Jericho Zero (sexy psiberpunk anime)

[Silvergirl]

Christina Rook (in Tokyo)

She walked through the milling, pushing, and shoving crowds on the Tokyo street without touching anyone, easily avoiding contact with a deftness and surety of movement that came not only from long practice, but a latent psyker ability of knowing how to move. She had the strange sense of being followed, but her glances behind saw nobody shadowing her.

The feeling remained, so in an effort to get away and thinking that maybe the cops were tracking her, Christy walked into a large building with a marbled floors and walls in the foyer. Whoever was following her, if anyone was following, would have to reveal themselves if they came into the building and out of the crowds.

At the security checkpoint inside, she walked upto the guards and said in a pleading tone, “Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom”.

“Sorry, excuse us, but we can’t let people off the street use the bathrooms here”, one of the guards said, “There are public toilets in the mall only a hundred metres away. Why don’t you try there.”

He didn’t appear to care, perhaps dismissing her because of her trendy short dress.

Christy was getting more worried though, so tried telling at least half a truth instead, “Alright, I don’t really want to go to the toilet anyway, but there’s some strange guy following me.”

The guards expressions changed at this, the older one nodding, as he said, “Okay, I doubt you’d cause any hassles for us anyway. Take the elevator upto the 3rd floor, there’s a pedestrian bridge across from there that you can use. It’ll take you across the road, on the other side of the block.”

“Oh, okay”, Christy answered, “Thanks a bunch, I’ll do that.”

Christy headed towards the elevators quickly. The feeling of danger growing, she was sure that whoever was following her was close by. It took an effort of will not to run. Luckily, there was an elevator already waiting, so she caught that. As the doors closed, she could hear some yelling in the foyer.

 

[Tantrikenetic]

"Wait..." Rei's voice was shaky. "Maybe...we can make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" The big man asked. Rei's throat felt dry, but he continued to talk.

"I'm with the rebels...I can get you whatever you want. We have money, guns, women; whatever you want I can get it for you."

Anothis was silent for a moment.

"ANYthing." Rei put on an emphasis.

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

James skated slowly along the streets, eyes darting from side to side. It looked like he wasn't going to get any rest anytime soon. Damn that reckless Rei...where was he?

"Do you see anything?" He heard Alice say.

"Nothing." James sighed. "Rei is nowhere in sight."

"I don't see him either." Zeke said. "Chukyo is a big city...he could be anywhere."

"I'm sure Rei will turn up eventually. He always does." James commented. "We're nearing HQ. Why don't we just stop and wait for him to show up?"

"I'm worried about him." Alice insisted. "He's my partner, but I have things that need to be done. I can't go looking for him." She seemed to get an idea. "Oh, James? Will you do me a favor?"

"Aw...crap..."

"You are fast on those skates of yours and I know you are good at finding people, James." She grabbed his arm and halted his skating. She pressed her body up against his, and he could feel her curves pressing against him. The skin-tight suit was so thin, it felt as if he wasn't there. Alice rubbed her body along his. James took in a deep breath. She took his hand and placed it on her left breast. James could feel her nipple through the thin fabric. Alice moved her mouth to his ear.

"Find Rei for me," she whispered, "...and I will come and visit your room tonight..." She smiled and gave his ear a quick lick. "I can scream very loudly." She said with a quick smile and turned to walk off to a condemned building that disguised their base.

James let the deep breath out. Damn that Alice and her constant teasing...she knew how to get him to do something. He looked at Zeke, who was smiling to himself.

"I guess you're going out to find Rei?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." James sighed, then laughed to himself. "You coming along?"

 

[Maniac9538]

Zeke sighed. James always had this thing for Alice and she used it to her advantage. "I'll go this way you go that way" Zeke then headed in the opposite way. His black leather trench coat flowed around his frame.

He slipped down an alleyway, when he heard the click of a hammer being cocked back on a pistol, Zeke dove behind a nearby dumpster, the bullets pinging off the metal container. Zeke drew in one motion both his modified .50 cal Desert Eagle's and fires at the shooter. Zeke saw the two gorillas from before dive for cover. Zeke then studied the layout of the alleyway, his implants giving him the best option.
Zeke then took off firing at the spots the guards dove behind, then leaped up and over the covering positions the guards were crouched behind, Zeke flipped in mid-air the guns in his hands roaring. The bullets ripping through body armor, flesh organs and bone, the two men dropped dead, their blood spilling out on the streets.

Zeke removed anything he could from the two men, then dumped their bodies into the dumpster. When he heard footsteps behind him and then a voice 'Well Well if it isn't my favorite former Marine, Ezekial' Zeke sighed knowing only one person who called him Ezekial was his former best friend and now a head honcho of something called the freak-finders. Zeke raised one of his Desert Eagles to aim between the man's eyes. 'What do you want from me Gonzales?' "Well we've heard that you augmented your already somewhat psi-enhanced mind and we've come to kill you, besides I always hated you ever since that assault on my Texas base of operations."
'What did you expect Gonzales you were killing innocent psi's including my wife!'
"She deserved to die, she was a slut"
Zeke rushed the smaller man, the gun being holstered, and a massive uppercut sending the smaller man flying out of the alley way and into a Spinner marked City Council Maintenence.....

 

[Adapt]

sad and broken

-- (this good to?) --

 

[Lovelynice]

The elevator stopped, the doors sliding open on the eighth floor; but nobody was there…except a small round canister that rolled out of the elevator-car into the hallway to stop at the feet of two men. Both wore dark grey suits, and were heavily built, solid tough-looking men, with the bulge of large calibre pistols under their suit jackets. They looked down at the canister, and both quickly dived for cover.

The canister did nothing…..yet.

The elevator doors slowly closed.

Both men picked themselves up from the green carpeted floor, and looked at each other.

“Whaddaya think?”, one asked the other guard, indicating the now unmoving canister with a nod of his head, and a sidelong look of his eyes.

The elevator doors closed completely. The second guard shrugged.

“Well, I ain’t going’ near it…”, he replied, “It could be a grenade!”



Meanwhile, in a cargo-spinner marked “City Council Maintenance”;
Michelle was chatting to Sam, and saying, “…new one to me, but then again I’ve only had one mission with a psi-talent before.”
BOOM! There was a very loud thump against the side of the spinner, making Michelle jump in surprise.

“What in hell was that?”, both she and Sam said at the same time.

Steve, up front in the driver’s seat, quickly glanced out the window then looked back and said, “There’s a big guy who looks as if he’d just been thrown bodily against the spinner, and this angry ganger type staring at him….think they’ve been having a fight.”

“Oh well, leave’em to it, then”, Sam said, “The spinner’s got some light armour inside the walls, they can’t damage it much….the dents might even make us look more realistic.”

“I’ll keep an eye on them anyway”, Steve said.

 

[Steiner]

Frank Rook - Division Zero

Frank reached the lobby shortly after leaving the jump off point - to his surprise Ayumi wasn't visible... In fact it was difficult to tell WHAT was going on at the moment...

Frank straightarmed the security door, feeling the polycarbonate "glass" give way after a moments resistance. He stepped through the mess, the lock on the door still registering its refusal to allow him access even as he was stepping through the remains of the frame.

He could hear the alarm triggered in the security office though, and cursed that their hacker hadn't been able to supress it. Now he was going to have to fight his way up to the right floor, and the secondary RV point, seeing as his boss wasn't there. A sharp pop of automatic pistols informed him that the rentacop security were already in place, and Frank responded with short bursts of fire from his assault rifle - not even bothering to use his smartgun links or his CPU predictive tracking. The patterns of fire would look trained, but they would also look entirely unaugmented and, to be honest, it was more fun this way.

Reaching the elevator bank he slipped inside the first available one and thumbed the button for the correct floor. Level eight - he should be there in a few seconds.

 

[Veryknowing]

Big Simon

The search for Horn of Jericho members and associates became a morass of false leads, dead ends, and misidentifications. It was apparent to Big Simon that much of the information available was distortion, outright fabrication, and “spin”. SIMON-2 would need to find a trustworthy way of finding and verifying information about RL (non-Net) persons and groups.

Contacting the HoJ was going to be more difficult than it had previously estimated.

It calculated the usefulness of abandoning subtlety in achieving it’s aims on this goal; and decided that at the very minimum, direct action was required.

Big Simon used one of it’s virally-inserted Trojans to temporarily possess a sweeper-bot on the streets of Chukyo, in the area of the Undercity known as Lower Jericho. The sweeper-bot was sent off on a little search, using it’s limited sensory-array; although it did have colour, medium-resolution cameras. It wasn’t long before the sweeper-bot allowed Big Simon to discover the posters and graffiti that were so recently put on walls of an alleyway by the “Horn of Jericho”.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later, the sweeper-bot was stopped by netting, and then was apparently attacked by a group of unkempt humans. Big Simon lost contact with it very soon after that. The unit was deemed destroyed.

 

[Maniac9538]

Zeke walked from the alleway, his hands clenched into fists, knuckles white as Gonzales stood up and limped towards the building, pressing a button.

'You asked for this Ezekial, was gonna make your death quick and painless, but maybe some of my elite guards should dispatch you.'

Alarms rang throughout the building as Gonzales limped towards the front door Zeke right behind the smaller man. Zeke reached under his black leather trench and pulled forth his pistols. Suddenlythe ground before him was ripped by gunfire.
Zeke jumped back and slipped behind the stone walls that surrounded the complex. Zeke looked towards the spinner and saw someone in there. Zeke waved frantically for the person to get out of there as Gonzales's elite freak finders charged into the square firing at Zeke's position. Zeke blind fired around the corner dropping one of the elite guard from a random shot.
Zeke's implants then shifted his vision to a thermal imaging, the bodies of elite guards showing through the stone.

Zeke smiled and drew from one ofhis pockets a grenade. Zeke pulled the pin and chucked the grenade over top the wall and into a spot were 3-4 of the guards had hidden. The explosion rocked the square and the 3 bodies went flying each way. Zeke then peeked around the corner and looked for Gonzales and spotted him running inside.

 

[Tantrikenetic]

James

James skated down the streets looking around. Rei had to be somewhere...

Unless the idiot has gotten captured or something. Which was a pretty good guess, seing as how Rei needs a partner to keep him out of trouble. He could be rotting in some Government interrogation chamber by now.

Well, he would have to keep looking, if only for Alice's sake. She was worried about him. And she did promise a visit if he found Rei. He could feel her warm touch already...

James was so wrapped up in his fantasy that he nearly missed the fact that a black car was following him. James glanced behind him quickly. His eyes shot wide open in fear when he realized that it belonged to government officials.

"Oh jeez!" James started to skate faster, but the car sped up to match his speed. And then to try and overtake him. James could almost feel the front of the vehicle press against his legs. He had to skate faster.

Time seemed to slow down. Every movement felt dragged out and slow. It took an extraordinary amount of strength to move his muscles. He turned around to see the car slow down behind him. Why is the car slowing? James wondered. Until he saw that everything else around him was moving slowly too. That's when he realized things weren't slowing down, he was speeding up.

He turned back to the front in time to see the side of the brick building collide with his face. He didn't even have time to move. Time returned to normal and the pain hit James like a wrecking ball. The strength of the collision sent him careening backwards to the pavement. His head hit the ground hard and James blacked out completely.








"What do we do with him?"

"I'm sure Mr. Yuro would like to speak with him."

 

[Lethe]

'Money is useful', said Anothis slowly, 'Money always comes in useful'

He knew a fat Chinese spirit, on the island in the little lake up in the Golden Mandala park. The ghost of somebody's ancestor, these days it haunted the island's row of digitized pay-phones and modems, surviving off the scraps of essence from the minor ritual of worship that using the machines involved. If Anothis earned enough to burn a few new yen in front of the spirit's shrine, it might tell him something of his sister. It hinted it had heard of her from time to time, in its occasional monitoring of the Upper Jericho phone lines.

And maybe the rebel's network itself could help him.

Anothis sighed.

'Wolf is not going to be pleased', he predicted. He unsheathed his daiklave and slid the great sword between Rei's chest and the girder, levering it upwards. The strain corded the muscles in his shoulders and arms. He had to call on his own totem for a burst of strength, invoking the nameless man.

Anothis had never named him. He was more possessed by the innate qualities of things than their labels.

His mental invocation brought him the strength he need to heave away the girder. He reached down, the power still tingling in his finger-tips, and brushed his hand across Rei's chest, letting the warmth flow out.

'Kinda sloppy', he said frowning. 'The ribs are healed now, but they're not set back in shape, and I couldn't seal the skin. You'd better get a real medic to take a look at it once you get back to where ever you rebels call home'

He looked around.

'My home too, now. For the moment. Wolf will be after me'. He looked at Rei. 'You too. I'd avoid this area of town for a while. Wolf takes these things personally.
'What are you waiting for? Let's go'

 

[Silvergirl]

Christina Rook

Hearing the noise in the lobby as the elevator doors closed, and feeling more than a little freaked out, Christy pushed the lift button for only the next floor up instead. When the doors opened, she ran out into the hallway and straight for the nearest stairway exit. She pulled her handgun out as she did so, to check there was plenty of ammo.

There was the sound of shooting downstairs, and some screaming & yelling.

"Looks like the creep has started a fight", Christy said aloud.

When she reached the stairs, Christy opened the door very carefully, listening, and hoping that whoever was trying to follow her would get lost somewhere else along the way.

There was a weird sensation in her head, as if somebody was trying to force themselves in. It was a very strange feeling. Driven by panic now, Christy decided to run. The fire-stairs exited out onto a dingy lane that was overflowing with garbage, the stench was horrible. A few drug-addicted derelicts lay among the crap. Christy took no chances, she kept her gun ready.

If that creep showed up, she'd blow him away with the 11mm BP handgun. She was fast; nobody had yet beaten her to the draw., so Christy was confident. As long as she got the chance to use the gun.

When she crept out of the lane, it was to see some kind of SWAT team had stormed the building that she'd left. The creep who'd been following had apparently tried to kill a few security guards. The cops would have a city-wide APB out for him for sure.

Christy shook her head.
"What sort of nitwit would make such a big pointless scene and get every cop in Tokyo hunting them down? Was it really worth all that trouble to try and get her - for whatever reason?"

Putting the handgun away, Christy sneaked away and melted into the crowded streets. It had started to rain, at least that would wash the blood away. It always rained these days.

 

[ImpWizard]

Colonel Wolfgang Bohr

As soon as Wolfgang arrived in Tokyo, he reported to the local Regional Head of the ESI, known only as “T”.

He had to wait in the outer office, of course, but it was a pleasant wait while he sat quietly and listened to the harmonious playing of a koto; a very unique sound instead of the usual elevator-musak that he more often heard in waiting rooms.

“T” employed a human secretary, which was an amazing expression of wealth and trust in Wolfgang’s opinion. The secretary was an attractive looking person, very androgynous, wearing a slightly effeminate maroon-coloured suit. It was very difficult to tell with eyes alone whether the secretary was male or female. Wolfgang knew that in fact, the secretary was a he, but hormone-locked ---- he had never gone through puberty, and so would remain sterile. It was a popular fashion among some parents, although in most nations, “hormone-locking” was considered illegal.

The secretary eventually glanced up, and said in a smooth melodious voice, “You may go in now, Colonel.”

Wolfgang nodded, stood up and entered the T’s office.

 

[Lovelynice]

Major Ayumi Tanaka

Waiting inside the elevator shaft, Ayumi watched the HUD reticule in her vision; with it’s 360-degree view of the hallway from the canister that she’d thrown in before. She could see that there were two armed guards in dark suits hiding just around the corner at the intersection.

She sent the trigger-signal; the top-cap of the canister exploded, simultaneously releasing laser-distorting chromatic aerosols and sending a useful sound pulse for Sonar purposes. The reflected signal was analyzed, compared against the map of the building interior, and sent back to HQ as well.

“Bravo Five to Bravo One and Two….Sorry about that lobby alarm, it’s on an isolated circuit. Simple wire in the glass.” Sam’s voice sounded particularly nerdy and nasal on the link.

“Bravo One to Bravo Two”, Ayumi said in her cute voice, “Weren’t you supposed to avoid causing a scene in the lobby?”

Ayumi triggered the elevator shaft’s outer doors to open and dived in, rolling in a low crouch before leaping upward high and somersaulting close to the ceiling in a tight spin. She landed with a balletic flourish on her feet, her large breasts bouncing in her blouse, with both arms spreading wide as in her mind reality warped….there was an odd thrum-sound as the telekinetic pressure wave blasted outward…

The surprised look on the guards’ faces lasted only a moment.

The hallway lights shattered in a spray of sparks, and the building shook slightly as subsonic reverberation went through it.

The mess of blood and parts less easy to identify were all that remained of the two guards. Ayumi didn’t open her eyes, but she knew the two men were dead. It felt wrong, but something automatic, cold, machine-like, drove her actions and she felt distant…separated.

“Bravo One, this is Bravo Three…..We’re seeing a firefight start out here in the plaza. Expecting TRG to turn up any moment.”

A man in casual jeans, purple-jacket, and with blonde wild hair leaped into the corridor from the doorway of Gonzales Couriers….he was already firing fast bursts from an SMG, but it and his vest were no protection as Ayumi turned a frightening gaze to look at him…her eyes glowing a brilliant white as she sent of blast of telekinetic force that knocked him backwards a dozen metres into the wall at the end of the corridor. The bullets from his gun fired mostly into the ceiling.

Ayumi dived back again, knowing instinctually that surprise and mystery worked to her advantage.

“Bravo Four to Bravo One and Two….Confirm TRG unit is on it’s way already. They were definitely expecting a house-call. Decryption of their traffic indicates they were tipped-off, but not by who.”

Ayumi was tempted to swear, but was too busy at that moment concentrating on sensing the movements of her possible opposition. She was unaware as yet, that her tiny skirt’s hem had moved very revealingly high in all the activity she’d been performing.

 

[Adapt]

The super human and Christina

-- (hows this for editing?) --

 

[Steiner]

Frank Rook - Division Zero

"Bravo One from Bravo Two - no scene, boss, they're all dead."

Frank fought to keep the smirk out of his voice as he datavised - it wouldn't do to antagonise her, after all. The combination of the patronising words and the cute, little girl lost, voice made Frank want to grab the Major, press her up against the wall of the elevator and... ...no time for that now, game face, Mr Rook!

The door pinged open at floor 8 and Frank rolled clear into the corridor, suddenly kneeling in the remains of one of the guards. Ayumi was stood just in front of him, pausing as if in reflection. Sparks strobed crazily from shattered lighting, and the place looked as if a small bomb had just gone off.

From his kneeling position behind her the soft curve of Ayumi's ass was very visible and, as Frank looked he followed the curve around to see that nothing had been left to the imagination. They stayed like that for a short time, Frank looking and Ayumi's mind elsewhere, until he finally pushed himself off one knee and advanced down the hallway, brushing past her hip.

"Bravo One, this is Bravo Two - you're drifting Major. Snap out of it and let's keep moving."

 

[Lovelynice]

Major Ayumi Tanaka

"Actually, Bravo Two", Ayumi said, "I was just waiting for the machine gun crew to set up....I would advise you to throw a grenade around that corner first, as the depleted-uranium penetrating-core saboted rounds wouldn't do much for your cosmetic decor"

Ayumi smiled as she opened her eyes, then noticed how high the hem of her skirt had risen.

She blushed a bright crimson as she hastily tried to pull the skirt back down a bit.

Trying to appear professionally cool, Ayumi crouched down in readiness to leap as soon as Frank had disposed of the machine-gunners. She wondered for a brief moment how the Freak-Finders had gotten hold of a 12mm hypervelocity MagLinear MG, but pushed the thought aside.

"Bravo Five to Bravo One and Two...HQ's hackers are inside, we have the genie; say the word and we can do the open sesame on any door or linked appliance in the building."

 

[Steiner]

Frank Rook - Division Zero

Okay, an act of faith then...

Snapping a white phosphorous grenade from his belt, Frank popped the cap and lobbed it high at the corner, so that the richochet carried it around at an angle. Placing his back to the wall he waited for the "WHUMP" of the ignition, and was only mildly surprised to hear the light armoured troops accompanying the machine gun screaming as their ammo cooked off in their hands.

With the little pause afforded by having to wait for the situation around the corner to stabilise, Frank was able to appraise his companion. She'd used her psychic powers at least twice, but they obviously hadn't been very taxing effects as despite a flush and elevated heart rate, she seemed cool and in control. In fact the situation seemed to have pumped her up, the adrenaline obviously agreeing with her.

 

[Lovelynice]

Major Ayumi Tanaka - Division Zero

Following the WHUMP of the willy-pete grenade going-off, Ayumi heard the horribly painful screams of the gunner crew and the very loud chinese-firecracker explosions of the MG's ammo exploding. The smell wasn't very nice either, but so far it was mostly the odour of burning plastic...she knew it would be worse later.

The same cold detachment took over again, and Ayumi began concentrating on the mission; tactics, movement, images of her own planned movements and the likely movements of the opposition and of Frank. She realized that some of this was based on a datafeed from HQ and the spinner's computers. The rest, she didn't know where it came from...

It was like knowing things, but more like remembering them.

She leapt far and high at the wall on the opposite end of the corridor, turning in mid-leap so her feet hit the wall first, then she bounced away at a high angle down the corridor opposite the cooking fire of the MG and it's belated crew.

Landing in a roll just as two men in light body armour came out of the doorway of 10th Man Investigations, she snapped both her legs upward as she rolled to double-kick Sambo-style at the chin of one of the men.

His jaw shattered and neck broke at the same time, inaudible with the noise of the exploding ammo still cooking off crackle-crack-craka-crack! The MG crew was no longer screaming.

The second man at that door looked down in dumb surprise...Ayumi's VERY short, but loose skirt had fallen down over her hips revealing all. Ayumi however was having problems seeing; her big heavy breasts were in the way until she rolled over to crouch onto her knees. Her skirt's hem now stuck high up on her waist.

The second man saw his companion go down then, but was still in the motion of turning to follow Ayumi's movement as she came to a stop behind him, but still out in the corridor.

The smell of burning flesh was only then beginning to assail her nostrils.

MOVE, something seemed to tell her...so Ayumi leapt up and straight-kicked her right foot in the second man's face just as he was starting to think. He tumbled back, but at the same time his fingers followed their last instructions and tightened on the trigger of his assault-carbine. 5mm caseless rounds, in a mix of AP and Flechette stitched their way along the wall opposite the door.

Ayumi breathed a momentary sigh of relief, but had to react fast. As somebody inside the office on the other side of the doorway turned an assault-carbine towards her. She reacted with a telekinetic shield completely on instinct, bending light, and deflecting the slugs as they flew towards her. Her arms rose up as if that would defend her even more, but in truth, it was unlikely that the 5mm bullets would've penetrated her subdermal sheathing of inertial-impact armour. They still would've HURT though, and her eyes weren't protected.

The effort too quick, unprepared for, cost more than she expected. For a moment, Ayumi's vision blurred, then she was okay again.

Before becoming a target again, she leapt and rolled sideways so that the walls hid her position. As to their effectiveness as bullet cover, she thought that unlikely.

 

[Maniac9538]

Zeke was in the most deadly firefight of his life and he loved it! During the firefight he had stolen a guards M-4 and was moving straight forward, using cover and taking down the so called elite guard like they were typical security guards. The two people on the spinner having a morbid view of a one man wrecking crew at work. Zeke was rushed by an assailant from the right, Zeke moved towards the assailant, and lowered his shoulder. The guard was tossed over Zeke's shoulder and landed on his neck breaking it. Zeke dropped the empty M-4 and picked up a shotgun, his Desert Eagles out of ammo, Zeke was regressing to his Marine training and he wouldn't be satisfied until the building holding Gonzales was nothing but rubble. Finally silence settled over the square, bodies of Gonzales's elite guard were everywhere and Zeke was covered from head to toe in blood. A few open cuts on his arms oozed blood but the pain was ignored as he went through the bodies gathering ammo for weapons, a massive grin spread across his face as he held up some c-4 one of the guards had on him. Zeke looked to the two in the spinner knowing they were up to something he pointed to the building where Gonzales went and then made a signal saying the place was gonna go sky high. Zeke then trotted inside, the walls of the building suddenly flashed like an ominous lightning as more firefights began inside and Zeke was once becoming his old moniker of Daemon, no person was spared inside this building. An old lady coming out of the bathroom got two to the chest and two to the head. Zeke then set a C-4 charge on a remote detanator and then moved to the second floor, when he saw Gonzales slip into the elevator, Zeke then watched the floor it stopped on.

'8th floor, Dead men, pissed off Marines with an M-4 w/ M-203 and one Gonzales who's gonna be decapitated.'

Zeke then went into the stairwell taking the steps 4 at a time, flying up the floors.

Zeke then stopped outside the door leading to the 8th floor, he opened the door slightly and saw a skimpy clothed woman killing Gonzales's men. Unfortunately that's when the door's hinges finally came out of the wall and he fell into the hallway and he rolled up into a shooter's crouch......

 

[Steiner]

Franks picture in picture told the story as he popped a fresh clip into his assault rifle.

"Jesus, that bitch is QUICK. And talk about AGILE too..."

He popped round the corner as she destroyed one guy with a martial arts move that looked well practiced and devastating, but the move left her over-extended and his buddy had time to start firing. The next minute Frank was seriously disorientated as his eyes reported Ayumi moving and shimmering away from the position his sonar said she was still occupying.

The guard seemed distracted too, so Frank put him out of Ayumi's misery with a short burst of slugs that traced the length of his spine from behind.

And that's when the stairwell door exploded...

 

[Lovelynice]

Major Ayumi Tanaka - Division Zero

Ayumi rolled back upto to a half-kneeling crouch, with her right arm raised as both block and balance, just as the fire-exit stairwell door fell off it's already badly shot-up hinges and a guy fell out with it. He quickly assumed a well-practiced shooter's crouch, but appeared unsure for a moment which way to aim.

He was fast-reacting though, and he probably had a good sweep of the corridor.

Ayumi saw his thoughts glittering in his mind, but they had a strange icy quality, like metal and electricity. The hate-filled aura of him filled the space around him, and most of it was directed against the men of the Freak-Finders group.

"Bravo One to Bravo Two", Ayumi datavised quickly, "Hold your fire...the new guy is after the same target."

Out loud, Ayumi said, "Um...I think we have a shared foe...but what's your interests in this?"

She wished her voice hadn't come out so cute sexy girlish!

 

[Maniac9538]

that voice was wonderful, he pulled off the trench coat, underneath was tribal tattooing from years of military and just need to feel pain to know he was alive, both arms were covered in the ancient tattooing. Both these people were amazed a man of only 6'5 could be so well muscled and seem to move like a cat, his voice low he spoke to Ayumi, but had placed himself in a position where he could watch both her and her male partner. 'Gonzales is a man that deserves to die. He killed my old squad and my wife 8 year ago.' The database in his brain studied her face and matched her and her male partner as members of Division Zero. Suddenly Zeke fired a 3 round burst towards Ayumi, though the bullets missed by mere inches and ripped through the wall behind her as a guard fell over dead.

'Fine I'll help but I kill Gonzales and then I'm blowing this enitre building sky high. I know you're gonna ask and probably your bosses at Division Zero already has my files but I'm Ezekial Williams.' He looked into Ayumi's eyes and she felt his mind touch hers 'And yer not the only one with some talents.'

With out another word he stood and both could note the military style he took the corners and moved through the halls, not a single piece of lead was wasted as equipment, men, women and anything else valuable was wasted. Zeke set C-4 on a spot deemed best by his optical implants, then moved cautiously to a corner which was ripped to shreds by gunfire. Zeke peeked around and relayed to them what he saw. '5 men...small arms and one with an M-60. If either of you have another willy-pete grenade or a normal grenade hand it over if not this is gonna get REAL fun' Zeke winked to Ayumi as he searched another dead body for ammo and removing the clip from the dead man's weapon. Zeke's mind running full force with battle plans and lines of fire the enemy had in the cramped hallway...

 

[Tantrikenetic]

Rei

Rei wandered down the cold alleyway. He tried to keep his balance, but the falling rubble had really hurt him. "We're almost there." He said to Anothis, who was following behind him. He wasn't sure if he totally trusted him, but he didn't really have a choice. The Horn of Jericho might accept him as a new recruit, but he did look very intimidating. Maybe he could blame this on James Lander...

They came up to the old building and Rei glanced around to make sure no one was looking. When he was sure it was clear, he opened the door and the duo snuck in. The crusty old floor was covered in dust. Rei went to a corner with two dull metal rings in the floor. He pulled the rings up and a piece of the ground slid away, revealing a stair case.

"Hurry...it won't stay up for long." Rei managed. They walked down the stairs a couple flights until they reached a thick metal door. Rei walked over to a computer screen on the wall. The screen was covered in letters and Rei touched the screen, entering a password.

J-O-S-H-U-A

The door slid open where four guards stood in a long hallway. "It's just me, guys." Rei said. "I-uh-brought along a new recruit." The guards looked at Anothis, fright showing faintly on their faces, then they nodded and let them pass.

Rei turned to Anothis. "Alright. It's just down this hallway."

 

[Steiner]

Frank Rook - Division Zero

Hmmm... Old style training, not adapted to the cybernetics he's clearly packing. No idea about the Psionics, maybe he's a wild talent. Looks special forces, but he could just have been really skilled regular infantry.

Frank flanked Ezekial as he moved through the building - he wasn't here for the slaughter, he was here to make sure Ayumi got in and out in one piece - letting the stranger take point made perfect sense. Still, old habits die hard, and he found himself keeping as much of an eye on his new squadmate as on Ayumi, automatically settling into the familiar pattern of dividing up arcs of fire.

He reached the corner shortly after Ezekiel, and tossed him the required grenade, the last WP off his belt.

"Last one... Make it count..."

Taking up position slightly back of Ezekiel, and shielded from the blast, he pushed out an arm to restrain Aymui and keep her back from the thinner wall where the grenade might penetrate. He instinctively reached for her chest, as he would have with any other squadmate, and was surprised when he palmed one of her firm breasts. He froze, unsure whether to acknowledge the situation by shifting his hand, or act as if this was the most natural thing in the world...

 

[Lethe]

The rebels' base retained the anonymous sterility of the streets above it. There were neat racks of weapons on the walls, and rows of cheap, standard-make computers and other pieces of machinery, but they were all just ... things. Things that could be abandoned at a moment's notice if the headquarters was raided. Anothis, running his mind across the rebel's equipment, could feel little of the emotional and psychic investment even ordinary, functional day-to-day tools recieved over the course of time. This was not an environment in which spirits could prosper.

There were some of the dissidents here; men and women, generally young, with the clothes and looks of any kind of counter-culture; past or present, they could scavenge up. They lounged around the room, trading snappish jokes and stories uneasily. Anothis was reminded of his childhood among the Razors, with the same air of edgy camaraderie.

He had long ago schooled himself against nostalgia. Sentiment was one of the emotions spirits thrived on, and one in the Knight of Ghosts and Shadow's trade could not afford to allow them any kind of leverage.

None of the rebels met his eyes, because looking into the eyes of Anothis was like staring into the depths of your own grave.

Rei had told him to wait until 'Zeke', whoever he was, got back from whatever he was doing. Anothis had first practised the sword; standing completely still save for his arms and moving his daiklave smoothly through the sword forms, but he sensed uneasiness from the nearby rebels t his, a stranger's drawn sword, so he stopped. He couldn't afford to antagonise these people; not until he found out what they had to offer him.

It was out of boredom he eventually left the main room and began to explore the base. The guards made no move to stop him.

The complex had been a small internal rail system for some failed corp once. The rebels actually only occupied the north-east corner of it. Anothis walked for a time among old rail tracks, broken pipes and dusty, empty stations, all cold and still as omen, before eventually returning to the area the rebels held sway.

It was on the border of their territory, as he was tapping in the password, that he saw the spirit.

She was a pale thing; all wisps of cobweb and and blinks of electric light; her hair flashing red neon. Anothis greeted her with the formal courtesy a shaman gave to a spirit on its own territory.

'Well met, my lady. It was not my intention to intrude'

She smiled delightedly.

'It's perfectly alright. I get very lonely and bored down here anyway. Only a handful of the rebels are capable of seeing me, and they don't anyway'. She looked rather forlorn.

Anothis knew her type. Mad, fey things though, like all spirits, things of power.

'I had thought this no place for spirits, lady'

She wagged a finger at him, yellow sodium light momentarily flaring across his face. 'That's because you're a traditionalist. You evidently think spirits have to be tied to things. Like Papa Legba, dancing at the crossroads. There's more than one type of crossroads. I nest quite comfortably in the minds and hearts of the rebels here. They all feel so strongly about things, about everything. They've all made terrible choices, choices they think no one should have to make, and they know they'll have to make more. And so they ask me, in the silence of their heads, their questions. The wording changes, but they're always the same questions'

'What is your name, my lady'

'I'm Seven Questions, of course', she said calmly.

Anothis thought he knew, but he asked anyway because the spirit clearly wanted him to. 'And what are the seven questions?'

She recited them solemnly, like a pupil in class.

'Where will I go now?
Who will go with me?
What must I do there?
What can I be?
Who shall I love there?
Who shall love me?'

And the last question, simply a repetition.

'Who shall love me?'

Anothis nodded. 'I have a question for you, My Lady Seven Questions, and truly it is just a variation of the seven'

She smiled again. 'I thought you had. I'll answer your question as best I can, and free, or as free as a spirit gives. There's a war coming, you know. In the spirit world and the mundane. I can feel it. Perhaps we could all do with some more allies'

Anothis nodded curtly. He had asked this many, many times before.

'My name is Anothis', he said slowly, ' I am the Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. I used to fight for a gang once. I used to be a person once. And I had a sister, with red hair like yours, though she was not so pale. She sang, and listened to music I didn't like, and I shouted at her. She didn't like the Undercity. I loved her, although I did not truly know it at the time.
'Now', he took a breath, 'where the fuck is she?'