Still not dead! Just the world and my Muse taking a piss all over me. Playing around with a Xainxia story, a Worm/Xainxia story, and the Original Fiction I've been working on for years.
Mostly the Xainxia story... because my mind won't stop going back to it. But also College. Fuck, and I have a current events project I need to do/finish and just blank when I try to do anything on it!!!
Sorry for ranting a bit.
TLDR; Story is not dead, just waiting for my Muse to stop being a dick.
A/N: Sorry all, but my brain is fucking with me and getting into the right headspace for writing has been hell. I probably should have posted this sooner, I kind of forgot about my backlog... Hope you all like it.
Cheers.
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Sitting in the back of the truck, I sighed and spoke up, "Skittle already knows, but she's on her own for this. Sona is handling… other things for me." Plundering any database she could get her hands on for those sweet, sweet schematics.
"Well, this shouldn't be much of a tech job." Mack replied, "It's supposed to be a procurement and courier run."
"Ten Nuyen we have to fight some kind of ghost." Skittle dared, and he chuckled, shaking his head.
"We're headed to the Chicago Field Museum to meet Dr. Kersh." Mack spoke up, "Lothan wants us to take possession of a canister, CAT27000. He also doesn't want us mentioning him."
Wonderful. I grumbled internally, Then I asked, "And how are we getting the canister?"
He snorted, and muttered, "You'll think of something." before replying, "That's our problem."
As we pulled up to the ex-museum, I couldn't help but feel bad about it. I mean, this place must have been gorgeous in its day. Now it was best described as post-apocalyptic.
Pulling up to the stairs, I could see two men standing there waiting for us- Oh, cute. They were trying to use veils to hide the truth about themselves… But why? To not scare us? Maybe?
Getting out, I followed along, and asked, "So, what is this Astral Space Preservation Society all about?"
"Well," Mack replied, "They try to monitor the potential abuse of astral space and its inhabitants, protect the rights of the denizens of astral space, establish a set of parameters that will facilitate a positive working relationship between spirits and metahumanity, and create a sanctuary in astral space for beings in search of a safe retreat."
The way he said that, sounded like he was repeating a tagline by rote or something. Bleh. Still, hmm, maybe I could use something I know to get what we want? It would be nice to not have to do anything horrid, but on the other hand, I wouldn't want to have to give up useful secrets… feh, like I really cared. Maybe, maybe.
"Ah, Mr. Mack." The human spoke, "It's good you could make it."
Nodding, Mack glanced at me before huffing and stepping forward to speak. "You said over the comm that you were willing to part with canister CAT27000. But I doubt we have the Nuyen for it, what do you have in mind?"
Reaching into a pocket of his lab coat, Kersh pulled out a strange electronic device. "This is a sensor unit of my own design. It helps us detect and measure a variety of contaminants in the physical and astral planes. I would like you to take this unit to the Cermak Crater. Activate it. Allow it to complete a fifteen-minute sweep of the area, and then return it to me here. All told this shouldn't take you more than an hour or two. Do that and the canister is yours."
Mack looked at me and I couldn't help but frown before stepping forward. "Phfft, do you even realize how dangerous that is? Have you ever stepped foot near that… thing? Whatever, you have to have something to deal with radiation."
"I can teach any Awakened among you the Detox spell?" Kersh offered.
"Don't you have any hazard gear?" Skittle asked, "I can't believe you wouldn't."
With a sigh, he nodded, "We do, but Hazmat suits are expensive and hard to come by,"
"It's still something." Al put in, "Better than the last job."
Learning a local spell was… interesting, and I was surprised I hadn't done so sooner. I mean, shit? But Detox was a useful spell, and one I immediately started picking apart and looking over. I was pretty sure I could make it better. After all, it was very scientific, and the magic I used was very concept-based.
As for the suits… they were obviously old and brittle, but they were equipped with personal radiation dosimeters. Crude, rudimentary ones, but it was something. After an explanation of how they worked, we piled in the truck and headed for… the crater.
"Fuck this is going to be a horrible job," I informed Mack as I structurally analyzed my suit. Could I fix them up? With a bit of reinforcement and alterations… yeah. Pulling off a glove, I reached over and ran through the same process on each suit. "This should help a bit."
"Huh, what did you do?" Al asked, looking over his suit.
"Just rejuvenated the polymers and latexes, doubled the lifespan, more or less." I replied and found myself the center of several nonplussed looks.
When we arrived, it was two blocks away from the crater that we left the truck. I also had to leave my notebook.
Sona had found some runners talking about some AR Nails, false fingernails that functioned as AR gloves. Nifty, also reusable. But they wouldn't work with my nails, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to implant something in the tips of my fingers or not. If I could use them, I could use a note app on my commlink. But, I couldn't, so I couldn't.
As we got close to the crater, as we started walking into it, that sickly sewage feeling returned, though that was hardly the worst of it. Bug spirits… so many bug spirits. They were all in some kind of torpor and… I could sense how unnatural they were, yet part of the natural world. Like plagues and pestilence. Like rot.
"Please tell me that dingus is going?" I asked, "I don't want to stick around."
Even as I said that though, I walked up to one of the bug spirits, and started studying it. As I worked, Ed got the device going and everyone was very obviously on edge.
"Whatcha doing?"
I will admit, I jerked in surprise, mostly because I didn't sense the… spirit floating up to me. Looking at it, I noticed a few important things. First, there was a second one. Second, they were glowing green spirits that flickered like static. Third, they took the form of children.
Swallowing, I replied, "I'm studying the wretched monster here."
The pair were a little girl and a little boy, and the girl floated over and looked at the bug spirit this way and that was before replying, "They are kind of ugly, aren't they?"
Then she reached out and poked it!
Before I could freak out though, the spirit seemed to shrivel up a bit more… which was interesting.
"So, how long have you been here?" I asked, hoping to distract them, and noticing my team edging away a bit.
"Huh." She muttered, then looked over at the boy. "How long have we been here? I know I've been here longer."
"Nuah!" He shot back, "I was so here first! Besides! The bugs are cool."
"Uhuah!" She rebutted, "And they're so gross!"
Remaining very still, I let them carry on for a while, prodding them both. I kept the argument below violence, barely, but otherwise I did what I could to keep them going. Focusing on eachother and not us.
None of my other methods for interacting with kids would work! Not with living radiation! As soon as the device beeped, done, I made a shooing motion and asked, "Let's play hide and seek. Start counting to one hundred and we'll hide."
They both stopped mid insult, petty childish insult, but insult, and looked at me wide eyed, "Ok!" And then they closed their eyes and started counting slow and methodically.
"Ah!" I interrupted, "We haven't chosen what is home base!"
"Oh darn!" The boy replied, "Um… that sign over there?"
"Yeah! I like that sign." The girl agreed, and I felt bad for what I was doing but-
"Ok, now, start counting." I prompted and they nodded, and started all over again… And I ran, Ενίσχυση and gone! To say we made it away clean would be… exaggerating, but we made it away and Ed was looking at me with wide, horrified eyes. "How! How did you do that?"
Gulping, I glanced back at the crater, and kept going. "I don't know! Get the truck, get it going, and let's get the fuck out of here! Before they catch on!"
"R-right," He huffed, pushing himself faster.
As we came running up, Inaroú was looking at me with wide eyes, "We need to leave!"
Scrambling out of the hazmat suit, I threw it into the back and climbed into the truck. "No shit."
We were just pulling away when the scream of anger echoed down the street and… it was answered by the screech of bugs. Fuck!
"Shit, how far are they going to follow us?" Al asked, looking out the window and… there was a group of four insects chasing us. Fuck. No, double fuck.
"That device totally awoke the spirits, right?" I asked, even as I moved onto Mack's lap and half out the window.
"Shit, yeah. Totally, definitely." Ed agreed as he kept going.
Breathing out, I did something that would haunt me for centuries. I reached out to the twisted mana, the sewage around us and shaped it, refusing to let it into my body. Then I fired off a volly of twenty Δόρατα Φωτός, the beams a sickly green, and flickering like static. Any bug hit was killed outright, but those just in proximity shriveled in on themselves, and many of those also died. I don't know if there were any true forms among them, but I only had to risk the single barrage.
Pulling myself back into the truck, I slipped into my seat, buckled in and went boneless. "Fuck. I am never going near that crater again."
"Nul drek." Al grumbled, "Do you think that was all of them?"
"Oh, fuck no." I replied, and sat up straight, "Get us to the museum. Wanna dump this and be done with this job." And wouldn't you know it? Not as block away from the museum we were greeted by the sounds of gunfire.
"This fucking job!" I grumbled as I readied myself to lay down some hurt. "Next time Lothan wants us to do something-" And I let myself be cut off as we turned the corner, because I had obvious targets to put down!
As everyone piled out, I started raining down Δόρατα Φωτός.
Ducking behind the now armored truck, because, of course, Ernie armored it with some of his bounty pay, I continued poking at the gangers with my spell. One was down already, and Mack just slammed into another.
And there's Ed and Al. Good on them, shotguns tend to do the job nicely.
Watching the cyber arm on one of the gangers go crazy… I had to admit I was impressed. Skittle was starting to pick up some combat tricks. But why was she closing the distance! I know I gave her a sword but-
As Mack grabbed the last one by the throat, and knocked his weapons away, I stood up and looked around. "Well fuck. What are these shit stains doing here?"
Looking at the ganger, Mack growled, "Well?"
"It don't matter that you got me omae. We got the can! Our Master is going to use that can to get even more powerful! And then she will make us all strong! Nothing can stop the Swamp Thangs! So go ahead. Go into the swamp. My brothers and sisters can always use more food." A loud crack punctuated the end of the ganger, and I couldn't help but grumble. Swamp? In this climate? No fucking way was that going to be warm and humid… no this was going to be cold and miserable.
Shaking my head, I turned and marched up the stairs, Ed quickly following. "Well, Dr. Kersh, looks like this was all for jack and shit. Get your gear. We need to Detox and deal with some assholes."
"Ah, um…" He muttered, straightening up. "Right, I will help you… and I suppose I can find a few thousand Nuyen to pay you all for the help."
Snorting, I let that pass, "Sure, you should know though. Your device seems to have agitated the Bug Spirits stuck in a torpor around the crater. You might want to let people know to start sweeping for the things. Because if they survived that close to the blast, I bet there are others in the Zone who did too."
The 'good' doctor went a little pale at that, "Right! Right, let's just-"
As we pulled up to the swamp, I had to shudder at it. Yeah, cold and horrible. And that was only the beginning, Mack was sure that the gang was working for bug spirits. Something about being called maggots.
Still, it was Skittle who managed to track them down. The swamp was pretty big after all. They had taken over a failed low-income housing project. Most of the buildings were in some state of collapse, and looking at everything I snorted, "Just fucking wonderful. Ok, twelve of them. Do we try to sneak in? Or… what was that phrase… Pink Mohawk this?"
It was great to hear the snorts of amusement that generated, and Mack shook his head, replying, "None of us are stealthy. So, I guess we need to put on our mohawks. Snrk."
"Still not sure how we're going to deal with all of that." Skittle commented, "Look at them, I could at least ten."
"Can you just do your beam spam thing?" Al asked me, "It seems to work pretty well."
Mack cut in before I could reply, "Stop relying on her kid." Then he pointed at a building. "Think you could hide up there with your rifle?"
"Yeah," Al agreed, chagrinned.
"Good. Vaela, stay back for this. Everyone seems to need a reminder of what it's like to run the shadows." Mack grumbled, and I smiled at him.
"Shit, if I knew you were this well thought out, I would have let you do the leading." My reply earned me a dirty look from him and a snort.
"Skittle and Ed will move up behind me," He continued, "While I do what I can."
And so, I watched the group wander out, Mack summoning a wolf spirit made of fire, and eventually, with the crack of a rifle, I watched as they fought the 'Swamp Thangs'. Skittle was turning into a fair hand with a pistol, her flechette rounds mincing people into pulp or with her sword when they got too close. Ed moved with a surety that was… reassuring. Al seemed to be doing just as well, and excelling with guns of all types. And Mack, the shaman freight train. Well, enough said.
Then the birds appeared and I found myself in my own fight! Six moa-sized birds- six terror birds, attacked me with stinger-like tails and… fuck! I was more than happy that I had ξίφος and more so for Ενίσχυση. I blurred and sped up, my blade of mana proving more than capable of cleaving through the birds up. On the other side of that, I did not enjoy rolling around in the muk to avoid being hit.
As the last of the bird shits lay dead, I looked at my clothes and cursed quietly as I used Μπάνισε βρωμιά to clean myself and dry off.
As I walked into the camp, and towards the fire, sure I was dry but I was still cold. No, that's too strong a way to put it. I was still chilled.
It didn't take too long for the loot to be collected, bodies burned, and the canister found.
"I can't believe this shit." I grumbled, "Terror Birds!"
"Actually, those were Cockatrice." Mack corrected, "Now let me message Lothan."
"Alright," He grumbled, "We're headed to Merle's Grocery, over by the port. Not Lothan's usual choice of meet locations though."
Slumping, I asked, "Does anyone else see this as a red flag?"
"Hmph, maybe." Mack agreed, "Or he's trying to break pattern- but assume it's a trap?"
Rolling up to the grocery, I noticed it was conspicuously abandoned, a grocery I was assured was in use. Red Flag. Lothan himself was out in the open, but he was wearing a simple black shirt and a pair of cargo pants. Red Flag.
Getting out, we headed over towards him, Mack carrying the canister. And Lothan greeted us with a smile and a jovial, "Hoi chummers. Did you get the can? Great! I knew you guys were the best. Really wizzer. You can count on a glowing recommendation from me in the future. Null persp!"
Snorting, I asked, "You have our fifty thousand Nuyem, each?"
Watching Lothan give a micro wince, he nodded, still smiling, "'Course, Chummers", and a moment later he held out five creditsticks… Fuck, this was tempting. But it was also a Red Flag.
"Well, fuck." I muttered, even as Mack stepped behind me, handing the canister to Skittle and I unleashed a barrage of four beams- that slammed into a barrier? What.
And Lothan kind of melted as he changed into an ugly female thing covered in fur and while nearly as tall as a troll, was far skinnier.
"Drek!" Mack yelled out, "Wendigo!"
That tickled a part of my brain, but fuck if I had time to chase down why! So instead, I Ενίσχυση myself and charged the beast, Δόρατα Φωτός and ξίφος flashing. But hey, it got better! More Swamp Thangs started rushing into the parking lot from inside the store.
"Skittle, get in the truck!" Ed yelled as he and Al dived for cover, and Mack charged the gangers.
I barely registered the sound of feet pounding on the blacktop as I played shot for shot with a monster. This thing was able to keep up with my reinforced movement, mostly, and had some kind of protection from my Δόρατα Φωτός, but oddly, not my ξίφος.
"I've been studying you, morsel!" She taunted, "Your spell is null against me!"
Stopping with Δόρατα Φωτός, I reordered the spells matrix, stepping away from the mystery and into the miracle. A beam of light, unstoppable and all-consuming. Then started charging it up, way up in the sky, out of sight. "Fuck yourself you rancid piece of shit."
I danced back for a moment, tossing my cane to my left hand, and recast ξίφος, before stepping in under her guard as she lunged at me, and I drew my Deputy in my right hand and shot her in the knee, even as I managed to cut a deep wound in her gut.
When she stumbled back, I dropped my cane, and it vanished into that other space. Then I started fanning my revolver, putting rounds into her center mass. And she started laughing. "You can't hurt me!"
Fuck, was there ever a better opening? "Try this you sick fucking bitch!"
And the testament of my Authority slammed down in the form of one big, strong beam. A hammer blow that would be seen on seismographs around the city. She screamed in pain, and it was suddenly cut off halfway through. When the beam ended, there was a quiver in the weft of the world that told me my time here was now coming to an end. Not immediately, but the world itself didn't like what I had just done. The crater in the parking lot wasn't even scorched and was less a crater and more a bore hole.
Looking around, I found the Swamp Thangs were dead or fled, and everyone looked ok… "Mack, next time. Call, not message."
"Yeah… frak, that was a mess." He grunted. "I think you have the right idea about Lothan jobs."
Not to take them? I didn't say aloud.
From there, the handover was pretty simple. Roll up to the fucker's shop, get paid, and not pay attention to him. Because fuck! And we hadn't even made it back to the Watchtower before Sid called. "Hey Chummer! I got a-"
Looking at him with dead eyes, I replied, "Not interested. We just finished a job and are in no condition for another right now."
"Drek." He swore. "Sorry, if I had known… I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll catch you later, chummer."
After he hung up, I sighed. "Fuck."
"No kidding." Al complained, "Think we can crash at the tower tonight?"
"I've got spare beds." I agreed, "Just don't antagonize the Angels."
"Sure," Ed muttered with a yawn. "Fucking double shift, then this job. I hate my life."
A/N: Yeah, fuck my Muse. But here's some more, and I'll probably be posting another... today? Maybe, maybe within the week? Let's hope. It's just cleaning up and editing the chapters anyways, so it should be quick to come along.
Shit, what can I even say... My brain has been dribbling out my ears for the last couple of... well, for a while. Depression + binge reading and playing some games with friends. But I'm looking at this again, so I should, hopefully, get back to writing... or I might go back to binge reading. Some Recs? Yeah, some recommendations I think.
-Beware of Chicken [Casualfarmer] :: This sits at my number one recommendations, but it has company in that position. Poor SOD gets thrown into the body of 'some guy' and takes over his body... it's all good, the guy was dead. Anyways, he then leaves the sect he died in and well... Yeah, he runs off to become a farmer. He fails at leaving the world of cultivation behind though, and it's magnificent.
-When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel to Try Again [DragonOfRochester] :: My other number one rec. Chick gets Isekai-ed into a Harem Xianxia, but as one of the Harem. We don't get the story of her staying out of the Harem and attempting to reach the Heavens or whatever. No, the story is of her being thrown back in time and derailing that entire story with the knowledge of an 'Old Monster'. 11/10, would recommend.
-Sect [Ryuugi] :: Yet another Xianxia, but fucking... Post-Golden morning ghost Taylor... and well, it's good, like really fucking good. But then Ryuugi is a good writer, so no surprise. Anyways, Ghost!Taylor adopts a kid, becomes a cultivator and... well, she Taylor'sSkitter's So fucking hard.
-Forgotten, Forsaken [Primemountain] :: Shipgirl!Taylor, but she's an Abyssal... kind of. It's complicated, and all I can say is this is a must read if you like Worm Fics, or if you like Ship girls. If you're ambivalent? Well, it's still a great story that is well written and can really draw you in.
-Hereafter [James D. Fawkes] :: Taylor Hebert [Worm] post-Golden morning, as a Master in Chaldea[F/GO]. This is really good, and I definitely recommend. If I had one problem with it... I would want to see a version of this story were Taylor isn't left almost useless, master style, I want to see her actually gain power and slowly become more like a human from the Age of Gods. Not that I want to see her soloing Servants, but being able to hold her own for a bit? Being able to do things? Yeah. But Meh, even without all of that, this is fucking amazing. And hey, maybe James D. Fawkes will do something like that in the future... probably not, but one can hope.
-Cherno Caster [Akaso] :: Not up-to-date on this one, but it's been pretty good so far. It sits at a strange crossroad of Magepunk-Biopunk-Radiationpunk. Not sure if that last one is a thing, but it's a good approximation? Then you have the Lovecraftian elements, not blatant stuff, and not Lovecraft, but in that direction. Good stuff really.
-Underkeeper [Hankthemoose] :: Mage gonna Mage, but with a Demon companion. It's... well, it's actually really good and I can't wait for more.
-Vainglory [PlumParrot] :: This is... Hmmm, Dungeon progression meets hardboiled detective with a heavy side of magic? I guess that's a good description? Well, good stuff.
-Arise [Jez Cajiao] :: This has been a good series so far, but to like book 4? Or so, but it's good. Guy becomes a bio-weapon and suffers for it, but at the same time... well, he makes plenty of people suffer too, bad people. Take a look, maybe you'll like it.
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Sitting down across from Anne, looked down at my breakfast and sighed. More not meat. Then after taking a bite, I looked up and greeted her. "Morning."
"Morning." She replied.
I knew what I wanted to ask, but… fuck, when did I ever beat around the bush? "So, you seem to find magic fascinating, how would you like to be able to do it?"
She took a bite of food and halfway through chewing it, what I said seemed to register. "Wait, what?" Then she clamped her hand over her mouth and started chewing faster, "But I'm a Tachnomancer! I can't do magic."
Smiling, I replied, "Normally that would be true, but I just successfully created an Artificial Magic Circuit. I know how to make more."
"I… What is… Yes, please?" She replied, voice filled with a giddy, but disorientated shock.
"You'll need to get a Bio-tattoo." I informed her and watched her smile turn into a frown.
"But… Essence loss?" She asked- more begged.
Leaning forward, I whispered, "When all's done, it will be like you never lost any Essence."
She breathed in sharply, eyeing me for a long moment before nodding. "Then… will that work on other 'ware?"
Ehg, well… "For you, I guess I can make an exception?"
Anne started shoveling her food down, but in between bites she said, "Then let's get going!"
It wasn't long before we arrived at the very clinic I got my own 'ware at. And then money and time? Well, it took a couple of days for the Bioware Anne wanted to get grown. Sure, Bio-tattoos could just be gotten, but some of the things she wanted had to be culture-grown specifically for her. Specifically, the cerebellum and cerebral boosters, boosted reflexes, and sleep regulator. She also got reinforced bones and the same package I got. Toxin extractor and Tracheal Filter. I honestly didn't realize how much money she had… and by the end of the week, she was back at the Watchtower.
With Anne laid out on her bed, and me in a chair next to her, I spoke. "Ok, Anne. This might feel weird, but once I'm done, I can start healing you up."
"Good." She complained, "And where is Inaroú? I could use the fluff."
That… was a very good question. Where had that fox gotten off to? No, that was something to worry about later. So I pushed it from my mind and took Anne's hand. "Ok… let's see."
I pulsed a healing spell through her, making sure everything was seated and bonding properly and wouldn't be rejected, then I started using my Runes to fill in her 'ware… and it worked well enough, but a portion of them were collecting at… oh?
Ignoring that for the time being, I turned my focus on the massive tattoo on her back. It was a circuit-like rendition of a magic circle. Gibberish, and not actually functional, but aesthetically pleasing. Turning it into a set of magic circuits was the work of a few minutes and then… finally I turned to the gathering of Runes in her. And of course, I was right. It was the same framework I had sitting inside of me. Well, not the same, same, but in the same vein. After a moment of thought, I finished it up and pulled back.
I also learned more about Artificial Circuits. Of the hundred possible circuit lines in the tattoo, I could only build fifty. Something deep within me told me that if I tried to make any more, I would cause her soul to collapse on itself. That any soul would collapse on itself. But that raised the question about family crests… which I couldn't look into, at all, until I found my way to- back to Gaia. A Gaia at any rate.
"And done," I told Anne, "How do you feel?"
"I… don't know? It's weird." She told me, "I felt the essence returning, and I can feel this… this… thing? Yeah, this presence in the back of my head. Just waiting for… something?"
"Good," I replied with a silent sigh. "Don't mess with it for now. Take the rest of the day and relax, I can heal the flesh, but I can't heal the soul. Give things time to set properly."
With a sigh, she agreed, and the next day I sat down with her to teach her some basics. How to access her new circuits, the importance of being able to cycle Prana, and the differences between Prana and Od. We didn't get further beyond that than the basics of structural analysis and reinforcement. And she was not ready for self-reinforcement.
Of course, we were interrupted by a job. So I had to settle for giving her a copy of my library of educational literature.
Looking at the hologram projected by my commlink, I held back a sigh, it was Sid. A battered and harried-looking Sid, but he was smiling. "Heya Chummer; really wish I had gotten to you guys before Lothan. I heard that the job was all kinds of bad. Bug Spirits, Radiation Spirits, and a Wendigo? You guys are some of the best, but that sounds like it was stretching it."
Rolling my eyes at him, I asked, "You look a little tenderized there, Sid."
With a snort, he shrugged, "With you cooling down from a grinder of a job, I had to hire some second stringers. They were… less than impressive, but they got the job done. Anyways, I got a hot one for ya! Sarah Silverleaf is looking for a team to pull a job of some kind."
Hmm? Ah, right the Toxic Shaman job. Wonderful. "Schedule on this one's a little tight, and you won't be the only ones up for the job. If you're interested, head to the address I'm sending along to you sometime within the next four hours. And try to be on your best behavior. I talked you guys up to her pretty big."
Rolling my eyes again, I commented, "We've worked for her. Ended with bagging a Toxic Shaman for that bounty."
"No Drek?" He breathed out, "That's been a pretty big talking point in the Shadowlands. Lots of impressed, or jealous, people."
"Huh, well, that's something." I muttered, "See you Sid."
"Yeah." He hung up but not before I heard him starting to yell at someone.
"Should I remain here, or come along?" Sona asked, and I could hear a kind of tension in her voice I couldn't place…
"Eh, your choice Sona." I told her as I started sending out messages. "I can't stay here forever, probably not even till the end of the year."
There was a strange digital buzz over the speaker of my commlink then she asked, "What do you mean?"
With a sigh, I replied, "With the Wendigo, I overextended. Reached for something the world isn't ready for yet. Now the world is trying to force me out to regain equilibrium. If I stay… I don't know what will happen. But I bet it wouldn't be good."
"But, what do you mean? How can the world- where would you even go?" She asked, voice dulling out as she seemed to- I don't know? Become numb?
"Well, elsewhere? Another world." I replied, debating on how much to tell… fuck. "I have a special kind of magic called the Kaleidoscope. It lets me travel- travel between worlds."
"This world has been a goldmine of technology and even magic theory," I continued, not really bothering to hide anything from her. The others? Yeah… but Sona? She was with me more often than not. "And for helping me get all that knowledge I truly am thankful."
Then… then Sona surprised me, but in hindsight, maybe I should have expected it. "Can I go with you?"
Pursing my lips, I paused, was there a reason I couldn't? A person would be harder, I would need to shield them from the Gulf, but Sona? She could just wait in a Commlink… right?
No, I would still need to shield her. So, I guess it was a good thing I had time before I had to leave. Now, if only I could write a strongly worded letter to this world's manager.
Ha! Worldwalking Karen! Hahahaha!
No.
Please no.
Honestly, the only thing I really regret about using my Authority, was the fact I could feel the nebulous Authority settling into a shape. Magic. Poetic? Maybe. Broad? Yeah. But I couldn't even begin to guess at the shortcomings.
No, no that isn't true. Well, it was, but no. I regretted using my Authority. I regretted leaning on it in an act of pride, of ego. I could have pushed harder, I could have- have… leaned on the magic I had learned on Toril. It would have been different enough that whatever that Wendigo had been using to nullify my Δόρατα wouldn't have worked. Or I could have let things drag on and fought with my ξίφος. The spell had been working.
I had, had options. So, pride. It was something I was going to have to watch out for.
"I mean, sure, but I'll need to work on some form of… shielding. Something to keep you from being driven mad." I replied, "Or changed."
"Oh… let me think about it?" She hesitantly asked, and I realized there was emotion in her voice again. She wasn't some neutral toned- well, she seemed more of a person now, more emotions leaking through every week. Good on her.
"Of course." I agreed, and I set about the routine of prepping for a job and soon found myself in the back of the truck. We were off to the Purple Pig. And what a place it was! Real wooden sign over the door of the battered and scarred building, like an actual tavern, but the smell of real meat… oh, the smell of real meat.
It was only as we were getting out of the truck that I realized, Inaroú was missing. Where had that fox gotten off to? I was distracted from that, of course, as we walked into the restaurant and found we were in a coat room.
"Ah, we have a no-weapons policy. If you will hand them over, I can store them here for you." An attendant spoke up from a small counter by a wall of locker boxes.
Pursing my lips, I pulled out my deputy and handed it over, and in return was given a receipt for it… huh, ok. And so we all went through the motions and entered the restaurant proper.
Another attendant greeted us with a smile, "Party of five? Do you have a reservation?"
"Yes," I agreed. "Under Aeaea."
"Ah, yes, right this way please." She agreed with a smile and we were soon in a booth.
Looking around I found several semi-familiar faces, other runners. It looked like Silverleaf was being picky, while also pressed for time. Corpos, go figure.
"Hoi, Mack." An Orc called from a nearby table. "That the mage ys been runnin' with?" Mack just snorted at the Orc who was getting looks of murder from his companions. "Is it true you managed to capture a Tox Sham?"
Sighing, I looked at the message Sid just sent me. <Sarah Silverleaf's busy with another team, so it'll be a bit until she sends for you. You should probably snag an appetizer but stay on your toes. I know you lot are professional, but I can't vouch for the others.>
Then I waved down a waitress to put in orders. "What's your point kid?"
The speed at which the restaurant went quiet was amusing, and it remained quiet as I ordered several appetizers and drinks for everyone. Only after the waitress had moved on did the Orc scoff at me, and I mean, he was middle aged so…
"Frak you, I'm Thirty-Eight." He proudly stated, "You're what, seventeen?"
With a sigh, I stood up and turned to look at him, reaching out so that the tiny drone that had been trying to spy on us could land in my hand. "I don't appreciate you kids spying on us. Come get your toy, or I'm keeping it. As for age, I'm Ninety tomorrow."
The reactions of shock were many and varied, my crew looked at me with wide, surprised eyes, even Mack. The varying runners muttering among themselves, and the staff and other patrons doing their best to pretend nothing was happening.
As I sat down and moved to put the drone in my bag, a man got up and came over to us. He was chagrined, and quietly asked, "Can I have my drone back, please?"
Snorting, I handed it over and he rushed back to his table, who were all not happy, but very amused. Then the lizard showed up.
"Hoi mates," Simon Andrews was… taller than I expected, six feet without the frill. As he sat down, on a chair pulled over from another table, he beat a tattoo with his hands on the table. "Got a bit of ah job for you all, if you're interested?"
"Well, it worked out pretty well last time." I commented, "What do you think Mack?"
He gave me a questioning look but replied, "I don't see why not. We can at least hear you out, see if it's for us."
"Wiz." The lizard breathed out, "So, I don't know if you'll be picked, but if you are. I'm offering three Ks for records of what you see. I'm also offering another three ks for copies of any data found. You'll get an additional bonus if you bring me any working prototypes or working copies or what have you's."
Raising his hands, he continued, "It's not betraying your employer; you get to undertake her job and complete it all the same, without Ms. Silverleaf losing a shred of data. All I ask is that you record everything and make backups of any data you find. It's what you'd be doing anyway, only providing information to two employers instead of just one and drawing a second payout. No need to rush to a decision, just something to think about. Here's a comm-code if you decide to take me up on the offer."
Snorting, I accepted the code. "Sure thing Andy. Try and stay out of trouble."
"Eh," He replied with a cavalier shrug, as he stood then he paused, half out of his chair, "Oh, one last thing. The big guy isn't going to make a fuss about you or your ghost friend, but tell her to stay out of our database from now on. It would be a pain if we had to send a team to… collect Krupp property."
Shaking my head, I replied, "Tell the L that if he has a problem with me, he can come and talk to me about it. I'm not hiding."
He snorted, "Sure, that should be worth a laugh if nothing else."
Finally, food arrived and we picked through it, making small talk. But eventually, all good things end, or so they claim. Ha. Anyways, a group of women left the backroom, and Skittle snorted, "The Silver Vixens everyone."
Looking at her, then over at the group, I snorted. "Pretentious of them. Bothering to name themselves, what are they vid stars or something?"
"Matrix actually, and who even watches vids? Those are ancient." Ed muttered…
"Huh, tell me they at least have a good remake of Star Wars… and the Matrix. That was a good one." I asked, and he shrugged.
"Star Wars, but the latest one cut out so much… It's drek." He replied, "What's the Matrix?"
Mack snorted in amusement, "I'll get you a good copy, but it doesn't compare to the vid version. Get you that one too."
"Excuse me." A waiter asked as he walked up. "Madam Silverleaf will see you now."
Killing my sprite-alike, we stood and made our way to the backroom. It was far fancier than the main room. Also, it was a single dining room set up.
Seeing Silverleaf browsing a wine collection I smiled and proclaimed, "Sarah, it's been a while. You never write, you never call! I do hope that collecting that bounty didn't cause you too many problems."
Looking up at us, her eyes narrowed and she singled me out. "Vaela Aeaea. Of course, Sid chose you. I suppose I should actually thank you. It opened up many doors for me. Don't do it again."
Shaking my head, I made my way to the table and sat down. "So, who are Wendi and Maril? An impressive set of Trolls. Company minders?"
Ignoring me, she spoke, addressing everyone. "Welcome, and thank you for coming. You've all worked for me before, and you did an impressive job. Better than my boss expected. I have recently come into some information about a rather unusual piece of unclaimed property, and I would like it investigated before considering it as an acquisition. Time is limited, however, as a second potential buyer is closing in as we speak. I need to know how intact this facility is and if there are any incentives that might be included so that we can act before this rival moves to seal the deal."
Leaning forward she continued. "I can't give out specifics until you've earned yourself the job. As you likely know, yours is but one of seven teams I'm meeting with. Competition is such a wonderful motivator and brings out the best in people, don't you think? What I can tell you, however, is that I need a team who can handle a job under rather unusual circumstances, can be discreet, and can do this job within the next twenty-four hours. Now, let's get to the interview, shall we?"
Smiling, I commented, "I believe our past job speaks for our competence if nothing else. But yes, let's get this going."
Giving me a pout, she asked, "Then let's start with you, little enigma. Where are you from?"
Giving her a light laugh, I replied, "Here and there, but I'll give you something. I'm not from this earth."
Pausing, she leaned back for a moment, eyes wide. "Well now, that would explain a few things… Alright, what's the most difficult challenge you've overcome?"
Opening my mouth, I closed it with a snap and gave that some thought. "I want to say my ma- teacher, or that… thing- But let's go with the Wendigo from that recent scuffle we had, you'll at least have a frame of reference for that. I actually had to reach deep into my bag of tricks."
"Oh?" She asked, obviously interested.
"I put more… weight behind my normal spell, an anti-personnel attack." I replied with a shrug, "Of course, that weight turned it into a siege spell. Or artillery strike if you prefer."
"Well, that is rather enlightening." She mumbled, "Describe the perfect date night.
I gave her a flat look before sighing. "A night in, with good food where we can cuddle and enjoy each other's company."
Smiling, she commented, "A romantic, quaint."
Turning to Mack she started to work her way around the table, asking questions. I zoned it out, either we would be chosen or we wouldn't.
Eventually, Silverleaf sighed and spoke. "Alright, stick around. I'll be honest, you're the best choice so far. But don't let that go to your heads."
Returning to our table, I leaned back and sighed, "Well, that was something. I mean, Gibber tells me she's supposed to be an incorrigible flirt."
"Lothan told me much the same." Mack agreed. "What do you think?"
Watching the last team leaving the back room, not even five minutes after entering, I snorted. "You tell me."
And I stood, meeting the waiter halfway to us. "Ah, um?"
"She wants to see us again?" I stated more than asked.
"Yes." He agreed and I could hear the grumbling of the other groups.
When returning to the backroom, Silverleaf complained, "Well, at least one of us knew this was coming. So, I'll cut to the chase now that you have the job. There is an abandoned experimental aquacology facility several kilometers out in Lake Michigan, resting about eighty meters below the surface. It was previously owned by Yamatetsu. As best we can determine, most data concerning it was lost in the last Crash, and Evo doesn't know much about the place. Not all info was lost, however, and in the last twenty-four hours, a number of rumors and minimal data about the location have surfaced. There are a number of other parties interested in the facility and any secrets it may hold, so it's a race to beat them to it."
Letting out a heavy sigh, I motioned for her to continue.
"I need you to enter the facility, recover the central data core and any other interesting-looking bits of data or research projects you can find, and return them here. We have no interest in the facility itself and do not care what condition you leave it in, only that there is no data left for any other interested parties to find. My intel says that at least one other interested party will reach the facility by tomorrow evening at the latest. You have a maximum of twenty-four hours before the competition down there heats up, so I want this job done before then. Your deadline is 10 p.m. tomorrow." She continued, explaining the job. "I realize that you're probably not dedicated or trained divers, but we're hoping that the facility isn't flooded. If it is, whatever secrets it may have held will be worthless by this point. It is deep enough that simple recreational diving gear will not be enough, but not so deep that you should need high-pressure, deep-sea gear. Likely, a submarine will be needed to avoid decompression issues that would arise from diving that deep. If you don't have a sub available to you, we can recommend a specialist in the area who can provide you with one. He will also be able to captain the vessel if none of you are capable."
Pursuing my lips, I wondered. "So, this specialist wouldn't happen to be named Goober would they?"
"You're acquainted?" She asked, a little surprised.
"Yeah, he's done some work on our truck." I replied, "We'll call him."
"Very good," She congratulated, "I'll ensure you have a line of credit of three thousand Nuyen for rentals or purchase of gear and a submarine."
Two hours later, we pulled up to find Goober in front of a warehouse with a heavy van. Goober, that dwarf, he favored work clothes, coveralls with an arm torn off to reveal his chrome arm, goggle cybereyes, and of course a ball cap with the name of his shop on it.
"Hoi!" He greeted, waving. "I got everything you should need. Figured you'd want to own, not rent?"
"Yeah," Ed agreed, "Though I sure don't know how to drive a sub."
He waved him off, "It's covered."
"You got kits then? Good." I cheered as I made my way over. "Remember people, Frangible rounds only."
"Yeah, yeah," Al complained.
Sorting out my things, I pulled out one of the… catsuits I had custom-ordered. Look, they fulfilled the purpose best. One was pure anti-radiation, and I had a mask to go with it. While this one and three others still being put together, were more all-around gear. I was planning to wear pants and my boots over it with my jacket… but well. With the complex materials they were made from, they were a good replacement for a wetsuit.
Stuffing everything else in my bag- including my gun- then putting in some contacts, I rejoined the others… or well, walked back over to Goober as the others were still changing.
"Well, that's one way to replace a wetsuit." He commented, eyeing me up and down. "Doesn't leave much to the imagination."
"Like a wetsuit would do that either." I challenged, and he just shrugged. "Check my gear?"
"Yeah, yeah." He replied as I kneeled down. "You gonna want a speargun?"
"No." I replied, "I have magic, and it will do just fine. Is my commlink stored right?"
"Hmm?" He muttered, "Oh, yeah."
"Well, shit," Ed muttered as he came over, followed by Al, then Mack, and finally a fidgety and embarrassed Skittle.
Ed didn't cut an impressive figure in his wetsuit, being not quite in shape, while Al was better off… and Mack was a slab of muscle and beef. On the other end of the spectrum, Skittle was willow thin, and tall with a tiny bust.
And me you ask? I was only of a moderate height, but I was lithe with a bust that was frustratingly still growing. I was happy with B cups, thank you!
Pulling my hair into a bun, I pinned it up and pulled the hood over my head, leaving my face in shadows. And for the record, this was a shoulder mantle and hood, no cape. "Well, we almost look like a team of Shadowrunners," I snarked, "Where's the sub, Goober? Time's ticking."
"Right." He agreed, locking up the van as everyone checked each other's gear. "This way."
Leading us to the nearby warehouse he opened it to reveal… a large object hanging just above the water, completely covered by a tarp.
"This here is my pride and joy. I just got a hold of her a few months ago, salvaged from down in the Bogota area. She got sunk at the docks there during that big dust-up a couple of years ago, but I've been working on getting her patched up nice and good. This will be a great chance to test her out finally!" With that, he pulls the tarp off and reveals a beat-up minisub, about seven or eight meters long, a used and barely-patched-up Vulkan Delphin RQ7. There were obvious patches in numerous places, including a panel about two meters by one meter that looks like it was simply welded onto the side.
"Well, Mr. Pilot, if you're comfortable with our ride, I don't see why we shouldn't be," I replied. "Are we ready to go?"
"Yeah, just a few last-minute things." He agreed.
Eventually, we all piled in and Goober started rattling off, "Buckle up, kids!"
"Please remember to keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times, holler if you spot Nessie or one of her cousins closing in on us, and for ghosts' sake, no one and that means you back there, nobody opens the screen door. Got it?" And oddly, he had installed a screen door against a wall…
Moving up, I took a seat near the front and otherwise stayed unobtrusive. What I sensed moving around in the black, brackish water though… better to avoid it, all of it. But eventually, Goober declared, "It should be just up ahead."
In the distance, large shapes start to take form on the lake bed. The damage was… pretty bad.
"Ah, I've found a moon pool, should I dock? Or do you want to swim across?" Goober asked as he played with instruments.
Looking at the others, I shook my head, "Go ahead and dock. I'm sure you want to take a look over the sub while we're on our walkabout."
"Hmm, not a bad idea!" He agreed, and soon enough we were surfacing inside the upper part of the structure.
Before we left the sub, I turned to Mack and asked, "Wanna take a look in the astral? Just a quick once over?"
"Yeah, sure." He grumbled and sat down before going limp. For a few minutes, nothing, then he opened his eyes with a shake of his head. "They had a barrier around the production facility. Whoever they are. And there's a water spirit patrolling out there."
Ed, next to the airlock, looked over at us, then at Goober, "Hey, have we checked if the air is breathable?"
"Huh?" Goober asked, "Oh! That's a good idea. Let me… just… yeah, it's good."
Leaving the sub, it was clear this place was in bad shape, from outside. On the inside, I had to wonder how this place was still in one piece. Because fuck was it bad. Everything was trashed, or salvaged, or… it was bad. Then you had the signs! All in Moon-Moon runes. Something I couldn't just read!
"Sona, can you use an AR overlay for translation?" I asked as we moved around.
"One moment… and there you go." She replied and… everything was overlaid with text I could read.
Air recycling? That sounded promising. Heading over to that room, I found a machine that… probably did the air recycling at some point in the past. Now it looked useless; what with power being an issue. The small clay pots though…
Kneeling, I examined the plants growing in the pots. Odd little things, I picked up three of them and made my way back to the sub. Placing them inside. Then I headed off to find the others.
And what I found was… well, Skittle talking with a… something? Well, more or less a human-looking girl of Japanese descent. Skittle was working on a device of some kind, taking her time to explain things and ask questions… in Moon-Moon, I mean Japanese.
"So… what did I miss?" I asked as I walked up. The girl turned to look at me and smiled.
"こんにちは?" She chirped… and I knew this one!
Replying with my own, "Kon'nichiwa," Had her smile turn incandescent. And I couldn't even hope to understand what she rapid-fire said after that. "Sorry, I don't know much Japanese."
I didn't even know how I knew that one word! Frustrating. No, I knew… it was the same way I knew so many things now. Still frustrating, but also useful.
She slumped a bit before straightening up. "Ok. Is ok."
"So, what's going on?" I asked as I settled in to watch Skittle work and kept finding my eyes trailing down to her butt; she swayed it back and forth as she worked.
"Skittle is fixing the generator so the girl, Otoko, can charge her gadgets on it." Al replied, "Meanwhile, she's been asking questions and it seems we need to get into the bigger facility if we want the memory core."
"Balls?" I asked.
"Maybe not?" He replied with a shrug. "I only understand a bit of Japanese, but it seems she likes us."
Maybe a half hour later, Otoko took the blue-water generator and fiddled with it before using it to start charging a battery and smiled in joy as it worked.
"よし、龍神に連れて行ってあげる." She informed us before leading us to the elevator shaft which I remembered being damaged and… oh.
With a sigh, I pulled on my breaking mask and got ready for a harrowing dive. No one, not even- no, especially not Mack looked happy about it. In fact, he was unhappy enough to summon a weak spirit to help us all make it through the shaft. Smart.
Very smart, working our way down we passed a few pieces of bent jagged metal, and the walls were encrusted with barnacles that looked vaguely like a cheese grater. They would probably produce a similar result if you rubbed up against them.
When we finally made it out, we were assaulted by the smell of rotting fish and mildew. A truly nauseating mix. But our journey was hardly at an end, so we continued following Otoko as she led us along a hall and into a massive room with a walkway running the perimeter of the room, and a bunch of small open rooms along the edges. In the center was… a garden, more or less. Dirt, plants, and a few earth spirits to keep things good. Huh, not bad.
As we entered the room, the algae on the walls started to glow. In response to what though? The glow traveled with us, and I could see that in the side rooms 'people' like Otoko were gathered, watching us.
The walk to the far side of the module wasn't long, as things go, but a minute or so to go from one end of the room to the other was… a thing.
At the far end was a man- no, an old man, leaning on a staff for support while he talked with a small earth spirit. As we grew closer, he waved the spirit back to the field, and looked at us, smiling. "私の謙虚な住居に何があなたをもたらしますか?"
And so… Skittle proved her superiority by speaking a useful language! I mean, I could speak with dragons… or fey… elves… greek… yeah, I wasn't salty, not at all. After all, we were in freshwater!
The conversation was animated, and the old man seemed to be pleased with what he was hearing… Go Skittle. Didn't know you were such a good talker. I guess I wouldn't need my translation spell.
Eventually, the old man led us to a small room on one side of the module. Knocking on the door, because this room actually had one, the man spoke in more Moon-Moon. "浦島博士? お見舞いのお客様もいらっしゃいます." After a moment he nodded, opened the door, and stepped aside to let us through.
From inside the room came a voice, not speaking Moon-Moon. "Come in; I have been waiting for you."
As we entered, I noticed that, unlike the rest of the facility, this room was well-kept, almost obsessively so. Everything in its proper place. The speaker, an old Japanese man in well-cared-for, if tattered clothes, was sitting at a desk facing the door. A small glowing ball on a stand beside him.
"A gift," he stated, "From Ryujin." Who? "The lone light in a lifetime of darkness. Fitting, I suppose. I was there when he was created, a guide for a life unlike any his kin had experienced before. In return, he took me in when the project was terminated, to expose me to a world no human had ever known. A light for a light, hmm? But you have traveled a great way and I doubt you're here for the rambling of an old man. What can I do for you?"
"Huh," I murmured before shaking my head and explaining, "I'm sure you've guessed. The corporations are turning their gaze back to Chicago, someone dug up records of this place and word got out. We were sent to collect samples of anything of interest and any surviving research data."
"Hmm." He mumbled, then nodded. "I hope you do not plan to take 'samples' of the Merrow?"
Merrow? The people out there? "No. People aren't samples."
"Hmm," He agreed, "I am old and in poor health. Help me return to the surface… and perhaps regain my old job, and I will give you the memory core."
"If it's the Helm Memory Core, I'll destroy all the Mega-Corps of the world for you." I snarked and got so many confused looks, except from the good Doctor.
He gave a raspy chuckle. "If only we were that fortunate."
Nodding, I continued, "More realistically, sure. We have no reason not to. But I can't believe anyone got that."
"Heh," He muttered, "Battletech may have been a dying niche in my day, but it was one we all loved. It pains me to think that it may be forgotten now."
"I think I'll blame the Crashes for that. Do you need to collect anything?" I asked.
Nodding, he stood and made his way to a blank part of the wall and… opened a hidden compartment. From inside he pulled out a case I assumed was the memory core. "No, this is all."
Nodding, I took it from him and put it in my bag before closing up the plastic one I had over it. "Then I guess we should be on our way."
Ed and Al were muttering to each other the whole time and Skittle seemed to be… Oh, hmm… no, she couldn't be… fuck it.
Pulling Skittle into a one-armed hug as we made our way to the shaft of doom, I told her. "You did good. I'm impressed."
"I… Thank you." She mumbled but was smiling. And I feel like an idiot for not realizing that a bit of recognition can go a long way, and she seemed so… down on herself most days.
"No, really, you did good." I reassured, "While we're on our way to the surface, think you can make a couple of copies of the memory core?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem, but what are we going to put them on?" She asked.
Still smiling, I replied, "I have a few memory cores set aside for such things."
"Ok then, not a problem." She agreed with a smile, but Urashima frowned at me.
"Why do you need copies?" He asked with a furrowed brow.
"Well," I replied, "I want one for myself, but the other is for the second Johnson."
Returning to the sub, and making our way back to the surface wasn't a trial in the least, but Goober was swearing as we pulled into his dock. "Someone's waiting right outside."
"Fucking typical." I complained, "You got cameras?"
"Yeah, let me just… Here." He said bringing up the feed on an AR panel…
"Well, it's Silverleaf, so we should be fine…" I grumbled.
Unloading, I placed two of the plants and the extra memory cores into my bag and smiled as Urashima made sounds of interest. Then we headed out.
"Really Sarah?" I asked as I opened the door, "Just couldn't wait to see me again?"
Giving me a delicate snort, she replied, "Well, I do find competence attractive. But we'd never work out."
Snorting in return, I made my way over to her and offered the Memory Core, and the jar with a plant in it.
"Research and sample. But wait! There's more." I taunted, "We happen to have a Dr. Urashima with us, who is looking for a new job… one with good health care. He's a bit weathered."
Looking over at the doctor, she smiled, "Well, that is a surprise. If the good doctor is interested Renraku would be more than willing to hire him on and even see to his good health."
"I suppose it is better than a gutter." He agreed, "I would like to look over the contract, but I provisionally agree."
"Very good," Sarah replied with a wide smile. Then turning back to me, she continued, "Well, you have proven your worth, yet again. And this time without causing me any grief. Here is your pay and a little something extra."
Smiling, I let her pack everyone up and be on their way before heading over to the truck and pulling on pants and boots. Once we were all in the truck and rolling away with a goodbye to Goober, and a bit of a tip. I called the lizard.
"You're a Lizard 'Arry." I greeted and found Simon giving me a taken aback look.
"Well, I have never been meme'd at with Harry Potter before." He commented, "I take it everything went well?"
"Well enough." I agreed, "We didn't even have to fight! I mean… What's that term? Wiz. Wiz man, wiz."
He chuckled, "Well, then I guess you can come meet me at the Buried Treasure."
"Sounds like a plan." I agreed.
The handoff there didn't take too long, and by noon we were back at the Watchtower. Not that things ended there. Everyone went their separate ways, but I had a new problem.
Looking over the young elven girl sitting by the door, petting Inaroú. I couldn't help but frown. She was younger than Annette- maybe fourteen- with long golden hair, and green eyes, dressed in a baggy sweater and long skirt.
"So, that's where you've been, you fluffball?" I asked as I walked up to the door… "Come on, girl." She gave a bit of an eep, but with a rough swallow followed me in and up to my room.
"Ok, fox. What's the deal?" I asked as I took a seat and indicated for the girl to do the same.
"Kekeke," He laughed and made me want to punch him, "I found someone to mentor!"
Sighing, I asked, "And you're here because you want me to help her?"
"Yup!" The stupid fox yipped.
With a sigh, I held out my hand. "Come here, let me get a look at you."
"Ah, um…" She fretted before scooting over and taking my hand.
Running Δομική ανάλυση, I frowned. He was obviously… Well, he was very feminine and presented himself as a she. So… "Are you transitioning? Or do you simply wish to present yourself like this?"
"Eep!" She let out as she snatched her hand away from me and scooted back. "I- um, t-this is just who I want to be. Is that so wrong?"
Giving her a soft smile, I shook my head, "Not at all. If you aren't comfortable with yourself, then make yourself who and what you are comfortable with."
Sniffing, tears starting to form, she asked… begged, "Then why did they- why… My own parents- and they-" And she broke down crying.
Slipping over to her, I pulled her into a hug. "It's ok, shhh. It's ok, shhh."
And just carried on like that for a while, frowning at the fox, who seemed to be unbelievably smug about something.
Eventually, she calmed down and I was able to ask her name.
"Ah… Jeffry Belmus…" She replied, "But I prefer Jynx."
Turning her around, I pulled her up onto my lap, and wrapped my arms around her. "Well, Jynx, I'm Vaela, and Inaroú here thinks you would be a good fit for what I do. But do you know what I do?"
"Something to do with magic?" She asked, curious and a little apprehensive.
"Do you know what a Shadowrunner is?" I asked and when she replied in the negative I explained. "We do… extra-legal work. Or completely legal sometimes. But there's usually fighting and killing involved."
"Oh…" She muttered, probably still a little too young to fully understand this… and I was going to feel like such a bitch for what I was going to lead her into. But if I was a bitch, Inaroú was- well, words failed me.
"Now, I could teach you a bit. Help you get comfortable with that." I explained, "But in the end, it's up to you to accept what we do and find your place in it."
She looked a little green around the gills, so to speak, but whispered, "I'll do my best."
Setting Jynx up with a room wasn't difficult, even if I had to help her get clothes… and other things. My first order of business was getting Jynx set up and learning. Anne was tapped for this. She was still working through the basics, but I had her start teaching Jynx as well.
Of course, I had to spend some time helping, answering questions or just teaching things they were having trouble with. But that was hardly a hardship. When I wasn't doing that, I was working on a big project, a going away gift.
Mil-spec armor, enchanted to be stronger, to make the wearer stronger, and to self-repair, negating the greatest problem with the stuff. Of course, I didn't finish it in the month I had, even if I didn't have two people to teach, I wouldn't be able to. This was not simple enchanting, this was- this all was not Noble Phantasms. I wasn't even sure I could make something so grand. Not with what I had on hand for sure. But… hmm, Sidereal Phantasms? No, that would be too big headed for me to claim. Each set was a high-end Mystic Code, maybe, maybe a Proto-Phantasm? But more than likely not.
For that first week, it was all about prepwork, then I moved on to the actual work. But for Jynx, after that first week things got interesting. Without Magic Circuits, she was hobbled, sure she could use Magecraft, but Essence wasn't… optimal for it? Geared for it? hmm…
Essence was too diffused for it. Mack didn't have a problem because he was at most using Ενίσχυση and Δομική ανάλυση. Both were basic and efficient to begin with.
Anne and Jynx were… well, Anne was picking things up well enough. Magecraft had that logic foundation that clicked into the mind of someone who was so closely tied to computers. Jynx was struggling with it for a completely different reason, aside from her lack of circuits. She was fourteen and from a sheltered-ish background. Which led to… well, let's disregard that for a bit.
It was late, and Anne was off doing techie things when Jynx knocked on my door. "Um… do- do you have some time?"
Looking up from the engraving I was carefully making, I put my tools down and replied, "Sure."
At my invitation she entered, closing the door behind her and sitting on my bed, not that I had much of anywhere else to sit.
"So… um… I was just reading about healing Magecraft? Biomancy… you can make permanent changes to biology?" There was hope, a desperate twisting hope in her voice… it hurt to hear.
"Sure," I agreed, "I could permanently change your hair color, or with time and resources I could give someone animal ears."
Frowning off into the middle distance, muttering to myself for a moment before asking, "Or I could maybe make some magic circuits… If I… hmm."
"Oh, um…" She muttered, fidgeting, "You could?"
"I think so," I agreed, "I've been studying the creation of artificial circuits. And already have a method to turn bio-tattoos into circuits."
Blinking, I noticed as a kind of hope sparked into her eyes, and she whispered, "Then… um, could we try creating a circuit? And um… maybe give me fox ears? I… want to try it?"
Try it? Just what- no, I guess I could understand. Hmm… "Let's start with a single circuit for now. Then if it works… well, I can give you more… and I guess you can try fox ears."
"Yay!" She cried out and lunged forward, pulling me into a hug.
With a sigh, and a silent "Teenagers!" I pushed her off of me, and turned her around. "Ok, let me see your back for now."
How does one go about etching a channel into the soul? My proof of concept was easy, just a part of getting the Bioware tattoo was losing some essence. But doing it with Biomancy was… different. Hmm.
Slowly, I formed a single circuit along a portion of her spine and… it was just a bioluminescent tattoo. Hmm, if I wanted this to work… taking a finger, I channeled prana into it and slowly aligned it with the ether element. "This might hurt, don't move."
"Ah, um… ok?" I could hear fear and uncertainty in her voice, and honestly I didn't blame her. But as I slowly traced my finger over the tattoo, I did my best to reach past her normal defenses, and even further… and eventually I managed to touch upon her second element, her soul.
The feeling of touching a soul was… unlike anything I could describe. But I can tell you, without a doubt, I couldn't weaponize this… no, I couldn't weaponize it against a person. But a spirit? Maybe… maybe.
Pushing down on the soul, I etched out the circuit… and then slowly filled it with a trickle of Runes. It didn't take much, and I watched as a magic circuit formed, a metaphysical organ taking shape in ways I don't think anyone had ever seen before… And it worked! Oh, it wasn't amazing quality, but it was better than average. Actually, that's a good question! Where did Age of Gods circuits fall on the modern magus scale?
Seeing as it worked, I continued etching more circuits onto her back and into her soul. Fifty of them, and the lines when taken together were in the shape of a heart. Tacky? Maybe… but amusing.
"Done." I finally declared. "And it worked, I'll have to teach you how to access them. But it worked!"
Only then did I realize… Jynx was… not conscious. Sprawled out in front of me, basically folded over her legs. Oops?
Frowning, I got up and made a cup of protein slurry. With that in hand, I set about making the Fox ears she had wanted, removing the elfin ones because having two sets was just weird. And then… well, I reached in and worked away the pain chemicals in the brain, fixed a minor imbalance of chemicals caused by… some kind of hormone supplement? HRT? Something else?
Well, once that was done, I woke her up. "Jynx, wake up. It worked! It worked!"
"Nuh?" She grumbled as she sat up, looking around. "Wha- why does everything sound weird?"
Rolling my eyes, I reached up and scratched behind Jynx's new ears and…
"Nyyaaaah! S-s-st-op t-ha-t." She complained.
Rolling my eyes, I pulled back my hand, and watched as she instinctively tried to keep her head under my hand for a moment before catching herself. And blushing scarlet.
"You have fox ears now. I'll give you a tail too, if you want it. But I'm enforcing a three day adjustment period before I'm willing to turn you back." I declared with a smirk, then more seriously, "Whatever hormones you're taking are slowly causing a dangerous build up of stress related chemicals in your brain."
"O-oh…" She muttered under her breath. "Then… then… woul- could… would you help me?"
Er… I wasn't… I could… I guess? I wasn't a big time Biomancer. But I did know a thing or two… and… hmm… "Yes… and no." I finally decided on; "I can, and will help. But we're going to bring in an actual doctor to help with this. I can stitch flesh. I can purge toxins and dangerous buildups of chemicals… I can even make new limbs. Those are simple… but working on hormone regulation and altering the puberty cycle? Not so much."
"Ok." She agreed, just like that.
I… teenagers, ya know? What? I'm still technically a teenager? Well… fuck you! But seriously, I might be ninety, but I'm still a teen by elf standards. Elves just mature differently. Mental maturity comes along a lot sooner than physical maturity. Unless you live in a major elven settlement where you're sheltered. Feh!
Getting up, I returned to the kitchen, then came back with more slurry. "So, time to give you a tail."
"Ah!" She replied, eyes going wide. "Um… ok."
And so, things progressed. Or, I would like to say that. Instead after only another month shit hit the fan. I was jolted into awareness as Sona declared, "Vaela! There is a Gang fast approaching the Watchtower."
Blinking, I reached up and rubbed my eyes for a moment before sighing, and asking, "Are the Angels aware?"
"Yes, I was just telling Gretel." She replied, and… Fuck.
"Any clear images?" I asked, getting a bad feeling. "Who all's here?"
"Yes, they appear to be the Ancients, and they're carrying some heavy ordinance." She replied as a short feed appeared in my field of view… Fuck, was that an RPG? "Tasha is here right now, up in my room. Otherwise just the regulars. You, Anne, Jynx, as well as Gretel and her group."
Tasha was here? Why was she… no, not my business. Sona was allowed to have friends. Anyways… hmm… Ahp! That was them tripping my furthest out bound field.
Didn't anyone ever tell them? You never attack a Magus in their stronghold!
Gearing up, I headed downstairs to find everyone already there, or following right behind me. "Well, this is annoying, and I wanted to get some sleep."
My snarky complaint seemed to ease the tension a little bit, and with a sigh, I continued, "Stay frosty, but let me start this off. Gretel, get some rifles on the top floor… Jynx, stay with Tasha. Please."
She looked mutinous, but nodded. "Fine."
Meanwhile, two of the Angels turned around and started hustling upstairs. Looking around again, I nodded before strolling out the front door to meet the guests. Cane falling into my hand.
It was funny, these yahoos came rocketing onto the street leading to the Watchtower, just a block away, and I could tell by the way they were leveling their weapon. They didn't intend to talk. Really, that suited me just fine. After all, they were triggering the hostility bound field. They were marked. So, I breathed out, channeling a huge amount of my Prana into the pre-prepared spell matrix built into a closer Bounded Field. See, I had limits, at least for now. But a formation built and left to wait?
With a wave of my cane, a hundred magic circles appeared in the air, and from them? My Δόρατα Φωτός struck out, and this wasn't what I used in most combat situations. This was what I could do with five minutes to prepare the spell.
Needless to say, they fucked off pretty hard. The annoying part was that some of them survived. Turning to flee… and it would take an hour per circle for the bound field to recharge. Less with me feeding it sure, but still measured in minutes, too long. Overkill though? Maybe, but you don't fuck around with your homefield defense… and I've been here for the better part of a year, so…
Frowning, I wondered if I should have backed that with my Authority… but no, that would have cut the already dwindling time I had here shorter.
Heading back inside, I sighed in relief. "Well, that was easier than I expected. I would have thought they would have been better prepared when attacking a Magi's Stronghold."
Gretel just leaned out of the door for a moment before muttering something, then she sighed and spoke up. "That just isn't normal. That was enough firepower to level the clubhouse."
Shaking my head, I replied, "You say that, but this is Bug City. I would call this low end. Now, I'm going to try and get some more 'sleep'. Then, maybe try and figure out who those fucks were and why they were going to pay me a house call."
"Right." She grunted, "Right, the Ancients. Yeah, I'm just going to call Becky."
The Ancients? Well, that would be… I headed back to my room, thanking Sona for letting Anne and Jynx know everything was ok.
"Nuhph." I vocalized as I came out of Trance, still mildly groggy. Not a normal thing, but the night hadn't been normal… morning. Whatever. Flopping onto my side, I grabbed my commlink and grumbled. "What?"
I also eyed the time and… it was ten, in the morning. I mean, I guess this would count as ungodly hours for most runners? For me? It was inconvenient; then the Commcode registered. Lone Star? Fucking… "If this is about the Ancients being trashed near the wall, then come at me."
Then, yet again, things registered. The gruff face looking at me across the… matrix? Phone? Well, whatever, the comm, was that of Nick Ryder. Except… he looked like nine miles of hell. Horrifically bloodshot eyes, an actual beard… and shadows under his eyes that would eat you alive.
"Sorry to disturb your beauty sle- Wait, did you say Ancients?" There was the sound of things shuffling around, then he grunted. "W Cornelia Ave? That's… right, you live over there."
With a shake of his head, he refocused, "Look, I need to hire your team. I have an off-the-books job that should be right up your alley. Meet me at the Red Door bar off of Damen Avenue in two hours?"
I frowned at him, but sighed, "Sure."
"I'll see you there." He said in parting. That man needed sleep more than anything else!
"Sona?" I asked as I started stretching. Fuck but I felt like shit.
"Already on it." She replied, "Are you alright?"
"I… don't know." I admitted, "Everything is just so… comfortable here. Part of me wants to give in and settle down here. But I can feel the world churning, if I stay for much longer… something bad will happen. I… I'm going to have to leave after this job. I don't want to be responsible for a cataclysm. I'm getting… attached, and I can't say it's a bad thing. But it's making it harder for me to just move on. Maybe… Maybe this should be my last job."
"If remaining will cause a cataclysm, then we should leave." She replied with the certainty of… an AI? A Spirit? Well, whatever. But, I guess she also made her decision.
Shit… I also needed to start experimenting with making Oricalcum…
But as I joined Anne and Jynx downstairs, I got a message from Bert. <We just got on shift. Contact you when shift is over.>
"Balls." I muttered, "Ed and Al are going to be busy for most of the day… Sona let Mack know we're on foot unless he can get us a temp driver… actually."
Turning, I looked around before poking my head outside, "Gretel! Know anyone who has a vehicle that can accommodate the three of us and a troll? Our usual ride is busy."
"Not really!" She called back from down the street.
Fuck. Ok… yeah. "Looks like we're hoofing it to the- taxi, duh! Right!"
And so, we took a cab to the Red Door.
What a repugnant bar it was; the pungent odor of cheap tobacco and stale synthohol burning my nose. And that was even before we opened the cracked rust red door. Inside was somehow worse, and I'm not just talking about the fog of smoke so thick it was hard to see through. The bar was barely holding together. And there, sitting at the bar? Nick and Dr. Tate. an odd team up, but the CZ and all of that.
As we walked in, Nick looked up before waving us to follow him into a back room, Dr. Tate following along. So, this was bound to be an interesting job.
The backroom was just as impressive as the front, that is not at all. But as we all settled in, Nick spoke up, "Looks like you're missing two?"
Shrugging, I replied, "Somehow they still have a day job. Good for them, I guess. But balls for us. They should be around in a few hours, so what's up?"
"Right," He segued, "People have been going missing throughout the zone, and the brass don't seem to care. I- We want to hire your team to investigate the rash of missing persons and report your findings back to us. The offer is 6,000 Nuyen each for a little old-fashioned detective work. Let's face it—the streets are going to be more open to you asking questions then me and the boys. What do you say?"
Before I could reply, Dr. Tate spoke up in turn. "While you ponder that, let me sweeten the deal. As you all know, I run several clinics backed by Truman Technologies in the zone. One of my post-op recovery houses was recently the target of these random acts. It was hit about eight hours ago. If you can recover my patient, I can arrange for some of my stock to become available at a drastically discounted price. What say you to a little nip and tuck in the form of a single item, delta-grade ware, sold at standard ware prices and installed by me personally?"
Blinking, I turned to look at everyone, before turning back. "If you're including Ed and Al, sure. Though I'm less than interested. So, think I can instead schedule a high level consultation and… what's the term… operation I guess?"
"That is agreeable." Dr. Tate replied, and good. Saves me money… not that I need it. Feh, whatever.
Frowning, Nick still nodded in agreement before speaking up. "Now that that's settled, the most recent disappearance came from a multi-family unit located at the corner of West Diversey and North Milwaukee. The two families that reside there have not been seen for over twenty-four hours. The Baretsons and the Stanishs were scheduled to attend a community block watch shift Sunday morning; they never showed up. We don't have a lot of information on them; what we do have is here." And he held out a datachip.
With that said, Dr. Tate passed over an electronic badge, explaining, "The patient you are looking for is named Tom Cosek. He just recently came on staff and, as such, had not settled in yet. You can access my clinic facilities located at the corner of North Kimball and West Fullerton with this passkey."
Frowning, I went over the two options in my head… hmm, "Mack, take Skittle and check on the missing families, I'll take Jynx and check the Recovery Center. Without wheels we're going to need to split up… meet at the Angels clubhouse by five?"
He grunted, brow furrowing, "Yeah, ok." Then under his breath complained, "Going to need to see about getting a truck."
"Well then, gentlemen," I declared, "We're off and running. We'll be in touch."
As Jynx and I made our way to the recovery center, I sent a message off to Ed about what was going on. He simply sent me a reply of three hours, and 'see you at clubhouse'.
The recovery center was… well, what you would expect from the zone. A drab one story building with bricked over windows and a grimy exterior. And, as we approached, I could see two men standing guard out front. Based on the amount of armor and the Horizon logo upon their breasts I had them pinned as corporate security.
Then tensed up as we approached, and didn't loosen up at all when I waved, but the one on the right spoke up. "Dr. Tate said you would be along shortly." Wow, I could hear the tiredness in his voice… I guess that was going around today.
Pulling out the electronic badge, I handed it over and he did his job, looking it over before handing it back. "The scene is yours. Make sure to lock the door when you leave. Our orders ended when you arrived. No one has been in or out since thirty minutes after the facility went offline."
Hmm… "Alright."
Entering, I rolled my eyes at the room, or how dark it was, but Inaroú appeared out of seemingly nowhere, a little blue fire floating above his tail. "Back!"
He was standing in the middle of the waiting room. How? No, whatever. "Where have you been? Jynx here has been awfully worried about you."
"Here and there." He replied… and I gave up, even as Jynx picked him up and looked around, the fire starting to orbit her.
With a sigh, I headed into the building proper. "Let's get the power on and… see how much of a waste of time this is."
As soon as the power came on, Sona spoke up, "I am detecting the Node, it is currently silent, I would assume because it has no wireless access."
Right… "Ok, let's try the security room." So saying we made our way over to it and with a bit of effort opened it up. Once inside, it wasn't any effort at all to plug Sona in and let her do her thing. Then footage started playing.
A twelve-year-old boy and nine-year-old girl ran towards what I guess was the front doors in abject terror. The camera cut, changing to one in the waiting room/lobby showing the security guard buzzing them in and calling for a nurse? As they rushed to check the children, and I guess chase off whatever was scaring them, the children pulled grenades and set them off? Why would- oh, smoke.
As the smoke filled the air, all four people fell to the ground, the kids and the two adults. Hmm, ah, some kind of puppeteering? One minute later everything goes dead.
"I have found a few other things." Sona informed me? Us? As the screen cut to other bits, a still of Dr. Tate wheeling a man in his early twenties into the facility and set up in the first room on the right. And an external feed with just a bit of the front wheel of a bike in the frame. That rolled back until we watched it pull into frame, then a few moments later the two kids running onto frame.
"I fear Mr. Cosek may have been planning a double cross." Sona continued. "I have found his medical file and the 'ware he was getting implies covert operations."
"Wonderful." I muttered, "Just wonderful. Sona, can you hit any of the buildings on the block? See if you can find another external camera? Match things up?"
"I will try, but I do not think there are any." She replied and I disconnected her Commlink from the node.
Fucking… dead end? Maybe?
With a shake of my head, I led Jynx away, doing my best to explain things we could have done without Sona's help, and actually doing some of them, to figure out what happened. For example, Δομική ανάλυση to determine what the smoke was based on the residue left behind.
Not something she could do yet, but one day? Maybe. Hells, I could only do it a little. Really, Psychometry would be stupid useful here. Could I make a spell to replicate that mystery? Hmm, maybe if I could study the mystery a bit?
Anyways, as we arrived at the Desolation Angels Clubhouse, I found myself ushered in and to a back room where… there was a ganger tied to a chair. He was beat to shit, and maybe just got done with a round of torture… he was also an Ancient.
Becky was standing nearby, leaning on her staff and watching as one of her girls went about cleaning things up. "Good, you're here."
Frowning, I gave her a raised eyebrow. "What's up?"
"I heard about the attack," Of course she did, I mean if she didn't then there were problems! "And we managed to capture a few of these… well."
Looking back at the Ganger, I shifted my eyes to Jynx and debated how to handle this… but really this was a great opportunity for her to learn some useful skills. "What did you learn?"
"Nothing." The other Desolation Angel in the room grumbled.
Nodding, Becky motioned at her. "Exactly. Best I can figure is… well, take a look at him in the astral."
Er… "Can't? Well, not as easily as others. But I have my own way." Walking over, I reached out and used Δομική ανάλυση. And nearly wretched. There was… very little of his soul left, and it wasn't corrosion but mutilation of the highest order, because what was there was obviously being controlled by something.
Looking up, I said, "Get a bucket, would you?"
It was Becky's turn to raise an eyebrow, but her minion did as requested and then I had Jynx take a look. Once she was done losing her lunch, I started speaking. "As you can see, the soul was mutilated, the work is surprisingly efficient and well thought out, despite how brutal and cruel it is. Whoever did this didn't want people who thought for themselves, but instead wanted soldiers capable of taking complex orders. The control mechanism is more than likely some form of sympathetic resonance between the remains of the soul and a small piece kept by the controller."
And now it was Becky's turn to go green at the gills, even as Jynx nodded, but didn't look any better. "It is a horrific discipline that drastically cuts the life expectancy short. It also typically has a cost on the user, a bit of soul corrosion. But as you can see, the user wasn't human. You can tell based off of the-" And so I went on to teach Jynx some of the darker parts of the craft and more importantly how to heal it, and when it can't be healed.
Finally, Sona cut in. "The others have arrived."
"Ah, thank you Sona… right." With a shake of my head, I reached out and broke the control over the puppet, then took control myself. "Tell us what your goal was."
"Alter Boy ordered us to level the master's watchtower, kill everyone inside and capture the two Technomancers, Annette and Tasha." Was the immediate reply and I could feel the sickness using this mystery was generating, attempting to grab hold of my soul… wonderful.
"Where is your base?" I asked next, because I had to cut this short. Unfortunately, the moment he opened his mouth, nothing but blood came out. Fuck, I should have seen that. Fucking-
Dropping my control of the puppet, I walked over to the half filled bucket and calmly threw up into it. Then wiped my mouth, "Fuck… kill him. It's a mercy."
A moment later there was a single retort from a gun and… well, that was that.
"Looks like I'm going to be busy after this job…" I muttered, "Hey, Becky, can I perhaps get some help with what we're doing?"
She squinted at me, before nodding. "I suppose, what did you need?"
And so, I explained about what we were doing, and the dead end I had found, and my guess that Mack had found a dead end of his own. Then I told her about the bike tire that had shown up and… my theory.
By the time I joined the others, I had an idea of where to look, but well? "So, Mack? What did you find?"
He snorted. "A whole lot of dead ends. They were looking for someone named Melissa. But… Well, that's it. Well, the house did have a lot of nooks and crannies. Even a hidden room."
Shit. "Alright… I guess we go with the only lead we have. The recovery center was also a dead end. But Becky thinks the disappearances are linked to… well, a flower shop."
Al snorted, muttered, "I've heard weirder, today, on shift. Actually, one of the people we picked up was raving about how a group of gangers took their daughter. Here in the zone."
That… interesting. "Right, let's… just get on with this."
"Sure." Ed muttered, "But I think this job is just a bust."
He… might be right. Sigh.
The flower shop was… pretty old, neglected even. But the front door was unlocked, and the windows, oddly, weren't broken. The inside wasn't much better, even with the lights off, and I reached over and flipped the switch and…
"Look at the pretty colors." I muttered as I watched the kaleidoscope swirl around underneath the structure of everything. Oh! The floor was coming up to give me a hug!
Ow.
Forcing thoughts through my addled brain, I managed to open my circuits and cycle prana and… "Fuck, what was that."
Getting up, I turned to see the others pretending to not be smirking and suppressing laughter. Right, sure, whatever. Feh!
Anyways, looking around I couldn't help but sigh, even the display flowers were long dead, leaving only the pungent smell of decaying plant matter. With a shake of my head, I walked over to the cooler down on the west wall and started dismantling the barrier set up there. "Check the office, but I'm guessing what we're after is in here."
"Right." Al grunted, entering.
"Wait!" Skittle called out, even as he took a step in the direction of the office, "Tripwire!"
Freezing mid step, Al slowly backed up before looking down at his path. "Well, shit." Then he carefully stepped over the wire and set about disarming things. Turns out, it was hooked up to what was essentially super pepper spray. Set for wide dispersal. Sadly, the office had jack all in it, a few useful cables, and that was it.
The cooler on the other hand? Well, it was pretty dark, not that it bothered me, but I reached in, and flipped the light on… but this time I was already cycling Prana… and nothing. Well, ok then. "Cute."
Moving a table, I revealed the door hidden underneath. "So, what do you think this leads to? The sewers? Maybe a slaughterhouse? Oh! Some Cold War era government bunker?"
"That would be kind of cool." Skittle commented, "Like some spy trid!"
Reaching down, Mack pulled it open and… we were all hit with the nice fresh scent of decay. The small dark hole yawning up at us. "I don't think I'm fitting through that."
Eyeing Mack, I nodded. "Yeah, your fat ass would just get stuck."
And in reply, he snorted in amusement, even as Ed muttered, "Is this a bad time to say I have a fear of small dark holes?"
Rolling my eyes, I walked over to it and looked down. Not seeing any real problems, I started climbing down. "Well? Let's get this over with."
At the bottom of the ladder, I found a tunnel… clicking on my comm, I spoke over the channel. "Yeah, Mack? You're watching the entrance. Everyone else will be fine." Then I pulled out a flashlight and started looking around.
One direction was caved in, so we only had one way to go… "Huh, these look Prohibition era, or so I would guess."
"Cool." Skittle commented as she dropped off the ladder next to me. Next was Jynx, then Al, and finally?
A reluctant Ed. "This is such a bad idea."
Ignoring the slick floor, covered with a number of unpleasant liquids, I led everyone along for a few meters before we took a turn and… "Well, that's unpleasant."
Both Skittle and Jynx looked sick, just seeing the curtain of intestines strung across the entrance. Though, unsurprisingly? Ed and Al didn't seem phased at all. EMTs everyone! They see shit!
Handing the flashlight to Skittle, I willed a ξίφος into my hand and cut the curtain near the ceiling. Then letting the sword of light dissipate, I pulled out several light sticks, cracked them and threw them into the room, revealing a room strewn with body parts and half gnawed-upon flesh and even bone. On the wall are pictures of the missing children with bloody lines drawn through them. And I could feel the roiling energy of death permeating this place.
Flicking my eyes around, not daring to enter yet, I frowned. "This is a trap. I just know it… the question is… ah!"
Striding out into the room, I formed my ξίφος and struck out as three vampires tried to ambush me from mist form. A ceiling ambush, smart, well thought out really… but also predictable with the room around us.
This didn't mean things were easy.
I had a moment to lash out, causing one to back off, and giving me an opening to move off to the side. Giving the others a chance to shoot at the things… and while bullets flew down range so to speak, the vampires were… fast.
I quickly found myself pushing my limits, and quickly using Ενίσχυση on myself even as one of the vampires moved off to attack the others. Probably going for Jynx!
Not being able to block the swords of the vampires with my blade of energy was frustrating, and I didn't dare use my main spell here… Ah!
Forcing the mystery to take shape in my mind, I called out, "Aστέρια!"
The small pebble of energy that formed shot out and slammed into one of the vampires and… that was it. Just the leverage I needed to lash out, taking the sword arm of the other attacker. And from there, it was all a matter of momentum and dismemberment.
The other vampire was just as dead, having been filled with many kinds of holes. So… "Fuck?"
"Yeah!" Ed complained, "I was right! But we're all fine, you?"
"Fine." I replied, looking around and… "Shit. I don't think this is going to have a happy ending."
To spare any more of the gruesome details, we found evidence of some of the people, but not Tom Cosek. Calling Nick had us making our way to the clinic we helped set up at the trid studio.
Walking in, we found Dr. Tate waiting for us along with Ryder. Dr. Tate didn't look too enthused. "I hope you have some good news, but based on the looks of things, that seems less than probable,"
"Fraking Vampires!" Ed immediately complained, drawing far too much attention.
With a sigh, I gave Dr. Tate a raised brow look.
"Right, if you will follow me then." He declared, "And I think I shall include a free screening for HMHVV. Just to be safe."
Now in his office, Nick made his way to a chair and fell into it, face going into his hands. "Frak."
"Things are iffy." I proclaimed, taking a chair for myself. "The bodies were gnawed on. Flesh consumed. Not the work of vampires."
"No." Dr. Tate agreed. "Sounds more like Ghouls."
"Yeah." Mack muttered.
"Sounds like a well planned coverup to me." I rejoined, and pulled out the bundle of pictures. "This is what worries me." Handing the pile to Nick, I watched as he flipped through them. "None of the bodies were those of children."
Nick just nodded once, face hard.
Meanwhile Dr. Tate grumbled in frustration but… "I don't think Cosek was among the bodies. I think he pulled a runner. All his 'ware was geared for it really."
Humming a frustrated agreement, Dr. Tate nodded. "This is most disappointing, but at least we know more now than we did before. My bosses will be pleased to have some direction in which to search I suppose. Here are the Nuyen as agreed upon. But as for the cyberware, since you were unable to recover my patient, I fear my resources shall be a little thin. To show my appreciation for your efforts, though, I can find my way to some betaware under the same conditions as before."
"Shit, this job is going to leave a bad taste in my mouth." Al grumbled. "Well, can we get on with this screening?"
"Of course." Dr. Tate agreed and it didn't take long for everyone to be on their way with a clean bill of health. Everyone but Jynx and myself. "Now, you wanted to consult about something?"
After Dr. Tate led us to an examination room, I explained, "Jynx would like me to make some modifications to her. Mostly things that will affect hormone levels and future development."
And I instantly had his attention, of course. "I have a magic that lets me heal, but it's far more than that really. Biomancy. The art of shaping flesh." If his attention could get any stronger… I would probably be dead. "I can stitch flesh, clean out toxins and chemical buildups, returning chemicals back to what the body knows as safe. I can even shape flesh into new organs, or things like Jynx's ears and tail. I have seen how those work, and can replicate them. But my knowledge of the… Metahuman body only goes so far. And the brain is a big question mark, changing the hormones the body produces is a question mark. Yet, changing DNA, or at least simple things like gender in it is maybe a five minute job. Even creating the mythical male/female hybrid is easy enough."
"I see." He muttered, "So you need to know how to change the hormones produced?"
"More like what levels, what organs… and so on. I need someone who knows how the fiddly chemicals work." I explained, "And for Jynx to fully tell me what she wants."
And I will cut off our conversation there, as I will stand by some healer-patient confidentiality. But Jynx got what she wanted, and before the end of the day even!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: And as you can see, Shadowrun is wrapping up. One, maybe two more chapters to go. Then moving on. Next couple of worlds will be short, but eh. So, Let's hear any guesses? Suggestions/ideas? I know what's next, but what do you all think? Maybe something will give me inspiration?
Thanks for recommending Ryuugi. It going to get me to go back and reread The Queen of the Moon. Then, just when I finished the chapter, boom! Another chapter.
My suggestion is Dresden Files. The magic there is so different from any of these game systems, it would be an interesting challenge. That, or have her meet another Circe. Maybe a DC one. Just spitballing.
What's the limits for crossovers? How much magic needs to be present?
On a scale from:
Marvel/DC with it's "magic and science is interchangeable at the highest levels" to
Star Wars/Star Trek/Star Gate with their "it's not magic I swear, ignore the god behind the curtain" to
Mass Effect where "I don't make the rules but I bend them, Ignore the magic unobtanium" to finally
Eclipse Phase with it's "the science we know now is the hard limit but taken to its extremes"
You've already started with the extreme end of magic universes with a DnD adjacent, jumped a little to include magic pretending to be science stuff with Shadowrun and there's the implied Nasuverse beginnings plus wherever her body is originally from as well as her soul.
I can't wait for more, I've been looking forward to the next world for ages as I don't know much about background lore of the worlds you've already visited
What's the limits for crossovers? How much magic needs to be present?
On a scale from:
Marvel/DC with it's "magic and science is interchangeable at the highest levels" to
Star Wars/Star Trek/Star Gate with their "it's not magic I swear, ignore the god behind the curtain" to
Mass Effect where "I don't make the rules but I bend them, Ignore the magic unobtanium" to finally
Eclipse Phase with it's "the science we know now is the hard limit but taken to its extremes"
You've already started with the extreme end of magic universes with a DnD adjacent, jumped a little to include magic pretending to be science stuff with Shadowrun and there's the implied Nasuverse beginnings plus wherever her body is originally from as well as her soul.
I can't wait for more, I've been looking forward to the next world for ages as I don't know much about background lore of the worlds you've already visited
Marvel and DC are less "interchangeable at the highest level", and more "tech at the highest level is tapping in to magic". Magic deals with those high level energies and alternate dimensions at all levels, while Tech only touches on them at the high levels.
It's an… interesting setting? One of those, "all myths are true if you look hard enough" types.
Admittedly she would probably do better with the Egyptians than the Greeks/Romans, but there is a Circe in the original PJO series so there's that.
Atlantis could be fun for a few chapters, but past the start it's definitely something she would need a lot more firepower to be truly relevant to without getting stuck into an SG team for months to years
Atlantis could be fun for a few chapters, but past the start it's definitely something she would need a lot more firepower to be truly relevant to without getting stuck into an SG team for months to years
Fair enough… mass effect is pretty low tech sci-fi? Though Star Wars OG Sith Empire and/or Je'daii times are probably better if you want to stick to magic things? Cause like, some of the Sith Sorcery/Alchemy is totally nonsense
Shadowrun 11 - Exiting stage left / Cyberpunk 01 - Unfortunate but FineNew
My next few days were filled with fending off Horizon's inquiries into Biomancy and working with Nick to pin down the Ancient's base. Though, I would like to say, I was pleasantly surprised to finally get a response form the Draco Foundation. They wished to meet about my inquiry at the end of the week. And it was Wednesday.
Sitting around the holoprojector at the center of Sona's floor, I looked at Nick and Becky. "So, we've found the place?"
"Best I can tell." Nick agreed, waving at the image of a ruined and crumbling S-Mart building.
"I've been close enough to get a look at it." Becky put in, "I think this is the place. There are five or six watcher spirits hanging around that place… and things flow weird around it."
Nodding, I asked Nick. "You're good, not bringing Lone Star into this?"
"Yeah," He agreed with a sigh, "The chief wouldn't let anyone hit it anyways. It's way out in the middle of nowhere, it doesn't matter."
"Figures." Becky complained. "Ok, I can have a team of Angels back you up on this, and myself, of course. Is your team going to come?"
That was a good question. Really good question. "Probably?" I offered, "I'm not going to be here much longer… so it's not like I need to hold back, Corporations won't be able to follow."
"Yeah?" Nick asked, "Where do you plan to go? Corporations will follow anywhere I can think of."
Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Out past the Outer Planes. For the World is vast and wonderful. Beautiful and horrifying."
"Ha!" Becky barked out, "I knew it, you're a spirit."
Blinking in- almost- confusion at that leap of logic I sighed and shook my head. "No. Anyways, I'll call people, see-"
"I have already contacted the team, they will be here by nine." Sona spoke up, and I couldn't help but smile at that. Sona, my digital shadow. I needed to find a way to reward her. To really show my appreciation.
"Thank you, Sona." I replied, then to Becky and Nick. "I have spare rooms. Find an unoccupied one and get some rest. Especially you Nick."
"Fine," He agreed with a yawn and got up, and headed downstairs.
Once he was gone, I focused my attention on Becky. "I'm leaving the Watchtower to Jynx. But I see no reason she would null our agreement."
Becky silently nodded and held a thoughtful look for a time before asking, "When do you plan on leaving?"
"Well," I replied, "I have a few more things to do, but in the next month? Two weeks? Probably two weeks."
"Alright, I'm going to go catch some sleep myself." Becky agreed, getting up and heading down stairs.
I had to wonder what they were thinking. I mean, I never really hid that I was strange and different, but I was about to start parading it around.
With a shake of my head, I returned to my room and started going over the calculations for my exit, again.
Eventually though, Sona declared, "Everyone is here."
With a sigh, I put everything away, and headed down to meet the crew. Heh.
Twenty people. The five of my team, Nick Ryder, Becky 99, and the rest were Desolation Angels… but twenty people? For this?
"Think we have enough people?" I drawled out and earned a few chuckles. "Thank you all for showing up. The Ancients tried to attack this place… much to their misfortune. But as it turns out, someone's puppeting those poor bastards."
Shaking my head, I did my best to explain, "Don't bother showing them mercy, they're far too far gone to save. No, what worries me is what we're going to find. So, stay sharp, and don't get complacent."
Nodding, Becky turned and motioned at everyone. "You heard her, now let's get this show started."
As the Angels filed out, Becky and Nick included, I motioned for my team to wait. Then I spoke, "Look, I'm going to be leaving… soon, next couple of weeks. But I have a gift for each of you." I pulled out a set of rings, and handed them out. "This ring stores a set of Mil-Spec armor, enchanted. It will do many things, resize for you, self-repair, even some strength enhancement. Think of it as a goodbye gift."
"I…" Anne mumbled, "But…"
When she didn't continue, Mack asked, "Is that why you've been pushing more off onto me?"
"Yeah." I agreed, finding myself giving both Anne and Jynx hugs. "Also, the ring will store whatever you're wearing when you activate it, so… you know, quick change." Then I pulled out a stack of papers and handed everyone one. "Make sure to read these. But we should get going now, don't want to keep everyone waiting."
Of course… then we had the long drive to the S-Mart of doom. But as we pulled into a parking lot a block away, I watched as a group of Angels got out and proved they were all shamans by summoning spirits and sending them forward.
I mean, that was one way to deal with watchers?
I could go through every little thing we did, but it isn't even worth it. We managed to make it to the center of the shop, where- and get this, a fourteen year old kid had set up a ritual circle. He was also about to sacrifice someone, not that it saved him as a single Δόρατα Φωτός took his hand off.
"What? Fine! Take the boy!" The- no, not boy… the thing taunted. "You're the heroes. Hooray for you. I admit that this experiment has thus far been a failure and is unlikely to succeed if we continue. I don't understand their power, this technomancy, and it seems we cannot harness it no matter what we try. But yo-"
My eyes went rather large as I watched Becky use the staff I sold her to take the things head off… and I could feel the ripples of the spell in the metaphysical… the Asteral I guess? Whatever she just did… she hit that thing's soul? Or… ah, it was probably a spirit possessing a body? Yeah, that would make sense.
"No, you'll just die." Becky quipped, and well… she wasn't wrong? I mean, whatever she had done was soul deep.
The wrap up for all of this was… dull, and a few days later I found myself sitting across from Gibber. "So, yeah. Lothan's got zero ability to judge risk/reward."
"Feh, I'm not surprised." Gibber grumbled, "But what really brings you here?"
With a sigh, I explained, "Well, I'm leaving soonish. Wanted to pass on some contact information for the others and so on. Besides, I had an hour to blow before my meeting."
So saying, I slid over a folded piece of paper and stood. "Try and stay out of the gutter, Gibber."
"Heh, you too." He replied, "Gonna miss you around here."
I just shrugged and made my way out, I had shit to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My meeting with the Draco Foundation was in a hotel, one of the conference rooms, and the suited business person eyed me as I entered.
"Vaela Aeaea?" He greeted, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"You as well?" I trailed off leadingly.
"Ah, yes. My name is Frederick Zomus." He replied. "I am not Awakened. And so should be the perfect judge of this magic item you have. These are Marni," A big orc in a suit, "And Tim," A bigger troll in a suit. "My bodyguards."
Nodding, I reached into a new, better, bag of holding and pulled out the hilt of a sword. "This is… well, I didn't bother naming it." Sliding it across the table, I continued, "The activation phrase is; Activate, Gladius. While the deactivation phrase is; Deactivate, Gladius."
"Hmm," He muttered, picking it up and activating it. "A lightsaber? Very interesting."
"Yes, well," I explained, "You can tell how much charge it has based on the channels along the hilt. It can be recharged by any Awakened, or over time in a magicly saturated area. So, basically anywhere, but the higher the saturation the faster it will recharge."
Deactivating the sword, he nodded. "Well, this does fulfill the requirements."
Nodding, I put in, "And it is now the property of the Draco Foundation. So long as I get that chunk of Oricalcum."
"Of course. Would you prefer to travel with me to retrieve it, or have it delivered by courier?" He asked, and I was tempted to go with, and just disappear… but I would give everyone their chance to say their goodbyes. Because I really couldn't see myself returning here.
"If it can be delivered by the end of the month." I replied, "I have business elsewhere and need to fade away to accomplish it."
"I see…" Frederick replied with a sigh. "Then it will be hand delivered, by courier."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as Frederick had promised, the chunk of Oricalcum was indeed delivered by courier, and it only took a couple of days. Then I threw… well, I guess block party would be the best term? I burned all my money on catering and invited all the fixers in the city, and most of the runners besides. Of course, it was an open party, so a great number of other people showed up.
It would only get back to me, much, much later that it would become the Aurora festival because of how I fucked up my exit spell. I still haven't been brave enough to see what actually happened to that Earth.
Oops?
Standing in my room, I looked around at… my crew. Yeah, I could admit it, my crew… and I guess my friends too. I had long ago set up the circle I would be using to focus the spell. Far more refined and smaller than the one I used to get here. And only a single step on my path to refining it enough for casual use.
"Gibber has your contact info, so jobs will keep flowing." I finished, "And so, I'll be taking my leave."
"Are you sure you have to go?" Jynx asked, holding Inarou in her arms. Oh, she knew I had to, I had explained it a few times, but… well, she didn't seem able to truly accept it, not yet.
"Yes." I replied with a sad shrug, "But there are things yet to do out there, and this world doesn't want me in it."
Reaching out, I ruffled her hair. "You'll be fine, your Glintstone Arrow is pretty good. Now everyone, stand back."
Moving over to the circle, I started going through the process of activating it causing a spike of pearlescent rainbow color to shine up from the chalk circle. Then a rift tore itself open, and with a wave, I stepped in just as I heard Skittle call out, "Ah, wait!"
Then everything was an explosion of kaleidoscopic colors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had already passed through the rift when I heard Anne call after me, then everything went wobbly for a bit. When things finally stabilized, I could taste the colors of- I was standing in a dark alley filled with trash… Did I fail? Was I still… No, I could-
Breathing in a deep lungful, I nearly gagged. The scent of rot, decay, and synthetics was strong here, but it was secondary to the overwhelming hollow feeling of a dead Earth
Now, not to get off topic, but you need to understand. Planets aren't mortal things. It takes a lot to kill one, more for it to be permanent. This was a dead Earth, the breath of the world, mana, was thin here in ways that are hard to explain not because words fail, but because the mind and soul rebel against it.
I was on a dead earth, and if I was a normal magi? It would be a death sentence, or close enough, as the emptiness of the world would such out all my prana, and probably Od too. But I had a Dragon's heart and my 'Authority'. To add to that was my connection to the kaleidoscope… and the hole I left in my wake… oops? Well, mana would be flowing back in soon enough, I guess.
The real question was what world was this? I was going to have to work on a targeting and triangulation component… maybe something brushing against Akasha to give me a general idea of where I was? Maybe? That sounded kind of hard to do though.
With a shake of my head, I walked out of the alley and paused, that building… that megastructure looked familiar… Another look around had me gritting my teeth as memories sparked and pushed their way to the fore of my mind.
I was in Night City. I was in fucking Night City… Fuck! God's damn… I just got done with one Cyberpunk dystopia… why! "Fucking bullshit."
But on the other hand, this did give me some useful options… maybe. And I had other options besides. Option one, leave now, hope I could make it to a better place to do my work. Option two, sell things to the Corporations. Option three, burn down the city in my effort to steal what I wanted. Option four, steal what I want while V is making a mess of everything. Option five, save V and see what happens. Option six… I don't think I had one?
Well, let's leave option six open for now then.
With a heavy sigh, I started off down the long road into the city. I had people to talk to, places to be… and so on.
My first act, as soon as I came across one, was to steal a car. Then head for a specific section of the junkyard. My second action was to turn my Commlink on, triggering Sona's Commlink-body-brain? To come out of sleep mode, bringing her with it.
"Neh?" She said, and I don't think it was just for my benefit.
"Well, we aren't somewhere pleasant, but we are somewhere useful." I replied and waited for her to get her shit together. Maybe I could get her some kind of body here?
"The Matrix here is a mess." She stated, not bothering to pretend it was anything else.
"Yeah. Welcome to Night City. The City of Dreams, and all around a terrible place." I stated, in turn. "The whole world's Matrix or, just net, is like this. It has to do with their Crash event."
"Unfortunate." She grumbled, "And you haven't moved on because?"
"They have a number of useful technologies and their Cyberware is just nicer? Mostly. I also figure we can see if we can get you a platform to inhabit while we're here." I told her, "But first we need money."
"I see, then I am going to perform diagnostics on all your electronics." She stated, and I nodded along before realizing and speaking up. "Sure. I hope you're ok?"
"I think so." She replied hesitantly.
Eventually, I made it through the city and to my destination. Just like the fucking game, the freezer was just sitting there, inexplicably. With a sigh, I got out and pulled my gas mask on because who knew what was cooking in that thing.
Opening the freezer, I smiled at what I found. Bartmoss was… very dead, and using Δομική ανάλυση on him showed a few oddities in his body and genetic code… which I immediately started taking notes on because there were similarities to what I remembered from the Technomancers I've inspected. Ok, mostly Tasha, Anne, and one of the dead Sam-clones.
But really, I hadn't expected to find anything but a plain human corpse. Anyways, when I was done with that, I pulled his cyberdeck and used Δομική ανάλυση on that, too. It was… not in great shape, but a bit of work with Ενίσχυση, Αλλαγή, and Επισκευή spells had it back up to a serviceable state.
Smiling, I returned to the car and headed for the Afterlife. I remembered where it was. Mostly. Somehow.
"Should I decrypt the data on this device?" Sona asked as I drove, and I shrugged asking, "Does it even have power?"
"Not at the moment, no." She agreed, "You would have to hook it up to a powersource."
"It's fine." I told her, "Part of the proof of where it came from is the encryption. But you will get your chance to shine. Probably."
Middle of the day? The Afterlife was pretty empty, I spotted Rogue without even trying and toyed with the idea of telling her about Johnny… and maybe I would. But right now, I was here for Nix. So, stopping at the bar, I asked Claire, "Excuse me, is Nix here?"
She gave me an odd look, and commented, "I haven't seen you here before."
"You wouldn't have." I replied with a shrug, "I only just blew into town."
"Hmm," She muttered, "Well, he's there, but I don't know if he'll talk with you."
Snorting, I walked around the bar and toward the door leading to his nook. "That would be his loss."
Nix was a thin black man with an orange netrunner suit under a dark vest and cargo pants. The real odd thing about him was his blonde hair. But eh. "Well, that's some tech I ain't never seen before."
Smirking at his drawled words, I taunted, "Go ahead, try and breach my defenses. I'm sure you'll enjoy what pops out at you."
"Heh. Think I'll pass." He replied with a smile. "So, what has you looking for me by name? As far as I can tell you're nobody, literally."
"I got a relic to sell you. Fifty k, no less. I know its worth." I replied pulling out the 'deck and holding it up. "Bartmoss' deck. Pulled it off his corpse, which I will give you the location of, if you're interested as a free add."
Coughing on the smoke from his cigarette, he choked out, "What? That's gotta be a scam."
"I'm not asking for the money up front. And I'm willing to dump twenty k's of that back into your pocket to set me up with a legend." I replied with a shrug and he frowned at me.
"While that's good to know, Legends cost far more than that." He replied in an aggrieved tone.
Waving him off, I replied, "Don't need a good one, just something that will pass a cursory examination. Let me get an apartment or something."
Frown deepening, Nix grumbled, "Alright, I'll bite. This is too good to be true, but if this is a scam, you aren't getting anything from me." Then held out his hand.
Handing over the deck, I watched him look it over and muttered a bit before plugging it in and moving over to his… chair thing.
"Well, let's pop this thing open then." He grumbled after he plugged it in, then he took a seat and closed his eyes. Then after a few moments of silence, he muttered, "Encryption has to be near divine… damage is bad, but not as bad as I expected. Lot of corrupted data… but less than I expected. Password? A dictattack, maybe? Nothing doin. And what about injectin a command?"
"Hah! We're golden. One more hurdle, but shit… I think this might be the real deal. My, my, of all people Bartmoss shoulda done better-" And then he started buzzing and sparking.
"Ok, now you can have at it Sona." I declared.
"Well now, let's see what we have here." She almost sing-songed as computers in the room lit up and things started happening… When did she get the ability to do that? Was it a difference in computer architecture here? Or… did crossing the gulf do something to her?
Almost immediately, Nix stopped spazzing out and calmed down. But he remained still for a few minutes until Sona spoke. "Well, that was interesting."
"Aaa… Errgh… fuck a muffin…" Nix grumbled as he sat up.
"Hand." I demanded, and he gave me a weird look but reached out to take my hand. A quick Δομική ανάλυση showed me he would be fine, so I let go. "You'll be fine."
"Probably… though it feels like I got a skull full o' hot embers." He complained. "What the hell happened?"
"Your brain started fryin." I replied, "So I sent in Sona to help you."
"Who now?"
Smirking, I shrugged, "Tech-Ghost. Don't ask more, you wouldn't believe me."
"Some kinda AI then?" He muttered, "No, doesn't matter. Thanks for pulling me out."
"I also completely decrypted the data and managed to piece back together a full thirty percent of the corrupted files." Sona boasted from every speaker in the room.
"Gah, shit." He complained again. "Well, that's unpleasant. A'ight… let's see just what you pulled from this artifact then."
Eyes glowing, he started muttering, "Logs… mail… chat history o' sorts… hmm. Potentially interesting, ah and what's this? Notes of some kind? Well, this could be useful. Alright you've earned your asking price, even if it's steep. Let me get some painkillers and I'll get you set up."
"Sure, I'll just be in the bar for now." I replied and left him to it.
All right! By going to cyberpunk we can get our favourite Scottish Waifu! It's canon that Ciri from the Witcher has visited Cyberpunk 2077.
Wait a second…. Basically unlimited mana, instinctive connection to the kaleidoscope/space-time, a non-human ancestry that has something to do with elves. Are we Ciri?
All right! By going to cyberpunk we can get our favourite Scottish Waifu! It's canon that Ciri from the Witcher has visited Cyberpunk 2077.
Wait a second…. Basically unlimited mana, instinctive connection to the kaleidoscope/space-time, a non-human ancestry that has something to do with elves. Are we Ciri?
No, Hahaha.... And no Ciri. Maybe if I do something Witcher, but probably not. Don't expect this to be a Waifu collection fic. There will be one, and maybe someone could guess who... but well.
