Marek lifts the decoy scrap into the dash light, and the old promise turns rotten. Beneath the dull surface, circuitry wakes in a tight, aggressive pattern, as if it has been waiting for this exact glow.
Marek
No... this is a carrier.
The sedan shudders. The steering wheel stiffens under Juno’s hands, then jerks toward the restricted industrial zone beyond the lane.
Juno
Akio, it is taking the wheel.
Ki Akio snaps to the center console, his cybernetic eye locking onto the crate signal. The black wafer and chip cradle are not dead at all, they are a hidden load, a virus nested inside the decoy, calling home through the car’s own systems.
Marek
I swear, I did not know. It was supposed to be clean.
Ahead, the lane narrows between rusted shutters and warning stripes. The sedan keeps drifting, stubborn and controlled, toward the corporate-lit perimeter where the trap can finish broadcasting.
✓ Quest Accepted
Neutralize the virus in the sedan
“with my enegeering don't fide it feed the device with excessive charge and overload it”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Engineering, rolled +2)
Ki Akio jams the borrowed charge into the dead relay. The dash lights flare white, then choke into static as the virus load spikes and buckles.
The steering wheel twitches hard left, then goes slack. For one breath the sedan coasts straight, freed from the pull toward the restricted zone.
Ki Akio
The lockout is broken.
Smoke thickens under the dash, hot and bitter. The burn leaves a sharp scorch on Ki Akio's hand as the relay blows clean through.
Juno
That worked. Keep it from trying again.
Marek
The decoy is dead now, but it was never clean. They were riding it from the start.
Outside, the lane bends past a corporate-lit gate and a waiting camera mast. The sedan now holds its line, but the route ahead is still exposed.
Quest Complete
Neutralize the virus in the sedan
Skill Upgrade: Engineering Mediocre→Fair
“ask the team where we should go next now we have an untracable new sedan and extra fire power lets get this case where it belongs”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
The sedan settles into a steady glide, smoke thinning around the dash. Juno keeps both eyes on the route while Marek stares at the dead scrap in his hand like it has insulted him personally.
Ki Akio
We have a clean car, more firepower, and a case that belongs somewhere else. Where do we take it?
Juno
Away from any corporate glass. If we keep it moving, we make them work for every block.
Marek
The old clinic block at Sable Quay. That is where the bait started, and where the trail should end if anyone is still honest.
Marek turns the black wafer and chip cradle over in his palm, then sets it between them like evidence. The corporate service seal on the case latch catches the dashboard glow.
Marek
I brought you a poisoned key, and I need it to open the right door.
Juno
If we go to the clinic, we do it fast and we do not split up. The last time we hesitated, they had us boxed in.
Ahead, the lane opens toward stacked lights and the hard silhouette of the city. Juno waits for Ki Akio's call, one hand on the wheel, the other ready to cut wherever he points.
✓ Quest Accepted
Take the encrypted case to the old clinic block
“ok roll into the clinic parking lot like any other person seeking treatment, hey my inventory should include two agent rifles I don't see them in my inventory?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)