TB’s Journal – March 3rd, 2097
Woke up at Evie’s place again. Funny how just a few days ago, she swore she’d never let me in because her place was too messy compared to mine. Now it’s turning into a nightly sleepover. Not that I’m complaining.
Spent the morning digging into her past again. Turns out she’s 27—seven years older than me—graduated from UCLA in VR about four years ago. Parents are mid-income, living in an old house in Bellevue, inherited from the grandparents. She’s got a younger brother, used to have a cat, and had the same boyfriend since high school until things went south after she graduated. He bailed and moved to the Free State of California. She works her ass off—10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, and on her "days off" she keeps working. And all that for just 56k a year. Criminally underpaid.
Before heading out, I told her I’d be gone for a week—job over in Victoria. She seemed fine with it. Work’s work.
I left Ironview in the rain and made my way to Redmond. Met up with Hicks—Jack “Hicks,” our designated driver and a heavily chromed rigger I know from my legit gigs. We picked up Vanya, the elf combat mage, the last piece of the puzzle. Spent some time at Tag’s place doing prep work and planning. Eclipse was there too, doing her decker thing. Kate was around but stayed in the background.
Wizkid and Eclipse dug into the PanGen facility's data. We found out about a secret sublevel—Sub 2—and some tunnels leading there. Creepy stuff. After dark, we headed to Maple Hills, dodging a shootout between Lone Star and some crazed rebels on the highway.
Vanya was on a roll—mana bolted two guards into oblivion without blinking. Maybe a bit much, but whatever. We got in through a utility tunnel after some hacking and legwork.
Inside, we found the lab. Grabbed the samples, calmed down the mainframe—looked like it was doing gene calculations and didn’t really care about us being there. I spotted something interesting—a black dragon scale at one of the science stations. Snatched that up for later.
Then things got weird. Some dwarf scientist came down the elevator at past midnight on a Sunday. Vanya took her out without a second thought. Cold. Again, maybe a little excessive.
We tried to take the elevator up to Sub 1, but instead, it pivoted and opened into another part of Sub 2. Cloning lab. All kinds of weird, twisted metas in tubes. Then the alarms went off, and three of those things came at us. The first one went down easy, but the second gave me some real trouble. The third was so twisted it barely put up a fight.
The rest of the team was dealing with a twisted troll. Between Tag’s gun drone, Vanya’s magic, and Eclipse’s pistol, they handled it. Vanya took a nasty cut to the forehead, but nothing she couldn’t heal herself—and me, while she was at it. She’s more than a killer.
Before we bailed, I grabbed some extra paydata. The alarm was definitely going off, but Wizkid’s prep work paid off. Instead of alerting HQ, it sent a call to Lone Star in Vancouver—who ended up racing to save a donut shop from a gang.
We took the long scenic route south through Hobart. Stopped for gas, and of course, a pair of wendigos were tearing through a diner. We took care of that, free of charge. Can’t just let that slide. Called Lone Star and the medics, let them take the credit. No need to have our names tied to a place on a run night.
Back at Redmond, I posted the data on the Night Matrix. Didn’t even take a second before the PanGen AI was on me. It wasn’t happy but stayed civil. We made a deal—it got most of the data back (except for Mr. Black’s intel), and we pocketed 140k. Half for Wizkid and half to split between the team. A little exposure, sure, but worth it. Man, I feel even more sorry for Evie—made like twice her yearly salary in one night!
Gave Mr. Black the case with all the goodies, and he threw in a 20k bonus. Not a bad night. Blew off some steam after, but kept it low-key. Gotta be on that boat to Victoria in the morning.
TB's cut:
7.5k Mr. Black
5k bonus Mr. Black
-5k advance Mr. Black
17.5k PanGen
25k total
Wizkid:
10k Mr. Black
70k PanGen
80k total - woot, woot!
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