Sewers

  December 17th

  2069

  Sophie pushed her bike into its usual hiding spot deep within the sewers as the rumbling engine slowly faded into silence. She huffed slightly, annoyed the Tyger had broken one of her newly built blades. Though it’s better it happened now, rather than in serious combat.

  She exhaled through her nose, cracking her neck as she stepped into her hideout. She dropped into her chair, yanked off her bracers, and set them down with a heavy clunk. A closer look made her frown.

  “Well. Fuck. Didn’t think about that.”

  Blood had seeped into the mechanisms of her hidden blades, pooling in the small crevices and gears. A thick, dark residue clung to the metal, already drying into a crust. She picked up the broken one first, turning it in her hands. The blade itself was shattered near the base, and the mechanism was slightly warped.

  The other one, at least, had survived. But the blood and gunk? That was a problem.

  Sophie flexed her fingers before pulling open her laptop. The screen lit up with a soft light, and she got to work, sketching out a redesign for her hidden blades. Her first prototypes had worked well, especially when she assassinated the first Tyger but there were clear flaws.

  They weren’t built for longevity. Blood and grime would clog the mechanism, slowing the blade’s deployment. Blood would also cause rust, weakening the metal and making it brittle. And they struggled in direct clashes.

  She stared at her rough sketches, tapping a finger against the desk.

  There were a few possible solutions. She could incorporate a self-cleaning mechanism, something that scraped away residue each time the blade retracted. That would be tricky to engineer, though, and she wasn’t sure she had the right materials. A disposable blade system could work too. Something that would allow her to swap out the blade after each use. But that would require carrying even more extras than she already planned to, which she wasn’t keen on. Her mind drifted as she thought about the similarities between her blades and another type of weapon. Mantis blades.

  How do they stay clean? Especially when they stay inside someone’s arm. Surely you don’t have to clean them after every use…I must be missing something. Maybe Vik would know?

  Sophie decided to swing by the ripper’s clinic later. For now, she’d have to settle for a simpler fix.

  She grabbed a small screwdriver and began disassembling the working blade, carefully prying apart the casing. Inside, the blood had already begun congealing into a sticky mess. Using an old rag, she wiped it away, grimacing at the dark streaks it left behind.

  There were still some nasty little spots that refused to be cleaned though, so she grabbed her full cleaning kit and got to work. Drenching it in a small bowl of cold water mixed with detergent helped before she attacked the stubborn deposits with a medical q-tip.

  It took time, but by the end of it, the blade was clean again. She tested the deployment, flicking her wrist. Shhkt! The blade snapped out smoothly.

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  "Good enough," she muttered.

  She'd need to clean them after every use from now on. Maybe her chat with Vik would reveal a better way to keep them functional long-term.

  Sitting back in her chair, Sophie ran a final check on her new design. She’d adjusted the internal structure, reinforcing the blade with additional layers. The mechanism would be sturdier too. If she had the resources, a tougher alloy would also help but unfortunately, she didn’t.

  With the blueprints finalized, she stretched her arms above her head, letting out a yawn. Then she frowned. She’d forgotten about the datashard.

  Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out the chip she’d taken from the Tyger earlier. She had no idea what was on it but she was curious. Most gangers didn’t carry random datashards around. Was that guy actually important? Maybe he was a courier?

  She ran a few scans with her optics while performing a few basic security checks. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her netrunning skills. There didn’t seem to be any encryption or hidden triggers.

  Her interface flickered for a moment as the files loaded. She kept running scans on it to be safe. When it finished loading though, there were no viruses and no warnings. Just a simple folder labeled with crude Tyger slang.

  She mentally clicked it open.

  Rows of documents appeared; reports, schedules, inventory lists. At first glance, it looked like standard gang logistics. She scrolled through, skimming past mentions of weapons, drug shipments, and territory disputes. All information she’d gladly hand to the Mox or use herself, but nothing unusual.

  Then she found an odd document. It was right at the very bottom of the list, with a very simple name.

  Scav deal.

  She felt her eyes narrow before opening it.

  There was…nothing. Of real value, at least. Nothing that explained what the ‘deal’ was, just vague references to a joint operation between the Tygers and the scavs. Transport routes. Numbers. A location.

  Nothing spelled out what they were actually doing, but Sophie didn’t need to be a genius to figure out it wasn’t anything good. Nothing but misery would come from the two groups cooperating.

  Her fingers drummed against the table. She needed to check this place out.

  As she became lost in thought, a sudden system notification appeared before her. She opened it, finding a new mission.

  New Mission

  Uncover what kind of deal the Tygers have with the scavs.

  Difficulty: Medium

  Rewards: 2000 L-Coins, 5000 Eurodollars, +2 Investigation Proficiency, ???

  Sophie’s brow furrowed at the reward section.

  “Unknown? Why would it be unknown? It sounds like a pretty simple mission…No, there has to be more to it than that.” Whatever it was, she could feel a shiver running down her spine. “Ugh. Why can’t things ever be simple?” She murmured to herself before sighing.

  Before she could close her system page down, her eyes caught on another notification. “Huh? When did I get this?” She opened it up and her face immediately split into a wide grin. “Shit! I completely forgot about this!”

  Basic Bladed Combat Proficiency +1

  Basic Bladed Combat [50/100]

  There was a small rush of knowledge as the final holes in her skills filled themselves in. Then she got the next message.

  Skill - Basic Bladed Combat has reached [50/100] proficiency.

  Basic Bladed Combat will no longer provide knowledge. Proficiency will now be gained by mastering the knowledge provided by the skill during the first 50 levels.

  Note: Significant mastery of Basic Bladed Combat detected…Providing proficiency points…

  Basic Bladed Combat Proficiency +19

  Basic Bladed Combat [69/100]

  Immediately, Sophie began to feel tingles spreading across her body. The sensation spread in waves, slowly making changes to her muscles. Her mind too, changed, having the instincts that matched her new muscle memory imprinted.

  Just like the last time, with her gun skill, the process lasted nearly half an hour. By the time it finished, she was feeling incredible.

  “God, this feels so good.” There was a wonderful feeling that she’d just made a very large amount of progress on her personal path to power and she loved it. She wanted more of it.

  “Flexibility first, then I’ll focus on Basic Unarmed Combat. Working with the Animals should be the perfect way to quickly hit the halfway milestone.” Her eyes landed on her other two class skills, Stealth and Investigation.

  “Hmm. They’re getting close. And I’ll get some extra points from that new mission. Huh. It’s starting to feel like I’m not too far off upgrading my class. A few months maybe? I wonder what’ll happen when I reach that point.”

  Feeling incredibly satisfied with her day, she turned her attention to the nearby laptop. Tomorrow, once the next version of her hidden blades was ready, she’d go investigate. Whatever the Tygers and scavs were doing together, they needed to be stopped.