Little Smoke was awesome. It gave me power to conceal myself and others, and it also gave me the power to confuse others. I tried it to Bobby. He seemed to lose his mind. Apparently he didn't know where he was, what he was and why he was. And somehow he thought his fangs were lollipops, and he tried to lick them. And his hands suddenly seemed foreign to him. I decided to drop the Confuse before he hurt himself or others. But it definitely was really cool. Awesome powers.
After we were sure we knew how the powers worked, and how to keep them up or drop them, we continued.
Suddenly an aura appeared. It was a mage or a shaman with a staff (it was some kind of an Astral weapon), a few small spirits and four elementals. Part of me thought about saying hello, but my instincts were to hit him with Confusion. He left. I told others what had happened, and we made a quick plan. I hid Bobby, because I seemed to be somehow stronger than Shrew, and Shrew hid me and herself. Apparently it had something to do with the soul or magical energy or Astral or whatever. Apparently I had strong energy for these kind of things.
We were just about to go up, when we received a message. Shit had hit the fan and everyone was on their own. We decided to go down instead. We went a few staircases down, and then, suddenly, there were seven soldiers coming up. One of them bumped into Shrew. I was behind her, and Bobby was leading. Well, what do you know, soon we had a full battle. Shrew didn't have any time to do anything before she was gunned down. Her aura flickered, but she wasn't dead, at least what I had observed. The soldiers yelled something about a troll, and Bobby seemed to be fighting them with his fists. I tried to shoot the remaining soldiers, shouted "DIE BASTARDS" and managed to kill one before I was gunned down as well.
I woke up. I kept my eyes closed. I tried to assess the situation. From all the swearing and hitting-sounds I assumed that Bobby was still up and fighting. Shrew was down. She had gotten hit very badly, and I needed to help her. From the pain in my head I assumed I had gotten hit in the head. I tried really hard to listen where the soldiers were, but the noise was too loud from Bobby fighting and the pain hadn't faded yet. I opened my eyes and saw a soldier hovering over me. He seemed a bit startled when he saw me open my eyes. He yelled something like "I think this one is still alive". I decided to hit him with Confusion, but even with that he shot me in the head again.
I woke up again. The soldier was still there, I knew what to listen to now. Bobby was fighting. Pain was fading. All my instincts scremed to fight for my life. I knew it was a bad idea. And my eyes and ears and nose were smarting. It felt bad. I opened my eyes again, I tried the Confusion again, and got shot again. The soldier seemed to be very uneasy by now. I think the smarting was an effect from some smoke thingy that the soldiers had thrown to make it easier to win Bobby.
I woke up again. I decided that trying to use Confusion to the soldier hovering over me was a bad idea. I had heard a leader giving instructions to the soldiers fighting Bobby was near. Oh, and Bobby wasn't fighting any more. Apparently they had gotten him down as well. They were giving first aid to their fellow soldiers. I remembered the free spirit called Naru. Tracy had used his real name to call him. I remembered how she had callen him, and decided to try that again. I opened my eyes. I looked directly at the soldier, that had been called James by the leader. They had told him to keep watching the corpses. They didn't seem to believe him. Well, they would after my next move. I whispered with a suffering voice "Baby don't hurt me". Then I tried to call Naru. It didn't work. James had his gun ready. I looked at the leader and used Confusion. He was just telling something to Charlie, and seemed to drift off. I used Confusion to Charlie as well, and then James acted. "It's happening again!" He yelled and shot me. AGAIN!!
I woke up once more. Now others believed James. He was probably sweating and shaking. Charlie was told to watch me as well. I decided to change my tactics. When the leader told James to load his gun I used Concealment to myself and started running. Charlie tried to shoot me. He missed. James yelled "Dammit Charlie" when apparently he didn't have a clear shot because Charlie was standing in the way.
Ohh, and I forgot to mention this real wimp who was giving first aid. He had previously complained about smarting eyes. WIMP. He was in my way, but I managed to get pass him and kept running. Bullets were hitting the wall behind me, trailing me. I yelled "DAMMIT CHARLIE!". And then I yelled it again.
I was clear of Charlie and James and their team. I ran down. Then I managed to almost bump into a new group of soldiers the others were waiting to come to help. I quickly avoided them by running into a corner, and then used Confusion to the first one. They yelled "Magic!" and went back. I kept the Confusion up and ran up the stairs, and through a door to a hallway. I tried every single door on my way. All were locked. Then I found sliding double doors that were open and went in.
I ended up in a reception of some company. There were three doors, and all were locked. I tried to break my way through one door, but keeping up the Confusion and my eyes and ears and basically all my instincts were smarting, so I didn't manage to ram through the door.
I forced the sliding doors shut and put up an ambush. I changed to my last good camo suit, and dressed in the gyro mount Morgan had given me. I took out my sword next to me, and took one smoke grenade ready to throw. I thought about putting some of my explosives ready to roll to the opening doors, but I was too distracted by the nasty substance in me, smarting.
I was ready to take as many soldiers as I could with me before they killed me for good. I waited. Then I waited some more. The smarting started to fade.
Then I noticed an aura in the room. It was in front of the counter, coming at me. I knew it was only in the Astral Space, because I didn't hear anything. As soon as I saw it I used Confusion. Before I managed to use it, the aura said "Hey, there you are, I was looking for you". Then I hit it with the Confusion, and it flew quickly near the ceiling. "Cool effect, could you please drop it?" the aura asked. I asked what it was, why it was and why should I care. It told me it was a spirit, and that I should drop the Confusion so we could talk. I weighed my options. It didn't seem hostile yet, it was apparently looking for me. It was near the ceiling, so I didn't have a chance to attack. I also thought about the home-place of the spirits. Maybe if it visited there Confusion would be dropped anyway. I dropped it.
The spirit introduced itself. It was called Aura. I introduced myself. Aura told me that it was sent to find me because the mage was too afraid to look for me anymore. Apparently the Confusion was a bit too much for him. It was his own fault, I act before I talk in those situations. My survival-instinct is too strong.
We talked a while, and I asked about my team. It told me it didn't know what had happened to Shrew and Bobby, but the rest of them were captured. I asked if it could help me. It wanted something from me. I don't know how to explain it really. It wanted some energy from me. The life-energy, experience, luck, whatever it is. It asked for a huge amount of it, and I offered a bit smaller amount. I don't know how much is a lot, but apparently I offered enough. It stopped to think how it could help me and not get caught.
After we had negotiated for a moment I knew something about it. It didn't like lying, it didn't want to lead me out, it wasn't able to help my friends. But it was able to tell me how to go down four floors. We finally got to an agreement. It would tell me where I could find a way to go down four floors very quickly and safely, and it would run around for four hours and then go and tell the military it didn't find me.
Apparently there was this laundry room, which had a shaft. The shaft went down four floors. I asked if it was safe, and Aura said it was safe to me. So I left. My inner clock is finely tuned, so I started taking time. We had been planning on going out from the monorail-station that was located on the fifth floor. I thought it was my safest bet, even though it was heavily guarded. I could just run through, jump on the monorail, run a bit and jump. It was only 15 meters, I was fairly sure I would live. Anyway, it was much better option than the laboratory military would stick me in if they ever caught me.
I ran to the laundry room. I kicked the shaft open and jumped in. I twisted my ankle and got a few bruises. When I had dropped out of the shaft I thought that maybe the others that had used the shaft had maybe used some climbing gear as well. I didn't stop to think though, I dropped on my feet and kept running.
It took me almost two hours to get to the station. I managed to avoid all the patrols, thanks to my Concealment-power. I stopped for a few seconds to think about the best possible plan. I dropped all equipment I didn't need. I only took my chain, explosives, grenades, shotgun, bullets and my sword. And of course my phone and radio.
I jumped on the stair-rail and slided down. I jumped off and hid myself behind some benches. I noticed mines and turrets next to the stairs. There were ten heavily armed and armored people standing on the corners of the station. I didn't have much time. I planted explosives under the bench-line. One set to explode after four seconds, another after six. Then I took all three grenades I had. I set one under the bench to go off after three seconds. I took two in my hands. I was ready to throw them for distraction if needed. And I was ready to throw them anyway before I jumped.
It was now or never. My only chance of getting out at least somewhat alive. My only chance to help my team as well. I took a deep breath and went. I set the explosives and the grenade and started running.
One second. No one noticed me.
Two seconds. Nothing worth mentioning.
Three seconds. The grenade under the bench clicked. I was very close to the ledge. One of the people guarding seemed to notice me. I threw the first grenade at that direction and kept going. Too late to go back now. Guards gun was following my trail.
Four seconds. I was on the ledge. The first explosive went off. I used Confusion to the guard trailing me with his gun. Guards turned. One was still trailing me and shot. Didn't hit. I threw the second grenade to the other direction.
Five seconds. I jumped on the rail and started running. Someone shot me with laser. It went right through me. It burned.
Six seconds. The second explosion. I had a fraction of a second to decide what to do, and I jumped. I didn't have time to run further, because it was a bit windy, and all the guards were very alert. I also had a hard time keeping up both the Confusion and the Concealment. As I jumped I dropped both. I figured I'd have safer drop if I could at least try to lessen the impact.
I fell for about five meters and bounced off the wall. Felt quite bad, I think I broke something. Then I was in the air again, and bounced again. Then I managed to make my fall more controlled and stumbled the rest nine meters down. I think I blacked out for a moment there, but as soon as I was conscious, I put up Concealment again and kept running. The drop had caused lots of bruises, twisted limbs and I think at least one broken bone, but they all healed quickly. I was shaking off the headache as I ran.
I tried to get around a corner, because the guards were firing their lasers at me.
I managed to get around the corner. I almost stopped, but knew I only had one chance, and this was it. The military had put up a barricade. The Arcology was sealed off from the rest of the Seattle, and I had forgotten about it. No one got in, no one got out. Well, there was one exception...
I knew I had to run and hide at the same time. I wasn't able to take on all the military units and tanks. I just ran towards the barricade, jumped over the fence put in the middle of the road and kept going. No one noticed. Apparently I had managed to hide pretty well while running for my life. The guards at the post noticed the lasers. I thought about taking a cigarette from a smoking mans hand, but it was way too risky.
After I got further away from the Arcology I had to call Juggler. I digged through my backpack to get my phone. It was broken. Damn fall! Well, not that big a deal. I remembered Jugglers number, and I just had to get a phone.
Luckily, or maybe not, I was in the dead center of Seattle. There were people around, and it didn't take much effort to grab a phone from someones hand while he was speaking on the phone. He started to yell about some thief, but I used Confusion. Later he walked under a car. Good for him. I dropped the Confusion, he had other things to worry about than someone stealing his phone.
I had lots of things to worry about as well. I had my shotgun, broken clothes and I was in the place where police patrols were around every five minutes.
I called Juggler. He asked who he was talking to. I told him I needed help. He asked again, and then I remembered to told him. "Who do you think it is? I'm running in the middle of Seattle with bloody broken clothes and a shotgun and I need to get away before I crash!". He sighed, put me on hold, did something and told me where to go. He said there was a car with an open door. The car would take me to safety.
I followed Jugglers directions. I found myself near a police station. I saw a police car. It's door was open. A police was outside smoking a cigarette. Well, if this wasn't Jugglers ride, I would be the dummest criminal in Seattle at that moment. I trusted Juggler. I jumped in and closed the door. The police seemed confused, and then jumped in as well. He asked if I was his customer. I told him to start driving, because we were near a police station. He told me he knew, he was a cop. I told him to go, and he started the car.
The police dropped me off at some bakery-thing. He told me to ask for San Luigi. I kept the Concealment on, because I knew my looks would just make people call the cops, and I thought maybe the next one wouldn't be so helpful.
I went in the bakery, and asked for San Luigi. They directed me to the back, to the kitchen. I dropped my Concealment there and asked for a sanctuary. The people in the back said they couldn't help me. They asked if I was looking for some person. I realized these guys needed to hear the magic words again. San Luigi got me a backroom that looked like an office.
There was some papers and a computer. I called Juggler. I asked where I was, and he said it was the best he could do in such short notice, and that I was safe. I told him I needed to get my team out and call Rose and do lots of things before I crashed. He said he really didn't want to know where I had been, and he wanted to talk face-to-face. He said he'd organize a ride for me later, and that I should rest. And write things down, if I was about to crash and needed to get things done.
I wrote down everything that should be done. Then I thought about calling Rose, but I didn't have her number. I wanted to tell her about Shrew, because they seemed to be friends. I tried to use the computer, but with no luck. There was a password-box. I had seen Nerdy do that a million times. He wrote little stars to the box, and it would open. I tried the stars, I tried the keys (also looked like stars in the box), but nothing helped.
I tried to rest.
It took a few hours, and then the door opened. There was a tall woman. In the physical world. In the Astral there was a huge bear. I thought it was cool to see another shifter, and asked if she healed. She told me we could try and see which one of us got up any time. I wanted to know if she healed, and she offered to try and kill me before I could kill her. I told her I didn't have time to start battling, I had lots of things to do. She told me I was a wimp, and I used Confusion. I stared at her, and she stared at me. Then I dropped it and told her no one calls me wimp, and that we should go if she came to take me somewhere. She told me we should have a fight soon. I told her I would fight her when all the other things got taken care of. Yea, I found another me. Bigger, uglier and maybe stronger me. But surely as feisty and ready to defend herself to the death and beyond. I got me a new enemy.
The bear-woman took me to a limo. It took me to a bar I knew. Juggler used to hang around there occasionally. Bear told me to get out. I got out and jogged to the bar. Juggler was already waiting for me.
The first thing Juggler said to me when I sat down was "That kind of job eh?". I realized I must've looked like hell. I had had my brains shot to the wall twice, I had gotten hit with loads of bullets. And even though I had had a new camo, it had already been shot through. I think I was bloody all over. And I found bits of flesh in my backpack. Well, the usual stuff really.
At first I asked about the bear. Juggler told me it was the best he could do in such a short notice. And that it was the Russian mafia. I told him I had managed to make them angry. But it was the bear who had started it! He sighed. Well, he should know by now who to send to help me...
I told Juggler I needed to find out what happened to my team, and they should be helped if possible. And I should call Rose. And do lots of other stuff as well. And I needed to know if Billy was dead. He was. Oh, the joy!
I gave Juggler lots of money and went to clean myself up in a place he had arranged for me.. He promised to look into things and contact me when he knew something.
I went to the place, secured it really well, took my weapons near me and started waiting for the crash. I waited, waited and waited. I waited for hours. Then it came. Awful. Just terrible. But worth it, really. It took me 11 hours to shake the effects. 11 hours of hell. I felt like shit. I couldn't decide what to do, whether to get up or lay down, so I sat. I couldn't decide whether to take my boots off or not. Making decisions was really hard. And it felt like someone had thrown a blanket over me, a blanket I saw through just a bit. Like I could see fragments of the real world, and then some strange waves. I wasn't sure what was real and what was not. I'm quite certain that if there had been someone there, it would've been a mess. I would've done everything that someone would have said. Well, it would've been easier than deciding whether to walk around, sit down, or lay on the bed, but depending on the person it would've not been nice for me...
When I finally shook the effects, I left the place, noticed Juggler and went on my business as usual. Checked the followers, checked the house, checked the bars and pubs. And beat up some idiots that were asking for trouble.
Later Juggler called to me and said all of my team was alive. Shrew and Bobby were in a military hospital. Morgan, Jinx and Nerdy were in military prison. Yea, in fort Louis, the army base in Seattle. Could be fort Knox, difficult to break into, or out.
Juggler told me it was impossible to explode the whole thing, as I had wanted. He told me the easiest way would be to bribe someone to get them out, or at least to get a phone call. I didn't have the money. So Juggler organized protests to get them not to be shipped to Guantanamo Bay.
Later Juggler told me Morgan had gotten a message for me. She told me not to organize another Nagasaki there, and that she would pay for a vacation in some savanna for me. I didn't understand, but Juggler told me she didn't want me to go exploding things right now. I asked if Juggler could sell me explosives for credit so I could go and explode a bridge or something, but he refused. Darn Juggler! Oh, and he told me there was an annoyed Russian Mafia bear who wanted to have a fight to the death with me. I told him it could wait, I have plenty of time to get myself killed later.
I visited my followers. They had putten a shrine with a picture, flowers and a candle for Billy. I tried to force a tear from my eye, but it was impossible. I was so happy. I decided to keep the hired person to lead my people for a while. I had other things in mind. And I was thinking about changing my followers anyway. I thought about infiltrating an animal activist group and making them help me with my mission. I was an animal in need.
Even later on others contacted me. They were safe. Apparently Morgan knew people from high places, because she was alive and well. We set up a meeting in the otaku-headquarters.
When I got there I asked about Morgans Nagasaki-comment and a savanna-comment. She told me explosions were a huge no-no if someone had told me not to use them. I told her all explosives I have ever used have been more than necessary. She didn't agree with me, so we agreed to disagree. And she told me I should've taken a vacation while she had organized her and others to safety. But a stupid savanna?? I'm a jungle cat! Or that's what I've read anyway...
Apparently others had really found the room we were looking for. That's seven million nuyen for our team. One million each, and there's one million extra. Well, that was actually going to Morgans contact, because that's where all the help came from. He had gotten all of the team free, and he was the one organizing for someone to get Nerdys computer-thing out. They told me it had something to do with matrix, and electronic-things, that room. Nerdy and two of the otaku took the information out. They told me it was everything that had ever happened in the Arcology. Before and after Deus. But then they had managed to bump into a military mage, and Nerdy had hidden the computer-thing to some toilet.
Morgan told me I had almost gotten her killed. We had an argument and a quite big disagreement. She told me I should've talked to the mage, not attacked. Well, I was protecting myself. I asked her what she would've done. She told me she asked if the mage would go with them, because they were in a hurry. So they had met the same mage. And I had managed to make the mage confused, and then the mage tried to kill Morgan. Morgan had read the aura, and she knew it was me who was behind it all. But it was self-defense! And I didn't even kill the mage!
Shrew and Bobby were in the hospital. Shrew was in coma. But they were safe as well. We visited Shrew once, when Bobby had already been released from the hospital-care. We drew pictures to Shrews face. It was kinda fun, but not that much so, because she wasn't awake to see it.
Later on Shrew called. She had awaken from her coma, and wanted to know what the hell. I was the one who answered the phone. I apologized for running out, but she understood it was the only thing I could do. It was a bad situation, and I told her everything that had happened. I told her about the fight, my daring escape, the fact that the military mage was afraid of me, how I jumped off the building, stole a phone and made the owner walk under a car, how I made the Russian mafia angry at me, and how others had found the Room.
Morgan had started to get all the stuff from the military back to others. Well, that stuff others needed back. Shrew needed her magic-thingies back. Most of the stuff was easily replaceable. It was also being done that some people would retrieve the computer-thing from the toilet and return it to us.
All was being done. Morgan knew what she was doing, so I wasn't needed. I started making plans on my revenge. Then I realized I should maybe change my activist-group. I should really infiltrate animal-rights- group and make an army out of them. They would be good to have around, and with them I wouldn't have to hide my true self so completely. What I've understood, though, is that animal rights- people are mostly wimps, but maybe I'd find a true hard-core group. Or maybe Juggler could find that for me. I could make a few attacks with them and talk my way into being their leader. It went so smoothly the other time... And this time I'm one of the lab rats they want to save. Should be a piece of cake.
I was told that the computer and the info was in the Draco Foundation being validated. I didn't want to go there to wait, but when they said they had already gotten new SINs, I decided to head there as well. I'd love to have a legal SIN. And that's what I received. Well, it was just Draco Foundation SIN, but it was real and legal.
Draco Foundation accepted our info, and we received the money. Now all I have to do is learn a bit more about toxins, make someone to arrange for the revenge-trip, kick some mafia-bear ass, infiltrate an animal-rights group, talk some runners (preferably ones I know) into coming with me to the revenge-trip, slowly killing all the torturers, exploding the shit out of the lab, and I think that's that. Then I can pack my things and try life as a leopard. In a jungle.
To be honest, I don't think I would ever settle for a life in a jungle. I believe it would be too boring. Not enough explosions. Not enough action. Not enough adrenaline. Maybe I'll start some terrorist-group in some God-forsaken jungle. And kill that stupid elf-thing. And that stupid cook. And some other people. Hm, I need to add the elf-thingy to the list, and the cook. Maybe the jungle can wait until I've settled the scores with some elves first. We'll see. If I survive my revenge-mission, then I'll need to check what I should do next.
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