Chapter 245

“We got this right?” Alice asked not for the first time, and I looked up from where I was checking over my equipment.

“It’s just a radio broadcast.”

“It’s a battle of the bands! If we can get everyone hyped up, it could be an absolute nova for our career!” Alice argued, and I nodded.

That was technically true, but I don’t think we had much to worry about. Honestly I think the whole battle of the bands aspect was mostly just to try and keep the Rockerboys all interested. I don’t think Morro Rock, or any of the advertisers really cared about who won.

It was all about drumming up the interest in the first place.

Or I could be entirely wrong. People were weird. Either way, I was listening to the band currently up on the stage. The stage itself was rather small. The room did have a crowd to play to, but the cameras and mics everywhere were the real focus.

It didn’t matter and we were ready.

I was all done up. Makeup artist had come by and painted my face into a mess of sultry lines.

I had taken a pic of myself in the mirror after, I wasn’t one for much makeup, but I did like how sharp I looked.

Either way that wasn’t important. The song was.

I’d argued for something new, but the band hadn’t quite been ready, so instead we were going to try and hit it out of the park with Heathens again. Hiromi had agreed with it though. Apparently we were close to putting out an album and she argued that hyping up the songs that would be on it would be best.

Which… Fine.

I still wanted to play that song though…

Maybe later.

Still the coordinator came in.

“Stand Alone Complex in five!”

We all looked at each other and nodded. And I noticed Alex slip into the back room. Thankfully he didn’t interrupt or try to speak to us as we kinda needed to lock in.

I looked over the band. Jared and Klein were taking a last minute shot. Obviously trying to get some drunken courage, as they were nervous while Alice was pacing.

Seriously guys, we’d had bigger venues before. We’d been up in front of real crowds, this was just a radio broadcast!

Well it would be on TV as well of course, but still. They really needed to relax.

I continued to check over my Orphean. Nothing had changed from the last few times I’d run an internal check, but I still felt like I should.

The rest of the band should just be as calm and collected as me!

And then the alarm hit, and we rose up. Handlers very quickly swapped out the equipment, and we had only a few minutes as the announcers cut to commercials, and talked about the last band to be ready.

But the team was quick, and we had more than enough time to go over everything, and then stand there in front of the crowd, even with the stage semi dimmed as I looked out over the small group watching.

They were hired to cheer and sing along to each song, to basically try and amplify the feeling of the band. Plus I’m pretty sure they were adding extra crowd noise to the broadcast.

I took a breath. Letting the temperature in my brain drop.

Rockerboy 10, had given me some extra insight. Some awareness of just how much control I could have over a crowd.

I of course didn’t have the cyberware to push it even farther, to not just demand attention but grab it in such a way the human mind couldn’t resist.

At least that was sort of what I was getting the feeling of from what I understood now.

Either way…

I was going to put on the best show I could!

Suddenly the info booth ahead of us activated, showing a count down.

The lights slowly began growing in shifting and adjusting to our requested patterns…

“All my friends are heathens, take it slow.” I crooned out the first line using every trick in the book to grab everyone's attention.

—--

“What do you think? Was it enough?” Alice asked, but it was at Alex, more than anyone else, which annoyed me.

“It was top tier. Now we just need to wait and see if anyone else can throw out a surprise upset.” He offered charmingly, and Alice grinned at the reassurance.

I was done though. Sighing as I wiped at my neck a bit with a moist towel, and starting to pack up the gear.

Just as I was packing up though, an annoying voice echoed out.

“Is that it?” I looked up and… Did I know this idiot? His voice was fake, his face was fake, obviously bio-sculpted, and his outfit was… outrageous.

“Carmen?” Alice said after a moment, seemingly recognizing something about the guy.

“Pfft. Don’t act so surprised, real Rockerboys get actual attention.” He replied, and I looked at the man… Carmen… Carmen…

Did I know a Carmen?

“What do you want, Carmen.” Alice asked, nearly hissing. “We want nothing to do with you.”

“Of course not, you’re riding someone else's coattails. As always. Alice Alice Alice. Oh and Klein as well, Jared is around I’m sure. Three losers that can barely perform, as always attached to someone bigger.”

“Fuck you!” Alice jumped to her feet, but Klein did as well, the drummer clenching his drumsticks like he was about to assault someone with them.

“Oh! He’s your old bandmate. I didn’t recognize him at first.” I commented when it finally clicked. This was the idiot that used to own my guitar. Then I frowned. “What’s your obsession with your former band? This is like the second time you’ve come to bother us out of nowhere. You do know how obsessed that makes you look right?”

“Fuck off street rat. As if I care what some wannabe has to say.”

“Didn’t you just say they were riding my coattails? Bro, you need to make up your mind. Am I worthless, or am I some rising star that everyone is attached to?” My question had the guy looking pissed and I noticed Alice starting to smirk.

We just finished a gig, we didn’t need this guy, and we certainly didn’t need to talk to him.

“Don’t act like you’re hot shit, rat. You’ll see, I’ll bury you.”

“Great. So can you go away now?”

“You-”

“Hey.” Alex cut in, smiling charmingly. “Alex MSM Records. I’m sorry, can you please leave our guest area, you aren’t on the visitor list.” He demanded, and there was a subtle threat there as he looked from Alex back to me, and then to Alice.

“Just because you got with MSM doesn’t mean anything. You’re still a two bit singer, and an even worse musician.”

“Then why do you keep coming around?” She snapped back. Her anger cooled, and she found the target I’d set up.

He scoffed. “I like slumming it sometimes.” He said cockily, and then walked out. He lifted an arm, and a groupie slipped under his arm, tittering at him, and cooing how amazing he was.

I could literally hear the sugar dripping into his ear, propping up his ego.

Gross.

Shrugging it off I was completely ready to let it all disappear, when I turned and watched as Alice grabbed a water bottle and flung it at the doorway.

“Fuck you! You cockwipe! Traitor bitch!” She yelled, and I flinched back a bit as she huffed fists clenched.

Right.

For me, he was a weirdo, for Alice and the others he was a former bandmate, a former friend even.

I sighed. I really didn’t need this sort of drama, I was going to be prepping to do a massive heist and really didn’t need this.

Thankfully Alex stepped in, and… It made me want to grind my teeth, but he was good at handling Alice, and the others.

I let him calm her down, the man confident that Stand Alone Complex would grow.

—--

“We lost.” Alice whispered dejectedly as a different band was brought up on stage.

I honestly would have just shrugged it off at that moment if it wasn’t for who was up on stage.

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Carmen, and his basically solo band…

How the fuck had they won? They weren’t even that good! There had been two other bands I’d actually argued would have rivaled Stand Alone Complex, if not beat us, but not him!

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t overcome the ratings.” Alex replied simply calm… Too calm.

I looked over at him and he noticed and gave me the same look he was giving Alice before.

“Unfortunately that band is being pushed heavily. The front man's name is on everyone's lips. So everyone is checking him out.”

I highly doubted that. More likely someone in his group had paid a lot of money to give him a win for more publicity.

There was a moment of anger in my chest, hot and acidic. I should destroy this guy. Ruin him. He was an asshole, and it wouldn’t even be hard. Kill him, remove that little shit. No. That was stupid. He was just a braindead asshole. I didn’t have time to murder every asshole in the city!

Yet the idea still swam around a little. How would I go about killing the Rockerboy?

The idea started formulating but Alice cut me off.

“Fuck you Carmen! You suck!” She shouted loud enough that I’m sure some of the radio broadcast picked it up over his arrogant swagger around the stage.

The crowd went silent, another hint they were paid actors, but not all of them could.

I heard some laughter, and giggles.

I glanced at Alice who looked triumphant, as Carmen's face shifted into a scowl.

Heh.

Maybe she was right. It was words, and song that would destroy that little shits career, not a bullet.

Even if a bullet would be easier.

—--

“So how did we actually do?” I asked Alex, as we were all on our way back from the contest.

“You didn’t win.”

“I think you never expected us to win. So tell me how we actually did.” I said, and I noticed the almost proud look on the man's face.

Gross.

“Well I was going to wait until we got back, but yes. Motoko is correct. MSM never expected Stand Alone Complex to win the battle of the bands today. Not that we weren’t still hoping.”

“Then what were we even doing?” Alice said, unhappy, but Alex shot her a proud look.

“You’re putting your name out there! Do you know the discussion around the contest is two things. How unfitting the winner was, and the other bands that should have taken the top spot? You’re one of three that are considered by the masses to have won!”

“So we did win… In a way.” Klein offered, knocking back another shot.

He was pretty drunk already, maybe slow down choom?

“It was a success in other ways. We’ll be using this boost to your fame to do a hard push for your first album. Speaking of. Are you satisfied with it?”

“Yeah… Probably.” I said, hesitating a little. I felt like it should have a few more songs, but putting something out there was probably worth more.

“We should do something about Carmen.” Alice said, seriously, and while Klein looked interested, Jared just shrugged.

“Who cares about him?”

I agreed with Jared on this one. Carmen wasn’t important. He was just an annoyance.

“Some Rockerboys you all are.” Alice hissed at Jared and I as she sat back and huffed, arms crossed.

I frowned. But let it go.

Focus on what was important.

—--

“Finally free!” I cried out as I arrived home. It had been a busy three days leading up to the battle of the bands and all the prep for that. Practicing the songs, working on finalizing the first album track release.

I stretched my arms up above my head as I walked inside and flopped on the couch, a few moments of just being lazy before I got to work again.

Tomorrow was another big day, but it was a big day that was something I really wanted.

Militech Showroom. I’d be going in, there would be cameras, and more Militech trying to create ads, but it was fine, because they were letting the fox in with the hens.

I’d be able to slip through all of their security see how they did the security in the first place!

I’d make a BD of it, just like Evelyn had done. With Judy’s help I’d be able to go back through it and find weak points, access points, and maybe even guard positions.

Then.. Then I’d need to put together a netrunner group. I don’t think Yoko would be interested in helping, but I would talk to her anyways, but I had other netrunners I knew.

Lucy, Kiwi, and even Sasha… Maybe.

I bet I could pay for at least one of their services to back me up. Money well spent honestly.

Militech was going to be annoyed if they even realized I was there. A clean Op. That’s what I was planning, the sort of thing only a pro could pull off.

I grinned happily at the idea of being able to pull off something like this.

Of course… Something would probably go wrong. So I needed to plan for all the bad shit too. Fallback plans, getaway hideouts, and all that.

If Militech figured it out… Well I remembered what happened to the All Foods Maelstrom base after V went through it.

Militech arrived with enough force to clear them out and get back their equipment.

So I’d have to be careful, if there was a mistake and Militech had any clue the heist happened, people would have to go into hiding for a bit, until things cooled off.

Either way, it was finally time to get this started. But first I’d need to go through the showcase, through the front door as a guest, and see what I could find.

Even as I lay out on the couch I could feel my feet bouncing at the thought of getting this going.

Finally some action.

—---

I didn’t have any sort of extra sensors, or radio to talk to the team or something. All of that could be noticed. Instead as I was picked up by Alex, and Hiromi the next morning, I had my BD Recorder active and ready.

“Just relax, and let the Militech agents figure out what they want. MSM and Militech are quite happy with this arrangement, most Rockerboys don’t want to be connected to a weapon producer like Militech, so everything should be nice and simple.” Alex said, his face buried in his agent, as he worked.

“What he said, but keep an eye out for things you might want.” Hiromi said with a wink to me, and I grinned in response as she looked confident, smacking a few strands of her bangs back nonchalantly. “Because of course if you find something they’re selling to your tastes, we could probably set up another ad campaign.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Do so, heck pick something even if you don’t like it.” Alex offered for once ganging up on me with Hiromi instead of getting in her way.

“I’ll keep an eye out.” I said flatly, not telling them I meant that in more than one way.

Finally thought it was show time. The high end car that MSM always wanted to transport us in, pulled in, and I looked out the windows, having turned off the tint with a few buttons.

Something made for Rockerboys to look out into the masses and wave and get a reaction while still keeping the bullet proof glass.

For me, it meant I could see all the security as we pulled into the Showrooms parking garage.

It was built into the base of one of the high rises in city center. Not the main Militech office in Corpo Plaza, but in the more shopping area of downtown. As we pulled in on the ground level instantly I started noticing the security.

Obviously this wouldn’t be the entrance I used during the heist, I’d want to access the storage area, not the public sections, but I kept my eyes open anyways, glancing around and taking in all the security scanners, cameras, and active security.

There were a few guards in Militech gear looking through bullet proof glass into the parking area.

Obviously the Militech guys were taking the security of this place seriously.

I knew why. We weren’t even entering through the normal civilian entrance. This was the important VIP garage.

It was fine though. I was getting everything I needed.

I smiled as we stopped and stepped out and there a Man wearing Militech branded suit, was waiting.

“Welcome to the Militech Showroom! I’m Tyler Harris, and I’ll be your host for the day.” He greeted me, me specifically in fact, offering a gregarious smile and a wave of his arm like he was some circus ringmaster.

“Motoko. Nice to meet you.” I offered back, no need to be rude, and we moved through quickly. Alex took the lead in some ways as Hiromi joined me at my side, smirking all the while despite being an Arasaka suit in Militech territory.

We were brought to an elevator as Tyler spoke excitedly.

“We’ll start with the Eternal exhibit hall.” He offered and I couldn’t help but cant my neck to the side wondering what the heck that meant.

Either way as the door opened, we were led onto a massive sort of circular room.

“Welcome to the main hall! Here we have eight of our showcased themes, four on each floor. The Eternal Hall is over here.” He waved at me, guiding us in, and instantly I was a bit shocked.

When you think Militech, you think… Military Tech. You don’t think of teenage angst.

But apparently Militech did.

The first hall we entered was like a 2077 Hot Topic. Armor, accessories, weapons, even actual guns all of them splashed with Teen emblems. Wild paints and icons, key chains for guns... Little cartoon pictures of people flipping off, even all pink weapons.

There was an all pink combat knife…

“The Strawberry Tac X6 Combat Knife. We’re hoping to draw the eye of the civilian market with it. Not everyone can have a set of Mantis Blades, but any gangoon trying to mug a teen with a Strawberry is going to have a quick trip to the ER.”

“Pink isn’t my color.” I offered, even if the knife itself was fine.

Looking around the place, I understood why they brought me here. An entire set of equipment. Literally everything I could think of plastered with Militech branded teen angst ready to sell.

They probably struggled, in the same way Arasaka wouldn’t be popular with the normal Kitsch style.

They were trying though, but unfortunately.

“I’m more of a Neo-Mil person myself.” I explained to the poor guy waving a hand at my own gear.

“I understand, but something might catch your eye. We make the absolute best armor, and accessory systems any Rockerboy who wants to make a splash could desire.”

Yeah and it would probably be as likely to make that splash as a normal Hot Topic goer. Either way, I took it all in, eyes wide, and scanning.

Either way I looked around. Checking out the weapon accessories on display. Optics, silencers, different barrels for a wide range of guns.

Considering I still had my Lexington at my hip. I was rather interested in some of the additions. Some I right away recognized. The punch bayonet from that one Iconic was there in a variety of colors,

I glanced over the armored clothes, and general body armor, but the hyper colors was just too much for me.

“These aren’t bad.” I finally said as poor Tyler was getting more and more anxious about my disinterest.

“A good eye! The Militech ‘Orca’ Brand combat boots.” He offered, as I looked them over. They thankfully weren’t colored like someone had puked rainbows over them. But they did have armored sections surrounding the toes, and ankles, giving them a styled look.

The fact the armored sections were actually functional to my eyes told me good things.

“I want them.” I decided then, and Hiromi stepped in.

“And what my client wants she gets.” She offered, easily slipping in and discussing with Tyler, about brand deals for boots.

I sighed, I didn’t want them that much Hiromi. I shook it off, looking around.

And this was only one stop in the Showcase. They had seven more, and the storage area.

Use the time Motoko. Remember what you are here for. Not new boots.

Even if they were low key nova.