Body guarding gave Lance the creeps, all in all you're
supposed to take a bullet for some guy you've never meet (or
in this case, a lady you've never meet, but would really
like too, which kinda made this easier) and get paid for it,
but what's the point in getting cred' (and far form little
in this case- which again colored the ops' in an inkling of
logic) in you account if actually took a bullet, or in case
it's a large caliber sniper round, or even a few of the
above mentioned, chances were you wouldn't be around to
enjoy neither the money nor the pretty girl. Thoughts like
that kinda put a dampener on the whole evening for Lance.
But then again Lance, the largest in the troop, pulling well
over 2 meters and 120 kilo's of muscle warped tightly by a
couple Kevlar and Mylar layers and on that a rather baggy
two piece rent-a-tux (hey, if your already getting ready to
take the slug (or several, as had occurred to Lance a few
seconds ago) for someone else you be better BE READY),
thinking wasn't what he was being paid for, that was what
SilentMoon and Max did best.
It was gala night and "Totally Functional" was having it's
global premier shown in Seattle neoKingDome, the adoring
masses were pushing themselves into a frenzy beside the red
carpet entrance into the theater, doing anything to sneak a
peek or even a photo of their cinematic star or starlet
(seeing the scene from a far reminded Lance of Natalie's
briefing "nothing worse for a bodyguard then a tight ally
with flashing lights going off all over")
Controlled by another member of the team, a driving
specialist sitting right next to Lance, the Mitsubishi
Nightsky Limousine gracefully slowed from a cruise into a
crawl and finally to a halt. Once the wheeled 8 meter
display of opulence had taken its position at the end of the
red carpet, Lance pulled his suited frame out the front
door, he slowly come around the back of the car pressing the
marvel of electronics in his ear all the while thinking of
Nikki's marvelous curves, hearing it send out the
preordained triple chirp over the com-net the group shared,
it requested an "all clear" from one further member of the
team, who was set up several floors up, in an apartment
(what's an expense account for?) building right across the
street. Just as Lance touch the chromed door handle, came
the reply in the form of a melody "hit the road jack", which
was good. Giving the door the lightest of tugs and let the
hydraulics do the rest as he took a step aside.
The crowd went into a frenzy, only to have a tall dark
skinned Amerid in a sporty black suit step out of the
unlighted darkness that was the interior of this drivable
castle, SilentMoon, a veteran of the group, gave the crowd a
quick once-over and started ever so slowly stepping towards
the double door that meant safety.
Extending his palm, to assist a slender manicured hand
reaching out shadows that had held the amerid scarce seconds
ago, taking him up on the offer the hand was immanently
followed by a similarly slender arm connected to a set of
thin shoulder top by a delicate face framed by platinum
blond hair that went down a prominent set of breasts on to a
well flattened stomach and stopped at a suet of well toned
buttocks, but the fun didn't stop there, two long sensual
legs, all wrapped tightly into a designer dress that cost
enough to feed a Native Amazonian village for over a year,
even though it cover less then what that forest did South
America now-a-days (to the great delight of many male fans)
were what made Nikki Nova the worlds hottest actress at the
moment.
Stepping into the flash lights with a smile that revealed
two lines of strait pearly white teeth that would give some
of the cameras in the crowd serious flash-return problems
she walked slowly down the red carpet, while keeping a good
two step distance behind Silent but staying (comfortably)
close to Lance, giving the fans their glint of glitz.
Lance liked Nikki a lot, or Samantha, as her real name was,
in the past four days together they had really gotten to
know each other. Lance had heard from Max that the press
kept calling her a "Glam-a-fied-Null-head", and besides the
blond hair and pretty face there was nothing but vacuum, he
seemed find that the media had her figured out right, Lance
simply could agree less, he found her great, she knew all
kinds of things about all kinds of stuff, fun stuff, about
art and fashion and history and some more things Lance
didn't really figure, but he nodded and smiled anyway.
A crack brought Lance right back from his fluffy dreamy
heaven, taking half a step forwards, it was time to become a
bullet sponge, draping his arms around the white clad
starlet, his ear-piece started buzzing giving the "threat"
alert to all who may not have not heard the shot. Putting
his arms around the thin figure covering her nearly
completely he found that Silent was already less then an
arms length away, heavy pistol in hand, and covering her
from the front while pulling at his suit to move towards the
entrance, another whip crack sounded, and a little molten
heat stung exploded across Lances upper left rib cage- the
Kevlar had held or he wouldn't have felt that, just as Lance
started shoving the cringing target as gently as he could
forwards, towards the double doors, that had just let out
two suited gorillas sporting evil looking short stub SMG's.
Thinking he was hearing some mumbling through the ear-com
Lance was too occupied trying not to crush the minute lady
he was draped around while pushing her forward at a speed
dictated to him by SilentMoon and ignoring the pain in his
rapidly numbing ribcage, all the while a total chaos what
unfolding around him, in a crowd trying to run every which
way, just not to get shot, his grey matter was already
nearing overload, the continued ramblings of the com-piece
simply didn't fully register.
As he passed the two SMG' totting thugs guarding the door
the another thunder clap followed by a grunt to his left and
a twin set of needle prick on his left shoulder and between
the shoulder blades. The doors were slammed shut behind him,
nearly shaving some hair off his ass.
As he let go (maybe a bit reluctantly) of his charge, and
Silent gave her a once over, just to make sure she wasn't
shot and under shock, that cleared he took a look at Lance,
bending his vulture nose slightly, Numb and pumped with
adrenaline and was scanning the corridor left and right,
making sure nothing came any closer then arms length. A
voice in his ear punched through the fog in Lance head, "Hit
him again.... He's down.... He's secured!" and the com-piece
finally started making sense again,
"Clear the entrance, and bring in the estab-guards, he's
bleeding all over the carpet"
Natalie was starting to fire off order of her perch in the
apartment, co-ordination an orderly pull back into the
theater.
As the troop came in one by one they all gave Lance a
lengthy look, starting to check himself, "Wha?" Lance
whizzed out between adrenaline pumped breathing.
"Well the tuxedo is a goner" Silent noted, almost at as an
off hand remark, reaching back under his armpit, and half
way across his ribcage, a rather numb part of his anatomy at
the moment he felt shreds, a whole lot of them, and some
lose rubbery materiel as panic started ebbing Lance finally
reached the last layer his fingers could push through, a
layer of rough texture and slightly warm to touch- the
jacket might have been shredded and Mylar unwoven but the
Kevlar had held, and subsequently so had his skin!
As order returned ever so slowly to the theater hall Lance
started relaxing, taking Nikki/Samtha's fussing over his
bruised ribs gallantly and unlike the rest of the team
wasn't all that outraged at the theaters management's
decision "the show must go on"
And to bring in the rest of the stars (albeit under almost
fascistic security) and go on with the screening!
All in all Lance enjoy the movie, Samantha and to a certain
extent the bruising (he got all the ice cream he could chow
down!) that's what a shadowrunner is all about!