Reroll

I head to the computer lab, following the hallways, and… yep, empty, except for Ed, Betty, and the pets. I think for a minute, Betty's riding dog is passable, but…. “Ed, how are we not being questioned on that full grown tiger following us around?”

Ed chuckles, “Before you were empowered, would YOU say anything to the girls walking around with a well-behaved tiger in a service animal harness that might get one of them angry?”

I consider that as I join with my animal companion in human form, “No, no I would not.”

Betty laughs, “Exactly. And the more official folks Iike campus security and the police are largely required to respect the uniform unless the animal seems to be a threat.  They're well-behaved and they have a harness, so they get a pass.”

I renew my armor and Illusion setup, then focus on the task at hand, “Okay… prescription drugs….” I pull a hacking kit out of my Warp Storage (I mentioned I grabbed a bunch of Starfinder's utility items), and think about my minion. The Computers skill in class, obviously.  Skill Focus as well.  Hmmm… Biped form, despite the lower Intelligence: Needs hands. Hit Die based stat increase goes to Intelligence, of course; Skillful Companion archetype so I can get it both Sage and Skilled for maximum intelligence… sixteen int, six hit dice, skill Focus, and Computers as a class skill will do the job.

I save a Shadow point by keeping concentration on the creature to maintain it, and watch as it works, logging in, connecting to the appropriate remote computers, and hacking them.  Well before the time limit is up: “There,” it announces, “Copay-free prescription birth control pills for all three of you.  Just show your ID at the pharmacy at DoorMart on 5th.”

“Thank you,” I tell the creature as I let it fade away from existence.

“That is a really sweet ability,” Ed seems impressed.

I shrug, “They're super fragile, and aren't really expected to survive even a single hit.  They also do only half damage if someone beats the will save.  But yeah, for out of combat items like this, they're sweet: On-demand skill specialists, or even mages from Spheres that can know talents I don't have… just caster level four at this point, and very few talents known, so they're very minor casters… but it's ‘whatever talents I need right now’ so it's hard to beat that utility, even if it's not useful in combat.”  Although I'll be able to stockpile them at tenth, and at twelfth I can make select ones reusable for more than a single battle.

“I'll need to work harder to keep up, I think…” Ed pauses, and continues, “how come you never did this stuff at the table?”

I laugh out loud, “A table game is for fun. If I build a character that can do all the things there, everyone else wonders why they're there and doesn't have any fun… so I only pull out one or two tricks per character, and leave the big guns alone. But…” I shudder, “I don't like dying. This isn't about fun, it's about staying alive and free. I do NOT want to be another Bambi.”

Betty considers for a minute, “Can I get some build advice, then?  You know, for next time?”

I chuckle, “Sure… but not here.  Now that we're done with the medical stuff, we can discuss that sort of thing somewhere a bit more secure.”

“We still need to pick up the meds…” Ed is being practical.

“We do.  Let's go…” we pack up and head out.

We use the same entrance we came in to leave - they haven't replaced the guards in the less than the hour we've been on campus, because the guy who'd be reporting on this gate can't check in yet: He's naked, “indisposed”, has no phone, and… I think I locked the van out of habit, but am unsure.

Regardless, we get to the DoorMart, get our prescriptions filled (why no, our insurance information hasn't changed…) and each take one right then.  We take the documentation they give us, pretending to have done this a zillion times before, and head home.

Once there, I speak up, “So… I captured two of the controller’s cell phones; I'm going to hit the basement and hack them.”

Betty frowns, “Why the basement?”

Ed rolls his eyes, “No signal. They won't record their location due to no GPS signal, they won't receive any self-destructive commands, they won't report back any information, and so on… and that's assuming he actually turns them on, rather than  disassembling them entirely and reading the data directly in another device.”

I nod, “Exactly; and I am planning on taking them apart,” now, “but they have their own batteries, so there's a short window where they might try to report home between when I pull them out of Warp Storage and take them apart.  Being deep underground should stop that.”

Betty nods, “Ah.  Well… there shouldn't be anything down there that can threaten you at this point. The skeletons are just cannon fodder, don't seem to want to wander, and couldn't anyway due to the doors not responding to them.”

I nod, “Right.  I don't plan to go further than the waiting room anyway.”

Ed waves, “Have fun.”

I wave and head downstairs, through the very long stairwell, past the ruined door and the bizarre security scanner, and set up to work… or rather, have a minion work for me.  I pull an engineering kit, a hacking kit, and a laptop out of my Warp Storage, as well as both captured phones.  I then create a Shadow minion with good Computers and Engineering skills and have it get to work.

A few minutes later, it's done, and I log into my laptop to see what I have, letting the minion fade away.  Contact lists, all flagged work… call logs… text logs… and about a hundred gigabytes of video files from each phone.  Same file listing and sizes… I open one at random… ah.  Bambi again.  Okay, yeah, that's not going to tell me anything, and is just going to make me both aroused and angry.  

…but there might be something useful mixed in…

I sigh, and open each video one at a time, skipping to the middle to see what it is, then deleting them when they're Bambi abuse. Bambi naked on a bed with rose petals… delete.  Bambi squeezing out milk… huh, does that mean her body adjusts slightly for fantasies?... delete.  Bambi getting whipped…. delete.  Bambi slicing her own fingers off… delete.  Bunch of guys at a table… d… oh, that might be useful; skip for now.  Bambi begging for a creampie… delete. Bambi begging to be a mommy… delete.  Bambi sticking a squash up her oven… delete.  Bambi having a bath… delete.  I'm at that filtering for a good twenty minutes.  There's a LOT of videos of Bambi on there, all of which I delete.  I also find two of a mermaid in a tank getting plowed by a Guardian (I keep one for reference; I'll want to find her, and an image will help), one of a bird woman sucking off a Guardian (I likewise hang onto that, for the same reason), and a total of three recorded meetings (which I'll want to seriously review with everyone else).

The other files are simple documents on mission briefs going back a few months.  Reports of creature sightings, detailed photos of them, photos and descriptions of what was left of the found victims, maps, action plans… each phone has a different set of those, and it looks like both handlers had a new assignment literally every week on a different case.  These guys kill a LOT of monsters… and it's clear information gathering is someone else's department.

Ooh, and the current mission parameters; I quickly skim through that one, a few key takeaways hit me: “...secrecy is paramount…” “...isolate and detain unlicensed supernaturals for evaluation if convenient…” “...terminate immediately if capture is not convenient…” “...notwithstanding, revelation to members of the public is not authorized…” “...civilian casualties are not acceptable, detain and report any witnesses for further instruction…” huh.  And… ah.  That's why they're replaced so quickly.   There's a few dozen sets on this project in case anyone needs to call for support. Hmm… addendum that they're enabling the monitoring inside the vans dated… earlier today.  Ah… probably because of the one I blew up: I expect they want to know how that happened.

Hmm. Which means they probably saw my stunt with the one guy.  Meh. If they help him successfully, oh well, if they don't try or can't, he was participating… or at least benefiting from… some rather abusive stuff: I'm not going to cry about HER fate.

Maybe her child's, though… eh, what are the odds she started fertile? 

...deat.  I'm going to need to check now, aren't I?  Stupid conscience.  I'll just have to kill the monsters next time.  At least Diagnose should do the job if I can find her again.

For now, though… I’ve learned what I wanted.

I leave the phones in the organized piles of pieces that my shadow minion left, put the tools away, and take the laptop back upstairs to show everyone….