Luminated Cacti Bar

  Santiago de Gloria

  Gloria City

  The next day Alcides and Ryota were sitting in Nathaniel's bar during peak business hours. Usually, they avoided it around that time because they were doing jobs or just didn’t want to be there at peak times. However, they got a call from their fixer RX telling them about a big job that they would want to hear about. So they decided there was no harm in seeing what the job was and headed to the bar, which RX told them to go to. It was weird that he had them meet there, but they just assumed it was so that they wouldn’t gain as much suspicion.

  They then got a holocall from RX, and they quickly opened a line to them. [Are the two of you at the meeting location?]

  Alcides responded, saying. [It’s a bar you don’t need to make it sound so exotic.]

  [Yes, we’re at the location.] Ryota said.

  [Good, in a few minutes you’ll see a representative from the Okura Corporation who will join you and tell you about the mission. I’ll stay on the line with all of you so that you can all get the information about the mission.] RX explained what was about to happen.

  Alcides asked. [Can you give us any more information about who we are supposed to meet with?]

  [No.]

  [Really? That’s it?]

  Then he felt Ryota nudge him and point towards the door, and Alcides noticed a short, dark-skinned woman in a business suit. She looked around for a few seconds, clearly looking for somebody. Both Alcides and Ryota assumed she was the person they were to be meeting. Finally she locked eyes with Alcides and as both of them realized who each other was, they both scowled.

  She marched over to the booth the two were sitting at and Alcides said. “Well Camila, guess you’re the person we’re supposed to be meeting.”

  She ignored him and instead connected to the call they had going with RX and asked. [You couldn’t have gotten anybody else for this job?]

  To which RX responded. [You asked for reliability and this is what you get. Now if you want to do something else, you are free to. But don’t expect other fixers to take this mission.]

  Camila cursed and then sighed and sat down. Then RX finally explained the mission. [The mission is to rescue an Okura Corporation employee named Curro Takahiro. Your payment will be $80,000.]

  Alcides and Ryota were astounded because of how much money they were being offered to do this job and Ryota asked the smart question. [That much money makes it seem like it’s not as simple as you make it sound.]

  [You’d be right. I don’t actually know where Mr. Takahiro is. This job will require you three to investigate on your own to figure it out.]

  Alcides joined in asking. [What about the corporation? Won’t they help us?]

  [It’s a delicate situation. The short answer is that you can’t expect any help from them for the investigation. So tell me will the two of you take his job?]

  The pair shared a look and then they agreed to take the job and so RX quickly hung up on them. Leaving them sitting with Camila, who was supposed to explain the rest of the job to them. She first said. “Well Alcides, it seems like for once you’ll be able to finally do something that helps other people.”

  As he was about to respond, Ryota covered his mouth and instead asked. “So, can you tell us anything about what we’re supposed to be doing?”

  She then pulled out two datashards and handed it to both of them. After they slotted the shards in, she verbally described what they were seeing. “My boss Curro Takahiro got ambushed and kidnapped by some unknown group while he was on business around here. Naturally, quite a few people stand to benefit from his disappearance.”

  “Honestly, I would’ve expected you to try and snake your way into doing the same.” Alcides said.

  She replied. “Unlike you and unfortunately many of my colleagues, I know what loyalty is.”

  “Alright, so do you have any leads?” Ryota asked, bringing back on topic.

  Camila answered. “Yes, I have one promising lead. The issue is that it’s in the middle of a scavenger base.”

  Alcides laughed at that asking. “You really expect us to assault a scavenger base?”

  “Do I look stupid?” There was a brief second when nobody spoke, and she scoffed and continued. “I already have a plan to infiltrate it, but I need people to back me up and I can’t trust anybody at Okura, which unfortunately leaves the two of you as my only options.”

  Ryota asked. “So, when are we doing this?”

  “Later tonight, I’ll send you the location and time.”

  “Well, if that’s everything, let’s get out of here.” Alcides said to Ryota. With that, the two headed out and Camila sent them the location and the time.

  Afterwards, Ryota asked. “Did you have to be so hostile right off the bat?”

  “She started it.” Alcides retorted.

  “Yeah, but we’re also getting $80,000 for this job, so you can’t be that hostile towards her because of your guy’s past.”

  “Fine, I’ll be more calm.”

  Ryota fully didn’t believe him and Alcides knew it but they both knew that was the best they were going to get. So they again split up to get their equipment ready for the mission. Alcides went back to his apartment and got his usual equipment: his pistol and knife. He also stocked up on ammunition and bought a grenade. With that, he was ready for the mission and so he went to the meeting site that Camila had sent.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  As he made his way there, he noticed he was heading deeper into the industrial area of the Santiago district. Which made sense they were about to “infiltrate” a scavenger hideout. He didn’t know how she expected that to work out. Especially since he doubts scavs of all people would be open to talking to random people. Still, she was also paying a ton of money, so who was he to complain?

  Still, it was strange that she was back now. The two of them hadn’t parted on very good terms years ago when she started working for the Okura Corporation. Despite that, though, there was a small part of him that was happy to see her again, even though he was probably too hostile in retrospect. He wondered how the past few years had gone for her. He assumed well because she seemed to have the money to shell out for this job and from the datashard her boss that got kidnaped was somewhat high up in the corporation. So good for her.

  Finally, he made it to the location. It was an alleyway, and he saw that the other two were already there. They were both wearing all black clothing, and he saw Camila was wearing a netrunning suit. As soon as they saw him, Camila reached into her bag and pulled out three masks with digital images for faces.

  She explained. “We should be able to get in if we wear these masks.”

  “Where did you get these?” Ryota asked.

  “Let’s just say there are three less scavs in the world.”

  With that, they put on the masks. The masks were shockingly easy to see out of them, which you wouldn’t expect from their shape. Either way, Camila then explained her actual plan. “We’re going to get inside and search their prison and if we don’t find him there, I’ll get into their mainframe to see if they left any information on there. Hopefully, we’ll be in and out without having to fire a shot.”

  “Ok, but what if they figure us out?” Alcides asked.

  Camila shrugged and replied. “That’s your job, not mine.”

  He just stared at her, unimpressed for a second, before she ushered them towards the scavenger hideout. It was a short walk to the scavenger hideout and soon they came to a small rundown building nestled in between a couple of dilapidated factories and other buildings. Wasn’t a surprise that they set up there since it was an out of the way location that would be easy to hide in case the police came by. If they even cared enough to do so. As they walked up to the front door, Camila took the lead.

  At the door was a scavenger who asked. “Who the hell are you?”

  “We’re from Vistas’ group. We're here to talk to your boss,” Camila answered.

  “Really now.” The scavenger’s tone instantly put Ryota and Alcides on high alert as they reached for their weapons. Then the scavenger continued. “I would’ve thought that bastard would’ve known not to send more people after what he did to ours.”

  In a flash, the scavenger pulled out his gun, but the other two were prepared and shot him down before he got the chance to fire. Then they heard sirens echoing from inside the hideout and Alcides said. “Wow, brilliant plan Camila.”

  “Shut up! I didn’t know I’d accidentally start a civil war. Just follow me. We're going to do this the hard way.”

  The trio then pushed into the building, ready to fight the scavengers. As soon as they passed the doors, automatic gunfire erupted from above them as automated turrets and scavs fired down at them. Camila ducked down and found a socket which she connected to. Then, within thirty seconds, the turrets stopped firing and shut off. Alcides turned to look at Camila, who gave a smug smirk in return. With the brief lull in the shooting, Alcides and Ryota popped up and fired back at the confused scavs. As the scavengers were confused and looking at their now deactivated turrets, they were easy pickings, and Alcides and Ryota cut them down.

  As the first group of scavs fell, the trio then proceeded to move further into the building. Surrounding them was the old metal of old machinery and pipes which no longer functioned. And as they scoured the first floor, they found more and more evidence of the cruelty of the scavengers. Dried blood lay splattered along the wall as if they hadn’t even bothered to clean it up. In one room, they found a body gutted, missing their organs and cyberware. Camila scanned the body and saw it was just a random person, so they moved on.

  Eventually they found their way to an office, and after Camila disabled another turret, they entered. Inside, one scavenger stood and as Ryota and Alcides raised their pistols, they felt a jolt of electricity run through their weapons, causing them to jam. Ryota then dropped his pistol and drew his katana, cutting down the scavenger. With him dealt with Camila moved towards the terminal behind him and started hacking into it. While she did that, both Ryota and Alcides fixed their pistols.

  “Alright, I have to building’s layout. You two head to the prison and I’ll stay here and keep watch over things.”

  “How’ll you defend yourself?” Alcides asked. In response, the turret outside the room burst to life and did a little dance with the barrel. “Fair enough.” He then conceded.

  With that, they split up with Alcides and Ryota, heading for the basement level while Camila stayed in the office with her turrets for protection. As the pair headed down the stairs, they heard voices from downstairs and saw a small group of scavengers huddled up, prepared for their attack. Alcides, remembering that he had a grenade, pulled it out and tossed it towards the group of scavengers. Right after the grenade exploded, the two of them burst out of cover and fired at any scavengers still standing.

  As soon as there were no more scavengers still standing, they walked over to the scavengers on the ground and shot each of them just to be safe since you never knew if one would shoot you in the back. They then proceeded down the narrow corridors and their footsteps echoed in the eerie silence. Along the walls of the hallway, at several intervals, sat automated turrets shut down by Camila. As they moved forward, they heard a yell, and a scavenger tackled Alcides as others leaped out of the darkness and began firing at Ryota.

  The scavenger raised a cleaver as Alcides struggled for his knife. Then a burst of gunfire from a nearby turret bisected the scavenger. Other turrets then opened up, wiping out the ambushing scavengers. [Thanks.] Alcides said as he opened a holocall to Camila.

  [You’re welcome.] She responded.

  With that dealt with, the pair continued down the hallway. Finally, they reached the end of the hallway and found themselves in a place that would’ve looked like a hospital if it wasn’t for the several bodies lying gutted on tables. Alcides gagged slightly at the sight and smell but with Ryota he quickly scanned the various bodies and again found that they were random innocent people. A tragedy, but not what he was being paid to look for.

  So they checked the rooms labelled as the prison in the layout they had found. However, they didn’t find anybody in those which they said to Camila. They agreed to meet back up at the office she was at in order to discuss what to do next. So they backtracked across the hideout, as they headed back to the office.

  When they went back in, they saw Camila sitting at the desk still jacked into the terminal, but as soon as they entered, she jacked out and turned to face them. She then explained their next moves. “Alright, so while you two were downstairs, I found some of their communications and it looks like they took him to one hideout in the richer part of the district.”

  “So we’re going there next?” Alcides asked.

  She responded. “Not right away. I need to get more information about the location.”

  “Alright then, just tell us when you’ll be ready and we’ll be there.” Ryota said.

  Then Alcides added. “Oh… by the way, I wanted to thank you for helping us when we got ambushed.”

  For a second Camila just looked at him, unsure if he was being genuine, before her cheeks turned red as she responded. “Yeah, of course… just doing what I was supposed to.”

  With that, they all left and went their own ways as everybody went off to do their own jobs. Which meant that both Ryota and Alcides went back to their homes while Camila went to investigate. Still, in the meantime, nothing much happened as Alcides couldn’t do another job since Camila could tell them to be ready at any time, so instead he stayed home and relaxed. Until the next day, when he got a message from Deep Blue, the singer he saved a few days ago, asking to meet with him about something.