SpookySquid
knighthawk
The satisfyingly solid click as the safe popped open gave Susie a brief moment of pleasure, but in her heart there was a nagging doubt about the whole affair. The job had been too simple, too straightforward and as she pulled the thick slab of heavily reinforced metal aside she realised it was also too rewarding. Dataslates just didn't get left around this easily, especially not ones with the kind of high-grade encryption the datajacker's custom rig was picking up in its surface scan.
For a moment the young woman was hesitant to reach inside the armoured box, half expecting there to be some sort of undetectable trap just waiting to close its jaws around her. Quickly making the sign of Eva, and lifting her datatab from where it hung around her neck to briefly kiss it for good luck, Susie darted forwards and scooped up several of the info storage devices before stepping back out of the way just as fast.
She was almost disappointed when nothing happened, and as she glanced around the penthouse apartment Susie's shoulders relaxed into her habitual stoop. "Something's really not right here," she muttered to herself, pulling the shielded gym bag out from under her jacket and quickly retrieving her clone drive. Plugging the first of the dataslates into the I/O slot she tapped the control and watched for a moment as the drive did its thing, rapidly copying every bit of encrypted data into its memory banks, while at the same time soothing any counter-intrusion bots which may have been nestled in the source code.
Once she was sure the process was underway Susie turned her attention back to her surroundings. The refurbished loft had been completely rebuilt from how it must have originally appeared, and even the datajacker had thought she'd come to the wrong place when viewing it from the outside. To think some Corp snob had a love nest this well hidden in a low rent suburb of a high digit district was almo0st unthinkable, but here it was fully stocked and rigged for action. There was even a frigging mirror ball hanging from the ceiling like in the old vid-pics. Either someone had some seriously dated taste in furnishings, or they were a huge fan of the classics.
Not even looking down as the drive beeped at her, Susie's hands automatically switched out the completed dataslate for the next one as she wandered around the room. It was all so clean and cosy, she thought to herself, her eyes wandering over the fixtures and fittings. Was this really how the other half spent their wild, debaucherous times?
Moving over to the built-in bar Susie poured herself a drink. She didn't get the opportunity to taste the good stuff very often, and she wasn't going to waste the chance now. According to Calypso the homeowners were busy at some fancy Corp event on the other side of the district tonight, and weren't expected back for at least the next few hours.
It was a shame really. Based on the info she'd skimmed from her last big job, the event was being hosted by Ori as part of their expansion into Europa and Susie had originally planned to pay them a visit herself. Unfortunately the list of names and contacts included in her data haul had sparked her contact's attention and this little gold mine had popped up at the last minute, an opportunity someone like Susie the street rat couldn't pass up. The pay-out from this job should set her up for the rest of the month, as well as providing her with a sizable pot to donate to Eva. After all, the job had only fallen in her lap due to Eva's blessings, and Susie knew better than to tempt fate by not paying the Goddess her due.
After a few more casual minutes Susie finished offloading the dataslates and carefully sorted them all back into the safe, trying her best to match them back to the positions her I-Eye had recorded them in before she'd started. Giving the safe a quick brush down with an anti-static rag, an old habit she'd learnt years before which probably did nothing to prevent anyone detecting a possible breach if they were seriously looking for one but still worth the brief moment it took nonetheless, Susie quickly made her way back to the rope hanging from the ceiling.
It only took the nimble minx a moment to scurry back up the wall to the skylight, and even less time to hack the lock from the inside to pop it open again, a far easier job than it had been from the other side of the shielded glass. Slipping out onto the rooftop Susie took a moment to get a lungful of fresh air, before breaking down into a coughing fit as the 'fresh' air hit her lungs.
"Fracking slaghole district..." she muttered to herself as the coughing subsided and she made her way back across the rooftops, leaping across the alleyway to the neighbouring building before darting into the shadows where she felt most comfortable. It didn't take long to get back to the unsecured fire escape leading back to ground level, and almost before she knew it Susie was wandering back out into the street to mingle with the crowds.
Carefully pulling her gym bag closer under her arm the datajacker began the most dangerous part of the job, the casual walk to the transit station without drawing too much attention from the local gangs. The only thing that could go wrong now would be if some tweaker or wirehead decided that the harmless looking girl might have something valuable enough to steal on her, and the shadow on apprehension she'd been feeling all night long meant Susie really didn't want to have to bother with that hassle right now.
would be a good source for. Is Mack part of her trade network at all?
