First Contact War

Just a wee story/intro I wrote for a sci-fi rpging idea I had.

First Contact War
Humanity had already colonised a half dozen terra-compatible planets by the time their stumbling steps among the stars led to an encounter with a Federation starship. Fortunately explorers had already discovered ruins and other hints that humanity shared the stars with other species, so when scout ships encountered each other all went relatively smoothly.
The Federation is led by a collective of three alien species, all humanoid and technologically advanced compared to humanity; it also includes another dozen member species that lack the same voting rights. Together they rule a large section of the galaxy bordering humanities home system.
However, it was quickly discovered that the Federation was fighting a desperate war against the encroaching Hrrzt.
An intelligent insect-hybrid species commonly referred to as “Bugs”, the Hrrzt had never once responded to communication and they repeatedly attacked and utterly destroyed colony after colony. While outnumbering the Hrrzt and being technically superior in many ways, the Federation lacked the knack or instinct to fight back effectively and was slowly losing the decade’s long war.
Humanities appearance would appear fortuitous to the Federation, well known to its self, humanity retained its aggressive nature when compared to the more agrarian and passive Federation species. While often viewed behind their backs as an uncouth barely sentient species, the aggressive humans also exhibited a more noble aspect and were eager to help and protect others as well.
With offers of Federation membership, technology and trade treaties the fledgling Earth Alliance found its men and women drafted into an intergalactic war – commonly called The First Contact War as it stemmed from humanities first contact with other species.
Quickly adopting and adapting Federation technology, within six months the first Earth Alliance military service vessel prototype was commissioned. The Prometheus was a heavy frigate designed as humanities first hard and fast response to Hrrzt incursions, while a basic design compared to later marquees the robust mass produced design eventually accounted for a full 13% of enemy vessel kills.
Two years later as humanity officially colonised its eighteenth system, the first small fleet of Earth manufactured star ships engaged the Hrrzt fleet above the Federation planet of W’yatt. While outnumbered five-to-one and utterly destroyed, the Earth fleet inflicted enough damage to stall the invading fleet so that reinforcing Federation ships could drive them off in what became known within the Federation as the ‘Turning’ where the tide of the Hrrzt war changed.
A mere three years later, and with the Federation species gasping in surprise, the Earth Alliance revealed its latest battleships. Having reverse-engineered secretly obtained Federation technology, the latest warships equalled if not exceeded the capabilities of the Federation fleet. It was with a handful of these new battleships that the Earth Alliance led the Federation armada into battle against the massed flotillas of the Hrrzt in their home system.
Ten thousand men and woman gave their lives alongside a hundred thousand Federation crew as they valiantly fought against the Hrrzt fleets, so numerous was the enemy that it was later calculated at least a million Hrrzt had perished in their final stand. After the battle space around the homeworld was so littered with debris, and remains so, that only specially hardened heavy shields can survive the trip to the planet.
With the Hrrzt homeworld effectively imprisoned behind a near impenetrable graveyard of high velocity kinetic debris, the following years saw a decline in the conflict as smaller fleets and colonies where hunted down and eradicated. At last the Hrrzt menace was declared destroyed, thirteen years after the involvement of the Earth Alliance.
During that time the Federation accepted humanity as a part-member, to numerous cries of disgust and insult given all that humanity had done to save the Federation and the galaxy as a hole against the ravages of the Hrrzt. To add further insult, the promises of technology were withheld after claims that humanity had already stolen more technology than they had been promised.
While the Federation set about rebuilding its lost colonies, murmurs of discontent circulated that humanities aid had come at too great cost and that during the war they had seized a number of prohibited worlds for colonization. Following their rapid expansion, at the end of the First Contact War humanity officially controlled the second largest number of systems following the ancient Aesir and the fourth largest population.
The Earth Alliance agreed to relinquish control of the battleship fleet to help stabilize the weakened Federation, and hopefully as a means of gaining full membership. But many see this as a way for humanity to bully its way in the upper echelons of the Federation, while several other species have actively promoted humanities ascendancy to not only full-membership but also leadership of the Federation.

Everyone has a Name

Wrote this ages ago, kinda post-apocalyptic/fantasy/sci-fi cross-over.

Everyone has a Name.
    White fluffy clouds skid across an azure blue sky propelled by a cool breeze that fans the plains long brown grasses and knee high bushes in a slow motion dance, a pair of deer graze upon fresh green growth at the edge of a glacial stream as it bubbles and rolls along its endless course. Nervously the deer lift with their heads and look around sharply towards a nearby forest of deciduous trees, with ears and noses twitching the creatures freeze before leaping into flight from an unseen fear.
Minutes pass and the land darkens as shadows leap into existence as a massive cloud obscures the sun, birds taking flight herald the sudden appearance of a young woman that bursts running and stumbling from the forest undergrowth. Her simple clothes indicate a likely farming lifestyle but now show numerous rips and tears in the home woven linen, her honey-blonde hair tangled with brambles streams behind her as she struggles exhaustedly to flee a nameless terror stalking her.
    With course yells of glee at the sight of their prey, three large humanoid figures lope onto the plain; each is separated by five to six meters and have obviously been chasing and herding the fleeing young woman for sometime. Heavy builds and short canine tusks protruding from their lips easily identify them as urk bandits or raiders, each is dressed in ragged mismatched clothing and carrying make shift weapons constructed of discarded steel sharpened into melee weapons.
    With only eighty meters separating the terrified woman and her pursuers, the urks leave nothing to the imagination regarding their intentions as they shout out derogatory comments, threats and promises to the obviously weakening woman. Staggering across the stream her limbs finally fail her and she collapses into the chill water, sobbing and shivering from the cold she uses the last of her strength to drag herself onto the stony bank.
    Shuddering and weeping with terror the woman flounders onto her back legs still convulsing in the water, her breath coming in haggard gasps and with tears streaking her delicate dirt smeared features. Eyes enormously wide she watches the approach of her hunters, slowing to a jog the closest urk is now only eighteen meters away and grins while licking his lips at her. Halting on the opposite bank of the prostrate girl the largest urk digs his rebar short spear into the ground before beginning to undo his pants, all the while appraising the slim figure of his victim and the affect her skin tight water soaked clothes has on her youthful physique.
    Time seems to slow for the young girl, the terrifying visage of her would be rapist so near and his companions arguing in the background regarding their order following his attentions drew her perceptions into sharp definition. Her limbs still continue to refuse to function for her, hands clench and unclench in the stony mud of the bank, legs spasm feebly as if still wanting to run and the air itself burns her throat. Then a dark blur flashes across the vista and slams to a halt bisecting the chest of the burly urk, the impact staggers him back a half step and punches the air out of its lungs in a great whoosh.
    Swaying he stares uncomprehendingly at the arrow entering the right front of his body and protruding from the rear left, a convulsion staggers the urk who finds its attempts to remain standing impaired by its pants having been pulled down around its ankles. Another convulsion causes its legs to collapse beneath it, dropping him onto boneless legs and elbows while leaving the arrow quivering in the air. A third convulsion causes a cough that sprays bright foamy blood across its punctured chest while the urks eyes roll up white in their sockets, a final convulsion and bubbling gurgle ends the urk leader.

Looking around the young woman sees a man like figure ten meters up the stream, wearing a cloak made of hundreds of individual strips of camouflage cloth that conceals his shape and effectively makes him invisible within the surrounding vegetation. The powerful bow he carries appears to be made of multiple strings and wheels and is obviously of advanced manufacture, without taking his eyes off his opponents he shrugs off his pack and camouflage cloak before carefully placing his bow and another rifle like weapon upon it. Striding up the stream bank he draws a straight bladed combat knife and walks towards the nearest urk that stands no more than six meters away, to his surprise and before he can close further, the urk turns and runs as fast as it can towards the protection of the forest.
    The shocked silence of the mans appearance and the flight of the urk lasts but a fraction of time before the remaining urk screams in rage and charges, brandishing its fearsome weapon, a long piece of steel sharpened into a broadsword, it leaps or dodges any obstacle in its way as it rushes forward to attack. Its first stroke slashes down with devastating power, only to be dodged by the calm movements of the man, his return slash cutting a bloody gash across the enraged urks arm. And so the fight continued, dodge and slash, dodge and slash, until the man finally steps inside the wounded urks reach and buries his knife deep into its throat.
    Reaching down he cleans the blade on the dead urks clothes then returns to collect his small pile of equipment, and slowly walks over to the prostrate girl that still lies panting where she had managed to drag herself no more than a minute earlier. His features betray his surprise to see she is in fact an elven maid, although by appearance she appears to be in her mid-teens, it is of course nearly impossible to estimate accurately with the elven race.
    Kneeling carefully beside her, he cannot fail to notice subtle flinch away from his touch, "Easy now, I mean you no harm, I'm just going to move you out of this water before you get hypothermia." His voice is deep but not uncaring, his powerful arms wrap around her body as he carefully he lifts her lithe body out of the near freezing water and carries her to a sun warmed earthen clearing. Gently he wraps his thick cloak around her shoulders not completely able to ignore how her clinging clothes serve to emphasize her femininity. Reaching into a pouch on his belt he withdraws a small plastic box, "I'm going to attach this medkit to your arm ok. It'll ensure none of your cuts become infected, and help you deal with the stress you've just experienced. Everything will be fine now; I'll take care of you."
    She watches her rescuer as he chat's and tends to her, her awareness seems to have shrunk to only encompass this man that just saved her from torment and most likely death. He is an urk like the others, but of far fairer form, his tusks barely noticeable within his weather tanned face that is framed by black hair and inset with grey eyes. Storm clouds form overhead framing his athletic body with its wiry strength, soft sure hands attach the medkit to her arm and she feels the cold infusion of its medications, as her fatigue and pain floats away she finds it impossible to restrain a small smile that is immediately returned.
    Its the strange whistling noise that snaps her attention back to the plains, that and the three meter steel fence pole spear that drives itself deep into the earth where her rescuer and just been kneeling a second before. Then regardless of the medicines in her body her blood runs cold, trampling across from the forest is a troll, grey-green hardened leathery skin only interrupted by a filthy rag of a loin cloth. She watches as it cocks its arm back to hurl another of the makeshift spears, its speed and power must be enormous as the missed spear shatters a nearby boulder in a cloud of stone chips and rock dust. Its furious bellow is answered by a high pitched whine and discharge of a particle beam rifle, its violet beam vaporizing a fist sized hole in its shoulder and staggering its run for a hand full of steps.

The troll hefts and throws its last spear, again narrowly missing her hero while the return beam gouges a furrow across its thigh. With the troll being a mere seven meters away the man drops his energy weapon and hefts the urks leaders rebar spear from the ground, the throw sends the steel shaft straight and true to strike the troll in the stomach. Stumbling to a halt the massive creature jerks the weapon free, rumbling out a low growl it steps forward to lunge at the man as he frantically attempts to doge out of the way.
    Screams echo across the plains, the troll screams its hate and anger at its enemy, the elf maid screams in fear and anguish as her rescuer is attacked, and the hero screams in agony as the steel spear violates his body. The troll drives the spear so far through the man's body that it plunges into the ground below him pining him in place, shuffling into a full upright stance it grunts a laugh at the writhing man who continues an agonized moan that brings it pleasure. The maids sobbing draw’s its attention and it takes the few steps necessary to stand over the tiny morsel, licking its thick lips in such a way that she is surprised to find she almost wishes the urks had had their way instead of the cruel death the troll has in store for her.
    "Uz redy for da reel man lil gurl." Rumbled the troll in a barely understandable drawl, as he reaches out for her he stops at the sound of a high pitched whine. The violet beam slices from the centre of its torso to just under the armpit, burst and burned organs slipping from between the cauterized folds of leathery skin and ribs. With a choking breath the troll tumbles sideways allowing even more of its internal organs to vomit from the fatal wound, the deathly silence leaves the maiden sitting stunned and unable to move, her mind having shut down from the rigors it has been forced to endure.
    Eventually she manages to timidly stand and make her way over to her hero, he lies sprawled on the ground surrounded by his gore and still attached by several coils of intestine to the rebar spear a few meters away. His grey blank eyes still aim along the barrel of his weapon, as if even in death he watches over her, she kneels weeping over his body hands stroking his hair back. As the rain begins to fall she staggers wearily to her feet once more and begins the long walk home, looking back over her shoulder she whispers to him "I never even knew your name?"

A Team of Six's

This was a stand alone story I wrote for Six, I really liked that big lug. I was asked if Six would actually have run with a skilled team like in the story, another story was written in follow up however in the intervening time I appear to have lost it - which is a shame cause it was bloody funny  : (

A Team of Six’s
The city slumbered in the humid heat of the mid summer night, even at four in the morning the smothering acid tainted smog kept the air muggy and barely breathable. The buildings showed both their age and poor construction in the crumbling decay of the prefab concrete, almost in shame few street lights sporadically illuminated the litter strewn roads with brown outs being a common price for the cash poor sprawl.
The streets where quiet with few metahuman or the less mundane predators prowling the streets, only the occasional scream or siren piercing the air. Lone Star patrols kept the area quiet many of the smaller office blocks and warehouses paying a slightly higher tithe to the Star. This extra tithe ensured many of the local gangs never took their rage out against the occupiers for fear of retribution, and the many squatters that would usually accumulate in this sort of urban sprawl stayed well out of sight.
The team moved forward little more than shifting shadows in the inky blackness of the alley, even the two security guards lounging lazily against the security station couldn't have noticed them if they'd bothered to look. Together the guards turned and gave each other a quizzical look before slumping to the ground, neither having heard the near silent report of the narcojet pistols used to subdue them.
Moments later the team emerged racing from the alley way, the team was uniformly dressed in black form fitting armour with several also wearing vests reinforced with ceramic plates, each had their faces covered by respirators. All of them had specialist equipment strapped to their bodies, little noise escaped except the subdued sound of their movement across the road towards the unprotected front entrance of the Biogen research facility.
Even for a shadow running team its composition was unusual. Six the troll took the lead, while he was not the fastest he was the most capable of taking fire, large and extremely fit even for a troll his 'warez was capable of nearly fully negating even a large calibre rounds lethal potential. Following close on his heels was Alpha a boosted human and current leader for the team, looking closer in size to an ork and with significantly enhanced speed coupled together with his keen intellect made him a street sam to be feared.
Following fractionally slower was Cerik, the team's magical support in the form of an elven magical adept. Cerik had magically enhanced reflexes almost the equal of Alpha, and highly proficient in hand to hand combat combined with the spell casting ability of a sorcerer. Behind him moving as fast as her legs could carry her came Red, a boosted ex-mercenary dwarven rigger who also acted as their tech support. Last to come was Johnny Silver, RAM to his friends, he was the teams decker in the form of a six-foot ork built more solid than your average gutter punk troll, but with the quick efficient movements of a cat. His right arm had been replaced with a chrome cyber limb that housed amongst other things his cyber deck; RAM had started out with Red in the mercenary business but used his earnings upgrading his subsystems.
Six and Cerik sped towards the left-hand corner of the facility, slowing their silent movement as they closed on the corner eventually stopping in the shadowed bushes under the corner spotlight. Alpha and RAM in the mean time had proceeded to drag the comatose bodies of the guards into the bunker that made up the checkpoint, while Red covered the street with her combat shotgun.
"SecTeam two is ten meters from contact two," whispered Red's voice over the team's comm's'. Those with 'warez that allowed them access to the associated data feed saw a real time image, feed to them from an overhead stealth surveillance drone. The drones sensors allowed those accessing them to mark the route of the two security guards patrolling around the building, showing them in clear computer enhanced low light overlaid with bright thermographic images.
"Contact two in three, two, one. Mark!" guided Red.




Jerry and Harry had been walking the same circuit for the last forty-five minutes, in another fifteen they'd swap with Tony and Jed out front, not that being out front was less boring, it just meant you didn't have to walk. Jerry still felt the buzz from Harry's laced smoke, he'd said it was Zone, a neuro-hormone that gave an over whelming sense of rightness. Because it was natural it didn't show on company drug tests.
Just as they got to the corner Jerry was surprised to see a huge jet-black humanoid silhouette step around the corner, all he could discern was a metallic golden shield where its eyes should be. It reached an unnaturally long arm out to touch Harry on his chest, a near silent impact hammered through Harry's body, convulsing it before Harry crumpled to the ground twitching.
Even as it attacked Harry a second smaller, faster, humanoid figure manoeuvred around towards Jerry. Targeting reticule superimposed onto Jerry's vision as his grasping hand latched onto the grip of his submachine gun, ranging stadia dropping to zero before he can even disengage the safety. Jerry's opponent came at him with inhuman speed, suddenly stopping its leg flying up and around in an ever-decreasing arc, its booted foot aimed at his side.
Jerry could hear as much as feel the impact of the boot, the sound of breaking ribs loud in his ears even as pain exploded though every nerve. The impact sent him flying sideways towards the building, his biomonitor sending critical alerts flashing into his vision. Pain caused time to slow and become surreal, the inevitable bone crushing impact as his body careened into the prefab concrete wall shattering Jerry's world into agony filled darkness.




"Contact two neutralized." Six sub-vocalized into his comm.'s unit, scanning the deserted street for anyone that may have seen the conflict.
"Confirmed, move on to stage two." came the reply from Alpha. Even as Six bent to pick up the mangled bodies to pile them into a heap out of sight, Cerik quietly incants then climbs the sheer walls of the faculty quickly disappearing onto the top of the four-story building.
Six had moved back into the shadows and bushes under the floodlight whilst Alpha had donned a SecTeam jacket and stood guard at the checkpoint. Red and RAM had concealed themselves behind the car-stop carbon-concrete plant pots outside the front door; to any that paid attention to the building nothing would seem amiss.
"Accessed and beginning drop now." came Cerik's comm.'s whisper.
This stage of the mission had every one worried, Cerik having scaled the building using magic, and then cracking the maglock security system on the lift well was to abseil down to the foyer. The team had already gotten the pass codes for the internal security from one of the late working wage slaves, but it had to be entered from inside the building as it only allowed him to leave not enter.
The sound of the maglock disengaging was clearly audible in the night air, a collective sigh of relief escaped the team when no alarm blared out as Cerik opened the door. RAM silently slipped in to the darkness beyond the parted doorway, all knew he was heading for the basement and the facilities mainframe where the desired pay data was hopefully waiting retrieval.
Minutes that seemed more like hours ticked by as the others waited on RAM to do his work, finally over the comm's net he said, "Retrieval complete, downloading peripheral data."
"Acknowledged, Red how's our airspace?" responded Alpha.
"Confirmed one combat drone eta 15 seconds, confirmed one Patrol One just turned onto this road eta 5 seconds. Unconfirmed another combat drone 45 seconds peripheral vector. Unknown contact eta 30 seconds, looks like a heavy 'copter no transponder return." Replied Red letting us all know the approximate response times of the local Lone Star law enforcement vehicles, if the run turned to custard, a cop car and two combat drones would be breathing down our necks in less than a minute.
"Acknowledged, Red bring in fire support in case." Alpha's voice had a slight edge to it, no wonder standing out there by himself. By the time the Lone Star patrol car had pulled up to the checkpoint, Alpha was leaning casually against the wall of the bunker, and Cerik had gotten into position with his sniper rifle on the roof.
"Hoi. Where's Harry?" inquired one of the cops as he leaned out the passenger's window, just why the cop wanted to talk to Harry no one will ever know. The nights silence was shattered by the rolling thunderous burst of gunfire accompanied by the whining of bullets, a staggering trollish form was suddenly knocked sprawling from the bushes.
Jerry had lain quiet, as consciousness had returned, his body was completely numb from head to toe, his vision returned in a tunnelled kaleidoscope. As he came to comprehend his senses better he realized he'd been dragged in to the corner bushes and dumped on top of Harry, not more than a meter away Harry's assailant crouched assembling some sort of weapon. The figure which Jerry came to realize, was a large hornless troll equipped for shadow work, and it was a light machine gun it had been assembling as it at last clipped a large belt box on.
It shifted around and Jerry was distantly aware of a Lone Star patrol car stopping at the checkpoint, some of the local cops occasionally supplied Harry with his drugs. It looked like the shadow runner was going to ambush the unsuspecting cops, it had its back to him so he felt safe reaching for his SMG which luckily enough was still attached by its sling. The targeting reticule shook horrible in his vision as it slid up the troll's back, it was partially obscured by the corner and the angle caused the spot light to cause purple flares in his vision.
"Frag you to hell, you piece of ghoul shit!" screamed Jerry, causing the startled troll to glance back, Jerry waited until he had its full attention before firing. He didn't even try keeping to his training, using short controlled bursts wouldn't pay it back for the pain and injuries inflicted on him or Harry.
Sparks and whines of rounds ricocheting intermixed with meaty thwacks as bullets ripped up the corner's prefab concrete construction, as well as impacting into the troll pirouetting it from the concealing bushes. Jerry wasn't terrible surprised that recoil had caused at least half the rounds to go high and wide, but enough hit to throw the troll back onto the lawn. At least the cops where warned and Tony or Jed could hopefully come to his rescue before it could recover.
The last sight Jerry was shocked to see was the troll sitting back up on the lawn, one arm supporting it as the other extended out with its machine gun in one hand. He was unable to move in the moments before the thunder roared and angry green fireflies buzzed through the bushes, they tore up the earth and ripped the undergrowth to shreds. Several of the machine guns bullets impacted into Jerry's chest blasting the breath from his body, several more of the impacts picked him up and threw his mutilated body away like a discarded foil wrapper.
"Contact!" was simultaneously screamed over comm's, while Six opened fire on the SecGuard. Both Alpha and the Lone Star cops had frozen, that all changed as Cerik fired a single shot obliterating the officer's head in the passenger window. Alphas hand came up in an under arm throw, lobbing a hand grenade into the recently vacated window, as soon as it left his hand he dived back through the door to the bunker.
"Echo Three, repeat extraction plan Echo Three! Six get the frag over here now! RAM, Red what's your status..." commanded Alpha over the comm.'s network, no one would have heard otherwise as the patrol car exploded from within silencing the screams of panic.
"I'm by the front door, good to go." came the calm reply of RAM. "Both drones have just turned in bound, both rotor drones ceiling at about 100 meters, eta 30 seconds from downtown and 60 seconds from Redmond. 'Copter is responding, eta 15 seconds its heading to the deck fast, I would guess it's a Lone Star SWAT team coming to play. You'll see it will appear on the road towards downtown." was Red's distracted response, it meant she was already in control of the teams air support.
Six was but meters away from the bunker when the ground behind him started churning and erupting into the air, a Lone Star combat rotor drone sweeping over a building its medium machine gun firing at its full rate of fire. Alpha's SMG chattered away covering Six's sprint to the bunker, although it had neither the range nor power to do damage to the drone at that range. The combat drone slowed to a hover 200 meters down the road, its continuous fire-keeping Alpha and Six bottled up in the bunker hiding from the ricocheting rounds within.
"Red back us up please. Its giving cover fire for the SWAT team, they're fast legging it along the road, and that things going to chew its way in here soon!" came Alpha's eerily calm request. "Acknowledged Interdiction in 3, 2, 1. Clear." twin explosions followed by a low roar marked the passing of Red's Windjina, and its subsequent release of its missile payload. The small jet powered drone was long gone before the smoking debris of the drone and 'copter had crashed to earth, angling around and up to gain a better shot at the second in bound drone.
Both Alpha and Six strode out of the bunker, Six's LMG spitting green tracer down the road occasionally touching the blue and gold armoured SWAT members, whilst Alpha's SMG fired burst's into the nearest opponent dropping him as he ran. The SWAT team suddenly found they had been left out in the open with no covering fire, little return fire was directed at the runners as the SWAT team scrambled to find cover, in the process leaving several members wounded and dead on the street.
Red sprinted across the road her auto-shotgun bucking in her hands as she sent burst-after-burst down the road, most of the flechette tore into cars, buildings, windows and street lighting all of which was immediately destroyed. Six's green tracer rounds where being swept across the cover used by the SWAT members like a giant green hose, allowing Alpha the chance to sprint across to the cover of the alley where was he to suppress the other side of the road.
The SWAT team had other ideas however, as they gained cover and their leader started to direct them more effectively their combined firepower started to suppress Alpha and Six. The firing from both sides lulled when a huge fire elemental materialized, looking like some crossbred lizard and a seven-foot tall beetle all wreathed in flame. Six's green line of death intersected the elemental, the tracers dancing across its body with no obvious effect other to enrage it in to charging.
Six huddled under cover as the elemental rushed at him like a fiery freight train, even though his weapon wasn't hurting the magical construct he kept firing and firing. Moments before infernal death swept him up a mystical violet bolt smashed into its side knocking it to the ground in a burning wave destroying all it inadvertently touched.
Its attention diverted to Cerik as he incanted and let fly another of the mystical bolts, its form to shifted and wavered as violet magical energies ran wild over its torso causing its flames to dim or die. With a roar that came from the very depths of hell its self, the elemental arched its back sending a bolt of flame at Cerik.
"Is that the best you can do? Time to die slave!" yelled Cerik after the flame bolt splattered against his mystical defences. This time his bolt was so powerful it was closer to white in power, its path leaving after images flared across the vision of all that could witness the potent display. The spells impact tore straight through its outstretched limbs as it frantically tried to defend its self, even that wasn't enough to stop the bolt grounding out into its chest disintegrating its torso in a blaze of energy.
The suppressive fire slackened off from the SWAT team, disheartened to see such a formidable foe slaughtered so quickly. This gave Ram the chance to dash across, he fired wildly with his AK-98 even lobbing a grenade down the street, it landed just behind the SWAT teams position luckily it was thermal smoke. Next came Cerik moving at little more than a jog, bullets flattening themselves against the magical barrier he'd erected.
He had been called Archangel when he was on the street, but much had changed in Simon Keller's life since then, for one he'd joined with Lone Star nearly 3 years ago. Time had flown by as he'd proven himself to his superiors while trying to leave behind his past, he always worked hardest against the shadow runners his team encountered always trying to ensure there was no way to doubt his loyalty.
Now he was worried, one of these runners was extremely powerful, strong enough to destroy a force five-fire elemental while he was reinforcing its aura with spell defence. Now the cocky piece of troll dung was just jogging across the street like there wasn't anyone about to bother him. Simon's team was laying down fire on the opposing mage but all the rounds stopped at the invisible barrier, Simon had but one choice to take the mages barrier down and that was a full on frontal assault.
Simon conjured up several watcher spirits and directed them to attack the astral form of the runner's spell, while he simultaneously directed his most powerful offensive spell against the layered defences around it. The runner stopped and started countering the attack, watcher spirits collapsed back into the astral ether unable to hold their forms together. Simon could see the runners martial arts attacks contained magical energy, he'd heard of people capable of using their magical potential both physically and mystically, extremely rare and powerful people indeed.
Simons spell had weakened the weave of the runner's defensive spell, and with the other SWAT members concentrating on the runner he was getting knocked around, soon the rounds would penetrate to do some real damage. Simon prepared to again assault the runner's again the SWAT team sensed the end approaching, slowly the moved from cover preparing to give chase to the other fleeing criminals.
A shift in his opponent's aura alerted Simon to an impending doom, the shadow runner suddenly stopped jerking around and dropped to the ground. Simon could see the runner's aura still and he was unharmed physically, if a little apprehensive, no what worried Simon was the gleeful expectation that shone through clear as day.
To late he heard the dull roar of the combat drone as it flashed past; the smoke had concealed its approach and its engine noise was covered by the gunfire. It flew a complex barrel roll as sub munitions dispersed from their area denial pods, explosions air burst along the road shrapnel flaying anything in its path. Secondary explosions followed sending tortured wreckage from the cars and prefabricated construction concrete from the road and buildings hurtling through the air.
The air itself had turned into a solid wall with its impact smashing bones and organs into mush, those few looking from windows had the flesh shredded from their limbs by the glass blasted into an air borne blender. The SWAT team didn't stand a chance, even a tank wouldn't have survived the carnage that trailed from the drone.
If Simon had even momentarily hesitated he would have joined his teammates in oblivion, but at the first sound of the combat drone he'd thrown himself down the steps of a subterranean apartment. Even there the air hammered him with its heat searing his lungs, he was still nearly perforated by the shrapnel that luckily only managed to punch bruises into his flesh.
Cerik staggered to his feet, he'd been saved by a combination of factors, none of which included the drone's attack. His spell and saved him from the worst effects of the explosions, but he'd been bounced and thrown around badly enough to break his nose and bruise him into next week. His ears rang and he had the distinct feeling his stomach was never going to be able to hold food down again, the concussion from the blasts had so effected his inner ear that when he walked it was with the uncontrolled staggering wobble of a drunk.
He glanced back down the street and it was unrecognizable, he stood staring in awe at what the small-unmanned drone had wrought. Facades on apartment tenements had collapsed, their prefabricated concrete construction never designed to cope with the stress of aerial bombardment. The road was a pitted metal and concrete waste zone, not a single vehicle had survived in any form other than as a burning wreck.
For the fifty meters surrounding where the SWAT team had held it looked like a snap shot from an old urban brawl combat zone, or maybe even a Chicago street, the destruction was so complete. Alpha and Six started to run to the aid of their companion, only to stagger to a halt staring at the awesome sight.
"Red! You crazy bitch you've killed it!" said Cerik, unable to avert his eyes.
"Confirmed. SWAT team is toast. Currently zero hostiles inbound," replied Red. "No!" Shouted Cerik, "You've killed the god damned STREET! It’s gone, completely gone for frags sake!"
"Acknowledged. There was some collateral damage, but I think you should evacuate asap. I'm sure the Star will respond soon and the drones running on empty, and when they come I reckon they're going to come armed for bear."
Cerik allowed himself to be lead to the alley by Alpha and Six, they where subdued almost in shock. Alpha shot Six and angry glare when heard him mutter under his breath, commenting about how half the pay got wasted on wasting the street.
The three runners moved down the alley to behind a wheeled dumpster, an open manhole lay to one side, Cerik and Alpha quickly made their way down. Six squirmed after them, when he was in he dragged the bin over top of the manhole before manoeuvring the cover back into place.
By the time any Lone Star, or maybe even military investigators got to the scene they'd be long gone, any aerial or camera searches would locate nothing. The team had negotiated the tunnel system on small Pinto electric monocycles, cheap and light but allowing them to move at a constant speed through the underground warren that made up the sewer system.
Soon the team's mood changed as the adrenaline wore off and the realization they'd survived, while not unharmed certainly a lot better than it could have gone. Ceriks shock took the longest to get over, he had seen death walk the street and it'd been carrying a scythe that was death incarnate to anything it touched.
Cerik's wounds where easily patched by the team’s street doc, most where simple bruising from bullet impacts on his armour except of course his nose. Six's where more substantial but far from life threatening for the huge troll, his augmented platelets having stopped the bleeding long before it could affect his abilities. Alpha had taken a couple of rounds, none of which managed to penetrate his armour whilst Red and RAM ha escaped full unscathed from their encounter.

Frozen Thoughts

This was written based on a random session of Shadowrun we played with my character called Six, a massive troll packed full of all sorts of cyberware to bioware.


Frozen Thoughts
Six was happy, not only were they gonna get paid for what looked like easy work, but he was well fed, very well fed. Chucks buddy had stolen a van for their use, a meat delivery van packed full of all sorts of edibles. He'd already eaten enough sausage to sate his over augmented bodies requirements, and managed to slide some to Suzie to help feed some of the homeless orks and trolls that inhabited the sprawl.
  Chuck had become the unofficial coach of the team, which was currently made up of Crackle an old troll buddy that could sling the ol' spell juice. Tori, an elf shaman wanna be, likes doing allot of chanting of mumbo-jumbo but doesn't seem to accomplish much, though in combat she transforms into a wee hell kitten. Ralph is Tori's cousin, another bleeding arse elf, not really sure what he does, nothing obvious anyway just sorta tags along, nice enough guy though.
Chucks taken on the responsibility of being the main person dealing with the father, he comes up with allot of the game plans but is also real good at listening to the rest of us. Its kinda weird having a coach that actually listens to how the team wants to do stuff, and not just yelling instructions at us, its nice. Seems kinda nervous and jumpy, but has a real mean sense of humour, some would say nasty, but at least he tries to keep the team out of obvious trouble which is good in a coach.
Our current job is to frag up a bunch of the other churches business concerns which range from a restaurant to a heavy construction company, most of them though are wage slave type account and finance companies. There's like seven managers that we have to frag over, but we all decided to leave one chummer alone by the name of Simmons, hopefully he'll draw some attention away from us and cop some flack from his buddies.
Presently Crackle and I are bundled up in the back of the van heading towards the dump, the real honest to god rubbish dump! Suzie gave me the name of a rat shaman, ya see Chuck had this fraggin nasty idea of slipping some devil rats into the restaurant and catering businesses. Now that really appeals as its subtle and its going to freaking well toast there reputations, and there's almost no come back on us!
The other part of the job we got done today was contracting this Decker friend of Crackles, he's tailoring a virus to slip into some of the accountants business wares to fry their records and infect the back ups as well. After that the real fun will begin, with some of the explosives we steal from the construction firm we're going to use to do some damage to the other properties.
It'll be funny to see what the brothers send back against us, Tori wants to go after their team already but coach says nah, that if we start it then it could get real hard for us. I think I agree, keep it professional and even if it flops you've still got a good rep. Though I think we should start looking at better security for the team, maybe like staying in the same building or something like that. Mutual support the old coach called it, yeah, maybe I'll tell coach that's what we need to do.

Retribution

A random story written a ways back.
 
Retribution
The low cloud cover glowed in colours from across the spectrum, all reflected from the dizzying array of signs and holograms that seemed to cover every spare centimetre of shop or mall walls and roofs. Occasionally a ribbon of moon light managed to snake its way past the oppressive layer of smothering cloud, the silver-white light would trace its way across the cityscape like gods own spot light before once again being snuffed out.
Concealed beneath a roof eave Marius was barely aware of the awe inspiring sight as he once again tried to flex cramped muscles with the barest minimum of movement, his raised vantage point not only looked out across the slumbering city but also his targets mansion nestled in the lee of the hills. Concealed by the technical wizardry of a chameleon cloak and enduring the discomfit of having his body functions processed by a survival suit, he had remained in almost the exact same position for four days staring through a long range optical viewer and interpreting data from a high end sensor suite.
So far his surveillance had determined two things, the first being that the entire lower floor was almost solely occupied by rooms and facilities for the buildings staff, security and the targets bodyguards while the upper floor was well protected against almost all forms of surveillance. His contacts had also indicated the computer systems where tiered with the upper floor completely separate from the lower floor, additionally the upper floor only connected to the data sphere via an omni-directional line meaning there was absolutely no way anyone could hack into the system.
On the upside he had determined the physical security of the grounds themselves was limited to a high razor wire topped wall, a smattering of sensors and regular patrols by the six professional but low-grade 'warez security guards. The kongo bodyguards seemed to isolate themselves from the other guards and where allowed exclusive access to the upper floor, they would be the problem if encountered as they appeared to have been extensively wet wired and he had seen them armed with at least handguns.
His neuralnet alerted him it was 03.30, slowly he edged back into the small shallow between the eave and the wall dragging his equipment behind him before in slow motion began stowing the equipment and survival suit waste pouches into light weight containers. Then still moving at a snails pace he wrapped on his armoured vest with plates before strapping in place weapons and equipment modules all beneath the chameleon cloak, satisfied everything was secured in place he activated the timers on the container modules and slid them clear of the overhanging eave.
Slowly the timers ticked down, the first set for five minutes the second for ten, in five minutes a small dirigible would inflate and carry the containers aloft and make its way to an isolated rooftop miles away where it would be collected later in safety if all went well. In ten minutes if the dirigible wasn't silently cruising 100m above the ground it would detonate a white phosphorous grenade, the explosion would easily obliterate the equipment rendering it impossible to track its original owner or purpose.
04.05 And Marius started activating neurosoft combat programs within his neuralnet, suddenly a torrent of ghostly neuroiconic graphics scrawled across his vision to display system readiness and important peripheral data, all available to him at his merest thought. Additional systems came on, and for the first time in five days his electronic signature burst above the battery trickle his surveillance equipment had ran on, then just as suddenly his Cyberdyne Shadow IV electronic warfare suite activated to encapsulate him in a bubble of electronic shadows which effectively rendered him invisible to sensors.
A last simple command to his chameleon cloak switched its settings from it's slow change 'stalk' mode to the fast change 'predator' mode, and he gives the street below a final scan for any late night wanderers then without pause he leaps from the roof seven meters above the road. During the seconds it takes to fall to the ground the cloak becomes overwhelmed with the collage of colours flashing past and momentarily changes to its inert grey-green base speckled with hundreds of black sensor beads, landing Marius crumples to absorb the impact and allows the cloak to float down around him and it instantly turns the slate grey of the pavements carboncrete.
Senses alert and discrimination programs running in concert he again scans the road but pays particular attention to any sounds emanating from the mansion grounds, seconds tick by with no sign of an alarm having been raised, with a surge he powers into a sprint towards the five meter curtain wall. Myomer augmented muscles drive his body forward before a burst of superhuman strength propels his body into the air, practiced feet grip the wall lifting him further towards its apex before he flips the razor sharp entanglement along the top with a gymnasts talent to land with cat like grace concealed once again beneath the billowing chameleon cloak.
Minutes crawl by as Marius remains still and concealed within the deep shadows at the base of the wall, the distant continuous cacophony of city noise an odd counter point to the gently rustling trees that stand to either side of him. Eventually to his left his modified snake heat sensing pits detects the amber heat shimmer of two guards flitting in and out of sight between the trees, slowly the routine patrol brings the guards closer and closer to the invisible Marius until finally they pass mere meters in front of him as they quietly converse about some ball game played yesterday.
Closing his eye's he centres himself then activates his bionetic Nervewire™ reflex enhancement, when he opens his eyes time is moving in slow motion, the guards are paused in mid-speech with feet hanging in the air mid-stride. A short moon walker style leap places Marius directly behind the nearest guard, reaching out he taps the fingers of his right hand against the guards neck, the modified electric eel electroplaques send a shiver through his spine as they discharge their enhanced lethal load into the guard. Even as the muscle whacking spasms keep the first teetering in place Marius snaps a kick into the back of the second guards knee causing him to start to fall backwards, reaching out he grabs the guards head before driving his knee into the vulnerable neck with an audible bone breaking crack.
Dragging the two guards behind the nearest tree he removes their radios and attaches them to a small electronic relay designed to repeat earlier recordings of all clear signals from the two, dropping it with the two bodies he drapes his chameleon cloak over them and turns them into a pile of leaves. Quickly and quietly he makes his way around the inner wall until he reaches the closest point between the trees and the mansion, a quick dash and he makes the mansion wall before sprinting towards the back of the building ducking under each window.
04.12 Nestled in the back of the building between the mansion and the garage is the air recycling unit for the lower floor, slipping a plyplastic tool into the access hatch he jimmies the lock open with barely a sound to reveal the air-conditioning ducts. Pulling a grenade from a shoulder pouch he sets the timer for 3 minutes and drops it into the ducts and quickly closes and seals the hatch, Marius moves once again, stealthfully he makes his way around the garage wary of any movement in the kitchen that overlooks the court yard through which he's moving.
Stopping by the back entrance he hunkers down by the wall out of sight of the windows but only a step from the doorway, in his virtual vision a timer counts down, and the door starts to open as the next pair of guards prepare for duty. 04.15 and in his imagination Marius hears the grenade detonate with a pop, instantly it releases its cargo of Neurostun VII incapacitant gas into the ducts to be quickly dispersed through each and every room by the air-conditioning unit. Again he activates his Nervewire's™ even as one of the guards begins turning at the sound of the grenade going off nearby, slipping from the deep shadows Marius appears before the two like a spectre and causes both to blink at his sudden appearance.
Stepping forward Marius drives a straight punch into the guards solarplex with bone crunching power and propels the guards body back through the kitchen door, smoothly pivoting he follows up with an elbow to the others nose breaking it instantly and snapping his head back to drop him in the very same spot. Dragging the body inside he closes the door before propping the body against it just out of sight, stepping up onto the kitchen island counter he pries several ceiling tiles out of place until he finally reveals a bundle of datalines.
Attaching an electronic module to the datalines he watches as its smart connections writhe around like a multitude of hair-thin translucent snakes, each strand connects to a different line until it manages to fully integrate its self. Marius's neuralnet notifies him of a stable connection with the dataline so he releases the smartframe program into the mansions network, it takes only a matter of seconds for the software to slice its way through the fire alarms basic hardware and then into the processing core of the network proper. A torrent of neuroiconic information cascades across his vision, so much so it takes a minute to sort through it all to isolate the security 'warez and shut it all down.
Content that no immediate alarms would be sounding he slips quietly through the building towards the foyer and the stairs to the upper level, in the lounge the two bio-modified security Dobermans lie asleep with their eyes staring vacantly into space having been rendered unconscious by the odourless Neurostun gas. The foyer remained deserted as expected so Marius carefully carried on up the stairs to the heavily reinforced door that was the sole access point to the upper level, another pouched opened and he applies another module to the security panel and waits for it to crack the code and give him access to his quarry.
04.21 Marius pauses to reflect on his mission, it was seldom that he'd take a public interest job but this one needed specialist attention beyond what a community could manage to pay a street samurai or ronin, and there where extenuating circumstances that transcended the low payment they where offering. Truth be told their fee hadn't even paid for the software he'd already used let alone the equipment, contacts and time invested, but Marius considered the money well spent if even half of what he'd been told was true about his target.
With an inaudible *beep* the module signalled him it had completed its work and with a *chunk* the maglocks retracted to allow the door to swing silently open, reaching for his pistol he finds it already clasped in his hand, he'd always preferred the heavy reliance of firearms over the more recent energy weapons. Subtle lighting at ankle height lined the corridor allowing his enhanced vision to clearly see every detail, everywhere he looked the targeting reticule of his silenced Manhunter heavy pistol tracked as it followed his searching eyes pierced every nook and cranny.
Pistol leading the way Marius steps into the lavish hallway off which only two doorways lead, to his left and only a few meters ahead is a simple oak door while at the far end stands an ornate set of double doors. Kneeling he tosses four 50c sized disks onto the ground outside the first door, from each sprouts six tentacle-legs that scurries two of them towards each doorway. In each corner of his vision a small window opens to display the miniature camera views from the small spider bots, SpyderBot.1 squirms under the door to reveal a large open plan lounge with a menacing looking kongo hurriedly loading a sub-machinegun.
Suddenly a huge black shadow looms over the SpyderBot in the form of a large boot that smashes down on the fragile bot and instantly turns its image to a hash of snow, half a second later the oaken door shatters outwards as a huge heavily built kongo throws itself through. Marius is already moving when the first thunderous report booms in the corridor as the kongo bodyguard fires its shotgun in mid-flight, the shotgun blast misses by a wide margin then Marius's Manhunter kicks in his hand as he snaps off a series of quick shots of which only one strikes a glancing hit on the still falling kongo.
Ducking Marius fires three more shots at his now prostrate attacker, two of the 10mm advanced energy transfer rounds strikes its chest knocking the body back under the impact and sending the kongo's next shot out of alignment but still leaving the shot close enough to score Marius's cheek with bullet burn. Shifting his aim three more shots cough from the silenced pistol in odd contrast to the echoing explosions from the shotgun, two glancing hits pummel the Kongo's head with the final shot blowing through its eye socket and punching a fist sized hole out the back of its head to splatter blood and gore over the wall and carpet.
A threatening red neuroicon flashes a warning that his pistol is out of ammunition, quickly he grabs a grenade from his belt and lobs it into the room beyond the shattered doorway. Dropping prone on the ground he escapes being hit as rounds jackhammer through the wall as the second bodyguard sprays the wall in an attempt to hit him, fortunately the second bodyguard seems wary of hitting the firsts body and the majority of rounds strike high.
Accompanied by a pained grunt a sudden nova bright light erupts from the room as the flash grenade flares momentarily into existence, instantly coming to his knees Marius tumbles diagonally into the room to avoid the strobing random bursts of automatic weapons fire from the blinded kongo. Throwing his empty pistol at the guard’s face Marius vaults over the large two-seater couch, the half blinded guard flails wildly at the impromptu weapon and manages to deflect the missile before stepping forward with a wide swing using the heavy sub-machinegun as a club. Arms up around his head in a typical tai-kicking boxing stance Marius steps into the radius of the swing to negate the awesome power contained in the blow, driving his weight behind his knee he slams it into the massive kongo's inner-thigh unbalancing the bodyguard before catching the kongo with an upward swung elbow driven into its throat.
Staggering and coughing the kongo catches Marius with an unexpected side kick that sends him reeling across the room, lucky for Marius the ceramic plate in his vest dissipates the brunt of the force and saves him several broken ribs. Both combatants manage to gain their breath before they begin to circle each other while seeking for any sign of weakness, two rotations and the distance has closed to where the kongo feels confident of a safe strike. Leaping forward he tries a simple but devastating axe kick designed to either force the intruder back into the corner or break any portion of body left in his foots way, Marius sees the telegraphed move coming and forward rolls past the slower kongo before delivering a spinning back kick to the rear of its knee with bone shattering precision.
Yelling in agony the crippled bodyguard collapses to the floor in a sprawling heap, grabbing a nearby coffee table Marius swings it high over head and repeatedly smashes it down on the injured guard until the bloodied pulp of a man moves no more. Ragged breaths cause Marius to wince as cracked ribs and ample bruises protest at their slightest movement, scanning around the ruined room he manages to locate his pistol and with slow deliberate movements he retrieves it to slide another magazine into place. He had to admit to himself that fight had been shorter than expected, and slightly more painful as well, how the hell they knew he was coming was beyond him but there was no doubt any further use of stealth was pointless.
Activating his auto-med it infused him with a dose of Regen™ to aid in his healing, Marius sighed as its warmth flooded through his senses, numbing aches and pains as it hit every nerve ending like a wave flowing around his body. And those few seconds of relaxed semi-pleasure almost cost him his life as he almost misses the tell tale noise of the two security Dobermans tearing up the stairs behind him, turning the Manhunter starts bucking in his hand as the first dog comes into view travelling horrendously fast. Geneengineered and recombined with shark DNA they are terrifying up close and personnel, with a mouth full of serrated shark teeth in a slavering maw beneath coal black eyes that stare emotionlessly into the soul few can stand unmoved before them.
Well aware that to turn and run would mean only that he never saw the harbingers of his death coming, Marius almost fires desperately at the speeding Doberman when a round finally strikes and sends it into a chaotic tumble. The Doberman is eerily silent in its mad dash tumble across the floor before crashing into the inert kongo's body, even if the bionetic implants within the dog's brain had allowed it to yelp in pain the surgeons had insured no sound would be forth coming by having removed their vocal cords. Throwing himself backwards Marius once again narrowly avoids the lethal slashing teeth of the second Doberman, the distinctive impact sound of bullets tearing through flesh accompany his next two shots as the leaping dog sails over the falling Marius.
Twisting on the ground readying to defend against an animal more than capable of rending flesh from bone in a single razor sharp bite, he looks up to see the second dog already trying to gain its feet, miraculously though one of his shots had passed through its stomach and blown out a portion of its spine to fortuitously paralyse it's rear legs. Picking himself up off the ground he once again slides a fresh clip into his pistol before shooting each dog once in the head and putting them both out of any further pain, stepping over the second dog he runs a strip of electron-compression explosive down the centre of the door and sets the detonator.
Walking back down the corridor to the bodyguards room he takes cover then with a thought detonates the strip that explodes with a sharp *crack*, a short dash and leap sends his foot knifing into the weakened centre and ploughs open the damaged wooden veneered tritanium door. Marius follows through from the leap kick with a roll to soak up the residual energy and uses it to carry him into the centre of the room, keeping low he searches the room for any sign of his prey. His finely tuned modified snake heat sensing pits show the bed recently vacated by probably two bodies, a concealed door near the bed glows a slightly warmer colour to indicate the likely hood of living beings beyond.
Stalking over to the door he hears muffled voices from beyond the portal, quiet voices being barked at by a louder cruel voice. His anger starting to seethe to the surface Marius snaps a round-house kick into the door to smash it inwards in a hail of splinters and wood fragments, the childish screams instantly freezes his blood as he realises he has bought terror to those he came to set free from a monster. The adjacent windowless room is illuminated by several night lights and is decorated in a pale pink scheme with pastel butterflies, the half dozen beds all have their bedding tossed back and lie empty.
Standing in the middle of the room are five young girls, not one is aged above twelve and all are dressed in lingerie that would be distasteful on most professional street walkers let alone children. Kneeling behind them is his prey, Luther Crown, spoilt, rich, and powerful son of Edger Crown the CEO controlling ImpGen Corporation who had been renowned for designing some of the 'warez that Marius himself utilized. His targeting reticule sat steadily centred on Luther's forehead within Marius vision, as he used his peripheral vision to further search the room, he had to concentrate to avoid waves of revulsion flooding through him at the sight of so many innocents debased and abused.
Having decided no additional threats lay hidden in the room Marius turns his attention on Luther who he finds studying him back, a simple bright kimono is draped half closed across an athletic physique while he calmly holds an exquisite katana steadily across the throat of the child held protectively before him.
Appearing to be a young man in his mid-thirties with bright blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes he would have attracted the attention of many woman regardless of his wealthy background, Marius knew better, the 'young man' was actually closer to seventy and had undergone several regenerative procedures.
Unexpectedly Luther spoke in a soft voice, “So you would be my assassin? You have done well to have made it so far, most die before they even make it to the house. Do you mind if I ask who sent you?"
Crouching Marius continued to try and determine a way he could attack without risking the children who stood around their abuser, Luther saw the small movement and revealed his other hand and the grenade it held primed and ready to detonate.
    "Now let’s not do anything to rash that might threaten my young wards, if you manage to kill me I will inevitably drop this and in this small room that would be most unfortunate for all involved. In fact it may be best if you drop your weapon my silent friend, then we can discuss what is to happen here." Luther said in such a superior tone Marius almost considered it for a second.
Marius drops his pistol to the ground with a heavy *clump*, he watches as Luther's eyes follow its fall  and leaps forward with a powerful thrust of his legs, as expected Luther's reflexes kick in and he pivots to drive the sword into Marius's undefended chest. With a nimble twist of his torso Marius scrapes past the sword point but is unable to avoid taking a long gash across his side, with a slap of his hand he energizes the blade with a burst of electricity from his electroplaques, not enough to permanently injure Luther however they do spasm his muscles and send him reeling back across the room.
"Get out now!" Booms Marius at the semi-startled children, who having been extensively brain washed by Luther respond instantly to the larger adults command and run crying through the door. The grenade skitters across the floor having fallen free of Luther's numb fingers, a swift kick towards the grenade sends it skipping into the far corner, grabbing a bed he tosses it in a low cartwheel on top of it to help suppress the explosive hail of lethal fragments before diving head first through the doorway. Rolling to his feet he looks back in time to see the grenade explode and obliterate the room in a fiery burst that perforates the entire room, the bloodied and riddled body of Luther Crown gets hurled through the door to flop at Marius's feet.
Stooping to the children's level he tries as hard as he can to speak in calming tones, "I'm sorry to have yelled at you, but we need to leave here quickly ok."
A few shell shocked nods meet his request, arms wide he starts ushering the children towards the door with soothing noises. Opening his comm.'s network he sends a burst transmission to his accomplices waiting nearby with vehicles to transport the children away to safety, with his focus divided between so many tasks it’s no wonder he doesn't hear the movement stirring behind him.
Like a lightning strike out of a clear sky, pain gorges every nerve ending in Marius's body as he staggers forward from an unseen impact to his back. Confusion holds his mind for an incomprehensible second as he looks down at the sharp bladed end of a katana protruding from within his chest, training and reflexes take over and he risks further damage by twisting into a rear elbow strike to Luther's face. Stepping forward he feels the grating of the blade sliding across his ribs as he pulls free of the blade, snapping off a side kick he gains some room from the deadly blade.
Looking into Luther's blood shot blue eyes all Marius sees is a feral hated and blood lust, obviously wet wired for electroplaques as well, Luther energizes the katana with a lethal haze of electrical energy. The dance that erupts is at superhuman speeds that would be nothing but a blur to any mundane watching, chips of door frame fly free as missed attacks whiz past the manically dodging form of Marius. Slowly Marius backs away from the menacing blade, allowing the tighter confines of the corridor to limit the styles of attacks that can be made with the sword.
Luther steps forward raising the sword above his head in a classic two-handed style, snapping forward Marius grasps each wrist holding the sword high and immobile, both opponents are highly wet wired making the show of strength a titanic display. With a sharp exhale Marius breathes a cloud of toxin from modified sacs implanted in his throat directly into Luther's face, the unexpected assault causes Luther to reflexively inhale and takes the nerve toxin deep into his lungs. Ripples of spasms shudder through Luther's body as his legs turn to rubber and he collapses to the ground at Marius's feet, short ragged breathes and rapidly blinking eyes let Marius know Luther is still aware of his surroundings enough to be on the verge of mental panic.
Capturing Luther's gaze Marius bends down and with bubbles of blood flecking his lips he speaks quietly, "I want you to know why you’re about to die, it’s not your money, power or because you got involved with the wrong deal.
A look of utter disgust passes momentarily across Marius's face, "It's the simple fact you’re a filthy child abusing paedophile. Did you actually think that your money and name would protect you, to allow you to steal children from the local community to fulfil your perversion without retribution?"
Standing he picks up the dropped katana, "Now you know you’re wrong. And since they asked me to deliver retribution to you, and anyone else that thinks the same as you, will end the same." Their eyes still locked, Marius drives the katana through Luther's heart until the blade is firmly imbed halfway through the floor. On the verge of collapse Marius turns to find the children huddled at the end of the corridor staring wide-eyed at the spectacle, then as one they run to him and envelope him in a mass of safety seeking arms.
The bloodied and cut Marius struggles from the front door beneath the heavy weight of the children he carries, beyond the front gate he can see the trucks that will whisk the children to the nearby town hall and their frantic parents. Tears run freely from both the children and Marius as he's half strangled by their thankful hugs, the final minutes blur as he staggers to clamber into the truck and its motor groans into action to carry them all to safety.