"Contacts!"
"What’s happening up there corporal?"
"Looks like SHIVER’s are setting up a cordon around the area we’re in and theres a couple of big black trucks just arrived. They're leaving their trailers behind, couple of kilcopters in the air, camera crews setting up on the buildings around the area. They just came out of no where sir."
Cray had a bad feeling they where being surrounded and soon going to be the subject of this recent change of events late this evening. From his position up on the tallest building in the area under his ghillie suit, Gary had a good perspective on the whole scene laid out underneath him, "I would expect militia, not SHIVER’s and cameras sir. This is something different."
"Hey Lieutenant Cray," it was Rachael breaking radio silence back down in her APC, "theres a Gorezone being set up near here. I think it would be prudent to move soon."
"What exactly is a Gorezone, Agent Ansted?"
"Um, its sort of a team bloodsport, televised shooting and stabbing fest. Dont you watch TV?"
"Not if I can help it thankyou. When is it about to start?"
"5 minutes."
"They just let open the trailers parked out there, count about 160 Carriens in them and theres your old friend down there too Lieutenant. Major Fugly we saw a few months ago with all his scabby mates."
Gary watched as the greater carrien with the horns decorated with slamas tinsel and slop ID cards began immediately organising his troops around a series of nearby streets.
"Any relations of yours lieutenant?"
"Get off this channel Agent, the rest of you kit up. Full combat load out, things are about to get hot here. Hold where you are corporal, we’ll work our way out towards you and then regroup and bust out of here."
Cray was pissed off at the reference to his family and could hear her down there giggling evilly in the APC, now their nice quiet little base had been disturbed all because they wanted to turn the area into a film set.
By the time Cray had the section in armour and tooled up to go the SLA ‘Contract Killers’ as they called themselves where being dropped in all over the 6 city blocks from kilcopters. Civilians where flushed out of their residences, either by carriens or drug addled SLA actors running around with all manner of sharp objects and guns. Many ran into the cordons of riot SHIVER’s and where forced back by browbeaters and watercannon, just to add extra flavour a Darknight interceptor cell where also evacuating and the local gangs taking up arms to defend the neighborhood from the new and unwanted arrivals.
"Rachael and your, little friend there, stay near the APC’s. Give me as much intel on their activities from the TV broadcasts. The rest, follow me, stay close and we’ll go get the corporal. If we get split up head back to Delta base, dont shoot the natives, just pacify the SLA opposition. They like using close combat apparently so dont give them the chance."
Cray and the section had barely made it out of the entrance when they came across their first Contract Killer, this particular specimen had 2 wickedly curved vibro sabres and was practicing a warm up sequence on 3 civilians cornered in a building entrance. ‘Stainless’, as the TV crew reported him finished hacking the last civilian to death with a flourish of bladework and was wearing the most lurid body blocker any of them had ever seen with some fibre-optic mohawk coming out of the helmet. The brightly chromed killer spun his blades around for the benefit of the camera pod hovering nearby and turned around to see four KAD-C armoured figures watching him in disgust, Stainless took a step back and was about to run when the announcing crew called him a "pussy".
Warily the ‘killer’ spun his blades around and advanced slowly on the team, Bobrov hit the ignition switch and half a second later the camera’s got to see their little champion screaming on the street as the CREA-3 immolated him completely.
"Oh that’s harsh!" Came the cry from the announcers in amusement, "looks like the Thresher have joined the party, that ups the stakes somewhat!"
"Smile kids, your on TV," Rachael added from her little vantage point at the subway entrance. "Get us away from those camera’s!" Cray snarled back and led his troops into the buildings until they disappeared from the screens entirely as camera pods on their little rotors scoured the area looking for them. The occasional unit dropping to the street nearby as Gary shot them with his 14mm rifle, as a result SLA decided this was a wonderful television opportunity to drop in reinforcements. About 30 frothers from the McDonnell clan with their plaid and claymores where dropped off from 6 kilcopters right on top of where Cray and his men had disappeared. "Somehow I think your spoiling their fun Lieutenant Cray, they seem to consider you a threat now."
"Well thats just fucking wonderful."
"Just remember to present a nice side to the company we work for lieutenant. Make some good PR."
"Oh Im your PR guy now? That’s just fucking wonderful too..."
Buzz had to be reigned in constantly from running off and chopping down the fleeing mobs of civilians making Rachael’s life even more difficult as she struggled to carry the heavy HERF to the top of the stairs. Even with the powered armours chassis helping it was still a cumbersome weapon but at least none of the enemy had decided to come down there after her yet and Buzz ended up scaring off any civilians that thought to bolt down there seeking refuge. "Buzz, I think the lieutenant needs our help today."
"vrrrrrrrwhiirrrrrrrrrrrr Click!"
"Yes, I know but we have to defend the base as our great and fearless leader doesn't think women should do anything better than that..."
"bzzzzzzzzm clunk, vrrrrrrrrlsnick!"
A passing flight of 6 kilcopters hovering over a battle was just too tempting a target not to be ignored, she opened the choke on the HERF to its maximum dispersal and listened to the whine of capacitors building up to full charge. "Stand behind me Buzz, we haven’t put EMP shielding in you yet." Obediently the robot clomped back behind the little woman as she hefted the weapon on her shoulder and took aim at the area of space where the kilcopters where. The weapon was specifically requested by her to be acquired by the Saltwater team, mainly for taking out transmission towers but it had other uses as well.
Cray and the rest of the team didn't so much as feel or hear anything except that it went very quiet for awhile and their comms links went dead so they had to shout. He was just about to order them across a street while they where stalking a contract killer in green dogybone armour with a crossbow that was nailing carriens to a wall nearby, then a kilcopter landed on their target. Or rather crashed rather spectacularly and lay there a ruined mess with sparks spitting out of the wreckage.
"That fucking woman! Marr, did you show her how to use the HERF?"
"No, it was locked up in her APC sir! Our gear should come back online within two minutes though."
Major Fugly and his troops pulled the surviving camera crew and pilots out of the wreck and clubbed them to death in the gutter with bits of wood and steel piping. For a tense moment the two parties looked at each other across the street and wondered who was going to make the first move, Cray raised his hand and waved to the greater carriens. The 7 foot tall beast made the approximation of a snarling smile on its hideous features at him, then did the mockery of a salute back and then returned to kicking to death the pilot. "I thought those things where supposed to be animals?" Sian whispered.
"So did I until I saw that," Cray muttered, perplexed at the chain of events which only just got even more complicated as 5 Darknight troops came sprinting around the corner only to stop metres away from the combined Thresher and carriens forces.
Then 20 or so frothers and another 10 contract killers came charging around the corner as well a mess of blades, guns and tartan looking for blood but stopped as they saw what they where up against. "Who the fuck do we shoot?" Marr snarled and looped the ammo belt over his left arm and braced the gun on his hip.
"I think under the current conditions we just shoot the SLA for now, watch your backs though and if any of those Darknight arseholes get in the way then, well, thats kinda too bad for them..."
As if to provoke them the frothers and contract killers started shouting out some insults about their parentage and just in time the camera pods made an appearance, which was the signal for them to begin the charge.
Cray had seen a lot of stupid things, indeed, he’d even done a lot of stupid things from time to time which he wasnt proud of. But charging a machinegun position wasnt one of them, even if he was drunk or stoned out of his tree like this group of hooligans where the idea wouldn't appeal to him at all. Sian began linking the belts and Marr hunkered down on the gutter, "fucking poofs!" He yelled out at the frothers who where giving him the finger now, "yah hair looks like a farking whores!"
That was it, Cray didn't know who fired the first shot but the street degenerated into chaos soon after.
Seeing an easy opportunity to kill a lone enemy agent on TV a group of 10 frothers and 6 contract killers spotted Rachael fiddling with the HERF in the entrance to the subway tunnel. With a shriek she noticed the weapon still had another 20 seconds to recharge the capacitors and looked for the entire world like a nice easy target, camera pods swooped down sensing a messy and successful bounty.
"Buzz, make them go away! Now!"
"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrl vrrrrrrrrrrrl!"
The manchine launched itself out of the tunnel with frightening speed and dexterity that worried Rachael who hadn't actually seen it move with her own eyes. All the time she had just seen code and the occasional thermographic images through its eyes, the scream of the power reapers opening up forced her behind cover from the deafening wail of rapid fire. It looked good on TV, she noticed on the HUD patched into the split-screen Gorezone show. She even looked good in the armour and wondered where the camera was just to show off except that it was bringing an inordinate amount of attention to her position, which is exactly what she didn't want right now. A little camera unit spun down to meet her and lowered a plasma screen from the bottom of the round pod, some man with a square jaw, polished white teeth and some disgusting amount of fake tan was asking for an interview.
For a moment she was almost flattered enough to accept and throw some company propaganda at the SLA viewers but it would likely never make it to air anyway. The FLAY pistol rounds managed to knock off the rotor and it laid on the ground whirring and spinning before she finally staved its lenses in with a brick. Buzz was having a merry time of mutilating the frothers with his claws while they slashed away at his carapace ineffectually with their swords. Again and again the twin vibroblades tipping his larger arms dived in on the men trying to find a weak spot in its armour, time again they tore apart the enemy like a grain harvester.
The camera showed the Thresher logo quite nicely she thought, that in itself on a SLA manufactured robot should have the public confused enough.