“So what was that web you pulled out of the last guy’s skull?” Cora asked, after the moment had passed. Romance was far away now, as Hawk showed her the proper way to use a knife to split a skull delicately enough to not damage any tech inside. Obviously, Cora wasn’t going to be able to use the method she’d demonstrated of just putting a thumb in either eye socket and pulling really hard.
As she hit the hilt of the knife with her palm once to drive it in, then held it steady while she smacked it sharply on the side, getting the split started, she had to wonder;
If I’d upped my [Str], instead of [End], would I be able to do that? I might be stronger than Hawk, like that.
It was idle wondering. Given that she’d just been shot at for the first time in either of her lives, she was quite happy keeping Cadey held in her mind and pulling on her toughness.
“Honestly, not really sure,” Hawk said, answering Cora’s question after pondering a bit. She took Cora’s hands, adjusting them a bit for the next strike. “No head-chrome myself, and none of my crew ever got any either. Best guess? Some kind of HUD, or communication implant, and that guy was the shock-squad leader.”
“Mmm,” Cora responded, barely hearing it. She had to be elsewhere as the skull finally split open all the way, pink jelly jiggling cheerfully as it was freed from its bone-prison.
“Ah ah ah Miss Mistress,” Hawk scolded lightly, grabbing the back of Cora’s head and, with inexorable force, making her look at her handiwork. “See anything?”
“Just some parts of a boy that really should have stayed inside him,” Cora said resignedly.
“Yeah,” Hawk sighed, releasing Cora’s head, “Me too. Still, dig in the crevasse there, and dig down to the base of the skull. There can be some good shit hooked up to the brainstem.”
There was, not, in fact, ‘some good shit hooked up to the brainstem’. Not on this guy, or the next. After Cora finished with him, she looked up to see Iain and Kyra were already done, standing alongside Hawk, each watching with obvious glee as their former owner rooted around in a man’s chest. This guy had taken one of her headshots, so mercifully, she hadn’t had to check his skull.
“Fair play Linnea,” Iain said, “Didnae think ye had it in yas. Iff’n they were still alive sure, that meshes with yer batty arse, but dead? Seems a weeeee bit too much like work for ye ter bother with.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a worker now, too,” Cora said, standing up and wiping her hands on the duster. She’d found, blessedly, that its shielding tech actually wiped her hands clean when she pressed them against it. Honestly, she’d wear the thing just for that function, she’d ruined wayyyyy too many cute tops with buffalo sauce. “Long live the proletariat.”
Iain laughed, giving her a friendly shake on the shoulder. Kyra just glared. She did not however, say anything venomous, or do anything more literally venomous, so that relationship seemed to be on the rise.
“Well, teh good news is we gotta fook load of chrome off these jobbers,” Iain said, “We find a fair price, we can double the sum ye had in yer hidey-hole, easy.”
“That’s great, but also implies the existence of bad news,” Cora replied, buoyed by the profit but also dreading the next bit.
“Aye, that she does,” Iain said, pulling out a bloodied piece of paper from a pocket beneath his carapace. “Take a look-see here.”
He unfolded the paper, and Cora groaned. Her face, her new face, was printed on it in perfect detail, Linnea Light written just beneath.
“‘Spose that would be my reaction too,” Iain chuckled. “Cannae say I’m too surprised. This lot was too well equipped ‘n too numerous to be truly opportunistic. Fair bet the lot were watchin’, waitin’ fer ye te leave, get far enough away from whatever defenses ye had round Luxholme, then…”
“Get fuckin’ bodied?” Hawk laughed. “The Chains work with numbers and equipment, not quality people. This shit was amateur hour.”
“Aye, that she was,” Iain agreed, “but I doubt they counted on her arming yer big ass, Hawk, Kyra’s abilities aren’t public, and Linnea is a well-known piece ‘o shit. They didn’t expect all four o’ us ter be fookin’ hardcases!”
“And I still can’t believe she is!” Kyra hissed. Cora would be legitimately surprised if she didn’t have burn marks on her face, which Kyra’s glare hadn’t left for a moment.
Might really have laser eyes somewhere around here, actually, could be a real concern.
“Gonna say it as many times as it takes,” Cora sighed, “I’m not the woman you knew. Glad these fuckers gave me a chance to prove it, skill-wise, at least.”
“Aye, ye handled yerself well, lass, far better than… well, yerself,” Iain admitted, a hint of belief entering his eyes for the first time.
Looking past those eyes, Cora’s own fell on the two maids, still cowering in the stairwell.
“Oh shit!” She cried, racing over to check on them. On first look, they were unhurt, if shaken. “Are you guys alright?”
The women looked at her wide eyed, in the same position they’d occupied before leaving the house. The younger, Tinny, cowered behind her friend…. Whose name Cora hadn’t gotten.
“Nothin’ but a bruise from Iain tackling us down a stairwell,” the other woman, who looked much more put together, answered, “but thank the gods for that, rather a bruise than a bullet, I suppose.”
“And Tinny?” Cora asked.
“Not even a bruise!” The woman said, turning to ruffle the younger girl’s hair. “Perks of youth, you know.”
The shellshocked look in Tinny’s eyes said that her wounds were much deeper than a bruise, however.
Hope to god she didn’t just watch me poppin’ dudes open like Pez dispensers…. Actually, compared to a gunfight happening around her, I don’t know if that would even register.
“Alright then,” Cora smiled, putting extra warmth on it. She’d already learned that without concerted effort, kindness just didn’t come across on Linnea’s face. It worked, she knew it did, because both of them looked confused. “Let’s get you ladies someplace safer than the streets, yeah?”
They came out hesitantly, but they came out. Tinny even accepted Linnea’s hand, outstretched to help her up.
While Cora had been busy with the ex-maids, Hawk had been snatching up all the Link’s guns, securing them in a makeshift satchel across her back. According to her, they might not be worth much, but even if they didn’t sell for shit, it wasn’t like Luxholme had an impressive armory.
Iain led the way after the group formed up around the women once more.
YOU GONNA CHECK YOUR LEVEL, OR…..
Agh! Forgot about you. What?
YOU JUST KILLED A BUNCH OF DUDES. YOU LEVELED UP
Right, you kind of implied that, but A. How? B. What does that mean for me? And C. C’mon, man, no flashing lights, graphics, anything?
I HAVE THEM AVAILABLE. I CAN DISPLAY THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GUNFIGHT NEXT TIME IF YOU PREFER
Cora’s vision went white, and a gold banner announcing LEVEL UP! CORA CASANOVA HAS REACHED LEVEL 2! scrolled across the white void of her vision.
“Gah!” She yelled, stumbling back into a tree trunk, which steadied her gently, pushing her back upright with a chuckle.
“Fuck you jumpin’ at, Miss Mistress?” Hawk asked as Cora’s vision cleared, a little laughter in her tone. Cora blushed, reaching out to bap Hawk in the side.
In an instant, her hand was in a vicelike grip, her arm pinned behind her back.
She knew a way out of this, to be honest, but in all fairness she should also probably have known better to make even a playfully aggressive move towards someone who had outright stated they might kill her later.
No matter how much flirting they had done in-between those declarations.
“Sorry! Sorry,” Cora pleaded, and to her credit, Hawk let her go almost immediately, with just oooone more squeeze to let Cora know she didn’t have to. “Not quite there yet, huh?”
“No,” Hawk said, an extra note of bass in her voice. Cora couldn’t help but wonder how that tone of voice might sound saying some other things.
“Right, well, uh, awkward to ask this again,” Cora recovered, “but could you… hold me again? Guide me? Gotta check some stuff in my implants, and it’ll take most of my focus.”
“Sure thing, Miss Mistress,” Hawk said, all smiles again now that she got to manhandle Cora on her own terms. She grabbed Cora’s shoulders, roughly pulling her to her side again.
Cora steadied herself against her, putting a hand on the small of her back, marveling at the pulse of her muscles with each step.
And she smells so fucking go-, Well, worse now, lotta blood. Still…
She shook her head, and focused in on her status.
[Cora Casanova][Level 2]
[Str:5+2(SP)]
[Dex:8+2(SP)]
[End:5+2(SP)+26(MA)]
[Vit:8+2(SP)+20(Nanostitch)]
[Agi: 8+2(SP)]
[Int:9+2(SP)]
[Will:15+2(SP)]
[Cha:26+50(seduction dependent)]
[Skills: {Star Power}, {Method Actor}]
[Stat Points:2]
[Skill Points: 1]
Okay, should just dump those stats into [Cha], right? Kinda feels like I’m gonna be a one trick pony as far as that goes
PROBABLY! NOTE, THOUGH, YOU CAN’T BRING ANY BASE STAT PAST 50 UNTIL LEVEL 10
.....why?
BEATS THE CRACKERS OUT OF ME. HARDCODED THOUGH. PROBABLY TO STOP PEOPLE FROM RUNNING AT LIGHTSPEED WITHOUT THE ENDURANCE TO NOT EXPLODE
If I had 50 [Agi] I could run at lightspeed?
LOL, NO, DUMMY. THAT’S WAY LATER. HYPERBOLE TO MAKE A POINT
Whatever, popping it in. Might as well get the extra points on everything from [Star Power] as soon as I can
She allocated them, and with the extra point to [Cha] she got every level, which looked like it had already been added, it brought her to 29.
Damn. Juuuuust shy of making that +2 a +3.
Still, incremental improvement was still improvement. She focused on her skill point next.
Her vision went blue as her sight exploded with screens, all running with text like a hacker’s screen in one of her movies.
Quickly, the merged into one large message:
DETECTING PRE-SYSTEM SKILLS…..
DONE
[Firearm proficiency], [Hand to Hand Proficiency], [Handgun Mastery II], [Silat Mastery I], [Performance Mastery- Ascendant]
Before she had any time to process those, the system shifted again.
DETECTING PRE-SYSTEM FEATS…..
DONE
TITLES AWARDED
[Money Maker]- As the highest grossing acting star on earth, you know how to get your cut. A 5% bonus is added to all profits.
Fuck yeah!
[Best Actress]- As a 3 time winner of this award, other thespians, even those unaware of this feat, will recognize and respect you for what you are.
O…kay?
[Unbreakable]- For forcing your way out of impossible circumstances, coming out victorious and stronger for the experience, you receive a flat +15 bonus to [Will], and outright immunity to mind-control effects.
….. silver linings, huh?
She checked her will. It was 30 now, her highest stat. To be fair, if she was assessing herself, she probably would have said that was her defining point anyway. She wasn’t entirely certain what [Will] did, but in a slave-based society that seemed hell-bent on testing her at every turn, it seemed good to have it be high. Especially if, as the title implied fucking mind-control was on the table.
That was it for titles. She focused back on skills, wondering what she might have access to.
Again, the pages exploded in front of her, a dizzying array of options. Anything from [Cooking Proficiency] to [Transfemme Fellatio Proficiency], far too many to really reasonably sort through.
OH RIGHT, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, LET ME HELP YOU OUT
The pages organized themselves into rows, then shuffled themselves together like cards. They resolved into 8 boxes, one for each of her stats, and labeled in kind.
THESE ARE GENERALITIES, BUT BETTER SKILLS ARE UNLOCKED BY HIGHER STATS, OR SKILLS IN THE SAME CHAIN. YOU’RE WELCOME TO SORT THROUGH, BUT IF I MAY MAKE A SUGGESTION?
Since you’re being polite, go for it.
The [Cha] deck unfurled, flipping through until {Stat Focus:[Cha]} was displayed.
YET ANOTHER [Cha] POINT EVERY LEVEL, AND LETS YOU BREAK THAT 50 POINT LIMIT! THE EARLIER YOU TAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS, THE BETTER, OBVIOUSLY
Cora examined the skill. It did what the system had said to a T, but there was a warning at the end.
[WARNING. STATISTIC ENHANCEMENT TO NEW TIERS MAY BE DANGEROUS WITHOUT APPROPRIATE SUPPORT STATS]
OH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT, THAT’S MORE FOR THE HARDER SKILLS, LIKE I SAID, LIGHTSPEED AND EXPLODING, OR ALSO KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNKNOWABLE WITHOUT FIRST HAVING A PROPERLY REINFORCED MIND, RESULTING IN INSANITY. DON’T THINK IT’LL BE AN ISSUE WITH [Cha], JUST A LOT MORE PEOPLE WANTING TO FUCK YOU
What the fuck else is new, Cora thought, and selected the skill.