Freezing Shadows, Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Team

Moving the guns was easy for the girls, since Twilight had already turned off and unlocked the displays when she took down the security. I wasn’t worried about getting those out of here. The main concern was making sure the wife didn’t do anything stupid, and Twilight getting the money from the slush account.

I nodded wordlessly to Twilight as she got to the top of the stairs, and knelt by Cozi’s side. Pulling a commlink from his pants pocket, she pressed his finger to the biometric reader, and a dim glow appeared as the screen turned on. Looks like he hadn’t updated his security.

Twilight: I’m in. Looking for the funds now.

Berzerker: Halfway done with the guns.

Babydoll: No movement outside. Security camera in the bedroom doesn’t show any movement.

Twilight: I have it. Just where Ms. Johnson said it would be. Current value is 2.4 million nucred. Slightly more than we expected, less than we prepped for.

Iceblade: Drain the account. Six credsticks for our share, and put the rest on the ones we’ll be giving to Ms. Johnson.

Twilight: Proceeding.

Sexkitten: Guns loaded. Tags erased. Going to grab the 50 year old Scotch Ms. J mentioned?

Iceblade: Should be in the desk in the study. I’ll grab it.

Moving quietly through the half-lit house, I found my way to the study where Cozi had been sitting before his ill-fated bathroom break. According to Brandeen, the left door of the desk held Mel’s private stash. Opening it, I was pleased to find two bottles. Fortunately, I had two deep pockets on my lined coat.

Twilight: Done.

Iceblade: Have the treats for after-job party. How we looking, Babydoll?

Babydoll: One of the neighbors is looking at the house from his balcony. Opposite side of the house from our vans.

Iceblade: All right, exfil, front door.

Everyone started moving back to the vans. I took a moment to finish Cozi, since no one wanted him waking back up later. Killing the unconscious man was simplicity itself, but I didn’t take any pleasure in it. It was just business. Nothing I hadn’t done more than a few times during the beta.

I was the last one into Berzerker’s van. I’d just gotten into the passenger seat up front when the van started, and both vehicles turned around and drove back to the gate. Right on cue, the gate opened for us, and we drove out.

Iceblade: Right. Job’s done, now we just have to get away with it.

Babydoll: Drone retrieved. Only evidence left is shell casings and dead bodies.

Iceblade: You out of the system, Twilight?

Twilight: System rebooted, deleted my access logs, and all data from the last hour. They’ll know someone was in the system, but no traces.

Iceblade: Excellent.

The drive back to our motel in Puyallup was quiet, for the most part. No one was willing to start celebrating until we were well and truly clear. The Red Knights were a concern, yes, but there were always gangs and other problems that could cause trouble for you when driving through the sprawl. And trouble brought the Knights, one way or the other, which we didn’t need right now.

Still, we were lucky. No problems on the way back. No signs that we were being tailed, or that the heat was on. We’d gotten away with it.

Brandeen was more than happy to get the stack of certified credsticks that would let her start a new life. If she went to New Angeles like she intended, there’d be plenty of places for her to disappear into. Especially if she got a new face to go with a new SIN and other necessities. Fortunately, if there was one thing New Angeles had plenty of, it was biomodders and plastic surgeons.

That done, I returned to my room, where the rest of the team was gathered. There was a cheer as I entered, and Sexkitten handed me a cup with amber liquid in it. Sure, drinking scotch from a plastic cup was not exactly proper, but, well, we made do.

I raised my cup, and said, “Well, ladies, here’s to a great first run.” Another cheer, and everyone drained their cups. I had never had more than a glass of wine in the real world. It wasn’t until I’d gotten into the game that I came to understand the joy of alcohol. Especially good alcohol. Where the taste was smooth, and smoky.

While reloading everyone’s cups, Babydoll grinned. “So, first run? Thinking about making this group something more permanent than just a pick-up team?”

I shrugged. “If you’re all willing, I see no reason not to. You’ve all got skills, and we work together well. And if success in the game means I have to hang around beautiful women all the time, that’s just a sacrifice I’m going to have to make.”

My cocky grin set off a ripple of laughter in the group, and Berzerker bumped her hip against mine, hard enough that I needed to take a half step to keep from stumbling. “Don’t think I’ll be letting you, or that weapon of yours get away from me, Icy. Not after you gave me a taste last night!”

“Hey,” complained Sexkitten. “No hogging the manmeat to yourself! Even if it is just virtual manmeat, instead of out in the real world.”

“Don’t worry, Kitty, I’m willing to share. Especially with an anime catgirl. Rowr!”

Twilight was one of the few that didn’t start at least giggling from that exchange. Looking at me over her cup, she said, “I don’t mind being on a team, but don’t think I’m just going to be bending over and spreading my legs for you, just because you’re a guy.”

This wasn’t the first time she’d said something like that to me. Sounded like she’d had some bad experiences in the real world. Probably some guy who let the situation in the world get to his head. “No sweat, Twilight. I’m not going to say that I’m a one woman man or anything like that. I won’t turn down any of you, but it isn’t some prerequisite for joining the team or anything like that. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“Whatcha mean, Iceblade?” Babydoll said, her voice slightly slurring, as she turned to look at me. How many drinks had she had? Eh, not my problem. The hangover would do her good.

“This game is different than some others you may have played. Yes, the VR makes everything feel real, and yes, the sex feels real, too, as Berzerker can attest. However, that also means that everything around it feels different than just watching your avatar go down on someone. You try and force stuff in that environment, and it is just as toxic as doing it in real life.”

“More than that,” Twilight nodded, grudgingly. “There’s less blowback here if someone decides to clear the air at muzzle velocity. Yeah, anyone who dies gets sent for a respawn, but it isn’t like they’re dead in real life, and you’re going to jail. So, not as big consequences, but you still lose a lot when you go for respawn, supposedly. And you can’t just immediately hook back up with your old team, either.”

“Exactly,” I nodded. “There were some people in the beta that got a little too involved with things, and started fighting over a couple NPCs. They went through three or four rerolls, each, before no one would touch them, and they were stuck doing shit work in game, and even NPCs looked down on them. There were some people trying to get the game moderators to force them to go to different cities so that they wouldn’t be able to ruin things for everyone else.”

Twilight took a breath, and nodded. “All right. I’m game for this being a permanent team, if you are. I just needed to get that out in the open first.”

I sipped my drink and grinned. “Best time to do it, honestly. We’re fresh off a big win, so we could all go our own ways without needing to rush and find another job right fucking now or the landlord’s going to come by with legbreakers. So, there’s no pressure, and everyone’s in a good mood.” I looked around at the girls, and raised my cup. “So, to the team?”

The girls all answered enthusiastically with another toast. “To the team!”

“Oh, Icy?” Berzerker said in a husky voice, as she pressed up against me. “I did a bit of shopping online while everyone was out earlier, and got those things we talked about last night. Since we’re doing this as a permanent team, I thought maybe they could watch?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t mind either way. I made a choice, after I lost my legs, that I was going to own everything I did from then on, no regrets. I either own it openly, or don’t do it. But it is up to you whether you want to make everything out in the open. This is going to be your choice, without any pressure from me, one way or another.”

“Ooh, are we gonna get a show?” Sexkitten asked, breathily. “After hearing about how you made her such a ‘good girl’, I’d love to get some pointers. Or, if you want to go deeper than that, I know where you can get some personafix programs for that.”

That actually got Berzerker to blink and look away from me. “Wait, what is a personafix?”

“Oh, they are basically programs that you run on your commlink, and they give you a new personality. So, for instance, I have ones for ‘Innocent Schoolgirl’, ‘Naughty Cheerleader’, ‘Sexy Librarian’, and ‘Dominatrix’. Between that and the Data Filter, it is easy to separate the work in the bunraku parlor from ‘me’. I’m not acting like me, and I don’t remember anything, so it isn’t actually me.”

“Yeah, that’s one way of looking at it,” Babydoll nodded. “I don’t like it, but it keeps a roof over my head. People just think I look like someone who used to be famous.”

Shadowgirl’s eyes went wide. “Oh, wow. Wait, have you actually, y’know, done any of that in game?”

“Not exactly,” Babydoll said. “It is like how you have the knowledge and ‘memories’ of the training and everything you needed to do to get your skills and abilities. So, I ‘remember’ things I haven’t actually done. Kind of like how qualities like an Addiction to Novacoke makes you actually want the drug, even though you’ve never had it before the game.”

“So, yeah,” Sexkitten nodded. “Personafixes are one way to spice things up a bit. They could be addicting, like any sensory stuff, but they’re pretty fun. Some of the more expensive ones even come with skillsofts, but you need special cyberware if you want to make use of the skills. But the systems are really intense on the Essence requirements, expensive as hell, and also goes into availability ratings that are way above the limit of 12 at character creation.”

I cleared my throat. “Two things. First, the Restricted Gear quality will allow you to get one piece of gear over the normal availability rating at character creation, so something to think about, if you’re sent for reroll. Second, if you save up enough money, you can swap out augmentations. You don’t lose any more Essence unless the new totals from your ware is higher than it was, but you don’t gain any Essence back, either. You just have a ‘hole’ you can fill with more ware. That’s something to consider when you’ve saved up enough for higher grades of augmentations. They cost more nucred, but less Essence, so that opens up more options.”

“Um, yeah,” Berzerker said. “I actually got some Alphaware to drop the Essence cost of my ware. But enough about that!” The heavy gunner took a breath, biting her lip as she pulled a package out of her pocket. “I don’t mind doing this in front of everyone. I’m not going to be ashamed of getting what I want. What I need.” She offered the package to me. “Please?”

I knew what would be in the package, even before I opened it. We’d talked about it last night, while we were definitely not sleeping. She was enthusiastic, and I had no problems stepping into the role. If that was how she wanted it, then I certainly wouldn’t complain.

“Oh, my!” Twilight gasped, blushing, as I opened the package to reveal a silver-colored metal collar with a ring on the front, a chain leash to attach to it, and a butt plug with an icy blue gem on the end.

“One last chance to back out, Berzerker.”

“Not gonna.”

“Then kneel.”

“Yes, Master,” she said, as she sank down to her knees in front of me. I closed the collar around her neck, the nanites in it sealing the collar shut. It would only open with a command from my commlink. Well, unless someone hacked it. But, other than that, it didn’t have any functions beyond just being a collar. Adding in a hackable weakness was just stupid, after all.

“Now put the plug in her!” Sexkitten whistled, looking on with the rest of the girls.

I chuckled as I stroked Berzerker’s head. “Now, now, Sexkitten. Enjoying ourselves is one thing, but doing it at the expense of our teammates is something else. I believe Twilight would be most uncomfortable if we did all of that right now.”

Twilight looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment, before she gathered herself. “I, um, come from a more conservative background than some of you, obviously. But, well, um, give me time? I promise not to try and ruin other people’s ‘fun’.” She took another breath, and then said, “Also, when we’re not working, call me Ricki. That’s my name, in game. Calling me Twilight all the time will get weird.”

I nodded. “Then I’m Mirikon, at least in game.”

“Call me Sally,” Sexkitten said. “Sally Ride.”

Babydoll sighed. “Mary Green. And yes, I was the news girl for Seattle Daily before the Crash, according to my backstory.”

“Selina,” Shadowgirl muttered. “And, um, I guess I should mention that I have a restriction on my magic. I need to have sex each day to keep at full power.”

“Oh!” Sexkitten grinned. “That’s why you were so eager to share that single bed last night!”

I coughed, and said, “I’m sure we’ll all be happy to help you out as needed, Selina.”

Berzerker, still on her knees, grinned up at Selina. “Oh, you’ll love it. Master’s very good.” There was a pause as everyone looked at her, and she blushed. “Um, anyways, I’m Sonya.”

I stroked her head, causing her to press against my hand. “Very good, pet.”

“Well,” Mary said, “at least this won’t get boring.”