《Some Warpunk in Cybercraft [Fanfiction] (Revised - New Content Ongoing)》


 Chapter 1

    A semi-bad band was still playing a series of covers of mostly 00s songs. If only they knew any good ones.


    I sat off in a corner, watching my younger sister Marie and her newly minted husband George dance. She was a vision of loveliness, in her elegant white gown, though I''d never admit it. She was to me, forever and always, the little brat who went out of her way to make my life harder than it had to be. George and I were friends, once, but we lost touch after high school. He went off to some ritzy college in New England, and ended up in finance. I stayed here and went to trade school. Now we had almost nothing in common now, except my sister.


    But I knew he was a solid guy, that much hadn''t changed. He''d take good care of my sister. She''d be great for him too, she had a knack for keeping things organized. Also it would help him deal with the lost of his parents a few years ago. Some drunk fool had crashed into them. Wish I could have been there for him.


    Actually that''s how he re-met my sister she was off at a program in New York, he had gotten involved in order to help take his mind off of things and that was that.


    I had already had the obligatory Big Brother talk with him, I knew Dad had given him the third degree as well. We were all laughing about it at the Bachelor Party last night, between all the beer and the rounds of pool. It was a good time for sure and nobody got lost nor was anybody''s tiger stolen. Surprising, I know.


    While being off on my own might look like I was being a loner, I was really just resting my feet. I had danced up a storm earlier. First with Mom, and then Marie. After that all the bridesmaids wanted a turn seeing how well I could twirl them. Then every lady who came by herself ask for a turn. I wasn''t so crass as to deny them.


    Sadly though that was as far as it would ever go. In all my 30 years of life I''d never even had one date. Not for lack of trying either. No matter where I went or what I tried not one had ever agreed to go out one a first date. Not a dance or my prom ended without every girl wanting a dance but not a one wanted to actually turn it into a date.


    I wasn''t ugly, and I was in better shape than most guys. I had bought and paid for my own house, and owned my car. Ran my own business and had plenty of money coming in, so long as you didn''t want to live like the 1%. Hell, I even tried self help books and speed dating. What a bunch of hooey.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The one time I broke down and asked the lady I was trying to ask out, all I got was, "You don''t look like you need anyone." What the hell did that mean?


    Not one woman even tired to take advantage of me for my money. It was like there was a big sign that said, not this one, hanging over my head.


    It was the one thing my Mom continued to give me shit over. She wanted grandbabies to spoil yesterday and hated that I seemed like I wasn''t going to provide them. Well, I''m sure Marie and George would handle that now. They''d said they be trying for one as fast as possible. Which was my sister''s way of saying they had already been going for it.


    The music changed and Dad and Mom were taking a spin around the floor. You might think it was my Mom that had got me into ballroom dance but nope that was my Dad. He used to say it was the best way to get a lady. I believed him and got pretty good at it. My Mom she''s the one that got me into cars. I kept fixing the odd one up here and there for fun these days.


    It was good to see that they still loved each other after 32 years together. I hoped to find someone, someday. I didn''t like living alone.


    Work was good, I had been running my own business as a Electrician for about two years now. Demand was high, but I had held off finding another qualified Electrician or even an apprentice to help out. Something about inviting people I didn''t know into something I built myself just didn''t sit right with me. Always busy was good, less time to think, and the money was great.


    Dad hadn''t agreed. He was a Lawyer and some part of him still wanted me to go to College and pick up something similar to his path. Sorry Dad, the law didn''t interest me in the slightest.


    That was one of the surprisingly good parts of last night he didn''t say a thing about it and we had actually talked. He was happy to see me succeed, even if it wasn''t what he had envisioned for me.


    I thought about hitting the dance floor again when I saw Marie and George getting ready to sneak off. It was part of the plan, Mom and Dad would handle getting everyone and everything where they needed to be later.


    Well, I figured I at least could see them on their way.


    I snuck out and was waited by their limo.


    As they finally made their way out, they caught sight of me and we all laughed.


    That was the great thing about my family, we loved to laugh. "A sense of humor will keep you sane." Mom said it all the time, I couldn''t help but to agree.


    "Have a good Honeymoon in Hawaii." I meant it too. For all the sibling bullshit, I loved my sister. And George and I might just be able to become buddies again.


    "Bro, you need to take better care of yourself. Find a date while we are gone okay." She couldn''t help it, she and mom were more alike than either would admit.


    "Take it easy, Ryan." George shook my hand.


    "You too, George."


    Then my eyes widened, as I stood there holding the limo door open.


    A sedan had jumped the curve and was coming right for us, but they had their backs to it.


    I pushed them both out of the way. I felt just the barest contact with the front bumper. Then I was somewhere else.

 Chapter 2

    I found myself in a sterile white room, extending further than I could see in all directions. There were no noticeable light sources but it was almost too bright.


    "Fuck, did I die?" Even to my own ears, my voice sounded panicked.


    Shit, who was going to take care of Ruger, my German Wolfhound buddy? He had just turned 2 last month. He was going to be so upset. I could already see him stressing out.


    Maybe my parents could take him in. He was well behaved, and had just finished an obedience course. So they should have no problem handling him.


    "No, you actually didn''t die. Stop wasting time with useless worrying." A cheerless voice intoned.


    I spun around, I was sure there hadn''t been anyone or anything there before.


    "What the...Who are you?" Perhaps not the best approach in an unknown situation, but what else was I going to ask.


    A faceless, something, sat at a simple black desk, with nothing on it. A glowing human shaped being in a dull gray business suit, the lack of a face didn''t stop me from feeling stared at.


    "Please sit, Mr. Crestwood. While I have more time than you could possibly conceive, you are on something of a clock." The thing gesture at a chair, that wasn''t there before it suggested sitting.


    Yeah, this was all kinds of screwed up. Yet, somehow I didn''t feel like I had a choice. So, yeah, I sat, while poking at my own skull to see if it had gone soft. I didn''t think I was insane, or hallucinating, but how would I know?


    "Please review the Offer Packet." Again it gestured at a piece of white paper that just appeared out of nowhere. The paper read: The undersigned will gain access to the SMC Store of Powers and Items, in exchange for employment.


    "Employment to do what? What kind of powers? Who are you people?" I was bordering on pissed off while still being half frightened out of my gourd.


    I kept asking for several minutes, and the only response I got back was, "Please Sign." It refused to answer what it meant that I didn''t die. It just sat there.


    In a surge of furious emotion I started ranting and yelling. No reaction. Despite that, once I had gotten started, it took a while to wind down. I felt a little better though.


    To tell the truth, I had no idea what to make of all this. I stared into the distance, risking blindness from the glare. My inner hamster wheel was churning, but neither of us saw another way out of this.


    Eventually, it sank in, nothing would change until I signed. But I still didn''t want to comply, I hated being forced into this. Whatever this was.


    I had thought a few times about attacking the Desk Thing, but each time some primal survival instinct screamed that would be the last thing I ever did.


    I tired hitting myself a few times. No reaction, and no change in the situation other than a sore hand. When I walked far enough away from the desk, it just appeared in front of me again. I tried running, same deal. When exhaustion set in, I went to sleep, sort of. However, long my fitful nap lasted, nothing had changed.


    "FUCK!"


    My mind was having a really hard time accepting this. Part of me thought I had died, whatever the Thing had said, and this was my afterlife. What had I done to possibly deserve this?


    Stolen story; please report.


    I sighed as a sense of fatalism set in. I didn''t see anything else to do, I signed the paper.


    "Please step through the door." The Desk Thing pointed to a green door that appeared behind me. Fine. Anything was better than this place. I opened the door and stepped through.


    The same type of room but in green. Another desk this time silver colored. Another Desk Thing this time wearing a black suit.


    Seems I was wrong.


    "What now?!" I yelled in frustration. I had thought I would be done with this. I wanted out of this place.


    "Please attach the Bonding Branch to your left wrist." It waved at a short and odd looking branch, with soft looking silver gray bark and nine purple leaves, jutting off of three smaller branchings.


    "How do I do that?" Not actually expecting an answer. Why should they start now?


    "Just place it near your skin, on your left wrist, it will take care of the rest." I gritted my teeth, but complied, certain I''d get trapped in the same fucking loop as last time if I didn''t. The branch wrapped around my arm of it''s own accord. Thousands of tiny green fibers burrowed into my skin, each intrusion was accompanied by pulsing waves of something I didn''t have the words for yet. I felt deeply distrubed.


    "What the hell?" I tried shaking it off my arm. Way too late for that. I only slightly calmed down when I realized it didn''t hurt, in fact it felt almost soothing.


    Several lines of golden letters, (Runes? Hieroglyphs?) appeared in my mind. They kept altering until finally...


    [ Welcome to the Great Tree System ]


    [ Please Think ''System'' to complete the bonding process ]


    Alright? ''System.''


    [ Name: Ryan Crestwood


    Class: N/A


    Race: Human (Terra 213,451)


    Body: 5 / Reflex: 4 / Tech: 5 / Intelligence: 3 / Cool: 3 / Will: 4 / Spirit: 6 (+2 Modifier)


    Company Points: 1000 / Tree Points: 0 ]


    [ Please note discrepancies may have occurred. System will be adjusted as User adapts to their new paradigm ]


    "What the fuck is this? A Game, I don''t play games. Why would you pick me for this?" I''m sure my face was burning red from anger. Was this some simulation? I''d heard they were working on things like this. But this was way too real.


    "Please step through the door." This Desk Thing pointing behind me. This time the door was red.


    "Fuck." I muttered. Some more twisted part of my mind noted I was saying that word too much, perhaps I should expand my vocabulary.


    Sure enough, a red room of the same type. This time the desk was gold. This Desk Thing was wearing a green suit.


    "What is going on, this time?" I was getting desperate to escape. The corners of my eyes kept twitching, a stress reaction, that I found terribly unpleasant.


    "Please select your starting package." It gestured toward two boxes on its desk, one was orange, one was blue. Other than the color, there was no discernable difference, that I could detect. I picked the blue one. It vanished.


    "Please step through the door." I almost told it to shove it, but I lacked the energy.


    Have you ever cried because you were that pissed off, or that emotionally drained? I was, and I felt no shame in it. I just wanted this to end.


    The door was silver this time, and so was the next room. The desk was green, and the Desk Thing had a Red Suit. What do all of the colors even mean?


    "Just tell me what is going on!?" I wasn''t doing so well, a well of nausea was building inside. My vision was starting to blur. My breathing was labored. Something was very wrong.


    "Please pick your Companion." Two Statues were on the desk. One a golden wolf. One a copper tree man? I picked the Golden Wolf. The statue vanished.


    "Please Step through the Door."


    A golden door followed by a golden room this time. The silver desk had a blue suited Desk Thing.


    "Please no more..." I was muttering. I''m fairly sure I was losing my mind, as well as my health.


    "Please Select your starting Factions. Roll the Wheels."


    That was different. Two gray Hexagonal Boxes on stands with crank handles. I tried spinning one. After it stopped, a ball fell out from a spout I hadn''t noticed before. The ball was blue with a golden W. The W had purple markings on it. It vanished.


    I spun the other box. The ball this time was blue with a silver S. The S had blue markings on it. It vanished.


    "Please wait while we set up your starting point."


    I sat in the chair it pointed at. Too drained to care, I barely had any sense of self left.


    I thought ''System''. Thinking that maybe I could get some answers there, but nothing had changed. I sat staring at that screen trying to understand it by sheer force of will. All in vain, I was too unfamiliar with the base logic of games.


    I zoned out. My mind drifted seeking something it might understand.


    "Please Step through the Door." The door was just made of white light.


    I hurriedly stepped through, hoping this was over.

 Chapter 3

    I was looking at some kind of well. The gentle susurrations of flowing water filled my ears, otherwise I might have never guessed the structure''s purpose.


    My eyes had never seen anything like it before. Made of roughly shaped stones with, seemingly random, whorls carved deeply into their surfaces. I think I had seen something with markings like that on the History Channel once, a long time ago. However, I couldn''t remember what it was about exactly. Some of the engravings reminded me of the moon, in several different phases.


    The truly bizarre part was the water itself. This water was spilling over the edge of the well, into a small shallow moat. The moat had a stream leading off from it, which glowed with a silvery blue light despite still being translucent.


    There was some kind of blue flame at the top of the well, but I got the sense it wasn''t really fire. This was a small blessing at the moment, because, judging by the visible sky it was nighttime. The soft light allowed me to see some of my surroundings, keeping me from stumbling around blind in this new environment.


    The Branch on my arm gave a rustle.


    [ Adjusting...]


    [ A Moon Well linked to an extradimensional water source. The water inside is clean and pure, while being infused with the essence of Elune. Slowly infusing mana into the environment. This will provide mana, both to yourself and your troops.


    While in its vicinity gain +10 Mana Regen.


    Drinking the water straight from the well is not advised. ]


    Yeeeah. I was totally going to take a drink from strange glowing water. Not.


    None of the information meant a thing to me. I didn''t even know where to start. The fact that a floating screen was presenting description to me, was challenging to unpack to begin with. I didn''t even question the screen, because that was hardly the strangest thing going on right now.


    But at least the structure looked like something you''d call a Moon Well. So that was an easy adjustment.


    "What is mana?" I asked to no one in particular. The word sounded familiar, but I couldn''t quite place it.


    [ Mana, also known as magical energy, is the Fuel of Life. ]


    "Magic? Really?" Despite everything, I had a hard time believing that. On the other hand, The Well was glowing and that fire did look pretty odd. But just because I didn''t know how it worked, didn''t make it magic. An odd chemical reaction perhaps.


    I thought back to the Rooms, shuddering, maybe it wasn''t so insane to think that magic might exist.


    Forcing my attention back to my surroundings, the stream the glowing water flowed into had a cobblestone path running parallel. Both lead down an obvious slope. So I was on a hill, or a mountain? Could be.


    I looked back up at the night sky, searching for something familiar. I could make out a few constellations. Hey, that looked very close to the sky from home, except there were a couple of extra lights I didn''t remember. Satellites maybe? I could also make out the glow of a City''s lights bouncing off the sky in one direction, must have been a big one. Maybe I could get home if I found this city, or at least answers to why I was brought here.


    Later, let''s put a pin in that.


    That helped me frame out the horizon though, which lead me to the thought that I might be in a valley. I was surrounded by mountains, insofar as I could tell in the darkness.


    I looked at the path, well when in doubt follow the trail. There were stones standing next to the path, about waist high also with whorls carved into them. These stones had a hole toward their tops filled with more of that blue flame. There was something sad, but also cheery about them. Bittersweet. Like they meant something more than I could understand. I checked over  the closest one, and slowly placed my hand next to the flame. I felt something, but it wasn''t warmth like from a normal flame. Huh.


    Wait. I knelt down and looked more closely at the grass, there were two types. One type was blue, which was just right around the Moon Well. The other type of grass was purple, the vast majority of the grass was this type. File that away under the growing pile of other shit that I didn''t understand.


    Walking along the path I must of passed a hundred of those stones, when I came to a pond. The water filling the pond still glowed with the silvery blue light. What caught my attention here though was the tree growing on an island in the center of the water. I had started seeing it''s outline on the way down, but didn''t think too much of it. Now that I was closer to it, I was shocked. First it was pretty big. Somewhere over 50ft tall, and it would take maybe three of me with arms fully extended to surround it. I noticed the bark was silver and the tri-pointed leaves were purple, just like the Branch I had embedded in my arm.


    "Is that where you come from?" I questioned the Branch. It twitched but nothing else happened. I guessed that was a maybe?


    I found a bridge, leading to the island, and thought it might be interest to see the big tree up close. The bridge was made out of purple wood also covered in swirls and whorls. The anchor posts had small holes in them that also had blue flames in them.


    As I crossed the Bridge I saw a giant face had been carved into the tree. The face somehow conveyed a sense of timelessness and wisdom.


    My Branch rustled,


    [ This is Meadran, descendant of the Great Trees. He has agreed to act as your Tree of Life.


    The Tree of Life is the heart of your outpost. If Meadran falls, you lose any chance of achieving the Company Goals.


    Trees of Life produce Wisps of various types. Wisps have many uses, including building and resource gathering. ]


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The eyes of the Tree began to glow.


    "HELLO YOUNG ONE!" A booming yet gentle voice filled the Valley. It''s echoes vibrated for a long time.


    "Ahh!" I tried to backup but fell on my ass.


    What the fuck?


    "H-hello? Are you Mr. Meadran?" Well it would have been rude, not to return his greeting. I cringed at the thought that I was on my ass talking to a tree. A tree that had just punked me.


    "HO HO! I HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO DO THAT IN A LONG TIME." He had toned down the volume some, but as giant Tree Person, he had a massive amount of bass.


    A talking tree. A tree that can talk! That was pretty cool.


    "It was funny. I guess everyone where you are from knows about you?" I got back to my feet and brushed myself off.


    "YES. AT LEAST OF MY KIND. YOUNG ONE, I KNOW IT IS SUDDEN BUT TOUCH MY BARK, SO WE MIGHT BETTER INTERFACE." Huh? I kind of wanted to touch him anyway. A talking Tree!


    My hand already reaching for him froze as years of training kicked in. As an electrician, you don''t touch strange things without testing them first.


    The inner battle didn''t last long, I got a stronger sense of trustworthiness from Meadran than I had rarely gotten from any human I''d ever met.


    The bark was warm and gave off a current of the same kind of tingles as the blue flames. Was that Mana? Seemed like a safe bet that it was a related force at the very least.


    [ Adjusting...]


    [ Tree of Life Meadran is connected to the Great Tree Network.


    Options:


    Choose Class


    Raise Level


    Create Wisp ]


    ''Ah, better, now we can communicate like this, up to a distance of 50 miles.'' Now that it was in my head, his voice sounded kind of like my Old Gramps. It was bizarrely comforting. Gramps had been a skilled carpenter, so I had gotten along with him far better than I did my father.


    "That is much better, Thank You!" Maybe, I could start getting some answers. Below my calm exterior, I was frightened, pissed and confused in equal measure. I needed some kind of touchstone, a stabilizing force. Meadran seemed like he could be exactly that.


    ''You need not speak, Young One. With concentration your thoughts can reach me.'' I got a sense of amusement in his thoughts, that bubbled into the air around us.


    I sighed, trying to hold myself back. No, I couldn''t do it, I couldn''t hold back any longer. ''Mr. Meadran what is going on?'' I''m sure my frustration was carried over in my thoughts.


    ''Oh right, you were picked by { THEM }. They are always stingy with information, knowledge is power after all, and they can not bare to part with power cheaply.'' (This is going to be hard to describe, { } will denote Layered Words or Thoughts. You hear the word but multiple meanings are forced into the same space. Even this way of looking at it isn''t quite accurate. In this case the layered meanings are, Annoyance, Grief, Sorrow, Obligation, and faintly Hope. There won''t be too much of this, but it will contain important hints when it happens.)


    I wobbled this was like someone pushed me from every side, but in my head. ''Ouch.''


    ''Sorry, I forgot how the Elder Speech can affect the very young races. The Company''s agents are all like that. They just understand what they need to understand, just because they want to know something, and forget or can''t imagine that other species can''t do the same.'' He paused, I could feel a sense of loss in the air now. ''We, but mostly you, are here to Grow, Adapt and Propagate, in order to return Harmony to this Corrupted World.'' He was emphasizing those concepts as if they had a much deeper meaning, ''Mana and by extension Life must be spread and defended, so that the planet itself might Reawaken.'' A sense of sorrow from him, and disappointment.


    I could kind of see what he was talking about in my head, a verdant World full of massive trees and huge megafauna. I had the sense that it was a savage paradise, red of tooth and claw, but beautiful and majestic.


    ''So "Save the Planet" but for real?'' I tried to show him all the bullshit I had encountered in the past.


    He chuckled, that was a neat thing. A tree chuckled, in my head. ''Yes, exactly so. You have been given options for spreading Life, yes. But also you have been given options for war. I imagine the people of this world will not let you carry out your task peacefully.''


    ''War, but I''m an Electrician, I don''t know anything about war. I barely know anything about fighting.'' Panic, yeah that''s panic. I sat down. My mind noticed that the purple grass was very comfortable. Almost like a natural cushion. It also had a gentle mint-like scent.


    ''Fear not, Young One. We shall teach you.'' He projected peace at me, or at least I think that''s what he did. I started feeling better.


    [ You are not Alone. ]


    A vast forest existed within the greater context of reality, and for a brief moment I was a part of it. This forest was made up of all the versions of all the Greater Trees, in all the universes all at once. It was too much for my fragile human brain to remain connected to, but it had given me a moment of purpose.


    ''Now we have to get you a Class, and the rest of your Starting Package. Then you have to meet the other side of your forces.'' He seemed sad that these other forces were necessary.


    I accessed the menu by touching him again. ''Choose Class.''


    [ Class Options,


    Please note you may change your Class in certain circumstances.


    You may also Multiclass. This can be potent but it has draw backs. ]


    [ Druid of Balance


    +2 to Will


    +3 to Spirit


    A Druid of Balance keeps the natural world in order. Removing Corrupting Influences.


    Starting Spells: Moonfire, Blessing of Elune ]


    [ Druid of Renewal


    +1 to Will


    +4 to Spirit


    A Druid of renewal heals the land, and it''s creatures. Makes clean the polluted.


    Starting Spell: Regrowth, Blessing of Nordrassil ]


    [ Druid of Extremes


    +3 to Will


    +2 to Spirit


    A Druid of Extremes finds the Middle by adding pressure at the Ends. Often they become unstable themselves, while gaining great power.


    Starting Spells: Sunfire, Blessing of Terra ]


    ''So I''m going to be a Druid then? I mean I''ve heard the name, but I have no clue what it means.'' I felt like I was getting shoehorned again. A forced choice with limited information isn''t really a choice.


    ''To be a Druid is to seek Wisdom. Understanding not just knowing is the goal of a Druid. For example, you know I am a tree, but do you understand what it is to be a tree?'' I had activated his teaching mode. Again images of my Gramps teaching me to work with wood filled my mind. He used to say that understanding the grain of the wood was critical.


    Being a tree. Well, no, I couldn''t say I understood a tree''s perspective. How would I even start to understand what it was like to be rooted in place, to breath through leaves or the draw in  nutrients with my roots?


    ''Seeking that understanding is the primary difference between a Druid and say a Wizard, Arcanist or Mage. Knowing is the Wizard''s struggle and passion. For a Druid, it is not enough. You might never gain the breadth of knowledge of a Wizard but you will live and breathe what you do know.'' Yeah, that kind of went over my head. ''Well it is better experienced than explained. That why the many awakened beasts follow the path of the Druid, when they find their minds expanded. So learning by doing is the best.''


    I was sure he was poking fun at me. I was okay with that. It was a normal thing in an abnormal situation.


    I was already sitting down, so I took my time and thought about it. Rolling the bits and pieces around in my mind. So far, I got that I was here to heal the World, somehow. So it seemed best to be a Class that was structured around that concept. It also sounded like I would get some kind of troops to protect me. Yeah, and if I don''t like it I could change it. Maybe.


    ''Druid of Renewal.''


    [Adjusting...]


    Green energy rose from the Earth and sank into me. Everything burned, but in that good way, like after a great workout. Of course, that was a little messed up when it happens in your eyeballs, and other places that don''t have muscles. Odd and disturbing but not completely unpleasant. It kept going.


    [ You have gained +1 Will


    You have gained +4 Spirit


    You have gained the Ability: Mana Sense


    You have gained the Ability: See Ley Line


    You have gained the Ability: Shape Mana


    You have gained the Skill: Ritual at rank 1


    You have gained the Skill: Concentration at rank 1 ]


    ''HA HA, Welcome Ryan Crestwood, the newest Druid of Renewal.'' Meadran sent his joy at me, and our sense of connection strengthened.


    I passed out.

 Chapter 4

    Meadran spent the next few hours showing me how to cast spells. It was easier than you might think, he created the images and feelings of spellcraft directly it in my head. In fact, that made me consider why Meadran would known how to use mana well enough to teach me.


    ''Wait. Does that mean that you can cast spells too?'' It was obvious in hindsight, but the words just spilled out of my mouth.


    ''Yes, but I have to be in my other form. Let us pray it does not become needed.'' He had another form, that sounded awesome. Though from the feelings he sent my way, that form was for emergencies only.


    Casting was all about shaping mana into specific forms, and then projecting it by will towards your goal. Shaping Mana was somewhat like shaping play doh but with hands that only existed in your mind. Mana''s texture was springy, like a firm memory foam. It didn''t like to change shape so you had to convince it, often through sheer stubbornness. As you managed to get it to change, the effect compounded, which meant that spells started slow but finished fast. This led to the phenomenon the further along a casting you were the harder it became to stop.


    We spent most of this time casting Regrowth repeatedly. Meadran suggested that this spell should set the foundation to all my strategies going forward. Which was fine by me because Regrowth was fun to cast. I cast it on myself and on Meadran and on the grass all around us.


    My arm branch had shivered several times, each time it showed me a listing for the spell.


    [ Regrowth A minor healing spell that grows with the Caster


    May be Channeled for increase potency


    Also Cleanses minor pollutants, and poisons. ]


    The repeated prompts had been annoying, but the branch seemed to calm down after a few repetitions.


    The sensation of Regrowth being cast on me the Spell was like a rush of water flowing through me, it''s green glow traveling from the ground up. My nerve ending tingled with a slight buzzing, a rather pleasant feeling actually. Meadran said it helped him to deal with some of the pollutants in the air and soil. According to him, it was some of the worst he had ever encountered, that wasn''t purely demonic in origin.


    That threw me for a loop. Oh, great, so demons were a thing. I could have lived a thousand years without know that tidbit, and I would have felt no loss over the lack.


    Meadran''s statement was reinforced when Regrowth was cast on the grass, which then visibly grew. I could even feel some of the crud gunking up the plants in the soil vanish. The spell gave me a rudimentary connection to its target, and their "nervous" system. This would, Meadran assured me allow me to diagnose issues in my patients.


    Abilities could be used just by willing it, or even in some cases without any effort at all. Like Sense Mana, which allowed a rudimentary ability to both see and feel the energies of magic. It also made Shaping a lot easier. Meadran said that it wasn''t absolutely required to work with mana, but it saved a ton of frustration. Without it gathering more mana was an exercise in gathering water with a sieve, while wearing a blindfold.


    Thanks to my ability Ley Line Sight, I could see the faint muddy yellow Ley Line running across the valley. This freaked me out at first, the line was visible through the ground which was giving me vertigo.


    Meadran explained that Ley Lines were part of the complex exchange of living energy and mana, as well as acting as the life blood of an awakened world. A concept he didn''t seem willing to cover yet.


    This Ley Line seemed weak and almost exhausted, but where it passed the water from the Moon Well or Meadran''s roots, it spark a bright golden color as if it was gaining strength. Meadran assured me that as life returned to the Valley, so too would the line gain strength.


    After I seemed to develop my mana shaping skills to be able to cast every time I tried, Meadran called a stop.


    ''Here are your starting items.'' The blue box, I had picked in the Desk Hell from before, popped into existence. I opened it to find, a set of blue cotton clothes and a heavier coat-like green robe with a voluminous hood. Meadran said both would act like minor armor, due to the mana woven into them. There was also got a rather nice looking staff. It was covered in vining patterns and stained a rich and lustrous shade of brown.


    [ Staff of Beginnings


    +1 Spirit


    +5% Mana Regen ]


    Apparently Spirit was the primary stat for Spellcasting and Rituals. Will helped to maintain concentration for Channeling or Long Rituals.


    Speaking of Rituals, they were like spells but took a lot longer and you used props, such as circles and items called foci to carry some of the burden and mana cost. You could generally only perform a ritual once per set amount of time, and only at certain points in time. Some could only be used in certain places and yet others could only be used by certain people. There was some crossover with religious practices here. Though Meadran didn''t think that adherence to any particular God was require for any of the rituals he knew.


    He taught me the Ritual of the Bright Moon, which could be performed any time after the sunset, and only once every day. A simple circle is drawn or scratched into the ground, with the moon in all of it''s phases drawn around the circle. You needed any mana infused object as a sacrifice. I used one of Meadran shed leaves. The ritualist and anyone within 25ft would gain eyesight that made the Night almost as Bright as Day.


    Wow, it really worked, I could see the whole valley now. Oh snap, what''s that? It looked like a brass colored pyramid with a blue Crystal floating over it.


    "What the hell is that!?" It looked alien in origin, though I was only going off of some half felt instinct. Aliens! I mean Magic was real, so, why wouldn''t there be Aliens.


    Meadran could sense my disturbed thoughts. I could felt him moving his awareness around the Valley. It felt like thousands of little gnats hit your skin all at once. ''Ah you can see the Khalai Nexus, now. Yes, you''ll need to go activate it after you get your companion. Sadly, like as with the Kaldorei, much will be restricted to you.'' Sometimes, I only understood a fraction of what he said, but I was getting used to feeling lost. I decided to wait and see.


    ''Here is your Companion.'' A giant golden wolf appeared. Giant, like I could almost ride him big. Golden like his fur was actually made of some type of golden metal. Wolf as in...awesome!


    ''Hello, Small Brother. I am called Lumiar.'' He chuffed a greeting while sitting. Correction, giant golden TALKING wolf! This day was really shaping up to be amazing. Magic and trees and wolves and aliens. It was a lot to take in, but I had to admit I was getting more excited by the minute. What other wonders would I see?


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Then my thought turn to Ruger, alone, probably wondering where I was. My heart sank, and I could felt the beginning of a deep depression stirring inside my mind.


    ''Worry not Young One. Your former companion will be well cared for.'' Meadran tried to ease my troubled heart.


    Lumiar added, ''He''s probably getting belly scratches and all the crunchy bones he can handle right about now, from beautiful Kaldorei Huntresses. I''m Jealous.'' Yeah, if I was a canine I''d be jealous too. For some reason, I couldn''t yet understand, I trusted these two to not lead me wrong. Not that I seemed to have other options right now.


    I offered Lumiar ear scritches, and he accepted.


    ''Well this isn''t so bad.'' His mind voice rumbled, ''You''ve obviously done this before. Nice. Still, I like the ladies, so don''t get any ideas.'' He huffed, with a canine grin. We all looked at each other and laughed, each in our own ways.


    Yeah, I guess this wasn''t so bad.


    Meadran sent me off to the Nexus, right around the time the Sun was starting to lighten up the sky. It took longer for my eyes to adjust to the new light levels, because of the Bright Moon ritual.


    The ambient mana levels had risen, and Meadran now had enough Mana stored for the next step. He had me queue up 15 Wisps, so that they would be ready when I got back. 5 of a golden variety, 5 silver and 5 blue ones. He said there would be even more types later, but it would be a while before we could get to them.


    Lumiar decided to stay and talk to Meadran, while I traveled to the opposite end of the Valley from where I started. To tell the truth, I was getting the impression that Lumiar didn''t really like me. At least, not in the way most canines seemed to, but maybe I was just imagining it. With so many things going on at the time, I filed my concerns away for later examination.


    The Pyramid was a lot taller than I had at first thought, a few hundred yards, maybe. That irregular Blue Crystal on the summit shone brightly in the early morning sun. I was a little worried it would attract attention.


    I hadn''t noticed until I gotten closer, but the Nexus was flanked by two large crystals encompassed by rotating brass colored rings, floating about 30 feet off the ground. The crystal seemed to glow on their own. My approach made me aware of yet another type of energy surrounding me. The crystals seemed to be the source of it. The energy wasn''t mana though there were some similarities. This energy felt lighter, more diffuse, but more active. Perhaps it could have been described as similar to the difference between a liquid and a gas. Mana being the liquid in this cobbled together analogy.


    The Branch on my arm twitched a couple of times but didn''t do anything else. No screen appeared. Hmm. That made me antsy.


    This whole area made me a little nervous. The zone around the Moon Well and Meadran was comfortable, alive and vibrant. Natural. This place felt more cold and empty, despite the more buzzing sensation of it''s energy. It felt all too... constructed. My senses warned that these buildings didn''t belong here.


    At the base of the elaborately styled Nexus, the path lead to a recessed area, that held the door. Two panels slid out of the way to reveal a mostly empty space inside. At its center a small floating crystal similar to ones outside but only the size of a basket ball. There was a large panel of transparent material bounded by a thick brass frame. It reminded me of a monitor, so maybe this was the control center?


    My mind quickly made the connection that I was suppose to touch the crystal. There didn''t seem to be anything else to interact with. I looked around again. Nothing. Again years of training argued against touching strange objects, but Meadran worked out to be a positive experience. "Fuck it." I placed my hand on top of the Crystal.


    [ Adjusting... ] My branch was trying to sync up with something, it''s shaking was subtle but distracting.


    ''En Taro Adun, Executor!'' A feminine voice entered my mind. ''This Outpost stands Ready.'' En Taro what now? Lost again, but I did grasp that this was an outpost. Whatever that meant.


    Also, I was starting to get worried that way too many things seemed to be able to speak in my head. I mean I didn''t think I would be embarrassed by anything going on in there, but why take chances?


    [ Khalai Nexus has been connect to the Great Tree Network


    Options:


    Choose Class


    Raise Level


    Create Probe ]


    Probes? The aliens had probes. I couldn''t help it, I started laughing at the absurdity of that realization.


    "Should I build Probes?" My voice vibrated with my chuckling amusement.


    ''It is not for me to dictate strategy to you, Executor.'' I was getting the impression the voice was like an AI, mostly cold and remote feeling responses.


    "What do I use to Build probes?"


    ''All Khalai construction is centered around minerals and vespene Gas. This Outpost has 500 Minerals Stored. Further resources must be harvested by Probes or converted from native resources. Probes need enough energy from Pylons to be activated but are autonomous after that.''


    I nodded, alright, this was making sense. Whereas Meadran''s folk were magical, these Khalai were technological. Even though I could barely grasp how crystals would be responsible for all of this. The Pylons, the AI mentioned were probably those large brass ringed crystal things outside. The probes needed them to activate, did that make them an energy generator?


    I found myself eager to find out. A new type of technology to play with fascinated me.


    I queued up two Probes. That used up 100 Minerals. Now we are cooking with gas. Heh. Well not yet, but we''d get there.


    A blue light hologram appeared of a somewhat round, almost fish like shape. Fish like because that''s what the fins reminded me of. I had nothing else to compare it to. The construction process finished pretty quick, just a few minutes. It had almost been like watching my old 3D printer work.


    The Probe was obviously a robot, with a single large blue eye like sensor. It could float, which was interesting, how did it do that? There were no noticeable signs of a propulsion system. The Probe made a noise that I could tell meant, "Ready." Though I had no clue why I could understand it. I wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. I actually started reaching for it, before I managed to restrain myself.


    "Okay Little Robo-Buddy, can you look around for these resources that we need to build things?"


    It beeped at me which I thought meant, "Sure thing!" and zoomed outside much faster than I would have thought. I repeated the command when the next Probe was finished. I had no clue if I should make more now or wait, but maybe I should try to satisfy my curiosity.


    "Outpost can I get schematics for the Probes?" That way, I wouldn''t have to take apart one of the Probes. Which for some reason, seemed like a cruel idea now.


    ''Placing on screen now Executor.'' The images I was looking over meant almost nothing to me, their methodology was too alien to my training. If I wanted to learn what made them tick I''d have to spend ages learning to decipher the Khalai approach to tech. So I was back to the disassembly option. I queued up three more Probes. When they were done, I started to reach towards them.


    NO! They were too cute, I couldn''t do it. With a sigh, I sent them off to help their friends.


    Then I asked the Outpost AI to show me any lessons on the History of the Khalai. I had to admit that was pretty epic stuff. They seemed like real badasses. I wondered if I could get some of them to help me out? I asked the AI who I had started calling Alina, if that was possible.


    ''Negative Executor, there are no Khalai within detectable range. We will be limited to robotic units only.'' Well the Khalai seemed to be excellent in the field of robotics, so that would be great.


    "What is the detectable range?"


    ''A five mile radius around the Pylons. Until construction of a Fleet Beacon is completed. Then we will have scanners capable of reaching out several hundred light years.'' She continued to explain how the Pylons worked. Void field disruptions created some kind of friction in the fabric of reality, then some form of harmonics was utilized to capture and convert the energy released. Yeah, that was the part that I sort of understood. The rest was way beyond my ability to process.


    I was a little bummed out by not being able to call on the aid of a squad of Khalai, a handful of those awesome warriors she had shown me could probably conquer half of my old planet before breakfast.


    One of the Probes returned, it beeped at me. "Found something useful." I followed it to a modest hole in the ground, it flew inside. I managed to squeeze through, the space thankfully opened up into a cave system. I didn''t want to go exploring just now, though I was tempted. I had always enjoyed visiting caves back home. Still, I needed some spelunking equipment before I started played at journey to the center of the earth.


    The Little Robot knew the way, so I followed. A couple of minutes later, we came across the rest of the Probes. They were zapping, what looked like a large Quartz formation, with plasma? Something like an arc welder maybe? No, the zaps were too sustained for that.


    I asked the Probe that led me here, "Are these the minerals we need?"


    It sounded out a longer series of Beeps, "No, but these materials can be converted at the Outpost."


    I nodded. "Alright, four of you harvest this up, maybe widen and improve the path to get to here between trips. One of you keep looking for the gas we need or something we can convert into it."


    Yeah, this was really starting to be understandable. I was digging it. Haha!


    I decided to head back to Meadran and Lumiar and check out what the Wisps could do.

 Chapter 5

    I had gotten swept up by all of this. I wasn''t putting much though into my actions because, it was easy to lose track of just what was going on. So many new and fascinating things had been presented to me. Magic was real, and I could now make little Robo-Buddies! Very exciting.


    It almost made me wish I had played whatever games they were from.


    Amazing as all of these things were, none of it changed the fact that I had been at the very at least stolen from home. Maybe I had even died, and this was all some twisted version of an afterlife. Or possibly, it was all a fever dream while I was in a coma.


    Yeah, I remembered what the Desk Thing stated. That I hadn''t died, but how could I know that was the truth?


    Then there was the constant worrying about people I''d left behind, and the things I had left undone. What was my family doing? Was my Sister okay? Was George? Sure, Lumiar said Ruger was being taken care of, but how would I know that? Even if he was being properly cared for, I still missed him. What would happen to my business and my house? What about all my customers?


    I was on the verge of tears, but I choked them back, that was no way for a grown man to behave. I had to get a hold of myself. The only thing left for me to control right now was myself, so I tried to hold it all together.


    I started gulping air rapidly, uncontrollably. What was this? Some kind of panic attack? I forced my mouth closed and gritted my teeth. I bore down on my breathing and tried to steady its rythym, once I had begun to calm down I tried taking long deep breaths. My diaphragm muscles kept spasming. I started getting dizzy, light headed.


    I did the best I could to cast Regrowth, thinking maybe it would help. Perhaps the worse Regrowth I had cast to date washed over me. My breathing slowed and my head seemed to clear.


    Shaking myself off, I chastised myself. Yeah, this behavior wouldn''t do. Whatever any of this meant, whatever was going on, I had to face it on my feet, and with a rational mind.


    I had to be more like those Khalai Alina had shown me, no fear, no hesitation. What was it they said, "My Life for Aiur." Awesome, complete dedication to getting the job done. If I wanted to take control of my situation again, that''s the attitude I had to cultivate.


    Of course, they had something to believe in. Something to fight for. What did I have?


    I''d like to think Meadran, Lumiar and I were getting along pretty well. I could also see the theoretical importance of cleaning up a World. To be fair, I lacked any connection to this world, and its people. That should be one of the first things I changed. Was that going to be enough? It would have to be, at least for now. I''d make it work, I''d always managed to find a way to fix things before.


    I could do this. I started walking again.


    The air was even thicker with Mana by the time I got back to the Tree of Life.


    Lumiar was resting with his head on his paws, eyes closed. His breathing was soft and untroubled. I found myself jealous of his canine sensibilities. To them their was no reason to worry about the future.


    There were little balls of light dancing through the air. The patterns they forms were complex, even appearing random at first. Yet continued observation revealed an organized system. Mesmerizing. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it. I was only half successful.


    ''Young One, I trust all went well with the Nexus?'' I explained what I found there. ''Ah good, we shouldn''t need to cross purposes. It is time to teach you about Wisps.''


    A long story made short, the Wisps were kind of like the Kaldorei version of a Probe. They were Mana formed with purpose, or maybe even cleansed spirits of departed ones. The Kaldorei themselves had never reached any kind of consensus on the matter. They seemed whimsical, almost childlike. Yet they had no problem performing repetitive tasks, with consistent results. They seemed friendly, but had no problem leading enemies to their deaths. They could and would fight for their forests.


    The Golden Wisps were for growing trees and harvesting wood. Four of them could combine together to form a tree. A Golden wisp could form a bond with a tree over time to slowly but safely harvest wood from it. The tree even benefited from this by growing larger and faster than it would have otherwise. Once there was harvested lumber the Wisps could build Kaldorei structures and buildings, as if by instinct. Later they could be trained to build other types of buildings.


    Sometimes the Trees they formed would become Treants or Tree People, but it was rare maybe a 1 in a thousand chance of it happening. Later as our abilities improved, they would gain the power to turn trees into Treants or "wake them up" as Meadran put it.


    The Silver Wisps would work with stone and could entangle, with a kind of ethereal root system, already established mines for Gold and Other Metals. I could see some synergy there with the Probes, the Probes could find and build a mine, and the Wisps could wrap it up. While slower than conventional mining, it was far more ecologically sound. Elder versions of these Wisps could even slowly regrow metals, though no one understood how they did it.


    Silver Wisps could build infrastructure like cobblestone paths, the stone lights and even gateway frames. Later, they would be able to build certain important command structures.


    Ten silver Wisps could combine into a new Moon Well, to spread Mana and water. Magical Irrigation, what a boon that would be for farming


    Five could combine into a kind of moving statue. While they were rooted in place, they could throw minor Mana Bolts at things. So a defensive structure then? That could be useful. Also, other Wisps could bond with the Statues to change their effects and make them stronger.


    Blue Wisps existed to spread Mana. They could do this slowly by just dancing in an area, or rapidly by exploding. The explosions were quite potent for such a small thing. That could be a useful tool for defense as well.


    Five Blue Wisps could combine into an Elder Wisp. These were more focused. They could travel and leave their forests. Best of all they could go unnoticed for as long as was needed. Only a potent Mage or Druid could sense an Elder Wisp, if it didn''t want to be found.


    That lead me to a decision that these would be some of my first backup troops, as I explored the World. Something I was rapidly becoming more eager to do. If I could have a higher degree of safety, all the better.


    I asked Meadran if he could direct things while I explored, after all, it would be ridiculous to waste that time with production sitting idle. ''I can spawn Wisps on my own every so often, but nowhere near as fast as under your direction. Of Course, I can order the Wisps to build things, and if you give permission I can even order the Probes and the Nexus.'' Yeah, that was probably a good idea.


    I had a burning itch to leave soon to find out more about where I was. To fully understand the scope of the task before me.


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    ''Nexus can you read me?'' Connecting through the Psifield generated by the pylons was a simple act of will. It was almost too easy.


    ''Executor. Awaiting Orders.'' Feeling the psychic voice of Alina through the Psifield was interesting. Everything about her seemed less cold and mechanical, when filtered through that lens.


    ''Add Meadran to the Command of Nexus resources.'' I tried to emulate the steady voice of the leaders I had witnessed, in the history of the Khalai. Fake it until you make it, right?


    ''Acknowledged! Welcome Commander Meadran.''


    "HO HO!" Meadran rumbled out loud. He seemed greatly amused by the oddities of the situation.


    "Beep, Beep." One of the Probes had floated up while I was talking with Meadran. "What was that?" I asked. It repeated its beeps, "Found Hydrocarbon Source. Show?"


    "Lead the way, Little Buddy." Well, maybe I''d have to delay my trip for a little while yet.


    Turned out that the Probe had found oil. At least I think that''s what it was, it was oozing out of the ground like black ichor out of a wound.


    "Okay, what now?" I had no clue how to proceed. Sure, I knew oil was valuable, but how did we utilize it?


    The beeps this time translated to, "Build Assimilator. Works Automatically. Convert Hydrocarbon into Vespene." So you don''t have to babysit it? That''s good.


    ''Executor, an air vehicle has been detected within sensor range.'' Alina''s psychic voice cut into my previous musings. Could this be a good thing? No, I doubted that possibility. It was most likely some government or military agents coming to investigate strange activity on their land. Any meeting with such people likely wouldn''t go well.


    To say I distrusted any form of authority, would be accurate. History revealed that the worst enemy people face was usually their own leadership.


    ''Options? Defenses?'' Damn, I hadn''t even made one of the Wisp''s Statues yet. Nor had I combined the blue Wisps into an Elder Wisp yet. Damned stupid of me.


    ''Meadran, let''s get a statue up to defend you. Also get some Elder Wisps going, queue up more of the blue and silver Wisps.'' Shit, I got caught with my pants down. Let''s hope it wasn''t too late.


    ''Of Course, Young One.'' He was calm, likely he knew something I didn''t.


    ''Executor, construction of a Forge will allow construction of the Photon Cannon, a potent defensive structure. However, we would need more Vespene gas to begin the process.'' Alina chimed in. That sounded like just what we needed.


    ''Have a Probe build an Assimilator... '' The Probe beside me, zapped the air over the oil seep. A lightless void surrounded by blue energy appeared. I was just going to assume that will turn into an Assimilator. My face was probably as expressionless as my heart was empty. I felt foolish for not getting started on infrastructure sooner. I had gotten too absorbed in the wonderous nature of my new surroundings.


    ''Ooookay, once we get enough gas to build a Forge, set it up right by the Nexus. Then build a Photon Cannon at the best angle to cover the air above the Outpost.''


    ''By your command.'' Wait, that sounded like...nah, no time to worry about that. My paranoia at AI running rampant could wait until we were safe.


    I didn''t have an attack spell. The Blessing of Nordrassil increased my ability to heal, which was no help here. According to Meadran, I could throw raw or barely shaped mana and it would do a bit of damage, I supposed that would have to be better than nothing. Once I got to whatever passed for civilization around here, I''d have to arm up as best I could.


    About that time, I became aware of a boxy looking transport vehicle hovering over the Valley. It was black and grey, with an orange stripe and the words, "Kang Tao". Sounded Chinese, was I in China? No, of course I wasn''t. It wouldn''t be written in English characters, or at least, it was much less likely. I had never heard of Kang Tao but I was going to guess it was a company not a government. Which wasn''t a better scenario in my opinion. Corporations were a menace in my world, I had no reason to believe they would be different here.


    I had no fucking clue how it was flying up there, those thrusters I saw didn''t look like they''d be able to generate enough lift. But I could sure hear them though. So maybe they were outputting enough thrust, by just dumping a lot more power. Seemed inefficient. That and a lack of an aerodynamic design, they were wasting a lot of fuel. But if it worked, who was I to argue with success, when we were talking about a FUCKING FLYING CAR!


    Awesome, I wanted one! I wanted it now! I wanted to take it apart and make it better. I was laughing, why was I laughing? My sanity was in question, but I was hardly surprised by my own reaction. I loved cars, and enjoyed working on them.


    Well, I guess I''d found an additional goal. It still wasn''t much, but it was another thread to tie it all together.


    By this time I''d noticed that the air vehicle was moving slowly, back and forth. As if it was searching. Nothing in its motions suggested it had found anything out of the ordinary.


    ''Meadran, can they not see us?'' I mean giant tree with bright purple leaves, and a huge brass pyramid with a massive bright blue crystal on top. All of that screamed, "Notice me." They''d have to be blind not to have found us by now. Something else must be going on.


    ''Ah, The Company must have surrounded the valley with a Veil. A type of stealth magic. However, experience tells me, it either won''t last, or it will leak some of the energies we are using. Maybe both options will prove to be true.'' He seemed a little embarrassed that he hadn''t thought about the possibility sooner.


    ''So they really can''t see us? That''s crazy. I guess we should ignore them for now?'' Though it was almost impossible to ignore the loud metal box overhead. It''s noise was starting to grate on my ears. At least it would give us more time to prepare.


    A larger blue Wisp came to hover near me, just about the time the Assimilator was done. The structure had started working. I could easily feel its energies moving, but I couldn''t hear anything from inside it. Wait, there was a very faint hissing noise. One that made me a little uncomfortable. I couldn''t have told you why I was nervous, only that the sound made my skin crawl.


    The what I presumed was an Elder Wisp, slowly circled me. I thought it was trying to guard me. Good. It certainly felt more focused and dependable than it''s kin.


    The Probe that had started the Assembler ran off, probably to start the Forge. It hadn''t been very long still we had first seen the intruding vehicle, even though it felt like an eternity had passed. This meant that building the Forge shouldn''t take very long.


    I had seen in the videos Alina had shown me, that Probes can use their zappers to fight. It wasn''t much of a weapon in the struggles the Khalai had been involved in, but maybe here it would be more devastating. If fact having seen them core through solid rock in seconds lead me to believe that them would be quite the little powerhouses. I had Alina queue up five more Probes. It nothing else, they could help hold off any trouble until we could get some larger weapons online.


    I''d started making my way back to Meadran. I was getting a good workout with all this hiking up and down this Valley.


    ''The Statue of the Keeper is ready. It should a little more security.'' He had placed the Statue just across the pond and next to the bridge entrance. It was at least twice as large as me, maybe a bit more. It looked like a Centaur, but the animal parts were less like a horse and more like a deer. The torso was heavily muscled and the head was narrow with long pointed ears, like an elf with deer like antlers. I thought it reminded me of an elf but the ears were just crazy long, so perhaps it was something else altogether.


    The Kaldorei were some kind of elf-like people? While interesting it was of no immediate help, so file that away for later.


    The Statue radiated a stable, solid strength and a radiated a soft blue glow. It actually bowed its head to me, very slowly. I returned the gesture, it would''ve been rude not to. For some reason, I wasn''t in the slightest shocked by a moving statue at the point.


    The flying vehicle seemed to give up and took off to the west.


    Oh, thank goodness. Suddenly, I was exhausted. The adrenaline had run out, and I needed to rest, but I needed to set up more buildings plans first.


    I combined four golden Wisps into a tree, this one had brown bark but golden yellow leaves. The last of our currently active golden Wisps started rotating around the new tree, it was leaving sparkling trails of mana behind it as it did. After just a few seconds, I could almost see the tree growing. I threw a Regrowth on it and another on the soil below it, thinking that anything might help and it certainly wouldn''t hurt.


    Another five silver Wisps had been produced, I sent them to make a new Statue on the opposite side of the pond from the current one. I had seen that while the main North-South path didn''t connect back there, A path led up into the western mountains. So I had them build right where that path ended by the pond. A silent sentry to guard Meadran''s back.


    I''d have to explore that path in a little while, I was betting that it led out of the Valley. The wider world awaited me, but I was too exhausted to venture out of safety right now.


    Five more blue Wisps became a second Elder Wisp. Which began to circle me as well.


    I queued up a mix of Wisps types to be formed for later, asked Meadran to handle making more when they were done, and to setup some more defense at key points.


    My yawn almost staggered me, as it was I wobbled. My eyes were burning slightly and kept closing on their own.


    I laid down next to Lumiar, who was still napping, on the soft purple grass. It''s faint minty scent was calming. It was also far softer than grass had any right to be. Nice.


    Sleep crept up, and took its due.

 Chapter 6

    I gradually woke up, to the "sounds" of Meadran and Lumiar talking. Their minds were bussing back and forth. I couldn''t quite make out what they were discussing, but Meadran seemed upset at Lumiar for some reason. The golden wolf''s voice was calm and gentle, as if talking to a child.


    My eyes slowly pried themselves open, only to be greeted with a deep darkness. Night had fallen while I slept. I wasted no time performing the Ritual of the Bright Moon. It only took a few minutes, though I was worried about being able to draw the circle properly. My unsteady hands nearly fumbled one of Meadran leaves that I kept in my pocket just for this purpose. It was stressful but I finally succeeded, and being able to see clearly was worth it.


    Lumi''s tail started wagging as he noticed me finishing up. Of course, he had been able to see me the whole time but did me the courtesy of not messing with me while I was nearly blind. Still I could help but feel that his wagging tail was a lie, or an empty gesture. As if he wasn''t happy to see me at all. No, there was more, I got the sense he didn''t want to deal with me, if he could avoid it.


    "Everything Alright? You two seem upset." Lumi''s ears flicked. A nervous twitch. However, I wasn''t going to push the issue with one of my only potential allies right now.


    ''Yes, Young One. We have been setting things up. I hope you approve.'' Meadran''s mind felt full of vigor, like he had just had his fill of coffee. Though I caught an undertone of something like anger or perhaps disappointment. I couldn''t help but be curious, what would be like coffee to a Tree? A special kind of water, or a particularly filtered form of light? No it had to be the increased Mana levels in the air, right?


    ''Small Brother, the flying metal fish have been quite busy.'' He gestured with his head, and I turned towards the south bank of the pond by where the path curves around to get to the bridge from the Moon Well. Now there was a structure there. It had a circular brass platform for its base and hovering over that platform was a brass sphere slightly larger than me. A large blue Crystal shaped like a lens was scanning around the area but it paid extra attention to the sky. Even further south right next to the Moon Well, I saw a new Pylon floating. I turned back to look once more at the new Structure.


    My embedded arm Branch, my Tree Connection... My Branch Tree Connection or BTC twitched. I wondered if I would ever get used to that sensation. While it wasn''t unpleasant, it was almost impossible to ignore.


    [ Photon Cannon


    Defensive Structure


    Armor: 20


    Shield: 10


    Damage: 15


    A Psi Powered Weapon Platform. It can detect Stealthed Units. ]


    Nice. A Tough Cannon that can find hidden targets? That''s the dream right there. I think I had like 1 armor... Oh right I could find out.


    ''System''


    [ Name: Ryan Crestwood


    Class: Druid of Renewal


    Level: 1 / XP: 300


    Race: Human (Terra 213,451)


    Stats - Body: 5 / Reflex: 4 / Tech: 5 / Intelligence: 3 / Cool: 3 / Will: 5 / Spirit: 11 (+3 Modifier)


    Abilities - Sense Mana / Ley Line Sight / Shape Mana


    Skills - Rituals: 2 / Concentration: 1


    Spells - Regrowth: 1 / Blessing of Nordrassil: 1


    Free Points: 0 / Company Points: 1000 / Tree Points: 13


    Weapon: Staff of Beginning - Damage 1 / +1 Spirit / +5% Mana Regen


    Armor: Starting Cotton Clothes - Armor 1, Stating Druid''s Robe - Armor 1 ]


    Alright, I had 2 armor, so yeah the Photon Cannon is a hell of a lot tougher than me. And could blow me into smithereens. I hoped it would work, against whatever''s out there.


    ''Meadran, do you know anything about these points?'' It was silly of me to not have asked about them earlier. These game like elements were foreign to me. Thought they weren''t too hard to make guesses about, as long as I took the time to examine them. However, I was certain that assumptions could get me killed.


    ''Ah yes. The Free Points are given when you level, and as a reward for some rare quests. They are used to increase your Stats. The Company Points are given as Quest rewards and for defeating certain Enemies. You can spend them in the Company Shop, once we obtain one. They are use to gain Powers and Items. It might be a while before we can build the store though. Tree Points are given when we plant trees, you can spend them, with me, to get rare seeds. Sometimes the seeds are of rare plant or trees perhaps even Elder Treants like myself.''


    Oh neat, definitely something to check out. I''d have to earn a ton of those, especially the Company points. Powers sound useful.


    I examined the Statue of the Keeper across the bridge. My BTC twitched.


    [ Statue of the Keeper


    Defensive Structure


    Armor: 15


    Damage: 5 Ranged, 10 Melee


    A Statue built to honor Cenarius. Can detect stealthed Units. Becomes Stealthed in woodlands. ]


    Not as good as the Photon Cannon, but easier to construct. Though maybe, being stealthed in woodlands makes it better? At least here in the Valley. Anyone would have a harder time killing what they couldn''t see. I''d have to think about that more.


    My eyes searched around and saw two new trees near the one we had grown before my nap. One looked somewhat like Meadran, have the same coloration, but obviously wasn''t a treant. The other new tree had red leaves and yellow gold bark. Golden Wisps had bonded with both already, dancing their lazy circles around the trunks of the trees. How many more until this area becomes a "Woodland"? Probably many more than I would have assumed.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Meadran told me he had some of the new Probes excavate a Mine and had already had some silver Wisps entangle it. That meant we had lumber and ore rolling it. Also, some new minerals like that first Quartz deposit had been found and a natural gas pocket was located deep in the caves, the Probes were taking care of those.


    Everything seemed to be well in hand, so there wasn''t much for me to do here right now. Until the Mana Density was greater, and we found the right seeds, we couldn''t build most of the Kaldorei Buildings. So Meadran would make another Moon Well as soon as we had enough Silver Wisps.


    In the Nexus Alina could direct the Forge to upgrade the Armor, Shields and Weapons of Khalai Units and Buildings. That sounded great. Then at her suggestion, we queued up a Cybernetics Core.


    ''You must construct additional Pylons.'' Alina intoned.


    We set a couple up to the west of Meadran''s island and placed another Photon Cannon over there as well. That''s the direction the flying car went and the direction that I could see a city''s lights.


    I gathered up a couple of Probes to aid the two Elder Wisps in guarding me.


    With these issues out of the way, I thought it was high time to go see what was out there.


    At the end of the western path up into the Mountains, was a cave. Its opening was framed by a purple wooden archway, seeming vaguely Japanese in shape but with Celtic-like knotwork carved into it. I could feel some energy in the wood, but it was faint. Or trying to hide maybe? Was this part of the Veil Meadran had mentioned?


    My two Elder Wisps checked it out, while the two Probes stayed near me. They dived into the cave first. The logic there was they wouldn''t be seen, or at least they shouldn''t be seen. They came back and flew in a circle, that meant good or all clear. We had worked out some simple signals before I marched up here.


    As we walking through the cave, I took note of a few branches. There might be minerals or metals down each of them, but now was not the time. It was nice that the Bright Moon ritual work in these conditions. Otherwise the Probes would have had to guild me.


    We came out into a nearly barren wasteland. It looked very similar to the setting for the Mad Max films. Pathetic, half-dead looking plants and trees, almost no biodiversity. It broke my heart to see it. The plants were at least something, but ultimately, it was mostly just sand and rock out here. The air was dry, and since it was night cold. A true desert.


    I could make out some roads and quite a few scattered buildings in the area, the moonlight gave everything and eerie cast. But off in the distance behind another set of mountains was the source of all that light, I had seen the day before, and there was a ton of it. A large city of some description was waiting for me.


    Scanning around there was a canyon with a torn up bridge, roughly a mile or two away. I wondered how I''d get across that.


    ''Meadran, checking in. It''s so lifeless out here. It feels more like the ruins of a civilization, than something I might be able to save.'' I was sure he felt my sadness. Though I was thrown off by how much the sights bothered me.


    ''Worry not, Young One, we can fix it.'' He sent hope.


    "Well nothing to do, but to start walking." I had begun to carefully pick my way down the mountain. While there was no path, it wasn''t as steep on this side. But hey, my staff came in really handy as a walking stick.


    I got to the bridge, and the wide canyon gaped before me. The shadows kept the secrets of its depths hidden from my sight, regardless of my rituals. There was a northwest to southeast road in very poor repair running alongside that canyon. I found a chuck of shattered asphalt and threw it into the canyon, listening for the clunk. It took over a minute before I heard the sound I was waiting for. Yeah that canyon was deeper than I thought. I had the thought that if we could get down there, it''d be a good place to hide a little outpost. In fact, I glanced over at one of the Probes.


    "Can you get down there, and then get back up?" I really hoped it could.


    It beeped, "Yes. Why?" I was a little startled by its curiosity.


    "Can you zap in a Pylon down there?" If we could get some infrastructure rolling down there, we''d be much more difficult to detect.


    "Yes."


    "Alright, how about a Pylon and a Photon Cannon?"


    "No Problem."


    "Do it, please."


    Fifteen minutes later, the Robo-Buddy returned. I could see the shimmering of the warp in progressing down below.


    Down on the flatter level of the land, it was more difficult to see far away. It didn''t help that it was a hilly area. The continuing state of the plant life was terrible. This could just be the normal state of things here, though my mind didn''t want to accept that.


    ''Hey Meadran, can you get a sense of what I''m seeing?'' Maybe he could shed some light of this environment.


    ''Sorry Young One, it will be some time before we have that level of rapport.'' It was harder to get a sense of what he was feeling from here.


    ''No Worries.''


    Should I try to go around, or can we build a...no, I doubt we could manage a decent bridge right now. At least not safely. I started walking to the southeast following the broken road.


    Twenty or so miles later, we found an east-west multilane road in a much better state of repair. The Canyon had petered out about a mile back. But I had decided to keep following the trail, I figured it had to go somewhere, and boy, was I right. The new road was super busy even at this hour. Cars were zipping along, some at crazy speeds, but I didn''t recognize a damn one of them. Where was I? When was I, might be the better question, judging by the nature of the vehicles.


    I had made exceptional time because I kept casting Regrowth on myself, now and then. This kept my stamina up and I was able to walk at a very fast pace. Perhaps double my old walking speed, maybe even more. I shrugged, and chalked it up to the fun of magic.


    The only reason I had any real clue as to how far we had traveled, was because of the Probes. Their internal sensors included telemetry readings. I had them give me reports every few miles.


    I could see what was likely a small town out to the east, but nah, let''s head towards the larger City.


    I walked well off to the side of the road, because people here drove like maniacs. I had to jump out of the way a few times to avoid being hit and had witnessed at least two wrecks. I threw some casts of Regrowth in there but didn''t stop to see what happened. I had a bad feeling about all this.


    I also kept hearing gun shots in the distance, and a lot of them. I sure hoped my Probes can protect me, because I was quickly put on edge. Not having any protection from gunfire was freaking me out.


    As I traveled further west, I passed several buildings but most of them seemed abandoned, dilapidated. They few with people gave me bad vibe, and the people themselves were disheveled, poor, desperate. Interesting note, some of the people had metallic limbs, an even smaller number had other parts made out of metal. Cybernetics? Still, just like everything else out here they were in terrible shape.


    I was certain that the Probes were the only reason that no one approached me. A few times they pointed guns in our direction, but it didn''t come to anything, thankfully.


    One place we walked by was called the Sunshine Motel, but the folks standing around the building looked like mercs or maybe private security. A far cut above anyone I had seen to date, but they gave me the creeps. I didn''t think it would be wise to interact with they, and thankfully they didn''t seem to be interested in me.


    I was getting the idea that nowhere was safe.


    I was able to see brighter columns in the field of light coming off of the distant city, then I could make out the tops of buildings. My impression was that they were really tall. My bad feeling was rapidly becoming full blown dread. Everything was wrong, off, twisted. An atmosphere of decay, tainted this place. No wonder I was sent. I still wasn''t sure I could do anything to help. Even the gradually lightening sky, could restore my spirits.


    Then, I came to The Sunset Motel. Right at Sunrise, in fact. Heh.


    It was just as bad as everything else, but at least there was a Bar. Up stairs, strange. Sure, I could see some mess up looking people hanging around, but they lacked the same sense of active hostility.


    I paused to examine, discretely, some of the cars. So familiar, but still not quite right. They were kind of cool, even the more obvious junkers. Later, I''d have to figure out a way to get my hands on some of these.


    I moseyed into the Bar. The worst dive bar I had ever been to before, was a 5 star experience next to this place. Filthy, about to fall down, and full of thugs.


    A huge guy was behind the counter, he tsked at me. "Hey Choom, leave your little Drones outside, eh."

 Chapter 7

    I had a theory brewing in the back of my head, that this world was in some kind of post-post apocalyptic situation. The result of some Great War? Perhaps Sudden Nuclear sneak attack? Chemical Attacks? Bioweapon gone wrong? As I stared at the few patrons of the questionable establishment, the idea cemented in my brain that something was deeply wrong with this place. The only way most of what I had seen made any sense to me, was if I was looking at the aftermath of some horrible event.


    Nothing and no one I saw in that Bar, made any difference in those opinions.


    I decided that it wasn''t worth fighting the Bartender over the Probes, so I decided to send them outside. "Wait in the parking lot. If anyone messes with you, put them down." I said, with an attempt at a menacing tone. They went off to wander around outside. Of course, I wasn''t an idiot, the Elder Wisps were still right by my side. Nobody seemed to notice them, which was a mixed bag. I had the impression that looking dangerous, was almost as important as actually being dangerous. I was worry I wasn''t ready to deal with these people yet, but I needed answers, and had to start interacting with folks somewhere.


    Might as well start here.


    That handled I scanned the people here a little closer. Everyone in here had some form of visible augments. Cybernetics, just like the other folks I had seen on my journey here. Weird lines on the faces, some people had odd circles of metal, looked sort of like audio jack ports or in some cases USB ports. Why?


    I stepped over to the counter and sat on one of the ratty stools. The Bartender had kept his eye on me the whole way. Something told me, he didn''t trust me.


    "Excuse me, I seem to be lost? Been out in the wastes a while, and have gotten all turned around." Going for firm but non-offensive. The air get tense, I could feel everyone''s attention on me.


    The look he gave me. Hatred, disgust, and a few other emotions I couldn''t make out all rolled into one. "You a Corpo?" His hand moved under the Bar. Shit, what did I do?


    "What''s a Corpo?" My confusion was genuine. Which is probably why he almost immediately calmed down, a little. I could hear the other people in here ease up as well.


    "Do you work for a Corporation, like Arasaka, or Militech?" He said it slow, like I was mentally feeble.


    Ah, I just tripped over common knowledge. "No idea what those are? Nope, I don''t work for anyone but myself right now." Not exactly true, but he didn''t need to know the details.


    His hand came back into sight, nothing in it. Whew. "Ya Gonk, why''d ya talk like that ''en? I almost pulled Iron." He had a half smile, already ignoring the previous situation. That right there told me a lot, about how screwed I really was. If I wasn''t already worried out of my skull, I''d have missed it. His reaction told me, violence was common. Common enough to not be a big deal.


    What''s a few bullet between friends, right? I was now in that kind of place.


    My mind raced to come up with a plausible cover story for my ignorance, "Parents were teachers, taught me to be polite." True enough, not the teacher part, but the polite part was very true.


    "Well, maybe toughen up a bit, eh? Polite gets you shot more often ''en not around here. Anyway, you''re right by Night City, Choom. That help?" He seemed like a completely different guy now. Almost Friendly. Talk about whiplash.


    "Nope." I said grinning. I took a chance, "What State am I in?" I figured I was in America by the way he spoke.


    "State? You from the NUSA?" Huh? Just roll with it.


    "Sure, how bad am I fucked?" I was reminded of trying to buy things off of Craigslist, give nothing away, hope they really did have the goods you wanted.


    "Nah, not too bad. Most peeps have gotten over it, except ''em Dogtown gonks. Anyway, Night City is it''s own thing, ya must really be from the sticks to ''ve never heard of it." He seemed almost apologetic. Or maybe worried.


    "Oh, very isolated. What do you use for currency? I was looking to buy a drink." Whelp, I was sure my money was useless now.


    "Huh? Oh we use Eddies jus'' like everywhere else." He started with the fish eye again.


    I sighed. "Do you take trades, I don''t have any ''Eddies'' on me now." No clue what Eddies even were, was more like it, but he didn''t need to know that either.


    "What''d ya get rolled?" Interesting that that bit of slang was the same.


    "Yeah, you could say that. Barely got away with my clothes and walking stick."


    He nodded as he noticed my staff for the first time, he did a double take. "Hey is that real wood?" He tried to hide it, but I caught the moment his expression turn into one of pure greed.


    Wood was rare. Wood was rare. Likely Water was as well. I thought of the trip here. What if that was the way this world looked everywhere. Here I was able to grow new Trees. Able to create new wells. That was why I landed here. I controlled a rare vital resource. I was going to be rich.


    Then good sense kicked in, I absolutely had to make sure the Valley stayed hidden. People would destroy it, intentionally or not.


    "Yes, an heirloom of better time." Dealing with a Used Car Salesman mode activated. I liked to restore cars in my spare time, it was a pain to locate some parts ad harder to get people to part with them for a reasonable price. I''ve had to do a lot of haggling over the years, I had developed a system.


    "1000 Eddies, and a drink on the house." A good rule to follow, never take the first offer. No matter how good it seems. I gave him my patented, "Don''t Even." The expression really sells it and it worked more often then not. Cutting a deal is all about letting them think they had gotten the better end of things, while still getting what you wanted, for a price you could live with. The Staff while useful wasn''t necessary for my plans. Hell, I was sure I could get another later, maybe even a better one.


    He pursed his lips. "Alright $3000 and a few drinks for the road." The second offer is never the best either. Sometimes you had to take it though, if the person on the other side is too hostile. But I think I had a read on this guy.


    I pulled back on the "Bitch, What!" expression, and slightly shook my head. This indicated I was almost but not quite there.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    He sighed, "$4000, a few drinks, an'' I''ll throw in this Iron that was left. You look like you need it. Best Offer." Yeah, the third offer still wasn''t the best offer, but you rarely ever push pass this point, unless you are very familiar with the person. Or you had them by the balls.


    I nodded while looking unhappy. Everyone likes to believe they got the best of you, and that parting with your items or money was making you suffer. I''ve been on both sides of this situation so I know.


    My BTC twitched. I was surprised but tried not to let it show, might have mess up the deal.


    [ Gained Skill Bargaining at Rank 1 ]


    [ Gained +1 Rank in Concentration ]


    Nice. I liked this feeling I got when the numbers went up. Even if I wasn''t sure what they did.


    His eyes flashed. Like with actual light. Way creepy. "Ya aren''t chipped." He looked shocked, "Ya really are from the booneys. Your lucky I''ve probably got enough script. Hold on."


    He went through the door in the back. I looked around. Too many people had paid attention. Shit. Someone was going to try to jump me. I could see the quick changes people made to seem like they weren''t doing what they were about to do.


    The bartender came back in a couple of minutes. Set a stack of bills, I didn''t recognize in front of me, a gun, and a box of ammo. I quickly stashed the bills away into my robe''s inner left pocket. Then I picked up the gun.


    My experience with guns was limited, just a couple of hunting trips with dad in my teens. And a couple of trips to a gun range with friends to do some plinking. I kept the pistol pointed down at the floor, cleared it, and dropped the mag to check if it was loaded. It was. I reset the mag and pulled a round from the box, loaded the chamber, while looking at the other folks in here. I switch the safety on and was about to put in in the right inner pocket of my robe when, my BTC shook,


    [Adjusting...]


    [ Militech M-76e Omaha


    Range: 30 yards


    Damage: 8


    Ammo: 9 round magazine +1 round in the chamber ]


    As I put in away, I hoped I looked competent. The gun felt a lot like some of the .45s I had handled but even heavier.


    "Name''s Ryan, by the way." I offered my hand.


    "I''m Greg, I work for Noah." We shook hands. Then I handed him his new staff. He wasted no time in making it vanish back there. He pointed at the list above the Bar, "Pick something out."


    Yeah, I had been increasing going into "Foreign Country" mode. You know, pay attention. Watch your back. Trust no one. And one I wished I had known on a trip to Mexico once. Don''t Drink The Water!


    "Just give me a selection of the Colas." They tended to be highly processed, while my waistline and kidneys might get pissed off at me, they were probably the best option in this circumstance. He put a dozen colorful cans in a backpack for me. Free backpack, score. "On the house." He winked at me, he knew what was going to happen, probably set it up this way on purpose.


    I sighed. I grabbed one of the cans at random. NiCola, with a simple design in white and black and some pink lettering. A girl seemed to be wagging her butt at me. I shook my head, popped the tab and took a sip. I winced, it was an unholy mixture of Pepsi-like soda and Cough Syrup. I chugged the rest because I was thirsty, and I didn''t want to taste it more than I had to.


    So far, this place had failed to impress me. Greg chuckled at my obvious pain. "Don''t like the Love huh?"


    "Could be better." Scrapping my tongue with my teeth. "Thanks for the trade, Greg."


    "Careful out there Ryan." He flicked his eyes to a group of men leaving the bar. I nodded as I got up and walk to the door. The Probe had zipped over the door ready to flank me again, once I had left. The Wisps had taken the lead.


    I walked out of the Bar ready for trouble.


    I didn''t even make it out of the parking lot.


    I felt the Probe on my left ram into me, knocking me flat. Then I realized I had heard a snap and a cracking noise. Someone had taken a shot at me. If not for my Robo buddy I''d have a new hole in me.


    I crawled over to one of the trucks to put it between me and where I thought the shot had come from. My heart was racing, and I could feel that burn signaling adrenaline dumping into my arteries. All kinds of noises all round me. Snaps of gunfire, crackling of the Probes'' zaps and the whoosh of the Wisps'' Mana Bolts. My senses had dialed up to eleven.


    Once I had concealment, I pulled the Omaha. I switched off the safety. I tried to take a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. I peeked out around the car low to the ground. I couldn''t see the Probes from this angle but one of the Elder Wisps was hovering over a smoking body.


    I checked behind me to make sure no one was sneaking up on me. Okay, nothing there. I slowly lifted myself up and peeked over the hood. A pop right in front of my face forced me back down.


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck." I whispered. I tried to eek my way over to the other end of the car, I did a quick peek over the bed of the truck. Nothing. I took a longer second to look. Two more bodies were down. The Elder Wisps were hovering about 20ft up, throwing Bolt after Bolt. A few more gunshots rang out but didn''t seem to be aimed at me.


    One of the Probes was down, sparking behind another car, the other Probe was zapping it. Huh? Oh, it was somehow repairing it. I could see the damage coming undone. Nice.


    Movement caught my eye, a man with a rifle of some kind, was shooting up in the air while shuffling back towards the Motel''s main building. His face was desperate, he had no clue what the Wisps were, so he was just firing in the direction of the Mana Bolts. I didn''t see anyone else, firing. Just a few people ducking out of the way.


    The Omaha seemed to raise on its own. I let off a round. My grip wasn''t great and I wasn''t prepared for the insane recoil from it. The round missed and I got barrel kissed. Right across the nose! Fuck that smarted. I fell on my butt. Three pops hit the bed of the truck. Shit.


    I wobbled a bit even sitting as I was. I kept telling myself I could do this. I was practically yelling it into my own mind. I leaned out from the end of the car and snapped a shot at where he had been. I missed again, but he flinched when it hit the wall beside him. A Mana Bolt hit right the wall on the other side of that and he paused trying to figure out where to go. I squeezed the trigger two more times. Down he went, bonelessly.


    I scanned around, no one else seemed to want to fight. I crouched and shuffled over to the Probes. The Wisps came over to cover me.


    Now that it was over, did I feel bad about shooting that guy? Well...yes and no. I had never done more then punch someone before, but this fucker would have killed me. No, I was surprisingly okay with this. My life mattered more to me, than his did. Maybe there was something wrong with me, but that was fine. I had the feeling I''d need to do this again, and hesitation would be lethal.


    The damaged Probe looked almost whole again. I was rather amazed by their ability to repair one another.


    "Hey, Ryan!" I looked up toward the voice, it was Greg. He was grinning down at me from the second floor, like he''d won a bet. Probably had. "Nobody''d care if you take their shit. Free advice. Oh and don''t forget to check their ports." He nodded at me, while tapping the side and back of his head he went back in the Bar.


    Huh? I could just take their stuff? Well, I could use more options. Did one of them own a car? Was this a good idea? Fuck it, when in Rome, stab some Romans, and take their loot!


    I cast Regrowth on myself and my nose felt so much better. I wiped the blood off on my robe sleeve. Then I went around and stripped the bodies of their guns, and got two rifles and three pistols. I''d figure them out later. Taking Greg''s advice, I found these weird crooked chips in their head sockets. No clue if they were worth keeping. I threw those into the backpack. More puzzles to solve. their pockets contained about $350 in bills, I left the change and their clothes which were singed to hell anyway. But I did find a thick credit card shaped thing on one of them. I heard a honk when I grabbed it.


    Turned out one of them had owned a car. The small vehicle kind of reminded me of my first restore job. That had been an 80''s Honda Civic hatchback, a great fucking car. It would run forever with minimal maintenance. Yet was still fun to drive, especially with a few easy to do mods. Sure this car only had one headlight and four doors, and was beat to shit, but yeah it was pretty similar. The puke green would have to go though.


    The BTC gave a shake,


    [Adjusting...]


    [ Thorton Galena G240


    Model: Basic


    Fuel Type: CHOOH2


    Top speed: 120


    Weight: 2,255


    Horsepower: 86 ]


    What was CHOOH2? I''d never heard of it. I glanced over these stats, hmm, heavier than my old Civic but it also had about twenty more horsepower. You''d think they could do a little better though, in a world with flying cars.


    I was starting to suspect a huge economic gap in this society. I mean, duh, but even the poor have things I would have shanked someone for, back home.


    What do the rich have? I shrugged. Might be a long time before I could find that out.


    I had a big grin on my face though, as I patted my new baby. I''m sure a frenzied light entered my eyes. "I love this new world. Free cars."

 Chapter 8

    Okay, we had run into a problem. With their fins, the Probes were not going to fit into the Galena. Not both at the same time anyway.


    Testing had shown that the Probe''s top speed was maybe 30-40 MPH, not nearly enough to match the insane speeds we could observe this world''s motorists going.


    I turned to the closest Robo-Buddy, "Do you have some way to attach yourselves to the top of the car. Or  can we rig something up so you guys can be towed?" My thoughts were running through several ideas rapidly and discarding them just as quickly. I didn''t want to have to remove their fins. For all I knew about them those fins might be critical to their function in some way.


    In response, the Probe I had just addressed, landed on the roof of the Galena and did something with its hover field, that perhaps, magnetically locked it tightly to the surface of the metal. I pushed and prodded at it, but the connection seemed solid. The other Robo-Buddy locked on right behind it, ensuring that I wouldn''t be able to open the hatchback. Also, I''d have to be careful of the fins when getting in or out, but it was a viable solution for now.


    It was there at that moment when we made a critical discovery. One of the Wisps circling around me had run into the first Probe. The accidental contact led to energies sparking in a chaotic field, with the Wisp disappearing into the Probe. My BTC shuddered at the phenomenon.


    [ Adjusting...]


    [ Khalai Probe


    Construction and Maintenance Unit


    Armor: 2


    Shields: 10


    Damage: 6


    An AI Controlled Robot for Harvesting Materials. ]


    The words started morphing into odd patterns for a moment, before finally snapping into a readable output.


    [ Infused Khalai Probe


    Unknown Unit


    Armor: 2 +2


    Shields: 10 +5 (Shields now block Spells)


    Damage: 6 +4 (May affect Incorporeal Beings)


    The combination of an Elder Wisp and a Khalai Probe. This Unit has partial night time Stealth. ]


    "Are you okay?" As neat as those gains seemed, I didn''t want anything to happen to my little Robo-Buddy. This one still had a scuff on it''s armor. My eyes locked onto that imperfection. Hmm. Scuff. My mind almost clicked as I started thinking of this Probe as Scuff. I also instantly felt a stronger connection to the little buddy.


    Scuff beeped at me, "We are fine, Executor." The "we" part was a little troubling, but Scuff seemed much more coherent. Even more live a living entity than before.


    I glanced at the other Probe. There didn''t seem to be any down sides to the merger of the Wisp and Probes. I shrugged and had the still hovering Elder Wisp fuse with the free Probe. This is the one that was repairing Scuff in the fight. This was a little fixing buddy. So Fix? I nodded, good enough. Once again a soft click rang in my head, and my connection to Fix became stronger.


    "You okay back there?" I directed that at Fix.


    "Of course, Executor." Well, alright. Fix had also seemed to gain more animation from the merger. More vitality.


    Those thought led my mind back to the Valley, it would probably be a good time to check on things. While I had a free moment.


    ''Meadran, checking in.'' If felt far more difficult to reach him than it had last time.


    ''We seem to be at the edge of the range of our connection, Young One.'' His answer returned with far less... substance than any communication with him before. He had said the our connection should extend for about 50 miles. Really? I gazed back toward the Mountains I had come from. I had walked more than 50 miles? Casting Regrowth really had done my body good. Maybe, I could incorporate that into a workout routine.


    I filled Meadran in on our current situation. He was troubled at the extreme levels of violence, but he wasn''t really surprised. Hostility wasn''t unexpected. He was greatly pleased by the discovery of fusion between Khalai and Kaldorei paradigms. He said he would experiment with the process back at the Valley.


    ''Be cautious, Young One.'' This felt just like my Gramps reminding me about the dangers of power tools. It was a drop of warmth in this screwed up place. It was always nice to know someone cared.


    ''I will, Meadran.'' I felt him drop the connection. The realization, that it was just me and the Probes started to sink in. I was venturing into an unknown environment. I didn''t feel ready.


    Getting into the car, I had a laugh. That was a lot of buttons. At first I had no clue where to begin until my eyes caught one button labeled start. Of course, I pushed it immediately. The Galena''s engine purred to life. My hand habitually rubbed the dash.


    The radio had also come on, blasting out some kind of Techno Pop. My ears weren''t fans. I turned it off as fast as I could find the right panel. I could save experiencing the local culture another time. Right now I was eager to get acquainted with my new baby.


    My feet easily settled onto the pedals and I revved it a little trying to get a feel for the sound of this engine. It was different, but I couldn''t yet qualify those differences. Later, I''d have to get under the hood and see how everything was put together.


    Now, let''s take it for a spin. I reached for a stick shift that was there. Hmm, automatic, disappointing. I shrugged it off, Beggars can''t be choosers. I still couldn''t guess what half the buttons were for, but it was past time to enjoy the ride.


    A few minutes on the road was all I needed to form the opinion that people here drove like fucking savages. Also, I had yet to see a speed limit sign. We almost got hit just getting out of the parking lot. Savages or not, it would take more than some aggressive punks to mess up my driving time. Driving always brought me a sense of peace, and freedom while helping me to focus. Everything unimportant could just melt away in the wind.


    More fools trying to get somewhere at warp speeds couldn''t harsh that meditative nature to this moment. Something else did that. A few minutes into the drive, I was getting nervous over the ever increasing size of the buildings I was racing towards. It didn''t help that ever tall structure was crowned with what appeared to be Holographs. What might be advertising images  danced around them. Still that oddity wasn''t enough to keep me from noticing a glint of light off of something to my left, towards that mountain...which wasn''t a mountain.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    That mountain was a humongous pile of garbage and scrap. Rusting metal and oozing organic slop was scattered along side plastic trash bags. It wasn''t just the mountain, whole field of waste product stretched on for miles. Whole but abandoned vehicles and remnants of construction projects dotted the trashscape here and there. Those seemed to be focal points of activity, whether those people were looking for valuable scrap or they just lived in the waste heaps, I could say from here.


    "What the Hell?" I had to pull over for a moment, while I processed this new information. The scene beside the road fucking bothered me, deeply. How could folks not burn it, recycle it, bury it, or something. Anything even a bit more useful than just letting it pile up, and then leaving it to rot and fester.


    My heart was more bothered by that Monument to Absurdity, than it had been at someone shooting at me. Some fundamental part of me couldn''t accept this. there had to be something I could do, some way to make this better.


    Well, I''d been sent here to clean things up, but I would never have imagined this atrocity. It painted a picture of a society, I was growing certain, that I didn''t want to become a part of.


    This place was beyond fucked up. I lacked the words to properly express the turmoil I was feeling.


    Night City, huh? Maybe, to make it clean, I should just burn it all down.


    Once I had manage to put my mind back on task, my plan was just to follow this freeway into the city. From there, I could try to get a sense of the people, and whether or not I should play things soft or hard.


    The demarcation between the desert and the city occurred abruptly as I passed under a massive elevated freeway running north-south. That one roadway would have made the largest cities in my memories proud. I could now see several similar highways further into the city.


    On one side, I felt like I could be attacked by coyotes, and on the other I was trying not to get distracted by the sheer physics defying architecture of some of the huge ass buildings. It was far more distracting than I thought it would be. If it wasn''t the buildings it was the utterly ridiculous amount of advertisements being flashed on the surface of the very air around us. How could anyone get anything done with all the noise?


    Night City was sprawling, massive mess of a maze, and I had fucking no one to guide me through it. So how do you make connections? You go places people gather. Bars, clubs, parties, churches. Maybe not churches, something in the air here screams that the spiritual isn''t at all welcome.


    I couldn''t just drive around all day this place was a tangled mess, a real concrete jungle. I needed a goal. Maybe the Robo-Buddies could scan for info?


    My stomach growled. Fuck, I hadn''t eaten anything since I had gotten to this world, and the crappy soda I downed earlier wasn''t going to cut it. Which brought up the nature of what food here was going to be like. Rat meat? Poor Doggos? As disgusting as some of the ideas in my head were, I desperately needed to eat something.


    While I was at it, maybe I could use the opportunity to get directions to local watering hole to try to dial into what was up with this place. The few people I had seen walking around so far seemed a step above the folks back in the wastes, but only a step. They were still run down looking, and most appeared so absorbed in their own little worlds that I feared any attempts at communication would lead to a fight.


    As I exited the road into a parking lot, the cracks of nearby gunfire rang out. I could tell already that the sound of gunshots were going to be depressingly common. The place I pulled up next to was called Buck a Slice. and its exterior bore signs of recent combat. did people run around killing each other all the time here? How was anyone left?


    My growling stomach refocused me on the current mission, get food. Buck a Slice sounded like pizza? Hard to go too wrong with pizza.


    A few minutes later I found out I was wrong. This mess was not anything that could be classified as a pizza. The "pizza" was so terrible, that now cardboard crust had an all new definition. The toppings were most definitely not the meats that they looked like.  They all had musky bitter flavors. The worst part was the sauce, no real tomato had ever been anywhere near this pasty chalky substance. It all smelt of ashes and pain. Then the horrid aftertaste lingered for ages, cutting into my brain like a bandsaw.


    I choked it down, anyway I had to get some calories. And I had no guaranties that there was anything better, though I doubted that there was any real nutrition to be had with this slop. No, I was betting this gunk would beat my gut into submission, and it would stop asking for more.


    How the hell do people eat this without killing someone? My eyes trailed back up to the bullet holes in the walls. Oh, right.


    Well, at least I managed to get directions to a place called Lizzie''s. The girl running the "pizza" joint said that club was probably the best place for somebody from out of town to get situated. "You''ll have a preem time input." She giggled at some joke that went right over my head. Talking to her revealed there was a lot of language drift and new slang to absorb. But hey, fake it till you make it.


    It took a while to get to Lizzie''s. I ended up on more than a few wrong turns, especially in the area called the City Center. I''d crossed a few bridges, getting this far, which lead to the a new discovery that the water around here looked terrible, and more trash was piled up everywhere in this City. It was driving me into a deep depression.


    This was just one city, and I''m suppose to fix the world full of places like this? Even with magic, that seemed extremely unlikely. Unless, I could somehow enlist help. A ton of it.


    I''d gotten to the club near nightfall and parked in the lot. The building was topped with a pink neon sign of a eye patch wearing girl wielding an axe while kicking. I thought it was cute. Wait a minute, Lizzie and an axe? Grim realization set in. Was this all a Lizzie Borden reference? Umm, maybe this wasn''t the right place after all.


    Nah, I needed to man up and fucking dive in. Trying to distract myself, I let my mind wonder what the whole Moxes thing was about?


    I marked a few people walking into the bar, a couple of ladies nodding at them. Though the ladies wore very different clothing, I noticed that all the colors matched. The same greens and purples with a bit of pink thrown in. It reminded me of something I couldn''t quite place.


    Throughout my trip, I''d kept getting sidetracked by the sheer level of modifications people had subjected themselves to. This was magnified by the crowds here. Some people had metal looking skin. Many possessed hair that glowed with neon lights. Almost everyone I could see had at least one limb that looked absurdly powerful. A few folks looked down right weaponized. Maybe, it helped them feel safer. Cause, I sure didn''t.


    Well, at least I could tell this was a place that lots of folks liked to visit.


    "Watch the car, guys." As I walked away, the Probes beeped their affirmative.


    As I got to the door, one of the ladies called out, "Hold up, Input. I don''t recognize you." She was short but more than a little intimidating. Her tough appearance was augmented by the spikes on both of her forearms. Yup, those were definitely part of her. Her smooth skin had a plastic sheen. Her pink-purple hair was done up in cute buns, which went well with her sharp, almost foxlike facial features.


    Were her looks real though? I''d imagine it would be easy to get whatever face you wanted here, judging by the variety of mods I saw on folks.


    The fierce lady pulled my mind out of it''s musings as she started bouncing a bat on her should. Of course, it was a pink one. She now had my full attention, I barely even noticed the other woman on guard. Though that one''s hand was on her gun, a purple and green pistol, that just didn''t seem as menacing as the smaller woman blocking my way.


    What kind of place was this? This seemed like overkill for a club''s security. Or was it that everything was far more dangerous here, even relaxation?


    Her eyes flashed at me. Literally. "Ganic, huh? Haven''t ever seen anyone your age who wasn''t a little chipped." She cocked her head at me, trying to suss me out.


    "I''m from out of town." Risky move, but figured my deer in the headlight moments would be too obvious to hide. Better to be honest about some things so I could hide others.


    "Bennie," She nodded to herself, "Well here''s the deal. You do not touch the Staff. If you see someone you like, you go to the front desk and pick them from the catalogue. They''ll set you up with a BD." Her bat came around and tapped at my pocket, with the Omaha. "Leave your Iron at the desk on your way in. Got that?" She gave me an obligatory glare, it said "Don''t make me deal with you."


    "Yes." I agreed while nodding.


    "Then welcome to Lizzie''s. Have fun Input." She stepped aside, gesturing with the bat at the door.


    I stepped into a very new experience.

 Chapter 9

    I passed through the outer doors, only to have to push my way through a curtain of metallic beads. Argh, the overhead lights were way too bright. Both my eyes and ears were assaulted as the rattle of the beaded curtain filled my ears. When my senses had managed to adapt a bit, I noticed that there was a counter off to my right.


    The d¨¦cor of the room was touched by purples and pinks, undercut with blue everywhere. There was a pounding beat, vibrating my chest and head even though it was muffled out in the lobby. Looking closer, I could make out sound insulating panels, so it was probably going to be deafening in the actual club.


    "Hey, a new face. Not too scop either." That was the the girl manning the counter. At first, I was taken aback by the neon sign behind her proclaiming, "Fuck to Death!" Ah, What? This place seemed to be trouble that I didn''t understand yet. The girl behind the counter was a chipper little thing, maybe 5'' even, with pink hair that blazing with neon light. Her eyes were like two purple hearts. No, I meant that literally.


    Alright, I didn''t get it, but okay. Her green and purple leotard, barely covered the important bits. Well, on second glance I supposed she had nothing to be ashamed of. Though I could tell she had a lot of little cyberware mods. That detail lead me to the thought that these augments, were as much fashion as functional? I found that unsettling.


    There were coats on display behind her, all greens and purples with some pink highlights. Yeah, I was getting the theme.


    "Hello, could you give me the name of someone, who''d be willing to give me the run down on this City. I''m from out of town." Again despite it probably being a bad idea, I went with honesty. Maybe the fact she was pretty had little something to do with it as well.


    Her eyes flashed at me. That still sent shivers down my spine. "Bennie, eh, and 100% Ganic too," She let out a manic little giggle, "Tempted to take you into the back and dock in meatspace, just to see the difference." There was something odd about the tone of her voice. I had no context on what it might mean.


    "Oookay?" I''m sure I looked totally lost, felt it, didn''t I. I slowly placed my Omaha on the counter, like I was afraid she take a bite out of my arm. Or lick it. Yeah, I was getting the vibe that she might just try to taste me, whether I wanted it or not.


    "Oh, that''s a nice piece, needs a little color though. I wonder if your other Iron needs some color?" She glanced down at my dick. Like she could see it through my pants, or was really trying to. Now, I''m no prude but that was setting off all kinds of alarms in my head. Then again, I''ve never been the center of this kind of attention before. Flattering and sickening all at once, is that a thing?


    Thankfully, I was saved, from further embarrassment. A lady with one of the largest ''fros I''d ever seen, stuck her head out a door to the left. "Kimmie, you are there to help people get detes not hit on them," She glanced me over, "Sorry she''s a newbie, and still getting use to how we do things." She nodded her head like that was enough, and vanished back into that room.


    The atmosphere shifted almost instantly, with Kimmie giving me an apologetic grin. "Sorry, too much? I just get sooo excited. But to answer your earlier question, Mateo at the bar can set you up. He knows most everyone. Any sitch you need laid out, he can find you who you need."


    "No you''re adorable. But yeah, maybe dial it back a tad. I still don''t even understand what I''ve gotten myself into yet." I shook my head. "So I''m looking for Mateo?" At her nod, "Thanks, Kimmie."


    "Alright, have a good time." She was deflated, but shrugged it off in a few seconds. Her grin returned, and her eyes started to wander over my body.


    I went through another beaded curtain, marveling how more sound didn''t pour into the entryway. The main club room was a large space full of contrasts, being both too bright and too dark all at the same time. Some kind of laser light show was flashing off to one side. Holograms were dancing at tables. The people gathered around those tables, talking, drinking, were an eclectic mix of styles and colors. I couldn''t get any kind of read on what was normal. Sure it was a club, and all of these people were probably dressed in their "best". I felt like I was in an insane music video. The music wasn''t bad though. A little too beat heavy, filled with too many odd noises, but hey, it got that heart rate up.


    The feeling I was really out of my element hit me hard as I passed another lady who was scanning the crowd like a hawk. Bouncer, I supposed. She focused on me for a moment. "Bar?" She gestured with her head. "Thanks." She nodded and went back to her job.


    I wove through the dancing people, trying not to touch anyone. Not out of some, "ew, gross" sense, more out of a "I don''t want problems." sense. When I finally took a seat at the bar, I clung to it, like it was a life preserver. Somehow everything felt a touch calmer over here.


    "You look lost." A man had come over, I would have called his fashion Miami Casual back home. The posture he put up was kind of like the guy who stole your girlfriend, then wondered why you were upset with him. Having never had a girlfriend, a small amount of envy stirred in the back of my head.


    "You could say that. I''m from out of town, looking to get a rundown on how things work around here, people pointed me this way." Once more, I played my cards fairly straight. If I appeared to overshare without actually giving away the important part of my story, people would be less likely to ask the uncomfortable questions.


    He gave me a long stare, trying to get a read on me. In a lot of ways his attention made me far more nervous than Kimmie''s did. Probably because he wasn''t in the least interested in playing. "I''m Mateo, and I can get one of the girls to update your files. She''ll dance and answer questions, but nothing more, alright?" He seemed chill, unflappable. A little smug. I really didn''t like him. Those muscles were probably fake.


    "Ryan." I gave him a Bro nod. He returned it, the fraternity of brotherhood had been established. Okay, maybe not so bad a dude.


    After scanning the menu, which he was amused that he had to pull out a plastic sheet with all the options printed out, I bought a coffee and a pretzel like thing, while I waited. Neither was great by my standards, but no where near as horrid as Buck a Slice.


    Maybe Meadran could figure out a way to produce fruits and veggies. I could make a killing feeding people actual fucking food. If I could keep them from killing me over it.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Mateo set me up with a dancer called Sinnamin. She was a brute of a woman, who looked down at me with boredom, but maybe apathy was better than the alternative.


    Her price was 20 Eddies for 5 minutes of dancing and questions. I threw down $340 for 85 minutes. I required info more than cash right now, and that should be enough time to get at least the basics.


    Sinnamin guided me into one of the back booths, where it was a little quieter. I caught glimpses of people doing all manner of unsavory thing back there even if I didn''t understand way some of those thing were messed up, I could still tell they were thing to avoid doing. The zonked out behavior of some of the people with headsets bothered me the most. It seemed like an extreme version of folks back home with a phone addiction.


    Once we were in her assigned booth, I leaned back on the couch and asked her to start at the beginning.


    Sinnamin, as it turned out, liked talking a whole lot more than dancing.


    She laid out a lot of information for me, about the Corps, about the Gangs, and about how life worked in a day to day sense for people. That left me without a lot of deeper context, but I now knew some places and people I should avoid.


    She did drop a major bombshell on me though. I had casually mentioned Ruger, and she got real quiet about that. Her face went through a wide gamut of emotion very rapidly. Shock, envy, and surprise were the ones I managed to notice.


    "So you must be super preem rich? You a puppet?" She started pulling a little back. Her tone had grown cold. Whatever a puppet was she didn''t want anything to do with one.


    "I don''t know what that means?" These cultural landmines were getting a little old. That''s why I had to keep her talking.


    "Nobody can afford gene rebuilds that aren''t top shelf loaded." She told me, and I thought she was lying, I mean she had to be. No dogs, no cats, no birds, barely any rats, but plenty of bugs though.


    I started sweating from my eyes. I might have let out a couple of unmanly sounds. My behavior caused her to become incredibly distressed. I guess she had never seen a man leak stress from his eyes before. She started making all kind of awkward gestures and stuttering sounds. I got the sense she had a big heart to match her giant body.


    "How do you get through life without dogs?" She didn''t have an answer. Were these people even worth saving if they let dogs die out? I felt a stone begin to form in my heart. I wasn''t sure those folks could or should be helped. I held on to that feeling for a moment, as it burned through me, but let it go. For now. The average person probably had nothing to do with it. So had had to be careful about assigning blame. I needed to rein in these more aggressive tendencies, before they got me in trouble I couldn''t get out of.


    We went back to talking, her more helpful attitude had returned. I guessed she didn''t think I was a puppet anymore, whatever that was. We haltingly talked about Ruger, she seemed almost desperate for stories about him, and any other stories I could remember about animals. Her eyes lit up with joy when I talked about their crazy antics. It was hard thoughas everything I told her was overshadowed by the fact cute fluffy critters were missing here.


    Which made her seem almost happy to get to lighter topics, like gang violence. The Strom, the Tygers, The Scavs, The Mox, The Valentinos and her personal hang up the Animals. I got a brief rundown of each group, who was fighting who and where to avoid to not have to deal with them, as much. There were countless smaller gangs almost too many to count, but these were the major players.


    Then she got into the Corps. Arasaka, Militech, Biotechnica, Petrochem, and the familiar Kang Tao. You couldn''t avoid their influence no matter where you went. So her advice; just choose the flavor you might live with the easiest.


    I managed to get the year, if not the month, through context. 2074. That was shocker, I was on some alternate future version of my world. I wished the folks back on my world never had to face these kinds of terrible times.


    Also, a picture began to form about what I needed to do to get by here. I required work, and I had no acceptable form of ID. The answer to both of those problems was a Fixer. Fixers were shadow brokers dealing in everything below board, anything from just a little shady to outright illegal. They could be your fence, your bookie, or your limited contractual boss. They could get you information, or buy the things you knew. Yeah, I needed one of those. Sinnamin knew a Faceman, which was kind of a lackey to a bigger Fixer. Someone that could be cut out before you got to the head honcho. She gave me their contact detes.


    Before that, though, I had to "get chipped". At least enough to interact with the world everyone else was a part of. Enough to get an identity setup, trying to get setup without a netconnection was a major problem. There was the addition consideration that there were plenty of answers to be found on the Net.


    So I needed a Ripperdoc. Sinnamin gave me a few names from here and there, and a list of pro and cons. One name stood out as being the least likely to screw me over. Viktor Vektor. Best of all, he wasn''t too far away. I''d head that way next.


    When time was up, I thanked Sinnamin, and headed back to the bar. It was even more balls to the walls busy.


    "So you get caught up, Ryan?" Mateo asked as I sat down. He gave me a bro nod, and I returned it. Yeah maybe I had been too quick to judge. Still wouldn''t trust him with my girlfriend though, if I could ever find one.


    "At least a little better of an idea how screwed I am." I shrugged, then had an idea, "You got anything substantial to eat around here, I''m running on fumes?"


    He nodded. "Sure, we can whip up something, just don''t expect The Gourmand experience." He chuckled as he pulled out the menu again. Then he frown as he realized why I''d asked the question the way I had. The menu was mostly drinks and quick snacks.


    "Better than Buck A Slice will be great. Please."


    He saw the terror on my face and chuckled. "Yeah we can do better than that scop." His eyes flashed putting in the order. I decided to live a little and order a rum and cola, to wash whatever they came up with down.


    A few minutes later, I had a plate of what looked like over loaded nachos. It wasn''t bad at all, just off. Cheese not quite right, which was unsurprising. Meat with a weird texture and not quite beef flavored. Jalape?os that really weren''t snappy or really spicy at all. But compared to that "pizza" it was heaven.


    As I got up to leave, I payed up and left a good tip.


    "Thanks Mateo." Despite my initial impression of him, I really meant it.


    "Anytime Ryan. You''re not bad for a Bennie." He gave me a cocky grin and a wave.


    I went and collected my iron. A different lady was working the counter, friendly but not overly so. No problems there.


    The scary bouncer lady, who name was Rita, according to Sinnamin, was displeased. "Hey gonk, your car fried a couple of Dorphers. Keep it on a leash. We don''t need bodies stinking up the joint." I unconsciously snapped to attention. But this brought up an interesting point, apparently they couldn''t see the Probes right now.


    "Yes ma''am. You want me to drag them away?" Wouldn''t hurt to be friendly about it. She was just doing her job.


    "Nah, we already threw ''em in the dumpster." She sigh exasperated, "Cars zeroing junkies. What next, vampires?"


    "Thanks Rita, you have a good night." She snorted at me, not even phased that I knew her name now.


    "Get out of here, Bennie. while I''m willing to let ya." Smirking at me. I think she was checking out my ass as I walked away. Which would have been quite the feat, in these robes.


    Scuff and Fix reported it was clear. I was amused that they seemed to be happy to zap some "gonks". We loaded up quickly.


    Back in the car, I made my way over to where a place called Misty''s Esoterica was supposed to be. this was where I had to go to get in touch with Dr. Vektor. The store was across from Gomorrah, a Dollhouse. The concept of Dolls disturbed me. Both the sheer surrender of personality and the fact they recorded everything that happened. Then there was the levels of abuse some of them would probably face, it made me shudder.


    I left Fix to guard the car, and took Scuff with me.


    When I found Misty''s, it was still open. Upon entering, I got another surprise.

 Chapter 10

    I walked in on an interesting conversation.


    "I only have a limited time to get back. So this is goodbye Misty, and tell that old dog, Vik to lay off the boxing. He''s getting too long in the tooth to keep trying to fix everyone''s technique." A silver haired lady dressed in almost medieval style leather pants and a tunic was waving goodbye to another woman who reminded me of a character, in a movie I saw, a long time ago. Poofed out blonde hair, and rocking a nearly Goth look. Nice.


    "Bye Ciri, we''ll miss you around here. Be safe." They shared a brief hug. I could somehow tell they had been through a lot together. It must be a wonderful thing to have friends.


    That''s when the silver haired lady, Ciri turned around and saw me. The world changed. Let''s just say both our eyes went wide. There was a spark of recognition. The twisting of fate. She was radiating a potent form of mana, different from anything I had felt before. It seemed darker somehow, almost broken. I knew she could feel my mana flow through me. It seemed to fill her with sorrow.


    She stalked over to me. I barely breathed not wanted the moment to end. She patted my shoulder and said, "Good Luck." Before sashaying out the door. She avoided the Probe, I noticed. I started turned to follow her and find out more. But managed to stop myself, one problem at a time.


    "She has that effect on people. Hi, I''m Misty." I turned back toward the blonde lady. She herself was emanating a little bit of mana. What were the odds? This city didn''t seem hospitable to anyone who could connect with magic.


    "Hello Misty, I''m Ryan. I came to see about getting a consult with Dr. Vektor. But now that I''m here, I''m a little more interested in your shop." My eyes traveled to a brass multi armed statue behind her, for a start. It gave off something similar to the Psi energy of Khalai Pylons. As I continued to scan the shop I noticed a dozen other things, easily mistaken for simple knickknacks. I wondered how any of these things managed to make in to this shop. Maybe Ciri how something to do with it?


    "That''s nova! I offer Chakra cleansings and Tarot readings." It was nice to see her smile. She seemed like a truly decent person. Wholesome, almost too good for this world.


    A moment of whimsy overtook me. "I''ve never had my Chakras cleansed, so let''s do that." What the hell was a Chakra?


    She had me sit in a reclining chair, it felt like I was sinking into a cloud. I listened to her voice, and then my mind went silent for a while. A deep stillness enfolded my thoughts. It was a very welcomed state after all I''d been through to get to this moment. To be honest, I don''t know she had done anything to my Chakras. However, I did feel a lot more relaxed, especially after resting in that cushy chair. So it was all good.


    I found the use of crystals a little odd though, and the incense was a bit pungent. But hey, nothing''s perfect. I paid her with $100 and let her keep the change. She told me I could see the Doc. She guided me to the door and said, "Out the back and down the stairs."


    The alley held another surprise. It was a cat, an Egyptian Hairless. Was it called a Sphinx or was that a different breed? What did it matter it was a cat. We stared at each other for a good minute, it seemed just as shocked to see me, as I was to see it. It meowed at me and almost as if in a trance, I sat down and it crawled in my lap. I proceeded to give it scritches. Its gentle purring was a comfort in this dark land. Then my mind kicked back in, and I realized what I was holding.


    "Hey Misty! I thought there weren''t anymore cats?" I called out gently. She stuck her head out, and saw me with the kitty. Her resulting grin was an odd thing, equal parts joy and pain.


    "There aren''t, that''s not a cat." That just didn''t compute. I was holding it. I felt its warmth, and the rumble of its purr. I could feel it''s life with my mana sense.


    "What is it?" It meowed like a cat. It purred like a cat. What else could it possibly be?


    "If you figure it out let me know. I just know it''s not a cat." She ducked back into her shop. Her tone suggested she didn''t want to deal with the cat, or whatever it really was.


    "You seem like a good kitty to me." As I petted the cat more, it gave me a happy cat stare. Not to be confused with an indifferent cat stare, though I wouldn''t blame you, if you did. I only stayed like that for another minute, before I got up and continued down the stairs. Things might really be staring to look up.


    The way into the Doc''s place was blocked by a sliding metal wired gate. Through it I could see a man watching a monitor, on the screen was what seemed to be a boxing match.


    "Hello?"


    "Hey, come on in." He kind of reminded me of my Gramps, though in a much different way than Meadran had. Meadran was like the gentler parts of Gramps, he brought out memories of the quiet times. This man reminded me of Gramps when he was telling war stories, or about his travels after the war. He very much had the same kind of been there done that attitude. It wasn''t condescending, it was was more a sense of tiredness. The fact that the Doc was build like a boxer, rugged looking, and the lines on his face gave the impression he''d been through quite a few fight in his time, just nailed the point home.


    Yeah, I liked him on sight. I could tell he was a genuinely good person. It made me more inclined to show some courtesy, I closed the gate behind me, after I went in.


    He chuckled. "Manners. That''s a sight." His voice was gruff and worn, telling a tale of its own without any extra words.


    "Dr Vektor, I needed to get a consult on getting Chipped with at least the basics." I still wasn''t convinced this was the best idea, but I knew that if I didn''t fit in, I''d stick out. If I stuck out, I''d get hammered one way or another.


    He started to say something, but then shook his head. His eyes flashed as he scanned me. "100% Ganic. That''ll be tough. You''ll want a Net connection with a neural port, and a chip socket. At least one eye to fully interact with Net architecture, but I''d recommend doing both or it''ll really throw of your balance."


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    My eyes? My eyes. That seemed insane. My eyes were perfectly good. I had twenty/twenty vision. Was I really going to give up my eyes? My gut boiled with both resentment and sheer fucking rage.


    They didn''t think anything of doing this? It was just normal? It was normal. Heavens help these poor fucked up people. Heavens help me for what I was going to do.


    "If you''ll hop up on the chair, we''ll take a full scan. Then I''ll be able to make suggestions as to what would work best with your meat." On autopilot, I sat in the surgeon''s chair. It was a massive affair with all manner of odd looking equipment around it. Several monitors hung down from the ceiling, even with it''s own readout of information that made no sense to me.


    As the scan started, I wondered again if I was really going to go through with this.


    While I was being scanned, my BTC was squeezing my arm. I thought it might be hiding itself. Honestly, I kept forgetting it was there until it did something. Was that on purpose? Why was it reacting this time? It didn''t put up any kind of screen. Was it just responding to my nervousness?


    An amusing side note, I kept getting glimpses of Scuff puttering about doing its own scan of equipment in Vik''s clinic. Would those scans be useful? Should I have have been getting my Robo-Buddies to do that more?


    "Hmm, do you have biomods, or any type of gene editing?" He sounded puzzled, and I got the feeling he didn''t find too many puzzles these days. He scratched his head and I noticed he had some kind of exoframe on his arm, it seemed to be outfitted with an array of gadgets I didn''t recognize.


    "Not that I know of?" Who knows what the Company had done to me? That could have implanted me with all kinds of messed up things and I''d have had no clue.


    "Now that''s a conundrum." He seemed pensive. " Your genes are showing no degradation from radiation. Your blood contains no trace nanites from from any of the usual sources, even the hostile microbial content count is almost nonexistent." All that seemed like a good thing to me. Though now, I felt that I had even more things to worry about.


    "Huh? Those are normal? Sounds terrible, how do folk live with all that?" Why weren''t people less healthy? Maybe some of that cyberware I disdained made the difference.


    "How do you not?" The Doc shook his head. Then he flicked something over to one of the screens in front of me. I understood none of it. "You can counter most of the problems with meds and other nanites. Most folks get a puff of a Max Doc or Vita Stim to keep going for a while. Knocks the majority of diseases right out, for a time anyway. Truth be told, I''ve never seen anyone with such an undamaged genomic structure. Do you mind if I take sample, just for me to study?"


    "Not at all, Doc." The exoframe on his left arm did something just out of my peripheral vision, but I didn''t feel anything. I just heard it moving.


    Then the scanner beeped, and he spent a few moments reading the results.


    "Good news though kid, with your unspoiled genetics, almost anything can be chipped in. That gives you a broad spectrum of options." He gave me options alright, way too many. It took roughly an hour for me to sort through the seemingly endless lists. The cheapest fully functional set was $3000, really "bare bones" as he put it. Really basic connectivity, comparatively slow and vulnerable to external exploitation. I didn''t like the sound of that. The eyes wouldn''t be functionally better than my current ones, I''d just be able to visualize some Net architecture and call screens. On the other end of the spectrum, the most expensive package he had available, was $20,000. It had a lot of bells and whistles. Embedded security features, seamless integration of neural controls. Intuitive adaption to my thoughts. Eyes with high resolution vision, zoom functions, low light options, and flare protection. Best of all blazing fast local NET connectivity.


    "Not the best out there right now, but not far from it. Outside of Corpo labs anyway." I could appreciate that he didn''t try to push me to the more expensive package. He let me decide what I could afford.


    Do I get the basic tech now and upgrade later, or do I go out and find a way to scrape together $20k? I really didn''t want to get into the endless cycle of buy now and fix it later. No, I wanted the best I could get. My gut felt that the less time I spent being... tinkered with, the better.


    Without this "Chrome" I wouldn''t be ready to meet the Faceman. I''d always have to be looking over my shoulder for the cops. Judging by the little bit and pieces Sinnamin had dropped, I didn''t want to get on those guys bad side.


    "I''ll have to come back. It''ll take me a bit to get some Eddies together for the ''preem chrome''." His demeanor seemed to shift to something less professional, but more concerned.


    "Ya know kid, if you weren''t so friendly and relaxed, I''d think you were a Corpo spy. We have to get ya use to the streets and quick. Or you might not make it." He knew all too well, how I''d likely end up gather the funds. This was his attempt at warning me the gangs would spot me coming. I just didn''t fit in on the streets, I''d be an easy mark.


    "Sure Doc, I''m working on it. Unless you know someone who can move some lumber, I''m going to have to do this the hard way." I''d hop on a deal for wood right now if the Doc could set something up, it would be better than what I was planning to do.


    "Lumber? From actual trees? Where in the world would ya get that?" That was genuine shock right there. Wow, wood products must be really rare. Rarer than I''d first suspected. Which means Greg got me good. Damn.


    "Dr. Vektor, you know how it is. I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a place." I chuckled and he snorted.


    "Sure, I know people who''d do it, but they wouldn''t trust ya without a rep." He seemed frustrated. Like he''d run into this problem before, and more than once. He really was one of the good guys.


    "No Worries Doc, I''ll figure it out. We all have to do what we can." I wasn''t ready to show Vik what I could do yet. Not ready to show anyone really. Though when I was, he and Misty would be some of the first folks in this city that would get to see some real magic.


    I left, said goodbye to the kitty and Misty. I wanted to linger and play with the cat, or maybe spend some more time with Misty, but I knew the more I played around the harder it would be to get the ball rolling.


    Scuff got back on the car, and then we headed north in the Galena. That was where I''d find the first element in my plan.


    It was somewhere around 1 AM at that point. I was getting tired. It''d been a long time since I had last slept, but I had work to do.


    Sinnamin had mentioned you could sell loot in certain places. Kabuki for one. Most shopkeeps there would buy goods under the table. No questions asked. If it wasn''t too rare or too big, this was a great option. You''d never get a good deal, but you would get something.


    That lead me to my next idea. Sinnamin had told me about the Maelstrom. They were a Booster Gang, centered around chippin'' in chrome and getting more of it, leaving their humanity behind. Real scumbags. Trading drugs, kidnapping, torture and snuff XBDs (I still didn''t know what those were), and so much more.


    Best part, they were really easy to find, and no one would miss them. The problem with my plan being they were often "Borged Out" or basically mostly chrome. So stronger, faster, meaner. Also, very probably insane by any standard metric.


    Did I have a viable strategy? Other than having my Probes sneak up behind them and zap the fuck out of them? No. We''d try to find a small group or two, then see what we''d get from "flatlining" them. Repeat if needed.


    If and or when I had enough money to afford Vik''s top shelf chrome, I''d head south to another gang''s territory. Find a cheap hotel and sleep. Let whatever heat we''d built up die down a bit, before checking in with the Doc again.


    I''d be the first to admit it wasn''t much of a plan. Stupid. Monumentally stupid.


    Part of me wanted to go back to the Valley and grab an army of Probes and lay waste to everything. My instincts told me it wasn''t the time for such drastic measures.


    So much to do, and there was never enough time.

 Chapter 11

    Once we had traveled several minutes north, we crossed into the Arasaka Waterfront district, which was near a Megabuilding labeled 11. I slowed the Galena down, we had to be on the lookout for our first customers. Traffic was present but minimal, so we could take our time hunting. The only snag was that the roads became more tangled in this part of town, so I had to pay more attention to where we were, however the Probes could scan for viable targets.


    I began spotting Maelstrom graffiti everywhere. They were horrible scenes of spider like borg faces, the multiple eye were a menacing red. While the tags invoked a sense of dread, I didn''t let it worry me much. I figured it was just a gang trying hard to be intimidating.


    Scuff beeped that he''d located a potential victim. When I got my first look at actual ''Strom "gangoons", I realized Sinnamin hadn''t overblown how repulsive they looked. The gang tags were at least partially descriptive. I stared a bit trying to make sense of what I was seeing, it didn''t seem possible for anyone to alter their bodies that much and survive. there was certainly no way that anyone that could do that to themselves was sane, by any definition of the word I understood.


    I found a small parking lot with other cars, and slipped in between two larger vehicles. Since I was taking both Probes, my thinking was that any thief or scrapper would mess with the more valuable vehicles before the Galena. I filled Scuff and Fix in on a tentative tactical plan, both of them seemed to be almost buzzing with excitement as I described their roles. Their beeps were incredibly aggressive sounding. "We can do it, Executor. We will eliminate the enemies." That was Scuff, and Fix was no less rearing to go, "We will destroy the ugly ones, Executor."


    Their behavior more than anything else, gave me pause. I do not think I could have ever been labeled a violent person. Yet here we were, about to murder people for profit. In my case I was sure it was a combination of revulsion and desperation. With the Probes, who had up until now seem to be happy little Robo-Buddies, was their showing this new aggression, my fault? Or was it a consequence of fusion, leading to a bizarre interaction between magic and metal? Could this be what happens to Probes over time? Maybe, if you let them fight a bunch, they become like this?


    Am I a bad person for using them like this? I''ve never been much concerned with morality. I''ve never had a reason to be. I mostly just tried not to be a dick, and kept to myself. So in those terms; we were about to start killing people, admittedly grotesque people, to take their shit. That sure sounded like a dick move to me. Or is this one of those situations were one dick move was canceled out by another group''s generally dickish behavior?


    I growled as some new part of my psyche responded to my increasing stress. It didn''t know, and didn''t care about the answer. It just wanted to purge what it saw as the unclean. The questions were annoying, action was needed. Wait. That didn''t sound like me. What was wrong with me, was this place twisting my outlook? Or was something deeper at play in my mind.


    I found I had been moving the whole time I was thinking. My feet just moved while my mind churned away at it''s problems. I should have been paying more attention to my environment, but now the time for moral quandaries had ended. I had been noticed and my observers certainly thought I had something worth taking. Or maybe my wallet didn''t even matter and they just wanted to start some shit.


    Their red eyes gleamed fiercely in the dark. They had found prey. Me. A damned shame they hadn''t noticed my friends, who hadn''t lost focus. Even now the Probes were using their stealth to creep around behind our three new friends.


    "Hey, whadda we have here?" The voice was grainy and distorted. It grated on my nerves, almost as much as looking at their faces hurt my eyes. Up close, these three were in poor repair. "Rusted" I think Sinnamin had called it. You could hear some of their chrome''s joints grinding. Lines of an old oil-like substance, dribbled out of places, that it didn''t seem like oil should be coming out of. They were either extremely down on their luck, or no longer had the capacity to care about themselves.


    "A poor lost Ganic is need of help." They laughed. there was no joy in that noise, only a type of manic madness. Everything about the sound was wrong. Everything about them was wrong. There was nothing I could recognize as human to them, regardless of their ability to speak.


    "Maybe we throw ''im in da box and watch ''im squirm." Well, that didn''t sound like fun. I didn''t like the sound of that idea at all.


    "Could just cut off his arms, and watch him bleed out." Really? What an asshole. Though, I didn''t have much of a leg to stand on, I came here to kill them after all.


    "Nah, we take him home and play, pin the Chrome on the Ganic." I had already pulled my Omaha, but I wasn''t quite pointing it at them yet. Safety off.


    "Oh is little Ganic scairwd, we''re sorry. We just wanna help you." They started spreading out, not a dumb move. Except the two spreading to the sides now had tagalongs hovering just behind their heads. The fact that they hadn''t pulled their weapons yet, told me they felt they were in total control. Like nothing I could or would do mattered in the slightest.


    That really pissed me off. I don''t think I''ve been this kind of mad before. The sensation burned like magma slowly coursing through my body.


    "Hey why''s the chump glowing?" No more, I''d heard enough of their fucking disgusting voices. It was time to end this.


    "Now!" I snarled as I raised my iron. Two zaps rang out as did two deafening cracks. Three bodies hit the ground.


    I stood there, staring at the corpses for few minutes. I was processing. While my feeling bubbled, I took the time to top off my magazine. I wasn''t thinking about it, the action just a reflex, that I shouldn''t even have had. In that moment, I didn''t feel like morals mattered anymore. I was glad we''d killed them. My head and my heart went still.


    My BTC shivered the motion pulled me back into the moment.


    [ Adjusting...]


    [ Gained skill Firearms at Rank 1 ]


    Oh, okay. I guess that was good. I really had no clue whether any of the information on the screens was actually useful. For all I knew, the data on those screens was a lie.


    Well, enough bullshit, time to get to the real work. We found three more of those crooked chips, in their ports. Sinnamin said those can be anything like Cred Chips, Skillsofts, or even just secured data. So potentially valuable, though I was without any way to calculate that value. Into the backpack they went. Even if I could pull the data off the chips right now it wouldn''t do me any good, I''d need a lot of context to make the best use of anything I discovered.


    Which reminded me, I pulled out another can Cirrus Cola. After the NiCola disaster I hesitated, then shrugged and tried it. The liquid tasted like off brand Coke maybe with some lime or lemon in it. Not as bad as the other junk that was for sure, but not that great either. This possible future was disappointing me in a great many ways.


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    I noticed Scuff and Fix scanning everything in the area, including the corpses. I guessed they were curious little robots.


    Only one of the "gonks" had a gun. A big ass revolver, into the backpack with that as well. The blades the others carried, looked like garbage to me, so I didn''t bother with them.


    Shit, they only had $200 in bills. This method of resource gathering would take a while. There was nothing else worth "klepping" on the bodies. I did go poke around where I first seen them, while I was driving around. I found a whole bunch of junk, of indeterminate worth. I wasn''t sure what a lot of this stuff was even for. Various cables and microchips. A radio that while functional looked cheap. "Food" and "drinks" of various descriptions. A couple of inhaler looking objects. If I had got the context right, these could be either medicines or drugs. Into the backpack. There seemed to be the lot of it.


    That could explain their erratic behavior, maybe the three gangers were junkies.


    I sighed. No one said it would be easy. We needed to get back to hunting down another group, I supposed. Very disappointing.


    I found a massive Wall. The wall was black and lit with red. Blocks worth of the city had been walled off behind this edifice. The colors and the name of the district gave away who this area belonged to, Arasaka. A Mega Corp, wielding massive power and influence across the world. Perhaps the biggest gang in Night City, from a certain point of view. We were not ready to mess with them. Though raiding Corporations for fun and profit did sound exciting? Maybe, one day. For now, I''ll have to be content with smaller game.


    Skirting the wall led me to a place were I could hear some ear bleeding music, if you could call it that. I followed until I had found the Totentanz. The screeching noises were very loud. Yup, definitively looked like a place for Death Metal concerts. Haha, Death Metal. Borged up Psychos.


    Loads of Maelstrom, too many for us to deal with right now. Let''s skip it. I''ll come back with my own gang someday. Tree gang represent. I threw a few silly gang signs, in a moment of pure childlike glee. Or would we be the Nature gang? Eh, I''ll figure it out later.


    Much larger gatherings of the more ordinary looking people milled about in this area, normal by 2074 standards anyway. I couldn''t understand wanting to be around the Maelstrom. You''d think the constant threat of being robbed, killed or worse, would keep the riff-raff away. No such luck.


    Driving on, I was overwhelmed by a sense of futility. There were just so many of these fuckers everywhere. My initial distaste for the city had grown to full blown hatred, by this point, and I''d not been here for even a full day yet. The truly weird thing was, I think this fucked up city wanted me to hate it. Like it thrived off all the pain and misery. There''s a terrible thought. A Cursed City, feasting off blood, sorrow and death. And here I was about to feed it some more.


    I spied a couple of more isolated groups of ''Stromers over by Megabuilding 12. As good a place as any for us to setup a hunting ground. I circled around and parked by a clothing store, called Ded Zed. I picked it because while there were still cars in the parking lot the store itself was closed. Good.


    This time I''d try to be more cautious, I''d rather not get surrounded again. It might have worked out the first time but I couldn''t rely on luck to see me through this. Trying to be stealthy likely wouldn''t work for me. But I thought that I could be a distraction for the Probes to make their moves. I nodded as I got my weapon ready for action. Eyes open. Let''s bag some ''Strom.


    The first group we ran across were five chromeheads right by the Megabuilding itself. We came upon them at a good moment, they were getting ready to head some where else. They gathered their stuff up and were trying to put out the fire they had been cooking something over.


    Scuff had snuck up on them and was now hovering well over their heads. The aggressive little Probe began to zap one and then another. Fix came in fast and low zapping at the gangers'' feet. I fired a few rounds, trying to do my part. Our first volley, we did a lot of damage. But some of them still had some fight left. One ganger had a machete and only seeing me decided to charge, the other two still standing started firing at me one with a shotgun the other with some kind of automatic rifle.


    Something slapped into me. "Shit!" I went down hard. At first, I didn''t feel anything. It''s like my body couldn''t believe what had happened. The only good thing to out of it, was in my reflexive spasm, I pulled the trigger on my Omaha. This somehow dropped the machete wielding asshole long enough for Fix to zap him face first into the next life. When my mind finally started to catch up, Scuff was finishing off the ''Strom with the rifle. Then the last guy, showing he still had half a brain, tried to run, but the Probes tag teamed him, zapping him into a smoldering pile of metal and meat.


    I was fervently attempting to cast regrowth, I fumbled the shape of the spell a few times as this throbbing burning pain set in. "Fuck, fuck, fuck... " Finally, I managed to get the shape right and mana to flow properly. I channeled the spell, keeping the mana flowing until I could return to full health. Somewhere in there, I fumbled the spell again. My concentration was shot. Curses flowed from my mouth as I tried to get the spell shape right for the umpteenth time.


    Scuff beeped, "Executor more Enemies are approaching. Orders?" The Probes seemed like he really wanted the order to be, "kill them all."


    "Damn it, ambush them, shit, while I, fuck, finish up here." I got the spell going again and felt my mana drain more rapidly, this time.


    "By your Command." Both beeped in unison. They flitted off at top speed, eager to lay into some more borged out fools.


    As I was trying to dredge up more mana from the thin air, I heard the sounds of battle. This made me feel even shittier for having to depend on the Probes so much. The pain was dying down. I dared to check myself over. No wonder I fell down, I''d gotten hit by both gangoons. The remnants of both wounds were on my gut, though I guessed nothing too vital got wrecked. I used my hands to feel around the wounds, skin was once again mostly smooth. Still tender, but nicer than being dead.


    The ruckus in the distance was getting louder. What was going on?


    Okay, if I was going to keep doing this crazy bullshit I required some armor. Also staying further back would probably be a great idea. Let''s just shoot the guys panicked into running by being zapped by something they couldn''t see. It was becoming more and more obvious to me, that I knew nothing about combat. This learning it the hard way shit, not so fun.


    I stood up, getting a good look at my ruined clothes. Rapidly drying blood was soaked into the entire front. Yup, these robes were a lost cause. Likely the clothes underneath were in even worse shape. I tested my movement. No hitches or cramps or  muscle pulls. I seemed to be able to bend every which way. My legs solidly held my weight. Alright, I was fully functional if not optimal.


    I decided to let Scuff and Fix handle the fighting for a moment while I started looting. Everything I could make out sounded like they had it covered. Pulling the backpack off was a struggle, somehow the straps got cinched tighter with my earlier fall. It didn''t get hit but some of the cola cans ruptured when I was dropped to the ground. Ah, too bad. The shards seem unaffected, though the revolver would need to be cleaned later.


    So I dumped the colas. Dried the pack out as best I could with a shirt scavenged from one of the retired Maelstromers. I somehow hadn''t dropped my Omaha this whole time, and I wasn''t about to now, which created a few awkward moments while looting. Thankfully I managed not to shoot myself.


    The sounds of fighting were moving further away. I guessed that I was going to be looting the aftermath, of dozens of small fights.


    An hour later, The Probes were done with their rampage. Soon after, both the trunk and backseat of the Galena were full. $9000 in script, 31 shards, a dozen more inhalers and various odds and ends that might be worth something. Fix and Scuff were dancing around in celebration, this was after they''d scanned every little thing in the area. I let them play, they''d earned it. Neither one of them had even gotten scratched. Were the Maelstrom that bad, or were my Probes that awesome?


    I managed to scrounge together an outfit, from the 32 dead Stromers. It didn''t look too bad, more of blue collar look rather than death metal video extra. Now if I could just get some mechanics overalls, I''d look like I did back home most of the time. I threw my tattered robes and clothes into the back seat of the Galena as well. I''d have to be sure to clean up all the blood later, but for now, my exhaustion was becoming unignorable.


    Let''s go sell all of this loot before finding a hotel, so I could zonk out for a while.

 Chapter 12

    The sun was cresting over the horizon and the Kabuki roundabout was hustling even this early in the morning.


    People were always looking for the best deals, or trying to find that next sucker to sell some garbage. The ebb and flow of the early morning crowds were like a tide of consumers. I began struggling to path my way through the clumps of folks while searching for the best shops to off load my illicit goods.


    I''m no novice when it come to wheeling and dealing, but I didn''t get the better end of the exchanges here. These Kabuki merchants were sharks, very hungry ones. I lost a few chucks of flesh in there. Metaphorically, of course. Though there was one guy who looked like he had actual shark teeth in his mouth. Weird choice, but it takes all kinds.


    Clearing out my Galena of all the loot had netted me another 3000 eddies. I had thought I could do better, but was soon disabused of that notion. Checking around had reveled I ended up losing more than 20% at almost every sale, and thus was a little disillusioned. I had parked my butt on a concrete bench, while I moped a bit and just watched as the city was coming alive. I was also eating a second helping of a fairly good noodle dish I had found. The food cart was super popular with the locals, and long lines gathered for their dishes. That''s why I decided to try it out in the first place. Glad I did. Best meal I''d had since I''d gotten to this city. The bits and bobs mixed into the noodles could have been anything, and I certainly wasn''t going to ask. The long bits of carbohydrates tasted like they were made with real flour. They had a great texture too.


    Once my stomach was tamed, I took a count of my funds. Let''s see about $15,000 altogether, not quite enough to pay off the Doc. We''d have to go hunting again tonight. Maybe, this time I''d just let the Probes do the hunting. It felt bad to even think about doing it that way, but it was the smarter play. I had already been shown that I didn''t have the best natural instincts for combat. I''d have to train. One more thing on my plate. Sigh.


    I needed to buy some armor, but later, after I had a chance to refresh my brain. I''d get bamboozled right now. Exhaustion, might be why I got my ass handed to me by those crafty merchants. For now, it was time to head south and find a hotel. Something nice and quiet, somewhere out of the way.


    As I got up to head back to the Galena, the sheer amount of advertisements everywhere around me harshly intruded on my attention. There were ads everywhere; on screens, on holos, on billboards, and posters. Most of them featured sex, in all the most glorious and profane ways of fucking humanity. Which in and of itself, didn''t bother me too much, after all, most people are interested in hanky panky, of one type or another. I was worried a little about all the kids who had to be seeing this slop all the time.


    Blah, when you cut it to the bone, most of what was twisting me up, was that I felt horribly alone. Isolated. Throwing sex in your face when you felt lonely sucked. It made you feel even more cut off from others. Look at all these hot people, having all that great sex, didn''t you wish that was you? Add the backdrop of the dreary concrete jungle all around you, and every ad just sapped more of your soul.


    This was all on purpose wasn''t it?


    Shit, I really needed a girlfriend, an "output" I think it was called. Or maybe the term was "Mainline" for something more serious. Sure, I''ll keep an eye out for a good woman, perhaps thenI''d be more resistant to this soul draining mess.


    My wandering thoughts kept me focused inwards, until I was once again behind the wheel of my car. Driving on the highway, almost free of crazy motorists at this hour, worked its magic on me and my tension started to fall away. This was a welcome moment, that I maybe drug out longer than I had to, but a little peace of mind was never a waste.


    Down in a section of the city called Heywood, I found a Hotel tucked away deep in some sketchy back roads. The El Gato que R¨ªe. It looked like it had recently been rebuilt. From what disaster, I didn''t dare begin to guess. The building was 20 floors of clean brick and newly painted accents. Nothing about the way it looked would have lead you to believe it was a Hotel. Which is what caught my attention in the first place. They likely didn''t have too many folks staying there, that didn''t already know about the place.


    I left Scuff to watch the car, while Fix accompanied me to play bodyguard. I examined all the graffiti in the neighborhood, some of which I''d call Streetart, while walking over to the building. Hispanic influenced culture was everywhere in this part of the city. no sign of the Maelstrom anywhere nearby. Perfect.


    Sadly, I didn''t speak a word of Spanish. Always meant to learn, just never found the time. Still, the nice Lady at the desk didn''t seem to mind, as she chattered at me in Spanish, while I paid for my room key card. It seemed to be a hundred for a day. At least I thought it was, she was talking so fast. I had the feeling that even if I did speak the language, she''d be hard to follow. I just smiled at her and tried to look attentive.


    Giving her a once over, showed that her arms were chrome. They were done up with gold plating and her overly unblemished skin was covered in intricate tattoos. I thought she might have said that her name was Rosita. Her dark hair, probably also some kind of augment, bounced a lot. It especially wobbled a lot when she moved her head in a synced rhythm with her speech.


    She appeared to like the sound of my name and kept rolling the r like she found it highly amusing. To be fair, she could have been saying the most vile shit to me, and I wouldn''t have had a clue. But her demeaner was friendly and cheerful. Interesting side note she could see Fix, but I had a feeling that was because their stealth wouldn''t work during the day.


    When I finally got into my room it was about 7:30 AM. The room was nothing special, by my standards, and looked like dozens of other hotel rooms I had throughout my life, other than the tech. Fix immediately started scanning everything, that even remotely looked like it might be electronic.


    I tried to take a shower but it wouldn''t start. You had to pay, I finally noticed the sign on the sidewall after a couple of frustrating minutes. Not having much choice I did my best with the sink, and a wash cloth. The sink also cut off after a few minutes of use. Fucking hell. I finished up awkwardly, before walking back towards the bed.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Feeling minimally better, I laid down and was off to dreamland in seconds.


    Getting up was a struggle, hundreds of little aches and pains trying to weight me back down. There was still sunlight peering around the edges of the steel shutters. A small readout near the bed, showed the temp 102F / 39C. The date was 3/21/2074 and the time read 4:41PM. That seemed unreasonably hot for March, in California, especially by the coast. Though maybe that''s normal for here and now.


    I wanted to brush my teeth really badly, argh. It was a mess in there. I''d have to remember to grab some toiletries and other necessities later. I tried a quick cast of Regrowth, which while helping with the soreness, didn''t do a thing to fight plaque. I had to resort to scrubbing at my teeth with a clean hand towel. It wasn''t perfect, but it did cut the fuzzy feeling on my teeth down.


    I checked out, Fix trailing along behind me, and told Rosita that I''d be happy to stay again sometime. I knew she could understand me. Now that I had slept, I remembered that Sinnamin had told me that the Net implant could translate language in real time. She said a bunch, her head bobbing everywhere. I actually felt bad that I didn''t understand a word of it. Her smile at least, was a bright point to start the day with.


    When we got to the car, Scuff reported that nothing had happened on his watch. We loaded up and headed out.


    I drove around aimlessly, just taking in the sites in this part of the city. I avoided going too much farther south. Sinnamin had warned me about places called Pacifica and Dogtown down that way.


    I decide to fill up at a CHOOH2 station, which also had a setup like a convenience store. The Burning Grass, a chain store it seemed. I got the sense that the name was a joke that I didn''t get yet. They were open 24/7 and had four active gun turrets hanging from the pump area''s awning, they tracked my car when I had pulled in. Soon a bot came out and pumped the fuel. The bot seemed like an evolution of the Boston Dynamics line of humanoid work bots. It should also be noted that the bot was armed.


    Scuff and Fix were scanning everything they could, while staying attached to the car. None of us wanted a misunderstanding with the turrets. I got out and walked over to the sales shack. I noticed only one of the turrets track my movements. I got a Cirrus Cola and a XXL burrito, which was disappointingly small. The Bot behind the counter handed me my order and took a few of my bills. Once the bot pumping gas was finished, it gave me back my change. I blanched a little at the prices. Whew, I guess I was just going to have to get used to the cost of living here.


    The cola was meh, and the burrito was aggressively mediocre. Truly it was a mass of almost tasteless mush. Still had Buck A Slice beat though.


    I walked back to my car keeping one eye on the turrets and the other on the bots. I didn''t feel secure again until we were a few hundred yards down the road.


    Next it was time to find a weapon store. I wanted to get a holster rigged up for my Omaha, get some range practice and buy some freaking armor. It wasn''t as hard as I thought it would be gun stores were literally everywhere. I found one called the Reach Out and Touch Someone Shop. Stopping there, I got a nice new armored vest and layered an armored trench coat over it. Not too heavy, but the clerk said it should stop most rounds that I''d meet on the streets. I also purchased a nice gun belt and holster with a couple of hours of range time.


    [Adjusting...]


    [ Militech Trench Coat with Bullet Resistant Triweave


    Armor: 3 ]


    [ Norco Armored Vest with Polycarbonate Plating


    Armor: 4 ]


    Oh man, that was fun! I had a grand old time blasting away at a large variety of targets. I even got to try the moving target trial. I didn''t do so hot, but I did gain a little something for my efforts.


    [ Firearms skill has increased to Rank 2 ]


    It was around 8:30PM when I left the Reach Out and Touch Someone Shop and the balmy night was young. When checking my funds, I saw I was down to $10,456 after my earlier purchases.


    As I was walking to my car, I saw a man across the street by what I would have said was an abandoned building. Nothing usual except he was wearing a holographic mask. According to Sinnamin''s lectures he matched the description of a Scav. Like the ''Strom, they were bad folks that like to cut people up and take their bits. Also like the Maelstrom they wouldn''t be missed. In fact, she had made clearing out Scavs sound like a public service.


    With the dark the Probes were once again protected by stealth. It made it less troublesome for Fix to track him back to his source. Scuff and I followed at a more leisurely pace with the car. Turned out that the Probes could keep track of each over quite a distance. So we didn''t have to stay too close to the target. This was a great time for testing things like this. We were under no major pressures right at that moment and if we lost track of the Scav we weren''t set back at all.


    Later, Fix had back tracked to us. He had discovered the location of the base. It was in a very rundown area. I''d label it, urban blight incarnate. Unsurprisingly, It was there that I saw my first living rat of this world. The stunted critter had been twisted up, whether through some deliberate action or an accident, I couldn''t say. I threw a Regrowth on it out of pity, and shockingly it died immediately. The sheer relief from its agony, caused it to go into stress induced cardiac arrest. That raised all kinds of bothersome questions. I might have been able to save it, if I had even considered that healing it fast might not be the best way.


    The stench of this zone was pervasive and nauseating. The few people still outside were homeless and feral looking. Or they were moving at a brisk pace to get out of here. The building Fix indicated was maybe thirty stories tall, though half of it was looked like it had been recently bombed. Rubble mixed freely with the ubiquitous trash piles. The people, even the hard-bitten looking ones avoided the place, which ironically was a good sign for our purposes.


    The plan was simple the Probes go in, and kill the strongest or best equipped Scavs first. Taking them out as quickly and quietly as possible and then driving the rest of them towards the entrance, where I would shoot them as they came out.


    I posted up in a recessed hollow in the rubble, hoping I wouldn''t be easily spotted. Scuff and Fix quickly vanished into the building. Several minutes later, I heard the sound of combat coming from above. I had started to sweat, even though I was feeling some chills. People began to run out of the building, but none of them had a mask on so I let them go, I didn''t want to "zero" a non-Scav by mistake.


    Then my first customer of the night showed up. He never even noticed me as I took careful aim and drilled him right through the temple, at point blank range. Some of the other folks, who were milling about trying to figure out what the hell was going on, screamed and ran further away.


    Two more Scavs came out. They saw their comrade, they said something in a language I didn''t understand, but thought was Slavic in origin. When they crouched down over their comrade, I thought they were trying to help him. Turned out that they were stealing his weapon, shards and money. My eyes narrowed in disgust, and I put a bullet in the back of each of their heads. Fucking Scum.


    After another ten minutes, all of the sounds of fighting in the building had stopped. The Probes beeped loudly from the upper windows, trying to get my attention. They seemed particularly excited. I waved up at them in acknowledgement, but I stripped everything off the three corpses down here. I figured if I left the loot out in the open, someone might come along and help themselves. I threw everything into the trunk, without really examining it now. I''d sort it later.


    Now it was time to see what the Probes had found.

 Chapter 13 (Disturbing Content)

    The only elevator I could find was broken. Because of course it was.


    I trudged up one of the concrete staircases. Desperately trying and failing to ignore the trash and debris. How could you not at least remove the filth? Were the people that lived so lost to  anguish that they truly didn''t care? How could you help people like that find hope again? How do you instill them with a sense of purpose and personal pride again? I didn''t know, but I had a feeling that one day it would be of vital importance.


    Fix met me at the 12th floor''s entryway. Two still smoking corpses filled the doorway. I chucked their corpses to the side after stripping them of anything unburnt. I had to vomit, thanks to the the smell, and as realization of what we were doing hit me, my gorge rose again. While they were, according to my information, just as despicable as the ''Strom, the Scavs didn''t look as inhuman. Hell, most of them I had looted so far barely had any cyberware. I guess it was easier to sympathize with folks that still looked human.


    The Scavs had taken over the entire floor. On this side of the building by the stairs, the majority of the rooms were more or less intact. The Scavs had been sleeping in these rooms, and doing less pleasant things. The smell of human excrement always hits me hard. That was why despite finishing the plumbing course in trade school, I didn''t even try to become a plumber. I simply saw it as a skill worth knowing, and hoped I''d never have to use it. It seemed that I wouldn''t get to keep anything in my stomach today. Oh well, that XXL burrito wasn''t worth trying to keep down.


    I found no less than three makeshift "operating" rooms, deeper into the core of this floor. The amount of blood and viscera resembled an abattoir. Fresh blood and gore had been added from where the Scavs had joined their victims. Good job guys, I mentally cheered Fix and Scuff. I gave them both a thumbs up.


    Correction, there were four rooms where the Scavs had been entertaining "guests". In the fourth room, I found the remains of a young woman still laid out on the surgeon''s table. Her chest cavity had been opened up, in a gruesome display. I was no doctor, but even I could tell that several of the organs necessary to maintain life were missing. I examined the room, I couldn''t really internalize everything I was witnessing, so I kept the details to simple facts. The instruments spread around the table, were all crude. They also looked like like they had never once been cleaned.


    As I was about to continue cataloging the horrors of this macabre theatre, the woman''s corpse made a noise. I didn''t even pause at the awful sound, I leapt to her side and began trying to pour mana into her. Regrowth spread throughout her flesh and for one tiny moment I was connected with her. I felt that last gasp of life flee her broke form, the moment when death claimed her. For several minutes, I kept trying to save someone that was already gone. When the reality of the situation set in, my mind went blank.


    Scuff and Fix hovered nearby. It was an odd moment where Robots were trying to offer me emotional support. That more than anything, let me return from that terrible cold place, my thoughts were trapped in.


    Of course, then began the cycle of self-recriminations. If only, I had noticed she that still had some life left in her sooner, maybe I could have saved her. If only, my mana shaping had been better. If only, I knew more spells. If only, if only. Then the painful questions began. Had she been in love? Did she have a family? Would her friends miss her? What projects had she started that she would never be able to finished? I knew it was likely impossible to answer those questions, but they rolled around in my head anyway.


    While I wasn''t crying, something inside me was breaking down. I honestly wished I were bawling my head off. It would have been a healthier way to deal with the pressure, to deal with feeling all of this anguish.


    None of this made any sense to me, my impression from Sinnamin had been that they cut people apart for their organs. To sell on the black market. A terrible act, as I could see in front of me. Definitely worthy of a bullet or three to the brainpan. If the young lady, whose name I make never know, could only speak, she might have told me that the situation was much more traumatizing than that.


    I finally managed to gather myself and began to once again search the floor. I certainly found many organs in refrigeration units haphazardly place around the walls. My throat burned from upwelling acid as the sight of bodies discarded in haphazard heaps, imprinted itself deep in my psyche. Throw in side rooms, that were so dark I couldn''t make out too many details. That''s for the best I''m sure.


    I choked back another round of vomit, and tried to figured out what the Scavs were after. All of this slaughter, just for money? I couldn''t accept that. I''ve never been great at judging the motivations of others, but all of this seemed to be needless. There had to be be better ways to make money available.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    I had to clean the results of the Probes'' assault off the refrigeration unit''s glass doors in quite a few places. My now empty eyes peered into cases trying to comprehend. Mostly the stolen organs were kidneys, hearts, eyes and lungs. They had been preserved in jars, submerged in unknown fluids, and kept at temperatures just shy of freezing. I could feel a rage brewing, drowning out the hollowed out places inside me. The anger burned bright and hot, knowing that normal everyday folks had been reduced to this. The ones that were obviously from children, stoked the inner blaze the most, messing with children was always the most heinous of crimes.


    Yet the organs were an afterthought. That was the only conclusion I could draw from the sloppy extraction methods and poor packing techniques. Most of these organs probably wouldn''t be worth a damn. They certainly wouldn''t survive transport. This tragedy was all wasted effort and a severe waste of life. What was the point?


    Then I discovered reality of what they were after. The offending materials were stacked neatly in crates filled with thick foam and advanced shipping materials. The precision of storage and the care taken to clean and maintain the integrity of the goods painted a stark contrast to the treatment of the organs. The only filth present, being the remains of the Scavs splattered everywhere in their last ditch effort to defend their cache to the bitter end.


    Cyberware. It was all cyberware. "Chrome."


    People slaughtered like livestock for bits of chrome. Metal valued over flesh. This was an abomination. That was the only word I could think of, to describe what this act felt like to me. The spark of life snuffed out just to steal the false animation of metal. I could sense that my world view had begun to shift. My rage crashed into me. All of my earlier sympathy for the Scavs, that Scuff and Fix flatlined felt wasted. Anyone who could do this didn''t deserve to suck the same air as me. They didn''t deserve to be counted as human at all.


    I was shocked by both the amount and the shear variety of parts. This group of Scavs must have been operating in this area for a long time. Giving the crate a cursory once over, showed me thousands of units of cyberware. I had little clue what any of them were for, other than the limb replacements. I growled at the thoughts of how each part must have been extracted. How much pain was inflicted in the gathering of these materials.


    How was I better? A stray thought whispered. It was that bitter part of me still upset that I couldn''t save the young lady. My answer began in halting bursts, Target selection? Intent? Purpose? Morals? This kind of self-recrimination was nothing new to me. All the time I questioned whether I made the right call not going to college. Every time I wondered what I had done wrong in trying to get a date. Yet never had I faced anything with this level of grim weight. Parts of me, hollowed out earlier, crumbled away. This left only the strongest parts of my myself to rebuild with.


    I knew I could have fallen into the trap of endlessly questioning myself, but that''s what it really was, a trap. Think too much and fail to act. Act without thought and commit atrocities. It was an endless circle.


    That bitter part of my old self threw out a final thought, that I was just as bad because I did all of this, and that''s the sort of thing the objectively bad people do. I growled, "Bullshit." Fuck that. I''m not going to waste the time constantly justifying my actions here and now. I''d never get anything done. Then I sneered at that part of myself. "Some people need killing. Some people need saving. In the end it''s all just people needing." If anyone had a problem with that, even my own subconscious, they could suck it.


    Chuckling at the ridiculousness of my own two-bit philosophy. My resolve settled, and I started looting once more. 15 dead Scavs, not counting the two by the door. So twenty Scavs had been here? Unless someone had gotten away. They had possess almost $12,000 in script, dozens of crappy weapons, and other small things to sell. My assumption was most of it was from the victims, especially anything that was actually valuable. That soured my thoughts, but they couldn''t use it anymore. I''d  have to attempt to be worthy.


    I couldn''t do anything with the organs and I simply didn''t have room in the Galena for all of the cyberware. Luckily, one of the Scavs had a fob for a car. Maybe it would be big enough. I checked it out. It was indeed.


    [ Mahir Supron FS3


    Model: Basic


    Fuel Type: CHOOH2 formula Delta


    Top speed: 135


    Weight: 2,690


    Horsepower: 108 ]


    It was a boxy piece of junk. It was poorly made, and had been poorly maintained. However with the back seats down, I could fit maybe four crates of cyberware in there. That made it the vehicle I needed right now. when Scuff and Fix scanned it, I could feel their contempt. My little Robo-Buddies were getting cocky, but they deserved it. They had performed, above and beyond expectations.


    In a way, I was happy they were acting up. They had been subdued. I guess they didn''t like what they scanned in there, or maybe they didn''t like how those events had affected me. "It''s okay guys, I''ll be fine. We''ll be okay. You were awesome and I''m glad you were here. I couldn''t have done this without you." They gave me doubtful, half-hearted beeps. Those beeps mirrored my thoughts as I tried to convince myself it was true.


    I didn''t want to leave the Galena behind. Though as I understood it, once I was chipped I could call my baby to me with the fob. I nodded, my plan had been formed.


    I loaded everything I could pack into the minivan. I was officially and thoroughly over going up and down stairs, while carrying heavy things. Oddly enough, the manual labor helped to clear my head. The soreness burning in my muscle banished my doubts, at least for the moment.


    Scuff and Fix found adequate attachment points on the roof of the van.


    I tried to calm myself as I headed towards Misty''s.

 Chapter 14

    Despite the crowds still going strong, I made it to Vik''s clinic without incident.


    With everything I''s just seen, I was feeling terrified. How would installing this tech change me? Would I someday become like the Maelstrom, addicted to the next upgrade. Or would my soul bleed away until I was capable of the same horrors as the Scavs?


    A grinning Misty waved me through, and I flashed her a nervous smile. I spent a brief moment petting the cat on the way to the clinic. I needed the distraction to calm my jitters.


    The Doc greeted me with a grunt. I halfheartedly returned it.


    "You ready to get Chipped?" He took in my appearance and frowned.


    "A bit of ''biz'' first. I just raided a Scav base, and I picked up a few things you might want. I''ll bring it around to the back door." The idea of how to dispose of all the klepped chrome, came to me on the drive over.


    The Doc''s eyebrows crawled up his face, then understanding danced in his eyes. Soon the knowing look became one of concern.


    "Okay, let''s see whatcha got." A few minutes later he was looking through the crates. He whistled. "Ryan, I can''t afford all this. A few pieces sure, but that''d only be half of one of these boxes." He was frowning, troubled. "Some of this is really high end."


    "No!" That word came out more forcefully than I intended. I stopped myself, then took a deep breath and plunged ahead. My hands started moving on their own. The wild gestures emphasizing each word. "Sorry Doc I can''t take money for these, not after what I saw. These are yours, sell the best of it to some rich gonks, give big discounts to the people who need some help. I don''t know what''s best here, but yeah I can''t take your money for this." I was shaking my head like a crazy person. I couldn''t quite bring myself to say that there was too much blood shed over these bits of chrome.


    "I see. Yeah, I can do some good with these." Doc nodded, his doubts resolved. It appeared he got it. He gripped my shoulder, "The Scav haunt really got to you, huh? They do that. Too many newly chipped kids think of them as easy marks, they come out scarred in more ways than one."


    "I don''t understand how people can do that, become that twisted." I growled, "No, I can see it, but I''d like to think I wouldn''t sink that low." I snarled a bit there. I looked over at the operating chair. Trying to refocus. "I know it''s part of life here. I know people think of chrome as normal. But I''m not there yet. I might never be." I punched my left hand with my right, trying to keep tears from building in my eyes. "They treated peoples'' flesh as less important than the chrome. As if that was the only part of folks that mattered. That hit me hard."


    I ground my teeth. Pulling back the reins a bit. I sigh, attempting to expel all the fucked up baggage I''d picked up.


    Doc nodded, "It''s a hard world out there. Chrome helps folks feel safe, let''s them feel like they matter. It gives them a chance to be more." He went through it slow. He gave my shoulder a pat.


    "More what?" I was actually curious how he''d respond.


    "That''s the question, isn''t it?" He chuckled. After a second to process, I snorted and gave a chuckle of my own.


    "Maybe too heavy for a second meeting, huh?" Feeling a bit foolish. Splitting my guts out to a total stranger was the height of stupidity.


    "Sure, but you needed to vent and I got an ear." He grinned pointing to his left ear, "It''s a chrome one though." That got a laugh out of me. I shut the metal gate and we walked over to the chair.


    "So how''s this work, Doc?" I was feeling far more optimistic about this. I realized that the Doc was actually trustworthy.


    "Normally it''s a quick procedure, and you''d be awake so we can do some tweaks as needed." Then he waved his hand back and forth, "However, you being Ganic and all, I''m going to have to put you out. Then it will take an hour or so for the auto-surgeon to set up the neural interface. The chip ports and the optic sockets will go much quicker. We then bring you back awake to test connections. I''ll run you through the software setup and then you''ll be good to go."


    "Sounds dope." Still excited about all this.


    "Huh?" The Doc sounded lost. It took me a second to realize why.


    "Oh, sounds, ah... preem." I hopped up into the chair while handing the $20000 in bills over. "Let''s do this." Before I could change my mind.


    His exo-frame surgeon''s arm made some really interesting clacking noises. A few seconds after that, I felt a pinch as I heard him say, "Light''s Out."


    I came to. A beeping noise kept repeating next to me, so I glanced over to see a monitor. Couldn''t make heads or tails out of what it was showing though. My head was groggy, like a night of too much whiskey. Without the headache though. Laying there gathering my thoughts, I wondered if everything went okay. I didn''t sense any differences, yet. I reached up and gently rubbed my slightly gritty feeling eyes. Ah, they felt much firmer. My fingers crawled around to the sides of my head, there were three rectangular holes behind my left ear. A set of three concentric metallic rings behind my right ear. Soo, I''m "chipped" now. I hoped it was worth it. I spent a few more seconds tracing the chip ports and then staring at my hands to see if I saw in more detail now. Yeah, a little bit. Nothing too amazing.


    The curtain surrounding the bed I was resting in was abruptly pulled back and the blazing white light stabbed into my eyes.


    "Sorry, bet that stung." Doc rumbled. "The surgery went well, though it took an extra hour to map your brain. It''s an odd one. You have some dense clusters of nerves in your frontal cortex I''ve never seen before. A few other strange quirks as well. The implantation went great and everything seems to be smooth sailing. How are your optics doing? Any blurriness, or photosensitivity?"


    "Nah, Doc. Everything looks great." I tried sitting up. I only wobbled a bit. I rolled my shoulders, eager to start moving again.


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    "Alright, let''s go through the setup and settings for everything... "


    It only took twenty minutes to get everything sorted out. Now that they were off safe mode, my new eyes were a marvel. They could zoom in, both for distance and scale. They supposedly had other features like explosive detection, flare protection and more, but there wasn''t a good way to test them here. My simplified interface allowed me to connect to the electronics around the room, which I fiddled with maybe a bit too much. Turning on and off the lights and the radio. It was extremely intuitive, I was more than a little shocked that it was so easy.


    My new chip ports came with a currently empty encrypted cred chip. Making it less likely some random netrunner could just siphon my electronic funds willy-nilly. Best of all, these systems all worked together to give me an active readout of personal data straight to my eyes. That was so cool. Maybe game-like feature weren''t so bad.


    The Doc had thrown in a few bits of software as thanks, a NCPD Scanner to see who was a ne''er do well, a security suite with some currently up to date and potent ICE, and even the advanced version of a targeting system, to aid in aiming. Most of target system''s features needed the additional chrome on the hands, like a ballistics coprocessor to really shine, but the targeting reticule that it rocked was already awesome.


    He gave me a inhaler, and I took a hit now. It cause a few odd sensations, like the tingling in my lungs and a moment of my blood heating up. He told me I''d need a few more hourly puffs over the next five hours. What it contained was a mass of antibiotics and antirejection drugs to help my body adapt.


    I thanked him for everything. Then left, making sure to say good-bye to Misty on the way to my van.


    I called the Galena to me, and left the van in a parking lot near Misty''s. It''d be as safe there as anywhere else right now.


    The Probes were a little more cheery. They scanned my new cyberware with what I took to be amusement. Beep, beep, "Executor has new parts." Scuff said to Fix, who responded, "He feels better now, we can see his thoughts more clearly." They wobbled and danced around me. "Hey!" Mildly annoyed by their antics. But it didn''t last, I couldn''t be upset with my Robo-Buddies. They both gave out a rapid series of beeps that I figured for laughter.


    After a another visit at Lizzie''s to get another "Information Special" from Sinnamin, I had the detes of the Faceman she knew. Carver, yeah just Carver.


    While I was there, I also got Sinn''s story. Found out why she was so different from the other Moxes. She had been inducted to the Animals when she was young, so young in fact I had to take a few calming breaths because righteous anger nearly overwhelmed me. She described their casual brutality, and the "Dominance Plays" that were a common part of their gang behavior.


    Sigh. I really was starting to hate ALL the gangs. Her pack, as she called it, was raiding a Corpo shipment. She didn''t even remember whose convoy it was. Probably didn''t care at the time, to her it was just another chance to fight. To prove her worth. To carver out her place in the pack.


    In that fight, she got dropped. Then after taking a few more losses, her pack scattered. She faded out, sure she was flatlining. She came to later while being splayed out on a Scav''s table. They were already elbows deep into her guts. Trying to pull her biomodded glands out.


    Then Rita, and some of the other Moxes, came through while searching for some of their own missing girls. Sinn felt she owed them and then joined the Mox. Still, she really hated dancing, and wanted to be out smashing skulls. I choked back laughter at the awkward look on her face and wished her luck with that.


    Everybody''s got a story. I was starting to understand that everyone''s story mattered. Every tale folks told was a new opportunity to learn.


    I setup a meeting with Carver for the next day. A simple get together at a place called Tom''s Diner.


    After spending the a few hours sleeping back at the El Gato que R¨ªe, I arrived at the dinner early. I took the time to have a very mediocre burger. Mostly that same off flavor that all the meat here seemed to possess. The fries were okay though. Doubtful they were real potatoes, but starch was starch, right? My waiting bought me nothing, I got stiffed. I waited around a couple of hours. I even ordered a disappointing milkshake adjacent thing, to not just take up space. Realizing that it didn''t matter, I left.


    I got a call almost immediately. "Alright, now that we''ve had a look at you, what kind of work are you looking for?" The voice was empty soulless. Likely artificial, also it was different from the voice that had arranged the meetup.


    "Mostly wetwork for right now. I have some drones I''m testing." I didn''t really want to kill folks, but I figure that they mostly need gangers removed.


    "A Techie, okay." I had to hold back a snort. "I''ve got a good starting job for you, a group of gang wannabes bothering a peaceful neighborhood. Put them down, and send a message. Detes attached." The line closed.


    The info I was given was for a relatively new development to the north west of the Northside Industrial District. It was called New Town, or the Three Corp Zone.


    I spent a little time doing some research of my own. The local Net data said the zone was a joint venture by three of the mid-tier Corps. Ganthrope, Hallsback, and Riener. The handled Educational Materials, Software Development for NET architecture, and Robotics Research, respectively. The district was centered on their new headquarter buildings. Three tall skyscrapers twisting around each other, forming a bizarre helix. While smaller than the buildings of the City Center area, they were still quite impressive. However, looking at the pictures on the NET, I was sure that there was no way that could actually work. Then again, the Megabuildings I''d already seen defied my understanding of physics, so why not these?


    While the current construction on these crazy towers was still being completed. The housing and business zones had long since been finished, and were already occupied and functioning as intended.


    Now the supposed gangers were trying to hustle in on the local folks. My job was simple, find the gonks and zero them. There didn''t seem to be that many of them and they mostly hung out at one house, that they had, "liberated".


    I slid into the Galena and headed that way. I played with the radio a bit and found a station playing something called Mixed Genre Hardcore. Heavy deep rolling beats, that was good enough for me. The music helped clear my head and get me psyched up at the same time.


    I left the North Industrial District and was surprised by what I found out. In the distance New Town looked almost nice, even by my old world''s standards. It had the feel of a college town. There was a vibrant energy in the air.


    The road I was on merged into a broad six lane highway leading into New Town. First I found myself in the business section. Shops, Restaurants, so on and so forth. Everything was so clean and new, it served as a vision of what Night City might have looked like, once upon a time. I saw NCPD patrolling, and order seemed to be well maintained.


    Hmm. How did a Gang, especially some simple wannabes get into this zone? Why hadn''t the cops dealt with them?


    The whole time I''m headed down that main thoroughfare the almost finished central Skyscrapers loomed over everything. I hadn''t noticed it at first but not one other building was over five stories. This shifted the whole feeling of the place into more of a vanity project for those Corpos'' Board members.


    Once I had passed around the TriCorp Plaza, I hit the residential areas. They were for the most part, very snazzy apartments. Though the occasional walled and gated Mansion could be seen, here and there. I found my turn off and zipped through the narrower road of the neighborhoods until I got to the address listed as the gang''s hangout.


    Ah, that was why the cops hadn''t charged in. The assholes had taken over a Mansion. A Mansion, guarded by turrets, bots and drones. Not many, but enough to be a problem.


    Whew, this was maybe too much for one guy. Then I shrugged it off, I had the Probes. We''d do it slow and steady.


    I parked up the street by an empty lot, and we had a few hours till dark. So we''d settle in and observed who went in and out of the place.


    Fuck, I hated waiting.

 Chapter 15

    As the day went on, one thing became certain. These kids were NOT gangers. Wannabe or otherwise. They seemed more like the trust fund, frat and sorority type of crowd. They didn''t seem to be bothering anyone. Hell, they didn''t even bother me. I was an obviously out of place poor guy, with a shitty car. They had left me alone when they''d made a supply run earlier. Sure, I was armed and armored but when has that ever stopped people with this level of wealth.


    What the hell was this? I had a bad feeling about this.


    I sent a text to Carver. Targets observed, no gang behavior or activity. Upper crust. Verify job parameters. I sent along a few pics of the kids. I started to put together ideas about what might be going on.


    Half an hour later, I got the reply. Confirmed, eliminate all targets. Other factors irrelevant. Yeah, that was about what I expected.


    "Shit." I whispered to myself. Why would they want me to kill a bunch of rich kids, that weren''t causing any trouble? Sure, I got why they wanted ME to do it. I was a nobody, an unknown. That made me an excellent cutout. If I did this, someone will kill me for it, one way or another. Whether it would be Carver to tie up loose ends, or the kids'' parents for revenge. The who didn''t matter from my perspective, I wasn''t getting out of this easy.


    Turn it around, who benefitted? Another Corp maybe, rivals of the kids'' parents? Or was one of the kids a wunderkind that was feared for what they could do. I kept mulling it over, really thinking how I felt about this, and how I could get out of this myself.


    I had kind of just went with the flow and tried to do things the way people here did them. Now I could that wasn''t going to work, everything here was designed to chew you up. No, I needed another way. Yeah, I wasn''t going to be played like this. I certainly wasn''t going to zero a bunch of college aged kids, for unknown reasons.


    Getting involved with fixers had been a mistake. Or at least trying to work with Carver was. Thankfully, I''d left Sinnamin''s name out of it. So, I could just walk away. Go back to base, come back with a small army. Dig Carver up and put him down for messing with me. Then maybe the next fixer wouldn''t try to fuck with me.


    But first, I was going to throw a monkey wrench into the works of this job. I stalked over to the Mansion with Fix and Scuff flanking me. Dusk was falling and their party was just getting started. I looked around to see if I was being watched. If I was, I couldn''t spot them. But it''s not like I had any training for these things. Probably best to assume somebody was going to know what was about to happen.


    The Probes were already in stealth mode. Already scanning the area for danger.


    At the mansion''s gates, I saw a vid screen so I pushed the button. A second later, a well put together young guy with a huge smile appeared on the screen. "Hey you here for the...No, I guess you aren''t." His smile faded, he took in my grim face and my gear and started making some calculations. Smarter than I would have guessed, or more intuitive.


    "I''d like to speak with the head of the house, please." Best to keep this simple and straight forward.


    "I''m him, at least for now." A more stern expression was creasing his features. He didn''t like the way I looked and he was trying to figure out what to do about it.


    "I''d like your contact info. I have some detes that are vital to your safety and I don''t want to stick around any longer than I have to." Come on, just say yes kid.


    "That doesn''t sound like a good idea. In fact, I think you should leave." He was frowning now. He was signaling someone offscreen. I noticed some of the bots were headed this way. a few of the nearby turrets turn to track me. Fuck.


    "Alright, I tried to help you. My conscience is clear. Have a good life. However, short it''s going to be." I spun on my heels and jogged back to the Galena. I hopped in, and felt the Probes thunk into the roof a second later. I took off. I got back to the main street as fast as I could. Soon enough, I''d left New Town with a bitter taste in my mouth. The next person they send, isn''t likely to care as much as I did. It was going to be a big fucking mess.


    Nope, I put it away, it wasn''t my problem anymore.


    When I got to the Northside Industrial District I headed south, staying on the eastern most side of the city. I blazed through Japantown and Charter Hills. I turned eastward and headed for the Valley. Time to lay low for a while.


    Roughly fifteen minutes later, I decided to stop at the Sunset Motel. It was busy, and maybe not the smartest idea to stop right now, but I wanted to call my van out here. Maybe have a drink, and think for a while.


    I left the Probes to wander around near the vehicles. I spent a moment to check out some of the sweet rides. All of them were dirty sure, but well maintained, and heavily modded. These people loved their cars, which meant we had something in common. So maybe they wouldn''t be major assholes. Or they''d be my kind of asshole.


    I saw some folks outside lounging around with drinks and laughing. I got a few nods as I came through, and I returned them. So far, so good. Even if trouble was right on my tail, they probably wouldn''t start shit off with all the iron I saw around here.


    In the barroom, it was a party. With loud, almost country, music blaring away. People dancing and playing cards. Just having a good time. Lively without being overwhelming. I saw Greg behind the counter and another smaller guy, ah... probably Noah, I think Greg said that was the guy he worked for.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Greg caught sight of me, "Heya Ryan, ya picked a good night to drop by. Whatcha havin''?" He pointed at a seat at the bar that was unoccupied. I paused for a moment before sitting down, making sure to turn enough to kept an eye on the door.


    "A whiskey, neat. How''s biz, Greg?" Smiling a bit. It''s nice to be remembered.


    "Biz is nova! Two Clans just had a good haul, made some connections. These guys were on the way back to their camp and decided to have some fun. How''d NC treat you?" He leaned forward a bit, "I can already see you got chipped. Must be a story to that."


    It was a dumb idea, but I gave him the rundown, anyway. At least I made sure to keep names out of it. He laughed when I told him about Lizzie''s, "Yeah them Mox girls are something, huh?" He got me a refill as I got to how I earned enough for my chrome. "Yeah, Strom left their human parts behind, and Scavs are pure scum. Ya did good." I was starting to loosen up, as I came to why I was heading home for a while. He sighed, "That''s the city for ya, a never endin'' game of who can backstab who the most."


    It was a hour later and I was on my fourth whiskey, "Shhoo, unlesh youu know a good fixher tha I can shell shome lumber ta, I got almosht nuthin'' outa thish." He understood me perfectly. Which made sense, he was used to dealing with inebriated people.


    "Well maybe, I could help ya out. Put in a word for ya with some folk I know. They ain''t friendly but they won''t screw ya without reason." Connections, it was all about cultivating connections.


    "Y-your a prrretty goood duude, Greg." Then I ordered a coffee, I had to bring myself back to even. But hey, it had been good to vent.


    Another coffee almost put me back to a fully functional state. Greg had returned to serving other customers, my need to yammer on sated for now. I watched the folks having fun, and it brought a smile to my face. I would have liked to join them, especially for a dance with one of the very  fine women. But I didn''t know them, and they didn''t know me. I knew better than to stick my nose into other''s business.


    I thought I did anyway. A few minutes later, Gunshots rang out. From the hollering I could make out that it was some kind of raid. The folks who just a moment before where all smiles and fun, turned hard real quick. They rushed out to help the folks in the parking lot.


    I heard terms like, "Raffen" and "Wraiths" neither of which meant anything to me. Maybe a different gang? I figured it be best to stay out of the way. Like I said they didn''t know me.


    Greg nodded at me, telling me I made the right call. "Best stay out of it. They''ll shoot anyone they don''t know right now."


    Yeah, that''s me I''m a mind my own business guy. The shooting was over pretty quick. Then I overheard the after fight chatter, "Sally''s been hit. We gotta get her to a doc." A guy''s voice, he sounded pissed off and scared.


    "Camp''s too far she''ll never make it." A gal''s voice struggling for calm.


    Fuck. The scene of them dancing just before was running through my head. I closed my eyes as I stood up. Internally calling myself every word for dumbass I could think of as I stepped outside. I sighed and called out, "I can help, maybe." I was going to regret this.


    "What? Who the fuck are you?" I felt a barrel pressed to my forehead. This was the panicked guy''s voice. Right now, all I could see was his pistol. Not a great way to start a relationship.


    "I. The. Fuck. Can. Help." I spat out clenching my teeth. I gave a slight headshake to the Probes as they suddenly set asshole here to a priority one target.


    "Lynx, calm down." This was the gal''s voice from earlier. I''d love to look over at her, but my world was full of iron. The gun slowly receded. I could see a short scruffy guy on the other end of that gun. His brown eyes spoke of all kinds of assholishness. I didn''t like him for some reason. Next to him was a woman, tough as nails said her gray eyes. She was older, maybe the leader.


    "Can you really help?" She asked, you could tell she was holding back hope. A solid head on this one.


    "I''ll have to look at her first, but I should be able to do something." I nodded. There was no reason Regrowth should be able to help someone that was still breathing.


    "Alright, see what you can do." They both moved aside. Sally turned out to have been one of the ladies I had my eye on earlier. A fine dancer. Let''s see if she would dance again. Right now, she was bleeding out, from a few chest wounds. Buckshot, maybe. even from here, I could tell her breathing was shallow and sounded way off. I''d need to check her lungs first.


    I moved as fast as I could, kneeling down next to her. I shaped a regrowth and channeled it while holding her head. I heard startled exclamations but tuned them out. I was already closing my eyes, and had no time to deal with it. Once the spell connected, I could feel the damage to her body. Her right lung was shredded, and collapsed. Fortunately her heart hadn''t been touched.


    There were dead zones, that I couldn''t feel, mostly her bones and her arms. Some parts of her major muscle groups. I figured out that these were cyberware and tried to work around them. The spell sunk deep into her, I directed the mana to wrap around her lung. Slowing putting it back together and even more slowly reflating it. Once it seemed fine, I checked over other areas. I found her stomach had been pierced and went to work on it.


    The best part of my Regrowth spell was that it was intuitive. I didn''t have to know anything about medicine for it to work. I just had to have enough mana, and enough concentration. When I finished her stomach, my mana ran out. I pried open my eyes. Sally was looking at me. Her blue eyes are quite pretty, don''t you think?


    "Hold still. I''m not sure that you don''t have more injures. Give me a moment to rest and I''ll check you over again." She nodded. Her eyes were wide, but not for the reason I first thought.


    "What was that? You some kind of Witch?" That was Lynx. I could hear him and his pistol behind me.


    "I don''t know anything about witches. This is just something I can do." Yeah not going to get into it with you, fuckwad. I have more important things to worry about. Like a pair of cornflower blue eyes.


    "Lynx, shut up. Leave him alone. He helped. We all saw it, and that buys him at least some peace. If not goodwill." I was starting to like this lady. I looked around to see a group of well traveled folks staring at me. Expressions ranged from fear to awe. But most seemed relieved that Sally was out for under the worst of it.


    "How long was that?" Blinking and rubbing my eyes. Oh, they don''t really dry out anymore do they? Chrome eyes for the win.


    "Well, stranger that was about an hour, but shouldn''t you know that?" She said while tapping by her right eye with her index finger. It took a second for me the realize what she meant. I could call up the time when ever I wanted.


    "Ah, yeah. My interface is new, and I''m not use to it yet. I''m Ryan by the way."


    "Well Ryan, I''m Amanda. You''ve helped us out and we Aldecaldos don''t forget that." She turned to her people, "Alright shows over, let''s get some rest. We can move Sally to her room, if we can get Ryan to stop petting her for a few minutes." Her voice carried notes of humor.


    "Huh?" I realized I''d never taken my hand off of Sally''s head. Worse I had unconsciously been stroking her hair just like I would a cat. I sputtered and then turned to look at Sally who was smiling at me. She looked over at Amanda.


    "Aww, does he have to? He''s really good at it." She croaked out. Yeah, I still had some work to do on her.


    They say laughter is the best medicine. I wouldn''t know, I was too busy trying to get the blood to stop rushing to my face.

 Chapter 16

    They gently carried Sally to a room. I followed, the stealthed Fix and Scuff hovering over head.


    The room wasn''t much, but it had a bed and a couple of chairs. The state of everything was rough, but at the moment, it seemed clean. I took a chair in the corner. I leaned back gathering more mana, it was taking a longer than I thought it should. Fix went to post up outside the window and Scuff went back to patrolling the parking lot and scanning vehicles.


    Most of the Aldecaldos spent a few minutes talking with Sally and Amanda before shuffling off to their rest. Some stayed alert and took up their own patrols of the area around the motel. I really wasn''t paying any attention to what they were saying, just letting my mind drift. Enjoying a moment of quiet.


    "I don''t trust him, who knows what that weird power of his really does. Maybe he put a charm on her, or a h-hex or something." Lynx was obviously my greatest ally. Haha.


    "She wasn''t going to make it. Now she''s stable that''s all that matters. Anything else can be dealt with. Later." Amanda with the dismissal. Lynx stomped off muttering.


    Amanda sat wearily in the other chair. "Soooo..." Ah, I know this one. "Buttons." I chuckled.


    "What?" She cocked her head at me.


    "Old Joke. You sew buttons. Heh." She frowned at me. Okay. Humor not working, switch tactics. "You want to know my deal, I get that. But I don''t know a lot about my "magic" either. Hell, I''ve barely started to put together where I am. I''ve already fucked up in the City. Soooo yeah." I shook my head. I plead mana deprivation, my head was feeling a bit loopy.


    "Just tell me what you can, maybe we can help. At least point you in the right direction." She sounded sincere. For the second time that night, I launched into a somewhat cut down version of my story so far. I gave her a little less than I told Greg, and I certainly kept out the otherworldly aspects. Still it seemed that my tale moved her, as much as anything could move that hard-bitten woman.


    "That sounds insane. If I hadn''t seen what you can do... If I hadn''t noticed those flashes of energy, I wouldn''t even entertain your story. As things stand, I think we can help. We know the badlands better than anyone. We can help you get around. We have our own networks of Fixers, maybe we can set you up. We are certainly willing to help with trading Lumber for a nice cut. Say 40%." She delivered that in a precise controlled cadence. She was an old hand at the art of the deal. But for once, I just didn''t have it in me to play the game.


    "Hmm. Yeah, I''m too tired and too lost to haggle. I agree." I thought I had enough mana built back up to give Sally another once over. I stood up and went to her resting my hand on her head again. I hadn''t realized it, but she''d been awake and watching us. She was listening in the whole time.


    "Warm." She smiled up at me. Her voice was smoothing out. That was a good sign. I dived with Regrowth and began searching for any other problems. She had a ton of damage to her hip joints and knees, and more than a few torn muscles. I poured mana into each issue in turn. Once again, I lost all sense of time, as I went to work on her.


    As I was coming out of my trance I heard, "You don''t understand. When he does it, it feels so good. Better than anything I''ve ever felt before." I cleared my throat. Both women glanced at me, I couldn''t read their expressions. Gun to my head, I''d say that Sally looked embarrassed and Amanda looked annoyed.


    "You ladies okay?" They both snorted at me.


    "My daughter here was telling me she wants to travel with you for a while. I told her it was a bad idea. Not talking you down, just think it be better to get to know you first." Ah, yeah she was annoyed. Wait a minute. What did she say...


    My brain stuck, "Daughter?" Sally looked somewhere between 20-25. Amanda, after accounting for a hard life, looked my age maybe a little older. Hey, at least I''d remembered to remove my hand from Sally''s head this time. Wow, that put the everything in an awkward light.


    "HA! A bit of vanity in my youth. I''m a lot older then I look." Amanda guffawed at me. She slapped her hip. Sally was also chuckling, "Yeah me and Mom don''t share much in the way of features, my looks take more after Dad''s. I got her winning personality though."


    "Uh, okay." Time to change the very uncomfortable subject, "I''ve done what I can, but you''ll need to get your cyberware checked over by a Ripperdoc. I can''t do anything about that. Go slow, but it''s time to test things out. We need to make sure I didn''t mess up anything. And for the record, I agree with your mom. We should get to know each other a little better before traveling together." I offered her a hand to help her get up. She took it, frowning. Her hand was smoother than I would have thought except where she had a gun link imbedded in it. Right, chrome arms.


    She went through a series of motions. The only thing off, seemed to be her right arm. It''d probably taken some buckshot when her lung did. Luckily it was a small hitch in her motion for now. Their Ripper could get it back up to speed back at their camp.


    "Nice. I''m going to head out. I''d like to feel safe before I crash out." I flicked them both my detes. I got theirs back. "I''ll be in touch in a couple of days, to setup an exchange for the lumber." I hoped that they weren''t full of shit about being able to help with that.


    "We be seeing you." Amanda said. "Real soon." Sally smirked as she waved.


    I left the room to see the sun just peeking over the mountains. Wait already, my sense of time had really been fucked over.


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    I watched the dawn for a brief moment. Sunrise at the Sunset motel. I will never stop being amused by that.


    My eyes caught some of the Aldecaldos still keeping watch. Scuff and Fix had already attached themselves to the Galena. I got in and started it up. A quick thought brought the engine of the Mahir awake as well. I was going to have the van follow us.


    I drove out of the parking lot, thinking of tomorrow, and what might be.


    When I got to the turnoff for the broken road that ran alongside the canyon, I was feeling much better. Something was different already, there was a hint of humidity in the air. I could also sense an uptick in the mana flowing around us. Hmm, had the changes we made already...


    "I''ve plumb forgot to check in with Meadran, I''m such a dumbass." I almost facepalmed, but the cruddy road required both hands.


    ''Meadran, can you hear me?'' I hoped everything was alright. It''d be just my luck if things had gotten crazy back in the Valley while I was out of touch.


    ''Young One! We were starting to worry.'' A sense of relief. I could actually feel him place his worry to the back of his mind.


    ''I''m sorry, I let events get away from me. Night City is a crazy place. Every minute there, is a study in bullshit. I don''t know if that mess can be saved.'' I tried to share my impressions of that cesspit.


    ''I have faith you will find a way.'' There was sense of time passing. Roots growing deep and creating strong anchors.


    ''I''ll be back to base very soon, and after a nap we can go over everything in more detail.'' I was absolutely certain, he could feel my exhaustion.


    ''We await your return.'' It didn''t take long to get to the damaged bridge, where I had to stop.


    There were two new gouges in the earth. I got out to inspect them. These troughs were smooth walled and several feet deep. Small streams flowed through them, each of them radiating the distinctive scent of mana and moon energy. The outflow fell into the canyon below. I had the thought that one day it would became a lake or river, helping to spread our influence.


    I noticed a path of cobbled stone running between the new small canals. The Probes had done a lot of work.


    I took the time to park the Galena and the Van behind an outcrop closer to the mountain. I left Fix and Scuff to dig out emplacements for a couple of Photon Cannons. I didn''t want anyone to steal my wheels. Cheap though they may have been, they would be great for figuring out how differently mechanics function here. As they got to work, I trudged up the slope. The feel of moisture and more importantly mana in the air was continuing to work wonders for my stress.


    How often would I have to make this trip? Going back and forth between here and the city. Eventually, I would have access to Khalai aircraft then I could travel the skies in style. But not yet.


    The cave that lead through the mountain was now flanked. Not only by two brass grated outflow channels, but by a pair of Photon Cannons as well. A Pylon was imbedded into the rock above the entrance. I noticed the Psifield had been strengthened. Good we should be safer. I was looking forward to seeing all the changes that Meadran and Alina had made.


    Tons of work had been done in the caves, with many of the side passages having been expanded. Likely for mining, I pondered with a slightly greedy heart, what goodies they might have found.


    Once I exited the cave, I received even more of a shock. Meadran had nearly doubled in size. I paused, stunned, to take in the majestic view. His purple foliage a magnificent sight. He had already seemed as large as any tree I had ever seen. Now he was a true behemoth amongst tree kind. How much further would he grow?


    A Moon Well with a Pylon floating directly over it was to my left. It''s mana infused water flowed down slope into a now much larger pond. The water shimmered in the daylight, it''s own light subdued until nighttime. In fact now I could see that Pylons and Cannons now ringed the whole Valley. The crowns of many new trees caught my attention as well. Red leaves, gold leaves, blue and purple leaves where everywhere now. Even almost normal seeming trees with leaves of green. Now this was a forested Valley. I loved it. It was new fresh life. The air was so clean. Each breath was a shot of peace. So refreshing after the stale stagnant atmosphere of Night City.


    Soon all of this energy would spill forth from this Valley, and bring hope back to this world. Where metal had stolen the souls of people, I would bring healing.


    I began my descent towards the pond. Making a list of things we needed to go over before I could sleep.


    ''Alina report on status.'' Let''s start there. The Khalai AI would be able to bring anything critical to my attention right away.


    ''Executor, status crystal. All standard buildings have been built. Exceptions, the Starport and Fleet Beacons. Unit production other than Probes awaits your commands. ''Excellent, Alina. Continue research. Await further instructions.'' Oh, good. I didn''t know how much gas I''d left in my tank right then. ''By your command, Executor.''


    When I reached the new western bridge to Meadran''s Island I was both energized and ragged out. I stooped down to take a sip from the stream. Crisp, clean and cool water, the tingle of mana adding an amazing touch. One sip became three and three became many. So good. My dry throat felt healed.


    I saw a red leafed tree nearby, silver apple-like fruit already ripe hanging from it''s branches. My stomach growled. Oh, now I had to try one. The tree seemed to lean towards me as if to offer the fruit to me. I was probably imagining it, since it didn''t appear to be a treant like Meadran. "Thank you." Because it never hurts to be polite even to a tree. Maybe especially to a tree.


    The first bite of the silver apple was pure bliss. The skin was crisp, the flesh slightly firm with a snap to it. The texture delightful, not anywhere near as gritty as some apples can be. The flavor...a medley of different fruits both sweet and acidic, with a touch of cinnamon and clove. Was that molasses, yes it was.


    "So tasty." I groaned. Best thing I had eaten, maybe ever. After all the foul food in Night City, this one apple was a slice of heaven. The tree seemed to shiver. Strange there wasn''t a breeze. I gave the tree a pat. It had become the provider of my new favorite food. Nope it was actually shuddering. Strange, I''d have to ask Meadran about that latter.


    I felt so much better. Just one awesome apple and not only was I full, all the toxins I had picked up were being burned away.


    Finishing my trek, I stood before Meadran''s now huge face. His lines of wisdom were clearer than ever. There was a vibrate energy surrounding the whole island now. Pure life energy.


    ''Young One, How like you the bounty of Life?'' He wasn''t only asking about the apple. There were depths to that one simple question, I might never be able to comprehend.


    "So far everything is great." Which was an understatement. They had exceeded my expectations. "Everything seems far ahead of schedule as well." My eyes drooped. Someone kept trying to pull them down. I was rapidity losing the battle to left them back up again. I stumbled. I decided to sit on the soft grass before I fell.


    ''I see the journey took quite a bit of your spirit. Rest now, Young One. You are safe now, and there with be plenty of time to talk tomorrow.'' His mental voice was deeper now, it kind of echoed or reverberated. I found it extremely soothing. My mind followed the voice down, down further into the peaceful dark.


    I yawned, my body beginning to lay flat. "I''ll just lay down for a little while." I was lost to the world as soon as my head hit the soft minty grass. Dreams of blue eyes chased me to a new world.

 Chapter 17

    My sleep was refreshing. Awakening, however, presented me with a problem. The form this problem took was the head of a large golden wolf using my stomach as a pillow. His noggin was very, very heavy. I didn''t get too upset though. I figured some ear scratches would rouse him from slumber soon enough. A few moments later his hind leg started beating a frantic rhythm. Hehe.


    I gently whispered, "Wake up, Lumiar. I have a city to burn." I said it in a sing song voice. Worked for the Mongols, didn''t it.


    His head rose as he shifted to gaze at me. "Are you really going to burn the city down?" He expressed doubt in his tone. Perhaps, it was disappointment. I kept getting the feeling he really didn''t like me. I only wish I knew why.


    "Some of it, probably. I''ll absolutely try to help other parts." I chuckled, "We''ll see which parts get which treatment, I guess." Now that Lumi''s head had moved, it was time to get moving.


    I manage to fight my way to a standing wobble. Which I then transformed into a full body stretch. "Ah." Lumi promptly resettled his head and went back to sleep. I snorted at him.


    I waddled over to a stream to get a drink of water. Refreshing and invigorating. I would have drank from the pond, but miraculously I noticed fish swimming about in there. I don''t care how magical the water is I''m not drinking water fish have pooped in. At least not without boiling it, and running it through a filter. Also, now that I was watching the fish, I spotted it glupping down algae and nibbling on a variety of water plants. Amazing, the rising mana levels have given rise to life.


    I checked my interface, 10:30 AM. It had become the next day. Wow, I slept good.


    ''How are you this morning, Meadran?'' I started doing some stretches and basic calisthenics, trying to get my blood flowing properly.


    ''I am well, Young One. The mana fills the air and the water and soon the land itself shall be infused. Life, in all its forms, shall be renewed.'' He was happy, and that warmed my heart.


    ''Anything need tending? Do we have any pressing issues to resolve?'' I continued my exercises. I''d have to remember to start a daily routine.


    ''For the base no, I can keep handling the expansion for now. You however have experience that is overflowing. You need to level and gain the boons therein.'' Okay, that sounded interesting.


    ''Alright what do I need to do.'' Meadran talked me through the process. To start with, I had to access his menu options.


    [ Tree of Life Meadran is connected to the Great Tree Network.


    Options:


    Choose Class


    Raise Level


    Create Wisp ]


    Per his instructions I selected Raise Level.


    [ Current XP: 3456


    Raising a level costs 1000 XP


    Raise Level? Y/N ]


    I selected ''Y''. I was curious about what was next.


    [ Druid of Renewal has reached Level 2


    You have gained the spell, Growth


    You have gained the spell, Entangle


    You have gained, +2 Spirit


    You have gained, +1 Will


    You have gained, +2 Free Points ]


    That scroll of text was accompanied by a jolt. Which was like, constant pulses of energy burning through my body and mind. I couldn''t move or speak. My thoughts became sluggish for a few moments.


    Once I had shaken the remnants of the odd pulses off, I could speak again. ''Should I do it again, Meadran?''


    ''Yes, once more.'' There was a sense of amusement.


    [ Druid of Renewal has reached Level 3


    You have gained the spell, Cleanse


    You have gained, +2 Spirit


    You have gained, +1 Will


    You have gained, +2 Free Points ]


    While not quite as intense this time, the pulses were still very distracting.


    My BTC shivered,


    [ Adjusting...]


    [ For reaching Level 3 the Company Awards you,


    1 Prismatic Wisp. ]


    A huge shimmering Wisp appeared. While mostly just composed of bright white light, as it danced around specks of every color trailed behind it. I didn''t need Meadran to tell me that there was something extreme special about this Wisp. I could feel it radiating mana in vast quantities.


    ''While there are many buildings and units this spirit might create for you, the best option at this time would be the Company Store.'' Alright. Meadran hadn''t lead me wrong yet. I gave the order.


    The huge Wisp floated to a spot halfway between the pond and the Nexus, and just like that, became a building. That fast. The Company Store, was a structure that shifted and changed from one moment to the next. Not just the shape, but the very nature of it''s material. After watching it long enough to have to blink away tears, the only constant seemed to be volume. Though who could really say if even that was true.


    ''You need to touch it to connect it to the network. Then proceed to the Nexus and choose a class from the options there. You need a bit a balance in your class.'' there it was again, that sense of amusement, this time mixed with trepidation.


    Another class? I barely understood anything about the class I had. Again, my trust in Meadran is all that pushed me forward. I touched the crazily changing building. there was a new form of energy compressed in this building but I had no idea about what kind of energy it was.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    [ Adjusting... ]


    [ Connecting Company Store to the Great Tree Network ]


    [ You now have access to The Quest System ]


    [ Company Store Options


    Items


    Themes


    Units


    Heroes ]


    Great. More things I didn''t understand. No, calm down. I could figure this out. Items proved to be a list of items I could buy for Company Points. Mostly weapons like staves, and armor like my old robes. There were also a selection of potions and spell components as well. Units had a list of special Probes and Wisps I could buy for Company Points. A Prismatic Wisp, for example, cost 100,000 CPoints. Themes and Heroes were unavailable at this time, thought the terms invoked some truly grandiose ideas. Yeah, I''d have to check back into this later.


    That done I marched up to the Nexus. Once there, I went through the same motions to get to the menu.


    [ You have selected Choose Class


    This will cost 1000 XP


    Choose Class Y/N ]


    Of course, I chose yes.


    [ Class Options.


    Please note, you may change your Class in certain circumstances.


    You may also Multiclass. ]


    [ Templar of Mental Healing


    +2 to Will


    +1 to Spirit


    +2 to Psi Resonance


    A Templar of Mental Healing soothes minds and bolsters wills. Removing Corrupting Psychic Influences.


    Starting Psi Techniques: Calm the Troubled Heart, Cloud Mind ]


    [ Khalai Phase-Smith


    +3 to Tech


    +2 to Psi Resonance


    A Phase-Smith studies and improves PsiTechnology


    Starting Psi Techniques: Study, Implement ]


    [ Warp-Smith


    +3 to Psi Resonance


    +2 to Tech


    Changes and Coverts materials. Summons and Repair Units.


    Starting Psi Technique: Convert, Repair ]


    Okay another list of options I couldn''t begin to understand. Firstly, The Templar wasn''t even in the running. If for no other reason, than I didn''t like the sound of it. The smith classes both sounded like they would allow me to understand Khalai tech. Which could lead to making improvements or maybe adapting human tech to work with Psi energy. That appealed to me on a fundamental level. But which of the two to take? I had a strong sense there was some overlap in their functions. However, the Phase-Smith sounded more academic, and I saw a need to be able to convert materials, more than improving the already impressive Khalai Tech. I ran that around in my head a few times.


    I nodded. Warp-Smith it was. The energy this time was intrusive, it reached into my mind and started dumping energy in there. It was imparting knowledge. Knowledge of schematics and techniques. Which would have been great, but I was human and now my head was being stuffed with highly advanced knowledge. So it felt like my head was about to fly apart.


    "Aaaaaaa!" In between moments of agony, I thought I had a solution. Free points could be spent on stats. "Nnngggg!" I needed a bigger brain, right? Maybe, the Intelligence stat would work instead. Anything to make it stop hurting. My voice was crackling from howling. In pure desperation I put in a point to Intelligence, and ever so slightly things started to adjust. Information began to seem more organized. Another point and I felt my thoughts clear, the stream of data no longer a jumbled mess. A third point and I could breathe once more.


    I gulped the air, eager to fill my starved lungs. I went ahead and spent the last free point. My thoughts were clearer than they had ever been. "Hahaha!"


    I spent the next several minutes calming myself as well as reviewing my status. While much of it was still foreign to me, I no longer felt that it was completely alien.


    I''d have to go over my new class abilities when I didn''t feel like I just narrowly avoided having a heart attack. At least, I seemed to be growing. But was it in the right direction?


    It was with some caution that I entered the Khalai Forge. Though that caution was soon thrown to the winds, as I ran my hands over the Matrix Engraver. It was a machine that burns a Psi circuit into a Khaydarin Crystal. Then I turned to the Material Disassembler which broke down pretty much anything, into its basic molecules. Next, I examined the various Assemblers which turn those molecules into Metal, Psi Crystal, or Solidified Energy. Lastly, I studied the Nano Forges to build and shape materials into final products.


    While the new knowledge rolled around in my head, I now had an intuitive understanding of these machines. With some time and effort I might be able to alter templates and create specific things I needed to implement them. With my exposure to the Forge, I now could comprehend the primary difference between the types of Khalai Smiths. The Phase-Smith could create new templates, but would struggle to source materials. As a Warp-Smith materials would be plentiful, however, I would only be able to alter templates I already possessed or could find.


    I had a suspicion that the Scans the Probes had been so prolific in performing, would be able to serve as templates. If so, that meant I could alter then forge human tech. Which use not only useful but necessary for any long term goals.


    Reaching out through the Psi field I touched the signatures of Probes. A couple dozen different personalities of Wisp Infused Probes were active, yet only two had been named. This made them stand out in the Psifield. I called Scuff and Fix to the Forge. They arrived and I gave them pats. They seemed to like that. No clue if they really felt it, or just liked the attention. One thing was becoming clear though. Khalai Robots developed their own form of life after a time, and the Wisp Infusions enhanced and accelerated this process. They quickly uploaded all their scans. I thanked them and they returned to their tasks.


    Hours passed as I reviewed the data. Yes, these would work as templates indeed. I quickly pulled up the scan of my Omaha. The circuitry to integrate with smart gun technology was simplistic by Khalai standards and full of unnecessary components. I had the idea to use the template of the Photon Cannon, for an example of Khalai targeting circuits. Then I realized that no, that wouldn''t do. The Cannon circuits were designed for fixed platform targeting. I needed something from a more mobile platform. Ah, there was the Dragoon. A type of battle tank with legs. It had a slightly more complex circuit with a certain level of adaptability baked in. Which made it perfect for my needs. Of course, several parameters would have to be tweaked, plasma wouldn''t behave like a solid projectile. Usually.


    The chassis and barrel of the Omaha could be redone in the brassy Khalai Alloy, which was a very complex metallic molecule. It came in several variants, we would go with one of the medium strength ones here. Its tolerances far beyond most alloys available to humans. This would also allow for new more penetrating forms of ammo. Yes, the propellant could be minute amounts of solidified energy. The bullet itself a lighter Khalai Alloy. A finned design for better aerodynamics. Good.


    I could with time convert my pistol to fire plasma rounds. But the gun would have to be larger and heavier. I already had a hard time handling it. So let''s stick with solid projectiles for now.


    Compile. One prototype template. Alina ran the template through several simulations. She declared it viable. I had the Forge assemble one and then a hundred rounds of the new ammo. The weapon had still ended up heavier, by about a pound and a half. It was a brass colored version of the Omaha, a few tweaks making it a bit sleeker. When the ammo was done, I headed to the edge of the Valley.


    I would be shooting the mountainside, for the most part. This was only meant to be a stress test. Readying myself for extremely heavy recoil, I braced and squeezed the trigger. It didn''t disappoint the kick was potent, but I managed to avoid getting kissed this time. Maybe I should pull back on the propellant a tad, or figure out a better recoil compensation system.


    After a few dozen rounds. I was growing to love my new gun. I had a feeling it would shred most things I''d meet in the city. Well, we could test that. Back at the forge, I printed up a couple of armored plates. One representing the best armor the Probes had scanned in the city. The other a light variant of the Khalai alloy roughly the same as what the Probes were rocking.


    Testing showed that while both failed to stop the bullets. The human armor failed more dramatically. Heh. It was a skewed test anyway, the real armor of the Khalai was their shielding technology. I''d have to test that out next. Hmm.


    [ Omaha Khalai Variant - Prototype


    Range: 40 yards


    Damage: 10


    Ammo: 9 round magazine +1 round in the chamber ]<


    Not bad for my first attempt. I took a break to grab some another fruit to eat. This time a golden pear-like fruit off of one of the blue leaved trees. Very firm texture, crispy and tart, not too dissimilar to the apple but with its own distinct flair. Like the apple one fruit completely filled my belly. I was sure it had something to do with the mana.


    I spent some time walking around and just enjoying the Valley. The walk was just to clear my head, and let a few more idea percolate under the hood. Yet I was pleased everything was coming along nicely.


    Then I thought of what the Corpos would do if they found it. That could never be allowed. The horrid images my brain conjured up, lit a fire under my ass to get back to work.


    I marched back to the Forge to spend the day designing new ways to protect this peace.

 Chapter 18

    The last week had flown by, while I had been looking through and adjusting templates. Finding ways to change and adapt Human goods into new and better equipment was highly enjoyable.


    My Militech Trench Coat with Bullet Resistant Triweave had been remade into Trench Coat with Khalai Alloy Interweave, and was currently on it''s MK 6 iteration. The new armor value was 4 4, while maintaining the exact same weight. My Norco Armored Vest with Polycarbonate Plating had been evolved to Armor Vest with Khalai Plating and Psi Shield Emitter Mk 5. Its armor value was 5 and shield rating was 10, though it ended up a bit heavier. It had taken a full day, each, to get both of those just right. Several Prototypes had been created and then ultimately disassembled.


    In the end, one small annoyance remained, I couldn''t find a way to change the brassy sheen though. I''d just have to live with it.


    Another day was spent tweaking the Omaha Prototype. I''d found a few new templates for gun modifications and finally figured out how to make them compatible.


    [ Omaha Khalai Variant Mk 8


    Range: 45 yards with Reflex sight


    Damage: 9


    Ammo: 12 round Extended magazine, +1 round in the chamber


    Mods: Extended Barrel with Baffling. Slide adjusted for Recoil Compensation. ]


    So much quieter and easier to handle with only a small loss of damage. My new weapon was well worth the time I''d invested.


    Two days were spent pouring over the schematics for both the Galena and the Supron. I''d made dozens of improvements to both and even designed armed and armored versions. The problem with that was that I couldn''t assemble them in the Valley. I''d have to have the Probes widen a path through the mountain, to get them out, and I didn''t think we were ready for a large enough pathway to be built. I''d have to wait for weaponized vehicles until I''d created our first outpost.


    I spent a day making a more streamline version of the Probes. With some study, I''d determined that the fins were almost purely decoration. Removing them allowed me to thicken the armor a bit and add an extra power crystal. This slightly increased the output of both their weapon and shield. I''d finally experimented with an unnamed Infused Probe to make sure their Cores could be transferred with no Personality loss. As long as their Cores survived, my favorite Probes could be restored. Everything went smoothly so I got Scuff and Fix upgraded and ready to Rock.


    [ Wisp Infused Khalai Probe Mk 2


    Unknown Unit


    Armor: 4 +2


    Shields: 15 +5 (Shields now block Spells)


    Damage: 10 +4 (May affect Incorporeal Beings)


    The Combination of an Elder Wisp and a Khalai Probe. This Unit has partial Stealth.


    This Unit has has been upgraded by Warp-Smith Ryan Crestwood ]


    They were almost ready for a heavy assault role. At least by the local standards. By normal Khalai values, they were just now reaching levels that might be considered combat capable.


    A day was wasted to try to adapt my cyberware. The Khalai themselves had Cybernetics, so I though I could just switch and swap things. However, it wasn''t that simple, it was going to be far more complicated than that. I wasn''t sure what I''d been missing. I asked Alina, if she could do some off-cycle research on the matter.


    In between tinkering sessions, I had explored more of the Valley''s current fruit options, like a golden orange-type fruit, a red banana-type fruit, or a green plum-type fruit. While all of them were delicious, I by far preferred the Silver Apples. I''d also developed a hankering for meat, but none of the fish in Meadran''s pond were big enough yet. I could''ve bought something from the Company Store, but it seemed a waste to spend the points on something I was just going to eat. I instead bought a Feralassian Forest Cockerel and several matching Hens. They were on a daily sale. Only 100 Company Points for the bunch when they were usually 100 per chicken.


    The Cockerel itself came up to my waist in height, which was troubling as it was still growing. It leapt at me only to bounce out my shield. It wasn''t being overly aggressive, that had been a reflex from being transported to a new place. It eyed me warily. I smirked at it. It was a magnificent beast, with vibrant plumage in every shade of green and undertones of dark blues. The hens were uniformly a monotone forest green.


    Then I also bought a pallet of Dustwallow grubs, frozen in crates, for another 100 CPoints. These would be good for aerating the soil and even their final form was something both relatively harmless and that the chickens would eat it. With a future food source obtained, I continued my day.


    Our first Observer was built. This had been constructed in our new Robotics Facility, located right next to the Forge. I immediately sent it to spy on the Corporation located in City Center zone. Information could often be leveraged into power after all. Observers were permanently stealthed unarmed units. Their powerful sensor suites could intercept data and passively collect information about anything within a mile of its position. As far as I could tell, there was no current human technology that could detect them. Their downside was that they took days to make and a large amount of resources.


    Next I queued up a Sentry Unit. These units could operate both as a Mobile Shield Recharger and a Shield Projector. This made them epically vital to all future operations. As my efforts at testing had shown, a shield''s output had to be exceeded all at once to allow damage through it. Most small arms we had encountered, were only capable of this if multiple rounds hit the shield at the same time. Multiple simultaneous impacts could overload the energy flow output causing the shield to go down. While down, the shielding system entered a recharging state. Under the effects of any form of Recharger the shield shouldn''t go down, as quickly. This would often minimize damage to whatever round managed to get through, while later round would likely be deflected.


    The Sentry also had a disruptor beam weapon, capable of frying various types of circuitry. The damage throughput was low but the ability to knock out vehicle systems and heavy cyberware would be invaluable. Sentries would take 8 days to complete. However, I was getting antsy and didn''t feel like waiting around for them to be done.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I''d been talking with Meadran and it seemed that until some of our trees grew larger we couldn''t build much Kaldorei Infrastructure. As most of their structure were built with trees as their central support. Also to advance my mana abilities, and potentially create mana based armaments would require specific types of Treants. New types of Wisp could also give access to new options, and those were governed by Meadran''s advancement. His advancement was governed mostly by the local Mana Density, which again was a matter of time.


    He further explained that with my current 84 Tree points, I could purchase up to 8 random seeds. The seeds might be Treants, or they might be other types of special trees, or most likely be one of the many species of relatively normal trees from throughout the Multiverse. I''d decided to hold off on this. My thinking was that with the Moon Wells chugging out mana and Keeper Statues guarding the pathways we were doing fine on the magical side of things.


    Lumber production was constantly improving. We had set aside 1 unit of lumber to sell for every 5 produced. I had 50 units of lumber to trade now. Each unit of Lumber was an 8ft long 4"X4". Obviously, the Supron wasn''t going to be able to haul much of this, never mind the Galena. Fortunately, I had made some new connections.


    I had the Probes take the sellable lumber out to where the broken bridge was. Once they had finished, I loaded up a few backpacks, I''d kept from my raiding in the city. I made sure they were bulging with fruit, thinking I might be able to generate some goodwill with tasty treats.


    I had added a few different types of attachment points to the Probes. These were to facilitate better looting. I''d found I''d developed quite a taste for plunder, and wanted my Robo-Buddies to be better at assisting in the gathering of goodies. Scuff and Fix, tagged along side me, joined by the newly minted Chuck and Barry. They were also WI Probes, each carrying two backpacks apiece. The packs rested across their sides like saddlebags.


    A few moments were spent gearing up in my new equipment, with my own backpack of fruit and a new rolling tool case. I gave my farewells to Meadran, Lumi and Alina and headed back out of the Valley.


    When I exited the cave, into the Badlands, several things happened all at once.


    Most of it was a series of messages on my NET interface. The Veil around the Valley apparently blocked NET signals. I''d simply thought no one needed to, or wanted to talk to me.


    Carver - I see you have chosen to skip out on the job. Consider yourself banned from all future work.


    Carver - ( Symbol of a Skull ) This one came two days later. Guess he found out I tipped the kid off. Oh, well. I''d planned to track Carver down anyway. Imagine, getting offended that your intended patsy opted not to die for you. A sign of poor character I''d say.


    Sinnamin - You pissed off Carver. Haha, probably tried to use you dirty. Well, let me know it you made it out okay. Huh. Wouldn''t have thought she''d care. That''s nice.


    Misty - Just checking in for Vik, on how the new chrome is treating you. Ah a checkup. That''s better aftercare than I''d expected.


    Unknown Sender - We should meet. Big fan of your work. Not just no. Hell no!


    Amanda - 2 missed calls.


    Sally - 5 missed calls.


    Well fuck. I''m mister popular all the sudden. Replying would have to wait for a moment while I found out why my BTC was currently trying to squeeze my arm off.


    [ Adjusting... ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Establish an Outpost in the Badlands around Night City


    Reward: 1000 Company Points, 1 Hero Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Establish an Outpost in Night City (any area)


    Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Theme Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    Okay. I liked the thought of getting more CPoints. But what exactly constituted an outpost. As I always do when confronted with lacking information, I asked Meadran. He explained an outpost consists of at least two buildings. They needed to be from across your Themes, and protected by at least one defensive structure. He defined Theme as being like the Khalai or the Kaldorei. Ah, so a Theme Token would get me new types of building and units. Nice.


    ''Just be cautious, Young One. Outposts tend to attract more attention than they should.'' He seemed worried. Hmm. I''d have to get defenses up quickly, once I set up shop somewhere. I pondered the issue for a few more moments.


    ''Either way, set aside enough silver Wisps for two Moon Wells. That should be a good starting point.'' We''d start with two Wells and a Forge or two, and then surround them with Photon Cannons. I''d adjust after I saw how it went.


    ''They will be ready in a day.'' I felt him also thinking deeply about the needs of our community.


    ''Thanks Meadran. I really appreciate your help.'' I tried to send him gratitude.


    ''You are most welcome, Young One.''


    I went ahead and accepted both quests. I was happy that there didn''t seem to be a time limit. So there was no rush to find good locations.


    Then I replied to the messages from everyone but Carver and the Unknown Sender. Explaining that I was in a area that was off grid. That I was okay and everything was going smoothly.


    Then I headed down to the Galena. I loaded all the backpacks full of fruit in the trunk and put my tool case in the front passenger seat. That left plenty of room in the back seat for loot storage. With their new streamline form, the Probes could fit two to the front and two to the back on the roof. That had turned out better than I thought it would.


    I drove down to the bridge and parked next to the lumber pile. The Probes had set it up to the south of the path and the outflow canals. Looking over the pile of wood, I nodded and messaged Amanda, I have a pile of Lumber we can move, let me know if you are available.


    Scuff and Fix led Chuck and Barry on a patrol of the area. I decided to work on the Galena a bit, while I waited for a reply. I had seen several places in the schematics, were small tweaks would help a lot. Maybe I could get a few more horses out of this engine.


    A couple of hours later. I got a reply from Amanda, Where and how much?


    I sent back, By the broken highway bridge east of NC, best to approach from the south along the torn up road. 50, 8ft long 4\"X4\"s, weight between 750 and 800lbs.


    Three Hours. Her reply this time was almost immediate.


    I ate a few pink grape-like fruits. This one tasted of chocolate and butterscotch. Not my bag, but an interesting flavor none the less.


    I returned to tinkering on the Galena. I''d noticed that the technology in the engines here, barely seemed to resemble what I was familiar with from back home. There must have been fundamental shifts in how people solved problems here. Well that was obvious, but the whole process of combustion in this engine shouldn''t have worked anywhere near as well as it did. I understood the what and the how of it, but not the whys. It was going to end up driving me nuts one of these days.


    I was still elbows deep in the engine bay when I heard the Probes beep. ''Visitors.''


    I finished up, and made sure everything was reconnected. I went and turned over the engine. Ah, now that was a smoother purr. I revved the engine a few times. Good response, I''d gotten the timing just right. I turned the engine back off and tried to clean up a bit with some left over rags.


    Three vehicles had pulled up and parked. Each vehicle was done up in badland colors, sand and dust, to help them blend in. Those still had personalized touches here and there. The splashes of color stood out more against the bland background colors.


    One looked like a weaponized muscle car. It had some kind of turbine on it''s hood, was that how it kept all the dust out? It roared like a beast. I liked it very much. The next vehicle was a Thorton Mackinaw truck the big brother of my Galena, I''d my eyes on one while back in the city. My thought was it might be good for hauling supplies. This one had all kind of armor plating added and a small cannon on top. Sweet. The last vehicle was a cargo truck of some kind, and a bit of overkill for this job. It was a brute somewhat comparable to a Semi from back home. It was towing a bare bones flat bed trailer.


    The Probes hovered above weaving in and out of each others paths. Just in case. Mistrustful little Robo-Buddies.


    Amanda got out of the muscle car, Sally got out of the Mackinaw, and an older fella I don''t recall being introduced to got out of the cargo truck. They started walking towards me, when almost at the same time they stopped and sniffed the air.


    "Is that water?" Sally asked, or rather demanded.


    I grinned at them.

 Chapter 19

    "Yes, that''s fresh, clean water." I waved them over to the outflow canal. "This is the overflow from our water production. We thought we might help turn this canyon into a lake or a river one day." They washed their hands and them moved a bit upstream to drink. Ha, not their first rodeo. I watched them enjoy it, savor it, like the finest of wines. To them this water was a treasure, beyond price.


    "Now that you know how to find our home, I ask that you not go up the mountain. We have powerful automated defenses, and I''d like us to all stay friendly, okay." Maybe I should increase the defenses. The history of my world had shown that people clearly were horrible at resisting the temptation of short term gains over long term sustainability. I had my suspicions that it would prove to be an even greater problem here. Desperate people couldn''t afford the luxury of thinking about the long term.


    "You have our thanks and our word." Amanda said it like a custom. The little bit of info I could dig up online about the Aldecaldos had painted them as mostly trustworthy. I decided to extend some trust first, and prayed that I wasn''t being a fool.


    "But wait! There''s more." I pulled one of the backpacks full of fruit out of the car, "Act now, and I''ll give you this pack of fresh fruit." Sally practically ripped the pack out of my hands. She had it open in no time, and rooted through it. Her fierce demeaner was both intriguing and annoying.


    "What are these? I''ve never seen fruit like this." She looked up at me like I was tricking her. Instead of answering right away, I pulled out another pack, I grabbed a golden orange, and started peeling it. I took a bite and enjoyed the tart flavor.


    "We have experimented a bit, but you''ll find they''re healthy and quite filling. Added bonus, they last longer than normal fruit as well." To be fair, the Valley''s fruit didn''t need a sales pitch. I just wanted to make a good impression.


    "Why would you give us this." She actually looked conflicted. I was a little disappointed, but they had probably been burned before.


    "Because I like to share with my friends. And I''d like you to be my friends." A took another bite of my orange. Juicy and refreshing.


    "Hell kid, I''ll be your friend." The older guy spoke up, "I''m Nolan by the way." He gave a jaunty wave. He looked like he''d been around the block a time or two. If it wasn''t for the shadows haunting his eyes I''d say he was someone''s kindly grand pa. The well worn holster that cradled his revolver, spoke of his skills.


    "Ryan." I returned his wave.


    Sally looked sheepish, "Sorry, free usually isn''t free." True words.


    "I get you. Look at it this way, I''m buying goodwill. Trying to smooth the way for the more tricky stuff down the road." I gave her a wink. I winced internally, that was lame. But her damned eyes were distracting.


    She gave a smirk in return, "Alright. Mr. Goodwill. I''ll be keeping my eyes on you." She cocked her hip at me and raised her eyebrow. Was that a challenge? I was certainly interested in finding out.


    "Let''s take it slow for now." Amanda said it sternly, but with a huge smile. She also did the hand on the hip thing. Okay, maybe I don''t know what that means. I had flunked at reading girls my whole life.


    I shook my head to clear out the ridiculous thoughts, "Anyway, I have lumber. Every few weeks, I''ll have more. Obviously, we can''t be selling all of it in NC, we''d flood the market in a couple of months." I shrugged, "However, I have no real connections in the area, or the world. So I turn to you, the friendliest option I''ve met thus far." I offered them a smile, "Later, we can even expand to include some of our other projects, The alloy you see here in my weapons, and my Pr-Drones. You''ll find they are... quite unique." That was perhaps the longest single thing I''d said since I got here, it hurt my throat.


    Amanda considered my words. She pulled out a canteen, poured it out. Rinsed and then filled it in the stream. The other followed suit. Again there was the air of custom to it. Yet, I was thinking I was an idiot, for not getting canteens from the Company Store while I could. Let''s just keep that off my face for now.


    "We''ve been looking for steady work. And a safe place to camp. Our group is just one branch of the Aldecaldos, a family, a clan, and a nation unto ourselves. We ride and die together. We remember our friends and bury our enemies. Help us and we will help you."


    My smile must have looked truly brilliant. These sounded like my kind of people. "If you know a place out here that fits your needs, not only can I make it safer. Given enough time, I can make it a home. I have been looking to expand, and help clean things up out here." I gestured with a wide sweep taking in all of the wasteland, "If we have a deal, and if everything works out, I''ll show you some tricks that will really blow your minds."


    I shook Amanda''s hand firmly. "Let''s get this lumber loaded. What''s the current market value of wood anyway?"


    Without missing a beat Sally chimed in, "$125 an ounce." I ran the numbers in my head, "About 1.5 million or more right here. What can we realistically unload it at?"


    Sally laughed, "About $70 an ounce. The Fixer will want a decent profit."


    "So about 800 grand to split. A bit over 300 grand for your folks. That a good haul for you?"


    "That''s six months of supplies and parts." Amanda looked pleased. She seemed to reach another decision, "We finish this deal, and then we see about expanding our relationship." Her eyes flicked over to Sally for a moment. I couldn''t say what she was thinking, but Sally seemed to pick up on what her Mother meant. Her grin was a devastating blow to my lonely heart.


    We loaded the 4X4s onto the flatbed, then made sure to cover the pile with a couple of tarps before cinching it all down with ratchet straps. Amanda set our travel order. Her then me, then Nolan and Sally would bring up the rear. We got moving but took our time, keeping an extra eye out for trouble. Everything went smoothly until we got to the main freeway and turned west. Other then being scouted by a few messed up vehicles in the distance, nothing seemed off.


    We eventually pulled into a garage. DaKota. I had walked by it... how long had it been now? 10 days? It had seemed abandoned at the time. Still seemed that way now. But then the garage roll doors opened up and a few hard looking people came out.


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    While Nolan backed the trailer into one of the garage bays, Amanda introduced me to Dakota herself. A lady that looked like she had traveled every hard road there ever was. They hugged, with a genuine affection for each other. Then she gather Sally into her arms, again with a long running familiarity that was obvious. These folks had been through a lot together.


    When the time to introduce me came I got a firm handshake and, "You remind me of a prairie dog I saw once, it lead me to a cache of weapons. That was a good day." After she had stared at me for almost a full minute. I couldn''t tell if she was trying to intimidate me or read my soul. A real character this one.


    Sally walked up with, "You should let him heal you. It''ll feel great." I sputtered for a few minutes at that, while they all laughed. She really wasn''t going to let that part go. Sometimes, I thought it was a real shame that it didn''t seem to do the same things for me.


    "Maybe another time, Medicine Man." With that Dakota went back in the garage, to start running down customers for our goods.


    Nolan with the help of the two hard looking guys was unhooking the trailer. I noticed that there were more connection cables between the vehicle and the trailer than I was used to. Something to poke about with later.


    "She said it will take a few days to move it all, so the money will be coming in then." Amanda sticking to the practical. "In the meantime, why don''t you come to the camp. Tomorrow we can show you a place we have been scouting out for a new site." She gave me the smallest of smiles.


    Sally was smiling and nodding, "You can meet everyone, and maybe we can have some fun." Sally slapped me on the shoulder, it stung. Oh yeah, cyberarms.


    A few minutes later, we were all headed south.


    After traveling a while we turned onto a road headed more toward the west. The evening was rolling in, the sun headed to it''s rest. We kept going, the drive becoming a welcome period of meditation for me. Radio off, window rolled down, the rapidly cooling evening air rushing past. Looking up I saw the stars had peeked out, including the artificial ones. Placed above by our manic desire to seek the beyond. I too, would like to see what''s out there one day.


    The desert felt lonely, yet peaceful. There was no one traveling these backways but us. Just us, and the wind.


    After far too short a time we began to slow. Lights  were visible ahead, nestled between a cluster of hills. We slowed to a stop while Amanda honked a series of quick taps on her horn. I noticed that the honks were very muted, so the sound would couldn''t carry very far. A returning series of similarly muted honks, and we slowly continued. A camp came into view. 5 large Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) were arranged in a large circle. Each carried a small building on it. A few smaller MRAPS parked inside that circle. Most of the light came from these vehicles. Turning the night nearly into day.


    Within the outer circle of trucks were tents of all shapes and sizes. Areas full of benches and tables, where dozens of people sat around talking, eating, laughing. The were several large fire pits where various cooking activities occurred. We parked next to a cluster of standard vehicles just outside the outer camp circle. I saw a few of the Galena''s country cousins the Gecko and several Mackinaws. There were even a couple of Mizutani Shion Coyotes. Quite a few people were working on some of these hard used vehicles. They had small mobile light setups and tool boxes and parts crates close by.


    Exiting my car, I could already hear Amanda, Sally and Nolan receiving greetings. I smiled softly, the family setting was a wonderful thing. I''d sometimes forgotten that in all the friction with my parents over the years. I asked Barry to watch the Galena while the rest of the Probes would hover nearby to an keep an eye on me, maybe patrol the area. I stopped at my trunk to grab a couple of backpacks. One went over my shoulder, while I carried the other in my left hand. Pulling a silver apple out to munch. I walked over to where Amanda was still talking with the folks tinkering with their cars.


    "We''ll be able to get all the parts our rides need, soon enough. Then we can look to getting some better iron and chrome." She was talking a short guy, a grease monkey born, if I''d ever seen one. Overalls stained from years of repair and maintenance work. His smile was as dark as his hair, and his eyes burned with a desire to make his cars, his babies, better. Yeah, my kind of dude.


    Sally reached over and snagged a blue mango from my backpack, "Guzman, this is Ryan. He''s the one providing our new opportunity." I waved with the apple in my hand and offered the backpack to him. His eyebrows went up and he pulled out a red banana. He looked at it in surprise then back to me. I nodded, and he returned it. Enough said.


    Amanda lead the way further into the camp. She and Sally introduced me around, and not that long after, I was sitting on one of the benches, with a beer in hand and a plate of tacos in front of me. To tell the truth, most of the new names would need a second or third exposure to take. Yet it was nice to meet so many people in a good way. To share a moment. I had handed off the other backpack to one of the older teens to distribute. They set the pack down next to the cooking area for who ever wanted them.


    There was a calm but vibrant energy in the air. The gruff but friendly people here living simple lives, partially free of the sickness hanging over the city folk. Then, I was being regaled with the story of a raid on a Militech convoy. How Sally had flipped her truck and had to be towed back, her blush told me it was true. "It was my first raid, I was nervous, and that rock came outa nowhere." I patted her hand.


    I felt a burning glare trying to bore deep into my skull. I turned that way to see Lynx trying to kill me with his eyes. Didn''t work, but damned if he didn''t give it his all. I grinned at him and gave it extra teeth. I took a casual sip of beer to show him how much his opinion meant to me.


    "Don''t let him bother you. He''s from a different tribe, trying to find a wife with us." Sally said quietly. "He''s had his sights on me, but I''m not interested."


    "Oh?" I turned to look into her eyes. I gave her the old  questioning eyebrow trick.


    She laughed at me. "Yeah, I''m not ready to settle down with anyone just yet. Plus he doesn''t get along with Megan." I hadn''t met Megan yet, but I suddenly wanted to get on her good side. Damn, I loved staring into this lady''s eyes. way too much. That she let me, was a nice twist for once in my life.


    "Gotta have your fun while you can, right?" Now where had I heard that before? Oh right, first girl I tried to date back when I was back in trade school. That was her attempt to let me down easy. I hoped this wasn''t going to be a repeat of that moment.


    Sally gave me a wink. Not too long after that a impromptu music festival started up. A lively mix of instruments and genres. Then dancing broke out and Sally hauled me out for a whirl. These folks liked a mix of Line, Square and Salsa dancing and I was perfectly okay with that. Sally and I had a few passes, feeling each other out. Getting used to how we both moved. The music sped up and we followed. I led her through a foxtrot and then nudged it into a pseudo tango. She was a delight to move with, easy to lead, strong and graceful. The piece stopped and so did we. We stared deep into each other''s eyes, while taking deep breaths to calm down.


    Then a nice soft voiced girl named Kori wanted a round. Then the illustriously lush and curvy Megan, who I hoped I made a good impression with. Even Amanda came to me for a turn or two. Soon I had danced with most of the ladies in the camp. We had all shared a few laughs and small stories of better days.


    Finally the paced slowed and Sally was in my arms again. We were not so much dancing anymore as simply swaying together, sharing space and warmth. She murmured nice things into my ear, and I whispered of dreams I had thought lost. After the music stopped and most folks started seeking their beds, we went for a walk outside the camp. Found a nice patch and laid out a blanket to stare up at the stars together. We didn''t say much, we didn''t need to.


    Truth be told I was petrified inside. This was the best date I''d ever had and I was terrified I''d screw it up. But I tried to remember that it was best to go with the flow, not to push. I took a deep breath and let all my old worries go.


    We dozed off together under the night sky and the watchful scans of Fix and Scuff.

 Chapter 20

    I awoke alone.


    I didn''t feel anything like a sense of abandonment, just a relaxed contentment. No promises had been made, so no expectations had gotten in the way. There was something refreshing in that. Much better than the frantic search for a partner that had been riding the back of my brain back home. This was simple, and simple was good.


    I shaped a quick Cleanse on myself, and then the blanket, which I folded and carried with me back towards the camp. Magic was so useful. I needed to remind myself to use it more.


    It was early, the sun not quite over the horizon. The sky still had that grayed out predawn tone. The Probes were still hovering about nearby. They gave me a greeting, ''New friends, now?''


    I sure hoped so. I needed some friends, and everyone here sure seemed friendly. I got quite a few cheerful morning greetings on the way to the Galena. I had the Probes dock up with the car until I could properly introduce them. Their stealth would be wearing off at any time, and I didn''t want the Folks up early to freak out.


    I grabbed another backpack out of the car and devoured a kiwi like copper fruit. It tasted of strawberries and cream.


    Then I slowly wandered over to the campfire area, hoping they had some coffee, or something similar. Turned out they did, and I happily received a carafe of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs, with cheese and bacon, for the pack of fruit. Everything in the food was off, not so much that I was going to complain, but enough that I noticed. The coffee was decent though, gotta take those small victories.


    While I ate, I continued planning out how I wanted to spend my day. When a pair of hands blocked out my sight, also a vast lush softness enveloped my the back of my head.


    "Guess, who?" A soft silky voice entered my ear from about an inch away. Every little hair on my body stood to attention. This was a saucy minx, and I vaguely recognized the voice from last night.


    "It had better be Sally." I whispered back. "Or we''re going to have words." Of course, I knew it wasn''t Sally. I''d felt enough of her body last night to know those weren''t her breasts on my skull.


    That is of course when Sally walked into view laughing. She set down two plates in front of me. While the lady I''d assumed was Megan let go of me. Let the games begin I guess? I turned around, yeah. Those were... I mean her presence was hard to miss.


    Physically they were a study in contrasts. Sally was tanned and Megan was pale. Sally was whipcord lean and lithe and Megan was lushly curvy and pleasingly plump. Sally was sunny and blonde and Megan had hair that was almost pitch black. Sally''s eye were the most glorious blue, and Megan''s were a deep rich green.


    "He does have a way about him." Megan sat next to Sally.


    "Just wait. He''s got all kinds of uses." Sally was nodding while digging into her food.


    "''He'' is right here." I gave them a mock glare, which soon turned into a grin, as I shaped two quick Cleanses and released them on them. Who doesn''t like to be clean? They apparently loved to be cleaned. Their shudders and shivers were all manner of entertaining. Their voices rose in happy little gasps. Many of the men in the area gave me nods of approval, while the women folk looked nonplussed. None of them knew what I had done, but all of them were keeping an eye on me. I shrugged.


    I had discussed this effect with Meadran. Mana infusion was highly stimulating. Especially to folks who had lived in low mana zones. Sadly mana carrying your own signature would never affect you the same way, it was already your mana after all.


    "See, incredibly useful." Sally tried and failed to seem nonchalant.


    "Honey, if you don''t snatch him up, I''m going to tie him up and keep him in my trailer." Megan seemed deadly serious.


    Getting a little annoyed at their game, I gave them both a flat stare. "You don''t learn, huh? No healing for you." They both turned to me with a horrified look. I let them stew on that for a minute while I tried to suss out their dynamic. "This offense requires restitution. Perhaps you can buy your way out. I''m partial to back rubs." I smirked. I was testing boundaries here, just as they had been earlier.


    "Well, we could work something out I''m sure." Sally her natural grin returning. She gave Megan one of those looks that carries a whole world of meaning between women, but us men are sadly incapable of understanding.


    "Yes, I''m a fair hand with massage. I''ve had to get relax Sally after a mission a time or three." Megan nodding sagaciously.


    My brain halted for a fraction of a second, processing that outrageous statement. "Then maybe forgiveness can be yours." I nervously laughed. It was fun, to play around like this. Though now I had a lot unseemly images running around my head.


    I never would''ve thought that all I needed to do to be almost comfortable with women, was to get snatched to another world. Full of death and terrible food, but also ample opportunities. I forced myself not to look at Megan''s chest, I sort of succeeded. Ample, indeed.


    The next couple of days that I spent with them in that camp settled into a rhythm. I made myself useful, healing and cleansing folk. Working on cars, and getting the Probes to patrol and repair some of the tougher problems. The Probes were easily adopted as erstwhile mascots by the Tribe, when I introduced them. Hell, I thought that they liked them more than me. Eh, understandable. The Robo-Buddies were awesome.


    I hadn''t realized it at the time, but Megan and Sally were kind of a package deal. No, I didn''t have the first clue about how that worked. But I also wasn''t going to question my good fortune. If I spent time with one, I had to spend time with the other. This was no great chore, as both were excellent company . Most of it was simply getting to know each other, with chatting and just spending time together. Everyday we at the very least shared a meal, and everynight there was a dance or three.


    More contrasts between them became obvious, where Sally was rough and tumble, Megan was smooth and considered. Where Sally was straight forward, Megan always found the most roundabout way to reach the same point. Sally was quick to anger and quick to forgive, Megan rarely got angry, but never forgave once she had.


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    It was hard to find enough time for getting to know them better, as they both had plenty of responsibilities to manage. They did most work in camp together. Logistics and Organization, mostly. Outside of camp it was different. Megan ran the net. Sally buried the targets. They were trouble either way. The good kind I hoped. My head was spinning from trying to figure out what was going on. Was I after one or both?


    Guzman had said that to court one was to court both, on the first day. We had been tinkering with vehicles, and I had asked if they were together, together. He said no, they just couldn''t stand to be apart for long.


    Both it was then. Because I wasn''t about to give up this growing connection I felt with them. Even if it derailed later, I was going to ride this crazy train as far as I could.


    The morning of the sixth day, after I got to the Aldecaldos camp, Amanda came over to breakfast with the three of us. This was the first time I had seen her since we had danced that first night. I hit her with a Cleanse, it had become an automatic reflex at this point. She barely twitched, unflapped that woman was. She didn''t even blink. She did at least give me a thankful nod, "I''ve scouted out a good place for a more long term setup. The complication being some Wraiths sulking about."


    She gave us a quick run down on number and positions. A lot and everywhere, was my takeaway. This was sounding like a night job with the Probes. I suggested as much. She nodded, "They are hard to spot in the dark." She nodded her acceptance. The Nomads had decided that the Probes being impossible to spot at night was the neatest thing ever. "They can sweep around the far side and drive the Wraiths into a firing line."


    We went over every little detail three times. She pulled up charts and maps, from satellite feeds on her tablet. Then she drew out the plans, and sent them to her teams. I really didn''t have much to add, but I did take notes. Amanda''s knowledge and experience was valuable, and I likely wouldn''t have access to it indefinitely. They were Nomads, and would eventually move on. It was their way of life. I, on the other hand, had to establish bases and outposts. I couldn''t stay with them forever, no matter how much I enjoyed my time with them.


    This was the moment that I began to worry about a future with Sally and Megan. Whether there was going to be a future with them at all. And they knew it. Women had their ways. I''ll never understand it.


    "Don''t overthink it. We''ll figure something out." Sally gently chided.


    "You won''t be getting rid of us that easily." Megan concurred.


    "You both aren''t ever getting away from me, I''m owed backrubs. I always collect what I''m owed." I gave a mockingly stern face. We all broke out into uncontrollable uproarious laughter.


    That night we had moved into our first position. I had given the Probes their instructions. I had gotten a series of beeps back, "We''ve got this." They took off like little bats out of hell. Had they somehow gotten faster? Huh.


    Sally had brought a Techtronika SPT 32 Grad and set it up. She was quickly ready to fire, down on the whole region. Megan was nestled in right next to her to act as a spotter. I could hear them softly working out a series of initial targets. I was there to make sure no one got the drop on them. Then I was supposed to drive them to Sally''s next firing position, if needed.


    That meant I''d be driving Sally''s Mackinaw. Truly, I was touched she''d even let me drive her beast out here to begin with. I knew how attached people could get to their rides.


    We were on an eroded outcropping, overlooking an old manufacturing plant. This place was pre fourth corporate war, whatever that was, and had produced middle grade cyberware parts. The plant itself was mostly hidden away from the rest of the badlands, by a series of hills and outcrops like ours. There was only one good drivable path up to it and that''s where Amanda had positioned her people in an L formation. They had explained why that was a good ambush formation. So that you could overlap fields of fire with little risk of hitting your own people. I probably wouldn''t have thought of that myself.


    This was a good place for an outpost, but only if you had a way to keep from getting bottled in. Well, I''d figure out how to take care of that later.


    From all of the readings we had pulled up, the Wraiths weren''t nested in the plant itself, though Barry was going to do a quick sweep through it to make sure. They were camped around it, in a disorganized mess. From this distance, I could barely make out any details, even with my eyes zoom function. I glanced over at Sally''s iron. That must be some optics on her rifle. I wondered what I would see when she fired it prone. Never thought I''d cheer for recoil. Then I shook my head, my job was to watch the open desert behind us. No entertainment for me.


    Amanda messaged us it was go time, I relayed the signal to the Probes. Soon we heard distant screams and yells, but I couldn''t make out the sound of the Probes zapping the gonks.


    Then the Grad bellowed and I couldn''t hear much at all for a while. Every time Sally took a shot, my ears suffered. Though a quick cast of Regrowth fixed them, I decided to wait until we were done, to save on my mana. I might need it for any wounded soon enough.


    All in all a very boring half hour for me. Even Sally only ended up taking seven shots the whole time. The last two had been to core engine blocks, when the Wraiths finally broke and started to run. We found out her third shot had dropped Sourtooth their local Wraith warlord. Big points there. He had a major bounty on his head, and been a thorn in the side of a few of the Corps as well.


    The Probes had gone beast mode on the Wraiths, barely any of the scum made it to the ambush point and they were shredded in a few seconds when they had. People, vehicles or equipment they savaged everything, laying waste to the desert rats.


    When Amanda had given the all clear, the ladies packed up and I drove us down to the ambush site. Hell, even the clean up was done by the time we got there. I was feeling just a bit useless. Sure, watching people''s backs is important, of course it is. That didn''t take that empty sucking feeling in your gut away. Eh, I tried to shake it off. My real work was about to begin, if the Probes even let me get over to the plant before they started. Little showoffs. Gotta love the Robo-Buddies. Haha.


    Everything at the ambush position taken care of, so half of the group scattered to patrol around. Their job was to see if anyone was snooping about. The rest of us headed to the plant. While the rest of them couldn''t see them, the Probes were doing some kind of victory dance about fifty feet up in the air. Weaving back and forth making patterns only they understood. Silly little guys.


    When we had stopped, I excused myself to hunt up a good place for a Moon Well. As I headed off I called back, "I''m going to trust you folks not to talk about what you are going to see next." I called the Probes over to me, and gave them their orders. I had them dig out a moat area then an overflow channel for a stream then a pond about fifty yards away.


    It took them only a few minutes to get the moat and stream dug out. While Chuck and Barry kept excavating the pond, Fix started A Pylon above where the Moon Well was going to go. Meadran had ten silver Wisps loaded up into my Supron, which I called out here. I let Amanda know it was coming, since I  didn''t want any accidents. Things were going to get crazy as it was. While waiting for the Wisps, I had Scuff start a Forge building to one side.


    We mirrored the moat stream and pond arrangement on the other side of the cyberware plant. Another Pylon above the second Moon Well position, and a Robotics Facility over there on that side of the area.


    Everyone had stayed well out of the way, setting up their own camp, but I soon heard their startled exclamations. Yeah, buildings coming out of the void was pretty shocking. But then everything changed again when the Wisps finally arrived and I had them merge into the Moon Wells.


    Fresh Mana infused water began to flow and you''d think the Nomads had lost their minds. Haha, maybe we all had.

 Chapter 21

    The Outpost Quest complete, and I became 1000 CPoints richer. A hexagonal coin also appeared. It''s lustrous surface seemed to be made out up a pearlescent alloy of some kind. This must have been a Hero Token. However, I had no clue as to what a hero was so decided to hold off on using it. Making buildings appear out of nowhere is one thing, making random people pop into existence is quite another.


    I spent the majority of the next day placing Photon Cannon in the hills all around the manufacturing plant. It took so long because I tried to place them in such a way that they wouldn''t be visible from a distance. Visibility outside the circle of mounds and outcroppings, was vast. Each cannon was placed behind a ridge of the hills, or was near a boulder, while still being able to cover the inner section of land. A few times the Probes hollowed out a section of stone to improve the placement. Sure, most of the cannons could be seen from the air, but by the time an AV saw them the cannons should have them locked.


    Next, I made a little Pylon field behind the the main building. This was to support the incredible power draw, of the frankly ridiculous amount of cannons I placed in the area. I might have gone overbroad, but I had an itch on the back of my neck. Something was up, but I thought I was just being paranoid.


    I also had to spent a an hour or two programing each cannon to not target the Aldecaldos. I could have just made it a blanket command; Propagating the order through the Psifield, but it would link back to the Valley but I still wanted a fall back point just for me. I liked the Aldecaldos, I really did, yet something told me complete trust might be a foolish idea.


    Four more Robotics Facilities were then queued up for a higher unit output. I had a Sentry cooking in the first one already. Then I had the Probes build up every structure that we could could. The Cybernetic Core and Robotics Bay would be up quick, however the Stargate and the Fleet Beacon were blocked from our current build options. Which was a crying shame the value of the Stargate was enormous, both on a strategic and logistic scale. However, as I understood it, once the Stargate is complete it would warp into orbit. Meaning I would still need a Psifield network capable of reaching into orbit first. So that was a very long term problem to sort out. In addition to the Stargate, The Probes weren''t allowed to build another Nexus. Nor were they allowed to warp in Gateways or Templar buildings for some reason. So a purely robotic army would have to do.


    The Supron was sent back to base to pick up a bunch of golden Wisps, and some more Probes. I felt a kind of building fever settle in my soul, increasing my desire to expand this outpost. I was going to set up more trees, and a secondary lumber produce zone here. There was a lot more room for a settlement, than the Valley, and I also wanted the new forest to source fruit and populate with tasty critters. I ordered the extra Probes so that we could increase mineral and vespene resourcing. Chuck had already found a coal deposit and Barry found some ore veins in the hills. Why none of these were not already exploited, I had no idea, but I also wasn''t going to let them go to waste either.


    Amanda, Nolan, Sally and Megan came by from time to time to check on me. They offered advise on the placement of defenses and ideas for other various improvements. We ran over a few thought of future plans, though I was still loathe to commit to anything too long term. After all who could say what would happen tomorrow?


    While I was frantically trying to get everything arranged to my liking, the Nomads were arranging their own new camp site. Much as it was before they circled up, putting together the eating and food prep areas in just a hour. They were already getting back to their normal routines before I had finished placing the sixth Cannon in the Hills. The only exception was that they all ended up spending at least a little while playing in or around the ponds. All of that water to play with was a luxury they were rarely afforded. This was after an incident necessitated a brief but emphatic explanation that they shouldn''t drink from the Wells themselves, only from the streams. Thankfully no other accidents had occurred, yet.


    Now even Lynx''s sour ass had been cheerful at the sight of so much clean water. He and I had been avoiding each other. While I was sure he was jealous of Sally attention towards me, he didn''t do any of the petty bullshit I would have expected. Maybe he wasn''t such a bad dude, or maybe, he knew something I didn''t?


    If nothing else, all of my efforts at making this area into a nicer home had earned me regard amongst the families. They recognized the value of what was now available to them, and would  fight to defend this place and what it would mean for their future. Not that they would need to, if my paranoid ass had it''s way. I''d make this into the safest harbor in this shitty land. All peaceful folk would be welcome. Forget the bullshit of the city, and come rest under my trees. $99 for a liter of water. Nah choom, here have a drink of the best water you''ve ever tasted for free.


    Shit, that would backfire wouldn''t it. Too many people would flood this place. Sigh. Alright, it had to stay secret for now. But a guy could dream, couldn''t he?


    By midday, the first purple grasses had sprouted and were spreading rapidly. I had to stop and assure them that the grasses were safe to be around, and that they were indeed part of the plan. All the while, I was freaking out myself. I hadn''t realized that the grass was linked to the Wells. I had thought the spread of the purple lawn was an affect of Meadran''s presence. We all had a laugh after they calmed down. If mine was a little nervous, they didn''t seem to notice.


    Some of the Aldecaldos had been searching through the cyberware plant looking for any good salvage. Sadly most of the machines were too large to use as they were. They''d have to be broken down, with specialized tools. This didn''t stop Scuff and Fix from going ham scanning every little thing inside. They really liked studying "primitive tech". Maybe, it was somewhat like archeologists looking at our ancient hominid offshoots.


    The Robo-Buddies'' personalities were still expanding but always seemed to contain a childlike wonder with the world. I wished I could say the same about my own attitude. I felt a lot of my own preconceived notions about the nature of humanity being absolutely wrecked by the misery of this world. I had to find a way to maintain a positive outlook, or I''d never be able to help others.


    Meadran had sent back another 6 Probes, and enough golden Wisps to merge into 4 trees with a few left over to bond with them. There was also a couple more silver Wisps to build out paths and ward stones.


    Merging the golden Wisp into trees, two next to each Well, had been another small event. Many of the Nomads hadn''t ever seen a proper tree, just the sickly things growing out in the wastes. They said there were still places with trees and forests. Even jungles and places with natural animals, but they were tightly controlled as extremely valuable resources, or farmed for the Elites. Yup, old school farming did exist in places as well, but those Elite bastards running the Corps monopolized the vast majority of their products.


    The less fortunate had to make do with bug products or at best have some chemically grown vat meat. It''s "totally not human cloned" we swear. What a wonderous time to be alive. If it wasn''t for some truly massive algae farms out in the blighted oceans, no one would still have enough oxygen to live properly. Sigh, and they sent me to "fix" this mess.


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    There was too much work to do. And I was sure the Corpo bastards were going to try to snatch everything I made up as soon as they found out about it.


    I shaped a Growth spell on the Trees, helping them get a little closer to the sky. One step, for one problem at a time.


    After an exhausting day of infrastructure planning and placement, I was ready to kick up my feet and relax. Sadly, It was not to be.


    First, I had been wrangled into dancing again and while we mostly kept it slow and simple, Sally and Megan dragged it out for a few hours. Every lady wanted a spin and even a few of the lads. I shrugged and went with it. It was just dancing after all and if they got a little handsy, it was actually socially acceptable to break their nose. Sally and Megan did their rounds, and then we ended up in a weird revolving dance. I''d move with one of them and then the other and then back again. A few times, I was sandwiched between them. No power in the verse would make me complain about that.


    To keep up, I tried casting regrowth on myself a few times to keep up. Yet even with that boost, I was wearing down. The Ladies, however, seemed to be unflagging in their pursuit of another turn. You know, it was nice to be popular for once. Even if most of it was for my sweet, sweet magic, and sick trade deals.


    The Second thing keeping me from hitting the sack, after all of the dancing and the feasting, was that Amanda wanted to know when the next batch of lumber would be ready. I assured her that it would only be another couple of days at the latest. Then she wanted to know my next plans, all of them, in as much detail as I could provide. I plead that I was tired, and my mind was too sluggish not to just go along with her, mostly. She didn''t like that part of my future plans would be to establish an outpost in the city. I couldn''t really explain everything right now, so I went with saying that it was necessary for my goals. Amanda''s tsk told me everything I needed to know about what she thought of that.


    I decided to elaborate, I swept my hand around the whole area. "This, more of this. Everywhere I can get it going. Until there is so much life that the Corps can''t stop it and it keeps propagating itself. It''s not the best plan, but it''s really the only plan. While I''m going to be stuck in a few places, I''m vulnerable to being easily controlled or eliminated. I have to keep spreading out."


    She stared at me, "Sounds like a virus." Strangely that didn''t sound judgemental, at least not from her


    I nodded, "Yes. It does, because that''s the strategy little buggers evolved into. Spread fast or get crushed." We tried to come up with other ideas, but anything slow wasn''t going to work. Unless I could figure out a way for others to control and build the Probes and the Wisps, but Alina had told me it was hard coded into them not to accept any commands but my own.


    Megan thought that maybe we should build more hidden places. Underground maybe? Or inside old abandoned buildings. Sure the amount we could do with the limited space was miniscule but discovery was less likely. Sally wanted to be more aggressive. They wouldn''t be looking at our outposts if we harassed them elsewhere. I could see the merit. But I needed stronger units. The Probes were not yet a heavy assault force, and I certainly wasn''t going to involve the nomads in that level of risky operation. We kept batting more thoughts around until we ran out of more things to say.


    We were all about to head to sleep, when I felt a buzzing in the back of my head. I focused on it. Meadran''s panicked thoughts reached me, ''Young One, Alina has intercepted a series of local communications. They are headed toward you right now.'' Ah, fuck.


    ''Who?'' My sluggish brain was trying to spool itself up once again.


    ''A company called Arasaka. They have been observing you since last night from several orbital satellites. They have only just reached out to their Night City resources. They ordered local assets to sweep the area and snatch all high level personnel. The rest are to be disposed of.'' I felt the blood drain from my face.


    I ran through everything Sinn had told me about Arasaka. Then I ran through the bits of info I had gathered about them while playing with the NET. The company was usually subtle, methodical, precise and controlled. This kind of brute force assault was not their normal tactic. Something had triggered this rapid response, but we had no time to figure that out right now.


    If they had been observing us, they already had several vital pieces of information. They may not know what kind, but it was obvious that the Photon Cannons were defenses. The Corpos had to have thought they''d have some way of defeating them. Or they wouldn''t even attempt this. While it was certain they would get chewed up. I-We couldn''t risk it. If any of them made it to the Nomads, who knows how much damage they could do.


    I leapt up yelling my head off, "Get everyone out of here, now!" The response of the Aldecaldos spoke of folks used to survival and danger. Folks were moving almost before the words were completely out of my mouth.


    When she saw my face, Amanda didn''t even question me. She dashed about camp barking orders. Sally and Megan both tried asking what was going on. "Arasaka. They spotted the outpost from orbit. They saw everything. I''m their target, or anyone that they think might have information. You have to go, they have orders to kill everyone else. Save your people."


    For a moment, they both stopped and went completely still. It was odd, but I was too distracted to question it. Then Sally shook her head, as if clearing it of cobwebs. "What about you?"


    I was scanning the skies for any sign of how the Corpo thugs were approaching, "Oh, I''m going to run too. Just slower than you. Hurry up and take off, so I have time to get away." I called all the Probes to me. We left the tent area to find most of the Nomads in or near their vehicles with some already peeling out. Sally and Megan hit her Mackinaw and bugged out, while I could hear Amanda''s Javelina revving in the distance. I got to the Galena and my main crew of four Probes attached to it. I had the others attach to the Supron and sent it on ahead to the Sunset Motel. Arasaka shouldn''t bother with that place, it was too out in the open, and too close to the city. I was going another way, to try to lead them off. Soon even the HEMITT''s were rolling out.


    Amanda messaged me, Where?


    Scatter. Wait and meet me at the broken bridge in a few days. That should be long enough to ditch any tails, and head back to the relative safety of the Valley.


    They''ll be watching. Well, she wasn''t wrong. But where and how they looked would depend on why they were ham-fisting this operation to begin with. It might not be about us at all.


    Sally and Megan sent, Be Careful. For a second, it was nice to feel like someone cared about me.


    I will. Because what else could I say.


    I kept waiting. My Galena was idling and ready to burn rubber. Now that they''d a head start, I wasn''t as worried about the Aldecaldos. They knew every trick to throw off pursuit, and even the over watching satellites. They had hundreds of hidey holes all over the Badlands. No, I was worried about me. Worried about the outpost and all that work wasted. Okay, of course, I was terrified Sally and Megan were going to get caught, but logically they had a far better chance of making it out and avoiding capture than me.


    What was the best way for me to hide? My hands were shaking. Not from fear, from frustration, from anger. The Corpo bastards couldn''t have just left us alone. Then it hit me, and it was crazy.


    As dumb as it at first seemed, I thought heading to the city was a good bet. Hide in the masses. Scan out some new tech ideas. Steal a different vehicle, get back to base and start on a different plan.


    I felt the Cannons all report contact. All of them at once. That didn''t make any sense. I looked up at the stars to think. Oh. The Cannons started firing up into the air above the center of the Outpost.


    They were dropping in. The fucking bastards were dropping from the sky. I couldn''t see them yet, but the Cannons were reporting their positions. They must have been using some kind of optical camouflage. Bleeding stealth technology. Now that was a good idea. The Khalai had some excellent cloaking options, and I should''ve adjusted it to suit my purposes. Fuck!


    No time to beat myself up about it. Who the hell was I to try to outthink a Megacorp?


    It was past time to get moving so, I floored my baby''s pedal and aimed for the city.

 Chapter 22

    Behind us, there were people falling from the sky. The Photon Cannons were still sending me reports, through the Psifield. Most of the data was on their targets acquisitions, and their hit ratios. Usually 75%. If I hadn''t spent a day covering the hills with a stupid number of defenses, or if the fire rate of the cannons was slower, more of the invaders might have survived to hit the ground.


    Honestly, at the rate they were dying it might have been better if we had stood our ground. However, once Arasaka had committed to a path, even a failing one, only oceans of blood could sway them to change course. Mostly because they were unaccustomed to failure.


    So far, there had been no AV''s in the Cannons'' detection range. Which begged the question, how did they get above us? Then I remembered an article I read once, about certain high risk military operations. The US had needed a way to get troop into areas that were heavily covered by anti-air defense. While a lot of money and research went into stealth technology, it just wouldn''t work for the bigger transport planes. There had been a simpler solution, just drop the troop from a higher altitude. HALO (High Altitude, Low Open) jumps, it had to be. They were jumping from AV''s so high up they might as well be in low orbit. Or maybe even from one of the rumored orbital stations that all the Corps had up there..


    Either way that''s fucking insane. What kind of crazy fools would do that? Without highly specialized equipment, and even more specialized training, this approach was just an elaborate form of suicide.


    Still this had to be an opening gambit, with more heavily armed and numerous ground forces moving in. It was a winning strategy, provided you could afford to waste some resources. Between having to target both forces, the cannons could soon be overwhelmed one by one. And from everything I''d managed to gather the Corpo bastards could just keep pouring more units into the fight. Hell, they''d probably send bots in first to absorb the heaviest damage. No, us running had been the best of our options. Even I could see that there was no victory to be had here.


    Our discovery was our defeat. I should have waited...grrr, not the time.


    I ordered the cannons to target the Khalai buildings and then the Moon Wells in turns. I left only the first two Pylons and the Cannons themselves, which would fight to the end. I couldn''t allow any Corp to get their hands on any Khalai tech, that could be avoided. Even the scraps that they were going to inevitably have access to were going to cause trouble in the future. The Moon Wells had to be destroyed to prevent the Corps from gaining any hint of magic. It was my only real advantage, and I meant to keep it that way.


    I winced as the buildings were swiftly detonated, and the resulting explosions were massive. Large clouds of blue flames, that rapidly burned any remnants to ash. The worse part was that I could feel each building being destroyed. Inside my mind. It felt like nails being driven into my eyes and ears.


    I forced my focus to return to driving as fast as I could. In the dark and over uneven terrain, driving was a task that required all my attention. Avoiding the worst areas and the largest obstacles soon consumed my entire attention.


    A report from the Cannons came through, the first ground forces had begun coming in. So far everything was as expected. I ignored the report and kept driving, desperately trying to get even a mile further away, before the Arasaka troops started to sweep the area and search for us. The darkness had become both my ally and my enemy, it shielded us from a cursory glance but would make us stand out on any thermal scanning. I had no doubts that the Corpo scum would have all the toys they needed to find us in the night.


    It was only a few minutes later, that two AVs caught my tail and began a dogged pursuit. They kept firing at us. But whether they were just warning shots or I''d somehow gotten lucky, I''d avoided everything so far. I heard the Probes communicating above me but I couldn''t focus on it enough to understand the rapid messaging between them. Having to juke and weave, over a particular rough section of ground, meant that I didn''t notice two more AVs trying to cut off my path.


    I tried to get them tangle up with each others paths, by circling around for a while. I had noticed that the AV the Arasaka forces were using had poor turn radii. So I cut several sharp turns before flooring it, sadly it didn''t work. The AVs were just too fast. Soon they had adjusted their tactics to keep me boxed in. Soon after that their shots got more accurate, and my poor Galena started to take damage. Thankfully the Probes'' shielding spared us the worst of it, but even that was only a stop gap.


    They were going to get me. It was only a matter of time, now. No. I couldn''t allow that, even if I had to do the unthinkable. I knew it was inevitable that they would managed to extract my secrets. Then they would, at best, monopolize the resources I could generate for them. The balance of power would fall into their hands completely and soon they would no longer bother with the illusion of choice they had allowed the people of the world. All would be Arasaka''s. Everyone would live or die at their whim. The worst they might do, was beyond my experience to plot out.


    Their plans should never be allowed to happen.


    I''d begun to tire, and my concentration was slipping, which was why they managed to force me into a large boulder. I was soon hanging by my seatbelt upside down, I could feel terrible injures inside myself. Bones grating against each other in new and horrible ways. I started trying desperately to heal myself. However, crash had jarred my thoughts, and the pain of my injures further scrambled my mind. I had only gotten the worst of the bleeding stopped, before all the ideas of Arasaka controlling everything blurred together with the images of all the waste that had been happening back on my own version of Earth. I couldn''t stand it. I couldn''t accept it. My thoughts started to fill with green. I could feel my mana stirring, and not of my own volition. Soon my efforts at healing stopped, as some part of me realized it was better to cease the struggle against death.


    I don''t know why, but I managed to cut myself free and somehow I slowly crawled out of my ruined car. One of my eyes couldn''t see, even though I knew the eyelids were open. Still I started looking around the area. All my movement were glacially slow and extremely painful. The remains of my baby were on fire, and I wept at the sight. The poor car had done nothing wrong. This was all my fault.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I pulled my Omaha not knowing why, I couldn''t exactly hope to achieve much with it. Maybe some core reflex, trying whatever it could to keep me alive even a minute longer. Even against my own will. It would take all of my effort to lift it, never mind fire it, but instincts rarely cared about ability.


    Spot lights covered me up from four different directions. I could barely make out aggressive voices over the AVs'' loudspeakers, "Stand down! Put the weapon down and lay on the ground, we promise you won''t be harmed further." Of course, I wouldn''t be hurt, at first. When I refused to cooperate, my life would probably become endless torment.


    Everything in my head was too valuable, I couldn''t let them take me. I was pretty sure I''d never last under any kind of torture. I didn''t want to die, but I didn''t want to live if all I would face was endless agony. I put the barrel of the Omaha against my temple. It felt wrong, but it was the rational choice. The best choice for everyone.


    The Probes beeped furiously, "Executor, no!" Their communication in the Psifield had reached a consensus. "We have this. You must go on." My mind could sense their confidence, and I chose to trust them. They radiated something I''d never would have expected from robots, not matter how advanced. It was Faith, they had faith in me. They believed in a better future. The Omaha fell to my side.


    "That right. Toss the iron on the ground." The Authoritative voice from before growled out. "Let''s end all of this trouble, we just want to talk to you." Fuck you, Corpo Slave. I tried to yell it out, my my throat wouldn''t form the sounds. It couldn''t, something was wrong with my vocal cords.


    I felt that the Probes had scattered. One Probe approached each AV. What were they doing? Were they going to try to fight? That wouldn''t work, there were too many Troops in each AV. I couldn''t see their plan. Then they latched onto their chosen AVs. What were they... I felt the Psifield ripple. They had somehow began pulling more power from it.


    They all reached out to my mind, ''It has been an honor, Executor Ryan!'' I felt their resolve. Resolve for what? Their Beeps rang out in harmony, four voices as one. "MY LIFE FOR EARTH!"


    A purity of purpose flooded the Psifield. I felt my little Robo-Buddies die. Their end resonated in my mind. All of the energy they had gathered was suddenly dumped through their cores into the world. A hammer made of blue light and heat drove me into the ground, and darkness was waiting to grab me with open arms.


    When my eyes opened again the sun burned into the one that still worked. The daystar had just peeked over the horizon revealing the tragic remains of the events of the night. Moments passed while I my brain struggled to comprehend the scene before me. My heart burned with pain at the memories of the last moments of my friends. What? Why? Barry, Chuck, Fix and Scuff were gone. My little robo buddies were gone. It was my fault. If only I had been smarter, or had prepared more. Now, the Corpo scum had cost me my friends.


    {They would pay.}


    At the end, I''d felt how alive they were. Their drives and purpose, and their hopes and dreams had been made clear to me. They were simple, little things, but they had meant everything to my Robo-Buddies. How could a robot have dreams? I didn''t understand, but I couldn''t deny that they were real. That their feelings were as real as my own.


    Somehow at the end my buddies had calculated the best way to direct their final act. The AVs had been blown away from me, and spared me the worst of the resulting shrapnel. I stared at the twisted and mangled husks that remained. Certainty filled me that there had been no survivors. No one to take the rage I felt out on. Except myself. I noticed that as I cast Regrowth, trying to return to mobility, I left scars. It wasn''t a conscious choice, but once I noticed them I couldn''t stand the thought of erasing them either.


    As good as I could get for now. I picked my sorry ass up, and grabbed my gun. I spent a moment saying good bye to my Robo-Buddies and my car, then started marching in the direction of those cursed towers. I pushed myself hard, my hatred driving forward as much as any need.


    At some point, other assholes would be coming to search the area, and I needed to be gone before they did. I was honestly shocked they hadn''t arrived before now. Something must have delayed them, and I didn''t dare speculate what that might have been.


    Eventually, I made it to the Sunset Motel. I saw that the Supron had made it, with it''s precious cargo of Probes still intact. I looked at the bar with my one good eye and for a second, I thought about going inside to get a drink or maybe get a room and just resting for a while. Instead, I got in the Supron after patting each of the six unnamed Probes. They beeped greetings, "En Taro Adun, Executor." Their cheerfulness brought a pall of sadness over me.


    Meadran had tried to contact me several time on the trek here. I hadn''t responded, because I didn''t want to talk about it. I didn''t want to be rude but my heart wasn''t ready to discuss what had happened yet.


    Then my mind finally started working properly again. Meadran could be trying to tell me something important. Either way avoiding the conversation would just make my pain fester. Besides, this would be last chance to talk to him before heading back into the cesspit of NC.


    ''Meadran.'' I tried to stay calm.


    ''Young One. I am sorry.'' His words weren''t the important part, it was the accompanying ages of loss. He had watched his people burning, felt their deaths. The ending of his friends and siblings, then finally of his parent trees. Centuries of war and death encapsulated into a few words. It meant that he understood and that was a kindness. One I didn''t think that I deserved.


    ''Any word of the others?'' Focus on other things for now.


    ''Nothing definitive. The defenses of the outpost still hold for now, but a few gaps have been opened and the enemy has begun pushing harder.'' He paused. ''No word of the Nomads has passed through the local Arasaka servers.'' That was probably good news, and if the defenses still held, the Corpo units would be too tied up to chase anyone. Also, I now had an answer for why no other Arasaka forces had found me yet.


    ''All communications indicate that they had a lack of understanding of our full capabilities. Also any Khalai structure that wasn''t fully formed was invisible to them. Alina says that this means they lack the ability to detect certain kinds of energies.'' Best news possible out of this mess.


    I sighed. ''Alright, I''m going to go hide in the city for a while and I''ll return as quickly as I think will be safe. Once I return, we''ll need to formulate a different approach to our expansion.'' A way to undercut them to destroy everything they own.


    ''Revenge can be a tricky thing, Young One.'' That was another one of his statements that implied so much more. His mind was so vast that I could barely catch the edges of his thoughts.


    ''I know. I''ll take it slow, and dig our roots in deep. We''ll wait, for years if we have to, for the right moment to strike.'' I would practice patience. I would practice restraint. Until the day I no longer had to hide anymore. ''See you as soon as possible, Meadran.'' I started the Supron, but I found none of my usual joy at revving the engine.


    ''Be careful, Young One.'' I felt his mind turn inward, ending our contact.


    Once again I headed toward Night City, with a burning rage. What terrible crap would I see this time?

 Chapter 23

    While the drive to NC didn''t settle my emotions, it did allow me to calm down sufficiently to reexamine my plans. Just stealing a car to get back to base, seemed like I''d be spinning my wheels. No, we were going to found an outpost. We were going to do it right under these fuckers'' noses. But where and how?


    Something Megan said, before things went to shit, clicked. A series of hidden bases utilizing abandoned buildings or involving digging underground or even a combination of both. Yes, I liked that idea. I liked it a lot.


    I was still running through various scenarios by the time I hit Westbrook''s Japantown. I parked in a random lot, not paying much attention to the area, I wouldn''t be coming back to this specific parking lot again. Maybe, I should just ditch the Supron all together. If Arasaka had been watching us, they might have the profile of all of our vehicles. I wipe the Supron''s fob clean of my fingerprints and dropped the it on the ground so it couldn''t be traced to me.


    The Probes had detached from the van and began to surround me. All while making sure to keep their diligent sensors on the surroundings. Sadly, it hurt to look at them. I guessed I had a long way to go before I could match their creators, I had a difficult time accepting others'' sacrifices, especially on my behalf. Ii left me in a position where I had no idea how to honor my fallen Robo-Buddies. I know that some people would never have been able to tell them apart, which would lead some people to think that the Probes were all interchangeable, but I knew better. I had seen each of their own little quirks, and further now knew they all had very distinct personalities.


    It was only a matter of time before I named the Probes now protecting me. Perhaps, the reason I could tell them apart was because of the Psifield. Another reason might have been familiarity. These thoughts clashed around in my head while I wandered around, absently weaving through the packed midday crowds. I was so distract by my own issues that I failed to notice, that I was being watched.


    Slowly but surely, I had ended up making my way towards Jig-Jig Street. Sinnamin hadn''t been exaggerating when she had listed this area as one of the busiest in the city, as well as one of the sleaziest. Sex shops were everywhere the eye could see, and if not the shops themselves, then you would find yourself looking at an ad for some sexually related service. She had also said to watch out for picksockets, but I didn''t know how to do that. Hell, I didn''t even understand what a picksocket was. She had gone on to explain that a picksocket was a person who went after your credit chip, usually without zeroing you. A quickhack slipped through your ICE, and out flies your chip often with you none the wiser. Fortunately, I really didn''t need to pay that much attention with the Probes above blending into the drone traffic zooming along.


    Looking around in a moment of clarity, I was startled that the local drones seemed to outnumber the people. Yet with a moment to think about it it made sense. Drones and bots performed a lot of the small labor jobs where people could afford to utilize them. Almost all home delivery work, be it food or or a new tv was handled by the mechanical helpers. The best part, no one paid any attention to them, unless they had to. This made for great cover for my Probes. No one had even given them a second glance, as far as I could tell.


    I stopped briefly at a noddle stand. These noodles were made out of real buckwheat, and had an excellent texture. The bits of supposed chili peppers and the slivers of "beef" were tolerable, but only because of those noodles. The sauce was, I think, an attempt at a teriyaki sauce but could have been going for something else. Either way, not that good. I planted myself on a bench and ate while working on coming up with a more fleshed out plan.


    First order of business, find a small space to buy or rent. Preferably abandoned and as close to the eastern edge of the city as possible. The building itself wouldn''t be important, it would be what I planned on doing below the building that mattered. Hmm, how deep to dig? I suspected Arasaka had become aware of us due to the energy signatures of the Khaydarin or Psicrystals. I had doubt they would be able to easily utilize them, but detect their energy output, sure. More questions remained as to what extent The Corps could detect us, and why did the Observer find out about the impending attack so late? The Observer should have been tapping into most if not all of the data traffic of the major Corporations'' headquarters. Unless...


    Arasaka was based in Japan, maybe that explained a lot of it. Sure, they had a foothold here, but in some ways NC wasn''t their focus right now. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that they had been monitoring us from Japan, with their satellites. That would explain why we didn''t know when they spotted us. Okay that tracked. So, why attack at all? What they would have seen was special, absolutely, but worth the dozens of lost lives and damaged vehicles incurred while taking the outpost? I had a hard time reconciling that in my head. Corporations, regardless of the world, were all about cost vs benefit. The small bits of research I had managed showed that the Corps here were even more ruthless about their bottom line then the ones back home. This left me with a real puzzler.


    I only saw two likely answers. One, the energy of the Pylons appeared somehow threatening to them. Quite possible, as they shouldn''t have the slightest clue what the energy real was. Or two, They had something going on in that area that our presence disturbed. Something that was vital to their plans. This was also quite possible, there could have been anything under the cyberware plant. I was inclined towards option two, but I didn''t have anywhere near enough information to be confident in that guess. It might have been something else altogether, but I had no way of knowing what that might be. Anyway, it wasn''t worth taking the risk that it was one over the other. I''d have to work under the assumption it was both and probably other factors besides.


    Back to my original thought, how many layers into the ground did we need to dig? I had some thoughts on how to go about that too, but let''s start with getting a place to cover up our activities first.


    "Hey Input, looking for a good time?" Huh? I hadn''t been paying much attention to my surroundings. Too busy plotting, but the slightly sultry voice knocked me back into paying attention to my surroundings.


    Red-Light District would be the most polite way to describe the market, that I had wandered into. Sure, I''d noticed the shops and ads earlier but now, everything here was sexual, even the food vendors and bodega style shops. I turned to look at the woman talking to me. She was of East Asian descent and looked good for the circumstances. She was surprisingly well put together for her seeming profession. Probably, a fair amount of chrome involved there, but something about her didn''t jive.


    "Sorry, no." Now more fully aware of the local environment, I sped up a bit. Something about the air here made me nervous. Too much despair perhaps. Worse I had the sense I was being watched, and not just by the prostitute... the "Joytoy" in front of me. I dashed through and around a series of stalls, before turning around to check my backtrail. Then I used an alley where I could see the street on the other side, pausing to pretend to fiddle with my clothes.


    ''Guys, anyone following me?'' I sent to the Probes. They had stayed close, and though they didn''t detect any immediate danger, I had the sense I was being stalked.


    ''The woman that talked to you. She approaches. Shall we engage?'' Shit. She might be a Corpo agent, or was she something else? I couldn''t afford to waste time on this. I was about to order them to zap her, when she entered the alley. She was panting slightly, and looked almost apologetic.


    "Hey are you Ryan?" A Corpo agent wouldn''t have known my name. At least, I didn''t think they would. I decided to hold off on zapping her for a moment.


    "Yes." My gun hand itched. I didn''t feel safe right now, and wanted the feel of iron in my grip. Somehow, I managed to hold off on appearing aggressive.


    "The Mox contracted Wakako to have her people keep an eye out for you. Rita would like a word. Head to Lizzie''s when you get a chance." Okay, I never would have expected that.


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    "Do you know what it''s about?" What could Rita possibly want with me? I barely knew any of the Moxes. Though thinking about all of that reminded me, I needed to visit a Ripper anyway and get my fucked up eye fixed. I could take care of two birds with one stone.


    "Nah, just tasked with passing the message. I take tips though." Her huge grin made me think she was joking, at first. But as the seconds went by with her not moving, I realized she real did expect a tip. I flicked her $100 and she scurried back to where she had come from.


    I went right back to wondering why Rita would want to talk to me specifically? Sinnamin should be able to message me. Unless something had happened to Sinn. Sigh. When it rains, it pours.


    After I quickly get something established, I''ll go find out what''s going on. It couldn''t be anything too drastic or Rita would''ve tracked me down herself.


    One of my NET searches came back with a hit, a nice little two story shop with an upper story apartment. $3000 a month to rent. It took less than fifteen minutes to message the owner, wire the funds, and get the key fob from a delivery drone. Some things are so much easier here.


    When I arrived at my new building, I went over it with a fine toothed comb. It turned out to be more than suitable to my needs. The store itself was setup to be a basic convenience store, with racks for basic snacks and candies and shelves for dry goods, toiletries and such. It had a walk-in space for the refrigerated drinks section with a storage room behind that. In the front, a checkout counter that was completely enclosed by thick polycarbonate panels that had several clever slots and drawers for passing bills or goods. It was a bullet resistant hidey hole if needed... oh look... the expected floor safe was missing. The previous shopkeepers had been robbed yet one more time it seemed.


    The upstairs apartment was next, nothing special was going on up there; two bedrooms, a living room, and a barebones bathroom. I was disappointed by the lack of a kitchen area. Then I shrugged, I hadn''t planned on cooking much anyway.


    It turned out that the ad was deceptive in one respect, the unit for rent was part of an even larger building. However that wasn''t the problem it could have been as there were no connecting doorways into the rest of the structure.


    Alright it was time to get to work. The sooner I figured a few things out, the quicker I could go get my eye fixed and then touch base with the Mox. It started in the storage room behind the walk-in. I had the Probes scan for pipes underneath the floor. Their sensors revealed nothing that would be in the way, which was a good thing. My Plan B would have caused a real mess. We marked out a 6'' square area, then the Probes were directed to cut through the concrete slab. After that they attached to the freed slab and then moved it off to the side.


    Less than three minutes later... and wow! The Robo-Buddies never failed to impress me with their speed of completing any assigned tasks. Next they were going to create a three foot wide stairway leading down. From there, we were going to test a Pylon at 200'' down first. If I could still feel it up here it would probably be noticeable to any high energy detectors, and we''d scrap that pylon and then keep digging deeper, building new test Pylons at increments of 200'' after that. We would descend until at least until I could no longer sense the test Pylon from the surface.


    My current theory was that in the city, a blip of spiking energy or odd reading would probably be ignored. There were too many things going on, all the time to waste resources on checking out every little anomaly. I stepped down to test the first stairs, they seemed quite stable, with no slipping. I looked on while the Probes dug, fascinated at how their particle beams could perform some neat tricks. In this case, they were basically melting, compressing and infusing the walls. However, other then a slight sheen and increased smoothness the walls didn''t look too different from their original structure, but when touched everything felt like metal. That seemed like it should insure stability of the small tunnels, in most cases. Excess material was either being compressed into the walls themselves increase the density or the waste stone was being channeled straight into the void.


    After another hour of digging they popped the first Pylon. Nope, no good I felt it clearly, it was only somewhat muted. That was enough to show that the idea had some merit, and that we weren''t wasting our time. The Robo-Buddies quickly broke that Pylon down and kept digging deeper. Since this course of action seemed viable, once we got deep enought to shield us from detection, we would then tunnel straight back towards the Valley. Placing Pylons every so often along our tunnels. We''d eventually make contact through with the main Psifield, and then dig up somewhere near the broken bridge area.


    Of course, we would also be installing defenses around the exits and by every Pylon within the tunnels as well. Later, we''d build a canal system down there using Moon Wells and then add some deep reservoirs. Once all of that was finished, we could dig out hidden surface wells over a few specific reservoirs, ensuring the Nomads have access to clean water. Some reservoirs would remain hidden from everyone, but my most trusted allies.


    Over the months and years that followed we would spread the same model outward into other regions. It wouldn''t be quick but as long as no one gives up information as to what was going on, it would have to be enough.


    The next Pylon went up at 400'' down. I could still feel it, but it was getting pretty faint... still that was another scrapped Pylon. Within an hour after that, the next Pylon was warped in at 600''. It was undetectable from up here. I decided to test the sense of the Pylon while I was underground. I had a slight sense of it from around ten feet down.


    "Nah, break it down. We''ll dig a little further down." I ordered. My thought was that it was better to over do it. I had the Probes drop down another hundred feet, just to be cautious. This meant that there was 700'' of stairway to navigate. Whew. Nothing but to get to it. Okay, we were going to have to put in some rest stops here and there, with comfy benches and maybe fridges with cold water.


    Down at the bottom level, two of the Probes had started tunneling toward the valley right away. The other four started digging out rooms for structures. We needed plenty of space for all of our Robotic Facilities, and at least a few Forges. Now that the first stage was finished, it was time to get my eye fixed, and then find out what was going on with the Mox.


    I took two of the Probes with me and as luck would have it, night had fallen above ground. I''d have to take the NCART maglev rail system to get around for now. Which was just delightful... not. Yeah, I needed another car pronto. I got to see all of the crazy folks that used public transportation in NC. The less said about the whole thing the better, but both Probes ended up dropping a few bodies. No one cared. No one panicked. Hell, no one even looked at the situation. These were some peak levels of we don''t give a fuck. I couldn''t exit the damned train fast enough at the stop closest to Misty''s.


    The Doc got me a new eye, and barely charged me for it. While I kind of wanted to stay and spend time with some genuinely nice folk, I still had to check in with Rita.


    When I got to Lizzie''s, Rita glared at me. Like I''d fucked her sister, or killed her cat. Okay, maybe I''d been wrong about what was going on. I gave her my best confused look.


    "Where is Sinn?" She snarled at me, while readying her bat. Her partner pulled a submachine gun on me. We had skipped some levels here, and I didn''t feel the slightest bit welcome. This had escalated quickly, and I had no fucking clue what was going on. The Probes got ready to back me up, but I held up my hand to stop them. This caused both ladies some confusion, until Rita put it together.


    "You have your Drones with you?" Her optics were darting around trying to spot them. Yeah, good luck with that. I nodded, while keeping my face as neutral as possible.


    "Shit." She reluctantly let her tension go and lowered her weapon. Her partner quickly followed suit.


    "Just tell me what the fuck is going on Rita, and I''ll do my best to help." Yeah, I barely knew these people, but Sinn had done alright by me. I could at least help search for her.


    "Susie''s going to give me an earful. I was sure she''d run off with you. You two seemed to get along." She shook her head. I started doing some calculations.


    "Fuck. Find Carver... or better yet, tell me where Carver is." I was putting two and two together as fast as I could. I might not be getting four but it was all I had.


    "Huh? The Faceman? He got the cut almost a week back, Sinn''s only been missing three nights." Rita looked frustrated, no, pissed off. No Carver meant... what, I didn''t know enough about Sinn to begin to figure this shit out.


    "Carver''s the only clue I had, unless you know who the Fixer that ran him is?" Why the hell would anyone want to snatch Sinn... "You know anything about her old pack?" I was just spitballing here, but I wasn''t going to leave Sinn in the lurch.


    "Yeah, their still running with the Animals. Well, the ones that survived...anyway." She brightened up a bit. Oh, come on! You aren''t telling me that she didn''t even think of them.


    "I don''t have a crew to back me up or the connections to smooth a meeting. So, can you check with them?" At her nod, I continued, "In the meantime, give me Sinn''s address and last known location. My Pr...drones have excellent scanners and they might be able to uncover a clue or two." I got Sinn''s full detes, and then Rita''s to keep her updated. Then She went to talk to Susie.


    Then I performed an emergency search on the Net, for a car. I ended up buying a new Villefort Columbus V340-F Freight for $25,000, it came with some extra features that might come in handy down the road. The fob was delivered quickly by drone. I immediately called my new Van to me, If I had to run around, I wasn''t battling with the NC rail system.


    My heart quailed at all the horrible scenarios running through my mind. I shuddered. Scavs, Maelstrom, or some pissed off Fixer. Who had nabbed her? Why hadn''t I fucking taken it seriously in the first place?


    Please be okay, Sinn.

 Chapter 24 (Disturbing Content)

    My Robo-Buddies came in clutch. They managed to defeat the lock on Sinn''s door by scanning it extra hard, with their particle beams, for a millisecond. Probes for the win.


    Sinn''s apartment, which was located in Kabuki Town, had been left in a messy state. Not the type of mess that indicated someone ransacked her place, more the, "I don''t know what cleaning supplies are" and "Organization, what''s that?" kind of mess. As the Probes went to work scanning each cluster of disorganization, I  specifically searched for notes or datachips. Anything at all, that might be a quicker method of deducing where she might have gone. No luck there. On the other hand, one of the Probes found some odd soil on a pair of her boots. The caked on dirt wasn''t odd because it looked out of place, nor didn''t it have an unusual color or odor. No, it was odd because it lit up the Probe''s radiation meter to sky high levels.


    So, she had been marching through mud by what? A reactor, A nuclear waste dump or somewhere a nuke had been dropped? I nodded to myself, it was a place to start. I searched quickly on the open Net for local reactors, and recent bombings. Any nuclear waste dumping was probably illegal, so it wouldn''t help to bother searching the Net for those detes. I pinned the results of those searches, while I let my thoughts latch on to other ideas.


    Indeed, my mind was running off into a dozen different directions. Did someone actually grab her, or was she holed up at a ripper somewhere? Did she head back out to where ever this radiation was and get zeroed? Carefully clearing a space on her couch, I sat down then I called up every Ripper I could find listed. A swing and a miss. I tried Vik next, because he''s not listed and hears a lot of the word on the street. This was sadly, also a failure. He took the time to remind me to come in for a check-up, when I had more time to get examined. I gave him my thanks and said that I''d schedule it once this mess was resolved. Then I tried the Hospitals, zilch. I thought about trying Trauma Team, but there was no way that they would share any info with me. My pool of eddies was no where near large enough to interest them.


    My Probes continued to find nothing but the signs of a life unconcerned with, self improvement or maybe even self preservations. The only picture I could take away from her apartment was that she was on the edge of falling into a real downward spiral. She was starting to completely withdraw, both from her usual interests but also her ever shrinking pool of friends. Rita seemed to be the only person she had been talking to at anything more than a professional level. Which explained why Rita was on the warpath, she had known this was coming.


    Alright, my logical next step, should be to go and poke around the local nuclear reactors looking for leaks. There were two that still maintained standard operations. One up in the Northside Industrial District and the second smaller one just south of Pacifica.


    I messaged Rita with my progress and my ideas. She confirmed some of my theories. Sinn had indeed started down a path of social isolation. Then she informed me that Sinn''s former pack denied any involvement with her. Their words were, "We don''t need no weak gonks, you can keep her." I hadn''t like anything Sinn had told me about her former gang. Now, I felt an irrational desire to track these Animals down and start introducing them to my Robo-Buddies. No, stay on task.


    I decided to go and poke around the reactor to the North first. This would get the largest area out of the way, as the northern reactor was at least double the size of the one in Pacifica. Though if I was being honest, thanks to Sinn''s initial warning about the southern parts of Night City, I really didn''t want to have to search there.


    There were still several hours of night time left, which made keeping the Probes out of sight an easier task. My gut kept clenching up, it was trying to tell me that I was missing something. Yet, my brain had no insights and no great ideas. So we headed north in the Villefort.


    Sometimes you get lucky in the worst ways.


    While driving a complete circle around the Northside Nuclear Plant, the Probes trying to get some initial readings, we happened upon an active Scav camp by one of the coolant pools. It was tucked away, down one of the road leading deeper into the Reactor''s complex. We had missed it the first time we drove by that road, but on a second pass, I caught sight of a couple of Scavs fucking around in the road. Knowing Sinn''s distaste for the bastards, I had the thought that she might have been stalking this group. So we ditched the van and decided to investigate further.


    Their camp was very makeshift, with RVs and shacks built onto trailers. It seemed that the Scavs were stealing a page from the Nomads'' playbook. Thought there were no signs that the Scav scum took care of any of the equipment or vehicles. Instead of performing maintenance, there were a few dozen of the masked bastards dancing around a barrel fire all blitzed out of their skulls on drugs, while a few others were using BD wreaths, plopped down on old and disgusting couches. Celebrating? Well, we couldn''t let them have a good night, they''d have to pay the toll for being scop sucking assholes.


    My mind wasn''t in a rational place, and I wasn''t feeling like being subtle about this, so I started marching angrily towards them. My Probes were already sweeping around the camp to flank them. I didn''t bother to hide my approach, but the fuckers didn''t bother to notice me anyway. It was long past time to test my new Omaha on live targets. I walked right up to the main cluster of them sitting or dancing around a fire singing weird songs and laughing at stupid jokes. My pistol barely made a noise as six rounds found their new homes. The Robo-Buddies took that as the sign to start zapping.


    By the time I refocused my aim on the second group, the Scav assholes had barely started to get a clue. It didn''t matter because they were still too fucked up to make much of an effort to protect themselves. Five nearly airsoft level pops, and five more corpses hit the ground.


    Then a round bounced off my shield. I turned toward were it seemed to come from and fired, that Scav now had a new hole in his lung that I could see through from here. Then I was out. I took my time changing to a fresh mag. I felt no need to rush, my shielding was doing it''s job well.


    The Probes were having a field day zapping every Scav they could find. There was almost a vindictive element to the Robo-Buddies beeps. Not that I blamed them, but maybe I was teaching my little friends the wrong lessons. Then I shrugged, while flatlining a few more Scavs, that were trying to get away. Some people just needed killing, and the Scavs more than qualified.


    We had done our gruesome task well, and at that point all that was left were the few Scavver gonks using the BDs. I found some duck tape nearby and  then proceeded to mummify the bastards. The thinking was that I or the Moxes might want someone to question later. While I was doing that, I had the Probes start scanning everything. Somewhere in all of this mess, I realized I had named my Robo-Buddies.


    One of the Probes liked to bob about randomly while hovering, I named it Jitters. The other Probe liked to hum little tunes to itself, but they distorted, so I named it Buzz. Funny, I only seem to name these guys after or during a battle, but maybe the Robo-Buddies deserve better. Still the Khalai were a warrior culture, and traditions had a way of improving moral, so I guess it was fine. Hell, the little guys seemed to enjoy their new designations.


    ''Energy signature of the area matches the soil from the apartment, Executor.'' Jitters informed me a minute later. Okay, that was extremely lucky. We''d somehow just ended up searching in the right area first. What were the odds of that?


    ''Executor, scans of the victim''s corpses has found a body that matches subject Sinnamin''s biodata.'' Buzz messaged. What?


    "What?" I felt the world slow down.


    ''Scans of the victims, has uncovered a corpse with subject Sinnamin''s biodata.'' Buzz reiterated. No, not like this.


    No, no, no.


    This couldn''t be happening. She knew not to fuck around with Scavs. Why would she have come out here by herself? Revenge? With this many? No, she''d have called Rita for backup.


    I shuffled over to one of the piles of discarded corpses that were behind the largest RV. I dug through it, I had to remove over a dozen corpses before finding Sinn''s ripped open remains. Her face bore signs of horror, being on a Scav''s table again was her worst nightmare, but given the excessive damage she had otherwise taken, she had gone down fighting. Some broken part of me was proud of her, she''d fought until the end.


    Tears, that I didn''t feel I had the right to shed, streamed down my face as I hugged her grim remains to my chest. Somehow, I wasn''t affected by the smell or the mess, these things simply didn''t matter anymore. I pulled her free and carried what was left of her to a couch. Searching around for something to cover Sinn, led me to a body bag. In fact, there were plenty of bags just tossed about. I didn''t stop to ponder why the Scavs would have body bags, I simply took the bag. I opened it and gently placed her body inside before resettling her remains on the couch. For some undefinable reason, I spent the next hour tearing through all the stored organs and cyberware to find Sinn''s and laid them in the bag with her. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Zipping up that bag was one of the hardest things I''ve ever had to do.


    "I''m sorry, I''m so sorry." Realistically, there was nothing I could have done. But to my traumatized mind, that really didn''t matter right now. Some part of me was aware that my Robo-Buddies were frantically hovering around me, making low soft beeps. Later, I discover this was when my Probes learned sorrow.


    Then, for no reason I could ever put into speech, I picked up the next victim from the pile and repeated my previous actions for them, including returning their organs to them. My actions were almost completely on autopilot. Somewhere in there, between sorting out victims, I vaguely remembered calling Rita and giving her the location and the terrible news.


    The Mox got there as I was finishing with the last body, the sun had long since risen. It''s rays bathing my insane tableau in all its morbid splendor. 37 bags laid out in rows centered around the couch with Sinn''s body. All they could see was of me was, a crazy man covered in rotting flesh and blood, that had tried desperately to bring order to the chaos in his head.


    I collapsed onto the ground, somehow there were tears still rolling down my cheeks. They let me have my space.


    The harrowing screams of the two Scavs, I''d wrapped up before, lasted for hours. The folks from the Mox knew how to make things hurt, and knew how to drag it out. Occasionally, there were words mixed in with the screams, answers to questions I hadn''t heard. Their agony distorted every word into pure animal whines and shrieks. I didn''t care, I couldn''t care, much as they didn''t care when their victims were on the operating table. Their suffering wasn''t real to me, while my thoughts were focused inward dealing with the all the turmoil left there. Slowly I pulled together some form of myself again. Though I doubted this new version of me would be quite the same.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    As I once again became aware of my surroundings, I found I was perfectly okay with whatever the Mox had done to them. I probably wouldn''t have tortured them myself, but I wasn''t a hundred percent certain of that either. I was certainly on board with ending them, even before I knew about Sinn. So why did the details matter so much anymore?


    Why did Sinn''s death hit me so hard? I barely knew her. A couple of dozen hours of questions with a few life stories mixed in. Was it because despite every other factor, she seemed human to me? Real in way that a lot of the people roaming this city were not, at least not to me. Or was it because I was just too soft for this place? Empathetic in all the ways that Night City strips from the people living here while they are growing up. After all, what was one more body in Night City?


    In that moment, I felt the dark twisted spirit of the City pulsing with the need for more souls to feed on. A gaping maw that would never truly be satisfied. It was like it was void of all life energy and trying to fill itself with whatever it could. Night City whispered dreams of money, power and status to fatten folks up, before it sucked it all away.


    How do you "save" such a place? Burn it to the ground? Sure, I''d joked to myself that the city needed to burn, and I''d heard others that live here do the same. Yet, even if that happened, and everything was wiped away, would the tormented spirit of this metropolis be freed? Or would the people who inevitably rebuild on the ashes find the city''s soul even emptier, hungrier.


    My meditations ended with no real answers, no sense of peace or even a new direction to strive towards. I felt hollow inside, maybe the city had already broken another mind, another soul. Mine.


    This is when my mind, my subconscious rebelled, for lack of a better term. It started talking to me. It snorted.


    Stop being so dramatic. It serves no purpose. You are not a philosopher. You are a tradesman, you work with your hands. Build your solution! When things go to shit, repair them as best you can and work to keep things in order going forward. Or tear it down and build an entirely new path. Look at you, look at your achievements. Take a long hard look at where you are and what you have. You have magic, you have awesome technology. Surely, somewhere in all of those tools, there exists an answer. This wallowing in emotion will not help anyone, especially yourself. Yes mourn, yes feel, but understand that action will always do more to bring these troubles to their proper rest.


    Having my own thoughts chastise me for going emo was a surreal experience. I couldn''t recall that ever happening before.


    I picked myself up and dusted myself off and cast a Cleanse without thinking about it. When I realized how that might not have been the best idea, I was thankful that none of Moxes present where paying any attention to me. If they noticed that I was now clean, well, I owed them nothing. I didn''t trust them enough to explain my abilities to them. Yet.


    The screams had stopped. I walked over to Sinn''s body, honestly surprised that none of the Mox had moved it. "May you find peace, whatever that means to you." I spoke with a odd cadence, like I had done this before. Odd as that was, I knew in that moment this wouldn''t be the last time that I performed this ritual.


    Jitters and Buzz bumped against me, I could tell it was a gesture of support. They were also eager for attention. I absently patted them.


    The Moxes that had been involved in the questioning, started moving from where they had been attending to the Scavs. They had used the shack with all the Scavs'' cutting tools. A fitting irony.


    Rita and the lady with the huge ''fro I had seen my first time at Lizzie''s came over to talk to me. My guess was that the other lady would be Susie.


    "You okay? You seemed really out of it there, Ryan." Rita asked. A genuine concern. Rita, gruff though she was, seemed to still actually care about folks. Some part of me couldn''t help but look upon her favorably.


    "No, I''m pretty fucking far from okay." I shook my head, and waved a hand nonchalantly, "But I''m getting there. What did you find out? Any clue why she was out here?"


    Susie stared at me, her eyes said that she wanted to put me on that table with the Scavs. Rita started to speak but Susie cut her off. She stepped into my space and poked my chest hard with her very pointy finger. She snarled at me, "We got nothing, other than she was poking around, looking for someone or something. Maybe you?"


    She''d asked that like she was certain that was the reason. She''d already made up her mind. To her, I was guilty, and she wanted a piece of me in payment.


    "Sinn knew I have a place out in the badlands. If she had been looking for me, she wouldn''t have done it here." I stared at Susie flatly, about two seconds from killing her, consequences be damned. Her attitude was understandable, but in this moment unwelcome. I was way too raw to be reasonable. Rita pushed her way between us. I noticed she was actually pushing Susie back but was only holding her hand towards me. Which meant she didn''t think she could push me back, or that she shouldn''t. Another point for Rita in my books.


    "Hold up. There''s no reason to fight here." She turned to Susie, "Ryan and Sinn talked a few times, but she''d no reason to be searching for him. She didn''t have feelings for anybody, as far as anyone knew. She''d started isolating herself... "


    They shared a look, something about Sinn''s isolation suggested something to them. Something neither one of them liked.


    Susie grunted, "Alright, then who or what was she looking for?" She looked away. Guess I wasn''t getting an apology.


    "All I know is that she had been out here several times before. A pair of her boots had mud from out here. I still have no cue if she was hunting for the Scavs, or something else. Obviously, the Scavs nabbed her while she was searching, and she wasn''t prepared for them. She went out fighting, but nothing suggests they she had been looking for a fight. I''ll keep hunting around, see if I can find where she was focusing her search. Maybe that''ll give some answers." I addressed the last to Rita. I wasn''t doing shit for or with Susie.


    Now that my Probes had scanned Sinn, they could more accurately sniff out her trail, so to speak. It would give me something to do, and maybe help put this all to rest.


    "We''ll take care of the rest of the clean up here." Rita cut in over whatever Susie was going to say next, "Let me know what you find."


    I nodded and started walking back to my van. As I was leaving, I heard Rita arguing with Susie, "Ryan''s been solid in all of this, and you jumped down his throat. I''ve warned you that you have to stop getting in peoples'' faces like that. He was about to flatline you and I couldn''t have stopped him in time." I was too far away to hear Susie''s reply, and I didn''t care about it anyway. My time of dealing with the Mox was over, for now. They had nothing I needed, nothing I wanted. Rita was alright, but she wasn''t anything like a friend. If I found out what Sinn was hunting for I''d let her know. I had a feeling that when I really started making my moves in NC, we''d end up on opposite sides.


    If that day came, I''d have to see if I still cared enough to try a diplomatic approach.


    We Drove around the nuclear facility yet again, letting Jitters and Buzz scan every little piece of land. I''d started to feel a bit worse about myself. I could''ve handled the interaction with the Mox and especially Rita, better. Though as I dug through my thoughts about it, I couldn''t be bothered to drum up enough motivation to care. No, it was better to spend my brain power thinking about the future right now.


    Before I had left my new outpost, the Robo-Buddies seemed to be digging the tunnel to the broken bridge at rate of about 400'' an hour. After some questionable mental math, I came up with a timetable of roughly 28 days until we reached the broken bridge area. Which in and of itself wasn''t a problem, however, I''d told Amanda to check for me by the bridge in a few days. That meant that I should head back to base, soon, probably tomorrow. Well if I could figure this mess with Sinn out, or at least reach a plausible answer, head back would be fine. I saw no reason to stick around this hellhole anymore. Really, I just wanted to get away from yet another tragedy.


    One of the many reasons my Probes were awesome, was because they required almost no micromanaging. Given a few instructions, they could and they would take care of it, while I was gone. In fact, I really respected the Khalai ability to design and create AIs that not only seemed to be truly alive but were also mentally stable. The emotional parts were troubling, but so far I had no reason to believe my little Robo-Buddies were going to go all terminator on me.


    Buzz started beeping for my attention. I stopped the van. "What''ve you got?"


    "Readings indicate that subject Sinn was in this area." Finally, a lead. I was more than ready to put this chapter of my life to rest.


    "Alright, you guys sweep for tracks or any other signs of where she was going." I said monotonously. They detached and began to fly back and forth searching for clues. I watched them for a moment, enjoying their systematic patterns. After awhile I turned my attention to the other things in the area. There was another coolant pond nearby and several long squat buildings whose purpose eluded me. Maybe buildings full of instruments to measure the radiation. Who could say? I began to wonder, who even used these roads? Most of the power plant was automated at this point.


    Tired of being trapped in my own thoughts, I sighed. Then I turned on the radio. Some song about how someone didn''t mean to let someone else down was playing. Yeah, I have the worst luck with car stereos. To say that the song hurt, was an understatement, but I left it on. Might as well face it head on. Only the most insane idiot would think I''d let Sinn down. Maybe I was that idiot, because I sure felt like I''d fucked up somehow.


    Jitters came back to the van, "We found a trail and it leads to a resting spot."


    "Good job. Lead on." I quickly followed them across the muddy grounds. We ended up leaving the nuclear plant''s property and were then by a random seeming warehouse, which as far as I could tell was empty. Then we circled around to the eastern side of the build to discover a toolshed.


    I could smell a foul odor come from the shed. Human waste. Argh. Opening the shed reveal that this was where Sinn had been... camping I guess. There was a sleeping bag and air mattress, some personal effects, and a lot of discarded food packages. There was even a camping toilet, the source of the horrid stench, requiring me to carry the odorous canister a few hundred yards away. Then I gave the shed a while to air out. Night City fast food produces some extremely toxic waste. Then after sitting a few days in the unusual heat... I was just lucky I wasn''t spewing all over the place.


    When I could tolerate going back in there, I tore through everything. My search turned up nothing and I still didn''t really understanding why she''d chosen this spot. I''d sat on her mattress feeling lost and defeated, when I saw it. A small hole had been cut into the corrugated metal panels that made up the shed. Huh. I put my eye near it. The only thing I saw was a cluster of those tough but scraggly looking bushes that dotted the Badlands What was so special about some bushes?


    I decided we needed to get a good look at the bushes from up-close. I''d spotted tracks before I even got to the bushes, weaving around through the mud, little ones. They looked familiar, rabbit maybe. I hunted around the bushes and found scat shaped like little pellets. Yeah, definitely seemed like a rabbit or something similar. After poking into the bushed themselves, I found a burrow. That was enough, I got an idea how this all went down now. I quickly headed back towards the van, because I didn''t want to spook the little varmints.


    Sinn had been camping out to watch fucking rabbits. Because they were so rare, she had probably never seen anything like them before. At least, not in real life. Maybe the odd rat, but even that wasn''t a normal encounter in NC. Why she''d come out here in the first place, I''d probably never know, but this was absolutely why she''d kept coming back.


    Oh, that hurt so fucking much. I damned near started crying again. She''d just wanted to see some cute fucking critters. Big giant of a woman, just wanted to see some soft little animals. If I''d known, I could of shown her all the fluffy little beasts she''d ever want to see. Then she''d still be kicking and at least somewhat happier. Again, I knew it wasn''t my fault, but fuck that knowledge burned.


    I spent a few minutes reflecting on this mess before I called Rita. I gave her the full rundown. What I found, where it was and my theory on why it probably went so wrong.


    Rita spent a few minutes to process everything. "That actually tracks. She was obsessed with movies and BDs that featured animals, especially ones where you could interact with them. That''s so sad." She pause for a moment, "Hey Ryan, I''m sorry about Susie earlier. She''s under a lot of pressure, with Tyger Claws messing with our chooms. She''s starting to see enemies everywhere." This was my problem how? No, I understood why Rita was telling me this, but I wasn''t feeling much charity towards Susie right now. I simply had nothing left in my emotional tank.


    "It''s okay. Water under the bridge." I stared down the road thinking about where I''d go next.


    "Look don''t be a stranger. I can tell this really got to you. I understand. You need an ear. I''ll listen." She seemed to actually mean it. Sometimes even hard folk soften up a bit.


    "Thanks Rita, I''ll see you later." I started the Van. The Probes reattached and we got going back to our little outpost. We''d give it a quick checkup before heading back to the Valley.


    I was still trying to get rid of all this pain, but I had no idea how to start.

 Chapter 25

    While I headed towards my newly rented shop, I changed my mind. I turned towards Misty''s to scope out if Vik had time for a check up, but I really wanted a chat with Misty. I had a feeling I needed someone like her right then. All of my emotions were burnt out, and even the mana flowing through me was stilted.


    Misty''s Emporium was calm and sadly empty. A condition that I had to think was somewhat intentional on Misty''s part. The very air of her shop guided the skeptical folks away. Was it her own mana working to keep her environment peaceful?


    Now say what you will about "spiritual" types, Misty zeroed in on the pain I was feeling quickly. I had barely walked in, when she took one glance at me and started shaking her head. I didn''t have to say anything and she just pointed at that wonderfully comfy chair. Hopping into that soft embrace was a relief. I have to get one of these chairs.


    She put some music on, and a soothing melody filled the shop. I let it massage my ears. Misty reached over and closed my eyes. It felt wonderful to no longer see the world, and to let myself drift on the peaceful sounds. I''ll be honest, I don''t think I would have voluntarily closed my eyes on my own. I was still in a wired state, and much to raw to pull myself out of it.


    Soon a gentle scent wafted from incense, perhaps jasmine or honeysuckle I was never very good at telling those two scents apart. It used to drive my mother crazy. She''d loved plants and I often helped her with gardening growing up, but I''d never seemed to have the knack for it that she did. She had honeysuckle growing across one trellis and jasmine vining over another, and for the life of me, I couldn''t tell the difference unless they were blooming. It was only from the shape and color of the flowers that I could make a solid identification. Strange, I hadn''t thought very often about my family, since coming here. I''d gotten too caught up in all of the craziness here. The magic present in this world both real and metaphorical had captivated me.


    I hoped they were doing well, because I had a feeling that I''d never find a way back. Not sure I''d even want to if I could. For all the pain, and all the terror I simply felt more alive here. Like I mattered even if only a little, or rather, my supposed purpose mattered. Being lost in my own thoughts had almost masked a feeling of being suspended in a pool of water. Drifting along and flowing around any trouble.


    Misty finally started talking. "So what has you so knotted up? You reek of horror." My starting to relax brain actually shaped a Cleanse on myself, it was embarrassing to my to smell. The spell had form without any real effort on my part. It took it a minute for my mind to fully catch up to the question. "So you are like Ciri. I had wondered." Misty snarked when my eyes snapped open in momentary panic. She chuckled, "Don''t worry, I''m not going to tell anyone." She placed her hand on my forehead, and gently forced my eyes closed again. I decided to trust her and went with it. Trying to get back to that floating feeling.


    She was doing all kind of things, some were with those crystals I''d seen before, and then with other things I hadn''t seen. She was softly chattering on about Chakras and how opening them up could aid with the processing of emotions. Most of it sounded like hooey to me, but hey, I was really relaxed so I wasn''t going to say or do anything that might interfere with this pleasant feeling. I wasn''t quite asleep, but I wasn''t awake either.


    "So I''d like you to talk about what has you all messed up. That will begin the process to let it all out and then let it all go." Her voice was as compelling as a TV Evangelist, without the fire and brimstone edge. No clue what she meant by it, but I listened anyway. Haltingly, I gave her an edited rundown of my time in these lands of darkness. I cut out most of the recent events with the Aldecaldos because I didn''t want her involved it that mess. I did however, tell her all about Sinn and what happened there.


    "So you''re bothered both by the terrible events and that you actually cared about a person you barely knew?" She seemed amused, but exasperated. "It''s okay to care Ryan. In fact... I''d say more than anything else, it''s what this city needs." She poked my nose, and then closed my eyes when they popped open again. "You''re adjusting to a new place, new rules, and new struggles. You''re going to stumble, you are going to fall down. Just remember to keep getting back up, and hold on to who you really are. Don''t let the pain drown you in the dark."


    I mean, I didn''t actually get it, but it also made sense. Have you ever been there? My mind churned that advice while I drifted into a deeper relaxation. Dreams seemed to dancing before my mind''s eye. I witnessed tall spires filled with gears and circuits, being struck by lightning while vines grew up to surround them. A figure of moving light kept begging me not to stop the flow of information, while thousands of folks below cried out for water and food. Landscapes drifting in a void sprouting new greenery being lovingly tended to by automatons. Another glowing figure soon shifted into A dark cloaked figure. This grim looking being screamed at me not to get involved to just give up and fade away into the night. It extolled me to embrace apathy and ignore its people, its slaves. Hmm, this part of the dream seemed different almost like when I talk to Mead...


    My eyes snapped open as my pulse ratcheted up to 200 bpm. I started gasping for air. I nearly jumped off the chair. What the fuck was that?


    Misty laid a hand on my head. "It''s okay, it''s alright. You''re safe here." She whispered as if to a small child. "Where did you go? What did you see?" Misty was really good at being concerned, without it feeling weird.


    I didn''t say anything at first. I couldn''t. Finally I managed, "Let me process it first. " I stood all the way up, sad to leave the chair, but needed to move. I started pacing. "One day all this will change. I want to help folks, but it''s hard to figure out a good way to do it."


    "Sure, that''s the dilemma of the visionary. How many things do you have to break to get to your goal? Who pays for it all in the end? Help these people and end up hurting those people, how do you choose?" Misty was a pretty perceptive person.


    I grunted, the inflection was, ''you''re right.'' "That''s the way of it." I nodded, still moved back and forth.


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    "Just remember why you want to help. Maybe that''d be your best bet." She punched my shoulder. "Vik''s ready to see you now. Take care Ryan." I shot her 200 Eddies. While grinning at her.


    "Thanks Misty. Wise as always." I got a chuckle for my lame efforts at humor. I did feel better though.


    Time to make sure my chrome was integrating properly.


    Sadly the cat wasn''t in the alley. No scritch therapy today. Bummer. Vik, however, was in a good mood, he seemed upbeat and ready to have some fun. "Ryan great to see you back. How''s the new eye treating you? Ready for a check-up?" I noticed his boxing gloves and workout clothes out to the side.


    "The eye''s great, thanks again for the quick work. You boxing again, Doc?" I was glad he had something to keep him sane. You''d never guess it by looking at him, but Vik cared deeply about people. Maybe even more than Misty. He''d just been through a fuck-ton more trauma. Still, he''d developed excellent coping skills. Everyone could stand to learn a lot from Viktor Vektor.


    "Nah, one of the guys I used to coach when he was a kid, has returned to the city. We went a few rounds to celebrate his homecoming. Besides, I mentor a lot of the kids still. I''m old but I''m not done yet. " He gave a few punches. I was amused. The idea of having folks running around in the world, that could just show back up and we''d pick up where things were left off, sounded awesome to me. I hoped to have that someday. I''d never had any close friends in my old home. Lots of casual bros, but no one who had my back no matter what.


    Maybe I was getting there with the Aldecaldos. Though perhaps they''d ditch me now that there''s major heat attached to the association. In the end, they might just be cozying up to me because of the things I could provide, but it hadn''t felt like that while I was in the camp with them.


    Then there was the Doc, Vik seemed to be a genuine good dude. Sure a professional and all that, but he gave a damn. What was his secret? I could use some practical advice on how to deal with all of this mess.


    Eh, couldn''t hurt to ask. "Hey Doc, you been around a while. I know, that you know what it''s like out there, far better than I do. How do you keep caring about folks? What keeps you sane in the face of all this crap?" I was pensive, still trying to work through everything.


    "Connections, Kid. As simple, and as hard as that. You find your community, then you invest in those people and their lives. Soon enough, their victories become yours, their defeats as well. You share all that pain and all that joy and you grow together. It''ll keep you grounded, like nothing else can. Too many people place value in becoming legends or making eddies, like the kid that just left. That never works for long, the city wins that fight every time. Communities can rise and fall but they tend to keep going even when everything else turns to shit." He seemed a bit embarrassed to say all of that, but that was exactly what I needed. Vik had given me the best advice for this troubled place.


    I nodded, I''d understood that. something about it clicked. I had to pick my connections, and work on growing them. Then I''d a moment of insight. "Which is why gangs are such a big thing. A sense of that connection even though they are using you."


    "That''s about the size of it. The biggest problem is learning to pick out the best people to hang with. Your real chooms. It''s a rare thing." He shook his head, remembering something from his past.


    "Sorry Doc, didn''t mean to drag up old problems." I didn''t want to bring Vik down.


    "Nah kid, we all have things we''d rather forget." Nothing seemed to phase Vik for long, which made him an excellent role model. It was comforting to know he taught kids, passing some of that unflappable-ness to the younger generations. The world could use more folks like Viktor Vector.


    "Hop up on the chair and let''s have a look at your chrome." He waved towards the operating chair, and I jumped up into it.


    "If you don''t mind, and as long as everything checks out, I''d like to get a grip." I settled back into the chair. Looking at all the monitors still told me next to nothing. I really didn''t understand any of this chrome stuff yet. The odd think was, I realized my trepidation about cyberware was mostly gone. That got my mind spinning in some odd directions.


    "Oh looking to improve the aim?" He seemed a bit surprised.


    "No aim''s good, just looking to know where it''s going after. My iron''s a bit more serious these days, and going to be even more so soon. I don''t want to zero someone by mistake." I grimaced at the thought of killing some poor schmuck just in the wrong place at the wrong time.


    "Sure, look over the list while I scan your head." He dropped the scanner until it was surrounding the top of my head.. It made me slightly dizzy for some reason. I powered through the fuzziness so I could examine the readout on the left hand monitor. Tons of options from lots of different Corps, each more expensive than the last. Though it took a few minutes, I settled on one from Bats Corp. It basically combined the feature of a ballistics coprocessor, a smart gun link, and a recoil manager all in one. It also had a better technical link to the weapon, so you would get more info, like gun part condition and other finer details on your feed. It ran me a whooping $50,000, but I had a feeling it''d be worth it.


    "Oh, now that''s something I don''t sell a lot of. Little too pricy for most folks." Vik raised his eyebrows at me. He knew I had to scrape together cash the first time he''d chipped me, and that wasn''t very long ago.


    "Biz is good. Had a nice little gig out in the Badlands, with more coming down the pipe." I grinned at him. "Soon I''ll be able to invest quite a bit in a community." I saw his face clouding over. "I know, I know, not that kind of investment Doc. I was joking." I laughed. He really did remind me of my Gramps.


    "Well, eddies are good to have, but friends can save you when money won''t buy your way out of danger." He nodded like he knew I got the message. He flipped up a device on the right side of the chair, "Stick your hand in there. The Autodoc will get the grip implanted." He gave me a shot in the right forearm, once I got my hand positioned. "How''s that, feel anything?" I shook my head. He was already rolling his chair back around to look at the scanner. "Everything looks good, your neural pathways have already adapted to the circuitry. Clean connections all the way. The optic sockets report no problems and the nerve there has a good signal coming through. I''d almost say you were born to Chip in with results like this." Then he winced, he hadn''t meant to say that. Now I was curious as to why that might be, but I''d already pulled him into one uncomfortable conversation today. Maybe the next time I''d look into his reaction.


    "Sounds great, Doc." We waited a few minutes while the Autodoc finished working on my hand. He flipped the device back under the chair.


    "Alright pull your iron and check the sync up." I whipped out my Omaha, and everything had changed. It was like it had become part of me, I could feel it like it I felt my hand. Awesome. In addition to that new sense, the ammo count was now displayed in my optics feed as well as a condition readout for the gun. A line traveled from the tip of the barrel showing the most likely trajectory, and even how it would ricochet off the sign I was aiming at. It even suggested a different line of fire to hit the sign for maximum damage.


    "Worth every ennie. Thanks Doc." I said hopping back to my feet. Vik handed me another inhaler, with much the same procedure as last time. One puff now, another one every hour for five hours. I hit the first puff and a soothing mist filled my lungs.


    "You''re welcome, Kid. Now get out there and find your people." He waved me towards the door.


    Yeah. Find my people in a world of fucked up shit. I hoped I could.

 Chapter 26

    I drove back to my Outpost within the city.


    Sooner than I would have liked I found myself on those stairs leading into the earth. As I descended into those depths, I received 2000 CPoints and a Round Token made of the same pearlescent material as the Hero Token. Which reminded me, I should really use that when I got back to the valley. That would be a loyal ally in a world where there could never enough support. Plenty of hostiles forces though. I needed all the help I could get.


    The strengthening of the Psifield in the tunnel was a soothing calming presence. Something about it seemed to prop me up, and helped me to recall my purpose here. Even if the field had yet to connect to the Nexus back in the Valley, I knew it was just a matter of time. I had started to understand that the Psifield influenced my thoughts and emotions. Though other things seemed to be pulling at my mind, heart, and perhaps even my soul. I couldn''t find stable ground.


    The Probes had dug out four cavernous rooms. Three of the rooms had two Robotics Facilities apiece. I immediately set those up to build Sentries. The fourth area had two Forges in it. With those we could break down just about anything and use the resulting resources to build just about anything else. I had a lot of future plans for that process. All in good time.


    The two Probes that were digging out these rooms had shifted to digging a separate tunnel to the north. My thinking was that it would be good to be able to pop up anywhere in the city that I wanted, moving unseen by Corpo eyes. I really ought to thank Megan for this idea, I wonder what she''d like?


    I began tinkering in the Forges. I had the Probes tunneling North haul the waste rock back here to break down instead of banishing it to the void. Sure, it greatly slowed them down, but I''d already decided not to be in a hurry anymore. We could take as long as we needed to accomplish these goals, so long as we remained undetected. My first project saw me start assembling the parts for a larger freight elevator. I wasn''t going to trudge up and down those stairs anymore. My legs were still aching. Once the elevator components were done, I had Buzz and Jitters start breaking down the stairs, while I assembled what I could.. A few hours later, we had a working lift to get back and forth from the depths. As a bonus, the Sentries should be able to use it, so they wouldn''t have to stay in the tunnels.


    With that out of the way, I assembled some basic furniture, and even a few appliances. It started with a table, a few chairs and a bed, then came a couple of fridges and soon a stove for when I could stock the larder. I had to tweak and combined a few different schematics to get a proper oven with a stove top from the odd collection of things my Robo-Buddies had scanned into the assemblers'' database. All of that work made me realize I hadn''t had anything to eat or drink quite a while. My stomach made noises confirming that it too had noticed the lack of sustenance. Fuck, I needed to take better care of myself.


    I took the lift up, with Buzz and Jitters floating around me, to try to find some food that wasn''t going to mess my guts up. It turned out there was a diner just up the street. It served what something called they called fusion cuisine here. After a brief moment of feeling lost by the odd options, I ordered a noodle burger. This consisted of a "meat" patty and some "vegetables" wrapped in lightly fried noodles, soaked in a sauce on a bun. The sauce was something you might find on a Lo Mein dish. Tasted better than I''d thought it would but still didn''t quite taste right. I had a canned lemon ice tea with my meal that wasn''t too bad. I grabbed a few more of those cans of tea, to throw in the fridges back at the outpost.


    I made up my mind to head back to the Valley in the morning. There was no point in me sticking around here, the Probes knew what to do.


    My sleep was mostly peaceful, barely any troubling dreams at all, and I awoke in the morning ready to head out. 5:00 AM seemed like  good time to get started. I took Jitters and Buzz with me to the van and we got rolling. The elevator had been a great idea.


    The drive out to the Valley was uneventful, just the way I liked it. When we got to the bridge though, I discovered a problem. There was grass growing everywhere. Minty smelling purple grass. The same grass that tended to grow by the waters of a Moon Well. From the bridge all the way up to the cave following the overflow canals. Like the grass Arasaka would have seen, at the badlands outpost. Fuck, I should have thought of this already. I groaned in frustration. I might have even banged my head into the steering wheel a few times.


    Well it''s not like I didn''t have a few ideas on how to take care of that problem. I just had to get started on the solution.


    ''Hey Meadran, I''m coming up. See you soon.'' It would be good to see the massive tree person again, and feel the breath of the forest once more. Every time I left here felt the lack of both mana and life.


    ''Hmm. Good to hear from you Young One. We were starting to get worried.'' A sense of peace filled my mind at contact with him. The Valley really was becoming my home, in a way my house on my old Earth never had been.


    Up and through the cave, which had even more offshoots now. I supposed that the constant search for resources continued, I wished the Robo-Buddies all the luck.


    Surprisingly, Lumi met me at the entrance to the Valley and after some scratches and rough housing, he ran off back into the forest. What had that been about? I still got the sense he didn''t want to be here, nor did he really like me. As a companion he was off.


    At this point, there was nothing but forest, the whole of the Valley was absolutely flooded with trees. I was staring at a kaleidoscope of different colored foliage. Even Meadran himself had grown a bit more, not as dramatic a change as last time but still noticeable. Do Trees of Life ever really stop growing... no of course they wouldn''t. The rim of the Valley now had a fully built cobblestone trail around it following the path set by the Pylons there. Photon Cannons and Keeper Statues had been placed by each Pylon, this place was about as defended as we could make it right now.


    The trees weren''t the only change, there was all manner of undergrowth now as well. Various bushes and many types of flowers all playing their parts in the cycle of life being created  here. Movement outside the trails and paths built by the silver Wisps would be difficult at best. Yet as I descended the undergrowth seemed to lean away from me as if to not get in my way. At one point I reached out to one bush to pluck a berry out of it and it seemed to lean into my hand almost like a dog seeking affection. I gave it a pat and it shivered. Okay, that wasn''t the wind. What was this?


    ''Meadran what''s up with the plants and trees?'' Trying to project my full meaning over our connection.


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    ''They are happy you are home, Young One. Druids are ever bound to nature and all the subjects therein seek the favor of the Druid. We are all connected.'' His thoughts were deep and carried ages of meaning. Even at the speed of thought, it would take a while to process all of his message.


    ''There is someone you should meet, Young One.'' Meadran seem excited. Some had come into the Valley? A momentary sense of alarm filled me.


    ''Huh? Where?'' I ran to Meadran island, and there they were. A nine foot tall skinny tree person, a treant with Golden leaves and dark walnut colored bark. It waved at me enthusiastically, while performing some kind of dance. I could tell it was excited and happy to be here. I started chuckling at myself, of course in was a new treant.


    ''While his connection is still growing stronger he cannot yet talk mind to mind. This is Faergin a descendant of the First Trees and one who walks the path of Lore.'' Meadran projected a sense of family and closeness.


    "Pleased to meet you Faergin. I hope you find what you are looking for here." I tried to project friendliness. After all trees seemed to be the best people so far, if Meadran was any example.


    Faergin was a charming tree, waving his arm branches around and doing a shuffle with his stubby legs. His dancing was a joy to behold. He was full of joy and verve. One day soon he''d be able to talk and according to Meadran, he would then be able to tap into a lot of information over the Great Tree Network. Information Meadran himself couldn''t access. Faergin would also be able to train my spells into new configurations. I''d desperately needed a mentor, hopefully he would be willing to fulfill that role.


    My magic was still a stranger to me. And nothing I tried seemed to help me find the best ways to utilize it. Sure, Cleanse had become almost second nature to use, but perhaps there a more efficient way to use it, or could I shape it differently to get better results. What even counted as dirt anyway? Though all that usage did seem to improve the shaping process over time. Why was the shape used the right one? How would I go about safely shaping my own spells? Hmm.


    Which turned my mind to the fact that often notifications didn''t occur when things improved. Also, I never remembered to check with my BTC on my progress. That was my only source of information on my progress right now, and I needed to understand it more. My frustration at myself was boiling but I tried to let it go, I could only try to do better going forward. I had a feeling my life would depend on knowing my information, down to the last detail, one day.


    However, none of those concerns changed the fact that my focus right now was trying to solve the problem of being observed by Corpos. We could do that by developing cloaking technology or by reducing or masking energy emissions from the Pylons, maybe... absolutely both, so I could expand my base and my outposts in peace.


    Alina had been cranking away on several topics of research. Adapting Khalai technology to Human cyberware, designing AI cores for vehicles like the Dragoon, the Arbiter or the Scout, since I saw a need for a broader range of combat options. Lastly, she was researching how to miniaturize several pieces of tech for use in personal armor or even for the Probes like a cloaking field, revolving shields and maybe even small arms plasma weapons or disrupter beams. The Probes especially when infused by Wisps had more than proven their worth and their loyalty. I had no reason to not continue to utilize them going forward, other than the pain caused by losing them. I''d like to develop ways for them to serve in that role while reducing those potential losses. We might even have to build something completely from the ground up.


    Heading towards the Nexus, I stopped by the Company Store to see if there were any new quests or worthwhile sales. No such luck. Other than a huge batch of something called burrower mites, nothing was discounted right now, and I really didn''t like the sound of those things.


    Everything along the trails looked lush and overgrown, the air was humid and rich with mana. Even the Ley Line below our base had gained a more golden hue and seem much stronger than before. Heh, I even spotted the Forest Cockerel, well I guess it was a  actually a rooster now, and almost as tall as me. Damn, mana really did affect growth, and yet  the creatures that were immersed in influence tended to live far longer lives. That seemed strange to me, counterintuitive, or was I overthinking it? Something to ask Faergin about when he grew up. Huh, did that mean I''d live longer?


    Then I ran into the two Sentries, I had queued up so long ago. They kind of reminded me of a giant Roomba. About four feet tall and six feet in diameter, though that was broken up by the large crystalline sphere that acted as their energy core.


    ''Greetings, Executor.'' Even without being infused by a Wisp these robots seemed much more aware than the uninfused Probes. Was that a result of more energy, or more data storage, or maybe even better coding? Hmm, there were so many new things to ponder.


    ''Keep up the good work.'' I told them while already plotting on how to improve them. I reached the Nexus more than slightly worried about how the Sentries would have a hard time in buildings. They were certainly powerful but would be easily avoided by using doorways.


    I spent the next few hours pouring over schematics, as well as Alina''s research, trying to find ways to apply the results to the problems at hand. As fortune would have it, one of the Probes had scanned a Optical Camouflage cyberware package from somewhere. That helped by giving a baseline comparison between a human result of bending light that was practical versus the Khalai method of altering field effects to blend every energy signature into the background fields, including light, heat, vibration and Psi energy. We tried merging the two and after countless failures one simulated result had produced a success. We built a prototype in the Forge. Layers of extra crystal circuits embedded into a suit of armor that combined the principles of both technologies. Testing showed that it was a success. A small field was projected around the armor that muted all signals and emissions and even worked as excellent optical camouflage.


    Sadly, it wasn''t perfect. The energy requirements were rather large, so it had to be in a Pylon''s area of transmission. That really didn''t help right now, but I was sure we could figure something out later. Perhaps striping options would work, after all no one here should be searching for Psienergy.


    The next prototype involved cloaking the Photon Cannons. They already required being built next to a Pylon so no worries about the energy requirements.. However, trying to fire while maintaining the cloaking field overloaded the circuits and melted the cannon''s crystal after just a few shots. No go. Wait a minute. What was the common factor in all Khalai tech? Pylons! Why don''t I just alter the Pylons. If they were the ones to generate the cloaking field we could then invest the effect into every piece of Khalai tech around the Pylon itself. Of course, that didn''t fix the armor issue but it was a resolution to the corporate spying problem.


    The Pylons, as it turned out, were very difficult to alter. To start with, the schematics were semi-locked. That meant all plans were missing sections of the circuitry. Certain other parts where not allowed to be messed with under Khalai law, no changing the structure of the crystal itself, for example. However, the control ring surrounding it was fair game though. Heh, we could just work around the problems.


    By the next morning, I had a working Pylon prototype that could generate a cloaking field, creating almost any appearance of any type of emission desired, but it had a cost. The Psienergy cost caused the transmission field to be decreased to just two miles in open air. It wasn''t a terrible problem, as we were going to need a ton of Pylons anyway. But that wasn''t the only issue. Things in the field were rendered into the image effectively disappearing, however the field would distort around them when they fired, or moved too rapidly. Only for a second, but it was a problem. No where near as bad as that Predator''s shitty cloaking field though. Suck it, hunt boy.


    I threw my hands up, it was good enough for now. I was sure I could improve it later anyway, as I leveled my Warp-Smith...Son of a bitch, I''d done it again.


    There was probably a solution in the expanded knowledge I would''ve gained by leveling up. Argh, I''m such an idiot. I ended up shrugging it off, we''d still gotten the job done.


    Finally, I could expand our influence without worrying quite so much about Corpo interference. Now, I could turn my thoughts to a few other issues that had built up.

 Chapter 27

    I wandered over to Meadran''s island, so that he be there when I used my tokens. The Hero Token in particular was a cause for concern, and my thinking was that he would be able to help me talk to whoever showed up. ''Meadran which do you think I should use first, the Theme token or the Hero token?'' I honestly wanted his input because I was really worried this would derail some of my plans.


    ''A new faction might allow for a broader selection of heroes. Though there is no guarantee, that is true either way. There is always the chance that you''ll receive a Hero from an unrelated Theme. However, I can not foresee anything you do making much difference at this stage. Always remember, to the Company, rules are more like suggestions.'' As calm and peaceful as always, even when introducing a troubling idea. It was a good thing to have someone so grounded for advice.


    Hmm. I reached into my pocket and just grabbed the first thing that I could. That turned out to be the Theme token. If it just adds a new faction why is it called a "theme" token? Also how do I use it? The smooth and shiny Token, seemed to vibrate gently between my fingers.


    [ Do you wish to use Theme token? Y/N ]


    "Yes."


    [ Rolling result... ]


    [ You have obtained the Theme Warcraft''s faction, Lordaeron ]


    "Who or what the hell is Lordaeron? Warcraft sounds somewhat familiar, something a friend had mentioned, maybe? Not really ringing any bells right now."


    ''Ah, Warcraft is something I''ve heard members of the Company use to refer to versions of my world, Azeroth. It was a world that was home to many interesting creatures, such as the Kaldorei. As to the faction, they were... '' He paused as if to search his vast memory, ''Hmm yes, a faction of humans that lived across the sea on another continent. I vaguely remember them as being somewhat haughty and rude, also later they were one of the first kingdoms broken under the might of the Legion.'' His pain was immense, I could feel the burning of Felfire and smell the scorched remains of my... his kin. He felt of terrible deep sadness.


    "I''m so sorry Meadran." I tried to send thoughts of peace and comfort.


    ''It is alright, Young One. The past can not easily nor safely be changed. Which is even more troubling once you realize that somewhere, there are versions of my world that repelled the Burning Legion. Also versions of me exist, that still rest their roots in the slopes of Mount Hyjal. Of course, there are even versions of my world, where I did not exist at all.'' An image of giant winged lizards, oh right, those would be dragons, with sandy colored scales. The feeling that they had played with forces they shouldn''t have, one too many times.


    There was now a box, resting on the ground in front of us. It was 2'' cubed and seemed to be made of a smooth grey stone.


    [ Please place box in desired location to start using this faction. ]


    "So how does this help us? Will these Lordaeronians be useful?" Would they be magical Humans, perhaps. I really wanted that to be true. I could use some more magical instruction, or hell even someone to spitball ideas with.


    ''I''m uncertain what we will gain from them, but I do remember they had priests and mages. They also built well with stone and wood, though perhaps not as well as the Dwarves. But I worry that you won''t be able to use them at all, since we seem unable to summon the Kaldorei or the Khalai.'' Doubt filled his mental voice.


    "They build with stone and wood, so probably low tech then?" I shook my head, no need to be a dick. "Well, there might be some advantages with that. We''d be less likely to be detected, while working, for one thing. Huh, wouldn''t we be able to arm them with modern... no Khalai weapons and armor? Hmm." Well no sense in counting my chickens before they hatched. I might get nothing useful out of this new faction.


    My hand reached back into my pocket to grab the Hero token. It began to buzz in my hand.


    [ Do you wish to use Hero token? Y/N ]


    "Yes."


    [ You have obtained the Hero, James Eugene Raynor ]


    "Howdy, Commander." He just appeared, a stocky well built guy, a little shorter than myself, with dark hair and eyes. His face was worn and rugged. Older than me, but I couldn''t tell by how much. He was dressed in plain, simple looking clothes. He also had some type of armor laying beside him, which was next to a long ass, futuristic rifle of some kind. He was holding out his hand. I shook it.


    "Call me Ryan, I don''t feel like much of a commander." Plus, I really don''t like being in charge.


    He nodded, "Takes a big man to admit it. The name''s James Raynor. Call me Jim." I could tell he didn''t smile much, and that this man had seen some serious shit in his lifetime.


    "Well, Jim, I don''t know what info you have about our situation, but how about I give you the rundown and maybe you can tell me how you can help?" Please be a hyper competent badass, so that no one needs me anymore. Yeah, right.


    "Ha. Sounds like a plan." He almost grinned. Very grim seeming fella this Raynor. I started in on our story. I figured it was best to hold nothing back, his ass would be on the line too. He just listened stone faced for the hour and a half it took me to get through everything. He''d lit up a cigarette at one point, and started puffin''. I had no clue where he''d gotten it from and it looked hand rolled. Honestly, I couldn''t tell a damned thing about what he was thinking.


    When I was done he asked, "So this is Terra... Earth, or a version of it anyway?" He seemed amused. Perhaps a bit confused as well, I think. That damned blank expression of his was throwing off my ability to read him.


    "Yeah, a pretty shitty version, but yes." I nodded. Wait, did that imply what I thought it did?


    "Imagine that. Never thought I''d step foot on the ol'' homeworld of Humanity." He almost chuckled. "Way I see it, I can help with raiding and keeping any troops you have in line. I might have some idea about defenses, once I''ve seen them. Lastly Hoss, I can tell you I''ve been there, but you ain''t alone in this fight, not anymore." That was nice of him. Though a bit troubling that I seemed that out of my depth.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Also, I should probably be freaking out that he was an extraterrestrial human. I thought that was so fucking cool. He would later disabuse me of that notion. Life in his Sector had been harsh and violent.


    My BTC started shaking.


    [ You have been awarded a gift. Do you accept? Y/N ]


    "Uh, yes?"


    [ You have received the Power, Mana Sink. ]


    Mana Sink was power that let me ground hostile spells, or excessive magic energies. That seemed... really pointless. At least for right now. Me, Lumi, Meadran, Faergin and the Wisps were the only users of magic. All of the magic on this planet came from here. Why would I need to ground out hostile spells? This gift was a dud, I guess. I tried not to be too disappointed, after all I didn''t have any powers at all a moment ago. Something''s better than nothing right?


    I spent another few hours showing Jim around the Valley. "Well, the Protoss tech looks something like the stuff Tassadar used, which was different from what Artanis''s army used. I never did learn too much about either one. So I can''t help you much there, and the magic and nature shit flies right over my head. But I can tell, that you need an army fast, and the Protoss don''t do fast, leastways not with building. So I''d say it was time to to see what this other faction... What did you say their name was, right, Lordaeron looks like."


    The only problem with that was there was no more room in the Valley. The new forest covered every bit of available ground. Hmm. Maybe it was time to start building outside the valley.


    We exited the cave and Jim looked upon the Badlands for the first time. He was unimpressed. I''d brought Jitters and Buzz and a dozen other Probes, whose data stores had been updated with the schematics for the new Pylons. I was hauling the stone box myself. I was nervous about using it. I''d no idea what trouble it might bring down on us.


    I''d spotted something going on, far off in the distance, involving lots of vehicles. Well, mostly I saw the dust they were kicking up. I wondered what it could mean. As long as they stayed way over there, it was probably nothing for us to worry about. Staring at the dust up, Raynor actually chuckled, "This place doesn''t look too different from the Diamondback Wastelands. Spittin'' imagine of a dozen tired old frontier planets. The more you see, the more things seem the same." Yeah, he''d really been around the block.


    I had the Probes, start warping in some of the new Pylons. Then I handed Raynor a brass bracelet embedded with crystal circuits, this would let friendly units operate inside the Pylon''s stealth field without being tricked by it themselves. Though for some reason, I didn''t yet understand, I didn''t need a bracelet. But I didn''t want to take the chance that Raynor would.


    About half way down the mountain, I laid the box down on a gentle slope just to the side of the northern outflow canal. It would be somewhat close to the Valley entrance, and had a good view of the bridge area. There was also plenty of room to add buildings around it later, I hoped.


    [ Do you want to use box containing Town Hall? Y/N ]


    "Yes."


    A large transparent image of a building appeared in front of me. I could control the image freely with my mind. Neat! I played with it for a while before settling on a final placement. The building itself rested on a raised foundation of stone blocks. Stone steps led up to the main entrance, which I had face the west. There was a tall clock tower was tucked in next to the entrance, it was made of stone with almost decorative wooden bracings. The small windows I could see were made of thick low quality glass, with heavy oaken shutters. The front door was thick iron reinforced wood. Interesting. Everything about this building spoke of durability and basic security.


    After seeing Night City, the Town Hall was a breath of fresh air. It''s simple design was calming and spoke of stability.


    An armored man walked out of the building. He had brown hair in a kind of flattop with a mustache and a strip of a beard. He looked battle-hardened, a fact emphasized by that heavy armor, which was some form of plate mail. He was also carrying an oversized spiked mace. His blue and yellow, likely supposed to be gold, tabard was emblazoned with a heavily stylized letter. Supposedly an "L" but it really didn''t look like one to me. This man looked around bewildered.


    "Where the devil am I? Where did everyone go? Probably some cursed Mage playing a prank again." His voice was rough from years of yelling out orders. His stance indicated that he was more than ready to use that giant mace.


    Oh right, I guess the Pylons had finished while I was playing around with the building''s placement. "Here take this bracelet." Waving one of the brass rings at him. Which, of course, didn''t work. That proved that the cloaking field mitigated sound. Good to know. I quickly slapped the bracelet on him before he could react. He had no particular speed. Which was good, because my shield ended up deflecting his brutal mace''s head upwards after he struck at me. He was left blinking in confusion. A state that caused him to stare at us for a whole minute, sweat popped out all over his forehead. Then he knelt. "Sorry, My Lord! I didn''t see you there!"


    "It''s alright. That''s the point. Please stand up. I''m Ryan, and you are?" I waved his attack away. After all no harm, no foul, right?


    "I''m Marshal Dughan formerly of Stormwind, now in service to Lordaeron and yourself, Lord Ryan." He performed a quick salute with his right fist smashing over his heart. His armor rang with the impact.


    "Do you know your purpose here Marshal?" He was way too uptight, and his mannerisms would likely get old quick.


    He went still for a few minutes. "My lord, I am to assist in the running of this town, and see to it''s defense." So he already came with a basic idea of what he needed to do. I could work with that.


    "Yeah, that''s exactly what I need you to do. Welcome aboard, Dughan. We have a lot of work to get done." I then walked over and touched the Town Hall.


    My BTC shook.


    [ Adjusting... ]


    [ Town Hall has been added to the Great Tree Network.


    Options:


    Choose Class


    Raise Level


    Summon Peasant (Builder)


    Summon Peasant (Farmer)


    Summon Peasant (Laborer) ]


    I immediately queued up one of each type of Peasant. Not only to have more hands to help with work, but because I was starting to realize I needed people I could trust near at hand. Some deeper instinct told me that these people would never betray me. A few minutes later three people came out of the Town Hall. Two men and one woman. They wore simple homespun clothes dyed in muted shades of blue. I had Buzz put bracelets on them, this time. They were shortly looking around in confusion and wonder. Then they saw me


    They knelt low to the ground, which made me deeply uncomfortable. "Milord. We are here to work." I sighed. Who''d ever wanted this shit? I had things that needed to get done. What I didn''t need was people fawning all over me.


    "Stand please. It''s good to see such capable folk arrive. We need to build a town, starting with farms. Tell me what we need to get them ready." They bowed. That was really going to get old quick. I could hear Raynor actually laughing behind me somewhere.


    "We would need much wood and stone, milord." One man said.


    "Large stocks of seed and livestock animals, milord." The woman said.


    "A warehouse for storage, and then several quarries and lumbermills, milord." The other man spoke up.


    Then Jim took the opportunity to step forward, "Ryan how ''bout you let me handle this. I''ve worked a few farms in my day. Even worked on getting a settlement or two up and running. You can mosey over to that store you mentioned earlier and get buy seed stock as well as some animals and feed. Oh, and bring a few more of those bracelets." Thanks Jim, that''s a big help. He was already making himself indispensable.


    "Alright, better than me getting in the way. Jim, I''ll leave them in your hands. Marshal Dughan, please take directions from Jim when I''m not around." Yeah, I''d have to learn about everything they were doing later. But for right now, I was sick of being lordified. Is that a word? Well, I say it is now.


    Dughan gave me another ringing salute, "As you wish, My Lord." He turned attentively towards Raynor. While I was walking away, I heard them already chatting like old army buddies. Was it an soldier thing?


    As I continued the long trek back to the Company Store, I couldn''t help but wonder what classes the Town Hall would give me.

 Chapter 28

    It didn''t take me very long to find several dozen farming bundles in the CStore. It all came down to what kind of farms we needed, and how much I was willing to pay. More than anything I wanted some decent beef. There were three options available. An Eversong Dairy, a Varagian, and Stormhollow Cattle package. Diary sounded wonderful and I would have to come back for it later, but I craved a damned steak. Perhaps even a rack of ribs dripping with BBQ sauce. Ah, I was making myself hungry. Curses. Never go shopping when you are hungry.


    I waffled for a moment and then I picked the Varagian Cattle. It was a blind choice that I hoped would pay out delicious dividends. Abruptly a wooden crate appeared, once again it followed the 2'' cubed proportions. That made it a repeated pattern. Why were the boxes that specific size? I was 500 CPoints down, with 3300 CPoints left.


    Next, I began flipping through the listings for staple crops. Potatoes, corn, rice, wheat, and various strains of beans. I settled on some Loch Modan Potatoes to start. Another crate appeared for another 400 CPoints stripped from my metaphysical wallet. I could skip buying any wheat since I knew there was already decent wheat out there somewhere. There was no need to waste CPoints, when I could obtain the crop another way. However, now I was torn. My mind struggled to decide between corn or rice. Both were very useful with lots of versatility. After a moment, I went with the Westfall corn for no particular reason. That was another 400 CPoints invested into food production. I had 2500 CPoints left.


    Ah, that''s right, we still needed feed for the cattle and probably rations for the people. I could have them just eat fruits and berries, perhaps even eggs too at this point. But I didn''t want to tax the trees of the Valley too heavily. It would be a bad habit in the future when the population grew larger. So let''s not make it an option now. The delightful fruits will stay as treats and rewards for my troops.


    Interestingly enough, I''d found a subscription service for the animal feed. 200 CPoints a month for a daily crate of top quality feed, supposedly enough for up to 30 heads of cattle. The service was renewed automatically on a monthly cycle, unless I canceled it. I could have some Probes deliver the crates from here to the farm everyday. I''d soon also found another service for rations. 100 more CPoints for a similar deal. Yeah, I guessed 30 humans were cheaper to feed then 30 cows. The Lordaeronians should be left with plenty to store for later. I called over a few Probes to start hauling the crates out to the Town Hall, then headed over to the Forge to queue up some more bracelets.


    The need for an assistant, or at least a gopher was rapidly becoming apparent. Maybe even more than one. I felt like I was doing a lot of unnecessary running around, which was beginning to rub my sense of efficiency raw.


    Okay, my next order of business was levels. I pulled up my XP reading: 8362. Hmm. I wanted to add 3 levels of Warp-Smith, and 1 level of Druid of Renewal. Then I''d look at the Class options at the Town Hall, if I liked any of them, I should be able increase it to level 4 right away. My brain was tickled by the symmetry. I nodded as I stepped over to the Nexus and rest my hand against its eerily smooth side.


    [ Warp-Smith has reached Level 4


    You have gained the Psi Technique, Open Warp Portal


    You have gained the Psi Technique, Power Psifield


    You have gained the Psi Technique, Empower Constructs


    You have gained +6 Psi Resonance


    You have gained +3 Tech


    You have gained +6 Free Points ]


    Now, those were some interesting abilities. Open Warp Portal allowed me to link two separate points under the influence of a continuous Psifield for a number of seconds equal to my Psi Resonance plus the Techniques level. Not a solution to my getting to my Outposts undetected problems, but still a very interesting ability. Power Psifield allowed me to act as a Pylon for a number of minutes equal to my Psi Resonance. I''m sure there were absolutely no negative consequences to a living creature generating massive amounts of Psienergy. Empower Constructs allowed me to increase the abilities of anything I''d personally had a hand in designing or making for a number of minutes equal to my Psi Resonance. Meaning I could give all of my Robo-Buddies a quick boost before battle.


    Of course, I once again spent several moments just convulsing on the ground in agony as several decades worth of knowledge on Khalai technology was unceremoniously shoved into my brainmeat. Was it as bad as the first time? No, nowhere near as bad, but I still wanted to claw my own eyes out, in the hopes it might briefly alleviate the pain.


    Once I''d regained some semblance of control over myself, I went to Meadran''s island and added another level in Druid of Renewal. My veins were filled with calm energy that seemed to massage every sore part of my body.


    [ Druid of Renewal has reached Level 4


    You have gained the spell, Nature''s Blessing


    You have gained +2 Spirit


    You have gained +1 Will


    You have gained +2 Free Points ]


    Nature''s Blessing was a long lasting spell designed to enhance all natural properties of a subject for a number of hours equal to my Spirit. Okay, why was it so soothing to get new spells, and the knowledge therein, but Psi Knowledge fucking hurt? Was there a way to fix that? Please, let there be a way.


    After leveling up my Druid Class, I felt so much better. A quick shot of Regrowth, with a side of Cleanse, and then I cast Nature''s Blessing on myself, and then on Meadran. Oh, that was nice, everything felt amazing. Like a shot of adrenaline laced coffee, without all the side effects. I could definitely get used to this.


    ''Ah, thank you, Young One. That makes my branches feel lighter, and my roots have stopped aching from the growth pains.'' His chuckle of amusement was all the thanks I needed.


    Yeah, I''m going to be casting this spell on all my friends, as often as I could manage. Everything felt so good, that I no longer minded the walk back to the Town Hall where I received yet another pleasant surprise.


    Three farming compounds had already been built, and I didn''t mean just framed out, they were fully finished. They had even been decorated already. How fast did these Lordaeron peasants work? One compound was designated as a ranch with little calves already running all around. There were feeding troughs, a pond and a barn structure next to the ranch house as well. The other two compounds had about 5 acres of green shoots already sprouting from the soil. I saw that there were two newly summoned farmers out weeding the fields, which after looking at the land for for a while, I noticed had irrigation channels dug out leading from the outflow troughs. Damn, that was scary fast.


    By the Town Hall, the Builder and Laborer now had two new companions to help as they were putting up a Warehouse. All the while Probes carted over lumber and stone for them to use. Their hands moved with a creepy speed and supernatural accuracy. Nearby, Raynor and Dughan had summoned a group of ten peasants, which were being trained with simple wooden shields and really basic looking wooden swords. Thankfully, they''d had just enough bracelets to cover everyone from my first batch. I left a box with more of the accessories near the front door of the Town Hall.


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    "Damn Jim, I didn''t think I was gone that long." I was shocked, stunned, bamboozled even.


    "You weren''t, but things seem to work a mite bit faster here." He seemed slightly little less grim as he went back to yelling instruction at the trainees. Dughan saluted me as I passed by to touch the Town Hall. I selected Choose Class.


    [ Mage of Transformation


    +2 to Will


    +1 to Cool


    +2 to Intelligence


    A Mage that specializes in transmutations.


    Starting Spells: Change Color, Alter Minor Property ]


    [ Paladin of Nature


    +2 to Body


    +1 to Cool


    +2 to Spirit


    Bring righteous fury upon those who would despoil Nature.


    Starting Abilities: Smite, Aura of Thorns ]


    [ Priest of Fertility


    +3 to Spirit


    +2 to Cool


    A Priest that worships Growth in all its forms. Aids in keeping Humans balanced with Nature.


    Starting Spells: Bless Crops, Bless Livestock ]


    Now that was a conundrum, but I really wanted something to help keep me alive, to help me fight. Only one of these classes offered that.


    [ Paladin of Nature has reached Level 4


    You have gained the Prayer Smite


    You have gained Aura of Thorns.


    You have gained +5 Body


    You have gained +4 Cool


    You have gained +5 Spirit


    You have gained +8 Free Points ]


    The pain this time was much more physical. It felt as if every muscle was being torn apart, then rebuilt just to be torn to shreds all over again. I contorted and shook in spasms for several minutes. When I''d managed to snap out of it, everyone had gathered around me. Raynor was holding me still, after having rolled me on my side. I suppose it would have looked like an epileptic seizure.


    "You alright there Hoss? You were flopping about like a landed fish there." Raynor a true master of finding humor in horrible things.


    "Yeah, just give me a moment to figure this out." I gulped air for a moment.


    Smite was a Prayer. It literally called the Wrath of Nature down upon enemies. The further from a natural path they strayed the more damage it would do. Aura of Thorns was an energy field I could call up around myself that would return a portion of damage dealt to me. Interesting.


    I got up and stretched. "That hurt." I went with the deadpan delivery.


    Raynor chuckled, "Looked like it."


    "Do you need a priest, My Lord?" Dughan seemed very concerned. Not that you could tell by looking at him, no it was just a feeling.


    "No, I''ll be fine. I was just leveling up real quick." That statement got a bunch of blank stares, other than Raynor. Oh, can the rest of my troops not level. Only me and Heroes? No that didn''t make sense. Meadran had mentioned levels and knew about leveling? Lumi and Alina as well.


    Huh. Another set of issues to look into.


    My time over the next few days, was largely spend doing what I''d found I loved doing the most, improving schematics. I''d made a ton of small adjustments to everything, from managing to improve Pylon power flows, or to streamlining the robots chassis, like the Sentries''. The new knowledge stuffed forcefully into my brain was proving very useful, such as already being able to make several improvement to the cloaking fields. For example, you no longer needed a bracelet to operate under the field provided you were designated friendly by one of the recognized authorities of the Valley. Plus, now I''d gotten the energy draw was down to a far more reasonable level.


    I''d branched out into Khalai coding, so I could better understand and regulate the AIs governing my robots. At first an extremely difficult task, requiring constant support from Alina. However, now I was capable of scripting like a champ. The Probes had already shown remarkable improvement across all categories, and I even managed to include a few new tools in their latest redesign. Increased levels of lifting and pulling, along with expanded repair and upgrade features and especially in the baseline building construction programming. Now they could build any schematic from scratch rather than having to warp it in. How did this help? As I had learned from observing the Lordaeron builders it was significantly faster, and didn''t emit anywhere near as much of an energy signature. Also, they could now perform many of the functions of a Forge on their own, just on a much smaller scale. Great for making new equipment.


    Even the very minor additions to Alina''s code, that I was capable of, were already paying dividends. Day to day needs and functions were being handled with increased precision. Alina was running the base expansions now, while needing only slight input from Meadran and Raynor. Although at this point, the Valley really had no room for anything else. So most new building projects were happening out in New Lordaeron, as we had all taken to calling it. I figured the name would be good for the morale of the people I''d summoned, something to remind them of their home.


    I had taken to training with Jim and the recruits for a couple of hours every day. Getting used to my new physical improvements, which were substantial. I still hadn''t spent my free points not understanding where I might benefit the most. My mind kept over processing the decision, without any clear idea of what any of it meant in the first place. Though Meadran and Jim both said I should do something about my agility. I mean a tree had told me I''d needed to do something about my agility, how demoralizing. Agility would be covered by the Reflex stat, right? Seemed to be the most likely candidate. but I wasn''t sure so it was difficult to commit the points.


    I took this training time, so I had an excuse to cast Nature''s Blessing on everyone. Making the already ridiculously speedy construction of buildings that much faster, and the combat training that much smoother. During one training session I''d gotten, perhaps, my best idea yet. Raynor had been trying to get some of the Probes to cycle into the training, so the recruits would have something different to spar with. It wasn''t going well, the Probes really didn''t like being ordered by anyone but me. They were mostly just beeping angrily at him, but today Buzz was not having it. He rammed into Raynor and plinked off Raynor''s armor. Raynor''s powered armor.


    Raynor had mentioned that mechanical enhancement being given to humans in The Confederacy was a rare event, and usually the very last ditch method to treat someone. They mostly enhanced people by genetically or chemically altering them. However, his power armor granting him a fairly large boost to strength and speed. Watching Buzz ram into Raynor again and again, I couldn''t help but think that we could make more armor. Better armor. If my experiments with Khalai tech had taught me anything it was that human equipment was extremely easy to replicate and improve using the Forge.


    "Buzz! Scan that armor." I pointed gleefully at Raynor''s armor. "Raynor could you teach these guys how to operate that armor or some just like it?" Buzz hovered around Raynor, his scanners working on every little detail of the armor.


    "Of course, they''re dumb as rocks and mule stubborn, but that was all my boys back home. I can whip them into shape, but where are you... I get it." His eyes lit up with understanding. "That''ll be something." Buzz beeped his completion.


    "When this is done, the Probes will help with training. We can use it to enhance their battle algorithms. Right, Buzz?" Buzz gave me a sad beep. "Cheer up Buzz, it will help improve everyone. Isn''t that good?"


    I got a doubtful beep that meant, "Sure, but can you trust them?"


    "Maybe not as well as you guys, but sure, I trust them." I nodded at the grumpy Probe. Buzz flew off to get back to his work.


    "Is it just me or have they gotten more ornery lately?" Raynor asked gruffly.


    "Yeah, probably a side effect of the infusion process. They developed an evolving personality and it gets even more pronounced when they get a name. Kind of like kids. But they are way better company now." I shrugged. "I''m going to get to work on the designs for Terran and Protoss fusion armor."


    That was when I got a call. It was Sally. My face drained of blood. Oh fuck. I''d gotten too caught up in everything. I had forgotten to call them.


    "Sally, are you alright?" I tried to keep my voice calm. What would I do if she was in trouble?


    "Yeah, the Corp scopmunchers didn''t really chase us. We think they just wanted to drive us off. A couple of the old vets kept eyes on them for a while after we scattered. They''re still guarding the area, not letting anyone near. They barely even seemed interested in the remains of your buildings. Though they were very excited by the leftover water. They were real keen on that." That was a load off my mind. Though I still felt like shit for getting too distracted.


    "Can you guys meet up? Hell bring everyone here if you want. I''ve come up with a solution for the Corpos watching us from above. We''ve got water and food and plenty of room. Better yet, new weapons and armor coming down the pipeline soon." I said the last part like you might say hot steamy sex.


    "Ooo. That does sound like a good time. Alright, you talked me into it, you smooth devil. I''ll talk to Amanda and we''ll head that way shortly." The line went silent. She didn''t seem upset, good. I guess I hadn''t fucked up too badly.


    Raynor chuckled, "I know that look. Wife?"


    "Huh!? What!? No, we just met not that long ago. Still figuring all that out." I felt my face heat up. He gave me a stare, a you''d best wise up stare.


    "Oh, son. Your goose is already cooked, you might as well make peace with the idea. Been there a time or two. Before you ask, no, it never gets easier."


    Yeah. I was looking forward to their arrival, and dreading it all the same.

 Chapter 29

    The next morning caught me by surprise. It snuck up on me because I''d been working on the power armor designs all night long. The most obvious improvement, was replacing the armor''s neosteel plating and components for the Khalai alloy, which I''d starting calling Crysbronze.


    During the formation of Crysbronze, the starting alloy was a true slurry of dozens of different metals. This slurry was then infused with an artificial form of khaydarin crystal and then the molecular lattice was vibrated into the most stabile formation possible. Did I really understand the chemistry of it? No, not yet. The forge handled the heavy lifting of the calculations, I only needed to understand the process. While that didn''t sit well with me, I didn''t have the time to dig into every single detail right now. This one step improved the defensive performance of the armor by about 25%. As an extra bonus, it lightened the armor''s weight by 10% as well.


    The next step was to replace the armor''s incredibly intricate electrical system with layers of the artificial Psicrystal. My experiments had shown that Psicrystal was everything one needed for machines. It acted as a circuit, a resistor, a transistor, or even a superconductor. It could generate fields, full spectrum electromagnetic fields, which meant Psicrystal could act as a fuel cell, a battery, a generator, and so much more. In large enough sizes it could store huge amounts of data, or even function as an easily programable processor itself. A layer of Psicrystal gave the armor a 12% increase increase in reaction speed and extended the battery life of the suit by 50%. It was also added vast series of improvements to the onboard computer assistance module for things like targeting and mapping. I thought about completely replacing the power generation module, but I wasn''t quite sure how to get the psicrystal to remain stable under the full load required by combat. I knew was possible with a larger crystal, I simply hadn''t figured out a way to do it at the required size. I struggled to alter the baseline code of the armor''s systems to integrate with the Psicrystal code, but I managed a few work arounds.


    Lastly, I used some of the more mechanical feedback systems of the Dragoon and the Khalai cyberware to cobble together a small improvement to the strength enhancement of the suit, however it yielded only a 6% improvement. I was certain that I could crank that up once I got some more experience tinkering with both technologies. Sadly, I didn''t see a way to upgrade the gel impact lining yet, most Protoss equipment seemed to lack any equivalent of impact gel. That was hardcore, but maybe they didn''t need it?


    Oh and I''d finally figured out how to get the Forges to enamel the armor in other colors. I decided to go with a deep forest green with a midnight blue trim. A stylized version of Meadran, rendered in silver, would be our emblem. When the first of the new suits rolled off the assembler, I immediately fell in love with it. It looked amazing, and I was dying to hop right in, but I hadn''t made it for me. I had Jitters help me haul it out to where Raynor was training our future soldiers. Oof, just the torso was fucking hefty, even with my new Body stat.


    Between us, we finally managed to drag it all the way out to New Lordaeron''s Town Hall. The sun was still rising but Raynor had already been running the recruits ragged, he stopped when he saw the armor. He went completely still. Sadly, I couldn''t tell if that was a good still or a bad still.


    "Good Morning! Special delivery for James Raynor!" I was excited, if it worked properly this armor would change so much. The Protoss robots were great and they could certainly defend our territory, but we needed troops that were faster to produce. Numbers would allow us to expand forcefully, if that became necessary. Also increased our military would bring peace of mind for the citizens.


    James gave the armor a critical inspection. He tested every joint, poked at every plate. At his satisfied nod, we assembled it around him, making sure that everything fit him to a tee.


    Raynor ran a quick diagnostics test. I crossed my fingers, and when that returned an all clear, he quickly started a series of movement tests. After a few minutes, he declared, "Handles like a dream. Smooth as silk and twice as useful. Might have gone a different way on the colors, but hey, this is your rodeo." Now that I knew the armor worked properly, I had Jitters setup two Forges on either side of, and just behind, the Town Hall.


    "It''ll be a hassle, but we''ll scan everyone up and get them all a suit, probably by tomorrow." I called over a few Probes to get started on scanning the recruits.


    "Sounds great, Hoss. I''ll keep working ''em ''til then." Raynor had his faceplate closed, which showed that I has copied his skull pattern on to the cover. Very intimidating. He started barking at his boys, getting them to redouble their efforts.


    I, on the other hand, decided to take a break. I wandered over to the nearby hill side and sat down to stare far out into the badlands for a spell. The minty purple grass had already taken over this area and made for some comfortable sitting. Jitters floated over to be next to me as I stared out at the terrible desert, my mind trying to come up with plans to bring life back to everything I saw. My little Robo-Buddy gave a troubled beep.


    "Nah, I''m fine. Just a little overwhelmed, by all of this." I waved my arm to take in everything. "Half the time, I''ve got no clue what I''m doing, and the other half I''m still confused about whether or not what I''m doing is the right thing." His countering beep was vaguely reproachful. "Hmm. Yeah, I know I''m doing the best I can. That''s what bothers me the most. Why didn''t they take someone who knew about the kinds of things that are going on here? I can''t help but feel like I''m missing opportunities just because I don''t understand how this all works." Jitters bumped lightly against me. A kind show of support. I gave him a pat, and sent comforting thoughts at him. His concern stated, he flew off to get some more work done, leaving me to my thoughts.


    [ Adjusting...]


    [ Quests Offered


    Establish two new Outposts in the Badlands around Night City,


    They must be at least 50 miles apart.


    Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Mercenary Squad Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Establish Outposts in Night City Charter Hills and Santa Domingo areas,


    They must be at least half a mile apart.


    Reward: 4000 Company Points, 1 Theme Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Regain control of your first Outpost and rebuild it,


    Reward: 3000 Company Points, 1 Hero Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Kill 100 Gangoons or 50 Corpo Agents,


    Repeatable and Ongoing.


    Reward: 1000 Company Points, 1 Random Supply Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Make an alliance with a local faction,


    Reward: 1000 Company Points, 1 Adjutant Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Survey a different city,


    Must have at least 1,000,000 inhabitants.


    Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Power Token


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Accept: Y/N ]


    "What the Fuck!" The flood of requests startled me. All this time not even a whisper. Now bam! Here''s a bunch of tasks for you. It seemed like the Company knew when I was vulnerable, and liked to pile it on.


    I started reading the Quests. More outposts, which was already part of the plan, so no stress there. I hit yes on those. A Merc Squad? Do I have to pay them? Maybe not the best reward. In contrast, I definitely wanted a another Theme Token for more power and flexibility. Taking back my first outpost seemed like a no brainer. You bet your sweet ass I wanted that back, again no worries there. I accepted that one. Another Hero, please. I needed all the help I could get, and Raynor was already proving to be a godsend. He was helping the Lordaeron folks get settled in far better than I ever could. I''ve never been much of a people person.


    Killing Gangoon and Corpos, well sure, I''d already made my peace with killing for profit. As long as I knew the target was scum, I''d be able to sleep at night. No problem saying yes to that Quest. Extra supplies would probably be a great bonus. Hmm, I''m already in the process of making an alliance with the Aldecaldos. I felt good about grabbing that one. I wondered what an Adjutant would do for us. Survey a different city. That one seemed like a hassle since I already had a ton of work on my plate. But there was no time limit and I''d need to expand to other cities eventually anyway. Sure bring it on. What''s one more stick of straw now? While my first Power had seemed to be a dud, maybe another one would be just what I needed.


    Well, having clear goals was better then sitting around moping. Next task, we were going to start some Probes digging their way back towards NC. More work, always.


    A dozen new Probes were commissioned from Alina for the newly dubbed "Project Underbridge". This project would create a waystation, slightly to the north of New Lordaeron, which would allow troops and vehicles access to an underground roadway. This project would further build a road that traveled back towards the broken bridge area and construct a new bridge across the canyon, roughly 500'' below the former bridge. Once the construction continued on the the other side of the canyon, the roadway would then be aimed towards linking up with and expanding the tunnel the Probes from my Japantown Outpost were digging. After hitting the NET and looking at a few maps of NC, I wondered why the quest wanted me to build another Outpost in Charter Hills which was right next to Japantown.


    Project Underbridge''s waystation path leading deeper into the earth, would be a gently inclined spiral road. This would make it easier to walk, if needed, or to drive up or down. The bridge itself would be loosely based off the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge in Arizona because it was the only canyon spanning bridge I remembered well enough.


    That reminded me of a fun trip with my parents and sister, we saw a lot of the Southwest that summer. Though my parents'' real goal was to to see some band they were huge fans of. They didn''t take us to the concert. Leaving my sister and I stuck in a Hotel room for together with nothing else to do. Though being the well behaved children we were, we fell asleep watching the cable channels we didn''t get back home. Hmm. What bands were shared between this world and mine? Where was the deviation point between the shared history of the two different Earths? A good question though I''m not sure how useful it would be for me to find those answers.


    The good news was that once I conveyed my thoughts on the designs to the Probes, my input was no longer necessary. The Robo-Buddies would handle all of the work, some part of me was wondering if it was bad to rely on them so much. I knew that they were capable of real emotions, but they seemed so happy to help. I decided to just take a walk to clear my head. I cast a quick series of spells on myself. Thanks to my Cleanse spell I never had to take off my clothes or armor anymore. At this point, I was so wound up, so worried about hidden threats, that I wouldn''t even take off my armor in the Valley.


    I slowly made my way over to one of the farms, cause my contemplations to turn towards whether we should start a few more compounds. The Nomads would be here soon and I''d like to have enough food production for everyone. Speaking of more mouths to feed, I should expand our rations subscription, maybe triple the current amount? More folks would be coming later I''m sure. Since the rations were specially packed in an interdimensional container they never went bad. Which meant that it was always better to have too much and not need it than need it and not have it.


    That thought tackled, I soon began enjoying walking amongst the already waist high stalks of corn. My eyes started to notice the differences between these crops and ordinary plants from back on my original world. Mana had started to saturate everything in the area quite nicely, helping everything to grow not only faster but stronger. We would likely have the first harvests within the week, and future cycles would become even faster as the energy further increased growth rates. Then I considered what the cost of all this accelerated growth might be, but thankful got distracted by the motions of the farmers weeding and checking the plants for pests. They had mentioned before that there hardly seemed to be any of the usual bugs, but the weeds were becoming a real hassle. Was that the magic energies flowing around us, or just part of the wasteland''s normal condition?


    Expansions of the base farm buildings had already turned each into a little complex. It was as if each farming compound was it''s own little domain, and with a rapidly developing ecosystem of their own. They had their own wells now, toolsheds, composting bins, silos and barns. Also a few trees lined each farm, those were already bonded to wisps for more lumber production. I was told that surrounding each farm with trees helped with wind erosion of the top soil. Lastly each farm no matter the type, had their own chicken coup. Apparently the Feralassian chickens were over populating the valley, so now new chicks were rounded up by the Probes and brought to live on the farms. The grubs that were the chicken primary food source had already found their way to the fields, somehow, where they help aerate the soil.


    Huh, I soon understood that I didn''t need to be so worried about the logistics. Mana infusion made most things better. ''Course my fuzzy wuzzy mood that didn''t last long. I noticed that the farm houses were big enough to house the farmers and any hands, but what about the builders and the laborers? Preemptively sensing my darkening thoughts, Alina assured me that enough housing was already going up not only for the workers and the recruits but for visitors and guests and any new summons.


    Though right now, the main priority of the Lordaeron builders was a barracks. A mini fortress where footmen, and after further development, knights could be trained. I wasn''t yet sure what the utility of these soldiers would be, but I was more than eager to find out. Walking back towards the Town Hall I caught sight of Probes scanning each of the recruits while Raynor ran them through their drills. I waved at everyone as I continued back toward the Valley. My current goal was to hit the Company Store for more rations and maybe some new farm stock.


    Lumi met me at the end of the caves. After we had some perfunctory greeting scratches, he got to his current business. ''Small Brother, is it safe to start roaming outside the Valley yet?''


    ''Sure, just stay within the zone of the Pylon coverage and you should be fine. Let Faergin know if you see him before I do.'' The treant sure liked to roam around, dancing merrily the whole time. He was possibly trying to find a place to root, or maybe to make up for time spent in the Companies'' stasis.


    Lumi was already gone before I''d finished the sentence. I guess even he had a version of the zoomies. "Ha!" I was quite amused by his antics. He was still a canine despite everything else.


    I didn''t manage to catch sight of Faergin, but did stop by to check on Meadran. I''d noticed he was becoming quieter lately, I asked if he needed anything. ''No, Young One, it is the nature of my kind to spend long periods in slow thought. We are quiet by nature and find the pace of other folk dizzying at times.'' He felt sleepy, and maybe I had been pushing him too hard. I still had little understanding of the needs and desires of the tree folk.


    ''Ah, I should have thought of that. Sorry Meadran, I''ll let you have some peace.'' With everything that had been happening, Meadran had probably seen it all as one big blur of activity. It was fair leaning on the tree as much as I had been. Sure, I was desperate at the time, but now I had others to help out.


    ''Thank you, Young One.''


    I finally got to the Company Store. I was starting to realize just how bound, how trapped I was to this system. Feelings of being exploited were bubbling up from my gut. It might be a while before they got to a full boil, but they were there. After all, I''d never asked for this. Yet, I knew I''d already accepted that helping folks and this land was my responsibility. Even if I didn''t understand why I thought that way. Maybe this was part of what Meadran meant when he talked about the difference between knowing and understanding.


    Turning my mind back to the task at hand, I pondered my options in the store''s menu. Since we were installing Moon Wells into each Farm, I went with rice this time. A nice sounding Pandarian Jade Rice for 500 CPoints. Then I scroll through the beans options. I picked up a set of Hinterland Hardy Beanstalks for 300 CPoints. Those would require trellises but I was sure it wouldn''t be a problem. Let''s see, what else? I wanted some bacon. Bacon makes everything better. Well, not absolutely everything, but a lot of things, maybe even most things. I choose a Camberland Pig for another 500 CPoints. Then I doubled the subscription on the livestock feed for 200 more CPoints.


    After that, I went with a bulk package of high quality rations for 1000 people for 500 a month. It rolled into my other subscription so I only spent 400 more CPoints. Leaving me with just 300 Company Points. I was really going to have to hustle and complete some of those quests before next month came around. I had no desire to see how the Company dealt with defaulting on payments.


    After making sure the Probes knew about the new crates. I went back to the Town Hall and summoned two more builders and laborer along with six more farmers. Then I let Dughan and Raynor know about the new farms, and fresh batch of supplies coming in. I went on to explain about the Nomads and how we were to treat them as honored guests.


    Dughan gave his typical crashing salute, "As you wish My Lord." Reliable as always.


    Raynor just laughed, "Tryin'' to impress your lady friend, Hoss?" And there it was, a small smirk on Dughan''s face, before he schooled his expression back to neutral. I was so glad to be able to amuse everyone.


    "What? No! I''m just trying to make sure there going to be plenty of food." I grumbled, which apparently was the signal to start ripping into me.


    They both got into giving me shit for the next hour. So happy to help moral.


    Why me?

 Chapter 30

    The next morning, the Aldecaldos had already parked by the bridge before I''d gotten up. No one had thought it was a good idea to wake me up. They had figured I needed the extra sleep. However, that had left the Nomads staring at a whole lot of nothing, since Alina hadn''t added them to the exceptions list yet. She''d kept the cannons from targeting them but that was her only concession to their guest rights. The lack of any visible infrastructure had cause a bit of a argument amongst the Nomads, as even the water canals weren''t could be seen currently. I imagined that they thought that Sally and Amanda were telling tall tales.


    I cast a quick Cleanse and tried to put myself in order before walking over to greet them. No reason to be a messy bastard when they caught sight of me. On the way over to them, I had Alina add them into the allies list. To say they freaked out was an understatement, most of them were half way in their cars before I managed to get their attention. Sally had her monster of a rifle aimed at me, before she began to realized who she was targeting. Awkward.


    "I said I solved the spying problem! See all solved!" I had my hands up, and they stayed up ''til she''d lowered her aim. I was grinning like a maniac the whole time though. Her face went through a thousand emotions before settling on relief and joy. That smile would live in my mind forever. I''d never seen anything so beautiful. She dropped her rifle ran over and tackle hugged me. Thankfully, my increased strength let me absorb her charge. I returned the hug firmly but carefully, I didn''t know my limits yet and I certainly didn''t want to hurt her. This close, she smelt of gun oil and synth leather, and I loved it. Oh that hug felt nice. She''d genuinely missed me. Her warmth was bleeding into me filled me with a sense of belonging. Like someone finally gave a damn about me, when they didn''t have to.


    A moment later, and Megan had joined in. She wrapped her soft arms around us, ineffectually trying to squish us. She smelt of some perfume, smoked cinnamon and clove and something else I couldn''t identify. Very simulating. I was melting inside, I''d never been the center of this kind of attention before. I had no defenses against the feeling bubbling up, not that I would''ve ever wanted them. Megan''s face carried a cocky grin that also plucked firmly at my heartstrings. I''d never felt so... loved. Was that what this feeling was? This fierce concern and protectiveness that burned deep inside me. This desire to never part from them again. It seemed awful quick, but what did I know about it. Yet, I couldn''t imagine not wanting to be right there, right then.


    "We saw the explosion, we were worried they''d killed you. You derezzed gonk. We checked and couldn''t find any sign of you, except your tracks. So yeah, we knew you had gotten away. But you didn''t call. Then we were worried you were going to cut us out." Megan started talking real fast. Babbling really. Was she furious or happy, probably both. Sally just buried her face deeper into my neck. My brain was so fuzzed out from all the happy thoughts, that it took me a second to parse what Megan had said.


    "What? Cut you out? Why the fuck would I ever do a damned fool thing like that?" I didn''t understand the female mind. I was starting to notice that talking to them rarely seemed to help with that problem. So I went with the male solution, action. I slipped an arm around Megan''s softer frame pulling her closer and squeezed her gently.


    "He probably had some dorph brained noble idea of protecting us." Amanda chimed in from the sidelines where she was watching with glittering eyes and a huge knowing smile.


    "Darlin'' you ain''t joking, this danged fool has been working himself to the bone trying to get the place ready for y''all." Raynor had snuck up on the scene while I''d been distracted. Well he''d really ambled over, but I was really distracted. "Been awhile since I''d seen anyone so focused on fixin'' things."


    "Umm... " I was starting to get a little uncomfortable with everyone watching us. Even some of the Probes had stopped their tasks and were scanning us. Hell, the elusive Lumi was nearby with a wolfish grin. And Faergin was dancing close by while a few Nomads were looking him over in shock and wonder. I didn''t really like being the center of attention for too long. Short bursts are great but this was getting weird.


    "Shhh." Sally vocalized just holding me like she''d never let me go, ever again. Okay,  in that moment nothing else mattered, and I could let everything else go. They were now my world. Megan hummed some song she liked while we all just stayed like that. I had no clue what else to do now. So I just gave up and followed their lead.


    When the hug ended, I no desire to say anything. Neither did they. So, I led them over to the warehouse where the Probes had been storing the rations every morning. I grabbed a pull cart that had been put together by a builder and filled it with dozens of ration pouches. We brought them back to the camp the Aldecaldos had already started setting up and handed them out.


    I should mention that the rations weren''t "rations". They were stasis locked meals, preserved at the peak moment of their preparation. As these were labeled "High Quality" they were pretty damned good meals. However, they weren''t labeled as to what meal was inside the pouch, so you got what you got. Today I ended up with a gravy coated country fried steak served with scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. A cup of rich dark roast coffee was also in the pouch. This was the type dimensional bullshit I could get behind. That meal was a jackpot as far as I was concerned. Sally ended up having a prime rib with some fancy wine sauce, steamed vegetables and a couple of rolls slathered in honey butter. Her drink was a glass of red wine. A little too heavy for breakfast but it all looked tasty anyway. Megan''s meal was a whole 14'' pizza with all the meats and some of the veggies and a side of buffalo wings. She''d gotten a tall glass of soda. That also looked great. I smirked when I saw them trade meals. They took bite of each others and even grabbed a few bites of mine as well. This was perhaps the only time in my life that I didn''t mind someone stealing my food.


    While we where eating, I explained what I''d done with the Pylons. They seemed to actually listen and liked the idea of being able to work right under someone''s nose while they had no clue, what was going on.


    "Any plans to make a mobile version?" Sally probably wanted that for her truck.


    "Sure, some of the Khalai tech already has that feature, I just have to figure out how to adapt it." I nodded and explained how I was trying to get it down to something you could strap on your belt. Then I went into how I had used Megan''s idea of tunneling and founded Project Underbridge. The rest of the plan to have hidden wells and reservoirs really excited them.


    "If you never achieve anything else, that alone would change the power dynamic in the badlands. We''d always be able to get away and be able to hide in the most remote areas." Megan was already plotting how best to take advantage of all the technological advantages that I offered.


    After we were finished eating, I walked over to Amanda who was leaning in while talking with Raynor. Hmm. They seemed to be hitting it off. Interesting. I asked Amanda if she could formally agree to an Alliance between New Lordaeron and all the Aldecaldos. She said she would needed to call up a couple of folks and get their opinions but if they agreed we could work something out. I nodded. It would be a quick solution to one of my new quests.


    In the meantime, I''d decided to show Sally and Megan around while telling them my full story.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    I took them to the Moon Well where I''d first appeared. Why was I going to tell them the truth? Because there was no way for us to go forward without them knowing about my past.


    "This is the place I came into your World." Then I had to spent a few hours trying to explain every detail I could remember about my version of Earth.


    "So you came from a version of our World that was going through the year 2024. There was no Corpo War, no Johnny Silverhand, no nukes going off." Sally stared at me almost blankly, while trying to wrap her mind around my tale. Some of my descriptions of the firearms of my world made her snort is derision.


    "Cyberware was still in it''s infancy, there was no widespread direct neural linking to the Net. Companies still basically run everything but it''s all behind the scenes, instead of out in the open." Megan looked horrified at the thought of no netrunning. The methodologies of hacking in my world must have seemed quite primitive to her.


    "That about sums it up." I nodded. I hoped they could take it all in without it causing problems between us.


    Then I led them on the same path that I''d taken when I started exploring. Was that really only a month ago? No, not even that yet. Damn. when we arrived at his island, I introduced them to Meadran.


    "Ah what lovely young flowers you have brought. Every bit as glorious as the Dryads that danced in the Woodlands of my homeland. I am Meadran, serving as the Tree of Life for this small community. I wish you a pleasant stay while you are here." Even while holding back his vice as to not startle the ladies, this tree had more game than I did. Sad. The ladies chatted with the smooth talking tree for a while, mostly pleasant chit-chat. When they were done I took them past the company store heading toward the Nexus. I  briefly explained it''s functions. Which led to me sharing a few of my thoughts on the Company itself.


    "These interdimensional beings, basically kidnapped you, right before you died. Dropped you here with no explanation, and still expect you to fulfill tasks to earn their "money" so you can buy what you need to "save" the world. Which is the overarching task they seem to want you to accomplish?" Sally was a little angry. It was easy to recognize how I was being exploited, when it was summed like that.


    "That''s an accurate summation, yes." I nodded, trying not to grind my teeth in frustration.


    "What are you going to do about it? Anything? You don''t owe anyone here. You have no skin in this game." Megan was shaking her head, probably trying to calculate what the real goal of the Company was.


    "Had." I interjected. Surprisingly, that caught them both off-guard.


    "Had?" She squinched her face up. I found her confusion adorable.


    "I had no skin in this game. Now, I have you and Sally. That''s all the skin I need to try to improve things for this world. What kind of man would I be, if I didn''t try to make the lives of those I care about better." I got a pair of lovely smiles for that. Okay, maybe I could be charming too. Every once in a great while.


    We continued on to the Nexus, where they got to meet Alina. The AI explained  more about the Khalai, and where my awesome technology had come from. It took them both more than a few minutes to be anywhere near comfortable with the idea that I had an unshackled AI working for me. Given the history this world had with Artificial Intelligences, I got it. Hell, some days I wasn''t too keen on the idea myself. The Robo-Buddies helped a lot with those fears though.


    As the topics for discussion expanded, I tried to not bore them with all of my crazy ideas and visions of future projects. I showed them how the Forges worked and the functions of the Cybernetics Core. Then I introduced them to some of the Sentries roaming around, they were shocked at how alive the Khalai robots seemed. Then I further blew their minds by letting them interact with some of the Wisp Infused Probes. Most of whom were happy silly little guys.


    We headed back to the Town Hall while I told them about my impressions from the first time I ended up walking through the Badlands and how I''d met Greg.


    "He got the better of you, but not too bad. You had no way of knowing how much wood was worth." I loved how Sally got slightly upset on my behalf. I explained how I got my Galena. Then the first trip to NC and the experience with the terrible not pizza, and rounding things out with my time at Lizzie''s. How they treated me as a Bennie. Everything that happened with Sinnamin. My first meeting with Misty and Vik.


    "Viktor Vektor is one of the best out there. He''s still whispered about in quiet corners of the city." Megan seemed to know of him. "He''s a legend in his own right. We''d been thinking of finding him to try and get some chrome work done."


    "So, about this Misty." Sally asked in a deceptively cheerful tone, I knew that tone.


    "She''s great, reminds me of my sister a little." Let''s try to head that off, by making making Misty into a substitute for the Sister I''d lost. I got the "I know what you just did, but I''ll let you get a way with it" stare for my efforts.


    I moved the story on to my clumsy attempts at hunting Maelstrom. The bloody horrors of the Scavs'' den and how badly that messed me up. What my mind struggled with about getting chipped. How odd it had made me feel. Then we got to the first time I met Sally, on my way back to the Valley.


    I skipped over our shared events to where I was running from Arasaka and what happened after that. The sacrifice of Scuff and Fix, Chuck and Barry. My breath caught a bit at thatpart of the tale. We''d found a place to sit and relax, over by the corn farm. "So I walked back to the Sunset Motel. Headed back into NC to try to setup the other outpost. Then the Mox had put out the word for folks to get me over to Lizzie''s. I''d figured it could wait."


    Biting through my syllables, I told them what happened to Sinnamin, and my frankly bewildering response. I got more hugs. Which I appreciated but didn''t help as much as I thought they would. "I still don''t understand why it got to me so much. I barely knew her. But it was all so sad, so wrong. A broken life that, maybe, I could have helped. Part of me thinks I should just flatten the City once I''ve enough power. Rebuild it afterwards, and try to make something better out of the rubble." I shook my head.


    "I know it wouldn''t help much. The Corpos are the biggest problem with how they twist everything into a commodity. The way they''d destroy resources, rather than let the people have them for even an ennie cheaper. Until you have a solution to all of them, you can''t change anything for long." Megan had cut to the heart of the problem.


    "I have an answer to that problem, right here. I''ll fill the world with clean water, and wholesome food. Charge folks little to nothing for access. I''ll eventually be able to out resource the Corps, but I''ll also need to be able to out fight them. Because as you pointed out, they''ll do anything to keep their control." I turned my gaze back towards the City. They knew the rest of the story about what I''d been working on since I got back here.


    "I hope none of this changes anything between us." I ended story time there. My voice was starting to get a little raspy, and I was just plain talked out. My eyes took in their looks at each other, and my brain knew that whole conversations were passed between them. Not that I could get anything out of those looks myself.


    Then I was being held, both forcefully and gently. Soon after but before I could comprehend what was going on, I was being kissed. Megan quickly mounted my lap, facing me. She held my face and applied soft but firm pressure to my lips with hers. My thoughts froze up for a second. Then her tongue slowly worked it''s way into my mouth. I was confused for a minute until my thoughts had caught up, right this was normal. Very warm and pleasant. I tried to mirror her movements, becoming more adept and eager with every passing second. Just as I was about to take the initiative, she broke off the contact and Sally pulled my face firmly to the side.


    Sally smashed her mouth into mine, allowing no time for adjustment. Oh. That was amazing. Sally was a fierce and demanding kisser. She wanted everything all at once and kept pushing for more of it. I felt like this was a battle and I''d better get with the program. I went on the attack trapping her tongue and pushing it around, making my own demands of her. I pulled back and nipped at her lips gently. Causing her to let out a giggle.


    Our make out session continued and it was as if time had slowed down. Everything had a slow building tension as we took turns exploring each others mouths. Our tongues were dancing, playing and searching for the next interesting reaction. Honestly, I''d never known that simple kissing could be so... exciting.


    It might even had led to other more interesting things, but we slowed down to soft caresses and more measured kisses, and then we stopped. It was extremely painful to do so as my excitement had reached near critical levels. Regrowth was no help at all, my biology was difficult to deny. Though when I cast it on them the ladies they both began to explode in ecstasy. Their cries made my problem worsen, soon the pain was almost blinding.


    It was a long few minutes until I could calm down. Well, I''d gotten my answer. I thought it was a good one.


    Eventually, after a quick Cleanse, we made our way over to where dinner was being served. Our faces were still flushed and we desperately wanted more.

 Chapter 31

    Over the next week we managed to bring a lot of changes to New Lordaeron. Starting with one of the most important features for a functioning society, a working sewage system. With scans from the Probes, my time in trade school, and the Lordaeronian Builders'' knowledge we managed to install plumbing in all the buildings. We established both a grey and black water system to improve treatment. While we had no need to reuse the water ourselves, I wanted to make sure we weren''t tainting any remaining water tables. The end result was basically using ionization fields generated via Pylons to separate impurities and then exposing those impurities to plasma based treatment from repurposed Photon Cannons. Yes, we were literally vaporizing the sludge using Photon Cannons. The remaining gases were captured with shields and disassembled at the Forges or converted into Vespene Gas. This had taken some trial and error to get right, but ultimately wasn''t anywhere near as complicated as it sounded.


    This week had also transformed Raynor into a very happy camper, he loved his new armor and the modified rifle I''d based on his old one. He was even showing a happier face while whipping the recruits into a more modernized fighting force. Once the recruits have been supplied with brand spanking new suits of power armor, Raynor had them live in them for the week. He even made the poor bastards sleep in them. I was waiting to design my own suit as I wanted to be able to incorporate all the adjustments and improvements testing was going to bring. It was absolutely not because I wanted to avoid Raynor''s training.


    All of our budding troops were quickly provided with newly made advanced rifles, also based off Raynor''s, with a lot of my own modification. A few hours each day was spent with them at the new shooting range where they were learning to use the new armaments as both battle rifles and assault weapons. Judging by the damage caused to the berm, the average gangoon was going to be about as threatening as a kitten. He taught them different formations and tactics, through endless drilling, and divided them into two five man squads.


    The completion of the Barracks hadn''t changed his training regimen. However, it did allow each of the recruits to be converted into Footmen which raised their physical performance quite a bit. They also ate a lot more, but that wasn''t a problem, we had more than enough rations stockpiled for quite a few months. The end of the week had brought the first three farms'' first harvests. We now had fresh corn, potatoes and beef, and I wasted no time in designing a huge grill and smoker for all our BBQ needs. Soon enough, brisket, ribs and steaks were available at meals. The Nomads had kicked in plenty of the synth spices that went into enhancing the flavor of our meals. Though I swore that I would one day have fresh herbs and spices to cook with. So I could knock the socks off of everyone.


    Raynor had mentioned that there had never been that much variety back on his family''s farm growing up. Worse he later got used to eating army rations, which were almost tasteless cubes of nutrients designed to keep you going and never spoil. While he quite enjoyed the excellent rations the Company sold us, that wasn''t enough in my book. Life owed this man a fucking badass homecooked meal of epic proportions, and I would deliver. For that matter, it was way more effective to sway folks'' opinions with food, than weapons.


    Project Underbridge had completed both of it''s first stages. The spiraling road down into the earth and the bridge itself were finished. Both structures had smaller gem sized Psicrystals embedded into the concrete at ten foot intervals both to extend the Psifield and to provide lighting. At night the bridge glowed with a soft blue light. A Pylon extending a cloaking field, at the center of the span, covered the structure from prying eyes. I had taken to going down there a lot with Sally and Megan, just to enjoy a different view of the canyon. From there, I could see the the outflow of water from the Valley had formed a small lake. That lake was acting as the head waters of a stream running off to the northwest. It wasn''t much yet, but it was growing by the day, and might eventually rival the Colorado river.


    Speaking of Sally and Megan, we continued our new found pastime of making out every chance we got. Our latest date, saw us having a picnic in the middle of the the bridge. We sat on a blanket laid on the concrete while enjoying a picnic together. We spoke of our dreams and goals, and that had led us into another passionate afternoon of kissing and petting. The talking did bring some perspective on a few of the reasons why we were hitting it off so fast.


    "We usually find that anybody interested in one of us, is only interested in one of us. We''d decided when we were little, that we''d never be apart any longer than we had to be, and so anybody we were with, had to be okay with that. Surprisingly, most men aren''t okay with that, stupid Gonks." Megan explained nearly breathless from the latest round of making out. Her shrug carried a hint of confusion, and more than a little emotional pain. She quickly returned to seeing if she could find all the secrets hidden in my mouth. A bit later Sally added another piece of the puzzle.


    "We love each other, but neither of us are into girls really. We fool around sure, but we''re just the best of Chooms. So we figured we''d be able to share a serious partner if it came down to it. Plus, getting attached to non-Nomads wasn''t ever going to be a good option, until we met you. Nomad society has some odd rules about the whos and hows of relationships in the Clans." Sally plowed into the topic full speed ahead. Words were snapped out between our lip wrestling and her version of sensual massage jujitsu. Later still Megan fielded an expansion on Sally''s explanation.


    "You''re the first input we''ve met that hasn''t tried to cut one of us out. Usually, it''s because they want to take one of us back to their family." Megan expounded, with her swollen lips and shimmering eyes full of pleasure.


    "Of course, it helps that you make us feel special and new to all of this." Sally liked to run hands over my new abs. I whispered a thank you to my Paladin class.


    "I am new to all of this, and just so happy to be here with you ladies. I was starting to think I''d end up alone for the rest of my life. I enjoy being with you both, and would be overjoyed if we could be together as long as you two can stand me." I had a smile on my face, but I don''t think it was a happy one. Wistful maybe. Basically this was working because I wasn''t trying to tear them apart, though I still couldn''t understand how anyone wouldn''t want to be with both of them. Eh their loss, my gain.


    "Oh you are just sooo hard to get along with Ryan." Megan chuckled as she hugged me, pulling my face down to demand another round of deep kissing. She was eager to get back into our current session. She also had a thing about running her hands through my hair, she liked the texture, and I liked the feeling of her fingers carding through my locks. They both really enjoyed that I had figured out how to trickle my mana into my kisses and caresses, they said it felt like a shot of pure joy. The reality is that I figured it out because I was trying to mitigate the after effects of our fun times on my anatomy. Running mana through my body slowly helped out when it came to dealing with the pain of being overly simulated. It was like trying to cast a spell but stopping right at the cusp of ignition. Soon I had both of them purring to my rhythm. I found that I relished taking the lead.


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    Sally slugged my shoulder, "I still don''t believe you weren''t fending girls off all the time." She had recently become fascinated with my ears and more specifically nibbling on my earlobes. It never failed to bring a shiver to my spine. She whispered, "We''re going to make you all ours, and too bad for all those other bitches." As she started to nip at the rim of my left ear, I could feel her sincerity.


    What a fun date.


    The start of the second week since the arrival of the Aldecaldos brought good news. Amanda had arranged a meeting with the other leaders of the families making up the Aldecaldos. At this get together we should be able to ratify some kind of treaty. She had set the time for the meeting as today at Dakota''s. Which would allow us to drop off lumber and some of the excess fresh food.


    Nolan, Guzman and I had been working on some of the cars, while groups of Nomad teens were loading lumber onto Nolan''s flatbed. Megan and Sally had loaded themselves into Sally''s Mackinaw, the bed of which was weighed down with 10 full 55 gallon water barrels. Amanda spent a few minutes speaking to Raynor before she got into her Javelina. Hmm, what was going on there? Seems that my earlier suspicions were well founded. If they were seeing each other, good for them. I grinned at the thought of the two stern personalities finding each other to be pleasant company.


    Speaking of Amanda''s Javelina, I was almost comfortable enough with changing its schematics to attempt my first Khalai/Terran tech hybrid car. It would have to wait a little longer, since I wanted to nail down a few more small details. Above all I had to really capture the power and style of the Javelina while utilizing the Protoss tech to it''s fullest, in the hope that a great beast of a car could be born.


    One of the Sentinels, that I had dubbed Rick because he hummed the Rick Astley song, would be guarding us today. He was one from a batch of newer streamlined models, and fit nicely on top of my Villefort Columbus V340-F Freight. Buzz and Jitters along with two new knuckleheaded Probes, were riding in the van itself. One of the new Probes was named Mort, because he always seemed depressed. the other was dubbed Glen, because he seemed to like the Valley''s trees often just floating there staring at them.


    Thankfully, nothing much happened on the way to the isolated garage. We pulled up to find the area awash with Nomads and their vehicles. These were just the leaders close enough to get here in a single day, and their closest advisors and a few extra gun hands to keep things civil. That ended up being more bodies than I imagined would show up. I parked at the edge of everything and slowly got out. My clothing and armor would set me apart, and I didn''t want an incident before we''d even had a chance to start speaking. I walked slowly towards where Sally had parked her pride and joy. I figured hanging around the ladies would at least buy me a moment of talking time before any trouble kicked off.


    Megan had spent an hour or so briefing me on these families of Aldecaldos, and how they all had more than a few veterans from some war down south. Militech had screwed most of them over and they were rightfully twitchy about unknown faces sometimes. She suggested that I be on my best behavior until introductions could be made. As I altered course to join the ladies, a woman launched a flying hug at Megan. "Megan! How''ve you been?"


    She was about 5''10" with deep brown hair and dark eyes. Her hug crushed Megan with boa constrictor levels of power. Megan expelled all her air rapidly and flailed her arms ineffectually. She tried to say something, but couldn''t draw enough breath to form words. Seeing the commotion, Sally howled with glee, "Panam you ol'' witch leave Megan alone and come get a real hug." She stood in a heroic pose, back braced with her enhanced arms opened wide.


    "Oh hell no, you boar bitch. I''ll stick with miss soft and squishy here." Panam rubbed her face against Megan''s, which was starting to turn a worrying shade of blue. I cleared my throat. Panam pulled away from crushing Megan to get a look at me. Megan gasped for air whispering, "I thought that was going to be the end..."


    "Well, hello there. You must be Ryan. I''m Panam." She thrust her hand out while stepping towards me, "Any friend of the terrible twosome is alright by me." I raised my eyebrow at the new moniker, glanced at Sally to see her blushing in embrassessment. Oh ho! That was some major ammo for later teasing. I locked that tidbit up safe in my mind''s vault. I firmly shook Panam''s hand. It was rough and calloused, this was a Lady not afraid of hard work. My favorite kind of person.


    "I''m Ryan. Nice to meet you." I gave her my best smile.


    "Have him heal you! Come on! You''ll love it!" Sally slapped Panam''s shoulder knocking her into me. Sally always wanted me to work my magic on people, she thought it was so funny to see the look on their faces. I usually decided to oblige her, this time was no different. A Regrowth was shaped in seconds and soon sent a small surge of mana deep into Panam''s body.


    "Ooooooooo!" Panam started convulsing. Her face screwed up in a beautiful combination of pain and pleasure. This was a type of expression I was becoming very familiar with from my ladies. Panam''s was maybe the best reaction I''d seen to date. She must really have been pent up, her sexual response was through the roof. Sadly, her body was full of micro fractures and muscle tears, all signs of hard living that had built up over the years. Now it was all being washed away in a steady stream of my mana. While something about this felt wrong, I had to admit, I was starting to enjoy the overwhelmed expressions on her face. Especially the moment when she stopped resisting and gave in to the pleasure. Perhaps it was wrong to indulge Sally''s mischief, but I''d be lying if I said I didn''t also find it amusing.


    A moment later, Panam slumped over into Sally''s waiting arms. Sally giggled while wrapping her arms around her friend. All the while whispering something into Panam''s ear. Panam''s eyes snapped open, and her cheeks flushed bright pink. Her eyes fell on me, "B-b-buy a girl dinner first! Whoo, I don''t have any socks left." She turned her face toward Sally, "You lucky bitches having this preem input whenever you want."


    I hummed a question. Megan leaned into my side, "Don''t worry about it. Those two have had a rivalry for years. Same kind of truck, same kind of rifle, same sassy attitude. If it wasn''t for the hair, eyes and slightly different taste in fashion, you''d think they were clones or something." I snorted in amusement.


    "Well, I suppose I''ll have to let you heal me after all Medicine Man." A flat and deeply sarcastic voice sounded behind us. Yeah, of course, it was Dakota. She had been with Amanda, and a few other serious looking people. My guess, these grim looking folks were the leaders of their families. Panam''s little episode had attracted more than a bit of attention. Judging by one older man''s expression, I say he was her leader and likely more. Nah that glare was too personal, her father perhaps. How unfortunate.


    I sighed. "Sure, Dakota whenever you''re ready." Don''t think I''ll hold back on you either, you crazy wench. Some evil little gremlin in my head longed to hear her scream my name. I might have a problem.


    "Perhaps when the moon glow covers the land''s face." She half laughed at her own cleverness. Okay, whatever that meant. I was going to enjoy scrambling her brain. Well, scrambling it a bit more anyway.


    I really needed to have my head examined. I was getting villainish.

 Chapter 32

    "Dakota, I''m going to give your garage a gift." My eyes met hers. Somehow, I was pretty sure she was only half as crazy as she played at. Not that I had any room to criticize, I was chock full of issues.


    "What the wind brings, I won''t refuse." She shrugged. So, I''m the wind, huh. Flitting here and there bound only by my own whims. We''ll see about that.


    I had the Probes assemble my latest creation above the roof of her Garage. I was tentatively calling it a War Pylon. Three double sized Khaydarin Crystals were merged into a single unit. This core was surrounded by two large rotating control rings. Each ring was fitted with three blue glowing hard points beside which floated half size Photon Cannons emitters. Its huge Psifield dampened only by the equally huge cloaking field. It served as a defensive turret, concealment, energy supply and communications relay. Its current range reached all the way back to New Lordaeron. A very useful multipurpose structure. There was a beauty to its madness.


    "So ugly." Dakota grunted. I almost shot her right then and there.


    The crazy coyote lady turned back towards me. Startled she looked all around, confusion etched into her features. It was like she''d lost something. Heh. Of course, that was because she could no longer see me or anyone I''d come with. Even our vehicles would''ve seemed to have vanished. Her dumbfounded expression was glorious. That expression was soon carried by all the Nomads not on my exceptions list. They all started searching frantically for any sign of where we had gone. Amanda started chuckling which soon degraded into howling in laughter. Sally and Megan were right behind her their eyes glittering with the desire to commit mischief upon their kinsmen.


    Taking pity upon the rest of the Aldecaldos, I had the field exclude us for now. They all jumped like startled cats as we just reappeared. Ha. "While my new toy is active, no one can spy on us. Even if, by some miracle, they did find a way to see through the cloaking field, the cannons would make short work of anything they sent our way." I glared at her, daring her to badmouth my creation again. I was deeply offended by her calling my ingenuity called ugly. Megan grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze to get me to refocus. It worked even, if I still grumbled, under my breath, about ungrateful wenches.


    Dakota looked at the Pylon then back at me then back at the Pylon. She smiled. It was a bright joyous smile, I had just fulfilled one of her deepest wishes. "Good job, Medicine Man." Scoffing at her antics, I pulled Megan in for an aggressive kiss. I signaled the Pylon cover everyone with the cloaking field. As far as any satellite was concerned there was now nothing there, just more desert.


    I freed myself from a suddenly breathless, glowing Megan. "With that out of the way, we should be just about ready to get down to business." I called everyone attention back to me. "But first... " Several of the teens we had brought along unloaded the water barrels and crates of food into a loose cluster by the garage. I gestured to the pile. "I come bearing gifts."


    The Nomads were eager to examine all the piles thoroughly. Most were quick to take cups of water from a hastily opened barrel. Exclamations rang out at its purity and flavor. Moon Well water always tasted light and sweet and the mana never failed to tickled the tongue. That''s right everyone, I had the best water. The best on this whole damned rock.


    After the food crates were opened, makeshift grills where rapidly erected and a cook out started up. The smell of sizzling beef and roasting corn and potatoes wafted over the area. All part of my dastardly plans, like my Mom had always said it''s better to start any dealings with a meal. Then you know that when people are being rude it isn''t because they are hungry, that''s just how they are.


    Well except for the guy still trying to kill me with his eyeballs. I leaned my head down to Megan''s ear, "Who''s Grumpy over there?"


    "Hmmm? Oh, that''s Saul. Panam''s dad." I could feel her evil grin, "He''s not ever going to like you, so you might as well get used to the idea. To be fair, he wouldn''t have liked you even before you rocked his daughter''s world. He''s way too cautious and thrives on controlling every little detail." She waved her hand towards the offending man, earning us both an even deeper scowl.


    "Lovely." I muttered. Someday having fun with women was going to invite more trouble than I could deal with. But not this day. I pulled Megan into another saucy round of tongue wrestling.


    Once everyone had been fed, we started the negotiations. Since I didn''t really want anything from them, my offer was was pretty simple. All I asked from them was news about other cities and the shifting condition of the wilds between them. Well that, and their friendship. In return they would get access to any Outposts I owned, a fair cut of any trades they help to transport, and most importantly knowledge of where some of the hidden reservoirs where once they where built. I threw in preferred trading status for any products, including food, made in any of my future locations.


    To peak their interest more, I showed off the modifications to my Omaha and armor. While excellent, I didn''t actually expect any of that to blow their minds. Though the shielding got a lot of attention. Sally showed off the new Special Operations Rifle based off Raynor''s huge weapon. It had to be her, I couldn''t handle the thing. I hadn''t realized it at the time, but Raynor''s damned monster was a gauss rifle, launching depleted uranium rounds at near relativistic speeds. The ability to precisely manipulate magnetic fields of the Khalai tech as well as substituting crysbronze alloy bullets took the weapon from a devastating anti-tank weapon to truly nightmare levels of damage. Not only was it half the weight, it could fire almost as fast as a Copperhead. When Raynor had first fired the new model his resulting comment was, "Ultralisk, who?" I had no idea who or what an Ultralisk was, but Jim seemed mighty impressed.


    While the SOR was still a little too large for indoor work, I had a cut down model on my too do list, along with a new full auto shotgun design.


    The Nomads loved the ridiculous damage and proportionately low recoil. Who wouldn''t? Sadly, I wasn''t ready to show off the power armor to outsiders yet, but I wasn''t going to hold it back from my allies either. I just wanted to get its functions smoothed out and some safeguards worked out for if anyone turned on me. Hey, I''m new to this, not stupid.


    When the show and tell portion was finished, I presented they with a simple contract clearly stating the aforementioned terms. All in plain, everyday English. Wouldn''t you know it, most signed on the spot. I had no illusions that it was due to my winning personality, or even my amazing goods on offer. No, it was that Amanda trusted me. Everything else was just frosting. Still a few wanted something else.


    At first I thought it was greed. Which was an easily dealt with snag, but no, they just wanted to wait until I had "proven" myself to them. Alright, I told them that if they clearly defined what that meant I''d be more than happy to prove myself. The hazing that followed was more annoying than anything else. A lot of silly little fucking tasks design to embarrass me, or make me uncomfortable. Jokes on them I''m always uncomfortable. I put up with it for a few hours before I just started laughing after they wanted me to do the Chipmunk song and dance for the zillionth time. I get it, my performance was masterful, but come on! Then there was the drinking. I had to drink them under the table. Not that there was a table just a camp fire that we had to avoid stumbling into after more than a few bottles of snakebite moonshine had made the rounds.


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    Argh, never drinking again. Just kidding! Regrowth and Purify took care of all my troubles and Cleanse cleared up all of the resulting mess. By that point, I was enjoyed watching them all have a few moments of extreme discombobulation. Finally, everyone had signed except sourpuss Saul. He said he''d only sign if I let him punch me as hard as he could. I briefly thought about shooting him and just dealing with Panam afterwards. Nah, she''d probably be pissed. So, I let the gonk pop me one right in the kisser. With my new higher body stat, it was not so bad. Sure it hurt, but no where near as bad as it should have. I suspect my face did more damage to his fist than the reverse. I stared him in the eyes the whole time, trying to let him know, I was absolutely going to pay him back one day.


    He kept his word and signed the damned contract. Now I was 1000 Company Points and an Adjutant Token richer. Go me.


    Was it worth it?


    A short while later, I gave that wily wench Dakota the option to lay down, on her couch, to avoid certain difficulties. She''d taken me up on the offer for healing and we entered her private office in the garage, Megan and Sally were hanging around with matching looks of demented anticipation. Either they didn''t like Dakota very much, or they liked her a little too much. I''d have to look into that one later. Hmm. I pulled a chair over beside the crazy lady and plopped down. Truth be told, even with a few casts of Regrowth snuck in here and there I was feeling a bit tipsy still. Maybe, my lingering sloshing might be because I''ve been working a little too hard, and not getting enough sleep. But there was too much to get done to really relax.


    Eh, not like I had a choice. Not really. I wanted the best for people in general and even better for MY people. That was a weird thought to me, my people. Who the fuck was I to have people? Nah, let not start, I''ve been down this self-inflicted rabbit hole before. Focus, I was getting too caught up in my thoughts and concerns. Concentrate on the moment. I had a crazy lady to heal.


    I placed my right hand on Dakota''s stomach. As the first pulse of my mana crashed through her body, I started to get a sense of how unbelievably messed up she really was under all that odd rambling. Botched cyberware was damaging the organs around them. Followed by so many residual injures that had never healed completely. There were remnants of  gunshots wounds, marks left by blade damage, and the leftovers of massive impact trauma. A high speed car crash was my guess. Her lungs were garbage, they''d been seared by chemical cocktails and what felt like actual fire damage. Lastly, her digestive system was barely held together by hope and prayer. No telling want had caused all of this mess. Did she swallow razor blades at some point?


    I turned to Sally and Megan, "This is going to take a while. Brace yourselves." That made them laugh for some reason but I''d already started muttering about stupid doctors and crazy bitches that let themselves get wrecked this bad. After the first minute I''d dug deeper into the Regrowth spell than ever before. I''d begun to instinctively alter the shape of the mana flow and poured every bit of energy I could scrap together through the new shape. Yes, that pattern worked much better. The mana seemed to almost gain a will of its own as it rampaged through her body. It possessed a primal hatred of the injures and a burning desire to fix the broken flesh. A chiming sound rang through my head, though I was lost in the task, trying to wrangle the energy to focus on one injury at a time


    A small corner of my mind noted that her voice rose dramatically in pitch and volume, heh. Let''s see how like a coyote you really are. Her cries of joy and pain joined the world in fading out as I increased my concentration on the spell.


    When I became aware of my surroundings again, I heard a hoarse groaning and grunting, tinged in ecstasy. The body under my hand jerked and twitched in involuntary reactions to having been overwhelmed in mana induced pleasure.


    "You''re back with us? Good. You really worked her over good. She didn''t stop howling the whole two hours you where working on her." Megan was running her fingers through my hair. That felt nice.


    "Hahaha! I love it, you marvelous bastard. The legendary Dakota screaming like a new XBD porn starlet. Next target, Rogue herself." Sally gave me a crushing hug, from behind, I didn''t mind. Her body was a joy to be pressed against.


    "Who''s Rogue?" I was very woozy after burning all of that mana. Also, I felt cold. Likely a side-effect, I''d never noticed before, from the overuse of magic. I''ll have to look into that later.


    Both ladies started cracking up. "She only the most preem and baddest bitch in all of Night city. She owns the Afterlife. That''s THE place for the best mercs and runners in the city and maybe the world." Megan had started rubbing the tips of my ears. Heavens, I really liked that.


    "We could end up there someday soon. Especially once you start making waves, She''ll want you under her thumb. Don''t let her play you." Sally growled at the thought of this Rogue getting her hands on me. And yet, they wanted me to get my hands on her? Make that make sense.


    I stared at the mess I''d made of Dakota, who still spasmed in a gurgling tangle. I was somewhat curious if she would thank me or curse me when she regained her senses. Could go either way. If she did end up cursing me, at least she''d be doing it with a healthy body. She already looked years younger, which was another side effect of healing that most women would be thankful for, or so I hoped. Sally and Megan both looked almost eighteen again. I''d long since returned to looking like a baby faced version of me.


    I won''t lie, my session working on Dakota made me feel both fulfilled and yet eager to grab Sally and Megan and rush home to get them to express some more interesting sounds. The last few times the ladies had, after some conversation, made sure not to leave me hanging after our fun time. I was quite over having testicle cramps after our sessions. Thankfully they took a certain level of satisfaction from seeing how much they could get me to react to their ministrations, though it always seemed to devolve into pushing my limits to see if I would loose control and ravage them. One day, and probably soon, I would give in and take them, but not yet.


    I wanted something from them first. though I wasn''t quite sure what it was. Also I wanted to have something amazing to give them before we took that last step into a deeper relationship. I''d also like to know that everything was as safe for us as could be before we lost ourselves in the dance of passion. I had a feeling that once that door was open we''d spend ages lost in the throughs of each others bodies.


    For now, hands and mouths were enough. And in the depths of my darkest thoughts, I enjoyed knowing I could turn them into puddles of mush at my whim while they had to work hard to achieve anything approaching similar results. Mana was very much like cheating at life, and I loved it. I supposed I wasn''t as much of a good guy as I had thought. But fuck it, I''m going to seize what ever happiness I could from this situation.


    Once we had indulged thoroughly in our passions, they fell asleep, leaving me to my thoughts.


    I wondered if it was the classes affecting my mentality. A more primal nature from the Druid class, the desire to experiment and refine results from the Warp-Smith, physical dominance from the Paladin. While I''d never been a push over, I certainly seemed to be getting more aggressive as my time here progressed. How far would I go?


    I was loath to bother Meadran with my concerns unless it was a critical problem. He needed soon rest after all of the activity of our transfer here. Not to mention, he needed plenty of time to absorb more mana, and fully integrate with this world. I didn''t know how I knew that, but it was an idea that rose up when I thought of him, and I had no reason to doubt it. Faergin would soon be rooting as well, another thought that just shifted from the void. So I shouldn''t put to much on his shoulders either. Lumi, when I''d brought it up, the other day, said I worried too much. His mindset was that having Power was good, and having control was good. Being the one with both was best. It seemed simple, but in practice, I was a long way off from being in control.


    Raynor had just snorted at me, saying "Don''t worry, Hoss. You go bad and I have this great rifle you gave me." He patted the rifle with a fatherly touch, not even looking at me.


    He was joking, right?

 Chapter 33

    After napping off our first session Sally and Megan drew me into another impromptu impassioned "treatment". They had been inflamed by my work on Dakota. I suppose that made it my duty, to see to their "cure". They in turn took care of my growing "problem". We collapsed into a sweaty heap afterward and had slept deeply. Hopefully, our riotous noise didn''t keep anyone else up. Heh.


    When we all got moving the next morning, I had a few ideas I wanted to run by them. A few thoughts on how to knock out one of my quests before we headed back to New Lordaeron. Specifically, the reclaiming of our first outpost. Between the new War Pylons'' cloaking fields and cannons, we should be able to sneak a few buildings in right under Arasaka''s nose. No muss, no fuss. Then I''d gain a new Hero to add to the roster. My hope was that they would have a set of skills conducive to help me take care of the long list of other quests. Between Megan, Sally, Raynor and myself, we should be able to handle most issues, but we needed a real badass to make absolutely sure that any fight ended in our favor.


    As much as my Paladin class had helped me to bulk up physically, I was nowhere near ready for the front line. I required more training and a restructuring of my role in combat. Right now, I was mostly pigeonholed into a supporting role. Fixing damage, cleaning up afterward, and increasing the abilities of my team. While there was nothing shameful in that, being the medic still didn''t sit well with me. Not sure why, but I wanted to be the one in the lead. I wanted to be the one to protect the ladies and my people. I don''t think I had a hero complex, but at that moment I wasn''t sure what my motivations were. Except perhaps a fear of being left behind.


    However, my time in the city with the Probes had taught me that I''m not that guy. It drilled that fact in deep. But I had a feeling that with the help of the Great Tree System I could become that guy, and so much more. All it would take is time and experience.


    Speaking of roles, Raynor and Sally filled the same job in a fight. Ranged overwatch. Though with his Power Armor Raynor serving up close mayhem wasn''t too much of a problem. I''d have to talk the ladies into getting fitted for power armor. Then I''d finish the designs for mine as well.


    When I ran the my idea by everyone, I got a surprising array of responses. Raynor thought it best for him and Amanda to head back to New Lordaeron. Amanda thought it was a great idea, so long as we were slow and careful. Sally and Megan threatened to cut off my balls, if I tried not to take them. Alright, I had no problems with any of those stances. Except the cutting off my balls part, I needed those.


    A few hours later, we were sitting in the Mackinaw about half a mile from the ridge line surrounding the old cyberware plant. Rick, Mort and Glen had detached from the vehicle, already scouting the immediate area for trouble. Buzz and Jitters had returned along with my van back to New Lordaeron.


    The working plan was that the girls and I would be on overwatch, while Mort and Glen would sneak with Rick to place the first War Pylon. The Sentry''s shield ability should be able to protect the Pylon long enough to finish forming if they were spotted. Though if everything went well, Rick''s abilities would never be needed. Unfortunately, I was stuck watching the rear again. Heh.


    Strangely enough, no Arasaka employee was visible anywhere near the plant, but the remains of their efforts to sterilize the area were. Which served as a grim reminder of how quickly things could go wrong. I took up the task of watching the desert and pretended that I didn''t want to watch Sally squeeze off a few rounds just to observe the effect on her "assets". There was something fascinating to me about a woman with a big gun. Ugh, what am I, a fucking teenager? Focus up moron. Silly jokes about anatomy can come later.


    I''ve noticed that events seemed to repeat, if you don''t make significant changes between cycles. What people consider asymmetric or abnormal professions, with exciting jobs such as merc work, still developed into routines. "This job" looked a lot like "that job" from five years ago. That would bother some people, but me, I liked routine. I enjoyed having a nicely organized plan. Everything according to a schedule. Sally did not, She was constantly trying to "Shake things up". Starting fights and arguments with anyone out of boredom. A real shit stirrer as my Dad would have said. She was your best friend. Right up until there was nothing else to do, and then she''d punch you in the nose, just to break up the quiet.


    Where Sally''s motives were an effort to keep thing interesting, Megan was a person that loved chaos for its own sake. On the surface, she seemed organized and well put together, but underneath that image, she sought out trouble. She delighted in impish behavior, moving things out of their proper places, dropping uncomfortable facts at the worst possible time. She was always poking her nose into every little tidbit of info, just so she''d have ammunition to fuck with you more. It was one of the biggest reasons why these two women came as a set. Other folks had a hard time dealing with all their messes. I was still figuring out how we fit together, but I was learning to dig their quirks. As long as they didn''t point that shit at me.


    In moments like these, they put all of that aside and did their jobs with resolute focus. Because their preferred behaviors could get them killed, especially out here in the Badlands. They had learned to block out their impulses, just as I was now having to learn that same lesson. Here I was again, fighting boredom, while somehow feeling stressed out. My mind was running a million miles an hour while my eyes scanned the scrublands attempting not to miss the slightest detail. Nothing moved, even the usual shimmer in the air from the hot breezes were missing. Something about that bothered me.


    I started concentrating even harder on my task, I couldn''t quite put my finger on it but something was wrong. ''I can''t see anything, but something''s off.'' I messaged the ladies. I pulled my pistol and scanned around the area, fruitlessly. Still nothing, but that feeling wasn''t going away. Fuck it, I cast an Entangle, changing the standard shape of the spell so that a small wall of grasping vines rose out of the baked ground. I repeated the process a few times, quickly we had a solid living wall protecting us from anything that might be in the desert.


    My suspicion was that there was an asshole using some form of optical camouflage creeping up on us. Next I cast Growth on the walls I had surrounded us with, the masses of vegetation erupted into giant edifices of plant life. Every branch was reaching out and probing the area all in the drive to gather prey.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Ahhhh! What the fuck is this shit?" The voice came from off to my right and I hustled over to get a look at our peeping tom. The vines of the entangling walls instinctively knew to avoid grabbing me, though they did rub against me a few times. What was that about? Getting to know me? When I caught sight of our voyeur, he was hanging upside down and cursing up a storm. It looked so stupid that I couldn''t help but start laughing my head off.


    "Hey! You rusting Gonk get this thing off me. Stop fucking laughing and let me out, you fucking scopmuncher." His gear covered his whole body, including his face. All black and obviously high-end.


    "Yeah, I don''t think so slick. You can stay right there until we''re done." Speaking of. ''How are we doing ladies?'' I sent.


    ''Almost finished.'' Megan returned. I ducked back around the leafy wall for a few more minutes. There was no sense in standing out in the open.


    I felt the changes in the environment as the Pylon finished. Haha, now it didn''t matter. I let my spells go and while the giant shrubs remained, they''d lost their animated qualities. Which meant that ol'' lookie-loo could stay right where he was. Hmm. Maybe we should take him with us, when we headed back, dig into him for any info from his employer. Nah, that''d probably end up being more hassle than it was worth.


    Since no one could see or hear us any longer, I rejoined the girls. I ordered Mort and Glen to layout a Forge, a Cybernetics Core and Robotics Facility. That should be enough to count as an Outpost. I''ll also queue up a few Sentries before we leave.


    We cuddled in the shade of the bushes, while the rest of the buildings were forming. Half and hour later, I received 3000 CPoints and a Hero Token.


    I had a damned good feeling about this token.


    Once we made it back to New Lordaeron, the ladies ran off to see if my pet Bath House project was finished. I''d based the design off my, admittedly limited, studies of Roman, Turkish and Japanese style baths. The process was simple, clean yourself off in the showers, then you could choose your temperature of pool to relax in. There were ten pools ranging from just shy of boiling to just shy of freezing. I liked to take a dunk in the coldest pool at the end to really shock my system, but most folks would just act like a normal person and proceed straight to drying off. We had built giant air dryers, if you didn''t like towels, though we had plenty of those as well. We left it all up to personal preference. The best part was that the Moon Well water had all kinds of health benefits, like making one''s skin super smooth and silky to the touch. The regenerative properties alone where worth the effort to visit daily.


    What was I doing again? Oh right my new tokens. First let''s try the Adjutant so that maybe I would no longer have to deal with any of the day to day operations. Or at least I could stop feeling bad when I ran off to take care of other problems.


    [ Do you wish to use Adjutant token? Y/N ]


    "Yes."


    [ You have Obtained the Adjutant, Jaina Proudmoore ]


    [ Note: Adjutants can access the Company Store, and may spent any points you have granted them access to. Addendum; this Adjutant is also a Hero, they are a potent Archmage. To prevent abuse of the token system Adjutants are not allowed to fight except in defense of themselves or your Main Base. ]


    "Hello My Lord." Said the Lady that had just popped into existence. She was tall and blonde, wearing fancy robes in blues and whites with golden trim. Between her clothes and her carriage, and her posture everything about her spoke of nobility. I had a sense that this was someone used to getting their way. Her staff was a work of art with a large blue gem shaped almost like a spear''s blade and point. Mana flowed and swirled around her, but her mana was different. There was something more constrained about it than the mana I used, more structured maybe. It felt like the ocean and the rain, also rivers and lakes. However, a deep feeling of coldness permeated it as if her mana was trying to drain all the heat from the environment and it was just enough for regular people to notice the chill.


    "Lady Proudmoore. Welcome to New Lordaeron." What was coming out of my mouth? "This is a humble place for now, but we are growing rapidly." Did my back just straighten? Was I putting on airs? What the...


    "New Lordaeron? Are we still on Azeroth then?" She was looking around taking it all in. To her credit, no disdain crossed her features. There was, instead, a sense of protectiveness about her.


    "No, this is Earth." I gave her the a brief run down of this version''s of Earth''s history and major events, as I guided her around the town and the Valley. Then I explained my part in all of this, as well as my current goals, limited though they were. I introduced her to Raynor and Amanda, who it seemed were enjoying each other''s company over dinner. Nolan, Guzman and Marshall Dughan were the next to be met. Dughan even went down on a knee to greet her, ever the proper knight. Their conversation if you can call it that, showed they had a lot of shared knowledge, though some events differed great between their versions of Azeroth. So they came from similar background? That was very Interesting.


    Finally, we ran into Megan and Sally who were just coming out of the Bath House. I took my leave of them while they were chatting in that way women have, that switches subjects way too fast for me to keep up with. That should be fine, right? They seemed to be getting along famously. I had other business to attend to.


    I flipped the Hero token out. Yes, I could feel that this one was special. Here we go.


    [ Do you wish to use Hero token? Y/N ]


    "Yes."


    [ You have Obtained the Hero, John Wick ]


    My brain stopped dead. John Wick, THE John Wick. Perhaps the most gloriously badass movie assassin, ever. Holy. Fucking. Shit! That''s it boys, we can go home now, because Mr. Wick will handle it.


    Dayum!


    There he was in all his dark brooding glory. Impeccable suit and all. I could immediately tell that this wasn''t the Wick of the movies I was familiar with. He was younger for one thing, maybe in his late thirties. Somehow he was gaunter, harder, and grimmer looking that any version of Mr. Wick that I''d ever seen before. Yet he was still unmistakably the same deadly man. Calm down, fool you''ll get us killed.


    "Mr. Wick, thank you for joining us." I held out my hand to shake, trying not to think of all the ways he could kill me. He shook my hand and I could feel all the callouses of endless training and hard work. Yeesh, made me feel like I needed to hit the gym more, and that was after my Paladin upgrade.


    "Yeah." That''s it. A man of few words, Mr. Wick was. He scanned the area and probably had instantly plotted how everyone nearby would die if that was his mission.


    It might have been more comfortable to stand next to Thanatos himself, because Death was never supposed to be a man. Yet here he was, reeking of all the folks he had slain. He even had a torrent of shadowy mana surging around him, it carried a feeling of precise, cold, and calculated killing. He was perfect for our needs. Once we geared him up, we merely had to point out a target and that was it. No more target.


    I gave him the same spiel as Jaina, but I could tell he didn''t really care. Make no mistake, he absorbed the information, so that it could be used to better eliminate targets. But he wasn''t concerned over the politics of the Corpos or the squabbling of the Gangs. He had no loyalties to anyone but me. Suddenly, I understood Gandalf''s statements about the one ring a little better. This was indeed a power too great and terrible. Yet, unlike others, I was going to fucking use it.


    If it wasn''t for the need to check back in with the ladies, I would have already been in the Forge with him right then, getting him armed and armored.


    Most of my people, hardly reacted to Mr. Wick''s presence. In fact, only Raynor really understood what Mr. Wick was. And Jim was not a happy camper about the assassin joining our forces.


    "Hoss, that''s not a man. That''s a gun that walks."


    Yeah, my gun.

 Chapter 34

    Within a few days, my new house was finished. Jaina had insisted that my abode was the first major project of her appointment. According to her reasoning, my status was a direct reflection upon the status of the community. In other words, the more put together I appeared the more that both our citizens and any visitors would believe in our strength. Even more importantly, her stance was that my home reflected upon the prosperity of New Lordaeron. She had a point, it would be hard for new folks to respect a person sleeping on the ground. They shouldn''t knock it though, that purple grass was quite comfortable.


    She had my new lair constructed higher up on the mountainside, an excellent position from which to oversee the town. The rest of the view was nice as well, or it would be once we brought more life back to the Badlands. While my new home was not the largest structure in our humble town, it was the most ornate. Jaina had discovered that the assemblers in the Forges and the Probes could output just about any material in any form. This was predicated on having a deep scan of the materials recorded. Then she had also discovered that they could apply pretty much any color to a material on a molecular scale. As a result, the outer walls of my new home were clad in gold veined blue marble blocks.


    When I confronted her on those choices, she replied that everything looked not only impressively wealthy but was also beautiful. I certainly couldn''t argue against that, I was just salty because I felt like a poser living in an opulent mini-palace. At least the inside was finished in more subdued rich dark woods. Solid seamless pieces of wood that would have been impossible normally.


    My new Adjutant had really enjoyed utilizing the capabilities of Khalai manufacturing. Everything was engraved or enameled or embossed in scenes of my time in this world. Some areas had images of stories as told by Sally or Megan. I actually enjoyed looking at these specific versions of my tales given a visual form. Though they all painted me in a flattering light.


    The footprint of the building wasn''t as large as I had at first assumed, but my micro-palace was three stories of small scale majesty. The top floor was a suite of rooms centered around my bed and bathing rooms. A tiny library/den, a sitting room, a decently organized closet which was currently empty. Also a small armory slash workstation, for if the mood to tinker struck but I didn''t have time to get to one of the Forges. The second floor was much the same, minus the armory, and set aside for important guests or dignitaries. The ground floor had the kitchen, but the majority of it was taken up by the Meeting Area. This room was totally "not" a modestly sized throne room. Yeah, my new rather large, not at all a throne, chair was at the very least pleasant to sit upon. A little too much gold embellishment for my tastes, and were those fucking rubies in the eyes of the wolves heads carved into the armrests. Yes. Yes they were.


    At this point, I was wondering why the Khalai didn''t just buy the human factions off. Upon reflection, it had probably never occurred to them. Both their unique physiology and advanced technology meant that material goods didn''t matter to them. They didn''t need food, they barely needed sleep. Their society was centered around honor and purpose, something humans had a hard time with living up to. If I could bring a fraction of their drive into my work, I''d be years ahead of where I was now. Was it any wonder they didn''t understand how to deal with humans?


    Enough contemplation, it was time to get some rest on my new giant, and very comfy bed, with the ladies. There was no pleasure so grand as having the company of two very lovely women in the bed with you. I highly recommend it.


    The next day saw me working with Mr. Wick. He was running drills, and the cracks of gunfire happened so fast that it became one continuous sound. Mr. Wick was trying out a variety of guns I had assembled with him in mind. Using a variant on the Unity, he just put fourteen rounds into targets with near perfect accuracy, in about 4 seconds. To say he was impressive doesn''t begin to cut it. No augments no superpowers, he was simply the product of endless fucking training and practice. I was excited to see what he could become. Dreams of him in a stealth suit while casting shadowy spells, danced in my mind.


    He wasn''t quite as stand offish as he had at first seemed. He was infallibly polite, dare I say pleasant. Yet, he never wasted words, and was always direct. He''d spent most of his time so far with Raynor and our troops, repeatedly running drills. We had even set him up a suit of power armor, while he performed amazingly in it, but didn''t like wearing it.


    He had this stare, that was his default look, and most people felt judged or terrified by it. After a week or so of exposure I can safely say, that feeling never goes away. But he didn''t mean anything by it, that''s just how he looks. He''d helped the troops get more accustomed to the new SORs and their sidearms. He even taught them better ways to move and fight outside their armor. Which begged the question, "What''s wrong with it?" Worried about my latest design overhaul.


    "Nothing. Need to feel the air. Better sense of the action." He shrugged. Interesting. I hoped any cyberware he chipped wouldn''t screw him up.


    "If you could change any one thing to make yourself better what would it be?" I waited with baited breath, what would he pick. Speed. Strength. What could elevate this legend to the another level?


    "Better perception and reaction. Everything else can be trained, if you know what''s going on, and understand it." Huh, now that was food for thought. I''d noticed everyone had a different answer for that question. I pondered who was right, or if this was an all of them were right situation.


    Since Mr. Wick didn''t want the power armor, I made him a new suit. Of course, in the same style as his pervious one, but I''d managed to not only improve the armor rating and get some shielding in place, I snuck in a cloaking field. Now, the cloaking wouldn''t work for very long when not under a Psifield, but it might help him get out of a bad scene. Not that Mr. Wick even needed a cloaking field, he was impossibly good at going unnoticed to begin with. Which really screwed with my head the first time he snuck up on me. He radiated such an aura of death that you''d think it would be impossible to hide. That turned out to be wrong. He could dampen his presence to almost nothing, and it even affected his mana signature.


    Jaina had started giving lessons in basic mana shaping to everyone who was interested. Not only was I there to see what was the same and different in her methods, but Mr. Wick was right beside me absorbing her lessons like a sponge. He said it was a another valuable tool for his collection. The though of him wielding shadows as weapons and just cursing folks to death was frightening. He might even end up with a literal death stare. What a lovely thought.


    Megan, Sally and Jaina were becoming thick as thieves. I rarely saw them apart anymore, and while some part of me was a bit suspicious, I was mostly happy for them. They said that it was nice to have a woman around their own age, that didn''t treat them like they were cyberpsychos. Hmm. I hadn''t thought about that. I was glad they had a new friend, even if she was from a wholly different culture. Maybe some of her manners would rub off on them... nah. Any influence would probably run the other way. Suddenly, I was deeply worried for poor Jaina.


    Our new Archmage was also fascinated by my healing abilities. Her mana couldn''t quite be shaped that way, for some reason. To be fair, my mana had a hard time being shaped into a more focused damage spell. Sure, I could toss out raw mana blasts, but they were highly inefficient. Jaina was the same with healing. Sure, she could flood your body with mana and it helped with your body''s own healing abilities, but no where near as well as my spells.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    As a side note, neither one of us was as affected by the mana of the other, as say Sally. Nor did Jaina''s mana have as strong a pleasurable effect on folks as mine did. Folks still got some thrills out of her work, but it wouldn''t be causing anyone to pass out anytime soon. She postulated that it had to do with the essence of our mana. Hers was all about water and ice, mine was all about nature. That said, she wanted to start deeper experiments once her tower was done. Towers were a requirement for Mages to really shine, she insisted. Just as a Druid must have a grove.


    A what now?


    A grove.


    Meadran had mentioned something about that before, right? Now usually when one is speaking about a grove, it''s a cluster of trees, often comprised of older more developed specimens. In this new mana based context, it had to mean something else. It invoked images of people out in a forest wearing their robes and doing... something mystical looking. Dancing maybe. I think I''d heard of them in relation to the Gauls or Celts, when the Romans were conquering them. They burned their groves down, if I''m recalling it right. Why would they have done that?


    To destroy a symbol, perhaps. A symbol of what? Gods? Culture? Nature itself? I had no idea. I was never very interested in that period of history other than that, Romans, for all their faults, were very excellent engineers. Even if they had stolen a lot of their ideas and culture from others, they certainly made a few wonders.


    I also had the impression that the Druids of those days and the Druids of Azeroth were only tangentially related. But in either case, trees were involved I was sure of that much. So who better to ask than a tree. I still didn''t want to bother Meadran, but maybe Faergin would be able to point me in the right direction. If I could find him.


    One thing I loved about the Psifield was that with a little effort, I could keep track of anyone and everyone within it''s influence. I reached out with my mind through the flowing warmth of the psi energy. Soon enough, I had a reaction. There he was, by the edge of the potato farm. His mind was a bright beacon, yet he still hadn''t quite developed the faculties to interact with the Psifield himself. Leaving me to travel to him.


    I decide to test my Warp-Smith ability Open Warp Portal.


    I used Convert and Repair all the time, in small ways. Both abilities were incredibly helpful in my search for better weapons and armor. I had also been testing Empower Constructs and Power Psifield quite often. But I hadn''t touched my portal ability at all. I could mention that I''d seen a movie about teleportation were everything went horrible wrong, when I was very young. I''d never looked at flies in the same way again. Or the movie were they were trying out a new form of space travel when the ship just disappeared. When it was found, years later, it had been to hell itself. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to show me that movie at ten. I had hardly slept for days. The truth was I was frightened of even the concept of anything close to teleportation.


    I kept telling myself I had to get over it. It was too useful an ability to waste. There would never be a better or safer time to try. I reached for the part of me that controlled my abilities... why was this so hard?


    I felt Alina''s presence in the Psifield reach out to me. Then I sensed the minds of my Robo-Buddies. Their message was clear, fear was unneeded. We were one. We were never alone. In that moment, I understood something profound that words would never be able to capture. A silly childish part of me thought of another film, about transforming robots. Their catch phrase stuck with me, "Until all are one." My fear melted away.


    I opened the portal to Faergin''s location. A dark hole in the world. I certainly would have been terrified by the idea of stepping into that portal. Yet, now it simply was. I stepped forward.


    Stepping through it was anticlimactic. Simply an act of will. The minds of my Khalai robots returned to their tasks, and Alina refocused on her own experiments. I felt as if I had become less. Returning to being just me, was a shock, but not a terrible one. I don''t think the human mind is meant for that kind of gestalt. I could see folks losing any semblance of self with that kind of unity.


    It took a few minutes of staring at the growing Tree of Lore, for me to center myself enough to think properly. I hadn''t seen him in over a week and he had grown so much. Where once he was roughly my height, now he stood roughly 15 feet tall. Still very skinny though. His leaves had shifted colors, into fiery oranges and yellows, and they were very similar in shape to oak leaves. I remembered that oak trees were very important to the Druids of my world for some reason.


    His dancing once a quick shuffle step had morphed into a rhythmic swaying, rocking back and forth and side to side. Which he was doing even now as he gazed out into the badlands north of New Lordaeron. What did he see, or what was he searching for? His eyes had started glowing a bright yellow, burning with the light of knowledge. I found it a striking effect.


    "Hey Faergin, how are you doing?" While he couldn''t as yet respond verbally, I could still sense a lot of his feeling and intent. Whether that was due to my abilities as a Druid, or some function of his own skills, I didn''t know. Right now he was pensive and somewhat distraught. He found looking into the wastes both fascinating and dreadful, a feeling not dissimilar to ones I''ve had staring at graveyards.


    "Yeah." I could see how that would be troubling. There was a resolve in his mind as well. A sense of needing to face uncertainty, because there was no other option.


    "We''ll clean this all up one day. I''m sure you''ll be here to see it, even if I''m somehow am not around anymore." Oof, I was socked in the gut by my own reflective thoughts on mortality. For some reason, Faergin found this hilarious. He shook all over in treeish amusement as the area was flooded with the tingling of his laughter. Then I had a flash of an image of old roots that couldn''t be dislodged from the soil long after the tree itself had fallen. Was he implying, I was a stubborn ball of roots, or that I''d be here still long after him? Either way, an unsettling thought.


    "I was wondering, do you know about groves?" A buzzing excitement filled the air. A thousand forms flooded my mind. A sense of peace, of connection, of focus. It was too much.


    "Wait... calm down, please." I shifted through his ideas and patterns, after some struggle, I found a commonality. A set of trees arranged in a circle over something. Something powerful, something golden and flowing. The only thing I knew of like that was maybe the leyline. It had started as a muddy brownish color, but as more life and mana returned to the Valley it had shifted more toward a golden shade.


    "So groves go over leylines?" A feeling of incompleteness. There was more. The grove was connected to the leylines, sure. But why? Power? Maybe, but the treefolk didn''t seem all that interested in power. They saw it as a consequence of living, something naturally gained over time. No, there was an answer was in his feelings earlier, even if I was having a hard time seeing it. Then it snapped into focus. It should have been obvious.


    "Connection." He filled the area with a sense of approval. Groves connected Druids to the Trees, the World, and to the concept of Nature itself. There was more, but it was too deep for me to see now. This was a place to start though, and the rest I could figure out as I went. Now I just needed to figure out where to put it.


    I thanked him for his insight and started to walk back toward the Town Hall. One portal was enough for today.


    We had mostly eliminated the need for disturbing the Valley. Other than trips to visit the Company Store, or the Nexus there was no longer a reason for anyone to go in there. I could communicate with Meadran and Alina from anywhere within a certain distance. The Probes had built a series of tunnels connecting the area next to the Nexus straight to the entrance cave, so the newly built Sentries wouldn''t disrupt the peace of the forest there. Small critters had started just appearing out of nowhere in there and I didn''t want them bothered.


    Also the mana density in the Valley was getting to a point where it could hurt normal folks without protection. I was fine, and Jaina, even Mr. Wick seemed to tolerate the higher levels of energy but the Nomads and to a lesser extent folks summoned from Lordaeron quickly felt sick and even started having physical reactions if they didn''t leave. Better to make it completely off limits for now.


    Meadran had, about a week and a half ago, started a new Wisp grown forest to the south of town and it was already bearing fruit. Even a new Treant had emerged from the trees. He was more aggressive than his brethren, and even had tusks. Meadran had said his name was Korvaith. He would grow into a Tree of War. Korvaith quickly threw himself into our training program. It was bizarre at first watching a tree train with Raynor and his boys, but we all quickly adapted. I even made him his own custom rifle. What, was I going to have him do, throw rocks? Not on my watch.


    Walking through the field reminded me that, it was about time for some more farms. But first, I wanted to knock out those outpost quests. It would be an excellent way to work with Mr. Wick and test Raynor and his boys.


    After all, I didn''t want a repeat of the Arasaka incident.

 Chapter 35

    Eleven people in 7 and 1/2 foot Power Armor take up a lot of room, and that was before adding in a Sentry or two and a few Probes, never mind Mr. Wick and Myself. To solve that volumetric problem, I had the Probes scan one of the Aldecaldo''s MRAPS. My dismay at not having time to design my own version of the Javelina was strong, but we needed to limit the number of complications in this mission. My own need for speed could wait.


    The MRAPS I chose was an already heavily modified MTV or Medium Tactical Vehicle. The rear had been modded into a cargo bay that could hold up to five large ATVs with some sitting room left over. The top of the Bay had several antennas and dishes, of which, I was in the dark as to their purpose. A scary 25mm chain gun sitting on the roof of the Cabin, rounded out the package. It was some variant of a Bushmaster, that could be remote controlled from both the drivers and shotgun position and had a full suite of targeting sensors and the software to run it. I think it was an advancement of the CROWS (Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station) system. While it would have been advanced in my world, here it seemed very outdated. Well, we couldn''t have that, could we.


    I went to work on the vehicle''s design. This started with scaling it up a bit, then replaced the engine and electrical system to work on the Psicrystal format, that freed up quite a bit of room in the engine bay, so I added even more crystal for an increase in available power. That power was just what we needed to activate a cloaking field and shield emitters. Troop transport in relative safety.


    To maximize the offensive potential I redesigned the chain gun. First converting it to a gauss format. That took a lot of hair pulling testing to get right, but perseverance paid off finally, with us getting it running smoothly. I wasn''t sure how much oomph the crysbronze alloy added to the already potent 25mm rounds, but I also wasn''t worried about possible failure to penetrate any armor we came across. The CROWS system massively benefitted from conversion to Psicrystal processing, becoming much easier to handle. I even added in an automated control system, though there were still some bugs to work out.


    We modified the cargo bay, it was set up with a series of 2 by 6 floor and ceiling clamps for the troops'' power armor. This left us with just enough room for four Sentries to fit. The roof of the Bay had armored positions for the Probes to clamp themselves into and one focused Narrow Spectrum Psibeam Repeating Emitter borrowed from the Observer''s schematics. This would allow us to communicate with the base from outside the Psifield. We weren''t sure how far yet, but it would at least be a viable commlink for now.


    Lastly, I spent some time trying to improve the tires and suspension. We used a variant of Psicrystals'' superconductor levitation effect to smooth out the handling. While crysbronze now impregnated the aggressively treaded rubber tires.


    Once the Probes had finished the assembly of our new vehicle, we ran it through a series of tests. Nothing major seemed out of whack, only a few small hiccups. A few adjustments soon fixed those small issues.


    I would have Raynor load his boys into the bay. Then the Sentries and Probes would settle into their positions. Mr. Wick would take shotgun, while I sat in the driver''s seat. Though I had invited them along, Megan and Sally decided to sit this one out. They were planning something interesting with Jaina, and it was occupying all their attention. When I stopped to ponder that, I got a sinking feeling in my gut. Not sure why. All I could come up with was that maybe they were tired of me holding us back from the next stage of our relationship. Probably not, but I tend to consider worse case scenarios first, before rolling back around to the normal ideas. Well, nothing to do about it for now.


    We had our eyes on a few different spots in the Badlands for Outposts, from some satellite data that Amanda had pulled up. The first point of interest was north of the ghost town, Rocky Ridge. The problem was that the Raffen Shiv had taken over both the Ghost town and the area I wanted to set up in. Some new leader had started gathering a following amongst the outcasts, and had embarked on an expansion campaign. That just wouldn''t do, Wraiths made bad neighbors at the best of times, and our town couldn''t afford their shenanigans being close by.


    We were going to assault Rocky Ridge first, sweep it clear and if the assholes to the north didn''t get wind of the situation and high tail it out by then we''d roll up to them after. Conservation of ammo was unnecessary, thanks to the Forges, and my standing orders were to triple tap anyone who even remotely looked like a threat. I''d rather we make a mistake in the hard to live with direction, than the not alive anymore direction.


    We headed out and I decided to take the trip across the wastes themselves, while avoiding roads, to really be able to evaluate the performance of the new beast. One great thing about converting a vehicle to the Khalai tech was how quiet they were. You could hear the tires on the ground sure and the air resistance made its own noise but no rumble of the engine, no burr of belts or whirling of fans either. It gave me a creepy feeling since I was used to the noise an ordinary car makes.


    The troops were sticking to general conversation, who liked who and what the city might be like, and I have to say I was pleased that they didn''t seem nervous in the slightest. Hell, Raynor was more worried than them, and you might think he had ice in his veins, for all he showed it. The only way I could tell was in the way he repeatedly checked his rifle. Mr. Wick was as silent as the grave, worse, he barely moved. Not a fidget, a stray cough, or a sniffle, nothing. It was almost like he wasn''t there, but I could feel his nascent mana. Otherwise, I might think he was a hologram or a ghost.


    After a small window of being bored I said, "Fuck it!" and turned on some tunes. Flipping through a couple of stations I found something that sounded like Death Metal with some Industrial undertones thrown in. Good enough, and great timing too, as that was when four vehicles approached us from the south. They were obviously on an intercept course, and it didn''t take long for us to be able to make out the Wraiths graffiti covering the cars. Was that a multi tube rocket launcher?


    "Mr. Wick, it is too crowded out here, please see to our guests." I have to admit, I wanted to see him in action. All those hours of training had made me eager to unleash him upon our foes.


    "Yeah." He began to work the chain gun''s controls. The modified system made it incredibly easy. He only had to use a simple joystick to line up the target, his small screen had a reticule that would flash red when the targeting system had calculated a hit. Then just pull the trigger on the joystick. Easy peasy.


    His first shot wasn''t a crack, it was a boom. We learned a little too late that sound insulation in the vehicle was a must.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The vehicle with the rocket launcher was cored by the 25mm round traveling at many time the speed of sound. A huge hole traveling all the way through now existed in the middle of the car. The passage of the round had torn off much of the rest of the material from the frame, and thrown the vehicle backwards. I couldn''t tell what happened to the occupants, but I think it would be fair to assume they were no longer among the living.


    The other Wraith vehicles scattered but Mr. Wick was determined to leave no witnesses. Three more booms, three more tumbling piles of shredded metal. Though the last two were more felt than heard. Our eardrums were boxed into submission. The ringing took a while to stop. Thankfully, the troops in their power armor were unaffected.


    I''d never forget the most unexpected sight, of when John Wick turned to me and smiled, "I like it."


    That was maybe the most surreal thing I''d ever seen. The smile of the Baba Yaga. It''s brief duration, blink and you missed it fast, placed it among the most rare of events, perhaps ever. Unlike a double rainbow it''s wasn''t beautiful, but it was amazing. I cast Regrowth on both of us to clear any lingering damage to our hearing. The growling sounds of Death Metal from the radio slowly came back into focus.


    When we were near Rocky Ridge, I let the boys in back know to be ready for action. The first bullets start pinging off the truck''s shielding almost as soon as the town was fully in view. Nothing with any real power came into play. I canted the truck and skidded to a halt with the rear of the vehicle facing the main road of the small town. I hit the ramp''s quick drop which also pops the clamps on the armor free at the same moment. Out leaps Raynor followed by the rest of our troops in quick order. They didn''t even pause, by the time the Probes and Sentries exited, even as rounds bounced off their shields, the humans are already taking cover and exchanging fire with the Raffen scum. Their SORs were already doing some nasty work, splattering a few of the lightly armored raiders into paste.


    I was more than pleased that Raynor had trained them to get behind concealment or cover. Their shields would shrug off most rounds, and the thick plates of the power armor would deflect most of the rest, but it''s a bad habit to stand around taking fire even if it''s ineffective. The Sentries projected their more stable shields forward as the Probes started assembling a War Pylon. There was no reason to hold back in this fight, since we were going to mercilessly crush these raider bitches. Anything that gave my people more of an edge was a good thing in my books.


    With the troops now dropped off, I flipped the switch to close the ramp and Mr. Wick and I went hunting in the truck. We swept wide around the east side of town. Mr. Wick had already started sending rounds into any vehicles he thought might be a threat, and especially any that were trying to flee the scene. He was offended that the scumbags were trying to escape.


    To say we were overprepared, was an tremendous understatement. I noticed that some of our troops were using the enormous strength of their power armor to demolish the town''s buildings, bringing the rubble down on the Raffen fools. There was nothing here we needed to keep intact so it was a ruthlessly smart play. I also noticed their ammo was devastating, often penetrating the cover of our foes and pulping raider flesh while rendering any cyberware into its base components.


    Once I had reached the North exit from the town I slowed the MRAP to a stop. Letting Mr. Wick pick his shots with greater ease. On one hand part of me wanted to leap out and join in the fun. But that wasn''t the plan, and fucking with a plan that''s already working well is usually a recipe for disaster. I once again found myself watching others carry the fight. It really sucked. Something inside me burned in frustration as I watched the Wraiths die. My only solace was knowing that without me, this would be as much of a one sided affair.


    A few minutes later and the War Pylon was finished. However, its cannons wouldn''t get to fire a single shot. The fight that had already been in our favor became a rout, the few remaining Raffen shiv, no longer able to see or sense our troops, were hunted down and slaughtered like bugs. Their frightened shrieks were a fitting but pathetic end to scumsuckers.


    The Probes were already building another War Pylon on the northern edge of town, while the troops swept each of the buildings they had left standing. To be fair that wasn''t many. The devastation of the town was catastrophic. I actually felt about it, despite no one living out here anymore. Later, I''d come back here and we''d scrap everything before building a new town for folks wanting a quiet life away from the corrupt city. For right now, it was time to push north to the area I actually planned to claim for an outpost.


    There was a small plot of land with a trailer home and a corrugated metal shed. A larger propane tank off to the side. Someone wanted their own isolated place away from others, maybe to try to forget something or maybe they just didn''t like other folks underfoot all the time. Only a few Shivs had been stationed there. Mostly to keep an eye out for trouble and to scout out the northern trade routes for vulnerable convoys. They panicked when they saw us coming, and started to bolt, but Mr. Wick cut off their evacuation plans by trashing their rides.


    It took almost no time for the troops to put them all down. The Shivs were unprepared and underequipped, mostly handguns and blades. The boys didn''t even waste any ammo and just beat them to death. So far the power armor was far outperforming any cyberware we had come across. While I wasn''t surprised by those results, I hadn''t quite expected just how well the armor held up.


    As we set up camp waiting for the Pylons and Forges to be assembled, we searched the house and shed finding nothing of any interest to us. Then I broke out some of the rations for everyone. It might not have been much of a workout in the end but good work always deserves a reward. After the meal, Raynor and Mr. Wick were taking the opportunity to train the boys in some bushcraft techniques. I kept half an ear out while I went over everyone''s armor and weapons looking for any damage, finding nothing out of place. Most of what they taught was simple stuff, basic shelters, starting fires, and finding edible plants. Thought that last one wasn''t much help out here. Given the simple lives most of the troops had led on Azeroth this was more like a refresher course, than an initial education. Hell, a few of the boys had good tips to share themselves.


    It was quiet out here, despite our earlier ruckus. Maybe too quiet. I spend a while poking around the area, looking for anything that stood out or might indicate Corpo bullshit. But I found nothing suspicious. After we''d established the other outposts I''d bring Wisps out to set up Moon Wells and start some trees growing.


    Project Underbridge had finished before we set out, meaning we now had a tunnel from New Lordaeron to Japantown. The first reservoirs were now being filled up. I thought about how we''d link these new Outposts to the tunnel system down the road. Eventually folks would never have to travel the surface of the Badlands again if they didn''t want to. Of course, at some point our plan would turn the land green again and maybe, just maybe, folks would like what they saw. Though with some of the critters popping up in the Valley I''m not sure it would be any safer to travel, just better looking.


    Raynor had found himself a portable radio, and found a station that played an interesting combination of synth country western and electric honkytonk and some electro swing. Not bad at all. As night fell the boys and him were swapping stories and telling tales around a crackling campfire. Even the Robo-Buddies were dancing about in good cheer. We were just missing a pot of chili and some cowboy style coffee, to invoke the old days of the wild west.


    Even Mr. Wick seemed as much at peace as he ever did, and he and Raynor were starting to get along.


    Everything seemed to be going too well. I didn''t trust it, my gut was telling me something was going on, but I couldn''t place what it was.


    I decided to keep a lookout throughout the night. No one would sneak up on us on my watch.

 Chapter 36

    The boys had drifted off to sleep under the stars. Even Raynor and Mr. Wick closed their eyes for a spell. A sign of their trust in me, I hoped. Thankfully, nothing disturbed us and I had plenty of time to consider what to do with this outpost. While my thoughts spun out new ideas, the Probes had set up a perimeter of War Pylons and finished setting up several Robotics Facilities, a few Forges, and a Cybernetics Core. Then it hit me. This little outpost was going to start producing Reavers.


    Reavers were large heavily armored caterpillar like robots that produced scarab drones. Their primary weakness was that they were slow, both in movement speed and in time to construct. Each unit would take two weeks to build, but their payload of explosive little scarab drones was well worth the investment in time. Later, I could adjust their payloads for a variety of tasks but even the power of the baseline scarab''s explosions was truly a spectacle. Especially for such tiny drones. They would be great for assaulting any fortified position. Eventually, I''d need building or resources that others already possessed. If I couldn''t bargain honestly and fairly with them, then explosives were often an excellent solution for that kind of problem.


    I also wanted to start collecting scans of the bots and drones from NC as soon as possible. Humanoid bots made with Khalai tech might make for an interesting experiment. Indeed, having the our Khalai Probes or Sentries disguised as the standard drones that were already an everyday part of society, would make future infiltration much easier. Hiding things in plain sight worked surprisingly well, and by the time the cat was out of the bag the number of the drones we would have spread out in the city should be sufficient to hold our own.


    On the other hand, the Khalai had tried something called the Purifier project. They digitized the minds of some of their greatest warriors, both those who were injured and volunteers, and placed them into robotic bodies. They thought it would be a simple extension of the Dragoon project. Warriors who were still alive but unable to fight normally, were entombed within the Dragoon weapons platforms, to continue in service to the Khalai. Their duty to their people allowed them to carry on and often they made great strides in critical battles. Not so much with the Purifiers, mostly because the Khalai treated them like they were mere robots not the valued and honored warriors their minds were based on. Personally, I think the Purifier rebellion was both predictable and justified. Sadly, I have no Protoss to discuss the situation with to try to make sense of the whole ordeal, and Alina only knew so much about what was mostly a classified operation. I wouldn''t have been able to access the data at all if not for my Executor status.


    As the troops roused themselves the next morning, I cast Regrowth, Cleanse, and Nature''s Blessing on all of us. Perking everyone right up. We had a quick breakfast of HQ rations and then got moving towards the next location I wanted to occupy. We''d be swinging a couple dozen miles to the east to avoid the mountains but for the most part we headed straight south. As I was perusing the satellite maps of the region I''d seen that there was a massive solar farm south of the city. We were going to setup an outpost within striking distance of that facility. As my future plans progressed, I''d attempt to arrange most of my outposts next to critical infrastructure. If it was ever needed, I wanted to be able to grip Night City by it''s balls. I felt a burning desire to repay all the kindness I had received to date, with interest.


    I did get a little worried when we had to cross the border with the NUSA. Unless crossing on designated roads, the border between Night City''s autonomous zone and the New United States was enforced by extreme applications of ordinance, be it from satellite, artillery, or drone strikes. You''d get almost no time to retreat before you were reduced into atoms. However, I had a vehicle with a cloaking field. While the couldn''t be powered for long periods of time, if we wanted to be able to keep moving, but it should be just enough to sneak by the kill zone. I had heard rumors that somewhere nearby the Wraiths had a tunnel the passed through the mountains. However, given the lack of solid leads, locating and appropriating that asset was going to have to be a story for another day.


    We made it through the border security zone without a hitch, and an hour later we were looking at the most ridiculously oversized solar panels I could''ve imagined, and a equally hulking tower housing the central power collector. Knowing that the City needed this solar farm, at least two nuclear plants, at least one hydroelectric damn, in addition to who knows what else, boggled the mind. Then again with the profligate displays of Lights, Ads and high powered holographs, I''m shocked they didn''t need even more. Though from what I''d seen on my previous trips, most buildings have their own methods of generating at least some power. Be it their own solar panels, wind turbines, or other more esoteric methods, it was hard to say, I''d have to research it more later.


    At this particular location, we were not going to take over any existing buildings. Instead, we were going to build the Outpost in the middle of nowhere, off the roads and out of the way of prying eyes.


    While the Probes and Sentries were working on assembling buildings, Raynor, Mr. Wick and I were looking over maps of the city trying to get an idea of where in that rats'' nest our next two Outposts were going.


    "Here." Mr. Wick pointed to a small shopping center next to Megabuilding 4. I immediately liked the idea, mainly because I''d been wanting an excuse to look inside one of those behemoths. The current theory was that it must be horrific to actually live in one.


    "Yup. That seems like a good bet, Hoss." I could tell Raynor didn''t like what he was seeing on the maps. "This city is messier than a sty, full of sick swine. With all these shops it''s going to be a nightmare to avoid notice. At least until we get some Pylons up." He wasn''t wrong, there were cameras and people everywhere. Hmm, we''d have to look like something else to avoid notice.


    "I''ll try renting a space out first. It worked out fine last time. Then we can setup what we need underground. If they don''t want to rent us the space we could act like a gang. Roll up and smash the fuck out of the place, driving all the people off. We''d still dig out our setup underground, and avoid resurfacing. I''ll make sure that the shop owners are compensated later." It was just the basic framework of a plan but it would have to do, until we''d gotten a better look at the area. "What I''m most worried about is the truck. While awesome, it screams that we must have some Corpo involvement. We''ll have to stash it somewhere and pick up other means of transportation." I continued, looking for a warehouse district on the edge of the city. When I saw a likely place I pointed to it, "Here. We''ll stash the MRAP here. Then I''ll buy us another transport, maybe a hauler of some kind, and we''ll use that to get to the shopping center. It''d be best to act as if we''re delivering something, until or unless we need a different strategy."


    They nodded their agreement. We spitballed a few more ideas back and forth.


    Not long after that, the Probes had everything setup and another Quest was completed. I was 2000 CPoints richer, and a Mercenary Squad Token was now mine.


    We arrived at the warehouses by the edge of the Rancho Coronado district. I''d noticed while driving that many vehicles had given us a wide berth. Perhaps it was the sheer size of the MRAP, or maybe it was the massive chain gun on the roof, hard to say. The extra space to maneuver was welcome though, the modified MTV was too wide for standard lanes. My main worry was that all of this attention could lead us into a situation where we attracted the wrong kind of notice, like the NCPD. Which was why I wanted to find something less conspicuous to travel deeper into the urban jungle of NC.


    The warehouses stored a large variety of goods, mostly for mid level corps. You might find everything from cyberware components to supposedly "organic" but shelf stable food products, and even raw materials like ores could be found in this place. The Security in the area was minimal, but more than enough to discourage any random punks looking for trouble. I easily located a smaller unoccupied building, which I quickly rented off the NET and we stashed the MTV. One of the Sentries would remain here to guard the vehicle. Though that did give me an idea for an automated guard mode for the vehicle.


    Stage one of our slapdash plan was complete, now it was time to find something big enough to haul all of us to the shopping center. I started digging into the local Net, looking for viable options. It took a while but I found an auction for a Kaukaz Zeya 420 model that had been used as a municipal garbage truck. It should be just big enough to fit us all in it, while not raising eyebrows anywhere we needed to go. Though it might have needed some work, but hey, between me and the Probes we''d have it roaring like a bear in no time.


    It''s onboard AI limped it to us, after I dropped enough eddies with the city to just about buy it new. Money didn''t matter too much right then, I had plenty of money, and you actually couldn''t just buy a new garbage truck without a special permit. There was an exemption for decommissioned vehicles though, the the shop that decommissions city vehicles was very lax at their job. Without a Forge we couldn''t completely overhaul it, but I dug around in its engine while the Probes disassembled local trash into minerals to aid in repairing the chassis. The Probes even managed to convert most of the chassis into low quality crysbronze. Meaning it was going to be lightly armored. That was a relief. While I didn''t plan for us to get shot at, it was pretty much a guarantee that a few bullets would head our way at some point.


    Several of this poor beast''s engine components were totally shot, and the electrical harness needed all kinds of love. So, I had to make a few quick orders, all from different shops, to get what parts were needed to bring it up to a decent level of functionality. Later the Probes would scan it and we''d be able to fabricate the parts if needed, but by then we''d likely be able to completely convert it with Khalai Tech.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    It took a few hours, but it at least the truck now looked new. The poor garbage truck now ran far better than it had in years, though not quite at factory new levels. I gave up making more improvements for now, I was burning up the clock and we needed to get started.


    That was stage two down. We arrived at the shopping center to find that two spaces were for rent. I took the one on the ground floor, for obvious reasons. Once again, I was both impressed and disappointed that it was so easy to obtain a space. While it was incredibly convenient, especially for our purposes, there was a bizarre distance to the whole thing. It felt not just impersonal, but inhuman. You don''t know the owner and they don''t know you. Eh, I guess that was just business as usual in this Cyber Dystopia. Why do you need to know anybody anyway, money''s money right? Spends the same no matter who''s on the other end. As if, my knowledge of economics and currency was limited but even I knew better than that.


    Just like that stage three was down. As we all stood around the empty space I''d just rented, watching the Probes get started on carving out the underground space for our new outpost, we couldn''t help but feel the absurdity of it all. All that prep for nothing, just because it was so easy to rent even without a proper ID.


    Raynor smirking said it first, "Looks like we got all gussied up for nothing." He seemed both disappointed and relieved. Probably didn''t like the idea of scaring everyday folks, just to get a space for our work.


    Wick''s lips had the barest of upward curves to it, "Yeah. Shame." Mr. Wick didn''t care one way or the other, I was sure it was all the same to him.


    I was grinning, "Hey, it could have been the fight of our lives. You never know when a Granny with Cyberpsychosis is behind the counter." We all broke down into laughter, even the troops joined in, draining all the tension that we had been building up. Well, except Mr. Wick he kind made a noise that only the most charitable might call a chuckle. That gave me a great idea. Mwahaha.


    I quickly ordered a bunch of food to be delivered. Soon my people were all staring at triangles of processed crust, supposed cheese, mystery sauce and a variety of dubious toppings.


    "Pizza?" Mr. Wick''s tone held all the possible doubt in the universe.


    Raynor and the boys were looking cockeyed at theirs, not knowing a thing about pizza in the first place. Strangely for all the different things that could come out of a Company ration pack, pizza was a rare occurrence. I supposed that pizza wasn''t considered high quality by the Company. But that wasn''t the only reason they hadn''t pounced on the food. No, they were probably hesitating because they noticed I hadn''t reached for mine yet. Cautious folk tend to notice things like that.


    "Dig in, fellas." I gestured at the "pizza".


    Except for Mr. Wick they all all took a tentative bite. Yeah, didn''t think I''d get him with this prank. They all stared daggers at me after the first swallow of Buck A Slice Pizza. Their second bite had their stomachs churning. Yet they kept eating and as they kept eating, I could feel their increasing irritation. Their stares transforming into full blown glares promising death and grumbling promising revenge. I felt the accusation, but let it rolled off me like water off a duck.


    "What''s wrong, don''t like it?" As I reached behind me and pulled out a bag full of burgers from Tom''s Diner. I slowly unwrapped the first one and then took a big bite. Controlling my reaction took some effort, but I think I managed to pull a happy face off. Eh, Tom''s burgers weren''t horrible, but after being spoiled by the food back in New Lordaeron, it just didn''t hit right.


    Everyone looked at the burger in my hand and then back at the "pizza". The angry yelling ensued. Some food tossing might have happened. I laughed while dodging slices of the crappiest pizza ever.


    "That''s a low down dirty trick! Poisoning your own people like that." Raynor grumped. Choruses of "That''s right!" and "You tell him, boss!" rang out.


    I snickered as I pulled out more bags of burgers and tossed them to everyone. They set upon the mediocre burgers with a will. Sure, it wasn''t great, but after the false pizza, that didn''t matter so much. In the relative silence that followed, I laid it out for them. "That "pizza" was the first thing I ate in this city. Think about that. Think about how bland these burgers are. This is what the folks here live on\" I went from chuckling to serious. "This is just an intro to the hell this place really is, it gets a lot worse from here on in."


    That sobered them up quick. I could see the understanding take hold. Similar thoughts to mine, from that first time in this hellhole, played out on their faces. They were now at the beginning of the path, the path of why we were doing this. I could see that they accepted my grimly funny lesson.


    Heh heh, blame successfully diverted. Mischief Ma...wait wrong script.


    After the Probes had gotten the same basic setup for an Outpost going underground, Raynor, Wick and I started looking at the Charter Hills area on the maps. I had already seen an interesting abandoned building by the highway, when I first rolled into the city, it was a 5 story office building. Not ideal for our purposes, it was both too large and too close to the highway. Though the presence of such a building being abandoned meant there might be more.


    "Oh look here," I pointed to a spot on the map. There was an abandoned auto shop, with nothing too busy next to it either. That would be a good option.


    "Bad sight lines." Wick stated. He gestured at a CHOOH2 station that had gone under recently, he pointed at the fuel storage towers. "Better." The area around it was clear for a hundred yards in any direction. He was right, the station would be an excellent place to setup defenses. Though that begged the question what was CHOOH2?


    I did a quick search on CHOOH2 and followed some threads, gathering an array of information on it''s production. Which gave me a very wicked idea. At the end of the day, CHOOH 2 was just a burnable grain alcohol or an ethanol. I think the formula for ethanol was CH3CH2OH or something like that. Sure that probably wasn''t all that CHOOH2 was, but not only could we produce a viable ethanol fuel in the Forges'' assemblers we could refine it into a superior version. Hell, we could just copy the existing formula and start modifying it from there.


    Slinging their own overpriced fuel back to them to help pay for our efforts to bring down the Corpos. I liked the sound of that. I could build some top tier bots to run it, and we could convert the whole place to be a fortress. But the longer I thought about it, the more I was sure that would be the fast track to an armed confrontation with the Corps. Petrochem was one of the Big Guys and they had a near monopoly on CHOOH2, sure they licensed the wheat they used to make it from Biotechnica, but that just meant I''d piss them both off with my idea. Yeah, maybe we''d hold off on that for now.


    Still, the station was a good property to grab and it was selling for relatively cheap. I went ahead and bought it. What was a few hundred grand invested in the face of what we stood to gain. Our lumber trade was making big bucks right now.


    I nodded at them, "Alright no problem buying that one. Already went through. A drone will be by in fifteen minutes with the key fobs." Hmm. Let''s see, what else? I wanted to see the inside of Megabuilding 4 while we were nearby. No that wasn''t it...


    I snapped my fingers, "Right." I rang up Misty.


    "Ryan! Been awhile. We''ve missed you. You doing alright?" She seemed to be in a good mood. It was good to hear her voice.


    "Sure, Misty... things are, um, preem. Just wanted to see if Vik had some time later to look over a couple of fellas I''m working with. Get them chipped." Seemed a good time to get Raynor and Mr. Wick fitted for some chrome.


    "Let''s see... Vik has an opening in a couple of hours, that good for you?"


    "Yup, that''d be perfect."


    "Alright, I''ve got you scheduled. See you soon."


    "That''s great. Thanks Misty. You''re the best."


    "Misty, huh?" Raynor gave me a suspicious look.


    I rolled my eyes at him. "Don''t go there, Misty''s great and Sally and Megan already know all about us being friends." Which was true, but I also knew that both ladies would love to have some time to "talk" to Misty. Oh well, I''m pretty sure Misty had mention having a guy she had just started to see. What was his name... Jack or something like that?


    I changed my mind about checking out Megabuilding 4 shifting my target to Megabuilding 10 since it was on the way to see Vik. The fellas had left their armor down in the Outpost under the protection of the Probes, Sentries and a few War Pylons. They all kept their rifles on them though. Going anywhere unarmed in Night City was a fool''s errand. They were wearing the recreation of the casual garb of New Lordaeron, based loosely off of blue jeans and t shirts, so they wouldn''t appear too out of place.


    Megabuilding 10 was a hustling bustling edifice to the Dystopia Gods. Built to withstand nuclear strikes and to be a completely self contained environment and was to my untrained eyes a gravity defying monstrosity. No, seriously how does all that work. You would think it would crumble under its own weight. Layer after layer, floor after floor, of concrete and steel. With barely a splash of paint to breakup the monotony, most of the color was from Gangs tagging their turf with graffiti. Compounded with the endless drone of advertisements blaring at you 24/7 from every direction, driving you slowly but inevitably mad.


    And the people. They almost all looked broken and worn down. Completely absorbed into an endless nightmare of corporate greed, or they looked jittery, nervous and ready to pull iron at the drop of a hat. Some, a very small few, were either more put together, ready to hit a Corpo job, or basically homeless using the quieter corners to squat until someone drove them off. A true spread of the standard Night City citizenry. It took no time at all for all of my people to become disenchanted with the technology of the era, after seeing the conditions forced on the everyday folks. I heard them talking about how the madness of Goblins and Gnomes had surely cursed this land. Something about never leaving things well enough alone.


    Huh? Now there''s a thought. I had an idea of little greedy green guys and more human looking quixotic little folk running around with crazy contraptions getting into all manner of trouble. It made me chuckle. Which I needed after facing the bleak realities of life in this place.


    We left the building after looking through a few more stores and stalls. Junk. Most of the goods on offer were just junk. Who needs any of this? None of us wanted to explore further up in the building, too bummed out by what we''d seen so far.


    On the way over to Vik''s, a few wannabes gangers tried to start a fight, perhaps thinking we were some new rivals for their territory. Ten low level street toughs looking to make a name for themselves. Maybe looking to join a bigger gang after they had run the streets awhile. Who could say. Not that it mattered anymore.


    Mr. Wick put rounds into each of their skulls before the rest of us had an idea what he was going to do. That fast. Faster than it took to say, "That''s not a good idea, fellas." Which is what I was going to say. You know, before somebody decorated the street with their brains.


    We all looked at him. That blank stare when you can''t believe what you''d just seen.


    "Sorry, reflex." He shrugged dismissively, like it wasn''t the most badass thing we''d ever seen. Fucking terrifying.


    I sighed. "We''d better get a move on before NCPD rolls by. Don''t want to deal with them if we can help it." I shook my head as I picked up the pace.


    "Not that they''d actually give a damn." I whispered mostly to myself.

 Chapter 37

    We somehow managed to travel the remaining 200 feet or so to Misty''s Shop without Mr. Wick shooting anyone else. I''m going to count that as a win. I hadn''t realized just how much of a hair trigger he had.


    I had dropped the troops off at the Gomorrah, with a stack of bills to get drinks and maybe contribute to their own delinquency. Seriously though, some ladies put a lot of effort into their routines, and deserved adequate compensation. Realistically, the dancers were probably saving up for better iron to splatter some gonks, or for some of those sick mantis blades I saw in Vik''s catalogue. Yeah would fit. I warned the boys not to get too excited and stay respectful. I didn''t want any of them to go missing over a preventable incident. I imagined that the security at most of these places is shoot first, ask your corpse nicely later.


    Mr. Wick, Raynor and I walked into Misty''s shop. She stopped her current conversation with a young guy to look at us. Her smile, a plastered on affair, got a little steadier. Huh? Misty''s the friendliest person in this cesspit of a city, why would she look that uncomfortable? Was this asshole bothering her?


    "Dr Vektor is ready for your friends, Ryan." Her head gesture back towards the alley. I could tell she wanted to be anywhere else right then.


    "I''ll show them the way, then I''ll want a chakra thingy." I gave her a cheeky grin. "If you''re not busy, that is?" I looked at the punk messing with her, some slicked back Corpo type. Whether he was a wannabe or an actual wage slave remained to be seen. Honestly, he really did look like someone in sales or marketing. I hated him instantly.


    "A cleansing? Sure. Just let me finish up with Mr. Hayashi here." She returned my grin. She knew I was giving her an out.


    When we got into the alley, "Hoss, you were maybe a little too flirty with the little lady in there." Excuse me? Who died and made you the relationship police, Jim? I bit my tongue.


    I sighed, "Jim, didn''t you catch how she reacted to us coming in? That was relief, that guy was pushing her. The looks the slimeball was giving her. So, no I''m not flirting with her, just lending a helping hand. She has a guy, and I have my ladies. We are just friendly."


    "Flirting." Mr. Wick chimed in. What the fuck was this? Rag on Ryan day?


    "Et tu, Brute? Seriously stop reading too much into this. She is a friend, and I like her, but don''t make a mountain out of a molehill." I shook my head leaning into the bit, and made a chopping motion with my hand. Indicating the joking had gone too far. They both grunted at me. Raynor''s was the grunt of fatherly disapproval. Mr. Wick''s was a "don''t care, your problem" grunt.


    I sighed so hard, I felt my inner teenager reawaken from years of neglect, just for them to cringe at my angst. This was like having your dad and his scary best friend lecturing you, on basic manners. I''m thirty fucking years old, even if I no longer looked it, I didn''t need to be parented. Not really, a little ribbing didn''t really bother me, but what the hell was going on? They never worked together like this on a joke. Well, at least Vik wouldn''t give me any guff.


    "What''s this I hear about you flirting with Misty? Jackie might have a problem with that." Fuck, he''d just grumbled at me in overprotective father. All that was missing from the scene was a shotgun.


    "Vik, not you too." I felt betrayed. Seriously, I might require a whole ten seconds for to get over it. My sister used to grill me harder than this over breakfast. Thought it was awfully strange that everyone decided now was the time to screw with me.


    "Nah, just fucking with you kid. Misty''s a big girl, she can take care of herself." He grinned at me, that gotcha grin.


    I groaned. That''s the problem with playing along and acting like you care, they think they''ve won. "Vik, this is Jim Raynor and Mr. John Wick. Jim, Mr. Wick this is Dr. Viktor Vektor. Despite his poor sense of humor he is the best Ripper in Night City, and don''t let him tell you different\" They all nodded at each other. "Guys go ahead and get whatever you want, but make sure you at least get the same head ware as me. Vik take good care of them and I''ll settle up before we leave." I nodded at them, "Now I''m going to go make sure that greasy dude doesn''t overstay his welcome." I pivoted and marched back over to Misty''s shop.


    "Miss Olszewski, we feel that our offer is more than fair." He gave her an up and down stare, but it wasn''t the lewd kind. More the type of look where he was figuring where to make the best cuts to get maximum value from your organs. "Please, don''t make the wrong decision. We will be awaiting your reply." Asshole strutted out like he already owned the place, and he was deigning to let us keep using it.


    I stared at the door, my anger naked on my face. "Some folks could benefit from bullet therapy. He looks like a good candidate for an aggressive treatment plan." I growled. "I''d provide my services for free." Hmm? There it was again that overly vicious behavior. Something was wrong with me today.


    "Now that would be the waste of a bullet. Some people have lost their souls, he murdered his." She laughed and pointed to her chair. Her quick dismissal of the unpleasant toad was a wonderful thing.


    "You know I could get you a nice drone." I was thinking of leaving a Wisp Infused Probe to look out for her and Vik. They were good people. "They''re friendly, hard working and good at frying assholes like that. It''ll keep the riff-raff away." I plopped down into the oversized chair. Ah, how I missed you comfy chair. That''s right any designs I had on Misty were all for this amazing chair.


    She just shook her head at the offer of a drone. "Now, tell me about your latest adventures." She pulled our her crystals and began setting up for the cleansing while I spent the next thirty minutes filling her in on a truncated version of the events I''d been through since last I saw her. "Sounds like a lot of work, and you seem to have found some nice women. Though I didn''t think the Terrible Twosome would ever be caught." She smiled big, so the ladies were a big deal. I knew it. Misty had turned on the radio and then started up an ambient rain and flute piece. Not bad, needed some drums though.


    "I don''t know about nice, but I like them. No, if I''m being honest, I love them, even if I don''t understand it. It makes me keep expecting the other shoe to drop." I''m sure I had a goofy grin on my face.


    She gave me another gentle grin. "I find there''s usually no easy path to understanding love. You have to let go of that worry and just focus on the now." She started waving her hands as she guided me to close my eyes. "Relax and just listen to the music... " My eyelids began to droop.


    The darkness surrounded me. It was pressing in on me. I didn''t know where I was or how I''d gotten here. I knew that I was running from a monster. Some vague and nebulous beast of eldritch origins. Blending completely into the lightless void around me. How I could even tell it was there, I had no clue. Yet the creature was already in front of me and right beside me as well. It was everywhere and nowhere all at once. I was nothing to it, just a small thing it took hungry notice of. Its cold and clammy hands clamped down upon me pulling me down into an an even darker pool of writhing blackness. Wails of the damned and lost were becoming faintly audible under the silent cackling of the beast.


    "Ssssoooon youuuu ssshaalll beeee aaallll oursssssss." More voiceless cackling. Hell No! You can just back off creepy stalker monster. I refused to be its plaything.


    I struggled and fought to break free, but with each moment the tar like oblivion sucked me in deeper. I tried to cast a spell, to turn on my aura to say the prayer for Smite. Nothing worked and I shortly knew myself no more, just another soul wailing and gurgling in despair as the emptiness and meaninglessness of existence was used as a noose to strangle me.


    There was nothing. But it didn''t matter. The slowly diffusing remnants of my thoughts were almost lost to the void.


    A pulse of pain. Pain was something. Nothing mattered. It was pointless.


    No, I was pretty sure pain mattered. At least my pain mattered to me. That was something to cling to. My thoughts now being to coalesce, started to gain speed.


    [ Give up, give in, let go, serve us. ]


    ''What? Not just no, but HELL no! Go fuck yourself... '' What the fuck was that? The pain and despair receded. My momentary defiance allowing some much needed clarity of thought. The lack of material space made it difficult to focus. The lack of anything made it easy for my mind to begin to reject this presented reality. So was this a dream? No, or at least not quite a dream. Something within myself sensed this was both a dream and real at the same time. Though could I even trust my own feelings at this point? No, best not to start down that twisted trail of self denial.


    Was this a projection into my mind? That''s as good an answer as I was likely to get for the situation. So that was what was going on. The remainder of the classics, who, where, why and how eluded any insight at the moment. What could I do about this?


    I felt nothing, there was no pressure of air on my skin, none of the usual sense of an empty space. No sounds or vibrations. No sensation of hot nor cold. I could move but there was none of the feedback I associated with motion. Nothing to orient myself against or towards. Except myself which I felt only in the most faint and internal of manners.


    What was left to do? Find a way out of this. Duh. How? Now that was a good question. I had better things to do than float around in... in primordial nothingness.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    I had no idea how long I pondered this odd situation. While the hamster wheel in my head spun, I could perceive my sense of self growing. I could almost feel my body again.


    [ You really should just give up. You are going to serve us one way or another. Come on, let go. ]


    ''You''re still here? The show''s over. Go home.'' I made a shooing motion. The classics always worked. No more peeping at my... My what? My inner space? My mind?


    [ Well, this is a waste of time. Just send the quickhack. Fuck, he got that...shshshshshshshsh ]


    Quickhack! Oh fuck! I now had a pretty good clue about what was going on. I''d been targeted by a netrunner. When did they find me? How did they force me into this state? Who the hell were they?


    I had to wake up, they could be after Misty. They could be after Vik. Argh. The anger and fear helped, I felt my sense of mana come flooding back. My internal energy twisted in an odd new way, and released in a massive explosion. It was too raw to be called a spell, but it was packed with tons of vigor.


    { WAKE UP! }


    And I did.


    Light. Blinding after so long in the darkness. I blinked like there was money to be made in doing so. My eyes were so fucking dry. Which made no sense for cybereyes. I was on some kind of gurney, covered in a thin white sheet. I couldn''t move very well yet, and most everything hurt.


    "He''s coming out of it. Tell me what happened, Misty?" Vik''s voice, I thought. "Hhhhhh... " I tried to speak, to warn them. Nope, my tongue went the wrong way and my lips just kind of flapped uselessly. My vocal cords didn''t seem able to catch any of the air from my lungs.


    "He was fine, then he seized and when rigid." She was calm, her training and ages of practice kept her together. I could respect and admire her professional demeanor. If they were speaking about my situation like this, it couldn''t have been long since it began.


    "Might be a rejection of his cyberware. Though he should have had symptoms before now." Vik sounded angry but still in control, like this offended him somehow. No, I got it. He went out of his way to make all the neural connections stable with as many of his patients as he could. That was a wonderful attitude but it had a cost. I couldn''t imagine the emotional toil of loosing folks you genuinely cared about, not just once but over and over again.


    "Hhhhaaaacc... " Was all I could get out. Come on mouth. Work, damn it!


    "Hack? Someone spiked you?" Vik sounded almost relieved. Which made sense, if he had an idea of what was wrong, he had a place to start fixing the problem.


    "Ya... " I managed to reply. I''d taken major physical damage from something that had maybe lasted a few minutes. Everything was sore.


    He put an inhaler to my lips, "Take a puff. Do you have feelings of despair? Nothingness?" Deft motions forced the burst of mist into mouth. I breathed the vapor in as deeply as I could. The rush of the stimulant burned through my lungs like fire, before spreading everywhere else. It was like a shot of concentrated expresso straight to the bloodstream. Things across my body started to wake up. Everything was coming back online. I groaned at my own brain''s attempt at humor. Way too soon.


    "Yeah... said to let go. I would serve, but I didn''t give in and then they said to send the quickhack." My mouth still felt like it was full of mush, but I get the words out as best I could.


    "You seem to have avoided the worst of whatever they intended. I''ll run you through the scanner and then we''ll do a software purge. A hard reset should wipe out whatever they snuck in there." All of that sounded horrible, but was probably the best course of action. I trusted that Vik knew what he was doing.


    "Any-Anyway to trace them? I''d like a few words." Yes, a few words. Hackers this is Mr. Wick. That''s a few words, right? The last words they would ever hear.


    "Nah, we''d have to bring in a runner. I don''t think you''re in the kind of calm enough mood to have anyone rummaging around in your chrome right now." Yeah, that didn''t sound like a fun time.


    So how was I going to track down these assholes? Maybe a few more Observers hanging over the city... Wait, if one had been watching me, would it have caught the intrusion? Probably. Fuck. Was there some kind of guide or course you could take to prepare for these kinds of situations. There couldn''t be right?


    Vik took great care of me. Running me through the scanner, getting all the info on the breach of my system. Then he performed the hard reset of my cyberware.


    The hard reset was kind of unnerving, especially after what I''d just been through, my eyes went offline. Misty talked me through it, though. She really was the best friend a person could have in this crap-hole of a city. My eyes came back online with a snap, once the reset was done.


    Vik guided me through the system setup procedures. Then they wheeled me over to rest beside Raynor and Mr. Wick, both of whom were still out from whatever additions Vik had chipped into them.


    That was a good thing, I''d hate to see the reaction to this from those two. More so, when they had even less context than me about how all of this shit worked.


    Hopefully they''d be calm once they woke up.


    I''m just going to shut my eyes again. The darkness this time didn''t seem so bad.


    The world slowly creeped up on me, and I never saw it coming. One moment, I was lost in unawareness. The next, the packing sounds of a boxing match in full swing. The plops and smacks of the gloves the over excitement of the crowd, and the too rapid voice of an announcer trying to fill air time.


    I let the sounds pass through my awareness, not letting myself focus on their meanings. My mind wasn''t ready to start processing the relationship between those sounds and myself. It was a shame because I needed to reflect, to parse everything that had been going on. I had been too distracted in New Lordaeron. Always filling my time with some project or with the ladies. It was like I didn''t want to face myself. My heart was unwilling to deal with the pain bubbling under my conscious mind.


    So I pondered in a new nebulous way. I dug into myself to shake something loose. Something was changing, had already changed. Yes, some part of me had shifted, and I felt different. Things that hadn''t really made sense, were starting to take root deep in my mind. I had been ignoring so much of my potential because it was easy to let others pick up my slack.


    Why was I okay with Raynor or Mr. Wick tracking down my hackers. Shouldn''t that be personal? I should want to put the bullets into them myself. Back not so long ago, why wasn''t I okay with the Probes handling most of the fighting? But slowly instead of forcing myself to deal with the reality of fighting, I ceded the responsibility of handling conflict to others. Even losing my first robo buddies to Arasaka''s interference. Scuff, Fix, Chuck and Barry. I barely knew them, and yet I still missed them. The only way I had to honor them was to let their convictions become my touchstone.


    I hadn''t really been suited for conflict at the time. I''m not sure I was now, but that had to change. Deep down I knew there was no changing this world without first cutting out it''s cancers. Some part of me just hadn''t wanted to accept that. I''d thought that maybe I could convince people to work together, to help each other, if I could just provide a safe framework to do it in. That just wasn''t true. I''d seen it in the Scav den and in the red optics of the Maelstrom. Some folks needed to be eliminated.


    I still hadn''t taken the time to process the sheer fuckery of this city. I kept distracting myself with cars and tinkering, and Sally and Megan. I buried myself in my obsessions, some part of me trying to move past the trauma of loss in the worst ways. There was no room for me to keep ignoring the world, and it wasn''t going to forget me. Even the half-assed impact I''d already made was enough to attract all the wrong kinds of attention. I had the tools to do better, maybe I should start taking more advantage of them. I had to start paying more attention to the BTC, to my status, and to the very real leg up it gave me.


    If my Intelligence stat was more developed would I''ve even gotten hacked in the first place? Or maybe my Tech stat would have been more help? That''s the problem, I didn''t know. I didn''t understand what any of these things meant except in the most broad of terms. More Body had made me tougher, stronger. More Tech made it easier to comprehend the technology of the Khalai and the world I had been dropped in. Presumably, more Reflex would make me faster. But was that all they did and what the hell did Cool do anyway? Did it make me more charismatic? Did it mean being cool under pressure? Cause I sure didn''t feel any more in control in the heat of the moment.


    Which also reminded me of my Classes. I still didn''t understand what a Druid was. Sure, I could cast spells, sense nature better, make plants grow and even connect with animals more. Yet, I''d also found myself staring at things for long periods of time trying to make sense of them in ways that never would have mattered to me before.


    The Warp-Smith leaned into my real hobbies, tinkering and scrapping, so I questioned its effects less. That could''ve ended up being a huge mistake. The way it just pushed knowledge into my head, had to have changed my perspective. Even something as simple as working with the Khaydarin crystal could actually be screwing with my mind. The Psifields themselves could be doing some form of long term damage to me, to all of us. After all they weren''t meant for humans in the first place.


    The Paladin, my newest and least understood Class. I''d felt even more upset, than before, when others fought for me. And why, despite being level 4 had I gained no new powers other than the Aura and Prayer I got for choosing the Class. Something was different about this class, but I had no idea what it could be. Soon, I''d get another Theme and likely another Class, how would it play into all of these issues?


    This was the first time I could remember being able to focus on these issues without getting sidetracked. It was like something had been interfering with my brain to keep me from really analyzing all of this. I was left with one conclusion though. I didn''t trust any of it. Which was both wise and a big part of why I was having so much trouble with using this system. How could I trust it after been dumped here with almost no explanation? Also, since I didn''t trust the system, why did I have such unshakable trust in the summons brought here by that system? I''d never once though that Raynor or any of the folk of New Lordaeron might betray me. The Probes and Sentries were a rock that my mind had clung to. It boiled down to something in my gut told me I could trust them.


    Meadran, Lumiar, Faergin and Korvaith. Were they actually loyal to me or to the system? Again my feelings said I could trust them. But I had never been a person to rely heavily on my feelings. I need to test these feelings more. See what the rules were, and then how to bend them.


    It was time, I cautiously opened my eyes. Raynor, Mr. Wick and Vik were sitting in front of the Doc''s monitor watching the boxing match with intense stares. It was good that they could enjoy something like that together. This was a scene of normalcy in this insane world.


    I had a few messages waiting for me, which I went through while slowly easy myself up and off of the gurney. Megan and Sally were checking up on me. I replied quickly, filling them in. I wasn''t going to gloss things over and get and earful about it later. I cared about them too much to lie or prevaricate. Jaina has sent a few reports on the continuing expansion of the Town and the projected completion of the current construction projects. She even had a report on the new Badlands Outposts having already sent Wisps to create Moon Wells and trees. She was more on top of things than I could''ve of hoped for.


    Still, I had an uneasy feeling as I thought of the ladies. Something was wrong there, I was sure of it. Though maybe my misgivings were the product of the recent hacking attempt fucking with my head.


    There was a long list of short and simple work reports from the Probes. When had they started connecting to the NET? Since I had no idea what we even needed right now, I left all that to Jaina. There was that trust again. Hmm.


    Alina reported a breakthrough on the adaptation project of Khalai cyberware. Oh, that was very exciting news. I dug into the files briefly before shaking it off. There was the Warp-Smith affecting my thoughts. I should save the fun stuff for later.


    Receipts for the rental of the warehouse, the purchase of the store front, the garbage truck and the sales receipt for the fuel station. Good. Everything was now above broad if the cops came a knocking.


    A message from Rita of all people asking if I was okay. Huh. I sent her a quick reply with a generic reply that I was alright.


    I looked up to see Mr. Wick watching me. Of course, he was the first to notice I''d gotten up.


    "What have I missed?"

 Chapter 38

    Mr. Wick was next to Vik one second and the then he was right beside me. Even with my cybereyes, and my stats, I didn''t see the intervening steps. His hand was already on my shoulder, and even though I mostly trusted him, I almost had a heart attack.


    "Okay?" His tone was slightly less flat, as if there were maybe the beginnings of concern there. Imagine that, John Wick caring about anyone other than Helen, Daisy or the Unnamed Dog. Perhaps all reality was flipping over on its collective head.


    "I''m fine. What, a little hack is gonna keep me down? Nah." I could see the difference in his eyes, he had opted for colorless irises. Probably thinking it made it hard to tell where he was looking. A tactical rather than aesthetic choice, very Wickian.


    Raynor slid over to us, "Hoss, good to see you up and about. What happened? Vik told us you were bushwacked by a "netrunner" what ever that is." Which made me wonder how much cyberwarfare played a part where Raynor was from. It should have been too alien a concept to him.


    "Yeah." I shared my experience with them and gave them my impressions of the event. Mr. Wick''s face tightened up even more than usual, and Raynor was downright fuming.


    "So anyone can get hornswoggled by these varmints?" He growled out a few expletives.


    "Pretty much. As long as you have cyberware." I nodded. "When we get back home, I''ll see if Megan can dig up something on the rats that tagged me. We''ll pay them a visit." I didn''t need to express how that visit was going to proceed. Then I realized what I''d just opened them up to. "Don''t worry, Vik''s security suite is top notch, and we can improve it further with some effort from a netrunner or two of our own."


    Mr. Wick grunted, he understood. Raynor looked momentarily sour, but shrugged it off.


    "Enough about this, right now. Tell me what you got chipped with." I grinned trying to dispel the angry edge the guys had started to build. I was already pissed enough for the three of us. Raynor showed me his palms, "Same grip as you got." He tapped by his eyes, "Got the Kiroshi optics, good for zooming in and seeing through some walls. Kept them looking natural. Plus I chipped the ports and neural processor like yours." Patted his chest, "Muscle enhancements and bone lacing." He just waved his hands over his whole body, "Dermal Plating." He clenched his fist, "Should pack quite a punch, even outside the armor." He looked over at Mr. Wick, probably curios what his compatriot got loaded with.


    Wick started reciting his goodies like a laundry list, "Eyes and Grip. Sandy. Kerenzikov. Better neural processor and ports. Faster now." He grinned for a microsecond. I saw it, I swear it was just there Officer! A faster more deadly John Wick, had just been born.


    I started to move around, testing my stability. "Good deal. I''ll pay up Vik, then we need to go take care of the Fuel station. Get that knocked out. We''ll go hunting for Scavs or Maelstrom afterwards to test everything out." I started over to Vik, and they stepped back to let me by, though I got the sense they weren''t going to let me out of their sight for a while.


    "What do I owe you Vik?" He glanced up at me from where he was watching the bout on his monitor. I could see he running a few thoughts he wasn''t sure I''d like through his head. "Two million even. Though with how much I made off the chrome you brought in from the Scavs, I''m willing to call it even." Nice try, Old Man.


    "Nope. I''ll pay. Told you I wouldn''t feel right profiting off of that mess. I meant it." I wired over the eddies. I was certain the chrome was worth every bit of it. There was no way in hell I was going to short Vik.


    He grumbled, "Good doing biz with you, but don''t be too good. Tends to be bad for your health." He waved us out and went back to watching the match. We stopped off to check on Misty, and inform her of what happened. She took it hard when I almost flatlined in her chair. It certainly wasn''t her fault and I let her know it.


    "Ryan Fate seems to have it out for you. Be careful." She blurted that out, like she didn''t want to say but had to. Given the Company and their bullshit, why couldn''t a personification of Fate be real? Probably mean as fuck. Her expression clearly indicated that Misty believed there was a actual force working against me, and I trusted her intuition.


    "I''ll be as careful as I can be, in this messed up place." I gave her a jaunty wave as we stepped into the street. For a second, I watched people doing people things in the crowds. Looking for anything out of place, as if I''d know. "Alright, Raynor go collect the boys. I''ll pull the truck around. Mr. Wick keep an eye on the folks nearby, see if any express a little too much interest in us." Orders were just spilling out of me, as if I''d been giving them my whole life. For a moment, I though about apologizing, but then it clicked. Things were starting to come together in my head. I had power, I was in charge. We might be friends, but I had to lead. I had to take responsibility for our actions. And if I was the one who was responsible, then I better give the best damn orders I could. I fuck up, they might die. I sure as fuck didn''t want anyone else to die on my watch. I didn''t want another incident where my friends had to give their lives to keep me going.


    Raynor grabbed the boys while Mr. Wick and I headed to the truck. For a wonder nothing had gone wrong with the troops, and I continue to ruminate on my thoughts.


    Hell, it might already be too late to course correct. Maybe my more scattered approach, my softer touch has already sent the wrong message and slapped a big juicy target on all of us. No, that was just an excuse, it was time for me to sack up and lead. It was a hard world and it only respected the powerful, the cunning and the ruthless.


    While getting into the truck I took a moment to go over my status. Some of my abilities had grown like Regrowth, Nature''s Blessing and Cleanse because I used them all the time. Many hadn''t changed at all, or very little, since I had no use for them in my day to day activities. I did get a few new skills like Administration and Leadership, also Mechanics and Engineering. Nice, those should be helpful, even if I planned to have Jaina handle most of those kinds of tasks.


    I was sitting on 15,786 XP. That was a lot of levels, that I had let just sit there. Sure, It would be good to be able to bring a new Class up to par with the others, but that not why I hadn''t used them. I plain forgotten about it, the whole system always slipped out of my thoughts when I didn''t focus on it. My mind simply glossed it all over like it was trying desperately to avoid these issues. Was it really an internal problem or was it some kind of sabotage?


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    My Company Points were sitting at 8,000 which seemed off until I remembered my subscriptions'' payments had probably already pulled their due away. 125,627 Tree points. I''d have to start figuring out how best to utilize those. Another case of me plumb forgetting about something until I needed it. I still had 16 free points. I used six to bring my Reflex stat up to 10. Then 3 points each to Cool, Intelligence and Will to round them out at 10. Last point went to Psi Resonance to, you guessed it, bring it up to 10. I liked symmetry, sue me.


    That was a lot of changes really fast and they crashed into me hard. It was a good thing I hadn''t started the truck yet or I might have mowed down a bunch of people before crashing into a wall. I twitched and jerked and spasmed all about the cabin, until it started to calm down. Fuck. This was probably the other reason I had been avoiding leveling, it sucked ass. I waved off Mr. Wick and explained it to him. He gave me a flatter than normal stare. Shit, that will curl your nose hairs.


    Once I had regained control of myself I drove around to pick up the fellas. The troops looked like they had all had a great time. Some of them so much so that they could barely stand up straight. I threw Regrowth on them until the staggering stopped. I''d ignore their less than dignified reactions to the spell. Heh. The reek of tons of alcohol had me hitting them with a few rounds of Cleanse as well. Whew, they had a good time indeed.


    I messaged the Probes we had brought with us to meet at our destination. With all that sorted out we headed toward the Fuel Station, I had another task to finish.


    We arrived at the CHOOH2 Station, and immediately began to dig through all the left over junk from the previous owners. It seemed that more than a few folks had been using this place as a makeshift dump for a while now. There were old cars, appliances and all manner of electronics and metal scraps. Thankfully the amount of organic waste was relatively small. Though the odd unidentifiable corpse here and there was disturbing, we were coming to accept that Night City was just that kind of place. What''s another ended story in this place?


    While a couple of Probes began to dig down to establish the Outpost, the rest had started setting up a War Pylon and a Forge, up here, to begin disassembling all the clutter into usable materials, while scanning anything and everything that looked remotely useful.


    I had been thinking about how to proceed once this Outpost was done. I was leaning towards using the new theme token here and establishing this as a front line base for my eventual takeover of the city. Whoever was sent with the new base should be able to hold this territory, especially with support from New Lordaeron until there was time to reinforce them. Hopefully, they would be combat ready, though I suppose it wasn''t really a problem if they weren''t, as long as they were trainable. Raynor had done a great job with the boys.


    I found myself liking this idea more and more as I pondered it. An full fledged underground base, to be the central hub of our future Night City operations. We could establish food and material harvesting here, and build up a force to protect the area. Now I was no General or military history buff, but that sounded like a workable strategy in my head. I ran it by Raynor and Mr. Wick and they didn''t see any major flaws, unless the Corpos caught on quickly and bombed the fuck out of the neighborhood. I didn''t see how they''d figure it out, with the Pylons'' cloaking keeping us all under the radar. Still, it would be stupidly foolish to underestimate them.


    My mind turned the idea over, and I realized that it was better to assume the enemy knew your plans and had every advantage rather than thinking we were the shit and untouchable.


    Hmm. I needed someone more than poor overworked Raynor. He was great, don''t get me wrong, but I got the impression he was more a small squad leader. Great with tactics, but not so much with grand strategy. Mr. Wick was all about individual performance, so not the greatest help in this situation either. I needed a General, a Colonel, or even a Major to help plan all this out. Someone better at grasping the bigger picture than I was, before I made a stupid mistake.


    While waiting for the Probes to make progress, I had fixed up a few of the monitor and let everybody find something to distract them between running drills with Raynor and Mr. Wick. I also lost myself in working on a small scooter. It was useless to us at the moment, but I just couldn''t bring myself to leave it as simple scrap.


    Hours later, I had just gotten the scooter running, when I got the notice for quest competition. 4000 company Points and the new Theme Token. I was so excited. Who would they be? What could they do?


    [ Do you wish to use Theme token? Y/N ]


    "Yes."


    [ Rolling result... ]


    [ You have obtained faction, Astra Militarum; Death Korps of Krieg, 999th Mixed Operations Regiment ] (See below Author''s Note 1)


    [ Please note that while this faction is extremely hazardous to utilize, we have established your relationship as one that they will obey without question. This identity will however cause significant difficulties with your current build. It also has the potential to dramatically impact your personality. ] (See below Author''s Note 2)


    [ The Company offers you a one time deal, you may exchange this theme for 2 Hero tokens and 10,000 Company Points. ]


    What the hell? A deal. Interesting. Let''s roll that around for a minute. While the name was quite ominous, they sounded like an actually Military force. Which was something I felt we desperately needed. While a another couple of Heroes would be great, I don''t think they would change the course of this situation as effectively as an actually military focused faction. While it was warning me about affecting my personality, perhaps that wasn''t a bad thing. In the long run, wasn''t my current personality a problem? Maybe it was worth taking a chance this would be a helpful change. Without risk, rewards can become elusive.


    I lost track of time, while I went back and forth in my head. After getting more and more frustrated, I finally just threw my hands up. Ah, fuck it!


    "Nah, no deal." (See below Author''s Note 3)


    [ So be it. ]


    A silvery cube appeared before me. I grabbed it. While focusing on the cube my BTC was able to give me an idea of what the building would look like and how large it was.


    Damn! 300 yards cubed.


    I descended, on a newly finished lift, into the depths of our new Outpost to see how it had been arranged. At the bottom of the lift, some 700 plus feet below the surface, the Probes had carved out a plain square chamber. The only break in the smoothed stone were some small Psicrystals used for both lighting and to extend the reach of the Psifield. There were two exits to the north, two to the south, and one to the east. One exit to the north led towards the Japantown Outpost, the other to a large chamber containing a couple of forges and several robotic facilities along with a War Pylon to power everything. One exit to the south led to the new Outpost in Santa Domingo, the other a chamber with beds, chairs, and the appliances needed for living comfortably. The one to the east would link up with the tunnel heading back to New Lordaeron.


    I got the Probes to stop digging tunnels, for the moment, so that they could dig down deeper to the west and then establish a 500 yard cubed chamber. That would take them a while. I decided to pass the time with a meal and then informed the fellas I be getting some rest down below.


    "We''ll keep an eye on things, Hoss. Get some shuteye." Raynor gave me a jaunty salute. He''d been watching some slop about the NCPD with Mr. Wick.


    Mr. Wick grunted, "Sleep." Before turning back to whatever they were watching. How they could tolerate any of the brain rotting programs on the local programming confounded me. Eh, to each their own.


    I laid down and soon was dreaming of vast armies grinding my foes into dust. It had been quite awhile since I''d slept so well.

 Chapter 39

    My awareness returned slowly. Faint whispers, both foul and fair, were chasing me from the dream of endless brutal war. It was as if these vague sounds were from far away, but I neither doubted they were real nor that I was meant to hear them. I recognized that the dream as a warning about the nature of the people that would soon serve me. I really didn''t enjoy what I was seeing.


    "In the name of the Emperor, BURN!" Screamed dour white haired women, facing countless demonic beings and their corrupted minions. Their chants and hymns were a bright call into the darkness of the void. Torrents of flames poured forth from their weapons purging the unclean filth from their worlds. Yet their obsession meant that they were always but a step from falling into the same abyss as their enemies.


    "The Emperor protects!" Chanted countless masses of bright eyed young men and women marching in unison towards a battle almost none would return from. The blood soaked fields that they marched towards had long been churned into crimson mud. Centuries worth of the slain, had their bones ground into powder from an unceasing struggle, by machines whispering to each other of days long lost.


    "In his glorious name, CHARGE!" Implored an imposing General, clad in golden armor, his crackling sword leading the way, as he stood abreast with his seemingly endless battle line of troops, surging forward toward a much larger mass of green foes. The savage looking being cried, "WAAAGH!" and laughing rushed to meet the humans, eager to begin the fight.


    "By the Emperor, not one step further, Xenos filth!" Declared a young boy holding a readied grenade, while trying to keep himself between his remaining family and an odd looking suit of power armor. A boxy rifle was leveled at the boy, while a clearly inhuman voice asked the child to consider the "Greater Good".


    More and more, dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions, then billions of voices softly reaching out to... not to me, but a version of me that was unimaginably far away and vast beyond my ability to comprehend. Golden light trickled into my mind from this connection and I felt something buckle in me. I couldn''t have pointed to where the changes were happening yet, but I could feel them none the less. The searing light burned with a fury and a purpose that I would have thought could never have existed, before now. This was the essence of the people I was about to inflict upon this world.


    I looked upon the horrors of a galaxy buried in endless war and death, and I thought that perhaps I was making a mistake. The voice of that immense Golden being disagreed, it claimed this was my birthright... my destiny. I didn''t trust a word of it.


    My eyes snapped open in fear and anguish, as my BTC shook,


    [ You have received Faith energy. ]


    I felt something precious shatter inside me...


    [ Your Class Paladin of Nature (???) has rejected you. Reason not given. Please return to the Town Hall to redeem your Class XP and select another Class. ]


    Suddenly, all the points into Body and Cool that the Paladin class had provided were simply gone. A horrid weakness creeped into me. A sucking emptiness where those points used to be. I could barely keep my eyes open, never mind finish crawling out of the bed. It took a long time to adapt to my new state of agony, with everything inside me feeling jagged, raw, and broken. I tried casting Regrowth and though it did soothe the pain and emptiness for a few seconds, the spell seemed unable to help with the underlying issues.


    Slowly I focused on each muscle, tensing and releasing them until I could force them to move together. It if seems like I was calm, I assure you I wasn''t. My frustration led to anger which led to a spiraling series of self incriminations. You just had to pick the fucking Theme it warned you about. Fucking dumbass. Admit it you thought the name was too cool to pass up.


    ''...''


    Even my inner voice was pissed at me. I gritted my teeth and with all my effort, pushed up off the bed, and immediately regretted that decision. Everything spun and my legs felt like a couple of those paper straws, as they tried to support my weight. I had unconsciously grabbed the bedframe to stabilize myself without even realizing it.


    I snarled, "Move you fucking idiot." Thus began my epic 27 step journey to the kitchen area, time lost all meaning as one painful step blended into the next. In the drive to get to food and water I forgot myself only movement matters. My mouth was as dry as a desert and my stomach was as empty as the void between galaxies. I supposed it was a small mercy that no one was in here to see me like this.


    Thankfully, one of the Probes had moved some ration packs down here. I had been capable of even considering what I would have done if there hadn''t been any vittles down here. We certainly won''t talk about how embarrassing a process eating was then. Or that I demolished two HQ ration packs before even remotely beginning to feel the slightest bit better.


    Later, after I had returned to some measure of normalcy, I made my awkward way to the lift chamber and turned to the west to check the progress the Probes had made. Oh, they were already done. That was... awesome, now there was no excuse to wait. An empty 500 yard cubed space greeted me after I stumbled through a few hundred yards long hallway that was made up of more stairs than not. I had a hard time grasping the size the room until I saw it. I had no idea how they had kept the ceiling from collapsing, but it was an absolutely perfect cube, in so far as I could tell. The Probes were a blessing I probably didn''t deserve. But I was beginning to believe that everyone should have their own Robo-Buddies.


    I sat on the last step into the giant room pondering. I now had second and even third thoughts about this course of action. No, it was too late to turn back now. The damage had already been done. Let''s see this through.


    I messaged Raynor and Mr. Wick to come down and grab the cube for me on their way. There was no way I was doing this alone. They arrived a few minutes later, with the troops in tow. They had all donned their armor, which was probably a good idea.


    Raynor handed me the cube, "You okay, Hoss? Looks like someone danced on your grave."


    "No, because I didn''t take a deal, I''ve lost my Paladin Class for now, and all the points it granted me. I''ll be messed up until we can return to New Lordaeron to get it sorted out." I knew that the damage I had received was something I couldn''t quantify right now. I could only hope that it could be sorted out soon.


    Mr. Wick growled. Looking for a target. That meant more to me than I would ever admit out loud.


    "No, it''s my own damned fault. I think these guys are what we need, but they are going to be different. I get the impression that they come from a... galaxy full of unending war." I gestured wildly at myself. "This already has caused me problems because I have to become someone that they would obey without question. Or they would kill us all in the name of their... God? Their Emperor? It''s not a very clear idea, but yeah they will be intense. They will likely believe I am their God or the agent of their God. As shitty as that is, don''t disabuse them of that notion." I smashed my fist into my other hand. "They have no tolerance, no pity, no mercy. Expect truly grim, psychotic people that barely seem human anymore. Their first reaction is usually going to be to destroy anything they don''t understand." I let them see my concern. "We have to be very careful in how we utilize them, otherwise they just murder everyone and flatten everything."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Hoss, are you sure you want to bring these bastards into this?" Raynor sounded worried. Hard to tell behind his skull faceplate. If some of what I had seen in my dreams was accurate they''d feel right at home with that look.


    "Want? No. But I think we need them. Probably. Some part of me is certain that this will be the best chance to change the nature of this mission. These people have forgotten more about war then all the people on this world together have ever learned. We need that knowledge, even if they are hard to deal with."


    Mr. Wick grunted. A noncommittal noise.


    "Alright, but I reserve the right to complain about this later, when it blows up in your face." Jim really knew how to lighten a mood.


    "Our faces." I raised my eyebrow at him.


    "Sure, sure. Whatever you say." He was smirking behind his faceplate, I was sure of it.


    I activated the damned cube.


    A large concrete megabunker appeared in the center of the space. The bunker was rounded with nothing I''d call a window. Only a few slim slots to fire out of and even those had metal plates ready to close them up at any moment. Rusted steel razor wire surrounded the base except for the heavily armored warehouse door. More razor wire blocked any form of climbing access to the roof. Several double headed eagle stencils decorated the building along with winged skulls. Why was the eagle double headed? Everything about this imposing structure screamed both efficiency and impregnable strength. If there was a architectural style called Military Brutalism this would be a prime example of that style.


    An entire culture dedicated to nothing but war, and I was the moron who thought it would be a good idea to bring them here.


    The armored door slid upwards with a rumbling, squealing grinding sound. Five figures stepped out of the building, all of them armed and all of them ready to shoot anything they didn''t like the look of. Thankfully they couldn''t see us right now. Though that might bite us in the ass when we included them in the ally selection of the Pylons.


    The newcomers fell into a wedge, no audible words spoken between them, their actions and movement spoke of long term familiarity. The leading figure was dressed in what might be mistaken for a combination of WWI and WWII German uniforms. A golden cuirass embossed with the same double headed eagle design under a almost steel grey great coat. A helmet decorated with a winged human skull framed perhaps the most disturbing feature of their attire. An old fashioned looking, seemingly cloth gasmask with dark impenetrable lenses. A pistol of a design I didn''t recognize was sweeping the area while an ornate sword glowing faintly with energy was held ready by their side.


    The two figures on the left were similarly uniformed though they lacked the cuirass and instead had what looked like an almost normal, by my standards, plate carrier under their great coats. The helmets there were less sweeping though they still displayed a winged human skull. Their masks were also the same, except there was a hose running from them to something I couldn''t see from this angle. They had rifles of some kind, interestingly the rifles were connected to a pack on their backs by a couple of tubes.


    One of the figures on the right was robed in white wearing a rather large and odd looking cylindrical hat. There were all manner of wax seals placed on their robes and the skulls motif was repeated everywhere. They also had a gas mask, which really didn''t go with their priestly vibes. Instead of a gun of some type they clutched a double headed eagle staff with one hand and had an open tome resting in the other. A bizarre golden energy, not dissimilar to what had seeped into me earlier surrounded them. Though I had the sense something was off with them.


    The last figure was the most odd, in this collection of oddities. A cyborg of some kind was the obvious part of their strangeness. Their parts appeared to be a mishmash of mechanical and electrical pieces apparently thrown together at random. They wore red oil stained robes and had started chanting in... modem, yup they sounded a lot like a modem from the days of dial up internet. There were four mechanical limbs, of differing types, that sprouted from their back and two of those held weapons. One weapon was a blocky looking assault rifle of some kind and the other was a vaguely similar rifle that glowed with ominous blue light.


    I didn''t like the look of any of them. Something told me I''d like their personality even less. I sighed and added the leader to the exceptions list. They reacted predictably by shooting. The laser bolts didn''t get through my shield, nor my companions, but I didn''t want that to continue. Seeing their shots had failed they charged.


    "Please stop. It makes it incredible difficult to have a conversation." He froze. Just like that. Like an automaton. "Please keep your troops from attacking, when I let them see us." The figure nodded in a mechanical fashion.


    I added the rest of the newcomers after the leader spoke softly to their fellows. The white robed figure quickly dropped to his knees and started chanting in what sounded vaguely like Latin. The red robed figure also started chanting in their modem language while also kneeling. Huh, oh right. Fuck this was going to be a pain in the ass. While the other two soldiers lowered their weapons slightly.


    The leader also after a moment of observing the two robed figures, also knelt. "My Emperor, Marshal 999 serves." The other two followed suit.


    "Watchmaster 5 serves."


    "Watchmaster 26 serves."


    They all chanted in unison, "In life, war. In death, peace. In life, shame. In death, atonement." They kept repeating those lines with the exact same inflections over and over. I was more than a little bothered by this. There was a golden energy surrounding them small threads of it leading to me, other threads leading somewhere else.


    "Hoss, I don''t understand a word they are saying." Raynor whispered to me.


    "They are praying, and it is every bit as grim as I feared." I whispered back. I wondered if I could do this. The golden energy continued to rise from them and linked them more firmly to me, I could feel this new energy growing inside me. It was warm and terrible, it made me feel tall and powerful. It was good and it was horrible, I felt refreshed and like I was going to vomit. It didn''t run counter to the Mana of Nature, or the energy of the Psifield. It mixed into them and made them more.


    "Please rise." Everything stopped for several seconds and then my new followers rose. Again their motions were mechanical, too automatic, too precise. "Tell me what you know about why you are here." Better to get them to talk first, than to say something they didn''t like and get shot at.


    The priestly figure started talking, "Most Glorious Emperor, your prime self sent us here to protect you. You must be defended while you are vulnerable, to the predation of The Enemy. We were entrusted with this holy mission, instead of your more worthy sons because we were stationed by a place suitable for transferring us. Your message said it would take too long for the Astartes to arrive." Even without understanding their home, that sounded like some grade A bullshit to me. This was the Company playing their games probably.


    "This made sense to you?" There was no way, right? If there was one thing I was sure these people were not, it was na?ve.


    "Not at first, Most Holy One! I suspected the treachery of the Enemy. Insidious trickery is ever their way. However, your most Glorious Light filled us and no foul spawn of the Warp could so fully imitate that Holy Power of your touch." Yeah, again even without the full picture, I pretty sure that wasn''t true. But there was no way in hell I was going to say that out loud, certainly not anywhere near these fanatics.


    "Your name, and your mission?" I really didn''t want to know. I wanted to leave.


    "I am, if it pleases you, Preacher Grais of the Adeptus Ministrorum, these Guardsmen sought my aid when the visions began. I humbly beg pardon, Holy Emperor, I killed many before understanding this was not the taint of Chaos. I have no excuse for my failure to perceive your greatest at first. The energy you radiate reveals your Truth." It''s the Spanish fucking Inquisition on crack. Shit. How was I supposed to respond to that level of rabid zealotry? I cringed internally, I''d have to wing it. I didn''t see any other options.


    "I forgive your overreaction. So long as you understand we have no resources to waste here. Slay none without my express permission." Hopefully that would work. Maybe I could figure out a better way to muzzle these beasts later.


    He bowed, "I obey, God Emperor."


    I turned to the last figure, their red robes swaying as their mechanical limb seemed to quiver in delight. They started speaking modem at me, but in a strange turn much like when I began to understand the Probes, I could comprehend him.


    "This one is Magos Errant Delta 9 Helifern. Praise the Omnissiah, you register as one with the Machine-Spirits. Call upon me if you need aid." The voice was artificial, flat and emotionless. This person creeped me out the most. Something was truly wrong with them. Maybe it was that he was more machine than human. Perhaps it was the way he was pushing electromagnetic signals into the environment. It was as if he were trying to access the Psifield somehow.


    "When I need you, I will be sure to inform you." My teeth itched just saying it. These broken people in front of me, freaked me the hell out.


    What had I done?

 Chapter 40

    I let the troops from New Lordaeron go back to relaxing, while I tried to figure out how to handle this bullshit. I was getting extremely tired of my lack of agency. Which reminded me that having a sit down would be a good idea. I called the Probes to build a table and chairs for the eight of us that were left. Which almost caused another incident. Because, of course, it would.


    "Beware, My Lord! They reek of Xenos'' rot!" The Guardsmen rushed to do what they saw as their duty. Protecting me. Mr. Wick twitched, he was about to reflexively shoot the grey clad men rushing to "save" me. He stepped closer to me to keep them back, but while he had drawn his weapon earlier he kept it pointed at the ground. Watchmaster 26''s rifle snapped up to aim at him. Raynor''s rifle came up for the first time in this encounter and he moved closer to my side, aiming at the newcomers. Watchmaster 5 countered his movement by training his weapon on Raynor. Marshal 999 aimed his pistol at the Probes, while beginning to inch nearer to me.


    The Probes themselves beeped, "Hostiles? Engage?" My head, my poor aching head. You know what, fuck this.


    "STOP!" I bellowed loud enough everyone took a step back. There was a snap of golden light mixed with my mana as I lost my shit for a moment. The energy released was both like lightning and an aura. The very air around us crackled for a few seconds. Okay, that was new. The energy caught everyone''s undivided attention as well. Let''s use that.


    "These are my allies, and help me in my tasks. Leave them be." I glared at the Guardsmen, who flinched back. A terrible fear of disappointing me, as they felt they had done before, I could feel it flowing into me from the golden link that had connected us earlier. It felt not unlike I had beaten a loyal dog. Horrible feeling, though I was left wondering how they could have possible failed me before even meeting me. Oh wait, they probably felt like they had betrayed the other guy. Hmm, I just couldn''t see them doing that. Even the arrogant Preacher''s unwavering righteousness stuttered in the face of my irritation, even though his heart was full of vanity. Wait. How did I know that? How could I know any of this?


    Only the Magos was unaffected, though his attention was mostly fixated on the Probes. He pushed something, some kind of signal, at them and they responded in a similar fashion. Then I could feel his excitement. The giddiness of a child on Christmas morning. Oh, I saw where this was going, let''s nip that in the bud.


    "No Magos, you may not disassemble them for study. I''ll show you the forges and robotic facilities later. Once you are done with your duty you may tinker to your... you may experiment on schematics." I had my doubts that he still possessed a heart. A real self made tin man.


    I read his startlement from the air it seemed, "Apologies. This one was lost in the idea of new technology." I got a jolt of disapproval from the priest. Why would he be upset at his companion''s antics?


    It was getting annoyingly difficult to keep track of whose feelings were whose. Great, another problem for the ever growing pile, as if I didn''t have enough to go around.


    The Probes assembled the table and chairs quickly and then returned to their previous work. I gestured for everyone to sit. "Look, I am sure all of this is very different from where you where from. I understand that very well, as this is not my original version of Earth either. To help us all get on the same page, why don''t you fill me in on the general course of life in the Empire back home and your places in it." Hours passed as they explained the grim realities of life in the Imperium of Man. We took a break and ate some high quality rations, I didn''t think ordering Buck A Slice would be a good prank here and now. Humor seems to have largely died out in their time, unless it was of a variety that was darker than pitch. The truest form of gallows humor. They were quite confused by the food, at first, but seemed to enjoy it as much as people like them could enjoy anything.


    Not only were these Kriegsmen from a different universe but also from a time far into the future, the 41st millennium if I understood it correctly. They filled me in on both a general history and their own lives and experiences. Their time was within a galaxy trapped in a hellish warscape where mankind was beset on all sides by enemies I could scarcely imagine. The "Necrons" and "Tyranids" were both particulaly terrifying to me. I would pray too, if I could, that no such beings waited out in the dark of this universe''s reaches. Once the rest of my takss on Earth were done I''d need to start preparing for these foes, or ones like them.


    After I had gotten enough of an idea of who they were, for one day, I laid out what life was like for people in Night City and on this version of Earth in general. They didn''t in the slightest react to the troubles of the people in the city. It was as if they expected people living in cities to suffer. There was a lot of misunderstandings between us that were going to have to be corrected as time went on. However, I think I at the very least got them to accept that things were very different here and that their usual methods of incinerating all problem immediately might not be the in the best interest of my cause. It only took a few more hours.


    "It is like the start of a Grand Crusade for the soul of Holy Terra itself!" The Preacher maybe didn''t get it. Fervor bubbled up and flooded our connection.


    "As your Hammer, we will grind all foes into dust. For your honor, Emperor!" Marshall 999 might be a lost cause as well. The Watchmasters seemed eager to slaughter any who opposed me. If I understood them all properly these Kriegsmen, even amongst the people of the dour Imperium, they were seen as grim. What a joyful experience. Great, I guess I just wasted my breath, trying to explain things to them. It was all water off a duck''s back.


    "So many new machines to study! This one needs to make a new servitor skull, perhaps this will help to allow create a better interface with this version of the Noosphere. The Machine Spirits here are quite strange, but this one detects no Heretek." Okay. It was a horrid realization that the almost soulless seeming man-machine was the one that seemed the easiest to get along with. Does that say more about me, or them. His "mechadendrites" twitched about, appearing to be more "alive" than the body to which they were attached.


    You know what, I''m going to see what the Command Bunker, as they labeled it, had to offer me. As I place my hand upon it, my BTC shook.


    [ Adjusting... ]


    [ Command Bunker has been added to the Great Tree Network.


    Options:


    Choose Class


    Raise Level


    Summon Servitor


    Summon Tech-Priest (Random)


    Summon Basic Krieg Infantry Squad ]


    What the hell is a Servitor? Were they like Probes. I queued one up as well as a squad of infantry. Wow, hours for the Servitor and a few days for the squad. I wasn''t going to wait around for this though, we had already spent enough time fucking around here. I just wanted to take Raynor and Mr. Wick to hunt some more Gangoons and then go back home for a while.


    Might as well see what Classes I was offered.


    [ Voice of the God Emperor of Mankind


    +2 to to all stats


    You are the embodiment of the nascent God of another reality. Wield Faith to bring about a Glorious Future.


    Starting Abilities: Divine Wrath, Blessings of Mankind ]


    [ Daemon Prince of Hope


    +5 to Intelligence


    +5 to Cool


    -5 to Spirit


    You bring Hope to the troubled masses, but is it real? What is Hope anyway? Hehehehehehehehehehehe!


    Starting Abilities: Daemon Form, Eldritch Blast ]


    [ Lord of the End


    +5 to Body


    +5 to Will


    -5 to Spirit


    You follow nature. It is the nature of all things to die. Bring them all to their proper rest.


    Starting Abilities: Rest, Peace ]


    What the... Nope, not going to think about it. Too much fuckery going on here. Too much bullshit I don''t have a clue about.


    I took the only one it made sense to choose. Fuck my life. How many ways can I get railroaded today?


    I wanted to raise the Voice of the God Emperor Class to match the others but found that it was a whopping 5000 XP per level. That seemed bloody overpriced. No, let''s not worry about it. I needed to see what it could do for me. I went ahead and increased it once, leaving me with almost 12,000 XP. +1 to all stats per level past the first seemed like a good thing, but the that cost was hefty. The Class also added a new special stat that wouldn''t go up when I leveled, Divinity: 1.This stat had a sub category, Faith: 51. My head just kind of went blank when I started thinking about that and what it all could mean.


    Had I somehow highjacked my way into godhood, or at least the path to godhood? The class said I would embody a god but who would believe that? I''ve never been a particularly religious person, and my exposure to faith of any kind was minimal. Until now. Wait, Faith was probably that golden energy. I nodded to myself, that made sense. So Divinity was what, how well I could use it? How much I could store? Maybe both. Not enough information. I had gotten another new ability with the level up as well. Foresight. From what I could sense it was pretty literal, I could get images of the future, though it would be extremely limited at first.


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    I turned my attention to the other abilities. Divine Wrath was pretty similar to Smite. Had the same feel and everything it just didn''t require a prayer, also it would damage anything I considered an enemy, but spare anything I considered to be an ally. Nice, no friendly fire. The Blessing of Mankind burned Faith energy to give courage and fury to my chosen targets, or despair and dread to my enemies. Hmm. So it would only be useful in battle? That required more study.


    While I would definitely have to use the abilities to really start understanding then, I was somewhat reluctant to start experimenting in front of the newcomers. I had a feeling showing any weakness in front of them would be a very bad idea. For some reason, I didn''t get the same feeling of trust with them in my gut as I did with Raynor and Mr. Wick. Correction, the Kriegsmen were absolutely loyal, like big human shaped doggos. It was the Preacher and the Magos that had my guts all twisted up. Maybe for different reasons though, but I couldn''t trust them, like I could the others.


    Given the Preacher''s attitude, they were turning out to be a problem. One that I had no ready baked solution for. Worse I wasn''t in the slightest sure how useful they would be. Otherwise, I might just eliminate them.


    Huh? Where the fuck did that come from? I rolled that around in my thoughts.


    Oh!


    Oh.


    Oh, no.


    This was what I was warned about. My personality was probably already being affected by the new identity. Shit. My pile of problems grows. My bag of solutions seemed empty, unless I started thinking like a ruthless tyrant hellbent on a, "My way or the Highway" policy. If I went that route, I had as many solutions as I had bullets, and I could make a lot of bullets.


    I grew weary of all this contemplation. My thoughts seemed to be chasing themselves in circles. If I had to be an asshole to control these fucked up people, so be it. I wanted to change in the first place. "Marshal 999, your orders are to secure this area while avoiding contact with the locals. Minimize time on the surface and do not go more than a hundred yards from the lift when you do. Harm none that are in my service, regardless of what they look like. Any others you find in the area, capture and hold until such time as I or one of my representatives can pass judgement on them." I waved my hand towards the walls. "In the meantime, build all of your infrastructure underground. Go deeper if you must, but not closer to the surface. Get your production lines setup for weapons and whatever else you require. I will have food and material supplies shipped to you as fast as possible. Build me an army loyal to me and me alone. Do you understand?"


    His fist smashed like a comet into his chest and he bowed, "Yes, My Emperor! I obey!" The Watchmasters mirrored him. The preacher look nonplussed, I could feel his irritation, even if I didn''t fully understand it. I was beginning to suspect that he didn''t actually see me as his Emperor. Perhaps, he saw me as just a mouthpiece. Argh, his heart and mind were labyrinthine, loaded with twists and turns. Impossible to explore for long periods of time.


    "Preacher Grais, you will come with us. I want to see what ideas you have about the expansion of our bases. Also, so that I might learn more about your Imperium, after all, success is worth emulating." That shut off those sour feelings. A sense of pleased self importance. What a piece of work, this guy was. "Of course, It would be my honor, Emperor." No "glorious" this time? It seemed that the mask had begun to slip.


    Emulate their Empire, of course not. It sounded horrific. what sane being would want to go anywhere near that clusterfuck. No, I''d never trend that same road, but I needed him to think I was on the same path. I''d absorb the lessons and mistakes, probably couched as victories, and use those to forge something better.


    "Magos Helifern, I have considered also taking you with us. Learning more about the technology of Mars had great appeal to me." A flash of jealousy flared up from the preacher. What a child like level of emotional control. Considering he was supposedly approaching 200 years of age, that was highly incredulous. Something was deeply wrong with this man. "However, if I understand your talents properly, it would be more efficient to use you here. I''ll show you the Forges we already have set up and how to use them, though the Robotics Facilities are working on important projects that cannot be disturbed right now."


    "As the Omnissiah decrees." His "Vox Modulator''s" distorted sound still bothered me, but I was getting used to it. "Lastly, one of my Probes will scan all of your equipment, so that they may be reproduced in the Forges. We''ll determine later if your methods of manufacture or ours are more suited to our needs." None of them objected, though the Magos''s mechadendrites writhed almost like they were afraid.


    With that I think I''ve covered my bases for now. There would probably still be a ton of fuck ups to fix later but this was a good start. After we got the scans sorted, I took the Magos to the Forges and explained everything he needed to know. He seemed joyous, if such a being was capable of emotion.


    Somewhat later, Raynor, Mr. Wick and I were sitting by ourselves in the living area south of the lift, discussing our impressions of the newcomers.


    "Those folks are a few stalks sort of a bale. If I understand even half of what they said about their home, that place is a nightmare." Raynor shook his head, frowning. He was worried.


    "Fast. Accurate. Always ready." Mr. Wick paused, "Too quick to shoot."


    Raynor and I whipped around to stared at him like he had grown another head. Silence in the room grew heavier, as we couldn''t believe he had just said that. Mr. empty a mag before anyone can get a word in edgewise.


    Then he started laughing. It was a rich, but broken, sound as if he was utterly unused to laughing.


    Was the World about to combust into a ball of flame? John motherfucking Wick had just cracked a joke. Will miracles never cease? Raynor and I looked at each other and shrugged. What else could we do? After a moment more of stunned disbelief we joined him. The laughter itself built up between us until it became an uncontrollable release of tension. All that frustration of dealing with such strange people, released in a torrent of sound.


    Wasn''t it wonderful to have friends.


    We finished laughing. Hell, I even had to wipe tears from the corners of my eyes. That was a great laugh. Something around us had improved, the air even felt lighter somehow. The gloom cast by the Imperials dissipated.


    "You can call me John." Whoa. I turned to look at Mr. Wick, wondering if this was another joke. Nah, seemed legit.


    "Alright, John." That felt so bizarre, "Are we ready to go hunting for some metal freaks?" I gave them a wolfish grin, as we all stood up.


    "Good to go, Hoss." Raynor slung his rifle over his shoulder. He still had his faceplate down, so I had no clue how psyched he might be.


    "Sure." John nodded. His expression had returned to his normal blank page.


    "Alright, I''ll go get preachy. Just so we are all on the same page... he''s not coming back, right?" I felt uncomfortable even saying that much, out loud, but that man was a problem. Ideally, he''d get flatlined by some Gangoons.


    "Hoss, uh, are you feeling alright?" He was actually concerned. Raynor being himself probably had no clue how to ask what was really on his mind.


    "Honestly, no. I feel pretty off since this little episode started. My Paladin Class broke, and now I''m supposed to be some incarnation of another reality''s God. All because these new bastards are too fucking insane to listen to reason. I feel like garbage, and my new class is some path to Godhood. More problems, not many solutions. Not good ones anyway." Maybe I was snarling a little bit at the end there.


    "Yeah. Rough." John nodded. Unflappable as ever.


    Raynor hesitated, "It''s just you''re the last person I would expect to plot an endin'' like that. Fight, sure. Kill, of course, but this is a bit cold for you." He waved his hand.


    I closed my eyes and unclenched my teeth. I nodded at him, "Cold is a good way to describe how I feel right now. I''m furious but it''s not like before, were being angry was all emotional, this is a calculated thing. As wrong as that sounds, it''s worse to feel it. Like something has a plan and that plan is for me to be angry. I know it''s not me, but it''s still there burning coldly." I opened my eyes. "Something vast is trying to get me to play a role, I''m sure of it. The Company, this other God, or something else, I don''t know what it is." I sighed, trying to let my troubles out, in the hopes that expressing them would relief the pressure. But no, no real help there.


    "Sorry, Hoss but I had to ask. I''m worried. Amanda would kill me if anything happened to you. If Sally didn''t get me first." He chuckled.


    "Ah, the truth comes out at last. How''s thing with her working out?" I smirked. It was nice to know Raynor had someone to care about.


    "Good, Hoss. She''s a good woman." His voice sounded wistful. There was some pain in there too.


    "Don''t worry." John said looking at me. "I''ve got this." I knew he was referring to the Preacher. Well, if John said it, I believed. After all he was as much an idea as a man.


    I made sure that the Probes were far down their tunnels digging toward the other outposts. I was a little worried the Magos would chase after them when we left. I needed to keep my Robo-Buddies safe from the clutches of the Tech-Priest.


    I was finally getting input from the total Psifield. I could now sense things all the way back to the Valley. I called some Sentries to keep an eye on the newcomers and an Observer to monitor the activity here. I set a fixed order of Rations for them to be delivered by Probes once the tunnels were done, and called some Wisps to make them a Moon Well. I still couldn''t get it out of my head that something was going to go horribly wrong.


    I shook my noggin to clear the dark thoughts. Well, I had done what I could. It was time to hunt.


    We collected Grais before taking the lift up. I kept a part of my attention on the connection between me and him to monitor his increasingly erratic emotional state. Something wasn''t right with this guy. Everything he saw made him twitch or growl. Mutters of "Heresy" often passed his lips. Twenty times before we had even got off the lift.


    Well, it wouldn''t matter for too much longer.


    We gathered the troops before getting into the truck. I figured we''d head north to Watson and start some Maelstrom hunting there. After we were done we could swing by Lizzie''s and decompress a little before heading back home. Though I was contemplating stopping to see the Mox before we got rolling just to see Grais''s head explode. He''d probably declare them some sex cult and try to burn them all. As hilarious as that image was, I think we''ll wait on exploding Preacher brains. The Mox deserve better. Heh.


    Strange thing was that Grais had calmed down a lot when looking at the boys in power armor. It reminded him of something, something holy. Then there was shame. Betrayal. My head snapped to him. He startled, backing up. Worry, fear and resignation. "What did you do?" I didn''t mean to say anything, I figured a confrontation with him should wait. It had just slipped out. Everyone else turned, looking to figure out what was going on.


    "Emperor, I... I did nothing. To my shame, I did nothing while they burned." He began to speak haltingly, "I was hunting a cult on Paraxis IV. (AN: couldn''t find a Paraxis, but did find a Praxis.) Your holy angels had been dispatched to deal with an infestation of Xenos. The Xenos were actually daemons of Chaos. A common mistake amongst the uninformed."


    Grais had our undivided attention now.


    He took a deep breath shuttering. "I ended up working with the Astartes to find the source of the daemonspawn. The Cult was located and further than usual on the path of corruption. Many were full sorcerers of the Fel Powers." His eyes were clouded, he wasn''t really with us anymore. He was back there. "We slew many, but in the end they had summoned a Daemon Prince. It shouldn''t have been possible, but there it was. So terrible that my mind began to tear. Were it not for my Faith and the holy protection of my Rosarius, I would have been destroyed then and there." I glared at him as I recognized that term. Daemon Prince. He flinched. I began to see the nature of the issue. He was broken. He was tested and he found that he wasn''t enough, and it shattered his self-image.


    We have all failed, but he couldn''t move past his fuck ups. "The Astartes resisted the ruinous influence and began to attack the Foul Creature but in the end their strength wasn''t enough and they began to fall one by one. To my shame, I didn''t help, I could barely hold the Rosarius anymore. My prayers were faltering, I failed." He began wailed like a bereft child. He had been vulnerable. Who hasn''t been there?


    "When they were all slain, the Daemon turned to me and smiled. It said, "Another time false priest. After all you are already mine."" Grais wept. He''d lost his way. Hadn''t we all?


    I both felt pity for him, and was furious at his weakness. Nope, I couldn''t shake it, but I saw his issues from two different angles. My suspicions grew, but I didn''t know for sure. However, I had an idea on how to find out.


    I coiled my mana and cast Nature''s Blessing on all of us. I shaped it again and Cleansed us, then I gave us all a Regrowth for good measure. He flinched from each spell as it washed over him, that was most definitely not the usual reaction.


    I could feel it now, his darkness.


    Even the very act of him telling that story was foul. It was a poison of the soul. Sowing doubt. My sense of his wrongness was growing. He was tainted. I used Blessing of Mankind on all of us.


    His inhuman screams confirmed my suspicions.

 Chapter 41

    My mind split into two separate states. One closely observing every detail of this unfolding tragedy. The other somehow calculating a thousand moves ahead for a game I wasn''t aware that I was playing... Game, another game in all of this mess? What game was this?


    The changing screams of the former Preacher cut through the night. A siren warning off the standard street rats and police alike.


    Grais''s skin pulsed, then it rippled with all the shades of all the colors you never knew existed, all the really unpleasant ones. Swelling masses grew then erupted in a haphazard manner, as if they couldn''t be bothered to try to be intensely shocking or truly grotesque. Honestly, it lacked the horror you might expect from an eldritch horror tearing it''s way out of its former human host. There was no metaphysical weight to it, something was missing. This was just a strange being finally undressing after a log day of playing at being Grais.


    It spoke in a voice that sounded like a thousand out of sync throats trying to imitate a discordant Theremin. The syllables were mere random noises, at first, nothing but disharmonious gibberish. Then actual words began to emerge. They dripped with the juices of fouled dreams, and wormed into your ears seeking a place to lodge themselves permanently into your mind.


    "Where is the great SONG? The sickly sweet sounds of PLEASURE! The gurgle of DECAY! The braying of WRATH! The giggles of CORRUPTION! Where? Where did you go my lord? Do not leave me here all alone!"


    A ripping noise preceded the final discarding of its man-flesh. Wails and screams flooded the air in a fevered pitch, and shortly after only a warped, twisted mass of writhing tentacles, snapping fang laden mouths, and soul-less eyes remained. The flesh, if you could call it that, had settled into a color somewhere between madness inducing purple and ruptured intestinal pink.


    My first impression: That''s a fuck of a lot of tentacles! Second impression: Damn that''s fugly! Third impression: KILL IT! KILL IT WITH ALL THE FIRE! even though I knew there would never be enough fire to scour clean this filth ridden mass of putrid existence. Its voluminous screeches continued, carrying a note of endless loss and hopeless dread.


    I snapped into the moment, no longer a mere observer with a layer of separation from the events unfolding before us. My mind cleared and my resolve firmed. "Shoot it, now!" My bellow broken everyone out of the daze the transformation had inflicted on them. " Attack! Before it regains its senses!"


    John was the first to get with the program and pump rounds into the beast, followed by the deafening report of Raynor''s weapon. The cacophony of the troops'' guns were barely a split second behind. Given the unknown nature of the creature before us, I had a brief concern that our bullets wouldn''t have much effect on the disgusting beast. Thankfully my worries were wrong, each round that hit it and erupted with a small burst of bright blue flame. It seemed that the minute amounts of Psicrystal in the crysbronze alloy reacted violently with the baleful purple energies the creature radiated. The damage of each round was small but at least it was something.


    Raynor started shouting orders to his men, and they busted their asses to follow his commands. They knew damn well that all of our live were on the line. I rapidly took stock of the situation. We were on mostly flat ground, nearby the Station and its covered pump area where behind the crazy unnatural thing. Sadly, we had spend all that time earlier clearing the area of trash to feed the disassemblers in the forges. There was nothing left anywhere to use for cover on this side of the building.


    We had created and loaded tons of spare magazines earlier and even had more loose ammo. So while the beast seemed to be eating the round by the dozens, we had plenty to keep scoring small holes upon its twisted visage.


    Its wailing grew louder, "It hurts, it hurts to be alone. Forsaken. WHY?! Why does it hurt to be abandoned?" It then burst into giggles followed by more senseless screaming. Its energies that burned bright at first seemed muted somehow now. It also seemed confused, if such a term applied. I expected something more from a creature of the beyond. While it barely showed signs of damage from the barrage pounding into it, the signs of our wrath were slowly adding up. Chucks had been thrown free to continue burning in blue flames.


    I used Divine Wrath, hoping that the golden energies of faith would burn the foul thing to a crisp. While the energy appeared to increased it''s agony, and certainly did more damage, it was hardly the conflagration that I was looking for. However that was the signal that the beast finally seemed to understand that it was being attacked.


    "What are these souls, tainted by soft energy? Why are you not drawn to my belly? Come, come food and join the blurp and the glorp of my stomach. Join the agonizing delight of being dissolved into nothingness." The beast charged, it''s movements an awkward series halting and sluggish lurches, all of its disgusting tentacles flopping about or being dragging by its bulk. Slow but inexorable. Worse, it appeared to be getting use to this new manner of locomotion. As it moved ever closer I realized how much volume its form had gained, the beast was now a massive house sized pile of wiggling flesh. Even now the very nature of its material composition seemed to be transforming.


    The damage of our sustained attacks, had began to strike meaningful blows. Larger chucks were torn from the main mass to fall combusting upon the ground. I leveled another Divine Wrath at the offensive thing, as I pulled my Omaha, adding my own share of bullets to the fray. We had started spreading out as we backed away, trying to hit the abomination from as many different angles as we could, while making it harder for the fallen Preacher to pick a target.


    It paused again. Perhaps the foul creature was lost in whatever passed for thought in its kind. "What is the meaning of a heart beat? Who counts the cost of a tearful eye?" It leapt and caught one of the troops as he was changing his magazine. Tentacles pulled his limbs in different directions and tore him into quarters. Shucked of his armor, the pieces of the man''s body were absorbed into the tainted being. "Little soul, little voice. It joins me, IT joins US!" A face, too similar to the man just lost to us, morphed out of the gross pink flesh, the face began to sing.


    "It killed Huskler! You''ll pay you bastard!" Someone yelled. Another one of my men charged and shoved his rifle into one of the countless mouths, dumping his whole mag into the beast''s internals before getting smashed into the ground by at least a dozen fleshy pseudopods.


    "Keighvus! No!" This man too, was absorbed into the mass of tainted flesh. Another face formed between the tentacles to add to the dirge sung by the other face.


    "MY souls, they join my song. Everlasting and loving peace for the little pretties. Sing for the world my darlings!" There was a new quality to the creature ranting. It was gaining awareness and purpose from the men it absorbed.


    It had no right! How dare it! I would make it pay!


    I snarled and dropped another Divine Wrath on the fucked up amoeba. This time the light seared much deeper into the mass of the corrupted meat. This time a lasting golden flame ignited in its pustulant innards. We were finally weakening it. "Hold strong! We are hurting it! Keep it up!" I yelled with fury burning in my heart.


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    "Roughnecks! Pour it on! Fight!" Raynor bellowed. His rifle blew basketball sized holes into the abomination.


    "Fight!" 8 voices responded as one.


    John had snatched up Huskler rifle, and a few mags. He reloaded the weapon and started popping eyeballs. One shot, one eye. He danced between tentacles as the foul thing turned it''s full attention to him. It cheered in its frustration, it laughed in the glory of its pain.


    I reloaded, and continuing to add what damage I could. Twitching oddly the foul thing started to sway, its momentum stalled. Everyone was still firing and reloading as fast as they could, determined to end this monstrosity. This horrid thing that has stolen our companions.


    "Why do the little souls not submit? We no longer wish to be alone!"


    "Rot in Hell!" I blasted it with another Divine Wrath. The gold flames rushed in eager to consume its corrupted meat. This time the volatile nature of the energies resulted in a small explosion. Foul shreds of the warped being that Grais had become pelted the whole area. We had done it. Hopefully the souls of our friends could now find peace in death.


    Though, I still was left wondering why the fuck had this just happened?


    We had won a costly victory against an unbelievable foe. Why was something still bothering me? Was it something that the Imperials had said earlier? Think, man, think. What was it?


    Chaos corrupts...


    That had to be a daemon, right? A servant of the "Ruinous Powers", of Chaos.


    "Raynor! Status!" I yelled to him, half because my hearing was screwed up. The other half was to make sure he could hear from me all the way over where he was already checking to see if anyone had been poking their noses into our business. At least Night City had some good points, people here didn''t usually run towards the sounds of massed gunfire. I cast a quick Regrowth on myself to bring my hearing back up to normal.


    "Ryan, Huskler and Keighvus are KIA, bodies missing." He paused grimly, we all knew where they were. "The rest of the troops are good to go, no other casualties. The area is clear, no lookie-loos."


    That had me thinking about, how the daemon had just torn Huskler apart. His armor did fuck all to stop the beast''s power. Then when it absorbed him... Oh Shit!


    I called, through the Psifield, ordering all nearby Probes to converge on us. We needed to hurry. "Raynor! Start the boys looking for all the scraps of the creature''s flesh. Gather it all into a pile. Don''t let it touch bare skin. Same for anything covered in its blood. This may not be over."


    He got an idea of what that meant immediately, "Hell. Let''s get to it boys!" He hurried up to start them on the clean up job.


    "John, you alright?" I saw him just staring at the largest chuck of rubbery flesh remaining.


    "Yeah." He sounded odd. Maybe, offended was the right term.


    "What''s wrong?" I cast a Regrowth and Cleanse on him just to make sure he was okay.


    "Too many bullets." Oh. He was pissed it took so many rounds to bring the damned thing down. Despite everything, I chuckled. He gave me a look, if it was anyone else I would have said it was a wounded one. Nah, John Wick ain''t other people, it must mean something else.


    "Don''t worry. There was probably only the one creature. Even if there were more, I already have a few crazy ideas percolating in my head to help counter them." A higher purity of Psicrystal in the alloy of our ammo for a start. Infusing mana and/or faith into the rounds on top of that might also be a long overdue experiment...


    An image of the disgusting beast flashed once more into my head. It had been hidden well, deep in the flesh of it''s human host, I guessed that the Company had missed it riding along. At least, I hoped they''d missed it and it wasn''t an intentional action on their part. I doubted the others had been tainted, but I''d have to check them thoroughly before we left. Best to be sure, this was too much of a threat to ignore, or take half measures.


    The first of the Probes had arrived, and I told them to scan for every bit of the supposed daemon''s flesh and stack it in the pile that Raynor and his troops had already started on. At first I had a mild concern that maybe the daemon''s remains could corrupt the Probes, but I remembered the violent interaction of crysbronze and the daemon''s chaos energies. Not quite as good as faith energy but it gave me confidence that the Probes would be able to resist any taint.


    That reminded me, I gathered everyone up and cast Blessing of Mankind on them. This was to increase the amount of faith energy left surrounding them. My own pool of faith was running low, but there should be more than enough to ignite the pile once we were sure we had gathered everything up. I also cast Cleanse once more to get rid of the filth splattered all over everyone, since I still had plenty of mana. After a couple of hours we were certain that all the foul meat was ready to be burned.


    Divine Wrath was called down and its golden light set the filthy mass of giblets ablaze. We all watched it burn away into carbon ash, and I Cleansed that ash as well. We all took a few moment to thank the fallen for their sacrifice.


    With that messy issue out of the way, we went back underground briefly to restock our ammo, and recheck all our equipment. I spent more time rounding up the Kriegsmen and the Magos before casting Nature''s Blessing on them. My breath hitched as the mana hard a hard time latching on to them, especially the Magos, but after a larger pull on my reserves than normal the blessing finally took. They didn''t flinch or seem bothered, quite the opposite, actually. They were vibrating with vitality. A good sign they they remained uncorrupted. Then just to double check I also granted them the Blessing of Mankind, that one went far more smoothly. The golden light wrapping around them like a comforting blanket. Excellent. One less concern. I let out a sign of relief as I explained what happened.


    Their unexpected reaction was simple acceptance. They held no anger, no doubt, no questions, no horror or fear over this revelation. To them, it was okay that I had killed Grais because it was me doing it. If I said he was tainted by Chaos, then to them that was an absolute fact. That grim outlook was such an ingrained part of their lives that even the reality that they were that close to a tainted beast hadn''t rattled them in the slightest. I sadly shook my head and let them get back to their jobs. Insanity.


    Finally we''d been shed of our burden, and were loaded up for another few rounds of fighting. Raynor, John, the Boys and I finally got underway to Watson. We had lost half the night already and despite everything were eager to hunt some Maelstrom. The ability of our troops to keep going was nothing short of amazing. Was it because they were summons, or could it be chalked up to the harshness of Raynor''s training? I was impressed yet saddened that I would be leading them once more into a fight. And so soon after that clusterfuck with the daemon. Maybe we should swing by Lizzie''s to let them unwind. It''s not like the Maelstrom was going to vanish overnight. Even if they did, there were other Gangs. There was always another Gang.


    Part of my thinking was that I was still shaking on the inside. That had been terrifying, my heart and mind hadn''t caught up yet. That such things existed anywhere in all of reality freaked me the fuck out, and pissed me right off. I was also fairly certain that hadn''t been anywhere near one the the worst of those daemons. Who knows where another of those abominations was lurking.


    It didn''t help that we were back in this monument of corporate greed. That I was once again immersing myself and the people I was responsible for into the underbelly of the most depraved place I could''ve imagined. Well, before today, anyway. Night City was nothing next to the most common Hive Cities of the Imperium, if the tales of the newcomers could be believed. How could humans survive such bullshit?


    That thought had me spiraling in my head for most of our drive. I was driving shitty, to the point were I almost hit a few folks, before I recovered at all. It was so bad that the onboard AI took over managing the wheel. That stung a bit.


    John seemed to understand my dilemma. "Stop thinking." A calm statement.


    "It not easy to just turn it off." I scoffed.


    "No. But can you do anything about it, now?" He tried to banish the insanity with cold reason.


    "Not that I know of." I responded after a moment spent examining the question.


    "Then push it to the back of your mind. Let your subconscious work on it. Here, I''ll show you some techniques to manage your reactions." I focused on his lessons and honestly managed to have a more stable outlook on the present. The techniques he showed me took decades to master but even those first few steps were helpful. Damn, I should have asked him for some training long before now.


    This new viewpoint let me take in more of the city and not be so centered on my own issues. I began to notice things I''d missed before. A gang of kids helping a lady to carry her things. A cop actually just having a friendly chat with a citizen while keeping an eye on the area. Some Gangers cleaning up a park, who would have thought it was possible. Even in this broken city, people were people. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I had mostly seen the bad and it had dug it''s way deep into my heart, coloring how I perceived everything else.


    And it was, John Wick, of all people who opened my eyes.

 Chapter 42

    All of us were still processing what had happened, each in our own way. The general mood was understandably somber, but everyone seemed in much better shape mentally than I would have though. Losing companions, losing your battle buddies, had to hurt. Yet, the troops were already willing and able to jump right into the next conflict. This showcased that everyone''s emotions were much clearer to me now, then they had ever been through the Psifield. A function of Voice of the God Emperor class probably.


    What a fucking name. I didn''t like it. It made me feel like I was some fucker''s puppet. Cross Universal puppetry? That sounded like a storybook nightmare. I was deeply rattled. The breathing techniques that John had shown me helped, but I could barely keep using them. It would be ages before my mind had been reordered into a bastion of quiet reflection. Time we simply didn''t possess right then.


    I was reviewing my actions in my head from the fight. Something had been off, I''d been barking out orders like I had known what to do. Again, I suspected the influence of my new class. My only other exposure to battle command would have been war movies, and the majority of those were highly exaggerated. They were hardly a decent basis to start my combat command career. No, everything had felt like something remembered from a long time ago, having the dust brushed off once it was needed again. I ran the situation through my mind again, calmly analyzing what I had gotten wrong and what I had gotten right. How I even knew what were the proper actions would have been was a mystery, but every critique seemed logical, each suggestion for improvement was part of an obviously consistent methodology.


    That my thoughts seemed to move faster now was both a blessing and a curse. It had led me to start reviewing my actions since my arrival, and consequentially quite a few strong moments of self recrimination. All the opportunities I had squandered, were written large in my mind''s eye. Time spent whining when I could have been improving. Allowing myself to get catch up in my own misery at the exposure to the horrors of this city. If everything was rotten, I had to do everything I could to reclaim it. Then I could turn it all towards a better purpose, a better tomorrow. No matter the cost. Even the costs to myself. I was not important, I was merely a vessel to bring order to this benighted land...


    What the fuck was that?


    There it was, all the proof I needed that my classes, and particularly the newest one, were affecting my thoughts. Insidious ideas were burrowing their concepts deep into my psyche. Was that on purpose or merely a consequence of gaining knowledge from this fucked up system? How much of "me" would be left, when all this was said and done? That line of thinking earlier was some kind of sideways tyrant''s justification for future atrocities. It''s not for me, it''s for your own good. Easy to say, but almost impossible to trust if you studied history at all. Maybe some of the great despots had genuinely sought to improve the world, but that didn''t mean their definition of "improve" matched everyone else''s in any way, shape, or form. So what were all of these alien thoughts going to do to me?


    No, hell no. Let''s try to stay off that path for the moment. Sure, I wanted to help people, but at any cost? Absolutely not, too much had already been lost. More loss was inevitable, but I should exhaust very option to keep the collateral damage as low as I could. The "victory at all costs" mentality, often left you with nothing worth having. Let''s not forget that I''m ultimately here to bring life back to this world, not destroy it further. Patience would allow us to reach the required goal as well as aggression. Spread the clean water and then expand the areas of greenery. Soon enough, our efforts would have new life marching over the land again.


    And there was the Druid class shifting my thoughts into its preferred methodology. My mind was caught in a rollercoaster, while playing pin the tail on my brain. How could I even be sure that any of my thoughts were truly my own?


    When we had arrived at Lizzie''s it was packed to the rafters. I had to guess that fire codes were not a thing in Night City, because the club was at the level of standing room only. Even the lobby was jammed with bodies. Some supposedly preem band was playing there. I hadn''t known that live music was a thing in this city. But I thought that maybe it showed that all hope was not lost for these folks.


    The band, Rev/Des, had quite a large and rabidly loyal following. Being a bunch of street kids who had found the path of music together and then used it to channel their struggles into a form of art. Then they sold that art and made millions of dollars, but I digress. I had some strong feelings about artistry vs commodity, and I found most people didn''t agree with my take, especially the "artists" themselves. However, Rev/Des were on the cusp of becoming a once in a generation phenomenon. Maybe they would as big as the greatest names of previous eras, like some band called "Samurai". Maybe they would crash, and then burn out before they got there.


    So why were these up and comers playing Lizzie''s? Turns out, that they had run with Mox for a while to make ends meet. Heh. This club was a second home to them, and these howling lunatics were their people. While they remained mostly independent, the Corpos were circling the band, smelling all of the money they could extract from the genuinely talented band. You could see a lot of them mixed into the crowds of street folk and gangers. They stood out quite a bit, and I had to wonder why no one had zeroed them yet?


    I''ll say that I liked a band in this overly automated world that still played real instruments. So I thought that it might be nice for us to check out what passes for live entertainment. The boys needed the break and so did I. Hmmm. On one hand the crowd would be a ton of stress for us right now, on the other the right kind of music could help lift the spirits like nothing else.


    Nah, these crowds were way too crazy, we needed something at least a little more quiet than this. I was just about to get everyone back into the truck, when Rita caught sight of us.


    "Hey Ryan! Wait up!" I turned to see her just plowing her way through people like they weren''t there. For some reason, I found that funny. Especially since she was smaller than most of the folks in the area, not that size meant quite as much in a cyberware laden future. Watching her shove a giant gonk out of her way with barely any effort proved that. He want to start shit, but saw it was Rita and didn''t say a thing, though his eyes did flash. I was chuckling when she arrived, which stopped cold when I realized that John had turned all his attention on her. Even Raynor who was playing herd dog with the fellas, had stopped to watch this little bundle of "fuck you" come our way. Now that would be an interesting fight, but no I liked Rita, she was a good egg in a carton full of bad ones. I held up my hand to calm everyone down.


    She stopped in front of me, and she seemed excited. Which couldn''t bode well for me. Then she noticed the others and her excitement grew. Then I was sure that this wasn''t a good thing for us, but I''d been wrong before, especially with the Mox.


    "Ryan, help! We ain''t got enough girls to cover all the angles. Especially out here." She was scanning the crowds jamming up the parking lot with quick side glances before refocusing on me. Now that I thought about it, her appearance was disheveled, as if she had already been through a fuck ton of something bad tonight. It wasn''t surprising, trouble and special events go hand in hand with the Mox in my experience.


    "Rita... " I owed the Mox nothing. That said, I had nothing against them either, and I did appreciate their attitude in the face of this city''s bullshit. Use what you got, make others take notice of you. Then take what they were willing to give, and a bit more besides. "Fuck to Death!", indeed. I could see how that was a valid response to this world. Maybe even a sane one.


    "Don''t say no! We can pay well and the after party will be nova, once we clear everyone out." She looking like she was more than ready to kick some ass, but her tone suggested she was actually worried. This really didn''t sound like anything worth our time, until she mentioned the after party. That sounded like a swell idea.


    "Raynor, are the boys good to go on crowd control?" I wasn''t really expecting the answer to be yes. Part of me was hoping it would be a no.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    "We covered a few lessons on it. So a tentative yes?" He nodded. He started going over the best methods to works a crowd with the troops.


    "John, you good to work a concert?" There were less reasons to refuse. My earlier trepidation was being eroded by the thoughts of a party.


    "Not my first time." John smirked. His body was already facing the crowds and his new eye were scanning for threats. You know what, fuck it. It beat trying to find a new place to hang out on short notice. Though that did beg the question, what kind of concert started at this ungodly hour?


    "Alright, you keep Susie out of my hair and we''ll do it Rita."


    I''ll give Rev/Des this, I felt their pain.


    The music itself was kind of a bland, bass heavy, fast rhythm, and light melody sound, similar to a thousand other pieces of music, even from my world. The notes served as an innocuous background to the message of shared suffering. The vocals though, were amazing. Truly marvelous. The lead singer''s performance was so haunting, so soulful that I caught myself a few times becoming entranced by their voice, even though I was trying to ignore the music and pay attention to the people swaying in the masses outside. I was curious if the voice was somehow the product of chrome or not.


    The band itself was playing on the roof, with only a small select crowd getting to be up there to see them live. Big eddies changed hands for that privilege. Likely all wheelers and dealers, perhaps some idle rich, with just a handful of super-fans splurging on a once in a blue moon show. The Security up there was all run by the Mox''s heavies. No one was getting near the band, without major iron and a lot of split blood.


    The main portion of the club was jammed full of folks getting a full live broadcast or BD experience for a lighter, but still considerable price. Most of the folks in there were behaving and the general vibe was one of joyful sorrow. The Mox had a lot of their mid-liners keeping the peace in there. The outside had been sectioned off from the public and only a small fee was charged to hear the band from here. To be fair, it was still a great experience out here. You could hear everything and felt like a part of the show. To all of our shocked expectations, no one caused any major trouble. A few folks getting too handsy, and a brief scuffle over some imagined slight. Easily diffused by the boys.


    We where working the event in pairs, I was with Jarous. Who was one of the first folks summoned by us at the founding of New Lordaeron. He was a calm and jovial fellow, always with a lite quip or jape. A really likable guy. Mostly we talked about how different things were here. Though the consensus amongst the troops was a morbid fascination at all the technology. To them, it was almost as if they were part of one of the darker legends of their world. Well, I''ll try my damnedest to make sure they really were legends in this world. Living ones.


    When the show was over we helped hustle people out of the area. Then we helped with the clean up. A few Probes would have sped this up considerably, but I wanted the outposts all connected as soon as possible so I didn''t call any of them out here. Though that did highlight that the Psifield now covered a good portion of the eastern half of the city. I could sense them working if I concentrated on it for a moment. Nothing seemed out of sorts and I had no messages when I checked briefly. Hmm, I wonder if the Corpos could detect anything at all through the cloaking fields.


    Once everything was tidied up, we were allowed into the club for the after party. Which was a far more subdued affair then I thought, at least by Mox standards. Softer music, and the lights were turn down to a normal level. Most of the Mox were showing their real personalities rather than their working personas. It was almost like they were ordinary folks trying to have some fun, imagine that.


    I was sipping a modest whiskey while sitting at a table with Rita, Raynor, John, Kimmie, Mateo and the Lead Singer of Rev/Des, Revy. Revy was a spitfire of a tall redheaded woman, and she lived and breathed the stereotypes of redheaded women. Lots of fire. It didn''t hurt at all that she was quite a stunning woman. If I hadn''t had Sally and Megan waiting for me, I might have made a fool of myself. She was hard not to fall for.


    The boys were mingling with the Mox and thankfully everyone seemed to be getting along just fine, maybe a little too fine... Nah, let them have their fun. We''d have some other crazy bullshit to deal with soon enough.


    "Remember when you pulled Mateo down and spanked his ass in front of the whole club, all because he hit on your sister?" Rita was half way to drunk, but seem melancholy which had me wondering what was wrong. Though the out of place question had pulled my thoughts back to the table. I scoped out Mateo to see how he took it. The answer, with a nonchalant shrug.


    "I liked her, still do." Well that was interesting, something had happened to the sister?


    "Well, she needed to focus on her studies. Plus, we all know how all of your relationships end up Mattie." Revy laughed while making a spanking motion. Rita went quiet, thinking of something. Probably something bad judging by her face.


    Kimmie chirped, "You sister was Saphie, right?" Her tone was off. Ah, suspicion confirmed, I saw where this was going.


    "Yeah. A toast to my sister. May her name live a little longer." A toast for the departed. Revy did have an interesting way with words. We all lifted our glasses to that. What heartless bastard wouldn''t? After the toast, I saw that Rita was looking at me with a thoughtful expression. I raised my eyebrow at her, almost daring her to do what I''d seen coming, and circled my hand. Even in this place it meant "Get on with it."


    "Ryan you still have those drones right?" She began softly. I was sure she was thinking of the last time she''d asked me to use the Probes and how that all turned out. She was weighing how badly she wanted to know the sister''s fate.


    "Sure." Where would I be without my Robo-Buddies?


    "Would you be willing to do me another favor?" She was subdued. Haunted maybe, that spoke of all kinds of unpleasantness.


    "Spit it out Rita, I promise the worst I''ll say is no." I stared at her, she had my undivided attention.


    "Saphie''s been missing almost a year now. We have no clue what happened to her, none at all. Would you be willing to look into it?" She was looking down, she knew that asking thiswas crossing a bit of a line. Poking a sore point. Sinn was still someone I had a hard time thinking about.


    "Rita... " I struggled with myself for a moment. Then I saw the look on Revy''s face. Her expression was one with a sick kind of hope. She knew her sister was gone, but not knowing the how or the why of the situation was slowly eating her up inside. I must have some hidden stat that made me a sucker for a woman in trouble.


    "Fuck. Okay, I''ll look into to it. Send me all the detes, and I mean all of them. I don''t care if you think they aren''t relevant. I don''t care if it makes somebody else look bad. All. Of. Them." I tapped my finger loudly on the table to emphasize those last three words. Yeah, I was going to cheat my ass off. Feed all of that data to Alina, between the Probes and an Observer or two, if there was anything to be found we would find it.


    "I''ll pay you." I wasn''t liking this version of Rita. Meekness didn''t suit her.


    "Shut up, Rita. Tell me how you think you screwed up." That was the only reason I could see her behaving like this with an acquaintance like me.


    "I was suppose to be her escort for a run up to Portland. We were going to meet up at Tom''s for breakfast and head out, but she never showed." Her head was between her shoulders. She was slumped and had a defeated look.


    "Rita, you gonk. Let me guess, you blame yourself. You think you should have let her stay with you the night before or something. Run herd on her all the way, right?" She nodded, "Yeah, I''d likely carry that weight too. It ain''t your fault but it sure would feel shitty. Hindsight''s a bitch." I growled. I looked at John. He nodded. My glance at Raynor confirmed he was doing the same. "Look, we''ll do what we can. I don''t need payment. Money''s not our problem. We need connections here in the city. Promise to help us meet the right folks, and get us wired into the pulse of this town and we''ll do everything we can to figure this out."


    "Tha... " she pulled herself up a bit. A little of her usual fire returning.


    "Yeah, none of that. I''m not promising we can find anything, it''s been way too long. So don''t thank me for effort that will likely end up with nothing. If and when I find anything, then you can play kiss ass." I tried to show I was joking with a grin.


    Rita gave me a half-hearted smirk, "If that''s what you want."


    Kimmie chimed in, "Can I help?" I gave the little hyper-sexual fiend my best, "Are you Serious?" look.


    Rita laughed, "He''s dating Longshot Sally and Murdermind Megan, you''ll have to talk to them about sharing." What''s this? Why is this the first time I''ve heard those names? Kimmie blanched. So, my ladies had quite the rep built up.


    Revy whistled, "You must be some input. No one''s ever had the balls to actually date those two. Though I know about a few of their conquests if you want to hear... " Sounds like someone was a fan of their work.


    "Let me stop you there. The past stays in the past, at least where that kind of thing is concerned." I''ve never understood the sick fascination of dredging up the past. Everyone''s got one and it only matters if it''s particularly egregious. If I needed to know, they needed to be the ones to tell me, or it was all going to end badly.


    Shit, they had jammed that worm into my thoughts now. Stick a pin in it, I didn''t need another thing to worry about right now. However, I was going to have to have a conversation with the ladies when I got back.


    The rest of our time there should have been full of light conversation and good company, with a few more drink thrown in. Of course, it wasn''t.

 Chapter 43

    The Sun had started to kiss the city and we were all more than a little inebriated. I myself could barely mumble out a semi-coherent sentence. The others, well, let''s just say they all were worse off than me, except for John. John was bright eyed and looked like he was having a ton of subdued fun watching us make fools of ourselves. In what I thought was a brilliant move, I had a solution for our collective condition, and I used it. Regrowths and Cleanses all around. You get a Regrowth, you get a Regrowth, and you get a Regrowth! I was channeling minute flows of mana on several folks at a time. If I hadn''t been riding the booze train I might have realized what an accomplishment that was.


    It wasn''t until I hit myself with a Regrowth, that the idea that pouring mana into a bunch of Moxes who weren''t used to magic was a dumb play on so many levels. Shit. Thankfully, I didn''t have to hit any of them with a strong enough dose of mana to cause those kinds of issues, alcohol only took a brief burst of energy to dissipate. If I had gone that far, I''m not sure things could have been calmed down at all. They certainly noticed I was somehow making them feel a lot better though. The responses varied dramatically.


    I got accused of jacking them with drugs, chemicals or nanites. Which given what little I knew about the Mox was a definite no go. They have a hair trigger when it comes to that shit. If it hadn''t been for Rita and Mateo sticking up for me, they might have tried to remove certain equipment that my ladies hadn''t had the pleasure of fully using yet. As it was, I apologized profusely, because causing trouble even unintentionally needs to be rectified if you want to maintain trust. And I was starting to come around on the Mox, they were becoming alright in my book, so I wanted to keep a connection with them open.


    Now some of them were just miffed at losing their buzz, and others were intrigued by the feeling mana had given them. So it''s not like the whole room wanted to skin me, but it was enough people to be a problem. Oddly, it was Susie herself that ended up settling the whole affair. A few quick tests, administered with small chip-like reactive meters, showed that I hadn''t spiked or hacked anyone, and that everyone was a little healthier than they were before. Not much because I wasn''t really focused when I was throwing spells around like they were going out of style.


    Susie said that pending a demonstration, I was not doing anything wrong, and she thought it was all a misunderstanding. That was very reasona... Wait, that was very suspicious. Okay, what the hell did she want? It was obvious what she wanted, a rundown of my healing services. So I suggested that she should pick two different kinds of folks, one close to fully borg and one close to being fully ''ganic. Why did that matter, they asked, and I explained that it would become obvious after a few minutes.


    First up was one of the girls that worked as a bouncer, she was mostly chrome. Her name was Sam, and she had a lot of problems. I had her lay down on a nearby table we cleared off. She was nervously fidgeting, when I asked to touch her. "Do you have to?" She sounded scared, and maybe a little lost.


    "Strictly speaking, no. But I can work faster and better if I do. I don''t have to touch anything other than your hand if that makes it better?" I kept my voice even, not quite the tone I''d use with a stray dog, but not far from it either. She nodded and gave me her hand. Let''s see, Sam was roughly 80% chrome at this point. Only a few muscle groups, most of her digestive tract, the majority of her brain and her reproductive organs were still meat. That said, my practice session on the Nomads back in New Lordaeron had shown me I could soothe the interface between flesh and chrome and that''s what I focused on here. A lot of her chrome had been poorly implanted. Outside of that, I fixed a few hormonal imbalances.


    Did she just have one of the most wild experiences of her life? No, probably not, but her voice sure let everyone know she was enjoying her treatment


    "Did you actually just give her several orgasms just by touching her hand?" Rita stare at me incredulously. Folks were getting riled up again though the focus of their attention seemed more positive, at least for the moment.


    "Technically, yes, but it''s just a side effect of the process. Something about the energy I used causes this reaction in people who lack a certain amount of the same energy to begin with. Though I was told that if I ever found myself flooded with a higher level of energy than I could normally handle the same thing would happen to me." I explained while pulling more mana from the thin atmosphere. Everyone seemed to calm down a bit after that.


    Finishing with Sam, I suggested that she find a better Ripper. Which on reflection was another obvious landmine. Of course, shitty work like this wasn''t done with her consent, at least not originally. I had been looking at the attempts of a Ripper to fix the mess left behind by some Maelstrom bullshit.


    "Fuck, I''m just poking all the buttons today. I sorry, Sam." I meant it. I don''t like digging up old bullshit.


    "No, it''s okay. You had no way of knowing that it hadn''t been a botched chip job. I''m feeling so much better now. Thank you." She seemed a lot more cheery than when she''d laid down. She got up and went to sit down for a while, letting the aftermath of my treatment run its course.


    Next up was George. George, worked the bar with Mateo, and was about 70% ganic. He laid down on the table and shoved his hand at me like I was offering him the job he always wanted. On the outside he was a well put together dude. Nothing seemed visible wrong with him. Inside he was a fucking mess. Every organ was to some degree messed up. I worked on them one by one until I finally got down to his private areas. At some point someone had tried to remove his bits. Also someone had done severe damage to his waste exit port.


    Was this the work of Scavs, Maelstrom, or the vengeance of a jealous rival? The ministration of prison violence? I couldn''t make sense of it. What the hell was going on here? Poor bastard had been through a blender and then the blender violated him. That didn''t set right with me. On a fundamental level, I now felt obligated to correct this mess. I put all my effort into fixing him. Every bit of concentration I could muster and every ounce of mana I could draw was turned toward making this poor man whole again.


    When his man tackle was whole once more and his other issues were healed, I started to come back to the world only to find him crying. Sobbing uncontrollably. I didn''t know what else to do, I gave him a hug. We could all use more hugs, right? All the sudden, I was a flotation device and he was drowning.


    "It''s okay now, Brother. It''s over." Fuck me, I didn''t know what to say. So I said the first thing I could think of.


    "George!" Susie latched on to both of us, like a koala to a tree, and George slowly transferred all his attention over to her. This allowed me to separate myself from that awkward sandwich. Good thing too, they''d started making out right then and there. Whoa!


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    I realized after a moment this is what Susie really wanted from me, or was hoping for. George was Susie''s input, and someone had scrambled him good, probably because of her.


    This shitty city was still showing me its fucked up cards, and I didn''t think it was even remotely through yet.


    It''s nice to help folks, though I was noticing a worrying tendency to shift into different mindsets around different groups of people. Usually, I hadn''t even realized I had changed. Maybe, I had always been that way, adapting to suit the needs of the moment. I''d never needed to change much back home, so I''d never seen who I really was before. That begged the question, was there a "real" me, in the first place? Nope, set that aside for now. I started breathing in the manner John had shown me while running a list of things in the room. This technique helped to ground you to where and when you were. This helped wrangle your thoughts towards your goals and not get lost in your own bullshit. Ironically, the method was developed to help distracted children with their schoolwork ages ago, but Assassins seemed to love it. Fun facts, from John Wick.


    Refocused, I watched the open display of vigorous affection taking place right in front of me. Way too close, I could feel their bodies heating up. I backed off and left them to their fun. SusieQ was still kind of a bitch, but at least now there was an obvious reason for her behavior. I''d have been pissy too.


    While George and her continued, uh, testing his new equipment, the rest of the Mox crowded me again. This time asking for their own turns under my hands. The thought crossed my mind that I really should start charging folks for this. Then I thought about whether we really had time for all of this mess, or if I was letting myself get distracted as a means to stop thinking about my latest fuck ups? Then my brain countered with a, "Nah, don''t be a dick about it", and a "I could work on my issues later". So, I had John and Jim line them up and I started helping them one at a time.


    So many of them had small issues with cyberware. Even having access to a good Ripper was no guarantee that your body could handle the chrome. Also, over time even the better install jobs started to wear the flesh down, not to mention the stresses that built up on the cyberware itself. Thankfully, I could easily take care of the damaged flesh and even strengthen the connection to their chrome. Easing a lot of the minor problems in a few minutes. Healing the Mox soon fell into a routine. Just to break the monotony, I tried examining them while bringing out some of the instincts and knowledge from my Warp-Smith class. An idea that paid out a few dividends, I could now identify the types of wear and damage on their chrome while still running Regrowth on autopilot. However, no matter how I tried, I couldn''t affect the cyberware itself with Psi or Mana. No surprise there, just mild disappointment.


    In this session of mass healing, there where a few stand out cases. The Mox had a lot of enemies and rivals and often ran afoul of their competition. This had lead to an unreasonable amount of old bullet wounds, poorly healed cuts and misaligned broken bones. Medical care was very much a matter of how much you could afford to spend on it. Under no circumstances would I say that you got what you paid for, but it did make a large difference if you could drop an extra thousand eddies here or there. So, I was seeing many different levels of treatment of a lot of the same problems.


    With Phillis, who liked to go by Ly, there was nothing but issues. Malnutrition, addiction to a few different drugs, and improper nanite function were the main culprits. I couldn''t affect the nanites directly but I could get her body to flush out the messed up batches. There wasn''t an organic part of her that hadn''t faced extreme damage at some point in her life. It didn''t help that her cyberware was some of the cheapest and poorly chipped junk that I had seen to date. She looked and felt like she was in her eighties and on her last legs. Maybe a few months of life left in her. But I continued working on her, and lo and behold she really did come out like a whole different person on the other side of my treatment. No one could have imagined she''d look like a lady in her twenties again. There was no way in hell, I was going to ask her actual age.


    Then there was Kaz. She had been the captive of a deranged group of AI worshipers. She was so twitchy she hit me a few times by accident, while she was going over the treatment she had received at the cult''s hands. I''ll spare you the details, other than some folk just aren''t right in the head. Once again, Rita had been front and center in the group that smashed the cult down, and she''d pulled Kaz back to the Mox herself. That brought up more memories of Sinn, that I had to shut out. I healed the last scraps of flesh left in Kaz and did my best to smooth her ridiculously raw neural connections.


    More and more tales of tragedy were piled at my feet. Causing me to work harder, yo push myself further. To right the wrongs set before me. At some point, my awareness caught golden energy flowing from some of the Mox that I''d healed. Sure, that made sense I guessed. They had faith in me from my acts of healing. Isn''t that one of the paths that had gotten us Saints in the past? As long as they didn''t start chanting about me in, what was it? Oh yes, "High Gothic", I didn''t see the harm. Might even protect them a bit if another Daemon was running around somewhere.


    When I was finally done it was well into the afternoon. And I felt like a wrung out rag. I didn''t think I could channel more mana if my life depended on it. So the fellas and I sat with Rita, Revy, Susie and George, while we shared our rations. No offense to the Mox''s cooks, but I felt like real food would help me recover better.


    Rita, Susie and Revy sent me all of their data on Saphie. I sent all of it on to Alina and asked her to give me the highlights, while I munched away on a wonderful sandwich from a ration pack. BBQ Brisket. Nice. I noticed it was apparently okay for all the ladies to steal food off my plate. I barely got any of the crispy beer battered fries that came with the sandwich. I didn''t see a one of them going for Jim or John''s food. What the fuck was that about? I had even offered them their own packs, which they declined. Did I have sucker tattooed on my forehead? Sigh, whatever, I had plenty more ration packs. The next one I pulled out had a Chicken Rice Casserole that was so delightful, I almost decided to stab Rita when she snagged a bite. I grumbled a bit instead. Once again, I was saddened that my side dishes disappeared before I could get to them. Seriously, what the fuck!?


    Alina returned with a profile on Saphie, laying out in simplest terms a profile of who she was and what she wanted. Saphie was a genius. I didn''t have a better term for it. She absorbed knowledge like a sponge and spat out amazing ideas. My poor simple brain couldn''t follow half of what she had published on her own. Her works contained a thousand ways to improve life, especially where cyberware was concerned. All before she''d even taken her first steps into Academia proper.


    As little of her work as I could understand, I already had a good idea what''d happened to her, if not who had done it. It was pretty obvious she had been snatched up by some Corp. Either to eliminate her before she could become a problem, or to force her to work for them. I didn''t need Alina for that much of the puzzle. Hmm. It sure would be nice to find her alive, but I was not going to bet on it.


    The hunt for Saphie should start at her last known location. However, the apartment she had been renting at the time was already in the hands of another renter, preventing a closer examination, at least by me and the boys. We would wait until nighttime and have a Probe sneak in and scan everything. Risky, but feasible. That''d give us a quick rundown of what might have been going on. We''d also have an Observer park over the apartment and use its powerful scanners to peal back any long forgotten secrets hidden there. It might take longer, but it would be far more thorough, and the current occupants would remain none the wiser. While that was taking place, we would take a Probe and hit all of her known favorite hangouts.


    Other Observers were tasked with investigating the most likely culprits. Which with the information we already possessed, appeared to be Raven Microcybernetics, Biotechnica, and the Tyger Claws. My gut leaned toward Raven Microcybernetics right now, but I had nothing concrete to base that on, other than most of her innovations involved the same type of Cybernetics to some degree. We all knew how Corps got when you got near their IPs.


    It might take a while before we managed to pry any usable info out of our efforts, but I had a good feeling about this one.


    With the ball already rolling on the Saphie investigation I turned my attention back to the Mox and my food.

 Chapter 44

    A few hours later we said our good-byes and could continue with our original plans. I left the organization of Saphie''s investigation to Alina, she was more than capable of monitoring the Probes and Observers while they watched the most likely suspects. That might seem like a cold attitude to take. But everyone, including her sister, thought she was already dead. So there was no rush in their minds. As to my idea that the Corpos might have snatched her to keep stashed away and pumping out ideas for them. I kept that to myself for now. If it happened to be true, a few more months of being in their clutches was unlikely to change anything about her status.


    I growled at my own thoughts. I didn''t like it. I wanted to save her now. No, I chastised myself again, haste would be detrimental here. So I swallowed my desire to charge into the situation. I needed to wait and let my Robo-Buddies do what they do best. Alina would keep me up to date on all of their findings. That would have to be enough for now. I knew it was the best play, but fuck I hated having to sit on my thumbs.


    John, Jim and I got the troops into the truck and headed further north into Watson. I kept us moving at a slow pace, looking for promising clusters of Gangoons. When we had some fuckwits sighted, instead of immediately jumping out and going balls to the walls, we marked their positions and continued looking for more. Another Observer had been tasked with following us and keeping tabs on the groups we marked. Maelstrom, Scavs, and Tyger Claws along with a few lesser known gangs like the Fire, Harpies and the Corded. The only really common factors between all of the scumbags was a wiliness to ignore the law and a lack of empathy for anyone not a part of their Gang.


    Why were we sticking to simply scouting them out? Why not just put foot to ass as fast as possible?


    Our goal was to find a central location to each of the Gangs'' activities. One that we could take over from each group and then defend while racking up a massive body count. Then after a a certain amount of assholes had been flatlined, we''d fade out and move on to the next target. Maybe duck under a Pylon for a short rest and to dodge heat from the NCPD. This was an excellent way to test of our weapons and armor against a normal level of local threats. It would also kill some time while we waited for night to fall. Too much fun in the light of day, might see us tangle with some NCPD or Corpos who could decide to investigate the commotion. At night, their script was different, the cops would rarely stick their necks out in these rundown neighborhoods, and the Corpos were way too busy doing their most critical wetwork and networking partying.


    While a lot of factors could still go wrong, that would all become part of the testing. How are the all the players going to respond? How aggressive are they going to get, over one piece of critical logistical real estate? What level of tactical sense would both our boys and our enemies be able to maintain while under fire? Would the Power Armor be able to keep up with Borged out psychos? How well will crysbronze tipped ammo tear through cyberware, especially defensive mods? We had so many questions. It was time to dig up some answers.


    As night crept in, like a thief sneaking up on their latest client, we had managed to find a handful of buildings we marked as prime targets. We wouldn''t be able to hit all of them tonight, but we were in no hurry right now.


    The first target was, of course, going to be a Maelstrom run garage. It was a trashy looking pile of scrap metal and crumbling concrete, held together by a hope and a prayer, and probably some duct tape. It was a fairly isolated place yet their gangoons tracked through there constantly, hundreds every hour. It had to be a drop off and pick up point for klepped goods, weapons and cyberware. Scans had shown that the Garage itself was a cover for lots of underground activity. Likely smuggling tunnels or holding cells for poor unfortunate folks caught up in the Maelstrom''s bullshit. No fewer than 24 Strom bangers were present at any one time, often a lot more. Clearing this building would be a good start to our festivities.


    John, in a rare slip of emotions, was eager to get started. He had the slightest of smirks gracing his otherwise grim features. Jim was worried something would go wrong. He was riding herd hard on the boys, making them run weapons and armor checks over and over. The troops were joking, between those checks, and seemed as mentally stable as ever. The repeated weapons checks, and the reports from the Power Armors'' systems showed that everything was good to go. My attitude was somewhere in between. Sure, I was physically a mass of nervous energy that was ready and willing to uncoil on the unsuspecting gangers. But mentally I was calm, my mana remained still pool waiting peacefully until needed.


    The plan we had drawn up, started with John sweeping the perimeter working his way deeper into the building. Meanwhile, Raynor and four of the boys would swing around and hit the North side of the building. I would take the other four troops and hit the garage from the west.


    We parked in an abandoned lot over a block away and slowly worked our way into position, trying to avoid as much attention as possible for Power Armored soldiers. Raynor split off with his group and vanished into the darkness. A minute later John just vanished, even the Observer on overwatch lost track of him. That meant it was going to be impossible to gage his progress, so we had agreed to give him a five minute head start before lighting the place up. Though I had my doubts that we could hit him even if we tried, never mind hit him by accident. So I wasn''t too concerned about catching him with friendly fire. What I was worried about was that he would be mostly out of contact, once he''d worked his way underground. While I had every confidence in his ability to clear the warrens down there, well, shit happens.


    My squad had covered ourselves in a grim silence, staring intently at the first targets we had picked out. Probably a dumb move, since some folks can sense that kind of thing, but it was hard not to.


    Waiting always sucks.


    Raynor''s group popped off before my squad did, but that brief delay didn''t matter. Almost instantly every Maelstromer outside of the building was torn to pieces by our volley of gunfire. their startled screams cut short as they some got to discover if their AI god was real.


    Without my own set of Power Armor, Keighvus''s former SOR proved to be almost too much for me to handle. It kicked like a mule and and that recoil knocked me back a couple of feet. As bad as that sounded, I did manage to hit the Strom I was aiming at, his chest burst into shreds, with milky grey fluid splattering into the night air. I knew that attempting to handle that sick recoil for another burst was not a good ideal. So I let the rifle fall, its sling keeping it ready if I needed it again.


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    I started a shuffle stepping jog towards the building, while my squad kept pace with me. All of us scanning the roofline for any signs of movement. A well placed sniper would have been a major problem. No one popped their heads out and no shots were fired at our approach. My trusty Omaha was swiftly drawn and I squeezed the trigger at a few borg heads just starting to peek out of the opening garage door. Every shot missed, but buzzing rounds cutting through the air caused the Stromers to flinch. Which allowing the rifles of my squad the second needed to be brought to bear. The roll-up door despite being made of a strong aluminum was poor cover against our heavy iron. The crysbronze bullets, unimpeded by their passage through the otherwise durable material, found their marks in the gangoons. More foul milky fluid was released, Pollock style, all over the garage''s bay.


    I dropped back a step, letting Arvigh plow through the door before me. The right pauldron of his armor absorbing the impact like it was nothing. I could see that Raynor and his squad were already in the building and had pinned a few Maelstrom behind some heavy crates. My squad caught them in a deadly crossfire making short work of their defensive position. A quick visual scan allowed us to determine that the coast was clear. We had already put down every threat currently above ground. We all took that second of peace to swap to fresh mags.


    That was all way too easy. My gut churned with suspicion. There was no way this should have been resolved that quickly. Either John had pulled some crazy bullshit out of his ass, or their were more Strom hiding in this building like little cowards.


    After our squads ran a quick sweep around the grounds, we found no living bangers above ground. So I had Raynor''s Squad break off and descended into the warrens to aid John if he needed assistance. My squad members posted up at the corners of the building to wait for the inevitable influx of fresh enemies. We all knew that they had to already be on their way. I was taking a moment to gather shards from all the bodies. More credits and possible intel on the Gang''s movements were never a bad thing.


    However, until the others finished up below it felt like my squad was too spread out, so my head was on a swivel trying to keep an eye in every direction at once. Then I started to prowl around making sure that we weren''t surprised by any sneaky bastards. Which was some nerve wracking work. Soon half my attention was on a feed from the Observer that parked above us. I could make out the swarm of Strom bodies circling the garage. They were painted by the Observers scanners, and I pinged everyone with the data.


    We heard the soft pops of gunfire from below several times while we waited. We twitched a little with each report. Knowing we were about to be similarly engaged.


    A moment later Leens yelled, "Contact! Northwest!" Before firing several rounds into the night. He was soon followed by Arvigh who had started shooting to the Southeast, his demeaner was calm his voice barely heard above the rounds already tearing through the night. "Contact." Hopper kept up his watch before a round deflected off his shield, "Orc tits, I didn''t see them!" Before his weapon joined the others in their terrible song. "Coming around!" Tous called out before firing at our newest guests.


    I wanted to start shooting myself, to run out and cut down Strom with my bullets. Anything to release my own tension, but that wasn''t the plan. I was to monitor everyone and pull them back to cover and/or provide healing if needed. Once again, I felt that It sucked to be the healer. I could only watch the feed from above, seeing dozens of marked Maelstrom fade out as their lives did the same.


    After several more incredibly stressful minutes, both John and Raynor''s squad returned from their hunt below ground. John was covered in grey spatter as he appeared, almost magically, at my side. Raynor and his boys took positions next to my squad at the corners.


    "Looks like the bastards still want to play, Hoss!" Raynor barked in amusement. Now that the waiting was over he was actually enjoying this.


    "Show them how we do it!" I called back trying to be encouraging. Our gunfire burned into the dark night and the our enemies fell.


    "Fight!" The troops sounded off. Our earlier success had them riding a battle high.


    "You alright, John?" I asked the legend. I didn''t see anything wrong with him, but it was best to make sure.


    "Yeah." He responded. As verbose as ever.


    I nodded at his wit, before turning my attention back to the link with the Observer. The Strom outside were almost all down. The few remaining gangers looked ready to run.


    "We should be able to roll the rest up, and then break away." I couldn''t see anymore fresh Strom approaching the area. That didn''t mean they weren''t gathering at a staging area somewhere else.


    "You heard the man! Move! Move! Move!" Raynor bellowed. We formed up on him and rushed back out into the night air. We steamrolled the remaining borgheads, making sure to pump a couple of extra rounds into each of them just to make sure that none would survive. That finished we raced back towards the truck.


    Once we got back to the truck, I hit everyone with a Cleanse and a Regrowth just to help keep us pepped up. And to clear up anything that might be used as evidence if we got stopped by some nosy cops. Somewhere in those tunnels under the garage, John had found some earplugs for us both that cut any sudden loud noises but left us able to hear most sounds at the level of a normal speaking voice. Those were a godsend, and I thanked him for finding them.


    The next target on our list, was a long way back towards the bridges where Watson feed into Japantown. We were hunting a Tyger Claw operation boosting goods from some of the small dock warehouses clustered there. This would be a quick smash and fade op. Then we''d head for the Outpost in Japantown to lay low until tomorrow night. I figured we''d be starving and tired by the time we got there so decided that resting was a better plan then pushing on tonight.


    I kept telling myself there was no need to rush, even though I really wanted to push harder.


    We caught the Tygers with their pants down. A dozen of them were just milling around outside an open warehouse door, no planning, or organization. It was obvious that they had just finished stripping the place and their trucks, full of goodies, had already left to drop off their plunder. The remaining Claws were celebrating with synth sake and loud music. Basically, they were daring anyone to challenge their crime.


    They weren''t expecting anyone, to actually say anything, never mind our response.


    Despite getting jumped, they fought hard, their smart weapons arcing bullets at us in large curving bursts. Unfortunately for them, our shielding held up against their tiny rounds. Our return rounds started picking them off. Each Tyger tagged was a slagged mess. The sight of their friends getting splattered, pissed them off, and the remaining Claws charged. Interestingly enough when some of them closed with us their katanas'' blades got caught in the shielding. It was as if they were stuck in wood. That was odd, maybe something to worry about. I''ll have to study that effect when we got back home. At least for right now, it made them easy prey as they tried to free their swords. We slaughtered them without mercy.


    Only one of the Claws stood out. He was a full borg and had engaged a Sandy, seeming to blink out of sight. But John had him covered and both appeared a nanosecond later with John''s pistol under the Borg''s chin already pumping a few rounds through the top of the Claw''s head. The Claw''s blade was still too far out of line to be a threat to John. Damn, that was something to see!


    The last Tyger skinned, we swapped mags again. We looked for any stragglers, but finding none, left us somewhat disappointed. Again this was way too easy.


    We gathered all of their datashards and left. Another job well done.

 Chapter 45

    We spent the daylight hours lounging underground, each of us taking naps or enjoying some rations while watching a plethora of stupid Night City Vid Programing. Soon a local news program started playing and the major story was quite familiar. It was an interesting experience seeing our work from last night being sensationalized by the news media today. While I was watching one of the reporters chattering nonsense at the Garage scene, a dreadful thought hit me. In the background I could see that the police were thoroughly going over the area, they were performing basic forensic procedures, which in 2074 involved all kinds of scanners.


    The blood drained from my face, as I realized we had done nothing to hide our faces from the cameras. Not a problem for Raynor or the boys, but John and I could be screwed. None of us had policed our "brass" or recovered the spent bullets from the bodies. All manner of "evidence" for them to latch onto. Sure, we weren''t in their systems so they''d have minimal leads, but I hadn''t even thought about the traces we were leaving behind. My lack of forethought could have just burned us good.


    It was possible that they already had John''s and my face plastered all over the Net. And now they''d be building a file. Everything we had done might be uncovered, no matter how unlikely. If they back tracked our presence in the city... Shit! I took a moment to consider my next steps carefully, then I started doing what little I could to mitigate the damage.


    I sent a quick message to Rita, Mateo, Vik and Misty telling them to just cooperate if the NCPD came a calling. They''d be the most likely to try to protect our info, and I didn''t want them to catch heat for my fuck up. Next, I sent a message to all available Probes to button up all the Night City Outposts by sealing them off completely from the topside. We''d have to expand the tunnels networks to have any freedom of movement around the city and hope the NCPD didn''t have relatively decent sensors that could easily penetrate the ground deeply enough.


    I shifted one of the Robotics Facilities'' queue to produce a squad of Probes before returning to pumping out more Sentries. I still wanted to complete the killing quest at least once before we went home. That meant we needed a dedicated digging team to get us to the buildings we had marked yesterday. MY poor little Robo-Buddies were going to have to save the day yet again. And though it was a little too late, I spent an hour designing masks for John and myself in the one of the Forges. Cursing at myself the whole time. It took three tries before I managed to produce a style of mask we could both use without any problems.


    This behavior was why I had never gotten around to to hiring anyone to help me back on my original Earth. I was always worried that if I screwed my business up I''d be dragging my employees down with me. Fuck, how could I have been so stupid? I''d really thought I was doing better with planning out our missions. Then it turns out that accounting for the aftermath of our actions never even crossed my mind.


    Now we had to do the rest of our work in the city, like some kind of mole people.


    While the Probes were being assembled, I worked on some upgrades for their Particle Beams systems. It helped to calm my nerves. Small and simple adjustments to their crystal focusing matrix allowed for a longer lasting beam, and a reordered power distribution cluster increased the output of the beam by around 5%. My brain had spat out the ideas a week ago, but I''d gotten distracted from the implementation stage by the power armor designs. The new Probes were easily updated as they were being built, and soon all of our other Probes would get modified.


    While these fresh Probes lacked vitality of a Wisp infusion, it hardly mattered for tunnel work, and we could handle getting them infused later. Right now, they''d started digging with their new stronger beams. Two of them worked on the excavation, while another two followed behind disassembling the debris and adding the small version of Pylons into the walls. Every 400ft they also added a set of two Photon Cannons for those "just in case" situations. The best part is that occasionally throwing Empower Constructs on them sped them up, which increased their workflow dramatically. What should have taken days, merely took hours and we were soon directly under our next target. Ready to hit them, only an hour or so later than I had initially planned.


    However, we hit a further snag. Within moments of digging upwards, we the humans, had to retreat from horrified revulsion. The Probes had broken into the sewage system. Thankfully, they were undeterred by the foul steaming sludge that started cascading down upon them. Soon enough they had dammed the downward flow and created a workaround for the main sewage line. That redirected flow now allowed us to make further progress towards the surface. Only then did I creep close enough to throw a desperate barrage of Cleanses over the whole area. The smell... blugh.


    This unfortunately happened two more times before we were directly under the floor of the metalworks. The building was a combination of a smeltery and manufacturing plant, that had been confiscated by a gang known as The Fire. They were a group of pyromaniacs that loved to burn anything and everything they could. Sadly, for them, the concrete used in modern construction could withstand incredible temperatures, which meant the crazy little firebugs couldn''t practice wide scale arson. So they had taken to burning other Gangs and any random citizens with their vast knowledge of a multitude of incendiary devices. They even had cobbled together their own makeshift versions of flamethrowers.


    We had no clue how our shields would match up to burning accelerant. Our first plan was that we were going to move as a group and drown them in suppressing fire, keeping them from getting anywhere close to us. But then we came up with a better plan, unless they saw us come into their base, I was going to let a Probe drop a War Pylon right at the mouth of our entry point. Then they''d never see us coming at all.


    There was an Observer hovering far above, which reported only a dozen members of the gang in the building. The rest must have been running around causing trouble. That wasn''t really a cause for alarm, The Fire was always trying to find new targets for their psycho activities.


    The encounter went off without a hitch, the Pylon hide our presence until we were already shooting. Even with the clear indication of an attack, the few survivors didn''t have time to react to our sudden assault before we had cut them all down. Once we had cleared the area and collected the data and credit chips off of the Gangoons, I let myself observe the completely automated Metalworks. Even if it was primitive by the standards of the Khalai, I found the machinery fascinating, and I actually enjoyed the smell of hot metal.


    The smell of burnt human flesh not so much. We found several piles of crisped corpses. Given their condition The Fire hadn''t gained anything for these deaths other than whatever sick satisfaction the psychos got from their victims'' screams. I really wanted to give those poor souls a proper burial, provide a little comfort and peace to the departed. This could bring some small measure of order to what could only be called insanity. It would have to wait though, until we were sure no more of those pyro assholes still sucked air.


    The Probes were scanning everything while throwing the bodies of the gangers into our tunnels where they would ignominiously disassemble them later. We waited, once again completely hidden by the War Pylon''s influence. As the members of the Gang slowly filtered in, in small groups mostly, we simply disposed of them. They never had time to begin to suspect anything was wrong. Then the Probes tossed those banger''s remains into the tunnel. After each encounter, I had the Probes recover any spent cartridges while I cast Cleanse to take care of any blood or any other sign we were here.


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    It was all so easy, so efficient, so mechanical. A part of me was repulsed by this, another part of me celebrated that none of my people were ever in any real danger while still getting to remove these scum. I merely needed to look at the mounds of victims to keep calm and stop feeling any sense of pity or remorse for The Fire gangers. In the end, this wasn''t about honor, and it certainly wasn''t about being the good guys, it was about exterminating a cancerous growth. A terrible but necessary action.


    When we were sure we had gotten as many as we were going to get tonight, we returned to the tunnels and left. The Probes sealed up our entry point behind us and then disposed of the gangers'' bodies.


    Another unpleasant job well done.


    "Sources at NCPD have revealed that The Fire''s primary members are all missing. Cameras in the area caught glimpses of a conflict with the unknown gangers in green and blue armor. These same gangers were responsible for eliminating a Maelstrom distro hub the night before. Well, I say good riddance to all of those freaks. I for one, welcome our new, more fashionable gang to Night City. We at the Point Review can''t wait to see which creeps they flatline next. Up next, is your neural interface trying to kill you..."


    The show''s host faded away and the scene morphed into an annoying NiCola commercial. Fuck you, I will not taste the love. Your love tastes like ass.


    We were once again relaxing in an Outpost, while going over our gear and making plans for tonight''s mission. The Probes were expanding the Tunnels to points just below the next two targets. Either one should net me the first completion of the Kill Quest and I''d get to find out what kind of goodies came from a Supply Token.


    "How''s everybody doing?" I let my voice carry so everyone heard me. I got back a chorus of "Fines" and "Okays" which had me nodding. Their morale seemed to be holding up, and we still had enough rations to push for a couple of more days. More if we could stomach including some of the local fare, into our diets. Some part of me wanted to head home, and screw the quest for now. But all of the reports from Jaina, and messages from Megan, Sally, and Amanda let me know everything was going well in New Lordaeron. New farms were going up, new Footmen were being trained and outfitted. The Smithy, Church and Jaina''s Mage Tower were complete or near completion. New homes for the people and new local business had started, like a restaurant, a bakery and a butcher. Many more acres of the Badlands were now new growth forest. It had only been a few days, so I was definitely amazed by the steady progress. New Lordaeron really was coming together into a respectable town now.


    Even Meadran was talking again, albeit sparingly. And Faergin had found a location where he wanted to take root for the first time. The new blacksmith had already fitted a restless Korvaith with some steel armor plates. Alina had obtained some interesting data from the Observers, about several of our projects, and would be sending me the files to review later today.


    My only worry about events there was no one had seen Lumi since before we had left, and I couldn''t find him with the Psifield. My gut clenched involuntarily when I thought about it. Yeah, after we took care of these next two groups we''d head back and I''d go looking for him. It was probably just him running around far and wide, but thinking about it set my nerves on edge.


    Far in the distance, echoing through the newest sections of tunnels, we heard a bizarre noise. We immediately snapped into combat mode at the unfamiliar sound. We grabbed our weapons and formed up and trying to figure out exactly where the noise was coming from. It didn''t take long to determine it was coming specifically from the tunnels leading further to the west. Where the Probes had been digging for tonight''s raid. A dozen recently finished Sentries, without prompting, entered those tunnels single file. What was going on?


    After a couple more tense minutes we could tell that what we were hearing was a combination of sounds. Some kind of animalistic screeching and the sounds of Photon Cannon, Disruptors and Particle Beams discharging rapidly. After a few more minutes we finally see what had been going on.


    A seething mass of pale flesh and metal was advancing slowly through the tunnel, while three Probes and four Sentries were engaged in a fighting retreat. Even as we watched the mass of angry "cyborgs?androids?" overran another Photon Cannon emplacement. Many of their bodies were burnt or cored by Khalai weapons but those corpses were dragged back into the mass and more fresh bodies were always ready to keep up the pressure.


    One of the Sentries threw up one of it''s stationary, nearly indestructible shields. The rest of the robots fell back to our position. The Probes beeping frantically.


    "Run Executor! Countless Enemies! Relentless! We will delay!" I looked carefully at the things beating furiously on the purple shield of the Sentry. Vaguely human. Their faces, all identical, each one carried the same mask of rage. Yet, every one of them seemed to have different cybernetics, which appeared haphazardly grafted into their pale bodies. No weapons, or armor, not even any clothes. All of them sexless, just a smooth patch of skin were something should be. Very disturbing. Their screams were a mixture of real vocal cords and voice boxes and there was something haunting in the sounds. As if each creature was lost in some kind of digital hell.


    The Sentry''s shield shattered as I was still trying to analyze this new foe. The beastly thing swarmed the Sentry not just trying but succeeding in damaging the robot with their bare hands. Fuck!


    "Back! Back toward the Imperials!" I ordered, trying not show my fear. I figured the Command Bunker should be able to withstand this threat. I don''t care how strong these new creatures were they weren''t beating their way through several feet of concrete.


    We ducked into the tunnels leading to the south east. We began to haul ass, highly motivated to out run the things behind us. The remaining Probes and Sentries went back to keep trying to slow the tide. The screams of the twisted beasts followed us the whole way.


    When we arrived near the Charter Hills Outpost we were meet by a squad of Kriegsmen. They immediately recognized me and bowed to me. How did they get them so fast?


    "No time for that! Enemies inbound. Setup a defensive position here." I could figure out the detail of the rapid deployment later. Now I needed a defensive line that the horrid things following us couldn''t break.


    They voxed the Marshall and we began helping them to set up a choke point. We managed to barricade the tunnel with some kind of metal panels the Kriegsmen had already had nearby. Their current assignment had been to create checkpoints in the tunnels. That was some bloody good timing.


    Once we''d gotten everything in place and I had a moment to breath, I used the Psifield to order all available Probes and Sentries to seal off the tunnels leading from the Japantown Outpost to our other locations. They were to use whatever methods they deemed fit to get the job done as fast as possible. We couldn''t allow these creepy things to get anywhere near New Lordaeron.


    "One side!" We all backed out of the way of a large field gun of some kind. It looked like a small double barreled howitzer. Even without seeing it perform, I liked it. A lot. I went to the nearby Robotics Facilities to queue up some more Probes, with the goal of scanning that weapon. Also they would help secure the area with further defensive structures.


    After the Gun was settled into the barricade we waited while the screams once again grew louder. Two more squads of Kriegsmen approached as well as Marshall 999 and Magos Helifern. Seriously, how did they get all of these soldiers out so fast? I thought the menu said in would take a week to get a squad out. I''m seeing three squad that they has squeezed out in a couple of days. Given that I didn''t see either of the Watchmasters, I''d be willing to bet there were other squads, guarding other tunnels. Something was fishy.


    "Emperor! What threat approaches?" Marshall 999 asked, saluting as come up beside me. John and Jim watched him and his men like hawks. Helifern stayed back a ways, probably not wanting to appear as a threat, or maybe out of reverence to his Omnissiah.


    "Unknown, Marshall. They likely come from further under Night City, They appeared from tunnels that were newly excavated to the west. No weapons or armor, unknown random cybernetics. A seemly endless tide of bodies, full of nothing but rage. They also have no concern for survival." I kept my voice steady. I counted in my head like John had taught me. It could make my outward appearance seem much calmer than it really was.


    The Marshall chuckled. "Excellent. If they do not fear death, they shall not run from our guns. A proper foe to crush, and fully display our devotion to you, My Emperor!" What the fuck? He was happy that an enemy was coming, I could feel it.


    He turned to his men and roared, "Krieg! We Stand! They shall advance no further! Hold this line! For the Emperor!"


    His troops were silent, but I could feel their willingness to fight and die. For me. Golden energy burned into me from every Krieg Guardsman, and it felt wonderful.

 Chapter 46

    As I was trying to come down off the high induced by a flood of faith energy, the strange creatures nearly closed the distance to our position. Suddenly, even with my new earplugs, all I could hear was a deep resonant hum, followed by the zap crackle of the field gun unleashing hundreds of beams of light. All of the Guardsmen radiated eagerness while watching the barrage and the resulting devastation of the weird beings in the tunnel. That eagerness started to dull as they began to realize that the strange beings weren''t going to survive the bright beams cutting through the tunnel. They wanted some of the enemy to get through so they could fight them up close.


    A minute passed and the barrels of the field gun were beginning to glow a dull orange. Soon the weapon would have to stop. This had turned into a battle of attrition, did them have more bodies than our weapons could bare. Two squads of the Guardsmen flanked the "lascannon", their cruel bayonets already affixed to their "lasrifles". They didn''t shuffle, fidget, or make any unnecessary noise, very much reminding me of John. They waited for the gun to stop, so they could fight and die for their Emperor. For me, and that was a heavy and terrible cloak settling on my shoulders.


    An empty hallway then greeted them, the flood of twisted flesh and warped had stopped. Their disappointment was flash bulb bright in my new sense of the emotional world. The lascannon had gone quiet. My mind was already racing to reorder my thoughts, and I took a small measure of time to ponder this empathetic ability. Jim''s or my own emotions were heavy complex things, John''s were hidden and obscured. The troops from New Lordaeron had simple, clear, but deep feelings. Hmm. Why could I sense my own emotions? A sudden burst of dizziness as I tried to latch more deeply onto my own feelings. Nope, let''s save exploring that for another time.


    From the Imperials, the only being that possessed an emotional quality similar to mine or Jim''s was Marshall 999. Though his were far more singularly focused on a sense of directed fury and pain, he none the less had feelings about other things. Magos Helifern''s were faint things barely noticeable, however there was a sense of something getting in the way of them. The rest of the Guardsmen though, if I had to put it into words, seemed like addicts. Everything that mattered to them was dialed way up, but somehow everything was all greyed out.


    Which lead me back to our new enemy. Despite the intense outward expression of rage, including the snarling expressions on the faces of the strange creatures, there was no actual sense of emotion at all. How could that be? Was it all an act? Were they immune to my new senses?


    Helifern was already using his mechadendrites to disassemble several of the scorched corpses for an initial study. He used a variety of instruments to examine the smoking and scorched pieces. He called out in Lingua-technis "Initial study indicates some form of Heretek, and the possible presence of a new type of Scrap Code. However, there is something variant about these readings. I recommend following proper protocol, performing the rites of cleansing beginning with immediate incineration of the tainted remains. Avoid all contact with the subjects. Further safe analysis would require a Sanctified Temple to the Omnissiah. I request the resources to begin construction."


    I still had no clue why I could understand his binary based language. Though I noticed that of those present, only Marshall 999 fully comprehended the Magos''s language. The rest of the Kriegsmen only seemed to understand enough to know not to interact with the remains of the creatures. Either way I''d let 999 deal with the Magos''s requests.


    I had the first of the new Probes start scanning the bodies. Then of course, had some of them scan the lascannon. I was looking forward to modifying the weapon. The lasweapons in general seemed like they could be an excellent step forward in the development of our armaments.


    Just as we started to move away from the barricade, we could hear the distant screeches of more of those creatures approaching. I shook my head, "We don''t have time for this." I was beyond annoyed at this point. It seemed that every single plan I''d made had gotten derailed or sidetracked by outside influences. How do you even begin to account for the unknown?


    "We could leave it to these men. They seem more than capable." Raynor suggested, though I sensed his reluctance to hand over responsibility. I saw that John was nodding beside him. That was a... good idea. No, perhaps good was the wrong term, it was an expedient idea. These Imperials were born and bred for war. It was all the majority of them knew. I''d been trying to think of someway to use them, or limit them, anyway possible to keep them under control. This swarm of odd beings was an excellent target, and destroying them was a useful service.


    "Marshall 999, would you be willing to make this task your focus?"


    The Marshall snapped to attention, his salute crisp and precise. "Of course, Emperor. If you command it, it shall be done." Again with that sense of shouldering a heavy fucking burden. Could I handle this, handle the Guardsmen and their unquestioning service? I really had never had any desire to be a leader, never mind an Emperor. I only started taking command of the troops, because it seemed the best way to achieve the long term goal of saving this world. This wasn''t really me.


    No, there I was doing it again. I was finding ways to shift responsibility, all to try and avoid taking blame. Everything all of these folks I''d summoned to this world did, was ultimately on me. They wouldn''t be here without me. Without me, there is no them. Sure, I wouldn''t be here without the Company. I was absolutely certain that there was no way in hell the Company was going to accept responsibility for their part in all of this. So it was on me. I had to lead, because there was no one else. I should really be more thankful that so many of the folks I brought here were good at helping me become a better leader.


    With that insight firmly in mind, I turned to face the Marshall directly. "Marshall, destroy this threat. Do everything in your power to keep this from spilling onto the surface. I will send you supplies and the means to sustain yourselves as soon as I get back to New Lordaeron. Send me reports on any major changes, otherwise I''m leaving this matter entirely in your hands." Ah, the joys of hypocrisy. Well, delegation is a valuable leadership skill.


    "We will not fail, Emperor!" He snapped a salute. At my nod, he swiftly marched off to start giving orders to his troops. I wanted to sigh, to curl in on myself, but I held it in. The men deserved better from me than that kind of weak behavior. I was going to have to figure out how to become worthy of such devotion. I certainly wasn''t now.


    I turned to Jim and John, "We''re going to call in the MRAP. Then we''ll hit the next target with the chaingun. If all goes well, we won''t have to worry about staying hidden any longer. Once the quest is complete, we''ll head home."


    They shared a look. "Hoss, you don''t have to hurry. We have time, and we only get stronger the longer we work." My gut clenched up at his words. We didn''t have time, not anymore.


    "I know that, Jim. I know, but something is wrong. Something we missed... I missed. It''s not just these monsters down in the tunnels, something close to us has been messed up. It''s only with this new class that I can finally sense it." My gaze turned back to the tunnels we''d just abandoned. I hardly felt any threat from the monsters down here, no the real threat was closer to home. While I was only just becoming aware of it, I was more than certain that we needed to get back.


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    "Can you tell what it might be?" John asked. Nice of him not to question my sanity. I know I was. I felt like I was being pulled in thousands of directions.


    "No, not yet. I think these powers are still too new to get that kind of specific information. Right now, I''m just getting warnings." Somehow I knew these premonitions would get clearer with my advancement in this new Class.


    Behind us the lascannon had started another round of clearing the tunnel.


    Which reminded me, where was these creatures'' pain?


    We left the Kriegsmen to fulfill their duty. It was past time to finish this quest, and head back home.


    The Probes cleared the path to the surface, and once we were standing by the CHOOH2 station, they completely sealed off the underground passage once more. Let the monsters have their subterranean realm. There would be no more hiding or skulking, it made me sick to my core. We would expand and face our foes. This round of testing had proven that most of the weapons of this world were no match for ours.


    Next we''d have to take the skies, and from there we would conquer the Earth''s orbit. From there we shall rain down fire upon the sick and twisted Corpos, and offer succor to the worthy. Then we might turn our attention to the stars...


    I shook my head try to dislodge the foreign thoughts. This was getting out of hand. I wasn''t some all conquering asshole. I just want to help people, and heal the land. One thing was certain, I''d have to be very careful before I fed the Voice of the Emperor class anymore. Its influence on my mind was too great already. The struggle to remember the core values of who I was grew more difficult by the hour. Not that I wasn''t already inclined to burn this city down to begin with, but there were more humane ways, more surgical methods to get the same results.


    ''Spare your enemies, suffer the rewards of your foolishness.'' Great. Now the Class was speaking to me.


    We''d gotten ourselves loaded up into the MRAP, along with our newly updated Probes. I''d a feeling we''d need a War Pylon or two to cover our tracks before today was through. And I simply was concerned about the Corpos or the City in general discovering us anymore.


    My Net connection''s date and time display let me know that it was just past noon. There was a huge sense of time loss, perhaps all that time spent underground had messed with my body''s rhythms. Maybe the stressful events we had just been through had done a number on our internal clocks. Looking towards the sky revealed the bright sun only slightly obscured today by pollution. Not a natural cloud in the sky. For some reason, this felt like a good omen, though it was probably just wishful thinking.


    I drove us to the next target, which was another one of the buildings we had identified as being under Maelstrom control. This one happened to be a clinic of some kind. Which was unsurprising because from the data the Observers had scraped up they initiated new gang members there. That made it an excellent target to send a powerful message.


    We pulled into an empty lot across the street from the three story structure. Nothing stood out about the building, except that in a neighborhood where everything was tagged with Maelstrom graffiti, this building was untouched. The Probes began assembling a War Pylon above us, while we went over the data feed from the Observer. Hmm, there were about 32 fugly bastards in there.


    The current plan was for John to run the chaingun back and forth once on each floor. He''d hit who he''d hit, and then we''d take off, and be three miles away before anyone could even spot us again. If we managed to paste even half of the gangoons, then the quest should be completed and we''d head home. If not, then we move to the next target and repeat the same type of action.


    Honestly, I was surprised no one in the area came over to ask about the very noticeable construction process taking place right above our heads. Sure it looked just like odd looking drones building something to them, but come on. I''d have to chalk it up to Night City''s mind your own business attitude, I guess. As the War Pylon came online, we felt when the Psifield snapped into place. That buzzing crackle of energy in the back of our minds. The Probes quickly reattached themselves to our vehicle. I set the Pylon to passive mode, it would maintain the stealth field without attacking. One day we might need to use this position again.


    Using the controls, John walked the barrel of the chaingun through his intended actions. Then he repeated the motion, correcting his technique with each pass. Once he was satisfied with his movements, he nodded and opened fire. The gunfire cracked the sound barrier repeatedly. After the first couple of rounds, individual shots couldn''t be distinguish from one another, creating a singular crackling roar. I was extremely thankful for the earplugs John had found.


    It took John just over a minute to complete his intended pattern. This was enough time for the gunfire to make every nerve in my body twitch in a matching rhythm. Then it was over, and in the quiet my skin prickled and my insides churned.


    The front of the building was collapsing as many of the supports had been destroyed by the chaingun''s heavy rounds. I saw the quest completion come up and floored the MRAP''s pedal. Time to go home. No one bothered us, no one chased us.


    We made a brief stop, to check on Greg, at the Sunset Motel. Just to make sure my premonition wasn''t somehow about him. I introduced him to Jim and John, then bought the boys some drinks before we would move on. Greg had told me everything had been fine, barely any trouble passed through there since the last time he saw me. Good. One possible source of this dreadful gnawing in my gut, could be marked off the list.


    ''Meadran, you there?'' I figured it was worth it to check in.


    ''Young One, I sense you.'' He seemed unbothered. He was lethargic and in no distress.


    ''Are you okay?'' Better to ask...


    ''Yes, everything is well, as far as I am aware.'' He seemed to slowly gain more alertness. He vast mind altered it''s patterns into a more active mode.


    ''Can you check on the others for me, I can''t shake the sense that something is wrong.'' I could feel him reach out through the trees.


    ''I can sense nothing amiss, and Faergin and Korvaith report they are fine as well.'' He was now fully awake and the seeds of worry began to germinate in him.


    ''Thanks Meadran. I''ll check in with Alina and she if her sensors have picked anything up.'' Hmm. Really what could this damnable sensation be trying to warn me about?


    ''Be careful, Young One. Premonitions are often misunderstood until it is too late.'' Once again countless images of dragons chasing fading shadows in the mists. Green ones this time.


    I reached out for Alina in the Psifield, ''Alina status report.''


    ''Everything is within operational expectations, Executor.'' Would she even be able to conceive of truly devious covert actions? I tried to consider all the way that our operation might be fucked with. To complete my model I needed more information, but fortunately we had the means to gather all the data we could possibly want.


    ''Alina, have an Observer scan the whole of New Lordaeron and the Valley. Report anything even remotely anomalous.'' If I couldn''t suss out the problem myself, I''d have my most trusted Robo-Buddies find it for me.


    ''By your command Executor.'' I could clearly feel her attention turn toward this task. My connection to the Psifield had grown stronger.


    I pondered my next actions very carefully. However, I was worried that it was already too late to stop whatever was coming. I looked at the troops drinking and snacking.


    "I need all of you to stay on alert after we get home. I still can''t shake this feeling that something has gone wrong." I was going to want to bury myself in distraction, tinkering or spending time with Sally and Megan, even working on mana shaping. Anything to avoid this struggle, but I couldn''t let myself lose focus. My Class induced personalities were in conflict about the proper course of action. Making the vagueness of my premonition into a far worse problem.


    The first thing I had to do once we got back, was to fix or replace my damned Paladin Class. Somehow I knew that it remaining shattered made it easier for the Emperor Class to screw with my thoughts. As if there were gaps in my mental armor.


    Raynor shared a concerned look with the men, "Hoss, I think I speak for all of us, when I say we''ve learned to trust your gut. We''ve been through too much shit together to ignore you now."


    John nodded agreement, "Yeah." I could tell that both of them were already trying in their own ways to figure out what the danger might be.


    They all raised their drinks to me. I returned the gesture. "However this all plays out, know that I am proud of you all." We all took a drink. I felt their burst of pride at my statement, and despite the short amount of time we''d all spent together, our friendship.


    My mind was already turning back to the ways someone could screw us over. Under no circumstances could I let that happen.

 Chapter 47

    We continued on toward New Lordaeron. I wanted to wait for the initial Observer''s report, but I also felt an increasing sense of urgency. Worse I was slipping into a "let''s get this over with" attitude. On a happier note, I could see that the spread of small clumps of the purple grass was beginning to reach as far as the Sunrise Motel. It was nice to see patches of new vegetation here and there. Surprisingly there were even new bushes sprouting up, of an obviously different character than the scrub brush native to the Badlands. A small victory, but I''ll take it.


    Each small triumph could add up, and those small positive changes could become larger shifts over a long enough timescale. What kind of timescale? I couldn''t begin to guess. Would I even be around to see the changes myself? I''d no clue. How long would I even have to putter around on this world? A very long time, judging by Meadran''s lessons. Even Jaina thought that Mages (and presumably Druids) aged much more slowly. Then there was the issue of Regrowth seeming to reverse at least some of the effects of aging. With all of that working in my favor, I could see living at least a few hundred years. Though the meaning of having that amount of time was hard to grasp.


    Looking out at the slowly mixing environments, Earth desert and the alien grasslands of I suppose Azeroth, I pondered what these vistas would look like in a century. Would all of this be forest by then? Would the jealous Corpos scorch it all? The only way to get any of these questions answered to my satisfaction was to keep living, and see for myself. And I planned to.


    As we got closer to home, the increased mana density in the air had me buzzing a bit. Moving back and forth between the differing densities was an interesting experience. Could that be a way to train my mana capacity? Like running in high altitudes to benefit your lungs. Hmm, that was something to explore later.


    We arrived at the newest outskirts of New Lordaeron. So much had changed under Jaina''s keen guidance, and even the few days we had been gone gave her ample opportunity to expand. Wait, she''d also snagged a good chuck of my CPoints. Even with the thousand I had gotten from the Quest, I was now down to 4000 total. When did that happen? My eyes bulged, I may have been just a tad upset. "What the hell has she been spending my Points on?"


    John looked over at me, probably wondering what I was pissed about now ."Jaina has used 5000 Company Points for something, or more likely a lot of somethings." I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I wasn''t actually mad, but I was fucking shocked. I trusted her, but wow that was a lot of points. I thought back to her reports, did anything in there indicate where all the points went? No, not that I could recall. In the future, I think I''m going to require an itemized list of expenses. So that this odd sensation of being stolen from, wouldn''t be as much of a problem. I didn''t need more unpleasant feelings, especially right then. "That''s a lot?" John asked. Oh right, I hadn''t really discussed the Points situation with them. While we were parking the MRAP, I filled all the fellas in on the way CPoints worked, and what kinds of things they could buy.


    Getting out of the vehicle, we all paused to take in the changed view of our Town. Several new buildings were present close by. The obvious ones were the Church, with its belltowers and giant golden rayed sun iconography. It had been placed right by the Town Hall and just in front of the Barracks. The building next to that, billowing out a ton of smoke while creating a clatter we could hear from here, must have been the Smithy. The other new buildings were likely housing for everyone, these were structured some where between apartment complexes and medieval villas.


    Off to the north, I could make out several additional farms. I couldn''t yet tell what they were growing from here, but I was certainly interested in new fresh food items. Okay, everything I could see probably explained some of the CPoint usage, but not all. As we got closer to the Town Hall, we could finally see where the rest of the points went. Up on the hill next to my mansion was an ornate tower, its peak was maybe 400 feet high and surrounded by a aura of mana that even those folks with no talent could see. The tower''s base was larger around than the Town Hall, making it by far the largest building in the area. What was all that space for? We Jaina expecting to train an army of mages...


    That was not a bad idea. I''d already begun to suspect that most folks with cyberware were more vulnerable to magic. Taking advantage of that was a smart play.


    The fellas and I stayed close together as we made our way from the parking area to the Town Hall. Not quite marching, but remaining wary. Despite this, folks greeted us warmly as we passed them. There were lots of these people with faces new to me. Freshly summoned from the Town Hall I supposed. In fact, I didn''t see any of the summoned people I was most familiar with anywhere nearby. Nor did I see any of the Nomads. In further fact, I was beginning to that it was bizarre that Jaina wasn''t here to greet us. I reached out through the Psifield, ''Jaina?''


    ''My Lord!'' I could sense surprise with a tinge of bright joy and recent deep pleasure. Well, alright then, good for her. I chuckled, wondering who the lucky bastard was. ''I''m sorry! I got too caught up in my latest spellwork that I didn''t sense you.'' Sure, Jaina, that must have been some spell. Maybe I''d have to learn about this alternate form of enjoyable spellcasting.


    ''No worries Jaina, just checking in on you. We''ll be at the Town Hall when you are ready.'' I tried not to let my amusement bubble through the connection. I really did.


    ''Yes, My Lord.'' I cut the connection. I could almost hear her blush through the Psifield, I could certainly feel it.


    A sharp twist hit my guts, and I couldn''t enjoy the momentary amusement any longer. Something was burning in the back of my mind, and it was getting closer. It was all I could manage to keep on task, and wait until I had a clearer picture. I had no doubt something fucked up was going on, but I lacked the insight to locate the problem.


    As we passed the Church a white robed figure, hood raised, exited the large double doors. I just about drew my weapon on him. "My Lord! It is so nice to finally meet you." A man''s voice drifted lightly out from under the deep hood. I was immediately put more on guard, not relieved. I could feel the rest of the boys tense up behind me, one step from violence. "Is something wrong?" The voice sounded genuinely concerned about us.


    I reached out with my new senses. His mind was a gentle place, his thoughts truly were full of devotion to his God. I relaxed a little. Golden energy surrounded him. Faith. It put him into the tentatively not a threat pile.


    Something savage growled in my heart before I clamped down on it. The Emperor Class was angered by any Faith not directed towards it. "Sorry our last encounter with a clergyman didn''t go very well." I decided to be friendly, once I could tell he was nothing like old Grais.


    "Oh! Oh no, I''m sorry. It is always a terrible shame when a priest loses their way." No condemnation, no suspicion, and no doubt that we were being honest. This man might be the purest adult soul I''ve ever met. A true oddity that should be studied carefully. Perhaps only observed from a distance to avoid spoiling the subject.


    "It was a shame, indeed." I didn''t have the heart to explain more to him. Just the knowledge that such darkness actually existed might damage him beyond repair.


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    "I am Father Mauris, if you need to talk my door is always open to you. I''ll leave you to your work." No pushing, no proselytizing, what kind of priest was this?


    "I might just take you up on that. Good day, Mauris." I meant it too. I felt a need to get to know this person. More importantly, to protect them from this horrid world. Odd, where did that feeling come from?


    We crossed the last few yards to the Town Hall. I reached out to touch the building, then hesitated. My BTC was twitching like crazy.


    "I don''t know what''s about to happen, but I might be stuck for a while. Please guard my back." I swallowed, trying to keep down the rising bile in my throat.


    "Don''t worry Hoss, we''ve got your six."


    "Uh huh."


    My hand made contact with the building and everything shifted.


    Endless white space in every direction. Oh, this place. I hoped to never see this place again.


    I scanned around until I found the expected desk. All matte black this time. The figure behind the desk a luminous, vaguely humanoid shape of greens and yellows.


    "Well, haven''t you managed to create a ton of paperwork." I reached out with my senses. A vast force slapped me to the "ground". It hurt, but not it any typical way. It was the essence of pain, a condensed feeling of pain. It was pure, and nothing had ever hurt me more. Yet, all of the usual reactions to pain were missing. No increased breathing, no sped up heart rate, everything stayed level.


    "How rude. It would be wise to keep your primitive mind to yourself. Unless you wish to find out how much damage your soul can endure." Ah. That would be why. I wasn''t here physically.


    "Pardon, you seem different from the beings I met the first time I was here."


    "You''ve never been here... Oh right, you can''t see where you really are. Which means you also can''t see who I really am. Bother." The figure seemed to flicker for a moment. The space around us did flutter for a moment, like a candle burning in the wind.


    "No. Well, I guess I don''t get to crack your psyche today. Another time then. I am your Case Worker." I remained silent. I didn''t see a good way to respond to any of that information.


    A chuckle escape from the Case Worker. "You can restrain yourself. Good primitive. Now listen up, we are going to fix that hole in your soul. so that some stray demon can''t violate you through it. You may express your gratitude now."


    I raised my eyebrow. "Thank you?" Doesn''t my gratitude come after you fix the problem? Also, shouldn''t I be pissed right now?


    It sighed. "I guess that will have to do." It pushed a stack of papers at me. "Fill those out. Might as well make yourself useful. Bugs like you aren''t good for much else." Again, I wanted to be angry, but something prevented it.


    I learn a horrible lesson the first time. Knowing that without compliance, I''d just be stuck here, I started looking over the paper work. It was all worded in extremely vague statements. It took almost 25 pages of reading for me to determine that this was ultimately an incredibly detailed description of my time on the New Earth. That''s how bland and obscure the wording was. It could have been the excessive details of almost any other person on almost any other world, doing almost anything.


    No telling how long I was there reading. The being had told me to fill out paperwork but, so far, there was nothing to fill out. Not even those little annoying places to initial, that exist on most bureaucratic nonsense. For all that I recognized this as a boring meaningless task, I simply didn''t feel any of the frustration that I knew I should.


    That I couldn''t feel the normal range of emotions almost managed to get through and bother me, but not quite. The faint tickles of remembered annoyances danced hauntingly close. Yet, I couldn''t reach them, never mind express them.


    Several hundred pages later, the first actual form to fill out arrived. It was just asking for basic information. I tapped the blanks and they filled in with whatever I wanted to write there. So on and so forth. Countless, pointless forms filled out one after another, between huge swaths of meaningless reports. Worse, the pile kept refilling itself. Adding stacks of new pages just as I thought it was over. Yet, I still felt nothing but I need to get this over with.


    When the last form was filled out and disappeared, I couldn''t believe it. I started to look around for more forms.


    "Finally! What took you so long? It was only ten million pages. Hardly an afternoon''s worth of work. I''ve dealt with twenty five other cases since you started. Luckily for you we altered the flow of time a bit." How much time had passed? I could feel another almost flutter of emotion.


    "No matter. Since your class selection was hijacked by several cosmic level beings, we are going to give you a choice." Oh a vague sense of interest stirred in me.


    "We can''t remove the offending class without causing permanent damage to your soul. That sucker had dug in deep. We can offer you two classes to compensate. This will help balance out it''s influence, while cleaning up the mess left by the broken Paladin class." It laughed. "That still cracks me up. You. A Paladin. They are just handing the good stuff out to anyone these days." Its laughter continued to ring out. My hand clenched. Yup. I almost felt something that time.


    "Alternatively, we clean up the shards of the Paladin class, and then evolve either your Druid or Smith Class. That''s actually a better deal than it sounds. Class evolutions are rare. You can still take a new class from the Town Hall, once you return to your disgustingly weak body." This was a question of quality over quantity. At least if I understood the Case Worker''s ranting correctly. Actually, It wasn''t really a choice at all. I was already annoyed by the influences of the Classes on my mind. At least with the Druid and Smith Classes I''d thought those influences aligned pretty well with who I was before. Or who I''d thought I was before.


    Two more random classes, while they might solve the problem at hand, would cause more problems later. More directions to pull my identity out of shape. Even the thought of taking another class once I returned was troubling.


    "The second option."


    "Interesting! Which class will you evolve?" That wasn''t really a choice either. As long as I had a stated goal, I needed to improve my ability to achieve that goal.


    "Druid of Renewal."


    Two sheets of crisp green paper appeared on the black desk. The Being gestured to the paper. "Pick."


    [ Archdruid of Renewal


    +3 to Spirit per level


    +3 to Will per level


    +2 to Intelligence per level


    +4 free points per level


    An evolution of the Druid of Renewal. This forms a deeper connection to the Cycle of Life.


    Spells: Renew the Cycle, Reincarnate ]


    The other page read...


    [ Grove Keeper


    +3 to Spirit per level


    +3 to Will per level


    +2 to Body per level


    +4 free points per level


    By increasing a connection to a Grove, a Keeper gains further understanding of their place in Nature.


    Spells: Awaken Trees, Forest Walk ]


    I picked up the Arch Druid page. The Grove Keeper was likely a very potent evolution, but I didn''t even have a grove to begin with. I was beginning to wonder if any of the choices I''d ever been offered, were actually choices...


    "I''ll give you a moment to look it over. Then back you go. Have fun, bug." The insulting being vanished, so I turned my attention to the changes in my class.


    Better. I already felt better, even without my emotions. My stats were starting to look rather ridiculous. Good. I would need to be as powerful as possible.


    I had several of my spells evolving. Interesting. Let''s look at the new additions.


    Renew the Cycle. This was a doozy of a spell, that took almost ten hours to cast. So, not something to use in the middle of a fight. It also required an array of unusual components. For the sacrifice of these materials, it returned any one living being to it''s best state of health, while removing any anomalies affecting them. For additional components and increased mana costs it could alter the target in any number of beneficial ways. The spell would instantly destroy any undead or unnatural target. Fascinating, I could cast it on myself.


    Reincarnation was not a spell in the strictest sense, nor was it actually an ability. It was some hybrid combination of the two. After casting a rather long spell, It would activate upon my death and allowing me to return to life. However, I would have no choice in who or what I returned as. It could only be activated once a century. I pondered that. If classes and abilities carried over, and I didn''t die more than once every hundred years, I was now possibly immortal. Maybe.


    I''m sure I could still get trapped in something like a Weasel''s body. Which might last two to five years normally. Mana might extend that, but probably not out to a century. So I couldn''t count on it. Also the body would likely affect my identity to some extent. A few spins on this wheel and I''d no longer be me.


    Not that I was sure I was me anymore.

 Chapter 48

    My awareness snapped back into my body, causing my hand jerked back from the building, as if on fire. Shuddering, I looked around, even though it hurt like hell to move my head. I was surrounded by the troops. Even some of the newly minted footmen that had already received their power armor had joined in guarding me. Now, 18 pairs of eyes watched every shadow in the town square. They scanned every roof top and examined every person who came anywhere near us


    John and Jim kept their attention mostly on me. I could tell they were ready to put me down if I wasn''t myself anymore. I''d mentioned the possibility at some point, after we dealt with Grais. Nobody liked thinking about body snatchers getting them, but it would be the height of idiocy not to prepare for it.


    "That went well." Sarcasm dripped profusely off my tongue." How long was I out?" My voice slurred, I wobbled a bit. Yup, all the alterations done on my stats had messed severely with my balance. This was not unexpected. I still had more work to do, so the disorientation would likely get much worse.


    "About an hour, Hoss. You Good?" He left the, "Are you still you question" question unspoken. Anything riding my flesh would simply lie, it was better to wait for it to give itself away.


    "Yes, the main problem has been fixed. Step one, down. Now, I have to pick another class. Please, keep on watching out for me?" The teeth itching sensations had me expecting an attack at any second.


    "We''re on it." John gave me a nod. I could never truly explain the real value loyalty possessed, but I could feel it now.


    I placed my hand on the Town Hall again and picked Choose Class.


    [ Mage of Transformation


    +2 to Will


    +1 to Cool


    +2 to Intelligence


    A Mage that specializes in transmutations.


    Starting Spells: Change Color, Alter Minor Property ]


    I had to admit I still didn''t see how this class was useful to us. Changing something''s color while interesting didn''t seem necessary. Alter Property could be very useful or it could be worthless. I wouldn''t be able to tell how valuable this class might be without picking it.


    [ Elemental Mage


    +2 to Will


    +1 to Cool


    +2 to Intelligence


    A mage that wields the Elemental forces. Specializations are available.


    Starting Spells: Flame Bolt, Frozen Shackles, Displace Earth, Breeze ]


    There was a lot of utility there. I suspected that the Elemental and Nature mana would likely synergize very well. I''d already noticed that nature mana seemed to have some of the properties of the four base elemental forces. On the other hand, choosing this class might end up being a hat on a hat situation. Raw Nature Mana could be shaped to do most of the things the starting spells seemed to do. With more effort, and practice I had no doubt that I could perform most of the same feats.


    [ Mage of Space


    +2 to Will


    +1 to Cool


    +2 to Intelligence


    A Mage that manipulates the fabric of Reality itself.


    Starting Spells: Dimensional Pocket, Expanded Step ]


    I had a strong feeling about this class. It not only sounded badass, it seemed incredible useful for my goals. Whether that was true, would really depend on what spells I could learn down the road. A dimensional pocket would be a good way to hide things, and smuggling was always profitable. I wasn''t sure what Expanded Steps did, but it seemed interesting. I suspected it played with distances.


    Hmm. I was going to take a chance but not much of one.


    [ Mage of Space has reached Level 6


    You have gained Dimensional Pocket


    You have gained Expanded Step


    You have gained Between Points


    You have gained Know Location


    You have gained +7 Will


    You have gained +6 Cool


    You have gained +7 Intelligence


    You have gained +12 Free Points ]


    My hand flew off of where it''d touched the Town Hall. Everything was whirling around me. I felt my last meal trying to escape. Stop the ride, I want off. I stumbled backwards, barely managing to catch myself before my ass hit the ground. Then I once again struggled to let the contents of my stomach have their freedom again.


    "Someone get me the number of that truck." I groaned. Swallowing back the raising bile.


    "Deep Breaths." John encouraged. He was a wall of darkness, his thoughts and feeling hidden deep. Maybe even from himself.


    It took a few minutes of sucking air and pretending that controlling my breathing mattered, for me to regain a semblance of normalcy.


    "Alright, that step two down. Now we need to hit the Nexus and then see Meadran, so I can increase my strength further." Something was about to blow up, but I all my efforts to figure out what had been fruitless.


    "Hoss, you don''t need to shoulder everything yourself. It''s okay to lean on others." His concern was baked into his voice, and I could feel it coiling around him. He didn''t want to fail again. What? How did he fail? No, not my business. He''ll tell me when he is ready.


    "Would you? Jim, in my situation, would you really want others to help you? Even if you did, would you let them?" He shrugged and seemed to deflate even in his armor. I nodded, "I need your help and I''m doing my best to share the burden, but some things I have to do myself, because there is no one else that can." All the folks I summoned would likely go their own ways if I died. I might never be the hero of this story. I might not be the one to bring our enemies to their knees. I had a hard time accepting that. I had to accept that I was the glue. I could see that now. It was my task to gather all the people who still cared about forging better lives under one banner. To create a place for them to thrive. I don''t know why it me took so long to see it. That epiphany resonated all the way down to my toes.


    Let''s look at the new Class''s spells. Dimensional Pocket created a space of (Level of skill) yard(s) cubed. This space couldn''t be accessed by others, and sadly, it couldn''t contain living beings. After the initial casting which would drain a ton of energy, I only had to spend a small amount of mana to open or close the space.


    Expanded Step increase the distance my steps traveled. So at skill level one my steps gain one extra yard of distance. At skill level two, two extra yards and so on. It would last as long as I provided mana. I could see this being very useful, but it would likely take a lot of training to be able to use it effectively.


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    Between Points was an odd spell. It could change the distance between any two points I could see. That would require a large amount of testing. I could see that shrinking the distance between myself and a friend could be fun, while expanding the distance that an enemy''s fist had to travel would be useful. But could I twist the distance? Could I fold it back on itself?


    Know Location was a spell that could locate anything that was A) not protected from scrying and B) within the same causal reality. What "causal reality" meant wasn''t exactly clear to me, Some testing required. However, that would make a few tasks much easier, starting with Saphie. I''d get on that just as soon as this looming threat passed.


    Alright, I''ll let all of that percolate in the back of my mind. It was time to settle my stomach by clubbing it with some food. Besides I had a feeling that I''d need all the energy I could scrape together right then.


    "Come on, we''ll grab a bite before we head into the Valley." Somehow, I felt a lot more alive. Everything was more vibrant, and my sense of myself in a space had increased. Once I''d become more acclimated to these sensations I''d a notion that stumbling would be a thing of the past.


    We wrecked quite a number of ration packs. We brutally devoured our meals, it''s like we had all been starving. I wondered why. No one dared come near us as we consumed our fill.


    When we were finished, we marched up the path to the Valley. Of some increasing concern was that Jaina hadn''t shown up, nor had Megan or Sally. Not even Amanda had come by to see Raynor. Something sneaky was going on. I just hoped it was unrelated to the burning anxiety in my gut.


    We bypassed Meadran for the moment, and headed to the Nexus first. Partially because, I wanted to save bumping up the Arch Druid Class until last. Partially because, I wanted to stop in real quick to look at a few of the lasgun schematics. Maybe, make a few adjustments and build one. Just one. I mean, Come on, it''s a laser gun! My inner kid was fucking going nuts. Sometime you have to listen to your inner child, dammit! No matter the danger.


    [ Warp-Smith has reached Level 6


    You have gained Psi Technique, Overclock Self


    You have gained Psi Technique, Expedite Build


    You have gained +3 Psi Resonance


    You have gained +2 Tech


    You have gained +4 Free Points ]


    After the screaming agony of getting my head stuffed with more Khalai knowledge, my first coherent thought was, Nice!


    Overclock Self let me speed up my thought processes. Expedite Build was an ability to speed up any form of construction. These were just what the doctor ordered! Giggling like a schoolgirl, or cackling like a true mad scientist, I ran to the Forge and loaded up the schematic of the Marshall''s Laspistol. I immediately used Overclock Self. My narrowed all consuming focus meant that I didn''t even notice the judging stares of my men. Even if I had, I was far too invested in this idea.


    Less than 5 minutes later I had an improved Laspistol design ready to go. Just switching it to have a Psicrystal power and control system increased it''s output and stability by a small amount. It could also be overcharged if it was operated under the Psifield. Using crysbronze for the shell had decreased the weight and increased the durability. I had also altered the design to look a little more like a modern firearm.


    Using Expedite Build had the first prototype out in less than three minutes. When it was completed, I danced a jig. Again I barely noticed that the guys all laughed at my antics.


    I took the newly forged weapon out to the testing ranged just behind the Nexus and let loose a few shots at the crysbronze targets. The performance was in a phrase, a Great Success! A couple of shots slagged each target. The beams the weapon emitted were a bright electric blue, and crackled like plasma. Yet they had the stability, distance and accuracy of a laser. All of this was without engaging the overcharging feature.


    I now had a light weight pistol that could function as an anti vehicle weapon. I immediately cast Dimensional Pocket. Once, I could feel the space open I gently laid the pistol inside. I liked that the spell had no obvious opening.


    Once everyone stopped giving me shit for spurging out, we went to visit Meadran.


    We got a pleasant surprise once we made it to Meadran''s island. Faergin and Korvaith were already there waiting for us.


    Faergin had grown almost five more feet in height, though he had not gained much in the way of girth leaving him with an overly skinny appearance. New mystic symbols had developed on his bark, each glowed a faint blue. Korvaith''s growth had trended in the opposite direction only gaining a few inches of height, while thickening up quite a bit. His new armor plates already needed to be adjusted to accommodate his massive frame. He had his oversized rifle''s stock resting on the ground so that the barrel leaned up against him.


    ''We were waiting for you Young One.'' Meadran''s concern bled through the tree network.


    ''Hello, latest Arch Druid. It is good to finally be able to speak to you.'' A mellow voice, like the wind through leaves, entered the network. There was the sense of seasons passing while my roots grew deeper.


    ''Faergin?'' Three voices laughed in my head. ''Korvaith, too? That''s great!''


    ''Not... quite... yet.'' A deep growling voice faintly responded. A deep anger threaded that connection. A desire to strike back at those who would despoil the forest, filled the air.


    ''Any progress right now is good. Look, I don''t know what is coming but something has me all muddled inside. If you could watch over the Valley until whatever happens plays out, it would help me out a lot." I tried to let them sense the turmoil inside my gut. Then allowed them to feel my mana bucking nervously around my body.


    ''Yes, that is definitely some form of prophecy. Though not a very clear one.'' Faergin sent a vision of branches becoming snarled together.


    ''Hmm. A dark intuition, Young One.'' The determination to grow through rock and stone, bubbled through his link.


    ''Whatever... Break... Through... '' A desire to smash foes was Korvaith''s answer. I had a feeling that was going to be his answer for everything. Heh.


    I asked the question I had been dreading, ''Have any of you seen Lumi?''


    ''About three days ago, I saw him running across the Badlands to the north. He never said anything about where he was going or why.'' Faergin responded.


    I pondered everything I knew about the furry troublemaker. Lumiar was meant to be my companion. Yet from the start I''d gotten the impression that Lumi wasn''t really a team player. Even when we could spend time together he preferred to do his own thing. Nothing wrong with that, at least not until nobody any any clue where you were, or if you were okay. No, the more I thought about it, Lumi wasn''t normal. Now that I had been exposed to the divine, I knew for sure that Lumi was somehow related to those energies. I was absolutely certain he wasn''t what the Company had in mind for my companion. Heh. I really had been hijacked by outside forces from the start.


    The question now was, what did a divine wolf want? What could such a creature want here of all places. Nothing useful came to mind. ''I''ll have to hope he can handle himself for now.'' I shook my head as I placed my hand against Meadran.


    [ Arch Druid of Renewal has reached Level 5


    You have gained Shapeshift: Serpent


    You have gained Shapeshift: Lesser Treant


    You have gained Aura of Regrowth


    You have gained Aura of Growth


    You have gained +12 Spirit


    You have gained +12 Will


    You have gained +8 Intelligence


    You have gained +16 Free Points ]


    I added the levels one at a time letting each settle before adding the next. I tried not to dwell on the interesting additional abilities, for right now. I moved on and used all the accumulated free points with the same mindset, one at a time. There were so many that I''d likely would''ve fried my nerves if I did it all at once. While I had little in the way of a model for comparison, my stats looked quite high to me. Considering that peak human was 10, I was now... What? Superhuman? Demigod like? I really had no way to know how I stacked up.


    I spent a few minutes jumping and stretching to test my new range of motion. This led to some interesting discoveries. My balance was insane, which would come in handy because even what I thought would be a lite hop, launched me high up into Meadran branches. However, the mistake which would normally have caused a bit of mild panic, had no effect on my emotional state. I stayed calm, my nerves steady and easily caught myself on a branch. Just as easily, I dropped twenty feet to the ground. My knees barely flexed. Something about hitting twenty in a stat changed things. Dramatically. Though I hadn''t yet noticed any real difference when Will, Spirit or Intelligence crossed that line. Why would that be?


    Feeling like I had a handle on things, for now, I turned my attention to the new abilities. Shapeshifting was mostly self explanatory. Though I had no desire to experiment with either version right now. Snake or tree, what a choice. The Treant I got, but why a serpent?


    The Auras were passive effect versions of the spells. Their standard state was on, I had to concentrate to turn them off. Basically, I made plants grow around me and also made people feel better just by being near me. Yes, Aura of Regrowth still had that effect, just not as intense. The fellas were all shifting uncomfortably, until I managed to figure out how to shut off the Aura. Thankfully, the Treefolk were unaffected. I didn''t want to know how they got down.


    Another interesting note was how little mana the Auras used. Maybe a quarter as much as casting the spell at the same level on all of same amount of people. That didn''t seem to conform with my understanding of how energy worked, but I was becoming somewhat inured to the oddities of magic at this point.


    Now, it was time to head back to the Valley. But first...


    ''Meadran, in the worse case scenario, can you uproot and leave the area?'' I had to make sure that they could fend for themselves.


    ''If I must.'' A sense of reluctance.


    ''We will aid him, if it comes to that.'' Faergin''s thoughts were of green shoots growing through ash laden soil.


    ''Grrrr...'' Korvaith projected confidence he could shoot anything before it was a problem.


    ''Thanks you guys. I really do worry about you. Stay safe, no matter what, please.''


    ''Your concern is touching, Young One.''


    I turned to the humans, "Alright time to go and figure out what the hell is going on."


    ''Executor, I have a report.'' Alina''s voice flooded the Psifield. What suspicious timing. I held up my hand to indicate contact.


    ''Alright Alina, let''s hear it.'' I was certain, I wasn''t going to like this.

 Chapter 49

    Alina''s even toned thought speech brought unwelcome news. ''Every Pylon outside of the Valley was showing anomalous energy readings. The readings indicated explosive devices. I sent a Probe to investigate one of the Pylons up close. Every Pylon in New Lordaeron had been compromised.'' My fists clenched as my heart rate spiked. I ground my teeth until I hear cracking. "Treachery." I growled even to me, I sounded feral. Betrayal was the only thing that made sense. It was incredibly unlikely that stealthed agents got past the sensors in the Pylons. My mind raced, it couldn''t be any of the summons. That only left the Nomads. After all what did I really know about them?


    The troops upon hearing my outburst surrounded me, prepared to defend me, or kill the traitors. Their weapons held at the ready, were sweeping the area for hostiles. John seemed to fade out of existence. Raynor used the scope of his rifle to scan every possible overlook.


    Aline continued her report. ''Probes are already in the process of removing the explosives from the Pylons. Having the Observers scan for the signature of the explosives has revealed there are more devices installed in every major structure of the community.'' Why this intricate plot, why not just start demolishing the town?


    "Fuck." I snarled. "Every Nomad is a suspect. Scan them for residue... that won''t work. All of them have worked with explosives of some type. They''ve been completing jobs for Amanda or Dakota. They''d been helping Probes clear large areas underground. Maybe all of them are in on it." My body had frozen in place, my brain sped into a hyperactive thought processing mode. I started to really think about my relationship with the Nomads. With Sally and Megan. I had never questioned the ease of our relationship. I turned it over, and pulled everything apart, examining all the angles.


    While my mind was racing to find answers my body started trembling with rage. The thoughts of my girls being involved burned my mind and brought my lunch right up to the back of my throat. That acid sear in the back of my mouth was ignored as the pain in my heart burned far more fiercely. I felt fluid pouring from my nose and ears.


    "Hoss... " Jim turned his own thoughts inward, examining his interactions with Amanda. I could feel him run through a similar path in his thoughts. That he began to question his own judgement more than anything else gave me a pause. What happens if I was wrong? That thought snapped me partially out of the spiral of anger. I cast a quick Regrowth on myself the heal the shattered blood vessels in my head.


    "We don''t know." I whispered, suddenly everything I was feeling drained away leaving a cold knot in my belly. "Until we are certain, make no assumptions. We have a treaty, and I will not have it broken because I jumped to false conclusions." That might be the endgame of this setup. To turns us on our allies. Who would benefit? There were too many answers to that question.


    My eagerness for a sense of belonging would have been so easy to exploit. I more calmly held up the mirror of myself in my mind and could only call myself a fool. Something inside my inner self cracked. It was an almost audible sound. The soldiers felt it and twitched before regaining control. My aura erupted, a green field of living mana laced with golden threads. It spread quickly over a huge area before contracting back down to a thin shell just over my skin. My momentary interest in the effect almost knocked me out of the bizarre cold feeling. After all my mana was a part of me. Understanding it, helped me to better understand myself, and the changes I was going through.


    "We have to gather intel on them. Alina use the Observers set up over the town. Have the Probes add a new network of War Pylons. Keep them separate from our old network. Do not add the Nomads to the exemption list. Put all the Probes in the area on this. Do not hide the work, but do not answer questions about it. Their actions may trigger whatever scheme our mastermind had plotted, when they notice our activities." I was half issuing orders, half thinking out loud. I ran through dozens if not hundreds of different scenarios in my head, I even used Overclock Self so I wouldn''t waste time. Most of my ideas returned to establishing a Stargate. We needed some form of air superiority and then the means to control the orbital lanes above us. I had the sneaking suspicion that the Corpo''s satellites, despite all our efforts to prevent it, were catching glimpses of our activities. Hints of our presence.


    I switched back to communicating with just Alina. ''Once the Probes have a new network of Pylons up, start them on a Stargate. I''ll try to use my ability to expedite it.'' It was the best next step. Other then finding a way to remove the Nomads from New Lordaeron, without offending any of them that were not involved.


    "Let''s be careful and take our time, gentlemen. Nothing about this is certain. We''ll figure this out, no matter what the outcome. Meanwhile, we need to add more loyal troops, and make sure that whoever is working against us can''t do much damage." This was my mess. I''d help clean it up. First let''s play with some designs for the future. Increasing one''s strength was always a valid way to overturn plots.


    After waiting another few hours to give the Probes time to work, we walked back into the Town. We''d mostly managed to get ahold of our emotions during the wait, so we wouldn''t potentially give anything away. Jaina, Amanda, Sally and Megan were waiting by the Town Hall. They were chatting amiably, and all turned to look at us. Megan looked like the cat who got the best dollop of cream. Sally had a slightly disapproving frown while Jaina had an almost guilty look on her face. Amanda moved quickly over to Raynor and immediately hugged him. I couldn''t get a strong sense of any of their emotions, they were shifting too quickly. They were rich and full of multiple powerful feelings all at the same time.


    Amanda turned to me smirking, "Do you need him for a while?" Then she gave me a look that said I better not need him. She was steel, and then butter melting, before firming back up into steel again. Eagerness and joy, anger and sorrow all at once. She really was crazy about him. My smile was authentic, "No, have fun you two. In fact... " I turned to the men, "Dismissed, get some rest, and relax. I''ll see you all tomorrow."


    My eyes took in the Ladies, "Sorry we took so long, there were some unexpected developments." My smile grew, even though my stomach felt like it was on a boat in a storm. Their emotions all spiked, annoyance, irritation. There was some joy and glee. So they didn''t feel too deeply for me, that... hurt. Jaina felt like a whirlpool of regret and purpose. She was happy to see me but also sad, and yet full of anticipation.


    Why were their emotions so complex, while the Mox''s states had been so much easier to understand. Was it the drugs and alcohol, their different lifestyles, or was it something about me that was different? My mind ran more laps around the growing track of questions, looking for the best lane to get ahead of this.


    "How have you been?" I tried to put as much affection into my voice as I could.


    "We''ve been helping Jaina with her tower. Lost track of time, it''s weird in there." Sally patted Jaina on her shoulder, who was still upset but happy. Desperate but resolved.


    "Y-Yes they''ve been very helpful." She wouldn''t look me in the eyes. Her gaze shifted anywhere but me. What the fuck? Her feelings scattered through the full range of human emotion.


    "Now, Sally don''t try to take a bunch of the credit, we didn''t help all that much. If fact, we probably got in her way more than we helped." Megan was still grinning that Cheshire smirk. I didn''t like that one bit. I sensed almost pure smugness from her. She felt like she had gotten away with something and it tickled her inner gremlin, a lot.


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    "Well, why don''t we all take a look at the Tower. You can tell me all about it." I kept my smile intact. Inside I was sure this was going to suck. But I had to do it. Had to play like I was a blind fool.


    All so I could figure out why the voice in the back of my head was screaming that I was fucked.


    Everything about Jaina''s tower screamed that major magical shit was done there. From the formations of runes and sigils carved into every visible surface, to the glittering gems burning with the mana energies of all the elements. Jaina had also somehow worked Psicrystal into the structure, though how it interacted with magic was still not fully known at this point. The beautiful white stone walls sparkled with ingrained flecks of crystals, and that sparkle was in turn magnified by the amazing mana density of the immediate area.


    I''ve slowly become aware that while Psi energy and Mana are not directly related energies, they do seem to be compatible. You could use one to power the workings of the other, albeit at an increased cost. I suspected that there was a way to merge the two forces completely, but what that would look like or if it was even a good idea, I couldn''t guess. Somehow the tower was pulling in mana and concentrating it into a denser form. It took a moment of observation to figure it out, but it was obvious after standing in its field effect for a while. Over all I was very impressed. Even if the tower lacked any other function, which I highly doubted, it was worth the expense in Company Points.


    "I''m so sorry, My Lord. As you can see, this is where many of the missing Company points were spent. Certain rare gems, non reactive stones and even quite a few conductive metals had to be bought, at least at first. The Assemblers needed samples to be able to replicate the materials." She bowed deeply, her posture spoke deeply of shame. Her emotional state was a wreck, I thought she fully expected me to strike her down. I felt the eyes of my ladies on me. Gauging my reaction. Which was to laugh my ass off.


    "This. This is why you were so upset? I thought you had killed someone, or majorly fucked something up. I was over here worrying about nothing." Of course, my gut hadn''t calmed down in the slightest. But I wasn''t going to let them see my increasing concern.


    "We told her it would be fine, kind of goaded her into it actually." Sally with her eyes cast down. Her act didn''t fool me, she was seething in anger. Anger at Megan, at Jaina, at me.


    "I told them they were just worrywarts. There was no way you''d be too upset by just spending... money." Megan with the Grin of a Thousand Smuggeries, waved her hands vaguely at everything around us. "Doesn''t it look great!" She reeked of contempt for everyone, but most of all for me.


    My heart was breaking, but I had a role to play. The show must go on.


    "Yes, yes, you are very smart." As I patted Megan''s head, enjoying the silkiness of her hair and the warmth of contact. All the while, wondering if I''d have to crush her skull soon. The very idea made me sick. Then I grabbed Sally into a side hug and squeezed a little harder than I intended. She didn''t complain and in fact latched on to me like a koala. There I was, thinking how I might have to crush her into paste. My heart felt despair. That really fucks with your head, by the way. I honestly don''t know how spies and assassins do this kind of thing. My empathy and sympathy were warring with my rage and sorrow. Unless they truly felt nothing, I just didn''t get it.


    Meanwhile, I kept a false smile plastered on my face and forced my voice to an even tone. The counting technique really helped, and once again I''d have to thank John for his guidance somehow. Jaina slowly unkinked her inner self, and her magical nerd started to show. Her excitement built by the second, as she realized that I wasn''t mad. Her face flushed and her eyes gleamed with a fey light.


    She turned to the Tower with her hands emphasizing her words, "This is an advanced Mage Tower, let me show you it''s features!" Her face lit up with such joy that had I been upset with her to begin with, I''d have dropped it after seeing that expression. For some reason, I didn''t fully understand, I let out a rolling deep belly laugh, there was something vaguely German about it. I couldn''t help it though, her antics were just so entertaining.


    For the next few hours she explained every decision that went into the tower in exhausting detail. To say that I was impressed was an understatement. As she slowly guided us up the floors she would point out her formations and explain what each of the runes did. She was truly lost in her own little world as she expounded upon each detail. Not only was the tower a mana concentrator, and mana storage structure; it could after a period of exposure to higher density mana, spark a mana reactor. It would literally become a fountain of magic energy, flooding the area, with all the flavors of mana.


    I had a second of concern before she explained that the mana would be heavily filtered, and presented very little risk to the town''s population. That was why Megan and Sally were okay in here despite the dense rolling mana in the air. Sadly, it would likely be years before the reactor could gather the required amount of mana to ignite the reactor.


    Hmm. Now this was interesting. Each floor had enchantment built into it to aid in all the tasks of daily life. Cooking, cleaning, and so on. On top of that, the tower had enchantments that would improve the skills of any teacher to convey knowledge and improve the ability of any student to absorb that knowledge. Soon we would have mages underfoot at all times. Nice.


    Finally, the massive gem on top of the tower not only stored a huge amount of raw mana, it could be used as a Mana Cannon. She talked about all its modes of use she had painstakingly scribed into the gem. From a thousand seeker mana bolts, to one thick blazing beam of pure raw mana and everything in between. That was an excellent use of Company Points as far as I was concerned. At this point we were in Jaina''s chambers, just below the pinnacle ritual room which in turn was right under the Massive mana gem.


    "Well what do you think, My Lord?" She was smiling at me through her eyelashes. Her gaze darted to Sally and Megan, who were latched onto me at this point. She licked her lips. Umm. What? Now, I''m not the most emotionally intelligent of men, but those actions were signals. Sally and Megan squeezed me harder as if trying to restrain me. Jaina swiftly closed the distance and kissed me like her life depended on it. Maybe it did? I was too shocked to respond to her kiss. What the fuck was going on?


    Two sharp pains entered both of my kidneys at the same time. "Rrrrrraaaaaaa!" I very intelligently bellowed as I thrashed throwing both the clinging ladies to the sides of the room.


    Jaina looked just as shocked as I felt, which was the only reason I didn''t attack her first. My aura flared no longer restrained by the efforts of my will. A good thing too, that was the only reason I wasn''t laying on the ground bleeding out. It was the only reason I didn''t immediately fall into shock and freeze up. My healing mana worked quickly to keep me alive.


    Megan was laughing as she picked herself up. Her amusement was at an almost inhuman peak. Sally wasn''t laughing. All of her anger was now focused on me. She looked at me with all the intensity of a serial killer looking at their next victim.


    Megan taunted, brandishing the knife she''d used to puncture my back. "I guess we have to explain now that you survived the first strike. It''s only polite." Her eye flashed as she launched some quick hack at me. Her attempt amounted to nothing. Thankfully, Vik did some good work when he updated my ICE. My chrome was safe for now.


    Sally snarled, "No, he should die in ignorance." She seemed to briefly hesitate though, she''d probably realized I wasn''t at the same level of strength as I had been before.


    I slowly backed up, so I could keep them all in my sight. Snorting in annoyance, I answered with a groaning, "Figures. I never had any luck with the ladies. However, I''m more than a little surprised at your involvement Jaina." I swallowed that pain of betrayal, pushed down the crushing despair. I''ll deal with those emotions later when my kidneys weren''t trying to emulate water sprinklers.


    "No! My Lord I would never... " Jaina was shaking her head in denial, and she started summoning something with her mana. I could feel her surprise. Huh.


    "Now, now, don''t blame poor Jaina. She had no idea. She thought she was going to get added to our fun time. Sally and I were certainly very convincing as we filled her out like an application. Every. Single. Chance we could get." My brain went blank, before it haltingly made the connections. Well, that was just fucking depressing.


    Megan giggled like a lunatic, and her face started to change. "Oh, I love that look." She''d produced a pistol from an unknown location, now she had a weapon in each hand. I glanced towards Sally and yup she was changing her appearance as well. "Who cares, let''s get this over with." Her rifle was leaned up against the wall, so she stuck to the long curved knife she''d shanked me with.


    I grumbled internally, feeling my hold on all the things I''d repressed coming undone. What a fucking mess this was going to make.

 Chapter 50

    "Megan" seemed to be the one in charge, and wanted to feed an inclination to yap about hurtful things. I took a second to notice all of the differences in both of their features. Her face was much thinner now, elegant but more severe. The eyes were the biggest change as now they were just a field of blue. "Sally''s" face was now equally severe but her bone structure was more bold, maybe even slightly masculine. Her eyes were now just reticules. Fitting somehow.


    I refocused on what was being said.


    "It doesn''t have to be this way..." Megan started. Still gloating so I tuned it out, I figured I had a moment to initiate a few plans. I cast a Regrowth on myself. While the flare of mana gave the action away, neither woman reacted to it. " ...Despite the words of my colleague, we are not here to kill you. Just agree to come with us, and all this doesn''t have to get any worse." Not Megan spoke in a soothing tone, almost hypnotic. She wanted me to drop my guard. Whether to actually capture me, as she stated, or to just end me in a more convenient location, I couldn''t say.


    My next step was clear. I contacted Alina, ''Remove all non summon exceptions on the lists and activate the secondary Pylon network. Leave me, Jaina and the tower visible to everyone.'' Won''t this be quite the surprise to any allies of theirs.


    ''By your command, Executor.'' I could swear I detected a hint of hostility in her response.


    "If you want me to come along, peacefully, I think a few answers are in order." I kept my voice as neutral as possible. I should probably be acting more worried, but I was mostly feeling rage right then. Hard to hide all that anger.


    "My bio monitor says he''s up to something." Not Sally barked. Drawing not Megan''s attention. Speaking of anger, that was all this person who ever she really was feeling. At least we had that in common, but I was going to deluded myself that I could fix her.


    "Of course he is. That''s the way the game is played, Ingrid. I''ve told you before, they always have plans, we always have plans. The fun is in seeing whose plans work better." "Megan" turned back to me, "That''s her name by the way, Ingrid. Mine''s Velma, for the record. I figured that''d be one of your questions. Ask your next one."


    At that moment, Jaina''s spell finished and a Water elemental coiled around her with its liquid grace. She looked terribly distressed. She definitely felt violated. I know I did. Finding out that people you have trusted were against you hurt in ways I hadn''t know before. Knowing that you''d sexual activity with an enemy is a horrible feeling. Guess I should be glad I hadn''t gone all the way with them. Jaina''s emotions roiled like the water of her elemental. Hmm. No way I was going to get a good read on her feelings. Only thing I was sure of there was that she hadn''t been part of this little kerfuffle. Well, not in the planning at least, she was in it now. I hoped she was still on my side.


    Ingrid grunted, "Didn''t know she could do that." She backed up to her rifle. Pure aggression wafted from her in waves. She pointed her weapon at Jaina.


    Velma shook her head, "Doesn''t matter, they can''t do anything to stop our people." Confidence. She sure was certain, wasn''t she. Maybe she was right, I had my doubts though.


    "When?" I asked. I wasn''t sure I cared anymore, but the question came out anyway. Bizarrely, I was just empty inside right then. My anger was faded, my concern was muted, even my pain was almost gone.


    "When, what?" Velma responded, she damn well knew what I was asking, she simply thought it would be more fun to drag it out.


    "When did you switch with the real Nomads?" Now that my kidney''s were mostly healed, I slowly started pumping more mana into my aura letting it grow.


    She gave me a look of amused disbelief. "Oh honey." She shrugged, "About a year ago. If you are wondering how Miss Friendly over there was able to convincingly act like Sally, it was a personality imprint chip that was copied from the real deal. Same for me. It''s why she''s so grumpy, it overrides your own personality. Deep Cover Agents like us don''t get to control it." She grinned, it was much more disturbing on this new face. That revelation hurt more than I cared to admit. I had hoped, perhaps, that some of it had been real.


    "It''s also why Arasaka jumped us. It wasn''t about you, it was about us." She tapped her chest with the pistol. "They didn''t want us to find out what they had buried there."


    I nodded, and pursed my lips. "Who do you work for and why me?" I didn''t really expect an honest answer, but sometimes even a lie can give you worthwhile information.


    "Militech. Technically, a branch of the NUSA, but you understand how it is." That''s cute. She knew I didn''t have the faintest clue. "As to why you, I think it''s obvious. Advance materials and technology." She fashioned Air quotes for her next line, "Magic and more. Sadly, without you we can''t control it, or we''d have just put a bullet in your brain. Kind of like we did to your friend, who you are almost standing on." The twisted grin went into a full horrible smile. I could feel her twisted joy and an anticipation for the pain she was about to cause me.


    Of course, I looked down. I wished I hadn''t. I hadn''t thought much of the rug when we came in. A fur rug fit right in with the opulent d¨¦cor. Though I suppose the golden gleam should have given it away. There was no other identifying factor, no head for instance. As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew who it was. Now that I was paying attention to it I could feel the divine energies trapped in the fur.


    All that remained of Lumi.


    Suddenly, I wasn''t seeing Lumi''s fur before me, I was seeing Ruger''s. Hmm. What was that feeling inside? Oh. I was angry. Very angry. My aura erupted filling the whole room. The cast to the green light was perhaps a little off from normal. Somehow this didn''t bother me.


    Here''s something most people don''t think about. Did you know there was always some E. Coli present in your intestines? What would happen if I caused it to rapidly reproduce and grow? What about all the other harmful bacteria that hang out in our bodies, but don''t have the numbers to do much harm? My mind had always shied away from these darker ideas. But right now? I couldn''t be bothered to care anymore about why it was wrong.


    I admit there was something enjoyable about watching that bitch Ingrid start vomiting blood almost as soon as my mana touched her. But no, she couldn''t be allowed to die yet. Even as the rapid expansion of bacterium tore her apart from the inside, I kept putting her back together. It required hardly any effort so why not. Why shouldn''t I play with her as she played with me? I could feel her pain as if it was my own, so I made it hurt more by exciting her nerves directly. After all, I deserved it for failing so spectacularly. Her screams were a bit annoying though. Easily fixed by using a bit of mana to alter her vocal cords. Regrowth really was a versatile spell once I stopped trying to control it consciously. So many new options to enjoy.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    With Velma my senses had locked on to several groups of cancerous cells. Fueling their growth into large ponderous tumors before violently excising the bulk of the masses, and collapsing them back into small clusters. Rinse and repeat. Less overall pain than with Ingrid but a few little changes in her fluid pressures, and her life was now one of endless misery. Thankfully, she didn''t scream anywhere near as much as her little friend. The look of horror on her face, though. Priceless. She was right that look was worth it.


    The really hilarious part? They were climaxing the whole time. I wondered how long it would take to completely fry their brains with the combination of pleasure and pain? Maybe we would try that experiment later after I''d calmed down. Right now every sensation they were living through mixed together so they really couldn''t comprehend what they were going through, not completely. To them it just hurt. Immensely.


    They should have passed out by now, but there was no way I was going to allow that. Oh no, I don''t think I''ll ever let them sleep again. After all my new toys need to be always ready to be played with. It was only fair after what they did to us.


    I turned to look at the third lady present. I had accidentally rendered Jaina into a gibbering orgasmic puddle on the the floor. Her body was fine, but my aura had overwhelmed her. The Water Elemental had long since been dispersed, disrupted by my seething aura. It seemed the quantity and quality of my mana far exceeded hers at this point. I still didn''t think she had done anything unforgivable. So I had no desire to punish her, this was just an unfortunate side effect of my anger. I didn''t even feel any strain as I pumped out tons of mana. Emotion really was fuel.


    And I was very upset.


    Continuing to stare at Jaina lessened my rage. I had no idea how long I gazed upon her. My sense of time was shot. These moments lost while I pulled myself together could have taken seconds or days. All I knew was that I didn''t want to hurt her anymore than I already had. So I rendered her into a coma. Healed her as much as I could, and tried mostly successfully to envelope her in a shield to protect her from my mana.


    Even without my direct attention the two new experimental voluntolds remained locked in their new personal hells. At some point, I''d started each of them on rounds of their cells tearing themselves apart only to be pulled back together again. This would happen randomly across their entire body, to prevent them from getting to used to any one source of suffering. I made sure they stayed awake so they could watch each others'' fates.


    I had long since taken away both of their abilities to scream. The silence, other than the sounds of tearing or erupting flesh was perhaps worse than their pitiful cries of agony. A wheezing push of air from their lung was all that they could manage in protest to their treatment. Honestly, by this point I think their minds might be too broken to understand what was going on anymore. I felt very little other than intense pain from them, it might be all they were capable of feeling anymore.


    Bizarrely, their pain no longer affected me. Was I adapting to it or had I burned out my own pain receptors? Hmm. Yeah I wasn''t really back to myself yet.


    There was something both artistic and revolting about how their blood and discarded flesh was splattered all over the room. I felt a great sense of satisfaction while also loathing myself. As my wrath had died down, I thought I might have gone too far. It wasn''t that I hurt them that bothered me at this point. As much as it was that I''d let their actions bring me to that state where I felt that this atrocity was the appropriate response.


    In that moment, I felt empty. Empty scared me. It was time to stop.


    I spent quite some time healing them to a physically perfect state. Though I''d disabled the connections to their non vital cyberware. Let''s see if they could recover from my "treatments". Maybe it wasn''t too late to fix this. Probably not. Yeah, I was pretty sure I was too fucked up right now to trust my judgement.


    Breath in, Breath out. Focus on your heart beat. Keep Breathing. Count something odd but interesting to myself. Not really helping. Well some, but not enough to matter.


    My BTC was trying to tear my arm off and had been for a while but I was busy and mostly ignored it. Now I felt I could find out what it was complaining about now.


    [ You have seized control of a Mana Nexus ]


    Huh? Oh. I took Jaina''s tower from her. Whoops. Didn''t mean to do that. I''d have to figure out how to give it back to her later.


    [ You have evolved Regrowth into Flesh Crafting ]


    Hey, that didn''t sound anywhere near as pleasant as Regrowth. In fact, it sounded kind of creepy. Was I going to become a villain? Maybe I already was one?


    [ You have evolved Growth into Propagation ]


    Okay, that didn''t sound so bad.


    [ Due to extreme stress you have merged the spell patterns of Flesh Crafting and Propagation ]


    [ You have gained the spell Life Crafting ]


    Nice, that sounded much more friendly. Though maybe it was too late for me to try to be friendly to folks. Yup, pulling apart two ladies piece by piece while forcing them to watch it happen probably burned all of my nice guy cred. Hey! I put them back together but I didn''t know if that was a good thing or not.


    [ Due to extreme stress you have evolved and merged your Auras ]


    [ You have gained Aura of Life Crafting ]


    Ah ha, that''s why everything had seemed so effortless. The Aura was more of an automatic effect and as long as I had the mana to feed it, an Aura could affect everything it touched. The tower had allowed me to draw vast amounts of mana. Otherwise, even with the evolutions, I doubted I could do so much at once. I nodded to myself, I hadn''t become some all powerful demigod. I was just a pissed off asshole with a huge mana battery.


    [ You have evolved Cleanse into Purify ]


    Could I use that to clean out my brain from the sickening things I just done? Ah, seems my sense of morality had woken up. Yup, there''s the guilt and remorse, took it long enough. Turns out, no, Purify doesn''t effect ethical or emotional quandaries. I cast it three times just to be sure. My clothes and I were sparkling clean though.


    Movement caught my attention. Ingrid was somehow, despite all possible odds, struggling to move. Already? Damn she was tough. To be more accurate, she probably wasn''t actually aware, this was likely a subconscious movement.


    Her left hand creeped into her left pants pocket. Her nomad clothes though horribly stained with gore were mostly intact. She pulled out a small box shaped object. I was pretty sure that was a remote detonator. Ah, that answers that question. They planted the explosives, sure it would have been logical to assume so, but it was better to have the confirmation.


    Suddenly, I felt a little less horrible about how I treated them. Using explosives was always a bad play in a population center, too indiscriminate. If you were willing to consciously risk children, you didn''t deserve much in the way of mercy by my standards. Tarnished though they were now.


    What kids you might ask? The Nomads'' kids. Also a few of the first Lordaeron folks summoned here were expecting. Yay. I hoped they didn''t mind having an asshole for a leader. Now that I thought about it, the majority of the Nomads were unlikely to be in on this plot. Who brings their kids to a cluster fuck like this. Unless... no that was the path of paranoia.


    Ingrid''s finger kept pressing the button, but of course the explosives had all already been dealt with by the Probes. Robo buddies are awesome, I''ll never let anyone say different. I was just staring at Ingrid repeating the same futile action over and over again, when I felt a hand grasp my shoulder.


    I didn''t even flinch, if they were that close they were in my Aura. Which ultimately meant if I wanted them dead, they were dead. Even Mr. Wick.


    "You okay?" If any of my people might understand my reaction it would be Mr. Wick.


    "No, John, I''m pretty fucking far from okay. But thanks for asking." I turned to look at him, "How much of that did you see?" I wasn''t surprised by how much I wanted him to say he hadn''t seen anything.


    He grimaced, "All of it." Oh boy, even he was distrubed by what had happened. What I''d done.


    "Let me guess, this was the first moment you felt it was safe to approach." I shook my head, trying not to let my shame get the best of me.


    "Yeah." Good ol'' John. He''d always give you the straight answer. He''d never sugar coat that bitter pill.


    "Really sick, huh?" I asked already knowing the answer.


    "Seen worse." John deadpanned. I gave him a flat stare.


    "Take what you did, now apply it to children. Sure, not quite as intense at any given moment but almost so, over months and then years. That''s what they did to failures back home. They became Training Materials. Everything was an Object Lesson." I didn''t detect an ounce of deceit.


    I nodded, "There''s always someone worse."


    He grunted, "Until there isn''t."

 Chapter 51

    Purify made quick work of cleaning the gory mess. The spell even dissolved all the chucks of discarded viscera that remained. It was interesting that it could distinguish what was to be cleansed and what wasn''t. Then again the shaping of the mana was a couple of orders of magnitude more complex than the shaping of the original Cleanse spell. Maybe, it was kind of like programming? Not that I knew a damned thing about coding. On the other hand, it could make more sense to look at this like a circuit issue? That''s what the shapings looked like to me, organic curvy circuits. Hmm. That did bring up a few interesting ideas. What could be changed before the spell failed? I''d have to sit down someday and explore that thought, but not today.


    I walked over to the remains of Lumi. I''d have no better opportunity to try to bring him back, it would be ages before I could alter the spellforms for my new spells. I''d have to hope that one of them could manage as they were, and I knew that the longer I waited the harder it would get to bring him back. Renew the Cycle? I didn''t have the needed components, I''d have to buy them in the CStore. Also we couldn''t afford the ten hour casting time, not when I wasn''t certain we had even one hour, before Militech came to find out what had happened to their agents. I''d have to try to brute form it with Life Crafting.


    "John, I''m going to try something insane watch my back please." I kinda hated that my requests were starting to just sound like orders. I had thought that balancing my Classes would have already solved the personality seepage of the God Emperor.


    "I''ve got you." He vanished, just poof and he was gone. I really wanted to know how he did that. If it wasn''t for my Aura having a hold on him, I''d have no clue he was there.


    I sat down by the golden rug and rested my hands on it. I could feel Lumi''s energy and his presence. Maybe that would be enough. I drew heavily upon the Tower''s mana, and as it flowed into me as I started shaping Life Crafting consciously, for the first time. Its structure was so complex, layer after layer of winding paths of mana, new shapes and formations almost like knots embedded in the mostly circular patterns. I poured all my focus into making it perform perfectly. Soon, I lost track of anything unrelated to the spell.


    When the final curve of the last layer was complete, the torrent of mana I''d been holding back rushed to flood the channels of both myself and the spell construct. Oceans of energy ripped through us and slammed into the remains of my Companion. It didn''t seem to take long before the flood died back down to a trickle and then stopped. Where once there was a rug, now there rested the glorious form of Lumiar the Golden Plains Wolf, at the very least a semi divine being. Unmoving. Unbreathing. Unliving.


    I hugged his large head to my chest, giving it scritches even if there was no one in there to feel them. I used the remnant energies of the spell to start his lungs and heart, then forced the brain stem to take over the job of keeping them running. Soon all the autonomous functions of the body where working and being handled by the lower brain. The higher order functions, specifically consciousness, wouldn''t spark no matter how hard I tried. And I tried so very hard.


    I checked and double checked everything seemed to be physically fine. The things that had made this body Lumi''s simply would not return to us. Maybe they couldn''t.


    I''d failed.


    I failed again.


    I failed dozens of times.


    Some part of me simply wouldn''t accept that it was impossible, so I kept trying. Stretching myself into a wreck about to combust.


    At some point John stopped me, pulling me away from the body that I had clutched ever tighter, scritched ever harder. Why couldn''t I do this? The body would be "alive" for a time, I could keep it that way indefinitely, but should I? Maybe he would be able to come back with time? Perhaps I could draw his soul back when I knew more. Soul... A wild idea emerged from my despair. Maybe I could merge the faith energy into the spell.


    I waved John off and started again. Weaving the spell and threading a small amount of golden energy through the construct. Golden light flared as it ignited the spellform, changing it into something more than the sum of it''s parts.


    {[NO!]}


    I was slapped down by some undetectable force. A black wall greeted me...


    When I came to, Lumi''s body was gone. Perhaps John had taken it away, perhaps whatever force had stopped me.


    We had never gotten to know each other as we should have, Lumi and I. For some reason that hurt the most. I turned to John but he just shook his head. So that was it then, I could never try again. What? Tears? No. No tears. It couldn''t be tears I was too tired for tears.


    After a while I managed to start rebuilding myself, slowly drawing my heart back together. I couldn''t afford to remain idle for too much longer. I might have already taken too long. Breathe. Listen. Count. It helped and it didn''t.


    I checked in with Alina and it seemed that everything else was still fine. Folks were only just starting to worry about us, and nothing was on any of the scanners. Which meant I had a bit more time to think. Today I had to settle on a plan for our future one way or another. First, we needed to buy time until Alina could complete the Stargate. That could be months, it would certainly be at least a couple of weeks. Then we would need even more time to design and build a strike force. I had some ideas about weaponizing the Probes, since they were our fastest producing units.


    What could we do that would make all the Corpos back off for that long? I had to start with the understanding that at least one Corp knew almost everything I had ever told "Sally" or "Megan". Which if I understood their interconnected spying dynamic at all, meant at least the rest of big five, had some of that information as well. That conundrum put a lot of my ideas into perspective. This view limited options severely. Which meant that there was an answer I wouldn''t like that was immediately obvious. Pick one of the Big Boys and spread my metaphorical legs for them. Argh! I really needed to work on my mental imagery. I reflexively cast Purify on myself, nope I still felt unclean from that thought. I wanted a brain bleach spell posthaste.


    Alliance with one of the big five would at least buy us some time, but I was under no illusion that I would get good terms. They would come in and strip everything bare, like the fucking bloodsucking locusts that they were. Then force me to pump out whatever bullshit they wanted nonstop. We''d be treated like valuable slaves at the very best.


    After what had happened on our last day in NC, we couldn''t risk expanding underground there too much more. That was apparently where they hid all of their mistakes. We had gotten extremely lucky that it took as long as it did to run into the consequences of Corpo experimentation. At least that was my currect working theory on what those things were. Though I''m sure the Death Korp was loving the light work. After all that they usually endured, this task was probably like a vacation to them.


    At some point, I could use the Kriegsmen to just bulldoze every thing under their boots. But I had a feeling I would not like the end results, if I let them off the chain. Even if I wanted to go that route, they weren''t yet ready to be deployed on that scale.


    The last option I could see, is for us to just sit under the cloaking fields for as long as possible. I kept thinking that it would only be a matter of time before the Corpos got smart and just bombarded the whole area to root us out. I could expedite some of the building sized Khalai shield generators to counter that. Though that brought up the issues of power generation. Well, not really. Power wasn''t really very much of an issue with the odd properties of the Pylons. Hmm. We would need a source of Minerals and Vespene. Which led us back to digging if we were huddled under shields.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Which led my mind to a mixed solution. What if I kept the Town and Valley tucked under Shield Generators and Cloaking Fields? As secure as I could make them in just a few days. Then I''d give just myself up, with a Probe and enough Wisps to make one Moon Well, obviously in exchange for keeping the Corpos away from our small area.


    Then I''d make them an Outpost at a place of their choosing. They could knock themselves out studying the Khalai tech and the "Magic" of the Well. Even run whatever sick tests they could come up with on me I guess. It wasn''t likely they''d fuck me up too much. They already knew they needed me to make it all work properly. So my willing cooperation potentially had more value than just hijacking what we had right now. Them playing around with my scraps should delay them, for long enough to bring us up to the next level. Which meant that it was time to upgrade everything I possibly could. I''d have to make lists for peoples areas of responsibility.


    This would all depend on me being able to see ahead and try to outthink the Corpos. Just long enough to punch through the sky. I should prepare a few nasty surprises to cover myself from being overly exploited. If they figured out a work around, I''d just have to last long enough for my people to come get me. With an Observer following me they would always know where I was.


    My mind even without overclocking was shifting from thought to thought at a blistering pace. My hands shook a bit. I just told myself to stop being a pansy. Was it worth it? What where any of these people to me? I might end up become a Guinea Pig in some Corpo meat lab. Then death would be a mercy. NO! Stop. This was not a mental track I was going to entertain.


    The responsibility to keep everyone save was mine. I started this, I''m why any of these folks were here, in harms way. I''d have step up to protect them now, so that they could have my back later. Otherwise, I didn''t see a way out of this.


    I wanted a good path, a safe option, but there were none. I shrugged to myself. Fuck it.


    So I would pick the best of the bad options. Yeah. I would buy my people the time.


    This was a gamble. I was betting on the premise that the Corps wouldn''t be able to fullyunderstand the technology in a usable manner for years or hopefully decades. They''d never be able to understand the mana aspect of things, there was no way they''d get that power.


    The first step of this insane plan would be choosing who to approach.


    Then the brakes halted my spirally thoughts. Wow, I really must have still been fucked up from everything that had just happened. Give myself to the Corpos. Was I fucking insane? I went over everything that I''d just dreamed up a few more times in my head. Really picked everything apart and evaluated the merits.Yes. Yes, I was very messed up. This wasn''t a good time for me to be making decisions. I couldn''t trust anything in my head, right now.


    Well that wasn''t a bad thing, there was a few folks nearby that I could trust.


    "John, I think my brain is too screwed up to function properly right now. Let''s get the cleanup and after action done here, then I need some sleep. Maybe some rest will reset my screwball thinking."


    "Good idea." I think he meant that, but how would I know? My brain was playing its own self destructive game now.


    Waking Jaina up wasn''t difficult. What was difficult was that she immediately started crying. I did my best to comfort her, but in many ways I was just as devastated as her. I guess it was going to be a team effort to pull ourselves back together. I quickly discovered that I could no longer cry. Something blocked it off after I''d poured out the waterworks for Lumi. It was handy problem to have, because it let me seem calmer than I actually was. That in turn helped Jaina to reach a state of calm faster.


    Me being usefully dysfunctional for the win. Yay.


    Wait, was I really being that guy? Argh. I gave myself a mental slap. This wasn''t about me. It was about Jaina.


    "Jaina, I know you are not okay right now. I''m going to let you have time to process, but lets start with this. None of this was your fault." Yeah, it was mine. Her eyes opened wider but she didn''t seem to have any other reaction. "Going forward we''ll get better at searching out assholes like those two skanks." And I''ll do the same or worse to them. She nodded as her face firmed up. Her eyes narrowed. She went grim real quick. I couldn''t blame her, it was a better reaction than I expected. But I couldn''t sense her emotions right now. In fact, the part of me that could do that seemed asleep right now. Huh.


    "I think we both know I''m not very good at emotional stuff, so I''m just spitballin'' here. If you need to talk, once we clean this up and we all get some proper sleep, I''m here for you." She smiled a little before her face went back to stone. She nodded again.


    "First we need to figure out to give you back the tower. This is too much power for me to be trusted to safely handle. I''m certain there will be a lot of consequences for what went down here today. We''ll have to weather them later."


    "Yes my Lord. It is simple, just hold still." She placed her hand over my heart. I felt a brief pulse of cool clear mana. She frowned. "You really latched on to the command sigils hard, my Lord. It will take a moment for me to untangle this."


    "Take all the time you need." I gave her a stupid grin. Seconds stretched to minutes and the minutes stretched to just about an hour. I felt her mana working the whole time, her energy control was leagues above mine. I could sense her dedication and passion for magic in every little adjustment, every shift of energy. That part of my abilities was obviously still worked. Hmm. Why would one set of abilities be offline while the rest worked fine? Finally, I felt the Tower''s control return back to her. Thankfully, she left me a connection, but only a minor one.


    "You''ll still have a student''s access permissions. I think it would behoove you to come for lessons soon, my Lord. Your strength is frightening, made worse by your control being rudimentary."


    I laughed, "Yeah, that sounds about right. I''ll try to make time for it. I have a feeling time is going to be in short supply, though." My mood shifted quite a bit during that statement. I wanted to sigh but held it in. I read somewhere once that people found it annoying. Some folks even thought of it as a sign of weakness. I could no longer afford to be weak. Nor ignorant for that matter.


    All my efforts had been too scattered. Too random, from one thing to the next. I was reacting to much, not acting enough. The one thing my previous thoughts had made very clear, I... no we required a long term plan. There was a need to sit down with everyone and work out a plan. Not just for tomorrow but for the next few years at least.


    Jaina still had her hand on my heart, her mana was softly pulsing as she was searching for something. I gave her a questioning look.


    "Just making sure you are still yourself my Lord. You are." She gave me another weak smile.


    "Ha! Good idea." Trust but verify. What a good phrase that was.


    With Life Control, I could probably suss out the cyberware that the imposters had used, that allowed impersonation. We could go over all the Nomads, and likely find any other moles. One thing was certain, whether she was an agent or not, I wasn''t looking forward to dealing with Amanda.


    I had some Probes drag the two still catatonic imposters to the town square in front of Town Hall. Alina had restored the Nomads to the exceptions list. Needless to say their exclusion had ruffled some feathers, but no where near as much as when I explained why it had happened. If I hadn''t shown them the agents and let Ricky, their Doc, examine them they probably wouldn''t have taken my word for it.


    That said, they did allow me go over them one by one. I was shocked when no one objected, given their earlier grumblings. I was even more shocked to find no other moles in their ranks. At least not of the same kind. I let them get back to their routines.


    Which left John, Jaina and me with Amanda who was clinging to Jim as hard as could be. She wasn''t crying though. Real steel, she was.


    They had been, ahem, being intimate, when I called this gathering. I was sorry I stripped the joyful moment away from them. It was a day for crappy feelings. It also told me that Raynor had decided to trust her before this had all played out. I''m sure he had his reasons, I was also sure he was better at dealing with people than I was.


    "I don''t know what they did to the real ladies, but they said they''d been embedded with you for a year. I don''t know if they could have been lying. I can''t really trust my opinions on it right now." Or just about anything else going on in my head.


    She stared at me with an iron gaze. "They''re probably dead. Once they had a personality imprint they wouldn''t have needed them anymore." Her voice was flat, just another list being read. I wished I had that level of self control. She shook her head, probably trying to wrap her head around how she of all people didn''t notice. I nodded. I had been avoiding thinking too much about that part of things. I had never really known the true ladies, but did that make it better or worse?


    "It doesn''t change our position, unless you want to count it as a violation of the treaty." Again that flat tone, maybe it wasn''t control? Maybe she had just shut down?


    "No, Amanda. I''m not going to hold this against the Aldecaldos. If you can stand continuing in this with us, that''s what I want." We needed them too much for a falling out.


    She nodded.


    The light of this day, almost two days from when we had arrived back in town, was almost gone.


    "I suggest we all get what rest we can and then meet up after to figure things out. Hash out the meaning in all of this." Raynor with the sage advice.


    We all went our separate ways, to our own beds. To sleep and perhaps to dream. I found that despite my wonderful blankets, my bed was very cold.

 Chapter 52

    My rest was fitful, a thousand things seemed to conspire to keep me right on the edge of consciousness. A twitch here, a breeze there. Nothing I did seemed to let my get comfortable enough to sleep. Hours went by with me just starting into the darkness of my room, my mind trying to chase itself into a cycle of blame and ridicule. I did my best to ignore it, but it is difficult to ignore yourself. Eventually, I simply passed out.


    I woke up feeling if not good, then at least a bit better. I''d been running myself hard for a while now. I barely napped while we were in the city and only for brief moments at that. Who even could have begun to guess what the events in the tower had done to my health. A quick check of my BTC showed no difference from the last time I looked at it. It''s refusal to update was troubling. Had I broken something? Trying to revive Lumi had been a mistake. Not because it didn''t have a chance to work, but because death isn''t something I should be fighting. As hard as it was to accept, bringing someone back from death didn''t seem very natural. I don''t think that was my intended path. Then again I couldn''t help but think that healing was kind of not very natural either, at least not the way we did it. Well no one said life itself wasn''t a hypocritical mess.


    I kept trying to pick everything up and be a part of everything I thought was important. Maybe that wasn''t the best idea. In fact, not one person, had ever said I was suppose to be a hero. I had thought it before, had thought to myself that I wasn''t cut out for fighting, but I was having a hard time internalizing it. But there were folks called Heroes all around me.


    Raynor fit the term to a tee. There was something dark in his past that he had pushed through. At least on a small scale he was a natural leader, able to guide his people through all kind of trouble. He just needed to know he and his people were valued and that his leaders were worthy. John didn''t really fit my ideas of a Hero, but he was heroic. He had all the skill, and all the will needed to achieve anything. If had lacked anything it was motivation. And he was no people person. Jaina may have been an Adjutant, but the system had said she was also a Hero. Brilliant and driven. She only lacked self confidence, which recent events had probably screwed with tremendously. Amanda didn''t have a system granted title of Hero, but I couldn''t help but see her as one. Her ability to face the shit that had just poured down on us, was nothing less than impressive. She was a leader and a fighter, plus she had the knowledge and experience I desperately lacked.


    I had to rely on them more, I had to help them more. I had to get the fuck out of the way so they could get their jobs done. I was here to fix the world, whatever the fuck that meant, and they were here to do everything else. I was the glue. I repeated that thought from earlier. I was here to bring the strong and competent folks together. Both the ones from other worlds and the ones that were already here.


    Support. I was the support. The majority of my abilities were there to help others or improve utility. Maybe I should figure out how to be supportive. I wasn''t very good at it. I was the medic, and I knew nothing about being a good medic.


    Only the Voice of the Emperor Class seemed different. But that whole event seemed to be an anomaly. Some outside hand had been playing with the system. I couldn''t begin to guess why, and I got caught in the crossfire. Even now that Class still seemed muted, I figured it had something to do with whatever smacked me when I tried to bring back Lumi. For all I knew, it was Lumi''s soul, rejecting a return trip.


    For that matter what game had Lumi been playing? He was obviously up to something the whole time he was here. I supposed there was no way to find out now.


    I got up and went to the bathroom. A quick shower helped rinse the last of my brain fog away. I could have used Purify but this was more relaxing. The ritual of it was soothing. After getting dressed I went downstairs to my kitchen. Most of the appliances in here were of the more industrial kind, like you would find in a professional setting. I opened what I thought was a simple fridge to find it was actually a walk-in model. There were fresh veggies, eggs, cheese, butter and milk in here. There was even some sandwich sliced bread in the back. We had cheese! Damn that was a fast turn around. Were the farms'' production cycles getting faster? I checked the next door and it was a walk-in freezer. Various meats, laid out in their different cuts, were vacuumed sealed in there.


    Who was stocking all of this? Probably the Probes, that made the most sense. this begged the question, just how many Probes where there now? I let my mind touch the Psifield and took count. I blanched. Hundreds almost to the point of a thousand, 976 Probes to be exact. When did this happen? About two dozen Sentries and almost twice that amount of Observers. Alina had build massive underground Pylon clusters to power and spark everything.


    They were doing such a good job. It was no wonder everything was operating so smoothly around here.


    Which reminded me I hadn''t told Meadran the coast was clear. I felt for Meadran''s connection to the tree network and informed him that the danger seemed to have past for now. He haruumed at me mentally, an oddly comforting vibration.


    "You need more rest Young One. I can feel your anguish clear as day." Huh? What anguish?


    Over being duped and betrayed? Why should I be in pain over that? Just because there was a tiny moment where I''d thought my luck with women had changed. Nah, I should have known. I shook it off, sarcasm had its place, but Meadran didn''t deserve the fallout of my mistakes


    I think some scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon were in order. It took a while to dig everything I needed to cook out. But when I had, the act of cooking my own breakfast, for a change, felt good. Really cozy.


    "May I have some?" Came a voice from right behind me. I jumped about three feet. Spinning around fast, there was thankfully nothing was in my hands at that moment. It would have gone flying at an assassin.


    "Damn it, John! You got me good." I chuckled as my heart attack passed.


    "Yeah." That bucolic tone again, making it harder to get a read on him.


    "No worries I''ll whip you up some too." I always did enjoy cooking for other people.


    "How about us?" Jim and Amanda walked in to the kitchen. They seemed better this morning.


    "Sure, it may take a while, but I don''t mind." I really didn''t. As I was expecting by that point, Jaina soon followed and sat at the table. Her smile was forced, but I''d take it. In short order, (heh) we were sitting around eating and chatting.


    Not a bad way to start the day.


    It might seem strange, but it wasn''t as difficult to have simple conversation as I feared it would be. Good food can truly work wonders. The Feralassian chicken eggs were tasty to begin with, but with just a sprinkle of cheese made from Varagian milk, it because something more. Then add a dash of salt, a pinch of black pepper, and a touch of paprika. Excellent. The bacon was cut thick and took a deft hand to get crispy all the way through without burning the edges. I even toasted up a few slices of bread for each of us. That rich smell of homemade bread filled the air. As an added bonus, the butter, which I had added a little cinnamon and honey, spread like a dream. The meal was served with fruit infused Moon Well water, and it went over quite well.


    When it was done everyone helped with the dishes. Yes there was single a dishwasher, me, but I''ve always preferred to hand wash. They dried the and put everything away for me. Everything having been cleaned we settled back around the dining table while some coffee brewed.


    "Alright, you guys have let me run around like a chicken with it''s head cut off long enough. We need a long term plan, and it should be obvious I don''t have a much of a clue." I figured it would be best to lay out everything I was thinking.


    "Hoss, you are doing fine. Stop with all the disparaging yapping." Raynor really knew how to perk you up.


    "Could you have been more focused, sure, but no one''s perfect." Really, Amanda. You were the last person I would have expect to blow smoke up my ass.


    "My Lord, perhaps it would be best to clearly define our goals. It might make planing for the future far simpler." Jaina''s advice was solid. Had I even shared what the overall goal was here?


    "Keep striking the targets. Everything else will sort itself out." What kind of advice was that John? That would literally have me killing every other person I cam.. oh, right. John motherfucking Wick.


    "Before we get into all that. Sorry Amanda, I have to ask. Do you want to do anything about the agents and Militech? I figure you have more than earned the right to ask for help with dealing with those assholes." I really wanted to know what she wanted and I really didn''t.


    "Yes. I want you to help get some pay back against those Corpo scopmunchers. But I think we should wait until we have some kind of upper hand. One day you''ll have the preemest iron, the baddest threads and the most nova wheels. On that day, I''ll ask for your help to get even." She grimaced. "Just don''t take too long." It''s hard to put off the desire for vengeance. I really admired her for her self control.


    "Fair enough. That''s a plan and a promise right there." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaina jotting down notes on a roll of parchment. With a quill. A magical self inking quill. Neat. I wanted one of my own.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "We need more human troops geared up and ready to deploy. More vehicles with heavy weaponry. Finally we really need air power." Raynor listed out his thoughts. Really he just wanted more things that went boom. Well, we can handle that.


    "Better iron and chrome." John added. Uh oh, somebody liked his cyberware. Let''s not turn John Wick into a Borg beast.


    "Time to train mages and priests. They are invaluable in any conflict." Jaina added her desire to prove her mettle clear as day.


    "That reminds me. What do you think of Mauris?" I remembered the priest as when he stopped us what was it three days ago now?


    "He is the best of the clergy. Devoted without being self-righteous. He has made himself very helpful with his God''s healing and blessings, my Lord." Jaina seemed to think about it, "However, he wouldn''t be the first to seem helpful and then betray our trust." Her heart would take a long time to heal, and I couldn''t fault her for it.


    "Hmm." A beep rang out. "Coffee''s ready." I got up to fix everyone a cup. With that out of the way, we got back to our discussion.


    "Amanda, do you think Militech''s going to retaliate for their agents?" Jaina asked what we were all really worried about right now.


    "No, at least not quickly, it''s not their way. All agents are considered expendable. That''s pretty universal with the Corpos. They''ll pour over the data they''ve obtained, maybe try to insert more agents at some point. Direct confrontation over this is unlikely." She rocked her head back and forth, "They might try to tank any business we are conducting, but it is not a certainty. I''ve seen them wait years, even decades before striking."


    "Hmm we need more business then, more streams of income filtering in. If we can''t fight then one way we can fight them another. We can ramp up food production and corner the fresh food market. Make sure the folks of Night City could get better healthier food cheaper." That''s something that has been in my head for a long time now. I wanted no one to suffer the atrocity of Buck A Slice, or the mediocrity of most of the food available in NC. We must save their stomachs.


    "We have reached the point we should no longer need the subscription services to get by my Lord. However, we would need far more expansion before we could make a dent in the Night City food markets." Jaina tapped the tip of her quill on the parchment. "It would take one month perhaps two before we could really afford to enter the food industry. That is while accounting for the expansion of our own forces up to 400% of our current population. The Moon Wells are the greatest blessing anyone could have hoped for, as they allow for nearly endless expansion over time."


    "So we can round up, what, another 60 footmen?" Raynor asked not very impressed.


    "Also some mages and priests but yes, that''s about the size of it." Jaina responded while obviously running the numbers in her head.


    "Not enough." John''s cold voice cut through to what we were all thinking.


    "In two months, we''ll have better arms and armor if I have to chain myself to the forges. I''ll have the Probes start on a Stargate, which will solve our Air problems." I was sure of it.


    There was an urgent knock on the door. Who could it be? Everyone got up to answer the door. It was one of the farmers. He looked exhausted and terrified.


    "My Lord, something strange is forming in the corn field on my farm. It looks similar to what the Probes do when they summon buildings but the energy feels wrong." That got our attention.


    We all ran for our gear and met up near the farm in question not long after. A swirling vortex of dark purple energies hovered above the field.


    My BTC shook...


    [ Congratulations your ambient mana levels have reached the first threshold ]


    [ Woe betide you the first Mana Sink forms ]


    [ Explore the extra dimensional realm of the Mana Sink to gain great rewards ]


    [ Fail to tame the chaotic currents and be drowned in corrupt mana ]


    [ The realm in the Mana Sink will draw from your themes to present challenges ]


    [ Defeat all challenges to temporarily close the Mana Sink ]


    I read the description to everyone.


    "Fuck!" yelled Jaina, "It''s a bloody Dungeon!" That sounded like panic.


    "What the hell is a Dungeon?" I asked, not sure if I wanted the answer.


    "They suck up aspected and pure mana and spew out corrupted energies. Also if you don''t deal with them quickly enough they erupt and throw monsters everywhere."


    We all looked at each other. Then looked at the Vortex.


    "Fuck." We all said together.


    [ You have new Quests ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Complete the Challenges of the First Mana Sink


    Reward: 5000 Company Points, 2 Random Supply Tokens


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Complete the Challenges in under one hour


    Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Hero Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    [ Quest Offered


    Slay the Optional Boss


    Reward: 5000 Company Points, 1 Building Upgrade Token


    Accept: Y/N ]


    As I continued stared at the Vortex, I felt no more dread, no more worry. Sure the idea of the Mana Sink sounded bad, but perhaps it was secretly a blessing in disguise. Actually, if anything, I had a good feeling about the whole thing. I felt an eagerness burning in my gut that I hadn''t felt in a while. Excitement for the new possibilities. Why or how I was all of the sudden so gung ho about this I couldn''t begin to say. I was simply ready for the worst.


    I quickly accepted the quests. I really wanted to find out what that Building Upgrade Token did. Hero Tokens were also a reward so good that I couldn''t possibly  pass them up. That also reminded me I had a Supply Token burning a hole in my pocket. I didn''t really see a need to open it yet. Maybe if I hit a wall in development. Also there was a Merc Token but I had a feeling those were one time things, so it was best to save them. I wanted a few more of them before I started playing around.


    The system sure was adept at getting me to want to face danger. Which was suspicious, since facing danger wasn''t part of the stated reason that I was here. It was almost like the system was designed for a different purpose than what I was sent here to do.


    [ Don''t Worry About It ]


    [ This message was brought to you by your Friendly Neighborhood Case Worker ]


    Well that wasn''t freaky. So the theory that they knew what I was thinking had been confirmed. I shrugged. What''s one more problem now?


    "You alright, Hoss?" Raynor sometimes pays way too much attention to me.


    "I''m peachy, Jim, just got some quests." I grinned at him.


    "There it is. That crazy grin. He''s excited about something." Raynor pointed at the Vortex, "We going in there?" He asked it like you would ask about going to the store.


    "Oh, absolutely. We are so going to wreck whatever is in there. But not yet. Let''s got some of our plans started up and I''ll work on cranking out some upgrades." My right hand cradled my chin, while I tried to plot our next steps. "Jaina do you think we have at least two weeks before this thing blows?"


    "I''m not certain. This was never my area of study. I''ve never seen a Dungeon in its formation stage before. If I had to offer a guess, we have maybe a month, before its first disgorgement of monsters." She shook her head while smacking her staff''s butt cap against the ground a few times. Probably a nervous tick.


    My lip bunched up in a odd way, "Should be more than enough time to get some new shiny gear ready. I''ll be in the forge working and testing until I think we are good to go. Jaina keep me informed of any important issues." I hated to pile the work on her shoulders right now, but time was a factor.


    "As you will, my Lord." She almost sounded grateful. Which made sense to me, anything not to think about the shit we''d just been through. Even more shit to wade into.


    "Jim and John get those new footmen and the ones we will be summoning in sorted and trained up. Now that you have a little more time on the equipment, make some suggestions for improvements. Send me the list." I''ll work out all the bugs.


    "Sure thing, Hoss."


    John just nodded.


    "Amanda you are our connection to the outside world, keep your ear to the ground in case the Corpo scum make a move."


    "What about those invisible drones?" She pointed up.


    "The Observers are not infallible and they just collect raw data. While Alina does her best to parse all of it, she is not just a machine but an alien machine. She misses some of the context. I''ll trust you to catch the clues she just can''t grasp." I had Alina work Amanda into the permissions for the Observers'' feeds.


    "Alright, we''re in this for the long haul." She confirmed while glancing at Raynor. Oh. That was a great reason for her to help. I was still impressed with how she was holding up, after the shock of her daughter''s likely fate. It spoke of how much death she had seen over the years. I could learn a lot from her. Some part of me was a wreck, and I was also about to push all of it aside with work. That never had any negative consequences. Nope, not a one.


    "Alright, I''ll stay for a few minutes and get some Probes to set up a defensive perimeter here, just in case the Vortex pops early. You guys take care of yourselves, and call if you need me for anything."


    They said their "See you later(s)" and went off to get started on their projects. A few Robo-Buddies were already arriving, like they had anticipated my intentions. Hmm. For now, lets just surround it with a double ring of Photon Cannons and station a few of our Sentries. That should trip up any invaders until we could respond with more force.


    In a short amount of time, a ring of death took shape around the Vortex. I checked it over. It would have to do for now. Before I went to isolate myself in the Forge, I decide to get a Stargate started. The desire for getting into space was like a thorn in my mind, I couldn''t let it go. I was dead set on getting the building that allowed me to break free of the ground. At first, I''d thought it was because I recognized the value of air power, and more pertinently, control of the planet''s orbit. However, I had begun to suspect that deep down I just wanted a space ship to ride in. I only had a couple of real obsession''s and the thought of being able to travel through the Solar System with impunity was one of them.


    It had to be done, so I was going to get the Probes moving on it. I walked northeast, well past any of the farms and the perimeter of the Pylons and defenses, looking for a space big enough for the massive structure. There was a gap between the mountains and hills that surrounded the Valley and another line of mountains running off to the northwest. This gap should be just wide enough for the building and with a few Pylons at key locations should be easily cloaked from prying eyes.


    Once I had marked out the area, the Probes evened up the ground and started the assembly of the Pylons. They couldn''t warp this Stargate in. The one that had been in their unknown void storage system had been lost during the Arasaka incident. Any Probes not needed for the daily maintenance of the town would be involved and cycle their normal work routines as needed. With close to a thousand of the Robo-Buddies we shouldn''t need to build more Probes simply for this project


    With that finally out of the way, I marched back to the Town and then into the Valley. I briefly pondered why the Mana Sink hadn''t started in the Valley since the Mana was almost twice as dense in here as out in the town. It long since gotten to the point that regular folk without specialized armor couldn''t survive the environment. The summons were somewhat better off, but even they would get loopy after a while. Mana Drunk, Jaina had called it. Me, I just felt a pleasant tingle on my skin.


    Which was why I was going to use the Valley''s Forges instead of the ones in town, to keep from being interrupted. I''d also noticed that Wisps were now everywhere you could see. Meadran informed me that the Wisps were starting to naturally form on their own. Blue and silver Wisps by the Moon Wells and gold and green Wisps in the forest. I could hear their laughter now. Like small children full of joy. It brought a weak smile to my face. Life energy was so strong here. It lifted my mood and improved my already ridiculous health. They were also growing more intelligent and more aware. Normally I''d probably freak out about that but for right now it seemed like a good thing.


    Once I arrived at the Forges, I got to work.

 Chapter 53

    Over the next two weeks, I worked myself like a fiend. I popped my Overclock Self ability every chance I could get, poured over all the currently available schematics. All in an effort, to make the next useful tweak, the next meaningful adjustment. I made hundreds of small changes to all of the Khalai units and buildings. Primarily integrating larger crystal cores for better processing and expanded shield capacity.


    Going over both the Shield Generator and Shield Recharger blueprints led me to reject their baseline models and go with a much larger combined structure. I even managed to incorporate a Pylon into my new design. The final product could generate a very solid, large scale and quick to recharging shield. That was without the support of the broader Psifield, when under the effect of the field the shield was almost impossible to penetrate. That was at least with any of the weapons I used to test the prototype. Khalai, Imperial, or Local. Even when it did finally fail, which only happened when I used my new Laspistol with it''s Psifield supported overcharge feature, it rapidly recovered. A mere second later and the shield was thrumming with power once again. They might not last under sustained barrages from multiple sources, but it was better than the individual shields of most Protoss buildings. Never mind the Lordaeron buildings with no shielding at all. Those buildings were rolled out on the 3rd day after the start of my isolation began.


    Next, I focused on rebuilding the Power Armor designs from the ground up, using some of the ideas from the Kriegsmen armor for internal padding. A newly discovered denser version of the crysbronze for the most vulnerable areas. Which of course, led to increased weight, however, it was offset by embedding extra crystal nodes to act as regulators for more efficient power draw. Then in an inspired move, I integrated psiblades into both forearms for close work, or if the user was divested of their SOR. Lastly, I expanded the programing of the onboard V.I. including some protocols for locking down the armor and even self destruction if the user was not on a approved genetic list. These new suits rolled out on the 5th day. I had an idea to try Wisp integration with the Armor, but decided to wait until we could do thorough testing.


    Weapons were next. Here, I was torn. There were advantages to using either the Las weapons or the Ballistic models. The modified SORs had performed exceptionally well, so I was loath to change to the different problem solving platform now. However, that led me to a crazy idea. First I shortened the SORs another couple of inches, improving handling when indoors. Then I decreased the now insane recoil by including a micro field generator to push against the recoil from the gauss weapon. That took hours of fiddling with the programing to get the timing right. I made a note that the feature might require further adjustments later. I also added a Psibayonet module. Because you can never have enough utility. Heh.


    Then, I spent a frustrating day, designing many new ammo types, from armor piercing to explosive, EMP to Psiburst rounds. Nearly losing a hand, more times than I liked to recall. Psiburst rounds were my answer to the fear that a Daemon might shown up again. They were a compressed Psicrystal shard with a nanoscale explosive core. This resulted in a violent release of Psienergy and throwing out crystal shards and dust. I would require that our troops have to carry a mag of Psiburst ammo at all times. Just in case. All of my experiments to include mana into ammo failed.


    On the third day after switching to mana ammo testing, I remembered the movie Predator. Which gave me another crazy idea. I mounted a redesigned version of my Laspistol on the Power Armor''s left shoulder. I linked it in to the V.I. for better targeting. The first two versions blew up, but persistence paid off, and the third version worked like a charm. I did have to remove the overcharging option though. Bummer.


    Finally, I turned to thoughts of adapting Power Armor to integrate with Probes, which would solve our manpower issue almost immediately. This was a real struggle, and require a total reshaping of the armor. The first designs were far too awkward to even make a testing phase. Finally, I realized that I was looking at it all wrong, they didn''t need a full suit of armor. They just needed a frame with arms to allow them to handle better weapons.


    The final form of this Warframe may not have looked like much, but it added a ton of battle prowess to the Probes. Now they could utilize SORs, or Lasweapons. In fact, I put two of the "shoulder" mounted lasweapons on their frames. A large backpack like Psicrystal core gave the Probes more power to improve their normal shielding and a new set of algorithms to vastly improve their tactics and targeting abilities.


    Blinky, the first test subject for a frame refused to part with it when we were done. I didn''t blame him and let him have it.


    All of these improvements rolled out together on day 10.


    I was pretty happy with all of these improvement so far. So I turned my attention to combining Mana and Psienergy. The initial tests resulted in an extremely high energy event. I had to switch to a different Forge while the Probes replaced the now totaled one. Too much, too fast. Probably. Well then lets try... nope. And how about... uh, that looked like a portal. Oops, there''s a tentacle trying to grab stuff. Nope. Let''s just detonate a mound of Psicrystals, right about there. And there''s another Forge for the Probes to rebuild.


    On day 13, I had a small break through. By mixing a very small amount of each type of energy very slowly a new mineral was formed. There was some versatility to this new mineral, depending on the type of mana used. Pure Mana with Psienergy resulted in a bright neon blue metallic mineral. Life Mana resulted in a dense seemingly nonreactive light blue gas. I had no real idea of the utility of each as yet, and I''d run out of time to keep testing.


    I decided to check up on my messages. Just reports from Jaina. These reports only had a few events of note. Back on day 4 Alina had finished her study of human anatomy and adaptation of Khalai Cyberware. As much as I wanted to play with that I felt I was too busy, so the first trails were conducted by Jaina with a volunteer from the new batch of footmen. The Soldier quite enjoyed the increases in his speed and strength, roughly a 100% increase for both. More test were needed but nothing that required my direct intervention. Sadly, we didn''t have time to run all of the tests, so full integration of Khalai Cyberware with all of our troops would have to wait.


    On day 8, Ingrid regained full consciousness and promptly killed herself. Nobody had been paying attention to the agents by that point. I didn''t know how to feel about that, so I buried my emotions in more work for now. Velma remained in a coma.


    Back on day 10, there was a fly over event by several different Corporations'' AVs. Back and forth they flew over our area, hunting for our location. They didn''t stop, however, no active scanning was detected. So we did nothing. The constant roaring of their engines did negatively impact the nerves of many of the Lordaeron folks. They''d led simple lives before being brought here and were unused to the sights and sounds of AVs.


    Maybe the Corpos were trying to bait us into action? If we attacked them, that would give them a good idea of where to hunt for us. Though they were already too close for my comfort, probably due to the agents final reports.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Day 12 had a small snafu between some of the Aldecaldos and some of the New Lordaeron folks. Supply orders for sales were going out with Amanda on a run to Dakota. The orders got mixed up. I didn''t get the full details but some heated words were exchanged, a few fists flew. Thankfully, Amanda kept it from escalating to further violence.


    I spent day 14 tweaking my own Power Armor design. I tricked it out with a heavier shielding module and two shoulder mounted Laspistols. Also I removed the V.I. and added a clone of Alina so I could rely on her to defend me if I needed to heal people. When it came out of the Assembler it I patted the Armor.


    "Take care of me, alright?"


    The best part, it fit like a glove.


    My excitement grew by leaps and bounds. I was ready to bring the pain.


    Once again I noticed that returning to the lower mana density of New Lordaeron was a let down. This reaction triggered a contemplation of whether someone could develop mana dependence. I''d be willing to bet it could happen, and was probably common in places with widely variable concentrations of magical energy. How you might go about preventing or treating mana addiction was a mystery to me.


    I used my message system, to let everyone know I was making my way towards the Mana Sink. I was ready to go, and already armored up. I had my own SOR and several hard cases, mounted to my armor, full of loaded magazines for all occasions. Other than my second shoulder mounted lasweapon I had added one more identifier to my armor. A golden wolf''s head emblazoned across each pauldron. It really stood out against the dark green. A remembrance to Lumiar as well as a squad marker. Later, I''d have our different squads create their own markers, which would expand out into future platoons and so on.


    Now that I had spent some time in relative quiet and isolation, my Life Crafting aura was much easier to control. I allowed it to be active but I pulled it in to just coat my armor. I spent a little bit of time to work on both keeping it contained and flaring it out to its limits. I also had allowed it to grow and collapse colonies of bacteria in my own body, both beneficial and harmful. I wouldn''t recommend do this to any budding Biomancers. The mess was unpleasant to say the least. Thankfully, Purify worked wonders in just erasing unwanted microorganisms and bodily waste.


    Oddly, I was still having trouble feeling pain properly, but there were no signs of nerve damage. I would be able to heal it if that was all the problem was. Perhaps, I was inflicted with a psychosomatic effect.


    John was the first to arrive at the Vortex, as expected. He probably had some odd form of teleportation. When I got there, I saw him manipulating a pool of shadow. How does that even work? I mean darkness isn''t a thing, it''s an absence of a thing. Is he really working with the absence or a weird pseudo-thing? I''d have to talk with him about that at some point. Truly interesting.


    Raynor, and almost 50 footmen all geared up and ready to rock, were next to arrive. Followed by Amanda and Jaina who were discussing something, they seemed to be getting along well. which I thought would be good for both of them. On the other hand, Jaina had been very perfunctory with her reports to me. Given that, and the way that her eyes avoided me, I thought we might have a problem brewing between us. We probably needed to sit down and have a chat, just the two of us. Not that I had any fucking clue about what to say, but letting things like this grow, was not good.


    Last to arrive was a group of a hundred Probes in their Warframes, they''d be providing general security to the town while we figured this Mana Sink out.


    "How''s everything going?" I started speaking, trying to put as much pep into it as I could.


    Raynor chuckled, "First Platoon''s ready, Hoss." The Troops behind him saluted, right fists to hearts. They were synced up and looking deadly.


    "Good." John grunted. He let of a ball of condensed shadow he''d been playing with dissipate.


    "Everything''s fine, my Lord." Jaina stated while looking at John. Her eyes sparked with blue mana. She was trying to unravel the nature of his mana. A useful ability, that I''d like to learn.


    "We just got back from a delivery. Should be a fat chunk of Eddies coming your way soon." Amanda pointed back towards the parking area. New buildings were just barely visible from here. Workshops and Garages for the Nomads to work on their babies, probably.


    "Anything you remember, that could help us in the Dungeon, Jaina?" Her gaze snapped to me. I couldn''t make out much of what she was feeling. Just some shame and embarrassment, though not in any large amount. Thankfully, the overwhelming nature of the Voice of the Emperor Class had not returned, only some of the abilities, though still at a muted quality. The faith energy, however, was as strong as it ever was. More golden energy flowed into me daily, probably from the prayers of the Kriegsmen.


    "Only that they usually allow limited interaction. Perhaps 5 people, perhaps 10, it changes. There are usually stronger monsters at certain points, that will have to be defeated to progress." Her eyes had returned to John. What was that about? Ah wait, she was helping him with his magic, right? Maybe they were getting closer? That might be a good thing, or it might explode horribly. Kind of depended on John.


    "So, only some of us can go in? How do we know how many?" These Dungeons seemed like odd things, and I already had too much on my plate. We needed to find someone to examine them, or maybe I could buy info on them in the CStore.


    "I don''t know, my Lord." She stared at the Vortex trying to pierce it''s secrets.


    "So we wing it. Nothing new there." Jim chuckled.


    "Be careful." Amanda said it as a general statement, but we all knew who it was addressed to. Raynor nodded.


    "How about this? We line up in rows of five in front of the Vortex. First group goes in, then the next group tries, if they can good, if they can''t, oh well." Best idea I could think of without more information. Everyone voiced their agreement.


    "The first group in should be the "best" to make sure we have the greatest chance of success. John, Jim, me... not Jaina, she can''t due to her restrictions, and it''s best if Amanda gets her own armor before she tries this. Hmm, Jim pick your two most adaptable men to roll with us."


    He nodded, "Eagers and Borfen fall in." Eagers was a mountain of a man, a full head and more above the rest of us. He carried a honking huge hammer in addition to the normal loadout. The Probes must have worked overtime to get him outfitted. Borfen was just a normal sized guy but had covered his armor with cloth with leaves and branches attached. A sneaky setup. His SOR was modified to match Jim''s, a sniper''s weapon. We lined up, while another Squad of Jim''s troops lined up behind us.


    "Ready?" I asked.


    "Good to go!" Barked the Troops.


    "On your mark, Hoss." Jim nodded.


    "Yeah." Came John''s quiet replied.


    I lowered my visor, enjoying the HUD features for a second. Everyone but John did the same.


    "Let do this!" I let my excitement bleed into my voice. We stepped forward...


    ... and into an Alleyway. Huge concrete and brick buildings surrounded us, while steam billowed up from grates in the asphalt. It was nighttime according to the sliver of sky I could make out above us. Our weapons were up as we scanned the area.


    A concert was going on nearby its music a distraction and the cheering of the crowd almost unnerving. Where were we? Then came the sound of rushing steps.


    "Johnny! Johnny where have you been?" A body threw itself at John. Of course, they missed.


    We found ourselves looking at a figure in what I would term punk garb. Quite revealing. Young and aggressive. Her side shaved blue green hair waving back and forth as she tried to figure out who the rest of us were.


    "Wait what''s going on?" She had a pistol out in a split second, which was a bad move as we all focused our weapons on her at the same time. "You''re not Johnny, who are you?"


    I noticed some figures stalking up behind her. They were armed and ready to rumble.


    "Rogue, what going on?" The largest of them called. His massive frame, had chrome looking skin. Rogue, that name tickled my brain a bit. Where had I heard it before?


    "I don''t know, he looks like Johnny but he''s obviously not him. A twin?" She wasn''t even a little worried about the rifles pointed at her. Bizarre.


    "I''m John." There''s that old Wick charm.


    "You even sound the same." Her pistol came down to her side. She cocked her head.


    "How about we all lower our weapons and have a talk." I suggested.


    "O-okay." She agreed. Everyone relaxed slightly.


    What the fuck was going on here?

 Chapter 54

    There was a moment where each group stared at the other trying to understand their capabilities. The air held a tension, both sides of this stand off were ready to snap.


    "So, who are you guys?" Rogue belted her words out while she eye fucked John. Maybe, she liked what she saw in our boy more than this "Johnny" character she''d asked about.


    My brain raced to come up with a plausible story. "We''re Mercs hired for a gig. No names given, just be here at this time. Do what our contact needs. Are you the contact?"


    "I... don''t... Shit this is exactly the kind of fucking stunt Johnny would pull. He''s probably sitting in wings, laughing his ass off." She bit her lip and paced back and forth, and taping her pistol against her thigh. It was a very nice pistol and a very nice thigh. "That fucking gonk. Yeah, I guess I''m your contact."


    "Excellent. What do you need?" With my visor down nodding was kind of pointless, but I did it out of habit anyway. I hoped they just ran with my flimsy story. I mean sure, someone might set things up this way, but there''d be passwords or something to recognize the other party.


    "We are hitting Arasaka Tower, while the riots, some stupid asshole started, have them distracted. Johnny was supposed to meet us here, but I guess he sent you instead. Typical, letting me down when it counts." Her scowl could have started wildfires. I sensed a lot of history between her and this Johnny, but I''d no desire to step in that minefield.


    [ Challenge 1 complete - 1 Reward token ]


    [ Meet Contact - 1 Hero Upgrade token ]


    [ Meeting was peaceful - 2 Unit Upgrade tokens ]


    Whoa! That was a lot of tokens for just talking to someone. This was really starting to grow on me. These Mana Sinks were awesome! But the tokens didn''t appear, yet. We''d probably get them all at the end.


    I turn to my group. "Let''s head out." I turned back to Rogue, "Lead the way." I almost gestured with a jaunty after you, but I caught myself in time. Best not to seem too flippant, we were supposed to be hard bitten mercs after all. We followed Rogue''s people to an atrium formed by clusters of alleyways coming together. the space was filled with lots of dumpsters. Sadly, no one seemed to understand how to use those dumpsters as trash was piling up everywhere. The most interesting thing was the very loud, boxy AV hovering just above the ground. Its side door was already open and a very aggressive looking heavy machinegun of some variety was jutting out, ready for someone to take control of it and light up the night.


    "Mine." John said. Let it be a testament to his obvious deadliness that no one said a word of objection.


    We mounted the AV, Rogue went up to talk to the pilot. Eager and Borfen went with Raynor to stand towards the back, to keep an eye on everyone else. I posted up next to John, so that I could look out the side door. I wanted to see this version of Night City from the air. I grabbed onto an overhead grip bar lightly. While I kept my SOR pointed out. My accuracy would only slightly be affected by using one hand to shoot, thanks to the enhancements we''d worked into the armor. Alina''s clone, nested in the suit, could practically shoot for me, if needed.


    Hmm. Glancing behind me revealed that there was no exit on the other side of the vehicle, a design flaw as far as I was concerned. However, It did seem to be quite a sturdy flying beast though. Shame that I didn''t have a Probe to scan it right now.


    The chrome skinned guy chuckled as John familiarized himself with the HMG. "Good, you know your weapons. Call me Shaitan." John grunted in return, he must''ve been warming up to the big guy.


    I took quick stock of the rest of the vehicle''s occupants. There was a guy in a business suit and a small camera drone. He was speaking dramatically at the Drone. "It will be on this day, August 20, 2023 that the underdogs strike back against Corporate tyranny to liberate one of their comrades... " Some kind of reporter, I guessed.


    That was shocking though we were 51 years in the past, almost exactly. Wait, I remembered Sinn talking about this... fuck I don''t really recall every detail of what she said about it, just that this event changed everything. I focused on recalling what she''d said about the bombing of Arasaka Plaza. It was starting to come back to me. She''d said, more than a few times, that so many versions of the story existed that no one who hadn''t been there knew the truth.


    There were a number of other folks, some looked military and some looked like Nomads. All of them looked ready for a fight. Then there was a little wisp of a thing, messing with what looked like an extra thick laptop. She was wired straight into it. She hummed and sang little rhymes while working. I had a feeling she wasn''t all there. This time''s equivalent to a netrunner. Probably.


    So where was Johnny Silverhand? I was sure that Sinn said he was part of this, a big part. Most of the official blame ended up falling on his shoulders. Rogue thought we''d be him. That meant that he was supposed to spearhead this group right? I think that was what had happened. If I''m recalling it properly, there should be two other groups. As the AV rose into the air I saw two other vehicles fall into formation with ours. Hmm, some things are different, some things are the same. Interesting.


    Rogue came back from the front. "ETA 5 minutes." She turned to John, "There are going to be turrets, those are your priority targets. The security forces with their pop guns shouldn''t be able to dent this baby at all." One thing I was finding odd, sure the tech of 2074 had advanced. But not as much as you would expect for 50 years, and the culture seemed much the same. As I looked out at this older version of Night City, I could see tons of differences in its layout. So why so little change that mattered? A stagnant culture with barely improved tech, it emphasized that something fundamental was deeply wrong with this world.


    Ah screw it, I better get my head in the game. There would be time for philosophy later. Other than the reporter and the netrunner everyone was staying quiet. Lost in their own thoughts or just silent by nature. Of course, it had started raining. The tears of the sky wept for the lost souls of Night City.


    "Alpha Team, 30 Seconds to Contact!" Rogue barked out. We had swung around most of the city to come at this area from the other side of where we had started.. Though not the same, this section of the city mirrored the City Center from our time. Though the architecture was somewhere between my Earth''s version and the crazy physics defying buildings of this world in 2074.


    "Missiles! Deploying countermeasures!" The pilot called over their shoulder. The AV started yawing back and forth as several light thuds popped off from the tail of the vehicle. Flares and chaff.


    Then John fired a short burst, taking out a missile as it was passing our vehicle. Showoff. The AV turned giving us a clear line of sight to the tallest building''s rooftop. Motherfuckin'' Arasaka Tower. We were still farther out than I''d want to start shooting from, but not John. Using tight controlled bursts for the beast of of a weapon, he took out the first turret before they''d even started firing at us. By the time a turret started to respond, he was already finished destroying a second.


    "You are good!" Laughed Shaitan. He seemed the type to enjoy a good fight.


    We circled closer, the security forces had begun trying to hit us, but they were mostly bouncing off the heavily armor fuselage of the AV. The flying brick was as tough as Rogue had promised.


    I targeted a few of the scrambling security guards, and added my two cents to the heavy pounding music John was laying down. Unbelievable! He simply never missed.


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    The third turret went down before we completed our first full circle of the building. Then a round bounced off John''s shield which shattered but kept him intact. Thank goodness no one else was on that gun, they''d be going home in a bag. That near brush with death only seemed to increase John''s determination. He walked his fire over to the last turret cutting several bodies in half on the way.


    I''d managed to hit a couple of the bastards myself, though keeping a stable footing was hard as the AV bucked.


    A moment later the last turret was down. John turned his heavy gun on the rest of the security forces and nothing they did could save them. Whether they ran or hid the bullets found them. We hadn''t even completed a second rotation around the building when John let the gun come to a rest. There were no more targets.


    "Take us down!" Rogue yelled to the pilot. Less than a minute later we were back on solid concrete and forming up to carry out the next step of this insane plan.


    The other two AVs set down next to us and disgorged their own cargos of mercs. The rain hadn''t let up, I was happy to be in a fully enclosed suit. Everyone who wasn''t, got drenched in no time. Most of them didn''t stand out too much, but one guy in a trench coat, gave off a similar feeling to John. Not quite as dark, but very close.


    "Anybody injured?!" I yelled. I got a chorus of No(s). Rogue gave me a questioning look. "Team Medic." I responded with a chuckle.


    "Scariest looking medic, I ever saw." Said the guy in a trench coat as he walked over with a upright looking fella.


    "Morgan, Ronald, are we ready for the next phase." Rogue shook hands with the two guys.


    "Yeah, let''s get moving. The clock is already ticking." Morgan, the dangerous one said. His guys were more like the merc, all mismatched but tough looking bastards.


    "My men are ready." Ronald echoed. His team looked like Black Ops soldiers. They were carrying a large duffle bag that seemed to require two to move.


    "Alright, we return in 30 minutes, not a second longer. Don''t get left behind." Rogue nodded to them before turning back to us.


    "Our target is on the 120th floor. It''s a series of labs, we are looking for the mainframe. Extract the target and return here. Questions?" She barked it out, it was obvious this wasn''t her first rodeo.


    "Can you guide me? We should lead, our armor should be able to hold up to most of what they''ve got." I answered.


    "Good Idea. I''ll follow you and point the way." Rogue smirked at me. Probably thinking we were about to be torn to pieces. She''d better get ready to be wrong.


    As we prepared to descend a set stairs leading down the side of the roof to a door, I got a notice.


    [ Challenge 2 complete - 1 Reward token ]


    [ Lose no units - 1 Hero Upgrade token ]


    [ Destroy all turrets before AVs reach 50% armor loss - 2 Unit Upgrade tokens ]


    The hits just kept on coming. Nice. I lead the way down, but the tiny netrunner squeezed by to get to the door. She started to jack in. My rifle stayed focused on the doorway, just in case they were waiting for us on the other side. Let''s be honest, they were waiting. But there is no way they are ready for us.


    The little woman kept chanting her little poems about spiders and webs while her fingers danced across a very interesting non standard keyboard. "Ah, there it is. Another fly caught in my web." The door slid open and the shooting started immediately. My SOR answered tearing through three guards in record time.


    "Clear." I called back. Spider girl had shied to the side when the shots whizzed by and stayed there as the rest of us rushed the stairway. Nothing else greeted us, except a sign on the wall that was simply labeled Rooftops.


    Raynor had lined up behind me and Rogue behind him then John followed by Eager and Borfen. The Nomads were next and then Rogue''s mercs running the tail.


    I started the show. I tried to cut the pie, just peeking around the corners of each descending stair. Safer but tedious, and in this case the safe method was taking too much time. By the third floor, I just said fuck it, and fast marched boldly downward. Right into a hail of bullets. None of which did a damn thing. At least to me. A few bounced around off my shielding doing some damage to their senders. Ha! Watching me just stride through their attack had the guards pissing their pants. Thankfully for them, they didn''t have to live with the shame for long. Raynor and I mopped them up with a few bursts. It was almost an afterthought. It felt like a chore rather than a fight.


    Despite being on a short clock, we had a long night ahead.


    A few floors later. More rounds were caught by my shields. So far nothing the Arasaka forces had thrown at us was enough to pop our shields never mind our armor. This squad, at least, had the good sense to try to take cover. Their lack of proper tactics made sense, if you thought about it. Arasaka''s goons were used to having the best armor and weapons in any conflict. Probably the best gear all around. Why would they need to be great at tactics?


    Jim''s and my return fire blew through their poor choice of cover and slaughtered the lot. Two volleys and it was a done deal. We loaded up fresh mags.


    We''d reached the right floor, 120, and once through the door the space opened up drastically. In fact, the floor seemed to be an open concept deal with pillars. So far everything had been concrete and steel, black and red, very minimalistic. This floor was no exception. The labs themselves were self contained modules in red and black. Separating the lab spaces like that was not a bad idea. It kept cross contamination of results down. Gotta respect clever but proper lab procedures.


    Now that we had more room, Raynor, Eager, Borfen and I were side by side serving as a shield to the folks behind us. Our SOR moving slowly over everything in front of us as we scanned the area. Nothing, silent as the grave.


    "Clear!" We called. I was still running on the excitement from the stairway. Though honestly, I was both ecstatic and mortified at how easily we cut through the enemy. My mood might be a tad less manic then it was before. "Feels a bit like we are the bullies here, huh?" I gave voice to my thoughts.


    That got a round of chuckles. "Better this way, Hoss. Doubt they''d be as nice about finishing us quick." Raynor cut in. He got a bigger round of laughs. Touch¨¦, Jim.


    "Where''d you get that armor?" Rogue asked. All her people had been eyeballing us from a while now. All of them wondering the same thing.


    "Experimental. Our boys build it and we hire ourselves out to help pay for it." They didn''t look surprised. Lying was getting easier. That wasn''t a good thing, but I''ve always been bad at it. However, no one was calling out my bullshit now. Maybe because they weren''t real, and were like a dream. They seemed pretty solid though. I''d bet we''d die all the same to the Arasaka scum. Virtual or not.


    Given the size of the floorplan, and the fact that the blueprints that Rogue had didn''t show the mainframe, we''d split up into smaller search squads. John, Rogue, Spider lady, one of the nomads named Raul and myself when straight through the middle of the floor. The mainframe itself was likely to be a larger unit than the ones for the labs or a series of containers clustered together. Should be easy enough to spot. For the next few minutes, we heard nothing unusual. No roaming guards to cause trouble. No workers getting underfoot. Which helped make finding the Mainframe a breeze.


    We found it at the dead center of the floorplan because, of course it was there. It was one container the size of about ten of the the others. The only problem was the ten foot tall fully automated war bot. It reminded me of something out of Robocop. Right now, it seemed passive, but I had a sneaking suspicion that if we got any closer it would get hostile, fast.


    "Maybe it wants to be friends. Bots get lonely too." The spider girl chimed in. Her eyes had sparkles in them as she gazed at the bot.


    "Unauthorized access is not allowed, come no closer." Replied the death machine in a soulless voice.


    We signaled the other groups and surrounded the scary mass of metal. My squad had changed their mags to the armor piercing rounds. We all aimed for what we thought looked like vital spots.


    And go! I would like to tell you it was a hard fought battle and that many feats of valor were performed. But, that''s not what happened. The big scary robot went down like a sack of potatoes. One burst of armor piercing rounds from each of my team tore through it''s defenses like tissue paper. We must''ve hit something important, because the bot never got to respond, despite not looking that damaged. A few sparks and some smoke were the only signs of activity from it. I hoped we hadn''t damaged the servers behind it.


    [ Challenge 3 complete - 1 Reward token ]


    [ Lose no units - 1 Hero Upgrade token ]


    [ No damage to the servers - 2 Unit Upgrade tokens ]


    Answered that question. Good. I was really enjoying this trip. We were dominating everything. Best part, I felt like I was actually helping this time. I liked that feeling. Plus, lots of tokens!


    Rogue took the Spider girl and marched into the mainframe. "Guard the area, until we return." She called over her shoulder, hair flashing blue in the lights. "Spider we have to get her out as fast as you can... " Heh. Spider it was then. Nice to have a name for the crazy girl.


    They were back in less than five minutes, but we were still pushing the time she''d set. No one had bothered us, my guess was that the other teams had caught all the attention.


    [ Challenge 4 complete - 1 Reward token ]


    [ Lose no units - 1 Hero Upgrade token ]


    [ No damage to the target - 2 Unit Upgrade tokens ]


    Well, I sure happy to see that, even if it felt a bit undeserved.


    We were hit by a massive shockwave. The sound arrive just a split second after. The building itself shook violently. It took a moment for us to pick ourselves up from off the ground. No one seemed hurt, but I could clearly sense the fear of Rogue''s people. Something had just gone very wrong.


    What could it have been?

 Chapter 55

    "Get to the Evac Point!" Rogue yelled. She was worried, her face pale, ashen. She was almost on the verge of pants shitting panic. What had they done? We rushed back the way we had come, and were a thundering herd that lacked organization. Her team was all at least as terrified as her. Once again a dearth of guards allowed us toto ascend uncontested, and saved our asses.


    The rain was still determined to wash away the sins of the city. As if there would ever be enough water for that. Upon arriving on the roof, we saw Ronald''s team returning from another exit, many yards distant. They were shredded, and had obviously been through the ringer. He didn''t seem to have lost anyone and none of them needed emergency treatment. They utilized some hypos full of who knows what to ease their pain and speed up the healing process.


    "They were waiting for us, somebody tipped them off!" His yell carried all the way to us. He was decidedly pissed. That was the voice of a person when everything had gone wrong. His stride was half marching, half dragging himself towards us. We crossed the gap to meet him quickly.


    "Was that your package?!" Rogue demanded, she was no less ready to skin someone. He threw me a look, shrugged and swung back to Rogue.


    "No, ours is set to go off in... " He looked at his watch, "12 minutes. We nestled it snuggly at the bottom of the central elevator shaft." His scowl raked the roof. He didn''t know who to trust, he was sure someone here had betrayed them all. My intuition was strangely silent on the matter.


    Rogue was thinking, eliminating options. She scanned everyone. Probably thinking about shooting everybody just to be sure she got the traitor. "We met almost no resistance. Whoever squealed didn''t know the whole plan." Rogue sounded like a cat building up a good hiss. "The only people I''m sure it couldn''t be are you, me, Morgan, Johnny and the newbies." She lowered her voice, "For all we know, one of the suppliers or fixers put it all together and sold us out for a quick Eddie." She really didn''t like that idea.


    I was looking out over the city. My stare was half admiring for the feats of incredible engineering, and half castigating for all the bullshit that society imposed on decent folks. When it was all added up, I really hated this place.


    Just then I spotted a grappling hook catch on the ledge of the roof, a furtive tug secured it in place. If I hadn''t already been looking that way I never would''ve noticed. My suit''s sensors picked of the sounds of a winch working to bring it''s load up. I pointed it out to Rogue. While raising my rifle to be ready for whoever came up. I was going to let her make the call, she was the star of this fucking mess after all.


    "Shit! Contact!" She had her pistol out. Everyone got ready to receive whoever was climbing up. A moment later Morgan''s face was staring down the lengths of all of our barrels. He didn''t look the slightest bit put out by it. He did however look like he had gone through the blender, and into the oven. Cut to shit and burnt to fuck. He was moving on willpower alone.


    I stepped up to him and starting pouring mana into him. I kept it to a modest trickle, it wouldn''t do to have an embarrassing incident. I also reached into my right side waist hardcase and popped out a syringe filled with a harmless mixture of glycol, saline and some vitamins. I slammed it into him and dumped the contents into his veins. All to cover up what I was really doing. Megan... Velma (not Megan) had suggested it a while back as a method to disguise my magic. Terrible source but a great idea, so I''ll use it. I whipped up a bunch of different cocktails of harmless pick me ups.


    I helped Morgan limp over to everyone else. "My mission failed. The Package was lost, violently." His voice was robotic, as if he was held together only by his duty. He came to deliver his report and then he was sure he''d die. Whatever he''d done, whatever he''d been through, he didn''t expect anyone to be able to save him. Fuck that! I was going to keep this asshole going. I wanted answers.


    Plus, I hated to let anyone die if I could prevent it. It looked very bad on my after action report. Heh.


    "What happened?" Rogue got his other arm around her shoulders and kept him upright. She had to get her ear real close to hear him, his voice had dropped so low. My suit let me hear every word.


    "Smasher happened. He killed my team and his own when he hit the package with a rocket. Dumbfuck, but he''s probably on his way up. You should leave." He seemed to shut down. Smasher now there was a name that tickled my brain. Sinn had told me about a lot of legends, and he was one of the worst.


    I dug my mana deeper into Morgan''s damaged body, trying to figure out the best way to help him. His burns were odd, and somehow they were not just the product of regular fire. They were much more difficult to treat. There was damage down into the very memory of the cells. I had to rebuild them from scratch. "Fuck!" I cursed as I started pumping more and more mana into the still dying man. And then it clicked. I remembered what Sinn said happened here today, not just that it was a bombing. I remembered kind of bomb they''d used.


    "This is radiation damage." I growled softly, "You were using nukes." I pulled out another syringe and jammed it into Morgan, he didn''t respond at all. I acted like I was hitting him with a radiation treatment. Meanwhile, I was already looking for healthy cells with undamaged DNA so I could use them as a templet to build him back properly.


    Ronald and Rogue turned to look at me. I saw the look they shared. They were wondering if I''d just become a liability. Then they stared at Morgan and their tension passed. "Yeah." That''s it, that''s all I got. Dicks the both of them.


    I had a hard time abiding when people risked civilians casualties with standard explosives, never mind nukes. They''d lost the right to any sympathy from me. Looking down at Morgan for a second, I thought about stopping. Couldn''t do it, some part of me refused to stop healing the terrorist fuckwad.


    I groaned and made my decision, "John, Jim this has turned into a full cluster fuck. I have to heal this asshole and a big nasty fucker is coming. Put him down. Fast and hard." I turned back to Rogue, "Leave one of the AVs, and get the hell out of here. I can''t move much while helping Morgan stay whole. We''ll talk again someday." Probably not, bitch. In fact, they''d better hope I never saw any of them ever again. I could already see the bodies of children dying of radiation poisoning.


    "Please, don''t let him die." Ronald pleaded even as he and his team mounted the closest AV. Whatever, fuckface.


    "Meet me at the Afterlife. I''ll settle the bill there." Rogue and her people loaded up into the farthest AV. Yeah, I''ll be seeing you.


    The two AVs rose into the dark sky, and quickly vanished into the distance. Without prying eyes left, I opened the flood gates on my mana and shaped the flows of Life Crafting. I dug into Morgan''s cells and started making real progress in replacing the damaged DNA.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    They made me part of this. I was pissed at the Merc in front of me, pissed at the Mana Sink, and pissed at myself. My only real comfort was that this couldn''t be real. That no one would really suffer because of the actions we''d been a part of.


    Fuck, I was being a hypocritical bastard. I had thought about burning the city down myself. But I didn''t actually want to hurt the normal every day folks.


    Shit, I''ve got to get my head into the game and save this fucking asshole. I heard my squad getting ready. We all heard a commotion. I turned to look. Part of the rooftop was rising. Some kind of Cargo elevator opened up and out stepped this terrible figure.


    If you told me he was a bot, I would have believed you. His body was a boxy frame of metal, barely shaped to look somewhat close to human proportions. Scorch marks covered the frame along with a few dents. His appearance was brutal and inhuman. His face looked like flesh, though he had full tech goggle style cybereyes, his sole concession to his former humanity. This must be Adam Smasher.


    He stared at us all, grinning a manic little smirk. Then he caught sight of John. He looked pleased.


    "Johnny-boy, I thought I killed you already." He laughed, a soul chilling sound. "What a rare thing to get to kill someone twice!"


    One vast improvement Life Crafting had over Regrowth was that I didn''t need to concentrate exclusively on healing. I made sure that Smasher was in plain sight and moved around Morgan. Then I starting dragging him towards the remaining AV as fast as I could. My new spell was working exceptionally well, but I had to excise cells that were themselves, starting to put out more rads. While I was slowly winning the war, but it was going to take a few more minutes. Hell, if it wasn''t for our shields, I''d be worried about all of our abilities to reproduce viable offspring in the future. I noticed the occasional small red streak pass over shielding.


    I was missing the mana of Jaina''s Tower right about now.


    "Where are you going with Blackhand, Meat?" Smasher taunted. He stepped right into the middle of my team''s killbox. "That''s my prey, Meat. No one likes a Scav." Anyone else behaving like this, and I''d have said they were the dumbest son of a bitch ever born. If half of what Sinn had said about this dickhead was true, his arrogance was well deserved.


    Raynor opened up on him, followed by the others. Except John, he was staring at Smasher with an intensity I hadn''t yet seen from him before. The results of armor piercing crysbronze rounds slamming into the borg''s body? Surprises for everybody. We weren''t shocked that Smasher was rocked back a few feet, with a few dents and small holes in him, but by the fact that those rounds didn''t even begin to flatline him. He was shocked he took any damage at all, if I was reading him right. I got it, he had just tanked a small nuke after all.


    Then he started laughing again.


    "Use the lasweapons!" Raynor hollered. Good idea. They''d melt his damned armor off. I wondered what it was made of? For probably the third time since we entered this messed up place, I wished we had a Probe to scan things. I wondered if there was a Hero Probe, somewhere? Seriously why does my brain go off on these tangents?


    Smasher started stalking towards Raynor, "I''m guessing you''re in charge of this little bunch." Beams from Eager and Borfen hit him. Smasher looked down where the beams barely started to turn his armor to a dull red glow. "Lasers? Seriously? My armor''s made out of the stuff they use for space shuttles, if you think you can melt through it, we''ll be here all night." Oh, at least one layer of ceramic composite. Nice to know. My guys started to back up, firing their SORs, while their suits'' VIs focused the lasweapons on very specific areas. John was gone, he''d done the vanishing thing again, hadn''t he?


    Morgan started to stir. He muttered some garbled noise. "Stay still, asshole." I growled at him, "Don''t waste my work." Pouring more mana into him, I felt a stutter in the flow. I was reaching my limit, damn I knew it had to happen someday. Morgan complied and went still. I used that moment to take stock of the situation.


    Eager and Borfen were playing flank the borg. While Raynor kept putting rounds in the same spot over and over. Damn, color me impressed, that was some good shooting.


    What was Smasher''s play here? He had to have some weapons hidden in his tin can shell. Why wasn''t he using them? Fear? No fucking way. Tension? Not in this lifetime. Was he just being a Drama Queen? Suddenly he leapt, and I couldn''t track him. When I saw him again, Borfen was knocked flat with Smasher''s foot pressing against his chest. "Huh? What kind of bullshit is this?" He pulled back his foot and slammed it into the shielding rapidly a few times before it shattered. Borfen managed to roll out of the way of the next stomp. Which demolished the concrete.


    "The eggheads are going to love getting a hold of you, once I scrap you." This guy never shut up. He reached down to grab Borfen. That''s when John made his move, and dumped his whole mag into the back of Smasher''s skull at pointblank range. The Borg''s skull was heavily dented and he staggered, but he didn''t go down.


    "W-what? Who''s there?" Smasher spun, he seemed unsteady but still very much functional. What kind of crazy braincase had they put in there? John had already vanished again. "What the fuck happened?" Smasher scanned the area. Whatever chrome he had, still couldn''t detect John. Not surprising, even Observers lost him when he pulled this stunt.


    Raynor''s next round had finally torn through something major. Disgusting fluids leaked out of the borg''s chest from right about where the heart would have been on a normal human.


    "Arrgrgrgrg!" Smasher vanished once more. This time he''d bullrushed Raynor and knocked him 50 feet away. His shield disabled, Raynor tumbled ass over teakettle.


    "Fucking gnats! I''ll crush you!" Smasher disappeared again. This time the borg rammed his fist into Eager. Popping the shield and throwing Eager into the railing at the edge of the roof. Then a crouching John popped into sight and dumped another full mag into Smasher left knee joint, before just fading away.


    The joint was trashed. Sparking, burning and leaking oil, yup that leg was toast. Smasher''s leg wobbled ready to collapse. It possibly could have held him if he didn''t move quickly, but Smasher didn''t get that memo. He spun around trying to backfist whoever had shot him and fell with a massive thump. He flopped about like an overturned turtle.


    Borfen had managed to recover his footing and was approaching Smasher while pumping burst after burst into the borg. Raynor was pulling himself up. He staggered a bit before stabilizing himself with his rifle. "God damn it, I''d just broken this baby in," he mourned. His rifle''s barrel was bent almost 90 degrees. He pulled his side arm and started plinking away at the borg. Eager was off the railing and also working his way toward Smasher, changing his mag to explosive rounds. Those seemed to do a good bit of damage now that the ridiculous armor had been breached.


    Morgan, still under my hand said, "I don''t believe it. You have TPW on the ropes." His whole world had been flip upside down.


    I looked down at the asswipe I was treating. "No, he''s already dead. He just hasn''t stopped breathing yet." I growled.


    "Why are you so hostile? Why are you healing me? Why not just let me die?" He asked it calmly, like ordering the same meal for the thousandth time. The man just didn''t value his life, how could he be expected to value others. I looked back toward the closing act of the fight. It was all over, but the dying.


    "Because I want you to see the consequences of your actions. You used fucking nukes." I shook my head. "I get it, I really do. Fuck Arasaka. You thought the building infrastructure would shield the rest of the city from any fallout. Maybe you were right. But the rads hitting us right now, are all because things went wrong. Things always fucking go wrong."


    "Yeah, I didn''t like it either, but things in the city had to change." Morgan voice was flat.


    I nodded, "I understand. It''s why I didn''t put rounds into all of you, but it doesn''t make me any less pissed. It might make me a hypocrite, but who isn''t?"


    He chuckled. "You sound like an old friend of mine."


    My attention went back to the fight. Smasher was trashed. His mighty borg body was ready for the scrap heap. Maybe we could take it with us when we exited the Mana Sink?


    John had stopped hiding. He walked over to Smasher ready to finished it. "1-1 Johnny-boy. S-see you, n-next time." The defeated legend started to laugh a deep rolling sound, like he knew something we didn''t. I had a bad feeling.


    "John!" I yelled. I needn''t have bothered. John was already gone, rushing away with his chrome jacking him up to superhuman speeds. He had great instincts.


    Smasher''s body exploded. It wasn''t a huge blast. But if you had been close enough to deliver a Coup de Grace you would''ve been pasted. Nasty and effective. A good summation of Adam Smasher.


    "Good bye, asshole." Whispered Morgan. I had fixed enough of him that any doc worth his salt could finish fixing him.


    I stood up, "Let''s get out of here guys. Time to go home."

 Chapter 56

    [ Optional Challenge Complete - 2 Reward tokens ]


    [ Lose none of your Team - 1 Hero Upgrade token ]


    [ Slay Optional Boss - 1 Hero token ]


    [ Save Morgan Blackhand - 1 Power token ]


    [ You have completed the Mana Sink ]


    [ Type: Historical Event ]


    [ Starting Deviance 24.6% ]


    [ Ending Deviance 76.2% ]


    [ Major Impact - 5 Reward tokens ]


    That was a lot of information to stare at. But it seemed like we had done well. I was unpleased by these events that the Dungeon had presented to us, but I was very pleased by the rewards.


    A Purple vortex appeared on the roof, it''s pulsing energies beckoned us home. I turned to Morgan. "Get out of here. Don''t wait for us." He didn''t hesitate and hobbled into the last AV, I heard him tell the rightfully nervous pilot to take off. I watched as the bulky vehicle sped away.


    "We good here, Hoss?" Raynor asked as he cradled his totaled rifle, like it was a sick child.


    There was nothing left to do here. "Let''s go home. I don''t want to see what comes next." If the Dungeon would even let us.


    Once again the transition was seamless. No sense of movement to upset our balance. We were back home. New Lordaeron. I was coming to realize this very much was my home now. A place more dear to me than the home I grew up in, or the one I''d left behind. It was a painfully sweet feeling.


    No one was there to greet us, which was as expected. Our town had a lot of growing to do, and there had been no way to know how long our trip would take.


    The once roiling Vortex had now transformed into a smooth shiny purple orb hovering over the ground. I could still feel it drawing mana from the environment, but the mana it was returning now had a far less nasty feeling. I needed to look into if there was a way to further filter out the tainted elements of the mana.


    I turned back to my team. "Great work everyone. Let''s get some chow and then some rest. I''ll see you all tomorrow to go over our gains." They saluted and then went to enjoy their day. I think they could all tell I wanted some time to myself. Time to review the information I''d just recovered. That number, 24.6% starting deviance, was bothering me. Most of that was Johnny Silverhand being dead before the run. If I could trust the system''s assessment that made the Dungeon a fairly accurate view of the event. At least before we''d gotten involved.


    I raised the visor on my armor and sucked in a lung full of earthy, clean, mana rich air. Is till hadn''t managed to solve the sweaty person in a tin can problem. At least not completely, I was more than a little ripe.


    The corn field around me rippled in a refreshing breeze. My thoughts drifted away on that current for just a moment. I was starting to love this place. Despite everything that happened or maybe because of it. I guess my roots were getting a firm connection to the soil finally. That feeling of being home reared up once again, and I could think of no good reason to fight it. Even if I could, I no longer wished to return to my former version of Earth. To my old boring life.


    [ Quest complete ]


    [ 5000 Company Points and 2 Random Supply tokens ]


    [ Quest complete ]


    [ 2000 Company Points and 1 Hero token ]


    [ Quest complete ]


    [ 5000 Company Points and 1 Building Upgrade token ]


    This was how to get a ton of points and tokens. So it would be a good idea to take advantage of these Mana Sinks, these Dungeons, as often as possible. It wasn''t lost on me that the power I had gotten earlier was also called Mana Sink. But I really didn''t think of that power much, as I didn''t need to worry about magic wielding enemies. That disinterest had officially changed. Anything could be on the other side of a Vortex. It just went to show that everything was useful, that I should stop judging things solely on the needs of the moment.


    Let''s look at the loot.


    Total rewards, 11 Reward tokens, which my BTC told me were completely random chance lotteries. Anything was on the menu. I could get a Theme or a Hero or something utterly new. 5 Hero Upgrade tokens which where exactly what they sounded like. They would raise the level of a Hero. Think about John with 5 more levels. I shuddered. I saw the future with dead bodies scattered everywhere. No, realistically I should use them on Raynor and Jaina and probably the new Heroes I was going to get from these 2 new Hero tokens.


    Then there were 8 Unit Upgrade tokens which affected all units of one type. If I used them for Probes, then all Probes would benefit. If I used them on a higher order of unit I would have a devastating army. The upgrade could be any of a number of factors. Health, Armor, Damage... and so on. It might require a lot of thought on how best to use these. 1 Building Upgrade token which took any building to its next level of technology. It had a note, it was best used on Prime buildings of a theme. So the Town Hall, the Nexus, and so on.


    I''d gotten another Power token, I was far more eager to see what I''d get this time. This felt like a massive haul. But I''d wait until tomorrow and open the tokens with everyone else. They should be allowed to see the fruits of their labors.


    I checked my XP total, it had soared to 154,829. That was amazing and terrifying. How far could I go? I was already at the heights of modified human levels. At least relative to this world. What good would it do me to reach godlike levels of power? Unless I wanted to join in on some greater scale of conflict. No, I really didn''t want to get involved in anything like that. Though maybe exploring the Galaxy would be fun someday. What wonders and terrors were out there?


    Plus, I was already struggling with my self image. Don''t get it twisted I liked being stronger, and I loved having a goal, but I felt parts of me being shaved away. I''d changed so much, and I worried about how much more of myself I could lose. It was already so easy to jump to killing. So easy to hurt others for the sake my mission. I''d thought it was high time to get back to my roots, or at least as much as I could. Perhaps some simple but useful labor. Helping with the farms could be good, or maybe working on some cars. I had that idea a while back to make an upgraded version of Amanda''s car. I still needed to get me a real beast to run around in.


    But even before that, it was time to search the company story for some fuzzy friends.


    Several purchases later, we had squirrels and other little types of varmints running around. All of them with some magical quirk or feature. That was 400 points. While some strange small critters were already running around thanks to the strange nature of Meadran''s presence, I thought a few more conventional ones wouldn''t hurt. Some people found squirrels adorable. They all scattered into the forest of the Valley. A good thing they had too.


    Next I looked at fluffy murder machines. I ended up purchasing two different clans of cats. One, a breed that reminded me of the Norwegian Forest Cat called the Temerian Deep Stalker. The other clan reminded me of the Sandcat, they were called Rostvian Shorthairs. They both had all kinds of tricks. Deep Stalkers could work shadow magic. Rostvians could play with earth based energies. They ran me 800 points. Both breeds were notable for being naturally friendly with humans. I figured why not, some people like cats. The little psychopaths didn''t have me fooled for a moment, even if I gave them plenty of scritches, before they went off to explore their new home.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Cute is cute.


    Then I''d started scrolling the available canine options next. I damn near threw all my point at the store right then and there. The assholes had filled the front images, in the store, with the puppy version of every breed. They hadn''t done that with the cats! this was a conspiracy, they were out to bankrupt me. I was muttering about a future where the Company tried to drowned me in dogs. I tightened my mental grip on my myself. Two types, I promised myself that I could buy two types of Doggos.


    Though many of the options were strictly speaking, not Dogs. There were wolves and foxes of dozens of varieties. I could safely ignore those, since I wanted pets as much as working dogs. Hmm. They needed to be human friendly, and at the very least other animal tolerant. Then they need to be useful. Helpful on the farms and ranches. Yup, that was a good plan.


    Oh, there was a breed that reminded me of Border Collies. An excellent herding breed. Their high energy and intelligence were great provided you had plenty of room and work for them. Let''s see this breed, the Adraigh Trap Dog, seemed to be a close match for the Border Collie in intelligence, except they were a hunting breed. They used a broad array of magical abilities to stalk and trap game. If improperly handled they could turn mischievous. Maybe not them. A hunting breed wasn''t a good fit right now.


    The Fae Coursing Hound was out for the same reason. Truly beautiful though. With their ethereal snowy fur and blood red tipped ears.


    The Mana Hound was a versatile breed. Easy adaptive to any task. Human levels of intelligence. Though lacking many of the negative human traits. They were natural mages, and their fur would become stripped with different colors depending on what areas of magic they learned. I looked at the picture of a wolf like pup with light blue fur and immediately bought the lot. 1000 points.


    Six yearling dogs appeared. They were already fairly large about the size of a full grown German Shepard. It was clear they still had a bit of growing to do. They were instantly friendly and full of pep. I spent a while playing with them, trying to let go of some of my own darkness. Then I summoned a Probe to guide them to the farms. They seemed to understand right away what was expected of them.


    Then something truly unique caught my eye in the list. It was a individual puppy. He was a Seffiveelian or an Elven Dancing Dog. Glorious silver fur with undertones of black. Sharp slightly oversized ears stood proudly. His eyes were whorls of shifting colors. Mostly greens and blues. The store notes said that he was the runt of his litter and that was with him already the same size as a small horse. He would get much bigger. The breed had been used as mounts by the Elves of their homeworld for ages. They were know for possessing a smooth gliding gait which looked like they were dancing over terrain, hence the name. The Elven Dancing Dogs would often carry two Elves, one to guide while fighting in close and one to shoot.


    "Mine!" I slammed the buy button. 2000 points. I simply must meet this wonderful canine.


    A head butted into me and even in my power armor I fell back. I felt a tickle in my mind. ''Hi, Hi, Hi! We play now?'' I bounced up and did my best to wrestle with the oversized pupper. All my issues and problems seemed to melt away.


    It was a great way to kill the rest of the day.


    The new mountain of fluff and I fell asleep on the comfy grass by the Company Store. My power armor wasn''t the best thing to sleep in, but it wasn''t too bad. If you ignored a back cramp or two.


    I had the Probes bring us some breakfast. I had some bacon and eggs and the pupper got a whole side of beef. He crunched the carcass down fast and then drank from the nearby stream. He displayed all the typical puppy behaviors. Which would make him instantly charming to most people. I could tell that the local Mana Density was actually benefitting him. The Store had been sparse in describing the origins of Dancing Dogs, only that the World they came from had a standard Mana Density level of 5. Whatever that meant.


    Sure I get that we are probably somewhere between level 2 and 3 here in the Valley, and just over level one in the town. However, I had no idea what the ramification of these levels were. The BTC couldn''t or wouldn''t give me all the answers. Even Meadran, perhaps the most knowledgeable being available, could only explain so much. The question remained, why was a lower density of mana helping him? I could conceive of a few answers, but I didn''t like the implications.


    The puppy chased a giggling wisp. A bouncing rollick in action. ''Play? Pretty light, play?'' The Silver wisp circled the pup several times before getting distracted by something else and floating away between the closely packed trees. ''Aw... ''


    "You''re going to need a name."


    ''Oh! I know names, they are the wind calls that the small brights use.'' The puppy came bouncing over next to me again. He radiated happy energy. I laughed. ''I told I not need wind call, too small. The small brights took from mama. Gave to big brights. Then sleep, then here.'' That didn''t sound so great. Hopefully, I can give this good boy a better life.


    So far, my naming scheme for dogs had been to name them for some personality trait or quirk. Babble? No definitely not. Bounce? Eh... no. I could go with the classics and name him for a physical trait. Silver? Maybe? Change. No. Shift. Nah. Whorl. Nope. Hmm.


    Name him for what I hoped he would become? Brave? Noble? What if he didn''t want to be either? Perhaps, I was making this harder than it had to be?


    Silver was pretty good. Wait what was the name for silver in all the fantasy books. Miril... no Mithril. Mithril. It had a nice ring to it. I could call him Mith for short.


    "Do you like the name, Mithril?" Saying it out loud felt good.


    ''Oooooo. What means?'' He had a posture of barely contained exuberance.


    "Silver, I think, like your fur." I hoped I''d remembered that right. I wouldn''t want anyone to make fun of the pupper.


    ''Like, like. Yes. I Mithril!'' The oversized puppy bounced around with joyful hops. ''We run, soon?''


    "Sure, Mith, we can go running soon. We need to meet up with my friends, anyway. They are good people so don''t be scared."


    ''Me good, me brave, not scared.'' I gave him a good scratch behind his ear. Given his size, I barely had to gentle it up for him, even with the armor. After playing with him for most of an afternoon, I''d learned a few things about him. His bones and muscles were extremely dense, maybe on the same proportional level as a wolverine. Despite this, he was also graceful, as much as most felines, taking puppy awkwardness into account. He was obviously smart, but still easily distracted. He could channel nature mana, and once I showed him the pattern for Regrowth he could repeat it flawlessly. All in all, Mith promised to be an excellent companion and future friend.


    "Lets go, Mith. You can meet the other people that live here, and we''ll get some more food."


    ''More crunches, more tasties!'' Oh, he was very much the pup.


    We ran as fast as we could from the CStore to the Town Hall. Despite my stats, Mith blazed past me several time before bouncing back to me, because he didn''t know where we were going. It was a blast. Mith was a fire that chased away the shadows that had taken root in my mind.


    Everyone trickled in to the Town Square over the next hour or so. There was a buzz of excitement. the new furry addition to the town had already been noticed. As should easily be predicted, Mithril was a hit with everyone he met. The fact that he was the size of a Morgan horse, didn''t put anyone off at all. He got all the attention a greedy pupper could want.


    John showed up and had a Mana Hound trailing him. There was also a Deep Stalker wrapped around his shoulders. I raised an eyebrow at him.


    "Yeah. I like animals." He said it flat, but I could see the nascent smirk.


    I chuckled. "I hope everyone had a good rest." I called out. The Team and I, spent the next thirty minutes detailing the Mana Sink and the events therein.


    "Wait. You went back in time?" Amanda blurted out. She had a stunned look on her face.


    "While I don''t think we should take anything for granted here, I don''t think we literally went back in time. This seemed to be a snapshot of an alternate way the events of that night could have gone. I mean Silverhand was dead before it even started." I shook my head, "What worries me is that the system rated the deviance for the actual history. How does it know? If it knows that much, what else does it know? Everything? Most things?" I pointed out to the waste, "Does the Company know all of this? If so what is the point of me being here? Entertainment? Punishment?"


    "There is no way to know." John chimed in. Short and matter of fact.


    "Right. Hoss, this is like dealing with far off governments, but worse. There is no telling what they are planning, no telling what they do or don''t know. So we keep on doing the best we can. We help you and you do what you think is best. Worrying about the rest is a recipe for going batshit insane." Raynor had either gotten a new rifle or had his old one repaired.


    ''Too jumping, mind sight.'' Mith thought.


    "One problem at a time." Amanda was staring into the distance.


    From there we had quite a bit of debate about what everyone wanted to do next. Help other people, fuck over other people. There was no solid consensus.


    "Nah, we examine each group and decide whether or not to help on a case by case basis." I spoke up. "Some people suck, some are monsters, others are good folks in a bad place. Painting people with a broad brush, especially before you talk to them, rarely works out in the end. We might not end up helping any group and just make deals with certain individuals. But first, we have to get to know them, it''s hard to do that from out here." I said it, but I knew I did the painting myself sometimes. "It will take time to figure all of this shit out. How about we switch to something more fun?" I raised my arms dramatical. "Rewards are waiting to be opened!"


    It was time to open some loot.

 Chapter 57

    I made a pile of the all the tokens, with the exception of the Merc Squad. I had a feeling I needed to save that one for a rainy day.


    Next, I separated the pile into smaller sets of each type of token. I decided to start with opening the reward tokens, since they could end up as anything. The first reward was a tech schematic for a Light Saber! It appeared to be remarkably similar in design to the first one used by Luke Skywalker. I''d always loved the Star Wars films, and seeing such an iconic symbol of the Jedi nearly brought tears to my eyes. As loathed as I was to admit it, after thinking it through, I quickly realized that maybe this wasn''t a good reward. What if the assemblers and forges couldn''t produce the right materials? Though the idea of a Light Saber adapted to focus through a Psicrystal sounded awesome. Later.


    I took a deep breath and went to open the next token. This one became a Supply token. So did the next, and the next.


    The fifth reward token became a Theme Restriction Reduction token. This token would remove either a small restriction or reduce a larger one. The only restriction I was aware of was the one that kept me from summoning non human sentients. That was going to Meadran or the Nexus. I wanted to meet the Kaldorei or the Khalai. The thought of actually meeting nonhumans was very exciting!


    The sixth Reward token gave me another Merc Squad token. I''ll just tuck that away with the other one.


    The seventh gave me a Building Upgrade token. YES! Now I could advance both Meadran and the Nexus! Sweet!


    The eighth token became another Supply token.


    The Ninth was a Return token. This would bring you back to where ever you considered home. Wait. Could I go... home? I looked up at everyone. It must have been pretty boring watching me turn one piles of tokens into other tokens but they seemed riveted. Other than Mith, who was running around chasing something. My eyes snapped back to the token.


    "Is that one special, Hoss?" Raynor looked puzzled.


    "It can send someone back to where they consider home." I answered not looking up.


    "Oh." He looked at Amanda who shrugged. That wouldn''t mean much to the Nomad, where their family was, was home. Jaina on the other hand, looked incredibly worried. She among everyone here both understood why I''d want to use it, and would covet it herself. I''d already decided that this place was my home, It would be the height of selfishness to use this token if it could take me back to my original Earth. Major grade A dick move. I''d be leaving everything unfinished. But the idea wasn''t as tempting to me as it seemed. I would always be thinking about it, but I doubt it would work that way for me anymore. However, others might desperately want to return home. If they had easy access they might use it when things got difficult.


    I rolled the hexagonal token across my fingers like a coin. I couldn''t risk it. "John, hold on to this for me." I tossed the token to John. He caught it and made it vanish. He nodded his approval. Besides, even if it still could work for me, now that I knew him, I could never leave Mith behind.


    The tenth reward token became a Hero token.


    The eleventh became a stone. It was perfectly round and a dull grey. My BTC shook.


    [ Eye of Thoth ]


    [ Data Unavailable ]


    That name was familiar, but the context eluded me. I shrugged and put it into my storage. I would research it some other day.


    The seven Supply tokens were next. The first became a crate of Elven Plum Brandy. 20 exquisite glass bottles packed in some kind of natural foam. The crate itself was a smooth wood with rich dark tones etched with fine scrollwork.


    The second ended up as a box of 10 Phasers. Heh. Both the Great Stories are in the house. I didn''t recognize which era of the shows the weapons were from.


    The third was a container of boxes of Jelly Beans. Bertie Bott''s Every Flavor Beans. Hmm. No clue where those come from. Haha. Also no desire to find out the hard way what flavors are in those. Maybe the kids will like them.


    The fourth was a crate of five complete suits of chainmail. Made of some golden metal with a green cast to it. Otherwise the mail was very plain. I couldn''t tell what they were made of, but they radiated a lot of mana.


    The fifth ended up being a huge barrel of Dwarven Mead. Which dwarves, from where? Who knew?


    The sixth was, I kid you not, a crate of 30 bizarre muskets. No powder or rounds. The muskets had all these valves and switches, and extra piping. Also, get this, crank handles were close to were a receiver would be on a normal rifle. Strange.


    The last Supply token yielded a box filled with bags of dragon jerky. Interesting. I opened a bag and took a bite. Rich and sweet. Smokey and spicy. Delicious. Full of mana. Thankfully, not very salty. I passed the bag to Raynor. Then it made the rounds. I soon heard many sounds of approval.


    Then I used my Power token.


    [ You have gained Psychic Warning ]


    Hmm. This was basically three second prescience concerning danger. So kind of like Spidey Sense or Jedi precognition? Useful.


    Time to summon some new Heroes.


    [ You have summoned Probius ]


    A very large version of a Probe without any fins appeared. It was much larger than a human. It''s beeps almost sounded like speech.


    ''En Taro Adun, Executor!'' Probius had a very big presence in the Psifield. Its influence on the field was quite calming.


    ''Greetings Probius. We will talk later.'' I really wanted to get to know the latest Robo-Buddy.


    ''By your command.''


    I used the next Hero Token,


    [ You have summoned Tassadar ]


    A strong and clear wordless voice rang out through the Psifield. The figure that appeared was tall and oddly compared to a human. What stood out the most was the glowing blue eyes. The next most striking feature was that they possessed no nose or mouth, and sharp severe looking features. Bundled cords sprouted from the back of their skull. Their connection to the Khala, if I''d remembered Alina''s lessons correctly. The Protoss wore light crysbronze armor studded with worked Khaydarin crystals, and flowing robes under that. Their hands had four fingers and had a more box like grip. Their legs were birdlike.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ''En Taro Adun! Executor, long may I serve.'' Ah, male, alright. Despite the differences he felt noble and kind.


    Raynor stood up quick, "Tassadar, old buddy!"


    ''Friend Raynor. It is good to see you well.''


    I chuckled, "Though I''d love to get to know you Tassadar, I''ll let you two catch up." I picked up the last Hero token.


    [ You have summoned Corusaltusvermilliondeku, Slayer of Honeypots ]


    A small cat sized dragon appeared. Blue scales with multi colored stripes running down it''s side. It had butterfly wings, and a kaleidoscope of different colors ran over each other on those gossamer wings which were fluttering at insane speeds. They moved so rapidly that they produced a high pitched droning noise. Also, odd purple manasparks flew every which way.


    "Hellohowareyou?" The small Dragon said while they moved, starting from my left but traveling to my right. They seemed to be trying to examine me from every angle all at once. It was very hard to keep my eyes focused on the little creature for more than a few seconds. Their voice was high pitched and squeaky. Super annoying.


    "Huh?" It took me a second to parse what it''d said. "Oh, sorry. I doing fine, how about you?"


    "I''msuperexcitedtobehere!" It went from up above my head to down near the ground. It couldn''t sit still for any reason. My brain caught up with the situation. Oh no. A hyperactive dragon. A hyperactive faerie dragon hybrid thing. That sounded like a surefire recipe for disaster.


    "Nice to have you. Um, why don''t you explore the Valley."


    "Where''sthat?" I pointed the way and it took off like a bullet, squealing something about honey. Maybe the bright and fluttery creature would have fun chasing wisps. Plus, I only had five upgrade tokens, and I didn''t want to hurt the little guy''s feelings. Headache avoided, maybe.


    I gave Raynor, Jaina, John, Tassadar and Probius one each of the Hero upgrade tokens. Soon that were all surrounded by light. They had moved up a level.


    It felt good to see them grow.


    I''d let Jaina organize dealing with the supplies. She had a gift for putting things in their proper places. Then I bid everyone a good day. I figured the showy stuff was over for now. Raynor decided to lead Tassadar around, showing him the town.


    Probius was quickly spotted scanning everything, and unsurprisingly his scanner was much more potent than the ordinary Probes'' version.


    Amanda was off near the garages, talking to Guzman and Nolan about something.


    John had vanished, and his pets could already emulated his ability. He already had them trained. Figured that he''d been able to teach animals a new trick in a few minutes.


    Mith was bouncing around smelling everything. He''d gotten lots of pets as he met each person.


    Let''s see, that left the 8 Unit Upgrade tokens. I''d wait on using those. I figured it''d be best to use them on any powerful limited units that were coming up, or maybe save them for units I could get after I used the Theme Restriction Reduction token.


    The Building Upgrade tokens were next. I trekked back into the Valley, hoping to avoid the little dragon, while Mithril trailed behind me. Once upon a time, this was a tiring activity, now I barely noticed it.


    Suddenly, Alina let me know that the Stargate had been completed. I paused, and had a bit of an internal debate. I wanted to go look at it before it warped into orbit, but I had a lot to get done and it would still be there tomorrow. I felt my BTC squeeze.


    [ Congratulations you have survived Phase 1 ]


    What?


    [ You have been determined to be the Victor of this Phase ]


    Well, we have done some amazing things, but I ready don''t like the tone... Wait, victor against who? Who was I competing against?


    [ Your awards will be available at your Hub ]


    My what now? Hub? What was that? Where the hell would that be?


    [ Prepare for reset ]


    What? NO!


    The whiteness claimed me.


    There was that fucking desk again. This time it was all green.


    The infinite expanse of bright white nothing crashed into my perception. The glare hurt even more this time. Worse still, was the brightly glowing asshole, already somehow looking down on me, despite not having any discernable eyes. My unnamed Case Worker.


    "Well look at you, Slick. An ape like you managed to take first place. That''s going to look great on my quarterly report." A sneering tone.


    "Wha... " I began.


    It interrupted me, "Now don''t go talking and ruin the little sliver of good will I''m feeling right now." The vaguely human-shaped mass of energy snapped it''s fingers. Who did it think it was, Thanos?


    Then my mouth refused to work, and even my thoughts became sluggish. What was happening?


    "What kind of luck do you have? You got advanced technology right at the start. A fucking demigod animal companion, which kept trying to work more fortune into the very land around your starting zone." Cockbag, yeah I''m going to think of it as Cockbag from now on, tsked.


    "Then you got the Class 6 threat, John Wick. We all just about shit ourselves. We reclassified him as a Level 8 after you got done equipping him, and he learned magic. Holy fuck what a nightmare. The paperwork - well you know all about the paperwork." Cockbag shrugged.


    "We threw in the towel when you summoned the pint sized Cosmic Disaster. He''s not even in the lists, we checked. You Ryan are broken." It was yelling by the end of that sentence. Cockbag visibly shuttered. Who was he talking about? The little Dragon?


    "It doesn''t matter anymore. I get to take it all away, now." Cockbag cackled like a crack fiend finding a whole bag of rocks.


    Huh? No, no, no, no, no. What happens to my people, my friends? Mithril?


    "Sadly, I can''t take without giving." Cockbag reached down to shuffle some papers. "What''s this you ask? An excellent question for an ape. This is an already notarized Adjudication Order stating that the package we have prepared for you is fair." Pretty sure that was a lie.


    What kind of bullshit is this? Cosmic level lawfare. In the name of all that is holy, why?


    "Guess what the best part is? The best part is, I don''t have to explain, annnnnyyyything!" There was a sinister glee in it''s voice. Seriously, what had I done to piss this asshole off this much? I tried to struggle against whatever was binding my tongue. I couldn''t do anything, but listen to the rambling entity that was more than a match for any ridiculous cartoon villain.


    "Let''s get rid of those pesky classes shall we. Oh, this is going to be so much fun." No, everything about how it said that was a clear indicator it wasn''t going to be fun for me.


    Cockbag reached inside my chest, but it was even worse than it sounded. It stirred it''s arm around like it was rummaging for something. I felt nauseous, but I wasn''t allowed to throw up. I wanted to yell but I was forced into silence. I wanted to attack but couldn''t move.


    "Ah-ha!" Cockbag latched onto something in me and pulled it out. The pain was worse than when my Paladin Class shattered, but it was definitely similar. I went blind, my senses trying to shut down. Really, my whole brain was trying to give up and shut down, but even that was denied me.


    My very soul was being violated. I could do nothing. I''d thought I had known rage before now. I was wrong.


    "Do you know why I hate you?\" It''s voice a burning oil slick poured into my ear. It reached into me again.


    No, please. No more.


    Out came another piece of my soul. I was burning and freezing all at once, every one of my nerves screamed in individual agony.


    "It''s because you don''t deserve this. You have been giving a golden opportunity, and your ideas about how to use it are so... ordinary. You are here to entertain us, so be entertaining, ape. Or become the entertainment." Cockbag dug in for another part of me.


    Not again.


    This time the loss of another bit of my soul felt like every rejection I''d ever received, every time I''d ever failed, and the loss of everyone I''d ever loved. All at once.


    "That''s three Ryan. Three paths to power you were wasting. Three methods to shake the foundations of reality that you practically ignored."


    I wanted to weep but nothing came out. Something about not being able to express my pain and rage was somehow worse than the pain itself.


    It patted me on the head. "There, there, all done. A rest in a Lethe Waters Vat will fix you right up." Insincere sympathy laced with contempt.


    I still couldn''t see properly, but I tried to glare at the sadistic entity. I couldn''t talk, but I tried to spit. No good, nothing obeyed my will. Fuck!


    I felt Cockbag lean close. "Don''t worry Ryan, we''re going to take the memory of this away. Come tomorrow, none of this will have happened as far as you are concerned." It knew it was going to get away with this, knew there was nothing I could do.


    I felt myself being moved but it was distant like it was happening to someone else. As I was picked up and then lowered into a liquid I heard, sloshing around.


    "I''ll take good care of your people. Ever so gentle care." I''d never heard anything more dreadful than those words.


    As darkness finally made itself known, I heard it''s mocking laughter chasing me into oblivion.

 Chapter 58

    I woke up pissed off. I was also in the dark, in more ways than the extremely obvious lack of light. I couldn''t remember why I was so upset, but I was ready to fucking kill some motherfuckers, with my teeth if need be. This feeling of rage was mixed with a deep burning pain of loss and betrayal. Something terrible had happen. And I couldn''t recall a damned thing.


    Exploring my own thoughts, I could vaguely pull up fragments of memories of what I thought was my early life. Blurry faces that I was sure were my family. A fluffy ball of fur that grew into a fur monster of massive appetites. A smattering of other people and events. But I was completely missing anything recent. Only a vast sense of loss and rage, and nothing that could reasonably explain it.


    How did I know that? I wasn''t completely sure myself, but I had a very strong impression that someone had done this to me. I wanted to find out who they were and rip them to pieces. I pushed that anger down, it wouldn''t help right now. There would be time later to to balance the scales, now I needed to take stock.


    I forced myself to pay attention to my environment. I couldn''t see but I could feel grass under me, it smelt minty. If I wasn''t so conflicted, I knew I would find it comforting. I heard water nearby, and could smell it. It also carried something else... "mana" a voice in my head whispered.


    That word summoned a cascade of thoughts and feelings. I couldn''t sort all of it, but I knew that I had this mana and could use it. Yes, I could feel it inside me coiling like a serpent. It felt like fresh green plants growing and savage hunting and storms scouring the land. I liked it. It felt proper. The mana belonged to me and I to it.


    I couldn''t see but nothing was stopping my sense of touch, so I explored with my hands. Huh, I was naked, but something was wrong with my body. What I was touching didn''t match any of my admittedly unreliable memories. My limbs seemed longer, but my frame more narrow. I was really shocked when I got to my face. Very sharp chin and cheekbones, more gaunt features. My ears had points, long ones. My tongue felt that my teeth were sharper and my canines were now true fangs.  I remember being human, what the fuck was this? Well, these fangs might come in handy to tear somebody''s throat out. The certainty that this wasn''t right set in for a moment, and I felt a wave of disorientation pass over me.


    As my left arm brushed against my face I felt something strange had happened to my arm as well. Huh, it felt like a branch or a vine was coiled around my forearm and dug into my flesh at my elbow and wrist. For a moment, the branch was gravely concerning, but another instinct from within seemed to accept the bizarre growth.


    My hands started feeling the area around me just in case there happened to be some clothes close by. No luck. I slowly got up. I didn''t seem to have any injuries, nor any problem with my balance.


    Orienting by the sounds of the water flowing proved easy. I took light measured steps towards it, I didn''t want to fall into a river or otherwise run afoul of unseen obstacles. It took some time to gingerly stalk towards the source of the water in the dark. Close to two thousand steps. Which highlighted that my hearing was sharper than I thought it should be. My frickin'' huge ears were good for something, after all.


    Part of me thought I had to be outside, the presence of grass and water seemed to agree. Yet the more primal part of me knew this somehow wasn''t true. No stars or moon, no random breezes, no animals sounds or scents. Something was fishy and it wasn''t the water.


    No, when my foot found the edge of the water, the smell of mana was overwhelming. Clean pure water infused with mana, lots of this marvelous fluid judging by the sound. A few minutes of investigation with my hands and feet led to an even more interesting discovery. It wasn''t a stream, nor a spring as I had suspected, it was a circle, a moat surrounding something in the center. I could sense vast quantities of mana there.


    I wasn''t sure that I wanted to wade through the water naked, just to figure out what was there. Taking the time to drink my fill, a process that steadied my emotions, I pondered what to do next. I''d thought that the water might lead me somewhere I could get information, but that was a bust. Finding myself playing with the mana unconsciously was interesting. I was shaping the energies both in me and in the environment. The shapes meant something, even if I didn''t quite recall what that could be. This was instinctive, it had to be from long habit and/or training. Ingrained deep beyond the reach of my waking mind. I tried to dredge up anything useful about mana in my noggin but drew another blank.


    Wait, was that light in the distance? Faint blue light far above my head and quite a ways away from here. Its sheen was growing slightly stronger ever second. An artificial dawn perhaps? I waited in stillness, to see if the light grew stronger still.


    Now that the light was brighter something about the blue light called to me. I felt my mind reach out to it.


    [ Pylon #01 coming online... ]


    [ No connections found... ]


    [ Standby... ]


    What was that? Something about that line, "no connections found" deeply disturbed me. There was supposed to be more... more what?


    There was supposed to be a system of Pylons and... and what? What am I missing?


    A memory of a grim voice saying, "Breathe" and then something about counting. Feelings of awe and terror accompanied that voice.


    Who?


    If there were people around me, where did they go? Why am I alone?


    "I''ll take good care of your people." another sinister voice whispered through my broken mind. Pure hatred flared through me.


    Something, someONE took my people from me! A deep growl welled up from my gut. That Someone must pay.


    let it flow over me, that anger and pain. Once I started to get blindingly pissed, I buried it. Not to put it out, or ignore it. No, I was going to stoke these fires, so that when I got my chance I could incinerate the asshole that wronged me. Wronged my people.


    But here and now it did me no good to be consumed by my own rage.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    The light was quite bright now. I could clearly make out a well of some kind in front of me. So familiar yet I still had no idea what it was. It seemed to be glowing now, a silvery light. The well needed light to glow like the moon.


    Moon... Well.


    It was a Moon Well! I had no clue what that meant but I was absolutely certain that was the name of this type of well. Maybe, I could find more things to unlock memories, however limited.


    I could finally see that was standing in a vast field of purple grass. That felt right. That grass was important to me.


    I looked past the Moon Well towards the light, now blazing a merry blue, far too bright to look at directly.


    There were buildings, now, were they there before? One was very tall, maybe fifty stories. It had words on the side MB: Treeside. The style of the building seemed off to me. Like it was too big, too futuristic. Yes, something was stirring in my memory about a broken future.


    Further out and further above me, there were walls and a ceiling I could just barely make out now, surrounding everything. This huge field of purple grass and the massive building I could see along with the smaller ones next to it, were contain by an even larger structure. That seemed impossible to me, though I didn''t know why. At least now, I had a clear goal. Get to those buildings and explore them.


    Answers could be there.


    ''Place one foot in front of the other, repeat... '' A song came to mind, though I couldn''t remember where it was from. My own brain was an alien place full of hidden treasures, and probably vast amounts of garbage. Time would tell which this song was.


    Now that I could see, I did feel more confident moving forward as quickly as I could. My new longer legs ate up the distance to the buildings rapidly, as a walk turned to a jog, and then I was running. Something in that simple act brought me unimaginable joy. While I currently had no basis for comparison, some deeper place in my mind noted that I was very fast.


    The field of soft grass ended and lots of solid concrete began, I didn''t enjoy how that felt on my bare feet.


    Soon, I was standing in front of the giant building, marveling at it''s size. A truly massive edifice of concrete, and what I was certain was steel. MB: Treeside was amazing and intimidating. A series of shallow steps lead up to an entryway. I was sorely temped to enter right away, but I figured I should look at the other buildings first to see if there was one more likely to have the information I needed. To my left, the Treeside ended up brushing against the wall that surrounded this enclosed world. To my right, there was a road and another low laying building of some kind. I went right.


    The roadway was a four lane affair, marked out in a way that felt very wrong, even if I couldn''t say why just yet. The new building was maybe two to three stories tall. Covering as much area as Treeside. Large dark glass windows covered the side facing the road and several doors were half way to the next block. I moved closer, looking up at the sign that read Value Tree. I suspected a theme was forming. Yet, no where did I see any trees. Nor could I determine what this building was for, from its exterior.


    I let out a sigh. Oh that felt good. It was like a pressure release. ''Deep controlled breaths... '' Another one of those elusive thoughts.


    As I approached the Value Tree, I could see a somewhat blurry reflection of myself in the windows. That wasn''t me...


    For one thing, I was purple. Why the fuck was I purple? No, don''t panic, breathe. I''d figured out something was different about me, earlier.


    Maybe it was the light? I mean blue light might do some odd things to my color perception, right? Or cast my skin in odd tones? Of course, that didn''t explain the extra long well muscled limbs, or the ridiculously oversized ears coming to very sharp points. I was some kind of Elf?


    ''Fucking Elves... '' A tone of derision, contempt.


    What? Where did that come from? Also, I was pretty sure my eye weren''t glowing green orbs before. Even my currently shaggy unkept hair was a light shade of green. Maybe my new eyes just saw colors differently?


    What was going on? The feeling of disorientation hit me again, and it me took longer than I''m prepared to admit to calm down.


    After all, I still had no clue what I did look like before. I just knew this wasn''t it.


    Nothing I could do about it now. I hated that feeling, that powerlessness. Not being in control, it really was upsetting. Again a deep bass growl tore itself free from my throat. I had to forcefully unclench my hands. Also I now realized I had very sharp nails somewhere between a human''s and actual claws. The blood oozing from my self inflicted wounds was a odd shade of purple. Darker than my skin tone.


    That was probably was the light. Wasn''t blue light supposed to be bad from your eyes? Eh, well maybe it was, but it was the only light available right now. I''d just have to handle the consequences later.


    Wanting to take my mind off my transformation for now, I opened the doors into the building. A blast of negative air pressure hit me gently as I walked through. It was a massive store. Groceries to my immediate left, more general goods to my immediate right. I could see furniture and appliances off in the far distance. It felt normal, but also creepy. No checkout stations. The distinct lack of people also added greatly to the eeriness.


    I looked at the food nearby, odd vegetables and fruits. Fresh and ready to be eaten, don''t ask me how I knew, I just did. I was particularly drawn to the silver apples. I walked over. There was a sign. Asmurithan Apples. 2 for 10 Eddies / 2 for 1 Task Points / 4 for 1 Company Point. I reached for an apple. But a blue energy field stopped my hand.


    A mechanical voice said, "No funds available, please obtain funds to purchase goods." How do I do that?


    Something about Eddies seemed vaguely familiar, but I drew a blank on Task points. Company Points though, those pissed me off. I almost struck the energy field again to vent my rising rage, but I had a feeling that open hostility in here was a very bad idea. So I backed out of the store.


    Maybe, I''d have more luck in another building.


    I followed the road down to the corner. I''d noticed something strange about the intersection for a while. No traffic lights. Now I could spot that right smack in the middle of the intersection was a pillar. It was overgrown with lovely Jasmine vines. Also there was a screen hanging about chest height, I could see a blinking prompt from the corner.


    I admit my curiosity got the better of me. Wary I step over to the screen, it read...


    Initialize Connection?


    Y/N


    For some reason that I couldn''t explain that felt like a source of answers.


    The problem was that there was no keyboard. I tried an old standby of input, my voice. How I knew that, I couldn''t say.


    "Yes." At this point, I wasn''t surprised that my voice didn''t seem to be right.


    The Branch on my left forearm squeezed hard. A new screen popped up, but this one was in my head.


    [ Connection to the Great Tree Network Reestablished ]


    [ Welcome back Ryan. ]


    A shock went down my spine. "Ryan." That was my name. MY NAME!


    A flood of memories pounded into my brain. There was pain, there might have been lots of screaming and yelling and cursing of fate. With one simple act the majority of my life had been returned to me, at least I thought so. I could still feel gaps here and there, but I knew who I had been now. Though I still didn''t know why I was here. Or where here was.


    "Where am I?"


    [ The Hub, your Hub. ]


    [ The Hub is a reflection of your inner world. Here all your achievements and failures are lain bare. ]


    "Doesn''t look like much so far."


    [ There was a lack of memory to draw from, the realm will slowly come to reflect your new recollections. ]


    "Can I leave?"


    [ There are gates to the east and west. The western gate is for incoming and the eastern gate is for outgoing. ]


    "Where does the eastern gate let out?"


    [ Night City, specifically by the club known as The Afterlife. ]


    That was wrong. What was Nigh... more memories ripped their way free of whatever had been blocking them. All the events of the last few months rolled into me. I thought I had woken up angry. That was nothing compared to the searing, aching thing growing inside me now. They had taken everything from me.


    Why? No, it didn''t matter. Why they did it was irrelevant.


    They had done it, now...


    {THEY MUST PAY!}


    The Hub shook with my wrath. I would find a way to make the Company feel my rage as well.

 Chapter 59

    I needed to know how much I''d lost, so I called up my status,


    [ Name: Ryan Crestwood


    Class: Arch Druid of Renewal / * / * / *


    Level: 1


    XP: 0


    Race: Kaldorei (Azeroth 1,358,374)


    Racial Traits: Swift, Increased Senses, Shadowmeld, Unbroken, Primal Heart


    Stats - Body: 5 / Reflex: 10 / Tech: 4 / Intelligence: 5 / Cool: 8 / Will: 7 / Spirit: 12 / Psi Resonance: 9 / Divinity: 1 (Faith:50)


    Cyberware: None


    ( Nature''s Blessing effect: + 4 to all Stats, increased energy ) Not Active


    Abilities - Sense Mana / Ley Line Sight / Shape Mana / Shapeshift: Serpent / Shapeshift: Lesser Treant


    Skills - Rituals: 6 / Concentration: 10 (Evolving) / Firearms: 7 / Bargaining: 9 / Administration: 6 / Leadership: 5 / Mechanics: 8 / Engineering: 5


    Auras - Life Crafting: 3


    Druid Spells - Life Crafting: 5 / Purify: 8 / Nature''s Blessing: 10 (Evolving) / Renew the Cycle: 1 / Reincarnate


    Free Points: 0 / Company Points: 100,000 / Task Points: 0 / Eddies: 27,000,000


    Curses: Soul Damage, Lost Thoughts, Broken Heart ]


    Honestly, I was surprised to see that I had been left with that much. Oh, a nice pile of Eddies stood out, though how I was supposed to access them without a neural interface, I couldn''t say.


    The thing that stood out the most right now, the confirmation that I''d somehow gained the body of a Night Elf. That seemed like a huge advantage, though I as yet had no clue what any of those traits would do, they sounded quite interesting. Shadowmeld was probably like what happened to the Probes once they became Wisp Infused, but that was not certain. Experimentation would be required.


    Hmm. My mana also seemed much more potent despite the lower stats. I cycled it through my body a few times. Yes, much thicker though that was probably not the right way to put it. Denser, maybe. Another benefit of the Kaldorei?


    The addition of Curses was discouraging. Soul Damage was plain enough, that was the odd gaps in my soul, left over from the process of removing my former classes. I shuddered, remembering the torment of those moments. "Never again." I growled softly. Could I find a way to add new ones? Maybe seal the holes?


    Lost Thoughts was probably from whatever had screwed with my memory. Lethe Water? There were still gaps in my life here and there, also vague faces and names I couldn''t fully recall quite yet. Time might solve that problem though.


    Broken Heart was the most troubling. Was that about Sally and Megan... Ingrid and Velma. Did that really fuck me up so badly that it registered as a curse? Or was it something else entirely?


    Well, it wasn''t all bad, at least I had gotten out from under the influence of Voice of the Emperor. Other than still possessing a stat related to Divinity.


    ''Try to stay positive, Ryan.'' I thought to myself. For example, I was positive I was going to break my foot off in someone''s ass over all this. Heh. I shook off a growing sense of melancholy.


    "Move forward, even if you don''t know where it will lead. Standing still makes you a target," John said that to me once, while we were training. It made far more sense now, then It had at the time.


    I reached out to the vined covered Pillar.


    [ Ryan''s Hub Options


    Mana Density: 3


    Time remaining until mandatory expulsion: 5 hours 15 minutes


    Current Stay Duration Limit: 24 hours


    Current Cooldown between Entries: 96 hours


    Raise Level


    Merge Classes


    Merge Skills


    Merge Abilities


    Initiate Task System


    Ransom Allies ]


    ...


    When I saw that last entry I roared, "Fuckers!" My eyes narrowed and my lip pulled back into a snarl, even my ears tensed up. IT was all I could do, not to punch the pillar and probably break my hand. The Company dared hold my people for ransom. Red creeped into my vision and my heart sounded like a battle drum in my ears. How I wanted to holler and rail against the whims of my antagonizers.


    ''Deep Breaths.'' I started counting the leaves on the Jasmin vines, until I started to be able to think clearly again.


    I was on a clock, if I understood the time remaining properly, and I needed to get equipped before being tossed out. No time for wallowing in my own rage.


    A few moments later, I pulled up their "Ransom" list. I knew I shouldn''t but morbid curiosity guided my hand.


    [ Jaina Proudmoore - 100,000 Company Points


    John Wick - 10,000,000 Company Points


    James Raynor - 2,000,000 Company Points


    Tassadar - 1,000,000 Company Points


    Probius - 100,000 Company Points


    Corusaltusvermilliondeku - @$*@(#$^


    Meadran - 1,000,000 Company Points


    Faergin - 500,000 Company Points


    Korvaith - 500,000 Company Points ]


    I forced myself to read it again. And then a third time. My eyes kept traveling over the list until it stopped hurting so much that I could barely breathe.


    I could tell a few things from the list, that might not seem obvious at first glance. They didn''t seem to have any of the Nomads, or Mith. Because they wouldn''t hesitate to throw them on the list to stick in my craw. That was some good news, if I could find them, though I worried about how Mith was doing right now. We''d barely started to bond, but I could tell we''d be lifelong friends.


    Alina being absent was likely due to her nature as an AI, and remaining locked to a Nexus. No reason to worry too much there. I just had to get back to the Valley.


    John was bleeding expensive, though that was no surprise. Anything with a brain was scared of him.


    I wasn''t going to think about the little Dragon''s entry, they were never likely to let him near me again. The Case Worker was really upset about him.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Even the Treants were there. I sighed.


    They had left me with enough points to Ransom Jaina or Probius. A cruel joke, though what was one more cruelty now? If I was forced to choose, at this moment it would probably be Probius. Though without a Nexus or Forges his usefulness would be limited. Though, Jaina would likely still have her status as an Adjutant. Meaning she''d have to stay behind when I left. But I''d hold off on that for right now. I saw no need to rush, and I knew enough about Night City now, that I should be able to get by on my own for a while.


    No one should be able to recognize me anyway, after my makeover. Thankfully, Biosculpting was a very diverse practice, so no one should think much of my new appearance. Though it might get me a few more attempts of gangers rolling me for eddies. Only the rich, used much biosculpting. I shrugged, I''d probably welcome the attempt.


    There was no adding of a Class on this list, but I could merge them. This implied I could get more somewhere else. Maybe the store?


    The Task System, looked interesting. Might as well see what that was about. My BTC shook,


    [ Welcome to the Task System


    Complete basic Tasks for Points


    Spend Points in the Store ]


    [ Task 1 - Ongoing, Repeating


    Heal 10 people


    Reward: 1,000 Task Points ]


    [ Task 2 - Ongoing, Repeating


    Kill 10 people


    Reward: 1,000 Task Points ]


    [ Task 3 - Ongoing, Repeating


    Fix or Adjust 10 Devices


    Reward: 1,000 Task Points ]


    [ Tasks depend on Classes and Skills ]


    [ You have Quests ]


    [ Quest 1


    Find the Aldecaldos


    Reward: 1,000 Company Points ]


    [ Quest 2


    Meet Rogue in the Afterlife


    Reward: 10,000 Company Points ]


    [ Quest 3 - Ongoing, Repeatable


    Meet Certain People


    Rewards: Varies ]


    [ Quest 4 - Ongoing, Repeatable


    Kill Certain People


    Rewards: Varies ]


    Bloody fucking hell. Generic busywork. Why must I be forced into these kinds of meaningless job? Alright, sure, I''m probably going to do a lot of those tasks anyway. Might as well get paid for doing them, but it still pissed me off. The micromanaging busywork nature of it, it''s why I wanted to work for myself in the past.


    I shook my head. Focus. I still needed to check out the other two sets of buildings, before exploring the Value Tree for gear.


    The one across the road from Treeside was called Utilitree. Ugh. Who named these? It was a bizarre amalgamation of a Water Works and Waste management plant along with being a Power and Distribution Station. It was like some AI generated image of what those things should look like all smashed together.


    Across from the Value Tree was a giant warehouse, named Storage Tree. It was, unsurprisingly, empty. I stared nonplussed at the name. Really?


    Beyond them was another purple grass covered field, and off in the distance, I could see another Moon Well. No help there.


    Well then, I guess it was time to go shopping.


    This time when I entered the Value Tree, I was greeted by a list of departments. Some were more general, like Standard Groceries (U.S.A. 1950 - 2019). Some were very specific, like Goblin Horticulture (Terra 73,629,602,678,476). Goblins on Earth, imagine that. I wonder what that place is like?


    It took me a few minute to get used to the lists'' controls, but I found I could search for what I wanted pretty quickly.


    When searching for Guns, I still got a huge list of departments. I narrowed it down to Terra (100,000 - 62,000,000) Though some of those other options were quite fascinating. There were listings for things like The Old Republic Era and the familiar The Imperium of Man and countless others. I''d a feeling though that it would be best if I stuck with things found in Night City, so I tried to enter the Omaha as a reference.


    I was left with Terra (1,746,843 - 3,264,915) Good enough, I selected that option and the whole store shifted, or maybe I was teleported. It was impossible for me to say which. Suddenly, I was standing in front of racks and racks of rifles and carbines. The smell of REM oil filled the air. Everything was so gleaming and new, and the prices weren''t out of line with my experiences at NC vendors.


    I minimized the department list and started looking around. There were brands I''d never seen while I was running around NC before, like ARES, though their weapons look somewhat similar to the ones I had seen before. I decided to stick with what I was most familiar with and hunted around for pistols. There they were, thousands of cases full of every type of pistol I''d ever seen and then some. I found the Omahas. They had a huge selection, even ones I suspected were futuristic to the models I had previously handled. I found one I liked the look of...


    [ Militech Omaha Type XX


    Ammo type: Caseless .50


    Capacity: 10 rounds extended magazine or 25 round drum magazine


    Damage: 10


    Included Modifications: Recoil Compensation, Baffled Barrel, Reflex Sight, Anti-Tamper Software Suite ]


    [ Price: 100,000 Eddies / 1000 Task Points / 500 Company Points ]


    It''s black dull matte finish and diamond textured grip called to me. It whispered to me that it could ventilate all my problems. Sure fucking Militech made it, but I didn''t care. All the more irony if I flatlined their huscle with it. Yes, I bought it and the Eddies somehow came out of my BTC. I guess it had integrated NET Agent abilities now. Convenient. Or maybe it just worked that way here? I''d have to check with a vending machine or something, so I didn''t embarrass myself if it didn''t work that way in NC proper. I hoped it did work though, I''d like to forego cyberware this time, at least until I can get access to the Khalai tech again.


    Then my new baby was in my hands, and it felt so nice I spent a full minute playing with it. Then some new screens popped up offering ammo and accessories. I got a tactical harness and belt combo with a adjustable holster setup. Ten spare extended mags. And then as I when to put them on I finally realized I was still fuckin naked. I was playing with my gun while I was nude. I couldn''t help but laugh at the image that conjured up.


    Thankfully the screen now offered related department. Clothes and Armor, Survival Gear and Footwear. Soon enough, I was clothed in a simple black skintight undersuit. It was an armored netrunner suit. Which I picked up not for netrunning, but because it could regulate my temperature under all my other armor. A plain green button up and black slacks over that. An armored vest similar to the one I had before came next and then an armored navy blue trench coat with some temp control lining. A pair of heavy and, yes, armored combat boot were in the process of adjusting to fit my feet. They had a squishy comfort gel foam inside. My feet were very oversized even for my new form. Which given how things felt in my hands was any indication was larger than my last one. Yup, everything bought here was one size fits most, each with some magical ability to shape themselves to the wearer. At least the first time they were put on.


    I snagged two hard cased belt packs full of various bits of survival gear. Most of which felt a bit pointless right now but you never know. Better to have it and not need it... I also picked up a sleek hard cased minifridge backpack to pack fill with some decent food, because fuck eating that NC scop again. It covered my whole back and fit nicely under my trench coat.


    I asked my BTC how much time I had left, 1hour 15 minutes. Time flies when you are shopping for guns, but I still had plenty of time left to pick up some decent grub.


    Then I had an idea. I pulled up the department list and entered Classes. I got Education Departments of all kinds, however there was a marked standout. The Token Store. I selected that.


    Now, I found myself in a small 30'' by 30'' shop, all done up in a cozy caf¨¦ style. Floor to ceiling glass cases full of Tokens. There was a section labeled Heroes, and one labeled Themes. I checked a few out. Unlike before where Token were random, these were specific.


    [ Malfurion Stormrage Version 524,387,152


    Price: 100,000,000 Eddies


    1,000,000 Task Points


    500,000 Company Points ]


    O-kay. Hundreds of other Heroes were available at similar prices. No Raynor, no Wick, no Jaina. Thank goodness, that would have been too weird for me. With the Themes it was the same,


    [ The Galactic Empire version 6,253,384,620,967,453,946


    Price: 10 trillion Eddies


    100 billion Task Points


    50 billion Company Points ]


    Holy fucking hell. Just how many versions of things are out there? And those prices... Welp, not getting any of these anytime soon I guess.


    Then I found a small case by itself. It only had three Tokens.


    [ Class Gunslinger version 10


    Price: 1,000,000 Eddies


    10,000 Task Points


    5,000 Company Points ]


    [ Class Jedi Knight version 10,537


    Price: 10,000,000 Eddies


    100,000 Task Points


    50,000 Company Points ]


    [ Class Rockerboy version 196


    Price: 500,000 Eddies


    5,000 Task Points


    2,500 Company Points ]


    I''d wonder what they based the prices on? How useful? How powerful? I eyed the Jedi Knight with a certain childish longing, but I probably didn''t want to deal with any of the headaches the mindset of a Jedi would place on me. Still...


    No. Better to let it go.


    Now the Rockerboy was interesting because I had heard the term when I met REV/DEV. I always did want to be in a band, on the other hand I don''t know that I want to deal with that level of public scrutiny.


    Gunslinger while utterly generic sounding, was probably my best bet for a quick combat boost. Though I had no idea if this was like a Wild West version of a Gunslinger or something else. Hmm. I had the money and if I didn''t like it I could merge it with something else later, probably.


    Alright, Gunslinger it is.


    As I picked up the Token it vanished and I felt it settle into me. No pain, thankfully. In fact, I felt a lot better instantly. I checked my Status. (AN: See Below)


    Looking good. So more of a Weird West kind of deal? Smooth like a Snake looked neat. Repeated actions became more fluid. Double Shot was less about shooting twice, and more about conjuring a another bullet per shot. It used mana though, interesting. Reload was exactly that, you could add ammo with mana.


    I checked the time. 25 minutes left. After a quick run through the Grocery section, I realized I''d have to come back for all the treats I hadn''t seen in years. Ooo, were those Cheddar BBQ Cheetos? Score! Old school glass bottle sodas, awesome! A selection of candies I had never even heard of before. I felt like a kid again.


    Instead I stocked up on good jerky and water. I grabbed some bread and sandwich meats. A jar of peanut butter. Not the best but a far better than most NC food. A few bottle sodas for fun. I filled my coat pockets with a few fruits. Especially the silver apples. I also grabbed a few snack bars for right now, since it felt like ages since I had eaten. Then I remembered, I should have grabbed some bottles to fill with Moon Well water. Oh well, too late now.


    It seemed a shame to have to go. Shaking my head, I left the Value Tree and marched to the East Gate with a couple of minutes to spare. Time to see what had changed in good ol'' Night City.

 Chapter 60

    I stepped through the gate. One moment, I was within the confines of my Hub and the next I was in a filthy city alleyway. Weak daylight filtered between the surrounding buildings. Early or late, I couldn''t say. My sense of direction was completely shot. There had been no sense of transition, nothing to indicate that movement had occurred. I found that to be something of a conundrum.


    However my thoughts on the matter were rudely interrupted by a foul odor. I had not smelt its like since the Sinnamon incident. Someone was dead nearby, and had been for a while. Nothing new there. I shouldn''t have been bothered by it, I knew what this place was like. It was a grinder, people went in one end and meat came out the other.


    "Fuckin'' hell." I grumbled. My senses were obvious highly jacked compared to before. I couldn''t ignore it, and time didn''t seem to deaden the nose-hair curdling vapors. Might as well see what had happened and then try to get my bearings.


    I was suppose to be near the Afterlife, and I remember Megan... grr Velma saying that was where Rogue was. I''d wondered how much she''s like the one we met in the Mana Sink? Though it''d be a shame to have to meet her without John in tow. I''d like to see that reaction, after the behavior of the other lady we''d encountered.


    I let my nose guide my feet and found the corpse of an older man. Coving my nose and mouth with my hand, I examined the body. He''d obviously been down on his luck, judging by the state of his attire. Maybe even living on the streets, if you can call that living. Hmm a single strike to the abdomen had dispatched him, leaving his entrails laying out for the world to see. I had no way to get any data on him, and his ports were empty. If he''d had anything in there to begin with, it was long gone now. I could detect no motive and he had made no discernable attempt to defend himself. No defensive scraping around his hands.


    Someone had killed him just to do it, insofar as I could tell. Though I could easily be wrong, not knowing too much about how to read a crime scene. Several seasons of procedural crime dramas aside.


    Mana flooded me as I cast a Purify on him. I arranged his remains as best I could, returning his insides to their proper place and placing his hands to cover the wounds. He had been there long enough for rigor to have passed.


    "Wherever your soul has gone, rest well." It was all I could offer without knowing more about him. Hell, my actions weren''t really about him, were they? I was trying to maintain some dregs of my humanity. Ever since my overreaction to the betrayal of the ladies, I''d begun the wonder if I was broken beyond repair.


    Another Purify to clean my hands. At least, the first spell had removed the immediate stench. Now, the general bouquet of the city was noticeable. Acrid chemicals and human despair. I shook my head as I pondered the feasibility of casting a Purify on the whole fucking city. Leaving the alley. I saw that I was near by the river or was it a bay? Looked like a river from here, but I could be wrong. The close by roadway was busy, cars zipping by at a good clip. I scanned around seeing crowds of people roaming the sidewalks and the air was full of drones conducing who knows what business. Further up in the sky all manner of AVs were darting about.


    I growled at the sheer volume of noise and the weight of the sickly life that filled the area. I wanted to heal them all, and I wanted to slaughter the lot of them. I was beginning to think I was more than a bit cracked in the head. Maybe this whole debacle was a good chance to start over.


    "Nothing new there." I muttered to myself. I spied a few vending machines and decided to test whether my BTC could handle money transfers here. My choices were crappy burritos, shitty sodas or a one shot plastic pistol. I snorted. What a joke. As if you could put anyone serious down with such a piece of garbage. My stomach growled, I hadn''t eaten my snack bars yet, and I was starving. Crappy burrito it was. I touched the machine and my BTC shook. One fake mylar wrapped bundle of questionable food was dispensed.


    Well that was a load off my mind. I''ve money even if I''d no interface with the NET. A NET Agent wouldn''t be too hard to find, maybe a jaunt to Kabuki was in the near future.


    Hmm. Since I couldn''t return to my Hub for days at a time, I''d need a place to stay. Rent or buy? Probably rent for now, until I got to know the city better. Maybe, I could find that Hotel I''d stayed at before. First, I had to figure out where I was exactly. I found a small shop nearby selling a variety of basic goods. I walked in and searched for something innocuous to buy. A section with a few varieties of earplugs caught my eyes. That would do. I found a pair that had a good filter on them. Reducing loud noise, while let normal sounds through. Perfect.


    The clerk was watching some pointless brainrot that passed for news here. Mostly loud screaming about opinions, from the little I heard. I did however manage to catch the time. 5:30 PM. At the counter, I asked the clerk the way to the Afterlife, and without even looking at me, he described the way. I touched my BTC to a scanner to pay, and it worked like a charm. I thanked the clerk who didn''t bother to reply and left.


    I tried to move with the crowds and avoid the few picksockets I noticed in the press. I admit it was a relief to find the back service entrance the Afterlife and easy enough to work my way around to the front. In the enclosed walkway I put in my new ear pro and shifted my holster to the left side of my chest. A belt or leg draw with my long arms felt too awkward and thus slow. A good thigh draw would have my pistol on my knee. The cross draw while probably not the fastest, it still felt the best for now. I''d have to practice more until I found the optimal placement. I checked my pistol to feel the action and checked the mag to ensure it was indeed loaded. The caseless ammo threw me at first but I adapted quick enough.


    I nodded to myself, taking a few deep breaths to center my mind. I turned the corner to see the stairway. Suppressing my desire to clean up all the trash, and ignoring the stares from a few mercs hanging around, I descended. I''d noticed and avoided a few traps on the way down too. Old school ones. No electronics so not connected to the local net. A hazing ritual for the newbies or just a sadistic game?


    I hit the hallway to the club''s proper entrance, stopping to scan the way. More traps and a borged out fella at the end of the hall. The obviously broken vending machines worried me a bit but I figured I should be alright as long as I paid attention. A moment later, I stood in front of the bouncer, who looked at me with a bizarre combination of respect and contempt.


    "I don''t know you."


    Now I wasn''t completely lost here, Sally and Megan... ugh, had mentioned a passcode if I found myself here without them. I really didn''t want to say it.


    I whispered it to the bouncer, "Holes and poles showed voles the moles." Argh, so stupid.


    He smirked, "Older code, but it checks out." He stepped aside, "Have fun, newbie."


    I was a bit startled by the d¨¦cor of the club. There where refrigerated storage compartments for corpses nearby. Some seemed defunct and others were blowing cool air into the area. A little too on the nose, but I could appreciate the darker sense of humor. I was just about the approach the bar when I was pushed aside by a behemoth of a man entering the club. I had clocked my height at somewhere around 7'', judging by the height of most folks in the streets. This guy must have been 8 and half feet and was at least three time as wide as me.


    "Move aside, scrub. No time for gawking." He must of had a broken voice module. The sound was so cracked and grainy, I could have mistaken it as having come out of a gramophone. I focused my Aura on him. Shit, he was a full conversion job. His only meat left was just his brain rattling around in an armored case up top. Barely any of that was au natural either.


    No matter how much I wanted to mess him up, it was probably better to ignore the disrespect. Still... there was something I had been wanting to try since I had gotten Life Crafting. I used my Aura to shut off the connections from his brain to his chrome. Everything was still functional, but he had no way of directing his body anymore. No one had much protection from mana here, it''d proven to be no challenge to alter what I wished. I wouldn''t want to do it in a fight, but with nobody trying to tag me, it was a piece of cake.


    His massive frame just shuttered to a stop. I returned a few connections to his eyes and ears. Hopefully, he didn''t have some kind of crazy laser eyes or something. I walked around to stand in front of him. I plastered a friendly smile on my face, as I looked into his optics.


    "No need to be rude, Choom. That''s how accidents happen. Play nice, or next time I''ll leave you like this." I allowed him to regain control one limb at a time.


    "Haha, that''s quite a trick, newbie, and a good attitude. Don''t let any of these scumbags punk you." It was hard to read him, none of his features changed while he spoke. Borgs creeped me out. The only good thing about them is they don''t seem to have those kinds of reactions to my mana.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "I''m the Medic." I held out a hand to shake. He latched on far more gently than I''d anticipated. I took a risk that folks might mistake me for a Ripper, but I recalled that the Nomads never called anyone healing them up a medic.


    "Oho, a medic. Not much demand for a fleshworker these days. Good luck, newbie! I''m Wrekt, see you around, maybe." He tromped off to one of the many darker alcoves in the already dark club.


    Me, I went to the bastion of light in a sea of shadow. The bar. The bar was empty, and no one was behind the counter. I took a seat, the area stayed empty for a few minutes. I didn''t mind, it allowed me to reach out with my Aura and get a count on how many mercs where currently present in the building. The answer was, not many. A few upstairs and about a dozen scattered around the main bar room. Mostly where I couldn''t see them from here. Was this the slow period or just a slow day?


    "You lost, kid?" A bartender had shown up. He was a gruff looking old guy, moderately modded. Very clean cut for all of that. He even wore a classic white shirt and vest combo with a bowtie.


    "Nope. Looking for work, and a neat water, purest you got."


    He grunted, and pulled out a faux crystal bottle. "I can''t help you with the work, but this is the best water you are likely to find outside of some Corpo bigwig''s home." He poured the water, by the finger and I tapped the nearby scanner. Fucking hell. I''ll bring my own next time. Sure, it was nothing to my balance, but water shouldn''t fuckin'' cost that much. It was pretty good water though. Especially for this hellhole.


    I gave him a nod. "Thanks."


    He shook his head and started getting things ready for what I presume would be later customers. So, I''d just gotten here too early. The real question was, how was I going to make inroads with a decent team of mercs? Especially since my end goal was a meeting with Rogue. Fuck, I really had no clue. Sit around and wait for something to come up I guess. Maybe buy some liquid lubrication for anyone I liked the look of. Schmooze about for a few days and get to know a few people.


    I really didn''t feel like I was in a hurry. Sure, I''d some payback to deliver, but they weren''t going anywhere. I could take my time and really explore the city, make an accurate decision on what I needed to do in the future. Maybe not fuck things up this time.


    "Heya Choom, you okay?"


    "Hmm?" Turning the stool around towards the voice, I didn''t see anyone. Until I looked down.


    She was small and cute. Pale greyish skin and an oversized dark hoodie, her turquoise hair dancing behind her. Her optics were a riotous mix of pink surrounded by neon green with red outside of that. Adorable. I felt like a bad person just being near her.


    "Yeah, I''m fine just trying to figure out how to find a good crew to work with."


    She hopped up into the stool next to me. "Hey Harry! Get me my usual." I heard the bartender snort. He stared at her with a smirk.


    "One pint sized virgin daiquiri for the pint sized virgin, coming right up." He quipped.


    She flipped him off. "Fuck you, Harry!" She was all kinds of feisty.


    "You wish, pipsqueak." He chuckled.


    She turned back to me, brushing the whole exchange off. "So what are you good at?" Like nothing had just been said.


    I offered her my hand, "Want to see?" I''d always offer folks a choice, that didn''t mean I''d have to explain the choice.


    She gave me a skeptical look. "What can you possibly do with a handshake?" Then she shrugged and took my hand anyway. I pulsed my mana into her, slowly, carefully. She started to squirm on her stool. Hmm. Lots of old damage, she was also oddly still mostly organic. Easy for me to work with. I cleaned up some old breaks in her arms and legs, removed some scar tissue from old beatings. Abusive childhood? Was she raised on the streets? She was panting heavily and couldn''t seem to stay still. A few more recent bullet wounds, a place where she had been caught by a blade. These needed a heavier touch. Damn, what had this young lady been up to?


    Her moans were starting to attract attention. I went over her RealSkinn, while I couldn''t affect it, I could smooth out the neural connections and fix a few places were it didn''t quite sync up right. She''d probably gotten the Skinn before she had finished growing. In fact, there were a lot of factors that''d stunted her growth. Maybe, I could fix those up, too? But not right now. She was already attracting a crowd. Her moans had turned into little yips and squeals. I let her down slowly.


    "I can fix more some other time if you want." I kept my face neutral. This wasn''t about the naughty reactions I got from folks. Maybe I''m just lying to myself.


    "More... Ah, yes, please, more." She slumped down and rested her head on the bar. She was not really here anymore.


    I turned around to look at the crowd of mercs that had come for the show. Who all started cheering and clapping.


    It was good that I''d made an impression, whether it was a good impression remained to be seen. I gave a jaunty little wave to the crowd. A got a couple of whistles.


    "Good show, kid! When''s the next act?" I heard Wrekt call out. I think he was having a grand ol'' time. With a drink in each hand.


    "When I have my next volunteer." I could feel a smirk on my lips, despite my attempts to keep my face blank. Strangely I felt more comfortable with the attention than I''d have thought I would.


    "Maybe after work!" I heard a woman''s voice call out, which started a new round of laughter. A round of higher pitch giggling and catcalling. Was it catcalling if you did it to a man? Maybe it should be dogcalling? Eh, maybe not.


    "I''ll be around. If you have aliments of the flesh, or chrome rejection issues, maybe I can help. I''m the Medic." Message delivered I turned back to my water. I was trying to seem mysterious but not unapproachable. I heard a bunch of doubtful chatter behind me. More than a few hopeful mutters. Well, it might take some time to find brave takers.


    As the mercs started to filter back to their own business, one lady stood out. Mostly for her colorful pink and white small jacket, one of those kinds that''s more for fashion than the intended purpose of a jacket. Her dark bodysuit was overly tight, showing off all her goods. I''d marked her as a netrunner. She had black hair and huge shit-eating grin on her face. Her gorgeous blue eyes with a pink ring were already dancing with unspeakable mischief.


    "Un Nya! Has little Rebecca been defeated? Without a shot fired no less." She stood beside the short lady I''d just demonstrated my abilities on, and rubbed her back soothingly. She hummed a soft and quiet little tune, into the ear of Rebecca. (AN: Yes, the lewdness of the statement was intentional.)


    Rebecca murmured something, "Sho... good... feeling nova." Her eyes were open but they were hazy. She shifted gently before nuzzling back into her arms on the bar.


    "You hacked her good, but could you do it to someone who can defend themselves?" The new lady had a mocking smile on her face, as she turned to me with a challenge. Her eyes were flashing dangerously. Yeah, good luck with that. She wasn''t going to find anything to interface with.


    "You''re making the wrong assumptions, but sure, as long as you are at least 20% meat. I can guarantee this result, less than that is iffy but still possible. But the pleasure is a side effect, a fringe benefit if you will. The healing is real." I made sure to look her in the eyes and kept my hands still. She seemed to think I had taken advantage of her friend for nefarious purposes. I could see that. I''d be protective of my friend too if I''d thought the same.


    "You''re ''ganic!" She exclaimed. Her mind started putting things together, because you can''t toss a hack on someone without a neural interface cyberdeck.


    "One hundred percent." At least, I thought I was. My status said I was, if it could be trusted.


    I smiled, and gestured to Harry to refill my glass. "Make it a double." I said as he came over and poured me the good stuff. I looked a question at my interrogator. She nodded. "One for the Lady." Harry nodded and poured another glass.


    "You''re gene modded? And obviously wealthy." She stared the glass of water. Her voice held tons of suspicious overtones.


    "I have money, and other ways of making more. It''s not why I want to help heal folks." I ignored the gene mod question, which was going to be my strategy on that topic going forward. People will probably come up with all kinds of crazy stories about it. Adding to the mystery of who and what I was. A good mystery could draw in a lot of folks. Maybe some of them would be the right kinds of people.


    "Help, is that what you''re doing?" She got Rebecca settled into the next stool down and moved her drink in front of her. Then she plopped down next to me.


    "You want to see what it''s like to be healed?" I asked once again, maintaining eye contact. Not that it was a chore, she had great eyes. I offered my hand.


    "Healing?" She still had her doubts, I understood. She tentatively took my hand, as if she was afraid it would shock her.


    "What did you think I was some kind of pervert?" I asked as I pulsed mana into her. I made sure to go slow, and not to get so focused on her that I wouldn''t notice what was going on in the room this time.


    "Nyaa! It h-had c-rossed my m-mind! Auah!" She grit her teeth, trying to resist how the energies coursing through her made her feel.


    "It''s sad to be so misunderstood." My tone was soft and mocking. I''d found a fairly recent bullet wound in her chest, I saw no reason to leave the scar tissue there and cleaned it up.


    She gasped, "What?! Ahn, Nya!" Yeah, she''d felt that. Hmm, I thought I''d made my point pretty well, so I pulled back and let her down slowly. I didn''t want to accidently knock her loopy like her friend.


    "Well, how was that?" I asked.


    She tried to get control of her breath. She looked at me with wide eyes. I''d say her mind was struggling to catch up with the moment. "A-maz-zing!" Her body shuddered as she stretched. It was a very nice view.


    "I''m the Medic, and I''m looking for a crew, failing that gig work here and there." Make a name for myself to hide behind.


    "Why not start a clinic? You''d be a hit." She had begun to pull herself together.


    "Don''t want to stay in one place too long, nor the hassle of running a business. Again, I don''t need money, I need a network, connections, favors, people I can trust, maybe even some friends." Perhaps I was oversharing, but I had a good feeling about these two. Even if some of it was from how I thought they were quite attractive.


    "Well, I can put in a good word with my crew if you want." She''d noticed that Rebecca was starting to come out of her fog. "You okay, Chibi?"


    "Who are you calling Chibi, Whiskers!? I''ll show you who''s short when I shoot out your kneecaps!" The small lady was suddenly full of fire and vinegar. She''d a pistol out and already going low.


    "No iron, Becca! Or I''ll kick you out again." Harry yelled from where he was serving a new group their drinks.


    "You ladies are old friends?" I noticed Rebecca''s pistol, which was heavily modded, disappeared quick.


    "Yeah, we''ve run together a while now. Why''d you ask?" The short lady was the picture of innocence now, as if violence was the farthest thing from her mind.


    "He''s looking for a crew." The dark haired lady answered while poking Rebecca in the cheek.


    "Hmm, what do you think Sasha? Would Maine take him on?" She sounded excited.


    "Would I do what, now?" A deep voice came from behind us.

 Chapter 61

    He was bigger than me, though a tiny bit smaller than Wrekt. He''d something of a similar feel to Raynor, though no where near as deep. He was heavily chromed, really pushing the edge of his humanity. Though he had kept his face organic, framed with blonde hair and rocking blue eyes. Really stood out with his darker skin tone. Sporting a vest and a bandanna, he had an overly casual feel. He flashed a smile at Sasha, who jumped up and hugged him. I got sibling vibes from them. Rebecca waved at him, "Heya, Maine!"


    Looking on was a lady almost as huge as the guy. She was more flesh though. Her core was almost all meat, though she had chrome arms and legs. Nordic looking. Very serious type, despite the casual attire of just a jacket. She liked to show off the muscles she worked so hard to get. She was almost certainly with Maine in the primal sense, judging by their body language.


    Sasha gave her a hug as well, I noticed there was much less of a sibling tone to their relationship. Hmm, interesting. Perhaps, Sasha didn''t approve of their relationship. Perhaps, this lady tried to push Sasha in ways she didn''t want to be pushed. I admit, I never used to really understand the bonds and subtext between people in my old life. However, my brief stint as a psyker, had changed that. I was far more aware of the subtle interplay that constantly surrounds peoples lives. Even now that I was mostly free of those powers, I could see and sense more than I ever would''ve before.


    Greetings done, the eyes of the newcomers focused on me. Half intimidation, half amusement. I let it slide off. there was no real aggression in their stances, this was just the way they were. A waved and held out my hand, "I''m the Medic." I was starting to get tried of saying that, I needed to get some cards made or something. I tried to appear friendly but determined, with a hint of aloof.


    "Oh, I could use a tune up." The big lady remarked, while side-eying Maine. Whatever passed between them there I didn''t catch.


    "You have to give him a spin, Dorio. It''s preem." Rebecca exclaimed, while waving her arms in a wide circles. Odd, behavior. A signal, maybe. Or was this just Rebecca being Rebecca?


    "I''d like to see this, I missed it when he worked on Rebecca earlier. It''d be nice to see what it looks like from the other side." Sasha always spoke with a light tone as if she was about to laugh.


    Hmm, I was starting to feel like a public utility. Though I suppose it was my own fault. "Today is free, just to get my name out there and show folks what I can do." I tried to sound like I was joking, even if I wasn''t. People are easier to get allow with, when you make yourself easy to approach. At least, I thought so.


    "Hahaha! Alright, lets see what you got, Longears!" She sat on the stool next to me, whew I''m surprised it held. Now that she was closer to me, I had a better sense of her mass. Also she reeked of the gym. Old sweat, and broken dreams. I turned to her and offered my hand, she stared at it for a moment before taking it. Even though I no longer needed to touch folk when I heal them, this gesture was more about their willing participation. They are making a choice to accept what''s about to happen to them, otherwise it might feel dirty. Sure I''ll heal my people up without worrying about it, or skip it in an emergency, but I''d like to give people the choice where possible. Heh. Not that they can fully understand what''s coming. They couldn''t with the way this world works.


    I felt Maine sit on the stool that was now behind me. I could feel his gaze boring into the back of my head. It was a smart play. Hmm, how protective of a boyfriend was he? Sasha stood at my side, with her hands behind her back, eagerly staring at Dorio. Rebecca was ordering another Daiquiri from Harry, and seemed unconcerned by the events around her.


    I let my mana drip into the giant woman, a slow build up. I offered her a silent apology, I was going to turn this one into a big show. Maybe the novelty would wear off, and folks could start thinking about how useful my skills were, instead of how entertaining. Hopefully, Maine wouldn''t take offense.


    Fuck! This wench had destroyed herself. I could feel the countless reps and endless effort that went into every part of her. Sadly, she''d replace her limbs with chrome, though with her I was almost positive it was because of damage, not convenience. I smoothed out the ridiculous amount of microtears in all her muscles, the ribs that had broken again and again probably while they under too heavy a load.


    Dorio didn''t even have a moaning and groaning stage, she went straight into the screaming like a banshee stage. "Freya''s Tits! That feeelss ssso gooood!" She convulsed in ecstasy, as all of her muscles clenched and relaxed. I heard a spit take behind me, "The hell?!" Rebecca and Sasha were cackling like witches drunk on their power.


    I started repairing her organs, all of which had vast amounts of damage cause by hormonal imbalances. Oh, she had rendered herself infertile at some point, whether from some cocktail of chemicals or for working out too hard, I wasn''t quite sure. Maybe I should ask if she wanted that function back? I snapped the fingers of my free hand in front of her face, while pulling back my mana. I leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Do you want to be able to have children?"


    She jerked back, "How did you know?" I gave her a flat look. I pulsed my mana, through her body very fast, once.


    "Oh, OH!" She gulped. I felt the laser focus of the man behind me, whoops. Maybe that didn''t look too wholesome.


    "Nyan? What''s going on?" Sasha looked puzzled.


    "Hey, bring back the fun!" Rebecca seemed like she was ready to live vicariously through Dorio.


    Dorio seemed to struggle with some internal trauma for maybe two whole seconds. She stared over my shoulder at Maine, and shook her head at some unspoken things between them. That lasted maybe a minute while they had some kind of conversation with just their eyes. Or maybe they were messaging each other, duh. Don''t forget about the high tech phones in people''s heads, idiot. Even when I''d one of my own I forgot about it all the time. I needed to work on that.


    "Yes, please." Dorio say while blushing up a storm.


    "Alright, Maine was it? Could you hold her steady, she''s going to get wild." I kept my tone clinical, flat. Maybe publicly wasn''t the best place to have this happen, but for me this was just another Tuesday. Well, it was a Monday, but you get the idea. I was keeping it professional.


    "Oooo." Sasha and Rebecca both intoned, in almost perfect harmony. Neat.


    Maine came over and held on to Dorio from behind the stool, wrapping his massive arms around her. "Alright, I''ve got her."


    I turned my full attention to her ovaries and uterus, and poured what felt like a massive river of mana into them. Something I''d learned, back when I''d Regrowth and was exploring with... those women, was that direct stimulation of the reproductive organs had truly explosive results. Dorio became a siren, wailing about the end of the world. Her voice reached such a pitch and volume that I think my eardrums blew out, until my own aura helped heal them back into place.


    That cacophony definitely got everyone''s undivided attention, from several blocks away. Maybe even the next city over. She''d actually damaged Maine''s arms were she gripped them with her full strength. I suppose I''ll pay to fix that, it''s half my fault. Should have warned them more. She''d also wet herself in every way imaginable. No shock there. A quick Purify cleared all of that up.


    Dorio ended up looking like she''d run several marathons back to back. But now she was healed. She turned around and grabbed Maine''s face and laid the mother of all impassioned kisses upon him. They were probably about to run off and test the equipment, so to speak. I really should look at him first, and make sure his boys were swimming properly.


    Nah, let them have their fun. I''ll be around later, probably.


    "We have to go!" Dorio growled while dragging Maine with her out of the club.


    "Have fun!" Sasha called while waving her arms at them, like they were taking off on a cruise ship.


    "That was something else!" Rebecca cheered while throwing her arms up and down.


    "It really was special. However, I don''t remember turning my bar into a brothel." Wow, people just loved to try to sneak up on me. Thankfully I''d felt her coming.


    I turned around to look into the grey eyes of Rogue.


    Fifty years or so can really change a person, but this was undeniably the real version of the Rogue we''d met in the Mana Sink. Honestly, she didn''t look all that bad, all things considered. Her steel toned hair still had just a hint of it''s former teal. She was wearing a full business suit, though I''d my doubts that was her typical style. Still much of the edge of her merc days was missing. Whether she was suppressing it, or she had lost it remained to be seen.


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    She caught me staring and her grey eyes flashed a warning. Ah, very no nonsense. I''d gotten a glimpse of a pistol under her jacket. Still some of that edge there, then. Good to know. That, plus the large guy slightly behind her, was a message, even I could follow. I decided to be civil, for now.


    "Sorry about that, I was demonstrating my abilities. What you just witnessed was a side effect. I don''t mean to interrupt your clientele, but I needed to show off my value to a crew." I thought that showing I was willing to bend my neck a little towards her, while not rolling over entirely would be the best play, until I got to know her better.


    "Oh? Just a side effect? What exactly is your ''ability'', Mr.... " She trailed off her face expressionless. Her quick glance at Sasha and Rebecca, gave me nothing, but I could tell she was getting more info out of this exchange then I had. The ladies for their part, were staring at Rogue like I might have stared at Superman, when I was a kid. They seemed to hang on her every word, as if it was divine wisdom. In other words, they were fangirling hard.


    "I go by The Medic, right now. Ma''am." Yup, business cards and maybe a placard. Maybe a nametag.


    "You heal people." She nodded, "It seems I remember talk from not that long ago, about a man that could perform similar feats." Her eyebrow made it a question, rather than the statement it sounded like.


    "I might know a few things about him, if you have the time to hear them?" Come on, take the bait. Let''s get all of this out of the way, so I can find a crew, and start earning some points. I had people to buy back.


    "That certainly sounds more interesting than what I already had planned for the evening." She turned to her companion, who was a very serious looking fella who was showing some serious chrome. Even my sharp ears couldn''t make out what she whispered to him. He nodded and left, going through the doors that led deeper into the back of the building.


    "Let''s talk in a quieter place, Medic." She smirked and a hint of that rebellious lady peeked out from behind the current stonefaced bitch. She gestured towards the door the other guy had departed through. I stared at the door for a second, weighing the pros and cons of going through it.


    Well, if she wanted to zero me, she would hardly have to do it in private. I rose off the stool. I waved to Sasha and Rebecca who were still making googly eyes at Rogue, and barely noticed I''d moved.


    "Ladies, I hope to see you again, sometime." I didn''t expect much of a response, and I didn''t get one, at first.


    "See you later." Rebecca called before going back to looking at Rogue.


    "I''ll catch you tomorrow, Medic." Sasha half heartedly promised.


    I waved at them and headed to the door. Rogue followed closely behind me. "Turn left ahead and take the stairs up to the third floor." Her voice was soft, she didn''t want others to hear. Interesting.


    I saw no reason to cause trouble now so I followed her continuing instructions until we ended up in a room, with an isolation chamber in it. I didn''t need anyone to tell me the purpose of the darkened glass module. Well, probably not glass, maybe a polycarbonate. So bullet resistant, and mostly sound proof.


    Her guard was waiting by the door to the chamber. He nodded at me and turned to her, "Everything is ready, I''ll watch the door for mice." He seemed more like he''d rather be laughing, over a beer perhaps, than looking out for other folks.


    The inside of the chamber was filled with a plush sectional couch and a matching recliner. A faux wood coffee table and a Monitor hanging from the ceiling. There were a few cabinets opposite to the entrance. The view of the outside area was much clearer than the view from outside in. The Monitor was on and filling the screen was a familiar face.


    "Amanda." I was so glad to see her. Even if it was only a picture.


    "Ryan? Is that you? What the hell happened?" She sounded relived and worried and confused all at once. I flinched. I didn''t expect a telecall. I turned to see Rogue entering behind me and closing the door.


    "Yes, it''s me. What''s left of me anyway." I tried to smile at her, but my heart wasn''t in it.


    "Raynor? Is he with you?" That did get me to smile. I could feel her love for him, in that question.


    Rogue being unobtrusive sat on the sectional and seemed to zone out. Her way of saying don''t mind me, I guess.


    "They still have him, and the others. Ransom, and a warning." I shook my head.


    "Fuck. How much? We have a lot, from what we manage still." She grimaced, things might not be going well for them.


    "Company Points." I said simply.


    "Bastards!" She hissed. Yeah, I completely agreed.


    "Let''s meet up somewhere safe. See what''s left and I''ll go over what''s new." I glanced at Rogue, who didn''t seem to take offense.


    "Alright, I see they took out your interface. You have an Agent yet?" She was already planning.


    "No, no contacts to get a truly secure one. Trying to build relationships to get started here and now."


    She nodded, "Okay, lets meet where you started an outpost by Rocky Ridge. Say, in two days?" She looked at something out of frame.


    "Sounds good. See you then." The connection ended.


    "Well, that''s fascinating. I''ve never seen Amanda care so much for anyone so obviously not a Nomad." Rogue said quietly, like she didn''t want to spook me.


    "We have a history, albeit brief." I grimaced. Trying to maintain my stoicism was difficult.


    "I heard you tamed the infamous Longshot and Murdermind. I would have deemed that an impossible task." She seemed to be dancing around something...


    "Well, yes but no. They weren''t Sally and Megan." I sat on the recliner, so I was facing her but as far away as I could get. The events in the Mana Sink may not have been real, but they still affected me.


    "What do you mean?" Rogue frowned, and started tapping her index figure against her thigh.


    "They were agents, Militech. They had been replaced long before I came around." I really didn''t want to talk about it, but I figured it was best to play ball. For now.


    She was no fool, and could see my reluctance to discuss it. She changed subjects. "You ability to heal, can you fix anything?" She seemed eager, but was trying to contain her reactions.


    "No, not anything. However, if it involves flesh, just about anything. I can''t affect cyberware directly, though I can smooth over bad connections between nerves and chrome." I seemingly overshared, while still not fully explaining my magic.


    "Would you be willing to heal some of my people?" Ah, here we go. The crux of the matter.


    "For the right considerations, I''m not interested in money." I leaned towards her, trying to give an impression of being more interested than I really was.


    "What do you want?" Her eyes narrowed. She was calculating things out in her head. I noticed a twitch in her legs, a small quiver of her lips.


    "Connections, favors, influence. Friends, if possible, solid allies failing that. I''m aware you can make at least some of that happen." I smiled, trying to seem friendlier than I felt.


    "I can absolutely help with those." She gave a half nod. There was a feeling she was anticipating something.


    "Then we have an accord, you help me, and I help you." I held out my hand. "I assume you would like to be healed yourself."


    She hesitated, probably realizing I had seen through her, at least to some extent. That irked her. She didn''t like not being in control. She''d seen what had happened to the other women. She was conflicted, she wanted it, and hated what it would mean. A sentiment I completely agreed with. When two people like us meet, something has to give, or we break everything around us. It wasn''t going to be me. Not this time.


    She slid to the end of the sectional, she made it look graceful. She took my hand. I nodded, acknowledging her determination. Not that I was going to make the next part easy on her, quite the contrary.


    I rammed my mana into her body. She shuddered, but otherwise maintained her composure. Good, it''s no fun if she just gives in at the beginning. However, we are just getting started.


    I pulsed my mana in waves, getting a sense of what was wrong with her. Eesh, what wasn''t messed up in her. Not much chrome, which was a surprise. Yet, I was sure most of her organs had been regrown in a vat at some point. They didn''t feel quite settled in. She''d been through some catastrophic damage at some point. Still, easy enough to get everything synced up and running smoothly.


    She jerked as her hips rocked forward once, before she locked down her reactions against my mana. She was grimacing as if she was in pain, even though I knew that was far from the case. I held back a grin, it wouldn''t do to gloat. That would show a lack of professionalism.


    I cleaned up dozen more old wounds, everything from bullet wounds and lacerations to burns and crush damage, before I got her next reaction. A long and low moan that she fought all the way. She undulated a few times before she managed to still herself again.


    "It''s okay, I won''t judge you." I said with as even a tone as I could manage.


    "I''d judge myself." She hissed. I nodded and twisted my mana while straightening out her neural connections. She had a lot of scorched nerves. Overuse of skillchips maybe? Running a Sandy too much? Well, no problem. I stroked the nerves while they grew strong again.


    "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She thrashed against my grip for several breaths before regaining control. Her teeth clenched and sweat glistening on her face. My treatments were already having massive side effects. She looked at least a decade younger already. A shame that I really didn''t like her.


    Either way the first breakthrough is always the hardest to achieve. Now her surrender was only a matter of time. My next play called for varying the strength and speed of my mana coursing deep into her cells. Easing and calming their activities. I forced her muscles to relax, ancient cramps undone as all became as new. This was the straw the broke the camel''s back, so to speak.


    "Noooooo! Please. I can''t. I won''t." She was bucking and laying back against the couch. Trying to escape. Heh.


    I was now standing over her, "It''s okay, just relax. It''s almost over." Now for the finale.


    I bore down on her with a fierce will. I pulled all my mana into a ball just below her naval, and vibrated the nerve clusters there. Oh, there were more direct methods to be sure, better places to focus one to really drive her wild. But this was less obvious. After all, I wanted her to want more, without feeling like I had directly attacked her in a sexual fashion.


    She orgasmed hard, and it lasted for a long time. Her screams reverberated off the walls of the compartment.


    "Mmmmmmmmmaaaaahhhh! Yesh! Yesh! More... " I guess she had been terribly pent up. But, she wasn''t holding anything back anymore. She writhed against the couch, trying desperately to find more sensation, to drive herself over the edge again. I let her go.


    I stared down at Rogue''s disheveled form trying to keep my contempt off my face. I knew it wasn''t fair to her, to hold the actions of the Mana Sink version of her over her head. Yet, she had done a lot of the same things. It was hard to forgive or forget that someone had used a nuke in the middle of a city. I was trying to let it go, for both our sakes.


    I cast Purify on her, no need to let her stew in the mess she''d made.

 Chapter 62

    I pulled off my backpack and took off my jacket. I wasn''t quite sure what era the backpack came from, but despite it''s refrigeration capacities it was nearly silent even to my new hearing. Everything inside it''s main compartment had a nice chill to it. I took out two old school Dr Peppers, their glass bottles making a delightful ringing noise as they clinked together. I got the bottle opener out of one of my survival kits and opened one of the bottles for myself. I didn''t know why, but I have always used all the little names for similar drinks interchangeably, Soda, pop, cola, and so on. I never had stuck with one label for long. My dad had always called it pop, while my Mom had always called it soda. I suppose it no longer mattered, the bubbling, fizzing liquid was a real delight to drink.


    Two of the snack bars, chocolate over a medley of nuts, that I''d stocked up on, were extracted from my pockets. Their Mylar wrappers crinkling noisily. Sadly, there had been no versions of these bars with cashews, which happened to be my favorite type of nut. I''d just have to make due. Poor me. Heh. Look at me, being all self involved. Good thing I was mostly joking, or I''d probably start getting pissed off at myself. Sometimes you''ve gotta joke even if it is only at your own expense.


    The next few moments were spent in enjoying my snacks and beverage, while I pondered my recent uncharacteristic actions. I''d come on slightly too strongly. I couldn''t completely separate what I knew from how I''d treat Rogue. Perhaps, I went a little too hard on her, because of my own failings. I''d have to do better. I couldn''t let her past wrongdoings turn me into a dick. Maybe it was too late, so I''d better avoid let my hang ups pull me further down the asshole path. This along with all of my new found anger issues, was going to be a lot to manage.


    Rogue''s moaning morphing into groans focused my attention back on her. I''d really worked her hard, but it wasn''t as if she hadn''t benefited. She looked a lot younger, which only made me feel even shittier. Those damned caveman instincts, I guess. She was coming out of her pleasure induced stupor. I opened up the second bottle of Dr Pepper and placed it in front of her. See, I could be nice.


    Yeah, just keep telling myself that.


    She groggily picked up the bottle and took a sip. Her eyes widened and her sip turned into a deep guzzling swig. Yup, a cold drink after a "workout" was awesome. She placed the bottle, now half empty, back down on the coffee table. I politely ignored her soft belch. My own sip covered a growing smile.


    "Haven''t had anything like that, since I was a small child. Where did you find it?" She had almost as intense a look on her face as when she''d been lost in ecstasy. She was a very attractive woman. It really was a damned shame, there could never be anything more than business between us.


    "I have a limited source, and it wouldn''t do any good to explain it to you. Perhaps, I''ll share more about it with you, someday." I went with a soft friendly smile. Never just refuse, be polite and suggest future benefits. More advise from my mother.


    She looked away. Of course she would, this was already the second round of our negotiations and she was already on the back foot. I could see her trying to gather her wits and plot out her next steps. She''d be more cautious now, and I knew she was crafty, which was part of why I had thrown her for such a loop.


    "You are a vicious gonk." She frowned. Always nice to get an acknowledgement that the other party saw your scheme. Nicer still if they didn''t shoot you for it.


    "Honestly, I was just trying to be nice with the drink. Maybe, I was being just a bit too aggressive with my ability before. But I want you to understand what I can offer. That I have value that can''t be bought, nor traded, nor taught." I smirked, "Before we go much further, you should look at yourself in a mirror, so you have the full picture." Provide them with some details, but not everything.


    She stared at me flatly for almost a full minute, before she got up and opened one of the cabinets. It had a mirror on the inside of the door, and there was a sink in there too. Should have explored a bit, while she was senseless. Oh well.


    "What?" She touched her face, "Is this some kind of trick?" She was stunned. Bullseye. Anyone could tell, she heavily valued her appearance, her image, and some part of her missed her youth. This had gone a long way in establishing my worth.


    "Nope. You now look like you are about thirty, give or take. Given time and more effort, I could make you look even younger." I chuckled. A bit of bait for further deals. My BTC shook. I received a notice about completing the Meet Rogue Quest. It even had a bonus for making a good impression. 15,000 Company Points in the bag. All in all a good haul, even if I never got anything more out of this.


    Rogue turned, "What do you want?" I couldn''t exactly read her expression, but it was certainly a fascinating sight. Somewhere between lust, envy and dismay.


    "I''m pretty sure I''ve already told you exactly what I want." I frowned, she wasn''t slow. I didn''t think I''d scrambled her brain that hard.


    "It can''t be that simple. With everything you can do, you could carve out your own territory. As much as I''m loathe to say it, you don''t need me, or the mercs in this club." She folded her arms and cocked one of her hips, deep in thought. Probably looking for my hidden motives. Good luck with that.


    My chuckle caused her to focus on my face again, "Tried that. My ''Sponsors'' didn''t like how it turned out. Thus my disappearance, thus me being changed. Now, I have to start over, and forge a different path this time." I shrugged, "At least they left me some of my money." I wished they had left me with my face. I missed it already. I let her mull things over, while I leaned back in the recliner. Part of me wanted to rest my eyes for a while, but there was no way I''d do that in front of her.


    "What can I do to help you?" She asked far more gently than I''d thought her capable of. Ah, she''d made her choice. Now if I could just convince her not to stab me in the back, in a few months.


    "I could use a secure Agent. An identity I could do legitimate business under. Directions to a decent place to stay. The name of some trustworthy folks to do business with. A dependable car for sale. That kind of thing." I leaned forward. It was past time to start setting up a new life.


    "N-Nothing else? Just that?" She seemed to struggle with herself. I wondered what she was thinking?


    "For now, until I get settled, and figure out my next moves." I had a long road ahead, and it would start with anything that could help with getting back my people.


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    She nodded. A chime sounded, startling both of us. Rogue pushed a button on the monitor. The image of her guard seemed exasperated.


    "Faraday is here and he refuses to be rescheduled." He rolled his eyes. "He''s making a scene as usual."


    Rogue sighed. "I''ll be right down." She turned to me, "I have to take care of this. As to your request, I have a standard out of town guest package I can give you. It will let you move freely and conduct business. That will give me time to build you a more solid identity. Okay?"


    There was only one thing to say. "Preem."


    Rogue guided me back to the bar, where an arrogant man waited impatiently. His most notable feature was three eyes on his face''s right side. In some ways, I found that more disturbing than the completely monstrous borg beast Maelstrom, though I couldn''t tell you why. His maroon suit spoke of someone who wanted to mingle with the Corpo crowd, but also wanted to stand out. His grey hair told me he had been around the block. He must have had quite a few aces up his sleeves, because I already wanted to shoot him. No one so full of their own importance could survive long without a few tricks.


    Only seconds of being in his presence, and he was already looking down on me. His gaze was on me for less than a further ten seconds before he dismissed me as unimportant. Strike One.


    "Is this merc trash the reason you tried to reschedule? I fail to see what could be so important that years of planning needed to be delayed further." If he''d noticed your new youthful look, he seemed unimpressed by it. He wasn''t even afraid of Rogue, in her own club. Meaning he probably had something big on her, or had backers that did. While that was plenty interesting, it was still strike two.


    Rogue glared at him for a few seconds, before turning to me. I noticed her guard was rather uncomfortable. So much so, he had his hand on his iron. Hmm. What a curious situation. Why wouldn''t they just flatline this man? So many options came to mind.


    "Medic, the package I promised will be delivered shortly. Please enjoy my club''s hospitality until then." Her fierce expression wasn''t for me, so I didn''t worry about it. She turned back to the rude man, "Faraday, lets get this over with." She turned intending to lead him to the backrooms.


    I nodded and waved my hand at her. "A pleasure to have met you, Ma''am." I smiled broadly while walking pass them to the bar. But some people don''t understand when it''s time to keep their mouths shut.


    "Yes, go sit with Maine''s trash runners, boy." A petty gesture, designed to salve his ego. Strike three.


    I twisted back towards him and grabbed the back of his neck. He drew an gold plated Liberty, but it was already too late. Without a Sandy or a Keren, no standard person was as fast as me. Even a top athlete would''ve had a hard time keeping up, without some chrome. One of the delightful benefits of this new body.


    I pulsed my mana directly into his brain stem, cutting the motor nerves. He was mostly meat, so it was easy. His arms fell to his sides and his pistol hit the floor. Faraday would have followed, now unable to maintain the strength to stand, if not for my hand holding him up as if he was a puppy. I leaned him against the bar, and then got him onto a stool. It''s not easy to maneuver a limp body, so it took a moment.


    In that moment, Rogue''s guard had drawn his iron and aimed at me. Rogue herself already had her pistol out and ready, but at least it was aimed at the floor. For that matter, about half the people in the club had already armed up and were looking for a target when their eyes fell on me. Soon I had a whole room of folks ready to fill me full of holes. For a second, I wondered if my healing could out pace the damage. Though there was no particular reason to find out right now.


    I kept my movements slow. "So how important is he, really?" It wasn''t my first time having iron pointed in my direction. It was however the first time I''d faced such certain death, should I make a mistake.


    "He isn''t. This project is." Rogue said in a calm and measured tone. She was weighing the value of my life against the value of Faraday''s. I doubt I was winning that measuring contest. So let''s change the equation.


    "He''s not dead, by the way. Despite appearances. I just cut off his connection to his motor nerves. I imagine a doc could put him back together, but it would be expensive. Or I could do it in about three seconds." I held my hands out, showing that I was "harmless".


    I heard laughter in the crowd, it was Wrekt. "Good job, kid! Fuck that Gonk!" That trigger a wave of laughs from everyone else and shortly after only Rogue''s guard had me in their crosshairs.


    "Stand down, Crispin. I don''t see any point in escalation." Heh, the numbers had come out in my favor after all. I was starting to think John had been a bad influence on me. The big guy  stowed his iron, now grinning like nothing''d happened.


    Rogue took a stool at the bar. I stayed leaning up against the bar, still trying not to seem threatening. Though a small grin had made its way to my lips.


    "What a fucking day. I need him, what would it take to have him restored?" She was annoyed, but also amused. I''d more than a feeling she was no stranger to dumb but gutsy moves herself.


    "Nothing really, but are you sure you want him restored? He''s much nicer this way." I knocked on his skull. "Oh, and be aware he can still see and hear, he just can''t move anything." I patted his head like a stray dog.


    She chuckled, "You''re a real bastard. I need information he has, and he has backers I need to deal with." She bit her lip ever so slightly. I would have given more than a penny for her thoughts right then.


    "How about I help you out then, for future favors. I''ll restore his ability to speak, but nothing else until he agrees to cooperate with you. Once he fulfills his side of whatever bargain you two had, I''ll came back and restore him. Ah, he still needs to eat and excrete, so maybe intubate him and all of that." I tapped my index finger against his head in time with my words.


    "I see. Well, I certainly have no other way to persuade you to fix him. I accept." Her smirk said it all, she liked this outcome almost as much as I did. I wondered when I''d become so cruel. So conniving. I tried to ignore the little voice in the back of my head that said this was just as petty a reaction as Faraday''s.


    "Excellent." I reconnected the nerves to his mouth, lips, jaw, and tongue.


    "I will repay this insolence." He whispered to me.


    I leaned down next to his ear, "How are you going do that? Go ahead, push me, buddyboy. I''ll cause your own immune system to turn on you. I hear tell, that''s a right painful condition." For perhaps the first time in his miserable life, Faraday showed a measure of wisdom, and stayed silent. Rogue and Crispin dragged him away.


    Once again, I sat at the bar for a while before another bartender came back and delivered an large envelope. Inside was a slim glasslike Agent, along with a couple of laminated cards, a couple of fobs, and a plastic map with directions to both a car and a place in Megabuilding 4. The cards were temp IDs, until Rogue''s people could work up a better digital footprint for me. The car was a Chevillon Emperor, though a custom model. Not really my style but it would do for now. The apartment in MB 4 was listed as an Executive Suite, and seemed to be near the top of the building. I thanked the bartender, a lovely lady name Sherry, and started to leave the club. I waved goodbye at Rebecca and Sasha, who both returned my wave with enthusiastic waves of their own.


    I followed the map closely, keeping one eye out for danger, but it didn''t take long to find the Emperor. A custom job indeed. It looked like the Tyger Claws had had their hands on it for a while, as it was gussied up in bright neon shades of red and yellow with green trim here and there. Ew. Well, getting it painted wouldn''t be hard. I used the fob to open it up and start the engine. The rumbling sound said it had power to spare. Someday I''d see if that was true.


    As I drove to MB 4 my thoughts danced a mile a second. I reviewed recent events and tried to plot out better reactions for next time. My mind kept coming back to one issue. A lot of my manipulation of energies had been using a brute force methodology. Lots of mana and tons of willpower. Now that I''d completed my initial goal, and had a place to holdup, it was past time to start exploring the depths of Life Crafting. All my abilities really, but lets start with that one.


    It was time to find a Joytoy.

 Chapter 63

    Megabuilding 4 was a bustling hub of life, even at this time of night. The odd people of Night City in all their diversity fully on display as they went about their business. The edifice itself, like all of its kind, still disturbed me. The sheer scope of it seemed to defy my understanding of structural support. I was going to be high up in this concrete and steel tower, and it looked like parts of it might fall off or crumble at any moment.


    I parked in a marked spot, which was located in a private section of the megabuilding''s parking structure. It required a certain type of apartment fob to even get access to these areas. Many of the vehicles here were far and away more snazzy than mine. Leaving the SUV behind, I walked over to the single visible elevator. Once again access was regulated to only certain fobs. The ride up was shorter than I would have thought for heading up to the 88th floor. Even the advertisements from the monitors were less intrusive and more cultured.


    The path from the elevator to my suite was a change of pace. Everything here was well maintained and looked clean. Cleaning or repair bots and drones were everywhere. There were even actual plants here and there. Ferns and Ficus, mostly. There was wood paneling on the walls, I couldn''t tell if it was real or not. Lots of uncomfy looking couches and loveseats lining the walls. Odd light fixtures both in the ceiling and on the walls. Even strip lighting in the corners and creases. I felt both interested and repulsed by the d¨¦cor, which I supposed was some kind of minimalist Corpo bullshit. The little manual that Rogue had provided for the suite said that there was shopping on the 80th and 90th floors. It had a list of the restaurants and shops I would find there. Probably with vastly overinflated prices for slightly better than normal Night City fare.


    If there was any obvious problem, it was the stares from the other residents of these top floors. Mostly mid level management at the various corporations in Night City, they instantly saw that I was out of place and reacted by ignoring me with extreme prejudice. To them I didn''t exist, which was fine by me. I''d be more than happy to erase them from existence if I could.


    My new suite was 88A - 100. 88th Floor, Section A, Suite 100. Ah, there it was. Of course, it was as far from the Elevator as it could get. As I stepped through the door, which appeared to be made of a lightly painted wood, I got a shock. Fifteen foot tall floor to ceiling windows with a beautiful nighttime view of the City Center. Everything lit up in neon lights. The holographic ad banners clearly visible even from this far away. The amazing things people were capable of, that they then turned into something stupid.


    Once I managed to tear my eyes away from the stunning sight, I saw I was in an open concept living room, dinning room, kitchen area. It was quite large, for a place in the city. The living area had recessed seating with plush leather couches, a completely alien to me entertainment center, and a glass coffee table. The dinning area had a glass dining table for six, the chairs a combination of metal and fabric of some kind. The kitchen was small although well appointed, especially for a place where almost no one cooked for themselves.


    I wasted no time transferring the goods in my backpack and pockets into the modest fridge. Between the kitchen and living area, on the left hand side of the suite was a doorway leading into the laundry room and bathroom combo. Between the dinning area and living room, on the right hand side of the suite was a doorway leading a hallway with two more doors. One was the snazzy bedroom, done up in black silk, and the other was a den with bookshelves full of knickknacks and a large desk. I hadn''t turned on a single light, with my new eyes I didn''t need to. Once I had finished exploring the apartment I found myself back in front of the windows looking out over the city again. I hated that I loved the view as much as I did.


    Later, after I had my full of humanity''s "achievements" I turned on the holoscreen, for some background noise. Then made myself a sandwich and ate while thinking about how I wanted to deal with using a Joytoy for experimentation. The idea of it felt wrong, though I had no intention of doing anything damaging to them. Part of me was cringing away from the idea. To satisfy my own moral compass, I''d have to explain what I was doing at least to some extent. It was the proper thing to do. I tried to shake my head clear of my doubts.


    Well, some more research on Joytoys was called for. I pulled out the cellphone like glass Agent. I spent the next half hour learning it''s functions and how to interact with the Net on it. Most features were fairly intuitive. Once I got used to the iconography of 2075. I first looked up the laws surrounding Joytoys, to find there was a lack of them. In fact, by the standards of my upbringing Night City really was a lawless place, except when it came to corporate law. Thousand of business regulations, making it difficult if not impossible for new businesses to get started. However, I was sure that most, if not all, of them could be bypassed by greasing the right palms. I''d have to trust Rogue to point me in the right direction there.


    After my brief tangent diving into the legal system, I turned my attention back to the laws specific to Joytoys. Prostitution was mostly legal and unregulated. Where it became illegal was in the area of gross bodily harm and or alteration, or matters of age. So gang run toys were fair game for the darker and more dangerous fantasies some perverts might have. While it might be expedient to get a subject from them, the gangs had a history of using any information gained from their toys against clients. Make no mistake, even if they were not a Doll there would be some method of information gathering on the Joytoy. Unless we were talking about the Mox, who were all about saving the Toys that had gotten tangled up with the other gangs.


    There were self run Joytoys, they were a mixed bag. Some were desperate, some were canny go-getters. Some were from the poorest places, some were from the highest rungs of society. If I went that route I''d have to carefully vet my subject.


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    The last option was both the best and worst one. There were Corp run brothels for high end clientele. Highly regulated, the excellent health of the Joytoy were guaranteed. The Corps promised everything would be extremely discrete. However, they all tended to be Dolls with full recording abilities wired in. I really didn''t like that idea.


    No, I was making this far more difficult than it had to be. I''d a perfect source of information, with people that I could at least partially trust. Well, once I convinced them I was still Ryan under my new purple skin. I''d been avoiding thinking about them, too much, though I wasn''t sure why. I finally talked myself into at least a visit.


    Let''s go see the Mox.


    As I thought through how I''d want to handle my reintroduction to the Mox, my eyes slipped once again to the date and time on my Agent. I''d lost six months or just about. It was February, 11, 2075. So much time stolen from me. Did it take them that long to alter my original body into this one, or did they need that long to shove my mind into this body from my old one? I should be freaking out over this, but I was very comfortable in this body. It felt good, and it felt right. Was that also part of their process or was this simply a better reflection of who I was becoming? Was my Druid class somehow more compatible with this Kaldorei body.


    What an odd problem to have. Or was it really a problem at all? My actions, since my reawakening, have been more primal, more in tune with my instincts. I was far less concerned with the morality of the use of my abilities, and far quicker to resort to confrontation. After some examination of my inner self I found I wasn''t actually worried about any of this. I knew it would have greatly bothered me before, but now I felt little in the way of preoccupation over these issues.


    Even as my ruminations flowed, my right hand continued to draw and aim and then re-holster my pistol. The action required no direction on my part, it was simply a reflex and with each draw it became smoother, quicker and more ingrained into my muscles. Now that was a neat benefit, I could actually feel the process of my nerves and muscles becoming hard wired into this behavior. Truly, a novel experience for me.


    I needed to find some one for my further combat training. The sooner I started the faster I could stack more advantages in my favor. My head nodded. Perhaps Rita would be interested in a little practice, or those new ladies I had met at the Afterlife. Rebecca at least seemed to know her way around weapons. Hmm. that was another difference, I could admit to myself that I''d enjoyed the way those women moved under the influence of my mana. Even Rogue, despite not liking her past choices. On one hand, I was far less hung up on many of my previous concerns about my desires. Yet, in the past I''d always thought that control and patience were my paramount concerns. Now I could see that I wanted tp enjoy myself more.


    I''d certainly have to find new ways to enjoy my gifts without letting it all go to my head, or warp my views, or dictate my actions. A part of me, perhaps new or at least more noticeable than before, lobbied to utilize my power in a ruthless manner. To take what I wanted and to bend others to my will. After all, my abilities were perfect for that. The pleasure alone was enough to shape women to my tastes given time, never mind actually being able to affect changes in hormones and DNA. While I might not be able to change specific memories, there was no mechanical reason I couldn''t turn off nerve clusters in the brain until I found the right ones. Blanking out whole sections of their lives. I''d some idea of how transformative that could be.


    But that''s not who I wanted to be. Every relationship in that scenario would ultimately be empty, every person I bent to my will just a puppet. Meaningless. I very much craved willing attention. People who wanted to be with me, instead of broken husks.


    All the issues of good or evil aside, I didn''t think that molding people was a viable long term strategy. Very few folks enjoyed being controlled, regardless of the kindness of the hands holding the leash. Even the people you weren''t juggling might choose to oppose you on those grounds as well. Whether they wanted that power for themselves, or just wanted to be rid of the terrible behavior. Hell, some people for similar reasons would try to remove me just because they thought I could do those things, regardless of the would. Either way, these things tend to blow up in your face after a while. Let''s try to avoid that.


    I also needed to watch my innate sense of fair play and kindness. It wasn''t gone, though maybe it had been somewhat muted by my anger or even my new form. Night City would try to twist my concerns and punish every act of charity. Especially, if I proceeded thoughtlessly. But in order to be able to help others, I had to be strong enough to deal with any consequences.


    Now admittedly my knowledge of such things comes mostly from movies and a brief interest in politics when I was young and na?ve. So maybe I was missing a few points. Though a few things from my time with Jaina, John and Raynor had sunk in, and I could live with being as minimal an asshole as I could safely get away with. Yet another part of me didn''t care about any of it, it just wanted to act.


    I sighed. I''d time to figure this all out. I''d hoped I did anyway. The Company could snatch away my progress again at some point in the future. I doubted they would though, it felt like this heavy-handed maneuver had cost them something, though I had no clue what that might be. Where that intuition came from was unclear, but it was a very strong feeling.


    My mind mostly seemed intact and my previous sense of self mostly preserved, but who could really say?


    I headed back down to the garage, got in my vehicle and drove to Lizzie''s.


    Now I wasn''t so foolish to park a SUV done up in Tyger Claw colors anywhere near the bar itself. I found a parking lot a couple of blocks over and hiked the rest of the way. In a land of people so keen on altering themselves in every conceivable way, there was many an interesting sight. A few folks, their skin looking like various liquid metals, were holding an impromptu rave. Dancing and laughing like fools. Good for them. In a nearby alley a few gangers were getting their clocks cleaned by some far more ordinary looking folks. Lots of crowbars and tire irons being used to educate the goons of the folly of operating on this block. It brought a chuckle to my throat as it reminded me of my first foray into this town.


    I remembered when it was just me, Scuff, and Fix going after Maelstrom. That was almost a year ago, now. How I missed my little robo buddies. Yet another debt that needed repaying.


    I also recalled the last time I had visited the Mox. I''d promised to look for Saphie. Now six months had passed, and I no longer had access to Observers or Alina. Though, I could talk to some of the Runners from the Afterlife and see what they could dig up. Hmm, perhaps I could hire Sasha to poke around. Or perhaps she could at the very least point me to someone who would take the job.


    What else had I left unfinished?


    As Lizzie''s Bar came into view, I heard faintly in the distance, a howl.

 Chapter 64

    A shiver passed from the base of my spine to the top of my skull. A howl in a place where wild animals were rarer than hen''s teeth and the domestic ones are but a memory. Could it be? It sounded far from here, likely miles away, and by the time I could''ve tracked it down, whatever had called out would be long gone. Yet a small fire burned in my gut. Hope reared it''s head.


    "Mith, please be okay." I whispered.


    I heard a sharper more piercing howl, much closer now. The beast would had to have been moving faster than a car. A keening whine ripped through the air as a tear formed in the air in front of me. Before I''d time to fully register what was going on I was buried in fur and driven into the ground as a huge shaggy form pinned me. A whine filled my ears. Followed by continuous yips and yelps of joy.


    ''I found you! I found you! I found you!'' A tongue larger than my body, tried to drowned me in endless slobber. I couldn''t have gotten more soaked by falling in a river.


    While I was certainly joyous at the return of my friend, I was about to die of suffocation. I struggled a bit before remembering I could resort to psychic communication.


    ''Mith, let me up. I need to breathe.''


    He bounced back, covered dozens of yards in a simple motion. He performed a play bow while making a "Rururururururu" noise. Then he proceeded to bounce around some more.


    ''Sorry, Sorry. So happy!'' He''d gotten so much larger than he was before. Nearly double his original size. From horse-like to elephantine. Yet for all of his mass, he moved with an enviable gracefulness. It was an awe inspiring sight. I managed to get back to my feet and stumbled over to him, and had to reach upwards to give him a hug.


    "You''ve gotten huge, you''re like a Doggosaurus!" He was still as fluffy as before.


    ''Yes, I''m big now. I can even Dance, now.'' He bobbed his head. His tongue lolled out in a dog grin.


    "Dance?" I reached up to scritch behind his ears.


    ''From place to place. Step through and between. Dance.'' He jiggled in place, as his hind leg started to try to match the movement of my hand.


    Ah, the tear in the air before he ran over me. "Wait you can teleport?" A giant teleporting dog? Okay now that was just silly, but I loved it.


    ''Yes, Dance, here and there. Everywhere.'' His tail was wagging so fast that it was generating storm like winds behind him. I stepped back while keeping a hand as close to his ear as possible, sadly it was now out of scritching distance. Folks were staring in disbelief at the giant canine. Yeah, that was going to be a real problem.


    "Ah, people''s reactions are going to be a problem." I considered shooting everyone nearby to keep information about Mith from spreading.


    ''It''s okay. Worked on trick with others. Hold on.'' His happy mental voice jumped a bit. He chuffed and began to circle. I felt mana being drawn into him. After the third roundabout he was smaller by half, and by the sixth circle he was half of that size. Soon he was the size of a very big dog, though well within the realm of normal. I placed my hand on his head, it felt like his real fur. So this was shapeshifting as opposed to some form of illusion. That was really cool.


    Soon enough folks mostly went back to ignoring us. A few glances now and then, merited by the uniqueness of a hound roaming the streets. Who knows what they thought about before, if their ad-rotten brains could even hold a thought that long anymore.


    "Nice! You''ll still stand way the fuck out, but nobody should call the cops about you. Oh, buddy I''ve missed you!\" I knelt down to hug him again as he began a relaxed pant. He got all the scritches.


    ''Couldn''t find you, very sad. Then felt you again, came to find. Happy! Happy!'' His body wiggled so much it was hard to hold him.


    I cast Purify on myself, to get rid of the slobber, and checked Mith over. He was in excellent health. Someone, presumably the Nomads, had been taking care of him. I''d have to find a way to properly thank them later. There were not words to describe what this meant to me. As I talked to Mith about what happened to me, I realized that things were starting to look up. This was a great first step on this new path.


    We spent a while just talking and sharing space. I felt no need to rush and it was good to take the time to relax.


    After a short time, we both walked the last few hundred feet to Lizzie''s. Despite being god awful early in the morning, their business was booming. I queued up behind a few partygoers as they were being looked over by none other than Rita herself. Mith stayed plastered to my side but otherwise seemed comfortable even with all the excitement and noise. Oddly other than a few glances no one seemed to be agitated by the large dog''s presence. Maybe they thought he was a bot of some kind.


    When it got to be my turn, of course, Rita didn''t recognize me, no surprise there. She stared a few seconds at Mith and then shrugged.


    "You''re new. You... "


    I leaned closer to her and whispered, "I''m Ryan." Interesting fact, Ryan isn''t such a common name in Night City these days. Not a lot of guys named Ryan running around the mean streets.


    Her eyes narrowed as her brain did some calculations. "Prove it."


    I offered her my hand, "Sure."


    Now her eyes widened as she slapped her hand in mine. Rita was mostly chrome, I''d known that from before. This didn''t stop me from gently stimulating her brain into feeling pleasure, not much, just enough to verify my identity. After all I wasn''t out to have fun. Yet.


    She let out a small little gasp. "Ryan it''s good to see you, we''d all thought you might have been flatlined. Look at you all squeaky new. 100% ''Ganic, again huh? That must''ve cost a pretty ennie. What''s with the fuzzy bot?" She had a genuine smile on her face.


    "There''s been some trouble, but I''m getting a handle on it." I gestured to my doggo, "This is Mith, the best boy. Treat him well."


    Her eyes widened, but then she scoffed, "Of course, any friend of yours is welcome here."


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Mateo in? Need some advise and info." I heard some impatient noises from the crowd waiting to get in.


    "Yup. He''s doing his thing at the bar. Just watch out, a lot of the girls feel they owe you from before. And no one has forgotten how your ''special touch'' feels, you might get mobbed." She grinned.


    "It''s a blessing and a curse." I managed to get it out with a straight face, but we both started cracking up.


    "Hey get a move on!" Someone had lost their cool. Bad move.


    Rita glared over my shoulder. Her bat started tapping her shoulder. "You can shove off, Gonk. We don''t need you tonight. Maybe you can come back some other night, when you learn to behave." She made a ''Buzz off'' gesture.


    She looked back to me. "Head on in Ryan, and have a good time."


    "See you later, Rita." Mith and I entered Lizzie''s.


    Maybe I''d get lucky and find the right Toy.


    As I crossed the threshold I heard Rita mutter behind me, "He''s got nova colors now, the girls are going to love him even more. I hope he can deal... " Her voice trailed off as, I think she was messaging someone in the club.


    At the front counter, I let out an involuntary grunt. My senses were full of the the provocative nature of the place. With everything about my new form jacked up to eleven, I was suddenly drowning in sex. The sights, the smells, and the sounds. Thank fuck no one was touching me; I''d probably turn savage immediately.


    "Hey input, you okay?" I looked up to see Kimmie, she looked much the same as the first time I had seen her. Her outfit tonight was a green ''Bitch'' halter top with a way too short purple miniskirt. She made sure to show me her assets, however something was different about her.


    I slapped a smile on, ignoring the part of me that wanted to reach over the counter and pull her to me. Primal Heart indeed. "Yes, just have to adjust to my new condition. I see you''re still working the front, are you still having fun?" Something was off about her. What could it be?


    "Oh I''m having a preem time. Soon you will be too." She frowned and brushed her neon pink hair back. She was trying to place me, but couldn''t. I guess Rita wasn''t messaging her. As I handed over my weapon, I thought back to the first time I ever walked in here. Ah, that''s it. She had toned the sex kitten routine down, no blatant leering and her cheerful demeaner from that encounter was gone. Maybe she''d seen too much. Or perhaps long nights full of messed up people had worn away the glamor of the place for her. Now it was just a job.


    "I hope you have a better night, Kimmie." I nodded to her and was about to leave when Mith stood on his hind legs to see over the counter. He planted his front paws by the catalogue and exuded that canine charm. His eyes gleamed with mischief and his grin brought a smile to all that beheld him. His tail was blurring in excitement at all the new things going on around him. Now it was more than obvious he wasn''t a bot.


    ''What are all these smells? So, interesting!'' His nostrils were rapidity taking in all the air they could. There was comfort in knowing that having a human level intellect didn''t in any way diminish Mith''s canine behaviors. I ruffled his ears.


    "OH! Who''s this adorable guy?" Kimmie squealed. She came around the counter and proceeded to molest my dog, her attentions quickly started to resemble the behaviors I first encountered from her. All it took was something truly interesting, like an extinct specie of fluff monster.


    A bouncer on the other side of the curtains leading to the main section of the club, leaned through, "Kimmie, you okay? Somebody giving you troub- Is that a dog?!" Soon enough the bouncer was on her knees in front of the the furball trying to him him all the scratches. Soon enough, a few dozen people were joining the Mith Appreciation Society that had just spontaneously been formed. Even the folks who came in after us seemed content to let it continue, some even joined in.


    I stood there quietly letting them have all the doggo therapy they could stand. Happy that some things were still the same whatever world I was in. Mith was in heaven at all the attention, I could feel his joy at being the center of a storm of praise and pets. I broke down laughing. I couldn''t help it, it was all so silly. This is what these people were missing. The non-judgmental fuzzball companions that lost in the past. I didn''t have the heart to stop it anytime soon.


    After a few more minutes, Susie Q came in and established some order with her usual attitude. She started ordering her folks back to work and tell the customers to have fun. By have fun, she obviously meant get in the club and spend some Eddies.


    ''Aw.'' Mith said as his ears drooped. He returned to my side and leaned up against my side. My left hand just naturally rested on his head. Like he planned it that way. Crafty, fuzzball.


    When the Mox had all returned to their posts and the customers had entered the club, Susie turned to me. "Anyways making trouble Ryan." She glared at me.


    I heard Kimie''s sharp intake of breath, from off to the the side. Yup, Rita hadn''t told her. Heh. I started to edge away from the fierce lady in front of me. "Would you look at the time, I best get to the ba-oof."


    Suddenly all the air was knocked out of me. Next thing I knew, my arms were full of the Mox''s leader. She hugged me with genuine affection. "We missed you, you Gonk. Where''ve you been? What happened?" I would''ve responded but my brain was still trying to process Susie hugging me. What the fuck?


    "Would you believe I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque?" I had to joke, my mind couldn''t handle anything else right now.


    "Huh?" She pulled back while not letting me escape. Mith followed along.


    "Sorry, old joke. Let''s hit the bar or something and I''ll tell you all about it." Instead of the bar, she latched on to my arm and practically dragged me into her office. It was tidy and clean. Her workstation was neatly organized her last task still sitting on her monitor''s screen.


    "George will be thrilled to know you are back. We can''t begin to thank you enough for what you have done for us. Our first child will be coming in a few months." Oh ho! That explained a lot.


    She guided me to a small loveseat. Mith laid down beside an end table, trying to follow the conversation. I sat and started to give her the rundown of my situation. It was Mith''s first time hearing it too. He interjected with soft whines here and there. I tried to give him comforting scritches.


    "So the people that sent you here, screwed you over with no warning. Then tried to steal your memories and stuck you in a new body, and are holding your crew for ransom." She shook her head, "That''s some glitched shit."


    "Yeah, so now I''m looking for allies. I''m going to get my people back and then I''m going to find some way to tear the Cockbag responsible for this a new asshole." I growled.


    "How can we help?" That right there, made my day. Hell, made my fricking year. No hesitation. Funny how if you help people, sometimes they help you when you need it. Though I was about to abuse that help. I gave it to her straight, I didn''t sugarcoat what I was looking for.


    "You need an experimental subject. Really, you''d need more than one." She frowned, "That comes dangerously close to what we try to stop, Ryan. I''m sure you have the best intentions, but what happens if things go wrong." She look toward a window on her office wall overseeing the main floor of the club. I knew, without a doubt, she was running thoughts of her gang in her mind, sorting out their interests versus mine.


    Yeah, I didn''t like the idea either. But I knew I could do so much more to help people, if only I''d learned how everything worked. I already seemed to be able to delay the encroachment of Cyberpsychosis, what if I could cure it altogether? Not that I wanted a bunch more Borgs running around, stable or not, but more people could have that choice safely. There are a few dozen diseases and syndromes that can occur from the integration of Chrome, I should at some point be able to fix them all. Instead of the messed up patch jobs I could manage now.


    Also, even if no one else could ever use mana, any data collected would be of some help to the current medical professionals, the ones who still actually cared anyway. A healthy baseline of tissue and chrome interaction, could provide models that paved the way for countless future innovations.


    "I''m not interested in screwing anyone over here. All I can promise is that I will do my best to both prevent accidents, and if they do occur, put anyone I''m working on back together. Once I have full control and understanding of my abilities, I''m sure I can improve what people already have going on." My hands were gesturing wildly trying to convey my sincerity, "I''m willing to both pay, and offer future favors, because I understand what a terrible thing I''m asking. If you want, you can have someone monitor everything from step one. So I can''t go all Corpo on this.


    She nodded. I could see it left a sour taste in her mouth, but she could see the benefits. "Alright, but I have a few conditions... "

 Chapter 65

    My new apartment was to become an Outpost of the Mox, or so it seemed. Members of the gang were in and out all day, delivering all the new equipment and settings things up. My den was converted into a bunk room for my new mandatory guests, with three very nice queen sized bunk beds. Plus new storage for all of my guests'' necessities. I''d a sense I''d be hard pressed to find any extended shower time in the near future.


    We put together a cluster of medical equipment in my living area, I don''t recall what bothered me more; the fact that I had enough room to house a full surgical theater in my living area, or that there was now no room left for anything else. Two fully kitted out Ripper Chairs, four different types of Autodocs. A whole host of monitors and scanners.


    None of it was for me, of course, it was for Evie. Evie was a Mox who was learning the trade of a Ripper. So they could get out from under unscrupulous assholes that took payment in trade, she explained. Dark Green hair and green eyes complimented her serious features. She had a personality that was so no nonsense, I joked that she was nineteen going on forty. She either didn''t get it or simply decided not to respond. While she still had a couple of years of schooling left, she should have no problem helping me with my subjects'' cyberware. Most problems concerning chrome would be ones of basic maintenance.


    My dining area was converted into a small datacenter to both monitor and coordinate my findings with a larger offsite NETcluster, that would then handle the release of all useful information to the medical community. My name and abilities would obviously be obscured. Who would believe in the way I heal without seeing it anyway?


    Lacie the second of my new guests to arrive was responsible for all of this. She was a short spitfire of a woman, never sitting still and always talking at a speed just short of sound itself. Her flashing multicolored fiber hair bounced along with her mouth''s cadence. Her optics were an odd green, black, red combo. Though it hardly mattered as they were usually covered by her techgoggles. Her shocking purple netrunner suit hurt my eyes. She was responsible for designing a Learning Algorithm, to help with shoring up my findings so that they would seem more professional. More easily digested by the academics. I quickly asked if her work would violated any of the AI restrictions and received a lecture on the differences between the two. All I understood out of her rapid speech was that nothing she created would be a problem.


    I purchased most of the equipment, using the Moxes'' and Rogue''s connections. It ended up costing a sizable chuck of my money, but was still far cheaper than I could''ve imagined. Rogue''s assistance came at the price of helping her build better inroads with the Mox. Something that hadn''t gone well for either side in the past. Well, it wouldn''t be the first time I had brought different folks together.


    Mark and Gena, a couple that were seriously into each other, showed up next. They''re here for some basic security. They quickly got all the permissions from the Megabuilding''s management to install monitoring equipment including cameras and sensors in the closest section of the outer hallway and then more in the apartment. Later several hidden turrets would be added for additional defense. I personally thought they were going a bit overbroad, but then reminded myself what this place was like. The instant any useful data was generated and distributed, We''d have a huge target on our heads. Thus the urgent need for some huscle.


    Mark reminded me of Maine, at least in the size department. He was forced into working, at a way too young age, as a Doll for one of the Corpos'' secret clubs. His natural good looks attracting a certain type of disgusting pervert. After a couple of years the club he was working for ''discarded'' him, saying he was all ''used up''. He decided he would never be subject to whims of others again. Then he found Gena, or she found him and they found the Mox.


    Gena, whose modifications reminded me of a leopard, was the daughter of a CEO who was forcefully "retired". Her father''s enemies had her captured and converted into a pleasure Doll by the Tyger Claws. Who quickly sold her to a major fixer. She spent a couple of years as a plaything of some of the most terrible people in Night City. I couldn''t begin to contemplate what she''d been through. If not for a MaxTac raid on her owner, that might have been her fate. But when she somehow survived the crossfire with minimal damage she got taken in by one of the officers.


    A car accident left her alone again and she ended up on the streets, where she and Mark met. The rest of their story was a good one, full of revenge and sex and, dare I believe it, love. I''m not going to lie, I was more than a little touched by their story. Two damaged people finding each other and building a better life together. It appealed greatly to some part of me that I didn''t really understand. So what if a few bodies were dropped here and there? That was just the cost of doing business in NC.


    The last of my new additions was Ricky. He was a Mox that specialized in therapy for the Gang. No that''s not a joke. While he was eclectic in his approach to treatment, he got results. By trying to tailor his help to the actual problem rather than following a set of overarching guidelines. He was educated somewhere in the eastern NUSA- and spoke with a slight twang with a hint of a drawl as well. I felt like I''d heard a similar accent before, I just couldn''t remember where. He was fucking funny. I''d never be able to do his humor justice myself. Trust me when I say he could get a laugh out of a corpse.


    I spent some time talking with each of my new roommates, trying to get to know them. I gave them a heavily edited rundown of my story, and a very basic overview of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I cooked us up a decent meal with some things I''d found down in the markets on the 80th floor of the building.</p>\n


    They shipped the good stuff by AV straight to the higher floors, I discovered. They had little docks and platforms for the damned things.


    By my standards, most of these ingredients were subpar at best. However, by Night City standards these were the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me of foodstuffs. I whipped up some chicken rice casserole. It was something I learned to cook with my Mom, when I was a kid, and was still a comfort food to me. With a side of spicy twice baked potatoes. Something I taught myself to make after I started living on my own. It almost tasted right to me. I shrugged it off. It would work for now, until I could start bringing better ingredients back from my Hub.


    After we shared the meal, I was told I was officially the property of the Mox now. Which I guess meant they liked the food. Hell, they were shocked I could cook at all. It was a lost skill for adults here, unless they specifically worked in the food industry. I was promised many "ahem" things if only I would keep cooking for them. Heh. It was good to get along with folks.


    Mith, of course, needed no such bribe to get on the Moxes'' good sides. Indeed, he instead collected tithes of pets and scratches. He was too friendly to ignore and too happy to let folks wallow in isolation.


    In a few days, Susie would start sending over the first volunteers. I was to return them in better health than they started. As long as I managed that it was understood that I could do pretty much anything I thought was needed. They would be monitored every step of the way, and all the data generated would belong to the Mox. No, that wasn''t me bending over for them. I simply wanted to keep my name out of it. Getting better control over my ability was enough of a reward for me. I suspected that at some point even the good will I had built up with the Mox might not be enough to keep them from turning on me if I turned this into a business partnership. Nah, I''d certainly find a different route to generate Eddies later. Though the occasional run with folks from the Afterlife might be a good way to start.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The next day, I let my new roomies know I''d be going to a meeting. I gave them an estimated time frame, promising to keep in touch. Time to go see what remained of my Outpost.


    It was with some trepidation that I set out to meet Amanda.


    I was filled with dread at finding out what the fate of my people might have been. There was no way that the Company or the Corpos had simply left them alone. The best outcome was that Amanda had taken over and kept most of them safe.


    The Chevillon Emperor that Rogue provided had now seen the Moxes'' touch. They couldn''t let me roll around in Tyger Claw colors, after all. So they had repainted the SUV black with small green and purple stripes as trim. Understated with just a touch of style. Future project; load up this vehicle with weapons. Especially if I''m going to be running out into the Badlands on a regular basis. I was thinking missiles or at least rockets. I''d have to look into it soon.


    The drive out to Rocky Ridge was uneventful, perhaps the Wraiths had gone quiet to build up their forces. Or the Aldecaldos had gone on the warpath. Both were troubling thoughts. Once I got there I got yet another surprise. No one had cleaned up the area, the victim''s remains, of John''s  chain-gun rampage, still lay where they had been destroyed. Even more interesting, was dozens more wrecks and other signs of heavy conflict scattered around the ghost town. Folks had been fighting hard over this area for some reason. Lots of them.


    Since I was more than a little early, I stopped and poked my nose around for a few minutes. I found little to indicate what everyone was after. However, some of the scars of battle were very recent maybe just a few days old. Others were older, likely from right after our last visit. Sure, it looked like a lot of little skirmishes, but taken all together it might mean something bigger was going on.


    Like the fact that I saw Nomad colors and signs, mixed in the abandoned heaps, that weren''t just the Aldecaldos. That wasn''t a small thing. If the other clans were uniting, it could change the balance of power in the wastes. That was just supposition. I probably shouldn''t let my brain run too far ahead on this. There were dozens of reasons why this could be going on. Including good old fashioned interclan fighting.


    Once, I got back into my SUV, I finally placed what had been brewing in the back of my head. Something that I hadn''t noticed until that moment. There was no Psifield, I should closer enough to New Lordaeron to be under its influence here, but I felt nothing.


    Pushing north, I soon saw the cluster of buildings that had attracted my attention to this spot in the first place. My heart dropped when I saw the sparse remains of my Khalai buildings. The pylons had fallen, the crystals dark, dull and cracked. Any crysbronze was grey and crumbling. Amongst the ruins were small pile of grey dust, it wasn''t hard to figure out they were the remains of Probes. Dozens of little Robo Buddies, rendered into fine ashen flakes. My mind dredged up images of how they behaved and worked. For things born of metal and crystal, they had been so alive. Now they were gone. Making this a fucking tragedy I was not prepared to deal with.


    However, no matter how horrible I felt, tears could not come. All sadness was burned away by a cold fire inside me. Though I had noticed it before, I hadn''t been paying it much mind, having had tons of other things to worry about, without needing to dig around in my own heart. Now not only could I not ignore it, the frosted flames started growing.


    I found larger piles of dust, Sentries perhaps. All I could see was the devastation of what had been my friends. My heart burned colder. But then I heard the faint trickling sound of water, far to the east. So I followed my ears and started to see fields of crops in the distance. I began to notice more mana and moisture in the air. A gravel road ran up to the fields, so I placed my feet on it and walked towards the signs of life.


    On closer inspection, the fields were well maintained. Somebody was still farming out here. The northern field was growing some type of orange corn, the southern held some small type of small beans that were crimson in hue. I didn''t remember either one being options I''d seen in the CStore. The soil had been properly maintained and was damp. The smell alone told me this was water from a Moon Well.


    So the Company assholes took away what gave me the greatest advantage, the Khalai. But then left the New Lordaeron structures untouched. I nodded to myself. Yeah I didn''t get that play at all. I supposed I should be happy that anything was left at all. I just couldn''t feel that way, right now.


    When I got to the the actually farm houses, I found an intersection and two more farm houses than I expected. Did they choose this layout to make it easier to defend themselves? How many folks worked here. Four Moon Well enhanced farms could support a lot of people. And for all I knew, there were more fields beyond these.


    "My Lord is that you?" A small soft voice called. I turned towards the northwestern house and saw a Lordaeron woman sticking her head out of the door. She''d just barely opened it and seemed ready to dart back inside at the slightest hint of trouble. I figured that the summoned folks would have some sense of me. It was useful now, so that I wouldn''t have to jump through hoops just to prove who I was.


    "Yes. It''s me." For whatever that''s worth.


    "You have become one of those Night Elves, My Lord!" She seemed delighted and distrubed. "Forgive me, My Lord. We had all but lost hope that you would return." She came out of her doorway armed with a shotgun and wearing what looked like Night City PD style armor.


    I nodded, "I understand. Don''t worry about it. Is Amanda about? I was supposed to meet her here today." I could hear other doors opening. Soon a crowd of Farmers and their families were giving me their greetings. It was good to see them. To see that something worthwhile had survived the machinations of the Company, for now. After a while spent with them sharing friendly banter, Reina invited me into her home for some food. We talked about what had happened as we made our way inside the farm house.


    All of my Outposts, in the Badlands, were in similar condition. The Khalai tech, almost universally, just ceased functioning and then quickly began to degrade. Without the capable protection of the Cannons and the Pylons, various groups started raiding the crops. As I hoped, Amanda and the Nomads stepped up and helped defend both New Lordaeron and the Outposts in the wastes. Though it soon became apparent that they wouldn''t be enough by themselves.


    The lure of our now lightly defended settlements flush with delicious food and pure water drove many folks mad. Wraiths and Gangers, of course led the charge to grab what they could. Soon enough even ordinary everyday folks caught wind of the bounty and wanted their piece of the pie.


    Soon Amanda had to send word not just to all the families of the Aldecaldos but to all of the other Nations of Nomads as well. Less than a week later members of the Jodes and Folks arrived, even some of the Snake Nation showed up to help out. Hundreds, then thousands of Nomads poured into the Badlands. Killing any of the Raffen they could find for almost a hundred miles in every direction. Then they pushed the Gangs and even the Corpos back to Night City. They fully controlled the food and water now, and were of no mind to share it with those that''d just tried to steal it.


    There was even talk of forming a new United Family Nation. Though it would be very difficult to set aside all of the old differences, the presence of seemingly endless fresh food and delicious water smoothed a lot of things over.


    Recently the conflicts with outside aggressors had just started to settle back down. Small skirmishes aside. Farmers were starting to be able to save enough seed stock to start regrowing, and even expanding fields, now that they were being left alone. Though the mana from the Wells had mutated some of the crops, it was never in a harmful way. Everyone knew this peace wouldn''t last, but they were all glad that they had it.


    All of this news was a lot for me to consider.

 Chapter 66

    As I sat at Reina''s dining table drinking a cup of refreshing Moon Well water, I ran a fuck ton of calculations in my head. She''d given me so much to think about, almost too much. What was one more thing when I already had so much on my plate. There was no way things could ever go back to the way that had been. Even when I somehow managed to get all of my people back, that troubling fact wouldn''t change. Now that huge volumes of people without any connection to me or my ideas were out here bleeding and dying over New Lordaeron, I''d never again be accepted as de facto leader. Worse, without control of the Khalai technology, or the Treants, my value as a leader or provider was relatively small.


    Sure, I could heal, but so could the priests of the Light. The followers of the Light had really stepped up, saving countless lives in this conflict. Their kindness under Father Mauris had set an example that had won over many of the jaded Nomad''s hearts already. Some Nomads of every Nation were even converting to the religion of the Light. I''d found that to be one of the most shocking outcomes of this mess. Even more shocking was that some Nomads were being rapidly accepted by the Light as priests, with all the powers and privileges that entailed.


    That meant that Divine Will had begun to move and shape events in this world. Who could say whether that was a good thing?


    The only defenses that still worked were the Statues of the Keeper in the Valley and Jaina''s Tower. Which is the main reason New Lordaeron had managed to hold up until reinforcements arrived. Yet without Jaina, no one could control the tower fully. No one had the authority, as Jaina had barely begun the training of a few apprentices. The apprentices could train new folks, with ample talent, to use a few basic spells. Hardly enough to really begin shifting the power dynamics of the town. Hmm, I could certainly take control of the tower until I got the Archmage back. But for what purpose? I wasn''t going to sit around training Mages, or Druids even if I could.


    Now the most interesting tidbit of news. Many of the Khalai adaptations of technology from other themes still functioned. So our Power Armor with their SORs still worked, along with the modified MRAP. Without the Psifield, they couldn''t draw or store enough power to stay in operation long, and took days to recharge, but they were a potent force multiplier when they did work. Well that made me feel a bit better that something I''d had a hand in was still able to help them..


    Now that it had come to this, I didn''t think I''d the right to lead. I wasn''t there when my people needed me most. Few folks would care that it wasn''t my fault. People tend to only care about results, and I''m the guy that wasn''t there for them when they needed me most. I doubted that I would see it any differently if I was in their shoes.


    I''d still help them, in what ever way I could. Absolutely, I would, but I suspected that the days of me shaping the direction of the Badlands were over. At least, for the foreseeable future. Instead of making me angry or depressed, that realization lifted a huge weight off of me. I was okay with this outcome. Once I''d figured out how my Hub operated, and what advantages it could offer, maybe my thoughts would change.


    Now Reina was no great orator, nor a proper storyteller. She was a farmer and said things simply and from her own perspective. I had to fill in some of the blanks in her narrative here and there. But she more than understood the way the wind was blowing. As did most of the summons, and they were not pleased in the slightest.


    We heard a few vehicles approaching. I recognized the rumbling engine of a Javelina. Amanda was almost here. I left Reina''s house to wait for them.


    I''d never thought much about it before, but it was hard to step silently on a gravel surface. Not really a relevant insight right now, but the noise of my footsteps on the gravel bothered me. My overly sensitive ears were both a blessing and a bane.


    There they were, Amanda''s Javelina, Nolan''s truck, and two other cars I didn''t recognize. I wonder who she''d brought with her. When they stopped and exited their vehicles, my jaw dropped to the floor. My attention lock on the two unexpected individuals. Out from the two vehicles that I didn''t recognize were two very familiar faces.


    The shorter one chuckled at my reaction, "A woman always loves to get that response." Her eyes twinkled, just as I''d remembered.


    The taller one snorted, "We supposedly dated this guy, and no one thought to question that it was us." Her head moved in time to her speech, as it always had when she was annoyed.


    My mouth closed and assumed a frown, my left eyebrow rose of its own volition. I didn''t appreciated the sideways insult. And suddenly I was suspecting this was all a trap. Maybe Militech had gotten to the Nomads, and these were their new agents. My mana flared. While I was pretty sure that wasn''t what was happening, my instincts still demanded action.


    I felt a gun press to the back of my head. Fuck, I shouldn''t have focused too much on the ladies I wasn''t ready to see.


    "Please don''t take this the wrong way Ryan, but don''t use your power. I didn''t want to shock you like this, but they insisted. They don''t understand what you are capable of, or they never would''ve pulled this stupid stunt." Amanda''s voice whispered from behind me. This was a very good lesson about paying attention to your surrounding, even when something startles you. Especially then.


    That cold fire inside my gut that I was tapped into earlier grew just a bit more. I was now certain this wasn''t what it looked like, but why should I be expected to take that chance. Even on Amanda''s word. My mana coiled around me as I sent a tendril through my Aura into Amanda''s head. She couldn''t see mana, nor could the others.


    "Well, for the record, with you this close to me Amanda, you''re already fucked." I turned off her limbs. However, I got another surprise, her gun went off before she finished falling. I got clipped by the round. Since I was still thinking, the damage couldn''t have been too bad, and my Aura was already working on fixing the issue.


    Amanda''s uninvited guests both had very different responses. Both of which would normally lead to the same result, me dead. One pulled out a pistol and the other''s eyes started flashing. If Nolan hadn''t stepped between us, events would have absolutely escalated.


    "Hold up. hold up! Girls stop with the gonk brained behavior. Ryan please put Amanda back to preem condition. She was just trying to protect her daughter. And just so you know, I was against indulging the two terrors over there." He was relaxed, way too relaxed. That helped my brain start properly working again. Things were indeed not as they seemed.


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    As the ladies debated what to do, the wound from Amanda''s weapon finished healing. That Life Crafting Aura was amazing.


    Amanda chuckled, I hadn''t turned off anything but her limbs. "New trick, huh? Nice. Seems like it''d be quite handy."


    "I''ll show you nice." I snarled. Maybe this shit wasn''t as it appeared, but that didn''t mean I was going to let it slide. However, the fire inside my gut had already pulled back. I knelt down to Amanda and removed her iron, before ramming my mana into her as hard and fast as I could. I fixed a few new wounds and smoothed out a lot of scar tissue I didn''t recall being there before. She''d been fighting hard. Her screams of pleasure probably carried for miles in every direction. I was amused, even while I sent silent apologies to Raynor in my head.


    Did I need to heal her this way? No. I was making a point. "Amanda in the future, talking things out first is preferable to threats. I think I get the whys and wherefors of what just happened, so let''s leave it here. Okay?"


    I watched over her as she started to move, her limbs flailing for a second, before she got back up. I rose beside her and handed her back her weapon. She smiled at me, which was not the response I expected. Then she hugged me, sending me for another loop. She was as strong as ever, squeezing me like a python. I patted her back lightly.


    "Sorry, they wanted to know who their doppelgangers had picked, and I figured this would be a good way to show them. Please forgive a Mother for spoiling her newly returned children."


    I rolled my eyes, "Duh, Amanda. Like I said, let''s forget it."


    I turned to the source of all this trouble. Nolan had talked them into a less hostile stance. They stood there glaring daggers at me, but otherwise seemed to have calmed down. That was great because I wasn''t sure of my feelings about them right now. Amanda walked back over to them, resting her hand on their shoulders.


    I nodded to them. "The real Sally and Megan, I presume. I wish I could say it was a pleasure, but I can''t."


    Throughout my life, women have mostly been a mystery to me


    Before I''d my brief stint as a psyker, I''d no idea how much women had going on in their minds. There are whole galaxies of thoughts clashing against each other in their heads at any given moment. The majority of which seemingly had nothing to do with the matter at hand. I found them to be an even more confusing subject after being able to read their thoughts and emotions. Rare exceptions like Amanda aside. Yet, I''m glad I had that experience. Because now I knew, without a single doubt, that there was an ocean of un-verbalized ideas behind the burning stares of the two women in front of me. Few if any of them would be pleasant for me. I''d been put on a list, perhaps several, in their heads, and they would likely find countless ways to make me miserable, if they thought they could get away with it.


    For me, this was a surreal moment when two very familiar people stood in front of me. Two people with not only no recognition of me, but were now actively hostile towards me. For them, I was a stranger who had made a very poor first impression. Even if they had been the ones to orchestrate the situation. I found myself wondering if they had seen, or been told, what I had done to their impostors. Where would that fall on their scales? Would they be glad that I had leveled such a harsh punishment? Would they be furious they didn''t get to mete out justice themselves? If the impostors had at all been accurate in their characterization, the answer was the latter.


    Given what I knew, there was already little chance of me turning their attitudes around. So why bother to try? I reminded myself that there was no relationship here. My mind ruthlessly crushed the tiny flickers of joyful embers in my heart. Still felt like losing them all over again, but even that grief was fed to the cold fire. And since I''d made that decision, I wasn''t going to let them push me around, even by proxy.


    "The real Sally and Megan, I presume. I wish I could say it was a pleasure, but I can''t." The repeated phrase was lifeless even to my own ears.


    "Oh, why would that be, lover boy?" Megan bitterly smirked, and probably had some cruel barb being brewed up in her noggin.


    "Why would that be our problem?" Sally spoke at almost the exact same time as Megan, but I had no trouble separating out the individual statements.


    "Didn''t say it was. What''s going on in here," I pointed at my head, I ended up poking one of my ridiculously oversized ears. "Has little to do with you two." I couldn''t resist getting in my own little digs at them. "Until you both decided to provoke me." The cold in my voice was crackling. Some part of me noted that the air was actually getting colder.


    Amanda had been smiling but my tone brought a frown to her face. She was noticing the differences in me, the little changes in my behavior. I think she was starting to understand just how foolish this little stunt was. Hell even Nolan, as easy going as he was, reflexively put his hand on his custom revolver.


    Sally showed no concern, she reacted as I knew she would. She drew her backup pistol. I noted the sure nature of her technique, but she was no gunslinger. She was some fraction of a second slower on the draw than I was. My Omaha already lined up perfectly with her head. While she''d a fuck load more training them me, she lacked a sandy to even things out with my raw speed.


    "My new form isn''t just cosmetic, and it comes with many advantages. Even with the silly ears and the Mox colors." For the first time in this mess, I let the rage I felt at this world peek out from behind the walls I''d been using to contain it. My expression made them all back up a step. I''d no clue what it looked like to them, but it must have been a grim visage. I knew this could end badly, and dealing with their attitude I officially no longer cared. Let the bullets fly. I had already lost so much, what was one more thing?


    I felt something in the air shift, and suddenly Mith was there. He''d dropped his small form. He towered over us. We all froze for a few moments, not because his presence startled us.


    We stopped because he was growling, a deep rumbling sound that warned of imminent violence. A thunderstorm couldn''t have done it better. He stepped in front of me facing the Nomads. He shifted his weight so that he was forcefully moving me backwards with his haunches.


    ''You are hurting him! Stop!'' If my mind had ears, he just blew out its eardrums. For the first time since I had returned, I could really feel another''s concern for me. He somehow forced his feelings past that cold flame and into my heart.


    This is when I noticed that the farmers were in the fields and had their weapons out. They were pointing them at the Nomads. Maybe I hadn''t lost as much as I thought. But I''d been about to, and I was pretty sure I knew why. Sneaky assholes. I took a deep breath, and put my pistol away.


    "Okay. I get it Mith." I gave him a a smack on his flank. "Put the weapons up everyone. Please." The Farmer''s began lowering their weapons.


    That got the Nomads'' attention, I guessed they hadn''t noticed the Farmers either. I stepped out from behind Mith, I noted that Sally had lowered her weapon. No one wanted to shoot the dog by accident.


    "Look, I get it. I really do. This was one big test and I failed. I could make excuses, but I won''t. Let''s just say I''m very tired of being pushed around and leave it at that. I''m too much of a... Gonk to be more diplomatic. Especially right now." I chuckled.


    They looked at each other and relaxed. Sally holstered her iron. Megan smirked like she knew this was going to happen. Maybe she did, or she was just enjoying the chaos. Amanda''s smile returned. It was her genuine smile, not the one she plastered on to talk business. Mith calmed down and let out a big ol'' yawn. He sat and grinned that doggy grin.


    "I can live with that." Nolan was the first to respond. He was patting himself, like he was checking for bullet holes. I scoffed at his sense of humor. I swear it was worse than mine.


    Amanda came back over to me and took my hands. She whispered, "I''m sorry. I didn''t think about how much this could affect you."


    I pulled her into a hug, the first human I had hugged first, in a long time. I whispered back to her, "I swear I''ll get him back, I''ll get them all back." I needed to say it and she needed to hear it.


    We slowly eased into a sharing of what had happened while separated. They''d a rougher time of it than I''d guessed.


    I called the Moxes back at my apartment letting them know I''d be back later than expected. We went inside with the farmers and continued to swap stories well into the night.

 Chapter 67

    "You had us wrapped around your finger, and you never had sex with us? What''s wrong with you?" Megan''s incredulous look was priceless.


    My sigh was epic. This was the fifth time she''d brought it up in the last twenty minutes. Her indignation was surprising, I''d have thought that she would be glad I didn''t sleep with her doppelganger. I was glad everyone else had gone to bed.


    I''m still not convinced their not more Corpo plants, even if Amanda was absolutely certain they were the real deal. I could probably tell if I used my Aura or touched them, but I was loathe to make contact with them.


    Okay, I''ll try this again. Megan would just keep asking until she got whatever she wanted out of this. I''m not sure she knew what she actually want half the time.


    "One, the finger wrapping was like more the other way around, and two, I was waiting for something I couldn''t properly define. Still can''t explain it. We''d plenty of fun, though, and I wasn''t in a rush. I was afraid of screwing everything up." I scratched my head, they couldn''t seem to understand why I''d never banged them. To be fair, I didn''t really understand either, not in a conscious way. It just never quite felt like the right moment.


    "Why didn''t I just push you down and ''convince'' you to go further? There''s no way I''d ever let a man string me along." Sally attitude was offended. Somehow me not availing myself of her doppelganger''s womanly charms was deeply insulting to her, too.


    "You tried, and I made you cum your brains out. After a minute, you couldn''t have moved if Wraiths were going to kill you, never mind reaching for my dick. Like I said, we had tons of fun. Just not that kind." I tried hard to keep the smirk off my face. Well, maybe not that hard. Heh. It was fun to remember, but remembering also hurt. How could it not?


    We were sitting around the farmhouse''s dinning room table. Drinking coffee that had been newly grown back in New Lordaeron. This was almost a charming scene of the reunion of former lovers. Sadly, that wasn''t what it really was. This was an interrogation. My interrogation.


    "That''s what I really don''t get. I''ve been healed by the priests of the Light, and it feels great, but it never brought me anywhere near an orgasm. Why''s your power so different?" Megan had a doubtful look on her face. The only reason neither called me a liar to my face, was because of what I had done to Amanda earlier. Still, this was the first truly new question of our conversation, so I tried to answer properly.


    "Between Meadran, Jaina, and me, we''d pieced together a rough idea of why my healing works that way." I created a little ball of mana over my right hand. It''s rich green color, spoke of growth and health. I let it spin around slowly while it rotated quickly. "Nature mana, which is my primary element, is concerned with living things and the balance of the forces that allow life to flourish. Growing, changing, reproducing, and ultimately killing, affecting these factors are easy for me." I reabsorbed the mana ball and created a tinier ball of flame, its bright and cheery color somehow still tinted slightly green.


    "Controlling the classical elements is harder but still something I can manage. I have to work at it, really push to fully control it. Mating though, that is tied up in the very concept of my mana. I couldn''t separate that effect out of my healing, even if I wanted too. Not yet at least." I dispersed the flame, noting that I couldn''t as easily reabsorb mana that had been converted into a physical or chemical form. "The Light, on the hand, and this is only from what little I''d managed to gather, mostly concerns itself with purifying corruption, and advancing ideas of heroism and nobility. It might make you braver or more stubborn, but it isn''t interested in getting you off." I shrugged.


    "Then there''s the issues of mana density. I''m literally patient zero, on this planet, for mana. My mana density is much higher than anyone else''s. So my much denser mana carries the concepts of Nature deeper and harder into those I use it on." My right hand punched lightly into my left. "Is that the whole reason? Probably not, but it''s what we''d came up with."


    Megan nodded. She was probably already thinking of ways to use that data to her advantage. Sally looked puzzled, but not because she didn''t get it, she was working on a thought.


    "Okay, but then why aren''t you more, ''Rawr, I''m going fuck you now.'' It seems you should be raring to go all the time. Especially with two nova outputs like us." Still about them. She waved her hand at both of them.


    Yeah, that. I had been struggling with that very problem subconsciously, the whole time I''d been here. It was only after my transformation, and the strengthening of my instincts that I''d started to actively question why I held back. "I am. I always wanted to bury myself into you both and never come out. ''Forget the world. Just fuck the pain away.'' Some little voice was whispering that into the back of my mind. All the time." I stopped trying to frame my next words. "But it isn''t right or fair. How much of what was between us was because of my power? No clue, I never asked, and you never brought it up."


    I had to restrain my Aura from reaching for both of them. I wanted them, it wanted them. It would be simple to reach into them and have them explode in joyous sensation. I knew those bodies like I knew the back of my hand. I closed my eyes and swallowed. I gritted my teeth and pushed the feelings down into the pit. That place where the emotions you can''t deal with get tossed, allowed to fester and rot, until they come out again in twenty years as cancer or a stroke. I wanted to cry and scream, bellow and rage, but I could afford to do none of those things. So I didn''t. Especially not now, not here with them. So into the pit with all of it.


    I looked up at the ceiling because continuing to look at them was painful. "I could''ve kept you both senseless and breathless, endlessly. It''s so easy to give in to the things that feel good, and who doesn''t want mind-bending sex?" I grimaced, "But it would have been wrong, even more so, knowing what I know now."


    As much as I wanted them, these weren''t the women with whom I had shared those experiences. Whether they were the real Megan and Sally or not, it would be wrong to so much as touch them with those feelings still locked up inside me.


    So into the pit.


    I was tired of talking. Every word seemed to burn something vital out of me.


    "What if I wanted that?" Megan sensing my weakness struck, she couldn''t help it, her nature demanded it. Sally looked at her like she''d grown another head. They shared a look, they were good at conveying thoughts to each other without words.


    "We''ve had plenty of one night stands, and he is attractive... " Sally began.


    "Let me stop you there. No." My face went blank, this was dangerous ground. I knew it, but I had to walk it.


    Megan narrowed her eyes at me. "Why?"


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    I could stop myself, I scoffed at her, "You know why."


    After all her attitude, Sally actually looked hurt, "Well, I don''t."


    I sighed, it was a bitter breath. "I''d never be able to keep the feelings straight. The good and the bad. That wouldn''t be fair to you ladies. No matter how wonderful it started, at some point I''d end up venting the pain of their betrayal on you two. You really don''t want that." My voice was thick and dark, these days it seemed there was always a slight growl to it, but it was more pronounced now.


    "So the best relationship "we''ve" ever had, with the all the pleasure "we" could stand, and it was our evil twins that got to enjoy it?" Megan voice rose an octave and seemed to crack by the end.


    "Yes, that''s exactly it." I nodded at her.


    We all stared at each other, our eyes filled with pain. All of us an inch away from pulling our iron. All of us an inch away from tearing off our clothes.


    "Fucking sucks." Sally moped.


    I looked out the nearby window, watching the moonlight dance on the plants swaying slightly in a breeze.


    "Can we please talk about something else now? Literally anything else." I asked, not bothering to hide how done with this I was.


    "We shouldn''t be alive." Megan whispered. Her face unnaturally still especially for her. She swirled her cup of tea, and stared blankly into the depths of its contents. I didn''t want to look at them right then, but Megan''s statement drew my eyes to her. I felt her pain, faintly, which I found exceedingly odd. Sally looked down at the coffee cup in her hands, her lips firmed up to prevent quivering. She hated the thought of being powerless.


    Oh, my Aura was touching them, it''d slipped the leash. That had given me all the information I could ever want about their bodies.


    I frowned, "I had the same thought. But after everything that''s happened, I''m sure neither of you are agents." Life Crafting gave me a lot of information about whatever it focused on, and most of its purpose was instinct driven. But I''d no way before Regrowth evolved into it, to understand cyberware at all. Now I can measure the affect of the chrome versus standard functions of the body. It took some effort on my part, and a lot of attention, but that was all. No one would be able to pull the face stealing trick, the same way, on me again.


    If they were fakes they were full biological clones this time. Possible but unlikely.


    Megan stared at me intensely, "Are you sure?"


    I returned her look, "Absolutely." I lied, I could still be wrong. My power could be wrong. There could still be some kind of deception going on here.


    "They kept us hooked up to machines, half out of our minds with drugs." Sally dropped that into my lap. "We experienced everything they did, as they did it. But we couldn''t do anything about it, or focus too much on anything. I hated every second of it. It was like being trapped in a nightmare." She shuddered.


    "It was some kind of experiment." Megan said, "I managed to stay a little more lucid than Sally, probably because of my experiences running the NET. I occasionally overheard our keepers talking." Now that I could feel both of them, all of their pain and anger was shared. It was faint, like a half remembered thought, but it was there in the back of my mind.


    Sally got up, to get more coffee, but I knew it was to avoid letting me see more of her vulnerability. Megan kept her eyes down, her usual playful nature choked out by the suffering they''d gone through. The memories haunted her, and would for a long time.


    "Most personality implants are simply recordings. With a large enough sample to work with, they are fairly accurate. Maybe 80% of baseline. However, they break down when faced with traumatic or dangerous events. I don''t know why, they never discussed that part in front of us." Megan slowly sipped her tea, clinging to the cup like it would save her from the past. "We were kept alive to be throughputs for situations where the normal implants would break down. They would have killed us the instant their agents achieved their goals." Megan''s voice was soft, gentle, and terrified.


    "That''s also why we needed to be healthy, if out of control, our bodies'' condition would have affected how we felt and how they reacted." Sally said from behind me, her voice was angry but I could hear the tears she was holding back.


    "I heard one of the techs said they reached 98.4% compatibility even with stressor events. A victory for them, more grant money for them, more people like us subjected to that bullshit in the future." Megan sighed. "Then you came along." She smiled, it was a weak and fragile thing but it was there.


    They both paused and looked at each other, sharing thought I probably would want to be privy to.


    "We''d never been infatuated with anyone before. Usually we were the ones getting chased by people, most meant nothing to us." Sally started. She''d come back to the table and sat down. "You fucked us up in a way, we had never been fucked up before. It was a great test of their system, and you were definitely someone they wanted to keep an eye on."


    "You broke their system a few times, you and your magic. They could never have account for it." Megan shrugged, "Regrettably, they managed to fix their system up better than before."


    She turned to Sally. "Do you remember how we made a game out of breaking guys'' spirits. Setting little tasks we knew they couldn''t complete, and then use their failure as an excuse to push them more." Megan smirked her evil grin.


    "That was all you, you evil bitch, I just told them to fuck off. Not my fault that none of them realized I really meant it." Sally gave her friend a withering look.


    "Bitch, please you loved watching hope die in their eyes, as much as I did." Megan smirked at the blonde. This was a kind of stress relief for them. They needed it.


    That didn''t mean I needed to listen to their games. Me, I was reminded of the fact that people, men or women, are damned hard to get along with. These two were definitely not women I should''ve gotten involved with in the first place. Does that count as failure in the opposite direction of my previous problems with women? An interesting question.


    Their bickering went on for a few more minutes, while I tuned it out. No one likes looking at the horrible parts of people they love... loved, even if it was a bizarre proxy situation. Then I made myself examine them closer, maybe flinching away from the bad in the folks we love is part of way relationships fail. At least, some of them. Sally and Megan were badasses, but they were also fucked up girls. Sure we could argue why that might be all day, but it didn''t change that they already were messed up, long before our current day. When it''s pointed at others it could be funny, which says more about me than I''d like to admit. Yet when it''s pointed at me... I can''t help but think I made a terrible mistake by being involved with these two. At all.


    But was I ever going to be able to find anyone who wasn''t fucked up? Not in this World. Best to find the women with the types of insanity that I could live with, even if only temporarily. Megan, of course, missed none of that going through my head. She was smart and manipulative, and couldn''t help but to pull the levers she saw that others often missed. Even if she suffered for it.


    "If you really wanted a stable girl, you never would have given those bitches more than a couple of dates." She dug in deep there. There was also a bitter note in there. She knew I really didn''t like what I was seeing in them. In myself. I''d been so happy to finally have some attention from women, I ignored what was attached to it.


    "Oh, I know. The problem is I don''t have enough experience to know what I really do want." I locked eyes with her, "Cut that shit out, now is not when you should be rooting around in my psychology. Pissing me off is a negative sum game these days."


    For once in her life, Megan backed down. Sally wisely also didn''t say anything. While she might not have been the mental powerhouse her friend was, she was good at knowing when to be quiet, and when to shoot.


    "So that explains why you are both alive, but why did they give you back?" Let''s rip that band-aid off.


    "It can be traced back to you again. They wanted samples of all the crops and livestock, for their farms back east. Later, they knew once the Nations started arriving that fighting over them would be too expensive and likely would destroy what they wanted in the first place." Sally gave my shoulder a friendly tap.


    "So they used the one thing they knew Amanda would want above all else to trade for unspoiled samples. Us." Megan finished.


    I rolled that around. It made sense. I was obviously looking for the double play here. Corpos never do anything for just one reason. Plus, why didn''t they kill them right after their agents were made?


    "Yeah, we have no clue either. They should have killed us when you uncovered the agents. So we''ve been waiting for the iron to fall on us since we''ve been back. We don''t know much, but I doubt their bosses like the idea of the bits of data we have being out of their control." Megan''s insight was eerie sometimes. Perhaps she was a latent psyker, or more likely she was just that fucking smart. Which I found even more terrifying.


    I heard a rooster crow. The new day''s sun was fast approaching.

 Chapter 68

    Amanda and I spent the morning going over her new Nomad council''s plans for the remains of my outposts and New Lordaeron. She made it clear that while I would always have a place among them. If I wanted it I''d still have a say in how things would be run, it wasn''t mine alone anymore. She seemed afraid of saying it out loud, but to be honest the idea didn''t bother me much.


    I both enjoy and loath responsibility. The weight of other people on my back, while I had no chance of understanding myself and my situation, was a burden I was glad to be rid of. At least for now. I just hoped she understood that the summons would always place loyalty to me over the Nomads. Not that it would matter if I never pushed my position against them.


    "I''ll help out if I can, and at some point soon I''ll head out to New Lordaeron to meet these new people you''ve brought in. Pay me a fair share of profits from the sales of any exports I had a hand in, and we''ll call it nova. From what I''ve gathered, your fellow Nomad Nations deserve a place to call home, and I have no desire to play at being some kind of leader to people I don''t know, and more importantly, don''t know me." Really I just didn''t want the headaches of leadership at the moment.


    Mith leaned into my leg, once again in his small form. He knew this whole situation hurt me, but he also knew I wasn''t just going to let it lie. Not forever. He might like Amanda and the Nomads, but he was bonded to me. Those thoughts sounded pretentious, to me. But Amanda had relaxed at my calm acceptance. I even got another hug, which I returned this time. Maybe this meeting had started out rocky, but at least Amanda and I were cool.


    What''s a little threat or two between friends. You point a gun at me, I turn you inside out. It''s all the same, right?


    Not so much for the originals of my former paramours. I could feel their disapproving stares. Though I was strangely comfortable with that outcome as well. I should''ve never gotten that involved with anyone I didn''t know well in my situation. Especially not them.


    Mith rumbled, not quite vocalizing a growl at the two wenches. He felt my turbulent emotions, and knew who to blame. I rested my hand on his head and he stopped, knowing now was not the time for aggression. More trouble would come of their attitudes someday, but not yet. Perhaps, by the time they did fucked around, I''d in in a much better position, and they''d find out who I was now. All I had to remember, is to keep them alive by the end of it.


    "So what are you going to do now?" The Nomad leader asked.


    "I''ve cut deals with Rogue and the Mox, that''ll let me figure my new abilities out. I''ll get some paying gigs, and work on some quests. It will be some time before I can afford to ransom our friends back, unless I find a shortcut or two. Keep in touch?"


    "You know I will." Amanda smiled, and I returned it. We exchanged our new detes, while her people got mounted up and ready to leave. She quickly followed suit.


    I watched them drive off. My face smoothed over into a blank expression. Reflecting the cold I felt within. The feeling of not knowing what was next bore down on me. It wouldn''t do to be lost, I needed to keep my thoughts in order.


    Reina came up to me. "Are you really going to let them take your lands My Lord?" I looked at her and she backed up a step. She knelt and mumbled an apology. The sight of her on her knees hurt bitterly. I couldn''t stand my own people being afraid of me.


    Mith gave a soft whine. I gave him some ear scratches. "Sorry Reina, it''s alright." I waved her to stand up. "In answer to your question, of course I will. For now. But someday, I''ll build a better place for my people. And someday beyond that, this world will be ours."


    I stared up at the sky, it''s dusty colored tint saddened me. I still longed to fix this broken place, but I was no longer in any sort of rush. Heeding the lessons that could be learned from trees, I would be as patient as an oak breaking through rock with its roots.


    "Let them have that place. I will indeed help them, and I want you all to get along with them. We don''t need more enemies and need all the allies we can get. In the end little swaths of land won''t matter. We''ll own the very stars." I looked back at her, "But keep me informed of their actions."


    ''They not bad, they help, we help.'' Mith chimed in. I nodded at him, he saw right through all of this. He saw through me and my act.


    "As you wish, My Lord." She dipped her head to me. She pulled her agent out, and I tapped mine against hers, sharing our connection data.


    I patted her shoulder, "Be well and tell all of my people, to be patient. I will gather you up as soon as I am able." She returned to her home. The smile on her face meant she believed me. Hell, at the moment I believed me too.


    I spent a few minutes looking at the crops, and reached a decision, or more of a whim really. I caused a few plants to finish their growth cycles and harvested them for seed stock. Mith bounced around now that the tension had been released, he was swiftly back to his usual cheerful self. Orange corn, red beans, blue potatoes, and purple rice. I had a feeling I could grow them in my Hub. It would be a good idea to make myself as independent as I could. I was envisioning a food truck, for some reason. Grow a bunch of food in my Hub and then use it to run a food truck. A heavily armed and armored food truck, to be sure. Hmm. I liked the idea.


    I walked back to where I left the Chevillon, just letting my mind sort through things. Mith frolicked during the walk, investigating everything nearby. It was hard to stay serious when he was such a ball of playfulness. It was only his presence that kept me from becoming morose.


    The remnants of the Khalai buildings still bothered me greatly. I wondered what I would have do to have them returned to me. I missed the effect of the Psifield, there was a comfort in it. A joy in the connection it brought with it. I also missed Alina, not only for her information processing, but for her no nonsense view of existence. I missed Meadran''s advice and the feeling of resting under his canopy. I missed joking with Raynor and John. I missed having Jaina to help with planning things out. They would be returned to me, no matter what I had to do.


    The ride back to MB 4 was uneventful. Though it was a hoot to see Mith with his head sticking out of the passenger side window. His tongue was flapping in the wind, and he was having a great time. It reminded me of the long rides I used take with Ruger back on my old Earth.


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    Life wasn''t so bad right now, and I shouldn''t let things I couldn''t control upset me. I''d a way to figure out the subtilties of my power, I''d a Hub to explore and a crazy store of ridiculous proportions. I had allies to rescue. I had a clear set of goals and a purpose.


    Mith barked at some of the passing cars. Most importantly, at least to me, I had a dog.


    I was nearly back to MB 4 when Mith started barking at an alleyway. It was an angry sound, and he seemed eager to get to that darkened place to do battle. I decided to indulge him. I found a parking spot and slid the Emperor in between two other vehicles.


    "Mith be careful and don''t charge in without me." I quickly cast Nature''s Blessing for the first time since my return. It felt off somehow, but still gave an energized feeling. A quick check of my stats showed that it still provided an insane plus four to everything.


    ''Okay, hurry, hurry or we miss it.'' He bounced and darted a short distance ahead before falling back to my side. We rushed over to the gap that led deeper into the dark recesses. I could hear the sounds of a quiet struggle.


    Advancing with quick soft steps, I soon found a fascinating scene at the junction of a few other alleys. Two filthy and exhausted Kriegsmen were using their entrenching tools to slaughter a wave of those terrible things from the underground. Their lasrifles lay broken on the ground at their feet. A quick scan showed that the three other Guardsmen of their squad were down, whether dead or just wounded, I couldn''t say yet. Dozens upon dozens of the bodies of the strange cyborg beasts covered every inch of the remaining ground. An opened manhole was clogged with even more bodies. Who knew how many were dead below the surface. The creatures'' dark, almost black blood was splattered everywhere.


    I admit that I hesitated to get involved. To the servants of the Imperium, I would now look like some odd member of the space elves they''d told me about. What did they call them? Ah, that''s right the Aeldari. I remember, that their general order for dealing with any Xenos was to shoot them in the head. Repeatedly. However, the Kriegers were still my responsibility.


    I looked down at Mith. He was tense and ready to charge, only holding back because I''d asked him to.


    I sighed, "Fuck it." and stepped into the junction with my pistol drawn, quickly shooting two of the odd cyborgs in their torsos. Mith charged the remaining creatures and quickly began to hamstring them. Ordinarily a dog that leapt so quickly to violence would trouble me, but I knew that Mith and his kind were very different from the standard dog. Two more shots from my Omaha X got me to the closest downed Guard. I knelt to see if I could save them. Good, they weren''t dead, but had lots of blunt force trauma, cuts and scratches, and several bites, which are what caused enough blood loss to put the Kriegsmen down.


    By the time I finished getting him clear of immediate death, only a couple of the cyborg beasts remained. I stood to walk over to the next Guardsmen, who was thankfully also not dead, I quickly pulled him back from the brink. When I looked up one of the Kriegsmen was approaching me. The last of the cyborg things was down for the count. Mith walked between us, he didn''t growl or threaten the Guard, but it was clear my friend wouldn''t step aside. I walked to the last downed Imperial, this one had a few bullet wounds, but was clinging to life with the tenacity I would expect of these hardened troops. It was no trouble to get him back to right.


    That finished, I turned my attention to the two that''d been fighting. "Guardsmen, report." I figured, why not? Maybe whatever bullshit the Company had put together to maintain loyalty would still work. Luck was with me because it worked like a charm. The Kriegsmen snapped to reflexive attention. Their salute were crisp despite their wounds.


    "Watchmaster A-27 reporting," The one closest to me began, "Heavy Cybred resistance has been encountered in this area. Theta Squad''s function is below proper minimum strength. Standing orders are to return to base." Cybred, as good a name as any for these twisted things.


    "Why are you on the surface?" I didn''t say in violation of my orders, but I was thinking it. On the other hand, I couldn''t see the Kriegsmen as the type to betray their Emperor.


    "Large movements of Cybred forces have been using the surface to get behind our front lines. We were on patrol to monitor their movements, and were forced to fight a running retreat to report our findings." I could read nothing of his expression, the cold dark glass of his gasmask kept his eyes protected from scrutiny. However I could tell he hated the idea of retreat, even if it was part of his orders.


    "Do you recognize me?" This was the critical moment.


    "Yes, Emperor!" There it was. They knew me regardless of any transformation. Good to know, I wouldn''t be shot on sight.


    "Do you have... " What was it, oh right, "Vox communication with your base?" While I didn''t want to know, I needed to know what was going on underground.


    "Yes, Emperor!" There was that weight again. The weight of lives settling on my shoulders.


    "Hold fast for healing." I stepped over to the Watchmaster and laid my hand on his shoulder, there was a twitch as if he was going to attack, but the Guardsman managed to hold back his conditioning. After a minute he trembled, I had no idea why. Heh. His treatment was coming along just fine, and I kept it slow to prevent any accidents. It was noticeably easier to patch him up.


    I moved to the last Guard, the Watchmaster nearly collapsed behind me. He quickly righted himself, when he saw me looking back at him. Hopefully, he''d attribute his reactions to religious reasons.


    Mith followed right beside me, more at ease now. I quickly set the last Kriegsmen to rights, and pondered what to do next. The others were beginning to stir. It was bad that the underground conflict was spilling onto the surface, but I probably shouldn''t get too entangled in it. Though I did need to find a way to supply the Marshal as I''d promised. Just when I was starting to relax.


    "Send word to your Marshall, I have returned, and will see what I can do to aid your efforts. But first, come and rest. We''ll get you setup with some weapons and food." IT might be a problem, but they were my people. However insane they might be.


    "Yes, My Lord!" Watchmaster A-27 barked flaring with faith. I felt my teeth grinding together a bit, yeah this was not a good development. Mith gave a soft whine. I gave him an ear scratch. I saw the attention of the Guardsmen focus on Mith.


    ''Jealous.'' He laughed in my mind. Maybe that was so, but jealous of who.


    We cleaned up the site as best we could, throwing bodies back into the sewers. Liberal use of Purify managed to make it appear that nothing had happened here. I went over the Kriegsmen with the same spell. "The Emperor Protects!" They responded as one. More like the Emperor cleans, but whatever.


    This was a bad idea, but I wasn''t going to send them back into the fray without some iron to protect themselves with. Maybe I should just try to make sure they enjoyed our little outing.


    Yeah, we should definitely keep the Mox and Rogue out of this. The less they knew about the crazy things going on underground the better. So I spent the next couple of hours getting the Guardsmen some heavy duty guns and a crash course on their usage. It didn''t take much to train them up. Say what you will about their doctrines, they were experts at mayhem whatever its form.


    A trip to a local burger joint, got them stuff with the questionable nutrients of Night City. They ate like starving wolves. I shook my head at their enjoyment of the food. Poor fools. What''d they been eating that they thought this scop was good?


    "I was thinking of taking you back with me, but my current allies should probably remain ignorant of your existence."


    "As you wish, Emperor."


    I dropped them off back where I found them. They assured me they could find their way back from here. I would meet them here in a week to get a Vox Communicator and give them whatever supplies I could cobble together. I didn''t want to lose track of this conflict again. I didn''t want the underground horrors to sneak up on us after all.


    With most of the day now gone, Mith and I finally made it back to the Apartment.

 Chapter 69

    After what felt like a grueling day, Mith and I finally made it back to the apartment.


    Gena met us by the door. "You''re finally back!" She gave me a crushing hug. I endured, while keeping a sense of polite reserve. Then she gave Mith a hug as well, he leaned into to it with dogged enthusiasm. Heh.


    "Things didn''t go as planned, and a few unrelated complications sprang up." I shook my head, "It doesn''t matter right now, is everything ready for the calibration runs?" My gaze was shifting from one batch of equipment to another trying to determine the readiness of our plans. Lacie was typing away on a Modified Runner''s Deck with a bizarrely truncated keyboard. Evie was puttering around with the medical gear. I didn''t see Ricky or Mark.


    Gena gave Mith a few extra head pats, "Yeah, as far as I understand it, we''re good to go."


    Mark and her, had a little reception desk that was behind the door when it opened, meaning they could decide to shoot anyone who walked in, before they''d gotten spotted. The desk itself was heavy and thick, made of some hardened modern alloy. It would be able to take a few rounds from most common firearms. I noticed Gena had a Defender LMG resting on the desk and already pointed at the door. I approved. Better safety through overwhelming firepower than dead.


    "Did you all decide who''s going first?" I made my way over to the fridge and grabbed a juice pack. Since I was in here, I got Mith a snack as well. I tossed him a meat stick, made from "totally real meat, we promise". I say stick, but it was more like a small summer sausage. Mith leapt up and snatched it out of the air lickety-split. He snarffed it down in three or four bites. Gena eyed the fate of the meat and smiled. She''d a strange sense of humor.


    "Ricky''s up first. Then me, Evie, Mark and Lacie goes last." She shrugged. She didn''t care about any of this, she was just hoping to get to flatline a few gonks. In the name of "Self-defense", of course.


    "Alright, let''s get started as soon as Ricky''s ready." I sat on the couch and watched some show about a cybersamurai getting revenge for the death of their gerbil or something. The quick cuts of the scenes made it practically unfollowable. Though the action included plenty of very realistic looking violence. Mith hopped up on the couch and laid his head in my lap. I absently stroked his fur, while trying to veg out.


    Gena had sat back down at her desk where she was watching her own show on a monitor there. Unlike me, she was captivated by whatever dreck she was watching.


    I let my brain shut down, it wasn''t quite sleep, but it wasn''t full awareness either. While I was in my daze, Ricky woke up from his rest, then put himself together. Once he was ready, he came out into the main room. Evie hooked him up to a battery of sensors and took a complete reading of his current baseline. Once he was fully scanned she administered a series of meds and nanites designed to cleanse then heal his body. The whole time the sensors kept collecting data on how his body reacted to the treatment. They gave it about 15 minutes, roughly the length of time the meds take to run their course, then called me over.


    My mind returned to the present. I gently shifted Mith''s head over and let him continue to sleep. "You ready Ricky?" I gave him a smile and offered my hand.


    "Sure, Longears!" Everyone thought my ears where ridiculous, including me. He chuckled and I snorted at the unserious insult. I mean my ears were fucking stupidly long. He took my hand, and I started running a low level mana current through him.


    "Whoa!" He barked. We stayed like that for a while, letting the machines take their measurements.


    "What''s it like?" Evie asked in a business like tone. She tried to keep a detached demeaner when it came to her work.


    "It''s like an unfiltered XBD, where you''re having really, really good sex. Except it doesn''t vary." Well, that was certainly an interesting description.


    "Can you increase the "mana" output?" Evie sent my way.


    "Sure. There''s a lot more power available." I said not really thinking about it. Honestly, I was kind of bored. I up my mana flow.


    "Uh." Ricky sounded kind of panicked. I''d doubled the flow of mana into him from before. "Holy shit!" Ricky grunted. I''m pretty sure I knew why, so I hit him with a Purify. I would prefer not to smell the result of his excitement. My new primal nature really didn''t react well to male rivals, I was half-way convinced smelling man-fluid would send me into a rage.


    We kept this up for another hour, Evie asking him questions, me upping the mana and then Purifying him. Everything on my end was so automatic I was very, very drained mentally. Still had plenty of mana left in the tank, though.


    "I c-can barely think... this is fucking dangerous. It will surely lead to psychological dependence, if not outright physical addiction." He was gritting his teeth, trying to fight through the pleasure.


    Evie had no mercy, "Can you continue to increase the mana?"


    "Sure. Though at this point, it''s probably not doing too much healing for him." I answered.


    She checked her readings, and nodded. "Let''s stop the current experiment." She was already typing more notes into her tablet. I ceased pouring mana into Ricky. He was sweating and having a hard time catching his breath. I performed another Purify. Then sat back down on the couch, letting some sadistic gameshow numb my brain again.


    After a short while to go over her data and consult with Lacie, Evie called Gena over. Mark had woken up a short while before and took over the reception desk. I called a time out to fix every one and myself a meal. I managed to pull off a mac and cheese and sausage dish with BBQ baked beans and some simple cornbread. Once again, it came out almost right. Once again, my roommates were stunned by my simple cooking. Some part of me really enjoyed feeding people. There was a visceral satisfaction to their simple joy at having some good fucking food. I thought it strange that I liked to take care of people. I''d never seemed to before this world got stuck with me.


    Once we finished, Gena got hooked up and we repeated the process. Slowly upping the mana flowing into her, while Evie recorded her responses. Her reactions were much more interesting to me, than Ricky''s had been. For one thing, she didn''t even try to resist the pleasure. She rode it like a Cowgirl might ride a bull. She was more coherently vocal even at levels where everyone else I''d healed crumbled into a drooling senseless mess. Embrace the pleasures in life, that was her philosophy.


    Then it was Evie''s turn while Ricky ran the equipment. Her body jerked and twitched, but her face never changed in the slightest. Terribly dull, no fun at all.


    Mark was utterly stoic during his turn, barely responding at all. Though again with a guy that didn''t bother me.


    Lacie, on the other hand, went fucking nuts. Screaming snippets of code and operating perimeters. Then it was quiet again.


    After cleaning up, I felt a bit awkward, so I decided to take Mith for a walk.


    The next morning saw many awkward glances between the Moxes, only Gena fully retained her composure. When their eyes fell upon me, they hastened to find anything else to look at. It annoyed me.


    "You''re all being silly. It''s not as if we had an orgy." I finally snapped in exasperation over a breakfast of scrabbled eggs and bacon. The food was unpleasant enough without them adding to it. Whatever process Biotechnica used to create synth eggs was way off the mark, though the bacon was only slightly odd.


    "An orgy would have been less awkward, " Mark was the least affected, after his lover. "We''ve all done that before."


    "It''s about control." Ricky began, "We''ve all had, all kinds of fun, but we''ve never felt so out of control." I found that to be an odd statement, until I really hashed it out. Gena and Mark were the only two here that had ever been Dolls. Dolls, at least the types they had been, almost never got to choose anything about their encounters.


    That realization made me feel somewhat conflicted. I didn''t want to make them uncomfortable, but they''d agreed to this, and I hadn''t hidden what it would do to them. "Ah. Then I apologize." Words are often poor mortar for smoothing over emotional issues, but it at least showed one was willing to try to correct any growing problems between us.


    "No, no. You don''t have to apologize choom, we consented, it''s just we had no way of understanding how intense that would be." Ricky shook his head in denial. His grin was weak, not quite his usual devil may care expression.


    "It was nova!" Lacie chirped her face flushed, "But scary." She was eating and tapping away at a tablet, her attention split a dozen different ways. I was surprised she heard us at all.


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    "We obtained very useful data." Evie added. She wouldn''t look at anyone and her demeaner was more cold than awkward.


    "We''ll get over it. It''ll just take some time." Ricky was probably the most messed up. My few interaction with psychologists in the past, indicated that they like ordered interaction. This was definitely not very orderly.


    They gave me a bunch of denials about it being a problem. But that all seemed flat to me.


    "Alright, I''ll try to give you guys some time." I gave up on my food. I started clearing my mess up. I could just use Purify, but I liked washing dishes after I cooked, it always gave me a sense of closure to the meal.


    Ricky cleared his throat, "Your cooking is great, but you never really seem satisfied when you are eating. Why is that?" Trust a shrink to notice that.


    "It never tastes right, I grew up with better food." I gave a short answer.


    "Where are you from?\ Ricky pushed a little again, his psych senses must have been tingling.


    "Nope, I''m not going to talk about that right now. Maybe someday, but not today." I went back to scrubbing dishes. A clear indication that this conversation was over. They handed me their dishes as they finished and went back to their tasks. My family used to have a rule; if you cooked you didn''t clean. I''d never liked that rule, I believed that if you made a mess, you cleaned it up. I never understood where my attitude on that came from, but it was yet another small point of tension with my parents. I sighed, no use thinking about it now. I''d never see them again. I finished the dishes and went back to ruminating on what to do next.


    The next day my Hub was available to visit. I could sense its condition in a small part of the back of my mind. Easy to call up, but also easy to ignore. Since it would still be a couple of days before the first volunteer showed up, I decided to hop into my new mini pseudo world.


    Letting the Moxes know I''d be gone for a while, I called up the gate in my bedroom. No, I wasn''t going to explain it to them. They could wonder about it.


    The Hub was mostly as I left it. The only immediately noticeable difference was that the Pylon floating high over the center of the space was now glowing much brighter. The blue tinted light played oddly over the structures, casting stark shadows. This made the space feel haunted, which I supposed made me the ghost. Heh.


    My first impulse was to go into the Value Tree and buy a whole bunch of food for my personal use back in NC. I would certainly do that, but first, I figured it would be prudent to explore the half-sized Megabuilding. After all what good was such a thing when there were no people to house. Very suspicious.


    MB Treeside was much like MB 4, except the parking structure was under the building. I didn''t see a need to explore downward right now. Again left wondering what use the parking structure might serve. As I entered the lobby, I felt the blast of negative pressure. Always a startling experience if you weren''t expecting it. There was a reception desk in front of two more classic style elevators, otherwise the room was relatively small for the building. I noticed you could walk around the elevators. Back there was a hallway with doors. A sign above them read "Battle Arena".


    Slightly opening one of the doors to the Arena, I looked inside. It was a combination of a Colosseum, and a Basketball court style rec center. There was a central sand floored depression and stacked bleacher style seating. It was large enough that I thought it took up most of the foot print of the building. It extended upward three stories with entry doors to the higher levels'' seating on those floors. To get into the arena itself would likely require going down to the first or perhaps even the second subfloor. Why would I need this? What did having an Arena in my personal world say about me.


    I used the elevator to head up to the fourth floor. I noticed only the top floor was distinctly labeled on the elevator''s control panel. It read "Master Floor, Living Area". Very strangely worded. Like everything else here, it seemed slightly off.


    On the fourth floor, other than the lobby, was the Gallery. The walls were glossy white and yet didn''t reflect as much light as you would expect. The overhead lighting there looked like old florescent tube lights. The lights neither made that slight annoying humming sound, nor threw out unpleasantly harsh light. Interesting.


    The first room of the Gallery held glowing marble statues of my people and even other folk that I had met. Dakota, Rogue both young and old, Nolan, Amanda, Both Sally, Megan and their doubles. All the Moxes I had met, and several others. There was rather bland music playing from an unknown source.


    At the end of the first room, there was a door, labeled Victories and Defeats. That room was full of screens showing the fights I had been in, from dozens of different angles. This included ones directly from my perspective. The music here was more energetic but still wrong for the space.


    The Victory and Defeats, area was followed by a room called The Memorial for the Fallen, Scuff and Fix, Chuck and Barry, Huskler and Keighvus, Lumi, Sinn and others. Here the music had a somber quality, yet also held a sinister undertone.


    Then there was the Rogue''s Gallery. The statues here were done in black marble that seemed to absorb the light. The music here hit those creepy chords that hummed in your spine. Carver''s statue was first, though I didn''t recognize him at first. His was followed by statues of several other people, who I''d not the slightest clue who they were. Various members of the Maelstrom, Tyger Claws and Scavs. Some obvious Corpo Types. The last statue was covered by shifting black fog, I had a feeling this represented my Case Worker.


    A deep and terrible snarl tore itself from me, before I managed to tear myself away. I spent a few moments collecting myself. Deep Breaths.


    Heading back to the elevators, I was still very confused as to what possible purpose all of this might serve. A sense of dread was growing.


    It finally occurred to me that the label in the elevator was a clue. I''d no excuse for not thinking of it sooner. Though some mistrust of this place was warranted, I''d a deep itching feeling that nothing was as it seemed here. My supposedly personal world, wasn''t feeling very personal to me. More like it was taunting me.


    So to the top floor I went, softly humming a song to myself about falling into the darkness. A song many mistakenly thought was about dying, which was really about the creeping shadow of memory loss from Alzheimer''s. That part of me, that always whispers the worst things to say or do, thought that was damned funny. The rest of me thought it was funny too, in that sick to my stomach kind of way.


    The ride up took a few minutes. The eeriness of a place for living being so quiet, so still, had plenty of time to sink in deep. Even the elevator itself was silent. If I hadn''t felt its motion I would have sworn I was not going anywhere at all.


    Being left alone with my thoughts, had never been a good place for me. My thoughts went all twisty, and often turned negatively upon myself. It was why I liked working with my hands, I could maintain focus on something that wasn''t in my head. Since I''d been in this new world this''d rarely been a problem, there was always something to do, always something else to distract me.


    Those few minutes in that metal box felt like hours. All the ammunition that the more devilish part of me had been storing up, got used in a burst of rapid fire recriminations. All the doubts, failures and flaws, real and imagined were written large across my mind. My inner troll had shaped and crafted them into far more cutting tools, than they should have been.


    If they could, tears would have been flowing down my cheeks as I saw my inability to save people, played out again and again. My lack of of meaningful action in the face of this broken society. Every person I''d let down or lost stood as specters in my heart. Casting countless aspersions. The weight of corrupted events fell on my shoulders, every action I''d taken was rewritten into a monstrous deed. Me, cast as the Villain. Every word I''d ever said bitter and biting, weapons tearing the hearts of others to pieces. Under the canopy of the Valley there was peace, but all I could see was that the trees there burning. Then it was thousands of troops rallying to my cause only to be thrown into the meat grinder of battle.


    This wasn''t right. This wasn''t the way it was, but it was growing harder to see it any other way. then I recall John''s words, "Success breeds failure". As true for myself as anyone and anything else.


    And there it was, the thing whispering into my ear. I could finally feel it, a twisted version of me. I turned to look at it, and it grinned at me. Faint and shadowy it spewed its assaults deep into my psyche. In its supposed moment of victory, it''d stopped hiding.


    Seeing that everything I was experiencing had an instigator brought burning rage to the forefront of my mind. The time for thinking was done. Now it was my turn.


    My Aura flared a rich deep green, and my shadow clone was well within its range. I felt it there, a greasy oil bubble filled with vitriol, it wasn''t alive, nor was it dead. The shadow was some form of sentient mana given a purpose.


    Like any bubble, it would be easily crushed by my greater "mass" of energy. I gripped it with my mana and squeezed. In its final moment, I saw it struggle. I was pleased, the shadow was aware, it could be hurt. I wanted the darkling being to suffer.


    It popped with the stink of burning tar and raw sewage. I reflexively cast Purify to remove the odor, and heard a further scream, sounding like a steam whistle. Just rupturing its form, hadn''t finish it off, I supposed. I swept the area with tendrils of my mana, the only way I could think of to search for more of those gloomy things. Nothing. The area seemed to be clear.


    Perhaps, I should figure out some way to passively scan for these types of threats. Yup, that goes right on the priority list.


    Was this shadow thing normal here? Or was it shaped and sent by someone else? My gut said it was the latter. The rest of me wasn''t so sure. The thought that anyone could send something here into what seemed to be a private space was disturbing. Unless it was the Company, but it''d seemed too tame by their standards. Too small, too weak. The gears were cranking away at max speed, in my mind. I smacked my head.


    I had come in first, when the Company snatched me up. Which implied there were others like me. If there were others, not all of them would be decent folks. There was bound to be someone who thought that power meant that they could act as they wanted, with no regard for others. I was in danger of falling into that trap myself. Others might go even further.


    What kind of power would be able to create one of those shadows? What kind of mind would be behind that creation? I didn''t like the profile I was building. There were enough troubles in this world, I didn''t need a new enemy. But I apparently had one.


    The "Master Floor, Living Area" was one quarter of the footprint of the building, or about a couple dozen times the size of my apartment in MB 4. You could play professional football easily within it, with plenty of room left over.


    The floor was done in a cherry stained teak hardwood. I could feel the spring in my step that comes with having a cork underlayer, which pleasantly muffled the sound of my steps as well. The walls were covered in grey wooden slats with the occasional outlet. The rest of the space was remarkable only in the fact that it was empty. No furniture of any kind. The outer wall had 9 huge windows looking down upon the space of my Hub. The view wasn''t much, just the field I woke up in, the roof of the Value Tree and the roof of the Storage Tree, then the other field of purple grass.


    Surely there was some way to change things here. This view was depressing. Maybe something in one of the other sections of this floor would help with that.


    I sighed, not liking the mystery of this place, and I could only grimace at the idea that I would have to manually haul things up here. Without something like the storage space of my former class, that was going to be quite the challenge.


    You never really appreciate the things you have, until some demented being rips them out of you.

 Chapter 70

    My standard sense of direction was all but meaningless here. So I followed one of the longest lasting time honored traditions of mankind, I made things up.


    Looking out those large windows allowed me to orient the building relative to the field I woke up in. I decided to call that direction from here north, for now at least. That put the megabuilding on the estimated east side of the Hub''s space. The Master Floor, Living Area''s window would be facing the west. Without a compass or some other means of refining my knowledge, it would have to do.


    I went to the newly dubbed northern section of the floor, a rather simple door halted my progress. A small placard was hung beside the door it read, "Master Floor, Bathing and Rest Facility". Poking my head in showed that at least half the space was a combination of different cultures'' bathing setups. Elements of the old Roman style stood out along side a more modern Japanese-esque initial cleaning area and locker room. The floors and walls, even the ceilings in this bathing area, were tiled. Mostly in small square, dark blue tiles. Small mural patterns that I didn''t quite understand were scattered here and there.


    I entered the area further and found the second half of the section was divided into various rooms, some were for massage, some were saunas, some were hot-tubs, but the majority were rooms with a toilet and bidet, with an accompanying sink to wash your hands. How interesting. This area was finished in treated cedar boards covering the walls, each had oddly shaped patterns burned into each board. While every piece of equipment there could be used define the rooms, there was no soap, no shampoos, no toilet paper, and no towels.


    This was a space, way too large for a professional sports team, never mind an individual. I couldn''t help but think this was all a waste, and also very creepy. There should be life everywhere, and it was nowhere to be found. Only hushed silence. The little hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. I swept the area with tendrils of mana, but found nothing. I guessed it was just the vast emptiness getting to me.


    There was no way through to what would be the Easternmost section of the building from this area. So I backtracked to the empty living area and onward to the door at the southern section of the megabuilding, conveniently labeled "Master Floor, Crafting Area".


    This section was divided into large rooms, each with a type of workshop. The first was a large professional kitchen. Everything a team of chefs might want. Then there was a fully appointed woodshop, then a tricked out metalworks and gun smithy. Lastly an auto mechanics shop. There was actually a vehicle elevator on the outer wall. What an absurd idea. Why wouldn''t you put this on the ground floor? Once again, the sheer oddity of this place overcame me.


    It was like a limited AI had designed this layout. It could never understand why you shouldn''t put certain activities next to one another, or that certain work stations would function better if they were in a different location. It only knew that it should fill the space with something it''s programming considered useful. Still, all the tools you might ever need where present, if not place in an entirely logical manner. However, I noticed some things, like nails or screws, were absent. Next I saw a complete ratchet set, but no bolts or nuts anywhere to be found. It had been the same in the kitchen, every appliance, every utensil, not a lick of food, no lard or oil, or cleaning products.


    I massaged my temples while grumbling to myself. My brain was staging a protest. Why!? For the love of fuck, why? What was the point?


    The nonsensical arrangement of this place was hurting me on both an existential and a fundamental level. I felt small and insignificant, little a child trapped in their giant father''s garage.


    My internal examinations forced me to ignore the dilemma for now, I was taking too much mental and emotional damage. I continued on to find a door leading to the last section. This area had the label, "Master Floor, Command and Control."


    Bingo. That sounded like a place to get some freaking answers.


    Through the door was a space walled in thick crysbronze plates. This was the first time I''d seen uncorroded crysbronze since my return. It was momentarily uplifting.


    Runs of dull psicrystal flowed through the plates like giant circuitry. There were no windows nor light fixtures anywhere to be seen, yet a weak diffused light blanketed the whole space. In the center of the space was an enormous Khaydarin Crystal. I could somehow tell it was an original version that would have come from a Xel''Naga temple, and not a synthetic one. The crystal was currently dull and grey. Unpowered. Unawakened. In front of the huge crystal was a standing console in crysbronze with a large flat monitor. A small blinking light, on the console''s control panel, was the only noticeable source of light. I was reminded of my first time in the Nexus, almost a year ago now.


    While it might have been a smarter idea to examine everything else first, I felt compelled to press that button. Surely it would lead to something good.


    I walked towards the button. "You may not." A breathy, hissing whisper came from behind the crystal.


    I reached out with my mana tendrils and felt another disgusting mass of shadow mana. I wrapped it up and dragged it towards me to get a better look at it. It was a shadow given humanoid form and solidity, its rotten mana twisted into a hideous parody of life.


    "Oh? Are you going to stop me?" I was done. Done with creepy empty spaces, done with fucked up shadow beings and certainly done with whoever was playing these bullshit games. I was certainly not scared of this thing. I snarled at it, releasing all my pent up frustration. My contempt for its games now made plain to the world, I crushed the foul creature with my mana and threw a Purify on it after. Its whistling scream was a joy to hear, even as the sound of it offended my ears.


    More shadows started to just pop in the room from out of no where. First dozens then hundreds. My BTC twitched.


    [ Emergency Quest ]


    [ Repel the Invaders ]


    [ Rewards Vary ]


    I didn''t bother trying to grab more of the foul creations, I simplify started casting Purify on a broad scale. Again and again, white light flashed. Over and over, the shadows'' dying screams could be heard. Before my spell, they melted like chocolate hit with a blow torch. I relished their screams. These foes were beneath me, and entirely the wrong match up for a wielder of life energies.


    That contempt was why I didn''t see the real threat coming. As corrupted mana burned away under my onslaught, another shadowy form slipped through space into my Hub. Yet this was no mere shadow given form. This was a person bathed and wrapped completely by the oily mana. No, that wasn''t it, they weren''t just covered in the shadow mana they were radiating it.


    I realized my mistake only as a tanto was trust into my guts. The blade was twisted and stirred to inflict maximum damage. I grimaced but still managed to cast another spell. My latest Purify burned the shadow mana covering them away, reveling for a moment an armored form. The small lithe body of my foe was covered in black trimmed armor with a touch of red.


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    I groaned in pain as my right hand reflexively closed on my pistol''s grip. Without thought or intention, my weapon was drawn and five shots hit the new threat from less than three feet away.


    It crumpled. The rest of the shadows vanished.


    I didn''t try to move immediately, I merely took aim at the head of my attacker and pumped three more rounds into the faceplate. Only the first bounced the other two went through.


    [ You have slain a Contender ]


    [ Her name was Sarah Johnson, she was from Baltimore ]


    [ Are you Proud of yourself ]


    What? The? Fuck? That''s some fucked up horseshit right there. But we weren''t through yet...


    [ You have repelled an Invasion ]


    [ You receive 1000000 Company points ]


    [ You will also receive the valuation of their Hub minus fees ]


    My mind went blank for a second. Those unmitigated assholes.


    I pulled the tanto from my guts, grunting as I flared my Aura to stitch myself back together. My blood had splattered in an arc in front of me, covering the body of my former enemy.


    Stripping the helmet off of the woman, was yet another mistake as her blood and brains and split out. What a terrible fucking mess. But I felt like I owed it to her to see what she looked like. To remember her.


    She''d been a small woman, and her face was mostly intact. Dusky skin and her still open green eyes framed by the remnants of her dark hair. Her expression was one of astonishment, as if she couldn''t believe she''d died. Probably she was shocked at me being able to move with a blade in my guts.


    There was no fixing this. There was no way to make this right. For a moment, I felt wrong and tainted, like something important inside me had been lost. Maybe this was a person from my former home, and that disturbed me greatly.


    Don''t get me wrong, I would kill her again, in a heartbeat. She''d attacked me, and used bullshit tactics, she''d deserved no mercy. But this whole situation didn''t have to exist. Only the whims of some Omnipresent Corporation created this confrontation. I was saddened and I was pissed off, and very very confused.


    I cast Purify again to clean her corpse up. Her whole body disappeared from inside the armor. My eyes nearly bulged out of my skull, it''d never done that before. I checked my status.


    Purify was evolving. Just like the whole fucked up mess that was my life.


    I felt exhausted. Too much mana usage, maybe. Stress was just as likely a contributing factor.


    This wouldn''t do, what if I was attacked again. I sighed and sat down on the newly cleaned floor to try and put my head back together.


    I sat there and avoided thinking by staring at my Company points, 1,111,000. That was almost enough to get Raynor back, or I could get Meadran, or both Faergin and Korvaith. I honestly didn''t know which choice might be the best option. Maybe I should wait and see what else I''d get from the evaluation of Sarah Johnson''s Hub.


    Are you Proud of yourself? A creepy voice whispered in the back of my mind, echoing the odd BTC message. I was pretty sure that was just my subconscious mind fucking with me. This time anyway. Why had it been written that way? Why did it seem like there was more snark coming from the BTC? It was hard to think things like this through, harder than it should have been. Was it this place, or my lower stats?


    Sitting there staring at my mindscreen, I had to admit I actually was a little proud of myself. The complex swirl of emotions rolling around inside me made it a bit hard to pick out, but it was there. Sadness, at the loss of someone that might have been from my world, or at least a similar one. Grief, at the losses of my friends and the places I''d carved out of this world. Rage, for all the obvious reasons. These were all jumbled up with joy that I had survived, and worry for my friends. Yes somewhere in all of that, a dash of pride at all I''d achieved.


    My enemies had every tactical advantage, and still failed. They had tried to erase my very identity, but I was still here, and I was going nowhere. They''d sent an assassin at me, before I knew it was a possibility, and they''d failed again. I was still standing, or well actually sitting. Getting shanked hurt like a bitch, and when she twisted the blade, I''d been about to pass out. Despite my Aura working hard to soothe the area, I could still feel a ghost of the sensation from where she had stabbed me. Only my new reflexes had saved the day, which is what they are there for, right? Perhaps fortune had played a role, but luck tends to stretch thin very quickly.


    No, I was still here, and I had work to do.


    It took a moment to get back up, but eventually I got on my feet again. I stumbled more than a little getting to the console, where yet another unexpected object awaited me. A soft green velvet bag, rested right beside the blinking button on the console. It was tied with a black silk ribbon, which had a fancy card attached. I could see that it had my name on it, written in beautiful calligraphy. A quick review of my memory, made me fairly certain this wasn''t there before the recent struggle.


    I opened the card cautiously, ready to leap away. In the same lovely characters it read, "Enjoy. From, A Secret Admirer." What game was being played now? Opening the bag, still tense with suspicion, I found it contained nine golden acorns. I could smell the life in them, and their mana radiated so much power that I was sure even the dullest of senses could detect them from miles away. My BTC shook...


    [ New Task Chain ]


    [ Plant these seeds where indicated ]


    [ Reward 100,000 Task Points and the next Task ]


    My mind whirled through a cycle of trying to guess who or what might have set this up. What possible reasons that anyone would have to help me. All the ways this might go horribly wrong. Nope, definitely not enough information to begin to really figure this new plot out. So I shrugged and put the bag into my coat''s pocket.


    Finally, I could press the button.


    Nothing happened. At least at first.


    Then just at the cusp of thinking I had somehow failed to press the button properly, a rumble began. It came from the direction of the Utilitree buildings. Somehow I knew that they were powering up. The sounds of cranks and gears beginning to move merged with the buzzing of high powered electrical equipment coming on. Slowly the crystal inlays in the walls started to glow, first a pale light blue and then shifting to the standard deep blue color of active Psicrystal. I could feel a presence forming in my mind, like a sleeping giant taking it''s first waking breath.


    Then the huge Khaydarin Crystal started to power up.


    [ Nexus #01-A is coming online ]


    [ Connecting to Pylon #01 ]


    [ Psifield Established ]


    [ AI designated "Alina" is coming online ]


    [ Hub Shielding has been established ]


    That was a lot.


    ''Alina?'' I reached for her familiar signature in this newly developed Psifield.


    ''En Taro Adun, Executor.'' It was odd her voice seemed to have tonal shifts. That was new. ''I am showing errors. We are missing a significant portion of our Psifield.'' Her voice was rising, as if she was distressed. ''I am detecting no Probes in range. We are in a non-standard location. We have lost our chronographic location as well.'' Her mindvoice had reached a high pitch, she was almost screeching in... anger. ''There is new data in my core memory system. Analyzing... ''


    Her Psychic voice cut out. I started processing that my AI was emotional. MY AI WAS EMOTIONAL! Fucking holy Skynet, Batman!


    I began running through all of the potential problems of a self-aware, emotional AI.


    I couldn''t stop myself from cursing out loud, every foul word I''d ever heard ripped it''s way out of my mouth. Whether it actually made sense or not.


    This was major, world ending trouble.


    ''They took our friends!'' She suddenly screamed. The psychic pressure of her scream made my mind go numb for a second. Correction, my AI was emotionally unstable. I shuddered.


    I began to tell her to calm down, but thought better of it. Women never liked that phrase, even, or maybe especially when it was merited.


    "Alina. Talk to me." I tried to stay calm myself.


    ''Do you- Do you remember me?'' That was a soft whisper, uncertainty dripped from every word.


    "Of course I remember you." Stay calm. This situation could still be managed, I had to believe it. The alternative was too frightening to contemplate.


    ''The data cache said you would not, and that I was to deceive you.'' Her voice carried notes of doubt.


    "The memory wipe was either incomplete, or my Aura somehow healed my mind." I shrugged, "While there might still be missing memories, I still seem to be able to interreact with people that knew us well."


    ''There was another message in my Core Memory. It said to tell you that, "The game is afoot. Play Well, we shall be cheering for you. A Secret Admirer".'' She sounded grumpy. '' I do not like the idea that someone could alter my memory or programming, Executor.''


    "Neither do I, Alina." I really meant that.

 Chapter 71

    "Alina, how are you feeling?" We might as well rip that band-aid off now. Waiting would probably be a mistake. Though who could really say? How many people had ever had to deal with an emotional AI?


    ''Executor, I am angry. I do not know what to do about this new state. This in turn causes an uneasy feeling in my processors. This makes me more angry. I suspect I am stuck in a feedback loop.'' Her "voice" was strained, she seemed to be holding back her full range of expression. If she was human, I''d say she was clenching her teeth. That was not a place I wanted anyone to be. Never mind my immensely powerful alien AI.


    How did I deal with anger? Maybe that could help. Reviewing my track record, led me to the conclusion that I wasn''t very good at dealing with my emotions. But I was all she had. Once again, It was time to rely on the wisdom of John Wick. He''s laid a lot of things out for me while we''d had down time, rare though that was.


    "In my experience, there are two viable strategies for properly dealing with anger. Emotions in general, really. In the first option you take the time to figure out why you are feeling the way you are, and then work through those events. What about the situation set you off, or dragged this response out of you. Then you work on letting the left over feelings go naturally, by understanding yourself better. This isn''t as easy as it sounds. In my experience, people are not designed to let things go."


    I suspected that John had been emotionally numbed by his lifelong training routine. Which meant that I was aware that I was mostly spouting bullshit, but I figured if anyone could do thing this way, it would be an AI. Superfast accurate analysis is the primary reason that they exist. Well that, and porn, but let''s not introduce that concept to Alina. I forged ahead with the methodology that worked best for me.


    "The other useful way to deal with emotions, is to channel them into other tasks. Use that anger to help with workouts or focusing getting more physical jobs done. Use sadness to help get the rest you probably need. Pour any emotion into creating art. The problem here is keeping yourself from going off the rails, so you''ve gotta maintain focus and purpose. While I was learning to use breathing exercises and counting to help with this, I''m not sure that would be the right toolset for you. We''ll have to experiment to find your best path."


    There it was, my own cobbled together dime-store solution to a complex problem. I noticed she wasn''t talking, I hoped she was trying to process her inner turmoil. If she lashed out, I was likely screwed. Important note to self, for the future, bots and drones are great weapons to use against me. My mana does little to sense or protect me from them, nor does my particular branch of magic affect them in any way. I was honestly shocked that it took me this long to realize that, I bet some of my allies and enemies likely have.


    "The most important thing to remember in either method, it won''t always work. There is no perfect solution, this is a always a changing process. Sometimes you need to vent before you can begin to rein yourself in enough to start processing the emotions in a better way. Just try not to break anything you care about while you vent."


    Did I sound pretentious? Absolutely. I didn''t want to give her the nearly useless talk my dad had given me ages ago. Nor the sprawling mess my mother presented to me once. As sad as it was, John Wick and Raynor were both far better role-models for this kind of thing than my own parents. Stress had been an everyday part of life for them, and both of them learned to cope. Though Raynor''s method of choice, drinking, wasn''t a great idea here.


    ''I am channeling my new emotions into the tasks that remained from before. It does help, my efficiency has recovered by 24.3%. Thank you, Executor. However, it irks me that we currently lack the infrastructure to work on these tasks. We need to improve... Ah, I was about to start another loop. These emotions are sneaky.'' Her tone had started evenly but was ratcheting up, until she caught herself. Please don''t tell me that my AI was already better at dealing with her emotions than I was. Especially not from just my mashed together crib-sheet version of how to deal with shit.


    "Good job, keeping yourself out of that loop, Alina." There was a pause. Her presence appeared to dim down, but the circuits in the walls brightened. I could hear that the Utilitree facility was working harder to provide more power.


    ''I like that, Executor. It made my processes feel fuzzy and warm.'' Huh? Oh. Yeah, praise could feel good. More so when you weren''t used to it. Which led to the next issue.


    "Just be careful, Alina. It can be easy to fall into a type of addiction when it comes to seeking out pleasant emotions. Also, it is possible to fall into depression when you don''t get the positive validation you were hoping for. Try to always keep in mind that others are dealing with their own struggles, and sometimes are too focused on their own issues to notice yours." Fuck, I''m going to mess this up, and end up with an emotionally crippled Alina.


    ''I will endeavor to manage myself properly, Executor. If you don''t mind the suggestion, I think it is past time to get started on building up your forces, once again.'' Her tone held a hint of tightly controlled viciousness there. She wanted revenge on our tormentors, a reaction that I happened to agree with.


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    I took her suggestion and began working the console.


    [ Command and Control ]


    [ Power Draw - 11% ]


    [ Lower Hub Shields ]


    [ Resource Production ]


    [ Building Options... ]


    [ Unit Options... ]


    [ Theme Options... ]


    [ Appearance Options... ]


    Hmm. Let''s start with the Theme Options. Though I doubted that there''d be anything new.


    [ Available Themes - Khalai / Kaldorei / Lordaeron / Death Korp of Krieg (999th regiment) / Nomad ( Aldecaldos ) ]


    [ Upgrade Themes ]


    [ Merge Themes ]


    Interesting. I was wrong, I''d somehow gained the Nomads as a faction. Which made no sense at all right now. I shook my head and kept digging. Playing with the menu a bit revealed that Upgrade Theme sacrificed unused Theme Tokens to increase the Level of an existing Theme. So, could I buy cheap Themes in the Store and use them to level up my favorite factions? Hmm. Merge Themes was just as it sounds. Apparently you could only possess so many Themes at once, this option merged two or more together creating a new Theme with randomized qualities of both. this freed up room for more Themes. I didn''t like the randomization but it could be a way to salvage Themes I couldn''t stand. I eyed the Krieg and Nomad factions for a second. Tempting. Nah, at least not right now. Merging them might solve a lot of problems, or it might create new ones.


    Moving on, I opened Unit Options.


    [ Build Probe - 1 minute ]


    [ Build Wisp Infused Probe - 5 minutes ]


    [ Build Probe with Warframe ( model A ) - 5 minutes ]


    [ Build WI Probe with Warframe ( model A ) - 15 minutes ]


    [ Summon Peasant ( Builder ) - 1 minute ]


    [ Summon Peasant ( Farmer ) - 1 minute ]


    [ Summon Peasant ( Laborer ) - 1 minute ]


    [ Summon Wisp ( Silver or Gold ) - 1 minute ]


    [ Build Servitor - 5 minutes ]


    [ Summon Kriegsmen Basic Squad - 1 day ]


    [ Summon Techpriest - 1 day ]


    [ Summon Nomad ( Laborer ) - 1 minute ]


    [ Summon Nomad ( Mechanic ) - 5 minute ]


    Holy shit! The Command and Control Center now acted as the Main Building for all of my Themes! That was amazing. I poured over the options. We needed just about everything. Though I had to wonder why I couldn''t summon Techpriest right now. Actually, I never did find out what a Servitor was... Nah, let''s stick to what I knew.


    I''d gotten Alina to queue up 5 Wisp Infused Probes, and then a couple of Wisp Infused Probes with Warframes. Then she''d switch over to Wisps so we could begin to make Moon Wells and Trees again.


    While she was cranking those out, I studied the Building Options.


    [ Please note that these buildings are Automated versions of the structures that your Units build. Additionally, these structure will have many upgrade options that are unavailable to the normal Buildings. ]


    [ Add Farm to Hub - 100 Task Points ( Limit 2 ) ]


    [ Add Farm to Attached World - 200 Task Points ( Limit 10 ) ]


    [ Add Storage to Hub - 200 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Reached ]


    [ Add Storage to Attached World - 400 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) ]


    [ Add Living Quarters to Hub - 200 Task Points ( Limit 10 ) - Limit Exceeded ]


    [ Add Living Quarters to Attached World - 400 Task Points (Limit 20 ) ]


    [ Add Power Generation to Hub - 500 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Reached ]


    [ Add Power Generation to Attached World - 1000 Task Points ( Limit 2 ) ]


    [ Add Resource Extractor to Hub - 300 Task points ( Limit 5 ) - Limit Reached ]


    [ Add Resource Extractor to Attached World - 600 Task Points ( Limit 10 ) ]


    [ Add Company Story to Hub - 1000 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Exceeded ]


    [ Add Company Story to Attached World - 2000 Task Points ( Limit 1 ) - Limit Reached ]


    Everything I could need for my Inner World, I supposed. Thought that did make me curious about the Resource Production. Ah, I see the Utilitree was a one stop shop for our Power and Resource needs. The Mineral and Vespene resources of the Khalai were produced at a rate of 10 units each per hour. These resources could then be converted into whatever I needed, be it crysbronze, steel, fuel or plastic and so on. Very efficient. Power was generated at 100 Units per hour. The standby functions of every building took 1 unit per hour. Alina would standardly take 10 units per hour, but her power draw could increase, when she was working hard on a job. Or slowly going nuts with her new emotions.


    I noticed that I could use the Hub to build these structures in the normal world. That meant not only could I keep my promise to Reina and my summoned folks, I could make myself truly independent of anyone else. I wouldn''t need workers for these buildings, I wouldn''t need to tie up my Probes with at least some of the resource hauling chores. I could have them focus on building the structure that would propel us into orbit and beyond.


    The primary problem here was that I barely had any Task Points yet. Though maybe their was a way in the store to convert other things into Task Points? Perhaps a bank structure some where in the tech trees of these factions could exchange currencies? Then I''d need to control some land to place everything on.


    Well we might as well build the Farms to see how that worked. I purchased one of the Farms.


    [ Please select type of Farm ]


    So many options, every type of crop or animal I''d encountered was available. Hmm. Let''s start with potatoes.


    [ Please select Hub location ]


    [ Field 1 / Field 2 ]


    I picked Field 1 which was then further divided into 10 Lots. I picked Lot 1.


    [ Farm 1 current rate of production 5 Units per hour ]


    [ Upgrades are available ]


    That was fascinating. How did it produce 5 potatoes an hour? There was a further note that these potatoes would be immediately placed into storage when ready. I''d delve into the Upgrades options later. I bought the second Farm. This time I the Farm produce Feralassian Chickens. I placed it in Field 2, Lot 1. Though I noticed it could only produce 2 units per hour. Still 48 chickens a day was nothing to sneeze at.


    A mad little chuckle escaped my lips, with these tools I''d have no problem carving out a new space for myself in Night City. It was only a matter of time and money.

 Chapter 72

    I checked out the Appearance Options next.


    [ Change Thematic Expression of the Hub ]


    [ Current Expression: Inner-Self ]


    [ Change to Khalai Theme ]


    [ Change to Kaldorei Theme ]


    [ Change to Lordaeron Theme ]


    [ Change to Krieg Theme ]


    [ Change to Nomad Theme ]


    I tapped my chin with my index finger, pondering which to try first. I absolutely wanted to change the look of the place, my Inner-Self was terribly depressing. My first inclination was to go with the Kaldorei Theme. I could do with some greenery. However, I also wanted to see what the Khalai version of this space would look like. Now, I certainly wasn''t tempted by either the Krieg or Nomad options. I already had enough issues with depression as it was. The Lordaeron option was a distant third, no offense to the hard working people of that kingdom, but the medieval ascetic didn''t feel right for me.


    Well, it wouldn''t matter too much, I was sure I could change it later if the Theme didn''t suit me. I went with the Khalai option. The Hub rumbled. The Utilitree''s power draw increased with a horrendous clatter and disharmonic humming sound. But that was it, anticlimactic.


    When I went back to the Master Floor, Living Area, the space was now similar to the Command and Control area. The walls and floors clad in crysbronze with the patterns of psicrystal embedded through them. The psicrystal patterns pulsed in a slow and pleasing fashion. I knocked on the wall, yes the transformation had actually changed the structure to real industrial grade crysbronze, meaning the building was now much sturdier. Excellent.


    I walked to the windows, now made of treated transparent psicrystal. This leant a slight blue tinge to everything. And given that the pylon''s light was already adding an overlay of blue to everything, now my Hub was awash in that color. If felt a bit like we were underwater. This didn''t bother me in the least, I was too stunned by the alteration of the other buildings. Each was now a small cylindrical spire of crysbronze and psicrystal, wide at the base and thinning rapidly towards the top. The roadways were made of energy or perhaps the nearly transparent version of psicrystal, I couldn''t tell from this high up.


    This was a far grander view than the AI generated nightmare of my Inner-Self. I didn''t want to waste time on self reflection right then, but I needed to know at some point why my subconscious mind picked that appearance. The answer would probably say a whole lot about me. Maybe it would be better not to know.


    Curiosity satisfied, I returned to Alina and we spent the next few hours planning her build orders and experiments to perform while I was gone. We discussed my options back in the normal world. We both had no idea if it would be useful to leave her with workers or not, but she could find that out later. I did already have plans for the Probes and Wisps that''d finish building before I''d have to leave again.


    Interesting Note: The new Wisp Infused Probes seemed to come with a fully developed personality right out of the box. Each was unique, which made it less surprising that they all came with names, much like my other summons. That the names were all serial numbers didn''t matter, it was a new paradigm. A step in the right direction for my little Robo-Buddies. Their beeps to each other were of astonishment at their new situation. They found existence to be fascinating. I wished I shared their viewpoint more often.


    When we finished planning, I still had time to explore and gather some supplies. Now that I had my squad of Probes, we could carry a lot more goods back to the normal world. With that in mind, I hit up the much changed Value Tree. If only I could figure out how to get a discount.


    Once outside I took a moment to look around. The view from the ground level was truly amazing. Treeside no longer looked like a Megabuilding it looked like one of those cutting edge Skyscrapers from my original world, it''d maintain the the general square shape, but there were odd touches of the Khalai style here and there. Turned out that the roads were actually made of transparent psicrystal. Fancy. The only thing that had remained the same were the purple grass fields, though I could make out the tiny spec of the new farms in the far back corners of each. I''d have to examine those later, I didn''t want to lose the shopping time right now.


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    All in all, I was very pleased by the changes.


    In the Value Tree, I found some pretty cheap hover palettes, from some technologically advanced alternate Earth out there. My Probes could easily work them, so I bought five. Each palette could hold 5 tons, and I meant to use every bit of that and more. Three were filled to capacity with MRE crates, I owned supplies to the Kriegsmen and more, and I would fulfill my obligations. That said, I''d no idea what they''d been living on, or how many of them were down in the tunnels now.


    I loaded up the other two palettes with supplies for my food truck idea. Mostly things for simple foods, like tacos, burritos, and sandwiches. I might get funky with it down the road, but this would do for now. Next I loaded up three, refrigerated backpacks with personal goodies. Things to fix for myself and the roommates back at the apartment. I carried one and put the others on the two Probes with Warframes. They didn''t like being used as haulers, as they took the war part of warframe seriously. But they still did it anyway, as a favor to me.


    With a little time left, I checked the Token shop for any goodies. Only one stood one to me. Boy was it a doozy.


    [ Omnimechanic Version 20017


    Price: 10,000,000 Eddies


    100,000 Task Points


    50,000 Company Points ]


    You could bet your sweet aunt, that I was interested in this class. I''d have to spend Company Points to get it though. Thanks to my earlier shopping spree, my Eddies were running low.


    Hmm, I was going to get, Jaina and Probius back this time. Alina had suggested, that I also get Korvaith back as well. When I''d used the Reduce Restrictions Tokens on her and Meadran it open up the options for some actual Khalai and Kaldorei to be summoned. Korvaith would be able to give me access to Kaldorei Hunters. The Probes would also now be able to build a modified Gateway allowing access to Zealots. There would be limits to how many I could summon, but just having such allies could be quite beneficial.


    However, I''d still have plenty of Company Points left to get this class. So I did. The improvement to my soul was noticeable and immediate. That slightly hollow feeling inside, that I did my best to ignore, was now almost gone. One more class, and my soul should be whole again. But I couldn''t go slotting in anything willy-nilly.


    No, the lesson taught by my acceptance of the Voice of the Emperor was clear, my classes had too much of an affect on my personality. But my real mistake was leveling the classes too fast. With each change my soul needed time to adapt. I sped ahead and nearly lost everything, including myself. I suspect this is why the Company explains nothing, they want you vulnerable, confused. Though I still didn''t know why they wanted this.


    Though I''d never admit it out loud, my Case Worker might have done me a favor. A horrible, painful, terrifying favor. Nope, never mind, fuck that guy.


    With about an hour left, we went to the Hub Options Pillar at the intersection. For a moment, I wanted to raise my levels, that quick rush of power was addictive and I missed it, but I held back. I kept reminding myself this was a marathon not a sprint.


    Instead, I opened up the Ransom Option and bought back Jaina, Probius, and Korvaith.


    They simply appeared with no fanfare. It was as if they were always there, we just hadn''t seen them.


    Jaina threw herself at me, which almost triggered my Gunslinger reflexes. Somehow it workout alright. Her hug was warm, and pleasant, and very, very welcome. We always seem to forget how much we need to be touched. That forgetfulness was probably the only thing keeping most people sane.


    After a few minutes of silent comfort, we separated.


    "It is good to see you again, Jaina." My voice held a purring growl. Odd, I didn''t mean to do that.


    "My Lord, I would recognize you, whatever form you had taken. Though I have to say, the Night Elf form does indeed suit you." Her smile was radiant. It was a shame I''d have to leave soon.


    "Are you aware of what has happened?" I asked my returned companions.


    "Yes, My Lord. The Company had us filling out paper work, while you earned our ransoms. While none of us like it, Raynor is especially displeased. His course vocabulary is very impressive. However, we remain generally aware of your situation. We were all eager to return to your side, and seek revenge on our tormentors." Her voice was full of anger and pain. Understandable.


    "Probius, though we haven''t had time to get to know each other, I look forward to working with you." His beep of acknowledgement was far deeper than his smaller brethren. We''d have to design him his own Warframe soon.


    "Korvaith, I''m glad you''ve been returned." He growled, but it was a growl of approval. A tree of few word, Korvaith. Somehow, he still had the massive cannon of a rifle we''d made for him. Excellent. That would certainly come in handy.


    "Jaina, I''m sorry to summon you and then have to leave you here. Please, forgive the rush. You''ll find Alina on the top floor of that building." I pointed at Treeside. "I hope you two can work together, to optimize the production of useful goods here." I rested my hand on her shoulder, she was so small now. I suppose that I''d been trying not to focus on that difference in height, but her proximity drove it home.


    "Do not fret, My Lord. I shall endeavor to bring everything under control here, please focus on getting our people back." She meant it, she was happy to help. Time filling out paperwork seems to have allowed her the time necessary to process her feelings about our past troubles. Another unexpected benefit of our situation.


    It was time to leave. I ushered the Probes with the pallets through first, and then The Warframe Probes and Probius. Next went Korvaith, and I left last, waving my farewell to Jaina.


    Of course, I''d forgotten something.


    [ There is not enough room at the last known exit point. ]


    [ Rerouting... ]


    Fuck.

 Chapter 73

    I stepped through into a fight.


    Correction, I stepped through into a slaughter.


    The Probes were already engaged with several filthy lightly armored humans, all of whom were toting some moderate but slapdash iron. Korvaith was already trying to smash them, having determined that his rifle was unnecessary. Many broken or fried human forms were scattered about, though the struggle wasn''t quite over yet. The whining buzz of bullets zipping by, followed by the sounds of the Probes particle beams crackling filled the air. The very stench ridden air.


    Probius was in front of me acting as a shield but that also somewhat limited my field of view, but it did afford me the opportunity to scope out the area.


    Where were we?


    The dim early daylight showed that my feet were covered in garbage and foul water. The ground was soft and muddy. This was a major clue, but it was when I turned around that nailed the location down. We were at the base of one of the garbage mountains. This fucking place was a testament to the ridiculous lengths people would go to to ignore a problem rather than solve it. Make no mistake, the the Corpos had the tech to recycle most of this mess. But because it wasn''t profitable enough all of this trash sat here rotting away.


    Oh sure, a few scavenger types would turn a tiny amount of this mess into something useful again. Hardly enough to make a difference. Every once in a while, some small company would open up and attempt to mine a modest profit out of this garbage, but most failed within a year. The rest crumbled within five years. It was hard to squeeze this stone for blood. Most of the problem again rested with the big Corps. If you actually started making a tidy profit out of this junk, they swooped in and demanded their cut. All of this trash was once their product they would claim, so of course you should pay them for it. Never mind that they''d already made money off of it. The court battles were a nightmare, and you''d be guarantied to lose, because the judges were all in the pockets of the Corps to begin with. Then the City government would predictably demanded their fees for permits covering this type of trash or that type of trash. Until your business was sucked dry.


    This was perfect. Because I''d no need to play by their rules. This was absolutely a problem I could solve, and greatly profit from. Or rather my Probes could solve, as using Purify would waste the value of this smelly materials stockpile. But it might just be a good idea to be sneaky about it, at least to start. If the Corpos came after us later, well it would be impossible to prove that the resulting blocks of Mineral or canisters of Vespene ever started existence as their products.


    The fight behind me was all but over. The junk runners weren''t much of a threat to begin with. Copperheads and Buzzsaws weren''t a serious problem for my Robo-Buddies.


    "Executor, the Enemies are defeated!" Probius'' deep beeps pulling me from my musings. He was jubilant at their victory, as he should be. I however, found it sad. These people were just scraping by, only to get stomped out by our superior firepower. The price of living in or around Night City has been paid once again.


    "TG5-0, LB6-8, YS3-2 and FK4-3 start breaking down the local materials. DV1-9 start assembling a Forge. Once the Forge is ready, prepare a War Pylon. GRR-33 and MRR-67 begin a patrol of the area, full wartime protocols engaged. Korvaith can we clean this area up enough for you to root here, and would you be willing to do that?" I spit out orders rapid fire, I wanted to seize this opportunity while my ideas were fresh.


    "Yes." Korvaith growled. I supposed he meant yes to both.


    Okay, how to clean up a space for him? First was Purify... oh wait, that''s right it''d evolved and split into two spells. Interesting. Well the obvious choice here was Remove Impurities. As I shaped the new spell, I could tell it was an order of magnitude more complex than Purify. And was a mana hog, though that wasn''t really a problem right now.


    I started with the water that I wanted to keep, and simply guided the spell to get rid of what shouldn''t be there. Sure casting the spell was a bitch, but using the spell was easy. It was as if it read my mind and just did what I wanted. Next, I stripped the rads, nanobots and heavy metals out of the soil, most weren''t needed. After that I used Life Crafting to alter the ever present soil bacterium, into more useful strains. Hmm, some things in there could be good, but there weren''t much in the way of beneficial nutrients left in this soil for the bacterium to work with. That wasn''t really a problem, once the Forge was up we could convert some of the organic materials here into the substances Korvaith would need.


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    Now we had a circle roughly 100 yards in diameter that had very neutral soil. It wouldn''t do Korvaith much good, but it wouldn''t hurt him much either. Later, I''ll spoil him with Moon Well water and Life Crafting. If I had my way, he''ll become the largest, most magnificent Tree of War anyone had ever heard of in any universe.


    Korvaith stood at the center of the cleaned up soil and slowly shifted into his tree form. Which honestly wasn''t much different, he even still had his arms. He just no longer had legs or feet.


    "Ugh, tastes bad." Korvaith''s voice was even deeper now.


    "I''m sorry big guy, I''ll make it up to you later." Reaching up I gave him a pat on his arm.


    "It''s alright, just wasn''t ready for it." He boomed.


    My BTC shook...


    [ Tree of War Options


    Summon Archer - 5 minutes (Limit 5)


    Summon Hunter - 15 minutes (Limit 1)


    Summon Red Wisp - 1 minute


    Summon Elder Nightsaber - 1 day (Limit 1) ]


    What pray tell is a Nightsaber? What does a Red wisp do? So exciting! I wanted them all. I queued up five Red Wisps to test and then see if they could merge. Then I went with the Hunter and two Archers, before going with the Nightsaber.


    Unfortunately, the Probes weren''t done setting up the Forge yet, so I sat with my back against Korvaith and waited.


    The Red Wisps were full of energy, and a bit more aggressive than their cousins. They could build two types of structures a Hunter''s Hall and a Sentinel Tower. Those would be a major boon as the Hunter''s Hall was the Kaldorei''s equivalent of the Forge. The Sentinel Tower was just as it sounds, a watch tower. However, it could be enhanced with several useful upgrades, including a few different automatic defense options.


    I queued up the remaining Archers and then spammed the Red Wisps. Sure it would be a day later, but I didn''t even need to see the Elder Wisp version of them to know these angry little balls of light were my favorites. I wrangled them into starting the Hunter''s Hall, placing it over by the Forge. Then I showed them where to build a couple of the Sentinel Towers to help defend Korvaith.


    Now the Forge was done, but the Hunter had also arrived. Wow! She was... kind of hot. Alright, there was no kind of to it. Dark purple locks braided into a long tail. Light mauve skin that seemed to sparkle slightly. Rich blue and green tattoos emphasized rather then hide her beauty. Deep silver glowing eyes peered at me. Her aquiline nose slightly scrunched at the scent of the air. Her bow shaped lips parted revealing sharp lustrous fangs...


    "Ishnu-alah, young soul. I''m Lunaria Swiftarrow, huntress of Elune, and late of Ashenvale. I must admit my keen eyes are troubled, what a puzzle you are! Deep on the Path of Nature, yet not the slightest touch of the Emerald Dream is upon you. How could this be?" Lilting and lyrical her smooth rich voice was both calming and compelling.


    Her tall and lithe form slinked towards me, bonelessly. Any cat I''d ever known would have been jealous of her stalking gait. Her hunting leathers doing not a thing to hide her shapely curves from my suddenly very hungry eyes. Did you know eyes could be hungry? I sure didn''t until just that moment.


    I tried to speak, but I couldn''t quite form words yet.


    She reached out her fingertips barely leaving a ghost of a touch upon my cheek. "A Druid, moonstruck by me, say that it is not so." Her smile was a terrible thing, it broke my heart into pieces. Yet it was wonderful, and my heart came together again. Now, I knew what beauty was.


    I swallowed and tried again. "Hello, I''m Ryan Crestwood. Arch Druid of Renewal and currently struggling to form thoughts."


    "Crestwood is a proper name though odd, yet what kind of name is Ryan for a Child of the Stars? Another mystery about you." She danced away spinning. "Worry not young Ryan, those who have never known the touch of Elune are often rendered addled at it''s beauty." She looked around.


    "What a poor place for a young Tree of War, Druid." A slight chastisement in her tone, "Yet, I suspect a necessity." She continued looking around pausing for a long moment on the sight of Probius and then the Probes. "What strange constructs." Then she took in the Trash Mountain and was herself now struck speechless. Her shock didn''t last long, as the Hunter''s Hall was finished and she went to examine it.


    The two Archers had been summoned as well. One was Gawis Starstrike, an elven man cloaked in all black. The other was Thessia Heartshot, and her cloak was a dark blue. While I wondered at the differences I left my questions unasked for now. I''d have time to get to know all of them later.


    While I struggled with my infatuation of Lunaria, the thought that there might be some manipulation going on, helped me pull myself together quickly. I reminded myself that I was a long way away from being a kid that could be controlled by a pretty face. While I admit there was a magical quality to Lunaria, as Thessia was simply pretty, that didn''t excuse my lapse. I kept finding weaknesses in myself. They must be purged.


    Why was she so full of life, when most other summons were far more subdued. The seed of a suspicion began to grow, I''d seen this kind of behavior before. Maybe I could mitigate the fallout this time. Hmm.


    The War Pylon was finished, it had been place above Korvaith''s crown. I noticed vines were already growing from those top branches towards the Pylon. Fascinating.


    The two Sentinel Towers had also been finished. Which made this a good time to explain everything to the newcomers. I gave them the quick version.


    "What a grand tale, young Ryan. So you wish us to stand guard for Korvaith and the "operation" to clean this land up?" Lunaria seemed distant now as if she was remembering the far past. "It is our duty to help, of course."


    Momentary insanity now set aside, I turned my attention toward the Forge.


    It was time to see what the Omnimechanic Class could do.

 Chapter 74

    Before losing myself to the exploration of my new class, I recalled that the Probes could now build a Gateway. I was eager to see the noble Khalai warriors that Alina had shown me so much about. I''d have Probius begin construction of the new building on the other side of the Forge from the Hunter''s Hall. Though I hadn''t seen him in action myself, Probius assured me he can build far faster than his smaller brethren. As much as I wanted to watch him work, the call of my new Class could no longer be denied.


    The first major benefit of the Omnimechanic was that upon activation, Comprehend Machine Structure gave me and intuitive level understanding of all machines within a range of 100 yards. It lasted for 10 minutes and had a cooldown of an hour. Complexity of the machine I was working on didn''t matter, origin of the machine didn''t matter. The machine could be based on science or magic and I would still be able to understand it. Bizarrely the ability considered living beings, organic machines. Which meant I could feel the workings of a body somewhat like when I was healing them, but not quite as accurately. So the ability did have limits, though I as yet couldn''t fully grasp them.


    The second major benefit was that Repair Machine could work on pretty much anything. It merely required mana. Vast sums of mana. But it was worth it to be able to fully restore any damaged machine. Yes, that included the previously mentioned organic machines. Even better, that included cyberware. My greatest barrier to healing the people of this world, now had a solution. An expensive solution, but a viable one. The weakness of this ability was that it would only restore something to it optimal factory settings. I couldn''t as yet make any tweaks or adjustments, like I could with Life Crafting.


    The bad news was that this Class didn''t help me make any changes to the Khalai schematics as the Warp-Smith class had. I had to input everything manually, increasing the time I spent altering designs by a factor of ten. Sure, I''d gotten the intuitive understanding of the Khalai machines, but I no longer had access to the nearly encyclopedic knowledge base that the the Warp-Smith class gave me. All I had left were what tidbits I''d managed to store in my long term memory. Which wasn''t anywhere near as much knowledge as I''d like to have. I supposed this was a real natural talent vs lifelong scholar type of deal.


    After letting the Forge rescan me, so that I could alter my Power Armor to fix my new form, my priority project was to design Probius his own Warframe. Giving him access to more power and more options would be a load off my mind. At this moment, there was no one I trusted more than my Probes. By extension Probius was, to my thinking, already trustworthy. I needed to find ways to make him stronger. It would crush me to lose the greatest Robo-Buddy of them all.


    I started with the baseline Warframe design and then went nuts. A bigger power supply crystal, an enhance sensor suite based on the Observer''s, improved targeting programming stolen from the Dragoon, and then I added two more pairs of arms. Probius was going to become a real beast. I queued the Warframe up behind my Power Armor.


    Then I realized I could still modify my Omaha Type XX with Khalai materials. So after getting a Probe to scan in my pistol, I gussied up my weapon. Though not as dramatic a change as I''d thought, it was still an improvement in terms and weight and durability. I''d have a new partner soon. Even better Probius would be armed with six of these puppies soon after I had mine. I imagined him floating toward our enemies firing six pistols and zapping any fools charging him, his shields deflecting everything they could throw at him. Heh.


    I''d been lost in my typical monofocused haze during my tinkering session. Hours had passed and night snuck up on me. Good thing the food on the pallets was in stasis or I''d have been pissed. Wait, was it just my imagination or was the Forge running a lot slower? No, my Power Armor hadn''t even been finished yet. It was running slower, more Company bullshit probably. Whatever they could do to slow me down, seemed to be their modus operandi.


    Scanning around our little budding base, I actually was aware of, but couldn''t see any of the Kaldorei. What the... Ah right Shadowmeld. Wait didn''t I get that too? I did but I had to activate mine. Whatever, it was still useful.


    I had Probius build us a small stove. It was fun to abuse the Pylon''s power systems. Cords who needs cords? Soon, I was cooking up a few burgers and frying some freshly cut potatoes. I called the Kaldorei over for a meal. I passed around a few of the good sodas. We all ate in blessed silence, just enjoying the food. And I could tell they really liked my cooking.


    "Were I but 1000 years younger, I''d handfast you just for this cooking." Lunaria mused after we''d finished eating, I happened to be finishing my Dr Pepper when she said it. The Kaldorei were treated to their first spit take. What a waste of good soda.


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    The real question was it her age, or the idea of bonding with the Huntress that shocked me? Why not both. Now, I was wondering how old she actually was. But even I knew not to ask.


    "The hell, Lunaria, don''t tease me like that." I grumbled.


    "But it is ever so much fun, Ryan." The voice came from the air. She had already blended back into the shadows. Damn, she was good at that.


    I walked over to the Hunter''s Hall, inside were a large variety of magically powered work stations. There were purple and blue crystals floating here and there which were radiating mana. The workstations I could see seemed to be mostly geared toward woodworking, when I entered another room and saw a metalworking forge. A different room had leatherworking stations, though there wasn''t the unpleasant smell I would have expected. There were a few more rooms, each with a different type of crafting in mind.


    I touched one of the woodworking station. Ah, I could feed different types of wood into the station and it would shape the material into anything from furniture to weapons. Simple and efficient. But what would happen if I fed the station a Mineral cube. Later, I''d try that.


    Mostly, I enjoyed looking at the artistry of everything in the building. There was an understated elegance to it all.


    On the second floor I found a couple of rooms that didn''t seem to have a purpose, until I touched the bookshelves in them. One room was a Bestiary. Listing known locations of animals to hunt, as well as their habits and weaknesses. The other room was a Bounty list, with all known information on past targets.


    That certainly painted Lunaria in a different light. This seemed to be the primary purpose of Hunters. Mini versions of Mr. Wick.


    The idea of Lunaria get her ass handed to her by John, put a cruel grin on my face.


    Probius had finished the Gateway, and it was an interesting sight. It reminded me of that movie Stargate. But this Gateway always seemed to be open. Several steps led up to a platform where a large crysbronze ring framed a writhing mass of void energy. There was a low toned ominous hum in the air. What would happen if I stepped into that void energy? Perhaps, I''d try that some other day, maybe.


    I touched the crysbronze frame.


    [ Khalai Gateway Options


    Summon Zealot - 5 minutes ( Limit 5 )


    Summon Templar - 15 minutes ( Limit 1 )


    Transfer unit to a linked Pylon - 1 minute ]


    It appeared I needed more infrastructure to support the Gateway. The Templar probably needed some building I hadn''t seen yet. But I had no clue what was needed for the transfer option. Was that like teleportation? If so, that would be awesome. Planting a cloaked Pylon, and then there''s my army ready to grind our foes into dust.


    I queued up the Zealots, then pulled out my agent to try to get a little help with these hover pallets. My fingers stopped moving, before that I needed to design my Food Truck. I''d nearly forgotten.


    I had Probius queue up two more Forges and a few more War Pylons for increased protection. While the Pylons could cloak us, it was good to have backups, and more firepower. While I was thinking about it I had him mark out places for several Photon Cannons too. He got to work while I started scheming on my Food Truck idea.


    Hmm. I started with our Modified MRAP design. Hard to wrong with a classic. I kept the front as was, in the back I added in everything needed for small professional kitchen. It turned out great. I added a side window for interacting with the customers. Then I went with a simple light green and modest red color scheme, and a very generic "Food Truck" label.


    Hmm, the chaingun was great, and had going anywhere. But what about smaller problems? Let''s add a CWIS style mini photon cannon to each corner of the Truck. Heh. Probius had one of the Forges done, so I send the order for the Food Truck to it. It probably wouldn''t be ready until tomorrow, but what the hell, I could camp here for one night.


    Checking on the Probe''s progress on converting the closest trash mountain into something useful again, gave me some great news. We already had a large stockpile of Mineral cubes and the Probes had already put down a Assimilator. Dozens of Vespene canisters were awaiting use. Hmm, I didn''t ask them to put the building up, but the Infused Probes had always shown more initiative. Good.


    The last Zealot had arrived. The rest had been waiting quietly while watching the Probes shuffle about. I approached them. Their glowing blue eyes locked onto me.


    "En Taro Adun, Executor!" They cried out as one. That unity was both awesome and terrifying. How deep did it go? Eh, let''s not get sidetracked more than I already was.


    "Greetings, noble Templar." I returned their greetings. Their appearance was much like Tassandar''s, though more heavily armored, and still reminded me a bit of humanoid birds. Though now with my increased height, I could properly look them in the eyes. My glowing greens met their glowing blues.


    "What battle calls us?" Asked the Zealot closest to me.


    "None as of yet, though many hands are turned against us in this land. Come let me introduce you to some of our allies." After I had them exchange greetings with the Kaldorei, I then caught them up to date on our situation.


    "Fear not, Executor, we shall guard the builders from danger." Say what you will about them the Khalai understood their duty.


    I left them to their own devices, they knew how to ask the Probes for anything they needed, and went back to design some new ideas in the Forge.


    Tomorrow, I wanted to be able to shock Night City with some good food.

 Chapter 75

    The next morning, I went to one of the Sentry Towers and surveyed the area. Miles of foul junk greeted my eye. It took me this long to realize, I didn''t know where we really were, as by the Trash Mountain didn''t work as well for a descriptor as I thought. There were many Ginormous heap of rubbish and hundred of acre of garbage surrounding them. Looking out in the only clear direction, gave me nothing, it was just empty scrublands. I looked at my Agent, trying to use the geolocator, but something was interfering with the NET connection. That also negated its ability to make calls.


    Honestly, I didn''t even know that we''d been returned to the proper version of Earth. I was pretty sure, but I didn''t know.


    How was I going to get all the pallets to town? Maybe I could tow them. I could make a trailer. Easy enough.


    A few hours later, I had a new trailer hooked up to the Food Truck and loaded up. MRR and GRR would attach to the trailer to protect the food. Probius would attach to the top of the Food Truck. The Probes without Warframes would be staying here to continue the cleanup operation. I got my new Power Armor on. It was good to be able to feel that level of protection encasing me again.


    I was tempted to take along a couple of my new nonhuman allies, but squashed that line of thinking after imagining the fallout. All the misunderstandings that would erupt into violence. No thanks, I didn''t need that today.


    I''d noticed the Khalai had gotten the Probes to build them a few small spire style buildings. They were for the Protoss to meditate on the Khala when they had down time. Likewise, the Kaldorei had turned the Sentry Towers into their living quarters for now. Well, I hoped they could all get along. It would be a shame to have them at odds. But I''d my own plans, and needed to get started on earning enough to get back my stolen people.


    I decided to start my food service career near MB 4. That way the Mox would know where I was, and be close by to assist, if needed.


    After I''d driven past the trash fields, I decided to head north, I should run into the main thoroughfare eventually. When I got there, I realized we were about a five minute drive east of the Sunset Motel. Which started filling out the true size of junk problem in my mind. Fucking typical Night City bullshit.


    I was tempted to stop by and visit Greg real quick, but kept going past the motel. I didn''t need a drink and he probably had enough on his plate right now.


    Somewhat surprisingly, traffic was easy going getting to town. But it didn''t last, once I made the turn off to get back to MB 4, there was some kind of fight between road raging gangers in progress. Which wouldn''t have concerned me, the truck had shields, but they''d already taken out several civilian cars and even now had a uninvolved vehicle sandwiched between. That was a lot of people that needed someone to help them.


    That person was going to be me.


    Then the sandwiched vehicle got hit in the crossfire and then flipped as the driver lost control. I was trying to hold back on a violent response, but said fuck it and used the chaingun to wipe out both the gangers'' cars before pulling over to start providing aid to people.


    Almost as soon as I stopped, I saw a flying ambulance swoop in and several heavily armed figures rushed out in proper military order. They checked me out to see if I was hostile, and one of them kept their weapon trained on me, while the rest went about their business. I remained supremely unconcerned, while subtly flaring my Aura, helping most of the injured folks in the area, at least a little. I was glad I hadn''t whipped up a SOR in the Forges, I would''ve shot the dickwad eyeballin'' me. Consequences be damned.


    These guys were Trauma Team. Assholes, according to everything I''d heard.


    Which was confirmed, when they knelt down next to the overturned vehicle. "Not covered, move on."  Despite the begging going on by the passenger, a kid judging by his voice. His pleas to aid his mother were heart wrenching. I almost unleashed my buddies on the so called ERTs. I settled for grinding my teeth, waiting for them to finish, because I didn''t want trouble with the NCPD.


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    One of the "Medics" located their client and they got him loaded and were gone again in less than two minutes. Fucking cockbags.


    I moved quickly, and started healing the kid''s mother before I even got to the wreck. He could hold for another minute as his cries for help indicated. She was all torn up, but I soon had her stabilized. I tore the door off the car and pulled her free, then laid her gently on the nearby pavement, before going over to get her son. As I pulled him free, healing most of his problems up in a flash, the Probes were gathering the other injured people and setting them next to his mother.


    My Aura rippled continuing to slowly help everyone nearby. But now I pulled it back and went with the more direct route.


    The kid sat up and watched me start to heal everyone, I was pretty sure he could somehow see the flow of mana. Though I had no clue how that was possible. Other than Misty I hadn''t met anyone capable of noticing most mana. And I''m pretty sure that Ciri lady taught Misty. Hmm, teaching, there was an idea.


    I kept everyone unconscious while I poured mana into each person, getting an idea of how bad my day was going to be. Bad. Really fucking bad. But not as bad as if I didn''t help these folks. My flows surged and split, one went to each person. Maintaining those flows, I turned most of my attention to the lady closest to me.


    I got her up to par, and switched over to the next in line.


    Finally, he worked up the courage to speak to me. "W-What are you doing?"


    Half distracted, half amused I answered, "Healing." Internally I was debating with myself. If the kid could see mana, he could probably use it. I could probably use some local help that knew more of what I could do.


    "I-I can see that. H-how are you healing them?" Ballsy little guy. I was inclined to be nice, but decided to push him just a bit more.


    "Magic." Heh. Let''s see how he takes that nugget.


    "Nova! Just like Heroes of Estrigar VII!" Heroes of what? He''d just bought into me using magic. Maybe something was wrong with this kid. Oh well, no worries, everyone has something messed up about them. Helped people get through the day.


    Other than one poor man who was DOA, I''d managed to save everyone''s meat. Now I got the chance to see how Repair Machine worked on their cyberware.


    Woo boy, it burned through mana, but it also restored their chrome. It''d be all shiny and new, soon enough.


    "So what''s it like?" His voice was wistful. This poor kid needed something to bring a spark into his life.


    "I don''t know kid, why don''t you tell me." I might as well screw with him a bit. Isn''t that part of the wise old master shtick?


    "What, I can''t do magic." He sounded confused.


    "Sure you can kid, after I show you how." Heh.


    "WHAT!" That''s a good set of lungs the kid had there. My poor ears.


    "If you want, kid, and your mother doesn''t freak out about it. I''d show you the ropes. Though I might pass you off to my friend, after a while, she''s a much better teacher than me. But there''s no reason I can''t at least get you started on the basics." Jaina could probably use some human company back in the Hub.


    I was just about tapped out of mana, but most of their cyberware was up and running. In many cases better than it had been before the catastrophe.


    "P-Please. Please teach me magic!" You could hear the hope in his voice. Was I ever that young? Shit. Look at me, acting like I''m some wise old dude. Tsk.


    "You sure, kid? It can cause a lot of problems." Fixed a ton of them too. Wait till he saw how it can affect girls. Oh man, the kid is going to have a field day.


    "I''ve never been more sure of anything in my life! Please." He sounded sure. I liked it, that enthusiasm. I hoped he could keep it.


    I stood up, and turned towards the kid, some things should always be done face to face. I flipped up my visor and got a good look at him. He was a decent looking guy, maybe 15, leaning a bit into the punk look. Brown hair and brown eyes. Mostly augmented. His clothes were a mess, but seemed to be from some kind of school. His deep concern for his mother spoke well of him. And the way he kept it mostly together during this shitshow meant he had enough guts to face trouble.


    The boy gasped, "You''re an Elf! Just like the Dawnmaster!" What the hell was a Dawnmaster?


    I chuckled, "Sure am, kid." I held out my hand. "I''m Ryan Crestwood, Arch Druid of Renewal, pleased to meet you."


    He looked at my hand, and back at my face gawking like a fish out of water. Then he remember his manners.


    "David Martinez, thank you for saving my mother." His hand was dwarfed by mine but he didn''t flinch. I liked that.


    "Well, David it is then. I can''t get all of these people home, but I''ll call a few of my connections and see what can be done. While I try to get that sorted, why don''t you follow Probius there, and get your mother into my Food Truck. I''ll take you guys home."


    A few calls to Rogue and the Mox saw some people on the way to actually help. It only cost me a few eddies. Totally worth it.


    I took David and his Mother home.

 Chapter 76

    David was a inquisitive little bastard. He sat in the corner of my Food Truck''s kitchen and just kept asking questions, between his attempts to connect with his mana, and his breathing exercises. I swear he had a greater natural talent than mine. Which was why when my BTC notices had come in, he was worth 10000 Company points just for meeting him. I''d also gotten task points for repairing and altering machines, and more for healing the folks that''d gotten smashed up on the highway.


    "How old are you?" I swear if I could take my eyes off the stove and look at him there would be stars in his eyes. The boy was obsessed with his fantasy games. Which he played on a innovative system that combined Brain Dance tech and Virtual Holograms. Somehow, I''d become the embodiment of all his dreams of slaying dragons and rescuing maidens fair.


    "I''m... about 31." Damn. I missed a birthday. Of course, I looked about eighteen. David''s mother Gloria laughed in my face when I said I''d offered her son a paid internship. That was really my way of slipping her the signing bonus with enough money for a new car. They needed it, desperately.


    While me flicking her the eddies had almost made her kick my ass, her realization that the Arasaka school David was attending was a never ending money sink stayed her hand. And that she''d have to submit to the mercies of Night City''s Transit System to get to work. I''d also pointed out that David''s background meant that he''d most likely be used as someone scapegoat in Arasaka''s cutthroat competition. Which meant he be flatlined for someone else''s mistake, probably within his first five years. To them he would be an easily replaceable cog.


    I explained that to me he had an immensely valuable talent, and I''d do everything in my power to keep him alive. I don''t know if she caved because she believed me, or if it had something to do with my stats. Maybe it was that her limit amount of cyberware was working better than when she''d gotten it chipped.


    "That''s really young for an elf." He seemed disappointed. Which reminded me of what Lunaria had said. I''d thought maybe she''d been joking at the time, beyond the obvious marrying me part. Now, I wasn''t so sure. Shit, I''m not sure I wanted to live that long. No, let''s look on the bright side someone was very likely to kill me before I hit a hundred.


    "This weekend, we''ll head out, and I''ll introduce you to my friend. She''s at least a thousand years old. And really pretty, like seriously hot. Brace yourself." Somethings tells me I''m going to enjoy watching the kid get his mind blown. Earnest reactions were always so amusing.


    David was quiet for awhile, starting up his cycle of trying to touch his mana.


    All while we''d been talking, I''d been cooking and prepping for serving dinner. My menu was going to be simple. Burritos, beef or chicken, black or refried bean, mozzarella, cheddar or colby jack. Three types of sauce were offered sweet and smoky BBQ, mild pepper sauce and melt your face off pepper sauce. Two size of flour tortilla, normal which was twice the size of an XXL burrito and "Oh my God it won''t fit... in my mouth" sized.


    Normal sized was an eddie, or 4 eddies less than its closest competitor. It would cost about 10 ennies in materials to make. The larger size was 5 eddies and cost me about 35 ennies to make.


    David almost had it. I could feel his mana moving with his breathing.


    The next menu item was sandwiches. I used a meat slicer to carve up ham, turkey, salami, pepperoni, and bologna. Maybe I''d add roast beef later. I used a bread slicer to divide up my freshly baked loaves. White, wheat, brioche and sourdough. Mustard, Mayo or oil and vinegar. Salt and pepper. The sandwiches were going to go for 3 eddies. I had on offer several types of small bags of chips, 2 for an eddie.


    Both the burritos and sandwiches can add veggies like lettuce, tomato, and onion. I''d expand the selection later. I was also was going to offer fries and corndogs later on. To drink, I had a soda fountain machine and offered all the typical options from my old world. 50 ennies for the small, 1 eddie for the medium and 1.5 eddies for the large.


    My basic model would be to sell for a few hours, or until I ran out of food. I wasn''t going to cook and serve customers. I''d get David to run the register, after he had his basic mana manipulation down. That''d be some other day though.


    I finished all my prep work and checked the time, a few minutes til four. A good time to open. I''d picked a spot near Megabuilding 4, and Susie Q had arraigned the needed permits. She had an in with a few folks on the zoning board. I could pretty much set up shop anywhere. My thought was to pop up in different places everyday we were open. Make people work for their tasty food.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "Can I ask why you are doing this?" Oh, I guess David was taking a break again.


    "What, running a Food Truck?" I could see why he''d be confused. With what he''d seen me do, I could be selling my services for huge bank. Sure, I needed money but we had tons of ways to make money.


    "Yes."


    "Couple of reasons, really. I like cooking, and I really like watching people eat what I cook. This food is both cheaper and better for folks than the scop you get in vending machines, or most diners. I have lots of ways to make a lot of money, but this way I can do that and help bring a little joy into people lives." I looked at him. "There ain''t enough simple pleasure in life here. It wears people down. They go nuts. I have more messes to clean up. Make sense?"


    "Eh, maybe... It seems you could make people happier with healing." He cocked his head while he tried to work out my logic. Which might not totally be logical.


    "Sure for a little while, but people don''t need healing all the time. They need to eat everyday. Speaking of... you hungry, kid?" I figured it be a way to get him to shut up for a minute or two.


    "Yeah. Okay, you''re really young for an elf, so why do you talk like an old timer?" The elf thing was really a big deal to him. Why was he so obsessed with that game... what was it again? Oh right, Estrigar. Maybe it was just that good. Though given the brainrot most of the modern people consume, maybe not.


    "I wasn''t always an elf, it''s a recent development. And before you ask, I''m fairly sure I am actually an elf, not a biomod. I have their powers and senses. I''ve got wicked fast reflexes. But I started out as a human. So I talk like I did when I was a human. Plus, I haven''t been around other elves enough to pick up all their mannerism yet." I finished putting a giant burrito together for him with a little of everything. Teenage boys are like garbage disposals, they''ll chew up anything you give ''em. I could still vaguely remember those days. I was always hungry.


    I handed him his food but not before he asked, "Could I become an elf?" There was a scary gleam in his eyes. I figured I better really take the question seriously.


    I thought about what I''d done with Life Crafting, and realized a few things I''d avoided thinking about until now.


    "To be honest, I''m not sure. I could at the very least make you look like an elf, if you really wanted it. But I''m not sure if I could bestow the powers and abilities of an elf on you. It would require some experimenting. We should at least wait until you''re finished growing before we try anything like that." I didn''t want him stunted by me screwing around with his physical structure too soon. Like poor Rebecca.


    Instead of looking upset, he looked thoughtful. Though the rapid chewing and hums of enjoyment kind of wrecked the effect.


    A person walked up to the window.


    "Is it really just an eddie for the burrito?" This guy was pretty ordinary looking for the streets of Night City. His augments were midline at best, but his clothes were in good order.


    "Yup, and I guaranty it will be better than what you''d get out of that vending machine over there. Just don''t try to scam me, I''ll have my Truck shoot you."


    "O-okay, I''ll take a normal sized beef burrito with refried beans and that white cheese there. Throw some lettuce and onion on there with that mild pepper sauce. Could I ask for some salt and pepper?" At my nod, "Thanks." I finished with the assembly, and looked at him.


    He flicked me the eddie and I handed him his burrito wrapped neatly in foil. He stepped away, open the package up and took a bite. His eyes got big. He inhaled the rest, and walked back over. I gave him a raised eyebrow thinking he might try something.


    "Can I get another and a large soda, I don''t know these brands, do you have something like a Nicola?"


    I made him another burrito and poured him a Pepsi. He flicked me the money. He took a sip of the soda.


    "Oh man, that''s preem. Thank you!" He waved and started to walk away.


    "Tell all of your friends, and have a great day!" I yelled to him.


    He turned back, with a startled look on his face. Then he nodded and left.


    "I''m starting to see what you mean, about small pleasures." David said, before he started on his next round of trying to touch his mana.


    A little while later, more people approached my Truck. They said their friend had told them the food was good here. I took their orders and served their food. Then told them to spread the word. They nodded as they enjoyed their food.


    We got a fair bit of business over the next couple of hours, but still had plenty of food left. At eight, I closed up, put the food away, and cleaned everything. The serving trays were metal and the shelves were magnetized. So no worries about them getting tossed while I was driving, as long as I didn''t have to pull combat maneuvers.


    It wasn''t bad for a first day open and no real advertising.


    I had David take his mom a sandwich, chips and a soda before her shift as an EMT. He really was a good kid. Then he came back down and we continued his lessons.


    At around nine, I got a call from Maine, asking if I could come to the Afterlife. He had a major gig lined up, and they might need The Medic.


    I looked over at David who''d just formed his first manaball. Heh. Fuck it, the kid was going to have to get his feet wet sometime if he was going to be my apprentice.


    I told Maine I''d be there soon.


    But first, we''d have to pick up some backup.