Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 44: Sunshine.

Factory Town, Fifth Street.

Hours ago, the area had been shaken by strange tremors. One of the buildings collapsed, revealing the abhorrent acts that had taken place between its walls. Police swarmed the area to investigate and first responders came to save those who can still be saved, which was rather bizarre considering the area wasn’t ensured.

What was even more bizarre than the incident were the armored trucks that suddenly arrived at the town and the drones that appeared soon after. When the men in suits began going around asking questions, it became even more clear that the incident was bigger than what one might think at first.

A short distance from the collapsed building, a strange vehicle was parked. It was the size of a semi truck and had several parabolic antennas resting on its back, each pointing in a different direction. Men armed with heavy gear stood guard near the parameter set around it.

Many had recognized the vehicle as the source of the drones, but seeing the heavily armed guards dissuaded anyone from approaching it. Still, the locals weren’t going to just let the invaders do what they wanted so, instead of going after the source, they turned their attention to the drones themselves, making a game out of hunting them.

Inside the large vehicle, rows of pods lined both the left and right walls, each containing one person. They just lay there, motionless, their heads swallowed by a large headgear. At the very front, a man sat on an ordinary chair impatiently rapping its armrest. The brown suit he wore, tailor-made by the best of the best, contrasted the interior as if to show that he didn’t belong in that environment.

The man’s name was Nathaniel Eisenberg. He was the head of the Eisenberg household and a member of Golden Heart’s board of directors. He wasn’t the kind of person who would go out of his way to visit a random street in the outskirts, especially one where the air burns one’s lungs, but unfortunately he didn’t have a choice.

"Where are you..."

His field of view was occupied by countless screens each displaying a different scenery. Those were the feeds captured by the drones hovering around Factory Town. He strained his mind in an attempt to observe each and every one of them, but alas, he soon reached his limit and was forced to take a break.

Closing his eyes and the screens flooding his OAM, he massaged his temples with gritted teeth then opened his contact list to make a call.

"Cheetah, tell me you found something."

The moment of silence that followed his order was excruciatingly long.

[Sir, I have managed to track them down to Red River’s eighth bridge.] A female voice replied. [It appears that they had purchased new sets of clothes from a second-hand shop.]

"She bought... new clothes?"

[Yes.]

"Did you ask what she exactly bought?"

[The details are unclear, but it seems she bought a white shirt, a blue jacket, and some jeans.]

"A blue jacket..."

Nathaniel grimaced, the pain in his head growing stronger. Sometime later, he leaned back into his chair, attempting to calm himself down.

"Continue the search." He said.

[Yes sir.]

The call ended and silence returned to the back of the truck. That silence was shattered by the sound of a violent impact. Nathaniel had slammed the armrest of his chair, breaking it off entirely.

"How... why?"

Though he didn’t understand the how, he perfectly understood the why. It was his fault. It was his own mistake. Being the doting father he was, he was all too eager to grant his daughter’s wish to become a hero. He thought it was just a phase she would eventually grow out of, and once that happens the powers would remain adding another layer to her protection.

He had worked closely with the BEO to ensure she wasn’t involved in anything dangerous. At most, she was only supposed to help stop some low-level criminals take some photos, and call it a day, but then she had to go and let the heroics get into her head.

"Liliana..."

The last location they tracked her to was the town’s third train station, after that, she seemed to vanish into thin air. The thing is, that wasn’t the first time the signals from her NIM disappeared. It happened three separate times throughout the day, leading them to mistakenly believe it was just a system error. The fourth one, however, all signals were lost and didn’t return.

When the search was launched, Nathaniel feared the worst. He had no shortage of enemies that would find great pleasure in striking him where it hurt. Surveillance cameras were checked, and the same was done for private security systems. Finding footage of the girl wasn’t very difficult and soon a list of the people she had interacted with was compiled.

As it turned out, the reason behind the girl’s visit to a lowly place such as Factory Town was the rumors concerning a certain drug. She must have heard about it somewhere and got into her head the idea that she needed to put a stop to it. The police had been investigating the matter for weeks yet they found nothing. One would expect the girl to make even less progress and return home after getting bored, but who knew that she would just disappear altogether.

"Catalyst..."

Whispers about the drug and what it could do had been spreading as of late, giving shape to the myth it once was. Such a dangerous weapon wouldn’t come from a small-time street gang. The ones moving it around were likely to be one of the most powerful gangs in the city, and people like that didn’t take lightly to anyone looking into them. The chances of them being behind the disappearance of his daughter were high. There was one problem with that conclusion, however.

"Liliana... where did you..."

One piece of info that boggled everyone on the search team was that the girl had been spotted walking with a certain boy. Many claim that they have seen him, but not a single camera has picked his visage so far. Only a powerful diver would be capable of masking his presence to such an extent, becoming a ghost technology is incapable of detecting.

The most they could gather on this boy was that he seemed to be around the same age as Liliana, and that he had the same red hair as hers. That barely narrows things down to begin with, but if it turns out that he was wearing a disguise this entire time, they would have no chance of catching him. After all, he was a master at stealth, someone capable of eluding even the most powerful of face recognition AIs.

What are his goals? Why did he approach Liliana of all people? Did he plan everything from the start? Were the incidents with Catalyst nothing more than bait to drag her out here?

Questions continued to appear in Nathaniel’s mind one after the other, but he couldn’t care less about the answers to all of them. All he wanted was to find his daughter, to ensure she would return home safe. If anything were to happen to her...

PING!

A message notification appeared on Nathaniel’s OAM. He was about to dismiss it when he saw the sender’s name and shot up from his seat. His eyes widening, he immediately commanded the message to open.

[

Sunshine: The old Satori plant.

Fifth warehouse to the east.

]

The words confused Nathaniel for a moment, but in the next he realized it was an address. Nevertheless, that was a matter for another time. His daughter had just sent a message, meaning her NIM was online.

Not wasting any time, he made a call to the heads of the search team, hoping to track her location. Unfortunately, their efforts bore no fruit. The signal had vanished before the message even arrived.

"DAMN IT!!!"

All hope wasn’t lost yet. They still had the address she sent them, and it didn’t take them long to find it. An abandoned manufacturing plant that once belonged to the now-bankrupt Satori corporation, one of the pharmaceutical companies that fell during the rise of Eidolon. Though years have passed since then, the place remains abandoned. Or it should be. Whatever the case, it was the only clue they had at the moment.

Not wasting any more time, Nathaniel gave another order.