| From: | Jaimie Nicholson <jaimie.nicholson@********.OTAGO.AC.NZ> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Ronin's Last Stand |
| Date: | Sun, 9 Feb 1997 12:03:36 +1300 |
>>>>>[Ice here. Good news and bad... I made it out of Japan, but Ronin
wasn't
so lucky. I thought you'd want to see the footage. It starts in the little
restaurant from which I sent my last message. I'd healed Ronin by this
point, and we'd been eating and taking a rest in this place for about half
an hour.
+++++Begin footage
The camera is pointing at a small computer terminal in the centre of a
faux-oak table. Also on the table are two plates, empty except for the
scraps from what looks to have been a fairly large meal. A datajack cable
runs from the terminal towards the camera, just behind which it is
presumably connected to Ice's head. Ice looks up, facing Ronin across the
table.
"Watchers," says Ronin, "Three, across the street."
"How the hell did they find us?" mutters Ice.
"News item, maybe. A 'have you seen this man?' sort of thing."
Ice shrugs, types a few more words, then unplugs the datacord from his headware.
"Let's go then," he says, "Can we expect snipers on the roof?"
"Not here," Ronin replies, "Anyone starts bringing sniper weaponry into
town, the other corps are going to wonder why. SMG's you can use for
bodyguard work and maybe a spot of crowd control, but a high powered rifle
has only one purpose."
"Okay," says Ice, "Where do we go?"
"Out the back," Ronin replies, "Then you turn me into a mouse, and we fly
out of town."
Ice nods, and the two get up, heading for the back of the restaurant. Ice
keeps an eye on the opposite side of the street as Ronin talks to a waiter.
Three suits from across the street begin to cross the road as Ronin returns
to Ice's side.
"Says there's no way out the back," Ronin reports.
Ice points towards the suits as they reach the near kerb, and Ronin swears.
The two runners start towards the door, and are suddenly disturbed by a
crash from behind. Ice dives for the floor, rolling onto his back in order
to check behind him as he moves. Three more Japanese suits have come
through the door, the first diving towards Ronin's waist and the others
moving forwards with stun batons. Ronin lifts a knee into the face of the
first and falls back as the tackler drops, rolling to put some space
between him and the other two attackers. Ice tears out of his clothes,
changing into tiger form, as Ronin throws over a table in front of the
other two suits. Ice completes his metamorphosis as Ronin tears a leg off
the table, and uses it as an improvised weapon. The two suits that are
still standing attack him simultaneously and Ronin blocks furiously,
backing up. One of the stun batons finds its way through to Ronin, sparks
flying as it discharges, but the hit costs the hitter a table leg in the
throat that puts him, gasping, on the floor. Ronin staggers back, shaking
his head, as Ice leaps onto the third suit, holding on with his forelegs.
As they go down, Ice grips the suit's throat in his jaws and snaps his neck
with a toss of his head. Ronin steps up to the gasping suit on the floor,
kicks him in the head to keep him there, then looks around.
"More coming," he warns.
Ice looks up, taking in a view of four or five more men arriving. Some are
in Red Samurai uniform carrying SMG's, others wear suits and carry stun
batons. They pour through the door from the street, the suits in the lead,
and Ronin throws another table into their path before sprinting out the
door to the kitchen. Ice follows at a similar pace.
The kitchen is deserted as Ronin and Ice enter. Ronin vaults over a bench
and Ice runs along it, reaching the end as the pursuit enters the room. One
of the pursuers gives a shout as Ice jumps off the end of the bench and
crashes through a window, rolling to his feet in an alley. From behind him
comes the sound of gunfire. Ice takes a brief glimpse behind as Ronin dives
through the window after him, and sees one of the Red Samurai shooting an
SMG at Ronin as he tumbles through the air.
Ice continues running, then looks back again, seeing that Ronin has not
gotten up after the landing from his dive, and that the attackers have
reached the window. Ice turns, then casts a spell, hurling a blast of ice
at one of the men in Red Samurai uniform. His target goes down, and Ice
charges back towards Ronin, but two other SMG's open up, and Ice is hit. He
staggers forward, casting a second spell. His magic has unseen effect that
nonetheless knocks down a few of the pursuers, then Ice is hit by a second
burst, and he stumbles and falls. Sirens become audible in the distance as
he mutters a command word, and what can be seen of him on-camera goes
invisible. Ice struggles up and continues to move back towards the
restaurant, then the Red Samurai begin hosing down the area with their
SMG's. Ice jerks with a couple of impacts, then he sinks back down to the
ground, his eyes close, and the camera shuts down.
+++++End footage
Luckily, I got my invisibility lock running before I passed out. Luckily,
they were using gel rounds. Luckily they didn't care enough to come get me
because the cops started to arrive, and luckily I wasn't found by the cops
either. Luckily shmuckily... I fucked up big-time, we both did. We should
have left the city at least, and probably the country, straight after the
battle in the 'Raku foyer.
Anyway, I woke up about an hour later, and staggered off to a coffin hotel
to recover. After a day or so, I turned into a seagull and flew north. I
eventually found my way to a small town in the Kuril Islands, a hundred or
so K's north of the Japan/Russia border. The place is a den of smugglers
and similar scum, so no-one cares much about my origins, and I've only had
to tear up one hopeful mugger.
I'm booked on the next flight to CalFree to pay my debt to Troglobyte, so I
won't be back in Seattle for up to three or four months.
I'm sorry. Words can't express it.]<<<<<
-- Ice <09:59:40 JT/02-09-58>
