Life got hectic for us 4 days later. On the television was a continent wide feed. It was breaking news. The toxic hub was being attacked. Apparently, the Player that stole the laptop was trying to get in good with syndicates. That was a good way to get ahead in a cyberpunk setting. He walked straight to Phobia and gave the laptop over. It was a done deal. They paid out the nose for it. All of the executives then went straight over and mobilized a large force to fight. Several black convoys rolled up on a bank in a city to the north. I watched as they blew the doors up of the bank just before closing. Several androids returned fire. As the firefight went on, it became really clear what was going on as blue blood was spilled on the ground. As time went on, the government had to respond. Several civilians were getting caught in the crossfire and dying. It then became a 3-way war in the streets. Eventual attrition meant that the Toxic Clan was on the ropes after a few hours. We were powerless to help them. It did not look like other clans were going to help aside from the random units in the city.
Madly glaring at the television was 06-001. His faction was being attacked and there was nothing that he could do about it. "How could this happen!? Where are all of the damn X-frames they were given and made for this purpose? I know they have at least 2 for the AEP units. Or where are the AEP units!? They need back-up!" he yelled at the screen. As soon as he said that several X-frames did arrive. It seemed the heavy hitters of Toxic Clan had arrived to defend the hub. They were able to clear house with the added firepower. I even saw the toxic AEP unit in the fray. The news helicopter was shot down after the syndicate survivors fled the scene in their usable cars and vans. The government was still there fighting. More and more personnel were going to be called in to respond to the threat. Hopefully they could salvage what they could from the hub and wipe the rest of the data. The damage was done. People were going crazy. Other channels were covering it as well. Tanks and aircraft were not being deployed. I called a clan meeting and had everyone got to the main hall.
Never coming clean was not an option. We already told Radioactive Clan what happened. All we could do is hope that they did not rat us out to the Conqueror's faction members. We did warn them to lay low and change their security systems to prevent future hacks. We also warned Heat, Void and Electric Clans. Alex and Alexis told me they spoke to Volition Clan. The hub they were under was responsible for Pierce Clan. They said they would also pass the message along to them. Void Clan should have gotten in touch with Sonic Clan as well. Hopefully, we could cut our losses and only leave the Conqueror clans to get destroyed due to this. Because of this, I had to do something drastic. I looked at them and said "We are going dark. Both the depot and Red Grind are closed from now on. I know that we need to be seen for other missions but keep your prescence in the streets as low as possible. Paul and I really fucked up big time." I said. Paul groaned but nodded. "Shit is going to go down. We need to bunker down and lay low until this all blows over." he said in total agreement.
