The Protagonist System

After her embarrassing talk with Kiwi, the backup netrunner from Maine's crew, Panam Palmer just couldn't help herself and went on a solo mission to keep an eye on them. She followed their GPS signal along the back streets and away from the main parts of the fighting, mostly because of the huge 'fuck off' red beams that kept hammering every gang vehicle in sight and then the wreckage and bodies would disappear.

Panam didn't want a part in any of that and avoided it as much as possible. She had even stopped to kick the dirt off of her fenders and unbolted the panels on her car that had Aldecaldos colors, just in case. They could be easily reattached, which she would do the next time she found a safe place to do it.

Before she reached the street where the Biotechnica Corporation had their HQ in Night City, Panam had to swerve and avoid a large armored vehicle. She skidded to a stop as two more of them zoomed past and seemed to be heading to the same street.

Panam thought about getting out of there and saving her own ass right away, then she sighed. She knew what Maine and his crew were doing and she couldn't let them get hurt or killed doing something for her family, the Aldecalos. She sent a priority message to Kiwi to warn her about the incoming hostiles, knowing the woman would use it for the maximum advantage it would give her.

With the warning sent, and knowing they would never accept her physical help, Panam drove away from there as fast as the surprisingly clean backstreets would let her. How had the mounds of garbage been cleaned up so quickly after she had seen them there only a few days ago? It was almost beyond her comprehension.

Panam was quite handy with rebuilding her own ride with precision and efficiency, so she knew the capabilities of her vehicle even better than the company that had originally built the thing. She carefully drove it out of the soon to be very hostile area to where the Fixer named Padre was patiently waiting for Maine's crew to return.

She wanted to be nearby when they finally completed the mission, even though she herself was not the one that had set it up or was paying for it. Who had been the one to do so, though? She wanted to know and hoped she was still on good terms with whomever the Aldecaldos sent to retrieve the information.

*

“Three vehicles, estimate 6 hostiles per.” Dorio said in her husky voice as Maine's Crew reached the stairwell. She didn't want to believe Kiwi had gotten a warning from Panam Palmer, then a discreet check with the passive scanner in their ride confirmed it. She held the door for everyone to pass by.

“Almost 3 against 1?” Pilar asked as he flexed his golden fingers. “I like those odds.”

“You would.” Rebecca said and swatted at his head to make him dodge. “What's the play, boss?”

Maine gave her a grin. “Battering ram.”

Most of the others groaned as Dorio and Rebecca cheered.

“They'll be entering the lobby now.” Lucy said as she stayed near the center of the group.

Kiwi nodded. “At least one team will take the elevator. One the stairs, and the third should remain as backup in the lobby as the other two search for us.”

“You're assuming they're a Biotechnica response team.” Falco said just before the lights turned off in the stairwell and red emergency lights came on to replace them. “Or a Militech team they hired.”

“Plan works either way.” Maine said and flexed his hands. He had handed off his weapon to Dorio and she would have his back while Rebecca shot at the stragglers with her shotgun. “We make a hole, you guys spread out and handle the rest.”

“Got it, boss.” Everyone answered.

They were halfway down the stairwell when the door they came through and the lobby door both opened at the same time. Since the stairwell was one continuous route, you could see almost from the top to the bottom. That also meant decent shooters could aim up at you.

“Ah, drek!” Pilar said and jumped aside as several bullets pinged off of the handrail where his quite visible golden hand had just been. “They've made us!”

“Change of plan.” Maine said and looked at the back of the group at Dorio. “Divide and conquer.”

“Maine.” Dorio whispered. It had only been one word; and yet, a world of expression and emotions were contained within it.

“We got this, babe.” Maine said and his form expanded slightly as he entered combat mode. “Up or down?”

“Up.” She said and motioned for the women of the group to form up behind her. “Crush them.”

“We will.” Maine said and nodded at Falco and Pilar, then Maine pumped his legs as he descended down the stairs like a freight train and the two men raced after him, using his bulky body as a shield.

“Why can't I go with them?” Rebecca asked as she followed Dorio up the stairs at a fast pace, with Lucy and Kiwi behind her.

“You just want to enter the fight sooner.” Kiwi said.

“Of course I do!” Rebecca responded. “Guts is hungry!”

No one laughed, because they were about to enter a firefight that could spell the end of their little group. If a few lucky shots managed to incapacitate them or ended them, then the rest of the crew would be overrun. None of them wanted that to happen.

“Any luck with the remote hacks?” Dorio asked as she took the steps two at a time.

“They're hardened against them.” Lucy said with frustration in her voice. “Even their smart weapons have ICE shielding.”

“Drek.” Dorio said and drew her gun. “Then it's a straight up shootout until I can get close enough.”

“I'm okay with that.” Rebecca said as bullets pinged off the handrails and gouged out small pits in the stairs. “Let me know when you want covering fire.”

They ascended the next flight of stairs and the gunfire doubled.

“I want covering fire.” Dorio said and stopped running at the next landing.

“On it!” Rebecca said and slung her shotgun and pulled her automatic weapon from behind her back. She waited for a lull in the sprays of enemy bullets before she turned off the safety on her gun. She didn't even bother trying to aim as she pointed the business end of the gun up the stairwell and pulled the trigger, then swayed it back and forth.

Several loud curses came from several floors above them and Lucy, Kiwi, and Dorio exchanged smiles. Rebecca held the trigger down until the magazine was empty and pulled the gun back undercover and popped a new magazine into it.

“Do that again in five seconds.” Dorio said and looked at Kiwi. The other woman nodded and the two of them rushed up the stairs and out of sight.

Lucy took in a deep breath and let it out. She needed to remain calm and not lose her head. She drew her pistol and tried again to send out a hacking signal. It hit dead air and she gave Rebecca a subtle shake of her head in denial.

Rebecca shrugged and leaned her assault rifle back out into the stairwell and let go another spray of heavy gunfire until the clip was empty.

“That's such a huge waste of ammo.” Lucy whispered and the two of them ran up the stairs after their teammates.

“It's only a waste if it didn't work, which it did.” Rebecca responded, just as they heard shouts of surprise and a close combat fight started.

“AHHHH!” A man screamed as he plummeted down the open stairwell past them. He hit several railings and started to cartwheel through the air, then his head got stuck in a railing rung and the force of his fall snapped his neck like a twig. His military helmet held firm and the body hung there like an old-time lynching.

“We have to hurry!” Rebecca said and sped up her climbing. “Doria's a greedy bitch and there won't be any of them left for us to fight!”

I don't mind missing out. Lucy thought and kept that opinion to herself as she kept pace with the much shorter woman. Letting them know she wasn't as die hard for fighting as they were, would only ostracize her from them.

Down below, Maine's battering ram strategy worked even better than he thought it would. He pretty much steamrolled over the team in the stairwell and then right into the middle of the backup team. His reach was far greater than a normal-sized man's, so he easily grabbed two of the Militech soldiers and used them like baseball bats and clobbered the rest of the backup team with their own armored forms.

Falco and Pilar used their more modest guns to deal with the remains of the first team and finished them off, then gave the same mercy to the men Maine was bludgeoning to death. It took the two of them several minutes to calm the big man down and dragged him back from the edge of cyber-psychosis.

“Send word... to the girls. Lobby secured.” Maine said, his breathing laboured. It wasn't from the fight, either. He had been close to losing himself and he needed to be careful about how much he involved himself in fights from then on.

“Done.” Falco said. What he didn't say was he had warned Dorio about the close call with losing Maine and she was already on her way down in the elevator with the three girls. They had been successful, too. Like Maine, Dorio had easily manhandled her opponents, despite their heavy armor protection. The girls had dealt with the rest easily enough.

The elevator dinged and the four women stepped out. Rebecca's soft cursing in the background about missing out again, made the moustache-wearing man named Falco smile and Pilar laughed as he started making fun of her for it.

“Let's get out of here.” Dorio said and took Maine's hand and led him outside.

To all of their surprise, the assault teams hadn't left anyone behind to guard the vehicles. Maine's crew all exchanged questioning looks, then they all smiled and split up into teams. The vehicles were still running and Dorio took main into one, Rebecca and Pilar took another one, and Kiwi and Lucy took the last one. Falco ran for the alleyway and hopped in their actual ride.

The caravan made its way across the city with an unexpected bonus that would set them up for a long time to come. Three military assault vehicles would fetch a high price on the black market, especially after tonight's festivities.

With that and the payoff for the successful job they had completed, Maine and his crew were sitting pretty and wouldn't need to work for a while. They would, just because it was something to do. Edgerunners rarely ever sat idle as the world passed them by, after all.

*

Militech hadn't been sitting idle, either. They fulfilled several contracts they had with other corporations and had sent out many teams, only for most of them to end up slaughtered by the gangs. That had happened to them before, since they were used to being the big kid on the block when it came to military hardware and combat tactics.

What they didn't realize was that was a false impression. Without a constant police presence as a deterrent against fighting back, the gangs no longer had any reason to go easy on them. By the end of the night, a good portion of their troops did not return.

However, with the city going crazy, they figured it was time to deal with a few lingering problems that they had been dealing with for years and hadn't been able to get rid of. One of their main targets for extermination was the Maelstrom Gang, because they continued to raid Militech stores and warehouses for parts and weapons.

The problem was, their main force assaulted what everyone knew was the Maelstrom's main hideout and they found nothing. There was no trace at all of them, their operations, the stolen parts, or anything else. The place was so clean that it was almost like they had never been there.

A few backroom information deals gained them some critical information. There had been no signs of any Maelstrom Gang members for the last few days and their popular and well known vehicles hadn't been seen in just as long. It didn't make sense. How could a gang that huge just disappear and no one had seen or heard anything about it?

Their forces were redistributed after that and that was why so many of them had been lost. The gangs and even regular citizens were taking no prisoners and every opportunist took advantage of having access to military grade tech, armor, and weapons.

Most of the equipment was sold to Fixers to auction off later, which they would make a ton of eddies from. The rest was kept by the smarter and more industrious people. How often could you get your hands on such high-end equipment and supplies? Not often, and it was usually at a preem price.

*

Veder's words weren't prophetic or anything about how quickly Atlas could clean up the city. He was only telling the truth. With so many people working towards the same goal, suppressing the fighting and dealing with the violence, while also pulling as many civilians out of the line of fire as possible, it was only a matter of time before they had dealt with it all.

It was nearly 5 in the morning when the last of the rioters were taken down and brought to the holding facility Atlas had made in the basement of the warehouse. Apparently, if you bought the land, you could do whatever you wanted with it, like build a tower up into the sky or dig a multi-storey underground facility to hide underneath it.

He chose the second option of course, just so no one would know where he was keeping all the prisoners. Well, everyone that worked for him knew about it and were surprised at how clean everything was. None of them asked when it had been built and none of them wanted to know.

Tank, the security manager of the warehouse, was surprisingly accepting of the responsibility for becoming the warden of the new underground prison facilities. The pay raise and the new apartment might have helped with that, too.

When everything started to calm down across the city, Atlas finally engaged the cloaking device on the ship and started to step to the various businesses and buildings to fix and repair everything. With a mix of Overhaul's power and magic, mostly an overpowered Reparo spell, let it all be done in a fraction of the time that normal repairs could be done.

Since Atlas had already used the Defiant to teleport most of the wrecked cars and explosion debris to the industrial replicator to convert to energy, there was barely any debris left for him to vanish. He repaired walkways, building entrances, tunnels, roadways, bridges, and everything else that had been affected by the chaos.

He did it all invisibly, too. It was one thing to unveil technology that was so far beyond what existed, and it was another to show off how many powers he had. Then again, Atlas was pretty sure that with all the fake information the other corporations had put out there, no one was going to believe that he had a city block sized spaceship. It was one of the benefits of him not trying to fight against their information blockage and he could use it against them.

The various news crews had retreated when the main sources of the fighting had been taken down by the Atlas Incorporated MaxTac teams and their private police force. It had all been recorded in full definition and they would be converted into many successful braindances made from the footage. They would also become hot sellers in the coming weeks.

When he was finally done, Atlas returned to the bridge of the ship and flew it up into the atmosphere. He asked Christine Chappel if she wanted to become the CEO of Atlas Incorporated and she just laughed and shook her head. She chose to remain on the ship and would start studying all the tech databases she now had access to. It would advance her medical knowledge in ways she never thought of before, so he left her to it and stepped back to near his business office.

When he entered the locked down place, he ignored Veder sleeping on the floor under a small pile of happy women. He hadn't had sex with them or with Denise, although it had been a close thing. Saving their lives had opened them up and let them relax around him, not to mention how jealous they were that Denise had somehow found a decent guy in the entirety of Night City.

Atlas cleaned the place up without a sound or disturbing them and went out to the front office to sit down and wait for the business day to begin. He thought about making breakfast for everyone, then shrugged and pulled out a dozen different meals under preservation charms and set them out on the surgical bed for them to find later.

The long night was finally over and all that was left was to deal with the consequences.