The room's lighting system inquired whether it should be turned on, and Jerk reflexively dipped into full virtual reality for a split second, just long enough to tell the lights to remain off. Normally he would have done the task in the augmented reality that was displayed in his normal vision courtesy of the MCT SixthSense ImageLink hardware in his cybernetic eyes, but he did not have the strength to lift his arm high enough for his AR-capable gloves to register the command.

He slunk through the darkness to his bed, a futon on the floor, but a king-sized one. He collapsed into it, wondering whether his roommate was all right. They had met once when he had first moved into the co-op. They had both been cordial, but reserved; they had not even exchanged names. It was rather obvious to each of them that the other was a shadowrunner, and only slightly less immediate was the realization in each that the other knew. Since that time months ago, they had never been at home at the same time; Jerk thought it an odd coincidence, but gave it little further thought .

He stared at the peeling, yellowed ceiling, alternately trying to coax his new wetware to send him to sleep and waiting for it to come naturally. Neither worked. Slowly, he became aware of a cause: something was wrong. Pushing through the pain of the surgery and the haze of what anesthetic hadn't yet been collared by his excretory system, Jerk slowly looked around the room. Lolling his head to the side (and welcoming another surging headache for his trouble), he saw an enormous troll lying in the bed across the room, still and silent. His roommate.

He just stared for about ten minutes. Or perhaps he was slipping in and out of consciousness. The troll did not move or even breathe, but the body was still warm, according to the thermal imaging option in Jerk's eye. Finally, Jerk spoke.

"Dat you, roomie-mon?"

The troll shuddered and exhaled. "Yeah, roomie. It's me. Didn't say nuttin' before cuz I wasn't sure if it was you. You ain't never here when I am."

"Ya, mon, I and I know what is. You hold your breath all dat long?"

"Internal air tank. Null perspiration, omae."

Jerk paused. "You okay, roomie? You don' sound fit."

The troll hesitated, then spoke. "Got inna vuttin' big grumoge. You don't sound so great yerself, roomie."

"Mi gat new wetware in da head. Mi haffi satta bit."

"You an' me, both," said the troll, drifting, "Looks like we gonna be chummers for the next couple days."

"Ya, mon," was all Jerk could muster, and dreamily at that.

Jerk wasn't sure which of them fell asleep first. 

Ω

Ω

Wi find dem tharonbwoys gaan try to break up Orkland, put on some arcology, and it up to I an' I ta tek wi mak poppy-show dey plans. Wi hole up inna hotel, try get mi sinting nyam (cyaan find no ital since home), den some girl come tadda door. Sez shi wanna interview, supm about instruction. Wi taak it over, tek a talk wid shi. Da word gaan out, settup some tharon security. Wi do some lookin, find supm a bomb mebbe. Mi mark it for de tharons, go tek de Orkland haav a bitta grounding. Done, wi gaan come back to Seattle. Mi gaan. Ω

We found out what the house was all about, and attacked it swiftly. I attacked through the wireless network, conquered it, and gained a lot of good information, with a bit extra to keep. Our magician Lou changed Red Fox into a very large dog, an she attacked and routed the house of almost all the Humanis diapers. They came back to us with on of those faggots, I came back, an then we were off to Orkland. I parked the cab and came back to the team, and what do I see but a huge elemental, come to kill our stupid man (hostage). We stop it, but not before he killed our corporate boy. Fox attacked it with great skill. We did get some leads, and followed them to pay dirt.