In today's world a lot of people in the lower income areas of every metroplex spend days like that. Maybe its a sad commentary on what my life had been like up to that point, but this wasn't anything new to me.
The corp goon's submachinegun was spraying rounds at me as I moved from cover to cover. He hit me. Actually, he hit me several times. My spell hardened armor wasn't impressed. Flattened and fractured bullets littered the street in a path to my final hidey-hole. I could see the whole lot of corp-men as I stuck my head around the corner.
"Good night, goat-fraggers", I sneered.
My sleep spell hit them with a force no one would expect to come from a teenage spell-slinger. All six of them fell limply to the ground. They were going to feel that in the morning, but at least they were alive. Killing people who were just doing their job wasn't my style.
I had a particular contempt for corp goons. I picked my way among them, grabbing guns and gear I could fence for quick nuyen. I spent less than a minute going over them, then pulled an invisibility spell tightly around myself and ran like hell itself was after me.
An hour later I was sweating from the effort of sustaining the spell for such a long time. I was long gone from the site of the dust up, so I dropped the spell and strode into a burger joint I had meant to check out.
I had just placed my order and paid the kiosk for my snack, when three Lone Star patrol vehicles pulled up with their lights spinning. The Star came out of their cars with guns out and heading toward the door.
I pulled the same invisibility spell around myself and started moving away from the kiosk.
Three Lone Star patrol officers came in with a lot of attitude and guns up and panning through the area. I ducked behind the third one, stepped out onto the street, and started walking as smoothly and quickly as I could.
Two blocks and ten minutes later, I came under fire.
It was a rotor-drone and it opened up on me while I was fully invisible. Rounds pounded on my spell hardened armor and knocked me back against the wall of the building behind me .
I was well and truly surprised, and returned fire with perhaps a bit too much prejudice. My power bolt spell winded me, but blasted the rotor-drone into pieces that came crashing down onto the street in flames.
I didn't wait around.
I ran down the next alleyway, checked myself for new holes and, finding none, began running the frag away.
I made it about half-way down the alley when a white Ford Americar pulled across the end of the alley and someone in the back opened up with an assault rifle. The gunman was spraying rounds down the alley collateral damage be damned. A round slammed into my left shoulder and spun me straight to the ground. My armor held but the impact hurt like hell. I whistled up to an elemental I had tagging along in the astral and sicced it on the car. Five meters of earth and stone manifested at the end of the alley and collapsed upon the car, engulfing the vehicle and its occupants.
I got to my feet and sprinted to the mound of earth and stone. I took a right on the street, and headed to the transit stop another block down.
I didn't see the second drone approach. I realized it was there when a burst of automatic weapon fire hit me square in the back. It knocked me sprawling and I had just a moment to appreciate that this was at least the fourth time my enchantments had saved my hide.
Rounds kept coming.
The drone was a larger version of the first. Twin rotors, a light machinegun mounted on articulated firing points, and a hell of a lot of rounds pounding right down on me.
I let the invisibility spell slip out of surprise. Rolled over and got kept getting hammered by the drone. I managed to get a good look at the thing, then called up another power bolt and blasted the damn thing out of the sky.
Clawing my way to my feet, I emptied my pockets of those items I had lifted from the corp goons. I then started running west. I wove another invisibility spell around myself, and hoped against hope it would hold.
****************
I had definitely pissed someone off.
I had just crossed into Renton, when I heard a dog howl. Now normally I like dogs. I really do, but this sent a chill up spine. I looked back and saw a huge mastiff, jet black, with fire blazing up between its jaws. A hell hound was bounding after me and fifty yards behind the doggie, its handler was bringing an assault rifle to bear.
Hell-doggie wasn't fooled by my little invisibility trick. A gout of flame hit me straight on and my armor caught fire. (I later found that I had first degree burns on my hands, forearms, face and my neck). I realized a moment later that the dog's handler was sighting on me and I knew I was in trouble.
The handler got his shots off as the dog closed distance. I once again dropped my invisibility spell as I was suddenly too distracted to hold it in place and was hit dead center of my chest and thrown to the ground. I was only dimly aware of the sound of the handler's weapon going off. The hell-doggie bit down on my right ankle and I felt his fangs burn into my skin through my boots. I instinctively kicked at the hell hound and watched as the handler came running closer.
"Get him" I called out. My water elemental manifested around the hell-hound, soaking my leg and sending the dog into a panic. That earned me a three round burst in the abdomen, and I saw a piece of the spell hardened armor weave get blown off (too much abuse, I suppose).
The wind was knocked out of me and I knew I was done.
If I had known more about human nature back then, I wouldn't have been as surprised by what came next.
The handler brought his weapon up toward the elemental and then froze. I know, now, that he must have been worried about hitting his dog, but back then I just thought he froze up.
The hell hound was well and truly outclassed by the towering column of water that held it fast. The dog was drowning, its fire was out, and it was thrashing against forces it couldn't hope to outmatch. The dog's handler charged forward and screamed "GET OFF MY DOG DAMN YOU!" and butt-stroked the elemental.
You have to understand that fighting spirits in hand to hand combat is really a contest of willpower. That man was one of the angriest human beings I've ever seen. He yelled and cursed, swung and battered at the column of water that was my elemental spirit servant; and he was hurting it.
I managed to get myself propped up on one elbow, and hit him with the best stun bolt spell I could muster and he staggered. He lost his grip on the rifle, slipped on the wet plasticrete, then fell hard on his ass. He pushed himself to a seated position, almost instantly, and pulled his knife.
In the heart of the water elemental, the hell hound had ceased its struggles and the spirit flung the seemingly lifeless dog to the ground. I felt a little sick. The dog's handler dropped his knife and scampered over to the still form. He made loud sorrowful sounds, and he ran his hands over his dog, while he cried loudly. "Wake up, Jet. Wake up!"
I drew in my power and put another sleep spell on him. He fell over his animal.
Normally I like dogs. I didn't like this hell hound, not one bit, but I'm not a monster (tell that to yourself everyday runners... it helps). I was battered to hell and gone, but I pulled together the best healing spell I could manage. The dog shuddered and whimpered a bit, but he lay there under his handler making small sounds and licking the man's face.
It was a touching and heartbreaking sight.
I made it through the rest of the afternoon hiding in a sewer on the north end of Renton. It stunk to high hell, I had to kill a dozen devil rats to keep from being eaten alive, and I was tired, bruised and battered.
I figure the guys in the car were probably dead, the cops were fine, two drones wouldn't fly again, my armor needed to be replaced, I had lost a lot of money on the job, and saved the life of a dog I almost killed in the heat of the moment.
Happy birthday to me.
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