The air was musty and heavy with the sound of keys being tapped which seemed to echo in this dimly lit Lower-Canterlot apartment room, almost thick with desperation at the state of this motley crew.

It had been some months since their last real job and morale, funds and food were now dwindling at a rather alarming pace, it wasn’t easy to live in Lower-Canterlot with that being especially true in the slums of The Sprawl.

With danger around every corner in this district having a well-fed and well-armed crew was your best chance at staying alive long enough to get rich from it all.

“We’re low on funds again” chimed Titus for the tenth time in an hour.

Titus Steel was the amber maned and chocolate brown coated earth pony Solo of the group, a “do-er of things” and “cracker of skulls”, he wasn’t good with words but you didn’t want to meet him in a dark alley on a bad day.

“We know, You haven’t stopped mentioning it for days now!” groaned Red Star, an Earth Pony Med-Techie.

Red Star was dangerously close to pulling out her scarlet mane on account of Titus’ now constant complaints; her almost pristine white coat on the verge of stress thinning.

“He could stand to shut up as if we don’t know how piss poor our money situation is!” shouted Access Granted from the rather small and dingy kitchen which was piled high with low-quality fast food cartons.

Access Granted was the Orange-maned and charcoal gray coated Unicorn Netrunner of the crew, if you need a system broken into, data stolen or a system destroyed beyond repair look no further.

“Access, Please stop antagonizing Titus we need to stay focused on getting another job” Cloud Rider grumbled as she looked up from her datapad clearly focused on doing just that.

The Sky-blue maned Pegasus Cloud Rider was the groups Techie, it was her that repaired the groups firearms and equipment when they broke down, which given their rather sorry state was often; Her dirty blond coat covered with multiple oil stains from repairs long past.

Suddenly a loud rhythmic beeping snapped the crew out of their argument, it was Cloud Rider’s Datapad indicating she had received a message; the crew gathered around the coffee table in the middle of the living room in anticipation of its contents.

“This should be our job offer now” Cloud Rider said nervously, “I hope its good news”.

Upon opening the message, it was indeed a message about a job but not the scale the crew was hoping for however something stood out as a little strange.

Sent: 17/04/2254 19:27:04

From: bsun@et-net.corp

You come highly recommended by one of our associates and this should be treated with the utmost care.

We have a job for you, we cannot go into much detail in this message but we need you and your crew’s skills in retrieving some critical data that belongs to us, we want it back and we do not care how you go about it.

This job should be a milk run and you wont run into any special security measures provided you move with discretion, use this to your advantage, additionally if you are caught within the facility we cannot send aid as the target must not know we are involved in any way.

Reply and give us your response, Don’t keep us waiting.

The four stared at the message for what felt like an eternity before Titus spoke up.

“This can’t be real, Can it?” Titus said suspiciously “Why would they want us out of all ponies?”

“No that's definitely an Equi-Tech mail address, Its likely they want to be discreet” Rider responded.

“How much are they offering?” Red Star inquired.

Access took the pad from Rider and scrolled down the message a little and nearly dropped it in shock much to Rider’s annoyance to whom he gave an apologetic smile.

“120,000!?” He stated in disbelief.

The room fell silent, that kind of money made the job seem anything but a milk-run.

“This doesn’t feel right, this has to be some kind of trap” Titus pointed out.

“We can’t just turn them down though, You don’t just simply turn down an offer like this!” Access half-shouted, giving Titus a serious glare.

Rider thought for a moment before she broke the silence with an opinion of her own.

“I say we take it, we really need the money”

Nobody dared disagree and a silent agreement fell over them all, this was their big break and they hoped that it wouldn’t come back to bite them. Working with a Corp was risky but came with a massive payoff which they would gladly take advantage of.

The following cloudy and foggy morning came quickly in the tense atmosphere of the crew’s apartment. Rider had been awake before the others and was quietly waiting for a follow-up message from their employer, upon receiving the message some time later she quickly woke the others from their slumber.

“Wake up and pile in everyone! Got the details of the job in a few moments ago” Rider barked out.

Titus, Access and Red Star fell from their respective areas on various bits of lounge furniture and practically clambered over the remaining furnishings in response to the sudden wake-up call.

“What we got boss? They get back to you this soon?” Titus blinked still half asleep.

Rider flicked through her datapad for a short moment “Yes, turns out it IS just a milk-run data retrieval job like they said, Seems a rival stole something of great importance to Equi-Tech and needless to say they aren’t happy at all”

The location itself was a small unassuming server farm and comms relay in Upper-Canterlot that was the center of the local communications grid and was mostly unguarded apart from a few on-site security staff.

“Are any of the staff on site armed?” Access joked.

Rider left out a huff before stating “Just the guards, though they have assured us a pickup vehicle will be waiting for us after we complete our objectives, unmarked of course”

Access nodded, knowing they would be a larger problem for his team as opposed to him.

“Any special objectives or restrictions?” Red Star inquired.

“Especially when it comes to engagement” Titus added.

Rider shook her head “No, Equi-Tech would prefer they get their property back as soon as possible but I think it’s within our best interests to thoroughly check what we’re up against first.”

“Then I guess I’ll scout the place out from the Net while the three of you check the place out physically” Access stated before sitting down on a small sofa where his Cyberdeck was set up and proceeded to jack himself into the net, his neural interface plugs clicking gently into place at the back of his skull.

The three others nodded among themselves and proceeded leave the apartment room and headed outside into the morning gloom.

Author's Note

Ive had this idea knocking around in my skull for some time now since im a really big fan of Cyberpunk fics and have long had the want to write one of my own, only really got it out my brain and onto FimFiction

Please let me know of your thoughts in a PM or Comment.

Also some explainations on some of the terms used, for those not familiar with Cyberpunk 2020

Solo: Essentially a soldier, specialises in Firearms and Melee weapons, generally the muscle

Netrunner: Users of advanced neural implants to access the Net in ways others cannot, generally for Social or Hacking purposes

Techie: Mechanics, Electricians and Gunsmiths fall under this role, pretty much maintaining anything thats not a computer.

Med-Techie: Like a Techie, but is more like a Medic.