02:00:38 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

Bubba hand gestured to his team eyes on two targets. The hand gestured was repeated from front to the back of the team.

Bubba continued a slow and quiet approach with his weapon aimed at the front most figure. As Bubba got closer to the shadowy figures he yelled,

"OOGA BOOGA! ...I know yous there comes out where I can sees ya!"

02:00:39 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

One of the figures darted, heading deeper into the darkness, dropping some metal contraption to the floor with a clang as it made its escape. The other figure remained behind the soda machine, completely hidden from Bubba now.

02:00:52 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran


Bubba motioned to Felix to cover the other side of the soda machine while Bubba approached the cowering shadowy figure. He reached for his flashlight, he turned the flashlight on holding it in conjunction with his front grip of his HMG. Where the flashlight pointed so did the HMG. Bubba rounded the Soda machine ready for anything, the light of the flash light creeped around the machine and pierced the darkness...

02:00:54 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

Huddled in the corner, Bubba found a scrawny man, with long matted hair. His tattered clothing was covered in grime and what smelled like fecal matter. He put his hands in front of his face, dropping the rat he had caught, which scurried away into the darkness.

02:01:06 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

Bubba lowered his HMG and the flashlight. Sensing no threat Bubba had an idea, but could the nasty man understand english, not just any english, Bubba english?

"Yous want to earns some rations?"

02:01:15 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

The bum rambles his gibberish as Bubba tries to employ his services as a forward scout.

"Me says, yous wants to earns some rations!?"

The man continues to ramble incoherently, hiding his face.

"Foods! Does yous wants foods, idiot-face!?"

At this point Kliko interjects, speaking the same sort of gibberish to the man, though more slowly and with less sobbing. Bubba just stared at Kliko.

Able to calm the man down enough to communicate, Kliko translates for Bubba, who is growing more and more frustrated.

"I told him you don't mean any harm, but he is pretty scared of you. He called you the 'Shiekh Ogre of Doom,' but I assured him you are a gentle giant. Jolly in fact."
"But. Does. He. Wants. Food!? Me hads ideas..."
"Okay, big guy. What was your idea. I will ask him."
"Me forgets."

Kliko continues to try and calm the scared man, and reassures him that they just want his help. Turning back to Bubba, he says, "His name is Lufti-Rafiq. He will help us in exchange for food. Now, do you remember your ideas?"

"Yes... me thinks so. Tell Lufry, Luf-, Lafry," Bubba stomps his foot, unable to pronounce the foreign name with his dangling tongue. "Tell Larry da Bums dats I gots a plan!"

02:01:15 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

"Mes plan is for hims to shows us da ways ors to points us to maps ors tells us about da spooky Mosque."

Kliko turned back to Lufti-Rafiq and translated Bubba's idea. As Kliko engaged in dialogue Bubba impateintly watched the the bum looking for any visible clue that his idea was received.

Bubba noticed the bum pointing to the wall. Hanging on the wall appeared to be maps.

"Ahas!" Bubba moved over to the wall and shifted through the hanging maps.

He turned back to Kliko, "So is he gonna shows us da ways to or tells us a spooky story about whats in da mosque or is dis all hes gots for us?
"He seems confused, i dont think he knows where the mosque is but let me take a look at those maps."

Bubba handed Kliko the maps. As Kliko examined the maps Bubba dropped a meal ration in front of his foot and then gently kicked it closer to Larry.

"Eats up yous nasty stink!" Bubba snickered as he went off to investigate where he had heard the metal contraption fall.

02:02:30 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

The team scanned over the maps on the walls and the old pamphlet of train and bus schedules Larry the Bum had pointed them to, while Bubba investigated the dropped gear by the bum's friend.

Bubba found a small cage that had four rats in it, while the others found something more important; The rail car did go to the university, or at least did at one time. Looking down the long dark tunnels, and judging by the condition of the city, anything could be lurking a head, if the tunnels were even still intact.

A heated disagreement broke out about which direction to take, but after a few unfriendly words, and a few minutes, it was decided that Kliko had the best land navigation experience, and they would follow his way, but they still all wanted to be heard.

Ludi did not get involved in the discussion, though her land navigational skills could match anyone's, she had already found Kliko to be a fully capable navigator. In fact, she trusted Kliko's leadership completely. What she had found not only odd, but disturbing, how he could spend so much time planning every detail, and making sure everyone knew their roles, but then he would be the first to disregard all that planning when the situation got tense, and just start opening fire. She felt uneasy, memories of the French New Guinea jungle again resurfaced. She just could not shake them tonight, when before she could bury those memories for weeks at a time.

She felt her skin crawl as a warm gust of stale air came through the tunnels, carrying with it again, the whispers of her name. Her rifle already shouldered while she was pulling rear security, she saw shadows moving on the ground about 70 meters down the subway in front of her, with her team still discussing which way to go.

02:02:52 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

Hot air flowed past Kliko's face as he peered down into the tunnels ahead of him. 'Who knows what lives down these tunnels?'.

Planning ahead, that was his job, fortunately he bothered to actually haul along an ultrasound sight. Going underground sounded more appealing by the minute... using high-explosive grenades to clear out ghouls and devil rats, not so. Fortunately Duster was happy enough to part from his shotgun once more. Fitted with the piped ultrasound sight at least Kliko would have the means to map the tunnels and actually reach out in the pitch black conditions ahead of them 'Who needs light sticks anyway?'.

"We're moving out in five. We kow there's at least one exit ahead of us, so we should be ok. Lima, what are you looking at? there's nothing there except for the poor sod who ran off... and apparantly dropped his dinner." Looking over at Bubba's findings.

02:04:52 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Baqeri Station, Tehran

To sum everything up, Ludmila felt cranky. And, to those that knew her well, it meant she was running one of her hot temper. The mission was dragging on, and her teammates were clawing at her patience. Minute by minute, she could feel her self control ebbing away. The dogs, the creepy ghostly things in the park, the two fragging airheads. And now, to top it all off, Kliko had decided to trade off the safety of manoeuvre and cover for a dank confined tunnel. Anyone with half a brain, and maybe even less, could ambush them and they'd be fragged. Their movement could be anticipated since they could only go forward, or backtrack. The tunnel could collapse on them, either willingly or by accident. Heck, if someone got injured down here, simple infection could do the trick.

Taking a deep breath only to sigh it out, Ludmila noticed the shadows. For a moment, she didn't exactly see anything... It felt more like a feeling. A feeling of being watched, observed. It was the sort of tingle that had kept her alive during the Yakut war, and now, that feeling was back. The carbine's stock immediately went into her shoulder. Cheek pressed, eyes focused, the young woman tried to slow her breath down. Her hearth started to pound inside her head.

When Kliko spoke up, she gritted her teeth.

“Will you shut the frag up for two seconds! I saw something. There's something there.”

She scanned the darkness ahead of her.

"This is a bad idea..."

02:23:18 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Despite some dissent from the team, none more vocal than Ludi, Kliko pushes on with the plan to use the light rail tunnels. He leads the way using his ultrasound scope to clear the way, with Bubba on the other side of the rails, scouting with his natural thermographic vision. So far the only thing they have spotted were rats. Tens of rats. And it didn't require any type of visual enhancements to spot them.

"Watch for devil rats, people." Kliko warned.
"No drek, Dunklelzahn," Ludi said to herself.
"All rats are of the Devil," Knuckleduster chimed in.

There is some murmuring among the team, but it quickly dies down, and the tunnel song of echoing rat squeaking and running continues.

"Uh... Kilos? Whats devil rats look likes?"
"They're big. Like a small dog... like a chihuahua. And they have red eyes."
"Cheewoowa? What dat?"
"A small dog."
"Red eyeballs?"
"Yes. You will know if you see one."
"Like dat? Is dat a cheewoowoowa rat or a devils rat?" Bubba asks, pointing ahead.
"Frag." - "Devil rats!"

02:23:25 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

The rats that had been scurrying away as Kliko marched, and Bubba stomped down the subway tunnel, now are running in multiple directions. The devil rat that was "making eyes" with Bubba sits still while the rodents around him start to swirl in a tornado of vermin. As he is joined by a few other larger devil rats, they dart toward the towering giant, who smiles his black toothed and dangling tongue grin in response. His machine gun is already racked, and his temper is already boiling.

02:23:28 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

"Frag." - "Devil rats!"

Kliko slammed down the vizor on his security helmet as he watched the onslaught of rats whirling towards them.
Bringing up the Franchi Spas, the comforting smartlink crosshair indicator appeared in his field of vision.

'Eat flechette, motherfraggers' The Spas spewed out its deadly load in a hail of flechette tearing apart the devil rat infestation ahead of them.

Flopping rat carcasses was about all that remained in the shotguns cone of fire...

02:23:33 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Bubba lobbed his grenade, which landed softly in the midst of the growing pack of rats ahead of him, who seemed not to notice. Kliko let out a rain of steel from the end of his Spas 22, clearing the path immediately in front of his giant friend. Anything that survived his blast, was so maimed it was no longer a threat.

Felix showed his them by unleashing a stunball that dropped the majority of the remaining rats into dreamland, while V, Duster and Starling raced toward the front line.

Unbeknownst to the rest of team, Ludi dropped her bulky armor and pack, powering up her ruthenium suit. In a split second the mini image sensors woven throughout the suit sent the information to the image displays on the opposite side, virtually making Ludi invisible. As she disappeared, another wave of rodents began to swarm from the rear.

Even more rats flooded the tunnel, climbing over the dead and unconscious ones, making their way toward the unfortunate shadowrun team. Little did they know, they were the unfortunate, as one of the bodies they had climbed over, was that of Bubba's grenade as it rolled toward them.

02:23:34 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

The grenades shock wave ripped across the tunnel stopping Kliko flat in his tracks.

Debris, schrappnel and bits of rat goo too hit the desert camo suit leaving a clean outline, about Kliko's dimensions, on the blood muck smeared concrete tunnel wall right next to him.

'Drek'

With rats still pouring in on his side of the tracks Kliko shifted his smartlink retina back to his side, choke set to its widest mark he prepared to unleash another deadly hail of the flechette darts. There would be plenty of time to clean up later.

02:23:35 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

A bright flash of light followed by a thundering boom launches rat particles in every direction, misting Bubba as he shook off the shock wave with a goofy smile.

02:23:45 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Showered in blood and guts of the exploded rats, Bubba opened his M-107 wide open. Its barking echoed through the tunnel as he exploded three of the larger rats he could see through the darkness. He was ready to destroy several more from the growing swarm, when something in the shadows ahead, caught his eye. It couldn't be...

Dad!?

Around his feet, the ground was moving, as rats poured out of an unseen storm drain, but he had a score to settle.

02:24:01 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Bubba hesitated for a moment as his father's image stood before him.

"WHATS THE FRAGS ARE YOUS DOINGS HERE?"

'This can't be right, dad wouldn't be here, and if it is him he deserves this'

"YOUS FED MES DONUTS DAD! I'MS GONNA FEEDS YOUS SOME LEADS!!"

Adrenalin and rage took over Bubba, he couldn't think clearly and he knew if he had ever saw his father again he would either kill him or hug him. Something didn't smell right this time either. Why would his father be here in a tornado of rats? This angered Bubba even more and since his finger was already resting on the trigger of his HMG coupled with the searing rage he felt from seeing his father it made it all the more easy to pull the trigger without restraint.

"I HATES YOUS I HATES YOUS!!!" Bubba screamed over and over as the HMG spattered burst after burst at his father's image.

02:24:03 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Mr. Johnson, bursts into a red mist, satisfying Bubba's anger and giving him a taste for vengeance he has dreamed of. If this was some shamanistic attempt to frighten the big troll, it probably backfired.

About 35 meters behind Bubba, Ludi hides beneath her ruthenium suit, but she is not immune to the horrors that are about to flood this dark underground. She starts feeling the need to take someone down. Something is wrong with her team as she hears them firing fully automatic weapons within the sea of rats. She finds herself raising her rifle at Starling's back. She fought hard to not pull the trigger...

On the south side of the tunnel, 30 meters away from Ludi, and about the same distance from Bubba, Felix watched the floor continue to writhe with more and more rats. However, he spotted something much worse. The dark aura of something evil floated deep in the darkness past Ludi. Invisible in the darkness of the physical world, it radiated blackness darker than nothingness on the astral plane.

02:24:03 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

A feeling of dread and disgust filled Felix's stomach as he looked at the dark nothingness floating beyond Ludi. "Lima it looks like your friend followed us here" Felix called over the radio as he pulled out one of his wire and crystal trinkets.

Holding the foci in his left hand, Felix reached out for all the mana he could grasp before shaping in and throwing it with an animalistic growl at the dark blackness polluting the astral plane. The energies roiled and fought his control before he reasserted his mental control and smoothed the edges of the power he released.

02:24:03 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Starling closed the gap between the Shaman and herself, pulling her katana as she ran through the sea of rats. Nothing was going to stop her from her target. Duster followed, killing hands charged.


After the effects of Felix's devastating mana attack, the dark spirit fades away. There was something different about the way it faded off the astral plane, not the way any other spirit he had dispatched before. He watched as Ludi slumped to the ground, on the walk way, as the black ribbon washed way from her aura.


After fighting off the effects of invisible assaults on her mind, Ludi knew something else was out there driving her to shoot Starling in the back. As much as she fought it, she could see her vision darkening, she was about to pull the trigger, when her head really began to spin.


V fired a manabolt at the Shaman as rats bit and clawed at her feet, swarming around her ankles.


The rats swarmed the ground in every direction. It was obvious now that there were more than could be fought off. Ludi was safe for now, upon the walkway, as was Felix who continued to levitate above them. The rest of the team however, was under attack. Rat biting and clawing, and ... spitting.

Starling screamed as something wet hit her face, burning her eyes. Duster yelled curse words as he stumbled, but was able to regain his footing. Soon Bubba found out what all the screaming was about. A large rat spat at him.

02:24:23 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

A dark figured stood a few meters behind the dissipating image of Bubba's father. 'Dad just turneds intos mist? Dis is mojo works, and yous must bes da guy'

"You tinks you can fools me! I hates him and nows I hates yous! DIE FRAGGER!"

The HMG spat out several more bursts...

02:24:24 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

As Bubba swung the machine gun, bullets sprayed into the Shaman's chest, dropping him to the ground. He continued firing at the biggest rats he could see, pulverizing them into chunks.

He watched as Starling continued to scream, and began swatting at the air in front of her.


With relative ease, Felix put a large section of rats to sleep, but it did little to change the disposition of the rodents.

02:24:25 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Duster shrugged off the caustic lugie, melting away sections of his armor, closing in on the downed magician. He leapt in the air and landed on the man with what looked like a professional wrestling move. The Shaman choked for air after the elbow to the chest, rolled and disappeared.

Bubba readies the MG to double tap the Rat Shaman with another full auto burst, but cannot locate him as the air in front of him begins to burst with flashes of light and thunderous explosions. He fires, but is not sure whether he hit the target.

Starling falls to the ground, fighting off the illusion of chaos around her, struggling to fend off the rats who swarm her.

V struggles to fight through the spell, but is able to stay in the combat. However, a second spell hits her, disrupting her focus.

02:24:30 Thursday, 12 October 2062 – Train Tunnel running west from Baqeri Station, Tehran

Bubba, Kliko, Starling , Knuckle Duster and V struggle to fight off the onslaught of sensory overload. It is like being at an Orcasm concert on an active jet tarmac, while strobe lights and pyrotechnics flash all around. In the complete darkness of the tunnel, the effects are overwhelming.

Bubba is able to find the walkway, and climb out of the sea of rats, but he is unable to discern who is who, and whether he is seeing a teammate or a ghost image.

Kliko scans through his ultra sound scope, but it is impossible to interpret the images at this point. For now, he concentrates on staying upright.

Felix hovers toward the unconscious body of Ludi. She looks safe for now, on an island above the rats, The floating jaguar shaman gathers energies from the void and prepares a defensive shield over his team that should ward off, or at least lessen, any incoming spells. He attempt to scan the darkness for his team, as the barking of a machine gun fired seconds before, continues to echo through the catacombs.