Hey guys, Fanoren here. Glad to see i'm getting some positive feedback, anyway, on with the show!
(Febuary 16th, Chicago Containment Zone, UCAS)
The city of chicago had changed dramatically since the awakening. It used to be one of the largest cities in North America, but in the mid 50s, a cult called the Universal Brotherhood arrived. In 2054, Ares Macrotechnology, one of the most powerful megacorporations, as well as the one with the largest private millitary, exposed them for what they really were. While they had claimed that they were caring for the homeless, in reality, the UB were kidnapping people and forcing them to act as the hosts of insect spirits. Large, magical bugs that twisted the minds and bodies of their hosts into something that couldn't even be considered human anymore. One by one, branches of the UB were struck, and utterly exterminated by Ares strike teams.
Unfortunately, something went wrong in Chicago. Nobody knew exactly what happened, but the raid on the Chicago branch of the Universal Brotherhood went wrong. The Ares strike team decided to detonate a tactical nuke in the heart of the city. While it did destroy the Brotherhood's base, even the nuclear blast did nothing to stop the infestation of bugs. They spread throughout the city, seizing the bodies and souls of everyone they could catch. In an effort to contain the infestation, Ares personel completely walled off the city, trapping the bugs inside, along with millions of innocent people.
Life for the people of Chicago became a living hell afterwards. Cut off from the rest of society, left to be killed either by radiation, bug spirits, or by the gangs that now ruled the streets. Things eventually got better, the bug population was at an all time low, and the quarantine was lifted a few years ago, but times were still tough, as a certain elven shadowrunner knew all too well.
The skies above the city were choked with dark clouds that rained death upon those below. decades of environmental abuse had caused a deadly acid rain that burned alive anyone who wasn't prepared for it. The small team of shadowrunners slowly moved through the ruined shell of Chicago. Their chemical resistant cloaks and armor protecting them from the rain.
They were in deadly territory, moving towards their target, and so they had brought along their heaviest weapons. Gutshot had turned himself into a walking arsenal, a wide variety of weapons, from assault rifles to shotguns, and even a Light Machine Gun that was currently in his hands. Blitz held an SMG, and had a PDA roughly the size of a tablet from roughly sixty years ago strapped to his arm. Artemis held only a small pistol, as she was here for magic support and not much else. At the front, guiding his team through the rubble, was Shadow Demon, carrying his favored AK-97 assault rifle, the gun he'd bought when he first started running the shadows back in '68. He also had a katana on his hip.
They were a few blocks away, entering into a ruined apartment building, seeking a break from the rain. Off in the corner were a pair of old men who were warming up to a trash can fire they must have dragged in here. Besides a few suspiscious glances, the old men kept their distance.
"It was easier to get here than I expected." Gutshot commented. "Considering all the dangers in this city, you'd expect tougher security."
"Security's job is to keep those dangers from getting out." Shadow told him, never taking his eyes off the few boarded up windows. The healthy dose of paranoia he'd aquired here kicking in again. "They don't really care if you want to get in. To them, you're just some nutcases chasing his own death."
"Sounds fun." Blitz said, taking off his hood. "Good news is, since there's no police force, this would be a haven to all the gangers and anarchists. No cops chasing us, no government to get involved in our buisness. Makes me miss the old Flux-State of Berlin."
"emphasis on old." Gutshot smirked. "The anarchists were chased out by Lofwyr when I was still in diapers."
"Chased out of West Berlin." Blitz corrected with a hiss. "Trust me, I was there. I watched that bastard dragon's forces gun down my first team and everyone I ever knew."
"That's enough, boys." Artemis ordered. "Keep the chatter to yourself until we're back at the bar."
"Yes mom." Blitz rolled his eyes.
"Coming from the guy who is almost old enough to be her father."
"Ok, either stop it or I'm burning you two alive." The shaman shook her head in disgust. "How'd I end up with these idiots?" The old men and Shadow froze. Looks of absolute terror on their faces. "Shadow?"
"Drek." The young elf swore. "Fragging drek. Don't move." Almost as soon as he said it, a twisted mass of flesh flew down the street. From the waist down, it looked like some kind of massive fly. Four long insectoid legs sprouted from the waist, but just above there, it was almost all in human form. The silent scream of horror and pain could still be seen on the face of the host. Their arms had morphed into long, thing twig like apendeges with three fingers, and two massive compound eyes were growing out of the sides of it's head. As it passed by, Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. "Firefly spirit. They're generally harmless unless you have them cornered."
"That was... disturbing." Artemis said, watching the creature pass by.
"And ugly." The mohawked smart ass added. Gutshot raised his weapon.
"Nobody should have to live like that." He looked down the sights, taking aim when shadow put his hand on the gun, lowering it.
"Don't waste the ammo. Unless you have something to kill the spirit too, the host will be revived and fully healed in a matter of seconds."
"Damn." Gutshot muttered. "Then how do you kill these things?"
"Generally, you don't. You get spotted by those things and you run or die. You only try to kill it as a last resort."
"Speaking of running." Blitz said, throwing his hood back on. "I say we get to the lab and get the frag out of this sprawl before that thing comes back."
"I second that." Gutshot nodded. "I don't want to be around monsters like that if I can't kill them."
"Glad to see you two agreeing on something for once." Artemis smirked. "Let's get going."
"Agreed. Gutshot, cover me. Blitz, Artemis, follow when I give the signal." The team nodded in agreement, and Gutshot moved to take cover by the window. Shadow gripped his rifle and dashed across the streets. He kept his head on a swivel, keeping both eyes open for any more bugs or the gangs that now ran this city. Fortunately, he saw nothing more than the ruined buildings devastated by the nuclear blast and the following twenty years of zero maintenance.
Up ahead was the only source of light in the entire city. The Ares lab that was housing the targets. It towered over the collapsed buildings all around them, and proudly displayed the Ares logo, a red, white, and blue version of the helmet of the greek god of war whose name they bore. The building itself was more than massive. It stood over a hundred stories tall, and at least four blocks wide, easily making it the largest building in the ruined city.
When Shadow reached the next building, he peeked in through the windows, looking for any possible threat. It was empty, at least on the first floor, and that's all he needed. The shadowrunner waved to his team, Blitz and Artemis dashed across the street while Gutshot held his position. Together, the three of them entered into the building, their weapons at the ready. Once the three of them were inside and they made certain there was no danger, Blitz and Shadow took up positions to cover Gutshot as the ork made the crossing.
This procedure continued with every building they had to get through, every street they had to cross, until finally, they were just across the street from the lab. A pair of guards stood outside, both wearing the blank face plates of Knight-Errant private security. A private security firm owned and run by Ares.
"Blitz, are you close enough?" Artemis asked. Blitz's confident smile was radiating so much that it was a wonder the guards hadn't seen it.
"Yup, give me a few seconds and their alarms will be disabled." He turned to the PDA on his arm and began tapping away at it. Meanwhile, Shadow and Gutshot took up positions to fire on the guards, making sure that they were not spotted by them. "Aaaaand, done." No sooner had the words left Blitz's mouth than the powerful crack of gunfire echoing across the street. Both guards collapsed almost instantly, riddled with bullet holes.
Quickly, the team moved out of the building they were in and moved up to the lab's door.
"Looks like it's protected by a retinal scanner." Blitz said as he approached the door. "Give me a bit, I'll hack the thing into letting us through."
"We don't have time." Shadow commented. He ripped off the helmet of one of the Knight-Errant guards and peeled open one of his eyes. After looking at it for less than a second he practically ran up to the retinal scanner. After a quick scan, the scanner beeped in confirmation, and the door unlocked.
"Fragging adepts. Take all the fun out of my job why don't you?" Blitz sighed. Shadow smirked, turning to face Blitz as his eyes changed from a perfect match to the guard's brown to his usual bright green.
"It was fun for me." He chuckled.
"Just get in the fragging building!" Gutshot shouted as he rushed inside.
"I'm with him." Artemis said as she rushed inside, followed by Shadow and Blitz. However, she let them pass her. Before closing the door, her hands glowed with a magical fire, which she used to torch the bodies. "First drink is on me when we get home."
A/N: So, here's the second chapter. Not really much to say today. I've basicly got this week off so I'm going to try to upload at least two more chapters by the end of the week.
So, before I go, here's another tidbit of Shadowrun lore.
Ares Macrotechnology, ranked number 7th on the list of the top ten megacorporations. They specialize in weapons manufaturing. Roughly anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3rds of every weapon in the world was manufactured by them. They are the most "American" corporation. Stationed in Detroit, tough, rugged, highly millitaristic, Ares owns just about every single famous American company. Everything from General Motors, Apple, most of Hollywood, and even NASA, Ares owns it all. Ares has their fingers in a lot of pies. Entertainment, Security, science and computers, even space tourism if you can believe it. However, they are weapons dealers first and foremost.
Their CEO, Damien Knight, is one of the most ruthless and cunning people in the world. Nobody had ever heard of him until he bought the company in what has become known as the last second buyout, where he bought the majority of Ares stock in a matter of seconds, going from complete obscurity to the CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world in the blink of an eye. Some even speculate that Damien Knight isn't even his real name, that he's actually a famous hacker from the 20s who changed his name and face.
Ares has a good relationship with shadowrunners. They are known to be more trustworthy than the other megacorp Johnsons. While they are still very underhanded, and are just as likely to skimp out on payment if they can, they are far less likely to try to kill runners who work for them than the other megas. This means a lot of Shadowrunners prefer to work for Ares, even if they screwed them over in the past.