Maniac’s Mayhem: A guide to being a corporate slave

After we finish what is probably the greatest meal I have ever had, we head out. I am leading the front of the group since I have the map, and Bubbles is all the way in the back. The girls that know how to use a gun are put in the middle, so we have some coverage. It still amazes me that 3 of them knew how to use guns. It’s also a bit scary. I also made the best discovery ever: due to how my mask functions, it can also create temporary scabbards for my sword. So the small blue sword is on my hip with my large claymore on my back. Let me tell you, not having to carry them around by hand is a life changer.

We are currently making our way from building to building towards one of the checkpoints that have been created. As we were walking, my curiosity gets the better of me, and I decided to grill my AI on my latest purchases.

‘So Lyssa, what is up with the new sword? I feel like it keeps making noises.’

You would be correct the sword was originally designed on the planet of Avicorus. The native people of that planet would hunt these big birds called Ragosa. They are roughly the size of two vans with two sets of wings. The sword was used for the initial attack. With every hit, it released a low-voltage shock that paralyzed the muscles in the local area, making it harder for the bird to fly away. If one of the hunters got lucky and managed to stab the sword in deep enough they could release the barbs to disable the bird permanently.

‘So what you're saying is that this is a taser sword. How useful is that exactly?’

For smaller models, it is not that effective, but your sword has been optimized for antithesis muscle and should work well in disabling the bigger models. Do you have any further questions?

‘Yes, how do the barbs work?’

Usually, you would have to trigger a release mechanism manually, but Lyssa took the liberty of creating a release system that can be activated with your augs. Lyssa will give you access to it now.

With that, a little icon appears in my vision. I take out the short sword and look at it. Then, I activate the application, and small thorns pop out all over the flat side of the blade. And this thing instantly looks ten times more scary. I can even confirm it since the closest girl suddenly moved further away. That totally does not hurt my feelings or anything.

After we make it to the second building with one of the many sky bridges, I tense up a bit; from all the areas for our route, this part I like the least. There are barely any cameras placed here, leaving me with a lot of blind spots. We make it past two hallways when I hear something: a crushing sound. It's not very loud, but it still makes my spine shiver. I stop, trying to locate the source of the noise. After waiting a bit and nothing happening Bubbles walks her way towards me.

“Something wrong?” she asks.” Why have we stopped?”

“I heard something,” I say. “You stay here, and I'll go check it out.”

“Okay, you be safe.”

“I am always safe.”

She gives me a weird look, but I have no time to dwell on that as I slowly creep ahead. After getting a few meters away I hear the sound again and hone in on it. As I go through some side passages, I open the door to what appears to have been a canteen at some point. Tables with attached benches placed at certain intervals, one of those canteen bar thingies. Everything seems to be covered in a smattering of rust. Ooh, and blood; there are three dead bodies here from what appears to be dock workers and a smattering of model 3 and 4s. But that is not what concerns me at the moment; no, my problem is with the big fucker in the middle of them. It’s the same type as the one that chased me around on the lower floors of the now-collapsed building.

‘Ooh, come on, how is that even fair? How the fuck did you even get up here? You are too fat for the stairs.’

It's because humans decided to make mega buildings that fit in stores, apartments, and offices all into the same building. This did facilitate the need for wider corridors, allowing Model 6 to move around freely.

‘Really, now you tell me, so does the sword work on that thing?’

It should slow it down by a significant margin.

‘All or nothing, huh’

I take out the stinger and run inside, stabbing the closest model 4. Its mess of tentacles stop wiggling around instantly, but I still dig the sword in deeper. You can never be too sure. My next target is a model 3. It strikes at me, flying past me as I manage to sidestep it. I try decapitating it when it comes by, but I am a bit too slow, and instead of its neck, I carve into its back and exit through its belly. I then jump up on one of the tables, run across its entire length, and jump towards the big model 6.

Having actually learned from my last jumping attempt, I hit the side of the plant and, stab the raven in, and activate the barbs. I let go of the sword, landing back on the ground, and take out my claymore. I manage to slice up two model 3 before I fuck up. From my blind spot a pointed tentacle from a model 4 hits me in the side. The shield is probably doing its job, but I am still sent several meters away. But I am not incapacitated, and I quickly get up again. Only a few beasties left. I sprint towards the model 4 but the tentacles sprouting out of its face are doing a good job at protecting it. The process of cutting the tentacles down means that I have slowed down enough to be surrounded by three more model 3 as well as an additional model 4. Lucky for me, the Model 6 has become a twitchy mess, and can’t participate in this fight.

I back off from the model 4 and focus my attention instead on the model 3s. The longer I wait, the more of an advantage they have, so I run at one of them. As I come within range, I make an upward motion with my sword. Its face, if you can call it that, splits vertically in two. Sadly the rest has not been idle as I feel a collection of pinpricks in my left leg. Painkillers are the best is the first thought that crosses my mind when I see that one of the model 3s has claped its jaw on my leg. I stab it a few times, trying to kill it, but even in death, the fucker does not let go. The other 3 is now closing in, and I decided to just ignore the ankle biter. I hold a ready stance and wait. The last model 3 is the first to act, jumping at me. I intercept it with my sword, then push it through, handily bisecting it. The next part of the fight turns into a slog trying to cut down tentacle after tentacle to get closer to the model 4. But I get there in the end, and that means the only one remaining is the model 6. It is trying to make its way towards me, but with every step, he seems to spasm and end up falling. So, I spent a bit of time unhinging the jaw around my leg first before I began chopping. The fight with the model 6 is much less a fight than it is an execution.

Targets Eliminated

Reward... 125 Points

After I finished my mission of extreme weed control, I sent Bubbles a message telling her it was all clear. While waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, I took a look at my leg. It only has some minor damage, so I should be safe for now. I retrieve the stinger and start cleaning my swords and storing them in the proper holsters. It does not take long for my break to end.

“You had some fun, huh?” Bubbles says when she enters the room. “How much further until we make it to the safe zone?“

“Not far, just one more building, and we are at the border.” I say in reply.

“How safe is it?”

“Relatively safe, cameras are working, and I see no antitheses around, and checking the past logs tells me that there have not been any for the last couple of hours.”

“Good. We need to talk about the girls. What are we going to do with them once we reach safety?“ she asks, a bit of concern leaking into her voice.

“Have not given it much thought. I would love to give them a place to stay, but I have no mon...”

Lyssa would like to offer a solution. Lyssa has access to the accounts of the traffickers as well as several of their customers; we can drain those for the required funds.

“Never mind.” I say, cracking a grin. “Looks like we should have at least some money.”

‘Lyssa, can you look for accommodations for them with that money? If you have any money left over, just divide it between the girls, okay, but make sure they have a safe place first.’

Certainly, Lyssa found an open property close to Circle Corp's new distribution tower for 151 million credits, which can house all of them and a few more. This leaves about 67% of the funds still available.

My jaw hit the floor. I had never seen this much money in my life, and here it was. None of it is mine, but it's nice to see big numbers. Then I turn to Bubbles.

“I just bought a house and gave them some money, so they should be good for a while,” I say to her. “Sending you the address now.”

“Ooh, that is close to where I live!” she exclaimed in excitement. “So I can help out as well.”

“Sure, I'll add you to the lock.” I say, “Now, the difficult part is going to be explaining everything to them.”

“Once we reach safety, I find someone who can translate for us, so it should be all right.” Bubbles say

Then we are silent for a bit before she speaks up again.

“What about you?” Bubbles ask. “Where will you go?”

“Well, after we drop them off somewhere safe, I would like to go back in there and try to get a few more points.” I say while pointing back in the direction we came from.

“That is not what I meant, Maniac. I mean, after the incursion, do you have anywhere to go?”

“Sure, anyway, do you still think Maniac is a good idea? Feel like I am going to make the worst first impressions with that kind of name.”

“It's fine. People should know where they are getting into. And don’t avoid the question like that.”

“What are you talking about? I am fine; I will just go home.”

“Maniac, you wear your mask all the time, even while eating. Sure, I can understand protective gear, but you are a new samurai. Usually, the first thing they buy is not a mask.” She says, “I am not stupid. Okay, something is going on, and I want to help.”

I look at her. Really, look at her. Seems my little travel companion is more observant than I would have thought. So I make a decision I am going to need allies soon, and having allies that can fuck shit up is always nice.

“You are right,” I say. “The whole story is long and complicated. Would you like to know it?”

“Yes, please; I would love to know more about you.”

I nod. “So where to start? When I was little, I used to live with my parents and my big brother. We were middle class but had enough money to be happy. My brother loved robotics, and he always said that when he finished his studies, he would open this cheap cybernetic shop for the poorer people out there. I always looked up to him for that, so I decided to learn how to code so I could help him when he opened the shop. He and I would always work on weird and crazy projects together. We were happy.”

I take a deep breath. Here comes the hard part. “My father’s work started downscaling at some point, and he lost his job. My mom's job was not enough to pay for both our food and my brother's education, so he had to quit. I did not like that, so I did something stupid. I started to mess around and writing hacks to penetrate the defences of the big companies. Until one day, I succeeded. I got the designs of a new graphical processor for some new aug models. After that, it was pretty easy to sell the blueprints to a different company. I still remember how smug I felt. I immediately went to my brother and told him the good news. He was confused about how I got the money. And I just told him I sold some stuff using a code that I made. I should have told the truth. Maybe things would have been different,” I say, trying to wipe the tears from my eyes.

“You okay?” Bubbles asks

“I am fine.” I say, taking a deep breath. “Anyway, that night, I woke up to gunshots and screaming. I climbed out of bed and ran to the living room. There, I saw my mom and dad were both dead on the floor, a puddle of blood slowly expanding. And my brother was on his knees crying saying that he was the one who hacked the servers. They put him in handcuffs, and when they spotted me, they arrested me too. After that, everything is kind of a blur: going to jail, crying a lot, and then the courtroom. There, my brother confessed to everything, everything that I did. We received a huge fine and went into debt. Then our debt got bought up and we became indentured servants or slaves would be the more accurate term. That was the last time I saw him. Last year I received a letter. My brother had killed himself after finding out that since I was now 18, I was required to sell myself. That is my story.”

“I.. I. . am so sorry,” Bubbles gets out between sobs.

“Don’t worry, morbidly enough; the sex was the best part; not having to run around and just lay there is relaxing in its own way. Especially if you manage to snag a high-ranking member who does not like sharing, so you only have to deal with the one person.”

Suddenly, I feel two arms around me and hear Bubbles say, “You are safe now. I will protect you from now on.”

“That is sweet, but no, thank you. I won’t be happy until I have burnt that place to the ground from the inside out with my own hand. Since I am a samurai now I can go on a counter-offensive.”

“But you could stay at my place.” she says. “Nothing terrible will happen to you anymore.”

“Sorry, but I can’t. They put several remote charges in my body so I can’t run away with company secrets.”

That is incorrect; Lyssa has already disabled all harmful devices in your body. You have nothing to worry about.

‘Aah, thanks. Do they know about that?"

No, Lyssa has been sending a fake signal saying that the bombs are still armed.

After that, we talk about more light-hearted topics. Bubbles regals me with several stories of her family and friends as well as her school life. And we make it to the checkpoint without any further incident.