Never Fade Away: We Had To Pay The Cost (ch. 19) (Patreon)

Predictably, the Tyger Claws were pretty pissed about their leadership getting zeroed like a bunch of chumps. They swarmed the building, flooded the streets, tearing through Night City in search of them. Jack leaned back in a chair while she listened to the radio, watching Becca swing around the blade she got from Miyamoto Musashi while making 'wahh' sounds. The two of them were safe back at Kiwi’s apartment and the security systems were activated.

"Word of warning Night City - stay off the streets! They are hot, hot, hot! Word is someone hit the Tyger Claws real hard and the edgerunners who did the deed better hope they don't get taken alive, if you hear me," the man on the radio stated, giving updates every fifteen minutes, trying to spread the word. Night City was big enough that it wasn't shutting down because of the warning, but there was a huge tick down in foot traffic, and most of the people out and about were Tyger Claws.

Jack smiled to herself -- the chucklefucks could look all they wanted, but they wouldn't be found. They wouldn't accomplish a damn thing beyond chasing their own tails. It wasn't quite what she wanted, but this was good in its own way. At least until the next part of the plan kicked into gear. To that end, she glanced at the two bound, gagged, and unconscious men that were kneeling next to the tub that contained Lucy and Kiwi. Both of them were hacked into their heads to klep their access to the Tyger Claw data castle.

It must have been Lucy who got through first because her eyes fluttered for a moment before opening, returning from the Net and jacking out. Water dropped from her pimpled flesh as she rose from the tub, catching a towel that Becca threw at her before reattaching the cover for her deep dive port on the back of her head. "I have good news and bad news," Lucy started, looking at Jack, who sat forward far enough that all four legs of her chair touched the ground. "Good news is that we have the data to get into the castle. Tyger Claw leadership was paranoid enough that they didn't want to take the risk of a failsafe when it could be used to lock them out."

So, they had the keys to the castle? Good. Becca struck a samurai pose with her sword -- looking dumb as all hell with her oversized arms that the hilt barely fit in one palm -- and asked the pointed question. "And the bad?"

"We got in and out too clean. They don't know who hit them, so they're making assumptions," Lucy began, making Jack's stomach start doing somersaults. "None of the gangs have done something like this before, so they're assuming…"

"L did it?" Becca questioned, her face twisting into a frown. "Did we just fuck over L? Wait, Jack, is he still in his garage?"

"He is," Lucy answered and Jack's heart lowered from her throat from where it leapt. "I sent him a message that the Tyger Claws were gunning for him. And no, we didn't fuck over L. We just need to get to the castle and dump some chum into the waters for the other gangs to start taking bites. They're prioritizing him now because they don't have any other priorities at the moment."

"Then let's hit the data castle," Jack decided with no hesitation. L had been tinkering for a week now -- fucking with the shrinking stuff. By now, she had a handle on how he divided up his time -- he'd spend a few weeks on a project, obsessing over it to the point he skipped meals and sleep, then he'd spend a few weeks doing gigs. And they were dangerously close to L asking Regina for the next batch of gigs. Jack glowered at Lucy when her lips thinned. "Fucking what?"

"We're going to need a little more firepower to hit the castle. We know where it is and how to get in it, but actually getting in it is going to be an issue. They know we took two of their leaders, and they're assuming we want in," Lucy said, making a flicking gesture before the detes reached her. The Tyger Claw base was in the sewers. Fitting for a bunch of fucking rats. "They don't have an easy way to cut our access, so they're bringing out the big guns. We'll be hitting an extremely fortified position."

Lucy's tone told Jack that was bad, but she found that she didn't care. One guard or a hundred -- it didn't matter. The only thing that changed was the number of corpses she had to make. "So?"

"So, that many bodies are going to attract attention. People are going to look into this. People like Arasaka and Militech because they'll want to know how we got through. You haven't exactly been subtle with your biotics, Jack. This is going to lead them right to you. It'll show them that you're still in the city and both of them want you. Badly," Lucy stressed with a pointed look. She saw exactly what she thought of that, so Lucy followed it up with, "L risked everything to get you out of the Orphanages and Militech's hands. Not just his life, but the lives of everyone in his Orphanage. Are you going to throw that away because you can't be patient?"

Jack bristled, her lips pulling back into a snarl as purple energy. This bitch. It certainly didn't help things that instead of being intimidated, like all the other Subjects were when she was pissed, Lucy just held her gaze coolly. Jack knew herself. She knew that she would have taken a swing if it wasn't for Becca stepping in. "How long do you think it would take to crack it?" Becca questioned, shouldering her katana.

"Depends. We'll need to bring David into this. And it'd be best to bring L in too. With them, Jack won't need to rely on her biotics and her presence won't stand out. Between Kiwi and I, we should be able to crack it within a few minutes. But that's enough time for reinforcements to show up. Getting out is going to be more dangerous than getting in," Lucy continued, her gaze sliding to Jack. "I'll call David. You call L and tell him to bring out the big guns."

"Woohoo!" Becca exclaimed, throwing her arms up in excitement.

Jack scowled but nodded all the same. Bringing up L's number, she gave him a ring. As soon L picked up, Jack heard the sounds of gunfire. "Hey Jack, what's up?" L asked, his tone casual despite the sounds of an all out war echoing in Jack's ears. Her eyes widened and she just about jumped out of her skin.

"L! Where are you?!" She demanded to know, earning the attention of the others.

"I was hungry for some pizza. Would you want one when you're done with whatever you're doing?" He continued, not answering her question. There was a loud explosion before things suddenly quoted down. "I'm getting Little Mac's."

This fucking idiot. How could someone be so smart and so unfathomably fucking stupid at the same God damn time?! "You- no! I don't want a fucking pizza! L, you gotta head home. The Tyger Claws are out to get you."

"Really? Why?" L sounded genuinely surprised and Jack saw Becca facepalming so hard she probably gave herself a nosebleed.

"Because they think you attacked their leadership!"

"... Did I?" He asked, sounding like he didn't have a clue as Jack heard the tell tale signs of him looting like a goblin. The absolute confusion in his voice brought Jack up short.

"L, they practically shut down the city to flatline you. Are you fucking telling me that you didn't notice?" Jack demanded to know, feeling pissed off. She was worried about this idiot. And when L didn't answer for a long minute, Jack had her answer. "YOU- How could you not notice that one of the biggest gangs in the city was out for your blood?!"

"I did notice that there wasn't that much traffic," L defended, sounding put out. "Well, it's fine. Actually, it's perfect. They're practically delivering me loot. Oh, and I have something for Lucy and Kiwi. I made a pair of Cyberdecks for them," L tried to steer the conversation away from how staggeringly oblivious he was. Jack dragged a hand down her face, ignoring how Becca broke down into giggles. When she got her hands on him, Jack was going to wring his neck! How dare he fucking make her concerned about him and enjoy what she was concerned about!

"Fine. Fine! I'm dropping a bead on our location. Lucy says get the big guns out because we're going to be hitting the Tyger Claw data castle," Jack sighed, absolutely done with L. She just closed her eyes in annoyance when she heard a distant explosion coming through his speaker.

"Alright," L agreed, calm as ever. "I'll be over in fifteen-" another explosion and more gunfire. "Twenty minutes. See ya'." With that, L ended the call and Jack forced herself to take a calming breath.

Becca's giggles descending into full blown laughter wasn't helping things.

…

L stank of blood and smoke, but when Lucy saw him walk down the steps, he seemed unbothered. The first thing that she noticed were his bloodshot eyes that had dark bags underneath them, his black hair grew out completely unstyled and growing into a shaggy mess. His clothing was something anyone with a hint of fashion sense wouldn't be caught dead wearing -- ratty tennis shoes, camo cargo shorts, a graphic t-shirt underneath a dark red bomber jacket. He stuck out like a sore thumb, and that was without being weighed down by a small arsenal of guns.

"Hey," he greeted them, a yawn in his voice. "I got something for you," L told her, reaching into his shorts to pull out a small case just big enough to store a cyberdeck. "I tested it out myself and I uploaded some soft onto it already, but you can customize it however you want." He informed her, offering a tired smile as she took the case and popped it open.

The cyberdeck was spartan and utilitarian, little more than a gray stick. "The specs?" She questioned, feeling her heart pick up.

"A thousand exabytes worth of storage, about a million RAM, and enough processing power to take advantage of both," L answered, earning a very slow blink from Lucy as she looked down at the small stick that contained the equivalent toall of Arasaka's servers combined -- as much processing power as a multinational megacorp that had massive data castles, which would make the one that were about to breach look more like a grain of sand. Forget skimming off of the top for info. This stick could download all of the info on the Tyger Claw servers with enough room to do it a couple of thousand times.

Becca pouted while Lucy tried to wrap her head around what she was holding in her hands because it wasn't quite clicking. This cyberdeck, the one that fit in her palm, was the equivalent to a skyscrapers worth of servers and processing power. It was so extremely excessive that Lucy didn't even know the word to describe how no one in their right mind could ever need a fraction of that storage on a cyberdeck unless they were a megacorp in and of themselves. "How come I didn't get nuthin'?" Becca pouted, earning a slight smile from L.

"Your equipment is incoming. I left the printers going -- by the time we're done with this mess, I'll have some preem implants and augments for everyone," he informed, his gaze flickering to Jack, who was pointedly ignoring him. Lucy swallowed a smile -- Jack was surprisingly cute for how foul her attitude and mouth were.

Lucy didn't miss how David perked up at the mention of implants. "You used PYM particles on them? You're sure that they're safe?" Lucy questioned, earning a nod from L.

"Yeah, I went through the safety checks. The only way they could be reverted to their original size would be to expose them to more PYM particles, but the protective sealing makes that impossible," L explained. "Since I can shrink the internals, it's more about filling up the case, more or less."

Terrifying.

If Lucy had to use a single word to describe L, then it was terrifying. L was a killer through and through at this point. He killed as easily as breathing. But that wasn't why he was so terrifying. His recycling technology was just the start -- something fascinating, but nothing dangerous in itself. The GN Drive? Interesting, but still little more than an alternative energy source that arguably had more problems than most. However, when you combined the two with PYM particles -- the ability to control mass?

Revolutionary. It was technology that could change everything. She was holding proof of it in her hands.

And it made L absolutely terrifying.

"It's probably best we don't swap out our chrome before a major job," David decided, glancing at her. He was trying to hide it, but Lucy saw the eagerness in his eyes. The need. David was more metal than flesh at this point, and there were only traces of the boy that she fell in love with. Lucy was getting worried that he wouldn't stop until he was as chromed up as Adam Smasher. She thought things might change a bit -- his ripper was killed, and things were better between them. More open. The secret that put a wall between them wasn't there anymore.

But David was still trying to chrome up at a terrifying rate.

"Fair enough. I already got my spelldeck swapped, so you can see it in action," L offered.

To that, David chuckled and threw an arm over L's shoulder, leading all of them upstairs. "Suppose we will," David agreed, the two boys missing the small smile tugging at Lucy's lips. David was less a mentor and more of an older brother to L from what she saw, though David was doing his damnedest to act like Maine. Without already realizing he was better.

It was a terrifying thing, Lucy thought, the edge of her smile taken off as they headed upstairs. To see the past repeating itself. Because David was walking down the same path that led to Maine's destruction… was this how Dorio felt?

"The Skeleton Key," Kiwi remarked as they loaded up into L's Zeta. There wasn't enough room up front, so while L and Falco got up front, the rest of them were in the trunk -- which was filled with guns, grenades, and weapons galore. Becca was like a child in a candy shop. But, underneath the weapons was a thick layer of dried blood. The Zeta itself was sporting signs of damage. When Lucy glanced at her, the car moving, Kiwi continued. "The cyberdeck he just made? It's for the Skeleton Key. The biggest thing holding it back was processing power. Megacorps would be the only ones that could have hoped to use it to its full potential."

And now L had shoved a megacorps worth of servers and processing power into a single stick. "On top of everything else, you two created the mother of all ICE breakers?" Lucy sighed, a headache forming.

"Looks like it," Kiwi agreed, taking out a smoke and lighting it. She offered one to Lucy, and lit it for her. Lucy breathed deeply, feeling the edge taken off of her nerves. "We'll have to be careful with it. The three of us can be the only ones that use it."

Lucy agreed wholeheartedly, "Or we'd find it used on us. I'll start prepping some Black ICE," Lucy decided, earning an agreeing nod from Kiwi. While she hadn't learned much from Kiwi about Netrunning, Lucy learned a great deal about how to survive in Night City from her. The most important lesson of all was how to protect what was important to you. What you couldn't afford to lose. "We-"

The sound of gunfire cut her off, bullets bouncing off the back of the Zeta. Lucy responded instantly, sending out a ping and getting a bounce back from a car that was whipping around directly behind them. "I got it!" Becca called out, a manic smile on her face as she lowered the back of the Zeta, revealing a car filled with Tyger Claws. Lucy saw fear on the driver's face before Becca ripped him to shreds with an oversized heavy machine gun that tore through the car and all the people inside of it. Over the sound of gunfire, Lucy could just barely hear the sound of her laughter.

What was left of them drifted out of the lane and exploded on impact against the rail guard. L had better be careful, or Becca was going to end up falling for him.

"We're nearing the location," David informed them. "Let's link up," he added, including everyone in a group call. They all went through their tests and Lucy made her own preparations. She was eager to see what the cyberdeck was capable of in L's hands. When the Zeta came to a stop, she reached out with Ping, finding the systems underneath their feet while they got out to kick down the front door.

The Tyger Claw HQ was less of a base and more of a private gambling den, Lucy decided. Only it had been turned into a fortress in preparation for their arrival. More than a hundred Tyger Claws, dozens of turrets and autocannons, remote triggered explosives, and so on and so on. By any logic, attacking the HQ was a death sentence.

But, their little band of mercenaries didn't particularly care about logic.

Lucy's stomach clenched when she saw the Skeleton Key in action. L was walking to the front entrance -- a sewer tunnel that opened up to the ocean and a beach covered in trash bags. He didn't miss a step, he didn't slow down, or hesitate as the Tyger Claw's soft and security were ripped to pieces. No- that wasn't right. That implied a savagery to what was done to the Tyger Claws. It was the exact opposite -- it was precise. Incredibly so.

It encountered ICE and it punched through it like a needle. Only the needle was going at mach speeds. The hacking was so fast that Lucy would have thought that L had full access if she didn't already know that he didn't. The doors just swung open for him, all but rolling out the red carpet, as if he owned the equipment himself. He gave her and Kiwi access in his wake, letting Lucy see what came next. Though, she would have known anyway.

The sounds of muffled and distant gunfire reached her as the turrets turned on the Tyger Claws. One moment, they were laughing, boasting that they were going to kill whoever approached. Then the next, the turrets shifted and turned upon the Tyger Claws, opening fire and cutting them down. The screaming began as the Tyger Claw netrunners, the ones that were supposed to be protecting the subnet, spasmed and thrashed in place before going still. They couldn't have stopped the Skeleton Key even in the Net. That was…

The turrets couldn't kill everyone, but no one was spared. Lucy watched as grenades exploded in people's hands or on their belts. Men and women with prosthetic arms screaming as control over their limbs was stolen from them, forcing them to put a gun to their heads and nearly unanimously, they pulled the triggers.

Then the gunfire stopped.

L reached the door first, it slid open for him like it was natural, the stench of death hitting the rest of them like a wall.

They were all dead. Their security and soldiers. All dead before L even reached the door.

"L, I like ya'... But holy shit, you are scary," Becca confessed as they entered the HQ, surrounded by the aftermath. L looked a little put out.

"I am?" He questioned, sounding like he genuinely had absolutely no idea. "Sorry?" He offered, scratching at his cheek as he looked over his handiwork with an indifferent expression. The gambling den was a mess of flashing lights and music thumping, telling Lucy that the Tyger Claws hadn't really been expecting a fight. In almost a mockery, their bodies were thrown over card tables or pachinko machines, bleeding out and covering the flashing lights in a film of red.

"Let's focus -- Lucy, crack open the data castle. Let's get ready for reinforcements to show up. Becca, you're covering the door. Kiwi -- you're with Falco. L and I will rig up a surprise," David decided, issuing orders as easily as breathing. It was one of the first times that Lucy really saw it. Since Maine's death, Lucy stopped doing jobs. She knew that David had grown into Maine's shoes, but it was the first time she really saw it herself.

"And me?" Jack spoke up, narrowing her eyes at David. Challengingly.

"You're with Lucy," he told her in no uncertain terms, making Jack scowl as she looked away. Her biotics were too identifiable. She had already used them too liberally in a city determined to hunt her down. Having her join the front lines was asking for Arasaka or Militech to swoop in and recover their lost 'asset.' Assets.

Lucy nodded and headed towards the data castle with Jack following behind her with no small amount of reluctance. They passed by the carnage that L had wrought, the Tyger Claws planned defenses amounting to less than nothing as most of them were killed by their own gun turrets from behind. The doors slid open for her, allowing her deeper into the base and she felt a chill in the air, letting her know that she was close even before the last door slid open. The Tyger Claw data castle ran off of water collant -- there was a pool of the stuff that the tall servers were located at the heart of, the coolant pumped throughout it to keep it all an even temp.

"You're gonna jack in?" Jack questioned as Lucy took out her clothing for the jump. She couldn't wear a netsuit. Too many memories. Instead, she had a coat that was lined with ice that would keep her body cool as she dove deep into the net.

"Faster that way," Lucy answered, grabbing hold of the input after ripping off the cover and her deep dive port. Jack seemed faintly interested, but if Lucy had to guess, it was because there was nothing else of interest in the room. "I won't be out long. Cover me until then?" She requested, earning a serious nod from Jack as she stood guard. Smiling slightly to herself, Lucy jacked into the data castle and felt herself falling into the Net.

The Net changed depending on where you were. It was the structure of the castle itself and how the mind interpreted the data that was being fed into it. Which was how Lucy found herself standing in what seemed to be a Japanese villa -- only as if it had been painted by an abstract artist. The sky was a non-existent white, the walls around the villa were twisted and curved in on themselves, while the villa itself was folded in on itself like a piece of origami.

Taking a step forward, a path materialized under her feet, letting her walk to the villa without having to create her own path.

Moving in the Net was as much about hacking as it was physically moving your body. In a hostile net, something as simple as moving a hand or taking a step could be interpreted as delving deeper past the ICE. But, thanks to the access she stole, Lucy had near unrestrained access to the data castle. Which was why when she took a step, she materialized inside of the villa, standing before a long hallway that was lined with open doors. Looking down, the floor gave away as the wood planks peeled back, revealing a spiraling staircase that would take her deeper into the Net.

Lucy allowed herself to fall, shooting past the upper levels of the data castle and deep into where the highly encrypted information was at. Landing lightly at the very bottom, Lucy found herself faced by a half dozen doors. Only one was occupied. Reaching out with a hand, Lucy drew forth the information contained behind the doors and objects flew at her -- a teapot, a katana, a painting and so on.

Touching them gave Lucy access to what the objects represented -- information. It was all there. Every illegal and illicit dealing. Money trails and finances. Lists of names of people on the take, who was being blackmailed, and with what. Evidence of murders and dirty dealings. Backroom deals and more. All of it flowed into her hands and they flagging script she wrote copied or downloaded everything that she told it to.

However, Lucy found her gaze landing on the single locked door. As the script worked, Lucy approached the door. A trap? She should have unrestrained access to the data castle. So, it could have been placed here to tempt nosey netrunners. Pursing her lips, Lucy brought up her copy of the Skeleton Key -- her arm becoming covered in golden rings that were marked with tens of thousands of lines of code. Placing her hand against the door, the golden rings fed into it…

"Terrifying," Lucy echoed, watching as the skeleton key entered the door and ruthlessly chewed through the encryptions. The door dissolved into countless shards of light, opening before her and letting her stand in a small room. A rock that glowed with white energy sat on a pedestal. Lucy approached and took it into her hand and-

Human trafficking. Lucy saw it all around her as dozens -- hundreds -- of files appeared all around her. It was then her gaze landed on a familiar list of names. Night City's Homes of Wayward Orphans. Both of them. Lucy's breath caught in her throat as she examined the file, the data flowing into her mind as much as she was reading it.

"Oh… L…" Lucy breathed, reading between the lines. He tried so very hard. He was giving it his absolute all… but saving Jack had tipped the scales.

The Orphanages managed to operate due to being considered safe and neutral. L's escape, murdering the doctors, then breaking Jack out of the convoy? All of it proved that the Orphanages weren't what they advertised. It was for that reason that the mega corporations were pulling out of the Orphanages. Buying the 'long term projects' from the Orphanages and ordering the disposal of the rest.

The Orphanages were going out of business and they were selling off their product to try to recoup their losses.

L had run out of time.