Chapter 35
Hey, am I right in thinking guns are gonna be useless eventually? Cora thought at [Big Sys] as Iain ran her and a few early riser former maids through some calisthenics. She was happy to see them. Dip and Jonesy were a good start to a full time security force, but Cora wanted some of these women trained up and responsible for themselves as well.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
Like, at what level of [End] does 9 mil stop breaking skin? .45? .50 cal?
HONESTLY, YESTERDAY, 9 MIL WOULD HAVE BEEN HITTING YOU LIKE BEANBAG ROUNDS. THEY’D SUCK, BUT WOULDN’T BE PENETRATING.
So yeah, that’s my point. I had some armor, sure, but my effective [End] was what, 38? I get that its an absurdly high number for a level like mine, without specific cyberware, but A. Cyberware exists, and B. If I can do it, its possible, and there’s a good chance we’ll run into someone or something with the same. Especially if we move forward with my plans for tonight.
I’M GLAD YOU’RE THINKING AHEAD. YOU’RE BOTH RIGHT AND WRONG. MUNDANE WEAPONS, LIKE YOUR GUN, WILL BE INNEFFECTIVE RELATIVELY QUICKLY, YEAH. HOWEVER, [Integrated] WEAPONS LIKE [Bertha] WILL BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THEY SHOULD BE AGAINST HIGHER [End]
Yeah? How common are they?
EXCEEDINGLY RARE, ESPECIALLY AROUND HERE. NORMALLY YOU’D LOOT THEM FROM DUNGEON NODES, BUT I SHUT THOSE DOWN. YOU’LL NEED TO CRAFT THEM OR GET REALLY LUCKY WITH THE CHAINS.
Right, all the weird tech we’ve gotten from them is basically loot, like a video game, yeah? However they’re being made, they might spawn with [Integrated] weapons?
MMMM-HMM! GONNA BE REAL RARE THOUGH, IF IT EVEN HAPPENS. I DON’T KNOW HOW THEY HACKED THE CORE THEY HAVE, BUT ZERO CHANCE ITS WORKING AT FULL FUNCTIONALITY.
Right… Cora thought, gears turning in her mind. She’d had barely any ethical compunctions about hunting the slaver gang for parts when she’d thought they were real humans. Now, when their foot-soldiers were apparently slightly-less-than-real humans? Fuck ‘em, open season.
However, they hadn’t found any Shimcores in the nearly 50 they’d killed, and [Big Sys] didn’t think they would. Apparently those were only found in the more monstrous Monsters, like Shimmer Addicts, or the mysterious beasts of the night people kept referencing.
Cora’s #1 priority right now was getting those cores, and getting her people integrated. The massive increases in individual potential [System Integration] provided meant she could take the very small number of people in this city she could trust and turn this place into a real bastion. To do that, she needed Shimcores.
The resource would also apparently be essential for ‘this place’ herself. Lux needed a core every two days just to function, but extra would allow her to turn that power into new abilities, just like humans. Help crafting, more defenses, simple creature comforts, it all depended on Shimcores. And money, most of her upgrades also carried a financial cost, but for the low grade stuff, Cora thought they’d have it covered. Even if Berg couldn’t get set up on her own, Jonah’s prices weren’t that bad, and it seemed like they were going to have an unlimited supply of deeply killable assholes with valuable cybernetics for the foreseeable future.
Cora shook herself out of planning to focus back in on actually working out. Both because you got out what you put in, and because she’d noticed Iain squinting at her in her peripheral. The man must have spent at least a little time as a drill sergeant, because when he yelled at you, it was un-fucking pleasant, despite the funny accent.
Plus, [Big Sys] assured her that you actually could gain stat points from physical and mental training, at least at lower levels. It was why she hadn’t taken any roles for {Method Actor} yet today. She wanted her body to actually feel it.
An hour later, every part of Cora burned. She must have sprinted 2 miles, done more situps, pushups, and jumping jacks than she could count, and finished it off with a surprisingly well administered session of active yoga. Iain’s training stacked up well against the sessions she’d had with people she paid a thousand bucks an hour for.
The soldier had taken all the newbies off for some beginner self-defense instruction, and Cora took that as her cue to depart. That stuff would be a little too basic for her anyway. She made her way back to her room, stripped down, and was already in the shower before she noticed Tania sitting on the toilet.
“JESUS FUCK!” Cora screamed, covering herself, while also trying to avert her eyes. “Oh my GOD Tania, how do you fucking do that!? I must have looked right at you five times!”
“Oh, you learn not to be seen,” Tania said airily, wiping, flushing, and leaving without any further explanation.
Cora fought down the adrenalin rush of the jumpscare, and focused on finishing up her shower and getting ready for the rest of the day. The clock in her HUD read 10 a.m., and the house should be awake and active.
She left the bathroom wrapped in a towel, and scowled at Tania, who was engaged in rooting through Linnea’s dresser.
“So, why did I wake up with you grabbing onto me, holding a knife between my tits?” Cora demanded, receiving a confused look for her trouble.
“Felt safer,” Tania explained, turning her attention back to the dresser. She settled on yet another of Linnea’s sleep shirts, pulling it on over her tiny frame. Linnea hadn’t been big, but Tania was tiny, and the cami fit the girl almost like a short dress, which was apparently how she intended to wear it.
“What ‘felt safer’? The knife or sleeping with me?” Cora pressed, and Tania gave an exasperated sigh like Cora was being unreasonable.
“Both, obviously, or I wouldn’t have done either. C’mon, I was supposed to bring you to Mike when you woke up,” she said, not waiting for any kind of confirmation that Cora would, in fact, follow her, or offering any further explanation about anything.
Cora sighed, and did indeed follow.
A minute later, Tania held the door to the office open for her, then pranced dreamily off back down the hallway.
Mike…. Well, Mike didn’t look great. He sat at the great wooden desk, hand on his forehead as he stared with tired eyes at papers scattered over its surface. He did notice Cora walk in, and gave her a smile that was a little manic at the edges beneath his moustache.
Cora grabbed the decanter and a couple snifters as she walked over. It looked like Mike could use it, pisswater or not.
“So, didn’t make it to bed last night?” Cora asked, pouring them both a measure, which Mike accepted gratefully. He tossed it back, and Cora poured him another.
“Ah, fuck, that is something isn’t it?” He said with a grimace, but did appear to have been braced somewhat. He met her gaze with clear eyes as he continued. “No, well, I did, but Lux brought something to my attention that kept me up.”
‘And I do, so apologize for that, =Majordomo=, it was not my intent, but I felt it was important,’ Lux’s voice floated in from the direction of the fireplace.
“Oh, no, Lux, thank you, you did the right thing. Not your fault us feeble humans need sleep, eh?” Mike chuckled, voice soft and kind, for which Cora was grateful. Something about the house just made her feel protective. Lux was so nice!
“Lux was correct, Cora, that this is important. Long story short, and I wouldn’t even have understood the legal intricacies without Lux’s help, did you know she has complete and immediate access to Tyrinno’s legal code pertaining to property law? It is fasci-”
“It sounds fascinating, Mike, you were saying?” Cora nudged.
“Ah, yes. Well, as I said, it isn’t simple, but it boils down to one fact: your claim to Luxholme is not indisputable,” he said. She stared at him, nonplussed, but not panicking. That probably should have hit harder, but really, with the problems she was already dealing with? This barely shifted the needle.
“So?” She asked with a shrug, sitting back and sipping the shit brandy. “Let someone dispute it, worst comes to worst we just let Hawk work out some aggression on them, problem’s solved, right?”
“I… can see why you would think that,” Mike sighed, shaking his head. “But no, Cora. Light’s Fall is effectively lawless, yes, but Tyrinno as a whole is not. Were someone to dispute this, they would likely be coming from at least the Azure Compass, and bringing Azure Compass law enforcement and resources. While our people are impressive, we cannot deal with the ACABBs, Cora.”
Cora spat out her snifter of brandy over some papers she really hoped weren’t important.
“I’m sorry, the what?” She asked.
“The ACABBs. I… don’t know what it stands for. They’re the law enforcement for that area, and they’re known for two things: brutality, and superhuman abilities. Given the revelations of the past 24 hours, I am forced to assume they all have some degree of System access, or at least extremely high grade cyberware,” Mike explained, while Cora tried to sober herself.
Well, least it sounds like the name fits, she smiled to herself.
“I get it, so, we can’t just murk whoever tries to move in on us from a higher socioeconomic strata. Not immediately, at least. Am I right in thinking that the only reason rich folks take interest in Light’s Fall is as a source of slaves?” Cora asked.
“More or less,” Mike fumed, and then frowned, clearly wondering why Cora’s smile widened.
“Well that makes things easy, then,” Cora said, leaning forward and wiggling her eyebrows wickedly. “If anyone comes at us, we just play nice until they give us a good chance to get rid of ‘em nice and quiet. I can play along with anything, if it means I get to see some rich slaver’s corpse looking up at me at the end of things.”
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