Welcome to part 6 of the cyberpunk adventure The Nothing’s Child. If you are new to the story you can catch up with the links below. Each section contains the links for the parts within their respective section.

Section 1
The Nothing’s Child
Section 2
Life is a Dumpster Dive
Answer with a Desert Eagle
Warehouse Intruder
Section 3
Bleuthor Encryption
Section 4
Behind the Bookcase
Section 5
Interrogation with no Egg to Stand On
Section 6
Mental Warfare

Warehouse Intruder

Michelle took us to a safe house, one she hadn’t used in a while. An old warehouse under an assumed name, nothing tied her to the place. Talk about roughing it though, the place wasn’t connected, no way to jack in. This was a good part of its appeal.

We ran into a snag. You expected that right? Someone beat us to the safe house. They wedged open the rear door, enough to pop it quick if they needed to bolt.

“Expecting anyone?” I asked.

Michelle raised her eyebrows at me but didn’t say anything. She put a finger to her lips then motioned to the side of the door.

I pulled my Desert Eagle and leaned against the wall beside the door. She pulled a silver ball from an inside pocket of her hoodie. Without saying a word the ball hovered and then slipped through the door’s opening.

She pulled out a data pad and clicked into an app that brought up a video feed. I could see the motion on the feed but the screen remained dark. After a few minutes a red blob showed up. As it came into focus the blob became a body.

A few minutes later the camera ball came back. Only a single person found through the warehouse. Michelle mouthed the words, “cover me.” Then opened the door enough to slip inside. I followed close behind, the Desert Eagle at the ready for anything that might jump out at us.

She led us up a set of stairs. The second floor was devoted to office space. She hadn’t changed it but set up a few rooms as living quarters when she bought the place. Three doors down the short hall, all of them were open.

I took point. I dropped to a crouch on the far side of each door gun aimed inside as she examined the rooms for the intruder. We found the intruder in the third room. She wasn’t a threat, not with how badly she was beaten.

A broken arm hung useless at her side. Black eyes and broken nose peppered her face. Even through the beatings I still recognized her. I didn’t know her name but knew the face. I saw her through the video feed on the botched job. Getting ready to die or sleeping, we couldn’t tell which. She didn’t move when we came into the room.

“How do you want to do this?” I asked.

Michelle stepped out of the room. She returned with a cup of water from the nearby bathroom. “I got this.” All but the cup blasted into sleeping beauty’s face.

She barely budged, though her eyes did open. “If you’re here to kill me, do it. I can’t run anymore.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Michelle asked.

“I needed sleep.” She fought to sit up, cradling her arm. “Too much, just too much, couldn’t make it any further.” The glaze of her eyes, she wasn’t with us. Even talking she was still lost in the pain of her escape. She fell back, unconscious.

“I know her,” I said. “She was part of the run.”

“How did she end up here? I never met Drake outside the Net,” she said. “This is crazy.”

“She found her way here. How do we keep others out?”

“I’ll take care of it. Keep an eye on her.” Michelle left the room. I heard her footsteps on the stairs and then they were gone.

My knowledge of first aid was limited at best, although I did know enough to set a break. I took a few minutes to examine her arm. Not much to see in the dark, though I could feel where the bone had ruptured. Not a full break but enough to cause serious discomfort and limit her use of the arm. I used some cloth strips I ripped from the bedding in the room and a broken board to make a splint and stabilize the break.

Michelle returned by the time I finished setting the break. “Area’s secure. I set up some bots to monitor as well as laid out a few surprises for intruders.”

“What should we do with her?”

Michelle released the camera ball. This time it produced light to examine the girl. “I don’t think she is much of a threat right now at least. I am more concerned that she might have brought unwanted guests.”

“This is your place,” I said. “I’ll follow your lead.”

“Nothing’s getting in here tonight. Get some rest, we can deal with this tomorrow.”

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