Twentieth Jump (Shadowrun) Part 1

New Challengers Approaching!

            After the boring, uneventful years of Kingsman… Besides the laser pointer and killing everyone in a radical cult… I was surprised to appear in my apartment (Thankfully the one that follows me from jump to jump.) instead of having to go out and search for it in such a wide world. However after a moment of glancing around, I climbed up to my feet and, just as I stood up, I heard a knock at the door.

            I had no memories of this place, but everything seemed relatively fine. When I opened the door there was a large… I mean LARGE woman standing in such a manner as to block anything that was possibly behind the door. From what I could tell she was roughly 7’ 4” and broader than the door frame by a good margin. Though, I couldn’t see the head until she had crouched down just enough to walk right into my apartment without even a ‘hello’. She possessed these small, slightly curved horns with these color-changing lines set into them, her features were kind of an odd mix of Butch and primadonna with tusks, brown-tinted skin, and surprisingly long, smooth hair that rain down the length of her back… though, the sides of her head were shaved.
            Trudging into my apartment for whatever reason with a wife beater, cargo pants, large boots, and a pair of tinted goggles on the top of her head. “Morning. My name’s Jayla, but you can call me ‘Cannonball’.” She stated as she walked over to the couch and plopped down onto it before crossing her legs, leaned up against the armrest, and turned on the TV. “You don’t even have trideo? You really aren’t from here, are ya’?”

            I heard those words from behind me, my heading turning back to the door and then down to glance at the short, maybe 3’ 10” man with a waist-long beard staring up at me. He wore what appeared to be a lab coat with no sleeves over a mechanic’s jumpsuit that, again, had no sleeves, and a pair of gloves with what I personally thought was a futuristic half-mask that dangled around his neck. Instead of just walking past, he actually raised up a hand and offered me a hand shake. “Evenin’. Name’s Gerald… Just call me ‘Chop Shop’.”

            With a hum, I bent over just a hint to reach out and give him a small hand shake. “Afternoon. My name is Tadek. Bang and Yankaka should be around here somewhere. Any reason for the nicknames? Though, I am going to assume that you’re the two that are going to help me out.” I asked, glancing back over toward Jayla with a small hum before simply pulling the dwarf-looking man inside and closing the door behind him. “Well, you would be correct. Careful with assumptions, though. They might get ya’ killed. The nicknames are more our Matrix and street names than anythin’ else.”
            As the man spoke, he ambled on in and climbed up onto the couch with a groan on his part. “Welcome to the Shadowrunnin’ business, Tadek. Only reason we can talk is cause I’m sure that your house ain’ bugged. Too low tech to be… Seriously, says here that it was made before that whole RFID thing.” He said as he took the remote away from Jayla and gave it a once-over. “Right… Could have asked before coming in, you know.”

            They both simply waved me off as I took a moment to go into the kitchen and grab a bottle of rum from the cabinet. Just as I came into view of the hallway that led toward the bathroom and bedroom, I heard a cry of either surprise or anguish before the sound of hurried footsteps and then a mix of clinging claws and the weight of a disheveled cat woman slam into me and hold on. As I still had everything active, I simply stood there for a moment, took a sip of my drink, and then set it down.
            “Ah, nice of you to join us, Yankaka. What’s wrong?” As I spoke, I reached up to take a gentle hold of the back of her jacket and pry her off of my body… Though, it took a moment to convince her to let go. “Yankaka have metal, nya. Thought about competition and Yankaka’s vision grew closer and my hearing focused in on something!” She whined, her eyes not really appearing any different while her ears twitched a little underneath the hoodie. To attempt to calm her, I simply reached up to slip a hand underneath her hoodie and rub the top of her head for a moment. It seemed to help a hint as she simply embraced my arm for the moment.

            Though, when I glanced over toward the dwarf-looking mother fucker and the massive, horned woman they just gave me a look before turning toward each other and simply raising their shoulders up in a shrug. “Eh, whatever he’s into, right?” Stated Gerald with a simple “Yup.” From Jayla as they turned their attention back over toward the TV. I knew that I had a few new abilities, so I simply kept my hand on the top of Yankaka’s head while I mentally went through the list of technology that had apparently been installed into her body. (Look to a separate post for the list.)

            It took just a few moments to explain what was new and, while she seemed quite… uncomfortable at first, a quick mention of food was enough to distract her from the current situation. Though, as soon as I turned my back she tried to cling to me once more… Thought I broke her habit of that. Eh, it was a kind gesture, so I didn’t complain. Besides, it can be rather difficult accepting that you now have chunks of metal in your body, which was something I understood all-too-well.

            It took an hour, but eventually Bang showed up with all of this clothing in hand, on, and so many other items in hand… Apparently he went shopping. Though, the large woman and the smaller guy ran up to him, ‘confiscated’ it in quick order, and began to run this little device over it in one hand and another small device in the other as if they were searching for something… Which left Bang with only a pair of shorts, but still.

            “Uh…. Who are the newcomers?” He asked, moving off toward me with nothing but a pair of cargo shorts. Taking that as the time to introduce everyone, I motioned from the two newcomers to Yankaka and Bang before motioning back over to them. “Jayla, Gerald… Yankaka, Bang… Yankaka, Bang… Jayla, Gerald.” I explained simply before taking the chance to walk over and close the door that Bang had left propped open.

            “Ah! I see. It’s good to see two new heroes of justice!” As the ninja spoke, he stepped up to them both and offered a hand… Which they simply broke out laughing for a good, long while at being called ‘heroes of justice’ before they each shook his hand and properly introduced themselves.

            After that, however, they set us all down and began to explain everything that was going on… Mega-corporations, magic, metahumanity, technology, social changes, the works. Though, they also gave us some advice such as ‘Don’t make a deal with a dragon’ and ‘Don’t go up against the Red Samurai’.

            Hmm… Simple enough. Though, now I must be careful of what I have on my person and with me at all times it seemed.