(In the series they use this song each time for like emotional moments, how can I not do that too? I love the song okay? Deal with it lol.)
I dipped back in the building, having walked up to ground floor to make sure this time they wouldn't try to approach Arasaka. When that was confirmed, I went back down.
I rubbed my neck as Lucy was leaning against the hood of a random car, eyebrows furred as she thought the events over.
"Zyber, just who are you to have an elite team of Techdisk-" "TechDeck." "Doesn't matter! Why do you have a military level squad after you as your obstacle to freedom? I can't come up with any ideas."
"Well...."
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"STOOOOOOOOOP!!!!" That's the only thing in addition to the wordless screeches that escaped me.
I screamed my throat raw, hell even blood was dripping from it as I tried to pull my limbs free.
"Damn the others didn't scream as much." I heard a grumble as the pain stopped growing and remained constant.
I was like cuffed and shackled into a metal frame that could spin on itself and it was moved in a way that I was staring at the ground. In addition to the mind numbing pain I could see the blood, flesh and spine pieces they tore out and discarded on the ground in clumps.
The frame was stood up and I was freed all at once.
I collapsed into a heap.
"Wha... What.... Did you... What." I trembled in pain, unable to move.
"Give her a few days and she'll drive that Sandevistan around like she was born for it since... She WAS born for it after all." And laughed were exchanged between the men with more mockery I didn't hear.
I reached a shaky hand back, feeling the smooth chrome before it protruded out on the spinal area.... I almost believed that they had freed me with a gaping hole in my body.
I wanted to cry but I had no strength, my consciousness, no longer forced awake but constant pain, used the peace to faint.
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"My parents were paid graciously to carry my too terms, both of them were specifically chosen for one reason, both had an abnormally high resistance too cyberpsychosis, chrome junkies with all their sane minds." I sighed, precising how I ended up in such a situation to have a Sandy forcefully implanted in my back when I was still young.
"Oh my." Was all Lucy said, I couldn't tell what she thought about.
"Yeah, I was given too Militech right after I was born and was their lab rat since then, I didn't even have a name, none of us had, just a serial number."
"But why?"
"They found out Arasaka's first net project and wanted to pick up where they messed up tho they learned of that project later. From what I learnt those children were raised from birth to netrun but we started netrunning when we were teens so zeroing was waaaaaaay more common and they were mass kidnappings and human trade to keep up the experiments."
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"I-I don't wanna go back! Please don't make me go back!" I pleaded, the clothes of the man tightly in my hands.
I cried out when I was slapped.
"And have Arasaka's netrunners be the first to discover the pre-Datakrash net's secrets?! We can't let them win you understand?! You teens are all the same lazy bunch!"
I hiccuped, holding my face.
"R-right... I'm sorry..." I whispered, knowing I'd just be hit again if I said another thing.
I couldn't stop them from linking me in if I wanted anyway, they on purpose didn't implant us with the cyberware that would let us control when we link out by out own means and it would be too dangerous to add now that the interface was in place, removing it is required to add the log out cyberware and removing the interface would be a death sentence, hurting the brain.
I looked at my two friends that still were in the chairs with the interface plug still in their head, eyes wide and glued to the ceiling, blood pooling out of their face as they laid there.... Dead.
"Go to your room to think about your mistakes." I didn't need to be asked twice to run.
I kicked in the door and fell on my ass in the middle of the room.
I wanted to cry even more but couldn't.
I stood, wanting to speed walk to my bed but this damned Sandevistan activated and ran me into the wall.
I fell over, holding my face and groaning in pain.
I hate this! I hate this life!
I looked at my new hands, the blood coating my still flesh arms was disgusting and these? They said it was high grade, whatever that means.
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"T-they found out?" I looked at Lucy who looked like she saw a ghost but I didn't ask.
"Yeah, many died too it, I only escaped death by first net AIs because they found out just how good my body can take chrome if given time in between implantation between new pieces, just the thing they payed my parents for."
"That's why Techdisk--" "Still TechDeck." "Whatever!!!" She took a deep breath. "That's why they look for you."
"Yeah, I escaped."
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I couldn't let them know I master the Sandy and the rest, I only have one chance for this.
I sighed, fear gripping my body as I was logged in, the interface plug not at all carefully jammed in the back of my skull.
But instead of following the others through work, they were brainwashed with promises of helping to better the world, working for the big corpos.
I found these people disgusting, they are doing this to us because some other corpo, Arasaka I think? Just because they did something they are forcing us to live through pain.
I frowned, I'd be like one of these other people if I couldn't take chrome so well and that they didn't want to forge me into a military weapon instead of a pure netrunner.
I looked at the ten and eleven year old children that were accompanying me, these were the newest batch, I am fucking eighteen!!! I am only alive because I was of use alive instead of dying to those rogue AIs!!
"I'll show you." I grumbled, holding my arms up and the holo's showed up, easily setting up several breach protocols and quickhacks from even inside the cyberworld.
I worked out a way for forcefully disconnect myself from the system.
"I'm sorry." I apologized too the kids that cried out in pain as their brains got fried from my System Reset along with the many other quickhacks, causing a total cyber server breakdown.
I wanted to collapse, their deaths caused me extreme pain because we were linked together for runs so I am now linked with dead people.
But this was all the plan.
Another holo opened and I clicked a few times before smashing the 'OK' button and hollered in agony.
I opened my eyes outside, blood pouring out of my face.
"How did yo--" I swung my fist out and dented in the chrome dome of the man, pressing on the brain with the metal and he fell over, having a seizure.
I sat up, panting before vomiting blood all over myself, my body trembling.
"Never again." I muttered, vision a blur as I caused a total Militech sever breakdown, everyone single one they had and my mind couldn't be 'stored' away in cyber space so I was 'stored' away in the only download area they still was: My own body.
I forcefully unlinked the interface, breaking it out of my skull and jumping to my wobbly feet but activating the Sandy.
I ran as fast as I could, hitting who I passed in that time and each time time resumed, heads would explode from the impact.
I Sandy-ed to the nearest wall I knew to be thin because that was that wall a psycho damaged with his explosive weapon not long ago and it was just covered with sheet metal.
I was right, with the Sandy, I was able to smash through it and out of the facility.
As time took over again I hunched over, my organs wanting to come out of my mouth but only blood came.
I stumbled, barely standing, feeling my body wanting to fall apart, I knew it wouldn't but it felt like every single bolt, screw, glue, clip and latch was gone and nothing was holding the pieces together.
"There!! There!!!" I looked over my shoulder in horror at the squad they were forcing me to join, their leader, was yelling as they pointed at me.
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"I ran until my body just gave out, pushing the Sandy until my mind was on the edge of psychosis and I didn't fall into that void only because I passed out.... Ripper found me and wanted to take my parts but since I was breathing, tho barely, he thought he'd take me in as a worker and I've worked for him for around five years since that day."
I looked at her but she was silent, almost lost in her own mind.
"I changed out most parts they gave me but I will never be free from what they did to me, heck their logo is on my Sandy, branding me as their property.... TechDeck is a group of prototype super soldiers and I was the final creation but since I escaped and crashed their servers beyond repair they need to get me back to be able to recreate what created me since I have all the data that survived my crash in my head."
"I... Don't know what to say." She muttered, cupping her cheek as she looked at me.
"This is why I work solo, to not drag others into this mess, it is easy to hide in NC but still there is always danger and you just got a taste of it, they will not let their weapon go..."
"You are your own person, no one can tell you what you are!" She said, almost as if she knew the feeling.
"Oh yeah? Lucy, My name is Zyber and my technical last name is Vistan, wanna know why? Huh?!.... Because I am a weapon.... Like the Sandevistan.... I am a military grade cyber weapon, the Zybervistan. I don't have a name, I have a serial number.... If I ever get caught, super soldiers with Zybervistan technologies will be made and who knows.... Maybe that day will finally be final days of edgerunners before big corpo finally takes over everything."
She whispered, covering her mouth so I didn't get to hear it.
She looked at me, almost waiting for a reaction but I was confused, making her realize I didn't hear it.
Lucy was currently looking really vulnerable.
"This is all my fault." She whispered louder, letting me hear it.
"What? What's your fault?"
"Asaraka's project.... It only got to light because a little girl escaped...." She said, grabbing the back of her head.
My eyes went wide, dots instantly connecting, my body feeling numb and shaking as I hoped for the love of all that it still good that I wasn't right.
The coldest chills grabbed at me as Lucy looked at me, looking really guilty.
"Militech learned of Arasaka's project because I got away...." She muttered.