Outrun - Chapter 466 - Heads Down (Patreon)

I slipped through the crowds of people, and headed back down the private hallways with an empty tray in my hand. My head stayed down as I passed by the heavily chromed guards blocking the way forward. 

“He’s in the elevator heading toward the vault now. Nightshade, will you be in a position to intercept on the way out?” Luna called over our comms. 

“I’ll hit him on the way out of the elevator.” I slid the pure silver tray onto a table near the kitchen, and broke off down the hall. “Guards?”

”Four.” A ping came across my HUD, easily allowing me to keep track of them all. “Ronin, Tex, time to start moving.”

”I hear ya’.” Tex sighed across the line. “I just got a margarita, too. Damnit…”

Ronin and Tex would distract the group before they got to the drop off location. That was also when I’d sneak in and snatch the case. Honestly, it was a bit of a bummer I couldn’t have tried for the vault itself, but apparently the Hound didn’t think that highly of my skills. To be fair, my only public showing was during the DNBR when I was a bit of a battle fanatic.

“Cams?” I yanked the frilly white headband off of my head, and tossed it into a trash chute. That thing started to hurt my head shortly after we got on the yacht, so I was more than happy to be free of it.

”All clear.” Luna’s icon blinked on the top of my HUD for a brief moment. “Wait, behind you—“

”Oh Suki!” A voice called from behind me, causing me to freeze mid stride.

I turned on my heel, and pulled low into a curtsie. “Mistress Lexi. I was just on my way to check on you.”

”My my, so obedient.” The woman lifted her hand in front of her mouth, and laughed lightly. For some reason, she didn’t point out that the stairs up were behind us. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen my husband around, have you, darling? He was supposed to come spend some time with little old me.”

”Um… I think he slipped out of the party a few minutes ago.” I lifted my eyes to meet hers. Despite the relaxed expression she had on, her eyes were razor sharp. That sharpness faded into a hazy look like she was totally intoxicated. 

“Ah, that man.” She shook her head and clicked her tongue. Lexi Sancho moved down the hall, and moved past me. She casually passed me her purse. “Probably checking his collection once again. Come, come, darling.”

“Yes, mistress.” I looked up at one of the cameras in a slight panic. The wife wasn’t supposed to leave the lounge. According to our intel, she stayed up there by herself every time he threw a party. Why did she change it up this time around?

Wait, no, maybe this was a good thing? If I could get access to the vault itself… surely he had some other good stuff in there ontop of the biocomputer we were after. 

“There’s been a complication.” Luna quickly informed the other two what was happening while I followed behind Lexi deeper and deeper into the boat. “Mrs. Sancho is on her way down to join the party.”

"Any more guards with her?” Tex asked.

”No, just one of the maids.”

”Then it won’t be much of a problem.” Tex dismissed it. He was wrong, though. It definitely was a problem. I couldn’t exactly put on my armor and transform into Nightshade while being stuck behind Mrs. Sancho.

“Mistress Lexi, wouldn’t it be easier to wait in the lounge for him?” I hesitantly asked. If I could just get rid of her, the plan could keep going without any issue.

”Hardly. Anthony rarely does anything in a timely manner. Schedule keeping isn’t his best quality,” Lexi muttered sourly under her breath, and adjusted the fox wrapped around her shoulders. “Ah, unless you want me to stay up there?”

”Please don’t joke like that.” I laughed off the suddenly sharp question. “As your personal attendant, I wouldn’t dare tell you what to do.”

“Hmm… I wonder.” She just smiled at me, though thankfully dropped the matter. Still, I watched her back like a hawk as we walked down the hall. She knew something. I was sure of it. I just wasn’t sure what she knew. 

Was she playing the fool? I thought back through every interaction with her so far. I wouldn’t put it past a corpo to do something so deceptive. She didn’t look particularly drunk or high. No, maybe she was? Designer drugs were weird, and most of my experience was with street stuff.

”Suki, I can’t help but notice your cute headband disappeared at some point.” Lexi looked over her shoulder at me. Her eyes traced the crosshair shaped scar over my eye.

My free hand shot up to my head. I, of course, didn’t feel it. Still, I put on my best nervous look. “D-did it? I hadn’t even noticed. My deepest apologies for appearing so unsightly before you. Maybe I should leave and—”

“Ah, trying to run away, are you?” Lexi chuckled and reached out to ruffle my hair. Despite my instincts to flee from the contact, I held perfectly still. She poked at the silver streak in my hair, and turned back to the elevator.

The elevator itself had several layers of security to even activate. Retinal, fingerprint, code—the works. She smoothly got through all of it, only to turn back as a trio approached from behind. “Ah, Amon! Darling, you are here to see my husband too?”

Amon, a man flanked by two body guards, smiled at Lexi. He had on a gold-threaded suit with his hands smoothly shoved into his pockets. Strands of mult-colored light mixed into his hair. Half his head was shaved, though, exposing KairoTech chrome. 

The two guards weren’t human. They were close, but neither one of them looked alive. Androids, by the looks of things. High-level ones at that. They made Raijin’s tech look like ancient models. If KairoTech was pushing for human-like androids, then no wonder they wanted the bio-computer. I was so, so very tempted to brush up against them to steal the tech. I held myself back, though. Now wasn’t the time.

Amon nodded to the woman. “Lexi… I wasn’t aware you were onboard.”

”How would I miss a party like this?” She practically purred, and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed either side of his face with exaggerated sounds, and backed away. “Are you keeping busy?”

”As always.” He lifted his wrist, and checked out an ornate golden watch that looked like it cost more than a skyscraper. “I actually have a meeting with Anthony soon.”

”Ah, why wait?” She threw out her hands in an over exaggerated shrug, and hit the call button with her hip. Her eyes rolled to me, before settling once more on Amon. “I was just headed down to see him.”

”I wouldn’t dare to intrude—“

”It’s no problem, it’s no problem.” She waved her hands lightly. 

“We have a serious problem,” Luna called across the comms in total disagreement. “The buyer’s headed down to the vault now. Our window’s closing.”

“Not a problem, partner.” Tex’s drawl answered her. “We’ll hit the buyer instead before he can take off early. As long as we make our move before they get off the boat, it’ll work out.” 

“It is problem.” Ronin corrected him. “Ambush point needs to change.”

”Hmm… the buyer as a flyer on board, right? I’ll start moving up there instead. We’ll hit him just before he can leave,” Tex suggested. “Luna, can you disable his flyer?”

”Can a bird fly?” She shot back.

Amon turned back to his guards, and his chrome eyes flickered a bright yellow glow. The two androids backed away from us, and moved back down the hall. “Then I’ll have to accept your invitation.”

”No guards?” Lexi looked past the man to the two bots. “How very unlike you, Amon. Do you trust me that much?”

”Not as far as I could throw you.” Amon kept his smile. Despite the harsh words, the two just laughed. “You know how Anthony is about security.”

“Oh, do I.” She rolled her eyes. The elevator doors slid open with a soft ding. Amon and Lexi slid into the elevator, though the woman blocked me from following. She stood in the elevator door with her hands on either side. “Ah, Suki, darling.”

”Yes, Mistress?” I eyed the elevator suspiciously. Probably for the best I didn’t enter it. 

“Be a dear and go fetch a bottle of champagne from the kitchen?” Her eyes flicked to Amon with the subtlety of a viper. “I have a feeling there’ll be cause to celebrate.”

“I…” I was hoping to go down early and swipe some extra stuff from the vault. It seemed that side mission would have to go out the window. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Make sure it's the most expensive bottle we have. Meet us… probably the flyer pads on the roof, aye Amon?” She pulled back from the elevator doors. Just before they closed, she waved at me with her fingers. ”Oh, and goodbye, darling.”

Goodbye? I watched the elevator for a moment, before shaking my head. That woman… something wasn’t right about her. Still, this did provide me the perfect opportunity to ditch my maid disguise. “I need a room, Moonfall.”

”Got it. Cams are shut off for the entire section.” The lights flickered overhead, and dimmed slightly. “The yacht is unfortunately about to experience some power issues."

”What about the other runners?” I asked. Surely one of them would notice she was messing with stuff if she went that far, chek?

”Sleeping like babies.” Luna chuckled softly. “They’re all stuck in a simulation at the moment. Really, what could they expect? Full diving next to me like this…”

A shiver went down my spine, and I once more made a mental note to not piss the netrunner off. She was downright terrifying when she wanted to be. At least she wasn’t petty, though. 

Luna spoke up once more, though this time through the private channel of our Packheart Rings. “Shiro, I’m headed to the Roughrider to extract now.”

”Chek.” The original plan had everyone but Ronin extracting through the flyer Tex arrived on. It shouldn’t need to be said, but the megayacht was absolutely massive. It was closer to a private cruise ship than anything. The flyer bay alone was bigger than most boats I’d seen. 

Luna didn’t want to stick around any of us longer than she had to. Not face to face, anyway. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. If things went the way I wanted them to, I would’ve hit the vault before the yacht even left the harbor. I wasn’t the mastermind for this gig, so I instead stuck to my lane. Even if it wasn’t how I would’ve done something, I wasn’t arrogant enough to assume my way was better than the Hound.

”I hit all the flyers except Tex’s, so you won’t have anyone chasing. Vox is waiting on board.” Luna’s icon flashed once more in the corner of my vision, and then abruptly went out. “I’ll stick around in the sky in case I need to hijack the yacht, but otherwise I’ll see you back at the speakeasy.”

”See you then.” I slipped into a room and quickly changed back into my Nightshade harbor. With a soft click, my helmet clicked into place. “I’m on my way up.”

“Was worried I’d have to start blastin’ by myself.” Tex’s voice echoed in my helmet. I pulled it off, fished out the ear piece, and stuffed it into a pouch of my belt. “You coming too, Ronin? Or will this be a two person show?”

”If I show too early, I’ll be suspicious,” the samurai said. “The wards are set to fail when we start, though.”

”Nova.” Ronin was the only one here on his actual identity. Luna was under the guise of a Netrunner from Mystech. Tex and I were both undercover too. 

The man didn’t want to taint his entire career by openly backstabbing the one who hired him, so he was planning to sabotage from within. An incompetent ally was sometimes worse than a competent enemy.

I tossed out a Dragonfly to watch over me, and slipped out of the room with Illusive and my Blinder active. Most of the cameras were off, and I had permissions from the wards. That just left the guards to worry about. 

The thing about high class guards was that they all liked to have chrome. It was an improvement upon their natural bodies. The more chrome they had, the easier they could sell their services. Cyberoptics helped me more than it helped them, though. Maybe the top, top tier mercs I’d have to worry about. Nameless chrome domes weren’t an issue.

I skunk down the hallway, passing in front of a duo of guards patrolling down the hall. I flattened to the side of the hall to let them pass, and slowly worked my way towards the flyer bays near the top of the megayacht.