Cyberpunk: I'm Not a Scavenger - Chapter 68: Flying Birds (Patreon)

If he couldn't get the sixth-generation Gene Cradle technology anytime soon, something from an earlier generation would still be useful.

Pantheon searched the database, only to find that those records were missing too.

It seemed Biotechnica had gone to extraordinary lengths to protect its most closely guarded technology. Had it resorted to paper records or isolated, offline systems?

There was no point wasting time. He selected whatever other technology might prove useful and downloaded it all.

Detailed blueprints, equipment source code, experimental data, old operating logs. He took everything he could find.

The sheer volume and complexity of the files slowed the download. Pantheon waited impatiently, even giving a passing security robot a friendly wave.

Then the daemon he'd planted earlier sent him an alert.

A wave of external signal jamming had suddenly enveloped the lower floors of Biotechnica Tower.

Fuck. Don't tell me that's Sasha.

Pantheon's mouth twitched. Of all the times for her to show up.

Once the download finished, he made sure to leave Biotechnica a little present.

There were dozens of simple malicious programs and another six or seven self-propagating computer viruses. But they were only distractions, concealing the real gift.

A dormant piece of software he'd named the "Bacterial Carpet."

Under normal conditions, it masqueraded as a routine low-level system diagnostic. It even helped antivirus programs remove malware. Meanwhile, it quietly harvested valuable information and sent it outside disguised as spam.

It could also spread through personal links.

If someone connected to an infected computer or server, the Bacterial Carpet would infect their neural interface and then spread to other systems through their activity.

Biotechnica's departments and floors each operated on separate local networks. Using employees as carriers would allow the program to spread through them much faster.

To keep the infection from getting out of hand, Pantheon had restricted it to Biotechnica Tower.

Smiling to himself, he wiped his access logs and casually transferred more than ten million eddies from the financial reimbursement system into his own account.

Just ten million. He'd consider it payment for this little operation.

What operation?

Operation Creative Accounting!

...

As it turned out, Sasha's infiltration had been even easier than Pantheon's.

The guard at the rear entrance had vanished, either bribed or killed. Only a few surveillance cameras remained.

With help from her signal jammer, Sasha took control of them without much difficulty.

Her team's objective was to steal the confidential financial reports for CHOOH₂ and the prototype research data for a new immunosuppressant.

These files had a lower security classification, so she didn't need to reach the upper floors. The job was much less demanding than Pantheon's.

She rode the elevator up, took over the cameras as she went, and reached her target office with the ease of someone returning home.

After putting on her basic netrunning gear, she watched streams of data cascade across her vision.

She quickly found the files she'd come for and sent copies to Maine, who was waiting outside.

While digging through the technical records, however, she noticed a hidden partition.

Whether it was a netrunner's curiosity, instinct, or simply fate, she couldn't resist investigating.

She cracked the encryption and uncovered a secret Biotechnica had concealed for years.

"Securicine" was a painkiller manufactured by Biotechnica.

The company had known all along that it caused serious side effects, including devastating neurological disorders. But the profits were so enormous that its executives had chosen to ignore the risk.

Sasha's mother had taken the drug for years while battling a severe illness. In the end, she had died of the resulting neurological damage.

The file listed the side effects in clear detail. It also contained the decision by Biotechnica's senior executives to cover them up.

Sasha's eyes filled with tears.

How could those executives sitting high above everyone else decide the lives and deaths of countless patients like her mother with nothing more than a few casual signatures?

"Sasha? We've got the data. Time to pull out. The patrols are about to change shifts."

Maine's steady voice came over the comms.

"I'm sorry, Maine."

There was no hesitation in Sasha's eyes now.

Overwhelmed by grief and anger, she sent one final message and deliberately disconnected.

She was going to expose Biotechnica's crimes to the whole world.

Even if justice came years too late, it would at least honor the mother she'd lost.

Sasha began sending the evidence to News 54.

What she didn't know was that Militech was the corporation backing News 54. Why would Militech expose a scandal involving one of its own allies?

The jammer she'd set up earlier was starting to fail, and the new transfer was barely halfway finished.

Sasha's expression hardened. She wrapped the data cable around her wrist to keep it connected, then reached into her bag and drew a pistol.

A shrill alarm rang out, and the building's defense systems sprang into action.

Heavy metallic footsteps echoed from the corridor. The first wave of security robots was almost at her door.

She crouched behind the office desk and prepared to make her stand.

BOOM!

The alloy door she'd locked was blown off its hinges.

A violent wave of pressure swept through the room, carrying fragments of metal and thick clouds of dust.

Three green-painted security robots opened fire on the desk at once. Their bullets carved visible paths through the smoke.

The transfer was still only halfway complete.

Sasha needed more time.

She hurled a grenade from behind the desk, disrupting the robots' formation. Then she sprang up, Wolverine claws extending from her fingertips.

Shielded by the smoke and the lingering blast, she closed in on the leftmost machine.

Her steel claws ripped through it with ease. While dodging the incoming fire, she uploaded a daemon to a second robot.

The hijacked machine turned on its own allies, firing at them without restraint.

The last two robots struggled against one another, and Sasha quickly destroyed them both.

The gigs Pantheon had arranged had made Maine's crew stronger, but even those improvements weren't enough to change what was about to happen.

The progress bar finally reached the end. The data was sent.

More security robots were on their way. Their bullets arrived first.

The office windows burst outward like dying flowers, shattered glass scattering through the rain.

Beyond them stretched Night City's dazzling sea of neon, glittering in the last darkness before dawn.

Tears shone in Sasha's eyes, but she was smiling.

Mom, I did it!

She leaped through the broken window and spread her arms wide, plunging joyfully into the hundred-meter drop.

The wind lifted her hair. For one fleeting moment, she felt like a bird freed from its cage, finally soaring into the open sky.

"Hahaha! Miss Cat Ears, it's a little early to celebrate!"

Pantheon was wearing a helmet, but she knew that voice. It snapped her out of her reverie.

Sasha opened her eyes and discovered that she was lying in his arms.

A line anchored him to the building, allowing him to move along its exterior without simply falling under gravity's pull.

Several small Bombus drones were already closing in behind them.