Journal Entry #1 03/21/2056
My legal name is Kryz Taulmon, I'm an elf. I left Tir Tairngire and moved to Seattle when I was about 18. I was working in an office as a secretary. I wasn't all that good at it, I think my boss hired me 'cause he thought I had a nice, uh face. Well, he had this fancy banquet to go to and he had recently divorced his wife so he asked me to go with him. I did. What I didn't know was that his ex-wife still had a 150 K life insurance policy on him, and she wanted to collect. So as we're at the banquet, all standing around gossiping idly 'bout things I never wanted to know about that happen behind closed office doors, I see this guy pull out a gun. I don't know exactly how I reacted, all I know is that I'm the one that got the bullet in my side, but I still pushed my boss into a room off to the side. The assassin got away, but my boss came out without a scratch. After a short hospital stay one of the other hot shots that had been there and seen what I had done offered me triple my salary if I'd be his bodyguard of sorts. I was just a step up from being a squatter at the time so I readily agreed. He gave me my dermal implants and aluminum bone lacing. Now I could afford a decent apartment in Everett's Mill Creek neighborhood. My new boss gave me a regular salary and asked that I didn't do any secretarial work, but I got to work out a lot in the office gym. I took a self defense course too. A few months after I started working for my new boss, my old one was killed at another event, even though he had hired this big burly guy to guard him. I worked for this boss for about a year before I was actually needed. It was at a childrens benefit dance. We were dancing on the dance floor when I saw a glint on the balcony, it was a guy with a gun aiming at us. I pulled my boss, away from the dance floor as not to arouse suspicion and escorted him to the armored limo, the gunman followed us out to the car. I shoved him in the limo and slammed the door shut just as I felt the impact from the sniper rifle's bullet on my armored back and the limo took off. It shocked the guy to see I was still standing. He ran back inside, and I followed. I pulled my Browning Ultra Power pistol from my purse and alerted security, but again the gunman got away.
This time we were able to put a name on the gunman, the video surveillance caught him for a split second. His name is Dan Jaies, a hired assassin. He was the same one suspected in attempting to and killing my former boss. I worked for my new boss for another year untill after yet another attempt on his life was thwarted by me, and I had killed this new assassin with my Ultra as he tried to shoot me again.
>>>>>[The Ultra really IS a top gun for starters. I began with one, too. And now, two years later, I use two Thunderbolts, but I <sniff> still miss my old Browning.]<<<<<
-Bandersnatch (06:18:31/7-29-52)
As I was in the hospital recovering this guy came in. Said his name was Mr. Johnson. He wanted to hire me for my services. I agreed. He fired his current body guard, Donna Ipolo, he gave me another pay raise and I was living in an apartment flat on Council Island. Over the next few years he gave me my head radio, my flare compensation in my eyes, my wired reflexes, my symbiotes and my smartlink. He didn't ask me to do much. He even let me free lance with no penalties. Just told me I had better not get damaged too badly or I'd wish I were dead.
I was lookin for a new gun. I liked the Ultra, but I wanted something, better. I was dating a taxi driver at the time and he mentioned this guy named Slim who was a fixer and said he'd give him my number. Two nights later I got a phone call from Slim telling me to meet a friend of his at Club Penumbra. I did and mentioned that not only did I want a new gun, I was looking for some side work. Shortly thereafter I received my Manhunter. It was a more sturdy feeling gun, the cool steel felt different, safer. It had a smartlink and I had it put into my Ultra as well.
>>>>>[Don't care whatcha say - nuffin beats a lead pipe to the noggin! Huh huh!]<<<<<
-Mayhem (13:27:55/12-03-52)
Another call came from Slim. He refused to use the vid phone, though he wanted to see me while we talked. He had a job for me...
Slim had bodyguard jobs for me for a long time, and no one could meet Mr. Johnson's offer, so I stayed working for him for the next few years. Until I was working for Kalvin Harlin, a CEO of some mini-corp. Slim mentioned to me that he had heard about some woman out looking to discredit me and that I maybe should cool it for a while, but no, I had to go and do the job.
It was February, a Valentines banquet and dance for important people. Kalvin wasn't half as important as most of the other people there. I saw a gunman on the balcony and I moved to get Kalvin out of the way. I brought him to the limo and a black hared woman was the valet. As I turned to see the gunman raise his rifle at me I heard shots go off behind me, in the limo. The gunman let rip almost a whole clip into me before running. I got off a few shots with my Manhunter. I woke up in the hospital with tubes everywhere. The symbiotes were doing their job, but it still wasn't enough. They said I died twice on my way to the hospital. Unfortunately for Kalvin Harlin, he was shot in the face and I'd been out so long, they'd already buried him.
I found out later that the black hared woman was Donna Ipolo, but it was my word against hers. And she had an alibi. Mr. Johnson said that I was too hot an item to have so I was fired, but instead of hiring back Donna like I figure she had planned, he hired someone else. No one wanted to hire me for anything. My face had been splashed all across the news along with Kalvin Harlin's non-existent one. It was pretty gruesome. The way they covered the story you'd think I pulled the trigger on the guy.
Journal Entry #2 03/30/2057
Slim, my fixer, he hooked me up with this group of guys. Bloodfang, a wolf shaman, Spider, an ex-gang member. They had a hard time with my name so they just kinda knocked the mon off my last name, and slurred Kryz Taul together. That's when I became Crystal.
Sometimes there's others, not always. After getting a friend of thiers out of trouble, she had some nasty chemicals that nearly killed her, 'said it was bug killer, and there was a whole slew of street sams trying to get it back. Somehow a westwind and Spider's newest harley "acquisition" got caught in a blast that rocked the block. We got a safehouse. Yeah, real safe, this blob thing, I don't know what the frig it was, came and tried to kill us all. Thankfully for Bloodfang, he made the thing explode, which makes me wonder 'bout the westwind and harley from earlier. Also makes me glad I didn't bring mine.
We got the bug spray back to the Johnson who paid Silver to get it, but then after we did a little research, we traced it back to this dwarf, a presidential candidate. He was holding a rally so we decided to go. Spider got there before Bloodfang and I did. When we got there Spider was swinging from the rafters, fighting with the Johnson who we just gave that nasty bug stuff to. He tried to plant a bug spray bomb that would infect the whole assembly, we got there in time to get the bomb squad out, but we didn't stick around to help them defuse it or anything. I figure they're getting paid to get geeked, not me.
The really annoying part was that I couldn't go back to my apartment 'till things cooled down. In the mean time I found myself an apartment in a "Lower Profile" part of town, Tuscon. I had my hair dyed from blonde to brown, and straightened. I wasn't going to make it too easy for people to find me.
Journal Entry #3 04/18/2057
We met up with this dwarf, I can't remember his name, but he's sure into the Hobbit. Can't stop reading that book. I believe when we met up with him he was reading it for the eighth time.
Our group joined up with the dwarf and did a simple run, just to make sure a drop went alright. Of course it didn't...but we weren't being paid to catch the guys, just get our man out.
Journal Entry #4 05/25/2057
The dwarf decided to stay home. We met this Johnson and a new guy, a decker/electronics guy named Shadow, at the Bellevue Crab House.. The Johnson's paying us in stocks and bonds. We're supposed to get this piece of software back from a company that couldn't pay it's bill. He gave us a card key and I, uh, convinced a previous client of mine to get us the blueprints. They staked out the place before hand and we went in with one of Bloodfang's invisible spells (Goons, I mean Guards, are so incredibly stupid). We got to the 6th floor of the building when we began to have problems. We couldn't exactly find a data jack for Shadow to jack into. Not to mention for some reason Bloodfang's invisibility spell dropped. We all panicked. A minute later the invisibility spell came back and Shadow found a jack. Bloodfang wasn't looking too good when we got out of there. He kept mumbling something about Ares. Luck was on our side, we got out in one piece. I'm not quite sure how, but we did.
Journal Entry #5 06/10/2057
Less than a week after our last run, Bloodfang had gone missing. He didn't tell anyone where he was going, the only clue was his ramblings about Ares. I always did think that magic users had to be a bit nuts to begin with. So I wasn't too surprised or concerned. I needed to know something so I called my fixer. He set me up with this decker who wanted to meet in this chat room. Only problem was that I didn't have a full fledged computer. Of course now I knew someone who did. So I hopped in my Westwind and went over to Shadow's place. I knocked on the door and he yelled through it asking who it was. I told him it was me and he came up on my head radio and said that he'd be there in a sec. I stood there at the door when I heard the phone ring. It wasn't like he didn't have an answering machine. He picked up the phone and sat there and talked to his fixer. I tried pounding on the door with little to no result. Then up on my head radio he asked if I was busy. Standing at his front door waiting to come in, no I wasn't busy. His fixer had a job for us both. So he told me to go and gather my gear, we were going to the airport in 20 minutes. I told him to pack his deck, I needed to borrow it and him. He agreed. I met him back at his place and we caught a cab to the airport. We had to leave our big guns at home, but I wasn't going anywhere without my manhunter. I took the Ultra-Power too just because I like a backup. During the airplane ride we met my contact in chat room and set up a deal. Shadow said he didn't have that much reputability, but I didn't have much choice. Not many people are willing to hack into the Tir's systems.
So Shadow, the decker with the personality skills of a rock and I were to meet a Johnson for a job in New York City. I knew why Shadow picked me to go with him, I happened to be nearby and armored. If for nothing else, I'd be able to stop a few bullets for him. After the door stunt, I was thinking about being the one to to shoot him. Deckers can be so annoying. But I needed to be able to pay the rent. We flew on a chartered plane. I heard that we were supposed to be meeting the Johnson at this ritzy restaurant on the top of the Empire State Building so I went to the ladies room and changed into my blue slip dress and white faux fur armored coat. When we landed a limo came and picked us up. I was definitely impressed.
We entered the glass doors of the Empire State Building at the same time as this wacko in a suit and top hat with a cane and sissy looking boutonniere. He just winked at me, made this little clicking sound with his toung and did the gun finger thing. I just rolled my eyes and kept walking. Shadow and I left our guns in lockers when we saw the detectors that we were going to have to go through. We saw this, this, it. I think it was a guy, but I was never sure. It held up a sign with the name "Delany". It was what we were looking for. The nut in the top hat walked up to the blonde eunuch guy.
"Yes, I'm the one you're looking for." The weirdo said in a really flashy gallant type voice.
"Well, um, there were supposed to be two more coming." The it tried to explain.
Shadow took this as our cue to approach. Shadow was dressed in a pair of old black jeans, a black t-shirt with a picture of a man, nearly enveloped in a shadow with a line from the ancient movies and radio show saying 'The Shadow Knows.' and over the shirt he wore a long sleeved black cotton shirt left un tucked and a long black trench coat. He looked so out of place next to me. But what can you expect from a decker?
As we approached the wacko explained that he came alone and how there must be some mistake.
"I believe that you're looking for us." Shadow told the person holding the sign.
The guy in the top hat interrupted, stepping in between the decker and the eunuch. "No, you see the sign says Dee-lane-e" He said the name as if reading it to a small child.
"I can read your moron." Shadow snapped.
"Good, you're all here, if you'll step this way..." The blonde nervously began to lead us through the metal detection unit.
I looked around and noticed that I was the only metahuman in sight. Not good. The weirdo went first. It didn't beep except for his cane which they confiscated right away. Next Shadow went through and it beeped. The took a look at his ID which identified him as having some major headware, all decking stuff. When I went through the detector it beeped. Could it have been my aluminum bone lacing? Or my wired reflexes? Or my dermal plating? They took a look at my ID then one of the human guards brought me a pair of gold bracelets.
"Miss," He looked at the ID and read my name. "Miss. Taulmon, we're going to have to ask you to turn off your cyberware and ware these. If you try to use your wired reflexes while wearing these, the experience will not be pleasant and you will have to be removed from the premises."
"I don't suppose I'll be able to get anywhere without wearing them will I?" I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of being unarmed and shackled.
"No Ma'am you won't." He held them out for me.
"Friggin paranoid human trash..." I mumbled under my breath then put my wrists out for him. "Give them somethin' to be paranoid about...friggin human scum...didn't make the others wear them..." I grumbled all the way to the elevator and most of the way to the top floor.
I turned my headware radio on and nothing happened. I figured it must be too weak to trigger the bracelets or something. I immediately got a message from Shadow.
"I don't like this Crystal, not one bit."
"I don't like it either." I responded with the radio.
The eunuch lead us to a restaurant, through the dining room to a conference room in the back. There sat a woman in a business suit who greeted each of us with a handshake.
"Good afternoon, my name is Ms. Delaney. Please sit down. I'm Dunkelzahn's campaign manager. I need you three to make sure the political rally goes smoothly. I'm willing to pay you each 5,000¥..." She went on.
"That means we'll be working with the freak." Shadow told me over the headware radio.
"The job doesn't sound too bad to me, but do you think we can trust the wacko? It's your call chummer."
"I say we give it a shot." Shadow was willing to take the risk, and so was I.
"Then we'll do it."
"Well?" The nut asked Shadow and I who were just staring at each other.
"We're in." Shadow announced and I nodded in agreement.
"I'm fingers," The weirdo introduced himself. "I'm a mage."
"That explains a lot." I sent a message to Shadow.
The decker and I introduced ourselves. The food came in and we were served real prime rib. It was heavenly. I hadn't eaten so well since- well, since that night when Harlin got geeked. When we were finished the bus boys came in with a tray, then before we could do anything he pulled a rifle out and four goons in suits burst through the door, guns blazing.
"The next person that moves dies!" One of them shouted.
We needed some help. There was a chance they didn't come through the guards at the front desk. I figured that we needed to get somebody up here and I could alert those guards downstairs by activating those bracelets they so kindly had me ware (friggin humans). It was worth a shot. I clicked on my wired reflexes then found myself in a daze on the floor. I did not feel good. Shadow picked me up and slung me over his holder and we were then taken to this herd of people in the dining room. There were dozens of goons with guns all over the place. I felt naked without my manhunter. I was still feeling a bit out of it when this chick started babbling something about a dream and the "Great Dragon". Shadow kept sending me radio messages on how nuts this lady and Fingers was.
Fingers tried talking to one of the guards, but it was no use. Delaney offered us each 20,000¥ to settle this quietly. We all agreed, though at that point I'd agree to anything if Shadow was willing to do it. Fingers tried going astral and seeing what he could. He just found a dwarf who didn't take kindly to him being there, so he told us. I tried pushing the button on my Doc Wagon bracelet, hoping for at least a distraction. I tossed the bracelet under a table in case Doc Wagon couldn't get through the guards and the terrorists needed someone to blame, it wouldn't be me. Then a couple goons came and picked up Fingers and Shadow and took them away. I dept getting jumbled, staticy messages from Shadow. I think it was just more random mumblings about how mad the mage had gone. Even if I couldn't get a message, at least I knew he was still alive when I kept receiving static. A half an hour after pressing the button for Doc Wagon, I tried talking to one of the guards, but they were so heavily brainwashed, it was no use. I went and sat back down. I still wasn't feeling too good, but at least I shook off the daze from the jolt the bracelets gave me. I sat there in the crowd when I noticed a human and an orc eyeing me.
"Shadow, where are you?!" I shouted over the head radio.
The two goons walked over to me and the human simply stated that he wanted me to come with them. Reflect on this, two guys with rifles, backup that can shoot me in less time then it takes to fall, of course I went with them.
We went into the back, the human stayed outside the kitchen door and the orc shoved me through the kitchen, past a guard that at first glance appeared to be sleeping, but didn't snore, or breathe for that matter. I almost didn't notice it when the orc set down his rifle on the counter. He shoved me through another door, past an open emergency exit that he didn't seem to notice, and into the back wall of an open freight elevator. I turned to face him and he began to slide one hand up my skirt and the other hand began to slip my coat off. I shoved him away.
"What the frag do you think you're doing?"
He grabbed me, tearing my dress a little. "A girl with spunk, I like it."
I tried to push him away again, then he mentioned something about manners and tried to hit me. I blocked his blow then he hit me square in the face. I dropped down with the punch and ducked under his arm and ran for the exit. He followed after me and I slammed the door in his face then darted down the stairs. The next floor's exit was open 1/2 way and I darted in. It took me a second for my eyes to adjust. I was in some offices. There were a lot of cubicles and light emanated from one. I heard cussing from the direction of the stairwell. I chose a cubicle at random and hid under the desk. I heard heavy footsteps coming closer.
"Where'd you go you little tramp? I'll teach you to run away from me." It was the orc rapist.
"I'm over here big boy, come and get me." A voice that was too faked to be a woman's came from the other side of the office.
"That's more like it." The orc was fooled and went towards the voice.
I heard the orc let out a surprised comment then a shot and the thump of a body hitting the ground and some whispering asking if the orc had any weapons on him.
"Shadow? Fingers?" I called out as softly as I could.
"Crystal?" Shadow replied.
"Yeah, where are you?" I queried then Shadow stood up so that I cold see him above the cubicles and they flipped the light on at the desk. I walked up and saw the orc laying there, his pants half unzipped and an expression of surprise on his face. I stood there with my wrinkled coat, torn dress, messed hair and a swollen eye that began to change colors. Shadow asked if I was alright and I simply nodded. Fingers asked where the orc left his weapon and I told him how he set it on the kitchen counter. So fingers went to get the gun while Shadow and I headed down the stirs to the first floor.
"What floor are we on now?" I asked the decker about two flights down.
"97" He answered simply.
Shortly thereafter Fingers caught up to us and had two of the guns. I didn't ask. The walk down was exhausting and my eye throbbed. When we were just one step away from the ground floor, I put my foot out to step down, but as my foot descended, blackness came up to meet me.
I woke up on the couch of an office lobby on the 3rd floor. I had this stimulant patch on my shoulder and thanks to the drugs, I felt a lot better. My gear that I had stored in a locker on the first floor was in a small pile next to me. Groggily I asked what happened. Shadow told me that they geeked some goons on the ground floor and got our gear back. They also found the keys to my cuffs 'cause the bracelets were sitting on a tea table close by. They told me that they were going to try to go back up to the top floor to get the deckers distracted and out of the matrix so we could get control of the building. I agreed to go with them even though they had told me the front doors were open. There was no way I was going to be alone in New York with terrorists out running around. Doc Wagon still hadn't come. I made up my mind to sue them if we ever got out of this alive. I was going to stick with Shadow. I put my ultra in my pocket and the manhunter in it's concealable holster I wore. I was amazed when Fingers picked up this vintage W.W.II machine gun with stand and a bucket of belt ammo. Evidentially they had picked it up from the goons they geeked on the ground floor. We made it about 15 stories up when I started to not feel good again. I had the feeling that the drugs were beginning to ware off, but I thought I could hold out. About 5 stories later I turned to tell Shadow who was following me, then the next thing I know I feel like hell and I'm laying on the couch in another lobby.
So I woke up on this couch and there's a pile of our gear laying next to me. Fingers is no where to be found and Shadow's jacked into his deck. I begin lookin around the room when I started to hear footsteps. I tried to shake the decker awake, but that didn't work. I took the cord that ended in a plug that jacked into his head and wrapped it around my hand twice.
"Here's for not answering your apartment door yesterday." I whispered as I yanked the chord out of his head.
I slapped my hand over his mouth as he let out a little surprised yelp.
"Listen, I hear footsteps!" I told him over the radio.
He listened for a moment and heard it too. He put on a headset he'd picked up off one of the goons. He held up two fingers indicating the number of people approaching, then shook his head and held up three fingers. Then he shook his head again and held up four fingers. Shadow dug through his coat pockets and pulled out this camera and set it in the doorway.
"Hey! Who's there?" A troll voice called out at Shadow as I had just set up the machine gun that Fingers had left with us before heading back up to the top. The decker dodged back into the room and behind me. The troll stepped through the door and I let the machine gun rip. I'd never fired one before and I wasn't expecting the immense amount of recoil that one of them friggin things has. I missed the troll, but I made the wall into swiss cheese with holes the size of my fist. Shadow was watching three of the guys crouched in an opposite corner and the troll stuck his arm out around the door and started shooting blindly into the room. He hit the monitor on the desk above where Shadow had dove for cover and shattered the Compaq's screen. I ducked behind the machine gun and the bullets flew just over my head. I shot, but it was useless, even Shadow with the camera couldn't tell exactly where he was, then I saw a quick movement in the doorway and Shadow shouted out.
"You friggin Trog! Those things are expensive!" He was pissed.
An orc burst through the door and showered the room with a spray of gunfire. What was left of the monitor fell to pieces above the decker's head. I somersaulted out of the line of fire that knocked over the machine gun. I picked up a rifle and stood up, shooting the orc in the shoulder. The decker stood up and shot the orc in the chest. Another orc came running through the door and lunged at the decker with the butt of the rifle, who tried ducking back under the desk. While Shadow was being bludgeoned I finished off the orc who tried to shoot at us. A human came running through the door just as I fired and he tried the same gun butt bashing of me as the orc did to Shadow. He brought his arm up and I kicked him in the groin so hard he fell to the floor crying like a child, even though the heavy drug dosages. Shadow later told me he saw them inject themselves with Kamikaze in the hall. Shadow and the orc kept playing and the troll filled the doorway. He too two strides and crossed the room to me. He took a swing and I dodged it and punched him in the midsection as hard as I could. The troll just looked at me kinda puzzled like, then he started laughing and motioned with his hands for me as if to say "come on and give it your best shot". I just shrugged, whipped out my manhunter and planted a bullet in his skull right between the eyes. He just kinda wavered for a moment then fell over backwards. I saw Shadow trying to aim at the orc with a rifle from under the table and the orc knocked the barrel to the side. I looked down at the sobbing human.
"You're not going to shoot me in the back when I'm not looking." I blew his brains out. "Now that's something for those lousy human guards to be paranoid about."
Shadow made quick work of the remaining orc and we picked up our gear and looted the goons. Shadow found some drawings depicting the terrorists getting away in the blimp that had been circling the building and that of the building in flames.
Shadow got on the stolen headset. "Fingers where are you? We just got ambushed and had to geek 4 of the terrorists."
"Uh, why'd you go and do that?" Shadow let me listen to Finger's response.
"What the frag are you talkin' about? Any way, the building's gunna explode."
"What?" Fingers shouted.
"We're gettin the frag outta here."
Shadow and I weren't being paid to get ourselves blown up. Next thing we know, the blimp crashed to the ground in a fiery blaze and the freak, I uh mean our partner Fingers, is standing in front of the press telling them how he did it all alone. I didn't mind. Shadow wanted to stay out of the public eye and I didn't like how media tends to shape the news to what would sell, I'd already had enough of that.
The rally went fine, no problems. I was glad to get home to Seattle, even if we did take the wacko with us.
END