Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 174

I looked over my scrappy handiwork with a vague sense of satisfaction. Course, that sense of satisfaction was nearly smothered by my worries that the modified chrome would even hold together, but at the very least it should be a quick reversion back to how it was. Renold had been very adamant during the modification process that I knew how to put his arm back together.

Here's to hoping it didn't explode! I most probably couldn't afford to buy a new one with my bank account's current state. At least, not until this gig was done.

The original arm acted as a grenade tube, with all the microelectronics and controls for the arm wrapped around it. Now though, there were quite a few additional parts slapped on, mainly to tighten the original tube so a harpoon could fit through. Unfortunately, everyone left their handy harpoons at home, so we ended up settling with a piece of sharpened rebar that I attached hooks to.

“Are you sure this will even work?” Renold looked at his butche- changed arm with a frown on his face. 

“Pretty sure. Just don’t try and shift it back or you’ll break something.” I replied as I finished tying a knot into the steel wire the other members of the squad brought up. “Aim high.”

Renold’s frown deepened, though he followed through with the command and shifted his arm so it nearly pointed towards the roof of New Tress Radio. With one last glance at me, an explosive sound rocked the area as the harpoon flew through the air, taking along with it the steel wire we would use to cross.

The harpoon flew true, impaling into the side of a pillar a couple of stories above the dead zone. Considering we were on the roof of a building across the way, the harpoon cannon seemed to have quite a bit of drop. Probably thanks to the chamber not being fully tight around the harpoon, taking away quite a bit of the projectile’s power.

”See? Great shot!” And he doubted my skills. What a gonk!

Renold’s gentlemanly face only dipped deeper into a frown. “I was aiming way to the left.”

Lia patted him on the back with a smug look on her face. Her voice deepened slightly into a mocking tone. “Can’t all be sharpshooters, now can we?”

Renold shot a glare at her, though remained silent. I got the feeling there was more to the interaction I didn’t understand, almost like it was an inside joke. Only, an inside joke that only one of them found funny at the moment.

”Doesn’t exactly look safe to cross.” Hampton plucked at the steel wire going all the way across. The line drooped harshly, dipping well below the death zone about halfway across.

I motioned to Yonrow, who started tightening the spool of wire back up to make it a straight shot across. Then I started weight testing the zipline. “Just have to be careful… one of us should probably go over first and secure the line better. Who’s the lightest-“

Right, my options were three bulky men, all of which had their fair share of chrome, or a tall and lanky woman. That’s to say, I was the lightest by far. Even with all the equipment in my bag I probably still weighed less than this lot. I went ahead and started tightening the straps to my pack. “Never mind…”

”One of us should go over first. We’re supposed to be protecting you anyway. What if there’s something in the building over there just waiting? No telling what lurks around a curse.” Hampton shuddered, though the look of brave sacrifice as he headed for the temporary zip-line made him appear somewhat heroic.

”Counter offer. Any of you use the zipline before it’s secure and it’ll collapse under your weight.” I gave a pointed look towards everyone’s chrome. “I’m the lightest, I’ll go over and secure it for you to come across.”

Lia popped her hand up. “I should go across. I can save myself if I fall, but you lot will probably die hitting the ground. That is, if that-“ she motioned to the area of death, “-doesn’t get you first.”

I checked my small gauntlets. There was probably enough metal there to keep my hand safe… still probably better off using something to go across instead though. It’d be quite stupid to just grab onto the line and hope for the best. “I can save myself from a fall too. Besides that, do you know how to tie a secure knot?”

”Of course I do! You, uh, you make a four, then wrap the line in and out before pulling?” Lia scratched at her head. “Something like that.”

”Were you not paying attention during basic? Knots were something they taught…” Hampton sighed.

Lia snorted coldly. “Of course, I was paying attention during basic. We Magi went through a different program though. Why learn to tie knots when you can summon a sprite to do it for you?”

Renold chuckled as the frown lifted from his face. “We may not all be sharpshooters, but likewise not everyone has a working brain.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

His eyes seemed to ooze pity as if he were staring at a poor defenseless dog. “It must truly be hard.”

While they were busy chatting, I tied the steel wire to a secure pillar in our building. All my practice in knot tying so I could go down into and up out of the Underground was finally paying off. I gave the line a couple more harsh tugs just in case, though the makeshift harpoon didn’t give.

I grabbed one of the stray pieces of rebar and headed for the line. “Anyway, I’ll go over now… Don’t come across till I motion for you. Oh, and remember to send the spool and rebar across!”

I jumped out, holding tightly onto the rebar. It caught the line, a horrible grinding sound filling the air as metal sparked against metal. The rebar held true as I easily glided across the open space of Karaoke Plaza. Wind rushed past my ears and my poncho billowed in the wind as rapidly picked up speed. And then I was almost there, coming in full speed towards a cement pillar.

I twisted the rebar, adding more friction to the line as I used it like a brake, stealing away my momentum before I hit the pillar at full force and splattered into it. Just before I got there, with all my momentum mostly gone, I let go of the rebar and kicked into a tight grip on the pillar.

For a moment, I clung to the side of the pillar, hanging out over a drop straight into the dead zone below. The rebar piece plummeted, clanging loudly as it bounced off the side of the building before impaling itself into the sand covering the plaza. A drop from here… well, it wouldn’t be ugly thanks to the Drop Chutes, but there was no telling what could happen down in that weird dome of death. And I’d rather not expose the chutes to the Crimson Company if I didn’t have to. 

I shimmied across and entered New Tress Radio fully. Or, at least, an old office of the building. It was a quaint little room with one way in and out, so I didn’t have to worry about something lurking just out of sight. A collapsed desk lay in ruins, a tattered picture of a man holding his daughter left amongst the debris as a ghost of what this place once was. I felt a gaze leveled at me, though the worrying sensation faded rapidly.

Instead of immediately collecting the line to retie it so they could get across, I put on a bit of a play. I immediately acted as if I heard something, withdrawing my gun and raising it towards the door. I ignored the shouts as I left their line of sight to go ‘check out the noise’.

Once I was fully into the building, nearly tripping over several vines, I leaned against the wall. “Corvid.”

I felt a pulse of Insight as the Aether reacted, though this time I couldn’t see anything until the bird actually appeared before me in all his dark splendor. “Caw~!

I ran a hand over his feather head as I slipped briefly into contemplation. I hadn’t been able to use him much thanks to always being under watch by the Crimson Company. “Go scout the building. Um, try and get my attention without alerting the others if there is something of note.”

”Caw. Caw-caw!” The avian nodded his feathered head before freezing as it looked down. He pointed a wing down, quickly shaking his head. “Caw! Caw! Caw! Khark!”

“I know, I know. I’ll stay away from that place… you know what it is?” 

The bird tilted his head to the side, almost as if listening to someone or something else. It slowly shook its head. “Caw.”

”Right…”

"Caw, kaw-kaw, caw!" The little bird hopped around, dancing on my shoulder before leaping down into my offered palm.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be careful. I have a bad feeling too..." I slung my rifle back over my shoulder as the bird took off from my palm, disappearing into the depths of the building. I returned back to the anchor point and looked back across.

The squad was in an argument- or at least, everyone except Yonrow was arguing with each other. Hampton looked as if he’d jump on the zipline at any moment, and Lia wasn’t much behind him. Only Renold blocked the path.

Before things could devolve anymore, I reached out and pulled the harpoon anchor from the wall. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much slack for me to actually bring it into the building and tie it around something, though that turned into a nonissue as Yonrow noticed my struggle and untied the line on their side, giving me access to much more slack.

As soon as I got everything tied up and done on my side, Hampton came across, simply grabbing onto the metal with his chrome hand. As soon as he hit the ground, his rifle was up scanning our surroundings. “What’d you see?”

”Thought I heard something. Just a bird.” I shrugged. Technically not a lie. It was a bird. “My drone’s battery will be recharged in a bit. I can send it up ahead and check the roof.”  It was more for show than anything so I could blame the drone in case Corvid turned something up.

“Might be Growths lurking around, though I don’t see much else living here with the whole bottom side blocked off.” Hampton took up a firing position by the door, keeping watch as I pulled my drone back out and sent it up. 

Most of the building looked the same as the last time I sent my drone out. The wind had blown aside some foliage, giving me a few bigger sightlines into various rooms. Nothing of note. The place had seen some wear and tear though. Several of the walls had collapsed at points, basically making massive chambers of what used to be walls and office spaces. 

I flew into one large room in particular and checked around. There were signs of something used to live around here, whether it be loose feathers, claw marks, or dried-out husks of bones. Large bones. Whatever it was though looked as though it hadn’t been around in a long while. There was a fine layer of sand over everything.

Still… something about the feathers gave me a bad feeling. It was hard to put into words exactly. If only I could use Aetherial Perception. “Something made a den here a long time ago. Something big.”

”Chek… something with wings?” The sergeant glanced back, meeting my gaze before nodding to Lia as she slid into the small office.

“Probably. Lots of feathers scattered around.” I operated the drone, going back out. The further up I checked, the less common these- I don't know- nests? Were they nests? They looked a bit like nests. Anyway, they weren't as common further up the building, so hopefully the place where they kept spare parts would still be safe. Otherwise, we'd have to check some other place for parts. Or just not repair the APC, though Captain Roger seemed pretty adamant about fixing it up.

I finally got up to the roof and looked around, sweeping over the radio towers with an idle gaze. I’d have to get up there to check the internals, but at a glance, everything was in order. Sure, about half the dishes and towers had collapsed into piles of scrap metal, but I figured we really only needed half of them considering we only wanted to check the city.

Just as I operated my drone back down safely, the rest of the squad joined up with us. Lia was the last one down, her arms shaking erratically as both sets of elbows swayed. She leaned into a corner, a nauseous look on her face. "Ugh- that was so much worse than I thought it'd be."

"Were you expecting a cakewalk?" Renold asked as he hefted his gun. Or tried to. The modified grenade launcher wasn't exactly easy to grip a gun with. "Can I change this back?"

"Um..." Originally, I was planning on leaving it in the harpoon launcher form so I wouldn't have to remodify it when we wanted to head back, but this place gave me a strange feeling. Probably best not to leave one of the main fighters handicapped. "Let me repair it."

Although the modification process took a while, now that I knew what I was doing with the chrome, it wasn't that bad to disassemble it. A few minutes later, his arm was back to usual. I gave him all the parts to make the harpoon launcher again. No way I was carrying it. My bag was already almost full to the brim with all my gadgets. Maybe I should look into a better storage system?

"Right, let's move. The sooner we get out of here, the better as far as I'm concerned." Hampton made a move for the door, seemingly snapping everyone back into focus as cool professionalism seemed to sink over the four.

Renold took point, Hampton close behind with Yonrow and Lia taking up the rear. At the very least, I wouldn’t have to worry about being the one to get ambushed as we headed further into the building.