Chapter Five

            "Felix?" a voice called. Felix couldn't recognize the voice, or anything else around him. Confusion, then fear became his only thoughts. Everything around him was whirling and out of focus.

            "No, Felix. It's okay!" The voice called again. "Don't be afraid. I need you to be calm now." Felix slowly calmed himself. Confusion was still his main focus.

            "Felix, you're projecting at the moment. Your astral form was shaken loose from your body when you were shot. Do you understand now?" Felix finally placed the voice as his father's. The confusion gave way. However, it was replaced with frustration when he could not make out anything around him. A swirling black void with a static, white sphere before him. Unfortunately, the astral realm was woefully unfamiliar to him.

            "Felix! Relax!" His father ordered. "You must listen to me now! Do not do anything else!" Felix gave up on trying to make sense of his astral surroundings. He tried to shut his eyes, but became aware of the absence of his body.

            "Now, listen and remember very carefully. I have been shot. Fatally. I won't make it. Your mother, too. You are very seriously wounded, but you will survive. Emily escaped." Felix's confusion came back again, mixed with sadness and anger. His father's form distorted and faded into the blackness.

            "Felix! No! Calm yourself!" Tom ordered again. Felix forced himself to release his emotions, allowing him to listen to his father, though he could no longer see his form.

            "The one who shot us was an orc. He's also a magician. Physically adept. He has stolen something from me. Something I was going to give to you this afternoon. You have to go get it back." His father's voice degraded and began to fall silent. "You've always made me proud, son. You'll be alright. Goodbye." Tom's voice faded into nothingness. Felix's emotions swelled again, making the unrecognizable void around him swirl with sickening shades of red, purple and yellow. Felix lost control in the vertigo.

* * * * * * *

Felix opened his eyes. He saw above him a ceiling crisscrossed with narrow decorated beams. He made a mental check over his body. His head burned. His chest was numb but ached. With a little difficulty, he sat up. He was asleep on a brown leather couch in a small modest office. He looked over at the desk to see someone reading. The man behind the desk looked up, adjusted his glasses and smiled.

            "Guten tag, Herr Page." The man greeted in a pleasant German accent. He put the piece of paper he was reading in the desk and stood up. He was a rather short person, but not build solidly enough to be a dwarf. His stomach passed his belt slightly, straining the buttons of his blazer. The man walked around the edge of the desk and leaned against the front.

            "Not so far, it hasn't." Felix replied. He laid back down and put his hand on his chest. The slight impact his hand made on his chest outlined his wounds under his bandages with a twinge of pain, then the creeping numbness filled back in. Felix counted four twinges of pain.

            "It's been two days." The man replied.

            "Figures." Felix said, staring at the ceiling. "What happened?"

            "The details are sketchy. All that we know is that someone hit the panic button over at Tomorrow's house. Since he is one of our former employees that is on our retirement payroll, we replied long before the local law enforcement could." The man took a breath at this point, then waited until Felix looked at him.

            "Your father had been shot. Your mother as well. Both died a short time later."

            "Yeah." Felix replied, sighing and looking back at the ceiling. "I know."

            "Your father was a priceless asset to the company. He was a valuable friend to me." The man said louder, with a sincere emphasis. Felix looked back at the man sitting across the room from him. "Tomorrow saved my life a number of occasions when we performed jobs. When I made enough and decided to start a business, he agreed to help by becoming a full time employee, thus saving me again from having to deal with hired muscle and inexperienced brats who pass themselves off as mages." The man cursed quietly in German, looking at the floor. "Amelia as well. Never has a greater tragedy befallen us here."

            "So why am I in your office bleeding on your couch?" Felix asked.

            "I owe my friend's son my service as I would my friend." The man replied.

            "Why not some hospital?"

            "Herr Page, you would be chained to the bed. You are SINless, remember?" Felix closed his eyes, suddenly remembering his anonymity again. "However, we can hire you on. I owe you that much."

            "I'm sorry, sir. You're very generous, but I cannot do nearly half the things my father was able to. Plus, I have a few things I must attend to."

            "I do not believe you. Your father spoke many times of your skill as a magician as well as a summoner. But I assume you have much business to attend to." The German paused, thought for a second, then reached over the deck into one of the desk drawers. Felix sat up and looked at what he was doing. The German sat up with a small object in his hand. "Here." He tossed it at Felix. He almost caught it, but dropped it onto the plush carpet. He picked it up and examined it.

            "Oh, I already have a secretary, but thank you."

            "Not this one." The German said. "This one is the Omega edition."

            "Eh?" Felix asked, opening it. It looked just as any other pocket secretary would except for the large silver Omega character on the cover.

            "Sure. The company releases those in October. Plus, that one has your father's accounts on it. Go to the personal finance menu, password's…" The German chuckled. "Well, it's you." Felix laughed slightly. He typed in his name. The computer beeped pleasantly and listed a series of thirty digit alphanumeric codes followed by dollar amounts. At the bottom of the list, the total revealed his father had around fifty thousand nuyen squirreled away.

            "There are other things on there, too. Phone numbers, a spell formula I think. Other stuff like that. Play around with it. My number is under the German." Felix laughed.

            "I wonder why." Felix replied.

            "Got the hell out of Hamburg when the race riots started. Bad for business." The German sighed. "Sure you won't consider employment?" Felix got up, grimacing. He placed the secretary in the pocket of his slacks. Then he paused, never remembering putting on slacks.

            "No." Felix grunted. "At least, not at the moment."

            "Very well. I'll give you a call in a few days, see if you change your mind." Felix walked over to the German sitting on the deck and shook his hand. He started to turn, but paused.

            "Say, do you happen to know if anything was stolen from the house? You know, when the, uh, orc…"

            "Oh, yes, there was something our clean up men couldn't find. The foci he had locked up."

            "Foci?"

            "Yes. Only two though. The company bought them for him after a particularly profitable job he did for us years past. Um, it was a…" The German searched for words, looking at the ceiling. "One was a power focus, I believe the other one was a spell lock, if I'm not mistaken."

            "These were stolen?" Felix said. "That's what Dad was talking about. Of course. And my parents? Are they..."

            "Cremated. According to their wishes, and to prevent desecration by certain organizations." The German explained. Felix nodded. He turned for the door.

            "Oh! Felix!" The German called. Felix looked over his shoulder.

            "Yeah?"

            "A young lady is waiting down the hall for you. Didn't catch a name. Had a…" The German, at a loss for words, made a swirl with his finger around his left eye.

            "Oh!" Felix exclaimed. "Thanks!" He bolted out the door. The German chuckled.

            "Hmmm. Good kid. Hope he doesn't get killed going after his father's stuff."

            Felix trotted down a green carpeted hallway immediately outside the German's office. Suddenly, the hallway terminated into a gigantic lobby. Felix stood in the center for a second. He looked to the right of the room, seeing a dozen empty chairs and as many small sofas and tables. Suddenly, something grabbed him and his chest blazed with pain. Felix yelped and tore away swinging his arms. He stepped forward a couple paces and swiveled around, fists before him.

            "Well, that's a fine way of saying hello." Emily said, hands at her sides.

            "Oh!" Felix exclaimed, his hand over his heart. "You scared the ever-living drek out of me. God, it's good to see you. I thought you were dead." He approached Emily and gave her a hug. At first, she stood there, her arms akimbo, but sighed and hugged back. Felix winced but didn't let Emily know how much his chest hurt. Emily let go and looked at the bandages wrapped clear around his chest under an open white dress shirt.

            "Damn. That dude did a number on you, didn't he?"

            "Yeah. Feels like he unloaded the entire clip out on me." Felix said, tenderly touching his chest.

            "I'm sorry about your parents, Felix." Emily said. Felix sighed.

            "Thank you." Felix said. He looked at the floor, his arms at his hips. "Dammit."

            "Anything I can do?"

            "No. Thanks, but not really. Let's just go home."

            "'kay." Emily replied. They silently exited the office and got into a car Felix didn't recognize. The smell suggested a rental car. The surrounding city was unfamiliar to Felix. Quickly, he fell asleep again.

            "Yo, we're here." Emily said, tapping Felix's shoulder. Felix opened his eyes to the familiar dirty façade of his apartment building brightly illuminated by the setting sun. He stretched and climbed out. Felix went inside, followed by Emily. They trudged up the stairs but stopped dead in the hallway. The door to Felix's apartment was open into the hallway.

            "My door doesn't open into the hallway." Felix commented.

            "Yeah. It doesn't have dozens of holes in it either." Emily commented. Felix's door also looked like Emily's. They approached his apartment. As they came around the door, the sound of a shotgun racking was heard. Felix just stood in front of the doorway as Emily jumped further down the hall.

            "Felix?" Bones asked.

            "Bones?" Felix asked. Felix saw Bones sitting in the middle of his living room with a shotgun. Bones, the shotgun, the folding chair he was sitting in and the forty-ounce beer bottle on the ground next to him were the only things in the apartment that did not have a large caliber hole in it.

            "Stay out of my apartment, Bones." Felix said and entered. He went into the kitchen and pulled on the perforated refrigerator door. It fell off. After examining the contents of the refrigerator, he withdrew a forty-ouncer from the six-pack that Bones was already starting on.

            "Felix? You okay?" Emily's voice called from the hallway.

            "Yeah, sure. Come in and get something to drink." Felix replied. He twisted the cap off of the bottle and tossed into the shattered remains of the sink. Emily poked her head around the door. She saw Felix standing in the kitchen drinking a beer and Bones staring at him, mouth slightly open. When she saw the coast was clear, she entered. She held a very tiny pistol in her right hand.

            "Dammit, Felix. I know you're the easy-going type, but for frick's sake! Look surprised or something! Shit!" Bones exclaimed, reaching for his beer on the ground.

            "Holy shit. Look at my place. It is blown to shit." Felix said, in a deliberate monotone.

            "Wow, looks like my place." Emily said. She tucked the pistol back into her pocket. Bones turned to her.

            "What? This happened twice?" Bones asked.

            "Oh sure. Some Yak got mad because I wouldn't give it up." Emily replied. "Oh, I never said thanks for hauling us to my friends house a week ago. I'm Circumstance." Emily extended her hand. Bones put the beer on the ground, switched the shotgun to his left hand and shook Emily's hand.

            "Charmed. Bones."

            "Thanks for babysitting Felix's apartment." Emily turned to Felix. "But Bones is right. Having someone as emotionally stable as you is damn freaky." Felix shrugged his shoulders.

            "Sorry." Felix said. "If Bones would have put maglocks in and replaced these crummy deadbolts this wouldn't have happened." Emily looked at Bones.

            "Yeah, well…" Bones stuttered. "Oh, hell. I'd say I'd give you back your security deposit, but I spent it."

            "You're the landlord?" Emily asked. Bones nodded.

            "Sad state of affairs, ain't it?" Felix said, taking another drink.

            "You can stay at my place if you want." Bones said. Felix choked.

            "Hell no!" Felix sputtered, wiping his mouth. "Your fleas are as big as this bottle."

            "Let me call a few friends. I'm sure I can find a space to stay at." Emily said.

            "Naw, that's alright. I have a few creds now. I'm sure I can find a new place to stay."

            "Not without a SIN, buddy boy." Emily reminded Felix. Felix closed his eyes tightly.

            "Dammit Bones!" Felix shouted. "Why did you have to delete that?"

            "Look." Bones said, putting the shotgun on the floor. "Let me explain something. You are a magician. That's an unfortunate fact in today's society." Felix opened his mouth, but Bones held up a finger. "Although I'm not one of your 'talented elite', I have worked with and studied them enough to know what happens. You know who Lone Star has on duty twenty four hours a day?" Bones was silent for two seconds. Felix didn't respond. "A mage, that's who. One that will kick your ass as soon as you trip into the other realm. Whatever shit you call it, astral or something. I'm lucky in the fact that if they want me, they have to come and get me. They can fry you seventeen miles away."

            "Anyway, while you've been at the University, they take a good look at the thumbprint your spirit leaves. And guess what that print is attached to? Your system identification number, that's what. Remember your daring caper about two weeks ago? They know about the shit you pulled. They're looking for you, dude. And as soon as they see that thumbprint, and as soon as someone figures out it's you, they'll find you, and they'll kill you."        

            "What did I get into?" Felix whispered to himself, taking a drink.

            "Whatever it is, you're making hella lotta money and you're not some corp toy." Bones replied. Felix sighed.

            "Yeah. Not that great of a tradeoff."

            "I'd say it was." Emily said. "How else are you going to get this orc?" Felix froze. He clinched his teeth and squeezed the edge of the countertop hard.

            "You want him, right?" Emily said, knowing she hit a nerve with Felix. "I sure would if he shot my parents. Even more so if he stole my stuff."

            "Yeah, I want him." Felix growled, his eyes glowing slightly.

            "What? What happened?" Bones asked, his eyes darting back and forth from Emily and Felix.

            "Some guy tried to rob us on the interstate a few days ago." Felix explained with a voice totally different from his own while his face pointed at the floor. "He tried to kill us in a grocery store the next day, and then came to my house, killed my parents, shot both of us and stole some very personal, very magical property from me." He stood up suddenly and turned to Emily, his eyes blazing brightly. "Oh yeah, I want him."

            "Good. Calm down and let me call some friends. We'll take care of the basics first." Emily said, smiling but obviously unnerved by Felix's sudden shift of attitude. Felix exhaled sharply, ran his fingers through his hair and breathed deeply.

            "Yes, do call some friends." Felix said in his usual tone of voice. He reached into his pocket, withdrew the pocket secretary and handed it to Emily. She opened it, dialed in eleven digits and held it to her head.

            "Hello?" Emily asked the phone. "Yeah, you still have my space there? No shit. I'm sure you already heard. That's why I'm asking." She paused for a second to listen. "You're kidding. You're still doing that? Yeah, yeah. Alright. Later." She closed up the secretary and gave it back to Felix.

            "Okay, get your stuff." Emily said. She looked at the floor under her. "Uh, do you have stuff left?"

            "Haven't checked yet." Felix replied. He put the bottle in the sink and went into his bedroom. He came out with his suit. The Kevlar and assorted plates inside the suit held up to the rounds of ammunition the vandals pumped into Felix's apartment. The suit itself, however, did not. Shreds of cloth sparsely covered the armor underneath.

            "Ouch." Bones replied. "I have a feeling I know what gun they were using now."

            "After we get to my friends house, we can go out to get another one." Emily suggested. Felix's eyes flashed.

            "No, I don't need another one. C'mon." Felix said, and walked out of the building fast, the tattered excuse for a suit in hand. Emily trotted behind him.

            "What? What's going on?"

            "Just come on." Felix said, getting into the car and slamming the door. Emily did the same. Emily started the car and pulled out onto the street.

            "Where am I going?" Emily asked.

            "Eighth and University." Felix replied, buttoning up his shirt and tucking it into his pants. They drove silently to the intersection. When Emily parked, Felix jumped out of the car, grabbed the suit and ran across the street for the dry cleaners. He pulled the door open and marched inside. The man behind the counter looked up and jumped.

            "Hey!" the man screamed. "I didn't call the cops! Really! I swear!" He covered his head as Felix approached. Felix stopped at the counter and slammed the suit down. The man looked at it.

            "What the hell happened to this?" He asked, lowering his guard and picking it up.

            "Doesn't matter. I need it fixed." Felix growled.

            "What do you mean, fixed?" The man said, dropping it on the counter. "I can't fix this." Felix grabbed the man by his shirt collar and yanked him forward.

            "I do NOT want to hear that!" Felix yelled.

            "Hey, c'mon!" The man yelled back. "What do I look like? A frickin' tailor! I do minor repairs! That's it! You can't repair this! This is destroyed!" Felix turned him loose. The man reached for his neck.

            "Well then, what does a new one cost?" Felix asked sternly.

            "I, I don't sell…"

            "What does a new one cost!" Felix shouted, flashing his eyes at him.     

            "AAAA! About four grand! Don't kill me!" The man squealed, his arms covering his head again.

            "You get me another suit. Dark gray. Take the measurements off that." Felix commanded, thumping the destroyed suit with his knuckles. "Bring the receipt and don't try any of your price fixing shit. Understand?"

            "Yeah. Okay." The man hurriedly blurted. "When do you want it?"

            "Wednesday." Felix replied turning to the door.

            "But…" The man started. Felix swiveled around.

            "I said Wednesday!" Felix shouted.

            "But it is Wednesday!" The man cried. Felix opened his mouth, then shut it. He opened it again, but shut it. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his pocket secretary. He flipped it open standing in the middle of the shop and jabbed the calendar button below the screen. Sure enough, according to the pocket secretary, it was Wednesday.

            "Oh." Felix meekly replied. "Uh, well then, Friday is good. Uh, yeah." Felix's total loss of cool made him uneasy. He turned straight to the door and pushed on it, then pulled on it when the door didn't budge. Felix nearly bumped into Emily as he left the cleaners.

            "Whoa!" Felix exclaimed. "Sorry. Where are you going?"

            "Up here to the liquor store." Emily pointed to a small liquor store half way down the block.

            "Oh." Felix followed Emily up the block to the grubby little shop. The interior was crammed with shelves and tables full of old stuffers, magazines, chips and other odds and ends. This store had become more of a hangout for local vagrants than an actual place of business. Behind the counter was a hairy-faced, unkempt dwarf bent over a small trid receiver with a soldering gun. The smoke from the solder mixed and twisted from the smoke coming off the cigarette balanced off the edge of the charred counter. Emily stepped up to the register.

            "Can I get a pack of Cobalt's?" Emily asked at the back of the dwarf's head.

            "Only got 'em by the carton." The dwarf replied without turning around.

            "Can I get a carton, then?" Emily asked. The dwarf reached above his head to the overhang above the counter. He brought down a dark blue package wrapped in cellophane. He dropped it on the counter and returned to work.

            "Sixty-seven fifty-eight." He said in an indifferent tone. Emily sighed slightly in irritation. She dug four twenty-nuyen notes out of her pocket and placed them balled up on the counter. She waited for a few seconds for her change.

            "Ahem!" Emily exclaimed.

            "Don't have change." The dwarf replied, still keeping an eye on the work before him. Emily growled under her breath. She grabbed the carton of cigarettes and exited the store, followed closely by Felix.

            "I didn't know you smoked." Felix said in idle conversation.

            "T'ain't for me." Emily replied. She stopped at the curb, looked both ways and trotted across.

            "Then why did you spend eighty bucks on cigarettes?" Felix asked, right behind Emily.

            "You'll see." She opened in the door of the car and got in. After Felix got in, she pulled away from the curb and drove in the direction of her old house. As the city got darker and the scenery grew worse, Felix noticed more and more people on the street that, in his opinion, didn't fit too well into polite society. A disproportionately amount of orcs and trolls were seen by the time the sun fully set and twilight faded away. Felix, whom had little experience around orcs and trolls, felt strange as Emily drove deeper and deeper into the sprawl. At the University, dwarves and elves were fairly common in Felix's classes, where the general rule of thumb was elves made better summoners and dwarves made better sorcerers. There were no orcs or trolls in his classes, and Felix rarely interacted with any at all. Eventually, Emily parked in a parking lot long abandoned by the company that used to own it. Brown, fuzzy weeds stood as tall as Felix's knees through the cracks in the asphalt. At least a dozen stripped car skeletons stood in random spots, housing numerous critters flashing their eyes at Felix and Emily.

            Emily continued briskly, carton of cigarettes in hand and Felix trailing behind, into an abandoned promenade between large, abandoned buildings. Every window that bordered the promenade was either broken or boarded up. Graffiti covered nearly every surface capable of holding spray paint. One particularly interesting specimen caught Felix's eye: a representation of a pig in a Lone Star uniform lying dead on the ground and a very well endowed troll urinating on him.

Emily entered the building at the farthest end of the promenade through a boarded-up door, crossed the empty, broken tiled floor and descended a still escalator. From there, she walked straight to a door marked "Employees Only" in peeling red stickers and descended yet another flight of stairs. They entered a network of cinder block hallways lighted poorly by long forgotten safety lighting. Emily took a series of seemingly random turns. Eventually, they stopped at the end of a damp hallway only illuminated by the residual lighting of florescent lights a hundred feet behind them. Emily knocked on the door.

"This is where your friends live? Ugh." Felix commented, turning his nose up in disgust. Emily started to unwrap the cellophane from the package of Cobalts. After a few seconds of waiting, a small slot opened in the middle of the door, casting a bright and solid beam of light down the hallway. Small black digits poked through, feeling around the edge.

"Who is it?" A very un-human voice asked. Emily took a pack of cigarettes from the carton and touched the small fingers that stuck out of the slot. The fingers immediately snatched the cigarettes and pulled them through, letting the thin metal flap close noisily. A few seconds later, sounds came from the door that one might associate with a blast barrier opening. A final booming click emitted from the center of the door and started to creep inwards. Inside, standing in front of the door, was a gigantic troll, clad only in a pair of denim shorts. Felix took a step backwards.

"Bubba!" Emily exclaimed and jumped at the troll.

"Circumstance!" Bubba replied in a very booming, yet very articulate voice. The troll caught Circumstance in mid air and hugged her. The scale between the human sized Emily and the troll sized Bubba gave Felix a good estimate of how big a troll really was. Bubba let go of Emily.

"Come on in, Fletch." Emily invited. Felix took a step forward, trying to look into the room before he actually went in. "Don't be afraid. No one here is gonna eat you." Bubba smiled at the statement. "But anyway, I want you to meet Bubba." Emily said.

"How ya doin', Fletch?" Bubba asked, his massive palm extended. Felix stepped forward and extended his hand. Bubba's hand enveloped Felix's, but he shook it gently. "Won't you come inside?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Felix meekly replied. He slowly stepped in, still wary of what was going on.

As he stepped into the light of the room, he could see the troll in better detail. Bubba was around eight feet to Felix's estimate. Bubba was adorned with the standard set or horns, tusks and slightly pointed ears, but looked uncommonly good for a troll. His face was smooth, absent of the typical bumps and warts commonly seen on a troll. His hair was neatly cut. Felix was fairly certain that this man could stop a speeding car if he really wanted to.

"Well, it isn't much, but I like it." Bubba commented, putting his hands on his hips. Felix was surprised at the troll's voice. In the rare experiences he had with trolls, they all sounded as if they were talking around a mouthful of marbles. This man's voice was a pleasant baritone, articulate and kind.

Felix looked around him. The room he was in looked like a very large living room. The carpet looked in fair condition for being over seventy years old. The paint on the walls was yellowed from the thousands of cigarettes smoked there. A kitchen was on his left, and a pair of couches, two chairs and a coffee table situated around a large trid was off to his right. Two people sat on the couch, watching the evening news. Straight in front of him were three doors. One of them was open, revealing a bedroom. Felix assumed all three doors led to bedrooms. Above the kitchen was a mezzanine. A broad, wooden spiral staircase ascended to it. On the mezzanine, Felix saw nothing but bookshelves.

Felix turned around. The front door he entered through looked like someone stole it from a bank vault. Along the wall, there were two more doors and a desk with a computer on top. Piles of papers, parts, chips and disks heaped up against desk like snow   piled on top of a car. Suddenly, something screamed. Felix jumped in surprise and swiveled toward the noise. On the ground was a small white-faced monkey with a pack of Cobalts between his tiny paws. He screamed again at Felix.

"Awww. You wanna light, huh Baby?" Bubba asked. The monkey ran to Bubba and climbed up to his shoulders. It plucked a cigarette from the package and tossed the package away. Bubba dug in the pocket of his shorts for a lighter. He brought it up to monkey, flicked it, and allowed the monkey to light his cigarette. The monkey sat on top of the troll, content and smoking a blue cigarette he held tightly in both paws. Felix couldn't help laughing slightly.

"Yeah, I know." Bubba said. "Terrible habit. I've told him a thousand times." Bubba shook his thick index finger at the creature sitting on his shoulder. The monkey blew a cloud of smoke into the air and continued puffing on the cigarette. He hopped off and ran into the bedroom with the door open, trailing smoke behind.

 "Anyway, I hear you and Circumstance had some difficulties with the local chapter of the Yak." Bubba said. "We still got your room, chickie. You two can shack up in there. But, um, there's the matter of, well, rent."

"What's the matter, stud?" Emily asked in a rather cynical tone. "No work for your kind?"

"Yes, ma'am. North American Stock Exchange is up a hundred and thirteen points in the last month. Tokyo and Nagasaki market up just as high. Hell, you see the news lately?" Bubba asked. Emily shook her head. "Novatech split their stock three times in four hours Monday." Felix whistled in disbelief.

"Okay, but how does that affect work?" Felix asked. Bubba looked at him strangely.

"You'll have to forgive him." Emily said. "He's relatively new to this line of work." Bubba's eyebrows took a dive.

"Dammit, Circumstance! I'm not going to have any green runner wannabes in my house!" Bubba exclaimed. His booming voice echoed for a second. Felix shrunk back, trying to use Emily as cover.

"Hey!" Emily snapped back as she stepped forward. "This man saved my life! He also killed that mother fucker I used to call Dad." Bubba looked at Felix.

"You killed her father?" Bubba asked in slight disbelief.

"Yes." Felix meekly replied.

"That guy tore me a few assholes over the years, but that doesn't mean you can go with me on a job to screw up." Bubba said.

"Good, because I'm not in the same line of work as you. Now what does the stock market have to do with someone in your position?"

"Yeah. Anyway, when the stock market does well, businesses do well. That's a 'no shit' statement. However, when businesses are doing well, they tend not to hire as many runners as they would when they're in a slump. They're making more money keeping to themselves. Therefore, we're forced to freelance, a pain in the ass that is profitable only if you get lucky. So that's why I'm asking for rent."

"Oh. Well, yeah. No problem. How much do you want?" Felix asked, digging back into his slacks for his pocket secretary.

"Seven hundred? That'll keep the refrigerator full." Bubba replied, walking to the computer desk. His frame was totally inappropriate. He made the computer before him look like a toy.

"Cool. Account number is…" Felix flipped though the list of accounts. "Bravo, alpha, November, alpha, Juliet, seven, niner, six, four, eight, six. Password to transfer accounts is foxtrot, echo, lima, India, X-ray. Transfer all funds." Bubba typed in each character with two pinkies as Felix read it off in phonetic alphabet.

"Okay, dude. Account's empty." Bubba announced. Then Bubba paused.

"Uh, I never caught your name, dude."

"Fletch."

"Fletch, are you aware that you added a zero to my request?"

"Yeah. Allergic to soy." Felix said. "So is rent paid?" Emily laughed.

"That's the, what, ninth sign you're not a runner. You're too goddamned generous. Let me go show you around. You know Bubba, and you know Baby." Emily turned to the couches around the trid. She put her hand on Felix's shoulder and led him over.

"These two guys are Mystique and Chow Mien." Emily said, pointing at one of them for each name.

"You got it wrong again, Circumstance." One of them said, not turning his head to look at her. Felix leaned over the back of the couch to see that the two gentlemen sitting in front of the trid looked an awful lot alike.

"Are you two twins?" Felix asked.

"No, we just look alike." They said in unison. Emily giggled.

"Shut up." She laughed. "Bubba! Nocturne in her room?"

"Yeah." Bubba replied.

"What about Sparky?"

"Nope. Hasn't been here for three days." Bubba said, still bent over the computer. "And if he doesn't get back soon, Baby's going to be eating those cigarettes instead of burning them." Felix was led over to the rightmost door. Emily pounded on the door.

"Yo! You in there, chica?" Emily shouted. No answer came. Emily tried the knob. It turned as she twisted, so she pushed it open. Over a hundred candles illuminated the room. The bed was turned over on its side against the wall. A white circle nearly twelve feet in diameter was painted directly on the carpet. In the center of the circle and two feet above the floor floated Nocturne. Her legs were crossed and her hands were lying open on her knees. The blue dress she was wearing hung off her back and just barely touched the floor. Beyond that, Felix couldn't make out any other details in the weak candlelight.

"There she is! What's up?" Emily exclaimed.

"I'm busy, Circumstance." Nocturne replied through clinched teeth. "Go away."

"Awww, too busy for me?"

"So help me I'm gonna kick your ass. Go away!" Nocturne growled, trying not to lose her concentration. Emily sighed and slammed the door as hard as she could.

"Anyway, that was Nocturne. I'm sure you actually get to speak to her sometime later." Emily said. She started up the spiral staircase. Felix followed.

The mezzanine started as a small zigzagging hallway of bookshelves that reached the ceiling. Most of the books were old paperbacks of assorted fiction, detective and noir stories and fantasy with random volumes of encyclopedias stuck in. After a third bend in the passageway, a room opened up, slightly larger than Nocturne's bedroom. A lamp in the center of the ceiling adequately lit the room. The walls were also covered with books. However, to Felix's bewilderment, they were all magical texts, making it the largest magical library he had seen outside of the University. In the far corner was a cot with a blanket draped over it. Against the wall next to the cot was a huge plush recliner.

"Doc?" Emily called. She looked around for a second. She then took a small paperback from the shelf in the hallway and tossed it at the recliner. Suddenly, a man appeared in the chair as the book hit. Both Felix and the person sitting down jumped in surprise.

"What! What!" The man exclaimed, looking around wildly. He saw Emily and Felix standing before him and stared straight at them. He exhaled.

"Oh, it's you!" He said. "I thought it was an earthquake."

"Nope, just me. Fletch, this is Doc." Emily said. Felix stepped forward to shake his hand. Doc was the oldest of the group that Felix had so far seen. His hair was pure, bright white, as well as his beard and moustache, which reminded Felix of Santa Claus. He was wearing a white undershirt, a pair of slacks and suspenders.

"How do you do?" Felix asked.

"Well, thanks." Doc replied, shaking his hand from the chair. He looked at Felix for a moment, then at Emily. "So, ya dating magicians nowadays?" Felix heart fluttered in anticipation of Emily's response.

"No, Doc." Emily groaned. "You're always trying to hook me up with a magician. Knock it off, will ya?" Felix's heart sunk slightly.

"Will Fletch be staying around long?" Doc asked, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a red package of cigarettes and a plastic lighter.

"Don't know." Felix replied. Doc lit his cigarette and inhaled on it sharply.

"Well, if you are, stay the hell away from my books." Doc said. He held up the pack of cigarettes to Felix. "Coffin nail?"

"No, thanks." Felix declined, holding up his hand.

"You too young or something?"

"No, I just don't smoke."

"Oh. Nasty habit. I don't encourage it." Doc said, puffing on his cigarette. "So are you gonna let an old man sleep?

"You sleep enough as it is." Emily said, turning to leave.

"Bye." Felix said as he followed Emily. After they left the bookshelf corridors, Felix leaned over to Emily.

"Just exactly why was he invisible?" Felix asked.

"Oh, whenever he's concentrating on something else or isn't really actively thinking, he does that. I guess it's a habit people get in their old age." Emily replied. When the reached the bottom of the stairs, someone started pounding on the front door. Immediately, the monkey rushed across the floor, smoking like a coal burning locomotive, to the door. He pushed open the slot, pulled a pack of Colbalts back in and pushed a button on the door. The door went through it's system of unlocking. As soon as the final booming click came, the door slammed open. A man rushed in and to the left.

"Move! Move!" The man yelled and ran into a room. He slammed the door. After a second, a sound similar to a fire hose being blasted into a toilet came from the bathroom.

"Sparky's home." Bubba said, not looking up from the computer. The sound of forceful urination continued for well over two minutes. Then a sigh of immense relief, then a flush. The faucet turned on, then off, then the door opened. Sparky stepped out, shaking his hands and sending drops of water everywhere.

Sparky was a very tall black human. Most of his height came from the nine-inch flattop. He wore a leather jacket, leather pants and motorcycle boots. He had a dozen chains hanging from his shoulders, his belt loops to his pockets and loosely around his thighs.

"Where have you been?" Bubba asked, finally looking up from the monitor.

"I've been busy." Sparky said, still standing in front of the bathroom. "I mean, really busy. I haven't seen my dick for four days." That statement got to Bubba. He started to laugh.

"Serious! Shit, think about it. You take a piss, you take a shower, you bang some chick, ya gonna see yer dick, right? Four days!" Sparky explained. "You see your dick everyday, right Circumstance? Twice, three times at least, right?"

"I didn't know you had such an attachment to it, Spark." Emily said, slightly cracking with laughter.

"Shit yeah!" Sparky exclaimed. He pointed at his crotch with both hands. "Built-in entertainment center!" Emily lost it after that statement.

"Oh, the things I missed these past two years." She sighed.

"So what brings you back to the sixth circle of Hell?" Sparky asked.

"Apartment was unlivable."

"Lone Star fumigate?"

"Nope. Some guy let loose with a minigun inside. Now it has wonderful air conditioning."

"No shit." Sparky replied. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Fletch. New mage type friend I met a week ago." Emily said. Felix and Sparky approached each other and shook hands in the middle of the room.

"Nice to meetcha. You see your dick everyday, right?" Sparky asked while shaking Felix's hand.

"At least six times daily." Felix replied. Sparky let go and reached into the pocket inside his jacket. He withdrew a black credstick.

"Criminy!" Emily said. "That thing loaded?"

            "Yeah, right. I'm not blessed with the same outrageous luck you are, little miss." He pushed the button. "'Bout… two and a half grand." He turned and tossed it to Bubba. "There, ya goddamn slave driver. That's the last of it." Bubba caught it and stuck it into the computer.

            "Yep, it is." Bubba said. "That'll teach you forget my gun on a job."

            "Sparky! You didn't!" Emily gasped.

            "Yeah, I did."

            "That 1.3 caliber Revolver of Sudden Death? The one that killed seven people in one shot? The one that destroyed a riot control drone in two?" Emily asked in amazement. Felix's eyebrow cocked. This was a gigantic gun.

            "Yes, he did. I also finally made a silencer and flash suppresser that would attach without become a projectile itself. And what does our spunky little rigger do?" Bubba asked. "Hmmm?"

            "He… left it inside a corp while doing a job."

            "That's right. But now he's forgiven." Bubba said in a condescending tone.

            "Now, I may be a bit inexperienced, but shouldn't a 1.3 caliber revolver, well, quite frankly, kill you with the recoil?" Felix asked, his hands in his pockets.

            "Yep. I wasn't carrying it to fire. I was carrying it to scare people. Goodnight." Sparky walked into the center bedroom, followed by the monkey and a trail of smoke.