Living in the Shadows: IC, your run might be over... Options

[Sedna]

1608 January 6, 2063- A street in Auburn

Dragon hadn't quite gotten the entire phrase out before it became very apparent that Father Bremen wasn't in fact thinking about that Quixote character at that instant in time. The small car almost seemed to sigh in relief as the priest's weight suddenly left it. Even in modern Seattle one might think that the sight of a large troll coming directly at you might tend to evoke feelings of alarm (priest's collar notwithstanding), but Father Bremen immediately seemed to belong among those standing beside the Doc Wagon stretchers, talking gently with medical workers who could do nothing, with friends and relatives who could only try to accept the unacceptable ... belonging in a way Dragon, standing slightly to one side with the unseen Savalette under his arm, suddenly wondered would ever be the case for him.

The first decrypt sequence failed, and he re-focused on his task. Surely Christina couldn't have been inside that building. That would be stretching the laws of coincidence. Whatever else, life had taught Dragon to be a realist. And yet the thought refused to leave entirely. It wasn't that he hadn't encountered these kinds of scenes again and again and too many times before. It wasn't that he didn't know death up close and personal, and had learned to place whatever happened into its own small compartment to be dealt with later, and then later never ended up coming. Not quite two weeks since he was off the boat, and for the first time the small distractions of everyday life that he had come to rely upon, the small irritations and responsibilities of everyday life that allowed him not to have to think, just weren't there.

It was the not-knowing that was worst, the sudden certain knowledge that until he knew for sure, that he would always, automatically and instinctively, leap to a totally irrational, almost physically painful conclusion: was it her? And would he be just as helpless as those family members to help her?

The second decrypt cycle failed. He set the cyber to the third with a kind of relief: at least he was doing something. His whole life seemed to have been a drive toward finding the knowledge, the skill, the ability to do something, and to do it well. Somewhere over there he could just make out Virgil doing something:

"Terrible tragedy. What place was this ...?"

The girl from the Seattle Beanery soykaf bar blinks at him, but her eyes aren't on him at all. "I was just getting him his frappé," she says, but there is nothing solid in her words. "I was just getting him his extra foam. I guess I dropped it. It's all over the floor now. Unless Marie cleaned it up."

She's far too distracted just to have been a bystander, there's something else here, but she's not going to respond to anything that's not a direct question, so Virgil asks, "What happened?"

"I heard a noise, and I saw the reflection of the fire in the machine. So I turned, and the whole building was in flames. It looked like ..."

She's not the only distracted one either, Dragon happens to notice, although it doesn't look like Virgil's picked up on it yet. The geekers aren't local. The ones who look like they're local, people working there, living there -- there aren't as many of them there as Dragon might have expected, and the ones who are there, the ones who aren't dazed, are starting to look a little scared.

"You mean, the flames just came on suddenly?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. Like it was raining fire."

The Lone Star band comes in with a sudden squawk that almost makes Dragon wince before he can cover it:

[Shev]

1508 Jan 5 2063, Key to the Future

"Sure thing, omae. It's all ready for you."

Ah, easy cred. At least, cred I didn't have to risk getting my hoop shot off for...

[banditf50]

1612 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

[Sedna]

1615 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

The air felt clammy, nasty against Virgil's astral skin, oddly thick and hard to penetrate.

The emotions came first and the net effect was overwhelming; but Virgil had expected it and been braced for it, and after the first hard blow and the reflexive "step back" he caught his breath -- Is there breath in astral space? but I'm just trying to distract myself, amazing what the mind comes up with to avoid things -- and anchored himself against the focused concentration of the fire and law enforcement people. Only one other Awakened in the group that he could identify: one of the Doc Wagon personnel, who was arguing with one of the Lone Star officers trying to establish a perimeter against what looked like a homing signal coming from somewhere inside.

The residue of the magic came next ... and was not what anyone would call subtle. At first glance there were at least two separate parts to it, and one of them was certainly elemental ... er ... that fire elemental which is coming right at me??!

[WinterRat1]

1615 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

Leaning slightly on the car, one eye on Virgil's body and the other scanning the crime scene, Dragon thought to himself. Hmm...no gasoline or explosives beyond cooking stuff. Not possible. Couldn't be this bad. So unless there's something I haven't heard or they haven't found, well have to dig deeper.

Casually, Dragon whipped out a notepad and began jotting down names, details, and his observations. Meticulously, he recorded every detail he could. Unbidden, an image of Christina sprang to his mind. With great difficulty, he pushed it aside. It was harder than he'd expected.

Forcing himself to regain focus, he tapped the pencil against his hand. Let's see...if conventional means are ruled out for the moment, what about...bingo. Magic. OK, assume it was magic for a second. What could it be?

Looking over at Virgil, he shrugs. Offhand, maybe a fireball spell or something? Or maybe, an elemental? I wonder if Virgil knows anything about fire elementals? I'll have to ask him when comes back.

Jotting a quick note to himself about fire elementals, he shakes his head. Nah...a fire elemental? What are the odds they'd use something like that?

[WinterRat1]

1615 Jan 5 2063, Key to the Future

About an hour later, the man walks into the store. Glancing around nervously, he leans over the counter and whispers to Avalanche, "So, um...you got my stuff, right? How much do I owe you?"

[paul_HArkonen]

1200 Jan 5 2063, Blaze's doss

This job may be a little out of town but the pay is good, now to start working on how to find a team for Melissa. Start with the Fixer, and think as Mr. Johnson.

"Hey Max, I got a question for you. How long would it take you to round up a team for a locate and extraction, and how much would a team usually demand, total, for that kind of run? Yeah, as you can tell, just for the next few monthes, hopefully less, you can call me Mr. Johnson. I'm going to set up a run to find my cousin. I have to wait for the end of the current run, but that should net me almost 40K, maybe more. I also need the same sort of contact info that a Johnson would want, plus I'll need that info not now but I'd like to set up this run and prep for it as soon as I finish up this run. I'll call you about that as soon as I know when I'll be done."

[Sedna]

1615 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

Tick, tick, ... tick ...

Time seemed to slow down. As the elemental swept toward him, out of the corner of his eye Virgil caught the quick movement of a watcher hightailing it out of there.

That tactic seemed vaguely familiar.

Then it was almost upon him and there was no more time to think.

[Sedna]

0700 January 5 2063, the Last Drop

Business as usual. Morning rush, a little busier, if anything. Nothing whatsoever seemed to have changed -- and yet everything had.

She'd retrieved the Scoot from its parking spot an hour earlier -- turned out the place was locked after midnight -- and paid far too much for overnight parking fees. Then she'd gotten snarled in a transit mess so thick, she'd had to travel two stops past hers before she could work her way off the bus. Somewhere in there, she'd remembered to change her clothes.

She'd even gotten a couple of hours of sleep.

No sign of Hobbes this morning, for which she was both surprised and a bit grateful: for sure the woman would have wanted to know how the meet last night went, and Anne didn't really want to face that, not before a working day.

So why had she come in at all? Force of habit, she supposed: which made a hell of a lot of sense for Anne and quite a bit less for Alleycat. At its most pragmatic, stack up the working hours now, so she'd be free to take off later, when the team was ready to head south. There'd probably be a day or two in between, judging by how that discussion had gone: and she'd have to talk to Hobbes soon enough about some of the things that had been brought up, items she would be expected to have acquired with the advance she'd been given. Half of what she'd received, she couldn't even consider "hers".

Finally, she'd begun to repay that debt. She hated being in debt. Between the advance and the promised base payment, she'd make a dent in it for sure, but that still wouldn't really begin to clear her -- and who knew if the rest ever would materialise?

Well, the meet seemed to have gone well enough, at least: and she'd mention to Hobbes later, just to be certain, that she'd have the day or two "free" if something could be found to bring in a few extra nuyen in the meantime.

She smiled, and the customer for whom she was pouring soykaf smiled back warmly, thinking it was for him. Hobbes should be pleased at the jump-start.

[banditf50]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - Street in Aurbun

Turning with lighting precision that only the liquidity of astral space could provide him, Virgil braced himself and met the elemental's charge.

Enough death has been wrought on your behalf.

Making a brief movment to the side Virgil dropped below the burning form and sent a heavy kick blazing towards its stomach. If it was possible, the elemental seemed suprised to see it's ambush foiled. It moved to intercept Virgil's kick, but a thought too slowly . . .

Only the willfull survice here.

[banditf50]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - A street in Auburn

Dancing around in a deverish a blows occuring at the speed of thought, the two glowing forms exchange fierce blocks and parrys. Following a quick feint Virgil seizes the oppurtunity and sends the full force of his will crashing down on the elemental. His battle elation quickly is reserved as he feels the equally stong will of his opponent come crashing into his.

Virgil's strike still lands true, but the elemental's will was such a force to push against, that Virgil saw his opponent shrug off the blow with barely any harm.

This must be a rather powerful elemental. Virgil's tactical mind could always find time to study his opponent. I might've to retreat to the physical world where I can safely throw spells if it follows . . .although in the astral, it can't use any of it's destructive powers against me . . .

Wheeling around to face the elemental, Virgil braced himself and prepared to counter the attack that he knew was soon to follow . . .

It's probably not foolish enough to manifest now, not with all those fire hoses out there. Perhaps I only have to battle long enough for that Doc Wagon mage to realize what's happening, maybe lend a hand . . .

Even a quick mind can only think so much in the heat of battle, and Virgil instantaneously found himself countering a furious series of elemental strikes . . .

[Sedna]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - A street in Auburn

Wreathed in ghostly astral flames, it silently screams its frustration in a corona of fire which envelopes Virgil ...

It can still use one of its destructive powers against me, realises Virgil. Its flames may not have substance, but it can still hurt me. And here, I have no backup whatsoever, if that Doc Wagon mage doesn't notice what's happening. But we're moving at astral speeds, and he's focused on that trace of his. At this rate, by the time he glances up, this might be over.

[banditf50]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - A street in Auburn

Marshaling his will Virgil braces himself as the fire of the elemental's will envelopes him. Retreating to the deep recesses of thought in his mind, Virgil draws strength from his conviction . . .strength from duty.

Snapping back to face the elemental Virgil manages to absorb most of it's deluge of wrath and force it back a bit.

I do not know if I'll be able to keep this up. Now that its been wounded, I wonder if I can start to gain an advantage.

Using the distance created by his counter attack, Virgil lowers himself in space and sends a follow up stike screaming at the bottom of the elemental . . .

Come on Doc. . . look up . . .

[Sedna]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - A street in Auburn

Looking over at Virgil, Dragon shrugs, lost in his own thoughts about what might have happened here, jotting them down as they come. It's business as usual, guarding Virgil's body like this when he goes astral, but it always makes him a bit uneasy too: if Virgil were to run into something he couldn't handle, how would Dragon know anything until it was already too late? There's a look of concentration on Virgil's face, for sure -- but given what he's trying to track down, what else could be expected?

The faint smell of scorching was still permeating everything it touched.

* * *

It's definitely looking a bit frayed now, the strike tearing at it and leaving a long trailing comet-tail of fire ... which gathers itself suddenly and lashes out to come at Virgil from behind.

[Sedna]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - A street in Auburn

Smell of scorching?

Dragon frowns, then takes a closer look at Virgil's body. Blisters are forming on his hands.

[WinterRat1]

1615 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

Burning? No stranger to astral combat, having done watchovers more than once, Dragon knew he should just sit tight and wait. Virgil could handle himself...couldn't he?

[Shev]

1508 Jan 5 2063, Key to the Future

"3k, chummer. Certified cred, of course."

Avalanche puts the deck on the slightly-lower-than-normal counter, waiting for his payment.

[WinterRat1]

1509 Jan 5 2063, Key to the Future

The man nods, reaches slowly into his pocket, and slides over a certified credstick. Avalanche checks it, finds out it is for the amount specified, nods, and slides over the deck. The man nods back, taking the deck under his arm. "Thanks chummer. See you later," he calls over his shoulder as he walks out the door.

[SentineloftheMou...]

0900 January 7, 2063 - Land's End Magic Shop

Andie sets the formula he is working on aside and goes to check the circulation to make sure everything is still perkulating.

After do this he walks back to his workbench; grabbing a reference manual off the shelf; returning to his Ally formula. Well, I made a start. Let's see where this will take me.....

[Sedna]

1615 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

As the blisters continue to swell and break on Virgil's body, Dragon can see another reddened line forming at the edge of his neck. It looks like it's curling around Virgil's back ...

* * *

Virgil almost screams as the whiptail of fire catches him across his back. Even as he blinks and tries to force down the pain a part of him knows it's only a very minor wound. Doesn't make a difference to how he feels it at that moment.

But he's got the experience, he's been through this kind of thing before. He gathers the pain and his anger at the thing, and with the full force of his emotion he catches the whiptail with one hand -- the burning's only in your mind -- and pulls it into the strike of the other.

The world explodes in flames ... and when he can see again, the creature's dissipated into tiny, drifting shreds of flame.

Virgil takes a deep breath -- or what passes for a deep breath, in this plane of existence -- and tries to ignore the stinging across his hands and back. No more death will be wrought on your behalf. The Doc Wagon employee still hadn't looked up -- flickering in and out of astral space as his attention wavered between some kind of astral trace Virgil hadn't really been paying attention to and the monitor in his hand -- but then the whole thing was over almost before he would have had a chance to. It was very easy to forget that in astral space, events moved at the speed of thought.

Now what?

The watcher he had caught a glimpse of was long gone. At this point, there was no way he could even realistically guess the direction ... quite apart from a watcher's idea of what constituted "linear" and "direct" often being quite different from a sentient being's. Still, something about that one-two tactic teased at the back of his mind ... where had he seen it before?

And then he had it. The blood mage. It hadn't connected before because usually the tactic involved two watchers, not just one: the second remained in place to mark his location while the first one went for help.

Er, help? -- and the other half of his mind finally caught up with the direction of his thoughts: this was not sounding good.

[banditf50]

1615 January 5 2063 - Astral Space - A street in Auburn

Probably a wise to time to vacate the astral space. Virgil thought to himself as he tried to ignore the numbing sensation that was coursing through his astral form. Re-enforcements from who ever sent the elemental aren't my only worries . . .the last thing I need is for someone to think I was involved in this.

With those thoughts in mind Virgil drifted back towards his physical form, where the feeling of very real burns quickly snapped him back to reality . . .
Damn elemental!

"Drek man, what the frag happened out there," Dragon asked with mounting concern in his voice, "Should we be going?"

"There was a fire elemental, probably responsible for the blaze. I took care of it, but I was jumped before I could finish my examination of the scene." Virgil paused and rubbed out the back of his neck . . .I took more of a beating than I thought. "See if you can round up Father Bremen, I need to assense a few things quickly, but then I'd feel better if we could relocate someplace else"

Dragon nodded his head and responded with the cool efficeny that only a merc can display. He knew that Virgil needed some recovery time, but he also knew when things needed done.

Getting up out of the car and trying not to wince too badly, Virgil took a deep breath and shifted his vision to the astral plane. I need to see what that other magical signiture was, the one I felt before the ambush . . .and what is the Doc Wagon mage following?

[banditf50]

1618 Januray 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

Straining to pierce the astral backround count created by the destruction Virgil pauses out of exasperation. There's no way I'll be able to find a spell signiture here. Seems sick that if your magic causes enough death, the backround count your malevolence causes makes you untraceable.

Just a Virgil was about to head back to the Americar, a small murmur touches his astral senses. A lifeform is straining against impending death . .

Is someone still in that mess, is that what he's looking for?

The astral signiture was so weak that the backround count near swallowed it, and it could only be an animal trapped. There was no way Virgil could refuse to lend his help, it was a solem duty. Gathering all his concentration Virgil again focues his will upon the rubble . . .

Come on, cry out, just one more time.

[Sedna]

1619 January 5 2063 - A street in Auburn

Not for the first time, Virgil wished he had Dragon's hearing. It was a wish that passed quickly as always, though: just that least bit of aural shift within him, and he'd have no chance at all of piercing this.

He was almost certain now. Straining his senses to the utmost, he reaches out and touches -- not one sentient thread, but two. Faint. Flickering. So close to almost gone that it was all he could do to hold to the sense of them, to indicate Dragon over with an urgent gesture: "Somewhere in there. Can you make out anything?" Maybe he'd know more surely when he was closer ... and maybe by then it would already be too late, but he still had to try.

The argument drifted over to him and slowly it came to him: the Lone Star was not about to give up the perimeter even to the Doc Wagon medic. And there wasn't enough cover between here and there to hide a devil rat. Once in there, no problem, not if what was left of the walls continued to hold, but he'd have to breach that perimeter first, and to his astral senses the stubbornness of the Lone Star cop was all too apparent. Nor was there any real chance of just slipping between the cops, they'd set up their perimeter too well for it to be breached peacefully without some significant magic: and that could well alert the Doc Wagon medic unless they took the time to slip around to the other side.

Somehow Virgil didn't think whoever was in there had that kind of time.

Then again ... why had that elemental attacked when it had? Would someone else entering the area physically have triggered the same reaction?

[banditf50]

1620 January 5 2063 - A street in Aurburn

"Dragon, here is the situation," Virgil began to lay his recon out to Dragon in the organized fashion his friend favored, "I'm sensing that there are two individuals trapped in the rubble, there's a chance that they one of them could be who Father Bremen came here to see. The Doc Wagon mage over there knows this too, and is arguing with Lone Star to try and rescue those people. I have a plan for getting past the perimeter, but first I need you to scope this perimeter and find a good entry point . . . I think I can provide us good magical cover, but less cops is always easier . . "

Nodding an affirmative Dragon turned to take in the viewable perimeter with his expert eyes.

Turning his attention to the flustered Doc Wagon mage, Virgil approaced in a calm pace, stopping a few meters behind him . . .

"Excuse me sir, can I speak with you for a moment," Virgil voiced in a polite tone.

Turning from the pudgy Lone Star sargent, the mage faced Virgil any irritation at being interuppted balanced out by his desire not to speak with the stubborn officer anymore. "Who are you? And what do you want? This is an emergency situation right now." snapped the mage as he closed the few pace distance towards Virgil.

Seeing the general concern in the eyes of the mage, who was not much older than himself, Virgil thought that what he was about to propose might actually work.

"My own astral assesning tells me that there are two people still trapped in that rubble, and I believe you know that too. I want to help you save them, but I see that apparently the Star finds a tight perimeter to be more important than two lives."

Rasing an eyebrow in interest, the expression of the mage told Virgil that he had an auidence. "I believe that I can slip past the Lone Star perimeter using a spirit for cover, then I should be able to pinpoint the victims . . .once they know for a fact that people are still trapped, the Star will have to break perimeter. To do this though I need you to keep that boorish sargent occupied, and not throw up any alarms when I call a spirit." Virgil paused for a moment. Please Tyr, guide this man's heart.

"I only wish the safety of any who can still be saved, and I do not see another way of this happening in the short amount of time that we have to find them . . .please sir . . ."

[WinterRat1]

1621 January 5 2063 - A street in Aurburn

Turning quickly from Virgil, Dragon scans the building with his senses tuned to the max.

Great...it never ends, does it? Let's see if we can find this person, or failing that, let's see if we can get a good point of infiltration.

His mind racing, taking notes rapidly, Dragon marked off the number of cops, possible points of entry, and any other relevant data he could think of. Distances, approximates times to cover said distances, the works.

Waiting for Virgil to finish talking to the DocWagon medico, Dragon motions him over after he's done and relays the information he's spotted. "It'll be tough, without magic. If you need a distraction though, I got a few grenades in the trunk, we can use them to maybe blow up a dumpster or something on time delay, maybe even somewhere within the perimeter, opposite side? That might buy you a few seconds. That's what I've got off the top of my head so far, what do you think?"