The running, part 3. That's the way I am

I met a bunch of kids with the team. It was almost right after Mr. Johnsons head had exploded. The kids wished for us to go to a factory. Just to visit there. The kids looked at us with admiring eyes.

I wanted to go there because I wanted some action. It seemed like there would be lots of action in the factory.

The kids told us the address and gave some information about the place and neighborhood. We made a plan and left. I was able to force myself to the car. It wasn't nice though. I felt anxious.

Sly had joined the team also. I didn’t know what to say to him. I thought he had something wrong with him. He didn’t heal properly. Maybe it is a trait of just leopards. Maybe foxes don’t heal. I don’t know, but Sly is weird anyway. Actually, I haven’t seen him around in ages either.

When we got there, we saw a huge heap of junk. There was cars piled up, heaps or tires, a chain link fence around the place, and a terrible noise. We knew that there was two guards in there, and most probably robots. Sly made everyone invisible for the physical eye, but the auras shone even brighter in the Astral Plane.

Rugh had a spell to carry us over the fence, because they said that it was electric fence. We wouldn't be able to climb over it. When we got over, we started sneaking our way on a corridor made out of cars. On the way we saw robots, that others called Medusa's. They were looking for something, apparently us, but didn’t notice. They looked kinda scary, with their sharp tails and agile movements. Then Nerdy decided to open fire and hit one of the Medusa's with his pistol. Another Medusa noticed Opium. She shot the Medusa once and tried to hide. I decided to help and hit the Medusa with my sword. I managed to dismember its tail, but it didn’t seem to mind.

There was altogether five Medusa's. We had to fight really hard to destroy them, but we did it. My jacket had ripped apart. All the hits I had taken destroyed my jacket. I wonder if they’ll ever invent a jacket that heals on its own... It would be good for me, I seem to take more hits than anyone else on the team.

Rugh wanted to rest his headache away. My sword had taken a lot of damage because the Medusa's were made from metal. I had some serious sharpening to do when I got home. We collected some pieces of the destroyed Medusa's with Nerdy while Rugh rested.

When Rugh was ready to go again, we continued. Apparently no one had noticed our fierce fighting. Until Rugh stepped on a sleeping Medusa. Before it could react I cut it in two with my already damaged sword. I saw that Rugh looked disappointed, but was silent. Then we kept on going.

We noticed some buildings and our purpose was to sneak into one of them. We managed to get in there without no one noticing. Inside there was lots of sad-looking people. They were chained to their posts, and were dressed in rags. I felt the need to let them out of their misery, but it wasn't our mission here.

The people chained to their posts weren't the only ones there. There were people that looked better, healthy. They were not chained.

I don’t know what we were supposed to do there. I just looked around, but apparently Opium did the task, and then we got out.

After we all had gotten outside we noticed two people coming from the factory. Other one was dressed in rags, and the other one had a suit on. Now our mission was to capture the person in the suit. Apparently he was somehow important.

Suddenly Opium started running. She was unbelievably fast when she ran around the corner. I followed, with less speed. I went around the corner to see the person dressed in the suit to fly on the ground backwards. Opium fell down on her back. She shot three bullets to the person in rags. Before the person in rags died, he summoned a huge spirit. I had never seen such power. A huge manastorm started in the Astral Plane. The spirit started to materialize. It took three huge boxes and a Medusa to form its physical body. There were other stuff flying through the air too. It grabbed girders like they were light as feathers.

When I just stared at the scary sight, others decided to leave. Opium grabbed the person on the ground. Rugh guided Nerdy to run away from the situation. I wasn't sure what to do. Then there were dogs. Lots of dogs that shone in the Astral Plane as well. Dual-beings. Great. The dogs were howling, and the spirit made thinking more difficult by using one of its powers. I thought about my claws. They did work on normal spirits. I decided to try if they worked on this one as well. I transformed and attacked.

I hurt my teeth biting a girder, and then the spirit hit me with its huge fist. Then one of the dogs bit me on the neck and I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, there was a raging fight going on. The dogs, the Medusa's and the spirit were all fighting. I was really angry, and tried to attack the nearest dog. I was still wounded so the dog bit me easily. I lost consciousness again. This went on five times. Then the fight was over, and I calmed down a bit.

I was hurting. My team had left me there, alone. There was Medusa's everywhere. Also the two guards. I just layed there, waiting for the pain to go away and the wounds to heal. It took more than a minute for me to be back to perfect health. Then it seemed to be impossible to leave. I noticed the guards walking around with flashlights. They came near me. They looked at me with flashlights. I tried to lay perfectly still, keeping my eyes closed. I didn’t feel like taking more hits. The Medusa's were too strong to fight. I was sure I would've been able to kill the guards without problems.

Apparently my acting skills were enough and other guard nudged me with his shoe. Then they left. I opened my eyes. Maybe the illusion was stronger because I was soaked in blood. I got up quietly and sneaked out of sight. Then I stopped. I realized all my possessions were on the ground. In the middle of the yard, on spotlight. Money, weapons, clothes, everything. I didn’t go back to get them because, believe it or not, I too have a survival instinct. It’s not as strong as some, but it’s there. I don’t want to make a suicide. I walked away.

The team had blown a hole in the fence. It was guarded by a bulldozer and three Medusa's. I tried to sneak past without them noticing, but the bulldozer noticed me. It tried to run me over, but I managed to shoot out from the hole and run to safety.

There I was. Alone in the night-time Seattle, without anything. I decided to head back to the base. I didn’t want to transform, because I didn’t have any clothes. I didn’t mind being naked, but others did. Some idiots might’ve come and try something stupid, and I didn’t want to kick ass before I had gotten back to the team. As a leopard I didn’t get as much attention as I would've as a naked human female. Most of the people didn’t even see me, and the ones that did, ran away.

I finally got to the base. I smacked my claws to the door and made long scratch-marks. Someone came to the door and let me in. I then waited for a while for someone to notice that I was naked. Opium was kind enough to give me her coat. I transformed and put the coat on. It wasn't a good fit. Opium was thinner and nearly twenty centimeters taller than me. It looked strange, but was OK for the time being. They gave me five thousand nuyens money, so that I could go and buy something to wear. I bought leather clothing and armored vest. Maybe it would have a longer lifespan that my normal jackets.

I wanted to buy a new sword. Opium told me about dikote coating for a sword. It seemed to cost more money than I had ever seen, so I had to forget about it. But I memorized it, because some day I would get a claymore coated with dikote.

I was angry at first. I wanted to blame someone from my losses. Opium talked some sense into me. She said that I was responsible of my own losses. She said that it was my bad when I went with the team and lost my possessions. I thought about it a while and came into a conclusion that she was right. I decided to be more careful the next time.

I bought my claymore from Juggler. I didn’t quite have the money to buy a new shotgun, but he was nice enough to give me a discount if I spent a night with him. I had earlier learned that sex could be used as means of payment, and this was the first time I had paid some of my purchases with sex. I don’t mind it. It’s fine. It amuses me.

Juggler also gave me some slugs for the shotgun. I promised to pay them to him later, and luckily he trusted me to do just that. And I did, when I received my next payment.

During these two runs I had acted recklessly and stared death in the eyes more than once. It had caused me lots of pain, but that’s the way I am. I am ready to kick ass to gain everything I want, and if I die in the process, tough. I’m good with myself. Nowadays, when I’m so near getting my revenge, I wouldn't be ready to die. But it’s a fact. As a runner I walk with death all the time. I take risks, and probably at some point my good luck ends. I just hope that I really die then. Because if I’m taken to a laboratory, it’s the end of me, even though I might live physically, I know it would kill my spirit completely.