The New Math, Thread The Third

[robkelk]

...I think I just accidentally my way up to L7, and I'm fairly sure that's another AMF up there.  Cool.

You're missing a word there...

And Imma really should know by now that "the gun beam is my skill list" only leads to problems later on. Not that this isn't entertaining, mind you, but he should be at least thinking of diversifying his abilities.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

I think that was intentional, since you typically don't accidentally a sentence.

[robkelk]

Ah. Yet another thing from 4chan.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bluemage]

BA got it.  I'm not a 4channer, but I've known some of them... and the 'accidentally' thing isn't entirely unknown outside of there.
As for the skills, the SI is reasonably capable at close-range combat, using Mal as a weapon, and not entirely unskilled at unarmed combat.  He also has one point-blank attack spell, a number of shield techniques, gravity manipulation, and several different forms of transportation.  He can do things other than just shooting... it's just that his abilities are best suited to shooting things, so most of those other spells and skills aren't usually worth using in comparison.
Also, the timeline is a bit different.  At the point in time when this bit is set, the SI doesn't have Zero Shift.  You wouldn't believe how many times I had to stop myself from writing it in; combat teleportation (or a remarkable simulation thereof) is just so ludicrously useful, it's almost not even funny.  It's also the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to the BS space-time manipulation I have in mind for the endgame.
Anybody want me to spoil what I have in mind for the SI's combat suite as of StrikerS?
**********
From what little I saw of L5, L6, and L7 as I floated up through them, the three levels I'd inadvertently bypassed were living spaces.  I saw a barracks and two living rooms on my ascent- relatively comfortable-looking living rooms, at that!
Wonder if I can nick a couch or two on the way back out.  Eh, probably not.The ceiling of L7 was a lot like that of L4 on first glance, right down to the AMF field size and strength protecting it.  So they have two security levels and THREE FLOORS OF BARRACKS between them and the ground floor?!  Just how paranoid are these people?
For that matter, what are they protecting up there?
I landed on the floor of L7, right next to the hole, and shrugged to myself.  Guess I'll find out soon.  [Arcane Buster, non-lethal.  Quarter power, this time.]
[QUARTER POWER.  NON-LETHAL.  CHARGING.]
A sudden bang rang out over the whine of my charging spell.  Sounds like a door.  To my right... and down?  I looked down, and saw a soldier looking down the hole from L6, apparently shocked.  [Mal!  Status!]
[BUSTER CHARGING.  AMF PENETRATION SUBOPTIMAL.  EARLY FIRING NOT ADVISED.]Crap.  Why did I have to use my right hand to charge this thing?
Not much time.  He'll look up here soon- or now.  CRAAAAAP!
The soldier, seeing a mysterious figure charging a spell of mass destruction right in front of him, did the logical thing.  He lifted his spear, aimed it at me, and began to cast.
...huh.  That's a pretty shade of green.  Very emerald.
The ball of green light began to grow in front of his Device, splitting into four.
[HOSTILE SPELL SUFFICIENT TO DESTABILIZE BUSTER CONTAINMENT.  RECOMMEND DEFENSE.]
[I'd like to, but you're kinda busy at the moment!  Can I even move a Buster while it's charging?]
[LONG-RANGE PROTOCOLS CURRENTLY INACTIVE.  MOVEMENT IS POSSIBLE.]
Well, if that's the case...  I turned, blocked all four of his shots with a hastily-raised shield, and then started charging up a swarm of Magic Missiles.
[BUSTER CHARGED.]
The soldier backed up a few steps, shaking slightly... and then turned and ran back out the door.  That's a relief.  Good move, mate.Now let's clean up that hole a bit.  Put some missiles there, there... around that bit of floor... and there, and those rooms should be cut off at the door.[FLIGHT PLANS LOCKED.  FIRING MISSILES.]
The instant the last missile hit, I turned back around, pointed Mal at the ceiling, and braced that wrist with my other hand.  [Fire!]
[FIRING.]
The beam tore through the air... and then seemingly ground to a halt, bare inches from the ceiling.
[AMF FULLY EFFECTIVE.  RECOMMEND INCREASING POWER.]
[Sensible.  Increasing power... oh, three percent.]
The beam of my Buster brightened slightly.  The front end of it slowly began to move towards the ceiling once more.
[AMF EFFECTIVENESS DROPPING.  PROGRESS POSITIVE.]
The beam pulses made contact with the ceiling, and oh-so-slowly began to burn through it.  The thick layer of armor began to give way... and then half my beam jumped forward, disintegrating
its way entirely through the roof before I cut power to the Buster.
[Okay, what happened?  Is that some sort of partial AMF failure?]
[AMF INTENSITY DECREASED OVER A TWO-METER AREA.  CONJECTURE; FIELD IS GENERATED BY MULTIPLE, OVERLAPPING SYSTEMS.  ONE SYSTEM FAILED.RECOMMEND INCREASE IN SPELL POWER LEVEL, AND RELOCATION HALF A METER TO THE LEFT.]
Why not?  [You know the drill.  Another Buster.  This time, expect forty percent power.]
[ACKNOWLEDGED.  CHARGING.]
I took a short jump to the left, charged up the Buster (without incident, this time), and paused for a second before firing.  [Mal, give me an AMF intensity gauge for my beam's projected impact zone.]
A meter, currently about 5/6 of the way full, appeared in the corner of my vision.  [DONE.]
This time, my spell advanced significantly quicker than before, burning into the ceiling within a few seconds.  An instant later, the AMF gauge took a plunge, dropping to about 1/4 strength- too little to prevent me from doing much of anything.
[GENERATOR DISABLED.  FIRING MAY BE CEASED.]
By the time Malleus said that, I'd already cut power to the Buster, and sent an Area Search sphere up into the hole.Huh.  No contacts in visual range.  Time to go up!

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Bluemage]

Wow.  Tough room.
(Life been busy for you guys, too?)
**********
Before I went anywhere, I took the time to examine what my Area Search sphere was telling me.  Hole's in the corner of a room- a breakroom, looks like.  One door on the wall to the left, near me.  Closed.  Two doors on the far side of the room, both open.  Bunks visible through doors, two high- looks like barracks space.  Benches filling room; large shields on wall.
Okay, I've got this.  Don't need this search spell up any longer.I levitated myself off of the floor of L7, spinning in midair to point towards the far wall, and floated over to the hole... and then up through it.
Good.  Room's still clear.  Time to check the barracks rooms.Thankfully, the benches were laid out the long way across the room, so I didn't have to work my way around them.  I just floated over to the nearest patch of floor, cut my Air Comet, and began stalking down the aisle towards the far wall.
WHOOSH-
I got about six feet from the hole when I heard a door open behind me.  Third door- must be soldier- turn/shoot/DODG-
BLAM!THUMP.
So this is what tile tastes like.  I'm not a fan.  The soldier's attack hadn't done any real damage- it barely even scratched my barrier, actually- but what it did do was knock me flat on my face.  I reached down, and began to lever myself back off the ground again-
BLAM!
-only to get shoved back down again.  Some sort of concussive blast?  Whatever it is, I can hear another one charged.  Not going to just stand up again- probably the goal."Intruder located- repeat, intruder located!  Level 8, room B3!  All units, prepare for heavy shielding!"
Great, he's called in reinforcements.  Better do this fast!  I rolled over, firing a burst of blue light at the ceiling- and began to rise, as the inverted grav-field I'd placed made me fall upwards.
"Intruder is now UP!  Used some sort of pull effect on the ceiling!"
The expected concussive blast came, this time catching me in mid-air; unfortunately, it failed to send me flying, instead putting me into a spin as I continued to rise.  I ended up landing on the ceiling arms-first, rolling to the side reflexively, and kicking myself back up onto my feet... just in time to raise a shield, and block another blast.Why am I sliding?  Oh, right- kinetic force transfer.  I- whoa!The blast pushed me back, just over the edge of my grav-field, and I felt the disconcerting sensation of up becoming down again.  Don'twannabeonflooragainDOSOMETHINGFAST-GOT IT!As I fell, I quickly charged up one last spell.  The moment it finished, I shot two bursts of mana- one at my boots, and the other at the far wall, behind the soldier that'd been giving me so much trouble.
The ground rushed up at me, and I braced myself to hit- only to start abruptly falling sideways, mere instants before hitting the ground.
The fact that my opponent was directly between me and what currently counted as 'ground', as far as I was concerned, was not a coincidence.  The fact that I landed directly on his crotch, instead of his chest like I'd planned?  That one was.
The two of us fell, me standing right on 'top' of him, right into the wall.  He impacted with a painful-sounding crunch, and I jauntily walked off of him, canceling the gravity effect and flipping onto the real floor.  The soldier- one of the PMC's special forces, if his skill and heavy armor was any indication- fell to the ground right in front of me, and I pumped eight Magic Missiles into him, just in case, before checking his vitals.A few broken bones, and a good bit of bruising.  He'll live... but he won't enjoy it.  Good."FREEZE!"
I froze.  The reinforcements?  When did they get here?!"TURN AROUND!"
I did... only to find myself looking at about a dozen men and women, all of them wearing that same type of heavy armor.
All of them had spells readied, and pointed at me.Welp.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Black Aeronaut]

Bluemage wrote:

---

Wow.  Tough room.
(Life been busy for you guys, too?)

Like you wouldn't believe.  In fact, my truck just sprung a leak in the brake lines - I was lucky to be able to nurse it home tonight.  Now I gotta see about replacing all of them, because once one of them goes, the whole works is suspect.  And all this on top of getting settled into my new place.  orz

[Seraviel]

Bluemage wrote:

---

Wow.  Tough room.
(Life been busy for you guys, too?)

Nanowrimo.  
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie.

[robkelk]

Wow. Tough room.

(Life been busy for you guys, too?)

My immediate boss took a developmental position starting this week, so I've been busy learning part of his job as well as doing mine.

The fact that my opponent was directly between me and what currently counted as 'ground', as far as I was concerned, was not a coincidence. The fact that I landed directly on his crotch, instead of his chest like I'd planned? That one was.

Owwwwwwwwww...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bluemage]

Allow me to respond to each of you in order.
Massive ouch.  I feel for you, there.
...fair enough. 
I just took a quick look at TNM, and I'm pushing into the 120,000 word range.  That's over a year and a quarter of work.  50,000 words in a month?  I'd have to- shudder- actually sit down and *try* to do that!  Like, not just slam out a page or two a day at work, but dedicate actual free time to writing.I applaud your dedication, sir, and the quality of your work!
Yeah, that'd do it.  Adjusting to a bigger workload is ALWAYS a pain.Oddly enough, so is a horizontal groin stomp.  Funny how that works.
**********
MOVE!
My first thought was to jump- to fling myself into the air, so that the soldiers would shoot under me.  My second thought was to fling myself to the side, instead, simply to dodge.
I didn't do either of those, of course.  Dodging would've just bought me a few seconds.  Jumping would've made me a bigger target.
I didn't fling myself straight at them, either.  Too easy to hit... and their armor was too thick for my Fencer's Blade to penetrate.  I'd have gotten worn down that way.
Instead, I just flew backwards into the corner... and dropped into the hole.
Seconds later, three Devices poked around the edge, and immediately began charging up spells.  Huh.  Smart of them not to follow me in here.  Each of them (and a few chunks of the floor, my aim being what it is) slipped from their owners' hands and fell up to the ceiling soon after, followed by a couple of chairs and a refrigerator.
I still had a few missiles left after disarming the men, you see.
The next response came in the form of ten Devices, all of them already glowing with prepared magic, being stuck into the hole blindly like the last three.
All I did was smile, chuckle a bit, and think to myself Idiots.  You gave me time to prepare.
The Arcane Buster that followed took out their spells, shut down their Devices, and tore a hole through the ceiling of L8, all of L9 through L11, and... looks like I only sort of slagged the L12 floor.  Drat.  Was aiming to get through the last security floor with that one.
Time to clean up, anyway.
No further attacks were imminent, so I rose back up into the L8 breakroom under cover of shield... and was immediately slammed into one of the walls by concussive blasts, and then pelted with their own shooting spells.
Looks like six of them, I thought from behind my now-flickering shield.  The other thirteen I disarmed are back there, one of them passing out Devices from a weapon rack; if I don't hurry, they actually stand a chance of taking me down like this.
Good thing I planned ahead.
With a thought, the two hundred Magic Missiles I'd prepared in the tunnel began to rise.  They came in clouds of twenty, each cloud bearing down on a single target, starting with the- now ten- who were nearly done breaking down my shield.
Some of them dodged.  Others shielded... but the majority of them were caught by surprise.  All told, only two of those ten were still standing when the last Missile was done... and neither them nor the re-armed troops behind them had shot at me for a full two seconds.
One second was enough time for me to dismiss and start recasting my shield.  Two gave me enough time to set up a gravity trap where the soldiers were standing... and another half-second later, before they could shoot me again, all eleven remaining soldiers were under a full three gees.
They're still moving.  Must be some serious reinforcement magic going on there.  Still, it's slowing them down well enough- I think I can afford to land.  Deflecting a couple of shots with my shield, I proceeded to do just that, and begin charging up two more attacks.
The first one took ten seconds- ten long, tense seconds- to charge up.  In that time, four of the soldiers split off from the rest, moving to flank me from both sides; the rest rearmed themselves, and started plinking at my shield to keep me busy.  In another two seconds, they might've had me.
Instead, the seven soldiers in front of me got an Arcane Blast in the face.  It was the smallest one I could prepare, but it still cleared half the room, and knocked out the entire group.The last four soldiers hit me with concussive blasts from two sides at once.  Let me tell you, getting sent flying, and then getting knocked out of the air, and thrown in the exact opposite direction?  Hurts like you wouldn't believe, at least until the pain editors kick in.
Their attack left me on the floor, bleeding from a couple of scrapes on my face.  Heh. Let's see how they like it.  I reached for the gravity trap I'd laid in the room, and began upping the power.
At 6.21 times normal Mid gravity, the last of the elite PMC troops joined me on the floor, gasping for air.  Truth be told, I wasn't doing much better.  Even laying on the ground, my joints ached, and I could barely wrestle air into my lungs. 
The instant the last of them hit the ground, I backed the grav trap down to four gees, and just laid there for half a minute.  I wiped my brow, rested my stinging eyes for a bit, and caught at least some of my breath.
Time to get back to work.
Once I could breathe properly again, I hauled my still-achy self to my feet, dropped the grav trap, and went around stunning everybody, just to be safe.  That done, I sent an Area Search sphere up the next hole in the ceiling, brought my protections back up, and began to ascend once more.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Bluemage]

When I saw the feed from my Area Search sphere, I couldn't help but grin.  No, more than that- the kind of smile that makes your cheeks hurt from the sheer intensity of it.
Pay dirt.I'd broken through the floor of L12 on the way up, carefully blasting a hole in the partially-slagged bit of it with a Magic Missile.  The resulting hole was big enough to let the sphere through.
It turned out that this particular PMC either favored liquid assets, or didn't believe in banking, because the room I broke into on L12 was a wonderfully full vault.  Stacks of credit chits were locked in a cage, off on one side of the room... and stacks of bills filled another cage on the opposite side.
Needless to say, I quickly widened the hole enough to slip through, blasted the cages open, and began to loot the crap out of the room.  I knew there was a good reason I had these expandable bags on the utility belt.  The chits filled one bag almost to the brim; the remaining space, along with half the other bag, got stuffed full of higher-value credit bills.  Eh, why bother taking the rest?  It'll just slow me down... besides, there's more rooms on this floor to loot.
Now, which one should I go to next?The vault had two doors, one on each side of the room.  One of them was an immense slab of metal, so thick with AMF that it was evaporating my barriers at five paces.  ...I'm... not sure I *could* break that thing down.  Not from here, anyway, not easily, and not without blowing out half the floor.  The other was a significantly less impressive (and less violently anti-magical) slab of metal.  This, on the other hand, I can take out... and if I know my vault design, the outermost door is always the toughest.  Given that, this door probably leads to another chamber.
A few seconds later, I stepped through the hole that was once a door, carefully avoiding the still-glowing edges, and walked into the next room... wincing as I saw the damage.
Glad I don't have to pay for it.The room I'd just walked into- with the exception of the great hole I'd blown in the far wall- resembled nothing more than a rich man's version of the place I'd stashed my laptop.  The ceiling was paneled in glossy, ornately carved hardwood, as were parts of the walls, and a luxurious green carpet crinkled gently under my feet as I walked into the room.  Lighting was provided by a set of three chandeliers, each one a slowly spinning constellation of glowing crystalline shards.  A painting- a genuine, oil-on-canvas painting- hung on the wall to my right.  It looked horribly expensive... but too large to fit in my bag.
The walls themselves were dominated by a strip of storage boxes, a full three feet long, running down both sides of the room.  Judging by the boxes on the edge of the giant hole, they were full of jewelry, small-r relics, and other precious items.
Looks like stuff I could make off with... and I've got plenty of bag room for it.  Now, the only question is how to unlock the doors.  I could try to do this the sneaky way and hack the boxes, I suppose, but that would take FOREVER.
...of course, they could just be idiots, and use boxes whose doors stuck out from the actual wall.  That makes things easy.  Locks aren't a problem if they NO LONGER EXIST, after all.One spell later, I was very carefully positioning individual missiles near the door I came through, and the hole on the other side of the room.  And that should do it!  They're close enough to the wall to burn through the box doors, but not close enough to damage the contents... I hope.  Well, let's give it a shot!
It took rather a few more missiles than I'd hoped.  They kept exploding, instead of neatly demolishing the doors.  Still, I was barely breathing hard by the time the doors were all open.  Bag in hand, I took a run down each wall.  ...mine, mine, broken, empty, empty, mine, too big, mine, broken, broken... and leaking some sort of goo..., mine, empty, mine, mi- is that a Relic?  Yoink!- and mine!
...crap.  Won't all fit in the bag.  Let's see.  Eat my energy bars, and stuff this stuff in those pouches.  Still not quite enough.  Maybe drain some credit chits?...okay, that did it.  The bags close... barely.  Time to face the last two floors.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[robkelk]

Prediction: Imma has to decide what to dump when he finds what's on the next two floors.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

Black Aeronaut wrote:

---

Bluemage wrote:

---

Wow.  Tough room.
(Life been busy for you guys, too?)

Like you wouldn't believe.  In fact, my truck just sprung a leak in the brake lines - I was lucky to be able to nurse it home tonight.  Now I gotta see about replacing all of them, because once one of them goes, the whole works is suspect.  And all this on top of getting settled into my new place.  orz

Bluemage wrote:

---

Allow me to respond to each of you in order.
Massive ouch.  I feel for you, there.

Well, fixed the immediate problem with the brakes.  Got back to work.  Tonight, though, my passenger-side-rear-leaf spring decided to give out when I swerved to avoid a homeless man that stepped out into the street.  I'm just waiting for one of the steering wheels to drop off because the upper control arm bushings are shot and have needed replacement for a while, but I haven't been able to afford the parts yet.  I was going to get them soonish, but now...  Let's just say I am officially Murphy's Bitch.  -_-;
(This isn't even getting into the fact that I had to do a clutch job on said truck... first time ever, on my own, never even seen it done before, had to research on YouTube... you get the picture.  Before THAT it was the radiator that needed to be replaced because the plastic cracked and it was leaking, and before that one of the rear axle bearing-seals that was letting differential fluid into the driver's side brake drum, and before that it was the alternator going bad on me...)

[Bluemage]

Actually, no.  This is a business headquarters, essentially, so you should already be able to guess the contents of the next two floors.
Yeah, that'd do it.  Pity you can't just steal Garrick's truck, huh?
**********
Getting to L13 was easy.  There was a very nice set of stairs in the back of the storage room- beautiful polished hardwood, ornately carved- which led right up there... and it's not like the door at the top of the stairs could really stop me, even if it were locked.  Barely any AMF at all.  It's like they aren't expecting an attack from this direction.
Wait a second.  Where are all the people?  The important levels always have a bunch of soldiers on them... and this is nothing if not an important level.  I looked around a bit, noting the continued opulence in the hallways.  If anything, it's more important than the last one.  Same paneled walls, fancy carpets, and ridiculously ornate lights... but antiques in glass cases?  Wooden doors with gold nameplates?  This has to be an executive level.  I snuck forward, my back to one wall, and risked a look at the rest of the floor.
Okay, so the level's mostly open.  One elevator to the left, and one to the right.  Corners must be offices- there's four office doors on the left side of the room, and two on the right... which means the rightmost elevator is probably the way up.  Nobody in the lobby, either.  Looks like I'm clear, once I check the- what is that?
I crossed the room, covering both elevators as best I could, and made my way to the right side of the room.  There was a dark spot there, a blotch on the otherwise-flawless green carpet- no, more than one.  ...that looks like blood.  A couple of drops, a smear there... I'd guess somebody got hurt, and then fell to the ground.  What the heck happened here?  I knelt, touching one of the
drops with a gloved finger, and lifted it to the light.  Definitely blood- and fresh, too.  Whatever happened here was recent.My train of thought was derailed by a sudden clattering noise from the center of the room.  I turned at best speed, lifting Malleus, an array of missiles forming in front of him-
-EnemyhereNOTALONE-
Only to see nothing that wasn't already there.
-phew.  False alarm.  I walked back over to the center of the room, still at least somewhat cautious, and took a look around.
No sign of anybody else here.  I relaxed a bit, letting myself loosen back up.  Looks like somebody's briefcase just fell off the shelf.  No biggie.  That mystery resolved, I went back over to the bloodstain, and slowly, quietly, opened the nearest door- only to see a man, dressed in what was once an impeccable suit, slumped down on the floor.  A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, staining the lapel of his otherwise-white dress shirt.
That's... less blood than I expected to see.  Is he-
One quick scan later, and I almost sighed in relief.  Still alive.  Good.  Looks like a gash on the forehead, some blunt trauma- almost a broken nose- and bruising around the neck.  I'd guess somebody hit the guy, knocked him to the ground, and then choked him unconscious.  [Malleus!  Scan the level!  I want to know how many people are here, where they are, and what state they're in!]
[SCANNING.]
While the Area Search progressed, I took a look around the well-appointed office.  Desk you could land a jet on... images of- yes, that's the same guy- shaking soldiers' hands... testimonials from clients?  What is this guy- Vice President of Sales for the PMC?
...huh.  'Chief Marketing, Negotiation, and Client Communication Officer'.  Looks like I was close.[SCAN COMPLETE.  FOUR OTHER HUMANS PRESENT.  ALL POSSESS SIMILAR INJURIES.]
[Give me locations.]
It turned out that two vice-chiefs and two visitors had also been roughed up, knocked out, and stashed in various rooms on the floor.  None of them were in any danger, as best I could tell, so I just made sure they were secured, crept into the elevator on the right side of the room, and went up to the top level.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Bluemage]

Well, this isn't quite what I expected.  Which way do I go?The fourteenth and last level of the building was dead simple.  In front of me was a hallway.  The hallway extended across the entire floor, splitting it in half.
On the left side of the hall, there was one set of double doors, halfway across the level.  On the right, there were two.
Well, if I had to guess, the left side is the president's office.  Single door tends to indicate that.  What would that make the right side?I sighed, wiping sweat from my brow.  This has gone on too long.  I'd like to get home.Might as well go ahead and take a look.
The door opened smoothly, with only the slightest creak of surprisingly old-style hinges.  Inside... well, it was dark.  A bit of light was coming in... just enough to see the shape of a large, oval table inside, surrounded by some fairly large chairs.  A conference room?  Looks like the windows are partially polarized.  Why is that?  Fully polarized, maybe, for a presentation... or mostly unpolarized, the rest of the time... but not quite totally?  Strange.
I slipped into the room, gently pushing the door almost, but not quite, closed behind me.  That should be enough to let me eyes acclimate.  Good.  Now, what's- GAH!  What was that?!  I thought I wasn't standing in the light from the door!
...
...must've just stood in the wrong spot for a second.  Okay, I can see where I'm going now... and there's the window control.  Polarization... down to normal... and there we go.  Normal light's better for details...  I turned around, looking back at the table... and they must've been in a meeting.  [Malleus?]
[ALL STABLE AND UNCONSCIOUS.  INJURIES RESEMBLE THOSE SEEN BEFORE.]...I've got a bad feeling about this.  Gulping nervously, I slunk over to the conference room door, back into the highway, and over to the other set of doors.  Looking to and fro nervously, I slowly, carefully, began to push the door open...
...only to nearly fall on my face when I saw who awaited me inside.  Tre and Cinque?  When did they get here?!  They clearly noticed me, because Cinque got up out of the impressively luxurious chair she was waiting in, while Tre simply nodded.
I walked into the room, now significantly more relaxed than before... and full of questions.  Before I could ask any of them, though, Tre came out from behind the old, well-cared-for wooden desk, walked right past me, and opened the door I'd closed behind me.  "Was he successful?," she imperiously asked the empty hallway.
One soft, rippling noise later, Sein jumped out out of the floor, and nodded.  "Sure was!"When did she-
As I thought that thought, a sobering realization came to me.  Don't tell me she was-
Tre's expression softened a bit, and she turned to me.  "I believe you know what I'm looking for."
Wordlessly, I dug out the Relic case, and handed it over.  ...not that I actually had any plans for the thing.  I would've probably just tried to bribe the doc with it, anyway.  As soon as the case was in her hands, Tre lifted it up, cradled it in one arm, and popped the seal on it in one smooth motion.
A second or two later, she resealed the case, and gave me a small smile.  "Good work."  She raised her voice, pitching it to carry through the room.  "Everyone, form up for transport.  Sein, I trust you were able to record Imma's progress through the building?"
Sein nodded, grinning.  "Every bit of it... though some of the angles weren't the best.  He kinda caught me by surprise once or twice." 
...she did.  She recorded the whole thing.  This is bad.  This is very bad for my bank account.
Once Tre's eyes were off her, she sidled up to me.  One arm went over my shoulder, and I felt her whisper, very, very quietly, in my ear.  "I didn't see what you did on the twelfth level.  You owe me a favor, 'kay?"...okay, so maybe it isn't so bad.  I smiled, placed my hand on hers, and squeezed lightly.
"Good.  We'll talk later."  She pulled her hand back, and stepped back a few paces.  Shortly after that, the office dissolved in the usual transporter effect.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Niteflier]

So Emma gets to keep the money, but loses the Relic. Oh, well. Like he said, he doesn't really have a use for it anyway.

Just so I remember, where does this segment go in place of?

[Black Aeronaut]

*Blows the dust off this thing*

So, any chance that you might do more with this?