The Heist

A Short Story for Shadowrun
by: Linda Naughton

Wraith always says that I shouldn't go around telling people about our 'runs. He says it'll get us in trouble. But I've always thought that if nobody knows how cool we are, then nobody is going to hire us. And if nobody hires us, then I won't be able to buy any cool stuff, like more cyberware and bioware. I've been trying to get my wires upgraded to Alpha or Beta grade, and that's really fragging expensive. You don't know any Beta Clinics, do you? Well, if you hear anything, let me know. My name's Fenris, by the way.

So anyway, about our team. We're the best. Mostly it's because of me, but the others aren't too bad themselves. I told you about my wires, right? Well, they were the top of the line back when Aztech put them in me. They still work great, see? Oh, sorry about that....are you okay? Good. Anyway, I'm the fastest gun in the team, but the others are pretty fast, too. They all have some kind of quickened spell on them that lets them move fast. Me, I like my wires better. More reliable. I don't have to worry about some fragging mage coming along in astral space and making me slow by tearing down a spell.

This last run we did was a classic. You want me to tell you about it? Cool. We pulled a raid on this Ares convoy. They were taking some new guns to Fort Lewis. I love guns. The Enfield is my favorite. I have one. It's called "Painless". Sasser--well, I always call her Doc-- did some work on it a while back and now it shoots full-auto. Want me to show you? No? Maybe some other time, then. Anyway, our friends the Howlers were going to steal the guns. You don't know the Howlers. Well, they're a biker gang that hangs over in Redmond. One of their bigwigs, Crystaleyes, has been going out with Doc lately. He's a brave guy for dating her. I'd hate to be around if they ever had an argument. Doc's likely to cut off his cojones with that sword of hers.

So, the Howlers were going to raid the convoy. Doc heard about this and thought it was a little much for them to handle. They are only a gang, after all, and this convoy had two scout choppers, a gunship, and two APCs escorting the truck with the guns. So she talked us into helping the Howlers so them and her man didn't get themselves massacred. Of course, she didn't have to do much talking to convince me. As payment, we were going to get a share of the guns and ammo from the truck. Wraith and Scarecrow didn't need much convincing, either. Them and Crystaleyes are in the same magical group, the Order of Braan. So they have this fraternity thing... they have to help each other out. It's a real bitch sometimes, if you ask me. Golden Eyes, Ryland, and Nightwind are the other people in the Order, so they were going to help, too. You know, we have a lot of mages hanging around... I never really thought of that before. Well, Nightwind is only a phys-ad, so he doesn't really count as a mage, and Golden Eyes is always pointing out that she's a shaman and not a mage, but still...that's a lot of magic people.

We all hung around at the Howlers warehouse and they talked about how we could raid the convoy. They do too much talking, if you ask me. Head-on assault, that's what I say. But they never listen to me. Anyway, it was Doc who finally came up with the plan we used. She's good at planning. Most of them work pretty well. It was kinda funny, actually, her plan. We couldn't figure out how to take over the truck without anybody else in the convoy noticing, so Doc thought that we could just turn the whole fragging thing invisible, right there in the middle of the road! The guards wouldn't know what the frag was going on, and by the time they figured it out, we'd be driving away really fast, with one of them elementals speeding us up.

So we were waiting on the bridge before the convoy got there. What bridge? Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that. Well, our decker, Obisidian, got us the route that the convoy would be taking. It went along Highway 5, and at one part they were going to drive right under this overpass. Doc thought that we could all hang under the bridge, with invisibility spells on us and a spirit concealing us, and then jump down onto the top of the truck as it drove underneath. Wraith took care of the invisibility spells. He's got this new kind he designed that works against radar and all sorts of other electronic drek. It's cool. So he did those and Golden Eyes got us the spirit. Have you ever met Golden Eyes? Well, she's a real babe, I tell you.

There were six of us total. Nightwind stayed on top of the bridge with his Barrett sniper rifle. A very cool gun. It shoots through just about anything. I've gotta get me one of those. He used to be part of the team, but he left a while back. He decided to help out on this one because of that whole magical groupie thing, though. Nightwind's a phys-ad, but he's also decent with a rifle, so he was going to be our sniper for this run. Then there was Golden Eyes and Crystaleyes, and me and Wraith, and Doc and Scarecrow. Scarecrow? Didn't I mention him before? Well, he's this new guy we met up with on our last run. Used to be in the Army. He's a rigger. But the weird part is that he's also a mage. I never knew a mage who had as much cyberware as Scarecrow, though. Oh, and I almost forgot Ryland. He didn't do much, though, just stuck around in astral space and kept a lookout. But there was that one part where he used a water elemental...oh, I'll get to that in a second.

So there we were, hanging under this bridge like a bunch of fragging spiders -- sometimes Doc's plans are a pain in the ass -- when Ryland says to us from astral space, "Convoy's coming." He told us that there was an astral mage riding on top of the cab of the truck. The Howlers' info turned out to be pretty good about the security on the convoy. There were two Citymasters, one in front and the other in back of the truck, and we could see the three helicopters flying off a little bit away from the rest of the convoy. I heard Doc talking with the rest of the Howlers over the radio. "Point Two," she said. That was supposed to mean that we had seen the convoy. Point One was when we were in position under the bridge. I couldn't see where Doc was, since we were all invisible, but on my helmet visor was this niftly little readout that showed me where Doc, Crystaleyes, and Golden Eyes were. It was all part of the Battletac system. We got four sets on a run down in Aztlan--oh, I've gotta tell you all about that one next time--along with some cool military grade armor. I was wearing my armor today. Everybody said that I shouldn't, since it was too conspicuous, but I just said, "What does it matter, anyway, we're going to be invisible the whole fraggin' time!"

The truck took forever to get to us. That was the only hairy part of the plan. Doc said that if we were spotted while on the bridge, then the alert would be given and we'd be in trouble. I wasn't worried, though. We can pretty much shoot our way out of anything, so I didn't think that would be a problem. Anyway, it turned out that we didn't need to worry. They didn't see us, so everything went according to the plan. The first Citymaster drove right underneath us, and then the truck did. It wasn't going very fast...but Wraith always says that I don't tell very good how fast things are going when I have my wires turned on.

We all let go of the ropes and jumped down onto the top of the truck. Wraith said he wouldn't be able to concentrate 'cause of all the spells he was sustaining--the wuss--so he was strapped to my back. When we jumped he must've moved or something because he threw my balance off a little and we missed the edge of the truck. I caught the edge of the roof, though, lucky for Wraith, and pulled us both up on top of the truck. I saw the little pictures of Doc, Golden Eyes and Crystaleyes on my visor again. Golden Eyes had missed her jump, too, and she was hanging over the edge of the truck. I pulled her up and unstrapped Wraith from my armor. I saw Doc charging up to the front of the truck, swinging that sword of hers.

Did I tell you about that sword? It likes to kill mages. It eats their souls or something. Pretty cool, huh? What's cooler is that it's kinda like a weapon focus, and it sometimes lets Doc see astrally, when there's a mage around to kill. I wish I had one of those. I hate not being able to kill the mages who are wussing out and hiding in astral space. Anyway, Doc ran up to the front of the truck and Ryland told me later that he wounded the enemy mage with a spell and Doc finished him off with her sword. Two of his elementals stayed behind and started attacking. Crystal and Scarecrow fried them both with spells, though, before they could do any harm.

I ran to the front of the truck with Doc, and jumped down between the trailer and the cab. There was a window on the back of the cab. I couldn't see through it, so I just punched right through the glass. There were four guys inside. I shot the one in the front passenger seat. Doc and Crystal both swung down from the top of the roof and got into the cab. Wraith had dropped the invisibility spells on everyone except for himself and Golden Eyes (since they were going to stay on the top of the truck, exposed to the Citymasters) as soon as we hit the top of the truck.

The two of them blocked my shot, so I couldn't nail any more of the people. I hate it when people get in my way when I'm about to blow something up. The one guy in the back seat of the cab opened up on them both with a burst from his SMG. Doc, thinking with her balls again -- well, you know what I mean -- jumped in front of Crystaleyes and took the bullets meant for him. Pretty dumb if you ask me, but she lucked out and the shots hit her armored jacket. Well, when Doc dodged in front of Crystal she let me have a clear shot at the guy and I nailed him in the head with my AUG carbine. I also pumped a burst into the guy in the other back seat. He looked dead already, but I wasn't taking chances. Later we figured out that he was the mage who had been riding astrally on top of the cab.

Anyway, it was about then that the rigger driving the truck finally realized what was going on. He activated some kind of shock pads in the floor and sent some juice through Doc and Crystal, and also the bodies of his buddies, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. It didn't seem to be that deadly, though. Doc went and ripped the rigger's helmet off, tearing out the datajack plug. She clocked him a good one on the head with the hilt of her sword and he was out cold.

Scarecrow also swung down into the cab. He plugged the cable into the slot on his control deck and started rigging the vehicle. I climbed through the window into the cab, which was starting to get a little crowded. The four bodies had been thrown down onto the floor, and everyone had started to sit down. Doc and Crystal were in the front two seats. Doc was aiming out the window with her crossbow, taking a shot at one of the Citymasters. Hey, don't laugh about that crossbow! That thing is death on a stick. It uses these cool dikoted arrows. And with Doc's muscle augmentation, that is a really fragging strong crossbow. I once saw her destroy an APC with one shot from that thing. Hit it right in the turret and blocked off part of the barrel. Next time the gun fired, it hit the crossbow bolt and blew up inside the turret. That was a really cool explosion.

Anyway, she was there and Scarecrow was sitting in one of the back seats. That seemed kinda weird since he was driving, but that's a rigger for you. I stood at the back, looking out the window. I had a good angle to see the two little helicopters--Yellowjackets, I think is what Scarecrow called them--and the one big chopper. I went to take a shot at the big one just as I noticed that its rotors were no longer connected to the rest of the chopper. Nightwind had shot them off with his sniper rifle, and they were slowly beginning to seperate. I aimed at one of the Yellowjackets with my AUG and fired. There was a really big explosion as it came apart at the seams. It was great. I tried shooting at the second Yellowjacket but it was out of range.

Only about two seconds had passed since we first jumped down off the bridge. Ryland told us later that he spotted another mage coming towards us in astral space from one of the Citymasters, and he fried the guy. I looked out the back window of the truck and saw that the trailer had disappeared. I figured Wraith had turned it invisible, since that's what he was supposed to do. He and Golden Eyes were still up on top of the truck, both of them invisible, too. Right then Wraith was supposed to be getting his elemental to speed up the truck. It hadn't started working yet, but like I said it had only been two seconds.

Once the truck turned invisible, the two Citymasters began maneuvering. Wraith's spell seemed to be doing its job (also, Golden Eyes had told her spirit to conceal the truck itself in addition to us, so the truck was really hard to spot, even on radar and stuff). Anyway, Crystal started singing some kind of weird, old music. Something about a yellow submarine, I dunno. He does that a lot when he casts his spells. I asked Wraith about it once and he just said that Crystal was "centering", whatever that means. Well, whatever he did, it didn't seem to work to well, but it did tire him out.

I heard some grinding of gears that was really Scarecrow popping the turret on the roof of the cab. Wraith said that he turned around just as the turret was coming up. He almost didn't notice it because he was busy concentrating on the invisibility spells on him, Golden Eyes and the truck. And since he was invisible, Scarecrow wouldn't have even known he was there. So I guess Wraith was lucky he turned around just then. Otherwise he would've been LMG meat. Of course, it might have been cool to see him get shot. Wraith never gets shot. He's always too busy hiding behind me. The wuss! Anyway, Scarecrow popped the turret and took down the last Yellowjacket. It started falling down real slow while we kept going.

Ryland had taken Doc's advice and told his water elemental to manifest inside the lead Citymaster. But it turned out not to be necessary. Nightwind fired his Barrett twice and the Citymaster blew up. Water went gushing everywhere, since the elemental was still in there. It was so cool. Then the water disappeared because the elemental's service was all done. Ryland told it to go take care of the other Citymaster then.

Finally, after a whole three seconds of combat, Wraith's elemental finally started working. It kicked us into turbo-speed, and we left the second Citymaster eating our dust. Ryland's elemental kept drowning the people inside but we didn't stick around to find out what actually happened to them or to the vehicle, we were out of there. As soon as we were speeding away, Doc said over the radio, "Points Three, Four, and Five." I heard Smasher, the leader of the Howlers, say back, "Very funny." You see, Point Three was supposed to be when we dropped onto the top of the truck, Point Four was when we had secured the truck, and Point Five was when we were driving away with the help of the elemental.

The truck made it in a matter of seconds to the off-ramp we were going to use. Scarecrow pulled the truck (which was still invisible) off the highway and onto the side streets. Five Howlers on motorcycles were waiting there for us. Doc called off "Point Six" on the radio which was the signal for them to turn on their radio jammers and drive off in five different directions. At the same time, Doc turned on the jammer she was carrying. She said that, usually the bad guys could trace the signal from a jammer, but we'd confuse them by having a couple of different jammers all starting off from the same place. They'd have to track all of them, or else get lucky, and we were trying to get there before they could even track us at all.

Where's "there"? Well, we went to this abandoned warehouse that the Howlers had gotten a hold of. There were bunch of vans parked there. Doc got out her bug scanner and found a whole drekload of bugs in the weapons boxes, and a few on the truck. She had to take apart the transmission to get the one that was inside there. While Doc was doing that, Scarecrow and I were helping the Howlers unload their truck. Scarecrow had quickened this really drek-hot magic fingers spell on himself. He could just think hard and move the boxes across the room into the other vans. Me, I just grabbed an armful and carried the crates.

Doc got rid of all the bugs and we moved all the boxes out of the truck. Then came the fun part. Golden Eyes used her sterilize spell on the truck (Wraith wanted to make sure we didn't leave anything the bad guys could use to track us in case they salvaged some pieces of the truck.) Then she and I drove it out to the Puyallup Barrens. Scarecrow followed in his car to give us a ride back. He sent some watchers into this abandoned building to make sure everybody was out of it. Then I drove the car into the building and laced it with C-8. Then I ran off and watched the fireworks. I love fireworks. You could tell?

So that was the last run we did. Oh, here comes Wraith now. Hi Wraith. I was just telling, um, what was your name again? Jack? Yeah, I was just telling Jack here about that raid on the convoy we did. Now, don't get mad. Yeah, I know what you said, but it was just too cool to be kept a secret. Okay, okay, we'll take him to Doc. Sorry, Jack, but Wraith says you have to go see Doc. He doesn't want you remembering what I told you. Doc can make you forget things like that. So you'd better come with us. Now, Jack, you should know better than to try something like that....I told you I was good. Wraith, why do I always have to carry the unconscious people? Hey, will that stuff Doc has make him forget everything? 'Cause I want to know about the Beta Clinic in case he finds out anything. Wraith, where are you going? Wraith, wait for me!