Digital Dungeons - Chapter 2 - Office Work

As we entered the elevator I watched Kass change her tail into a set of shapely humanoid legs. They were still covered in her delicate pink and aquamarine scales, so it looked like she had leggings on. “I’m driving!” She declared.

“You always drive,” I mumbled. “You spent a fortune on that car of yours, so it’s your right. I just wish it wasn’t so…”

“Exhilarating? Breathtaking? Masterful?”

“Terrifying,” I said with a little smirk.

“Smartass.” Kass replied, as the elevator doors sprung open, letting us off on the lowest level of the garage.

As we stepped out, Kass took out her keyfob and summoned her car, an Arbalist 771-Turbo. The car started itself, slowly rolled out of its parking space and made its way across the garage to pick us up.

It was a modern muscle car, which she had paid to be heavily modified, and painted pearlescent aqua-pink that matched her scales. Before the car came to a complete stop, Kass yanked open the driver side door, slipped inside, and put on her knock-off designer sunglasses. I laughed as she stared at me through the windshield, a huge smile on her face, and an eager look in her eyes. I took my time getting in, waiting for the car to come to a complete stop before climbing into the passenger’s seat, and fastening my belt.

Once she was satisfied that I was ready, Kass stomped on the accelerator, accelerating so hard that she had to drift around the corners to get back into the street. Thankfully we lived, and worked in a pretty good neighbourhood, so traffic was light enough that Kass didn’t hit anyone when she skidded into the street, and I only bothered a couple people with my screaming.

The two of us had worked out a deal with the building’s owners to manage the local server, and prevent incursions, in exchange for a basement flat at a low rate. It was a small price to pay for a place that had on-site security, sound insulation, and all the advertising holograms on the outside.

As Kass dodged through traffic, I looked out the window, and concentrated on lowering my heart rate. Everywhere I looked were holographic billboards, and rundown buildings. The sidewalks were full of people, the rich covered in augments, making their original race barely recognizable, and the poor wearing clothes that barely fit. A great capitalist utopia.

After skidding around another corner, we headed down to the business district, where the scenery changed. Everything looked shiny and new, both the buildings and people. Apparently the big corps didn’t like people advertising with holographic messages, because those were all gone. Instead, most people wore their allegiance on their sleeve, quite literally, with expensive suits, embroidered with company names, and everyone equipped with proprietary augments. While we waited at one of the rare red lights that Kass decided to actually stop at, I watched an ogre, more metal than flesh, throw a dwarf from the entrance of a corporate office thirty feet. The man rolled across the sidewalk for a couple more feet, before laying still. No one helped the man, or even reacted. This sort of thing happened fairly often when someone tried to mess with the corps.

Once the light turned green, Kass turned into the more industrial section of the core. There were still businesses here, but none of the mega corps. The corporate shills made way for more mundane business people. Or at least, those that didn’t want to attract as much attention. It was here, in the backstreets, that we reached our final destination. A fairly unremarkable low-rise office building.

The first hint that the place wasn’t normal was the heavy security shutters preventing unauthorized access to the parking garage. The heavy, steel door winched open as Kass drove up, then slammed closed after we passed. Inside was fairly empty, with only three or four other vehicles, so Kass pulled into a spot right next to the elevator. Several security cameras locked onto our position from the moment we arrived, and didn’t stop following until we both submitted to the biometric scanner next to the elevator. After we identified ourselves, it only took a couple of seconds for the elevator to arrive. I rushed to get onboard.

“I can never get used to all the cameras in here, the whirring unnerves me,” I said with a shudder.

“You know that level of security is necessary,” Kass replied as she rubbed my back. “Like the boss likes to say, ‘It’s not paranoia if it keeps you alive.’”

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“I know, it doesn’t keep the spectral cams from freaking me out,” I sighed. “I don’t like the idea of people looking at my bone structure.” Kass just snorted in response.

Even though the journey up the elevator was swift, it ended up being eventful. As the doors opened up on the third floor, a massive claw pushed its way between the doors.

“Halt, Author-sized people only!” came a girlish voice from the landing. As the elevator doors finished opening they revealed a tiny girl wearing a frog hoodie and carrying a security baton much too large for her, riding a massive four foot tall crab.

“We are authorized, squirt,” Kass said with a smile.

The little girl squealed, and did a flying leap into my arms. “Aunt-rachne, Kassie, you’re here!”

“Hey Issi, what are you doing here?” I asked, holding the tiny six year old.

“Jane is doing paperwork for Lich-Nivia, and Evie is working on an emergency project, so I had to play with Toto,” the little girl said with a pout.

“You know you shouldn’t call the boss that, she deserves our respect for keeping everyone in work,” Kass said, ruffling Issi’s hair. “Where’s Calliope? She normally doesn’t leave Toto by himself, unless she really has to.”

“Out on a job with Squiddy and Sulivan,” Issi replied before leaning forward, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret.”

“We won’t,” I replied, nodding seriously. “Where is Lanivia anyways?”

“In her office, like usual,” The girl replied. She wiggled in my grasp, a signal that she wanted down, then grabbed both Kass and I by the hands and dragged us back into the office area.

Most of the floor was left open, with only a few personal offices around the perimeter of the area. This was partially to give employees privacy, and partially to give the half dozen automated turrets dotted around the room clear firing arcs. Issi dragged us through the area, completely unphased by the firepower. The girl marched right up to one of the largest office spaces, and without a single pause, knocked on the door. “Come in,” someone called from inside.

As soon as she had permission, Issi pushed inside.

“Issabelle Claire, what did I tell you about bothering Lanivia and I when we’re working?” Jane asked. The tall, buxom, brunette young woman looked frazzled, going through half a dozen tablets on a side table. Only glancing up when Issi stepped inside.

“Actually, she’s guiding us around,” Kass replied, as she stepped inside.

Jane’s head shot up, “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were here,” she said, as she gathered up the tablets.

“Just relax Jane, breathe. You can continue your work while Talia, Kassandra and I take care of business. We’re not going to discuss any company secrets,” the other woman in the office declared. Lanivia stood up from behind her massive, real wood desk, took off her glasses, and smiled in our direction. If I didn’t know her, I would have believed I was just meeting a young dark elf, but that wasn’t the case. She was a lich, an ancient one at that, and she pretty much ran every black book operation in the city. “Did you get it?” she asked.

“And I cracked the encryption,” I replied as I casually tossed her a datachip. “That contains the blueprints for Lethis' next surveillance drone design. Still in the testing stage, but it looks like they’re planning on heading to production soon.”

“Excellent!” Lanivia replied. She didn’t move to grab the chip out of the air, it just magically changed direction, and plugged itself directly into one of Jane’s tablets. “Assuming the chip has everything I need, the credits will be in your account within the hour.”

“Nice! Thanks boss,” Kass said with a giant smile. She threw her arm around my shoulder and started dragging me out of the office. “Since there’s nothing else, we’ll just get out of your hair…”

“Just a moment,” Laniva called, before Kass could pull me outside. “I do have another project for you. Low priority, but profitable.” She flicked her wrist, and a different data chip flew across the room. Kass snatched it out of the air. “It’s an open contract, to break into a labyrinth server. I don’t expect anyone to actually succeed, but if you can… it’ll be world changing!”

I looked at Lanivia, the woman was more excited, and animated than I’d ever seen her. Usually she didn’t care much about the jobs she gave out. This must have been something special.

“Look through the details, and see what you can do,” Laniva said, before walking back to her desk. After a moment of silence she looked up at Kass and I, “Now you may go.”

I nodded, taking the chip from Kass’s hand as we left the office. It’s not that I didn’t trust her to not lose it, but history taught me to be careful. We stood outside the office for just a moment, as I secured the chip, when my stomach rumbled. I quickly put my hand over it, and blushed in embarrassment. Kass just smiled in my direction.

“So, time to eat?” she asked.