The following is a personal diary of one of my Shadowrun characters during a past second edition game.
Personal Diary of Dezmond Witherspoon, aka Dez, aka Richard Starky
18 April, 2001
I was down to nothing really. After leaving my last employer I vowed to never run again but a guy has to eat. My condo was gone and so was the money from its sale. I am down to living in a “studio” cube in a “secure” structure. At least all of the appliances work and there is a Mac D around the corner.
I went to the Blue Oyster bar down on pike for a drink and because it is a known runner bar. I had been there for less than an hour nursing the beer from my boilermaker when two guys came in who were probably runners. They started ordering drinks and toasting so I figured they were back from a run, and I was right. I walked over to their table and asked if they were buying for any one else. The big one laughed and said he only bought drinks for chicks and asked if I had balls. I bought him and his pal a round of boilermakers instead of venting him. I really needed a job and to make a good paying run I needed a team. As it turns out these two were what was left of one. Drek flew and they lost half the team. I showed them Richard Starky’s resume and hoped for the best. They took it at face value and we struck up the deal and that was it. I was in another team. They weren’t flashy, no team name or any drek like that, no colours or ornaments. I like that.
Just then what looked like a corp body guard walked in. He looked like he had seen better days though. The fact that one of those pretty boys was down here in flea bottom pretty much summed it up. I was about to wave him over when a nervous little dude walks in and right up to us without any preamble and say’s “I need to contact some Shadow Runners!” I near spit beer out my nose! Just comes right out and spews that like he is trying to hire a plumber or something! So we sit him down and poor a shot down him before he has a seizure and ask him why he needs runners. Come to find out he is a Talismonger and has arranged to buy an artifact of some sort and needs body guards for a one nighter. I smell drek on his breath but I let the boss handle it. XXXX says that what he needs is bodygaurds and not runners. Bout that time the pretty corp dude pipes in from the next table that he is a bodyguard and in need of employment. Boss kinda ignores him and we hammer out the finances. An even grand each with seventy-five percent up front and the rest after. Not bad for one night I guess. The boss shakes on it and then the chummer pipes in with something about a third party what wants to maybe snatch this relic thing from him. I knew he was holdin out! So I ask if he might know who this third party might be and he says Asswipe, or something like that anyway. Great. Now we are gonna maybe have other runners out there and ones that big corp money can buy. I want to frag him right now but the boss just says that the price will be a thousand plus expenses. The monger don’t seem to like this none but when I show him the butt of my shotgun inside my jacket he decides he is getting a good deal after all.
That’s when five gangbangers walked in. I saw right away that they were Skulls cause of the facial tat. They began to walk to the bar when one of them looked at my new pals and started yellin and cussin about some drek that happened at some convenience store in the recent past. Then they all pulled knives and started towards our table! Man I don’t want no gang trouble but this is my team now so I pulled my Katana about the same time the boss does and the gangers near let there drek out in there pants!! Boss jumps up on a table and the little guy starts chanting something. I thought that he looked like a spell spitter. Wonder which type. Shamans creep me out sometimes. I get close enough to my guy to swing at him but he is quicker than he looks and ducks. Then this pretty boy pulls his Ares Predator and pops one of them in the shoulder and then right tween the peepers! The little guy squirts a spell at the big ganger and his head gets all glowing blue for a sec and then he don’t want no more than to get home to momma. Boss sticks one of them and then side steps outa the line of fire at about the same time I split my guy from ear to belly. Pretty boy pops the one that the mage upset and then I see that these skull freaks are done so I waltz over to the bar to order another drink but the dear old gal is gone. So I hop the counter and line up boilermakers for all of us at about the same time boss sticks one for good and the last one runs for the door. Pretty boy must be one cold mutha cause he hasn’t broken a sweat or changed facial expressions during this whole thing. Maybe we should buy him a drink. About the time I am thinkin about those drinks pretty boy pops of a shot at what looks to be the back of the head of the ganger runnin out the door. He misses but I think if he had gone for a body shot it would have ended the drek sucker for good. No matter really, but something to keep in mind for the future. After the melee the boss asks pretty boy to join the team at least for this run cause he has experience in this sort of thing. He agrees easily so things must really be tight for him like I first thought.
Then I go home to my cube down by the wharf and chow on extra calories of real protein and don’t scrimp on the flavorings either, gotta run for the next night so I need to carbo load.
We all meet at the same bar (not my idea) and the mark shows and fills us in on details. The exchange is to go down at a wrecking yard on the fringes at 20:00 hours. We arrive at 19:45 (not my idea either) and split off into two teams. Me and pretty boy go with the mark for the exchange and the boss and the mage are gonna cover our flanks. The boss decides to stay low even though the wrecking yard is like a maze of piled scrap. I would have found the high ground myself but I am still paying my dues on this team so I don’t say nuthin. The three of us walk out into the middle of the yard and I start to get a bad feeling about this whole mess when I spot three people coming out of the shadows from the west, the mark says something in a language I don’t know and the three step out into the light. I move to my left cause I don’t want to be in the light any more. The leader of the three steps up to the mark and I see that it is a skirt. Kinda plain but I aint here to stuff scrip into her undies either. The mark looks into this box she is carrying and nods his head then gives her a credstick. That’s when her head blew up. I heard the shot from the northwest almost instantly so the shooter was close. I switch to thermal on my peepers and spot him on top of a junk pile (told ya) about the same time he vents the mark with the same type of shot. I point out the shooter to pretty boy as I move and grab two credsticks from the skirts body the same time on of her guards grabs the box. I should have just run and come back for the sticks but I was tired of living in that hole and the whole reason I am running again is for money so… The shooter wants the box bad cause the guard’s head went up as I started running. The third shot gave him away though and pretty boy started laying suppression fire. He must not use long guns much cause he just blows big holes in the side of the scrap heap. That’s when I start running hard. Didn’t work though cause he pegged me good through the meaty part of my ass even with me running like that. I round the corner and come face to face with a skull ganger and give him a burst from my Enfield AS-7 in the chest. The explosive rounds don’t leave much to identify. Then I crouch to inspect my ass and report in. The right cheek looks serious but doesn’t hurt yet. There is a firefight from where the boss is supposed to be and then LMG fire from around the west corner of my location. I look around and spot pretty boy catchin lead from it but giving back at the same time. Long range to be using a shotgun though. Then he moves to his right and braces the gun on the scrap pile from partial cover and taps off another burst. I hear cussing from the LMG area and it sounds rough, like from between big teeth so I know right away that there is either an Orc or a Troll manning that leadhose. Then I hear a turbine start to spin from the snipers area and lights flash across the yard like a rotor job is doing a low-level escape.
And then it just gets real quite. Pretty boy stands up so I run out and grab the box that we just sucked drek over and gathered up pretty boy to head for the boss’s car. I pass more ganger bodies along the way. The boss did four or five I think. Seems the mage spent the whole time doing astral combat with another mage, which I am grateful for cause we would have been compost otherwise. Pretty boy says to stop calling him that. I tell him to take off his jacket so I can look at his wounds. He caught three in the lower abdomen and it looks like he needs a doctor. He still aint sweating and he just keeps talking real calm.
I give the boss the box and hope it don’t just glow when we open it. Then we steal a van what belongs to those dumb ass skulls and split up and I take pretty boy to see Dr. Cyrus a buddy of mine who runs a street clinic and don’t ask questions about gun wounds. On the way I call my fence to turn these cred sticks before they can be reported. She says that any time is business time on the street. I hope these sticks are loaded cause I only got 750 nuyen from that talismonger. But since the boss wanted the marks business address I figure I know where him and that mage are headed and why. Pretty boy wants to talk shop in the cab and invites me to come over to his place in the ritzy part of town when we have the chance. I hear they have real beef sometimes. I always wanted to taste a T-bone steak. Maybe this guy is all right, and except for the error in ground location the boss seems alright. Hell, even the mage stood up and waded into the drek when he needed to. I might have stumbled into a pretty good team here. Hope the cash starts coming in though cause I think I am going to like the kind of lifestyle pretty boy and the boss lead.
Fin.
5 June, 2001
Dropped pretty boy off at Doc Cyrus’ place and found out that he has to stay there for five more days. Seems as though I will have the run of that nice condo! Those cred sticks turn out to be worth 20kN. I was hoping for more but you get what you get and that’s life. Split four ways that wont buy me many steaks. Oh well.
Boss says that they might need help at the Talismongers’ joint so I kick this skull van in the ass and see if it blows up. Rather find out now than when I am getting chased. I round the corner down the street from the address Boss gives me about the same time a store front blows. By the looks of it the job was done by a pro cause all the blast shoots forward and doesn’t damage the stores next to it at all. Then I spot Boss trying to get into his fancy car from the ground on the passenger side while firing blind up into a building. Wiz is crawling in the same direction and looks a little shaky. I wonder how close he was to that blast? Then I see what Boss is shooting at, just a muzzle blast poking out of a third story window. Amateur up there I think because Boss and Wiz are still breathing. I brake hard into the middle of the street about twenty five meters from the scene and rap off a quick burst towards the muzzle blast. Seems to work cause there aint no more shots coming out the window. Boss finally gets his ass into the drivers seat and gets the car started. That car don’t look so fancy no more though, got some front end damage and there aint window one in it now. I have to chuckle a little at that one. Pretty boy gave me the name of a good mechanic for the van though. Seems he will be getting some more business than just the van. Boss splits the scene like his ass is on fire and the Wiz is spraying lead offhand into the sky like some Mexican bandit from a bad sim. Brother.
We meet up at some bar I never been to. I circle the lot twice checking it out before I park next to the Boss’s car. He and the Wiz are already inside by then and I join them for a boilermaker. One thing about the west coast, great beer and better coffee if you can find plain black coffee that is. Damn foofoo crap makes me ill.
Boss seems more upset by his car than almost losing the Wiz. Go figure. I make the call to the mechanic Pretty boy mentioned and he says that he can do both rigs tonight if I’m not picky about colors. I say that I just want it dependable and flat black and he smiles into the pickup and says “The customer is always right” and logs off. I tell the boss that we can get his car fixed over night and the world is right again with him.
After two more drinks I suggest we head out into the van and have a look in this case we just got shot up over. My ass hurts like hell where the bullet went through and I aint in the best of moods just now. The Wiz tries some spell
to look into it without opening it but it doesn’t seem to work so its up to me. I pull out my little treasure. Seventy thousand Yen for this sweet little Maglock pass key and well worth every bit of it. But damned if this case almost beats it anyway! Makes me nervous right then cause that little piss ant Talismonger didn’t have enough Yen to afford this case let alone anything in it. . I start thinking of who we just pissed off and start sweating real bad. This whole thing smells like Pike street on a hot day. Inside the case is this sort of wand thing but the Wiz says its too big for a wand He wont touch it and I sure as hell aint going to! Wiz casts some spell and looks at the wand thing with glazed eyes but right away he recoils like he is in pain! . I start to get a little sick, this thing is very powerful and we aint, and someone real good was shooting at us and this guy asslick or whatever his name is, is some kind of regional security chief form this Nisai corp. Man I am getting the bad feeling that we just poked the pooch. Going native is sounding real good right now. Or maybe there is some nice safe war raging over in Europe that needs my services.
That’s when Boss just reaches over and grabs the thing like a kid snatching candy. Wiz was blinded and I was lost in thought so we didn’t have a chance to try and stop him.. Boss’ eyes get big, then bigger, then he tries to scream but no sound comes out. Then his whole body starts shaking like he is getting shocked or something. That’s when I smell pork cooking. I look at his arm and its swelling up all the way to his shoulder! The veins are glowing blue and look ready to pop. I am reaching for my blade to cut his arm off to save his life when he drops the blasted thing back into the case and scrambles to the back of the van as far from the case as he can get. He looks scared, scared bad! I shut and re-lock the case with sweaty trembling hands and just sit there for a bit. After a minute Boss says that he needs to go home and starts to leave. I ask about the mechanic and he seems to snap out of it a little. That car means the world to him man! We take both vehicles over to the shop and I outline what I want done to the van. New engine and tranny, tires, shocks and seals. Rear end checked and steering unit gone through. Interior stripped bare and good used seats with five point belts. Exterior sand blasted and shot with flat black primer. Windows replaced if cracked or broken and tinted dark. Fix anything else he finds as well. I give him a thousand in scrip as a deposit and he looks pleased. The Boss just wants a new paint job, fender work and new windows. We both ask about “other” modifications and this guy just smiles and say’s “what ever you can pay for I can do”. Cool.
We all split up then. I go to pretty boy’s place, Wiz goes where ever and Boss goes home. He don’t look so good. His hand shakes, and even though Wiz spell healed him that arm looks like hamburger. Hope he gets over this cause I need income.
Getting into pretty boy’s place is no sweat. The code he gave me works just fine. I spend two days in the hot tub, drinking good beer along with good whiskey. Have my clothing laundered. Give my weapons a thorough cleaning. Order some new clothes in case I want to stroll around. Eat real beef cooked rare. Have a professional come up and see to my plumbing, a redhead. All the good things money can buy you. I pay for all of it myself of course.
Boss calls the morning of the third day and says he needs to see us all together, I say come on over here cause pretty boy is still in the hospital for three more days! I give him the locale and he picks up the Wiz and heads on over. He still don’t look good. I think he is still wearing the same clothes as he was two days ago! I think he has been on a binge but he wont drink anything I offer him. That’s when pretty boys home phone rings. I figure it is him checking on his place but the number isnt listed. I run a tap check that comes out clean and wait for the encryption code my friends use to call me with but don’t hear it so I let the comp pick it up. The caller doesn’t leave a message. I shrug it off and start to say something to Boss when I t rings again. I get that itchy feeling on the back of my neck right then and there. Somehow I know who is going to be on the other end of that call. I set the vis screen to blank my image and answer the call. Its him. He says that I have something that belongs to him. I say that it is real likely that I do. Boss is squirming like a prom queen in a biker bar whispering to me to tell them they can have it! Just give it to them. What ever that thing is scared the hell out of him. I tell the caller that we are willing to sell this item to him if he will guaranty that we will be square with him and his boss. He agrees and I tell him to meet me at pike square in two hours. He nods and signs off. I tell Boss and Wiz to take off now and get to the top of the building on the west side of the square. The sun will be in our favor that way, won’t be silhouetted against the skyline. I eat a nearly raw steak and leave to get my van back. The mechanic has done a swell job on it and I pay up the other two grand for it. Nothing like the sound of these old petro burners, and the power is remarkable. I drive casually down pike street to the square and park on the east side next to a coffee shop to wait. They serve real coffee here and I only had to yell once to get it served black. I was still nursing that first cup when the clock started chiming eleven o’clock so I walk out across the street and start for the fountain. The square isnt real busy yet this far from lunch so it is easy to spot asslick as he comes across the square towards me. I get the signal from Boss and Wiz that all looks good so I move to the fountain. Sure as hell hope that boss snaps out of it. I might need him to cover my ass in a minute.
Asslick greets me real nice and I use my best manners in return. I aint as scared as I thought I would be though. He asks me if I have the case and I say that it is nearby. He grins and says that if I give it to him now, intact that we will all be square with him and his boss. I say that he can have it for a hundred thousand Nuyen. He keeps smiling and says that fifty would be more reasonable. I counter with seventy five and he agrees. I signal Wiz to bring the case down and tell asslick that it is on its way. He says that since I am involving a third party then he will need to bring in a forth to even things out. Seems fair. I nod and he signals with a hand gesture. Across the square a women starts toward us. She fits the description Wiz gave me of a very bad ass physical adept.. If this goes sour I aint gonna walk away even if Boss gets clean shots. Some how that calms me though. I don’t remember ever being that calm before really. She walks up and stands behind him and to his left. He asks her if she brought it and she nods. I see Wiz walking casually across the square. He never seems ruffled. I don’t think he is right in the head. Wiz hands me the case and I step forward to hand it to asslick. The adept hands me a small box. Inside is a common credstick. I plug it into my pocket secretary and it reads out seventy five thousand Nuyen. Boss pipes in over the tight beam transceiver for me to transfer the balance to my account and give them the box and stick back. I do so. Seems as though Boss is back with us and I nod in relief. Asslick has been holding the case in front of him with his eyes closed for a few seconds now, some kind of spell. Intel didn’t say anything about him being a spell slinger! He looks up and nods to the adept and says that the contents are acceptable. I give the box and stick back to the adept and he nods approval. We shake hands and bow and the Wiz and I walk back to my van and fight the urge to gun the engine to full throttle and scram out of there!
We all meet at the Gypsy bar on the wharf. This Spell slinger seems to know a lot of sleazy gay bars! Oh well, to each his own. If he hits on me though I am going to have to get mean. We split the pokey up and are relaxing over a job well done along with about six boilermakers when in walks five skulls! I mean could you ask for a better bonus to a days work? I am drunker than I should be so it seems like a good idea to jump up on top of a table and yell at them. Go figure. I yell out to them and ask if they have enjoyed walking here. The recognize us but seem confused by my question. Must be slurring. They pull pistols this time instead of knives and I give a war whoop and pull my shotgun out from under my coat. Their eyes bulge a little as they see it but that is all the time they have cause my wired reflexes kick into full and I pop a burst into the chests of the two leading skulls. The first is a good solid center-mass shot and his chest cavity turns into a pinkish mist. The second burst hits off to one side but those explosive shells make up the difference. Boss pops a burst from his SMG into one of them and he is off to Valhalla. I pop my last burst of this clip into the one raising his pistol and get another center mass hit. He falls into two pieces on the floor. I then change clips while the Wiz slings a bluish bolt at the one remaining skull. The skull reels in pain and bolts out the door as my burst hits him square in the back. I walk out into the restaurant portion of the bar to see if they have pals in the area but they don’t. Then we hear sirens. I don’t want to talk to Lonestar right now so we all beat it. I go back to Pretty boys place and start searching for a place of my own. I find a likely spot up in the Normandy Park area out on Three tree point. A middle income furnished house. I pay a month up front and Bring up my bag. I have just moved in. Not as good as Pretty boy’s condo but one hell of a lot better than that roach closet I was living in. The roaches can have it.
I call Mr. Joshua and tell him that I have a team and that we need a gig. I am going to move up and retire in luxury or die trying. I also buy a long gun and some skillsofts. The gun takes a day to get but the softs are off the shelf.
I wonder if that little urchin that squatted outside my roach locker would like to stay in it for the three months left on the lease? I bet if she was scrubbed up she would be pretty. Maybe even legal age. Not that it matters to me.
Fin.
13 June, 2001
Turns out that the urchin squatting in front of my roach locker cleans up nice. Went and picked her up and scared two skulls out of their Hogs for my troubles. Gave the urchin one of them and told her to meet me at pretty boys place that evening. Loaded the second one in my van and hauled it back to my new place and locked it in my garage. Picked up some clothes and stuff for the urchin on my way to pretty boys pad, nothing special just good sturdy street gear. Turns out that the Wiz is playing Coyote cause he has made himself right at home in pretty boy’ place. He is working real hard on learning new spells that could save our ass though so I guess he needs somewhere to do it. Boss is there with some skirt when I pull up. Guess he figures on testing the springs on pretty boy’ bed. The place is too messy for the slumming skirt though so she moves out in a huff. Poor Boss. I save the Urchin from being made into a servant by my teammates. I tell her to go get showered up and change into the new clothes I bought while I make her some high protein food. I can see that she is scared of this situation but she must be more scared of the street and the gangs because she just ducks her head and does as I say. A good start.
While the Urchin is scrubbing, a man comes to the door saying that he is a Mr. Johnson. Damn careless way to approach a team in my opinion so Boss and I yank his chain a while before we get down to business. Seems that he wants a body back home in the corporate tender embrace. He is willing to pay twenty thousand plus expenses for the job too. Must want him real bad. He has good intel on the lad though. Seems this Jason Briggs has left the lap of luxury for a life as a gang poser. The skulls. Of all the luck. This might get awkward. Cant remember how many of them Skulls that I have killed now. They all blur together. No matter, I can play nice if the job requires it. Boss sticks him for five thousand up front. I like that. Expenses out of the way already.
Wiz says he has to call his decker friend for more info about the people involved. Boss is sexually frustrated or something because he heads out grumbling. The urchin comes out dressed in the sweats I bought her and that’s when I see that she is really a knock out. She looks Japanese, about fifteen. That suits my needs nicely. I hand her the rest of her clothing along with the armor vest I bought, then I make her eat dinner. She still seems real edgy and ready to bolt. She says that her name is Mika. I think that I will call her Spot, or maybe Bob. Oh well, Mika isn’t that hard to say. We go out to catch a Sim but Boss calls before we can even get to the Cinema. I drop Mika in a cab and head for the warehouse Boss wants watched. I circle for about fifteen minutes when I see two skulls walking down the street between my van and the Boss’s car. I hop out and yell over that I want to talk to them. They must have recognized me because one of them gets real pale and the other one just starts talking. I try and tell them that I only want to talk about some one but they just keep on yammering in that way scared dogs do when they don’t really want to fight. Boss com’s me and says that I am about to let too much info hit the street so I decide to take one of them back with us by scaring them with my gun. As soon as they see it they pull pistols though. I use my wires and pop one of them dead square but I misjudge the recoil and miss the second one. Boss shoots out of the wrong window with the wrong hand and misses the guy all together. What a surprise. That’s when the little bastard pops a burst with his pistol! Never seen a pistol fire in that mode before. Hits me hard and I know its bad right away. I try and hit him again but both my bursts fail to drop him because I am shaken up pretty bad by the burst that hit me. I can feel the warm wetness moving down my pants legs so I know I am hit bad. Then he hits me again and the world zooms up to whack me in the head. Then I black out. I wake up in Doc Cyrus’ clinic the next morning feeling pretty good. Nothing hurts at all. That’s when I get scared. Either my spine has been severed or I am doped to the gills so that the pain won’t drive me into shock. I am hoping that it is drugs real bad.
The Wiz is there with Doc Cyrus and he keeps casting the same spell over and over. Sometimes when he casts it I feel like ants are crawling all over me. I hope that that is a good sign. I fade in and out but every time I come to I feel better so whatever the two of them are doing must be working. Then I wake up and Doc says that he needs the bed for someone who is hurt. He smiles when he says it so I know my pal has fixed me up again. Then he smiles big and hands me the bill. I just chuckle and ask him how long I have been out as I swipe my cred stick through his machine. Only thirty six hours. Damn. I was real near dead and now I am fully healed only thirty six hours later. I owe that Wizard some good beer. And next time I will leave the nice stuff to nice people. I am what I do well so no more chumming around with flesh wounds or drek like that. From now on I do it like I was taught. Never draw down unless you are planning on killing. So be it.
The Wiz must have told Boss that I was up and around cause he calls me right after I wake up. He say’s that he and the Wiz have got two skulls drugged and wrapped up but that they won’t talk. I start to get real mad. As a matter of fact I am down right pissed. Those Drek suckers not only shot me but they also took my van. I just got through having that van fixed up. My new gun was in that van. I never even got to shoot that gun. I am going to go over there and I hope that those two skulls are still not talking because I have a ball peen hammer that needs to get used. I hop a taxi to the club Boss gave me the address for. Another club, we are going to run out of clubs before too long. I get there and when I walk in the bartender jerks his head towards a door in the back and says that they are in there. If this is some kind of ambush I am going to gut shoot that beer slinger. I am in no mood to be trifled with. The room behind the door is sound proofed and there is a big plastic tarp spread out. Two guys are tied up in metal chairs next to each other against the opposite wall from the door. I shake hands with the Wiz and bow to Boss. Then I tell these two skulls that Boss is going to ask them a question and the first one to answer wont get hurt, the other one will. I roll up my sleeves and take off my coat and stand in front of them. Boss is kind of pale and Wiz looks away. That’s fine with me, that’s why there are people like me in the world. Boss asks them if they have seen the man in the picture Wiz shows them. One of them just sits there and the other tells Boss to geted. Bad move on his part. I slice the laces on his boot and slip it and the sock off. Then I hold his foot down with my boot and smash his little toe with the hammer. He screams. Loud.
Boss starts sweating and Wiz walks away. The other skull screams to but he just keeps saying not to hurt him. “I wont if you answer questions like a good boy” I say. Then I show him the bloody hammer and he yells out the name of the guy in the picture. Biggs he says, that’s J-Hawk! So now we have a street name for this Jason Biggs. Boss then asks where we can find this Biggs. They don’t say anything so I smash the next toe over. He screams again, a raw scratchy scream that winds down to a sob. I slap a trauma patch on his neck so that he wont go into shock. After that I just have to sit and look bored because the little guy starts singing like a canary. Every thing we need to know and a few choice bits we didn’t ask for. Boss and Wiz seem satisfied with our intel so I thread the silencer onto my Browning and pop both of them in the head twice. Then I cut them loose from the chairs and wrap them up in the plastic. Boss says that his contact here will take care of the bodies so we head out. I take another taxi to my new place and pick up that new Hog. Nice enough but I really prefer having something around me when drek flies. I meet up with Boss and Wiz about three blocks from where I got vented. So we were close the first time. Should have tried sneaking after them instead of parley. Stick to what you know Dez, it worked before. The job sight is a warehouse with all of the doors and windows boarded up except a rolling front bay door, a two-story job with no second floor. So no going through the back door or coming in through the ceiling either. Looks like the Wizards idea about having our faces painted with the skull logo and trying to get past the front guards that way is our only chance. At least we get a good floor plan from the Wiz going spook and having a look around. He says that my van is in there and that it is all painted up again. Slimy pukes. Someone will pay for that one. So we get our faces painted and dress like street scum. Boss also buys some real cheap beer. I wonder about that one at first but then when we get to the front of the building and I get off of my bike Boss just starts walking right up to the two guards holding out the beer and saying party things. The guards just guzzle the free beer and wave us in, guess that’s why he is the boss. When we get inside we split up. Boss heads for the center of the warehouse swinging sixpacks of beer around, he draws a crowd right away. Wiz heads for a pile of boxes in a dark corner and I make like I need to puke and head for the wall opposite the boxes. We are set to play it by ear when the Wiz hops up the boxes and starts to dance. Every body looks his way and some one shouts for him to get down. There is a group of four guys about four meters from me that turn their back to look at the Wiz. I can’t let an opportunity like that pass so I draw my shotgun and target the two closest to me using burst mode. I hit solid both times and still have enough time to vent the other two before any one reacts. Boss takes my cue and dives aside like he doesn’t know what is going on. He tries to do something with a stun wand when he lands on a guy but it doesn’t seem to work out for him because the guy gets up. Since Boss is dancing instead of offering converging fields of fire I decide to run and hide behind the van. I take two real light hits as I do so. A couple of shots nearly part my hair though. At least I don’t take any lead in my ass again. Out of the corner of my eye I see Wiz’s hand turn blue and he zots someone behind me. I get around to the side of the van nearest the wall so as to put the van between me and the rest of the guys with guns. That’s when I hear Boss’s SMG start singing. He aint half bad with that burp gun really. A skirt hops out of the back of the van in her birthday suit carrying my new AK-97. No way am I going to get shot with my own gun. I hit her in the small of the back with a burst and she doesn’t even scream. I see two guys flanking Boss. Must be the guards from outside. Each of them get a burst that drops them so I head on out the door to cover our exit and to make sure any one else coming this way cant come inside to play. That’s when this poser J-Hawk screams for us to stop. I don’t catch all of the conversation but no one shoots for a few seconds. Then I see Boss walk over to Biggs and accept a cred stick. The Wiz is walking real fast away from the pile of boxes so they must be nasty. And since Biggs is pointing his pistol at them instead of one of us I get the impression that we are at a reservoir dogs moment. I hate those moments really. Boss scans the cred stick and nods and then Biggs lowers his pistol. I head on over to my van and jockey it around the bodies. Boss did alright but his shirt is wet. He must have caught one somewhere. I leave the back doors open and turn to cover my teammates as they exit. Boss walks past the van window and I throw him the keys to my hog, Wiz climbs in the back of the van with his Ares still drawn. It is radiating heat so I guess he resorted to using his gun some time. I didn’t even hear it. We pull out of there and head back to Pretty boys place to regroup. One of these days I am going to have to remember to have Doc Cyrus back off on pretty boys drugs and let him go home.
When we get to pretty boys place we find that Mika is still there and has cleaned the place up. Very good. I ask her if she will be so good as to start making us dinner as I check Boss’ wounds. They need the medkit but I don’t think that he needs to see a Doctor. He smiles between staples and holds up the cred stick he got from Biggs and says that we should hand over our pocket secretaries for the split. Twenty eight thousand each. Nice, real nice. I go outside and load my hog in the van and tell Mika to follow me close because I drive fast. I stop on the way home and drop off my van at the mechanics. I tell him to sterilize it and repaint it. I will come back for it later. I head home on the hog with Mika next to me. She likes the house. I do too, especially now that I can pay the lease for the next couple of months. We park in the garage and I activate the security perimeter before we head upstairs. I like the roomy open feel of this floor. The kitchen is kind of small but it has all of the latest accessories, even one of those new European flavor faucets. I hope Mika can cook. I show Mika to her room upstairs. She seems shocked when I tell her that I will be sleeping in the master bedroom down the hall next to the den. Let her be shocked, I don’t want to be figured out. We put her things in the drawers and designate one of the shelves in the head as hers. I tell her that breakfast is at seven sharp and head into the master bathroom for a long hot dual head shower. The bullet holes are still pink like a babies skin. Have to buy that Wizard a drink later. Maybe teach him how to drive. That would come in handy. I mean really, who ever heard of a Shadow Runner that couldn’t drive. Before bed I clean, oil and reload my weapons and go through an hour of Kata with my sword. I may be getting old but I am still quick enough to stay alive. So far. Maybe I will stay alive long enough to retire in a luxury condo over in Redmond or some where like that. Tomorrow I will take Mika to Doc Cyrus for a thorough check up. My new water bed feels nice compared to the kind of places I have been sleeping the last six months. Things are looking up for Richard Starky. Hehee.
Fin.
Personal Diary of Dezmond Witherspoon, aka Dez, aka Richard Starky
18 April, 2001
I was down to nothing really. After leaving my last employer I vowed to never run again but a guy has to eat. My condo was gone and so was the money from its sale. I am down to living in a “studio” cube in a “secure” structure. At least all of the appliances work and there is a Mac D around the corner.
I went to the Blue Oyster bar down on pike for a drink and because it is a known runner bar. I had been there for less than an hour nursing the beer from my boilermaker when two guys came in who were probably runners. They started ordering drinks and toasting so I figured they were back from a run, and I was right. I walked over to their table and asked if they were buying for any one else. The big one laughed and said he only bought drinks for chicks and asked if I had balls. I bought him and his pal a round of boilermakers instead of venting him. I really needed a job and to make a good paying run I needed a team. As it turns out these two were what was left of one. Drek flew and they lost half the team. I showed them Richard Starky’s resume and hoped for the best. They took it at face value and we struck up the deal and that was it. I was in another team. They weren’t flashy, no team name or any drek like that, no colours or ornaments. I like that.
Just then what looked like a corp body guard walked in. He looked like he had seen better days though. The fact that one of those pretty boys was down here in flea bottom pretty much summed it up. I was about to wave him over when a nervous little dude walks in and right up to us without any preamble and say’s “I need to contact some Shadow Runners!” I near spit beer out my nose! Just comes right out and spews that like he is trying to hire a plumber or something! So we sit him down and poor a shot down him before he has a seizure and ask him why he needs runners. Come to find out he is a Talismonger and has arranged to buy an artifact of some sort and needs body guards for a one nighter. I smell drek on his breath but I let the boss handle it. XXXX says that what he needs is bodygaurds and not runners. Bout that time the pretty corp dude pipes in from the next table that he is a bodyguard and in need of employment. Boss kinda ignores him and we hammer out the finances. An even grand each with seventy-five percent up front and the rest after. Not bad for one night I guess. The boss shakes on it and then the chummer pipes in with something about a third party what wants to maybe snatch this relic thing from him. I knew he was holdin out! So I ask if he might know who this third party might be and he says Asswipe, or something like that anyway. Great. Now we are gonna maybe have other runners out there and ones that big corp money can buy. I want to frag him right now but the boss just says that the price will be a thousand plus expenses. The monger don’t seem to like this none but when I show him the butt of my shotgun inside my jacket he decides he is getting a good deal after all.
That’s when five gangbangers walked in. I saw right away that they were Skulls cause of the facial tat. They began to walk to the bar when one of them looked at my new pals and started yellin and cussin about some drek that happened at some convenience store in the recent past. Then they all pulled knives and started towards our table! Man I don’t want no gang trouble but this is my team now so I pulled my Katana about the same time the boss does and the gangers near let there drek out in there pants!! Boss jumps up on a table and the little guy starts chanting something. I thought that he looked like a spell spitter. Wonder which type. Shamans creep me out sometimes. I get close enough to my guy to swing at him but he is quicker than he looks and ducks. Then this pretty boy pulls his Ares Predator and pops one of them in the shoulder and then right tween the peepers! The little guy squirts a spell at the big ganger and his head gets all glowing blue for a sec and then he don’t want no more than to get home to momma. Boss sticks one of them and then side steps outa the line of fire at about the same time I split my guy from ear to belly. Pretty boy pops the one that the mage upset and then I see that these skull freaks are done so I waltz over to the bar to order another drink but the dear old gal is gone. So I hop the counter and line up boilermakers for all of us at about the same time boss sticks one for good and the last one runs for the door. Pretty boy must be one cold mutha cause he hasn’t broken a sweat or changed facial expressions during this whole thing. Maybe we should buy him a drink. About the time I am thinkin about those drinks pretty boy pops of a shot at what looks to be the back of the head of the ganger runnin out the door. He misses but I think if he had gone for a body shot it would have ended the drek sucker for good. No matter really, but something to keep in mind for the future. After the melee the boss asks pretty boy to join the team at least for this run cause he has experience in this sort of thing. He agrees easily so things must really be tight for him like I first thought.
Then I go home to my cube down by the wharf and chow on extra calories of real protein and don’t scrimp on the flavorings either, gotta run for the next night so I need to carbo load.
We all meet at the same bar (not my idea) and the mark shows and fills us in on details. The exchange is to go down at a wrecking yard on the fringes at 20:00 hours. We arrive at 19:45 (not my idea either) and split off into two teams. Me and pretty boy go with the mark for the exchange and the boss and the mage are gonna cover our flanks. The boss decides to stay low even though the wrecking yard is like a maze of piled scrap. I would have found the high ground myself but I am still paying my dues on this team so I don’t say nuthin. The three of us walk out into the middle of the yard and I start to get a bad feeling about this whole mess when I spot three people coming out of the shadows from the west, the mark says something in a language I don’t know and the three step out into the light. I move to my left cause I don’t want to be in the light any more. The leader of the three steps up to the mark and I see that it is a skirt. Kinda plain but I aint here to stuff scrip into her undies either. The mark looks into this box she is carrying and nods his head then gives her a credstick. That’s when her head blew up. I heard the shot from the northwest almost instantly so the shooter was close. I switch to thermal on my peepers and spot him on top of a junk pile (told ya) about the same time he vents the mark with the same type of shot. I point out the shooter to pretty boy as I move and grab two credsticks from the skirts body the same time on of her guards grabs the box. I should have just run and come back for the sticks but I was tired of living in that hole and the whole reason I am running again is for money so… The shooter wants the box bad cause the guard’s head went up as I started running. The third shot gave him away though and pretty boy started laying suppression fire. He must not use long guns much cause he just blows big holes in the side of the scrap heap. That’s when I start running hard. Didn’t work though cause he pegged me good through the meaty part of my ass even with me running like that. I round the corner and come face to face with a skull ganger and give him a burst from my Enfield AS-7 in the chest. The explosive rounds don’t leave much to identify. Then I crouch to inspect my ass and report in. The right cheek looks serious but doesn’t hurt yet. There is a firefight from where the boss is supposed to be and then LMG fire from around the west corner of my location. I look around and spot pretty boy catchin lead from it but giving back at the same time. Long range to be using a shotgun though. Then he moves to his right and braces the gun on the scrap pile from partial cover and taps off another burst. I hear cussing from the LMG area and it sounds rough, like from between big teeth so I know right away that there is either an Orc or a Troll manning that leadhose. Then I hear a turbine start to spin from the snipers area and lights flash across the yard like a rotor job is doing a low-level escape.
And then it just gets real quite. Pretty boy stands up so I run out and grab the box that we just sucked drek over and gathered up pretty boy to head for the boss’s car. I pass more ganger bodies along the way. The boss did four or five I think. Seems the mage spent the whole time doing astral combat with another mage, which I am grateful for cause we would have been compost otherwise. Pretty boy says to stop calling him that. I tell him to take off his jacket so I can look at his wounds. He caught three in the lower abdomen and it looks like he needs a doctor. He still aint sweating and he just keeps talking real calm.
I give the boss the box and hope it don’t just glow when we open it. Then we steal a van what belongs to those dumb ass skulls and split up and I take pretty boy to see Dr. Cyrus a buddy of mine who runs a street clinic and don’t ask questions about gun wounds. On the way I call my fence to turn these cred sticks before they can be reported. She says that any time is business time on the street. I hope these sticks are loaded cause I only got 750 nuyen from that talismonger. But since the boss wanted the marks business address I figure I know where him and that mage are headed and why. Pretty boy wants to talk shop in the cab and invites me to come over to his place in the ritzy part of town when we have the chance. I hear they have real beef sometimes. I always wanted to taste a T-bone steak. Maybe this guy is all right, and except for the error in ground location the boss seems alright. Hell, even the mage stood up and waded into the drek when he needed to. I might have stumbled into a pretty good team here. Hope the cash starts coming in though cause I think I am going to like the kind of lifestyle pretty boy and the boss lead.
Fin.
5 June, 2001
Dropped pretty boy off at Doc Cyrus’ place and found out that he has to stay there for five more days. Seems as though I will have the run of that nice condo! Those cred sticks turn out to be worth 20kN. I was hoping for more but you get what you get and that’s life. Split four ways that wont buy me many steaks. Oh well.
Boss says that they might need help at the Talismongers’ joint so I kick this skull van in the ass and see if it blows up. Rather find out now than when I am getting chased. I round the corner down the street from the address Boss gives me about the same time a store front blows. By the looks of it the job was done by a pro cause all the blast shoots forward and doesn’t damage the stores next to it at all. Then I spot Boss trying to get into his fancy car from the ground on the passenger side while firing blind up into a building. Wiz is crawling in the same direction and looks a little shaky. I wonder how close he was to that blast? Then I see what Boss is shooting at, just a muzzle blast poking out of a third story window. Amateur up there I think because Boss and Wiz are still breathing. I brake hard into the middle of the street about twenty five meters from the scene and rap off a quick burst towards the muzzle blast. Seems to work cause there aint no more shots coming out the window. Boss finally gets his ass into the drivers seat and gets the car started. That car don’t look so fancy no more though, got some front end damage and there aint window one in it now. I have to chuckle a little at that one. Pretty boy gave me the name of a good mechanic for the van though. Seems he will be getting some more business than just the van. Boss splits the scene like his ass is on fire and the Wiz is spraying lead offhand into the sky like some Mexican bandit from a bad sim. Brother.
We meet up at some bar I never been to. I circle the lot twice checking it out before I park next to the Boss’s car. He and the Wiz are already inside by then and I join them for a boilermaker. One thing about the west coast, great beer and better coffee if you can find plain black coffee that is. Damn foofoo crap makes me ill.
Boss seems more upset by his car than almost losing the Wiz. Go figure. I make the call to the mechanic Pretty boy mentioned and he says that he can do both rigs tonight if I’m not picky about colors. I say that I just want it dependable and flat black and he smiles into the pickup and says “The customer is always right” and logs off. I tell the boss that we can get his car fixed over night and the world is right again with him.
After two more drinks I suggest we head out into the van and have a look in this case we just got shot up over. My ass hurts like hell where the bullet went through and I aint in the best of moods just now. The Wiz tries some spell
to look into it without opening it but it doesn’t seem to work so its up to me. I pull out my little treasure. Seventy thousand Yen for this sweet little Maglock pass key and well worth every bit of it. But damned if this case almost beats it anyway! Makes me nervous right then cause that little piss ant Talismonger didn’t have enough Yen to afford this case let alone anything in it. . I start thinking of who we just pissed off and start sweating real bad. This whole thing smells like Pike street on a hot day. Inside the case is this sort of wand thing but the Wiz says its too big for a wand He wont touch it and I sure as hell aint going to! Wiz casts some spell and looks at the wand thing with glazed eyes but right away he recoils like he is in pain! . I start to get a little sick, this thing is very powerful and we aint, and someone real good was shooting at us and this guy asslick or whatever his name is, is some kind of regional security chief form this Nisai corp. Man I am getting the bad feeling that we just poked the pooch. Going native is sounding real good right now. Or maybe there is some nice safe war raging over in Europe that needs my services.That’s when Boss just reaches over and grabs the thing like a kid snatching candy. Wiz was blinded and I was lost in thought so we didn’t have a chance to try and stop him.
. Boss’ eyes get big, then bigger, then he tries to scream but no sound comes out. Then his whole body starts shaking like he is getting shocked or something. That’s when I smell pork cooking. I look at his arm and its swelling up all the way to his shoulder! The veins are glowing blue and look ready to pop. I am reaching for my blade to cut his arm off to save his life when he drops the blasted thing back into the case and scrambles to the back of the van as far from the case as he can get. He looks scared, scared bad! I shut and re-lock the case with sweaty trembling hands and just sit there for a bit. After a minute Boss says that he needs to go home and starts to leave. I ask about the mechanic and he seems to snap out of it a little. That car means the world to him man! We take both vehicles over to the shop and I outline what I want done to the van. New engine and tranny, tires, shocks and seals. Rear end checked and steering unit gone through. Interior stripped bare and good used seats with five point belts. Exterior sand blasted and shot with flat black primer. Windows replaced if cracked or broken and tinted dark. Fix anything else he finds as well. I give him a thousand in scrip as a deposit and he looks pleased. The Boss just wants a new paint job, fender work and new windows. We both ask about “other” modifications and this guy just smiles and say’s “what ever you can pay for I can do”. Cool.We all split up then. I go to pretty boy’s place, Wiz goes where ever and Boss goes home. He don’t look so good. His hand shakes, and even though Wiz spell healed him that arm looks like hamburger. Hope he gets over this cause I need income.
Getting into pretty boy’s place is no sweat. The code he gave me works just fine. I spend two days in the hot tub, drinking good beer along with good whiskey. Have my clothing laundered. Give my weapons a thorough cleaning. Order some new clothes in case I want to stroll around. Eat real beef cooked rare. Have a professional come up and see to my plumbing, a redhead. All the good things money can buy you. I pay for all of it myself of course.
Boss calls the morning of the third day and says he needs to see us all together, I say come on over here cause pretty boy is still in the hospital for three more days! I give him the locale and he picks up the Wiz and heads on over. He still don’t look good. I think he is still wearing the same clothes as he was two days ago! I think he has been on a binge but he wont drink anything I offer him. That’s when pretty boys home phone rings. I figure it is him checking on his place but the number isnt listed. I run a tap check that comes out clean and wait for the encryption code my friends use to call me with but don’t hear it so I let the comp pick it up. The caller doesn’t leave a message. I shrug it off and start to say something to Boss when I t rings again. I get that itchy feeling on the back of my neck right then and there. Somehow I know who is going to be on the other end of that call. I set the vis screen to blank my image and answer the call. Its him. He says that I have something that belongs to him. I say that it is real likely that I do. Boss is squirming like a prom queen in a biker bar whispering to me to tell them they can have it! Just give it to them. What ever that thing is scared the hell out of him. I tell the caller that we are willing to sell this item to him if he will guaranty that we will be square with him and his boss. He agrees and I tell him to meet me at pike square in two hours. He nods and signs off. I tell Boss and Wiz to take off now and get to the top of the building on the west side of the square. The sun will be in our favor that way, won’t be silhouetted against the skyline. I eat a nearly raw steak and leave to get my van back. The mechanic has done a swell job on it and I pay up the other two grand for it. Nothing like the sound of these old petro burners, and the power is remarkable. I drive casually down pike street to the square and park on the east side next to a coffee shop to wait. They serve real coffee here and I only had to yell once to get it served black. I was still nursing that first cup when the clock started chiming eleven o’clock so I walk out across the street and start for the fountain. The square isnt real busy yet this far from lunch so it is easy to spot asslick as he comes across the square towards me. I get the signal from Boss and Wiz that all looks good so I move to the fountain. Sure as hell hope that boss snaps out of it. I might need him to cover my ass in a minute.
Asslick greets me real nice and I use my best manners in return. I aint as scared as I thought I would be though. He asks me if I have the case and I say that it is nearby. He grins and says that if I give it to him now, intact that we will all be square with him and his boss. I say that he can have it for a hundred thousand Nuyen. He keeps smiling and says that fifty would be more reasonable. I counter with seventy five and he agrees. I signal Wiz to bring the case down and tell asslick that it is on its way. He says that since I am involving a third party then he will need to bring in a forth to even things out. Seems fair. I nod and he signals with a hand gesture. Across the square a women starts toward us. She fits the description Wiz gave me of a very bad ass physical adept.
. If this goes sour I aint gonna walk away even if Boss gets clean shots. Some how that calms me though. I don’t remember ever being that calm before really. She walks up and stands behind him and to his left. He asks her if she brought it and she nods. I see Wiz walking casually across the square. He never seems ruffled. I don’t think he is right in the head. Wiz hands me the case and I step forward to hand it to asslick. The adept hands me a small box. Inside is a common credstick. I plug it into my pocket secretary and it reads out seventy five thousand Nuyen. Boss pipes in over the tight beam transceiver for me to transfer the balance to my account and give them the box and stick back. I do so. Seems as though Boss is back with us and I nod in relief. Asslick has been holding the case in front of him with his eyes closed for a few seconds now, some kind of spell. Intel didn’t say anything about him being a spell slinger! He looks up and nods to the adept and says that the contents are acceptable. I give the box and stick back to the adept and he nods approval. We shake hands and bow and the Wiz and I walk back to my van and fight the urge to gun the engine to full throttle and scram out of there! We all meet at the Gypsy bar on the wharf. This Spell slinger seems to know a lot of sleazy gay bars! Oh well, to each his own. If he hits on me though I am going to have to get mean. We split the pokey up and are relaxing over a job well done along with about six boilermakers when in walks five skulls! I mean could you ask for a better bonus to a days work? I am drunker than I should be so it seems like a good idea to jump up on top of a table and yell at them. Go figure. I yell out to them and ask if they have enjoyed walking here. The recognize us but seem confused by my question. Must be slurring. They pull pistols this time instead of knives and I give a war whoop and pull my shotgun out from under my coat. Their eyes bulge a little as they see it but that is all the time they have cause my wired reflexes kick into full and I pop a burst into the chests of the two leading skulls. The first is a good solid center-mass shot and his chest cavity turns into a pinkish mist. The second burst hits off to one side but those explosive shells make up the difference. Boss pops a burst from his SMG into one of them and he is off to Valhalla. I pop my last burst of this clip into the one raising his pistol and get another center mass hit. He falls into two pieces on the floor. I then change clips while the Wiz slings a bluish bolt at the one remaining skull. The skull reels in pain and bolts out the door as my burst hits him square in the back. I walk out into the restaurant portion of the bar to see if they have pals in the area but they don’t. Then we hear sirens. I don’t want to talk to Lonestar right now so we all beat it. I go back to Pretty boys place and start searching for a place of my own. I find a likely spot up in the Normandy Park area out on Three tree point. A middle income furnished house. I pay a month up front and Bring up my bag. I have just moved in. Not as good as Pretty boy’s condo but one hell of a lot better than that roach closet I was living in. The roaches can have it.
I call Mr. Joshua and tell him that I have a team and that we need a gig. I am going to move up and retire in luxury or die trying. I also buy a long gun and some skillsofts. The gun takes a day to get but the softs are off the shelf.
I wonder if that little urchin that squatted outside my roach locker would like to stay in it for the three months left on the lease? I bet if she was scrubbed up she would be pretty. Maybe even legal age. Not that it matters to me.
Fin.
13 June, 2001
Turns out that the urchin squatting in front of my roach locker cleans up nice. Went and picked her up and scared two skulls out of their Hogs for my troubles. Gave the urchin one of them and told her to meet me at pretty boys place that evening. Loaded the second one in my van and hauled it back to my new place and locked it in my garage. Picked up some clothes and stuff for the urchin on my way to pretty boys pad, nothing special just good sturdy street gear. Turns out that the Wiz is playing Coyote cause he has made himself right at home in pretty boy’ place. He is working real hard on learning new spells that could save our ass though so I guess he needs somewhere to do it. Boss is there with some skirt when I pull up. Guess he figures on testing the springs on pretty boy’ bed. The place is too messy for the slumming skirt though so she moves out in a huff. Poor Boss. I save the Urchin from being made into a servant by my teammates. I tell her to go get showered up and change into the new clothes I bought while I make her some high protein food. I can see that she is scared of this situation but she must be more scared of the street and the gangs because she just ducks her head and does as I say. A good start.
While the Urchin is scrubbing, a man comes to the door saying that he is a Mr. Johnson. Damn careless way to approach a team in my opinion so Boss and I yank his chain a while before we get down to business. Seems that he wants a body back home in the corporate tender embrace. He is willing to pay twenty thousand plus expenses for the job too. Must want him real bad. He has good intel on the lad though. Seems this Jason Briggs has left the lap of luxury for a life as a gang poser. The skulls. Of all the luck. This might get awkward. Cant remember how many of them Skulls that I have killed now. They all blur together. No matter, I can play nice if the job requires it. Boss sticks him for five thousand up front. I like that. Expenses out of the way already.
Wiz says he has to call his decker friend for more info about the people involved. Boss is sexually frustrated or something because he heads out grumbling. The urchin comes out dressed in the sweats I bought her and that’s when I see that she is really a knock out. She looks Japanese, about fifteen. That suits my needs nicely. I hand her the rest of her clothing along with the armor vest I bought, then I make her eat dinner. She still seems real edgy and ready to bolt. She says that her name is Mika. I think that I will call her Spot, or maybe Bob. Oh well, Mika isn’t that hard to say. We go out to catch a Sim but Boss calls before we can even get to the Cinema. I drop Mika in a cab and head for the warehouse Boss wants watched. I circle for about fifteen minutes when I see two skulls walking down the street between my van and the Boss’s car. I hop out and yell over that I want to talk to them. They must have recognized me because one of them gets real pale and the other one just starts talking
. I try and tell them that I only want to talk about some one but they just keep on yammering in that way scared dogs do when they don’t really want to fight. Boss com’s me and says that I am about to let too much info hit the street so I decide to take one of them back with us by scaring them with my gun. As soon as they see it they pull pistols though. I use my wires and pop one of them dead square but I misjudge the recoil and miss the second one. Boss shoots out of the wrong window with the wrong hand and misses the guy all together. What a surprise. That’s when the little bastard pops a burst with his pistol! Never seen a pistol fire in that mode before. Hits me hard and I know its bad right away. I try and hit him again but both my bursts fail to drop him because I am shaken up pretty bad by the burst that hit me. I can feel the warm wetness moving down my pants legs so I know I am hit bad. Then he hits me again and the world zooms up to whack me in the head. Then I black out. I wake up in Doc Cyrus’ clinic the next morning feeling pretty good. Nothing hurts at all. That’s when I get scared. Either my spine has been severed or I am doped to the gills so that the pain won’t drive me into shock. I am hoping that it is drugs real bad.The Wiz is there with Doc Cyrus and he keeps casting the same spell over and over. Sometimes when he casts it I feel like ants are crawling all over me. I hope that that is a good sign. I fade in and out but every time I come to I feel better so whatever the two of them are doing must be working. Then I wake up and Doc says that he needs the bed for someone who is hurt. He smiles when he says it so I know my pal has fixed me up again. Then he smiles big and hands me the bill. I just chuckle and ask him how long I have been out as I swipe my cred stick through his machine. Only thirty six hours. Damn. I was real near dead and now I am fully healed only thirty six hours later. I owe that Wizard some good beer. And next time I will leave the nice stuff to nice people. I am what I do well so no more chumming around with flesh wounds or drek like that. From now on I do it like I was taught. Never draw down unless you are planning on killing. So be it.
The Wiz must have told Boss that I was up and around cause he calls me right after I wake up. He say’s that he and the Wiz have got two skulls drugged and wrapped up but that they won’t talk. I start to get real mad. As a matter of fact I am down right pissed. Those Drek suckers not only shot me but they also took my van. I just got through having that van fixed up. My new gun was in that van. I never even got to shoot that gun. I am going to go over there and I hope that those two skulls are still not talking because I have a ball peen hammer that needs to get used. I hop a taxi to the club Boss gave me the address for. Another club, we are going to run out of clubs before too long. I get there and when I walk in the bartender jerks his head towards a door in the back and says that they are in there. If this is some kind of ambush I am going to gut shoot that beer slinger. I am in no mood to be trifled with. The room behind the door is sound proofed and there is a big plastic tarp spread out. Two guys are tied up in metal chairs next to each other against the opposite wall from the door. I shake hands with the Wiz and bow to Boss. Then I tell these two skulls that Boss is going to ask them a question and the first one to answer wont get hurt, the other one will. I roll up my sleeves and take off my coat and stand in front of them. Boss is kind of pale and Wiz looks away. That’s fine with me, that’s why there are people like me in the world. Boss asks them if they have seen the man in the picture Wiz shows them. One of them just sits there and the other tells Boss to get
ed. Bad move on his part. I slice the laces on his boot and slip it and the sock off. Then I hold his foot down with my boot and smash his little toe with the hammer. He screams. Loud.Boss starts sweating and Wiz walks away. The other skull screams to but he just keeps saying not to hurt him. “I wont if you answer questions like a good boy” I say. Then I show him the bloody hammer and he yells out the name of the guy in the picture. Biggs he says, that’s J-Hawk! So now we have a street name for this Jason Biggs. Boss then asks where we can find this Biggs. They don’t say anything so I smash the next toe over. He screams again, a raw scratchy scream that winds down to a sob. I slap a trauma patch on his neck so that he wont go into shock. After that I just have to sit and look bored because the little guy starts singing like a canary. Every thing we need to know and a few choice bits we didn’t ask for. Boss and Wiz seem satisfied with our intel so I thread the silencer onto my Browning and pop both of them in the head twice. Then I cut them loose from the chairs and wrap them up in the plastic. Boss says that his contact here will take care of the bodies so we head out. I take another taxi to my new place and pick up that new Hog. Nice enough but I really prefer having something around me when drek flies. I meet up with Boss and Wiz about three blocks from where I got vented. So we were close the first time. Should have tried sneaking after them instead of parley. Stick to what you know Dez, it worked before. The job sight is a warehouse with all of the doors and windows boarded up except a rolling front bay door, a two-story job with no second floor. So no going through the back door or coming in through the ceiling either. Looks like the Wizards idea about having our faces painted with the skull logo and trying to get past the front guards that way is our only chance. At least we get a good floor plan from the Wiz going spook and having a look around. He says that my van is in there and that it is all painted up again. Slimy pukes. Someone will pay for that one. So we get our faces painted and dress like street scum. Boss also buys some real cheap beer. I wonder about that one at first but then when we get to the front of the building and I get off of my bike Boss just starts walking right up to the two guards holding out the beer and saying party things. The guards just guzzle the free beer and wave us in, guess that’s why he is the boss. When we get inside we split up. Boss heads for the center of the warehouse swinging sixpacks of beer around, he draws a crowd right away. Wiz heads for a pile of boxes in a dark corner and I make like I need to puke and head for the wall opposite the boxes. We are set to play it by ear when the Wiz hops up the boxes and starts to dance. Every body looks his way and some one shouts for him to get down. There is a group of four guys about four meters from me that turn their back to look at the Wiz. I can’t let an opportunity like that pass so I draw my shotgun and target the two closest to me using burst mode. I hit solid both times and still have enough time to vent the other two before any one reacts. Boss takes my cue and dives aside like he doesn’t know what is going on. He tries to do something with a stun wand when he lands on a guy but it doesn’t seem to work out for him because the guy gets up. Since Boss is dancing instead of offering converging fields of fire I decide to run and hide behind the van. I take two real light hits as I do so. A couple of shots nearly part my hair though. At least I don’t take any lead in my ass again. Out of the corner of my eye I see Wiz’s hand turn blue and he zots someone behind me. I get around to the side of the van nearest the wall so as to put the van between me and the rest of the guys with guns. That’s when I hear Boss’s SMG start singing. He aint half bad with that burp gun really. A skirt hops out of the back of the van in her birthday suit carrying my new AK-97. No way am I going to get shot with my own gun. I hit her in the small of the back with a burst and she doesn’t even scream. I see two guys flanking Boss. Must be the guards from outside. Each of them get a burst that drops them so I head on out the door to cover our exit and to make sure any one else coming this way cant come inside to play. That’s when this poser J-Hawk screams for us to stop. I don’t catch all of the conversation but no one shoots for a few seconds. Then I see Boss walk over to Biggs and accept a cred stick. The Wiz is walking real fast away from the pile of boxes so they must be nasty. And since Biggs is pointing his pistol at them instead of one of us I get the impression that we are at a reservoir dogs moment. I hate those moments really. Boss scans the cred stick and nods and then Biggs lowers his pistol. I head on over to my van and jockey it around the bodies. Boss did alright but his shirt is wet. He must have caught one somewhere. I leave the back doors open and turn to cover my teammates as they exit. Boss walks past the van window and I throw him the keys to my hog, Wiz climbs in the back of the van with his Ares still drawn. It is radiating heat so I guess he resorted to using his gun some time. I didn’t even hear it. We pull out of there and head back to Pretty boys place to regroup. One of these days I am going to have to remember to have Doc Cyrus back off on pretty boys drugs and let him go home.
When we get to pretty boys place we find that Mika is still there and has cleaned the place up. Very good. I ask her if she will be so good as to start making us dinner as I check Boss’ wounds. They need the medkit but I don’t think that he needs to see a Doctor. He smiles between staples and holds up the cred stick he got from Biggs and says that we should hand over our pocket secretaries for the split. Twenty eight thousand each. Nice, real nice. I go outside and load my hog in the van and tell Mika to follow me close because I drive fast. I stop on the way home and drop off my van at the mechanics. I tell him to sterilize it and repaint it. I will come back for it later. I head home on the hog with Mika next to me. She likes the house. I do too, especially now that I can pay the lease for the next couple of months. We park in the garage and I activate the security perimeter before we head upstairs. I like the roomy open feel of this floor. The kitchen is kind of small but it has all of the latest accessories, even one of those new European flavor faucets. I hope Mika can cook. I show Mika to her room upstairs. She seems shocked when I tell her that I will be sleeping in the master bedroom down the hall next to the den. Let her be shocked, I don’t want to be figured out. We put her things in the drawers and designate one of the shelves in the head as hers. I tell her that breakfast is at seven sharp and head into the master bathroom for a long hot dual head shower. The bullet holes are still pink like a babies skin. Have to buy that Wizard a drink later. Maybe teach him how to drive. That would come in handy. I mean really, who ever heard of a Shadow Runner that couldn’t drive. Before bed I clean, oil and reload my weapons and go through an hour of Kata with my sword. I may be getting old but I am still quick enough to stay alive. So far. Maybe I will stay alive long enough to retire in a luxury condo over in Redmond or some where like that. Tomorrow I will take Mika to Doc Cyrus for a thorough check up. My new water bed feels nice compared to the kind of places I have been sleeping the last six months. Things are looking up for Richard Starky. Hehee.
Fin.