Chasing Shadows (posted 2017/05/11)

The Ares Firebird bucked yet again beneath Cypher, reminding him why he hated flying by thunderbird.

The first time he had flown in a thunderbird was when he left Seattle for Denver over three years ago. The pilot was a legend in his own mind, and thought he could fly through any storm. Well, he did manage to fly through one as it was pushing itself over the Rockies, but not without making just about everyone else vomit at least twice.

The second time had been when he and Seraphina left Denver on an artifact hunt. The flight was probably just as bad with the constant landings and take-offs just to get down to Los Angeles, but it was worse considering that the two of them had been up for the better part of a day before flying and could not even catch a decent cat nap during the flight.

This time was not worse than either of those two, but turbulence certainly did not make it any better. And at least they were not going up and down like a yo-yo for short flying hops, and they had better seats too.

Their initial flight from New York to Denver was supposed to have a short layover before flying on again to Seattle. During that flight the A.I. Torq had gone off to check to see if anyone was trying to track or follow them. It did not return.

The idea had been to stop off at Rei's place to collect the rest of their things and be off. What had happened was their pilot for the flight out had gotten himself geeked and his aircraft torched.

Cypher's younger sister, Sarah "Hunter" Adams, legitimate bounty hunter and sometime shadowrunner, did some light work into figuring out why. Part of this was for her brother, but part also turned out to be paid work as well, and ironically by Denver's Zone Defense Force.

The two had ended up spending well over a month in Denver, hiding out at Rei's place much to her dismay. During that time Seraphina learned a little bit about hacking while helping Cypher finish up a few last programs that he had been working on.

And the death of their original ride out of Denver? About the same time the two had gotten there, there had been a rather spectacular fight in the Hub. Roger Soaring Owl, former Vice President of Knight Errant, had been attacked by what was identified as a flesh-form insect spirit. He had survived and the bug was destroyed, but the incident had caused many people to panic. That panic caused someone to believe their coyote out of Denver was in collusion with the bugs.

There was pretty much only one policy anybody took when it came to insect spirits.

Seraphina was been briefly freaked out as well. What had managed to calm her down was the both of them getting a personal defense sprayer and having its single does payload filled with KE-IV.

So they found themselves stuck in Denver, hiding out at Rei Kanzaki's place. His sister's roommate was not all that thrilled at having the two staying there again, but they had managed to strike a deal.

Cypher also had gotten his message from William "Bull" MacCallister, just like Peace Man had said. When told of the open ended delay in getting to Seattle, his response was, "Nullsheen. You get here when you get here."

It had been about a month and a half before they had managed to secure a ride. A Johnson in Seattle had managed to track them down for a job and made transportation arrangements for them and their gear. This landed them with a thunderbird pilot by the name of Three Dog.

Three Dog was a dark skinned human, with dark eyes and really short cut dark hair and a neatly trimmed goatee, and towered almost half a meter above Cypher's meter and a half frame. He wore an "Ace Of Spades" styled Aces High aviator's jacket and AR glasses with hexagonal shaped lenses.

Once Cypher felt confident they were well on their way he got around to updating Ironhide and his drones with some software, not only in using his custom firewall program but also ECCM and other autosofts that he had found on Ravage. He was long done making sure all of their drones were up to date by the time Three Dog started their approach to a little airfield on the outskirts of Seattle, and it was not until he had parked the thunderbird in his hangar (which also served as his workshop and home) that they disembarked.

"You two know where you're supposed to meet Johnson?" Three Dog asked as he followed them down the stairs. The rear loading ramp was also lowering so his cargo could be unloaded.

"We were supposed to text him when we got here, and he'd send us the details." Cypher answered. "And I've tried three times already. They keep coming back." This did not sit well with him, though there could be any of a number of reasons why the messages were not being received.

Even though Three Dog did not really have any neighbors to complain about his late night flights the hangar was still dark, with only cloud filtered moonlight to give even the barest of illumination from low in the eastern sky.

The hangar was cool, with the tang of metal shavings and heaviness of used motor oil and grease filling the air.

"So you must be Cypher after all." came a voice from the shadows.

A human male stepped out to where he could be seen. Slender and wearing what looked like your generic, cookie cutter business suit, his dark hair slicked back in a way that made him look like a shark lawyer.

Behind him was another human male, a male ork, and male troll. Judging by their black leather jackets and other accessories they were not business professionals like the one who spoke.

"Looks like I owe my contact an apology." the well dressed man said. "I had honestly been expecting a pair of dwarves, especially after that hit in Central Park. Wasn't actually expecting children."

Cypher forced himself to keep calm. "So you're Mr. Johnson then." he said.

"I am, and I'm afraid that there's been a change in plans." Mr. Johnson told him.

Static filled the airwaves, causing Cypher to flinch as his PAN and all other connections were suddenly lost. All it took was a thought to launch his custom ECCM software, but by the time his PAN was reconnected Mr. Johnson's followers had drawn handguns and were aiming at them.

Slowly Cypher raised his hands, as did Seraphina.

"What the hell's goin' on?" asked Three Dog.

Pulling up Ravage's wireless ID, Cypher sent the drone a single message: HELP. Then he brought up Ironhide's wireless ID and sent to it a command to open all of its doors. If they were working like he had programmed them, the military grade Doberman drone and others would have automatically launched their installed ECCM software as soon as they had recognized the static filling the air. Their processors might not run the software as effectively as the commlink in his head could, but it was still better than nothing.

"They probably didn't tell you, Three Dog, but these two kids are actually wanted fugitives back in Manhattan." Mr. Johnson said. "Oh, Cypher, hands higher please. Don't want you trying something with those holdouts you have."

Scowling just a little, Cypher raised his hands up high. "You've done your homework."

"Hey, what these two do is their own business…" Three Dog started to say.

"Restrain them. All of them." Mr. Johnson ordered.

The other human approached them, a Cavalier Deputy revolver in his left hand, his right hand pulling out a set of basic handcuffs.

"Sera?" hissed Cypher.

"Mana's too thick." she answered through gritted teeth. "Can't even call Astorath."

"Yes, I've done my homework on you two and I took precautions." Mr. Johnson gloated as Cypher was restrained first. "Jammers to cut you off from your drones and a magician who can create mana domains thick enough to hamper her magic. I'm afraid there isn't anything you can do."

"And you arranged this? Getting us here?" Seraphina asked.

"Partly. It didn't take much to arrange your seats with Three Dog to get flown in. Much cheaper than paying a chartered flight."

"And who's payin' for our asses?" asked Cypher.

"Some rather upset Neo-Anarchists. They're payin' a hundred thousand for you."

"Each?" Seraphina asked as the human secured another pair of similar handcuffs around her wrists.

"Total."

"So fifty thousand nuyen for each of us?" Cypher asked.

"No. Fifty thousand U.C.A.S. dollars."

Cypher and Seraphina looked at each other, frowning. The exchange rate fluctuated, but trended to stay at about five dollars to the nuyen.

"Is that all?" Cypher asked, looking back to Mr. Johnson.

"Is that all?" Mr. Johnson asked back.

"That all?" Three Dog echoed. The clicking sound of handcuffs told Cypher that he too was being restrained.

"It's an insult is what it is." Cypher countered.

Seraphina nodded vigorously.

The ork and troll looked to each other, apparently confused at the childrens' reactions. Even Mr. Johnson cocked an eyebrow in wonderment.

"You two have seriously inflated egos if you think you're worth more than ten grand." the ork commented.

A data prompt from Ravage appeared at the bottom of Cypher's view. It was a series of images, sent to both him and Seraphina. First was a pic from the smartgun mounted on the top of its modified Stoner-Ares M107 heavy machinegun. This he pushed to the side for the rest of the pics, from Rumble, Frenzy, Hound, and Tracks, each from their smartgun systems, each at different angles, and all five pics were of their aimed targets. There was even a constructed image from Ravage's tactical software, a basic floor plan layout indicating everyone's positions, and the security drones had them surrounded. The drone was so good it honestly sent chills down Cypher's spine.

"Compared to the cost of jammers and the flight, and considering what the ZDF was willing to pay for info on us last year, fuck yeah!"

"And just how much was that?" asked the ork.

"So you their contact here, Mr. J?" Cypher asked, ignoring the ork. "They get a cut of the bounty after you collect from the Neo-A's?"

"You could say that." Mr. Johnson answered.

It seemed too easy to Cypher. Johnson might have had extra backup or something considering how easily he gave up the information. Or he was just that overconfident.

"So, can we make a counter offer?" Cypher asked.

The ork stared at him in surprise. Did he really think that he or Seraphina had only pocket change?

"No." Mr. Johnson flatly answered.

Seraphina groaned. "Fuck 'em."

Cypher shrugged. "Oh well, your loss." he said.

"What are you…?" Three Dog started to ask.

With a thought Cypher sent the fire order to his drones.

It is not exactly in human nature to stand still when one finds themselves in the middle of a gunfight, and even Cypher and Seraphina dropped to the floor when the three Doberman and two Soldat drones opened fire. The eruption of gunfire was deafening, but brief.

Cypher grunted as he tried to push himself upright, his right shoulder feeling like molten lead after hitting the floor, his ears throbbed, and his nose was starting to burn from the sulfur smell of spent ammo. Overbalancing himself he ended up rolling onto his back to just lie on the floor, his arms pinned beneath him.

"Fuck that was loud!" cried Seraphina.

Cypher got a new batch of images from Ravage, confirming what he already suspected, that Mr. Johnson and his shadowrunners had been gunned down.

"Yeah, yeah." Cypher added, sending a message to Ravage to guard for intruders. It promptly sent back its current activity stating Rumble and Frenzy were already going outside on patrol.

"What the hell was that?" asked Three Dog.

"Bunch 'o security drones with machineguns." Cypher answered.

"So, any ideas on how to get us outta this predicament?" Seraphina asked.

"If I could get Buzzsaw outta my pocket, yeah." Cypher answered. "It could at least cut our handcuffs off."

"I've got a few Horizon HandyMan drones that can help." Three Dog told them.

"No good while the jammers're goin'." Cypher said.

"Then how'd your drones do… whatever they did?"

"I've got ECCM software loaded on 'em, and they're programmed to launch the program if they detect they're bein' jammed."

Seraphina grunted as she inched her way over to Cypher. "Ya think Johnson was tellin' the truth? Ya know, 'bout the bounty?"

"Fuck no." Cypher answered as Seraphina rolled herself against him. He might have found this situation a bit more fun if it were not for their handcuffs or the fact that they were almost kidnapped. She was working her hands into one of his pockets, rummaging for the other Yokujin drone that he had. "I'd bet he was tellin' 'em half or less what the Neo-A's'd pay."

"You sure 'bout that?" Three Dog asked. "This bounty he was talkin' about?"

"Oh yeah, we know we really pissed off the Neo-A's over there. But there's only one reason why they'd put a bounty on us." Cypher answered.

"Sid." Seraphina added.

"Yup."

"Who's Sid?" Three Dog asked.

"Sid was a Neo-A cell leader," Cypher said, trying to twist a little to help Seraphina, "came up with a plan to return Manhattan to the people. Thing was, he had some bio-weapon plague stuff that'd wipe out most of the population."

"We got hired to stop him." Seraphina added, grunting as she jerked her whole body into position to reach deeper. "And we did. Saved the city and everything." She grunted again before adding, "I think I got it."

"Alright." Cypher said, smiling.

"So the Neo Anarchists want revenge on you? Why?" Three Dog asked.

"Well, I sorta burned Sid." Seraphina lightly said as she wiggled herself from Cypher, the little drone in her hands. "He flew off to try and escape, so I flew after him, and I hit him with a really powerful flamethrower spell."

"Ashed him in mid flight, right?" Cypher asked.

"I don't think there was even ash left."

"Right, enough chit chat. You workin' on that 'buzzsaw' thing?"

"I think I got it… on." Seraphina announced.

Cypher could feel the brush of air as the drone's turbofans kicked on. It took a few seconds for it to recognize the signal jamming, and just like Ravage and the other drones it ran its copied ECCM software. As close as the two were it was more than enough to grant bidirectional communication.

"I'm synched up with it." Cypher said, getting an ARO of its view of the world. "If ya can roll over just a little more I can… there." He tagged the chain of her handcuffs as something for the drone to cut, and on a gentle breeze the drone hovered over to her and snipped the chain with its vibrobladed pincers.

Seraphina was about as quick to her feet as her body would allow. It looked to Cypher like she too was not feeling too good after hitting the hard hangar floor. At least she was not too squeamish about rummaging through the pockets of a dead person to find the key to their handcuffs. "So, what do we do now?" Seraphina asked as she helped Cypher to his feet. He turned his back to her so she could unlock his handcuffs.

Cypher rolled his shoulder a little to loosen it back up before he took the key from Seraphina. "Once Buzzsaw's done finding those jammers I'll message Bull that we're here. At least we'll have someone to get us work." Once he took the key he unlocked her broken handcuffs.

"And the bodies?"

Cypher was walking over to Three Dog when the man said, "I know someone who knows someone that can help with that."

"Tamanous?" Cypher asked, unlocking Three Dog's handcuffs.

"Yeah."

Cypher nodded.

Seraphina was a little squeamish about the idea, but it was a reality they both had accepted. And sometimes Tamanous was useful in disposing dead bodies. Ghouls that needed to eat frequently did not ask where their meal came from.

Cypher collected the commlinks from the three dead shadowrunners and Mr. Johnson, and started by hacking Mr. Johnson's commlink for anything useful. While he did this Seraphina, growing extra moody about the lasting mana domain, went to trying to find the jammers Mr. Johnson had set up, and Three Dog went to his own household drones to clean up the blood and bodies.

It was over an hour later when they were done. Three Dog had whatever money Mr. Johnson and the dead shadowrunners had, Cypher had their contacts lists (which included a potential Neo-Anarchist in Manhattan), and Seraphina had managed to track down and switch off the jammers.

Once things were settled Cypher had heard back from MacCallister via text. The message included an address and a commcode of someone that would help arrange a place for them to stay.

So they were off from Three Dog's hanger, heading south along Redmond's eastern border with the Salish-Shidhe Council, a waning crescent moon rising into the sky to their left.

After about ten minutes of traveling, Seraphina broke the silence with a chuckle. Looking over to her Cypher saw her looking out the window.

"What's funny?" he asked.

"I had a feelin' we weren't gonna ever be back. Not with that bug hit in the Hub and all."

"And 'cause of some chip head."

"What was the title of that sim?" Seraphina asked, turning her gaze from the shadowy mountain to Cypher.

"Ah… Starship Troopers. Was an old flatvid 'bout a war against bugs."

Seraphina shivered. Ever since the job where they infiltrated a business called Jordan Aerodynamics and found it was a black ops research facility studying insect spirit hosts, Seraphina an extreme fear of anything remotely creepy crawly. At the best she would shiver and back away, while at the worst she would react violently with magic.

They were several kilometers out from a little place called Preston. It was at the southernmost tip of Redmond, and butted up against the Salish-Shidhe. It was also where the road they were on ended and they would go onto I-90 to head deeper into Seattle.

Just as they were rounding the bend to get to the I-90 onramp Seraphina broke the silence. "Um, Sky, I think I found something strange."

"Strange?" Cypher asked.

She passed over an ARO, and he saw that she had been poking around with his sniffer and scanner software and fueling her interest in the matrix and its technologies. What was apparently strange to her was the occasional appearance of a wireless device that she could not identify, but had managed to track to being in constant close proximity to them.

First thing that came to his mind was that she had stumbled onto a stealth tag.

"You still got my old cyberarm case?" Cypher asked.

"Yeah. Stashed in back somewhere. Why?"

"Gonna need one of the scanners in the hand. Ironhide, pull us over for the next parking space you spot."

That parking space came up rather quickly on their right as the truck immediately slowed down to turn off the street and onto the property of an abandoned athletics center. The truck pulled into a spot at the end of a heavily overgrown tennis court.

They both got out, and Seraphina immediately went to the back seat to dig out the remains of Cypher's old fake cybernetic arm. The commlink that had been built into it was removed, but the cluster of sensors in the hand remained.

"So why do we need this?" Seraphina asked.

"I think you found a stealth tag. You try and find it while I keep scanning for its ID, and hopefully whatever it's sending to."

They were there for a good while before Seraphina actually found the tag first. During that time Cypher had not found any errant signals that he could not otherwise identify. And it was in a relatively sneaky place too, stuck in a gel round that was adhered to the rear differential of their truck.

"Yup, that's gotta be it." Cypher said as he crawled back out from underneath Ironhide, holding a creamy clear and sticky wad between his thumb and index finger.

"That?"

"Yup. Tracer round. Low velocity glob of sticky crap with a stealth tag in it. Shoot it at what you wanna follow and it doesn't damage the vehicle."

"And if you shoot that at a person?"

"I think it's like getting hit with a gel round." With a flick of his finger he launched the sticky glob into the tennis court. "I think ya did good finding it."

Seraphina beamed. Partly for the praise, but more for the fact that what little she had managed to learn had paid off.

"But now I'm concerned about whoever was following us." Cypher said.

"Then let's get going!"

They did not leave right away. Instead they both went through their collection of drones to change their access IDs. Their commlinks and Ironhide were easier, loaded with spoof chips for a quick change, and the truck also cycled its license plate and changed colors to match.

And this time, as the truck drove itself onto I-90, the only shadows that followed them were true shadows.