LOG_01

The streets above rumbled with the buzz of a night market, somewhere, closer, down in the lower streets and alley ways was a wet rasping cough, accented with the digital distortion of falling cyberware somewhere deep in the poor bastard, probably burnt synthlungs.

Plugging a large spike into the nearby port v0x pulled out a small box and unslung a cyberdeck before jamming another spike smaller spike into the box, the two connected via a cable made more of various tape more than any real casing.

With a typed out sequence the deck awoke, a greeting flashed across the screen.

"Good evening v0x, you have 3 unread messages."

With haste v0x hammered out a series of keystrokes, the user interface of the deck responding in kind, opening a handful off terminal windows as various programs began to run, creating a chaotic waterfall of information flashing across the screens of the cyberdeck, its various indicator lights flashing illuminated the mess of stickers, custom panted panels and various tags that marked the machine.

Turning their attention now the the box on the ground in front of them v0x flipped a switch on the deck and then glided a hand across the top of the box, breathing life into the devices interface. With the touch of a few keys the box too now sprung to life, in streams of data. That was it, all that there was to do now was wait, wait and hope that some random patrol doesn't come down here.

"Can't think like that" v0x said in a quite whisper, intended for no one to hear.

A low whirring of the device on the ground and the occasional beep from their deck almost seemed the response. v0x lowered into a nearby corner, doing their best to get comfortable as they pulled out a pad of paper and some markers from their bag followed by a small glasslike vial full of a translucent amber liquid. v0x unscrewed the top and extracted a small dropper that was placed under the tongue and then washed down with something, anything.

"Fuck..." v0x coughed, as they sprang forth nearly diving into the backpack, having forgotten the grab the chaser before hand. v0x muttered some admonishment under their breath reaching into a side pocket to produce out a tall frosty can of beer. v0x smacked their lips and coughed again as the liquid was now absorbing into their mouth as well as running down their throat, it was a foul taste, some called it garbage juice, others describe it as drinking industrial lubricant that had a couple corpses in it, unpleasant was an understatement.

Hiss Crack as the can was opened, v0x without delay flooded their mouth, some of the foamy liquid dribbling down, not that they cared, anything to wash the taste out. With that v0x settled back into the little nest chugging down the rest of the beer and selecting a handful of markers before going to town on the pad in their lap. A slash of neon red, and waves of metallic burned chrome assaulted the paper as the hallucinogen began to grip the brain stem, the colors more vivid now for v0x, the lines blurred and vibrated as if brought to life by some unseen electric force. An intense rush washing over them as they filled another page, the images on the pages ranging from melting smiley faces, to tags and graffiti style monikers, muttering and giggling to themself as they went.

About 45 minutes later the only thing to pass by had been a shambling corpse and a couple stray dogs, none seeming to even notice the glowing and frantic drug fueled scene taking place in the corner, and just as v0x seemed to be coming back to reality, taking in the sights around them, wiping some drool from their mouth the display of the box blinked to life, and the fans kicked up, whirring more intensely as the device came to the end of it's process as v0x typed away on the deck, entering commands and sorting the new data into quick and messy organization, as they began unplugging and packing up, last but not least pulling the spike out of the wall, stuffing it into a pocket and swapping it out of a tin containing hand rolled cigarettes, prepped in advance v0x pulled one out, bringing it to their both, before sparking it with the click the electric torch breathed a tight cone of flame, igniting the cheap tobacco and cheaper papers, smoke wafted as v0x filled their lungs and exhaled bellowing out the fog in the air around them, they grabbed their gear taking a moment to re-acquaint themself with the night around them, as another cough called out from the darkness.

v0x made their way through the junkie packed catwalks and hallways, head down, making the journey "home" mostly on memory, passing flickering neon of bodegas and the burned chrome of old federal infrastructure. The Warrens were the landfill The Cities were built on, a mammoth systems of mazes, tunnels, labyrinths, sewers and maintenance lines they snaked under The Cities, disposing of it's unwanted refuse and other biodegradable things. It was also a place often overlooked and forgotten, better to turn a nose ignore the rotting underbelly even if that means somethings slip under the radar with it. It was also a good way to get around, each area of The Cities had it's own section of The Warrens, like a warped and distorted mirror of the urban sprawl above it, so learning the ins and outs of The Warrens was vital to ones survival if you wanted to or needed to travel that way. While the sometimes cavernous ruins of some old taconite refinery and centuries of attempts to repair and maintain the structures created their own hazards, the real dangers were in the residents, broken, abused, wasted, all were apt ways of describing the bulk of the citizens down here, and when you mix that with the looming darkness, lack of real sunlight, and udder invisibility from most law and order, people learned to get by how they could, however they could. For some that meant dealing it illegal narcotics, others flesh, in the end it was all just bought and sold, another wet market whose favor currency was misery. v0x bought and sold all the same, data, tech, repairs, whatever they could to get by.

v0x lit another cig, head down, music loud, they came to an alley blocked with some scrap metal and shopping carts, it all moved as one, if you knew where to pull it, and v0x did. They made their way down the corridor, coming to a ladder ascending to a near by set of maintenance stairs and out on to the street, the old brick wall, reenforced by now rusted metal frame, coming to an end in sight of The Bearded Rose, within a mile of home. They came to the end of the wall, the streetlight visible over it casting beams sickly sunshine yellow behind their line of sight, it flickered. There it stood, under the light it flickered, a shape, a person, tall, pale, too tall.

v0x stopped, managing only to stumble back half a step, eyes going wide as they gasped in a sharp breath, almost like a whine. They stood at the end of the wall staring an impossible sight, a person, paled of complexation, like a corpse that had been keep in cold storage. This person, seemed to lack genitals, and stood roughly 8 feet tall, arms and fingers much longer than normal perorations. v0x was stunned, their vision blurring, and they couldn't tell but, they must be hallucinating as this being stood, freakishly tall and around it's black massive eyes v0x could see like flashing, lines blinking in and out in neon and hues that blinded them it was as if this thing has lights flickering and flashing in and out of reality around it. Then it seemed that despite any sort of mouth or other orifices the being started to secret a fluid, a purplish ooze seemed to flow out of it melting the face and skin, and the street below as it fell the the ground, it's jaw disappearing. v0x felt nauseated, and dizzy, the world seemed to shift and blur, a blinding display of color and light, the felt their legs lose balance as they fell, never feeling the ground below them.

The world around v0x melted away a white void had them now, nothing around them. Then a spark, the lights and lines dragging across their vision again, the void filling like insects skittering out of a thousand hives filling all v0x could see, then blackness. long and dark, not nothing but a blanket of pure darkness covered v0x then for some time, slowly they awoke again, the world once again bright, not like before but now the sterile light of a clinic, the beeps and blips an odd tune welcoming them back into the world of the waking once more. a nurse soon came and clicked off the monitors, a quick summary of where they found v0x, what time and day it was, surprisingly it was 2 days from the last thing v0x could remember.

"Well if anything comes up come back when you can afford it, for now try to stay out of trouble but I got paying patients that need this bed so here's your discharge papers."

The nurse handed v0x a tablet to sign and then a medtek security officer stepped in to ensure that after the mandated immediate life saving efforts they where required by law to preform no more time was wasted on this cyberpunk trash and escorted v0x back out on to the street. Getting their bearings v0x finished the journey home, crawling through a window and down a few sublevels there was an old maintenances barracks that had been set up back during the federation days, it still had some of the old relics of the Maintech Corp but mostly sat abandoned and not far from access to the metro lines. They shed most of their clothes and gear and dove into the nest that had been set up in a corner, some lights and holoscreen coming to life as v0x curled into a ball, not sure what happened over the last few days they assumed they just nodded out and got snagged with the jack in the wall, but no citations means they couldn't have actually got dinged for it right? They slapped a nearby panel, a section of screens shifted around them and showed some banking and communications details.

"Primo shit dawg, bossmeng says we shcway"

Most recent text from the contact for that job...

"Fuck," they said out loud before thinking, "I must have really fried my brain, when the fuck did I pass out?, I should check for some ransomware make sure all my tech is in place. First...."

The thought trailed off as they pulled out a small device and clicked it into a nearby dock, more screes shifted and now a social hub came on, music started playing as messages pinged in on multiple channels, v0x pulled out a near by deck lit a nearby pipe and took a long drag, inhaling deeply the thick smoke before exhaling, the cloud filling the room with glowing rainbows as the screens flashed around the little nest bed and v0x started updating their social circles as to where they had been. A few left some urgent messages, those closest to v0x knew a couple days without contact was normal, but they liked to cultivated that sorta image, they liked the game, the cat and mouse of it all, hard to find yet always up to date and probably more well informed on your own satiation than you are. They made some video notes, and took scans of the pictures they drew before shutting it all down and drifting into a deep slumber once again.