Cyberpunk: Archangel

Chapter 13: Fly Me To The Moon

Night City, Afterlife, July 15, 2081

About a day or so had passed, and later in the evening, Michael, along with everyone else, were contacted by Rogue, who informed them that the space planes had been tracked down. Michael, Falco, and V arrived at the Afterlife around the same time, and they walked over to meet Rogue in the same place they had been meeting. V and Falco both sat down, and Michael continued to stand.

"So, what's the sitch?" Michael asked Rogue as he crossed his arms. "Like I said, the place where the space planes went was tracked down," Rogue explained. "They went to some sort of space station. Netwatch was hardly able to get any info on the place, other than that it's simply called, "Eden". Whoever had the space station constructed, didn't want anyone to know about it."

"So are we going to go in guns blazing?" Michael asked as he tilted his head. "As of right now.... Bad idea." Rogue replied. "There are a couple of complications. Firstly, Netwatched detected a whole lotta ICE installed inside of Eden's network by the Possessed after they arrived at the station. If we tried anything right this second, our systems would get fried when we got too close to the station. Secondly, Netwatch viewed security cam footage of the space port, and according to them, Adam Smasher accompanied the Possessed to the station."

After hearing that, Michael's demeanor changed from confident, to concerned. "We'd have to bring an entire elite squad with us to flatline that bastard," Falco chimed in, as he shook his head. "Doubt a rogue AI puppeting Smasher's body would be nearly as lethal as the guy himself." V added. "Something about him was.... Different." Michael explained. "The other Possessed seem rabid, almost animalistic. But Smasher, at least when I faced off against him, seemed to maintain full awareness. Like he joined their cause willingly."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Rogue responded. "Smasher has always been in the Biz for the worst reasons. He doesn't fight for Eddies. He does it because he enjoys killing. And if the Tenebrium Collective's goal is our extermination, then I'd assume he'd get to kill anyone he pleases."

"Well, I can contact some old.... Acquaintances, to get us the man-power we need, and I also have a little something that might even the playing field against Smasher. As for the ICE problem, we're gonna need to find a Netrunner who's capable of disabling the ICE until we can get into Eden and shut down its security systems. And we'd need a damn good Netrunner for that."

Falco leaned forward as V mentioned the need for a Netrunner. "I think I know a gal who can get the job done." He said. "But she's a long way away from Night City."

Night City, Westbrook District, August 12, 2074

Michael was with the rest of the crew, at a party outside of Turbo. The bar had a lot of these sorts of parties outside the bar at night, and the crew would often be there. Michael was quietly standing in a crowd of other guys, most of them older than him, helmet in one hand, drink in the other. And standing next to him was Maine, who had drank a little more than he probably should have that night, and was laughing about some past mission that went "hilariously wrong", as he put it. Michael had never gotten used to the crowds, but merely tolerated them. So he would often silently stand next to his friends and listen to them talk, and silently nod as drunk strangers would spill their entire life story to everyone. As one would expect, he would mostly stick close to Rebecca. However, he tried to spread his wings out more on this particular night, as he felt that he had maybe grown a little too clingy.

"Man, I tell you what...." Maine drunkenly stammered, as he clumsily grabbed Michael's shoulder. "When I first ran into this kid, I thought he was a.... A total gonk, right? But daaaamn was I wrong! You give him a job, tell him to flatline a fucker or somethin', and he'll get that shit done, no bitchin' or whinin', know what I'm saying?"