I took a deep breath and enjoyed the cool rain against my face. It was calming, in a way. Felt entirely different then the blood I’d been soaked in as of late. If only every night could be this calm and-
“Shiro, are you sure about this?” Saint’s voice came from my phone.
“Should I not be?” I checked my coil-pistol. Still looked all good. I tossed in another mag of projectiles into the pistol. A spark flicked from my finger, channeling into the gun’s internal batteries.
“Still… you’re being safe, right?” Saint sighed. “Doesn’t matter if I find your friend if you’re dead.”
”Look-“ I took a breath… he was right. But I couldn’t just sit around. At least I was doing something, even if this wasn’t quite how I thought about going about things. “Fine. Last one. I’ll- I’ll go hit gangs or something next.”
I stared down at the apartment building. It was a worn place, and home to quite a few of the down and destitute. Also, although it may not look like it, home to a Scav operation in the sub-levels below the building. It wasn’t too hard to find with a map of disappearances and a few other things from the Crusade.
“How many has it been already, hmm?” The reporter asked me.
”This is the third.” The first one was at school. The second was a tiny gas station on the fringes of the city. And now this one in the apartment building.
I couldn’t eliminate every Scav Den this side of the Corporate Quarter, unfortunately. This was the last of the three I could pinpoint using the Crusade’s database. To be honest, a Crusader probably would’ve come along sooner or later and cleared them anyway. I was just beating them to the punch.
“I don’t know how you do it, kiddo.” Ugh- I hated when he called me that. He was like the annoying older brother I never wanted. “Three Scav Dens in one day. You injured?”
I rubbed at my arm. One of the Scavs in the gas station got a lucky shot off and winged me. Nothing too serious though. “Nothing that won’t heal by tomorrow."
“You sure you don’t need any help? I’m not much of a shot, but I can probably take down a few-”
“I’m good.” Saint didn’t seem like much of a combatant- woah, Deja vu… People used to say the same about me. Now look at me. Granted, these were bottom feeding Scavs. Wasn’t exactly dangerous considering my recent haunts. “Anything on your end?”
“Strike out across the board.” He sighed once more. “I got a meeting with a guy in an hour. He’s an… informedindividual. Might have something.”
”Let me know.” I stood up and summoned a bird from the Spectral Flock. The little crow cawed up at me-
Corvid popped out of the Aether and shot the much smaller crow a look. The spectral crow flinched back and settled on the roof of the building. My little bird took his rightful place on my shoulder, cooing gently to me.
“Stay safe, Shiro.”
”You too.” I patted Corvid on his feathered dome and hung up the phone. Let’s get this over with.
I pulled out a dozen Dragonflies and tossed them into the air. They flew down toward the building with a simple command of mine, infiltrating through open windows and cracks in the mortar.
A few of them settled near the entrance, keeping watch of the place. The rest infiltrated down with some careful maneuvering and entered the basement. The Scav Den was hidden with guards posted at the door. I set up one of the cams to watch them then snuck the rest deeper in.
The Scav base was a dingy place. Looked like some ancient covert facility they dug out and set up in. Whatever the place used to be, it was truly taken over by Scavs now. It looked like their operation had been around for a while. The place was matted with a layer of blood and rust.
There were plenty of nooks and crannies to hide my Dragonflies. I set them up all over, taking a count of the Scavs inside while I was at it. Aside from the two at the door, I had fifteen. A bit smaller than the group at the school, but the boss looked much more intimidating.
Half of the Scavs were busy ‘processessing’. The rest were around the place, resting or working on other things. The only one of note was the boss in the back of the place. He looked like a heavily chipped techie of some kind. Most of the ripped chrome was back with him in his shop.
I watched the cams for a moment, observing their Scavs in their… their work. I also watched for the electrical and security systems inside of the place. They didn’t have all that much. Once I was confident, I closed up my Deck and nodded to Corvid. “Ready?”
”Ca-caw-caw!” Corvid flapped his wings toward the building.
”Right.” I checked my equipment one last time and ensured the flock was ready to go. Then I jumped off the building. Time to get the show on the road.
I moved to the apartment building and slipped through the front door. There was no actual security here outside of cams, so it was easy to get to the stairs of the place with just Blinder. I worked my way down to the basement.
Before stepping out into the basement, I activated my Perks. Illusive pulled my body into the shadows, creating the perfect camouflage to blend in. I pulled Corvid into my collar, allowing him to benefit somewhat from the effect. He nuzzled up against my neck and made himself right at home.
I checked the coil-gun one more time and then stepped down into the basement proper. According to my Dragonflies, the guards were still in position. I worked my way to them and picked up a piece of rubble, tossing it on the far side of my approach.
”What was that?” One of the guards asked. He moved away from the door to investigate.
Before the other guard could say anything, I pulled the trigger. It was set to Whisper mode, so the shot was absolutely silent. The projectile flicked out like a dart, piercing the guard’s forehead. Although the shot was silent, the guard collapsing wasn’t.
”Hey, you o-“ A second shot took out the other guard just like that. Both died before they could even figure out what was going on.
“Caw~!” Corvid cheered me on.
”Yeah… I don't know if I even want to get good at this.” I rubbed the little guy with my finger. My gaze dropped to the two dead Scavs. It was getting too easy, almost. Didn’t feel that hesitation anymore.
It was also a bit… boring? I used to get adrenaline spikes when doing this, but now I just felt cold and empty… or maybe that was Cold-Blooded at work. I dunno what I would’ve done without the Perk regulating my stress and worry levels.
The door was easy enough to open. The hidden nature of it didn’t really matter with two armed guards on the front of it. Just like that, I had access to the Scav’s base. I sabotaged the door behind me to ensure no one escaped.
I snuck through, dodging past the Scavs at work. Before doing anything else, I headed for the ‘pens’. It was where they kept all the still alive people waiting to be processed.
I checked the cams with my HUD. One of my Dragonflies had a good overlook of the room. There were about a dozen people locked up inside of cages along the walls with one guard ‘watching’ them. The guard sat on a couch near the door. A flashing Vizor was pulled down over his eyes.
It was all too easy to sneak up on him, distracted as he was, and put a piece of shrapnel between his eyes. The man’s body flinched and his cracked Vizor fell to the ground around him. Fourteen more to go.
One of the victims jumped up to his cell. “H-hey! I-is someone the-!”
I flicked on Fear the Reaper, hitting the captives with it. Not enough to have any ill effects, but enough to make them second guess calling out. I stepped forward and dropped Illusive. Most of them were out of it, whether that be through drugs or malware blocking their systems, but there were enough still conscious.
“If you want to survive, don’t say a word till the Crusade gets here.” Letting them out now would only endanger not only themselves, but also myself.
A girl pushed her way to the front of the cages. She grabbed onto the bars and desperately called out to me. “M-my sister! Please, save my big sister! She- she was just taken!”
I eyed the girl. The pure desperation in her face was heartbreaking, especially considering what kind of facilities this was. “I’ll try.”
Before anyone else could work up the nerve to speak out, I turned on my heels and headed back out the door. I sabotaged the locks into the room. No Scav would get in there behind me.
Thirteen more bastards were spread throughout this place. I checked the cams with my HUD once more. It was too late for most of the victims being processed, but there were three of them that might be savable.
I pointed out a room to Corvid. “Just like last time. Go distract them for me, chek?”
”Caw!” Corvid tapped his chest with his wing and then hopped out of my collar.
While he did that, I popped into the nearest processing room. A Scav leaned over a man strapped to the table, saw whirling. Blood and flesh splattered all over the room as the victim screamed into a gag.
I flashed forward with Arc Flash, appearing next to the Scav in an instant. I shot forward with my arm, slamming a knife into the Scav’s throat with one hand. With the other I ripped the saw free of the victim and tossed it to the side. Before the Scav could try anything, I kicked him square of the chest and put a round through his face.
The victim pulled at his binds, bloodshot eyes darting toward me. “Mpph!”
I pulled out another knife and cut through the straps holding the guy down. He immediately grabbed at the massive cut in his leg. I passed him a bunch of gauze from my bag. “Keep pressure on it till help comes.”
”Th-thank you. I- I thought it was over.” The man had tears running down his face.
”Yeah- well, stay here. Might actually be over otherwise.” The less variables I had running around, the better. I checked the feeds one more time.
The man sat up and put even more pressure on the wound. “Of course, ma’am.”
I moved out into another room. This one hadn’t even started processing. The Scav had a girl strapped up to a table. He stood over a table, writing something down. Without the threat of a power tool going astray, it was an easy shot through the back of the head.
I freed the girl. She looked like maybe the sister of the one in the pens, but I could be quite sure. “Stay here till help comes.”
”R-right.” She nodded her head several times with a hollow gaze.
I patted her shoulder and then moved out into the hall, cleaning up the rest of the Scavs as I went. Most of them were busy doing something or another, and didn’t notice something was wrong until it was too late. The numbers dropped, and dropped, and dropped until there was just the boss left in the workshop.
I reloaded the coil-pistol with metal fragments and checked the coils. Still good to go. Hopefully, I’d just need one last shot to clear up this den.
I checked the Dragonfly looking out at the boss’s room one last time. He was still tinkering away on a piece of chrome, completely unaware that all of his men were already dead. I pushed open the door and slipped in.
“Who’s there?” The boss stood up as soon as the door opened. How- sensor. In the door maybe?
I slunk forward into the room, keeping one of the work tables covered in chrome between us. The boss reached for a pistol, rising up from his station to scan the room. He looked right over me. Chrome eyes, it looked like. I was completely invisible with Blackout.
The boss stood up and moved to the far side of the room. He moved a stack of crates out of the way and opened up what looked like a hidden safe. The pistol in his hands was quickly replaced by a heavy machine gun, the type that’d be mounted to a vehicle.
”I’m warning you, this is your last chance to reveal yourself!” The boss got a massive surge of confidence with the new weapon in his hands. He stalked forward, panning across the place.
I casually walked up to him. Blinder and Fox’s Paw were really all I needed for people with chrome eyes and not much else going for them. The guy completely missed me, still searching for his intruder.
I struck forward, though not with an actual attack. Instead, I used the training from Swipe to quickly disable the gun while he was still holding it. I moved around him and did the same thing with one of his arms.
His arm went limp and the HMG clattered to the ground. He took a wild swing at empty air. It was all too easy to dodge. “A runner! Come out, coward! Face me in meatspace!”
Heh… he really was clueless, wasn’t he? I toyed with the boss, slowly disabling each and every piece of his chrome. It was mostly low-tier stuff anyway, so it wasn't all that hard to get access to with the right know-how.
The confidence on the man’s face deteriorated with each malfunctioning limb. He turned into a paraplegic just like that, dropping down with chrome limbs uselessly dangling. “You bastards! What do you want?!”
I tossed the Transporter into the air, letting it get to work on opening a portal. Then I rolled the boss’s chair over and took a seat in front of him. With a touch of my wrist pad, I disabled Blinder.
The man’s face twisted like he might explode in rage. I flared Fear the Reaper on at full blast, allowing him to marinate in the terror it provided. His flushed face almost immediately turned pale. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”
“W-what d-do you w-want?” The boss stuttered.
I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned forward. “Simple. Information. You provide something useful, and I’ll let you live. If not…”
”I-I know things! I- promise y-you’ll let me l-live?” Hope glimmered in his eyes.
Now, I wasn’t one for cruelty. Of course I’d keep my promise… but there was no telling if the Crusade would do the same once they got here. Oh! That reminds me. I sent an anonymous tip-off to the Crusade, reporting the place. Should be here just after I finish up.
I waved a half hearted hand toward the man and recalled the Dragonflies. “Of course… so?”
”R-right. Look- there’s a n-new player on the b-block. They need lots of chrome. W-willing to support Scav Dens a-across the city.” He continued to talk about the group and various other rumours for ten minutes. Most of the stuff was just hearsay. Nothing concrete. Some of it was interesting though.
I stood up, causing the man to fall silent. “I’m more interested in Savants. Have you heard of any operations in the area?”
“N-no.”
I slowly stalked behind him and tossed his HMG through the now open portal. I also emptied the vault’s contents into my hidden Aether bunker. Wasn’t anything too crazy. A bunch of drugs, a few pieces of higher end chrome that I could scrap for materials, and a handful of chips. Some of them looked like they might have Rayn on them? I could take them to Athena when I got the time.
“Come now, surely there’s something? That's the only thing I’m interested in.” I grabbed the Transporter and checked the time.
His face turned even paler when I walked back around him. “I-I don’t know. B-but I know who might know something! Red Veil! Th-they’re a big gang in the a-area. They’re w-where we bought most of our goods.”
Ugh- goods. Like he was some kind of merchant and not the literal scum of the earth. Still, I marked down Red Veil. They were one of the gangs on my list-
Bang!
“Ah, our friends have arrived.” I listened closely, hearing a group of Crusaders pour into the facility. I crouched down in front of his face. “I don’t have to tell you to keep quiet about me, do I? The Crusade’s walls won’t keep you safe.”
“O-of course, ma’am! Mum’s the word.”
I slapped him on the cheek a few times. “Good boy. Now then, it was a… experience.”
I stepped out of his view and pulled on the connection to my Spectral Flock. In an instant, I vanished out of the Scav Den like I was never even there. Corvid tumbled out of the Aether behind me a moment later. “Caw~…”
“I didn’t leave you. We simply made our escape.” I nudged the little guy’s head and looked over the roof’s railing. Several Blue Crusade Inc APC had pulled up alongside a bunch of other Crusade vehicles for a massive raid.
I moved back to my hoverbike parked on the roof and started it up. I also checked the Blue Crusade database one more time. The Red Veil should be on the fringes of Oldtown, right along the Outskirts.
With my new destination locked, I pulled off of the building and floated back down to the streets.