Great Detective Soo
The shrill whine of the EMP grenade pierced the air. Machine gun rounds hammered the building like they meant to swallow it whole. From inside came a strange, quivering breath. Trembling. Terrified. Worried sick...
"W-what the hell is this?"
A woman's mutter drifted out. It was clear this wasn't what she wanted.
Soo curved a thin smile on her lips and thrust both arms forward. Anti-projectile magic burst from her hands, perfectly intercepting the incoming shells. She didn't bounce them back inside. Instead, she swept her arms downward. The bullets, frozen in mid-air, tumbled to the floor on a gust of wind.
No more shells would come flying. The EMP had shut them down for now.
So, next.
"Eyes."
With Enoch's curt command, a black blindfold dropped over Soo from above. Then—crack! The flashbang detonated, faint light seeping through the fabric.
"Kyaaang!"
A cute yelp burst from Soo's lips. Her hearing was sharper than most. Taking a flashbang's boom point-blank like that? No wonder she screamed.
"Kyaaang?"
Enoch let out a wry chuckle and yanked the teary-eyed Soo backward. Their part was done. What came next was Angela's show.
Soo ripped off the blindfold and rubbed her throbbing ears. Angela approached from behind, thumping her chest as she eyed Soo and Enoch. Trust me! she seemed to say. Though the spot she was thumping was... mighty generous.
"Kh."
"Whoa."
Enoch averted his eyes from the merciless jiggle. Soo swallowed a startled breath. The surprise didn't last—scorching heat surged up. From Angela's armpits and inner thighs, where her cooling suit left skin bare. Cool mist jetted from the suit in response. White vapor escaped her lips.
Her ocular implants spilled strings of blue light. Click. Angela, silent until now, took a heavy step forward. That was the signal.
The automated turret rebooted. But its barrel didn't swing their way.
Second step. Purple light flickered in her right eye.
Enoch watched the whole sequence in a daze. It defied understanding, but he just stared blankly.
Cameras swiveled in unison. The turret's machine gun disassembled itself. Enoch's nano-computer ran diagnostics. Data on nearby people streamed in. Footage of him and Soo got wiped. In eight seconds flat, all traces of their presence vanished.
"Insane."
Enoch's pupils quivered. Could a single human pull this off? Even if possible, it made no sense. Crunching that much data in under ten seconds, out in the field without a cooling pod?
Enoch knew zilch about netrunners beyond the word itself, but this blew past human limits by miles.
"Just like Soo said."
Angela exhaled hot breath and gave a bitter smile. "There was a nasty piece of malware lurking."
"Thanks, Angela."
No need to ask the outcome. If it was Angela, success was guaranteed.
Soo flicked her still-tingling ears and stepped forward. The wall, pocked with a dozen machine gun rounds, looked ready to crumble at a touch. Normally, Soo would've kicked it down and strode in like she owned the place. Not this time.
Even if it felt pointless, she knocked.
"Hi."
No reply.
"I'm Soo."
Only the click of a pistol racking.
Soo pressed on regardless. She had her reasons for going this far, and that gun? It'd end up lowered either way. Suicide or shoot-to-kill, didn't matter.
"Merc. Topher's friend."
"...What?"
A voice at last. Soo beamed and pushed the door open.
There sat a girl with a reporter's 'Kill me' glare... no, not a girl. A woman in her prime?
Huh?
She didn't look anywhere near puberty's age. From Topher's stories alone, she'd painted her as a much younger sister. Heck, even the name Miki sounded kinda cute. But no matter how Soo squinted, their age gap seemed tiny.
Soo scratched her cheek and approached. "Topher said to take good care of you."
"Bro—no, that bastard... he's alive?"
"Yeah. Thriving out in the wasteland."
"...Thriving?"
"For a scavenger."
Miki's face twisted in complicated feelings. Tears welled up regardless. "...Sniff. Spill it. You didn't come just to tell me that."
She wiped her eyes irritably and set the pistol down. A forearm-thick round hadn't scratched her, yet she'd hacked and neutered an automated turret. No way she wanted to pull a peashooter in front of these people and get owned.
Thud. Soo glanced at the pistol shoved her way and tilted her head. "You trust me?"
"That he carries the Ebner name? Even I didn't know that. If you do... you heard it from him. Corps would've skipped the chit-chat and jumped us. Right?"
"Oh."
"Hmph."
Miki snorted and flopped onto the sofa. Trying for nonchalance, maybe, but those tears made her look like a spooked hedgehog.
"So, what's the deal?"
"Don't you already know?"
Angela, who'd followed Soo in, asked softly. Her voice was gentle, but that smile? Lethal. At least to Miki.
"...How the hell should I?"
No lie there. Miki had no clue why these three showed up. Not from a clean life—far from it. She'd stirred plenty of pots, so she couldn't guess which one brought them knocking.
"Martin Etmuller, the guy you sent with the earrings? Dropped dead at dawn. And that errand boy stole our ride."
Miki's eyes shook at Soo's blunt recap. That reaction alone confirmed her ignorance.
"The carjacking's no biggie. We need the real killer first."
"...No idea."
"Yeah, figured."
"Then why..."
Why stick around? She couldn't spit it out. Those ash-gray eyes staring her down sealed her throat.
"Wh-what... St-staring like that, wh-what're you gonna do...!"
"Someone planted malware in you, Miki."
"...Huh? What're you—"
"Who gave you this turret?"
No markings on the automated turret. Shape ruled out Zailek or Neonic. Luthien too, obviously. Big-three corps stamped everything with their signature. This one? Nothing. Worse, it mashed up all three corps' traits. Meaning it packed their collective tech.
"Whoever dropped this turret probably slipped you the malware. Set it up so you'd lure us in and extract intel."
Soo stepped closer. Miki had nowhere to go. Sofa-bound, and even standing, her legs would've buckled.
"Revenge on Luthien? Fine by me. But lose your humanity, and Topher'll grieve."
Ha, fuck. Should've hit the bathroom. Miki regretted it from the bottom of her heart, clenching her thighs. One slip, and it'd leak...
"...I don't know who gave the turret. Just... engineers who installed it."
"Got it."
"Wh-what? You believe me just like that...?"
"They wouldn't show their faces."
Types rigging the board this stealthily didn't pop up topside. Sure, Miki'd been contacted, but when, where, how? No one knew. Like a cold you couldn't trace.
Soo eyed Miki's computer, then perched lightly on the desk. Chair tempted her, but the tail hidden under her hood nagged.
"Miki."
"...What."
"We're bringing Topher back to Eden."
"...Like I give a shit about that moron."
"That's why I need your help."
Miki's face crumpled. "Just rip the info out. Why beg?"
"You're Topher's sister."
"...What're you to that bastard?"
"Friends."
"Y-you... d-dating or what?"
"Nah. I turned Topher down."
"What."
"Soo?"
Enoch and Angela's eyes went wide, their serious faces cracking. Turned down? Meant he'd confessed. Topher, confessing to a little thing like Soo? Miki called him bro, so older than her, right? And he confessed?
Topher's image tanked in their heads.
"T-turned... down...?"
Miki too. The siblings grew up fatherless. Mom tumbled through bedmates daily, ignoring them. To Miki, Topher was bro and dad. He'd eat the crusty bread edges, saving the soft bits for her—a gentle family man.
Time passed. On his adulthood, he dove into merc work, time with her plummeting. He sent every cred but never showed. She got it... but resented him. Money for easy living? Whatever. She craved time with him more.
Still, such a sweet bro. Her rock. Hearing he'd vanished crushed her world. Luthien behind it? Blood tears, vow for venom.
She'd honed her blade patiently. One person couldn't topple a corp, but she'd land a gut punch. Did every damn job, dumping earnings into Aegis systems to find him. Believing he lived somewhere.
What? Confessed to this kid and got rejected?
"Y-youuuu...!! You fucking psycho bastard!!"
Miki shot up, rage uncontained. Soo's pupils slit vertically—shrrk.
She eyed the reinforced window. Leapt up, hands out. Anti-projectile magic scattered instinctively.
The steel plate punched through. Enoch reacted then. Hod maxed, he charged Miki.
One step: saw what pierced. Not a bullet. Compressed air, razor-sharp. Tech sniper rifle round—beyond anti-projectile defense.
Two steps: his hand grazed Miki. Scooped her gently—sparing her neck—rolled across the floor.
A shrill scrape from below. Ground-floor sniper too.
Cold sweat down Enoch's spine. In that instant, blistering heat poured from Angela. Hacked every camera nearby. Pinned the sniper in 1km. Beamed coords to Soo and Enoch, trashed their smart weapons.
Blood trickled from Angela's nose.
No more shots. But the ones fired? Unstoppable.
Soo spun. Aimed to erase the floor-riser, body-block the wall-penetrator.
Hand out. Wind whipped up.
A bit... too late?
Someone else's blood splattered Soo's cheek.