The mellow buzz of overclocking hardware accompanies the steady whir of air conditioning… the only light in the basement from stray equipment. Countless coffee cups and food wrappers lay strewn throughout the floor like a netrunner stakeout has long been in full swing.
Beatrice in a deep sleep breathes heavy… steadily in and out… her hair a feral mess… her naked body sprawled across a mattress facedown… barely covered by thin loose sheets.
Netty's father would've kicked his ass seeing this mattress down here in his pristine netrunning sanctuary. Instead… Netty lays in his boxers shirtless... the runner chair operating on all cylinders... a look of deep focus on his face as he prepares to jack in… a final glance at BugBear past out before he settles… connecting his deep dive neuroport.
Netty's light pink icon takes a deep breath, letting it out slow. The gentle ocean breeze accompanies the mild sloshing of the sea.
"Appreciate the punctuality... reliability's definitely the top of your refinement list." Spider's icon says approaching from behind. Her street getup a retro eye candy of distinction and allure… her beauty a weapon as refined as it is lethal. She carries herself with an energy of absolution… like someone who's seen it all... the eyes of a thousand losses and lives lived.
On sight, her energy hits him like an infatuated wave. Without his starry eyes twinkling… it gives the kid a good look at the legend. He swats his own gaze away with intimidation… like her mere presence is yanking the lust out of him. Such a combination of beauty… experience… and raw power… it effortlessly claims his tensing muscles.
"J-just… been busy with-"
"-Assuming you're ready to go right? Preparation's near done… just a couple more bullet points to hit before we can start to position."
"Well listen uh… kinda more to it than-"
"-My contact with the VDBs took some digital coaxing but they're game. Gonna need you ready on the trigger for the forseeable future though dig? No more missed holos."
"Spider-"
"-Got no time table on this either so I hope you've got your wind up.. you know how it is… gonna need three altered points of contact to reach you at as well in here, understand? No less than-"
"-You're gonna help me first." Netty snaps firmly.
Spider's pacing stops... glancing back over her shoulder in the pause... a mutter of doubt. "Kid-"
"-Rache Bartmoss." He murmurs with a slow nod, stepping towards her. "He didn't cook up rabids then just… fire it off. Seriously expectin' me to believe… you had… no prior knowledge?
She turns to face him… a look of defensive conviction. He continues.
"Choom like him..? Hm...pair like you grew more than tight over the years. Tellin' me henever had a show off? No… drunken late night talks…? No cryptic dog whistles…? Flexes to impress???" His voice raises with a deep look into her eyes.
Spider Murphy doesn't respond… her silence a beacon of insight into a cataclysmic history now long buried.
He catches her response of silence with a nod… checking his tone.
"…Haven't been straight with each other from the jump choomba… I get that...and I ain't here to judge... but ya gotta at least admit... what you're askin' of me HAS to be a bigger leap of faith than whatever I got."
Another pause sits between them as she breaks eye contact in subtle defeat. Her lack of a response being the answer he hoped for. He continues.
"There's an ace runner my people are having trouble tracking down. Corpo woman… goes by the name Marsalla DeNarsee… real plug head this chick apparently. Could've ran this one myself but… well… wasn't privy to the deets in time. Been thorough tryna play some catch up but-"
"-So what's the problem now."
"Did you hear me..? She's an elite corporate-"
"-What's. The problem. Now." She repeats sternly… a dagger of intimidation plunged directly into his chest as he gulps.
"S-She's OTR… gone completely dark… corps've got a real F.I.A level hard onfor her... never even got a grip on her runner handle but… doubtful she's made it out of town yet… streets're way too hot."
Another silence between them… the gentle ocean waves hit the platform with a splash and light wind as Spider looks out at it.
"Want your guinea pig..... that's the price choom."
A quick glance over at him before her gaze returns to the ocean. "Tch… ever the deal maker.… just like Nathan."
Netty opens his mouth to respond but is too late.
"Deal." She concludes without much of a thought… giving Netty a breath of fleeting relief.
"Alright 'Netty The Kid'...?" She nods with raised eyebrows at him. "Let's go. We're already late."
Netty returns it with a nervous nod.
Spider promptly inputs a program... emitting a ripple they both glance at... rested atop the vast ocean expanse only several yards away. The pair walk the surface of the digital ocean toward the collection of popping blue pixels with a weirdly digitized sound and quite hard to see with the eye. Netty uses a kiroshi scan to get a better lock on it as they approach… a surge of uneasy adrenaline rushes through him with eyes wide open as he matches her pace.
He steps through with a deep gasp.. a quick look around... an autoscan of his operating system for good measure. The room he's in is detailed… very detailed for a net construct… someone's clearly spent a great deal of time on it. The typography is clear at a glance… not past the wall yet- still in our net… but the detail of this place is unreal. It looks like a two story you'd find in any neighborhood of Night City, complete all the way down to the furniture… there's contraband code everywhere.. even creature comforts you'll find no use for in cyberspace lay rested. A place like this in today's net is a seriously silent flex… gotta be somewhere secluded right? Somewhere far from Netwatch bloodhounds surrounded by honeypots…. but where?
"Cmon… you'll get your legs under you soon enough." Spider's icon beckons at the foot of the stairs leading up to the rest of the place, snapping him out of his analysis.
They reach the top of the digital steps, Netty's head on a swivel marveling at the fort... the sounds of idle tinkering fade in.
He looks to see a spattering of runners.. a gathering of net icons scattered about the virtual living space, each self involved. One lay rested in a virtual recliner with another sat beside him on the arm rest… a traditional point run setup. Another sits hunched over at a desk.. their posture and focus on some pixelated fragments of code gently floating in front of them… almost looking like its popping in and out of existence. A final has their elbows rested on a virtual windowsill… a fixed gaze out into cyberspace waiting patiently.
"I'm back." Spider's digital voice raises… turning everyone's attention immediately over to her.
"Meet the plugs…" She mutters to Netty, pointing at the various icons. "Lowpac-... Riggs-... B@d-... and Dorsey. Better get settled cuz nothing here's prepped. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to-"
"-Netty The Kid…" Lowpac interjects with a half smile.. slowly walking toward him… giving Netty a good look at this guy. Its a mirror icon.. he's got it tailored to look just like he would outside of the net, just like Spider. The lack of detail in his icon paints it's own picture. A red runner's visor, wirey fresh out of bed hair… carrying an antsy energy buried just beneath the surface. He steps to Netty uncomfortably close, removing his visor. "NTK huh… Dyna black lab." He mutters with a chuckle under his breath right in Netty's face, making Netty lean back slightly with an uneasy nod. Lowpac's virtual eyes widen, looking deep into Netty's. "Haha!! yeahh yeaughh!!! preem wave huh?" He grunts aggressively. "nd what was the run hm? HM? cmon-cmon-cmon–what was the run-huh? One? Two weeks?" Netty shrugs as Lowpac nods twistedly. "Appsoft? Mal?"
"Uhhm-" Netty stammers.
"nd-ya-had-help?" Lowpac mumbles, nodding his head to the side with a smile, almost inaudible.
Netty slowly nods.
"Yeagghh! Yeauugghh!… hahaaa!! Dyna!! sweet-sweet Dyna!! Dynalar's-no joke these days choomba huh? Saw em cook a black hat-SAW it! Fried right-in-the-fuckin-seaaat-hahaha!! The sizzle…. the sizzle's sublime isn't it-somethin' so pure." He grits his teeth, raising his chin. "Had your fair share by now huh. Solo-runnin'swell-on-the-way-out."
A quick flash of Netty's friends laying dead… plunged into his mind like a knife.
"cmon-cmon-cmon what'dya-"
"-Eaasy there Pac… wouldn't wanna chase the greeny off so soon now would we." An inviting mellow tone rings out in the room.. freeing Netty of the social strangling.
"Riggs." The voice says, placing a hand over Lowpac's shoulder, gesturing him back while he walks away laughing ecstatic. The guy's denim was beyond retro… looked like someone who hopped off the cover of a Harley Davidson magazine.
Riggs glances back at Lowpac headed back to his setup. "Pardon the… more than warm welcome. Chooms got a-"
"-None needed… reminds me of... someone I was close with."
Riggs smiles warmly.. ushering Netty around the operating space by his side.
"Welcome to the burrow." He raises with an arm out as Netty takes another look around. "While you're here you're gonna learn your inputs aren't quite like what they are normally- signature spoofing and trail covers take priority." They stop in front of an icon "This' B@d."
Netty looks down at the icon while Riggs rambles.
"Found this one pokin' around saka subnets and runnin' cirlces around wraiths. Got a lil ambitious n' started steppin' on the wrong digital toes before Spider got some fangs in her."
Netaniel notices her getup… a refined woman. Leather vest, braided hair under a bandanna.
"A nomad runner?" Netty silently thinks.
"Plugged in right now… will be for some serious time… workin' on one of these kinks we've had for a while..choom's gifted. Spider really took to her after some serious back and forth apparently."
Netty glances back over his shoulder.. Spider's gone.
"W-where'd she go..?"
Riggs, all shoulders, raises his virtual eyebrows with a purse of the lips.
"Pf… your guess' good as mine… stopped askin' years ago choomba. The longer you're here… the delta between the questions n' answers, well... spreads wider than the fuckin' black wall." Riggs says headed past Netty toward the windowsill.
"And you." Netty mutters.. stopping Riggs in his tracks… glancing back over his shoulder
"Took me a minute but… know exactly who you are."
Riggs turns around toward Netty as he approaches.
"You're Jury Riggs. Used to run point-man on court case psyops.. witness tampering.. digital trail wipes.. stored human memory breeches and alterations. Shit, you were even in deep during the land deed wars back in the day… I uhh.. thought you were dead-" Netty realizes.
Riggs looks down with a warm smile and no response... surprised at the kid's chops.
"My dad was a big fan of your work. Used to never shut up about it honestly… those stories always ended up bein' just the sleep medicine I needed."
They share a laugh for a much needed tension break, continuing toward the windowsill.
"Dorsey… like you to meet someone."
The woman rested at the windowsill finally stands up and turns around. Her getup was surprisingly formal. A tight dress shirt, some bell-bottom slacks… a short, straight edged haircut. The look on her face carried the same energy as her posture.. no nonsense. The level of detail in all of these runner's icons really has Netty thrown through a loop.
"This' NTK. Netty The Kid."
"N-nice to meet-"
"-I know who you are. You're late." She formally says, crossing her arms.
Netty glances over at Riggs.
"Hey, as if things ain't eclectic enough around here, why not a corpo huh? Hahaha-"
"-A corpo netrunner…? Here..?"
"Heh.. Nightcorp at that." Riggs adds.
"Wha- NIGHT CORP???" Netty shouts with wide eyes. Riggs laughs hysterically.
"How could you possibly even be here?? Don't they have like geosats hard wired right into your fuckin' deck? They log and track like… every single input! The deep dive neuroport alone should be-"
"-Remember where ya are kid… this place-" Riggs looks up and around the room. "Can't make places like this anymore."
"Hey, what's done off the books is what's done off the books. Besides… won't be me headed out there." She subtly gestures with her thumb over her shoulder to the window.
"Yeah, and where are we exactly..?" Netty raises his voice flustered, looking around the living room. "Place looks like the type I'd doze off reading about once upon time… like… old net architecture… much more dated… but far more… real."
Without a response from either them, Netty glances back toward Lowpac approaching with a giggle. He steps past him toward the windowsill… Netty instinctually follows.
As he approaches, Lowpac steps aside… gesturing with his arm out the window for Netty to see.
"Welcome-to-the-front FUCKIN'LINESCHOOMBADEECH!!"
Netty steps to the windowsill as the runners gather behind him… his eyes and mouth agape at the sight.
He looks out into the expanse of the net.
The Black Wall towers higher than the digital eye can see… the perspective of it's expanse rivaling that of the sea. End to end showed no signs of one… and the subtle unstable motions of it's uniformity shouts facade. Flowing like a lava lamp... its expanse gently waves… swaying as shrouded entities press into it before gently yanked back. The size of some of these shrouded forms… the momentum with which they silently press the wall… the volleyed, kinetic impacts like supernova... the consistent ease in which they're gently yanked back… a truly mesmerizing sight... one incomprehensible to the known tangibility of our reality.
Netty's jaw quivers at the sight… his mind assaults him with the past.
A flash of when he stood before the wall… another flash of placing his hand on it… the sensation of the death squeeze around his throat. His adrenaline fueled roar as he bent the Black Wall to his will.
His roar of the past fades as he stumbles back… falling on his virtual ass.
"Yep, happens to the best of us.. get up kid." Riggs says while Lowpac cackles... the crew looking down at him.
Netty slowly staggers to his feet.
"Ganic world can keep their mountain summit views and cliffside waterfalls… this here?….. this' true beauty." Dorsey gently billows gazing out at it.
"If by beauty ya mean the no man's land of the trenches doll then sure-hahahaha!! Now-that-ya-mention-it. There is somethin' to that… stream-of-death-huh? Somethin' tranquil-hahaha!!"
"Th-this… this can't be real. H-how is this possible."
"What's an op without a great view on prep?… better to keep it close anyway… 'specially these days-"
"-B-But… contraband code THIS CLOSE?? Wh-wheres-"
"NetWatch…? Haha.. choom, that hit of the wall mightagot some circs crossed huh? Look again." Lowpac says in a shifted tone, one more in line with serious.
Another uneasy walk toward the windowsill reveals a sobering reality. Apparently 'the frontlines' was far from a joke… line after line of icon after icon off in the distance… professional setups gathered with busy activity. Formal user interfaces floating in front of the faces of the faceless… red dots from standard issue netrunner visors float about. Apparently, activity out front of the Black Wall is in full swing… like a dev office during crunch time.
As if laying eyes on the wall again wasn't enough.. this sight fed perspective rather than fear. If this level of activity is going on here… what can possibly be happening beyond.
Netty stands silent taking in the sight.
With no thought or intention of ever being back out here... his mind is now finally back in it.
"They… they can't see us." He mutters to himself in disbelief. The crew chimes in
"-OHO! We-got-a-quick-learner here folks!"
"-Tch.. damn right they can't… think I'd still be breathin' if they could?"
"-Netwatch's confidence in their control of the modern's what makes shit like this possible… and now I'm sure you can tell.." Riggs Gestures out the window. "They got their hands full these days."
"And wha-…? W-what are they doing?" Netty asks completely stumped.. the conversation flows.
"You've heard about the rogues bleedin' through the wall more and more right."
"Well, sure, Black Wall's been like... swiss cheese these days-" Netty mutters
"-Not swiss cheese.. that's just what Netwatch wants people to believe."
"Haha!-just-look-at-the-thing choom! See-the-size-of-some-of-those-impacts?
"Bottom line is… the black wall's not 'out of control'… it's out of THEIR control."
Netty looks over at Riggs' statement confused. Riggs delvs deeper.
"We're all aware of the history.. Netwatch.. alt cunningham.. mag curtis… a unity made for the ages. Took em lord knows how long to frantically cook up the wall before it was too late.. sound about right?"
Netty nods in agreement. Riggs continues.
"..Only part truth choom. After all that busy work put in by some of the most adept runners of the age… why do you think the wall just.. went up one daysuddenly?"
No one responds.
"No warning, no… gradual onramping plan… why do you think that is?" Riggs turns around to look at Netty... slowly approaching with deep eye contact. "…..Cuz they never finished the damn thing… it finished itself."
Netty squints in disbelief… his mouth agape.
"A few blood sacrifices in the way of elite runners and centuries of cataloged human knowledge later and now…. it just works how they wanted it to… 'least on the surface it does."
The revelation strikes Netaniel like lightning.. a missing piece to a puzzle him and his friends long abandoned.
"Fuckin' KNEW Netwatch didn't make the fuckin' thing!… god damn… there's just no way." Netty raises his voice vindicated.
"And you're sure of this." Spider Murphy's voice rings out, pulling everyone's attention in the room as she returns… Netty watches her slowly approach him. She continues.
"Magnificent Curtis… Alt… Netwatch's influence is relegated to the minority. The corp is nothing without runners. The timing and order of the Black Wall's creation wasn't random… wasn't an accident. It was born of collaboration… of compromise."
"-so they made a deal… all of em." Netty puts forth
No one responds in the brief pause.
"Shit, kid's-gonna-do-just-fine." Lowpac claims impressed.
"Think tankin' on ancient history's all well and good…'specially when tryin' to get on the same page but its only step one-"
"-W-wait… what was the deal?" Netty asks. He's ignored.
"-What matters is the actual get down. The run. How you work in the dungeon's gonna go further than any history test."
"B-but-"
"-Hazards beyond aren't to be trifled with… understanding the difference between rogue and human a.i's a necessity… don't worry about any of that shit now though… you'll get the rest of the deets in time. Questions?"
Netty stammers… where does he even begin. Thanks to so much time spent with Brian… he knows how to find what matters.
"Why so trusting of me so easily..? Such an inviting hand into something so…. uninviting."
The room giggles.
"Haha… you're not leavin' this place with anything but a word anyway. That scraper of yours was shot the nanosecond you stepped in here. I'm sure N-Fifty-Four or some scandalmongering journo would love a chat, butno kid… what happens here stays….. get used to this place being......….. pure…. we're all any of us got choomba." Riggs states.
Netty takes a step back, stood next to Spider Murphy… overwhelmed by a flood of information and circumstance. He looks over at her.
"How… how can you guys trust each other with a situation like this..?I mean, shit's life n' death. A gathered pool of… more than capable anons"
Spider looking dead in his eyes chooses not to respond.
Riggs chimes in, grabbing Netty's attention… his virtual tone filled with serious conviction.
"Because when you get called up to the major leagues kid… you don't think n' contemplate. You step up. Any netrunner worth their salt given the opportunity puts motives n' doubt aside… on principle alone. The implications involved in what we're doin' here are beyond any of us." Riggs slowly approaches the window with hands in his digital front pockets.
Netty glances back over at Spider.. opening his mouth to say something before cut off by Riggs continuing.
"Besides… there's only one way we can be sure you're even capable of attempting something like this." Riggs looks over his shoulder at him before turning around fully.
Netty suddenly feels a subtle prickling sensation wriggling around his virtual forearm. He looks down at his left hand and sees something crawl out from under his sleeve onto his palm.
"What the fuck?" He grimaces at the sight of it… a small, digital worm covered in short spikes… it looks discomforting even to the eye. It steadily inches around his hand as he instinctually tries to vigorously wave it off of himself. The room laughs as Spider silently steps to the window to take a look out… keeping her presence within the group distanced.
Netty feels the uncomfortable spikes subtly poking and prodding his virtual skin unable to shake the sensation nudging him against his will. "W-what the hell is this thi-"
"-If you plan on doin' this N.T.K… of finding your purpose in this... if you think yourself capable of runnin' beyond the edge….. simple…. get rid of the worm." Riggs nods up.
Netty gets a final confused look at this small group of icons... disconnected before any words of doubt and concern.
He suddenly finds himself back on his grassy platform in the sea back in his own domain.
With a slow deep breath, he looks out into the still calmness of the ocean waves. The steady poking on his arm grabs his attention… the little pink digital worm effortlessly wriggles from his arm to his palm… he looks down at it.