Chapter 4

Loveland

12:00 p.m., Wednesday

Lola woke up with a pounding pain in her head. She ached and hurt all over. Like she had just been ran over by the entire Seattle Screamers Brawl Team. It took her a moment for her vision to clear. When it did, she discovered that she was in a concrete room. The walls were bare and painted a dull gray and the ceiling held only a single light fixture. There was a door, but it was closed and secured with an old fashioned bolt lock.

The first thoughts that came to her mind were ones of fear and horror. She pulled desperately on the door, trying to force it open. It was only the stiff pain in her hands that made her stop. She pulled herself up just in front of the door and set her head on her knees and began to cry.

After a few minutes her nerves and mind had calmed down enough to allow some clear thinking to be done. She was locked into a room with no chance of getting out on her on. She also had faint memories of meeting a massive ork and a human earlier in the morning. Lola started to believe that they were to blame for her current situation. Though she did not know why they had brought her here. She still had all of her clothes and there were only a few scratches and bruises on her arms from the previous night. She sighed in relief since whoever had kidnapped her wasn't interested in just abusing her.

But if that was the case, what did they want from her?

There was a sound at the door as the lock was undone and it creaked open. Just beyond the doorway a tall norm stood next to a shorter, almost weasel looking, norm. The taller norm who wore a great coat and sported very expensive Tres Chic clothing, looked Lola over.

"See, Dervish, I told you she was good." The weasel of a man hissed. "Me and my chummer, Jimbo, found her over in Tacoma."

Dervish didn't show many signs of being interested.

"You see? She good, Dervish, she very good." The norm ambled over and grabbed Lola's hair in a tightened grip. "You see?"

The yank on her hair brought Lola back a flare of memory. This was the same man who had grabbed at her hair back in the alley. The yank she felt was almost unforgettable. "Let go!" she screeched and buried her foot into the man's crotch.

The weasel-looking norm buckled and groaned loudly. "Oh!" He moaned. "She got the twins." And fell over on his side.

Lola took the moment to scoot away from the doorway, but Dervish was upon her in less than the time it took her to blink. He grabbed Lola by the jawbone with one stern hand and held her up. He said nothing, only stared deeply into her eyes. Lola begin to have the worst of thoughts fly through her mind. She started kicking and screaming at the imposing Dervish, but he wouldn't move. He only continued his cold stare as the weasel of a norm wormed around on the floor in pain.

"Yes," Dervish stated in monotone. "she will do."

The man on the floor stopped his cries of agony long enough to hear Dervish. "She will?" He said in astonishment.

"Yes, she will do perfectly." And he turned for the door. The norm limped his way out and locked the door behind her. Leaving Lola to wonder just what they had planned for her.

"Does that mean we can discuss price for street meat now, Dervish?" She heard the norm say.

Dervish was annoyed at his companion's constant flow of words and meaningless phrases. Though the mage forced himself to tolerate the weasel because of the grand gift he had brought him. This girl that was now in his possession was perfect for his plans. She was young, full of strength, and innocent. That would mean that her lifeforce would be strong. Strong enough to increase Dervish's own magic. He smiled to himself, the innocent always made the best sacrifices.

"So you can pay me now, right?"

"Yes, Weasel I will compensate you. Take the girl and place her in my car." Dervish said, his hand reaching into his vest pocket. Weasel's eyes shined as Dervish pulled out a credstick. Though he seemed to consider on the amount to pay him, Dervish gave the entire balance to him. The second that the weasel had his money, Dervish told him to leave. He had much to organize and didn't want the weasel around to distract him.

12:15 pm

Sheila Windors had always considered herself to be a polite person. Most of the time anyway. She always tried to be understanding about what other people were going through and the dangers that they faced. It was a talent that let her form good relations with the people she worked with. An understanding employer can go a long way in the shadows. It allows for more professional jobs and more trusting encounters. Trust is often something that is very hard to earn. Almost as hard to earn as a reputation. So Sheila tried not to be too rude when her lunch at the Club Phreak was interrupted by an arrogant man of stocky build and blonde hair.

"Sheila Windors?" Strife stated as he approached her table. "You and I have got to talk."

Sheila looked on with calm eyes. She was not afraid because she had bodyguards all around and felt perfectly safe. She knew how to handle herself. "What makes you think that I would enjoy talking to such a rude individual such as yourself?"

Strife pulled up a seat across from Sheila without being offered. Goran stood behind him with a fierce look on his face. "I don't need your consent, Sheila. I need information."

"I don't know you and even if I did I don't think you would be worth telling anything to. You are rude, arrogant, and not very patient."

Strife shook his head. "My name is Strife and I am wondering why a decker called Fuzzhead contacted you last night. Now, tell me what I wish to know and maybe I won't have to harm you."

Sheila frowned, but tried to keep her discomfort hidden from Strife. "You are starting to interfere with my activities."

"Your drekking right I am, Sheila. It's best if you start cooperating with me."

Sheila only nodded her head. "My dear boy, I don't think you realize what you are getting into." The ruby red dot of a laser sight lit up on Strife's chest. "You are not in the corporate towers any longer. You cannot just come down into the shadows and disrespect me and what I do." A second sight appeared on Strife. His eyes danced around the club to find the source. "You've wondered too far from your regular stalking grounds. I think it is time that you went back."

Strife turned back to Goran and was able to catch a glimpse of someone behind him. "Goran?"

Goran turned around to be faced with six feet of angered samurai. The razor wore obviously armored gear and held both hands, palm out, at Goran and Strife.

"Gentlemen, this is Boomer." Sheila said, the samurai who was staring down Goran and Strife grinned. "He will escort you out of the club. Please don't tempt him to reveal what he has hidden in his hands."

Goran looked at Strife doubtfully.

"And please don't force me to have some rather vile actions to be taken on you."

Strife was reminded about the laser sights. Obviously there as a warning. There were probably another dozen or so guns pointed at him that were targeted with smartlinks. To say nothing of magical support.

Strife allowed his eyes to look around the club, then he got up slowly and walked out.

Sheila watched the man leave. Her mind tracing back to Remy and what she had sent him on. Renraku had gotten a lead that someone had leaked information about the Matrix codes out onto the streets. The problem was finding how Renraku knew this. Sadly, the only person that Sheila could think of was Fuzzhead.

When Boomer returned from escorting Goran and Strife out, Sheila told him to get in touch with Fuzzhead. She feared the worst for the decker. Then her mind wondered on something else. What would happen to Remy?

1:00 pm

Loveland, a small neighborhood in Puyallup that was constantly in turmoil. The northern half was controlled by the Japanese Yakuza while the southern half was in the domain of the Mafia. For years, conflicts between the two crime organizations had steadily reduced Loveland to rubble. It was amazing that anything was left standing.

"This is it, lad?" Hamish said with great doubt. "Surely you must be pulling my stubby leg here. That place would fall if the wind blew against it too hard."

The place that Fulcrum's magic had lead them too looked like it was being held together by mold and cobwebs. Though it was a small, one-story building that looked like it was once a store of some kind, it was now an empty shell of it's former self. Most of the windows were broken out. The few that remained intact were covered with graffiti. The outside of the store looked like it had just been through a storm. Tiles were peeling off the walls and roof's once bright yellow paint had long sense faded.

"This is where I tracked her." Fulcrum confirmed. "I'm not sure if she's still inside, the astral plane is a mess."

Shard found herself shivering at the sight of the grim structure. There was something that just wasn't right about this place. It was in a quiet section of Loveland, a neighborhood in Puyallup. Most of Loveland was under constant grief because of the feud between the Mafia and the Yakuza. It seems that both of the crime syndicates had long forgotten this street.

"Okay, peoples, we're going to do this by the numbers." Remy said in a stern voice. "We don't know what's inside. Maybe just a few squatters or half the Humanis Policlub."

"Me, Guido, hate Humanis." Guido commented.

Remy tried to ignore the troll. He kept himself focused on the job at hand. "Hamish, take the Van over to this lot across from the building."

"I'm on it, mate." Hamish strolled the van down the street.

"The rest of us," Remy indicated Smiley, Fulcrum, and Guido. "Will go in through the front door and clean things out. Watch what you target in there, chummers. Lola is probably in there someplace. If she's not, I want someone alive that can tell me where she went." Remy turned to his rigger. "Hamish, you got any ground drones on board?"

"Aye, I think I got a Doberman in back somewheres."

"Deploy it and scout the rear of the building. We'll all keep in touch through the transceivers. Lone Star doesn't get down here much, so there won't be much use in silencing our weapons."

"I'll be putting up a Condor, too. Helps ta' keep an eye on things." Hamish said as he pulled his remote deck out from near his seat.

"Shard, you're on astral cover. It maybe be ugly there, but these are the barrens. Don't ever take something for granted. Everything is ugly around here."

Smiley smirked. "That's for sure."

"Lock and load," Remy grabbed a stun baton from the outside door and pulled a Predator II that was still fitted with a silencer from its holster. "cause here we go."

Remy lead the group across the street with the precision and speed of a well trained military unit. Hamish's drone's were deployed within seconds of the others leaving the Bision. Soon the Condor was hovering high above the old store while the Doberman wheeled its way down the deserted street and into the back alley.

Shard hesitated for a moment, then plunged herself into Astral space. A thousand bright colors and sights filled her senses as she approached the building. However, as she got closer, she noticed the distortion that Fulcrum had spoken about. It was hard to make out anything inside the building.

At the threshold of the entrance, a feeling came over Shard. As if astral space had cried out at all of the horrors it had seen in this one building over the years. Shard's mind was filled with screams of murders and vile acts performed here. It took all that she could to concentrate on blocking everything out.

She called on her spirits. A Fire Elemental that Shard had named Hobbes appeared at her side. Two watchers soon joined her ranks in the realm of the astral. She was ready now. Her allies at her side and her friends on the material plane. With her body safely guarded in the back of Hamish's van, she felt comfortable enough to push through into the horrible world that lay ahead of her.

Remy sent everyone to spread out once they got inside the empty store. The entire floor space was covered with overturned shelves. There were no convenience items left thanks to years of looters and squatters who had passed by this place. The sun didn't light up much of the inside, forcing many of the runners to rely on alternate forms of seeing in the dim light.

Guido made it through the scattered aisles with ease, his assault rifle swinging back and forth as overturned shelves crunched beneath his massive feet. Smiley was moving slowly through what use to be checkout lanes as he kept Guido covered.

Remy couldn't help but to be entertained at Smiley's actions. The samurai seemed to care for no one, but when it came down to the job, he was as professional as anyone gets.

Fulcrum kept a Viper Silvergun in his hand as he stayed just behind Remy. The shaman's preceptions shifted back and forth from the material plane to the astral.

"Sharon's here. She's got some spirits and she's watching our backs, but there's a lot of interference that's making it hard for her to see." Fulcrum reported.

"Fearless leader?" Smiley came over the communications link.

Remy tapped his transceiver. "Yeah, find anything?"

"Me and stupid think that we saw something near the back. Stupid says that he saw a glimpse of heat back there before it moved." Stupid, as Smiley was referring to, was Guido.

"Guido's got better eyes than you when it comes to seeing in the dark, Smiley." Remy said.

"Yeah, me Guido can see lots of things in the dark." Guido bellowed over the link. "Me saw something head down the back."

"Okay, Smiley, take the west wall and cover Guido toward the service doors."

"Yes, fearless leader."

"Me and Fulcrum will take the east and meet you two at the end."

In the astral, Shard watched as her friends spread out and went through the first floor. She made double sure that the four of them didn't miss anything that might be hiding in the debris. Then the group went through the service only to find that the roof over the storage area had caved in. There was a small office that held nothing of value as well. Then Smiley came across a flight of stairs that lead down.

On guard, Shard allowed herself to fall through the first level and onto the second. The second that her senses came back to her, she found herself staring down a long hallway.

Then something appeared before her. A little flash of light at first. Shard immediately summoned her spirits to her support just as a vile looking creature came into view. It's size that of a dumpster in astral space. It took a second, but Shard realized what she saw. It was a spirit for sure. More specifically, an Earth Elemental. A strong Earth Elemental with a very unpleasant expression on its face.

Smiley took bounding leaps down the stairway and dropped into the hallway with considerable force. Once there he put his weapons away so that his hands would be free, then he calmly strolled down the hallway.

"Stay alert, Smiley." Remy warned as he came off the stairs with Guido close behind him.

A man, a weasel looking human, stepped out of a door near the end hallway. He seemed oblivious to the runner's presence at first. Then the man's careless glance wondered into the wild taint that was Smiley's eyes.

Smiley grinned sinisterly and charged through the space between him and the norm. Remy followed close behind, hoping that Smiley wouldn't tear the man in two before he had a chance to ask him any questions.

"Holy drek!" The man screamed and reached into his coat just as Smiley popped his cybernetic spurs. The thin razor blades with a Dikoted glaze pierced the man's forearm, penetrating directly in between the bone.

Smiley let out a joyous giggle and twisted his hand. This locked the razors into the bone and allowed Smiley to throw the man to the ground while snapping the bone neatly into. The man dropped a small handgun as Smiley spun him to the ground.

"Heh, looks like you won't be pulling a fast draw on me." Smiley said in a charged voice. "Now do it, drekheap?"

"Smiley get your head down!" Remy yelled as he brought his Predator to aim against the frame of a doorway.

Smiley didn't hesitate. He grabbed the man he had mangled with his spurs and yanked him over to use as a human shield. A blast of clattering gunfire came from somewhere further up the hall as Remy's smartlink came online and popped off three shots.

"We got a banger." Guido remarked as he opened up a suppressive fire with his assault rifle. Banger was a term that the group used to refer to an unknown gunman who would fire off a hundred rounds without really hitting anything. As the bullets from the banger cut up the walls, it was obvious that the definition was correct. This individual could barely manage to hit the ground.

Fulcrum ducked at the stairway and was about to crawl his way down the hallway when a feeling came over him. He quickly popped into the astral and just as quickly returned to the material world.

"Shard's ran into some trouble." The shaman informed. "I'm going to give her hand."

"Negative, Fulcrum, we can't spare anyone to guard your meat while you go catatonic on us." Remy replied. Fulcrum frowned, but accepted Remy's ruling. "Guido, cover us so let's geek that fragger."

"Yes, fearless leader!" Smiley clattered as he pulled out his smartgun with his free hand.

"And cover the one you got down." Remy pulled a flash grenade from his belt. "Flasher!" He yelled to his teammates and tossed the grenade down the hallway.

The grenade went off and Remy was sure he heard the scream from whoever was down that hallway.

"Okay, let's move." Remy sprinted down the hallway as Smiley held the other man down and peppered the doorway with fire. Guido and Fulcrum moved up quickly behind him.

Remy found that there was an ork with a nasty looking sub-machine gun at the end of the hallway. He was sitting in the doorway to a small room holding his eyes.

Orks, Remy thought, they always seem to be more sensitive to flash grenades. He immediately tore the orks gun away from him and swatted his predator across the orks temple. The ork stumbled to the ground at first and started to get up, but collapsed when Remy gave him a stab with the stun baton and the ork jerked unconscious.

Shard threw up her shield in time to deflect the elemental's attack, but the sudden speed of the spirit had caught her off guard. She had to act fast or the elemental would be on her again. She could already see that the material world was erupting in violence. The astral plane was not far from it.

"Hobbes, attack the spirit." She ordered her summoned spirit.

"Yes, my master." The summoned fire elemental hissed as it went after the hostile spirit.

Both beings crossed blows as Shard called upon all of her concentration to creat a manabolt. With her elemental weakening the spirit, she was able to put her spell together and pour its energy into her target.

The earth elemental screeched in horror and winked out of existence.

"Sharon's taken care of her problem." Fulcrum said as he shifted his preceptions. "Also, Remy, I do not detect anyone else in this level."

Remy grimaced at that. "Are you sure? This Domingo girl should be here someplace."

Fulcrum nodded. "I've done just about everything I can to find her, she is simply not here."

"What about your guest, Smiley?" Remy called out into the hallway as Guido placed restraints on the unconscious ork.

"You mean the weasel?" Smiley twisted his spurs in the man's forearm who let out a scream. "I think he might be willing to confess a few things to me."

"Frag you!" The weasel exclaimed.

"See?" Smiley continued. "We're getting along just fine." He slammed the man's nose into the hard, concrete floor. "Aren't we, weasel?"

"You're a real people person, Smiley." Fulcrum commented as he moved into the small room the ork was laying unconscious in.

"Ain't I though?" Smiley laughed.

Remy glanced around the small concrete room at the end of the hallway, then had Guido make a sweep of the rest of the rooms. All of them were the same as the small cell at the end except that one of the was much larger and smelled of drug use.

"If Lola Domingo was here, she's gone now."

"I swear this is where I traced her to, Remy." Fulcrum looked over the man that Smiley was still holding down. "This man might know something of it."

"I'm sure he does." Remy agreed.

Guido gave a broken-toothed grin. "You want Guido to break little weenie man in half so what he knows can be spilled all over da' floor? Me, Guido, think it be fun. Almost as fun as going to McHughs for 'dem little blueberry muffins."

"Frag off you stupid trog drekhead!" The man screeched.

Guido huffed. "You makin' fun of Guido? Me, Guido no like that!"

Remy paused and lit a cigarette. "Smiley, Guido." The two samurai nodded. "Take the weasel to the back room. I want to find out what happened to Lola so if this squatter knows anything, I want him to tell it."

"Yes, fearless leader." Smiley lifted the man to his feet and shoved him into the bare room.

"And Guido?"

"Yes, boss?"

"Take the ork and put him in one of these other rooms. If we can't get anything out of the weasel, we'll try with him."

"Okay, boss. Me, Guido, take care of it."

"I'll give Hamish a call and have him stand down. It looks like we may be here for a while. I'll have him bring that drone near the stairway and keep us covered."