Sunshine is the Best Medicine

GM: James
Transcribed by: James
Date: July 28, 2019
In Game date: April 14, 2012
Episode: 22

Prologue:

Four months have passed since Jack Youngblood and Fergus Mac Cormaic ended the threat of the Un-Man through a powerful ritual, repairing the damage done to the Seventh Gate by Outsiders.

Fergus’s fiance, Anna Maria Avila, had given birth to their daughter, Erin, who was now twelve weeks old. Because they were in desperate need of money, Anna had contracted out to David Clay as a forensic accountant, helping him to build a powerful case against Vanguard Insurance. They were being sued because of their failure to pay insurance claims from Black Monday. The Peter Kirk Syndicate was ready to snatch up the properties in question, paying a fraction of their actual value. The suit intended to link Vanguard Insurance with the Peter Kirk Syndicate. Those ties were hidden in a tangled maze of corporate shareholdings and proxies. Only someone with Anna’s expertise could unravel it all and bring the Peter Kirk Syndicate to justice.

Trevor Radcliffe had gone from Seattle’s golden boy to enemy number one overnight. David suspected that when he and Fergus had banished the demon Sebassis it had played a large role in Radcliffe’s fortunes turning sour.

The Blackthorn Demon was known as “straife” in Celtic myth. The word strife had its origins from that. According to legend the demon would lend its influence to the greedy and the power-hungry bringing good fortune to them. For a time. After corrupting the elite, the demon would cause as much chaos and mayhem possible by bringing their crimes and immorality to the light.

Radcliffe was beset on all sides in countless law suits. There was a news report that the strange mental malady that had brought normal citizens to riot in the streets after the horrible storm and earthquakes of Black Monday was caused by chemicals illegally stored in a Peter Kirk Sydnicate warehouse in the University District. The Federal government had also began an investigation into those allegations. Rage at Radcliffe’s predatory business practices had led to a bombing of one of his properties and what looked like a possible arson at another. The whole city seems on edge and violence lurks just beneath the surface as spring blossoms in the Emerald City.

Part 01: From the journal of Fergus Mac Cormaic

I am not sure how I let Anna convince me that keeping a journal is a good idea. If someone finds it they will probably think I am certifiable and have me committed. Which actually might not be so bad now that I think about it. A little drug induced peace and quiet would be welcome sometimes. But Anna is convinced that if I write about the freak show that is my life that it will help both of us cope with the mantle of the Guardian of the Seventh Gate I inherited when my grandfather died in my arms.

Erin, Gods, I love her so much it hurts. I still can’t believe that she is finally here. On this Earth. My baby girl is finally born and her and her mother mean more to me than anything ever has. Or ever will. I just wish she would stop crying so fucking much.

Ugh. Sorry. It has been a rather long week. Erin has been wailing almost the whole time. Even Anna isn’t able to sooth whatever is bothering her. She has had as little sleep as I have and she has been working her tail off with David on the Vanguard Insurance case. I don’t know how she does it. I am barely functional and I have supernaturally enhanced endurance. It’s one of the benefits of my…condition. How does she manage without it and still look as fresh as she does every day? That woman is a force of nature. I am the luckiest bastard on Earth.

I had gotten a message from my old college buddy, Dušan Branislav, saying he was in town and had discovered some promising new materials that sounded perfect for my clothing line. He didn’t say where he discovered it and I certainly wasn’t going to ask. My investor, Emanuel Barardo had finally tracked me down to Seattle and he was not pleased at my lack of progress. He wanted a return on his investment and he wanted it now. I had to cut every corner possible to deliver for him as soon as I could. I was making some headway but I was still having to care for Erin and had little time.

Gemtriax Theophania has been a huge help. She would often watch Erin for me allowing me to work in my workshop at the collective during the day. But she had her own responsibilities as a master potter with her own orders to fill. Today, luckily, she was available to watch my little girl for me while I met with Dušan. The Judd Creek Commune was hanging on by a thread these days and she was hoping I would be able to make some money with my line of outdoor clothing.

I was running late because Erin was wailing away, clearly distraught. Gemtriax and I were doing our best to calm her but were getting nowhere. She wouldn’t eat anything and didn’t need a change or to be burped. We couldn’t figure what was bothering her. And I couldn’t leave with my baby girl in such distress. That was when the craziest thing happened. Ellie was a 11 year old girl who was living in the collective with her mom and she had recently adopted a grizzled old alley cat that she had named Kerouac. When that ugly, ragged eared, old bastard came sauntering into the middle of the room and meowed a look of absolute delight appeared on Erin’s face. She quit crying and stared at him intently. The cat regarded her for a moment and jumped up to the crib and began head butting her, purring like a miniature chainsaw. He curled up with Erin’s head resting on him and she promptly fell asleep. It was a miracle! Gem and I tiptoed out of the room and I swore that as of now, I was, officially, a fucking cat person.

Part 02: From the journal of Fergus Mac Cormaic

At least it was a beautiful spring day in Seattle. Sunshine is the best medicine and I felt hopeful for once. After the doom and gloom of constant rain all winter it was much needed relief. I approached Alki beach and spotted Dušan immediately. He stood out with his well tailored black clothes that lent him an unmistakably European vibe. Behind him a family was celebrating the long awaited arrival of that strange ball of yellow fire in the sky,often referred to as “the Sun” if I recall correctly, with a healthy dose of BBQ and Frisbee-throwing driving the shadow of winter away with laughter and food. I approve.

Dušan was pacing back and forth, looking agitated, so I decided to play a trick on him. When I snuck up to him and grabbed his arm I didn’t expect him to screech like a girl and whirl around with his fists ready to fight with a wild look in his eyes. Hell, it freaked me out to be honest. He looked absolutely terrified. What had my old friend been up to? I know he was involved in some shady stuff. Hell, this miracle material he told me about was probably some proprietary military grade shit he stole from Pintex, the Czech textile company he worked for. I expected a certain level of tension from him but usually he played it all very cool. I had never seen him like this.

A passing bike cop had heard the commotion and came over asking if everything was OK. Dušan, looking sketchy as all hell, avoided the cop’s eyes and started making his way toward the Irish pub across the street, mumbling something about having to go to the bathroom. I did my best to assure the cop that nothing was going on but he seemed intent on Dušan. I noticed that he was trying to get a good look at him and then checking a photo on his phone. Shit. I didn’t want to get into a fight with SPD. Especially with that family nearby. So I used a glamour to make it look and sound like a car was drag racing down the strip away from us. That caught the cop’s attention all right. He immediately placed a call into the radio mic on his shoulder and sped off after the receding illusion. It wouldn’t keep him occupied for long but hopefully it would be enough. I then turned and went into the pub to find Dušan hyperventilating in the bathroom.

I managed to get him to calm down and we came out to a table where I bought him a drink. It was a bit early for my tastes but my friend was obviously in need of some tequila and some food to calm his nerves. While I ordered for us he told me about this new miracle synthetic material he had…procured. It was an amazing cloth that was water resistant and would whisk sweat off of the body keeping you cool in warm weather, while also be able to resist wind and colder temperatures. On top of that it was tear and even blade resistant. Amazing what was coming down the pike these days. If it held pigment as well as it seemed it would be a perfect material for my line of Parkour clothing. Dušan seemed to finally be calming down as he was pitching all of this to me. At least until he noticed what I had been looking at over his shoulder through the window of the bar.

Part 03: From the journal of Fergus Mac Cormaic

That cop. He was talking to several very large and formidable looking men in track suits who were covered in tattoos. Those tatts looked familiar somehow but I can’t quite place where. Anyway, Dušan jumped up and headed toward the bathroom again, leaving his phone and his case of materials behind in his haste. The man practically lives on his cell phone so I knew he must of been scared shitless to walk off without the damn thing. I heard the door to the alley way open behind me just as the four ugly bastards came into the bar, one speaking in Russian on his phone.

I tried to delay them and keep them from following my friend by acting like a drunk stumbling in their way. It just pissed them off. The one in front threw me down while the others pulled out an assortment of pistols and those small little Czech submachine guns. Skorpions I think they are called. The bartender took one look at the guns and ran out the front of the building. I can’t say I blame her one bit.

Dammit. This is exactly the kind of shit I don’t need. I am supposed to be keeping a low profile. But Dušan is my friend. I’ll be damned if I let some Russian mafia douche bags beat him up or kill him. I grabbed a bar stool and threw it at the feet of the first thug right as he made it to the narrow hall leading to the back door. He tripped right on over it and the other guys were moving so fast they all ended up in a pig pile. They were all screaming in Russian, their limbs all tangled up and I remember grinning at the spectacle of it all. That is until they all turned toward me and started blasting away with their guns. I am not quite sure how I did it but I managed to leap behind the heavy wooden bar without getting hit. I remember thinking that at least Dušan would get away while I kept these assholes busy.

I reached for a bottle of Jamesons and was about to take a congratulatory drink when a ricochet shattered the bottle in my hands. Those bastards! That was no way to treat fine Irish spirits!

That was when I heard Dušan’s screams from the alleyway and some gunfire.

Damn. It was definitely not my day.

Part 04: From the journal of Fergus Mac Cormaic

What I didn’t know is that my friend and fellow supernatural freak, the golem lawyer, David Clay was interviewing a client about the Peter Kirk Syndicate law suit right across the alley way from the Irish Pub I was in. It was fucking crazy how David always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I just wish he wouldn’t bring my wife along with him.

I had asked Jack Youngblood about it once. He had said that David was guided by some greater power. Call it Yahweh, God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it didn’t matter, he would always be found in the place where he was most needed. He was a creation of a divine authority that Jack did not fully understand. He didn’t doubt its power however.

My wife, the irrepressible Anna Maria Avila, was there with him trying not to get enraged at the older lady’s thinly veiled entitlement and racism when the shooting began. David said he did his best to stop her from running out the door and into the alley and I don’t doubt him. But nothing gets in my wife’s way. Not even massive clay monsters from Jewish mythology. She is about the most willful human being on the planet. When she saw children in danger she didn’t hesitate for a second, she charged right into the middle of the chaos to get them to relative safety while David made his way toward the commotion.

Of course I didn’t know that yet. I knew that I had to protect Dušan so I grabbed the neck of a couple of broken bottles and slid down the bar toward the Russian gun men who were still trying to extricate themselves from the tangled mess I had made. The gunfire intensified as one of the bastards saw me brandishing the jagged glass of the bottles and he saw doom in my eyes. He wasn’t wrong. I could feel a wild intensity sing in my veins and I had no mercy for an asshole who would open fire indiscriminately in a public place.

I was moving so fast that I must have seemed like a blur to them and none of the bullets came close to hitting me as I flipped and dodged until I got close enough for the kill. I slashed the broken bottle with blinding speed at my prey and I felt a wild joy as he began to gasp in panic, blood blossoming from his throat splattering the other three thugs. A part of me, the savage and inhuman Wyld Fae predator, sang with joy at watching the man struggle and fall. But I had never killed anyone before. Not a human anyway. The shock of how easy, how savage it had been snapped me out of my rage. I heard the screams from the people outside and wrestled control of myself. I had to get out there.

I concentrated and used a veil to become completely invisible. At the same time I created a glamour of myself running toward the front entrance of the pub. The Russians took the bait, finally getting themselves extricated from the hallway, and began firing toward the apparition I had manifested. They charged toward the front of the building as I dodged them, unseen and ran out the back door. I had a friend to save.

Part 05: From the journal of Fergus Mac Cormaic

I was still concealed by my veil as I ran into the alleyway. I saw two groups of Russians moving toward a parked van at the far end. The first group was dragging Dušan toward the van as he struggled and fought to get away. The second group was covering them with drawn guns. The leader was the biggest damn man I had ever seen. He made Jack’s best friend, Bruno Walsh, who was often mistaken for a Seahawk’s offensive lineman, look average sized in comparison. He carried an AK-74 that was customized with scopes and a grenade launcher, with what looked like trained competence. He was eyeing David telling him to stay back in a thick Slavic accent.

For a moment I just gaped in shock at the sight of David and Anna. It was completely out of the blue to find them there. But I recovered quickly when I saw one of the thugs eyeing my fiance. Anna was still scooping up kids, getting them out of the line of fire while David moved with purpose toward the gun wielding criminals. As she bent over to pick up a young boy that bastard eyed her rear end lasciviously. I must admit it was a stunning view. Anna had worked hard to get back into shape after having Erin and her suit pants showed off her efforts.

But then he said something to the his buddies and they all began to laugh. I felt the Wyld take hold again. An outraged need to protect my mate swelled my chest and I walked over to that asshole, lowered my veil, and broke his fucking jaw with a punch. That stopped the laughing didn’t it motherfuckers?

I guess I was quite the spectacle. Anna told me that my eyes started glowing this eerie green color with motes of light leaking out of them. My tattoos, the symbol of the Guardians, glowed as well. The Bratva boys didn’t seem too impressed. They reacted calmly and quickly as I rejoiced in the violence and brutality of the fight, the Wyld singing a chorus within me. They started firing controlled bursts of automatic gunfire at me as I danced and whirled and they never came close to hitting me. The huge Ivan blasted at me with an effing grenade launcher that almost took my head off though. It landed in a residential back yard where another family was enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately the shrapnel shredded the large propane tank for the fancy BBQ grill and gas started hissing out. Innocent men, women and children all screamed in terror at the gunfire and Anna ran right in the middle of it all trying to get them to safety.

David had finally gotten within striking range of the Russians and he grabbed that big guy’s Kalashnikov rifle, and exerting some of his body’s amazing strength, ripped it out of his hands and tossed it over his shoulder. The rifle sailed off like a rocket landing over a block away. He too, started looking less human as his skin became grey and cracked as if it was dry clay. His eyes flashed orange with a righteous fury.

I was dodging gunfire from the other men and I ran up a wall, rebounded off it, and smashed that huge Russian asshole right in the mouth, staggering him. He simply smiled at me, spit out a few bloody teeth and pulled the biggest goddamn knife I have ever seen and nearly gutted me with it. Damn. He was much faster than he looked.

David grabbed two of the other thugs and smashed their heads together knocking them out for the count. The other tried to sneak up on me and attack from behind. I didn’t even turn around and smashed him right in the face with a back hand blow, knocking him out cold.

That just left that big Ivan and the four others who were dragging my friend to the van. No problem. We had this.

I guess Ivan thought so too. He smiled again, this time holding up a grenade, pulled the pin and threw it right next to that leaking propane tank in the middle of all those people. Including Anna.

David, bless him, didn’t hesitate for a moment. He charged right through the fence and threw the grenade up in the air but it slipped and it didn’t go far enough. I was right behind him and ran up his shoulders, gaining momentum, and caught the grenade and threw at hard as I could straight up. I landed in a crouch right next to Anna as it exploded harmlessly above us. The Russians used the distraction to make it to their van and get away with Dušan . I could hear a smattering of gunfire from the front of the bar that ended abruptly.

I was breathing hard, my eyes glowing with predatory fire that scared all the people there to death. All I could see was weak prey and my instincts were to kill. To run. To protect my mate. I fought against it and Anna approached me speaking soothing nonsense to calm me down. I grabbed her suddenly and opened a Way through the Nevernever and leaped through it.

I left David behind and he later told me that he was able to calm his own righteous rage and look more or less human again. His suit was a mess though. He moved to the front of the bar where he had last heard gunfire and saw the three thugs I had initially faced get into a car and speed away as sirens sounded in the distance.

People were running around in a panic at the gunfire and he spotted a woman who was badly wounded and ran to her, stripping up his suit to make bandages for her. His efforts, I later learned, were the only reason she didn’t bleed out. He saved her life. He was a hero. He also administered first aid on that cop who had pointed Dušan out to the Russians. I guess the officer did his duty after the lead started flying and tried to apprehend them. He would live, but he was pretty badly shot up.

I knew none of that until later. Anna and I came out of the Nevernever at Schmitz Park. It was a multi-acre park of old growth woods with hiking trails about 15 blocks from Alki beach. We scared the living daylights out of a jogger who took one look at my savagely glowing eyes and snarl and took off down the trail screaming bloody murder. So much for keeping a low profile. If I couldn’t wrestle my Wyld side under control I would be a threat to everyone around me. Including Anna. Gods help me.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

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