Ravensdagger_Kittypunk_Cyberpunk_Kitrpg

Chapter Fifty-Eight — Growing Pains

Chapter Fifty-Eight — Growing Pains Sharp yawned, and I found myself turning to look up to her for it. "How can you be tired? We had eight hours.""I dunno," she said. "Just... still a bit sleepy. Maybe I need more than just that?""I suppose. You are growing... you are growing, right? It would be inconvenient if you weren't becoming healthier and taller."Sharp smiled down at me, then scritched the top of my head. "Yup! At least, I think so? Maybe? It's only been a week! But I've had more food in that week than in the whole month before, so I'd like to think that I'm gonna grow big and strong.""I hope so," I said. The girl was still too thin in the wrong places. The exercise we were getting was probably going to help in the long term, but recovery from a life of abject poverty wasn't as simple as the movies and shows made it out to be. A day or two of good care and good food wasn't nearly enough. It might take months before she was fully recovered.Also, I still hadn't made an appointment at a doctor for her. For all we knew, Sharp had some pretty nasty issues lurking under the surface. Issues that we might be able to throw money at, in the best case, or issues that wouldn't be fixable.Well, if it was the latter, there was always hope in the system that Sharp had. There might well be a perk that would allow her to heal herself. Or I could work hard, level Cat up to ten, and hope that I unlocked a second perk. If I were to pick one now, it'd definitely be something with healing capabilities.My ears perked up, and I sat up straighter. At some point, Sharp's hands had pushed me down with the way her fingers constantly ran through my fur. I stood up and gave myself a shake. I was currently wearing the world's cutest PPE suit. A full-body glove that covered me from ankles to neck."Did you hear something?" Sharp asked.We were currently located in a rather wide alleyway just off the Boston River. It was unsurprisingly empty. Even the homeless knew better than to camp in this spot."A car. A beaten up old junker, even," I said. The sound of a perforated muffler became loud enough that even Sharp heard it, and she stood up properly just as Jenny drove into the end of the alley and parked her trashy little van to one side behind a dumpster."Hello!" Sharp said with a friendly wave.The doors of the van opened, and both girls pulled themselves out. "Yo," Jenny said."Hi!" Sharp said. "Oh, do you need help with anything?"The girls were circling around to the back of the van and Jenny threw the sliding door open to reveal a pair of duffel bags. "Nah. We're good. Though... you don't happen to have more of those weird suits on you?""I do," Sharp said. "I brought a few things too."We had packed a number of useful things that morning and shoved them into a backpack for Sharp to bring along. There was more than that, of course. Sharp was in cargo pants and a plain shirt with a zip-up hoodie on, the sort with a plain hood that could be tossed on for some small amount of added anonymity. It was also exactly the sort of loose clothes that worked well to hide the handgun she was carrying.Her bag had a second gun, a little semi-automatic tactical shotgun, the sort with a powerful light at the front and five-shell tube magazine. It wasn't anything too special, but it was reliable and relatively small. Good for combat in tighter spaces.Sharp reached into her backpack and grabbed three folded up PPE suits, and we both watched as Jenny and Alyssa got into theirs."So, what's the plan?" Sharp asked as she finished dressing and pulled the zipper on her suit up. The last thing she pulled on was a full-face mask, one with a decently wide-visibility visor and two filters. She handed the girls a pair of much cheaper masks.It was important, for the sake of our disguise, that Sharp wasn't handing out thousands of dollars of equipment so casually. Not that it was easy to convince her to hold back that much."The plan's easy," Jenny said. She attached her holsters onto the outside of her pale blue suit. "We go in, bust that wall down, then slip into the building. Alyssa knows where to go from there. We break into the spot we need to break into, steal what we want, then dip."The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation."Is the thing we're stealing small enough to fit in a bag?" Sharp asked."Yeah, don't worry about it," Jenny said. "If we're in there and you see something you want, feel free to take a grab at it.""Okay," Sharp said. "And how much security are we talking about here? Uh, guards?""There shouldn't be much," Alyssa said. "The entity we're stealing from is too paranoid to hire guards."The entity? I didn't like the sound of that."Okay!" Sharp said. She reached into her backpack and pulled out the shotgun within, then slung it over one shoulder before pulling the bag on. "I'm ready!"The girls both stared at her for a moment before shrugging and starting towards the storm system's exit way.I walked up alongside Sharp, then leapt up into her hands when she bent down to scoop me up. It was time for that uncomfortable cat-fit mask again."You sure about bringing that ugly thing along?" Jenny asked while eyeing me."I wouldn't call her that," Sharp said. "She might kill you for it."Jenny snorted. "Uh-huh. Well, whatever. Maybe we'll run into some sewer rats for her to scare off with that ugly mug of hers."I shot a glare at Jenny, but then decided to ignore her. She was beneath my notice. Besides, while they probably, rightfully, suspected that something was up with Sharp's cat, they didn't know that I could understand English so easily. No point in giving it all away.Entering the storm drain system was much the same as the last time. It didn't look like anyone else had passed through since we'd last visited, probably because there was so little of worth down there.Jenny pulled out a small GPS, a better one than last time, and started to guide us through the tunnels. Conversation, unsurprisingly, died down. The roar of water in the drain was enough to drown most of it out, and while I had issues with Jenny and Alyssa, they were at least passingly professional. For a bunch of untrained brats.Making it back to the section beneath Megabuilding 371 took significantly less time when we knew where we were going. On reaching the bricked-over wall, Jenny stopped and stowed her GPS, then dropped her bag down."Okay, this is it," she said. "We don't know if busting this down will set anything off, but chances are it probably won't.""I didn't notice anything like that last time," Alyssa said with some confidence. "And the area seemed entirely unused.""Right. Let's get to work, then," Jenny said. She opened her bag and pulled out a rather short-hafted sledge hammer. "We'll do a few swings each, then switch it off to someone else. I don't want to get sweaty in this damned suit thing.""Fair enough," Sharp said.Jenny took a half-step back, then swung at the middle of the wall. The hammer rammed into the edge of a cinder block and bounced off, but not without leaving a crack in it.The next three blows around that same area broke a piece of the block off, and Sharp flinched as it flew past her head. It took a half-dozen more strikes before there was a noticeable dent in the centre of the wall."Here you go," Jenny said as she passed the hammer to Sharp.Sharp took it, then swung at the wall herself. She didn't have quite the upper body strength of Jenny, but she had longer arms to compensate. Then it was Alyssa's turn, and the mage proved rather weak, her strikes barely chipping away at the edges of the hole Jenny and Sharp were punching into and through the wall.I ran back a ways, then sat down to watch. It took a solid five minutes of switching up between the girls before a hole large enough for someone to crawl through was ripped open."Right, we need to keep at this. If we run, we want a big enough hole that we won't be stuck," Jenny said. "Hey, can the cat scout ahead?""Oh? I guess, if she wants," Sharp said as she looked back at me.Well, there was no harm in trying, and I was a little bored besides.

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Chapter Fifty-Nine — Urban Spelunking

Chapter Fifty-Nine — Urban Spelunking Sharp held me by the collar, pinching it between forefinger and thumb as she carefully squeezed me through the hole they'd manage to make so far."Okay, you can let go," I said.Sharp opened her hand, and I fell into the almost complete darkness for a thrilling half-second before landing on all fours on the ground.The only light pouring into this area was from the hole that the girls had made, and it wasn't all that big, especially with Sharp's head jammed into it. "Be careful over there," she said."I've got it, don't worry," I said back with an affirmative meow.The truth was, I wasn't so sure I did have it, but these tunnels we'd been navigating were mostly empty save for some electrical boxes and pipes along the walls. To a normal person, the idea of hiding in here would be... unappetizing. To someone of my size? Well, there were also a few small heaps of trash left along the sides, and mounds of old dust. They were almost as large as I was, and I was certain that I could squeeze into the cracks between some of the pipes and the walls.Basically, being tiny made stealth a lot more palatable, and having natural night vision just helped.I shook myself and focused as best I could. This might have been an easy-mode gig with the girls, but it was still a serious job. Things could and would go wrong if we weren't careful, and my task at the moment was to discover the elements that could make things go wrong before they had time to activate.I started down the corridor, walking at a slow, careful pace. As I reached a T-junction further in, one that continued on straight and turned to the right, I discovered a single EXIT-sign hanging above. It was broken off on one side, as if something had smashed into it, and only half the lights within the sign worked, but it was enough to cast a faint reddish glare across the corridors.It was enough to see by.I'd spent a bit of time in the odd megabuilding in my day. Sometimes to track a target down, but more often to secure a deal or pick something up. They were strange spaces. Cities within cities. Some developed their own cultures and communities, becoming separate from the actual city they were within. I'd heard of some older megabuildings which had their own patois that was almost incomprehensible to outsiders.I'd never been in the basement of a megabuilding, but this was... pretty much what I imagined it to look like.I moved with the slow, stealthy caution of a cat on the prowl, eyes scanning ahead and tail straight behind me. I didn't want to be surprised, nor did I want to make any more noise than I absolutely had to.The space was empty. In fact, it was more than empty, it was long empty. There were a few spots where water was collecting on the floor, and more where a lack of ventilation led to a small pile of dust forming in the middle of a passage. These were deep and undisturbed. Just moving close had the dust shifting, so I knew that anyone walking by would leave traces that would last a while.I kept walking, reaching an intersection, then turning back to the previous intersection and then taking the other option. It was a terribly slow way of moving around, but the search pattern made getting lost rather difficult, especially since, as I was re-walking the same paths over and over, I had the time to form a pretty accurate mental map of the area.I wouldn't trust my ability to draw something completely accurate, but I wasn't getting lost. That was a very real possibility when so much of the underground looked the same.I suspected that Alyssa's little ghostly trick had allowed her to slip through walls and obstacles, otherwise there was no way she had properly scouted the area.After what must have been a half-hour of scouting around, I finally found a stairwell.It was behind a door that was chained shut, but someone had tried to force it open from the inside, and they'd left it ajar. Enough so that I was able to squeeze in through and into the stairs.They were simple concrete stairs, leading upwards. When I followed them by the light of a few old emergency lighting fixtures, I found a set of doors a level above, then a second a level above that.This was a maintenance area. Not a well-decorated space for civilian use. The stairs even had a built-in ramp in the centre for carts.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version."Good enough," I muttered to myself before I turned tail and made my way back to the girls.When I returned, it was to find that the hole was now large enough for someone to squeeze through, but no one was working on making it any larger. Instead, all three girls were sitting down against the walls. Jenny had her PPE suit halfway off and was slowly taking sips from a canteen, and the other two looked like they were just chatting along."Glad to see you all hard at work," I said, though it was only Sharp who heard it."Regentesse Roflbottom!" Sharp said. "You're back! Did you find anything?"I hopped up and through the hole, then walked over and sat on Sharp's lap. "I did. A maintenance stairwell not too far away. Alyssa was correct. A number of the other corridors have been bricked off, just like this one."Sharp nodded. "We've opened enough of a hole to move through. Uh, but we were getting tired. Even all three of us taking turns is... not very fun. We're not very strong.""Hey now," Jenny said. "I bet I'm above average in terms of strength. Just... not made for this kind of endurance work.""I'm sure," I said flatly."Right... oh! You guys can't speak cat," Sharp said with a nod. "She said that she found a maintenance staircase a little ways in.""I can lead you there," I confirmed. "Assuming you're done sitting around and being lazy?""Yeah, we're done being lazy," Sharp agreed with a nod."Good, in that case, carry me up, I'm tired of walking all over."Sharp snorted, but I soon found myself on her shoulder, and the others finally decided to stand up from their rest.Jenny took a few more swings at the wall, breaking through a couple more cinderblocks that she wiggled and then tossed aside. It was enough that the girls could simply step into the corridor beyond now."Alright, kitty cat, lead the way," Jenny said. Then, in a lower voice that I was probably not meant to pick up, she said, "Man, I'm following a cat around now..."I led Sharp through the corridors, pointing out where to turn and where to go. Jenny, showing a surprising level of cleverness, pulled out a piece of chalk and made little marks on the walls, pointing back to the way we'd come. It was even some sort of glow-in-the-dark chalk, though I doubted it would continue to glow for terribly long.Once we reached the door with the heavy padlock and chains, the girls all paused. "This is the way up?" Jenny asked. She grabbed the lock and tugged at it. "Shit's locked up tight.""I think I can undo that one," Sharp said. "Maybe. It looks kind of heavy-duty.""That has little to do with the quality of the lock itself," I said. "And a lot more to do with its weight."Sharp shrugged, then pulled out a lockpicking kit from a pocket inside her PPE. She bent down and started to fumble with the lock, but only after Alyssa had a look at it. I suspect that she was checking for traces of magic or the like.Whatever we were moving towards, there was definitely some sort of magical crap going on.I hated jobs like those. Magic was always such a wildcard that it was hard to work around."Alright, listen up," Alyssa said. "This is going to be easy as long as we don't make it hard. We're heading for a specific storage unit on sublevel three. It's technically restricted access, but it's not exactly high security. The problem is... there's a mage that should have made getting into any of the sublevels impossible. But we're coming in from a different angle, and we should be fine. Our job is to get in, get the box, and get out without drawing attention. Simple, right?"Sharp nodded while still focused on the lock. "What kind of security are we dealing with?""Mostly passive stuff," Alyssa said. "Security cameras-though I don't think anyone's watching. The occasional maintenance drone, and if we're really unlucky, warding magic. The basement's been impossible to reach for a long time, so it should be unoccupied.""Why?" Sharp asked. "I mean, why is the basement blocked off?""Some mage turned it into his lab-slash-tower. But he's dead now, so the magic keeping the place safe is falling apart. That's why it's a race to get the good stuff first.""Oh," Sharp said. "Well, that makes it kind of exciting." And with that, she tugged the lock down and it opened with a heavy click.

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