Hurried Assault
Endless winding maze of stone and concrete. Guns are brought forward as it becomes a mad dash. Using all tactics and intuition we have to reach the end goal. Stone skies and concrete labyrinth. You can see some clouds here. Way below the node-city lies another city of their own. A city they called theirs and yet they is willing to sacrifice this city and their hidden place for the sake of bringing forth a god.
Is it really a god?
Thoughts squirmed and my mind as of late has been focused on survival. Once in a while, I would notice the intricate markings on the passageways.
No time for observations when dodging bullets.
Still on support. Had a job to do and Kei had to be proactive knowing what we are up against. She drew a scenario in which they succeeded already and made contact with Sato after the idea of a God.
Sato says we need to get as much info as possible and leave the node-city immediately. It’s not profitable and whatever ‘God’ they are trying to bring to the realside does not benefit us in any way.
But I also know what a clock is ticking somewhere. A crew somewhere in Changye or some hidden base is forming a firing solution. Calculating the distance to Vultan and waiting for the keys to twist our doom.
Would a reality warper come out?
Or will we reach their lair and save the day?
It is a ground we took. Became a resting place for the forces pushing inside the underground city. Explosives are being set everywhere, we’ll bring them down if we can’t win.
Kei’s smoking as if it’s her final piece. Marvin’s focusing on his mantras. Eta’s on power saving mode, trying to conserve energy.
“Still calm?”
Kei asks me while taking a long drag. She’s holding a datapad in her spare hand and she’s seated next to me.
“I think I am.”
“Guess you’re one of those who accept death.”
“Maybe.”
“Akun. What do you make of all of this?”
“A job?”
“We might actually see an artificial God. That’s all you have to say?”
“I live through the Shanghai Risk Event, Ma’am. I don’t think it’ll surprise me if a smaller god appears again.”
She takes a moment.
“Sometimes, I forget that you have seen some things in your life, Akun.”
“I think we all did.”
“What’s with the Ma’am, though? Cut that shit out.”
My gaze went to the Templar Unit taking a rest. Battered by the constant gunfight. Wounded and cut by the enemy. Tactics change when you’re fearing about a would-be god. We’re lacking time and even now as we rest all of our minds are into the enemy.
Our goal is to find the anomaly. Is it even an anomaly? I didn’t want to ask Kei and make her think more than necessary. She’s strained and pulled in different directions. Tugged by forces beyond our possible control. Hell, I bet she’d prefer an undead plague than facing the vamps here. Then again, they are a different kind of undead.
We push forward to get to the next ground. The vamps were waiting for us in ambush with heavy machine guns cutting down even the most chromed merc. Eta kept Kei on her back while she kindly replied with her LMG as well. The Templars made suppressing fire while the rest of freelancers met guns and blades with the enemy.
Aiming the gun and shooting. There’s no technique here. Just pure killing. The ones who can use their blades would kindly riposte and go for a killing blow.
Eta held her temper back as she watched the merc fight the gunners. Kei is constantly communicating with the rest while Marvin’s trying hard to get any sneak attacks from catching us off guard. I was aiming the rifle I appropriated from the base and took a pot shot at the enemy.
The gunners on the defensive position got overwhelmed. We continued moving until we reached the outskirts of their underground city. Up above we see the artillery rounds making a faint light. The delayed sound of explosion and the sight of Graded Agents using what they can to cut down the shells before they explode and some redirecting them. One just took the shell point-blank, shrugged the damage and then dashed in.
Our first encounter with an Augmented Vampire came the moment we entered the new ground. Augmented Vampire has to learn their regeneration, but there are those who can master it to their advantage.
Biomechanical Augmentations are prohibited because it takes a special kind of body to inhibit them. Vampires who can regenerate flesh, who adapt their bodies to that kind of biomass manipulation are the kinds of monsters you don’t want to meet.
The kind you’d have to start focusing seriously on if you want to survive. I had to try. I had to survive. We had to retreat as the Graded Agents joined and fought. Augmented Vampires have supernatural senses and if Augmented, they become even more of a monster. Yes, a chrome junkie with enough Augs can take down a normal vampire with augments, but one that has this kind of hardware and wetware implanted into him?
It’s going to be a miracle if a chrome junkie can last more than five minutes against him. This ain’t an honest fight. This is a crusade and we weren't going to let the Augmented Vampire dominate the Graded Agents. Hell, he’s strong, probably the strongest of the Vamps we met, but he rushed in alone and unguarded as if he could take us all in.
But Kei can tell he isn’t rushing blindly either. He was trying to pin us down and we realized that too late. With the Graded Agents busy, the artillery nearby zeroed in and fired at discriminately. Some shells got shot by sharpshooters. One of the Graded Agents tried to intercept only for his arm to fly as the Vampire didn’t waste the opportunity.
Eta locked her suit of armor and covered Kei.
Marvin hastily made a flurry of hand gestures.
I took hold of my belt and waited for the right time to deploy it.
We got blown up.
***
Woke up with ears ringing.
Marvin’s kneeling on the ground while holding his ears and trying to apply an auto-syringe on his neck and drinking a concoction.
I plugged into Eta’s suit and found out she got knocked out by the blast.
Kei’s on the ground staring down the sky. She’s concussed. Blood leaking out of her nose and ears.
I took out some smelling salts and woke her up. Injected her with an adrenaline shot to pump her weakening heart and then another shot on the neck to heal her up.
I raised her back and let her spit the mouthful of blood.
She looks at Eta.
“Is she okay?”
“Knocked out.”
The augmented Vampire was cleaved into two. I looked at the man standing in front of us while holding a blade. Kei notices him and clicks her tongue.
“Vaun. Could have interfered before we got blown up.”
“Kei. This is the first help. You only get two more.”
Kei clearly wanted to argue, but her head’s probably aching from that concussion and right now we can’t exactly feel ungrateful when we’re surrounded by people who didn’t get saved.
I moved Eta to safety. Vaun moves back to the shadows while Marvin gets his focus back and then helps Kei back to a safe spot while the rest of the forces invade the city.
Eta’s on armor lock so we had to run a diagnosis on her suit of armor and then apply meds to her by injecting it straight on her spine, waking her up.
Eta unlocks her helmet and then breathes out. There was visible horror on Eta’s face. Like she just got out of a long dive underwater.
“You okay, sis?”
“F-fine. You okay?”
“Thanks to you and Marv here who put a barrier up. Vaun cut down the rest so we managed to get out alive.”
She took notes of me and then nodded her head.
“Rest up. I think we need another before rushing in.”
Eta nodded her head and then took some meds out of her dimenbag. Kei goes back to her comms while Marvin sat cross-legged on the corner to recover his concentration.
“Need some help?”
Eta handed me the meds as she unlocked the front of her suit of armor and then revealed the insides of her armor. Bluish-purple and swelling. She had me check the threading below her breast and on the side of her rib. It was doing well despite the damage done to her.
I applied medicinal salve on her chest. Making sure that it’s properly applied and spread properly.
“That feels good.”
“Can you fight?”
“I think so. Bones are rattled and my organs get stirred well. Like someone shook me hard to mix my insides.”
She’s trying to smile. I made a small grin and then continued applying the medicine salve on her body until it seeped in and somewhat accelerated her recovery process.
Had to check her suit’s integrity too. Helped her replace some of the parts that got battered with the spare she keeps on her dimenbag.
We got our comms back after a moment. Captain Hawke and his team are fighting on the front.
“This is Templar-actual. We heard someone dropped shells on your location, Ma’am. Glad to see your crew’s still kicking.”
“What’s the sit-rep, Captain?”
“Reloading mag. War Priests are now engaging. One of my privates got wounded and is being pulled back. We just took care of a sharpshooter.”
He stopped talking and returned fire.
“War Priest just smashed a vamp’s head. We’ll be rendezvousing at Grid 127. Fortress ahead is our best bet to enter their ritual area. Until we break through the fortress.”
“Copy all. Meet you there, Captain.”
Kei put her comms away and then sat back on the side while groaning. There are still more forces rushing in the city to take on the vampires. The rest who survived the artillery shells were resting on hard cover to catch their breath and recover their strength.
“How many hours, Akun?”
“Depends. Firing solutions are calculated precisely and even if they do want to fire the GSS. They need to find the right target.”
“I don’t pity the ones who’ll have to take care of this mess. This is why I don’t like big operations like this, Akun. It’s too dangerous. We’re street-level. We don’t do this kind of stuff.”
“And yet here we are in this city of stone bleeding out. Even being the support is battering us.”
She clicked her tongue visibly and then fished out a cigarette from her pockets and smoked. I wonder if her lungs are holding up well, considering she’s chain smokes almost every hour.
Then again when you're in this city. You’d want to smoke it out too.
I know orders are orders. And when you become an affiliate for an association as big as the 7S. It’s best if you keep a good relationship with them since it’s far more profitable and safer to conduct business. They’re treating us like we’re their subsidiary despite Kei calling in her office. She knows. I know. Everyone who has the right mind knows they’re keeping us around because it’s far more convenient for us if we’re not under direct subsidiary since it means less customers.
I left Kei to rest while I overlooked the whole of the city. It’s a city where its houses seem more like mausoleums. A place where they gather to meet and rest. I can’t imagine them staying here other than meeting up or using it as a shelter when things become too hard.
Nonetheless, this is their home.
A home they are willing to sacrifice so they might be able conjure a God of theirs.
A clock is ticking somewhere.
A spear is pointed.
Hurried Assault
Endless winding maze of stone and concrete. Guns are brought forward as it becomes a mad dash. Using all tactics and intuition we have to reach the end goal. Stone skies and concrete labyrinth. You can see some clouds here. Way below the node-city lies another city of their own. A city they called theirs and yet they is willing to sacrifice this city and their hidden place for the sake of bringing forth a god.
Is it really a god?
Thoughts squirmed and my mind as of late has been focused on survival. Once in a while, I would notice the intricate markings on the passageways.
No time for observations when dodging bullets.
Still on support. Had a job to do and Kei had to be proactive knowing what we are up against. She drew a scenario in which they succeeded already and made contact with Sato after the idea of a God.
Sato says we need to get as much info as possible and leave the node-city immediately. It’s not profitable and whatever ‘God’ they are trying to bring to the realside does not benefit us in any way.
But I also know what a clock is ticking somewhere. A crew somewhere in Changye or some hidden base is forming a firing solution. Calculating the distance to Vultan and waiting for the keys to twist our doom.
Would a reality warper come out?
Or will we reach their lair and save the day?
It is a ground we took. Became a resting place for the forces pushing inside the underground city. Explosives are being set everywhere, we’ll bring them down if we can’t win.
Kei’s smoking as if it’s her final piece. Marvin’s focusing on his mantras. Eta’s on power saving mode, trying to conserve energy.
“Still calm?”
Kei asks me while taking a long drag. She’s holding a datapad in her spare hand and she’s seated next to me.
“I think I am.”
“Guess you’re one of those who accept death.”
“Maybe.”
“Akun. What do you make of all of this?”
“A job?”
“We might actually see an artificial God. That’s all you have to say?”
“I live through the Shanghai Risk Event, Ma’am. I don’t think it’ll surprise me if a smaller god appears again.”
She takes a moment.
“Sometimes, I forget that you have seen some things in your life, Akun.”
“I think we all did.”
“What’s with the Ma’am, though? Cut that shit out.”
My gaze went to the Templar Unit taking a rest. Battered by the constant gunfight. Wounded and cut by the enemy. Tactics change when you’re fearing about a would-be god. We’re lacking time and even now as we rest all of our minds are into the enemy.
Our goal is to find the anomaly. Is it even an anomaly? I didn’t want to ask Kei and make her think more than necessary. She’s strained and pulled in different directions. Tugged by forces beyond our possible control. Hell, I bet she’d prefer an undead plague than facing the vamps here. Then again, they are a different kind of undead.
We push forward to get to the next ground. The vamps were waiting for us in ambush with heavy machine guns cutting down even the most chromed merc. Eta kept Kei on her back while she kindly replied with her LMG as well. The Templars made suppressing fire while the rest of freelancers met guns and blades with the enemy.
Aiming the gun and shooting. There’s no technique here. Just pure killing. The ones who can use their blades would kindly riposte and go for a killing blow.
Eta held her temper back as she watched the merc fight the gunners. Kei is constantly communicating with the rest while Marvin’s trying hard to get any sneak attacks from catching us off guard. I was aiming the rifle I appropriated from the base and took a pot shot at the enemy.
The gunners on the defensive position got overwhelmed. We continued moving until we reached the outskirts of their underground city. Up above we see the artillery rounds making a faint light. The delayed sound of explosion and the sight of Graded Agents using what they can to cut down the shells before they explode and some redirecting them. One just took the shell point-blank, shrugged the damage and then dashed in.
Our first encounter with an Augmented Vampire came the moment we entered the new ground. Augmented Vampire has to learn their regeneration, but there are those who can master it to their advantage.
Biomechanical Augmentations are prohibited because it takes a special kind of body to inhibit them. Vampires who can regenerate flesh, who adapt their bodies to that kind of biomass manipulation are the kinds of monsters you don’t want to meet.
The kind you’d have to start focusing seriously on if you want to survive. I had to try. I had to survive. We had to retreat as the Graded Agents joined and fought. Augmented Vampires have supernatural senses and if Augmented, they become even more of a monster. Yes, a chrome junkie with enough Augs can take down a normal vampire with augments, but one that has this kind of hardware and wetware implanted into him?
It’s going to be a miracle if a chrome junkie can last more than five minutes against him. This ain’t an honest fight. This is a crusade and we weren't going to let the Augmented Vampire dominate the Graded Agents. Hell, he’s strong, probably the strongest of the Vamps we met, but he rushed in alone and unguarded as if he could take us all in.
But Kei can tell he isn’t rushing blindly either. He was trying to pin us down and we realized that too late. With the Graded Agents busy, the artillery nearby zeroed in and fired at discriminately. Some shells got shot by sharpshooters. One of the Graded Agents tried to intercept only for his arm to fly as the Vampire didn’t waste the opportunity.
Eta locked her suit of armor and covered Kei.
Marvin hastily made a flurry of hand gestures.
I took hold of my belt and waited for the right time to deploy it.
We got blown up.
***
Woke up with ears ringing.
Marvin’s kneeling on the ground while holding his ears and trying to apply an auto-syringe on his neck and drinking a concoction.
I plugged into Eta’s suit and found out she got knocked out by the blast.
Kei’s on the ground staring down the sky. She’s concussed. Blood leaking out of her nose and ears.
I took out some smelling salts and woke her up. Injected her with an adrenaline shot to pump her weakening heart and then another shot on the neck to heal her up.
I raised her back and let her spit the mouthful of blood.
She looks at Eta.
“Is she okay?”
“Knocked out.”
The augmented Vampire was cleaved into two. I looked at the man standing in front of us while holding a blade. Kei notices him and clicks her tongue.
“Vaun. Could have interfered before we got blown up.”
“Kei. This is the first help. You only get two more.”
Kei clearly wanted to argue, but her head’s probably aching from that concussion and right now we can’t exactly feel ungrateful when we’re surrounded by people who didn’t get saved.
I moved Eta to safety. Vaun moves back to the shadows while Marvin gets his focus back and then helps Kei back to a safe spot while the rest of the forces invade the city.
Eta’s on armor lock so we had to run a diagnosis on her suit of armor and then apply meds to her by injecting it straight on her spine, waking her up.
Eta unlocks her helmet and then breathes out. There was visible horror on Eta’s face. Like she just got out of a long dive underwater.
“You okay, sis?”
“F-fine. You okay?”
“Thanks to you and Marv here who put a barrier up. Vaun cut down the rest so we managed to get out alive.”
She took notes of me and then nodded her head.
“Rest up. I think we need another before rushing in.”
Eta nodded her head and then took some meds out of her dimenbag. Kei goes back to her comms while Marvin sat cross-legged on the corner to recover his concentration.
“Need some help?”
Eta handed me the meds as she unlocked the front of her suit of armor and then revealed the insides of her armor. Bluish-purple and swelling. She had me check the threading below her breast and on the side of her rib. It was doing well despite the damage done to her.
I applied medicinal salve on her chest. Making sure that it’s properly applied and spread properly.
“That feels good.”
“Can you fight?”
“I think so. Bones are rattled and my organs get stirred well. Like someone shook me hard to mix my insides.”
She’s trying to smile. I made a small grin and then continued applying the medicine salve on her body until it seeped in and somewhat accelerated her recovery process.
Had to check her suit’s integrity too. Helped her replace some of the parts that got battered with the spare she keeps on her dimenbag.
We got our comms back after a moment. Captain Hawke and his team are fighting on the front.
“This is Templar-actual. We heard someone dropped shells on your location, Ma’am. Glad to see your crew’s still kicking.”
“What’s the sit-rep, Captain?”
“Reloading mag. War Priests are now engaging. One of my privates got wounded and is being pulled back. We just took care of a sharpshooter.”
He stopped talking and returned fire.
“War Priest just smashed a vamp’s head. We’ll be rendezvousing at Grid 127. Fortress ahead is our best bet to enter their ritual area. Until we break through the fortress.”
“Copy all. Meet you there, Captain.”
Kei put her comms away and then sat back on the side while groaning. There are still more forces rushing in the city to take on the vampires. The rest who survived the artillery shells were resting on hard cover to catch their breath and recover their strength.
“How many hours, Akun?”
“Depends. Firing solutions are calculated precisely and even if they do want to fire the GSS. They need to find the right target.”
“I don’t pity the ones who’ll have to take care of this mess. This is why I don’t like big operations like this, Akun. It’s too dangerous. We’re street-level. We don’t do this kind of stuff.”
“And yet here we are in this city of stone bleeding out. Even being the support is battering us.”
She clicked her tongue visibly and then fished out a cigarette from her pockets and smoked. I wonder if her lungs are holding up well, considering she’s chain smokes almost every hour.
Then again when you're in this city. You’d want to smoke it out too.
I know orders are orders. And when you become an affiliate for an association as big as the 7S. It’s best if you keep a good relationship with them since it’s far more profitable and safer to conduct business. They’re treating us like we’re their subsidiary despite Kei calling in her office. She knows. I know. Everyone who has the right mind knows they’re keeping us around because it’s far more convenient for us if we’re not under direct subsidiary since it means less customers.
I left Kei to rest while I overlooked the whole of the city. It’s a city where its houses seem more like mausoleums. A place where they gather to meet and rest. I can’t imagine them staying here other than meeting up or using it as a shelter when things become too hard.
Nonetheless, this is their home.
A home they are willing to sacrifice so they might be able conjure a God of theirs.
A clock is ticking somewhere.
A spear is pointed.
