Snippet #2768261

Niihama City at Midnight...
Takashi's Auto Repair Shop in Sector One...

Darkness filled the ghetto streets, the only source of light being a few yellow street lamps and traffic lights, plus the headlights of whatever occasional vehicles would roll by. The air was thick, hot and heavy, the dense brownish orange smog and strong smell of stale beer, rancid urine and rotten garbage filled the dark foggy air and cast a gloomy setting over the whole atmosphere. This was a concrete jungle full of unpainted projects, grey buildings covered in graffiti spray-painted Yakuza gang art, barred windows and padlocked doors. The black asphalt roads were covered in skid marks, oily water puddles and drainage gutters emanating with gaseous methane, carbon dioxide and hot steam. Sector One was hoodlum territory, a place of poverty, crime and homelessness where the NCPD had very little if any jurisdiction. Yakuza ruled the underworld in this part of the city, and tonight the streets were active as Takashi and his gang took part in an illegal Taiyou street race. It was the perfect time and place for mayhem of all sorts to happen as Takashi and his partner Suzuki pulled into the garage of Takashi's underworld chop shop, driving behind the steering wheel of a Ten-Shi GTR street racer, revving his souped up muscle engine while blaring electronic Dubstep techno music from his amped up speakers.

Honz the Old had spotted them coming from his position behind the curtain blinds at the front of the store and forewarned his comrades to hide the best they could. Honz would grip his Seburo C26A assault rifle in both hands and cock it, leaning back into the shadowy dark corner behind the curtain, his long white hair and pale red skin being camouflaged with the sooty black paint he had used to conceal himself. Augee the Archer would likewise chamber his Seburo MP5 pistol before ducking behind one of the wheeled rolling chairs underneath the office desk. Jarl Omar their one-eyed leader barely had time to step off into the cleaning closet before the car doors opened. He readied his own 5.45x45mm assault rifle, tightening the gun strap around his arm for a better grip as he heard the car trunk slam shut over the loud music. He started to breathe heavily, his adrenaline kicking in as his forehead began to sweat. Honz would remain calm as can be, closing his eyes and allowing the magical shroom juice to take effect. When he opened his eyes again, he would begin to see visions of a surrealistic nature. The glare of the streets lights reflecting off the glass window started to dance to the techno hypnotic music, and soon every yellow ray of light in the darkness seemed to change shape into something more sentient and alive. Honz began to hallucinate mildly, for there floating and flying in front of him were tiny little yellow orbs or sprites which hovered and circled around his head. After a few seconds, the bright orbs began to grow tiny limbs and wings, resembling faeries or some other illuminated spirits which smiled and danced around in front of him.
Honz immediately felt calm and relaxed at that moment without a care in the world as his imaginery tiny friends flew up to him, grabbed him by his sleeves and tried to pull him towards the light. Forgetting where he was for a moment, Honz almost followed them. He was about to step out of the shadowy corner when suddenly it dawned on him. He couldn't move from his position or else he would be spotted. He brushed the faeries away with his hand, shewing them off. But the tiny pixies weren't detoured, evading his touch before trying to pull him into the light again.

Meanwhile, Jarl Omar's heart was beginning to race. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to shake his own strange hallucinations. Unlike Honz tho who was seeing imaginary faefolk, Omar was trapped inside the darkness of his own mind. He saw mental images of a monster like nothing he had ever saw before. It wasn't spiritual in nature, nor flesh and blood, but something metal and more mechanical, complete with wires and cables. Omar gritted his teeth and tried to relax, but all he kept hearing was old mother's high-pitched creepy laughter as her witchy voice kept whispering in his head.

Augee the Archer was the only one who wasn't experiencing any hallucinations at that moment. Instead, he was beginning to experience something else. Time started to slow down for him, or at least it seemed. His mind became sharper as his senses were amplified. Visually, everything seemed brighter. Audibly, everything sounded clearer. The walls around him began to pulsate with the beat of the Yakuza's techno music. He could smell car fuel, oil, sugar, coffee, beer and gasoline. Augee could feel the subtle vibrations in the floor as Takashi and Susuki walked around. Augee developed a weird metallic taste in his mouth as he felt his emotions slip away. The magic shroom juice was slowly making him faster, stronger, more fearless and impervious to pain. He started to foam from the mouth, chemical reactions effecting his cerebral cortex and pineal gland as the veins in his arms and neck began to protrude, his thin lean muscles becoming more pronounced with each passing moment. Augee gripped his pistol tightly and braced himself as Susuki walked by the very desk Augee was hiding under. All the Yakuza gangster had to do was look under the desk to find Augee crouched down with a loaded gun in his hand.

But just as it seemed like Augee was about to be busted, something else suddenly caught Susuki and Takashi's attention. Jarl Omar accidentally leaned too hard against the metal shelf in the cleaning closet, bumping a spray bottle off the shelf with his shoulder by accident. The soap bottle would hit the hard tile floor with a loud enough thud that it could be heard from inside the garage. If the Yakuza weren't sure before whether or not the burglars had left the chop shop, they were sure now that at least one of them was still inside the building with them. Omar gritted his teeth and backed up further into the small dark closet, pointing his rifle through the darkness into the open doorway as Takashi crept up from the side, pointing his own loaded shotgun at the open doorway. He was about to make contact with Omar any second, the two strangers now standing only feet away from being face to face with their guns drawn at one another. Omar slowly and quietly placed his index finger on the trigger and prepared to squeeze it.

Just then, a Seburo assault rifle was discharged into the air. Only it wasn't Omar who pulled the trigger, it was Honz, who suddenly started rapid-firing into the darkness. "Rrraawhhh!!!" Honz roared, squeezing the trigger while moving his rifle around in a pray-n-spray fashion, immediately drawing the Yakuza's attention. "Bllrrat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!" The Seburo rifle let out multiple high-powered loud shots from the sound of Honz's burst fire. But this sudden wave of tungsten tipped bullets was not necessarily aimed at the Taiyou street racers. Honz was pointing his weapon upwards and spraying at the shop windows and ceiling, yelling madly at the invisible annoyances that only he could see. He was trying to shoot the faeries out of the air, as they were beginning to drive him crazy. This sudden outburst proved ineffective however, as nobody else could see the tiny glowing faeries except for Honz, who was somehow convinced that they were trying to kill him. "Ptat-tatat-tat-tat!!" Honz sprayed into the air, shooting the glass wall at the front door and causing the windows to shatter. He had also managed to shoot the EXIT sign on the ceiling, causing it too to spark and shatter.

The crazed Norseman had lost his wits finally and had surrendered to the magical power of the shroom juice. The other people around him in the chop shop no longer existed to him. Honz was in his own world now, entering a berserker rage of sorts as he started shooting at random, aiming at nothing and nobody in particular. "Brat-tat-tat-tat!!" As the front store wall shattered and came tumbling down, glass would sprinkle the sidewalk and millions of tiny clear shards would bounce into the street. The gunshots were loud, very loud, enough to make most of the innocent bystanders scream and run in fear for their lives. The commotion would certainly grab the attention of Takashi and Susuki as Honz suddenly stopped and pointed his rifle at them. "Rat-uh-tat-tat-tat-tat-click-click!!" Honz the Old would unleash his weapon upon them in a spraying fashion, emptying the rest of his magazine. The sudden wave of glass shattering gunshots could be heard from the distance, also attracting the attention of Muketsu as she walked down the dark streets, kicking a small tin can out of the way with her shoe. Muketsu had been bored and lonely with nothing to do until now, as people ran passed her down the sidewalks, yelling, pointing and screaming. "Somebody call the police!" people shouted. "Someone is shooting!" a young woman screamed. "Get off the streets! Get inside!" someone else yelled out.

As the gunfire stopped briefly, Honz would freeze. "Click-click-click" he pulled the trigger again, but the chamber was empty. He hit the lever on the backside of his weapon, dropping the empty magazine on the tile floor. "Errrg!" Honz grumbled, fumbling for the other loaded magazine on his toolbelt as he stood in the center of the lobby, nothing around to provide cover for him except for maybe Omar, as the one-eyed jarl seized his opportunity, suddenly diving out of the cleaning closet in midair. "Blat-tat-tat-tat!!" Omar sprayed a line of bullets towards the Ten-Shi GTR hoping to hit Takashi or Suzuki, never aiming as he slid across the tile floor into the open hallway, ducking behind a wall. The wall was hollow, supported by aluminum metal beams and covered with drywall, but he was hoping it would provide Honz with enough time to get out of harm's way. "Honz!" Omar yelled, but the old man was unresponsive. Honz fumbled with his assault rifle, swatting at the imaginary tiny faes as they buzzed around his head, taunting him.

At that moment, Augee would crawl out from under the office desk and over to another desk, peaking around the corner of the desk to look into the open garage shop. Augee was dressed simply in typical Old Norse fashion wearing one-piece leather non-stitched shoes with leather laces, straight white under-trouser leggings under poofy or baggy legged trousers, linen long brown stocking socks, a grey linen collarless buttonless stringless shirt tunic, a longer flared dresslike over-tunic with a cloth sash and leather toolbelt with a brass round buckle, a simple bowl-shaped beanie hat or skullcap under a simple small grey wool hood, pastel blue kaftan robe, thick wool knitted shin socks and hand mittens, a long blue wool cape with silver inlaid brooches and a leather square pouch. Under his long blue kaftan, he wore a quilted padded gambeson and lamellar scalemail armor with chainmail gloves. His wool hood was down to cover his throat guard and over his head he wore a hornless round spangenhelm with a chainmail aventail and noseguard. He also had a small ashwood handled iron bearded axe, a yew bow and a longseax with a reindeer antler handle, apart from the handgun he was holding in both hands.

Jarl Omar was dressed similarly apart from his black feathered cloak, animal fur snow cap and thick fur trimmed snow boots. Omar was also wearing riveted byrnie ringmail armor over a more solid chestplate, gripping his own assault rifle with both hands as he sat on the hallway floor with his back to the wall, looking up at Honz who was reloading his weapon. "Honz, get down!" Omar shouted, but the old man had lost all fear and sensitivity. Honz just growled, sliding the extra magazine into place with a click before cocking his rifle and pointing it at the Yakuza, his mind now lost to them as he began foaming from the mouth like a rabid bear.