Run 00 : Back In Business (based on the mission written by Steven "Bull" Ratkovich; updated 2018/08/09)
Seattle in December can be miserable. It's cold, cloudy, and while maybe not quite as rainy as you might think it's still humid.
I had a little place north of Poverty Bay in Tacoma. Yeah, the air sometimes stank, but that was Tacoma for you, and what respirators were for. It wasn't too uncommon, so the neighbors never really gave me a second look whenever they saw me wearing one, which was most of the time when I was out in the neighborhood. Not like I was the only one, too.
Now why would I care if the neighbors gave me a second look? Well, for starters I'm technically a criminal and an illegal alien. Now that doesn't mean I'm your typical SINless criminal type like many shadowrunners are, but with the nation of Tir Tairngire south of Seattle it means that I am a SINner and a registered felon, even if the charges were a bit trumped up and mostly fabricated. If my neighbors even had a clue as to who I really was they'd be more than willing to hand my hoop over to Knight Errant to get extradited back to Tir Tairngire, maybe with a complimentary noose tightened around my neck instead of a pretty pink bow.
So how can I live in a nice neighborhood like this? The same way millions upon millions before me have for the last century and a half. I have a fake ID so the neighbors know me as Benjamin Ferguson, a low level executive with crazy work hours, employed at one of the docks where no one else works, or has friends and/or family that work there (as far as I know). I try to keep to myself, though I'm friendly with the neighbors so they don't get suspicious, and I never bring my work ('real' or shadow) home with me.
So it was a 'day off' in the middle of the week for me, middle of the afternoon, and I'm checking the football scores to see how the Seahawks are faring when my commlink starts going off. After checking the ID and seeing it was a fixer named MacCallister. I've done a job or two for him already, and figured this was work related so I hit the [Accept] icon.
"Hoi chummer!" the ork said with a cheery grin. He had short cut hair and goatee, black with a touch of gray, and a pair of gold datajacks at his left temple. "I hear tell you might be interested in a bit of biz. If you're interested, head on to over to Underworld 93 tonight at seven. There's a small concert going on. Let the doorman know you're there to meet me, and he'll get you some good seats. After the show's over, we'll have a chat and I'll tell you a bit more. Interested?"
"Yeah, MacCallister, I'm interested." I reply.
"Great!" grinned the ork, "Got what I need from Joss, so you're good to go. See you there!"
Before it was a wiz nightclub Underworld 93 was nothing more than a warehouse just on the other side of the border to Puyallup. On the outside it looked like a basic ferrocrete building, standing five stories tall. Aside from the simple steel sign that bore the club's name, it might have just been passed off as another derelict building.
Of course, that was if you weren't up on the technology and could see augmented reality. In AR there was a blazing neon sign with Underworld 93's logo: Charon, ferryman of the dead, driving a speedboat on the river Styx. Of course this looked all the more spectacular just after sunset.
I'd never been here before, so I had to look the place up. This was not frequently the place you wanted to be for dancing or drinking, there were plenty of clubs and bars Downtown that kept trading off that title like the town bicycle. No, this was the place where you came to see the megastars on their way to becoming megastars, and sometimes when they came through Seattle on a music tour. Melody Tyger, JetBlack, Mercurial, Shield Wall, Blitzkrieg, and many more such huge names in music, past and present, active and retired, living and deceased, they all graced the stage of Underworld 93 at some point.
The main entrance to the club was towards the left side of the front of the building, with a twenty year old marquee taking up the last bit to the corner. Running to the right was a thick line of people waiting to get in. I wondered what MacCallister would call a big concert.
Well, per the ork's instructions I went straight up to the main entrance, ignoring the insults coming at me from some who must've been waiting hours just to get a glimpse of the door.
There were two really well dressed trolls standing guard at the door, and one of them had a clipboard with a few sheets of paper. And I don't mean that wireless paper that people used these days, but actual paper, what some half jokingly referred to as 'Dead Tree Format.' Well, that was one way to make it impossible to hack your way onto the list.
The couple at the head of the line had just managed to get in, and I could hear and feel the synthmetal base beat of whoever was playing while the door was open. Before the line moved up I saw an ARO set against the wall that pretty much explained the long line and massive crowd. Performing in less than half an hour was Maria Mercurial. She had pretty much hit novahot stardom in 2048, and practically fell from the music scene some years later. Only recently was she recovering, and her latest album Shattered Me was already starting to top the music sales.
"No cutting." one of the trolls gruffly told me.
"Yeah, but I'm on the list." I told him.
"Says who?"
"MacCallister. I'm here to meet him. Name's Bishop."
The other troll flipped through a few pages. "Nope, no Bishop."
"Sorry, that's my nickname." I say, trying to think quickly. "Maybe under my real name, Ben Ferguson."
Real name? Yeah, right. It just happened to be the name of the ID I was using tonight.
The troll didn't even bother looking at the clipboard. "Nope, not here."
The other troll elbowed his partner. "Didja check the short list?" he asked.
Apparently not when the troll with the clipboard went back to it and flipped through the pages to the very last one, a page that was more like a card that he had not looked at yet. "Ah, here he is." he said, sounding a little disappointed. He nodded as the other troll unhooked the rope to let me past.
"What the hell?" someone from the line cried.
I turned around to look at the others, spying who probably yelled out. Stepping backwards towards the door I yelled to him with a wave, "Helps to know people!"
Security was fierce, and I almost missed the MAD scanner as I walked up the stairs into the lobby. Naturally it went off with a very annoying buzz. There were two more guards here, ork and human, and both had a rather dangerous look to them in how they carried themselves. I gave them no hassles as I carefully drew my Predator IV and exchanged it for a claim tag. One of them waved a wand over me to double check that I still wasn't trying to slip anything by them.
Pocketing the tag I looked around. The lobby, which took up the whole corner of the building here, was packed with people chatting, posing for their MeFeeds, or just gawking at the various memorabilia of music stars secured in glass cases. Sound proofing was still pretty good here, the synthmetal still being suppressed enough where you didn't have to yell just to be heard by the person next to you.
At the far side of the lobby were two archways, and pretty much the only way to go besides outside. Once I passed through an archway I saw a wide sweeping ramp down to the club proper just to my right, and it was a lot easier to hear the current act. Far to the right, and past the weapon check room, were the bathrooms and club office.
"Can I help you?" I heard someone ask me. Turning I saw a rather attractive ork, big boned compared to humans or elves but probably a little on the slim side for ork average, with a nice shape for her bust and hips. She looked like she was barely twenty-one.
"Yeah, was supposed to meet MacCallister here." I told her.
"And your name?" she asked me, sounding rather chipper.
"Um, Bishop."
She smiled really big. "Great! There's a booth reserved for you and your friends. Right this way!" she said. Looked like she really loved her job.
I was led back into the lobby and over to a spiral staircase that was tucked away in the corner, and followed her up. Damn she had a nice ass in her bluejeans.
"So who's playin' right now?" I asked my escort when we reached the next level up.
"They're called Emerald Cacophony." she answered, still smiling.
At least they didn't sound like their name might suggest. Nothing at all like the random screeching and grating noise people thought metal and rock & roll was a century ago.
Above the dance floor and stage was an array of catwalks, balconies, and booths that were either anchored to the walls or suspended from the ceiling. Directly below us was the dance floor, cram packed with gyrating bodies. Also on the ground level, and to the right, was a large collection of tables for those who wanted to sit and drink. Seating was primo next to the bar as not an empty chair could be seen, and when one table was vacated it was immediately occupied by someone else. Next to the bathrooms by the bar, tucked in a corner, was a ten meter tall, bald and bullet-headed figure that was the unofficial mascot of Underworld 93. It was called "The Beast," and had stood there for well over 20 years now, shooting lasers from its eyes, spewing smoke from its base and music from its belly, with neolux tubing running its length to illuminate it in a somewhat eerie glow. The club was even up with the times, using AR to help augment some flashy effects.
At the far end of the club was the stage, built about two meters above the dance floor, with a huge video wall that provided visual displays for whoever was playing. Immediately off to the right was the backstage area.
MacCallister must've had some pull with whoever had set up tonight's performances when I saw where the booths were. They were probably the best possible seats in the place up here for those who wanted to relax and enjoy a performance. I also wasn't the first one to arrive, seeing two familiar faces.
The larger of the two was Rook, a mountain of an ogre. Now your average ogre stood at about one hundred and seventy centimeters and averaged around one hundred kilograms, so a bit shorter and heavier than your average human. They were a variant of the homo sapiens robustus, and averaged a bit smaller than their ork cousins as well, but as always there were exceptions and the exceptional.
Rook was most certainly one of those exceptional exceptions. He was nearly two and a quarter meters tall and tipped the scales at two hundred and forty kilograms easily. His curly brown hair was kept short, his large round face was clean shaven, and his tusks were shorter than normal. Well, actually they really were about the same as any other ogre's, but they didn't grow in proportion with everything else and so Rook's immense size made them look small. Overall this made him almost as tall as the average fomori and just as massive. All he needed was a set of horns and he could actually pass for one.
As I understand it, Rook suffered from a form of giantism, an excess production of growth hormones that resulted in his incredible size. He had been fortunate enough in that his giantism managed to naturally switch itself off somehow, but he had underwent more than one bone density treatment and heart replacement surgery in his life to alleviate the strain his incredible size had put on his body. Outside of the usual hazards of life in the shadows Rook stood to live a good long life, by ogre standards. His efficient ogre metabolism, which led many ogres to become obese, let him eat about as much as normal without becoming excessively fat, though if you saw him topless it was difficult to tell how well muscled he really was.
The other person was tiny compared to Rook, a dwarf that I had also worked with on some past jobs. He wasn't particularly special, which helped him slip into a crowd rather well when he wanted to disappear. He went by the name Volt, shortened from Voltage, and as I understood it he earned it from receiving an incredible number of electrical shocks in the course of a single job.
Volt was about a meter-twenty, typical build for a dwarf, with dark chocolate brown skin, short black hair, a really short beard, and brown eyes. Though it did not show now, I knew that he had replacement hands and feet, and the one time I had gotten a really good look at his aura I had also seen that he was wired and had some extensive scarring down along his spine. Like Cara, the cybered shaman adept I know, his hands and feet were modular, using unmodified synthetic models for daily use and more specialized cybernetic ones for shadow work.
"Bishop, mon ami," Rook said, his voice a deep bass that was to the ears like crushed velvet was to the touch. He waved one very large hand, and I casually waved back. I slid into the bench seat in the next booth.
Seemingly satisfied we were okay my escort left us. Yeah, I probably took a little bit more to watch her walk away than I really should have.
"Packed house, eh?" I asked as I got a chance to sit and look around. Really nice of MacCallister to get us a couple of booths for the show.
"Been pretty crazy tonight. Surprised the bouncers haven't had much to do." Volt replied. "Any idea who else's gonna show tonight?"
"Not a clue." I tell Volt. Maybe one or two more people were likely to show up for the job. Not that four or five was some kind of magic number when it came to shadowrunner teams, but it was pretty rare to have only three for a job. I think I could count the number of jobs I did with only two others on one hand, and I didn't count last week's cover-up job as one of them.
It sounded like Emerald Cacophony was starting to wrap up their last song when we got our answer. To be honest I was quite surprised and worried at the same time.
The same ork that escorted me up here came back, and she was escorting two human kids One was blond, hair neatly trimmed short, wearing a mostly black outfit that was highlighted with circuitry-like lines in a rich blue color that matched his solid blue eyes. Beside him was a redhead with more flowing hair that almost reached her shoulders, wearing a similar ensemble in bright pink, and was about half a head shorter than the blond. They also looked like they were about eleven or twelve years old. It surprised me those two got in through the door as clearly no matter what the quality of fake IDs they had they were not twenty-one years old.
"Here's your booth." the waitress told them, and the redhead's eyes lit up as she took in the advantageous angle of the stage we had, "If you need anything just let us know."
"Okay, thanks." the blond said.
"Barely a week back in Seattle and already we get to see Mercurial!" the redhead exclaimed excitedly as the blond slid in first onto the empty bench of my booth, and for some reason I felt a shiver run down my spine. For a moment she made me think of an old friend of mine, Rikki Mattingly, who was also just as excitable about whatever singer or band held her interest at the time. Depending on how long this job took I felt I should give her a call sometime soon, it felt like it had been too long since she and I spoke.
And maybe it's a little prejudiced of me, but from the colorings of their clothing I was already guessing at their genders. After hearing the two speak I was now pretty sure the blond was a boy and the redhead a girl. And it wasn't really all that chivalrous of him to slide in first, but it gave her a much better view of the stage. Considering how excited she was to see Mercurial performing live I'd say he made the right choice.
I turned around to look at Rook and Volt. Seeing that Volt wanted to discretely tell me something I leaned in closer to him.
"Are we seriously working with newbies?" Volt asked straight into my ear.
I shrugged, and turned back to the two kids. "Joss set you up tonight?" I asked loudly enough to be heard over the synthmetal music. Figured if they got called in by a different fixer then maybe they could be here for another job. It was a long shot.
The blond shook his head. "MacCallister." he replied. Great, the same person who called me too.
I turned back around to Volt. "Looks like it." I told him.
"Shit." I more saw than heard him say as he turned around to tell Rook. I shared the sentiment.
Kids in general are a chaotic bunch. You've got some that think they know it all when clearly they don't, you've got some that think they're invincible, some who believe real shadowrunning is like the online MMORPG that's been taking the matrix by storm, and even some believe the old romanticized trids about shadowrunners. And that's just those who somehow end up in places like Underworld 93 tonight, with a real interview with a real Johnson who may or may not be so understanding about the crap they'll have to deal with with such kids.
It was not long when Emerald Cacophony wrapped up their last song, the crowd cheering their praise as the band collected their things and headed off the stage. Makes me wish I could have gotten here earlier to see their entire show, their synthmetal music wasn't half bad. I considered picking up a data chip of their music after the meet, assuming there would be any left.
Next walked on a man that looked to be in his forties, short dark hair and neatly cropped goatee, and wearing an immaculate suit. He held up his hands to quiet the crowd, patting them down so everyone could get the point that it was time to shut up.
"Alright you brain damaged rewired mutants!" the man said with an exuberance of energy, projecting his voice incredibly well without actually yelling, "Here's the reason you've been sweating all over our nice, clean floors all evening. Ladies and Gentlemen, if there are any out there, and the rest of you trash as well, I present to you the one… the only… MARIA MERCURIAL!"
The crowd below us went completely crazy as the lights began to dim. Even the girl cheered just as excitedly as the people below us (again she reminded me of Rikki). I would have thought that she would have been more excited about any number of boy bands that kept coming in and out of the music industry. But she was just as excited as the rest of them. Her companion had a bit of the star struck look in his eyes too, but he was a lot more reserved than I expected him to be. Maybe he wasn't quite the Mercurial fan as his friend?
The first synthesized notes began to play, hauntingly at first just before a spotlight snapped on to illuminate a slender and lovely woman. Her long, straight platinum blond hair was illuminated and practically glowed like fiber optics. She wore a dark skirt that was high cut, but not enough so you could see where the polished chrome of her cybernetic legs ended, and a matching high cut and sleeveless top with a stiff collar and deep V-neckline that nicely showed off her bust without looking too restraining or trampy. It also contrasted nicely with the matching polished chrome of her cybernetic arms.
And her voice as lovely and powerful as ever as the first words to her biggest hit song ever, Take It To The Mister, rolled over her lips. I smiled as I took the time to soak it all in, listening to a living legend perform live. Ghost knew I had heard this song so many times years ago.
Now don't get me wrong, I love a good concert, but listening to Mercurial sing was not why I was there. I was there to meet MacCallister for a job, so this was business. And business meant checking out the new kids in the booth with me, and so I did one of the things I do rather well.
Emotions would be running quite hot at Underworld 93 tonight, and not just because of a novahot star like Maria Mercurial. Emerald Cacophony before her had apparently put on a good show too, and that emotional energy was already seeping into the background. Of course, if security was as tight as I thought it should be then there would be magical measures in place too. It shouldn't be too hard to spot them.
One misconception about perceiving the astral is that you're "looking" in whichever way your meat body is looking. What beginners don't really know or understand is that you're actually "looking" in all directions at once, but our natural perceptions narrow that to a single angle. With practice it's possible to actually look in all directions at once, but we're talking advanced drek here, and not always quite worth the while. Now it's true that turning your meat head can turn your astral perception, but the inexperienced often take a lot of time to figure out that they can look behind themselves in the astral without actually having to turn and look over their shoulder.
Without turning my head from the concert below us I focused my attention on the blond boy. He was really enjoying the concert based on the emotional state I could read in his aura, holding his hands like he was playing a guitar, trying to match his fingers to the lead of Maria Mercurial's own music. I think he was in need of a lot of practice. He also wasn't magical in any way, and as I got a good bead on the strength of his aura I saw there was a bit of cloudiness to the usual snow white, a cloudiness that I can't say I've ever seen before and it was different than what I saw in Rosethorn. Something about it just felt wrong, I really had no other way to explain it.
I could also tell that his lower left arm was not the only piece of cybernetics he had. He had cyber in his eyes instead of full on replacements, connected directly to what I figured was a commlink inside of his brain. There were a lot of filaments running through his gray matter, and it was one hell of a top notch job, the kind shadowrunners want to get and can almost never afford. Odds seemed good he was a rich kid wanting to play shadowrunner, and that was a pretty bad teammate to have. Probably had some kind of kiddy 'link in his skull and some cheap software he played with to try and be a hacker.
So I turned my focus onto the redhead girl beside him. She was even more excited to be here, like she was meeting her number one hero of the world. There was no mistaking it that she was awakened, the power flickering within her aura like a bunch of pilot lights to a blast furnace. Her aura was otherwise clean.
Then I noticed the magical security that Underworld 93 had tonight. A guardian spirit floated up close to us, apparently checking me out since I was extended into the astral with it. I gave it a courteous nod and closed myself from the astral.
True to her talent, Mercurial's concert was pretty damned good. Hell, part of me felt so accomplished that I could've just thanked MacCallister for the pass and called it a year for the two hour concert.
Yeah, like that was really gonna happen.
The same attractive and energetic ork waitress was back as the band below us was starting to pack things up after the show. "If you'll follow me, please," she said, "I'll show you backstage."
"Whoa! Seriously?" the redhead exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" I added, pushing myself to my feet.
Volt was first behind our escort, followed by me, the kids, and finally by Rook. She led us to another spiral staircase that took us down to the ground floor at the back of the dance floor. From there we walked along the wall to the stage and crossed just in front of it to get to the backstage area.
Security was plenty tight already, and considering the novahot star that Mercurial is I wasn't too surprised to see two rather large and chromed bodyguards standing guard at the door. Even above them it was hard to miss the floating Japanese boy above them, translucent as he watched us. Another spirit, obviously, wholly in the astral but manifested for all to see that it was there.
"MacCallister's guests for the show." the waitress told the guards, and they simply let us past though they certainly were eyeing all of us.
The backstage area was a mix of dressing rooms, mostly shared restrooms, and concert storage. Where we had walked in to was set up mostly as a lounge, with a vanity and mirror for last moment touchups immediately to our right, and a concert control board just beyond that. To our left was a stairway up to a door that led to the stage, and further off to the left was a door that likely led to a back alleyway. MacCallister was here, with Mercurial and two bodyguards in the lounge. When the old ork saw us he waved a hand high, yelling, "Hoi chummers!" He was wearing an old and patched armored leather jacket with a faded Mercurial t-shirt underneath, jeans, and had something that looked like an old keyboard strapped to his left arm.
Four spirits materialized just off to our right, ugly green tinted things, bestial but bipedal, and almost comical in their cartoonish appearance despite their devilishly burning red eyes and cracked or broken yellowed teeth. All four of the emaciated coyote looking spirits held a sign in one hand, with sayings like "You Sold Out!" or "Mercurial" with a big red circle and hash over the word.
I knew right off what they were: Abominations, beast spirits summoned by a shaman that in some way was psychotic. Now I don't mean psychotic as in the run-of-the-mill padded room kind of crazy, but the kind of special nature's guardian that felt the best way to heal the planet was to wipe out all life first. Crazy, huh? Well, that's toxic shamans for you. There was still a standing one million nuyen bounty for any toxic shaman brought in to the Draco Foundation, provided you could bring one in alive.
And nothing like being around a novahot celebrity to draw out the crazies, too.
And of course there was a bit of panic. Spirits suddenly appearing don't usually do that when it's just one, and the more polite free spirits usually materialize in more discrete places, but a four-pack of uglies like these guys could easily clear the place if they popped up in the right spot.
I had to act quick, and spirits of all kinds can be notoriously fast. I bolted for Mercurial, switching on my power focus ring with a thought as I moved. I apparently had a slight advantage in their disorientation when I reached her. I made a gesture with my hand, drawing up and focusing my magical power into a quick barrier around myself, Mercurial, and the others in the shape of a spherical bubble. While the sleepers wouldn't notice anything, the abominations would know immediately.
Now why'd I do this? Why not between those abominations and myself? Or why not just around the abominations themselves? Don't believe everything you see in the sims and trids, kids, not all shadowrunners are the cold blooded mercenary type. The world may be a dark, cruel place, but that doesn't mean I should be apathetic about it. It looked for all intents that Mercurial was their target, and putting the mana bubble around the spirits would simply slow them down a little as they would have just popped out of our reality to pop back in somewhere else outside of the bubble. It doesn't quite work the same way if a spirit wants to pop inside that same bubble.
Besides, if these toxic spirits were after Mercurial and MacCallister got in the way he could end up dead, and that'd mean no work and no pay. Just as bad would be having a bad rep for letting a fixer get greased while doing nothing about it.
"Get back here!" I heard Volt yell.
My first impression was that the kids had run off. Well, I was almost half right. The boy had rushed off alright, charging straight at the abominations, leaving his girlfriend with Volt. He was doing exactly what I hoped no sleeper was gonna do.
But at least he was not alone as Rook gave chase. Well, knowing Rook he was going to introduce the abominations to his fists, and I knew he could do something against a spirit.
"Back off!" the redheaded girl yelled, and it took a moment for me to realize it was the abominations she was yelling at.
Sometimes magic is subtle, sometimes it's flashy, and while it's almost never both at the same time sometimes it really is both subtle and flashy. Bet that didn't make sense. First rule of magic I learned and really took to heart is that magic doesn't believe in rules. Now there are certain things that magic can't do, but that's something completely different.
Even through my mana barrier I felt it more than saw it, a bolt of raw magical power that lanced out from the redhead to strike one of the abominations, the one holding the sign with an anti-Mercurial portrait on it. The spirit was staggered by the spell, but its grip on this world was still solid.
I thought the boy had been crazy to charge the abominations, and it looked like he was going to try and fistfight them himself. A big mistake for any sleeper dealing with any but the weakest of spirits. Not being made of real material makes them rather durable, and this is directly proportional to a spirit's power. I once saw a spirit that looked like an origami man, paper thin, take an assault cannon shell head on and not flinch like it was a heavily armored tank.
That's why I was dumbfounded myself when the boy's flesh and blood fist struck the same spirit the redhead had zapped, and sent the greenish coyote off its feet.
Rook ignored the staggered spirit, his great fist coming down hard towards another abomination's muzzle. The coyote pulled back at the last moment, but could not dodge Rook's immediate backhand blow. It flipped over a couch that was between it and us, and smacked headfirst and low against my mana barrier. Well, at least those inside know they've got some protection now.
Now how'd that happen? Well, it certainly wasn't due to his artificially hardened bones, but that Rook was a walker of the Warrior's Way, a physical adept who focused his power towards combat, using it to guide his fists and help them punch through armor. Such adepts could go toe-to-toe with some spirits in hand-to-hand combat and have a reasonable chance of coming out victorious.
"Mom!" I heard a girl yell. From the way we came in I saw a girl, about the same age as the other two kids here, with similar hair and features to Maria. Drek, I forgot Maria had a kid.
"Isabelle!" Maria yelled, restrained by MacCallister and one of her body guards to stay where she was.
"Earth erupt!" yelled the redhead, "Smash the taint! Purify the unclean!"
"Volt! Get her over here!" I yelled.
Just as the redhead started to speak, as Volt forcefully pulled Isabelle into my mana barrier, I felt a surge of power from the redhead as she focused on her magic. I had been expecting some kind of flashier combat spell, and boy was I wrong.
Materializing next to the redhead was a troll sized spirit, hulking and powerful looking. It didn't appear to have hands, but a cluster of long spikes that looked like rubies at the end of teardrop like forearms. It wasn't even fully materialized before it backhanded a charging green coyote with one arm, sending it crashing into the vanity.
With a sound like cracking rock the ruby spikes on its other arm all pointed in one direction and were launched into another abomination, turning it into a pincushion. With a creaking and crackling those ruby spikes quickly grew back.
We all got a good look at it once it fully materialized. It was an earth elemental, its body black like crusted magma, with cracks showing the raging inferno within. Its head looked a little small but sported a large pair of sweptback horns of jagged rubies that glowed with their own fire, and from its shoulders were a fin-like crest of more jagged gemstones that burned.
"You wanna rock n' roll, mother fuckers?" the redhead defiantly yelled at the abominations, "Here ya go!"
"Drek! That thing's huge!" exclaimed Volt. He was at my side now, putting himself between Maria and the spirits. Ghost knew he had a snowball's chance in hell against one, but he wouldn't let anyone have an excuse to call him a coward.
The elemental didn't move very quickly, though I knew it could outpace any of the other abominations. It became quite clear to the abominations what its intentions were when it began to engage them.
The first one that tried to rush past the elemental got thumped on the head hard. It must have gotten hurt earlier or something as it went down, disintegrating to bone before the bones vanished into short lived toxic smoke.
The abomination that had crashed into the vanity was not yet out. Sensing an opportunity it lunged for us. Too bad for it the girl's elemental noticed its move.
"Down!" I yelled, dropping myself to the floor. Hopefully everyone was just quick enough.
If I had more time to focus, to shape the energy, to even had a second to activate my ring to boost my magical power, I probably could've made a stronger barrier for protection. Then again, considering the power the elemental possessed I wondered if even my strongest barrier might've ever been enough.
The coyote got skewered from behind by several ruby spikes, and slammed into my mana barrier by the force of the attack. I was straining my eyes up just to see those spikes also tear through my mana barrier as well. Had I not yelled one of Maria's bodyguards likely would've gotten stabbed by several of those spikes as well. At least the spirit was done for, dissolving into smoke as it felt to its knees, and the ruby spikes crumbled to powder before fading away to nothing.
With a feral roar an abomination rushed us, taking advantage of the shattered barrier. It was too quick for me to try and cast the spell again, so I tried to brace myself to block it.
"The fuck you don't!" yelled the boy, launching himself from a sofa. He landed on the spirit's back, arms around its neck at first. With his cybernetic hand he grabbed hold of a torn and floppy ear, and before it could try and swat him with its sign he slammed his other fist hard into its head. And I really mean into its head, as it had turned its head with the extra weight and I could see the boy's fist go into the spirit like it was a rotten fruit before the spirit dissolved. He landed on his feet without any problem.
The sudden silence after a fight can sometimes be a little spooky. Looking around I couldn't see the last abomination, but did see Rook as he calmly walked over to us.
"Everyone alright?" I asked loudly as I pushed myself to my feet.
"I got the last one." Rook said, lightly pounding a fist against his palm, "It turned to dust like the others."
"I think we got 'em all." the boy said.
Looking around things seemed alright, well considering the spirit brawl we just had. Couple of overturned sofas, a smashed vanity, seemed pretty light and lucky of us.
The redhead was also walking up to us. She lightly caressed the elemental's leg as she passed it, and it crumbled away to nothing. Sometimes it might look similar, but after a while you can tell when a spirit's disrupted or just simply released, and she had released her elemental back to wherever it came.
"I… I… Thank you." Maria managed to say.
"Hey, it was the least we could do." the blond said as he walked over to us.
If Isabelle was a shy girl she certainly didn't show it when she rushed up to give him a hug. She was a good half a head taller than him, dressed more casually in jeans and a t-shirt that did well to accentuate her growing figure. Looked like the teen had inherited her mother's looks. "Thank you." she told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, it was a team effort." the redhead said as she walked over to join us.
"Thank you, too." Isabelle told her, giving her a hug as well.
"Damn I'm getting too old for this." MacCallister muttered. "Hey, Maria, got some biz to take care of." he told her, walking over to a door and pushing it open.
"Alright." Maria said as Rook and Volt went in first. She seemed just a little crestfallen that this was over so quickly.
I waited for the kids to go in next before joining them inside.
It was a rather small dressing room with a table and a handful of chairs. It was a tight squeeze to get everyone inside and seated, especially when Rook was rather large, and the redheaded girl ended up sitting on the blond boy's lap, their chair pressed up against another door that opened into the room. Once MacCallister closed the door the noise outside was virtually gone. He then took a chair for himself before speaking.
MacCallister started right off without any preamble. "I need ya to find a woman that's gone missing. Her name's Fiona Craig, an archaeologist that recently came to Seattle from Greece, and she's vanished. She's missed a couple of meetings she was supposed to have earlier today, and her employer wants her found ASAP."
"So why wait?" the boy asked, "It wasn't even one when you called and now it's over eight hours later."
"I barely had the time to call you guys." MacCallister told them, "There's a lot that had to be done for security for Mercurial's show tonight, and I had commitments."
The boy nodded, not even questioning the truth of the answer. I knew well enough of MacCallister that he was the kind of guy that usually gave the chip truth. If he had something to hide, he flat out told you he wasn't going to tell you.
MacCallister looked us over before saying, "Right, so pay's six thousand each to find her and bring her back."
"Alright, we're up for it." the girl announced quickly. I found it odd that the boy didn't even look surprised, like he knew what she was going to say. Honestly I found that to be more than a little strange.
"Yeah, I'm in." Volt said
"Can't say no to a damsel in distress." I managed to say.
Rook simply nodded.
"Huh. That was a bit easier than I expected." MacCallister mused. Guess he was expecting us to haggle a little over our fee. To be honest I wasn't hurting too much on the cred, and this job was just a bit more than a month's living expenses. Unlike some I was more interested in living comfortably than living large and partying like a rock star. And no, I will not break out into song, with or without auto-tune.
"First job here in… too long, and you think we're gonna negotiate price?" the boy asked. "Shit, we're nobodies here. We wanna build up our rep before we start demanding more for our skills."
MacCallister actually chuckled at that. "Riiiight." he said, giving some kind of knowing nod. Now what did he know that I didn't?
"Wait, you're really serious about this?" Volt asked, "I mean, us working with two kids who aren't older than I am put together?"
MacCallister's smile faded. "I am very serious, and I have it on good authority that these two Fallen Angels are going to be more than worth the twelve large I'll be paying them." he said darkly.
Now I pride myself on being a good read of people, and not just picking up on what should be obvious to all but the most socially inept ork in the world. And the Renraku Mindreader empathy program I have helps me key up what I might miss, which wasn't how he had said "Fallen Angels." Now I also know that MacCallister's got twin children of his own. Granted they're older than these two kids (probably close to both of them combined), but he knows what it's like to be a parent, unlike myself, and knows the nightmares of sending children out into a dangerous world no matter how well taught or equipped they might be. I could see from his change of expression that he knew full well he was sticking his own neck out for these two kids.
But that wasn't all. There was a split second of shock, surprise, and fear that the empathy program caught from both kids. Damn they were good 'cause I missed it. MacCallister had said something that had truly caught them off guard, and I'd bet that something was the 'Fallen Angels' remark. I took it to mean they knew what MacCallister knew, and I still didn't have a megapulse of a clue.
"Then I guess we just need whatever else you've got on Fiona Craig and we can start looking for her." I say.
"And if I had it I'd give it." MacCallister told us. Of course, if he had enough info to do the work himself he just might. Then again if he's got more commitments of his own then he's going to outsource. He pulled out a card and handed it to me. "Call this number once you've got her."
"Then I guess we start with the main airport?" the boy asked as I pocketed the card. "Sea-Tac? She came in from Greece then she probably flew in legitimately."
"Sounds like as good a start as any I can think of." Volt conceded.
I honestly hoped they were right. It would make things a hell of a lot easier if she didn't come in by smuggler, as that could then mean any number of unofficial "points of entry" around Seattle.
"Well, since we've got our first lead, of sorts, let's get going." I suggested.
"If you need you can also leave any vehicles in the lot. I'll make sure they're safe." MacCallister told us as he stood.
Getting out of the room was about as easy as getting in. Once the door was open I could hear canned music playing and other sounds that suggested things had gotten back to normal.
Maria and Isabelle Mercurial were still there, and it looked like they were waiting for us. Once Maria noticed us she got her daughter's attention, and the both of them headed towards us.
"I want to show my thanks to you for what you did." Maria said, "I know it's not much, but, please… If I knew your names?"
In her hands I noticed a grease pen and a handful of chips.
"Nicknames fine?" I asked.
"Sure."
"Bishop." I told her.
Immediately the cap came off the grease pen and she scribbled something onto a chip before handing it to me.
"Volt." Volt said.
Again she scribbled something on a chip before passing it to him.
I took a look at the chip she had given to me. On one side was the artwork for her latest album, and on the other was a simple little scribble saying, "To Bishop, MM."
"Rook" Rook told her.
"Cypher." the blond said.
"How's it spelled?" Maria asked.
"C, Y, P, H, E, R." he told her, not sounding annoyed in the least. It was understandable that she asked, since I think I'd seen at least half a dozen different spellings for the word. He not only got the autographed chip, but a kiss on the cheek as well. Seemed odd in how he reacted, hardly blushing and with a nice smile instead of the over-the-top embarrassment I would have expected. Still something nagged at me in the back of my mind about him.
"Seraphina." the redhead said. And she too got a kiss with the chip, her face turning red to match her hair when Maria stepped back. Funny since I expected that from both of the kids.
"It was really brave of you two, what you did." Maria said as Isabelle also handed the kids each a chip. This one looked different, but on the artistic side I saw the initials 'IM.' Isabelle Mercurial. Guess the girl was breaking into the music scene as well.
We said our goodbyes and walked together towards the exit, with me stopping long enough to exchange my tag for my Predator before leaving.
The night air was refreshingly cool when we finally got out of the club. The line had also completely disappeared. Guess they all figured it wasn't worth getting in once Mercurial started her concert.
"So, you kids need a lift, or is your momma gonna come 'round to pick you up?" Volt asked as we began walking towards the parking lot. I couldn't help but snicker, but I managed to bite a comment about having a chauffeur waiting for them.
"Maybe your mama's comin' ta pick you up for beddy bye time?" Seraphina countered, her words dripping with a lot of sass and an added southern accent.
"You can shut it, Volt." Cypher added quite sharply. "We've got our own ride here."
"Okay, so then the question is how do we do our riding arrangement?" I said, "And we're gonna have to…"
I stopped when I saw a rather well dressed, dark skinned (a touch darker than Volt) dwarf casually walking up to us. I think there was some old line about "spidy senses tingling" or something like that, and if I had them they'd be tingling right now.
The dwarf stopped about seven meters from us and held up his hands, palms out. "Peace, friends." he said with a bit of a Quebecois accent, "I have a job offer for you."
Cypher and Seraphina groaned ever so softly, but still I heard them. Good lesson for them to learn. Sometimes fixers and Johnsons don't give a gram of drek about when a shadowrunner's on a job, so they just pile the work on us. Usually it happens because something coincides with the jobs, and we can get two things done for the time of one. Usually.
And how is it that Johnsons are able to do this? Well, there's an old saying that 'The walls have ears.'
Noticing our apparent non-aggression towards him he stepped forward and produced a business card from the sleeve of his jacket, handing it to me first. I read the name 'Laurent Nazaire' and 'Atlantean Foundation' on it before passing it over to Volt.
"I'd like to hire you to track down a certain item for me." Laurent told us. "It's a fist sized chunk of obsidian, and I will pay you each four thousand nuyen if you can recover it for me."
As he spoke I opened myself up to the astral to look at his aura.
"What makes you think we can do this?" Cypher asked, barely glancing at the card before passing it to Seraphina. She barely looked at it and waved him off.
"Because I know Fiona Craig smuggled something like it into Seattle." Laurent told us, "And I am fairly certain you have just been hired to track her down."
Yup, double duty job tonight. If you know the right people you'll know a lot about what's going on in the shadows. Some secrets are hard to keep, and I'd bet that Mr. Nazaire knew what the job was MacCallister was hiring us for well before we even entered Underworld 93. Probably marked us as we came in since we could bypass the line.
Now I had never met Laurent before, that I knew before reading his aura. He was no slouch either, being awakened and more powerful than myself or the girl. Rook was stronger still, but if Laurent was a magician then that was a whole different kind of power. His aura was clean and clear, and almost impeccably masked to look like he was a normal dwarf. I had barely seen through that mask myself, that's how good he was.
"And you think we're those kind of people?" Seraphina asked as I closed my third eye. I wonder what kind of reading she got on him.
Laurent smiled just before he laughed at her question. "Have you looked at yourselves? A group like you? You're certainly not a bunch of corpers out clubbing or some wageslaves. I mean, really? Even if I did not know of you already, Firefly, you five scream 'runner." He chuckled.
I noticed it almost right away. A sudden darkening of Seraphina's mood the instant Laurent has called her "Firefly" that put the uneasy feeling I got from Cypher to shame. At least he noticed it too when his smiling laughter was suddenly replaced by something much more grim.
As ineffectual as it could have been, Cypher stuck an arm out to block Seraphina. I had no doubt that she could magically clobber her boyfriend to unconsciousness considering how she had plastered those toxic spirits earlier with sorcery and a rather powerful sprit, and maybe even try it on Laurent as well, but she actually stopped whatever she was contemplating on doing.
"So you heard of us." Cypher said, not questioning but stating a fact. "She doesn't go by that name anymore. It's 'Seraphina' now, so please remember that. Don't want to see you get char broiled." He said that with a lot more calm authority than I expected any kid to manage, let alone even know, and not in the kind of spoiled and demanding way some kids learn.
Inwardly I groaned. It never does any good to threaten a Johnson, especially with magic when the other party's more powerful. Of course I doubted that he knew Laurent was also awakened.
"I'm sure I'll hear about this sometime in the future." Laurent said in about as even a tone as one could make, which surprised me a little. "In the meantime, Cypher, Seraphina." he added with a nod to both of them in kind.
Seraphina seemed to calm down quite quickly, almost like flicking a light switch. Or maybe blowing out a candle? Anyway, Cypher lowered his arm. Guess it was disaster averted, for now, but for a bit I wondered about what damage they might have done to their budding reputations.
"So," I said, trying to help move things along again, "you want us to find this stone that this person you think we're looking for might happen to have, and deliver it to you for four thousand."
"Yes." Laurent replied.
"And this person?" Rook asked.
"I have no interest in her myself." Laurent said a little coolly. "Do not get me wrong, I hope she is alive and well."
"It's just you're only interested in her rock." Cypher finished.
"Precisely."
Translation: I'm paying you to bring me the stone and whatever you're paid to do with Fiona is your other Johnson's business. Makes things easy for all of us.
"Yeah, we're in." Cypher said, sounding a little put off. Again I wondered if there was some kind of shared communication going on between them.
"Yeah, alright." Volt said with a sigh. "Double duty tonight."
"My commcode's on the card." Laurent told us, "Call me when you've got the stone. It's a shard of obsidian about the size of a human fist. That's all I know."
"Yeah, we'll give you a call." I tell him.
"So, how're we gonna handle this?" Volt asked as Laurent walked off.
"We can't take everyone in our truck." Cypher said, "Rook's a bit big to really fit well."
"My truck won't work out well, either." Rook added.
"Volt, you ride with Rook, and I'll take the kids in my car." I said.
"Uh, no." Cypher sharply said. "You can ride in our truck, or take your car yourself, but we ain't ridin' with you."
"Seriously?" Volt asked. "First Knight Errant officer that sees you driving's gonna pull you over."
"It drives itself with the windows blacked out. Completely legal." the boy countered.
"And my car seats four. We're gonna need the seat for Fiona, too." I told them.
"It's not some clunky, rusted out shit box of a truck, either." Seraphina piped in.
The rumble of diesel engine advertised a truck as it pulled up next to us. Jacked up body and large smart tires on oversized shocks looked like it was made to tackle off road terrain like a football lineman to a quarterback, especially with the bars across the front grill and an armor plate going under the truck where a bumper should've been. It also had a back seat and a bed that looked long enough to hold a pair of motorcycles, though the topper hid whatever might've been in it.
"That's your truck?" asked Rook.
"GMC Timberwolf." Cypher answered as the driver side door opened up automatically. "Modified, most of it done myself."
"Drek." I muttered, "Guess I'll be riding with you then."
"Let's go." Rook said.
"Right. So where's your ride?" Volt asked as he and Rook walked off.
I pulled out my commlink as I walked over to my car, snapped a pic, and sent it to MacCallister with the little note that it'd be in the parking lot for the job.
Then I walked back to the black Timberwolf and climbed into the back and sat down just behind the driver's seat. The back was not exactly a bench seat for three, but the middle part was made for some storage and with two cup holders and the seats themselves were wider for the passengers. Seraphina took the front passenger seat for herself. We didn't even have to close the doors as the truck did it itself. For a moment I wondered if this truck bathed them and tucked them in at night too.
"Where're we off to, boss?" came a gravelly voice from the stereo speakers.
"Sea-Tac airport." Cypher said.
True to his word the truck took off on its own. Understandable as cops would pull us over if they actually saw him driving. No one needed a driver's license to let the car drive itself.
Then I got a ping on my commlink, a user request to join a chat network.
"Just setting up a group chat." Cypher said, "It's something I'm usually doin' on these jobs."
"Encrypted?" I asked as I hit the [Accept] icon.
"Oh yeah, it's encrypted."
"Thought you'd be setting this up, Bishop." Volt said just after he joined.
"Yeah, I forgot." I told him as I shifted a little in my seat, "Looks like I might not be doing the hacking this time 'round."
"Oh, you know hacking too?" Seraphina asked, turning around to look at me.
"I'm alright. I just don't spend a lot of time on coding and stuff." I tell her.
"I'm learning, myself." she said, "Cypher's teaching me, got me a killer 'link and everything."
I hid my reaction about her being a newbie hacker, but I also wasn't too upset. Everyone's gotta start some time and somewhere. I did hope that she'd just handle whatever light stuff there was and let me and Cypher deal with the real heavy work.
"So we've got three hackers? Drek." cussed Volt.
"So?" Seraphina asked, turning back around to watch where we were going, putting that same sass back into her voice. "We've got two magicians and an adept, too. You ain't bitchin' 'bout that."
Cypher chuckled.
"So you gonna let the kids take the lead in hacking?" Volt asked.
"You know, Volt, we all gotta start somewhere sometime." I said as switched over to my other commlink.
Now any hacker worth their code won't use a Transys Avalon like I did, but they're good enough for those who are starting out. Like I said, I don't spend much time on coding to be a great hacker.
So I loaded up the analyzer program I had on the Transys Avalon and ran a scan on the network. From the inside it wasn't all that hard to identify the five of us, and taking a guess at which one was Cypher's commlink hosting the chat I ran a scan on his icon. I wanted to see the quality of the hardware he had running.
The results I got surprised me a little. The 'link identified as a Fairlight Caliban, which was better hardware than my Avalon, and it had been modified.
"Well?" Volt asked.
"Kid's got a better 'link than I do, and it looks like some better software too."
"Satisfied?" Cypher asked.
"So he's takin' the lead in hacking?" Volt asked.
"Yeah, Cypher's taking the lead on hacking." I told him.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously." I responded. "Drek, you got the heat turned up high or something?"
"Ironhide?" Cypher asked.
"I'll turn his heated seat down by half." the truck announced.
Heated seats? Starting to wonder just how kitted out this truck was I poked around a little in the back seat. I found that underneath the cup holders between the two back seats was a miniature fridge, and there were a few cans of Hugo Natural frosty cold inside.
After I got over the luxury of the truck I found I was starting to have serious doubts about my initial expectations on Cypher's hacking skills. What I had gotten was a complete opposite of a kiddie 'link, but something that was on the cutting edge of the market. And if he had coded its operating system himself…
"Alright, I got something." Cypher said, interrupting my train of thought, "She caught a shuttle from Sea-Tac to some place called Mulvihill Hotel."
"That's out in Belleview." Volt said.
"Hold on. How do you know this?" I asked.
"I hacked the airport's network." Cypher answered, sounding like he did something like this every day.
"Already?" Rook asked.
"Yeah."
"Kid's good."
Yeah, good. And I was starting to wonder if he was a little cocky about his skill.
"So, a hotel." Volt said, "How're we going in?"
"Let me think on that a bit. Certainly not guns blazing." I said.
"Can't really sneak in, either. Not when we don't know which was her room." Seraphina added.
"I can find that out." Cypher told us.
"Hang off the hacking." I advised. "It'll really look odd if the bunch of us just go walking on in."
"So if you wanna avoid hacking how're we gonna figure out which room Fiona was in?" Volt asked.
"Is some, how you say it, 'shuck and jive'?" Rook asked.
"If the kids are up to it, yeah."
We took the 167 north, skirting the boundary between Tacoma on the left and Auburn on the right, which later became Renton on the right. The truck signaled for the turn-off onto the 405, and we cut through Renton on our way up to into Bellevue.
"Seems so different here." Seraphina commented thoughtfully. "Not like Denver at all."
"Yeah." agreed Cypher.
"How's it different?" asked Rook.
"Not as many districts, and a lot more security." Cypher answered. "Can't legally cross the city without going through at least two border checkpoints."
I found it interesting how he said legally.
"And Manhattan… Shit." Seraphina added.
"Never been there." Volt said.
"I was there, once." Rook said, "When I came to this country from Paris. Well, I don't think it was Manhattan."
"Probably one of the airports." I said.
"JFK in Brooklyn." Cypher added, "It's the one that handles flights to Europe. We passed through there on a job."
"Any place you two haven't been?" Volt asked.
"Africa." Cypher answered.
"South America." Seraphina added.
"Australia. Pretty much anywhere in the southern hemisphere." Cypher told us.
"Well traveled kids." commented Rook.
"Anyway, here's the plan…" I said.
I had to refocus my mind again as we walked in through the front doors of the Mulvihill Hotel. The adaptability of these two kids was startling. At least without our chat network I wouldn't have to worry about Volt yelling suggestions to us.
First up was the fact that their clothing was made to change colors. Swapped out for the computer tech lines was something that looked like regular clothing. Their pants looked like denim blue jeans, she wore a shirt with five anime girls that looked like some kind of magic girls or super heroines, and he had a 'Neil The Ork Barbarian' shirt. Her jacket had turned orange with flames at the base and end of the sleeves, and his was now looking like he got it from the Seahawk's fan store. Cypher was even keen enough to have the truck park somewhere where it was obscured to most that he was in the driver's seat when we got out.
But now I was walking ahead of them, and the two were pretty well into character as tired, squabbling siblings.
"Hiya." I said to the clerk behind the counter, trying to sound tired with a forced happy to it.
"Good evening." the clerk replied, adding a lot more hoity toity than I thought the place deserved. He even had his stereotypically pointed nose up just a little, like there was some rank cheese sitting beneath it on the counter.
"Sorry we're late, but we're trying to… oomph!" One of the kids bumped into me hard, hard enough to shove me into the counter.
"Dad!" Seraphina whined, "Calvin's being mean!"
"She keeps getting in my way!" Cypher countered.
"Am not!"
I groaned. "Sorry, we're trying to catch up to my sister." I tell the clerk, "Kinda flighty, and she doesn't… aagh!" One of them had stepped hard on my foot, and it really hurt.
"Doesn't always remember to tell me everything." I finish through gritted teeth.
"She did it!" Cypher accused.
"Did not!"
"She told me she was here, but didn't bother telling me which room she was in." I told the clerk.
"Dad! He's being gross!"
"You're gross!"
I spun around on the two, and when I saw them it looked like they were really going at it.
"Mina started it!" Cypher cried.
"Did not!"
"Would you two settle down!" I growled.
"But…" Cypher started to say.
"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it." I told them, "Mina, you go sit over there." I pointed to a love seat and chairs that were around a coffee table.
Seraphina stormed off in a huff. Drek, I couldn't tell if she was really pissed or not.
"And behave!" I added loudly. Turning back to the clerk I said, "Sorry, it's been a long drive, and she does so love to see them when she can."
"Name?"
"Ben Ferguson."
"Her name?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Fiona Craig."
The clerk's fingers danced in the air. Obviously an AR keyboard that only he could see.
"Fourteen-oh-eight." the clerk told us with a sigh, pointing towards a stairway off to the side.
"Great, thanks." I told him with a relieved sigh. "C'mon Cal, let's go see Auntie Fiona."
Cypher gave an exasperated sigh as he followed.
Seraphina still had her pouty expression as she stood.
I waved at her to come over, and she stormed over to us.
"I've had enough of you two tonight." I told them sternly, "C'mon now, up those stairs. I'm keeping an eye on you two."
They both groaned as they took the lead, side by side they stomped up the stairs.
After the first flight of stairs their demeanor completely changed, reset back what I presumed was normal for them.
Fiona's room was up on the fourth floor, and not too far down the hallway. As was standard fair for a hotel the door had a maglock to it.
Further on down the hallway was an ork maid, quite attractive (not quite as big boned as was typical for orks) and focused on a stain on the hallway floor.
I was about to ask Cypher what he was going to do to get in when I saw him pull out a card from a pocket. He slid it into the slot like normal for a guest, and after two seconds the little red light turned green.
Like all was normal he pocketed the card and we were in.
There was a little ambient light in the room, enough to see by, but still I hit the lights anyway. Best to try and keep up illusions.
"Shit. Place's a mess." Seraphina cussed.
"Think someone beat us here?" Cypher asked as he walked deeper into the room.
I don't think the design of a basic hotel room had changed much over the last century. Just to the left of the door was the bathroom and toilet, with the bedroom just deeper in. A single slept in bed was to the left, an opened suitcase sitting at the foot, facing a trideo screen on a dresser to the right, and a window with the curtains drawn ahead of us. In one corner of the room was a pile of mixed clothes that wouldn't have been embarrassing to most boys, but probably most girls. On a desk next to the dresser was a tray of partially eaten food, along with a stack some papers.
More papers were strewn about the room, so I grabbed a bunch and started rifling through them. Turned out the bulk of them were take-out menus from all over the place. I wondered if she ever stocked up on antacids considering the exotic mix of places she'd been to.
"No, I think we're the first ones. Looks like she's just a slob." I said.
"She's a bigger slob than Cypher." remarked Seraphina.
"Hey!" decried Cypher, taking exception. "You're not so neat either!"
I shook my head as I tossed aside the papers, having found nothing useful in them.
"Look at this." Seraphina said, walking over to Cypher. She had a leather bound notebook in one hand. I walked over to join them.
Cypher had taken the notebook and was flipping through the pages quite quickly. Then he stopped on one and read aloud, "'Strange magic aura–unknown. Ritual magic? Summoning focus?' Notes on the stone."
"Let's see." I said, jockeying for a better view.
It sure was. Several scribblings on her thoughts and findings, like this chunk of obsidian was off of a much larger piece. There was even a pretty good sketch of what was supposed to be the Morel Stone.
"'…strange cavern four kilometers outside Phaestos'?" Seraphina asked. "Not that fucking disk again."
"Disk? Again?" I asked, hiding my surprise at her choice of words.
"Past job. We spent a week last spring chasing this disk across Europe." Cypher answered. "I think it's something unrelated. Besides, I think we got a clue." He pointed to the margin of the page, "Jack Turner, Seattle, twenty-hundred."
"And yesterday's date." I added. "So now we gotta figure out who this Jack Turner is."
"Probably a criminal." Seraphina reasoned, "Makes me think of the criminal type."
If I had to guess I'd say that Cypher was already doing some online searches on the name 'Jack Turner.' In the likely event that he didn't get what we needed I already knew who to ask that probably did know.
"So, just to pass a little time for the clerk downstairs, let's get to know one another a little better." I said.
Seraphina frowned.
I put my hands up defensively. "No, nothing perverted. Sheesh." I told them. "Like Denver, how long were you two there before coming to Seattle?"
Even though the two didn't look at each other it was clear that there was some kind of private communication going on between the two of them. It took only a thought to load up my scanner and sniffer programs, but I already doubted they would be of any use. Still, I set about trying to identify the 'links they had.
Then Cypher's head perked up. "If we go now we can slip out. There's another family at the counter, and the kids are worse than the act we put on."
"Good, let's go." Seraphina said.
"Hold on, how do you know that?" I asked, "Did you hack the hotel anyway?"
"Fat chance. I left a fly-spy down in the lobby." Cypher told me.
I sighed. "Alright, let's go."
I caught the lights as we left Fiona's room. The hallways were empty as we headed back towards the lobby.
True to his word there was a family of five at the counter. Three were kids that were younger than Cypher or Seraphina, and they were exceptionally cranky and ill behaved. I'm pretty sure the clerk didn't notice us at all as we simply walked out the front door.
Not quite sure why I decided to look up at the sky as we walked to the truck. According to the weather reports it wasn't supposed to be a cloudy night, but then you really couldn't tell anyway because of all the light pollution that drowned out the stars. There wasn't any big bright moon hanging up there, either.
We were close to Cypher's truck when I received a request to rejoin his private chat. It was an easy mental click to accept it.
"So what'd you find?" asked Volt.
"She was stayin' here, but hasn't been there in a day or so." I answered. "Was supposed to meet a Jack Turner yesterday."
"So we just gotta figure out who this guy is and where he's at." Volt said.
"Best I've gotten so far is he's a smuggler in the Underground." Cypher told us.
"That's a pretty big place." I said.
"Bet you know someone to ask 'bout Jack, eh?" Seraphina asked.
"How'd you guess?" I asked back.
"You ain't the first guy like… you I've met."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Back in Denver, did a few jobs with this elf called Morph. Knew a lot of ladies."
"Well, it just so happens I do know someone, and it ain't a lady." I told her. Already I was making arrangements.
Well, to say Frank Scarborough is a man would be a stretch. If you really wanted to nitpick, then technically he was a man since genetically he did have a 'Y' chromosome and a (replaced) penis. He was, however, quite a homosexual with a slightly unhealthy love of boys.
Now he wasn't quite as unhealthy as good ole Mr. Gilchrest was of little kids, but he frequently commented on the cuteness of various boys. He somewhat reminded me of Deacon, but he was crass where she was compassionate.
We had to go back down to Renton to a place called The Italiano. Part dance club, part cocktail lounge, and so openly run by the Mafia that about the only thing they don't do there is openly advertise.
And Frank was well in bed with the Finnegan Family. Maybe literally, I didn't know for sure.
"Hey! Hey! Bishop!" I heard Frank yell over the swing music that played. I saw him at the bar, martini in hand, with an empty barstool beside him and a waiting drink. He seemed to be in a James Bond mood tonight, wearing the classic spy's black suit and neck tie.
I also knew him well enough that he never spiked the drinks he gave anyone. No, if he wanted you taken care of he had a troll leg breaker he kept on retainer do it, and while it was almost never lethal it was invariably embarrassing.
And I noticed said leg breaker down at the end of the bar, a troll I knew by the name of Tom Tom. So without hesitation I went right on up to the bar and sat down like nothing was wrong. The drink was something Frank favored giving to people, a tall glass of hard liquors called a Black Pearl. At least I knew one alone wouldn't be enough to knock me over.
"Was surprised you said you were here, Frank." I said, taking a sip of my drink. "Thought you would've been up at Powerline. Or have you finally lost favor with Sweet William?"
Sweet William was about as flaming a fag as anyone could get without actually being set on fire. I had met him once, a troll fixer who worked out of the Powerline who frequently tipped the boys he likes. He made Frank seem straight.
And that place was also run by the yakuza, but they were a bit easier about who did business there so long as you didn't cut into their profit margin.
Which also meant that someone like Frank also did some brisk business there despite his mafia connections.
"Naw, naw, we're still null sheen." Frank told me, waving a bejeweled hand at me. "It just gets a little dull being in the same place all the time."
"Stepped on a toe?"
"Maybe."
"And so you're here, with the Murdered Mime just across the street?"
The Murdered Mime was another yakuza run establishment, and very similar to The Italiano. It was like a choice between McHugh's and Cap'n Beef.
"So, you were wanting to ask me about someone?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, one Jack Turner."
"Ah, Captain Jack Turner. I'm sure you've already learned something about him."
"Just that he works out of the Underground."
"Well, yeah, hmm mmm, that's pretty much true." Frank told me as he took a sip of his martini.
"Captain, eh? Must be a smuggler with a boat." I said, "Still doesn't help much, considering how much coastline there is."
"Hmm mmm mmm, you just gotta know the right people."
"And I thought you did, or else I wouldn't be here right now."
"Oh, I think I do. You really know how to stroke an ego, Bishop."
"With you, you know that's all I'm gonna stroke." I tell him before taking another sip of my drink.
"Well, you do know what I want from you." Frank said coyly.
"Yeah, yeah, I do." I replied morosely. "Rook and Volt."
"Ooohh, Rook." Frank said with a shiver. "A mountain of an ogre." He held a dreamy look in his eye before moving on. "But I can't believe it's just the three of you looking for him."
"It isn't." I said, pulling a data chip out of an inside jacket pocket. "Got two newbies on this one."
"Two?" Frank asked, his voice almost turning to a squeal of delight.
The chip clicked as I placed it on the bar. It stuck to my finger as I tapped it, clicking on the bar with each tap. Then I slid it over to Frank who was quick to snatch up the chip and slot it in his commlink.
"The blonde's Cypher." I told him, "About eleven or twelve, about a meter and a half tall."
"Oooo, so delicious." cooed Frank. It was disgusting.
"The redhead's Seraphina. About ten or so."
"She's kinda cute. Could maybe pass for a boy if she trimmed her hair."
My hand snapped like a handcuff on Frank's wrist. Startled, he looked up from the private AROs of images that were on the chip to me and we locked eyes.
"I'm gonna tell you right now, it's hands off on these two." I told Frank as sternly as I could.
"You don't get to dictate terms to me." Frank snapped back, regaining his composure. He yanked his hand away, and I let him go.
"You will if you want to live." I said, my voice still hard, "That's his girlfriend there, and they're pretty tight."
"Never stopped me before."
"Earlier tonight she conjured up a troll sized earth elemental that thumped four toxic coyotes like they were nothing." I told him. "You try a move on him, and I'll bet she'll have that elemental shove a ruby spike so far up your hoop it'll pick your nose for you."
"Party pooper." Frank pouted. Then his expression suddenly changed. "Hey! What drek's this?"
"What're you talking about?" I asked him.
"This!" he told me, making the ARO public so I could see it.
What I had expected to have been a trideo capture of Cypher and Seraphina had turned into a big black rectangle with some kind of gray or silver geometric pattern at the center, and it looked familiar. At the bottom read: "Better Luck Next Time."
Then it hit me. It looked like Seraphina's necklace.
"Drek." I cussed, feeling like a fool. "Girl hacked me. Must've set a timer to wipe the pic." Damn bitch was better than she let on to pull this off.
"Then she did them all. The batch you gave me are all the same."
"Great." I sighed. "Anyway, about Jack…"
"No." Frank said sharply.
"Even though I lived up to my end of the deal?"
"You brought me nothing!" Frank pounded a fist on the bar.
"I did what you asked. What happened after isn't my fault, so tell me." I ordered, adding just a touch of magic to those last three words.
"He has his ship, the Fortune Hunter, at a hole called Pirate's Bay." Frank told me with a sigh, "Now get your hoop outta here before I have…"
"Yeah, yeah." I waved Frank off as I hopped off the stool and headed for the door. I could tell he was far from pissed off enough to make good on his threat but I decided not to aggravate him further. Especially when I'd gotten what I had come for.
And I was pretty sure he was flipping me off.
"I've got a bone to pick with you, girl." I said, pulling the truck's door hard to close it.
On the way back to their truck I had checked my commlinks as best as I could, and found that only the few images I had captured of the two to give to Frank had been corrupted. Everything else had been untouched, and I couldn't even find a data trace of an intrusion or another user.
"What'd I do?" Seraphina innocently asked me.
"Hacked my 'link and set some files to self corrupt."
"She didn't do shit." Cypher said, turning around to look at me. "I did it."
"If you did it then why'd you use the symbol on her necklace?" I asked.
"Because it's his online signature." Seraphina answered.
"Wait… What?" I went, trying to process this information.
"I found that as a pic in an old game book, and when I found no hackers were using it as a sig I decided I would." Cypher told me. "Been using it almost two years now."
"And I decided I'd have it made into this choker." Seraphina added. "Been wearing it over a year."
"Kinda like wearing his pin?" I asked.
"What?" Seraphina asked me back, looking genuinely confused.
"Never mind." I told them. "Just hook me back up to the chat so we can get on with this."
Right away I got a prompt and accepted it.
"We're off to Lordstrungs." I said. "From there we can get a guide to take us to Pirate's Cove."
"That's where Jack Turner's at?" Volt asked.
"Where the Captain works, yeah."
"Captain?" Cypher asked.
"Pirate or smuggler, if he's got a boat he's a Captain." Rook said.
"You heard the man, Ironhide." Cypher said to his truck, "Look up Lordstrungs and take us there."
"Be glad to, but, you see, there's a small problem." the gruff voice said, "Which one?"
"The one in Downtown. Should only be one." I told it.
"Yes sir." the truck said as sweetly as a gravelly voice can be, which isn't very.
The big diesel engine rumbled to life. As the truck pulled out of the parking space it asked, "You sure it's a good time to go shopping?"
"Sassy truck." I muttered, "We're not going shopping, but Lordstrung's is open twenty-four hours and is one of the best entrances to the Underground." After pondering a thought I asked, "Where'd you find the personality program for it?"
"Some really old flatvid I saw years ago." Cypher answered, "Some red demon monster hunter. Thought it'd be more fitting for a big racing truck than some of the more popular stuff."
"Yeah. Would've torched it if you went with the young elfin Goth teen." Seraphina said.
I remembered hearing somewhere about a guy who uploaded the 'Sullen Elf Teen Girl' into his hunting rifle, though I wondered how you could actually tell what the metatype of the voice's owner really was.
"Hey, I know we're on the job, but I think we should stop someplace for the night." Rook said.
And when he put that thought in my head I realized how long I had been up myself.
"You sure we should?" Volt asked.
"Statistically the worst that can happen will have by now." Cypher told us, "We break 'till morning it doesn't change her odds."
"Kinda harsh, ain't it?"
"And we're no good to her if we're tired." Rook said.
"I know a place where we can crash." I said.
The place initially didn't look like a home. More a mechanic's garage, really. Well, that was the first floor of the building that we were pulling up to now, a privately owned auto repair in the Tukwila neighborhood in Downtown. It was a little close to Sea-Tac to be really nice like Bryn-Mawr, but certainly loads better than most anyplace in Redmond or Puyallup.
And since I had contacted our host, we were expected. The two garage doors slowly went up to let the trucks in.
"Ya know," I said as I climbed out of Cypher's truck, "I'm surprised you've managed to stay up this long. Most kids would be falling down by now."
"We're not like most kids." he replied.
"True. Most don't have bleeding edge computers inside their skulls."
"And Guy, he's okay with this?" Volt asked.
"Yeah, Guy's cool about short overnights like this." I answered. "Try to stay a second night without a really good reason and you'll get a pipe wrench over the head and wake up in the dumpster out back."
"Just be quiet, will you guys?" Guy asked in a harshly hushed tone, standing next to the controls for the garage doors. "My daughter's used to the door but not a lot of voices."
"Who're you?" Volt asked.
"Yeah, yeah, we will." Cypher responded, not even reacting to the fact that Guy was a woman.
"Just point us to our room." Seraphina added, also not seemingly surprised.
Yup, Guy was a woman. Her real name was Guinevere, but she hated it because she felt it was too girly for the grease monkey that she was. She was about a head taller than Cypher and had a mop of long red hair a touch more orange than Seraphina's. She had a slim build and nice figure that wasn't too well hidden beneath the short sleeveless top and shorts she was wearing.
"Wait, you two knew?" Volt asked the kids. "You said you were newbies."
The two stopped and turned to look at Volt. "Yeah, we're new. In Seattle. But ya think I wasn't listening in to Bishop's call?" Cypher asked.
"Awe, frag me." I groaned. I had been running my encryption program for privacy, too. Apparently whatever decryption program and skills Cypher had were enough to break that.
"Hold on, did I catch that kid right?" Guy asked.
"Yeah, he cracked my encryption and listened to our conversation." I said.
"Of course." Cypher admitted.
"Hey, you ain't doin' that to all of us, are ya?" Volt asked.
Both kids only looked at him, and said nothing.
Volt groaned. "Frag me."
In unison the kids replied, "No."
"Alright you guys, let me show you where you can sleep." Guy said.
Now it wasn't exactly a bedroom that Guy showed us, but one of the back rooms that she used for storage for tools and parts. Now she was putting a lot of trust into me since I was pretty much vouching for the others that she didn't know. And I was putting some faith into the kids that they wouldn't get sticky fingers and swipe something from her.
While the others were looking like they were getting settled with their sleeping mats, Guy pulled me back out and aside for a little private chat. She was looking quite worried.
"What do you know about those two kids?" she asked me.
"Not much. Supposedly they're not new to the shadows but haven't really worked in Seattle. He's got a decent 'link in his head and can hack, and she's a rather powerful magician for her age."
"He's really rubbing me the wrong way." Guy admitted.
"Yeah, I've gotten something…" I started to say.
Guy interrupted, "No, it's more than just that. There's a lot of signal coming from him, and she's connected to a lot of it."
Yeah, I had forgotten that Guy was a technomancer. Actually, before Crash 2.0 she was also an otaku, but after a brush with the crash virus she started fading. By her eighteenth birthday she had lost her abilities entirely. A few years later she was touched by the Resonance and re-emerged as a technomancer. She had also swapped out her old datajack with ASIST converter for a more modern datajack with an implanted commlink that she used mostly for data storage.
"I'm worried about what he's doing to her." Guy told me.
"Considering a fight we had with some spirits earlier tonight, I really don't think he's controlling or manipulating her, if that's what you're worried about." I told her. Then I remembered our incident with Laurent Nazaire, and how he seemed to stop her from trying to magically blow up the dark skinned dwarf. I shook my head of the thought and said, "It'd pretty much be impossible to control someone effectively while you're fist fighting a spirit."
"What?"
"Some spirits attacked before our job meet. He actually went toe to toe with a couple of them. Even managed to disrupt one. And no, he's not awakened."
"Then how'd he…?"
"No idea." Honestly I hadn't put much thought into how, but I still had no clue how he did it. "But it does answer a bit about how those two seem to work together, if they've got some kind of private chat between them."
"And the encryption… I can barely hear the signal and I can't make any of it out."
"He's got a boosted Caliban in his head, and you can't decrypt his signal?"
Guy shook her head. "That's no Caliban I'm feeling. It's much more… muchier." She sighed in frustration as she couldn't put to words what she was feeling from him.
I put a hand on her shoulder. She was far from the only technomancer I knew, and that didn't count Deacon either. I knew some things weren't quite as easy to explain, but at least I got an idea. And part of that idea was that I had figured wrong about the 'link in Cypher's head.
"I just think they're not being chip true about what they say." Guy told me.
"That's not an exception, that's the norm. You know this business."
Guy nodded. She was a legal citizen of the U.C.A.S. from birth, but frequently did little things for various shadowrunners because her business didn't always bring in all the cred she needed, especially when she was a single parent with an eight year old daughter. And most all of the shadowy business she got came from her one employee, a big troll by the name of Hank.
"Hey, job's not that hard this time. Good one for the kids to cut their teeth on. And I'm sure that if I end up doing more jobs with them they'll open up some more."
"You're not gonna try that… mind reading spell on them, are you?"
"Frag no! Guy, you should've seen the spirit she conjured tonight." I put my hand up to about where I thought its head might've been. "An earth spirit this tall. It thumped those spirits harder than a drunken ork crushes beer cans against his head."
Guy's eyes went wide, but she said nothing. At least she got the idea of the girl's magical strength.
"Look, I should probably get in there so I can get some sleep." I tell her.
Guy simply nodded before heading off. After a little bit I headed in as well.
I wasn't too surprised to find the kids sharing a mattress, or spooning with his arms around her. At least they wouldn't be trying to do something really stupid while sharing the room with the rest of us.
So I headed over to the last unclaimed mattress to lie down. I closed my eyes, thinking about what Guy had told me about what she felt from Cypher. If I understood what she meant right then the 'link he had in his skull was well beyond anything on the open market, and that meant military grade hardware. And that begged the question on how he got his hands on something like that, let alone implanted into his head.
Lordstrung's was one of those super ritzy department stores, the kind that you go to if you've got more cred to burn than sense. Not that the prices were outrageously high, mind you, but you didn't go there for simple socks and such but where you'd go for a personal fitting for something high priced for those high level board meetings you'll always hear about but never actually see.
And this Lordstrung's was smack in the middle of the entire Downtown scene, with its clubs and the A.C.H.E. straight south of it. There was also a Soybucks a block south of the store on 5th Avenue, which was where we all stopped for breakfast.
It had been almost two months since I had been here last, since the courier job that turned into a few fights for survival before negotiations could be finished, where Knight Errant had set up a full on barricade to try and contain what they thought was some kind of bio-weapon attack gone wrong.
Even as early as it was the parking lot was starting to fill with cars. Even so Cypher's truck did manage to find a rather close spot to the Lordstrung's store, and Rook parked his pickup truck next to it.
"Just so you know," I said, pulling my Predator and visually checking that it was loaded and ready, "the Underground isn't exactly a nice place to anyone who's not a troll or an ork. Doesn't matter that you're both kids, the Skraacha'll just as soon kick in your teeth as they would mine."
"We haven't been in unfriendly territory before." Seraphina said as she got out.
"Aurora's 'bout as friendly as Redmond is here." Cypher added as he too got out.
"So you guys know well enough to be careful." I said as I followed.
"Don't close the door." Cypher told me as my feet hit the ground. I simply stepped back to watch.
Cypher climbed up just as Seraphina came around to join us. He hit a catch behind my seat and the back folded down to reveal a storage compartment. I hid my surprise as I watched him pull out a handgun with four stacked barrels and pass it to Seraphina, who slipped it into a holster inside her jacket. He then pulled out a sword and passed it to her.
"Think a full load will do?" he asked her.
"Should be plenty." she answered.
I just stood there and watched as he pulled out two modified Predator IVs, which went into holsters inside his jacket, another Predator IV that looked unmodified that was in a belt holster he put on, a handgun that looked more like a one-shot shotgun from the size of it (or a literal hand cannon) that he shoved into his belt at his back, and finally a sword of his own.
"Got enough firepower?" I asked.
"I hope I don't need it." He answered. Even so I saw him pocket several spare magazines and about half a dozen shotgun shells.
Both kids wore their swords strapped over one shoulder. Their only other obvious gun was Cypher's standard Predator at his right hip.
"Merde, ready for a war?" Rook asked.
"One we don't want to fight." Seraphina answered, shifting her sword to a comfortable position.
Knowing Rook he carried no weapons. He actually never even practiced with any kind of guns, and any ranged combat was whatever he could grab and throw.
Volt was also similarly lightly equipped when it came to being prepared for a fight. He had a light pistol he called 'Stinger' and about a dozen throwing stars.
"You know the authorities have problems with people carrying big weapons." commented Volt.
"And we've got the proper permits for these." Cypher countered, patting his sword's hilt. "As far as they'll be concerned it's just as legal for us to carry these swords as it is you to hide that Ceska vz/120 in the left side of your jacket."
If Volt's jaw could've hit the ground it would have, dropping faster than a Thor shot at terminal velocity.
"Not too bad getting it slaved and hidden and all, but since it's a smartgun I know it's there." Cypher said.
"K, let's not keep this Captain waiting." Seraphina added.
"And you doubted me about his hacking skills?" I asked Volt, not expecting an answer. He had no idea how surprised I was that the kid knew right off about the Ceska. It wasn't even until the third job me and Volt had done together that I learned he was packing it.
And to be honest I was a bit nervous as we walked into Lordstrung's. I knew I'd be able to get in and down into the Underground, even with Knight Errant's new post on the topside end of the escalators, but Cypher was now a walking arsenal of handguns. I was hoping that his licenses were up to date because we were going to get checked, especially the kids with how they were openly carrying their swords.
It seemed pretty easy to just walk up to the escalators, moving with the flow of people head to the Underground. I even nodded at the Knight Errant officer at his post just before heading down. He nodded back, I think he glanced at the kids, but didn't say or really do anything else. Maybe he thought they were props or toys, or he checked their IDs and everything came back green, I don't know.
My thoughts on our good luck at getting past them vanished when I started hearing a commotion down below.
"Keep cool." I advised, more for the kids than anybody, as we got closer. With a thought I also loaded up my Or'zet linguasoft.
I saw the cause of the commotion, and more. The typical AR displays about good behavior and such had been vandalized with new sayings such as "Reality Is A Lie," "The world is a cube," or "For a good time call Gutter's mom at LTG 22206 (62-4225)!" All were done in neon colors to match the neo-lux body art of those on one side of the commotion.
Visible through the AR spam were the Skraacha in their gray and brown.
"Shit." Cypher and Seraphina cussed at the same time.
At the time I didn't even have a moment to wonder if they were precognitive or something, because those with guns drew them, implanted cyberweapons were exposed, and all hell broke loose.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" chirped Cypher as our group chat suddenly went down.
"Everyone, wireless off!" I yelled as I tried to give the commands to my commlinks to cut their signal. Already my vision was getting flooded with AR spam. I had managed to get the drek cleared in time to see a chromed up man coming at me, an array of spikes on his fist aimed straight for my face. I managed to sidestep him, my left fist connecting hard to his gut.
Two more rushed me, AR spam still littering my vision as I barely managed to evade their attacks. I had to let my body remember my training in close combat, how my opponents would move to how I moved.
Now when I say I'm a lover and not a fighter, don't start thinking I don't actually know how to fight. I'm okay with a handgun, but I'm trained in some jujutsu, karate, kung fu, and even a bit of ars cybernetica, all with an emphasis on hitting hard or knocking down. I also did some boxing and wrestling in high school.
The fight became a bit of a blur. I know at some point someone tried restraining me from behind for a buddy, and that buddy got my foot in his crotch, and I think I busted the nose of the other that tried restraining me. What I do know is that when I saw an armed and armored Knight Errant officer aim his standard issue Predator IV at my face I stopped everything and put my hands up. I did an impression of a statue while another patted me down, finding both my own Predator IV and the Morrissey Élan hidden up my right sleeve. He actually took the time to pull my sleeve back to undo the straps holding the slide to my arm.
Once I was disarmed I was escorted over to Rook and Volt. Seeing they had their hands down I dropped mine. We were not, however, left unguarded.
"They say anything?" I asked.
"Just wait." one of the officers answered.
And so we waited. DocWagon had also shown up to tend to their clients, and other Knight Errant officers were hauling off gang members (Skraacha and Reality Hackers alike), and most everyone else was able to go about their business. Everyone except us.
After about twenty minutes worth of waiting a rather tall troll showed up, walking straight over to us. And when I mean tall I really mean large as he must have been over three meters tall. Must've been from the generation where two-eighty was the average. He was bald, his broad shoulders and his bullish horns adding to the illusion that he had no neck. He was dressed rather nicely in a white button down shirt and dark blue business suit that probably looked more expensive than it really was.
It was really easy for him to glare down at us, given his height. Finally after giving the three of us the once-over more than once he finally asked, "You're shadowrunners, right?" His voice was deep, like someone talking from the bottom of a barrel.
A long time ago being a shadowrunner wasn't something you advertized. It was like 'Fight Club' where the first and second rules were you never talked about Fight Club. And blabbing about that you were a shadowrunner was frequently a suicide move. I don't mean your career's over, but your life.
"No, we're just innocent bystanders that got caught up in some gang violence." I told him.
"Heh. Bulldrek." the troll gruffed.
"Alright. He's a fairy princess," I pointed at Rook, "and I'm a magic unicorn, and we're here to give the poor kids of the Underground wishes."
A Knight Errant officer stepped up to the troll. "We managed to catch them, Detective." he said.
"Good. Bring 'em here."
'Them' turned out to be Cypher and Seraphina. The two had their hands secured behind their backs, and I guessed it was by something unhackable. Behind them were five more Knight Errant officers, and two of them had their Predators leveled on them while one held their collection of handguns and swords. Cypher also had something like a helmet strapped to his head, an Ares White Light head jammer. Guess they figured out he had a 'link in his brain.
"A little excessive for two pre-teens?" I asked.
"Not when the redhead's a pyrotechnic." one of them, one of the two not holding a Predator, answered. "She incinerated two people."
"Told you to tone down the fire." muttered Cypher.
"Shut it!" barked the troll. Turning to me he said, "Care to rephrase your answer?"
I wish I had more time to ponder Seraphina's fire magic. Instead I figured we were going nowhere unless we admitted to being shadowrunners, so giving in I said, "Yeah, fine, we are. Kids too, apparently."
I couldn't tell if the two looked disappointed that I admitted it, or how I lumped them in with us. They certainly weren't happy either way.
"Good. I'm Detective Tosh Athack of Knight Errant's Special Crimes Task Force." the troll, Tosh, told us. He didn't actually sound all that surprised that two preteens were shadowrunners.
"And what's that mean to us?" snipped Cypher.
Tosh glared at Cypher. "It means," he growled, "dealing with shadowrunners and gang wars. Guess I get both in one day. Lucky me."
I really hoped neither of the kids would not comment about him not sounding lucky.
Tosh continued, "Now my boss needs some folks like you for a special job. If it were up to me I'd just drop your hoops in a hole and forget about you, but it's your lucky day because it ain't up to me."
He pulled out a good sized commlink, working the touch pad with his thumb. I took the opportunity to reactivate the wireless functions of my commlink.
"Hey, um, if we're gonna conference call with someone would someone care to get this salad bowl off my head?" Cypher asked.
Tosh gestured with his head towards one of the Knight Errant troopers, who came over and simply switched off the head jammer.
Soon a message prompt appeared through my commlink, a request for a conference call. Figuring it was Tosh's boss I hit [Accept].
An ARO of human woman appeared. She was Caucasian and had her red tinted brown hair pulled back into a bun that almost looked like she had it styled in a pixie cut. As much more as I could see was that she wore a black suit with dark blue pinstripes, her high collared jacket open to show off what meager cleavage she had.
"I'm not fond of working outside the law." she started off without any preamble and rock hard frankness. "But in this world, the law is, quite frankly, a mess. Criminals have a million ways to avoid the long arm of the law, as I'm sure you're well aware of."
"A million's not enough." Cypher said sourly.
"Indeed. However, I have a job to do, and one way or another I plan to get it done. That's where you come in.
"Seattle law doesn't quite extend below the streets of Seattle. The government doesn't recognize the Underground as part of the city, and as such won't contract Knight Errant to police it. The criminal scum who prey on my city know this, and seek refuge in that pit." she told us. From the stress in her voice I was hearing I could tell this was a sensitive subject for her.
"I've been tracking someone who's holed up down there somewhere. I need him brought somewhere so I can have him legally arrested. Your job is going to be to find this man, and deliver him to Detective Athack here. He'll claim to have caught the guy inside his jurisdiction, and he will go to jail for a long, long time. You'll keep silent about the matter, and get paid. How's that sound?"
"Like this isn't the first time you've done this, Ms. Oaks." Cypher said.
I looked at the blond, eyes wider than I would've liked to let show. "Oaks, as in Assistant District Attorney Dana Oaks?" I asked.
"Yee-up, that's her." Cypher said.
I knew a little about Dana Oaks, pretty much only by name and reputation, and a bit that Deacon had found on her last week. She was quite relentless in her pursuit of justice, a crusader, and maybe a little bit of an idealist. At least she was enough of a realist about shadowrunners and how the world really worked to not get disillusioned about her campaign. At least that was what my impression of her was right now.
"And how do you know this?" Volt asked.
"You share all your secrets?" Cypher asked back.
"Alright, boys, settle down." I tell the both of them even though I too was curious about Cypher's knowledge about ADA Oaks. "Let's get back to business. Now I suppose you're not gonna share the name of this guy unless we agree to the job first, am I right?"
"Since you're already in Knight Errant custody it won't do you any good to know now. Jack Turner." Oaks told us.
"Why am I not surprised?" Cypher asked no one in particular.
I cleared my throat, hoping that he'd shut up. "Right, and how much of a bounty are you asking for his hoop?" I asked.
"Six thousand nuyen, each." Oaks answered.
"Might as well." Seraphina said first. "No way in Hell am I goin' back a foster home."
"Yeah." Cypher added.
"And that's all you want?" Volt asked, "Us to get this Turner guy somewhere above ground so he can get arrested?"
"Yes." Oaks answered.
"Sounds easy enough." he said sourly.
"Oui." Rook said, nodding as well just in case no one knew the simple French word.
"Good. Obviously I need Turner alive. Drop him off at the entrance to the Underground so Detective Athack can arrest him. If he's dead you don't get paid." And with that her image disappeared, the conference call was over.
"Should we call, or are you going to be waiting?" I asked the big troll.
Tosh pulled out a business card and handed it to me. "I'll be close by." he said.
So we were left on our own recognizance with our weapons returned to us. And so with our third job we headed on down again to the Underground.
Compared to when I was here last month the place was not quite so packed. We had gotten here after the morning rush, and I guess the brief gang war helped clear things out a bit. Still there were plenty of people going about the Tourist Highway, and evidence of the firebombing from last month was still evident. Many of the shops in the walls were still closed for repairs, including Beans Outta Bulldog, and only a few kiosks had been rebuilt in the burnt out area of the tunnel.
"So where do we go from here?" Seraphina asked.
"We find a guide that knows the way." I said. "And hopefully one that'll help."
"As opposed to one that'll try leading us off on a wild goose chase to take our money." Cypher added.
"You need a guide?" a kid asked with an excess of excitement, and right away I knew the voice.
Pip was a young ork, only nine years old and almost half his life he'd spent on his own. We'd first met when the Underground was bombed, and he had been lucky with his encounter with a kill squad.
He was about as tall as Seraphina, with more olive skin that seemed perpetually dusted with dirt, and auburn hair that almost looked like it was turning a rosy pink. His shirt was oversized and he wore suspenders to keep his equally oversized jeans up, and for footwear he had sandals. Even his tusks were oversized compared to the rest of him, but at least those he'd eventually grow into.
"Hey Pip." I said, waving to him.
"You workin' for Volcano Woman?" Pip asked.
"Volcano Woman?" Cypher asked.
"Tell ya later." I told Cypher. To Pip I said, "No, not today."
"Oh." he said, suddenly looking sad.
"Hey, we'll still pay ya if you'll take us to Pirates' Cove."
"Okay." the young ork said, his eyes lighting up brightly. "Fifty nuyen, each. Except her." He pointed at Seraphina. "A hundred."
"What?!" exclaimed Seraphina.
I couldn't blame her. I had almost thought he was gonna cut her a deal if he thought she was cute.
"I saw you make fire and burn a Skraacha!" Pip countered. "A hundred or no deal!"
"Did you really incinerate one of the Skraacha?" I asked her.
"He shot at me first!" Seraphina cried, "And he kept shooting, yellin' 'bout me bein' a topsider 'n this… Reality Hacker… bullshit."
"So you're gonna fault her for defending herself?" I asked Pip. "Honestly, if any Skraacha attacked me I'd beat the drek outta him too."
"Well…" Pip went, looking down at his feet. "Ya promise not to fight any Skraacha?"
"As long as they don't try to fight me, yeah." Seraphina answered. I thought it was a good answer since there was no guarantee that they wouldn't try to pick a fight with us.
"Well… Alright. Fifty." Pip told us. He pulled out an old and battered Sony Emperor.
So we all paid him. Right away he darted off down the Tourist Highway before choosing one of the side tunnels to go down. At least he didn't go so fast that we couldn't keep up.
When it got too dark to see I activated the thermographic option in my contacts. Quite a different thing to see radiant heat, the infrared being translated into a grayscale of visible light to me.
Then it hit me. "Volt, make sure the kids can keep up." I said.
"We can see your ass just fine." Cypher said. "Not the first time we've been deep underground before."
"Much nicer than Manhattan." Seraphina added. "At least this place doesn't stink of shit."
I couldn't help but chuckle as I followed Pip.
We were far from silent as we went, Pip telling us one trivia bit after another about the Underground.
It turned out to be a rather long walk from the Tourist Highway, but when the pungent odor of stagnant seawater and fish hit us I knew we had finally gotten to Pirate's Cove. Then we stepped clear of the cave into an immense cavern.
"Okay, I need to go back to find more tourists." Pip told us. "I could wait if ya pay me."
"We'll be fine." Cypher said.
"You sure 'bout that?" I asked him.
"Unless there's an earthquake I'll be able to lead us back to the Highway." he said confidently.
"Catch ya on the flip side, then." I told Pip. So far Cypher's confidence was well warranted, so I thought I'd take a chance.
The little ork was quick, off into the shadows of the tunnel before we knew it.
Pirate's Cove was massive. The cavern ceiling was probably about a hundred meters up, and the crescent shaped coastline ran for about two kilometers out. Numerous docks could be easily seen, lit by electric lights so everyone could clearly see where they were going, and most of those docks had a boat of some kind at it. More inland was a collection of warehouses that looked more like they grew there than built in any planned layout. There was a bit of a post apocalyptic feel to them too as it looked like they were largely built from scavenged wood and steel, and even some parts of ships as well. Many also shared walls by the looks of things.
"So, what're we looking for?" asked Volt.
"Turner's got a ship called the Fortune Hunter." I tell them. "Beyond that I don't know what the ship looks like."
"Looks like we'll have to go down there to search." Cypher said.
"Will that be a good idea? You two being down there?" Rook asked.
"You think they believe in child labor laws?" Seraphina asked back.
"Girl's got a point." Volt added.
"And we can disappear if we need to, so don't worry about us." Seraphina told us.
"Like you did with those officers earlier?" Volt asked.
"Camo and invisibility don't work well against motion sensors. One of those guys guarding us was like on overwatch or something with scanners." Seraphina answered.
"Right, let's just get going." I said, not wanting to argue the point too much more.
So we headed towards the docks. This late in the morning now it looked like there wasn't much going on. Various boats and ships idly floated where they were moored and there weren't many people to be seen. Hell, one guy that almost looked like the leathery pirate type gave us a lazy wave as we walked by each other.
"There it is." Rook announced, "The Fortune Hunter."
As he pointed I saw it. It was a large fishing boat that was painted in bright red and black, and its name was at the front in the typical white block lettering used on many commercial ships. At the moment it also looked like no one was on board.
"Okay, let's do this casual now." I said in a hushed tone.
Rook took the lead as he walked up the ramp, the kids following and acting like we were supposed to be here. Volt followed them, and I was just behind him, looking around to see if there was anything unusual.
On board it looked like what you'd expect for a fishing ship, with nets and gear and such cluttered about.
"Let's check the bridge. Might be something we can find." Cypher suggested.
Rook led the way to the front of the ship. The stairs to get up to the bridge were too narrow for him, so I led the way up. The door inside was ajar, and heavy as I pushed it open.
The whole ship looked like it was built for average sized folk, and even I had to duck to get into the room. There was pretty much no chance Rook would get in here unless he made himself a door.
"Great. So now what?" asked Volt.
Cypher went right up to a console, pulling a data cord from the back of his skull. "Now I see what he's got on his computers." he said, jacking into a port just next to an old fashioned keyboard. He leaned over the counter, hands on it to prop himself up as he worked. It wasn't even a minute before he stood up and pulled the plug.
"He keeps his computer clean, but I found a few things." he told us. "He's been doing searches on the stone, and I know where he's got a warehouse here that he's probably holed up in."
"Nothing else?" Volt asked.
"A note that his cargo hold's empty."
"Fine, let's go to this warehouse." I said, heading for the door.
"Find anything?" Rook asked as I came back down the stairs to the deck.
"Ship's empty, but he's got a warehouse." I told him. "Cypher's leading the way on this one."
Rook nodded as we passed him. Cypher then stepped up around me to lead us to Turner's warehouse.
We went along the docks a little ways before he turned inland. Even though it was really late morning it must've been like late at night here. The place was almost as quiet as the suburbs at three in the morning.
Cypher stopped at a corner, pressing up against the building and peeking around to look. We were at a 'T' intersection with the choice to go left or right, and on the left hand side of the street.
"There's a two story warehouse just to the left of this one." Cypher said, pointing at a three story building that was in our way if we wanted to go straight. "He's in there."
"Let me go take a look." Seraphina said. Instead of creeping up to the corner she sat down at the foot of warehouse we were next to.
"I thought she…" Volt started to say, but I put up a hand to silence him.
Cypher kept watch around the corner, and not once did he look back to check on Seraphina.
Now I didn't have to ask to know what the girl was doing. Unlike me she was a full on magician, and one thing she could do that I couldn't was pop out of her body to fly around a bit. And right now she was projecting herself, and I hoped she was being careful about checking out Turner's warehouse.
It was a few minutes before she stirred. "He's serious about his security." she told us, pushing herself to her feet.
"How serious?" Rook asked.
Seraphina sighed. "There were two eyeballs floating above the place, and when they spotted me they dropped inside. The whole building's also got an attack ward just on the inside."
"Merde." cussed Rook.
"Yeah, probably knows we're here." I said.
"And I couldn't see inside. I try to force the barrier I'd get zapped, and I don't think we've got the time for me to try to track down whoever made it."
The unspoken meaning to that was no held spells or active foci when we breach. Can make things a little difficult. Not that it really matters to me since all I have is my one power focus ring.
"So we're sure to have an ambush with a spirit or two." I said. "So do we go in loud or try to sneak in?"
Now you might expect Rook to go for the big and loud method, but despite his size he was actually decent at being stealthy too. Volt was guaranteed to vote for sneaky.
And I'd be in favor of stealthy too, so depending on the kids, and maybe Rook, it seemed pretty evenly split.
"There's a man sized door around the back we could try sneaking in through." Seraphina said.
"Sounds like a better idea than trying the front door." Volt said.
Rather than try to sneak around the buildings we simply walked instead, pretty much acting like we knew exactly where we were going and had done it times before. On the other side of the street we crossed paths with a trio of orks, and they barely gave us a second look.
Finding the back door that Seraphina mentioned was a little bit of a trick, not because it was camouflaged well, but the ramshackle nature of the outer wall just made spotting some things a little difficult.
And none of us were really surprised to find that the door was also locked.
"I've got this." Volt said as he stepped up. From one pocket he pulled out a lockpick set, selected a few tools, and went to work on the old fashioned lock.
I was feeling quite nervous when Volt got the door unlocked. Turner's warehouse was a big unknown, and not only from the layout of whatever might be inside but also who and what might be in there. So before Volt opened the door he drew his Ceska, and I drew my Predator.
And it looked like the kids were thinking the same thing, with Cypher pulling both of the Predators from inside his jacket and Seraphina pulling her own four barreled handgun.
As quietly as he could Volt pushed the door open. Thankfully it made no noise.
Volt was in first, and I was right behind him. Immediately to our right was a collection of boxes that were piled by the door, and more straight ahead was some shelf racking with more boxes.
The kids were right behind me, and just as I noticed they had stepped in was when all Hell broke loose.
There was a wide space between the shelving I first saw and a similar set just to the right. Between them appeared a fire elemental, a walking humanoid that looked to be made of nothing but fire.
"Holy shit!" yelled Cypher.
"Fuck off!" yelled Seraphina, bringing up her empty hand. It was quick, but she had already smacked the elemental with a bolt of raw power. Not enough to disrupt it, but it certainly was enough to send it reeling away.
"Move! Move! Move!" I yelled. I wasn't sure where Volt darted off to, and I noticed the kids slip off to my left just before they disappeared.
Movement to my right made me jump for cover behind the boxes, and a split second later I heard gunshots.
"I don't think they're interested in making friends." commented Rook as he crouched down beside me.
The fire elemental, having recovered some from being magically smacked around, rushed us. I had pretty much two options, and opted for risky and insane.
"Back!" I yelled at the elemental, a quick centering trick as I tried to banish the spirit directly. Right away I realized my ring was inactive as I felt the backwash of the spirit's magical power.
Seemingly undeterred by my efforts the fire spirit raised its hands and unleashed a stream of fire at me. Rook and I barely got out of the way, and it set the boxes on fire instead.
I took off down the same way the kids went, and suddenly got yanked back by Rook just before there was a burst of gunfire from above. Bullets tore up the floor just about where I would've been.
Rook muscled his way past me, jumping up to grab a rail drone that was holding a machinegun. Thanks to his size he didn't have to jump too high, and the drone had no chance to support his weight as he grabbed its gun, tearing it off the rail completely.
"Get them!" yelled a gruff voice. I saw an ork pop up from behind some boxes down past the shelves, and I ducked back just before he shot at me.
"Give 'em hell!" yelled another, and I heard more gunfire.
"Hell's freezing over!" Seraphina yelled back.
I never saw this one materialize, but if I could feel it so could everyone. I had noticed the fire elemental coming around the shelving after me, could feel the heat radiating from it as it threatened to set on fire anything that got too close to it, and suddenly its attention was drawn to something else as I felt a distinct chill in the air like someone had turned some industrial air conditioners on to maximum power.
I heard someone yell, not Volt or one of the kids so it had to be someone else in Turner's warehouse. I wasn't stuck between a rock and a hard place as the advancing elemental turned onto a new target.
If you've ever seen those slushy machines at a Stuffer Shack or other snack bar place, then you'll know quite well what I saw happen. It was as if a bunch of fire hoses spraying dozens of liters of white slushy were turned on the fire spirit, freezing solid whatever physical material it hit. In that one hit the fire spirit was doused and there was a short mound of ice where it once was.
Then I saw the spirit the girl had conjured up. It was also vaguely humanoid and looked like it was made of some blend of ice, snow, and water, looking almost as if it were solid yet moving like it was completely fluid. It was a complete antithesis to the fire spirit, chilling and freezing whatever was close to it, nearby objects developing a thin sheen of frost as it moved by.
Another rail drone zipped around, bringing up its own machinegun to bear on the spirit and unloading a heavy spray of bullets. It looked like the drone was shooting into water, icy material splashing outward with each ineffective hit. Almost casually it lifted a limb up and hosed down the drone, turning it into a sideways icicle.
Someone cried out, immediately followed by something crashing and things breaking.
"Ha! Got 'em!" I heard someone cry out. Then he cried out in terror as Seraphina's spirit had turned on him.
Wondering what had happened I did my best to sneak around to where I heard the crash. More towards the center of the room was the remains of a table, its legs broken and whatever had been on it now largely covering Seraphina. Cypher was helping her to her feet and her spirit was next to them as it stood guard. Also next to them, lying on the floor and encased in frozen slushy, was an ork.
"I think that's the last of them." Rook said as he walked over to the kids. He had the bent remains of another machinegun in one hand.
"What the fuck is this stuff?" asked Seraphina, whipping away pink goo from her hands.
"No clue." Cypher said as he and I looked at the remains of the table and its contents. I found a small jar that had been broken, part of many, really, and tried to figure it out. It had been squat and wide, and on the bottom I had found a label that was still intact. It read: "Brain Boost"
"Brain Boost?" I said aloud.
"What? Lemme see." Cypher said, taking the jar fragment from my hand. I noticed he handled it with his cybernetic hand. He looked at it, and I figured he was doing some kind of matrix search at the same time.
"Shit. It's an infusion." he finally said.
I saw a mix of terror and rage wash over Seraphina. Apparently they both knew what this nasty stuff was.
In a megapulse an infusion was a temporary genetic treatment. Take a dose, by injection or cream or inhaler, and in a few hours you get a boost with a few side effects. In about two weeks the stuff is filtered out of your body and you're back to relative normal.
Thing is, the stuff doesn't always work that way. People have died from a single dose after they developed a super aggressive cancer, while the extremely lucky get the benefits permanently.
"So what's this stuff supposed to do?" I asked.
"It infects the CNS with a protein that makes a low level of ethanol. Supposed to put the person in a state of euphoria and make them super creative." Cypher answered.
"Doesn't sound too bad."
"And it'll knock a person out with a massive hangover once it's done." Cypher added.
"Shit. I don't care, I don't want this crap fucking with my brain!" Seraphina declared. She immediately went to wiping away what she could, though I think we all knew it was already too late.
"Got a baggie or something small to keep stuff in?" I asked.
"Yeah, hang on." Cypher said, rummaging into pockets I didn't realize he had. He then pulled out a small blue chip box.
"Hope this won't be necessary." I said.
Seraphina was not looking at me, too busy trying to wipe her hands clean, when I reached over and yanked a few of her hairs."
"Ow! Hey!" she cried.
I ignored her protests as I looked at the hairs to make sure I had gotten some roots. Most of them looked good, so I handed them to Cypher, saying, "Store these someplace safe, just in case something bad happens."
Cypher simply nodded, taking the hairs and stashing them into the little blue box. He either needed a little practice in prestidigitation, or didn't really care that I noticed that little blue box went into a little secret compartment that was built into the palm of his cybernetic hand. Well, until he actually opened it I had no idea he even had it.
"How long till it takes effect?" Seraphina asked.
"Three to six hours." Cypher answered.
"Let's just hope it doesn't take hold at all." I said. The foreign nature of the infusion would damage her aura and weaken her magic if it became permanent.
"Looks like all we got is upstairs." Volt said, coming over from one corner of the warehouse. Behind him I noticed a set of stairs going up towards the very corner of the building.
"And who knows what waiting for us up there." I added.
"Right." Cypher said, picking up his pistols. "Time to disappear."
And disappear was right. The colors of their clothing flickered and changed to an adaptive camouflage setting while holograms appeared around their hands and heads to match.
"And kids get all the cooler toys." Volt commented.
I shifted my perceptions over to the astral as their auras would still show up to me despite whatever kind of camouflage they were using. And even then it was hard to spot them as they headed up the stairs.
"Damn it." I cussed as I activated my ring and focused power into an invisibility spell. Holding the spell I followed the kids up the stairs. I hoped that if Volt and Rook followed they'd try to be as stealthy as possible.
Just as I was getting to the top of the stairs I heard a collection of gunshots and other noises I could not quite make out. When I turned the corner I saw was pretty scary.
Still looking in the astral I could barely see the kids. Cypher looked like he had truly gone gunfighter with his twin Predators and shot up another person that had been hiding up here. Seraphina with her four barreled pistol had apparently given another a shot from all of them at once.
The spirit was not quite that hard to spot as it approached its summoner. This time I got a good look at its relative power and had a new wonderment about the girl. For those that dabble in calling spirits there's a point where more powerful spirits can be more unruly and hard to control, and having gauged Seraphina's power I could see this spirit was half again beyond her own.
Bringing myself back to the real world I let my invisibility spell slip away, and with it how clearly I could see the kids.
"Drek. Kids did this?" Volt asked from behind me.
Holograms disappeared and their clothing switched back to the previous color scheme.
"Yeah, we did… some of this." Cypher said, holstering one of his Predators.
"Not so hard when we know what we're up against." growled Seraphina, giving the dead ork by her feet a good kick before storming off to the only door in this room.
The room itself looked like it was some kind of living room. A table was situated at about the middle of the room, with a kitchenette opposite of the stairs. At the far side was a sofa and a large trideo screen.
"Hey, hold up." I said. Thankfully Seraphina stopped and turned to look at me. "Think you can just bust down the door and barge on into the next room?"
"Well sneaky didn't work for us, so why not?" she asked me back.
"Maybe 'cause he thinks Turner'll shoot Fiona if we do." Cypher answered.
Not wanting to listen she turned and stomped for the door once more.
I took a deep breath, pulling a bit of power to my voice and barked, "Stop!"
She jerked to a stop and after a split second she spun around to face me, bringing her pistol up and aiming straight at my head. "Don't you fucking ever do that to me again!" she yelled.
I usually don't admit this, and sometimes it's a guy thing, but honest to ghost she was terrifying me right now. Her whole body was tense, no quivering with fear or adrenaline, finger on the trigger, and my eyes were looking straight down the second barrel from the top. I'd have to be able to predict when she was about to shoot and I doubted I could even comprehend that fast enough to try and evade the shot.
I felt a pat on my shoulder and noticed Cypher walking by me to join her. "If you think she's pissed now, wait until she brings out all of her bound spirits. You'll rather want to deal with a dragon instead of them." he told me.
Her mood completely changed when Cypher reached her, and she lowered her aim. There were no words, at least none that I could hear.
That's when I realized I was holding my breath. Drek, she really could be scary. Maybe part of it was knowing she was awakened. No, there had to be more to it than that.
"Besides," I said, walking past the two to get to the door like it was nothing, "Did you even think of trying to open it before bashing it down?" I grabbed the knob and gave it a twist.
Turned out the door was locked after all.
"Allow me." Rook said, stepping up to the door. He stood with his right shoulder towards the door and gave it a forceful backhand blow where the handle was. That part of the door shattered as it was slammed open. He stepped in first and I was right behind him.
We had walked into a bedroom, with a bed and dresser at the far side of the room. In about the middle of the room was a chair with a woman tied to it and a man holding a gun to her as he stood behind her. I figured it was Fiona in the chair.
"Jack Turner?" I asked him.
"Captain Jack Turner." he corrected. "Don't come any closer or I'll shoot her!"
"Nope, you won't." Cypher said. "If she's shot then you're out your only bargaining chip. Besides, you got the safety on."
Turner's face went from confidence to confusion, and he looked to the gun he was holding on Fiona.
A gunshot rang out, and a distracted Turner spun back as his right shoulder was hit, the gun he was holding went flying. Looking back I saw that Cypher had his left hand Predator up and was still aiming at Turner.
"Alright! Alright! I surrender!" Turner told us.
"Okay. On the bed, now." Cypher ordered, keeping the Predator aimed at Turner. "Sera, check her out."
Seraphina rushed up to Fiona, going over her like you see those doctors do in the medical trids.
"Frag it all, kid, what if you'd missed?" I asked Cypher.
"Then she'd've gotten hit in the shoulder instead. Not like it would've been a fatal wound. Wasn't even a lethal round."
Turner looked like he was about to try and bolt, considering what Cypher's Predator was loaded with.
Cypher noticed it too. It must've been by his command because the handgun's slide slid back and forth on its own.
"Dual mags." Cypher said, "Swapped the gel round for an extra explosive one."
Frozen in place Turner's only move was to glance at the pistol in the kid's hand. He must've believed it because he didn't move. Hell, I probably would've done the same. Part of reliably conning someone is the projection of confidence, and Cypher was pretty damned confident his next shot would be an explosive one.
"Doesn't look like she's had anything to eat or drink for a few days, but she's otherwise fine. She just needs rest and food and water." Seraphina told us.
"Lucky you." I tell Turner, who was now kneeling on the bed. It didn't look like he'd actually been shot but he was still holding his shoulder all the same. Probably had a good bruise there now.
"Right, so I guess you know why we're here." I tell him.
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and take her." Turner said.
"Fat chance of that. You're comin' with us too." Cypher said.
"Hey, I'll give ya two thousand each if ya let me go." Turner offered.
"Really?" Cypher asked, tipping his head quizzically. "You think you've got the ten large to bribe us?"
Letting his injured arm go Turner dug into a pocket to pull out his commlink. After thumbing it for a little bit his jaw dropped and he just stared at the screen. I guessed that Cypher had already hacked Turner's 'link and drained away all the cred. Damn that kid was fast.
"So, will you come peacefully, or will my very upset girlfriend have to stunbolt you to unconsciousness and have your ass carried out on a walking glacier?" Cypher asked.
"I'll come quietly." Turner said softly.
"Oh, hang on. We still got a job yet." I said. "Turner, the Morel Stone, if you would, please?"
Turner looked at me and tried giving me a confused expression.
"No bullshit." Cypher said, "We know you got it and been trying to research it. Now if you'd rather we can tear this place apart…"
"No, no, it's under the bed." Turner said.
Cypher gestured with his Predator for Turner to get off, and the pirate did.
Rook came over to the bed, grabbed the foot of it and lifted it up onto the other end. Sunken into the floor was a safe, and with nothing else it likely held the stone.
"Right, now if you'll unlock it." Cypher ordered, "And no funny business."
I looked at Cypher as Turner came over to the safe and knelt down before it. I could swear that if I wasn't looking at an adolescent boy with expensive toys I was listening to a seasoned shadowrunner.
When Turner had the safe unlocked Cypher said, "Right, now back away from it."
"I'll take it from here." Volt said, stepping up to the safe. He looked it over before opening it. No traps, no nothing, inside was just the fist sized chunk of obsidian we were being paid to get. Turned out Fiona was a rather good sketch artist as it very nearly matched the real thing.
"See anything?" Cypher asked as Volt held the stone.
"It's magical, but that's all I know." Seraphina said.
I couldn't help but peek at the stone myself. I wish I could explain what I perceived, but to be honest I had seen nothing like it before. There was magic to the stone, yes, but it wasn't exactly extending into the astral like spells and spirits do.
"Can't really make anything out about it myself, either." I said.
"All this fuss over another magic rock." Cypher said.
"At least we don't have a few dozen people clamoring over us for it." Seraphina added, taking the stone from Volt. She looked it over, adding, "It's nothing like that other one."
"Other one?" Rook asked.
Cypher holstered the Predator that was in his right hand. "Last year we came across some blue and gold rock that was emitting a magic aura." he said.
"More like draining it." Seraphina amended.
"Whatever. Anyway, it was plenty dangerous and valuable. The Koshari opted not to try and bid for it like everyone else, but Raven did pay us alright just to let him examine it for an hour."
"So what happened to it?" Volt asked.
Cypher held his hand out for the stone. "We ended up delivering it to Ghostwalker himself." he said as Seraphina handed him the stone, "Don't know what he was gonna do with it, but…"
He stopped in mid sentence as soon as Seraphina had let go of the stone. After a few seconds of waiting for him to talk I went, "Hey, but what?"
"Cypher?" Seraphina asked, waving a hand right in front of his face. He did not flinch. Then she took the stone from his hand.
"… he could've shoved it up his ass for all I care." Cypher said. Then he looked up in confusion, eyeing each of us. "What happened?" he asked.
"You stopped talking when you held the stone." Seraphina told him, speaking a little more softly than usual.
"I… what?" Cypher asked. Then he looked off at nothing, and I'd guess he was checking something in that internal commlink of his. "Fuck. Guess I shouldn't handle magic rocks of any kind." he said.
"At least it's not like last time." Seraphina said.
"Do we want to know?" I asked.
"Imagine grabbing the live end of a cattle prod." Cypher told us.
Ouch. And no, I don't need to imagine. And no, it wasn't really a cattle prod but it hurt all the same.
"We should get going." Rook said.
"Right. At least I know the way." Cypher said.
So we followed him out of Pirate's Cove and through the tunnels back to the Tourist Highway. Seraphina walked with him, sometimes leaning on him for comfort. I followed behind them, with Turner behind me being watched over by Volt behind him. Rook brought up the rear, carrying Fiona piggyback style. And to his credit Cypher didn't get us lost once as he managed to take us back on, what I figured, was the exact same route that Pip had taken us on.
Getting back to the Tourist Highway seemed to take even longer than it should have, and I was considering our slower pace because of Fiona. In reality it didn't actually take too much longer. Turner didn't give us any hassle, but I think part of that was Volt keeping his pistol ready in case Turner became too belligerent.
When we got close to the Tourist Highway I called up the commcode that Detective Athack had given us. He and two Knight Errant officers were there to meet us at the top of the escalators into Lordstrung's. Tosh paid us and we turned Turner over to them while the kids raided one of the food vendors.
Next was MacCallister. Well, turned out to be someone else named Moreau who was ecstatic that we'd managed to find her alive and almost well. He sounded a bit disappointed when he asked about the stone and I told him we didn't find it, but was just glad that Fiona was alive.
Fiona rode with me in the backseat of the kid's truck, and by the time we had gotten to the restaurant Moreau had named she was a little conscious and had managed to drink part of a bottle of water the kids had in a cooler. Moreau, her father, was more than happy to pay us, and though he listened carefully to what Seraphina had to say about taking care of her for the next week or two he had a puzzled look to his face about getting this from a little girl less than half his own daughter's age.
Last was Laurent Nazaire. It was a Soybucks up in Tacoma where we were to meet him. Turned out we were well ahead of him, and while we waited I noticed that Seraphina had not only buried herself into some program on her commlink but had downed five full sandwiches by the time Nazaire had gotten there to pay us and collect the stone.
Things were pretty quiet between us as we went back to Underworld 93 and a nearly empty parking lot. At least my car looked the same as it did the night before when we left.
"You know, you kids surprised me." I said as I opened the door to get out. Seraphina was completely oblivious to my statement. I guess that infusion had taken hold after all. Hopefully it'd fade after two weeks.
"What, expected us to behave like children?" Cypher asked.
"Well, to be honest, yes."
"Tell ya what. Next time, if you behave we might just let you in on a little secret." Cypher told me.
The truck closed the door on me and drove off, leaving me to wonder just what little secret those two kids had.
