"Damn it. Jin, you get a peak at the new patch update? They added an antivirus that checks the system every ten minutes and sends what it sees to an operator." A man in a hoodie and mask said, looking at me. That spooked me a little. Those words were going to make this heist harder than running out of the area. New-Cisco, the city our group was based in that was renamed in 2034, was originally named San Francisco ,and has very few law enforcement offices now, since every action was monitored by cameras every few feet by the Giants, that's what we call the major world corporation NewYu which stands for "New You." The only new thing really is all the tech they sent out.
"Yeah, it is crazy. I bet you twenty-five bits Aes has gotten past it." I smiled holding my hand out to Tofu. That was the nickname we all gave to each other. Aes got his name because when he wasn't making new exploits to help us, he was an artist. Tofu is a chef, and I am a delivery boy. Nothing interesting in our group, besides being in an allegiance with another group like ours.
Placing the thermite on the metal wall besides the crypto bank, we lit the fuse and burned a flame in the wall, soon rushing in with our cards to bypass the security lock on the money. Shoving my key card into the slot, it beeped and opened the door, soon we entered the computer room and transferred the bits to our storage device before rushing out only to see the drones surrounding our, the automatic voices speaking with an inhuman like tone. "Please put your hands above your head, and drop your weapons. We are allowed to use lethal force if necessary."
"Yo, you got the new gadget Aes gave you?" Tofu said to me, a smile appearing on his face.
"Yeah. I just toss it, right?" Questioning my friend before he nodded. I pressed the button before tossing it to the drones, a small beep playing before they all shut down and fell to the ground. "Aes you beautiful man." I said before running off with Tofu. Heading towards the busy street, we split up so we would fit in with the crowd. The only thing they would have to know who we are would be our clothes, but thankfully we had buttons on clothes. Soon walking with the crowd, I called Tofu and told him to meet at the River of Life Club along with Aes and Mono. Mono is the leader of our group and we all meet here. Walking to the front, the receptionist looked at us and smiled, standing up before asking a question. "Good evening, Sir and welcome to the River of Life Virtual club. How may I help you?"
"I was wondering where the package was." I replied, pulling a small chip out of my pocket before putting it on my arm insert drive.
"Yes there was sir. It is near the river. Do you know where the river is." She replied, not minding my fiddling.
"The river is in me."
"Right this way. Mono has been waiting." She said before getting out from behind the counter and letting me get in, a small hatch opening before I walked down and into the dank basement, the scent of gunpowder and stains of blood from previous fights over bad deals. After walking down the halls, it opened up to a larger underground club, people in holographic masks dancing. I activated mine, which was a binturong. What a beautiful animal, the binturong. In Southeast Asia, it is also called the bear cat. Each mask represents a person by what they do. Dogs are people who use force to control and are usually large company owners. Raccoons, foxes, and opossums are usually theifs who are willing to do anything for a quick bit. Aes was a bat from his ability to save anyone's memories and upload them into a robot frame, Tofu was a coyote from his skill of tricking people easily. I learned to keep a close eye on my bits when I am near him. Walking through the crowd of men and women dancing, their bodies hot from how crowded it was, I went to a table and saw a man with a lion mask. Lions meant they were leaders. It was Mono. I looked at him and sat, keeping quiet before he handed me an earpiece so we could hear each other. A few moments later, Aes and Tofu showed up. They sat down as well before Mono spoke to us.
"There is a new virus out there. It is destroying people from the inside out." Mono said, looking at us with his hands folded and suit nicely kept.
"Let me guess. You want us to use it for our own good to do a large heist? It is gonna be hard but-..."
"No. I want you to find who sent it out to the public, change the code, and make it to be a propaganda virus to take down this shit government we have." Mono interrupted Tofu. We knew this was gonna be a hard one since we would have to get someone infected and go into their hardware and send out pings to see where it originates. "Now, I don't have a set price, but I know you three well enough that you know I pay well, and for this certain... pseudo-mission, the payment will be large." Mono spoke to us, grabbing his alcoholic drink with his gloved hand, swirling it as the dark red drink turned a glowing blue.
"Alright. Can we get some money to get started? The amount of funds for developing the tools and searching will need to be-..."
"Yes, yes, Aes. I will get you your standard starting funds. I expect you three to get this done." Mono interrupted Aes, sliding a disc labelled one million bits. Compare bits to old age currency during the early two thousands is around three hundred thousand if it were to be the United State dollar.
Finishing our drinks, we stood up and gave Mono our thanks before pushing ourselves past the crowd of people. I held onto Tofu's shoulders so I wouldn't lose him. I don't have many fears, but one is crowds. I guess you could call it a secret, except Tofu knows. Soon leaving the main area, we switched our masks off and walked down the hallway. "How the hell are we gonna do this?" Tofu asked us, not entirely sure how we would be able to find someone infected. The best place we expected to find some quick answers would be the back alley markets. I normally wasn't the one to explore but since we needed to find someone as fast as possible, we all had to go. From the stories Tofu told me, I assumed it was filled with psychopaths and cannibals with some people addicted to drugs, but to my surprise, it wasn't. Yes, there were some crazy people, but they were all nice, offering us exotic meats, fruits, and some illegal modifications to the body. Walking through it, I asked people if there were any new drugs to buy since they all would probably know. Somehow, without even asking, they told me exactly where to get it. They told us to go to a guy in the Pangolin district, and with that, I started to walk out of the market before a man stepped behind me and shoved a gun to my back. Yeah, this would be a small problem. "Give me everything you got in your pockets and bits." The voice said. It sounded feminine and young, almost as if it is fresh out of college.
"Listen, I don't have any on me right now. I can get you some though." I responded, looking around to see if I could see their face which I couldn't.
"I don't care. Just give me everything. Come on." she said it more aggressively, shoving the gun to Jin's back a little harder.
"I told you. I don't have anything, but-..." I said before she yelled at me and pulled the trigger, but nothing fired. The gun clicked again but didn't fire.
"Damn it! He didn't give me a working gun!" the woman exclaimed before getting tackled by Tofu, her body hitting the floor before he took the gun out of her hand.
"Why did you do that?" I asked Tofu, only to see him look up and smile.
"I saved your life! Finally paid back the debt!" he spoke, getting up and putting his knees on her spine so she couldn't get up. Oh yeah. I forgot about the debt. On a previous mission given to us by Mono to steal something, a guy caught us and was about to shoot Tofu but I stopped him and he has been in my debt ever since. I told him he doesn't need to worry about it, but he always thinks he needs to.
"Alright. Thanks." I spoke before getting on a knee and looking at the one on the floor. "What is your name?" I asked in a friendly tone even though she was about to shoot me with a useless gun.
"Trenton." She spoke, cheek to the ground, stained with countless fights that led to bloodshed.
"Well Trenton, maybe you can help us and we can get you your drugs." I gave a smile before grabbing the gun and throwing it over the buildings so she couldn't get it. "Sound like a deal?"
"Fine, but get your fat friend off my back. He is gonna kill me."
"I am not fat! This is all muscle, well... some of it." Tofu exclaimed before getting off and helping her up.
"Alright, my friend and I are looking for a new drug. It is only for people with eye replacements and we have some. We were looking to have some fun or however you say it." I responded, hoping she would fall for my bait since I have never done drugs and don't plan on doing it.
"Uh... yeah. I was actually going to buy some. It is called Dynamo. Supposed to mess you up real good and leave you brain dead." Trenton replied, holding a hand out. "If you are buying some, then you have enough for me. Give me some bits now so when I get some, I can bounce."
"Alright fine. Here are your bits." I said to her, handing a chip with some bits. "Now show us where we can find some, and Tofu, ring up Aes and tell him we are gonna get some." I told him before following Trenton down the winding alleyways before we saw a group of guys smoking and laughing before they stepped up to us and smiled.
"You guys looking for something?" the man said, looking us up and down.
"Yeah. My friends and I wanna get some dynamo. You got some?" Trenton asked, before we got tased, and dragged us off into the night.