“Ugh. This is why I don’t go out of the city. The sand is fucking everywhere.” Rebecca grumbled. We had taken a pit stop a few hours into the drive to let everyone hit the bathroom if they needed, and poor Rebecca got the worst of it.

“Well you aren’t supposed to press your ass into the sand.” I joked back, and she glared at me.

Rebecca’s squeals as she had lost her balance while out squatting in the desert had gotten me to come running, only to break down into a laughing fit when I found her on her back legs in the air after falling over.

“Fuck off! How much longer anyways?” She grumbled at me, arms crossed, but it wasn’t very threatening, more cute.“Not too far. Dakota gave us the exact info. Seriously, these Raffen should know better.” I offered back. The gig was easy enough. A small band of Raffen had kidnapped the daughter of some rich woman in the city. The stupid girl had come out to party in the badlands, and the Raffen had gone through and took everyone mid party to ransom them back.

But this girl's parents were more interested in sending a message, than sending eddies.

Which worked for me.

I waved at Hiromi who waved back at me. The whole crew was moving on this gig, just in different cars, but this time Rebecca was with me instead of Hiromi. Ichi once again was stuck driving the truck as we headed out.

I wasn’t sure how much loot these Raffen would have, but I was going to find out!

“All done?”“As done as I can be.” Rebecca grumbled, as she climbed back into the car. Then we were off. Our little convoy continued on. As we moved, I went over the information Dakota had given me. Like normal the Raffen had taken over some old buildings in the desert and were using it to hold their hostages.

Technically the gig only cared about the one girl, but I planned on cleaning up the entire group, and so I would have to worry about the hostages as well.

I had come up with a plan that I think would work, and this time it really would be mostly about me.

I would go in first, infiltrate, find the hostages, and then secure them, then once I was done, I would call it in, and the rest of the team would move in, and all together we would take out the rest of the forces with me working as netrunner support to ensure the hostages wouldn’t be harmed.

As we turned off the main road, and onto a dirt path I kept an eye out for our contact. Dakota had been keeping an eye on the Raffen for the last three days after the kidnapping, she had been putting together a team to rescue the hostages, but hadn’t taken care of until we had shown up.

Seriously, I was going to have to talk to her, she could have let me know about this gig without us reaching out.

Or more likely I knew, I needed to talk to Hiromi about setting up a fixer connection. If Hiromi was talking to all of them, or seeing what gigs they needed done, she could poke me about good gigs and Section 9 could take them on.

I was lazy when it really came down to it. I had plenty of eddies, and not a lot of things I was planning on buying so I kept putting off taking more and more gigs.

Which thinking about it was rather stupid. I did want to get a Full Body Conversion at some point, even with all the politics involved in that level of Cyberware.

Stupid full body restrictions. Blah blah had to have someone vouch for you, blah blah.

I’d probably just put in the paperwork saying I worked for Hiromi and that would be that. One of the benefits of having a choom so into the Corpo network.

I slowed and pulled off, seeing the man sitting at an old bus stop with a dirtbike that was our contact.

“Alright we’re here.” I muttered, and Becca perked up. Looking suddenly excited.

“Finally! I was waiting for this!” She cried and stepped out as soon as my car stopped. Really I was going to have to talk to her about the seatbelt thing.

I stepped out and noticed Malcolm’s car pulled up behind us. The rocket launchers on the top of the thing always distracted me whenever I saw them.

Stupid dibs, that was supposed to be my rocket launcher car!

Ichi’s truck pulled up behind that, and Hiromi behind him.

“You lot… Section 9?” The man asked, and I felt my face brighten into a smile before I calmed it, and went stone faced.

“We are. You are Milton, Dakota’s contact.” I greeted him in turn as I approached him. “Where is the compound?”“It’s an old farm house. Just up the road. I’ve never been in it before, but from what I was able to gather, it has a basement. That’s likely where the hostage is.” He explained, sending over some fairly basic data about the insides, but brand new pictures of what it looked like from the outside and above.

The man must have a drone or something.

“Alright. We’ll take it from here, unless you have anything else?”“Nothing that Dakota wanted to pass along.” He offered with a shrug, and then just settled back into the bus stop. Feet up on the bike. Relaxing back as if planning on just waiting to see what would happen.

I thought about commenting, but it wasn’t worth it, or important.

“Alright, suit up!” I called out as I turned, and I got nods from everyone besides Rebecca, who looked confused, before I smiled at her, and took a moment to pull out the case of her armor from the trunk right alongside my own.

“Suit up.” I told her and she looked a little hesitant, as she took it. “Hiromi and the boys can help you get it on.” I told her.

“Don’t stress about it, it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it.” Hiromi added as she walked over to help.

“Yeah sure. Can’t be too hard.” Rebecca admitted, sounding more sure of herself.

“Alright go ahead and arm up as well I’m going to head in first.” I told them already, pulling on my chest rig, strapping it in, as I started securing my weapons and equipment.

Everyone got to it. Hiromi walking Rebecca through suiting up, it thankfully let me focus on preparing.

Attaching the silencer onto my Copperhead, I nodded as it was secured. Time to get to work. I made the call connecting everyone together and then headed out into the desert.

These guys wouldn’t likely have any sensors in the desert, but I would still be heading in alone on foot, so I could try and find out before we got closer.

Stomping through the desert once again I wanted to laugh to myself at how often I found myself sliding through the sands outside Night City. The Raffen just couldn’t help themselves, and I guess they were an easy target considering how rarely they would go into Night City. Low risk, high reward.

I controlled my breathing, moved cautiously, and let myself fall into a rhythm, checking everything as I stalked closer and closer. Soon enough I crested a ridge and could see the farmhouse, and the cars surrounding it in the distance. Staying low and hiding in the shadow of a bush I sent up to date information to my team, marking the cars to focus on.

More interesting was that I couldn’t see any defenses, this place didn’t even have cameras set up that I could see.

Moving over the ridge after making sure no one had eyes on me, I moved closer and closer, lining up with a section of the back side of the farmhouse that didn’t have any windows. I approached closer and closer, until I quietly leapt over the fence that surrounded the property.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

*I’m in.* I confirmed to the team. There was no hesitation, this wasn’t my first, infiltration. I followed along the back of the house until I was on the shadowed side, Then slowly peaked in through the armored windows.

It was a Kitchen, and it was empty so far that I could see. Taking a moment I gathered as much about the layout of the house as I could before moving on.

I didn’t trust the window guards to not squeal if I opened them, so that wasn’t my entrance. Everything was so old and rusted, that I would have to worry about noise, which meant the front was the best access point.

Sliding along the wall, I peaked around at the cars. None of them were on, but with their Crystal Dome it was impossible to tell if someone was inside them with their doors closed.

This would be so much easier, if I could get eyes on someone and just ping them.

Slipping through the shadows, I crouched and made my way to the front door. It was unlocked, and an old style door, instead of one of the electrical doors that were so popular in Night City. I crouched up to it, and slowly opened it, peeking inside.

The front hallway was empty, but I could hear sounds of a TV playing. Obviously these guys had gotten some power going. I slipped inside, closing the front door silently behind me.

I felt the cold flow through me. Time to move and find the hostages. The assumption was they were downstairs, but this farmhouse did have a second floor as well.

I’d check down, but have to be careful about what was above me.

Sliding along the wall I came to the first opening. On the right the hallway opened into a living room, where the sound of the TV was coming from, and there was a small door to the left to the kitchen I had seen before. Further down the hall was a few other rooms, and stairs up.

Where was the basement entrance?

I prepared myself and peeked around the corner into the living room.

Instantly I engaged my Sandevistan.

The couch was facing the doorway, the TV was up against the wall I was against, and there was a Raffen sitting on the couch drinking a beer.

I moved, even as his eyes widened in surprise at seeing me, my knife came out and before his voice could make a sound I chucked it, the knife moved through the air like it was in slow motion.

Then it crashed into the man's throat. I was right behind it, the metal cut off his cry of alarm, as I grabbed the hilt of the blade and jerked it out, tearing his throat out and silencing him permanently.

My Sandy turned off and I pushed the man down into the couch so he would bleed out into it, instead of on top of me.

*100 Blades XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

I waited, listening urgently for any noise. A ruffle, a cough, the sound of a boot on flooring.

Nothing.

I released the corpse and turned up the TV a bit. Unfortunately I hadn’t pinged him before the murder so I was still going in blind. Idly I noticed my Sandevistan didn’t feel too bad. It was still warm, but that was the actual chrome's heat, and not my nerves on fire. I shifted my neck a bit as I I checked the room. I felt good.

My eyes roved over the room, before I noticed that it had a strange shape. Instead of being square or rectangular, there was a harsh angle in the corner. The same corner that would be across from the stairs up.

I think that was where the basement access was.

Heading back out of the living room I moved quietly down the hall, Copperhead raised. Knife was quieter, but if things got bad I was ready to fire. There across from the stairs, was a door, and as I gently opened it up, I found the basement stairs.

*I found the basement. Heading down now, move in.*

Then I slowly went inside, testing each step to make sure none of the construction creaked as I slipped down. It wasn’t dark though. No, the lights were on, and as I headed down I heard it before seeing. The sounds of quiet crying.

I slipped farther down and caught sight of the situation.

A large basement, well lit, with a pile of teenagers tucked into a corner sitting on the floor.

It looks like they had been given access to a small bathroom nearby, but that was the extent of their comfort.

Then there were the Raffen watching them. One guy was sitting at the base of the stairs in a big chair with a tactician.

No one saw me yet as I was just peeking through the small gap where the stairs left the ceiling. I quickly breached into the Raffen, and then when that was done, sent a ping through.

The golden light branched off and I noticed that he wasn’t alone. There was another light leading near him in a corner of the basement I couldn’t see.

Two of them.

Then another three lights upstairs.

I connected the information into the network with my chooms, so Section 9 would have the information on where the Raffen were.

Now what to do?

Even silenced my Copperhead would make noise. A bullet smacking into concrete tended to make noise…

Then again the hostages would make noise when I appeared as well. They always do.

I gave myself four seconds to come to a decision, and in the end got up and moved bouncing off the stairs so I landed at the bottom skipping everything in between, and giving the Raffen no time.

Sandevistan activated, and I once again felt the warmth on my neck, but it wasn’t as bad. Then I moved. I back flipped, landing on the back of the large chair, behind the first Raffen, my knife slipping into and then out of his throat in a single motion as I kicked off again, bouncing off the wall I saw where the second Raffen was. A couch settled into a corner facing a TV although it wasn’t on this time.

He was just starting to react, as I leapt, his eyes dilating, in slow time as his brain registered the movement. Registered that something was there. Something dangerous. The adrenaline spiked, his brain sparked, but it was all far too slow. I landed on top of him bodily pushing him into the couch for a second before simply stepping away, his throat now ripped open leading his life to trail out over his dirty shirt.

Sandevistan off, a burning fire up my neck told me I was at my limit.

*500 XP Gained.*

*100 Athletics XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

I almost laughed at the odd XP. I guess doing backflips counted.

Focusing on the hostages, who were also just starting to react and raised a hand to where my lips were hidden under my helmet.

A single finger telling them to be quiet, I didn’t move for a few moments letting them all register what was happening and see my motion.

It mostly worked, a few gave squeals of shock at the sudden death, and at my appearance, but the ones that were smart shushed their fellows and soon the entire room was quiet again.

Taking a few quiet steps forward I returned to the stairs and waited, my directional microphone pointed upwards, trying to catch anything.

It was quiet. The three lines of light leading above didn’t shift. Nodding, I turned to the hostages.

That… was more people than expected.

I had thought we were talking about four or five, but this was more like twenty hostages stuck down here. I ignored them though, instead focusing back up the stairs as I could hear the sounds of vehicles approaching.

Section 9 was here.

I felt myself grow a sinister grin as I raced back up the stairs, setting up at the entrance to the basement with my Copperhead pointing towards the stairs.

I could hear the Raffen upstairs tumbling around hearing the sound of approaching engines that weren’t their own.

And I prepared myself.

“LET’S GO! Ahahahaha!” A familiar voice rang out and suddenly a roar started up. I could hear the rounds slamming into the second floor as Rebecca opened fire with the Ichi special.

Ichi had set up the behemoth for a quick mount of his HMG’s. So of course that would be where Rebecca ended up.

I could hear the hostages below cry out in fear at the sound, but they were completely safe. The HMG was firing up into the second floor, I could see the golden lights flicker out as the HMG rounds punched straight through the old farmhouse.

In the end, two of the lights flickered before the HMG went silent.

*You know it’s a pain in the ass to reload those things right?* I asked over the line as I raced upwards.

*Aw, C’mon! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been wanting to let loose with one of these baby’s! Militech’s Mark thirty-one, is practically my dream! Aaaah! I want to keep firing! Ichi! Reload! Pleeeeease!*

*Not a chance. I’m safe in here. Armored Cab.*

*Alright, alright, clear comms. I’m going after the last one.* I offered back fighting my desire to laugh at Rebecca’s cherry sweet pleading towards Ichi.

Malcolm had rushed in as soon as the guns stopped and formed up behind me as we went upstairs. Might have to talk to him about getting some Lynx Paws, he was a bit loud, but it didn’t matter.

We found the last Raffen hiding in a bathroom that somehow had kept the rounds from reaching him.

He died quickly enough with a couple shots of the Copperhead.

*500 XP Gained.*

—--

“This is a mess.” I grumbled as I grabbed what was left in the fridge the Raffen had stored up and took it downstairs. These kids weren’t just from one kidnapping. It was more like three. The Raffen had the bright idea of setting up parties in the Badlands and then coming in and kidnapping anyone that had eddies.

So some of the kids had been stuck out here for more than a week, and the Raffen weren’t doing a great job of feeding and watering them.

Made worse with the fact those that were still here after a few days meant their parents weren’t able, or planning on actually paying the ransom.

Why waste food and water on dead kids after all?

Fucking Scum.

“Alright, I got some more food here.” I called out as I stomped down the stairs. Technically we were only here for one person, but I wasn’t so cold that I would leave these people to die.

Malcolm was actually doing a damn good job playing hero, having gone downstairs to check on them, he had worked to get them all comfortable, getting them food and water.

More than a few of the teens closer to our age were making doe eyes at the big damn hero.

It was cute.

On the other hand…

As I walked down, there was a sudden tenseness in the atmosphere. I guess my cold blooded murder of the two Raffen had left an impression. None of the teens seemed brave enough to want to interact with me.

“Thanks.” Malcolm offered, grabbing the food and drink from my arms and starting to pass it out.

Ichi had already commandeered Rebecca, and they were going through everything they could find for loot. Although I had noticed Rebecca giving the vehicles outside strong looks.

I already knew which one she would take too. There was a nice Archer Quartz that she had been keeping an eye on. The little two seater would fit Rebecca perfectly.

Either way I was more focused on helping Malcolm.

After the food and drink was handed over, Malcolm continued to act as the face, calming everyone down as he assured them he would get everyone back to the city without any issue.

Eventually everything calmed down. I found our actual target, and sent a picture to Dakota confirming rescue.

She would be sending a truck to pick her up, and then the rest of the kids were our responsibility if we wanted to do something.

I headed back up, to check in with Ichi, who didn’t look enthused.

“We aren’t getting much out of this one Motoko. The vehicles, a few things of value inside, what they were wearing, and that’s about it. They didn’t bother to set anything up here.” He explained as I met up with him and Rebecca searching through the old rooms.

“Eh, can’t win them all. It’s fine we did this mostly for Rebecca anyways.” I offered shrugging, and the girl looked up as her name was called, before looking a little pleased.

“Thanks Choom.” She offered and I smiled back at her before remembering I was wearing my helmet still. Taking it off I gave her a smile in return.

“Alright, find what we can, and load it up in the other vehicles first. I think the behemoth is mostly going to be full of our friends downstairs.”“Dakota isn’t going to take them?” Ichi asked, and I shook my head.

“Apparently she was only paid for the one, and doesn’t care. They are our responsibility.” I answered back with a grumble. It would have been a lot easier if we didn’t have to transport twenty two people.

“Well at least we’ll have room?” Ichi said looking around the room and the complete lack of loot piles.

“Yeah, alright you two finish up, I’m going to make sure we have water for our friends on the trip.” I headed back out, and went in search. It’s not like I could use the taps. The water was awful, so I would have to find something else. There was probably an old SCSM somewhere.