Lost Rain

Outrun - Chapter 153

The door popped open, letting a beam of light into the dim server room. I breathed as calmly as I could, keeping myself from tensing up or shifting. Nothing drew the eye better than movement.

Two guards moved into the room, both flashing a flashlight around the area. They were both armed for bear, loaded in full suits of combat armor. They were on an entirely different level from that guard on the top floor. 

These two though? Full metal similar to my now defunct heavy armor....

Outrun - Chapter 152

I looked around the place, checking for anything useful. Lots of Netrunning stuff, most of which I was scared to take. Definitely had some kind of tracking software in most of this. No point taking any of it without a Netrunner of my own to get through the ICE.

That being said, I did find something of note on the downed Netrunner. It was an access badge, one that resonated with the Aether. I’d wondered how the employees got around without tripping the wards, and I think I found it. Ma...

Outrun - Chapter 151

”Damnit!” Francis jacked out of his chair, his flesh senses partially returning as his perception of the Net faded away to a mere background buzz in the back of his mind. He idly watched the sublevels of Cold Moon Solutions on his chrome’s hud, inspecting for anything standing out.

As per usual, nothing but the occasional guards walked around down there. At least those levels still had power thanks to the backup generators installed. Cheap bastards couldn’t have wired up the res...

Outrun - Chapter 150

I looked out over the roof, carefully checking everything and ensuring there was nothing new. There wasn’t. Well, there wasn’t anything new in the way of security. A couple dozen new cigarette butts lay around soaked in the rain. Quite a few of them looked like Tosta, though surprisingly there weren’t any of the red and black ones from the Neo-Jokers. We were close to Bricktown, so I expected some kind of Neo-Joker cigarette in the mix. Wonder how long they’ve been gone to not see eve...

Outrun - Chapter 149

A cool breeze blew past my new poncho's hood, bringing with it a freezing cold rain. Thankfully, the poncho protected me from head to knee from the rain. ”I appreciate you doing this for me.” 

”Don’t mention it.” Shinobu blew a puff of smoke from a cigarette as he stood next to me.

We stood in one of the Jade Fang’s flyer bays high up in Bukicho, staring down at the street of pleasure as the storm raged on. Lightning flashed, striking Raijin’s tower as electrici...

Outrun - Chapter 148

Thanks to the blueprint at the back of the black book I pulled from the speakeasy’s safe, I knew exactly where I needed to search. There were about a dozen of the stashes scattered about, so I decided to start from the entrance and work my way in. 

The first of the bunch was off to the side of the entry in one of the booths. It had a false floor that the table rested on. Or at least, it had rested on. The table was one of the things I tossed out, leaving easy access to the floor ...

Outrun - Chapter 147

I popped my back, rubbing at my sore body as I walked back into my apartment. I ended up fighting about a dozen more times before I left. After the first two fights, the arena’s systems placed my skill level a lot better so that I was fighting people slightly better than me, but not too much better than me that it was a slaughter. I won four of my thirteen other fights.

Before heading home, I also went out and copied all of the audio files from my deck over to my phone to listen in on...

Restless - Chapter 3

I awoke tied with bonds tied tightly around my wrists. Thankfully, the wound on my arm had at least been treated. Thick bandages wrapped around where the Shade got me, though they had the unfortunate effect of making my bonds slightly tighter.

I’d been moved to a room at some point, faintly reminiscent of those interrogation rooms I’d heard about on the radio. Rope tied me down to a chair sitting right in front of a table. An empty chair sat on the other side.

”H-hello?” ...

Outrun - Chapter 146

Although the strike was ferocious, it lacked any kind of finesse. The guy swung it with full might, and yet timidly backed away from the swing as if he was afraid of hitting himself.

I easily dodged out of the way, taking the opportunity to close the gap and slide up towards him. The sword passed over my head, slamming into the ground in a spray of holographic sand. I shunted out a leg, kicking the sword as hard as I could. The sword flew from his grip, leaving him defenseless and my le...

Outrun - Chapter 145

Putting Listeners out wasn’t as easy as it might seem. I had to be strategic with where I placed them to avoid BugHounds. It might’ve been a bit of excessive paranoia, but Cold Moon Solutions did triple down on security, so I didn’t want to get caught if they did a sweep

All that being said, I needed a good spot that wouldn’t be scanned too deeply. My first pick? In the ceiling. As for how I would get the bugs in the right places? I had a couple different methods t...

Outrun - Chapter 144

”Are you sure?” I asked. This was… well, it wasn’t exactly a failing point but I had hoped he would help out.

I put down my tools and pushed a button. A servo whirled into action, pushing the mechanism out and into motion. Just when I thought I had it working, the gears stuck on the track. Needs more grease. Maybe move some of the gears too. It might pull some of the pressure off.

”Yeah. Thank you, Zuku, but I’m getting out. I’m not- I’m not built for this field of...

Outrun - Chapter 143

Something was wrong. I’ve had the feeling for a while now ever since I first looked into the corp, but sitting across the street in a frankly disgusting restaurant pointed me in the right direction. Or- or it could be the mystery meat that I just ate. I'm ninety percent sure it was chopped up rat…

Cold Moon Solutions had a four-story building all to itself on the edge of Bricktown. Of course, the alleys on its sides were tagged to hell by the Jade Fang and Neo-Jokers, though the lat...

Restless Cover and Description

The description is still a WIP.

— — —

Haah... this isn't how it was supposed to happen. By the Pyre, I was supposed to be just a simple courier who lived and died back on Voth Prime, not- not this. Whatever happened to my promised safe life? Ah, but I should've known better. No life in the galaxy is truly safe from the horrors that rove in the darkness.

Caught by the Slarin Republic and forced into a role I never even dreamed of having, my days of happiness ar...

Outrun - Chapter 142

I took a shower as soon as I got home as if to wash off the stupidity I ran into earlier. By the time I got out, I found a sparkling black gemstone on my bed. I sat up and reached for my pistol. That wasn’t there when I went to sleep. Someone broke into my apartment. Was it Feras?

Time slowed down as I withdrew my pistol just in time to catch a dark shape hiding in the corner of my room. Corvid crouched in the corner, eyeing me with excitement even as he shyly hid under his wings. The...

Restless - Chapter 2

Melissa took a deep breath behind me before I heard the familiar crackle of electricity and the discharge of a light bolt from her Vi-rifle. I turned back, catching sight of her absolutely unloading on the Shades surrounding the Solas Lux. 

The ones behind us took the brunt of the sudden fire, directly disintegrating into black fog under the powerful bolts. The others all around received glancing blows, their half-solidified forms smoldering in the darkness. It seemed to stoke thei...

Outrun - Chapter 141

“Caw!” A cry roused me from my sleep, though it did little to help the pounding headache in the back of my head. It was a bit weird waking up with a headache for once. Usually, Quick Healing took care of it before I had to deal with it.

I groaned as my eyes popped open and I sat up in bed. I rubbed at my eyes harshly, displacing some goop that collected on my chrome one. A yawn broke through-

I startled back under my covers, one hand reaching for the gun under my pillow as mov...

Outrun - Chapter 140

I took my time driving back to the north side of Portside. There seemed to be some kind of ball game going on today, so the roads were packed. Not that it mattered too much. I had an appointment, but it was more of a suggestion than anything. It’s not like I sat down and told her I’d be over at an exact time.

Eventually, though, I made my way in the right direction. The Jagged Clover Pub was as… inviting as ever. The stench of alcohol puked back up in the alleys burn...

Outrun - Chapter 139

For several heart-pounding moments, my brain was thrown into chaos. My stomach dropped faster than my body, sending me careening right onto dizzy street. My arm got caught by the wind as I flapped around flightlessly, slamming it into my helmet.

I flicked on Cold-Blooded, driving back the spike of fear momentarily. I shifted, spreading out my arms to get some form of control as I fell. It worked, kinda. It wasn't exactly stable, though I like to see anyone falling and trying to be stabl...

Outrun - Chapter 138

Next was the camera in the corner of the living area. Simple enough to take care of. I hopped onto the back of a couch pressed into the wall, sneaking along the curved ledge up under it. Then I gave it the same treatment as the camera up on the second floor. I flicked three of the diamonds up, blocking the camera’s lenses and tapping them into place. 

It wasn’t the most subtle way of disabling a camera, but it would do until the morning. By then, they’d have bigger problems t...

Restless - Chapter 1

”Jasper. Jasper! Can you hear me?!” A voice called out, drawing me from my aimless reverie as I shook my head. The rushing blood brought back some semblance of awareness. 

I had zoned out staring out the massive hole in the Voth Wall. This far down, the ocean had a ton of pressure, so water should’ve been rushing into the city with enough pressure to cut through solid centcrete. Hell, it already had rushed in and cut through solid centcrete.

The water, hel...

Outrun - Chapter 137

”Zuku Ichima, right?” Athena Alexandria asked, her voice seeming to boil with rage.

”Chek chek. What can I do for you?” Did I piss her off somehow- oh, she must’ve found out I took the box. Shit. Shit! Okay, okay… what do I do? Should I run-

The rage in her voice died down slightly as if it hadn’t been directed at me in the first place. “I’ve got a gig for you. A good paying one. You do this for me, and I’ll even owe you a favor. You in?”

O- okay? Maybe...

(Defunct)Restless - D

I pulled my mask off as soon as I exited the lift and began my journey back to the office. I trudged to Whitewater Courier, my eyes drifting from one ornate pillar hiding the entryway to the next. Or, at least, they had been ornate at some point. Deep grooves clawed into the ornate limestone, acting as center points for a spread of deep gray as if it were some kind of contamination. 

Two large braziers sat outside of the main entry to the building, dwarfed by the soli...

Outrun - Chapter 136

It didn’t take too long before the teddy bear moved, only about six hours. I wasted time away in a tiny coffee shop on the seventy-ninth floor. It was a bit out of place considering it was entirely surrounded by flyer bays. The owner sure was smart though, at least based on the huge number of rich people that came through the shop and ordered coffee to go.

I hid away in a back corner of the room, reading various articles and doing research on some other things of interest. In between ...

Outrun - Chapter 135

But before I go out and spend a couple days prepping for the heist, there were a few other matters I wanted to attend to—namely my points. At the moment, I had two Perk points and one Skill point.

As soon as I returned home, tired as I was, I opened up the interface and entered the Perk pavilion. This time around I wanted to grab a Perception Perk. Considering I was about to go on an intelligence-gathering trip, it made sense to do it first.

I arrived in the ancient hall before ...

Outrun - Chapter 134

I cleaned up the inside of the vault, dusting off the tables and shoving them to the sides as I had planned. For now, I also tossed out the skeleton into the other stacked bones just outside the vault door. I still haven't decided what to do with all of them yet. Would anyone buy bones? Is that a thing these days?

Surprisingly, the interface chimed up once more shortly after I dusted and shifted around my new furniture.

「Cleaning - 1 Acquired」

So there were Sk...

Instagram

Hey, I made an instagram account if anyone wants to check it out. I like drawing and stuff, but I don’t necessarily want to post my amateur art on Patreon unless it’s related to a book, so I’ll be putting unrelated art up over there.

@lostrainfall if anyone is interested

Outrun - Chapter 133

I had to clear quite a few piles of bones away before I could even think about unlocking the massive vault door. I couldn't help but feel giddy as I approached the dial lock, my klepto instincts tingling with excitement.

It took quite a while to crack the thing open. It was old, old enough that it had been literally buried with time, but it was probably quite something back in the day. Keyword, back in the day. Now? Now it was disconnected from any external systems and relied solely on ...

Outrun - Chapter 132

I looked back over my setup, feeling surprisingly confident in my plan. Rather, plans. I stood, hidden in the deepest shadow I could find, just inside of the cave leading back to the rest of the Underground.

I traced the blue and silver bracelet on my wrist, caressing the remaining fox charm on the Fox Charm Bracelet. With a thought, the bracelet vanished back into a plume of ghastly blue flames. It took a while to get it all setup, but now it was all ready.

The chasm vanished, bu...

Outrun - Chapter 131

The large room cut off into several tunnels, practically creating a maze. At least, for a normal person. Most ended in dead ends or branched down into other tunnel systems, making this a hub of sorts. Or at least, that’s what the hundreds of prints moving through the area suggested. Only one path, in particular, led towards my goal.

I left the larger chamber, entering a rather small passageway similar to the maintenance shaft the three mercs guarded. Rusty pipes lined the walls and lo...

Outrun - Chapter 130

The subway train lay on its side, tipped over from when it derailed and slammed through the subway’s wall. It was a bit tricky to get in, slightly reminding me of the mutant ghoul nest Mira and I found back when we were searching for Granny Smith’s grandson… speaking of Granny Smith, I wonder how she is? I should go visit her- ah, I could think about this some other time. Now definitely wasn’t the time. 

I managed to wedge open one of the doors, sliding inside once it was o...