Chapter Nine
Into the Grove
Bellevue Central DocWagon Hospital
Bellevue, Seattle
April 18, 2059
6:00 pm
Okay, now if I could bend it just a little more.........
Shard focused the mana with the upmost care. In her mind the formula for the spell was amazingly clear. Swirling patterns of light and arcane symbols boiled down to make perfect sense. A final push of will formed the spell.
Across the room a cup of water slowly rose from its resting place. The liquid inside jostled around. It looked like it would spill for a moment, but Shard put more force into the spell. The cup held steadily in mid air. It slowly came to Shard's open fingertips. When the cup was in her hand Shard dropped the spell and gave a flustered smile of gratification. She had not had a chance to work much magic in the past two weeks. The use of her talent made her feel better. Even though it was just to levitate a cup of water.
"I should be getting back in practice anyway." She said, mainly to herself as she set the cup on her tray.
Shard lay in the bed and closed her eyes. It took her only a moment to shift her perceptions from the mundane, physical world to the eerie landscape of astral space. The astral space of a hospital was always a little strange. The "mood" varied from room to room. Some rooms were warm and kind with family members visiting and helping out the sick. Other rooms were cold and dark. These were rooms where people had suffered for long hours before finally meeting their demise. The ER on the first level of the hospital was a mess of conflicting emotions. The buzz and hassle of doctors and patients was enough to make wading through astral space down there an excruciating experience to say the least.
"Coming back to where you feel at home?" A astral voice seemed to settle onto her.
Shard's will left her body. She was fully projecting now.
The owner of the voice came through the wall to her room. Almost like he was expecting her.
Shard recognized the astral form. Though it took a moment to remember where she had last seen it. It was the Monk that she had spotted in Redmond. The little fellow glowed brightly, indicating that he was magically active. This also hinted that he was a very powerful magician. Yet, in contrast to his aura, he wore humble robes and had a generous smile on his features.
"I know you." Shard said to the Monk.
"Yes, I know you too." The Monk replied. "I saw you in the dark place."
By the dark place he must mean Redmond, Shard concluded.
"I guess I should thank you for what you did. Your warning saved us."
"My warning? My child, I cannot take credit for something that you have done. It was you who warned your friends. Not I."
"But I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for you."
"I know, but you would have." The Monk waved a slim finger at her. "You have a great amount of untapped potential. Your Art could be stronger than the strongest of strong. Sadly, Art doesn't grow without trial and tribulation."
"What is it that you want from me?" Shard questioned.
"Want? My child, there is nothing you have that could be of service to me. I'm not here to take from you, after all. I am here because I can teach you. Teach you things about Art that you only dreamed were possible."
"What could you teach me?"
"All things, child, when you are ready. However, you are not ready now. When you are ready, I will teach."
With that the Monk faded away. Not that the Monk returned to his body, but simply vanished. A confusing feat indeed. One that Shard knew was not possible. All the teachings of magic told that a magician could not simply vanish in astral space. A mage had to travel back to his body. The Monk was obviously more than he appeared to be.
Loveland
Puyallup, Seattle
9:00 pm
Loveland. A place that is about as user friendly as a cyanide capsule. The name has fooled more than one person. Loveland is by no means a nice place to visit. It sits along the western border of the Puyallup district. Close to Route 7. The stretch of land it occupies is probably some of the roughest sections of the Barrens.
Loveland is packed to overflowing with squatters, chip-pushers, thieves, gang members, and prostitutes. As if that didn't drive the neighborhood down enough, all of Loveland is split by two major syndicates. The Mafia and the Yakuza each own half of the neighborhood. They have split it neatly down the middle. Fighting between the two organizations is frequent and violent. Each trying to gain an advantage on the other. The only result from their conflicts is bodies and property damage.
Lone Star rarely comes to Loveland. Leaving the community a lawless refuge for some of Seattle's worst. Bands of roaming UCAS soldiers from Fort Lewis frequent the bars and squats. As if dodging the Mobs and the Yaks wasn't enough.
"I had nearly forgotten how much I hated Loveland." Nightsky said. He was talking to himself, not intending anyone else to hear what he was saying. Though he had his micro-transceiver clipped under his collar. The device was set to a standby mode. It automatically switched own when Nightsky spoke.
"I didn't know you'd been here before." Lenny commented.
Nightsky cursed himself. He hated the standby selection on the transceiver. He switched the mode over. A headset unit would be a lot more comfortable, but it would make him stick out on the street.
"What's not to love about Loveland?" Smiley quirked. "The name leaves a warm, fuzzy feeling inside."
Lenny and Gideon were heading into a bar called the Porter House. The two of them would mingle with the patrons. With any luck they would find a lead on Abigail. Meanwhile Smiley was wondering down the street. He said that he knew a few of the girls that worked the block. It was his intention to find a few of them. Riggs kept the Bison across the street from the Porter House.
Nightsky felt out of place. Not that he didn't blend in well. People of all shapes, sizes, and professions lined the street. That wasn't what bothered him. It was standing out in the open that didn't feel safe. Cars would occasionally drive by very slowly. Nightsky didn't stare at the cars because he knew better. Making eye contact was an invitation for trouble.
"Hey, Red." Smiley slurred as he approached a woman at the corner. She was tall and had a head full of long, red hair. What she wore suggested to what she did for a living. A see-through mini-skirt hugged her hips. A bright pink bra stood out underneath an equally transparent top.
"Smiley?" Red's look of shock quickly turned into a warm smile. "Well, it's been a long time since you've come down to my corner." She traced Smiley's chest with sharp fingernails. Smiley didn't seem to notice as he still had an idiotic smile on his face.
"Things to see and people to hurt." Smiley grinned.
"Oooo...." Red cooed. "And just as lethal as ever." She tugged Smiley's long coat apart. It revealed a holster harness that held no less than five handguns.
That's another thing about Loveland. It wasn't like downtown with the respect to weapons. While it was still impossible to carry an assault cannon around, carrying a few pistols was commonplace. Smiley was an extreme example.
Red may be playing to Smiley's senses, but she was a smart girl. Smiley could be very dangerous if he wanted to be. That is why Red had to be so careful on how she approached the samurai. No matter the terms, Smiley had always been a good client. He paid very well.
"So, Smiles, you looking for some company tonight?" Red winked at him.
"Not tonight." Smiley replied flatly.
Red gave a disappointed look.
"I was in town a few days ago. You should have been here then."
Red put her arms across her bust. "I was doing a little get together down at the Spirit Focus. You should have come and visited me."
"Should've told me about it." Smiley said.
"If your not here for entertainment, then what are you here for?" Red wondered. Normally she didn't want to know what Smiley did. She knew that he was probably involved in something illegal. Red had also seen Smiley in action. He had enough metal in his body to build a few Ford AmeriCars. That alone was enough to keep Red from prying. This was different. If Smiley didn't want to spend the night with her, that was one thing. It meant that he wanted something else.
"I'm a hunter and I'm looking for a fox." Smiley held up a picture in his hand. Without his knowledge the hand razors sprouted from his fingertips. It was a muscular reflex. One that he didn't care to control this time. "Name's Abby Starlight."
Red held the picture under the light of the street lamp. "Going for them young, aren't you Smiley?"
"I'm looking for her, but not for that reason. You know you're the only one for me." Smiley took the picture back. "Seen her?"
Red smiled at him. "Maybe, but it's a long night and I need to get to work."
"Then get to work after you answer my question." Smiley answered with none too gentle words.
"Sorry, Smiley, but I've got rent money to earn." She motioned Smiley aside. Without realizing it, Smiley was frightening Red's usual customers.
"You've seen her around?"
"I'll say this, Smiles." Red turned with her back facing him. Fading the attempt at walking away. "She does look familiar."
"Then tell me what you know about her, Red." Smiley grunted.
"Why don't you make it worth my while?"
"Cause I don't know if it's going to be worth mine." Smiley countered.
"Awe, come on, Smiley." Red smiled at him and lowered her shoulder. "It's a rough life and I could use a little nuyen. How about paying me a little nuyen for the chance picking my brain."
Smiley scratched his nose. "I could pick your brain off the sidewalk for free."
The smile immediately faded from Red's face. The sinister grin that Smiley gave meant that he wasn't kidding. Red was about to back away, but she stopped herself. A thought about Smiley's speed and wires crossed through her mind. She would never get away from him if she ran. The samurai was just too fast. He had enough hardware to take on half the street as well. What made him dangerous was the fact that Smiley would do it without a second thought.
"Okay, Smiley." Red admitted. "Maybe I do know her."
"Smiley." Lenny interrupted.
Red breathed a sigh of relief as Lenny drew Smiley's attention. The look on Smiley's eyes said that he wasn't letting her out of his sight. With that in mind Red did not try to walk away.
"Yes, fearless leader?" Smiley grinned.
"The Porter House owner said that he's seen her around. Mainly on weekends, though." Lenny glanced at Red. "Who's this?"
Smiley motioned at her. "This is Red. She was just about to tell me how she knew Abby."
Lenny doubted that. Smiley really didn't have much in the way of social skills. Smiley did not run the shadows because he was a people person. Smiley was an asset in his own way. Just as Tart specialized as a decker, Smiley too had a particular skill that he was good at. Though that special skill was often the ability to hurt people.
"Is that so." Lenny looked Red over. Then he held out a fifty nuyen note in the palm of his hand. With that he offered a handshake to her. "Evening, ma'am. My name's Lenny. Do you know our friend, Abigail?"
Red took Lenny's hand and the nuyen that he was holding. She spared the bill a quick glance and smiled. "I've seen her before."
"Working girl?"
"You could say that." Red nodded. "Doesn't stay on one corner for too long. I've only seen her around for a few months."
"Fresh meat on the streets." Smiley grinned.
Lenny smirked at Smiley's comment. He was right, after all. Seattle's Barrens were some of the worst places for anyone to live. A newcomer to the darker side of society did not have good chance of surviving.
"Who runs her?" Lenny was curious. Normally a joygirl would have the added protection of a syndicate. This left the joygirl trapped in a tiny little world, but it was a little safer. The alternative was being alone.
"No one." Red replied. She pulled a cigarette from a pack she had stuffed in a garter. Lenny produced a lighter for her. "At least, not that I have heard."
Lenny held up a bill. "Fifty get us where she lives?"
Red's head tilted. "Why do you want to know that? What's so special about her?"
"To get me to tell you that you're going to have to pay me money." Lenny replied. "But I can assure you that we mean her no harm."
Red took a distrusting glance at Smiley.
"Despite our appearance." Lenny added with a sigh.
"I heard that she has a place on the second floor of a flop house on Sanders Street." Red said. "Number six I think."
Lenny smiled. "Thanks for the information."
"Anytime, hotstuff." Red replied.
Lenny hooked a arm around Smiley and lead him away. The eccentric samurai tagged along.
"See, Smiley?" Lenny said. "Talking with people can get you what you want."
"I don't know what you're so happy about. You just spent a hundred nuyen on a joygirl who only goes for thirty." Smiley scorned. "Find anything at the Porter House?"
"Nothing more than vague rumor. They've seen her around, but that's about it. No information that's rock solid. Not much can be solid from the mouths of drunks."
"Hey!" Lenny heard Riggs scream from down the street. "Get the fragging drek away from my van!" The dwarf screeched at a pair of orks.
Lenny's eyes kicked in their magnification. Apparently Riggs had stepped out of the Bison for something. In his absence the two orks were trying to remove hubcaps. The two front caps had already been removed. Understandably, Riggs was furious.
"Get the hell away from my baby you drekheads!" Riggs waddled towards the two hubcap thieves.
One of the thieves, an ork wearing a rain-slicker over street armor, glared at the short dwarf. "Hey, Beady." He said to his partner. "Look out because that halfer looks mean."
Beady glanced at Riggs. He let go of the hubcap he was trying to remove and slapped the tire iron in his open hand. Obviously he intended to use the iron as a club. "What's he going to do? Chew my knees off?"
The other ork chuckled horribly. Both orks wore rain-slickers. The slickers were a strange choice of fashion to begin with. This fact was offset because the slickers were colored a brilliant orange. A hint of red could be seen on their underclothes.
"Chew on your knee?!" Riggs blurted.
The dwarf's face turned beat-red in anger. Stubby fingers hauled a Predator out of a belt holster. The safety was flipped off in a clumsy action. Riggs did not of the reflex wires that Smiley or Lenny had to make the motion smooth. However, a glowing reticle of a smartlink lite up in his vision. The reticle centered on the ork's chest.
"Now get the frag away from my baby before you make me do something you'll regret!"
"I tell you what, Stumpy." Beady said as he shoved the two hubcaps into his companion's hands. "You pay us a hundred nuyen and we'll make sure nothing happens to your cherry ride."
"Frag off!" Riggs held the gun steady. "You put my hubcaps back on."
A few people on the street walked around the confrontation. Anyone passing had enough sense to allow the trio plenty of leeway. This was not an unusual situation for Loveland.
"Nah, it don't work that way, little man." Beady warned. "You see, we found these hubcaps on the street. They must have fallen off someone's ride. These are not your hubcaps so you got no claim to them."
"I saw you trying to take them off." Riggs spat. He was holding his ground. It did not matter to him that the orks were twice his side. All that Riggs saw was that they were hitting his baby. The Bison had a lot of blood and sweat in her. All that work meant a lot to the rigger. "So I'm going to see you put them back on too! Now get working on it." He motioned at the tires with the barrel of the Predator. Both orks stared at him like he was an idiot. Riggs only stiffened his resolve. "Don't make Sarah Jane here-" Riggs motioned at the pistol he was hold. "-start barking fire. Move it!"
Before Riggs had a chance to make good on his threat there was a stunning blow on the back of his head. A third ork got behind the dwarf. The ork hit Riggs hard enough to put him flat on his face.
"Forever Tacoma, halfer." The ork gloated as he put his boot on Riggs's butt. He pushed the dwarf back down as he tried to get him. The other two orks cheered as Riggs's face hit the pavement again.
"You just fragged with a friend of mine." Smiley called from behind the two orks.
Smiley, Lenny, and Gideon had come up as they saw the situation developing. Unfortunately they did not see the ork before he hit Riggs. The violent action was enough to set off the combat computer in Lenny's head. The orks just became a problem that had to be dealt with. He had to make them back off through intimidation or brute force. With that in mind Lenny was glad to have Gideon and Smiley flanking him. Both of them were a sinister sight indeed. Gideon stood with an aggressive demeanor. The metal arm he had visibly flexed. It strained against the confines of his armored jacket. Smiley had a evil-looking grin on his face. The long coat was also open enough to reveal the holster harness he wore. Razors were continually sprouting in and out of his hands.
"Slot off." Beady ordered. He wasn't intimidated by the shadowrunners. Instead he saw them as invaders to his turf. "This ain't none of your biz."
At that moment Smiley was ready to open up a whole world of hurt on the orks, but Lenny held out his hand. That stopped Smiley from any vicious action. Gideon had enough self control not to jump the gun. Much unlike Smiley.
"That's a chummer of ours." Lenny said as he slowly approached the trio of orks.
"I said slot off!" Beady took a swing at Lenny with the tire iron.
Reflex cyberware kicked in, allowing Lenny to easily avoid getting his head knocked off. The ork's swing hit nothing, but empty space. Instead of getting into a slugfest with the ork, Lenny shoved him into Gideon. Gideon's metallic arm snatched the ork's neck. A broken-toothed grin flowed across Gid's features as he proceeded to pummel his adversary.
The second ork with the hubcaps tried to fling them at Smiley, but the eccentric samurai was much too fast. None of the orks possessed any reflex altering cyberware or skills that the shadowrunners had. Smiley slapped the hubcaps aside with a flick of the wrist. Then he buried his spurs into the roof of the ork's mouth. The ork coughed and gagged, falling to the ground and suffocating on his own blood. Though his opponent was out of the fight, Smiley continued to mercilessly attack him.
The third ork that had decked Riggs cursed violently. Just as he was pulling a pistol from a holster on his lower back when the barrel of a Predator II appeared in front of his head. It hovered right in front of the ork's nose.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Lenny instructed. He held his pistol at arm's length.
The ork tried to slap the pistol aside, but he was only partially successful. Lenny pulled the trigger and the gun went off. The result was a grazing wound to the ork's shoulder and a shattered window.
The ork's meaty fist came into contact with Lenny's head. The impact dazed him for a second, but it didn't stop him from putting the butt of his pistol against the ork's head. If he had too Lenny would pistol-whip him down.
The pistol only caused a mild headache to the ork. Before Lenny could strike again the ork grabbed Lenny's hand. He held it motionless with his strength alone.
"Looks like you bit off more than you could chew." The ork glared at Lenny.
The boom of a Predator rang out. The ork screamed in agony as the bullet tore through his knee. A second boom and another bullet tore through his other knee. The ork dropped to the ground. He let Lenny's hand go in favor of holding his wounds. He screamed like a banshee that had been set on fire.
"That's what I'll do to your knees!" Riggs spat as he held the his pistol at the ork's head. The barrel was still smoking.
"I think it's time we should go." Nightsky said from the roof the Bison.
"Why do you say that?" Lenny put a knee into the ork's nose, knocking him out. Behind him Gideon dropped the meat sack of Beady while Smiley cleaned his razors on what was left of the second ork.
"Yeah? Why we got to leave?" Riggs hauled himself to his stubby feet.
Nightsky motioned at the downed orks with the tip of his Sai. "Look at their colors. These orks are Forever Tacoma gangers. Their chummers aren't going to like the way we treated these three."
"We'll now their forever fragged." Smiley scorned. "Stupid gangers."
"Nightsky is right." Lenny admitted. "We need to leave. There's more gangers than this around here." He guided Riggs toward the Bison. "You feel like driving?"
Riggs held the back of his head. He had an excruciating headache. "You bet I do."
"Then get in." Lenny slid the door open.
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