Seeds of the Past

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.

Betad by Marethyu, Priapus, Mike God of Lore, Malcolm Tent, Old man of the mountain, Beans

The Guild of Gamers: The Operative 

Chapter 07: Seed of the Past

– Ann Possible –

Watching Max move toward the meeting point, she mentally sighed even as she opened the door and gestured for him to enter. Some things never changed. 

She really wished that she could say that she'd been surprised when Cortana had contacted her about his injuries, but as talented as Max was, he had always been reckless. Even among Section Seven, he was known for getting the job done no matter the cost to others or himself. 

"Been a while," Max said, the smile on his face far too cocky for someone who had just been shot with a high-powered sniper rifle. "It's damn good to see you again, Ann, and I'm not just saying that because you have painkillers."

"Yeah, yeah. Get in here," Ann sighed, even with a small smile on her face. It really had been a while, but then most of the former Section Seven members kept their distance for multiple reasons.

She had never been an agent, of course, but she'd been one of the doctors working for Section Seven. To be specific, she had been Max's personal doctor as she'd researched the effects of the gene therapy treatment he and the others had gone through. This was hardly her first time seeing him injured. 

Shortly after she'd been assigned as his personal medic, he'd come back from a mission heavily poisoned. It turned out he'd taken out his target by sabotaging the ventilation system and pumping a neurotoxin into the air of the base he was still inside. 

"Get your armour off, and wipe the smirk off your face. I didn't mean it like that," Ann sighed, getting a laugh from him. "Cortana sent me the initial scans, and as always, you are damn lucky. A little lower and to the right, and it would have hit your heart."

If Max was bothered by his latest near-death experience, he didn't show it as she guided him into his clinic. The same private clinic Max had helped her get set up on the Citadel after Section Seven was disbanded and she'd left the Alliance. She wasn't going to go rogue and run off into the night like so many others had, but having her life's work torn apart because the Alliance wanted to play nice with the Council had not left her with generous feelings towards them.

She'd spent years studying the gene therapy that Max and the other six had gone through. Her research had helped advance human genetic modification by decades, but when they had shut down Section Seven, her research had been confiscated and banned. Sure, the gene therapy had been achieved through some desperate and horrifying means during the First Contact War, but it was still revolutionary. The gene modification that Alliance soldiers went through today paled in comparison, and if they'd let her keep researching, then she would have been able to make the treatments Max and the others went through far safer to use (and with fewer side effects).

Catherine Halsey's work was controversial, but it was undeniably brilliant. 

Gesturing for him to lie down on the bed, she looked over his wound carefully. Cortana's scans made this a lot easier, as Max literally had his stolen AI built into his armour, monitoring his condition, but she still liked to double-check before she got to work. The gene therapy had left Max stronger and more durable than the typical Alliance soldier, but he'd been hit by a very powerful sniper round. 

"You still have some shards in your shoulder. I don't suppose you're going to let me put you to sleep for this?" Ann asked with a long-suffering sigh.

"Come on, Ann, do you really have to ask after all this time?" Max asked, making her roll her eyes. 

"I was hoping that old age had made you smarter," Ann countered with a teasing smile. Max hated anaesthetics. He always had. He was the kind of paranoid that would insist on being awake and armed during his own surgery.

Max just grinned despite the pain he was almost certainly in. Gathering her stuff, she approached him with a needle and went to jab him with it, unsurprised when he grabbed her wrist.

"It won't knock you out. It's just a painkiller to numb the sensations around the shoulder I'm about to be cutting open," Ann explained, seeing the mulish look on his face as he examined the syringe. After a moment, he let go, and without any fanfare, she jabbed it into his shoulder.

Max did trust her, but even still he had his hand on his pistol as she got to work. She supposed that paranoia was why he was still alive after so many years, his eyes darting to the various entrances to the room. She could see him working out his exit strategy despite the fact that he'd been operated on in this exact room a dozen times before. 

He seemed more on edge than ever, which told her that he had once again gotten himself into a mess. 

"So, who shot you this time?" Ann asked blandly as she worked, entirely too used to stitching this idiot back together.

"Oh, this was a fun one. There's a Spectre trying to kill me. Exciting, isn't it?" Max asked with a laugh, as her hands paused for just a moment. "Oh, Cortana? Remind me to spank Tevos for this later. I think she's forgetting just how much blackmail I have on her."

"I don't believe the Council is even aware of Spectre Vasir's actions," Cortana replied smoothly, speaking through Ann's computer. "I have been investigating Spectre Vasir while you were busy bleeding out, and it seems that she is deep in the Shadow Broker's pocket. Her success as a Council Spectre seems to be thanks to the Shadow Broker feeding her information in exchange for her dealing with threats to the Broker or his operations."

Ann paused, giving Max a weary look. Of course he'd picked a fight with the Shadow Broker. He never did things the easy way, did he? 

"Well, remind me to spank her anyway," Max joked, his smile slipping away as his eyes darted to the clinic entrance. 

"Mom?" 

Hearing her daughter call her name, Ann gave Max a warning look as he moved his hand away from his gun. As if Cortana would let someone get close to them without warning if they were a threat. 

Cortana was more evidence of the Alliance's hypocrisy and likely the reason they'd left Max alone despite him being a wanted man. She could only imagine how the top brass had felt when Max had escaped and stolen their experimental AI in the process. Right after Section Seven had been exposed and the other races became aware of a lot of extremely questionable missions the Alliance had performed against them, having it come out that the Alliance had also been experimenting with Artificial Intelligence would not have gone over well.

Of course, it also meant that Max had stolen all the data Cortana had had in the process, and she very much doubted that any of the top brass were willing to risk Max leaking it if they went after him too hard.

"I'm just with a patient, Kim," Ann replied, hoping Kim would keep her nose out for once. 

"Huh, but the clinic is closed," Kim replied, getting closer. She hadn't closed the door to the private room where she was seeing to Max's injuries, letting Kim peer around the corner to see her working on Max's shoulder.

"Medical emergency, but it shouldn't be long. Close the door and wait in my office, honey," Ann said, not looking up from Max's shoulder as she got to work pulling the shards out of him. 

"I won't keep her long," Max joked, making Kim pause.

"That's kinda gross. Shouldn't you be asleep for this?" Kim asked, not leaving as Ann gave Max a warning look. 

"Oh, I have a terrible reaction to most anaesthetics," Max replied with an easy smile.

"Kimberly Ann Possible, stop bothering my very important patient and wait in my office," Ann ordered, giving her daughter a scolding look. Kim squeaked out an apology, closing the door as Ann sighed and gave Max a warning look.

"Cute daughter, looks just like you," Max said simply because, as always, he was incapable of shutting up. It was a strange trait to have as a spy, but he excelled at pissing people off. "Still can't believe you married Possible."

"He's a good man," Ann replied, knowing that Max wasn't done. Max was a typical man in a lot of ways; he liked impressing the girls and making fun of the other boys.

Max just hummed, not agreeing or disagreeing and for a moment, she thought he was going to leave well enough alone for once.

"Weird how she doesn't look much like… Jim?" Max continued. "Wait, no. James. How old is she again?"

"Max, leave it. I'm serious," Ann warned, just getting a smirk from him. He didn't continue, but he didn't need to. He'd said enough. You'd think he'd know not to annoy the person currently cutting him open, but Max wasn't known for his caution. 

Kim was seventeen. Eighteen years ago, she and Max had been on very good terms. Max was the stereotypical smooth-talking spy, even back when they'd met. As a nerdy doctor spending a lot of time with him, she stood no real chance against his charms. 

When Section Seven had broken up, she and Max had remained on very good terms, but she was older and far more jaded. She'd long since understood that Max couldn't be tied down. Why sit at home longing for him when he was off doing who knew what in the Traverse, going dark for months or years at a time? 

Of course, whenever he came back, she found herself reduced to that same nerdy fresh-out-of-university doctor, wrapped around his finger. A ring on her finger meant nothing to Max. Honestly, it probably made it more entertaining for him.

Max didn't say anything else, even if he kept his hand on his gun as if Kim was going to bust down the door and shoot him, the paranoid bastard. She didn't need his insinuation to know that Kim was his.

She was a geneticist at heart, even if she'd moved into the private sector. The small similarities between Kim and Max were noticeable, but there was a much bigger indicator. Kim's genes had some minor alterations from birth that looked so much like the effects of Max's gene therapy. It had nearly cost Kim her life, but thankfully, she was the foremost expert on Dr Halsey's research and was able to stabilise her. Kim was stronger, faster and smarter than a regular teenager. She'd likely live longer as well, even if it wasn't to the extent of Max's own modifications.

Pausing to look at his face, she had to commend Dr Halsey's work. Max was in his fifties, but without the beard, she would hesitate to say he was even in his mid-twenties. It was specifically why he'd grown the beard; it added years to his face that time hadn't managed to.

While there had been seven survivors of Dr Halsey's gene modifications, Max was undeniably the one that took to them the best. 

Adam's body was wracked with so many issues that he'd replaced almost all of it with cybernetics, as his gene-mods made him incredibly resistant to the issues that came from being too heavily augmented.

Tanya had stopped ageing as well, and then she started ageing backwards. She'd spent a lot of time trying to find out what had gone wrong with Tanya's mods, but the older woman still unnerved her to this day. A sociopathic genius in the body of a child.

All of the Seven had their own issues from the gene therapy, but Max truly was Halsey's masterpiece. 

Finishing up her surgery, she stitched him up as he gave her a grateful smile. 

"Thanks, Ann. I owe you," Max admitted, making her roll her eyes.

"I'm sure you have three dozen other clinics who could have seen to your injuries," Ann replied, moving to the sink and starting to clean and disinfect her tools as he chuckled. She didn't want to leave any trace of Max around, for both their sakes.

"Seven on the Citadel, but you're my favourite," Max admitted. Clearly, Cortana was still hard at work building Max's web of connections. "I mean it, though. I do owe you. You know how to get in contact with me if you need anything."

As he spoke, he moved behind her, and she froze for just a moment as she felt his chest against her back.

"I'll keep that in mind," Ann replied, her voice quiet as she felt his hand rest on her bare leg, just beneath her skirt. "Max. My daughter is in the next room."

Her quiet scolding only made him chuckle, his hand slowly sliding up her thigh. He was moving slowly to give her a chance to push him away.

"I've missed you, Ann," Max admitted, his lips on her neck as she hesitated. She was married, happily married, and her far too nosy daughter was in the building. This was needlessly risky, endangering her comfortable life.

Dropping the scalpel, she turned to face him with a scolding frown on her face. Whatever she was about to say was cut off as Max's lips captured hers, her hands rising to his chest.

As he worked on unbuttoning her shirt, she felt herself lean into the kiss. Thirty years later, she was still that same smitten doctor being charmed by the silky-voiced spy.

Breaking the kiss, she cursed Max in her head as she glanced at the door. It had an electronic lock, and she noticed that Cortana had activated it for them. Always the wingwoman.

"We have to be quick," Ann finally said, legs spreading as he lifted her onto the counter. Her fingers slipped under her skirt as she shimmied out of her panties and pushed them down until they were hanging around one of her ankles.

Max just grinned, kissing her again as she undid his belt. Thank God that this room was soundproof. With no fanfare or hesitation, he sheathed himself inside her. She was already wet enough, moaning into his lips as he started to fuck her in her place of work.

The doctor in her complained about how unhygienic this was. This was a clean room, damn it. Oh well, a droid could sterilise the place, and Cortana would no doubt delete any records from its memory banks.

She was a well-respected doctor, and her services were highly sought after… but she didn't quite look the part now, did she? Her professional shirt was pulled open, and her bra flipped up to expose her breasts; her pencil skirt was pushed up to resemble a miniskirt, and her boring white panties hung around her ankle as her leg wrapped around his waist. Well, she still had her long white coat. 

She'd be seeing actual patients in this room tomorrow. Her daughter was waiting for them to finish. Her husband was at home, wondering why she'd been called back to the clinic so late.

She hated how easily Max could get her to do this. She hated how easy she felt, a cheating slut that was putting out to an old flame while her daughter was in the next room. She hated how she'd tell herself that this was the last time when Max vanished again, knowing that it was a lie.

But she loved how Max made her feel, her hand, wedding ring on her finger, gripping his hair as she kissed him passionately. 

– Maxim Russ –

Watching Ann fix her clothes, I do the same. It is weird having two sets of memories. The history between Maxim Russ, Section Seven Agent, and Ann Possible feels so natural to me.

"Thank God I don't wear much make-up. If I had lipstick, it'd be utterly smeared. How would I explain that?" Ann asked, her tone scolding. 

"Of course, I'd also have lipstick stains all over my face, chest, and other places. How would I explain that?" I counter with a grin, making her blush slightly. 

"I have a good thing here; I don't want to ruin it," Ann says, pulling her panties back up. She could have used any of the tissues to wipe up the cum that is dripping out of her, but instead, she just pulls her panties back into place.

"And I don't plan to ruin it for you. You could have said no, you know I'd have listened," I counter, watching her sigh. "Is she mine?"

Ann goes silent, fixing her clothes without a word until she finally turns to me.

"She's mine," Ann counters, seeing me roll my eyes. "You're not exactly the fatherly type, are you?" 

"Ann, answer the question," I order, seeing her stiffen up.

"Yes. Of course she is," Ann admits with a sigh.

'Maxim Russ' of this galaxy had long suspected but never asked. He kept an eye on Ann and watched Kim growing up, but the version of me in this world was not the type of person to want to be a father. He never tried to confirm it because he preferred not to know for once. 

As for me? I don't know. In my past life, I was infertile due to the aftereffects of a poisoning. I've never stopped to consider being a parent. Settling down, married with two kids and a dog in a nice home with a white picket fence? It's never going to be me.

There's only one person who I've ever even considered leaving this life behind for, and she shot me. They warn you never to catch feelings for other spies; I learnt the hard way that they were right to do so.

I am not good at processing emotions. I don't know whether Kimberly would be my daughter, given that she was conceived before I arrived in this new galaxy, and frankly, I don't know how to handle that. Still, my life is a little too dangerous right now for me to want to spend time with her, and she has a father. 

"I see," I say, my words failing me for once.

Leaving the room, I see the young red-headed teen perk up from where she had been impatiently playing on her phone.

"Now, what was so important that you came to the clinic for it?" Ann asks, making Kim blink.

"Err, you asked me to bring you your briefcase?" Kim says with a frown, kicking the briefcase by her feet. I see Ann freeze for a moment, and I prepare for a trap to be sprung before we both come to the same conclusion.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Kimmie, it's been a long day," Ann lies. "Thank you, honey."

Damn it, Cortana. What are you playing at? 

Cortana is incredibly loyal, but sometimes we disagree about what is best for me. Her mind can be hard to understand, even for me. Regardless of whatever she is scheming, the fact is that I just don't have time to deal with this mess right now. 

I've got a Spectre to hunt, then the Shadow Broker to take down. Plus, the Collectors and the Reapers. I don't have time for this.

"Thanks again, Ann," I say, making her give me a smile and a nod. She knows me well enough to know when I'm trying to get out of a situation. 

"I'd say to try not to get shot again, but I know you too well for that. I'm sure you'll be back with some new injury before long," Ann teases, making me chuckle. I try not to get badly wounded on the job, but this life comes with certain risks. "Take care of yourself, Max."

"Well, I'm headed to Night City, so I'd be as careful as anyone in that place can be," I reply, making her laugh.

"You know, a client tried to hire me for an operation in NC? They offered millions more than the usual rate, but I'd have to spend close to a month in Night City. I turned them down," Ann admits. "I've been there twice. The first time, I almost got kidnapped by the Voodoo Boys, and the second, I got caught up in a mess between Arasaka and Militech." 

"That's Night City for you. I don't suppose you know any trustworthy ripper docs over there?" I ask, watching her pause. She knows how much I don't trust cybernetics; it's why I have basically none after all this time. 

"I know one, Viktor Vektor. That said, if you're finally taking the plunge, don't do it yet. You have the same resistance to the side effects of cybernetic enhancement as Adam. Halsey's treatment left both of your bodies incredibly adaptable. I suspect her gene therapy was only step one of what she had planned," Ann explains, making me frown. "You should be able to handle far more cybernetics than most without the risk of Cyberpsychosis. That said, I want to run some tests and check in with some contacts first. I don't know what you've gotten yourself into. I don't want to know, but I do know that you're going to need the best of the best."

I barely ever met with Dr Halsey; none of us did. She liked keeping her distance, given the high fatality rate. By the time it became clear that her treatment had worked on me and the others, Halsey was sitting in a military prison for her experiments.

I'm still hoping to be able to make my own cybernetics, but I also should make backup plans for if that doesn't work out. I'll need someone who knows my body and its unique changes on call anyway, and Ann knows my body better than anyone. 

I briefly consider trying to get her to join me; I'm sure I could convince her to become my personal physician again. I could use a doctor on the Phantom, but after a brief glance towards Kimberly, I change my mind.

"Don't worry, I won't rush into anything- well, I won't rush into augmenting myself. I'll let you know before I make that plunge," I say, making her nod with a sigh.

"If only Adam had done the same, things might have gone differently," Ann agrees with a small frown. I'm mildly surprised that she's saying this with Kimberly right there, but Kim just looks confused and a little lost.

Smasher is the reason Section Seven got shut down in the end. He became increasingly brutal on his missions, and the sheer devastation he left behind attracted Spectre attention. They linked him back to the Alliance, pulled Section Seven into the light, and the Alliance immediately threw us under the bus to save face with their new 'allies'. 

Fucking politicians.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes the situation calls for a little brutality. My problem with Smasher is that he never bothered to even look for a more subtle approach. He took jobs that needed a scalpel delivered with surgical precision and solved them with a sledgehammer delivered to everything and everyone in his way.

"Maybe," I agree. "I'll try not to ghost you for quite so long this time, but my current job is going to be complicated. Cortana will be in touch if I can't be," I say, giving her a smile and a wave. "She's already sent your payment."

Ann goes to say that it isn't necessary before she stops herself. Kimberly is obviously already curious, and seeing her very in-demand mother drop everything to see a patient and then not accept any payment would just add to the suspicion.

Saying goodbye, I do have Cortana access the clinic's cameras so I can listen to the following conversation, but Ann seems grateful that I am making a hasty retreat. I get it. I wouldn't want me in my daughter's life either.

Shaking my head, I focus on the task. I have a Spectre to deal with. Tela is scouring the Citadel for me, but she can't lock down the place, and she knows it. Thousands of people come and go from the Citadel every hour. I'm mildly impressed with how many of my fake IDs she had access to; the Citadel certainly didn't know that many.

It's also amusing to realise that she got them from the Broker and, more importantly… to realise that even the Broker doesn't know all my IDs. Or they're leaving some 'secret' to watch for me trying to use them. Hm.

Cortana is doctoring any camera that sees me, making me look different on any surveillance that picks me up, so Tela isn't having a great time right now. As far as she can tell, I've just vanished off the face of the Citadel.

Unfortunately, desperate people do stupid things. I really don't need her trying to get into the Phantom or doing anything more extreme. 

So, I need to give her a lead to follow.

Smiling as I walk through one of the richer districts of the Citadel, I mentally nod as I tell Cortana to arrange the bait. I don't bother bringing up her little trick with Kimberly; the mission comes first.

– Tela Vasir –

Max was damn good, and it was frustrating. Honestly, the Alliance should have sent him to become a Spectre, not Shepard. It was a damn shame she was going to have to kill him, as he finally made a mistake.

One of his fake IDs had just signed up to act as security for a merchant transport into the Outer Rim. That ID was linked to a small but professional security company, so small it consisted of a single person, not that most people realised that. 

The transport was set to take off within the day, but a single order to customs was enough to delay their departure as she geared up. She'd made the mistake of trying to do things remotely last time, and she'd paid for it. Max needed a more personal touch.

— Bonus Scene — V

"Don't," T-Bug started, not even looking up from her phone as V paused. "Leave it alone."

"Seriously? Someone muscles in on our op, has Dex shitting his pants, and you want me to just leave it alone?" V asked with her arms crossed as T-Bug sighed and finally looked up.

"Yes," T-Bug replied simply. V didn't respond for a moment, and T-Bug sighed. "Look, this has gotten way too complicated for my tastes, but it's too late to back out now. Just make sure you do your part, and we should all get paid enough to get out of Night City. Personally, I've got a penthouse in Illium with my name on it."

"You know who our new friend is, don't you?" V asked, making T-Bug take a deep breath. "Look, I'm not gonna work with someone I don't know. You can give me the information, or I can try to find it myself. Whoever he is, Dex is shitting himself about them joining us, and so are you."

"I'm not scared of him because I don't plan to piss him off. And while Dex might be scared of the merc, it's their Netrunner I'm terrified of," T-Bug admitted, making V raise her eyebrow. At least she was finally getting something from Bug. "Their current alias is Maxim Russ, but for the love of whatever deity you believe in, do not search up that name. He's got a net runner called Cortana who works with him, and Cortana is who I'm afraid of."

"Never heard of her," V replied, thinking over the famous net runners. Rache Bartmoss, Spider Murphy, Alt Cunningham. Cortana wasn't a name she'd heard of. She'd been Arasaka Counter-Intel for years; most important names came across her desk at some point.

"Have you heard of Kasumi Goto?" T-Bug asked, making V blink and shake her head after a moment. "No, that's because Kasumi is one of the best thieves in the galaxy and prides herself on being incognito. Cortana isn't a legend, because she kills people who try to bring attention to her. I know damn good runners who came across her in the net and got flatlined for it. The most dangerous people are the ones who go out of their way to not become famous. Maxim's team at the moment includes both Kasumi and Cortana; whatever they want is laughably above our pay grade."

"So, what has Dex so scared?" V finally asked, making T-Bug pause. She could tell that Bug was trying to decide how much she was going to actually tell her but just waited. "Come on, Bug, I don't want to go into this blind."

"Russ isn't new to Night City. He's old, like First Contact old. Word is that he was active in NC years ago, under a different alias. My guess? Dex worked with him before he took his extended vacation, and Russ has him by the balls. He's a damn good solo, and I stumbled across some evidence of other names he's used. That makes me a liability, V. That's the kind of thing that if I even type it into a personal note, Cortana pays me a visit the next time I take a dive into the net," T-Bug explained bluntly. "I don't know how she knows when people are looking into Maxim, but it is laughably beyond my skill level. Look, just go and make sure Parker isn't going to complicate this. I don't like how involved the client is in this job; it never ends well. Just worry about our side of the job. Maxim and his crew will get the data they want and hopefully leave NC and us behind."

"Fine. I'm meeting the client tonight at Lizzie's. Jackie's looking into the flathead. This is going to go smoothly; I just want to minimalise the risks of any other unwanted surprises," V explained, making Bug nod in agreement. 

"On that, we can agree. Russ and his team are damn good, but if we fuck up and Russ' mission goes to shit because of it? We're fucked, plain and simple," T-Bug agreed. "Make sure the client isn't going to cause us trouble and do your job, and we'll be fine."

Saying goodbye, she made her way into the city with a frown. This was the major leagues, but while Jackie had always wanted the fame and fortune of being a big-time merc, this was the cost. Being in the major leagues meant dealing with major players.

Calling her car, she didn't even miss a step as a new call popped up on her eyewear. Unknown number, heavily encrypted. Oh yeah, this was going to go great. The fact that the call answered itself before she could decide what to do with it only made her frown deepen. This was getting far too messy.

"You want information on Russ."

The voice on the other end of the line was male, but they were using some pretty fancy Soft to stop her from getting any more than that.

"Who is this?" V asked, starting to drive. 

"Someone who knows how much shit you've unknowingly landed yourself in. Dex is scared because he knows Russ has no plans of letting any of you live. Max never did like leaving his expendable assets alive once he was done with them," the man replied. "Agent Maxim Russ, former Alliance special forces, now a rogue agent. It's actually his real name, but it's also only one of nine main aliases that we know of. Closer to three hundred if you count one-off identities."

As the man spoke, he transmitted a file to her. She scanned it briefly, but curiosity had always been a bitch, and she opened it after a moment. The file was a heavily redacted Alliance dossier, but it was clearly designed to frighten. What hadn't been redacted seemed custom-designed to make Maxim seem dangerous. His proficiency scores from his N7 testing, a psychological profile that labelled him as a 'sociopath who prioritised success over everything, including the safety of his team, himself and the Alliance itself.' 

The missions that weren't redacted all showed the same thing. Maxim using 'expendable assets' on his mission, mercs, criminals, and bounty hunters, only to purge them once the mission was done to ensure things remained clandestine.

"Cute, now answer the question. Who the fuck are you?" V asked. The files looked legit, but they could be forged, and whoever this asshole was, he knew far too much about what she was doing. It also meant that someone else probably knew that they were going for the Relic, and their secrecy was getting more holes than Swiss cheese. Every person who learnt about the job was one more way for it to get to Arasaka and ruin their chances.

The call ended, but she was left with a time and a location. This was almost certainly a trap, but they already knew far too much. The fact that they'd hacked into her so easily made her nervous, but it also calmed her down slightly. If whoever that was had wanted her dead, she doubted they'd need to lure her into a trap.

Shaking her head, she focused. Parker first, this mess later.