It was doubtful if anything in the inner districts could really be dubbed a 'bad neighborhood.'

Sure, there were slightly less wealthy sections, where 'hard up' inner districts citizens lived. Still, comparing their living standards to outer district residents or slum dwellers would produce some hilarious results. Even the least fancy megabuildings in the inner districts were leagues ahead of the slums.

Of course, as I found out while lightly snooping in preparation for my double homicide mission, this mostly applied to the amenities offered by those megabuildings.

You want a jacuzzi pool? Chances are, your inner district megabuilding will have it! You want access to various shops, markets, and all sorts of interesting restaurants? All yours!

Security, though… well. This is where those 'less desirable' neighborhoods slightly dropped the ball.

That didn't mean the security was atrocious. At least it existed, right? Nevertheless, when combined with the typical relaxed attitude of the inner districts, the slightly less expensive (and, as such, less effective) security measures meant that I could stroll into the megabuilding without being harassed.

If I were in one of those fancy inner district megabuildings, then I'd have had my ID scanned, a record of my visit logged, and five different cameras on me at all times. At least.

Instead, I wasn't stopped at all. My visit would only be logged if I actually paid for a room. And the cameras… were sort of a joke.

Since it was pretty late, the building's entry hall was empty. A single breach was all it took to get into the camera trained at the entrance and make it loop the last minute of footage for a little while. The delay did let Rafe and Oliwia get ahead of me, but I wasn't that bothered about losing sight of them. I had the tag to rely on, and I also kept pinging off the cameras I'd hacked already and connecting to the cameras ahead of me. Tapping into their footage allowed me to follow the duo's procession through the megabuilding with very little effort.

Things got a bit trickier when I ventured deeper and the local residents started popping up. They were lounging on the stairs or in the halls, in groups or alone, chatting, smoking, and occasionally dipping into the various mind-altering substances that could make a boring weekend a little more 'fun.'

I recognized more than a few smells I'd gotten used to in the slums. It was funny how the reek of hard drugs polluting the air was something I found nostalgic, but… really, I'd grown up with that aroma clogging my lungs. It was the crisp, pure air of the inner city that I found odd and fascinating.

My outfit inevitably drew some attention from the locals. But my brisk stroll through, which I tried to inject with as much confidence as possible, seemed to make them lose interest relatively fast.

The cameras were much more troublesome. Still, I managed to stay out mostly of their shot, something made possible by their half-assed placement. Those I couldn't avoid I carefully looped, trying to make it seem like the people caught in the frame with me were just chilling and moving minimally.

If someone took a much closer look, they might find suspicious clues, like cigarettes suddenly burning down much slower or slightly glitched movement, but I was hoping no one would bother. At the very least, this encouraged me to keep the whole operation as hush-hush as I could.

I kept an idle eye on the megabuilding's rental room list, a public registry available to anyone who stepped foot inside, so I noticed the instant a room on the fifteenth floor flipped from 'free' to 'rented.' Conveniently, one of the cameras spotted the duo as they climbed into the elevator. I had just enough time to ping into the camera there and spot them hitting the fifteenth floor button before the elevator closed and the feed cut off.

I frowned at that particular security measure, since it meant that each floor was probably running on its own separate security network. That made it difficult for inexperienced runners to hack through the entirety of the net infrastructure at once, which… yeah, I counted among that group. I could probably manage if I actually logged onto the net, but this was a mission I needed to do in the flesh.

Not that I had the right equipment for a proper, long-distance netdive.

Anyways, with nothing better to do (and having been spared the sight of the two idiots making out in the elevator), I called down an elevator of my own and climbed in, hitting that fifteenth floor button. An annoying little jingle began to play, but I was almost thankful for it. It gave me something to focus on and grumble about so I didn't have to think about how my hands would have been shaking if they weren't cybernetics.

"You'll do fine."

Amelia's voice sounded in my head as she somehow nailed my worries, which at least drew a small smile out of me.

"Thanks. And… thanks for doing this with me. I know I'm not exactly doing something, eh, 'morally correct' here."

"That really depends on how you look at it."

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"Explain?"

"Well, these are the worst kind of mercenary scum we're talking about. The kind that will happily kidnap kids from the slums for people to experiment on. I'm pretty sure that's among the least objectionable things they've done, too. So, this is less murder and more… cleaning up the streets. Dontcha think?"

I chuckled, taking a moment to lean against the elevator wall and close my eyes. When next I opened them, I made sure they were focused and unclouded by doubt or hesitation. "Yeah, guess so. Thanks."

"Stop thanking me and go get 'em! I'm pretty sure they've managed to stagger into their rented room by now."

"Eh, maybe. You have a lot of faith in their ability to drunkenly stagger along," I teased, and we fell into a brief bout of companionable silence.

As was typical for inner city districts, the elevator was quick and quiet. Seconds later, it disgorged me onto the fifteenth floor. The corridor was much emptier. This floor contained rental rooms only, instead of lingering residents.

Seeing as the megabuilding was massive, the room numbers on each floor reset, starting from one each time. To compensate, they got an additional number to designate the floor. So, as I strolled down the corridor, I kept an eye out for room 15-231.

It didn't take me long to find it.

The door was closed and locked already. The soundproofing was good enough that I couldn't hear any noise from inside. What I was willing to bet on, however, was that the building owner wasn't shy with his use of cameras.

Speaking of cameras…

I double checked that the empty hallway's security devices were all properly looped and not showing me. Then I focused up and started probing the door with a light ping.

To my eternal relief, the security system continued to be relatively shit. Sure, it didn't crumble to a single breach attempt. It took me four more tries before I managed to get past the lock. But the fact that it didn't immediately ping security after my first hacking attempt was telling.

This was a building where people went to get cheap rooms quickly, and that's exactly the level of security and luxury they got. From the few patrons I'd seen around on the fifteenth floor, I was also pretty sure the local joytoys took their clients there. That was a good indication of the place's security, too.

For some reason, joytoys seemed eternally drawn to the riskiest, stabbiest buildings around. Slums or inner districts, that seemed to just be a universal fact.

Anyway, with the lock disabled, I was also able to slip a ping past the door. It hit a camera on the other side, revealing a dark, decently appointed living room with articles of clothing strewn about. The duo was clearly in a hurry and didn't care about who was watching them get it on.

It was to my utter shock that my next ping failed to jump to a secondary camera.

It seemed that the inner district rentals were are least a bit more scrupulous than those found in the slums. Back in my lovely home, any rentals you walked into were guaranteed to have cameras all over the place. Really, they were half rental apartments, half amateur porn studios. If you wanted any privacy, you'd either go to an actual dollhouse or take a joytoy to your home. At least, that's what my few 'friends' had told me 'in confidence.'

Of course, just to prove that even the least debauched landlords are slightly suspicious, the camera had a microphone attachment, letting me catch all sorts of interesting noises from some unseen room within the rental.

I took a deep breath, steeled myself, and cracked open the door as quietly as I could.

I stepped carefully into the dark apartment. My eyes started scanning the space, which was illuminated only by the streetlights coming in through the window.

And something in me… shifted.

My steps became slightly more sure, my balance a tiny bit more refined. My feet barely raised a whisper as I slipped over the floor, closing the door behind me. I spotted the direction I needed to go immediately.

If the noises and the slightly cracked open door weren't clue enough, then the trail of clothing would have done the trick.

My hand fell down to my pocket to extract the gun from it. I almost fumbled the motion when I realized that my claws had popped free. I wasn't even sure how and when that had happened, but it felt like they were fighting me when I forced the claws on my right hand to retract so I could actually use my weapon.

I stole up to the door and peeked inside, relying on my eyes to let me see through the near complete darkness. I instantly flushed. I was also pointedly aware of the gasp and alarmed noises on Amelia's part.

The two were… deeply engaged. Rafe had his hand coiled into Oliwia's hair, tugging on it violently as she pressed her back into his chest, their flesh meeting again and again. They were loud enough to drown me out even had I bustled through the apartment with enthusiasm.

Fighting off the awkwardness that had suddenly stolen over me, I shoved the door open and levelled my gun at the two.

My vision glitched as the world slipped away from me and my mind launched itself into the future. I watched, stunned, as Rafe twisted around. His free hand, which I'd only just realized was hidden out of my view, snapped up to point a gun back at me and loose a number of shots, while my dumb ass stood there paralyzed by surprise.

Pain flared in my chest and blood blossomed through the air as Oliwia turned to laugh in my face. A sadistic smile twisted her lips even as her lover's hold on her hair drew a moan of both pain and delight from her.

Reality snapped into place, and I immediately dropped. Shots rang out and landed somewhere behind me as I lifted my own gun and fired blindly, all thoughts of objectives, hostages, and potential advancements snatched right out of my head.

There was a pained grunt, a startled scream, and then Clairvoyance triggered again.

My eyes snapped up to meet the furious gaze of Oliwia as she lifted her own gun my way. Rafe was awkwardly pressing his hand into his side, blood pooling between his fingers. That was cold comfort when a hail of bullets slammed into me. One went through my left eye, one pulped my nose, and one sank into my chest before my consciousness winked out.

The vision ended as I slammed back into my body. I threw myself forward, putting Rafe between Oliwia and me. Oliwia screeched in inarticulate rage.

One more vision tore its way into my mind. My breath hitched as Oliwia's hand swung around and high caliber bullets tore right through Rafe's body and into me. I staggered back, clutching at my chest as my mind clouded. The last thing I saw was Rafe's body collapsing away from the crazy bitch with the wet pop of their bodies coming loose…

Slamming back into the present, I dropped again and launched myself forward as Oliwia blindly fired her gun backwards. Rafe collapsed past me with that same disgusting wet pop. But at least this time, I was treated to the sight of Oliwia's eyes widening in shock as my hand flashed forward, my claws digging into her hand still locked around her gun.

I savored every morsel of the terror that lit up her eyes.

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