Scenes from the Shadows: Ashes Underground

Story Catchup Post for February 2017

Universe: Shadowrun

Word count: 7,248

Tags: Dwarf, Orc, Cyberpunk

Hey guys! For this story, we are returning to the world of Shadowrun, where men, dwarfs, and orcs with guns do shadowy missions for love, money and drugs. But mostly for the money.

It's been a long while since I made a Shadowrun post, but if you want to see the previous one its over here:

This time, the three parts all follow the dwarf runner gavin, a cybered up decker who has joined a orcish gang called the Ragers, and won their loyalty and love with ammo, armors, and good broadband. Oh, and also good blowjobs.

***

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Poker Night

==============

Gavin gave a great belly laugh when he saw the cards, joining the circle of orcs around him in uproarious laughter. Across from the orc, the young man who had just showed his losing hand began blushing furiously. Karg stood up, unbuckled his belt, and pulled his pants off slowly. The youngest of the Ragers playing cards with Gavin held them out, face turning fiery as he blushed so hard his delicate, pale green skin turned purple. The biggest orc in the circle of young males, Thrum, was seated next to Karg, and the deep green skinned orc took the black jeans from the skinny green orc and dropped the skinny jeans onto the pile of clothes he had in front of him.

Karg sat back down at the low table in just his skimpy white underwear, face burning as Thrum leaned over and grinned at him, his tusks brushing Karg’s cheek where the smaller orcs short tusks just poked above his lower lip. The huge orc dropped a neat pile of chips back in front of Karg. “Pleasure doing business with you, small fry,” Thrum said with a leer as the rest Ragers snickered and grinned at Karg, who didn’t meet Thrum’s smirking gaze.

Gavin caught the card that was tossed at him as Sparks, the orc who was the dealer this round, began passing out the next hand of cards. The young male orcs were sitting around the coffee table on folding chairs took drinks from their beer. Karg threw back the rest of his beer, a heavy stout the dwarf had brought to the gang house, in an attempt to keep the embarrassment of being in his underwear from overwhelming him. The orc was already sporting a tent in his underwear, but then again most of the guys were drunk and horny from playing strip poker for an hour. Only Sparks still had his shirt on, but Karg was the first one to lose his pants. The younger orc had simply been unable to resist the leering intimidation of Thrum when the big orc dared him to call his bet.

The dwarf smiled slightly to himself as he looked around the circle of younger orcs, continuing to play conservatively now that he’d lost his shirt, focusing on making sure that the rest of them would soon be losing their pants alongside Karg. The boys were all younger than he was, hell most of the Ragers were, even the gang’s leaders. Gavin had gone to college when he was their age, but these young orcs had nowhere to go and nothing to do with their lives. Karg was the only Rager here without tattoos, and they all had the build of young jocks with nothing to do but hit the gym. Most had a bit of belly from all the beer they drank, but none of them got enough to eat to be fat. All of them but Karg had big muscles from the hard life they led and their genetics. Thrum looked like he'd stolen the smaller orc's muscles along with his pants, because he looked like he worked out every night, his muscles flexing as he picked up his next hand of cards. If they had been human, they would all fit perfectly into any college frat house.

Stone brought the group with another pair of six packs of beer, and they dealt another hand of cards. Gavin was sitting in front of the biggest pile of chips, because the five orcs were getting very drunk now, and he just didn't suffer as much matching them drink for drink. The medical miracle of having a CleanSystem, the dwarf thought with amusement. That had led to a particularly crazy party when he drank the troll who’d run this gang house before him under the table as part of his initiation.

Things had been going pretty damn good since he’d taken over this chapter house of the Ragers. His connections with the underworld as a shadowrunner had let him buy the kind of

Sticks and Stone, the two brothers who had taken to sleeping on the couches outside Gavin's room, were focusing on embarrassing each other, and so they'd lost their shirts and shoes to each other. Thrum was preying on Karg's drunken bravado. The smaller orc couldn't handle his booze as much as the others, and Thrum was causing Karg to lose his money faster and faster. Sparks was holding back trying to keep his clothes on, and Gavin... just played the hands he was dealt without much flair. He'd bet his shirt to stay in the spirit of things, but the truth was he had won a lot more money than the rest of them, and was slowly draining all of them dry. After another hand, Sticks was in just his boxers too, and Stone lost his the hand after.

After another round of beers and several more hands, only Sparks and Gavin were still wearing their pants. The rest of the orcs were blushing and laughing nervously in their underwear and bare feet. All of them wore cheap white Hanes, the white fabric tented by erections brought on by the heat of booze and embarrassment in front of their fellow gangers. Sticks and Stone weren't looking at each other, but in that explicit im not looking at you way, in between staring at Gavin and Thrum. The big orc was showing off by spreading his legs and puffing out his chest, letting his underwear tent openly. Karg was staring pretty much none stop at the big orc, who had a much larger bulge then the others.

Gavin picked up his cards and had to suppress his smile. He bought another card, turning his two pair into a full house, and raised modestly. He kept the betting going longer this round, and things were getting heavy as it passed around the table, but it wasn’t Gavin who pushed things to their inevitable conclusion.

"All in boys," Thrum said with a big smirk as he pushed his chip in, the largest pile on the table besides Gavin’s own. Karg paled, Sticks laughed a bit and started to fold, but Thrum grinned at Sparks when he went to fold. "What, you ain't willing to bet your pants? Don't want us to see your panties, eh Sparks?" Thrum snapped the waist band of his own underwear and pushed what remained of his chips into the pot. He leered at Sparks, who blushed hard, squirmed, and pushed his chips in. Sticks and Stone glanced at each other, their faces red, until Stone said, "Go on, chicken. Fold," and they were both in. Karg pushed his chips in blushing harder than anyone as he tossed his cards face down in front of everybody else. Gavin pushed his pile in, saying nothing.

Thrum threw down three fives and two tens. "Read em and strip for me boys. Full house."

The other orcs all groaned, tossing down weak hands. Karg didn't even bother to turn his hand over. "Come on boys, strip and hand em over!" Thrum laughed, and Sticks stood up and started to peel his briefs off. The orcs all laughed, as swaying slightly, Sticks's cock bounced into view and he handed his briefs to the smirking, muscle bound orc. He was just a bit hard, not a raging erection but still half hard. Stone was laughing the hardest as he shimmied out of his own underwear and slapped his brother’s shoulder. Sparks grumbled as he pulled his pants off, though Karg was paralyzed with fear, his eyes wide and staring at the three half hard dicks bouncing in front of him.

"You too Thrum. Full house, queens over jacks." Gavin said with a smirk, as he set his cards down. The dwarf's beard spilt as he grinned, one hand up to make the 'give em here' motion towards the boy’s underwear.

Thrum's face was blank for a moment as the other orcs laughed, the now naked brothers slapping each other on the shoulder and chest, weaving about as they rubbed each other. They were all getting more excited, heads spinning from the booze and being touched while naked. Then the big orc laughed and slapped the table. “You little bugger!" Thrum got up, staggered back, his chair falling over as he stripped his brief's down to his knees.

"There's your show, take a good look Gav, yah fag." Thrum rumbled as the gangers laughed at the big orc, whose cock was rock hard and jutting out at Gavin at eye level for the sitting dwarf. Gavin grinned at him, leaning back as if admiring, which he was.

"Very nice," the dwarf muttered, taking the underwear from the big orc and giving them a theatrical sniff, thought he hardly had to do so. Thrum’s musky scent was easy for his enhanced nose to pick out, but the gangers would find it funny and so Gavin gave them a show. The big orc grinned back at the dwarf, flexing his muscles and making his rock hard dick bounce. Gavin eyed him appreciatively, while the dwarf’s cyber eyes recorded every detail of the proudly showing off orc. Sticks and Stone's underwear joined Thrum's in Gavin’s lap, as did Sparks, who noticed that Karg was still wearing his.

"Come on kid, cough em up," the other orc grinned, glancing at Gavin’s eyes. Sparks was the one technically adept orc in the gang, and he knew what the dwarf’s eyes could do. He was looking forward to the video of this. Then, with all eyes on him, Karg shimmied out of his underwear. The green tint of Karg's skin gave way to a bright red on the head of his cock came into view, foreskin pulled back by his excitement. The smaller orc was hard as a rock and dripping, his face flush. "Ho ho, look at him, I knews you were queer, faggot." Stone said playfully, slapping Karg's bare chest, even as he rubbed his own brother’s bare back. "And you ain’t any thicker in the pants, string bean."

"I'm bigger then you," Karg said glaring at him, booze making him say it louder the he intended.

"I ain't hard, yah fag." Stone said defensively, jerking up right in his chair.

"Yah are too," Sticks said laughing, slapping his bro's muscled arm. “I know how big you are bro.”

Stone fumblingly turned to him, about to punch his brother, but Sparks stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Why don't you two just fucking compare and get it over with, rather than punch each other out again? I'm sure the dwarf queer will enjoy that." The orc winked at Gavin, who grinned.

"What do you care if you're bigger then the squirt?" Thrum said, pointing with both hands to his fully hard dick, making it bounce. "You ain't gonna be bigger than this."

Stone glanced back and forth, and Sticks grinned at his trapped bro. "You're always going on about it. Show him up bro."

Stone swallowed, staring at Karg, his hand already rubbing his dick absently. "Alright you two, on your feet." Thrum said confidently, standing over them. "Longest dick wins," the big orc grinned as Karg and Stone stood, adding once they were standing, "Loser blows the winner."

Sticks laughed and Sparks grinned as Karg and Stone paled a sickly green. The laugh made Stone redden, "You can't beat him, either" Stone hissed and smacked his twin brother's shoulder.

"I can beat you!" The drunk orc said as he stood up. Sparks joined the other orcs, whipping his hard dick against his palm as they all started to beat off in order to show each other up. Gavin stared at the circle of horny orcs stroking themselves and stood up so he could get a good look.

"Come on short ass, let's see what you got." Thrum said, smacking Gavin's bare shoulder. The dwarf grinned as he unbuckled his belt, his pants tight as he watched the circle of young men jerking off. When his dick came out and thumped the table with a nice smack, everyone was suddenly watching him. "Oh dude..." Sticks paled beside him, and Thrum gapped. Gavin smirked, rubbing his shaft and getting himself fully hard. He was bigger than all of em. Thrum was big enough to be a porn star, and probably as thick, but Gavin had a full inch on the big orc, easily.

"Oh, I think you may have some competition there Thrum..." Sparks said admiringly, and Thrum reached over and drunkenly gripped the head of the dwarf’s huge dick.

"Damn dwarf," the big orc said with a grunt. “You weren’t kidding when you said you’d gotten yourself augmented.” Thrum’s big hand gripped the dwarf firmly, stroking him till he was fully hard in his palm.

Gavin laughed, grinning at the stupid looks on the five orcs faces. "Dats the only parta me that 100% original boys," the dwarf flexed an arm, showing off muscles that were indeed augmented beyond any normal human level. It was true too, his dick had always been big enough to be called a third leg for a dwarf. He had gotten his skin sensitivity upgraded though, so he could feel every bump and stroke of Thrum’s callused hand on his knob. “Now, I believe the bet was biggest man wins a blowjob, so get to it boy. Let’s see who’s the bigger man.”

Thrum blinked groggily, still pawing at Gavin as he shuffled closer, and bending his knees trying to get his dick level with Gavin's. The big orc stumbled a bit and ended up on his knees, which made comparing easy. He whistled as their dicks touched, and Gavin did indeed have him beat by close to an inch. Gavin grunted, their rock hard dicks sliding in the orc's big hands as he rubbed them together. “Ah yah lad, there you go.” Gavin mumbled, staring up into the drunken young orc’s eyes.

Karg gasped, and Gavin saw that Sparks had grabbed his dick and started stroking, rubbing their dicks together like Gavin and Thrum were. Karg had apparently not been fully hard, because Sparks cursed as the little orc’s dick telescoped in his hand, growing longer than his own six inches. Sticks and Stone glanced at each other, hesitating, till Gavin elbowed Stone in the back and pushed him towards his naked twin brother. Within moments, the two were rubbing their equally matched docks together, and all six men had their hands on their partner's dicks, and the orcs were all grunting as they compared cocks.

Thrum was in drunken awe of Gavin's dick. His mouth was open, his two big tusks jutting up as the orc's hand moved across Gavin's dick. Thrum was rock hard and grunting as Gavin began rubbing the muscle bound orc up and down with his hands. Thrum was so worked up, Gavin just had to rub the orc’s nipples between his fingers to get the oversexed and drunken orc to shoot.

Thrum tensed, gasping sharply as Gavin pinched his nips, and those big pectorals flexed as the kneeling orc began humping forward against the standing dwarf. Gavin kept twisting thrum’s nips, cyber eyes recording the beautiful sight of the orc’s green cock rubbing against his pink, bigger cock, until with a roar the orc blew his load across the dwarf’s bushy groin.

The heavy white cum clung to Gavin's pubes and coated his dick like lube. The dwarf cupped Thrum's head when the orc sagged forward and kissed him hard. The orc's tusks pushed against Gavin’s cheeks as they kissed, and that was a strange feeling he only got kissing an orc. He liked it, and he kissed the dazed, drunken orc for a long while until thrum had to pull back gasping.

Gavin sat back down on his chair again, his cum covered dick jutting up for the big orc. Thrum didn't say anything, he didn't look at the others, he just slumped forward on hands and knees and put his face against Gavin's cock, eyes closed in pleasure as he licked the dwarf’s fat nuts.

Cum smeared across his green skin, and Thrum opened his mouth in a drunken way, barely getting Gavin's tip in. The dwarf grinned, hand guiding the young orc's head, and he gently face fucked the massive, muscle bound gangbanger. The orc's tusks strangely felt good rubbing against the sides of his dick. Thrum groaned and sucked, eyes closed, hands on Gavin's legs, totally exposed in the middle of the gang house. The dwarf looked around, at Sparks giving Karg head and the two brothers jerking each other off, neither orc willing to admit who might be bigger. He snapped his fingers until the two of them looked at him drunkenly, and then said, “If you tied, just suck each other off.” The twins blushed and blustered, but neither of them looked away from Gavin. They just stared at how he was controlling Thrum, feeding the big orc his even bigger dwarf dick, and it took only a minute of watching that show before they gave in a started a sixty-nine, sucking each other off. That was a sight he’d never forget, two twin gang banger studs sucking each other off. Thanks to his cyber eye recordings he never would forget. Nor would he forget the way Karg thrashed and howled when Sparks made him cum, and then didn’t stop sucking, making the smaller orc thrash as his dick was milked.

Groaning with satisfaction, Gavin blew his load in Thrum's warn, eager mouth. The orc didn’t stop sucking until he got a second load.

==============

Ashes Underground

==============

Gavin wandered through the racks of clothes in GreenGrunge, amusing himself as the boys shopped for clothes. He wasn't quite sure at what point the young orcs had ended up being his 'boys'. But Marco, Karg, Sticks, and Stone were his. Thrum and Sparks were too, but they weren't shopping with him today.

The dwarf navigated the maze of clothing and leather gear in Torg's with ease. He couldn't see over the tall racks, but hacking the stores security cameras to provide a nav overlay to find his by was easy as hell. Karg was in the back, trying on some pants, and when he thought Gavin and Marco couldn't see, a few leather collars. Marco was on a hunt for a shirt that fit properly. The broad shouldered young orc could never find one in a human store that fitted.

Fortunately, this was the Underground. They had everything in orc and dwarf sizes. Gavin used his new stealth activesofts to slink up behind Karg as the orc held a leather collar to his neck and swallowed nervously. He was wearing an open shirt and tight jeans, showing off his green skinned chest, and the little band of black leather around his neck. It had only one adornment, the loop for a leash to be hooked onto. The orc gasped when Gavin grabbed the back ends of the collar and buckled the little leather band tight. "Looks good on you, Karg." The dwarf said with a smirk, patting the young green skinned orc's back, and then letting his hand drift down his ass. "Get it."

Karg turned around, blushing sheepishly as he moved so the dwarf was no longer groping him. "I ugh, no it's too expensive..." Gavin hooked a fat finger in Karg's collar, pulling the young man down for a kiss. Karg struggled for a second, but then he pushed into the kiss, his short tusks rubbing into Gavin's cheeks as their lips mashed hungrily together. The dwarf liked the way orc tusks got caught in his beard. All the boys were so shame faced when kissing him, avoiding it if they could, but they never fought back once his lips were on theirs. They seemed to melt into him and kissed back hungrily, as if desperate for his attention.

Except Thrum of course, that gang banger was way more aggressive and would start most of their kisses. Karg was always the most passive, he'd let Gavin kiss him till the kid was about to pass out. And since the dwarf had half a lung that was condensed oxygen, he could outlast the orc every time.

Gavin let him go and added the collar to the stack of things they were buying. He and Karg headed for where Marco was, and the bigger orc was smirking at them, as if he'd seen more of that little exchange then he was supposed to. Karg was certainly still blushing even without the collar.

"The others should be done, go get them so we can get back to the house." Gavin said to Karg without acknowledging the smirking Marco. Karg nodded and hurried off, as Gavin paid for the things he and Marco had picked out. The two men fell into step as they left the store, their gray and black coats making the big troll at the door give them a professional nod. The Skracha were the gang in charge here, and Gavin gave the appropriate nod of respect to the grunt at the door. The all meta gang was the Underground's unofficial police, and they were on good terms with the Ragers. Folks in the underground were always a bit wary of 'topsiders' as they called them, but they respected gangs like the Ragers or the Crimson Crush for keeping the memory of the Night of Rage alive.

Gavin walked down the Tourist highway, the main drag of the Underground's shopping sector, watching one of the guided tours go by. Marco kept pace with him, and he saw Karg talking to Stone, standing in front of a shop window maybe a hundred feet away. He turned to say something to the taller orc when it happened.

A shop behind them exploded. Gavin turned, fast as Move By Wire could make him twitch, and he saw the store Karg and Stone were standing in front of explode outward in a fireball, saw Stone react, leaping to throw Karg to the ground as two more flashes went off, two other shops vanishing in a roar of fire farther down the street. Gavin was already moving, rushing towards the two orcs when the fiery explosion washed over them.

The world seemed to slow as the noise hit him. Gavin felt the little pressure valves in his cyberears close protectively, and it felt and sounded as though someone had stuck their fingers in his ears. The boom of the explosion washed over him, the flaring light discoloring his vision as the dwarf's cyber eyes compensated heavily so he could still see.

The concussion wave stalled him some, making Gavin's steps falter, but the dwarf was made of sterner stuff then flesh. Marco was thrown to the ground behind him, and Gavin left him there, sending him a text message to stay back and call for help.

Gavin felt the world slowing around him as he ran, muscles twanging as he pushed himself, loading the skillwire software designed for EMTs. The ground between him and his fallen boys vanished. Karg and Stone were flat on the ground, clothing on fire, and Gavin heighten reflexes and computer aided vision helped him find and snatch a fire extinguisher from the wall to put the young orcs out. Karg was gasping, peppered with a dozen cuts and burns, but he was alive. Stone was worse off.

So much worse off. Gavin felt his stomach clench as he saw the bloody, burned stump where the orc's arm had been. He'd shielded his face and Karg, and his arm had been blow clean off. Blood gushed from the stump, and Gavin stepped on his chest to hold him in place as he used the collar he’d bought for Karg to make a tunicate. Gavin slapped a chemical patch on the shouting orc’s stump to seal the wound, and the dwarf only caught the orc’s meaning as he sedated the big orc. He wasn't just screaming in pain, he was screaming 'Sticks', and struggling to get back into the store.

Marco appeared beside him, and Gavin shouted orders at the big orc. Marco's brow furrowed in incomprehension, and Gavin saw the blood trickling from his ears. He sent an ARO to the orc with instructions and raced into the burning shop.

***

It was three hours later, and Gavin was covered in sweat, blood, and ashes. The dwarf pressed a cold can of Nukacola against his forehead as he sat down on one of the flimsy chairs in the hallways of Doc Tido's Community Medical Clinic.

He heard the heavy footsteps, but he didn't glance up till the boots stopped by him. HardRain, the leader of the Ragers, was standing there, a hard grimace on his face.

"You look like shit," The broad shouldered orc said. He spoke clearly, without the usual orcish accent. His tusks too small to poke out of his mouth like most orcs did, but his skin was the deep green that Gavin had come to appreciate in a man. Gavin knew the orc was educated too, the dwarf had done his research on the Rager when he’d petitioned to join them.

And while the orc in front of him had once been a straight A student at an east coast college, HardRain was tall, strong, and had the air of menace that a gang leader needed to keep two hundred or so young, and often angry, orcs in line.

"Feel like it," The dwarf muttered. "What's the news?"

"They're saying it was Alamos 20,000. There was a matrix data bomb that blanketed the Underground's nodes just after the blast. The Skracha got the fire out before it reached the Lordstrum's entrance. How close were you?"

"Hundred feet or so, saw the first bombs going off." Gavin wiped his brow clean, and ended up merely smearing the dirt and blood. "Got Karg and Stone sorted before..." the dwarf trailed off.

HardRain’s hand twitched, but his face showed no emotion. "I saw him. Didn't recognize him, not with those burns. Sticks right? One of the guys who stay at your house I guess?" Gavin nodded. The dwarf wasn't bothered by the fact that HardRain didn't know the boys by sight, he didn't expect the Ragers leader to know that much about low level members of his gang.

"Stone's brother. He'll live but..." Gavin shrugged wearily.

HardRain grunted. “I bet he's gonna wish he didn't. What can you do for him?"

Gavin winced a bit at that. That was, in a roundabout way, Rain's way of admitting that he couldn't do anything for Sticks himself. "If I can get the Doc to stabilize him, I can probably set him up in the house. But his legs..."

"I saw. They're crushed." Rain said levelly. They would have to be amputated, Gavin was sure. "Stone told me you had to pull him outta the rubble."

There was a series of hoof beats, and Gavin's eyebrows raised when the hulking figure of a big, blueish minotaur came round the corner of Doc Tido's hallway. The dwarf rubbed his eyes and made them do a calibration, but he wasn't seeing things. The bull had dyed himself a dark blue color. He wasn't a Rager, Gavin was absolutely certain he'd remember a indigo colored minotaur. "You ready Rain?" The Minotaur said. "We got to get to the Commission's building if we're going to make the meeting on time."

"I'm coming," HardRain said shortly. "Gavin, this is BTO, the leader of the Spikes. Gavin's one of my newer LT's." The bull held down a huge hand, which Gavin stood to shake.

"The dwarf doc from the bombing right? Couple of my boys said you were patching people up at the scene." BTO's voice was deep, and he had a railroad spike stuck through the arm of his leather jacket like a badge.

"Just had the right software," Gavin muttered.

"Well, natural or Skillsoft, a doc’s a doc. Nice to meet yah, short stuff.” The minotaur’s tone made it clear that the minor insult was meant to be between friends. “Come on Rain, Janus wants all of us there and the Crush are already arriving. We don't want those idiots controlling the meet."

HardRain nodded and turned to walk away, saying, "Yah did a good job Gav. See to your boys. I'll handle the sodding politics."

***

Doc Tido sighed as he slumped into a chair behind his desk as Gavin leaned against his office wall. "Your friends are lucky to be alive, Gavin. I think if you hadn't been there to save them, they'd be dead now."

"I know that Doc. What's their condition?"

"Poorly." Tido said bluntly. "Your friend Marco will need cyber ears, there's no way around it. You were standing in the center of the blasts, and the concussion waves destroyed not just his ear drums, but broke several of the inner ear bones. If we don’t replace them he’s have permanent hearing loss and significant balance issues. Karg is mostly alright, some minor burns to the skin and some therapy to recover from the shock. He received a very serious concussion though, very, very serious.” The thin Mexican man took a deep breath and leaned back, trying to ease the pain in his lower back. “He… might suffer some permanent brain damage if he doesn't receive gene treatment to spark recovery. No… will suffer it. I’m sorry.” Gavion nodded, took a drink of his coke, and waved for the doctor to continue.

“Stone's arm will need to be replaced, but at least his shoulder joint is intact. A cyberarm would seat nicely. Sticks..." The older Mexican man sighed heavily.

"He gonna live?" Gavin asked quietly, his voice level and no nonsense. The dwarf was a runner. He could turn his emotions off as easily as he could his commlink. They were both just a part of his brain at this point anyways, and right now, he was operating as if this were a run going bad.

"Maybe?” Doc Tido said uneasily, “I’ve had to amputate both his legs above the knees. He's under sedation, because his burns are much worse and much deeper than the others. He can't breathe on his own yet. I think he’s even suffered burns inside his lungs, and he'll need some advanced nanotechnology to repair them if they are salvageable at all." The doctor paused. "I can enroll him into DocWagon's advanced long term charity program, they are testing a new type of gene-nano therapy to repair skin burns, and they hinted they wanted to try it on deep tissue cases like his. He'll... probably get good care. He'll survive at least, especially if he can get an air tank installed in place of the more damaged areas of his lungs." Gavin winced slightly.

'Advanced Long Term Charity Program' was a euphemism, but DocWagon was really upfront about what it actually was, especially with runner. They outright warned everyone who applied that it was not safe. Enrolling in the program was a guaranteed way to get top notch care, but of the 'highly experimental, initial human trials' sort that might not work.

People who were desperate volunteered to be a test subjects for new procedures and bio-modifications because they couldn't afford anything else. DocWagon didn't advertise it that way, but that's what it was. At least the Wagon took good care of them if things went wrong, even if that meant buying the family a nice pine box and paying a life insurance settlement.

Bile burned Gavin's throat and he blinked away some dirt from his eyes. "Fine. Put him into it, I'll find some way to pay for the cyber the boys need." Gavin walked away, and Tido didn't say anything else.

==============

Dicks with Guns

==============

Gavin sat in the darkness of the team’s van, eyes focused on the screen in front of him. It was nearly four weeks since the fires in the underground turned everything he’d been working for, everyone he cared about, into ash.

The bombing of the Ork Underground claimed the lives of almost a hundred people and did serious damage to the Tourist Highway, and was becoming a serious political situation in the Emerald City, and had led him and his shadowrunning team directly to this lonely coastal highway in the middle of the night.

Janis Kraal, the leader of the Ork Rights Commission, had called a meeting of the metahuman aligned gangs the night of the bombing, and demanded that there be no gang reprisals for the bombing, and the leaders of The Spikes, the Crimson Crush, the Skacha, and especially Ragers agreed. BTO’s people wanted blood, but the O.R.C. and HardRain kept them in check in order to prevent a street war.

The Commission wanted to turn the bombing to their advantage, and a race riot over was not what the movement needed right now. Gavin admired the pure cold-blooded balls it took to turn a dozen dead civis into political capital, but the plan worked. Seattle’s public took their side, especially after Alamos 20,000 claims of responsibility became widely known. It was easy for the O.R.C really, a terrorist organization that wanted every metahuman, Native America, and magical person in the world dead makes for a good enemy. By making sure that the orcs were seen as victims and that there was no evening news reports of rage in the streets, the Commission was able to put some major pressure on Seattle's government for recognition of the Underground as an official sector of the city, while gaining a reputation for being able to control the rowdier elements of the orcish community.

Gavin’s own reputation in the orcish community had gotten a significant boost as 'that dwarf runner doc' who was on hand and saved more than a dozen lives in the process. The dwarf was both proud and ashamed about that, because while he had helped others, he’d helped his own boys first. And the only way he’d been able to help some of those trapped and dying in the rubble was by giving them a quick death.

That reputation boost had led to a job offer from a Mr. Johnson who wanted to make sure that the culprits behind the bombing did not walk away from the mayhem they had caused.

“We have contact folks, get ready,” Gavin texted to his team, as the radar he was watching pinged, and a timer popped up, displaying the time to target on the incoming vehicle. “We’ll have green in five minutes.”

The dwarf watched the counter tick down, readying himself as in the darkness of the van around him as the rest of the team readied themselves for a fight. With his guns loaded, his skillsofts hot, and his armor in place, the dwarf allowed himself three minutes to check in on the boys.

The first one he checked in on was Stone. The man was alright physically, except for his now missing arm. He was tending as best he can to his comatose brother Sticks, and the telemetry from his comm told Gavin that he was staying the night in the DocWagon hospital alongside his brother/lover again.

Gavin clicked to Sticks’s feed, and got the heart read out and hospital monitors he was hooked up too. The Wagon was doing their best for Sticks, and their docs had definitely saved his life with some kind of experimental skin tissue regrowth. He even looked like the olive green and handsome young man he had been before the bombs, a perfect mirror of his bother’s handsome face. You could barely tell he’d suffered burns over ninty percent of his body. After they’d first stabilized him, it was impossible to tell Sticks was even an orc. Stone had laughed so hard he’d cried when Gavin had told him that his brother’s dick was fine too. They’d made him good as new, at least on the outside and above the knees.

But Sticks still needed significant cyberware to survive outside the life support system he was in right now. The damage to his lungs was just too severe, and the DocWagon surgeons didn’t want to put him into any more experimental treatment programs. Not only would the nano-treatments potentially ruin the successful outcome of their tissue regrowth treatments, but they also didn’t think his system could handle it. Too much of his tissue had to be regrown, and they wanted his body to normalize before they did anything else to him. So instead, they’d put him in a sealed, high oxygen environment and placed him in a light coma which he woke from only four hours a day. If Sticks left that little chamber, he would suffocate and die in the space of a few minutes without his lungs being replaced. Then he would need cyberlegs and enhanced musculature if he ever hoped to move on his own again and use that dick the doctors had put so much effort into making sure still worked.

If things went to plan tonight, Gavin’s share of the payout from this job would at least pay for the lungs and get him and therefore Stone out of DocWagon’s hospital room.

Marco’s comm was alight with activity, and Gavin pinged him to tell him to keep the rest of the gang in the house tonight. He replied back saying he would, and Gavin knew that the only way the young man could communicate with the other gangers was because the dwarf had set up an automatic ARO system for Marco that translated everything said around him into a floating text box only he could see.

Ironically, in the loud and boisterous gang house, this had been an advantage. It had helped Marco focus, and let him become Gavin’s right hand orc in the house. His inner ear damage kept him from doing anything dangerous like running or gunning, but he could still walk and talk well enough to shout orders at the gang. He just couldn’t drive a car. So he’d become Gavin’s voice in the house, which was important because the dwarf had gone dark, embarking on a series of runs with his crew to get the money he needed.

That felt like bitter irony to Gavin, because the young orc was deaf permanently unless someone could afford some pretty high end cyber ears for him. Marco would never be able to earn that kind of money himself, and his parents wouldn't pay for it either, not that they could. He'd even lost the Stuffer Shack job he had because he can't do a proper customer service job any more. Marco had spent every night for the last two weeks in Gavin’s bed crying, and the dwarf was sure he'd been having nightmares every night.

Gavin continued to click through the monitors on his boys, checking each in turn. Sparks was asleep, and was surprisingly at the House in Gavin’s bed for once. Sparks had been avoiding Gavin, doing his brooding and distant routine. Except for the two times he’d come to Gavin in the middle of the night, bawling his eyes out and holding the dwarf so tightly that Gavin had been sure he’d heard even his reinforced metallic bones creaking.

Evidently, Sparks, Sticks, and Stone had been in a... complicated relationship for some time, and it had been a mutual lust for Sparks that had led the twin brothers down their incestuous path. With the two brothers gone, either unconscious or focused entirely on their twin, Sparks had begun breaking down. He couldn’t deal with what had happened to the others, and felt incredible guilt that he hadn’t been there with them. He was sure that Sticks and Stone felt he’d abandoned them by not being there, that the gang saw him as a coward, and that nobody wanted him anymore. The dwarf had screwed his head back on straight.

Well, back into place at least, because the dwarf got Sparks back on track by fucking the hell out of the orc, literally holding him down and fucking him hard and rough to show the young man someone still wanted him. From then on, the young orc had focused on keeping the two brothers fed and comfortable as possible as they stayed in Stone’s DocWagon hospital room. Sparks was holding up, but he'd been working himself to the bone to keep Stone from breaking down as he watched over Sticks.

At least the dwarf was able to give Sparks some solace, and relieve some of his own tension, by vigorously showing the boy that there were still people in the world who wanted him for who he was. Sticks was in no shape to show him that kind of love, he was too focused on his brother Stone, who was in a medical coma. Gavin didn’t blame either of them for being unable to help Sparks, and besides, making things right was what the dwarf was there for after all.

Behind him, the door to the van opened, and Jade in her beautiful and danger ‘disguise’ as the Lady in Red stepped out into the cold night. With a flicker of her wrists, magical shield glowed briefly around her, and she seemed to jump several feet to the left, her magic shifting her position as she cast her illusions. Then, she strode out into the middle of the highway, seeming unconcerned about potential traffic.

“One minute till go time. Lady is in pocket and I’m set up when you are Gav,” Specs voice comes through their comm channel, his voice a bit shaky like always just before things go down.

Gavin nodded, shifted in the front seat of the van, and aimed his gun down range towards the oncoming semi. Just before he clicked out of the net and went silent, he sent a message to Karg.

Love you boy, come back to us.

That’s all it said, and he didn’t expect a reply. Thrum would read it for Karg and tell him what Gavin said, but Karg…

The youngest of his boys wouldn’t understand who had sent the message to him, or even that it was meant for him if he listened to it.

Doc Tido’s warnings of brain damage had come true far worse than anyone thought they would. Karg had lost significant mental capacity. He stared into space, sitting in the gang house, and fighting to comprehend everything happening around him. He was still in there, the DocWagon guys were certain his memories were still intact, but his ability to communicate had been ruined. The sparkle in his eyes has been dimmed certainly, but it has not out. Thrum took that... really badly. Gavin had been sure that while the big orc was in love with Gavin, he was also sweet on Karg as well, and the big muscle bound orc can't fix brain damage with his fists.

Only Gavin can do that. Or at least, he thought grimly as he chambered the first of many rounds, could do it with the barrel of a machine gun.

“Aright folks,” Gavin said into the private channel shared by him and his team of shadow runners. “Let’s make these 20k bitches pay, and collect the bounty on them.”