Chapter 2

Of Shallow Things

4:00 a.m., Wednesday

Careful, Leonard thought to himself. He was barely able to hold his hand steady. The tiny piece of plastic that rested in the clasp of his tweezers. Yet, that tiny piece was all that was left. Then he would be finished with his model. A perfect representation of a 1967 Ford Mustang. It had taken him years to find the kit for the Mustang. It had also taken him months of patience to put it together. The project severed to calm Leonard's otherwise eccentric personality.

As he moved to place the tiny antenna on his model, his hand continued to jitter. Now, more than ever, Leonard regretted have any kind of reflex boosters implanted or muscle enhancements into his body. It was almost impossible to keep his hand steady. One wrong move and he could snap the fragile piece. As it was, he sat silently in the den of his apartment, slowly maneuvering the antenna into position. He summoned all his patience to keep his cool. To allow him to continue.

"Smiley! I can't find a towel!" A female voice from his bathroom shrieked.

Leonard's hand jerked suddenly and the shrill sound, snapping the tiny antenna into. "Damnit, Jeanette! You made me break the freaking thing."

The tall, redhead stepped out of his shower and approached Leonard with a small towel wrapped around her. Leonard payed no attention to her, he was to busy contemplating the broken antenna and the fact that his model would never be complete now.

"Well, excuse me Mr. Smiley. Mr. Big bad razor, Smiley." She moved to put her arms around him. "But I think you've spent to much time on that silly model to begin with."

Leonard grunted and jerked his way out of the joygirl's arms. "Stupid slitch, what the frag would you know about it?" He snapped. "You made me break the antenna."

Jeanette frowned. "Watch your language."

Leonard nearly lost it. Not only had Jeanette made him break his model, but had insulted him with her babble. Besides, the street samurai known as Smiley never was one of the most sane souls in Seattle. He had enough metal in him to build a small car. Though all his cybernetics and modifications gave him an undisputable edge. A drawback of having this edge also meant that it left him borderline insane.

Leonard grabbed Jeanette by the elbow and shoved her back. His augmentated muscles bruised the soft flesh of the joygirl. She stumbled back and nearly fell over an ill placed chair.

"Smiley! Watch it!" She cursed him. "Get a grip on yourself, you know how Jimmy hates it when I come back with bruises."

"Sorry, Jeanette." Smiley said as he picked up both pieces of the broken antenna and pondered if he could glue the two together without a fracture mark.

"Sorry?" She placed her hands on her hips. "That doesn't seem to keep you from pushing me around, does it? You know, your lucky I still come by here. Jimmy has been setting me up with some high class recently. Nice corporate suits." She smiled. "It's a stepping stone, you know. Soon I'll be with the big suits and that'll leave you here alone."

Smiley smirked to himself. "Yeah, sure." He said in a dry voice. "I'll bet."

Jeanette sneered at him, then trotted off into the bedroom to collect her things.

"Jeanette, the only thing that slag has ever done is run a fragging whore house. If you think the people he's had coming in are 'high class' then you are as stupid as a trog. Jimmy's got the moral standards of drek. He'd sell his own mother out if he thought he would get a good price for her."

Jeanette frowned as she stuffed her coat and scarf into a small backpack. "Like you can judge him? What do you know about morals? Jimmy actually helps some people."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure those girls he brings in off the streets are real happy to have met that weasel." Smiley said harshly. "That is chiptruth." Personally, he couldn't stand Jimmy. He was nothing more than a pimp as far as Leonard was concerned. Jimmy had no respect for other people. In fact, Leonard believed that Jimmy purposely spent every waking moment trying to figure out a way that a person can make him money.

"Shut up, Smiley. You just don't understand. For someone who's not even completely human, I can expect that."

Smiley ignored her after that, even though she kept up a steady wave of chatter. Jimmy was scum and both Smiley and Jeanette knew it. Jeanette just had trouble accepting her life. It was true that Jimmy had been less than kind to her, but Jeanette still needed to have something in her life she could feel good about. Even if it was a lie.

Smiley was so caught up in his thoughts about fixing his model that he didn't notice when Jeanette had walked up behind him. Her backpack was gripped in one hand while her other was outstreched.

Jeanette cleared her throat.

"You money is on the table by the door."

Once again, she made a sneer and Smiley and headed for the door. She picked up a small wad of bills that lay on a small table. "By the way," She counted through them carefully, much to the annoyance of Smiley. "I won't be coming back next week."

Smiley didn't reply. He sat hunched over the table with a small desk lamp giving light over his model.

"Did you here me?"

Smiley turned his head slightly, then back down at the desk.

"Smiley!" She demanded.

"Yeah, I heard you." Smiley flinched again. "But I believe that you have mistaken me for someone who cares."

Jeanette shot Smiley the finger and turned to leave just as the doorbell chimed. Smiley's head tilted at the sound as he turned around in his chair.

"Doorbell, Smiley." She said. "Should I get it?"

"No." Smiley replied sharply.

Jeanette didn't listen to him. Instead she went ahead and opened the door. Smiley felt a flare of anger swell up inside him. He had received unwanted visitors before. The last thing he wanted was for Jeanette to open the door to someone with an intent to maim.

Fortunately, the individuals beyond the door had no such thoughts in mind. Jeanette opened the door to a tall norm with a wave of brown hair and pitch black cybereyes. The norm easily stood over six feet tall with dark features that seemed to be cloaked in the shadow of the hallway. The norm was accompanied by an elf with blinding blonde hair spiked in long shards about her head. She was shorter than a normal elf, standing just below the norm. She wore a long coat that held an assortment of trinkets and a tight fitting skein suit underneath. A few of the trinkets on her coat appeared to be shiny jewels that caught and reflected the light from inside Smiley's apartment. Green and red flashes from the reflections danced across Jeanette's eyes.

"Remy Corllien? I didn't expect to see you tonight." Smiley muttered as his gaze drifted to the female elf. "And Shard?" He smirked to himself. "Nice to see you and Remy get along enough to travel together."

"Aren't you in a festive mood, Smiley." Shard said sarcastically.

Remy spared Jeanette a glance. His cold, empty eyes gave Jeanette a hollow feeling. "Excuse us." Remy said blandly.

"...uhm.." Jeanette was caught in a trance with the pitch blackness of Remy's eyes. She shivered slightly. "I was just leaving." She immediately shook herself back to reality and wormed her way by Shard and out the door.

Smiley turned back to his model. Remy walked through the door without waiting for Smiley to invite him in. Shard closed and locked it behind her.

"So what brings you two to my doorstep at," Smiley glanced at a digital clock on the wall. "Four in the morning, Remy?"

Shard let herself slide into a worn recliner. "We, as in the rest of the group, thought you might be interested in something." She glanced at the opened bedroom door. "But I think that Remy and I caught you at a bad time." She said in an innocent voice.

"It's always a bad time, Shard." Smiley continued to fiddle with the broken model. "By the way, you know any wiz tricks that fix plastic?"

Remy picked up a folding chair and sat it next to Smiley. "Leonard, with what I have planned, you can buy enough plastic to build the real Mustang."

Smiley once again smirked. "Remy, this is a classic 1967 Ford Mustang." He said, pointed at his still incomplete model. "Back then, they actually made everything out of metal."

"Whatever." Remy dismissed. "You up to finding a missing person?"

"Maybe." Smiley replied as he sat the pieces of his model together in a small box.

"It's worth twenty-five thousand to us." Remy added. "Each."

Leonard looked up at Remy. A smile crossed his features, revealing bleached teeth and a shiny glint in his eye. Thus his nickname, Smiley. For some reason that smile had always seemed sinister to Remy. Then again, Smiley was not the kind of person to be taken lightly. He was unpredictable and uncontrollable, but he was also loyal. That made him more than worthwhile.

Smiley settled back in his chair. "When and where?"

5:45 am

Hamish's Bison traveled down the street at a relaxed pace. It was early in the morning and the sun had yet to rise. Only the dim light across the horizon signaled that a new day was about to begin. Jacked into the vehicle's system, Hamish felt the tires tread across the damp streets and could feel the chilling wind blow against the frame.

Remy sat quietly in the passenger's seat. He hadn't said anything for nearly twenty minutes. Smiley was crouched in between the Hamish and Remy's seats. He was staring out the front windshield with a wide grin on his face. In the back, Shard sat in a bucket seat near a window. Her eyes were closed as her perceptions were shifted to the astral plane. Then, further back, there was Fulcrum. The shaman was a average norm who had long, straight hair that dropped to his shoulders. He wore a western-style long coat over a real-leather vest and black pants. He too was sitting quietly on a folding bench just behind Shard.

In fact, the only person making noise in the Bison was Guido. The massive troll was sitting in the very back cleaning an assault rifle and scarfing down a McMuffin. The sound of the troll shoving a third muffin into his gaping mouth was enough to even drown out the noise of the Bison's engine.

"Check point ahead." Remy said to the group. "Everybody act frosty and put the hats on. Ham, put on your name tag." Remy added as his pulled a small orange hat out from under the seat and put in on his head. Hamish did the same, taking the brief second to disengage the datajack from his temple as he pulled up to the security checkpoint outside the Greendale estate. He also slapped on a velcro name tag onto his jacket.

The security guard walked up to Hamish's window after giving the Bison a once-over. Hamish had taken the liberty of attaching a magnetic sign to the side that read "Frankie's Cable Service: Because You Need to be Entertained" so their story would be more believable.

When the guard told Hamish the lower his window, the dwarf complied with a smile on his face. "Morning there, mate." Hamish said cheerfully.

"You got your papers?" The guard said in a tired voice as he made some notes on a clipboard. He glanced at Hamish's name tag, it read: Edward Yales. A created name that Hamish had come up with, copying a recently deceased individual who had died in a car wreck.

"Aye, that I do." Hamish replied. "Cold morning, isn't it." His Scottish accent prevailing as he handed the guard a digital pad with a set of imprinted work orders. The dwarfish rigger had taken the previous few hours to write up a set of fake work orders while Remy fetched Smiley and Fulcrum for the run. This way, the team's excuse for getting into the estate would have the appearance of being a legitimate cable repair crew.

The guard glanced over the papers for a second. "Installation?" He questioned.

"Aye, that be true. I got a Mrs. DeLouis who ordered a full entertainment package with surround sound." Hamish smiled again, his thick beard and mustache crinkling as he did. "And she got a good deal on it too. Course, if you ask me, she shouldn't have taken the Christmas special last month. She would've saved a bundle."

"This early in the morning?"

"Hey, I don't make the times because I'm only making dimes, mate." Hamish explained. "Besides, we at Frankie's Cable Service are open all ours of the day for our customers. Lots of people got odd work hours. We have to work around them."

The guard only grunted at Hamish's ramble of words. "How long is this installation going to be taking?"

"Oh, not long at all." He replied, playing with the ends of his mustache. "The system is set up to be rolled in the time it takes to make a soyburger. We add a chip here, run a few cables, and set up a few speakers. Whole thing takes less than fifteen minutes."

The guard glanced over the work orders again, making notes on his own clipboard. Then he handed them back to Hamish and waved him through. The front gates of the walled estate slid open. Three other security guards nodded as Hamish drove the Bison through the gates and around a sharp curve to the condos.

"See? What did I tell ye?" Hamish applauded himself. "I had everything worked out."

Guido sat in the back and finished off his sack of McMuffins. The troll took a moment to lick each of his fingers clean and give a satisfied burp. "Me Guido think he want home entertainment center too. Me Guido like surround sounds." The troll gave a broken toothed grin.

"Remy?" Shard sat up in her seat as Remy turned his head. "I've put a watcher on the front gates. That gate is the only way in or out of this place. If any sirens come in, I'll know about it."

Remy nodded. "Smart thinking." He said, turning around in his seat. "But I don't think we'll have to worry about it. Everything goes as planned we should be out of here in seven minutes."

"Good. Me, Guido, want to go to McHughs for breakfast. Me like McMuffin's." The troll bellowed as he slapped a clip into his AK97 assault rifle.

"No, no, Guido." Remy waved his finger at the troll. "We doing this with a minimum of fuss. No fancy fireworks this time."

"But Guido want......"

"No, Guido."

"Then who's going in, Remy?" Shard asked.

Remy held up his fingers. "Just three of us. Me and Smiley will go in to make sure that Renraku didn't leave anyone behind."

"Who's the third?"

Remy smiled. "Fulcrum?"

The shaman raised his head. "Yes?"

"You can use magic to locate someone, can't you?" He asked. "I've seen you do it before when we were in Scotland."

Fulcrum nodded. "Yes, I can do it, but it's not a simple task. I need some things."

"Like what?"

"A cell sample would be best."

Remy shook his head. "I doubt we can find that."

"I could do it if I had something personal. Maybe a wallet or favorite necklace. Something like that. Emotional attachment leaves an imprint of the person." Fulcrum explained. "Who do you want me to find?"

"Well, Sheila said that this guy, James Domingo, had a daughter. Thing is that no one has heard from her since last night. Lone Star doesn't have the slightest idea where she is. Sheila thinks that this girl has her father's cyberdeck with her. That cyberdeck should have the codes we are looking for."

"So you want me to find the girl? I'll need to get into her room to find something I can use."

"That's the idea." Remy replied. "In the meantime, the rest of you will keep an eye on things out here. Sharon, you've got astral patrol. Hamish, you can put up a drone if you need to keep an eye on the gate."

Hamish nodded as he pulled the van up into Mr. Domingo's driveway. "Ye got it, boss."

Remy nodded. "The rest of us will use silencers and sound suppressors. We're not going to make any big noises unless we have to. If the drek hits the fan, you three outside will have to cover us. Hamish, use the Bison's guns. Guido, cover us from the troops." He turned to Shard. "And keep us from being captured."

Shard slowly shook her head. "Whatever you say."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Remy questioned, sensing a little hostility. It was true that the relationship between himself and Shard was strained, but it had never interfered with a job before. Once, many years ago, the two of them had been quite close. Things were different now. Shard came up out of the Tir only a few months ago. What really unnerved Remy was that Shard had brought the shaman, Fulcrum, with her when she arrived in Seattle.

"Your the boss, Remy." Shard replied. "You know what your doing."

Remy shrugged and opened his door. "I certainly hope so." He muttered to himself as Fulcrum and Smiley exited the side sliding door.

The three of them moved across the driveway and up to the front door with fluid precision. Remy paused at the door while he pulled a nacrojet pistol from a concealed holster. Smiley took up a position opposite of Remy at the door. Both of his hands were buried deep in his long coat. Each hand gripped the handle of an Ingram Smartgun.

"Ready for this?" Smiley asked with a wide grin on his face.

Remy glanced at Fulcrum who gave a satisfied nod. "We get in, sweep the floor, let Fulcrum do his thing, and we get out. Suppressed shots only and keep the melee quick and quiet."

"No problems." Smiley said as he stuck a piece of gum into his mouth.

Fulcrum pulled a Ares Viper from its shoulder holster. "Let's go in."

"Done." Remy pulled out a maglock passkey from his coat pocket. A very sophisticated device, it was designed to overcome electronic locks with ease. The only problem was that about 30% of the time, it didn't work. So Remy crossed his fingers as he slide the passkey down the lock's slot.

The lock chimed and a red light started beeping.

"Frag." Remy cursed to himself. It must be a tough lock, but it was only one screw up. Most maglocks allowed three 'accidental' logins. Remy had already used up one.

He tried the passkey a second time. Afterwards the light clicked to green and was unlocked. By this time Smiley was smacking his gum loudly.

Remy allowed himself to silently rejoice as he put the passkey away and pushed the door open. Smiley immediately entered when Remy opened the door. The second he was in the foyer he pulled his smartguns and scanned the area.

The condo was well furnished. Fulcrum could have guessed that the tables and chairs were made of real wood instead of synthetics. Yellow police tap marked off an area around the foyer. There was also the chalk outline of a body on the floor and a nasty red stain.

"It looks like Lone Star has already left. They work fast, don't they?" Fulcrum said, motioning at the trail of red stains that followed out the door. "Or they just don't care. Did they recover the body?"

Remy closed the door behind him. "I don't think so. What the Star did do was match that blood with Mr. Domingo's. Thats how they know it was him."

Smiley moved across the den and took up a position just down the hallway. Remy watched the den for a few seconds, checking behind the furniture, then moved down the hallway and proceeded to check each room. Smiley stayed close behind, covering Remy. After a few moments, Remy declared it to be safe.

Fulcrum went to work next. He entered the daughter's room and carefully looked it over. First with an eye in the material world. Then his perceptions shifted to the astral plane.

"Smiley, watch the back." Remy ordered.

Smiley only gave a twisted grin and walked off. "Yes, fearless leader."

Remy smirked, thinking of how Smiley's accent almost matched an old 2-D cartoon he had seen as a kid. "Fulcrum? Find anything?"

Fulcrum was still busy looking over the girls room for something that he could use. He had already removed a few strands of hair from a brush. He was currently going through some draws and looking under the bed for something of personal value.

Remy glanced at his watch. "We're on a time limit here." He said as he stood silently in the hallway.

"Magic cannot be rushed, Remy."

"Neither can my tax returns. Now step on it."

Fulcrum frowned, Remy didn't understand magic. It wasn't something that he could just cobble together and expect it to work right. True magic was a test of skill as well as creativity. Magic was creating something new and fantastic. Fulcrum thought that Remy only saw magic as bright flashes in combat and a means to solve a problem in any other situation. Can find a missing person? Use magic.

So far Fulcrum had gone through all the draws and found a vast amount of shirts, makeup, jewelry, and hats. Yet there was nothing to indicate that the daughter had any special interest with them. However, he still learned much about Mr. Domingo's daughter. From the general disarray of her room, not all of which was from a previous search, he could tell that she was in her mid to late teens. He saw an extensive collection of pictures in a shoe box of several girls on some kind of class trip. Fulcrum could only conclude that this girl had a large number of close friends. He kept one of the pictures for future reference. From the size of the clothes he found, he could also conclude that she had a very small frame. There was also a large table top computer on a desk that suggested that she knew something about computers. Though Fulcrum didn't know much about electronics, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the computer had been tampered with. The entire casing had been ripped off and several chips removed.

"Hey." Smiley called from the back bedroom. He had found a large bottle of wine and was standing in the doorway as the sun was rising behind him. "This Domingo slag is pretty wiz. He got him some A-1 bubbles here." He added with a odd smile and started smacking his gum again.

Remy shot Smiley a look of disapproval. "Just watch the fragging door, Smiley."

Smiley dropped his mouth open like he had been mortally wounded. "I'm shocked to think that you believe I'm not pulling my weight around here." He shrugged. "Then again, seeing as how you've been around Shard a lot recently."

"It's professional." Remy spared a glance at the room that Fulcrum had gone in. He wondered if the shaman had heard what Smiley has said. "We're not like that anymore."

"With no small work from you." Smiley grinned.

Remy turned away and plodded down the hallway. Smiley was starting to wear on his patience because of his unprofessional attitude. "Just watch that patio and see if you can find a picture of this girl. Try and find it sometime before Lone Star decides to comeback and pay this place another visit."

Outside in the Bison, Hamish was wishing that he had gone in with Remy and the others. For the past five minutes Guido had been complaining in the back. Now his wash of words and foul breath was starting to get the better of Hamish.

"But me, Guido, want McMuffin!" Guido bellowed, his thick finger slapping against his chest. "Me luv the little blueberries they puttin' in them now. Guido like berries."

Shard grimaced. Guido's constant ranting was giving her a headache. It was hard enough focusing her mind on the astral plain and directing her watchers without the troll complaining about blueberry muffins. Why couldn't Guido just get over it?

"Guido, we'll get ye some muffins after this." Hamish had turned completely around in his seat as was almost spitting the words at him. Guido only flexed his massive muscles and gave a devilish look at Hamish's harsh tone. "If that's okay with ye of course, mate. Bloody well it be."

Guido grunted. "But me Guido just love those little muffins." He plopped down in the center of the Bison. "The only thing Guido like more than muffins is those itty bitty apple pies. All this talk of food make Guido hungry. Guido want to stop at Big Rhino."

"The Rhino isn't open in the daytime." Hamish turned back around and slide a datajack into his temple for the vehicle control rig to take over.

"Then me Guido go in the nighttime when Big Rhino is open. Guido get him pork chops. Guido love pork chops. Specially with mustard and ketchup and '57 sauce too."

Shard jerked herself around, slinging herself soul back into the material world. The sudden transfer from her astral perceptions dazed her for a second, but she was still able to focus clearly on the troll sitting in the back. "Guido! Would you kindly shut-up!" She snapped. "I've got too much on me watching those security guards and keeping watchers up to listen to your babble about muffins and pork chops. So, for all our sakes, Guido, please be quiet."

Guido clenched up his face and slammed his hand down on the floor with enough force to rock the entire van. "Me don't have to listen to a little flower eating wiz tosser about what me can and can't say. This is the UC....uh....UA.....uhm..."

"UCAS." Hamish supplied through the bison's built-in speakers.

"Yeah, me live in the UCAS. Me, Guido, got right to speech. That mean me, Guido, can say whatever is on Guido's mind. Me, Guido, got the right to bear arms too." Guido flexed his arms back and forth, bending a little to avoid hitting the sides of the van. "And Guido got big arms. Me, Guido, also got the right of press. That mean that...er...." He paused, thumbing his tusk as if in deep thought. "....that mean that Guido can write down what on Guido's mind."

"That'll be a short book." Shard said in a whisper.

"Quiet down, Guido." Hamish said as he pulled the datajack link from his temple. "I got a camera pickup on a security patrol rounding the corner. Might just be a check, but that's not our bloody kind of luck. Is it? They got a bead out for us."

"That mean Guido can pound them?" Guido asked happily.

"Remember what Remy said, Guido? He said to keep things quiet." Hamish flicked a few switches on his dash board and tapped his communications link to Remy. There was a quick exchange of words for a moment, but it quickly died down. Guido was too busy picking up his assault rifle and checking his ammunition to listen.

Shard had neglected to turn on her transceiver. Instead she pulled herself into a large orange and black jumpsuit that had the words "Frankie's Cable Service" pasted on the back. She rolled up what hair she could and buried it underneath a cap that had the same logo and moved to the door.

"Bossman says stay frosty." Hamish said, putting on a cable repair cap. "They'll be done in a few seconds."

"I'll see if I can send them on by." Shard said as she opened the door. "Maybe I can buy them a few minutes."

"Careful out there, Shard." Hamish warned. "These two don't look all that friendly."

Shard didn't reply. She stepped out of the van door and closed it behind her. However, she left the door slightly cracked incase she had to get back inside quickly. The two security guards were now walking toward her. She took a moment to straighten her jumpsuit and adjust her hair under the cap, then she trotted a few steps to meet them.

She smiled warmly at them. Showing off a little of her firm figure. "Good morning, boys. How's the rounds this morning?"

One of the guards, younger and less experienced, smiled at Shard. The other guard, who looked like he had been at this job for quite a while, was not amused with her.

"I thought you told the gatekeeper that your group was installing a cable system." The older said with a sharp tone. His eyes wandered from the elf to the Bison parked behind her. "Doesn't look to me like you've unloaded anything. Plus your not even parked at Mrs. DeLouis apartment." He pointed at the building where the Bison was parked. "This is Mr. Domingo's place. It is off limits."

They've got us made, Shard thought to herself. However things were not a complete loss. She could really ruin everything if she lost control here and revealed herself for what she really was. If she could play this out right, though, they might get away with it.

She put her hand to her cheek and dropped her mouth open. "Well no wonder Mrs. DeLouis wouldn't open the door for us. We've been sitting out here for ten minutes and was about to give up on her." She made a friendly, girlish grin again. "Thanks a bundle for telling me that. So, could you tell me which one is Mrs. Delouis? It seems that our addresses has gotten switched around somewhere."

The younger guard was eager to point out where Mrs. Delouis's place was. "It's the sixth one down with a blue front door." He said, eyeing Shard like a millionaire would eye his money.

Weak, She thought to herself as she whispered words under her breath and slightly waved her hand. The younger guard looked to shiver for a moment. Then his eyes became transfixed ahead. The older one took the spell a bit differently. He frowned and shook his head, but Sharon couldn't tell rather he had been effected or not.

"Everything is fine here." She said stiffly. "Tell your foreman that we got our addresses switched. Leave us to our work, please."

The younger guard stared blankly for a second until his head snapped suddenly and he tipped his hat at Shard. "Thank you, ma'am." He said as he turned and walked off.

The older guard was shocked at what his companion had done. He was just walking away while he hadn't given any orders for him to. Obviously the mage's spell didn't have much effect on him. "Jerry!" He called. "What are you doing?"

The guard turned around and stared back at his boss. "Everything is fine here, chief. Let's go get some coffee."

"We don't leave until I say if everything is okay." He snapped. "You got that, Jerry?" The younger guard stared sheepishly at him. The older still kept up a rant for a few more minutes about how he was ignoring his duties. Then he caste a suspicious eye at Shard. "I'm not real sure what's going on here, but I plan to find out."

The front door to Mr. Domingo's condo swung open just as the older guard finished. Remy took two steps out before spotting the two guards arguing with Shard. Fulcrum was able only to see around the corner to get a view of her.

The guard was flustered. "That area is off limits by order of Lone Star. What the are you people doing at a crime scene?" He demanded as his hand dropped to the holster on his belt. The younger guard stared at Remy and the others with a look of confusion on his face. "I'm placing all of you under arrest until the authorities get here."

Remy didn't like the sound of that. Much less did he like the idea of his entire team being brought in by a single security guard. Smiley liked the words he heard even less. Immediately he pushed his was passed Fulcrum, knocking the shaman up against a wall, and pulled a smartgun in the direction of the guard.

Remy dropped to his knee and a nacrojet came to his hand. "Quick and quiet."

Shard ducked at Remy's words just as a dart tipped with a toxin planted itself in the guard's neck in front of her. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the ground with a considerable thud.

Smiley was about to unload his smartgun into the other guard who was stupidly standing in the middle of the sidewalk when Fulcrum grabbed his elbow and pushed the gun away. Smiley nearly lost his sanity, but the shaman was able to catch the samurai in a lock and stripped the gun out of his hand.

"What are you doing, Ful!?" Smiley blurted as he attempted to regain control of his hand from the shaman.

Fulcrum, being more than skilled in such incapacitating locks and holds, held Smiley firmly. The shaman's dark features and expressionless face made Smiley feel as if he was speaking to a brick wall.

"Answer me to fraggin' tree hugger!" Smiley was on the edge of losing it. Though he had always been a little uncontrollable. The fact that Fulcrum had once saved his life was the only thing keeping Smiley from popping his cyberspurs.

The younger guard had managed to break away from his mused stare and turned and oddly walked down the sidewalk. His steps where in rhythmic pattern as Shard continued to hold her hand in a half-closed fist, sustaining her spell.

"Fulcrum he's getting away." He shook his hand. "Let go."

Fulcrum shook his head and pointed to the barrel of Smiley's smartgun. "Loud noise." Fulcrum said, showing that Smiley didn't attach a sound suppressor to his weapon. "Even louder than your words right now. Shard can handle him."

Smiley gave a look of confusion.

"She had a spell caste over him." The shaman explained as he slowly released Smiley's hand and returned his smartgun. "He wasn't going to do anything that she didn't want."

Remy stood and holstered his pistol. "Inside now." He snapped to Fulcrum and Smiley as he broke to a sprint for Shard.

Shard was crouched on the ground as the security guard disappeared around the corner. Then she collasped. The spell was almost to much for her to hold. He head was suddenly flooded with an intense pounding that she groaned long and dreadfully over. "Oh god...."

"Shard?"

The words seemed like static on a telecom. Shard couldn't make anything out.

"Shard!" Remy came up to her and scooped the mage up in his arms. "You okay, girl?"

She sighed. "It was too much, I just couldn't..." He placed a hand on her forehead and clenched her eyes tightly shut. "I couldn't hold him long enough."

"It was enough." He turned and dart for the Bison as Guido opened up the side door for them. "You bought us some time. With luck, he'll just come back to himself with only a vague memory of what happened. A little confusion goes a long way." Remy added, climbing into the Bison.

"That little breeder saw us." Guido bellowed. "Me say we splatter him."

"Little late for that, big and ugly." Hamish said through the Bison's internal speakers.

"You should've let me geek him, Fulcrum." Smiley retortted.

"If you had fired, the other guards would have heard you. Then they would know something was wrong for sure."

Smiley outstretched his hands. "They gonna know that anyway when he shows up at the gate!"

"Quiet!" Remy snapped as he layed Shard gently down on a bucket seat. He was trying to be as gentle as he could. Like he was all those years ago.

"You heard the bossman." Hamish sounded. "Settle down, mates."

"Heh." Smiley shrugged. "So what know fearless leader?"

"We make tracks, that's what."

Hamish immediately brought to Bison's powerplant to a steady roar. "Aye, I'm with that idea." And pulled the van into a tight turn and dashed down the street. The turn threw Guido off balance and he went crashing down on Smiley who let out a stream of curses at the big lug.

As the van rounded the corner, Hamish could see the guard that Shard had caste a spell over speaking frantically with the gatekeepers. The iron gate was still closed and it looked like the foreman was not happy with what he was being told.

"Looks like we're not going to be able to talk our way out of this one, bossman." Hamish moaned.

Remy clawed his way into the passenger's seat and stared out the armored glass as a line of security guard crossed the road and signaled the Bison to stop. "Well I certainly hope you don't decided to stop and ask them if they want cable."

"Too much television can rot yer brain." A pop turret on the top front of the Bison snapped into position, revealing a the long barrel of an Ares LMG and a second much shorter barrel to a MGL-12. The LMG was loaded with a explosive belt and started spitting fire at the guards lined up across the street. They scattered in short order, pulling their weapons as they dove out of the way of t he Bison. The MGL grenade launcher tracked and released two air-timed grenades that exploded at the mouth of the gate, blowing the heavy iron bars into glittering shards.

Bullets pinged over the armored hull of the Bison as it tore through the open gate.

"Wahoo!" Hamish cried triumphantly.

"Good!" Smiley moaned. "Now, Guido, if you don't mind, can you get your fat trog ass get off me!"

Guido moved slowly, suddenly realizing that he had fallen on the samurai. "Oops, Guido didn't mean to flatten Smiles."

"Smiley!"

"Oops, Guido didn't mean to flatten Smiles flat enough to change his name."

"Fulcrum?" Remy turned to him in an act to brace himself from the van's acceleration. "Did you find anything that you could use?"

Fulcrum pulled out a small, pink teddy bear from his long coat. "Yes, I found something that will more than suffice." His eyes drifted to Shard who was curled up on a seat. "How is she?"

Remy went up to her and checked her pulse. "I can't say for sure, I'm not a doctor and I don't know a drekking thing about medicine." He said as us used a folded up jumpsuit to support Shard's head. "I think that thing she did with that guard was a little too strain for her." He rubbed some of her blonde hair from her eyes and listened to her deep breathing. "I think she's sleeping."

Fulcrum smiled. "She should be all right. It was just sustaining the spell." Remy was happy to hear that, but was a little upset to be hearing it from Fulcrum. "She needs to rest."

7:00 am

Mr. Dows crossed his fingers and leaned his elbows on his expensive desk. He stared at his subordinates with contempt. His eyes buried under the shadow of his eyebrows. "And you didn't find the codes?"

"That is correct, sir." Strife stood straight and tall in Mr. Dows's office. Trying to act as professional and confident as he could.

"You blame this failure on your man, Fletcher, because he prematurely ended James Domingo's life before you could question him. Thus his actions forced you to perform a hasty search of Mr. Domingo's living quarters before Lone Star arrived. Your attempt to confront Mr. Domingo with his crime was an entire botch." Mr. Dows said harshly. His calm, calculating corporate attitude coming into play. "You failed miserably. For that I should remove you from the operation and send you back down to protecting toxic waste dump sites in Hell's Kitchen."

Strife lowered his head in disgrace. It was always bad to fail his boss. Even if Mr. Dows wasn't one of the Japanese executives that actually ran Renraku, he still had a lot more power within the corporation than Strife would ever have. Performing poorly under Dows seriously injured his chances for advancement.

Mr. Dows scratched his unshaven chin. "I'm going to be light on your punishment Strife. I will tell the executives that the confronting of Mr. Domingo failed because of the foolish actions of Fletcher rather than your own." Strife smiled at this. "But Fletcher must be reprimanded for his foolish and unprofessional actions." Strife's smile died quickly. There was only one obvious treatment for Fletcher. "Have him report to Section 42 immediately."

"Mr. Dows..." Strife hesitated. "...are you sure?" He knew that Fletcher had done something very stupid, but he didn't think that he deserved a fate worse than death for his actions. Section 42 was a slang term used by the upper circles of Renraku branch in Seattle that dealt with a secret research experiment the company was running. Pouring millions into the project each year. Though no one knew exactly what the research was about, there was a rumor that they were constantly needing new "volunteers" for supposedly safe experiments. Strife had doubts about their good intentions.

"Unless you would like to take his place?"

"No, sir." Strife hushed up at the thought of himself actually being sent to Section 42. "I'll send him on his way pronto."

"And Strife, there's one other thing. Our systems have been picking up someone snooping around the Matrix. It might be a good lead for you to start on."

7:30 am

Lola sit at the on the small stool and sipped at a cup of juice. A cup of juice and a small doughnut from a diner was all that she could afford for breakfast. Despite the few good hours of sleep she had gotten, she still felt terribly tired. Her body was so stiff from having slept in the tiny bunk in the coffin motel. There was barely enough room to breath let alone stretch out. Lola counted herself lucky that she wasn't claustrophobic. Outside of her coffin she could hear people arguing and getting into fights all night long. It terrified her to open the door.

When she left the diner and returned to the street she had been the night before, it seemed to be a little less active. Most of the people were sleeping now. It seemed that everyone on this side of the sprawl was active by night and silent during the day. The street still looked gloomy as the sun was hidden behind an overcast of gray clouds. Causing the alleys and corners to be shrouded in darkness. She was careful when she walked by these. She had learned in school that it was best not to draw attention to herself when in the less fortunate areas of the sprawl. For that reason she left her gym bag at the coffin motel, safely locked away.

But she couldn't live like this forever. After a while her money would run out and she would be forced to move on. Right now she was very lucky for she had money and clothes and even her fathers cyberdeck. She could make it out of Seattle, but where would she go? She didn't have any family besides her father. She did have some friends in Everett. Perhapes she could turn to them for help?

Lola had thought once about using her father's cyberdeck to access the Matrix. She had jacked into the Matrix before, a wonderful place of sights and sounds. Something that the real world couldn't duplicate. She also knew her way around inside the countless dataline streams and virtual locations that existed. Lola smiled for the first time since last night. She knew her way about the virtual world better than she did around the real world.

A hand suddenly leaped out of an alley and gripped Lola's arm with considerable force and swung her around into a garbage can. Her body slammed up against a brick wall, knocking the breath out of her, and slid into week's old refuse. She hit her head hard on the pavement, sending spikes of sharp pain through her temple. She stumbled at first, but the force of the blow and dizzy head kept her from standing.

"I flattened the little breeder good." An Ork, named Jimbo, said happily. He was dressed in black clad synthetic leathers and wore a nasty looking pair of boots with spikes on the toes. "You were right. She is easy pickings."

A crackling laugh came from a from a weasel looking human. "That's what little corporate wannabes get for sprawling down this way." He snarled as he grabbed the back of Lola's hair and lifted her head up. Lola shrieked as the man yanked her hair, but her cries were quickly silenced as the man placed his massive hand over her mouth. "Now don't want you to be telling the whole world, little suit. Besides, the people on the fringe don't really care. I can't remember the last time we had the star down here."

Jimbo chuckled. "See if the glittergirl got creds." He picked up Lola with on massive hand as was able to lift her off her feet.

Lola gave a struggle and fit, but the ork put his hand around her mouth and kept her from screaming. She was close to panic now, shivering in fear. Meanwhile, Jimbo's partner in crime ran his hands through her pockets and came up with her credstick.

"I got it." The norm squinted his eyes. "Says Renraku, that good creds. I think it's a personal stick though."

"Uh-oh." Jimbo moaned. "That mean we got to take it to Baldy to get it decked. He always takes a cut, that wire-head."

Lola struggled to move the orks hand from her mouth. "That's all I have, take it and let me go." She pleaded. "Please, I won't do anything to hurt you."

"I got me an idea." Jimbo stated, placing his hand back over Lola's mouth. "I say we take this little slitch and get her to spill out the creds on that stick to us in cash. That's better than taking it to Baldy cause we won't have to pay his cut."

Lola struggled again, making shrieks and cries whenever she couldn't loosen the orks grip on her mouth.

"Nah, I got a better idea on cashing in." The norm smiled ghoulishly. "I know someone we can unload this little piece of street meat on. Trust me, chummer, when I say that he will be a lot more grateful than Baldy will be with that simple credstick."

"She's making a lot of noise." Jimbo bellowed.

"I'm sure you know how to fix that."

The ork placed a massive hand at Lola's throat and lifted her up against a wall. Nearly strangling her as he held her two feet from the ground. She coughed and gagged, feeling herself black out. "I'm sure I do too." He raised a fist. "I know exactly what to do with this little breeder."

At the same time Lola clenched her eyes closed for the blow that was to come. Then there was nothing. No pain, no fear. Just blackness.