I was the only one who woken up afer an hour, so I allowed others to have another one, while I sorted out emails and other stuff on my computer. Just in case we'll kick the bucket, at least they won't say I was messy.
There was a small message from 'Em' and judging from it's contents, it had to be elusive Emilie. She thanked me for helping Lukas, which apparently was Blitz's real name, in not being an idiot and trying to rescue her like damsel in distress. She wasn't gushing much but I've felt like a proud parent for whole one second about straightening Blitz enough to make him win favours with his girlfriend. She did said she loves him and that she'll find him herself soon.
A warm breath of joy in blizzard of shitstorm.
Still warm, metal touched my arm, and soon silky raven locks tickled my neck when Glory leaned down and kissed me.
"You should sleep some more, Glory."
"I've managed for five years like that, don't tell me how to live." She retorted in undertone but still sounding almost playfully. "You've lost some ink." Glory pointed at clean patch of new skin I was sporting on my arm, devoid of tattoos I had there.
"Nah, it's nothing..." I trail off when recalling what was there. "That can't be a coincidence."
"What? Tell me!" Glory grabbed my wrist, seeing I was about to flip her off. "Rai..."
"I know very well every tattoo I got, all of them have source in important things or people in my life. Tonight, I've erased last memories of Schafer. Not only I've got rid of APEX posing as her but I've also lost tattoo I got when I was with her in Seattle." I've explained and watched how her eyes widened and now she was gently touching my skin there.
"I've never noticed anything resembling-ah, the matchstick." Glory caught subtle detail in the image of skull with side-cut of blonde hair and chewing on a match.
"Yeah, but it's gone now and honestly I'd have covered it up anyways. Sooner than later."
"Oh? Why?"
"...There is a lot of things I've learned about Schafer since coming here. Even more things happened to me. I want to get rid of things keeping me in the past and start anew." I shrugged.
Glory looked at me for a moment, then just grabbed my face in hands and kissed me. Damn, she is really smart. Or maybe I'm just that much cheesy about it.
"Just don't get a skull to remind yourself of me." She whispered, resting forehead on mine. "I don't like things like that."
"Alright, I will not get a skull tattooed on to remind me of you." I sworn, already thinking about something much better to sting under my skin after this whole campaign.
"Rai..." She started but then trailed off. Before I could prod her, she smiled devilishly. Which in her case wasn't all that funny or nice. "We don't have time for this now but um..."She moved to whisper right into my ear. "Now that you reminded me how good sex feels, you make sure to come back with me from there. I have five years to make up for."
I blushed. I admit it, I've blushed like a virgin, at the prospect of Glory with pent up *needs*.
"After I'll take you out on a date." I've grinned at her and she replied to me with the same. "Deal?"
"Deal." She gave me one deep, long kiss and then torn away, moving towards the common room to tend to her gear.
When the bullets will start flying, I will focus on the job. But until then, all I could think of was list of lewd things I'd do with that beauty once I'll deal with a damned dragon and it's master.
We men are simple in the end. Promise of sex makes us capable of moving mountains.
Hearing rustle coming from corners of the safehouse, I've decided to check on people, put their minds into right way too.
"Hey Chief! What's up?" Blitz chatted up the usual way, though looking a bit less like a scared hamster so that's something.
"Nothing much, Lukas. I've got something for you." I've replied sweetly and just barely supressed a giggle when Blitz's eyes turned saucer-sized.
"How dow you-"
"Emilie left a message for you, on MY terminal address. She's really proud of you by the way for not being a din and not prying into her matters when she asked for it." I reply and show him message I found, copied to my PDA.
"Holy fucking shit...You were right, Rai." Blitz slowly uttered after running his eyes over words of his ex. Though I'm not sure if she really was ex at this point.
"Told ya lad, have some patience and wait for things to unravel themselves." I've replied with shit-eating grin. "Now, ready to put the old, miserable you behind and focus on our job so you can get together with Emilie? A hint: the answer should be 'yes'."
"Oh boss, you have no idea how big hell yes it is! No more distractions or bullshit, I'm hundred and fifty percent on track now...And when it's over, I'm sure Emilie will be back." Blitz looked no longer nervous but in return he seemed distracted like lovestruck teeanger.
For the love of-Ugh, nevermind. Better this way, motivated Blitz will be better than scared shitless Blitz.
Hopefully.
Turning back to the center of the room I've watched in silence how guys were preparing for the mission. Not a run, run is something you do for the money, for thrill or even for fun. Mission is something you do because of your duties.
We all had duties compelling us to go, to bring our best and more. We were never heroes, but we were going to do heroes' work. In our own, dark way Shadowrunners do their jobs.
Dietrich seemed to had an important discussion with Dragonslayer, seeing Shaman now holding my axe in his hands. With nod, I've allowed him to take it.
Eiger was a machine, picking apart every single item of her gear and inspecting every details before reassembling it and storing carefully, making sure three times everthing worked flawlessly - from bolt in her rifle to powertape securing laces of her boots.
Blitz was finishing installing oversized magazine on the rifle he attached to his drone. Little toy sure grew up into something else, carrying enough firepower to rival each one of us.
Metal fingers clanged when Glory was putting bullets into speed-loaders and then storing them on her belt. She was armor-piercing hornets, even her not in the mood to play any different than to win. The modified Minigun was resting on the table, two packs of belted ammo clipped together and giving her 500 rounds at disposal plus 250 spare. Not much in a long run but terrific way to make an entrance through Audran and his steel-cased ass.
"Everyone...Guys." I've spoken, making everyone stop and look at me. "We have an opening to break into Harfeld Manor. Our target changed but not too much. It's actually simpler, because Vauclair is somehow conspiring with Feuerschwinge, or Firewing is bullshit and it's only damn smart human behind all of the shite that happened to us. Our priority is Vauclair, we saw he's crucial part of the whole case, we kill him we at least earn ourselves a breathing room to decide what's next. Secondary objective is Firewing. If there's a real dragon in there we either avoid it, or try to kill it if it's held prisoner by Vauclair. That serpent is hated by others so it's a unique case if we'll manage to kill it, no other lizard should come after us for this reasons at least."
"How are we getting in?" Eiger was first to ask for details.
"We ride through the front gate, smash it down and just shoot our way through. The plans Alice got for us consisted of echo-scanning of the structure and there is a secondary way in, through the back. We hit from there and make our way underground."
"Opposition?"
"Unknown but probably at least what we've faced in the lab at the start - mil-spec mercenaries and our dear boy Audran."
"Leave that bastard to me." Glory's voice made hair on my neck stand up. Alright, the lady deffinietely had a bone to pick up with the orc and can't blame her really.
"Take as much ammo as you can without straining yourself. We'll need to move fast and break through. If we get pinned by anything, we're done for. I'm sure they have lots of manpower but spread through the facility. We'll make it a speedrun, go in and get out."
"An hour tops, huh? Nothing but a milk run?" Dietrich asked sarcastically, remembering all too well Schafer's words.
"No, that was Schafer leading you. I don't do milk runs." I've replied, actually at peace with Monika gone and buried to me in all possible meanings. "This one is for us. Not for the dead, but for the living. Vendettas get people killed, so we'll shoot our way out of this mess and stay alive, that's all."
"Fuckin' ay, man. I got a hot date waiting for me out there. We're walking out alive from this manor." Blitz suddenly chimed in, all tough and ready to roll. "We gotta get Vauclair and the dragon off our backs to do it, yeah?"
"Exactly that." I've agreed.
"How do we extract?"
"Same way we came in if possible, if not we'll improvise. Not much elbow space on this matter, Eiger."
"Understood...I'll leave the sniper and take the grenade launcher."
"Alright. All of you put on as much armor as you have, even you Glory." I shoot her a glance and she complies without hesitation. "Blitz, carry spare ammo for your drone and have it ready to deploy when I'll tell you to."
"You got it, boss. I'll carry the damn thing primed, once it hits the floor it'll go off like a blitzkrieg."
"Dietrich, armor vest and axe."
"No argument here, Dragonslayer likes to push it but seems like he taken some of your logic to the heart." Shaman agreed.
"Eiger, at the bottom of the bag should be some batteries for nightvision you have. Don't forget these." I've waved at her and she semed surprised. "Just get to it."
"Jawohl." She grunted and dove into work.
There was no glorious march through Kreuzbasar, no teary farewells or one last lay all heroes always get before going off to save the world.
We were no heroes, we weren't saving the world and we were slipping through the disused U-Bahn to reach our van.
We were as far away as possible from being heroic really.
"Most people doesn't want to accept possibility that this could be their last day alive." I've spoken loudly, when guys were settling inside the van. "I think that's a luxury, not a problem. It's freeing, knowing you're near the end one way or another. You don't care that you're outnumbered, outgunned...Out of your mind. You no longer look back and think about what ifs, you go forward with vigor in your heart because that's the only path left for you. You don't worry about the ending, because to yourself, you've won the moment you've stood against the impossible for the first time..."
Silence fallen in the car and everybody looked at me, soaking up pearl of wisdom that came over me for unknown reason.
"You really like rousing pep-talk Rai, but I'm not planning on dying out there." Eiger turned to me from the driver's seat. "And at this point, I feel no shame saying that after this I'm getting drunk and thoroughly fucked by some nice guy in a comfy bed."
"I got a date with Emilie, I'll have to find some flowers for her." Blitz joined in.
"I got a bottle of Glenfiddich single malt waiting for me for over a decade now." Dietrich wasn't falling behind.
"I've already told you what I'm doing to you after this, don't think I won't." Glory was the last to talk but first to laugh.
"...Fuck you guys! I was having a moment here!" I've cried at them, bubble of morbid tension popped and gone completely. "If you're so motivated, then let's get this show on the road!"
The drive was faster, the streets of Berlin strangely absent despite barely afternoon. Funny, never thought I'd be doing an epic mission as shadorunner while there was still light outside.
It was five pm, it just got dark enough to make me feel the usual atmosphere of a run.
Along the way, Eiger convinced me to try a bit stealthier approach despite herself wanting to go in with guns blazing. So we've stopped a bit outside the back of the manor and imed at the entry we used before to escape the cursed lab underneath the villa.
Strange, it felt both new and familiar, coming back here.
After few nerve-wrecking minutes of clamouring through the metal fences (which I've cut with good old wire cutters instead of giving us out by using some fancy thermo-melter) we've stood in front of the Servant's Entrance, now mainly used to put out trash and probably take more discreet delieveries.
"Open sesame..." I've whispered, as the one-use malware lockpick done it's job and doors opened without giving us away. Without APEX, there was no way any internal system would catch up on such high-level hacking software because nobody in the right mind would have wasted it on simple door lock.
We got onto the backyard and suddenly I've realized that since this was old-time manor there had to be some dogs around. Sure there were, three Hellhounds half-size bigger than Dante in his prime!
"We're made." I've only stated and opened fire at the closest beast. "Glory, hold your fire! Conserve ammo."
Dietrich made good use of the weapon allowed him to use, burying the broad blade in the neck of another beast that ran straight at him.
I've cocked the gun just in time to fire at the opened jaws, crushing the skull of the Hellhound but ending up on the ground when fifty kilos of heated fury bowled into me.
"I'm good! Let's go, the clock's ticking." I've reminded everyone and we moved as fast as situation allowed to. Rounding the corner and not bothering to do anything about fireblast-resistant gates on the entrance to the manor, we moved towards the small entryway we used before.
Unfortunately, my sense of direction must've been on a fritz because we've stumbled upon three examples of cuntus maximus or putting it simply, paramilitary security guards. They did looked a bit surprised though.
"What the-" Closest one cried but lost his face when I've unloaded flechette shot.
"It's Britney, bitch!" I've replied without even thinking, reloading and firing this miracle ammunition at the other guard, trying to unlock cages where more hellhounds were trashing about.
Short burst came from behind me, Eiger precisely taking down last of the guards.
Always being more of a cat person, I just left the hounds to their own fate for now, just busting the console to make sure no smartass will open the cages and sic these beasts on us from behind.
Navigating through gates, a fence, and passing by a small pond, I feel little part of me wishing to swindle the dragon out of this place simply to take over this lavish, luxurious place and live like a small-time king.
Wait, did that gargoyle postument wasn't turned the other way moment before?
It sure was, and I've learned about it just the moment I turned my back to it. Hearing the growl and creak of stone grinding against stone, I've twisted my body and fired at enchanted embellishment that now was very much alive and tried to shred me!
The winged beast leapt out of its postument at me but then I've heard a soft thump of 40mm grenade being launched. The projectile didn't exploded but sure knocked the magic creautre off it's course, making it ram into other gargoyle that begun waking up from it.
This time, Eiger was far enough to arm the HE warhead. A detonation like that in dead of the night sure was heard by everyone around but I was beyond playing stealthy at this point.
Stealth is optional, all that matters are results.
There was surprisngly little security along the way, but a lot of locked doors and sealed gates. Apparently, without APEX they were still blinded and without secondary systems.
If I were a villain like that...
I would set up an ambush, just like the one we've just walked into. My mind tried to supply some nice line to make the bastards hesitate and maybe let me bullshit my way through, but they already raised their guns at me.
And all I caught before diving behind the nearest sculpture, was the whirl of Buzzsaw.
I've watched with my mouth opened, how Glory stood in the middle of the courtyard and just made one long sweep across. With her porcelain skin and cute face, she always looked little angelic to me, but when illuminated by the fire generated by that minigun...I saw a devil. There wasn't anything romantic or nice in there, seeing her mown down nearly a dozen of armed men in one brutal, devastating attack.
And then, the fire stopped and the scary sight was gone. Fearfully, I've peeked from above my cover and stared at the carnage, at bodies ripped apart by at least two hundred slugs fired at them. Silence was never so scary to me as it was back then.
"G-Glory?" I've asked her as gentle as I could. "Did you-"
"Don't worry Rai." She turned to me, already knowing what was on my mind. "I haven't heard Adversary or a any other voice in my head since I got this." She pointed at the pendant I got her. "I'm well aware what I'm doing tonight, but I'm just fucking angry."
Sighing with relief, I've ignored the enviroment and kissed her temple quickly. Not looking at, but feeling the small smile she sent me, I've led my team further through the grounds.
The entry underground must be close.
Moving through another yard, my memory kicked in and I've started to recognize vaguely the layout, meaning this was the right path...The elevator was waiting for us.
I remembered now, how we've run out of the lab and away from Audran, down the small maintenance tunnel, broken through doors into a corridor and then jumped into an elevator.
And now we were going back. To finish what we've started.
"No more running, we walk in and trash ever single motherfucker standing in our way." I've announced and unlocked the doors.
I could feel it. The exhilirating feeling of being so close to the target. No fear between us, trusty team around and solid gun in hand.
"We got this." I've spoken barely registering it, recalling so many moments like these with Tick and rest of the lads.
"You damn right we do." Eiger seconded, loudly pulling the lever on her Steyr then slamming it, locking the bolt and chambering the round.
We moved in formation, cross the corridor and into the lab that haunted me in my nightmares for so many nights. But not anymore.
Even when the guards spotted us and cried for back up to their command, I didn't felt a single nerve twitching inside me.
No fear.
Without stopping forward, team dispersed across the room, with me and Eiger firing on the move, taking down the two closest guards immediately. Another one got a nasty surprise when Blitz leaned from behind one of the desks and emptied the clip of his SMG at the oncoming handful, perforating first two guards. Third swallowed a bullet from Eiger while I was already moving towards the computers all over the place.
Now, without panic in me and shocked by death of Schafer, I've taken a look around. Leaning above the closest terminal I've seen that APEX was not only guarding dog of the whole project but also custodian and keeper of secrets. With AI gone, whole thing was unlocked and laid out, like turtle rolled over belly up.
I've scrolled quickly through lots of medical-sounding files like 'Hyperthermophile Studies' but clicking on 'Panacea Project' was a gold mine.
Gold that was the worst nightmare possible, once I understood what this was all about.
"I don't like any of this, Rai." Glory softly chimed in from above my shoulder.
"This whole Panacea thing is a delievery system for Doom virus...But something's done to the radioactive payload of it. Made stable and selective...I'm not a doctor and I have no idea what they actually try to do here with doomsday weapon like this but..." I've straightened up an glanced at troubled Glory and even more unhappy Eiger "We're putting wrench in that machine, I'm not risking leaving anyone with a god-killer like that at disposal and grudge against Kreuzbasar."
Navigating through next few corridors felt...easy. There was a lot of gun turrets and even drones, but everything offline and limp. Every single one of their OS command screens said the same: APEX ENTITY OFFLINE, SYSTEMS SHUTDOWN.
The security was beyond us, huh APEX? Couldn't made it without you?
Living element of the security, that wasn't anything new or particularly stressful to us anymore. Not after all the runs, missions and tough spots we got out from.
Teamwork. Even my crew in Seattle wasn't tight knit as this one. Actually, in Berlin it was first time I've honestly called everyone in the team a close friend, if not more...
I had no time nor desire to ransack the place, the thrill of loot or any stylish actions was beyond me at this point.
"Hold up chief, we got a lot of company in front of us." Blitz called, looking up from camera feed he tapped into faster than I could think of asking him to do so. "Five grunts plus guys with big guns and a mage I think."
I look at his PDA and agree, that's a nice committee. But, there are multiple ways to enter said room so...
The main entrance opened and few trigger-happy guards opened fire, only to stare at empty corridor. They realized they're being duped and shifted fire to their left, towards two pairs of side doors where surely we'd be flanking them.
Do we?
I've spared, or maybe ran out of, any clever one liners as we poured inside through the main doorway, taking by surprise completely disoriented mooks.
My first shot missed, the tongue of flames did not reaching shotgun-toting orc. But a grenade from Eiger obliterated him alright. The grenadier raised hand with frag in it, but this time I was close enough. Phosphorous reached the explosives and suddenly, the grenadier, alongisde his firend and nearest desk, vanished in ball of fire.
Explosions in close quarters surely hurt my hearing already, the ringing in my head as annoying as always. Moving behind cover, I saw Glory marching on, sending a short burst from Buzzsaw, piercing through a cooling tank and causing liquid nitrogen to pour over the last of the enemies.
He shattered just like in the films.
Moving past a large crack in the wall, all I had to do is only give a glance to Eiger. She seemed happy to bust down a weakened wall and give us access to the small but rich armory there.
Glory reloaded her minigun with some help from me, and we all stock up on grenades. Nothing reeks of irony more than killing enemies with their own bullets.
Storage room provided somewhat challenge, with dozen of grunts hiding behind stacks of boxes and crates providing solid cover.
Their problem were proximity grenades and launcher projectiles we've obtained from the armory.
"Boing!" I've let out while lobbing another explosive inside the storage, making the fist-sized charge casually bounce off the wall and explode behind large container, earning a cry of someone losing a limb.
"Boing." Eiger joined, firing much stronger grenade, with similar effect.
Any sneaky flanker that tried to get to us, faced Blitz and his drone, as I've sent them to the side doors, giving him perfect position for crossfire that kept guards behind the containers.
Dirty tactics? I call that means of victory.
Entering another elevator that had only option as going further down, I decided to take a literal minute to check up on the guys. So far so good, Eiger sported mere graze from a bullet on her shoulder, Blitz admitted he hurt his ass when dodging gunfire earlier but beside that, were untoched. Scrapes and bruises doesn't count.
"Everybody okay so far? Clips full? Then let's go." I've ordered and we've stepped into another spacious cargo lift.
The upside feling in my stomach and slight rise in temeprature told me were going way down.
But that's okay, I've been to hell already and you know what? It didn't impressed me all that much.
Now I felt we were entering the real labs, the real nightmare factory. Dim, emergency lights and not a single soul within range told me this was not the usual state of things.
It meant whatever Vauclair was planning, was already in motion. I hoped our visit tad earlier at least caught him in early stages of whatever involved radioactive virus and a dragon.
Walking through the empty hallways was unnerving. But when I've pushed open another doors and walked into a chasm-like room, just in front of me I saw the man of the hour, separated from me by inches of bulletproof glass.
Adrian Vauclair looked like hammered shit, a burnt out old man with cigarette hanging from his mouth. I wouldn't have given him a handshake if he'd chatted me up on the street.
"So you're the shadowrunners that Audran warned me about...I assume you've left a trail of corpses behind you on your way here." He rasped to us, making me approach closer to the booth.
"That's us. And you're Adrian Vauclair."
"Indeed. Now, I don't know why you insist on interfering with my work but I assure you - that's over now." He slaps button on the console and doors we came through slammed shut, hydraulic bolts locing into place immediately. "Blast door behind you is sealed and the laboratory you occupy is fully secured...In here we keep subjects that are far more dangerous than you are."
"You know Doctor, for such an intelligent man, you sure are so sure in yourself you don't even bother to ask the most important question...Why a shadowrunner would get in your way? Why people without conscience or honor would not flee the first moment they'd know they're way in over their heads?"
"Oh I would like to know this a lot." Vauclair's eyes lit up as he taken a furious drag from his smoke. "First you break into my estate...which you didn't even knew it was *mine*, apprently. Then you spend small fortune trying to track me down. Finally you locate and *destroy* my AI. Lastly you drive all the way here again and barge in, massacring my security and trashing my laboratory. Yes...Tell me why you've done all that, Shadowrunner."
"A man named Green Winters hired us to get here. Didn't provided details, just wanted us to get inside the vault for a *package* to retrieve. Name rings any bells? IF not I'll tell you in a minute. So, imagine how strange it was that our little group went into the estate and instead of a safe we've found ourselves in a lab. Not our gig, somebody duped us. But before we could get the hell away from here, APEX melted brain of one of ours. Monika Schafer was her name, and she died in front of me, last word that came out of her bloodied mouth was 'Feuerschwinge'...We've ran away from Audran and your mercs, and we started looking after Green Winters. We've found the guy...his brain melted by APEX, same way as our friend. Imagine our surprise when we've learned that Green Winters was actually Herman Vauclair and he spent years looking for his missing brother Adrian. Things starting to fall into place, mate?"
I've taken a pause to stare at Vauclair's widened eyes.
"So, since Adrian Vauclair is the one who killed Firewing per se and we were dealing with Firewing that somehow survived falling into SOX...We needed Adrian Vauclair on our side. It taken a lot but we got a bead on him. Brought into Harfeld Manor, the very heart of Feuerschwinge's lair. Before we could do anything, Audran attacked Kreuzbasar and killed a lot of people we cared for. Another name I want you to think over: Paul Amsel. An aging man brutally beaten and executed by Audran...To get our payback for ones we've lost, we had to get rid of APEX. So we did. But just before it was erased completely, it shown footage from here where you weren't kept prisoner by Audran. You were ordering him around...So, Doctor Vauclair...What the fuck are you doing that you think you can murder people left and right without consequences?"
"I...I regret sending Audran onto Kreuzbasar. It was necessary to keep my work a secret." Vauclair replied after long pause and threw into fit of coughs. I'm not a doctor but that sounded like cancer. "I don't expect you to understand nor I have time to explain it to you."
"Really? That's all? Not a single regret that APEX killed your brother too? Just because he was searching about Firewing, trying to find you for decades?" I've driven the nail just right, and watched Vauclair slump into the chair behind him.
"APEX...I should have never trusted that thing!" He spat. "How much I've sacrificed for you Hermie...All for Panacea."
"About that, doctor. What do you plan on doing with Doom in your posession? What Panacea really is?"
"The Panacea, yes...So you know about it." Vauclair regained some lightin his eyes at mention of the project. "It's an answer to age-old problem...It's a mean to end Feuerschwinge. And not just her. *All* of the dragons will perish."
The what?!
"And how's that possible since Dragons are the most nigh-invulnerable creatures known to us to date." I've flashed my scientific speech, hoping to pull the tongue of the crazy doctor.
Vauclair taken a while to lit up a fresh smoke before explaining. "The Firewing burned and murdered in bestial rage until Dragonfall. Until I stopped her. But the destruction was merely a symptom of a greater cancer..." He Rested against the console in front of him, nearly resting head against the glass shield "Firewing wanted destruction by fire and claws but the others like Lowfyr or Celedyr...the kill and conquer in endless scheme of lies, manipaulation and corruption! They use us as pawns. Playing pieces they can smash off the board at their leisure...We've been reduced to nothing more than puppets in their millenia-long games."
Alright, I could understand where he was coming from. Even more when the grief is amplified by personal experiences with Firewing.
"I'll take a wild guess and say you emphasize 'cancer' so much because your lungs are failing you?" I've asked and Glory immediately piped in, guessing leukemia.
"Thanks to the radiation of SOX nonetheless, but you are correct. It was that time when I've heard doctor's diagnosis I knew what had to be my life's work." Vauclair agreed.
Damn, we have cyberware and are capable of streaming our minds into Matrix but we still don't have cure for cancer? What in the everloving motherfucking cockbiscuit?!
"Tonight I will releace Panacea to the world. And how absurd that the instrument of dragonkind's destruction..." Vauclair pushes in another button and one of the large screens next to him present me a terrifying answer. "Will be Feuerschwinge herself."
I never felt much love for dragons but seeing this huge form binded by enormous shackles to the floor and connected to some tortorous machinery set up around it...
Where's God now, ay?
"So he did found her alive in SOX afterall." Eiger spoken in undertone, her eyes glued to the dragon's image.
"Tonight the Feuerschinge will fly again. Infected with Panacea, she will slowly be destroyed from within. But before that happens, she will provide the catalyst for global transmission of the virus." Vauclair's voice brought me back to him. "Her fire will carry the agent in it's dormant state. Any metahumans exposed will become carriers...and ultimately spread disease onto other dragons. The carriers that are non-dragons will feel nothing but a nuisance. By spreading across the globe, the Panacea will reach critical mass and activate. However without reaching needed status, it will remain dormant and quckly die out." Vauclair taken a loud breath and looked past us, getting a thousand yard stare. "I'm sorry Hermie, but I need a ground zero, a flashpoint for infection to begin. It must be Berlin..."
"What exactly are you going to do to Berlin?" I've asked trying my best to not snap a the ramblings of this complete lunatic.
"To save the world, for Panacea to work, Berlin must burn...A sacrifice for the greater good." Vauclair replied and all of the red lights flashed in my head.
Greater good? Well fuck you and your greater good. I don't care about dragons but I care about Kreuzbasar. I care for my own small good. And rest of the world can burn for all I care.
"You want to burn and infect Berlin? Just like that?"
"Regretfully but yes. Don't think you can stop me, you are locked away in here. The Panacea Project will commence and there's nothing you can do about it." Vauclair stated, then promptly he called behind him and I'm sure I heard 'Audran'. "The security will be here soon. You will not be harmed as long as you'll stay here until project commences. The sacrifice of Berlin in a necessary evil but I see not reason to kill any of you if you won't force me to do so."
"Just one thing doesn't stick with me here, Doctor...How are you going to make Firewing comply to your wishes?" I've asked, playing out last card I had.
"Oh that's simple, she has no choice..." Vauclair gestured to his side and made me stare at the containment cell I saw on the feed from APEX. The gaunt woman standing in the glass tube stared at us, terrorized and moved her mouth like saying something.
"Winters was right about Firewing's astral form being separated from her body when she fell down to SOX." Dietrich concluded.
"And you trapped her, somehow." Glory picked up, fixing gaze on Adrian.
"But not outright..." Vauclair replied. "I wasn't sure what happened in 2012 when Firewing was hit by experimental weapon. In 2036 I led search team into SOX. I had to know what exactly happened to the dragon I supposedly slain. We found Firewing alive in some way...Her astral form, her spirit, was ripped out of her body by my invention. The spirit was placed ina body of young woman living in the SOX. A mob of glowpunks revered her as a goddess. I have transported both the woman and dragon's body here to study them."
"You mean you kept her in that cell for two decades?!" Shaman snapped, his haggard voice shaking.
"No choice. A creature separated from it's astral form cannot live more than a few hours before dying. It was the high-intensity radiation of SOX combined with magical creature inside her that allowed the woman to live as long as she has. If she won't comply, we'll switch off the radiation and she'll die. For the physical form of Firewing, we've drilled a series of electrical series into her skull. When we release her, by using electricity we'll release her most primal and aggressive urges exactly when *we* command." Vauclair sounded way too eager to explain this nazi shit to us.
"You're awfully alright with committing mass murder and calling it a sacrifice. You had two decades and that's the best you came up with?"
"Was it mass murder when America dropped the atomic bomb on Japan? The myopic would say 'yes' just as you are now!" Vauclair snapped at me immediately. "But they did it for a *cause*. To save lives of thousands of soldiers fighting in the war. I do the same, for the good of the world."
"You know, I'm actually kinda tight with US and their history so I happen to know that even to this day, a lot of people think Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings should never happen. That this was a crime against humanity that set off chain of events that can't be stopped to this day."
"We are not talking ethics here! We're talking...parallels. What I do will prevent from geater evil taking place." Doctor begun his rant, like every doctor would "Humanity was born to prepoduce, multiply. Dragons were born to acquire, to accumulate. To *hoard*. Both strive to bend the world to their will. Humanity has conquered the land air and sea through sheer numbers. Dragons however the prefer to just allow *us* to do the heavy lifting for ages and then just swoop in and take everything! As of today, there are seventeen great dragons in the world. Seventeen hoards of gold divides the Earth no matter how much you like it or not. They don't even have to fly around and destroy cities to get their riches..." Vauclair slumped onto the chair and sighed. "Now they have marketing, public relations, shareholders...You see it every day. In trivideo, board rooms, front pages...They just keep hoarding everything. Influence, money, information, everything that has any value. And they squabble, until one day one of them sits atop all of it. And then we'll be nothing more than a cattle, whole world under claws of one wyrm swaying to his slightest whim. That is somthing I will *not* allow!"
"How many virusologists you've consulted about that strain of yours, Doctor? Because you know, the biggest problem with biochemical weapon is its tendency to mutate. Ever thought about Panacea mutating into killer virus that will spread radiation onto all of us too? Or let's say, ninety percent of populace? What the world will be reduced to then?"
"An intelligent question from a Shadowrunner? Surprising." Vauclair scoffed at me. Yeah, go play egghead, talk how big you are just because you have a title to hang on office's doors. "Unfortunately I do not have time to explain it to you. And since you are locked down here with no chance of escape, I don't really need to. But know this: I've spent forty-two years in isolation, dead to the world, all for this. My life's mission."
"I was always the one to bring notes with me for the lectures so let me see..." I've powred up my PDA and scrolled through notes on Panacea I've read in the lab above. "The virus is built on RNA virus, and yet you aren't worried about mutation?"
"It had to be RNA, a robust frame was needed to make it untreatable. A DNA virus woildn't fill the bill."
"You aren't listening, doctor." Glory piped in suddenly with a quick 'I got this' glance towards me ."RNA polymerases are *notoriously* prone to replicatoin errors. Any first-year biology student could tell you that. You have no way of knowing *how* your Panacea will mutate once you let it go. You're playing with fire in every way imaginable." She finished and I've only then recalled she hung out among university students for years as a kid.
If I'll learn that somehow I'm dating a nerd, I'll start believing in my luck again.
"I am *not* a biology student! I am the forefront of my fieldand I have told you it *will* work! I've spent decades testing it and you *will respect that!" Vauclair's ego got kicked like a puppy since he started slamming his fist against the table every few words.
"'Because I said so' is not something that'll cut here, Doc. Rai makes sense and you starting to make it less and less." Dietrich supported me but his brash talk would only enrage the egghead like Vauclair.
"Have you consulted it with anyone, Dr. Vauclair? Shown the strain to any other virusologist or geneticist? Or you're acting out on faith that if you hate dragons hard enough, your ideas must work out of principle?" I've tried to sound as intellectual as I could, though honestly I was reaching to the bottom of the bag and using quotes from films.
"Acting on faith makes bad science? That's your point?" Vauclair picked up the argument again. "If the draconic threatcould be stopped by 'scientific community' we wouldn't be having this conversation. I won't deny the risks. But this...This is my life's work! The risk is all worth it!"
"Says you. I've been wandering...does the plan that killed your *brother* is really all that great and worth everything? Because so far it costed a lot of lives, good lives wasted for one big 'maybe'.
"N-No! Nothing makes *this* right...Hermie, why couldn't you just let me go."
"I can tell you why, because I've recovered memoirs he recorded to tie in his investigation on Firewing...He needed you and you always were there to help him. You saved his life when you were little and he didn't forgotten that. He wanted to be of use to you for once, do the right thing to his big brother and bring you back home. I know what he felt, I have lost a younger sibling. Only unlike me, your brother still had a chance at finding you. Didn't he asked you to stop chasing the dragons and you've promised him to try? Only to hop off the grid and leave him stranded?"
"We all saw these videos, your brother talking about past of you two." Dietrich chimed in again. "He was a miserable bastard at the end, but he did loved you and died trying to save you. If you won't stop this insnanity, his death will be for nothing. Nothing at all."
"If Hermie would be with us right now, he'd tell you to stop all this. Just how he kept talking about how worried he was that your crusade against wyrms will only hurt you."
"HOW DARE YOU-" Vauclair stopped, choking down on his own words, trying to speak or scream at us but unable too, finally slamming his head against the glass in pantomime of bashing head against the wall "...He would have tried to stop me." Vauclair nearly whispered.
"You still have the chance to stop all this, be the better man Hermie always seen you as, and avert more bloodshed." I've nudged, praying internally to not let the old man snap in the wrong way.
"...I was the dragonslayer, only one who knew what needed to be done." Vauclair begun, looking around the lab as if he saw it for the first time in his life. "I have sacrificed everything I had for this, I was ready to throw Berlin into fire I was first to put out before...And my refusal to see the truth killed my little brother. He was the one I've dedicated this project to, the one I wanted so desperately to protect...My Panacea isn't ready. Too many flaws, too many...sacrifices. That's not how its suppsoed to be."
"I know it's hard, doctor. But that only means it's the right one."
"More than four decades of planning, all undend under span of single conversation. My brother's words, delievered through mouth of a criminal."
How dare you sir, I am gravely insulted! I'm dishtinguished as fuck!
"...I have finally listened, Hermie. Forty-two years late." Vauclair kept talking with a sad smile, more to himself and ghost of Green Winters than to us.
But then a certain fuckface joined us on the stage of that epic shitshow.
"Audran, there has been a change of plans." Vauclair spoken to the scarred orc towering above the old man.
"No time for that, Doc. We're waking up the dragon's physical form right now. Everything is ready." Fry-face bellowed in response.
"No precedure will commence, Audran." Vauclair retorted and I could see the orc tensing up "The dragon will not fly tonight."
"Well in that case...It's been an honor, Doctor." Orc growled and before I realized what was coming, Audran splattered intellectual brain of Adrian Vauclair all over the glass window.
"You really shouldn't have done that, cuntface! That man was really valuable." I've called to Audran staring at us with hate nearly as burning as the one I had for him.
"If you wouldn't have made him avert the plan, I wouldn't have to do that. It's *your* fault, hero!" Audran grunted at me.
"How much of your brain got fried in SOX, Audran? What's in it for you if not only dragons but also possible most of the world will die off too?"
"The world is sick. The Panacea will change it. Better or worse, it will change the matter of things. And I prefer this than anguish of the present."
"You really should paid the doc to stitch you a new cock and get laid, instead of bolting that armor to yourself. You really have issues. And I didn't subscribed for them..."
"Talk all you want, I have dragon to wake up and you stand in the animal pen. So enjoy yourself and say hi to Amsel from me." Audran cackled, flipping switches on the board and then making his way out.
"...FUCK!" I've kicked the glass shielding, venting all the anger at my wasted effort. "I am so killing this bloody fuckface, first thing after getting out of here!"
The shrieking growl behind me forced a one-eighty degre turn from me.
Oh for fuck's sake...
Firedrakes. Small, ugly and sadistically viscious retarded dragons. Fuck. My. Life.
Four of these ugly sons of bitches crawled out from opened cages in the corners of the room and I was just about to yell out any orders before Glory propped the Buzzsaw against her hip, minigun secured by a broad sling across he torso, and ripped out two long bursts, eviscerating the drakes almost instantly.
"Thank you, for putting this woman and this gun on my path..." I've spoken loudly, looking up onto the ceiling. "Okay, let's go after this motherfucker before he razes Berlin to the ground!" I've called to my team.
Taking a look around, I've noticed the supposed Feuerschwinge staring at me through the glass, pressing her gaunt face against the glass in mute cry to get my attention.
"You don't look much like a dragon." I've spoken to her after flipping the switch of intercomm on the cell.
She croaked out barely three words, begging for help.
"How could I help you?"
"Set...set me...free..." The woman croaked and pointed behind me "T-The hole there...to my body..."
Okay, a bit of Sherlock Holmes times and I've found the maintenance hatch leading even lower underground.
"Everybody ready? Let's end this, people!" I've called and jumped down first.