The hotel wasn't the fanciest establishment in all of Aythryn City, but it was pretty decent as far as places went. Had okay security, each room with its own full bath, and even the usual amenities of a hotel. Sure, it was a bit pricey, but I saw it as investing in the future. It'd suck to piss off a Netrunner more than I needed to.

It wasn't too hard to find them. As long as Mira had on the Packheart Ring, I could feel her exact location like a second heartbeat. Mira opened the door just before I could enter, rifle slung casually on a strap. "Bout time, Shiro.'

"The cab took a while." I swapped autocabs several times on the way over just in case. "Where's my bike?"

Mira backed up and let me into the hotel room. Then she simply pointed up to the roof. "Where else?"

Parking on most buildings was fine, but surely a hotel like this had some additional security, right? "Cameras?"

"All mine!" Luna called from the other side of the room. The white haired girl was set up at the room's desk. Her hands practically flew across the keyboard of her deck, and the screen sprung around rapidly from one thing to another.

"Are you not a dive runner?" Most Netrunner these days dove directly into the net instead of doing things manually like this. It gave them better reaction and control or something like that.

She flinched and her shoulders curled inward slightly. The poncho shifted, covering even more of her tiny frame. "I-I don't really have the equipment anymore…"

Right, her entire setup went up in flames back at the warehouse. I sat on the bed and sprawled out, staring up at the ceiling. "So? Spill the deets."

"R-right." Luna spun around in the desk's chair and rubbed a hand down her face. "U-um, where do I start?"

"The beginning, probably." Mira smirked and sat down next to me.

I propped my head up on my hand and stared at the frail girl. "Might as well be completely honest about it if we're going to help. Need to know what we're getting into."

"S-so… we got this job. I-it was supposed to be real easy. Get into the Scath Heights and burn down a co-op. Pay was okay and the danger was moderate." She evasively stared out the window for a moment and then continued like nothing happened. Definitely hiding something there. "I usually come to play tac support… M-my brother forced me to stay behind this time. Must've sensed something was off."

"Kaynis, right? Werewolf?" That guy was a pretty memorable figure. Not everyday I saw a cybernetic werewolf.

"He's not-!" Luna's eyes dimmed and her head hung low. "H-he's human. Really. He- he was…"

"Right, he's human." Mira smiled placatingly and subtly pinched my side.

I barely kept back a snarl at the unexpected move. I got her hint though. "So what happened?"

"I- I dunno. I l-lost contact after they got c-close." Luna shook her head. Her entire body practically radiated worry. "S-something must've gone wrong. A ten mill bounty was put on Polar Moon, a-and all our assets were frozen. That was five hours ago."

"Ten mil?!" Mira's eyes popped open wide. She stared at the Netrunner with a surprisingly hungry look in her eyes. I was right there with her. At least, for a moment.

More Rayn was always nice. I had avenues to earning large sums now though. What I didn't have were things that couldn't be bought for money, like connections and allies. Sure, ten million would be a neat addition to my pocket, but- well, if I could get Polar Moon on good terms…

Of course, outside of the calculating side of my brain, I didn't really want to stab Iris in the back. She'd been good to me and outside of the ten million reasons, I had no actual desire to go against Polar Moon. Not to mention the bounty was on Polar Moon itself and not the individuals. Even if I turned Iris and Luna in, there was no guarantee I'd get the full ten million. Five million was a lot, but I could also just make seven or so hover bikes for sale.

Not to mention the here and now. As soon as Mira had an outburst, Luna hunched low into the poncho with a terrified and pitiful expression on her face. It brought back flashbacks of Mira huddling into the corner of the lab when I finally found her.

My expression softened slightly and I hit Mira hard in the side with my elbow.. "Your assets were frozen?"

"Y-yeah… a-all of them. Even the First International Boswan Bank accounts." Luna shook her head rapidly. "I-I don't know who we pissed off, but t-they have reach."

"No kidding." Mira seemed to finally recover from hearing the massive sum. What would she say if she knew I had a twenty mil bounty at some point? Although she knew most of what I could do, I hadn't told her everything that'd happened yet. "What's the goal here, then? Find her team?"

"Chek. Iris in particular." She was the one that owed me a favor anyway. And I didn't particularly care about the others. "We start at the co-op and work our way from there? Sounded like she was in combat on the call, so there must be a trail. Have you made contact with any of your team since?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The girl shook her head rapidly. "N-no. I haven't stopped trying either. The entire heights are isolated though. Must be some kind of jammer or a runner interfering."

"We'll go check it out. You stay here and don't do anything stupid." I waved to the hotel room. "We'll-"

"No!" Her voice, even when raised, had a weak undertone to it. "I- I can help! I'm a Netrunner! Not just some nobody."

"You're a liability." There was probably a nicer way to put that, but it seemed my point got across when she flinched. "You have a ten mil bounty on your head. It's better for everyone if you stay low and hidden. That way, when we find your team, we won't have to worry about you."

"I-I-I…" She gripped the arm of the rolly chair tightly. She seemed to come to some kind of decision and slowly nodded her head with a sly look in her eyes. "Fine, I won't do anything."

She was definitely planning on running. I got it, I really did. Her team was facing unknown enemies, her brother was MIA, and she would just be sitting here like a princess in a tower. I guess that made me and Mira the heroes? Still, I could see how this would be difficult. Hell, I had a hard time trusting someone to even just make food, let alone would I be able to watch someone, say, save Mira from a Savant Lab.

Mira seemed to pick up on the same thing. She tilted her head slightly and muttered quietly enough I could only hear her through the Packheart Ring. "Might be worth letting her in if only to keep an eye on her."

"Chek." I reran through what I knew and the several plans I'd come up with while we talked. "How good of a runner are you?"

"The best!" The sly look disappeared and a spark of hope shimmered in her eyes. "M-maybe not the world, but at least in this city. A-and if I can get close? There's nothing that can stop me."

Letting her support us as our runner while we investigated wouldn't be impossible. It ran the risk of exposing her though. I doubt she could get away if she was by herself. Not without preset defenses like she had at the warehouse. "I- I'll call a mikata in."

"Saint? Are you inviting Prince Charming into this?" Mira smirked and made lovey eyes at me while crossing her fingers into a heart.

I pushed her off the bed. She collapsed to the floor and broke into an infectious laughter that made my lips twitch. "Just in case. He can be here if something goes wrong, at least."

The guy was skilled at talking to people. Hopefully he'd be able to keep little Luna here and get her out if anything went wrong. Not to mention I told him I'd let him in on the next gig. This was technically the next gig, though the payout wasn't looking great.

"What about the jammer? Won't having a runner be useless?" Mira stood up and brushed herself off, raising a valid point.

"U-um… this kind of thing- t-they likely have a Netrunner plugged directly into the Node Towers controlling everything." Luna pulled up a map of the sub-district and pinged several locations scattered around it. "T-there's three of them in Scath Heights. If all three were controlled, they could s-shut me and any other remote runner out."

"So? Kill the runners?" If she could get access again, she could help investigate more.

"I-ff you want, but whoever hired them p-probably hired guards considering the notoriety of the heights." The girl opened up a briefcase, revealing about a dozen pyramid-shaped devices. "Y-you can plug me in directly. I'll fry them and retake control."

"Do we even need a runner as support?" Mira asked another extremely valid point. Those five minds of hers were really something, weren't they? If they were so good, though, why didn't she ask these questions before recommending we taker her on?

"A ten mil bounty is likely to attract all sorts of mercs from the city. Maybe even some named ones." I shrugged. "With the AEZ open, there's thousands if not tens of thousands more mercs in AC than usual. All the help we can get."

"So it's potentially us against thousands?" Mira licked her lips and battlelust shimmered in her eyes. "What unfair odds… for them."

"Hah- keep telling yourself that." I wasn't so optimistic about our chances. Even if we found the team, we'd still have to extract them. Not to mention I was extremely hesitant about putting Mira in the line of fire so soon. She looked desperate to get in a fight though.

I also wouldn't be able to call in backup with this one. Maybe a few Crusaders if I was attacked directly, but not the sweeping support that I had in the past. This was no longer a criminal organization. This was merc business. Blue Crusade Inc. tended to stay out as long as nothing affected the normies.

This time around, it'd be down to personal combat power. Or, I guess, team combat power if I could get Mira and Luna setup and ready to go. Somehow I saw Mira as the most helpful. I'd just never needed or ran with a Netrunner before aside from Anon back on that armored truck hit. This could be a very eye opening experience though.

I was a bit… excited? Maybe? This could be my chance to see where I was at compared to normal mercenaries and such. To see just how far I've grown from the lowly street rat that wouldn't dare intrude on even just gang territory.

I pinned the objectives to my HUD to help me keep track of everything. It seemed my note taking grabbed the attention of several eidolons. Almost instantly, a new request popped up.

「Request - Polar Moon MIA - Received

Find Polar Moon (1/4)

Takeover Node Towers (0/3) - Optional

Ensure the safety of your team - Optional

Spread Chaos - Optional

Make tonight one to remember! ^^

Merc Hunt - Optional

The stronger, the better the reward.

Figure out what went wrong - Optional

Reward: ???」

It was a much more extensive request than what I received in the past. They must've been doing some research on how to properly set up requests. Either that, or they'd been holding out on me.

I stared at it for a moment and then hit accept. I wasn't sure which one started the Request, but I could take a guess at which eidolons gave which objectives. Ensuring the safety of my team was definitely Wolf. Owl was probably figuring out what went wrong. Merc Hunt might be Panther? Chaos was Fox. That one wasn't hard to figure out.

We talked a bit more about the precise plan and then I stepped out to give Saint a call. "You busy?"

"Not at the moment. Just writing an article." Saint broke into a yawn. "Why? Got something for me?"

"Chek. Think you could come watch someone for me? Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid?" That was the real concern over anything else. "And help her escape if something goes wrong?"

The tiredness from his voice completely vanished. "No problem. Just send me the address. Uh- is there a net connection there?"

"It's at a hotel, so yeah." I sent him the address.

"Nova. I can keep working. I'll be over in ten- fifteen minutes?"

"We'll wait for you." It would give me time to plan everything out and get contingencies ready in case the worse came to pass. Speaking of contingencies, I carefully checked all of my gear and adjusted my canteen. I had a feeling I might need to go all out tonight.

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