Chapter 15: The Netrunner Duel
POV: Tom
The first warning came as static bleeding into Tom's peripheral consciousness while he conducted routine network monitoring from Judy's apartment. A sharp digital whisper that felt like someone walking across his brain with spiked boots, followed by the unmistakable sensation of being watched through electronic eyes.
Tom pulled his awareness back from Watson's data networks just as his neural interface lit up with an incoming message that bypassed every security protocol he'd installed. The text appeared directly in his visual cortex, burning letters that pulsed with aggressive intensity:
"You're in my territory, using impossible tech. Either explain yourself or I fry your brain. - Cipher"
"Shit," Tom whispered, his chrome augmentations responding to stress with defensive activation patterns. Someone had been monitoring his network activities, tracking his Techno-Sovereignty usage, analyzing his digital signature.
Judy looked up from her braindance editing equipment, immediately alert to the change in his demeanor. "What happened? You look like someone just walked over your grave."
"Someone's been watching me in the Net. Another netrunner. Professional grade." Tom displayed Cipher's message on Judy's screen, watching her expression shift from curiosity to concern. "They want to meet."
"Cipher," Judy said quietly, recognition and respect carrying equal weight in her voice. "I've heard that name in underground circles. They're legendary in Watson. Ghost-level skills, never been traced, never been caught. If they're interested in you..."
"Good interested or bad interested?"
"With netrunners, that's usually the same thing."
Tom considered his options while his enhanced tactical analysis evaluated potential threats. Ignoring Cipher's challenge would likely escalate the situation, possibly resulting in active digital warfare that could expose his abilities to corporate surveillance. Engaging might provide information about how visible his activities had become to skilled observation.
Digital response. Meet them in cyberspace where my Techno-Sovereignty provides advantages over traditional netrunning techniques.
Tom opened a neural link to Watson's public network, crafting a response through pure thought interface rather than traditional typing. "No hostility intended. Willing to discuss territorial arrangements. Neutral ground?"
Cipher's reply arrived instantly, carrying overtones of amusement mixed with professional curiosity. "Neutral ground doesn't exist in the Net. My domain or nothing. Coordinates incoming."
A data packet flooded Tom's consciousness with meeting specifications—a virtual space constructed within Watson's municipal network, heavily ICE-protected and isolated from corporate monitoring. Tom recognized the digital architecture as sophisticated beyond standard netrunner capabilities.
"They want to meet in a constructed virtual environment," Tom told Judy while preparing his consciousness for full network immersion. "Professional-grade security, isolated from surveillance. This is either very good or very bad."
"Tom, if they're as skilled as their reputation suggests, this could be dangerous. Netrunner duels can cause permanent brain damage."
"Then I'll have to make sure I win."
Tom activated his Techno-Sovereignty fully, allowing his consciousness to flow into Watson's digital networks like water entering a vast electronic ocean. The transition from physical to digital awareness was becoming smoother with experience, though the sensation of existing as pure information remained profoundly disorienting.
Physical body goes into trance state. Consciousness uploads into data streams. Reality becomes mathematics and electricity.
The virtual space Cipher had constructed appeared in Tom's awareness as a geometric chamber with walls that shifted between transparency and opacity based on viewing angle. Digital architecture that suggested both paranoia and artistry, designed to provide tactical advantage to the space's creator while preventing easy escape.
Cipher manifested as a figure composed of flowing code and geometric patterns, their avatar revealing nothing about physical appearance while radiating competence and controlled aggression. When they spoke, their voice carried harmonic overtones that suggested extensive neural modification.
"Interesting," Cipher said, their avatar circling Tom's digital presence with predatory grace. "Your approach to the Net is... unconventional. No cyberdeck signature, no program traces, no ICE breaking tools. Yet here you are, interacting with my security as if you belong."
Tom maintained defensive positioning while analyzing Cipher's avatar for weaknesses or attack patterns. Their digital presence was sophisticated, suggesting years of experience in cyberspace combat and probably extensive chrome modification in their physical body.
"I use different methods."
"Show me."
The attack came without further warning—ICE programs that manifested as geometric predators designed to trace, capture, and neutralize unauthorized consciousness. Tom felt his awareness being probed by digital entities that sought to map his neural architecture and identify vulnerabilities.
Traditional netrunning. They're using standard attack protocols that assume I'm operating through cyberdeck interface with conventional programs.
Tom responded with pure Techno-Sovereignty, his will pressing against Cipher's ICE constructs with force that bypassed their security parameters entirely. Instead of breaking through their defenses, he convinced the programs that he was authorized, that his presence was desired, that their purpose was to assist rather than attack.
The ICE turned on their creator.
"What the hell—" Cipher's avatar flickered as their own defensive programs began assaulting their consciousness. "What ARE you? No deck, no programs, but you're overriding my security like you're part of it."
Tom seized control of Cipher's cyberdeck through direct neural interface, his consciousness flowing into their hardware like water into a container. For a moment, he existed simultaneously in his own body and Cipher's augmented nervous system, feeling their shock and confusion as foreign presence dominated their technology.
"I don't break through your defenses. I become them. Your ICE recognizes me as legitimate user because I convince it I belong here. Your cyberdeck treats me as authorized operator because I integrate with its systems rather than fighting them."
The sensation was intoxicating and terrifying in equal measure. Tom could feel Cipher's chrome modifications, sense their neural pathways, experience their technological enhancements as extensions of his own consciousness. For a moment, the boundary between self and other dissolved entirely.
Cipher jacked out desperately, their consciousness fleeing cyberspace before Tom's presence could cause permanent neural damage. The virtual environment collapsed as its creator abandoned it, leaving Tom alone in Watson's municipal network with the echo of Cipher's digital scream fading into static.
Tom returned his consciousness to his physical body, gasping as awareness snapped back into flesh and chrome. The transition felt like falling from great height—jarring, disorienting, accompanied by phantom sensations of controlling technology he'd never touched.
"Tom? Are you alright?" Judy's voice carried concern mixed with professional curiosity. "Your vitals spiked dramatically during the interface."
"I won," Tom said quietly, though victory felt hollow. "Overwhelmed their defenses by integrating with their cyberdeck rather than fighting their ICE. They fled before I could cause permanent damage."
But I could have caused permanent damage. Could have trapped their consciousness, destroyed their neural pathways, killed them through digital warfare. The power is intoxicating and horrifying.
Twenty minutes later, Tom's communication device activated with an encrypted call from an unknown number. Cipher's voice came through the speaker with grudging respect and professional interest.
"You won," they said without preamble. "Most elegant ICE bypass I've ever encountered. Also the most terrifying. What are you, exactly?"
"Someone trying to survive in Night City without attracting corporate attention," Tom replied honestly.
"Well, you're failing at that last part. Your technique is unique enough to draw attention from every corpo netrunner in the city. You've been broadcasting your presence like a signal fire."
Tom felt his stomach drop. "How bad is my exposure?"
"Bad enough that NetWatch has probably flagged you for investigation. Good enough that every major corporation knows someone with unprecedented abilities is operating in Watson." Cipher paused. "I have a proposition."
"I'm listening."
"You teach me your integration techniques. I teach you proper Net stealth. Mutual benefit exchange between professionals."
Tom looked at Judy, who nodded encouragement. An experienced netrunner mentor could provide skills he desperately needed for survival in Night City's digital warfare environment.
"What are your terms?"
"Weekly training sessions. You demonstrate integration methods, I show you proper ICE avoidance, trace countermeasures, digital stealth protocols. Fair exchange of expertise."
"And you don't report my abilities to corporate interests?"
Cipher laughed. "Corporate interests want my head almost as much as they want yours. Professional solidarity among digital outlaws."
Tom accepted the arrangement, though part of him wondered if he was gaining mentor or acquiring new vulnerability. In Night City's ecosystem of competing predators, trust was always conditional and alliances shifted based on immediate utility.
But Judy's right. At least one person trying to keep me alive knows what they're doing.
Two hours later, Tom practiced digital stealth techniques Cipher had transmitted through encrypted data packets. The methods were sophisticated beyond his previous understanding—ways to mask his presence in networks, techniques for avoiding ICE detection, protocols for minimizing his digital signature.
"I've been screaming my location to every corpo in the city," Tom said as he reviewed his previous network activities through the lens of professional tradecraft. "No wonder they're watching me."
"Skill without subtlety is just elaborate suicide in Night City," Judy replied, though her tone carried more relief than criticism. "Now you have someone teaching you how to use your abilities without getting killed for them."
Tom nodded, feeling both grateful for Cipher's instruction and sobered by how exposed his activities had become. His Techno-Sovereignty provided unprecedented capabilities, but those capabilities meant nothing if they attracted termination by corporate security forces.
The game was becoming more sophisticated, and he was finally learning the rules.
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