Hunting Shadows
By
Fade
Chapter 5
Most of the next day was again spent in the same old busy, but bored waiting that Silk was growing to hate more each week. It sounded like an oxymoron, but the mage had found that even though Hammer kept her busy, the fact that she couldn’t go and do what she wanted to do meant that she was extremely bored. Silk had tried to come up with a reason to leave, but Hammer had insisted that the team needed to keep a very low profile after being involved in the altercation with the gang.
“We are quite a ways away from their turf, but we also cost them quite a few members, a small fortune in vehicles, and incredible amounts of lost face. When a gang takes that kind of hit in its rep, other gangs will try and use that to muscle in on their territory. They could loose territory, protection money, and quite a bit of the intimidation that they rely on to keep people from standing up to them. They have to recoup some of that rep and the best way would be to take us out since we were the responsible parties.”
Silk had been unable to argue with Hammer’s superior knowledge when it was couched in such solid logic. Instead the mage had resigned herself to a day spent inside. Luckily, she had been expecting something of the sort for a while, and already had all the materials she would need to summon some elementals while she was waiting. Not only that, but there was a chance that she’d be able to make some progress in cracking Shiver’s shell during the course of the day.
While Silk drew her ritual circle, using colored chalk marks on the white kitchen floor, the other three members of the team spent the morning practicing everything from swordplay to Aikido and Tai Chi. Silk always found herself fascinated by her teammates’ daily workouts. Hammer was a master of just about every martial art known to metahumanity, fast, strong, and the next best thing to indestructible, one would never guess that the troll was the most patient fighter of the three.
Shiver was familiar with almost all the fighting styles Hammer knew, but the elf favored the hard techniques found in karate and most forms of kung fu. Shiver was the fastest of the three, as far above the average gillette as that same gillette was above Silk. Sometimes the mage thought she could almost follow Hammer’s movements, but with the other elf she was under no such illusions. Shiver seemed simply to teleport from spot to spot, or from position to position. Where Hammer waited for his enemy to make a mistake so that the troll could avoid injury, Shiver usually forced the issue, doing whatever was required to create an opening in his opponent’s defenses. Hammer was continually warning his relatively more fragile student against taking unnecessary risks in fights, but so far Shiver hadn’t changed his fighting style, or gotten himself killed.
Shadow was a completely different story. The shape shifter was versed in fewer styles of combat than Hammer or Shiver, but he was very good at what he knew. Shadow had learned both Tai Chi, and Aikido, as well as a couple of hard styles of kung fu that Silk had never heard him specifically identify. Although Shadow seemed to truly enjoy the softer forms in which he was proficient, he rarely if ever used them in actual combat, preferring strikes, so that his preferred style of fighting somewhat resembled that of Shiver. The difference came in the level of savagery and intensity with which the Shadow fought. Part of the nature of a shape shifter was that they healed almost instantly from wounds. Shadow would regenerate from anything that didn’t damage his central nervous system in a matter of moments. Consequently, the runner attacked with a savagery that courted injury, but which tended to overwhelm opponents very quickly.
Unfortunately, by the time that the men got into heavy practicing, Silk was forced to stop watching so that she could concentrate on her summoning. Although the mage was only trying to summon a force three air elemental, it was a bad idea to let one’s attention wander during any summoning. You definitely don’t want to pass out partway through a summoning and have to hope that the men save you before the elemental kills you, thought the mage as she felt mana begin to coalesce around her. Three hours later, dripping sweat, eyes watering a little from the slight amount of incense in the air, Silk saw the elemental starting to take shape.
“Yes,” came the inquiry more felt than heard.
“Sizlx, by the power of your name, I draw you into this world and demand your services.”
Silk felt the magical being test her resolve, flexing mental muscles in an attempt to break free of her control. In some of her other summonings, the mage had been very worried that should wouldn’t be able to assert her control over the elementals she had brought in, but when dealing with a weaker elemental like this one, the mage wasn’t too concerned. However, concerned or not Silk wasn’t looking forward to the next part of the summoning. A face appeared in the mists that made up the elemental, nodding with a mocking grin as the being began manifesting fully on the material plain. For an elemental to manifest required an amazing amount of energy, energy that in this case had to come from the mage performing the summoning. As the elemental began to solidify further, Silk felt it pull greater and greater amounts of energy from her. Spots began swimming before the mage’s eyes, and her vision started narrowing as she tried to maintain a mental prison around the elemental that was struggling to overwhelm her in her moment of greatest weakness.
With a physical pain that felt like her organs were being torn from her, Silk saw the bluish swirl of a final manifestation. “As you wish, I will comply with your desires six times.” Silk nodded and gestured for the elemental to demanifest. “By all that is holy, I hate conjuring things. At least when you cast a spell it is a quick pain.”
Whipping her face with a towel that she had left nearby because she knew she would need one after the ritual, Silk tried to convince herself that if she would get up and take a shower that she would feel much better. The odds makers in her head were heavily favoring bets saying that she would stay where she was until the next ice age. In the end, the fact that there wasn’t any sound coming from the living room was enough to get the mage up so she could see what was happening.
Peering over the wooden half-wall separating the two rooms, Silk realized that all three men were deep in meditation. Hammer and Shadow were nearly motionless, rocking only slightly as they breathed . Shiver however was shaking quite a bit. Hammer had explained to Silk that the other elf was magically active. A physical adept much like Shadow, Shiver had chosen to have incredible amounts of cyberware and bioware installed in his body after the monastery where he and Hammer lived was destroyed.
Unfortunately, replacing part of your body with metal, or vat grown tissue partially severed your connection with the magical energy that allowed physical adepts to perform the miraculous feats for which they were known. Sure the magically gifted stood to loose quite a bit by getting cybered, but normal people always felt they had nothing to loose from getting technological modifications to their bodies. There were the studies stating that there was a high degree of correlation between the amount of metal you had implanted, and your mental instability, but the research was still mired in all kinds of controversy. There wasn’t any way that the corps who were making billions of nuyen a year constructing cyberware, or growing and implanting bioware would ever let a study like that stand unchallenged.
Besides that ordinary people really couldn’t tell a difference between how they were before the procedure and how they were after, except that they were suddenly faster, or stronger, or smarter. Shiver could tell a difference though. Each piece of cyberware that he had allowed to be installed in his body felt like a piece of ice. A cold spot that never seemed to go away. The feeling didn’t correspond to an actual drop in temperature in any spot of Shiver’s body, but he sometimes he couldn’t stop himself from shivering in an effort to warm back up.
Silk assumed that during meditation Shiver’s concentration was focused elsewhere, allowing his body to do whatever it thought it needed to in order to maintain homeostasis. Lost in contemplation of the horrible sacrifice that Shiver had made to be ready to avenge the death of his friends and family, Silk didn’t notice right away when the other elf’s eyes came open.
Silk came back to the present only to see that Shiver was glaring at her. Initially offended that the gillette would shoot her such a dirty look for no reason, Silk just about glared back. He didn’t know what I was thinking, he just saw me staring. I know he is sensitive about the fact that he shakes when he isn’t thinking about controlling it. Instead of following her first impulse, Silk gave Shiver a slightly sad smile before turning and heading towards the shower.
Shiver was left with a slight sense of confusion as he watched the slender elf walk away. Part of him detested the mage, at times she was the most unreasonable person he’d ever met. The rest of him found that he was starting to enjoy her company. It had been a long time since anyone besides Hammer had cared about what was going through the elf’s head. Try as he might, he couldn’t achieve a proper concentration for his meditation. By the time Silk got dressed and came back out, Shadow and Hammer had finished meditating, and Shiver had given up.
Even though the day was supposedly over, everyone still had things to do. Additional exercise, and care of equipment ensued, topped of by research into world events, and probably more importantly, events in the shadows of Seattle. Silk managed to get some further magical study and practice in before everyone ended up crashed on couches in front of the trid watching one of the movies that Peter had stocked the flop with. Hammer had expressed a desire for a good book, but was still unwilling to let anyone leave the apartment, or make any electronic purchases. Silk had to admit that he had a good point. The odds against anyone tracking them through the bank accounts that Peter had set up for them, or recognizing them when they were disguised were very small, but they did still exist. After their experience with the vindictive racist organization that had almost killed them a couple of times last week, nobody was really anxious to take risks that they didn’t absolutely have to.
Luckily, the selection of trids was incredibly good, and everyone was able to settle on something with enough romance, intrigue, and fighting that nobody felt stiffed. Partway through the movie, Silk saw Shiver reach up and rub his shoulder for the sixth time, and realizing that he must be sore, she absentmindedly reached over to massage his shoulder. The gillette tensed up the second that the mage’s hands touched him, as if he expected to be struck. Silk froze for a second realizing that the razor could have easily thrown her into a wall before understanding that he wasn’t under attack.
Before the mage could withdraw her hands, Shiver reached up and captured her hands, giving them a tentative squeeze before returning them to his neck and shoulders. Hammer looked to be as enthralled in the movie as Shadow, but the mage knew that somehow he had seen the whole exchange. With a mental shrug, the slender elf decided that she could worry about what if anything was developing between her and Shiver latter.
When Hammer and Shiver reached for a second movie an hour later, Silk felt a prodigious yawn escape slip past her lips, and the mage decided to call it a night. Gathering up the pillow and blanket she had been using, the elf bid everyone good night only to stumble slightly when instead of ignoring her, Shiver winked in response to her biding him to sleep well. Covering her astonishment as well as she was able, Silk went into her room trying to figure out what exactly what going through the other elf’s mind.
Silk awoke to a set of thumps that signaled that the boys were working on hand to hand again. After the last few weeks the early-morning bouts weren’t a surprise any longer. What did surprise the elf was that she all but jumped out of bed eager to get a start on the day. I guess I’m more excited to figure Shiver out than I thought I was. With a grin the elf grabbed a fluffy white towel and jumped into the shower.
The rest of the day seemed to drag on. The boys practiced mundane ways of maiming people, while Silk delved into her electronic library and tried to figure out exactly how to cast one of the new glamour spells she’d read about in one of glam mags at the beauty parlor. Hammer no doubt wouldn’t have deemed it time well spent, but as long as he didn’t ask, the mage could continue to cultivate the impression that she was in the midst to creating something that would leave entire hordes of enemies writhing on the floor in pain.
When the team finally finished up for the day, Silk announced that she was going out for a walk. Hammer of course protested, pointing out that it was dark outside, and although they weren’t in one of the really bad areas, there was still plenty of bad things that could happen to a woman out by herself a night. Not to mention the fact that the gang could possibly still be out looking for them. With a coy smile the mage shrugged. “So send someone along, say maybe Shiver. He can protect me from whatever might be lurking out there.”
Silk knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, but Hammer and the rest of the boys seemed willing to go along with the charade. Shiver gave her a measuring glance, and then reached over to grab his duster and the small arsenal that he always took with him when he left the house.
The evening was beautiful. A wind had blown through the city late that evening, and cleared out the smog and normal stench of the plex. In Silk’s opinion, the fact that the clear sky allowed a view of a few of the brighter stars was the best treat of all.
After a half hour of walking through the decaying streets the mage pointed towards the brightest visible light. “Do you know which one that is?”
Shiver stopped and stared towards the distant point, “No.” The brevity of the gillette’s response wasn’t without precedent, but it still took Silk aback.
The silence started to stretch out, becoming brittle for a few seconds before Shiver relented and
looked at the mage. “I spent my childhood worrying about whether or not I’d find enough food the next day to avoid starving. Whether or not I’d be able to avoid the gangs, devil rats, pimps and bullies.” With an uncomfortable shrug the elf continued. “After Hammer took me in I was too busy learning how to kill people to spend time star gazing.”
Silk felt her breath catch momentarily as she tried to imagine the horror that had been the other elf’s childhood. “Croix said that our ability to look heavenward and wonder, is what separates us from the beasts. It links us to the angels, and pushes the demons back a pace.”
The beautiful blond hesitated as she realized that it would be very easy for the other elf to take offense at what she had just said. “You have a chance now to look up and dream.”
Shiver smiled, but it was a bitter, chilling smile. “Pretty words. They don’t mean anything though. They don’t change the here, the now.”
The mage sensed that she was nearing the source of Shiver’s unhappiness. “Hammer said that you used to be a poet. That seems like something you would have liked back then.”
Shiver turned to more fully face the other elf. “I gave that up along with the magic when the monks were slaughtered. After we found them gunned down, lying in puddles of blood, or sucked dry by the undead I gave it all up. Hammer vowed to hunt the blood suckers down, and my magic wasn’t strong enough to join him, so I went under the knife.”
Silk shuddered slightly at the thought of trading the joy and wonder that was magic, to have pieces of metal and vat-grown tissue inserted in her body. “That is a pretty awful trade, but look at all the good that you’ve been able to do as a result of getting mods and staying with Hammer.”
Shiver shrugged. “Good is a relative thing. You and Hammer may have convinced Shadow that he is fighting on the side of truth and justice, but the way I see it we’re usually just in it for the money. Some of the people I’ve killed, that we’ve killed, were about as much in the right as I was. Going after those racists was more an act of self preservation than it was because Peter or Hammer wanted to rid the world of people that were full of hate and violence.”
The elf turned back away from Silk, and lowered his voice slightly. “I’m just as full of hate as any of them were, and I’ve done more killing. It is just a different kind of hate, and people that Hammer had said it was ok to kill.”
The mage reached out slowly to Shiver. “It is ok. It is like we told Shadow sometimes those things are necessary to protect those who would become victims of the people that you are killing.”
Shiver brushed Silk’s hands away. “I don’t really care anymore. Hammer saved me from something that can hardly be called living. I’ll kill whoever he wants killed. If he wants to dress it up in morals and claim that the people had to be killed fine, it doesn’t make any difference to me.”
***
Despite the walk, or more likely because of it and specifically what Shiver had said, Silk didn’t sleep well that night. She awoke to the smell of soy bacon and eggs, as well as a couple of other delicious smelling foods that she couldn’t place. Stumbling into the indecently bright kitchen, the mage found that Hammer was in the process of cooking up one of the most impressive breakfasts that she had ever seen. The troll picked up a gallon of orange juice, and poured it into a glass that looked toy like in his massive hands. “At the risk of committing the gravest of faux pas, it would appear that you are in need of something to get yourself going this morning.”
Silk stuck her tongue out at the other runner, but only for as long as it took for her to grab the juice and raise it to her mouth. “I actually feel quite good this morning thank you. Sadly enough though of us who have dedicated our lives to the pursuit of magic are forced to forgo those technological monstrosities that allow you to awake before the roosters have started stirring, and still look like you’ve had a full nights rest.”
If it had been anyone else that the mage was looking at, she would have sworn that they flinched, but she had never seen Hammer do anything of the kind. Oh drek, he is afraid that Shiver heard that. The mage shifted uncomfortable as she realized that the other elf may very well have done just that. Between my thoughtless mouth, and his hyper-sensitive ears, there is little chance that he didn’t.
Hammer shot the female a sad smile that said he knew exactly what Silk was thinking, and then turned back to the stove. “Well, it is all soy substitutes, but it should still taste pretty good all things considered, so help yourself.. Everyone else has already finished, once you are done lets go for a little walk.”
Silk ate her breakfast with less enjoyment than normal. The food was excellent, but the knowledge that Hammer wanted to ‘talk’ to her was enough to sour any enjoyment of the meal. Upon finishing the last bite, the mage stood up and looked expectantly at the troll.
Hammer cocked his head slightly to the side, “You can go and get dressed before we leave if you would like.”
Forty-five minutes later a newly-showered and primped Silk was ready to go. The pair walked for ten minutes before Hammer pointed to a black, graffitied park bench that looked sturdy enough to hold their combined weight. “I can never walk and talk about anything important at the same time.”
The gillette waited for Silk to seat herself, and then followed suit. “You didn’t sleep well last night, I could hear you tossing and turning. Would you like to talk about it?”
The elf started slightly, and then shook her head. “Honestly, I’d rather not, but obviously you feel like we should.”
Hammer flashed a wry smile, and then shrugged his massive shoulders. “I’ve known Shiver for quite some time now. I’m happy that he feels like he can open up to you and talk about some of the demons that are haunting him. I’m just a little worried about the two of you. He hasn’t ever been involved with anyone before. Combine that with the fact that he really does still have some things to work out, and there is quite a bit of potential for problems.”
Silk shifted uncomfortably on the bench. “I agree, there is a possibility that things could really get messed up. Not the least because he said some really scary stuff last night. We’re talking borderline psychotic, but I don’t think he really meant it. It sounded more like the stuff you tell people because, and you want to shock them a little, than the kind of thing that someone would really believe. I guess you could say it was a cry for help.”
Hammer opened his mouth, but the mage forged on unwilling to let him interrupt until she finished. “I think I can help. He all but worships you, but he needs to develop some other friendships. Otherwise he is going to wake up one day and decide that you weren’t everything he thought you were, and feel like he has wasted his whole life. Like he sacrificed too much for you.”
Hammer gazed at Silk for a moment before nodding his head. “I have that same worry, but I’m not sure that this is the way to address the problem. However, I can’t really forbid you to pursue your chosen course, so I’m left to simply plead that you be careful.”
The rest of the day didn’t play out like anyone had really expected. Peter called with a run shortly after Hammer and Silk returned to the safehouse. Hammer had politely but firmly told the fixer that the team wasn’t interested in getting involved in the maelstrom that was Seattle’s shadows.
Peter had been equally polite, but very insistent that the team wouldn’t want to miss the run that he was offering them. “Senior Hammer, please trust Peter on this, this is not the mercenary run that you are afraid of, this is truly a matter or honor.”
Hammer had been very hesitant, but in the end, Peter and the rest of the runners convinced him that it would at least be a good idea to meet with Peter and find out about the run. When Hammer finally agreed, Peter informed him that he had a van en route to pick them up. “It should arrive in the next fifteen minutes. Peter wanted to make sure that you could make it here quickly. If you decline the run, a series of vehicles will be ready to take you back to your apartment in such a manner that no one should be able to follow you.” The tiny fixer was obviously trying very hard to make sure that the team was able to maintain a low profile, so in the end the troll agreed to at least hear the fixer out.
Hammer thanked Peter for making the arrangements to get the team where they needed to be, resisting the urge to talk about himself in third person like the fixer always did. As soon as Peter signed off of the vidphone, the team ran to collect their gear. By the time the nondescript old van pulled up to the building, everyone was double checking each other’s gear to ensure that they weren’t forgetting anything. Peter had indicated that the team would be heading on the run without getting a chance to come back, but they weren’t sure what would be required for the job, so Hammer told them to bring just about everything.
Forty-five minutes later, the team pulled up to a fairly large, very old warehouse in the Pallyup Barrens. The driver of the van, a slightly overweight dwarf who was rigged into the vehicle pulled up to a rusted gate that Silk didn’t think would move without a considerable amount of grease. Amazingly enough as soon as the van neared the gate, it slid open without a single squeak. The team was glad to arrive, the trip had been a little rough on everyone’s nerves.
Riggers were people who had cyberware installed that allowed them to plug their brain directly into their vehicles. A rigger felt like they had extra senses. They could feel how hard their engine was working, see through a vehicle’s radar. The immersion of a rigger was so complete that they generally talked through car speakers instead of using their mouths.
Silk had worked fairly closely with some of the Doc Wagon riggers before she crossed over to running, but the Doc Wagon riggers had all been very professional. The rigger that Peter had set them up with had the disconcerting habit of talking to himself. Unfortunately, he did so over the speakers in the van. The entire trip, the runners had been forced to listen to the rigger complain about the lack of power, sensors, and weapons on the van. That would have been bad enough, but the dwarf seemed to have issues with women in general, and elves in particular. When the dwarf wasn’t complaining about the vehicle, he was making snide remarks to himself about Silk, her parentage, and the foolhardiness of anyone trying to date one of the too-tall, pointy-eared ice slitches.
By the time that the van finally pulled into the warehouse Shadow had been forced to restrain Silk several times to stop her from trying to knock the rigger out to stop the flow of complaints and insults. The rigger of course saw the shape shifter grab Silk’s arm, but that just seemed to reinforce his opinion of the elf as being incompetent.
Unplugging from the vehicle for a minute after they arrived, the dwarf motioned Hammer over. “Your too icy to be running with someone like that. Do yourself a favor and drop the baggage chummer. There have got to be plenty of male mages who could do the job better. At least get a non-daisy eater. They aren’t like you and me, they never had to deal with any of the down of being turned into a meta.”
Silk overheard the rigger’s comment and finally decided that she had heard enough. The mage started to pull mana in to hit the dwarf with a stun spell that would leave him sprawled out on the concrete with blood running from his deformed little nose and ears. Luckily for all concerned Shiver realized what was going on, and stepped in front of the mage, breaking her line of sight before she could get the spell off, while shaking his head in reproach. Hammer nodded to the rigger and then walked over to Silk. “I don’t care how much he provoked you, you have to keep your cool. What you just about did would have been unforgivable to these people. Make sure that you keep your temper in rein in the future, or we’ll have part ways.”
Silk fought with her first impulse, and managed not to respond with something biting. She was fairly certain that Hammer liked her, but it was apparent that for all that the troll typically cut her quite a bit of slack when it came to things like street etiquette, she had just crossed some line that was too important for the gillette to simply smile and shake his head in amused resignation. I guess that pretty much everyone in this business has to deal with all kinds of unpleasant people. If I attack this guy without his having come after me first, I’ll be relegated to the minor leagues, down where you’re never sure if someone can be trusted enough to be professional or not. Silk nodded abashedly, reminded just how far over her pretty blond head she was. “Yes, shifu,” replied the mage.
Hammer studied Silk for a minute, and the elf started to wonder if there was something else bothering the troll. Maybe he is more opposed to Shiver opening up to me than he let on. This could just be a pretense for getting rid of me later. Shaking herself slightly the mage told herself to stop being so paranoid. Hammer is one of the most straightforward and honorable people I’ve ever met, the last thing he would do is hide something from those around him, and I really did almost go too far. Once again the troll was looking at her in that way that made people feel like he was reading their minds. After a few more seconds, Hammer seemed to have decided that the point had been made with sufficient emphasis, and smiling at her for a second, he turned to look at the rigger, apparently having dismissed the matter from his mind.
The rigger motioned for the team to walk deeper into the decrepit warehouse, and then plugged back in and left. Hammer and Shiver looked at each other, and then pulled back long coats, and readied their submachine guns.
Silk looked over and realized that Shadow already had his sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other. Drek, this is the perfect setup for an ambush. I think Peter is worthy of our trust, but then again, you never really know how your enemies will try to get to you. Readying a ram spell, Silk walked over to Hammer and prepared to go astral.
Hammer apparently heard something though, because he cocked his head to the side, and indicated that she shouldn’t leave her body yet. Everyone breathed a little bit easier as Peter came around the corner of a large crate, and stepped up to the door. “Peter apologizes friends, Peter didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”
Hammer smiled slightly and shook his head. “That is fine friend Peter, we are all just a little bit on edge with everything that has happened lately.”
The inside of the warehouse was completely at odds with the impression the runners had received from the outside. Rather than rundown and aging like the exterior, the interior of the building was tidy and clean. It appeared that a new building had been constructed inside the old warehouse, leaving the older shell up as camouflage, but creating an interior that would keep whatever was stored inside clean and dry. Silk had to force herself not to gawk at the boxes and vehicles stored in the immaculate interior as the dark-skinned fixer led the team to a small office in the center of the building. Apparently, the warehouse served as Peter’s principle stockpile of weapons and equipment. Hammer was amazed that Peter had brought them there. There was no doubt that the location of the fixer’s stockpile was information that could be used to do all kinds of damage to his operations. Peter shrugged when Hammer commented on the advisability of bringing them there. “You have shown Peter trust by coming here, so Peter should show you trust in return. Besides that, Peter is running the operation from here, and Peter needed you to be close while things started to unfold.”
With that, the fixer had gotten down to business. “Peter was called this morning by an individual who is very highly placed in the yakuza of the city, he should be arriving shortly.” Hammer had almost walked out of the meet at that point, desiring nothing to do with organized crime, but Peter had convinced the troll to stay and hear him out. The fixer had gone on to explain that the head of the yakuza in Seattle, a Mr. Yoshimo, had just learned of his daughter’s kidnaping .
The abductors appeared to be from the yakuza of another city. In a rare break from their usual solidarity the head of the organization in this still-unnamed other city, was trying to take over operations in Seattle. The abduction of the little girl had been accompanied by a warning that Yoshimo’s organization was massively compromised, and consequently, that no action should be taken to try and rescue the girl. The fact that his daughter had disappeared from his house while surrounded by yakuza security seemed to indicate that Seattle yakuza really was compromised.
A very trusted servant had been signaled, in a very subtle manner so as not to arouse the suspicions of any possible informers, to take to take care of the problem since Yoshimo knew he couldn’t use his own people to free his daughter. The servant had come to Peter upon hearing that he was a trustworthy fixer who could put together very large operations on short notice. The servant had no real proof that he was acting on orders, so he had agreed to be subject to a truth spell. Once Peter was convinced that the servant, believed what he was telling them, the fixer had decided to accept the job. The servant, a Mr. Asako, had assured Peter that his master would pay any expenses the fixer incurred, as well as rewarding him handsomely.
Hammer had been quick to point out that Asako’s promises weren’t quite the same thing as Yoshimo’s promises, but as the story continued to unfold, he eventually agreed that the gamble was probably a worthwhile risk from a strictly business standpoint.
Peter indicated that Asako first wanted them to acquire the ritual samples for the kidnaped daughter so that Peter’s mages could trace her in preparation for a rescue. The second step would be to secure the safety of his employer’s wife and remaining daughter. Once all three noncombatants were safely behind a powerful magic ward that would all but eliminate any chance of them being traced magically, Yoshimo would then be free to respond to any and all threats in typically ruthless yakuza fashion.
Hammer was still unconvinced that the team should have anything to do with the run, and said as much when Peter finished explaining the run. It looked for all intents and purposes that the discussion was closed until Asako, entered the room spartan room. The elderly servant looked at Hammer for a moment before addressing the troll. “You believe my master to be a man without honor, or at least someone who has involved himself in things which are wrong. I can understand why you would think this, and consequently not wish to help him. His wife and daughters however are completely innocent. They know nothing of what he does, and they will be destroyed when they learn of his profession.”
The elegant old Japanese man looked at each of the runners in turn. “If money has no appeal to you, please accept this task in order to save three innocent people who do not deserve to be caught up in this.”
Peter waited until Asako finished before interjecting his take on the situation. “Peter thinks you should know that although Senior Yoshimo is indeed involved in all kinds of illegal activities, they differ drastically from the activities of the head of the family that wishes to take Seattle over. The signs are that if the takeover succeeds, the yakuza here will become much more involved in things like kiddie porn, protection rackets, and prostitution. In effect, although you would be helping an evil, it would keep what Peter believes to be a greater evil out of our city.”
Hammer considered this for a few minutes, looking at each of the other members of the team. Shiver seemed fairly neutral with regards to the run. Shadow seemed hesitantly supportive, obviously worried about taking further lives, in support of a cause which might not justify doing so. Silk on the other hand seemed very much in support of accepting the job. Hammer got the distinct impression that if he hadn’t dressed her down so severely earlier, that she would be giving him an explanation of why they should take the job. A very loud, detailed, illogical explanation.
After a few seconds of the troll’s scrutiny, Silk realized that he knew what was going through her mind. A switch seemed to go off in her mind, and the mage realized that she was yet again behaving in a manner that wasn’t going to get her any more respect from her new leader. “The little kids are innocent, if nothing else we should try to save the children.”
Hammer finally nodded, turning back to Peter and Asako. “We will take the job, twenty thousand each.” Peter smiled broadly, while Asako seemed to deflate in relief.
_____
The next couple of hours passed in a whirl, as preparations were made to extract the mother and daughter from the fortress that they called home. Peter began contacting his top runners as soon as Asako had come to him, but assembling the kind of teams that the fixer wanted was going to take time.
With everything that was going on, there was no way that Peter could go to all of the meets required to get buy in from the teams they needed. Consequently, Shiver, and Shadow were sent to accompany Peter’s trusted assistant, Jeanette so she could meet with some of the teams Peter had contacted.
Assuming that the teams were able to get the blood samples required to trace the daughter magically, the mages were going to need a very specific set up to perform the ritual. Since time was of the essence if the three runs were going to be pulled off before the 36 hour deadline that had been given Yoshimo, Silk had immediately been sent to an abandoned warehouse to start drawing what was going to be the biggest ritual circle she had ever seen.
Hammer on the other hand found himself traveling to a posh restaurant to meet with another team, or more correctly the fixer for another team. The troll found that he was surprisingly nervous about the meet. It isn’t like I’ve never done this before, but I have always been on the other side of the table, never working as the employer. That and I haven’t worked by myself for a couple of years. I’d forgotten how much more you have to worry when you only have one set of eyes to watch for problems.
Luckily, the fixer Peter had sent Hammer to meet with was supposed to be as trustworthy as they come. Gabriel, was an up and coming personality on the Seattle shadow scene. The young human worked with just one team, taking the kind of impossible-to-accomplish runs that Peter was hoping to break into with Hammer’s help. The word on the street was that Gabriel was uncannily good at figuring out which runs were more or less on the level, and which runs were designed to double cross his runners.
Hammer found the address he had been given, and was shocked to see that there were valets outside waiting to take care of the blue Saab Dynamite that Peter had loaned him. I guess it was good that Peter insisted that I stop by a tuxedo shop first. I didn’t realize this part of town was quite so posh. As the troll pried himself out of the tiny sports car, handed the keys to the valet, and walked into the restaurant, he saw another Dynamite, this one black, pull up to the curb.
Hammer walked over to the maitre d’ of the restaurant and gave the tiny Englishman the name under which Peter had reserved the table. The human looked the troll over two or three times, and seemed nearly at the point on asking for identification before finally nodding briefly and gesturing for Hammer to follow a waitress into the elegant dining area.
Hammer looked at the table he was guided to, and considered the delicate silver chairs for a moment. The razor was big, even for a troll, and when you added in the amazing amount of metal that he had paid to have implanted in his body over the years, he weighed slightly more than 250 kilograms. The chairs didn’t look like they would even come close to supporting his weight.
The waitress, a slim, blond elf wasn’t nearly as snobbish as the maitre d’, but she seemed very confused as to why Hammer wasn’t sitting down. Hammer contemplated the best way to inform her of his concern, and then just motioned her closer. People usually respond better to being motioned over than they do to having a miniature mountain walk over and try to whisper in their ear. Tends to make them a little nervous.
Luckily the elf was tall enough that Hammer didn’t have to bend down much. “I’m not sure if your chairs are designed with someone my size in mind,” whispered the troll as quietly as he was able.
The pretty elf was very obviously amazed that neither she or her boss had considered the issue, but just as obviously was trying to maintain the cool, collected air expected of the staff at the restaurant. She paused for a moment, lips moving slightly, and Hammer realized that she was using a radio, or cell phone implant to communicate with a superior.
In short order the waitress was leading Hammer to another table, one slightly taller, with several larger, hopefully sturdier chairs. People that worked in this kind of establishment weren’t the kind who made simple mistakes, so the whole affair tended to make Hammer suspect that the maitre ‘d had directed the waitress to the wrong table in hopes of embarrassing the ‘uncultured beast’.
Shortly after Hammer was seated, a young man was led to his table. Realizing that this was the fixer he had come to meet with, Hammer struggled slightly not to stare. It was amazing how innocent the human looked. Standing and bowing out of politeness, the troll took in the other’s bright violet eyes, and tried to decide whether they were natural or cyber.
The human, who introduced himself as Gabriel, bowed slightly in return, and they both seated themselves and ordered. Although the restaurant was nearly perfect, Hammer found himself struggling a little to avoid discussing business during the meal. Generally, the troll was very patient, but he wasn’t as comfortable among the upper crust as he was trying to let on. The myriad of utensils perfectly subdued lighting, and the understated elegance of the furnishings all conspired together to scream money. The runner knew how to act in such a setting, having studied the appropriate etiquette years ago, but didn’t enjoy associating with so many people that he was sure had sold out their values over the years.
Gabriel seemed to sense the troll’s anxiety, and tried to put the troll at ease. The fixer had come in just behind the troll, and so had noticed that he was driving a Saab. Hammer had explained that it was a borrowed vehicle, much to Gabriel’s disappointment. The fixer it turned out had pulled up in the black Dynamite that Hammer had noticed just before entering the restaurant. Hammer asked the young man about his choice in vehicles completely unprepared for the way Gabriel’s eyes lit up. It was rare that Hammer came across a non-rigger, who had such a love of speed. As Gabriel talked about braking points, drafting, and a host of other things that Hammer was only passingly acquainted with, the troll was for some reason reminded of Shadow. He has a glee for life that I haven’t encountered very much in our jaded, cynical profession. It is very much the same kind of enjoyment that Shadow gets out of the simple things that the rest of us all take for granted.
Gabriel ended his discussion of racing by commenting that he was fairly sure that Peter had sent Hammer in a Dynamite just because the fixer knew that Gabriel had the same model of car. As the fixer finished, Hammer realized that the dinner was over, and it was time to turn the conversation towards business.
Again Gabriel sensed Hammer’s discomfort with the situation, and made an effort to make the big troll comfortable. “I see that you are ready to discuss something more substantial than the quickest way to get from 0 to 60. Why don’t we retire to a more appropriate place.”
Gabriel signaled for the waitress, and after a few seconds of hushed conversation, she led them to a private wood-paneled room in the back of the establishment. Hammer followed Gabriel and the young woman warily. The gillette liked Gabriel, and felt like the human was likely to be trustworthy, but following someone that wasn’t a teammate into a room that he hadn’t scouted, all without backup went against twenty years of carefully cultivated paranoia. It is too bad Shadow isn’t here, there is no ambushing him with his combat sense active. I on the other hand can be ambushed about as easily as anyone else.
***
Shiver and Shadow reported back to Peter’s warehouse nearly exhausted. The strain of maintaining their guards for six hours had been much worse than either of them would have guessed. Luckily Jeanette had done all of the negotiating. Shadow wouldn’t have had the first idea to handle the unreasonable terms some of the teams had demanded during the course of negotiation, and Shiver simply had very little inclination to deal with the kind of posturing that one almost invariably had to deal with when negotiating with shadowrunners, especially the ones that were still trying to build up a decent rep.
Between trying to keep any eye out from problems from the yakuza, and watching for setups designed by the teams with which they were dealing, both men were more than ready to call it a night long before Jeanette indicated that they had met with everyone they needed to, and led them away from the last seedy bar.
***
Silk wiped sweat from her face in an effort to keep it from dripping off of her nose onto the lines she was drawing in chalk on the cement floor. As exhausted as she was, there was no way she was going to be able to defend herself from a frisky kitten, so it was a good thing that Peter had sent Vixen and Ox to keep an eye on her. The elf would have preferred to have Shadow with her, or even Shiver, who definitely seemed to be making an effort to be a little more pleasant, but she knew the slender female and the ork-sized male from a previous run, so she felt reasonably secure that the pair of razors would do their job. Consequently, when the mage heard someone moving around she didn’t even bother looking up, she just continued drawing the circle that would be needed later that day.
The movements got closer, and Silk finally overcame her exhaustion enough to look up so she could warn whoever it was away so that they didn’t smudge the chalk lines. As Silk’s head came all the way up, she heard a light chuckle.
“I thought that would get your attention.” The feet, which had entered the elf’s field of vision on the bare concrete, turned out to belong to Mercury, one of the better mages running the Seattle area. The pretty, dark-skinned elf looked appraisingly at Silk. “I’m impressed, I don’t know very many people that could draw a circle that complex. I know I couldn’t. I have the raw power to help fuel something like this, but my education hasn’t been quite that complete.”
Silk had hard more things about Mercury since she got into the shadows than she had any other two runners, including the fact that the other elf was gorgeous. She seemed to be held in the kind of awe reserved for minor deities. Of course that meant that the blond was prepared to hate her from the start. Instead Silk found that she really wanted to like the other elf. There was no question that the other mage was more powerful than Silk, but apparently she was willing to admit to at least one shortcoming. Unfortunately, Silk was so tired that any tact she possessed had disappeared about the same time as she used up her second stick of chalk. “Aren’t you supposed to be some kind if ultra-powerful ice princess?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Silk wished she hadn’t said anything, but there was no way she was going to try and take anything back now.
Mercury smiled slightly. “I do have that reputation don’t I?” Silk nodded hesitantly, and Mercury shrugged her shoulders. “I had some bad experiences growing up, it makes me uneasy around norms. That is part of why I don’t come across as being overly friendly. Also I’ve worked hard to get where I’m am, I have a hard time respecting people that haven’t worked to get where they are. You obviously have spent some time researching magic, or you wouldn’t be able to have drawn a circle this complex.”
Silk sat on the cold floor in an exhausted stupor trying to process what had just been said. “But I’m not even an initiate yet.”
Mercury smiled broadly now. “You’re still young, don’t worry so much about raw power, knowing how to use what you’ve got is much more important than having more power than you know what to do with. And now, I’m going to stop you before you tell me something you are going to regret later when you aren’t as tired.”
With that the other mage picked up a stick of blue chalk and knelt down to work on the circle. “I think I can fill in some of the parts you haven’t done yet. It isn’t too bad as long as you show me how to add each new level of complexity.”
__________
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