Shadowrun by R. L. King

Author:R. L. King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2016-11-02T08:00:00+00:00

It’s strange: I thought I’d be more nervous.

We moved the van in closer, parking a block away around the corner from the warehouse. Tonio took the lead, directing us to our jobs: Bug and Strings would remain here, staying connected with us via our ’links. The unicorn, whose name was Chunder, would take a position at the other end of the warehouse with his long-barreled sniper rifle, keeping an eye on both the van and the rest of us who were going to the house. The human guy, Junkyard, would come with us and stay outside, while Tonio and I went in and looked for—I have no idea what. I hoped I’d know it if I saw it, if it was even there.

“You okay, kid?” the dwarf asked as we got ready to move. He held his blocky SMG at the ready, and I’d seen him stashing a couple of other smaller guns under his coat.

“Yeah.” I didn’t understand it, but I wasn’t scared anymore. Sure, I knew this could be dangerous: I knew if anything jumped us, I might even get myself cacked. My heart pounded, but it was more with anticipation than fear: the same sort of feeling I’d gotten back at school, right before an important test I knew I was going to ace. I wondered what the me from a couple of days ago—the me who spent his time chasing data points in boring rituals, playing too many trideo games, and worrying that I’d catch a stray Friday-night round through the wall of my doss—would think of the current me. I still felt like the grief from my uncle’s and my friends’ deaths would catch up to me any minute, but right now it was walled away; all I had now was my anger, and a strange exhilaration I didn’t understand at all. “Want me to make us invisible?”

“You can do that?” Tonio’s squinty head-tilt added the nuance: You can do something else useful?

In answer, I paused a moment, muttered some Latin under my breath, and faded from view. So did Tonio. I didn’t know that many spells, but you tell me: what other one would your typical horny, teenage-guy mage be in a hurry to learn? That one and Detox (to deal with the aftermath of all those wild college parties) were universally popular.

I’d used the downtime to summon up one of my little air spirits a couple of minutes ago; I sent it a mental command, telling it to patrol the perimeter around the house and let me know pronto if anybody got too close. It wagged its tail and took off, tongue streaming out behind it like some kind of flag. And then it was our turn.

In all the trids I’d seen featuring shadowrunners, they never managed to convey just how long it takes to cross the space of maybe fifty meters when you’re expecting somebody to ventilate you with a rifle round or a spell with every step. Real life doesn’t come with cuts for the boring stuff when nothing’s happening.

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