the main goal of my work, and soon I continued on my way.
About half an hour of subjective time, which was about five minutes of real time, and I had completely scouted the second floor. I found the stairs to the third floor, and the girls had already taken control of the building's security system, so if anyone came up to the second floor, I would know.
After calmly going up to the third floor, I quickly searched it, and only after that did I go down to the first, which, as I already knew, was a large training hall. And getting through it would have been much harder if it weren't for the Sandevistan. But this way, I just doubled my caution.
I didn't spend too much time searching the few offices on the first floor, but knocking out all the Claws who were training wasn't in my best interest, as there were too many of them, and someone could have definitely spotted me.
Not that I cared...
Well, I did care, of course, because it was my reputation, and if I got spotted, it would be a little tarnished, and I definitely didn't need that. So I decided to just avoid all the athletes who were training. And that's how I got to the entrance of the basement.
I turned off my Sandevistan and froze in the shadows again, invisible to the others not only because of where I was but also because of my camo.
"What's in there?"
The girls were silent for a couple of seconds, realizing what I had asked them, and then Lucy answered me.
"Just a couple of people... but all of them have Sandevistans... or some other kind of chrome that's attached to their back in the spinal area."
"I see..."
I sighed.
"How's the work going?"
"Don't rush me..."
"I'm not rushing you; I'm just asking. I know perfectly well that you can't work as fast as I can, simply because runners never work at the speed of a Sandevistan, but I still need to know what you've managed to do..."
"What, what..."
Kiwi was clearly grumbling.
"We hacked the boss. He's got a couple of interesting accounts, and a bunch of messages that suggest he's been getting paid by some pretty serious people for setting up fights. Not corpos, but the top brass of gangs..."
"I don't care about them. Empty the accounts."
"Got it. We've also started working on the Claws you knocked out, and Snowflake is working on the building's system, hoping to get something interesting out of it."
"I see... I'm going in."
After saying that, I turned on my Sandevistan again, this time turning the acceleration up to a much higher level. Only after that did I open the entrance to the basement and go in... the air got a lot thicker. While I was comfortable working at my previous speed, now I could really feel the resistance of the world around me to my actions.
It felt like I was moving through some kind of viscous substance...
My suit slowly started to heat up...
And I designed it with high temperatures in mind, but I still underestimated what it would have to go through. I guess I'll have to make some improvements...
My first opponent didn't notice a thing. I just knocked him out, inserted a shard, and immediately moved on.
Step by step, I was moving down the corridor. But none of the new opponents, even though they had Sandevistans—which were clearly not ordinary, judging by how bulky they were; they were old military models at the very least—could put up any resistance. Simply because they still had to activate it, and mine was already on, and they just didn't have time to notice me.
Another door behind which was the fighter I had to save was locked, and I had to turn off my Sandevistan.
"Ladies..."
"Just a second... got it... opening it now..."
Lucy quickly answered my question, and a couple of seconds later, the door opened with a quiet hiss.
"And who are you?"
The voice of the guy who was being held captive was tired, but still lively.
"Ghost... sent by a fixer to get you out of here."
"Hmm? And who was generous enough to hire the most talked-about of the new solos?"
The fact that he called me a newbie didn't surprise me, as I was indeed considered a newbie, having only started working a couple of years ago...
Fuck...
I blinked in surprise.
I've been a merc for a couple of years already?!
After shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts away and focused on my target.
"How the hell should I know? The job came through Regina, but it looks like someone else forwarded it to her. So..."
I shrugged.
"And you're not interested?"
The guy cautiously came out of the room and, after looking around, grunted respectfully when he saw the knocked-out apes with Sandevistans.
"No..."
I shook my head.
"The less you know, the fewer problems you have. I'm a simple solo who completes the task at hand. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Uh-huh... and you're not offended that I called you a newbie..."
"What's there to be offended about? I haven't been in this business for very long..."
I shrugged.
"Although it depends on how you look at it. Not all solos live for six months... so in a way, I'm already an old-timer."
"Yeah, I guess..."
The guy grinned, and we, meanwhile, had already reached the stairs that were supposed to lead us to the first floor.
"Stop!"
There was tension in Lucy's voice, and I immediately gestured for the guy to stop, and he listened to me, freezing in place.
"What's wrong?"
"A runner... checking the building's system, and on some kind of closed remote connection channel. Everything's quiet for now, but it's easier for us to counter him when you and the target aren't moving."
"What happened?"
"An enemy runner is checking the system..."
"And? What should we do?"
"Wait..."
The guy looked at me intently, but he still shrugged and stayed put.
"Bookworm, how are the girls doing?"
"They're tense and working together... it looks like it's someone really experienced they're dealing with... So we're waiting..."
"Yeah, we're waiting... I'm just worried, and I don't want to bother them with questions. So I'm bugging you instead. You're busy, but you're not in danger right now."
"Well, yeah... but I'm still hoping for a couple more combat missions, which I'll be the one doing."
"I'll ask the fixers about something like that..."
Becca grunted in agreement, and our conversation ended there.
About fifteen minutes of waiting, and then Kiwi's slightly tired voice finally came on.
"It's all clear, you can move..."
"How are you all doing?"
"Later... we're all exhausted as..."
"Got it, I'm getting the target out of the basement..."
And we slowly came out of the basement. After that, I carefully guided him across the first floor, literally carrying him from place to place from time to time, using my Sandevistan, so the Claws wouldn't notice him. And only when we got to the second floor did I let out a sigh of relief.
"Ugh..."
The guy rubbed his slightly reddened skin, as the high speeds had affected him after all, even though I was trying to shield him with my body by moving backward. Yeah, it was a stupid way to do it, but I couldn't think of anything better, as injuring the target I was supposed to save would have been foolish in my opinion.
"This way..."
I nodded toward the window and, picking the guy up in my arms, I jumped out of the window. This time, I didn't activate my Sandevistan, and the guy, who understood exactly what was happening, quietly swore.
"Fuck, you should've warned me..."
"What for?"
I landed on the ground pretty softly and immediately put the guy down. Then I called Regina.
"Hey, my most favorite fixer..."
"Cough?!"
"Why are you so surprised, the joy of my wallet?"
"Ah... heh..."
I could hear a chuckle from Regina, and I knew she wasn't offended and even appreciated my sense of humor.
"...in that regard. Well, in that regard, I agree. But if you give me too much attention, your girls might get mad..."
"Heh, don't worry, we'll welcome you into our friendly family."
"Oh, no... I'm more of a traditional family values kind of person, with one woman and one man."
I shrugged.
"Well, that's up to you. Just tell me where I need to take this fighter..."
"You already saved him?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... I'm sending a car. Catch the coordinates..."
I quickly checked the coordinates and, grinning, I nodded.
"Thanks, got it. I'm heading to the destination."
The call ended, and I grabbed the guy by the shoulder, as he was about to leave.
"Sorry, but that's not going to happen..."
"So I'm a prisoner? Again?"
He looked at me with annoyance, and I could see him sizing me up, and with every passing second, the realization that he was no match for me was dawning on him. I mean, he was no match for someone who could steal him from the basement of a Claws' dojo...
"Alright... let's go..."
"Don't worry about it..."
I shook my head.
"My fixers value me and know that I don't do kidnappings or zeroing people out. Although I did have to kidnap people a couple of times, but in those cases, I was given a detailed file that made it clear right away that those people were trash. And zeroing people out... it's the same story, but even so, my fixers don't abuse the knowledge of how to convince me to do those kinds of jobs."
"You're a comfort..."
The guy's voice was sarcastic.
"I wasn't really trying to be... I just wanted to say that if they wanted to put you in another basement, they wouldn't have sent me. So..."
I shrugged again, and we walked out to the road and started walking along it, as I didn't want to put him in the car with my girls. No, I didn't doubt them, but the guy himself could have provoked them by giving them some kind of compliment that they would have taken the wrong way.
About fifteen minutes later, we reached the location, and ten minutes after that, a car arrived, and the fighter I had saved got in...
I immediately got a confirmation from Regina that the job was done...
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