Drider then awakens from his meditations of the past. He shakes off the pain. The beast then grabs a silken thread and bounds off and into the forest. In a moment he is in a large clearing, covered with a low lying fog. A large stone burial mound can be seen in the center within a concentric ring of twelve massive stones. The outer edge is lined with what the beast instinctually knows to be three hundred and sixty five smaller blocks of blackened granite. Drider then activates his metamorphosis program. In a dim flash of light the dark elf appears and walks towards the sepulcher.
          "I am here old friend. How is your cybernetic dream?" he asks wistfully, not expecting an answer. "Have you found the secrets of the matrix in your travels?" Drider then examines the stone covering the burial chamber. "I hope you like your vault. It is made of the best ICE around. Your programming of course. Your defensive coding is still top shelf. If you hadn't liked B&E (breaking & entering) into corp systems so much to check their ICE, you could've been a corp sysop years ago..." he adds with a fanged grin. "Although I can't say the same for your jury-rigging of your hardware," he smiles.
          "The platinum contract with Doc Wagon Insurance is still taking great care of your body in the hyperbolic chamber. I make sure you get a sponge bath from the nurse once a week, as I'm sure you'd like if you could see her. Makes me want to take your place when I see what she does to you," the dark elf heckles as he slaps the stone. He then pauses.
          "Well comrade I want you to know, we could use you right now. We're gonna be going up against something big, and I think you'd enjoy it. It's a bug hunt and the paydata is government treasury. This will be the biggest haul yet. But it's gonna take some high level programming and I could use your analysis of the defensive systems." He looks at the tomb, and seeing no response hangs his head down.
          He came here often to talk to his chummer, and he always held hope that someday his talks would awaken his old friend. Drider felt responsible for what had happened. He played it over and over in his mind. If only he hadn't pushed him into the run; hadn't peer pressured him And had instead taken that day a little more seriously. But it had happened, and now his friend was forever locked into the matrix with no way out.
          The doctors had said the portion of his brain responsible for all bodily functions, the medulla and pons, had been burned in the run and there was no neural repair possible. That level of cybernetics was years away. They had said to simply pull the plug because the body could never maintain itself, and besides, they would buy the other unharmed organs. Only the deck was running those bodily systems now by directly stimulating the nerves connected to them.
          In addition, his mind was comatose, and there was no telling how long he would stay that way. Possibly forever. Drider had refused to allow the team to disconnect the cord. Sidewinder had said it was another deckers call, and Drider knew him best.
          "I'll let you stay on the net for eternity chummer, it's what you always wanted anyhow..." he smiles, then walks away.

[The sleeper dreams...]
          'They say your whole life flashes in front of your eyes right before you die. I know they are right. The same vision, over and over. The same memory. My birthday. Not this again, God don't let me run through this again.'

          Birthdays had always sucked. I had to share it with my younger brother ever since the drekker's birth. My brother turned fifteen and me eighteen. Elrond got the wiz new deck that he had been praying was to be his. I got next to drek. I got his hand-me-down deck with some minor upgrading allowed. Like I said, birthdays sucked.
          So a few days later I take my brother's deck, scavenge it for parts, rebuild his deck from the cheap upgrades, and pull the whole thing off flawlessly. My brother, Elrond the fool, never notices the difference. I get a great new deck and am ready to go for it.

          'Not this part, why always this part next? I am in hell... This is my reward after death. An eternity of this? I can't go on. I MUST be free of this nightmare...'

          Dad felt sorry for his metahuman son, and so consequently favored Elrond. Mom played along as well, doting on her youngest, the baby. The younger brother had become an elf, going through the change at puberty. As was the style, the teen had his name changed. The parents, not wanting the elf to feel separated out, changed the elder brother's name as well.
          The elder brother hated his new name but refusing to answer to Elros only led to reprisals from his father. His parents had named he and his brother after brothers in some old book, their names: Elros and Elrond. The elder human and the younger elvish. However despite his name that he hated, Elros hated the rest of his life even worse.
          Elros had always had a natural ability with decks, first playing with tortoise shell monitor decks as a small child. With the loss of his parents love, decking had become his only joy in life. Over the years he had become quite adept at exploring the matrix. He had developed a few programs to aid him as well. He had grown ever more daring and capable. After the theft of the superior components from his brother, Elros decided that he was ready to get serious.
          He invented a flimsy excuse to leave his home and traveled to the family's remote cabin. As his parents constantly looked for reasons to get rid of him, they accepted his words with delight. It took several hours to get there, but it offered him the privacy he needed.

          'At least this part is pleasant. I always like this part of my memory. But is this all there is left of me? Who else was I? Unknown. I am dead, and this is my hell...'

          He set up his new deck and plugged in the jack that he had customized. Immediately he sighed. He delighted at the pure pleasure of his personal realm in cyberspace. Most of the time he never wanted to jack out. Just take in the ebb and flow of data all around him. Time to get going though. He enjoyed a few more moments, just soaking up the energy swirling all around him.
          He molded into the persona that he had developed. To spite his parents and brother he had taken to this Elros name and character, but perverted it from the purity that they had hoped for. His form was of a great Nordic warrior of yesteryear, imposing in stature and resolute in determination. Leather armor draped with a great black fur cape barely hid the massive muscles rippling underneath. A long, rune encrusted blade was in his hand, and a rugged crown of gold and silver upon his brow held back his long flowing hair. This being bore little resemblance to his brother the daisy eating Elrond; Elros commanded his kingdom with an iron fist, and in battle was cruel and fierce. He was a lord to be feared.
          He looked around the strong battlements of his castle. A castle made of stone old as time itself. Time held no meaning here to this strong warrior. True, in real time, he had only coded the walls making up his cyberkeep year ago, but much sweat and pain went into the construction, and in cyberspace that was lifetimes.
          He looked around the Barbican guarding the great gate at the pitiful forms of the elven warriors down below. For the past several weeks they had been laying siege to his keep. His warriors were defending admirably, inflicting horrible causalities upon the enemy. But they were taking losses as well.
          The great walls were strong however and rose an almost indeterminable height overlooking the plains wide battle below. He had defended against the assault for weeks now. This battle was a never-ending game between him and his decker brother. Despite the odds always being in the Elves' favor, the strength of the walls and Elros' command of his army always eventually decimated his fraternal foe. It would only be a little more time until he had lured his brother into believing the elves had the upper hand; then Elros would strike and destroy absolutely.
          But that could wait for another day. For now he had other plans.
          Elros carefully followed a passage underneath the great keep that was his home and passed out into the deep woods unnoticed. He followed a twisting course through the trees until a clearing appeared ahead. In the center of the clearing was a stone building shaped like an ancient tomb. In one wall was a metal door with a computer monitor next to it. Elros knew he would be unable to maintain his custom designed reality against this matrix node, but he wanted to try to at least engage this outer ICE in his current persona.
          He carefully approached the solid stone building. Upon reaching the monitor he forced his reality altering code onto the ICE and the screen changed into a great iron rung attached to the door. The great warrior gave a great twist with his mighty hand and strained his muscles against the door. He felt the hidden latches wrench free under his force and he cast the door aside.
          Immediately a gaunt foul smelling form emerged. Its empty sockets glared forth, and it hissed, "Come to me... Join us on the other side..."
          Allowing the golden crown around his head to appear to the being, Elros commanded it,
          "DO NOT TRIFLE ME WITH YOUR INSOLENCE BANE, YOU HAVEN'T THE WILL TO MASTER ME!" the powerful form yelled. "YOU DO AS I COMMAND, AND I CHOOSE. . . YOUR DESTRUCTION!" He swings his mighty two handed sword once, then glares at the beast with dark eyes and laughs as it dissolves away into black nothingness.
          A scientific laboratory is revealed within. Elros knows this to be the limits of his reality altering program, so he chooses to let his medieval environment collapse under the superior processing power of this main computer's CPU.
          He then began his first masking program. His form shifted and flickered as his tuxedo changed. A bit of a flicker remained but his form began to blend with his surroundings. His tuxedo morphed into the form of a nerdy scientist. Quickly Elrond slipped into a crowd of scientists that were scurrying all over the lab. He then casually walked down the hall, past a few beefy security guards, and into an empty office.
          He started looking through the personnel and personal files of the scientists. A quick search program yielded excellent results. One of the scientists appeared to be hoarding away information for his own profit, obviously to sell to the competitors. He had schematics for the next generation processors! Jackpot! Elros took all traces of the information with him. Reversing the trail was a fairly simple process. There was no record of the deed, except where it mattered. Over the next few months he carefully sold the information, developing quite the bank account in the process. Off he went into the shadows, never to return home.

          'It always ends on such a nice memory. But why am I here? Why can't I be free. I want out. I WANT OUT! I WANT OUT! Let me be free before it begins again...'
          'But I am the undead. I am the soul that wanders endlessly in limbo. I will never be free...'

          Birthdays had always sucked. I had to share it with my younger broth...

          'Oh God, it begins again! I AM CURSED! CAST OUT OF THE HEAVENLY REALMS FOR ALL ETERNITY... LET ME BE FREE! ANYTHING TO BE FREE!!!'

          The beast waits in its web. Scanning all aspects of the network to see that it is secure. It continues working on the great construct in the silken orb. Occasionally a great bladed leg tears forth, it glistens like diamond coated steel.
          "Not yet," the master roars at the hidden war machine. "you will have your time soon enough." the drider says and the high level attack routine crawls back to within the silken womb.
          The master then feels a vibration along its web and instantly knows what is approaching. The ground erupts in a mound of black dirt. A large shrew pushes soil ahead and clambers out of the earth that is its home.
          "Cracked that encrypted nut you gave me chummer. Fire had damaged most of the data, but your encryption kicked in and saved some of it for me to reconstruct" the shrew then squints at the large dark form in the webbing. "The image is pretty clear, but I don't think you'll like what you'll see, Drider." he pauses, "Sorry, it isn't pretty..." He then tosses the nut and it lands harmlessly in the fibrous silk covering the area. The shrew then departs, backing down the hole from whence he came.
          The monster then points at the nut lying in his web, and within moments, thousands of small spiders scurry forth and wrap it in a sticky silk case and deliver it to their master. The dark form of the drider then hungrily bites into the morsel and draws deep with its tube-like fangs. Its eyes shut as draws the information forth.
          An angry look then passes over the beast and it screams in rage. The roar of the tormented creature reverberates through the entire forest. The beast opens its eyes and then hurls the capsule at a nearby lifeless and burned tree stump. The object lands in a small nook and disappears from view.

=====Drider Jacks Out=====

          "My sister has to see this" he says grimly as he pops the chip out of its drive and exits the room.

          "Sis, Shrew just completed that decryption of the file I pulled out of one of our safe houses in Bangkok."
          "The file?"
          "Yeah. And I think you'll want to watch it alone." he says as he pulls the door to her command room shut.

          Shelob sticks the chip into her desk comp and commands the contents to be displayed on the full screen wall monitor. The data opens to a view of one of the Scorpion Corps secret warehouses in Bangkok. This one in particular contained mostly food, medicine, and non- offensive supplies. She then sees two disheveled men enter.
          "Frag, I never thought we would make it here, do you think anyone else made it out alive?" says the man known as Doc.
          "It didn't look good," replies Steel as he checks over his combat shotgun, and then reloads it. "I saw Shelob and a few take off in a vehicle to the north, but then saw several helos in hot pursuit. Soon after I saw smoke chimneying into the sky. I think they got iced." he says grimly.
          "No way man, ya can't take out those drow that easy, no way man, no way!" Doc replies. "Man, I gotta like take some antibiotics, there's no tellin what they exposed us to." He then pops three pills in his mouth, one red and two green.
          "Doc, I need your head clear, so ka?" Steel yells at the frazzled doctor.
          "It's just that I'm not into this combat thing, ya dig? I just patch you fraggers up, and help tune your 'ware, ya dig?" says Doc, as a drug induced tremor passes over his body.
          "Come on fragger, you was in the military now snap out of it!" he demands.
          "Really Steel, I lost my killer instinct a long time ago. This kinda life tears ya apart, ya know?"

          Shelob then shakes her head in agreement. The life of a soldier was indeed hard. But it was especially hard for Doc who lost his wife and child to a terrorist pipe bomb when he worked for the UCAS army as a surgeon. He had been targeted for death in order to ruin the morale of the camp he practiced medicine at, yet the bomb missed its target. He ran home only to have his wife and son die in his arms. All his training and there was nothing he could do. Shelob picked up the pieces of the guy after his discharge. She knew what he needed most was a new family to care for.
          But alas, he had lost most of them as well, that horrid day at the airport. Unable to listen to her friend as he fell apart again, Shelob fast forwarded the tape.

          That night while they slept, the unthinkable occurred. Steel stayed up till 4 am and then woke Doc. Doc sat up, gun in hand, but within only an hour he began to nod off to sleep. The days violence had been too draining on him emotionally.

          "Wake up!" Shelob screams at the screen as if it would help. "Get up, damnit!"

          The two figures, however do not hear her pleas.
          Almost inaudible, a scratching at the door can be heard. Only a minor scratching at first, but gradually additional scratching sounds accumulate. Soon they can be heard all over the door. The door begins to lean in as if a great weight were slowly pushing on it. In another moment a small hole is torn into the reinforced wooden door near the base. A small roach scurries into the room. In moments hundreds more pour through the same opening. They begin to swarm into the safe haven like a small stream, but as the hole in the door widens, they flow like a river. In protest, the door creaks inward ominously against the weight.
          But the Doc still sleeps.
          'RAT-A-TAT-TAT!' sputters the automated machine gun sentry outside. Steel and Doc then immediately awaken and assume kneeling positions; weapons pointed at the door.
          "That would be three warning shots." Steel whispers to Doc.
          The sentry weapon then begins firing madly. 'RAT-A-TATA-TATA-TATA..."
          "That would be the drek hitting the fan!" he says as he drags his comrade to a safer position behind two crates near the back of the building.
          There is then a large crack as the door bursts apart near the base, splitting at the weakened hinges at the bottom. Millions of roaches then fall into the room as their additive weight splinters the great door even further. A wave of the foul insects rides into the room by gravity and the work of countless refuse covered legs.
          Steel squats into a kneeling position and begins firing his shotgun. The buckshot tears uselessly into the millions of bugs. It does little to stop the onslaught. Almost instantly recognizing the importance of saving ammo, Steel stops firing.
          "Fall back! Out the back door!" Steel shouts to Doc. Doc is already there straining against it. Yet it too is bent inward against a great weight against it.
          "It won't budge!" he screams.
          Steel then runs to the northeast corner and pushes a large cargo crate to the side revealing a trap door. He opens it quickly and to his horror, about a foot down into their final escape route he finds a mass of mealy insects tumbling and rolling in a wriggling dance. The insects quickly begin scaling the sides of the trap door and the mass of bugs slowly pushes upward a few inches at a time.
          "Frag, they're here too!" Steel yells as he slams the door shut and slides the cargo box back over top to hold it shut.
          "Maybe we can make our own doorway." Doc then draws his second service revolver and fires several times through the wall of the building. "I'll fire enough till we can just knock out one of the walls." But to Doc and Steel's horror, bugs are pouring in even at the six foot level.

          Shelob then switches over to the second camera angle recovered from the warehouse recordings. If only they could see the outside camera Shelob is using they would have seen the futility of their plight. The entire building is covered in one giant mass of crawling insects, more than a foot thick. Nearby several covered troop trucks surround the building, with the personnel inside not yet visible. Three cloaked figures stand by. Some thirty feet from the front access door a large lump on the ground is covered by the insects. On close-up, they appear to be feeding on some massive, yet humanoid creature.
          Shelob quickly rewinds this portion of the video sequence to see what befell this intruder. She mentally commands the video to play and then sees several trucks pull up slowly with their lights off and slowly surround the small warehouse. Then three large lumbering creatures clamber forth from one of the vehicles. Their bodies are covered with large gray cloaks. They all raise their arms in unison and utter a high pitched chittering noise. Almost instantly their call is answered by thousands of tiny replies.
          Soon small creatures begin coming from the surrounding filthy buildings, gutters, sewers, and every other human construct in this city, the cesspool of the orient. The bugs then begin to scurry around the building, finding any means of entrance. The building slowly becomes covered, and still the insect call is answered by millions of additional roaches crawling down the street towards the warehouse.
          Soon another, even larger creature crawls from the truck. It hops to the ground and then crawls along the pavement on its belly. A large segmented leg appears from under a filthy tarp covering it. The leg has two brutal hooks on the end of it that it uses to pull itself along. It goes approximately fifty feet towards the warehouse when finally the sentry gun detecting a man-sized creature approaching within its kill zone springs to life and begins firing towards the creature, at first firing three warning shots.
          The creature then stands on its hind legs as if a protest would stop the computer operated gun from firing again. Its large cloak falls off revealing a large 2 meter tall cockroach in all its hideous glory. The long antennae flail wildly and the creature looks back towards the three mysterious figures behind it. They point at the building and begin chittering loudly.
          The beast then falls forward onto all six filthy legs and charges towards the warehouse. The sentry machine gun then begins spraying the creature with armor piercing bullets. It continues crawling and it appears that the hardened shell of the beast might turn away the flying lead. However, a moment later the creature then lets out an unholy screech of pain as the bullets begin to tear through the heavily armored carapace.
          But the creature continues on running, hurtling towards the warehouse of its prey. The gun continues raining its ammo down on the creature. The superior firepower of the weapon blows off three of the legs on its left side and the creature stumbles. Falling onto the pavement 30 feet in front of the warehouse door it collapses as bullets further tear it to shreds. In a moment it is only a mass of putrid flesh. A yellowish liquid pores forth from numerous holes riddling its body. The machine gun then goes silent.
          The three watching creatures screech a further command and when there is no answer begin chittering loudly once again. The roaches on the building are now several inches thick all over and several feet of them are pushing and climbing on the thick wooden front door. Insects near the sentry gun then begin climbing all over it, partially obscuring the lens and climbing, by the hundreds, into the barrel of the weapon.
          Shelob's camera is now being partially obscured by roaches as well. However even from this clouded angle she can see the numerous insects swarming all over the gun. Crawling underneath its protective armor through the slits in the plating near swivel points. Furthermore, she can see the bugs chewing the sensitive wiring within, and further cramming themselves into the barrel.
          The three creatures then summon forth another lumbering insect. This one too is covered by befouled tarp material. Brown and yellow stains are all over and flies cover it in many places. It then begins crawling again towards the building, eventually running towards its goal.
          The gun again springs to life, quickly pointing towards the creature. It then fires. 'BLAM!' the gun explodes as the armored bullets cannot be passed down the clogged barrel. Moments later, Shelob's camera angle goes blank as other roaches eat through the wiring on it.
          "Frag, there goes their defenses." she says to herself. "Come on boys, you can do it!" She then goes back to the footage from inside the warehouse.

          Insects are now about one foot deep in the room. The men are standing on small crates shaking off the biting mandibles as furiously as they can. Both men have managed to light the sides of their boxes on fire, holding the bugs off for the moment. Steel situates another crate nearby that they may leap to if the flames rise too high.
          Doc has made several Molotav cocktails that he hurls into the wriggling mass on the floor. It only helps momentarily as the mass of insects quickly extinguish the flame with thousands of their lives.
          "Frag, light the wall on fire! I'd rather burst through that and die out into the open then be eaten by these little fraggers." Steel yells. Doc then hurls a cocktail at the wall and its bursting splash spreads an all consuming flame over a five foot area.
          However their plan was too late. The massive amount of insects pouring in the front door suddenly begins to quiver in unison. It then explodes in a mass of flying roaches as a huge beast bursts through them and into the room.
          The soldiers look up in horror at a giant hunchback cockroach standing in front of the half fractured door. It stands over two meters tall and gives a vigorous shake, hurling insects in all directions around it. It then passes an antenna through its chewing mandibles, eating the few stragglers which remain on the sensory organ. Doc lets out a scream as he sees the beast, and Steel stands mouth agape, seeing his worst nightmare made reality. The slimy creature drips foul brownish liquid and a stenchy mist is exhaled with each panting breath.
          Steel is the first to come to his senses. He tightens the funnel on his shotgun creating a tighter spread and opens fire. 'BLAM!'
          The giant roach lets out a screech and immediately focuses its attention on its victims. A yellowish-gray ichor drips from a hole in the center of its chest. It then charges like an automaton built for war. Steel fires a second time, again hitting the beast squarely in the chest.
          "Doc snap out of it! Fire! Fire!" he yells.
          "F-F-R-R-A-A-A-G!" Doc screams as he begins shooting. He unloads his entire first revolver into the beast. This time the additional gun powered lead finally has its desired effect. It is knocked back with each hit and eventually drops bleeding to the ground, only to be quickly covered and consumed by its smaller cannibalistic brethren.
          Doc then feels scores of roaches biting into the sensitive flesh of his leg. He looks down only to see his protective ring of fire has been put out by the millions of small creatures. Steel's fire is out as well, yet he seems to be ignoring the pain. Despite the fact blood flows freely down both legs, underneath his dermal armor implants are protecting all major important muscles and organs of his body.
          Steel then begins firing at a new foe. Again the front door explodes with a giant attacker bursting through the mountain of insects swarming inward. The insects are now over two feet deep into the room and some five feet by the fractured front opening.
          "I see two!" Doc screams at his comrade. "You shoot the first." Doc then begins firing with near abandon at the second large movement burrowing into the room.
          Steel continues firing at the first, however again the chest hits have little effect. He thus aims at the head of the first creature and blows half of the insectoid head off. Only one shattered eye and part of an antennae remain.
          "DIE FRAGGER!" he screams. The creature stumbles and Steel has to jump to the side to avoid being crushed by the collapsing creature. He tries for the backup crate but slips on the slick bodies of the swarming insects and goes careening off the corner. He lands on the floor on his back several feet away. The bugs immediately swarm over his chest, his arms, and all over his body, covering him in a blanket of cruel biting razors. He struggles to stand, yet the creatures biting each other's legs to tie him down to the ground. Finally with a great yank he pulls himself free of their bonds and stands erect, almost waist deep in the swarm.
          Doc continues firing his pistol and then with hands that never forget old training, reloads his weapon without looking. Then a dreamlike vision takes his mind off the battle for an instant. He sees the full moon encircled by a four foot ring of fire on the side wall of the warehouse. Their last chance at escape. The Molotav cocktail thrown at the wall has continued to burn, enough to allow a risky dive to the outside.
          "WE CAN MAKE IT!" he screams. He looks to his companion with a hopeful smile but to his horror sees the second roach attacker he had been firing at swing a massive claw at Steel and send him flying across the room against the wall. His shotgun flies through the air, end over end, and disappears in a filthy ocean of insects. The creature then turns to Doc and closes the remaining distance to him in an instant. In that brief moment of time, all Doc can see are the two brutal insectoid meat hooks on the ends of each its savage legs swinging furiously towards him. His weapons are immediately knocked aside faster than he can think. He then feels the cruel barbs stab into the trapezius muscles overlying his shoulders and lift him off the ground.
          Steel shakes off the blow from hitting the wall and claws at his eyes, trying to clear away the insects digging into them. He looks up and sees the exit that has been burned into the wall only a few feet above him. The insects are now falling freely through it and have mostly put out the flame of the cocktail.
          "DON'T LET IT EAT ME ALIVE!" he hears his friend scream. The beast is now biting Doc's thigh with its huge mandibles which have completely surrounded the man's muscle. His two arms bend and flail in unnatural ways, already having been broken by the cruel beast. A loud, 'SNAP!' then reverberates around the room as do the man's screams of agony as the weaker flesh of the human gives way. The beast then focuses its attention on his remaining limb and begins biting into it as well.
          Seeing his friend in such torture, and yet not having any weapon to shoot him or the creature, Steel looks up wistfully at the only escape route a few feet above him, and makes his decision. Instead of escaping he holds up his arms in a fighting stance. Instantly two large blades slice out the entire length of his forearm and out the elbow revealing the meter long gleaming metallic blades that give Steel his name.
          He then charges the creature and his hands swinging like a whirling dervish slice deeply into the foul beast. He first shreds off the creatures upper legs at the joint then works downward until the creature falls into the mass of wriggling insects underneath. He is then spun around like a top by the blow of another creature in the room. Steel sees there are at least two more in the room and further sees one crawling in through the final burned out hole in the wall. The creature then swings four savage gaff-hook like legs at Steel. He instantly holds up his bladed forearms in a block, and with a quick turning motion uses the weapons to hack off the beast's upper appendages. However, the lower leg of the creature still sneaks through and tears a large gash along Steel's abdomen. Several protective ceramic plates are revealed along the length of the gash. Blood flows freely, but still he fights on. He cuts down another large beast, and it seems that he may have the upper hand. Block and decapitate seems to work well assuming you can get into close range past the flurry of claws that the insect's four upper legs can swing.
          However, Doc alerts him to a new danger. Picking up his revolver in a hideously fractured arm and hand, he fires. A new being has simply materialized out of thin air to the left of Steel. It is more humanoid than the others and wears a neater gray cloak. Bullets riddle the creature, but they simply pass right through. The creature is hardly backed up by the impact of the bullets and instead simply advances toward Doc.
          "Shoot its head, Doc!" Steel screams. Doc replies by firing into the face of the creature. The cloak covering its head is knocked back, revealing an almost human head with faceted eyes and small antenna protruding from the forehead. Again Doc fires, as now he has a clean shot. He lifts his shattered hand with the pistol, and with great effort, fires. 'BLAM!' But the bullet passes through the face of the creature with almost no effect. Only a small hole remains in the front and back instead of the expected gaping wound. The creature seems to smile, and small mandibles push their way out between its unnaturally small lips on a large mouth. The mandibles chew quietly.
          Then with a speed that would make any street samurai envious, the creature moves, or perhaps flies across the room in a blur. It instantly appears in front of Doc and knocks the weapon from his hand, snapping the arm almost completely off in the process.
          But Steel is there only a moment later, defending his comrade in arms. He throws a right hook slice across the neck of the creature and then with a similar flurry of physical blows hacks away at the beast's neck, eventually decapitating it. Then sensing another large roach flesh form creature behind him, he throws both elbows directly backward, skewering the creature. However, it is a move which would prove his undoing. The creature lets out a screech at the pain, but then quickly wraps all four legs around Steel and encloses him in a cage of hard chitonous exoskeleton. Struggle as he might he cannot break free.
          Soon after two more insect spirits materialize in the room and several more large worker flesh forms crawl in as well. They all lumber around the two captured individuals. The more humanoid form then points at the two and begins chittering madly. In moments most of the small cockroaches have receded into the darkness and begin leaving the room. A fine layer of fecal material covers the floor like dirt.
          The great beast holding Steel then falls backward onto its shell and wraps its two lower appendages around his legs and pulls them apart. Another large creature then walks over and bites the cybered arms off the man leaving him completely defenseless and bound. It then tears the clothing off the two men and then wraps itself around Doc, making him spread eagle as well.
          Then another roach thing enters the building, followed by a hooded humanoid being. The humanoid then raises its arms to point at the two pitiful men, and to their horror the hand is human! The other roach creature then steps into the light over the two men and it appears to be an amalgam of human female and roach, with a dark purplish skin and large breasts covered with a scaly exoskeleton that gives off an evil sheen. It also has a large bulbous abdomen sticking out the back with many fist sized lumps and bumps all over it. It appears nearly ready to burst as it approaches Steel. It walks between his legs and then squatting forces its abdomen between its thighs and a long thin searching proboscis is everted from its end. The searching ovipositor touches his leg and climbs upward. The she-beast then takes a step forward and rams the thing into the man. He screams as he is violated by the monster in an unholy mating.
          In defiance, "You can have my body, but you can never destroy my spirit!" Steel says between gritted teeth. But the evil human in the robes responds, speaking in an scratchy whisper,
          "Oh but we can! We _will_ have your soul." And then grabs a wandering cockroach off his robe and crushes it in a clenched fist.

          Shelob then bursts out in tears again, as she has many a time in these last few months. She rests her head in her arms on the desk and weeps freely for a long while. Suddenly, as she wipes off a final tear, a great cold passes over her body. She bends over and vomits a bitter taste like poison from deep within her being. The heaves continue as a wrenching feeling in her heart, like something being destroyed, sends her body into a seizure.
          She screams and jerks up and overturns her desk and tears the thin monitor off the wall and hurls it across the room. She continues destroying everything as the partially damaged monitor continues to display the image, now on fast forward of the two of her friends being metamorphous into two of the hideous insect creatures over the next several days. Steel maintains most of his humanoid form, and Doc sniveling the whole time with a fractured mind at the sights he had seen and living in horrible past memories of death and destruction, turns into one of the great lumbering roach flesh forms. This completes their transformation.
          "What is wrong?!?" Sidewinder yells as he barges into the room only to see Shelob tearing it apart. She ignores him and continues screaming. She overturns the desk and smashes the monitor with a short quick left snap of her leg. It shatters, unable to withstand any further abuse. Shelob is covered in sweat and a little vomitus is sprayed across her arm. Her lips bleed as she bites deeply into them with her fanged teeth implants.
          "Have you gone mad?!?!' Sidewinder says as he sees the raving lunatic tear at the room, her clothes, and anything else that gets in her way. He quickly wills a spell out of the astral plane, weaving it expertly in an instant and sends the binding control-others spell across the room towards the apparently insane female. In the astral plane he looks at her and for an instant sees her standing in the center of a great silken web. Strands of it extend in all directions of this plane. A great spider shadow stands over top of her head, its great spider legs surround her like a robe. He then sends the spell.
          Instantly, she looks up at him and her eyes are solid black. She shudders and grits her teeth and overpowers the spell as she screams and shakes free of its effects. A trickle of blood drips from the nose of Sidewinder as he fights the backlash of using his spell. He prevents any further drain. But it has hurt him.
          The woman then stops, and stands up proudly. The large birthmark on her chest of an hourglass type shape appears a deep red. Her eyes as well show the same symbol on a background of midnight black.
          "Spider!" Sidewinder exclaims. "I, I never knew!" he says dumbfounded.
          The woman then tilts her head back and juts out a defiant chin. She pulls her hair back out of her eyes and slowly walks up to the man and says.
          "You ever try that on me again and I will kill you." she then leaves the room.
------

          "Private Wilhelm's desk please" Sidewinder says with just the hint of authority needed to bypass the secretary screening the vid-phone calls.
          "And who may I tell is calling?" she says sheepishly.
          "Just_put_me_through!" he says. He is then quickly connected.

          "Sergeant Wilhelms." the man at the desk exclaims matter of factly.
          "Sergeant, now huh? You must have covered that General's wife incident pretty well to be still getting promotions, chummer." Sidewinder mocks the man with a bit of humor.
          "Well if it ain't the ol Captain! I see your Scorpion Corps has made it into the gov security mainframe as a wild card. Looks like the merc biz is good, eh?" he chuckles, then his smile quickly fades, "O no you don't! You ain't gittin any more favors outta me! I paid you back well enough already." He says with a frown.
          "Easy chummer, this ain't no hack into gov d-bases. This is just a small one..." Sidewinder says. "I need some info on one of my own. I just want the bits on one of my soldier's military history, no big thing."
          "No" he replies half-heartedly.
          "Remember all those heal spells I cast on you when you were hung over? Do you realize they are classified as unauthorized usage of military magic? Turns out it is a federal offense to not report those... You did report those didn't you?" Sidewinder says with a quizzical grin.
          "ALL RIGHT ALREADY! You don't need to blackmail me." He then punches a few keys into an antiquated government computer. "What's the name on the chummer?"
          "Good, that would be one Sasha Frost" he says calmly.
          "Copy, all right let me see." He types a few more commands. "Okay, here it is. Sasha Frost legal immigrant to the UCAS from the fractured Russian republics. Hey that's rare. Given a SIN and everything. Adopted by a UCAS citizen. Her father was a big wig in matrix security for the fedgov, he was coded as top secret. I assume that's how she got here at age 6 or so. Her age was only an estimate due to lack of good records in Russia, following the last revolution.
          "Anyhow, went to the best schools. Joined up in the service at age 18. Enrolled in Army mechanized division, but was redirected into the magical division when she appeared mag-active to one of the Wiz watchdogs. One Captain Bang." he stops for a moment and scratches his chin. "Hey chummer, you know she could've written her own ticket if that magic branch had panned out. She woulda been promoted to officer." he then continues. "Hmm, however, it appears she didn't do to well in the standard training. Aced the magic theory training, but couldn't throw the spells. Her reviewers called her uncooperative, said she was refusing to learn." he looks quizzically at the screen. "I don't understand why you wouldn't want to try hard in that group. You mages get all the perks, eh? Anyhow, they booted her out after trying for over a year. Most don't last 4 months if they aren't really active, so they musta really tried to bring it outta her."
          "They then sent her back to the mechanized group. Her eyes were bad...I guess she was an albino. Then they put in some high magnification, night vision eyes...the good ones...so she could be a spotter in a MBT (Main Battle Tank). I guess she was purdy good at that cause she got several medals and then was sent to OTS (Officer Training School) when she single handedly drove a tank through the lines of the enemy and completed her unit's mission.
          "She gets a few more medals and promotions and... Wait, what the hell is this. Frag it Sidewinder, you got me chasing a ghost again. This is another fragger I'm keeping hands off of. She was to be brought in for questioning about connections to her father. Wait, hold on." he then keys some more commands, and then looking over his shoulder and around the room to make sure he is not seen, keys a few illegal control keys.
          "Drek man, this chick's father was coded as a traitor after 25 years service to the Fedgov. He was involved in something deep, choomba. I'm not diggin any further in that direction. Anyhow, she was sent to South America, _after_ the pickup order was issued." he stops and rechecks a few screens back. "That can't be right, they would've nailed her before then. But there it is. Sent south after she was to be brought in. Well, I guess she then turned on her team and took them out before she was aced by a group of four MBTs. Says here she's dead, chummer."
          He then squints and looks at Sidewinder, "Hey, she's not dead is she? Tell me man, you guys are bounty hunting this chick for the feds, eh? Hot Drek, you got some cool work. Hey what's the bounty paid? I know it has gotta be allot." he then taps a few more keys. "You know this file is still open. I was right! She is still alive. Come on man, let me in on this one. I could do a little more diggin and you could pay me a part of the bounty, eh?"
          Sidewinder, realizing he may have just dug a little too deep, quickly tries to cover over the blunder. "Fragger, you haven't told me nothing new. I'm just looking for the mage who discovered what enlisted men were magically active back at that time. I want to meet the chummer who discovered me, and it wasn't in my file." he continues. "So I'm talking to this guy in my group who said he knew this chick in his boot-camp that got yanked out and sent to the mage instruction. I figured we probably both got discovered by the same guy, and wanted to meet up with him. You tell me the dude's name is Captain Bang. That's all I needed to know."
          "Come on Sidewinder, how trollish do you think I am. You want the money all for yourself huh? All right, fine. But no more favors from me, Soy ka?" he then looks at Sidewinder and gives an angry glare and then hangs up.
          "So much for not burning bridges, eh chummer? Hell, I'll send him a case of 20 year old scotch and he'll forget the whole thing." he then writes a letter, it states:

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Payment for services rendered. Thanks for the "name," that's all I really needed.

Your chummer,