->''Among the exposed beams and wires I weaved to my secret stash of necessities and weaponry. First, I reconfigured my cochleal cell to another service and number so calling out wouldn’t triangulate my position. I armed myself with a tasersabre, and a dagger, because sometimes a good old fashioned gutting is better than stuns or shocks.''

->''And I was free again. I was ready to come at Mephisto from another angle, I just needed to plan. The best place to plan was a bar, and the best bar was the Black Roach.''
-->-- ''Elsha''

''Next Breed of Thief'' is a {{Cyberpunk}} flash-fiction series started by [=ElshaHawk=] in response to a cyberpunk writing challenge on Ficly. It has since expanded greatly.

In a dystopian future, there is a conflict brewing between the soulless [[MegaCorp MegaCorp]] that controls many aspects of life and the hacker elite who want to bring it down. The Scavengers, cybercriminals who are just trying to eke a living out and subvert the oppressive status quo, mostly remain holed up in the sewers underneath the city. When one Scav gets into a scrape with a new adversary under the control of [=MegaCorp=], she finds some unexpected allies who have their own motivations for taking the system down.

The series begins on Ficly [[http://ficly.com/stories/7320 here]]. After the closure of Ficly to new stories, the series was picked up from where it left off on Ficlatté [[https://ficlatte.com/stories/40114/ here]].

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!! This series contains examples of:

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The Scavengers live under the city.
%% * AttackDrone: One with a taser [[spoiler:arrests Elsha in the City Park]].
* BioAugmentation: Pretty much par for the course. At a minimum:
** Elsha has some sort of implants in her eyes and ears as well as artificial lungs.
** It's implied that Daemon's body was subject to some sort of experimentation by [=MegaCorp=].
** Acrylic has basically become a walking computer interface; it's mentioned that his scalp has numerous protrusions and ports.
* {{Biodata}}: [[spoiler:[=MEPHISTO=] is an organic computing system.]]
* BlackAndGrayMorality: {{MegaCorp}} are definitely evil, but the Scavs and their allies aren't exactly angels either…
* BrainComputerInterface: Acrylic. He's able to hack systems on the fly as he walks within range of them. [[spoiler:He was an unwitting experiment by [=MegaCorp=]…at first…]]
%% * BrainInAJar: [[spoiler:One powers [=MEPHISTO=].]]
* CallBack: Elsha picks up the dead drop at the same oxygen bar where she meets Fetus.
%% * CityNoir: More prevalent towards the beginning of the series, but it's there. To be expected, since it's a cyberpunk story.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Fetus' arm plugs contain the key to retrieving Acrylic's backed-up memories.]]
* CommanderContrarian: He's a Councilman, not the man in the hot seat, but Shortcut's m.o. seems to be to disagree with everything.
* ContrivedCoincidence: The drop of the firewall (with Acrylic's subsequent explorations) and Fetus' break-in of [=MegaCorp=]'s servers happen at the same time.
%% * CoolCar: Hard Drive's convertible is tricked out.
* CoolestClubEver: The oxygen bar where Elsha and Acrylic meet up with Fetus is so brightly-lit that the former has to adjust the implants in her eyes.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: [[spoiler:{{Averted|Trope}}. In this case, perhaps clean, maybe pretty, but not reliable. Hard Drive and Elsha try for an hour to save Fetus. They fail.]]
* CrazyPrepared: Fetus. Those body modifications she has? They conceal useful equipment. [[spoiler:Including a method to restore Acrylic's memory.]]
* CultureChopSuey: At one point, Elsha and Acrylic eat chow mein pizza.
* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: When Elsha and Acrylic grab a pizza while they wait for a signal from Fetus, it's mentioned that it's just rained.
* {{Cyborg}}: A few, to varying degrees.
** Elsha has cybernetic lungs and eyes.
** Acrylic is basically a walking BrainComputerInterface.
** Daemon may be one, as it's mentioned his chest is transparent.
* DeadDrop: This is how Elsha and Fireboy communicate with each other and exchange items.
* EasyAmnesia: A large portion of Acrylic's memories get wiped by a supermagnet, but he has backups.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The Scavenger base, which is built into the sewers, has quite a few different sections.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: [=MegaCorp=] [=HQ=] has at least one hundred twelve floors, not counting the roof.
%% * FireForgedFriends: Acrylic and Fetus, to an extent. The latter found the former and, despite being described as "frenemies", both want to take down [=MegaCorp=].
* FirstPersonPerspective: Mostly, but not entirely so. One installment in particular takes the form of a memo from the Shell.
%% * FriendlyRivalry: One is mentioned as existing between Acrylic and Fetus.
* FunWithAcronyms: [=MEPHISTO=].
-->“‘Multiply Enhanced Personified Heuristic with Integrated Sapience and Threaded Optimization’,” Acrylic replied, all in one breath.
* FutureSlang:
** "Catbox" connections are links secured using quantum cryptography and other similar systems.
** "Iced" = "black-market".
** "May everything return 200" is used as a send-off wishing for success, derived from the appropriate [=HTML=] code series.
* HackerCave: More like Hacker Sewer System, where the Scavengers operate.
-->The first thing I noticed about Fetus when we exited through the side door was how impossibly pale she was, especially considering how strong the [=UV=] rays given off at the bar were—even her hair was white. It contrasted rather starkly with the dark ensemble she wore.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Fetus ends up pulling one, basically electrocuting herself in order to save Elsha and Acrylic. They try to save her, but are too late.]]
* HiddenDepths: Hard Drive cries after [[spoiler:he fails to save Fetus]].
* IncrediblyLamePun: The mug in Fetus' pad reads "Moral Code", with a bit of programming on it.
* ItsPersonal:
** Fetus' parents were kidnapped and harvested for their organs. [[spoiler:They were used in the construction of the system controlling [=MEPHISTO=].]]
** Acrylic wants revenge on the corporation that he used to work for and that turned him into the cyborg he is.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Quite a bit of Acrylic's memory goes missing. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that a lot of it was stored magnetically.
* LayeredMetropolis: There's some hints in the story that the city might be one, though the lower layer is in the sewers.
* MacGyvering: Hard Drive converts a defibrillator into a power source for a computer so he can contact the Scavengers. It ends up frying the computer but the message gets to its recipients.
* MagicalDefibrillator: [[spoiler:{{Averted|Trope}}. Hard Drive even says that [[LampshadeHanging you can't use a defibrillator on someone whose heart has stopped]].]]
%% * MegaCorp: Named [=MegaCorp=], no less.
%% * NeuralImplanting: Acrylic, somewhat against his will at first…but then he grows to like it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:When a large portion of his memory is erased by a supermagnet, Acrylic loses his SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.]]
* PaperThinDisguise: When infiltrating [=MegaCorp=], the team tosses a white sheet over Acrylic and makes it look like he's an experimental android being taken into the building. Elsha [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this success.
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: In [=MegaCorp=]'s case, "CYBER".
%% * RedShirt: [[http://ficly.com/stories/25575 Name-checked in an installment]] (though, if you wish to click, be aware that it is a WhamEpisode).
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: [[spoiler:One of them even nearly kills Elsha at the beginning of the story. When the protagonists attack [=MEPHISTO=], there's more of them (although a few are holograms).]]
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Acrylic, so much so that [[spoiler:when he loses a lot of his memory to an unexpected supermagnet, he starts talking more colloquially]].
-->'''Acrylic:''' It is my belief that [=MegaCorp=] has at last detected our intrusion—or at the very least, that [=MEPHISTO=] is now nonfunctional—and wishes to minimize any further detriment wrought upon their systems.
* ShoutOut:
** C:\ is one to [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]].
** The worldwide hackers' network is called "Radio Armenia".
* SmokingIsCool: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]].
-->Everyone assumed I smoked, but honestly, with one and a half cybertronic lungs, I couldn’t risk it.
* StealthPun:
** C:\ is the leader of the Scavengers. The C:\ drive (on Windows, anyway) is the main hard disk from which the computer boots.
** When we first meet him, Hard Drive is basically a bouncer for the Scavengers. [[spoiler:He sets up a program called a "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNC_(software) bouncer]]" in order to communicate with the Scavengers after Fetus dies.]]
* TheStoic:
** Fetus, who only really breaks character when [[spoiler:in the room with the computer made out of her parents' harvested organs]].
** Acrylic, to a lesser extent. He only really breaks twice: Once in Fetus' house when trying to recruit Elsha to help take down [=MegaCorp=] and once when [[spoiler:most of his memory gets erased by a magnet]].
** NotSoStoic: [[spoiler:When saying good-bye to the harvested remains of her parents, Fetus tries to hide it and fails.]]
* SurveillanceDrone: Some are all-out police drones and can arrest people, [[spoiler:as Elsha finds out]].
* ThemeNaming: The Scavengers on the council are named after computer terms: C:\ is the leader; there's also Virus, Daemon, Beghilos, Shortcut, Readout, Taskman, and the twins Scroll and Locke. Also, Hard Drive, though he's sort of a bouncer rather than a council member.
* TronLines: Neons, [=LED=]s, or other sorts of light are pretty much ubiquitous in most places.
-->As gaudy as I thought the neon of the streets was, especially at night, the oxygen bar was far worse. It was clean, but every surface was backlit. People giggled, their skin looking bright blue in the ambiance, while drones served drinks as bright as the lights. My oculars toned down the light, blocking harmful [=UVB=] and other rays, but cast everything in purple hues.
* TheWarRoom: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. It, as Shortcut is wont to point out, is just a closet.
%% * WellDoneSonGuy: Potentially, a mild case with C:\ to Elsha. When she receives a sabretaser implied to have been C:\'s, it's implied to be quite the feather in her cap.
%% * WetwareCPU: Acrylic is one. [[spoiler:So is the system controlling [=MEPHISTO=].]]
* WhamEpisode:
** [[spoiler:Sprock was a decoy]]!
** [[spoiler:Somebody wants to help Elsha out]]!
** [[spoiler:[=MegaCorp=] killed Fetus' parents and used Acrylic as a guinea pig]]!
** [[spoiler:[=MegaCorp=] abducts and kills people to use their brain matter and stem cells to make a biocomputer]]!