Chapter 30: Arasaka Data Fort

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Lucy and Alt tackle the Data Fort together~

-x-X-x-

In the end, Lucy is forced to admit that Alt is right. Twice over. She’s right that the Rebecca she’s talking about isn’t Lucy’s Rebecca… for as much as there was ever a ‘Lucy’s Rebecca’. But she’s also right that Lucy didn’t come back to Night City just to lie low and seemingly hide out under Arasaka’s noses. No, she wanted revenge, plain and simple.

Revenge against Arasaka? Sure… but more than that, Lucy wanted revenge against Adam Smasher. Arasaka was… well, they sucked, but they were akin to a Force of Nature. Did you hate the ocean tide for going in and out? Did you despise the clouds for pouring rain and lightning down on your head?

No, you just hunkered down and tried to survive the storm. And sometimes that meant surviving a hurricane or a tsunami instead. But Smasher… Smasher was a man. A grotesque cyborg, a professional killer, and a living legend… but still just a man. It was Smasher who killed Rebecca and David. They would have gotten away from Arasaka, if it wasn’t for that bastard.

Lucy wanted to get back at Arasaka, but more than anything…

“… You’ll help me kill Smasher?”

Alt smirks at that question.

“His days are already numbered. With or without you, I suspect we’ll be killing him on the way to accomplishing our ultimate goals.”

Such surety. Such confidence. Lucy wants to call it arrogance, but what does she know? Alt Cunningham is just as old as Smasher, and just as much a legend in a lot of ways. So maybe…

“Prove it.”

When Alt lifts an eyebrow in response, Lucy gestures to the Data Fort the AI stopped her from infiltrating.

“Help me with this Data Fortress. I need eyes on the inside of Arasaka’s operations if I’m going to make anything happen. Help me achieve my goals… and I’ll help you with your little Frankenstein Project.”

It was hard to call the thing they were talking about Rebecca. Hard to attribute that name to it. But it was even harder for Lucy to let go of her anger and rage. She wanted revenge and she was willing to do anything she could to get it.

Alt looks over at the Arasaka Data Fort for a moment and hums.

“You know, I already have a few backdoors into Arasaka’s systems myself. I could let you piggyback off of them. No muss, no fuss… no further risk.”

Of course she did. Lucy is tempted… but only for a moment before shaking her head.

“No. I need to carve my own pathways. Help me and I’ll help you. That’s the deal.”

Foolhardy? Maybe. Stubborn? Undoubtedly. But Lucy didn’t want to be entirely reliant on another Netrunner’s work for something this important, even if that Netrunner was an AI… no, ESPECIALLY when that Netrunner was an Artificial Intelligence. She would accept Alt’s help in doing it herself, but she couldn’t allow herself to rely on the AI for everything. That would just be dumb.

“Hm… very well. I assume you already had a plan, yes? I’ll follow your lead and provide… support.”

Lucy does the digital equivalent of swallowing and nodding before turning her focus back to the Data Fort. The Arasaka Data Fortress seems to loom even larger than it did before now that she understands her own motivations better than she did before. This wasn’t about protecting herself. No, that little self-deception could be firmly set to the wayside. This was about hitting back at the bastards who took her happiness from her. Even if it killed her.

Still, like Alt had said, she did already have a plan… and it wasn’t anything too reckless or shortsighted. Moving forward, Lucy finds one of the cracks she’d scouted out a little while ago and checks to make sure it’s not been noticed or booby-trapped since she’d last cataloged it.

In the end, she’s able to slip through without issue, and a quick glance behind her shows Alt doing the same. From there, it’s a lot like infiltrating a heavily secured, incredibly well-defended compound in real life. Except the security are daemons instead of people, and daemons come in all shapes and sizes. Especially Arasaka’s personalized, specialized security daemons.

Some look like Arasaka Cyber-Ninjas. Others look like demonic versions of Adam Smasher, big hulking Oni who lumber through the digital halls of the Data Fortress with their heads on a swivel and gleaming red eyes shining out. Still more look completely inhuman and prowl along on all fours, treating every surface of the Data Fort like it’s walkable… because to be fair, it is.

Honestly, in a lot of ways, it’s not like infiltrating any place in real life, even a heavily secured compound. That’s actually a common mistake a lot of green Netrunners run into. They visualize a space on the Net as though it’s the real world and operate within it as though they’re a real person walking through it.

Needless to say, Lucy is a bit beyond ‘green’ at this point. And she’s a bit beyond making mistakes like that as well. Rather than follow the ‘corridors’ in the Arasaka Data Fortress, Lucy finds gaps and holes that allow her to pass through ‘walls’ unnoticed. All the while, her new ‘ally’ follows right behind her, silent as a mouse and easily twice as stealthy as Lucy herself.

This AI version of Alt Cunningham is no mouse though. As becomes immediately obvious when Lucy finally slips up. It’s a dumb mistake that nearly does her in. A single misstep that causes her to nearly run smack dab into one of the Oni patrolling the halls. Even then, even as those red eyes lock onto her, Lucy could have done half a dozen things that would have let her escape or even silenced the daemon so it couldn’t send out the alert.

… She doesn’t, because of the aforementioned similarity to Adam Smasher. It causes her to freeze up for crucial moments, long enough for the Oni to throw back its head and let out a digitized roar.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▄▄▅▅▅▃▃▅▅▅▃▃!!!"

Lucy knows, logically, that she’s not in the real world. But the screech is so loud that she can’t help putting her hands over her metaphorical ears, squeezing her eyes shut. Even still, she can feel the daemon lumbering towards her and knows she has only seconds to react. Only… before she can do anything, the hall goes silent. The Oni’s presence vanishes.

Opening her digital eyes, Lucy looks and sees the fragments of code floating away into the Net, already dispersing from where the Oni was effortlessly and efficiently torn to shreds in a single instant. Not by anything Lucy had brought to bear… but by the AI at her back. Lucy looks to see Alt holding up a hand, only for the blonde to glance at her and raise an amused eyebrow.

Feeling pure embarrassment at being caught so flat-footed and knowing full well that that would have been her end if she’d been alone, Lucy quickly finds her voice.

“C-C’mon on… they’ll know we’re here now. The time for subterfuge is over.”

But before she can burst into action, Alt cuts her off.

“Not quite.”

Lucy almost asks what she means, only to finally notice it… the bubble. The Netrunner’s eyes widen in disbelief as she realizes that the Oni’s roar didn’t go anywhere because Alt didn’t let it go anywhere. They’re completely isolated in this area right now, a bubble of containment surrounding them. It’s something Lucy herself probably could have done… but not in the depths of a hostile Data Fortress. The very atmosphere itself in a heavily secured part of the net like this Arasaka Data Fort would make it impossible. SHOULD make it impossible.

“Shall we?”

Ratcheting up her threat assessment of Alt yet another couple levels in her head, Lucy swallows hard and slowly nods before continuing to lead the way. To be fair, she’d already put the AI pretty fucking high in that regard. But only now was she starting to truly believe Alt’s boasting about ending Smasher. Only now was she starting to really put the blonde on the same level as that monster.

They don’t encounter any further issues on the way to their ultimate destination either. That one annihilated Oni is the only thing that comes close to catching them. Suddenly, they’re where they need to be… the inner most sanctum of the Arasaka Data Fortress.

In all fairness… this isn’t the mega-corp’s main Data Fortress. It isn’t even a secondary. This is a tertiary Data Fortress on the outskirts of the ‘Data Palace’ that was Arasaka Tower’s Net. That’s what makes it perfect, because while security here is still tighter than ninety-nine percent of the rest of the Net, it’s not quite as tight as Arasaka Tower’s primary Data Fortress would be.

While Alt watches her back, Lucy uploads a specially tailored program to the Data Fortress’ main interface, letting out a metaphorical explosive breath when all works exactly as it should. She has access now, for the time being. She has eyes on the inside, just like she wanted. And she knows, as much as it pains her to admit it, that she never would have achieved this without the help of the AI at her back.

They don’t say a thing to one another as they exfiltrate back out of the Data Fortress. Just because the job is done doesn’t mean they’re safe, after all. You can’t just disconnect anywhere you want on the Net either, because that sort of thing leaves traces behind… and they definitely don’t want to leave traces of their presence behind in a damn Arasaka Data Fort.

Eventually though they’re back out again, no further incidents. The mission was a complete success. Lucy… doesn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, she’d accomplished her goal for the day. On the other hand…

“What exactly do you want me to do for you in regard to… Rebecca?”

Lucy grimaces, even as she says the name. It’s the name of a dead woman… but to be fair, Lucy herself has felt pretty dead since that day as well. Even making it to the Moon, even standing there basking in the Sun’s rays… it hadn’t really helped. Nothing had helped.

“As I told you before, she still has a long way to go. Getting her into a real body was a great first step, but there are pieces of her that will always be missing… unless they are replaced. That’s where you come in. You knew her rather well. So well, in fact, that your memories might help her in finding herself again.”

Her memories. Huh. Yeah, okay… she could kind of see it. Except…

“Rebecca and I didn’t always get along. Giving you my memories of her might give her some sort of complex or self-loathing.”

That gets a raised eyebrow from the AI.

“Did you loath her particularly deeply?”

No… no she didn’t. Lucy huffs and shakes her head.

“I said I’d help and I will. Some memories shouldn’t be too hard to put together. Just… don’t expect it to fix all of your problems.”

Smiling mysteriously, Alt just chuckles.

“Ah, if only we could find a way to do that. It would certainly be nice, wouldn’t it? Not to worry though… we’re not expecting miracles from you, Kushinada. Merely your assistance, given freely and without reservation.”

Lucy nods, only to pause when Alt rolls a hand.

“People will arrive to collect you from that basement you’re currently in shortly. Sit tight please.”

With that, the AI vanishes… leaving Lucy feeling very shaky. But then she really shouldn’t have been surprised that Alt knew exactly where she was in the real world either. Not after everything she just witnessed.

Grimacing, Lucy pulls back to a more secure part of the Net and gets to work to start assembling the memory package they want from her. It’s a little bit like setting up a braindance… but also not really at all. It’s not the kind of thing someone without netrunning experience could do, Lucy imagines. And even with netrunning experience, she only gets about ten percent of it done before she receives an alert that someone is requesting access to the basement.

Nice of them to request, rather than just coming in like she’s sure they could have.

Disconnecting herself from the Net, Lucy lifts herself out of the Netrunner’s Chair just as she sends a signal to let them in. Then, she takes in the appearance of the two who have come for her. One of them is clearly a Nomad, and a damn fine woman at that. Lucy tries not to stare, but damn are those clothes hugging that body.

The other… is a mercenary, obviously. He doesn’t look anything like David or Maine, and yet for an instant that’s all she sees. Maine before he fell into Cyberpsychosis. David after he had to pick up the pieces and become a real leader. That’s the impression she gets from this man. Competence. Confidence. Strength.

“Lucy? The name’s V. This is Panam. We’re here to get you somewhere more secure.”

Right, more secure. Lucy looks around the basement. To be fair, this was always a very, very temporary situation.

“Panam has a truck outside that we can use to transport anything important or valuable.”

That was good. In the end… Lucy just nods and they get to work. Maybe she could have been more communicative. Maybe she could have asked some questions, like how a Solo and a Nomad wound up working with Altiera Cunningham’s AI fragment. But truth be told, Lucy is quiet not because she’s nervous or unsure of herself (though she is both of those things, at least a tiny bit) but also because she’s struggling with a decision she has to make regarding precisely what she’s going to give Rebecca.

See, the original Rebecca and Lucy had a bit of a one-sided rivalry for David’s affections going on after a certain point. By the time Rebecca developed feelings for David, David had already chosen Lucy though. Still, there was no denying that things had become strained. Rebecca’s affection for David had been real. Lucy recognized that, if nothing else.

But this new Rebecca… did she really need those feelings? Lucy could probably convey them via the right memories, if she wanted to. The problem was, what good would that do? All she would be doing was giving this Rebecca love for a dead man. All that could possibly cause was pain, right?

So maybe… she didn’t need to include that in the memory packet. Maybe she could leave that part out and let Rebecca be reborn unburdened by such feelings…

[X] Make the memory packet as complete as it can be - 81%

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