The casino had apparently built in a basement range for their guests, whilst firearms and the like were not allowed on the upper floors the basement range had been fitted should anyone feel the need to unload a few. I grabbed my bow and arrows, the wood smooth against my skin, even after all this time it still smelled like the jungle, a red feather dangled from beneath the fire point, a dragons feather, given to me by Nutu himself. I stood in a booth; in the next stall someone was firing pistols into a target with striking accuracy. I took a deep breath; it seemed like an age since I had taken up the bow, not since Chicago, I needed to practise.

The first volley of shots went wide of the centre, but remained on target; the second though were going for gold. I was in the middle of the third pass when a dark shadow loomed into my light.

"Morning Penumbra" I said not looking behind me, there weren't many people I felt tiny beside, Amm was the only other person to loom like that.

"You knew it was me with magic?" he asked, his voice deep and rumbling

"Nope" I said loosening another arrow to hit dead centre "You just have a presence is all" he remained silent, watching me hit the target over and over until my arrows were spent.

"Your feather" he noted "It is not a usual kind" I shook my head and turned to face him, well to face this guy I'd have difficulty even standing on a table, he was huge, even Amm would feel short beside him

"Dragon" I told him, that quirked a brow, he pulled a huge tree like arm back and removed a bow from his pack, compound bow, carbon fibre it was as tall as I was.

"Shoot" he instructed, I put down my own bow, taking his in my hands, it was light, but that would be the carbon fibre, I plucked the string experimentally, it didn't even move, I gave it a harder pluck, the slight vibration on the string rattled my arm, there was no way I could fire this, however there was something in Penumbra's face that told me he was testing me, better to try and fail than not try at all I suppose. I turned to the range, my target in sight I loaded the arrow the troll presented me, the arrows were heavier than the bow, and fletched with the same beautifully bright feathers that adorned the great Troll's back. I took a breath, I figured this would be at least twice my strength in pull, maybe more, I would need to aim quickly, there was no chance I would be able to hold and aim more precisely. Here it goes.

I pulled hard and fast, bringing the bow straight as I did so, then almost immediately let the arrow fly, it hit the bottom right of the target, I say hit, it actually took the bottom half off the target, as expected my arms were on fire, so it pulled slightly to one side . . . interesting. Penumbra held out a hand for his bow, I held out mine without looking for a second arrow. The shadow shrugged and a second arrow was placed in my hands. "You do not want to hurt yourself human" he said, I said nothing, simply taking another breath, adjusting my position slightly. I pulled again, holding the draw this time, despite the fire and took aim, just as my arms felt the need to collapse I let the arrow fly, the vibration on the string so great it shook my arm, it was all I could do not to drop it. The arrow hit the target dead centre, splintering my wooden arrows to pieces and taking out a hole the diameter of my arm in the target. The range went silent for a moment, other shooters taking note. I couldn't help but grin, well my arms were dead but I had managed it.

I turned to face Penumbra and handed his bow back to him, taking care to not let the shaking in my hands show, he took it with a numb look on his face, then drew out a small piece of folded paper and a pencil, scratched his chin with the rubber side and drew a line on it, grunted and folded it back up, sliding it away into his pocket. "Not bad" he said "For a human" he gave me a slight smile, the sight slightly horrifying to anyone who hadn't grown up with an Orc and Troll in the house.

"Not bad, that was fucking amazing" Lathain's voice said, he'd been stood behind Penn the entire time, I made a mental note not to call Penumbra 'Penn' to his face, I wasn't sure if he'd appreciate it much, and didn't want to find out if he was the type to take offence. The elf moved forward "My turn" he said clapping his hands together with a smile.

Taking the bow in his hands he pulled at it, testing the weight as I had done; I couldn't recall Lathain having ever fired a bow, I knew he'd taken the same lesson we all had in the amazon but still, he'd preferred his knives and pistols over any other projectile. I hadn't seen much of his hand to hand either. I was too curious to see how he would do to leave straight away. I stood to one side, massaging my aching arms as he proceeded

"Arrow please" he grinned, one beautifully fletched arrow was dutifully given and he took up his position beside me, he pulled back the line easily, holding for what seemed like an excruciating amount of time before letting the arrow fly loose. The arrow hit the base of the target, the fallen face clearly not what Lathain had expected. A second arrow was presented.

"I got a second shot" I explained "it's only fair" I received a shrug for that, and the second arrow was let free. Again, on target but nowhere near the centre, Lathain cursed under his breath, handing over the bow to me; I felt the shaking of his arms as he did so feeling a little better at myself that I hadn't been the only one to struggle with the huge bow. Penn simply grunted, but Lathain wasn't done, he shot Penn a grin and flicked his wrist, lightning quick, looking out down the range a throwing knife was embedded into the back target, having flown through the hole created by my arrow to hit dead centre. A way to win that was for sure. I couldn't help but grin, and handed back the bow to Penn. "Well boys, I'll let you be, I'm going to find a place for breakfast" sliding from the booth under the arm of Penumbra who was once again placing a pencil line on his folded paper.

Strange one that guy. I thought as I left, I felt the shadow following me instantly as I left, I caught a brief reflection of my follower, Scathe. I ignored her, the casino floor was packed with meta humans of all kinds, she kept up with my pace, I briefly caught Whisperer's eye as he surveyed the entrance on constant look out, he gave me a nod and I acknowledged him, using the line of sight to cast a mind link. The effort was harder than I had expected, but remembered where I was, casino's didn't allow magic on the gambling floor. The signal, for lack of a better term was fuzzy but I could still make him out.

Do you know you have someone following you? he asked

Yes she's followed me from the range I told him

Want me to shake her up a bit?

Nope, I got this one I assured him

Let me know if you need me he said Also you're attracting attention from the guards, I'd drop your spell, and you aren't supposed to be able to cast in here he warned

Very true, I'll catch you later then dropping the spell and taking a covert glance about, sure enough I was indeed being followed by several guards now, each dropping back as they saw I was intending to leave anyway. As I reached the door Scathe finally caught up, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Ghost, a moment" she said, I got the impression she wasn't asking

"I'm just out for breakfast" I told her "Join me if you must" and continued walking, I'm not sure what it was that she saw in my stance but she didn't argue, instead falling into step beside me.

We walked in silence until we reached the equivalent of china town; the streets were loud, bustling with activity, I found a small restaurant and took a seat. Scathe, who had been silent up till now sat opposite, I ordered a bowl of ramen and sat back, arms folded whilst Scathe declined a meal then waited for her to speak.

"Ghost" she began "Lathain tells me you're a master infiltrator" she said, eying up my slight figure, "I need your help with something" I motioned for her to continue. She looked about her nervously then leaned forward "If the plan fails, I need a back up, I need you to steal the data chip" she whispered, she seemed particularly nervous, her dark green eyes pleading with me. A nagging thought formed in my brain and tried to catch my attention

"I had already considered that possibility" I told her, the image in my brain refused to form properly

"What do you need?" she asked "If you need resources to meet you in Neo Tokyo I can provide them for you" I tried not to laugh

"I only need me and KC" I told her, there was a good reason KC was sticking around, and not just because she had been dragged along. The she-elf looked at me hard for a moment, she seemed . . . scared

"I will pay additional if the need arises" she said "I need the chip to be unusable"

"But you still need to show that it isn't linked to you" I confirmed "I get it, you look like you did everything within your power to get the chip to the college vaults and your employer can't hurt you" I cocked my head to one side "Why are you so afraid of them?" I asked, curious now "You're a high born, you can work anywhere, and likely for better money too"

Scathe fidgeted in her seat and said nothing. The only reason she would be this uncomfortable would be if they had something on her, or she had a secret that she didn't want them to know about, I recalled her earlier comment, my employers will start to ask uncomfortable questions, she had said. She was a high born runner, like Lathain, it wasn't common, but it wasn't unheard of.

"Who are you running from?" I asked "Them? Or someone else you know?" I knew all too well about hiding from my own family. Scathe didn't meet my eyes and stood as my food arrived

"Anything you need" she said bowing slightly as she turned to go

This mission looked to be full of strange occurrences. In my mind the nagging thought I had been trying to work out huffed loudly and crossed its arms in annoyance.