Stray Cat Strut
Chapter Fifty-Five – A Cut Above Middle Management

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Stray Cat Strut (A cyberpunk system apocalypse!) - Ongoing

Fluff (A superheroic LitRPG about cute girls doing cute things!) - Ongoing

Love Crafted (Interactive story about an eldritch abomination tentacle-ing things!) - Completed!

Dreamer's Ten-Tea-Cle Café (An insane Crossover about cute people and tentacles) - Hiatus

Cinnamon Bun (A wholesome LitRPG!) - Ongoing

The Agartha Loop (A Magical-Girl drama!) - Volume Two Complete!

Lever Action (A fantasy western with mecha!) - Volume One Complete!

Heart of Dorkness (A wholesome progression fantasy) - Completed!

Dead Tired (A comedy about a Lich in a Wuxia world doing Science!) - Ongoing

Sporemageddon (A fantasy story about a mushroom lover exploding the industrial revolution!) - Ongoing

Past the Redline (A girl goes too fast, then she does it again) - Completed!

Magical Girl Crystal Genocide (Magical Girls accidentally the planet, and then try to fix it) - Completed!

Magical Girl Rending Nightmare (A sequel to Crystal Genocide! Cute girls in a soviet dystopia having a picnic on the roadside) - Volume Two Completed!

Noblebright (A shipcore AI works to avenge humanity) - Completed!

The Complicated Love Life of Ivil Antagonist (The Empress of Mars finds love) - Completed!

Pokebun (Broccoli Bunch in the world of Pokemon) - Hiatus

Queen Violence (An Assassin Reborn as a Kitten) - Completed!

No Strings Attached (An Elden Ring/Bloodborne inspired progression fantasy) - Ongoing

Chapter Fifty-Five - A Cut Above Middle Management

"The next big thing? Hmm... I think it might be crossovers. You know, take one media IP that the audience loves, mash it with another. Modern creative AI systems can be trained on both, so it'll be easy for them to work it out into something semi-coherent, and you have a big audience to draw on. Easy money!"

--AI Prompting Artist ShallowPunk in a 2041 interview

***

I could be sneaky, when I wanted to be, and at the moment, I wanted to be.

Flying over to the Rama Corp building in the Bastion would have been a pretty stupid idea, so I had to figure out another way to get there. Fortunately, I wasn't entirely alone.

"Ah, we can take my car," Shy muttered.

"It has a stealth suite?" I asked.

She shrugged, very slightly.

That was... a maybe. I'd take it. Better than walking all the way over. For all that the building was only like, three hundred-ish metres away, it was three hundred metres of city away. Getting there would mean riding an elevator down, then finding my way across, then up. That could take all evening.

"Alrighty, then," I said as I opened the bag Gomorrah had brought. There were, as advertised, little bombs within. Each one looked more like a penlight than a proper bomb-bomb. No dangly wires here, just a short, fat stick with a twisty bit on one end. It was helpfully labelled 'TWIST TO ARM.'

I separated the lot into three equal piles on the table, then looked at Gomorrah. "Are you coming for this one?"

"I'm not the quiet and subtle sort," Gomorrah said. "I'll leave the padding around to the cats, and you as well, Miss Shy."

Fair enough.

My coat was stealthy, as was my undersuit, but I had some rather normal clothes too, so I shucked off my jacket onto the back of my chair, then started to undress.

"Ah! Ah, um," Shy said, which was practically a monologue from her.

"Just getting the non-stealthy stuff out of the way," I said. "I'm not stripping entirely, chill out."

"I don't know," Gomorrah said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see you stripping to your undergarments in the middle of a café."

I snorted. My undersuit was actually pretty damned modest. More so than even a one-piece swimming suit, what with the armoured plating and everything. It wasn't designed to make me look too hot, it was meant to go invisible.

"You're assuming I wear 'undergarments' at all," I said, imitating her hoity-ness at the word. "I mean, I do, when I'm bleeding all over, but that's the exception."

Gomorrah sighed, deep and weary. "Catherine, do you... oh, nevermind."

I grinned at her, then finished changing. "I'll have to grab some things from the Bastion before we head out," I said as I packed my coat pockets full of explosives.

It didn't take too long for Nya and Shy to get ready. Shy didn't have optical camo stuff. Her gear messed with augs and cameras, making her invisible to either. It wasn't perfect, but that was fine. She had some movement tech as well, and could get us in.

Gomorrah had a map of the interior of the HQ, and she divided things so that we each had one floor to ourselves.

Mine was the topmost 'lobby' floor, Shy had the maintenance area below, and Nya the harder, higher security offices and server spaces, where the corp likely had the most guards wandering around.

Nya had the best stealth tech. It was so good, she refused to tell me about it.

We boarded Shy's little car, which smelled like it had just been cleaned up on the inside, then we took off.

Her car was very much not a Protector vehicle. It might've been modded a bit. The console seemed too high tech, but the car itself was probably ten years old or so. I wanted to ask, but it wasn't long before we were slipping close to the Rama Corp building.

"No alarms?" I asked. "Or invisibility?"

Shy shook her head, then pointed to a computer screen fixed to the dash. "There's a system that flags my car as allowed wherever I go."

"Neat," I said.

She nodded slowly. "It means less questions."

Ah, that made... some sense.

Shy drove slowly and carefully, bringing us down and around and to a careful landing on a parking garage deck that stuck out of the building a little. It was currently rather busy in there, with several people pushing for place in one of the rare city buses.

When we got out, the reason became obvious. The alarm had been set.

"Okay then," I said. "We do this fast, then. Everyone knows what we're doing?"

"N'yup!" Nya said.

"Cool. Our AI are all chatting with each other? If something goes wrong, let the others know, yeah? And don't hesitate to shoot first."

I only had my Trench Maker close to hand, my Laser Pointer stuck to the small of my back, just in case.

"See you soon, then," I said once I got confirmation from the others. I flicked on all of the stealth systems on my gear and turned entirely invisible. Maybe some small seam along my wrists or something was still visible, but I was pretty sure that anyone spotting me would have to be working for it.

I took off running, vaguely aware of Nya blowing past me, but only because I felt the wind move. She was on the ceiling. Maybe.

A door opened on its own ahead, and then a splash of paint appeared on the wall next to it. A cat, with a paw raised over its mouth, looking particularly mischievous. NYA WAS HERE was written above it.

I shook my head as I barged into the room after her, then I took just a moment to reorientate myself with the map in my Aug's HUD.

The floor I climbed to was the lobby. That meant wide open spaces, standing desks, seats for guests, and nice offices with views of the cityscape where clients could see.

I ran though, tossing a pair of Gomorrah's little firebombs more or less where her map indicated.

The rooms past the glitzy entrance weren't as pretty. There was a whole cubical farm up here, with people still arguing with each other over the blaring fire alarm. Some middle-managers were telling people to get back to work.

"What in the hell," I muttered.

I was pretty sure we wanted to limit the loss of life here. Send a message, not fill the morgue.

So I paused and listened in. The managers were sweating. Gomorrah had sent a second warning, it seemed, and it had her signature on it.

The middle managers were asking questions to their bosses, who in turn were gathered... ah, a couple of floors down?

"Nya, do you have an eye on the big boss?" I asked.

"Nya might," Nya replied. "Almost done."

Fuck, I wasn't even halfway. "Yeah, I think he's telling people to stay here. Can't have that."

"Got it, nya!"

I didn't know what to expect. Then Nya sent a Gif over our shared text channel. It was from her perspective, hanging upside-down on the ceiling somehow, staring at three corpo fucks arguing with a fourth. Fourth guy was clearly the big cheese around here. Nice suit, nicer office, no fucks to give. Had the look of someone used to having his way.

Nya's perspective shifted, and suddenly she was behind the guy, holding his face in her hands. I could actually see his eyes widen and mouth open to scream, but his head and body were no longer one unit, and nothing came out. Then he died, slack-jawed and dumb.

"Message sent, nya!"

The middle-managers changed their tune about thirty-seconds later, and the cubicle farm started to empty out.

"Myalis, can you tell Gom to send a third warning? Something that no one can ignore? I don't need some cleaning staffer caught in the crossfire."

Sent.

I didn't see what Gomorrah sent as a message, but a few people started screaming and moving a whole lot faster. I just rushed around, tossing bombs out where indicated. Looked like the plan was mostly to have them along the outer ring of the building, nearer to windows and exterior walls. Maybe to leave space unburnt in the middle?

I decided to trust my favourite pyro nun's knowledge of pyrotechnics above my own.

Ten minutes more, and I was running on my way out, just a little bit out of breath from all the cardio. I wasn't last to return. Nya was sitting on Shy's hood, eating a... burger?

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"Is America, nya!" she answered, raising the burger like a toast, which... yeah, fair enough.

Shy showed up three minutes later, and then we were off. It was time to fly back to Gomorrah, sit back, finish that sugary coffee thing I'd been drinking, and watch the fireworks.

***

A note from RavensDagger

Yo! Check these out, some of the entries for the Crossover Contest! 

Unexpected Guests (TBoB x DD crossover) (by TheWackyWombat) Available on: [Royal Road] or [NovelFire] You know what's worse than having to fight an alien invasion in order to save your city? Being sucked through a portal and dumped out in another world, as Evelyn 'Teddy' Claire and her crack team of teddy bears discover mid-incursion. Now they're stuck in a world of magic and mysticism where dungeon delving isn't a matter of survival, it's an organized sport! The good news is they may have a lead on a way home. The bad news is it involves the squad fighting their way through one of the toughest dungeons in the world. No problem, right?

The Flower of Fire (Growing In A Field of Weeds) (PMoon x SCS Crossover Fanfic) (by Shadowm4ge) Available on: [Royal Road] or [NovelFire] Flames of regret. Deadly, rampant, yet deeply tragic. Yet, a voice from afar calls and offers a chance at a different path. As the tragedies of the past begin to bloom to the surface, so too does a new threat to the City: The Antithesis. Follow Hua Huo-Ryu, member of the Liu and one of the first Vanguard in the world of Project Moon, as she grapples with not only the new threats to her home, but also learns to accept the past and grow past it. That said: This is the City we're talking about. And living happily and free does not come cheap or easily. So get ready for a ride.

Maniac's Tales Beneath the Dragoneye Moons (by Lividiea) Available on: [Royal Road] or [NovelFire] Evelin Vance finally feels like her life is getting better. With her other half Maniac the masked Samurai she finely has enough freedom to do whatever she wants. Of course, nice things don't last and for Evelin, this change is a bit bigger than that she originally barged for and failed teleportation sends her all the way to a different word rather than to her home. Now she has to find a way back home together with her trusty AI lyssa. World: This story takes place in the world of beneath the dragon eye moons by Selki Myth. It is a great story and i highly recommend reading it if you get the chance. I will try my best to make sure no prior knowledge of the world is required, but it will always be beneficial.

Scrap Cat Spirit (SCS + Spirit Beasts!) (by Aliapanacea) Available on: [Royal Road] or [NovelFire] Reborn into a Spirit Beast that thrives in the junkyards of the undercity after falling fifteen thousand feet to her death, [Null] must grow and learn how to use her new strength while also navigating a world ravaged by corporate greed and ravenous plant monsters. Unfortunately for her, she is a valuable creature that is capture or kill on sight to the powerful samurai and spiritualists that roam New Montreal, and even if she manages to evolve into a monster with a humanoid form to gain her freedom from capture, there's probably going to be a price on her head big enough for everyone to want to kill her. Just what is a lynx girl to do?

The Omega Gate (SCS/Worm Crossover) (by Jondera) Available on: [Royal Road] or [NovelFire] Earth Bet is dying; supervillains outnumber the heroes, indestructible monsters stalk the world and shatter cities on a schedule, and the world's greatest minds cannot find a way out. Until four teenage girls find themselves pulled out of their lives and pushed through a portal to another Earth, where vicious, all-consuming plant aliens threaten to wipe humanity from existence. Fortunately for them, opposing the vegetative antithesis are the Protectors, benevolent alien AIs with access to technology and resources beyond even the greatest Tinkers' fevered imaginings. By combining their own powers with the Protector's technology, the girls might just be able to turn the tide... and then go back and save their own home, for good measure.

What's a cultivator doing here? (A Stray Cat Strut Fanfiction crossover) (by JeffStoryFan) Available on: [Royal Road] Tian Wu is just a simple outer court disciple. He just is having a slight issue in cultivation. His divine sense distracts him with all the stress of current inter-sect conflict. So he takes a journey into the outside world to a remote temple, in search of peace and quiet. All is going well, until the conflict causing the stress comes to him. He is but a fly to the two Nascent elders fighting above. A stray shot causes the hidden power of the temple he is in to trigger, and the next thing he knows he is no longer in a world he knows. The new world is fighting plants of all things.

Technomancer's Gardening Guide [A Stray Cat Crossover] (by Keron) Available on: [Royal Road] Elise should never have been introduced to mana... Emily and Elise have one thing in common: they both grew up thinking magic was myth. Fortunately for both of them, a rift in space decided they should talk about that! Follow along as in an alternate reality two very different minds meet, and the world is forced to suffer! What's a little madness for a lot of fluff?

Sally Slime's Samurai Story: A little slimes isekai journey into the Stray Cat cyberpunk apocalypse!!! (by FullAutoAlice) Available on: [Royal Road] Sally was a cute orange slime that loved spending her days keeping her home dungeon running smoothly. Sadly not all slimes get to live the lives they want. A disaster in the dungeons core room rips Sally from her home reality, and drops her into another far more frightening, and potentially very tasty, new world. Here she will have to work with her new AI friend to help humanity fight off the herbaceous hordes of the Antithesis menace, as one of earth's guardians known as Samurai. Join Sally in her story, as she tries to make friends, and find her way home, all while devouring terribly tasty plant monsters.

End of the Cycle (by Nihilea) Available on: [Royal Road] Homura Akemi was used to failure. She'd already lived over a hundred time loops of it, failing to save the only person that mattered from the fate of all magical girls. She was willing to keep trying forever, but Madoka had other ideas, and unlimited potential to enact any wish, even one that reshaped the universe. Now, Homura was the only magical girl remaining, humanity has advanced to scientific heights previously unimaginable, and alien plants from space are trying to eat them all. Wait, what was that last one? Madoka Magica and Stray Cat Strut crossover for Ravensdagger's fanfiction contest.

Rock This Town (a Stray Cat Strut/Cyberpunk 2077 crossover fanfic) (by RandomWalker) Available on: [NovelFire] V and her partner-in-crime Jackie were in the middle of the heist that would catapult them into the big leagues when things went sideways -- and *then* the Antithesis invaded. Now V and Jackie are scrambling to escape with the goods and their lives as aliens come crashing down on Night City.