#shadowrun au

“Jeff, we’re in each other’s line of sight.” Leroy waved at them from across the bar. “If you can’t see that I’m in position then I think you need glasses. Aren’t elves supposed to have keener eyesight than the rest of us?”

Jefferson rolled his eyes, but he didn’t rise to the challenge. As the only metahumans in their usual group, Jefferson and Leroy got a lot of mileage out of dwarf and elf jokes. 

“Ok, we’re ready,” he said. “And Grumpy, you know that we’re supposed to use codenames when we’re on comms.”

“Yes, Hatter.”

“Hopefully, this should be a nice, clean extraction. In, out, deliver, get paid. Let’s Run.”

Jefferson began to weave his way through the crowded bar towards their mark, striking up an easy conversation. Jefferson was their face, the charismatic con artist with a silver tongue who could talk them into or out of anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. If Jefferson’s charm failed then they fell back on Belle’s magic or Leroy’s aptitude with a hammer and pickaxe – or just his fists. As a last resort, they had Gold providing them with air support from a distance; the man had more drones at his fingertips than he knew what to do with, ranging from tiny spy cameras the size of a bee to huge monsters with mounted heavy machine guns. Between them, they made a good team and they’d been Shadowrunning together successfully for years.

The mark had bitten, leaning in closer to Jefferson, eager to hear what he had to say. Belle kept her eyes open. They were not the only ones looking to extract this man. When they’d been hired, their client had warned them that he was hot property. There was a price on his head.

Belle spotted a couple of obvious paramilitary types moving towards Jefferson, and she dropped onto the astral plane to take stock, scanning the room for magical signatures. She wasn’t the only mage in the bar, but her persons of interest had no powers themselves. Across the room, she could see Leroy taking an interest in two more goons and beginning to tail them through the throng.

“One more behind you,” Gold’s voice said in her ear. His spy drone zoomed past in front of her and began to systematically read the room. “Just those five as far as I can make out.”

Belle glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of the person Gold had spotted, a burly ork in an ill-fitting suit. As he squeezed past her, Belle caught his arm, sending out a pulse of magic to probe his mind. It was only a brief touch so she didn’t get much, but she could tell that he had been hired by one of the megacorporations, that the other suspicious persons were with him, and that his intentions towards their mark were of the distinctly murderous variety.

“Jeff, we have incoming and they’re not friendly,” she hissed into her comm. “Get him out now.”

“Copy that.”

Across the bar, she saw Jefferson’s demeanour instantly change from debonair playboy to hardened Shadowrunner as he explained the situation to the mark and the two of them began to make their way back towards Belle and the exit. The goons were following them, pushing the other patrons aside in an attempt not to lose their quarry. Over on the other side of the room, there was a commotion as Leroy engaged the two he’d been tailing. The other three looked over to their colleagues but did not go to their aid.

Belle cast invisibility with a flick of her wrist, Jefferson and the mark becoming blue and ghostly in her eyes as they vanished from view for the rest of the bar. The spell was tricky, needing a constant sight line to maintain, and it was difficult in a place where there were so many other people getting in the way. Someone jostled her, breaking her concentration, and the spell shattered, leaving Jeff and the mark fully visible again, although they’d managed to put some more distance between themselves and their pursuers. They were almost at the door when there was a scream; the two goons had produced pistols and didn’t seem to have any care for collateral damage in their determination.

Belle knew that she only had a moment to act, and she dived into their path.

“BELLE NO!” Gold’s voice in her ear was frantic, but she ignored it. She’d done this before, and she had to trust that Gold knew what she was doing and could act on her instinct.

As the two men fired, Belle threw up a barrier, pouring all of her magical energy into maintaining the invisible wall between them and her – and by proxy Jefferson and their mark.

“Hatter, go!” she yelled as another couple of drones swooped past her ear. Gold had got the message, and Jefferson wasted no time in escaping with their mark. A moment later, there was an ear-splitting shriek of electricity as the taser drones found their mark, and Belle finally dropped the barrier, the bullets dropping with it. She staggered backwards; the spell had drained her, and her head was pounding. Across the bar, she saw Leroy despatch his two opponents and dive out of the nearest window. Ignoring the spots dancing in front of her eyes, Belle turned tail and ran out of the bar after Jefferson, catching up with him and the mark and meeting up with Leroy outside in the commotion.

“Now where?” The mark was looking around in desperation. Although Shadowrunners were not the most trustworthy of people, at least this group appeared to want to try and save his life rather than end it, so he’d cut his losses and was sticking with them.

“Now, we wait for our ride, which should be here any minute now.” Jefferson smiled as a screech of tires heralded the arrival of a blue SUV on the scene. “There we are, right on schedule.”

Three of the four doors shot open, much to the alarm of the gathered crowds outside the bar since the SUV appeared to be completely empty. Jefferson bundled the mark into the back and Belle jumped into the passenger seat, Leroy throwing himself into the driver’s side and only just having time to close his door before the car zoomed off again.

“Rumpel, if you hurt one molecule of Catherine’s paintwork,” he grumbled. “I’ll take the wheel now, thanks. Rumpel! I said I’ll take the wheel!”

“You sure about that?” Gold’s voice came through on the comms. “You’ve got incoming.”

Belle glanced in the rear-view to see that the three goons Leroy had not had chance to take down were following them, one in another car, the other on a motorbike.

“Yes! Will you give me control of my own damn van!”

There was an audible clunk as the SUV dropped out of remote control, losing speed for a moment before Leroy was back in control, roaring down the road and dodging in and out of other traffic.

A hail of bullets ricocheted off Catherine’s bumper and Jefferson pushed the mark down out of the line of fire. Evasive manoeuvres weren’t going to cut it; they were going to have to return fire.

“Rumpelstiltskin, take the wheel!”

As reluctant as Leroy had been to let Gold get his hands on his precious Catherine, even he had to admit that having a backseat driver was very useful in times like this.

There was another clunk and short speed drop, then the SUV was driving itself as Leroy rummaged in the driver’s footwell for something out of his extensive arsenal, proceeding to lean out of the window with a shotgun.

Belle leaned out too, but the vehicles were moving too quickly for her to get a proper hit with her magic. She looked up at the rooftops, spotting Gold in his roost, his face illuminated by the light of several holographic screens as he effortlessly drove Catherine with one hand and controlled his many drones with the other. Something caught her eye, a flicker behind Gold that shouldn’t have been there.

She dropped down onto the astral plane again, trying to focus despite the motion. Yes, there was another mage coming up behind him.

“Gold, behind you!” she squealed. He turned, but the mage was invisible to him and his attack drones were all focussed on the pursuit. Belle pushed back onto the physical plane, dived back into the SUV and then out of the sunroof, much to Leroy’s alarm.

“Get down! You’re a sitting duck!”

“So’s Gold, and I need a better sight line on astral! Cover me!”

Leroy griped but acquiesced, and Belle went astral again, throwing a spell towards the mage behind Gold. Being astral, it went straight through Gold with no ill effects, finding its target and sending him staggering backwards, breaking his concentration and turning him visible again to let Gold finish him off – in doing so losing his own concentration on Catherine for a moment and making her lurch to the side.

Belle heard Leroy’s yell: “Rumpel! Do not hurt Catherine!” but then all that was lost as a bullet grazed her arm, making her cry out with the pain and drop back down into the SUV.

“If she even has a scratch I’ll… Belle, are you ok?”

“Belle! Belle, are you all right?”

Belle nodded, although she did not like the feel of the blood seeping between her fingers as she clutched her arm. She leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes, vaguely aware of Gold’s voice in her ear as Jefferson leaned through between the front seats to give her first aid.

Finally, Leroy finished off their attackers and took control of Catherine again. Everything was quiet at last. Now all they had to do was get to the rendezvous with their client: their mark’s father, who had promised a substantial sum if they got him out of dodge unscathed.

Belle just hoped that the mage on the rooftop hadn’t been alone.

X

It was the small hours by the time they made it back to their nominal hideout. Of all of the places where they could have met, Leroy’s underground safehouse had been judged the safest, and no matter what happened during a Run or however they might get separated, they would always meet up there afterwards. Being set up for a dwarf it was not the most comfortable accommodation for the rest of them, but they were nonetheless glad of it.

The mark had been delivered safely and Catherine had got through her ordeal with only a few bullet marks; Leroy was already performing repairs in the garage whilst Jefferson got Belle’s arm fixed up. It was only a scratch, but it had been painful enough at the time.

Gold was the last to arrive, having had to pack up all his gear and make his way to them without the aid of Catherine. Belle knew that he had several other vehicles rigged up that he could use, but she also knew that he preferred to keep a low profile after an altercation such as the one he’d narrowly missed with the other mage.

He ducked into the living room where Jefferson and Belle were waiting, going straight over to throw his arms around Belle. He was not usually demonstrative when the rest of the group were around; trying to keep the futile secret going for as long as possible. Belle guessed that it was definitely out in the open now.

“Never do that again,” he mumbled in her ear. “I thought I’d lost you for good.”

“I promise. As long as you promise not to get ambushed by unfriendly mages again.”

Gold gave a weak chuckle. “I’m never going out into the field again if this is what happens. I’m staying firmly in my own office and running everything remotely.”

Belle just laughed, tightening her hold on him with her one good arm. Tomorrow, when she wasn’t so drained from tonight’s magic, she’d cast a healing spell on herself and everything would be as good as new.

Gold kissed her then, a fierce and desperate kiss that showed just how happy he was that they had both survived another Run, and how distraught he would be if he were to lose her for good one of these days. Belle knew the feeling, she felt exactly the same way. Although he was not usually in as much danger as the rest of them, tonight had proved that even Gold could end up in harm’s way if the stars aligned in a particularly horrible way.

Leroy came in, wiping his hands on a rag.

“Please, if you’re going to get mushy, do it elsewhere,” he said, but the smile on his face betrayed his happiness at seeing the two of them together and comparatively unharmed. Life in the shadows was a dangerous business; Runners tended to stick to the mantra of live fast, die young. Still, having someone to share the life with made Belle that much more determined to come home at the end of every Run, and she knew that Gold felt the same way.

“I love you,” she whispered, once Leroy had gone back out to Catherine and Jefferson, deciding to give the lovebirds some privacy, had gone with him to make himself useful by handing him spanners.

“I love you too. Now… Any idea how we should spend our fee? There’s a new command console that I’ve had my eye on for a while, and you said you wanted new Gecko-Grip gloves…” He tailed off as Belle kissed him again.

“Or we could have a nice romantic night on the town,” she suggested.

Gold nodded. “Yes. Yes, we could do that.” He paused, and Belle had to laugh when he spoke again.