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It was supposed to be a simple enough job -- not a small one, but straightforward -- steal classified data from a major corp. The boxes to check were clear enough: intel, a talented netrunner, brawny back-up, and someone to keep the talent in line. The fixer lined up four candidates in under a day.
Firstly, the famously talented decker Magnus Danger, who despite all her damn showmanship and need for a strong handler was the best of the best and couldn’t resist a damn bit of risk. The intel came from the fixer’s contracted street samurai, To Hell and Back, an orphan who’d been plucked out of a grungy public school and trained in corporate brutality before going her own way. Back-up came in the form of a med-tech called Varcity who was known for cleverness and a low fatality rate even in the roughest of environments. And last but not least came Nitelyfe, the go-to sort of handler for tough shit and the kind of woman who always got her people in and out alive. And it would be a shit look to lose any of these folks which meant those skills were in high demand.
It was supposed to be straightforward enough, but in practice, these things rarely fucking were.
“I have good news and I have bad news.” Hell And Back announces, turning the eyes of the team onto her expectantly.
Nitelyfe gestures for her to talk.
“The bad news is that what we want isn’t accessible from Starr’s internal Intranet.” Nitelyfe’s face doesn’t shift, but Varcity and Magnus’ both drop.
“Where, and pun intended, the hell do they keep their shit, then?” Magnus demands.
“The internet,” Hell answers.
“You just said it’s not on their Intranet.” Varcity whines.
“No, internet, you brawler.” Magnus snaps. “The world wide web. Why would they keep anything there?”
“Because it’s impossible to get to. If you don’t have its exact location and firewall passwords, chances are that you’ll get kicked or worse before you get in. They can pay people to stay jacked in and fry anyone who tries.” Hell And Back points out. “The inherent danger of the internet is free defense.”
“So it’s impossible?” Varcity scowls.
“Of course it’s fucking not.” Magnus interrupts. “I can get it.”
“Have you jacked into the Internet before?” Nitelyfe queries.
“Yes. I’ll get it, we just need a good port for me to jack into. The better Starr clearances, the easier this will be.”
Magnus warns them before she jacks in.
“I’ll configure the firewalls to protect me, and if something skips through, the clearances should cover my ass, and if that fails, I should be able to snipe them. Barring that? I’ll give you the signal to pull me out.”
“Manually pulling you out is dangerous though, isn’t it?” Varcity points out.
“Nah.” Magnus answers. “Dizziness, getting nauseous, that’s fine. Well, okay, no, at worst, if you happen to get me at a bad moment and it glitches my neurons, I might have a seizure. But that’s fine compared to what the Internet could do.”
“Do what you can but don’t go too far.” Nitelyfe advises. “I trust you to be careful.”
“Thanks, boss lady.” Magnus shoots her a smile. “Let’s go.” And she jacks in.
Magnus has a hand raised in the air, palm open, and it’s the waiting that kills. Magnus’ gorgeous LEDs slowly pulse gold, lighting her cheekbones, going down her vertebrae, until the pulse appears from under her sleeves and outlines every bone in her hand. Her eyes are vacant, her mind elsewhere, racing through the net.
Nitelyfe stands still and calm, eyes flickering to the door every once in awhile. To Hell waits and then starts to pace, while Varcity can’t do anything but watch Magnus.
Varcity notices where Magnus’ hand starts to shudder. Her cyber-lights stop pulsing calmly and start sparking new lights erratically.
“Hey, y’all,” Varcity says loudly, and Hell And Back turns on her heel to look back.
Magnus’ breath catches in her throat as Varcity peers at her.
“Magnus?” The hacker can’t hear her, but Varc tries anyways. She circles around to the front of the chair in time to watch Magnus’ eyes roll back in her head.
The colors of Magnus’ cyber-lights change, suddenly snapping red. There’s a pit in Varc’s stomach as they highlight Magnus’ cheekbones and jaw in that bloody color.
Magnus’ arm drops slightly, head lolling against the padded seat.
“Nite?” Varcity all but glares at their defacto leader.
“Wait until she gives the signal.” Nitelyfe says calmly.
Varcity turns Magnus’ wrist and slaps a med-indicator down onto her skin, Magnus’ vitals immediately displaying in her visor, proving as unstable as Varc suspected.
“She’s not alright.” Varc snaps.
“She can do it.” Hell And Back says coolly.
“I’m a fucking paramedic, and she’s not alright.”
“Do not pull her yet.” Nitelyfe orders.
“You keep saying you don’t lose people.” Varc throws back. “You wanna screw that?”
“Magnus can do it.” To Hell insists again.
Magnus’ vitals jump again, and her cyberlights suddenly all glow at full intensity, displaying blinding red like a flashing-fucking-billboard-signal-of-distress. Her arm lilts again, and her back arches against the chair.
As Varc reaches for the plug, Hell is there, and grabs her arm.
“Varcity, trust her.” Hell stares at Varc’s eyes through her visor.
Every instinct in Varcity screams as Magnus’ vitals draw out critical indicators across her HUD.
“Fuck you.” Varcity spits back, and she yanks the jack out.
Momentarily, Magnus’ vitals all freeze, then skip a beat and plunge into chaos. Her body goes limp, and Varcity all but slams the chair down into a fully flat reclined position and has Magnus on her side when she starts seizing.
Hell snaps something indignantly, and Nitelyfe just stands there as sentinel while Varcity focuses on not letting Magnus hurt herself.
Varcity blinks twice to stop her running timer when Magnus finally stops shaking. The hacker’s LEDs had been going wild, but now snap off. It had felt like forever, but the time in Varc’s visor is frozen at just over two and a half minutes. Not great, but not life-threatening, assuming Magnus rouses.
“Magnus?” Varcity keeps her voice low and tone controlled. “I’ve got you. Can you hear me?”
Varcity slowly rolls Magnus onto her back again, watching her eyes as they slowly come back into focus.
Magnus makes a sound, words slurring to the point of being incomprehensible.
“It’s alright, I’ve got you.” Varcity soothes. “Hey Magnus, it’s me. I got you.”
“We have to walk out of here like everything’s fine.” Nitelyfe notes. “We have time,” she adds, when Varcity’s shoulders tense. “I’m just making that clear.” There’s a gentle undertone to her words that makes Varcity relax a little, taking a deep breath.
She shifts position, gently holding Magnus’ head, flashing a quick diagnostic. She can’t go more than superficially into Magnus’ mods and cybernetics, but the rest of her can be checked over.
Normally, Varc might apply a painkiller or relaxant to help ease Magnus out of the kick-shock, but that has to wait.
“I can get some stim in her. But I can’t do a lot, or she’s going to crash pretty hard afterwards. Probably get her moving through the shock for a minute or two at max.”
“That’s all we need.” Nite accepts. “Hell, get the elevator.”
Hell has been silent through the debacle, but follows the order and calls the elevator.
It’s too soon. Magnus’ eyelids flutter, and her breathing starts to regulate. Varcity keeps at her side without looking up, not about to give the handler a moment to scold her for fucking up the job.
It would be a stupid fucking way to lose someone, and as long as Magnus is alive, they can try again. At least no one’s dead. Magnus’ eyes roll listlessly in her head, trying to focus.
“Time to go.” Hell calls when the elevator arrives.
Varcity takes a breath. “Sorry about this.” She says by way of warning before slamming a stim vial into an injector and stabbing it directly into Magnus’ neck.
Magnus weakly twitches away from the small point of pain, and in the next second she gasps, pupils blowing wide. She grabs at Varcity and Varcity has to steady the decker, the two of them locked together for a terribly long and frankly awkward moment.
“We need to make our move and get out of here. Magnus, we have under three minutes to walk out of this place.” Nitelyfe interrupts.
“Yeah,” The word comes out like Magnus isn’t sure she was going to be able to speak it. Her dark eyes are locked onto Varcity’s face, and they’re uncomfortably close. “Yup. Let’s go. What the fuck did you give me?”
“Walk first, talk after.” Hell announces with an uncanny brightness and Varcity clambers to her feet while Hell grabs Magnus and pulls her up after, putting a hand on the decker’s shoulders and walking her along without waiting. Varcity takes up the rear and the ride down the elevator is silent. They walk through the lobby like they own the place and no one breaks as they wait for the valet to bring the car and Nitelyfe takes the driver’s seat. Most handlers wouldn’t be the driver, but Nitelyfe isn’t quite most handlers.
There’s a shout from the front doors of Starr’s building as they hustle into the car. Varcity doesn’t look back for it, because Magnus is already starting to list.
They peel out of the lot with Magnus pressed between Varc and To Hell in the backseat.
“Black Starr sedan pulling out behind us.” Hell announces.
“Maybe it’s a coincidence.” Magnus suggests, leaning heavily into Varcity’s shoulder as the stim is wearing off.
Nitelyfe takes a sharp look into the rearview mirror. “Somehow I don’t think so.”
Their handler guns it, pressing all of them into the seats. Varc keeps a steady hold on Magnus and peers out the back windshield while Hell yanks a laser-sighted rifle out from where it was stowed.
“Who pulled me out?” Magnus asks, words getting foggy again.
Gunfire rings out and Varcity all but shoves Magnus onto the floor of the car, defensively crouching over her as Hell slams the window down and pokes their rifle out. Their first shot hits the tire of the sedan behind them and it explodes, sending the vehicle careening. It’s not their only tail, unfortunately, with more cars joining the chase by the second.
“It was me.” Varc tells Magnus. “Try to stay awake, alright?”
“I’m awake.” Magnus responds, incredibly groggy-sounding. “Totally awake. Even have good news.”
“I would fucking love some good news.” Hell announces as Nitelyfe takes a corner hard and the street samurai has to brace themself to not be thrown out the window. They steady and take more shots at their pursuers.
“I got it.” Magnus says with a stupid smile on her face. Varcity snaps her eyes back down to her.
“You did?” She asks incredulously, and Magnus’ smile only widens.
“Yeah. Got it right up here.” Magnus tries to tap the side of her head but mostly smacks herself in the face instead. The car swerves and Hell swears as gunfire rings out again, and Varcity braces hard between the seats.
“Like I said, try and stay awake.” Varc instructs. She blinks fast and the HUD in her visor changes, Magnus’ vitals minimizing. Instead, when Varcity looks out the back window, targets light up on warm bodies.
“Hell, I’ll cover you if you wanna get up close and personal.” Varcity pulls out her pair of shock pistols from their holsters and To Hell and Back gives her a wide grin. It seems like their disagreement in Starr Tower is forgotten, at least for the moment.
“You got it.”
“Be careful.” Nitelyfe warns.
Hell is clambering onto the roof of the car already, pulling their swords free. Varcity leans out the window and starts unleashing a volley of shots, blinding the other driver just in time for Hell to leap onto the car like a fucking demon unleashed.
There’s a tap at Varcity’s ankle. She keeps firing without looking down.
“Thanks, by the way.” Magnus mumbles.
“You’re welcome. Talk more after we get out of here.”