A Team of Six’s
The city slumbered in the humid heat of the mid summer night, even at four in the morning the smothering acid tainted smog kept the air muggy and barely breathable. The buildings showed both their age and poor construction in the crumbling decay of the prefab concrete, almost in shame few street lights sporadically illuminated the litter strewn roads with brown outs being a common price for the cash poor sprawl.
The streets where quiet with few metahuman or the less mundane predators prowling the streets, only the occasional scream or siren piercing the air. Lone Star patrols kept the area quiet many of the smaller office blocks and warehouses paying a slightly higher tithe to the Star. This extra tithe ensured many of the local gangs never took their rage out against the occupiers for fear of retribution, and the many squatters that would usually accumulate in this sort of urban sprawl stayed well out of sight.
The team moved forward little more than shifting shadows in the inky blackness of the alley, even the two security guards lounging lazily against the security station couldn't have noticed them if they'd bothered to look. Together the guards turned and gave each other a quizzical look before slumping to the ground, neither having heard the near silent report of the narcojet pistols used to subdue them.
Moments later the team emerged racing from the alley way, the team was uniformly dressed in black form fitting armour with several also wearing vests reinforced with ceramic plates, each had their faces covered by respirators. All of them had specialist equipment strapped to their bodies, little noise escaped except the subdued sound of their movement across the road towards the unprotected front entrance of the Biogen research facility.
Even for a shadow running team its composition was unusual. Six the troll took the lead, while he was not the fastest he was the most capable of taking fire, large and extremely fit even for a troll his 'warez was capable of nearly fully negating even a large calibre rounds lethal potential. Following close on his heels was Alpha a boosted human and current leader for the team, looking closer in size to an ork and with significantly enhanced speed coupled together with his keen intellect made him a street sam to be feared.
Following fractionally slower was Cerik, the team's magical support in the form of an elven magical adept. Cerik had magically enhanced reflexes almost the equal of Alpha, and highly proficient in hand to hand combat combined with the spell casting ability of a sorcerer. Behind him moving as fast as her legs could carry her came Red, a boosted ex-mercenary dwarven rigger who also acted as their tech support. Last to come was Johnny Silver, RAM to his friends, he was the teams decker in the form of a six-foot ork built more solid than your average gutter punk troll, but with the quick efficient movements of a cat. His right arm had been replaced with a chrome cyber limb that housed amongst other things his cyber deck; RAM had started out with Red in the mercenary business but used his earnings upgrading his subsystems.
Six and Cerik sped towards the left-hand corner of the facility, slowing their silent movement as they closed on the corner eventually stopping in the shadowed bushes under the corner spotlight. Alpha and RAM in the mean time had proceeded to drag the comatose bodies of the guards into the bunker that made up the checkpoint, while Red covered the street with her combat shotgun.
"SecTeam two is ten meters from contact two," whispered Red's voice over the team's comm's'. Those with 'warez that allowed them access to the associated data feed saw a real time image, feed to them from an overhead stealth surveillance drone. The drones sensors allowed those accessing them to mark the route of the two security guards patrolling around the building, showing them in clear computer enhanced low light overlaid with bright thermographic images.
"Contact two in three, two, one. Mark!" guided Red.
Jerry and Harry had been walking the same circuit for the last forty-five minutes, in another fifteen they'd swap with Tony and Jed out front, not that being out front was less boring, it just meant you didn't have to walk. Jerry still felt the buzz from Harry's laced smoke, he'd said it was Zone, a neuro-hormone that gave an over whelming sense of rightness. Because it was natural it didn't show on company drug tests.
Just as they got to the corner Jerry was surprised to see a huge jet-black humanoid silhouette step around the corner, all he could discern was a metallic golden shield where its eyes should be. It reached an unnaturally long arm out to touch Harry on his chest, a near silent impact hammered through Harry's body, convulsing it before Harry crumpled to the ground twitching.
Even as it attacked Harry a second smaller, faster, humanoid figure manoeuvred around towards Jerry. Targeting reticule superimposed onto Jerry's vision as his grasping hand latched onto the grip of his submachine gun, ranging stadia dropping to zero before he can even disengage the safety. Jerry's opponent came at him with inhuman speed, suddenly stopping its leg flying up and around in an ever-decreasing arc, its booted foot aimed at his side.
Jerry could hear as much as feel the impact of the boot, the sound of breaking ribs loud in his ears even as pain exploded though every nerve. The impact sent him flying sideways towards the building, his biomonitor sending critical alerts flashing into his vision. Pain caused time to slow and become surreal, the inevitable bone crushing impact as his body careened into the prefab concrete wall shattering Jerry's world into agony filled darkness.
"Contact two neutralized." Six sub-vocalized into his comm.'s unit, scanning the deserted street for anyone that may have seen the conflict.
"Confirmed, move on to stage two." came the reply from Alpha. Even as Six bent to pick up the mangled bodies to pile them into a heap out of sight, Cerik quietly incants then climbs the sheer walls of the faculty quickly disappearing onto the top of the four-story building.
Six had moved back into the shadows and bushes under the floodlight whilst Alpha had donned a SecTeam jacket and stood guard at the checkpoint. Red and RAM had concealed themselves behind the car-stop carbon-concrete plant pots outside the front door; to any that paid attention to the building nothing would seem amiss.
"Accessed and beginning drop now." came Cerik's comm.'s whisper.
This stage of the mission had every one worried, Cerik having scaled the building using magic, and then cracking the maglock security system on the lift well was to abseil down to the foyer. The team had already gotten the pass codes for the internal security from one of the late working wage slaves, but it had to be entered from inside the building as it only allowed him to leave not enter.
The sound of the maglock disengaging was clearly audible in the night air, a collective sigh of relief escaped the team when no alarm blared out as Cerik opened the door. RAM silently slipped in to the darkness beyond the parted doorway, all knew he was heading for the basement and the facilities mainframe where the desired pay data was hopefully waiting retrieval.
Minutes that seemed more like hours ticked by as the others waited on RAM to do his work, finally over the comm's net he said, "Retrieval complete, downloading peripheral data."
"Acknowledged, Red how's our airspace?" responded Alpha.
"Confirmed one combat drone eta 15 seconds, confirmed one Patrol One just turned onto this road eta 5 seconds. Unconfirmed another combat drone 45 seconds peripheral vector. Unknown contact eta 30 seconds, looks like a heavy 'copter no transponder return." Replied Red letting us all know the approximate response times of the local Lone Star law enforcement vehicles, if the run turned to custard, a cop car and two combat drones would be breathing down our necks in less than a minute.
"Acknowledged, Red bring in fire support in case." Alpha's voice had a slight edge to it, no wonder standing out there by himself. By the time the Lone Star patrol car had pulled up to the checkpoint, Alpha was leaning casually against the wall of the bunker, and Cerik had gotten into position with his sniper rifle on the roof.
"Hoi. Where's Harry?" inquired one of the cops as he leaned out the passenger's window, just why the cop wanted to talk to Harry no one will ever know. The nights silence was shattered by the rolling thunderous burst of gunfire accompanied by the whining of bullets, a staggering trollish form was suddenly knocked sprawling from the bushes.
Jerry had lain quiet, as consciousness had returned, his body was completely numb from head to toe, his vision returned in a tunnelled kaleidoscope. As he came to comprehend his senses better he realized he'd been dragged in to the corner bushes and dumped on top of Harry, not more than a meter away Harry's assailant crouched assembling some sort of weapon. The figure which Jerry came to realize, was a large hornless troll equipped for shadow work, and it was a light machine gun it had been assembling as it at last clipped a large belt box on.
It shifted around and Jerry was distantly aware of a Lone Star patrol car stopping at the checkpoint, some of the local cops occasionally supplied Harry with his drugs. It looked like the shadow runner was going to ambush the unsuspecting cops, it had its back to him so he felt safe reaching for his SMG which luckily enough was still attached by its sling. The targeting reticule shook horrible in his vision as it slid up the troll's back, it was partially obscured by the corner and the angle caused the spot light to cause purple flares in his vision.
"Frag you to hell, you piece of ghoul shit!" screamed Jerry, causing the startled troll to glance back, Jerry waited until he had its full attention before firing. He didn't even try keeping to his training, using short controlled bursts wouldn't pay it back for the pain and injuries inflicted on him or Harry.
Sparks and whines of rounds ricocheting intermixed with meaty thwacks as bullets ripped up the corner's prefab concrete construction, as well as impacting into the troll pirouetting it from the concealing bushes. Jerry wasn't terrible surprised that recoil had caused at least half the rounds to go high and wide, but enough hit to throw the troll back onto the lawn. At least the cops where warned and Tony or Jed could hopefully come to his rescue before it could recover.
The last sight Jerry was shocked to see was the troll sitting back up on the lawn, one arm supporting it as the other extended out with its machine gun in one hand. He was unable to move in the moments before the thunder roared and angry green fireflies buzzed through the bushes, they tore up the earth and ripped the undergrowth to shreds. Several of the machine guns bullets impacted into Jerry's chest blasting the breath from his body, several more of the impacts picked him up and threw his mutilated body away like a discarded foil wrapper.
"Contact!" was simultaneously screamed over comm's, while Six opened fire on the SecGuard. Both Alpha and the Lone Star cops had frozen, that all changed as Cerik fired a single shot obliterating the officer's head in the passenger window. Alphas hand came up in an under arm throw, lobbing a hand grenade into the recently vacated window, as soon as it left his hand he dived back through the door to the bunker.
"Echo Three, repeat extraction plan Echo Three! Six get the frag over here now! RAM, Red what's your status..." commanded Alpha over the comm.'s network, no one would have heard otherwise as the patrol car exploded from within silencing the screams of panic.
"I'm by the front door, good to go." came the calm reply of RAM. "Both drones have just turned in bound, both rotor drones ceiling at about 100 meters, eta 30 seconds from downtown and 60 seconds from Redmond. 'Copter is responding, eta 15 seconds its heading to the deck fast, I would guess it's a Lone Star SWAT team coming to play. You'll see it will appear on the road towards downtown." was Red's distracted response, it meant she was already in control of the teams air support.
Six was but meters away from the bunker when the ground behind him started churning and erupting into the air, a Lone Star combat rotor drone sweeping over a building its medium machine gun firing at its full rate of fire. Alpha's SMG chattered away covering Six's sprint to the bunker, although it had neither the range nor power to do damage to the drone at that range. The combat drone slowed to a hover 200 meters down the road, its continuous fire-keeping Alpha and Six bottled up in the bunker hiding from the ricocheting rounds within.
"Red back us up please. Its giving cover fire for the SWAT team, they're fast legging it along the road, and that things going to chew its way in here soon!" came Alpha's eerily calm request. "Acknowledged Interdiction in 3, 2, 1. Clear." twin explosions followed by a low roar marked the passing of Red's Windjina, and its subsequent release of its missile payload. The small jet powered drone was long gone before the smoking debris of the drone and 'copter had crashed to earth, angling around and up to gain a better shot at the second in bound drone.
Both Alpha and Six strode out of the bunker, Six's LMG spitting green tracer down the road occasionally touching the blue and gold armoured SWAT members, whilst Alpha's SMG fired burst's into the nearest opponent dropping him as he ran. The SWAT team suddenly found they had been left out in the open with no covering fire, little return fire was directed at the runners as the SWAT team scrambled to find cover, in the process leaving several members wounded and dead on the street.
Red sprinted across the road her auto-shotgun bucking in her hands as she sent burst-after-burst down the road, most of the flechette tore into cars, buildings, windows and street lighting all of which was immediately destroyed. Six's green tracer rounds where being swept across the cover used by the SWAT members like a giant green hose, allowing Alpha the chance to sprint across to the cover of the alley where was he to suppress the other side of the road.
The SWAT team had other ideas however, as they gained cover and their leader started to direct them more effectively their combined firepower started to suppress Alpha and Six. The firing from both sides lulled when a huge fire elemental materialized, looking like some crossbred lizard and a seven-foot tall beetle all wreathed in flame. Six's green line of death intersected the elemental, the tracers dancing across its body with no obvious effect other to enrage it in to charging.
Six huddled under cover as the elemental rushed at him like a fiery freight train, even though his weapon wasn't hurting the magical construct he kept firing and firing. Moments before infernal death swept him up a mystical violet bolt smashed into its side knocking it to the ground in a burning wave destroying all it inadvertently touched.
Its attention diverted to Cerik as he incanted and let fly another of the mystical bolts, its form to shifted and wavered as violet magical energies ran wild over its torso causing its flames to dim or die. With a roar that came from the very depths of hell its self, the elemental arched its back sending a bolt of flame at Cerik.
"Is that the best you can do? Time to die slave!" yelled Cerik after the flame bolt splattered against his mystical defences. This time his bolt was so powerful it was closer to white in power, its path leaving after images flared across the vision of all that could witness the potent display. The spells impact tore straight through its outstretched limbs as it frantically tried to defend its self, even that wasn't enough to stop the bolt grounding out into its chest disintegrating its torso in a blaze of energy.
The suppressive fire slackened off from the SWAT team, disheartened to see such a formidable foe slaughtered so quickly. This gave Ram the chance to dash across, he fired wildly with his AK-98 even lobbing a grenade down the street, it landed just behind the SWAT teams position luckily it was thermal smoke. Next came Cerik moving at little more than a jog, bullets flattening themselves against the magical barrier he'd erected.
He had been called Archangel when he was on the street, but much had changed in Simon Keller's life since then, for one he'd joined with Lone Star nearly 3 years ago. Time had flown by as he'd proven himself to his superiors while trying to leave behind his past, he always worked hardest against the shadow runners his team encountered always trying to ensure there was no way to doubt his loyalty.
Now he was worried, one of these runners was extremely powerful, strong enough to destroy a force five-fire elemental while he was reinforcing its aura with spell defence. Now the cocky piece of troll dung was just jogging across the street like there wasn't anyone about to bother him. Simon's team was laying down fire on the opposing mage but all the rounds stopped at the invisible barrier, Simon had but one choice to take the mages barrier down and that was a full on frontal assault.
Simon conjured up several watcher spirits and directed them to attack the astral form of the runner's spell, while he simultaneously directed his most powerful offensive spell against the layered defences around it. The runner stopped and started countering the attack, watcher spirits collapsed back into the astral ether unable to hold their forms together. Simon could see the runners martial arts attacks contained magical energy, he'd heard of people capable of using their magical potential both physically and mystically, extremely rare and powerful people indeed.
Simons spell had weakened the weave of the runner's defensive spell, and with the other SWAT members concentrating on the runner he was getting knocked around, soon the rounds would penetrate to do some real damage. Simon prepared to again assault the runner's again the SWAT team sensed the end approaching, slowly the moved from cover preparing to give chase to the other fleeing criminals.
A shift in his opponent's aura alerted Simon to an impending doom, the shadow runner suddenly stopped jerking around and dropped to the ground. Simon could see the runner's aura still and he was unharmed physically, if a little apprehensive, no what worried Simon was the gleeful expectation that shone through clear as day.
To late he heard the dull roar of the combat drone as it flashed past; the smoke had concealed its approach and its engine noise was covered by the gunfire. It flew a complex barrel roll as sub munitions dispersed from their area denial pods, explosions air burst along the road shrapnel flaying anything in its path. Secondary explosions followed sending tortured wreckage from the cars and prefabricated construction concrete from the road and buildings hurtling through the air.
The air itself had turned into a solid wall with its impact smashing bones and organs into mush, those few looking from windows had the flesh shredded from their limbs by the glass blasted into an air borne blender. The SWAT team didn't stand a chance, even a tank wouldn't have survived the carnage that trailed from the drone.
If Simon had even momentarily hesitated he would have joined his teammates in oblivion, but at the first sound of the combat drone he'd thrown himself down the steps of a subterranean apartment. Even there the air hammered him with its heat searing his lungs, he was still nearly perforated by the shrapnel that luckily only managed to punch bruises into his flesh.
Cerik staggered to his feet, he'd been saved by a combination of factors, none of which included the drone's attack. His spell and saved him from the worst effects of the explosions, but he'd been bounced and thrown around badly enough to break his nose and bruise him into next week. His ears rang and he had the distinct feeling his stomach was never going to be able to hold food down again, the concussion from the blasts had so effected his inner ear that when he walked it was with the uncontrolled staggering wobble of a drunk.
He glanced back down the street and it was unrecognizable, he stood staring in awe at what the small-unmanned drone had wrought. Facades on apartment tenements had collapsed, their prefabricated concrete construction never designed to cope with the stress of aerial bombardment. The road was a pitted metal and concrete waste zone, not a single vehicle had survived in any form other than as a burning wreck.
For the fifty meters surrounding where the SWAT team had held it looked like a snap shot from an old urban brawl combat zone, or maybe even a Chicago street, the destruction was so complete. Alpha and Six started to run to the aid of their companion, only to stagger to a halt staring at the awesome sight.
"Red! You crazy bitch you've killed it!" said Cerik, unable to avert his eyes.
"Confirmed. SWAT team is toast. Currently zero hostiles inbound," replied Red. "No!" Shouted Cerik, "You've killed the god damned STREET! It’s gone, completely gone for frags sake!"
"Acknowledged. There was some collateral damage, but I think you should evacuate asap. I'm sure the Star will respond soon and the drones running on empty, and when they come I reckon they're going to come armed for bear."
Cerik allowed himself to be lead to the alley by Alpha and Six, they where subdued almost in shock. Alpha shot Six and angry glare when heard him mutter under his breath, commenting about how half the pay got wasted on wasting the street.
The three runners moved down the alley to behind a wheeled dumpster, an open manhole lay to one side, Cerik and Alpha quickly made their way down. Six squirmed after them, when he was in he dragged the bin over top of the manhole before manoeuvring the cover back into place.
By the time any Lone Star, or maybe even military investigators got to the scene they'd be long gone, any aerial or camera searches would locate nothing. The team had negotiated the tunnel system on small Pinto electric monocycles, cheap and light but allowing them to move at a constant speed through the underground warren that made up the sewer system.
Soon the team's mood changed as the adrenaline wore off and the realization they'd survived, while not unharmed certainly a lot better than it could have gone. Ceriks shock took the longest to get over, he had seen death walk the street and it'd been carrying a scythe that was death incarnate to anything it touched.
Cerik's wounds where easily patched by the team’s street doc, most where simple bruising from bullet impacts on his armour except of course his nose. Six's where more substantial but far from life threatening for the huge troll, his augmented platelets having stopped the bleeding long before it could affect his abilities. Alpha had taken a couple of rounds, none of which managed to penetrate his armour whilst Red and RAM ha escaped full unscathed from their encounter.
