Chapter 14- Again With the Long Posts...
As he waited for the door to open Moore juggled a few energy balls while polishing his sword with his tail.
"I still don't get it, what's with all the were-wolves.."
He looks up at the sky.
"...Isn't even a full moon, I've got about 3...maybe 4 weeks until I change... ahh."
He rubs his shoulder, which was bandaged up.
"Still hurts.... Hopefully there won't be any more sped up evolutions."
*******
File #547291. WizardofKitty. Allied with the Piroist factions, played a major part in the CoM incident. There was a whole lot more information available here than there was on BGMaster. It wasn't that I minded her presence, but it did mean I had another mark to keep alive. A task that could be very difficult in this city.
"Nevermind that Alek, just remember what you're here for," he muttered to himself as the newcomer was waving her hands in front of BGMaster, trying to get a response. Stupid server lag.
"Remember your orders..."
Flashback
The blasted phone was ringing. Why was the phone ringing? This was his dream, and there were no phones in it. Alek opened my eyes. The ringing didn't stop. Now what the...?
Oh.
He levered himself into a sitting position on the bed and reached for the phone. No... That was a gun. The phone was further away. He got it on the second try.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end was distorted, fake. Designed to make the caller unidentifiable.
"There is a man in MegaTokyo. A Mihoist operative of very high rank. He took part in the CoM incident. His name is BGMaster. Do you know of whom I speak?"
That woke Alek up. He activated the call tracer attached to the phone before responding. No cynicism or sarcastic wit now, even he know when to be serious.
"I know of him."
"Good. You will find him in the MegaTokyo industrial center, in a building held by the Anti-Cult of Miho. Find him. Kill him."
Who the hell was this? He glanced at the tracer, still working. "What?"
"Aegis." The voice said slowly. There was a click, then the line went dead. Alek looked at the tracer, somewhere in Japan, but that was all it got.
Alek awoke to the sound of a phone ringing. What a weird dream that had been. The phone ringing must've triggered it.
He picked it up and answered with usual Tuesday-morning finesse. "This'd better be good, now make it quick."
"Download packet 991c" Click.
"Ah crap," he said aloud. Not good.
Alek got up and powered up the Athlon box sitting on his desk. That call had been important, a mission from the Council.
Wonderful, this probably meant that they were abandoning the undercover job in Sony America and the EDS project and sending him in to clean up some trouble spot.
The mission packet was shorter than his little sister, but it got its point across.
Go to MegaTokyo, find Operative BGMaster. He is currently being held in the industrial sector by the Anti-CoM. Kill the A-CoM heretics and rescue BGMaster, then escort him. Keep him alive at all costs.
Alek closed the system and grabbed his pack off the couch of the shabby hotel room. His wristcomp lay on the table next to his Deagle, the former strapped to its customary place on his right forearm, the latter strapped surely into a shoulder rig. Over that went his trench. Alek doubted he'd need more firepower than that until he got to the city. On went the backpack and he was ready to go.
Check out time. Alek punched the overclock stud on the Athlon and headed out the door. By the time he got to the lobby, he could smell the box melting down back in the room. He walked past the check-in desk and a bored bellhop, through the doors and out into the LA morning. Gods it was cold out here.
Alek was apparently headed back to MegaTokyo, the heart of it all. Back to the place that had been the center of at least two near-apocalypses and the location of the Cave of Evil in all its glory.
With all the people they had in MT, there must be something big going down in they needed him there.
End Flashback
Alek looked on at the two in the street below me. He wasn't listening to what they were saying, even though it wouldn't have been difficult with his augmented hearing, it wasn't important. He was concentrating on about five blocks in all directions, listening for even the slightest sound of unusual activity.
For now at least, they were stopped in the middle of the street, so he had a chance to check over the sniper rifle BGMaster had handed him for the millionth time. Obsessive maybe, but he'd had guns jam at exactly the wrong time before, once it had cost Alek his arm...
Wait. A. Minute. What was I doing?
Alek snapped the clip back into the gun and vaulted over to the next roof. He landed, pulled a pair of silver mirrored shades out of his pocket and slid them on, with just the right angle to send a glint of sunlight off them and the muzzle of the rifle.
He kept forgetting the number one rule of the CoM: Do it with style. His writer must be really tired.
Oh well, he had time to sleep while BGMaster was NPCed out. Alek walked over to the corner of the roof and stepped up onto the low rise there. With sunlight shining off the edges of the rifle, his glasses, and the steel studs on the collar of his trench; and with a crosswind blowing his hair about his face and whipping his jacket around my legs; Alek waited for some fool to dare try and take on operatives of the Cult of Miho.
*******
BGMaster blinked and shook his head. Oy. Serious server lag. Then he noticed something. Somebody had painted whiskers on his face and given him cat ears. He shook his head and they disappeared. Wizard of Kitty. Had to be.
Ah well. The girl was utterly insane, but BG liked her. He glanced around. There she was, with a guilty expression on her face, trying to slip away. He sighed. "Kitty, come over here."
She did so, very timidly. "Uh, sorry about the cat-ears..."
"No big deal. What are you doing around the city? I thought you were taking a break for a while."
She shrugged. "Dunno. Things weren't colorful enough at home." BG held up a handful of skittles. "Thanks! I still haven't quite run out yet!"
BG was amazed. Kitty went through skittles at about the same speed Ranma Saotome went through food. Ah well. Some things were inexplicable.
"Be careful, alright? There's some nasty people after me and they might decide to come after my comrades from the last incident."
"Uh, okie. You're confuzzling. But you gave me skittles, so that's ok!" She gave him another facesplitting grin and wandered off. BG sighed again. She'd just wander around as her usual oblivious self. He was pretty sure that whatever his unnamed enemies sent after her would be useless, however. She knew quite a bit of magic. Plus, they would underestimate her. He smirked. Everybody did. Just like with me...
He noticed a movement in the shadows around him. It was dusk. An appropriate time for whatever was going to attack him to attack. And then it did.
Two blurs flew at BG from the side of the street. He leapt up in the air, meeting them both in a whirlwind of kicks, his cloak sweeping around through the air. They were good. Very good.
Not good enough. BG landed on the other side of them, whirling around with a smirk on his face. His assailants picked themselves up off the ground where he had slammed them.
Werewolves. WTF? BG threw back his coat and grabbed two Deagles, making sure that the ammunition was silver bullets. He cocked them and pointed at the werewolves.
"Who sent you? Talk." He left the 'or die' unspoken. Unnecessary threats weren't stylish.
BG saw muscles tense up in both of them. They leapt. As he twisted around, a hairy fist blew past his face close enough for him to feel the wind from its passage. Exactly how he wanted it. He jammed the gun into the chest of the werewolf and fired.
The report echoed through the street as one of his assailants collapsed. BG whirled, his other gun coming to rest on the temple of his second attacker.
"Well? You've had your chance." He snarled up at BG.
"You'll never find him! He never leaves a clue! HAHAHA!" There was something wrong with this creature. However, it had given BG some information he needed.
"So he's one of the quiet ones, then. Appreciated."
Bang.
*******
Spacy wasn't sure if the girl had noticed the guy in the tree, but he sure did. The guy reeked of beer, and lots of it. He was pretty sure His Lady noticed him too, but knowing her, she was going to find this all very amusing. Well, Spacy wasn't the one to let this get him down, especially since he definitely didn't know about that particular tree. Poor guy...
"Wolf, do you have a computer here?"
Hmm, a computer... of course I do, but was that important now? Oh well, no harm done in letting her use it. Still, a strange change of attitude. Guess she ain't all that vulnerable after all, but that's not my concern. I just hope she ain't going to do anything stupid.
"Yeah, it's in the room by the kitchen. By the way call me Spacy from now on."
Without a word of acknowledgment she flipped down from the couch, and padded to the computer.
Now that's a bit rude. Nothing to worry about. Now to get back at intently staring at the guy in the tree and enjoy the show ^_^. I can use a bit of entertainment.
*BEEP* With that computer beep, the girl went off again to the box, to check on it.
Hmm, a forum reply? Well, her stuff. I'll stay out of that. The other guys ain't due here yet and this will be entertaining. Hmm, she should really stick to a form sometimes, it's like she isn't sure which she fits best in.
Suddenly, the guy in the tree was quite shaken up a bit. A big grey hand grabbed him by his shirt and was shaking him around.
Weee, there's my good boy, right on schedule. ^^
The guy didn't know the tree's where Spacy always dumped some food for some stray silverback gorillas in the woods. They always came at the same time and then left for quite some time. But they hate trespassers with their food, so they grabbed the guy, gave him a few wacks and then grabbed the food and the now unconscious guy and took off.
They'll probably leave him at their lair. Wai! That was refreshing. Now to get ready for any trouble ahead.
With that Spacy shifted to his half-wolf and half-human form. This was the typical mix most true lycanthropes can shift to, though Spacy was a little big bigger than most wolfs. This also was a trait that His Lady noticed in him. She always looked for the rarest people. They always fitted her cause more nicely.
Now time to gear up. Let's see, I think I'm going to need my partner on this one, though she probably won't make it in time. Oh well, best to call her as soon as possible.
Spacy grabbed a little bouncy ball from a drawer and threw it in the air. Suddenly, the ball grew some bat-wings and vanished in a 'poof!'. The little thing would alert his partner that he needed her help, though His Lady probably already informed her. Then he lifted the rug and uncovered a trapdoor to a hole in the ground. That was where Spacy kept his favorite gear to have in trouble. He grabbed on a dark-green armlet with a blood-red gem in it and put it on his right arm. This would be Spacy's favorite toy when fighting, changing its form to whatever claw-type weapon Spacy wanted right then. He was best with claw-types, including his own.
I'll just keep this as a little surprise. It helps to have those extra inches of pointy only when I needed it most.
After that Spacy grabbed what seemed liked some kind of weird body-armor going from his left shoulder to his right hip and then back also latched around his waist to keep it in place, like two straps. This particular armor consisted of reflective squares of a special metal all around the shoulder-part. The belt-part of it was fitted a hold for another weapon. Grabbing this, it seemed to be just a little black metal stick, with some gold-plating on both sides and white runes on the black metal, one of the runes indicating what looked like nine tails. It could extend to the size of a war-staff and was really handy in leaving people hurt enough not to follow him retreating, but still intact. Still, Spacy preferred using his claws and armlet for that purpose, but the staff was a family heirloom. It was given to him by his father, which told him it was made by a very late grandmother of his mother.
Spacy knew about both his parents, but was saddened when his mother died in a magic accident. His father raised Spacy up to about half a century ago (that's when he got killed in an incident with dragons), teaching him about being a werewolf. He also told him that he was different from the other wolves, cause of his mother being a kitsune. Spacy sighed a little remembering his parents.
I miss them. But I will make them proud of me. I moved to here because the forests around MegaTokyo tended to be a calm before the storm. Guess the calm is about to be broken, now that the storm is spreading. Okay, what's next?
"Wow." said a voice behind him.
"I had to gear up. I don't want to fight, but all this stuff is handy in scaring people off. And they're excellent when actually used."
"I don't hope we're going to need it."
"Me neither, but I'm betting I'll have to. Don't worry, I'll protect you. I promised that, ne? Plus I can't leave such a pretty damsel fending for herself."
"I'm pretty good in fending for myself, don't expect me to just sit here, while you might screw up. I'd be dead for sure then. I'm going to give my all if it's needed. And I also have a little surprise up my sleeve."
That last bit sounded a bit over-assuring, but Spacy had no clue about what the girl did on the pc, so he took little note of it.
"In that case, you want a weapon too? Last thing I got here is for emergencies. I'll get it for you."
With that, Spacy reached in the hole for a final time. He got a scimitar in a red scabbard with an appropriate belt and tossed it to the girl.
"That scimitar has been used alot by my partner. It's been enhanced by her magic, making it excellent for defending until you find a disabling spot on the opponent. It'll adjust to your style a bit, but prefers its own, so don't use it when you don't need it." were Spacy's instructions.
"The blade has a mind of its own?"
"Not really. You can say it took over my partners manners of handling things and it ain't used to others wielding it."
"You're partner sounds interesting. You guys get along very much, I presume. If she's comfortable enough to leave this here."
A sweatdrop formed on Spacy's forehead.
"Eh, let's not get into that. I'll be waiting outside for our guests to arrive."
"Outside? You're not preferring an element of surprise?"
"Why would we need it? We're not the ones getting into a fight, this is outside MegaTokyo, so not under any jurisdiction. All in all, I'll congratulate them in getting here in one piece and explain to them that they're welcome for a cookie and then welcome to scram. That is hopefully sufficient."
"I'm not so confident in that."
"I am, and this makes sure I can relax a little. Sitting outside is very calming, especially with all the birds chirping."
With that Spacy went outside and sat on a stump in front of his house. He watched the skies and noticed the birds weren't chirping. He failed to notice all the smashing and crashing sounds of his traps and spells, but nevertheless drew the same conclusion.
They're getting close. Let's hope this is going to end well.
As he waited for the door to open Moore juggled a few energy balls while polishing his sword with his tail.
"I still don't get it, what's with all the were-wolves.."
He looks up at the sky.
"...Isn't even a full moon, I've got about 3...maybe 4 weeks until I change... ahh."
He rubs his shoulder, which was bandaged up.
"Still hurts.... Hopefully there won't be any more sped up evolutions."
"Nevermind that Alek, just remember what you're here for," he muttered to himself as the newcomer was waving her hands in front of BGMaster, trying to get a response. Stupid server lag.
"Remember your orders..."
Flashback
The blasted phone was ringing. Why was the phone ringing? This was his dream, and there were no phones in it. Alek opened my eyes. The ringing didn't stop. Now what the...?
Oh.
He levered himself into a sitting position on the bed and reached for the phone. No... That was a gun. The phone was further away. He got it on the second try.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end was distorted, fake. Designed to make the caller unidentifiable.
"There is a man in MegaTokyo. A Mihoist operative of very high rank. He took part in the CoM incident. His name is BGMaster. Do you know of whom I speak?"
That woke Alek up. He activated the call tracer attached to the phone before responding. No cynicism or sarcastic wit now, even he know when to be serious.
"I know of him."
"Good. You will find him in the MegaTokyo industrial center, in a building held by the Anti-Cult of Miho. Find him. Kill him."
Who the hell was this? He glanced at the tracer, still working. "What?"
"Aegis." The voice said slowly. There was a click, then the line went dead. Alek looked at the tracer, somewhere in Japan, but that was all it got.
Alek awoke to the sound of a phone ringing. What a weird dream that had been. The phone ringing must've triggered it.
He picked it up and answered with usual Tuesday-morning finesse. "This'd better be good, now make it quick."
"Download packet 991c" Click.
"Ah crap," he said aloud. Not good.
Alek got up and powered up the Athlon box sitting on his desk. That call had been important, a mission from the Council.
Wonderful, this probably meant that they were abandoning the undercover job in Sony America and the EDS project and sending him in to clean up some trouble spot.
The mission packet was shorter than his little sister, but it got its point across.
Go to MegaTokyo, find Operative BGMaster. He is currently being held in the industrial sector by the Anti-CoM. Kill the A-CoM heretics and rescue BGMaster, then escort him. Keep him alive at all costs.
Alek closed the system and grabbed his pack off the couch of the shabby hotel room. His wristcomp lay on the table next to his Deagle, the former strapped to its customary place on his right forearm, the latter strapped surely into a shoulder rig. Over that went his trench. Alek doubted he'd need more firepower than that until he got to the city. On went the backpack and he was ready to go.
Check out time. Alek punched the overclock stud on the Athlon and headed out the door. By the time he got to the lobby, he could smell the box melting down back in the room. He walked past the check-in desk and a bored bellhop, through the doors and out into the LA morning. Gods it was cold out here.
Alek was apparently headed back to MegaTokyo, the heart of it all. Back to the place that had been the center of at least two near-apocalypses and the location of the Cave of Evil in all its glory.
With all the people they had in MT, there must be something big going down in they needed him there.
End Flashback
Alek looked on at the two in the street below me. He wasn't listening to what they were saying, even though it wouldn't have been difficult with his augmented hearing, it wasn't important. He was concentrating on about five blocks in all directions, listening for even the slightest sound of unusual activity.
For now at least, they were stopped in the middle of the street, so he had a chance to check over the sniper rifle BGMaster had handed him for the millionth time. Obsessive maybe, but he'd had guns jam at exactly the wrong time before, once it had cost Alek his arm...
Wait. A. Minute. What was I doing?
Alek snapped the clip back into the gun and vaulted over to the next roof. He landed, pulled a pair of silver mirrored shades out of his pocket and slid them on, with just the right angle to send a glint of sunlight off them and the muzzle of the rifle.
He kept forgetting the number one rule of the CoM: Do it with style. His writer must be really tired.
Oh well, he had time to sleep while BGMaster was NPCed out. Alek walked over to the corner of the roof and stepped up onto the low rise there. With sunlight shining off the edges of the rifle, his glasses, and the steel studs on the collar of his trench; and with a crosswind blowing his hair about his face and whipping his jacket around my legs; Alek waited for some fool to dare try and take on operatives of the Cult of Miho.
Ah well. The girl was utterly insane, but BG liked her. He glanced around. There she was, with a guilty expression on her face, trying to slip away. He sighed. "Kitty, come over here."
She did so, very timidly. "Uh, sorry about the cat-ears..."
"No big deal. What are you doing around the city? I thought you were taking a break for a while."
She shrugged. "Dunno. Things weren't colorful enough at home." BG held up a handful of skittles. "Thanks! I still haven't quite run out yet!"
BG was amazed. Kitty went through skittles at about the same speed Ranma Saotome went through food. Ah well. Some things were inexplicable.
"Be careful, alright? There's some nasty people after me and they might decide to come after my comrades from the last incident."
"Uh, okie. You're confuzzling. But you gave me skittles, so that's ok!" She gave him another facesplitting grin and wandered off. BG sighed again. She'd just wander around as her usual oblivious self. He was pretty sure that whatever his unnamed enemies sent after her would be useless, however. She knew quite a bit of magic. Plus, they would underestimate her. He smirked. Everybody did. Just like with me...
He noticed a movement in the shadows around him. It was dusk. An appropriate time for whatever was going to attack him to attack. And then it did.
Two blurs flew at BG from the side of the street. He leapt up in the air, meeting them both in a whirlwind of kicks, his cloak sweeping around through the air. They were good. Very good.
Not good enough. BG landed on the other side of them, whirling around with a smirk on his face. His assailants picked themselves up off the ground where he had slammed them.
Werewolves. WTF? BG threw back his coat and grabbed two Deagles, making sure that the ammunition was silver bullets. He cocked them and pointed at the werewolves.
"Who sent you? Talk." He left the 'or die' unspoken. Unnecessary threats weren't stylish.
BG saw muscles tense up in both of them. They leapt. As he twisted around, a hairy fist blew past his face close enough for him to feel the wind from its passage. Exactly how he wanted it. He jammed the gun into the chest of the werewolf and fired.
The report echoed through the street as one of his assailants collapsed. BG whirled, his other gun coming to rest on the temple of his second attacker.
"Well? You've had your chance." He snarled up at BG.
"You'll never find him! He never leaves a clue! HAHAHA!" There was something wrong with this creature. However, it had given BG some information he needed.
"So he's one of the quiet ones, then. Appreciated."
Bang.
"Wolf, do you have a computer here?"
Hmm, a computer... of course I do, but was that important now? Oh well, no harm done in letting her use it. Still, a strange change of attitude. Guess she ain't all that vulnerable after all, but that's not my concern. I just hope she ain't going to do anything stupid.
"Yeah, it's in the room by the kitchen. By the way call me Spacy from now on."
Without a word of acknowledgment she flipped down from the couch, and padded to the computer.
Now that's a bit rude. Nothing to worry about. Now to get back at intently staring at the guy in the tree and enjoy the show ^_^. I can use a bit of entertainment.
*BEEP* With that computer beep, the girl went off again to the box, to check on it.
Hmm, a forum reply? Well, her stuff. I'll stay out of that. The other guys ain't due here yet and this will be entertaining. Hmm, she should really stick to a form sometimes, it's like she isn't sure which she fits best in.
Suddenly, the guy in the tree was quite shaken up a bit. A big grey hand grabbed him by his shirt and was shaking him around.
Weee, there's my good boy, right on schedule. ^^
The guy didn't know the tree's where Spacy always dumped some food for some stray silverback gorillas in the woods. They always came at the same time and then left for quite some time. But they hate trespassers with their food, so they grabbed the guy, gave him a few wacks and then grabbed the food and the now unconscious guy and took off.
They'll probably leave him at their lair. Wai! That was refreshing. Now to get ready for any trouble ahead.
With that Spacy shifted to his half-wolf and half-human form. This was the typical mix most true lycanthropes can shift to, though Spacy was a little big bigger than most wolfs. This also was a trait that His Lady noticed in him. She always looked for the rarest people. They always fitted her cause more nicely.
Now time to gear up. Let's see, I think I'm going to need my partner on this one, though she probably won't make it in time. Oh well, best to call her as soon as possible.
Spacy grabbed a little bouncy ball from a drawer and threw it in the air. Suddenly, the ball grew some bat-wings and vanished in a 'poof!'. The little thing would alert his partner that he needed her help, though His Lady probably already informed her. Then he lifted the rug and uncovered a trapdoor to a hole in the ground. That was where Spacy kept his favorite gear to have in trouble. He grabbed on a dark-green armlet with a blood-red gem in it and put it on his right arm. This would be Spacy's favorite toy when fighting, changing its form to whatever claw-type weapon Spacy wanted right then. He was best with claw-types, including his own.
I'll just keep this as a little surprise. It helps to have those extra inches of pointy only when I needed it most.
After that Spacy grabbed what seemed liked some kind of weird body-armor going from his left shoulder to his right hip and then back also latched around his waist to keep it in place, like two straps. This particular armor consisted of reflective squares of a special metal all around the shoulder-part. The belt-part of it was fitted a hold for another weapon. Grabbing this, it seemed to be just a little black metal stick, with some gold-plating on both sides and white runes on the black metal, one of the runes indicating what looked like nine tails. It could extend to the size of a war-staff and was really handy in leaving people hurt enough not to follow him retreating, but still intact. Still, Spacy preferred using his claws and armlet for that purpose, but the staff was a family heirloom. It was given to him by his father, which told him it was made by a very late grandmother of his mother.
Spacy knew about both his parents, but was saddened when his mother died in a magic accident. His father raised Spacy up to about half a century ago (that's when he got killed in an incident with dragons), teaching him about being a werewolf. He also told him that he was different from the other wolves, cause of his mother being a kitsune. Spacy sighed a little remembering his parents.
I miss them. But I will make them proud of me. I moved to here because the forests around MegaTokyo tended to be a calm before the storm. Guess the calm is about to be broken, now that the storm is spreading. Okay, what's next?
"Wow." said a voice behind him.
"I had to gear up. I don't want to fight, but all this stuff is handy in scaring people off. And they're excellent when actually used."
"I don't hope we're going to need it."
"Me neither, but I'm betting I'll have to. Don't worry, I'll protect you. I promised that, ne? Plus I can't leave such a pretty damsel fending for herself."
"I'm pretty good in fending for myself, don't expect me to just sit here, while you might screw up. I'd be dead for sure then. I'm going to give my all if it's needed. And I also have a little surprise up my sleeve."
That last bit sounded a bit over-assuring, but Spacy had no clue about what the girl did on the pc, so he took little note of it.
"In that case, you want a weapon too? Last thing I got here is for emergencies. I'll get it for you."
With that, Spacy reached in the hole for a final time. He got a scimitar in a red scabbard with an appropriate belt and tossed it to the girl.
"That scimitar has been used alot by my partner. It's been enhanced by her magic, making it excellent for defending until you find a disabling spot on the opponent. It'll adjust to your style a bit, but prefers its own, so don't use it when you don't need it." were Spacy's instructions.
"The blade has a mind of its own?"
"Not really. You can say it took over my partners manners of handling things and it ain't used to others wielding it."
"You're partner sounds interesting. You guys get along very much, I presume. If she's comfortable enough to leave this here."
A sweatdrop formed on Spacy's forehead.
"Eh, let's not get into that. I'll be waiting outside for our guests to arrive."
"Outside? You're not preferring an element of surprise?"
"Why would we need it? We're not the ones getting into a fight, this is outside MegaTokyo, so not under any jurisdiction. All in all, I'll congratulate them in getting here in one piece and explain to them that they're welcome for a cookie and then welcome to scram. That is hopefully sufficient."
"I'm not so confident in that."
"I am, and this makes sure I can relax a little. Sitting outside is very calming, especially with all the birds chirping."
With that Spacy went outside and sat on a stump in front of his house. He watched the skies and noticed the birds weren't chirping. He failed to notice all the smashing and crashing sounds of his traps and spells, but nevertheless drew the same conclusion.
They're getting close. Let's hope this is going to end well.