Runnin' the Game 01: Darling

You don't live in the CDZ without knowing three things. Blacksburg cops are little more than organized thugs with heavy duty bang-bang and itchy trigger fingers. The Network really DOES know everything you do. And sex is something best done in the open.

The first two really don't apply to me. I'm a private investigator here in what used to be quiet Blacksburg, Virginia. That was until Dunkelzahn died. Ten weeks later, every major mega-corp decided to pull out. Normally, that would have meant the end of Virginia Tech, but the college never even flinched. In fact, it walked in and took over the corp buildings with frightening speed. Spooky drek, chummers. But it gets even better; the megas actually proclaimed that Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and several of the surrounding counties were now totally free of any and all mega-corp influence. That's right, chummer. And the worst part of it is that they all seem to be playing this one straight with the public. Thus we have the Corp Dead Zone, CDZ to the locals.

I won't get into the dirty politics of why and what for. But those three rules? Chip truth, chummer. That's the way things run here. And it is most definitely true about sex. Take my latest case.

I was hired by Mrs. Johnson (not her real name, if ya' haven't guessed) to find out what her darling little daughter was up to. Now if you don't know anything about the Network, you'd assume it was a simple run. Tail daughter and report to mama. If only, chummers. It’s easier to slit a great dragons throat with a rusted spoon than to avoid the Network. But back to my job...

I started out by listening to the local street gossip. And it wasn't long before I got wind that daughter dearest had been doing the horizontal shuffle with one of the guys from the Corps of Cadets. But I wasn't able to find out who. But I should have figured that something shady was going on; I found out that little tidbit of information in only three days and two nights of walking the streets. I'll tell you one thing; the coffee here is real... and so is the caffeine. I felt like I was running mil-spec boosted reflexes!

So. Next step was to get inside of Virginia Tech and snoop around. Not easy. Virginia Tech has one of the finest security systems in place: blind luck. No drek, chummers; you may well walk onto the campus free as a bird and roam around all night and never once see any of the chrome kings that Tech uses for its police force. Then again, you may find yourself facing one of their roaming teams, and you can bet your hoop that the grunt without any chrome is a full fledged battle tried and proven combat mage. and let's not forget magical security. Being a mundane, I don't have a clue as to what kind of security lies in astral space. But a couple of chummers I know say that if varies between none to hoop kicker squared. So take your chances on going in solo. Or do what I did: get an invite.

I won't say how I got my invite, but I will say that I owe someone. Nothing new to anyone who's even heard about shadowrunning. So I managed to get inside, fairly confident that I wasn't being looked over by electronic eyes of astral eyes. The Cadets stay on Upper Quad. Located right across from Downtown Blacksburg, it's one of the best places to find a few drunken wannabe soldiers sporting whatever mods their parents shelled out the nuyen for, and their street docs upgraded.

My target was Brodie hall. It's home to the Delta Dogs, probably the nicest bunch of soon-to-be Marines you could ever hope to come across. It's also home to the command post where the brass does its thing. I was about to make my way up one of the walkways leading to the building when I heard an all too familiar alarm. Ghost Squadron: Virginia Tech's own high-threat response team. Don't ask how I know that alarm; it's a LONG story and one I don't wanna tell. Besides... I like living.

I kept my pace. Any change would be considered by Ghost Squadron as a threat. And they are very efficient when dealing with threats. But something caught my eye: someone running away from Brodie like there was a flight of great dragons snapping at their hoop. I was about to give chase when two members of Ghost Squadron appeared next to me. One was a dwarf and the other was human. Both carried Ares Predator IIs and looked ready for anything. But they weren't concerned about my presence. The sound of gun play told me why.

Well, it was time for me to leave. I spoke my name, then turned to follow the fleeing figure. Why did I say my name? Wouldn't do to have Ghost Squadron send a mage to "question" me after they had to go through the trouble of finding me. Been there, scanned that. So I beat feet. I managed to catch sight of the figure as it crossed the street. it was heading Downtown. Great. And I was too far away to see if it was male or female. I followed at a safe distance, eventually discovering that it was a woman I was after. And dressed in civilian clothes. The shirt looked as if it had been stretched and almost torn, which gave me a chill. Date rape. great. I didn't need this.

Or maybe I did. I passed her as she stopped to catch her breath, and got a look at her face. it was Mrs. Johnson’s daughter. Wonder of wonders. Now who was she running from? That's when I noticed that she rose and walked towards Thoughts Consolidated.

Depending on who you ask, the time of day and the phase of the moon, Thoughts Consolidated is either a private investigating firm or a front for a group of shadowrunners. I happen to have had a few dealings with Thoughts, and know a bit about the owner. He has this problem with sex cases: he hates them with a passion. If she went to him and asked for protection, he'd give it. He's all biz, chummers, and one of the few true good guys in this drek soup we call life.

But that left me in a fix. I decided to wait until my tail left the building. When she did, she was followed by two fairly plain looking guys. And if you believe that they were normal, I've got a few shares in Zurich orbital that I'll sell ya dirt fraggin' cheap. As she left, I noticed that Agatha, the secretary of Thoughts Consolidated, was motioning for me to enter. So much for keeping this quiet. I walked in to see what Delvar Steele, the owner, wanted from me.

"Harry."

"Steele. it's been a while."

"Indeed. Too long. Shall we get down to biz?"

Oh joy. When Steele decides to get to biz that fast, it normally spells trouble. And I don't mean small time jazz.

"What's your stake in this Henry?" Steele asked. it was comforting to hear him use my street name, but it also meant that he was doing this unofficially. That meant it was personal.

"Mrs. Johnson wanted to see what her darling little one was up to."

"Care to see what she was up to?" That easy? There had to be a catch; nothing slots this easy for a PI.

I guess he saw the look of doubt flash across my eyes; he smiled. Ever get the feeling of being a cornered rat? He activates a trid monitor, and I got a front row seat to some of the sickest fucking sights to ever hit the screen. Would have made a killing... in the simsense market.

The pieces hit me in a flash. Some enterprising Cadet was making sex chips and selling them illegally. That's a major deal expense, even for the rich brats in the Cadets. And the market for simsense in the CDZ is notoriously dead. Which means he was shipping them out to a dealer in the CAS. Great. Typical job for me: everything gets scragged in one moment. Mrs. Johnson was not going to like this. IF I ever told her, and I wasn't about to take the risk.

What did I see? I saw Darling Little Daughter get it on with several different bodies. I got a running commentary from Steele about her bedmates, including what had been done about them. I won't say anything about that, but I can say what happened. Hope you've got a solid stomach, chummers.

The first scene was of a bedroom decorated in ancient fashion. Steele told me it was Victorian. Enter Darling. She was dressed in this frilly little thing of a dress. It was ghostly white and pale enough to let me see her whole body. I was impressed; she shaved her pubes. Kids grow up fast these days. She walked towards what looked like a window and stayed there for a while. Guess she was waiting for her mate. And sure enough, there she came.

That's right... she. A dwarven female, if ya can believe that. I know of a few poli-club members who would frenzy over this... for various reasons. The dwarf stood slightly above Darling's waist. Perfect height for... Yep. As soon as I though it, the dwarf, beard and all, walked between Darling and the window and planted her face between Darling's thighs. I could hear everything: the licks, the slurps, the moans... everything. And I also happened to see the dwarf slide a hand over Darling's rather plump rear end. My eyes, ever trained for things like this... sort of... noticed that one thick finger had found Darling's hoop and slid in. With ease. Guess Darling was used to things like this.

The dwarf was dressed in what I assumed was a serving wench dress. And she began removing it as she tongued Darling through several orgasms. While I like my sex with humans and the occasional elf, I had to admit that this dwarf had a set on her. Big and plump... and not a lick of hair on them. Slot off, Mr. Poli Club member; you're wrong. as I watched, I also noted that the dwarven female didn't have any hair on her pubes as well. But she had what looked like a tattoo.

"Stop. There. What's..."

"Sisters of Pain."

The Sisters of Pain are a group of women who get their kicks and joys from getting raped. Sick bunch. But what was one of them doing in a decidedly not so sick scene? Unless... Suddenly I didn't want to watch the rest of this scene. So of course I did.

As Darling removed the rest of her clothing, the scene was fading to black. Before long, I was greeted to a sight I'm sure quite a few chummers in the sprawls of Seattle, Denver and Atlanta have seen: A dwarf fucking a human. Wonder how many of those scenes were lesbian? At any rate, there was Darling and her dwarven chummer steady getting it on. And I had to admit that the dwarf knew how to use that neon dildo. I wasn't sure what it was made of, but it glowed a soft blue. Out of habit, I examined the device which was strapped to the dwarf. On the surface it looked like a strap on halter. But I had a feeling that this one came with some special modifications.

And Darling gave as good as she got. Especially when, in an overly exaggerated motion, the dwarf removed the dildo and placed the tip in Darling's hoop. One thrust later, and dwarf hip met human hoop. Darling never even missed a beat, much less showed surprise. Darling little daughter my hoop; she was mil-spec slut all the way. But I had yet to see what I was waiting for. Out of the corner of the trid I saw part of the dwarf's outfit disappear. So... there was a mage present. And I had a feeling what was going to happen next.

When he shimmered into sight behind the two women with a stun baton in his hand I knew I was about to get my wish. Great; why couldn't I be wrong for once. He strode over to the dwarf and zapped her, but something didn't sound right.

"Not a full charge zap, chummer," Steele whispered. I chanced a glance at him and saw that his eyes were looking over the entire scene. He was looking for something.

And I had a pretty good idea what he was looking for. You see... a mage can alter their appearance. I don't mean just the face; a three meter troll mage can make himself look like a fraggin' dwarf. Complete with the shortened steps. But there are certain things only a master at avoiding a tail can cover up. Like motions. If you have a twitch, even a slight one, then the form the mage takes has that twitch. Steele was looking for anything which may have tipped him off about who the mage was. So was I, now that I knew what I was up against.

Not that I had forgotten that Steele had apparently taken care of the problem. But from what I saw earlier, there were still a few loose ends. This ain't Seattle, chummer. There you simply geek any loose ends and hope no one say you do it. In the CDZ, geeking is a last option, and even then you'd better find a way to make sure your alibi would hold up against Saint Peter at the gates to Heaven.

The dwarf jerked once, then tore herself away from Darling. Darling went face first onto the bed while the dwarf rolled off the bed onto the floor. I didn't hear a thump, which meant not only had the mage not used full stun but the dwarf had some combat experience. When she leapt onto the bed, her stance was that of someone used to fighting in the streets. But I was more interested in the mage.

Even though the form was male and human, everything about him screamed elf. He stood ramrod stiff, but it didn't look forced. In fact, it looked more noble than anything else. I expected him to chunk a spell at the dwarf, then I remembered. She was a Sister of Pain; he'd do this by the script and take her down hand-to-hand. The fight was much longer than it needed to be, and I noticed that the dwarf, while she put up a good fight, kept leaving herself open. And the mage took full advantage of her "mistakes." That's when addition kicked me in the head: what was Darling doing while they were fighting?

Watching and playing with herself. Darling had at least two fingers sliding back and forth inside of her cunt while she watched the two combatants fight it out. She looked as if she really didn't care who won so long as she got her cunt filled by someone other than herself. As I looked into her eyes, what I expected to see wasn't there exactly. Her eyes were glazed over, but there was a faint shimmer behind them. Magic. Someone had Darling under a spell of some sort.

The fight ended when the mage shoved the stun baton up the dwarf's hoop and kicked off a charge. She yelped, twitched like a live wire, then fell to the floor in a heap. if it wasn't for the whimpering, I would have sworn he'd geeked her. The screen faded to black and stayed there. I turned to Steele and raised an eyebrow. If that was the worst of it... One look at him and I knew the fun was just starting. I nodded once, then turned to watch the rest of the show.

The next scene opened up. Darling was sitting on a chair that wasn't there before. The dwarf was still on the ground, and Mr. Magic stood over her. Yet now he was totally nude. And I realized that the mage was definitely not a shadowrunner; no real mage running the shadows would ever make a body so perfect unless the job called for it. While this might qualify, I had this feeling that the mage was overly arrogant or too ashamed of how nature and the docs had sculpted his body. The dwarf began to move, clawing her way to her feet. Before she could get there, the mage was on her.

I've heard about rape, but never had the chance to see one actually happening. Even though this was scripted, I couldn't help tasting rage. Call me ancient, but NO ONE should EVER take liberties with a woman. Not only is it flat wrong, but you never know what little tricks she's got lined up. I once knew a street walker that had a mage cast a hoop-kicker spell on her cunt. One word and the thing grew sharp teeth and an appetite to match!! Went by the name of Bobbit. She's dead now; she lopped off the wrong dick.

And Mr. Magic wasn't gentle. He slapped her around viciously, never giving the dwarf a chance to catch her breath. And she... was smiling. I looked at her pubes and saw a thin line of cunt ooze making its way down her thighs. Sheesh!! How sick can ya get? All I needed was for Mr. Magic to switch forms and become a troll and... I felt lunch from three weeks coming up and forced myself to examine the scene.

The flash of something blue caught my attention and I turned my head slightly. There was Darling, sucking on that neon blue dildo. it wasn't lit before, so I guess I had my answer; the halter definitely had some sort of battery pack. And Darling, magicked as she was, knew how to turn the thing on. That's when I noticed something too fucking big to be anything but a troll's dick. Oh drek... she WASN'T!! It hung over her right shoulder, and damn near touched her nipple!! She looked at the real dick, seemed to compare it to the dildo, then opted for the real thing. She tried to fit the thing in her mouth, and I was shocked that she actually managed to get the head partly down her throat.

And while she was trying to gorge herself, Mr. Magic was busy raping the dwarf. She screamed like a banshee and clawed at his flesh, which didn't show one mark. And all the while he plugged away at her like a maniac. He grunted and growled, pausing only briefly to slap the living drek out of the dwarf every now and again. After a few minutes, he allowed her to scramble around just enough to get turned over onto her stomach. I didn't need to me a mage to see her future: a stiff dick up the hoop with more kick than an assault canon. And I was right in one, chummers. Holy DREK did she yell. And bleed; when he pulled back, the trid zoomed in briefly. His dick was splattered with blood. And I hoped Steele made that vision of acting come true. Slotting scum should have been flushed into the sewers when he sucked wind for the first time.

A snarl and a muffled moan told me the troll was ready to bloat Darling's mouth and stomach with cum. Call me a sick, twisted slot, but I’d always heard that trolls have much more seed that normals, orcs and elves. Truth is stranger than fiction; he came close to blowing her head clean off!! I don't know how much he could have kicked out, but what I saw was enough to choke a juggernaut FAMILY! And it just kept coming. I turned my attention to the dwarf, who was finally beginning to run out of juice. Energy, that is; her cunt was spilling her nectar onto the floor at a frightening pace.

"Now comes the good part. Pay attention." Oh joy.

The dwarf pissed. I could hear the sound of Mr. Magic's nuts slapping against her pissing cunt, but apparently he was too close to losing it to notice. When he did, all hell broke loose. He swore in fluent elven and raised his hands. I knew what was about to happen, and dimly wondered if the troll was going to be enough to stop him. He wasn't; the mage tore himself free of the dwarf and blasted the troll. The light from the mana bolt lit his face for a brief second, then the mana bolt removed his head. From that point on it was total chaos. Darling blinked, then screamed. I saw a few bodies rush the mage and take him down. But it was what I didn't hear that caught my attention: gunplay. Ask anyone on the streets and they'll tell you that there's one law: geek the mage first. Don't spare the firepower when there's a slotted off mana tosser nearby. These yabos took the mage down quickly and efficiently. In fact, one of them had a choke hold on the mage. A familiar choke hold. It was the same one used by the commanding officer of the Delta Dogs. And taught to the student in the Delta Dogs. So either the CO was involved, or one, maybe more, of the Deltas. Given what I saw tonight, I figured that Darling's boyfriend was involved in this scam.

"Notice how fast they reacted?" He replayed the scene over, and I saw what he meant. They were fast, but not fast enough to keep the troll alive. Wonder what he did to garner such love. Then there was the takedown. Not one of the attackers got hit with any spells, although I’m sure the mage could have put some mojo on them. unless he was being spelled by someone else off screen. And just where did Darling run off to?

"Now where did she..."

"Look closely," Steele said. It was fast, but I saw an arm clothed in black wrap itself around her shoulder and drag her off screen. Her Delta dick, if I was right.

"Doesn't make my job any easier. What do I tell mommy dearest?"