Back on the map

I followed this strange spirit for quite some time. Finally, at the edge of the forest, it stopped and pointed me forward, towards some hill. I followed its directions.

I noticed a heap of things and a pocket secretary. I knew these were our stuff, mostly mine. I poked the pocket secretary, and it flashed a message. It was meant for me. It said that they had gone inside the cave to investigate, and I should follow them. I transformed, dressed up and entered the cave. It seemed like a bad idea, when I noticed how small it was. I felt anxious, but went anyway. But the cave was blocked. I tried my radio, and Bobby, Nerdy and Jinx replied. Apparently Shrew had gone missing (fell to a river and disappeared), Morgan and Lina were unconscious, Nerdy was keeping watch, Bobby had fallen in a hole, and Jinx was stuck at the other side of the river. And they were sealed in.

I pushed with all my strength and managed to move the huge boulder. It moved enough so that I could push myself through it. I still decided to explode the shit out of the boulder. I figured whoever had put this boulder there would most probably put it back, and because the boulder was so heavy I had to push with all my strength, the person was stronger than me. So I put two kilos of my explosives there, informed others that I was going to make an explosion and they should take cover, and I took cover.

When I got back there was a lot of rubble and small stones. I pushed them aside and crawled to others. Now whoever had put the boulder there would have harder time to seal us in again.

I walked to the river. It was a huge crack, too wide to jump over, and far below there was running water. Jinx was at the other side of the crack, and apparently Shrew had broken down the bridge that used to go over the crack. I found Bobby in his hole. He was stuck. I figured he was too stuck to get out quickly, so I left him there. Nerdy was gone. Bobby told me when I told them to take cover, Nerdy took cover, and Bobby closed his eyes. When he opened them, Nerdy was gone.

It seemed impossible to me to jump over, and the only other passage on my side of the cave was a dead end. So we decided that I tried to find another way in, and Jinx would try and fin the way from his side of the cave. Others had told me that there were these astral forms that kept attacking them. Those forms were the reason why Morgan and Lina were unconscious.

I went back outside, climbed on top of the hill and found the same crack I tried to get over. I crawled to the edge of the crack on my stomach, so that it wouldn't crumble. I threw a rock there. It bounced off the walls, but it didn't hit the water. I tried the radio, and Bobby replied. He hadn't noticed anything.

I informed him that I planned to transform, because shotgun did nothing to the astral forms, and I was quicker as a cat. Then I undressed, packed all my belongings to my backpack, switched the flashlight I had on, and threw it off the ledge. It bounced a bit and splashed. Yay. I had taken my collar and my radio and strapped them on my neck so that I could use my radio if necessary.

Bobby told me he saw a light somewhere. So this was the crack, and I was close to Bobby. Good.

Then I transformed and stretched, trying to descend slowly. I was trying to get myself to the other side of the crack in the cave. I lost my grip and fell. I bounced off the walls and lost my consciousness. When I woke up I was underwater. My lungs were filling up with water, and I was hurting. I managed to swim to the surface and found myself in a small cave. I found a small ledge I managed to anchor myself to, and noticed a weak light coming from the bottom of the small lake. I figured it was my backpack. I transformed and dove. I grabbed my backpack and pushed it to the ledge. Then I climbed there on the ledge, as a leopard because it was really cold, and started figuring out what to do next.

I was on a small ledge above the water. The river went on, and I had apparently ended up there from underwater. There seemed to be some holes above me, but the climbing-part seemed difficult. It was the only thing I could do though, so I tried. I climbed up and fell down countless of times. I took the thermal blanket from my backpack and wrapped myself in it after a few fall so that I wouldn't go into hypothermia. It was quite interesting. When I transformed and managed to get most of the water out from my skin, my fur as a leopard was quite dry too. Cool!

I tried and failed many times more. Then I managed to climb up. Only to find out I had to climb sideways to reach the hole. I fell again. Then I knew where to go, and I managed to get away from the stupid lake. I had folded the blanket and strapped it to my collar as well. It could prove useful.

I followed the cave. Some places were so narrow they made me anxious, and after wandering around a bit I ended up in another ledge. The most probably same river ran far below, and I didn't know what to do. So I decided maybe I should turn back, when I noticed an astral being going fast along the crack. Then I noticed another one. I knew these were scouts, and I decided to stand my ground and kill those idiots if they came closer. I waited.

I didn't have to wait long. They attacked me from the behind. I scratched the first one, the second one hit me, the third one hit me, and then the fourth one got me unconscious.

I woke up. I noticed I was being wrapped in some sticky stuff. I was wrapped from head to toe, I didn't know what the hell was wrapping me up, but I didn't care. It was a bit scary, and the bastard bit me every once in a while, and I lost my consciousness every once in a while. I tried to scratch my way out and kill the thing, but it was no use.

I had been hung from the ceiling, upside down. I wiggled and struggled, but it was no use. Sometimes the thing came, bit me and put some more sticky stuff around me. Then I heard Shrew talking. She was actually talking to someone. But no one replied. It still seemed like she was having a conversation. I decided to try to transform, get my hands on a better position, and quickly transform back, scratch the stupid sticky stuff and kill whatever was biting me.

Half of my plan worked. I managed to transform into human, and then the thing was there, putting some more sticky stuff and making it tighter. I had managed to position my hands better, but it seemed to be doomed to transform back. I would be choking if I tried. But the thing took away the sticky stuff from my head. And took me closer to others. Apparently all but Bobby and Jinx were hanging upside down in the lair of a ... giant spider? It seemed to be some kind of awakened spider. Dual-being like me. And then I saw why Shrew was the only one doing the talking. The spider wrote its part of the conversation to the sand. I threatened to kill it and rip it to pieces and kill it again if it didn't let me go. It didn't. It asked for my name and reason being there. It told it to fuck off, because I was there to save my friends from it.

I calmed down after a while. I tried to convince the spider, who's name was Reaper, to free me. Or show some goodwill by getting me my backpack. It promised to get me my backpack.

Apparently this spider had been living in these caves, and it had been attacking the fairies. Apparently the fairies wanted us to make this cave safe for them. So we were supposed to enter the cursed cave and find out why it was cursed. This Reaper-guy was the reason. It was trying to protect its home. It used to have a friend, named Jules, but Jules had gone away and now Reaper was alone, hungry and scared. I read its aura, and I saw it was scared. And also lonely. We managed to make Reaper understand that we didn't attack it, we just defended ourselves, and I came to save my friends.

Shrew told me she had found a cat. A small house-cat. And she wanted to keep it. It had been hungry and scared, and I told her she should've put it out of its misery. Shrew wanted to take the cat home, but I told her it would get eaten by the rats or me. Well, I don't really eat cats, but she doesn't know it... And when I demanded to know where my backpack was, but Reaper didn't know. It told that the spirits were stupid, slow and lazy. Shrew suggested she could get her spirit to find my backpack, but then the summoned spirit brought my backpack.

We told Reaper it could come and live with us in Seattle and be our guard when we were out. We told it there were plenty of food and shelter. It wanted to see pictures, but apparently it had lived its entire life in the cave so it was scared to leave the cave. I felt angry at myself for starting to feel bad for this spider. It was trapped, unable to leave. Even though its prison was something it had built itself, it was still a prison. It was alone and scared. I felt like I should at least try to help it, even though it had bitten me several times.

Reaper was willing to negotiate with the fairies. If the fairies wouldn't attack it, it wouldn't attack the fairies. But it wanted food (living, and the kind that didn't have friends, preferably pigs or cows) and company. It apparently thought my name was Fuckoff. Well, it was not bad name for me. But I still prefer Bitch. It finally let us down. Me first. It had some problems uncovering me from the sticky stuff, because it had added to the package many times. Finally I was free. And naked. Reaper released Shrew and packaged Morgan, Nerdy and Lina better and covered their heads. Morgan had agreed to negotiate with the fairies, and Nerdy and Lina went with her. Reaper didn't want us to know where it lived.

Reaper made a spirit to watch us, and took Morgan, Lina and Nerdy with it. It disappeared in the caves. I took my thermal blanket from my collar and wrapped myself in it.

Soon Reaper came back. I grabbed my backpack, and it put its claw on my shotgun and wrote on the other claw that it didn't allow guns. I told it to keep my gun, it didn't work anyway. Then I took my wet heap of clothes and asked to make a fire. Reaper told it would show a better place for fire.

Shrew came with us. We stopped and I took a gas-lighter and started to dry my clothes. We tried to talk with Reaper, asking yes and no -questions. It lifted its claws, but we didn't understand what it meant, so I told it nodding was yes and shaking head was no. It understood. Nodding was when it moved its entire body up and down, and shaking head was when it shook itself very quickly from side to side.

I left my clothes alone to dry, and we went back to the lair. I dropped my blanket and informed others I would transform. Then I did it. I was warmer and more comfortable like that. Shrew asked something really stupid from me, expecting me to nod or shake my head, and I tried my best to show her my middle finger. Then I spent some time trying to learn to do that.

The fairies had agreed to bring food to Reaper, and Reaper agreed not to eat the fairies. Reaper lead us out from the lair, but we were blindfolded. I had dressed up, my clothes were at least almost dry. Shrew wanted to have the cat that Reaper had returned to the original place Shrew had found it, so we went there and Reaper gave Shrew the cat. It looked like it was starving and almost scared to death. I suggested I could put it out of its misery, but Shrew told me not to touch it. It pains me to see an animal suffer.

Reaper picked up two pigs that had been lead inside, and we told Reaper it should come and live with us if this cave started to seem boring. It wanted a map, and we gave it coordinates. I think someone gave it the pocket secretary so it could look at maps. I'm not sure.

We visited some fairy-castle that was really just some clearing in the middle of some trees. Stupid forest.

We met the queen of the fairies. She told us we were heroes to them, and she gave us a "tear". It was some kind of blood inside an amber. Then we left.

We managed to return to Seattle without problems during the same night.

I brought my shotgun to some weapon smith Juggler had recommended, and asked him to fix my gun. And I ordered another one from Juggler, just to be safe. I had my backup-shotgun, but I wanted to have two similar good shotguns.

Shrew took the cat to a vet. I once again suggested she should just kill it, but she refused. What the hell has gotten into her. Maybe she's pregnant or something.

The next day Rose called to Shrew. We were about to call her anyway, to ask about the spider, and she beat us to it. She told Shrew to get in her shop sooner rather than later. There was something in her shop that made her really nervous, and apparently that something was looking for us. We left immediately. I armed myself to the teeth, because I thought maybe it was something we should kill.

It wasn't. It was an elf that introduced himself as Harlequin. He sure looked weird. I had heard about him. He was the one to name the Cup of Troubles. He was one of the oldest living metahumans. And he told us he considered anyone younger than writing young.

Apparently Shrew had sent a message to the dragon Mifzuna, who currently owned the Cup. Well, at least the common knowledge was Mifzuna had it. And Harlequin told us how splendid it was, we sent a message to a dragon, and we got him.

Harlequin was a weird elf. He wanted us to steal the Cup from Elias (one of the princes of Tir) and either return it to Mifzuna or keep it or sell it or whatever. The most important thing was not to let Elias bring the Cup to Tir. And Harlequin expected us to do this without him paying us. He said it was for the common good, and we could get help from lots of people who knew who Elias was. He told us we knew people who wanted to get some payback. When I asked who did we knew, he refused to tell, because it would be embarrassing if he guessed wrong.

Shrew wanted to do it just for kicks, but I had better things to do than steal Cups from princes, even though Elias was an idiot. I had a bone to pick with some other Tir elf, Elias hadn't insulted me and been an ass to me that much.

Harlequin managed to assure Shrew that this was perfectly doable. He promised to tell us Elias's weak points and everything. Soon enough I found myself planning with Shrew. When we met Morgan and Jinx, Morgan told at first she didn't want this job, but later on she found herself planning as well. Jinx announced he didn't want anything to do with this job and he left.

Morgan started making calls to her contacts asking for help. Apparently Elias had managed to get himself loads of enemies. We sent a message to Tracy, and she contacted us telling she needed to meet us immediately. Even Juggler had a bone to pick with Elias.

Rose came with us to meet Tracy, and when we got Tracy up to speed she told we had her help. Later she told us her "employer" Gautzelok promised to help us from the astral space.

So we were going to do this. I have no idea why I agreed to do this. Maybe just for the fun of it. Nobody never fucks with Tir elves enough. I just hope I don't get myself killed before my revenge mission.

Morgan has a friend who can help us by getting the swamp spirit to our side. All we need is its true name, and Morgans friend promised to get that for us. Apparently that friend needs someone who has read its aura, and unfortunately I have read it. I'm hoping it's enough if I just tell Morgans friend what it looks like.

The kill and lost in the woods

I finally did it. I went through with the fight.

There was a lot of planning, training and organizing to do first. I went back to Hellkit to ask for her help. She taught me a new maneuver. Now I know how to disorient my opponent and make my winning easier. It was the same thing she did to me when we first fought.

We went through some tactics, and then I contacted Juggler to get the fight going. It was in three days, and Jinx from the Death Zone told me I had 12 VIP-tickets, because the mafia had that many too. I was told that the mafia was going to have Kalashnikov's with them, to make sure the fight goes by the rules. And no one helps me during the fight. Now that I think of it, it is outrageous. They didn't trust me!

But anyway, I though long and hard who I would ask to go. I was told that I shouldn't provoke the mafia any more that I already had. I promised to try my best. It was a confined space where the fight was going to be, so it was not recommended to start a gunfight there. Well, I can't say what the mafia will do, but I was going to go by the rules, as long as they were going to do the same.

Of course, I asked Shrew to come, and Nerdy so that he would have something to tell his mama. And for muscle I asked Bobby, and I was sure Morgan and Jinx wanted to see the fight also. Then I asked Juggler. He wanted to know if I was going to behave myself. So that I wasn't going to start a war against the mafia. I promised I would do my best and be on my best behavior. He agreed to go only then. He said that he did business with the mafia, and as fun to be around I was, he wasn't going to jeopardize his businesses. Well, I understand.

I sent a message to Tracy asking if she wanted to go to a show and I wrote her to contact me as soon as possible. And she did, for once. The next day she sent me a message asking what was going on. I asked her to call me and she did. I told her there was going to be a fight between me and someone, and I had a ticket for her. And I knew her "employer" was a dragon, so I told her the dragon was welcome also. She told me she would ask for a vacation. And it was granted. She told me to tell Morgan to keep her window open. I called Morgan, gave her Tracys number and told her to keep her window open.

I wanted Hellkit to see the fight we  were training for, so I asked her to come as well. She agreed. And I called Omen to see how it is done as well. He didn't have anything better to do so he agreed to come as well.

I decided to ask Richard to come as well. It was a time for him to see who I really was. If I could use his organization for my benefit, he would find out anyway, so maybe it would be best if he saw me in action. The worst case would be that he and his organization would try and save me and ship me to freedom... But their way was a bit weird, so I would probably end up in Bolivia or something. And no one ships me anywhere without my permission...

That was all the people I could think of. That was ten people, and I had two tickets left. Shrew asked if she could bring Rose and her spirit with, and I agreed. Rose didn't want to see violence, so I asked Tracy to bring Naru as well.

I remembered Shrews first streetname and decided to give her a treat. I called Death Zone -Jinx and asked him to get a designer to make a special seat for my friend with the theme "Princess Terminator". Jinx asked if I wanted a real designer, or someone from the streets, because he knew some young guy who really wanted to be a designer, and tried his best. I told him to get the young guy, because that way we would get more laughs out of it. He charged me 1 000 nuyen, but it was small money for me..

The day of the fight came. I had gone over my strategy many times, and I was certain I would win. Even though I was certain, I did do some preparations, in case I would die. I asked Juggler to make sure the lab was exploded to the skies, and he was welcome to use all my 800 000 nuyen to do just that. He promised to do just that. Apparently that was enough money. Even though I trust Juggler, I wanted to make sure my mission would be complete if I die, I called the Overwatch and asked them to check if the lab would be blown to the skies if I die. They promised to check and tell my team. Then I told my team to complete the mission and punish Juggler if he didn't manage to do his job. After this I was ready to go.

The fight was being held in an abandoned swimming hall. The arena was the pool, and there was a very good place for the audience. I had armed myself with my leather-outfit, dikote-sword and a bad attitude. Well, not that bad, because I had promised Juggler to be on my best behavior.

Jinx from the Death Zone came to tell us that the fight will be recorded, and we could buy the videos afterwards for a low price of 5 000 nuyens. Or if we ordered in advance, we could get it for 2 500 nuyens. I thought about it, but decided that I don't want to see the fight again. Morgan ordered one copy in advance. I said hi to all my guests, and went to the locker room. The bear was at the other end of the pool.

I knew that there was a Death Zone mage making sure there was not any magic flying around. Oh, and I pointed Shrew out to Jinx. He took her with saying they had just the place for her. Her face was memorable, and when she saw the seat, I can never forget her face. It was so funny. And the seat was so funny. It had been decorated with Christmas ribbons, skulls, glitter and some kind of foam. It was a bit higher than other seats. She also had a tiara, cape and a fake gun as a scepter.

I was a bit sad because I knew I hadn't got a chance to see Richards reaction when he sees my true self, but maybe others will tell me.

The person watching me at the locker room told me to go. I left the locker room with my sword and descended to the pool. There was sand and sawdust there. Apparently for the blood. The tiles would be very slippery when it is soaked in blood.

The bear had also descended to the pool. I knew that she had her mono-filament whip with her, because that was her favored weapon. I think claymore is more intimidating.

She was strangely dressed. She had long black boots that went up to her thighs, she had a mini skirt and a bright pink jacket that revealed her navel. She seemed confident. Well, who cares, I had been training for this, so I was also sure of my win.

There was no talking, she opened her mono-filament whip and stared at me. I was ready to strike with my sword. I yelled some insults to her way. I insulted her mother, but because she wasn't Nerdy, she didn't seem any angrier. And well, I'm sure Nerdy was gasping in his place.

I decided to use the strategy Hellkit used to win me. I waited for the bear to attack. She did just that, with an intimidating yell. I easily avoided her whip. I had managed to get close, or at least closer, and jumped next to her. I hit her in the head with my elbow to make her ears ring and stepped behind her. At some point, just before I had hit her in the head, she hissed I was a coward. I replied by slashing her open with my sword. It felt so good when my sword sunk into her. The sword entered her from her shoulder, and I pulled it off when it had cut her open to her waist. She seemed very surprised. Ha!

I stepped back enough so that I could wait for her to heal and transform. I was ready so I could transform myself quickly.

It took some seconds, and then the bear got up. She seemed angry. She started to transform. I didn't waist any more time, I dropped my sword and transformed also. I knew that I woul've won her more easily if I had stayed in my human form, but my pride didn't let me. Like her, I was an animal, and I felt more at home in my animal form. And I had gone over the strategies with Hellkit as a leopard.

She growled and stood on her hind legs. I cursed at her in leopard. I decided to wait for her to attack again. I knew that one hit from her paw would be it for me. She was very big compared to me, but I was faster. She had her huge strength, I had my claws, training and speed.

She came at me roaring. I easily dodged again. Her paw hit the floor hard. I didn't stop to think, I made a fake attack at her eyes. She tried to bite my head when I jumped at her, scratched her forehead a bit to make her confused and jumped over her. She shook her head, and I jumped on her again. I sunk my teeth to the back of her neck and ripped her side open with my claws. Then I jumped further away and attacked again. She was bleeding hard, still roaring and coming at me. We clashed, I scratched her again and dodged her attack. Then I did my final attack. She fell to the floor. I backed off waiting for her to get up.

She didn't.

The aura of the bear started to fade. I transformed and yelled for help. She needed first aid and a vet as soon as possible. The mafia people started to run around with their medkits. I told them we had a healer with us, who could help. They ignored me. I also demanded a jacket. Shrew told her spirit to bring me her glitter-cape. The spirit started to fly towards me with the cape. I told it to stop immediately, or it would know my wrath. It dropped the cape near me and stayed out of reach.

Morgan yelled something in a strange language. It sounded like the language the Russians spoke, but they didn't reply. They were giving first aid and running around the bear. The aura had stopped fading, so the bear was alive, but not in very good shape.

I walked to the locker room and put on my spare set of clothes. Then I went to see my guests. Richard didn't know what to say, so he asked when I had been thinking about telling him. I told him I just told him. And if I recall correctly, I told him my totem animal was a cat when we first met, so basically I had told him. It's not my fault he didn't understand...

I asked to buy the video, and Morgan sold her copy to me. She made some profit off me, that woman, but she asked all of us to a victory party, she was buying. Or well, it was my money...

I asked Juggler if I had made the mafia angry. Juggler didn't think so. He told me he didn't want to go and try his luck with either of us. Apparently he didn't know how fierce we could be.

Nerdy couldn't talk. He seemed to be even more intimidated by me. Good.

When we left, Shrew burned her seat with magic.

Juggler didn't want to go to the party, but Richard, Tracy, Omen and Hellkit came. Omen said that that's how it is done. Hellkit seemed pleased that I had really learned something. Well, she is a good teacher...

Tracy seemed to be a bit out of place at the bar in Touristville. Richard also, he seemed to be still processing. It's not that big a deal! Ha! And well, maybe this helps me to climb higher in his organization. They don't seem to be too smart, but even more enthusiastic.

It was awesome party, awesome fight, and everything. When I went home I was just thinking, that maybe leopards are the only shifters who heal in the animal form. Who knows. Sly was in his fox-form, and he didn't heal. The bear did heal in her human form, but not in her bear-form. Maybe I broke her. Maybe it had something to do with me. I hit her with my sword, and she healed, but when I had scratched her with my claws she didn't heal. I have to keep exploring.

I had won the fight, so now my mission was to destroy the lab and the people in the lab. I was just plotting, when Shrew asked if I wanted to have a favor from Rose or any other mage/shaman in her disposal. All I had to do was to do a favor to a swamp spirit, and then I would have a favor from Rose or one of her friends. I decided to do something else than my revenge, so I agreed to have a favor from Rose waiting, and agreed to go with Shrew. Apparently she owed a favor to the swamp spirit. Well, it had helped us to go to the astral journey when we picked up Shrews little helper.

We were asked to meet the swamp spirit the next day at ten. I wanted to check the place beforehand so I would know if it was an ambush. Shrew came with me, and of course she brought her spirit with her. It is useful, at least sometimes.

We checked the place from the outside, and then I asked Shrew to tell her spirit to go to the hall and check it from the inside. I could see lots of spirits flying around, checking the place, just like us. I also saw a few astral forms of mages or shamans there. One of them came to read our auras.

Watcher spirits are apparently made to fulfill a certain mission, and that is all they do, just one thing, and their life purpose is full. That makes them stupid and prone to getting lost, getting killed or not doing what the summoner has wanted, because the watcher is stupid, and understands things differently if not explained properly. That's what I know about watchers, and it was a bit funny to look at all the watchers flying around, going to the wrong halls, getting lost, trying to find their summoners. Too bad astral world is not something Shrew can see always. It is funny.

The spirit didn't find anything worth mentioning from the hall. We decided to go back home and return early enough so we could check the place again.

In the morning we were ready to jump into the car, and suddenly I felt a weight in my chest. I can't go in the car. It felt so small, and somehow I couldn't force myself to get in. I always have to make myself go to small confined spaces. And I get very distracted in the small confined spaces, and I can feel terror in my mind, and I get very anxious and sweaty and annoyed.

I decided to run to the place, but Shrew told me I couldn't get there in time. So I tried to steal a bicycle. Shrew called us a pickup-taxi while I put explosives on the bicycle and exploded it into space. And then we went to the meeting place.

We were at the place a bit after nine o'clock in the morning. The meeting was at ten in the morning. There was quite lot of people around already. Some of them were further away, smoking their cigarettes and keeping an eye on the environment. We decided to join the people standing further away.

The swamp spirit arrived at quarter to ten. Jinx arrived at five to ten. We went indoors when most of the other people went in. I went to tell the spirit who I was replacing there. Yea, because I had agreed to go and do the favor instead of some mage or something who didn't want to, I had to go and tell the spirit who I was replacing so that it would know.

At ten a big black limousine drove in. Three elves stepped out. One of them seemed familiar. Two of them reminded me of the one glitter-idiot in my kill-list. These guys must be paladins of Tir, and this familiar-looking person was familiar because he was one of the princes. I didn't have any idea why these people came in, but most probably they had something to do with the favors asked.

All the elves seemed to have lots of things, spells, foci etc. active in the astral space. Soon we would know why we were asked there. Why the spirit wanted to cash in all the favors at once.

Finally the elves told us why we were there.

The prince wanted a cup of troubles. He didn't know where it was, but that's why we all were there. We were supposed to find the cup for him. They had their own schedule and tasks that started from somewhere, and hopefully lead them to the cup. But any one of us could go and start looking on our own. If someone could find it before them, that someone could have all those favors. It sounded cool, my own army of mages, shamans and other magical beings. Well, I think I was the only shifter there.

There was this one person, a but dirty, who asked what would happen if he didn't want to go and do any task. The prince asked if this person was sure. He replied he didn't want to do anything. The prince said OK. Then I saw magic. Lots of magic flying around in the big building. The prince used a spell, and many people in the building tried to dismiss the spell, or defend the target. I don't really know what was happening, but there was lots of magic in the air. Then the person started bleeding from his eyes, mouth, nose and ears. And he dropped dead. The prince said that this persons debt was paid, and if anyone else would like to not attend. No one said anything. I asked if I could move the body. The prince didn't need him anymore, so I was free to do what I wanted. I decided to move him, because others seemed a bit startled. Not all, but some of them. And a dead body in the middle of the building was not appealing.

I saw quite many people calling their friends and telling them to come and pay their debt as soon as possible.

The first task on this quest of the cup of troubles was to break into Fort Luis. Hm, We've been there already. I didn't want to go there knowing what had happened there. First the blimp was run into the Fort, and then Shrew, Nerdy, Morgan and Bobby were being held there as prisoners.

There were two trolls that decided to go and break into there. We decided to wait for a better task. Oh, and we saw old friends, Runefox was one of them.

Morgan called me. She asked me to go to the left corner of the building. There was an orc that was Morgans friend, and she was going to be in our team. I did as she said, telling her about the quest. She had apparently gotten a call from her friend who owed the spirit a favor, and didn't want to go. Morgan didn't want to go either, so she asked her contact to go.

The orc was waiting there. dressed in a leather skirt. She seemed weird. Well, she couldn't be any weirder than me and my team...

Later on, when the trolls had gotten details and left, the elves told us that the oncoming tasks were most probably to bring a package to a place and trade it to a link. Then to bring the link back, then they would perform ritual magic (don't ask, I don't know), and then, when they knew where the cup was, it had to be retrieved. Shrew had made her own calls and found out that the last person known to have the cup was a dragon. I didn't really want to go and try my strength against a dragon just yet..

The elves told everybody, that we could leave our contact information, and they could call us when the trolls were done, and there was a new task to complete. Or we could stay and wait for the next task. Of course, the ones who stayed got the chance to take the task or not take it first. If everyone else said no, the last one asked was not allowed to say no.

We decided to stay. I found myself a nice corner, sat down and started to sharpen my knife. The one negative thing about getting a dikote-coated claymore was that I couldn't sharpen it anymore. Well, that's why I had my normal backup-sword and a good selection of knives. And if all else was lost, I still had my nails and claws..

I started to get bored and hungry. I looked at the orc in our group. I thought about making her to get me some food, but I decided to keep waiting.

Our wait was rewarded. There were our team and two people we didn't know. One of them was a dwarf and the other one elf. The new task was to deliver a package to certain coordinates, swap the package to the link and bring the link back. The delivery-place was in the tribe-lands. We decided to take this task, because I couldn't do ritual magic, and neither could Jinx or Shrew. And none of us wanted to go and steal from a dragon.

We were allowed to choose one of the two strangers to take with us to the mission. We chose the elf, because she new illusion-magic. The dwarf was an adept, so he could hit hard, but we needed someone who could sneak us all into places.

We called Nerdy and Bobby and Morgan, who agreed to come with us. We made quick preparations, because we were supposed to walk about 30 kilometers. We couldn't take too much things to carry. I was the most experienced with survival skills, so I gave instructions, and I couldn't follow them myself. I wanted to take my shotgun, and slugs, and explosives, and survival knife, and survival kit. And suddenly I realized my equipment exceeded the wight limit I had given myself. I asked if Bobby could carry my explosives, but apparently he had guns of his own to carry. What use is a troll if you can't use him to carry your stuff?? Well, he hits hard and shoots even harder, so maybe that's the real use for a troll.

We got a ride from Morgans contact. We also got a guide. Everything was ready to roll, so we picked up the package. It was a plastic bag with instructions and an unconscious fairy who was tied up and also looked a bit hurt. The instructions gave us information about the location. We were supposed to take this fairy, named Lightning Bean, to the coordinates and trade her to the link. We didn't know what the link was, but hopefully the person at the other end knew. The person was a fairy queen.

We decided to heal the fairy as well as we could, and let it stay unconscious. Shrew healed it as well as she could. Then I asked if this was the fairy that killed Shrews spirit in the blimp a while back. She asked her spirit to come and see, but it didn't know, because the meeting was very quick. But I don't think there is many fairies at the Fort Luis. So maybe we had a terrorist with us...

We met Morgans contact and smuggled ourselves over the border. The contact, quite young guy, led us through the minefields. No one stepped on a mine.

We started hiking. We were quiet, just trying to walk as fast as we could, and not waist any energy. Surprisingly even Nerdy stayed along, and well, he did talk about his mommy, but I have learned to ignore him. And I think he has avoided me after the fight between me and the bear.

When we were close to the coordinates we were supposed to drop the fairy off Morgan told our guide to stay put. He said he wasn't going to be there if we were staying longer. He was ready to help us back to Seattle if we left during the same night. Morgan told we were hoping to get back on the same night.

We walked to the coordinates, and decided to try and wake the fairy up. Morgan took some water and sprinkled it across her little face. She woke up after a while and demanded to know where she was and why she was tied up. We had wrapped her to a blanket so that she couldn't escape.

Others spoke with the fairy about who we were taking her to. When they had concluded that she was in the right queens area, and we didn't want her to run away because we didn't trust her just yet I asked if she was the one who ran the blimp to Fort Luis. She refused to confess to anything. And then she asked what we were doing there. So apparently she really was the same fairy that was a terrorist. I told her she was a terrorist. She told me she didn't regret a thing. I told her she had gotten caught. She told me she had killed the person who she was supposed to kill. I told her she had earned my respect by talking about those people like that. She didn't like humans, and seemed a bit puzzled when I told her I wasn't part of that species at all.

I lost my interest after this, so I have quite vague memories about how we got into contact with other fairies. But we did anyway. Bean-fairy left to wait for the queen to wake up. Apparently it would be bad to wake her up in the middle of her beauty sleep or something. There was one of the fairies, who was a guard, watching us. I told others I'd go and hunt a bit if we were going to stay there until morning anyway. I never want to miss an opportunity to hunt rabbits or deers or whatever.

We decided to put my radio on me so others could call me back when needed. It demanded a bit of creativity, but Morgan got it to stick. The fairies denied hunting in their area, so I had to run about five kilometers to one direction so I wouldn't get them mad. Hah.

I found a rabbit. I trailed it for a while. Then I saw it. It was quite the fast little bugger. I chased it for kilometres, sometimes losing it, and then finding it again, until I couldn't find it anymore. And suddenly I realized I was completely lost. I tried to put my radio on, but it was impossible to do with my paws. And if I transformed, it would break down. So I decided to try and find my way back. The radio crackled, so I was too far. My instincts told me to climb higher, but I didn't want to. At one point Morgan tried to talk, but all I could get from it was gibberish. I thought maybe they were in trouble, so I sped up.

At one point I saw a forest spirit. It waved its hands to me and pointed a direction and tried to make some really weird noise. I thought maybe one of the fairies had made it, so I followed its instructions. It apparently gave me some sort of magic, because I was moving faster.

Who knows what has happened. The sun is up, I'm still lost in the woods, going to some strange direction the spirit is guiding me, and my radio doesn't work. This seems to be an exciting adventure, if nothing else.

The aftermath

Well, it all went well. Actually, it was a bit more complicated than getting a SIN. Others got their SINs. They told me, that even though they considered me a sentient being with my own will, the government didn't. So to get a legal SIN I would have to get an owner. It was unbelievable. I asked if dragons had owners, because they weren't people. Apparently they weren't citizens either. They were so powerful they told everyone else to adapt. And because most of the world wasn't suicidal, they adapted. I wished I was that powerful. Just think about it. A dragon with my attitude...

I asked a lot of questions about my situation, and what would it mean to have an owner. They told me, that I wouldn't be responsible of my actions, the owner would be. But the government could take me away from my owner and put me in a lab, or kill me. It seemed the government thought I was a thing that could be owned. My blood was boiling, but I decided to let that slide, because these Draco foundation guys were helping, and there weren't any government officials around that I could kill.

They gave me lots of court cases. There weren't any situations similar to mine, but they were close enough. I read them, but I understood just some of it. I have realized that most people consider me a thing, but as I read the law-text, it considered people things as well. Weird...

I thought long and hard about who I should pick as my owner. Nerdy was out of the question. He would be too nervous to do anything. I didn't trust Jinx enough, and Bobby is a troll. So only possibilities were Shrew and Morgan. I don't know if I can trust them either, but they are good candidates, they have their own strengths. Morgan has connections and she's smart, and she has good ideas. And I already live with Shrew, and I know how she works. The only problem was, that the owner would legally own all my money as well.

I decided to ask Juggler before I even asked Morgan and Shrew what they thought. I asked to see Juggler face to face, and have a safe location to talk. When I told him where I was he told me to order a taxi. I did what he asked, and soon enough we were standing on a roof together, the flying taxi waiting for us to finish business.

I asked Juggler if he knew Morgan. He didn't. I asked him if he knew Shrew. He didn't. Then I told him what they were like, and what he would think, which should I pick for my owner. He asked why I needed an owner now. I told him it was legal issues. He pointed out that I wouldn't think about law before. I told him I was getting a legal SIN, and a lot of money. And to get a legal SIN I would need an owner. He told me we could just pick a random person and put my ownership there. Or forge a SIN that owns me. The SIN-thing sounded good enough, so I told him my price-range, and he got me a SIN. And it passed Draco foundations scan. Oh, and my owner needed legal permits to have a paranormal critter as a pet, or whatever. That cost money, but it was worth it.

I understood that Morgan went on a spending spree. I'm guessing she is in need of money soon... Bobby started buying big guns. Nerdy complained about his mother (she is apparently missing, and he has brought her flowers quite often, before she went missing), and that he still doesn't have enough money. How much money does he need?? I don't know what Jinx did with his money, and Shrew got some doctor-contract through Morgan.

One day Morgan told me (and others as well) something about two-by-fours and eating them. And she told me I had told Renraku about our whereabouts. Well, I only sent a message to Tracy that Bobby needed help. Apparently the message went right to Renraku's mailbox, and they had read it.

We visited the Otaku. They told us that Deus wasn't trapped. Apparently it had escaped during the trapping-situation, and jumped into people's heads. So everyone was a possible Deus-carrier. Even us. Well, not me, I wasn't able to enter the Cyberspace because the robot never got any further that cutting my head open. The Otaku wanted to scan our heads for signs of Deus. They had found that one of them had shown signs of Deus in the scanner, and they had put her in a coma. I suggested we should shoot her. No one listened.

There was a lot of talking about Deus. Its plan was apparently to divide itself to all the people it could, and the download itself to the cyberspace through the people. It sounded scary. And apparently that was the reason the army was keeping the people trapped in the Arcology when we were there. And maybe that's the reason Nerdy's mommy is missing. Maybe she's got some Deus in her. Me and Shrew talked about finding Nerdys mommy and getting to know her. It would definitely be interesting. Maybe we'll do it later.

Only Shrew showed signs of Deus in her head. The Otaku said the signs were similar with the person in coma. Well, Shrew hasn't acted differently than normal. But actually, she still had her amnesia and didn't know what she was able to do when we went to the Arcology the first time. So maybe her skills are from Deus... And she has been known to be almost suicidal sometimes. And she shot us with her fireball. Hmm, maybe we should shoot her. I promised her that if she started showing signs of Deus, I'd shoot her.

They also scanned my head. Jinx was the one doing the scanning. He did say my brainwaves were not like anything he had ever seen, but there was no sign of Deus. Surprise!

Juggler told me I got a message from some annoyed bear from the Russian Mafia telling cowards eat their words. I thought about that for a while and decided to do something about it. I couldn't let Russian Mafia to run around on the streets of Seattle thinking I'm a coward. They don't understand that I need my life to get my revenge, and after that I can be ready to die.

I decided to do some background checking. I asked if Juggler knew who the bear had had fights with before. Maybe some of them were alive to tell the tale. Two of them were. She had found one human, one elf, one dwarf, one troll and one orc to fight with. They were the toughest fighters she could find. She killed the human, the elf and the dwarf. But the orc and the troll had won her.

I decided to have a meeting with the orc. It cost me money, but I didn't care. I need to know a lot about her tactics so that I can beat her. Bears are bigger than leopards, so I have to be smarter.

The orc was middle-aged. He seemed tough, but I suspected he was too old to have won. But Hellkit was a bit older too, and she was tough. Maybe the looks are deceiving.

I asked if the orc could tell me about a fight. He told me he had had a lot of fights. I asked him to tell me about the bear. He told me that narrowed it down.

She had tracked him down as the toughest orc around. She wanted to have a fight with him, but he had refused. She had offered him a lot of money, and finally he had agreed. He told me she used a mono-filament whip. So she had started the fight as a human. The orc had managed grasp her and hit her in the head so she stopped fighting. Then he had thought it was over, and turned his back. Then he had had an angry bear to fight with. He managed to grasp the bear by its throat and squeeze so she stopped fighting again. After a few losses she transformed and told him he had won. He told me her strategy. Well, there wasn't much of a strategy. She seemed to trust brute force, just like me. So the more reason for me to not to fight like I always do. She seems to attack with full power, head-on. I asked if the orc would train with me, but he refused. He told me he could give me some names, but I told him Hellkit was good enough, if he didn't want to help. He told me Hellkit was good.

I actually have all the info I was curious to know now. Apparently bear-shifters heal just as well as I heal. I didn't ask Sencha if she healed too, but I'm guessing either fox-shifters don't heal, or magical shifters don't heal. It could be that Sly didn't heal because he was a shaman, or because he was a fox. I'd really like to meet Sly again and check if he heals. Well, right now I would settle for some fox-shifter.

I called Hellkit. I had to swallow my pride, but she agreed to train with me. And I told her it was very important for me to be able to trust her. I would tell her things I don't want everyone to know. But I think I can trust her.

I told Hellkit what I needed. I needed to kill a bear, human-form or not. And I was able to transform into a leopard when needed. I knew I was going to try and hack the bear to pieces with my dikote-sword as a human, but if it came to hand-to-hand combat as a leopard, I wanted to be good, preferably the best.

Hellkit gave very good advice. She suggested I'd use her tactics, to first feel the opponent, and make her less of a threat, just like Hellkit did with me. Then, when the opponent would be disoriented, I could strike with full force and hopefully end the fight there.

I trained really hard for two weeks. I still need to learn a new tactic, a new maneuver. But I can't get any better, so I might as well get the fight out of the way.

I decided to meet the troll as well. I asked Bobby to come along, because Juggler said the troll was a bit aggressive. I thought I needed someone to speak troll for me, if I managed to have misunderstandings with the troll. It started great, I introduced myself as Bitch, and he asked what bitch. I said not a bitch, the Bitch. And then Bobby dumbened the introduction down to the trolls level, and then he understood. Good thing I had Bobby with me...

The story was similar to the orcs story. He had accepted the fight-offer, and then they fought. The troll had managed to win the human-shaped bear, and suddenly he was attacked by a bear. He had managed to get his cyber-nails through the bears neck, and then he crawled out from under the bear.

The fights were similar, and the tactics as well. Both had to kill the bear a couple of times before she admitted her loss. Well, I don't accept my loss after one death...

I had learned all I could from these two winners. I tried to get more info from the Death Zone, and I called Jinx. He refused to tell me more than I already knew, because the bear was a better customer than I was. He also told that shifter-fights are very awesome, and good for business. No one dies, and there is still a fight to the death, lots of blood and good weapons. And both of the opponents walk out without a scratch. Well, no use in talking to Jinx.

Oh, and then I started my infiltration to an animal rights- group. I asked Juggler to find me a good group, not the nastiest, but in the top ten at least. He found me a group of people who had saved a lot of paranormal penguins. They didn't torture people, but didn't mind killing them if they were in the way. And the rest they left outside, and they probably froze to death. My kind of group. Juggler gave me a pub the group used to go to, or at least one of the leaders, or whatever. And he told me what they looked like.

I asked Shrew to come with. She seemed interested enough, and wanted to see the group.

We entered the pub. There were no one fitting the description, so we waited. We had taken a table to ourselves and talked about something until I noticed the guy fitting the description. I told Shrew they were there, and waved. Shrew waved too, and they came to our table.

The guy who was the leader or something wore long pointy ears, like fox-ears. The other guy had whiskers, just like a house-cat. I told the ear-guy he had cool ears. He thanked me. Shrew asked if he heared well with them. He told us they were fake, he had his own ears under them. Ha!

We talked about everything, and I decided to try and infiltrate to the group through this ear-guys trousers and bedroom. It would be the easiest way. People are pathetic with their feelings and things.

The ear-guy was Richard Nniemann, and the whiskers-guy was Albert. Richard told us his totem-animal was a fox, hence the ears. And Alberts totem-animal was a cat. I told them my totem-animal was a big cat, and Shrew's totem was a bird. They thought it was cool, but later they told us there was this guy who looked at the people and told their totem-animals to them. Richard also warned that it wasn't always as great as people would think. There had been this guy who wasn't happy at all with his totem. It had been a butterfly. I told Richard butterflies were cool. He agreed, but apparently the other guy didn't agree.

I told them I wanted to know my real totem-animal, and so did Shrew. They told us they'd ask around if the person would look at us later on. He was apparently very peculiar person.

I met these guys many times, we hung out, had fun, went to bars, I tried my best to enter the group. Of course, I didn't tell them my intentions. They were secret. I flirted a lot with Richard. And I noticed that Albert was his best buddy, so I got to know him as well. I found out that Richard had some girl that he used to go out with, but she was kinda old news already. And Albert told me Richard is really a fox, really clever and all that. And I managed to climb to his bed, if you know what I mean...

One day Richard told us that we would have a chance to know our totem-animals. One per day, and it cost some money. Small money for me and Shrew...

We arrived at the place we were instructed to go to. There were Richard, Albert and bunch of other people we had hung around with. They asked which of us would like to go first, and Shrew told them I would. So I entered the house. They told me the guy was already inside, and I should just find him and follow instructions. So that's what I did.

The door was closed. I opened it, and a cloud of smoke came out. It smelled funny. I walked in and closed the door. The guy asked me to enter the room. I walked towards the sound of his voice. There was also some weird music. The guy was on the sofa, looking really lazy and kind of out of it. He asked if I had already entered the room. I told him I was there. He told me to go and find a nice place in the room. He suggested the chandelier. I told him the chandelier wouldn't be strong enough to hold if I climbed there. He told me it would be great on the floor too. I decided to play it safe and walked to a corner. I crouched down, ready to defend myself.

The guy asked a lot of weird questions, the music was really weird, the smoke was making me dizzy, and it smelled strange. I knew it was some kind of a drug, but I couldn't identify it.

After hours of waiting in the strange smoke the music stopped. I had lost my sense of time, because the smoke made me woozy. The guy on the sofa asked me to walk to the mirror and tell him what I saw. I tried to get up. It went quite well. I started walking towards the mirror on the other side of the room. I fell down. I tried up again. I fell down again. Darn floor, it should know to stay still when people are walking on it! I decided to crawl to the mirror, and push myself up there. I didn't quite see anything and I saw everything on the mirror. He asked me what I saw. I said things. He told me he now knew what my totem-animal was. I was curious. He paused, I'm guessing for a dramatic effect, and told me I was a crab. Ha! He told me I was definently a crab, because I went to the corner, was in my shell all the time, and crawled to the mirror. He told me I could go away or stay if I wanted. I decided I needed air. Fresh, full-of-waste-Seattle-air. I stumbled to the door. It took me a few tries to get out. I shook myself, closed the door and walked to others. The nasty dizziness went away worryingly slowly. But it went away anyway.

Everyone were curious to know my totem. I told them I was crab. They were nodding and telling me it was cool to be a crab. I nodded also, telling it was indeed very cool to be a crab. We agreed to meet again the next day, so Shrew would find out her totem as well.

The next day we were at the same place again. This time Shrew went in, and I stayed with the group. We talked about things, and it took hours for Shrew to come out. When she finally came, she seemed to be pretty out of it. She didn't seem to know which way was up and which way was down. When she fell to the bushes the second time I decided to go and help. I walked her to the others, and she told us she was a whale. Ha! Big ego, apparently...

I had been talking about saving the animals and things like that, and Richard had told me he saved the world every once in a while, small piece at a time. I had told him it was cool, and I would love to save the world as well.

When things didn't go as fast as I had hoped, me and Shrew decided to do something about it, and asked if Morgan knew some place where they tortured animals, so that we would see how the group worked. She told us about a restaurant where they had these tanks full of crabs, and they boiled the crabs alive. We told about this nasty thing to Richard, and he promised to tell his friends.

Later we saw on the news that there was some nasty hit to a restaurant in Seattle Sea World. A group of ecoterrorists had broken in, stolen the crabs and dumped them into the sea. Some professional told the news that these crabs didn't survive the salty water, because they were some kind of lake-crabs that didn't live in salty waters. Well, they were stupid animal-rights-group. Who cares, I'm going to use them as cannon-fodder anyway. No need for brains there.

I called Richard and congratulated him on the strike. Later, when we met with others, they were quite sad, because they had done a lot of cool graffiti, and the news didn't show them. This was wrong! I didn't say anything, but I decided to help them.

I asked Juggler to get me the photos of the graffiti. He told me the best way was to bribe a cop, so I paid some money to get the photos, and I gave them to Nerdy to put in the news. Soon there was pictures of the graffiti on local newspapers. Awesome!

Couple of days later Richard called me, because I decided to not call him. He told how great it was to have the pictures out there. I told him I knew some guys. He was surprised to know it was me.

Later we met with the group with Shrew. They told us there was this animal rights group, and they would like us to join. I agreed instantly, and Shrew wanted to stay as an outside member. They told us it was cool, she could support us from the outside. Then they said we could tell about this to our friends as well. I started giving them emails. First one was Tracys. And then I told them every single email I had ever seen, except for Juggler. He gets me explosives, so there's no need to upset him...

Richard told us about this long trip some of them are going to. Saving whales from the Japanese whale-hunters. It would take months on the sea, terrorizing the whale-hunter-ships. I didn't tell them that it would be easier to just destroy the ships. Apparently these guys don't work like that. They try to make a difference, or something. Both me and Shrew refused to go there, save whales, when they asked if we were interested. Richard told us it's not for everybody. Ha! I'd have completely different approach to these problems of theirs. The bigger the explosion, the less problems.

It's so great. Now I have started my plan to infiltrate and perhaps lead one branch of this animal activist group. I already joined, so now I just have to do a few hits and find out what kind of people these guys are, so that I know how I can use them in the lab. I know I could take my followers from the humanis policlub with me, but they wouldn't agree saving magical animals. And they are too narrow-minded anyway. I think I will not lose that group just yet. They can prove useful later on. If I ever need a distraction or some kind of fight somewhere, my group is stupid enough to provide that for me.

And then I went with Shrew when she needed to learn something about herself. She had arranged a meeting with an old adept living in the bad area of Seattle. I tagged along for fun.

Shrew had realized she had a car, not very good one, it was seen better days, but it beat the taxi. And of course, the place of the adept was too deep in the Redmond Barrens for any taxi to go there anyway. So we drove there.

It was some abandoned neighborhood. There was a gang hanging around nearby. We decided to try and sell the car to them, because they would steal it anyway. They were interested, when Shrew told them we'd sell the car for beer. They left, maybe to find some beer, maybe because they didn't want the car. We decided to go and meet the adept.

The adept was an old man. He was blind. He sat on his balcony and wanted to talk. I waited and decided not to take part of the weird conversation. The old man said it was nice to have visitors. He said he had little friends in the park, and he needed someone to help his little friends. We agreed to help his friends, but he didn't tell us what they were, or where we could find them. He told us they'd find us.

We jumped into the car and drove to the park. The old man had said not to be violent. Well, he sent two totally wrong persons for that job...

We wandered around a bit. Then suddenly a tree fell on us. We managed to avoid it, but it was definitely strange. I pulled my sword, ready to defend myself. Shrew told me we weren't supposed to be violent, and yelled that we didn't mean any harm. Then she told me to put my sword away. I put my sword away, but I was ready to defend myself anyway.

I saw that there was an aura in the area. Someone had done some magic. And the tree was chopped down by magic. The same person here as the one done some magic in the area. Shrew called her spirit to help us look. Then she made a watcher spirit that's mission was to find the little friends. Later she made a forest spirit with the same mission. We kept on wandering around. The spirit found something and we went there. Apparently that something was using some sort of power to the spirit, and it figured that was the thing we were looking for.

When we got there, a tree fell on us again. We managed to avoid it again. After that we didn't find anything at all.

We returned to the old adept. He was sad that we weren't able to help his friends, but he helped Shrew anyway. The gangers had returned. They were checking out our car. I put my shotgun on the balcony and started aiming at them. Hopefully they didn't know it was a shotgun...

Shrew found out something about herself. No one stole the car. I got back home and started scheming. And of course, I have to let Hellkit teach me again, and go through my strategies. And then I have to kill that stupid bear.

Oh, I don't remember who it was, but someone from my team suggested me to organize an accident. It would certainly be a sad accident if the bear happened to sink into the harbour with cement-shoes. But she was part of the mafia. They would start wondering... Andit would be the most cowardish thing to do. Someone suggested I could rat her out to a laboratory. That person is happy to still live. I know how that is, I know what kind of pain it is, and I will not send anyone to a laboratory, even if they are my worst enemies. I rather kill them.

Well, my plans are in place. Let's see how they play out. Will the life be a bitch to me, or will I be Bitch to the life. And who dies next. Only time will tell. But I will make absolutely certain I will not die before I have had a chance to have my revenge!

Back to the Arcology, part 3, Brains on the wall

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.

Back to the Arcology, part 2. Curiosity killed the cat

We rested enough in the daycare center. Then we found some people. We decided that I would take a person who had lots of information out. Morgan and Rugh came with me. We had to take the person to safety, because of the information. It was something to do with how Renraku people and the military handled people in the Arcology,

Rugh decided to take the person further when me and Morgan said we'd head back. We went back to others, who were looking for the Room. There were lots of doors with numbers. We found all the numbers until 1834, and starting again from 1836. There were also rooms that didn't have numbers, they had names. Like Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

We found a corner. With our logic the Room was supposed to be there. There had been other runners before us, I guess. There was some evidence of them drilling holes to the wall. I asked Shrew to tell her spirit to check the rooms around the supposed Room. The spirit did what it was told, but didn't find anything. Oh, and the supposed Room didn't have any doors anywhere.

The spirit told us that the inside of the supposed Room was protected. It had an Astral wall. He didn't want to go through it. We decided to examine it further.

We found another room, it was a kitchen or something. From there we found a hole on the wall. It was a hatch, and we opened it with caution. It didn't explode. I was ready to explode the shit out of the wall, but others disagreed. The spirit explored the new room we had found, and told us that there was a possibility to enter from a lower floor. Me, Shrew and Bobby decided to go there and try and enter the room from below. Others stayed behind to look for another entrance, or the Room.

We managed to avoid the army and used Nerdys passkey to enter the room. It was some machine-room that kept the air-conditioning and everything else going. I saw that there was an active thing in the Astral space far above us. We decided to explore further. Oh, and before we went downstairs, others made us promise we wouldn't explode the whole Arcology, or even the whole floor, to the sky. We promised. Not that it would happen anyway, I didn't have enough explosives with me...

We climbed, and climbed a bit more. Then we found out that the Astral wall we had seen was a wall of astrally active bugs. Cockroaches or something. I dunno. Shrew climbed on Bobby, and started to take them off. She threw them to me. I examined them, tasted one, and started to pack them in my backpack. Anything is better than the protein bars.

It felt like forever, and finally I decided to help. I climbed on Bobby too, took my sword and started slashing. We managed to get a handle free. It was locked, and the passkey didn't work. So I planted my explosives there. When I was just ready, and put there a few seconds for us to run for cover, the lock opened. We all jumped, a robot came through and then the explosion hopefully harmed it.

Well, I think we had to fight our way up, because there was one Medusa-robot there. We destroyed it and attracted some unwanted attention from the military. They came in, looked up, decided that it was something that just happens and left. Then we kept trying to go up, and managed to get ourselves in trouble again.

We destroyed the second Medusa-robot. We didn't learn from our mistakes, and kept trying to go up. The hatch was open, and we climbed. Then some little shit bugger stinged me. It was one of the bumblebee-robots. I had heard that they were normally full of some nasty substances. Well, how nice it was...

We were trying to escape. Our will to live had finally won our curiosity. Bobby was climbing down like a true troll. Dropped a few meters, grabbed on, shrugged the pain away and continued downwards. I was hurt, and waiting for the nasty things to kick in. I tried to climb fast, and fell. I dropped onto Bobby, who didn't care for my well being (did I care for his? Maybe not...) and dropped again. I felt something snap, and then it was darkness.

When I woke up I was being carried. I fought my way off and swore a lot. I was in terrible pain. The nanites were destroying me from the inside, and my body struggled to destroy the nanites. Shrews spirit was there to try and heal me. The also gave first aid to me. This is where I understood Shrews pain. Well, I had been hurt before, maybe worse. And I think I had broken my neck or spine or something, because I felt the pain in my bones. Good thing I didn't impale myself with my sword...

Long minutes passed, and then the pain faded. The nanites were destroyed, and my body had healed itself. I shrugged, checked that all my limbs were still there, and then we had to run. We had apparently got some attention from the military. They were coming, and we needed to run.

We used Shrews spirit as a scout. He found an ambush. Good for him, we didn't got ambushed. We managed to find ourselves a good hiding place, and then Shrew took her Little Smokes out. She said we should smoke some magical drug to get powers, but there was no guarantee it would work, and if it would work, there was no guarantee how long it would work. Could be minutes, could be hours. But one thing was certain. If it did work, after the effects had worn off, there would be side-effects. It would take us an equal amount of minutes or hours to recover. We would be of no use during the side-effects. I decided to risk it, just like Shrew.

Back to the Arcology, part 1. Never eat a fruit

We were finally ready to go back to the Arcology. The otaku had been making preparations, and they had gotten all of us to come with. We had a cover story, which would work, hopefully, without the whole group.

The otaku introduced us to a troll named Rugh. Not the mage. Apparently Rugh is a common name amongst the trolls. Maybe they don't have that much of imagination, or people just name them Rugh because they are trolls.

I had ordered three military camo suits. Last time I had only one camo suit, and it broke down early on. Now I hope I was more prepared. We had told the otaku that me and Shrew were going to visit the room mentioned in Dunkelzahn's Will. Apparently the otaku weren't that happy about our plans, but it was the only way to get us to go there and help them.

I packed my backpack full of explosives. Then I realized I wasn't able to carry it. I took some of it out, and then some more, and then some more. And then I packed a lot of explosives to Bobby's backpack. I packed some human food, chain, a lock, detonators, some extra clothes and socks, I think I at least asked around for a bullet vest for a leopard, then I packed a lot of bullets and my shotgun. I was ready to kick some ass, some Arcology ass.

We went to the place where the otaku kept their headquarters. All the other going to the Arcology were also there. Then the otaku told us their plan on how to get to the Arcology this time. Apparently the army was watching all the exits, so it was near to impossible to get there unnoticed. So the otaku had hired/agreed that some people posed as reporters and made a story about the Arcology. They drove a van, and it was filled with equipment, and part of it was saved for us. The area in the van was apparently really small. Stupid van. Shrew was talking about origamis and folding me like an origami to get me smaller. I told her I'd fold her and we'd see what'd happen. Rugh didn't seem to like our squabbling. He told us to shut up. I sweared at him. Who's he to tell me to shut up? Stupid troll.

The day was finally there. We packed our things to the van. Then I took a deep breath and packed myself in the van. When the wall was put there to keep us unnoticed I felt a drop of sweat on my forehead. Oh yea, I shaved my head. My hair had gotten too long, and I didn't like the mohawk anymore, so I shaved all my hair off. Maybe I look intimidating, maybe not, but who cares. Well, now everyone was able to see the huge scar I have on my head. I used to try to hide it with my hair, but now? I do not care who sees it. And it is visible on my leopard form anyway. I think if I get out from the Arcology alive, I'll get a bandanna on my head. Some cool, tough bandanna. And the brass knuckles as well. I have to look intimidating!

When we finally arrived to the parking halls of the Arcology I was swimming with sweat. I had had to use all of my self-control to stay still, so I didn't have any way to distract myself from the small place I was crammed in with a bunch of other people and equipment. I think I need therapy... Being a runner means you have to be able to cram yourself in tight spots and be able to work well and fight without distractions. Maybe it'll get better when I explode the lab...

I was the first one to push myself out from the place. I ran a while and shook the anxiety and horror off me, and then got back to get my equipment.

We met a thin otaku/nerd -person in the parking hall. He came through an air vent. He was supposed to be our guide for a while. He seemed jumpy, a bit ill and really thin. Others gave him food. He seemed to not expect miracles from our journey. Apparently he had been there for years, surviving. He didn't expect us to survive. He said something about bringing flowers to someones grave, and I told him we certainly would have flowers, because we had Nerdy. He told us that he had flowers because he had brought them along when he didn't have time to take them to his mother. Well well, Nerdy always surprises me...

Oh, and I got to use my secret information about Shrew. The thin guy introduced himself, and I introduces myself and I introdused Shrew as Princess. I decided to leave Terminator for later. If we both survive the Arcology, I'll certainly get some laughs out from her streetname.

The thin guy took us to a door. He checked the door very carefully, told us that someone had gone through it after him and boobytrapped it. He disarmed it. Morgan seemed to be interested in the trap, and the thin guy explained all he knew. But he seemed a bit bored when he explained. Like it would not matter, because we all would be dead within a week anyway.

We took a lot of stairs up, and then the thin guy left us to survive on our own. We started climbing the stairs. It felt familiar. We had done a lot of stair-climbing the last time we were there.

We ended up in a grocery store. We had gone through it the last time we were there, and it had been safe to go then. Now it seemed a bit different. I noticed fresh fruits on the counters, and I decided to poke a banana. It was a bad mistake. A fatal mistake, almost.

Things started happening. The fruit started to come alive, or something.

I don't remember the order of the fruits coming alive, but I guess the bananas were the sensors. Carrots shot at us, like mini-rockets. I got hit by one. Tomatoes did something, oranges rolled around on the floor, and pineapples started to explode. Shrew got a hit from a pineapple, I think it was. There were needles. She was in so much pain. Others said something about nanites. Well, I'd find out about Shrews pain later. Her spirit healed her, and others gave first aid. I didn't know what to do, I tried to give first aid too, but it seemed useless. And the medkit broke down or something.

We found a cozy place to rest. It was an abandoned daycare-center, I think. We needed to rest and get our strength back. I was already fed up with the stupid protein bars, but it was the only thing we had to eat. I wished we'd find an animal or something.