Ghost in the City

*That’s a lot of bad guys.* I spoke into the group call as I overlooked the camp. It was mid afternoon and I had walked for miles, climbed up onto a mountain to overlook the Wraith camp and was now hidden in some brush with my Nekomata pointed down.

*Dakota wasn’t kidding about the numbers.” Hiromi cut in, and all I could do was nod. I was basically sending snapshots of what I was seeing to my chooms as I took note of things. My Kiroshi highlighting things for my chooms in the pictures.

The whole place was just surrounded by vehicles and tents. Obviously the wraiths couldn’t all fit inside, yet, it was obvious like the nomads they were, they were plenty comfortable.

Walking through that wasn’t going to be easy. Just the amount of people would make approaching difficult.

*I’m more interested in that.* Ichi called out, sending back an image into the chat. One of the massive trucks that were holding basically a cargo container on the back.

The truck and container was ancient, but, well.

*Think they stored the loot there?* I asked as I looked back at it. The massive truck reminded me of the ones that Nomads used as their main bases. So I wasn’t surprised to see one, but the container made me want to look inside.

*At least some of it. Or at least they normally would. They don’t usually stick to one place this long, so.”

“Yeah, the fact they are sticking around… Look.* I sent another image, and listened to the chatter about it.

The Wraiths were building a trash wall. Although calling it building wasn't quite right, they were definitely piling up broken vehicles, used tires, and other things all around the exterior towards the road.

*They are planning on staying.* Malcolm added, saying the obvious. Which only made the whole situation more confusing.

What the fuck were the Wraiths doing? There had to be something here that they didn’t want to move away from, but it was just an old electric substation.

*And at least we have confirmation. The Arasaka image is blurry, but look. That’s probably the vehicle that took out the AV.* Ichi pointed out, a Wraith vehicle had a fucking rocket launcher system on the top.

*Yeah, that’s it alright.* I muttered already thinking of how I could disable that. I really didn’t want to end up on the other end of a vehicle modified into a light tank.

I shook it off. *Okay guys. I’m going to move positions, get some other angles.* I told my team as I backed out of the bushes, and then out of sight of the camp. Continuing my scouting mission.

—--

I was eating an XXL burrito in the Quadra, filling my stomach and rehydrating as my team and I continued to chat about what we should do, but I was already pretty confident in what I would have to do.

Sneak in. Kill the Netrunner. Access the network. Start murdering Wraiths until I was revealed and then dump hacks on them as I continued to murder all of them.

That was really the only option.

“You sure we don’t want to do more preparation?” Malcolm asked as he walked over to the Quadra.

We had met up a few miles away from the camp out in the badlands using a side road that should keep us hidden.

My team couldn’t stay out of this entirely, there were too many Wraiths for that.

“I think unless we want to go buy a fuck ton of mines or something, we are as prepared as we are going to get.” I told him, chewing another bite of slop. “I think we can do this.”

“Heh. You mean, you think you can do this.” Malcolm said, but it was only teasing. “We’ll back you up Motoko. Do what you think you need to, and kill them all.”

I glanced up into his eyes and nodded. I would do it, because I had to, and because I wanted to.

“Good. I’ll make sure we make it out in case something goes wrong.” He pointed back towards Ichi’s van, that also had a Wraith Thorton Colby, parked next to it. The pickup at least fit the terrain.

Malcolm had made off from the last gig with his own Wraith vehicle.

I was still surprised he hadn’t grabbed a Quadra, but I guess he liked the Colby more. It certainly gave us more loot hauling room.

And if shit hit the fan, all three of my chooms could get in it and run. Ichi might be the better driver, but his van certainly wouldn’t outrun an angry Wraith attack. The Colby might.

I wasn’t preparing for me failing, I was preparing in case something went out of control.

“Alright choom. Let me finish this, and I’ll head out.” I told him finishing my dinner.

The sun was coming down. Sure most optics could see okay in the night, but it still would give me some advantage.

“Good luck.” Malcolm offered before moving back.

I finished my meal, and stepped out stretching. I was so dusty and dirty, but it was fine. I would take a nice long shower after this was all done.

I headed to the back of the Quadra and popped the trunk. As tempting as it was, I left the Uragan and grabbed my Copperhead. The silencer was already attached, and I double checked to make sure it was secure.

Good.

I was already in my dark armor, so I started grabbing magazines out of the ammo section of the trunk, putting them into the webbing on my armor.

A few grenades tucked in as well, and I was armed and ready.

I took a breath and let it out, letting the cold clarity of Cool and Cold Blood flow over me.

I had an objective, and a path to do it. That was all that mattered.

But first I had a long run in the desert to get close to the Wraith encampment. For some reason they never expected someone to just come out on foot.

*I’m off. I’ll be out of comms until I clear out the netrunner. Good luck.* I told the group and then headed out into the night. Everyone knew what they needed to do. I just needed to do it now.

The run through the desert was easy, I barely broke into a sweat as the desert was starting to cool, and my athletics stat was pretty high. I kept it to a light jog and then into a fast march, just to keep myself from getting too much adrenaline.

Slowly I arced over a hill and saw all the dotted lights of the camp. A quick scan told me not much had changed. The group was too large to really be worried about guards. Who would be stupid enough to attack a Wraith group this large?

I slid down the hill using a path I had picked out while scouting, and then I simply scurried from brush to brush, from ravine to gully. As I crept closer. Copperhead held tight so it wouldn’t jostle.

I reached the first tent and parked against the shadow it cast for a moment to let myself catch my breath. I needed to be ready for the next part.

I slowed my breathing until I was ready and then I moved. Sliding from tent to parked car, slipping through the shadows, my mind already knowing the path. Having scouted out all the security cameras that could see me along the route, I made sure I was always out of sight of their vigilante gaze.

I just needed…

I stopped nearly sliding under a car as a nomad walked just on the other side. The man smoking a cigarette and just sort of chilling. I started from the dirt as his boots wandered around, and rested against the car I was hiding under. He leaned against it as he smoked, and I wanted to growl, because I needed to move right past him to avoid the camera.

So I waited, hiding in the shadows, I did my best to keep from making a single noise against the dirt I was planted against.

Slowly the man finished his smoke. Chuckling a little at nothing as he did, probably reading a shard, or something.

Then finally he moved off, and I slowly rose up and then moved. Slipping past a few final tents and up to the old fence that surrounded the power plant. I was at the perfect spot that none of the cameras could notice as I leapt right up and over, landing without a sound and then running the last feet to hide among some trash along the wall.

I rested again. Watching the camp from my hidden location to make sure no one was watching, before I leapt again. Landing on the roof in two leaps and then crouching down to hide among the shadows there.

My entrance was easy to spot. A door for roof access, as the building kept some of the electrical connections up here. I hurried over and to my irritation the door was locked, but it wasn’t a modern lock.

Old lock and key of all things.

Luckily I did have the know-how. Not sure whether it came from Ninjutsu, or Tech, but I pulled out a few pieces of wire and within thirty seconds had the door opening. Even with the rusty hinges I kept it as silently as I could and slipped inside.

There were only two places a netrunner could be working from. Either the large heavy duty truck the wraiths had, inside the storage container, or from inside the substation connected into an old grid port.

I was assuming the netrunner was in here.

It’s where I would be no one wanted dust and sand in their gear. So I slipped inside, ancient concrete steps didn’t creak, but I could feel them shift at my weight.

Old. This place was really old.

The stairs thankfully didn’t lead to the main room, but were actually sealed off with a door. So I could get down and slowly turn the knob of the door open letting me peek in.

Dusty. Quiet.

There was no one here.

What was going on? Why pick this place, if there was nothing here? I slipped out, checking every corner thoroughly for cameras but not finding anything. There was an ancient camera in a corner, but it was hanging from a wire, and wasn’t powered.

I scanned around, trying to spot something out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. Just old concrete, a small office to the side, and old electric transformers.

The transformers weren’t even active. They had long been turned off, or shut down. I was just starting to wonder if someone was fucking with me, when I noticed it.

The front door had dirt trailing in, and the dust was disturbed. In the dark it was hard to see, but Kiroshi were top tier for a reason. I trailed the many boot prints in the dust to one little office…

Well now.

I followed them in, I hadn’t seen anything when I peaked in, but now that I was following the boot prints I followed them to the corner where the dust ended at a wall. But the footprints didn’t.

Huh. Hidden wall huh? I scanned the area, but didn’t get anything.

Whatever had made this, it wasn’t 1980’s tech.

I couldn’t find any sort of keypad, so I crouched down and looked at the bootprints.

Most of the dust had been disturbed in a direct path between the door and the wall, but there were a few dusty boot prints that led around the room.

Thanks to my Kiroshi I was able to pick them out and highlight them, leading me into following in their footsteps literally as I walked along with them.

It looked like they were searching for something. I followed along until finally the footprints led straight towards the wall.

Then I just reversed my steps until I found the last place the bootprints would have stopped at.

It was a set of cupboards connected to the office desk. The faux wood was covered in dust, but again a bit of scanning found fingerprints in the dust.

I opened the cupboards that had fingerprints until I came to the second one, and stilled.

There in the back of the cupboard was a fake backing. It had been left open, revealing a much more modern number pad.

“Well well.” I muttered as I looked it over. It wasn’t dusty. I couldn’t scan for fingerprints. How did a Wraith know about this?

I shook it off, it didn’t matter. He did, and he had opened it. So I would as well. I pulled my personal link out of my neck and squeezed it into the slot along the bottom of the keypad.

Instantly I winced as the defenses started reacting. ICE. Good stuff fought me off, but I instantly went as stealthy as I could. Throwing up some cloudy data to keep the ICE busy, before it realized someone had connected to it.

Then I tried to breach in. Using all the skills I had.

It fought me. Hard. The walls of ICE were not standard off the shelf shovelware. No, this was definitely a high level military ICE. There was only one reason it hadn’t been able to lock me out, or fry me in turn.

It was old. At least a decade. Possibly Unity War era.

I fought it tooth and nail and finally. Managed to slip inside, the barrier giving way as my rapid fire breach finally pushed through a hole. I shut down any alerts I could. Calmed the system and the keypad chirped as it accepted my fake credentials that I quickly uploaded.

The wall hissed, air escaping and popped out an inch and then slid sideways.

An elevator.

Well now.

I instantly shook my head at that. No way was I taking an elevator down to wherever it led. Too loud. Too obvious.

Instead I walked over and found the maintenance hatch at the top. A few moments of work and I opened it up, and climbed right out of the elevator into the shaft.

Dark.

Even my Kiroshi was struggling with how dark it was. Only a few red hazard lights gave me even the smallest of light to work on.

And here, me without a flashlight.

Walking slowly on top of the elevator, I managed to find the maintenance ladder and slowly climbed my way into the depths.

Deep. At least three or four floors? What the hell? How had whoever built this even done this? The electrical station certainly didn’t look like it had been modified in the last century.

I hit the bottom and with a bit of work managed to find the actual elevator doors.

Thankfully with my chrome fingersI was able to wedge in, and slowly open them up and it didn’t make much noise. Slowly the doors spread and I saw what was beyond.

A room, covered in tech. Computers, and servers and things…

The massive NUSA symbol on the wall right next to the Militech logo confirmed at least some of my suspicions. Was this a NUSA outpost? The many computers that I could spot even from the elevator well were all showing information about Night City. A watch post? To keep an eye on Night City?

I didn’t see anyone through the small gap I had made and so slowly hefted the elevator doors open a bit more. The noise was pretty slight thankfully, as the doors bowed to my will and then I was in. Crouching on the other side, Copperhead raised and ready.

I took a step, and stilled. HMG turrets. I instantly went to breach them to try and shut them down, but stilled.

They were quiet. I didn’t exhale, no instead I nodded. Obviously the Wraith wouldn’t want the defenses to be on. They weren’t Militech either.

I continued. Second step, and then into the room.

There. In the center. Were four people. Three men, and a woman.

One was a netrunner. Plugged into a chair and in the system. The other three were just Wraiths.

Except one of them was Isaac Webb himself. Well that made this easier.

I raised my rifle and took aim.

None of them suspected conflict here. None of them were prepared, even if all of them were armed.

I aimed at my first target, took a breath, and then moved even as I started firing.

Four rounds ripped into the chest and head of the netrunner. The sound startled the rest, but none reacted fast enough as in the air I shifted my aim, went full auto and simply started spraying the group.

Cries of pain echoed out as bullets slammed into the three. I landed and my rifle ran dry, I dropped the mag as I rolled behind the cover of an old metal desk, grabbed a new magazine and rammed it home, pulled the charging handle and then leapt up, far above the desk I was using, giving me vision of where everyone that was still alive had run to hide.

I started firing, and only two shots rang out loudly in the room in return, before I landed atop an old desk and waited. Checking the four with a full scan each just to make sure.

All dead.

*1000 XP Gained.*

*750 XP Gained.*

*750 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

I blinked at the numbers. I guess… This would have been the bosses of the Wraiths? Huh. Nice.

“Heh! Heh… Hehehehehe!” I broke into giggles at the fact I had just ripped the leadership of a Wraith warband into puddles. I settled back to calm down as I took in what I had just done.

What even was this place? I quickly rose up and started looking around, and it didn’t take me long after poking at one of the computers to confirm my suspicion

Yep. Night City Listening post for Militech and the NUSA.

With a bit of exploration I even got some dates. This place was put together a year before the unification war, and had been keeping an eye on activity in Night City. Likely in preparation for the war.

And I now knew how they had found the Arasaka AV. This thing was tracking Arasaka. Like a lot.

They had hacked in, and just watched, no need to mess with the system. Just keep quiet, and feed on the free information.

Instantly I realized how bad this was. For one, Arasaka would flip the fuck out if they knew about this. Militech would flatline anyone to keep it quiet too.

Fuck.

Should I tell Arasaka? Should I tell Militech?

Should I shut my fucking mouth and pretend this never happened?

Kinda leaning towards that option. I don’t know anyone at Militech besides that first Militech corpo you meet trying to track their stolen shipment, and while she was certainly a surprise in her more personal meeting later in the game. I didn’t really like her.

Besides, I was way too young for that.

Did I know anyone else? I thought back to the game and came up empty. I knew the Phantom Liberty DLC was supposed to be about Militech or something… Right?

Fuck, no idea. I shrugged. Then I guess I could talk to Hiromi? Oh. I bet her dad will like the information. Might even be able to make use of it…

If I wanted to support Arasaka… Which I don’t.

Well at the least I know Yorinobu was going to try and destroy the company soon. Including killing his father. I could just ignore that whole thing and it would happen…

No, I didn’t need to rush this. I should talk to my chooms and get a plan together when I wasn’t rushing around pre and post battle.

I pulled away from the computer, and moved towards the netrunner.

He would be the central hive for all the security of the Wraiths above. Sure maybe not all of them would connect into the network they had set up, but most of them would.

I pulled out my link and plugged in, wincing again at the nasty ICE that the guy was plugged into. Luckily with him flatlined I had plenty of time to slowly pick it apart, and breach into the network.

Once that was complete, a single ping filled my vision with dozens of lines connecting me to all the Wraiths above.

I grinned as I took them all in. They wouldn’t just track my targets for me, but make excellent shooting lines to hit my targets regardless of being able to see them.

—---

Standing on top of the electrical substation, I looked over the camp. No one had noticed the fight below. No one had any idea their system had been infiltrated. No one had any idea what was coming.

*Alright guys. I’m about to kick things off. Get ready for any runners.* I spoke quietly into the group chat, making sure my chooms had heard me and responded as I raised my Copperhead along the first golden line.

As I aimed I pushed Reboot Optics into the system. My vision filled with dozens of red icons showing it uploading into the Wraiths optics. A little ticking box of death over all of their heads.

I felt my grin go feral as I watched the first person to lose his sight and jerk at the sudden loss. The one I was tracing along the golden light.

I fired.

The light winked out.

Then I moved on. Even as the cries of surprise, the horror, the rage echoed up around me. I fired silenced rounds reaching out into the darkness and cutting out winking golden lights one by one.

It didn’t work on everyone. Some could still see, either because they had no optics and just ganic eyes, or for some other trick. Cars started taking off. Just a few, on the outer edges, most racing towards the road, Hiromi, and the chooms would take care of that.

Others did drive out into the desert.

I shrugged. A shame, but nothing I could do. I kept firing. Rapid fire. The whistling of my rounds in an even tempo, as I just used the lights to guide my shots, ignoring tents, or cover in the way. Sure I didn’t get them all. Some were inside their cars, but once Reboot was fully installed into the camp, I activated Short Circuit, and almost giggled at the squeals as people were suddenly tazed over and over.

The Wraiths knew they were under attack now.

They were trying to respond to mount a defense or an offense.

They were failing.

One got in a vehicle that had weapons, but couldn’t find me, and was just firing randomly as he spun his Shion around. Some were gathering up driving their cars together for defense.

I just kept killing anyone that I could. Fire fire fire fire. Reload. Fire fire.

Suddenly I heard it, the massive noise of HMG’s opening up.

Ichi had stolen the second HMG turret from yesterday's camp. I had reprogrammed it for him during the night, and so now his Van’s rear doors opened up with two HMG turrets.

The sound definitely pushed the Wraiths into action, but a moment later a noise echoed out over the dunes.

A rocket launcher.

God dammit Malcolm! I know that’s you! The distant fire over the ridge was grabbing everyone's attention, and that was finally enough.

The camp stampeded. The few people in vehicles picking a direction not towards the rocket launcher and booked it.

It was less and less as time went on. Short Circuit sending a few drivers spinning in circles to crash into whatever was around.

The numbers diminished for them, but the numbers only went up for me!

A crashing noise pulled me away from sending a barrage of rounds into the windshield of a Quadra that was crashed trying to finish the gonk inside. I turned and instantly dropped down.

“COME ON THEN! I’LL TAKE YOU ALL ON!” The voice roared out of the speaker of the Arasaka branded Minotaur that just stomped out of the massive truck in the middle of camp.

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