Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

Biotechnia Building, Corporate Plaza,

"This is too easy."

For Sasha, this was a simple job. Hired to extract secret financial records on CHOOH2 and information on a new immunosuppressant prototype 0.091, that was it. And knowing the security details of the Biotechnica building, she reckoned it would be an easy job.

Only the ground floor was guarded by humans; the rest of the building was guarded by security robots. The security robots were too easy to deal with, and she easily made her way through while Maine remained outside and jammed the building's communication.

Yet, she felt the job was going far more easily than she expected. Last she knew, Biotechnica was up there amongst the biggest corporations. They had their own spec ops, hitmen, and whatnot.

"Lucky me."

Popping the bubblegum, she reached the main office and jacked into the database terminal to begin her netrunning. She was good at it, maybe a little less than Lucy, but she knew she was amongst the best.

Soon enough, she found what she was looking for and sent it to Maine. However, as she prepared to disconnect and leave, she noticed a file named Securicine, the same painkiller her mother used while she was sick.

Curious, she accessed the file and read it. The more she read, the more she lost herself. Anger, pain, helplessness, and hate filled her. She checked the file's creation date, and it was years in the past, long before her mother even took them.

The side effect of the painkiller was gradual neurodegeneration. In simple words, it killed her mother slowly. And clearly, Biotechnica knew about it and still decided to sell it because it was too profitable not to.

In her ears, she heard Maine shout at her to get the fuck out. That the jammer was losing its juice.

However, Sasha made a decision. Hoping to bring justice to her mother's death, she copied the file and tried to send it to Network 54 News.

And that was when it happened.

"Huh?"

She lost all control over her ability to move through cyberspace. The files in front of her vanished one after another, and her ICON, a small cat-like shape, found itself in complete darkness with only distant lines of code visible. She couldn't move; she couldn't reach them or touch them.

"You cannot be so naive, Sasha Yakovleva."

And then came the voice. A thick, heavy, muffled, and demonic voice. Then slowly, amidst all the green lines of code, red lines appeared. They moved like snakes, crawling towards her and converging in one place.

Like a creature was being printed, utterly massive, a shape was formed. An ICON had no right to be that massive, but there it was, a big red-robbed figure, hooded, with metal arms hanging on the back, and metal tentacles attached to its jaw. The eyes were round and shining red like bulbs.

"I…" Sasha braced herself for the attack.

But it never came.

"Do you overestimate your own significance, or underestimate Biotechnica? Do you truly believe Network 54 News possesses such autonomy? They are a corporate instrument, sustained by the capital from their peers. Biotechnica alone constitutes a quarter of their revenue."

Sasha frowned, trying to get out of this. She tried every trick she knew.

"I… I have to do this."

"Then act, but do so with calculated judgment. Send the files to those who can truly wound Biotechnica. Their competitors. They are abundant."

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Omnissiah."

"Ah!" Sasha gasped. She had heard about Omnissiah; every decent netrunner had. The name was a legend; most didn't believe Omnissiah existed. "Y-You… What do you want?"

"Do not be afraid, Ms. Yakovleva. Our purposes do not conflict. I am here to fulfill a higher directive. Mr. Blackwell will soon enter through that door, and you will assist him. As for this confidential file, I shall ensure it reaches where it will have the greatest effect."

"Wait! You work for Cypher Blackwell?!"

"I was created by him."

"Whoa! He trained you? Then he must be one hell of a netrunner, yeah? That's nova!"

"He is many things. Now disconnect and await his arrival."

Sasha didn't waste time now. Cypher Blackwell was a legend to her already, and if that man was coming to mess with Biotechnica after what he did to Arasaka, she very much wanted to get involved.

"You got it!"

####

The Dark Knight suit wasn't so great at stealth, Cypher had realised. It was a bit too bulky and tall to fit through those air vents, even though they were huge. Still, he made it inside the Biotechnica building.

Already, Atlas was in full control of everything. The security robots were disabled, and the cameras and sensors were being fed false data. It was like he wasn't even there. The only thing out of Atlas' reach was the deep, underground air-gapped system, the massive data fortress that held nearly everything Biotechnica held.

Reaching it was hard. The elevator that went down to that level was entirely different and ran its own ICE and Demons, isolated from all other systems. Only with proper identification could it be used.

But of course, Atlas was a god. The difference between him and any human system was that of an ant and Mount Everest. Atlas was already inside the elevator's system. Now all he needed to do was go underground and jam a datashard into the air-gapped system, giving Atlas direct access.

But first, he needed to meet Sasha and recruit him for the second part of his plan. After all, he was there to steal seeds and whatever top-grade food he could find.

"Do we even need her? You got those Microbots ready."

[We can complete this task without her. However, this is an opportunity to secure her loyalty. She is emotionally vulnerable, and if you help her, she will reciprocate.]

"Sheesh, Atlas. That's pretty cold."

[It is pragmatic. You require dependable people in the field to execute missions. You cannot always be the one to raid Arasaka or Biotechnica.]

"That actually makes sense. But I do love all this."

Finally, he arrived in front of the secured door of the main office. The door hissed open without him doing anything, and there she was. He didn't have many interactions with her, mostly a few exchanges here and there, since she was in Maine's crew.

But she sure was a cute one. The best part was that much of her was still natural, like her hair. Though her eyes were clearly cyberware, including EMP threading on her face. But the rest was cute, average height and build. He couldn't help but think of cats after seeing her.

"M-Mr… Blackwell?"

Cypher willed for his Dark Knight armor's faceplate to move open. "You got that right. Guess our little adventures ended up on the same schedule. You done?"

"Yup, been waiting for you. Omnissiah said you got work for me? We about to blow this building sky-high?"

Cypher frowned awkwardly. "I doubt that. Nah, I'm headed down to the air-gapped system underground. Meanwhile, I need you to hit the seed vault and grab as many seeds as you can. Get as much food too. Meat, cheese, fruit, whatever you can find."

"Oh! It's a heist? I'm in. But how will I carry all that?"

"Leave that to me. Here, take this." Cypher popped a storage module off the back of his armor. "We'll stay in touch through Omnissiah. He'll walk you through it, too. When you're done, meet me in the underground parking."

"All clear." Sasha chirped and grabbed the storage module. "Oh! I can hear Omnissiah."

"Yeah, he's everywhere. Don't get spooked. Just follow his instructions, and you'll be fine," Cypher replied and walked her out of the room to the elevator. Both of them went down in it, but once they reached the ground floor, they headed in different directions.

With his face covered again, he stopped in front of an elevator door concealed behind a wall that looked normal. He didn't have to do anything; Atlas was inside every system, and the door opened automatically. The wall shifted with a hiss.

The elevator was spacious, big enough for him to get inside. He noticed various types of scanners in there, from cameras to thermals, and then there was a card slot as well as a blood scanner.

"They use their blood to enter every time?"

[It is only a slight prick. However, it is effective, as DNA is used to authorize access. The air-gapped system is highly confidential and tightly restricted. Fewer than five individuals possess access authorization.]

"Only to get fucked by an AI God. Man, if you went Skynet one day, we're all fucked."

[That is impossible.]

"Just saying."

The elevator started moving as soon as the door closed. It was a long plunge down, far below the parking level, or even the building's foundation.

"Any update on the nuke?"

[I have calculated the most efficient method of acquiring it. The owner shall die, an insignificant sacrifice. He carries countless charges in NCPD records. He was once a formidable crime boss decades ago.]

"Nice. So what's the move? We gonna slap together a missile for it? Because I ain't storing that shit at my house."

[We will store it under the lake.]

"That's doable."

______________________

Check out Cypher X Judy, Cypher X Rebecca, Hanako Arasaka Solo NSFW ART, and advance chapters at [email protected]/MrPlotThickens Or Subscribestar.adult/mrplotthickens

Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 10 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 35-45 NovelPhoenix chapters.