Fire and Lightning
By Harris, Mitch, Shaine, and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: R.

The candles flickered as Shaine stared into the center of the circle they formed. This usually works by now...damn, can't even get my eyes to unfocus...

There was a knock at the door. She ignored it.

Go away!

"Shaine?" It was Crimson's voice. "Can I come in?"

She got up and reluctantly opened the door.

"Yeah."

He walked in, looking not at her surroundings but only at her. It was dark, with only the light of five candles on a low table to add to the moonlight streaming in from one window.

"I heard what happened on the mission."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Would you like to talk about it?"

"No."

"There are a few things I need to know."

She looked at him oddly. Her face was utterly blank, but her eyes shone as if she'd connected with something deeper than he could have imagined.

"I know it seems a bit cold, but you were up against a lot. I worried about you."

"You didn't need to."

"Don't I?"

"Whatever I do is my choice...not Harris's."

"And it was my choice to drag you into this life."

She shook her head.

"See how the circle turns?"

"The person who got me here isn't in this room." She stopped, thinking. "People..." she corrected herself.

"They're not the ones who offered you your life for this. They're the ones who took away your options." Yours...mine...Erik's, even...

He thinks it's only Genom that's guilty? Too much he doesn't know...

"What happened? Not what was reported, Shaine. What happened to you?"

"I did what I had to."

"And what was the effect?"

"I had some part in the success of the mission, although I would not claim a major part in that. I'm alive...

"And Genom doesn't have Amster. --Do you go through this with all of your new recruits?"

"These things haven't often happened to new recruits. In fact, only a few times..."

"I don't give pity and I don't accept it." She laughed easily. "Kind of like Canadian change on this side of the border..."

"It's not pity. It's honest concern that you're too damned stubborn to admit that something could have hurt you."

"If you knew me, I might be able to believe that."

He grinned. "You may have something there...

I know a lot about you Shaine, more than any one person should know."

She stared at him, perfectly calm. "Do you."

"I do. I don't just randomly choose people...although the system is so complex that it seems like it. I knew about you for a few years, kept an eye on you. At the time, your name came from...a friend. Someone who could make the cut, but was...too young."

His tone turned more gentle. "I met Evon once..."

Her eyes grew huge before she could stop the reaction.

"We were working a job...some tech fair. He was there for Genom."

Yeah, I know the kind...the ones he was always ditching me to go to...

"I was at the bar, and all I could hear him talking about was you."

Oh...my...

"It struck me funny, the way everything was Shaine this and Shaine that... Seemed odd that that name kept coming up. I went and sat next to him, just to find out who he was talking about.

"We ended up talking the better part of the night away. He thanked me after we saw what time it was...

"That was the last time I saw him. I wish I could say he said to look after you, but he didn't. He thought too much of you to do something like that.

"I know of you...can I ever know you?"

Ohhhh... The blue of her eyes shimmered, but her face still held firm.

"If you need to talk, I'll be in my office." He began to walk out, then turned back. "You're not alone. If you need us, we are here for you."

Morrigan fluttered in as he left, but Shaine did not notice. Picking up her purse, she got out her Miyako. It was unloaded...as it always had been.

Finding a clip, she slid it in. Well...I guess I was always looking for a sign, wasn't I? And now I have it.

"Caw, caw!" Morrigan hopped up onto the bed and cocked her head at Shaine. "Caaaw?"

Shaine just stared back.

Morrigan hopped over, rubbing her feathered head against Shaine's arm. "Caw?"

Shaine rubbed her head back gently, then held out a hand. Morrigan jumped up, her talons lightly holding on.

Shaine lifted her hand and looked at the bird. Its black eyes reflected the room's scant light.

Raven in hand, she walked back to the low table under the window.

///

"Man...the slagger...gave us half of what the ring was worth!"

"I told you not to kill her. We could have sold the ring and held her for more money..."

Harris shook his head as the cyberpunks passed. This part of town had been mostly overlooked during the reconstruction, and the pair of thugs were a prime example of the scum that had failed to float to the top.

Cloaked, he walked to the entrance of the shop which the cyberpunks had just left. A heavyset man came to the door, wearing some sort of thick goggles; a cable ran from the goggles to his waist. He closed some heavy gates just behind the door and appeared to be locking it up for the night.

The windows were all barred, and the back door locked, but Harris easily sliced through the lock with his laser sword and the steel door swung open.

The back room was littered with junk. Even with the heads-up display, he couldn't make out all of the individual items. Harris waited for a while, hoping the man would simply come to him, but the store owner was taking his sweet time.

After a while, Harris walked into the main room of the store, where the store owner sat, with goggles on, kissing a C-class Boomer. The goggles were linked into the Boomer, and he was grunting and groaning. Harris shuddered. It was set up to be an overgrown video game...he'd seen the same thing a few times before.

Several minutes later the man stopped, then reached for a box on the table.

Time to play. "Here, piggy, piggy..."

His head jerked up. Reaching for the box quickly, he began to fumble with it. Harris smiled and engaged his sniper rifle, shooting the store owner in the hand. The box fell, covered in blood, and the Boomer let out a groan in a Betty Boop voice.

"Squeal, piggy!"

"Geeza H..." He turned and looked around, stumbling over the Boomer.

Still cloaked, Harris stepped up to him and grabbed him by the back of the neck.

"I...I got friends... I got powerful friends... Whoever, whatever you are...you let me go and they'll let you live!"

Harris carried him to the back room, then outside the building. He flew up to the roof of a nearby building, throwing the man down onto it. According to his sensors, the "pig" had soiled himself.

He chuckled softly. "Your friends can't help you now." The store owner was trying to get up and to the edge of the roof; Harris walked over and knocked him back.

"Hey...you know, I got money...you like money?"

"Nope."

"Jewels? You like dem?"

Harris disengaged his cloak.

"Stocks...cars?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "I like to make pigs like you squeal. See, you're about to get an old school lesson on why it's bad to kill people..."

"Kill? Me, no, I've never killed..."

Harris took him by the neck, holding him firmly but gently. "All right. This is how it works."

"Erk."

"Blink once for yes, twice for no. Do you want to live?"

His left eye blinked...and then his right.

Harris smiled. "Good. You're at least smart...

"Smartass..." He squeezed harder. The other man's lips moved, though no sound could emerge...it looked something like no I don't want to die. Harris let up a little bit. "All right then, then is what I want to know. Who's your contact with Luna?"

"I...um...do odd jobs for him," he gasped. Harris let go.

"I know what you do for him. I asked who your contact is."

"Tony Visiglio."

"I hope that's true," Harris aimed the sniper rifle at his head. "Because you're going to take me to him."

"See, he's related to me, and he's married to Luna's wife's sister..."

"I see."

"What? Take you to Tony?"

"How far is it to his place?"

"Oh, I can't..."

"Why?"

"Kill me. Kill me now; can't be worse than Tony or Luna..."

"No, don't worry. You're not going to die yet. And I promise I won't let any of the Luna family kill you either. Just take me to him."

"Yeah, but they cut people up, and not so that you die right away...they keep you alive..."

"This is your chance to not have them kill you. I promise they won't...or if not, I kill you right now. And if I do it it'll be far worse than what they would do to you."

"Okay, he got a place on the Gold Coast."

"How far from here?"

"Oh, geeza, four miles? Five?"

Harris took hold of him again and launched into the air. "Show me."

"Hooolyy..." He tried to look down, but kept having to jerk his head away from the sight of the city passing beneath them. Eventually he darted his eyes down again, pointed hastily, and looked away again. Harris descended to ground level, recloaking. "Here it...is..."

There were at least twenty people on the property: ten inside, five outside, and five in the basement. Seven cars sat in the driveway, showing very little sign of use. They'd been there for an hour or two, at least.

Only two guards were in range, Harris shot both immediately. Checking his scanners again, he moved to the far side of the house dragging the shopkeeper behind him. "Say a word and you die now."

There were three guards by the pool. One drew his gun and his radio, seeing the shopkeeper; Harris fired before the guard could use either. Taking the radio, he started checking for broadcasts mentioning his presence.

"That was one of Lou's boys! He must've been here to kill Tony...?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he's the other big guy in the city."

"Well, Tony just got a freebie.

"All right, here's the plan: this is going to be simple...you're my bait."

"B-bah-bait?"

"Yeah."

"Uh..."

Harris grabbed him by the back of the collar.

"Okay...what do you want?"

"Well, it's like this: we're going in." Harris started walking forward; another man came racing toward them, gun drawn.

Harris fired quickly, and the guard went down. "Simple enough...we're going in...me behind you. You scream something about the mob boss you referred to coming to get Tony. Think that will keep you alive?"

"Um, no...not really..."

"All right. Another idea..."

"Damned if I freakin' do, damned if I don't..."

Harris hit him on the side of the head, just hard enough to knock him out. He slumped over, falling mercifully quiet. "Night-night..."

The door was unlocked. His weapons powered up, Harris peered inside, keeping one eye on his scanners. There was no one in the large kitchen which he had walked into, but the floor was reading massive heat signs.

The basement. Five people there. He dragged the insensate shopkeeper through the kitchen. A quiet bell sounded, and a door in the wall opened. There were a large silver dome and tray inside; he glanced at it warily.

No one coming from there. His best bet was a large room down the hall, where most of the heat signals on the main level of the house seemed to be coming from. Carefully avoiding a waiter, he carried his "bait" down the hall toward the room.

Inside were seven people gathered around a large table. Three women, four men, all in expensive clothing. One man sat at the head of the table, presumably Tony. He turned away, picking up the shopkeeper...who was out cold. No chance of waking him. Figured. Slinging him over his shoulder, Harris walked boldly into the dining room.

With a loud slam he dropped the body onto the floor, stepping to his left with both lasers up and ready.

The women screamed, and a short man in a dark suit pulled out a gun. Harris aimed for the short man's knees and fired his lasers. He then uncloaked and aimed at Tony with his sniper rifle. "All right, nobody move."

The short man fired his gun on the way down, hitting the shopkeeper and sending blood spraying out from his unconscious body.

"Who the fuck are you!" Tony demanded.

"Shut up." Harris fired several more shots into the short man's body. "Anyone do anything, Tony is dead - and at this range I won't miss."

A woman drenched in a sea of gold and gemstones hurled herself toward Tony. Had to be his mother or his wife. "No! Take me instead!"

Harris ignored her. "Now, then, Tony. You are in direct affiliation with Luna if I am not correct...so this meeting will be brief."

"Yeah, I know Luna. What the fuck do you want from me?"

Harris fired several shots into the shopkeeper's body, keeping the sniper rifle trained on Tony.

"What can I tell you about Luna? He's into shipping...export and trade..."

Harris sent an emergency signal to the ADP. Might as well find a use for that glorified cleanup crew... "Your Luna has caught the eye of my employer. We know what he is doing...what you are doing...what fat boy here was doing..."

"That piece of crap? He's doing nothing. Can't even fight his way out of a paper bag."

"Well, don't worry. Most of your men outside are just as weak."

"I see."

"Understand this: we are not the law--"

"Okay! Let my wife go, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"No. She stays. They all do."

"What do you want with them?"

"You'll tell me anyways or I kill you, then her. Understand?"

"Luna...the bastard's out of town!"

"Of course."

"He went back to Italy for a month to see his mother."

"Go on."

"He won't be back til next week; that's all I know."

"No...you know more than that." He aimed both of his lasers at the guests. "Come out with it all or each one goes, one by one."

"What do you want to know? Pick a subject."

"I want to know Luna's organization inside and out." Listening to the ADP radio frequency, he heard a report that they were about four blocks away, with another two squads closing in. "What are the names of his other subordinates?"

"Hell, for that you gonna be doing this a lot. He spread it out among many...I'm just one..."

"I want names."

"Names. I got names, but I want to walk out of this alive. Me, my wife, and my kids."

"You'll live if you're not stupid. Now I want some names."

"Oh, there's another thing: you'd have to kill everyone here..."

"The one I was contracted for is on the floor next ot me. The rest of you are freebies."

"I see..." He turned to the guests. "Sorry. Just business." Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a small white book, which he handed to Harris. The two other men both swore.

"Well, then."

"Well, then!" Tony smiled cockily. "I will see you later." He extended a hand to his wife.

"Yes..." Still aiming at them, Harris backed out the door, cloaking. "A pleasure doing business."

"Yes, a pleasure." Harris could hear the ADP kicking down a door. Sidestepping them as quickly as possible, he exited the house.

Well, then. Back to fat boy's place for more information...

An alarm on his suit beeped: Return to base as soon as possible.

Or maybe not...

///

Shaine rushed down the hall to the hangar. Damn it, damn it, damn it...just had to have another of these freak shows happen now... Pulled out of meditation by Crimson, all she knew was that one of a stolen shipment of new ADP battle suits had been found at O'Hare with weapons armed.

It was being piloted by a police Boomer.

The ADP didn't take it seriously, but the Ravens certainly did. And Shaine did. She could hear the turbine fans of the Wing revving as she finally reached the hangar.

Inside the plane, Harris and Mitch sat with Jinks, already prepared for the mission.

All right...where in hell is Miss Suicide now? Communing with her little water spirits? Harris wondered if she knew she'd said all of that bullshit out loud.

Just then she wandered in, helmet underneath one arm, and an odd expression on her face. Well, not much odder than usual. The Wing took off and flew once around the city, finding no trace of the K-suit and no reports of firefights.

"I'm getting some odd readings!" Shaine gasped. "It looks like the battle suit.

"It's climbing the Sears Tower!"

"What?" Jinks exclaimed.

"Yeah..."

"So we've found our target," Harris said. "Let's go."

"Just like that sim..." Shaine muttered thoughtfully.

"You got to be kidding!" Rai called from the cockpit.

"I'm not in the mood to joke, trust me."

"Great, the Sears Tower all over again..."

"What the...?" Mitch looked puzzled.

The expression on Shaine's face was determined, as if she'd just found a new purpose in life. She put on her helmet and cloaked as the others already had.

Harris rose slowly. "Shall we get moving?"

"Can we just for once let the ADP have this one? Shit, I'm flying, ain't I?"

"We have had some trouble at the tower before," Jinks began.

"Some trouble, she says. Fuck you, Jinks!"

Harris just shook his head.

They could see the Tower from inside the wing. Jinks nodded. "Okay, kids. Get out."

///

The view from the Tower was breathtaking. They could see everything for miles.

The K-suit was crawling over the edge of the roof. It was a K-13, one of the newest models. The three nestlings aimed, but held their fire.

"Its weapons are armed," Shaine warned. "Be careful." Then she fired her lasers, and Mitch did the same a moment later. Both were stopped by some sort of field around the suit. Shaine swore and stopped firing.

Harris watched impassively, deciding to switch from his sniper rifle to some heavier weaponry.

Well, Shaine thought, How about the laser sword? It should have some fun with that. But she was reluctant to rush the suit; who knew what that energy field might do to her?

Harris aimed with his rail gun, firing a single shot toward the suit's legs. The rail burst flew through the suit's shielding and embedded itself in the leg. He smiled viciously and prepared to fire again, but then heard Shaine ask, "Did Jinks ever fix that thing?"

Oh, shit... He turned his head just in time to see Mitch fire the microwave jammer. There was a blast of energy, and all of them were hit.

Jinks took a ribbon of of energy point blank and went down without a struggle; the rest were each hit at least once but managed to wobble a bit as they fought to retain control. The suits decloaked.

Shit...figures...stupid... Harris immediately began trying to regain control of the suit.

Mitch checked his systems and found that they were completely fried. Damn!

Shaine simply lay there. It's all right. But I wish Crimson could have told me that a little earlier... She bit her lip and fought back tears. Then she saw in the heads-up display that she had power and communications, but no weapons. No way to get out of this one.

She stood, shakily, as Harris began bringing his suit back on line. He powered up the rail gun again, then got to his feet and looked at Mitch.

This isn't as bad as you thought, girl...you can still run! "Hah," she gasped faintly.

"Hey...looks like we got it. It's even more well done than my dad's schnitzel!" She grimaced. "Blehhh..."

"You sure it's done?"

"Yup. Nuked til it's grey, cooked til it's burnt...with ketchup on top." Her tone turned cheerful. "It's times like these I miss Mom's cooking."

Harris walked over to Mitch, looking at him. He shook his head and walked away.

A strong wind began to blow from the direction of the lake, and the K-suit fell over the edge of the building. "Oh, sure! Leave me to pick up Labcoat!" Shaine went over to Mitch.

"Naw, just leave him. He's smart."

"And Jinks?"

"Jinks?"

"Wow, Harris...never thought I'd hear you say that! --Yeah, she hasn't gotten up yet. Hey, Jinks, are you all right?"

There was no response.

Harris walked over to Jinks; she still hadn't moved at all.

"Aw, shit... Well, I've got a hearbeat at least...a little heat..."

He picked her up. "Okay, let's get her back to the base."

"I don't like the looks of this, though." Shaine picked up Mitch, who was beginning to move his hands and feet a bit, and activated her comm. "Rai, we need pickup now. Jinks is down."

The Ravens' Wing flew silently toward the tower, and dropped its door. Shaine and Harris climbed in, Shaine setting Mitch down into a seat, and Harris lying Jinks down on the floor.

The Wing's door closed and it began the long flight back to base.