| From: | mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Gangs and Banshees and Bullets, oh my! |
| Date: | Tue, 26 Mar 1996 14:30:54 -0800 (PST) |
going
to the _dogs_ lately. If it's not supernatural holocaust it's outright gang
warfare and bomb terrorism, not to mention organized crime, BTL-tortureware,
psychopathic bakers, and of course the occasional corporate incident. The Bay
Area looks like a paradise by contrast, despite the prevailing Japanese sense
of humor (who ever heard of fiber-optic periscopes in a Pink cabaret?? The
mizu shobai just is _not_ what it used to be...) Anyway, to clarify Sam-I-Am's
rather cryptic statement, here's what the news is saying:
+++++begin footage
"THAT's right, folks!" shouts Michael Novacek, appearing as it were like the
genie from the bottle, or the plague from Pandora's box. "Lone Star is calling
it the _largest_ incident of gang warfare in the last two years! Over _sixty_
suspected and confirmed gang members killed on the scene, plus over fifty more
_innocent_ residents of the stricken community killed in the raging inferno that
consumed three tenements and damaged two more. Over _ONE_HUNDRED_FIFTY_
people," he shouts over the sound of some structure partially collapsing
nearby, "are without homes today, their meager possessions and dreams for life
all ended in _one_ _fell_ _swoop_!"
As Michael raves into his microphone, dozens of Lone Star personell can be
seen busily working in what looks like a field of war. Shredded and mutilated
bodies litter a section of street extending more than two city blocks down the
street. Businesses and tenements are riddled with bullet holes and worse
for several stories above the ground, broken glass crunching under reinforced
boots. The corpses of several burned-out cars obstruct the road, and soot
mars most every surface. At one point roughly twenty meters beyond the yellow
police line is a large rubbish strewn crater, crawling with Lone Star agents
busy about some sort of forensics. Several figures in military hardshell armor
emblazoned with the UCAS military symbol are standing inside the police
barrier, watching over the work and conferring with Lone Star agents.
"Sources tell us that a GMC Banshee, stolen from a private courier firm
several months ago, turned up in the middle of the conflict, contributing
_greatly_ to the carnage witnessed here. We have also heard unconfirmed
reports that this Banshee _may_ have also been involved in the multiple bombing/
slayings of earlier this month. _Organized_crime_ is being blamed for this
gross show of force, aimed at eliminating competition for drug trafficking and
prostitution. _Now_, as it _so_ happens, one _particularly_ astute resident
of this benighted area of the Barrens had the presence of mind to record the
incident on home video. We were graciously offered a copy by his wife, which
we now show in its _entire_ graphic and _uncut_ form:
A rather jerky picture, with red numerals reading 11:44:13 superimposed at the
lower left. Image quality is moderate, and the audio is confused, an
indistinct female voice shouting, pleading from an uncertain source obscuring
the sound from the view. The sound is that of gunfire, the confused chatter
of automatic weapons, sharp reports of pistol shots, and roar of shotguns.
Shouts and screams as well, distorted by distance and by echoes off buildings
on either side of the crowded street. Below is a flurry of action, bright
muzzle flashes erratically erupting between the flames of several burning
cars and buildings sporadically illuminating the darkness below. The camera
hastily begins zooming in, floor after floor down to street level, and sweeping
the confusion in search of a stable frame of reference. As the female voice
continues its disembodied pleas the view stabilizes slightly, panning over the
bodies running, crouching, and collapsing in the street. There is the
reflection of firelight on chrome and on steel, glittering limbs, knives, guns,
and in one case a skull (the camera lingers on this a second) leading some sort
of frenzied dance. Though indistinct, there are also colors, blue and red.
The chaos below increases in time with the agonizing progression of red
digits. A black man with a gleaming cyberhand blows the brains out of
a wild-eyed opponent with a pistol, only to be charged by three screaming
youths with handguns and machetes. The black man spins around, disembowling
the trio with an assault rifle before slumping to the ground himself. A flare
of light from behind an overturned car, thrown as a Molotov cocktail down the
street, to burst in an explosion. Another follows, setting fire to a nearby
building. A third is lit, but a burst of autofire from somewhere off screen
strikes the spot, causing a large explosion that rocks the camera and elicits
a scream from the female voice, the view disappearing into overexposure for a
moment.
The death toll continues to mount, three more carloads of people joining an
uncertain number on foot in the desperate struggle. Then, from one of the
burning buildings (possibly a warehouse) comes a horrendous rending sound as
_something_ immense bursts onto the street in the midst of the chaos. Its
matte-black bulk is many times the size of a car, and a muffled roar can be
heard from its direction. The combat seems to stop for half a second at the
thing's arrival, followed by a frenzy of fire concentrated in its direction.
A second later two immense muzzle flashes erupt from the thing's mass,
accompanied by a garbled whine. As more screams erupt from the audio, twin
flashes of light flare up from the vehicle and streak off-screen at high speed.
Two more explosions, this time more distant, jostle the camera and disrupt
the audio yet again. More flash-streaks follow, around one per second,
punctuating the soundtrack with a surfeit of noise.
For the span of four seconds the barrage from around the mass abates, and
then resumes with renewed vigor, the mass shredding everything in sight all
the while. The mass then begins to move down the street, accelerating and
then abruptly breaking as a series of tiny flashes erupt over part of its
surface. The mass aims one of its muzzle flashes down an alley, ceasing the
tiny sparks, but within a second a closely-spaced pair of explosions erupts,
one on the mass itself and another on a building beyond it. As the camera
adjusts its brightness, the bulk of the vehicle seems undamaged in the
flickering firelight and begins moving again, still firing.
Two loud cracks from somewhere. The vehicle lists, its motion suddenly
erratic and its roar altered in character. Another flash-streak and another
crack and the vehicle begins to plow sideways, smashing into the ground floor
of a building with a resounding crunch. There is a pause, and then a flurry of
flash-streaks, all heading off in the same direction as the vehicle. A moment
later there is movement at the base of the vehicle, and something man-shaped
and bulky struggles free and begins moving indistinctly down the street, one
gun from the vehicle still firing the other way. A second later a brilliant
flash of green streaks from the figure to a spot far down the street, erupting
in a distant gout of flame. The figure stands motionless for a full second and
a half, chaos raging in the background, and then takes a single step. It then
abruptly slumps forward and falls over onto its belly, motionless.
Two more of the sharp cracks ring out, followed instantly by an immense
burst of noise and sound. The red digits now read 11:45:52. A scream can be
faintly heard over the explosion, before the view goes black.
The footage switches back to Michael, his usual manic grin turned to outrage.
"_NOW_, we relate one _truly_ tragic aspect of this horrendous incident. The
brave, _astute_ cameraman who risked _life_ and limb to shoot this important
footage _lost_ _his_ _life_ in the last moments of the tape! Lone Star agents
destroyed the Banshee with a _powerful_ missile, sending shrapnel in all
directions, and by chance into the cameraman's chest. He _died_ in his wife's
grief-stricken embrace, his last words to her that he loved her. Turner
Networks has established a fund to help her, and all the victims of this
_terrible_ outburst of violence try to rebuild their _shattered_ lives. _Your_
donations can help restore joy to this...
+++++end footage
And so forth. TN will of course be posting updates "as they become available"
but I doubt much more is to be gained while watching the news. But isn't it
interesting how the UCAS military is interested in this little problem? I
guess all those "private courier firms" had better keep a tighter grip on their
little toys next time. Although by appearances, that Banshee was using a
Security-level weapons config instead of the military setup. The better
question is who the driver was, and _why_ they were clad in milspec armor. And
_why_ Lone Star is quietly mounting a large-scale search for the corpse, which
seems to have somehow vanished from the scene in all the confusion when Lone
Star tear-gassed and "subdued" the crowd. Nice use of magic from that driver
too..._Moreover_, I'm surprised more hasn't been said about the force that took
out the Banshee. The audio's garbled to hell, and even a little playing with
audio software doesn't turn up very much useful information. About the best
we can say is what it _wasn't_, which basically means squat. Whatever it was,
it was _definitely_ not the sort of weapon you can by at the local
supermarket...
Even though it's not the U.S. versus the U.S.S.R., I doubt anyone could deny
that these are difficult times. >^> ]<<<<<
-- Azrael <14:29:41 / 03-26-57>
