Chapter 22: Raid! Aldecaldos?

Mercer and the three young hackers took advantage of the fact that the enemies had not yet approached and ducked into a dilapidated building, a structure essentially cobbled together from boards of some synthetic material.

Although it looked like the Aldecaldos had tidied it up slightly, the room was littered with empty liquor bottles and cigarette butts. The sofa was half-rotted, with its foam stuffing spilling out. Mercer leaned against the window, his optic eyes flickering as he zoomed in to observe the motorcade approaching from down the street.

Leading the pack was a two-door sports car, modified with bulletproof glass, armored plating, and an extra spotlight mounted on the front. According to his optic scan, the vehicle's base model was a "Rayfield Caliburn." In the world of 2077, this bulletproof glass—or rather, the material composed of one-way vision data metal plates—was quite extraordinary. At first glance, it appeared to be thin metal, but by running a specific program, the material could transform into a miraculous one-way pane. Looking in from the outside, one saw only a metallic surface, yet from the inside, the view was crystal clear. Mercer was impressed by the material, though at the moment, it made observing the driver's seat difficult.

In the middle of the convoy was a modified Villefort Columbus V340-F freight van. It was a two-seater, but with a cavernous rear compartment typically used for hauling cargo. Mercer found it vaguely familiar. After a moment of recollection, he realized this was the exact model that, in the game, had been converted into a mobile hacking station to transport Songbird to the airport.

Following the van was a massive Mackinaw "Behemoth" pickup truck with a skull spray-painted on the hood. Behind that were two Thorton "Galenas," heavily modified but still looking like heaps of junk.

Five vehicles in total—fewer than Mercer had anticipated. He mused that perhaps this was just a group of Aldecaldos returning home after a day of scrounging for eddies. Beside him, Leon tensed, about to raise his rifle, but Mercer reached out to press down on the barrel. He shook his head slightly and sent a message.

[Mercer: No rush. Let them pass for now. Their pickup is mounted with a machine gun, and if they stay inside the vehicles, my optics can't lock onto their signals... Patience.]

Leon nodded firmly, lowered his assault rifle, and continued to watch cautiously from the window.

The cars roared past the ruined building and came to a stop in front of an abandoned restaurant in the center of town. Through their optic feeds, the members of the Aldecaldos were marked as they climbed out of their vehicles. Even through the walls, their signals were visible. This was the work of Anzu, who was watching from afar; only she had such a clear vantage point.

[Anzu: Wait! They have a hostage! It doesn't look like he's with them... Probably kidnapped for ransom. What a bunch of scum. I've marked the hostage on your optics. If possible, we might be able to save him.]

Mercer remained noncommittal, watching the situation quietly before issuing his orders.

[Mercer: Wait until they are all inside resting, then we move. Daichi, Leon, get behind the building opposite the restaurant and find a way in. Once we open fire, you need to launch a full-scale assault from the front. Lucy, throw whatever grenades you have at them. Your goal is to maximize casualties while creating a distraction. We will sneak around the other side of the restaurant, attempt to assassinate the key targets with quickhacks, and launch a pincer attack. Don't worry about the hostage; our safety comes first. Wait for my signal.]

[Daichi: Received!]

[Leon: Understood.]

Mercer gestured toward the back, and the group retreated from the window. Daichi and Leon headed left, while Mercer took Lucy to the right. After moving a safe distance away, they quickly crossed the main road of the town. Mercer kept their pace low, his eyes patiently scanning the ground to avoid triggering any mines or stepping on anything that might make noise.

As they circled to the side of the restaurant, Mercer’s brow furrowed. He stopped abruptly, looking up at the antenna on the restaurant's roof.

[Mercer: I see a network receiver... Don't move. I'm going to tap into it and see if I can connect to their subnet. It’s highly likely their personal networks are linked through this receiver. If so, I'll wait until I'm in the subnet and serve them a daemon virus package.]

[Lucy: You aren't connected to a server and you don't have a cooling system, Mercer. Be careful, don't fry your brain.]

[Mercer: No problem.]

He crept to the back of the restaurant. [Mercer: Give me a boost.]

Lucy understood immediately. She crouched against the wall, bracing her hands on her knee—the advantage of a high-end Arasaka education. They had all undergone professional military chip training.

Mercer took a step back, accelerated, and leaped, planting one foot on her knee. Lucy pushed upward, helping him grab the edge of the roof, which stood over three meters high. Mercer gritted his teeth, pulling with both arms. Fortunately, he was light and possessed decent physical potential; even without specialized training, he managed to haul himself up.

Once on the roof, Mercer walked to the antenna, opened the maintenance box, and plugged his data cable into the port, connecting directly to the subnet. He could now clearly feel the collection of signals beneath his feet.

[Mercer: Got it. These guys clearly haven't been hacked before; they're all linked to the same subnet... Prepare to attack. Lucy, stay crouched in the back with your gun. If anyone tries to escape through the back door, shoot them. Anzu, maintain data tracking on their signals until you confirm they are dead.]

[Anzu: Understood.]

[Lucy: Copy that.]

Mercer closed his eyes, pouring all of his focus into the network. Though he couldn't dive into cyberspace, his intense concentration caused his perception of time to slow. Streams of data flashed before his eyes. His neural interface grew slightly warm. He exported the quickhack programs from his co-processor memory and began integrating them into a virus package. He injected the program into the subnet, which automatically began uploading to their personal networks.

Normally, a hacker would need a pre-prepared virus chip with area-of-effect capabilities, letting the chip's processing power handle the execution, or they would have to "poison" each target one by one. Mercer, however, was capable of using his own brain to send multiple virus packages simultaneously, even manipulating the programs in real-time for "precision-infected transmission." It was a terrifying display of raw neural processing power.

Even as a flood of data surged through his vision and his brain was pushed to its limit, he was still able to issue clear commands.

[Mercer: Move!]

The moment he spoke, the sound of three-round bursts from precision rifles erupted from across the street. *Tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat*—it sounded like music. The restaurant windows shattered, and the screams of men and women rang out simultaneously.

"Hackers! There are hackers!"
"Across the street!"
"Watch out for grenades!"
"Ah, ahhhhhh!"

The Aldecaldos were in chaos. Mercer took a deep breath and continued to monitor the situation in the subnet. In just seven or eight seconds, the signals below went completely silent.

[Mercer: You three, confirm the status. Lucy, slip in through the back door. What about the hostage? Was he caught in the crossfire?]

[Anzu: My vision isn't that good; I can't see behind the bar inside the restaurant.]
[Daichi Tetsuya: No signs of enemy activity in my field of view.]
[Leon: I see the hostage; he ran behind the bar during the chaos. Be careful.]

[Mercer: I'll send him a warning message... Wait, careful, I can't find his signal!]

But Lucy had already entered through the back door, pistol drawn. She quickly held the man hiding behind the bar at gunpoint and sent a message.

[Lucy: His hands are still tied, and he's being cooperative. It's safe, you can come in.]

Mercer pulled the cable, rubbing his temples. He felt fine—he’d gotten lucky; the fact that they were all on the same subnet saved him the trouble of breaking through individual ICE. With his skill, he could easily wipe out a whole group; only one of them had carried a deck with ICE, and that was the only one who had cost him any effort. The rest were like playthings once he breached their network. If he hadn't wanted to give Daichi and the others a chance to participate, he wouldn't have even needed them to fire a shot; he could have killed the lot of them in seconds.

Mercer hopped down from the roof and entered the restaurant through the back door. Daichi and Leon walked over from across the street, dutifully following the Arasaka training protocols by delivering "insurance" shots to the bodies.

"Save your ammo. These paupers likely only have lead rounds in their guns. Our armor-piercing and tungsten-tipped rounds are finite, and there’s no Militech or Arasaka gun shop around here to restock."

Mercer nodded in satisfaction after assessing the scene; at least the two Aldecaldos who had been smoking by the window were killed by gunfire. That meant Daichi and Leon hadn't missed during the initial volley.

He then took over from Lucy, aiming his Kenshin pistol at the unlucky hostage trapped behind the bar. He pulled up a small stool and sat down across from the man, waving the muzzle of his gun toward him.

Though his hands were tied, the man wore a gray cowboy hat, a plaid shirt, a rugged beard, dirty jeans, and a pair of cowboy boots. He looked to be in his forties, with salt-and-pepper hair and beard, but his frame was sturdy. An empty holster hung at his waist. He appeared to have almost no cyberware, save for a basic neural interface.

To be honest, this type of person was a headache even for Mercer, as they typically kept their neural interface disconnected from the network, only turning it on when necessary. Many hackers lacking front-line combat skills would find such a person incredibly tricky to handle, as the only way to neutralize them with a virus would be to physically insert a connection cable into their head. No wonder Mercer couldn't find his signal earlier; the moment the man realized a hack was underway, he had simply severed his connection. He didn't need a neural interface to control cyberware, so he could disconnect at will, unlike those heavily augmented individuals who needed special plugins to disconnect without risking system failure.

"Talk. Introduce yourself, and I’ll consider whether to let you live, poor guy."

The man, his hands still bound, looked at Mercer and Lucy with sheer disbelief. *Are you kidding me? A group of thirteen- or fourteen-year-old kids just took out a group of Aldecaldo thugs in five or six seconds?*

"Don't shoot! I'm just a Nomad. That Columbus van outside is mine. I was just targeted by the Aldecaldos—they thought I was carrying cargo! They tried to rob me, but when they found nothing but junk in my van, they got pissed off and tied me up, hoping to extort a ransom."

The man explained his situation quickly. Mercer tapped his pistol against the bar counter. "Be specific. Name, origin, where you're from, where you're going, and why."

"...My name is Cassidy. I'm a Nomad from the Aldecaldos."

As soon as Cassidy finished his sentence, he saw Mercer’s brow arch.

"Aldecaldos?"