I followed the echo of weapon's fire and Obie's roars until I saw what was happening and was a little surprised at what I saw. The squad was pinned down by what looked like a mob of children's toys, little wobbling robots with big heads and funny feet. It looked like some mad toymaker had declared war on SLA and I would have laughed except a number of them were fitted with submachine guns and were rocking and rolling on the squad's cover. There had to be at least fifty of the little monsters. And I been thinking that Angus' bugs comment was just a bad drug trip...
There was no way I was going to waste my Blitzer's ammo on the little bots, but I wasn't going to underestimate them and take them on in close combat. Pulling my snubber, I leaned on a crate, and then started pinging them one at a time. After firing the Blitzer, this pistol's lighter recoil was a pleasure and I felt like I could have done this all day. It was just like popping those pop up Carrien in a shooting gallery as a kid, at least until they noticed me and started fighting back.
A half dozen of the little bastards broke off from the mob and started waddling towards me while a couple more opened up from behind. I stepped behind the next crate over and every time I tried to lean around to return fire, the ones running overwatch opened up again. They might not look like much, but they sure had the concept of cover fire down. Without being able to look out, I could only hear their little feet clicking closer.
"Good God," I mumbled. "We're about to get our assess handed to us by a bunch of kiddie toys."
"Not toys - Tek Trex!" someone said and I realized it was Vunderboy's voice. It would figure that he'd be up to date on the newest developments in flashy kid toys.
I crouched and glanced around low, but one of the closer ones must have been sighted in on the corner just in case I decided to come to its level. I heard a crack and something stung my left collarbone, sending me scrambling back behind cover out of reflex. There wasn't a hole and the only sign that I had been hit was a tiny squashed slug and cracked laminate. The little Tek Trex bots must have been firing CAF rounds, which my armor could take without a problem and I just laughed. Then just like most of the KM guys I' ve known, I got cocky and screwed up. It turns out that the little bastards had baited me.
This time when I leaned around, something far heavier than a 5 mm hit the crate next to my cheek and shattered the plastic. It only missed by a few millimeters and I flinched, scrambling backwards and firing back blindly. I spent my clip, but took down three of them at close range and then dug at my holster for a spare. The one that had fired had been outfitted with a generic "big gun" that was far too much for it and the recoil had sent it tumbling like a bowling ball into its friends across the room. A bunch of them were kicking their feet to get upright again and it would have been funny if the little bastards hadn't come around the corner with a mini chainsaws and tasers. The first one had a grinning shark smile painted on its muzzle and I kicked and its buddies away like soccer balls without too much trouble. Once I reloaded, I happily put a slug into each of them as they tried to get upright again, then put a round into the one with the handcannon. It was a good time to change cover, so I slipped between the containers to the next row. I didn't want to get pegged by the one that some basement subversive genius had welded to a rocket launcher.
"You guys are as cute as toasters and thank God you're about as smart. Damn it Mac, get out of my line of fire!"
Angus had waded into the midst of them, right into my line of fire and was chopping away with abandon as they waddled around his boots. I heard K'rth yell at him to get down without much of an effect and before I knew it, the big Shaktar, McNeil, and Obie were there with him stomping and hacking the bots into little piles of tinker toys. I concentrated on giving them cover and that was when I heard something big and mechanical moving through the holding area in front of them. I ran forward, shoving my snubber into my belt and pulling my Blitzer at the same time.
Hiss. Bump. Bump. Bump. Whirrl.
They heard it too and everyone except the Blazed out Frother scattered. Obie ended up picking him up like a squalling brat and tossed him behind crates while we waited.
Bump. Bump. Bump, K-Lakkkkk.
The low plastic divider, chain link fence disintegrated under the roar of another impossibly big gun and I ducked out of reflex. Fire tracked across the floor, blowing fist sized pockmarks free and turned the row of crates in front of K'rth and Gayle into confetti. Casper let go with a Flintlock and McNeil fired from behind a forklift even before I could see what it was. For a few moments, everyone stayed down and we waited as it stepped clear of the smoke.
He stood there, impressive and as fearsome as hell and I couldn't help but whistle as I reloaded my Blitzer with HESH again. This one was wearing a beat up suit of War World CC-45 "Samiel" Crackshot, with a Martyr 404 flack cannon and abbreviated Wardog AA-03 belt fed grenade launcher. I knew the name and stats of every bit of equipment he was using and what it could do, but it wasn't because I'm a gun nut. I used to have a "Major Massacre: Heroes of Dante" action figure just like him when I was a kid. Now I was about to get kacked by my childhood hero.
All at once, everyone raised up and opened up on him, sending him staggering back. His armor dented and cracked under the heavy barrage, but seemed to be holding up fine otherwise. I held my fire as I sighted on the faceplate and Obie lobbed a smaller crate that the Vet blasted apart like skeet while it was in the air. We hadn't hurt him and he was letting us take the first volley. That's when I realized he hadn't staggered back at all - he was only laughing at us.
Where the hell was Nix ? She had the firepower to make the difference and it wasn't like her to bug out. I took my shot and caught him just above the chin, which had a bad effect. Now he looked pissed and started fighting back.
"AIM FOR THE FACE!" I yelled into the mike, but I don't think anyone heard me.
The flack cannon barked, sending clouds of shrapnel screaming into the squad 's cover. Someone screamed and I fired again, catching him full on in the breastplate with no effect. His grenade launcher started to cycle and I lost it, firing a shot that went low.
"NIX! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" I yelled into my mike as I found cover.
"Above you, Sherlock and setting up. Preference?"
"Yeah. Right between his eyes." I said and ran for closer cover. As much as I didn't want to, I'd have to be closer if I was going to do more than piss him off. Right then, everyone stopped shooting again and took cover, which seemed like a damn good idea to me too. It seemed like we were taking turns and it was his move again.
"Gotcha," she said, but no shot came.
"TODAY!" I yelled into my mike as I circled a low crate. I turned off the lasersight and went prone to get the best angle.
The only sound was the click and whirl of his servos as he swept the area looking for a target. The floor in front of him was stained red and he was surrounded by the crumpled bodies of men in blue coveralls, probably the same workers we had seen yesterday. It looked like they had been packing DN 50's and the squad had dropped them like they deserved.
There was a loud crack and his head jerked forward. The shot had taken him in the top of the helmet and only partially penetrated. He took a step backwards and started firing, blasting the hell out of the forklift, the floor, and the crates the Chagrin and Frother were behind. The two of them scrambled for harder cover and Obie was looking for something else to toss.
"Put another round into him," I said.
"Yeah, yeah."
The wraith put two more rounds into his faceplate and he stumbled backwards to collapse in a heap. After a few seconds of no movement, Casper peeked out and the rest of the squad rose out of cover. With a hefty crate in hand, Obie followed the Frother towards the prone figure.
"NICE SHOT!" Casper yelled as she stood. "Let's get 'em!"
"STAY DOWN!" I yelled at her, but she ignored me. The rest of the squad cautiously began to get up and I gripped my mike.
"NIX, PUT ANOTHER ROUND INTO HIS FACE! HE ISN'T DOWN YET. I REPEAT, HE ISN'T DOWN YET!" I ordered.
"Hey, do I tell you how to do your job Mr. Kick Murder?'
"DO IT!"
I heard a growl across my mike and knew she'd fire once she got a bead on him. Meanwhile Casper, Angus, McNeil, and Obie moved up as Gael and K'rth covered them. The Shaktar looked over at me and kept Gael in place. His instincts must have told him that this guy wasn't out of it yet too and he kept back.
"GET DOWN!" I yelled into the mike and broke into a run. It was a trap. I knew it was a trap. They were going to be so damn close that he couldn't possible miss - the perfect range for his cannon.
"TAKE THE SHOT NIX! NOW!" I yelled again. All I got was another growl.
In a blur, the armor sat up and the flack cannon whirled. Casper's mouth fell open and McNeil pulled her to the ground, but Angus and Obie were without cover and charged. I broke into a dead run and tried to sight in, but the Frother was in my line of fire and I couldn't take the shot.
The WW vet's helmet took three hits from above and split apart, showering his breastplate with red and sending him reeling. The flack cannon barked twice as he fell, sending shrapnel screaming off the concrete but Angus leapt onto him and rode the armor to the ground. Hacking the cannon out of its hands, he slammed his Claymore through the visor. Obie just shrugged and dropped the crate, probably disappointed that he didn't get to drop it on him.
I slowed down and leaned into a crate to catch my breath, looking around for the wraith.
"Nice shot," I said. "Very nice shots."
"Always!" Nix purred and slid down her climbing line onto a crate behind me. As she bounded up, she flipped her scout helmet up and gave me an ear-to-ear grin that proved she wasn't too irritated with me. When we got close to the others, I saw that no one was badly hurt. K'rth stood as I got up and nodded, while Gael went to check Angus and worked her Ebb magic. Sitting on the floor, Casper didn't say a word and wouldn't meet my eyes.
"Where was the rest of that fire coming from?" I asked.
"They ran that way," K'rth answered and we headed that direction. The squad had been returning fire and several bodies in DN body armor were leaking into the drains.
"Did you get a look at them?"
"Four or five Interceptors in full armor and then he showed up," he said, nodding towards the body. Angus was still hacking on the armor, but we left him alone since he didn't seem to be in danger of hurting himself.
"The WW Crims were stowed away in the crates but I don't know how they could survive vacuum."
"The crates must have been setup with supplementary life support systems and their suits are sealed," K'rth said as he retrieved his power disk from a body. "I suspect that there's more going on here than we know. This shows more resources than Dark Night normally can commit."
"Hey team, it's time for round two," McNeil said and pointed towards movement beyond the holding area. I saw a man in a DN flack vest scramble for cover behind another forklift and wondered how many guys we were up against. Suddenly this Yellow BPN had shifted to Red and we were a little underdressed for the party.
Gael came up beside me and quickly glanced around the corner, opening her oyster. Her face was dirty and worn around the eyes, but she was uninjured and looked as beautiful as always. Within a half dozen keystrokes, she had pulled up a schematic and waved K'rth and myself over.
"We've got two processing centers and about a dozen warehouses in front of us, most of them are sealed by heavy security doors that I can probably get open. The only thing is we have to go through there to follow their trail, and that boys and girls is what they like to call a choke point."
I looked at the path into the next section and it was a textbook squad sized vertical coffin - narrow with absolutely no room to maneuver. The Stormer and the Frother would probably vote for a straight out rush, but I wasn't in the mood to die today. As I looked around Angus must have stopped chopping the WW Crim apart and started to rush past. K'rth hooked him around the waist like a small child and pinned him to the wall by his shoulder with a loud thud. With discipline like that, no wonder their children grow up hard bastards.
"Is there any way to flank them?" K'rth asked. "Any alternate routes?"
Gael nodded and got her real world bearing before answering. "We've got a long way to the left through a second holding area and an outside entrance to the right sealed by a fire door. It's doable."
"Okay then," Casper barged in, acting like she was squad leader again. "Cole, you and K'rth take the right and circle around outside. McNeil and I will take the left and try to come in from the opposite side. Everyone else try to keep them busy from here."
It sounded plausible, with one large tusked exception.
"What about Obie?" I asked. "He doesn't carry a firearm and if he rushes, he'll get spammed."
She nodded and considered it. Maybe the close call earlier left her open to other opinions for once.
"Okay then. Take the vat-grown dumbass with you," she said.
Obie mumbled something that I barely caught and if I didn't know better, I'd think he called Casper a bitch. I watched his face as we started to walk but it didn't show any emotion. Did I actually hear that or was I imagining things?
We split into three groups and K'rth took point as we circled out of the holding area and to the exterior door. The low hiss on the other side grew into a dull roar as we swung it open and started our assault. Provided the other door was unlocked, we might be able to flank them without being seen. If it was locked, we had the Chagrin 714 model lockpick and we were going in hot. Already, I heard weapons fire and knew that Angus and Gael were starting the cover fire. We didn't have long and K'rth picked up the pace.
The rain stung where it hit my skin and I pulled the hood of my slick up and over my ears as we trotted through the yellow light. The wind was coming from the east, pushing the rain through the heavy plumes of exhaust from the surrounding industrial plants, and giving the air a caustic scent that burned my nose. It also made my ears and face burn, so I pulled the hood of my slick further over my head and tried to shield my pistol. My two friends' skin might be less sensitive to this low-grade sulfuric acid, but I didn't want to end up like the scarred concrete and melted fences we were passing. K'rth must have realized what I was thinking and picked up the pace.
The constant rumble of launching shuttles made communication impossible, so we relied on hand signals as we converged on the heavy fire doors leading into the main dock area. Taking positions to the sides, I carefully tried the handle but it wouldn't budge. K'rth looked at me and I shook my head, so I patted Obie on the arm and pointed at the door. We had done this a hundred times; K'rth and I would give cover fire and Obie was the battering ram.
We were ready to go in hot, but then the darndest thing happened.
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