Born to run (s-4)

by Stephen Kenson

  Orion cocked his head, listening intently as Kellan raced ahead, the words spilling out of her.

  "So then you and the Spikes go to war and pretty much wipe each other out with all the new guns. Gang violence in the plex goes through the roof, and then: and then Ares can step in and show how Lone Star isn't doing its job policing the metroplex! After all, they've let all these hijackings happen, and now there are gang wars galore. Knight Errant can make a real case for the metroplex police contract to be awarded to them when it comes up for renewal. And policing the Barrens will be that much easier once the Ancients and the Spikes and a few other gangs have wiped each other out in a big war."

  "You're crazy," Orion said, shaking his head.

  "You know I'm not," she replied. "C'mon! What's Brickman's angle? What's his cut when you get the weapons?" she asked and Orion shook his head.

  "Nothing," he said.

  "Exactly. So what's in it for him?"

  "What's in it for you?" Orion countered. "Why are you even telling me this? I mean, you got paid. You did your job. You're not involved any more."

  "I am if Brickman is using us to set up something like this," Kellan countered. "He used us to make his setup look convincing, and he may be planning to pin the blame for all this drek on us. I don't like playing the fall guy, and I don't like being used."

  Orion snorted. "Get used to it," he said, echoing Jackie Ozone's words. "You're a shadowrunner. People use you."

  "What about you?" Kellan asked. "Do you just let people use you? Because that's what's happening here, Orion, and you know it! Brickman is setting you up, plain and simple! He's using you! If you're okay with being someone else's puppet, then fine. I did what I needed to do." She turned and headed for the door, her steps loud in the darkened garage.

  "Wait," Orion said, and Kellan turned to face him again. The elf ganger's expression had lost some of its arrogance. He opened his hand and looked at the data chip Kellan had given him.

  "You're sure about this?"

  "Dead sure."

  "All right," the elf said. "You'd better be, because it's not me we have to convince."

  "We?" Kellan asked.

  "Yeah," Orion said, "if you meant what you said about not wanting to let Brickman pull this off."

  "Yeah, I did."

  "Okay, then there's somebody you need to talk to."

  The leader of the Ancients was called Green Lucifer, and Kellan thought the name suited him. He was tall, even for an elf, all lean, tight muscle beneath the street leathers and the torn T-shirt and jeans. His height and slender build were enhanced by a high Mohawk, dyed the same vivid green as the "A" logo splashed on the back of his jacket. He wore fingerless black leather gloves with chrome studs, and flexed his fingers like a cat extending its claws. Kellan had the impression of a caged beast, like a lion lounging at the head of his pride, licking his chops, but ready to spring in an instant. The predatory look in his dark eyes gave Kellan the shivers, though she did her best not to show it.

  Orion managed to persuade the gang leader to at least listen to what Kellan had to say. She spelled out everything she and Jackie discovered in the Matrix and showed him the information on the data chip she had brought for Orion. She explained her theory of how Brickman was playing both ends against the middle, setting the two gangs up for a conflict that would benefit only Knight Errant and Ares in the long run. Green Lucifer listened carefully, taking it all in, giving her his complete attention.

  When she finished, the elf gang leader leaned back in the swivel chair in the small office above the old warehouse the Ancients claimed as part of their turf. It reminded Kellan of a throne, and Green Lucifer was, in his own way, king of his particular part of the plex.

  "So," he said in a surprisingly cultured voice, "tell me what you think of all this, Orion." He raised one elegant eyebrow, pierced with a silver ring. Without even glancing at Kellan, Orion faced his leader, looking him right in the eye.

  "I think she's right," Orion said. "Brickman is playing us, and we shouldn't trust him. This whole deal reeks."

  "I see," Green Lucifer said. "And how would you suggest we deal with this situation?"

  Orion seemed surprised that the leader of the Ancients was asking for his opinion. He thought for a moment before he replied.

  "Get an explanation from Brickman," he said. "Find out the truth about what the frag is going on."

  Green Lucifer nodded slowly. "Find out the truth:" he repeated. He placed his hands on the arms of his chair and pushed himself up to stand, towering above the pair sitting opposite him.

  "You're certainly very quick to believe the words of this: human," he said to Orion, throwing a glance in Kellan's direction. His intonation made the word sound like a curse, and Kellan drew herself up in her chair.

  "She makes sense," Orion replied evenly, unbowed by his leader's scorn, "and I don't trust Brickman."

  "As is right. But you trust her? Why is that, I wonder." Green Lucifer turned his back on the two of them, strolling behind his chair before turning toward them again, resting his hands on the back of the chair. He moved and spoke like an actor, Kellan thought, striding across a stage.

  "Why is it," he repeated, "you suddenly decide this deal is a threat to us instead of the opportunity you considered it just a short while ago?"

  Before Orion could reply, Kellan spoke up, standing to emphasize her point.

  "I just explained that," she said. "Brickman is frag-gin' playing you! He's setting you up!"

  A look of incredulity passed over Green Lucifer's face, as if he couldn't believe this mere human girl was speaking to him in such a manner. His brows drew together in a frown, then a tight smile twisted his face and he laughed. It was a harsh, bitter sound, with no real humor in it.

  "You poor girl," he said in a mocking tone. "Of course Brickman is playing his own game. So are we. So is everyone in the world." He spread his hands wide for emphasis. "It's the way of things. Do you really think that I blindly trust any human? Do you really think that the insights of some human child who has managed to evade her babysitter long enough to play at being a shadowrunner are of any use to me whatsoever?" He waved one hand in a dismissive gesture. "Go back to playing with your toys, little girl. I was making deals before you were even conceived. I know what I'm doing, and I don't need advice from the likes of you."

  Kellan stood where she was, the blood draining from her face as Green Lucifer's sneering tone and words cut her to the bone. She clenched her fists and stared daggers at the gang leader, who met her glare with a mocking detachment that only fanned the flames of Kellan's anger. She felt the fire building within her, felt the tingling of the amulet at her throat as the magical forces simmered, just waiting for her call.

  "Why, you stuck-up son of a:" she muttered, taking a step forward. Then Orion's hand was on her arm and she whirled to face him.

  "Not here," he said quietly, "not now," and Kellan swallowed an angry retort. He was right. She glared at Green Lucifer, who stood watching them, then she yanked her arm from Orion's grasp.

  "As for you, Orion," Lucifer continued, as if there'd been no interruption in his monologue, "I would think very carefully before discussing your theories with anyone else-and I would choose my friends more carefully in the future."

  "That's it?" Orion asked. "You're not going to do anything about this?"

  Green Lucifer's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you questioning my decision, Orion?" he asked in a low tone, flicking the question like a whip. Orion didn't shrink from it.

  "You're fraggin' right I am!" he said fiercely. "You're talking about selling us out to a corp!"

  The look on Lucifer's thin face was unreadable as the gang leader faced down Orion, who refused to look away. Then Lucifer smiled, sending a cold shiver down Kellan's spine.

  "Very well," he said. He stepped around Orion to the door of the small office. Opening it, he strode out, heavy boots ringing on the metallic grate of the stairs bolted to the wall. Orion looke
d like he was in shock. Then, without a word, he set his jaw and turned to follow the Ancients' leader. Kellan wanted desperately to ask him what the frag was going on, but the look in Orion's eyes kept her quiet. She simply followed close behind him out the door.

  Green Lucifer stood near the head of the stairs leading down to the floor of the warehouse. Spread out below him were a couple dozen elves in biker leathers, their hair shaved into Mohawks and dyed outrageous colors. A few of them played pool at a table on one side of the room, others lounged, or tinkered with the motorcycles lined up near the loading-bay door.

  "It seems," Green Lucifer said in a tone that echoed in the open space of the warehouse, "that Orion has a problem with the way that I choose to run things around here. Is that right, Orion?"

  All eyes in the room went to where Orion and Kellan stood at the top of the stairs, and Kellan was suddenly aware of how quiet it had gotten. She held her breath, heart pounding, as the Ancients waited for Orion's response. She realized that Green Lucifer was giving Orion one more chance to change his mind, to admit his mistake and smooth things over. He looked across at Green Lucifer, not taking his eyes off the gang leader for a moment.

  "That's right," he replied clearly. "I say you're selling us out."

  Suddenly, the elves on the floor below moved as one, parting like leaves in the wind. Green Lucifer descended to the bottom of the staircase and moved out into the circle formed by the members of the gang-

  "Stay on the stairs," Orion said to Kellan.

  "Orion:," she began.

  "Stay on the stairs," he repeated, then he turned and walked slowly down the stairs. Kellan followed close behind, staying on the next to the last step as Orion stepped down and walked into the circle.

  One of the Ancients held out a scabbarded sword to Green Lucifer. He grasped the hilt without taking his eyes off Orion and drew the blade from its sheath with a slither of steel on steel. The razor-sharp edge gleamed in the dim light of the room. Orion reached over his shoulder and slowly drew his own sword. Both men raised their blades in a ceremonial salute.

  "Li-ha?" Green Lucifer asked Orion with a curl of his lip and the raise of a brow.

  "Sidle," he replied, raising his sword in answer.

  A moment of stillness hung over the room, and Kellan held her breath. An elven woman stood at the edge of the circle and raised a hand.

  "Akan!" she said, her hand dropping.

  There was a whoosh as Orion swept forward with his blade. Steel rang on steel as Green Lucifer blocked: high, low, then to the side. Then the gang leader came in at Orion and his blade flashed, blocking the incoming thrusts: one, two. They spun apart like dancers, facing each other.

  They circled around each other warily, the first strikes just probing, testing the other's defenses. Orion lunged forward again, and Green Lucifer blocked. A sweep of his blade pushed Orion's aside, and he slashed. Orion ducked and his opponent's blade cut only empty air. He spun as he came back up and thrust, but Green Lucifer's blade whipped up to block again.

  They circled. This time, Orion paused, letting Green Lucifer come at him. He ducked low to avoid a high swing, then leapt up and over, his opponent's blade passing beneath him. Kellan watched as Orion somersaulted over Green Lucifer's head to land on his feet right behind him. But the gang leader spun in time to block Orion's strike, their two blades momentarily locked together. Then Lucifer rolled back, dropping to the floor and planting a foot in Orion's stomach. With surprising strength, he heaved the other elf right over him, but Orion tucked into a roll and landed on his feet a short distance away as Green Lucifer came back up onto his feet to meet Orion's next lunge.

  They circled and stalked in a rhythm punctuated by sudden flurries of attacks and blocks; the ringing of the swords, the slap of booted feet and the controlled, heavy breathing of the duelists the only sounds in the cavernous warehouse. Kellan's knuckles were white on the metal railing of the stairs as she watched. It was clear the two men were both masterful fighters, but Orion's posture and manner were deadly serious and Green Lucifer's face never lost its wicked, mocking expression.

  It's like he's just playing with him. Green Lucifer took every opportunity to mock his foe with each move, every flourish of his blade, every expression, even in the way he stood. It was taking its toll on Orion. The younger elf came in each time with an attack more fierce and furious than the last, only to be repelled.

  "Shata, goronagit!" Green Lucifer sneered, and Orion rushed at his opponent with a loud battle cry.

  Both their blades were blurs of silver as Orion struck and Green Lucifer blocked, over and over, in the rhythm of the deadly dance.

  Then the Ancients gang leader feinted. Orion dropped his guard for a moment. A swing came in too high and Green Lucifer's blade caught his. There was a twist, a flash of metal, and Orion's sword clattered onto the concrete floor a short distance away. Kellan's breath caught in her throat.

  Green Lucifer's blade flashed and Orion cried out, dropping to one knee on the floor, a hand clutched to his face. Kellan could see blood dripping between Orion's fingers, gleaming wetly on the tip of Lucifer's sword.

  Kellan didn't even think as she rushed into the circle, to where Orion knelt. Instead of striking a killing blow, Green Lucifer put up his sword, raising the blade before his face for a moment in salute, then swept it to point down and outward.

  "Carronasto," he said quietly.

  Kellan knelt beside Orion, but he put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her away, rising slowly to his feet, his right hand still clutched to the side of his face. He stood and faced Green Lucifer in the middle of the circle.

  "Goronagee irenis," the Ancients' leader said flatly. As one, the assembled gang members standing in the circle turned to face away from where Orion stood.

  Slowly, Orion walked over to where his sword lay. He picked it up with a bloody hand and slid it back into its sheath. Kellan saw now that Lucifer's sword had cut a bleeding gash along Orion's cheek; blood already staining his T-shirt red on one side.

  Without another word, Orion turned and walked away from Green Lucifer, out of the circle of the gang members. Kellan glanced back at where the Ancients' leader stood, watching Orion go, with no trace of emotion on his face. The other elves were the same: like cold, beautiful statues. Kellan followed as Orion walked over to his Yamaha Rapier, mounted up and started the engine. With only a moment's hesitation, she climbed on behind him. Orion made no move to stop her.

  He revved the engine and two of the gang members moved to open the door of the old warehouse. When it was open, Orion put the bike into gear and roared out into the night. Kellan glanced back at the tall figure of Green Lucifer standing framed in the doorway as it closed behind them, bloody sword still in his hand. She saw the elven gang leader's face twist into a bitter, mocking smile as they rode off.

  15

  Orion barely reacted as the street doc ran the surgical stapler along the gash on his cheek. Of course, she'd stuck a patch on the side of his neck providing enough beta-endorphin that Orion probably wouldn't have flinched at much of anything. He'd resisted the offer of anesthetic at first, but Dr. Fait insisted. "Or else I can't be responsible if I happen to stitch your mouth closed," she said. Orion didn't argue with her any further.

  The elderly woman apparently knew Orion quite well and greeted him by name when he and Kellan went to her makeshift office in the basement of a building in Puyallup so Orion could get patched up. The street doc saw Orion immediately, ahead of two other patients. Fortunately, they didn't complain.

  Dr. Fait must have been in her sixties, but her gnarled hands were still deft, and her touch steady. She carefully closed up the cut on Orion's face, squinting at her work as she went.

  "You're damn lucky," she said to Orion as she worked. "It's a clean cut and you got to me right away. If you manage to keep out of trouble for a little while, it shouldn't even leave much of a scar."

  "Oh, it'll scar," Orion muttered. His mood had been grim since
they left the Ancients' headquarters. He'd barely said two words to Kellan the whole time. Under the effects of the anesthetic, he was becoming a bit more talkative, though apparently no less depressed.

  "Hold still," Dr. Fait demanded, grabbing Orion's chin and adjusting the angle of his head.

  Kellan watched in silence as the doctor worked. Orion hadn't offered any explanation of what she had witnessed. She hadn't asked, but it was obvious it wasn't good. He'd challenged Green Lucifer and lost, and all based on what Kellan had told him. She felt responsible for his situation and wanted to do something to help, but all she could do was watch and wait.

  In a few moments, Dr. Fait completed her work and looked it over with a satisfied "hmmm." She set the surgical stapler down on a nearby instrument tray and looked around.

  "I'll get some spray bandage for that," she said. "Stay put, Tam, I'll be right back." Then she bustled out of the room and Orion laid his head back against the headrest of the chair with a heavy sigh, closing his eyes.

  "Tam?" Kellan asked quietly, wondering if the elf ganger was drifting off to sleep.

  "It's short for Tamlin," he said without opening his eyes. "A character from a poem my mother liked. He was a bard taken into faerie. She must have thought it was suitably elven."

  "So your mother was an elf?"

  "No," he muttered. "She was human. My father was an elf, though."

  "Where are your parents now?"

  "Dead. My father died in the Night of Rage, right before I was born.

  "My mom raised me alone in Tarislar," Orion continued. "She was a doctor, like Christina," he nodded toward the door through which Dr. Fait had gone. "They worked together at the hospital. Some chipped-out punker in the ER shot her when I was thirteen. I've been on my own since then."