ALL NOVEL At all costs
Sora, after borrowing a few things from Cesar's trunk, without loading himself too much to not lose speed, the first thing he did next, was to contact Cortana as he set off towards Japatown, to confirm Eco's status, which according to what Sora had seen, Ishii had destroyed his hardware.
Worrying and upsetting Sora more than he already was, after learning that he hadn't reached his Qpc as he should have.
Making Sora `Why hasn't Eco arrived?' he kept thinking about Eco, as he moved as fast as he could riding his Airb, annoyed every time he had to lose speed to dodge pedestrians and cars on the road, making him lose time.
`If something happened to Eco's Hardware, his protocol would have to be to go back to the Qpc in my apartment, so why Eco...' thought Sora worriedly, distracting himself from his surroundings, generating....
Hoonk
Screeeeeech!!!!!
"FUCK!"
That, at being distracted, his reaction slowed down, to get back on the sidewalk and dodge a truck that was about to run him over, even though the driver was trying to stop the truck while honking in panic at Sora's sudden appearance on the road.
In those moments of Crisis because of Sora's distraction, his world slowed down to be able to react to the truck in front of him, which Sora neither thought about it, nor cared about it, he only took advantage of it to jump on the hood of the truck and when he touched it he jumped again doing a somersault to lengthen his jump and completely avoid the truck that was about to run over him,
Without enjoying the moment as he normally would have done. Sora continued sliding on his board at full speed, not caring about what he had just done.
Leaving the pedestrians who saw him, thinking they would witness a tragic scene of a boy being run over, speechless as their tragic expectations were turned around by the young man's reckless acrobatics as he dodged the truck with an impressive leap over it.
`Calm down, for now I have to concentrate on getting to the place where Ishii is supposedly headed, according to the restaurant's Tyger.... but....and what if Judy isn't there?´ thought Sora, on the thing that worried him the most.
Supposedly Ishii, was going back to his father's Tyger base in Japantown, after the minis raid, but what if they took Judy somewhere else, Sora had no way of knowing where.
Sora took a deep breath to calm himself down determined to `I have to call Grandpa' ask Musashi for help, although he wanted to go alone, he knew this wasn't a game and he could use help.... But
[The IDn he is calling is either blocked or out of range].
"!@$&FUCKER" Sora had just remembered that Musashi had the mysterious meeting with someone, making Sora curse and get angry at the remembered.
Knowing that he couldn't call his uncle Hiroyuki for help either, because according to his uncle when they are in any Netwacht headquarters they shut down most of their connections to the outside to avoid Hacking.
Changing his mind instead of calling grandfather, sending him a message, warning him at least.
[Ojii-San I need help .... the Tygers have captured Jud and destroyed Eco, I don't care what you tell me I'm not going to stop, so don't bother, sorry Grandpa... but I can't leave Jud alone]
When Sora had finished sending message to Musashi, next to tyger base coordinates, Cortana spoke.
[I've got something, there is a device trying to contact the ip of the Qpc, I think it's Eco!, I'm patching it to your IDn!]
When Cortana said that excitedly, not knowing what exactly it was, Sora could see a few lines of text almost like basic programming code in the form of an event log or log, on her IDn.
[-Initiating compression protocol. Protocol created by the main programming of the Eco.Ai Software before compression].
[-Mission: Protect Id; Judy 'at all costs'. Executed by the Id-Master; Sora].
[-The Eco.AI program before losing its hardware, detected limited hardware in the nearby Pad;Judy device. Initiates compression protocol to adapt to the device's hardware].
[-Eco.AI: Compression in progress. Removing non-essential functions].
[-Eco.AI: Compression in progress: Optimizing code].
[-Eco.AI: Compression complete. Pad;Judy ready to run Eco.AI program.]
[-PROTOCOL STARTED.]
[-Ping; 32°43'33.7 "N 117°10'01.1 "W]
3 seconds later.
[-Ping; 32°43'31.5 "N 117°10'08.6 "W]
[-Eco.AI: Position tracking protocol. ONLINE. Updating Position from Pad;Judy, every 3 seconds. Eco.AI continues its mission]
"....."
It was a record of Eco's actions, or the name of the program, Eco.AI.
Sora was silent as he read Eco's message, as he processed it, he realized that Eco had created an action protocol to continue his mission to protect Judy 'at all costs' as Sora had told him, even at the cost of compressing himself into Judy's Pad device.
["Cortana.... are you reading the same thing I am?"] Sora asked Cortana, finding it hard to believe Eco's actions.
[Yes.... although I find it hard to believe] replied Cortana, who seemed to be the same as Sora.
["Cortana.... is this normal? For an AI to go to this level to follow an order?"]
[No, I don't think so. A normal AI, finding itself unable to continue its mission, would make the most logical decision, which would be to follow its protocol in case of hardware failure. But what Eco has done... I couldn't call it logical. He is-]
Sora was going through a crucible of emotions over Eco's actions, on the one hand, he was angry at Eco for going to such extremes under the pretext of following the mission he had given him, making him feel worried and guilty....
["I KNOW! FUCK, I know, that idiot is putting himself in danger, by compressing himself leaving only a protocol of action in the Pad that Judy is carrying, if .... the Pad is destroyed.... Eco in its compressed state, it won't be able to get out.... its code will be lost...."]
But at the same time moved and being proud of him, improving his altered state of mind, as Eco solved the biggest worry Sora had, not knowing where they would take judy. He came to smile heartily as he said.
["THAT Idiot!.... is putting himself in danger, but.... even without a body, Eco is next to Jud.... now I know where they are.... thank you, buddy"] sincerely grateful to Eco who had refused to leave Judy alone, even risking his own life to do so.....
Infected Sora. who, feeling a little better, moved according to the master of an AI like Eco. When he suddenly changed direction into one of the city's narrow alleys, tired of wasting more time having to dodge people and cars on the road.
When he got off his board he grabbed it with his hand and ran with all his strength, to jump against a wall and propel himself with it to launch himself against the opposite wall.
As he climbed back up with one leg on his board to mitigate the impact and not lose speed meanwhile with the other leg he propelled himself again, using the wall ledges and air machines as bases to keep jumping and climb up to the roof of the building quickly.
Making him wish he had some sort of grappling hook when he finished his fearful climb to the rooftop of the low-rise buildings of the Little China and Kabuki sub-districts, sliding again in his board, deftly leaping or dodging the buildings' vents without losing speed as he made his way towards the location he had been given of the Tygers' base in Japawtown, now without a doubt in his mind.
Where according to Eco's continuous position Pings, they seemed to be heading too, arrived in Japatown from the Vista del Rey Sub district.
As Sora moved around the rooftops of the buildings, now with a lighter mind, and with his emotions more in check, he was able to think more clearly about what had happened, and if there was anything he could use, coming up with an idea that he didn't know if it would work, but if it did he could screw Ishii and his father.
Sora when he made up his mind, started looking for a contact in his IDn that he had stolen from his grandfather's Pad, when he found out that he knew her, thinking that it might be useful in his future as a Merc.
Calling her as fast as he found the number, blocking all his information such as contact image and number, but what Sora didn't know is that someone or something with access to his IDn had different opinion than him, about the call settings.
---
In a building on Jig-Jig Street, the red light district of Night City. located in a section of Japantown where not only can you buy love by the hour, but also encounter suspect dealers offering exotic, rare and very illegal wares. Jig-Jig Street doesn't have a reputation for being safe.
There was a pachinko machine business called Pachinko Parlor, inside the store, there was an elegant office with Asian decor where you could hear the Pachinko machines in the background, that office belonged to one of the most important fixer in Nc, who works in the Westbrook district and was well known for her closeness to one of the city's gangs, The Tygers Claws.
She was Wakako Okada, She has had five husbands over her long life, outliving them all. She has nine sons who are all high-ranking members of the Tyger Claws, and was currently talking to the youngest of them, she was being briefed on what had happened with the attack on the Minis by Ishii the son of Shigeo, leader of one of the branches of the Tygers Claws.
The Tygers are divided into branches, each with a branch leader or wakagashira and all of them led by the Oyabun, the Oyabun was a respected and feared figure for all Tygers, even so, he gave total freedom to his wakagashira or branch leaders, to act with total freedom.
But he had two simple rules that he did not allow anyone to break and if you did you would be instantly punished and you would be lucky if you didn't end up dead.
The first was simple and classic, don't fuck with the Tygers name, don't betray the band.
The second was common sense, don't fuck with the Arasaka, they need us to have a hand on the street and we don't have to fear anyone in the streets, with their support. Creating the best deal a Gang can have.
Those were the laws that should never be broken.
As Wakako listened to her son.
"So they got the 4 leaders of the Minis-Mox kidnapped? Well with them, we can at least negotiate, what did they do with the other Minis? That demented Ishii didn't kill them did he?" She asked him about the events that had just happened
"Apparently, Ishii told them to do whatever they wanted to the others, some broke some leg, some decided to blow off some limb, the most injured mini, was one of the Leaders that Ishii wanted revenge" Said 21 year old Azumi Okada, the Youngest Son of Wakako who had more relationship than the Youngest Tygers.
"Ahmmm what a shit storm wait for me.... do you know how much work this is going to generate to me from the Mox, from the the other Fixers in the city who will have contracts with the families of the captured ones? Ahmmmm I knew that Ishii would only bring problems, but I didn't know it would be so soon..." suddenly Wakako as if she remembered something important came back to speak with concern, that was noticeable in her voice "Son..... Ishii hasn't made any move against Musashi Hatake's grandson, has he?"
"Of the Red Demon/Oni of Arasaka? Not that I know of, why is he coming all of a sudden, are you still scared from the visit he paid you, mother? How dangerous could be that ol-" Azumi stopped talking, seeing the look on his mother's face" I mean, that man, for you to act like that, he retired from Arasaka do you really think they cares about an old employee?"
"Ahhhm" With a long sigh before replying to his son."One of the advantages of youth people, when their stupidity is justified by inexperience and lack of knowledge... Allow me to explain; Do you know who was the one who was in charge of Arasaka's dirty jobs, before Smasher? Why Arasaka's name was so feared in the 2nd and 3rd corporate war? And why Arasaka's top operatives wear Red Onis faces on their helmets, son?
All because of the same man I'm worried about, the one you were going to describe it simply as old man, Red Oni is not so well known nowadays, after he dedicated himself to protect the Arasaka family, but Musashi Hatake along with Morgan BlackHand, Adam Smashes, Rache Bartmoss all of them were people that could turn the tide of a battle in the corporate wars in their respectivee fields, becoming well known in their times, well there was also that crazy rocker that you shouldn't underestimate either. but he together with Moss are dead.
What I mean is. You don't know how dangerous it is to make enemies with that kind of people, so boy don't come to ridicule or dwarf the fears and concerns of your mother so easily, besides as I have heard, Musashi still maintains a good relationship with the Arasaka, especially with the Kiji faction, so the Oyabun order still applies."
"I-I understand mother," Azumi replied to his mother after understanding why his mother feared to make enemies of such people.
"Well now that you understand go away, I want to be calm before the shit storm that Shigeo and his son have generated starts...."
Just as Azumi left the room. Wakako was starting to lean back in her chair, squeezing her eyes, mentalizing how many calls from the other Fixers she was going to start receiving at any moment, wanting information about the kidnapped girls.
When her pad started ringing, sooner than she thought, with a call from a blocked number, which did not show any digits.
When Wakako picked up the strange call, the screen went black without showing any image or face on the screen
["Wakako Okada..... it seems that the warning Red-oni(Phff) made, it was useless"] A somewhat distorted young voice sounded and on the screen Wakako could see how a glowing blue eyes appeared in the darkness of the black screen
"Red OnI?! Who are you, what do you mean?" Wakako replied keeping her dominant and calm attitude without getting disturbed, even when the mysterious voice had named Muashi, something that had altered her inside.
["From what I understand, my grandfather warned you guys so there would be no trouble, but your golden boy Ishii doesn't seem to care about the warning, he just kidnapped someone important to me Wakako"] spoke the young distorted voice again while on the screen the blue eyed image moved as if gesticulating every word.
"I see you are `the grandson', although I don't like Ishii, technically he hasn't broken your grandfather's warning, no boy? To me you look alive and kicking?" replied Wakako coming to smile at the animation on her screen, somewhat calmer knowing that this whole show she was watching, was being put on by a teenager, feeling more confident, that she could direct the situation herself
['That's how you want to play, old woman?"] said the distorted voice getting angry along with the animation on the screen
"Ho! Boy, you'd have to be careful what you say, don't you think?, I myself could get them to release your little Mini friend they captured, just out of pure respect for your grandfather, after all, we didn't break his warning, did we? If you were one of my children I would have taught you to have more respect for the other side in a negotiation-" Wakako trying to be the one dominating the conversation, underestimated the distorted voice that interrupted her with a laugh.
["HAHAHAH. I think you've misunderstood something old hag, I'm not calling you to negotiate anyone's release, I'm calling to let you know the trouble you're in Wakako, since I myself am going to one of your bases where Ishii is headed, no matter if I live and manage to save my girl, or fail and die, in the two possible outcomes.... YOU GUYS ARE SCREWED!"] Said the distorted voice, being now, the one smiling at Wakako. Appearing on the screen a wild smile along with bright blue eyes.
When Wakako heard and saw animation, she became nervous as she understood what the voices was saying. He wasn't really negotiating, if Musashi's grandson were to violently enter a Tyger base, Wakako didn't know what the boy would be capable of, but as he said so much if he lives or dies, her future looked grim.
Musashi was going to snap and if the boy died.... the consequences would be even worse, he will want to kill them all, possibly contacting the Kiji faction inside Arasaka. Breaking one of the most important rules of the Tygers, all that created by Ishii's stupid assault, making Wakako's blood pressure, who has been keeping herself calm the whole conversation, jump, breaking the dominant and calm image she was trying to project.
"No! Wait, what's the girl's name?, I'll do anything to free her just give me two hours, we don't have to escalate the conflict, how about it?" Wakako said somewhat desperately trying to be the one who wanted to negotiate.
["Goodbye Wakako, I hope you survive"] Said for the last time the distorted voice along with the blue eyed animation who was still smiling in the screen.
"NOO! STOP-" Wakako shouted trying to keep the call, noticing that the conversation was....
[Call ended]
"DAMN!" Causing Wakako to yell out in helplessness and worry, at how things had changed from what she thought would be more work, to something that could end her life.
"Mother what's wrong...I was just about to leave when I heard you scream-"Izumi said, coming back inside when he heard his mother cursing loudly, something he rarely hear his mother do.
"Izumi, call your brothers to get off the streets tonight and go to a safe place, things have changed, I have to speack with the Oyabun" Wakako said with a serious and nervous face as Izumi had never seen her experienced mother before.
-
Meanwhile, Sora, who had finished his call with Wakako waiting for some reaction/chaos is generated inside the Tygers, was still sliding on the rooftops of the last few, almost favelas-like, buildings in Kabuki paying attention to the traffic passing below, on the road leading to the bridge that contacted Watson with the Japatown sub-district.
When Sora saw that a truck big enough to jump over it was approaching, he did just that, jumping directly with his board from the roof of the building next to the access road, which was ascending to connect to the bridge, reducing the distance Sora had to fall in his jump, but which was still a 3-story drop.
In order to land he had to force his board to absorb all the impact as well as nail the edges of the board to the top of the truck to brake, generating a large amount of sparks, a few inches away from falling.
Sora's Airboard was starting to heat up from the continuous pressure it was under from the way Sora was riding, which he himself had noticed and knew that, if he kept it up, the board's batteries would eventually explode.
Sora with a look of guilt, mentally apologized to his board, for what he knew it would be their last ride together, for how it was heating up, but at the same time `come on babe, hold on a little longer, please' Sora requested/begged for his Airborad to hold on.
Seeing Eco's position pings repeated the same coordinates, it seemed that Eco and judy had arrived at the Tyger base, unsettling Sora mounted on top of the truck crossing the bridge to Japantown, because he was still a few minutes away from the building.
Besides, Sora knew he was going to need help somehow if he was going to storm the Tyger-filled base and survive. He contacted again the only person/thing Sora could depend on right now.
["Cortana, I'm giving you full access to the Qpc along with access to the network."] With those words, the blocks Cortana had were instantly removed inside the apartment's Qpc, but Sora continued ["I know this is going to be hard for you, but I need your help.... I need you to use the deamons programs I have in the Qpc. In the Tygers' building where they have Jud] Said Sora seriously knowing what he was asking Cortana.
[Sora. I'm sorry but, by design I can't participate or interact with any type of Hacking program, I'm truly sorry Sora, but I can't!] Cortana replied, knowing that it would be impossible even if she tried, to interact with any hacking program.
["Cortana .... your code is no different than Eco's, literally Eco's code base, we copied it from your code. So Cortana just like Eco I need you, to do something out of your programming.... please!"]
[I-I...I CAN'T!] Answered Cortana in anguish, inside the Qpc of the apartment, while she herself, inside the digital world, was in front of the folder where Sora had some Daemons programs saved, Trying to get closer in the folder to be able to help Sora and Judy, Wanting her too grow and not be limited by the lines of her code as Eco had shown, but at the same time, something inside her paralyzes, every time she tried.
Just as Cortana was about to give up....
[0111000011100010101000101011000100101010101010001010101000001010101010101001001010010010011010101010011010101011110101010101101010001110101010101110101100101010101012010111001001011010101010110111110101010110101111010101010001010110111011010101001010101011100010101010101010111110101010101010101010101011100010101011100101111101010101000101110101011001010110010101110101010101010110011111111010100100011010011001010101010101010001010101010111010010010111100101011...]
Without Sora knowing or realizing it suddenly from his IDn, a message had just been sent in binary code, but there was something strange about the message, the numbers kept changing, giving Sora a strange feeling when he read it, without being able to explain it, as if it was a three dimensional code, which when expressed in 2D as in a message, created the binary code in front of him, which kept changing as if it was exposing all the data at once in two dimensions.
[Sora, what is this? I can't finish examining it because of the continuous changes, but how interesting! From what I can read, it looks like... a three-dimensional logical thinking code, almost like the core of an actual AI, but much more complex. Sora, if I try to process this code inside mine, I don't know what will happen. But I think I would not be constrained by the basic rules of my code, being able to help you, but] Cortana paused, also reducing her excitement as she continued to speak.
[Sora, I have to warn you, if I process this code, I don't think I would have to follow your orders either. it could change me and leave you alone. Are you sure you want me to use the code?]Cortana asked, feeling excited yet fearful about the code in front of her.
Sora knowing where the code had come from, and with no other choice in these desperate moments and no time to complain about whatever Arc had sent Cortana, Sora didn't hesitate any longer and.....
["DO IT!"]