Crimson Dawn (part 13)

Every time Ashely clocked off at Vendor Mammoth, it was with no small sense of relief. It meant that once again she had escaped the purgatory of idiot customers, idiot workmates, piped muzak and constant looped safety announcements of the latest alleged bargains for the day, and that she would be free to live her life a little for the next few hours. Or, at least, until she next stepped back through the gates of hell itself to live out her endless torment of greeting customers with a false smile.

What made today's release feel even more like a blessing was a message from Slicer on her comm, arranging a meet for tomorrow night. What was unusual was that he was asking her to come to the same detract facility that she'd been training at before. Maybe he's just skipping a step, she considered as she sent back a reply, indicating that she'd be there.

And so, one very boring day later, Crimson arrived at the site in question, her mind racing with the possibilities of what could be there. Even then, what she found was quite unexpected. Slicer was there, but his Rapier was now parked next to a row of other racing bikes. With him were a half dozen humans, male and female, and what a rather awkward-looking Elven man. Each of them were dressed in biker leathers, adorned with red and white stripes and each carrying one of the training rifles.

"Good to see you," Slicer began as he approached, leaving the others by their cycles for the moment. As he approached, she couldn't help but notice that not only did he have one of the training rifles on his back, but there was a bottle in hand.

"What's with the crowd?" She asked, nodding over to the assemblage.

"Those are the Redline Riders, a local gang," he explained. "Their leader and I go way back, which is why they're here tonight." He took another swig from his bottle and then indicated to the rifle on his shoulder. "They're going to be your OpFor."

"Op... ppsing force?" Crimson asked, trying to figure logical alternatives for what he meant. None came to mind.

"Got it in one," he continued. "One man does not make a good simulation of a corporate security team. But a half-dozen of them definitely does."

She could see the logic to that. "Dare I ask how much this is costing you?"

Slicer shrugged it off. "I'm paying them in booze"

"Funny that," Crimson muttered before continuing. "Okay, so what's to stop me from getting murdered by seven-to-one odds?"

"Because," Slicer began before pausing to finish his bottle. "You won't be going in there alone. You said it wouldn't make sense for you to be working alone, and I agree entirely with that. So you'll have me at your back."

That was enough to grab her attention. While she'd fought against Slicer plenty of times in innumerable different ways, she'd never once fought alongside him. In all their sparring and practice battles and whatever else, she'd definitely got a good impression of his skill and capabilities, and the degree to which he dwarfed her own. After all, it was those same capabilities that had bought her to him in the first place, fuelled by that desire to be able to do what he could. "Oh, wow." it was the best she could manage, so massively underwhelming a response given the circumstances.

I'm fighting alongside a veteran Shadowrunner, she mentally added. It was all she could do to stop herself from squealing like a giddy schoolgirl.

"Before you get too excited, I will have most of my augmentations turned off," he continued. "That's for two reasons, the first is that I don't want to steal the spotlight form you, Crimson. As good as you are right now, you’re still pretty baseline."

She nodded. "No, I can understand that." The footage she'd seen of Slicer in action had been amazing. In motion he was a constant, fluid blur, moving with lightning speed and agility. He’d hit his opponents before they could even react, dance between bullets and do everything at a speed that seemed to defy reason. Compared to him, and as naturally good as she was, she might as well be standing still.

And yet, she could have sworn there was something else in what he was saying. She wasn't sure, what, but it almost felt like relief. Putting that aside, she went back to the matter at hand. "And the second?"

Slicer smirked. "I want to give those poor fraggers a chance."

-----

Despite his avowed preference for Submachine guns, Slicer seemed to have no problems at all with the training rifle. As the pair of them stalked towards the derelict building's loading dock, he seemed to be more comfortable with it then she was with hers. "This is your Run, Crimson," he whispered as the pair of them ducked down behind the lip of the dock. "You take the lead, and I'll be right behind you."

She nodded back in a quiet reply before quickly peeking over the ledge. The back seemed to be quiet, with nothing there save for the same jumble of discarded boxes that had been there the last time she was here. Confident that the dock was empty, she nodded to Slicer before quickly scampering up over the ledge and into the building itself, picking her way through the tangled debris. A quick glance told her that Slicer was right behind her, the veteran Samurai's weapon at the ready.

The hallway outside the dock was clear, with no sign of the Redlines. Either they weren't aware of the loading dock's vulnerability, or they had immediately expected her to come in through the service entrance. Same mistake I made before, Crimson quietly observed, before glancing back at Slicer again. She wanted to give him a 'see, I'm learning' as if to refute his angry claims from the previous session, but instead kept her mouth shut.

Instead she sent a silent "Clear" to him through her commlink before continuing, working her way through the ruined facility. Remembering the layout form the last time she was there, Crimson turned towards the service entrance, keeping low as she crept through the building.

"What are you doing?" Slicer silently sent back.

"Insurance." She replied as she stopped by one doorway, pressing her back to the wall. A trio of Redlines were ahead, just around the corner, impatiently waiting by a doorway while muttering to each other. "See?"

"I do," he replied. "Which means that we should-"

Crimson was in motion before he could even finish his reply, a quick "Back me up" being the only warning she gave of what was about to happen. She all but surged forwards, levelling her rifle before opening up with a quick 'burst' of simulated fire. Three quick beeps confirmed that all of the 'guards' were dead, which produced a lot of angry shouting and swearing from the gangers.

"What the hell was that?' Slicer sent to her.

"Taking care of them before they come after us," She shot back. "Now let's move!" She broke into a run as she headed past her, Slicer having a moment to figure out what he was going to do before he took off after her.

"The others will know by now," Slicer warned. "Either they'll hear the noise or one of the 'dead' guards will message them"

"Bring it," was her only reply as the pair of them darted through the hallways, the sounds of shouting echoing throughout the building now.

The pair of them powered through several rooms that continued little more then burned garbage before they stopped, Crimson again putting her back to the wall. "So what's the plan now, boss?" Slicer silently sent. And while the message was soundless, she could easily hear the disproving 'tone' in it.

"Simple. We frag them, then get the goods."

"Brilliant idea," Slicer shot back. "Figured what you'll do now that you've alerted everyone in the building?"

"Who cares? They come, we frag them. Simple"

She heard running feet up ahead, accompanied by hurriedly shouted exchanges. "Okay, back me up here!" She simply sent before ducking around the corner, opening fire on the pair of Redlines heading towards her before just as quickly ducking back. Several loud expletives suggested she'd hit one of them, her commlink verifying the suspicion. "Ready?"

"Sure, why not?" Slicer simply replied. "We're committed now. Might as well make this as loud as possible."

She grinned back. "Awesome. Let's rock this place"

------

The rest of the 'Run' had been rather impressively one-sided. Between them, Crimson and Slicer had 'killed' all of the Redlines, with the other team having only had the chance to fire a handful of 'shots', none of which had made their mark. They'd reached the server room, recovering the burnt out husk of a drive before heading out, Crimson pausing to take a moment to wave to some of the dead bodies as she went.

As soon as they were outside, she pumped her fist in the air, cheering. "Yeah! I'd call that a huge success! We geeked the enemy security force, got the thing and didn't even break a sweat!" She glanced again at the long-dead device. "Call fake Mister Johnson, so we can get out fake nuyen."

Slicer's only reply was a tired sigh, followed by him tapping a few things into his commlink. Then, without ceremony, he simply headed over to his bike, opening up the cooler that was next to it. "So how about it?' Crimson continued. "Are we an amazing team or what?"

"What the hell was that?" He asked as he opened a beer, taking a huge swig form it as he waited for Crimson's reply.

"What the hell was what?" She shrugged. "We fragged those guys and got the thing. Easy."

"We didn't need to take them all out," He simply replied. "That first attack alerted everyone in the damned building, making our job a lot harder. We could have snuck past most, if not all of them, gotten the thing and possibly not even had to pick a single fragging fight along the way."

"That only happened because those gangers were shouting all over the place," Crimson dismissively replied. "Dead bodies wouldn't make that much noise." Behind her the aforementioned dead bodies were now filing out of the building, heading back towards their bikes. She didn't spare them a second glance.

"Biomonitors!" Slicer spat. "Their controllers are going to notice when those send out panic signals. It might as well be the same thing. You frag one guard, you're going to put the whole damned place on alert."

"So I fight my way through them," she shrugged. "Easy."

"Guards, maybe." Slicer countered. "What about drones? Guard Critters? Wage Mages? Or if they call for a fragging HTR team? What do you do then?"

Crimson shrugged. "Worry about it when it happens," she shot back. "I'm building myself up to be a wired killing machine like you, remember? They won’t be able to touch me."

"Yeah, and what are you going to do before then?" Slicer countered. "You’re still baseline, Crimson, and as raw as all hell. And you're not going to always have a veteran Sam at your back. Nor are you going to be working with people who are as naturally skilled as you are. You try that crap and you'll be dead, you hear me?" His tone had gone from statement all the way to obvious anger with remarkable speed.

"Hey, it worked," was all she replied. "You gotta give me that."

He looked like he was about to explode, but didn’t. Instead, he gave a simple "Hold on, I need to take this," as he picked up his Commlink. Almost immediately, he turned away from her, trying not to be overheard and failing miserably. After glancing over the Redlines to see that she wouldn't be interrupted - not likely given that two of them were using the opportunity to make out while the others were getting into the drinks - she headed a bit closer to Slicer to try and get some idea of what he was saying.

"No, she'll be ready," he offered. "You called me in the middle of training. What the frag else do you want?" He was pacing as he spoke, clearly agitated. "No, I can't make it right now. I don't care if you say he's ready, we do this when I say we do this." He tilted away from the commlink, as if he was trying not to listen to the reply.

"You have a good teacher," A voice interrupted Crimson's attempted espionage.

She swung around, trying to reach for a pistol which wasn't there. Behind her was the awkward looking Elf, giving her a small nod. "Well yeah," she agreed with a nod. "Slicer's been a Runner since forever, and he knows what he's talking about."

"It's not just that," he countered. "I mean, that is good and all, but we both know the truth. No offence to less fortunate comrades, but the only worthy mentor an Elf can have is another Elf."

Hoo boy, Crimson considered, trying not to roll her eyes. "That's an interesting position to take mister..."

"Outrun," he replied with a small bow. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Crimson."

"Yeah," she replied without much conviction. Up close, she was definitely beginning to have some doubts. He was about her height and more heavily built then the normal Elf. And while it could have been within the normal range for an Elf, everything seemed to be a little... off.

"But surely you can see my reasoning," Outrun continued. "I mean, who else but another Elf can understand our natural grace? And then, who else could bring that same grace to its fullest potential?"

"Who else indeed," she replied, still more interested in what Slicer was saying then Outrun. Right now, her mentor was walking further away, and while she couldn't catch all of what he was saying the raised tone of his voice was telling her that it was not going well.

"Truly, you are doubly blessed," he continued. "To have received all the wondrous gifts of our race and then have somebody so well placed to bring them to fruition"

So he's a creepy poser, Crimson considered as she continued glancing over at Slicer.

"And I must say, Crimson, that even by the wondrous standards of our race, you are very impressive. You have a rare talent, to be naturally possessed of such abilities," he continued. "In fact, I dare say your abilities are matched only by your beauty."

Correction, a creepy poser who’s trying to hit on me, she added, trying not to wince too visibly. "Hey it's been great talking to you, but I need to have a word with the boss. Training and all that." Before Outrun had even had a chance to reply she'd turned away, heading back to Slicer. By chance, he had just finished his call by the time she got to him. "Everything okay there?"

"Sure, great," he replied in a way that made it clear that it wasn't even remotely the case. He finished off his beer, simply dumping the bottle before stalking over to the gang. "Okay, the lot of you get back in there and get back to being fake guards. And this time try not to be so ass-useless at it." With more than a little rumbling the Redlines did as asked, many of them carrying their drinks along with their rifles.

"A chance to face you again sounds most enticing," Outrun added with a flourish as he passed her. "Until then, farewell."

Crimson barely suppressed a shudder as the poser joined the others, heading into the derelict building.

"So what's the plan?" She asked Slicer once the last of them had headed in.

"This time?' He replied. "This time you take it seriously and stop treating the whole thing like a fragging video game, got it?"

"I-" she began, and stopped. Whatever's going in is really getting under his skin, she considered. So much so that he was ready to walk away last time. That was enough to make her reconsider her next words. "Sure, I got it. Let's go"