Shadow Runner
Copyright 2002 © bladiediebla etc etc ( For those of you that don't know either the D&D-like game or the SNES game: You can stop reading right here. )
The year is 2050
And the Megaplexes are monsters casting long shadows.
When you become a ShadowRunner, that's where you live...
In the cracks between the giant corporate structures.
The Megacorps are powerful in a time when power means information...
...Computer information flowing in the global network called the Matrix.
1 : Overture.
Edgar Hilfman slowly opens his eyes, waits for the drowsiness to wear off and looks around. "What the.?" He's tied to a chair, hands behind his back and his feet are tied to the chair. His face hurts. Bad. He's in a very dark room and can't see much. He does see the little light over the door on the other side of the room, but that seems like hundreds of miles away. He also sees the blood on his shirt, which is torn to pieces. "What.What happened ?"
Tenth street station, exactly 66 hours and 6 minutes earlier. A train arrives, not too exciting since trains arrive there every 12 seconds, but this train is carrying more then rushed businessmen, bum's, whores, people who have nothing to do but ride trains and people you really don't WANT to know about. This particular train from the south end of the city also carries two heavy dude's escorting a little girl. THE little girl, the one everybody who is anybody has been talking about. She's known only as Loesje. A few days earlier, a daring Lone Star busted this girl out of a Gen-Lab and she's rumored to have the ability to turn any matter into ashes, but since her escape from the Gen-Lab she haven't said a word, eat or even sleep. This morning she was being escorted by the government to a "safe house" but something went sort of wrong. As she stepped out of the Federal House of Containment, escorted by 8 heavily armed men and women, she was taken away by a group of at least 20 Shadow Runners. Now Loesje is standing on Tenth Street under an escort, wearing a perfect disguise.
Meanwhile, a man walks into a club called The Swift. It's a small private club, classically decorated, red carpet, moon-light lamps and only 4 other customers. As soon as the man walks in, the bartender's face turns red, then white and then a weird gray-like color. " You should really stop changing skin-tones so often you freakin' mutant." " It's not like I can help it Edgar" says the bartender " so how are you doing tonight sir ? Long time no see." " Yeah I know, sorry about that, I had this assignment.Ended today though, so rack 'em up and keep 'em coming !" The bartender nodes his head and Edgar goes to his favorite seat, in the back, where it's shady and he can see anybody coming or going without being seen himself. He takes off his coat, well, it's more of an armor then a coat really, but you can't see that from the inside. But you can feel it when you wear it, so Edgar was glad to take it off. His two .395 semi-automatic pistols in holster now in plain sight, but that's quite normal in clubs like these. It's a up-scale ShadowRunners club and every patron here was at least half as deadly as Edgar, including the bartender.
Edgar looks at himself in a mirror that is hanging on the wall, he has a very trained body, a somewhat white skin and a head in the shape of your average egg, but you can't see that with his funky hair-do that looks most like a 1970 black afro. His small nose and mouth, but his big ears and eyes make him look somewhat like a Goblin, but the only man who once said that out loud is feeding the fish. While he looks at himself he thinks today's job over.
Edgar got a EcoTell message one night, but since it wasn't a known number, he let it go to his answering message.
"Mr. Hilfman, if you're there pick up now."
Edgar didn't recognize the voice so he didn't.
"Mr. Hilfman, please, we know you're there.Look.It's about a Run."
"Edgar Hilfman speaking."
"You guys are all the same you know that ?" Said a somewhat laughing voice.
"Why aren't you using your live video-feed and what is this about a Run ?"
"If you're interested in making your last half year's worth in half a week, come to The Aruba by 10 o'clock."
Click.
"Thank you for using EcoTell."
Before Edgar had a chance to ask or say anything, they hung up. "No way.This is a trap.Half a year's worth ?! No Run outside cyberspace is worth that much. No way, impossible. I'm not going."
So at ten to ten that night, Edgar entered The Aruba, fully equipped, but when he entered he couldn't believe his eyes, every good ShadowRunner from this city and surrounding ones was there ! All of them ! There had to be at least 20 to 30 men there. Then he noticed a group of Troll deckers sitting at the bar with a large collection of empty glasses and bottles in front of them. "I know them from somewhere." Edgar thought. The Troll's obviously thought the same, because when they saw him, they all stood up and drawed there guns. In a reflex Edgar jumped over to the nearest fat Orc he could find and used him as a living shield. The Orc died with a surprised look on his face and 8 bullets scattered all over his large body. Edgar drawed his two beloved guns and fired at the uncovered Troll's. The first one went down with a gaping hole in his neck, just above his torso armor, he grapped his neck with a look on his face that uttered his pain, unable to scream, he went trough his knees and died right there in that position, half sitting, half standing. The second Troll died almost exactly at the same time from two shots from Edgar's other gun. Both clean shots in the area of the Troll's second heart, he flew back with a loud scream, over the bar and into the human barkeeper who went down with a soft " Oe-ff". The two remaining Troll's pushed one of the nearby steel tables over and ducked behind it for cover, while shooting at Edgar who was still behind the fat Orc's body. Even when the Orc was laying there, Edgar could easily hide behind his gut. Every ShadowRunner in the place had his guns of other means of weapons drawn by now, not sure who to shoot, they all just took cover and waited. The two Troll's where both reloading and Edgar jumped up from behind the Orc and emptied his clips on the turned-over table. When the smoke cleared, Edgar could see two dead Troll's behind a bunch of twisted and shot up steel which was once a table. Every gun in the club was now pointed at Edgar and with two empty guns he could do nothing. They where everywhere, all around him, no place to hide.
"ENOUGH !" A tall, skinny and angry looking Elf was in the door opening, with his long trench coat and silver hair moving because of the wind from outside. "I did NOT bring you idiots together so you can kill one another !"
Copyright 2002 © bladiediebla etc etc ( For those of you that don't know either the D&D-like game or the SNES game: You can stop reading right here. )
The year is 2050
And the Megaplexes are monsters casting long shadows.
When you become a ShadowRunner, that's where you live...
In the cracks between the giant corporate structures.
The Megacorps are powerful in a time when power means information...
...Computer information flowing in the global network called the Matrix.
1 : Overture.
Edgar Hilfman slowly opens his eyes, waits for the drowsiness to wear off and looks around. "What the.?" He's tied to a chair, hands behind his back and his feet are tied to the chair. His face hurts. Bad. He's in a very dark room and can't see much. He does see the little light over the door on the other side of the room, but that seems like hundreds of miles away. He also sees the blood on his shirt, which is torn to pieces. "What.What happened ?"
Tenth street station, exactly 66 hours and 6 minutes earlier. A train arrives, not too exciting since trains arrive there every 12 seconds, but this train is carrying more then rushed businessmen, bum's, whores, people who have nothing to do but ride trains and people you really don't WANT to know about. This particular train from the south end of the city also carries two heavy dude's escorting a little girl. THE little girl, the one everybody who is anybody has been talking about. She's known only as Loesje. A few days earlier, a daring Lone Star busted this girl out of a Gen-Lab and she's rumored to have the ability to turn any matter into ashes, but since her escape from the Gen-Lab she haven't said a word, eat or even sleep. This morning she was being escorted by the government to a "safe house" but something went sort of wrong. As she stepped out of the Federal House of Containment, escorted by 8 heavily armed men and women, she was taken away by a group of at least 20 Shadow Runners. Now Loesje is standing on Tenth Street under an escort, wearing a perfect disguise.
Meanwhile, a man walks into a club called The Swift. It's a small private club, classically decorated, red carpet, moon-light lamps and only 4 other customers. As soon as the man walks in, the bartender's face turns red, then white and then a weird gray-like color. " You should really stop changing skin-tones so often you freakin' mutant." " It's not like I can help it Edgar" says the bartender " so how are you doing tonight sir ? Long time no see." " Yeah I know, sorry about that, I had this assignment.Ended today though, so rack 'em up and keep 'em coming !" The bartender nodes his head and Edgar goes to his favorite seat, in the back, where it's shady and he can see anybody coming or going without being seen himself. He takes off his coat, well, it's more of an armor then a coat really, but you can't see that from the inside. But you can feel it when you wear it, so Edgar was glad to take it off. His two .395 semi-automatic pistols in holster now in plain sight, but that's quite normal in clubs like these. It's a up-scale ShadowRunners club and every patron here was at least half as deadly as Edgar, including the bartender.
Edgar looks at himself in a mirror that is hanging on the wall, he has a very trained body, a somewhat white skin and a head in the shape of your average egg, but you can't see that with his funky hair-do that looks most like a 1970 black afro. His small nose and mouth, but his big ears and eyes make him look somewhat like a Goblin, but the only man who once said that out loud is feeding the fish. While he looks at himself he thinks today's job over.
Edgar got a EcoTell message one night, but since it wasn't a known number, he let it go to his answering message.
"Mr. Hilfman, if you're there pick up now."
Edgar didn't recognize the voice so he didn't.
"Mr. Hilfman, please, we know you're there.Look.It's about a Run."
"Edgar Hilfman speaking."
"You guys are all the same you know that ?" Said a somewhat laughing voice.
"Why aren't you using your live video-feed and what is this about a Run ?"
"If you're interested in making your last half year's worth in half a week, come to The Aruba by 10 o'clock."
Click.
"Thank you for using EcoTell."
Before Edgar had a chance to ask or say anything, they hung up. "No way.This is a trap.Half a year's worth ?! No Run outside cyberspace is worth that much. No way, impossible. I'm not going."
So at ten to ten that night, Edgar entered The Aruba, fully equipped, but when he entered he couldn't believe his eyes, every good ShadowRunner from this city and surrounding ones was there ! All of them ! There had to be at least 20 to 30 men there. Then he noticed a group of Troll deckers sitting at the bar with a large collection of empty glasses and bottles in front of them. "I know them from somewhere." Edgar thought. The Troll's obviously thought the same, because when they saw him, they all stood up and drawed there guns. In a reflex Edgar jumped over to the nearest fat Orc he could find and used him as a living shield. The Orc died with a surprised look on his face and 8 bullets scattered all over his large body. Edgar drawed his two beloved guns and fired at the uncovered Troll's. The first one went down with a gaping hole in his neck, just above his torso armor, he grapped his neck with a look on his face that uttered his pain, unable to scream, he went trough his knees and died right there in that position, half sitting, half standing. The second Troll died almost exactly at the same time from two shots from Edgar's other gun. Both clean shots in the area of the Troll's second heart, he flew back with a loud scream, over the bar and into the human barkeeper who went down with a soft " Oe-ff". The two remaining Troll's pushed one of the nearby steel tables over and ducked behind it for cover, while shooting at Edgar who was still behind the fat Orc's body. Even when the Orc was laying there, Edgar could easily hide behind his gut. Every ShadowRunner in the place had his guns of other means of weapons drawn by now, not sure who to shoot, they all just took cover and waited. The two Troll's where both reloading and Edgar jumped up from behind the Orc and emptied his clips on the turned-over table. When the smoke cleared, Edgar could see two dead Troll's behind a bunch of twisted and shot up steel which was once a table. Every gun in the club was now pointed at Edgar and with two empty guns he could do nothing. They where everywhere, all around him, no place to hide.
"ENOUGH !" A tall, skinny and angry looking Elf was in the door opening, with his long trench coat and silver hair moving because of the wind from outside. "I did NOT bring you idiots together so you can kill one another !"