Fiction	Characters
Devin McCallister - The Birth of a Fixer
Mike Wass (11.22.99) elcarpo@yahoo.com

"Come on now... green flames?"

Devin McCallister was your typical middle income family man. He had a house, a wife, two kids and a pet. True, the pet was not a dog, but he was allergic, and the family was still fond of their gold fish, Killer. It was a small section of town that was still not quite touched by the corporations or the disparity of the barrens. Devin was a good father and a good husband. His wife, Janice, had been set up with Devin by a co-worker and they hit it off immediately. In three years they would be married and living in their house. A year later Devin became the father of a boy they named Ted. In two more years he would expand his family with the addition of Marie. Devin loved his kids and would often take them to museums and forest preserves along with the usual carnival and arcade. Devin worked as an accountant for the Enden Corporation that built computer chips for large corporate security systems. He was good at what he did; he loved the number crunching. It made him a good living and he was also able to keep up with his odd hobby.

You see, Devin was intrigued by the life of Shadowrunners. Since he was little he had heard stories of these black listed people who lurked in the shadows and menaced society. He clipped any article out of the paper that he could find, and would download gigapulses of information off of the electronic news. By the time he entered college he had a collection that spanned 4 years of his life and contained the most detailed and organized collection of news concerning Shadowrunners. He continued this little obsession through college and graduated from the Seattle College of Business with his bachelor's degree in accounting. His fixation didn't end with the raising of a family either. If anything it intensified. He began to use the extra money he would get at bonus time to pay for information. Janice knew of this hobby, but didn't care. She saw it as some sort of release and Devin never let it get in the way of his personal life, not yet anyway.

Devin had always used large sums of money to hire investigators for information. The peculiar thing was that Devin had never met a Shadowrunner himself. He knew more information on their history and their practice, as well as their names and locations, than any other human alive. However, his wealth of information and knowledge of the Shadowrunner society was based only on reading and second had information. Devin craved more; he wanted to meet a Shadowrunner. He wanted to experience their life. He knew it wouldn't be possible for him to lead that life because he had a family and he had responsibilities, but he still wanted a piece of the action, the danger. Devin was tired of his monotonous life; he wanted some change.

May 21, 2060 - Seattle, WA

Her name was Jill, she was an Elven Decker, and a Shadowrunner. She had heard about Devin, in fact he had become a bit of a legend among some Shadowrunners. They called him the only human that cared. The ultimate ally. So Jill went to find this Devin and discover what he knew and who he was.

Devin woke up and went to check his mail when he noticed a strange message on his email. It was from someone who called herself "Pailfetcher." He mused, who could this be. He read the message.

Dear Devin,

We know that you are out there and that you are watching. Now I would like to meet you and give you the information that you desire and live for. Meet me at the stuffer shack on the corner of Welsby and McGraw at 10:00 tonight and go into the store and head straight over to the kitchen supplies and purchase a blue wash bucket. Then I will know who you are and I will approach you. See you in the shadows.

Pail Fetcher

"See you in the shadows." He whispered to himself. Devin's eyes widened at the realization that this was a Shadowrunner and she wanted to talk.

Devin went to work as usual, but could not concentrate. All the while he kept wondering what he would know, and what would be revealed to him.

Night came quickly and Devin McCallister arrived at the stuffer shack at 9:55, anxious and weary. He walked into the store and went straight to the kitchen supplies. As he walked down the aisles his eyes moved from one person to another. By the magazines was a large troll reading some sports magazine. Behind the counter was a portly man watching a fishing show and eating a sandwich. In another corner was an elderly woman looking at medicine and a female elf was drinking coffee and talking with the deli boy. Devin picked up the bucket and started to walk to the counter. As he rounded one aisle he felt a hand grip his arm. He slowly turned around to face the perpetrator. It was the elven female.

"Good evening Mr. McCallister. My name is Jill." She spoke quietly and with much pride.

"Ah, Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Pailfetcher, cleaver. Jill... Jill Hartley, black listed when she cracked into the Mainframe at Porton Inc. and uncovered their weapon smuggling scam. You were setup and falsely accused you stated in your defense, but were sent to jail where you escaped with the help of a street mage who owed you a favor."

"Impressive, Mr. McCallister, it seems I need no introduction, but tell me if you know so much about Shadowrunners, what else is there that drives you to meet one of us?"

"First of all, why did you contact me?"

"Fair enough, I had heard about you for some time and it took a while for us to track you down. When I found some of your information in the database at your place of business, I wanted to finally meet the legendary Shadowrunner hunter. Now its your turn, what do you seek Mr. McCallister?"

"I want to experience the life of a Shadowrunner, I want to know what you do, how you think and why you do what you do? I want to get to the truth and see if I can help your public image. I think many people have misconceptions about Shadowrunners and I think it should change."

"Mr. McCallister, I can show you what it is like to live like a Shadowrunner, but you must understand that this takes some risk and I will not be responsible. Do you really want to experience the life of a Shadowrunner?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, you can put the bucket back down."

Devin nodded his head and put the bucket back down in the kitchen supplies aisle. When he returned, Jill motioned for him to follow her. They went up to the front of the store. At this point the elderly women had left and another middle-aged man had entered the store. The man wore a suit and sunglasses. Jill nodded to the troll, who quickly put the magazine away and started to walk toward the man in the suit.

"Mr. McCallister will you please turn the open sign around to close for me."

"What?"

"The sign, spin it around to close."

He complied and spun the sign around. When he turned around Jill was already heading toward the man in the suit, who was busy looking at the ice cream section.

"Now." Jill said to the troll. The large Troll then moved quickly over to the man in the suit and lifted him up in the air by his neck. The man writhed for a few moments, before being dropped on the ground. Jill stepped over to him and kicked him in the face. The man spat out some blood.

"What do you want from me? He gasped as blood and saliva dripped down his chin.

"You've been a very bad man Mr. Harding, you have been selling Mrs. Karter fake lysine pills and have made many of her customers very sick and very ill. So I am here to make sure you don't do that again."

"Piss off you elven shit!"

"Such foul language, some one should teach you some manners. Brock teach him."

The troll pulled a large baseball bat from under his coat; he pulled it back with one hand and let loose a blow to the Harding's right arm. There was a loud cracking sound and Harding screamed in agony and grasped his now limp arm.

"I'll see you burn in Hell you overgrown ghoul!" Harding screamed.

"Probably." Answered Brock as he lifted the bat again. This time it came down into Harding's face, knocking his head into the glass freezer door, shattering it. Blood gushed from Harding's neck and head. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was agape in a perpetual last scream. Harding's body twitched once then fell limp. Devin just stared in horror and amazement. Jill shook her head. Then walked over to the storeowner who lay face down on the ground scared to death. "Here, sorry about the mess." Jill flipped a cred stick with 100 creds on it to the manager and then walked over to Devin.

Sirens in the distance alerted them that the Lone Star was fast approaching.

"Time to move Brock, we've got company coming!"

Brock and Jill bolted out the door, pushing Devin in front of them. Jill jumped into an Orange Ford Americar with green flames on the side, and Brock squeezed his way into the passenger seat.

"Get in the car Devin!"

Devin shook his head and then leapt into the back seat.

"Keep your head down, and don't get shot!" Jill yelled to Devin as a Lone Star cruiser rounded the block's corner.

The Ford Americar bolted out of the parking lot and the Lone Star cruiser followed. The Americar took a hard right turn and the cruiser quickly followed. They were in the middle of downtown Seattle and traffic was heavy. The Americar swerved past an oncoming cycle and narrowly missed a fire hydrant. The cruiser fell back a bit, but still managed to stay in the game.

"Brock, how many can you see?"

"Only one, must be taking us for some kind of chumps."

"Lets take this Star shit for a ride, shall we?"

Jill made a quick movement with the steering wheel and pulled a hard one-eighty, flooring the pedal. The surprised cruiser was now looking directly into the Americar's headlights and quickly swerved to avoid being run down. The cruiser crashed through a small pawnshop's front window, throwing glass everywhere. Jill smiled as she looked into the rear view mirror.

"That ought to take care of them." She mused.

"I don't think so boss." Answered Brock now facing the rear window.

The cruiser had reversed hard out of the shop and was quickly barreling down on the Americar.

"Frag! What are those things made of?"

Jill floored it and headed for the nearest highway exit. The cruiser, its front bumper now slightly crushed and its left headlight dangling by a group of wires, followed closely behind. Once on the highway Jill moved into the trucking lane hoping to put some large semis between her and the cruiser. Tick, ting, thunk. The cruise had maneuvered in right behind the Americar and began firing at it. The bullets grazed the bumper and the back hood. Jill swerved back and forth in the lane as she crept up on the semi on her left.

"This is really starting to piss me off!" Brock screamed.

"Time to even the odds."

Brock pulled out his shotgun leaned out of the passenger side window and fired off two rounds at the cruiser. The cruiser swerved and suddenly returned fire. The rear windshield was blown to pieces and shards of glass fell on top of Devin. He quickly curled up into the fetal position and covered his head. Brock spun around and fired his shotgun out of the now missing, rear windshield. The shots shattered the cruiser's other headlight. The cruiser returned fire.

"Frag, I'm hit!" yelped Brock as he fell back into the seat clutching his shoulder. Blood was flowing between his fingers and he reached over, tore a piece of cloth from his pant leg and tied it around his arm. He pulled it tight with his teeth, the saliva mixing in with the blood stained bandage.

"Hold on, this is going to be tight!" Jill screamed as she cut into the left lane and directly in front of the semi. The semi slammed on its breaks and swerved to avoid the Americar. The back trailer jack-knifed and slammed into the Star cruiser pushing it into the cement guardrail and spinning it around entirely. The trailer then snapped off and the rest of the truck followed and slid across the pavement before coming to a stop. Jill smiled and pushed the pedal down hard and watched in the rear view mirror as the two Star officers jumped out of their vehicle and fired two useless shots in the direction of the Americar.

"Okay Devin, we're clear."

Devin sat up and brushed the glass off of his jacket, and picked the two empty shotgun shells out of his hair. He was visibly shaken. He breathed in heavily and lightly squeezed his temples. Jill looked at him with pity.

"I'm going to take you back to your car now Mr. McCallister, and then escort you home."

Devin just nodded as he stared blankly out the window into the dark night sky.

When they arrived back at the stuffer shack Devin got into his car and Jill sat down next to him in the passenger side. Devin slowly drove home.

He pulled up in front of his house and turned off the car.

"Not what you expected was it?"

"No, it wasn't. I'm not fit to be a Shadowrunner."

"I didn't think you would be. It's too different from your life here. Take out your wallet."

Devin looked at her and then pulled out his wallet and opened it up.

"You see those kids and that women. Those are the people you are responsible for. That is your life. That is what you were meant to do."

"But I still want some excitement, I want to be a part of the Shadowrunner's life. It is my passion, my little outlet from this drab existence."

"Well, there is one thing you can do..."

December 5, 2060 - Seattle, WA [Enden Corporate Building]

Ring! Ring! Ri-. "Hello, oh hi Jill, yes he is in, he's in the office. Let me get him for you."

"Devin, it's Jill she has finished the job and wants another one."

"Okay, I got it in here."

"Hello, Jill, how are you."

"Listen, Devin, if you ever put me together with that Mati guy, I'm going to kill you."

"What, you didn't like Mati? He is one of the finest shamans around. Besides, who better to get you into a complex, that's in the middle of a jungle, than a Tiger shaman?" he chuckled.

"I'll admit the job went off without a hitch, but he was so weird. Well anyway, just get me another job, and I have a few friends who will probably be calling you."

"Sounds good, and I promise, no more Mati, unless I think it is absolutely necessary. As for getting jobs for your friends, I need a heavy hitter and a hack, you and Brock doing anything this Saturday?"

"Nope, what have you got boss?"

"I've fixed you up with a Johnson in Southern Seattle, he needs you to "borrow" some files for him. Are you up to it?"

"You're the fixer, if you say its good, then I'll take."

"Good, then come pick up the info in about an hour."

"See ya then boss."

"See ya."