Chapter 2 A day in the PortCouver Shadows

Daiz pulled up the collar on her trenchcoat trying to fight off the cold, early morning PortCouver rain, "I really hate going to this side of town." she thought as she crossed Burnside street, "too many burned-out bums here".

"Why does Vic Pett live in this section of town anyway?" continued Daiz to herself as she dodged the cars accelerating from the stoplight that had finally turned green, "He is such a good shadow operative that he could live anywhere he wanted and not here among the dregs of society."

As if in answer to her private monologue a filthy, smelly bum dressed in a torn, grey business suit approached her from the doorway of an old XXX JockBuster(TM) Sensa-Vid shoppe.

"They can't fire me!", the bum declared; gesturing wildly with his hands so close to Daiz that she noticed his body smelling of old filth and his breath of alcohol, "I'm the CEO, what I say the masses accept!" he finished, almost yelling.

"Whatever." replied Daiz as she kicked the bum in the groin and watched as he fell on top of a pile of maggot infested trash, the city sanitation department apparently didn't get down this way too often.

As Daiz continued on her way she heard the bum's soprano voice behind her, "You can't do that to me I'm Bill Gates, boy billionare!"

"Like I'm really supposed to be impressed.",thought Daiz sarcastically,"Who the hell is Bill Gates anyway?"

Adam woke up to the smell of his automatic coffee machine churning out his morning supply of steaming hot Jolt Cola. Opening his eyes the first thing he saw was a Black Lace push-up bra on the bed next to him. This jolted him fully awake before he remembered the events of the previous night. "Wow, after Clint & Amy seeing me in the hallway with Daiz's bra draped around my neck like a scarf I won't have to worry about getting kicked out for not being a 'swinger'. And I got a second real shadow job; from William Gibson no less! This is going to be a GREAT day."

Adam swung out of bed and got a nice hot mug of Jolt as he stripped out of yesterday's clothes and started the shower."Gawd that really hits the spot!" he said aloud after finishing off his first mug of Jolt of the day. He was just ready to step into the shower when his door buzzer sounded.

"Jeez, who could be here at this time of the morning?" he asked aloud as he tried to wrap a hand towel around his waist and went to the door.

"Hi, Adam!", came the perky voice as he unlocked the door. Amy, just great thought Adam, but he said instead "Hi, what's up?"

Not waiting for an invitation Amy pushed the door open and stepped into Adam's living room. She was dressed in a pink halter top and tight form fitting jeans that Adam knew would be almost impossible to remove remembering the night before and turning beet red at the thoughts coming out of his own mind.

"Wow Adam I really like what you did with the decor here, it's so, uh, 'Hacker-esq'."

"Gee, thanks Amy" replied Adam, suddenly noticing just how small a hand towel really is, "Look, I'm kind of in a hurry. What did you come over for?"

"Well,", began Amy, acting very shy, "Clint left on a week long business trip this morning and I was wondering?"

"What were you wondering?" Adam was in too good of a mood to play games, and Amy was obviously going to beat around the bush, so to speak.

"Well, I already asked Daiz this morning and she said it was up to you."

"What is up to me?!", Adam felt his patience rapidly slipping away;never again open the door to company before my THIRD mug of Jolt, he promised himself.

"Do you want to have sex?"

Adam turned as red as a coke can.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Uh, well, no it's just that I'm already late for work and I,uh, really need to shower and shave first."

"I could help you." she suggested, moving close to Adam and rubbing her hands over his chest.

"Uh, no, thanks anyway. Tell you what though, if I'm free tonight I'll take you up on that offer, okay?" Adam had no intention in hell of coming home tonight.

"Cool, see you tonight!" said Amy as she bounced her way out of Adams apartment. Adam just covered his eyes with both hands, mouthing 'why me' as he shook his head back and forth.

After a few minutes, Adam went to the shower and found that all of the hot water was used up, "Shit, it's going to be one of THOSE days.", genuine dread descended over him.

Daiz was still pondering who this Bill Gates was, she seemed to remember something in the history books about him from the industrial revolution period, as she stepped over the sleeping bum in the doorway of Vic Pett's home, which was an old abandoned fire house built way back in the 1980's, rumored to still have the poles in place although neither Daiz nor anyone she knew was allowed into the garage area. Stopping just outside the door she looked up to where she assumed the survellience gear would be and waited for the computers to notice a visitor was there and inform Vic.

"Hey Daiz, whatzup?" came Vic's sleepy voice just seconds after she stopped.

"I'm putting together a boost, Vic. Thought you could help a bit." replied Daiz

Vic didn't reply and after a couple of seconds Daiz began to wonder if she had somehow angred Vic. Just as she was about to leave the bolts on the door clicked and the door itself automatically swung open.

Daiz stepped through the door and immediately did a back flip as a flame shot up from the floor engulfing the entryway, "Shit." she managed, wondering if she did indeed piss Vic off and he was trying to even the score. She stood slowly and noticed that the flame was giving off no heat, "Must be a holograph" She thought only to be corrected a split second later by Vic's voice yelling, "Dammit Cherry, how many times have I got to tell you; Don't Play jokes on my friends this early in the morning, they don't have near enough caffeine in their bloodstreams!"

Daiz walked through the magic flame, mentally kicking herself all the way up the stairs for not remembering Cherry Thoth, Vic Pett's Elven girl friend who just happened to be one of the hottest street mages in PortCouver, and, who was once Very Cherry; the most popular porn star in North America. As she approached the upper landing the inner door swung open automatically and Daiz stepped into the living room. Vic was standing with a welcome cup of warm Jolt for Daiz, "Sorry about the trick Daiz." he said, making a point of glaring at Cherry who was sitting on a couch, pouting and half dressed in a black silk teddy with electric blue lace edging.

Daiz turned bright red at seeing Cherry and turned back to Vic "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"What? Oh, no, SHE dresses like that all the time around the house." he replied, glaring at Cherry some more.

"Well, hey."began Daiz, turning to face the mage "Don't worry about the flame trick, I like knowing my reflexes are good even before my third mug of Jolt!"

"Really," replied Cherry, brightning considerable at Daiz's cool attitude, she stuck her tongue out a Vic and finished with "I told you so."

"Anyway," began Vic, pointedly ignoring Cherry, "What did you want to talk to me about Daiz?"

"Actually", began Daiz, "I really wanted to talk to both of you. I gotta really hot run coming up that pays good money and I still haven't recruited a Riggit or a Street Mage." Daiz added to herself sarcastically, 'truth be told I haven't recruited anyone yet'

"Who else is on the run?" asked Cherry, as if reading Daiz's thoughts

"Yeah, it's important to know up front who'll we'll be working with."

"No one for sure yet." replied Daiz, honestly, "But, more than likely Buffy and Candee will be along as Street Ninja's. And I still haven't decided which gang would be best for setting up a diversion; a group suited to extreme carnage and mass destruction would be best, I think."

"Trollkins." stated Vic, "They are the best as far as destruction and carnage go, and they work real cheap too; can't see charging exhorbinate prices for something that they would be doing anyway!"

"And I would really like to work with Buffy and Candee again." added Cherry

"Then it's settled?"

"Not quite.", answered Vic, "First, who is the run against and second how do you define 'good money'?"

"The goal of the run is to acquire an antique computer cartridge from Fawg, the CEO of NanoSoft for a local Dick. And I define 'good money' as Forty Thousand Euro-Yen apiece plus an expense account." replied Daiz bluntly, no sense beating around the bush as to the target she thought.

"Uh, Fawg?", said Vic, meekly

"We'll take it, sounds like fun!" replied Cherry, getting a cold stare from Vic because of her enthusiasm

"Great, say we all meet tommorrow night at Club 1990 to work out all the fine details and times for the run?"

Adam arrived at his desk just in the nick of time, the interruption by Amy almost made him miss the commuter maglev into the Corporate Annex of Portcouver which would have meant an unpleasant walk from his domestiplex in the old section of town through the slums down by the Burnside bridge.

"Hi, Lisa." said Adam, to his CowPartner, in a forced cheery tone.

"Hi Adam." replied Lisa, hardly breaking her 'He Goes, then She Goes then He did and She went...' conversation that was the morning ritual with another CowPerson in the next cubicle. Adam noticed along time ago that, although the names of the people change as do some of the situations, the conversation is basically the same every day.

Ignoring the predictable monologue, Adam passed up his usual mug of Jolt and donned his trode set and booted up his terminal to get an early start on the mornings problems and requests.

"Great!", thought Daiz, stepping over the sleeping bum on the sidewalk, "Just one hour into recruiting for this run and I already have the best Riggit and Combat Mage that Euro-Yen can rent! Now, I just need to get in touch with Buffy and Candee and recruit them as kick-ass Street Ninjas and find the leader of the Trollkins to see if they'll work a diversion job. Since 'Mr. Johnson' will be taking care of the NetRunner himself, it really cuts down on my workload."

"Ooops!" said Daiz, glancing down at her watch, "Better get a move on or I'll be late for work! And everyone knows how much Herr Dithers hates for any employee to arrive late!"

Adam whistled merrily to himself as he made his way from the CowPerson lounge on the 653rd floor of the NanoSoft building, to his work cubicle. "Wow, I can hardly wait to get off of work today so I can find out more about my shadow job that William Gibson hired me for! Just 6 more hours to go!"

"Hey Adam, wait up." came a distinctly female voice breaking through his reverie.

"Oh, no." thought Adam, "It's Maree, why is it that all these women want to do is Interface?". Adam quickly ducked around the corner and into one of the many storage rooms found in every ultra modern corporate office, hoping to elude his amorous co-worker.

Waiting a few moments until he thought it would be safe Adam opened the door, and with a box of rubber bands in hand (as an excuse for being in the store room) started to go through. Only to be stopped as Maree Kaye Pro, who was hiding in wait just outside the door, stepped into his path.

"Are youse trying to avoid me Adam?" she asked, eyeing him up and down in a way that portrayed both intrest and skepticism.

"Of course not Maree." lied Adam, "I didn't even hear you call my name earlier when I went into the store room for office supplies, eh?"

"Izzat so?", Maree obviously saw the flaw in his argument, as she started moving toward Adam, forcing him back into the store room.

"Of course that's so, I'm a very dedicated worker, eh?" tried Adam, adding a little injury to his voice hoping that it would add credibility to his argument. Maree had backed him all the way into the store room and shut the door while simultaneously dimming the lights.

"I've wanted Interface with you for so long Adam." she said as she backed Adam up to, then onto a counter, and began undressing him; some how her blouse had already bacame unbuttoned giving Adam a very good look at, or more accurately through, her designer lace mood bra which turned transparent when the wearer became stimulated. She got up onto the counter on top of Adam and began massaging his bare chest, and just as she bent down to kiss him, the room was bathed in light from the opening door and two people came in.

"Oops, sorry" the voice sounded very embarassed. "Let's go find another store room, honey."

"It's no problem."stated Maree, "There's plenty of room here."

Adam used the moment to the utmost advantage and managed to wiggle out from underneath Maree, "I really have to get back to work, eh." he said nervously, almost screaming. Some thoughtful person turned on the lights. Adam turned as red as a lobster, standing half naked in a room with Maree, Jason the Janitor, better known off-hours as 'Dildo' the male Hobbit prostitute, and his CowPartner Lisa.

"Hey Adam, I didn't know you participated in office games or I'd have taken a 'break' with you long ago!", said Lisa unabashedly; her tongue darting out to moisten her emerald green lips.

"Uh, I really gotta get back to work. Mr. Moshi wants a progress report within an hour. Maybe we could get together after work sometime, okay?" Adam lied nervously. "One of these days I'm going to have to sit down and come up with a library of ready to use lies, I'm not going to be able to think of anything on the spur of the moment one of these times!" he added to himself silently.

"Since Adam is going back to work would you two mind if I joined in?" asked Maree.

"Sure, I don't mind sharing" stated Lisa, simply, as she began undoing her belt.

Jason, aka 'Dildo', just grinned even more, and began taking his shirt off.

Adam made good his escape and turned from the door, still zipping up his pants, only to come face to face with Mr. Moshi, his boss, walking down the hall with several other suits.

"Adam, isn't there a changing room in the Cow Lounge?" he asked, obviously giving Adam an undeserved chance at saving face.

"Yes, there is Sir, eh?" replied Adam, buttoning up his shirt, "But it is being repainted at the moment, eh?" he added, hoping that Mr. Moshi wouldn't care to check Adam's lie.

"Oh, okay." said Mr. Moshi, apparently satisfied.

Adam caught a glance of himself in one of the hall mirrors as the entourage of suits proceeded on their way, laughing at some joke one of them told, and couldn't help but wonder if it was healthy to be so red.

"It's about time this day was over, the women were driving me crazy, eh?" said Adam to one of the anonymous drones streaming from the NanoSoft tower at 5pm.

"Tell me about it bud.",replied the drone, "Tried to hit on three women myself today and I got turned down by them all, and one of them actually kicked me in the groin! Have a better one tomorrow!" he finished, anonymously disappearing into the crowds to fight for a place in line for the MagLev, which was late, as usual.

"Hey Adam."

"Oh, hi Daiz, how was your day at work, eh?" he asked, as he waited for Daiz to catch up. He and Daiz worked for the same multinational conglomerate but very rarely did they actually see each other anywhere in the vicinity of the building.

"Well, it definately could have been better." stated Daiz, catching up and pacing her stride with Adam, "I was daydreaming about this upcoming shadow operation I'm in charge of and just when I got attacked by the mutant, troll guards, my Lee Attack Nails(TM) popped out and imbedded themselves in my keyboard and they wouldn't retract! Spent my entire lunch hour at Cyber-Hut(TM) getting them repaired."

"Gee, that's too bad. I got a new shadow job myself, eh" he began, hoping to swing the conversation around to last nights meet with William Gibson's Icon in the CyberMatrixNet.

"That's not the worst of it." continued Daiz, not taking up the hint, "The warranty had just given out last week on the implants, and I was stuck with the entire repair bill, including the keyboard! Then to top it all off, some sleazy anonymous drone tried to proposition me for a little 'break' in the store room, so I kicked him in the groin! Then I was delivering a report to some suit on the 800th floor when some moron got angry about being fired and opened up with a semi automatic and I took cover behind a water cooler. One of the bullets must have ricocheted into the water bottle because it broke into a million pieces, and wouldn't you know it? The damn thing was just replaced, completely full! And it poured all over me and the water shorted out by new electronically controlled Fibre-Vision outfit, so now it has to go back to the store; and you know how hard it is to find an outfit that fit's properly. Not to mention what it did to my make-up! And then when I finally delivered the report, there was blood splattered all over it from the shootout and the suit was furious, so I retyped the damn thing then she said she no longer needed it because the information was obsolete, because of some Fraggin hostile takeover! Then the MagLev broke down and I had to take the elevator back down to the 150th floor;I mean, give me a break, why do they even have elevators in these modern buildings, they're so slow and confined and the people are packed in like sardines, and of course they have to stop at every floor, then when your floor comes, no matter how well you plan it your at the back of the damn thing and no one holds the door for you, so you end up getting off a few floors from your destination. Then you have to either wait for another damn elevator OR you can slog it up the Fraggin stairs that are always full of the geeks and techno-cowards that are afraid of MagLevs and don't want to bother with the crowds that ride the elevators! And then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse... Oh, there's my tanning salon, and I'm already late for my appointment. See you later Adam.", finished Daiz, already starting across the street to the indicated Insta-Tan(TM), before the light could turn green for the endless line of impatient motorists already gunning their engines in anticipation of the signal.

"Later Daiz, eh?" replied Adam, completely amazed that someone could talk continuously for so long, and he still hadn't told anyone about talking with William Gibson in the CyberMatrixNet! Damn.

Instead of going directly home Adam decided to go straight to the CyberLand store to see how much William Gibson left in an account for him; he also thought it would be a great opportunity to brag a little about actually talking with THE William Gibson, in the Icon!

Stepping over the sleeping bum in the doorway, Adam was greeted with a friendly "Hello" from the salesman, Scott, who seemed to Adam to be at the store every time he came here, no matter what the hour.

"Hey Scott, any word on my 'deck yet, eh?" he asked, wanting to start out slowly and build up to his meeting with William Gibson

"No word from Leonard, yet. He might have forgot to tell me though, you want I should call back and ask?"

"No, that's not really necesary, eh. Actually, I just accepted another job last night and the 'Primary' transferred some EuroYen into my account for some new equipment, eh."

"Oh, alright. Let's punch up your account and see what we can outfit you with.", said Scott, his expression dropped as the information came up on the terminal, "Holy shit Adam, just who are you working for, and how many's people souls did you have to sell for this account."

"I'm working for William Gibson, eh!" announced Adam, smuggly, "And he has this job he thinks I should be outfitted better for, eh."

"And he gave you 5 million Euro-Yen to equip you for one job?"

"FIVEMILLIONEUROYEN!" said Adam, so fast and high pitched that Scott couldn't help but heck his glasses for fractures. Then Adam started a fit of choking like he tried to swallow a TrollBurger(TM) from Funkin' Foods in one byte.

"Thanks for the water." croaked Adam, after a few minutes of remaining silent.

"How much did you say was in my account, eh?"

"5 million. How do you rate so much?"

"William Gibson works extensively with the Turing Police. Sheesh, I just realized that I could get the hottest deck on the market for that kind of money, and still have money to outfit it properly AND take a vacation to the Caribean, eh!"

"The Turing Police, eh? No wonder the account is so high; those folks really outfit their operatives with cutting edge gear. So which one do you want?"

"I'll take the new Commodore 64X with full memory and coprocessor expansion as well as the Ultra slim BrainCaressor(TM) trode set, in two tone Charcoal and Electric Blue, I think. And throw in all the latest software and net utilities too!", said Adam, hoping that he didn't go over the limit on the account, "Uh, what's that come to anyway, eh?"

"About 3.4 Million."replied Scott, "What shall I do with the rest?"

"I don't know, what do you suggest, eh?"

"Move it into a secure account with an orbital bank, just in case Bill is an indian giver; we can inflate the invoice prices to make it look like you spent the entire amount on a CyberDeck and NetSoftware."

"Ok, do it." said Adam, still very much in a state of shock, "Wow, 1.6 million in a bank account, I'm really moving up in the world, eh!"

"Actually it'll be about 1.1 million after my transaction fee." stated Scott, matter of factly.

"Oh, didn't add that in." said Adam, thinking to himself "Sheesh, everyone in the world is out to scam you!", but instead added "When will my 'Deck be ready, eh?"

"I don't know, Leonard hasn't given me any progress reports on the repairs, do you want me to call back and find out?"

"I meant my new 'Deck, eh?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about how nice the Carribean is this time of year. Your new 'Deck will be completely ready to go Monday afternoon, or I can give it to you tomorrow and let you install all the software yourself over the weekend!"

"No thanks", replied Adam, "Expert systems are much better at installing CyberStuff, not to mention faster; it would probably take me to next Thursday to install everything. Wow, just four days until I have the hottest 'Deck in PortCouver, eh!"

"Okay, Adam. See you Monday afternoon then."

"You better believe you will, eh!" said Adam excitedly as he pushed open the front door, and stepped out into the waning daylight.

No sooner was he out the door that the gunfire started, Adam, being no stranger to city life in the 21st century, quickly jumped for cover behind a dumpster upsetting a sleeping bum in the process. Looking out Adam saw the source of the gunfire, it seemed that a group of the infamous muslim special interest group 'The Defenders of Allah' had been caught driving in the territory of their arch rivals, the ultra-bible thumping 'Hallejuah Chapel' worshippers who were out doing some witnessing. The 'Defenders of Allah' where certainly no slouches though, once the bible thumpers opened fire with their mini automatic Remington & Colt 4mm's the muslims retaliated with religious fury and returned fire with a car mounted mini vulcan gun. Adam watched with interest as one of the last remaining christians slowly drew a bead on the muslim car with a BlastemtaBitz mini RPG and fired even as his mid section was being gelatinized by the vulcan guns hyper-velocity depleted uranium slugs. The explosion as the RPG round hit the car was, in Adams opinion, spectacular; the shock wave from the blast shook buildings and momentarily deafened anyone stupid enough to still be on the street, not to mention breaking all the glass in a five block radius, and the explosion itself engulfed all of the participants of the melee, as well as starting fires in a couple of the nearby buildings.

"Wow, what conviction, eh!" commented Adam aloud, with a slight sarcastic edge to his voice.

The previously sleeping bum simply stared at Adam and replied, "I hate extremists, especially religious ones!" and shambled off to find another place to sleep, mumbling something about 'Gawddam Canadian tourists'.

Adam walked out of his hiding place and surveyed the damage, there wasn't much left of either group, the 'Defenders of Allah' now qualified as being cremated, and the 'Hallelujah Chapel'ers didn't fair much better. Adam noticed the fire in the nearby buildings was spreading quite rapidly and he could now hear sirens in the distance, "This is a much better neighborhood than the one I live in, the authorities are already on their way!" he mused, and decided that he didn't really want to be around when the police arrived, looking for an explanation of the altercation, "Well off to home."

As always, Daiz was extremely impressed by the decor in the InstaTan(TM) franchulette. The owners went all out when it came to interior design, which was no wonder considering the fact that before they went into the Tanning business they where the best Interior Decorators in the Pacific Northwest.

Inside the reception area the floor was covered in a fine sand, with palm trees and other, more exotic tropical plants growing in it. The reception desk was made of bamboo and replacing the usual waiting room couches was beach chairs and hammocks strung between the palm trees. The simulated sun was computer controlled and came from the specialized Rhodda SunPaint(TM) which shone the intensity of the sun when current was applied, and was sky blue when inert. The front window of the shop was one way (you could see in but not out), and on the inside displayed a high resolution hologram of a carribean beach; Daiz had actually been rather concerned about the glass on her first visit, but the propieters told her that the window was made of molecularly bonded sheet crystal which was impervious to everything short of a nuclear blast; so it didn't matter if they could see the scum on the street because the scum didn't have a prayer of getting through the glass. An excellent Denon-Sony sound system completed the illusion, making any patron think they where transported instantly to the south seas, ala StarDrek.

The most amazing part of the scene, in Daiz's opinion, was the major greek god sitting behind the reception desk. He was about 6'5" tall, muscularly built (he was of course an ex body builder), well tanned with a georgious mane of short curly blonde hair. Overall, he made Daiz, and every other woman Daiz brought the subject up with, quiver with excitment with his very presence.

"Hi Daiz, come in for a tan?", spoke the god in a voice that was perfectly tuned to the rest of the package.

"Hey Tiny," replied Daiz, after a moments pause too take in the scene properly, "I've got an appointment with Buffy and Candee."

"So you do." acknowledged Tiny, looking down at his computer terminal, "Must have been entered while I was out having spitzers with Hank. I'll tell them your here."

"Your still seeing Hank? I thought you two broke up last week."

"Well," started Tiny, getting a little red from the conversation, "We did for a day, but I just couldn't live without him, he's such an Adonis Stud, y'know?"

"Nice to see your happy." said Daiz, but thought to herself, "Why do all the studdly body builder types have to be completely and unswayingly gay, it's just not fair!"

About this time the door to the office opened by itself and Tiny ushered Daiz into the back to her meeting.

The private office area of the building was even more spectacular than the reception area, a tribute to the interior decorating skills of Buffy and Candee.

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"Hi Daiz" said the two twins in unison

"Hi Buffy, Candee. Glad you could fit me in with such short notice."

"Well actually, things have been kind of slow." replied Buffy

"What kind of job are you setting up?" asked Candee almost simultaneous with her twin.

"It's a real simple job actually," began Daiz

"That's what they always say." interrupted Buffy

Daiz paused for a minute and glared, then continued "As I was saying, it's a real simple job. A local corp is paying us big bucks to penetrate a rivals facility and aquire an antique computer cartridge from the last century. A real easy job."

"With a 'Readers Digest' report like that," started Buffy

"It's probably a run against a corp like NanoSoft, the CEO more than likely." finished Candee, with a tinge of sarcasm.

"Your right." replied Daiz directly.

"You gotta chip in too tight or something?"

"No Fraggin way, thats a suicide job!"

"It pays Forty Thousand Euro-Yen apiece"

"Kool, when's the run?", asked the twins simultaneously

Suddenly the lights in the office dimmed to almost nothing and then flared into brightness before settling at their previous level. An obnoxious odor began wafting through the air vents.

"Yech, what's that?" asked Daiz, wrinkling her nose in disgust

"Oh no!" began Buffy

"One of the Tanning booths must have been hit with a power spike, and over exposed another patron." continued Candee

"For all the technology available to society you think they would have enough power so these 'brown outs' and 'spikes' didn't happen." finished Buffy

Adam relaxed visibly as the elevator doors opened, "This is a first, Daiz isn't waiting for my in the hall!" he thought to himself as he walked to his apartment door, fumbling for the keycard on the way.

"Hi Adam", came a voice just behind him followed by a hand on his shoulder. Adam jumped.

"Whoa, there stud. I'm not a Corp-Ninja.", assured Daiz, laughing a little at Adam's good reflexes.

"Sheesh, Daiz. I almost jumped out of my skin, where did you come from?"

"The elevator. I came into the building right after you."

"Oh."

"You up to the 'Club' tonight Ace?", asked Daiz as she handed Adam his keycard that had been dropped on the floor.

"Sure, I just need to change and check my messages, say about an hour?"

"Okay, great I gotta real killer proposition for you. See you in an hour!"

"Sheesh," thought Adam to himself, "She's probably horny again, as usual!" but replied "Kool, catch ya then, eh!".

Adam, closed the door and leaned against it closing his eyes for a couple of seconds to relax just as the door buzzer went off. Adam jumped.

"What?" asked Adam, curtly as he opened the door, half expecting Daiz to be standing at the door with her mood irises glowing pink.

"Hi, Adam. I thought you where never going to come home!" said Amy as she pushed the door open and stepped in past Adam.

"Oh, no. I told myself I wasn't coming home tonight!" thought Adam as he shut the door and turned, quite hesitantly, to face Amy. "Hi Amy, ready for a great evening?" he lied, noticing that she was indeed ready for a night on the town, followed by a night in bed! Amy was wearing a black lace bra, with an open black leather jacket and a tight, form fitting, very mini skirt with 3" stilleto heels.

"You Bet! I thought it would be nice to go to a club for awhile before hitting the hay!" replied Amy perkily, stepping up close to Adam and running her index finger along his jaw line as her other hand disappeared beneath his shirt.

"Actually, Amy, I'm supposed to go to the Club 1990 with Daiz, for a little Biz, eh?" said Adam, fully truthful for a change, and desperately hoping that a Hacker bar was not Amy's type of place.

"Kool." said Amy, completely shattering Adam's hopes, "We'll make it a threesome! I have a little Biz at the club myself, that was where I would have suggested we go!"

"Okay.", said Adam, trying to cover up his anxiety, "I have to get ready, meet me back here in an hour, okay?"

"Sure, I'll go talk with Daiz." agreed Amy already halfway out the door, "Later."

"Now what do I do?" thought Adam to himself, the instant he heard the door click shut, "Going out with two women who want nothing but SEX! And not an excuse comes to mind, SHEESH."

"What should I wear?" asked Adam of thin air as he walked toward his bedroom resigning himself to his fate.

Exactly an hour and twenty minutes later Adam's door buzzer buzzed. "Jeez, women can never be punctual for anything." he mumbled to himself as he opened the door, and turned red.

Amy had changed into what could only be described as the pinnacle of female clothing, as defined by the Frazetta school of fiction writing; she wore hot pink lace bra, leaopard skin thigh length pants, and a dark blue jacket open at the front of course.

Daiz, on the other hand, was dressed black jeans and an iridescent blue blouse that she was obviously wearing nothing under; it was electronically controlled and had a roving transparent patch.

"Ready Adam?", asked Daiz, her mood irises turning a shade of pink Adam was absolutely sure he never saw before. Not waiting for an answer each girl grabbed an arm and hauled Adam toward the elevator.

"HeyAdamyourmakingmejealous." slurred the orc at the entrance to the club.

"Hi, 'Skull-Crusher'." replied Adam, as he walked through the entrance to Club 1990 with a beautiful, voluptuous woman on each arm, "We're just here to absorb the ambience."

"WhateverAdam.Andthanksforrememberingmyname."

"I thought his name was 'Theodore'.", said Amy as the trio entered the club.

"Skull-Crusher is his street name." replied Daiz, intent on conversing through Adam's head, "It's what he likes to be called when he's on duty both at the club and when shadowrunning."

"Oh, sounds logical."

Inside, the club was alive with a typical Thurday night crowd, all the people who just couldn't-and don't-wait for the weekend to start their partying. The dance floor was packed with people doing a dance from the 19th or 20th century called 'slam dancing' to a classical piece recognizable to any shadow person, 'Master of Puppets' by Metallica.

"Where are we going to find a seat in this crowd?", asked Amy looking around like a vulture for any empty table.

"Just leave that to me!" stated Daiz, disengaging herself from Adam's arm and zeroing in on a threesome of nerdy looking burned out hippie types.

"Alright, get up this table is reserved!"

"What are you talking about, do you have any idea who we are?" replied the woman, "I am Queen Mu, and these are my associates Bart Nagel, and R.U. Sirius."

"Yes, I am serious. This table is reserved."

"We are on assignment from Mondo 2100 to review this club!"

"That old relic of a magazine, I thought it folded at the turn of the century; I mean what is the point of a magazine looking forward to the 21st century when we are already living in it?"

"We are the leading edge of the 'Techno-Culture' revolution!", said Queen Mu with a tinge of religious fervor, "Ours is an ongoing quest to inform the technologically elite of the cutting edge tech, as well as keeping them up to date on all the hottest social trends and fashions!"

"Techno-Culture?", spat Daiz, vehemently, "Give me a break. That fad ended before the last century did. Rave clubs, smart drugs, and grunge clothing styles are all just fossils like you, bitch, this is the REAL cyberpunk world; where heavy metal and Jolt Cola rule and the hero's are computer jocks like my friend there." she paused to indicate Adam, "Not to mention Virtual Sex, I mean, why would anyone want to do it with a computer, human flesh is much warmer and softer than silicon, unless your a necrophiliac of course. And furthermore all historians agree that your precious 'Mondo 2100' was just a bunch of drivle spouted by people hoplessly hooked on psycho-active drugs that didn't have a grasp on the reality of their present, much less the FUTURE."

"But...",sputtered Queen Mu

"Get outta here." stated Daiz with finality as she grabbed Queen Mu by the collar and shoved her onto the dance floor. She then turned and stared at the two remaining occupants of her 'reserved table'. They wisly vacated the table and went looking for their esteemed colleague who was probably in need of medical attention after venturing onto a dance floor full of people slam dancing.

Adam and Amy quickly joined Daiz at their newly aquired booth.

"Who were those geeks?" asked Amy, "They looked like relics out of the previous century."

"You got that right. Now where is the fraggin waitborg?"

"I'll go to the bar and get the first round." asked Adam, "It looks like all the waitborgs are attending to an altercation on the dance floor."

"I'll have a Bloody Brain", said Amy

"Sounds good, me too." acknowledged Daiz

"Hey, you never did finish about your day at work, Daiz." said Amy, "What happened after the 'Anonymous Drone' hit on you?"

"She'll be at that for awhile!" mused Adam as he made his way through the crowd to get the first round of drinks, "Hey, I just realized that if I get both of them as smashed as Daiz was last night, I won't have to have sex with either one!"

"Hey, Punk! Watch were your going."

"Huh." said Adam intelligently, as he turned to see who was yelling at him.

"I said 'Watch were your going.' you stupid dweeb are you deaf as well as dumb?"

The person in Adam's face was dressed in blue jeans, a red and white stripped shirt, and a bandana covering his head and a black patch covered one eye. He had a full beard and a tatoo of a mermaid curling all the way up his rigth arm, and to top it all off he had a cutlass on his belt and had a IBMApple Taligent 3000 cyberdeck in a shoulder carrier. "Now this, "thought Adam, "is a REAL computer pirate!"

"Ya mute too?" asked the pirate.

"Huh. Oh, no, I was just, uh, admiring your costume, eh?"

"COSTUME! You little dweeb, don't you recognize the uniform of 'The Hooks'?"

"Uh, well, gee, no I didn't at first. I mean, I didn't think that the hooks had any CowPeople in their ranks, eh?"

"As any idiot knows, the Hook's are made up exclusively of CowPeople!" said the pirate indignantly.

"Oh, uh, sorry, eh. It's just that, well, I'm out with these two bodacious babes you see, and, well, uh, they've got me a little, uh, nervous, eh?"

The pirate looked at Adam closely, "Hey, your Adam Null aren't you?"

"Yeah." replied Adam hesitently, looking around for one of the orc bouncers; unfortunately all three of them where directing the paramedics to the altercation on the dance floor.

"Well, shiver me timbers and make me walk the plank blindfolded! I'm here to meet you on behalf of William Gibson. Wasn't told that you're a Canadian too, just that your a virgin living in a 'swingers only' domestiplex. You can call me Spree." said Spree with a gap toothed smile as he stuck his hand out for Adam to shake. Adam turned bright red instead, what with a total stranger bringing up his sex life.

"Ouch, what a grip!" thought Adam to himself as he retrieved his hand from Spree the pirate and began covertly massaging some feeling back into it. "So, what's the message from William Gibson, eh?"

"I don't know." stated Spree.

"But, I thought you said you had a message for me, eh?"

"Oh, I'm just bringing you a message to meet my boss, Cap'n Hooker tommorrow afternoon at 5:30 down at the River Queen restaurant; she's got the info for you from William Gibson."

"5:30 at the River Queen, got it. Thanks.", finished Adam as he turned his attention to the chore of getting the bartenders attention. "Hey Osbourne, getchabut over here, eh?"

Adam thought that was perhaps not the brightest thing to say, mainly because it worked. Osbourne, all 400 pounds of him, noticed Adam immediately and started on his way over.

"What'll it be pipsqueak, eh?", boomed Osbourne, adding a very menacing tone to his voice as he leaned his bulk over the counter and looked down at Adam.

"Uh, well,", started Adam, loosing a little confidence, "I'll take three Bloody Brains,eh?"

"All for yourself, eh?"

"Nah, I'm here with Daiz and Amy, eh?"

"Wow, Adam. You really dove into the dating scene, so to speak? Picked up a really Kool accent too, eh?" smalltalked Osbourne as he prepared the drinks for Adam. "Well, here you go. I'll start a tab for the night, eh?"

"Thanks" said Adam, already starting back to the table with the drinks.

"That was Really a bad day, Daiz" replied Amy after hearing Daiz's diatribe

"Yeah, they don't get much worse."agreed Daiz, then suddenly she raised her voice a bit and added, "So who get's to do Adam first?"

"Huh?" came Adam's stupid reply as he set the drinks down on the table.

"We were just about to flip a coin to see who get's to sleep with you first." said Daiz, matter-of-factly

Adam turned red.

"If you think your blood is pumping now Adam, just wait until I get done with you!" injected Amy, her tongue darting out to wet her upper lip for effect, as she reached out to stroke Adam's forearm.

Adam turned redder.

"Why don't you sit down Adam." suggested Daiz, as she moved to get up, "And tell Amy about William Gibson while I take care of some business; I just saw my Dick walk in."

"Hey, Mr. Johnson. I thought you where sending an agent tonight." said Daiz, as she approached the corporate Dick, Mr. Moshi.

"Well, Daiz. My entire office staff has come down wid da Wussian Fu." managed Mr. Johnson, dabbing at his nose with a handkerchief, and added unnecesarily "I godid tu. We dink id might be our arch rivals, Kwemlin Corporade, trying tu ged even wid us fo tha las hosdil takeova."

"Oh, that's too bad. Would you prefer meeting when your feeling better?"

"Yes, bud I can'd da job is tu impordand and mus be done next Duesday!"

Daiz waited patiently for Mr. Johnson's sneezing fit to end before continuing, "Why next Tuesday?"

"It's all on dis infochip." said Mr. Johnson, handing the chip over to Daiz, "If ders any questions don hesitade tu call. I gotta go before da smoke in dis place clogs up my sinuses completely!" added Mr. Johnson as he got up and headed straight for the door.

"Well, I guess all those people who say the Japanese are the epitome of manners has never met one that's sick." mused Daiz to herself, "Guess this chip can wait until I get home tonight." she added, carefully placing the chip into a special chip carrying compartment built into her handbag.

On the way back to the table Daiz the three orc bouncers directing a group of Dr. DooLittle Paramedics to a small knot of people by the dance floor.

"Hey, Alvin, what's up a fight?" Daiz asked, following her base human instinct to view the poor hapless victim of some unfortunate altercation.

"Naw, Daiz. Some fool tourist wandered out on the dance floor during slam dancing; her friends claim she was pushed, but that's probably smoke so the insurance will cover it. She'll be fine after a few weeks in Intensive Care and some reconstructive surgery though." replied Alvin, sounding just a little bummed out from the lack of juicy gore to describe.

"Oh. Well see you later." said Daiz, deciding that there wasn't enough gore to satisfy her craving for the misfortune of others. Just as she was turning to leave a shrill voice called out, "Hey, stop her. That's the BITCH that shoved my associate onto the dance floor!". Daiz didn't even look back, she just disappeared into the growing crowd of observers who felt the need to listen to their basic instincts.

"Well, Biz is over. Let's PARTY!" said Daiz enthusiastically, as she returned to the table and simultaneously downed her first drink and summoned the waitborg for her next order. Then plopped down in a chair next to Adam.

Adam woke to the smell of steaming hot Jolt Cola, wafting in from his kitchen. The CyberClockInfoCaster turned itself on and the perky voice of Muffy Black intruded on Adam's morning torpor, rattling off the previous nights statistics:

"14 traffic accidents, 15 Deaths, 23 suicides, 3 gang wars, 95 rapes, 62 instances of racial violence, 4 bombings. And a particularly grisly scene as approximatley 60 members of the Splashers, the gang known for it's photogenic, splashy mass suicides, had managed to break into the EuroBank headquarters and leap from the 900 story structure into a large crowd of Portcouver residents enjoying the night life of the corporate district. UniStar, the security firm in charge of the EuroBank building had no comment this morning."

"Oh, whatta headache!" exclaimed Adam, wincing at the sound of his own voice. "Well, I guess I gotta get ready for work."

"Wow, I must have really overdone it last night! I've never had a hangover that gave me an upset stomache before!" thought Daiz to herself as she stepped into the stream of early morning commuters entering the NanoSoft's tower main GravTube. "Hope I don't get airsick in this thing!"

"Hey watch were your going!" yelled a woman, too late though as Daiz plowed into her around the 60th floor.

"Sorry." called Daiz, correcting her trajectory so she was 'flying' right alongside the woman she collided with, "I'm just kind of preoccupied this morning."

"Oh, it's alright." said the woman, "Just startled me that's all, hey, you were at Club 1990 with Adam Null last night weren't you?"

"Yeah." said Daiz suspiciously, eyeing the woman with new found curiosity. "Who are you?"

"I'm Lisa, I work with Adam on CyberMatrixNet security for the company." replied Lisa, "He's such a stud, has me all hot and bothered working next to him all day. Are you his girlfriend?"

"I guess you could sort of call me his girlfriend, I'm Daiz, and your not just whistling dixie about Adam being a stud, I have to live next door to him!"

"Wow, whatta lucky girl." said Lisa, sounding truely impressed.

"Hey, don't sound so impressed, Adam's still a virgin y'know."

"No shit? I'd never have guessed, all the women I know would give their eye teeth to roll in the hay with him!"

"No shit, me and another neighbor have sort of a bet going to see which one of us can bed him first!"

"Hmmm." said Lisa thoughtfully, "Mind some outside competition on that bet?"

"Not at all. With a combined front maybe we can wear him down quicker, so to speak. Why don't you come along with us to the Club tonight, say around 9:00?"

"Great. Whoops, just passed the 610th floor, I gotta get ready for my floor, see ya later."

"Bye." replied Daiz.

"The 610th floor! Mines the 570th, shit I'm going to be late!" Daiz realized, then added to herself, "It's a good thing I'm on salary!" as she angled her trajectory toward one of the exit chutes.

Adam could hear key parts of the usual morning dialogue just after getting off of the elevator, "...He went...and then she said...then of course I had to...so he decided...and then they did...so she said that I did...then I thought...but said...instead..."

"'Morning Lisa." said Adam as he rounded the corner to his cubicle, thinking to himself "Just what I need on an upset stomach, early morning co-worker babble."

"Hi Adam." replied Lisa, her perky voice making Adam wince, "How are you this morning?"

"Uh, fine I guess." replied Adam, wondering to himself why Lisa was being so friendly to him not to mention interrupting a conversation with another woman, "Stomachs a little upset from partying last night. How are you this morning?"

"Great. I had a wonderful time at Club 1990 last night; way to go with your 'double date'."

"Uh, thanks." replied Adam absently as he sat down in his office chair.

"Hey, Adam, I was wondering..." started Lisa as she slipped onto Adams lap, "Do you think that you'd be up to a threesome tonight?"

"What!" exclaimed Adam, parts of the conversation sinking through his hangover; enough at least to make him turn a dull red color.

"I just think your real cute, and if it wouldn't strain you too much I'd like to tag along tonight and get some action for myself!"

"Oh, uh, well..." started Adam, intelligently

"Your girlfriends aren't the jealous types are they?"

"Uh, no, it's just that I don't know if we are going out tonight."

"Oh, I ran into Daiz in the grav tube this morning, literally, and she said that she wanted to go out again tonight but it was up to you."

Adam was starting to feel a little queasy, what with the way the conversation was going, "Well, if I get Biz taken care of I guess you could come along, it would be fun."

"Awesome! I've got this killer new outfit that I've been just dying to try out. It's got this real neat feature you'd just LOVE!" she said, playfully kissing Adam on the forehead as she stood up, simultaneously giving Adam a real good view of her cleavage.

"I can hardly wait..." started Adam, only to get interrupted by his breakfast spraying all over his desk and computer terminal.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Lisa as she opened the door to the imfirmary, "Well, at least your not alone in your misery Adam!" she added optimistically, looking at the multitudes of office workers sitting in the waiting room; each holding something which they could bush into if necesary, which was often.

"Hey Adam, yu godid tu?" came Daiz's weak rhetorical question from the front of the room.

Adam looked up quickly at hearing the familiar voice and immidiately began bushing into his wastebasket that he was carrying with him for just that purpose.

Lisa maneuvered him over to the couch next to Daiz, "Well, I gotta get back to work before I catch it too!" she said, almost to cheerily, hope your feeling better by tonight, you two! Bye." Daiz apparently knew better than to answer, but Adam tried to say something, only to end up with his face back in his wastebasket.

"Hold it Miss! Your not going anywhere!" came a commanding voice.

"Huh" said Lisa, turning to see who was talking, presumably to her since she was the only one standing, much less walking towards the door.

"I said your not going anywhere!" repeated the white clad nurse, her voice extrordinarily clear through her breathing mask, "We have a highly contagious virus on our hands here and this entire room is quaranteened until further notice!"

"Shid, dere goes da weeken'." replied several people, most simple spewed some more.

"Well, how long is this going to be?" asked Lisa, the only one besides the nurse who was able to speak without bushing.

"Well, to be honest. We don't know, all we know at this time is that all of you have an extremely virulent strain of the Russian Flu. It appears to only last about 18-24 hours, more of an annoyance than anything."

"Dat widdle SHID!" exclaimed Daiz

"Huh?" asked the nurse, noticing Daiz's angered outburst.

"A person I wan indo las nighd said dat he had da Wussian Fu, he musta giben it tu me!" Admitted Daiz, reaching for her own wastebasket.

"Who was this person? We need to find out where this virus came from."

"I dink he was a corparad type, wurks fo Wottin or sumptin like dat." replied Daiz, not wanting to go into details about her off-hours shadow life, especially since her next run is against the very company that employs her.

"Well, that doesn't help much. You'll all just have to stay here while we look into this." stated the nurse, as she turned to leave the waiting room.

Daiz looked around and noticed for the first time everyone was staring at her, with a murderous glint in their eyes.

"Whadda you lookin ad?" said Daiz, then proceeded to bush into her wastebasket; tactically a good move since it seemed to have started a chain reaction in the room. "Oh, well." she thought to herself, "It could be worse." and as if in answer the door from the hallway opened and in filed about 200 more people carrying wastebaskets with them, Daiz could do nothing but roll her eyes toward the ceiling.

"Hey Adam, Daiz. Where have you two been?" asked Amy perkily as they got off the elevator, "I had such a horrible day at work, my sinuses where clogged all day."

Adam and Daiz simply glared at her.

"What's wrong, what did I say?" said Amy, nervously backing away.

"We just spent about 9 hours in the company infirmary with about 1600 other people, who where doing nothing but complaining and spewing all day!" exclaimed Daiz, "And you think that clogged sinuses qualifies as a 'horrible' day?"

"Well, I just don't get sick. For me clogged sinuses is almost debilitating." said Amy, defensively.

"I need a drink!" stated Adam, trying to change the subject before Daiz was at Amy's throat.

"Sounds like a great idea, let me change first." acknowledged Daiz, brightening a bit, "Club 1990 is just the thing to cure my mood tonight."

"Uh, well..." began Amy, hesitantly, "Club 1990 is closed tonight due to the 'Russian Flu'."

"You gotta be kidding! That just tears it!" exclaimed Daiz

"So much for changing the subject." mumbled Adam as he keyed open his door and left the two women in the hall to kill each other.

"OH SHIT!" exclaimed Adam as he closed his door, "I forgot about the meet with Cap'n Hooker! It's only 7:30 maybe she'll still be there."

Adam stepped over the sleeping bum in the entryway to the River Queen Restaurant, and was stopped short by a locked door with a sign proclaiming 'Closed due to the flu'. "What a stroke of luck! I'll just stop in tommorrow to see 'The Hook'." said Adam as he turned to head home.

Just as he stepped over the sleeping bum two huge thugs stepped out of a dark Rolls Royce Phantom limousine and blocked his way. The thugs were dressed impressively in charcoal grey pinstrip suits, clashing purple and green ties, fedora's, immaculately polished wing tip shoes and genuine antique Oakley 'Razor Blades' mirrorshades. What really impressed Adam though was not the clashing clothing, but the small, yet servicable MLA guns each had produced from under their coats.

"Da boss wantsta talk wit youse." intoned one of the thugs

"Huh?" asked Adam, wittily

"Youse Adam Null, right?" grumbled the other thug

Adam nodded nervously.

"Well, da boss wantsta talk wit youse, capish?" said the first thug as the second opened the limousine's door and gestured with his gun for Adam to get in.

Adam nervously complied, since he saw just what those small guns could do to a person unlucky enough to be on the business end on the last episode of 'LifeStyles of the Dark and Dangerous'. Inside, the limo was even more opulant and impressive than he ever imagined, it was fully equipped with a cutting edge entertainment system, a full sensory CyberMatrixNet hookup, communications of any type desired, a complete arsenal, and a wet bar. The seats were done in plush tu-tone dark grey and blue, and there was easily enough room for a dozen people to sit comfortably. It was, at this time, occupied by a single curvaceous brunette, wearing a tight LED evening gown which scintillated with every conceivable color in the spectrum.

"Why don't you come in and sit down, Adam." purred the woman, "I've been waiting to talk with you for along time. Would you like a glass of wine?"

"Who are you, eh?" asked Adam as he stepped into the limo and sat down, the door being closed by one of the thugs; apparently this was going to be a private meeting.

"My name is Brianna." purred the woman, straining the design limits of her dress as she slid next to Adam handing him a glass of dark red wine while simultaneously running her other hand up Adams thigh, "All my friends call me Brie, though." she finished, whispering in Adams ear.

Adam turned as red as the glass of wine as Brie started blowing in his ear, "Uh, what did you, uh, well, want to talk to me about Brianna, eh?"

"Don't you want to be my friend?" pouted Brie, moving slightly away from Adam.

"Uh, sure I do, uh, Brie, eh." said Adam, remembering her nickname

"Eeoooh!" squealed Brie, practically moving onto Adam's lap, "That makes me so happy! We're going to have soooo much fun together."

Adam sipped his wine nervously.

"Oh, don't be so nervous, I'm not that kind of girl! Besides, your dossier said you are a virgin; funny it didn't say anything about you being a Canadian though!"

Adam sprayed wine all over the limo, and Brie, and managed a deeper shade of red as well, "How does everyone know more about my sex life than I do, eh?" he blurted, "And why does everyone assume I'm a Canadian, eh?"

"Well, in answer to your first question." began Brie, drying the wine off of her ample chest with a small, almost inadequate handkerchief, "If you have enough Euro-Yen you can find out anything about anyone, you should know that, being a CowPerson and all. And as far as the Canadian bit, your dossier says you've lived in Portcouver your whole life aside from a semester in St. Petersburg as an exchange student; but you talk like a Canadian."

"Oh, how does a Canadian talk anyway, eh?"

"Well, for starters, ending all of your sentences with 'ay'." replied Brie, handing Adam a fresh glass of wine and swiveling in the seat so her legs were over Adams.

"I do that, eh?"

"Yes, you do, haven't you noticed?"

"No, I haven't, guess I must've picked it up somewhere, eh?"

"I guess. Anyway, we have some business to discuss if your ready." whispered Brie, rubbing one hand gently over Adam's chest as she toyed with her own wine glass with the other.

"What did you have in mind,eh?" asked Adam nervously, almost spilling his wine.

"Whoa, easy stud, I already told you I wasn't that kind of girl." giggled Brie as she moved her hand up to play with Adam's lengthening hair. She took a small sip of wine, then continued, "The business I wanted to discuss is a little CyberMatrixNet run, that would coincide with the job your doing for William Gibson next Tuesday..."

"How did you know about that run?!" shrieked Adam, "I don't even know when it's happening yet, eh!"

"Easy, like I told you, if you have enough Euro-Yen you can find out anything about anyone; besides my organization has worked with Mr. Gibson in the past, and let me tell you, if your a female operative that dude is no saint!"

"Oh, okay. So whats this organization you work for, eh?"

"Weeell, let's just say it's a 'family business' and leave it at that shall we? Now about that run, " continued Brie, not waiting for Adam to say anything, "It's a real simple job, and since your already going to be in the corporate structure it'll be even easier to kipe a little extra info on the side, which, I might add, my organization will pay a premium for. A netrunner like you would have no trouble with this little 'extra'."

"How do you know what kind of Net runner I am? No wait, if you've got enough Euro-Yen, right, eh?"

"Even easier than that, it was my organization that hired you in the first place for the run against Mitsu-Fuji. By the way hows the progress on that run?"

"Oh, uh, I broke my 'deck a couple of days ago and I'm working with some real archaic equipment, it'll probably be Monday, if that's okay, eh?"

"Sure, no hurry. So what do you say?" asked Brie moving more onto Adams lap and pressing her firm bosom against his neck as she gently rubbed her face against his head.

"Uh, about what, eh?" queried Adam, turning his head to face her and getting a face full of cleavage instead.

"About the run silly." giggled Brie, noticing Adams predicament and literally rubbing his nose in it.

"Sure." said Adam in a muffled voice, red as a cherry if his forehead was any indication.

"Oh, goody!" squealed Brie, "Don will be sooo pleased!"

"Great." said Adam, finally breaking free of Brie's grasp and gasping for air, indeed he was red as a cherry all over.

"Oh, not meaning to cut this short or anything."pouted Brie, "Especially when you were starting to get the hang of things, but do you want the limo to drop you off or would that cause too much of a scene in your neighborhood."

"I could walk." suggested Adam

"Uh, we're along way from home."

"No just ten blocks, I walked here."

Brie didn't reply she simply touched a button and the previously opaque window cleared to show a clear night filled with stars above and the lights of the city below.

"W-w-we a-a-ar-re f-f-flying?"

"Yeah, smooth isn't it. Just like this." replied Brie taking Adam's hand and rubbing over her breasts.

"Uh, yeah, didn't even realize we were moving, eh?" stated Adam, forgetting his acrophobia long enough to turn bright red.

Brie pushed the same button as before and the window darkened back to it's previous state, "Tell ya what, we'll land this thing and have Louie and Guido drive you back to your 'plex."

"Louie and Guido?" asked Adam, his hand still on Brie's chest, apparently of it's own accord.

"Yeah, the two thugs that you met earlier this evening." she replied, snuggling up closer and finding his ear an appropriate appetizer, "We still have enough time for a little 'fun' if your game."

Adam finally noticed where his hand still was and dropped it immediately into his lap.

"Oh, poo. I was begining to enjoy that!" said Brie dejectedly, moving her attention from Adam's ear to his neck.

"Uh, maybe some other time, eh?"

"Okay." said Brie, apparently taking that as a promise, she grabbed a pen from the fully equipped desk and wrote something on Adam's neck, "I'll take that as a promise."

"What are you doing?" asked Adam as he squirmed from the pen.

"Leaving you with my calling card. Trick is you need someone else to read it!"

"Well, we're here. Just remember," said Brie as she hit a button and the door silently opened to reveal Louie and Guido standing patiently outside, "Call me anytime of the day or night and I'll be there in a flash, later stud." she finished, momentarily stepping out of the limo to kiss Adam full on the lips and slid both her hands into Adam's back pockets to press his groin against her. Then quickly got back into the limo as the door started coming down and the vehicle rose gracefully and silently into the air.

"Yo" said the thug, "We iz supposed ta drive youse home."

"Yeah, that's what I was told, eh. You need directions, eh?"

"Naw, it's in youse dossier. By da way I'm Louie and dis iz my partner Guido."

"Pleased to meet you, eh? So, where's the car, eh?" asked Adam looking around for another dark limo, wondering briefly what wasn't in his dossier.

"Right here." stated Louise, pointing to the car they were standing beside. A sleek Vector Aeromotive Corp, Nightstalker 2000 convertible, painted midnight blue.

"Ko-ool."

Everyone got settled into the car and Louie inserted the keycard, the car immidiately growled to life and started pulling away from the curb.

"What kinda music youse listen ta Adam?" asked Louie, as he opened the storage comnpartment full of MusicChips(TM).

"Heavy Metal, the louder the better, eh?"

"Yo, Guido, I'z told youse dat dis dood was cool." said Louie to his partner as he selected a chip of classical Heathen and placed it in the players socket, maxing out the volume control. 'Opiate of the Masses', in all of it's digital splendor, began thundering out from the car's sound system almost at once; probably loud enough to be heard for three blocks, mused Adam.

"Youse a virgin aren't youse, Adam?" queried Guido, trying to make small talk

"How'd you know?" asked Adam, pinking a little around the collar "You sneak a look at my dossier, eh?"

"Naw, did'n hafta." replied the gangter, "It's jus dat Brie doesn't usually have quite dat effect on men she fancies. Not to say she's not a hot skirt, it's jus dat she's kinda aggressive and tends to scare mos' men off."

"What effect?"

"Making dem hyperventilate." answered Louie

"Oh."

"She mus really like youse too." continued Guido

"Why, because of the way she kissed me, eh?"

"Naw" answered Louie, "'Cause she left her calling card on youse, only seen her do dat to one odder dood in the five years we've been assigned to guard her."

"Hey, I gotta idea." said Guido

"Dat's a first." replied Louie, recieving a punch in the shoulder as a reward for his quick qit. Adam was momentarily concerned as Louie lost control of the vehicle and it dove into the oncoming lanes for a couple of blocks; but he really had nothing to worry about since it seemed that they were going too fast to hit anything.

"I'm tryin' ta be serious here. What say we take Adam ova ta Luigie's fer sum partyin before drivin him home, I'm sure dat da rest of da boys would like ta meet him."

"Sounds like a good idea Guido, whaddya say Adam, youse up for meeting the boys and maybe chasin' a few skirts around for awhile."

"Uh, sure." replied Adam, thinking it was too late to do any CyberMatrixNet running anyway.

Without any further prompting, Louie did a 180 in the middle of Morrison street and pushed the accelerator to the floor, causing the car to surge forward as if it was trying to escape it's crazed driver.

Meanwhile high above Portcouver.

"Don't be ridiculous I'm not falling for him!"

"It seems to me dat youse iz, Brie. Hows many times've I gotta tell youse not ta mix business wit pleasure?" said the old man on the televidcom screen.

"I'm sorry daddy, it's just that Adam is such a stud, he gets me all hot and bothered."

"Tell me about it, din't ya rememba dat I was watchin da meetin?"

"I kinda forgot, sorry. Could you drop that phony accent daddy? It's really begining to grate on my nerves."

"Sure, Brie. I just don't like seeing you fall for one of the pawns, what if circumstances prove him to be expendable?"

"Daddy!"

"I didn't say that he WAS expendable, just what if. I think you are getting to emotionally involved in this case, I am afraid that I am going to have to find you another assignment, perhaps in the Caribean?"

"You aren't going to buy me off with a vacation this time daddy, I'm sticking with this assignment until it's over!" with that Brie cut the connection, and sat back into the plush seat of the limo and sipped her wine adding sulkily to herself: "Asshole, always trying to get rid of my boyfriends."

"Whatta night!" thought Adam to himself as he keyed open the door to his apartment and entered without bothering to turn a light on. After closing and locking the door he leaned against it to rest for a couple of minutes. Suddenly the light's blazed to maximum brightness.

"Where the hell have you been?!" exclaimed two female voices in unison.

"Shit!" exclaimed Adam as he tried to climb the wall, away from his perceived attackers.

"Whoa, easy stud." came Daiz's familiar voice with a bit less of an edge to it; but not by much.

"We were just so worried about you, Adam." said Amy, no less agitated than Daiz.

"Well, uh, I" began Adam, slowly regaining his composure, "I, uh, youse see I went down to da River Queen Restaurant to take care of sum Biz."

"The River Queen is closed because of the Russian Flu that's going around." said Amy.

"And besides we knew about that meet and checked there first thats when Bill Gates said that you got forced into a flying limo by a couple of thugs." continued Daiz

"Who da hell iz dis Bill Gates?" queried Adam, truely wondering how many people where watching every move he made.

"Oh, just some bum that I know." shrugged Daiz, "I guess the important part is that your alright. By the way Adam, when did you start hanging out with mobsters?"

"Hey, what the hell is this?!" asked Amy, pulling Adams hair away from his neck for a better look, "It looks like a hickey!"

"What!" exclaimed Daiz, jumping up to look too.

"It's jus a bug bite I tink." lied Adam

"A bug named Brie who leaves a hicky surrounded by a heart drawn in ink?" asked Daiz sarcastically

"Uh." started Adam, "How'd youse know her name?"

"She signed it and left a telcom number too." said Amy icily

"We wait up half the night, worried to death about you and your out with some mob FLOOSIE!" exploded Daiz

"But..." tried Adam

"Goodnight Adam." said both of the women as they stomped out of the apartment, and turned out the light leaving Adam standing alone in total darkness.

"Skirts, Sheesh." said Adam.

Note: Just a little note from Andrew, for people who might be reading this who don't know me well. Keep in mind that this is a sarcastic comedy, written with another person when we were both about 23. It is supposed to be kinda over the top so if you think there is too much violence, sex, stupid situation, racism, etc then perhaps you should go see the doctor about your lack of humor! :-)