Outrun - Chapter 480 - Cafe (Patreon)

I took a breath as we approached our destination. This was it. This was the start of something that could potentially upend my whole life… I was prepared though. I’d even gone to Viper so we could work through this together in preparation for today. My plan for how I wanted to deal with the megacorps was set, and I just needed to see it through. 

The Roughrider dropped onto a low hover on the street, its thrusters stirring up pools of rain and trash scattered around. Several pedestrians took hesitant steps back at the flyer landing so close to them while others still didn’t seem to care in the slightest. A newspaper, blown by the thrusters, fluttered through the wind as Mira jumped off the back. 

Boom!

Her heavy power armor thundered against the ground, making even those that didn’t seem to care grow weary in an instant. A small arm with a scanner attached stuck up out of her shoulder, and she swept the nearby area before turning back to me with her palm upheld. “Clear, boss.”

”Been practising how to put on a show?” I asked softly as I slid off the Roughrider and fixed my poncho. It was a good thing nobody could see under her helmet, or they’d see the scratched up face of the goofball. She’d spent more time putting on bandaids this morning then getting prepared for this. 

To be fair, she needed them. Her face looked like it’d been slashed at repeatedly by a very pissed off and ferocious wild animal. For some reason. Some of the slashes had been a bit deeper than I intended, but she kept almost squishing me underneath her chest every time she rolled over.

“Some clients like to feel powerful.” Mira grabbed my suitcase and fell into step behind me. Honestly, I was going to use a duffel bag to shove my tech into, but a suitcase looked more professional, didn’t it?

We’d parked just outside of a high-class cafe in the Corporate Quarter. It was one of those places I’d seen in the past, but never dared to approach. An ornate fence sectioned off a section of the sidewalk with chairs and tables set up. A simple dark-green awning covered the patio area, keeping the light sprinkles of the city from falling onto guests.

Almost every single one of them was Sentinel security of some kind. I instantly spotted who I was meeting up with. How could I not? I expected Brunhilde or a Sentinel exec, but Sean Sentinel himself sat there like a bad penny I just couldn't get rid of. Viper had predicted it’d be him, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it. 

“Sorry, miss. No weapons allowed beyond this point.” A guard in heavy ballistic armor stopped us just shy of entering the awning section. Although he spoke to me, his eyes were on Mira’s power armor. 

A power play? Already? Tsk tsk… I even dressed up nicely for this one. “Ah, c’mon, Seraph. It appears I got the address wrong.”

”Let them through,” Sean shot the guard a glare. His glare instantly melted into a smile when my eyes fell on him instead. “Apologies… Sentinel takes security very seriously.”

“It’s fine. Cold Moon does too.” With him willing to back off and make amends, I backed off a step instead of stomping on his throat. That… that sounded a little violent? Maybe those corporate dramas I’d been watching while working on stuff weren’t the best idea of corporate politics? C-dramas were just so good though.

”I went ahead and ordered.” Sean lifted a coffee cup to me. “I hope that’s not an issue?”

”Seeing as I’m ten minutes late, I’ll let it pass.” I nodded at the not-so-subtle reminder that we were late. Checkups with Nael this morning had gone a little longer than I thought they would. I was in good health, though.

Mira stepped forward and pulled out my chair. As I sat down, she pushed it back and pulled away to lean against the wall of the cafe just next to the door. She was downright intimidating in that armor of hers. That was partly what I built it for, but the advanced plate armor combined with the halo gave her a bit of an otherworldly feeling that made the surrounding guard watch her warily. 

I pulled off my poncho, revealing my suit jacket and button up shirt below. Yeah, I’d actually gone and gotten a tailored suit made in the corpo style. I… I didn’t want to embarrass myself like last time. “I was expecting Brunhilde.”

“She’s indisposed. I’m sure she’d love to hear that, though.” Sean sipped at his coffee without taking his eyes off me. “Nice suit. You look good in it.”

I pulled at my sleeve lightly. “Better than as a street rat that just crawled out of the trash?”

”You had a certain charm then too.” Sean dipped his head to me. “Buisness or pleasantries?”

”Buisness.” Another corpo might’ve been a bit offended by the bluntness, but I appreciated it. My time was valuable. 

Sean and I spent the next hour going through all the boring stuff that came with the territory of corporate cooperation. There were a lot of numbers and stuff that I couldn’t be bothered to deal with. Luna cared, though, and she was watching through a dragonfly pin on my jacket. 

After a while of talking about technicalities, a group of waiters swapped out the coffee to tea and sweets like we were having some kind of tea party. Sean either didn’t notice my amused look or didn’t care. “That metal you gave us…”

”Cold Moon Gravitite?” My head tilted to the side as something actually interesting came up. 

“Ah, is that its official name?” Sean smiled ruefully. Sentinel wasn’t the only one that could put their names on everything, though. 

”Well… it had a better ring than Tsukite.” I shrugged. I was the inventor so I could name it whatever I wanted. That was just how it worked. 

”Yes, your Cold Moon Gravitite… quite the mouthful.” Sean shook his head. “My technicians have practically been pounding at my door to get another sample. It seems they’re quite smitten with it.”

”As they should be. Gravitite could very well be the future.” I was talking it up, ‘course. It was helpful, but it wouldn’t be as helpful as, say, a hyper-advanced magnetic alloy that was smaller, lighter, and more powerful. Now that would actually be the future considering how many things ran on magnets.

“Any chance we could get more?” Sean asked. He seemed like he was expecting me to say no. I’d hate to disappoint. 

”I’m afraid not. The production process is extremely lengthy and relies on exotic materials.” I.E. it was extremely easy to make, and the materials were things just laying around my workshop. 

“Such a shame. Oh, right, the Aythryn City board of directors requested a visit to your facility.” Sean said casually as he cut into a pastry that probably cost more than an apartment’s rent. It was speckled with gold. Edible gold. It was a crazy expense for something that’d just melt in his stomach. 

“I won’t be in Aythryn City for the next month.” I said casually. My every word was calculated, though. I’d been thinking quite a bit about how we’d get down to Lathvin city. Shiro Tsukuyomi wasn’t exactly a private figure anymore.

”Oh?” Sean looked genuinely surprised.

”Chek. A friend of the family died in Lathvin City just recently.” I shook my head like I was sad. The ‘friend of the family’ was an identity I’d worked my ass off to create using every bit of training from Shoemaker. Luna helped legitimize it immensely. “I’ll be down there for the foreseeable future.”

”My condolences.” His fork clacked against the fine porcelain dish.

”He was one of my grandfather’s friends. I hardly knew him.” I waved my hand in dismissal. There was one reason why I was telling Sean this here—Mystech. It was a bit of a gamble, but if Mystech heard I was coming down there then I might get to tour their premises and steal a bunch of prints. As for how they’d hear? Corporate spies, obviously. 

Neither Sean nor myself had thrown out a scrambler. Even if we did, there were enough people around here that could potentially talk if I made a big show. And I had a particularly big show in mind. 

Normally I wouldn’t have been that interested in the magitech company. If I could start using runes and stuff like Bear thought, I’d be stupid not to at least have a look around and see how the masters did it. I didn’t want to blow myself up trying to merge the two or fry my entire workshop and have to start from scratch. 

I wasn’t an idiot, though. I was basically a nobody. There was no reason for them to let me come through just because I made one flyer that anyone could’ve made with the right inspiration. That was why I’d brought a bit of insurance of my own. If I made myself someone of interest, then that could change things.

“Seraph,” I called lightly, and sipped a cup of tea. My posture wasn’t quite as noble as Sean’s looked, but I remembered a few things from when I was younger. 

Mira stepped forward, and put the briefcase down on the table. I clicked it open, and pulled out a complex piece of tech shaped like a ring. It had a nine-tenths resemblance to the personal barrier projector built into my armor but was freestanding. Naturally, I also had a power armor cell in the briefcase to power it. 

“This is something new I’ve been working on.” I ran a finger along the ring. I’d stalled out on actually improving the tech further since I’d been busy with other things, but it was going to be my future product.

”You? Or your technicians?” Sean asked with a laugh as I turned it on and set everything up to go. 

”Me. It’s been a pet project of mine while Cold Moon is preparing a line of cybernetics.” By openly claiming it was me this time around, I’d link myself to it as its inventor. It’d put more focus on Shiro Tsukuyomi rather than just Cold Moon Solutions. 

Sean watched me carefully for a moment, no doubt seeing through my schemes. It was a pretty basic scheme anyway. Showing it off in a public venue was quite a bit different then if I took it to Sentinel in private. “What’s it do?”

“You have a sidearm?” I asked the guard standing just behind Sean. It was rhetorical since I could clearly see one strapped to his waist.

”Give it to her.” Sean waved his hand. He didn’t seem to care about the tech yet, but that’d change. “You do enjoy making things difficult for people, don’t you?”

The guard drew his gun, and handed it to me by the barrel. “It’s biometrically locked, so—“

A red light on the receiver instantly turned green as soon as my hand wrapped around it. Luna was coming in as clutch as ever. I checked the mag and receiver, then stood up and pointed the pistol down at the personal barrier projector, and simply pulled the trigger. 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The first shot jolted everybody around me, and the two after that spread a small panic around the street. That was for Sentinel to deal with, though. It was their gun that fired, anyway. 

All three shots were caught in the gravitational field projected out of the ring. They flattened against it, staying suspended just above the center of the ring. I calmly handed the gun back to the guard, who took while looking like his soul had just been torn out of his body by the unexpected shots. 

Sean, for his part, didn’t even look phased by my actions. It was a bit annoying considering I wanted to catch him off guard, but whatever. “Some kind of projected barrier?”

”Indeed… I haven’t had much time to work on it, but it in theory should be able to protect someone from even a tank shell if they had it on them. I’ve tested up to anti-material rounds with no issue.” I flicked one of the still hot bullets out of the field, and it clattered to the ground. “All while only having a suit and tie on.”

”Impressive…” Sean leaned back and studied me carefully. “Then do you want to sell this to Sentinel?”

”Not quite.” I unplugged the power cell and packed everything back into my suitcase. “Since we’re partners at the moment, I thought I’d give Sentinel the first chance to buy the finished product when it's done. Should be… oh, maybe three months after I get back.”

Sean’s finger tapped on the table while he remained silent for several moments. Based on his flashing eyes, he was communicating with someone. “Is it that complicated to make?”

”Extremely. It uses Gravitite at base. The first several thousand models turned into micro gravity wells that totally destroyed my personal workshop.” I lied, drumming up how hard it was to make. It was important that I did so, otherwise I might just be killed off while someone else steals my research.

”Gravitite could indeed be the future.” Sean said simply. 

Although nobody said anything, the tech I had on offer was so much more than just personal protection. I wasn’t the only one that could see that based on how serious he was taking this. ‘Course, a personal barrier would be helpful. If it could be sized up to protect, say, a city though? Or a facility out in the desert? Or anywhere that BosSpace’s Orbital Piledriver threatened? This kind of tech was extremely valuable. Especially to a corp that wanted to be free of BosSpace’s ‘tyranny’. 

I was throwing myself to the sharks by making this move, naturally. As soon as word spread, it wouldn’t surprise me if I constantly had spies trying to break into my facilities and steal my shit. Or Nightrunners chasing after me to figure out how it worked. I’d thought this through, though, and even spent 75 EF for Viper to help me make this plan viable.

I was relatively safe on one condition—no one corporation got access to it. If I sold exclusively to Sentinel, the other six wouldn’t sit idle. It was better that nobody had access to the tech except for me that way they’d all keep each other in check. The one variable that I hadn’t been able to account for very well was BosSpace, but it shouldn't be too bad according to Viper.

“We certainly appreciate the offer to let us purchase the tech first. I can think of several executives that would be interested, least of all my father.” Sean’s words held a hint of warning to them. It was like he was trying to hint that this would be a much bigger issue than I thought it would be. And I sure hoped he was right. I was planning on it.

“I’ll let you know when it’s ready, then… this matter with my grandfather’s friend will take up quite a bit of time, though.” It was a cop out response at its finest. Basically, the Lathvin trip could go long so my estimate on time could be way off.

“Would you like one of my private jets? I’ve heard the flight can be bumpy.”

“I appreciate it, but I have it handled.” I shook my head, and checked my wrist. There was no watch, but that hardly mattered. Mira pushed off the wall and grabbed the suitcase. “Ah, would you look at the time. As much as I’d like to stay and talk, I have another meeting to get to.”

“Don’t let me keep you,” Sean said. “I’m sure you’re busy, CEO Tsukuyomi.”

“More than you could probably imagine.” I highly doubted anyone outside of my inner circle could link me to Nightshade or any manner of my other identities. “I’ll try and set aside some time after I get back and we can discuss that walk through you want further.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear that.” He nodded to me.

“I s’pose they would.” I got up, and casually strolled back to my Roughrider with Mira right behind me. I could feel eyes on me all the way to my Roughrider. They only disappeared once we whipped into the sky and moved through the city once more.