Chapter Ninety-Six - Out of Podunky into the Fire

I rode out of podunky, hoping that I'd never have to see that town again.

Not that it had been all that bad, but... yeah, actually, now that the whole thing was done it wasn't so bad. I was still feeling a strong buzz through my whole body and core, magic settling in after a powerful surge. That portal had to be a hair from C-rank, and I think that was the single biggest moment of growth that I'd had so far.

A few dozen more like that, and maybe I'd be closer to C-rank? Maybe? I wasn't sure.

I had to remember to buy one of those potentiometres. Had I talked to Jane about that? If I had, it had been subjective months ago for me.

Anyway, I took the shortcut road back, driving like I had something to prove. Mostly I wanted to make space between myself and the Storm Chasers.

It had taken three loops to figure out how to get Mizu to not fry me on the spot. Bitch was too quick to launch fireballs at people. Mostly at me.

It took five more loops to figure out how to get her on my side. Not that it was that complicated. Mizu had anger issues, but mostly, I think she had justice issues? Life wasn't fair, and she hated that.

Once I figured that out, she really wasn't too bad.

Plus, I'd always found it very easy to forgive a cute girl, and Mizu was cute. She was so small and tiny and angry! Like a pissed off kitten. It'd be a lot cuter if she didn't have the ability to immolate people with her mind... actually, no, that helped make it cuter. Weird, but I wasn't the one who decided such things.

About halfway back to Fortress ENE, I pulled up alongside the road. I had an idea.

I connected the body-cam to a burner phone, then spent an entire minute trying to recall Fran's number. Dammit, it wasn't easy. I did recall her email though, and then used that and an internet search to find her number. Good enough.

UNREGISTERED: Hello Fran.

UNREGISTERED:

I have something for you. A video. Sent to your email. It's what I was up to today.

UNREGISTERED: After leaving your place, of course.

UNREGISTERED: I hope you slept well. Try doing some light stretches. It'll help with some of the soreness.

Hehe... 'last night' with Ojou had really been nice. I'd outdone myself. That was a feather in my cap that I could be pretty proud of.

Hell, if I wasn't so damned tired I might consider popping over and seeing if we couldn't reach a new high score. Only... no, once was a fling. Something casual and easy. Twice was... building up to something else. Best not. Fran was... frankly out of my league.

Right, my mind turned to the things I had to do today. Sleep was high on that list, but I also had to pop over and pick up that cochlear implant. Then I'd go home, set a new Save, and sleep.

Sighing, I revved my bike, then rode it onwards. Still a half hour to go before I was anywhere near Fortress ENE.

***

Francisca woke up slowly, languidly, then with a start.

She gasped, hands reaching out to clutch at her blankets and pull them close, to cover herself. She was...

She was alone.

She swallowed, raising her head up and scanning the room. No Deadline. Though the side of the bed opposite hers was messed up. Actually, her entire bed was a mess. She sniffed at the air, then blushed.

Falling back, she slumped into her pillows, then reached up and covered her face. Moving her legs... hurt. Not in a terrible way, but wow... There was chafing, and soreness, and some amount of pain.

She suspected that it was the kind of annoyance that most young women would say that it was worth it.

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Deadline had done things to her that she didn't know were even possible. Fransicca was afraid that anything from here on out wouldn't match up. Not unless Deadline was involved again.

She groaned, grabbed a pillow, and muffled her face with it.

What was wrong with her?

She checked her house security system, and it confirmed that there was no one else in the house. Which was good, because she wanted to scream.

How unusual. Under normal circumstances she hated being alone. But right now, the thought of someone being in her apartment right now... she'd really rather not.

Deadline...

Francisca covered her face with the pillow again and pressed it in. She... needed to talk to her therapist. A long session.

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She opened her augmented vision systems and started as she noticed a series of texts from an unknown number. It only took her a moment to notice that the messages came from the very woman that was causing her all of this consternation.

The thought that Deadline had recorded anything that had happened last night....

She'd be ruined if that leaked. Some of the things that Deadline had done to her had been a lot.

But no. The file wasn't that. It was a body cam recording. There was a timestamp for ten in the morning. This morning. Just a few hours ago, in fact.

She watched, still in bed, as Deadline crossed her arms and waited. Then... orcs, in some sort of compound.

It was confusing, initially. The fact that Deadline spoke so little and explained nothing certainly didn't help, but Francisca wasn't foolish, she could put two and two together and figure things out.

The Synthcorp logos were obvious, and after pausing and searching, she had the location. Podunky.

How in the world had she made it there after... after that night?

She would have had to leave here and drive straight to the town. And as she continued to watch and piece things together, it became clear that Deadline was in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. Again.

Francisca had a deep suspicion that Deadline had some sort of foresight ability. That, or a strange unique expression of magic that allowed her to be lucky.

It didn't make her unadmirable. The woman was still incredible, but perhaps she'd placed her on too great of a pedestal.

She continued to watch, pausing a few times as Deadline fought. It was interesting to see it from the woman's own point of view, more or less.

Deadline's sword fighting was poor. No, not poor. Untrained? Francisca picked out some movements that were the basics of fencing, some motions that were foundational to modern interpretations of HEMA, and other simple motions that seemed only half-way practiced. And yet for all that her technique was obviously unrefined, it was working. Orcs died, and then Deadline continued into the compound.

A portal was hidden within.

That was... going to cause some issues for Synthcorp.

She looked it up. There was some grumblings about a portal breach near Podunky, and some had placed it near or within the Synthcorp compound, but the story hadn't broken yet.

Francisca hesitated for a moment more, then placed a call to the firm in charge of her investment portfolio. It was a short call about shorting. She dumped all of her Synthcorp stock, which wasn't very much, then used a considerable amount of her wealth to short the company.

When the news broke, she imagined that the stock value would drop precariously as well.

Best to be on top of that.

She returned to listening and watching as Deadline expertly snuck through the portal, ambushing clueless orcs and laying out a scene for those who'd follow.

She was damned good at sneaking. Good to know.

Then some D-rankers from the Storm Chasers appeared, and Francisca found herself paying attention to one in particular. Mizu, was it?

She'd be looking that one up in more detail once this was all done.

The video ended with a legal threat that she was quite certain was entirely fabricated, and yet it was also somewhat satisfying, in a juvenile way, to see an expensive lawyer on the back foot.

Francisca ended the video, then hesitated a moment before sending Deadline a reply text. She wanted to know what to do with this. Had Deadline sent it to impress her?

And as it turned out, Deadline didn't seem to know what to do with it either.

F.Ojou: I see. In that case, leave it to me. I'll handle this.

That wasn't quite true, but Redline had a... dirty tricks division of sorts, and this kind of evidence was the sort of thing that would have them salivating.

Francisca sighed, then carefully slid out of bed. Somehow, standing there in nothing but her rumpled pajama top and nothing else made her feel a strange wave of elation and shame and... post-coital horniness.

She had to pick up before the cleaning ladies arrived. Which is how she discovered the lacy red panties that definitely didn't belong to her.

It was with a boiling face that she placed it in her safe.

Deadline... what was she even going to do about that woman?

***