Cyberpunk: I'm Not a Scavenger - Chapter 83: Entering the Game (Patreon)

"I'm here to discuss something important. What are you doing?"

A fierce battle broke out in Room 204 of the No-Tell Motel. For the sake of his plan, Pantheon was forced to put his looks to work.

Some two hours later, the fighting finally subsided. Meredith leaned against the headboard, a slim cigarette between her fingers, lazily enjoying the aftermath.

"Not bad. If you worked at Clouds, you'd be one of their top dolls."

She licked her lips, apparently considering another round.

"Never mind. Let's talk business first."

She changed the subject, remembering the valuable information Pantheon had brought.

Pantheon wasn't going to fetch it for her. He pointed at the trousers under the bed and told her to get them herself.

"Biotechnica files? Where did you get these?"

Meredith scanned the files on the screen. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to Pantheon. Since the attack on Biotechnica Tower, the company's security alert had remained at its highest level.

Anyone capable of sneaking into the building undetected under those conditions...

...would probably find strangling Saburo Arasaka no harder than crushing an ant.

"Do you know the Fly King?"

Meredith folded her arms, testing his reaction.

"Cough! Cough! The Fly King? What the hell kind of name is that?"

Pantheon nearly choked at the ridiculous title. Did Biotechnica really hate him that much?

"It's what Biotechnica calls the netrunner who broke into the building that day. After all, he flooded the whole place with sewage. Do you have any idea how much work it took them to clean up that mess?"

Meredith shuddered as she remembered the footage an agent had sent her.

Since the incident at Biotechnica Tower, virtually every major corporation had reinforced the electronic defenses protecting its sewers, ventilation, and sanitation systems.

Pantheon's imagination and twisted sense of humor had certainly taught the corpos a lesson.

Several independent netrunners involved in the original attack had started copying his methods, inflicting considerable losses on smaller corporations. The damage was bad enough. The humiliation was worse. Only the cleaning companies came out ahead.

Beelzebub, demon king of Hell and lord of the flies. The nickname was disturbingly appropriate.

Pantheon wasn't pleased, though.

Why did Bartmoss get to be the "God of Netrunners" while he was stuck with names like "Demon King of Hell" and "Fly King"?

"How close are you two?"

Pantheon returned to the present and found Meredith right in front of him.

"We met by chance on the Net. I passed him the Biotechnica security vulnerability you gave me.

"So in a way, you helped make the whole Biotechnica incident possible."

Meredith's eye twitched. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm.

"Does he have any more information? Militech would pay well for it."

Pantheon spread his hands and shook his head.

"No idea. He didn't tell me, and I didn't ask.

"We haven't spoken in ages. I don't even know where he's gone."

Meredith frowned. She believed only half his story. The Fly King had probably gone into hiding, but she doubted Pantheon had really lost contact with him.

Still, she couldn't press him too hard. Pantheon remained useful to her in too many ways. She never seriously considered that Pantheon might be the netrunner himself.

No one in the cyberpunk world had ever advanced so far as both a solo and a netrunner.

Not even the legends had managed it.

Meredith returned to the files and reviewed the recorded progress of Project Nightingale.

"Biotechnica's got some nerve. They hid this from us all this time, then tried to fob us off with worthless scraps."

She sneered as her mind worked through the implications.

Not long ago, Militech had even helped Biotechnica cover up the Securicine incident. In hindsight, they'd made fools of themselves.

Furious, Meredith grabbed Little Pantheon, and the battle flared up all over again.

Who knew how much time passed before Pantheon finally remembered why he'd come?

"Arasaka has experimental cyberware arriving in Night City soon. They've even picked out their test subjects."

Meredith looked up, swallowed what was in her mouth, and fixed him with the eager stare of a hunter spotting prey.

"Arasaka's experimental cyberware?"

Pantheon's cybernetic eye glimmered as he sent her part of the intelligence he'd gathered.

"I had a little disagreement with the Tyger Claws. They couldn't handle it themselves, so they called in reinforcements."

The details immediately caught Meredith's interest.

"If it gives us a chance to hurt Arasaka, Militech won't pass it up."

She thought for a moment before setting out her terms.

"I don't care about the old man. Militech has no use for an outdated swordsman. But that Nomiyama fellow looks interesting.

"I want complete data on him once he's fitted with the experimental cyberware. Ideally, combat data collected while he's pushed to his limits."

They wanted to install Arasaka's newest experimental cyberware in a sumo wrestler who weighed more than five hundred kilograms and was already packed with implants.

Weren't they practically building a walking semi-truck? They really thought highly of him, didn't they? Pantheon grumbled inwardly as he weighed the risks and rewards.

The operation would be dangerous, but the potential rewards were enormous. A monster like Nomiyama ought to drop at least a gold-rarity trait. And if it did, would that make it a custom trait? His thoughts wandered, though only a few seconds passed.

"All right."

Pantheon flicked away his cigarette and agreed. Once Militech was involved, events might not unfold the way Arasaka and the Tyger Claws expected.

Meredith brightened at once. Her eyes shone, and her legs wrapped around Pantheon's waist again. As a mid-level Militech manager, of course Meredith had ambitions of her own.

If this succeeded, her earlier achievements might finally give her a chance to compete for a higher position. How could she possibly stay calm with that prospect in front of her?

"But…"

Then Pantheon abruptly changed course, and Meredith held her breath.

"After all the trouble I've gone through, you can't be the only one to profit. The Tyger Claws started this, and I'm going to teach them a lesson they won't forget.

"I need Militech to send people to help me hit Arasaka's transport convoy while we raid the Tyger Claws' major bases.

"You can have the experimental cyberware, but all the other supplies and equipment we seize from the convoy and the raids belong to me."

Meredith stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"King, you really won't let anyone get the better of you. You're stealing Arasaka's equipment, getting Militech to lend you its people for free, and making the Tyger Claws pay for it all.

"Militech's regular forces can't take part, but I can send some of our mercenaries to help you."

Pantheon pursed his lips and clicked his tongue.

"I'll need Militech to provide computing power too."

"No problem."