Chapter 8: Sam Carver

[Ben, make your way to this location. This is where you'll rendezvous with Sam Carver and start your partnership.]

[….Ok, heading there now...]

Still depressed from the death of Miguel Vida, Ben made his way to a warehouse where Sam was supposedly staying for the last few days getting his cyberware repaired and his degradation stalled.

Once Ben entered the warehouse, he was greeted by a hulking figure that seemed to have grown from last time, stuck on an operating table with wires and cables going in and out of him. A man kitted out with surgical cyberware on his hands and doctor garb had his head stuck in a monitor keeping watch over the changes done to Sam's body.

"Shouldn't he have gotten less cyberware to slow down the degradation?" Ben couldn't understand the treatment administered by Annabel's people. Degradation happens when the brain and nervous system are overrun by the amount of cyberware they have to process, inevitably leading to a cancer like 'disease' ,which is actually just the brain slowly shutting down.

The doctor turned to Ben and answered. "It's not my business why Mr. Carver got more cyberware when he is already treading the line. You'll have to ask the man yourself."

The doctor punched in a few keys in his keyboard and the wires on Sam's body fell off one after the other. After the wires and cables were disconnected the opened ports in Sam's ribs, calves, and arms closed one after the other.

The vapor coming off Sam's body gradually evaporated and Sam woke up a couple seconds later, asking the doctor about the results, completely brushing off Ben's existence. Not that Ben cared that much. "How were the results on the sync between the new implants and old ones?"

"...Pretty good....it looks like you were born with a pretty capable brain, your limit on the amount of stress you put your brain under has lessened...so this will be your last implant of cyberware unless you want to have your brain turned to mush."

Sam nodded and closed all of the diagnostic ports for his various cyberware. Then he turned to Ben who was patiently waiting for Sam to finish up. "You're the one I met at the Flying Dragons hideout, right? Something feels different about you..."

"Skin implants. I was using a hologram and clothing to cover all of the metal bits up." Ben answered astutely. If he was going to be working with this overweight cyborg in the future, with his back being covered by him, then he needed to be able to trust him. Though the same could be said for Sam.

"I see....I kind of suspected you were a sentient A.I with your odd cyberware under the tears in the jacket...though I don't really care. The A.I haven't done anything to me, so its no skin off my back."

"Thanks for that by the way. Do you know how hard it is to patch up tears in a leather jacket with some sewing? Let me tell, it ain't fucking easy, that's for damn sure."

Sam looked weirdly at Ben. "You know how to sew?"

"Yes."

Sam decided to drop that conversation and get on to the reason these two were together in the first place. "Did Miss Ann let you know the jobs we have to do before the heist on the Minutemen?"

"No. She has told me nothing so far, I assumed that you would tell me.."

Sam sighed. "Damnit, I hate going through briefings. Ok, listen up, we have five things that we have to get before the heist."

Sam led Ben into another room in the warehouse. In it were some guns, armor, drugs, and cyberware chips. "The things we have to get consist of a copy cat drone, a beta diffractor. and three Nanosuits." Sam said plainly.

Ben stopped at the absurdity of what Annabel was asking of them. "First of all, copy cat drones are prized governmental assets, secondly, Nanosuits are hard to come by even for the governors of the United States, don't even mention the diffractor!"

Sam nodded. "Pretty crazy, I know, but Miss Ann has gotten us the places where such objects are stored." Sam handed Ben a chip he picked up off the table amidst all of the weaponry.

When Ben plugged it in he was caught up on information. "So the three Nanosuits are being vaulted in some rich man's non-existent company in Glasgow and the copy cat drone is being used by the local Vindicator gang based here in London."

"Only problem is the diffractor. It's with Viktor Heavy Industries, locked away in a lab that's based in Wales, still being tested. Though we do know for a fact that the damn thing works, according in the chip." Sam finished.

Ben ejected the chip and rubbed his face in annoyance. 'That diffractor is like the lightsaber I made that day except this thing can go through the whole Earth and then some on full power.'

Ben looked over at Sam. "Why do we need the diffractor? The copy cat and Nanosuits I understand for disguise, but a laser that can cut through planets and belongs in space battles, being used to cut open a vault door? Yeah those two things don't click together you know."

"The door holding the mech frame, Dharma, is modified tantalum carbide and hafnium carbide, which by themselves can resist up to four thousand degree Celsius. And with the modifications, can resist double the heat."

"We could hack into the door code and open it ourselves?"

Ben was throwing ideas out but then realized how stupid that sounded. "Kid those codes are watched twenty-four seven and changed every hour, and you want to hack into them? I think you need to kill some of that overconfidence."

"What are we going after first?" Sam got the last of his gear on his person, before heading out of the warehouse being followed by Ben. What they found was a run down truck that looked like it had seen better days.

"We ride to the easiest target first, the Vindicators. Then we will take the journey up north to Glasgow for the nanosuits. The diffractor will be a bit trickier so we will have to come up with a plan on the way."

The duo then made their way to the first target.

…..

"Miss Ann, we have a job for you."

Back down in Camelot Annabel was calmly settling down with a glass of wine in her hand, when she was approached by three people in suits. "Yes, what can I do for you fine folks?" With her usual business smile Annabel conducted business with the newcomers.

"We have a job for you. We want you to find something for us."

The man had an easy going smile that unsettled the part time fixer. "What do you need found?"

"You see, a piece of our property seems to have.....run away. We want you to find its location. We will handle the rest."

The bad feeling Annabel had was increasing by the second. "What do you need found?" She repeated her question.

"Oh just the soul transference chip that you seem to have gotten information on a little while ago." The men cornered Annabel to the bar.

"You may be a part of Satoshi, but this isn't Japan. You do not rule this country, and you can not do as you please." Threatened Annabel pulled out her hidden pistol and pressed against the man closest to her.

"Move any closer and you will have one less organic testicle for the rest of you miserable life."