From:	Maddoc <jeglaser@****.AUGIE.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Getting Locals
Date:	Sat, 14 May 1994 16:14:34 -0500

>>>>>[
*****Begin relay transmission*****

You see two men exit a building that hosts a sign stating: "Olmstead
Community Hospital". One is dressed in a fine silken outfit all in black, and a sash
of black around his waist. The other wears bright colored clothing adorned with a
leather jacket. What would normally be a clothing paradox seems
to fit perfectly upon this person. They approach a silver car parked nearby,
from which a female voice speaks.
"Any luck, guys?"
"Some," the man in black says. "I am certain that this Rosa Leland is
the
woman we seek. Have Tech begin the trace. They would not give us a number
or residence listing, but the woman inside reacted to our description in such
a manner that I believe confirms our suspicions: that Rosa Leland is our Rose
by another name."
"Hopefully we've determined that before Elender has. If he's trying to
get Maddoc's ladyfriend to hate him, having her relatives die as a result of
this indirect relationship with him would certainly be a good motivation."
"All right, let's head back....hold it! Listen...."
In the distance, a steady roar of engines is growing ever closer and
louder. A warlike cry is heard.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The camera shifts focus to increase range, and it picks up the image of
five bikers bearing down on the group. Knives and guns are beginning to be
brandished as the riders close the distance between them and the car.
"Down!" the man in black yells. The riders of the vehicle lean down,
and the two men dive behind the car as a stream of bullets sparks off of the
car's armor during the first pass.
The bikes all spin a quick 180 and return for another pass, but just
as the bikers begin to set their sights again, they are torn from their
bikes as if by having hit an invisible tree branch.
"I'm assuming that was you, Jazz?" the man in black asks.
"You assume correctly." answers the other man.
With that, the man in black launches himself up and over the car and
charges quickly into the mass of fallen riders. As the battered bikers begin
to rise from the ground, the man in black swings into action, quickly
rendering three of them unconcious before they can even rise off their knees.
The other two slide large bowie knives from their leg holsters.
"We're gonna cut you and dem fancy threads, girlyman!" one threatens.
"You're in the right place to try it," the man in black responds calmly.
You'll only have to drag your carcasses twenty or thirty yards to get to the
hospital."
The first biker charges in, lunging with the knife even as the man in
black spins deftly aside, landing an elbow on the back of the man's head even
as he passes; a blow that sends the biker sprawling to the pavement. The next
biker steps in and slashes across his body toward the chest of the man in black, who
leans back to let the slash fly wide, before stepping in, grabbing
the biker's wrist, and twisting it viciously. A cracking of bones and a cry of
pain are heard simultaneously as the knife drops. A series of palm strikes to
the chest and face, and the biker crumples in a heap. The man in black spins
to face his previous opponent who is rising again. Hoping to catch his
opponent off guard, the biker lunges in again. This time, the man in black
only makes a half spin before raising his straightened arm above the lunge
and clotheslining the biker across the neck. The biker lands with a loud thump
on his back. The man in black kicks the knife from the biker's hand and
proceeds to place his foot painfully upon the man's neck.
"Who are you working for?" the man in black asks patiently.
"Blow me...." the biker rasps.
The man in black shifts his weight slightly and asks again.
"Who are you working for?"
The biker begins to respond, but stops as his head shifts slightly to the
side, as if having seen something. Without looking, the man in black flips
himself over the biker, bringing his full weight down on his forward foot and
cracking the man's neck as he does so. A small cloud of dust rises from the
street as a barrage of bullets rips apart the biker and the place where the
man in black stood.
As the man in black and the camera pans up to a window from which a pair
of gun barrels portrude, a pair of shots ring out, and one barrel disappears
within the domicile as the wielder of the other gun flops out the window.
Down on the sidewalk, a lovely olive-skinned woman wielding a laser-sighted
handgun fires periodic shots at the window.
"Thanks, Athena!" the man in black shouts as he darts for cover.
"Sure thing, Koan!" the woman replies. For good measure, she cracks off
a few more rounds toward the open window, before herself returning to her
cover behind an old battered car.
The machine gunner in the window peers out the window cautiously, and,
hearing no shots, takes a deep breath and swings out into the window for a
moment to strafe the car. Suddenly, he is caught in the head by a throwing
star, and falls headlong out the window and onto the street below.
"For distance and accuracy, still the reigning champion, Koan!" Jazz
shouts as he and the silver car begin to slowly pass by the area.
From the far end of the other side of the street, a pair of vans come
barreling up the street, heading straight for the car. Out the passenger
window of one leans an ork with a missile launcher.
"Oh, drek!" Jazz curses before beginning to mumble something.
A pair of cannons suddenly eject from the sides of the car and begin
to open fire at the vans, punching holes in the grill, but not finding
anything vital. There is a whoosh, and the ork's missile goes flying
toward the silver car. Miraculously, the missile explodes in the air,
leaving the car untouched.
"arrrggghhhh..." Jazz wheezes. "Hadda rush that one. Shutterbug,
you'd
better nail these guys..."
In response, the cannons shift on a set of rotators and fire with greater
accuracy, tearing into one van and sending it crashing into a condemned
building. The ork's van, however, is still charging in on its original
course. As the ork leans out the window again, a CRACK is heard, and the ork's
hand shatters in a pulping of flesh and bone. The missile launcher falls to
the street and clatters away.
"Dammit..." Athena grumbles. "I was aiming for the sucker's
head."
The silver car accelerates, and, bumping and bouncing over a few fallen
bikes, guns, and bikers, goes on a carge for the remaining van, guns a'blazing.
The driver of the van leans his head out the window and fires his Uzi
ineffectively at the silver car while maintaining speed and course, leaning
back in only just before impact.
WHHHHHHAAAAAAMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
The silver car bounces back and skids sideways, slamming Jazz brutally
against the side passenger door.
"Ooch....whiplash...."
The van smashes its way diagonally forward onto two wheels, and then to
none as it crashes onto its side before scraping and sliding into the curb.
After a few flutters, Shutterbug manages to restart the silver car, and
turns enough to bring his cannons to bear on the van, which erupts in a fiery
farewell.
BWHHOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
Further down, Athena can be seen advancing on the first van, and picking
off riders as they attempt to pry themselves from the wreckage. As the last
one stops crawling, she turns her attention to a small pack of footbound
punks that resemble the bikers advancing from an alley. Athena empties the
clip into the group, felling two of them, before a series of clicks resounds
from her gun. The advancing group begins to smile deviantly and stops their
forward progress long enough to crack knuckles and posture. Athena calmly
draws forth another clip and brandishes it before them in one hand, holding
forth the empty gun in the other. The head punk and Athena stare down each
other in anticipation. Then, with a barely noticable manuever, the empty
clip is ejected from the gun. With that signal, the remaining pack emits
a group roar and begins rushing toward Athena. With practiced precision,
the olive skinned woman replaces the clip and shatters the skulls of several
gang members with her perfectly placed explosive bullets. The core of the
group, struck by warrior bloodlust, surge forward, unslowed by the bullets
tearing through their numbers. Betraying no hint of fear on her face as the
last half dozen near within ten yards, clubs and knives displayed and
preparing for attack, Athena's clip finishes its barrage before it, too,
clicks empty. Suddenly, at the last moment, Athena is lifted upwards as if
by invisible hands, just as the pack charges beneath where she now floated.
The pack remained confused only for a moment as they turned their heads
upward and began leaping and throwing their knives in an attempt to bring her
down. One such knife passed dangerously close to her face.
"Thank for the lift, Jazz!" Athena shouted. I saw you were up to
something there, and I just hoped it was to help me out!"
"Indeed it was, dear lady!" the mage shouted as best he could from the
window of the silver car.
Athena was quickly brought back to attention by another knife whizzing
just under her arm. She reloaded her gun and blasted away from above at
the remaining gangers possessing knives.
BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!
Another explosion rocked the street, and Athena was suddenly brutally
dumped onto the ground, where she was pounced upon by the three standing
gangers. While still trying to catch her breath, she managed to land
a brutal blow to one member's groin, and another elbow to an ear, but the
third ganger slammed her viciously to the ground, yanking her gun from her
hand. Athena was roughly drawn to her feet and restrained by two of the
gangers. The third, who was wobbling painfully, and grabbing his crotch,
winced as he growled angrily at her.
"Oh, girl....you just wait till we get you back to our little hideaway,
baby....I'm gonna cut ya up. I'm gonna make you scream."
The wounded one put his face within inches of Athena's before amending,
"or maybe I'll have a little fun with you first....you a fine little piece
of......ARRRGGHH!"
The ganger fell back onto the pavement, clutching his bleeding nose
where Athena had landed a quick, savage headbutt.
"Enough!" cried a loud, deep voice. "Bring her over here with the
other
two."
As the camera pans back to the silver car, now flipped onto its back,
a large muscular man wielding a machete in one hand and the fallen ork's
missile launcher in the other is revealed. With him are a few more stragglers
from the gang rounding up the battered Jazz and Shutterbug. As the two were
joined by Athena, the man yelled to the wind, "Oh Koan! Come out, come out,
wherever you are!" You can't hide forever, and if you don't reveal yourself
within 30 seconds, I will kill your teammates! And don't think about trying
anything stupid, my friend. I don't care how fast you are reputed to be.
I have eight very angry young men with me who would like nothing more than to
turn your friends into slabs of bloody meat, and you can't take all of them
out before at least one of your friends becomes street cutlets!"
"Sure, one or more of them might die," Koan admitted as he emerged from
the shadows, "but there would be nine smelly biker boys sharing the slab with
them, Cutthroat."
"You know who I am....I'm flattered."
"Who else allows all but his gang's core members to only use blades in
battle?"
"Yes," Cutthoat sighed. "It is strategically unsound, I suppose, but
it is QUITE the brutal and intimidating method, wouldn't you agree? There's
something more scary about being hacked to ribbons than being shot, don't you
think? Are you afraid to die, Koan?"
"Should I be?"
"Ooooh. Touting philosophy to the bitter end, are we? No...there's no
reason to be afraid for your life at all, at least, if Maddoc cares to
surrender himself to us before we chop your heads off. Take him."
Two gangers cautiously approach Koan, who does not react, before
tentatively reahing out to grab his arms. With lightning fast motion, Koan
strikes the two men with palm strikes to the face, driving bone into their
brains and killing them instantly.
Cutthroat sighs.
"Perhaps I should make things clearer. If you do not allow yourself
to be taken, I will kill these three."
With a motion from Cutthroat's machete, two more members approach
fearfully before taking Koan's arms and hauling him over with the rest of the
group.
"Now, I will send the tape of this little encounter over the Matrix, and
demand Maddoc's surrender within 24 hours. If not, the four of you will.."
"Skip it, Cutthroat."
Seated on a motorcycle that has just entered view is a well armed man
wearing a black trenchcoat and dark shades. Long blonde-brown hair is tied back
into a ponytail, and a sawed-off shotgun is holstered to his belt.
"Maddoc....my old friend....how nice it is to see you again!"
"Is this another one of your old buddies who wants to kill you, boss?"
Shutterbug asks with a cough.
"Yup." Maddoc replies evenly. "It's like a class reunion these
days."
"I'm gonna enjoy this! Elender wants me to hack you up! You cut me
outta the run that first got you into the big time, pally, and now I'm gonna
cut out your heart! Now get off your bike!"
Slowly, Maddoc gets down from the seat of the motorcycle and steps
away from the bike.
"Now ditch that shotgun."
Maddoc complies, tossing it away.
"Now, slowly take out that gun I know you got under your trenchcoat and
slowly eject the clip."
Maddoc complies again, revealing the submachine gun within the confines
of his coat before drawing it slowly forth. He pauses.
"Get rid o' those bullets, buddy..."
"You got it..."
With a swift manuever, Maddoc rolls his gun into the palm of his hands
and sends a burst of fire at the gangers. Everyone is stunned by the callous
act, and as the bullets cease, the gangers holding Athena, and those standing
over Shutterbug and Jazz, all fall to the ground.
"I love smartguns..." Maddoc smirks.
Cutthroat's face contorts.
"Kill them! Slashers, forth!"
The only sound emitted after the command is that of Koan knocking the
heads of his 'captors' together.
"If you're wondering about the rest of your gang that was out there,
hiding," Koan says to Cutthroat, "I took them out already. They may have been
instructed to hide until you wanted them, but they just couldn't resist
peeking out of doors and windows to get a look, and thus revealing their
locations."
A growl of feral anger emits from Cutthroat's throat just before turning
and throwing his machete at Maddoc, who even though on his guard, isn't able
to dodge totally, as the machete hacks at his arm and causes him to drop his
gun. A moment later, Cutthroat himself slams into Maddoc, sending them
sprawling to the ground.
"I'm gonna rip your throat out with my fingers..." Cutthroat hisses.
"Dream on, pal." Maddoc responds as he forearms the big man on
the side of the head. He finishes removing himself from beneath the gang
leader with another punch to the head, forcing the man to roll aside. The
two combatants rise and prepare to lock in combat. Cutthroat draws a knife
from a hidden strap in his jacket and prepares to attack.
"I've been dreaming about this chance for a long time....."
"I'll bet you have. As I said....dream on."
With that, the big man leaps into the fray, bringing down his knife from
above towards Maddoc's heart. Maddoc steps aside, grabbing Cutthroat's knife
wielding wrist with right hand, and bringing a chop down with his left on
Cutthroat's inner elbow, redirecting the strike, and driving the knife
right into Cutthroat's own chest.
"Urk!" Cutthroat gasps as he falls.
"You were big....you were tough....but you were never very good." Maddoc
tells the fallen figure before striding over to pick up his shotgun.
"Maddoc!" Athena's voice cries.
Maddoc turns to see Cutthroat advancing, blood pouring from his chest,
and machete in hand. As Cutthroat's gruesome figure raises the machete to
strike, Maddoc brings up his shotgun and blasts Cutthroat full in the chest.
"Wasn't all that smart, either." Maddoc notes. "Crew, let's motor.
Even in this godforsaken city, the authorities will be arriving eventually.
Koan, did you locate the camera Cutthroat was using?"
Koan motions straight at the lens.
"Good. Athena."
Athena picks up a pistol, aims, and fires.
*****Warning: Transmission Terminated at Source*****

]<<<<<
-- Cutthroat <16:14:26CST/05-14-55>