Freezing Shadows, Chapter 49

Chapter 49: Cleanup

Berzerker’s First Aid test (Iceblade): 10d6 = 5 Hits, 1 Miss

Iceblade: 1/10 Physical Monitor

Berzerker’s First Aid Test (Sexkitten): 10d6 = 2 Hits, 3 Miss

Sexkitten: 3/10 Physical Monitor

Berzerker’s First Aid test (Boomer): 10d6 = 6 Hits, 0 Miss

Boomer: 1/11 Stun Monitor

Boomer took a couple moments to go around with a medkit and patch everyone up, while Shadowgirl began moving down the left-hand hallway. There was a frightened cry that ended in a scream which got cut off half-way. No gunshots. She must have been getting some bladework in.

I leveraged my way back to my feet, and nodded to Berzerker. “Thanks. You and Sexkitten check the guards, strip ammo. Leave the guns. Place like this, they probably are locked to biometrics, and have trackers. Melee weapons should be fine, if you see any you like, but bring them into a pile for scanning before packing them up, in case they have some stealth tags. Twilight will check them when she gets down here.”

A second scream told me that another researcher had just been given their severance package. Probably not the one they would have liked, but probably the one that they deserved. Sucked to be them.

Iceblade’s Spellcasting Test (Door): 16d6 = 6 Hits, 5 miss

Frost (Force 5): 11P Damage

Door’s Damage Resistance: 2d6 = 0 Hits, 1 Miss

Door: 11/3 Physical Monitor (Destroyed)

Iceblade’s Drain Resist (5S): 13d6 = 6 Hits, 2 Miss (No Drain Damage)

I turned my attention back to the hall I’d been fighting in. There was a small door to my left, to get into the maintenance space. Obvious lock on it, keycard, probably. Fortunately, I didn’t need to be subtle any more. I pointed my blade at the door, and a bolt of frost blasted through the door like it wasn’t there. The handle (and lock) were still hanging there, in mid-air, kept together by the maglock’s magnetic field, but the door around the lock no longer existed.

“Boomer, maintenance spaces. Probably best place to start looking to cause trouble.”

“Damn. I need to get me a physical damage ssspell,” the serpent muttered. “That wasss ssso cool!”

I turned my attention to a door on my right. This mage had come out of the next office further down. This would be the main researcher’s office. I opened the door, blade ready. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t a 1.6 meter tall woman who had the perfect ‘scared innocent schoolgirl’ look going on, if it weren’t for her clothes (lab coat, business blouse, pencil skirt, heels), and the fact that she was holding a shock baton like it was some kind of ward against evil that would somehow keep me from getting around her desk to attack her.

“Stay back! I don’t know who you are, but you’ve made a big mistake coming here! You’ve already used most of the time until a whole platoon of reinforcements gets here! Leave me alone and I’ll get them to let you live!”

Iceblade’s Modified Intimidation test: 8d6 = 2 Hits, 1 Miss

Chief Researcher’s Modified Intimidation test: 2d6 = 0 Hits, 1 Miss

“No,” I said, calmly, icily, stalking forward until the desk was no longer between us. The frightened researcher was too scared to move, definitely too scared to run. “The reinforcements aren’t coming. We cut the hardline that would alert the security office. The heartbeat monitors on the very dead guards outside are reading strong and steady on their monitors. There are no reinforcements coming.

“More to the point, you stole from a dragon. You are already dead. The question is, do I make it quick, or do I hand you over to your ‘test subjects’ so they can properly thank you for the accommodations. Pretty little thing like you, they’ll probably enjoy seeing whether they can fit that baton far enough up your little ass to come out your mouth. They might even leave you alive, and helpless, watching as the timer on the bombs count down. Or, I do have a naga with us. Perhaps you’d like to experience what it is like to be swallowed? Going head first into a serpent’s maw, knowing you’ll be digested alive?”

I might have gone overboard on the imagery there, but it definitely had the desired effect. The shock baton dropped from her hand, skidding across the floor. Which was fortunate, since a moment later a pool of yellow liquid began forming between the researcher’s feet.

“N-no. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were going to unlock the secret, find out what caused these mutations, so that we could cure them. Make them better. Them, and all the ones like them!”

“So, that’s a vote for ‘let the prisoners ruin my holes’, then?”

“No! Please, no. Not that! Look, I can pay you to get me out of here!”

“A dragon has offered a favor to make sure you’re dead. You don’t have enough money to cover that.”

That statement hit her like a brick, and she collapsed in the puddle she’d made. “W-what do you want?”

“Access codes to the servers down here. The keys to free all the prisoners. And access to any safes or personnel lockers down here.”

I got everything I wanted out of her, and more. Verified by Twilight since she came in while I was interrogating the researcher. There were safes in the two offices, and employee lockers in the lounge, for the guards and the researchers. More importantly, I found out why there were extra guards here. The corp found out that their snatch team got snatched, and figured that, since  Ivaeth was one of the ‘puppetmaster’ dragons than the ‘burn your house down’ ones, she’d send someone to retrieve her missing technomancer. They figured a reinforced squad of elites, in milspec armor with top-tier weapons and the good ammo would steamroll a team of runners looking at normal corpsec.

Honestly, they’d almost been right. If the elites had been in defensive positions at the front, instead of patrolling around? We’d have been in deep trouble. Trying to break through a kill box like that? Every chance we would have lost someone. Maybe everyone down there. And the rescue definitely wouldn’t have happened.

Twilight and Berzerker set about getting the prisoners out of their cells. One of their own showing up as the doors opened helped calm some of the very angry technomancers. Fortunately for Miss Chief Researcher, I’d kept my word, and separated her head from her shoulders by the time the first freed TMs made their way over to her office. They contented themselves with a bit of indoor soccer using the slightly lumpy ball I’d provided them.

Back to the safes, the researcher’s safe had certified credsticks, with 700k nucred on them. Part of the off-the-books funding for this lab, and any supplies they might need. That would split nicely seven ways, since I wasn’t going to cut Boomer out of any of the ‘bonus points’ from this run. She’d held up her end, provided that the booms were boomy enough after we got out of here.

The mage’s safe had something even nicer, from my perspective. Spell formulae, written on actual paper, in an actual notebook! Probably smart, given his posting. There were ten spells in the notebook grimoire. Agony, Heal, Increase Reflexes, Interference, Lightning Bolt, Manabolt, Mass Pacification, Petrify, Powerbolt, Stunbolt.

Some were spells I already had, though these versions didn’t need a fetish to help guide the magic and cut down on the drain. Still, Interference, Lightning Bolt, Powerbolt, and Stunbolt were all useful to me. The first basically acted like a jammer, dropping the Signal rating of devices in the radius to try and cut them off from the Matrix.

The other three were combat spells. Lightning Bolt would zap people (and objects), like my Frost spell. Powerbolt was like my Manabolt, but could also blast objects. Stunbolt was a stun version of the Manabolt spell, for when I didn’t quite want people dead.

The Mass Pacification spell was new. Like, I hadn’t seen or heard of anything like it in the Beta, new. Took a minute to puzzle out what it did from the technical description, but this had to be the new spell I was most scared of in the game. Moreso even than my Permafrost spell, which permanently turned someone to ice, at least until someone found a way to turn them back.

If what I was reading was right, this spell would hit everyone in an area, and they got the caster’s Spellcasting+Magic opposed by Willpower+Counterspelling. Caster got more hits, then, so long as the spell was maintained, the victims were treated as Unaware with all weapon skills, even unarmed attacks. Basically, everything except Dodge. Every (Force) combat turns, you could roll Willpower+Counterspelling again, and reduce the net hits from the original test, but that was assuming you were still alive by then. Which was a big assumption, since you wouldn’t be able to even default on a weapon attack until you broke free. About the only good thing for me was that it didn’t block spellcasting.

That kind of nastiness had to be made by a player. Even in the generally ‘life isn’t fair’ setup of the Shadowmen game world, that kind of instant loss spell wasn’t something the GMs would create. So, some player, probably a PVPer, made it in the beta, and now that spell was loose, and out in the world.

That was fun and games for another day, though. The mage himself, though, had a couple neat guns, but Twilight noted the trackers on them, and the magazines, like all the guns. Everyone that got hit ran a tag eraser over the wounds, just in case there were tags in the bullets, too. Corpsec liked to have the wounds lead them to anyone who escaped, and anyone that helped them. Mage did have a few foci, though. Sustaining focus for Health spells, which none of us needed, but could be sold later. Spellcasting focus for Combat spells, which Boomer could use, and a Weapon Focus in the form of a monofilament sword, which would be perfect for Shadowgirl.

Meanwhile, Boomer slithered about the maintenance areas, including some he found that connected to the ‘testing range’, which and looped around behind both the cells and the labs on the outer wall. She gave regular updates as she went about setting up bombs. Apparently, several of the labs had gas lines to use for experiments, since they were trying to keep their scientific equipment as electronic-free as possible, to keep from letting the technomancers taint the results somehow. Gas lines made for nice, destructive explosions, without the kind of blast wave that would take down a skyscraper, which was great for us.

By this point, Sexkitten had ripped through the employee lounge. A few commlinks, all turned off, needing physical biometrics to power on. Not unbreakable, but not worth it. Some hardcopy magazines that definitely weren’t standard issue, but were definitely coming back with us, since they would provide pleasurable viewing material any time one of the girls needed a bit of relief, and wasn’t feeling up to group fun. And access keys to a couple cars that were likely in the employee lot. Useless to us, and probably tracked to high hell and back.

“So, you’re the boss of this group?”

I looked back from going over the loot, to see the five prisoners, all of them looking ragged, but no obvious bits cut off or things poking out of their heads. And they all had basic hospital clothes. So, better than it could have been, worse than any of us would have liked. Two men, human and dwarf, and three women, ork, troll, and human. All of them had their heads shaved, but I saw the dragon’s mark on her neck.

“When it comes to chatting or throwing spells, yes. I let other members of the team take charge when it comes to matrix work, driving, or bringing the heavy weapons. And you’re Kenzie Lyons, yes?”

The technomancer blinked her eyes, and said, “You came here for me? Do you work for the Lady?”

“In my experience, Dragons look after their own, and fiercely. If it wasn’t us, someone would have been sent to find you, I’m sure. We don’t work for Her, but we did need a bit of help from Her, and she was gracious enough to do a favor for a favor.”

Kenzie nodded slowly. “I understand. What about the others? Can you bring them out, too?”

I looked past her at the other technomancers. “My deal with the Dragon is to bring Kenzie, here, back to her, and make sure nothing of the experiments survives this place. There may be room on the transport for you lot, but if you so much as access a supposedly secure forum before we’re back to Seattle, we will not hesitate to throw you out the door, doesn’t matter if we’re going down the highway, or thirty thousand feet in the air. Same goes for trying to access any of our systems.”

I paused, to make sure they were 100% clear on my meaning. “If you can keep yourselves to yourselves until we get back to Seattle, I don’t see a problem in bringing you along, though you’re on your own after that. If you don’t think you can handle that, let us know, and we’ll drop you in the barrens, where you’ll have a fighting chance of going to ground, and making it on your own. But just understand anything that threatens the chance of Kenzie getting back to her Lady safe and sound is going to be dealt with in ways exploit and black hammer complex forms aren’t going to help you with.”