Requiem's Run: Chapter Nine

Note: A few years back I wrote a book. It is set in the fictional universe of Shadowrun. I've decided to post it in weekly increments here on my blog thanks in part to where I'm at in life and because the fun game Shadowrun Returns was recently released by Harebrained Schemes. It re-stoked my passion for the game and I wanted to share that passion with you. Thanks so much and enjoy:  

Showdown

     They waited around the alley for nearly an hour when finally Shikkon received a call from The Gate. “I’m just outside the spot,” he could barely hear The Gate’s whisper of a voice. Shikkon moved just enough to glance out of the alleyway. Looking towards the building where his other ‘employer’ awaited his current group, and saw nothing. The street was almost empty and no one was walking or standing on the sidewalk.

     “Oh I see where you are,” The Gate’s hushed voice continued. Shikkon was slightly surprised to be spotted. He had remained unseen from his comrades in the alleyway, but The Gate who didn’t know where they were had found him. To make matters worse for Shikkon he couldn’t see The Gate at all. He silently cursed himself for being seen and to not know where his target was.

     Suddenly from behind him in the alleyway The Gate was speaking very hushed. “Okay I’m here, I’ve got Mickey’s ‘eyes’, and we’re almost ready to go. I’ll go give Mickey his gun, Popular you’re with me.” The Gate had taken complete authority over the situation despite Shikkon with the fore knowledge of the meeting. Shikkon decided to roll with it, and allow The Gate to call the shots. The others for the most part listened to the youngest member of the group because of his work based maturity.

     Mr. Popular followed the youthful businessman towards the back of the alleyway. They found a slightly open door and went inside. The building was abandoned and The Gate knew he had found Mickey’s passage to the roof. He was the only one in the group who had spotted where Mickey had disappeared too, despite being last to the meeting site.

     The Gate and Mr. Popular ascended the stairs to find an entrance to the roof and broke out on the roof after some trouble opening the door. On the other side they found that the door had been shabbily barricaded. The Gate quickly scanned the roof on the astral and found Mickey in the far front corner aiming at them.

     The Gate waved the briefcase in front of him to show Mickey he had what he wanted. Mr. Popular could not see anyone on top of the roof no matter how hard he strained his eyes in the direction The Gate moved towards. He remained motionless keeping an eye behind them down the stairs in case anyone had followed them up.

     “Popular I want you to find some cover and watch Mickey’s back.” The Gate told him as he left Mickey the briefcase. Shortly after The Gate had set the briefcase down Mr. Popular could barely make out Mickey’s outline. The Gate walked to Mr. Popular and touched him on the arm as Mr. Popular stared blankly forward and nodded lightly. The Gate looked up at him a bit longer and began making his way back down the stairs. He could hear the door being closed and the barricade being readjusted.

     The Gate walked out of the abandoned building into the alleyway contemplating his recent judgment. To have two of the more useless people together on the roof; watching my back. The thought crossing, his mind he nearly turned back around to rectify the decision, but having Mr. Popular with them for the meeting was worse. So The Gate decided to leave them be, and continue on with meeting as planned.

     He came upon the group still “hiding” in the alleyway, and The Gate thought that Shikkon was the only one who seemed to actually know what he was doing. The others were just shabbily braced against the walls hiding behind various amounts of trash. “Shall we get this meeting underway?” The Gate spoke with an almost dread as he looked from each member in the alleyway.

Shikkon spoke, “Yes, and follow me.” He paused for a moment to look back at each of them his face masked by a similar getup to what Falchion would have been wearing. “Please be as silent as possible, and I shall introduce us.” He added as an almost warning to them. The Gate nodded to Shikkon, as Shikkon became a part of the shadows around them, and walked across the street towards an adjacent alleyway.

     “Follow me, children,” The Gate whispered to Black Betty and Entertainment as he followed Shikkon. The Gate paused at the end of the alleyway to watch Shikkon round the corner and into the other alleyway. The Gate pointed to the alleyway to where Shikkon had vanished, made a slight gesture with his hands and vanished from sight himself.

     Despite being invisible to the physical eye, The Gate rushed across the street so as not to be seen. It wasn’t the thought of traffic as there was none, but he had an ominous feeling that something wasn’t right. He could hear the light patter of feet close in behind him as he walked into the alleyway. Pressing his back against the opposite wall, he watched Betty and Entertainment run into the alley closely behind him.

     Looking down the alleyway, The Gate spotted Shikkon standing up against the wall of the building they had been set to meet at. It looked like, to The Gate, that he was doing something, but couldn’t really make it out. Suddenly as Shikkon continued fidgeted he vanished from The Gate’s astral sight into the building. What surprised The Gate more was that Entertainment and Betty saw it too, because they walked to the exact point of Shikkon’s disappearance. After studying the wall for a moment they too walked into the wall and vanished.

     Blinking his eyes, he felt almost foolish still standing against the wall his eyes focused back to the mundane and saw an indent in the wall. Walking closer to the wall he saw an opening in the wall and walked into the building’s darkness, dropping his invisibility.

     The pitch-black room that The Gate now found himself in he could barely make out Entertainment and Betty who were only a few centimeters away. The only light provided to him was from the nighttime outside through the crack in the door, which was slowly closing behind The Gate.

     Like some bad horror movie the door behind them vanished before they could get back to it, but instead of losing his cool The Gate began looking around on the astral. He could easily see his companions, but he saw too many walls to see anything else and switched back to the mundane.

     The light thud of the wall closing behind them the room became lighter and they could see an open hallway leading to a series of doors. The room was strangely vacant, but eerily elaborate. They did not see any sign of Shikkon, but continued forward towards the set of double doors directly down the hall from them.

     Each of them strained their ears for a sound of movement from behind any of the doors, or the large hallway they found themselves in, but a deadly silence persisted. The Gate took the lead slowly turning the handle on the door and carefully opening it. They were all surprised at the lack of noise the door made while opening. It glided softly over the floor and made no creak of the hinges despite the age of its appearance.

     An even bigger surprise hit them as they crossed the doorway threshold. Entering into what they could only describe as an ancient throne room. It was unlike anything they had ever seen, and it looked like something from a photograph. A long stretching carpet leading from the door to an elaborately decorated throne set a meter above the floor. The distance from the double doors to the large dais felt as if it were more than a mere walk. The four large pillars helped add to the immensity and a peculiar appearance of the room.

     As they walked towards the throne they could see someone kneeling in front of it, and someone sitting in the high chair like some king of old. Glancing around the room through astral perceptions The Gate saw no other auras in the room, and had a sneaking suspicion that they had managed to mask themselves or were even better at hiding than Shikkon.

     The group slowed their approach as they neared the throne, and its apparent ruler. A pale man in loose plain clothes that appeared neither armored nor flashy. His dark hair sleek and meticulously draped right above his eyes, giving him an even more piercing look than he already had. Unlike Requiem who seemed to study his prey, and make calculated moves. This man looked into your soul, and even The Gate in all his will, could feel this man searching through his inner being.

     Each person felt a shiver run down their spine as the mysterious man looked at them, but in each of them they felt an excitement to be standing in his presence. The Gate’s eyes fluttered and he looked at the man on the throne, and saw a very strange aura. A mixture of colors, but something was off and distorted. It was something he had never seen in a person, despite seeing his mother’s vacant aura.

     The man began speaking and his voice flowed over them like warm honey. “Thank you for coming my friends.” He smiled lightly and looked at each of them carefully. He seemed to pay extra attention to The Gate. In turn The Gate’s continued to study the strange man, looking away for only a moment, to find Shikkon kneeling on the floor in front of the dais. The Gate continued his observation of the mysterious character on the throne curious as to why Shikkon was kneeling.

     “No doubt you’re wondering why I’ve asked the lot of you here today.” His voice floated around their heads like delicate music. The Gate noticed that Betty and Entertainment seemed to be more interested in this man’s demeanor than his actual words. They stood dumbly staring out at the man, who didn’t look a day over thirty, his complexion smooth. The Gate too felt the pull of loyalty and devotion to this man, but shook it off just as quick, because they had only just met.

     “Well before we begin, you may call me Victor, for the duration of our time together.” He looked more focused at The Gate as he spoke, “I have called you here today, to offer you, what you seek.” The Gate quirked an eyebrow in second nature, doubting ‘Victor’ could give him what he truly sought. The Gate rose from his thoughts to notice that the man was staring off distantly, as if staring through the walls of the building to something more interesting than their group.

     He continued speaking but his attentions were now held elsewhere, “You see, I know that you are currently employed by Ares, and more importantly a man named Requiem.” Another pause and his gaze came back to The Gate, “A delightful fellow.” Victor grinned, but it wasn’t as kind as the smile before. The Gate tried to hide his displeasure with Shikkon, but it must have shown. “It wasn’t Shikkon who told me,” Victor’s voice cut through The Gate and he felt a strange burn of guilt.

“And he has asked you to ‘recover’ something for his company. Something that not only Ares is after, it is something many people desire. I’m sure you’ve already deduced such a fact, so I shall not mince words. I’m willing to offer you twice as much as Ares.” Victor’s eyes shifted slightly to the others, but never fully leaving The Gate.

     The Gate made a slight bow to Victor and spoke in a polite manner. “First I would like to thank you for your generous offer, but we have our reputations and livelihood to consider.” Their eyes clashed for a moment in a battle of fire, but soon passed as Victor’s eyes subsided to the peaceful swirl of green and blue.

     “Indeed; well no need to keep your friends waiting in the chill of rooftops.” Victor smiled kindly as he looked at each person. “If you’re ever interested, my door is always open.” Victor said as he looked once again upon The Gate. Victor gave a slight nod, and Shikkon rose from the floor. Shikkon nodded to them as he walked past them towards the door.

     Reaching the door, Shikkon tapped lightly on the hard surface and turned a dim handle. Victor’s voice followed behind them as they crossed through the archway of the doors. “One more thing, my dear friends, beware the Requiem.” Continuing the dreamlike world they found themselves in, the doors closed behind them, on their own leaving Victor’s voice like some ominous premonition as reality returned. 

    

     Mickey quietly and patiently watched from the rooftop as Entertainment and Black Betty crossed the street. Scurrying to an adjacent alley like little mice, unaware of the watchful hawk that waited to strike from above. Re-adjusting his rifle, ever so slightly, Mickey turned his head minimally to look at Mr. Popular. Mr. Popular was crouching just behind where the door to the roof would open. In Mickey’s mind it wasn’t very well hidden, but knew Popular would be able to get the drop on someone trying to sneak behind them.

     Mickey carefully turned his attention back to the street below, and watched with diligence despite the lack of activity. The street’s emptiness only concerned Mickey even more, than the recent addition to his body. Which had begun to fall to the back of his mind, and he had almost forgotten about it altogether.

     Minutes passed between the crossing of the street and the vanishing into the alleyway, when Mickey began to feel a tingling sensation all over his body, and a knot in his stomach. He felt exposed and uncomfortable on the open rooftop. He felt as if danger was lurking right around the corner despite being unable to see any immediate threat to him. Stranger still was that his body was now reacting to the imagined danger almost on its own.

     Before he could react to take control over his functions Mickey’s rifle was now replaced back into its carrying case, and he was gliding across the roof on his stomach. It seemed that Mr. Popular had not seen either Mickey moving, or the danger that he was now running from. As Mickey got to the barricade he twitched in annoyance at not being able to escape easily, and began removing the objects obstructing his path.

     Mr. Popular caught the barricade being taken down out of the corner of his eye, and was somewhat surprised to see Mickey crouched down next to him. Popular was uncomfortably becoming used to people being unseen even as they stood within only a few steps, despite his nature there was not much he could do to prevent it.

     “What are you doing?” Mr. Popular asked in a normal voice, which to Mickey was unnecessary and loud considering the circumstances. “Keep your voice down, and help me take down this barricade.” Mickey’s voice was hushed and strained. Mr. Popular looked confused but helped Mickey remove the barrier. After the door was cleared Mickey opened the door, and moved quickly down the stairs but maintained a level of stealth. Mr. Popular was confused by Mickey’s sudden actions, but wanted to keep a close eye on him especially after all of Entertainment’s behavior.

     Mickey reached the alley with Mr. Popular close behind him. Mr. Popular had already drawn his predator in preparation when they walked down the stairs, but as they moved towards the street Mickey finally drew his Slivergun and came to a halt just before they stepped out into the open.

     The wall door closed behind them just as it had opened, with The Gate stepping out last from the building. He looked at Entertainment then at Black Betty, and their eyes seemed glazed over. As if their minds had been riddled with drugs, The Gate fluttered his eyes to look at their auras and found nothing out of the ordinary despite the oddity being flashed in their eyes.

     He shook it off as nothing, and decided to go get Mickey. The Gate walked towards the street when machine gun fire erupted to their right, the bullets hit, but the would-be assassins were just out of sight around the corner. The Gate suddenly felt sick as the thought popped into his head, and when he peeked his head out it was confirmed as Mickey lay in the middle of the street. The Gate quickly ducked behind the wall as more machine gun fire erupted and he could hear the bullets hitting something much more solid, and looked across the street to see the building where he had left Mickey being torn apart by the automatic weapon. He spotted Mr. Popular hiding behind the wall, giving him a small amount of cover despite the wall having gaping holes in it now.

     The Gate just barely caught the warming up whir of the machine gun as several large holes now found themselves in the building he was using as cover. Covering his face and ducking back into the alley, he had narrowly missed being torn apart by the large gun. The Gate looked to his comrades who seemed less than interested than doing anything.

     Shikkon moved towards the edge of the alley peering out ever slightly, he blended into the wall, and The Gate had a hard time following him with his eyes. More machine gun fire erupted, but it hit another building elsewhere and Shikkon pulled back into the alley.

     He kept his voice down as he spoke to The Gate, “There’s only two of them; an elf, and a big guy in tons of armor. Guess who’s holding the gun?” He smiled just for a moment, “I’ll sneak around and go get Mr. Popular, I don’t know what these guys want, but I think we can get away. You grab Mickey and meet us back at my place.” The Gate nodded in agreement, but felt unsure about Betty and Entertainment.

     It seemed that Shikkon had read his mind and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll stay put for now.” The Gate found that curious and would have to investigate why Black Betty and Entertainment were out of it, but decided it was for later. Focusing his mind on the task at hand he watched Shikkon walk behind him towards the other end of the alley and disappear around the corner.

     The Gate motioned his fingers and felt confident enough to walk out into the open with constant gunfire without being seen. Running out from his cover and over to Mickey, but keeping his eyes on the large armored man wielding a comically sized machine gun. The Gate grabbed a hold of Mickey, suddenly feeling ill looking at the elven companion of the large armored man. Quickly flicking to the astral plane, his stomach found its way into his throat. As he had feared the elf was magical, and possibly too talented. Breathing a small sigh of relief, as the assassins were more occupied on the two buildings than on him.

The elf was slinging heavy-duty spells at the building The Gate had been at, taking off small chunks of the building and the large armored man concentrated on the opposite building where Mr. Popular was, slowly destroying the buildings front façade.

     To The Gate’s surprise Mickey was still breathing. He was bloody from several gunshot wounds, but was still conscious as he whispered to The Gate, “Stop.” The Gate looked at him confused, “What-“ but before he could ask something bullets were tearing up the street in front of them stopping just short of Mickey’s body. Mickey took the opportunity to rise from the slumped position he was in. To fire a couple of rounds at his assailants, but the flechette rounds simply bounced off the armored man.

     “Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, you should know better than to try and fight us. If you’d simply give us the item that belongs to us, no further bloodshed is required.” Mickey rolled his eyes and grunted from the pain in his body. “Yours?” Mickey laughed, but coughed slightly. “It would help if I knew what you wanted.”

     The Gate looked surprised at Mickey. Here facing his death, and he decides to be sarcastic and defiant. Maybe he’s not so useless after all at least he’s got some spirit. Stupid, but defiant, The Gate thought. Mickey stared down the street at the large armored man preparing for the end, but the assailants just stood dumbly looking down the street.

     “What do you want?” The large armored man said in their direction. Mickey and The Gate began to question what the large man was talking about, but soon found out as another voice spoke behind them.

     The Gate and Mickey saw someone that seemed strangely out of place. A scarred and tattooed man that was dressed from centuries past. His entire appearance was ragged to match his ancient style of dress. A straw hat hid his face, a katana was loosely hung at his hip, his shirt was folded into his loose baggy pants, and wooden sandals rounded out his mysterious appearance. It looked like a scene out of some bad old anime western movie.

     “You have something I want.” A face was kept hidden under the shadow of the man's hat, but his voice spoke of the seriousness of his intent. The Gate took the momentary distraction to move over to the opposite alley for cover, but Mickey sat in the street staring wildly at the new stranger. The Gate wanted to call out to Mickey to get him to move to the alley and out of direct fire, but didn't want to remind anyone that Mickey was in the middle of the street. To The Gate's relief the new assailant didn't seem to know Mickey had the object of desire, and the other two didn't seem to catch that little fact.

     “We're not fraggin' giving you drek, chummer.” The large armored man said, his voice started to drop the playful air, into something more demanding and angered. His large rotating machine gun replied to his anger toward the strange looking man, bullets ripping through the night air. The Gate never saw a single bullet hit the anime looking man, but he also hadn't seen him move, at all. The Gate blinked in disbelief, and then a new worry came to mind. If this guy is after the suit, then it must be something major. The sooner we drop this thing off. The better for all of us involved.

     Mickey was lying in the street again, but this time he had dropped back to the pavement to avoid the bullets flying over his head. His attentions had now focused entirely on the swordsman. Who had apparently been able to dodge bullets without moving.

     The Gate took the opportunity to try to get Mickey's attention. “Move Mickey!” It was an action that he soon regretted as Mickey burst in a blue flame, and bullets were pounding the brick wall behind The Gate. The Gate decided to wait for the three people in the street still standing to figure things out, and perhaps he could make a move on Mickey to get him out of harm's way.

     The bullets stopped and The Gate could hear the sound of something metallic clashing wildly. Slowly moving himself so he could see around the opposite corner. He could see the source of the odd noise. He couldn't make out what he was supposed to be seeing, but he knew that it was the source of the noise. The Gate came to the short conclusion two people were fighting with swords, but he couldn't make out much more than that because they were moving too fast for his eyes. The Gate was somewhat surprised to see Entertainment and Betty watching the fight from the shadows of the other alley. As fast as the two opponents were moving, their battle ended just as quickly. With a black mass landing on the pavement right behind Mickey. The Gate looked at the form for a moment, and thought it looked strangely familiar. Switching to the astral, he recognized the aura as Falchion's, or at least the magical egg that protected him. The Gate was getting fed up with all the surprises. He felt that it was more than enough for one night.

     The man stood with his sword drawn, the blade hanging just barely off the street, a small breeze moved through the street making his clothes flutter lightly. As if on cue, the breeze stopped, and the man moved as a blur. His blade shined brightly in the dim light, and everything began to seem much lighter as he flew through the street. Within a mere couple of seconds he had moved from several meters down the street to just in front of Falchion and Mickey. The man paused for a split second when and leaped into the air in one fluid motion.

     The large armored man and his elven mage friend had been firing on the man, but too little effect. It seemed to The Gate that they had hit him, but it did little to stop him. Even as he descended on them from at least ten meters in the air he was not slowed. The Gate took his open opportunity to run out into the street to Mickey. He felt confident enough that all three assailants were distracted between themselves, and The Gate decided it was best for him to still be invisible. As he grabbed Mickey he could see the fight still taking place even though it was ten, to twenty meters down the street. Dragging Mickey to the alley where Entertainment and Betty were he was surprised that the elf and armored man were still standing.

     Not bothering to stop, The Gate spoke as he entered the alley, “Entertainment, go grab Falchion, and Betty help me carry Mickey.” The two of them moved confusedly, but they seemed to be out of their dazed state. The Gate dropped his invisibility to concentrate on carrying Mickey and with Betty helping him they moved back out into the street.

     It took them little time to get to The Gate's bike. Slumping Mickey's body over the back of the bike, they decided to meet back up at Betty's place. “You two going to be okay getting back?” The Gate spoke with concern as Entertainment seemed to be almost crying, holding Falchion's body. Betty gave him a nod, and The Gate rode away deciding on an alternate route rather than the street the fight had taken place on.

     As The Gate rode out of the Barrens a thought dawned on him. He had a wonderful prize unconscious on the back of his bike. It would have been the perfect opportunity to give him over to the Mafia. It would have also gotten rid of the item, which seemed to be as much a part of Mickey now as his soul. Knowing that the Mafia planned on killing Mickey, the suit would go out with Mickey instead of being out on the streets, at least that's what The Gate was hoping for as a backup option.    

     He pushed the thoughts back down, despite his desire to be re-united with his sister he knew that the open opportunity was misleading. He would have a Corp. after him, plus if the others were still living they would be after him. While he felt confident in the knowledge that he could handle whatever the world, or the group threw at him, he wanted peace and the remainder of his family. Plus without finishing the job for Ares it would ruin his reputation.