Mercenaries’ Tale – 4.11 Breaking and Entering
As twilight approached, the mercenaries assembled on the ridge once more. Kate, her hair once more tied back in preparation for the night’s activities, was kneeling down as she studied the layout of the complex through the scope piece of her rifle. The gun itself was yet to be assembled, the gunslinger merely checking to see if anything had changed now that “night” was rolling in.
“…There’s a few guards patrolling the area but no more than earlier. Looks like the fresh snowfall combined with the blizzard yesterday buried most of the entrances so they’re pretty busy digging them out,” She explained.
“I take it we do have a way inside?” Doug asked, stretching in anticipation for the night’s work, bending one leg whilst keeping the other straight to prepare his hamstrings. Gratin was standing near the edge of the cliff, staring down at their target. It made a welcome change to see him focusing on something other than random points in space.
“I can see heat escaping from the westerly section. An open door perhaps?” he suggested, prompting Kate to train her scope on the wing in question. It was the part of the building that looked like a stereotypical office block. The Lab block, according to the notes the Chief had given them. Sure enough, another of the guards clad in cold weather gear was exiting from that portion of the facility carrying a shovel and a thermos.
“Good catch. Looks like our best bet to get in. I see three guys digging out snow, a forth checking the perimeter and the one that’s just left the building. There’s a building in the centre of that quadrant that our informant labelled as housing for the power generators for that section. Looks accurate judging by all the cables running out of the thing. That should make some good cover as all the workers are scattered around it,”
“Does each quad have it’s own gennie?” inquired the exercising soldier who had moved on to stretching the other leg. Kate nodded.
“By the looks of it. Makes sense as I’m guessing whatever mad science they do probably uses a lot of power. Wouldn’t wanna blow the whole grid just by running two experiments at once,” she reasoned, aware that the majority of Polaris was not hooked up to the Salmanic power network due to it being the arse end of no where, “Can’t see if the main section has its own power source or not though: there’s no note for it on the map. It might be in the basement levels our new friend kept mentioning?”
“Blowing this section’s generator will still buy us some time before we have to worry about being caught on camera though, won’t it?”
“If we’re not worried about someone being summoned to inspect why they lost power then sure. Could be a good idea,” she agreed.
“We’ll try and make it look like an accident, right Archie? We ready?” Doug asked, finishing his routine of stretches. Kate nodded at the boys as she set up her rifle and readied herself. Gratin sat down next to her and concentrated, a small flame forming in front of him that slowly morphed into a fire sprite; a creature the size of a house cat that had qualities of both a monkey and a feline: pointed ears, long spindly fingers, prehensile tail and glowing yellow eyes. It was made of the same blue-green flames that was Gratin’s signature. The creature stretched its firey body and then scrambled up Doug’s arm and came to rest on the soldier’s shoulder. It was being remote controlled by Gratin, the flames that made up its body only burning what Gratin told it to. Doug only felt a comfortable warmth emanating from the thing.
Content that everyone was primed for the night’s events, Doug slid down the slope and crouch-ran to the fence encircling the compound. Once close enough, the sprite leapt from Doug’s shoulder, landing onto the fence and became pure heat, disappearing from view momentarily as the links in the fence began to glow red-hot. A moment later, a hole Doug could crawl through without touching the electrified metal had formed in the fence and the sprite had reappeared, the creature sat waiting for Doug to join it on the other side of the fence. It jumped back onto Doug’s shoulder the moment he was through, the soldier stealthily making his way to the closest wall and following it to the corner, back pressed against it and fully submerged in shadow.
There was a security camera mounted on the corner of the wall. After closing the distance, the Sprite leapt for it, reverting back to pure heat the moment it hit the outer casing. There were a few sparks from the device, the plastic of the casing melting inwards and the lens cracking before the device drooped on its mount, the camera broken beyond repair. The sprite rose out of the smoking mess and scrambled onto the roof, sprinting off to find more cameras.
Up in the Watchtower, one of the guards stationed there paused mid-stroll around the gantry. He could see a glowing green light streaking across the rooftop below, on the far side of the complex. He approached the rail for a better look, tilting his head to address his companion inside the tower itself.
“Hey, are you seeing th-” his question was cut short as a bullet silently passed through his skull and into the window frame behind him, spraying blood across the glass. His colleague on the other side of the glass recoiled in shock, his brain struggling to get into gear before he scrambled for the radio. He only managed to let out a single breath as he raised the device to his lips, a bullet sliding through the centre of his face like a knife through butter.
On the opposite tower, the guard patrolling the gantry hesitated as he swore he heard the tinkling of glass on the wind. He turned, squinting into the frigid wind to lay eyes on the scene opposite. He couldn’t see anyone on the gantry but he could see someone slumped in their seat inside the tower. He didn’t have long to question it, something moving at speed obliterating his throat. He let out a gurgle as he fell to his knees. A second later and the scene repeated with the other guard within this tower. Genetix no longer had eyes watching the compound from above, Doug and Gratin free to move around with their only concerns being who was on the ground with them. Kate allowed herself a smile as she turned her attention towards watching the others’ progress.
Doug was unconcerned by his friends’ antics; he could hear the sound of snow being shovelled, one of the guards clearing a path after all the bad weather. The mercenary peered around the corner to check the man had his back turned, then proceeded to sneak up on the guard and grab him from behind, smothering him until he passed out and hiding the body in a snowdrift.
The Soldier was now following the corridor that had connected to the large silo structure, stealthily sprinting as close to the wall as the snow bank would allow as he came up to the generator building. It wasn’t particularly big, only a hut in actuality, but there was another man here digging out this section in order to access the door, snow piled up to be level with the door’s handle.
Something bright jumped from the corridor’s roof and landed on top of the hut and skittered away, attracting the digging man’s attention. He backed up a step and craned his neck to try and see what it was.
“Hello? Someone there?” He called, confused. He became more confused when he noticed the crunching sound of snow under foot and someone speaking directly into his ear.
“Just me, mate,” the digger turned to see a man in leathers, goggles and a ushanka grinning at him.
“Who-” he didn’t get to finish the thought as Doug’s bionic fist crashed into the side of his skull, stunning him. Doug grabbed him before he fell, moving into a choke hold and gently lowering the man to the floor as he deprived him of oxygen, the man falling unconscious and becoming the second goon to be buried in a pile of snow.
On the roof, the sprite found the point where the cables left the generator hut and travelled towards the main facility. With one quick swipe of his super heated tail, the cables were slashed, the lights flickering and then cutting out completely in the western section of the facility. The radio belonging to the man most recently buried could barely be heard crackling to life.
“Can someone check out the generator for the Lab Block? Power has cut out again.”
“We’re over here, taking a look now,” was the brief conversation that could be heard from it. Doug hugged his back to the hut and slowly made his way to the corner. On the edge of his vision, he could just about make out Gratin’s sprite moving across the roof, its glow illuminating the edge of the concrete.
“There are two of them. They’ve both put down their shovels and are coming right for you. I will distract the one on the right,” Gratin’s voice informed him in his head. Doug nodded and waited for Gratin’s signal once he was stationed at the corner.
“Now!” The sprite launched itself off of the hut’s roof, onto the face of the guard on the right. This didn’t go unnoticed by the guard on the left who spun around aghast.
“What the hell-” the next thing Leftie was aware of was something cold and metal clasping the side of his head and ramming it into the concrete wall of the hut. The sprite then leapt off of Rightie’s face in time for Doug to uppercut the man, knocking him out in one hit. Doug then set to work burying them in the snow and covering up any evidence that may have been left behind from the scuffle.
That left one more guard on this section.
The Sprite used Doug as a makeshift ladder, clambering up him and then leaping from his shoulder back onto the roof of the corridor that connected the Silo to the main complex.
“The Mistress says our final target is having a coffee break by where the snowdrift blocks the entrance to the main complex,” Gratin informed him. Doug’s grin returned as he stealthily followed the exterior wall of the corridor around.
Good to know…
The final guard was indeed resting on a snowdrift drinking coffee from the thermos his colleague had dropped off. The Camera above his head suddenly sparking caught his attention, the man turning to observe the wisps of smoke rising from the partially melted plastic casing. Concerned, he reached for his radio only for a gloved hand to clasp his own.
“I wouldn’t if I were you, pal,” Doug’s voice whispered in his ear. The man was then aware of a metal hand tightly clasping the scruff of his neck and lifting him, Doug body slamming the guard into the nearest snow bank and then stomping on his head until the guard stopped moving. Once he was confident that all the bodies had been well hidden, the mercenary glanced up at the Sprite that was attentively watching him from its perch on the broken camera.
“Think it’s safe to bring Red down now. Lets get in the bloody warm!”
Gratin awoke from his trance, the sprite dissipating into a flurry of embers as the connection severed. He then stood back up and offered Kate his hand, the mage flying the two of them down to meet Doug at the door.
As they disappeared inside, an owl landed on the ledge above the entryway, hooting softly…
The building was dark inside, the sprite having successfully cut the power for this section. The only form of illumination was a thin red strip embedded in the walls running along at shoulder height. Occasionally it pulsed, a wave of white light shooting along the red in the direction of the nearest exit. Kate stared at it suspiciously.
“Must be emergency lighting. We should be careful, there must be a backup generator for situations like this. Security cameras may still be working,” she pointed out. Doug looked around, noting the powerless camera above the door. He waved a hand in front of the lens just to check it was definitely off and not motion sensitive..
“Looks like we’re safe…” He observed. Carrying out an inspection of her own, Kate realised he was right.
“That’s odd. You’d expect them to be on a backup generator or auxiliary power…”
“Perhaps these people are not very security conscious? It was very easy for me to walk out of here before,” Gratin suggested.
“Yeah but to be fair mate, you did say you blew up an entire corridor. Don’t think many security teams expect a one man demolition team to come through,” reasoned the soldier jokingly as he clasped the mage on the back. Gratin merely responded with a low grunt. Kate, however, remained staring at the red light.
“We should still try to be careful. Can’t help but feel we’re being watched…” she shook her head, trying to dislodge the uncomfortable sensation, “We need to get our bearings and figure out how we’re getting to the Central Hub from here. Come on,” she began to lead the way forwards, Doug falling into step at her side and Gratin taking up the rear.
As they turned the corner, a rat emerged from a small hole in the wall. The hole looked to be intentionally constructed, it being a perfectly curved archway that had been plastered in place. The rat casually strolled out, turned to look in the direction the mercenaries had travelled in and began to stalk after them.
Ten minutes later, Doug was beginning to feel anxious. They had yet to spot a single guard or scientist walking these halls. Gratin could sense that scientists were indeed in the building but none of them seemed interested in using this specific corridor. The complex was like a ghost town…
“Anyone else get the feeling this is going a little too easily,” queried the ex-soldier.
“I was enjoying the change of pace myself but then you’ve probably just jinxed it, haven’t you?” said Kate who had been feeling more uneasy then she was caring to admit, a hand resting on a pistol, tapping the grip as a release for the pent up energy she was feeling.
“Didn’t take you for the superstitious sort, Love,”
“We travel around with a guy that can shoot fire out of his hands. I think keeping an open mind about that sort of thing is probably the way to go,”
“Fair point. What about you, Archie? You think bad luck’s a thing?”
“With you around, meat bag? Luck is in short supply,” this summoned forth laughter from Doug.
“Ow, harsh!” Doug settled down as he caught Kate staring thoughtfully at the red strip of light lining the corridors as they continued along, “you ok Love? You seem a bit distracted,”
“This place just gives me a bad feeling is all. There’s clearly backup power but all of the cameras are off. Why power this strip and not the cameras?”
“It’s just decoration. Kinda gaudy really. We get it, this is an evil lab!”
“More of a morally grey laboratory according to the gentleman you spoke with, from what you mentioned,” Gratin corrected him.
“Whatever.”
They came to a crossroads, the corridors branching off to connect to the other wings of this spiderweb of a building. Doug and Kate crossed the threshold of the junction without incident but the moment they were safely across, a thick security shutter rose out of the floor behind them, sealing Gratin off with a heavy ka-thunk. The two humans whirled around in shock, staring mouths agape at the solid steel separating them and their friend.
“Gratin?!”
“Archie?! You alright?!” they called, Gratin’s voice gave a muffled reply from the other side. A moment passed before the mage’s voice echoed in their heads.
“I am unharmed my friends, just caught off guard. This may pose a problem,” the two humans glanced at each other before Doug started marching towards the entryway on their left.
“Hang on, there might be a way around,” he said, crossing over the line in the floor that acted as a boarder between the two sections. Kate raised a hand to stop him
“Wait, we don’t know if there’s another-” the security door rose up, cutting Doug off before she could finish, “-shutter. Gods damn it Doug,” she ran a hand through her fringe, trying to think what to do now as Doug’s angry muffled shouts rang out through the barrier followed by a couple of loud thumps that Kate assumed was Doug attempting to punch the shutter with his metal fist. It was too thick, the metal barely moving.
“I will try to burn my way through. Please stand back mistress,” Gratin’s disembodied voice alerted her. Kate stepped back a couple of paces and watched as the steel slowly began to glow red hot. She bit her lip, trying to focus her thoughts.
Be careful not to burn through your energy reserves. They obviously know we’re here, the words echoed around her skull, Gratin still connected to her mentally.
“That is a fair point Mistress but I assure you I will be careful. I fear being separated will only work against us,” Kate nodded, remembered there was a barrier between them and rolled her eyes in frustration. She was partway through wondering how long this would take when the sound of a speaker turning on drew her attention. Her eyes were drawn to the optical strip. No, not the strip, further down. A rat was sitting on the floor, staring at her with its mouth agape.
“What on-” she found herself wincing as she became aware of the tell-tale sensation of pins and needles across her frontal lobe that indicated anti-magic was in affect. The muffled sounds of Gratin yelling in pain confirmed her suspicion.
“Gratin?! You alright?!” she yelled and approached the shutter, placing a hand on the steel without thinking and immediately regretting it as she tore her hand away.
“Ow, fuck!” she hadn’t touched the surface long enough to cause any real damage but it stung even through her gloves. The barrier was no longer glowing which told her that Gratin had ceased his attempts to break through. She gripped the sides of her head and tried to steady her thoughts, the prickling sensation muddying all attempts to focus on a solution. Half-hearted thumping from the other barrier was probably a sign that Doug was not fairing much better.
“Ms O’Donnell, Mr McCracken and subject GR4-71N, I apologise for the use of anti-magic but felt it pertinent to prevent the destruction of Genetix property. I will now lower the signal to a more comfortable level,” the prickling sensation subsided somewhat, it going from overbearing to something just on the edge of her senses. It was a relief, especially as Gratin’s screams of pain subsided. Muffled shouting began on Doug’s side of the shutter, the soldier clearly not appreciating the voice’s attempts to protect the building’s contents.
“Please Mr McCracken, calm down. That language is hardly appropriate,” the voice began again; a male one sounding gruff and lacking in patience. Now her head was clearer, Kate was certain it was coming from the rat but that didn’t make sense, did it? A fuzzy memory came back to her, something the Chief had said. Bio-mechanical some such? She was having trouble recalling his exact wording so instead decided to try and kick the rat.
“You rat bastard…!” it easily saw the telegraphed attack, jumping over the incoming boot and skittering down the corridor where it turned around, opening its mouth once more as though the interruption never happened.
“Please don’t kick the augmented rodents, Ms O’Donnell, they cost more than your entire education. Now, you may not be aware of this but due to Polaris having no central government, there is a distinct lack of policing agency to hand you over to. As such, these sorts of crimes are dealt with at the discretion of the owners of the property being trespassed on,” the Voice explained, “to wit, any and all trespassers caught breaking into this facility essentially forfeit all rights they may have previously held and become property of Genetix as a result. So this is what is going to happen. You are each going to follow the path available to you and turn yourselves in to the security teams you meet along the way. Subject GR4-71N, you will make your way towards Subject Containment section6b where you will submit yourself for immediate inspection. Mr McCracken,” the yelling from Doug’s side had lessened but started up again the moment the voice addressed him.
“Yes, I do understand you are very upset. You will make your way to Subject Containment 1c where you will be held until further notice. As for ms O’Donnell, it appears a VIP in the facility has requested an audience with you before you are put into containment. Please make your way to,” there was a pause as the owner of the voice checked his notes, clearly sounding confused by what he was reading, “please make your way to the delivery bay. I trust the three of you can follow these simple instructions,” and with that, the voice cut out and the rat began to run further down the corridor, only pausing to check if the prisoner was following it or not.
Tentatively, Kate approached Gratin’s shutter.
“Gratin? You holding up okay?” she called and waited for a reply. She could feel Gratin attempting to reconnect with her mind. It felt like a low pressure gently lapping at her frontal lobe, the waves of communication being disturbed by the aberrant pins and needles prodding her brain. What came through sounded like a radio failing to be adjusted to the correct frequency.
“Mistress …struggling to …I am sorry …Could not …do not …to do,” was the garbled message, the random rising of volume making her flinch. She bit her lip, unsure if he would receive an answer if she thought it or not. She decided to stick with conventional speech for now.
“Just focus on keeping yourself safe for now, okay! Me and Doug can look after ourselves! We’ll figure out how to regroup! Let’s just play along for now, alright?!” she was not sure if he had heard her or not, whatever psychic connection Gratin had been holding on to slipping away. She turned her attention to Doug’s shutter.
“Did you hear any of that Doug?!”
“Think so! Don’t worry about me, Love! You go give them VIPs hell!” came the muffled reply. She found herself smiling as she placed a hand on the barrier.
“Will do! Stay Safe!” and with that, she took a deep breath and began her trek down the corridor, following her rodent guide.
Post by Sam | December 24, 2022 at 12:01 am | The Mercenaries' Tale | No comment
Tags: Animal Sentries, Anti-Magic, Blaise, Doug McCracken, Genetix, Gratin, Polaris, the Mercs