How much is this going to cost me? (Private, PM to enter)

The card in his hand felt strange, like something alien. The fact it had been given to him just two hours before in Twylah’s Incense shop by two men dressed in bad blue suits, and those same men were blown to the next world in their transport outside the shop ten minutes later only made it feel more alien. He read the names across the front again, ‘Bon & Scott’, and below that the tag line, ‘Procurers of the archaic, primordial, and just plain hard to find. If you want it we can get it, or die trying’.

Well that perfectly described their existence now, being that Bon & Scott’s burnt body parts were scattered across the street by a concealed bomb attached to the underside of their car.

What had John really twisted though was why the two men had come looking for him in the first place. They had heard, through anonymous sources of course, he could see images and hear the conversations from a simple object a target had once possessed, a sight into the ‘Hidden World’. They, both Bon and Scott, had a client who wanted to find a certain person and the Shaman was they’re blood hound. The reason was not part of the offer and really John didn’t want to know. Now it does sound perverted and all being able to ‘see’ someone through holding something they had once touched, but what the men didn’t understand was the magic may or may not work and it may only pull a single unidentifiable image or a whole movie. It was random and out of John’s hands, sort of saying. When the Shaman explained this they didn’t care, not a wink, and just kept saying they needed him to ‘track’ this person down because h had ‘the skill set’ to do so. That sounded suspicious and the fact money was no object, Gil could be transferred into any account he named, just added to the suspicion. Money wasn’t what drove the medicine man and most knew this so why keep upping the ante.

The men said they would wait for his call before letting him see the object they wanted him to ‘read’ and then offered up their card, as if the last few minutes of the conversation had never taken place. It may have been rude to push but the punishment of being blown up seemed a bit harsh and after seeing the burning wreck on the sidewalk John felt a little guilty, which went away quickly when he saw the image of Emblem standing just down the sidewalk. It was kind of hard to miss someone that big, but then why if it was him did he turn away? What did someone from Besaid want with Bon & Scott, procurers of stuff you never knew you wanted? John did remember the person Bon & Scott wanted was from Kilika, which was on the same island as Besaid?

John looked at the card again and there at the very bottom was an address in Midgar, a spot he had heard of and knew how to get there. He could take his mount, only it was a fine day and he needed the time to travel to the address to clear his head. As he walked along the semi busy street the hair on the back of his neck stood up. The Shaman felt someone close, someone following him. He made a casual look over his shoulder and thought he saw Emblem again just back far enough to keep an eye out. The second John saw the person he disappeared into the crowd, out of sight but not out of mind. The Shaman kept walking straight after turning back wondering what kind of a mess Bon & Scott had gotten him involved in.

Up ahead the wall of buildings to his left broke as an alleyway appeared and it took John less than a blink to duck into it. With a flash he was gone darting down the small hallway between the tall buildings passing trash cans and hurtling bums. Then he saw a tall mound of something…ugly, so he ducked behind it. As he stood waiting in the dark the sound of approaching feet, his hat letting his ears hear every step, told him his tag along was still following and when the person was just in reach John came out ready to fight.

I found myself at the Incense shop that morning by fate. I have to admit it, nothing but an unseen hand guided me to that alley again. Nothing but a mystical presence walked me to that same exact spot I had been standing at just a short time ago, nothing but an otherworldly force that compelled me to stand across the street watching the door. It was like a haze, like I separated from my body for an unknown amount of time then abruptly waking outside that shop.

Why? I don’t know. I have never acted this way before in my life. Maybe it was the stress of chasing down Calico Jack finally dragging my mind into some strange current seeking help. I quickly dismissed that as just what it was, a lying boondoggle. Maybe it was some spell put on me? No, my will is too strong for that kind of game. No, this was something else and I was still thinking on just what that something was when I saw the two men walk out. It was kind of hard to miss, a tall man and a short one dressed in the same blue suit. It was like uneven bookends, a joke by some crafter who had a few loose nuts in his head.

I paid the two little of my attention as they walked quickly to their conveyance. I had the whole how-did-I-end-up-here thought rattling my brain when the pair went up with a tremendous explosion. Their small vehicle blew up with enough force to send metal pieces flying into the building beside me. I had the sudden memory of a forty pound canon firing on the deck of my Half Moon; the smell of the burning conflagration added the necessary realism to it all. I had bent low at the second the bomb went off drawing Mayhem and as everyone was screaming and running around like a bunch of scared land-lovers I saw John come out of the Incense shop. The look in his eyes, it was strange. It was a mix of fear and…knowing. Most of the people were running away from the fire ball that once held two men but John was just standing there looking at it, like he had some connection to the uneven bookends.

The street was pandemonium till the good folk who make sure we’re all supposed to stay safe came flying in. I took the cue to step back in the alley and make my presence less than obvious but when I looked up I was sure John had seen me. I was sure the magic of his hat had seen through the smoke and the mob to see me ducking back into the dark. Yet all he did was go back into the shop and stay there until most of the local constabulary had finished their business and all that was left were the street sweepers cleaning up the bits and pieces.

I told myself not to follow him. This was someone else’s business and to just stay out of it or else I’d be on the lookout for someone sticking a bomb under me, and yet I was moving up the street following him. It wasn’t hard; the man sticks out like a sore thumb with that black hat and his size. I slipped past the meandering and useless people till I saw John duck into an alley with a bolt. I thought maybe he saw something, or someone, and was running to get away.

I had no idea he was running from me until he literally caught me after I followed down that alley.

John was moving before the shadow could stop him leaping from the dark shadows with a powerful jump then slamming the person in to the wall. He struck the free hand with a quick hit from the back of his knuckles making sure it dropped a weapon if it had one while his other came up and latched onto the throat of his pursuer. It was only when his hands clapped around the neck of the one following him did he realize it wasn’t Emblem. First, the skin under his fingers was too soft, like a delicate flower, and second the large man was just that, tall and large. This person was shorter, a lot shorter, so much so he lifted them free of the ground with almost no effort. When he finally caught sight of the steel blue eyes staring back at him the Shaman realized who had come after him.

“Lady Keiko?” He whispered dropping her back to the ground.

The Shaman looked down to the entrance of the alley as the Pirate leaned up against the wall gathering herself. It was one thing to be surprised by a larger man; it was another to have the air squeezed from you by said man. John kept an eye out for anyone following but when no one came he turned back to the Pirate.

“Why are you following me?”

She gasped getting her air back while rubbing her neck and looked ready to speak when a shadow appeared in the mouth of the alley. This time when the Shaman looked down there with his enhanced vision he spotted the tall man who had been following him. The tall man looked somewhat like Emblem, but then not really. Emblem took baths and this man, well it had been a while since he had seen soap. His hair was greasy and face pock-marked with pimples. He looked down on the Shaman and smiled with a pair of blank eyes, as if no one was home. John turned to face him as the man started down the alley staggering like he was broken and in pain.

“Stay here,” John ordered Lady Keiko before starting forward toward the man.

She didn’t respond and it wouldn’t have mattered if she did. The medicine man was all ready moving. His enemy was approaching. The only thing standing between them was open air and opportunity, and then with just a few feet left between them both attacked. The man who had followed John down the alley to fight gave a guttural beastly cry and lunged forward with raised hands intent on crushing the Shaman’s head. In a counter John met the attack ducking the grab by the man then popping up with a snap of his legs. He brought his left arm back and up extending the elbow into the man’s face with a bone crunching blast that staggered him. John kept moving producing his tomahawk Matoskah in his right hand out of the air itself it seemed before bringing the weapon down on the man’s ankle. The Shaman made sure to use the lug side. He wanted only to injure not kill, and as the bone snapped the man gave another cry and then came back stronger amazingly. He grabbed John’s jean jacket more than ready to keep fighting. more than ready to continue to wrestle.

Only a careful, and really loud, shot from a gun ended it all before John could defend. A large caliber bullet slammed into his shoulder driving him back away from the Shaman and onto the ground.

John turned to see the smoking pistol in Lady Keiko’s hand.

The smoke from my pistol Mayhem drifted up in a little tendril. The look on John’s face said my round might have been just a little too close for comfort, but he didn’t have anything to worry about. As big as John is I’m a dead shot with Mayhem and I hit what I aim at. He had nothing to worry about like the large man who had chosen to follow and then fight the shaman found out, and rather fast at that. My 50 caliber round probably broke his shoulder and from the moaning sound he was making on the ground I was sure he wasn’t getting up anytime soon.

As cruel as it sounds those sounds made me feel better, but not good enough to lower my pistol. I turned it just slightly and pointed it at John. “If you ever think of grabbing me again…”

The Shaman didn’t respond right away to the threat. He turned back to the mouth of the alley and stared. I was a little confused until I realized John was looking for reinforcements. The man may have friends, even smelling the way he did which was causing my eyes to water. I had to choose suddenly between John’s lack of propriety and anyone coming after us. I decided on the first and after seeing the Shaman fight I felt even better with it. I tucked Mayhem away in its holster hidden on my hip and started to speak.

“Why was the man trying to kill you?”

John didn’t respond, just turned away from the man on the ground putting his back to the mouth of the alley. I could tell he wanted as much distance from this place as possible as fast as possible. He reached down and took my hand pulling me toward the other end of the alley, a metal door in the middle of a brick wall. I didn’t mind being touched now but I did wonder how he planned on getting us out of here. Maybe he had a key to the door? I figured he didn’t so with a quick pull I drew Mayhem again and fired a single round right through the lock. There was the usual report as the Hellhammer twin sounded off and the usual ping as the bullet broke through the metal of the lock. I turned tucking my pistol away again as John looked a little surprised.

“What? I don’t believe in kicking down doors and since we’ve all ready announced our presence why be so discreet?”

I stepped into the dark of the room beyond leaving John alone for a second before he followed. I’m a direct kind of lady and as such I know some have trouble accepting that. John wasn’t one I could tell though I’m sure he was wondering just how far I might go. I took note we were in a large spacious run down room, probably the back of a shop. We were not out of danger but I wanted answers as to why that man tried to kill John and what were those two men who were blown up doing at the shop. I stopped and turned to face the shaman who was just a step behind me. It was a little unnerving to have him that close and not know it, in a good way, but I’ve also never been one not to have a voice.

“Tell me what’s going on John, and don’t try to say I’m not part of it. I just shot a man and a lock and I’ll do it again if I have too.”

John looked at Lady Keiko and took a second before answering her question. He wasn’t sure he wanted to drag her into this. They had known each other for all of five minutes and all of the sudden he was being asked to divulge his past to her. He was being asked to trust her with knowledge no one needed to know about him. John had been on watch his entire life only letting a cherished few know why he was always looking over his shoulder. There were only a few who would understand why he was on constant guard. An ancient mark placed on one’s soul at birth because one is to be the end of an ancient spirit is not something everyone can understand.

Yet maybe Lady Keiko was one who could understand. She obviously lived outside the norm of life, walked on a path every day others would see as crazy. She actually reminded him of Wahkan somewhat, a stubborn figure that was used to doing things her way and seeing things her way. It was that kind of strength he saw in Wahkan and her that let him tell of his strange purpose here in the Middle World.

“The man in the alley was not himself. He was possessed, taken over, by another and directed to attack me. I have been marked Lady Keiko. I am the one who will bring about the end of the Great Serpent in a battle in the Upper World.”

When her eyebrows jumped up so high she looked like someone had scared her I started to rethink my choice. When the color drained from her face I felt an urge to roll back the last few minutes. Then Keiko seemed to calm down, her eye brows dropped back to normal and the color came back to her cheeks. I knew now the only way through was forward so I continued on.

“When I was born a mark was placed upon my soul, a sigil that meant I in some way am the end to a great evil that will try to darken the Upper World. The Great Serpent knows this and it has been hunting me since my first breath. I was trained in Shamanism and Takenouchi-ryu to protect myself and to prepare for the battle I will have to wage. It is why I must walk my path alone Keiko, it is why I have few friends. I will not put anyone I care for in danger.”

John hoped she understood why the man was trying o kill him and why he had to do what had to be done. He looked back to the damaged door checking to make sure no one was following before continuing on. “And those two men this morning, they were separate from the man in the alley. I’m not sure what they were into but that explosion was meant to stop them from going on. I’m afraid they may have dragged me into it.”

The words coming out of John’s mouth did not take hold in my brain at first. A mark on John’s soul? He will be the end of a great evil? It was all a little too fantasy based for me. Then I thought about the man in the alley, the way he was walking toward us, like a puppet on a set of invisible strings. And then there was the fact he kept on fighting even after having his face smashed and ankle severely broken. If it wasn’t for a bullet from Mayhem putting him down the man would have just kept on fighting. I had time to look at him and even though the man was of a good size he was no fighter. He should have folded after the first blow, but he didn’t.

So John was telling the truth…maybe? I still had a hard time accepting some of it.

The shaman kept on when my face returned to normal and he explained about the bookends in the car that were now crispy fried. They had been in earlier asking John to do what’s known for, seeing visions when holding objects. I had gone to him looking for Calico Jack and even though he didn’t give me an exact location to go looking in John gave me enough information to know where to look. Maybe that’s what these fellows were doing?

“Those men in the car outside the shop, they came to talk with you?” I asked quickly.

When John nodded I carried on. “I stood outside the shop in the alley all morning and I didn’t see anyone go near that transport. Whoever put that bomb on it did so before those two came to the shop, which means that person was watching them the whole time. And you know what that means? They know both came to see you.”

John just nodded and started to say something when he stopped. The look on his face never changed but the energy in his body did. I knew something was afoot when the shaman tensed for a second so when he yelled for me to grab Mayhem I was all ready on the way there. I watched him bolt to his right as I went to my right with a three quick steps. That’s when I saw the two men by the door running in, both armed with high tech rifles, and from the way they moved they were trained to do the business of killing. Almost at once they separated, peeled apart, and came for both of us one on one. The first ran right for me firing three round burst like a properly trained soldier would. Bullets flew by me screaming as I kept moving and when I fired back with two of my own the man ducked for cover behind a pile of trash. I did the same behind a pillar noting I had seven rounds left in Mayhem. I heard the other man firing his rifle and I assumed he was hunting John and having little luck.

The sounds of the rifles firing were deafening. I decided sitting still was a bad idea so I moved away from the pillar to my right in the shadows. I kept my eyes locked onto the trash pile as I did and the man hiding there didn’t come back out. More firing from the man hunting John echoed in the large room as I kept moving. The shaman could defend himself I thought, he didn’t need my help. So I kept my mind on the one who came for me, waiting a second before breaking from the cover I had found behind another pillar and running for the trash pile. I had a feeling and when I reached the spot my sense of the situation was confirmed. My man was laying lifeless with his back against the wall, blood running out of his chest where one of my rounds struck.

I hit what I shoot at it I thought giving Mayhem a small rub of my fingers.

A sudden scream replaced the firing and I knew John got the other one. My only hope was the shaman left his man alive so maybe we could talk to the fellow and get some answers.

John heard the men coming for him due to the magic of his hat and before the pair could burst into the room he was reacting. He saw the look in Lady Keiko’s eyes and knew instinctively she was all ready thinking due to his sudden body change. He saw her move in the opposite direction while drawing her large pistol so the Shaman knew Keiko was going to be just fine. John turned his attention to getting space between the two and glanced over in time to see the lead man break from his partner and make a bee line right toward him.

Professionally trained soldiers John told himself making his own dash for a pillar and cover. They separated and went after assigned targets. He made it to the stone support as the rounds from a three round burst struck behind him. Dust and debris flew as John waited a second before making a dash to the shadows using the pillar as a block. He rolled into the dark just as the soldier coming for him let go of one last burst into the side of the column, a tactic meant to pin John down.

Too bad he was all ready gone. As soon as the soldier reached the pillar and turned ready to let go of another volley of bullets John drew Wakina from his waist in his left hand reversing the grip while pulling out Matoskah in his right. The soldier stopped short on the trigger when he saw the empty spot on the other side of the column, then turned slow and cautious looking for his target as his partner fired again from across the space. The Shaman silently crept to his left as the soldier started to move toward the shadows where he was hiding, drawn to them by an instinct derived from military training. John got to the spot he was looking for and stopped, about ten feet away from the soldier, and started to concentrate on his Chi energy. A second passed as his attacker closed on the shadows then with a release of that pent up energy the Shaman leapt the space of ten feet between him and the soldier.

All at once everything turned, the attacker became the defender. In the blink of an eye the soldier with the rifle was no longer trying to kill his target but just stay alive. There was no scream or sound, just a flying body. He saw the Shaman airborne from the shadows to his right and he spun the barrel of the rifle intending to empty a clip into him. He was even back pedaling a little to make some distance but John was too fast. The tomahawk came down so fast and hard the soldier barely held onto the weapon as it was ripped toward the floor twisting him slightly and keeping him form countering anything else. John kept moving bringing his left hand over and into the soldier’s shoulder with a hard punch pushing the man back and opening his chest up enough for Wakina to push in and slash downward. From the shoulder to the other hip the sharp blade of John’s Bowie knife cut right through the Kevlar vest of the soldier, right through his shirt, and to the skin. The blows knocked the man to the ground but not out. That was done when he reached for his rifle and John slammed Matoskah ‘s lug right into his shoulder joint breaking the ball and socket.

The soldier rolled over with a loud bellowing scream grabbing his useless arm and giving up the fight. John stood over ready to call out to Keiko when he saw her walking up with smoking pistol in hand.

“Now we get answers,” he stated looking into the soldiers eyes.

I walked over hearing John’s words feeling the adrenaline slowly ebb from my body. I did not out Mayhem away. I chose to keep him out and visible to the man rolling around the ground in pain. John put the tomahawk away in a sheath across his waist on his back and the large knife in another under his arm, like a holster for a gun. I had watched John take out the soldier and I can say with the up most certainty I am happy he is not coming for me. The strike from the tomahawk was devastating, but the slash from the knife was downright nasty.

The soldier looked up at us and I could tell from the look in his eyes he wasn’t going to give us any words without paying a price. I should know, I’ve worn that same look before. You know what’s coming and yet you still drive the defiance in your soul up the pole. I could also tell John was not the type to force someone to talk when they had all the intention of not doing so, or so I thought.

So I took the first stab at the man as some might say. “Why are you after us?”

“We don’t care bout you, the tall man, he’s another story.” The soldier spat through grinding teeth.

“That shoulder must really hurt. I’ll make a deal with you, tell us whose paying for all this and I’ll get you to someone who can help with the pain.” I offered kneeling down.

The soldier laughed, even in pain it was a nice guffaw which told me he wasn’t ready to give in. When he finally spoke it was just proof. “Tell you what pretty, why don’t you sit on my face and let me tell you what I know.”

Joking, not a good sign. “There’s not enough water to wash with if I did that, and it would just anger the shaman behind me.”

“Like I give a sh-“

“You really should take care in what you say next, cause if it’s not what John wants to hear then you might have more to worry about then a broken shoulder.”

That defiant look, it was replaced so fast I almost missed it when I blinked. He looked to John and then back to me and before he could think any more I added just a bit more. “I wouldn’t test him. John may seem like the quiet and kind gentlemen, but look at where you are now. And I can tell you he knows magic, bad magic that’ll make you turn inside out.”

The soldier looked from me to John and back again as I carried on. “Oh yes, I once saw him touch a man and his inside started pouring out his eyes and nose and ears. It was terrible, that man just screaming in pain as what was on the inside was forcing it way out. Poor, poor soul that man, it’s not right to de that way screaming like a banshee laying in the gutter.”

“Bullsh-“

“Ah,” I cut in holding a finger up, “do you really want to poke the bear?”

It was very quiet for a moment. I could see the soldier was thinking over what I had said, taking it all in and running it over in his head. I was about to try and add on even more getting dangerously close to lying when John stepped forward. Well, the soldier just broke and started screaming out.

“I don’t know a name, just got a package delivered to us with money and the picture of two men to take care of.”

“The two from the Incense shop?”

“Yeah, only they went in and talked with the tall man. We were told to take care of anyone they talked too…nothing personal…just business.” The soldier pleaded with a half smile.

I nodded and stood up. “Thank you, now we’re going to leave so I’ll need you to just lay there and let us go in peace. You do anything else and it’s your insides that’ll be leaping out your eyes, understand?”

He just nodded as I turned to John smiling. The look the shaman shot me was one of displeasure, but understanding. I just smiled and walked toward the door. Sometimes it just takes a woman’s touch.

Then the others showed up and we were running again.

Everything Keiko said to the soldier was to get him to talk John thought with an inward smile. He didn’t know a spell to turn a man inside out and he had never heard of any magic that could cause such a terrible fate. It was a good thing the man didn’t either. They turned to walk away as John thought about what the injured soldier confessed. Someone was after Bon & Scott and because he had met with them he was now up to his neck in trouble. No good deed goes unpunished John thought one last time.

Then his ears picked up the sound of feet running up through the alley, more soldiers obviously coming to find their brethren and him. The Shaman looked over his shoulder for a second and caught the glimpse of at least four shadows running through the door to the alley. He didn’t waste another second after that spinning and grabbing Lady Keiko’s hand in his before bolting for the front of the room. He spotted a set of double doors in the dark shadows and made a straight line for them. The injured soldier on the ground started screaming to get his team’s attention and pointed out which way John and Keiko were running. One of the newly arrived soldiers opened up as a round or two flew past John’s shoulder, but he never stopped. He just kept running right into and through the old doors breaking them down with a shoulder ram. Once out in the sunlight on a semi-busy street the Shaman turned left and started north past people.

As he did his free hand went into his cargo pants pulling out his mount, the motorcycle Cetan Nigan. He gave the command to grow, ku, and the bike did just that. Behind them the soldiers poured out onto the sidewalk form the building. One of the lead ones lowered and fired his rifle causing both John and Keiko to duck. The sound of the shooting caused a mass panic, which John took full advantage of, while the soldiers now dealt with people running everywhere blocking their aim and vision the Shaman jumped on his motorcycle. Keiko didn’t object and just followed suit jumping up and behind John on the seat. The Shaman gave the command, hoppo, while running his thumbs on the inset crystals by the grips. All at once Cetan Nigan came to life with a loud throaty roar. The bike launched at its master’s command off the sidewalk and out onto the street.

John had to be careful and keep his mount under control or else he could lose Keiko off the back, though it might be a little hard with how tight she was holding on. The Cetan Nigan wasn’t propelled by its motor but by the special compound in the paint that let the bike defy gravity. John thought about going faster and the Cetan Nigan responded. Soon the pair was out and away from the soldiers rolling along a side street. He had only one place to go now and it wasn’t back to the Siang Tien Tang.

He was taking them to the address on Bon & Scott’s card. Maybe someone at their office would know what was going on.

I held onto John’s middle like it was the only thing keeping me on the motorcycle. It was good that I did because my arms were the only thing keeping on the bike. The strange thing, even though the motorcycle growled like come giant cat waiting to be loosed on this world the engine never shook the metal frame. There was all this noise and nothing moving, all this thunder and no lightning. I didn’t think on it much because as I said I was too busy hanging on.

The motorcycle if anything was fast and I got the impression John was holding it back.

We raced along the streets as I kept a look out behind us. No one followed and I thanked no one special for that. I had no clue where we were going so I used the time to think about what this, all this shooting, was about. As my old lover, and Captain, used to tell me as we lay in bed ‘it’s best to see the storm brewin’ than to have it come upon ya’. Those two men, from what John had said, came to the shop looking to hire him to find someone. John had told them no and they left, only to be blown up in the street. This had to be about who they were looking for. Maybe this odd pair stumbled across something they should have left alone? My guess is yes to both and I think the faster we find out who the better off will be when the time comes to confront who’s behind this.

“Are we going to where the bookends worked?” I asked leaning forward and screaming above the engine sound of an engine that wasn’t really running.

John just nodded to me so I nodded back. At least we were on the same page. The shaman turned the bike at the last minute missing the front of someone’s transport that pulled out in front of us. I looked over at the person driving giving them a hard stare. If I wasn’t in such a rush I would have drawn Mayhem and shot out their tires for almost killing us. I turned back and looked at John’s hat. It was staying perfectly put, not moving an inch. How is that possible? The rest of the ride I just kept wondering how his hat stayed put. I could barely keep my vest closed the bike was moving so fast sometimes and his hat didn’t waver one inch.

We took several more turns and flew down a few more streets ending up down what was the red light district of the city, or close enough. There were a few bars and few houses where a person could find a good time for the right amount of money. We actually stopped in between a bordello and a bar in front of a small two story building with two windows on the bottom and two on the top. It looked like tall closet in some mansion, and it looked like someone had beaten us to it. There were no panes in the windows or front door because someone had burnt the inside of the place. It was just a shell now, maybe a few hours ago it was something, but now it was just burnt metal and stone.

“This is where those two worked? I’ve seen worse.” I whispered.

John stepped off Cetan Nigan and looked around. He wasn’t shocked or surprised at seeing the devastation of the building where Bon & Scott worked. Whoever killed them was meticulous closing off any and every loose end the pair might have touched. It’s why he was being chased, or so the soldier confessed to earlier, so it wasn’t that much of a chance the address on the small business card would be destroyed. The Shaman walked up and looked in through one of the melted windows to see the inside was nothing more than an abandoned fire pit, everything reduced to ash. There were two large mounds of melted steel in a corner, probably the remains of file cabinets and all the paper inside gone.

“There’s nothing left here. It was a long shot but one I had to try.” John said to Lady Keiko who was surveying the damage from the other window.

Someone walking by stopped as John’s ears picked up the sound. He turned to see a woman in her late twenties maybe with long white hair and matching overcoat standing by his mount admiring it. The Shaman walked over and smiled as he approached the woman. “Good day,”

“Good day, is this your motorcycle?” The woman asked.

“Yes, Cetan Nigan is mine.”

“Oh, that’s an unusual name. I haven’t heard it before.” She smiled. John noticed she was dressed in just a white overcoat. The lapels opened just enough to note the lacy top part of a corset and when he looked down there was just hose and a pair of high heels.

“It means Shadow Hawk in my language.”

“That’s a nice name for your motorcycle. Are you two looking for Bon & Scott?” The woman asked smiling.

John looked at the rubble of the building. “Only to see their office I’m afraid. Mr. Bon and Mr. Scott are dead, killed this morning by a bomb.”

“That would make sense,” the woman replied. “When they burn down your building around here they usually make sure you’re in it.”

“You sound as if you saw this coming.” The Shaman remarked.

The woman looked around with a small turn of her head then spoke. “I’ve seen and heard things about the gruesome twosome, why do you want to know?”

A small giggle came from somewhere, probably Keiko John thought, as he answered. “They came to see me before they were killed. I was hoping to find out just why someone would want to kill them.”

“Most people who dealt with them wanted to kill them. Listen, you want to talk some more then it’ll be in my room after you pay for my time.”

“I’ll pay for the time, but that’s all I want. My name is John and this is Keiko.” The Shaman replied wth a wave to the Pirate.

“My name’s Cecile, it’ll be 50 Gil for my time, that all right?”

John just nodded and set out behind Cecile as she walked to the building next to the former offices of Bon & Scott. Keiko followed still smiling from Cecil’s remark about the ‘gruesome twosome.”

Quite funny.

I followed John and the woman named Cecile into the building where she stayed, after John took his motorcycle of course. When it ‘shrank’ Cecile’s eyes went wide, if she liked the color then she loved the style you might say. It resembled a Hotel and was one at a later time I noticed as we walked in. There was a guard at the front door, nicely dressed and very muscular. He kept a close eye on John sensing the shaman was the dangerous one among us. What a mistake to think such a thing. Once inside Cecile stopped at small desk where in other times paying guest would check in. She whispered to man while handing over a roll of money to him, and then turned toward a set of stairs going up one step at a time. Paying the ‘rent’ I assumed as we walked up the steps.

We passed two floors topping on the third and all the way up I noticed each floor had guards posted along the way. There seemed to be a heavy presence for a bordello, much more than anyone would or should expect. I have seen banks and Military institutions that should have had this much firepower walking around. I had wondered why the guard at the front door let me pass with Mayhem and John with his tomahawk and knife. Now I could see why. There was no reason to worry about a crew running wild in here. As soon as I or John stepped out of line the bullets would start flying. This also had to be one of the nicest and cleanest houses of ill-repute I had come across, and being a Pirate you can imagine what I’ve seen. The floors were clean, the walls washed and painted, and the sweet smell of lilac floated on the air. It was so nice I can’t imagine a respecting Pirate doing anything like what was going on behind the closed doors here. I wouldn’t dare. How can it be wanton if everything is so damn clean? How can you expect to have fun between the sheets when their crisp and clean.

On the third floor we turned down a long hall, a guard at the start and one at the end. I assumed the setup was the same on each floor above and below us. Cecile led us halfway down the hall to a door with bright decorative metal numbers, 322. She produced a key from a small clutch she carried, something I had missed in our initial meeting. The door opened without a creak meaning the hinges were nicely oiled, another reason to not call this place a bordello. Cecile’s room was the final nail in the coffin in my opinion. The carpet, and why exactly do you need carpet on the floor, was clean enough to make me feel like taking off my boots. Everything was just as clean as it was outside, and Cecile’s white theme extended from her clothes to the furniture and walls. There was a couch, two chairs, and a table in the center. All white and all gleaming.

I was just about to scream when She turned to John and held out her hand. “First the money and then we talk,”

The cleanliness of the interior of the building and room was a stark contrast to the neighborhood outside. It did shock John some, but not enough to deter him from finding out what Bon & Scott had inadvertently gotten him into. He handed over the Gil to Cecile, who put the money in an ornate box on the table, from a pocket on the inside of his jean jacket as Keiko sat down in one of the chairs. John watched Cecile sit in the other then politely motioned he didn’t want to sit when she offered him the couch.

“What kind of information are you looking for John?” Cecile asked with an inviting smile.

“I’d like to know what t Bon & Scott did for a living. The card they gave me said they were procurers of hard to find things, but after hearing what you said outside I assume they were a little deeper in the dark then they let me see.” The Shaman said.

“With Bon & Scott it was always darker than what they told you. Yes, they could retrieve that special thing you desired most, but how they did it most often caused more trouble than you were prepared to deal with.” Cecile explained with a nod.

John nodded as the picture started to clear of the pair in his head. “Did you or anyone here see the fire last night in their offices?”

Cecile shook her head quickly. “I was out at on a special request for a special client so I didn’t see anything. And I can tell you no one here saw anything either, we never do, understand?”

John nodded again catching the hidden meaning of what she was saying. No one here would talk about anything that might bring a watchful eye around. The Shaman started to think his money was going to waste as Cecile wasn’t much of a help. Then he decided to try another tact.

“Did Bon or Scott ever pay you or another girl a visit?”

The question had a very small chance of getting answered but John took the chance. He figured living so close to the palace, and with the pair’s reputation, that Bon or Scott couldn’t resist coming inside and spending some time with one of the girls. He still wasn’t sure which one was which John realized, which one was Bon and which one was Scott. When Cecile finally answered John felt a little lucky and not in the way this place knows the word.

“There is a girl here who would entertain Bon, the tall one. She told me he liked to talk, about anything and nothing at all, just talk while they conducted business. The last time he was here he was…excited about a job that was going to change his life. He even told her he was going to make enough Gil take her away from this place. Guess he won’t be doing that anytime soon?”

“Did Bon say anything about the job or the client who hired him?”

Cecile waited a minute before answering. “She asked me if I had ever the name Teidor. I told her no and she said Bon had whispered it after they were done. It may be what you’re looking for or it may not.”

A name, well that was better than nothing John thought. Teidor, he had heard it somewhere before. He gave Cecile a nod and polite smile. “Thank you Cecile, you have helped us. We’ll find our way out.”

“My pleasure, and if you ever want to drop by and see me again just stop at the desk downstairs and ask for me.” She replied with a smile that told John there was more to that statement than what she said.

He just nodded again and headed for the door where Keiko was all ready walking through.

I liked Cecile’s room, well at least the ‘female’ side of me did, but the pirate side of my brain, which always seems to win out over my female side, wanted to just flee screaming from all that white and clean of that room. Still I was able to hold my ground and stay. I was just a little curious as to why Bon & Scott had been killed, but that was waning with every minute I spent in that room. I sat down in a chair and suddenly felt like I would spoil it. I shifted from side to side trying to get comfortable but that damn cushion was too poufy. I need a few lumps in my cushions to tell the truth.

The conversation between John and Cecile was over after a few minutes and I have never been so happy to be free of a room like I was that one and I have been shot at while fleeing. As we reached the first floor and headed toward the front door I talked to the shaman over my shoulder. “Did we find out anything useful?”

John may or may have been about to answer my question when my eyes spotted the car sitting across the street out the large windows that graced the old building. Through the gossamer material of the shears I could see three men exit the vehicle, one on our side and two on the other side blocked by the bulk of metal. I knew what was coming and my heart skipped a beat, not from fear but from the pure adrenaline that dumped into my veins. Everything slowed down to a crawl. I saw the two men who were on the other side of the car duck down while the third ran toward the alley that would lead to the back of the bordello. Then the two men, still blocked by the car, popped back up and both held small tube like rocket launchers on their shoulders. They moved so slow I could read the sides of tubes where the name of the manufacturer was stenciled, one ‘Fury Arms’. The whole scene was so surreal, an attack in broad daylight with rockets, and yet I was all ready moving. I spun on my heels heading for the back of the building and the door I knew was there. All good escape artists use the backdoor and from the way the gentleman was running for the alley he knew about it too.

“RUN JOHN!” I screamed. Out the corner of my eyes I saw two of the large guards go for their guns tucked inside their suit coats while the one behind the desk hit the alarms. I grabbed the shaman by the arm as he spun to run too as the tell tale sound of the rocket launchers firing echoed on the street and the lobby. The loud ‘Foosh’ bounced all around us in that confined space but it did not come close to drowning out the sound of my heart as it beat.

1…2…

I counted down the seconds in my head waiting for the loud explosions of the rockets. We were almost to the stairs when the boom struck the concussion as the explosives in the rockets went off and started to shred the lobby all around us.

Before the men had fired the first rocket John had seen them and deduced what was going to happen. It was only when they stood back up with the rocket launchers on their shoulders did he know how they were going to try and attack this time. The two man and four man teams hadn’t worked so the time for subtleties was over John assumed as he turned on the spot and started running for the stairs. He felt Keiko grabbed for his arm pulling him toward the back of the building and an obvious egress. The only problem, everyone knew about the back door in places like this. These men were trained killers, professional hit men, and more than likely they knew about the backdoor too.

So John pulled Keiko toward the stairs intending to race up them back to Cecile’s room. He could hear the guards screaming out they were under attack. An alarm started up as the wail of its sirens seemed to flood the air with its loud ear splitting screech. Up on the floors above yelling started to come from the guards posted there and then just as the Shaman and Keiko reached the steps the world exploded.

There was that strange moment of silence before the rockets detonated against the outside wall, that unusual moment when it all becomes still. The alarm was screaming and neither were the guards. It was peculiarly quaint John thought before he heard the hiss of air being drawn inward, as if some giant were drawing in a huge breath. The Shaman put hand over his hat holding it in place while taking the first three steps in a large leap with Keiko following right on his side. He didn’t have time to warn her and even if he did he wasn’t ready for the size of the explosion. The rockets must have been a new model or new type because they sure packed more of a punch than John was expecting. The force of the blast threw him and Keiko to the top of the landing for the second floor with a huge heave.

The lobby of the hotel/bordello simply disintegrated. The explosion ripped into the walls and floor crushing both with the force. The guards standing by the wall just disappeared and the man behind the desk ceased to exist with a snap of the finger… and maybe it was for the best because they were saved from the fireball that rolled through a microsecond later. The heat melted the expensive tile floors to puddles and it set the wood on the banister of the stairs and walls ablaze. In a second the front of the bordello was gone, falling in on itself as the wall that supported it was gone.

John pulled himself up to his knees ignoring the pain in his back. He turned to see Keiko crawling up slowly with the help of the wall. He turned to see the stairs to what was left of the first floor were still intact, somewhat. Fire was everywhere along them, on the banister and the steps. Through the smoke and conflagration the Shaman could see the other soldiers coming for them. He watched as they ran in dodging the debris of stone of the front wall to this place.

“Come Keiko, we have to run!” He grunted taking the Pirate’s hand in his.

The rockets exploded with such fury and force I was thrown up the rest of the stairs and onto the landing with a thud. We were luck John and I, because as soon as we hit the tiles on the floor the fireball rolled through the lobby finishing every poor soul stuck there. All at once the man behind the desk and the two large Humes by the door were gone, just like that they were dust. Before we finished rolling around like a couple of tumbled stones I started to get to my feet but it was a tall task. I felt weak in the legs and my head hurt from the force of the blast.

Yet I still had the will to live and I forced my limbs to move. As I got to my feet John grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the stairs again, heading up one more time. Even staggered a bit like I was I knew where John was going and I let him guide me. As we were climbing to the third floor the guards from above ran past us. My ears rang but not enough to hear the new threat, automatic weapons firing below. The men who fired the rockets did not come alone and now they were coming in for us. The only way out was up and I was hoping the shaman had his ship tucked away in his pants pocket like he kept his motorcycle. When our feet hit the third floor though John swung hard left as a hail of bullets tore up the banister by us.

“Where are we going?” I screamed staying right in the shaman’s hip pocket.

He never said a word, just ran us right to Cecile’s door without stopping. He did not stop at the wooden portal to her room, just kicked the damn thing in with a hard kick. As it came off the hinges we ducked inside just missing another round of bullets. I pulled Mayhem from his holster and took cover by the door peeking out to see smoke filling up the stair case and hall. I heard John talking behind me and I looked over ready to yell at the man that this was no time to have a conversation. He was busy trying to coax Cecile off the floor. The poor girl was catatonic from all the noise. I shook my head frustrated at the fact I may die due to some fool who falls apart at the first sight of a fight. I turned back to the door and peeked out to see two men dressed just like the ones earlier carrying the same automatic rifles coming down the hall at us. They had not seen me yet so I took the high ground and fired a full broad side at them, three shots from my pistol. Two bullets struck the lead man in his chest dropping him while the third was nicked by third. I smiled as I watched the man drop, and then cursed the day when I saw two more close in to take his place.

I spun back into room as the door jamb blew apart from the twenty or so rounds hitting it one after the other. That’s when I saw the motorcycle with John on it and Cecile sitting in his lap. Now I was really about to yell at the shaman when the soldiers fired again and I decided whatever John was up to it was better than dying here.

As the bullets flew and the men closed in John kept his wits about him. When they ran into Cecile’s room he could see the poor woman was gone. The explosions had sent her so deep into a panic she had retreated into her mind, shut down on the real realm. The Shaman grabbed her up in his arms as Keiko took up a position by the door.

“Cecile? Are you hurt Cecile?” He screamed. The blast from the rockets had John’s ears ringing even more than usual because of the magic. He could barely hear anything.

Yet it didn’t matter. He didn’t need to hear to see the woman was lost to him for the moment which made it evident he couldn’t leave her to the wolves coming in from the hall. His plan had called for going out the window with Keiko so adding Cecile wouldn’t make much of a difference. He let go of Cecile and grabbed one of the chairs throwing it through the window with a crash. He grabbed the table and shoved it into the window sill making a quick ramp. The Shaman reached into his cargo pants pocket and pulled out his mount, Cetan Nigan, in its small form. He stepped back from the window and put it on the floor.

“Ku,” John whispered and on command the motorcycle grew to its full size. He grabbed Cecile and put her in his lap then turned to Keiko. He saw her fire three rounds into the hall, heard a man scream out in pain before dropping dead, and then she ducked back into the room before the jamb blew apart because of several rounds from an automatic rifle. He ran his thumbs over the two large crystals by the hand grips and whispered "hoppo" bringing the mount to life.

John turned back holding out his hand to Keiko. At first she looked less then inclined to go along with the Shaman’s plan holding back from taking his hand, but then the jamb took another blast of bullets splintering into a bunch of shards and that was it. Keiko jumped up and ran for the bike jumping on behind John and wrapping her arms around his waist. She held on tight as the Shaman gunned the bike while mentally thinking about moving. Cetan Nigan jumped forward allowing John to pull a wheelie as he took the bike right out the window. Behind him Keiko screamed out his name in a long drawn out wail as all three started to fall; only it wasn’t a plunge to the ground.

And that was the secret to Cetan Nigan. The paint on the motorcycle was almost a perfect match to the clear coating applied to the hull and decks of the Siang Tien Tang. The difference was instead of flying the motorcycle hovered just above the surface it was in contact with, like the wall of the bordello. As the motorcycle glided down the wall the men waiting for anyone escaping through the alley stood and stared up in shock and surprise.

The motorcycle…it was flying. But that was impossible, right?

Then just as the wheels hit the concrete of the alley John leaned right and compelled Cetan Nigan to move like the wind. The motorcycle responded barreling away from the men who stood like statues in awe.

“Joooooooohhhhhnnnnnn!!!” I screamed as the motorcycle went out the window. My mind was reeling with the thought of falling to our deaths. I could not believe the shaman had just taken us out the window and against the mental command to close my eyes I watched as we plummeted down toward the ground.

Only we did not hit the ground with a loud splat. The motorcycle glided, like some heavy feather, straight down to the street. We were never in danger of dying, not even from the soldiers in the alley waiting for us. They just stood perfectly still looking up at us in wide eyed shock. I am sure they thought we should have fallen to our deaths, and yet here we were just dropping safely to the alleyway. As soon as the tires touched down, and it was not a hard hit but a soft squish of the motorcycle’s suspension, before John had the bike moving again. The motor screamed as he gave it momentum and all at once the soldiers broke out of their stupor. They raised their guns just as I brought up Mayhem firing one round into the first man I could.

The motorcycle jumped away from the soldiers as the one I shot dropped to the bricks of the alley. Rounds started to bounce and ricochet off the street as the other soldiers fired in their silly three round burst. Not a one was a master shot as I am which greatly helped as the shaman sped to the end of the alley turning a hard left on the street. A last burst from the men struck the wall of the opposite building sending a shower of dust and debris flying as we were left the soldiers behind. I smiled reveling in the feeling of escape, but then I looked back and up to John’s shoulder. I saw the cold dead eyes of Cecile and all of the sudden that ecstatic feeling of escape drained away. She was not hurt or dead, but lost us all the same.

“We’ll be fine Cecile, just hold on tight.” I said trying to sooth her in some way. I’ve never been one for caring words, but I still have a heart.

John drove the motorcycle through the congested streets of Midgar dodging cars while I kept a lookout from behind. I made sure nothing suspicious followed, not even a regular bike. I had my hand on Mayhem the whole time the shaman kept us moving and my eyes looked for any sign of danger. Eventually we stopped across town at an unassuming house. It was the quaint neighborhood type, which is rare for this city. I never knew this place had a house like this one till John drove us to it. There was a small fence with a walk to a set of stairs that split a small grass yard.

Where did they get the grass I asked myself as John got off the motorcycle holding Cecile in his arms? He passed on the trick of making the bike shrink and just started up the walk to the front door. It opened just as we reached the half point up the walk and a pretty blond haired woman stepped out on the stoop.

Cetan Nigan rolled along with no issues as John guided the motorcycle through the streets of Midgar. After escaping the bordello by the skin of their teeth, the Shaman took Keiko and Cecile to the only safe spot that was left in the city. John hoped the soldiers he was running from didn’t know the ones he was heading for. He thought hard, examined his memory from top to bottom, trying to see if there was any way Bon & Scott would know them. He couldn’t think of a one, but then the pair had been unpredictable from the beginning of this.

As the bike raced over the road so did John’s mind race until they finally reached the small house that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of this city. He stopped his cycle by the front walk and immediately stepped out of the seat while holding Cecile. The Shaman heard Keiko follow close behind and just as they reached the door at the top of the steps a small hidden door popped open. A pair of eyes looked out scanning John and Keiko up and down before speaking.

“We don’t take charity cases, try Tifa’s bar downtown.”

“I need to speak with the Gaff.” John replied calmly.

“No one talks to the Gaff man, no one.” The eyes said with a visible shake.

“Tell him John Greywolf is out on the stoop…attracting attention.”

The eyes looked the three over again before the small door shut with a pop. A few minutes passed by, long arduous minutes. John kept his eyes sharp watching every person meandering down the sidewalk on both sides of the street. Soon though the door clicked and swung open by itself it seemed as no one was standing behind it to greet them. John didn’t hesitate and stepped through the open portal quickly and Keiko followed just before the door slammed shut. When the Pirate looked back she noted a very small man standing on a stool eyeing her meanly.

“The Gaff’s in the other room waiting on you.” He sneered before turning back to the door peering out a peep hole to watch the street.

John walked up the small hall to a double doorway and looked inside. The room was regular sized, about ten by ten, with a single chair and a couch on a wooden floor. There was nothing else, not a scrap of paper or dust or anything. Sitting in the lone chair was a young human, maybe 16 years of age, dressed like any other young human, brown pants and a shirt and shoes. The only thing that stood out was the glasses he wore, thick ones that made his eyes look twenty times large then they were.

“Is she all right?” The human asked pointing a finger at Cecile.

“She’ll be fine once let all the dust settle.” John smiled putting the woman down on the couch.

“I understand, Midgar’s seen a lot lately but someone blowing a building to kill you kind of tops the lists.”

“I won’t ask how you know about the attack, but I would like to ask you about a name we were given. Can you find out what Teidor is?” John asked.

The young man smiled and winked, the fact his eyes were so big made it look a little comical. “Don’t need to jack in to tell you about Teidor. They’ve got a nasty reputation.”

“Who are you fellows? Are you with Avalanche?” I asked looking around the empty room suspiciously with my hand on Mayhem still. I knew bringing up the name of the rebel group to Shin Ra might bring about a perilous response.

What I received…well it was a little different.

The young man in the chair laughed then pushed his glasses back up on his nose. “Lady, they’re not even in the same neurological event horizon with us. We ride the lines of information data like silver surfers of the sun extrapolating bits and bytes without hesitation to feed our insatiable curiosity and need. Those fools still crunch handwritten numerals on wooden abacuses. We are the Night Riders of the cyber cosmos changing our destiny with a thought while they churn and burn waiting for the world to update through a menagerie of outdated connections.”

The boy’s response was so hyperbolic it sent my brain reeling with the first syllable. I know my face went slack as I tried to work through the reply, was he insulting me or Avalanche? What exactly is a neurological event horizon? Who are the Night Riders? I was about to pull Mayhem from its holster and ask for some respect and a lot of satisfaction when John stopped me with a raised hand. It was obvious and lucky for this Gaff that the shaman had worked with him before. Then my eyes saw the strange device attached to his head just below the ear, a small electronic interface that blinked green so fast it seemed to be on solid color almost, and I stopped cold. A small metal strip poked out from this, small enough to almost go unnoticed if one was not looking for it. He must have seen the look of astonishment on my face and laughed again.

“We don’t even need the old jack points anymore. It’s all in the ethos lady, all out there in the air for those who dare to ride the light and wear the binary crown. We fly above it all man, above all the dirt and slag of this city. We are the electronic angels of the new future.”

Okay, now I was totally lost. John though just shook off the boy’s demeanor and kept the conversation rolling forward. “We know you’re the best Gaff, it’s why we came to you.”

“You’re damn straight we’re the best man!”

“Then tell us about Teidor and impress us.” John offered with a smile. His little bait seemed to work because the boy gave us all the information we needed.

“Teidor is a last rung on the ladder gun maker who deals with small clans and under-achieving rebel groups because they’re the only ones who can afford Teidor’s junk. You want the good stuff then stick with Fury Arms, want your hand blown off by a cheap piece of badly manufactured weaponry then go with Teidor.” The Gaff replied with a smirk.

“Why would a third rate weapons maker be out to kill you John?”

The Gaff smiled at us, a weird ferret little smile that made me feel like he was undressing me with his eyes. His eyes suddenly blinked crazily as if out of control, along with the green light on the device behind his ear, and then he stopped. The Gaff was back in control as she spoke.

“I think I have the data you were scrounging for.”

The Gaff was more than some mere boy, more than the whole of his sum. No one was sure where he came from and no one could remember a day or date when he appeared in Midgar. The only thing anyone was sure of was he a super genius with no real attachment to the reality around him and he never seemed to age. The device behind his ear had always been there and what it actually did no one really knew. The doorman Shorty had asked about it once and the Gaff just told him it was his ‘link to the cyber cosmos’ so the small man told everyone it was neural enhancer pulling in radiation from all over and feeding it to the Gaff’s brain. It didn’t really do that John assumed, but it did allow the boy to answer every question he had asked over the years.

It was like the Gaff had a connection to any and every computer in Midgar and he could scan the data in the blink of an eye.

“What do you know Gaff?” John asked.

“You know the way dissemination works around here man, nothing in nothing out dude.” The young boy with the big glasses winked.

Keiko started to say something, probably asking what the boy wanted, but John spoke up cutting her off before she could say a word. “The last we spoke the balance was in my favor.”

“What I have clears the balance and makes me king.” The Gaff shot back.

“Then tell me what you have and I’ll pay you what I owe,”

“It doesn’t work that w-“

“I know where he is Gaff,” John suddenly stepped in cutting the boy off.

The room went quiet, even more than it should have been able to. It had been sound proofed Keiko thought, she hadn’t heard a peep of noise since they entered, and now the silence just seemed to grow deeper. The Gaff’s eyes squinted shut, almost closed, as he locked them with John. The two didn’t move because a single flinch would have signaled defeat. Keiko breathed shallow as the face off began.

“Your data is false, corrupted.”

“Is it?” John asked waiting a second to let the question sink in but not enough for the Gaff to continue. “How can you be sure?”

“Because I’ve seen all the data, scanned every byte of information, and there’s nothing out there to tell me about him.” The Gaff countered.

“What I know came from Magic Gaff, not from a machine. What I know you would have never set an eye on.” John explained.

The Gaff looked at the Shaman with his eyes still squinting. He was gauging his risk and loss Keiko assumed, running through it as fast as the light on the device on the side of his neck. After a minute he spoke, the decision of what to done in a flash.

“Teidor has been under the control of the same family for the last twenty six years, three months, and 16 days, that was till the patriarch of the family died 36 days ago. Now there’s no one at the top and all the knives were coming out ready to have a battle royal for control. Then someone found a document, someone with access to old scanned media stored on an even older storage unit at Shin Ra.”

“There’s an heir,” John whispered.

“Just think, there’s a young man wandering around out there among the worlds worth a lot of money and he has no clue a whole bunch of people want him dead because of it.” The Gaff smiled evilly

This was deeper than he realized John thought, and a lot worse.

“You sent them the documents about the unknown heir?” I asked finally putting the puzzle together.

The Gaff may have looked like boy with an unhealthy obsession with the electronic world all around us, but that was only the surface. He may have been the last physical specimen a woman would chose to lay with, he even looked sickly in the light of the room, but that’s what he wanted you to see. Under all those layers lived a mad genius with a heart like a cold chunk of steel. I had no idea of his reasons for starting this war between the members of a family he had no issue with yet I was as sure he had one as I know Mayhem is the best pistol in town.

“I can neither confirm nor deny lady I was the brilliant detective with the deft touch who found the dreaded family secret hidden in a top secret file on an old server in some derelict lab.” The Gaff replied.

“Then what are you getting out of this?”

The boy did not move in his chair, not a single flinch. “A test,”

“A test?” I asked confused brushing off a look from John.

“They say the truth will set us free,” The Gaff stated with an air of superiority, “I’m only testing that theory in a real time environment with live subjects. You see, I believe truth we see every day is nothing but an illusion created by ourselves to cover ourselves in warm blankets of easy denial. This truth, the skins we live in, It’s a falsehood built on a fraud wrapped with pretty nice bow we call a lie.”

The vitriol spilling from the boy’s mouth shocked me. I was speechless as he continued on. “The real truth only brings to light that which we all want to leave buried in the dark thus creating a conundrum of sorts. How well do you know that person you sitting next to? What will they think if they only knew the real me and things I do and I’ve done? ”

“So you take upon yourself to be the judge of us all, as if you do not live a lie like the rest of us?” I countered suddenly feeling very tired of this Gaff and his philosophy.

The back and forth stopped as John held up his hand signaling the small tete-a-tete between us was over for now. The shaman walked over and laid a piece of paper he retrieved from his jacket pocket on the arm of the chair. John took great care not to touch the Gaff it appeared and when the boy waited till the shaman was walking away before handling the paper I knew something was up.

“You do not know who the heir is?” I asked noting the odd interaction.

“The documents contained no name for the child, just a male born to one Mary Scotts. Her name was a cover too, no way to trace it.” The Gaff answered.

“Then how do you know it was a Teidor heir?”

The Gaff smiled again. “I found an old account number which was used to pay all the bills. It took some time and quite a bit of effort skirting the firewalls but I found a name associated with the account, one Thaniel Teidor. ”

I shook my head. “That only means he paid the bills, nothing else. The child might be an heir or he might be a regular child.”

“No chance, records cleaned like this means the child was being hidden for a reason. You know though, why believe me? Ask the one who took care of the child till it was taken away.”

“What,” I laughed, “you said the mother’s name was a hoax. How do you know who took care of the child?”

“All children born are given a number to track in the system, a security number of sorts. I found the number for our cute little bouncing baby boy.”

A security number I thought.

“Every child born in Midgar, in a Shinra run facility, is given a number at birth. The corporation uses the numbers as a way to track the children, to see which will become exceptional and which will become just plain.” John explained with a detached look, as if saying the words hurt too much so he just spit them out.

“You know just the tip the system magic man. If you knew what they really used those numbers for you’d try to bring that place down with your bare hands.” The Gaff spat.

John only shook his head. “No, my fight is not with the ways of Shinra. You can explain to my friend though how someone knew where to find the child.”

“If I answer this for you lady we will have a balance from this day forward. The way of exchange in here is information, data, and I will only give when the balance is nill, understand? ” The Gaff stated looking to Keiko with no emotion.

The Pirate only nodded giving the boy permission to start. “The child became sick one night two months, 3 days, and 42 minutes after birth. The woman who was taking care of him, one Esmeralda La, took him back to the Shinra run facility he was born to. They treated the child for Phoebus, a designer based virus created by Shinra themselves to try and rid the city of the ones they considered loathsome and low. It was this act of compassion for the sick child that signaled the ones to his existence. It was the number, run through a hacked terminal at the facility that brought them to the facility.”

“Who were ‘they’ Gaff?” John asked.

“The family of Thaniel, magic man. Esmeralda barely made it out of the facility and that is the last anyone has ever heard of the child. The Teidor family’s spent a bundle and a bunch and whatever else you call a lot of money to find him, but Esmeralda hid him very well. He went off the grid, no information of data on him at all and there’s only one group with that kind of pull.”

“Avalanche,” John whispered connecting the puzzle pieces.

“Correct magic man and I didn’t even have to use magic to figure that one out.” The Gaff said mocking the Shaman’s abilities.

“Thank you Gaff, we’ll leave now.”

And with that John was moving toward the front door so fast Keiko had to trot to catch up. The small man at the front door barely had time to open the portal before the Shaman was through and onto the walkway. He just kept moving toward the bike reaching it quickly. As he straddled the seat Keiko spoke up from behind.

“Where are we going now?”

“There’s only one place in town to find an Avalanche member and that’s Tifa’s bar. We’ll need to be very careful not to lead any of the soldiers following us to her place. She runs an impromptu orphanage out of the back and the last thing she needs is for a bunch of soldiers to follow us in and begin shooting the place up.”

“I more than agree,” Keiko said jumping on the bike behind John. In a second the false motor roared to life and Cetan Nigan took off down the quiet street.

I sat across the street from Tifa’s 7th Heaven bar leaning on John’s motorcycle as he went into the fine establishment looking for a certain individual to have a conversation with. The boy Gaff had given us some valuable information, though having to deal with him made it questionable as to whether it was worth the hassle. The Gaff, and really what kind of name is that, was as pampas as anyone I have ever met and he spoke in a crazy riddle type of language. He bothered me so much I had to ask John on the drive over about him, why he was the way he was, and what the devil that device behind his ear was.

John told me the Gaff was not a boy anymore, not in the sense that I understood a human to be at least. He said the Gaff had shown up one day, right out of the blue, with no history or past to speak of or ask about. It was like he sprang right up from the dirt fully gown. In a matter of just a few days he became the one to go to for information in Midgar, if you could find him. He could discover any secret on anyone or any company it seemed, even those who coveted their privacy above all. John said the Gaff explained it to him once, called it living on the ‘Grid’ and that no one can get completely free of it no matter how hard they tried. All the information anyone wanted to know about you was out there on some computer and all it took was the right person asking the right question the right way. You wanted the true information on a person or a company or some government agency then you went to the Gaff.

It was right there I sensed John holding something back so I pressed in the special way I do. Yes, I just asking until the shaman broke and told me what I wanted to know. He had touched the Gaff once, inadvertently, and his ability to see the ‘hidden’ world just kicked in as if it wanted to tell John something. What it showed him shook John to the core. He said there was just one image, a disturbing memory from the Gaff’s past. He said he saw the boy lying down on a cold operating table in a gown surrounded by all sorts of screens and machines while a male figure stood over him administering anesthesia. One sentence came through, a haunting refrain that made my skin crawl.

“Will I remember you daddy?”

And then I put it together. The device just behind the Gaff’s ear is a neural connector, a small computer that accesses terminals and such, but only a small part of it, the antennae you might say. The rest is inside his head, stuffed into a spot where a chunk of his brain used to be. It seems some doctors mapped out our brains we humans and strangely there is a piece of it that holds long term memories, our very past, and that is the piece Gaff’s father decided to remove to fit in his newly designed neural device. Yes, the Gaff can connect to any computer or system all over Midgar or any world without the need of wires or connectors, but in a blink he was orphaned for that power. He does not remember his father or mother or any part of his family. That piece of paper John handed over, on it was written the name of a woman who supposedly knew his mother and could help him with his past…if he wanted.

I shuddered just thinking about it as I saw John walk out of the bar and across the street.

John crossed the street carefully keeping an eye out for anyone following, watching, or carrying a small rocket launcher. The traffic was light around Tifa’s place, the foot and car, which gave the Shaman a small advantage in keeping tabs on his surroundings. He walked a circular route to get back to the alley where Keiko and Cetan Nigan were hidden. He was being over cautious and maybe a little paranoid, but then someone had fired rockets at him earlier. When he arrived he saw Keiko getting herself together and he suddenly had a flashback of his Mother and once of her sayings when he would get a shiver.

Someone just walk across your grave John?

He hadn’t picked up on how truthful that little euphemism was till e started to Journey. Most of the spirits who decided to visit the Shaman always elicited a response before fully showing themselves, raised hairs on the arms and back of neck followed by a shiver. John always knew when a new spirit was around because he still got the shivers and raised energy from them, and he used to look like Keiko when he was younger.

“I found a human to meet with.” The Shaman said moving to get on Cetan Nigan.

He started up the bike with crystals as Keiko jumped on the back. He slowly moved the motorcycle down the alley and back onto the street opposite of Tifa’s so as not to draw attention. The Shaman drove down a few more streets till he passed the front of a building, the address given to him by the contact at Tifa’s. John went past the front of the place once noting everyone in front and the layout of the windows. He looked into the pair on the first floor and the second checking to see if anyone looked out and when they didn’t he decided to go in. He found another alley and turned in before stopping his mount and then shrinking it.

“We’ll go in together, but be prepared.” John ordered Keiko who just nodded in return.

The pair walked out of the alley and crossed the street right to the front door of the building. John never slowed and never walked fast, just a calm stride as he reached the entrance. He stepped through without looking back and held the door open long enough to let Keiko in. As soon the door closed he sensed the other person, the contact. He walked forward silently till he reached a single open arch entry into an empty room. It reminded him of Gaff’s domicile and he felt a little tired playing the spy games. A single man waited and turned when he saw John.

“You Greywolf?”

“Yes, I’m John Greywolf.” The Shaman replied calmly.

The man never said another word, just walked by and handed over a folded piece of paper. He didn’t say anything after handing over the slip, only walked past and out of the room and then the building. Keiko looked at him with a raised eyebrow before turning back to John.

“Nothing to worry about, we have what we need. The name of the woman who took care of boy we’re looking for.” John nodded holding up the piece of paper.