It took us a bit over 45 minutes to get to Frankel’s compound. From the inside of the van, neither of us could see it, but when the garage opener sent the signal with the data mine embedded, the first layer of the compound's computer began talking with me.

At this moment I had only access to the basic house control system, but my Trojans slowly and carefully made inroads into the network.

The first success was the entertainment system, followed by the low-security network. Then I encountered the first serious roadblock. The security around the more important computer systems was astounding. Nothing I could not get through, but still, much more than I expected. Frankel’s hacker turned out to be at least a fourth-level hacker.

I wouldn’t have thought that a computer expert of this caliber would work with a slaver group. That changed the situation much for the worse for me. Instead of breezing through the security, I had to work slowly to not alert my opponent.

In short order, we were dragged out of the van and shoved into a group of cages. The cages were just adequate enough for the bigger guys of us, and for once I was glad for my lack in stature. Not that I made some sort of happy dance. One by one they removed our cuffs and then left us alone.

I used the time to identify the firewall and hit a bit of luck here. It was a US Army model, just two years old. For most people, it would have marked an insurmountable obstacle. But I knew not only that it was based on a much older model from the Commonwealth, I actually had the source code for both versions. That meant I could set my cluster onto the task of infiltrating the system.

Time to shut down a bit. It would take a few hours for the cluster to get into everything. Even knowing the vulnerabilities of the firewall it had to move slowly, and suppress any indication of an attack. To gain a bit of time I quickly set up a minefield in my credled account for the hacker to play with. If I estimated his ability correctly he would spend the next week cursing and reinstalling his board. At the same time I erased and then locked down my board, so he would not find anything there. The real work was done on the cluster, and unless he found the q-link he would never even guess about it.

Then I moved my attention to the outside again. The others were still complaining. Marc was bitching about my bitchiness. To the left of my cage was the blonde, while the Mute was on my right.

After a while, the blonde tapped at the bars between us.

“Hey, Red. Why did you shoot down Marc so fast? I mean, yeah, he has the tact of a bull, but I think you broke the record.”

I looked into her eyes and then shrugged my shoulders.

“Call me Veronica. And how did I break the record? Your canine friend had to threaten him to get him away from me.”

“Oh, that was simply his inability to give up. No, what I mean is that normally it takes at least five minutes before he pisses a girl off. With you, it happened in what? three sentences? Four?”

“If you mean outside of the ship, then it depends on how you count them. Do you think a single no is a sentence?”

From Marc's cage we all heard an “Aw, shut up bitch. I was just being friendly.”

Yeah, the guy was a good sport. The mutant interceded at this point.

“I would count a single no as a half-sentence at best.” He or she grinned a bit.

“Well, in that case, it was six and a half sentences. And I simply wanted to be left alone, nothing more and nothing less. And, at this point nothing personal. It was not that I did not want to talk to Marc. I did not want to talk to anybody.”

“So you would give him a chance if the situation would be right?” Now I was sure that she was joking.

“Uhm, it became personal when he invaded my personal space, disrupted my peace, gripped my shoulder, and refused to accept that I wanted to be alone. I can’t stand guys that can’t take a hint.”

Marc's friends began to laugh at this, which, frankly astonished me.

One of the other passengers seemed similarly surprised.

“You folk are awfully happy with the shitty situation we are in. Care to share what’s so funny?”

Black hair was the one who answered, “We are not really happy. But we don’t give up yet, and with a bit of humor everything gets easier.” And I had to facepalm.

“Thank you for getting us all under tighter scrutiny. Want to make some explicit plans to escape that these slavers can listen to? Or do you leave it at this vague declaration that you will make it as hard for them as you can?” Whatever these people were, they were not professionals.

“Wow, you really can be bitchy, you know?” the mutant threw into the room. “You nearly sound as those arrogant Pures.”

I thought it over for a moment before I answered.

“That is mostly education and immersion into the culture. If you grew up in the system there you would sound the same.”

“Ha, bullshit! I know enough Mongrels from Seattle to know that they sound like anybody else.”

“Mongrels in the Commonwealth grow up in a different system. I spoke about the system of the Pures.”

Surprisingly it was Marc who made the connection first. “Wouldn’t you have to be a Pure to grow up in the Pure system?”

And here it was. I could likely keep it secret, but why bother?

“Yes. And what tells you that I am not a Pure?”

It was the brunette that answered this time. “Oh, come on, you are way too tiny to be a Pure.”

“Contrary to common belief, Pure does not automatically mean tall. Sure, as far as I know, I am the smallest Pure ever, but my mother is only 8 cm taller than me. So yes, I am Pure and I grew up in the Pure school system.”

That created a moment of silence in the room. Then Marc crowed, “Shit, no wonder you are such a bitch. Damn, I had to trip over a Pure bitch. Just my luck.”

I heard a few agreeing mutterings. Just as I expected.

“And you all wonder why we Pures don’t like you? Marc had intolerable behavior. He invaded my personal space, not me his. Five minutes ago, everyone agreed that he was in the wrong. And now, just because you know that I am a Pure you agree that it was my fault. I bet you are already thinking about how this whole inconvenience we are in is my fault too. Of course, it has to be the Pure's fault. You just make me angry.”

With that, I closed my eyes and ignored the jerks around me.

Not much later, the first one got taken out of his cage, only to be returned 15 minutes later with a slave collar. One by one they collared us, and then it was my turn.

In spite of no resistance from my side, the three thugs were somewhat rough. Two of them grabbed an arm each and the last walked behind me, while they dragged me through the door.

On the other side was a laboratory with several contraptions more suited to the Spanish Inquisition than to the modern world. I was shoved into one of them, and several clamps immobilized me. Then Frankel grabbed a collar from a table to the side and then came to me.

“Well, little miss Pure. We got ourselves a real prize this time. You have no idea what some of our customers will pay to get one of you to play with. With a bit of an upgrade and an enjoyable amount of training, you will fetch quite a sum. Enjoyable for me and my boys of course. You, I fear, will be rather less entertained.”

With that he let his evil laugh out again.

I tried to remain calm outwardly, and show neither fear nor submission.

“It is not too late to take my offer. So far it was just a bit uncomfortable for me. As soon as you put that around my neck you will eventually regret it.”

His laughter became louder and he had to grab the torture rack I was restrained in to keep his balance.

“Oh yeah, you have brass ones. I just know I will enjoy taming you. I am almost sorry that you are worth so much. I would love to keep you around as a toy. But I just can’t justify it. Well, we will have a week to play with you.”

Wow, this guy was clearly deranged. But I was sure that I could overcome his collar and his system.

I needed a way to neutralize the gang, but if necessary I would order a raid.

Then he locked the collar around my neck. Immediately I felt a stinging sensation at the base of my skull. Then a short numbness as the nano-probes connected to my spine.

“Initiate the mapping!”

On Frankel’s order, one of his minions connected the collar to a terminal beside me.

That was the moment I waited for. My Implants had already made a connection to the collar, and now I piggybacked the connection to the control system. At once the cluster began to infiltrate the controller and mapped the whole system. After a few seconds, I got the message that the vulnerability has been found, and the controller was partially suborned. Full control would take a few days, and while I could already stop the neural mapping I lacked the depth to mask that yet.

The initiating of the collar took roughly 10 minutes, and then I was dragged back to the cage.

The rest of the day I spent going over the data my cluster obediently provided to me.

The more I saw, the less I liked the solution of the raid. The compound was a fortress. Of course, I could have gotten enough Mercs to kill everybody here, but the risk to me and my equipment was more than I liked. Then I found a solution. Frankel had six “house slaves”. Four women as toys for himself and his crew, and two general laborers for menial work. Important was that the toys had unrestricted access to the nano lab and served as cooks among other services.

I needed full control of the controller, then I could use them to drug the slavers and then open my cage. So it was just a matter of time.

The next three days were… uncomfortable to say the least. I learned firsthand the difference between levels one, two and six of a General Neurotics Painstick Mk. VI, and of course how the sensitivity of the touched area increases or decreases the pain. Let’s say I believe the rumors that level 10 drives people into madness.

I also experienced what Frankel understood under ‘a bit of upgrade’. Two cup sizes. And just for fun he increased the sensitivity of some already very sensitive regions considerably.

And the fun. Who could forget the fun the ‘boys’ had. At least they were not enhanced like Frankel.

He had ensured that he left a lasting impression with his female playthings.

But while Frankel and his gang were amusing themselves with the other new female captures and I, my Trojans infiltrated the whole compound. And Frankel’s tech guru was screaming curses the whole time.

Then it was time to act.

Frankel had, once again, chosen to ‘interrogate’ me. This time it seemed like he actually wanted information. He and his tech guy were with me while I was clamped in one of the racks.

Of course they had divested me long ago of my clothes.

Frankel stood with his favorite pain stick beside the rack, while the hacker sat at one of the tables. He looked not quite healthy as if he had not slept for a few days.

Frankel tapped the inactive stick in his hand.

“Well Red, you have given my boy here quite a bit of work. And he says he sees no end yet. You know what we want. So, make it easier for yourself and give us the authorization, or make it harder for you and more fun for me and have me make you give it.”

His malicious grin was not quite as satisfied as at the time we were captured. Could it be that the mines I left with the credled had infiltrated his financial system, and had actually locked him out of his own money? Not long term of course, as the systems had way too much backup for a simple bot like that, but enough that he would likely lose several 100k$ in fines and interests.

“I gave you the option to let me go. Now you are reaping what you have sown.”

Then he touched me with the stick, and once again my world crashed into a wave of pain. Dang, the ‘enhancements’ made the stick even worse.

And that was not even a very sensitive spot. I was really glad that my plan was ready for execution, or I would have had to chance the mercenaries.

I had sent the orders to the controller this morning, and my shunt into the building security showed me that except for Frankel and Techy all the ‘boys’ were in dreamland. Unfortunately, neither of them had eaten yet. Of course neither of them got the alert that all the others had fallen down. Something wrong with the security system would be my guess.

Time for plan B then. Two of the toys grabbed one of the E-Lasers each, controlled by my cluster of course. I hated to do it, but I had activated their voice suppression. Nothing would warn these two assholes. They did not react when the door behind them opened. They did not react while the women pointed the E-Lasers at their backs.

They reacted of course when the stun charges coursed through their bodies, showing a good imitation of St. Vitus dance. Several minutes long.

At the same time, the clamps on the rack reacted to my order and released me.

Next, I summoned the 2 general laborers and had them lift first Frankel, then the hacker into one of the racks. It took a few minutes for them to get over the shock, and I had opened the cabinet where they had stored my clothes, and of course, I released my collar. It is a sad story how these things were designed for an intelligent and relatively good cause, but created so much pain.

And while I hated the things, I was going to use them on Frankel and his boys. Let them see how it feels. I found the unused collars and selected two with roughly the right size.

At the same time the slaves were moved out of the room. I would take care of them later.

Frankel came to while I closed to him, the collar in my hand.

“Shit Red, let me out and I won’t hurt you too badly. You know that my men will capture you in a few minutes.”

I stood still for a moment and then shook my head.

“Naaah. Don’t think so. Your imbeciles are sleeping. The compound is sealed. The automatic weapons are active. You two are the only ones of you assholes awake. And you, my dear Frankel, will experience a few fun things from the other side.”

“Damn, you cunt, how did you do that? What did you do to my toys?”

This time it was my evil laughter that sounded through the lab.

“You made an error. A grave error. Did you ever think about how an 18-year-old had a bit over 3 million Ȼ in her account? Or where she got enough data mines of sufficient power to repeatedly kill the board of that fool there? I was, for a time one of Spectre’s brokers. The moment you tried to hack my account you brought one of the top ten hackers of the God dang whole solar system onto your head. And the implants Spectre designed for me have let me play havoc with your whole computer system. I own your security, your fabber, your databases for patrons and merchandise, and even your little entertainment system. Environmental and communications, you name it, I own it. And most important among them: is your Dalgon Tec controller. Your slaves? They are controlled by your computers. And these I own.”

I then placed the collar around his neck.

“And now it is time for us to play my game.” Next, I connected his collar with the controller.

“And believe me, it will be really enjoyable. At least for me and your other victims, I think. You, I fear, will be less entertained.” Yes, I was vindictive. So sue me. This jerk had me gang-raped and tortured for three days. It would be a long, long time before I would be finished with him.