| From: | "S.K. Khoo" <S.K.Khoo@*********.AC.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Seattle News Network |
| Date: | Mon, 16 May 1994 19:58:19 +0100 |
Pullyalup district after another firefight in that area last week. The house
belonging to Allen Compestine has twice now been all but destroyed by
unidentified gunmen and magicians within an eight-day period - a record, even
by Barrens standards. SeaNN reporters were able to obtain these trideo shots
taken by Mr. Compestines' security cameras:
****** Begin Aud.Vis.cam.Comp.
Interior of a large warehouse. Sparse furnishings litter one side of the
house - a sofa riddled with bullet holes, a splintered table, shattered glass
and half-burnt rugs. The walls are scarred by grenade blasts and hastily
painted over holes; this is the home of a suicidal maniac with a power drill
or a man with a lot of enemies. A self-installed second floor extends to half
the house; a large double-bed with a torn mattress that looks as though it's
been mauled by a critter sits squarely in the middle. A pair of side flank
an otherwise immaculate bedroom; a vidphone rests on the right table. Screens
set up throughout the place effectively partition all available area into
various "rooms", including kitchen and bathroom.
The other half of the warehouse is a converted garage; stacked against one
wall are the remains of several bikes. Two doors, one a double-door
permitting troll-sized entry with ease, the other large garage doors.
The double-doors open to admit a man and a woman. The man gently guides the
woman to a seat.
Man: Drink ?
Woman: <nods>
The man pours a glass of water and re-enters the living room; hands the glass
to the woman who sips gingerly. The man watches her a while before rising to
cross over to a bank of consoles and vidscreens.
Man: I'll just check if there are any messages while we were gone.
He begins to type; several monitors flicker to life and begin displaying text
and pictures. Scanning them, he replies to a few, occasionally looking over
his shoulder to check on the woman.
The monitors suddenly go blank. The man blinks once, then dives to the floor
as an instant later, the lights flicker out plunging the room into darkness;
the cameras switch automatically to low-light mode.
Man: Juliette, hit the dirt !!
The woman hesitates momentarily, a puzzled expression on her face as she
tries to divine what is going on. The shattering crescendo of the sentry guns
kicking in a split second later prompt her to the floor even as the man
begins to furiously roll towards a far wall out of camera shot.
Juliette: Punisher !!
The sentry guns go silent as they run out of ammunition. Heartbeats pass
before the front door disintergrates into a shower of splinters - a figure
appears in the doorway, silhouetted against the street lights, a mini-gun
supported by a gyro-mount, it's acquisition laser probing the dark. The
figure steps cautiously in; a hazy shimmering glides to his side and into the
warehouse, seeking ...
A moment later, with a loud cry, Punisher is flung from behind an overturned
sofa; there is a triumphant screech from the air elemental as it pursues its
victim. The man with the mini-gun opens up; instinctively, Punisher curls his
body, twisting desperately to avoid the hail of death. Bullets stitch the
walls and ceiling as the mini-gun tracks his leap.
Juliette surfaces from her cover with inhuman speed, a submachine gun in
either hand spitting fire. She rakes the mini-gun-man from neck to crotch as
windows on either side shatter with the entry of more combatants.
The mini-gun-man opens his mouth to cry his pain; only a gurgle of blood
erupts from his throat as, arms flailing, he imitates a puppet on a string
and is wrenched off his feet. Juliette sweeps her guns in a blur of movement
to target the newcomers, three in all, on her right; fast as they are, their
moves are jerky in comparison - all three exit the way they came. They are
flung out backwards through the windows as she hoses them down with a long
burst from both weapons.
A deep boom echoes around the warehouse; Juliette pirouettes. A crimson stain
spreads quickly from her left shoulder. A heavyset troll moves into view, a
shotgun a one hand and a grenade laucher in the other.
Unidentified voice: No, we want the gal alive.
Troll: <snorts>
Two short bursts snap the troll's head back; he falls with a heavy thud.
Punisher: Juliette !
UnIDed Voice: Take him out !
A trenchcoated man, pistol in hand, is seen backing towards the door,
muttering under his breath. The troll grunts, shakes his head and wipes off
the blood from his forehead, with an almost comic look of dismay as he
discovers just how much he's bleeding. Two hazy forms shimmer into view and
begin to take shape rapidly. Punisher walks towards them with an assault
rifle emptying his clip into Trenchcoat.
Punisher: Crud ! Frag ! Drek ! Mother-crapping jackass son of a - !
The bullets bounce off uselessly against a magical shield; Trenchcoat smiles.
Punisher throws away the rifle as the spent clip automatically ejects itself.
The two elementals beside Trenchcoat manifest themselves: one earth, one water.
Punisher unholsters a heavy pistol and continues hia walk.
Trenchcoat: Ah see you've managed ter dispose of ma air elemental. Quite a
feat, Punisher - ya do yer rep justice.
More bullets glance off the magical shield as Punisher pumps his clip in the
mage's direction. With a final curse, Punisher throws away the gun after the
hammer comes down on an empty chamber.
Trenchcoat: Pity ... <nods>
The earth elemental leaps towards Punisher with a roar; the water elemental
surges forward to flank him. With lightning speed, Punisher side-steps the
charging pile of soil simultaneously lashing out at the water elemental with
a monofilament whip untilnow concealed in his finger.
The earth elemental crashes into the rising troll, their chorus of groans
drowned by the shriek of the water elemental as the whip makes contact.
Punisher jumps back, whip ready, looking for an opening, and always keeping
the earth elemental, already reforming itself, in sight.
Th water elemental lunges only to miss as Punisher deftly slides to a side
and cracks his whip against the elemental's back. The earth elemental shoots
forward again, slamming Punisher to the wall; the elemental does not wait
and charges again. Punisher struggles to his feet, bracing himself against
the wall; he swings his whip in desperation as he gasps for air. The
elemental catches the whip - a sudden jerk sends Punisher on another
unwanted flight, this time towards the water elemental.
Apparently too tired to attempt a dodge, Punisher rolls his body to accept
the impact of the fall. He smashes against the water elemental which
instantly envelops him in a tidal wave and appears to be trying to drown
him. The troll comes into view, passing in front of the water elemental.
Juliette: Punisher !!
Trenchcoat, until now wearing a grin on his face, snaps out of his
"entertainment" with a horrified grimace. The troll is equally surprised.
Troll: Live, yuh sed yur emilentil got 'er !!
Juliette springs spurs from both arms and races towards the water elemental.
Livewire raises his arms but cannot match her boosted speed; she reaches the
elemental first and plunges the spurs into the distracted spirit.
The elemental expels Punisher with a howl as Juliette strikes yet again. The
earth elemental lumbers forward reaching her in an instant. A rocky hand
fells Juliette with a blow and a kick shatters her ribs; an audible crack is
heard. Juliette screams in pain. Punisher rolls into cover sputtering water.
The troll runs towards him.
Livewire mutters a final incantation - Punisher screams. Juliette staggers
to her feet, clutching her wounded side as the earth elemental towers above
her. A third arm shots forth from its torso; the unexpected manuever takes
her by surprise as the hand grips her throat and begins to squeeze. She
weakly stabs at the arm with her spurs as she croaks her pain.
Livewire notices her plight.
Livewire: Break her limbs if necessary but do not kill her. Crashbar, kill
useless sonavagun and let's git before the Star shows up. Bring her !
The mage turns to leave as a woman appears at the door.
Livewire: Whisper, I told you to stay with the perimeter teams.
Whisper: Star's on its way.
The troll picks up Punisher like a rag doll who seems to have passed out.
Crashbar: Mebbe yu wurn'ts tuffs yur sed.
In a flurry of movement, Punisher has the troll in a vice-like grip around
the voice-box/Adam's apple. Crashbar sips air as he, too, manages to grab
Punisher by the throat; with his free hand, the troll brings a Predator 2 to
Punisher's head. Punisher raises his own arm, catches the troll's gunhand.
A shot rings out, attracting the attention of Livewire and Whisper.
Livewire: Oh, fer heaven's sake !!
Livewire starts towards the dueling pair. Punisher, noticing his approach,
succeeds with great difficulty in bending the troll's hand to aim at the mage
who grins.
Livewire: Still some fight in ya; yer plan won't work - ah still got ma
barrier spell up -
At the last moment, Punisher forces Crashbar to aim at the consoles and
fires. The shot richochets off the computer banks and hits Livewire in the
head, dropping the mage. The earth elemental releases Juliette and together
with the water elemental screech in seemingly berserk tantrum.
Whisper: Oh, fraggit !!!
Whisper dives out the door as Juliette crawls to relative safety rubbing her
throat. Livewire moans and raises himself to his knees; his forehead is
bleeding profusely where the bullet grazed his temple. Crashbar and Punisher
struggle on. Livewire spies Juliette limping away.
Livewire: Come back here, ya lil' broad !
Juliette is swept up in a levitation spell and slowly brought towards
Livewire. Her cries for help go unheeded. Livewire only smiles as the
elementals tear a hole in th wall fighting each other.
Juliette: Punisher ! Punisher ! Nooooooooo !!!!!!!!
Juliette then screams something unintelligible, something so alien only Mork
would understand. Livewire's expression shows he knows something is terribly
wrong. Whisper pokes her head back in to take a look. Livewire's look of
confusion and something-not-being-right suddenly changes to one of dread
realisation - the elementals have ceased fighting and have gone silent. As
Juliette screams a second time, a gust of wind lifts small items of decor
into a swirl of dust. Crashbar and Punisher freeze in statue-like motion and
for a brief moment, all is quiet ... Then a sudden roar of wind signal the
two elementals' entry as they plough straight towards Livewire, obliterating
everything in their paths, crying frenzy-like in contrast to his whimpers of
terror.
The mage is sliced in half at the waist as the elementals rush past him and
into the night skies. Whisper stares in mute shock, then realising the
enormity of what she has just witnessed, flees out the door shouting for
back-up. Punisher, taking advantage of the moment, slams a fist into the
troll's gut, unholsters Crashbar's grenade launcher from the troll's back as
he doubles over, rams a knee in the same move into the troll's face bringing
Crashbar's face up again to shove the launcher into the troll's open mouth.
Punisher: Send my regards to your mage friend !
As the troll pleads with his eyes, Punisher pulls the trigger, diving for the
floor as he does. Crashbar's head explodes in a cloud of blood and tissue as
sirens are heard; the troll's headless body topples as if in slow motion to
the ground.
Punisher picks himself up with stifled groans, hobbles over to Juliette's
slumped form. Gingerly picking her up, he heads for the exit and after
assuring himself that nobody is out there, disappears into the night.
***** End Aud.Vis.cam.Comp.
Lone Star is now seeking the man in the film named Punisher, believed to be
Mr. Compestine or one of his associates. Police are also seeking the
attackers involved - all those filmed are reputed to be shadowrunners. SeaNN
sources confirm that there is a shadowrunner called Punisher; whether or not
this is the man with the woman named Juliette will not be known until Lone
Star has had the chance to question him.
The search continues, meanwhile, for Mr. Compestine. He is wanted for
possession of unlicensed firearms. Lone Star spokesmen valued the security
arrangements featuring high-tech "sentry" weapons at more than half a million
nuyen. Anyone with information should ring Lone Star at their situation room
at >>>LTG<<<. A substantial reward has been offered and all calls will
be
treated in absolute confidence.
Now the sports: Seattle Tigers today announced - TRANSMISSION DISCONNECTED.
AUDIO.VISUAL UPLINK SUSPENDED. ]<<<<<
-- SeaNN <We are the news !!>
