Shadowrun: Neat: A Shadowrun Novella by Russell Zimmerman

Author:Russell Zimmerman [Zimmerman, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2012-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

We weren’t hitting the bunraku parlor until four in the morning. They were supposed to close around then, and the smaller the crowd the better. I’d parked in an alley down the street, killed the engine, leaned the seat back, and drank myself into a nap while Ariana sat on overwatch. She liked to look out for me. I wasn’t getting a whole lot of sleep lately. I just dozed off when I could, and hoped the dream-memories weren’t too bright or sharp.

“I’m glad he’s not here because I don’t like him!” Ari’s sulking voice woke me up.

“Whozzawhat?” I hauled my hat up off my face and tried to figure out what the heck she was talking about.

“Uranus.” She didn’t giggle when she said his name. She didn’t get the joke, which was probably for the best. “That jerk Enzo just drove by and I flew into his stupid van to see if Uranus was with him and he’s not and I’m glad he’s not because I don’t like him.”

“Enzo’s here?” That sat me upright.

“He just drove by and they stopped down the street and Uranus isn’t with him and I’m glad.” Her tone was terribly matter-of-fact. “Because I don’t like him.”

“What’ve you got against the guy?” I smiled at her after getting my seat fixed, then slid out of the car. She flew through the hood and windshield to follow me. Skip and Trace were at the other end of the alley, talking and loading fresh magazines for tonight’s raid. I wasn’t crazy about the Uranus punk, either, of course, but Ari’d really taken a disliking to him.

“He likes air spirits.” She mustered up the words with the disgust a human girl her age might reserve for a detested boy-band. I’d shaped Ariana from earth, not air. Ally spirits or not, certain elemental animosities remained even after being summoned and fully formed.

“Yeah, I thought he seemed the type.” I fought a smile as I reached into my coat pocket for a Target.

“He has a bunch of them bound. I could see them.” She stuck out her ruby-red bottom lip to pout, stark against the grayscale city. Spirits didn’t like being bound, but some mages didn’t care much. It wasn’t a trick I pulled real often. I was different from most folks in my Tradition that way.

“Yeah.” Lighting up, I crossed the street toward Enzo’s big black SUV, which was about as subtle as it was fuel-efficient. “I thought he seemed that type, too.”

“I’m glad you don’t bind spirits.” Ariana gave me her bright, childish smile. It’s the one she gives me that shows just how much she adores and respects me. It makes me feel guilty every time. “Even just air spirits!”

“Not real often, kiddo. Not if I can help it.”

Enzo and his boys were climbing out of his Suburban, and I gave a little laugh around my Target. The Italians were all suited up and ready to play. Tactical vests, kneepads, assault rifles, gas masks against the Puyallup ash as much as anything else.

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