R4 awoke, a conversation scrolling across her right eye for just long enough for her to get the gist of it before blinking off.

[[Name: R4.

Race: Mayfly

Class: Pawn

Lifespan: 1 year

Allegance: None]]

R4 noted that this only showed up in her right eye, which was also the only one that could see. She held her hand in front of her face and squinted. She could kind of make it out with her left eye in the dim light cast by the nearby plant, yet her right eye seemed to be able to make it out quite easily. She quickly swam to the surface to take a breath and throw herself onto the shore. Taking inventory, she had the torn cloth tabard, and nothing else. Immediately the glint of light on a metal box flashed past her vision. Approaching she saw the crate was branded Mars Corporation. As she approached she eyed the lock, then the hinges. In a flash her tools were out and the hinges were off. She pulled on the lid and it almost came off, before something pulled it closed. R4 eyed the seal.

[[Error: Unknown key located.]] R4 eyed the prompt. “Key?” She hummed nervously

[[New Program: Digital key-ring. Holds access codes for doors and lockers. Some keys may expire over time.]]

With that the lock clicked open and the chest’s contents were hers for the taking. Inside she found a shirt and skirt, though pants were also made available and R4 went with those immediately. Underwear and other options were likewise provided. Sitting on top was a note. R4 picked it up, hoping it would be a clue as to who had placed it, but it was instead a shipping invoice. R4 dressed quickly, slipping into the black pants and black shirt easily enough. Both were a bit big, though a belt helped. She noticed the shirt was emblazoned with the words “Fang of Mara” with the M styled so it looked like a pair of fangs. A leather coat with the Mars Corporation logo on the back covered the shirt and provided some protection, though the reflective stripes on the metal reinforced sleeves didn’t help any with hiding. As she put it on R4 instinctively knew that the reinforcements, rings placed along the upper and lower arms with long sections connecting them, were real and not just decoration. They could stop a knife or blade from cutting through, though the trade off for being flexible was that bludgeoning force would go right through. They also had some electromagnetic protection.

[[Allegance: Fangs of Mara. Ranking: recruit]]

“From putting on a shirt?” R4 considered, “Actually, that’s kind of what a uniform is for. What’s Mara?” No new screen appeared. “Ok, so I have one year left to live?” No response. “Hello? Is there a way to activate a help menu here?” R4 heard a buzzing sound, but couldn’t place it. Glancing around R4 found she was in a small room with a locked door. There was a pool full of water where a strange blue and green sea weed grew in defiance of the lack of light, instead producing its own glow. Other than that a large box sat against one wall, a truly enormous power cable connecting it to the wall. R4 approached, but as she did her vision in one eye began to blur and an ache resound through her head. “Ok, so not touching that. Probably an AI server.” R4 shivered as a chill ran up her spine. She quickly ran towards the door, and unsurprisingly found it locked. In a flash her tools were in her hand, and her shoulders slumped. The door had been welded shut, from the inside. Examining the door R4 could not tell what it was made from, save that it was not a metal she had encountered before. She gave it a quick kick just in case, and immediately regretted not having shoes.

R4 released an angry descending trill “So much for percussive maintenance.” R4 shivered, knocking gently on the door this time. Nothing happened. “Ok, so the door’s sealed shut, and this doesn’t look recent.” She looked up, “And there’s no hole in the ceiling I can see, so this isn’t where I fell.” She looked into the water. “So I must have come from there.” R4 put a finger into the water and found it warm, almost like bath water.

A low beep caught her attention. R4 approached the chest and dug through the clothes she had left behind, finding that the bottom two thirds had been reserved by a plastic layer, and beneath it a phone and several dozen wrapped Hoplite brand protein bars with a few bags of Bronze Age jerky mixed in. R4 eyed the phone, beeping away at her. She reached for it, but it was beneath the thick plastic barrier. She retrieved her tools, yet the plastic was held in with one way plastic screws that immediately stripped when she tried to remove them. She tried to cut in, yet wasn’t having much luck.

A low chirping caught her attention. R4 turned to see glowing red eyes and gleaming orange pincers as the entity dropped from above. Five legs caught the elongated creature’s bulk as it fell, not quite flea, not quite mantis, not quite spider, but some amalgam of the three. Its right arm was a proper mantis’s arm, its left some manner of blade mounted on the leg of a locust and tipped with a spider’s fang. Atrophied wings stretched to reveal spinnerets which shot a viscous slime behind it as it lunged.

[[Survive]] R4’s eye locked onto the creature and began focusing on its claw, just a moment before it lunged. R4 ducked, and dove into the water. The creature peered in and gave a few stabs. R4 looked down the two tunnels that were visible, both completely submerged. She hadn’t had time to take a deep breath, and her pounding heart was already depleting her oxygen. She began to swim in one of the directions, before feeling a gripping ache in her stomach. Pushing it aside she continued, pushing as hard as she dared. Her lungs burned, small bubbles slipping past her lips. Just as she was sure she would burst she saw an opening and swam for it. She took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it. The air stank of sweat and blood.

Immediately R4 was on alert. The lights in this section were dim, and it took all of five seconds for her to see the body. It, for she could no longer tell the gender, wore a bloody singlet that had long been ripped open and cast aside. There was very little flesh left, and the skull had been cracked open to get at what once was within. R4 approached, and felt her stomach rumble.

R4 wasn’t sure how long she had been out, but she was definitely starving. Yet, a twinge of fear shot down her spine and made her hair stand on end. Was she hungry enough she would eat a corpse? She quickly stepped beyond the body, not willing to find the answer to that.

The winding passages dripped with water, and steam occasionally shot through the abundance of pipes. R4 saw wires that snaked through the ceiling, and occasional glowing eyes that stared down at her malevolently. The scratching of claws sounded in her ear, occasionally broken up by the sound of squeaks. Finally R4 came to a ladder, which with no other path she climbed.

The room had once been some manner of reactor, countless pipes had once pumped water in and steam out, providing heat and power to countless residents of NuGrav. Now, however, it was empty. Instead, someone had gathered hundreds of strands of the strange seaweed and made a nest in the center. R4 noted there were a few ladders that would allow her to get down, yet a scraping sound caught her attention. Immediately her right eye practically dragged her vision towards another entrance as… she couldn’t see exactly what it was entered. It looked humanoid, though its skin had taken a dark color that could either be from a body suit of some effect of the skin itself. She blinked twice, yet she couldn’t focus on its head. It reminded her of when a drifter passed through her home town with blur eye. The cyberware caused all cameras to distort and not catch the face clearly, yet her only cyberwear was planted in her right arm.

[[BEWARE]]

R4 remembered her eye had been replaced, but closing her right eye did nothing to fix the blur. Given the wan light in the room, she could see even left with her human eye. The horned creature, for she could see a large rack of what looked like antlers, threw something to the floor which hit with a CLANG. It took a moment for R4 to realize what it was, but she gasped when she finally made it out.

She could not see who it once had been, but it looked human. In the dim light she could not see how much had been replaced by metal, but from the sound and what glints she could see from the sea weed she guessed a lot of it. There was a low crackle of electricity and the body began to move. Its arm raised and R4 saw its open up. The horned creature tilted its head, confused that its prey was moving again. There was a low THUNK, and R4 saw a grenade arc through the air towards the horned figure.

With a casual flick of the wrist the figure knocked the grenade off course and sent it flying away. R4 saw a strange shimmer cover its hands and feet before the horned creature jumped, soaring over 10 meters across and falling the 5 meter drop to land right on the man’s chest with a CRUNCH that was both metal and bone. The creature immediately latched onto the man’s head. R4 stumbled back at the sight, glad her vision was obscured, before a sudden sense of vertigo overtook her. In her fright she had stepped off the ledge, and was now falling.

[[REBOOTING]]

R4 opened her eyes with a sense that time had passed. She was starving, and her throat was bone dry. She rolled over, and immediately the vertigo was back. Judging by how much blood was on the ground, she felt the back of her head. There were cracks, just beneath the skin. They felt, smoothed over, half healed, but they were there. Immediately her right eye displayed an image, showing several cracked to the model of the head. That, however, was not what concerned her.

In white was the outline of a human head.

In red were the cracks where her skull had been damaged.

In green was… she wasn’t sure what it was exactly. With a gesture she reached out, and the image turned. It encompassed her right eye, where it stretched along the nerve to her brain. From the image she saw it seemed to entwine with her occipital lobe, which explained the projection. Zooming out she saw the green image stretched along her spine and spread out towards her arms. She noticed it had already wrapped itself around her tool arm. With a gesture she extended her tools, but didn’t notice anything off about them.

The fact that, upon realizing it had encompassed her brain she immediately focused on other details was not comforting. As soon as she realized this her thoughts drifted to how hungry she was. A nice way of whatever it was to twist her thoughts towards its own ends. The fact it was allowing her to think this, R4 decided she was too hungry to go down that rabbit hole. Immediately she thought of the protein bars. If the bug creature hadn’t eaten them maybe she could get at them.

R4 found it easy to retrace her steps, since the tunnel she followed had no branching paths. Her eye seemed to have settled in, as now when she looked upwards she could see the rats peering down at her. They were big, she estimated the largest one was about half a meter with front teeth like a stone chisel. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled as she almost hoped one would drop down for her to catch.

R4 let out a low whistling sound. “What exactly did you Dimdwell install in me?” At that moment a rat lost its footing, and before R4 could even realize what was happening she caught it, or tried. Her hand shot out to grab it, but rather than actually catch it she slapped it to the side and into a wall with enough force that something popped. The rat let out a wheeze, and went still. With inhuman quickness she had snatched up the rat and was bringing it to her mouth. She froze, realizing what she had done, and threw it aside. Three seconds passed, then as if someone had fired a starter pistol the other rats descended. Before R4’s eyes the creature was reduced from a rat to a handful of metal components as the other rats scattered. She trilled softly before examining the parts. After a few moments she figured she couldn’t figure out what they were currently, especially since parts seemed to be missing, so she pocketed them and made her way back towards the water.

Waiting for her was the corpse. R4 felt her stomach growl and her hand drifted towards it. “No, there is food in that case, I won’t eat that.” With that she took several deep breaths and dove into the water.

Beneath the surface her right eye seemed unusually clear, as if it was made for aquatic use. R4 filed that tidbit for later as she swam against the current. It was slower going than her first attempt, and she found she was swimming against the current rather than with it. Soon her chest began to burn. R4 continued to kick, the burn spreading to her legs before ceasing. R4 smiled at the swimmer’s high, before the sensation went from one of euphoria to numbness. Twisting around R4 saw one of the isopods had latched onto her leg. It looked up at her and waved before tucking into her leg. She kicked her leg, yet the little bug stayed on. She felt something crawling in her scant hair, and found more of the bugs latched on. She reached to tear them out, and her hands came back crimson clouds of blood as well as the isopods, who quickly slipped from her grip.

[[Host has been afflicted with ravager toxin by a ravager isopod.]] R4 felt no pain from where she had been bitten, though her muscles felt strangely loose. [[Host has been afflicted with ravager toxin addiction. Host is now producing ravager toxin]]

The shock drove R4’s breath from her lungs. She looked up, seeing an exit, and kicked off the floor towards it. She broke the surface and took a deep breath. “What was that?”

[[Host is now producing ravager toxin at tier 1 strength.]] R4 froze, her eyes wide in fear.

“No, cancel, cancel! I’m not even tier 1!” R4 exclaimed. Her mind spun. “Shoot, ok, Tier 1 tends to be a step above normal, but ravager toxin isn’t really poisonous is it?” R4 pulled herself out of the water and looked down, her eyes latching onto a ravager parasite currently latched on her leg. “These things secrete ravager toxin at tier 1, so it’s not actually that bad.”

[[Ravager isopod: Tier 0.]] The ravager isopod waved its claws before going back to feeding. R4 ripped the critter off and threw it back into the water with a splash. She gripped her head in her hands. “I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m so dead.” R4’s panic was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. She looked, and quickly identified it as coming from the crate. Her panic was broken as her stomach growled, remembering the food just beneath the plastic cover. In an instant she was at the crate, peering down at the contents. As before, the phone was sitting on top of a layer of protein bars, a small hole in the plastic just large enough for her to reach in, but not large enough for her to pull anything out.

“Come on, I’m about to die and I can’t even get a last meal?” R4 paused, taking out her tools and assembling a tiny set of pliers. “Maybe if I just grab one of the wrappers,” She reached in and gently grabbed the corner of one of the wrappers of the bars. Slowly she pulled,”

“RIIIIIING!” In her surprise R4 dropped the pliers. “Dang it!” She glared at the phone through the plastic. “Of all the rotten,”

“Focus.” The phone displayed a text.

“On what? On not starving to death, on not poisoning myself?” The phone opened an app marked [[My Mesh]]. The camera lit up and R4 held her arm over the device. “Ok, I remember this app. Hold your phone over the sensor, hope this reaches,” The phone blinked. [[MESH detected. User: Rachel Smith. Age 25. Current cyberware: Tool Arm T0; Unknown model. Recommendation: Mars brand Entrenchment tool arm.]] An image of a human female appeared on a black background with a red box in the right arm. R4 eyed the recommendation. “No, I don’t want a new tool arm.” The app flashed twice, updated, and a plain blue screen appeared. [[Unknown file upload. RAVAGER_v23_pleasedonteatpeople.exe installed]] “Well that’s an ominous looking title.” The app blue screened for a few moments, before displaying the plain human body. As with the pop up she saw previously a white outline of a human, with something stretching through her body.

[[Ravager_prototype_self_assembling_cyberware: Tier 1

Note: This cyberware is still in development. Please leave…]] The screen showed a scroll bar, but R4 couldn’t touch it behind the plastic.

“Blast it!” R4 muttered. “Just when I thought I was getting somewhere.” She eyed the phone, eyes fixating on the scroll bar. “If only this plastic wasn’t there,” She pointed a finger at the phone, “I could just,” As she moved her finger the text moved. “Ok, that’s odd.” she scrolled down, hitting the OK button, before another pop up appeared.

[[Cyberware detected. Updating…]] A pop up appeared in R4’s eye:

Cyberware: Cybernetic implants, or what others will see

Subversion: Aspects of the ravager prototype. These are hidden from most users but advanced sensors may detect irregularities and reveal these. The exact limits are unknown

Gentek Basic skeleton reinforcement (T0): a basic skeleton given to children with brittle bones or those who have suffered traumatic injuries

RAVAGER_PROTOTYPE (T1): Due to its experimental nature the ravager prototype is highly variable. The ravager may alter other cyberware’s function.

Note: This cyberware is still in development. Please leave your notes and experiences to help those that follow you.

Gentek Biomonitors (T0 passive): Monitors user’s body to alert them to damage

Regeneration modules(T0 Passive?): Unknown

Telekinetic module: Ravagers hosts have been noted to use telekineisis at short range. It is theorized these unusual clusters of nerves and cysts have something to do with it.

Mars Corp Military hardened MESH (T1 Active/passive): Provides connection and power to a number of small devices and cyberware. If user is targeted by unauthorized hacking attempts they may retaliate with damaging ICE

Innate human mimicry (T1 Passive): H0$t is HO0Man. U no C33. (Administrator Red Queen has dictated this needs edits)

Unknown model Tool arm: Provides a number of small tools.

Telekinetic claws: Theoretical.

Ravager toxin reserve: Possible?

“Ok, so it’s experimental tech, that’s not concerning.” R4 said to herself. She eyed the phone, and made a gesture. The phone seemed to jump to the plastic, hitting it with a low thunk. A few more gestures, and she had moved it to the hole in the plastic. She quickly did the same with a few of the protein bars beneath. Two chocolate Hoplite bars and one peanut butter Kricket brand bar later and she was fiddling with the phone. It seemed to be a Scross phone, made by Mars corp, and aside from the experimental app R4 found no other surprises. It was a bit larger than her flattened hand, and about 4 centimeters thick. One side had a camera, the other a touch screen and camera. Swiping through R4 found a lot of bloat ware apps, but to her surprise most were disabled.

“Greetings.” A text popped up from an unknown number, almost causing R4 to drop the device. “You have been selected, bribed, forced, cohersed, or written into existence by a possibly hostile power to take part in our completely legal and above board test of the experimental Ravager style cyberware. Please open the provided link and sign the forms.”

R4 eyed the link, and opened it. Immediately a file opened, and she saw the page number.

“400 pages? How am I supposed to read this?” There was a low THUD as something hit the ground from a great height.

“Quickly. Good luck.”

The low click of claws indicated that R4’s foe had returned for her. The insectoid chimera eyed her for a moment, before its piston arm darted out with a sound like a gunshot. R4 barely ducked beneath, throwing her hands across her chest as the thing turned its stab into a sweep. To R4’s partial surprise a small shimmer appeared over her chest, and she felt a pressure against her arms. The sheer force sent her sprawling, and nearly into the water.

“Ya were waitin fer’ me?” R4 felt a surge of adrenaline as she caught her balance, and that same shimmer that appeared on Ratface’s claws appeared over her own hands. She made a feint, which the creature moved to intercept, before a quick lunge brought her into range. She threw an open handed punch, which turned into a scratch as her fingers attempted to latch onto the creature’s chitinous form.

In a sense it worked. Her claws hit the creature, and cut right through. To R4’s hands it was like putting a knife through tinfoil. The creature eyed her, and its spider like fangs, which rather than being in its mantis head were at the base of the body where a spider’s fangs would be, came up. R4 ducked, and the fangs just barely brushed her head leaving two burning scratches. R4 tried not to think about the poison as she rolled underneath the creature and clawed at its belly. The creature immediately dropped, its bulk forcing R4 to the floor.

“Come on, get off,” R4 pushed, but the creature seemed intent on crushing her. An instinct called her eyes to the side, where she saw the thing trying to claw at her with its mantis claw. It slashed, and she reached out to catch it, the strange shimmering covering her hand like a glove. The creature’s strength was overwhelming, yet it was pushing at the edge of its flexibility. The claw stopped just a centimeter before R4’s face. “Get that out of my FACE!”

R4 closed her hands, long talons forming. The creature pulled, yet she held on, and with a low screech tore bits of its claws free. There was a low hiss as the strips of what was once the creature’s claw seemed to drip a strange black gunk that evaporated even as it fell, and the creature seemed to fall apart. First the joints melted, and evaporated, then the solid components just fell apart. R4 was left with a 30 kg computer tower sitting on her chest and several pipes and wires surrounding her. She felt a buzz rush through her mind like she had just downed a shot of energy drink and with a gesture threw the remains to the corners of the room, one bouncing off the strange box. Filled with energy she threw herself to her feet and with a gesture called her phone to her hand despite it being 3 meters away.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Thank you for participating in our trial of Ravager style cyberware. By utilizing this experimental cyberware you agree to the contract. Goodbye.”

“Hush, let me read that thing.”

R4 tried, she really did, but the contract was dry as a bone. She downed a mint and another peanut butter Kricket bar before speaking up. “Hey, whoever you are, what’s this about owing your firstborn to Mara. Who is Mara?” Immediately the metal box began to hum, several ridges on the box began to glow red, and an immense pressure fell upon R4. A strange white fluid seemed to cross the box, before hardening into dozens of long serrated fangs. Her vision blurred, her teeth rattled, the entirety of the contract dropped into her head, and it felt like every nerve was charged with bottled lightning. R4 felt a pain in her mouth, and with a pop something dropped into her mouth forcing her to spit it out. A moment later it was gone, the pressure, the fangs, all of it. The only evidence anything had changed was the filled tooth that now sat on the floor. A quick check by R4 indicated that she still had a tooth where the old one had been.

“Greetings test subject R4. My designation is Red Queen, and my purpose it to ensure you thrive under this new experimental cyberware/bioware which incorporates research based on the ravager isopod/parasite and is possibly a biologic parasite in of itself.” R4 looked skeptically at the text. She shrugged, didn’t matter, moving on. Her panic was most likely being manipulated, but she couldn’t control it so why bother? “As you are more than likely aware, you are using Tier 1 cyberware in a T0 human body. T1 regeneration cysts have been noted to delay the death of the host, but in time become horrible cancerous nodes. Current estimations give you one year.” R4 read the text aloud and made an unhappy trill, taking a sip from a canteen she had found beneath one of the protein bars. “This is an estimation as none of our test subjects have lived this long.” She reread that phrase before reading the next one. “The following things have lead to previous test participants dying. Doing nothing, attacking Dimdwell settlements (2 times), going to the surface and being struck by a car, talking to the Nu’Grav police (5 times), talking to a member of organized crime (3 times), attempting to eat a pedestrian, attempting to eat construction worker, attempting to eat a solo (4 times), attempting to eat a concrete mixer, attempting to eat 1000 hot dogs without paying, injecting T1 nanites and provoking rejection (2 times), Interaction with hostile entity (15 times), Interaction with a hostile test subject (3 times).”

“That’s not very helpful.” R4 replied. “What about the ones who lived?” She stared at the screen. “Come on Red, give me the stats of those who lived.”

“One current test subject is alive. For more information please consult a mirror.”

“What about Ratface? What about the creature I saw in the tunnels, the one with the huge rack of horns?”

“This will be your final question for the next 12 hours. Please confirm this is your question or upgrade to premium for 12,000 credits.” I opened R4’s bank statement on the phone to remind her she did not have 12,000 credits to spend.

User: Rachel Smith

My balance

Incoming/outgoing

notes

2,000

3,000

-1000

Deposit

4,000

-1000

Rent

“By the blood.” R4 trilled softly, “Yes, that is my final question.”

“The Subject Trilik Ra’kiul, which you know as Ratface, managed to lose connection. Monitoring nanites identified a surge of lactic acid followed by an elevated immune reaction which destroyed the majority of monitoring nanites and broke connection. He was believed lost for approximately 12 hours before data scraping algorithms identified him. Current evidence indicates Ratface is at least Tier 1 and may be Tier 2 or approaching it. Attempts to reconnect have failed, likely due to insufficient surviving nanites. A gig has been added to your job app and further details have been forwarded to your bestiary.

The other entity is unknown to Mara. Entity was initially believed to be a camera malfunction. Currently 5 ravager candidates have been slain by this creature. It has been observed hunting Dimdwell on at least three occations. Data scrapings indicated it is referred to as The Horned One, The Devil of the Pools, The Devil in the Reeds, and The Beast. This last name has been applied to at least 23 hostile nanite entities but is still relevant. It is not known if The Horned One actually has nanites. A gig has been added to your job app.

Ceasing communications.”

R4 checked the phone and sure enough, there was a job app marked “GigJig.” It only took a few moments for her to find that most of the jobs were delivery jobs. “Huh, I guess it’s true that everything is more expensive here.” She poked a job that was to deliver 12 boxes of pizza, and the pay was 50 credits. “That’s five times what it would be back home, I wonder why it’s so, why is this locked by a firearms permit?” She read a little deeper. “May be attacked by Dimdwell and rival gangs? For pizza? No thank you.”

A job appeared, and R4 was surprised to note the creator was simply Mara. All the other jobs were issued by a user with a string of numbers beside them. Some had a verified checkmark, others did not. Mara’s did not. R4 clicked on it and there was no pay listed, but rather a small line.

100 exp.

R4 examined the amount. “This isn’t a videogame Mara.” She clicked the job anyhow to see what it was.

[[Practice with telekinetic claws. Form claws 10 times. Use claws on a valid target 1 time. Attempt to climb a wall. 3 times. Optional: actually climb a wall.]] R4 eyed the request, and got to work. Forming the claws was as simple as flexing her fingers and thinking about it. She tried a few variations, cat claws, dog claws, eagle talons, she quickly went through each animal she could think of from the history books. She tried a squid’s tentacles, but found that she could only project them a half meter before they dissipated. Attempting to manifest claws on her feet or arms failed, though she got some manner of feedback from both. She eyed the wall, darkened and distant. Taking a look, R4 found it was made from concrete, and not even T1 molecular modified concrete. She extended her claws and started to climb, or tried to.

THUD. R4 fell to the ground after less than a meter. Examining the concrete she found her claws had torn right through. She tried again, focusing her telekinesis and winding the force tight. The result was a spiral pattern cut into the concrete. She tried jumping at the concrete to get as high as she could, and was thrown back by the force of her own telekinesis.

It took several tries, and more than a few protein bars, but finally R4 managed to climb up to the ceiling. A long sharp claw with a flat edge seemed to be the best for climbing, and a strong but gentle telekinetic grip applied to both the hands and feet helped to increase friction and keep her from falling. It reminded R4 of the one and only time her uncle tried to teach her to use magnets to climb a wall. She had fallen and needed a cast for a month even with the advanced medication her town doctor had provided. She still had a support in her leg, which her phone had identified as part of an artificial skeleton. She had another in her shoulder, but that was different.

A low stridulation sound caught her attention as red eyes began to glow. R4 saw the creature just before it lunged for her, stinger outstretched. R4 kicked off to the side, and fell. Some instinct kicked in and she twisted, projecting a telekinetic force through her hands and feet. She landed on her feet, the telekinetic forces extending the impact and spreading the force across her legs, before falling to her front, where more force was dispersed across her arms and chest. R4 quickly scrambled to get up, covered in bruises but surviving a 20 meter fall.

The creature above struggled to free itself from the concrete its stinger was now stuck in, before twisting around and breaking the stinger off in a spray of black fluid. With her right eye R4 saw the fluid seem to harden, and form a new stinger. The creature stared at her, before grasshopper like legs kicked of and sent it hurtling towards her.

Bruised as she was R4’s reaction was slower. She held out a hand as if she was trying to catch the creature. Just before it struck she pushed back, trying to slow the creature even as she slipped to the side.

It partially worked. The force slowed the creature and threw off its timing as it thrust forwards with its stinger. Normally that would have protected R4 from damage. Normally stepping to the side would have allowed R4 to avoid the damage regardless. However, a burning pain just under her right breast informed R4 that she had been hit. Immediately she stepped forwards, bringing envenomed claws down on the creature and cutting four shallow cuts into the creature. The creature hopped, or tried as one leg had received a cut in just the right place. Rather than hopping forwards to gain distance it hopped to the side, spinning as it did. R4 easily swatted it out of the air with a second blow that left it as an evaporating mess on the floor.

“Ding” Her phone went off to alert her to the job being complete. She took a look, and immediately a pop up jumped from her phone to her eye.

“Don’t suppose we could pick one or th’ other?” She asked. She gestured through the menu.

[[Quest complete. Reward: 500 exp (reward for successfully climbing the wall)]] R4 waited for explanation and was not disappointed. [[Exp is a measure of earned computing power to analyze recent events and iron out details. It is most efficient when used to improve things the host has been doing recently]]. R4 eyed the list, which was surprisingly simple.

[[FRAME: Force, Reflexes, Aptitude, Mental, Empathy.]] R4 examined them, finding each took 100 exp to increase, purchased one of each. Her phone buzzed. “Seriously, either put this on my eye or my phone.” A moment later a notice appeared on her eye.

[[Updating: Caution. FRAME error. Recalculating.]] Immediately R4’s arms and legs went numb. She quickly fell to one knee, holding her arms out to keep her balance. Her head spun and without any sense of feeling it was difficult to stay upright. [[Mundane limits are rated on a scale of 1-5 on the FRAME scale. Calculating host limits. Please hold.]] The next five minutes R4 closed her eyes and just tried to not throw up. Numbness, pins and needles, burning fatigue, dizziness, it felt as if clouds of each roved across her body like some manner of weather forecast. “Ok, how is my right leg confused while my left elbow filled with inspiration?” Finally, the sensation passed.

[[Host FRAME is as follows. Skills have been condensed heavily from traditional FRAME

Force

3=>4

Athletics:

Brute:

Endurance:

Resolve:

Swimming:

Reflexes

2=>3

Acrobatics:

Firearms:

Melee:

Parry:

Stealth:

Aptitude

3=>4

Driving

Medicine

Pickpocket

Security

Technology

Mind

3=>4

Bureaucracy

Computers

Research

Perception

Science

Survival

Empathy

1=>2

Animals

Comprehension

Intimidation

Persuasion

Subterfuge

Statistics cannot be raised above 5 before T1 is reached. No statistic can be below 3 to reach tier 1. Attempting to increase tier without sufficient statistics may lead to aberrant ascension. Upon reaching Tier 1 all costs on FRAME stats shall increase]]

R4 read the statistics. “Ok, so what does this actually mean?” No response. “Hello?” She checked her phone, and found a timer had been courteously left until she could ask for help again. “Dog Rabbit Red.” At her voice a job jumped to the top of the list.

Retrieve samples

Team size: 2-5

Hazard: 3 (hostile fauna, Dimdwell)

Company: Mars Corporation

Contact: Red Queen

Reward: 1000 credits per sample per person (max 5000). 1000 exp

Current scans indicate numerous plants have begun growing within the Undercity without the use of photosynthesis. Mars Corporation is interested in using these samples for negotiations with GenTek

Her finger hovered over the accept button. “It’s so many credits… no. That’s just asking to get murdered.” R4 swiped down.

Investigate strange symbols

Team size: 2-3 people (currently 1)

Hazard: 1 (darkness, water exposure). Combat experience not needed

Company: Nu’Grav municipal water

Contact: Hanna Freewheeler

Reward: 100 credits per image (estimated 10, max 20). 20,000 if culprit is captured on photo (do not attempt to apprehend)

Automated drones have detected unusual damage to several pipes that are causing water leaks. Preliminary data indicates this may be some manner of graffiti. More information is needed.

“Ok, no combat, just taking pictures of creepy symbols, maybe not.” R4 paused. “Wait, what am I doing, I want to get out of these tunnels.” She looked at the numbers. “But I could use some credits, especially since I’m probably fired for not showing up to work.” She selected the option, and immediately a golden line appeared before her eyes, leading to the water. “Guess I’m going for a swim, hope this thing is waterproof.”

On a whim she grabbed another few Kricket bars, and beneath them found a waterproof bag which she helped herself to. Taking a deep breath she dove into the water and was off.

[[Swimming has syncronized to 1X+1]] R4 noted the addition. As she kicked a thought occurred, forming claws was easy so what about fins? It took all of 6 seconds for her to figure out how, and suddenly she rocketed through the water. Every stop R4 surfaced to breathe for a few moments and look around. Universally she met with darkness, until finally she popped her head up and saw a yellow line leading down a walkway. Pulling herself up she crept forwards,

“BEEP!” She froze, noticing the laser just a moment too late. From around a corner she heard the whine of some manner of energy weapon powering up.

“FREEZE!”

“Woah, I don’t want trouble.” R4 stammered, holding her hands up. Within moments she was surrounded by three men in heavy black armor. Two were armed with black firearms that glowed with an eerie red light, while the third had robotic arms that could qualify as weapons in of themselves, had he not also be carrying a spear that hummed with electricity.

“Go for a swim?” One of the men said, lowering his weapon. “Easy Tigl, just another runner.”

“Mars Corp, should be shot on principal.” Another of the men in armor, Tigl R4 guessed, spoke. R4 noticed he wore a Lok-1 marked armor, with a large green sensor over one eye. This trait was shared among all three of them.

“Illogical, shooting someone willing to swim in radioactive water is a waste of ammunition.” The man with the robotic arms replied. “She is also tier 0, and we only have tier 1 bullets.”

“Ease up Togri, I’m joking.” The second man replied. “Seriously, what’s your empathy score, 0.4?”

“Affirmative.”

R4 held her tongue and quickly tried to avoid the situation. “Hey, Mars Corp girl, you have a name?”

R4 turned, eyeing the man, Tigl. “R4, Rach… just R4.”

“Watch yourself. There’s a bit of a rivalry between Lok-1 and Mars Corp right now. Some folks went missing and everyone’s on edge, as if they need to be down here. Watch out for the pipes, things like to crawl out of them.” With that all three vanished.

R4 paused, staring, before her right eye picked up some movement. Active camo, definitely not something found outside of Nu’Grav. She quickly followed the golden path, moving quickly and quietly.

[[Subterfuge has syncronized 1D+1]] R4 eyed the notice and dismissed it. Her destination was a large hub equipped with an elevator. Immediately she stepped towards it to escape, before a pop up appeared stopping her.

[[Abandon job? (A fee may be deducted)]] R4 stepped back. A few moment later the elevator opened and six people stepped out. Five dressed in uniform red and light gray armor, each bearing the symbol of the Mars Corporation. The sixth wore a simple black coat and black cargo shorts with no visible logo on it.

“Good luck out there.” One of the armored figures, a man by his voice, said. His team hefted their weapons, each a uniform red and silver rifle save for the far heavier looking machine gun one of them carried.

“Sure, you too.” The woman said, before adding under her breath, “Arrogant corporate scum.” Immediately she lit up in R4’s right eye. “What are you looking at?”

R4 checked her phone. “Are you Chen?”

“Who wants to know?” She asked.

“My name is R4, I believe we’re partnered for this job.” She saw the woman’s eyes light up, going from green to red as several scanners burst to life. Seeing the woman was doing so to her, R4 returned the favor, after a moment of figuring out how. She wore her hair short, dyed pink on the sides with a broad stripe of blue dividing. In terms of equipment she wore a black leather jacket which R4 now noticed was marked with the Gentek logo.

“First job?” R4 nodded. “Typical, getting paired up with a noob. You don’t even have a cool haircut. Come on, let’s see if we can get paid without you getting dead.”

“Preem.” R4 followed her, keeping her head on a swivel. She managed to be the one to notice the first symbol and take a picture of it. Rather than being etched into the pipe this symbol was etched into a section of concrete next to the pipe. The symbol reminded R4 a bit of a capital A, but with an X across the center section.

“So you’re not completely useless.” Yin spoke. “So, where’s your iron?”

“Lost it to a group of Dimdwell.” R4 replied. “Haven’t been able to get it replaced.”

“You gonk, what are you doing wearing a fancy coat like that if you don’t have a gun? Should have sold it and gotten some kind of iron. What kind of an idiot takes a job in the under city without a firearm?” She glared at R4. “You’re some CEO’s rich brat aren’t you? You get some fancy gear, a cool code name, and next thing you think you’re tough.”

“I’m not actually from Nu’Grav.” R4 replied. “And don’t insult my father, he actually works for a living.”

“You’re a Remote? Oy vey, we’re both dead.”

Continuing the path R4 found that the pipes seemed to be well patched, and in some places they were more patch than pipe. The next symbol had been etched into a patch, which seeing as someone had taken a blade to it was currently leaking.

“Should we leave it like this?” R4 asked, taking a picture. She eyed the patch, something was off about it.

“The job was to document it, and it’s not like we have welding tools.”

R4 unfolded her tool arm, looking through her options. Drill, screw driver, hammer, Osteoblast/clast welding assembly… “One of these things is not like the other,” R4 mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Give me just a moment.” R4 flexed her arm and an odd tube like assembly seemed to rise out. Small strands of white material spit forth, immediately hardening. R4’s eye zoomed in on the material and watched as it grew to fill in the cut, then hardened. She blinked once, then twice as her vision returned to normal. “Is that bone?” She whispered, a trill ushering from her throat.

[[Tier 1 coral bone. A creation of The Red Queen, this bone is mostly composite materials with just enough alive that it can repair itself so long as it has sufficient resources. ATP supply: 1 year. Items created with this material use both medicine and either technology or security Medicine syncronized to +1, security synchronized to 1X+1]]

“Ok, that should hold for a bit,” R4 replied, “At least until they can get someone to fix it. Let’s keep going.”

“ ‘Bout time.” Chen replied, replacing her magazine. R4 hadn’t noticed Chen was examining her gun while R4 was working.

The next few symbols were likewise carved not into the pipes, but into the patches directly. R4 found several variations of the same symbol. She didn’t recognize it though.

“Funny, almost looks like someone’s writing the same letter but in different fonts, that or they’re trying to replicate a symbol they’ve seen but can’t quite remember.” R4 explained, taking another picture.

“So some kid is carving his mark in a bunch of pipes with a pocket knife? Guess there are worse things to do on a Friday night.”

“Oh, this was not some kid with a pocket knife. The pipe is tier 1 steel, but these patches were all tier 0 stuff. Given how smooth the cut was the perpetrator was using at least a tier 1 blade, maybe even tier 2.” R4 noted a low beating sound and looked around to see it was coming from Chen. “Your heart rate is up, is something wrong?”

“Kid, you’re saying this now? We’re chasing someone down who has tier 2 weapons, if they’re using a tier 2 knife they’ve probably got tier 2 guns too.”

“I don’t know for sure it’s tier 2, it could just be tier 1 and they’re using a lot of strength behind it. They’re carving into tier 0 material after all, y’all know how that goes.”

“Kid, WE’RE made of Tier 0 material.”

“Then I should probably mention that from the lack of corrosion on the floors, I’d say these were made in the last week.” At that moment the dim illumination which had been allowing them to see began to flicker. “That’s not a good sign.”

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

“I agree, we’ve got some good pictures, time to leave before something shows up.” R4 slipped her phone into her pocket, yet as she did an instinct guided her hand out and took one more picture.

Perhaps the flash surprised it, or perhaps it was simply that far gone. The creature did not roar, nor did it scream. No, instead it let loose with a chattering shriek that made the pipes, the concrete, and even the tier 2 supports vibrate.

“Hate. Rage. Hunger. Hot. Hunger. Cold, hunger. Blood hunger, Air hunger, Thirst, muscle hunger, hunger, hunger hunger hungerhungerhungerHUNGER!” R4’s ears began to ring.

[[Auto-translate failure: rebooting]]

“What the F***! Chen pointed and pulled the trigger, her firearm spitting steel coated flachettes as fast as she could pull the trigger.

To R4 time seemed to slow. She could move at barely a crawl, yet her eyes could pick up the silver disks shooting from Chen’s gun. She knew they weren’t as fast as regular bullets, but made up for it by being razor sharp. R4 had never seen such a weapon, her father had always stuck with the traditional shotgun, but she could see the appeal. The weapon made very little sound, which was useful in the narrow tunnels.

All of which meant NOTHING to the humanoid before her. Its right eye glowed red, three black lines cutting through the light. Two horns ruptured through its skull, spliting into seven points on one side and four on the other giving it a lopsided appearance. Worsening the irregularity its left arm was split where the radius and ulna had broken apart and became some manner of horrific two bladed claw. It made use of this claw, slashing through the disks as fast as Chen could fire them.

Click. R4’s vision returned to normal as the lopsided creature grinned, or seemed to. Its lips had been chewed bloody by long mismatched bladed teeth. As it opened its mouth the blades moved as the legs that held them in twitched, anticipating blood.

“How do I know those are legs?” R4 asked. The creature lunged for Chen, its radius aimed at her heart and the ulna her right kidney. A shimmer coated both, tier 1 telekinesis ensuring the blade would cut through anything shy of…

A tier 1 telekinetic blade.

“RELOAD!” R4 yelled, her own claws out. She acted on sheer instinct, her lack of experience showing as she dove directly into the swing, and was pushed back right into Chen. Yet it was enough, with the creature’s radius in one hand and ulna in the other she pushed back, stretching the creature’s bones to their limit. The Lopside screamed in rage, its neck swinging down to gore her with its horns. “SHOOT IT!”

R4 gripped the claws and dropped to her knees, dragging The Lopside down. Chen opened fire, and without its blades up her disk gun had much greater effect, sending several blades into its skull before her final blade severed one of its horns.

THAT got its attention. The Lopside screamed, and its echoing call shook the foundation of the world. The pipes rang, the concrete cracked, to R4 it felt as if the world was ending as she was thrown back and slammed into the pipe at an odd angle that sent her spinning as a ridge on the pipe caught her arm. Chen was thrown back, her gun knocked from her hands a moment before the wave of force caught her straight in the face and chest. Yet that was not the end of it. The oppressive force weighed down on them both. R4 tried to rise up, yet it felt like she was buried under wet cement.

[[Hostile telekinesis has exceeded dangerous threshold. Deploying countermeasures. Cost doubled, duration halved. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Recharge: 2 ATP]]. R4 felt her body begin to hum. [[Speak these words: Initiate flare protocol]]

“Initiate Flare protocol.” R4’s voice spoke with more confidence than she felt, her heart beating 200 times a minute. She felt strength returning to her limbs. The creature’s oppressive aura went from wet concrete to insubstantial mist. R4 rolled from her back to her knees and lunged. The creature eyed her for just a moment, and R4 almost saw it trying to parse what was happening with its prion riddled brain. With a sweep of her claws R4 relieved the Lopside of its blades.

For a moment nothing happened. The oppressive weight vanished as if it had been but a dream. For a moment R4 thought she might have done it, before an even worse force struck her in the chest and sent her flying 4 meters back. R4’s vision swam as she rose again, her chest a burning mass of ruin. Before her eyes she saw the lopside’s other hand. While its right arm had withered into two blades, its left had absorbed all those nutrients and become thick and swollen.

The creature let loose a horrific trilling sound, and R4 covered her head and prayed. Her entire body burned, her muscles had no strength left within them. She waited for the finishing blow, yet it never came. She looked up, and The Lopside was gone.

“What?” R4 took a moment, then managed to rise to her knees.

“What was that?” Chen asked.

“I, I have no idea.” R4 sputtered, yet even as she did a popup appeared.

[[Hidden job completed: Collect data on a ravager. Follow up job: research ravager data.]]

“Tell me you at least got a picture of that thing.” R4 nodded. “Ok, let’s wrap this up and get back before we get dead.”

The way back to the elevator was slow going, but it was quiet, broken only by R4’s growling stomach. Chen gave her a dirty look, to which R4 just shrugged and took out a Kricket bar. It held her over for about 10 minutes, after which she ate another.

“You carry a lot of those?”

“I found a crate full of them down here, same place I got the jacket and everything else I’m wearing.” R4 replied. “I wasn’t goin’ ta wear the rags th’ Dimdwell had me in for their twisted TV show.” She paused. “And no, there wasn’t a gun in there.”

“That explains a lot. When we get back, get a gun. Get lots of ammo.” She eyed the yellow road before them as they came to the elevator. For a moment neither of them spoke. “Oh F***”

The floor of the elevator room was soaked in blood. Six bodies lay on the ground, blood spilling from deep gashes cut into them. One man had been thrown into the wall so hard the T1 concrete had cracked, and from the blood splatter it was clear that had been how he died.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”