Lost Rain
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Outrun - Chapter 334
🕑 Added 2025-11-24 23:04:00 +0000 UTCI fell asleep in Mira’s arms shortly after we left the subterranean tunnels. I was already tired from the happenings of the night, and there was no need for me to stay awake much longer. I was better off just sleeping to heal as soon as possible.
I awoke in my own bed the next morning, fully recovered and restored. Err—mostly restored. I was still a fox, though my limbs and body felt like they were back to a hundred percent. I stretched—
“Yip!” A crushing weight pulled me tighter, causing a startled yelp to break out of me. I struggled for a moment to get out of a still sleeping Mira’s grip. Her Shift ExoCore was no joke, though. She held me tightly and rubbed her face against my silver fur.
For the moment, I was trapped. That was fine though. I had something else to distract me. The interface popped up into my vision.
|Request - Polar Moon MIA - Complete
-Find Polar Moon (3/4) [75%]
-Takeover Node Towers: (3/3) [100%]
-Ensure the safety of your team [100%]
-Spread Chaos [35%]
-Merc Hunt [3%]
-Mutie Hunt [14%]
-Figure out what went wrong [54%]|
I stared at the request blankly for several long moments. What was this? So they were grading my performance now? Ugh—what was I, back in school? I’d failed half the objectives, though that wasn’t much of a surprise. I was more focused on the main objectives than anything.
I was surprised by the fact that Spread Chaos was up to 35%. I felt like I hadn’t done much. I poked around the new request screen, eventually finding a way to give me a better breakdown of the percentages.
The 35% was almost purely thanks to Saint’s efforts. City of Sorrows, his scream stream site, was responsible for 33% of my final grade. I severely underestimated how useful the guy would be. That, and I didn’t realize the eidolons would track the progress of my entire team, not just me.
Merc Hunt was exceptionally low as well. Killing Mind Freak had given me 2% progress, but otherwise Mira and I had hardly interacted with the merc side of things inside the heights. Sure, we wiped a few squads, but that was nowhere near the total amount that had been attracted like moths to flame by the Polar Moon bounty.
Mutie Hunt had a bit more progress in its bar. Killing Cornucopia had granted me 10% progress towards the objective, and the mutant borg rat gave 3%. Those numbers were a bit horrifying if I considered there were enough mutants to fill up the rest of the objective bar’s 84%.
Also, it was a little odd the Request just ended here. I was used to them only completing once I was done. I figured I’d have until I found Kaynis for all four of Polar Moon’s members before it ended. It just cutting off like this was a bit of a surprise.
Once I was done checking out the breakdowns, the section I most anticipated popped up.
|Reward: Revolver of Random Rounds, Micro Nuclear Reactor(From Cornucopia), 300 EF|
The revolver dropped from thin air and smacked me in the snout. I glared at the system and rubbed at my snout with a paw, trying to massage feeling back into the pained part. Thankfully, the micro nuclear reactor didn’t follow suit, or I might not have had to worry about anything anymore. It seemed to be stored in some kind of separate space, similar to my gear at the moment.
Setting aside the revolver for now, the micro nuclear reactor was a nice touch. I was expecting a very long, tedious process of going back and digging it up part by part from the ashes of the heights. This was so much more convenient to the point I wasn’t even mad about my ‘reward’ being loot that was already mine by rights.
The EF was also a nice boost. 300 at once was the most I’d gotten, and opened up some doors that I’d been thinking about. That, or I could make the smart decision and just wait until 500 for a Skill Point. I could focus on all of that later, though.
|Revolver of Random Rounds
Fire a random bullet with a random effect. Could just explode on contact, heal its target, or create a localized tsunami. Fortune favors the bold.
Chance of Positive Effect - 1/8
Chance of Negative Effect - 6/8
Change of Misfire - 1/8|
A chill went down my spine when I read the description for the Revolver of Random Rounds. I should never use it. The weapon seemed like the kind of thing that would immediately blow up in my face by having a negative effect like summoning a thousand mutants, or something.
Hmm… should I give it to Ligh? The man was already a tactical weapon on his own, but if he had something like this… wouldn’t he be on par with the god rods from BosSpace’s Orbital Piledriver? And to what extent did the effects occur? It said localized tsunami in the description, so it’d have to be something strong right?
I shook my head and shifted my attention to another pop up from the interface. This one was much more familiar.
|Tracking - 10>11|
|First Aid - 8>9|
Yeah, the Skill gains were kinda small… I was starting to get to the point that my main skills would no longer level with just one or two jobs like they used to. It was unfortunate, though it did renew my interest in Skills that I’d so far been avoiding, if only so I could keep earning Perk Points. Cleaning and Art, in particular.
The interface wasn’t done with me just yet, though.
| Leadership - 1 Acquired |
| Influence - 1 Acquired |
Two new Skills joined my list. It felt kinda odd to earn new Skills even after months with the interface, but I wasn’t one to complain. Much, anyway.
Leadership was pretty self-explanatory. I must’ve just unlocked it since this was my first time partially leading a group to go do something. Sure, I’d been a leader in the past. That was usually with just one other person though.
Influence was… I didn't know how I felt about it. It is basically related to being an influencer. Saint broadcasting me and Mira as Eclipse and Seraph must’ve been why I obtained it. Seemed a bit useless, but who knew? There’d probably be some kind of useful skill in there.
|Tracking - 11
Panther’s Sight, Stalk
Tech - 12
Eidetic Schematic, Corvid, Transmutation, Quantum Automation
Stealth - 13
Fox’s Paw, Cold-Blooded, Illusive
Sleight of Hand - 10
Hidden Hands, Ambidextrous
Perception - 11
Aetherial Perception, Technical Expertise
Net - 4
Badger’s Code Scan
Melee Weapons - 10
Throwing Weapon Master, Viper’s Strike
Leadership - 1
Intimidation - 9
Fear the Reaper, Silent Terror
Influence - 1
Firearms - 11
Dexterity, Aether Imbuement
First Aid - 9
Calming
1 Perk Point
Explosives - 7
Concussive Connoisseur
Evasion - 9
Burst Step, Arc Flash
Driving - 9
Land Vehicles, Air Vehicles
Deception - 10
Honest Face, Master of Disguise
Criminology - 9
Cues, Background Noise
Concealment - 9
Lethargic Presence, Hidden Weapon
Cleaning - 5
Squeaky Clean
Brawling - 7
Swipe
Art - 2
Accounting - 3|
I still had the First Aid Perk to go snag. I’d do that soon. Before that, though—I used Arc Flash to teleport out of Mira’s crushing grip. Electricity jolted off of me, though I carefully controlled it with my Kinetic ability so it’d arc off and away from Mira instead of shocking my still sleeping mikata.
As soon as I was free, I disabled Fox’s Fluffy Cloak. In an instant, I shifted back to my good old human form. My clothes and gear all returned, smelling like a mixture of rotten meat and a sewer. Part of the acid from the rat returned with it, immediately giving my skin burns.
I tore off the rebreather and gear, and jumped in the shower first thing. After that, I spent several hours scrubbing and cleaning each piece of my equipment to get the stench out. My shirt was toast, unfortunately. The acid ate up the sleeve until it was closer to going around nude.
It was a seriously tiring process, though I kept busy by mult-tasking. Although I wasn’t on Mira’s level, I could watch stuff on my deck while working. As for what I watched? City of Sorrows, of course. I needed to catch up on what I missed.
Only a day had passed, and Saint hadn’t slacked off for even a moment. I scrolled through his stream and articles. The military, true to what we’d heard, had moved into the heights as soon as the sun broke the horizon. The entire sub-district was under martial law, and the FSA waged a war against the mutant infection.
Mercs, surprisingly, weren’t pushed out by the FSA. Instead, the area turned into a temporary exclusion zone while they cleaned up the mess from the Savant Lab. There were more and more zones cropping up around the city, which wasn’t exactly a reassuring sign.
Once I got caught up on the city, I finally reached out through the Packheart Rings. “Anyone there?”
”I-I am.” Luna’s voice came across weighed with exhaustion. Had she stayed up the entire night?
”What’d I miss?” I ran a brush through the gaps in my Drop Chute. Gunk had gotten up into the thrusters.
”I-I’m at Absolom Clinic. Are you sure this place is safe?”
Right, Iris was dropped off there shortly after we found her. ”Definetely. If there’s any danger, it's because you or Iris brought it, not Neal. How is she?”
“Comatose…” Luna sighed. “The medek isn’t sure when—i-if she’ll awaken.”
A coma, huh? That… that—even with all the medical advancements of the modern era, comas were still exceptionally dangerous. They were an unknown in an age where almost everything about medicine, modifying the human body, and implanting cybernetics was known.
”What are you planning to do? Neal—he won’t be able to keep her there forever. He’s good, but not for long-term care like that.” He’d let his patients stick around, of course, but leeching his resources for potentially months or maybe even years?
”I-I already talked to him. We’re moving her to Medtech if she doesn’t wake up in the next couple days.” Luna sighed. “O-our bounty was taken down right after you guys left the district with all three transponders.”
Yet another mystery, alongside where the hell Kaynis was taken to. “You have your accounts back to afford that?”
”N-no, our they’re still sealed.” Her voice went silent for several long moments. “I don’t have another choice.”
“What’s your plan then?”
”I-I’ll probably take odd jobs where I can… I-I don’t have a name for myself since I was exclusively with Polar Moon, b-but it’ll… it has to work out.”
I nodded my head a few times and sat back on my couch. Mira was still peacefully dozing in my bed, completely unaware of our conversation. “How about this? Come work for me. I happen to need a software developer. I’ll take care of housing, setting up tech, and Iris in exchange as soon as your ready to leave the clini.”
It was all around a win for me. Sure, I’d tank some costs. I really did need someone I could trust to help with setting up a bunch of programs and runner proofing my tech, though. And Luna had an exceptionally low chance of betraying me if I held Iris and Kaynis over her head.
It wasn’t entirely for selfish reasons though. I genuinely did want Iris to wake up, and didn’t mind covering her costs. I didn’t have a super deep relationship with the rest of Polar Moon, but Iris could be considered more than just an ally.
Not to mention I didn’t want Luna to be out there by herself. Not only because it’d be like betraying the trust Iris put on me, but it’d also be bad to have a highly capable Netrunner out there with the kind of information she knew about me. Simply put, she knew too much. If I couldn’t find some kind of bind, I might have to do something more drastic.
It wasn’t just myself anymore. Mira stood next to me, and she had dreams of her own that I didn’t want to burn down. Being so manipulative made me feel horrible, but I’d take on anything if it meant keeping those close to me safe and happy.
She went silent after my sales pitch. “W-what about Kaynis?”
”Keep looking for him, of course. If you find him, we’ll drop what we’re doing and go save him.” It wouldn’t hurt us too much even if she found him right away, regardless.
Luna didn’t give me a response. I could feel her connection through the Packheart Ring still, though, so she wasn’t trying to run. She was genuinely thinking things through and trying to figure out the best route. It just so happened I hoped her best route put her on my track.
Eventually, the white-haired runner sighed deeply. “Fine… where do I start?”
”For now, just stay with Neal. I’ll get everything set up and ready in the next day or two.” I ran a hand through my hair, brushing back my silver-black bangs. I had a lot to do before then.
Comments
kreiverin
Thanks
TheBotler
I shifted back to my gold old human form. gold->good Thanks for the chapter.
UnderwhelmingBird
Lmao, she seems to be able to subconsciously recognize that Ligh is... *remarkably* lucky. Previously the moment she tries to properly acknowledge it Fate decides to intervene... Maybe since it's an especially good gift for someone who leverages Luck it'll be different this time? The Shiro floof cuddle was a precious moment, thanks for setting that up for us, we are blessed by proxy. Anyhoo: crushing weight > An inexorable grasp? (less squished stress ball vibes, more 'this is fine') jumped in the show > shower busy by mult-tasking > multi
Hoffman
The city would be lucky if tsunami was all they got if Ligh used it.
Minlett
Yes, give Ligh the roulette gun! Nothing could go wrong.
