I adjusted the tie on my suit and continued to walk through the stark white corridors of the Seattle HQ of Evo Corp, making sure to look as though I belonged here like any other wageslave. I caught my reflection in one of the various mirrored windows and momentarily marvelled at what Rigoberto, an old friend of mine and cut rate street doc, could do with a few hours and a decent reference. My face looked just like that poor bastard we’d picked up when he was getting his morning Soykaf. I cracked a slight smile as I remembered the look he’d had when Dust caught him with a haymaker right before we tossed his stunned ass into the van. 

After winding my way through the labyrinthine office section of the fortieth floor I found what I was looking for; a secure freight elevator to the basement labs. I pulled out the key card that Trix had cooked up for me and ran it through the reader. The little device chirped and a set of locks clicked open as a pane of bulletproof glass several inches thick slid down granting me access. I stepped in and pressed the button that would send me down to the labs. The glass pane slid back up and a moment later the lift began descending. 

As the lift steadily travelled down I ran through what I had to do once I was there; set up a backdoor to their network so our client could clean out their data banks and then do a quick smash and grab on whatever I wanted down there; followed by escaping through an adjacent garage. I hoped that Dust actually set the demo charges right this time. I felt a bit twitchy, not from the danger. That was normal, familiar. No, what had me going was withdrawal. Drug of the month was Bliss and unlike Kamikaze or Nitro I sure as drek wasn't gonna be on it during a run.

Eventually the lift reached its destination, letting me out at a vacant security checkpoint. I let out a sigh of relief, no damn Knight Errant goons down here. 

I cracked my neck. “I wonder where all the Pawns went?”

Near the entrance to the labs was another little reader. I took the card out and slid it through. 

Chirp. 

Beep. 

Click. 

The doors parted and I was in an Evo Corp lab. Men and women in lab coats scurried between various work stations and seemed to pay me no mind as I walked right past them to a terminal, slotted Trix's program and walked away. 

My burner pinged in my pocket and I got a little message from Trix. “All clear, chummer. Your pick up should be there in five. Bring me back something nice, yeah?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah sure, Trix, something nice.” 

I put the burner back in my pocket, turned and walked through the labs towards the wall that was adjacent to the garage where Dust had her charges set. She better have had the charges set. As I got closer I figured out where the Pawns had gone. 

“Drek.”

The whole lab security force was down here watching some sort of presentation. A female researcher slapped a patch on her arm and gestured for one of the guards to try and grab her. He approached and she flipped him over her shoulder, armor and all with not even a lick of magic or cyberware. That was when I knew exactly what I was gonna take on my way out. 

I pulled my burner back out and sent a message to Dust. “Blow the wall. You'll like it, I promise.”

A moment later as the guards filed out, the wall behind them blew up. I felt everything slow down as my adrenal pump kicked on. I rushed forward, blades emerging from my forearms and gutted one of the still breathing Pawns. The sound of his gun going off as it fell from his hands mingled with his choking and the scream of my blades pushing through his combat armor. He slid off in a heap as my vision switched to thermal to see through the smoke. I saw one getting up and slashed through the back of his neck. Another raised his gun towards me and fired. Lances of heat marked the passing of his rounds as I closed and eviscerated him. Hot blood sprayed onto me. It was intoxicating, as good a high as anything else, or maybe that was my skill wires firing off inside my brain. I didn’t care either way. 

Bang!

A bullet went through my left shoulder. That arm went limp. I didn’t feel any pain. I turned to see a pair of them, one on a radio and the other with their gun leveled at me. He fired and I charged at him, left arm completely useless. Several more rounds found their mark, they felt like little more than light jabs. He screamed as I buried my blade in his face. 

The remaining Pawn fell to the floor.  “K-knight Errant number 648- ah, oh god!” The Pawn started to back up against the wall.

“Cut the radio or I geek you like the rest of your squad.” I growled as my hand twitched from the adrenal overload.

He set the radio down and put his hands on the floor. “Smart choice.” I stepped on the radio, crushing it.

I turned from them and scanned the room. A large heat signature stepped into the rubble strewn lab. My thermals flicked off and my regular vision returned. The signature had been Dust, a fomori troll and the best damn demolitions expert I’ve ever known, when she wasn’t busy doing something with the damn van. 

She cracked a smile. “How many of these are yours and how many are mine?” She put a booted foot on the back of one of the corpses. 

“Ha, don’t ack-” I coughed up a bit of blood. “Don’t really know, Dust.” 

She walked over, I heard bones snap under her. “You don’t look so good, Burnout. I should get your ass back to the van before you bleed out on me.”

I waved her away with my good arm. “I’m fine, really. I’ve just gotta, gotta get something.” 

Dust rolled her eyes. “You’re not allowed to die, you still owe me.” 

I walked past her and over the bodies. I needed to grab that patch they were testing. Inside the room were the scientists all huddled in a corner. 

“I need what you folks were working on.” I briefly thought about how I looked. “I’m not here to kill any of you, but I won’t hesitate if you try anything funny. So, the patches?”

Most of them pressed further away, but one stood up. The woman from the test. I brought my blade up.

“That won’t be necessary.” She walked past me towards another section of the lab. 

I lowered my blade and followed her. “That’s it, not even a slight struggle?”

She pulled out a set of keys from her coat. “Did you want one?” 

I chuckled then winced as I felt something move inside my torso. “I like you. Don’t really care to make a wageslave’s life worse, so no, I was just expecting one.” 

The locker opened and she took out a whole container of the patches. “Experiment 113, the suits want to call it Banshee.” She offered it to me.

I took the container and put it under my good arm. “Just like that?”

She smirked. “Just like that, besides, the street will be a much better testing ground than the lab. My card is in with the patches, call me at some point.” She must have seen the doubt on my face. “Hey, there’s no reason for me to make a SINless’ life harder.” 

I sighed. “You have a point.” I turned and began walking back towards Dust. “Thanks for the stuff, I’m getting out of here.” 

“Till next time.” I could almost hear her smirking.

I walked through the lab, past the huddle scientists then got about two steps out before I passed out from the blood loss. I could hear Dust running over and yelling as my vision clicked off.