Liberty and Death, Chapter 59
“That was unwise, Cora,” Mike scolded, as screams floated into the office through the vents. Music.
“Oh fuck you Mike, you can’t even keep a straight face,” Cora riposted. It was true. That moustache kept twitching up. “I’m sick of having to pretend owning people is a forgivable offense. I would’ve done the same to Eldridge if you hadn't specifically said we’d all get killed for it.”
“Am I going to have to tell you, specifically, not to kill everyone that comes to Luxholme?”
“If they keep being slave owners trying to take my friends back to a life of forced servitude, then fucking yes Mike, you are!” Cora exclaimed. Mike tried to scowl, but it turned into a smile instead.
“Well, your money is where your mouth is,” Mike said, with a laughing sigh. “You are stressing me the absolute fuck out, Cora, but I can’t fault your motives. I… doubt Mr. Baxter will be missed by anyone important enough to cause us unmanageable trouble. However, I’d implore you to stay your trigger finger with any noble guests, for now. Their time on the pyre will come.”
“Well, as long as you’re promising about the pyre,” Cora grinned. “Kinda nice, back home the rich and the ‘nobility’ were pretty much the same, and you couldn’t kill either, no matter how much they deserved it. Thank god for Light’s Fall’s lack of police presence I suppose.”
A knock on the door, and Cora nodded to the air. Lux flung the doors open, and Reine strode through, looking like she’d just gotten off a shift at a slaughterhouse, and beaming like she’d just gotten her rocks off.
“Got it out of the bastard!” She announced proudly.
“Great! Surprised it took that long, to be honest,” Cora answered. “Guy didn’t look like he had a lot of backbone.”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, we got the safe location and code in like ten minutes,” Reine admitted, “then we kinda got carried away.”
“He survive?” Cora asked, noting the distinct lack of screams floating through the vents.
“Nope!” Reine announced proudly, “Orla got a little too enthusiastic with the tweezers, hit an artery.”
“Shame, but c'est la vie,” Cora shrugged. “Lux, let Yzna know we need a disposal in the dungeon.”
‘Does it have to be in the dungeon, Cora?’ Lux asked, with the voice of an apprehensive child. ‘Yzna, well, she’s very excitable with those flames!’
“Don’t worry, Lux, the dungeon is all stone, unless she got a skill that lets her burn rocks, you’ll be fine,” Cora cooed, but privately, she worried.
Note to self, keep an eye on Yzna’s skills.
“Okay,” Cora said, turning back to Reine, “please, grab any of your girls that were familiar with the safe location and meet me in the Armory. I’ll take the A-Team out tonight and yoink your bonds tonight after Hawk wakes up.”
“Not sure if I’m ever gonna get used to that girl,” Reine said, shaking her head as she left the office. “Usually the biggest bitch around, I am.”
“Just in the Textillery office?” Kyra asked, “did y’all really need to torture the guy for that?”
“Oh, I already knew where it was,” Orla hissed, “spent enough time under the desk next to it. Needed the code though, and catharsis.”
“Oh, dope, not judging by the way. If I’d had the chance to do the same to Linnaeus or Linnea, I’d have done the same. Just woulda been more careful with the tweezers.”
“Jesus, is the ‘girl under the desk’ like a fuckin’ tradition here or something? Actually, nevermind, don’t wanna know,” Cora sighed. “So is this Textillery gonna be an easy target? What do we need to look out for?”
“I’d say no, but I got no real idea what you all can do,” Reine admitted. “There’ll be guards, for sure, but from what I remember, I bet the scary one could take ‘em out herself before anyone knew what was happening.”
Kyra, ‘the scary one’, beamed.
“Only real thing to note is the place operates 24/7. Anything you try, there’s gonna be more of us girls in the line of fire,” Reine continued. “Plenty still chained to that place.”
“Numbers?” Cora asked, “can we evac them to Luxholme?”
“No way, couple hundred slaves in that operation,” Reine said, and Cora hissed in disgust.
“Why didn’t you guys just- right. The contracts. Can’t kill contract holders,” Cora reminded herself. “No chance y’all are just free cause Baxter’s dead?”
Right, I can check my idiot self.
She focused on Reine, and [Big Sys] helped her sort through the system chaff to find: [Reine Hart] [Level 3] [STAUS: BONDED<Chris Baxter>]
“Shit, guess not,” Cora continued, “was that guy’s name Chris?”
“Nope, Greg,” Orla chimed in. “Chris was his son, I think.”
“Well, if Chris is lucky, he won’t be there tonight. This seems pretty straightforward. We’ll take this place and figure out what to do with the girls afterwards,” Cora declared. “If need be, we can offer ‘em the same deal we did to everyone at Luxholme. We’ve got the cash. Berg just keeps hustling!”
Last time she’d checked, her cash balance was hovering around 220000 Trish, and rising. After they’d [INTEGRATED] Berg two days ago, they’d found she was leveling up from trading, and while she didn’t hit level 5 in a single night like a lot of their combatants, there was a lot of hope she’d get a merchant class that would help them out even further.
“Sounds good to me, bosslady,” Trish said, hefting the railgun-eque battle rifle she’d taken off the noble guard. “Been aching to see what this thing does to a motherfucker.”
After an afternoon and evening spent catching what rest they could, Cora’s A-team gathered around Hawk’s Cocoon.
“Do you think she’ll come out even prettier?” Tania asked, and Cora did not give her the satisfaction of jumping.
“More exotic, for sure. You want to join us on this one? Or did you have luck finding the Chains’ base?” Cora asked. Tania, while a capable fighter when Tanya came to the surface, had far and away the most potential as a scout, and maybe an assassin. She could walk the streets unseen night and day, eyes taking in sights of things people only did when they thought they were alone.
She’d also been found outside the walls a few times, wandering more or less aimlessly.
So, Cora had asked her to direct her wandering towards finding the enemy base. She didn’t mind that she occasionally came back with chain-tattooed scalps attached to her belt loops. Everyone healed in different ways.
“I might join,” Tania said airily, “but no luck on the Chains. I have an area, but I think it must be underground.”
“Yeah, well, that tracks. They’re evil, but aren’t super-villian enough to have a big building shaped like a chain link or something. Keep at it, when we hit them, I want it to be decisive,” Cora ordered. She didn’t particularly like ordering, but Tania did much better with firm instructions.
She would have given more specific instructions, if the Cocoon hadn’t begun to stir.
First, the Shimmer-sheen dissipated from its surface, rushing up into the night sky.
Second, it began to unfurl.
While Cora had initially thought it looked like a seed, it revealed itself to be closer to a flower bulb, layers of light unfolding to bloom around a central pillar.
The gorgeous flower of solid light remained for just a moment, before that pillar exploded with luminescence. It was so bright it blinded Cora, but when her vision cleared, the image of majestic, upturned horns were burned into her irises.
Those horns were made real on the head of Hawk, ivory white and curving up as high as her crimson and black mane. Beneath them, her features were even more pronounced than before, sharper, and when her eyes met Cora’s their bestial yellow carried a slight lambent glow.
The teeth her smile revealed were no longer mistakable as human. Sharp, and huge, they were teeth made to rip and tear.
Her body had changed too, and really, Cora was trying not to look. Evolution hadn’t had the decency to keep her clothes intact, and she stood nude and glorious before them, each muscle looking like it had been carved from an individual boulder.
Also, while Hawk’s chest had always been impressive, that had traditionally been due to her musculature. Now…
Well, there was just no other way to describe ‘em but absolute honkin’ badonkers. Totally triple-big mommy milkers. Gods-damned super-stuffed creamy-large chest udders. Extra-mega-double-huge giga-tits, if you would.
Eventually, Cora managed to convince Hawk’s boobs to stop staring at her eyes, and dragged her traitorous gaze back up to Hawk’s face.
“You know, when the System said Were-Brute, I was really expecting a Were-Wolf,” Cora smirkef, and Hawk let out a booming laugh, stepping out of the cocoon, already fading out of existence. Standing a foot in front of her, Cora found herself at eye level with the two most distracting things she’d ever seen.
“I feel fucking AMAZIIINNNNNGGG!” Hawk roared, raising her arms to the sky, then picking Cora up, laughing as she spun her around. Cora, for her part, just struggled to breathe, engulfed as she was. At least now she didn’t have to try not to look at them.
“Gods, you’re like a fuckin’ toy!” Hawk said, putting Cora down but keeping her close, staring down at her through a valley of tit. “Lets check my stats! I bet I’m basically a god.”
Cora was certain she was doing a fantastic tomato impression right now, and was very grateful to have something else to focus on than Hawk’s body.
[Tina ‘Hawk’ Tagliari][Level 1 Were-Brute(IV)]
[Level 1 Barbarian (U)]
[Str:50(OVERFLOW ERROR)+25(Predator Combat Pack)]
[Dex:26+10(Predator Combat Pack)+5(Bertha)]
[End:30+5(DuraDerm Implants)]
[Vit:30+10(Predator Combat Pack)]
[Agi:22+5(Predator Combat Pack)]
[Int:4]
[Will:12]
[Cha:10]
[Racial Actives: {Brutal Strike}, {Brutal Counter}]
[Racial Passives: {Unstoppable}]
[Class Actives: {RAGE!}]
[Skills: {Killer}, {Brawling Proficiency II}, {Heavy Weapons Proficiency}, {Improvised Weapons Mastery}, {Disturbed}, {Possessor}]
[Relationship Stats]
[Anger: 0/20]
[Devotion: 50/60]
[Affection: Possessive/Protective]
[Cybernetics: Receiver Array<Cora Casanova>, DuraDerm Implants, Predator Combat Pack]
[Equipment: [Bertha (II)]]
Skill Points: 1
Stat Points: 2
“Holy shit, that’s quite the goddamn upgrade,” Cora breathed.
“Fuck does ‘Overflow Error’ mean?” Hawk asked, frowning at the air.
“Oh! I think I know,” Cora said, then made the mistake of looking at Hawk once again. “OhmygodpleaseputonsomeclothesIliterallycannotwithyou!”
Hawk chuckled, and Cora could feel her eyes on her, just eating her embarrassment up.