Maker's face was all angles, severe and chalky white, a bleached paper sculpture in the shape of a woman. "You're far from the first wolf to dream themselves back home while sitting in my waiting room," she said. "But we have business to attend to, you and I."
She offered you a choice of enhancements, designed through her experimentation over the years in the Nail. You'd considered the offer, but when you learned that her studies had used the bodies of dozens of werewolves killed by the military over the years, you hesitated. The benefits to your abilities that she offered were real, but at what cost?
Soon after, Maker questioned you about your past quite thoroughly. It became immediately apparent that Sonoma or the Haven crew had leaked information to her about your true identity. She knew you were Colonel Williams's son, and she was fascinated. Before she could get too in-depth, her left arm twitched and she stared down at it, a look of alarm spreading over her face. It was her subdermal implant—the same type that many of the undercover prisoners were using for their escape.
Maker cursed. "I added an early warning system—last-minute adjustments in case someone screwed us," she said. "We have maybe thirty minutes until all hell breaks loose!" Abandoning all pretext of calm, Maker bolted back through the door to her lab in a mad dash. You followed her more out of instinct than conscious desire, the pounding sound of your heartbeat ringing in your sensitive ears. As you passed through the door into the sterile air of the laboratory, Maker ran past you, her hands wrapped like talons around reams of paper and computer components trailing bristling red wires. She turned and looked at you, her eyes bright and wild—not with fear, but exhilaration.
"You need to move," she said, short of breath. "I arranged for several minutes of downtime for the surveillance software during the Elders' Circle meeting. They should be explaining the nature of our escape right now. You need to warn them! This is our one chance to break out of the Nail, and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life sucking up to pea-brained imbeciles for favors." She turned to stare at you. "Go!"
Next
The Elders' Circle broke into a panic when you told them that the escape had begun early. Many of them were only just learning about the plan, and were completely unprepared for an imminent exodus. And yet they had no choice in the matter.
Sonoma's coarse hair bristled down her arms in a rippling wave, and she jerked in surprise as a change suddenly came upon her. Her breathing grew ragged and the tufts of fur around her neck stood on end as muscles stretched and groaned. A thin line of drool escaped her muzzle as she grinned through a set of razor-sharp teeth. The implants were doing their work. For the next hour, the wolves would be stronger than ever before, and with Maker's help, the suppression fields had been turned off. The breakout was on!
Escape!