Here I am, stuck inside a sensory deprivation chamber. I just might 
start going insane, if I have to stay inside here any longer.

<snap!>

Damn. What the fuck is this stuff? I've already dulled a knife and now, 
I've snapped a lockpick, damnit.

I am *not* having a good day.

Samanosuke Genji is the name. Yakuza killer is my game.

Allow me to elaborate. I'm a special agent working for the government, 
hiding in the Yakuza's ranks, and killing them from inside. Two days 
ago, I was in Japan, hunting down the Boss they call, The Hunter. 
Instead, I get my ass caught, and now I find myself here, stuck, trying 
to get myself free from this damn thing tying my arms, so I can kill 
the bastards that did this to me.

At least I got my arms out in front of me.

Hey. Is that noise coming from outside?

If I listen hard, I can hear metal on metal...




 tHe bLacK pAcK 


 
  Part 7, Day 9: Terror Work
 

 
  begun by Mads the Beast,
  continued here by Kai Gomi 2/20 - 2/24
 



Remy Forsythe was a happy man. In using the Macciaveli clan's 
influence, he had probably found one of the deadliest men in existance, 
save The Silent Blade, and The Demon.

Samanosuke Genji. Codename: Yakuza.

And he would be the one to kill Garrick Foster once and for all.

Forsythe stood on the edges of a large concrete pit, deep, and rounded 
smooth, not unlike the ones that skateboarders frequented. In the 
center was a sensory deprivation chamber, shipped straight from Japan. 
Probably the only way to lock up a man who's kills started to look like 
the number of pages in a dictionary.

"Open up the tank."

The four lieutenants readied their weapons, as one lieutenant climbed 
down into the large circular pit that the tank sat in. Pulling all the 
bolts open, he retreated back to the edge, where the others helped him 
back up out of the pit.

<Genji Samanosuke, come out, if you please.> asked Remy.

[Author's note: <> denotes foreign language. In this case, Japanese]

With the slightest movement, the tank's door cracked open, 
imperceptibly.

<Yeah? Says who?> came the reply in Japanese.

<Says the man that captured the legendary Yakuza.>

A foot pushed the door opened slowly, revealing a wiry Japanese man 
within. 

<I have a few questions for you, first.>

<Three for three, then.>

<Who are you, What do you want me for, and why should I be interested?>

Forsythe replied in flawless Japanese. <Ah, the three burning 
questions. So! The answer to the first is that my name is Forsythe 
Remy. The second is that I want you to kill the Demon. The last is,>

Forsythe raised his hand, and four automatic rifles leveled at Genji.

Samanosuke narrowed his eyes.



Three for three. And he answered all three.

Mind you, I've heard of this Forsythe character. The head of the 
Macciaveli clan, some criminal syndicate, or something like that.

On the other hand, there was The Demon.

Those who made frequent trips to and from Japan from outside the 
country inevitably talked about crime. It was natural. Japan had one of 
the lowest crime rates in the world.

On the other hand, the rest of the world didn't have me working in the 
background.

In any case, I took stock of my situation. I could throw my two knives 
at Forsythe. If they returned fire, I could duck back into the sensory 
deprivation chamber. Which probably wouldn't take more than a clip to 
turn into Swiss cheese, but four? Nuh-uh. The men who searched me took 
my revolvers, but they *did* miss my two holdouts. One shot apiece, .50 
cal. Total of four guys, so if I shot at his goons, I'd take them out, 
and if I was lucky, the dead men's guns would fall into the pit toward 
me, leaving only-

<Well, Genji-san? Will you hear me out?>

...What the hell. What did I have to lose?

<All right, Forsythe-san. You win.>



Two flashes shone from inside the dark recess of the tank.

Two knives sprouted like single horns from two lieutenants, who 
crumpled before they could even pull off a single shot. One gun came 
clattering down.

Remy Forsythe watched with a small amount of amusement.

Samanosuke Genji came out, guns blazing.

Two more went down before they could react, one, with a fist-sized hole 
through his chest, the other, lacking a head.

Genji went into a roll, scooped up the rifle came out into a crouch, 
and aimed at Forsythe in one smooth motion. 

"Sayonara, gaijin."

He pulled the trigger. The gun roared out a full blast of twenty 
rounds.



<Ka-tink, tink, tink>

Oh, hell yes. You've got to love the sound of shell casings hitting the 
ground. It usually means that you're alive, and the other guy isn't.

<Disappointed, Sano? I'd be, after that.>

...Oh, hell no.

"You should know that the bullets in that gun were blanks." In English, 
this time around. "In fact, in all the guns, were blanks. I applaud 
your expert dispatching of my men. Unfortunately, this game goes to 
me."

I watched as Forsythe reached inside his coat. A gun, no doubt.

I dropped the gun and stood up, arms outspread. "Okay, Forsythe, you 
win. Go ahead, kill me."

He seemed surprised when I said that. "Kill you, Mr. Genji? I would 
never do such a thing. Rather, the situation has only cemented things 
into place. I now know why the name 'Yakuza' is so feared."

I bristled. This guy was good. Too good.

"Okay, so you want me to go kill The Demon. What if I refuse?"

"I can assure you, you won't." I watched as the man above me pulled a 
photo out from an inside pocket.

I cursed as it fluttered down and landed at my feet. "Oh, shit."

The picture was that of my fiancee, Kaoru.

"And if that isn't enough," He snapped his fingers. Two large men 
walked up from behind him, with- oh hell no. Not Kaoru.

"Sano! Help me!"

The sinking feeling hit home.

"....Okay, Forsythe, you win."

"Good. I was hoping you'd see things my way."



Alexander sat on the floor of the hotel room and tapped away furiously 
at his laptop. He'd already broken one chair. For the longest time, 
he'd been trying to figure out any mention of what had happened to 
every single piece of property that Garrick had Harley purchase for 
them. For some reason, every single one had gone up in flames. At the 
exact same time. And the M.O. was the same, as well. Apparantly, 
electrical fires broke out, courtesy of a few old fuses. He watched 
intently as the screen scrolled down through row after row of police 
reports. Something caught his eye, though, and he scrolled back.

"Damn, boss. Looks like we just took out a big one." Alexander leaned 
back against the wall. "She was close to Forsythe, ya know that?"

Foster didn't look up from cleaning his guns. "Who?"

"That one chick that Richmond killed."

He picked up an oiled rag and pulled it through the barrel of one of 
his guns. "The needler?"

"Yeah, that one. How do you like that? Not much Forsythe can do now. 
She's in jail for the murder of that Venkman character."

"Really, now." He began to put the gun back together.

"Yeah. Looks like I managed to pick something up, too." rumbled the 
hacker. "Hey, Demon. You ever hear of a guy named 'Yakuza'?"

"No. Why?" He put the last piece in place.

"Forsythe's shipping him in from Japan."

"Okay, Alexander. What can you tell me about him?" With a lightning 
fast motion, the gun came off the table and aimed at Alexander's head. 
Alexander belatedly tried to dodge. 

<CLICK>

"JESUS, Demon!"

"Ha ha ha... You fall for it every time, Alex." The Demon leaned back 
in his seat and turned to face the other directly. "Now, what about 
that information?"

"Let's see..." The hacker's fingers flew over the keyboard furiously. 
"Here we go. Guy by the name of Say-man-o-soo-key Gen-jai. Ugh. That's 
a mouthful. Well shit."

"What does it say?"

Alexander turned away from the monitor and looked at Garrick. "Nothing, 
that's what. No electronic records at all. This guy must be deep in the 
government or something, if they're trying to keep him that much of a 
secret."

"What do they want with him?"

"I don't know. But after that one chick, I think he's another hired 
killer."

The Demon grinned. "Well then, let's go head him off."

He twirled his gun, and slammed it into his holster.



Scalper Robbins was having a *very* good day.

He was one of the lowest lieutenants in the Macciaveli clan, but, hey, 
who cared?

He'd just stopped a killer, with Remy Forsythe as his target. 
Unfortunately for the killer, Forsythe had just moved out of the skate 
park this morning.

With this big catch, he was guaranteed to start heading up the ladder.

He'd contacted the boss himself, and to his surprise, he'd received 
orders to transfer him from the old place to the new, in a converted 
armored big rig.

"Oh yes indeed." he thought. "The boss is going to promote me. Now I'll 
be the one that laughs at Kenzo. 'Who's the bottom feeder now, Kenzo?'" 
Paul laughed out loud.

Which was the last thing he did before a knife slithered around his 
neck and slit his throat.



"it has begun."

Forsythe sat at his desk, idly playing with a paperweight.

"You know your part, Wraith."

The person on the other side of the desk shrugged as static and 
distortion distorted his image.

"i do."

He was an odd image. The trenchcoat and gas mask were horribly cliche, 
but the wires and cables studding his figure set him apart from the 
rest. Holographic screens hovered an armspan away from him at all 
times.

"Keep watch of him through those electronics of yours. If he looks like 
he's going to betray me, kill him."

"i will."

"Very good. Let me remind you what will happen if you fail."

"cyber wraith never fails. Furthermore, you cannot touch me, forsythe. 
i have no physical presence that you ever could find."

"Oh? Is that a challenge?"

"i dare you to prove me wrong."

Forsythe slid a compartment open in the paperweight and pressed the 
button. "As you wish."

Cyber Wraith's howls of pain were music to Forsythe's ears.



Gunmen are gunmen are gunmen.

Whether or not they're intelligent or not, is a different matter.

The group huddled under the loading ramp arguably were. Who in the 
world was stupid enough to go up against a crew, no matter how small, 
led by The Demon?. Unfortunately, they were about to prove themselves 
less than intelligent.

One of them caught a glance of a swirling black trenchcoat and grabbed 
his leader, pointing with his gun at the Demon's exposed back.

"Look! Boss, it's the Demon!" 

Everyone ducked their heads as a high power bullet from a sniper rifle 
punched a hole through their flimsy shelter and dug a fist sized hole 
in the concrete. 

"We're gonna die! It's the Demon, come to kill us!" wailed the first.

The leader cuffed him with the back of his hand, roughly. "Shaddap! 
We're not going to die, and even if we did, we're going to go down 
taking out the Demon, do you hear me? Get your guns out and hose that 
fucker!"

With an obedience born of desperation, they pulled out their weapons 
and let loose a horizontal hail of bullets.

They watched as Foster dove to his left, and took cover behind a truck 
with a swirl of black.

"Keep pounding! Blow up that truck!"

Bullet after bullet slammed home, punching holes in the gas tank, and 
turned it into a sponge. With a final spray of bullets, the truck 
erupted in flames.

"Whoo! We did it! We killed the Demon!" The goons celebrated their 
victory.



Just a few minutes ago, Garrick Foster was having, no pun intended, a 
blast. In a bold move, he was playing decoy for everyone. 'Just for 
kicks' he'd said. Those goons huddling under the big rig weren't even 
worth his time.

He didn't even flinch when automatic fire peppered the ground and 
tailed him, as he rolled behind an abandoned truck. He hunched over and 
covered himself as well as he could as they began to pound away at the 
gas tank. Foster gritted his teeth as the now worthless pickup erupted 
with a massive explosion, ripping his breath away from him, and 
showering him with heat and deadly shrapnel everywhere.

He counted three seconds, the rolled quickly away from the blazing fire 
to his feet. He noted, with a small amount of satisfaction, that the 
smoke and fire coming up off the twisted wreckage was sufficiently 
thick enough to block his view.

He drew his magnums. With a grin that would have been at home on the 
face of his namesake, he charged the wreck.

And as he came through, the guns in his hands spoke words of death.

Two of them went down, still thinking they had killed the Demon.

Two others went down before his feet touched ground.

Three others died before he closed the distance between the rig and he.

The Demon kicked the last survivor into a massive wheel and took aim at 
his chest.

"P...p...p.....please don't kill me! Please! I don't wanna die!" He 
begged.

"Tough. Everyone dies."



I could hear the sounds of explosions and gunfire outside.

I'd already killed my guards. As far as anyone knew, I had just 
attacked one of Forsythe's old compounds, and got caught in the 
process. Only he and I really knew what was going on.

Remy had assured me that this big rig would stay unscathed throughout 
the entire battle.

I guess he was right.

But would he go so far as to kidnap my fiancee, then let me get killed?

Who knew?

I bristled at this thought. Forsythe was a man who cared nothing for 
human life. And from what I'd seen thus far, he wasn't human.

I looked down at my hands.

What the hell was I doing here? I'm a cop, damnit.

A cop, in a very precarious hostage situation.

I had a plan.

I'd better pull this off right.



Alexander noted the locks on the door with some interest. "Whoever this 
assassin is, he must be some crazy psycho to be locked up in this." He 
winced. "No offense, Richmond."

"None taken." the Silent Blade replied cheerfully.

"Let's take 'em off, already." spat The Demon. He raised his two black 
magnums and proceeded to blow the locks off, one by one. "There. Open 
'er up." He put his guns up, and aimed them at the door.

Alexander hauled the doors open.

To reveal a man holding a pair of Mac-10 submachineguns.

Both aimed back at the Demon.



Standoff.

Forsythe had drilled me on who to take aim at.

I wasn't about to blow everything by digressing from the plan.

I cleared my throat.

"<Remy Forsythe, I presume?>"

The man in black guffawed and shook his head. "You're fucking kidding 
me. Forsythe shipped in THIS character?"

The woman in white responded. "<Unfortunately, no. We are not Forsythe 
and his group.>"

"Wow, I didn't know you spoke Japanese, Icy!" The one in pink almost 
squealed. Wonderful. Less than five seconds, and I was having serious 
misgivings about this.

"It's something you pick up when you've been around like I have, 
Geraldine."

I spoke in carefully chosen words. "You....are not Forsythe?"

"Hunh. So ya do understand English. Yeah, we're not Forsythe's crew. 
We're out to kill him." The massive black man. A giant, if I ever saw 
one.

I lowered my guns. "Then you and I share the same goal."

"What? Alexander, didn't you say this guy was supposed to go kill me?" 
The one in black glared at his the large man.

"Hrm. I don't know Demon. It's possible the info could have been a 
plant."

I spoke slowly. "Demon? You mean, *The* Demon? I was under the 
impression that he is in New Alcatraz."

"Was." said the Demon, with a toothy grin. "The guvs let me out. They 
want Forsythe six feet down."

"Six feet down... They want him dead, because they think that they can 
deal with you, but they cannot deal with Forsythe, correct?"

Foster nodded. "Got it in one. You're not as slow as you look."

I set the safeties on my guns and dropped down next to the others. The 
Demon holstered his guns beneath his coat, but kept an eye on me. "Then 
you would not mind that I throw my hat in the ring?"

"Have a personal vendetta against him, or sumthin'?" rumbled Alexander.

"Vendetta? I am not familiar with the word."

"Whut I mean is, you have a personal reason for hunting him down."

"I do. It is this Forsythe who has kidnapped my fiancee. When I 
attempted an assassination on him, I failed, and was captured. It 
turned out that I attempted to strike a facility that he had just left.  
He moves, from place to place, never staying in once place for long. 
So! I believe they were going to take me to Forsythe himself." I 
gestured behind me, and swung the other door open. 

Inside were two corpses. One was riddled with bullets, the other, had a 
second smile carved into his throat.

"I killed my guards when the noise began. For stopping it, and saving 
me the trouble of having to fight my way out, I thank you."

I bowed to The Demon.



The Japanese man stood a good distance away from the others, rummaging 
through the charred wreckage of vehicles for something.

The others in question, however, stood by the open doors of the armored 
big rig. Garrick paced back and forth, while Alexander leaned against 
the side of the truck, actually *tilting* it slightly off center, to 
Icy's dismay, as she tried to keep the door from slamming closed on 
her. Alexander did her the favor of taking a broken lock, and jamming 
it into the hinge, wedging the door open. Richmond stood a little off 
to the side, with Geraldine hugging him from behind.

Alexander turned his gaze away from watching Genji and looked back at 
the others. "Well shit, Demon. Another guy out for Forsythe's ass. 
You'd think that by now, he'd quit makin' enemies, and start making 
himself some allies."

"Well, now, Alexander," noted Richmond cheerily. "You're quite right.  
Personally, I'd be terribly cross if someone else got to him before I 
could feel my knife slide across his throat."

Alexander spooked and inched away from the man in grey *just* a little.

Geraldine hugged her husband a little tighter. "So, big brother? Are 
you going to take him?"

Foster stopped his pacing and turned to look at all of them. "I have my 
reservations."

"Care to explain?" inquired Icy.

"Too simple." came the reply.

"Too simple?" echoed Alexander. "Whut do ya mean, 'too simple'? 
Forsythe did this guy wrong, he wants back at Forsythe. How can it get 
any more complicated?"

"What's his motive? Forsythe, I mean. Why did he do the kidnapping? 
Forsythe wanted something out of this guy, and he has his girlfriend 
for a ransom, I'm thinking. Like betraying us."

"Big brother! You're not serious, are you? You think this guy is 
supposed to be a plant?"

Garrick Foster crossed his arms and bowed his head. "Why not? I've done 
it a few times before. Pay an particularly untrustworthy person to 
infiltrate them, then let them get all the way to the top. And when 
they do, give the guy the signal to blow them all away. Then, double 
cross the treacherous little bastard, and you've just taken care of two 
birds with one stone."

"Yeah, but he does have somthin' goin' for him. Did you see what the 
two guys in there looked like?"

"I must admit," with which, Richmond gave a sheepish shrug. "I am 
impressed with how he slit the throat of that one guard. I don't think 
there are many people who can do that from the front, without getting 
blood all over themselves."

"You can, though, can't you sweetikins?" asked the clinging, pink-clad, 
annoying little sister.

"Of course, my dear."

"Okay, so we know that he has *some* skill. What else? What do I have 
on him that would keep him from giving me a smile on my throat in the 
middle of a fight? Alexander, you've been with me since the beginning. 
I don't think you'd ever do anything of the sort to me."

"I'd like as kill myself first" rumbled the other.

"Icy, you've double-crossed me before. Don't think I won't blow you 
away one of these days."

Icy shrugged. "Everyone dies, Garrick."

"Geraldine, it's not in you. Plain and simple. You just want to see 
things blow up."

"Yeah, I mean, no...Hey! No fair!"

"Richmond. We've crossed before. You know what happened."

"Quite right, sir."

"I have some serious misgivings about him. I'm going to go ask him some 
questions."

Garrick Foster strode off.



Genji peered into the wreckage of what was, not fifteen minutes ago, 
was a car. He lifted the crowbar he'd found and began to pry the 
twisted metal apart.

"Genji." came the voice from behind him.

"Yes, <grunt> Demon-san? Can I <oof> help you? <unfh>"

"You can start by answering a few questions. First, what the hell are 
you doing?"

Genji reached in and pulled out a longer-than-usual suitcase. Despite 
the fact that it was slightly burned, it was still whole. Evidence that 
it was designed to survive everything save a nuclear explosion.

"This. This has all my equipment in it. Provided, of course, none of 
these goons took anything out of it."

Genji squatted and set the case on the ground and spun the locks. With 
a click, he opened it up. Garrick's curiosity was piqued, and he went 
around the back to see what was inside.

"Inside" just happened to be a miniature armory. Two large black 
pistols, a long black sword in its scabbard, a long barreled revolver, 
a grenade launcher, a commando rifle, even a Stinger missile launcher! 
Along one entire side was enough ammo to reload everything once or 
twice, or, in some cases, multiple times!

Genji pulled the revolver and inspected it carefully. "Good. 
Untouched."

The Demon looked at the contents with a small amount of curiosity. 
"What is that, a Colt Python? .357 magnum?"

Genji looked at him with a small amount of surprise.

"I would not think of using such a weapon. No, this .50 caliber 
revolver has far more stopping power. It is my custom revolver, 
Yojimbo. Bodyguard. If the samurai were still around, he would use 
this."

The Demon cleared his throat. "Here's my next question for you, then. 
With this much equipment, how did you manage to get caught?"

"Infrared laser beams, Demon-san. I forgot the cigarettes at home by 
accident."

"Practical, succinct, knowledgeable. I like that. Is that the kind of 
security they had at the place?"

Sano mused on this a bit. "I am honored, Demon-san. But you do not plan 
to attempt a full frontal assault on his complex, do you? No, but you 
want to know so you can assault it...you want to know how you can 
circumvent them, do you not?"

"Got it in one."

Genji rocked back on his heels and looked up at the Demon. "You have 
more questions. Ask me."

"Why are you here?" Foster demanded.

"...Why am I here?"

"What did you do to Forsythe, or what does Forsythe want from you, that 
made him kidnap your girlfriend."

"I have made many, many, enemies overseas." Genji pulled out one of his 
knives. "Would it not be plausible to have them contact their allies, 
to dispose of me?"

Garrick watched interestedly as Sano idly scratched out things on the 
ground.

/I am watched./

"Entirely plausible," noted the Demon. "But what kind of enemies do you 
have?"

Foster squatted next to him and took the knife and scratched out a 
single word. 

/Who?/

"I have many enemies. Most of them the heads crime cartels, such as the 
Macciaveli." Genji scratched out new words, and stabbed the ground to 
punctuate his spoken words.

/F. wants me 2 infiltrate u and kill./

"How on earth did you get those enemies?"

/And?/

"I kill for the government. Part of the IAGO program. I infiltrate the 
yakuza, then make them destroy themselves from the inside."

/Only want her back. refuse 2 do for f./

"Impressive. And how long have you been doing this again?"

/Why?/

"More years than I care to remember. Many, many, years, paying off the 
government for a life-saving operation."

/She pregnant. 8 mo./ 

Foster hissed. "Forsythe, you bastard..."



"hook, line and sinker, mr. forsythe. foster believes him entirely. 
congratulations."

"That is not necessary. Go kill him. Do not fail, or you will fell the 
consequences."

Cyber Wraith's glare coulbe easily be seen through his gas mask. "cyber 
wraith never fails."

The hologram disappeared.



"Okay, Genji, you're in."

"I thank you, Garrick-san." Genji bowed to the other.

"Don't mention it. You've just convinced me that Forsythe needs to go."

The others made their moves, and greeted the new member.

"You are a practitioner of the sword, are you not? I would enjoy 
dueling with you, Mr. Genji."

"Thank you, Richmond-san. I am honored that you would have me duel with 
you."

Genji watched as his hand disappeared within the massive hand of 
Alexander. "Welcome to tha club. Do ya know anything about computers?"

"Some. I had to pose as a hacker once."

Geraldine jumped up and down next to him, with almost schoolgirlish 
glee. "You'll let me borrow that Stinger of yours, right?"

"Absolutely not. This is not for children!"

"My my my. I suppose I'll have to choose between you and the Demon, 
now, won't I?"

"Aha, ha, thank you, Icy-san, but, you realize, I have a fiancee 
already."

"...Spoilsport."



Authornotes:

I will admit. This idea came as a weird conglomeration of one, playing 
Metal Gear Solid for the first time, (Yes, I kid you not! For the 
longest time, I could not find where the hell the damn elevator was in 
the damn Tank Hangar. >_< Kai, you are such an idiot.) working on 
Yakuza!,(my personal fic series) and browsing through my friend's 
massive Hong Kong movie archive. That, and I got a few ideas from 
listening to Bush make his case for whatever he plans to do. So! I get 
the idea for Forsythe implanting a sleeper cell into the Black Pack, 
and then sending a very cheesy MGS-esque bad guy with a Megaman-like 
name after them. >_< Cyber Wraith. Draw what conclusions you will. 
Sheesh. 

Addendum: 3-1-03

Sheesh. I should have put this in before I turned it in. A few notes on my good buddy Sano.

You know how that phrase goes? "Jack of all trades, master of none?" That sorta describes Genji. He can hold his own in almost anything. He's had to, considering his [past]. But his real strength is being able to bluff his way through a situation. Case in point: Runs across a guy unexpectedly, orders guy around, smacks him around a bit, and shoos him off. Another thing. What happens to Genji is largely up to the writers. My version of him is that..... well, if I told you guys, I'd be affecting the story now, wouldn't I? ^^ Let me put it this way. Genji is a modern day Ogami Itto (Lone Wolf and Cub)

In any case, if you want to read more about Samanosuke Genji and his 
exploits, had over to http://greywolf.sandwich.net/fics.htm . I may 
write up an omake soon, tying him into this storyline. On the other 
hand, I have to worry about FWX. >_< guuuu.....

Questions, complaints, offers for free anime VCDs and hot mad 
passionate lo.....er.....you didn't hear that.(Aiee. I'm slowly turning 
into Mads...)

knalty@sandwich.net

Flames, cursing, etc., will be read, considered for validity, laughed 
at, and then deleted.

In any case,

This Chapter Is Complete!



Back in the hotel, the massive hacker scanned through the police 
channels and news sites for anything that might tip them off to 
Forsythe's next move, while he counted for Garrick as he exercised.

Sweat ran down the Demon's body in rivulets, if anything, showing just 
why one Garrick Foster was tough enough to live up to the name Demon. 
Then again, it didn't hurt that he was doing pushups.

On his thumbs.

"Four ninety eight, four ninety nine, come on Demon, five hunnerd."

Garrick Foster let himself down onto his chest and rolled over, flexing 
his fingers, and trying to work the cramps out of his hands.

"Whew. I'm taking a shower and going to sleep, Alex."

"'Aite, Demon. Sweet dreams."

Alexander Brashier turned from watching his friend and boss pick 
himself up off the floor and leave the hotel room. It wouldn't have 
been possible for the two of them to share the same room. Alexander had 
to shove both beds together and lie on them, that way, just so his legs 
weren't sticking off the edge of the bed. With a small amount of 
finality, the Demon shut the door, when his laptop beeped.

He frowned. His security programs had just found a small, but 
particularly nasty little virus try to work its way through his 'ice', 
his security. Not thinking much more of it, he yanked the connection, 
then grabbed a magnet, and prepared to run it over all his hard drives. 
"Damn. No matter what I do, this thing'll blow on me and I'll be left 
with a dead laptop. But let's see a piece of code try to dodge a 
complete hard wipe."

Before he could even make a move, wires whipped at him from every 
electronic device in the room and sent electricity at him, paralyzing 
him.

Alexander screamed in pain before he could no longer move.

The last thing he saw before he went unconscious was a man in a gas 
mask and trenchcoat step out of his laptop's screen...