Finally, she looked at us. "So that's what Jackson was on about. Well, it has been a while since I've seen any of the 'borg contacts on the streets." she said. "That is a problem?" "Yeah. Mine." I just shook my head." "We got the meeting because we have a good reputation. But this is apparently information that you didn't have but were targeted for by a death squad for. "And if I'm not that special to be put in the loop, that means all of us on the street level are targets." she supplied the rest. "You better call everyone you know and tell them to lay low. Especially if they are a PEP units." She leapt into action and went into her kitchen drawer. She pulled out a flip phone I assumed to be a burner and made a call. "Kate. You need to drop what you're doing and lay low. We've all been compromised. You call Johnston. I'll call Ellen." she said before hanging up. Betty then dialed another number. "I don't have time, Ellen. We've all been compromised. You need to drop what you're doing and lay low now. You call Myers. I'll call Brennen." She dialed the third number. "Brennen? Hello? Are you-"
It was then we all heard a loud bang. "Fuck! They got him." she hissed, and she bit her fingernail. All we could do at that point was wait for more information to come in. I was fully invested in this questline now. Her burner rang and she put it to her ear. "Myers, calm down. I know! I told them to tell you!" she snapped. "Just come here then." she said in a softer tone after a brief pause. She then hummed in approval and hung up. "Ellen and Myers are coming here." she said. "Are they fixers like you?" I asked. She shrugged. "They are PEP units, so they deal with other cyborgs, and they do shit for their side." she said. It was an hour later that the doorbell rang. Betty went to the door with a gun at the ready. She peeked out the hole and sighed. "Get in here quick!" she said as they hurried in. We had our brief introductions and Betty's mood changed. She pulled them in for a hug and said "Damn. All this shit's too much for an old lady like me." She looked genuinely relieved they were alright. The fixers returned the gesture. "What happened? How were we compromised?" Ellen asked.
Going over it from the top they nodded. "We were not trying to hide it from the humans in the group. It was just a secret project the transmission hub wanted us to work on. We were on the 'net looking for places and running the calculations for it. "And it took you days? You couldn't reach out to the higher ups that you were okay?" I demanded. Myers just furrowed his brow. "We never tell them that. Just like we don't tell them about the safehouses in the city or the Foundry." "Did you find a place for the next stage?" Cecil asked. Ellen said "We have to be sure that it's a place only PEP units would look and can access. It will take time." "Time you don't have. Phobia is hunting you guys. It might not be only them either." I said. This was a very urgent matter. Betty ducked from the conversation for a bit. When she came back, she had a large map of the continent. "You guys just need to look for a place to do your thing, right? He's right you know. We don't have time." The 2 cyborgs looked at each other and then at me. I got another ping in my menu. I now had to choose the location.
I sighed. Having the map in front of me was fine. To the Northeast of the continent there was an archipelago of 5 islands. There was one in particular that looked like a big, circular hole between 3 other islands. From the cartography of the map, there was a small mountain range. I pointed there and said "Let's go there. It seems as good as any." An island secluded from the rest of continent sounded nice. Myers scoffed and said "How the hell are people going to get over there!? The seas in that region are all unnavigable." I said "You can fly there. Clan buildings have archwings that you can attach to any X-frame." Ellen spoke up and said "You need time and money for the resources to build them. That is why some of us partner with syndicates in the first place." That made sense. I rolled my eyes. That was probably another reason they came to us with this. We were probably the only clan in the game that could self-finance "the next stage", whatever the hell that meant. "PBJ Clan has lots of money and resources. Let us handle all the costs. You can just send off these decisions now."
