Obie tossed his head to shake off the rain and limber up his neck, flexing the huge bundles of muscle that he called a neck. For some reason, he decided to set himself about twenty feet back from the door when he's easily knocked full fire doors down with a shorter charge. Sometimes the boy has some very good instincts, which is something I can't say for most other people.
Just as he dropped his head and started trotting into his charge, there was a creak and the door swung open towards us. We were pretty surprised, but not nearly as much as the two guys on the other side. They didn't react too well to the incoming Chagrin and I heard a scream in stereo and a short weapons burst right before they bolted the door shut. Yep, they were definitely Dark Night and that was all Obie needed to set himself off. He blurred past me, roaring like a banshee that I could hear over the background and I turned my head to keep the debris out of my eyes.
He hit so hard that the boom rattled my teeth and shook the ground. The cheap bricks around the doorjamb turned to powder and the door screeched as it buckled and exploded inward. There was an abbreviated weapon burst, a few more screams, and a couple of loud banging sounds just before everything went quiet. K'rth and I followed him to give cover, but it was kind of pointless. Obie's charge had taken him ten feet into the corridor, but he had doubled back to stomp the door like a kid dropping a boot on a bug. I glanced back long enough to make sure the man with guns were down, but calling them "down" wasn't sufficient. Squashed into paste might be more appropriate and I tried not to step in them as I entered.
"So much for surprise," I said as we cleared the hall.
"I think they were surprised," K'rth added.
"Smartass."
We were in a maintenance hall of some sort and I fell in behind K'rth as he took point again. Gunfire cracked in the distance and we trotted around the corner looking for hostiles, but the area was clear. Sometimes I love this part of the job enough to have been a Death Squad gun nut, but then I really live for the close combat.
"sssssstttttt-ole, where are you?" Casper's voice came hissing across the mike. The amount of background radiation in the area and even materials in the walls were really screwing with the reception.
"Just got through the door and are coming in from the side. Where are you at?"
"WAITING ON YOUR SORRY ASS!" she yelled "WE'RE TAKING FIRE WHILE YOU'RE OFF PLAYING WITH-"
"We are engaging now," K'rth cut in as we moved on the double doors under the big "Processing Area 2" sign. Something punched through the wall next to his head and the cool-headed bastard didn't even flinch. Of course, Obie didn't flinch either which made me look like a complete wuss, but no one seemed to notice. I concentrated on my job and checked the door, grinning at K'rth when I found that Bayer's people had forgotten to lock this one. Man, were they going to pay for that mistake.
I wanted to take a position directly next to the left door, but Obie was in the way and I couldn't get past. Chagrins, or at least this one, get locked into some sort of attack mode that makes them oblivious to anything but their immediate targets. To me, this seems like a design flaw, but I guess Karma isn't really concerned since they'll just make more to replace the ones that get turned into Stormer chow. The big guy was so far into the zone that I couldn't get his attention even when I shouldered him and elbowed his ribs and it was starting to piss me off. I would have looked at K'rth for ideas, but the 714's huge chest was in the way.
K'rth was crowded too, but he decided to take a less subtle approach than I did. He reached up and slapped the big Stormer in the side of the face, which definitely got his attention. K'rth is a big guy and stands well over six feet tall, but Obie is far more intimidating, having about twice as much mass and standing nearly two feet taller in height. Bitch slapping a 714 isn 't something I'd recommend to anyone and I stared, not sure what was about to happen.
Obie snapped his head down and over to glare at the Shaktar and I heard a low rumble from his throat. It died a moment later and he took a step and a half backwards to stand against the wall. Whatever had passed between them was lost to me, but I was seriously impressed.
As we tried to get in the right position to sweep the room, the passage was so narrow that we were both still crowded between the door and the Stormer's chest. Like normal, K'rth began to count to three but something told me we were in trouble at about the count of two. With each number, Obie tensed further, expanding in the limited space and leaning forward until his tusks nearly touched the door over my shoulder. He was slobbering again and sighted on some imaginary target like a Frother blasted on UV, his deep breathing becoming slow and rhythmic. K'rth met my eyes and shrugged, not knowing what the big guy was thinking and I shrugged back. Maybe nothing was wrong after all? Either I underestimated the big guy's enthusiasm again or somebody with really big cojones took a whiz in the Chagrin's cereal this morning and he was trying to pay the world back.
When K'rth hit three, the Stormer roared and charged forward, tossing both of us into the doorjambs and slamming the doors inward hard enough to crack the walls. My Blitzer went off into the floor as I fell and the Shaktar and I landed in a heap cursing, nearly back to back. We both rolled over and went after him, with me fumbling to grab my pistol by the right end. After a heartbeat, the weird tilt to the floor evened itself out and I ran after them.
The five terrified men in DN body suits barely had time to spin around as the Chagrin leapt into them. One of them fired a panic burst into the floor, only to have Obie clip him across the forearms, sending the weapon and meat flopping onto the concrete. Another took the charge full on and got a tusk through the throat, and a third was eviscerated when Obie clawed him with a backhand. Of the other two, one simply passed out to have his head stomped into putty and the other dodged into the crates with K'rth on his heels.
I caught movement from an island of crates to our left and took cover as something ripped a row of splinters across a skid near my hip. Two men were opening fire with something larger than SLA's propaganda says they have and I went prone as another example punched through a crate behind me. All I can say is that anyone who believes DN only uses 8mm rounds deserves what he gets. Obie had calmed down for the moment and dropped to one knee, taking a moment to crush the throat of the man he had eviscerated.
"I think he's dead, big guy. Give it a rest."
"Iz now," he answered back and I looked at him. He was definitely pissed off about something and must have been all day. God knows what, but I made a mental not to ask him later. Behind us, there was a scream and thrashing that told me K'rth had taken down the other Interceptor.
"Gael, what do we have?" I asked as I tried to take a head count of bad guys.
Her voice came across with a heavy layer of static, just like Casper's.
"We've got at least three
-ts in Crackshot and one in a class suit of Dogeybone. Counted about -teen hostiles before we started shooting, but most of t towards the back." "Ok," I said as K'rth crouched next to me. Any number of bad guys numbering in the teens, particularly a group backed up by Dogeybone armor was something to consider. We could take the goon squad, but the vets in the WW kits were a little out of our league today.
"These are pretty bad odds old man, what do you think?"
His eyes were solemn as he nodded and pulled his cell phone to call it in. As he closed the phone and put it away, someone opened up in the distance with a warmonger and the ceiling shook. I replaced the spent round and snapped the cylinder shut as I tried to get a read on the hostiles' positions.
"Someone already called in a Red," he said. "They asked me if I wanted it." His eyes were smiling now and I wondered what the punch line was.
"What did you tell them?"
"I told them that my reception was bad and I couldn't hear them."
"Thought you couldn't lie?" I laughed, glancing over to check his expression. A grin on a Shaktar is a scary thing and his especially so.
"Not to an equal," he stated in a very 'matter of fact' voice, but his eyes were still grinning.
"Figures that you'd find a loophole," I started, but then I had a thought. "So, can you lie to me?"
"Of course. You're only a human," he said, laughing. That was probably a fair M'th'l' s'lthk't for some ribbing I've given him in the past. He's got a good memory, even if it is a little selective.
"K'rth come in, what's your status?" came another voice across the mike.
It took me a moment to realize the voice belonged to McNeil, but the Shaktar knew it immediately and narrowed his eyes in disgust. We often had the same opinion of people and I'd swear we'd be brothers if he were human.
"I am well. You?"
"West side of the facility. Looks like the Dinos are forcing dockhands to move some crates for them. Lazy fucks."
Dinos. That's slang that a lot of the newer ops use and it makes Interceptors sound like a harmless purple Saturday morning cartoon dog. I shook my head and kept watching because it looked like the "Dinos" across from us were waiting for something.
"How many Interc-" K'rth began, but Mcneil kept talking. The Shaktar considered that a good example of disrespect and was a great way to get on his bad side. Not that McNeil needed any help in that department.
"There's at least a half dozen guys, but they're loaded up and they've got a friend in powered armor over here. Casper says to tell Cole and the rest of you lazy fucks to quit screwing around and get over her to back us up."
Oh yeah, he was on a roll now. That was an insult worth some serious payback, provided the dumbass lived through this.
"Why doesn't she tell me herself?" I asked, breaking in on their private conversation.
"What?" Maybe the reception was bad on his end, but I doubted it since I could hear him fine.
"Why doesn't she tell me herself?" I repeated as I half rose to look where the two Interceptors had gotten to. Obie knew what I wanted and tapped me to point, so I crouched again and waited. Nix bounded for a higher position and I heard the key'd mike signal a moment later. We'd have them in a crossfire as soon as we opened up.
"She's got more important things to do then talk to a subordinate."
"Hey shit for brains, " I cut in, getting angry again. "As of yesterday, my Skull is 7.0. Unless someone flipped the SCL system, that means I'm over you and the bitch now so stop trying to give me orders."
K'rth blew out his breath in a hiss and both he and the Chagrin gave me "the look". I hate getting browbeaten and he and the 714 were both remarkably good at it, so I shook my head and took in a breath.
"Backup's on the way. Hang tight where you are and wait." I said.
"I'll think about it! Mcneil out!" he laughed and cut his mike off. I cursed to myself and looked at K'rth who shrugged then nodded to the right. The two of us circled to another section of low crates while Obie crouched and tensed up again, ready to charge. Now we had them from three or four directions and I decided to hold for a moment and give them a chance to surrender. Maybe it would be worth a bonus if we got a few more of them, but I wouldn't bet on it.
"Throw out your weapons and put your hands up and the Stormer won't eat you!" I yelled. "You're under arrest."
There wasn't any sound initially, but one of them piped up. He was feeling pretty full of himself and thought he was invincible because he carried a gun. It's funny how many Interceptors think that a gun makes them equal to us.
"You can have my gun when you pry it out of my cold-" he started.
"Nix, you on station?" I asked over my mike as he spoke. I hate clichés and anyone spouting them in a fight deserves what he gets.
"Born ready," she purred.
"-dead-" the Interceptor continued.
"Ok, take 'em."
"-fing-urrrk!"
Nix cut his bravado and his friend down with a pair of carefully placed shots and we rushed across the open ground to find corpses. Both targets were down by the time we got close and Obie and Angus looked mildly disappointed.
"Uh, nice shooting," I said aloud as I took a head count, seeing that everyone was pretty much unhurt. When I heard a warmonger roar again in the distance, I cursed because it meant that the dynamic duo had started something without us, but I guess I didn't expect anything else.
"What's next Mister Seven Point Oh bossman?" Angus asked with a grin before he punched me in the arm. I wished I hadn't let the cat out of the bag on that yet, but there were more important things to think about at the moment. Something detonated in the distance with enough force to shake the floor and stream dust from the ceiling, making everyone but the 714 duck and looked around. A moment later the lights went out, but the emergency generator kicked in and everything was bathed in a faint amber light. I looked at the squad's eyes and saw Nix's rows of teeth grinning at me in the dark. She was absolutely loving this.
"We go save Casper's ass."
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