182 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
182 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
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Underground eXperts United
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Presents...
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[Castle Chronicles The Sequel - Chapter One] [By The Chief]
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____________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________
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###### ## ## ###### ###### ## ## ## ###### ## ###### ###### The
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## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ## ## ## ## ## ## Sequel
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THE SERIOUS SERIES
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CHAPTER ONE
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"All right, no fooling around, this is for real."
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-Elektro
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Darkness swept across the city. Fires from gas chimneys occasionally lit
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up the sky here and there. The pyramid of the Coppacio Corporation managed
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to steal most of the horizon from earth's own, reminding the beholder about
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who controlled it all. Had the power. Ruled.
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The way the city was built made the pyramid look circular. Like a huge
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black wall. Ceiling. Floor. Protecting the citizens from whatever there could
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be outside, or, perhaps imprisoning them in what had been described as 'the
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worst day anyone could ever imagine in Hong Kong'. The city. No one knew. No
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one cared. It was the place for hustlers, dealers and whores. The low-life,
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cyberpunks, techno-criminals. People one would expect in such a place, filled
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with bars, pleasure domes, spare-part stores and small, crummy shops. By night,
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lit by quartz-halogen lights, placed in strategic places on the Coppacio
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building, and the surveillance vehicles' searching lights, making their rounds
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over the city. By day, it was the same. No one could tell the difference. The
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second floor of the city, generally called Corp Zone, held all the factory
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domes, corporate mini-pyramids and business offices. The people working in
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Corp Zone lived on the third floor, Roundgaarden. Basically a suburban city
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with stores, cinemas, schools. No one in the city knew if there were any floors
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beyond that. All floors were restricted areas for the citizens, except Floor 1,
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the city itself. At the bottom of the ladder you could never climb.
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It wasn't just a city. It was THE MegaCity.
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-----------------
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It rained. Castle didn't mind, waiting for the sushi he'd just ordered.
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It always rained in MegaCity. He remembered a Coppacio corporate executive
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trying to explain that it was due to outside forces. Holo power-plants and gas
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clouds that other cities so shamefully used instead of the Coppacio
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alternative; Dexamatic power-usage of black holes in deep space. Another
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source claimed that the rain came from big acid tanks on top of the Coppacio
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building, which formed the ceiling, and therefor the sky for MegaCity. A
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source that disappeared the same day. The sushi, wrapped in an old newspaper,
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was handed to Castle half a minute later. He folded the newspaper he'd been
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reading, grabbed a couple of sticks and started eating. People, mixed with
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an occasional Human Carbon Copy here and there, rushed past him as he stood
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by the market. Dealers dealt and hustlers hustled. It was the rush hour.
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It was always the rush hour in MegaCity, except around 4 in the morning.
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The morning, Castle thought to himself. He hadn't been able to sleep the last
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96 hours. The effects from some Pentaminehexadiamyl a dealer had supplied him
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with he supposed, but he was happy about the sushi. It made him relax,
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released the tension from his body, made him sleepy.
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A Coppacio surveillance vehicle circled above the busy street, blue
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and grey search-lights flashing down the alleys. Someone ran. That wasn't
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unusual in itself, but it was unusual when a surveillance vehicle was in
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the area. You weren't allowed to run then. A bright red flash of light came
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down from the vehicle as it descended. A scream and then silence. Castle
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left the market, heading towards the vehicle. The CCS Officers were standing
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arguing over something in front of a body laying in a pool of red, white and
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blue mud. A body. Castle watched the scene with a strange feeling in his
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head, looking down at the white feet that stuck out of the covering plastic.
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A second vehicle arrived a couple of minutes later, taking the body. People
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rushed past Castle as he left the scene. The market was full of people,
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merchants screaming, selling everything imaginable. It was alive. It was just
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another day in MegaCity.
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Closing the door to the apartment, he noticed the IML flashing. Someone
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had left a message, but Castle went straight for the bed. His body hurt. He
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needed to sleep. Badly. Stained plastic covered the floor, keeping the rats
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and the smell from the apartments below out. The cracked bathroom mirror
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showed a face that Castle didn't like, except from his own. Thrifleman.
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'Welcome home.'
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'How'd you get in here?' Castle asked, already knowing the answer.
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'We own the place, remember?' Thrifleman smiled putting the knife
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back in the holder on the kitchen bench. 'Credit me with a certain
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talent for answering obvious questions.'
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'Sure, sure...'
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'You look like hell, Castle. You've been high lately?'
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'Spare me your fatherly advice. Don't you know I've been out there
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longer than any of you creeps would survive? Don't you know I can take
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care of myself? I don't need the damn bureau anymore.'
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'But the bureau needs you, Castle.'
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'Don't say it. Just... don't say it.'
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'Perhaps you think you can live here, in the bureau's apartment
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for free, doing what you're doing without anyone interfering, right?'
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'What have I done...'
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'Don't be smart with me, Castle. We never let anyone just leave
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the bureau like that. We keep an eye on our men, regardless where
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they are or what they're doing. I know. Believe me, I know.' He
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shrugged. 'Well, if that's how you like it. If you won't play by
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the rules...'
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'What will happen?' Castle asked lazily, heading back towards what
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could be called the living room, with Thrifleman following sharply.
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'You'll kick me out of this luxurious place? Take my gun? Have
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me arrested? Go ahead. See if I care.'
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'Be serious for once, will you.' Thrifleman sighed. 'You know that
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I would never do that to one who was once our best operative. It would
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be highly unwise. No in the best interest of the bureau...'
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'You would fucking kill me.'
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'Standard procedure. You know that.'
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'Fuck you Thrifleman. Fuck You. What the hell is it you want me for?
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You better tell me before I pass out if you want me to listen.' Castle
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said, half asleep.
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'No need. I leave this envelope here on the desk. You study it,
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thoroughly. We'll drop by to give you the final details later...'
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'No choice huh? Fine...'
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'You have four hours, Castle. If you're not ready when we get
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back... Well, you know the procedure.' Thrifleman found himself
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by the door.
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'Fucking great...'
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'It's good to have you back.'
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The door closed.
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'Sure...'
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Lights from the big commercial vehicles scattered the walls from the
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figures made by broken glass trying its best to give an impression of a window.
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Sounds from the streets, 47 floors down, reached Castles ears as he threw his
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coat on the floor. Hanging his holster on the coat-hanger. Passing out on the
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bed. Captured by nightmares.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Castle Chronicles, the sequel, is not continuing the *first* set of chapters
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in the first chronicles. This is the serious series, based in a not so-far
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future, taking over where the not yet finished Castle Chronicles series will
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end. These two series will co-exist for a couple of chapters. Finally there
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will be a link between the finished first Chronicles and the sequel, which
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will tie them together. You will not miss anything by not reading the first
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series, but you won't get the overall picture when the two links together.
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Be on the safe side, check out the first chronicles if you haven't already.
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Take a ride with Castle's humorous side before embarking on the black, real
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and scattered future of MegaCity. - uXu 1993 -
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Underground eXperts United 1993
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Call ANONYMOUS -> +45-981-89771
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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