January 16, 2017

Billie's Journal - New York, new look

New York, 2 May 2052
It's been a while since I updated this journal. You would think I would have had plenty of time to post updates while in the chic clinic. But somehow I never got around to it. At first probably because I was pretty doped up, then just beat from all the rehab.

I remember Zero visiting me one time when I was recovering from surgery. Except she looked different. And now so do I. I gave the doctors a picture showing how I looked as a teenager. A still from just before I was kidnapped. I asked them to make a best guess at what that innocent young girl would look like as an adult.

I look less Asian now, rounder eyes, less distinct cheekbones. The eyes themselves are new too, beta grade with a few extra options like thermo as standard and a much better resolution. And the low-light doesn't overload like my old ones did either. But these are minor cosmetic changes compared to the other work.

A new arm for starters. Real flesh and blood. Of course, it's still smartlinked and the bones are laced with densiplast like the rest of me. And they replaced my old dermal plating with the latest bioware orthoskin. It's supposed to be more compatible with my system, an important consideration seeing as I am an adept. If you didn't already know from the trids, cyber and magic don't mix.

And somewhere along the way I seem to have developed a chest. One of the docs explains something about a gene treatment that was keeping me from developing. I don't get all the details and don't really want to know what the yaks did to me, just that it's fixed and I need a bigger bra. Zero was certainly pleased to hear that I needed to go clothes shopping.

While I was healing up the others started scouting out the local area. Manhattan is out of bounds - too corpsec for runners like us. However, they did make some contacts in Brooklyn. Among them is a fixer by the name of Proposition Joe who can supply us with gear. Of course, he needs a favor first. Seems some gear he was expecting went astray and he thinks one of the gangs in the area got to his middleman.

We snoop around the area but only attract the attention of the local cops. Zero discovers why. A couple of cameras in the area link directly back to the local cop shop so they were keeping tabs on us while we checked out the crime scene. Zero also manages to snag some footage of a vehicle leaving around the time of the meet and gets an address on it. Seems Joe was right. It's his main rival.

We drop by hoping to recover the goods on the quiet. Things start out well enough. We slip past their cameras and get into the ground floor of the apartment block the gangers use as a base. We even find the car with the missing goods still in the trunk. Well most of the missing goods. Seems the gangers have helped themselves to some of the ordnance and our man needs it all back.

Well things kinda go to hell from there and we are forced to shoot them all. The new arm works just fine but I ain't used to the kick from the big Kimber, so have to double tap most of my targets to take them down. Luckily, Finlay grandstands into the middle of them. So Zero and I can pick them off while they try to shoot him.

Dances deals with a couple of others with his shotgun, while Henry provides magical support. We haul ass outta there before more gangers or the cops show up. We are just a little too slow and a couple of bikers give chase.

Finlay rolls out the passenger door as I take a left. His little P90 eats up one of them but the other is still on our tail. I pull a handbrake turn forcing the second bike to brake and weave, giving me plenty of time to draw and fire on the rider.

Unfortunately that little stunt gets the attention of some local kids and one of the little punks is recording the whole deal on his phone. Fortunately, Zero talks him out of his phone with some spiel about us being undercover cops. Our friendly fixer is happy to get his merchandise back, if slightly used, and promises to set us up with new SINs and gear. A good start, I guess.