Calm Before the Corp

It wasn't hard for Rebecca to acquire Kiwi's services. Since she used to work with Pilar's, or to be more accurate, Maine's crew, it was easy to just hit her up. Add the fact she'd be in virtually no danger whatsoever in her role as a remote Netrunner, along with a clean split of the Eddies and she was on board.

Everything else from there was 'smooth-sailing', Six already had a large stash of explosives, and they'd cut into the reward to hire a Delamain cab for their getaway. Really, it was the only real option other than buying a tank themselves, after all, Delamain Corporation was known around the whole city as a top-tier protection service.

Before all of that however, the explosives needed to be set.

An hour or so before midnight the crew split up to begin planting the devices in the Tyger Claw businesses. The explosives themselves were only around twice the size of a man's fist, so it wasn't as conspicuous as leaving a backpack in the middle of a train car...

[So, these friends of yours... Known 'em long?] Kiwi idly asks Rebecca via private comms as the merc steps out of the nightclub after planting a bomb in the bathroom.

[Long enough... Why're you askin'?]

[Because Pilar's been going on all day about his sister 'losing her way'...] she drawls, sounding vaguely annoyed at the girl's brother.

Rebecca lets out a long, enduring sigh at that, [Of course he has...]

[I've gotta ask, why that boy? Don't look like much...] Kiwi remarks.

['You've gotta ask?' Do I need a reason other than liking him? I get you can't think of people outside of cost-benefit shit, but the rest of us aren't like that. I like him, he likes me, that's the end of it.] Rebecca huffs, increasing her pace towards the next target.

...

[Just tryin' to help... Can't trust a soul in this city, laying it all out for a guy you barely know is not a smart idea.]

[Yeah, well. You gotta trust someone or it's just you alone against the world. No one but psychos can live like that.] Rebecca states.

[Maine did ask me to invite you back, but it looks like you've got other things on your mind.]

[Hmph! Tell him to ditch my brother and I'll think about it.] she remarks, knowing Maine and Pilar were too close of friends to do that. With that, Kiwi goes silent and she continues her job.

----------

Ori drops his last bomb behind a dumpster with its back facing the building of the Tyger Claw-affiliated business. He brushes the dust off of his hands and walks towards the exit, only to find himself accosted by some thugs.

He could they weren't Tyger Claw, they were dressed right and their visible Cyberware was well below the gang's standards. Not to mention, the leader was striding forwards with a large machete in his hand.

"Funny to meet you here pal, my friends and I were just looking to go boozin' again, but we've run outta Eddies... Think you can help us out?" he 'asks' as he stops three meters away from Ori, his machete pointing at his face.

Ori just holds his arms up, "Sorry guys, I'm broke." he says, inwardly thinking of a way to deal with them without alerting the Tyger Claw's to his presence.

"We'll be the judge of that. Check 'em." the 'leader' says, prompting the other two to begin searching through Ori's pockets. Or they would if he hadn't taken action.

With the nanites enhancing his movement and muscle control, his hand swiftly drops to his belt and draws a knife, instantly cutting the neck of one of the thugs. The blade continues through the air, leaving a spray of blood as it stabs into the throat of the second.

One goes down instantly while the other clutches his throat and falls to the floor, scrambling to get away but soon passing from blood loss. The leader didn't even realise what was happening when Ori threw the knife, the nanites calculating the distance, velocity, and weight of the knife so that it struck true.

*Thwack!*

The guy's head jolts backwards, his feet stumbling slightly as he stares ahead blankly with a knife protruding from his forehead... He collapses in a heap and Ori lets out a relieved sigh.

He'd slowly started incorporating the nanites into his combat training not long after the catastrophe that was his birthday. The progress he'd made was mind-boggling... The nanites learned incredibly quickly, memorising every movement, every twitch of a muscle. He only had to perform an exercise a dozen times before the nanites had mastered it, this included his skill in knife-throwing which he'd only spent thirty minutes on when he was bored.

While integrating the movements into muscle memory wasn't as quick, having them assist him to perform perfect manoeuvres every time sped up progress by stupid degrees. While he wasn't a master at martial arts yet, he could perform regular attacks perfectly... Basic punches, kicks, elbows and knees, all had been mastered.

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he tosses the thug's bodies in the dumpster that had a bomb under it and quickly departs from the scene. Whatever evidence of his murders would be cleared up by the explosion...

[My part is done, I'll join you guys at the meeting point.] he states through the comms.

[Just finished up too, will be there.] - Six

[This shit's easy. It's like they don't expect any trouble at all.] - Rebecca

[Probably because they don't. No one is insane enough to attack small Tyger Claw-affiliated businesses in the City Center and Heywood.] - Kiwi

[Get ready to donate the explosives, I'll need them when I sneak in.] - Sasha

...

Ori squints his eyes in thought momentarily before hitting Sasha up with a private message.

[Yo, what's Quentin's role in all of this? He won't get strung up for being involved will he?] he asks, not wanting to get implicated when the kid inevitably spews his guts.

[He's already long gone. Dunno what he's gonna do but he took all the Eddies he could and left. Don't worry about it and focus on the job.] - Sasha