The running, Arcology, part 1. Vampire hunting and dirty Astral Plane

I spent two weeks in the ship. There weren't any problems, and I got new friends. They were some kind of pirates or sailors, and they said they’d be there again in five to ten years. Maybe I’ll meet them again someday.

I had been a bit worried about the ship sinking, but luckily it didn’t do that. Two weeks in a ship and I felt the ground move underneath me. It was solid ground, but two weeks of standing on a ship made me move with the waves, even if there weren't any waves.

When I arrived in Seattle, the otaku called me to them. I went there immediately, because they had all my stuff. They had a new headquarters. I hoped nobody had touched my stuff, because it would be a pain to get new explosives. And the few jobs I had done for the otaku, I hadn't gotten paid at all. So it would be even more annoying if someone had stolen my stuff while I was away.

When I arrived to the headquarters (a small building, abandoned, nothing flashy, but apparently good enough for a bunch of kids living together), I went directly to make sure my stuff was there. They still were. In boxes, but everything was there. Then I paid attention to things around me. There was Rugh, Opium, Nerdy, Shrew, Jinx and a human male called Random. He was in a wheelchair.

The otaku told us that we should go with them to the Renraku Arcology to destroy an evil AI called Deus. I had heard about Arcology. It was this huge building in Seattle. It had been shut down because of some problems, and it was heavily guarded from the inside, so the police didn’t have much luck in raiding it. I didn’t feel like going and getting myself killed in some dangerous place without pay.

The otaku told us that there was an army in the Arcology; they were trying to raid it and claim it. They were also trying to save all the people from there. And the things that guarded Arcology were the evil AI Deus and its soldiers. Deus had living soldiers and robots. Nerdy claimed that we should save his mother while we were there. So apparently he was going. I didn’t quite get his fixation on his mother. I still don’t get it. I've known him for a couple of years, and he still makes me confused with his constant need to talk about his mother.

Opium wanted to go. Rugh also. Random said to go with them also. Shrew seemed to be thinking about it, but when the otaku promised to help her find out who she had been in the past she agreed to go. I was the last one to think about it. Then I decided that if they would promise to find out the exact location of the lab I would go. They promised to help when we got back. I started to think about filling the place with explosives and exploding the shit out of it. And torturing the workers to death. I would finally have my revenge. Well, if I didn’t die before that.

We all got a lollipop from a bowl. They said there were different colors, but they all seemed similar to me. I grabbed one, and then the otaku told us there was 10000 nuyens taped to each lollipop. It was something to use to get ready for Arcology. Opium had lots of good contacts, so we made a huge order for ammo and guns for her. Then we paid her and I went to Juggler to ask for some bullets for my shotgun. I also bought a new shotgun. He didn’t have the ammo I wanted, but he had some experimental ones. I bought them. I bought some more ordinary and exploding ammo.

I returned to the headquarters. There was some grenades and protective clothing. Others had bought more than one set, but I didn’t have enough money, so I got only one.

After we had made our preparations for leaving, I and Rugh took Shrew to Barrens. Rugh tried my new ammo on a wall. The wall started burning. It burned a few seconds. The new ammo seemed nice. Opium had given Shrew her gun to try out. Shrew tried, and apparently she didn’t know how to use it properly. I gave her my shotgun to try, after I had changed to normal slugs. She did a few shots, but didn’t seem to know how to use that either.

After we returned from Barrens, Rugh and Opium had some business with some person to deal with. They needed to kill someone. They asked if some of us wanted to go also. I promised to go after Opium and Rugh promised to go with me to the lab and help. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen neither in months. Opium took off some time after Arcology, and I don’t know when Rugh left the team, but they are not answering their phones… Shrew came with us, and Nerdy and Jinx.

Our target was located in a sewer somewhere. The target could be a vampire, or that’s what they said. It was interesting. I hadn't heard much about them. From some movie trailers I had learned that sunlight was bad for them, and wooden stakes. Opium said that they got hurt from normal guns as well, but they were quick healers. Just like me…

Rugh and Opium did the organizing, and then we left. We went to the harbor. There was a small boat for us. I was a bit skeptic about the boat, but others went in, so I followed the example. We could’ve gone via land as well, but there was some kind of gang war there. I would've liked to take part in a gang war, but others didn’t.

We arrived to the entrance to the sewers. It seemed a bit small, but not too small. I just felt a bit claustrophobic, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. So we went in.

After we had walked a while me and Nerdy found some tracks, and started following them. We followed them until they ended. I told the others that my senses would be more sensitive if I was in my real form. Others promised to take care of my stuff, so I took all my clothes off and transformed.

I sniffed around a bit and then decided to go back, where we had seen some tracks earlier. Maybe I could get more out from them, as a leopard.

I tried to follow tracks, but every track I found ended. The scent ended as well as the tracks. But I had fun. I had never tracked anything with a group. Normally I had been tracking things alone, but now I had a bunch of people with me. After a while I started thinking about tracking. I had noticed that normally dogs were used to track things. Not cats. Maybe they have better sense of smell. Or they are more obedient.

After a while we arrived to crossroads. The sewer split into two tunnels. And suddenly there was some kind of Astral Projection. Apparently it was some kind of spirit. It wasn't big, and it asked what our business there was. I tried to reply, but it didn’t seem to understand me. So I transformed and asked sharply what it wanted. It thanked us for listening and disappeared. I told about the spirit to others, and noticed that Nerdy seemed to have some trouble seeing me naked. He seemed funny, and I felt like it would be even more fun to joke around a bit, on his expense, of course. But the sewer was cold, and I was faster when moving with four feet, so I transformed again.

I started following the tunnel the spirit had disappeared into. Jinx made a small spirit. Then another spirit appeared. The new one went to talk with Jinx’s spirit. I felt a bit hurt by this action, but I listened to what the spirit said and then transformed and told what the spirit had told. Then I asked my clothes back. Nerdy seemed to have more problems with me being naked.

Soon after I had dressed, there was a shiny Astral thing there. I told about it, and Rugh concentrated and appeared in Astral Plane as well. Rugh stared at the thing. It stared us, me first. It felt like it read my aura. It feels like someone is trying to dig up my secrets. I don’t like it.

Rugh told us that this thing was the person we were looking for. Others seemed to just stand there so I decided to get closer to this aura. It asked me to stop. It thought that I was hostile, and it would do something soon. I looked behind to notify others to do something as well. They started following me slowly.

Finally Rugh said he would talk to the aura further away. He left us there to wait. I wasn't happy. No fight. Still no fight. I didn’t know back then what was to come. More fights than I could ever imagine.

Rugh talked with the aura for a while, and then he came back. He said we could go. I was happy, because the sewer was a bit too damp for my taste. And we didn’t have a fight. So I was eager to get out to the open and maybe pick a fight with some idiot.

I had heard that someone was looking for us in the streets, so I spent my time in the otaku headquarters. It was quite comfortable after my own place. There was a bed, a warm bed. Well, there weren't that many rats, but maybe it’s a good thing sometimes. And I could always hunt.

And at this point I should mention that there was one otaku boy who had a crush on Shrew. And an otaku girl who had a crush on Nerdy. Well, I can’t quite understand why the boy had a crush on Shrew, but maybe he liked it rough. But the thing I really didn’t get was why the girl liked Nerdy. Well, they are humans, who knows.

Shrew was dropped off by Liu. Apparently he had had enough of her. It was unbelievable funny occasion when they came by. The boy who had a crush on Shrew tried to give her flowers. Shrew slipped behind Liu, to hide. The boy tried to give the flowers from between Liu’s legs. I started laughing out loud when Shrew seemed to start panicking. She grabbed Liu’s jacket and tried to climb up. The jacked was slippery or something, because Shrew lost her grip and was left there, hanging on a troll. Her feet were around Liu’s waist. I almost fell off my chair. The boy finally gave up and offered the flowers to Liu to give to Shrew. She asked him to drop the flowers in the bin, and that’s what happened to the flowers.

We waited for a couple of days for the time to go. Nerdy visited, and I tried to see what was happening between him and the girl. And I also tried to spy on Shrew and the boy, but most of the time everyone spent time on their computers or slept.

And then the day was there. Others had taken care of the equipment, so that the only thing I had to do was to force myself in the minibus we used to drive to the starting location. I was hoping to hear more about Nerdy and the girl or Shrew and the boy, but the bus was too small. All my energy went on feeling anxious and nervous and claustrophobic.

We entered Arcology via sewers. The tunnels were unbelievably narrow. I had to force myself to walk. I felt the sweat dripping. My hands were shaking. My breathing was shallow. I was terrified. I was about to start remembering the small cage, but then we were in a big, wide, open space. It was a big parking lot underground. It was full of dusty cars.

We started sneaking towards a door that would lead inside the Arcology. Suddenly the door flew open. Some people ran out, and others went down. I noticed that the people running didn’t notice us. They were running away from something, they were overwhelmed by terror. They fired their guns towards the door and the hallway. And then there was an explosion. One of them fell, and another tried to walk him out from there.

I had a perfect place to watch the events. I had snuck next to one car. I saw everything, but no one saw me. And then I saw what they were running away from. I tried to attract Random’s attention, but he didn’t seem to understand my hand signals. I hope he understood the one I showed him after.

Two robots flew through the open doorway. They killed the people who had run away from them quickly. Apparently the people were soldiers. After the killing the robots noticed us. I started to aim, but I had to stop aiming to dodge a grenade. Then I started aiming again, and I managed to destroy one of the robots. It exploded.

Suddenly some of the group dropped unconscious. I didn’t go back to check up on them, because we had lots of other people for that. I went to see if the soldiers were dead. They were, so I grabbed their guns and ammo. The group wanted to go and take care of their wounds in some safe place. I followed.

While walking towards Arcology I noticed a change in the Astral Plane. The further we walked, the dirtier it got. It seemed dirty, gloomy, nasty. I didn’t know why. I wasn't a mage. I decided to ask someone later. Now that I think about it, I think I forgot.

Everyone wanted to go to a small room to rest. I couldn't make myself go there. I thought that I had already gotten my share of small spaces on that day. So I stayed behind, and sat next to the door. I started kicking the door. Every five minutes. After the third time Rugh came out and threatened to do unspeakable horrors to me if I continued. I decided to stop.

After a few hours I kicked the door again, out of boredom. Some guy came out to say that they were trying to sleep, and would appreciate the fact that I could be quiet. I wanted to plant some explosives to the door, but decided not to. I tried to take a nap myself.

The running, part 5. Tourists in China

One day Shrew called me. Apparently she had bought herself a phone. She told me that she needed a better practice-buddy. She said Liu was too big to practice with. She wanted to learn to fight with knives. And she wanted me to teach her. Well, I didn’t have anything else to do, and I liked Liu’s apartment. So I said yes.

Before staying with Liu and Shrew I had ordered ten kilos of explosives from Juggler. I feel like home when I have loads of explosives around me. I know how I can put up an explosion, and I like to see it.

I noticed that Liu didn’t like to have me around. But he let me stay there for a week, when I taught Shrew how to fight. I think the biggest thing we disagreed on was the food. He wanted his food to be long dead before he ate it. I liked to have my food fresh. Maybe it was the rats I eat. I don’t know, but I wasn't allowed to eat inside.

A couple of nights during that week, Liu made me sleep outside. He didn’t explain the reasons to this, so I protested. I carried dead rats to his coffee. And I didn’t talk to him at all.

After the week Shrew seemed to know something about fighting with knives. I went back home, and decided not to stay at Liu’s ever again. Even though he had a nice and warm apartment, it was too much for me to have to sleep outside. Without a reason. Really weird in my opinion.

After a while I had returned home from Liu’s I got a call. We were offered a meeting via phones. We gathered up in one place and had a meeting with Ronin and Dodger. I had never heard of them. And I still can’t remember which is which. One of them is some kind of legendary decker, and the other one is an older otaku.

They wanted us to go to Hong Kong. They didn’t promise any pay for the job, but I agreed to go anyway, just like others did. I don’t know what their reasons were, but I wanted to see the world a bit. I had never been anywhere but Seattle and the other place.

There wasn't much time there, they said we had less than 24 hours there, but it was an experience I didn’t want to miss.

There was this chief of one corporation. He had been recovering in Tibet for some time, with monks. There were other people wanting to get to the chief also. One was Deus, an evil AI, and Renraku corporation. The man we were supposed to get from the monks was the chief of Renraku. A megacorporation. I was a bit worried, because they said Deus was smart and powerful, just like Renraku. They had resources. But it was somewhere far away, so it was exciting anyway.

When I heard how we were supposed to return, it seemed odd. Something wasn't right with that way. And it wasn't. There’s no magic in space. That’s what Liu told. He said I wasn't able to travel so high up. He told Ronin and Dodger that I had a magical pacemaker. I looked at him a while. I didn’t know what a pacemaker was.

And for the last but not least, we weren't allowed to bring our own stuff with us. They promised to get everything we wanted from Hong Kong though. I didn’t get dikote on my claymore, or special rounds for my shotgun, but it was enough. I got explosives, claymore and a shotgun. And I got to see the world.

The flight was unpleasant. The plane was quite small, but big enough so that I wasn't terrified to be there. But I didn’t have my sword with me, so I was a bit annoyed. I used all the time in the plane to complain, kick and moan. I didn’t like to sit that long. And I didn’t have my sword to sharpen, I didn’t have any weapons on me. It was torture.

Hong Kong was different from Seattle. People were different. And they spoke different languages. They spoke Chinese, according to Liu. He spoke some Chinese to me too, but I didn’t understand a word he said.

When we got there, there was a van waiting for us. The key was there, and the back was half full of things we had requested. And in the front there was IDs for everyone. After examining everything there we found out that we had a small problem. Not one of us knew how to drive a car or van. Shrew didn’t know if she knew, so she was the driver.

We went someplace to eat something. I was forced to eat human food again, because we didn’t have time for me to hunt. After meal I wanted to visit a souvenir-shop. I wanted to buy something from Hong Kong. And I bought a small souvenir and a postcard. Then we made ourselves comfortable and waited for the information about the location of the Renraku chief. Our plan was to grab the man before Deus or Renraku, even though I had suggested that we should wait for Renraku men and Deus men to shoot each other dead and then go, kill the survivors and grab the chief. Nobody agreed with me.

At some point we got the message that they knew the location. And we left immediately. We’d have twenty minutes to take care of everything before the other teams would arrive.

When we got to the place, we found out that we needed a driver. Shrew asked her spirit of it knew how to drive, and it said of course. So we had Shrews spirit in the car with Liu. They said that Renraku was a racist corporation. They didn’t like anyone but humans. Good thing I look like one…

We left the car and entered the building. Shrew asked for the chief and the woman at the reception opened a door for us. It opened to a garden. I couldn't go in because of an Astral wall. I knew that even though normal people, who weren't active in the Astral Plane, could walk right through the wall, nothing magical could. It would stop me. And it could be painful, as well. I tried to look like I didn’t go in because I didn’t want to.

I realized that we were in a great hurry. It had been a few seconds over 23 minutes. Why didn’t I think about time earlier? I notified others via radio. Some moments after Liu told us about two limousines driving to the front. He told that ten people came out, five from each limo. One of the people looked really neat, he had a suit on. Most probably he was the leader.

As others slipped into another hallway, I stepped to the reception desk to ask whether there was another exit. Shrew stayed with the chief and two monks. The woman told me the exit, and realized others had run the wrong way. I told them that and went the right way.

When I noticed I couldn't run through a corner before getting noticed I jumped into a booth. There was lots of booths next to each other on the hallway. At first I thought they were toilets, but as I barged in one of them, I found out they weren't. There was someone in. He was a small, skinny man. He was sitting on a chair, some wires came out from his head, and he drooled. He was so skinny and small that I believed I could throw him out from the booth with my left hand. He didn’t seem to notice me, so I sat on his lap. If anyone looked inside, they would hopefully think something was happening and leave.

Liu was talking in the radio. He was telling what was happening outside. I started to be bored. I heard someone looking outside from another booth. He was commanded to go down on the ground, but apparently he didn’t follow orders. He was shot. I could see the blood on the ground, because the doors didn’t go all the way to the ground. There was some disturbance happening in the lobby, and I assumed it was an elemental.

I started to be greatly bored. So I pulled out my sword, cut the wires coming from the mans head and pushed his head out the door. He started screaming about some woman, but went silent after three bullets hit him. I let him go and he fell on the ground. I pulled him back in and tried again. Nobody shot him again, so I assumed it was safe and looked. No one shot me either. I threw him towards the lobby and ran the other way.

There was a lot of auras in the lobby. Humans and spirits. There was also a lot of smoke. Then Nerdy told he was crawling towards the back door. I waited until he was close, grabbed him by the collar and threw him out the door. He landed on his feet and started running. I went back to the corner and started to think about my options. After I noticed six bullets hitting the wall behind me I decided to go out the door. I told this to other via radio, dropped my shotgun and left.

I cursed myself when I was asked to come back inside. The team needed me. And the door was locked. I thought about kicking the door down, but I decided it was too time-consuming, and it would've attracted some attention. And I didn’t want that. And my shotgun was on the other side of the door. So I started running towards the main door and hoped that the fight would not be over by the time I got there.

I was disappointed to find out that there was nothing else to do when I got to the main door. Our target was in the car with the team, the monks were guarding the door and the car was already moving when I jumped in. We asked the spirit to hurry up, but it said it wasn't the driver for getaways. I noticed that Nerdy and Jinx weren't there. Nerdy had gone to buy a fake beard, and Jinx had gotten trapped in a wrong hallway.

When we got to the airport, Jinx and Nerdy were there too. Jinx had spoken with the police and they’d let him go. They had both traveled by metro.

The others then went to some kind of rocket. I wasn't able to go with them. It had something to do with magic. But I watched them go and waited for a local fixer to come and organize my getaway as well. Luckily I had my sword with me, because it took a long time for the fixer to arrive.

There was this ship, which was full of illegal items. Well, I fit in well, I am illegal. Well, I don’t understand how that is possible, that I’m illegal, but that’s what everyone said. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don’t have any legal SIN.

The red hot rage

I have always found it very difficult to get away from a fight. It feels like red, hot, rage. I don’t want to get away from a fight. If I engage in a fight, I need to finish the fight. I doesn't matter how long it takes. As I have stated before I enjoy fighting. I like the feel of it. Of course, there is the possibility to get hurt. But nothing can hurt me as much as I have been hurt in my past.

Every time I have fought with someone, really fought, it has ended in some way. It feels like failure if I lose. I have lost a few times. I have lost my consciousness. Sometimes just because someone has beat me senseless, sometimes because someone has shot me, sometimes cut me. But every time I get up. I get up and finish the fight again. I haven’t met many opponents who haven’t been startled by the fact that I have been mortally wounded and then gotten up and killed him/her.

It’s difficult to explain, this feeling. It reminds me of my past, when someone hurts me in any way. I go back to the table. But this time I get to take my revenge on the person who has hurt me. Maybe that’s why I keep fighting. I feel like I’m beating up the people responsible of my torture. I sometimes see their eyes during the fight. It makes me hit harder. It makes me want to kill. I think my team-mates know my tendency to kill. That’s why they go over the fights beforehand and make me understand, really understand, that I’m not allowed to kill anyone. But it makes me feel a bit better that I am allowed to beat people unconscious. It feels good to beat someone with your bare hands. But normally I would prefer my claymore.

The running, part 4. How to not abduct a man from a street

One day Opium called me. She asked if I wanted to meet with Monty. I had never heard about Monty, but promised to go with her anyway. Apparently Monty might have a job available. At first I just wanted to know where the meeting would be held. I wasn’t going to leave all my possessions at home, and if I couldn’t bring all my stuff with me, I wouldn’t be able to go. Opium suggested I brought my stuff to a pod-hotel. It was a good idea and she was nice enough to pay for one day because I was completely broke. She also gave me a sledgehammer. She said that she didn’t have any use for it anymore. I happily accepted the weapon. I could break some bones with it.

The place we went to meet this Monty person was a bit better than what I had used to. There was a doorman. He didn’t want to let us in. When we mentioned Monty, he let us in anyway.

There was some other people in the meeting too. Nerdy, of course. There was also some new faces, yet again. A troll male, who was a mage. He was called Liu. He had an elf woman with him. She was called Shrew. That was the first time I met Shrew.

Monty told us about a boy that had gone missing. The boy needed to be found. And he would be very pleased if the boy would return unharmed. He told about some cult that had something to do with a comet. I didn’t understand. I really have no idea when people talk about their cults. I can’t understand them. It’s mumbo jumbo to me.

I was a bit annoyed by the fact that I didn’t have my sword with me. I started kicking the table leg. It didn’t make me feel better, but hopefully it would make others feel worse.

At some point Monty left. We had agreed to take on the job, and we had to plan our way of working. Nerdy started surfing the web. Others talked about the job and Shrew. I found out that Shrew had some sort of amnesia. She didn’t even know what she could do. At some point Liu shone in the Astral Plane. He read my aura.

After a while we left. We decided to go to Liu’s apartment. But first we got all my stuff from the hotel. I was so happy. I got to be with my sword again. I think it has something to do with my real form. When I’m a leopard, I have deadly weapons in my paws. As a human, I only have weak, ridiculous nails. I can’t kill with my hands as easily. That’s why I think I need a big sword. Or blades. Or knifes. In fact, anything sharp and deadly. But claymore makes me feel the most comfortable.

I focused all my attention to my sword. I sharpened it. I cleaned it. I made it sparkle. And when I started to look around myself, I noticed everyone had left. Everyone but Shrew and Liu. Shrew had started sleeping on the couch. Liu seemed like he was going to go to bed. I decided that I’d stay there for the night. Home was far from there, and I didn’t feel like fighting. There’s always a chance you have to fight your way home at night. Sometimes I enjoy the challenge, but this time a warm and cozy apartment felt nicer. I took all my stuff into a heap, undressed and transformed. I figured Liu had already seen my aura, so he knew what I was and still let me stay, so it didn’t matter.

I slept well. There wasn’t the normal background noise. No dying screams. No rats. Just a low sound of traffic far. There was no wind either. The walls were sturdy enough to hold the weather. It was the first night in ages I had slept well.

When I woke up I was alone. I walked around a bit and went back to sleep.

Later I found out that my team-mates had done some good research. The cult we were looking for was located in an old church. Somebody was needed to watch over it for a while. I volunteered, but almost backed up when they said I wasn’t allowed to take my shotgun with me. Sword was also out of the question. Opium promised to get me a baseball bat, but I never got one. Instead I got a knife and a pistol. They said I had to return the pistol, but I could keep the knife. I don’t like pistols. They are too small and they are too inefficient for my taste.

I was waiting near the place. It was outside, and I had plenty of interesting things to watch, for example rats. I had caught one rat, and right when I was cutting it to pieces for my amusement I noticed a person. He was dressed in a robe. He was coming out from the church I was watching.

I called Opium to ask if I should follow. She said I should hold him still by any means necessary. What best suited for me. But we needed him alive, and Opium would be there soon. I put the knife to my belt and started running after the man. I yelled him to stop. When he saw me he started running. Well, I don’t blame him.

I quickly got to him and grabbed him by the robe. He squirmed out from his robe and continued running. I dropped the robe and caught him while he was trying to open a garage door. I grabbed him by the arm this time. He seemed scared and tried to hit me. I got a bit angry and hit him to the face. He wanted to know what I wanted. I said I wanted to talk with him. Then I started dragging him towards a dark alley. When I think about this now, I think maybe it was a bit too much. A normal person would be freaked out by my actions. As was this guy. He managed to hit me. I felt the red hot rage in me, and I beat him senseless. I’ll talk about the red hot rage later.

When the man was unconscious, I kicked him to his side just to be sure. Then I dragged him by his neck to the alley. I called Opium again. I think she had gotten her shoes on by now. She said to be there quickly.

While I was there, waiting, I had time to regret leaving his robe and helmet on the street. Under the streetlights for anyone to find. I didn’t want to leave the man there alone. He might wake up and run, or someone might come and kill him if I left to grab his possessions. So I had to watch and wait and hope no one would see them. It was in vain. I saw a police car driving by slowly. I think maybe the screaming got some attention. The man wasn’t exactly quiet when I got him. He screamed for help, but not for long.

Luckily no one saw me with the man on the alley, and Opium arrived shortly. I threw the man in the car. I wanted to go and see what kind of vehicle the man drove, because he had a helmet. I thought maybe he had a motorcycle, but Opium talked me into going with her to Liu’s apartment. Others taped the man on a chair. We decided to interrogate the man when he woke up. I went back to my corner and curled up in my leopard form.

The man woke up in the morning. Opium started interrogating him. Her methods made me interested in the interrogation as well. She was actually torturing him. She was scratching his tooth with a spike that had come out of her finger. I shortly thought about wanting those too. Then the man started to squirm. So I took a hold of his head. Finally some blood came out from his mouth. He started screaming. Then Opium asked Liu to heal the man so she could start over. This was my kind of interrogation.

The man gave in pretty quickly. He told that I was crazy, and then he told about the cult and its leader. We decided to kidnap him next.

The leader was in the church. We sneaked in. Shrew’s ally spirit opened the door for us from the inside. Even then I felt a bit uneasy around the spirit, but it has always seemed to be a bit intimidated by me. It in turn makes me feel strong. It’s an interesting relationship altogether.

We grabbed the leader without any problems. The team had some bullets that didn’t kill, just stun. Some of the cult members had to be stunned, but the whole mission went easily. We grabbed the leader and brought him back to Liu’s place as well. Others taped him into a chair too.

While others interrogated, I went to sleep. I enjoyed sleeping well.

I was expecting a fight when I heard they knew where the boy was. We went there, made a quick plan and executed it. Oh, and Opium made me promise not to shoot while she was in front of me, or anywhere in the line of fire. And I wasn’t allowed to kill anyone. It took me the whole drive there to understand that I wasn’t allowed to kill anyone.

We went inside the house, where the boy was. There were some cult members, and the fight I had been waiting for. I dropped my weapons, grabbed a good hold of my new sledgehammer and ran at the members screaming. I believe it made them think twice about attacking me. It didn’t take us long to win the fight. All the people in the cult were unconscious, or just playing to be unconscious. Shrew’s spirit walked around kicking the people on the ground, intimidating them.

We got the boy, returned him to Monty unharmed and got the payment. I wasn’t dead broke anymore.