Outrun - Chapter 458 - Long Time, No See (Patreon)

“Shiro?” Luna’s voice hesitantly called out into my tucked away firing range. It echoed, and made the girl flinch back slightly. “You, uh, you down here?”

”’Sup?” My voice went through the helmet’s modulator, turning deeper and much more mature. It had a faint digital tilt to it, but was otherwise the perfect cover for Nightshade.

”Gah, turn on some lights, skunkstripe.” Mira stepped out of the lift right behind Luna, and hit the right switch. My eyes rapidly adjusted to the sudden light. “You’re like a freaking vampire or something.”

“Mira! You’re back!” I tore off my helmet, and tossed it onto a dented metal table. It clattered noisily as I approached the duo. I felt two people coming down thanks to the Packheart Rings, ‘course, but I figured it was Saint and Luna. “Where the hell have you been?”

Mira smiled softly. “You worried about me, Shiro?”

“Definitely not.” I rolled my eyes at the girl.

“Aw, how sweet. You were definitely worried.” She slung her arm around my shoulder, and pulled me into a side hug. We actually stood at the same height for once thanks to my boots.

“I was more annoyed than anything.” I shrugged off her arm. She just smiled wider. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Mira laughed and rubbed at the back of her head. Her golden hair was incredibly long now. She had it done up in a ponytail, and her halo softly illuminated the strands. “Got a job for an Adept obsessed with Remnants. One of the Fang’s people.”

”So you took off the ring and ditched me?” It would’ve been nice to have at least heard from her. “Fuck, did you leave your phone behind too?”

“Sorry… the job got really weird, really fast. You know how it is.” Mira sighed softly, and her head dipped. “I should’ve said something.”

“Or at least sent me a message,” I grumbled softly. It was hard to stay mad at her. I did know how it was, unfortunately. That knowledge was half the reason I wished she would’ve told me at least something.

”Well… it was out in the Badlands. Not like there’s great cell reception out there.” She shook her head, and moved over to me. “I really am sorry, though. I’ll send a messenger bird if I have to next time.”

“You better.” Otherwise, I’d… well, I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

Mira nodded resolutely, and shifted the subject. Her hand shot out for my head while she took in my armor. “Finally got your armor up and running?”

I smoothly dodged her attempt to rub my head. My nightshade armor flexed and moved with me. It’d been a serious pain in the ass getting solid protection around my joints without messing up my mobility. It was even more of a pain in the ass when I had to swap the original armor plating to treated Gravitite. “Just about. What’s up, Luna?”

“‘Couple things. Benny’s back up and running. You could’ve warned me before you busted his code.” She pouted, and flicked her white hair over her shoulder. With the height boosting effects of my boots, she stood much shorter than I did. It was almost… euphoric? “Mira was coming down here anyway.”

”That guy looks pretty sick. Modeled him after me?” Mira flexed her arms, and the Shift ExoCore whined softly. She was absolutely built as per usual. Even more so, actually.

”You been lifting heavy stuff in the Badlands?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest. Although the metal should’ve clanked softly, the Sonic Suppression module built into the armor kept it totally silent.

”Mining, actually.” Her grin was wiped off. “Seriously, that’s the last time I take a job without asking for more details. That guy could’ve just gotten a spider tank or something, but no. It cost too much. Hell, me and the other mercs spent more time mining than anything else.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” I nodded a few times, and then moved back to the firing range. Serves her right. “Can one of you help me out?”

”Sure?” Luna answered hesitantly.

I grabbed my coil-rifle, and tossed it to Mira. I snagged my helmet, and pulled it on a moment later. “Shoot me in the back.”

”I’m not doing that, Shiro.” Mira instantly held the rifle away from herself. “Are you crazy?”

”What? I tested it a bunch. I’ll be totally fine.” I moved down the firing range, and turned my back to the duo.

”Then you don’t need me to shoot you,” Mira said.

I waved a hand to my back. As soon as my gauntlet got close to the thermal vents regulating the armor’s temperature, I felt a slight resistance. The original projected gravity barrier prototype had a massive drain on my armor’s power armor cell, so I configured it to only fully activate when it sensed a high powered projectile.

Err—Mk.37, I guess. The original original turned into a micro gravity well and devoured itself. Most of the earlier versions did, to be fair. Who would’ve thought, but already volatile gravitic didn’t play well with a material that conducted gravitational forces exceptionally well.

Theoretically, my configuration still had the risk of someone stabbing me. I’d be totally fine otherwise, though. I just had to be careful and not let anyone behind me. ‘Sides, the vents themselves were made of some tough stuff, so just a little nick wouldn’t hurt anything.

The biggest worry was a ton of rounds hitting it all at once and overloading the barrier’s sensors. The traget was a small spot on my back, though, so that shouldn’t be much of a worry. I’d probably figure out some other glaring weakness once I took it out into the field, anyway. Most of the structure had been checked again and again with Weakness Wrangler to make it as strong as possible.

“I’m testing a projected barrier I created. Some real lux protection.” I pulled my hand away, and straightened my spine. “Just trust me and shoot? Aim for the thermal vents.”

“How sure are you of this?” Some of the resistance in her voice faded ever so slightly. “Fuck, it’s just like you to ask me to shoot you after we haven’t seen each other in so long.”

“We can go get burgers after this?” I offered and shimmied my back toward them. “C’mon. I’ve already tested anti-material rounds without any issue.”

“Fine.” Mira finally agreed–

Clang!

My shoulder jerked forward as a projectile slammed into me at maximum force. I staggered and slammed into a target. The coil-rifle was set to maximum penetration—the type of setting usually used when trying to hit someone on the other side of a concrete wall. Even through all the armor and padding, I could feel the impact site sting.

”Agh! I said the vents, not my shoulder!” I whipped around, and held onto my shoulder. The armor had done its job, and mostly protected me from injury. The paint across the armor was scuffed, revealing the dark-purple Gravitite underneath. 

“Sorry! I’m not used to shooting at my best friend!” Mira called out. “Are you okay?”

”’Course I’m okay. I’d cry my eyes out otherwise.” That thing hit with enough force to rip my arm clean off my shoulder if I didn’t have any armor on. I rubbed at my shoulder one more time, and turned my back. “This time, don’t miss!”

“Maybe I should shoot her?” Luna seemed a little too excited about that. “My aim can’t be worse than that.”

”It was just a fluke, snowy,” Mira—

A near silent hiss of air erupted from behind me, though the projectile never slammed into anything. I stayed there with my shoulder tensed up waiting for an impact that never came. 

“Woah,” Luna muttered.

“Wicked.” Mira set the coil-rifle down, and approached me. “Don’t move!”

”What are you guys talking about?” I asked. Just as she ordered, I held perfectly still. Luna’s symbol flashed at the top of my HUD, and a live video from one of my Dragonflies appeared. 

The reason I hadn’t heard the projectile slam into anything became abundantly obvious. It hung just behind me, caught in the gravitational field projected around the thermal vents. It seemed like it had just enough force to get through the initial repulsion, and then got stuck.

It happened with a few of the other projectiles I tested before, so I wasn’t too surprised to see it. Probably had to do with my sensors not keeping up with projectile speed. I’d have to update and fix those. Hopefully, that would fix that little issue.

While I had seen it before, neither Luna nor Mira had. They were totally enraptured by the floating metal. Mira poked at my shoulder. “Will this thing eat my hand?”

I laughed, and shook my head. “No. It’s only effective against high speed projectiles.”

”Cool.” Mira reached forward, and grabbed the metal—“Hot!”

The flattened bullet clattered to the ground behind me. With it no longer hanging in the air, I turned back to face them. “Well, what did you expect?”

”I dunno.” Mira sucked on her finger, and shook her head. The halo flickered with her motions. “Cool tech, though. Can you make the barrier bigger?” 

“Probably.” I’d have to totally rework stuff for that to happen, though. It was perfectly tuned to the size I needed it at the moment. For a commercial product, though… I should probably make it a bubble shield, right? If I was selling to corpos, they’d want it to work while they could still wear their fitted suits. 

“Are you done testing?” Luna asked.

“For now.” I pulled the helmet off once more. “Oh, right! Mira, how do you feel about going to Lathvin?”

”Finally taking a vacation?” Her voice bubbled with barely contained excitement. The chrome halo above her head flashed rapidly. “Let’s go swimsuit shopping! Ah, and we’ll need to get more summer clothes! I’ll go get a translation suite and we can—“

”It’s for Luna’s brother.” I cut through her excited ramblings. Swimsuits? Really? Although… a month from now would be through spring. “About a month from now.”

“‘Course it is,” she muttered sourly. Her expression abruptly changed, and she tapped on arm. “Too bad we missed Dia de los Muertos. A month, huh? That lines up with Noche de los Seres Ocultos.”

“We’re not going there to celebrate, Mira.” Luna glared at her. “My brother’s there.”

”I know that, ‘course.” Mira raised her hands in mock surrender. “After we valiantly save him, though, why not enjoy the place while we’re there? Not like you lot ever leave Aythryn City. Won’t this be your first time out of the country, Shiro?”

My first time leaving the country, huh? Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. It would be like when I went to Sunderland, but ten-thousand times worse. My escape routes, contacts, and local knowledge would mean absolutely nothing down there. I’d have to get everything set up all over again… fun.

“Yeah, but… we’ll see, I guess.” We might need to leave the country quickly. I’d been thinking about how we were going to approach this off and on, but I didn’t have nearly enough information yet to make informed plans. Hopefully, we’d get quite a bit of info from Monarch.

”Until then… I got a job offer, Shiro.” Luna cut in. “That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

”From who? Sentinel?” If she wanted to go take another job, she could. I had enough faith in her not to totally betray me by this point.

”For Nightshade and Moonfall, actually.” The netrunner side-eyed Mira. My mikata just whistled like she wasn’t paying any attention. “From the Hound.”

The whistle abruptly curled low, and Mira’s expression shifted to a wary one. “What’d you guys do to get on his radar?”

”DNBR.” I tried not to notice the way Mire stared at me. “The Hound? I’ve never heard of him.”

”He’s one of the underworld’s most infamous collectors.” Luna quickly filled me in. “He’s on the global most wanted list, and coming to Aythryn City in a few days. Just so happens he needs a thief and a netrunner.”

A thief, huh? Someone was finally coming to Nightshade to steal something? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least interested. I barely managed to keep my smile off my face. “For what?”

“I dunno. There’s a meet-up in a couple days…” Luna trailed off. I had a couple things to do, but my schedule was mostly clear. “You interested?”

”Are you?” I asked back. 

“… it’ll give me something to do, at least.” Luna sighed heavily. Exhaustion peeked through the professional facade she’d been trying to keep up. “ The Hound doesn’t send invites too often, either. Only if you want to, though.”

I eyed the girl. She’d been truing to keep herself busy a lot lately. Take Benny, for example. I was perfectly happy to just leave the bot as he was, and she went out of her way to get him all set up with a personality and everything. I didn’t exactly need high EQ to figure out why that was. It might be a good idea to giver her something just to take her worry off her brother for a bit.

“Chek. We can go hear him out, at least.” Also, if he actually needed a thief, this could be the start of my beautiful career as a freelance thief. “We can discuss it more later. For now… burgers?”

”Finally… and you guys can fill me in on what I missed while I was gone. What was this about DNBR?” Mira glanced between me and Luna.

“It’s… it’s a long story.” I started to take off my armor, and led the way back toward the lift.