Anna shrugged "There is something wrong with THAT box" she pointed and explained "it eminent negative emotions that can shred my magic to pieces. Whatever I levitate needs to be as far from that box as possible or I cannot do it."

Still, there was that an uneasy feeling, "What could cause such a terrible disturbance though..." she thought.

Slobber was concerned about the box, but they didn't have time for that. He pulled out his monosaw and got to work on the lock-boxes.

Anna had to admit to herself that there was something very calming about that stoic orc and his practicality. Time was of the essence and she helped to pile and organize their loot. The strongboxes as far away as she could from that terrible box. It was difficult to ignore that terrible sensation whatever was inside that strong box caused her and so they needed to finish quickly to GTFO. Though, how far could they really get from that central box? They needed a different kind of solution... A spirit rather than a spell perhaps?

"Boss, do we need that crate? It might be something, uhm, private, which might cause some kind of special attention.
Krestov: Would you be able to carry slash drag that thing?"

Schmidt replied: <<What you describe sounds like a very powerful artifact - and one that is likely of Aztec origin. I'm willing to bet that Lowfyr would grand us all kinds of favors for taking that out of the Azzies hands. Keep working, I'll make a quick call.>>

Krestov replied: <<Dragging possible but not good. Can't get through raised vault door very well. Better you come to vault, open box and let me take thing away. Don't like the sound of it.>>

Anna seemed suddenly worried "I think that the box stops some of the effects from getting outside. If you remove the artifact there is no saying how strong the effect is going to be. I may not be able to cast any spells... Right now I think that it is still within my powers to levitate the stuff - it may drain me like crazy but would not put me at risk of losing consciousness... I may not be at the top of my game afterward but I can levitate the loot.

Perhaps we only risk the artifact once we removed the other treasures? As a thief, I'd never steal such a special snowflake kind of artifact as I would not know how to handle or sell it... but if Mr. Schmitt has the connections to handle it - then it is already here, and we are already robbing the place. How about I give mojo a try before it may get even worse? "

Wolf was barking rather madly at Slobbertooth. He couldn't ignore it anymore. He took a break from cutting open boxes.

"Doc, last I remember the terms of this job are you get your data stick, and our payment is the rest of this.

"Frag Lof-whatever. He can come take that black-mojo box from here himself if he wants it."

"Schmitt's always been true to his word. If this is special, I say, we give him time to upgrade his offer. In the meanwhile, let's do as Anna says and bring the rest of the stuff out of here."

Anna continues to work and order and pile up their loot in a manner that she could levitate it out of that terrible vault. She really does not want anything to do with that artifact but would not speak up with the 'big boys'. Greed is a weakness, same as ego risks yes but a discipline that artifact is just too difficult to move around without consequences - where would they possibly store it without being detected? Who would ward it? She'll let the others have their negotiations or argument and decide what they want but she would not slow down in packing the vault. She desperately wants to get over there in is a bit fearful of the terrible pain she might inflict upon herself.


****

When the looting is over and everything is neatly placed she begins her magic, channeling as much mana as she can possibly store for relatively modest results. A sharp pain in her lungs and a taste of acid in her mouth is the price she pays for attempting to witchcraft in that place. She somehow contained most of the pain... She watches with pride as their package lifts off the ground and signals the rest to secure the transfer. Soon... they'll be out of that place.

Slobber worked with speed and precision, while Schmitt stood silent and with an absent look on his face in the corner, conducting his call."
Half the boxes had been opened and their content put on the tarp when Schmitt returned to the conversation:
"Alright, I got put through to Essen directly. The boss wants that artifact and badly. I was granted immediate access to 3 million Euros to distribute between you on certified credsticks. An armored limo is on standby to fetch the item once we leave the Island. He referred to the artifact as a Horror beacon. If we can't get it we are supposed to destroy it with high explosives."

Slobber continued cutting, but his work was getting sloppy

"Oh, a Horror Beacon, how comforting

"You all know my vote on what to do with it. Frag it to smithereens."

Anna was confused, a lucrative suggestion made it harder to focus on the job that was almost over and that Horror Beacon made her feel more volatile than usual. She spoke without stopping to work. "My vote is NO! We only have a few minutes according to the annoying plan that somehow worked...Greed will get us killed. "

I never understood why Aladdin had to take the wonderlamp. He was rich anyway, why bother with that one single item that was dangerous, when he had more than he could ever spend? I'd never act that foolish. Or so I thought until now.

"What's that? Are shadowrunners people power democrats now? We've got a Johnson, and Johnson's pouring half a million bucks into everyone's pockets just for taking a thing we already got, and this Johnson said get it. I don't want to get the rep of being a runner who chickens out as soon as something unexpected happens. What kind of thief are you, Anna, to leave the heist of your life just before your eyes? Kite, increase surveillance radius, we have to be alarmed when reinforcements arrived early enough. Boys, get that the fuck outta her, c'mon, carajo!"

Anna laughed fully a healthy laugh "You are just as reckless as me when you are greedy..." Pausing she said sarcastically, clearly amused that the thing is even considered seriously. "You really, with all your genius intellect do not see the flaws in this 'plan'?

Sure why not just take a beacon powerful enough to tear down reality itself and place it among the rest of our stolen illegal stuff...

I mean, sure we can hide away an Artifact like that... we'll put it in a box or something nobody will ever notice the dark black rift that envelops the BUILDING we store that box in... I mean seriously it would be visible from kilometers and sensed intuitively by every awakened person in the same neighborhood. The blood mages from Aztlan will never find us...

Or better yet, after we successfully hide this giant beacon of doom, we trade it with an actual Great dragon! He'll pay us 3,000,000 euros! No less, 3 million! We'll be rich! Let's buy a Pony! or better yet a unicorn!

I mean, you taunt me again and again for being silly and not following the plan... For forgetting things, losing focus and not writing everything down. I improvise in mundane situations and get stuck waiting for bnc to rescue me... Now you guys tell me that we can improvise selling an artifact like that to a dragon? Without preparation, without a plan? and things just magically work for us?

...and the funny thing is that you guys actually sound serious. I mean perhaps this thing is messing with your head somehow, because you seem so enchanted with the bloody thing and you speak as if you only have unicorns and rainbows in your world...

Schmitt interjected:
"Anna, please. This is important. Lofwyr does not want to possess this artifact, he wants it destroyed. Also, we wouldn't have to keep it longer than it will take us to bring it to the boat house. As I mentioned, transport is ready to bring it away from here as quickly as possible.
I understand your reluctance, but this is not about greed. This is about a doomsday artifact in the hands of very dangerous and unstable people. If it was just about a valuable trinket I wouldn't bother to risk derailing this plan over it. But we stumbled about a kind of spiritual doomsday device. If the Azzies decide to hold a blood ritual with this thing in five years time, it will be partially our fault when Horrors from another dimension ravage the earth.

Now, I won't force or coerce you to do my boss' bidding. We have a deal and if you are not willing to alter that deal around this complication then I can't hold that against you. All I can do is ask you to rethink your position.
I said I leave the operational command to Slobbertooth, so the final decision lies with you."

"Right, so who brought the necessary explosives?

"All I've got is a bag of grenades and some thermite bars."

Schmitt shrugged: "A bunch of grenades would probably work if we stash them inside the box and lock it back up again to maximize the pressure.
bnc can you come down and open the lock for us?"

Anna looked at Schmidt, not showing much due to her helmet. She was angry and blushed and a bit confused.
"You know way too much about this artifact for me to believe that we just randomly encountered it. There is nothing random about it, either you played us or your Dragon played you. We broke into this vault to handle this Artifact not to get your research project. I... feel so frustrated that someone is pulling my strings so bluntly. I mean you knew what it was without even opening the fucking box!"

Frustrated she took a deep breath, tried to relax, her cheeks were red under the helmet and she felt her emotions being played and manipulated and the darn Artifact - it made it all worse... She wanted to get out of there! Go and cry, or dance or fuck someone. Just escape from the thoughts of how the darn dragon was 10 steps ahead of them the entire time. The augmented intuition spell just made her feel worse - smart enough to determine that she was played - not smart enough and not convincing enough to convince her friends that the only way to be free is to be unpredictable and chaotic. Sure saving the world sounded nice - but why not just ignore it and stick it to a great dragon?

Frustrated she said with acceptance in her voice. Go ahead... Blow it up... Hack it, carry it to the limo... Just let's get the ordinary loot out of the way before we play with forces we do not understand."

She did not wait for a reply, Slobber's willingness to go with that madness meant that that battle was lost already. Instead she angrily piled up the boxes and that conversation wasted valuable time... Now they were in a hurry, and perhaps not taking everything they wanted.

"On the way, doc. Someone open the case so that I can access the 'lock."
bnc sweared under her breath, softly and not on the team channel. She's probably right and I haven't seen it. This is the one black day in my life when I got outsmarted by a worn-out barbie doll. I probably have to kill her just to make sure no one will ever know...

She continued speaking without pausing to move.

"Guess you're right, sweet meat. Big L would have this prepared all along, provided resources that don't stand for a simple research project. Which also means, he will have prepared everything to get the shit outta here. This is no longer about bucks. Carajo, you bunch of guys can't tell me that you're only 'runners for greed. Flatline who holds that poor people aid shadow clinic just out of mercy, Slob is hunting intolerant racists. I myself stumbled into that crap trying to do just something right, running factcheck. Krestov, say something. You're our beacon in the dark, the one true heart, the truest cop I've ever known. If we can..."
bnc stops suddenly, obviously unsure about how to continue. Instead, she nods to Slobbertooth as she enters the vault and kneels down in front of the hopefully accessible maglock, thoughts spinning wildly. This is too soon. I'm not prepared for that load of responsibility. I can't- why now?
Focus, slitch, focus.
Then bnc does what she knows best. Not hacking. Not organizing. Pushing back thoughts, ignoring the voices in her head, and just following other people's orders.

Slobber kept cutting. "How many we got left, and what's our time?"

He paused before putting out his grenades for the Horror beacon.

"Anna, in your mojo-expert opinion; is it safer for us to destroy the horrifying magical artifact or to try and steal it have it sitting next to us for a few hours while it's transported.

"I just realized that putting explosives next to a magic death box while with it in an enclosed space might be dumb, even for me."

Anna said "Unlike Schmidt... I need to actually see the device to form an opinion. Though I doubt it is like anything I've seen before so don't hold your breath for an educated opinion. I am a practitioner rather than a theoretician, so my knowledge in the arcana is limited.

We should review our assumptions: First, we do not know what this thing is and we do not know what it is used for. So tell yourself that you are saving the world all you want, we can be the good guys and we can be the terrorists killing thousands by blowing up a magical artifact. We do not know if we are the good guys or the bad guys, we are pawns manipulated for a job we do not understand. Blowing the thing was offered by Schmidt - meaning this is an acceptable path for the dragon.

How much do you trust that specific dragon not to make it a suicide mission... I mean perhaps the goal is to damage some rivals and save yourself the 3 million euros by having the silly pawns blowing themselves out in the middle of a bank. Problem solved itself no evidence, no survivors - poor mr. Schmidt for trusting such an amoral and pragmatic beast. Not that I say that this is the plan, the problem is this COULD be the plan and none of us would know about it. We are dealing with an employer which is superior to us in any given way. Someone that does not share our sense of right and wrong and whose motivations we cannot begin to understand.

What is crystal clear to me is that we do not do something that was offered by the dragon. We do not blow it up and we do not carry the thing and protect it We cannot afford to follow through with the plan and see if we were planned to survive. There is a reason that people say "never to deal with a dragon", it always sounds too good to be true. 3 million euros in 10 minutes, saving the world... Both very powerful motivations for us. I mean, you guys are all softies and I am really broke.

It never turns out as lucrative as you expect. These critters have many millennia of experience manipulating people like us. They do not feel a need to be fair to us and they are certainly not our equals. So if I follow my own advice, both bringing this artifact to the Jhonson and blowing it up have a thing in common. They both involve taking the Artifact out of its box. Do you think that it is possible to not to take the Artifact out of the box? Can we somehow steal the box itself? Including the maglock and everything? Perhaps put the entire box in a submarine, park it at the bottom of the lake and when the Jhonson come to pick it up, we give him a mark?

I know that I am being silly - but seriously brilliant people - can we? I mean, as far as I know, the thing may kill us all as soon as we take it out of the box. In that case, does it really matter what we planned to do? We were given a powerful motivation to open the box... It was almost guaranteed that we would do so. "

"Anna, I don't care about saving the world or the 3 million nuyen.

"I just want to know if I am more likely to be able to fake my own death as planned if we blow it up or if we take it with us"

"Beats me... As far as I know we may not even need to fake it if we even open the box. Exciting isn't it? "

Schmitt had waited patiently while the team discussed their course of action, finally he said:
"I can't speak for the big boss, but I did not know that we would find this artifact here. I can't say if Lofwyr knew about this and that that's the reason I was allowed to carry out this mission. But I know that my boss does not throw away useful tools on a whim. I asked for clarification about the danger and all I could find out was that this thing is not itself explosive. A mundane placing the explosives should not experience anything untoward and opening the box probably isn't going to hurt us either."

He looked at bnc who was already working on the lock an nodded.
"If it helps you, I'll be the one to place the explosives. You can leave the vault before we actually open the box. Get the loot out, I'll stay with bnc until the thing is open."

bnc meanwhile found out three things: The lock was sophisticated, but did not contain an anti-tamper device and was also completely separate from the matrix. Finally, the box itself looked very stable - maybe even stable enough to withstand the blast of three grenades inside. The universal port was clearly accessible and the system behind it was a Rating 6 Burghley&Johnson security device. Not impossible to hack, but challenging nonetheless.

"If we know it is not explosive... let's open it and certainly when explosives are dealt with... I'd be as far away from the actual Boom... Makes sense as not getting injured is the most I can contribute to blowing stuff up. I am just chaos speaking it makes for some interesting insights but a lot of nonsense. We have no time to waste on idle discussions."

"Fine. You two get your asses outta her and prep flight. Kite, see that everything is clear to leave. Also keep the following steps - submarine and stuff - in mind already. Might be a tough flight. I'll stick with Gerhard. This is too big to care even about Big L."
A shudder runs down her spine as she says that. My life's been controlled by this spooky creature since I can think. No, longer even. Lofwyr might be the scariest being on whole planet Earth. Still, it's true: In sight of this I don't give fuck about his plans.

"I'm with you.", she says to Gerhardt, then plugs herself in to crack the lock.

Slobber pulled the 6 HE launcher grenades and 4 thermite bars out of his satchel.

"Grenades to blow it up, thermite to try and melt it if that doesn't work."


After he and Anna moved upstairs, and as they moved outside "Anna, get the stuff out. I'll hold the lobby and make sure they get out in case there is a surprise because of this delay."

With a sigh of releif Anna finally levitated the loot out of the vault. It gave her a terrible headache but it did so.

„Lass mich das Feuerwerk machen, ich weiß, wie man mit Sprengstoff umgeht...“
She cracks a smile. „Ich hab da mal ein Buch darüber gelesen.. Bereit?.“

Schmitt nodded and handed bnc the grenades: "Ist eine Weile her das ich Minen an Schiffsrümpfen angebracht habe..."
Then the locked box opened. Inside, bnc saw a filigrane looking statue of a dancing woman made from obsidian. The intricate detail of the statue showed a face that seemed mostly normal until you changed the angle a bit and suddenly you couldn't help but see a demonic face staring at you from beneath. The dancing woman seemed to be caught in a swirl with one hand held high, holding a dagger of some kind and one low, carrying a human heart. Staring to long at the heart made you think it was actually beating.

<<Time to get out of here. Place the grenades and close the door again. This thing is giving me the shivers.>>

Meanwhile, Anna moved the haul slowly, oh so slowly upstairs with the telekinetic power of her magic. The upstairs floors seemed to be untouched as Slobber found, but the exit door was closed and locked again, so he had to wait for Anna and her SOK to open it again.

Trying to open the door, Anna said "Glad I am away from that abomination... Now let's load up the submarine."

But the door didn't open, no matter how she pressed the SOK against the receptor field.

"Problem, Anna?"

Anna was a bit stressed "The door won't open! Any ideas? I think we were discovered." Texting she notified the group. >> SOK does not work, we are stuck inside.

"Is their a magical barrier holding it or protecting it?

"If not I've got 60 Ex-Explosive rounds or a monosaw that will fix that problem."

Anna replied " With artifact out of the box observing the astral may be dangerous. Let's just try to brute force it."
>> Flatline, Kite is everything okay outside?

Anna had too many thoughts and too little time

" ... planning never actually works as expected... never... why do people think they can anticipate the chaos...? Or perhaps the plan did work, it just wasn't our plan that worked... what if the Dragon did not want us to escape? "

Slobber quickly moved towards the door, raising his Yamaha Raiden. He took a breath and then fired burst of Ex-explosive ammo at the door before letting the weapon drop to his side and groped in his satchel for his monosaw.

Finally

bnc swiftly placed what explosives they had and arranged them in what she thought was an effictive array, then shut the box. "That's it. Byebye, Horror Beacon. Probiert's es nächstes Jahrtausend nochmal, drekheads."
bnc steps back far enough, nods to Gerhardt, then triggers the grenades inside to explode.

The rounds cleanly shot through the door, leaving a small, smoking hole.
What disconcerted Slobber was the tendril of lightning that had erupted at the entry point and had wandered about 20 cm around as if searching for an attacker before vanishing again.

Schmitt arrived in the corridor:
"What's going on here?"
<<Kite? Flatline? Are you there?>>

But there was no reply from the two runner's icons.

Suddenly a voice spoke as if from behind the runners:
"So, it is Dr. Schmitt. I had wondered who would be so foolhearted as to try and rob me.
Don't bother with the door - the barrier will kill you if you try to cross through."

Schmitt went white as a sheet as he turned around looking for the owner of the voice: "Zola! What have you done with my people?"

"You mean the little mageling daring to impersonate me? His weak mind proved to be no match for my will - he gladly turned your driver into a meal for the Jaguar."

"Doc, blow that thing. We need our Mojo at full tilt"

"Anna, frag levitating all that junk. Just make sure we have Schmitt's Tchotchke . Figure out where this is coming from.

I'm going to kill it."

Slobber paused to remember something Kazuya had said to him a long time ago as he raised his firearm back to his shoulder.

"Shini ni kite
shinu toki nareba—
shinu ga yoshi
shinisokonōte
shinanu nao yoshi"

A mageling? Flatline? if he is so inferior to his mind control than what am I?

Anna said >> bnc, DONT destroy that abomination... bring it here. Its background count would protect us from Zola Realizing she was too late, she acted quickly hoping that the destruction would mess up the astral enough to help her counterspell that barrier.

"I'll try to overcome the barrier..." she said

The barrier did not budge as pain lanced up into Anna's head from the dispel attempt

Holy fragging crap! That fragshit of a system must have informed him that his SOK's been used. We should've guessed. This is all my fault.

"Too late. It's gone.", bnc says, her voice numb. Despite the Goldie in her system, she feels hollow.

"I'm sorry...", she whispers under her breath, eyes wide in horror.

The disembodied voice continued with the smooth, friendly gait that Zola had displayed at the date with Anna:

"I have to say I am a bit impressed. If you hadn't left the escort alive that you impersonated I might not have found out about this little plot in time.
My dear girl, now that I know what to look for I feel like a fool for not having seen through your disguised aura.
But I have a weak spot for talent, so I'll make you a one time offer: Kill Dr. Schmitt for me and I will not only let you live but even pay you a considerable sum for your troubles - the same goes for the rest of the team.
Think about it - just one life for all of yours.
You have... oh let's say 10 seconds to make up your mind.

Oh and I wouldn't recommend trying to assense - you'd find yourself quite confined by quite a lot of astral mana barriers."

Anna felt the power of the spell blows up inside her, her eyes bleeding slightly as well as her nose.
The helmet concealed the damage, but her voice was a bit shaken as she reported The barrier is too powerful for me... I cannot break it, even trying again may kill me.

She texted bnc >> Sprinklers... you need to kill Zola by surprise. His mojo is too strong for me and I cannot break the barrier. Try to jump into one of Kite drones and shoot him. Do not miss or we never get out.

Desperate she texted Kynos >>Well I am not as innocent as you hoped... but if you still want to save my life, now would be a good time. Your boss discovered that my boss wanted to rob him. I am stuck at the bank with my hand in the cookie-jar. If I do not make it, know that I had good intentions.

The only way we win is to get Zola to show his face

"Can we fake Doc's death?"

Slobber dropped the Stick'n'Shock out of his Ruger and quickly replaced it with APDS.

"Anna, catch."

Slob tossed her a Thermal smoke grenade and a Flash-pak.

"To cover our escape if I'm not up to it"

Anna caught the grenade and replied subvocally "Okay... what is the plan Slob?" She copied him, replacing the stick-and shot with APDS ammo on her Ares Predator.

Trying to distract Zola and buy them some time, she said with her most seductive voice and tone ignoring pain she was in."I was actually surprised that it worked, you being such an accomplished mage. Perhaps you liked me just a bit too much to be suspicious. I must admit that I rather enjoyed our time together despite my business getting in the way of our pleasure. You are a true gentleman and a gifted lover.

Tell me, how did you find out about my ruse? Did you call to meet with me again? she giggled slightly "I kind of hoped you would the next week... Silly me, you can get all the girls you possibly want. There is no need to slot the same one again.

With a moan, she said "You know...Being trapped in this situation, with such a demonstration of force and resolve is... *very* erotic... Your offer is tempting me and you clearly are the better *Jhonson*... However, I am not the muscle of this gig. My skills are more oral than warfare... Perhaps if you let me reason with my colleagues I can sort it out with minimal bloodshed. We should know when we are defeated. Yet, we are nothing but mercenaries and have nothing personal against you. Schmidt is the only one with a personal agenda, I can make it work! It is the sensible thing to do." Sometimes, the best lies had half-truths in them. Sure, she enjoyed sleeping with Zola. Yes getting caught stealing was extremely erotic, a forbidden fantasy even... but no - she could not bring herself to just murder a person. Schmidt included, as much as Anna did not like the man and his devotion to 'the Dragon'.

"I don't really have a plan. I was looking for suggestions. I get how to make a machine think someone's dead, but I don't know how to make an assensing mage think someone's dead."

She texted so that her lips can continue speaking. ">>Can't fool a mage like that, but perhaps we can make doc unconscious and tease Zola into a more public execution? As a blood mage and may want to actually see Schmidt die with his own eyes? "

Not my fault after all... Still, I missed the security whole, whether it was there or not. Anyway, good to know it was Anna's mercy and not my incompetence that killed us.
"Don't be naïve. A blood mage who's century project of destroying Earth we just blew up is no more trustworthy than the fragging dragon. Geeking Schmidt - truly or faked - will not even buy us seconds. It'll just give lavadora a great laugh when he sacrifices us. Also, there's no fooling an Initiate, like there's no killing him when he's anywhere else. Can Kynos tell us where he is? You didn't forget to press the RFID chip, did you?"