The Protagonist System

By the time the AV returned to wherever Atlas Incorporated had their medical facilities, Panam really really hated the cop that constantly poked the hand attached to her broken wrist. She knew she was being unreasonable, even after he explained that with a minor concussion, going to sleep was a very bad thing for her to do and he had to keep her awake.

The side door opened and the driver entered the back and the two of them rolled the stretcher out of the back and into a large cargo elevator. It only dropped two floors and opened onto what Panam thought was an exaggeration of what a hospital was supposed to be like. There were about 20 people there waiting and some of them looked shocked at seeing her. She didn't know why, though.

“Trauma Two.” A pretty nurse said and followed them into the area.

Panam tried to not stare at the most expensive and extensive ripperdoc setup she had ever seen. It must have shown on her face, because the cop that kept poking her laughed.

“You get used to it.” He said and parked the stretcher.

Panam wondered why the two men weren't lifting her onto the surgical bed and then she was somehow lifted without anyone touching her and she was placed in the surgical bed. “What the fuck?”

Both cops laughed at her reaction.

“That never gets old.” The other cop said and they rolled the stretcher out of the room and the door closed.

“It's a unique application of reversed hover tech.” The nurse answered and she used a slightly different medical scanner, this one with a smaller handheld attachment that she ran over Panam's chest and wrist. “They caught the major injuries and missed a few micro-fractures and strained muscles.”

Panam gained a worried look on her face.

The nurse patted her shoulder. “Don't worry, Miss Palmer. Atlas himself is on his way to handle your case personally.”

“Why?” Panam had to ask. She didn't know the man from a random guy on the street. Why would he bother coming to see her?

The nurse smiled. “Because he can.”

Panam wasn't sure what to say to that odd response. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long before Atlas himself entered the room and her face went to a bright red when she saw the hunk of a man wore only a dress shirt and dress pants, which hugged him and his muscles like a second skin.

The nurse handed him the scanner and Atlas gave it a glance and nodded. The nurse left them alone and Panam immediately thought of the many naughty things that could be done to her without any witnesses. What surprised her was that she kind of wanted them to happen.

“Do you want to be awake for this part or put to sleep?” Atlas asked with a sexy voice.

Panam barely stopped a shiver of pleasure. In her mind, it was a voice she wanted to hear from the pillow beside her when she woke up in the morning, even though she usually slept on a tiny cot.

“Can't decide?” He asked and she shook her head. “Then I'll make it for you. Nighty night.”

Before Panam could open her mouth to argue about not seeing him when she woke up, she fell unconscious.

*

Atlas touched her arm and and healed all her ills, then was surprised to find she had barely any cyberware inside her body. She had a single neural link with custom software that was rudimentary when compared to the normal stuff you could get from any corporation's cyberware implant, which meant she either wrote it herself or had one of her Nomad friends make it for her.

She also had a cord attachment that let her link up and share inputs with either a vehicle or a person, which was faulty and didn't give her a full connection. However, she did have a minor eye implant for reading messages and small bursts of information with a limited HUD display.

He checked her pockets and found something that looked like a cell phone, only it was basic beyond basic and barely had any processing power. It was almost like an old flip phone from the 90s that you could barely do anything with except store phone numbers and call people. The range was horrible as well, especially if there weren't any repeating signal towers like a city had.

Why in the world would she rely on such outdated technology while out in the badlands? Atlas asked himself. It didn't make sense to him, especially in a world that was full of technology that relied on people having basic implants to operate everything. The only reason he wasn't having trouble was because he had technomancy and didn't need any implants.

Since Panam didn't have much for him to upgrade without her getting angry at him for altering her while she was asleep and didn't give him permission, all he could do was repair what she had and fixed the lackluster programming of both her neural linkage and her cell phone. He even upgraded it slightly and added a link port to it as well, so she could plug into it and use it with her eye implant's HUD. Giving her more versatility was always a good thing, wasn't it?

Atlas even adjusted her eye implant slightly and hopefully wouldn't piss her off by making it more robust and gave it more options, a little more memory that wouldn't be obviously noticeable, and fixed its programming as well. While he was at it, he enhanced her biological systems a little, too. Her implants would feel as natural as her flesh parts and wouldn't make her feel weird about using them, since they were a part of her.

“Hey, boss!” One of the guards said through the closed door of the exam room. “The heavy AV unit brought back her beat up truck.”

“Great! Drop it off in the garage on the first floor near the parts dispenser and I'll be there in a minute.” Atlas said and the guard walked away.

“Have you fixed her up yet?” Chappel asked when she entered the exam room.

“As much as I can without getting into too much trouble over it.” Atlas answered.

Chappel chuckled at that. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“No, she's pretty laid back about everything, except for one thing.” Atlas said and he took his hand off of her arm. “She's pretty hung up on keeping her people safe at all costs, whether she's ostracized by them or not.”

Chappel gave the unconscious woman a look and then looked at Atlas. “I think everyone can respect someone like that.”

Atlas stood and nodded. “Strip her off and put her things through the replicator. Fix them up and reformat them with the best materials, then dress her again.”

“She's going to notice the difference when she wakes up.” Chappel said.

“Probably.” Atlas said and walked over to the door. “It might distract her enough that she won't notice the changes in her body and her implants right away.”

Chappel looked down at Panam's smooth skin without blemishes and back to his face. “You're kidding, right?”

Atlas laughed and left the examination room without answering her.

“Men.” Chappel said with amusement and easily stripped Panam of her clothing. She put each piece into the replicator and reproduced it with space-age and lightweight and stronger materials that were designed to almost never wear out.

Any metal parts were replicated with durasteel instead and any embellishments were covered in gold and silver. Her heavy combat boots were given metal soles and heel and toe implants to make them into formidable close combat weapons. She did not add in the toe or heel concealed blades, though. You had to be trained in their use before you were allowed to wear them in an underground base full of people.

Atlas reached the garage and saw the crumpled front end of the truck and winced at the damage. She must have been driving at a decently fast speed to do that much damage from a sudden drop of ten feet and hitting a dirt wall.

The cop there handed him the scans they did at the scene of the accident and Atlas nodded. There were no skid marks or torn up dirt. She hadn't seen the basement at all and had driven right into it without slowing down.

“The headlights were on when I checked the truck to make sure it was off.” The cop added. “The terrain was rough past where that was, so we think the truck's bouncing kept the lights from catching the hole in its beams to warn her.”

“I think so, too.” Atlas said and handed the scanner back. “Good work.”

“Thanks, boss.” He said and clipped it to his belt and walked over to the AV that he and his partner had used for their patrols. The maintenance men had finished checking it over and gave him a thumbs up. He gave one back and he and his partner climbed in. A moment later, they flew up and out through the access tunnel that would take them out through another exit to hide where they had launched from.

Atlas hit a button and temporary walls slid into place to hide the work area from sight. He touched the damaged truck and used his technomancy to find all the things wrong with it and told the part dispenser what he needed. He would have to do some hands-on work with the customized parts Panam had installed, to either fix them with transfiguration or to replace them, and he looked forward to it.

*

I walked on through the streets of the subdivision for quite some time before I came to a stop next to a panel van. I wasn't sure why I stopped, just that I had the feeling that I needed to, for some reason. It wasn't my Danger Sense, since that hadn't gone off since I was attacked in the elevator over a piece of fruit.

No, this was slightly different. There seemed to be something odd that pinged my perception and I thought about what it could be. Was it a tiny air pressure wave? It was fairly far away and I wasn't sure what direction it...

...my Danger Sense urged me to move and I stepped backwards one step.

A high calibre bullet tore into the side of the panel van and left a fist sized hole in the metal. I turned in the right direction and sent out a pulse of telepathy for a panicking mind that just missed the shot. I found it half a mile away laying down on top of an AV landing pad. Whomever it was, could easily see my face looking right at them through their zoom lens scope.

Instead of waiting or calling for help, I stepped from where I was and onto the landing pad beside the assassin. He was a mercenary hired by an unnamed client and it was set up by a Fixer that operated out of the downtown area. Surprisingly, it was a bar called Electric Orgasm and it didn't have an outdoor sign to show where it was.

That was both weird and also sneaky. You couldn't go there without knowing about it, which was a great place to have a bar and a hideout for a Fixer to arrange jobs in. The merc dropped his rifle with a shout of surprise and rolled over as he drew a pistol and aimed it at my face. I stored the ammo as he pulled the trigger and the gun clicked empty and didn't fire.

He was surprised that nothing happened and he pulled the trigger several times, only for the clicking sound to repeat. “Fuck!” He shouted and rolled back over to pick the rifle up and swung it at me.

I caught the end of the barrel and pulled it out of his hands, again surprising him, and he rolled back over and reached inside a leather bag. I stored the guns and the contents of the bag and saw several incendiary grenades and shook my head at him going for something that would take time to burn me to death instead of quickly blowing me up.

“Fuck!” He shouted again at finding it empty and jumped to his feet, gave me a look full of loathing, and ran for the edge of the building.

Since I wasn't an idiot, I did not think that he was trying to kill himself to escape being caught. No, he was going for the scaling and repelling ropes he had tied there to reach the vehicle that was waiting for him far below on the ground. I stepped from where I was to next to the spot he was running to and held my foot out.

“AHHHHH!” He screamed as he tripped over my foot and he missed the rope that he was supposed to hook his belt hoop to.

I leaned out over the edge of the building and watched as he plummeted to the ground and had to use a touch of telekinesis to fix my aim. He smashed right into the roof of the car head first and crushed it down, killing himself and the driver instantly. People started screaming and running after seeing someone fall to their death, so they were distracted enough that they didn't see me as I stepped from the roof to beside the car.

When I checked the driver's brain implant, it still worked, unlike the assassin's that was embedded into his chest. Unfortunately, the data it contained was inconsequential. It was only crimes and jobs for the same Fixer and they never checked who the clients were or bothered asking about them. They did it for the money and that was all. The details really didn't matter to them.

I stepped back to the roof and stored the ropes, used a bit of magic to clean up the place, and erased any evidence I had been there or what the guy had been doing up there. I stepped from there to the downtown area in a back alley near Arasaka Tower, then walked down the street and followed the asssassin's mental picture of where the hidden bar was.

It was a complete dive, with blatant drug users, prostitution, and illegal BD and XBD sales. They weren't the run of the mill normal ones that you would expect, either. I stopped myself from delving too deeply into people's depraved minds and what got them off, since I was there for a reason.

I walked over to the bar and sat beside the aging punk rocker with a tired look on his slightly wrinkled face, a wilted mohawk, and wearing a leather vest and faded jeans. Wearing sunglasses at night was just the icing on the cake.

I waved to the bartender. “Gimmie a Long Island Ice Tea, heavy on the tea.”

“We sell normal drinks here.” The man wearing a Panama hat said as he looked at me like I was insane. “If you want that fancy drek, go to the Afterlife.”

I thought about telling him he was the insane one for wearing a hat like that indoors, then shrugged. I turned to the punk guy beside me and smiled at him. “So, who paid you to have me murdered?”

The guy didn't outwardly look concerned; but, in his mind his thoughts were whirling. He recognized the Arasaka Academy uniform I wore and he only had one contract that dealt with an academy student.

“I'm just a Fixer that arranges things.” Dino said to defend himself and held his hands up, as if surrendering. His thoughts told me who it was that had hired him and why. “There's nothing personal with these kinds of things, you understand? It's only money and info changing hands and I get a cut when the services are rendered and completed.”

“Really?” I asked and turned around to look at the fairly busy bar. I used a bit of a Sonorus charm as I rapped my knuckles loudly on the bar and nearly everyone in the small bar turned their heads to look at me, even the dancers that didn't stop dancing.

The prostitute getting railed on the nearby table looked over, too. The drugged out guy screwing her didn't stop his pumping, though. He was a bit too busy, apparently.

“I'm declaring myself a Fixer for the next ten minutes.” I said and the music lowered for me, so I waved my thanks at the guy in the music booth. “As I said, I'm now a Fixer. Someone just hired me to arrange a hit on a punk rocker for 10,000 eddies in cash.” I said and pointed at Dino. “Does anyone...”

Six shots rang out and Dino's sunglasses blew apart as two bullets took out his eyes, one hit his forehead, two entered his chest and were a little off center, and one hit him in the gut. The body flopped backwards onto the bar and then slid to the floor. Not one person said anything or ran over to check on him, not even the bartender.

“Drek, I shouldn't have downed that last beer.” A man grumbled and holstered his weapon out of sight. “Only a gut shot? That's just embarrassing.”

“It was a valiant try, though.” I joked and a few people laughed. “I'm pretty sure I know who managed the lethal hits, so that's 10,000 each for four of you and 5,000 each for the ones that he would have bled out from.”

The shooters all perked up at that. There was a small commotion as several people pulled out knives and other things, which clued everyone else into what they were going to do, then nearly everyone in the bar fell upon the corpse in turns to deal a lethal blow and had it reduced to a pulp in only a few minutes. Even the prostitute managed a hit or two with her palm-sized pistol.

I actually laughed at that outcome and everyone being so sneaky to take my wording that seriously. “Okay, even I have to admit that was pretty smart, so you all get a cut.”

They all cheered and formed a line without me having to ask them to do so. Since the eddies were in cash, there were no electronic records for it and it could be used anywhere and was untraceable. I handed out appropriately sized wads of bills and also took the brief moments of contact with their hands to heal them. Most of them assumed the relief they felt was because of the free money and I didn't correct them.

“You're alright for a corpo kid.” The prostitute said as she tucked the money into her bra, then her eyes dropped to my waist. “I could give you a one time discount...”

I laughed and stood. “I'm sorry, my brief and successful career as a Fixer ended a minute ago.”

A few people laughed at the clever rebuke, as did she. I walked out of the bar with most of them waving goodbye, which I returned.

I walked out into the street with a name and an address and had to use the mental map I had of the city to find out where it was. Once I did, I stepped from there to the backyard of a fairly large home and smiled at there not being any alarms to set off.

Several members of the Tanaka Family would disappear this night and no one would ever question how or why. Sending them to Azkaban Prison and then deleting all of their records from every server in the city, which would essentially erase them from history, would be a fitting revenge for trying to kill me for a second time.

A few memory charms would be applied to the people they knew, too. They wanted to be revered as a family of well known corpos and no one was going to remember them at all.