Day at the Races
From Grigbertz
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Our Heroines decide to take some time off by going to the racetracks on Level 53. They take an Indy Cab through another Level Chute, to check if that is also a Power Line and find that the flow in this industrial chute goes upward, and is much more sluggish and slow. Sonia Wight comments that this compares to blood flowing from and to the heart and lungs, which draws a nod from Ayrtan Davis. She also takes the time to bet big on virtual ponies, and finally hits the jackpot. Lucre aplenty!
Arriving at the Grav Race track in Sector 666 of Level 53, MistressAlexandra is mistaken for the star of the Pontifex Corp Sexy Soap P-Max and ushered away by racetrack personnel to a luxurious box. She watches the game from there and bets on her favorites, Qirex Kombinat. Phoenix, Sonia Wight and Ayrtan Davis spend some of Sonia's new-earned cash on a box of their own, even if this one is not as luxurious.
Once seated, Phoenix starts to interface with the Qirex Kombinat team's car, to feel the full force of the Grav Race. Sonia Wight is more interested in the Technomagic functions of a Psiborg, and starts to interface with Phoenix in order to see how she does what she does. But Phoenix had been Marked For Death by Demon Alpha, and Sonia Wight's attempt to set up a psychic link directs her straight through to the demon. Somehow, she is gazing out of the eyes of the demon as it sits in an abandoned Level Chute and sucks up Chi Energy to reform itself. After failing to return her mind to her body, Sonia Wight sends a message to Phoenix, a vision of how she was almost crushed by the manifesting demon in the Shining Brite nightclub, in the hopes that Phoenix will realize it is a plea for help. Phoenix is too tied up in the Qirex Kombinat car to act, but sends Ayrtan Davis to help Sonia Wight disengage. Sensing that Demon Alpha is on her track, she desperately throws out a virtual decoy to put him off the track, but is only partially successful.
Demon Alpha follows the decoy, which leads it straight to the Qirex Kombinat car that Phoenix is tracking. Sensing its approach, Phoenix shuts down the car magically. But the demon is still around, Ayrtan Davis can tell that it is seeking for another car to possess. Deciding to take the fight down to the racing circuit to spare the spectators, Phoenix forms ethereal wings of fire and takes to the air while Sonia Wight teleports straight into the cockpit of the pit-stopped Qirex Kombinat Grav Racer. Just in time too. A Feisar Ab Grav Racer fumbles and flatlines and the wreck provides the demon with a perfect host to possess. The race is on.
Sonia Wight interfaces with the Qirex Kombinat Grav Racer while Phoenix rides shotgun on the outside. But the demon seems more resistant to her Psibolts this time; she is having little effect, while the demon sprays them with machine-gun fire not enough to do more than burn a little of the cars shields, but the back blast is enough to scour Phoenix and tear her bomber jacket to shreds. She is now all naked in the racetrack wind, with all the racetrack cameras playing over her supple young body. Sonia Wight has to focus all her energy just to stay on the track. Desperately, she goes for a Time Compression effect. Thankfully, Demon Alpha is distracted by a Hyperion Industries and a Zaibatsu Mishima racer two cars who jostle and fight one another for a chance at a clear shot at the demon, and all the publicity that can give them.
With the additional time now available, Phoenix starts a furious barrage of Psibolts, while Sonia jockeys for position and passes over a few choice Power Ups the Power Surge turns Phoenix into a living, ecstatic Power Line, and the feedback hits Sonia Wight like a bolt of lightning, instantly turning her on. This race is getting hot.
In her private box, MistressAlexandra gets an offer she cannot refuse: as a comment on this new deadly development on the racing circuit. Her sultry voice goes on the air, and the audience loves it; ratings go through the roof right away. She also rouses the audiences support for these humans fighting the Technodemon, and the Chi Energy of the game begins to shift to Our Heroines.
Failing to race the Qirex Kombinat vehicle, Demon Alpha manages to get in a shot with a rocket pack not solid enough to cause any real damage, but sufficient to jar the car and send Phoenix flying Sonia Wight can only save her by activating the repair docking clamps to bolt her to the underside of the car. There she hangs, naked and bound in the raging firestorm. Her glowing ethereal wings grow even larger and more radiant around the car, and she can deflect the brunt of the next series of attack from the demon. The car is still bumped, however, and suddenly Demon Alpha zooms past. Only he is more surprised than Sonia Wight, who immediately takes the chance to ram him using the full power of the Qirex Kombinat tractor engines and heavy hull to smash right into him. This fills Phoenix with jubilant energy, and suddenly her Psibolt reaches peak power it is as if a huge ball of flame explodes on the racetrack, and suddenly the demon is destroyed!
Coolly zipping through the Power Pit, Sonia Wight goes on to win the race; Phoenix uses her psychic blasts a few times, but after the fight with the demon, the rest of the race is no real challenge for Our Heroines. At the goal, MistressAlexandra comes down to deliver the prize, while the Qirex Kombinat staff claims credit for the victory and excuses the sudden change of drivers paving up the victory for all that its worth.
Then a man named Herlod Ritz appears a representative of Pontifex Corp who offers her a lavish contract to be a representative of their virtual Sexy Soap star, VampireAlexandra. They withdraw to discuss the details of the deal, and he lays it on heavily money and perks just for doing cool things and going to lavish parties.
Sonia Wight and Phoenix are offered contracts by Qirex Kombinat. Sonia Wight has some strange and immediate demands that she keeps secret from Phoenix, but they postpone any major decisions. Then they have an immediate post-victory photo session. Fueled by the passion of the victory and the feedback from their psychic link and all the Chi Energy that Phoenix has absorbed, they quickly succumb to the moment. With the nubile and naked Phoenix all over her, encouraged by the photographers, Sonia Wight soon sheds her own black leather outfit and opens herself to her friend and to the camera eye she is simultaneously watching it all on TV through her Cyber Secretary. Her last thought is TV shapes perceptions which shapes reality whatever is on TV is real. This is the real thing..
