System Break

The truck drove like a drunken sailor and came to a sudden halt which sent us both lurching towards the cabin. 

Jake grimaced and pulled out his tablet and after a few taps he said, "Gate's opening." And the truck lurched forward again. 

He looked at me with a serious frown. "When I said she was good at what she does, I should have put a caveat on vehicular handling. Mind you, she's great if you're trying to get away. The AIs can't predict what she'll do next."

I chuckled and we came to a halt.

The back door of the truck opened, and Rui waved. "Hey, where is it?"

"Patience." Jake said and checked his tablet. 

We were outside of a garage and its door began to open. A familiar pod was being carried by a flatbed robot hauler.

"The best thing about rich people Ben is they have fully automated homes. I can rob them using their own robots." 

We pressed against the side as the pod slide into the back of the truck. I checked the glass panel. "It's empty."

Jake chuckled. "Ah yes. He died in game and we'll go pick him up now."

"But if he died in game, there won't be a body for him. He won't be able to reset."

Jake shook his head. "Ben, Ben do you have no faith in me? He's one of the Chancellors pawns. He has a body on the way. In a few hours in fact. All we need to do is pick him up and I can complete the heist. The first Qi World character heist in history. Do you think I'll get a Wikipedia entry for that?"

"You've got to be joking." I stared at him and he smiled. I felt like an idiot - he was joking.

The truck started up and we needed no other warning. We held on for dear life.

From a beautiful mansion with marble columns and manicured lawns to a street which looked like a rundown Neo Tokyo. Neon signs, almost naked dancing girls projected onto building walls and the people looked like junkies, prostitutes, or gang members.

They were covered with piercings, tattoos, and cybernetics. Rui was not alone; mini skirts were back in and I thought I must have been in hibernation for a decade. It was open carry on steroids, most people walked around casually with weapons from pistols to katanas. 

Jake hopped out and nodded at me. "Come on, you can carry him. You're slow, but strong as an ox."

I nodded. "Sure." And I followed him up a staircase and down a narrow corridor. The walls were covered in graffiti and the place was ghetto quality. It didn't look like the sort of place a rich kid would hang out.

He plugged his cyberdeck into his arm and hacked the door to the apartment at the end of the corridor while Rui kept watch with her pistol drawn. I stood between them feeling like the amateur in this scenario. In the eight years since my accident the world had moved on and left me behind. I felt like someone who had just got out of jail after smart phones came out.

I heard a muffled voice.

"Sir, I've come to collect you. Your father is rather displeased," Jake said. 

"What," came the distorted reply.

"Miss. Take this. You've seen nothing and know nothing. If word of junior being here gets out your life will be in danger."

She cried. "Leave me out of your corpo bullshit."

"I'd have it no other way Ma'am. Come on Sir. Walk it off." Jake said and sounded very convincing as a corpo henchman. The woman didn't even question how he opened the door.

Rui looked at Jake and he shook his head. Fuck, she just asked if he wanted the woman offed and fortunately he said no.

We walked down the corridor and I carried junior. He was coming down from a high. He wasn't coherent at all.

"What's he on?" I asked.

"Does it matter? Get him in the truck."

We climbed in and this time I had to hold on to junior, squeeze my large exo frame between a pod and the side of the truck and hold on for dear life as the worst driver in Wichita got us back to the warehouse.

"Glad you didn't kill her," I said.

"Less is more," he replied. "I rely on self interest and it's in her self interest to say nothing. A dead body would say more than her live one will."

I peered at him. It wasn't his ethics that prevented him from offing her. "Are you some type of operative? Like a spy gone rogue?"

He peered back at me. "I like you Ben. I've told you more than any asset. And I'll be honest with you, you're an asset. We're not partners or friends."

I sighed. "I get it." If I became a liability he'd have no qualms trying to kill me. Good luck to him if it came to that.

We arrived back at the warehouse and began to unload. Jake's checked his tablet and turned to Rui. "Where did you send the robot wheelchair?"

"Venezuela, your favourite socialist shithole country."

He sighed. "I hate Venezuela, Norway is my favourite."

She laughed.

He peered at her. "It's been picked up by customs." He smiled. "It's actually a good choice. Venezuela won't cooperate with Huan Industries. Well not immediately, I guess you can bribe anyone if you have enough money."

He put his tablet aside and pulled out his cyberdeck.  He pointed. "Put him in that chair." The chair was like a dentist chair except it was outfitted with a ton of electronic equipment. Screens, wires, boards, plugs, and drills were hanging from both sides. 

"Restraints," he said.

Juniors ankles, wrists, waist and neck were strapped down. He wasn't going anywhere.

Jake said. "I've got a file for you to read, but you have to question him about in game stuff. Like where's his room, rank and whatever shit goes on in there. Who's his best friend and who hates him."

He pulled out a needle and it filled it with serum. "I'll wake him. Can you handle it if he's not compliant?"

"Sure," I said. I didn't like torture but coercion through intimidation was my specialty.

Jake stuck the large needle in his neck then attached a cord to his cybernetic implant. "If you need to encourage him we can use his implant. Just press the red square on the screen, the longer you hold it the more encouragement he receives."

I peered at the screen in question. The red square on the touchscreen had a white font label, "Pain." 

Junior was groggy as hell at first but as I questioned him he woke up slowly and grew more fearful the more lucid he became. "Answer the question," I growled. "The better your answers the quicker this is over, and you can go."

Jake paced and let me gather the information I needed. There was one thing I was glad about, although his was a simp he was a smart mouthed prick. I'd hate to have to try an act like a pure beta in the Red Queens guild.

I nodded to Jake. "Got what you need?"

"Yeah."

"Okay now you have to kill him."

I sighed. I guessed this may be the case. Jake wanted to see my commitment and he wanted Junior out of the picture, permanently. 

"No!" he screamed. "You promised."

"Can I have a gun?" I asked.

"Too noisy," Jake said. He offered no solution. No needle filled with an overdose. No weapon. There was a drill on the chair, or I could simply…

I placed my mechanically powered hand on his throat and began to squeeze. The exo was strong and soon his screaming stopped as I crushed his windpipe. When his larynx filled with blood he began to drown in it - which would be quicker than strangling him to death.

I did not enjoy killing him. But it didn't faze me either. I turned and Rui was staring at me and Jake was smiling. "Welcome to the cause," he said.

"Don't give me that shit. I ain't joining your crusade. It's like you said – we both have common goals."

Jake nodded. "Very well - I love your honesty at least."

"I passed your test?"

Jake didn't answer he handed me a tablet. "Read up on his personality traits and his real life dossier."

"I think I got his persona down but okay."

I took the tablet and began to read about the man I just killed.