Chapter 329
”So this is it?” Mira moved forward next to me and leaned over the railing of a roof.
We climbed up on a building as soon as we neared our destination and had been roof hopping ever since. It kept us up off the ground and away from the majority of the fighting. The less we had to fight on the way here, the better off we’d be.
I moved up beside her, keeping my head low just the same to peek over the edge of the building. Robinson Tower lay just ahead of us. It’s lights still gleamed within from an internal backup generator. Movement from windows suggested it wasn’t quite as abandoned as everywhere else had been.
The problem was the path leading to it. The William Plaza itself wasn’t exactly a clean, clear sightline thanks to the shanty town that’d popped up across it. The place was full of laundry lines stretching from ramshackle shacks. Haphazard constructions of plywood, tarps, and rusted metal sheets pushed in from every side. The alleys between hovels were even narrower than the rest of the heights.
Or, at least, it was a shanty town. Now it was a war zone torn apart. Shacks lay crumpled into piles of rubble, mutants tore through buildings like they weren’t even there, and the mercs didn’t watch their fire for even a moment. If there was still anyone in the area, they’d long been turned to pulp.
Mercenaries of all kinds had pulled to a temporary truce. Instead of shooting at each other, they targeted massive mutant swarms spilling from subway vents, storm drains, and tight alleys like some a fel tsunami. Floodlights and muzzle flashes illuminated the place. Combined with the half working advertisements and lights of Robinson Tower, there was just enough light for most people to see the chaos by.
Bullets cut through the air in long, searing lines of death. Explosions lit up the faint battlefield haze that settled over the place like lightning through a storm. Airburst mortars dumped down hell on the mutant swarm, damaging them just before they could meet the lines of mercs holding the way forward. The slum dwellings were hit just as hard, though nobody seemed to care.
The snow was long beaten and battered away, revealing shell casings and endless corpses between ruined structures. The sheer heat radiating from the battlefield ensured even the fresh snow wouldn’t settle.
Then there was the scent radiating from the plaza. Voided bowls and dried blood filled the air with the certain, unmistakable stench of death. “I’m glad we have masks. This could’ve been so much worse.”
”No kidding… I didn’t realize we were facing a damn army.” Mira sighed and poked at her gun. “I should’ve brought a bigger weapon.”
”On the bright side, it's closer to what’s left of one.” Plenty of mercs had already fallen in their pursuit of money and power. Most ‘mercs’ were barely better than gang members though, so that wasn’t much of a surprise. If anything, the battlefield just culled the weak.
I rubbed at my eyes, watching my HUD and the minimal overlay that Luna had been faithfully updating. Markers blinked all over the place in defensive positions around the tower. “Our signal’s beyond there.”
”You always pick the most scenic places for us to visit, Shiro.” Mira lightly elbowed my side and started doing a last moment check of her equipment.
”Only the best for you—“ A rocket whizzed just over our head, missing the hordes of mutants entirely. It exploded against a distant building behind us and illuminated our shadows with a bright flash.
Mira glanced back toward the explosion. “Riiight… I don’t like our chances of going straight through. Even with all the cover from the shanty town.”
”Then we don’t go straight through.” It was as simple as that. “Give me a few to work on a plan.”
“Take your time, golden leader—oh, wait, it's Eclipse now isn’t it?” I flinched when she called that name. A shudder went down my spine. Why’d my new name have to be so edgy? “Luna, how’s Iris? She should’ve arrived by now, right?”
“J-just dropped her off at Nael’s.” The girl went silent. “A-are you sure we can trust—“
”A hundred percent.” Mira cut the girl off. “The most trustworthy person you’ll ever meet, right there. Handoff went okay?”
”I pestered the old medek with a Dragonfly till he came out to find her. He saw Shiro’s note and immediately got to work.” Saint laughed lightly. “Barely kept our Netrunner from ditching us to go see her.”
”I-I didn’t…” Luna’s voice faded away.
”Yeah, because I literally held you back by the scruff of your neck and explained in no uncertain details why that’d be a bad idea.” The reporter sighed. I had a feeling if I was there, he’d shoot me a see what I’m dealing with look.
“Hey, Saint,” I interrupted their conversation as I noticed something about the battlefield. “Why does it look like they’re defending the tower?”
”Oh, um…” He went silent for a few moments and then a bounty popped up into my vision. “Looks like someone is paying a ton of rayn to hire defensive forces. This bounty is worth more than the military’s.”
”Why the hell are there so many big players in the heights? I thought this place was supposed to be broke.” Mira sighed. “Who is it this time? BosSpace Solar? Sentinel? Raijin?”
“Looks like ASCorp at a glance. Some kind of storage facility.” He didn’t sound too sure about that answer. “And it's darkest under the lamp. The heights are one of the best places to hide stuff. If tonight wouldn’t have happened, all of this would’ve continued to stay hidden.”
That was unsettling. Who knew how many more Savant labs were scattered around the city—no, the world? Not everywhere would have a massive battlefield breakout that could expose them. Sure, only one of the labs so far has been an actual Savant lab, but my point stands!
“Okay, I’ve got it.” I refocused on the lines of mercs with their heavy ordnance and arcs of fire. The mutants relentlessly crashed against them like waves even with mortar support.
There was a gap on one side. The mutants weren’t attacking it much, and the mercs in the area had pulled back to other sections. It was temporary, so we’d have to move quick. “Over there. If we time it with the mortar strikes—“
A wave of mortars crashed into the plaza, killing dozens of mutants. They were replaced almost as quickly by the surging masses. Mira shifted uncomfortably. “Like that?”
“Chek. Exactly like that.” We moved, jumping off the apartment building—
“Wait for me!” Mira called from above.
Oh, right. I settled back down at the base of the apartment building to wait. I really needed to make her a set of Drop Chutes when this was all said and done. And proper gear, for that matter. Having her loaded up in power armor would sure make some things easier. She shouldn’t have any problems either with the strength enhancing properties of the Shift ExoCore.
Mira got down to me just in time for another mortar to hit and stall the waves of mutants. We moved the moment the shockwave trembled through the ground, cutting across a street and into the shanty town proper. Through the dust, smoke, and noise of the plaza, we cut through.
At first, it was just us. That quickly changed after a few minutes. A red-skinned mutant crashed through a wooden wall, splintering it into a spray of wood chips as it somehow pinpointed our exact location.
I reacted almost as quickly as it appeared, lunging forward with Burst Step. A dagger appeared in my hand, and I calmly drove it through the beast’s eye while flipping over its head. By the time I hit the ground, the thing had already collapsed into a pile of dead flesh.
”Woah—since when did you get some melee skills?” Mira lightly clapped her hands for me, though didn’t stop moving.
“I’ve always been skilled.” I sped up behind her, keeping pace and watching the skies above. I decided not to tell her that the knife only struck thanks to Viper’s Strike.
Several more mutants ran across us. We only fired when we needed to. Controlled bursts hit their targets with crackshot accuracy, downing them before they could be much of a threat. I barely had to fire, though I kept my gun up and ready just in case.
The goal was to move quickly across the plaza without drawing much attention from either side of the conflict. The mutants hardly noticed us unless we got too close. They were too consumed with the merc line.
Unfortunately, moving unnoticed and unharmed didn’t extend to the rest of the people in the heights. A citizen in scraps of clothing screamed ahead of me as a mutant dragged him into the recesses of a shack. The sound abruptly cut off just before we could even get close.
Mira sighed heavily behind me. “So many people have died tonight.”
”So are we if we don’t keep moving.” I squeeze the trigger of my rifle just as the mutant popped its head back out. It dropped, half of its skull blown off in a spray of grey matter.
We pushed forward through the shanty town, ducking beside a shattered fountain. It still bubbled with water. Or, at least, tried to. Now it was an icy chunk with a mutant corpse impaled on the angel statue.
I ducked back and yanked Mira into cover just as a large drone swooped overhead, scanning the area. The drone buzzed, sweeping across the space and then slowly moved forward. From the direction it flew in, gunfire immediately erupted.
”I-I could’ve hacked that, if it saw you.” Luna offered. “Make it look like a mutant destroyed it, or something. T-they wouldn’t have n-noticed.”
“Right… sorry, not used to having a runner.” Forgot she was there, to be honest. Sure, she was updating my HUD constantly with information, but she completely slipped my mind.
We broke from cover once more, sprinting across the ground. We tried to go around narrow alleys and cleared out spaces where shacks had collapsed when we could. Unfortunately, it was either one or the other. It was when we just left a narrow alley into a space full of rubble that something changed.
Insight slammed into me like a truck. A grenade arced through the air, slamming into a shack just beside us. Mira tackled me to the ground before I could even process what was happening. The grenade exploded a moment later, showering us in dust.
”You okay?” Mira called through a slight ringing in my ears.
I coughed heavily from where she landed on my lungs. “D-define okay.”
The dust settled slightly, just enough for me to see the outline of the tower against the night sky. We were close—close enough to start running into mercs. It was only a matter of time, really. Between us and it, chaos thrived.
“As long as you’re still breathing.” Mira pushed herself off of me and stretched out a hand—
“Contact! Two hostile!” A shout came just before gunfire ripped toward us. It was disciplined and precise, far beyond just another average joe. Just our luck to run into PMCs. The gap I saw had been filled, and just before we could break through at that.
”Ugh-“ Mira took a round to her side, armor blocking the bullet from penetrating. The force of the blow still slammed her hard though, causing her to stagger to the side and jerk me away.
We ducked behind a scrap metal shack. Mira rubbed at her side, plucking out the pullet still embedded into her ballistic armor. “We’re pinned if they regroup.”
”Pinned if they don’t.” I watched the minimal with the detailed breakdown. “Muties are headed our way.”
”Fuck! Why are they shooting at us?! We’re on the same side!” Mira growled out and slammed a fresh mag home.
”They don’t know that.” And even if they did, the more mercs who had accidents, the more money they’d make. The fog of war was a hell of a thing, especially when there were benefits and very loose morals involved. “You okay?”
”Nova… We’re so close too.” Mira glanced up over the top of the shack. It was just a short sprint to the base of the tower.
While we spoke, my hands hadn’t stopped for a moment. I loaded a smoke grenade into the coil-pistol and took a deep breath. These were experimental, so I didn’t have much faith in them. Hopefully it’d be fine? “Smoke and sprint for it. Climb the side, and get in through a window. We can work our way down after.”
“I can’t climb the side of a tower like that.” Mira instantly shot down my plan. “How about we blow the wall and slip through?”
”I-I can mess with them. Blind them for a few moments.” Luna offered hesitantly. “There’s some drones I can take over and cause some interference. It’ll buy you a couple minutes.
A couple minutes would be more than enough time. I dug through my bag, pulling out a spool of det-cord. I’d barely used the stuff since I bought it. Aside from that time at the Raijin Aether jumping facility, it’d just been collecting dust in my bag.
I passed the coil-pistol and a couple grenades to Mira. “Okay, oaky… chek, let’s do it. You’ll have to protect me, though.”
“‘Course!” Mira grinned widely. “What else would I do? Just get us in, and leave the rest to me.”
I took a deep breath and nodded my head. It was just trusting my team to do their jobs. How hard could this be?