Chapter 330
”R-ready.” Luna called out to us through the Packheart Ring. I looked up to see three combat drones buzzing just overhead. One of them dipped as if acknowledging my gaze.
I silently patted Mira on the shoulder to let her know that I was also ready. She hefted her heavy gun and nodded her head. “Ready. Deep breathes, everyone. Nothing we haven’t done before.”
”Right, because charging a fortified location is something I’ve done before.” I shot a glare at Mira. To be fair, I’d charged fortified locations more times than I was willing to admit. Almost every run in with the Circle was into somewhere they were set up. And the Crusade in general were just bad about charging places they shouldn’t.
”First time for everything.” She smirked and took her own advice, breathing deep.
“Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse.” I muttered quietly. Of course we had to run into the only thing worse than masses of mutants and creepy experiments like Cornucopia: entrenched professionals.
Thankfully, these guys didn’t seem like they were of the wealthy kinds of PMC groups. No auto-turrets, portable shields, or even just sandbag lines. They barely had cover scrounged up from the shanty town’s shacks.
Hell, even the turrets Luna took over weren’t from this group. The better armed and armored groups had taken the priority spots where the mutants constantly attacked, pushing groups like this to the fringes. Things weren’t entirely out of our favor yet.
“At least it isn’t a fortress.” Mira offered lightly. And she was right. It could always be worse. These could be corporate operators or something with a whole hidden array of turrets… I inspected the scene with an even closer eye. Everything looked normal, but that was the scariest type of fortification to attack.
”I was worried for a moment there. Finding Kaynis felt like it was going to be too easy.” I shook my head and pushed pessimistic Shiro back into her cage. Enough of that. A couple times were a joke, but any more and I might actually bring down morale.
“You got anything white, Shiro?” Mira asked me. I slid my poncho off and tossed it to her, shifting the pattern away from its urban gray to the brilliant white one. “Thanks.”
“Why do you—“ I cut myself off as she casually waved it out into beyond our cover in a sign of surrender.
”We’re on the same side, right? Maybe we can solve this peacefully—“ The slight hope in her voice died immediately. Bullets snapped around our cover as if to remind us that the PMCs knew exactly where we were and were more than willing to see us dead. Sparks sprayed from where they impacted old, rusted metal. My poncho itself was hit several times.
”It was a nice try.” Saint called across the connection of our Packheart Rings. “Greed blinds even the best.”
“No kidding.” Mira sighed and loaded a grenade into the coil-pistol. Battlelust started to radiate from her as she fully locked in. Although my mikata looked gentle at first glance—pfft—she was more than willing to throw down. She tossed my poncho back. “Sorry about that.”
”No, no, it's fine.” I tossed it back on and turned it back into the urban gray pattern. Thankfully, nothing important was ruined by the gunshots. It would’ve been nice if we could just get it done with a simple wave of a flag. They already knew we were here, anyway. “You are ready now, right?”
“Roger. No mercy.” She stretched out and then grabbed her LMG tightly with one hand, the other holding my coil-pistol. “No use waiting any longer. Three. Two. One. Break!”
And just like that, chaos erupted on the battlefield. It started with Luna’s hacked drones. They dipped low and the turrets across their metal bodies lit up with muzzle flashes. Screams and confusion erupted from beyond where we were set up in cover. The first thing that would’ve gone through the group’s mind was betrayal.
I checked the minimap. There were seventeen enemies, but four of them were caught in the initial strafing run by the drones. Thirteen left. They were scattered around this section of the tower, using all sorts of cover and slapped together barricades.
Mira chose the moment the drones fired and fog of war was at its max to make her move. She sprinted out from behind our shack, catching even me off guard for a moment. I only managed to keep up thanks to the slowed time effect of Dexterity and a quick Burst Step.
Mid mad dash toward the tower, she lifted the pistol and fired. She’d used it a few times in the past. I let her play around with it back down at the speakeasy. That and lobbing a grenade while sprinting toward an entrenched position were two entirely different things. They couldn’t even be compared, really.
The grenade arced perfectly through the air, landing right in the middle of the largest group of PMCs. It went off with an explosive bang, scattering lethal fragments all around it in waves. Four of the lights on my HUD blipped out immediately, and another three were thrown to the ground. Only six were still standing and trying to defend.
As for those six, only two were looking at us while the rest fired at the drones. That's when I came into play. Two daggers flicked into my hands from one moment to the next. Both launched out with lethal precision. I trusted my accuracy with throwing weapons far more than with guns while moving, and I could get the knives to hit behind cover.
The first of the PMCs just shifted his gun toward us when the knife slammed into the rifle. The impact jerked his aim off, and the knife perfectly deflected up into his face. It slammed blade first into his eye. Unfortunately, while my accuracy was perfect, I didn’t account for him having chrome eyes. It didn’t stab into the metal deep, though did successfully stun the man.
The second wasn’t so fortunate. He had just opened his mouth to shout, and I wasn’t one to let an opportunity pass me by. My second knife disappeared into his mouth, and he fell over without any fanfare. Five left.
Mira slammed into the side of their cover, bracing her LMG on the side of it. The gun barked with power and bullets sprayed across the remaining group. It only caught only one of them and the guy with a knife sticking out of his eye, though suppressed the rest of the three.
I stepped to the side, my entire body fading into the shadows thanks to Illusive. Just like that, I was gone from sight. At least, mostly. “Flanking. Keep them pinned.”
”Roger.” She pulled a grenade and threw it toward one of the guys behind cover, though he tossed it out just before it could explode. Or, at least, he tried to. The moment he shifted out of cover to throw, I squeezed the trigger of my rifle. Unfortunately, the grenade got off before I could react.
The kick hit my shoulder hard, though it was tamed thanks to only firing a short burst. Said burst slammed into the man’s chest, knocking him to the ground. He crawled back into safety a moment later, still clinging to life thanks to his ballistic armor.
With my position exposed briefly, a spray of blind fire came from another of the mercs. She thrust her rifle over the top of the barricade and blindly fired off in my direction. I was already moving with Burst Step to route back around though, so her blind fire missing was inevitable.
I slunk around the edge of the barricade unnoticed. At least, until I got close. The third of the surviving group flinched in my direction as soon as I closed the gap.
Fear the Reaper flared at full strength, abruptly causing the man to freeze up in terror. His eyes widened, and he shakily tried to move. It was far too late though. The result of our battle was set in stone the moment he froze up. This close I didn’t even have to line up the shot to dump a spray into his exposed head.
The woman charged me with a furious shout and rifle spraying—only to be shot in the side by Mira and dropped. That just left the one guy who’d survived the initial burst thanks to his armor. He struggled for a pistol at his side, though his struggles were put to a stop with one last shot from my rifle.
”That went well.” Mira called as soon as she saw me relax slightly. I took a breath and nodded toward her. Already, the dust and snow were starting to resettle across the battlefield. “Scared me when that grenade came back.”
”You fine?” I didn’t waste a moment and moved to the side of the tower, carefully setting up the det-cord in a place that wouldn’t ruin the structural integrity too much. The building was massive enough it should come down with just a single explosion, but I could never be too careful.
“As I could be.” She patted her chest and moved to keep watch on our surroundings.
”Luna, got any more of those drones?” The original set were gunned down by the mercs.
“Y-yeah, fending off m-mutants.” A small screen popped into my HUD, giving me the drone’s point of view. A small wave was working its way to us, though they were stalled out by the runner’s hacked drones.
“Let them through. Go distract the other mercs so they don’t come investigate.” Mira shifted behind cover and started to set up. “Only have a few minutes now, Shiro.”
”Chek.” I carefully wound the det-cord around my chosen spot and primed it. I had to stretch to get it as high up as I wanted it for the next part of my plan. “Moving as fast as I can. Unless you want me to blow off a hand. Again.”
“Again?” I felt Mira’s eyes burn into me. “I’m sensing a story there.”
”Another time. I'm a bit busy.” I shook my head and worked on the explosives.
Mira fell silent, though her LMG churned to life behind me. I wasn’t the only one busy. I glanced up at the minimap and followed the fight while I worked. Although Luna was undoubtedly busy operating three drones, keeping watch over Iris, and countless other things, the runner was faithfully updating my map. Her multi-tasking capabilities were through the roof. That, or Saint was helping her. Probably a mix of both.
The training from Concussive Connoisseur helped get everything set up just right for maximum effect. Once the explosives were set, I backed away from the wall and dropped behind scraps of cover. “Cover your ears.”
Boom!
Dust and rubble shot out from the source of the explosion. Even with the charges directed toward specific points, explosives were naturally chaotic and uncontrolled. The entire area around my det-cord was blown into a massive hole with cracks spreading throughout the wall even further. Blocks of concrete dropped into the dust choking the air.
Although the explosion wasn’t massive by any means, the sound and shockwave bounced off the nearby shanty town and seemed to amplify several times. Even with my ears covered and filters blotting out the loudest sounds, it still managed to get through and rip at my ear drums. Pain stung through my head.
I squeezed my eyes shut and listened to the obnoxious ring of my ears. Thankfully, although my ears were momentarily out of commission, the Packheart Ring wasn’t. “Move! Groups on both sides are coming to investigate!”
I staggered to my feet, balance momentarily thrown off as I shook out my head. The ringing faded slightly and Mira grabbed onto my arm, hauling me toward the building’s new entrance.
Allowing me to move with her, I checked the feeds Saint sent me. There were several groups headed our way outside of just the mutants. It wasn’t looking good… if they could chase us. We couldn’t though. Not with my plan.
I got my balance back under control and snatched my coil-pistol back from Mira. I pulled a grenade and fired it at the roof. When setting up the det-cord for the initial explosion, I primed it all so that the roof would be weakened. With a single grenade, the roof collapsed and filled in the hole in the wall. It’d take some time to dig through that, and by then we’d hopefully be long gone.
”Let’s go.” I tossed the coil-pistol back to Mira and stalked down the hall. She followed me a moment later.
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AN: I’m a little late today. Whoops.