5. HOT TIME
17 November 2033 : Hot Legs

The beat throbbed like a hammered thumb half a block away from the Hot
Legs night club, and inside, Fenris was very glad of his aural damper
cyberwear.  

Linna had pulled out all the stops tonight,  hours of work had gone into
crafting her appearance.  The pants and bolero jacket emphasising her
dancer's physique, and her eyes sparkled with delight.  

She was fizzing with excitement and dread.. this was the first time
she'd introduced one of her boyfriends to the ones she was closest to..
her.. her family in all but blood.

They were waiting by the bar, Linna noticed he seemed very.. alert, his
eyes never stopped moving, scanning the crowd.  He was cracking nuts
from the bar one handed, his right hand, passing every second to her. 
His left he kept empty... she knew he was left handed...

"Hey mister, pay attention to me, not them" she finally shouted over the
music.

"Sorry, bad habits.  Lets sit down for a bit, your friends should be
here anytime now anyway"

As they moved towards the seats, they were intercepted by a guided
Nene-missile in a mustard yellow jacket.

The enthusiastic redhead bounced up and gave Linna a hug, then turned to
look over Fenris.  He looked like someone out of an old painting, a
cravat with a ruby pin framed by a high collared cut away plum coat,
cream breeches and boots.  He bowed extravagantly  "Good evening, you
must be Nene".

"And you're Benedict.  Linna's told me all about you." doing her best
Kawaii thing.

He smiled "In that case, I'm in trouble,... " he was cut short by the
start of Priss' first number.

Linna had mentioned that Nene was with AD Police, obviously she wasn't a
street cop, too young, and she didn't have the look, an undercover was
unlikely... 

Nene saw his eyes, for a moment cold and hard, evaluating her. They
flicked over her, not lingering where men usually stopped but checking
places weapons could be concealed... She had seen that look in the Tac
squad veterans and undercover detectives who had been out in the cold
too long, for whom the city was a firezone.

*What am I thinking, this is just one of Linna's friends, no need to be
so paranoid...  That singer, She ain't half bad, move over Maria
Mercurial!* He smiled suddenly, and Nene relaxed... 

*A trick of the light* she thought.

After the auditory explosions were over and she had changed, Priss came
and joined them.

"Is that Priss?" he asked, indicating the now brown haired singer
approaching.

"The one and only!" Linna smiled.

"That was a blast!" enthused Nene rushing over to her.

"Well, that's my last set!  So this is your knight in shining armour is
it Linna" 

"This" Linna put her arm through Fenris's possessively "Is Benedict
Rowan"

"Good evening, I am honoured to make your acquaintance" he smiled and
bowed again.

The two measured each other, Priss had seen men and women with his
assurance and moves before.  Pro's.  There was something familiar about
him... she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but vaguely familiar,
and disquieting... 

He saw another fighter, burning with the passion she had been singing, a
wild one, full of sound and fury.   Scent of exertion and excitement,
and bikes... 

Linna pointed out something to him, and Priss saw his face soften as he
looked at her... and hers light up in response  *Got it BAAD, the pair
of them* 

			++++++

Sylia stared at the screen, as if to extract more information from the
sparse file by sheer force of will.

Fargo had not managed to turn up much at all on 'Mack'.  It was
obviously a cover ID of some type, and had only appeared in the last few
months.  The only solid facts were : he was gaijin,  had access to
significant funds, was very good at hand to hand combat, and had
dealings with the Yakuza but operated freelance, and was rumoured to be
a physical penetration specialist (ie burglar), able to get in virtually
anywhere.. and good at finding things.  No one knew how.  No idea of
origin,  his accent was obscure.  Very good at blending in.  It was
frustrating...  

Fargo's final comments were intriguing : "This guy is acts like
professional, which is strange.  He's too good not to have a record or
reputation and he doesn't.  Doesn't smell like ex military or corp.  
Funny thing is he could easily have left a trail of bodies, but he
hasn't.  _No_ fatalities attributed to him.  Like I said, He's an
anomaly."


6.  MONKEY BUSINESS
Ira Furor brevis est.. Wrath is a transient madness
20 November 2033 Evening

Sometimes you are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  

It was times like this that Fenris felt like a he was a trouble-magnet. 
What had started as a simple walk home after dinner was turning into a
...confrontation... with a street gang. 

"Ya gotta pay tha toll"  "Yeah this Blue Monkey Turf" "Toll Toll TOLL
_TOLL!_ _TOLL!_"

Expressionless, Fenris took out his wallet and threw it at the feet of
the leader. 
*What a time to be without a gun... If Linna wasn't here I'd go
invisible and bug out.  No one'd believe these drek-for-brains twerps.*

The leader motioned one of his people to pick it up and looked inside. 
His eyes widened then narrowed in sudden greed. 

"QUIET" he yelled.  The chanting died away.   

He walked over to Fenris, followed by his lieutenants.   "Well now,
that's enough for you pretty boy, what about the babe."  The ganger
grinned, exposing steel teeth. Even without his spiked up trademark blue
hair, the gang leader would have topped Fenris by 5 inches and
outweighed him two to one.  

*I'll tag you _Tingrin_. Steroid abusers anonymous.  Who _never_, _ever_
wash!* thought Fenris disgustedly.

"Look, we don't want any trouble..." piped up Linna nervously.

*_Exactly_ the wrong thing to say*  

"Quiet, just give them your purse, it's not worth a fight." he
whispered.

"But.."

"Quickly.. I'll make it good lat.." he murmured

"We could always take it out in trade, girlie... Have a real party. 
You'd enjoy it, more than with pretty boy here."

Fenris froze for a moment then hissed at the blue haired ganger "Touch
her and you die." He scanned the crowd "Every last one of you"  His
teeth were bared and he could feel his heartbeat accelerating, vision
narrowing, as his body prepared to fight.

Behind him, Linna could see his hair literally bristle... he was
radiating menace, and she heard a low rumble.. growling??

"Well ya got balls pretty boy, I'll say that for ya" and swung without
warning.

Fenris had been half expecting a sucker punch and swayed out of the way,
grinning mirthlessly.  "What rules Tingrin?"  

A wordless growl answered him as the blue haired gorilla charged him. 

"None I see... Linna, check six"  he snapped as he whirled like a
matador facing a bull, coat tails flying.

Linna whiled to face the three gangers coming up behind her and they
halted as she came on guard.

"Hold still you bastard"  the frustrated gang leader shouted after the
third pass.  

Fenris was fighting cautiously, evaluating his opponent.   The contrast
between the giant's clumsy rushes and the dapper shadowrunner, seeming
to flow like quicksilver around his blows was pitiful. 

After two more passes,  Fenris had taken the giant's measure and
proceeded to slowly and painfully demolish 'Tingrin'.   If he could
intimidate the others with the show, they might back off long enough for
Linna and him to get clear.

No one blow was disabling.. a kick to the knee, just short of cracking
the kneecap.. a broken nose... he started to call his strikes...  

"Ribs, left side.." <THUNK>"OOFF"

"Right arm... " <THWAM> "AKKKK"

"Head.." <THUNK> "Uhhhhh"

Roaring with fury, the huge ganger unhooked a heavy chain from around
his waist and a long knife from under his jacket and limped forward
again, swinging the chain viciously.  

The three Blue Monkeys facing Linna also charged and she danced back,
avoiding their knives, reluctant to go full force against humans.

*Time to finish this*

His amused target ducked under the chain and took 'Tingrin's' feet out
from under him with a leg sweep.  Fenris put one boot on his opponent's
wrist and knelt on his back.  A flick of the wrist produced a knife at
the giant's throat and Fenris smiled cruelly.  "Gotcha"

"We are leaving now, call your dogs off.  Or would you rather drown in
your own blood." he snarled.  The man's eyes seemed to catch the light
of the nearby shop display, glowing, and his canines seemed very long,
and sharp.

"Boomer" he shrieked, "It's a fuckin BOOMER"

"GUN" Linna screamed.

Fenris whirled.  He was looking down the lazy eight of a sawn off
shotgun.  The terrified ganger fired both barrels at the snarling
visage.   He was almost fast enough to evade the shot-cone.  

But 'almost' only counts in horseshoes.

Fenris was punched sideways by the edge of the blast and went down.  It
distracted Linna for only a moment, but it was a very expensive
moment.   One of the Blue Monkeys got past her guard and stabbed her in
the stomach 

Linna fell to her knees, her eyes wide, mouth a soundless O of
astonishment as she pawed at the knife hilt.   

There was a moment of silence, then a low growl ending in a shout "dead,
the lot of You! DEAD!"  she felt waves of heat wash over her and smelt
burning and blood.  She heard screaming, soft explosions, wet sounding
thuds and crunches that went on and on.. 

Linna had fallen on her side and couldn't seem to get up... Benedict
crossed her field of view, he was moving fast, way too fast.. like he
was on fast forward.  He was holding a sword that left a glowing trail
in the air, chasing down a trio of gangers.  One had a pistol, Benedict
pointed a finger at him, snarled something and the ganger collapsed
bonelessly, bleeding from nose and ears.  She must have been
hallucinating because she was seeing double, Ben's head, and a wolf's
head, momentarily superimposed somehow...  

The other two tried to defend themselves with a chain and a length of
pipe.  He cut through the pipe and it's wielder effortlessly, jumped
clean over the chain swinger, whirled and cut him down too... 

*Just like the boomer* Linna thought in a daze...  She could see his
face now, a pale mask of rage... their eyes locked and he froze.  The
madness drained away from his eyes... she blacked out.

...She was on her back... so cold... Benedict kneeling in beside her, a
hand lightly checking her pulse at her throat "Look at me." she did so. 
His face was haloed by the streetlights, blood spattered and bruised,
and one of his eyes seemed to have become yellow with a huge pupil .  
"Trust me,  It'll be OK." he blinked and swallowed as he looked down.
"Don't die on me girl." he muttered

There was a moment of intense pain as he touched the knife and then
blackness.

Linna came to partly, she was being carried, moving very fast, she could
feel the wind, everything seemed dim....


7. THE MASKS COME OFF
20 November 2033 Evening - 21 November 2033 morning

Linna gradually drifted between sleep and awake.  She was in her own bed
, her stomach hurt and she heard Benedict on the phone "Nene, get over
to Linna's Stat!  Don't ask questions, just MOVE...  Of course it's
fragging important, I don't want her waking up without familiar fa..."
she faded out again.

Then Nene was there.  She looked like she had been woken up in the
middle of the night and thrown on the first clothes she could find.

"What happened to you, Benedict just let me in, said you'd been mugged
and had the wind knocked out of you.  He looked half dead and went to
sleep on the couch." 

Nene dropped to a whisper "You know you asked me to check up on
Benedict, he doesn't exist, not before late September, it's all dummied
up before then, expensive job.  Remember what happened then, that bike
out of nowhere, and the Blade Cuisineart chopping Boomers in half."

Her memory came back.  She started to sit up winced and looked at her
stomach.  There was a large bruise and it hurt, but there was no wound,
not even a scar.   Her blouse different though, not the one she had been
wearing...  

She whispered "I was stabbed, it was in up to the hilt.  I should be
dead. This is crazy...  He must have... Call Sylia, and Priss, quietly."

"OK" Nene whispered back, pulled the door to and got out her mobile
phone.

			++++++

Fenris was woken by the door opening.  There was a foul taste in his
mouth and he was exhausted, drained down to the dregs from the fight,
Stabilising Linna, Sterilising the blood trace so the DNA was unusable
and then the Healing afterwards.  An hours sleep had not been enough.  
He hoped Linna hadn't seen too much, or remembered it.  Just have to
hope... 

He hadn't ever lost it so completely before.  He had managed to control
the Rage when he had been shot, but seeing Linna hurt, he had exploded. 
He would have killed them all... all   The depth of his anger, his fury
at seeing her lying on the pavement, her life bleeding away .. it scared
him.. scared him more than anything had for a long long time.

The ones he had killed... but.. but what else could he have done?  He
had needed time to stabilise Linna, and the only way he had thought of
was to.. was to kill and kill and kill until the remainder broke and
ran.  And he had been angry, so angry.  But now he only felt sick at
what he had done.

Fenris knew the story he had given Nene was worse than threadbare, but
she wouldn't have believed the truth: Magic, really, call the nice
people with the white coats and they have a _special_ jacket for you... 
Just too heartsick, tired and hurt.

He watched through slitted eyelids as Nene let in a woman he didn't
recognise.  Both went into Linna's room.  He got up quietly, wincing at
the bruises and strained muscles, walked into the bathroom and picked up
his coat.  It'd never be the same again.  It stank of blood and was
stained to the elbows with spatters elsewhere, a sleeve covered in
vomit.  The fabric was ripped away on one side, exposing the kevlar and
fracture crazed ceramic plates that had saved his life.  He began
putting it in a bag with Linna's slashed and bloodstained blouse for
salvage when he got home and headed for the door when the bedroom door
opened 

"Where do you think you're going young man"  he heard a cool voice say

He turned to face the speaker.  She was in her mid 20s, with short black
hair and brown eyes.   Very elegantly dressed, with a commanding, almost
regal presence.  She wore an expensive scent, a smoker, and smelt of
fear, well controlled, but she was afraid of... him? There were other
scents, stress and fear, blood and pain, anger, others he couldn't
identify.  He could hear movement from the bedroom, Nene most likely. 
*Time to slot and run.*

"Miles to go, and promises to keep..." he replied coldly

"If you mean the Blue Monkeys, they are either in custody screaming
about bodyguard boomers, in hospital or in the morgue.  And before you
go out, you might want to take a look in a mirror"

He looked quizzically at her, too tired to comprehend for a moment. 
He'd just planned to find a coffin hotel and crash as Mack.  No point in
silencing witnesses _after_ they'd talked.  He went back into the
bathroom.  There was an emphatic "Oh _Drek_!" and a muffled thud.

When he came out he looked thoroughly irritated, mainly with himself,
rather than cold.  He was also nursing a hand.  Both his eyes were
yellow now.  "Bloody contacts..." he muttered as he flopped onto the
couch.  "Excuse me for sitting but it's either that or fall in a heap. 
It's been a long day.   Now who are you?"

She sat delicately at the other end of the couch "I could ask  you the
same question.  I think we need to talk."  He raised an eyebrow
inquiringly and she continued "I represent an organisation that has need
of your talents.  I am not sure of the source of your abilities, but I
think we could help each other.  I know you arrived in an" slight smile
"_unconventional_ way a little over two months ago from a _very_ long
way away, you have enhanced  physical abilities and you can heal serious
injuries without scarring."

			++++++

Earlier that evening, Sylia receives a call from Nene..

Sylia calls up photos of Mack and Benedict, noting them both appearing
in the same time-frame, ...Benedict's abilities, the scans from Mack's
second visit to Raven's.

She sits back for a moment and smiles in satisfaction.

Later, there is a second call from Nene... 

There is a moment of shock as she scans the police database on the
massacre of the Blue Monkeys, then she alerts Priss, picks up her coat
and leaves in a hurry.

			++++++

Before he could reply, a large black shape dropped out of thin air onto
him knocking him onto the floor.

The thud, and Sylia's gasp brought an immediate response as the bedroom
door was kicked across the room by a blue armoured figure.  

Fenris rolled to a crouch, glowing knife in hand, the black shape moving
with blurring speed to flank the Knight Saber who was bringing her power
arm to bear on Fenris.

"STOP" shouted Sylia motioning the blue suit to halt and looking at
Fenris

Fenris relaxed slightly, trembling from fatigue and adreleline reaction,
and managed to put the knife back up his sleeve after two botches. 
Priss looked at the black shape, what looked like a large wolf , also
relaxing and lowered her power arm. 

"Knight Sabers, a four woman shadowrunning team in advanced powered
armour... " looking a Sylia "Let me guess, you're the leader, the white
suit, can't imagine anyone telling you what to do" noticing the blue
suit's stance and a familiar scent "and ... Priss?  It figures.  I _AM_
a trouble magnet. " He turned back to Sylia "You've got a good rep."   

Priss froze *How'd he...*

He tried to stand and staggered.  The wolf blurred and shifted to a
young woman, who easily picked him up and laid him back down on the
couch  

"Ouchie Ouchie Ouchie  You've put on weight haven't you Angua, been
chasing rabbits again?" she swatted him lightly in return.

He turned his head to Sylia and a dumbfounded Priss and saw Linna
supported by Nene standing in the doorway 

"This is Angua.  She's my familiar, sometimes too familiar I think. 
Angua, meet Priss, Nene and Linna, and Brown Eyes here." 

Angua flashed a somewhat uncertain smile as she realised her unorthodox
entry had nearly started a firefight in the room. "Hi guys.."

As a wolf, she had been large, over a meter at the shoulder with jet
black fur and yellow eyes.  As a woman, girl rather, she was slim,
looked to be in her late teens, still with black hair, long in a
ponytail and big yellow irised eyes.  She strongly resembled Fenris. 
The girl was wearing black bike leathers with yellow accents and
appeared to be sitting on a nonexistent chair...

"She was a dog a moment ago, what the hell's going on here"  Priss had
flipped up her visor, wondering if someone had been spoofing her suit's
sensors

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself, I can't let you out on your
own for a few months in a different universe without you getting into
trouble." The girl said to the man

He grinned up at her "I missed you too Angua"

She smiled and kissed him on the forehead

"How did Spug and the rest of the team do on breaking contact from the
Star?  I was worried."

"No problem big bro, dumb cops all went after you, so when you
disappeared they couldn't pick anyone else's trail.  I couldn't find you
anywhere..." she looked sadly down at him "I started sniffing around the
metaplanes, following my nose and wound up popping out over Stonehenge. 
You've been masking and it took me a little while to find you.  You must
have blown up badly today, I felt it in Seattle.  Otherwise I'd _still_
be looking for you." 

"Speaking of looking, Brown Eyes, are Linna or the Benedict ID
compromised?"

"What do you mean Benedict ID" squeaked Linna "You're Ben-kun... aren't
you?"  she finally noticed his eyes and trailed off into a confused
silence.

"The answer to that is somewhere between yes and no... Rowan is a.." 

"Figment of your _deranged_ imagination" interrupted Angua, poking him
in the ribs

"Ouch, I got shot there a few hours ago, I'm an invalid I am."

"Call him Fenris ladies, He answers to it, _most_ of the time"

"See what I mean, no respect.  No Respect."

"Naaah!" she poked her tongue out  "Respect has to be earned chummer,
Oops, looks like the mundanes are freaking out"

All four Knight Sabers were looking at the them with slightly glazed
expressions

A thought struck him *Nene didn't seem too surprised to be in the same
room as you... She must be one, the pink and purple suit is the right
sort of height and ... *

Things clicked together through the exhaustion, friends of Linna's,
unexplained absences coinciding with the Knight Sabers appearing, smells
of propellant and hydraulic fluid, injuries...  *There are none so blind
as those who will not see... Linna must be the fourth... Oh no.  Not
again.*

He numbly met Linna's eyes,  still in the doorway with her arm over
Nene's shoulder.  She was staring at him in shock. 

"Who, What is he?  What have I been..." she whispered to herself.

Fenris, lipreading, suddenly felt as if He'd been the one stabbed.  His
face went ashen.

{Angua, we're out of here.}

{But..} she answered through the mindlink

{Now Angua. On my mark, Plan Sir Robin... Kitchen window I think. 
Ready, three two one Mark}

The knight sabers were even more surprised when they disappeared, and a
moment later the kitchen window exploded outwards.

"Oh dear...  Priss, you had better see if you can follow them.  There
will be enough explaining to do without a Hardsuit here.   Nene, get
Linna down to my car, I want to keep her under observation.  I have some
calls to make."  *I hope Fargo can locate him.*

			++++++

Leon and Daley had been called in on what appeared to be another boomer
multiple homicide.   From the statements of the survivors, a woman with
a bodyguard boomer had viciously and without provocation attacked an
entire street gang.   

What a load of crap.  The Blue Monkeys had a bad rep.  Probably tried to
shake the pair down and things had got nasty.   The injuries were
strange.  Some from a blade, some from fire, like a flamethrower but
with no chemical residues, and two had just plain died!  No external
wounds but massive bleeding from ears and nose.  Let the coroner sort
_those_ ones out!

The descriptions of the two were very general, a woman, attractive with
short black hair and a headband who knew martial arts, and the boomer,
gaijin with a sword, dressed 'funny' with longer black hair who threw
balls of fire were about the most coherent he could get.  Not the most
useful descriptions.  

There was a pattern of circles of fried grass, each had contained a few
gangers with third degree burns, surrounding a large pool of blood with
a knife lying to one side.  Forensics were freaking out completely.  
Apparently the DNA was completely degraded.  Nothing analysable,
although it was only a few hours old.  Someone had lost what appeared to
be an expensive dinner close to two of the fatalities, one of them cut
in half.

			++++++

Back at the Silky Doll.  Linna was up and about, having been debriefed,
scanned, biopsied and probed by Sylia before the others had arrived

The recorder on Priss's hardsuit showed a thermal image.  When they
disappeared, the wolf girl had picked up Fenris/Rowan and FLOWN out
through the window.  At least they had not teleported, but flight and
invisibility were bad enough.

Fargo's contacts hadn't turned up anything yet, and he hadn't been back
to his apartment

"I lost them, Damn Him!" snarled Priss

"I am not surprised given their speed." retorted Sylia "As I feared, he
has disappeared very competently"

"Why do you want to find him?" Linna asked

"He certainly knows too much, too much to be allowed to run loose."
Sylia answered

"And when we do?" growled Priss.

"You're not going to.." Linna trailed off

Sylia smiled  "I doubt it Linna.  I'd rather offer him a job than kill
him, and given what he did to that boomer and the Blue Monkeys.. no it
would not be wise."

Priss sprang up "You're Bughouse Sylia, he's a killer, and a nutcase!" 

"Actually I think he is unique.   And that girl Angua.   She appeared
out of thin air, and changed from wolf to human.  She was _not_ a
hologram or hallucination, of that I am _sure_.  And you and I are the
last to criticise him for having blood on his hands Priss."

There was a moment of silence

"I fear we may desperately need him soon and if we do not do something
quickly he may just disappear completely.  Given that he recognised you
Priss, it is likely he already _knows_ enough to compromise us and you
must agree he can certainly keep secrets.  I would rather he was where I
can keep an eye on him, or would you rather we did kill him? "  Sylia
looked at each in turn, none would meet her gaze.

"What do you think Linna, you've known him for the longest?"

"I... I don't know.... He killed ... Those eyes...What is he?"  she
wrapped her arms around herself 

"From what you said, he killed them to save you." Sylia interrupted
softly, putting her arm over the dancer's shoulders "Not your fault, not
his fault.  _They_ made it happen."

She continued "He did a very good job you know, however he did it. 
Aside from the bruising, it took a fine cellular level scan to find any
trace of an injury.  I don't think he would have taken that amount of
trouble without good reason,  it appeared to have exhausted him.  Look
at it from his point of view.  What could he have told you?"

			++++++

Angua, who was eavesdropping shamelessly from astral space smiled.  This
could be fun.  They smelled like nice people and she trusted her
instincts.  The cool one who led, the angry one in the armour,  the
dancer who smelled of blood, confusion and her brother, and the small
one who had smiled in wonder at her.  It was better to be part of a pack
than a lone wolf.

			++++++

Fenris had crashed in a coffin-hotel after raiding his equipment cache.  

Sleep had come slowly, the sleep of utter exhaustion.  He wasn't going
to be caught out again...  but, what now....  priorities  survival,
escape, evasion.  Anything else was too painful, don't think about the
future, or past, Great Spirit, not the past...  concentrate on the
present... go to ground...  an image of her face, staring in shock at
him, the smell of blood triggering other memories,  another face,
looking desperately, pleadingly at him... no, don't think about it... he
slept... and awoke in a cold sweat.

END PART 1