Episode 2
"Nightmares on Pike Street"
(c) 2003, Matt Grossman and J. Sage Schreiner

Jack "JD" Daniels, an impulsive gear-geek -- Dan Simpson
Bret, a suave survivor -- Matt Grossman
Hans Niedelheimer, a former "chemist" -- Tom Morin
Maggie Simpson, a cold-blooded EMT with an usual background -- Noelle Kompkoff
Kenji Yoshida, the hitman son of a ruthless executive -- Paul Skavland
Roach, a diminutive martial artist -- Kevin Osborn

1/2/2023 9am

As the party is resting after hauling 500 pounds of pornography up thirty
floors, there is a knock on the door. 

Bret: (attempts to sneak out through hole in the wall, trips over the dog, and
falls flat on his face)
Dog: Arf! Grrrrrr.
Roach: This is how you do it. Watch me.

Roach steps out through the hole in the wall and sneaks around the corner,
and reports that it is a woman carrying a todler, with three other kids in
tow. They let her in. She desperately explains that the youngest child has
been waking, screaming. The child is frantic with exhaustion and whimpers
constantly. Apparently the woman has been having nightmares about being 
trapped and in pain. The party goes into a huddle.

Hans: We've heard about these nightmares before...
JD: Time to put on my tinfoil hat. [crumple crumple]
Maggie: Should we give her something for free? I don't think she can
pay.
Bret: It's good marketing. She will be good publicity.
Kenji: And she will be in our debt. Someday, and that day may never
come...
Maggie: Yeah, yeah, ok. We don't have an infinite supply of medicine,
though.

Maggie administers a sedative to the baby and it goes to sleep. She
notices a yellowing bruise on its thigh, but doesn't say anything about
it. Meanwhile, JD and Roach head down to the market area to pick up some
food for themselves and the kids. They get a bunch of beans and
tortillas from the tacqueria and bring them back up. The kids are
overjoyed and play with the dog. Bret takes advantage of this to
befriend the animal.

Roach: Nice work, Bret. Now you got fleas too.
Bret: We are all flea-enabled at this point in time.
Roach: Huh? Ow! Dammit... 
Maggie: Say, ma'am, where did those bruises on your face come from?
Woman: I fell down the stairs.
Little girl: Mommy falls down the stairs a lot. Especially when her
boyfriend is visiting.

The woman leaves (with kids) and the party splits up. Roach and JD go to
find Floyd, while Bret goes to find Francisco, the operator of the
building's wireless network. Kenji stays behind to "sort" the porn.

Kenji: He has "Jugs" and "Barely Legal" all mixed up. They're
not even chronological.

Roach and JD track Floyd to the Jesuit mission, a floor which has
been cleared out and is used as a vegetable garden. A man is sweeping
the floor outside.

Roach: Hey, you missed a spot.
Man: (smiles, nods, and keeps sweeping)
Maggie: Hey, be nice.

They go into the chapel and speak with Father Patrick. They find out
that the man outside is Father Matt, who is under a vow of silence.
Floyd is working in the garden. They learn that he also has had
nightmares, as have the priests. Then they leave.

Roach: Hey, you missed that bit over there.
Father Matt: (smiles, nods, and keeps sweeping)

Meanwhile, Bret and Hans have found the "Sign of the Chair",
where Francisco is based. Bret knocks, and Francisco opens the door.
They talk for a while. In the end, Francisco agrees to give Bret's
PDA internet access if the party will fix the WAP in Roach Motel,
which has been out of service for a few days. Francisco apparently
has an "agreement" with the Roaches.

Hans also wants to get some chem tools from Francisco, which is more
difficult but eventually they get some equipment. They try to
interest Francisco in the porn, but he is not interested in antique
paper pornography, just digital stuff.

Roach: How can I distribute it my customers? They're not into
antiques.

The party reassembles back in their room.

Kenji: This porn is really valuable to a collector.
Roach: The problem is that there probably aren't any collectors of
antique pornography around here.

They decide to go down to Roach Motel and see if they can fix the AP.
They have to drag Bret along, because is busy surfing the web.

Bret: Mayor Giotti used city funds to pave his driveway... Oregon and
California are having a border dispute, and the feds are staying out of
it ... ecoterrorists detonated a stench bomb in the Transamerica
building in San Francisco... issues with the November elections...
warfare in the Caucasus...
Kenji: Maybe we could sell the porn on ebay.
Hans: How would we deliver it?
Kenji: That's a good question. With a little luck, though, we can scam
people into paying ludicrous shipping costs.

Suddenly, as they are walking down the stairs a guy jumps out and puts
a gun to JD's back.

Guy: Gimme your money!
JD: Listen, punk, do you know who you're messing with?
Roach: (draws his katana)
Guy: I said, gimme your money!
JD: (punches him in the face)
Roach: (tumbles behind the punk)
Guy: Wha--
Roach: Hiyaa! (slices down his face and chest)
Guy: Urk. [thud] (Bleeds slowly, trying to hold the gash closed
under desperate fingers )
Roach: His ki was weak. (sheathes his sword)
Bret: Hey, what's going on back there? Where's all this blood coming
from?
JD: Hey, looks like he had some meth. And some red pills.
Hans: Red pill, heh heh.
JD: Should we heal him?
Maggie: I can if you want.
Hans: Why bother?
JD: He can spread the word about what bad-asses we are.

They argue about it for several minutes, and finally to patch the punk
back up as it will be good for their rep.

Hans: Okay.
Maggie: Errrr... I think we spent too long talking. He's dead.

The party continues down to Roach Motel, finds the AP, fixes it (the
power wire had been stolen), and heads back to the market area for
some well deserved lunch. On the way, they notice that the punk's
blood has been tracked up and down the stairs a floor in either direction
and his shoes have been stolen.

Kenji: Noodles again.

As they are eating noodles, Russ, the owner of the Broken Monitor bar,
approaches them. It turns out that Gina, one of the girls who works
in the bar, has been missing for the past three days. Russ suspects
her no-good boyfriend Thanh may be responsible. Thanh was a member of
a gang called the Scorched Rats.

They spend the afternoon tracking down clues.

Kid: Talk to Ving! He might know! I swear, I don't! Put me down!
JD: Y'all better drop this burning bunny nonsense and stay in school,
y'hear? Stay in school!

Ving: Yeah, last time I saw Thanh, he was heading down to Roach
territory. I think he wanted to impress his piece of... I mean, his
girl, Gina. She was with him. Yeah, I heard, Mom, stop nagging me! Talk
to the Roaches.

Punk: Thanh... Thanh... Oh yeah, scrawny little kid. I kicked his ass
a few nights ago. I think he said something about going up.
Bret: Going up? Where do you think he might have gone?
Punk: Maybe the burned out area? I think he was trying to impress his
squeeze.

They head up to the burned out area. This is an area of five floors,
most of which was burned out years ago. It is getting late. The
party starts from the bottom and does a quick sweep through the first
floor, shouting "Gina!" and looking into rooms.

Hans spots a short person, who dives into a crawlspace. The party
surrounds the crawlspace, but nobody wants to go in. They hear
talking in an unfamiliar language. Bret takes a chance and says
something in Arabic, but gets no response. As they are leaving, they
hear a voice from the darkness in broken Arabic.

Voice: What you want?
Bret: We're looking for Gina.
Voice: Girl? With boy?
Bret: Yes, about three nights ago?
Voice: Look in stairwell. Go away.
Bret: Thanks.
Voice: Bismallah.
JD: That was weird.

They head up the stairwell. At the third floor of the burned out
area, they find Thanh. He has been screwed to the iron support
girders behind the wal, his throat has been cut, and he has been
disemboweled. There is blood everywhere.

JD: That's nasty. What a waste of good screws. I could use those...
Thanh: Kill... me...
Maggie: It can't be... he's still alive!
Kenji: Oh crap, I just stepped on his intestines. Bleh.

Suddenly they all hear a voice in their heads:

Voice: Go away, or Nastyman'll get ya! Gut you like him, make
you scream!
Maggie: What was that?
JD: Stupid helmet. [crumple toss]

Hans: Let me mind-meld with Thanh. Maybe I can learn something.
Party: Huh?
Hans: My mind to your mind...

Hans mind-melds with Thanh, but does not discover anything, except
that he was surprised by whatever did this to him. Hans looks pale
and disconcerted.

Hans: That was... deeply unpleasant.
Roach: Duh.

Maggie stitches up Thanh as best she can, and JD takes him down from
the wall. There is a TING and as he does this. JD looks behind the
body and sees a grenade duct taped to the wall, with the spoon missing.

JD: Huh? Oh shit. Fire in the hole!

The party dives for cover as JD jams Thanh on top of the grenade and
closes his eyes. The blast knocks him across the floor, sprays Thanh
everywhere, and slightly wounds Bret and Maggie. JD is deafened and
dazed, but otherwise unharmed. Thanh's body has absorbed the shrapnel
and most of the blast.

Roach: Can't believe we fell for the old "grenade behind the body"
trick.
JD: What? What? Did you say something?
Maggie: He's deaf, but it'll go away. My own ears are ringing pretty
good.

The party forces the door to the third level and searches it
thoroughly, but finds nothing. They head up to the fourth level, but
find that it is extensively fire damaged and dangerous. They decide
not to search it. They go up to the fifth level. Night has fallen
and the party's only light sources are a kerosene lantern and a
flashlight.

JD: Clear!
Hans: (opens door and is almost brained by a falling girder) Dammit
JD!
JD: What? What'd I do?
Bret: I think that's a pretty good sign that we're onto something.

They go into the floor. This floor is not so badly damaged as the
fourth floor, but there are still a number of holes in the floor.
They step over one of the holes and start searching. As they turn a
corner, they see a large hole blocking the passage ahead. Suddenly
there is a single loud shot and bright flash from down the hallway.

Hans: My leg! (Sits down) I've been shot! Meeeddddiccc!

Maggie drags Hans around the corner, Bret covers the passage with his
shotgun, and JD grabs the lantern. Meanwhile Roach and Kenji sprint
back down the passage, intending to circle around and flank the
shooter. Roach has the flashlight.
	  
   ==========================================
   = 	  				     =	   = outer wall
   =	-------------------------------------=	   X hole in floor
   =	|   J	BX   	    	    	   | =	   S stairs 	  
   =	|MH|---------------| 	|-------|  | =	    	   
   =	|  | 	 	   |	| 	|  | =	   K Kenji
   =	|  | 	    	   |	| 	|  | =	   R Roach
   =	|  | 	    	   | 	|   	|  | =	   B Bret 
   =	|  |---------------| 	|-------|  | =	   J JD 
   = -|  K R	X   	    	    	   | =	   M Maggie
   = 	  ---------------------------------  =	   H Hans 
   =	SSS|				     =		  
   ==========================================		  
							  

Maggie: It's just a flesh wound, he'll be ok.
JD: It looks like that door might lead into some rooms that would let
us get around that hole in the floor.
Bret: Good idea.

Bret and JD start working around the hole.

Roach: (thinks) Big hole in floor... time to use my ninja powers!
[leap] Hiyaaa... aaaaah! (falls fifteen feet to the floor below)
[thump] Ow... dammit...

Kenji: (runs around the corner behind Roach and sees him lying at the
bottom of the hole) You moron! (runs back to join up with JD and Bret)

A shadowy figure appears on the far side of the hole, dimly visible in
Roach's flashlight beam.

Back at the other hole:

Bret: There's a space here we can crawl through.
JD: I'd like to...
Kenji: Hi guys, Roach fell through a hole.

Figure: [blam] [blam]
Roach: Aaa! My leg! It hurts! Ahhhh!

Kenji: Maggie? Could you take care of that?
Maggie: What the... thanks a lot, guys.
Roach: Oh god it hurts, it hurts, the pain... Should it bend like this?

Hans and Roach are both immobilized with leg wounds, and only Bret and
Kenji have firearms. Maggie goes down to the fourth level (using a
glowstick for light), while JD, Bret, and Kenji advance along the
corridor. As they come to the first cross corridor, Kenji sticks his
head around the corner and sees a figure running towards him.

Figure: [blam] (backpedals rapidly)
Bret: (runs around corner) Yaaaaargh! [kablam] Dammit!
Kenji: Like this! Yaaaaargh! [blam blam blam blam]
Figure: (runs into the darkness)
Kenji: I think I hit him a few times in the chest. He didn't go down!

Meanwhile, JD thinks that he hears a girl screaming from farther down
the corridor.

JD: Hmm, deafness must be wearing off.
Brett: I hear it too.

JD and Kenji move down the corridor to the last intersection, while
Bret guards the rear. Kenji steps around the corner and sees the man
coming down the hallway. Kenji jumps back around the corner. There is
the sound of a door opening and Kenji decides that the man is running
away, so he leaps back around the corner. The man is opening a door with
his right hand while pointing a revolver at Kenji with his left.

Kenji: Not again!
Man: [blam]
Kenji: Ow! [blam blam]
Man: [thud]
Kenji: Oh my hand, it hurts, it hurts...
Bret: Hoody hoo!
Kenji: Bastard shot my fingers off!
JD: At least you're right handed.
Bret: Nasty. You hit in right in the mouth.
Maggie: Carried through his brain stem. That's always fatal. Always.

Eventually, Maggie bandages everybody up. The screaming girl turns
out to be Gina, who has been tied to a chair and tortured.
Bret calms her down while JD checks her for boobytraps and Maggie does
some first aid. Gina is hysterical, but confirms that she was captured by
Nasty Man.

Gina: He... he would hurt me, and I would get scared, and it was like
he was getting scared too, and he liked that, and then he would hurt
me more...

"Nastyman" is very dirty, has long hair, and a cybereye. He also had
a chip implanted in his brainstem, but it has been damaged by the shot
that killed him. His wallet says that he is Henry Rowley. They get a
bunch of expensive surgical tools -- used mostly for torturing Gina,
modern bio-health nanites, a .357 Magnum revolver and 14 rounds of
Full Metal Jacket ammunition, an armored jacket, and a cybereye.

Kenji: I knew I hit him that first time. Three times, actually. Nice
shooting! The jacket absorbed most of it, although the rounds penetrated
because of the short range. Mother fucker this hurts!
Maggie: [splork] These things are worth a lot of money.
Hans: Eye of Vecna, heh heh. Owww...
Maggie: We need to move to some cleaner and better lit facilities so I
can work on Kenji's hand. Unless you want to lose those fingers. I
can just snip 'em off if you want.
Kenji: Ow... ow... ow...
Roach: Stop whining you wuss! My femur is shattered, and that's going to
take at least a week to heal!
Hans: We could give the Jesuits some of this medical stuff, and they
could let us use their facilities for now.
Maggie: Aren't we in competition with them?
Bret: It's not competition, it's "coopetition".

They walk, limp, or are carried down to the Jesuit Mission.

Father Patrick: What... what happened?
Bret: Let's just say there's a little less evil in the world.

TO BE CONTINUED...