| From: | Dark Elf <VESPOSIT@****.SUNYSB.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Cowboy's run |
| Date: | Mon, 10 May 1993 12:16:44 EDT |
wedding
and probably the strangest run ah've ever been on.
The mornin' after the wedding, while the rest of Delta Epsilon was busy with
the hair of the dog that bit 'em, ah went to meet with the Johnson tha' talked
ta me at Dante's the other night. The meet was in one of the back rooms at
Dante's, and I got to meet the people tha' the hombre assembled. There were
five other 'runners in the room when ah got there along with the Johnson.
After a few introductions, I got to know a combat mage named Red, a Samurai
named "Mack", a wolf adept named "Zyter", this freak of a rigger named
"Foreigner", and a decker named "Moebius". It was clear ta me tha'
this bunch
was a real "bratpack" who had managed to get far on easy runs with good pay.
Ah got the feelin' tha' they were no where near the professional level of the
people ah'm used ta workin' with. Ah decided ta play along an see wha' would
happen.
The job was ta collect four people fer Fuchi. Apparently these four people had
been implanted with some new cyber gear that is meant to automatically inject
certain chemicals into the bloodstream under certain conditions. Johnson
implied tha' they'd be usin' combat drugs. He gave us files on each of the
targets and told us he wantedem, preferably dead, with little of no damage to
the head. Ah said ah'd rather take 'em alive an leave the rest to the lab boys
but the Johnson told me it didn't matter because the lab rats were going to
rip apart their skulls to get the implants anyway.
After decidin' on a price and pumpin' the johnson fer more info, we piled into
Foreigner's bison an headed out ta do some legwork. The bison was nothin' like
OddBall's battlevan, the inside had all these indian (ah mean as in from India)
trappin's, and ah listened as Foreigner bragged about the weapons the bison had
in his thick indian accent. As he went on ah began ta get nervous, it was
like sitting on a pile of ammo with a lit match! Ah was afraid that Lone Star
would pick up on the weapon systems an give us the riot treatment.
Anyway, we started at the top of the list, a librarian named Jeannette Thompson
who worked at some library in redmond. The second was a chipped bouncer at
the Eye of the Needle named George Sanders. The fourth was named Grunge, a
chef from the Big Rhino. The last made little sense. The description was an
Elf physical adept with a rap sheet a country mile long, and a longer list of
aliases. There was a note on the file saying "high level initiate". The guy's
file screamed "I'm a shadowrunner". Ah got ta check out the bouncer while the
others looked up the rest. Ah made a few calls and found out that he was hired
about a year ago, and went on two "vacations" since then, each time coming back
packing more chrome. His latest vacation was around the time he was supposedly
implanted by Fuchi.
Ah decided ta see fer myself what kinda opposition he'd be, so ah made a stop
back at DE's old place fer a change of clothes and a bottle of Jake's Tequila.
Ah put on muh worst, and took a few slugs of tequila as ah headed fer the eye.
About a block away, ah dumped the bottle over my head an rubbed in some dirt.
Ah went into the lobby an started shoutin' at the matre'd tha "ah heard you
hombre's make some mean ribs!, Wha'' ah don' need a reservation, ah jus' need
some food...." sure enough, our friend George showed up an suggested tha'
ah leave. He grabbed muh arm an started ta pull me outside. He was strong
but not too strong, an not quite as fast as me. Still ah let him drag me out
an throw me in the gutter. After a shower and a change ah met back with the
group an told them what ah knew. They found out a few interestin' things about
some of our targets. The chef was friends with a really big chromed troll
bouncer at the Rhino, and the physad's girlfriend worked at the same library
as the librarian. We found out that the physad had a place out on council
island, and that his current alias was "Slammer". Other than that, he was a
dead end so far. Armed with the info, we started ta make our pickups.
The librarian was first, she didn't put up a fight, in fact she fainted when
Mack an me came through her window an put a gun ta her head. We put her in the
Bison an moved on ta the Rhino. We waited there until the Chef's shift was
over, and started tailin' him home. A few blocks later we pulled up next ta
him, opened the side door, an Mack nailed him with a net gun. Ah dragged him
in an lumped him on the head an knocked him out. We tried the same gambit on
the bouncer and got him too. We had three of the four alive, and still no
leads on Slammer.
We checked the first three for evidence of the cyber that the Johnson described
and couldn't find any. Red took an astral look at 'em and said that except fer
the bouncer they didn't have any cyber at all. The others started ta freak.
Zyter jus up an left, sayin' he didn't want anythin' ta do with this. The
others started arguin' about the job sayin either we got the wrong people, or
the Johnson is tryin' ta set us up. Tha's when ah said "maybe the johnson
want's 'em, but fer some other reason...". Red agreed with me an said "Let's
just kill them, get the elf an make the drop, let the corpers worry about the
morality." He pulled his Ultra-Power and put it ta the librarian's head. Ah
was a little faster though, an ah got muh shotgun level with his head first.
AH told him "First, they don't want the heads damaged, Second, it wouldn't be
polite ta kill 'em without knowin' if the run's on the level..."
Red didn't want ta hear it. He mumbled some words an ah began seein' double.
Muh sense of direction was a little screwed up too. Red musta thrown some
kinda spell at me. Ah saw another blur move towards him. Looked like Mack
tried ta knock him out but failed. Ah saw one image of Red, the middle one
ah think, lift his pistol an point it at me. Ah pointed muh shotgun at the
middle image, closed muh eyes an pulled the trigger. Muh vision cleared by
the time the sound of the gunshot stopped ringing through the bison, an Red
was lyin' in the mess of blood tha used ta be his head. Mack came up ta me an
said, "You did the right thing, he was going to kill you". We decided that it
was time we found out what the real job was supposed to be, especially now
that our shaman had flown the coop, and our mage was pushing up daisies.
We started by askin' around town about Mr. Johnson.
It soon became clear that somethin' was wrong. Nobody had ever heard of a guy
meeting that description working fer Fuchi. A little more probing put us in
touch with a corp exec who knew both Slammer and our Johnson friend. We went
to meet him. The exec told us that the Johnson who contacted us was a long
time operative for Aztechnology, and did in fact have nothin' ta do with Fuchi
at all. We were all surprised, me less than the others after the whole mess
about Omega...
What really suprised us was when Slammer himself walked in the office. He
asked if any of us wanted to take a try at him, an ah jus laughed. Ah said
there's no way in hell we could take him down an walk away. Ah also made a
mental not ta give DE a file on him in case he was trouble later. Ah'm not
the type ta go toe ta toe with a high ranking initiate, but ah've got friends
who can make his life miserable without even seeing him.
We explained the situation to him, after deciding that the run was hosed.
Slammer mentioned something about trouble with Aztech, but nothing big enough
fer a hit. Ah said "maybe we're supposed ta be smoke ta cover somthin' else,
it's kinda funny how one of our targets works with yer girlfriend." He
corrected me, it was his wife. He turned to the exec and asked him ta call
up a file. Sure enough, Slammer's wife had done a run on Aztech, one that
cost them a lot of money. Slammer grabbed the phone and started babbling to
someone. He said that it seemed like Aztech sent us as a distraction while
their team went after Mrs. Slammer. He thanked us fer settin' the record
straight, tossed us a few certified credsticks and left. We left a little
richer and a little more confused, and split up our seperate ways.
Ah'm jus glad ah've got a more professional team ta work with! Ah don't think
ah could stand havin' ta watch muh teamates shoot each other every time
somethin' doesn't seem right. Ah've got a few more files fer DE ta check up
on. Maybe Delta Epsilon as a whole can figure out who screwed who and leave
a little thorn in someone's side... ]<<<<<
-- Cowboy <13:24:13/05-10-54>
>>>>>[ Well, Cowboy, it's good to have you back. Sound's like you had an
interesting day. I'd run a followup to your run, but we can only stay in
Seattle for another day or two before heading back, we have a pair of swords
to track down in New York, and possibly another conspiracy to break. But first
I want to find out what happened to Dr. Fung. I need to know if he's still
active or not. I've heard some rumors that he's heree in Seattle again, maybe
we can clear things up now.
I hope that all of the people I "talked" with at the wedding are enjoying
their "sticks". After all, you earned them.
Doom: Thanks for the description of the statue in Valhalla. I have to say that
it's a true honor to have my likeness appear in the same place as legends
such as fastjack, and I'm glad that likenesses of some of my most esteemed
collegues are there too. As for whoever arranged that statue, I thank you
on behalf of us all.
Hmm...has anybody noticed that an awful lot of people have been smoking Alpaca
Cigarettes lately.... it seems like many people long devoted to other brands
have switched. Is it just a coincidence or is there something about Alpaca's
that makes people want to switch? I think the answer will be interesting, to
say the least... ]<<<<<
-- Dark Elf <13:35:13/05-10-54>
