Chapter 76: The Cassels Pt. 2

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

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Poor Aurore and Aymeric~

-x-X-x-

Fuck. Oh fuck, they were so fucking fucked. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"Do try to calm down, Ms. Cassel. Look to your brother and follow his example. He's doing an admirable job of maintaining his composure."

The Thing sitting with them smirks and Aurore bristles, her first instinct being to tell the damn bitch to shut up. But she swallows that down, barely even throwing Aymeric a glance before turning her eyes back to the very imminent threat in their midst.

It's wrong anyways. Aymeric isn't maintaining his composure. He's just shutting down. That's always how it's been for them. He runs cold; she runs hot. This is just the first time they've both been face to face with what might turn out to be a fate worse than death.

Every Netrunner knew the stories, of course. Every Netrunner knew that Altiera Cunningham had been the one to create the first Soulkiller and that Arasaka had ultimately disappeared her to force her to create the 2.0 version.

Some people liked to claim that Arasaka bit off more than they could chew with Alt. The way that particular story went, all they'd accomplished by kidnapping her and using her… was truly setting her free.

Those types said that Altiera Cunningham hadn't ever truly died but rather been uploaded onto the Net as a digitized intelligence that had eventually become an incredibly powerful AI. A fairy tale passed around by idiots to make themselves feel better about how everything had gone down.

Bullshit, or so Aurore had always personally believed. Any Netrunner worth their salt knew that shit was fantasy at best. It was the same crap as the conspiracy theories saying that Bartmoss was still alive, or that Spider Murphy was still sticking it to the Corpos from the shadows.

The problem with those theories was that the Megacorps were stronger than ever before. They'd won back then and they kept winning every day of every month of every year since. The idea that there was an AI of Alt Cunningham running around behind the scenes was just… fanciful, full stop.

Or so Aurore had always thought. Kind of hard to ignore reality when it's staring you right in the face though. Kind of hard to scoff at the conspiracies when 'living' proof is sitting across from you and your brother and could kill you both at any second.

Trembling with the need to do something, anything, but also knowing that in doing so she'd probably get them both killed… Aurore stays right where she is. Tangentially, she's aware that the roulette table hasn't started another round yet. Making it completely obvious at this point that the AI is in its systems and had been messing with them, with her, from the very start."What… what do you want with us?"

Smiling at her, what she thought was a poser tilts its head to the side. The Gemini makes a lot more sense now, though if Aurore survives this she's not sure she'll ever be able to trust anyone utilizing a FBC ever again. Who's to say any one of them isn't housing an AI instead of a normal human being?

"Why do you think I want anything from you, Ms. Cassel?"

Oh this bitch. She knew she was riling Aurore up. She had to know. And that meant the AI also knew far more about Aurore and her brother than she was comfortable with. In fact, she had to assume the AI knew fucking everything at this point.

"… You revealed yourself to us. Why would you do that if you didn't want something?"

Before the AI can answer that question, if she was even going to answer her to begin with, they're interrupted.

"Cassels."

Kurt Hansen's gravelly voice nearly makes Aurore jump out of her skin as he appears behind her and her brother like a damn ghost. For a moment, her entire body goes cold because the mercenary warlord is NOT the kind of man who would understand the danger they're all in. He's the kind of man who, if he realizes even an inkling of what's going on here, would get everyone in the Black Sapphire killed with his reaction.

The AI doesn't say anything though, merely smiling and sipping from her drink. Leaving it up to Aurore and Aymeric to… play nice and keep her secrets. Slowly, Aurore turns along with her brother to face Kurt Hansen. He doesn't have Songbird with him anymore, thank fuck. President Myers' attack dog would have immediately clocked Alt for what she really was, after all.

"Monsieur Hansen."

"Songbird is off getting everything ready. I hope you both are prepared to handle everything tonight."

Tonight? That wasn't the plan. They were supposed to deal with the neural matrix tomorrow. Tonight was the party, a cover for them to be in the area. Why was Hansen moving things up? Why- oh no. Suddenly, Aurore knows exactly why the AI is here. She knows what the bitch wants with them. A quick glance at Aymeric out of the corner of her eye and she realizes he'd already figured it out. Damnit all.

But then, if the AI wanted the contents of the neural matrix, why even reveal herself to them? Why let them know who and more importantly what she was? All that had done was put them on edge. Unless… she thought they would work with her?

If it got her and her brother out of this situation alive, Aurore was willing to do just about anything, really. But at the same time, they couldn't afford to give the game away.

"Tonight? You continue to move the timetable up, Monsieur Hansen. I must warn you, rushing these kinds of things is never a very good idea."

Hansen smiles a not-so-nice smile. Though if he thinks he's being intimidating, he really should get some pointers from the existential horror still lounging on the other side of the roulette table behind them.

"You let me worry about that, Ms. Cassel. All you need to worry about is whether you can perform or not. Are you telling me you can't?"

Aurore blinks. There's something on the edge of flirty with Hansen's words now. Something that hadn't been there before. She finds herself rising to the challenge as well as feeling an inkling of arousal. She's always enjoyed powerful men, much to her brother's distinct displeasure. In fact…

"Aurore-"

She overrides whatever her brother might have said with a smirk, forgetting all about the AI in their midst for just a moment.

"Oh, I assure you that me and my brother are more than ready to… perform, Monsieur Hansen. Any trouble you have tonight will not come from our corner."

The smile on Kurt Hansen's face grows into something uncharacteristic.

"I'll hold you to that promise. Ms. Cassel. Now come on you three, let's get this done."

Aurore pushes off the roulette table and her brother does the same… only for both of them to freeze in unison as Hansen's words catch up to them. Not 'you two'. No, he'd distinctly said 'you three'. Movement from the other side of the table makes Aurore's eyes widen and she feels like she's prey trying to avoid the notice of a predator as the AI in her Gemini Body walks around to their side and then past them.

Then, she turns to regard them both with a crooked grin, Kurt Hansen already walking away and expecting them all to follow.

"Well? Shall we, morsels?"

Oh they were so, so fucking fucked.

-x-X-x-

As they enter the back area, trailing behind both Alt and Hansen, Aurore exchanges constant glances with her brother. They would normally communicate by the Net, but the local net currently has a voracious, hungry predator who shouldn't even be on this side of the Black Wall roaming it.

Instead, Aurore and her brother are reduced to simple looks. Aurore tries to convey her numerous questions to Aymeric through this method, but its not something either of them are all that practiced in and she can tell that he doesn't really understand her more complex queries.

It's one thing to 'ask' with her eyes if he thinks they should make a run for it… that had gotten a subtle shake of his head, making it clear that Aymeric believed their chances of escaping were next to zero. But it's another thing entirely to ask him if he thought Hansen knew what Alt really was. On that front, he'd just given her a confused look, clearly not comprehending her question.

But seriously… what the fuck was Hansen thinking? If he'd hired Altiera motherfucking Cunningham for this gig, he had to have at least an inkling of what she really was. Unless her cover was otherwise so good that it was completely fooling the Barghest Leader into thinking she was some kind of poser, just like Aurore's first impression had been.

Oh man, that thought left her even more horrified than before. Posers were a dime a dozen all over the world, even if many of them seemed concentrated on Night City. This was the center of Poser Culture, where Night City Legends, dead one and all, were venerated to the point of obsessive mimicry by their superfans.

… How many of those posers were like Alt though? How many supposedly dead people were out there playing at pretending to be fakes of themselves? What if Spider Murphy really was still alive and just living via refuge in audacity? What if Bartmoss was? Fuuuuuck…

They reach the final set of doors and step into a room with no guards. Aurore is too focused on catastrophizing to pay much attention even as Hansen says something to the guards outside that has them both straightening up and saluting.

They're through the doors a moment later anyways, which seal completely behind them. Inside of the room, only one person, a woman, awaits… though the room itself is an observation deck, Aurore immediately notices. And it observes another room on a lower level where she sees Songbird working on the neural matrix already, single-mindedly focused on her task.

The woman waiting for them in the observation deck had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring down at Songbird rather intensely when they arrived. She uncrosses those arms and turns to them with a huff as they arrive. Her gaze flicks over Aurore and her brother for barely a moment before focusing on Hansen.

"I'm not sure why you even needed me for this. I've barely done anything."

Hansen lets out a very un-Hansen-like chuckle and shakes his head.

"Your presence alone is reassuring. Besides, the training you provided has been quite helpful."

The woman tilts her head to the side and scoffs.

"Has it? You picked up everything I had to teach you within the first hour, you just pretended like you hadn't. As if I wouldn't notice. And now I see you barely even using that training at this point. You're lucky nobody in Barghest realized something is wrong. But these two? They're moments away from figuring it out. And… there it is."

Oh shit. It hits Aurore as the woman is talking down to Hansen like she's in any way superior to him… the real Kurt Hansen wouldn't let anyone talk to him for this long like this. And the real Kurt Hansen wouldn't have accidentally hired an AI to help them extract another AI.

This wasn't the real Kurt Hansen.

Giving them, but specifically Aurore a sly glance, 'Kurt Hansen' suddenly ripples and transforms into… a nondescript younger man that Aurore doesn't remotely recognize.

"Apologies for the subterfuge. The name's V. You two don't have to worry though… the plan ends with you both walking away alive right now."

Aurore swallows thickly, eyes flickering between V, Alt, and the third woman. Who knows what? What is the real 'plan' at this point?

"Where is the real Hansen?"

Ugh, her brother can be such an idiot sometimes. What kind of question even is that?!

"Dead. His life was worth five hundred thousand eddies. Speaking of which… Alt?"

Five hundred thousand eddies?! Aurore and her brother were only making a hundred thousand each for this gig. Or they were supposed to anyways. The only person who could have put that sort of bounty on Hansen's head… was the President. Had to be.

That meant this was the guy who had gotten President Myers out of Dogtown and back to NUSA in under a day. This was the guy who had rushed Hansen into rushing them over to the Black Sapphire tonight. And now this was the guy who had zeroed Kurt fucking Hansen like it was nothing.

"Proof has been authenticated and accepted, V. Payment has been received in full, but the client does request an update on the main gig."

Main gig? Killing Hansen wasn't the main gig?! But no… no, it wouldn't be. Aurore's eyes flick back down to the room beyond the glass observation window. To where Songbird is currently blissfully unaware of what's happening above her still.

"Stonewall her for now."

Huh? Aurore's eyes snap over to V at that, not quite sure if she just heard correctly. She's not the only one either. The unnamed woman also looks at V sharply.

"Excuse me?"

But V just smiles as Alt's eyes flash, making it clear she immediately followed his instructions.

"Give me some wiggle room Alex… and I'll make sure this ends how you like it as well. Even if that means a cushy assignment to a beach for the rest of your days."

'Alex', who Aurore is starting to suspect might just be FIA, tenses up at that… before slowly relaxing and nodding.

"… Fine. A little wiggle room. Let's see what you do with it."

Okay yeah, so 'Alex' definitely had no fucking clue she was in the same room as a goddamn AI copy of one of the best Netrunners to ever live. Aurore tenses up as V turns to look at them, his smile becoming a grin. He knows. He definitely knows.

"Ready to earn your fees, Cassels? Not to worry, there's extra in it for the both of you. Call it hazard pay."

Well… Aurore shares a look with her brother before turning back to V.

"What's the gig, exactly?"

"Same as before. You'll be helping Songbird extract her 'solution' from the neural matrix. Nothing has changed on that front. No sabotage, no slacking, no dragging your feet. I want your best, the both of you."

She doesn't understand… and she hates not understanding. But at this point, they're in too fucking deep to back out now, aren't they?

"Not like we have much of a choice, do we?"

V's grin actually turns a little sad for some reason.

"There's always a choice, Aurore. Even when it's a bad one."

A shiver runs down her spine. This situation really shouldn't be turning her on as much as it is, but V is kind of her type and the more she interacts with him, the more arousal trumps fear. Down girl. Focus on the mission…

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[X] Songbird notices Alt finally as they move to get started - 67%[ ] Songbird is too caught up with the neural matrix and remains oblivious a bit longer - 33%

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