XII
Chills
Night City, 2077
Sofie was facedown on her desk again.
She couldn’t find a single breach in Ares’ ICE. She had figured out when and where Tyler Monterro had hacked him, but couldn’t figure out . It was driving her mad. From what little she knew of the cyborg, and what Ares had told her, he was no hacker, so it made no sense.
She’d spent the last few days trying to figure out where Monterro had disappeared to. Her search so far had been unsuccessful. She’d found traces of him around town by reaching out to every fixer she knew, including Rogue. What she’d gotten back were disparate reports of gigs being completed with brutal efficiency, and at a faster rate than any other merc in the city, save one: someone going by the name “V” who had disappeared a little over three months ago.
It wasn’t much to go on. The only common thread was that every single job was one that could be completed violently, and with little to no nuance. Each one was a call for termination. Each one had been terminated in the bloodiest way possible. Each one had entertained unnecessary casualties.
Monterro was a Solo, a one-man army, but not a hacker. He must have had an accomplice, a netrunner skilled enough to bypass the defenses that Sofie had set up for Ares without leaving tracks. Granted, her husband had no skill for manipulating software and was relying on her skills for the upkeep of his Net-defenses, but even so there should have been tracks left behind.
Sofie groaned as she slumped back in her chair, sliding down until she was barely sitting anymore.
She felt like she’d been beating her head against a brick wall since she’d started searching. At least the Ymir Cyber Security team Ares had sent to keep tabs on Alexis Holt had reported back. Lex no longer had access to any of Ymir Skandatek’s private information. It was clear that she wasn’t a netrunner. The CySec team had found a handheld data-thief in her apartment and taken it. Now were monitoring her to see if she contacted whoever had actually put the device together for her and Deathwing.
So far: nothing.
Sofie rubbed her eyes and stared into the glow of the monitor until the characters blurred. She sighed and slid off the chair onto the floor, then sluggishly rose to her feet. She pushed the office door open and emerged into her living room.
The apartment was empty. Ares had gone to the building’s parking garage to work on the Merrimac’s engine and had been there for a couple of hours. Sofie decided to take the free time she found herself with and use it to dive into the Net.
She filled the bathtub with ice, booted up her cyberdecks, and stripped off her clothes. Lowering herself into the ice bath was always a struggle. Her legs, stomach, and chest were each a barrier to be crossed before she could begin to enjoy herself in cyberspace. No matter how many times she prepped for a dive, she never got used to the cold that preceded, and no matter how many times she emerged from the depths, she never got used to the lightheadedness that followed.
She’d tried wearing a ‘running suit several times, back when she lived in Megabuilding H5, but had never been comfortable in any but her own. She had only worn her own ‘running suit once since getting to Night City for fear that she would be discovered for it and the suit had been destroyed mere hours after she’d retrieved it from the lockbox under her bed.
Sofie stepped into the tub, forcing herself to sit. The ice covered her from the waist down, sending goosebumps across her skin. She shifted, laying down in the tub. She grabbed the interface cable from the floor and raised it to the port behind her ear, closing her eyes.
Something broke.
Sofie leapt from the tub. Ice cubes scattered across the floor.
The words echoed in her mind, grating against her other thoughts like sandpaper. She couldn’t do it. Fear gripped her as she shivered in the corner of the bathroom. She could feel teeth graze the back of her neck, and the hot breath of the wyrm across her spine. The Sandevistan hummed to life, fueled by adrenaline.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Faen.”
If she dove in and her implants failed, what would Ares find when he came back? Her, dead in the bathtub, smoke pouring from her eyes? She couldn’t bear the thought. Her eyes watered. Bile welled up in her throat. Sofie doubled over and vomited.
* * *
Ares was still digging around in the Merrimac’s engine when Sofie found him. She’d brushed her teeth twice, but could still smell the sick on her breath. Shivers still ran down her spine.
She’d re-dressed herself after cleaning up, then changed her clothes again. Now she wore a pink hoodie several sizes larger than her own clothes, which hid the loose tank top and shorts underneath. She was in stark contrast to Ares who was wearing jeans and a white, oil-stained t-shirt. His hands and face were grimy, and he was sweating as he tightened something in the engine.
He heard her bare footsteps before he saw her. “Hey,” he said, voice casual and soft as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. Sofie pressed her full weight into Ares. He gently pried her arms off him, but only enough to turn and face her.
“I was just starting to miss—you look pale. Everything okay?” Ares placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back just a bit. He looked closely at her, then pulled her back to his chest.
“Yeah, I’m… Okay.” Sofie struggled to get the words out. She wasn’t lying, but they weren’t totally true either. She fine. She wasn’t hurt, wasn’t trapped in the net, or shorted out. Still, she felt like she’d be sick again at any moment.
“No. No, you’re not,” Ares said. He frowned, rubbing a hand across her back. “What happened?”
His touch was already repairing whatever inside her had broken in the tub. “I was getting frustrated. Couldn’t turn up anything on Monterro. No associates, no tracks, not even the shadow of a presence in the Net. Even the CySec team was giving me nothing. So, I decided I needed a break.”
She pressed her lips together, trying to hold steady, but the chills kept coming. Her fingers trembled. “I thought… maybe if I put my mind to something else for a little while I could relax, so I was going to dive.”
“Okay,” Ares said, guiding her gently to the passenger-side door of the Merrimac and into the seat. He stood between her and the world, gently squeezing her hand. “What went wrong? You’re usually a bit pale when you come out of cyberspace, while you’re still lightheaded, but this looks worse. Your eyes are red.”
“I panicked,” Sofie said, turning her eyes down. “I—I couldn’t even plug in. I freaked out. My whole body went clammy, and I was flooded with adrenaline. I could feel breathing down my neck. .”
Ares expression darkened. He squeezed her hand tighter. “Was it like your nightmares?”
Sofie shook her head quickly. “No. Not… exactly.”
“A memory then? Or—or a—”
“No,” Sofie cut him off. “It was new.” She took a deep breath, forcing down the feeling that she was about to be sick again. “It’s something Navarro said. The reason I agreed to get upgrades.”
“Oh.” Ares said. The word came out cautiously, as though he wasn’t sure where to put it.
Sofie nodded faintly. Her breathing was uneven. “I told you what I talked about with Navarro earlier this week. She’s worried I’m going to burn out my chrome. Liv’s told me the same thing, just… gentler.” She took a few ragged breaths. Her mouth was watering. She wasn’t going to be able to to hold back much longer. “When I freaked out, I bolted out of the tub and across the bathroom before I even knew I was moving. My heart was racing. It was like when you made me watch that horror movie and I kept thinking there were things in the shadows. But this time the thing in the shadows was me—me, dead in the bathtub, boiled alive because something inside me burned out.” Tears welled in her eyes. Her nose started to run.
Ares pulled her close, leaning through the open car door and wrapping her in his best bear hug. “It’s going to be fine. Sof, hey… stop. Look at me.”
She couldn’t. She pushed him out of the way, staggered toward the nearest wall, and puked. Again.
Ares was silent as he followed her. He gently gathered her hair and pulled it away from her face. When she finished retching, he pulled a mostly clean rag from his pocket and dabbed at the corners of her mouth.
“Sof. It’s gonna be fine. Liv said she’d only need a week to get the upgrades in order right? Why don’t we call and see how it’s going? If you want to dive in the meantime, I’ll sit by the tub the whole time. We can do that neural bridge thing again and I’ll pull you out the moment anything goes wrong.”
“You make it sound so simple.” Sofie said.
“It doesn’t have to be complicated,” Ares smiled.
Sofie wiped her mouth with the rag again as Ares guided her back to the car. “I hate this,” she whispered as she sat back down. “Being afraid of something that’s a part of me.”
“I know.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face, his hand lingering on her cheek. “But you’re still you, Sof. Fears and all. You’re still the same woman I fell in love with.”
Her eyes welled again. “You always sound so sure.”
“I’d better sound sure. Can’t imagine anything worse than sounding unsure about loving you.”
That managed to pull a weak laugh from her. She leaned forward until her forehead rested against his chest. His shirt was damp with sweat and grease, but she didn’t care.
“I love you too.”
Ares kissed the top of her head, letting his hand rest against the nape of her neck until the tremors eased. For a while, neither of them spoke. Sofie closed her eyes, listening to Ares heartbeat until her own slowed to match it. Finally, the wyrm’s breath faded from her thoughts.
