Aftermath Chapter 15: Conclusion

If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.

~ Orson Welles

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Cover for the first issue of "Tommy Gun Tales" the comic series
Sheila X and young Tommy 'the Machine' Gun
Art by: Lotus Blair

My vision was coming back to my right eye as Lilly and Rose worked their spells.  Rose rested on my left ring finger, just above my wedding ring while Lilly rested upon the middle finger next to her sister.  Below me the air spirit pushed itself to its fullest, racing me across the night sky. I could see the dragon's aura pulling away from us in the distance. It out paced us and vanished into the plain grey edifice of one of the downtown skyscrapers.  One I knew very well.

"Looks like we're going back to work girls." They heard my thoughts but were quiet in my mind.  Their full attention focused on the spells that were knitting my battered body back together as best they could.

"Tommy," Angel's voice sounded fuzzy in my earpiece. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting Aria."

"Tommy, we missed our chance. The damn wiz-worm survived the blast." Angel's sickened voice stroked the anger that was burning away in my brain.  "Damnit Tommy!  Come back and we'll plan this out properly!"

"No."

"Damnit!  Tommy, you can't do this alone!" Angel's voice was full of anger and something I couldn't identify.  She was right.  But I wasn't alone.

"I'm almost there. I've got the girls with me.  I'm getting her out Angel, one way of the other she is getting out of there."  I was only a couple of blocks away from my old office tower. "Stay on the line if you don't mind."

There was a long moment where the only sounds I heard was the rushing wind.

"Drone will be overhead in two minutes.  I can't see anything until then." She said.

"I can't wait that long, but thank you." I headed for the landing pad on the 95th floor and noticed, to late, a dozen rotor drones that descended from above.

Weapon arms trained trained light machine guns on me and my earpiece crackled with a sudden spike of static.

"Machine." Zero's voice sounded in my ear. "I'm under orders to bring you in or bring you down Omae."

"If you're planning on following those orders Zero, I'm afraid we don't have much to say to each other." I replied.

A display screen came alive on the rotor-drone I was facing. Simon and Zero were on screen, while Zero's voice sounded harshly in my ear.  "Machine, land and surrender into custody.  Officers are waiting to take in you on the ground floor."  Zero pointed down while Simon held up a scribbled note that read 'Taz'.

Surrounded by little death machines and not yet even within the building I had the air spirit fly me down to the front entrance.  People on the streets gawked at my descent, no doubt because I was singed and covered in blood.  I ignored their questioning faces and walked through the main entrance doors and through a strangely unmanned security station.  Behind me, security gates came down sealing me in.

*****

"I've got the interior sensors.  All cameras and microphones." Zero whispered in my ear. "Taz is on approach."

"Father, we've done all we can." Rose's voice was gentle and welcome to my rage clouded mind.

"I will do violence." Lilly's thought voice mirrored my own anger, sounding sharp and harsh against my own thoughts.

"Steady girls, let's see how this is going to unfold. If any attack us, kill them." Somewhere in that building there was a dragon that had my wife.  I wanted her back and the dragon dead and I didn't want some thoughtless mistake to trip me up.

"Hands where I can see them, Machine." Taz's voice rang out throughout the empty grand foyer.

"You should know by now, Taz, that doesn't matter with me." I called back, turning the palms of my hands to face the area in front of me. I picked out Taz and a dozen armored men moving toward me in the darkness.

"I've got orders." Taz's voice was harsh and firm. "Orders to bring you in and to kill you if you offer the least resistance."

"I understand, Taz." I replied.  Two rings vanished from my left hand.

Taz held his left hand up, fist closed and his men stopped with their weapons trained on me.  Taz holstered his sidearm, his new cybernetic hand gleaming with fresh chrome.  "I've got orders." He repeated, taking slow steps toward me.

"You know, Machine, when I was still in the Marine Corps I swore an oath." Taz stopped two meters from me. "It's an old oath. Dates back to the old corps from back in the USA days."

"I never served, but I've heard something about that." I replied.  Rose and Lilly waited, their full angelic forms ready to spring out of the astral plane and bring wrath and death.

"Funny thing about us Marines.  UCAS, CAS, it doesn't really matter, we come from the same tradition." Taz gestured with his new arm. "All former Marines.  All picked and approved by Jazz."

"Get to the point, Taz." I replied.

"Point is, Marines don't follow illegal orders." Taz turned back to face his men. "So I'm refusing this order.  Anyone got a problem with that?"

Weapon barrels went down. "No, we're good Gunny." I heard one of the FNG's call back.

Taz turned back to face me.  "When I took this job, Jazz told me I follow your orders. Well, the corp may write the checks but as far as I'm concerned that order still stands.  Orders, Machine?"

I stood there, a fierce smile spreading across my face. Lilly and Rose appeared beside me. "Orders, Taz?" I looked at my daughters then back to Taz.  "Rescue Op.  Target is an elf female, responds to the name 'Aria'.  Abductor is a paracritter, western dracoform, a great form example of the species. Creature is capable of shape shifting, is immune to small arms fire and is somewhere above us.  Orders are to evacuate the captive from the building. One of the angels will take her to safety.  After that we un-ass the building and G.T.F.O."

I looked around at familiar faces, people I had fought beside in that hell beneath Lac Assal.  "Taz, one more thing. You don't die on me.  I don't care if they shoot you so full of lead you sink."

Taz stared at me. "Copy that. Okay folks, rescue op. Wiz-worm in the building is hostile, we get the lady and get out. Nobody dies without permission."

A chorus of "Copy that Gunny!" rang out around me.

Simon sounded off in my earpiece. "Groovy."

"Let's go." I said as I headed for the service stairs.

******

One hundred floors is too many stairs to climb, particularly when you want to rescue someone.  Taz, the FNG's and I flew up the stairwell at a terrifying pace, held aloft by air spirits and sped on by some colorful curses.

"Bio-signs of the elf woman were last picked up in the private elevator that stops at the 104th floor.  No security cams up there, no sensors of any kind.  You're in the dark up there." Simon whispered.

"Got it. Zero, get the Osprey to the pad on the 95th if you can." I turned to Taz. "That's your exit, we get the girl and she's gone.  Take the men and scoot out from the 95th."

"Understood."

We took the stairs to the 103rd floor, where they ended in a heavy security door.  The door buzzed, unlocking at our approach.  A thin mist wafted throughout the vast emptiness before us.  The floor was devoid of interior walls, supporting columns stood with arcane scrollwork etched into the surface of the steel.  A fine mist drifted along the ceiling.

"Clouds?" Taz muttered.

"No, that's ectoplasm." I replied.

"Is it toxic?" Taz asked.

"Not really, though too much of it could drown you, I suppose." The air was ripe with raw magical energy.  There was something familiar about the feel of it that I couldn't place.  "Don't touch the columns."

We ghosted around the vast emptiness, spreading out look for any way up to the floor above us.

"Machine. I found something." A familiar voice whispered over my earpiece.  I looked and saw one of the FNG's wave to me.

I floated over and saw a line of thick, dark fluid oozing down the support column she was looking at.

"Blood." she said.

I looked up and saw it oozing down the column from the floor above.

"Taz, plant charges on that duct work above us."  There wasn't another way off the floor. "Task four to pull that window in.  We're going outside."

"Blowing holes or blowing up?" he asked.

"Up." I replied.  "Set the charges.  I'll send the air spirits to bring you guys up after me.  We grab Aria and ghost out if possible, fight our way out if we have to, then we blow the charges to cover the escape."

Taz had the FNG's moving before I was reached the window.

"Machine." Simon's voice crackled in my ear. "I've got an intrusion on the line.  Whoever is it I can't keep him out!"

"You mean her, asshole!"  Angel swore. "Damnit, Tommy!  Tell me you aren't inside!"

"Angel, keep them on the coms, and YES I'm in the building." I replied.  "Any chance you can patch in feed from your drone yet?  I need to see the 104th floor from the east side."

Angel fumed. {You were pissing me off, Tommy.~ Angel}... "Yeah, I'll splice in through that second rate firewall your people set up."

"Hey!" Simon protested.

"Stow it, you two!" The window was coming down and a blast of cold wind hit me. "Angel, I'm going up and I need to see what's there."

A minute went buy before my AR goggles buzzed at me.  I pulled them on and opened the feed Angel was beaming in.  There was nothing extraordinary about the floor above.  I could see the vacant window before me and nothing but plain windows along that level.  There was no landing pad or anything that would permit access.

"Angel, give me a look all the way around. Something's there, I know it."  I reached out to the astral plane and the trio of bound air spirits appeared. I watched as the drone did a complete circuit of the building, revealing nothing that would permit access.

"Girls, you'll bring the team up after me. I'm going to get a better look." I pulled down the goggles and was swept out of the building by one of the spirits, the other two in tow.  One hundred and three stories below me, the city street was a thin dark strip outlined in soft neon colors.  I opened myself to the astral and cast my sight up at the floor above.

Power buzzed against my senses, the 104th and the three floors above it were alight with magic.  The walls were sweating ectoplasm just as the ceiling of the 103rd floor had been.  Wisps energy broke up in the swirling winds and I was once again strangely certain that I knew the feel and taste of that magic.

At my command the spirit brought closer to the glowing walls and I examined them, looking for a weakness in the warding that I could exploit.  Instead, I found a carefully crafted latticework of spell energies comprising the largest illusion I had ever seen.  I drifted along to the southeast corner of the edifice and passed through the wall, my senses screaming at me as the spells tried to convince my body that I was being pushed through plascrete and steel.

The wind continued to beat at me as I broke through into an open air gallery of 11 pillars.  A great circle was etched in the marble floor, with four smaller circles worked into the design. Within three of those lesser circles stood one of the strange totems such as was found in the Place of Gates, and in the ruins I had helped plunder.  Ectoplasm flowed along the circles and into the great circle, tufts of the wispy ether flowed away over the rest of the space, escaping over the exposed sides of the building.

The dragon lay within the circle.  Her scales were marked with char and some patches of scales had been torn away.  Blood flowed from her wounded wing and from a number of deep cuts along her neck and tail.

Aria lay within the circle, her eyes closed and her body limp.  My rage was quenched by a sudden fear that she had been killed. I felt my heart sink and stood transfixed, staring at her until a slight rise in her chest told me that she was still breathing.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, APE?" The dragon's voice rang inside my skull.  The air elemental holding me aloft unraveled in the wind as the dragon's power slammed against it, banishing it from our world with a howl of pain and surprise.

I heard Angel screaming in my ear but I couldn't make out what she was saying. The dragon's voice in my head was beating at the inside of my skull. I lay there, watching as the dragon gained her feet, a pool of blood laying on ruined marble where her tail had scored the surface.  Her head loomed over Aria's limp form and the monster bared its meter long fangs in a fiendish, gloating smile.

"FIRST, I'LL TAKE SOMETHING FROM YOU AS YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM ME. THEN I'LL KILL YOU AND ANY YOU EVER CARED FOR."  She lowered her head toward Aria, her orange reptilian eyes locked with my own.

I couldn't move from the pain of that voice.  I was screaming in agony and the fear that the monster was about to eat Aria as punishment for my own impudence.

So I screamed.

"TAZ! BLOW IT!" The dragon may have paused for a fraction of a second as the words registered in its incredible mind. 

Taz didn't.  The charge went off, sending a plume of shattered marble and slivers of steel slicing through the dragon's wounded tail.  Her bulk shielded Aria from the storm of death that assaulted the dragon's scaly hide.

The assault on my mind ended as the last half of the beast's tail was blown off.  Assault rifle fire, strangely comforting to hear at that moment, rang out in the night as Lilly and Rose brought up the first six FNG's before diving back down to get Taz and the rest.

The circle collapsed.  The totems flared in their power and the barrier between the astral plane and the world of men was torn asunder.  I saw gateways, portals to thousands of metaplanes scattered, far flung and yet within reach.  The Dweller on the Threshold, guardian of the metaplanes stood watch at each, and in every instance it was a different form yet somehow the same.  The world beneath me shook, or maybe it was just the building having an aftershock from the bomb going off.

The dragon roared in rage and pain, fire erupted from its mouth and engulfed three of the FNGs,  reducing them to ash.

Lily flashed through my field of vision, scooping up Aria and streaking into the night sky.  The dragon roared a word I had never heard and I felt a piece of my soul vanish as Lily disappeared.  Aria plunged toward the street as the dragon turned back to breath fire at the remaining three FNG's.

"ROSE!  CATCH ARIA! TAKE HER TO YOUR SISTERS!" I screamed, my mind reaching out to touch Rose's awareness.  I ducked behind a column, flames gushing past me on either side.  The rock of the column gave off a booming thunderclap as it cracked under the fierce heat.  Burns appeared on my face and hands as the dragon's fire gushed by me on both sides, less than a meter away.

"TAZ! HAUL ASS! GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" I yelled into my comm.

"ALL FOR NOTHING APE!  I'LL KILL YOU FIRST THEN YOUR MATE!" Flames gushed by as the dragon resumed its attack, the rock behind me was blazing hot and dragon's fire shot out for thirty meters out into the night.  I couldn't feel the presence of the air spirits anymore, they were gone.

The dragon raged, spewing death at me and cutting off any escape.

"Zero, this is Machine.  Ragnarok. I say again, Ragnarok.  Expend all available ordinance on my location." I closed my eyes and listened as Angel screamed for me to get out of there.

Zero cut into the feed. "Understood, Machine.  Ragnarok incoming, ten seconds.  It's been a pleasure."

The dragon drew in a breath and roared, "NOW! DIE APE!"

I dashed for the building's edge, running on a line of blistering marble. I passed countless doorways the Dweller guarded, and leaped off the edge falling past thousands more as I streaked past the 100th floor. I saw the Dweller watch me with placid indifference, and saw the dragon as her head loomed through the illusory walls, her eyes gleaming.  I turned and fell, narrowly missing portals that seemed to suddenly not be in the way at the last moment.

I saw a lone, unguarded portal in the distance below.  For a wild, frantic moment I wished I would fall through it. I passed through into raging seas as the missiles blew the top five floors off the building I used to work in.  I cut through the water at terrible speed, breaking the surface and soaring ten meters into a familiar sky adorned with six brilliant moons and one lone dark orb I didn't dare to glance at.

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Thank you all for reading my fan fiction.  I do apologize for the delay in completing this final entry for Aftermath.  I've been quite busy writing RPG material, comic books and material for my Patreon subscribers.  If you have enjoyed this blog and its stories, I think you will enjoy the adaptation of them I'm creating.  You see, I'm making a dystopian fantasy comic series based on these tales, though they won't be set in Shadowrun as I haven't been able to acquire a license to do so.

As with all of the stories on this blog, this is basically the first, unedited draft.  I've cut out parts as I've written this piece to try to make the story as enjoyable as possible.  I do hope you like it.

I will continue to write Shadowrun fan fiction for as long as I'm able and people are willing to read it.  I hope you'll enjoy what comes next.

Please do comment below.  I always enjoy hearing from you.

~ W.S. "Sam" Quinton

Aftermath, Chapter Twelve: Chummers

It's getting dark too dark to see
Feels like I'm knocking on heaven's door

~ Knocking on Heaven's Door, lyrics by Bob Dylan



"When you're a professional criminal, a thief, a spy and yes a murderer, people will tell you that you can't have friends or any real relationships.  You'll be told that you cannot trust anyone, that when the chips are down and the bullets are flying that your chummers will cut and run out on you.

People who say that have really poor taste in friends."

~ Thomas Michael Gunne     Alias:  Tommy "The Machine" Gun
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The sun made the effort to pierce the gray Seattle sky and slapped me in the face with a dazzling sunbeam.  It was hard to open my eyes and impossible to see with the full fury of a star doing it damnedest to fry my brain through my eyeballs.  I covered my face with shaking hands and sat up.

"Hey, Tommy take it easy chummer." Crank's voice was a welcome sound.  I didn't know where I was or how I was alive.

"Crank, where are we?  Where's Aria?" I pulled my hands down and tried to force my eyes to adjust to the daylight.

"Don't know about Aria." Crank replied.  His huge hand grasped my shoulder and, for the first time I can remember, it didn't hurt.  "As for where we are, I brought you to shaman I know.  He's in the kitchen right now."

"Rose said Aria has been shot, Crank.  We have to go."  I tried to stand and found myself pitching forward.  Crank caught me easily and pushed back onto the cot I had been laying on.

"Yeah, that's not happening right now Tommy." Crank was calm but insistent. "Let my chummer get you patched up.  Then we'll find out what the frag is going on."

I heard a door open and my hand went to my shoulder rig. "Wow! Easy now, Tommy."  Crank laid his hand over my chest. "Calm down omae."

An amerindian elf walked in with young anglo human woman behind him.  I recognized the elf immediately as a street shaman SheilaX had teamed me up with once.  I hadn't seen him in over a year.  The young woman was familiar but it took a long minute for my memory to catch up to me.  She had grown a bit since we pulled her out of Missoula, but she had that same fierceness to her.

"He always such a hard-ass?"  the girl asked.

{I couldn't remember her name at the time and I'm not going to throw her under the bus by naming her now.  For our purposes I'll call her "Joy". ~ T}

{Oh, she is going to hate that Tommy. ~ Angel}

"Only when he's had his ass kicked real good." Crank replied.

"It's been a while, Machine." the elf said.

"Too long.  Sorry if I've put you out." I replied.

"Not at all. Besides, you helped put down the Reapers.  I can't have you falling dead because of some schmucks from Everett."  He winked at me and smiled.

{I miss him. ~ Angel}
{Me too. ~ T}

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Magicians shouldn't use stims." he said sagely.  "That said, you're basically just suffering from the after effects.  Your body purged the toxins very quickly.  Nice spell work with that Machine.  I'm truly impressed.  Most hermetic magi don't think about their bodies and health, they're too busy trying to compare fireball radius measurements."

"That's a penis joke." Crank whispered to the young woman.

"Yeah, not a good one though." She muttered back.

The elf shaman smiled at the two of them. "Everyone's a critic. Machine you can go if you like, but you should rest first if you can."  His expression changed as he asked, "Unless it's that serious?"

"Too important for me to wait to heal." I replied.

"Ah."  He shuffled over to a messenger bag that was hung on the wall.  He rummaged around in it before pulling out a few vials.  "Well, then you shouldn't go out unarmed."

He placed the first vial on the cot next to me. "Holy water, from the River Jordan in case you run into demons."  The second vial he proclaimed as "Water from the Blood Falls.  Good for healing magic." I nodded in the affirmative at that. "And distilled peppermint oil blended with honey."

"What's that for?" I asked.

"It'll help with the jitters." He replied.

"Thank you." I said as I fumbled open the vial. I sniffed at it, inhaling the sweet scent before I took a taste.  It was sweet with the kick of concentrated peppermint behind it.  "It's like candy."

"Well, of course.  Not all magic has to be fire and brimstone, you know."  His smile was infectious.

*****

Crank and I walked out in broad daylight.  Rose had told me where I could find the family.  She and Lily had suggested that I have them come get us but I told them to stay with their mother and sisters.

Crank looked like hell.  His clothes were torn, burned and smudged with strange new stains.  He looked down at me, smiling with those perfectly polished tusks and teeth.  "Redmond.  We spent way to much time here omae."

"Thanks for getting me out, Crank." I looked up into the big man's eyes. "Seriously, thank you."

Crank shrugged.  "We fight monsters. Can't have you dying on me.  Besides, it would be unprofessional to break our deal. I told you I'd help you get your family.  I'm sticking to that."

"I've got good taste in friends." I said.

"Yes, yes you do." Crank replied.  "Shall we get vehicles or what?"

"Frag it." I said. "This is Redmond.  If folks around here don't know to leave us the frag alone by now, then they haven't been paying attention."

Crank squeezed my shoulder. Yes, it hurt.  "Frag it then."

We turned west and strode down the middle of the street.  Crank's good luck charm rode easily in his massive hands.  My sliver gun  stayed in its holster, my hands out and open.   Squatters watched us with wary eyes.  We took a left onto 156th and ran headlong into a dozen elf gangers on sleek racing bikes.  Crank looked at them, smiled and called out "Well?"

"You Crank?" one asked.

"Damn right." he replied.

"Sub-zero.  I'll let them know you're coming." The elf tapped out a message on his comm and cycled up his engine.  "Go on.  Don't keep the lady waiting."

We were halfway down the block when the door to one of the ratty houses swung open.  Little Rickie ducked under the doorway and out into the sun.  "Tommy. Get your ass in here boy before someone shoots it off."

The outside of the house looked like any other rundown place in the barrens.  The inside had been cleaned of any debris, the walls were free of holes and graffiti, and I heard water running from somewhere within.  Rose and Lily were standing in a living area playing 'levitate the babies' with the twins.  Jasmine and Violet giggled and cooed, and didn't notice me slip past them and into the hall.

I found Aria lying in a back room on an inflatable bed.  SheilaX sat next to her daughter, my wife, running her fingers through her hair.  Shade was motionless on the floor, his breathing so weak as to be almost undetectable.  I opened my eyes and saw the magician floating above his own body, a weapon focus blazed with a pure white light in hand. He acknowledged me with a nod and then gestured about the room.  I spotted four powerful elemental spirits, each occupying a cardinal point in the room.

Shade wasn't taking any chances with astral security.

"They shot her Tommy." Sheila's voice was cold enough to make goosebumps rise on my body.

I looked at my wife and noted that her aura was strong and healthy.  There was a lingering sign of magic that clung to her abdomen, the remnants of a healing spell.  A drug coursed through her, growing weaker as I watched, holding her in a dreamless slumber.

"They drugged her?" I asked.

"Stun gas."  Sheila replied. "Gas grenade, pitched at us when we went in to pull her and the babies out.  My cyber and bioware mods shook it off.  Same with Rickie.  Aria though, it hit her hard."

"I'm sorry." I started.

SheilaX cut me off with a wave of her hand and fixed me with a stare. "Don't. They came after her and you tipped us to it.  We got her and the twins out.  You don't apologize for saving your family, Tommy.  You get razor focused, go out and kill the people responsible."

I stood there, my relief at seeing Aria alive and whole being battered by my own guilt.

"Knock it off, Tommy." Sheila said sternly. "Wash up, get some food in you, then come get some rest with your wife.  She'll be happiest if she wakes up next to you."  Her tone made it clear, it wasn't a request.

The bathroom had running water and clean towels.  I took a hot shower, wiped out my body armor and ran my fingers through hair to tame it.  I stepped into the hallway feeling clean and tired down to my bones.  As I walked into the living room I saw Lilly and Rose rocking the twins in their arms.

"Nap time." Their voices said in my mind.

"Thank you girls.  Go on back and lay them down with your mother.  Please wait there as well." I replied.

Lilly and Rose padded silently down the hall and disappeared into the bedroom. I found Crank in the kitchen with Angel.  Both looked solemn.

"Ratchet?" I asked.

Crank's head shook as Angel turned to me. "No.  He went up with his ride."   Her eyes shone.  Angel was, and always has been, a professional. She wasn't going to let anyone see a tear fall, even for a good friend and ally.

"Did you get the one who killed him?" Crank asked.

"I don't think so, but I've got the recording of the fight plus feed from Roy and his bunch.  I'll have her ID soon."  Angel's voice carried an acidic tone that would cower a wise man.

"Good." Crank replied. "Then we go kill her."

"Yes." I said. "We'll start with her.  Angel let me know when you have something.  I'm going to keep an eye on Aria.  Crank, get some rest omae, you've earned it."

"Tommy," Angel interrupted, her expression fierce. "We kill this one for Ratchet.  You are going to help us.  Ratchet was our friend, all of ours.  We put her down for him."

"For Ratchet." Crank muttered.

I've got really good taste in friends. I nodded in agreement. "This ones for Ratchet."

I laid down on the air mattress, my sleeping daughters between me and my wife. Lilly lay on the floor on Aria's side while Rose lay near mine.  I draped my arm over the sleeping babies and put my hand in Aria's.  Her fingers closed over over mine and I drifted off to sleep with my family.

In the living room Little Rickie was watching an AR overlay from cameras hidden around the house.  Crank was sleeping the utility room once held a washer/dryer.  Angel was sitting in the kitchen, furiously stalking the woman from the vid.  SheilaX sent payment to the elf gangers then fired off a series of messages to shadowrunners, assassins, thieves and information agents all around the 'plex. Someone had sent a hit team to kill her daughter and SheilaX was not going to let that stand.

I dreamed of fire and death.  Seattle burned while my wife slept and my daughters laughed.  Words reached my ears, a distant echo stretching out from my past. "If they've hurt her you'll be able to see the fire from orbit."

*********************

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Aftermath, Chapter Nine: Racing the clock

"What?" Angel asked.

"I'm going home. They need me." I grabbed my commlink and rose to my feet.  I powered it up and tried to put thoughts into something that resembled rational. 

"Tommy, what do you mean 'they need you'?" Angel prodded.  "I thought you were sleeping.  Were you out in the astral?"

"Maybe." I hit the call button and shuffled my restless feet as I waited for an answer. 

Sheila answered on the second ring. "Verification."

"Your coffee is drek." I replied.

"Tommy, what's going on?" Sheila asked.

"Move the family, they're compromised.  I'm not sure how yet but hurt is coming."  I looked up at the inquiring faces of Angel, Crank and Ratchet.  "Get as much muscle and magic there as you can. I'll reach out to the girls and be there soon."

Sheila's face took on a look I had last seen when a mob boss had kidnapped Aria.  "Get your ass in gear then Tommy. I'll send everyone I can." 

The connection broke and I faced my three chummers. 

"One hundred thousand nuyen each.  We go get Aria and the girls and take us all to the Willows. If anything gets in our way, it dies hard."  I grabbed my satchel and retrieved my menpo-styled ballistic mask. "Grab your gear if you're going."

Ratchet opened his mouth as if to speak, but clamped his lips closed and hurried to his dinged up roadmaster. "Drones are loaded and ready to fly.  Crank help me with the ammo belts."

"Will do." Crank replied.  He looked at me and clamped his massive hand on my shoulder.  It hurt. "Don't worry omae, we'll get them out safe and sound."

Angel stared at me.  "What, exactly, do you expect me to do?"

"Same as always, electronic overwatch. Keep your eyes open for movement in the area of operation and all that." I looked at my friend and felt my eyes threaten to tear up. "Please, Angel.  I need your help."

She hugged me.

"Let's go get your family." She whispered.

I brushed the budding tears from my eyes and reached out to the astral plane. "Rose. Lily. Enemies are coming. Where are you girls?"

Five minutes later Ratchet's roadmaster was roaring down the streets.  Traffic signals cycled to green as we approached.  Traffic cameras went dark as we sped past, heading north as fast as we could. 

"Traffic systems think we're an ambulance." Angel's synthesized voice came over my earpiece.  "We're clear all the way to Everette on the I-5."

We hit the ramp up onto the potholed old interstate at more than one hundred KPH.  "Where the 'ell is all the traffic?" Ratchet asked.

"Traffic systems are diverting everyone around.  I've flagged a maintenance lane closure, so even automated patrols won't be on." Angel's reply spoke volumes toward the amount of work she had accomplished in remarkably little time.  "Don't spare the horsepower, Ratchet. You're all clear."

I lurched in my seat as the roadmaster suddenly accelerated. "OH, YEAH BABY!" Ratchet howled over the comms.  "I COULD GET USED TO THIS!"

Crank chambered a round in his pink light machine gun.  "We'll get there soon Tommy.  Don't worry, this is a good gun.  If anyone raises a hand to them, I'll blow it off."

"Patching in Sheila." Angel announced.

"Put her through." I replied. "We're en route.  ETA is... Ratchet?"

"Thirty minutes, tops."

"ETA is thirty minutes by land.  Rose and Lily report no contacts." I offered.

"You're sure this is necessary?" Sheila asked.

"I am."

"That's good enough for me. We're catching up but you're ahead of us a good bit." Sheila left the connection open.

We hurtled down the I-5, with Ratchet screaming like a berserker as he assaulted the pavement. For fifteen minutes we careened over wrecked pavement, blurred past highway signs and brought me ever closer to Aria and the girls.  "We're coming up on 128th, hang on!"

I bounced off the seat in front of me as Ratchet braked hard.  The roadmaster swerved violently to the right and down the off-ramp at more than three times the recommended speed before spinning hard to the left and bouncing me off the passenger side door.  Crank and Angel kept their seats by the four-point harnesses they had belted into.

"Angel, talk to me.  How are we looking?" Ratchet asked.

"We're clear all the way to 112th.  Traffic cams are out at the intersection, can't see anything so stay alert.  I've got multiple contacts coming up behind us though, looks like the 'Fivers." Angel's electronically generated voice didn't betray any concern.  Crank glanced back at the armored doors and I heard a squeak as his grip tightened on his weapon.

"How many of them, Angel?" I asked.

"I think, maybe all of them." She replied.  "Pulling drone feed now."

I opened the AR window that blinked read for me and saw dozens of hard faced elves on sleek looking motorcycles racing our way.  "Thanks, Angel.  Everyone get your game face on."  I pulled off my AR goggles and pulled my ballistic mask down over my face.  My fingers found the tracery over the mask and I pushed a touch of mana into the pattern. Shade's formula had been incredibly difficult to enchant but as we sped toward Aria and the girls I felt the mask's well of power come alive. 

"They're closing fast." Angel said. "At this rate they'll be able to reach out and touch us in two minutes."

"Ratchet, float the rotor-drones.  Maybe we can spook them away." I replied.

The roadmaster's back door swung up and the first roto-drone came to life.  The dual rotors lifted it smoothly from its launch rack and carried it out into the night.  "Launching.  Stay clear of the rotors everyone."

I was staring out toward the horde of oncoming elves when I felt Rose's touch on my mind. "Father! We have enemies here!" 

"Ratchet!  How long until we're there?" I yelled out over the wind and rotor noise.

"Ten minutes, maybe more depending on those gangers." He called back.

The second rotor-drone took off into the night.  Ten minutes was far too long. "Proceed on target. If these assholes start anything, put them down.  I'm going ahead."  The air elemental appeared at the open door.  I jumped into its swirling winds as the pavement blurred beneath me. The spirit lifted me above the roaring armored behemoth and we streaked through the night.

I opened myself to Rose's senses.  I saw a bullet riddled door, heard the staccato of automatic weapon fire and smelled pizza.  Behind her, Lilly was carrying Jasmine and Violet into a panic room hidden behind a flight of stairs.  Aria came in behind her, a shotgun cradled in her arms.  The door closed seamlessly behind them, leaving no evidence of its existence. 

Lily materialized into view her body shifting its form from that of a small elf girl to that of an avenging angel.  Wings sprouted into view as Rose's form shifted as well. 

"We will do violence!" Rose and Lily's voices rang out in my mind. I shifted my perception back to my own body and saw the telltale ribbon flashes of weapon fire on the street ahead and below me.  Dozens of armed assailants were firing into the house that held my family.

My earpiece was filled with chatter as Angel, Crank, Ratchet and Sheila were speaking in hurried voices.  I ignored them, my anger deafening whatever they were saying as I picked a point in the middle of the strangely crowded street, tapped the mana of my power focus mask and cast my hands forward with a scream I imagined them hearing from a hundred meters away.

"MORTUORUM EGO CREO! IGNIS MAGICAE!!" 

Flames exploded fifteen meters into the sky in a column thirty meters wide.  Flames washed over the ruined buildings and splashed along the walls of the house where my family hid. Dozens of gunmen died in an instant. The plascrete melted and exploded in a fury of fire of death.

I had announced my arrival, given away my location and fell right into the trap that had been laid for me

____________________________________


Thank you for reading my fan fiction.  I hope you are enjoying Aftermath.

I do apologize that this chapter has been so long in coming out.  I had a successfully funded KickStarter campaign wrap up and tasks that needed attending to in that regard.  I hope you'll join me next time as we continue Aftermath.

*Reminder*  I do not own Shadowrun.  This fan fiction is for entertainment purposes, so I hope you've enjoyed it.

As always, your comments are most welcome.

The Art of War, Part Five: Move Swiftly

"In war, move swiftly as the wind, as closely-formed as the wood.  Attack like the raging fire and be still and quiet like the mountain.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War
___________________________________________

I hurt all over.

The dragon's roar had pummeled my whole body.  Beneath my torn and bloodied suit, my form-fitting body armor had mitigated some of the worst of the impacts. My hands and face weren't so lucky.

My healing spell was holding under the force of my will, knitting tissues back together and regenerating the subtle injuries.  The ringing in my ears dimmed, then faded away.  I looked around my office, my mind still running down the plan I had begun concocting in the elevator.

"Rose, I need you." My thought voice reach out across the distance like she was in the same room.  A blink later Rose, my first ally spirit, my oldest spirit daughter appeared next to me.

She looked like a young elf girl.  The form belying the terrific power she possesses. "Father, you are covered in blood."  There was concern in her thought voice.  It was so easy to forget she was a spirit.

"It's okay, its mine."  I started pulling off my ruined suit. "I want you to go out into the hall and elevator beyond.  Destroy any and all samples of my blood there."

"Certainly, father." She strode through my door.  I heard a startled yelp from the corridor.

The commlink on my desk chimed, the tune telling me that Aria was calling.

My tingling fingers found the answer button and Aria's face appeared in the holo, a worried expression plainly visible.  "Tommy? Honey, Rose just vanished.  Are you okay? I can't see you."

"I've had better days."  I said. "I needed her here for something, I'll send her home shortly.  How are you and the girls doing since I left?"

"Don't you change the subject on me." The tone of her voice suddenly reminded me of her mother.  I cringed.

"Sorry baby.  I'll come home early today if I can." I pulled off my blood stained shirt as quickly as I could.

"Tommy.  Let me see you."  He voice had softened a bit.  Worry was rising in her face.

Drek.  I stepped around so the holocam could capture my image. I hadn't had time to wash my face yet and I could feel the blood sticking to my upperlip and taste it in my mouth.  "Hi, honey." I said.

Aria gasped.  I saw her face tense as her emotions ran the gamut from surprise to scared, worried to enraged before settling into a tense mask, a pale imitation of her mother's own expressionless working face.  "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm hurt but the magic is holding. I'll be okay in a few minutes, and cleaned up once I can get to the bathroom."  I shifted from one foot to the other, suddenly very self-conscious. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't want to worry you."

"You come home, Tommy." Aria's voice was tense.  I saw tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am." I replied. "I love you, I'll be home as soon as I can."

"I love you too. I'll get the first aid kit out."  She replied.  "Should I call mom?"

"No." I answered quickly, reflexively. "No.  I'm fine.  I may call Crank tonight though."

"Okay, I'll have the grocery delivery send ribs then." A tear escaped and ran down Aria's cheek. "You come home to me, Tommy."

"On my way as soon as I can, baby."  I told her.

My wife cut the connection, leaving me alone in the office.  I grabbed my rucksack and pulled out my 'working' clothes.  Replacing them with my bloodied suit.  My thoughts continued to pile up around the plan fomenting in my mind.  Rose drifted through my office door, materialized and sat herself on the corner of my desk.

"I have sterilized the blood samples, father. Your injuries are healing well." Her voice drifted comfortably through my mind.  "Shall I do violence upon who ever did this to you?"

"No, thank you anyway baby-girl." My own thought voice reached her and she frowned.  "I don't want you tangling with what did this.  You're too important to risk and he's far too powerful."

"I can do violence, father." Rose's reply carried a hurt tone.

"I know.  You are very powerful and I'm not making light of your abilities." I reached out and lay my hand on hers. "As strong as you are, this is more so.  I won't risk your life like that."

Rose frowned at that. "You think I could be destroyed?"

"Yes, Rose.  I think there is a good chance that this foe would defeat you and either destroy you or enslave you.  I won't have either."  I smiled up at her. "Don't worry.  I think I have a plan."

*****

January 15th, 2061
1615 hours, Seattle Metroplex local time

I left my office and took the stairs to the landing pad on the 95th floor. The invisibility spell I had wrapped around myself hid me from the watchful eyes of the maintenance bots that prowled there.  I took a running start, and leapt from off the east side of the landing pad, plummeting like a stone toward the pavement below.

I reached out into the astral plane, calling for the air elemental I had bound.  I was soaring past the fiftieth floor when the elemental spirit manifested and arrested my fall.  I soared away, carried aloft by the winds to my home.  I landed in the back yard and let the invisibility spell unravel.

I closed my eyes and opened myself to Lily's senses.  She was in the twins' room, standing guard over them as they were nearing the end of an afternoon nap.  My perspective shifted suddenly as I peered through Rose's eyes and saw Aria in the kitchen, her face wrinkled up in frustration as smoke streamed up from the skillet in front of her.  She had burned something and judging from the odor Rose was smelling, it had once been bacon.

I opened my eyes and my own astral senses and peered about the yard.  I walked around the house, looking everywhere for any sign of astral surveillance.  It must have looked odd, me walking around and looking behind the shrubs and up in the tree that grew in my backyard.  I saw astral impressions of myself enjoying quiet, peaceful moments; old impressions of the prior owners and summer bar-b-ques with their extended families; spectral bloodstains marred the scene, the aftermath of my escape from the arcology; and vivid impressions of Violent and Jasmine laying in the fall leaves, giggling up at Aria, Rose and Lily.

It was beautiful.

The astral surveillance I expected wasn't there.  I was barking at shadows but told myself it was best to be careful.  The security panel chimed as it recognized my thumb and retinal patterns, unlocking my back door for me.  I walked in to the sound of Aria cursing, the smell of bacon burning, and the gentle waking noises of the twins.

"I'll get the girls." I said.  I set my rucksack down, and darted through the living room and into the twins' bedroom.  They were starting to fuss, each waking the other up with their little noises.

Lily, turned to me as I walked into the room. "Stinky material is appearing in the diapers.  Prepare yourself, father, they ate peaches earlier."

I nodded knowingly as the first hint of foul diapers reached my nose.  "Right on time then. Thank you baby-girl. Can you get new diapers for me, please."  A whisper of power and a time trusted levitation spell lifted the girls from their cribs and onto the changing table.  They were still defiling their diapers and were not amused by being moved yet.  Violet began to cry and Jasmine took up the chorus with her.  Lily laid a diaper next to each twin, then pulled out the wipes.

We did battle with a foulness the likes of which I cannot describe.

1625 hours

I tasked poor Lily with disposing of the diapers and emptying the pail.  The fact that she has since forgiven me for having her do this speaks well of her capacity for mercy.  Twins in hand, I walked into the living room. Aria was putting in a delivery order on her commlink while Rose was cleaning up the aftermath in the kitchen.

"I'm ordering in.  I burned the bacon, forgot to defrost the chicken and forgot to turn on the oven so the rolls are cold." Aria, finished keying in the order and turned to look at me.  "Well, at least you're not covered in blood anymore."

Jasmine pulled playfully at my ear while Violet's little fingers pinched my cheek. 

"I'm sorry you saw that honey. I didn't mean to worry you." I said. 

"Not now. Later." she replied.  Aria walked over and wrapped her arms around me and the twins. The scent of honeysuckle and vanilla was comfort.  Violet abandoned her efforts to pull my cheek off and grabbed two little fists full of Aria's hair.

"Now, now Violet, we don't pull mommy's hair, baby-girl." Aria told her. 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon and early evening playing with the twins.  Rose and Lily were vigilant, waiting and watching for trouble I was certain was coming.  To my surprise and relief, no one tried to kill us. 

That evening Rose and Lily stood watch over the twins while they slept.  Aria and I had a long talk in the shower.  The sound of the running water would help defeat any listening devices.  Honest.  Aria accused me of making up that excuse so I could see her naked.  While she isn't wrong about a part of that, having conversations such as we had that night, under the cover noise of running water all around you is a great way to defeat and confuse directional microphones.  You'll have to take my word for that.

*****

January 17th, 2061
0200 hours,  Seattle Metroplex local time

Crank and Ratchet arrived in a Bakery delivery truck.  Ratchet backed the vehicle up to my garage door and killed the lights.  I opened the garage, and had an earth element conceal the truck and garage from outside scrutiny.  It took us about fifteen minutes to unload the boxes into my garage.

"Angel says take this and get rid of your old burner.  Something about its protocols being old enough to rise eyebrows."  Crank said as he handed me a clear plastic back with a new (to me) commlink. 

"New burner, sub-zero." I said.  I looked up at Crank, "thanks, omae. I appreciate this."  I pushed the fist full of credsticks into his hand.

"You going to need some help with that?" he asked. 

"Yes, but where I'm putting it is, well, a bit out of the way."  I glanced over at the plain cardboard boxes.  They were labeled 'Cinnamon Rolls'. "If you don't mind the trip, I could certainly use a hand."

"Sure thing, same rate as usual though.  Thousand nuyen a day, another thousand if I get shot at." Crank's response strangely reassuring.

"Good, we've got a deal then."  I shook the big man's hand.


0505 hours, Seattle Metroplex local time

Crank was still cursing as he climbed into the back of the Ratchet's delivery truck.  "I swear, I'm NEVER doing that again."  He rang his fingers through his damp hair, cursing at the slime that stuck to his hands.  "This is what magicians do at home?!?! Glad I'm just street muscle."

"Magically enhanced street muscle." I corrected him. "You've got your own edge, omae."  I smiled as he glanced back toward Ratchet's sleeping form.

"Oi!" he raised his finger in front of his lips, shushing me. "Anyway, use the new burner if you need me.  You want me to ditch the other?"

"Nah, I have plans for that one." I smiled at the thought.  I think I saw Crank shiver.

"Okay, alright then." Crank fished around in his pocket and handed me a small blue plastic box with a pair of buttons and two small diode lights on it.  "Remember to hit the right button, or you'll never have time to regret it."

The tiny box seemed so small, insignificant.  There was a certain wonder to it as I contemplated just how dangerous it was.   "Will do.  Thanks, Crank."

"See you in the shadows. Don't get lit up." With that he pulled down the truck's door.  I heard him roust Ratchet, listened as its electric engine whirred to life, and watched as they pulled away. 

"Best hundred thousand nuyen I've ever spent." I said to myself. 

I closed my garage door and dismissed the earth elemental.  The twins were sleeping peacefully.  Aria was awake, sitting at the kitchen table while Rose and Lily cooked.  I smelled fresh coffee, bacon and what I suspected were biscuits. 

Aria looked up over the lip of her cup and smiled at me. "Good morning baby.  Did you get what you needed?"

"Sure did, we've got enough cinnamon rolls to last us a lifetime." She took my hand and smiled. "But that bacon smells like heaven."

"It will be done in a couple of minutes, father." Lily said.

"The eggs will take a few minutes longer. You have time to shower." Rose added.

"That sounds like a good idea." I stood and kissed Aria's cheek.  "Be right back, honey."

******

0815 hours

I walked into my office and placed my rucksack on my desk.  The old burner phone rested comfortably in my pocket.  It was a little heavier than was normal, but I wouldn't be using it anymore.  The commlink built into my desk blinked its green warning icon at me. I had a message waiting for me.

"Play message" I said.  I pulled off my coat and hung it off the corner of my chair. 

'You have, one message.  From:  Control' beep  "Machine, when you get this I want you in my office asap." Samantha's voice carried a hint of irritation in it.  The time stamp on it indicated yesterday afternoon. 

"Call Control" I said flatly.  The call feature rang twice before Samantha's secretary picked up.

"Machine, Ms. Goode wishes to see you." she said. 

"Put me through to her please." I replied. 

"Very well, sir."

There was a moment of silence before the line picked up. "Machine." Samantha said. "Come up to my office."

"Certainly." I replied. "Am I to expect to be beaten and bounced around the room again?"

"Don't be a child.  It's unbecoming."  With that she broke the connection. 

I drew the slivergun from my shoulder holster, thumbed the safety and chambered a round. "Right,  time to go to work."

*******************************

Thank you for reading my fan fiction.

I apologize for the delay in getting this latest part of "The Art of War" story arc released.  I have been working to complete the final bits of Whispers of Persephone by writing and formatting in the backer reward pieces for those backers who had their names added as characters to the book and on the obituaries for the Fallen Heroes backers.  It has been fun and very busy!

I also write and develop RPG material (not for Shadowrun though, unfortunately).  So if you are a fan of Gary's game, I release a lot of material under the OGL. I am also developing an original role playing game, which Drip members will see in play test version in 2019.  You can also support my efforts to create cool, original RPG content by subscribing to my Drip page.  Subscribers have access to behind the scenes information, first glance at coming release material, play test material, and there is also a monthly PDF release for subscribers in the $3 and higher tiers.  Check it out by going to my Drip page HERE.

I hope you'll join me next time as we conclude "The Art of War" story arc.  Strap in and hold on chummers, its going to get dark in these shadows.

Halloween 2060 ~ Trick or Treat

I've had a lot of names over the years.  The one I'm most known by is Tommy "the Machine" Gunne. I was never famous, but I have a solid rep in the shadow community, particularly around Seattle.  If I took a job, it usually got done.

You've been reading my stories and I hope you've learned a few things from mistakes I made along the way. I've made several tremendous mistakes.  There are things you learn with experience, things old-timers might tell you, if there were any old-timers and they felt like sharing their insights.  I'm not going to turn this story into a 'how-to' tale, or one of those 'I remember when" sagas.  No, I'm going to remind you that you aren't just a runner.  You're a person.  Take some time, as often as you can, to be a person.  All too often, those days are limited.  Cherish them.

~ Tommy "the Machine" Gunne
________________________________________________________________________


October 31, 2060

1830 hours, Seattle Metroplex local time


Lily had healed up from our trip onto the island in hours.  It took me a few days before the chemical burns on my chest and abdomen lost their tender pink tones.  With judicious use of magic, I came away with almost no scaring though, to this day, when I get a tan you can see small little splatter marks where the coloring doesn't match up. Aria didn't scold me too badly.

The rest of October was quiet at the office. I had debriefings, looked over information for potential team members, and kept myself busy reading up on alchemy, enchantment, and magic theory whenever I had time.  I went home each night and focused on my family.  I tried to help cook dinner but was soon vetoed as no one appreciated my efforts. {I'm telling you Tommy, Rose is by far a better cook than you'll ever be ~ Angel}

Halloween came quickly, and Aria and I dressed the twins in their little pea-pod costumes.  Rose wanted to stay home to hand out candy.  The weather turned unseasonably cold and we had snow coming down shortly after 1800 hours.  Aria and I decided to keep the twins indoors, but Lily had been excited to go trick or treating like Rose had done the year before.  I bundled up while Lily took on her young elf girl form then pulled on her Halloween costume.

I walked out the door and saw a flock of children heading toward my door.  Small goblins, Lone Star patrol officers, cartoon characters, and cyborgs were popular costume choices that year.  Lily looked on in undisguised fascination at the small humans and their strange appearances.  Lily was a small elf girl. Her white robe was partially concealed by the brown hooded cloak she wore over it.  The light up 'sword' she carried made a humming sound that oscillated as it swung providing a precise reproduction of the sound effects used in the movies almost a century before.  I doubted that anyone would recognize what her costume represented, and that was just fine.  Rose and Lily both enjoyed the science fiction classic.  I smiled to myself, wondering how many people would have difficulty figuring out Rose's costume and those large green ears.

I walked with Lily along the sidewalk with the snow drifting down slowly.  It wasn't sticking to the street yet, and the sidewalks had too much traffic for snow to take hold.  Our first stop was at the Campbells, the middle-aged orks who lived just a few houses down from us.  My AR visor displayed the "Trick or Treat welcome Here" overlay that floated over their door.   Lily walked up to the door and rang the bell.

"Trick or treat" she said plainly.

Mr. Campbell smiled broadly, his tusks showing over his lower lip.  "Well, well.  I am impressed.  Just you this year Lily? Rose sick at home?"

"No, Rose is handing out candy to other children.  She says it will be more efficient, and she can eat candies she likes without offending anyone."  I had to smile at Lily's blatant honesty.

"I see. You girls are both very smart.  I think I'll forego the trick and just give you a treat."  Mr. Campbell pulled out his large bowl of candy and dumped a huge handful of treats into Lily's bag. "May the force be with you." he added with a smile.

"And with you, always." Lily said.  Her voice carried a solemn seriousness I had to admire.

I shook his hand and thanked him, then followed Lily around the neighborhood.


1920 hours, Seattle Metroplex local time

Lily and reached the front door as the AR overlay above the door was shut off.  The neighborhood cut-off time for trick or treating was 1930 and most of the kids in the area were already done and at their homes picking through their treasures.

The candy bowl inside the door was empty.  A trash can full of wrappers told me where most of that candy had vanished to.  "Good thing you girls don't get stomach aches." I said to Lily.

"Mom, I'm home." Lily announced.

"Welcome back you two." I heard Aria call back from the nursery. "Just changing the twins."

"Need any help?" I called back.

"No.  Do me a favor and check the candy though.  Never can be too careful."  I smiled and spread the candy over the table.  A wave of my hand and a subtle spell found no poison but revealed a horrific amount of sugar and artificial sweeteners. A quick check for any physical tampering revealed nothing threatening and I pronounced the loot suitable for consumption.  Lily picked up a licorice stick, tore open the plastic wrap and began to nibble away.

"It's all fine, honey." I said.  Aria came out with Rose, each of them holding a twin.  The little pea-pod costumes were very cute on them.

Lily and I played with the twins as Aria and Rose told us of all the little trick or treating kids they had seen.  Rose was impressed by a few young princess costumes but was particularly fond of a young orc barbarian costume the Campbells' grandson had shown up wearing. Lily shared the story of a small toddler who had fairy wings and a tail that attached to her bottom.  Jasmine and Violet each held on to one of my fingers while they giggled at the sound of their sisters laughing. I felt eyes on me and looked up to see Aria smiling at me.  She was simply radiant, with a bit of pink in her cheeks and sparkling eyes.

"I love you, Aria." I told her.

"I know." she smiled back. "Good thing I love you too."

After the twins went to bed I pulled up an old horror sim. Aria and I watched it while Rose and Lily watched over the nursery.  Sometime before the movie ended I fell asleep.  Horror movies had lost their bite lately.  The real world held far more frightening things than I had ever seen on the trid.  Aria woke me up after the movie ended and we went to bed.  I fell asleep with her head on my shoulder and the scent of honeysuckle and vanilla in my nose.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt the physical world and the astral world slide very near each other.  I heard things in my sleep, saw colors of such beauty I couldn't name them, and felt a joy in my home I could scarcely believe.  Jasmine and Violet were happy babies, Rose and Lily were powerful spirits who seemed to be very contented, and Aria was radiant.  Her life was full of love and laughter.  The only dark spot in that colorful vista, was me.

I dreamed and drifted along the astral currents, buffeted by laughter and love.  I felt it pierce me, caress me, and flow over me.  I also felt the cold within, the darkness I see in myself, the anger that came out when things happened I could not stand.  In my dream, I was suddenly in darkness looking up at a worm ridden figure who spat out spells that slammed at my defenses.  I saw madness take hold of me for a moment as I raged and hurled magic with madness fueled recklessness.  I saw myself follow Pepper into an abandoned old pawn shop, shooting people dead as we walked through them.  I saw Sue laying in a bathtub, in her neck broken.  Piles of ghouls, blood splattered walls, screeching vampires, and walking dead men plagued my sleep.

"Wake up." I heard the voice, found it and latched onto it. "Tommy, wake up."

I opened my eyes and looked at Aria.  In the dark of our bedroom we both saw fine.  Her natural elf eyes shining like stars while my spell-enhanced vision let me take her in.

"I was dreaming." I said sleepily.

"You were having a nightmare." Aria corrected me. "You want to talk about it?"

I thought about it a moment. "No, you've heard it all before.  I could use a kiss though."

Aria pressed her lips to mine.  She lingered there for a long moment, kissing me gently.  I felt passion rising in the moment and wrapped my arms around her. She responded with a fierce kiss and we let the night pass away from us.  The world spun on, the children slept, and for that evening the only magic in my life was her.

____________________________________________________________________________

That is not dead which can eternally lie ... (Part Two: Deep Magic)

 “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 2nd, 2060

2340 hours, operational area local time

None of us were sailors.  The research vessel RV Sally Ride was under her own power and Taz had engaged the engine to pull us away from the island that rising from the deep, directly beneath us.  Our rigger, Zero, was manning the mini-sub we had arrived in and was talking Taz through the process of moving the vessel.

Unfortunately, Zero forgot about the anchor.

The Sally Ride's anchor caught on one of the spires of stone I saw rising up from the deep.  The ship lurched hard to starboard as the anchor chain held.  Her engines pushed on, causing the ship to list perilously.  On the bridge Taz reacted by turning to the starboard, wrapping the anchor chain a third of the way around the rising spire and snaring the ship to the island.

"STOP! STOP!" Zero yelled over the comm, but it was too late.  Taz disengaged the ship's engine and she drifted slowly starboard, the deck righting as anchor chain lost tension.

"What the fraggin' hell?!?" I said.  "Taz, Zero report! What the hell just happened?"  It was a long minute before I received a reply.

"Damnit! Anchor was down.  I hand't thought to have Taz check for that.  Looks like your snagged on the island." Zero was frustrated and I was worried.

"Is there a way to release the anchor, to let the ocean have it?" I dashed over to the starboard side of the ship and saw the chain stretching down toward the rising island.  The anchor had caught on one of stone spires and was wrapped almost halfway around it.

"You'll need a torch and it'll take time.  I recommend putting the bow toward whatever you're snagged on and reversing the ship's engine at low power to pull away as the island rises.  You'll likely end up beached but that beats ending up high and dry in the middle of the island."   Zero's plan made sense but wasn't appealing.

"I've got this," Jazz replied.

Jazz secured a safety line to the railing and lowered himself down to the anchor chain.  I watched as he rolled out a grey paste onto one of the links.  Three minutes later he was back on the deck.  "Control, I'm blowing the chain.  Fire in the hole!" Jazz called out as he thumbed the detonator.  There was a loud "BANG" sound from over the rail.  I gazed through the smoke and saw the anchor chain falling away below us.

"Det cord. Never leave the office without it." Jazz said.  I saw the ghost of a smile cross his features.

"I'll remember that." I replied. I keyed my comm and gave the order. "Taz, Jazz saved our hoops. Get us the hell out of here."

"Initiating the 'get the hell out of here' maneuver!" Taz called back.  I heard the engines engage and felt the ship start forward.  "Jazz, get the men together mid-ship.  Eyes open and weapon's up.  We're not out of here yet."

Jazz was crisply professional.  The weapon specialists snapped to it and took up positions mid-ship.  The RV Sally Ride began to slowly pick up speed.  I could hear Creep vomiting over the rail not ten meters from me.  Below the ship, the fish and jellyfish had vanished.  Foul smelling bubbles were rising from the depths.  I could make out strange shapes moving about the surface of the land below. They were dark, indistinct, and moved erratically around the ring of spires. I could just make out a strange stone in the middle of the spires.  It was oblong and had to be four meters long or more.


October 3rd, 2060

0118 hours, operational area local time

The rock spires broke the surface, rising nearly twenty centimeters each minute.  The ocean water had warmed another three degrees locally, and green patches were appearing as algae bloomed in the energetic waters.  The RV Sally Ride drifted five hundred meters from the position where we had found her. Our mini-sub, dubbed "Peanut", held station twenty meters from the research vessel.

"Machine, what am I looking at?" Jazz asked suddenly.

I followed his pointing finger to the six rocky spires that were erupting skyward.  "Rock formations.  They're about fifty meters long and run to the center point of the island that is coming up." I had seen them from directly above. They were long and strangely narrow and were now the first part of the new island to see the night sky.

"No.  On the spires.  Do you see those shapes?  Looks like they've been carved." Jazz looked at me, a strange expression on his face. Jazz's cybereyes looked natural but I knew they had state of the art vision enhancements built in.  Jazz turned back toward the spires and added, "I've got a bad feeling."

With the algae blooming I had forced my astral sight closed against the living glare.  Now as I stared across the sea I felt as if Jazz's foreboding was contagious.  "Right.  I'm going to go take a look.  Get Creep off his ass and cover me."

I whispered into the astral and the air elemental responded.  A moment later I was flying over the ocean toward the rock spires that continued to rise up from the bubbling sea.  "Zero can you get a bumblebee out here too, please." Extra eyes couldn't hurt.

"Will do.  Two minutes." Zero replied.

Below me I saw the sea floor rising.  The spires erupted from a high point in the terrain and were now a full three meters above the water, with perhaps as much as another twenty meters remaining below the surface.  They were raising rapidly now as the island clawed its way toward the surface.  I was ten meters away when I saw what Jazz had noticed from half a kilometer out: the surface of the spires were carved and shaped like the tentacles of an octopus.  Suckers lined the interior facing of each spire.  It was a sea monster of stone, reaching for the night sky.

"Control," I heard myself whisper. "are you seeing this?"

"Machine, is that stone or some form of paracritter?" Samantha's voice lacked its usual detachment and carried with it a sense of awe and dread.

I flew over to the nearest spire and ran my hand over the cold, hard stone.  I shivered uncontrollably as my skin made contact.  It was slimy from algae and millennium under the ocean.   "Feels like stone to me." I reported.

I heard Taz whisper over the comm. "Crazy."

Below me the sea continue to bubble with foul smelling gases.  I was close enough that I could see the rising island below.  I watched as man-like shapes shrouded in flowing dark fabrics danced along the sea floor.  A cold chill sunk into my soul.

"Control we have people on the island.  I repeat: we have people on the island."  They moved through the water below, dancing through the currents and spinning about the ring of spires.  The island was still clawing its way skyward and the sea floor they danced over rolled and shifted as silt and sand were sliding away.

"Machine, please confirm: you say you have people on the island?" Samantha asked.

"They're dancing around the tentacles, under the sea.  Just below me, and ..." I trailed off as I turned to follow the movement of the strange dancing people under the sea.  I saw the dark oblong shape approaching the surface. The tentacle spires were rising far faster now and were more than ten meters high above the surface. The oblong shape was of the same stone the tentacles had been carved from and was shaped like the beak of giant octopus.  The drowned corpses of the crewmen of the RV Sally Ride had been stuffed into the maw. "Merciful heaven." I whispered.  I looked about the rising tentacles of stone and opened my astral sight.

I flew away as fast as the air elemental could take me.  "Zero, keep the drone on station!  Control we need a fire mission on this location, what can you give me?!"

Samantha Goode reacted with surprise, "What?  Machine this is a recon mission not a combat op. Explain."

"God's name, Samantha, the tentacles have an astral presence.  Its alive Samantha!  The missing crewmen were stuffed in its beak.  The dancers in the water, I think it’s a ritual of some kind. They're trying to summon it or wake it up!"  I alighted onto the deck of the Sally Ride.  "Jazz do we have anything on hand we can kill those fraggers with?"

Jazz looked around the fire team, then back to me. "Well, yeah Machine.  We've got about ten things we can use to kill them. Eleven if you count Creep."

"I may just start to like you, Jazz.  Don't get me killed." I keyed my comm. "Control, are we getting fire support?"

"Assets aren't in place Machine.  I'm working on it.  For now, assume you're on your own." Samantha was back to the same calm professionalism I had heard in her voice so often before.  "You're call, Machine.  Go or no go?"

I looked at Jazz then back to the bubbling sea where eight tentacle spires were rising toward the night sky.  The astral echoes of fear and the screams of dying men were all about me. There was magic in the air and in the bubbling depths beneath the sea.  The thing being brought into our world had no place here and it had already taken the lives of the RV Sally Ride.

"Control we are go.  Keep us apprised of the availability of fire mission. Simon stay on comms and monitor bio-monitors for the team. Zero standby to extract as need be and get as many bumblebees over that place as you can.  Creep and I will provide air cover and magical support, rest of the team dives and eliminates the people dancing around that thing."  I lifted off the deck of the ship. Behind me nine men and women pulled their scuba gear back on and headed aft.  "Creep, come on and get your game face on."

Creep was pale and looked very sick, but he waved that weird wand of his and floated off the deck.  I unsealed the watertight pouch I carried and pulled out my menpo-style ballistic mask.  I pulled the mask on and reached out telepathically to Rose and Lily.  Beside me Creep was suddenly accompanied by six demonic looking women.  Their batlike wings beat the air while smoke smoldered from their noses and flames licked at their cloven hooves.  As always, they were nude, their burnt red skin, and horns adding to their demonic appearance.

"Divers in the water." Jazz reported.

"I'm sending a water elemental to get you their undetected.  One tick." I whispered out the commands to one of the water elementals I had bound and watched as it sped toward the team.  "You'll be out of sight momentarily. Begin approach and stay together until you reach the target area."

"Copy that and thanks." Jazz replied.

"What do we do if it wakes up?" Creep asked.

"We kill it or die trying." I replied.  Creep didn't have a reply for that.  We flew out over the bubbling sea while the stars began to disappear as clouds rolled in.  I saw flashes of lightning on the horizon and heard the distant report of thunder.

Creep and I took up position over the tentacle spires.  The beak had broken the surface and the silt and muck from the bottom of the sea had been worn away by the waves.  The tentacles all sprouted from a single piece of stone, the center of which being the beak.  Waves continued to wear away the silt, revealing larger sections of a monster carved from living stone.  The figures dancing around the spires continued splashing along, arms flailing and long dark fabric trailing around them.  I saw the team slip from the water, grab a dancer and drag him back down beneath the waves.  The remaining dances stopped and turned toward the area their missing comrade had occupied.

Rose arrived in astral space beside me.  "Creep, I think your ladies need to introduce themselves." Tentacles formed from the turbulent sea rose and lashed out and Creep and I.  Creeps demons dove toward the figures only to be met by explosions of sea water.

"Lily is changing Violet.  She will be here once she is done." Rose's thought voice carried to my mind.

"Excellent. Thanks for coming baby-girl." I replied.

"The ones below are enemies?" Rose asked.

"Yes, indeed." I replied.

Creep's demons fell from the sky.  Tattered and torn by water, they were snuffed out of existence.  Creep raised his hand in a warding gesture as the tentacles of sea water reached for us.

"I will do violence." Rose took on her angelic appearance and left the astral plane, materializing beside me. She raised her arms toward the watery tentacles crashing toward us and spoke. "Aquam Perdo Si Ick Suon!"

Water exploded in a cloud of steam and stinking slime. Creep got splattered in stinking algae. In my mind I heard Lily, "I have disposed of the stinky diaper and am on my way."  I laughed. I couldn't help it. I held my left hand extended in a warding gesture and felt mana energies slam into my defenses. Beside me Creep cursed vehemently.

"Earth and stone, hear me." I said aloud as I called out to the astral for the earth elemental I held bound.  With my right hand I pointed to one of the strange figures below, "Kill."  At the feet of my target the silt erupted and engulfed him.  More watery tentacles rose from the ocean depths.

Spells beat at my defenses, forcing my focus to defense.  Rose blasted watery tentacles apart with each incantation, and Creep cursed as if having the worse day of his life.  His fire spells fizzled and popped against deluges of water and his demonic fire spirits had been washed away.  Rain started to fall from black clouds that blotted out the night.  Lightning flashed in the distance and the sea bubbled and churned as the nightmarish island rose, reaching toward the inky sky.

From out of the hellish surf nine figures slipped up and seized another of the strange dancers, dragging the bizarre form beneath the waves.  Before me a tentacle of water collapsed and rained down on the unholy land below.

Lightning flashed, and my vision went white.  I heard stone crack and stared through retinal sparks and a brilliant afterimage.  Lightning had struck one of the spires, cracking its surface.  Green flesh pulsed behind the cracks, and a pink fluid oozed from the wounded rock.  A barbed quill erupted from a stone sucker just centimeters below the lightning strike.

"It is waking up." Rose said ominously.

I weathered a barrage of spells that hammered at my defenses.  My nose bled from the strain of holding back violent magic.  Creep continued to hurl down fire to no effect.  Once again, nine figures slipped out of the sea and seized another enemy.  I felt the pressure on my defenses lessen and another watery tentacle vanished.

"Keep it up baby-girl, we can win this!" I tried to sound encouraging but the strain I was under made my words come out in a desperate expulsion of air.  Lightning danced on the sea all around us and thunder roared.  Below us the remaining figures shouted and flung spells and screams up at us.

Creep was grabbed by watery tentacle, torn from the sky, and disappeared beneath the bubbling sea.

Lily appeared next to me, her angelic form humming with power.  My girls tore the sky asunder, hurling down lighting at the figures below.  In those flashes of brilliance and death I saw another figure dragged under the waves by Jazz and the team.  A glob of putrid green gel flew up and struck Lily's left wing.  She screamed in pain and fell from the sky, bouncing off stone to lay face down in the silt. Rose and I dropped toward her.

I landed in knee-deep salt water. The smell of sulfur and brine was sickening.  Behind me Rose saw to her sister while before me the son-of-a-slitch that hurt her gave off a gurgling laugh.  I threw a bolt of mana energy at him, which he deflected skyward. I heard curses and bits of ritual verse erupt from outside the ring of stone tentacles.  The magician before me spat out a word that hurt my ears to hear.  Another green glob of gel was flung through the air, this time streaking toward me.  It hit my spell defenses and blew through them, splattering across my wet suit.  It ate through almost instantly burning through and pitting my dive armor beneath it.  I felt burns on my body and screamed in pain, then fell into the stinking muck. I felt the island trembling beneath me.

Rose abandoned Lily to stand at my side.  Another green glob streaked toward me, impacting her spell defenses and sloughing off into the brine.  The gurgling laugh continued as Rose fought back another spell, her defenses straining with each impact.  I looked up into alien eyes, rows of shark-like teeth and a neck covered in gill-flaps.  Rose was hammered to the ground beside me.

"Girls, go home."  I looked up at the monster before me and felt certain I was about to die.  Rose and Lily vanished with anguished cries. I heard a gurgling sound in that strange creature's throat and looked up, determined to die with some quiet dignity.

I saw Creep's hand over the creature's mouth.  A twenty centimeter knife in his other hand was sawing through its neck.  "Hey, Machine.  Get in the fight omae." The slimy bastard was smiling with barely restrained laughter.  "That's it big guy, just let it happen."

I heard burps of gunfire and gurgling screams all around me.  I left Creep to his handiwork and joined the others.


October 3rd, 2060

0300 hours, operational area local time

None of the strange dancing magicians survived the assault. They were human-like but with terrifyingly monstrous features.  The gills, strange eyes, webbed fingers and other inhuman traits marked them as something strait out of a sailor's nightmare.

The island continued to rise, trembling and shifting as the seafloor lifted.  The muck around the stone tentacles and beak washing away in the storm to reveal a monstrous beast carved from a great piece of living stone.  Fleshy bits were exposed and pink bloody fluids seeped from cracks and breaks in the rock. We planted charges around tentacles, retrieved the bodies of the RV Sally Ride crewmen from the beak and discovered a dark well beneath their corpses that vanished into inky darkness.  Jazz primed and lowered charges down the hole.

I called Rose and Lily back to me.  They helped heal the injured, as well as healed the acid burns that had dotted my torso.

We escaped the island and detonated the charged from five hundred meters out.  The sea continued to churn in the storm, lighting flashed and the stone tentacles shattered. Pink foam bubbled up on the new beach as the island continued to thrust itself skyward.

The island is more than two kilometers in diameter and roughly oval in shape.  The highest point stretches some two hundred meters above the sea and is ringed by eight stumps of stone.   A hole, not unlike a lava tube, stretches down into darkness from the center of that ring.  We sent in a pair of bumblebee drones but lost signal almost instantly. We never recovered those drones.

The storm broke at dawn.  The CFS Coast Guard radioed out for an update on the status of the RV Sally Ride. We left that complication to Control.  Simon picked up a radio signal coming from the island which we triangulated the source of and discovered a sealed tube weighted with iron.  Inside the tube was a transmitter and battery pack, along with a hand written message sealed in a mylar bag.  I opened the bag and read it, then read it a second time in disbelief.

I sealed the bag and added it to a case containing a few items we had discovered which held magical auras.  With the CFS Coast Guard still an hour distant, we secured the monstrous bodies of the magicians in body bags, lay them in a pair of inflatable life rafts, and secured them to the mini-sub.  Of the crew of the RV Sally Ride, we placed their corpses in body bags, and lay them on the deck under an additional tarp to keep the heat from further damaging their bodies.

The Peanut came to life, her power cells carrying us the five miles north to rendezvous with her parent ship.  We loaded the corpses, the relics, and sailed north to Seattle.


October 11th, 2060

1300 hours, Seattle Metroplex local time

Aria took Lily and Rose out to shop for Halloween costumes, leaving me with the twins.  Jasmine and Violet giggled as they levitated around the room.  Fussed until I they got their bottles. Burped like drunken sailors and despoiled their diapers before drifting off for an afternoon nap.  Aria sent pics of the costumes Lily and Rose picked out, as well as a picture of a pair of costumes for the twins.  I smiled at the little pea pod outfits the babies would soon be wearing.

I sat in the nursery, my sight open to the astral and listened to my daughters sleep.  The house was quiet, still, and full of warm feelings.  Below me the mana eruption poured out its trickle of power into my basement, awaiting my hand to shape it to my will.  I caught myself nodding off and stood up, steeling myself against the urge to take a lazy nap with the girls.

Aria got home at 1700 hours.  Lily and Rose helped unload the car before it shuffled off to its next pick up.  I had ordered Tai food and it was waiting on the dinner table when they arrived. The twins were playing, sitting in their walkers, shaking small rattles and giggling at each other.  I scooped them up and put them in their high chairs, fitted their little bibs on them, then ate and watched the twins succeed in spreading pureed bananas in their own hair.

We ate, laughed, and had an amazing evening at home. The sound of my daughters laughter chasing away the horror of the previous days. Love is the deepest, and strongest magic.

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Thank you for reading my fan fiction.

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