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From: Mike Goldberg <m_goldberg@**.COLORADO.EDU>
Subject: We salute you! (Finale)
Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 21:38:32 MST
>>>>>[ Let's see... where was I? Oh yeah, the stairs. I had a
really sinking feeling about the fire, so I decided that maybe it
would be a good idea to focus some energy on protecting Punisher
from the fires (they were magical after all). Well, at this
point, the fire alarms, the sprinkler system, and the gun fire,
made it utterly impossible to hear anything, so we were somewhat
resorted to try and react on instinct, and when that failed the
radio.

After a few panicked seconds, we realized that having grenades in
our hands was a REALLY BAD idea. So Punisher started lobbing
grenades as quick as he could down the stairs. The resulting
explosions didn't really help our cause, but it sure did end any
discussion on the need for a gun-fight. Then we found out, how
bad the fire was. Instead of just the whole stairway being on
fire, we started to get ... err.... bolts of fire shot at us.
Another debate on radio on where to go, was insured. Much to my
regret, we went down. Or tried to. When we came down to were the
grenades went off and continue descending stop being an option
because of the intensity of the fire. So instead we went up.
Shral'thala disappeared again at this time (which I thought was
a particularly good option that I wouldn't have minded making
myself). Since we knew it was some sort of fire thing, I used a
few water spells to get ourselves further up without getting
fried. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep up the pace with the fires.

When we got to the next landing, we saw our problem/attacker. It
was FireWraith. And, I was speechless. About the time we got
there, I think was when people were leaving. We didn't have a
choice in the matter. I hope IBA is okay...

Anyway, she shouted at us. Actually I am pretty sure it was all
directed to me and Claw, but neither Claw nor I were in any sort
of condition to be listening to a lecture. I guess she decided
that she didn't like our lack of responses, (I still have no clue
what she said), so she decided to continue the magical assault on
us. To say the least, it was getting very warm with all the fire
around, and magical protection or no, I wasn't going to keep
conscious much longer. And I think that was going to be the case
for Punisher and Claw too. Punisher decided that maybe it would
be good to go for a door. He bolted to the door, only to discover
that it was locked to prevent the fire from spreading.

Meanwhile, FireWraith walked up to me, and grabbed my arm. It got
my attention to say the least. (Also my hearing started to come
back to me because of the pain)

FW: YOU LEFT ME IN THE HANDS OF NIGHTMARE!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT
THAT BASTARD MADE ME DO?!?

I'll have to admit, she must have been taking lessons from
someone like Doomsday. She did have my wrist in a nice, painful
lock, and was burning my wrist up to boot. But I wasn't about to
give her the satisfaction of making me suffer.

DE: Yes I realize what you went through. It wasn't my decision
about it. It wasn't my decision to let Blitzkrieg suffer like he
did either. I -- and everybody that went with me did what they
could to help. What you did to WHAT wasn't kind either.

She snarled, and applied more pressure. I decided that while I
would love to hold hands with her, when she was being civilized
this simply wasn't working. So, I cast a stun spell at her. She
let go of me in shock, and I did the only thing I could think of.
I punched her. Apparently, really good, since she like most
others know how much I like non-violence. Of course that fact
that I was there in the first place was a paradox, so what does
it matter?

I punched her real good too. While she was still really stunned
about me actually attacking her, I decided that I wanted to talk
to her, but not in a burning building.

Unfortunately, Claw reacted before I could stop him, and he
slammed her into the wall. (I was surprised he didn't try casting
a spell, or doing more damaging tactics, but then again, I'm not
combat expert either). I finally got over to her, as she was
beginning to recover, and cast a full power stun spell at her
(something I never wanted to do on someone I once called friend.
It hurt a lot to do all this). When she slumped over unconscious
I grabbed her and threw her rather ungracefully over my shoulder.
I, really wasn't in the mood for the heroics, and was angry at
myself for hurting my other wrist in the punch, and wasn't
thinking clearly.

Claw, was smiling. But the smile didn't last. We were cooking
fairly quickly in here. I looked over to Punisher, who was busily
destroying the lock enough for us to open the door. He finally
managed to unlock the door. Unfortunately, there were a lot of
guards there waiting for us.

The mage in charge demanded that we throw down our weapons and
surrender. I figured my stun pistol wasn't going to do much and
that my wrists were to hurt to use a stun baton, so I didn't
care. I threw mine down. Punisher and Claw were both stunned by
my actions. I started casting a spell.

DE: I'm sorry, sir the only way I can completely throw down my
weapons is if, I commit suicide. Something I won't do. Can't you
see that this lady has suffered from smoke inhalation. I need
some oxygen for her.

Now that I had everybody completely confused, I struck hard with
illusions. I figured, when in doubt disappear. Somewhere I
managed to find an inner reserve of strength. Without dropping
the slumbering FireWraith, I forced Claw and Punisher to go left.
I'm surprised they went along with it, but they did. Silently
too. Quickly I herded them down the hallway, then down another
one. You do have to understand two things. One that illusion
wasn't going to last long, and two, I didn't have a clue where I
was going. At this point Claw figured out what was going on, and
took point. Punisher following his lead, and seeing how I looked
like I was going to collapse took FireWraith from my hands.

Everything was going like clockwork now, Claw was in his element
of leading. I was happily not leading. And Punisher was bringing
up the rear. Everything worked like clockwork until we got to a
new set of stairs. Firewraith woke up. She screamed angrily, and
bit Punisher. Punisher didn't like that, so he dropped her.
Apparently, the stairs didn't like her either, and she proved how
nasty and easy stairs are to fall down. I had, what I was
starting to feel like another inspiration. I just kept hoping it
wouldn't be the last one of my life. I foolishly, (didn't realize
how foolishly, until more guards started firing at me) ran down
the stairs and slapped a tranq patch on her forehead. She went
back to unconsciousness. Then the guards found me.

Too my credit, I didn't faint outright. Even though my knees
seemed to turned to a substance like synth-jelly. But I was
definitely determined that I wasn't going to get out of this alive.

Leader: Freeze!

(Like I had a choice. A deer caught in the headlights of an
oncoming semi-truck is how I felt.)

Leader: Who are you?

(I was beginning to wonder why the hell I was here. I needed to
stall. I needed sleep even more. I was contemplating putting up a
barrier spell, but I didn't think it would help much.)

DE: Christopher. you?

(Apparently, wrong answer. I took a bullet in the leg for my
attempt at humor. At this point, I started wondering what was
Johnathan's last thoughts were. I also was wondering where the
hell Punisher and Claw were. I was hoping that I could buy them
enough time to get out of this hell hole. The only other thought
that came to me, besides the pain, was why was I thinking of hell
now. It isn't part of my beliefs. Somebody brainwashed me good
the past few weeks to even convince me to go on this. Hopefully,
I thought, I will live after this to find out.)

Leader: Shut up, you flower-drek for brains-eater. Who's the
chic?

DE: Shiela. She is rather belligerent when she wakes up, I
don't think you would be wise to wake her now.

Leader: I'll take my chances.

I muttered to myself, so will I. With that I slammed up the
barrier, and limped up the stairs, feeling bullets slam into the
barrier. I suppose I left a nice smear of blood on the wall. No
chance to correct that. But it apparently didn't matter. For a
reason unrelated to me, the fire alarms went off again. And the
sprinklers went off. I thought, "Well at least I won't die dry."

At this point I was at a loss for what to do. I didn't have a
choice on the barrier, I had to drop it. I was about to pass out.
So I let it drop. And collapsed to the ground. Time passed. The
water continued to pour down on me. I wondered, idly where the
fire was that this was putting out, and how I was going to get
out of another locked stairway. My vision, must have been going,
because I almost passed out again. I came to, when I felt someone
picking up Firewraith, and a cold wet nose, (that left a blood
print probably) against my cheek. Claw cast a healing spell on me, which
helped somewhat. And then supported me down the stairs.

We made our way, as quick as possible. My mind was pretty much
mush, especially at the sight of such carnage. We finally got to the garage
level. And headed out. Using Claw's magic, and very little of my own, we
managed to hide ourselves most of the way out. We saw guards emerge, and spread
out to search for us, and tried to make haste. Unfortunately, I
was slowing ourselves down. Reaching the entrance to the garage
we were stumped. There were a bunch of guards and a lot of Fire
Fighters. Without thinking I started singing softly to myself. I
saw Punisher's eyebrow raise, but he said nothing.

The guards looked at us in surprise.
One of the guards said to apparently the leader of the fireman, "I thought you
said they were all out."
The fireman responded by saying, "I'm sorry, I forgot about the part of my
crew that was checking the roof."
The Guard was about to say something, but didn't.

Claw and Punisher walked on out. I think the only reason I made
it out was because Claw, physically was supporting me.

We entered the group of fire fighters. And I instinctively led,
by whispers, them to where the medical staff would be. I looked
up. The medical officer was offering help for the injured lady. I
almost laughed in his face. Instead I asked him, if I could watch
in on the procedure on the lady. He agreed. When we got inside,
(Claw and Punisher somehow managed to come along with us). I
dropped the illusion.

DE: Gods, I am getting tired. You can play this right, and live, or
wrong and suffer . . . We need a way out of here. In turn I offer
you medical assistance.

Medical Officer: How dare you threaten me. . . (he then turned white when he
realized that Claw had forearm blades at his throat).

DE: No need to threaten him. There is no need for violence
anymore. Listen, (I looked at his badge), Mark. I worked with
DocWagon in my past, I am a highly competent shaman, and can help
you out greatly, if you need the help. I can offer you money, I
can subsidize your unit to get you better medical gear. But I
cannot afford to let you turn us over.

MO: What's my proof that you will help?

DE: Get us out of here, and I'll show you some damn proof. (I was
getting irritated with Punisher and Claw gesturings how to dispose
with the officer, even though they were starting to look appealing).

MO: I got an idea. You show me your power by healing two humanis goons that
got messed up in a fight with an ork and a dwarf. They happen to be cops. You
do that and give them a lesson against misusing power and that not all
metahumans are bad, and I'll consider it even.

DE: Do I have any time before I heal them? I could use some
sleep.

MO: Can you afford for her to wake up here?

DE: Not really.

MO: Then you don't have time.

DE: *Sigh* Very well, where are they?

MO (raises an eyebrow): You will really go through with this?

DE (Now I was annoyed at all of them, what a stupid question):
Yes. It's what I do. Whether they deserve it or not. Make sure
she doesn't become awake, if you have to, add more tranq patches
every 15 minutes or so. Now, where are they? MO: Follow me.

DE: Hold on a sec. I need a uniform.

MO: That makes sense. Actually, I will need to hit home first in
that case. Where do you want your two friends and the lady to be
dropped off?

Punisher: I'm staying until we are all ready to go.

Claw: Agreed.

(It was very nice to hear that, I wasn't going to be left alone
with this two cops.) I actually slept in a corner on the ride to his
home, and while he got a uniform. I was amazed to find out that
we didn't have to deal with anymore guards on the way out. Not that I had any
more tricks up my sleeve. Of course I thought that before during
that night, so I guess anything is possible.

The uniform that he got, was made for a person heavier and a full
foot shorter than I am. And as such fit rather badly. I was
beyond caring at this point. At his house I downed another cup of
coffee, and enjoyed my time in his bathroom pulling myself
together. The medical officer seemed very nervous with Claw and
the Punisher in the room. I think his girlfriend took it better,
but not by much. People just don't handle shadowrunners well.

After Punisher and Claw had a good stress relieving laugh over
how the uniformed looked on me, and I had to admit, I was
laughing too. We went. My story was that I just got hired on the
force, and that they didn't have any uniforms in the right size.
I asked Claw to be my assistant, and that the medical officer be
my witness.

In the room with the 2 cops, who actually weren't as bad shape as I was
with the gun-shot and the wound of hitting the wire, I cleaned
myself up. In a professional manner, I tended them, and then gave
them the lecture of thier lives. Claw, just got to sit and watch. I
won't bore you with the lecture as I did to Claw, but I made sure to make it
sound that they would have died if it wasn't for me, and that in the
future, they wouldn't be so lucky if they couldn't find it in
their hearts to look past one's race. I also stressed that some
of us, in a position of power, like I had over them, don't abuse
it. At the very least I gave them food for thought. Also have
taken down their names and ids. So that if they abuse their
powers again, and I hear about it, I can get them fired.

After I left the room, I passed out. Too much fatigue from the
past few days. (and the added bonus of a run, and 3 operations
all in the past 16 hours didn't help it) I was revived by Claw,
when we got to the place that we were going to. There we picked
up Punisher's car, and went through the post-op procedures. What
a pain, but a necessary one. Then we put FireWraith in a place
where she wouldn't harm anyone for a bit, and I got some sleep.

I can say now, that I have had a lot more sleep, and that I have
had a lot more talks with FireWraith and that she isn't ready to
kill me. And for that I am thankful. I am also thankful, that it
looks like I will be getting more sleep for a least a few more
days. Again, I offer, if anyone needs medical attention, let me
know. And for Doom, I can also recommend people, and they
wouldn't take charges for the service rendered. I made some phone
calls. Just contact me. ]<<<<<
-- DragonEyes <20:04:30/5-15-55>

***** Private-To: Bruce, Shadowfox, Doomsday
>>>>>[ Bruce, before I send all this Shadowfox, and Doomsday's
way, you should contact me. Let me know when you are set for
that, because I may have relocated by that time.

+++++ Sending File Folder to >>Link<<

Shadowfox, and Doomsday, you have a lot to answer if what
FireWraith is true. And she does want blood if that is the case.
I WANT TO TALK TO YOU TWO ASAP TO STRAIGHTEN THIS OUT. I know
your trip is important, but so is this, and if you don't deal
with it, your mission there could be in jeopardy. Answer soon.
]<<<<<
-- DragonEyes <20:08:25/5-15-55>

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.