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"Not immediately," the drone says, "not without exposing your allies to attack."

More maps and camera readouts flicker across the tablets; any direct line from your position to Nomi's would give a squad of six guards access to your allies' location. You can see all three of them on another screen: they're in a corridor just east of your location, and they've set up a secure perimeter. The roving packs of guards aren't moving in the right direction to locate them. All of you together might be able to fight your way to Nomi, but maybe there's a safer or smarter way to reach the journalist.

"You know," the drone says, still using the speaker to communicate, "I continue to think about the Triat."

You try to find a route to Nomi and tune the speaker out, but he keeps talking: "Werewolves fear the corruption of the Wyrm, and hate the discipline of the Weaver. They keep telling themselves that old story, which varies only in that sometimes the Wyrm becomes imbalanced first, forcing the Weaver to imprison it, and sometimes the Weaver acts first, driving the Wyrm mad. But it was the Garou who triggered this great imbalance."

"Shut up! I need to concentrate." I try to figure out how to reach Nomi.

"I'm not going to defend the Garou, and you don't know me if you think I will."

"I'm not going to let a cyborg who runs a crypto scam badmouth my people."

"Does it matter who started it? The world is out of balance now. Can we really learn from history, or only obsess over it?"

Next

You look up as the lights flicker and mechanical clangs echo through the room. A metal mesh drops down over the glass separating you from the drone, on the inside of the drone's prison.

"My access to Everlite security is being contested," the speaker says. "The sysadmin is trying to activate this prison's termination protocol. I only have limited control over certain environmental systems, and with the self-destruct termination failing to activate, the Interim Director has activated all on-site Neo Albion cleanup teams."

The monitors show one five-man team outside the room you're in. But they haven't engaged the other werewolves. You cross to the west wall and slide a bookshelf full of leatherbound volumes out of the way, revealing a metal door with a complicated locking mechanism. Another team moves down the hallway to the east, toward Podge and the others. A moment later, the east door slides open, revealing your companions. Elton stalks into the room in his glabro near-human form, followed by Nin, who is still in her homid form and eating a Snickers bar as if nothing bad is happening.

"So that's a drone," Elton says.

"And that's a kill team." I point to the Neo Albion guards visible on the screen. We need to get out of here.

"Not a fomor, right, a Weaver-spirit. I think we can trust him to honor an agreement."

"He claims to know everything about the Battle of Graves Farm." And I want that data.

"Nomi Paskalis got captured. If we buy the drone time to access Everlite's systems, we can help them."

"He's the one responsible for all that poison. He worked with Sullivan to fake the Big Calc and turn it into a crypto data mining operation!"

Next

"I might be willing to negotiate for that," Elton says, though he looks worried.

"I think we can help each other," the drone says, "though that will have to wait." The prisoner points to a screen where you can see the five-man kill team closing in.

"Hell," the theurge says. "Too many to fight."

"It's just some guys," Podge says. "There are four of us!"

"That," Elton says, pointing to the weapon carried by one guard on the screen, "is an M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. I've done my research: you mount those weapons under assault rifles—in this case, old-fashioned M16s—when you need to switch between two types of ammunition. Why do you think the guards here would deploy two kinds ammunition?"

"So they got silver," Podge says with a shrug. "Let's see them hit anything."

"Spoken like someone who's never been hit with an entire tea service," Elton says.

"I heard about that," Podge says. "But still, we can lure them in here and tear them to pieces, then figure out what to do with the drone as their blood congeals."

The argument goes round and round as the guards close in from the west and the drone studies his prison, which is still sealed tight. The tablets show the guards setting up breaching equipment right outside and arguing into their phones. Speaking of arguing, it doesn't look like this "pack" is going to actually do anything before Neo Albion blows the door down, so it's up to you to make a decision.

"Drone, kill the lights and prepare to open both doors." We'll hide in the darkness and pick the guards off one at a time.

It'll take iron nerves, but I lead my allies right into the fight at point-blank range, through the smoke of the breaching blast.

I wait for them to breach the door, then smash into them with my hatchet before they get their weapons up.

Even partial access to Everlite's security system will let me reinforce the doors to this room and prevent the guards from getting through.

Their breaching gun can't blow the whole door off—they're aiming for the lock. With Podge's help, I physically jam the door mechanism to prevent them from getting in.

I grab one of those guns Podge took and blow the guards away faster than they can respond.

First, I Change…

Next

As the argument rages, you walk to the northwest corner of the room and study the western door. Two brackets mounted on either side of the frame look perfect for a drop bar. But, of course, there's no drop bar.

But you do see a pair of brass standing lamps. You rip off the lampshade and base and slot it into place, wriggling it back and forth until it's in position.

That's when the guards fire their breaching charge. Metal and wood rip your knuckles open, and you stumble back, momentarily shocked by the pain. But the door holds.

"Elevator!" the speaker crackles, loud enough to be heard over the echoes of the gunfire. The door opens, revealing five more Neo Albion guards. Before you can react, Nin hurls herself into the fray. A half-ton of red wolf smashes into the guards just as the elevator door finishes opening. They're so fucked you don't even bother to watch. Instead, you help Podge drag the bookcase, and then an overstuffed sofa, in front of the west door. The guards try the breaching charge again, but they're not getting through for a while.

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