Chapter Six

            Felix was on a still lake, lying back in a rowboat, fishing and taking in the magnificent splendor of the surrounding meadows and snow-capped peaks. For the first time in months he was able to totally relax. Suddenly, a gigantic shark popped out of the water, swallowed half of the boat and submerged again, pulling the boat downwards into the lake. Felix scrambled to the end of the boat pointing skyward, dropping his pole in the water. The shark lunged forward again, ready to swallow the whole boat. Felix awoke, flailing and kicking, pushing backwards. He found himself on the couch, where he fell asleep hours prior. Bubba was sitting on the opposite end, tilting the end of the couch Felix was sitting on upwards. He looked at Felix, very puzzled.

            "What?" He asked. When Felix finally figured out what was happening, he saw the entire place was dark except for the trid warming up to a bright blue. Bubba was in the same shorts he was in the day prior, but now had a white t-shirt on. It's sleeves were ripped off.

            "Sorry. You scared the crap out of me." Felix panted. He looked around. "What time is it?"

            "One o'clock." Bubba replied. A small digital display on the bottom corner of the trid flipped over to 1:00 AM. The channel changed automatically. A menu bar at the top of the screen displayed the name of the show: AI, and that it was a quiz show. Felix arched his eyebrows.

            "You, watch AI?" He asked, surprised. Bubba nodded without looking at Felix, uncoiling a small controller. He plugged it into the remote control.

            "You, uh, have another one of those?" Felix asked. Bubba pointed below the trid to a long drawer in the table. Felix got off the couch, letting his end rise six inches higher. He opened the drawer and took out another controller like Bubba's, then jumped back on the couch. He unwound the controller and asked Bubba to plug his into the remote control, which he did.

            "Okay, all you home players." The orange haired, English accented host of the show said to the camera. "Get your names and passwords in if you're gonna play with us tonight. You've got sixty seconds." The screen went blank, then flashed "detecting two players…". The screen divided and displayed an alphabet for the players to enter their names and passwords.

            "I must warn you," Felix said, smiling slightly to himself, as he entered his name and password in on the grid. "I'm pretty good at this." When he hit "accept", the grid vanished and read "Welcome back, Felix X. Page. Your current total is: 18,699 points. Current accuracy: 70.3%. Current rank: 72nd." Bubba had yet to enter his name or password in. Felix felt pretty smug showing off how well he had done at this game.

            "Want to wager, say, eighteen thousand points?" Bubba said, still looking at the screen. Felix looked at Bubba.

            "Eighteen… do you even have that many points?" Felix asked in disbelief.

            "Would you like to wager eighteen thousand points?" Bubba asked again. Felix looked back at the screen.

            "You have twenty seconds left." Felix said.

            "Would you like to wager eighteen thousand points?"

            "Are you going to enter your name or what?"

            "Would you like to wager eighteen thousand points?" Bubba asked yet again. Felix was confident he would rob Bubba easily. How hard could a troll be to beat at a quiz show?

            "Okay. Eighteen thousand." Felix said, almost certain he could take on a troll with little effort. He was very excited at doubling his current total. Felix entered the wager menu and set it up for eighteen thousand points. Bubba entered his name with lightning speed. He got his password accepted with four seconds left. Felix's face almost turned white.

            "You're Archimedes Pribnow." Felix said in a grim tone. The screen read "Welcome back, Archimedes Pribnow. Your current total is: 102,600 points. Current accuracy: 92.2%. Current rank: 1st." Bubba approved the wager of eighteen thousand points. Felix swallowed hard and also approved the wager. The orange haired game show host in the suit came back on.

            "Well, our contestants are keyed in and ready to go. Let's see if our home players are ready. Bring up the Top Ten list." A list of the top ten home players, with Bubba's moniker the top, scrolled down and stopped on the left side of the screen. "And Archimedes Pribnow is still leading the pack for his or her eleventh straight week, followed by The Archbishop, who's a distant second with eight-one thousand points even. In our big wagers department, we've got…" The top ten list scrolled down and out of sight and was replaced by a list of the largest wagers of the evening. The audience gasped in amazement.

            "Whoa!" The host exclaimed. "It seems Archimedes is leading both lists tonight! He's betting eighteen thousand of his hard earned points against seventy-second ranked Felix X. Page, who stands to double his current total." The host leaned in on the camera and put his hand up next to his mouth. "But I don't see that happening tonight." He whispered. "Good luck to you Felix. I head Dr. Pribnow is an AI himself. Good luck to all our home players and contestants. They'll need it to beat the AI!" The host walked off, holding his hand out to the side to reveal a gigantic square on one of it's points, holding one hundred booths containing one hundred contestants on a brightly lit and brightly decorated soundstage.

            Felix received one of the worst beatings he had ever had the pleasure of attending. Although he improved his accuracy of answering questions by seven percent, he was in no way a match to Bubba, who was answering nine out of ten questions correctly and consistently. Felix ended that episode of AI with one thousand points as his cumulative total, knocking him beyond the top one hundred ranked players. He was nearly shaking when the show came to a close.

            "You assumed you'd beat me. Why?" Bubba asked, coiling the wire slowly around the controller.

            "Because you're a troll."

            "And you think trolls are stupid." Bubba said. Felix opened his mouth to deny it, but Bubba answered first. "Which, unfortunately, is true." Felix shut his mouth, then opened it again.

            "Then how'd you get so good at trivia?"

            "I wasn't born like this, you know." Bubba said, turning to Felix. "I was just as normal and as plain as you are now. I had a job. A good job, teaching English at the University of Washington."

            "So what happened?" Felix asked.

            "This happened!" Bubba exclaimed, pointing at himself. Felix shrunk back against the arm of the couch slightly. "Something tells me you don't get very much exposure to metahumans." Felix sighed and looked at the floor.

            "I didn't mean to offend you. Sorry for acting like such an ass." Felix said.

            "At least you knew you were acting like an ass. Most people don't." Bubba said. He got off the couch, sending Felix into freefall for a quarter of a second. He walked into the kitchen, took two beers out of the refrigerator and returned to give one to Felix. Bubba sat in one of the other chairs to spare Felix being hoisted in the air. Bubba popped the bottle cap off with the end of his horn. Felix smiled.

            "It's not all bad." Bubba replied. "Naw, you're not an ass. You're not a bad person at all. You're the one who bought this beer, you know."

            "Hey, I can't just freeload." Felix explained. "Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch."

            "Thanks for saving Circumstance a few days ago." Bubba said. "I can't say what I'd do if anything happened to her." He drained the rest of the bottle in one shot.

            "You two close?" Felix asked, secretly dreading that they were involved with each other.

            "Closest I could say is 'surrogate daughter'. We've known each other since the beginning.

"Been shadowrunning since the beginning?" Felix asked.

"Yep. Close on five years now. Maybe I should hire myself out for a discount. An anniversary special."

"Yeah, maybe."

* * * * * * *

"Come on!" Sparky shouted at the door while pounding on it with his right fist. "It's me, Morris! Open the goddamned door!" A deadbolt disengaged and the door cracked open, allowing one large eye to peek out. The figure sighed, closed the door to unhook the door chain, then opened the door just wide enough to let Sparky squeeze through with the large packages he carried.

"Jesus, Sparky, you scared the hell out of me." The troll said. Sparky closed the door behind him, shutting out most of the light from the small apartment. The troll crawled back to the corner of the room and sat back on the couch.

"Anything happen while I was gone? You okay?" Sparky asked. He approached the couch and sat down on the floor in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Morris said flatly. "Nothing happened."

"You're fine?" Sparky asked while he ran a pocketknife through the tape on the packages. "Then why is there a hole the size of a troll's fist in my tridscreen?" Morris crossed his arms and grunted. Sparky stood up and walked into the kitchenette. From the darkness, a portable trid receiver warmed up. Sparky sat next to it on the counter and turned the channel to the news.

"Good evening." The news anchor stated to the audience. "Seattle's top story for this Tuesday evening: University of Washington professor Morris Pribnow is still missing and wanted for questioning for the deaths of two students in his English class last Friday morning…" Sparky turned to Morris.

"That's why my new tridscreen is broken?" Sparky asked. Morris did not respond.

"Eyewitnesses say during his Friday morning lecture, Professor Pribnow experienced instantaneous genetic expression and was soon after attacked by a small group of students, two of which died during the exchange."

"Did you manage to dig that shiv out of your back yet?" Sparky asked. Morris did not comment. The screen switched to a man behind a podium stacked with microphones. The name John Montgomery III zipped in along the bottom of the screen, as well as his title of Vice Chairman of University of Washington. He was a white man in a black suit. Both were starched and very stiff.

"This is a most unfortunate incident, I agree, but we cannot allow a professor, no matter what the circumstances, to harm a student!" John Montgomery pounded on the podium. "He must be found and held responsible for his actions!"

"Can you believe this drek?" Sparky asked.

"Vice Chairman Montgomery!" A voice off screen called. "Do you feel that Professor Pribnow was justified defending himself in the attack?"

"I have no comment at this time. Thank you, no more questions." The Vice Chairman turned away, being pursued by questions like "Are you a racist?" and "Will the other attackers be disciplined?"

"Wow. I've never seen anyone hate trogs the way he does." Sparky commented. Morris growled at him. "Get used to it, Professor. People will call you worse."

"Yeah, I mean, he was like on the floor and naked and everything." An eyewitness began to give her side of the story. "So, like, most of the room cleared out, but me and some friends were there seeing if he needed and help. Then these wannabe ganger assholes come in and start wailin' on him! Like ten of 'em! So the Professor just tears into them, you know. He grabs one kid's head and just slams it into the wall, and punched another one so hard he nearly ripped him in half! Those pricks had it coming, you know…" Sparky turned the trid off and let the cool darkness settle in again.

"People are sympathizing. That's good." Sparky said. He returned to the packages in front of Morris. From one, he pulled out a complete set of undergarments tailored to fit his new form and a new suit. "Here. Stop running around my apartment naked, will you?" Morris began to put on his new clothes as best he could without standing up. The apartment ceiling already had horn holes in it.

"So why are you doing this, Sparky?" Morris asked as he wriggled around on the sofa trying to dress.

"So you'll pass me in English."

"No, seriously, son. Why?"

"I believe in a fair fight."

"So how do you justify firing a machine gun into a crowd of rampaging hooligans?"

"That was fair." Sparky replied. "Besides, they were riot rounds. How's that feel? Everything made right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." Morris replied.

"Okay. Well, I need to talk to you about something. I need you to seriously consider this." Sparky sat on top of the second package he brought in. "You're a fugitive, plain and simple. The public and the police hate trolls. At least, I think that's what you're going to be classified as now. There's only one real option open to you now, Professor. Do you think you could perform a shadowrun?"

Bubba opened his eyes. He was asleep in the chair diagonal from Felix, who was still asleep on the sofa. Bubba blinked a few times, then cursed his recurring dream. He got up, scratched his side and went back to his room.

* * * * * * *

A small speaker in the desk buzzed. The man sitting at the desk asleep jumped at the sudden sound. He leaned forward and beat the button with the flat of his hand.

"Kyoko!" The man growled, irritated for being startled. "I told you not to call me for the rest of the day!"

"I'm very sorry, Shira-san, but there is a…"

"Not for anything!" Shira screamed. No response came from the other end. A knock came from the door. Shira looked up and smiled. He opened his desk drawer and withdrew a large revolver with a twelve-inch barrel. He stood up and pressed the intercom button again.

"Kyoko, did he come to my office?" Shira asked, much calmer than before.

"Yes." She answered back. Shira raised the gun and blasted three times into the middle of the door. He plopped back down in his large executive office chair, quite proud of himself. He reached to the desk and hit the door button. The door slid away to the left to reveal an orc standing there, scowling. Three wounds above his stomach bled slowly. Shira's eyes opened in shock. He tried to raise the gun again to fire, but the orc stepped forward and waved his hand in the air, extending his magical force to knock the revolver out of his hand. Shira stood and backed against the chair until the chair hit the wall behind him.

"Don't kill me. Don't kill me or the Yakuza will…" Shira babbled.

"Shut up." The orc said. He sat down in the chair before Shira's desk.

"Who are you?" Shira asked, still leaning against the chair.

"Never mind. Sit down." The orc ordered. His voice sounded as if he was speaking with a mouth full of glass. Shira sat down, but did not move his chair forward. Shira noticed that the orc was wrapped tightly in bandages around his head and arms. They were spotted with blood here and there. The bleeding from the three wounds above his stomach had nearly ceased.

"What are you doing here?" Shira asked, looking the orc over. The orc reached into his pocket and tossed a small CD on Shira's desk. Shira scooted forward in his enormous chair, plucked the CD off of the deck and slid it into a small slot. A thin monitor slowly lifted out of another slot on the deck. When the screen extracted fully, a picture displayed of Shira and two much larger men standing outside of the apartment Emily used to live in. Shira tapped the screen, scrolling through pictures of Shira and his men entering the apartment, harassing Emily, assembling a large machine gun, and opening fire on everything in the apartment.

"Where did you get these?" Shira asked, barely able to hold back his rage.

"You must be awful dumb to think you can create all that commotion without having anyone notice." The orc said. Shira jumped to his feet, sending his chair into the wall. He leaned forward.

"I will kill you for insulting me!" Shira screamed. The orc thrust his hand forward, tossing Shira back into his chair the same way he tossed the gun into the corner of the room.

"You'll never get a chance. It would benefit you to listen to me." The orc growled around his maw full of teeth and tusks. "Are you interested in contacting the woman in the photographs?"

"Yes." Shira responded, still adjusting himself in the chair.

"How much of a bounty would you offer for her?" The orc asked. Shira paused and looked at the orc and smiled.

"You, know where this girl is?"

"I know how to start looking." The orc replied.

* * * * * * *

"Fifteen eight, double run for fourteen, nobs for fifteen." Emily rattled off, tapping each card as she counted her points. She tapped the peg across the cribbage board and dropped it into a hole, leaving three inches between that peg and the last one. Bubba and Felix both sulked, cards on the table.

            "I should have never let you teach me how to play." Felix groaned.

            "No joke." Bubba added.

            "That's okay. Mah Jongg?"

            "No!" Felix and Bubba exclaimed at the same time. Felix stood up and walked into the middle of the living room, his hands on the back of his head.

            "What time is it?" Felix asked.

            "Four." Bubba said, shuffling the deck.

            "Damn. Are they ever going to call?" Felix groaned, stalking over to the couch and flopping down on it.

            "You only called yesterday. Every pawn shop and fence knows you're looking for that focus." Emily said. "You need to stop climbing the walls."

            "Yeah, yeah." Felix moaned, face down. Felix looked up over the arm of the sofa when a door opened. It was Nocturne. In the regular light of the apartment he could see her in much greater detail than in the candlelight. She was very slender and looked very Celtic; fiery red hair tied back loosely and bright green eyes. She looked about Felix and Emily's age. She wore the same dark blue dress she wore two days prior when Felix first saw her. As she passed the couches, Felix thought Nocturne walked very smoothly. As he sat up to look over the end of the couch, he saw she was, in fact, floating half an inch from the ground.

            "Hey stranger. Any luck?" Bubba asked, collecting the cards off the table.

            "No." Nocturne replied, sighing. She floated into the kitchen. "I'm beginning to think Owl doesn't want me to know something." She opened the refrigerator and began to rummage around.

            "Patience, dear. Remember the first lesson of the Owl." Bubba replied loudly over his shoulder as if he had recited the sentence a million times. Nocturne closed the refrigerator door.

            "Well Circumstance slamming the door didn't help any." Nocturne said, floating back into the living room and to the couch Felix was peering over. As she floated around, Felix scooted over to let her sit but still stared at her in awe.

            "Hello." Nocturne said. "Were you the person who was with Circumstance two nights ago?"

            "What?" Felix said, snapping out of his little trance and looking her in the eye. "Uh, yeah, I was. Hi." Felix extended his hand. Nocturne shook it delicately.

            "So do you stare at everyone like that, or just me?" Nocturne asked smiling slightly.

            "Oh, geez." Felix exclaimed, looking at the ceiling in embarrassment. "I, um, well, have a fascination with, uh, shamans. I didn't mean it." Nocturne smiled.

            "Thank you." Nocturne said. "I didn't know I was so interesting."

            "Well, go around floating like that and I can guarantee it." Felix said. Both Emily and Bubba cringed slightly.

            "It's out of necessity. I can't walk." Nocturne said. Felix cringed just as Emily and Bubba did. He hung his head.

            "I'm sorry." Felix said.

            "Time!" Nocturne exclaimed, looking over at Emily and Bubba. Emily looked over at a clock in the kitchen.

            "Forty-eight seconds." Emily replied. "Damn, Fletch, you got sucked in fast."

            "Say what?" Felix said, snapping his head up. Nocturne smiled.

            "Sorry, dear. It's a game I play with anyone who I meet here. I can usually get someone to beg for forgiveness in two minutes, but you were easy." Nocturne explained.

            "Then forget it!" Felix exclaimed. "I'm not sorry!"

            "Now, now. No reason to be rude." Nocturne said, keeping her tone of voice even.

            "What a dirty trick!" Felix barked. He stood up. "Why should I feel sorry for you? Using your already unfortunate disability to get other people to feel even worse? What do you think I am? You know what, here…" Felix dug into his pocket and tossed a few coins at Nocturne. "This what you want? Huh?" Nocturne's mouth hung open slightly.

            "Goodness, calm down! I'm sorry!" Nocturne exclaimed, holding her hands up.

            "Time!" Felix exclaimed. As Nocturne and Emily sat there dumbfounded, Bubba roared with laughter.

            "Ho ho! That's funny!" Bubba laughed. Felix leaned forward to Nocturne

            "By the way, I wasn't fighting entirely fair." Felix said smiling. Nocturne smiled back.

            "Neither was I." Nocturne replied. Felix plopped down.

            "Okay, enough of the fooling around. What are you doing here? Will you be joining our little group?"

            "No, I will not be. I'm waiting for someone to call me about a focus some guy stole from me."

            "Must be a great focus."

            "Not interested in the focus. I want to find the guy."

            "I bet." Nocturne said. Suddenly, breaking the momentary silence, ringing came from Bubba's pants. Felix stood up. Bubba took the phone out of his pants and held it to his head. After Bubba said hello, he switched to what sounded like Japanese. Felix looked to Nocturne. She shrugged her shoulders. After a few more seconds of Bubba speaking fluent Japanese, he punched a button on the phone with his pinky and shoved it back into his pocket.

            "Work!" Bubba exclaimed. The middle bedroom door burst open as one of the twins ran out. The other one followed closely, jumping on one foot as he tried to put pants over his other leg.

            "Please tell me you said work." The twins said in unison.

            "Get Doc and Spark. We need to be there in thirty minutes." Bubba said, pointing upstairs. One twin ran up the staircase while the other one opened the door to Sparky's room. Sparky was inside, sleeping on a pile of dirty clothes and cardboard containers of all shapes and sizes. Baby the monkey was jumping up and down on his back, smoking a cigarette and chirping "Who is it?" over and over again.

            "I don't think he's going anywhere." Mystique said, looking back at Bubba.

            "Neither is Doc." Chow Mein said as he descended the staircase. "He just barked at me and turned invisible again." Bubba looked at the floor.

            "Crap! I do not need to do a job without a mage!" Bubba growled.

"What about Fletch?" Circumstance asked.

"Circumstance…" Felix growled under his breath.

"I can't take someone I barely know on a job!" Bubba said to Emily.

"How else are you going to get to know him? He'll do alright. Please?" Bubba looked at the floor in silence for a few seconds.

"Fine. Fletch. You're coming with us." Bubba said. Felix leaned over to Emily.

"I do not want to do this…" Felix said under his breath.

"Please?" Emily asked back. "We need you." Felix just grunted and nodded his head, unable to resist her.

            "Thank you." Emily replied.

            "Everyone get yer gear and be in the car in five minutes." Bubba commanded.

            "Oh crud. Bubba!" Felix called. Bubba turned to him.

            "Yeah?"

            "My stuff is at the cleaners."

            "I can do that. Anything else?"

            "Yes." Emily interrupted. "No gun." Bubba silently cursed.

            "Okay, one second." Bubba said. He walked into the bathroom, ducking under the doorframe, and came out with a small pistol. He tossed it at Felix.

            "Take the fletcher. Make sure it's on semi. None of that burst fire nonsense 'til I tell you, okay?"

            "Uh…" Felix turned the gun over in his hands. Emily sighed and snatched the gun out of his hands. She flipped a switch to semi automatic and tossed it back at him.

            "Know how to fire it?" Emily asked in a condescending tone.

            "Yes, though I wish I didn't." Felix replied in the same tone. He put it in his pocket, leaving a rather obvious bulge on his left leg. Bubba went to the door next to the bathroom and went inside, he came out with a black leather trench coat large enough to pitch a tent with an a pair of gigantic boots.

            "Hurry it up! We gotta get out of here!" Bubba bellowed as he pulled his second boot on. He pushed the button on the door and waited as it went through it's locking procedures. When it opened, Bubba, Felix, Emily, Nocturne, Chow Mein and Mystique all left single file into the maze of hallways. Felix followed closely behind Bubba. He was surprised when he took a sudden left down a hallway. After a few more seconds of walking, they came to a large metal door. Behind that was what was left of a parking garage. The floor above had partially collapsed into the structure. This left just enough room for a Deluxe Luxury Limited Edition Ford Bison.

            "Nice car." Felix said.

            "Thanks." The rest of the party said in unison. Felix figured the entire group had a share of the vehicle. They all piled into it. Chow Mein and Mystique got up front. Mystique sat in the driver seat. He opened the glove compartment and pulled out a tangle of wires. He pulled the apart and inserted the ends into sockets on the dashboard. He took the other ends and inserted them into invisible sockets in his head, neck and eye. This surprised Felix slightly. He'd seen people plug in all the time from their head; not their eye. Mystique laid back and appeared to fall asleep. The engine jumped to life a roared a few times. It crept out onto the nearly barren street outside.

            "Address please." Mystique asked, laying back.

            "Check the archive. Should be the one address from April." Bubba replied.

            "Bellvue?

            "Bingo. But we'll be stopping at Eighth and University. That right, Fletch? That's the only cleaners I know of." Bubba said. Felix nodded. The car slowed, made a sharp u-turn and headed back for the University district. When they got there, Felix jumped out of the car and ran inside the cleaners. The owner looked up when the door chime rang and backed up.

            "Now what do you want?" The owner whined.

            "Suit! Now!" Felix snapped. "I'm in a hurry." The owner went under the counter, he eyes fixed on Felix. He came up with a dark gray suit in a thin plastic bag. Felix grabbed it and headed for the door.

            "Hey! My money!" The owner shouted.

            "I'll pay you later. Thanks!" Felix replied, dropping his evil demeanor. He jumped back in the car.

            "Okay, go." Felix said and tore the bag off. He started to pull off his clothes and put on the suit. The other people in the car looked at him strangely.

            "Uh, is this going to be a habit?" Emily asked.

            "We're going to get a job, right?" Felix asked, pulling his pants up and tucking his shirt in. "Wanna look my best."

            "I'd rather look like I can go into a fight and win, but hey, that's just me." Bubba said. Felix grunted at him as he had the cuff of his sleeve in his mouth, trying to button it with the other hand. Emily took his other wrist and buttoned the cuff for him.

            "Oh, thanks." Felix said, smiling. He was looking for any excuse to touch Emily or vice versa. He only hoped it wasn't blatantly evident.

            "Fletch. Let go." Emily said. He was still holding her hand. He pulled his hand away and made a few incomprehensible noises out of embarrassment. He wiggled around to put his jacket on.

            "Hey, that's sharp." Nocturne complimented. "Killers with style." Felix rolled his eyes.

            "I sincerely hope not." Felix said, tying his necktie.

            "You won't be with any luck." Bubba said. "Then again, this isn't a very lucky profession." Felix put the same sneakers on he had on before.

            "So are we really going to Bellvue?" Felix asked, finally getting situated. "Must be a wealthy client."

            "That he is." Bubba said. "But his payroll certainly doesn't reveal it. This guy is such a tightwad. I would have told him we were busy, but we really need the money."

            "Any idea what we'll be doing?"

            "I really don't care. Just as long as I don't have to shit on a desk again." Bubba said. Felix started laughing.

            "Circumstance already tell you that story?" Bubba asked. Felix nodded. Bubba smiled. "Oh yeah. Those were the days." They drove out to Bellvue. The scenery did exactly the opposite thing the drive out to Emily's apartment did. The streets looked nicer and nicer. Fewer and fewer people were on the streets. Soon, only the occasional white, middle aged human jogged by or a bored, trussed up housewife walked a small, unnecessary dog. As they approached a large iron security gate, it opened slowly, letting them through without pause. The Bison slowed to a crawl to negotiate the small windy streets of the gated community. Eventually, it stopped in an enormous driveway capable of holding at least eight cars. The group filed out with Bubba in the lead, Felix following close behind him. The line stopped at the tall, oaken double door studded in iron. A security camera on the roof noisily whined as it panned to look at the group. After a few seconds, the door clicked. Bubba pushed it open.

            It was obvious that the client was rich. As Felix looked around, he noticed a couple paintings on the wall that he remembered seeing in a textbook in an art appreciation class. Bubba walked though a door on the left, then up a staircase, closely followed by the entire line. The staircase terminated into a long hallway, and the hallway terminated into a small den sparsely furnished with a couch, a desk and a chair. As everyone stood, Bubba took a seat on the couch. They waited for a minute before another gentleman, dressed in a tuxedo, entered.

            "The master will be in shortly. Will you be requiring anything?" He asked. Bubba silently shook his head. The butler bowed slightly, made an about face, then exited. After yet another minute of waiting, the door opened again. An average looking human dressed in an average looking suit came in and sat at the desk.

            "Afternoon, sir." The gentleman said. He looked at the group around Bubba. "Will this be all the associates you will be employing on this job?"

            "The usual group, plus one new. Doc will not be joining us tonight." Bubba replied. "What will you be requiring of us?"

            "Actually, it's not I." The gentleman said. Bubba cocked and eyebrow.

            "Oh?"

            "I have an associate that will be requiring your services. Do you object?"

            "Not at all. Any friend of yours…"

            "A word of caution, though. Do not be alarmed by his appearance. Technically, he does not exist." The gentleman said. Everyone cocked an eyebrow. Felix wondered just what didn't "technically exist". After all, neither did he. The gentleman nodded and went to the door. As he opened it, a small figure, about half a meter tall, flew in with thin, iridescent wings and landed on the desk. He stood for a moment, fluttering it's wings for a moment. It wore almost exactly what the other gentleman was wearing. The winged figure looked exactly like a toy.

            "Oh, how darling!" Nocturne exclaimed. The figure rolled it's eyes and tossed up it's hands.

            "Christ, man!" The figure exclaimed in a very masculine, New Yorker accented voice. He turned around. "Do I have to deal with this shit from here on out?"

            "No, no." The gentleman said. "I'm positive they will be more sensitive in the future. Correct?" The gentleman looked at Nocturne sternly. Nocturne blushed brightly.

            "Dreadfully sorry, sir. Please excuse me." Nocturne said.

            "Yeah, dat's more like it." The winged figure said. He looked at the ceiling and sighed. "Okay, okay. I figure I owe ya dis much. Go ahead, get yer gawkin' outta yer system." The figure slowly spun around, his hands out to his sides. From his back came beautiful shining wings, emerging from two tailored slits in his suit. "I am what's classified as homo noblius faerium, or for da rest of us dat ain't scientists, a fairy." He returned to facing the group, pointing. "And da first one dat makes some homosexual joke is a dead man!"

            "Remarkable." Felix said in awe.

            "Yeah, ain't I, though?" The fairy replied. "Now, you didn't hafta deal with the same shit some of us did, but didja ever see da 'Incredible Shrinking Man'?"

            "I think so." Felix replied.

            "Dat's what happened ta me. But at least I got some wings outta the deal."

            "I beg your pardon, sir, but I could honestly care less about your UGE case. I am here seeking employment, and you called me." Bubba said.

            "Yeah, yeah, keep yer shirt on, trog. I'm getting' to it." The fairy said. "How good are you at kickin' da hell outta people?"

            "Fair to middlin'. Why?" Bubba asked.

            "You see, dis drek happened to me about three months ago. I was working at da same company my buddy here is now. Boarda directors, if ya really wanna know. Anyway, I came in ta work six inches shorter one day. The boss put a boot mark on my ass 'cause he thought I was turning inta something other than a white Anglo-Saxon male, if yous know what I mean. This guy here understood da predicament, 'cause he's got eight kids that span da UGE chart, including his eldest daughter, and if there was one thing I regret most about losing a meter and a half and growin' wings is the fact I have no chance at bangin' 'er anymore." The gentleman behind him cleared his throat loudly. The fairy turned around.

            "What? Jesus, man, she's hot! That's what elves do best, man!" He turned back to the group. "Anyway, that's not all I want. There's a memo floatin' around basically givin' me my walkin' papers. And, I'm sure you guys know, it's illegal to fire an employee due to race, nationality, color, creed or species." He counted off each part on his fingers. "I need this so's I can drop it off with da Star and da Government of Seattle. Do these things and you'll get twenty grand."

            "Do we have to bring any special equipment?" Bubba asked.

            "Only a pair of wire cutters and a fat, juicy steak. Or a fat, juicy cat. The security is made up angry Rottwielers and a few rent-a-cops. No sweat."

            "I've known some sweaty Rottwielers. Twenty grand is all you can offer?"

            "Look at this guy!" The fairy exclaimed. "I'm paying for a milk run, and you's think yous need more than twenty g's?"

            "Yes. What happens if something happens on this 'milk run'? What if we run out of ammunition?"

            "Yeah, right." The fairy sneered. "Twenty grand buys a lot of slugs."

            "Not enough."

            "Hell no." The fairy said. "Twenty grand. And not a dime 'til you beat up da outta da CEO."

            "Fair enough. Where are we going?"

            "Wagner and Wagner Law Offices." The fairy said. "The branch on Fourteenth and Olympia in Bellvue. And you got plenty to worry about. The Star cases that place every five minutes between eight in the morning to midnight. 'Bout every twenty minutes after that. But you can get in from da Matrix. That oughta make yer job a little easier."

            "Time limit?"

            "Da sooner, da better. You may even get a bonus."

            "Very well." Bubba stood up. As he did, the fairy extended his hand. Bubba paused.

            "What's da matter, trog? Ain'tcha never shook hands with someone smaller than you before?" Bubba reached over and very lightly grabbed the minute palm with the very edge of his.

            "Been a pleasure." Bubba said.

            "Same here. You can contact my buddy when yer done." Bubba let go and exited down the hallway, followed by everyone else in the same single file line. They all piled back into the car. Mystique plugged in and they drove back home.

            "Well that was certainly interesting." Nocturne said. "But wasn't he cute?" Emily smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

"Okay, now what?" Felix asked.

            "Now we allow the cowboys to case the joint while the rest of us get ready to go in later tonight." Bubba replied. "We'll probably be in around two in the morning. Maybe three. Up to it, Circumstance?"

            "Sure thing. Will I be in there with Chow?"

            "Yeah. I'd prefer two in there in case any wily IC decides to get too close." Bubba said. He chuckled slightly. "Plus, if anyone finds you, you could pretend to be a tour."

            "I remember doing that once." Chow Mein said, looking over his shoulder at Bubba.

            "I bet you have." Emily said. Felix looked at the clock on the car console. If it was five o'clock now, he could still get a full eight hours of sleep before he went to work tonight. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes and drifted to sleep against the door of the car.