Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

After carefully explaining his plan to Luna, Kane led them to a closed apartment door on the same floor. Like most doors outside of the slums, it was an electric sliding door, complete with a keypad to input the passcode.

“This should lead to the apartment right above the one that is drawing so much power,” Kane mumbled to Luna as he opened the interface to his CyberStrap and started typing on it.

“They may not be interfering with Cyberkin business, but they are doing something down there, and we need to find out what,” he continued.

Luna nodded in understanding while waiting for Kane to open the door.

Unfortunately, since this was a building in the Outer Ring district, the doors, walls, and floors were made to withstand power equivalent to that of Core Awakening Mystics like Kane and Luna.

Fortunately, as a member of the Cyberkins, Kane’s CyberStrap came equipped with software that could easily break through low-tech security like this.

After typing a little, Kane held up his CyberStrap to the digital keypad and, after a short whirring sound, the door slid open with a ding.

The duo stepped inside while looking around. They found themselves in a short hall with two doors on the side.

“The scanner says there’s a single occupant in that room,” Kane pointed to one of the doors while looking at the interface of his CyberStrap. “Go deal with them while I start searching for a micro-vent in that room,” he continued while pointing to another door.

“Got it!” Luna exclaimed, eager to do her part.

Yet, before she could make her way there, the door suddenly opened, and a wet man wrapped in a towel walked out, mumbling to himself, “The hell is all that noise…”

The man, a first-stage Cyber, had several outdated implants across his body and a crude mechanical arm.

Noticing Kane and Luna, he froze for a moment. Yet, he reacted remarkably quickly. “Shit!” he exclaimed, his muscles tensed while readying his mechanical arm for a fight. His expression one of panic and confusion.

Meanwhile, Kane completely ignored the man and simply disappeared into the second room he pointed at earlier. His trust in Luna absolute.

Not wanting to disappoint, the beastling quickly sprang into action with a predatory smile.

In one fluid motion, she drew one of the swords on her lower back and tossed it at the man a few feet away. Surprised, the inhabitant quickly used his arm to defend himself. “W— What do you want?!” he yelled. “D— Don’t kill me!”

“You worry too much,” Luna taunted with a smirk as her sword dug itself a few inches into the mechanical arm. “We just need your apartment for a moment.”

The man was about to respond when the clear fizzling of electrical energy filled the hall. Almost instantly, a chain of blue-white lightning formed between the sword and Luna’s hand. Then, the chain spread, wrapping around the mechanical arm as well.

Noticing what happened, the man gulped, his expression turning wry. He knew he was screwed now.

Still smirking, Luna yanked the chain with all her strength. The man yelped. He flew through the air, limbs flailing, before coming to a stop by way of Luna's fist impacting his face.

A sickening crunch echoed through the hallway, and the man sagged down to the ground, unconscious, mere seconds after the fight started.

Luna looked down at her bleeding victim and scoffed, “Weakling.”

She bent down and pulled her sword out of the arm’s metal. Naturally, this tactic only worked because the arm was old and made from substandard metal. If she tried the same thing against higher-quality cybernetics, the sword would have simply bounced off.

Seeing the damage to the arm, Luna knew it would cost the man a decent chunk of money to repair, but she didn’t care. “Consider yourself lucky I didn’t kill you,” she mumbled to herself while sheathing her sword and walking towards the room Kane was in.

The living room was simple and cheap, but also well-maintained and clean.

In an evolution chart, this room would be the missing link between the dilapidated slums apartment Luna had once taken shelter in, and the more luxurious one they currently lived in, back at the Cyberkins building. There was some simple furniture and a window that could open, but not much more.

When Luna entered, she saw Kane as he walked past all the walls, scanning closely with his CyberStrap, before finally finding what he was looking for.

“There we go,” he grinned as the device on his arm beeped, “a micro-vent!”

While the buildings closer to the city’s core used more advanced systems, these slightly older buildings used small vents no wider than a finger for the necessary circulation in a large building like this one. ‘Good thing I remembered that little detail…’ he thought to himself.

Since Luna had just entered, he looked over his shoulder, “Any problems?”

“Nope!” she exclaimed proudly. “Just a weak cyber. Went down like a house of cards. Barely made a peep, so I doubt they noticed anything downstairs.”

“Good girl,” Kane nodded, causing Luna to chuckle happily. Despite her playful and ruthless personality, she still loved being praised by Kane. With her master busy, Luna decided to go on the hunt for credits and expensive things she could put in her backpack.

Meanwhile, Kane focused his attention back on the wall and fiddled with the CyberStrap’s interface again. After a moment, he turned his arm, facing the CyberStrap downwards and his palm upwards.

A black liquid began to seep from the device, coalescing into a small, solid ball in his palm. Kane picked it up with his other hand and inspected it closely. “You wouldn’t expect this to be made of hundreds of tiny nanites,” he murmured, fascinated by the technology.

His CyberStrap was outfitted with a large number of nanites. Usually, they just provided the Strap with power by collecting it from Kane’s body heat and kinetic movement, but they could also be used to perform a few very simple specialized tasks.

With enough time, the Strap could even produce new nanites from particles in the air.

With precision, he pushed the nanite ball into the micro-vent he had discovered earlier. “Let’s see what’s going on down there,” he muttered.

Opening the holographic interface of the Strap again, Kane linked up with the ball of nanites he had just released, and within moments, he was in full control, able to look through its camera.

Carefully controlling the nanites as they travelled through the building’s internal circulation system, Kane soon stared at the situation in the apartment below them.

Two beastlings were comfortably seated in luxurious chairs, specially designed for netrunners. Their heads were encased in large helmets, as a netrunner’s brain provided the main processing power needed for the task.

In the past, only Cybers could be netrunners, because of the need to directly interface with cybernetics in the brain, but with the invention of these helmets, that need was eliminated.

Now, Mystics could use their naturally superior processing power to work as netrunners as well, just like these beastlings were doing.

After taking a look at some of the screens to the side, it quickly became clear what they were doing.

“I knew it…” Kane mumbled with a victorious grin. “Not only are they really a part of the Beastling Alliance, but they’ve clearly got nothing to do with the Cyberkins. They’re just small-time criminals making money whatever way they can.”

“So should we head down there, Master?” Luna asked after returning from her scrounging. She was eager for some more action and happy that Kane’s plan seemed to be on track.

“Yes we should,” Kane nodded, before suddenly panning the camera to the side, showing another window just like the one in the room they were currently in. “But not by elevator…”