Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

Kane and Luna stared at the beastling blocking their path. He was tall, with a rugged appearance and sharp, wary eyes. His muscles tensed under his worn clothes, hinting at readiness to fight.

When the silence started getting heavy enough that Kane was about to say something, the beastling was ahead of him. “Wrong floor,” he growled, threateningly.

Kane blinked before slightly cocking his head in apparent confusion, “Shouldn’t that be our line? You know, the ones coming out of the elevator?”

To which the beastling simply snorted, “No. And you’re not coming out.”

Tension started to rise as both parties prepared for combat.

But before anything happened, Kane's smiling words broke the tension, "Then I suppose we’ll have to go to the correct floor." With a deliberate calm, he pressed the lift interface, sending them a floor higher.

As they rose up, Luna looked confused at the man beside her, “Master?”

Kane turned to her and shrugged, “He was of more or less equal power to the two of us. We could have easily taken him together, but it would have created a lot of noise, and certainly warned any other guards they have set up across that floor.”

At the same time as he finished talking, they arrived at the next floor and the doors opened. Stepping out, Kane surveyed their new surroundings, “Better if we find a way to sneak onto that floor. And since going down is usually easier than going up…”

Seeing that they were alone, Kane called up the CyberStrap’s interface, and did another scan for listening devices and cameras.

After ensuring no one was listening, he turned to Luna. "More importantly, I think I’ve discovered what part of this is a game to Father. It’s possible that the guy down below is just an enforcer for some criminal organization, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re actually dealing with the Beastling Alliance."

The Beastling Alliance (BA) were a semi-terrorist group that plagued the Outer Ring. With most talented beastlings ending up in crime organizations, the main goal of the BA was to create relatively normal lives for the untalented beastlings of Riftshade, who still managed to become Mystics.

Their modus operandi involved finding isolated humans with no family or friends, killing them, and allowing a beastling to take over their life. After minor cosmetic surgery to resemble the original individual, the beastling would conceal their tail and ears and seamlessly continue the victim's job.

These replacements would usually go undetected for long periods of time, if they were even detected at all. Since the SGA didn’t particularly care about beastlings, there weren’t any excessive detection procedures for the low-level jobs that those living in the Outer Ring district usually filled.

"My guess is that they found an entire floor of isolated individuals and simply decided to take over. They’ve probably got entire families living there,” Kane mused.

His musings caused Luna to frown, “But… why would the BA use netrunners to try and disrupt the Cyberkins? Wouldn’t that just call unnecessary attention to them?”

Kane began pacing, scratching the stubble on his chin. "I think there’s a good chance they didn’t. I don’t know how Father found their location, but I suspect he sent us here solely to test us. Specifically, to test our loyalty to each other."

He stopped pacing and turned to face Luna, gazing into her eyes with intensity. "He wants to know whether your loyalty to me is stronger than your loyalty to others of your kind," Kane explained. "At the same time, he’s testing whether my care for you outweighs my desire to avoid punishment for failing a mission."

Now frowning in thought, he added: “He doesn’t really care how we complete this mission; our actions will reveal what he wants to know.

I imagine that what he’s hoping for is to see you obey an order to help me kill the beastlings, only to later regret it. Such regret would create cracks in your loyalty. Cracks he could exploit."

Despite spending four years around Kane and Father, Luna still didn't have half their strategic mind, and her head reeled from Kane’s explanation. “Damn that obsessed tin can…” she mumbled softly, palming her face.

They stared silently at each other for a moment, as the tension built over what to do next.

Then, they both grinned wildly.

“Luckily, he’s underestimated us this time,” Kane chuckled. Their gazes showed the commitment and loyalty they had towards each other, even if they were unwilling to talk about their feelings.

With the tension gone, and their loyalty to each other reaffirmed, Kane turned serious again. He frowned and said, “But we still need to decide how to proceed, so you need to tell me honestly, Luna. Do you care what happens to these beastlings?”

Luna frowned as well and searched her own feelings. In the entire last four years, the only beastlings they had encountered were prostitutes and gang members, both of which she always treated the same as their human counterparts, be they friendlies or enemies.

But this time was different. This time, it wasn’t so black and white. Luna was ruthless and loyal, and there were only two people in this city she gave an ounce about. But to slaughter entire families of beastlings just for trying to live normal lives… was still a significant hurdle to cross.

Of course, the fact these beastlings first killed the original human occupants changed things a little, but not that much. It’s not like Luna cared about those humans any more than the beastlings. Less, if anything.

She closed her eyes and sighed, before opening them again. Her eyes were clear and determined. She had come to a decision. “If you think it’s necessary, I’ll do it without regrets, Master. You know that. But I would prefer if we could avoid it…”

Kane looked into her eyes, noting the determined clarity within them, and nodded, “I get it. Unfortunately, today's situation is delicate. If we fail to complete this mission to Father’s satisfaction, he won’t let it slide. He’ll retaliate."

Grabbing his chin, he continued with a thoughtful frown, "His response could cause us to miss tomorrow's meeting with the Cabal. Which would be very bad, because I have no idea if or when we’d be able to reschedule. Even if the meeting is suspicious as hell, we still need to go.”

“We need those techniques, I know, Master,” Luna nodded with understanding. “I won’t let you down, you know that. Just tell me what to do.”

Kane couldn’t help but smile at her loyalty. ‘I should figure out a way to solve this without bloodshed…’ he thought to himself.

So Kane started pacing again, a thoughtful expression on his face as he started thinking of various scenarios. At the same time, he used his CyberStrap to start scanning the floor below them for life signs to try and figure out exactly what they were dealing with.

After about fifteen minutes, he stopped pacing and faced Luna. “Alright, its risky, and we’ll need to do some more scouting first, but I think I have a plan…”