# Crossfire *Finished Rip Antny*



## ejja_1 (Feb 17, 2004)

Tony kept his head down as he crouched behind a low concrete wall, chips of stone rained down upon his hair and neck. He checked the clip of his 10mm, and found it almost empty with only 2 brass cartridges staring back as if they were mocking him.
He had pissed off the wrong people when he collected the bounty on Mr. Hong, and now the black lotus triad had every thug looking to collect a pay day on his ass. So far in the last 3 days he had avoided 2 drive by's, and lost his car in a fiery explosion that had deffinatley pissed off the landlord. The chatter of the Uzi died out as the young asian boy changed clips, tony took this opportunity to put a round in his chest.
No sooner had he tagged this kid, than another with a sawed off shot gun peppered the area were he had been crouching. Diving for cover Tony cringed as a stray pellet cuaght him in the shoulder and tore his flannel shirt and dug deep into his flesh.

He hit the concrete hard and rolled into a ball, keeping low behind the wall and swearing away the pain. With one bullet left and pocket knife to defend himself, Tony forced himself to crawl as fast as he could towards a dumpster 10 feet away, it was nasty and smelled of rotten food. Not a big surprise as it was situated behind a strip mall chinese food joint.

Just then the back door opened and a rotund chinese man in a white apron and hair net, trundled out carrying a large pot of steaming liquad.
Tony looked up from his dumpster hide away just in time, to see the pot buckle and the contents explode all over the cook. The force of the blast at close range picked his body up and tossed him back like a rag doll, blood and hot greasy water spattered the length of the alley.

Tony rose from a crouch and shot the gangmember in the neck, at this range he didnt have to stop and make sure the boy was dead. 
Tony sprinted out of the alley towards the rental car he had picked up earlier this afternoon, hoping and praying he wouldnt find any nasty surprises waiting for him.
His luck held as he slid over the hood of the 2004 Malibu, his button fly jeans scratching the saphire blue paint job. "Damn!" he thought as he jumped in and slammed the door. " I knew I should have gotten the optional insurance."

Tony slammed the shifter into gear and took off, leaving black tire marks on the pavement. He didnt know where he was headed, they knew where he lived and worked. He came to a stop at an intersection where the light was red, and watched as an ambulance and several squad cars sped past him towards the resteraunt.
It dawned on Tony then that maybe for the first time in his life, that the authorities could just possibly be usefull for something other than as a drop off for his investments as he liked to refer to His bounties. 
He turned left and headed for the 18th street cop shop, not noticing the sleek black motorcycle tailing him from 3 cars back.


Seargent Randy Clark had been on the squad for 15 years now, climbing the rank and file and paying his dues. It was just last may that he was accepted into the narcotics division, and he was still getting used to being in plain clothes.

He and his partner had already had a busy morning, busting a small time crack dealer at one of the local schools.
The bastard had made them chase him, and after 4 city blocks they had cuaght him as he tried to cross a busy downtown street. The car that had hit him had just left the light, and wasn't going fast enough to seriously injur him. Randy had thanked god for small favors, and promised to lay off the soda and the little debbies.

His partner Ray was in the middle of doing the paperwork, and randy had stepped outside for a chew. His watch commander gave him unholy hell whenever he cuaght Randy chewing inside the building, pointing at the no smoking signs and telling him he was included. He had just begun to enjoy a large chunk of Levy Garrett, when a saphire blue newer model Chevy malibu pulled into the precinct parking lot with screeching tires and all.

This was strange enough in itself, but the clincher was the black guy hanging from a long wicked looking sword that had been jammed into the roof of the car. The driver slammed on the breaks, throwing the hanger on from the roof as he lost his grip on the sword. The man tumbled head over heels and slammed into a parked squad with a sickening crunch.
Randy had his Colt Python out and was already screaming at Tony to keep his hands where he could see them, Tony wasnt moving a muscle as he had a 4' sword stuck through the roof of his car into his already injured shoulder.
"Turn the car off and throw the keys out the window"
Randy yelled. "Do it Now!"

Tony had to strain to turn the car off, but he did as he was told not wanting to get further injured. A couple of uniformed officers came out of the precinct building and drew thier sidearms, backing Randy up and keeping an eye on Tony.

Randy took this time to move to were the roof rider had fallen, and was suprised to see that the man had shock white hair and cold steel grey eyes that seemed almost to reflect the sun. His skin was jet black, and seemed to soak up the surrounding light. Randy felt for a pulse and found none, and closed the eyes of the strange man.

Randy sauntered back over to where Tony lay still pinned in his car, the two uniforms had already called for an ambulance. 
"You boys better call for the coroner, the other one over there is done."
Randy growled at the officers. "And make sure one of you stays with this one while at the hospital, or you can explain to Howard how you lost him."


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## Piratecat (Feb 18, 2004)

Can you edit it to add paragraph breaks? It's good writing, but hard to read!


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## ejja_1 (Feb 18, 2004)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Can you edit it to add paragraph breaks? It's good writing, but hard to read!




Sorry my english skills are mega rusty, is that any better?


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## ejja_1 (Feb 18, 2004)

Tony had blacked out from blood loss, and was now greeted to the stark white lights of a hospital room. He could smell the antiseptic that had been applied to his shoulder, and feel the tight pull of fresh stitches in his shoulder.

"This is gonna suck when the pain meds ware off."

Tony tried to scratch his nose, and found that he had been handcuffed to the bed railing. 

"Sucks being a captive audience eh?"

Tony’s head snapped sideways as he tried to identify where the voice had come from. An uniformed cop got up from a chair next to the door, and stretched his arms wide yawning.

"Don’t worry though, the detectives will keep you entertained when they get here."

Tony sighed and closed his eyes, he wasn’t looking forward to the interrogation. One of the few things he had learned as a bounty hunter was that you never spoke directly to the police. He would have to wait for Harvey to show up, thank god he kept him on retainer.



Zelaknia was deep into the Corleafir, when his body registered the feeling of an utter cold. His eyes snapped open, and took in the cold metal interior of what he surmised must be a sort of coffin for this new plane he now stalked. 

He felt the magic ring on his finger knitting broken bones, and repairing the damage done by his fall from the speeding carriage. The target had found a way to temporarily elude him, but he would correct that shortly.

He has only been on this new lane for 2 seasons now, and had been paired by The Master of Shadows with a mercenary from this plane. They had worked well together on several assignments, including the one he was currently working.

He remembered just barley making the jump from the mechanical horse they had ridden, as the man in the carriage rammed the horse off the black path of travel. He wondered if Tikri had survived it, but then realized that it didn’t matter. 

He was more worried about the possible loss of his favorite weapon, T'pau Rey the Fang of Lolth. He had plunged it into the targets flesh, but had not been able to depress the fob that injected the venom into his target.

Zelaknia began to search for an opening in this metal coffin, he pushed against the top with all his might but could not get it to open. 

"What manner of headstone rests upon this grave, or perhaps they have interred me in a sarcophagus. No matter, the right of entry should take care of this."

The dark elf intoned the incantation of Leajen, and was rewarded as the door to his chamber blew off by his feet. The metal bed he rested on slid slowly out into an open chamber, and Zelaknia jumped up from were he lay.

Zelaknia turned and regarded the rows upon rows of metal coffins stacked high and wide upon each other. He laughed to himself amused at the thought of how his necromancer brother Aerunlis would react to the way the dead were stored. 

" Now what has been done with my clothes?"

Zelaknia looked around him, but only found a strange tunic made of white cotton. He slipped it on and tied the strings in the back, wondering what form of garb he had donned.

" Excuse me sir, but I think you’ve wondered into the wrong area, this is the morgue."

Zelaknia turned to see a man dressed in blue clothing with a strange white hat on, standing across the room from him. Alarmed at being discovered he reacted the way any drow warrior would, he picked up the nearest weapon he could find and threw it at the man.

The syringe flew neatly across the room and struck the man in the eye, causing him to scream in utter pain. Zelaknia became even more paranoid at the mans screams, and closed with him intent on silencing him for good. He kicked the syringe sticking out of the mans eye driving it into the recesses of the mans brain.

Checking the room, he could not find an alcove in which to stuff the body.
Glancing about he saw the open drawer he had occupied a short time earlier, and put the body on the table and slid it shut. But not before relieving the man of his funny white hat, and a short bladed knife that was in his pocket.


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## ejja_1 (Mar 4, 2004)

Randy stood inside the chiefs office, waiting for Howard to finish dressing down a rookie who had walked into the bullpen with his sidearm on his belt.
The big man reminded him of that actor who played William Perry in "How the Fridge Stole Cristmas." Except Howard was way meaner.
Randy wondered what Howard wanted with him, it couldnt be about any of his current assignments or Ray would be in here right along side him.

Police chief Howard grabbed a donut from the duty desk as he headed back to his office, Seargent Clark could stew a little longer. Ken Howard was old school police, fear and loathing was what motivated his employees. 
Long lines of Howard family police had culled the weak from the LA P.D. and he wasnt about to break tradition.

Howard slammed the door to his office as he walked in, savoring the little jump that Clark made as he did.

" So you was the one on the scene this morning, when that boy tried surfing that other boys car yeah?"

Randy opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly interupted by the chiefs hoarse bark.

 " What was it they found on that dead boy again, some kinda powder or somethin?"

Again Randy tried to answer and was again cut short.

" Sounds like drugs to me boy, aint that your new job? Keeping them drugs off a my streets?"

Randy waited this time for the chief to stop, and was rewarded with a scream.

"Well Aint ya!"

Randy opened his mouth and was once again cut off.

"Get your hinder down to that damn hospital and find out what you can from that damn bounty hunter we picked up."

Randy waited for Howard to finish yelling.

" Go on now git!"

Randy headed for his locker and removed his vest, no need for that at a hospital. He debated leaving his Colt in lockup, and just taking the 32 cal snub he kept in his ankle holster. He wasnt expecting anything out of the ordinary, with one perp dead and the other laid up in bed this would be pretty routine.
He jumped into the blue caprice sedan that was the standard issue to the plains clothes units, and headed downtown for the hospital.


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## ejja_1 (Mar 18, 2004)

Tony waited for what seemed like hours before they brought him more pain meds, his shoulder ached like hell and had started to itch a little.
The cop that they had assigned to "Guard" Him, was busy making time with one of the nurses at the nurse’s station. All Tony had to keep him occupied was the boob tube, and the daytime soaps and talk shows were beginning to get on his nerves. Turning the TV off Tony tried to remember if his sister was coming back from vacation this weekend or next, no matter she wasn’t about to help him with bail anyway. The nurse walked in and scowled at him, she hadn’t been overly friendly since he'd arrived. 

"Time for your shot, you want it in the arm or your butt?"

Tony smiled. " Whatever turns you on baby."
This earned him another scowl, and a none to gentle injection.

"Where’s the love?" Tony remarked to the air.
The painkiller took effect almost immediately and Tony was drifting off within moments. The medicine was strong and Tony hallucinated for a moment, almost thinking he had seen a Chinese youth standing outside at the window to his room.
Then there was nothing but sweet oblivion.




Randy walked through the automatic doors that led to the main lobby of the hospital, finding a parking spot had been a bitch.
There were several people that had come to the hospital to view the new maternity wing, Randy had seen several signs about it as he walked along to the hospital receptionist.

The red head working the receptionist’s desk clicked her gum while she looked up the room number for Randy.

"Mr. Falcone is in room 789, take the elevator at the end of the hall up to the 7th floor and hang a right. The nurses station can direct you from there sugar."

Randy flashed her a smile and thanked her, he' have to remember to stop back by and chat her up when he was done. Reaching the elevator, Randy hit the call button and waited for the car to arrive.



Officer Perkins had been assigned to watch this creep who had showed up at the precinct with a surfer attached to the hood of his car. The perp had been pretty cooperative so far, and nurse Threadgill had kept him company while he waited for the Detectives to show up. It had been pretty routine, until this Asian kid showed up. Perkins had asked him twice now what he wanted, and the kid had looked at him but not spoken. Perkins approached him and spoke louder.

" Hey you no speaky English?"
The kid pulled an automatic hand gun with a large silencer from under his jacket and shot officer Perkins once in the head and once in the throat.

" Me no speaky red neck piggy."
The kid said in a heavy accented voice.
The nurse walked out of the room just then, and was greeted by the boy with the gun.
" Hello goodbye!"
The gun made a couple of soft coughs, and nurse Threadgill joined officer Perkins on the floor.


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## ejja_1 (Mar 18, 2004)

Randy stood in silence as the elevator rose to the 7th floor, he was thinking about his son’s upcoming birthday. Billy would have been 5 this Saturday, had a drunk driver not blew the stop sign and run him down in the crosswalk. His wife Cindy hadn’t spoken to him since the funeral, she just couldn’t look at his face and not see their son. She had gone to grief counseling and a psychiatrist for the first year, but then she had a nervous breakdown and had moved back to her parents. The whole time she would leave him notes and emails, but she couldn’t get past the pain enough to speak to him face to face. He waited for her to get better but then the emails and letters stopped coming at all, and her father had asked him not to call anymore.

The elevator bell rang as he arrived at the 7th floor, the doors opened slowly and Randy was greeted with sight of a nurse lying on the floor in a pool of blood. 

"Sonuvabitch I cant catch a break today." Randy swore as he drew the big Colt. His training kicked in as he thumbed his cell open and dialed the station, the familiar voice of Kathy Vargas the dispatch operator came across the receiver.
" Los Angeles police department emergency."

"Kathy it's Randy, I have a situation up here at the hospital. I need you to send over a couple of squads with vests, I have what appears to be a homicide and it's in the area of our perp from this morning."

"10-4 randy, backup is on the way."

Randy flipped the cell closed and started to inch down the hall covering as many areas as possible with his revolver, another body was laying on the floor just up ahead. It was also dressed in the uniform of a nurse, the face was unrecognizable, as it had been ripped of by the gunshot exit wound.
It was then that heard voices up ahead in the hallway, it sounded like an argument.



Zelaknia had found his way to the admitting desk, and looked through the charts there for his target. He found Mr. Falcones records and noted the room number, putting the file back in the pile he headed to the patient’s elevator. 

No one seemed to pay any particular attention to him as he went about his business, just another foreign doctor making his rounds.

He smiled and thought to himself. "When my brothers finally cross over to this plane, then we shall show these insignificant insects the true might of the Drow!"

The elevator doors opened and he rounded a corner following the numbers on the walls. He came upon the bodies of a dead nurse and a policeman, lying in pools of their own blood. As he looked up, he caught site of the young Chinese boy pressing the barrel of a silenced automatic handgun into his prey’s temple. 

Zelaknia's reflexes kicked in as he leapt across the room and knocked the boys arm aside, the gun went off and destroyed a heart monitor causing it to sound it's alarm. 

" What the hell did you do that for!" The boy shouted. " I had to kill a lot of people to get this close to him!"

Zelaknia leaned in close to the boy and hissed. " Mine!"

The Chinese boy shot the heart monitor again to silence it, the constant shrill beeping was giving him a headache.
He looked at the Drow assassin and grimaced, spitting out the words as he spoke to him.

" Not yours, he's an open contract. He belongs to whoever finishes the job."

This did not seem to sit well with the Drow, his eyes burned with hatred as he regarded the youth. "Mine! And mine alone! Or you suffer the same fate!"

The youth smiled and seemed to back up a bit from Zelaknia. 
"Ok, ok he's yours, but you tell Uncle Tommy that Johnny was here. You get paid and I get honor. Fair trade right?"

The Drow relaxed visibly, and began to approach Tony's body with obvious intent. But then the world seemed to explode with action, as the Chinese boys chest was punctured by a large caliber bullet. The report seemed to come from almost right behind the assassin, and it made him jump reflexively over the table.

Randy tried to yell freeze, except his brain couldn’t make the connection to his mouth as it was still trying to figure out why it was looking at a breathing moving corpse. Then the entire room went black, darker black then he had ever seen. He felt someone brush by him and he discharged his revolver in that direction, and while he couldn’t see any muzzle flash he definitely heard the report.

And then as suddenly as it was dark, it was light again as if nothing had happened. Randy looked around for a blood trail or spatter telling him he had hit his target, but the only blood he found was that of the victims in the hall.
He turned and went back in the room and found Tony still alive, sleeping peacefully and snoring lightly. The Asian youth was not as lucky, Randy closed his eyes after not finding a pulse.

Randy sighed heavily as the uniforms came upon the scene.
"Howard’s gonna give birth over this."


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## ejja_1 (Mar 23, 2004)

Zelaknia swore to himself, if only that damned kid hadn’t delayed him his target would have been retired. 
He pushed the thought to the back of his mind; right now escape had to be the priority.

A stormsewer lid popped open under his considerable strength, the potion Bathnemea had brewed him was proving to be quite the asset. He would reward him properly once the mission was complete. 

The stench the wafted up from the depths reminded him of home, the sewers has been the natural choice for the Drow upon their arrival on this plane.
Unfortunately it had also made a good home for the Aboleth and Skum that had followed them here.

Zelaknia levitated down onto the concrete shelf that ran along the cistern, and began the long trek back home. His route would carry him near the domain of Vranthna Hollowsmith, a necromancer of no small skill. He would have to take care to avoid his "guardians".

The Drow assassin steeled himself for the moment, despite not being armed with any weapons but his fists he was ready. 




Tony woke from a dream, were the skies rolled with thunder and purple lightning crisscrossed the clouds. He had dreamed that he was in another world, and the dark skinned inhabitants there were hunting him.

He had drawn his 10mm and pointed and fired repeatedly, but they kept coming in waves. Soon he was out of ammo and running, then the dark skinned people changed into Chinese teenagers armed with a multitude of firearms.

They cornered him and a small boy not more than the age of 13 came out of the crowd, brandishing a wicked looking silenced handgun. He looked at Tony and smiled as he pulled the trigger...


Tony woke up with a gasp still chained to the bed, but the room seemed different. 

"They must have moved me in my sleep" he thought.

Looking around he spied a man in plains clothes sitting in a chair by the door, the man regarded him with a smile and spoke.

" Welcome back sunshine, feel any better?"

Tony grimaced at the man. " I would feel tons better if I wasn't handcuffed to a steel bar, and my ass hadn’t fallen asleep sometime yesterday."

Randy laughed out loud. " Well sunshine definitely fits you eh?"


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## ejja_1 (Mar 25, 2004)

Randy got up and moved his chair next to Tony’s bed, he then sat down and pulled a little tape recorder from his coat pocket.

"I hope you don’t mind, but I need to record this and I’m too lazy to write it all down. So unless you have any objections?"

Tony sighed. "I knew you were gonna ask sooner or later, so lets get on with it."

Randy smiled. "Great your being cooperative, so lets start off with what I know and you fill in the blanks. Ok?"

Tony shifted a little trying to take the weight of his sore behind.
"Sure shoot."

Randy pulled a little steno book out of his pocket and started to read.
" Ok Your full name is Anthony Falcone, you a 36 year old Caucasian male. 6'2" about 285lbs black hair brown eyes. Your current profession is as a freelance bounty hunter for the LA courts, of which in your 7 years doing it you’ve brought over 40 high profile criminals to justice."

Randy paused for a moment to take a breath and look at Tony.
"We straight so far?"

Tony seemed to be daydreaming for a moment, but then regarded Randy with a smile.
" Yeah so far you got my number."

Randy went on.
" Before that you were a restaurant manager for Filinis of New York, and even worked down on the docks for awhile before that."

Randy flipped the page and looked up at Tony again.
" I did a little further research into your records, you’ve led a pretty clean life according to your police record. So I ran your prints, or at least I tried to. They seem to have been removed from your fingers."

Tony's smile faded a little.

Randy went on.
"That’s something a criminal might do Tony, your not a criminal are you?"

Tony laughed.
"You said so yourself shaemus, no police records not even a traffic violation I bet. So if I’m a model citizen why all the concern? I had an accident back in high school chem lab and burned both my hands with sulfuric acid, so what?"

Randy smiled this time.
" So it's just a coincidence that your clients you caught have all had mob ties at one time or another, and you just so happened to work on docks owned by Lucasi Rigato a known crime boss for the Manchenso family?"

Tony smiled but said nothing.

Randy shook his head.
" And the restaurant you managed, owned by Pauly Calabrasi who was arrested for racketeering on 5 different occasions. Also just a coincidence?"

Tony looked at Randy." So whats all this got to do with the black guy that tried to cut me up like a chicken yesterday?"

Randy lowered his voice.
" I’m not sure Tony, could it be that your last meal ticket was a family head in the Yun Chow crime syndicate? Maybe you caught the wrong guy this time and pissed somebody off, or maybe the Chinese just don’t like Italians."

Randy sat up straight and paused for a moment.
"But the question that bothers me the most? Is how That dead black guy, got up off the slab, killed a mortician and an E.R. surgeon, came up here unnoticed and got into an argument with a Chinese teenage boy about who got to do the deed on your worthless spaghetti eaten butt."

Tony laughed in Randy's face.
"Ok copper, now who's having the Codeine nightmare?"

Randy pulled videotape from his pocket.
"We can watch the home movies when we get back to lockup, your transport will be here within the hour."

Tony tried to sit up abruptly, but stopped when his shoulder screamed in protest.
"Your gonna hold me? On what charge?"

Randy got up and moved the chair back to where it had been.
"I don’t have to have a reason, for 72 hours from the time we pick you up your butts mine. Id also think a judge would want me to find out why three dead Chinese youths have slugs from your gun in them, what do you think, reason enough?"

Tony slunk back in the bed.
"Man it's gonna be a long week."


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## ejja_1 (Apr 5, 2004)

Zelaknia reached his destination, the great cistern that held the gate to the Drow citadel. He leapt out into the middle of the pool, and cast the spell of weightlessness. 

Hovering there he waited for the challenge that would inevitably come, and shortly he was addressed by a pair of glowing hands that signaled in drow sign for him to identify himself.

The Drow warrior concentrated for a moment, and a blood red symbol of his house appeared in mid air and hovered at chest level to him. The glowing hands disappeared, and a blue glow formed below Zelaknia.

Dropping his concentration on both spells, he fell into the gate and was transported to the entry chamber of house Pitnarun. He immediately fell to one knee, and bowed his head to the priestess who operated the gate.

Zelaknia was a mighty assassin for house Pitnarun, but Drow were still Drow and respect was still demanded. He stood when the priestess told him, keeping his eyes to the floor as was custom.

"Zelaknia you are late, and I do not detect the presence of T'pau Rey. Have you failed in your appointed task?" The priestess said with a hiss.

" Yes Sister, the target still breaths."
Zelaknia did not even try to explain further, he knew it wouldn’t do any good.

" And what of your charge, the human that you were assigned to?"

Zelaknia did not answer, and as he expected felt the fangs of the priestesses whip.

" You have given yourself over to peril insolent one, loosing a prized weapon and failing to complete a task given to you directly by the Matron Mother."
The priestess paused in obvious delight.
" Whatever will we do with you?"

Zelaknia kept his gaze on the floor, not daring to meet her eye to eye knowing that if he tried she would lash away his sight with her whip. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for the next whip strike.

It never came.
Instead his chin was brought up suddenly, and his gaze met that of the person he feared more than any other. He stared into the vision of deadly beauty that was Matron Pitnarun, and his mind screamed as she spoke directly into it.

" My eldest son, why do you hurt your mother so? I love you and care for you do I not?" 

Zelaknia screamed in silent pain as the Matron Mother forced his mind into submission. He fell to his knees as she willed him too, and spread his arms wide as if he were being crucified.

" As I love you, I will give you another chance to please me."
Zelaknia was in her sway now, he could only do as she willed.

"Go to the human place were you met your charge, and procure yourself some of the human firearms. Then go and terminate your target, and retrieve T'pau Rey."

The Matron's mind voice became soft and supple, easing the ache in Zelaknia's head.
"You are not to return with out both the weapon and the targets head, if you fail you will self terminate."

Zelaknia blacked out after the last word was spoken in his mind, the blackness was a welcome respite from the tortures he had indured.
When he awoke he found himself in an alley, and the sun was just beginning to set.

Temples throbbing and the whispers of Matron Pitnarun still echoing in his mind, the warrior picked himself up and headed for the home of Tikri Wong.

He would have to convince Tikri's family to teach him how to use the weapons of their house, until he could find T'pau Rey and that miserable police officer who had stopped him the second time from terminating his target.

Then there would be a reckoning, and the humans would feel his pain.


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## ejja_1 (Apr 23, 2004)

*At the station*

Tony sat with difficulty in the chair the police had provided for him, the cushion was thin and the metal legs of the chair were cutting off his circulation.
He didn’t feel any pain, but the tingling of his sleeping legs told him that when he stood his life was gonna suck.

Just then the detective that had been assigned to him came into the room with a cart with a TV and VCR combo. The cop positioned it so they could both see and popped a tape in, smiling at Tony the whole time.

The screen popped into view and showed a picture of the nurse giving Tony the sedative, then as the nurse left the room her body jerked and a fine mist sprayed out from the back of her head and shoulder.

Just then a small Chinese youth entered the room and walked over to were Tony lay in bed. The boy was carrying a large automatic handgun with an equally large silencer on it. He seemed to stop and talk to Tony for a moment before pressing the barrel of the silencer against Tony's head.

Tony jumped as a black blur came into view and struck the boys arm, knocking the gun away. Then the blur came into focus and Tony gasped, as he realized who had saved his life.

Standing over him on the screen was the very man who had tried to kill him earlier, and left him with a badly wounded shoulder. He was arguing with the Chinese boy about something, but Tony couldn’t make out was being said.

Then the black man grabbed a pillow from the bed next to Tony's and put it over Tony’s face. But before he started to suffocate Tony, the boy’s chest exploded out his back. The accompanying report was so loud that it made the camera microphone cut out.

Then the entire screen went black, and Tony heard but could not see another report. And then the lights seemed to come back one and there was the detective standing in the door of the room, with his gun pointed in the hall.

Randy popped the tape out, and turned to Tony.

" Bring back any memories for you sleeping beauty? "

Tony gave the cop a wise ass look.

" Well , I remember the guy in black... even though he looked pretty dead the last time we met."

Tony paused and cleared his throat.
" The boy belongs to Hong’s crew, he deals in small time stuff. Drugs, fencing stolen goods and the occasional carjacking."

Randy pulled a note pad from his jacket pocket, and looked at Tony.
" The kid got a name?"

Tony shook his head.
" I knew him as Johnny, but that’s all. Those kids come across without parents and the gangs swallow them up, if he had a another name it died when he came to America."

Randy got up and walked towards the door.
" Ill have the boys run the kid through the system, for now you would be safest here. I won’t charge you with anything at the moment, but I wouldn’t go anywhere if I were you."

Tony yelled at the door as Randy walked out. 
" Well can you at least get me a comfortable chair?"


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## ledded (Apr 23, 2004)

Nice story hour, I like your writing so far.  

Keep up the good work.


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## ejja_1 (Apr 28, 2004)

ledded said:
			
		

> Nice story hour, I like your writing so far.
> 
> Keep up the good work.




Thanks Ledded, I consider this very high praise indeed since it's from one of the Masters. I have been enjoying your story hour, and cant wait for more.
I especially cant wait to see smitty get his revenge on the german sniper, and also what further awaits those that step in the way of the mighty F.R.O.G.B.O.T. ( Im not usually a fan of things french, and will respectfully refrain from any questions about F.R.O.G.B.O.T. s surrender software.)
Anyway, more gun toting action from me soon enough.
Ejja_1


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## ejja_1 (Apr 28, 2004)

Double post


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## ejja_1 (Apr 28, 2004)

Zelaknia climbed up the fire escaper ladder, and made his way across the roof of the tenement building where the Wongs lived. The sun had set and night was coming on, the Drow warrior was in his element now.

The door to the roof opened easily, and Zelaknia descended into the squalor of the run down apartment building. The stairwell was lined with trash of various sorts and smelled of urine.

Rows of doors extended down the hallway, reminding Zelaknia of cells in a dungeon. Each little cell held a human family, slowly rotting away in their mundane little worlds.

Zelaknia spat on the floor in disgust as he made his way to the wongs front door, knocking on it with three short raps from his fist.
A portly Chinese gentleman answered the door in a dirty stained undershirt and trousers that had seen better days.

" What you want? Johnny not here, you come back later!"

The man said through the slightly open door, a small security chain crossed in front of his face.

Zelaknia did not speak as he kicked the door, ripping the chain and a good chunk of door trim from the wall. The door and the old man went crashing backwards into a planter, were he lay bleeding from the forehead unconscious.

The Drow strode with purpose through the small apartment, searching methodically for the weapons he knew Johnny kept there. Tenants from the surrounding apartments occasionally popped their heads in the door, but fled at the site of the pitch black man ripping the place apart.

Zelaknia was starting to become frustrated, but then he found what he had been searching for. Under one of the planters in the living room was a hole in the floor, Johnny had hid several handguns and some ammo.

Stuffing everything he had found into a pillowcase, Zelaknia made his way back up to the rooftop. He decided to head back for the sewers, where he would train in the use of these new weapons.

Upon reaching the roof, Zelaknia was greeted by four Chinese youths wearing the same "Colors" that Johnny had worn. They took one look at him and the pillowcase he held, and all started to draw handguns.

One of the boys who had dyed his hair blonde stepped forward and addressed the Drow.

" Where you goin with Johnny's stuff? We heard he got snuffed backing your play."

Zelaknia didn't even blink.

" I am on my way to kill the human constable that shot him and stopped us from completing our mission. You should stop hindering me, as it does not bode well for your fate."

One of the other boys turned to the blonde boy and said.

" What the hell did he just say?"

The blonde turned and cuffed the other across the head.

" He said he's gonna go snuff that pig that did Johnny. And I say we gonna help him light that mutha up Dragon style!" 

The boys put their guns away and the blonde boy looked at Zelaknia.

" Were all yours homes, lead the way to the promised land."

The small group fell in step with the Drow warrior, and followed him down into the dank sewers. He lead them to were he had been making his home, in an older area of the sewer system.

The blonde boy looked around and spat out.

"Damn Shaft, nasty digs. Why you take us here?"

Zelaknia turned suddenly on the boy, staring him down from only inches away from his face.

"You are here to show me how to operate these weapons, and then you will help me kill the constable. If you perform well enough I will reward you."


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## ejja_1 (Apr 29, 2004)

Zelaknia had learned the basic operation of the handguns he had pilfered, and had a rudimentary knowledge of their cleaning and care. He had even learned how to strip down the AK-47, but still couldn’t quite get the hang of full auto with it.

The Blonde boy's name was Jimmy, the four others were referred to as Frick,Frack, Knucks and Spaz. Zelaknia was sure that none of the names were real, but the boys answered to them even when he called them by the wrong name.

Jimmy showed Zelaknia one of the little green metal rocks that had been in with the guns, and explained that it was what they called a banger. Apparently if you pulled the little metal ring out of the rock, it would explode several moments later.

Zelaknia decided he needed to see that for himself, and lead the boys down to the zombie infested area of the sewer. He pulled the ring and threw the grenade in the midst of several of the slow moving undead, and was delighted when it blew several of them into small quivering chunks of flesh.

Jimmy and the others jabbered excitedly in Chinese amongst themselves at the site of the moving undead, and howled with laughter as the grenade shredded the zombies like confetti.

Frick and Frack pointed at the zombies and kept repeating " Blains, Blains!"
Spaz pulled out his handgun, and shot another zombie that had appeared from a opening in the wall further back from the blast area.

The zombie jerked with the impact, but kept shambling towards them at a slow pace. Zelaknia told Jimmy to watch closely, and proceeded to kick Spaz in the back sending him sprawling forward towards the zombie.

Spaz screamed as he emptied his 9mm into the zombie at close range, doing little to deter the zombie from attacking him. There was a loud wet sound as the zombie latched onto Spaz by his skull, and began to rip away chunks of his flesh with it's teeth.

Zelaknia backed the other boys out behind him through the door they had come through, tossing another grenade at the zombie’s feet as he closed the door. There was a muffled bang and the silence, all four of the other boys just stood there and stared at Zelaknia.

The Drow warrior looked at Jimmy.
"You have something to say?"

Jimmy and the other boys pulled out their handguns and pointed them at Zelaknia. 
" Spaz was a brother, and now you gotta go!"

The boys opened fire and the whole room went black, even the muzzle flashes from their handguns couldn’t be seen. They began shouting and screaming, as the random shots they made tore through each other.

The lights suddenly came back, and Jimmy was the only one left standing. His fellow gang members all lay in pools of their own blood, twitching as the life flowed out of them onto the floor. Jimmy stood shaking at the site of them, not paying any attention to the black shape that dropped from the ceiling behind him.

Zelaknia grabbed Jimmy from behind, levering his forearm across the boy’s throat with the quickness of a cobra. 

" Here is your reward little one."

An audible crack sounded across the room as Jimmy dropped to the floor, his tracheae crushed and ruined. A few strangled noises later and he stopped flailing about on the floor, the light in his eyes finally burned out like the wick of a candle freshly snuffed.

The Drow warrior sniffed with contempt, as he shouldered the bag of weapons he had acquired. Such impertinence from these lowly humans, where he had offered opportunity they had found nothing but death. The price of an education he mused to himself, was a steep one indeed.


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## ejja_1 (May 11, 2004)

Tony sat on a low hung cot in the corner of a jail cell, waiting for the cops to make a decision as to whether he was being charged or not.
He had been fed a lunch of warm slimy bologna meat on stale day old rye bread, and a juice box that said it's flavor was "Pumpin Pomegranate".

Tony flushed the sandwich down the metal toilet that was in his cell, promptly clogging it and making it gurgle its protest. The juice box was nasty, but he choked it down for it's 48 grams of sugar.

Sergeant Clark had been by a couple of times, to ply Tony for more details into why he thought the Triad might be after him. Tony didn’t have anything more to give him, but Clark tried anyway.

Tony heard the big metal door creak open, and was greeted by the smiling face of randy Clark.

" Hey Tony how you holding up?" He smirked as he spoke.

Tony grimaced back at him. 
" Cut the crap, are you gonna charge me or what?"

Randy walked up to the cell door and smiled.
" Well here’s the thing, I can’t turn you loose on the streets. And I can’t charge you in the deaths of those gang kids, due to someone in evidence loosing your pistola."

Randy winked at the last part, Tony rolled his eyes in response.
" So this is what I propose, we set you up in a safe house for now with a couple of off duty uniforms to keep you honest. Just till we find out what’s going on with that crazy walking corpse that wants you dead."

Tony was shaking his head as Randy continued.

"Or I could help evidence find your gun, and we could send you to the tombs for your date in court...."

Tony sighed and looked up at Randy.
" Alright but I want real food and a real bed, and no more of this cop game crap. Just be straight with me and Ill continue to be straight with you."

Randy smiled again. " Sure thing slick, we leave within the hour so cancel any dinner dates you might have made while you were here."

Tony flipped Randy the bird. " Sit and spin ya meter maid!"




Zelaknia jacked the slide on the AK47, and let it slap close with a "Ca Clack!"
He had come up under the police station into the garage by the way of an old sewage line. Squads sat in rows as they waited to be serviced, and the squads Mechanics were busy repairing a large tactical truck.

Checking his other weapons, a .357 revolver and a Glock 19 handgun. The Drow warrior felt ready, he felt the weight of the hand grenades on his belt.
Two of them were the ones that the gang boys had called frags, the other produced smoke in great amounts.

The lid to the sewer drain slid back smoothly, and like a Black Pudding Zelaknia slid out onto the garage floor. He belly crawled under a squad, and then made his way to where the Mechanics were working. 

The back door to the tactical truck was open, and he could see the vests and tactical gear they had stowed inside. Moving quickly the Drow warrior procured several pieces of clothing, including a bulky vest that had what looked like more of the smoke grenades attached to it.

Zelaknia dressed himself in the stolen uniform; it was heavy and reminded him of the plate mail armor that had been part of his training. He slung his rifle over his back, and put the guns in the sheaths that were part of the belt he had acquired. One last piece of clothing slid over his head like an arming cap, except that it completely covered everything but his eyes.

The Drow warrior grinned to himself, as he pulled the pin on one of the frag grenades he had. He tossed it just underneath the tactical truck, landing neatly in the lap of one of the mechanics. The mans scream was cut off before it gained any volume, by the sharp report of the grenade and the subsequent explosion as the trucks fuel tank went.

Zelaknia made his way up a small ramp to a set of double doors with mesh across the windows, just as it opened up and officers in black uniforms rushed past him into the garage. None of them gave a second thought to a tactical officer standing with an assault rifle in the police garage, until he opened fire on them from behind.

The human officers danced like pixies, as the bullets tore through them like wet parchment. The assassin smiled to himself as the last of the group of 6 stopped twitching, and the metallic sound his rifle made as the last cartridge hit the floor with a "tink".

Zelaknia loaded another clip into the rifle, and racked the slide into position. He had one more clip left before he had to move to his handgun, but he wasn’t worried as he had noticed that the policemen were armed with guns as well. He would gather arms from the dead if he had to, and he was sure there would be plenty.

The small hallway lead to an area with cages that held a small group of men, they were yelling at him to release them. " Why not?" He thought to himself, that would provide another diversion for the already beleaguered police.
Just then an uniformed officer came into the room with his weapon drawn, he barked at Zelaknia. " Where is the fire fight? How many?" 

Zelaknia pointed down the hallway to the garage, and waved the man on. As the officer went through the doors the Drow warrior pulled out a handgun and shot the lock off the cage. The 12 men inside rushed out and headed towards the garage, shots rang out shortly after causing him to smile.

He continued deeper into the cage area were he was met by more officers, they were gearing up in clothing similar to his and carried sleek looking black rifles. One of them looked up and addressed him.

" Simmons where’s the rest of your gear?! We have a break in holding, and they seem to have spilled out into the garage area. I count at least 10 of them armed with sidearms and a couple of shotguns from Tac one, were going in shortly so get your crap together and bring up the rear."

Another officer looked up at him. 
" Al loose the assault rifle, were going in with the MP 5's and CS grenades."
The officer then handed him one of the short sleek black rifles the others were carrying, and went back to lacing up his boots.

Zelaknia accepted the proffered weapon, and unslung his rifle from his back.
The officers all yelped in suprise as he fired the large bore assault rifle into them at point blank range, killing them quickly and messily. The Drow warrior bent down and grabbed a helmet from one of the corpses, securing it to his head by the hanging chinstrap. So far his plan was working very well....




Tony heard the staccato clack of an AK47 somewhere in the distance; the large metal doors that lead to his cell area muffled the noise but not enough to fool Tony. He wasn’t suprised when Randy came into the room with a large set of keys yelling. " We need to leave! NOW!"

Tony jumped up and followed randy out into the hallway; Randy had drawn his revolver and was crouching near an open door. The door had been shot up by small arms fire, and hung limply from it's top hinge. A dead police officer laid face down just outside the door, the back of his head an open window to his mind.

Tony saw the Glock lying there next to the body, and gauged his chances. Randy sprang out into the hallway and took cover behind a large planter, Tony moved to the doorway and picked up the handgun. Randy glanced back and met Tony eye to eye; he saw the gun and smiled at Tony as he shrugged his shoulders. 

Smoke was everywhere, and the sharp sting of CS in the air made their eyes water. Shots rang out in the distance and men screamed and yelled curses.

Tony followed Randy as they made their way along the floor in a crouched stance; a loud "boom" rang out as pieces of office furniture rained down upon them. Randy swore as a chair arm hit him in the back, and Tony had to duck back as a file cabinet almost crushed him. The metal on the file cabinet smoked, and a large hole was blown through the side of it.

Randy glanced back at Tony.
" You think negotiations are out?"


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## ejja_1 (May 14, 2004)

Tony and Randy crouched low behind a cubicle wall, while gunfire and screaming rang out at regular intervals. They had seen a few dead officers and at least 5 or 6 dead prisoners, since they had decided to attempt to leave.

A man dressed in jeans and a T-shirt walked around the corner, he approached the pair with his hands out in front of him. Tony put Two rounds in his chest, without even flinching.
Randy grabbed him by the shoulders.

" What the hell did you do that for? He could be a civilian or a plains clothes cop you  maniac!"

Tony pointed at the dead mans shoes.

" No laces."

Randy looked at the mans feet.

" Oh yeah, I guess your right."

Tony crept up to the body and flipped it over, there was a 9mm Berretta stuffed in the back of the mans pants. Tony looked at Randy and shook his head.

"Way to be Barney Fife!"

Randy smiled.

"So that would make you Otis the town drunk?

Tony was about to reply when a man burst through the smoke screaming, mainly due to the fact that he was on fire. Tony rolled out of the way, as the man ran straight for Randy. 

Randy backed away as fast as he could, finally pushing a potted plant in the mans way. The burning man fell over the plant and crashed to the carpet, where he lay smoking and still burning.

Tony looked at Randy.

" He's done for, cmon lets get the hell outa here."

Randy shook of his shock, and the two made their way further into the smoke filled room. The pair came to a small hallway with a water fountain, Randy put his hand on Tony's shoulder stopping his advance.

" Were by the lobby, the security door has to be buzzed before it will open. Ill go and hit the button, you make sure to open the door at the end of this hallway when I do."

Tony nodded to Randy, and the two parted ways. Randy made his way over to the security booth, the headless body of Kathy Vargas lay across the command and dispatch console. Randy choked back the tears, Kathy had been a good friend.

He reached past her and hit the door release button, and turned to leave the room. A blur of motion caught his eye as he turned, just barely registering that it was a fist hitting him in the face as he was knocked sideways into a chair.

Randy brought up his arms to protect himself, as a flurry of blows impacted his head and neck. He could feel his right eye begin to swell up, and tasted the copper taint of blood in his mouth. 

His assailant continued to work him over, scoring several body blows to the kidneys and generally beating the snot out of him. Randy crumpled to the floor, unable to breath as he felt his ribs crack from the repeated blows.

Randy could barely make out a blurry form above him through his swollen eyes, but it was enough to give him the target he needed. His .357 kicked in his hand as he fired into the shape in front of him, not stopping until he came upon the empty chamber of his spent revolver.

Shortly thereafter Randy heard a familiar voice.

"Clark, I’m comin in the room so hold your fire."

A blurry shape approached him, and Tony's haggard face came into view.

" Damn Clark, that side of beef in the hall worked you over good. Can you stand?"

Randy coughed and spit out a few teeth.

"Yeah ill manage, help me up."

Tony laughed.

"The doors propped open with a garbage can, and there wasn't anybody out front. I think you may have scared them away with that cannon of yours, my ears are still ringing."

Randy winced as Tony helped him to his feet, his ribs were on fire and his face was numb. They hobbled out into the hall together, and made there way out the front door into the street.




Zelaknia made his way down the stairs to were the clerk had pointed, the door was large and made of gray metal. He had promised the man he would let him go when he showed him were T'pau Rey was being kept, he had not promised however that he would let him live.

The Drow warrior popped the pin on his last frag grenade and tossed it down into the bottom of the stair well, casually closing the door at the top of the stairs and stepping over the body of the dead clerk.

The door muffled the report, but it still made him smile. Smoke poured out from the stairwell as he opened the top door, the bottom door lay in a heap of twisted metal in the no open doorway.

Zelaknia bounded down the stairs giggling, he was really starting to love this plane. An open hallway lead back to another door, this one made of wood was no match for the shotgun he had acquired. 

Stepping into a small room, Zelaknia felt the presence of his beloved. A low hum could be heard from across the room, as the sword began to vibrate on the metal shelf were it lay.

The Drow warrior crossed the room and reclaimed what was his, bringing the weapon close to his face and whispering.

"Now we will hunt them my friend, hunt them and spill their blood. Until there is no more to spill." 

The blade purred as if in response, and Zelaknia felt pleasure.


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## skullsmurfer (May 15, 2004)

yeeehaa!  i love this stuff, can i have some more?


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## ejja_1 (May 19, 2004)

Tony put Randy in the back of a cab, and climbed in the other side. The whole time the cab driver was screaming obscenities in a Middle Eastern dialect.

Randy brought out his badge, but this made the cabby only scream louder. Tony pointed the handgun he had taken at the man and shouted.
" HOSPITAL NOW!"

The cabby didn’t even flinch but kept up a steady stream of yelling and screaming in his native tongue. Tony began shaking his head, but caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

A man in riot gear had just steeped out of the front door from where they had just come, he glanced their way and started to walk across the street towards them. It was then that Tony noticed the ache in his shoulder, and the strange glowing sword strapped to the mans hip.

Tony shifted his gun to cover the man, his shoulder muscles tightening as everything slowed down. The man in black was drawing a handgun from his back as Tony’s first shot left his gun, everything seemed in slow motion as Tony fired his second shot.

The cabby screamed and began to dive into his cab, randy moaned in pain and tried to sit up. The man in black brought his handgun to bear as the first round impacted his chest, he began to spin to the side as the force of the round jerked him back and to the left. The second round hit him on the other side, sending him back and down to the pavement. 

All this happened in a in a few seconds but seemed to take minutes. Time sped up as the mans body hit the pavement, his handgun skittered behind him and stopped as it hit the curb. Tony began to advance on the man, his gun never leaving his target.

As he came closer the unmistakable bulge of body armor became apparent. Tony aimed his handgun at the mans head and let his breath out slowly, his finger began to squeeze the trigger.

The front doors exploded outward as several men in orange jumpsuits spilled out into the street. They were all armed, some of them with shotguns others with handguns. They took one look at Tony, and in unison leveled their firearms at him. The click clack of slides and pumps being jacked was deafening, and Tony began to pray inside his head.

Then everything went black, and Tony was swept from his feet. He heard the report of the guns, and could almost feel the rounds as they passed by over him. The blackness was suddenly gone as quickly as it had appeared, and the man in the riot gear was standing in front of him firing an MP5 machine gun full auto into the men.

Tony took off at a dead run for the cab and dived into the back window landing on top of randy.

"GO! GO! GO!" 
Tony screamed.

The cabby mashed his foot to the floor, and his tires left smoke as they screeched across the pavement. The car weaved back and forth as it entered traffic, causing a man on a motorcycle to spill the bike onto the sidewalk.

Zelaknia watched as the few remaining men stopped twitching, he then smiled and turned to watch the cab speed off.

"Nothing more exhilarating then a good chase, wouldn’t you say fellows?"

The bodies behind him began to stir with an unnatural life of their own, the Drows smile grew as they stood and came to attention.

" Go inside and kill anything you find alive, then you may roam the streets and kill as you will."

The undead moaned their ascent and shuffled back into the building, leaving Zelaknia by himself. 
"A neat trick he thought to himself."
T'pau Rey was a powerful weapon indeed, he would have to find out what else his mother had kept from him about the sword in his hand.

Zelaknia walked over to were the motorcycle lay on its side, its driver lay still next to a parking meter. Picking up the bike, he remembered what the Chinese boy had showed him on the "crotch rocket" as he had called it.

Not finding the electric starter, the Drow flipped the kick-start to the side with the toe of his boot. The bike roared to life as he pumped his foot down on the metal rod and goosed the throttle. The sword at his side spoke into his mind, telling him where to go as it magically tracked his prey.

" Oh the destruction we will wreak together my pet, the souls we shall destroy!"

Zelaknia shifted the bike into first gear and pulled away from the curb at a leisurely pace, he had time on his side now and could afford to take things slowly. After all his prey was wounded, and his blade could track them with ease. 

"Yes better to be slow and thorough" he thought. 
The Drow turned the bike down an alley and parked behind a Dumpster, where he retrieved clothes and a few more firearms. A rat watched him from atop a skid the bums had broken up for firewood; its red eyes glistened in the sunlight.




Matron Pitnarun watched through the eyes of the rodent, as her son armed himself and changed clothes. She smiled at the site of T'pau Rey, and giggled to herself when it glowed a little brighter as it detected her presence.
She released the rat from her spell grip, and turned to address her daughter.

" My son has completed half of his mission in a very short time, he has the Fang of Lolth by his side."

A gurgling noise came from the priestess as the Matron Mother squeezed her brains with her mental hand; blood seeped from her nose and trickled down her quivering cheek.

" Zyltis come and collect your dinner, it is fresh as was promised."

A tall thin shape appeared from the darkness of the room; luminescent fungus hung from the ceiling cast small traces of light over what could only be described as tentacles.

" Thank you Matron Pitnarun, we welcome this alliance with you."

The shape moved into the light and it appearance was revealed. Grey skin stretched over a bony frame, ribs showing in stark detail. It's hands ended in wicked looking claws, but the most frightening part of it's appearance was the squid body that sat upon it neck.

" Take your meal elsewhere Zyltis, lest you spoil mine."

The Ithilid put a collar around the neck of the priestess, and lead her off to its chambers. The vile creature disgusted Matron Pitnarun, but she only had to suffer its presence a little while longer. Then her plans would come to fruition, and this miserable plane would finally be hers.


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## ejja_1 (May 21, 2004)

The cabby dropped Randy and Tony at the front steps of St. Morrus memorial Hospital, an orderly came out with a wheel chair for Randy.

Tony patted Randy's shoulder.

" I think you’ll be safer with me outa your hair Starsky, look me up when your feeling better."

Randy tried to get out of the wheelchair, but the orderly was a big man and wasn’t letting him go anywhere.
He shouted after Tony.

" You damn fool he's gonna kill you, at least get my partner Ray Simmons to take you to a safe house."

Tony chuckled as he turned to walk away.
" The police station in a major metropolitan city wasn't safe enough, you’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to call another cop to keep me safe."

Tony hailed a cab from the sidewalk, turning one last time to face Randy before getting in.

" Sayonara Columbo, see you at the next policeman’s ball. Keep your dance card open eh?"

Randy flipped him the bird, as he was taken inside the hospital.



Tony arrived at his destination, paid the cabby and crept up the driveway of his brother’s house. He didn’t get along with his brother’s wife normally, she would have a fit if she saw what he was about to do.

Tony's brother was a shoe salesman to the public, and an arms dealer from hell to certain private sectors. He kept a serious arsenal in a stash spot below his garage, and the key was hidden under a fake piece of dog poop in the back yard. 

He never understood why his brother Carmine had married Ginger, she was a suburban college girl from Indiana with a degree in childcare. She was habitually unemployed, and had a gambling habit along with her penchant for young Latino boys.

Tony had used some of his free time to take a few choice pictures of one of Ginger’s rendezvous, but his brother had shrugged and told Tony to loose the evidence.

They didn’t have any children, just a big German shepherd name Vance.
No reasons he could think of to stay with someone who was unfaithful, but what did he know. Tony hadn't felt that way about anyone for a long time.

He popped the door to the garage, and crawled on his belly across the garage floor. Inching under his brothers 72 mustang, he flipped the catch release on a hidden alcove in the floor.

Several black metal barrels glinted under Tony’s pocket flashlight; he grabbed a few handguns and some ammo leaving the big guns where they were.

Tony was never a believer in large firearms, he was always well within 30' or less from his target. A Browning High Power or a Sig Suaer p223 was accurate at that range, and both had clips large enough for any sustained fire fight he may find himself in.

His favorite though was the Colt Commander he usually carried, it was 10mm which was enough to stop most targets. The big chrome handgun had assisted him through a few tight spots, and the heft it gave in his shoulder holster was like a security blanket to Tony.

The handguns he had taken from his brother were sufficient enough for what he had in mind, a VP70z with a 30 round clip and auto capability.
And a 4inch .357 revolver made by Smith and Wesson.

Tony had the feeling that his killer had found some way to track him, as he had shown up at the Hospital and the Police station both within hours of his arrival. He had to get an advantage of some kind, and home turf was all he could think off.

He left his brother’s house and headed for the docks, hoping he still had some pull with some old friends. 
He would need their help if this was gonna work...


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## ejja_1 (May 26, 2004)

The salty air and fishy smell made Zelaknia wriggle his nose in disgust, it reminded him of the Aboleth and their scum warriors back home.

T'pau Rey hung lightly by his side, sending waves of energy which translated into mental pictures.
He could see the target loading and cleaning some pistols, the background was a warehouse full of fish and other sea denizens.

Zelaknia felt that he was close, he could see a small group of buildings over in the distance. His target was inside of one of them, of that he was sure.

He double-checked that all of his weapons were primed and ready to go, he had quite the arsenal about him. 3 handguns, 2 submachineguns, an assault rifle borrowed from the swat team and some assorted hand grenades.

Everything checked as ready, the sky was getting dark and that made Zelaknia comfortable. He would wait until darkness and spring his trap then, he could only succeed since failure was not an option.




Tony heard the horn of a trawler, it blew 2 long clear notes. That meant his hunter had shown up on the docks. A shore bell in the first warehouse rang 4 short rings, giving Tony the signal he had been waiting for.

He got up and moved to the loft stairs, whistling an old shoremans tune that signaled his friends to get ready. They had rigged the entire warehouse into one big trap, hopefully they would be able to surprise their enemy.



Zelaknia scaled the sides of the warehouse, another trick provided by the blade at his side. He came to an open window hatch, and lowered himself into the rafters.

The building was dark but moonlight filtered through the window, providing him with plenty of light to see by. A few dockworkers sat by the entrance smoking pipes and conversing between one another.

Zelaknia levitated down to the floor, and crouched behind a couple of crates.
He willed the blade to give him sight, and was rewarded with a picture of his prey snoozing comfortably in a hammock. He felt his presence behind him, and turned to see a room with the door slightly ajar.

The Drow warrior smirked with delight as he drew T'pau Rey from it's sheath, the blade purred as they advanced upon Tony's position. It had tasted Tony's blood, but it really wished to devour his soul.

The door opened without a sound, as he padded silently inside. The target was not moving, and his chest rose and fell as would a sleeping mans.
Zelaknia advanced with caution, and rose up in striking form before Tony.

The Drow warrior realized a little to late that his prey’s eyes were open, and that he was smiling. Tony fired almost point blank into Zelaknia's torso, the little 4-inch revolver lifted him up and sent him flying back into the wall.

A throng of men rushed into the room and threw fishing nets over the Drow warrior’s prone body, ensnaring him in a large tangle of thread.
They hooked the mess of nets to a hoist, and sent him into the air were he dangled like a bizarre yo yo.

Black blood dripped from the strange mans chest, were one of the bullets had made it past his tactical vest. The wound seemed shallow though, and Tony paid it little heed. After all this was the man who had stuck a sword into his shoulder, so why should he provide him with any quarter?

Tony waved his men out of the room, and sat back down on the hammock.
He leveled the little revolver at his captive and spoke.

" So tell me, who sold you my contract? Was it Mr. Hong?"

Zelaknia moaned as he felt his ribs had cracked when he had been shot.
He spit a gob of bloody mucus on the floor.

" If I remember my language tutoring I believe the proper reply is get stuffed."

Tony looked at him with amusement.

" I don’t really care who your working for, they should get the message when I send them your guts in a tube sock."

Zelaknia coughed a rasping cough that turned into a giggle.

" And you plan on doing the cutting yourself I suppose?"

Tony smiled.

" Naw we got a machine for that, in fact we have machines for just about anything. The one you’re going in shortly is used to fillet yellow fins, a dockhand fell into it once. It skinned him and then bisected him, and then it steamed his organs until they fell out of him. After that it beheaded him, and wrapped all the unnecessary parts up in a neat little plastic tube sock."

Tony paused.

" You know the fellas and I, were kinda interested to see your insides. Being that you bleed black blood and all."

Zelaknia Smiled coldly.

" Are you sure that’s what you want? Just to see what I’m made of?"
The Drow warrior paused, and gave Tony a look that gave him chills.

" Then let me oblige you, in ways that you could never imagine."
Zelaknias eyes rolled back into his head, and a gurgling noise came from his throat. He vomited a black stringy substance onto the floor below him, it began to eat through the netting that held him suspended.

Tony whistled and his friends came back into the room, armed with a variety of fishing knives and a few machetes.

" When he hits the floor cut him up, well chum the harbor with him."

The Drow warrior began to chant, blue tendrils of energy reached out from his hands and touched down in the black mess on the floor.

The black goo bubbled and spat, it smelled of fowl rot and gore. Then with a pop, millions of tiny spiders the size of a dime scuttled from the mess.
They headed towards the group of men, who stood there watching in horror as they engulfed the first man and skeletized him in seconds.

Zelaknia screamed his laughter, as the spiders began to grow. They would continue to grow for everyman the consumed, until they were the size of small cars. Then they would burst and a million more spiders would be born each with the same insatiable hunger as the ones before them.

The sword had spoken into his mind, using him to cast the spell. It had called it Lolths Boon, and the spell was now written in Zelaknias subconscious.
He shifted slightly and his bonds broke, sending him to the floor were he landed with the grace of a cat.

Tony fired his revolver at the Drow, but he sidestepped every shot with an unnatural quickness. Zelaknia turned and began to approach him as a frightened dockworker tried to cut him with a machete.

The man screamed horribly as his chest was penetrated by the evil blade held in Zelaknias hand. And Tony almost screamed himself when he saw the man turn to ash and explode violently all over the room. 

Tony began to panic as he ran towards a window to escape the black man who hunted him. Zelaknia drew a pistol from his belt and fired a round into Tony’s leg, tripping him and sending him sprawling.

The group of men had been unsuccessfully trying to stomp the spiders into the floor, and two more of them had ended up skeletons. The spiders had been reduced in number, but were now the size of small dogs.

Zelaknia spoke to them in his native tongue, telling them to halt their advance. He then dropped the pistol he had shot Tony with, and approached the group of men sword drawn and at the ready.

" Show me human scum! Show me how you fight, come and take my life if you can!"

The men looked at one another, and then the glowing blade that the enemy held out to them like a beckoning hand. As one they screamed and charged him, blades brandished and muscles taught.
The Drow warrior smiled as they came like Roth to the slaughter, his blood sang the killing song as he engaged the men with certainty.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 12, 2004)

Update coming soon with the weekend, sorry it's been so long but life interfears.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 24, 2004)

Tony lay on the floor in pain, clutching at his calf to try and slow the blood flow. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see two large spiders scuttling towards him with fangs dripping saliva.

He drew the VP70z and fired a small burst at them, they were both turned into yellow gobs of puss in an instant. Tony winced at the recoil from his gun, the wound on his calf was bleeding badly.

The world swam as he tried to stand up, but his will was stronger and he used the window sill next to him to pull himself up. He was standing now, but everything seemed doubled.

Across the room a battle raged, as blades flashed violently to and fro. The men were not fairing well against Zelaknia's glowing steel and superfast reflexes. There had been a dozen to begin with, but now only three stood against his arcane might.

The one man in front kept up with a determined assault, bringing his machete to bear time and time again. The metal on his blade however was beginning to show wear from clashing against the sorcerous blade of the Drow warrior.

The other two men were circling to his sides in hopes of flanking him, but the drow seemed to be one step ahead of them every time. The man on his right was disemboweled with a stroke from his sword, and the one on the left was knocked flat with a sweeping kick. 

Before the man could regain his feet, three large spiders had ripped his head from his shoulders. They rolled it on the floor between them, playing with it like a toy.

The last man standing brought his machete up in an overhead block, hoping to deflect the dark blade once more. The ruinous steele bit into the machete, cleaving it and the man beneath it in twain.

Zelaknia shouted his joy and turned to address Tony, but all he found was a blood trail going out the window. The Drows cheers turned to curses, as he sheathed his sword and took the rifle from his back.

The assault rifle he had pilfered from the swat van, was sleek and black with a top mounted scope. It had words printed on the side that he could not decipher, but no matter it operated much the same way as the AK47 he had trained with.

He moved to the window, and began searching for his prey. The human target could not have gotten very far, Zelaknia reasoned with himself.
He would reacquire him again shortly, and then the fun could begin.




Tony limped from cover to cover, until he was a good ways from the building. He then ripped his shirt into pieces and made a makeshift tourniquet, tightening it until he couldn’t take it anymore.

His vision swam as the blood loss began to effect him, he shivered as he began to feel the chill hand of death grasp him.

Getting up from his hiding spot, he limped across the way to the next set of crates. Wood splintered above his head as a bullet hit the crate, Tony hit the deck hard and began to slip into unconsciousness.
His last memory before blacking out was the flash of red and blue lights in the distance…..


Randy stood on the bow of the police interceptor, the bandages on his ribs were tight and he ached from the beating he had taken. His right eye had swollen up, and he would need some dental work.

The shoreline was visible now and he could see the outlines of the wharf buildings, he brought a pair of binoculars up to his eyes and spotted Tony’s prone form on the dock.

“ Dispatch this is officer #5278, need assistance at the north beach marina. Send medics and backup ASAP.”

His radio crackled and sqwuaked.

“ Ten Four 78, meds and backup inbound.”

Randy glanced back at the men that he had recruited, they were what was left of the tactical squad.
He hadn’t had to argue with them, they wanted some payback for their brothers.

In another 30 seconds he would be on shore, his ribs ached in anticipation.


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## ledded (Jun 29, 2004)

Good stuff man,  I'll be sure to stay tuned for more.


I like the edginess that you have in your writing; a good, clean, rawness that kinda grabs you by the throat like a strong cup of coffee in the morning.  And you seem to honestly be enjoying writing the story, which is a good thing.  Keep it up.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 29, 2004)

Thanks,
Cant wait to see what you and the others have in store. You are blessed with an awesome group, I know alot of people who would kill to game with you guys! The three story hours I read are all by members of your group, are you sure you guys are from this planet? Incredible stuff!


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## ejja_1 (Aug 5, 2004)

Zelaknia levitated down to the ground, as his 8 legged friends followed down the side of the wall. The riflescope gave him an open field of vision on the approaching police boat, he fired three short bursts at it and took down two of the tactical officers before it jammed.
He threw the rifle to the ground and drew an MP5 machine gun he had slung on his back, he was running out of guns but that didn’t matter T'pau Rey was more than a match for any of these human scum.




Randy had barely regained control of the interceptor, both the driver and one of the other tactical officers had been killed. That left randy and one other officer, this was not gonna be easy.
They grabbed the dead officer’s machine guns and pulled up to the dock, jumping out without tying the boat up. 
They made their way down to a bunch of crates, taking cover behind them and checking their weapons. The tactical officer advance in a duck walk, Randy followed in similar fashion his knees protesting as he went.
He finally came upon the prone form of Tony, there was a lot of blood coming from his calf. Randy put pressure on the makeshift tourniquet that Tony had tied to his leg, but the blood seemed to press against his hand trying to get out.

" Damn he must have hit the artery, Dispatch what’s the ETA on the medivac?!"

Tony never heard the reply as gunfire drowned out the mike on his shoulder.
The tactical officer returned fire at whoever was shooting at them, ducking back as the crate they were hiding behind was shredded further by small arms fire.
Randy hazarded a look, and was immediately forced to duck back. He had time to see however the small black shapes that scuttled along the dock towards them.

" We have incoming, and we need to get the civilian to safety." Randy yelled over the machine gun chatter.

The tactical officer nodded and pulled a couple of smoke grenades off of his vest, ticking of the seconds on his right hand. He lobbed the grenade over the crate and he and randy made a break for the dock carrying Tony between them. Bullets followed them but did not find thier mark, and then all of the sudden the gunfire stopped.

The smoke from the grenades billowed up around them and obscured thier vision, the tactical officer put Tony's legs down and trained his gun sites on the crate where they had been. Randy winced as the machine gun sounded a short burst, and then again when the officer continued firing. Randy looked back and grimaced in horror as a wall of black furry legs came over the crate, he laid Tony down and began firing as well scattering puss globules everywhere as the spiders died.

Tony swore and dropped his weapon, grabbing Tony up and dragging him along as quickly as he could. Their weapons were not stemming the black tide, and the tactical officer paid the price shortly after that as the arachnids engulfed him.

Randy was about to loose hope when he heard the thump of chopper blades, the smoke was blown out into the bay revealing hundreds of thousands of spiders rushing towards them. The police choppers opened up side doors and tactical officers from the 383rd, began firing into the mass and dropping down other officers to help Randy with Tony's body.


Zelaknia screamed a vile curse at the helicopters as they floated in on the wind, they were going to prevent him from acquiring his target. He felt energy well up inside him as his hate grew, it was released from him in a ball of fire from his hands. The ball streaked out from him and impacted the nearest chopper, reducing it to a smoking pile of ash as it crashed down into the docks.
"They want a war ill bring it to them!"


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## ejja_1 (Aug 17, 2004)

Randy's radio crackled to life.

"All birds take evasive action, subject has anti air of some sort."

Randy looked up into the sky and watched, as one of the tactical choppers careened into the dock not more than a hundred yards from him. It was engulfed in fire, and the rotor had separated and was currently smashing its way threw several crates and a dock loader.

"What in gods name...."

A second ball of fire raced out from Zelaknias position and impacted the tail rotor of the lead tactical chopper, sending it into a wild spin. The other choppers started to move out of the way, but one of them was slow to react.
The spinning command chopper collided with his wingman, the resulting explosion caused the other pilots to try to take evasive maneuvers. One by one the choppers went down like dominoes, some colliding with others and one of them having it's rotor removed by debris.

Randy cursed as he threw Tony over his shoulder and ran like hell for the nearest cover, flames and molten metal rained down upon them making the docks look like they had been transported to hell. 


Zelaknia strode through the burning wreckage with impunity, he laughed as he watched his former minions shriek and curl up into tiny balls of burning flesh.
He was invincible now the sword had told him so, and he felt the eldritch power coursing through him and it made him believe.

More of the Tactical officers fired at him and the bullets melted away as they neared him, then the officers themselves burst into flames like so much kindling. The Drow warrior roared his delight, and fire began to spread everywhere.

Zelaknia spied his target lying prone next to his police officer friend, his pace quickened as he began to realize his purpose was about to be fulfilled.
He smiled to himself, he would finish these two off and then he would return home and address the matron mother. 

Randy looked up and saw the Drow coming, he drew his service revolver and emptied it into Zelaknia. The bullets became liquid about a foot away from him, and Randy could now feel the heat he was generating. The dark warrior walked up and solidly slid the sword home in Randy's gut, letting him and the sword fall to the ground as he rose his arms to the sky.

" Now this world will know my might, now you all shall bow to me!"

A very familiar voice came to his ears just then.

" You forget something their Wally?"

Zelaknia looked down upon Tony, and saw the muzzle flash as Tony's Colt sent death his way. The bullet impacted Zelaknias forehead with a sickening crunch, sending his brains out the back of his skull forcefully. The Drows corpse took a few steps back and then crumpled to the dock floor, blood flowed copiously from the hole in its head.

" Ain’t nothing without your fancy pigsticker eh punk!"

Tony looked over to where randy lay with the blade sticking out of his back.

" Should have stayed in the hospital dude, damn thats looks painful!"

Red and blue lights flashed in the background as Tony's vision began to fade, for a moment he thought he saw someone dressed in white standing over Randy. 

"Oh well better place anyway..."

Tony happily passed into oblivion.


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