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Decisive Action

“That’s impossible.”

Enigma’s ears and tail stood up on end as the alarm began to sound. Knowing his powers aren’t effective against cameras and video recordings, he took the extra precaution to scout and study the offices his client asked him to break into. Whatever the corporation in charge was plotting, the diminutive raccoonkin who hired him was convinced that it spelled bad news for the less well-off members of society, and was willing to pay to figure out what.

Spotting the security room nearby, he moved, not bothering to be quiet since the noise of the alarm would mask his own footsteps. Holding out his hand, eyes glowing with his signature cyan aura, he cast a sleeping spell to knock out the guards inside, before he even had time to verify if the room was occupied. Time was of the essence, and the situation called for decisive action.

Sure enough, stepping into the room, glowing with the light of monitors and camera feeds from throughout the building, he saw two beastkin fast asleep, dressed in guard uniforms emblazoned with the SecureTech logo, and both packing iron on their hips. One, a tall, lean but muscular lionness, had the good fortune to be leaning back into her chair when the psionicist’s magic lulled her into dreamless sleep. Her partner, a smaller, slender batkin, was instead slumped head-first into the monitor, arms uncomfortably contorted over the keyboard and under his own chest. Taking pity on the poor soul, Enigma pushed him gently back into his chair before inspecting the feed.

That’s when he saw it, another person, human, had broken into the building as well on the same night. Clearly, with the way the guards were pursuing him, he was the source of the alarm. In any other circumstance, Enigma would have tried to help the bumbling fool escape, but the risks were already piling up and he needed to secure an escape route.

Pushing past guards and security wouldn’t be an issue. He could make himself invisible to them. The tricky part was that even the least secured exit had a few autonomous drones posted. Knowing what he would need to do to get through them, he pulled out the pistol he had trained himself to use since picking up on his first excursion to this fascinating plane. Back to the wall, peering through the door back to the corridor outside, he could feel his hands going through the motions of checking if the weapon’s safety was off and clip loaded before his mind consciously sent the signal to do so.

“I was really hoping I wouldn’t need to use this.”

It may only be a few drones, but a shootout is still a shootout, and he knew he still needed to be careful…

What would my gallery be if not for the numerous YCHs from LittleBadWolf, including this one back in August of 2023.

One of the reason I like to take Enigma to this Cyberpunk world is because of his biggest weakness: His illusion magic cannot affect technology, including security cameras. As a result, it allows him to take on scenes like this, where his other skills are highlighted and brought to the fore.

Perhaps when the time comes, I’ll tackle it with a bit more gusto than this hastily drafted shorts, written in the span of an hour, can allow for.