223 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
223 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
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Underground eXperts United
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Presents...
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[Castle Chronicles The Sequel, Chapter III] [ By The Chief ]
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____________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________
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###### ## ## ###### ###### ## ## ## ###### ## ###### ###### The
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THE SERIOUS SERIES
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CHAPTER THREE
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"You Lie Through Your Teeth"
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-Ministry
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It was hard to believe that something so beautiful, so genuine and
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untouched could cause that amount of pain. In ways one would have to dig deep
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into the subconscious mind to find. Yet that was what happened. Rays.
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Colors. Colors that could tear the skin off a human body. It felt like a
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lifetime. Warriors crawling through beds of flowers that had, seconds ago,
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been a beautiful meadow. Peaceful. Quiet. Now, it was a war zone. Merged into
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a military mix of green and grey. Red and black. Colors. Made him squirm
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in pain, screaming for something he couldn't describe. Choppers, tanks and
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armoured vehicles scattered the smoke and tore through the landscape. Fire.
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Had to get away. Stand up. Use the machine gun. Defend himself. His legs
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wouldn't carry him, but he managed to pull himself a few yards through the
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mud. Took cover behind a grey boulder. Who was the enemy? Of course. They
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had been after him ever since he changed his P-Scan code. The Coppacio
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Corporation. He didn't even reflect on the massive amount of weaponry and
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manpower that faced him. Alone. Aimed. Pulled the trigger. Nothing. Blur.
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New colors in his eyes. Blue and grey. Yellow. Somewhere he heard his name.
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Someone shouted his name. Pain in head and shoulder. The colors were soft.
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Visual problems. Suddenly Chen's face appeared under a black torn rain-
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coat.
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'Come on! We got to get outta here! Now!'
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Chen pulled Castle's wounded arm and got them both off the roof into
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yet another dark alley.
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'Run! For christ sake Castle, run!', he screamed at the moment they hit
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the ground.
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Castle started to run. He didn't question the order for a second.
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Trash, boxes and dirt. Pools of some substance in a color better described
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as black colored the walls with each step. He pulled out his gun at the
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sound of thunder, and fired. Four CCVs with a direction much the same as
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their own used their colored beams to light up the whole block and two
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ground patrol vehicles came up behind them, accelerating through the
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length of the alley. He fired again, standing with his legs spread, aiming
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straight at one of the vehicles. Fired twice. Three. Four. The vehicle
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still coming at him.
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Dumpsters ahead of him exploded. The CCVs fired down into the alley
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making it a hellish nightmare. The ground patrol vehicles screamed.
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Telling him to stop, to put down his gun, to surrender. Fire everywhere.
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He stumbled over bodies, trying to keep pace with Chen, but he was
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nowhere to be found. More explosions. He ran. Ran for his life. Suddenly
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tears in his eyes made him aware of the gas. Breathing through a piece of
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fabric made it easier, but the smoke, the holes in the ground, the
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junk. It was too much. Jumped over burning bodies, only to look
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straight into the lights of yet another ground patrol vehicle heading
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towards him from the other direction.
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Stopped. Checked the gun. Fired. Eight. Nine. Smoke from the vehicle
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and the alley in front of him turned red. The vehicle tilted and
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transformed from a black threat into a ball of fire. The explosion
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took two buildings with it and brought death.
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He knew Chen was way ahead of him now, but it didn't matter. Someone
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had to make it out of there, and their chances improved if they split up.
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He ran. Pressed another black derm to his numb arm to relieve the pain,
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and took the first exit to the left. Another alley. Searching for a place
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to hide, though he knew he couldn't stay in the area. A CCV went up in
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flames seconds later. Screaming down in pieces that would cover two blocks,
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killing hundreds. Chen's armory had improved, Castle thought as he tried
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to locate the source of the missile. One of the ground vehicles suddenly
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at the corner, thirty feet away and Castle was hit by its lights. He
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hesitated for a second. Didn't know if Chen could help. Then decided to
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put his gun down and raise his arms. At least Chen had the files.
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It rained.
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A laugh.
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'A wise decision, Castle.'
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Thrifleman. Out on the streets. Highly unusual for a person of his
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status in the bureau. Castle had few seconds to think. Two HCCs, dressed
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in long black plastic suits carrying the heavy artillery, stepped out of
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the vehicle behind Thrifleman, who had started to walk towards him.
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'But the rest of them have not been in that category', he said coming
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to a halt five feet away. 'Now here's the obvious question. Let's see if
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you have the brains to answer it... Did you really think you would get away
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with this?'
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He was numb. Felt the drug open his veins and soften his body. His
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feet a feet above the ground. Relaxed. The drug's intense improvement
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of vision suddenly made him aware of Chen on the roof of a crummy building
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to the right. Chen with a missile. Chen with something in sight. Two CCVs
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circling above. Hadn't found him yet.
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'I didn't think so.', Thrifleman continued. 'You know,' he started,
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lighting a black cigar, 'if you think that the bureau is your enemy, you
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are deadly mistaken. You have worked.. you _are_ working for us, and
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you know our policies.'
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'Yeah, right. "To protect and to serve"', Castle started.
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'That is correct. Wasn't that the reason you joined the bureau? To keep
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the streets clean. To make it a bearable place to live? You know the city
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better than most people, and you know what it needs. You have seen what
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it's like. Drugs, violence, a crime rate beyond belief. We're here, to
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protect and to serve..'
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'... the fucking interests of the Coppacio Corporation.'
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Thrifleman sighed. 'Now now. You know someone's got to pay the bills.
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Without leadership, there wouldn't be law and order. We're talking anarchy
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here, Castle. Now you wouldn't want that, would you? We have been over
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this before, and I know you will come to your senses.'
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'What could possibly lead you to that conclusion?'
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An alarming thought crossed his mind. Why am I not dead yet? Why do they
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want me to stay in the bureau, after all I have done? Standard procedure
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for this kind of behaviour? Death. Certain death. Though they had tried
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several times, blowing up his apartment for starters, he felt something
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was wrong. It would have been so easy for them to kill him, right here,
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now.. Yet Thrifleman stood there, talking. Trying to get him back on their
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side. Something was _very_ wrong.
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'You should really pick your friends more carefully, Steve.'
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First name?
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'Jaqueline, or should I say, Miss Briskin.. A personal friend of yours I
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believe? Well, she was very cooperative and understanding. In more ways
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than I think you'd want to know. Yes yes.. It was sad indeed to have to
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let her go. She did some marvelous things, I know. Could control pain like
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no-one else. But, then again everyone has a limit..' Thrifleman made a
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sign to one of the HCCs. 'Time to go, Castle.'
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'You bastard! First you blow up my apartment, and now..'
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'Hold it right there! We didn't blow..'
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Castle threw himself to the ground as the missile hit the vehicle.
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If there had been a corner there before, it was gone now. Burning HCC pieces
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filled the air with the smell of melting plastic. Two seconds later, Castle
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left the scene. He saw Thrifleman still laying on the ground, face down,
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and a minute later, he reached the roof.
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'You okay?', Chen nodded towards a box of medical supplies. 'Need
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anything out of there?'
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'No, I'm not okay! They fucking killed Jackie, man! Fuck!' Castle
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kicked the wall.
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'Yeah. How about Thrifleman? Dead?'
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Castle pinched another derm to his arm. This time a white one with a
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red cross on it.
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'I don't know. Probably. You know, he said they didn't blow up my
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apartment! What a fucking lie!'
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'Yeah.'
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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 Mania 1994 -
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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uXu #181 Underground eXperts United 1994 uXu #181
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Call RIPCO ][ -> +1-312-528-5020
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