Hey, it's me again. I've got writer's block so I'm sorry if this first part of the chapter's not all that great. I had a death in the family and then I got sick and then I got writer's block. Hooray for me. I got over it though and the chapter gets better in the end.
I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.- Pokemon the 1st Movie
"What do you MEAN Goth's not back yet?!" came a sharp yell from down the hall. Kitaro opened one eye "Looks like Shiva's back" he yawned. "Yeah, but apparently Goth isn't" I called down to him. It was about nine in the morning and I was asleep in my nice comfy bed in one of the high rafters. Unfortunately Kitaro was sleeping right below me, so the first thing I saw in the morning was a fox staring me in the face. I screamed and fell off onto Garland (who still hadn't moved from the computer) who yelled at both of us, we yelled back and we had a huge mess. Yep, that's how our mornings go. Kitaro slowly got up and growled at one of us. "Oh, shut up." I muttered back at him. Garland rubbed his head and looked at both of us in amusement. "Well good morning guys. Sleep well?" "Not anymore. It sounds like Shiva's in one of her moods again." I said. "So go talk to her, she is your best friend after all" "Don't tell me what to do Kitaro." "Whatever, I'm going back to sleep." I softly growled. Got up and stretched and headed to Shiva's part o the Abri. Official business was the last thing on my mind now, but Shiva was not happy and if Shiva's not happy, don't count on getting any sleep. I found my friend with Strider two rooms down with another human by the name of Risika. Neither of them looked to happy. "Uh, like I said Goth's still not back yet, we got a message from him saying that he had more business to tend to." said Strider softly. Shiva's tail began to lash again. "Don't blame me. If you're gonna yell at somebody yell at Goth, not us." he added. "Hey you guys, we're getting a transition for the planet Casanova called out Gar from the other room "I think it's from Goth."
Shiva immediately ran to Gar's quarters with Strider close behind. Gar was now sitting at the Abri's official computer, which took up half a wall. He was still wearing his coat only now with a black turtleneck and dark blue jeans and of course his boots and dragon emblem. "Goth says the liberation expedition was a success, the last of the prisoners left about three hours ago". "Three hours? What's he still doing there?" asked Shiva. Garland typed something and scrolled down a bit "He says he can't come back now, something big's come up. He says you should see what he found." By now Shiva was practicality in front on the screen now with twitching whiskers. I looked at my friend questioningly "Tell him we'll be there but he'd better have a damn good excuse for this." growled Shiva. "Will do" said Gar as he started to type again." He says he'll be at the entrance gate at Vetvix's main prison and that he does have a good reason." "That smart ass" muttered Shiva. "He says he knew you'd say that too" "Let's just move out. Gar, Kitaro, Paris stay here in case Goth calls back. Ash, Shadow and Stride, you come with me. "Ash? The rabbit? Why do we need him?" asked Strider. "We'll need a good and fast digger in case things get ugly. Besides it'll be easy for him since Casanova's got soft soil." "If he's coming it's definitely gonna be ugly." muttered Stride. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, dog" growled a raspy voice. All eyes turned to the rafters where two blazing red eyes glared back at us. Then an instant he appeared on the carpet: Ash. Ash was a rabbit with jet black fur so dark se seemed to melt in and out of the shadows, like death itself. He had long dagger like teeth, like a vampire's except next to each other with no space in between instead of separate teeth. Ash grinned as Gar looked at him, shuddered, then quickly turned back to his screen as the rabbit laughed. Kitaro stared at him and started to say something but Ash cut him off "No I'm not a mutant if that's what you're thinking, I am a devil-bunny. "That's not what I was going" said Kitaro "I was going to say it amazes me that a devil-bunny assassin can even get two feet to a human and not tear him to shreds." The rabbit glanced at the human and shrugged "Good control I guess. And he's neither an idiot or a scientist so I let him live" "Thanks, I think".
"You're quite welcome human. You're quite lucky." "Um, excuse me but what the heck's a devil-bunny?" asked a young cat. "A devil-bunny is just like a regular rabbit, except is has sharp teeth. They're part of an organization to rid the world of humans and stuff."
"We'll start working on the portal to bring Orion here while you guys are with Goth "said Kitaro. He should be here by the time you get back. The Space Farm commandos- you remember the commando right? Good, anyway I contacted them and we're placing him on their ship. "Good. Let's move out Shadowrunners." commanded Shiva. We went to the hull to where our ship lay waiting for us. It was an X27R12 QuickC user, made for quick journeys and such. It was newly equipped with the most accurate laser cannons and a flicker-shield so we could go through the cosmos without being noticed. Since none of us had hands, our ship was equipped with a auto-cruse. You just entered the coordinates of your destination and the ship takes you there. It also had an interactive computer called an Artificial Intelligence Space Module or AISM. Besides having an A.I. brain and advanced maneuverability, it also could change size to fit the size and numbers of passengers in the pod. Only two of our AISM ships could do this, and we chose this one since Goth may be bringing a whole compound of refugees that had no where to go. The ship can fit about 100 humans or so, that should be enough. If not, we'll send out another growing AISM" Garland had told us.
The trip to Casanova took about fifteen minutes with our thrusters and shield on and soon landed on Casanova where Goth was waiting for us. He was sitting on a disregarded broken laser cannon with dirty white fur and a twitching tail. A small gray longhaired dachshund sat near him with bright eyes. Odd that Goth would tolerate a dog beside him for very long, but as I had learned nothing is impossible. Goth sat in the midday sunlight and instead of his usual cocky, confident spirit he always had, Goth held something else in his eyes; something was troubling him. Shiva and Strider left the ship and hurried to the tomcat with Ash slowly bringing up the rear. I stayed behind for a moment, what was that I saw in Goth's eyes? I hadn't seen Goth this distressed since the day Vetvix took over. Almost nothing made him be really anxious or if he hid he never showed it. Whatever Goth had seen or found, it was big. "Shadow, come on!" called Strider "You're not gonna just sit there by the ship with AISM are you?" "Coming Stride." I really need to stop with these trances I thought as I ran to catch up. I came right beside Strider panting a bit as Ash came up slowly from behind. The black rabbit sat in the shadows with half closed eyes and stared at me. I twitched my ears at him "What?" Ash smiled a bit and said "Even the sharpest of fangs it seems can be dulled." "What do you mean by that Ash?" asked Stride. "Sticking your snout where it doesn't belong again, eh Strider? Careful, you can get it bitten off like that" and to make his point Ash grinned, showing off his dagger teeth. "Never mind that what did you mean by 'even the sharpest of fangs it seems can be dulled'? Were you talking about Goth?" "Yeah" added the greyhound "He's seems strange today." "You'll both find out soon enough" purred the rabbit. "Do you know what's going Ash?" "No. But I can guess." "Well none of you are going out find out if you stay back there talking all day. Come on." called Shiva
The dachshund beside Goth pricked it's ears, nosing Goth who nodded to her and turned to us. "Ah, you're here." "Yes we are and there'd better be a good reason for us to be. Said Shiva, tail whipping in the air. I smiled to myself. There's an old cat saying that says "Tongues may lie, but tails are forever honest". Even though Shiva sounded annoyed, I could easily tell she was just as worried as I was about our comrade. "Don't worry Shiva, there is. This is Miaka by the way" he nodded to the dachshund who bowed her head at us. "Very nice to meat you Shadowrunners." "She mind speaks!" exclaimed Shiva. "Yes, she has to. Her vocal cords were torn out" At this Strider winced, Shiva listed her eyebrows and I shuttered. Ash didn't even flinch, not the least bit shocked or surprised. "Was she in a battle?" asked Strider. "No, the guard was simply in a bad mood and Miaka got in his way" "How?" "She was alive. Just living here at all brands you for death. I saw some horrible stuff in there and I was only there for two days. In those two days I saw over a hundred beings be either killed, tortured or both. Most of the guards here will kill you just for the hell of it" said Goth as we started down the corridor to whatever Goth wanted to show us. "how many more died?" asked Strider. Goth glanced behind him "How many more what?" "How many more died: humans or animal or what?" "Doesn't matter. We were all the same to them, didn't matter what species you were." said Miaka. "Yes, we were all dirt to them weather you were a cat, horse, wolf, human or butterfly or a combo of the four." added Goth. "No. We weren't even dirt to them. They cared no more if we lived than if an amoeba dies. They saw us and laughed at our death and misery no, they didn't care. To them we are nothing." Ash nodded "Yes." Miaka grinned mockingly "As if you could ever know what it's like" Ash stopped walking and said "I lived in a lab." The dachshund blinked in surprise "Wow. Guess you do. Sorry". "Don't be. No one else was, why start now?"
Strider yelped as he accidentally stepped on another dead prisoner's body. Several corpses both captor and captive were strewn about the empty courtyard we had just entered. Must have been the place where the revolt happened. It made Shiva, Strider and I shudder. The other didn't even notice I think. "Everyone's life is horrid now a nightmare we can never wake up from" said Ash bitterly. "For everyone except Vetvix" I growled. Beside me I felt Ash's spirit energy quickly rise with fury at the mention of the one who caused the universe we now lived in. Couldn't say I blamed him. Goth stopped at a dark corner and motioned forward with his forepaw. Then, out of the shadows he came. A Doberman that stood our and a half feet tall wearing slightly rusted armor came out, his black fur glistening along his strong muscles in the midday sun. The rest of us (yes, including Ash( gasped at who it was, eyes wide with shock, amazement, and suspicion. It was KNiner.
Shiva gave Goth one of her classic you'd-better-have-a-good-reason-for-this looks and Goth's tail lowered in lack of confidence. He knew just by leading us to KNiner he was pushing his luck. Shiva started to say something but the Doberman broke in in his British accent "Before you decide to kill me, first I'd like to explain myself first. Yes, I was one of Vetvix's head minions and yes for a long time I was your enemy and I was also once the monitor of the prison you see before you." "So what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in one of those escape pods?" "Because first of all that would be the coward's way out and I am not a coward but that's not why I stayed. It's because I don't deserve the chance to live" This was a shock. No one had expected him to say that. "He said he'd like to join us." said Goth. "Why?" I asked him KNiner lowered his head "Because I finally saw. I had scorned, and killed and maimed and never gave it a second thought. It was all part of the job. Then I came here to be a monitor of one on the biggest mass prison-scamps in the universe and was very pleased with my new job. Then he came" said KNiner motioning to Goth "And he and Miaka showed me what I was so blind to see. Or maybe I just didn't want to see it. I finally see it now. I hear the screams in the night and the sad songs of the forsaken who were doomed and knew it. I saw it…I saw it all and now I almost wish I were still blind again. I am forced to see the tragic universe I helped create. But now I mean to stop it. I'd like to join you- if you'll allow it that is. Either accept me, kill me, or leave me here in my own misery, I don't care which." Shiva, Strider and I exchanged glances. "All right, come with us to the ship, we haven' got all day. Welcome to the Shadowrunners KNiner". The Doberman nodded grateful and followed her down the corridor where our ship was waiting for us with the rest of us close behind. "Never thought Shiva would let a former minion of Vetvix ever join us." Stride said to me. "Well I guess it's like Ash said, 'Even the sharpest of fangs can be dulled'." Miaka grinned in Shiva's direction "In more ways then one."
Author's Note: Well by now you should see just how horrid the time the Shadowrunners live in is and also why this fic's rated the way it is. If any of you think what happened to Miaka was disturbing, you aint seen nothin' yet. Anyway, next chapter coming up soon.