VAGABONDS : The Fury & The Deep 1

THE FURY AND THE DEEP

1.

If you have never experienced life in Los Angeles, I'm not sure you can relate to my story. If you have never sold drugs, run from the police or a rival gang - you may think I'm a fool for living the life I do. The thing is, it's all I know, all I'm good at. I could have been a city worker like my old man, scratching out a living doing mindless work in the sprawl. I could have been like my momma, living off the GR from the Tri-State Aid Relief. Fuck that noise. I'm a gangster and that's all right by me. I have no doubts I may die from this life, but money is out there and I want it. I may be only twenty two years old but I've made a name for myself and even got my two younger brothers working with me. My name is Kody Drigo but on the streets people know me as Krug. Don't ask me why, it's just a silly nickname my friends gave me and it stuck. Anyways, it's been harder and harder to make money ever since the old Mexican/ Chinese Mafia crumbled and Velusians took over. Fucking off planet thugs got money for days and days. Especially here on the West Coast. I mainly slang Pony and Gods Green but we've gotten good at stealing and fencing Ice. Big money, especially to the those pale assed creepers. Anyways, it was just before Fall and my best bud Rozzer was back from a few years of living in the Deep. You know, Deep Space, the fringe of the galaxy before it' all goes black and all you can see is Andromeda far, far away......

“Aye, Krug ya greasy fuck! Have those chinks come through with the ice yet?” Xander yelled to his big brother as he finished loading a shipment into the bed of the Ranger.

“Nah, must of got stalled by the patrol, or worse some of Zeetakans’ men.” Krug answered as he lit up a cigarette.

Xander paced about the garage they used as a base of operations.A couple of glide bikes were parked next to Krug's ancient Ford Mustang- a real relic from the 1990's. The rest of their space was filled with crates and boxes and shelving with tools, parts and ammo scattered about.

“Well, I guess we ought to buzz 'em or swing past Pings' in a while. It’s been three hours, you would think they would be back with it already.” Krug shuffled uneasy.

He didn’t like the way things where going. Xander looked around the room, uneasy and getting nervous.

Pings' gang of thieves never took that long to steal ice. He also had no intention of paying a visit to Ping. China Town was number two on his list of most dangerous places in L.A., hell it made the top ten for the Confederacy Of Planets highest crime rates and had the most documented missing persons reports from the Pacific Nations to the South Irish Union.

“I dunno Xander, lets wait till Davin gets back with the Rozzer and the rest of the boys.” Krug knew something was just not right and if any trouble was near they needed to have deep numbers.

“Look Krug, Dav is too far to help us, this shit has got to be settled now. If Zeetakan is to blame we are all fucked and so is Ping.”

Krug knew this all to well.If any money was being made than Zeetakan got a fat cut. The problem was, Krug and the gang had been going through Ping and other fences to get the cash. They were all part of a network that decided not to pay dues. Zeetakan was a merciless killer who destroyed city blocks to get one man. He was Lord of San Francisco and was looking after L.A. until the Veluzian West Coast Syndicate selected the new turf boss.

" Load up bro. I'll shoot Dav and Rozzer a text let 'em know where we are. I want my money. " Krug said, grabbing a sawed off shotgun and tossing a semi auto rifle to Xander.

They got into the Ranger and left the East Side sprawl for China Town. Krug was unsure how his brother would do in a gun fight, he had done real good in skin on skin brawls and was handy with a blade. The problem was, as Krug often forgot, he was was only sixteen and had never killed anyone. Unlike Davin, who was eighteen and didn't seem to have any problem killing, Xander was different.

By the time they reached Pings' they where both certain something was wrong. They had driven into the heart of China Town, and had no problems, no run ins- no assaults, not even a vendor trying to hock his shit on the curb. The place was a ghost town.

“What the fuck is going on Krug ? Why is it so damn quiet and where the hell is everybody?” Xanders' anxiety finally showed up.

Krug stepped out of the Ranger carefully and drew his gun. China Town was usually crowded and always, always smelled of food being prepared and music being played.He wasn't sure if the place was raided or if it was an ambush waiting to happen.

" Just cover my ass Xandy and keep quiet" Krug scolded him.

The two slowly crept into Pings' place.It was a renovated dance hall that now was run as Militray surplus store- great front.They walked around the stire front and finally made their way towards the offices were Ping ran pussy and Zen chips. The room was dimly lit but there sat Ping and several of his men, wide-eyed and smirking fiendishly like a bunch of hopped up Pony boys.

Krug spoke loud and clear.

“Ping, what the fuck is going on and where’s the goddamn ice?”

Ping did not acknowledge him. Krug stepped into the light and brandished his gun.

“Ping you fucking chink bastard! Answer me!” Krug yelled with anger.

The slim and dark Asian finally looked at Xander and said in a faint whisper, “No need to yell, tell your bro we got the ice and something else I think your gonna like.”

Xander and Krug where now at the boiling point but a little interested.

“Why didn’t you buzz me, and what’s this other thing?” said Xander.

Ping finally got up and walked towards Krug with a vial in his hand. It shined a blue light in the dark.

“The boys got the ice but also came upon a few cases of these vials. They tortured the Jaqquan trader 'till he finally gave up and told them what it was.”

Krug and Xander’s eyes where focused on the vial.

“This blue liquid is called the Fury. The most potent drug in the galaxy. In small doses it gets a high more superb than Pony.It makes Day Trippers and Snow Candy feel like a joke.It's an upper, a downwer and everything in between. It'll enhance your emotions or block them, whatever you like. In larger amounts you reach a state of pleasure so beyond human understanding you go mad with rage because your mind can not grasp the level of pleasure.I been taking this shit for a week now and let me tell you- it's well worth the risk I took to get it. We began distributing it to our people. So far they are so intoxicated the streets are empty, save those who come back for more.” Ping smiled, lighting up a cigar.

Krug knew of the Fury. He knew it was big money, bigger than ice,bigger than any street dope, bigger than Zeetakan.He also knew it was too dangerous if it was not sold properly. Too many people have had their brains melt in the heads or went bat shit crazy and killed themselves or others.

“Ping,So what now? We gonna sell this shit? How much did you get?” Krug asked.

Ping and his henchmen began to laugh. Then he said, “We jacked that mother fuckers entire shipment of eighty cases each containing a thousand vials. Problem is....... the shipment was Zeetakans'. He will be looking for the thieves. That means you and me Kruggy my boy. I’m giving you a choice you. You can join me in selling the Fury and owning the West Coast, or don’t and Zeetakan will kill you. You see if you’re with me, he can’t touch you,not even the fucking Syndicate would dare risk it. the Fury is too valuable for him to attack us guns blazing and all. It’s perfect. We can own L.A., we can own the world!” Ping stepped back and his men began clapping.

Krug didn't know what to make of this situation. Ping was power mad from whatever trip the Fury took him on and now they were going to be in deep shit with Zeetakan. Ping did make a damn good point though.

" I'll be back in a few hours then to make a deal with you bro. I just gotta run the ice and let the boys in on the plan." Krug bullshitted a smile and grabbed Xander to walk out.

" Don't worry Krug, I'll be waiting for you. When you get back you gotta try this stuff. It's like getting a blow job from god while you kill the devil ! " Ping roared in laughter.

Xander and Krug had been arguing fiercely when Davin and the Rozzer finally pulled into the garage on their roadsters with two older gang members that worked for Krug.

“What’s up guys, did we score the ice tonight?” Dav said.

Xander looked long and hard at his brother.

“Yeah, we got the ice and I fenced it already" Krug rubbed his head.

" Ping ended up robbing the Jaqquan contact and ended up with a huge stash of the Fury and he wants us to sell it with him.” Xander said flatly.

” Ping ripped of Zeetakan? Chinga-ling, that idiots's deader than dead. " Dav snickered.

“Well,” Krug said, “We got the choice of joining Ping and selling this shit or answering to Zeetakan. We have to give Ping our answer later tonight. I ain't sure whats gonna happen if we go against Zeetakan but Ping's making it sound like we ain't gotta choice. I know this whole crew is my thing, but If you want no part of this shit, walk away. I won't be mad."

The gang debated for awhile, then Daz stood up.

” I say we kill Ping and his whole posse, keep the shipment for ourselves and deal with Zeetakan when the time is right.”

The whole gang cheered and yelled in excitement. The thought had crossed Krugs' mind many times that night; he knew it could be done. He and his brother had done this before to rivals in the past.

“ Alright, how are we gonna pull this off though? You don’t think Ping will be expecting it. I say we do it right now. They wont be in the right mind to deal with us right now, they’ve been high on Fury all week.”

Xander looked over the gang and all of them nodded to him, letting him know it was the best thing to do.

" I'm down then. If my brothers say it's a good plan and everyone else is in. So am I. "

Dav roared , ” Lets stomp those little bastards!”

" Get the rest of the crew here fast" Krug said to Xander.

With that the gang armed themselves to the teeth and rode off on their glide cycles and roadsters towards Chinatown in the late night chill as the fog moved in.


Dav rode side by side his brother and he noticed the stern look in his face. He had seen it before, every time his brother was about to kill. Krug didn’t kill a lot, but when he did he turned into a zombie. He was cold and calculating, no remorse. Dav relished in all manners of violence, he lived for it. Their mother had locked up Dav at the age of ten in a mental hospital. Krug broke him out on his thirteenth birthday. Only Krug understands the bitter insanity that his brother holds on to. Xander tries to, but he's just too young to get it.

They parked just two blocks from Pings'. Xander and Dav shared a cigarette while they looked over their gang. Krug was anxious for a fight; he stood there cocking the sawed off back and forth. The Rozzer, as always, stood there nonchalantly twirling his blade, an eleven-inch combat knife that he took off a military officer in a riot. The rest of the gang where much older than them, they where hardened criminals, men who did time in maximum prisons, men who Xander and Dav trusted with their lives everyday. Tommy Two Tone,Brock Sanchez, Ricky Luna, Fast Eddie and Jose Doza. These thugs where all feared in Los Angeles. They once had power in their own time, but now worked for Krug for the simple pleasure of fast cash and violence.

Pings front door burst into a million pieces as Dozas' M-60 spit death into the confused body of the Chinese thieves that sat getting high. The rest of the gang came through firing headshots at those who stumbled about in the madness. Dav and Xander searched the rooms until finally finding Ping. He was busy pleasuring several women and did not hear the commotion. The girls where crying and screaming. Ping did not rise from his bed. Dav stomped him to death with his boot heels and Xander shot the whores where they laid. Ping died smiling, high on the Fury.

The sun was out by the time the crates where all secured. Krug lit a cigar.

“ Ya know something Xander? This shipment aint going to last forever. Sooner or later we gotta see Zeetakan for more.”

Xander laughed. “ We’ll have so much money we can buy more, wherever it comes from.”

“ In the Deep, that’s where it’s from man.” The Rozzer said in a sullen voice, walking off.

In the days to follow the gang had made more money than they had fencing ice for three years. In two weeks they had to upgrade their base of operation to a warehouse near Alameda. The drug users embraced the Fury with such vigor that a code word had to now be used to purchase it. Tommy and Doza also hired twelve, small local gangs to protect them from Zeetakans forces. Small gun fights, drive bys, bombings and the occasional beheading were becoming common in Los Angeles now. Zeetakan was had been made a fool, and now people all over were paying for it. As long as the Fury was around, no one cared.

The Rozzer knew something that they didn’t. He had been to the Deep before. He spent a whole year as a space smuggler in those distant star systems.He knew how it was made, what it was and who really controlled it. With each passing day he became more grim.

Three months had now passed since they murdered Ping. Things where going very well for the brothers and their gang. Everyone was up to their elbows in cash. Only a few deaths had occurred from overdoses of the fury. They now competed openly with Zeetakan for the drug war. Dav was actually looking for Zeetakans men and killing them onsite, taking money, weapons and the Fury.

On a warm Tuesday night the Rozzer and Xander were eating tacos in the Down Town Sprawl.

“ Something’s not right Xander.” Rozzer said.” Why hasn’t Zeeta tried to contact us, why hasn’t he killed us yet?”

Xander swallowed his food and sipped his beer.

” Who knows, I know he aint scared, I think he’s waiting for us to run out of the Fury so we can go crawling to him. Roz, ya must tell me where they make this shit man. I know you know. You been to the Deep man. Tell me what I gotta do.”

The Rozzer sunk down into himself.

” I never want to go back. I’ll tell you where to go, but count me out. The blackness man,the number of stars, they drive me insane! I’d rather die than face the Deep again.The loneliness even when your with a crew, it ain't normal and I never wish we found the Fury. Or them. I never want to face THEM again!” Rozzer shook his head, tears forming in his eyes.

” Look, it can’t be that bad, why you so spooked about a bunch of fucking aliens man, they walk around here and you aint scared. We have the chance to pass up Zeetakan and eventually move off this overcrowded shit-hole.”

The Rozzer just shook his head.” I don’t care about that, I like Terra , man, I was born here, I seen plenty of the galaxy and I don’t like it. Other races have powers you cant imagine, some look human but act like animals or worse. It's just not what I want.Not even for money bro ”

Xander gave his old friend a glaring eye and said,” Fine, just tell me where to go, Ill give you a cut of the dough and you go about your way. Your either with us 100% or your not.”

” Go to Mars, hook up with Baab, he's a dock master out of Port Nord.Just tell him you’re my friend and he’ll show you the way. He owes me his life. I don’t know exactly where to go, so you assholes gotta figure it out. Baab will probably take you as far as the outer ring, but from there on, it's just you and the Deep. You could be out their for months before running into THEM. Even so, they may or may not sell you the Fury. They may just slave you out, take your ship or maybe just eat you- if your lucky." Rozzer finished his beer.

Xander didn't know what to make of the conversation so he just left Rozzer and went home.

A few days later the infamous Lon Gerlof , a hit man for the Syndicate ,beat Doza to a pulp with a message for Krug and associates. The Syndicate wanted a cease fire. Blood shed was bad for business in L.A. A meeting was to be arranged in the Vegas sprawl, and Krug could not say no. Zeetakan was to be present as well and the Fury was their main concern.