Anthology - SHADOWRUN - Spells and Chrome

"O.K. We've got less than twenty before they get here," he said, looking at the dozen or so people he hadn't addressed yet. "I want three of you with Elise on the roof. The rest of you run support for the other positions. Keep moving. We don't want anyone getting pinned down. And if things really go south, use the holes we cut through the walls to the other buildings to get the hell out. No one goes down with this ship."

The people nodded, sweat beading on foreheads, hands gripping and re-gripping the weapons they carried.

"All right," Kaine said, wondering how the hell they'd pull this off without everyone getting killed. "Let's get into position."

There was the soft sound of someone clearing their throat in the back of the room, followed by a familiar: shuffle, thump, pause, shuffle, thump, pause.

"And where should I be?" Madam Hilda asked as she stepped into the light.

Kaine grimaced. He'd personally put her on the step-van that had left with the last load of kids and parents.

"Crimeny, Hilda. What are you still doing here?"

"This is my home too, young man. I intend to defend it."

Kaine walked over to her and kneeled so he could look her in the eye. In reality he was probably ten years older than her, but the biological clocks on orks tended to run fast, making an ork "fifty" equivalent to a human "eighty." Still, somehow, she seemed to have already gathered all the wisdom an extra thirty years would have granted her. It made him all the more frustrated that she was still there.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it, Hilda. You're not going to help. If anything, you're going to be a liability. Now I have to give up a couple of our fighters to get you out of here."

For a second her face hardened, and it seemed that fire flared in her eyes. The shadows around them grew darker, and Kaine felt a chill run down his spine. He knew the feeling, something he hadn't felt since he'd run with Eagle, a shaman out of the NAN.

The strange sensation faded.

"Judge me not by my size," she said, a mischievous grin on her face.

"You old buzzard," he chuckled. "You've been holding out on us. All right, you take the roof with Elise and Shadowpanther."

He turned to the assembled group and shouted, "Let's go people! Move out!"

Looking around as his neighbors hurried off to their positions, Kaine wondered if they might just pull this off after all. • • •

Kaine had a clear view of the ganger army from his vantage point on the roof. Over thirty of them, armed to the teeth and mad as hell. When they'd waltzed up to the front door, a volley of fire from the building had sent them scurrying back behind their vehicles. They clearly hadn't expected that, although Kaine had to remind his people to be careful about ammo. Wouldn't do to empty their mags before the real fighting even started. In the meantime, it forced the gangers to fall back and come up with a new plan.

Kaine mentally adjusted the telescopic sights on his cybereyes to zoom in on the gang's leader. He was a troll, nearly eight feet tall, his horns sawed off to stumps. Kaine was certain the GE minigun sitting in the back of the GAZ-P belonged to him. Even the concrete walls of their building wouldn't be a hell of a lot of protection against that thing.

With a mental command, Kaine clicked on his comm and sub-vocalized, "Spot the troll hiding behind the GAZ-P. He's got cover right now so don't waste your ammo, but you see him reach into the back of that truck, unload on him with everything you've got."

Lights blinked in the AR in front of Kaine as the others acknowledged his orders.

"Sir! I'm still concerned that I can't get your link on the overhead," Darius whispered behind him.

Kaine flicked off his cybereyes and turned to face the nervous hacker.

"Listen, kid. I keep telling you, I like to stay under the radar. I've got fifty nuyen that says they've got at least two hackers running overwatch and trying to pin us."

Elise moved over next to them.

"So they must know how many we've got in here and where we are," she said.

Kaine shook his head. "No. That scramble script Darius pulled from the deck is old but damn good. To anyone outside, this building'll be nothing but a big black box. But when I go out there I don't want them to see me coming."

"You're going out?" asked Elise, her eyes wide.

Kaine flagged two red blips on the exterior overhead that showed where the gangers were, and he transmitted it across the LAN to her.

"See those two? They're mages. If anyone is going to screw things up for us, it's them. They're not going to stick their heads out where we can get a shot at them, so somebody has to go out and get them. I'd rather they not know I'm coming until the bullet hits them."

"They're forming up!" one of the lookouts hissed through his link.

"O.K. folks, showtime," Kaine called back.

Looking over the edge, he saw the gangers spreading out and gathering into small groups. Suddenly, two groups that had been hidden behind the cars popped up, weapons at the ready.

"Everyone down!" Kaine shouted over his comm, dropping behind the short, concrete wall that ran along the edge of the roof.

Thunder exploded as the gangers opened up. Bullets screamed overhead, smashed through windows, cracked against the walls. It seemed like minutes went by, and the firing didn't let up.

Kaine signaled to Elise. She nodded and lobbed a pair of grenades over the edge. The firing stopped, followed by two ear-pounding booms that echoed between the buildings.

"NOW!" shouted Kaine.

All around him, the fighters on the roof popped up and started firing. Below them, gun barrels appeared in half the windows of the apartment and opened fire as well. Kaine, meanwhile, dashed toward the back of the building. Hilda was there, waiting.

"If you're gonna use some of that juju, grandma, now's the time."

"Who you calling grandma, old man," she said, giving him a sly grin.

Kaine gave her a half smile, shook his head, and kept moving to where he'd secured a length of rope to a pipe. As he grabbed the rope and hopped over the side he heard Hilda chanting followed by the sound of roaring flame. Looking up he just caught a glimpse of a large, humanoid shape made completely of fire.

He was suddenly very glad she was on their side.

Drawing on skills he hadn't used in ages, Kaine rappelled down the side of the building in perfect silence, touching down on the pavement without a sound. The alley was dark. Nothing moved. Nevertheless, Kaine doubted he was alone. Gangers weren't the smartest guys around, but they weren't stupid. The stupid ones didn't last long.

Kaine thanked his lucky stars he'd managed to squeeze into his old stealth suit. He wouldn't call the fit comfortable, but the matte black fabric with its heat canceling mesh made sure that he stayed hidden, even from thermographic vision.

Assuming he wanted to stay hidden. He rapped his hand on the side of a dumpster, and ducked back as the expected burst of gunfire erupted from the other side of the alley. Bullets whistled and clanged off the metal. From above, he heard shots fire. He was pleased. The men at the rear had followed his instructions and held their position, although he doubted they would hit anything. It was too dark, and they were too inexperienced, but he had the necessary cover fire to get past the rear guards. Kaine dashed down the alley, little more than a shadow in the night. Firing his reflexes up to full, he sprinted away at superhuman speed.

"Report on the gangers in the alley." Kaine subvocalized.

"Holding," Darius' voice rang back over the AR.

He'd gotten past undetected. The easy part was done. From the front of the building he heard what sounded like a war. Hell, it was a war. Automatic weapons fire, the boom of shotguns, the reverberating thunder of grenades, and a high pitched screech of something not of this world tore the night air.