| From: | Jaimie Nicholson <jaimie.nicholson@********.OTAGO.AC.NZ> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Excuses |
| Date: | Tue, 28 Jan 1997 13:34:25 +1300 |
>>>>>[This should explain the failure of our attempt to meet you last
night... sorry.
++++++Begin footage
The location is a street cafe, around ten at night. The makeup of the crowd
puts the location somewhere downtown... too many suits for the barrens, too
mixed for the "good" neighbourhoods. The camera is pointing at Ronin, who
is eating a burger. Evita sits beside him, looking at him with a puzzled
expression, a styrofoam cup in her hand.
"You what?" she asks him.
"My spell's picking up surveillance," Ronin replies, "One person, behind
me. No, don't look around..."
Too late, the camera turns, looking over Ronin's shoulder. The usual
assortment of suits and street scum is visible, no-one appears to be overly
interested in the group at the table. Ice looks back at Ronin.
"Thought it might be L," he says, "but I don't see anyone who fits the
description... still, no enemies by my detection magic. Could be some chica
checking you out..."
"Why would anyone bother?" asks Evita, grinning at the samurai.
"Good question," replies Ice, "But at least he's got two ears... not
everyone can..."
"Yeah, yeah," says Ronin, "real funny... let's move away and see who
follows us."
They rise from the table, Ronin moving through the tables away from where
his back was pointed. Ice waits until Evita has moved, then follows. The
procession leaves the street cafe, then Ronin applies some speed, ducking
around members of the crowd. Ice and Evita manage to keep up, then stop
when Ronin joins a line of people, waiting to get into a club.
"Change clothes," says Ronin, talking to Ice, "Gimme those shades
too..."
Ice hands Ronin a pair of mirror-shades, and takes his leather coat in
exchange, throwing it on. He also reaches around the back of his head,
letting his long hair down and shaking it to make it look like it had been
that way for a while.
"Different enough?" Ronin asks, looking at Evita.
"Maybe," she says, tying her hair back and throwing on the jacket she had
been carrying, "Can you feel the watcher again yet?"
"No..." answers Ronin, "Nothing..."
"Is this a blood stain?" asks Ice, looking down at the grey inner lining of
the coat.
"Yeah," answers Ronin turning to regard the elf with a slight grin, "I
think it's yours though... from when I carried you into the clinic in
Oakland."
"Great," mutters Ice, lifting one hand to the left side of his head, "It
always comes up, doesn't it, you and..."
"Fraggit," says Ronin, turning towards the road, "it's..."
He is interrupted by the impact of a tall Eurasian woman in a short white
dress and low-heeled white boots, who throws her arms around his shoulders
and kisses him on the cheek.
"Matty," she squeals, "Why..."
By this time Ronin has broken her grip and spun her into the wire-crossed
window of the club, his forearm across her throat. The clientele inside who
notice this start to cheer and clap, and some in the line turn to watch
also.
"Let me _go_!" the woman complains, "What are you _doing_? Oh my
_god_!"
Ronin steps back, releasing her, and she mutters under her breath,
adjusting her disarrayed clothing.
"You know this woman?" asks Ice, eyes on her.
"Yes," answers Ronin, "from..."
"She'd better be the long lost sister that you somehow failed to mention,"
says Evita, a dangerous look in her eye.
"What's it to you, little girl?" asks the woman in white, looking down at
Evita with a sneer on her face.
"I'd like to say yes," says Ronin to Evita, ignoring the other woman, "but
she was a combat decker who was on my team in my first year here in
Seattle. We... later for that, okay? Ice, enemies?" He turns to look at the
elf.
"Nothing," Ice replies, then looks around the street.
"Let's go," says Ronin, "See you, Sherry."
"Hold _on_," says Sherry, "You don't get away that easy. What's going _on_,
where are you _going_? Look at me when I talk to you..."
Sherry moves after Ronin, grabbing his right shoulder, and he turns,
extremely fast. Before she can react, Ronin catches Sherry's arm and twists
it up behind her back.
"Sorry, Sherry," he says, "But I have no way of knowing whether to trust
you... Ice, your engulfment thing, if you please."
Ice raises a hand, palm out, then casts a spell at Sherry, a slow gout of
ice which covers her from head to toe. Ronin breaks free of the few bits
which had stuck her to him, and nods at Ice.
"How long does the spell last?" he asks the elf.
"As long as I concentrate." he replies, "It'll give us a headstart, but I
can't let her suffocate, or even pass out, you never know what'll happen to
a defenceless... hey, wait for me!"
By this time Ronin and Evita have left the scene, and Ice follows.
"Oh drek, I'm getting something..." calls Ronin, "Three, no four, damn
it..."
Evita, in the lead, turns left down a short street, then right into a small
club, a sign proclaiming it to be "the Purple Helmet". Ronin follows,
moving into the establishment just behind her. Just before he enters, Ice
notices a second sign, in flashing neon, which reads "Live male
striptease."
Inside the place, Evita has moved ahead, towards the bar on the back wall.
The live striptease is taking place on a stage to the left of the door, and
Ice takes a brief glimpse at an enormously muscled ork in a posing pouch,
before looking away with a shudder. Ronin catches up to Evita, looking like
he thinks he needs her protection, and Ice moves ahead too. The almost
entirely female audience turns predatory eyes on the two men, whistling and
laughing, and Ice keeps his eyes on the middle-aged bartendress.
"...back way out?" Evita is saying as Ice arrives, trying to beat the
volume of the ork's thunderous dance music.
The woman nods, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at a closed door behind her.
"You can use it, for a fee..." she says, "Promise that the elf will come
back and... perform," she licks her darkly glossed lips, "for me later."
"I just might," says Ice, not sounding very enthusiastic.
"Okay," the bartendress says, stepping to the side, "get your leg over! Haw
haw haw!"
Ronin leaps over the bar, Ice following, and Evita brings up the rear. They
pass through the door and enter a kitchen. Moving through the staff, they
mouth polite nothings to people they have to dodge around, and get out a
back door into the right arm of a T-shaped, garbage strewn alley.
"Where now," asks Ronin.
Evita moves past, heading for the leg of the T.
"I know this area," she replies, "Follow me."
Ronin shrugs, and the two men follow Evita, making the turn just behind her.
"How's our pursuit?" Ice ask Ronin.
"No-one watching us right now..." he answers.
"Right," replies Ice, "I'll take the time to turn into a tiger."
He hands Ronin's coat back to the samurai, then he starts casting and his
clothes expand as he fits them into tiger shape. Then the view point drops
as he goes down on all fours in the form of a large white tiger. He looks
himself over, making a few adjustments to the fit of his armoured
tiger-suit.
"Very cute," says Evita, "Now let's move."
"Still no watchers..." Ronin says, "But if it was a trap and Sherry was the
bait, then they must have prepared for the possibility that we'd run."
"I've got an astral enemy," says Ice through the micro-speakers on his
collar, looking back over his shoulder, "Looks like one of those 'Raku
guys... get him, boys."
"Uhh?" says Ronin, "Sending off your elementals? Whatever, let's keep
moving."
Ice lopes off, moving into the lead as Evita falters for a moment.
"Mine are going to get him too..." she says, "I've kept one with me just in
case though."
"Maybe I should have thought of that," says Ice, "Oh well, never mind, it
shouldn't matter..."
Suddenly there is a flare of light ahead of him, and the sound of a vehicle
starting up. There seem to be several sources of the light, and they are
moving towards the camera. Ice's flare compensation kicks in, and a C-N
Patrol becomes discernible as the source of the light and sound.
Ronin moves past Ice, a heavy pistol raised at shoulder height, and fires
at the lights, taking out two of the five on the rack on top of the
vehicle, and one of the headlights. Ice roars, casting a spell that sends a
spray of ice shards at the Patrol, smashing the rest of the lights and
taking out half of the wind-shield. By then the Patrol is closing rapidly,
and Ice leaps up at the last moment, not getting enough height, going
through where the wind-shield was, and landing, front legs out, in the
drivers lap. More shots sound, light autofire this time, as the Patrol
veers off to the left, striking the wall of the alley. There is a thud from
outside as Ice starts tearing at the drivers face, and a shout of pain from
Ronin. Ice looks up, checking whether there are any others in the vehicle,
but he and the now dead driver are its only occupants. The front seat
passenger's side door has sprung open in the crash, and Ice bounds through
it, looking back towards the direction of the Purple Helmet. Ronin is
nowhere to be seen, and Evita has taken cover behind a stack of crates on
the other side of the alley.
"Bastards!" she screams, starting to cast a spell down in the direction
from where the vehicle came.
Ice looks that way, and sees a couple of plumes of fire, muzzle flashes
coming from two dark shapes. He gets lower, and directs a spell of his own
that way. A bolt of fire from Evita lights up one of the attackers like a
torch, and the dark form goes down, and the second falls victim to Ice's
blast of icy shards.
"Where's Ronin?" calls Ice.
"The Patrol hit him!" Evita answers, moving to the side of the alley where
the vehicle now rests.
Ice leaps to the top of the crashed 4WD, and takes a look around. Ronin,
groggily swearing, is lying a couple of meters from the crashed Patrol,
which has spun around so it is now pointing about forty-five degrees off
the opposite direction from that in which it started. Evita begins some
sort of healing spell as she reaches Ronin, touching him on what looks like
a twisted or broken knee.
"Frag!" yells Ronin, twisting away from Evita's touch.
"I'll deal with our astral friend while you do that," Ice calls, dropping
prone on the roof.
His camera is still pointing at Ronin's writhing form, and stays there
while he is travelling astrally. Evita finishes her spell, and Ronin
cautiously flexes his knee. It still appears to pain him a little, but he
is able to get up and move past Ice, refilling the clip on his pistol.
"What's happening up there?" Ronin asks from off-camera.
Evita looks blank for a moment, then "The elementals had driven off the
'Raku mage," she replies, "but they seem to have taken a beating while
doing it... Ice is helping them clean up the 'Raku spirits... they're all
gone, he's coming back."
Ice gets up, and leaps off the Patrol.
"No surveillance..." Ronin says, "I think that once we put some distance
between us and here we should be fine..."
The group leaves the alley, Ice checking the two attackers they put down,
confirming their incapacitation. Evita takes a micro-Uzi from one of them,
grabbing two spare clips for it from his ammo belt, and tucks the hardware
under her jacket.
"I'll keep up astral perception as we go..." Ice says.
Evita nods, then moves past Ronin, who's limp is visible, but not bad
enough to slow him down much. Ice moves past him too, watching the sky.
They reach a small street, empty of people, and turn left down it to where
it crosses a larger two-laned one. Ice looks about, pausing.
"Which the hell way was the Sherry encounter?" he asks, "I'm lost."
"That way," says Evita, pointing left, "Any astral pursuit?"
"No..." answers Ice, "Wait, there's a... got you, you little bastard!
Watcher, gone now. There's another... damn it, a swarm of the pricks... eat
my fireball! Haha!"
Several people are turning to look, and others are beginning to flee from
what appears to be a tiger somehow free in the city. Ice looks around,
realising what's happening, as Ronin moves past him.
"We've got to get off the street," he says, "and Ice, turn into an elf
please."
Ice makes the change, then fits his clothes back to his shape as Ronin
stops a taxi by stepping into it's path. Evita pulls out the indignant
passenger, and she and Ice get in as Ronin persuades the driver to keep his
mouth shut with a large cash donation. As the cab pulls away, Ice looks
back at the swearing victim of the hi-jacking, who is almost jumping up and
down with rage.
"Alright then," says Ronin, "Ice, any more astral trouble?"
"No..." Ice replies, "But there'll be more of them, watchers are easy
enough that you can make 'em in your sleep... and my elementals only drove
off the 'Raku guy, they didn't put him out of action."
"Can you track him down later?" Evita asks.
"Maybe... I got a look at him, and I can send watchers out as well as or
better than he can."
"Then we're home and dry," says Ronin, "You take care of him, and then
because no other mages have seen us, there's no-one to track us."
"Maybe," replies Evita, "There might have been a few others who were just
perceiving the astral, from somewhere I couldn't see them, and Ice missed
them in the excitement of the combat."
"Could be..." begins Ice, wehn suddenly the taxi screams to a halt.
Ice looks out the front as Ronin starts yelling something at the driver,
and sees a burning wreck ahead of the cab.
"Out!" Ice yells, jumping out of the vehicle just ahead of Evita and Ronin.
"You see anything?" calls Ronin.
"Looks like a rocket hit that car ahead of us..." shouts Ice, just before a
streak of fire precedes a second explosion that takes out a Eurocar on the
opposite side of the taxi, shrapnel blasting out the cab's windows and
ripping into the driver.
Ronin sprints past Ice, Evita following closely behind, and the elf turns
his head to see what he can see. There is little there, other than a
panicking crowd, and Ice allows himself to be swept along by the stampede,
losing track of Ronin, but fighting his way back to Evita's side.
"Where's Ronin?" he shouts, and Evita points.
Ice jumps up, looking over the heads of the crowd, and sees Ronin on the
second try. The samurai waves, and tries to reach him, but it is impossible
in the weight of the crowd. The three runners manage to push their way to
the edge of the flow of people, and are swept into the doorway of a closed
shop.
"Any surveillance?" Ice asks Ronin, and the samurai shakes his head,
bending over in temporary exhaustion.
"Now what the hell do we do?" asks Evita.
Ronin shrugs, and Ice looks at the now thinning crowd.
"Better join them again," he says, "We don't want to get caught in the
open."
Ronin nods, and moves into the crowd again, taking a few random turns with
Evita and Ice behind him. Eventually they stop in a small back street
vacant lot, occupied only by squatters, and flop down behind a pile of
tyres.
"What now?" asks Ice, "They seem to be able to follow us whatever we
do..."
"Split up?" suggests Evita, "I don't like the idea, but..."
"I don't think I like it either," says Ronin, "Can one of you change me
into a bird of some sort, and then both do the same for yourselves?"
"Mmmm..." mutters Ice, "Yeah, I guess... but we don't have time for you to
learn to fly. But you could be a mouse, and one of us'll carry you..."
Ronin glares, then nods his head, and Ice begins the spell. Ronin shrinks
rapidly into the form of a mouse, and Ice changes himself too, fitting his
collar to bird form, but leaving his clothes behind. The mouse looks at
him, twitching it's whiskers and tries to figure out how to walk with four
legs. Evita assumes the form of a bald eagle, plucks Ronin off the ground,
and takes off. Ice follows after pulling his credstick out of a pocket of
his discarded clothing, and putting his head through the straps of Ronin's
shoulder holster, hanging the samurai's pistol around his neck.
The next few minutes of footage show the view of the city at night from
about ten stories up, Ice and Evita flying close to the buildings. In one
mirrored window surface, Ice is seen as a large barn owl, wings beating
hard to keep up with Evita's effortless glide.
"Where are we going to get clothes when we land?" asks Ice, shouting
through his collar speakers.
Evita looks at him, but can't talk, so Ice remains unanswered. They
continue flying, and Evita starts descending near the edge of lake
Washington. Ice follows, circling as Evita drops Ronin into a bush, and
lands.
"I'll go look for something to wear," says Ice, then leaves the area.
A few sweeps of the area find a discarded sheet in the back of a junk yard
and a number of smaller rags. Ice bundles them up, then drags them back to
the others. Evita has reverted to human form, and is waiting, shivering, in
the bushes when Ice arrives. He lands, changing the sheet into a short
dress and two pairs of cutoff jeans, and the rags into assorted forms of
underwear. Ice throws Evita's items to her, then reverts to elf form and
dresses hurriedly in the cold air. Ronin checks his pistol, then puts on
the shoulder rig.
"Okay, let's go," Ice says, as Ronin finishes dressing.
The samurai stretches, shivering a little, and looks around.
"Any risk of a shirt?" he asks Ice, indicating his shoulder holster, "This
isn't very subtle."
"Sorry, no," the elf replies, tucking his credstick into a pocket.
Ice leaves the lakeside, Evita following, and they head for the road.
"You got the time?" Ice asks.
"22:30," answers Ronin, catching up.
As they reach the road, music can be heard, and they follow it to a nearby
bar. It's parking area is occupied exclusively by motorcycles and some of
the riders thereof, talking and swilling beer. One or two turn to watch the
runners.
"Here's trouble," says Ice to Ronin, "You're not going in there are
you?"
Ronin ignores him, pushing through the doors, and Evita shrugs and follows.
Ice wanders after them, forming a triangle with Ronin at the point as they
enter the badly lit barroom. People turn to look at them, and begin to
whistle in mockery at their clothing. No-one approaches though, Ronin's
glare and obvious weapon hold them back. They get the bartender's attention
easily enough.
"Got a towel back there?" Ice asks.
Wordlessly, the bartender hands one over. Ice casts a spell, shapes it into
a T-shirt, and throws it on.
"Who wants to sell me a jacket?" asks Ronin, having turned to the crowd.
An ork steps forward, taking off his grimy oil-skin coat, and hands it to
the samurai.
"If you can make it to the door, you can keep it," he says.
Ronin grins, pulls out his pistol, holding it at his side, and walks slowly
towards the door, followed by Evita and Ice. No-one moves, and the live
band stop playing in the middle of a line, sensing that no-one is paying
attention to them anymore. Reaching the door, Ronin turns, looking at the
crowd, still wearing that menacing grin, then steps outside. Ice and Evita
follow, and the music starts again, the noise level quickly growing to what
it was before they entered.
"Should have asked for a car too," Ice mutters as Ronin puts on the coat.
"Can you do something with this?" the samurai asks, turning to the elf,
"It's not really me."
Ice nods, then begins casting, changing the coat to leather, and shrinking
it to fit right. Ronin grunts in thanks and adjusts the holster to hide it
from casual view. Evita leaves the parking area, heading for a pay-telecom
booth, and the two men follow her.
"We need to call for a cab," says Evita, "but we'd better get someone else
to do the talking. Seattle Telecom security is a joke, and whoever made
that hit attempt could easily have someone on the lines looking for our
voice prints."
Ice looks around, picking out a go-ganger from the parking lot, and walking
up to him.
"Hey, can you make a telecom call for us?" he asks, and the go-ganger turns
to look at him.
"Who d'ya want me to call?" he asks.
"A taxi," Ice replies, "We'll pay..."
"Yeah, 'kay," the ganger grunts, "Telecom..." he looks around,
"there...
right, walking..."
The ganger staggers over to the telecom, and Evita taps in some numbers,
then waits as the ganger speaks to the taxi company, asking for a vehicle
for three people to be sent to that address.
"Thanks," Ronin says, and the ganger nods, then staggers off again.
The runners sit down at the kerb to wait, and after a minute or two, Evita
speaks.
"I was sure that was going to turn into a brawl like on the trid," she says.
Ice nods, "I had the same conviction."
"You just don't trust me," says Ronin, "do you, Ice?"
"I've got one word for you and your trust," answers the elf, "Ear."
Ronin goes silent, and the runners sit around for another minute, then the
taxi arrives, and they get in.
"Where now?" asks Evita, "We can't really go to our homes, they might know
about them..."
"The warehouse?" suggests Ice.
"Yeah," answers Evita, "there's a barrier up, that'll do."
Evita gives directions to the driver, and Ice explains to Ronin about the
shifters.
"We're a magical group, right," he begins, "I went on a job for this guy
called L, a corpster, Saedder-Krupp, in the security division, and he had
been monitoring some of the public shadowland talk, and noticed that we had
advertised there for members. He made a deal with us that he would finance
us in return for services as and when he needed them. So we've got a
warehouse with living space, a library, and so on, and that's where we're
headed now."
Evita nudges Ice, cutting him off, "Let's go astral," she says, "and clear
away any watchers."
The eyes of the two mages go glazed for a while, Ronin watching anxiously
as they make noises along the lines of "nothing yet," and "there's one, got
the little bugger."
Eventually, the cab pulls somewhere just north of downtown Seattle, and the
runners pile out. Ronin waits while Ice and Evita check for astral
followers, then all three of them go inside what looks like an abandoned
warehouse. The security on the entrance is impresive though, Evita guiding
Ronin through while Ice maintains astral vigilance.
Inside there is a wide open space, and Ice sighs with relief as they cross
a yellow painted line at the threshold.
"The wards start there," he explains to Ronin, who nods.
Evita points towards the far wall, beginning to say something about
bathrooms, and Ice turns off his camera.
+++++End footage
So, can we make another arrangement? At the moment, we are trying to avoid
leaving the warehouse, so could you come here? Or how about a virtual
meeting?
Oh, BTW, I've done the preliminary surveillance on that job of yours...
I'll go in on the astral tonight I think, I've arranged for a guy I know to
do the physical side of it.]<<<<<
-- Ice <17:18:49/01-27-58>
*****PRIVATE: Ice
>>>>>[I'll be there in less than half an hour.]<<<<<
-- L <17:26:08/01-27-58>
