Mercenaries’ Tale – 3.07 On the Ropes
“Shit, where’s she gone?” the others turned to realise that they had all been so caught up in the revelation of what the power source actually was that they had lost track of the scouse. Gratin quickly refocused himself.
“She is still in the other room, albeit on the move,” informed the mage. Kate drew a pistol and hurried across the threshold, Doug hot on her heels. Harper was indeed in this chamber, on the far side of the gantry. Some stairs were located there leading up to a small balcony where another door could be found. Harper was running up the stairs with her digibook in her hand, clearly speaking into the device. Doug immediately swore upon laying eyes on her, assuming she was contacting her colleagues in order to tell them the mercenaries’ exact whereabouts. Kate’s arm sprang up as she let off a warning shot, Harper squealing and hitting the deck.
“Should have properly searched her,” the red head growled as Doug started sprinting towards the stairs, fully intent on ending the call. He reached the stairs and immediately had to throw himself backwards as the door opened and some of the heavily armoured Salmanic security marched through guns drawn. Doug scrambled to get back into cover as they opened fire, barely avoiding hot plasma fire. Kate swore and swapped to her rifle, letting off a shot to draw the enemy fire away from Doug. She and Gratin were using the doorway as cover, hugging the wall as Kate waited for another opportunity to make a shot as the men on the balcony laid down suppressing fire.
“There isn’t a particularly large group up there but I sense more security swarming on the floor below us. We will soon be surrounded,” Gratin informed his friend. She risked a glance around the corner, having a second to take in the scene before she was forced back. Doug was huddling behind the computer terminal and was attempting to make himself as small as humanly possible to avoid being riddled with bullets. There were three men on the balcony firing their weapons whilst a further seven were rushing down the stairs, Harper among them. The scouse was laughing, clearly enjoying the turning of the tables.
“Bet you’re regretting turning me down now, huh Lover Boy?” she yelled in Doug’s direction.
“Fuck you, bitch!” came the reply. He braced himself, knowing he was cornered and that any second now the security would finish their decent and have a clean shot on him.
He held his breath, waiting for that faithful bullet.
There were shouts, the sound of hissing, more shouts and prolonged gunfire only this time from a new source. Curious now and realising he wasn’t as dead as he should be, Doug readjusted himself to check on his assailants.
Someone had thrown a smoke grenade onto the balcony, the area covered in thick smog. Shots were being fired into the cloud but they weren’t from Kate. Peering down below the gantry, he could see a number of people climbing out of a ventilation shaft below him. They all wore black body armour, a green symbol on their backs that resembled a “G” entwined with a double helix. The three or so men that had already emerged were firing up at the Salmanic security via some large machine guns. Doug couldn’t help but feel massively confused by this: just who were these new arseholes and why were they here?
His train of thought was interrupted as Harper emerged from the smoke cloud and landed back on the gantry having rushed down the stairs two at a time in a bid to find cover. She began to run across the gantry only to realise that Doug had yet to move from his own hiding spot, his features contorting into a nasty grin as they laid eyes on each other.
“Oh you fucked up!” chirped the merc with a laugh as he climbed to his feet, causing her to swear.
Doug quickly closed the gap, lashing out at her with his bionic arm. Harper wasn’t about to make this altercation easy for him, the Scouse dipping to his injured side and lashing out with a quick jab to the wound. Doug gasped in pain, his knee giving out as his whole right side seized up. Harper followed up with an upper cut which connected with Doug’s jaw, the soldier swaying backwards, Harper attempting to end this fight quickly as she turned into a spinning heel kick aimed squarely at Doug’s chest only to be surprised by Doug grabbing her ankle with his bionics. He dragged her forward, right hand shooting up to bury itself into her side. Letting go of the ankle, Doug forced himself forward to catch her with his shoulder, lifting her up and body slamming her onto the floor.
Harper groaned in agony as her spine complained about the impact, her hand slipping into her pocket. Doug readjusted himself in preparation for putting the Scouse into a hold only to be surprised when a burst of electricity painfully spread up his side. Harper had pulled a small electro stun-prod out of her pocket and had jabbed it into her attacker. Doug yelled out as she held the on button down, the merc completely unable to move as Harper reached up and clasped his throat with her free hand.
“Get offa me!” she uttered as she pushed him off, rolling with him so that she was now on top. No longer pinned, she began fumbling around with her free hand to find the release switch for his arm with the aim of literally disarming him.
Three things happened in very quick succession; Harper moved forward to better see what she was doing just in time for a bullet to graze her scalp, Kate having opened fire on her, the red head breaking cover in order to save Doug; more Salmanic security arrived at the main door to the chamber which Gratin attempted to keep at bay via fire blast and thirdly, a number of the G-men had found the ladder up to the gantry and were just starting to crest over the top of it.
“We have eyes on GR4!” the first G-man was able to announce just as the Salmanic Security on the balcony above regained line of sight and began opening fire on the new trespassers.
Harper readjusted herself so that her knee was on Doug’s throat, pressing down as she released the shock prod from his side. She waved the device threateningly over his chest.
“Don’t you fucking make another move, Katie, or I’ll fry his brains out!” she warned. Kate hesitated a moment whereas Doug began to laugh, drawing Harper’s attention.
“What’s so funny?” cried the bewildered Scouse.
“Thought you said Blaise was the one that was gonna get me killed and you were tryin’ to save me! You’re so full of shit!”
“Shut up!” she increased the pressure she was applying to his throat, Doug’s laughter turning into a gurgle.
“Get off of him!” Kate’s voice rang up, the gunslinger adjusting her aim to shoot Harper in the head. She didn’t have the chance to pull the trigger, Gratin dragging her backwards as the Salmanic Security opened fire on them, the mage pulling his friend back into cover, the two inches away from death as plasma bolts chipped away at the door frame.
“DOUG!”
Harper couldn’t help but laugh at the red head’s distress.
“You know, I’d been hoping to go to town on your girlfriend there since it was her mates that stole my dad’s legs and all,” she told the pinned soldier, “probably won’t get the chance now so you’ll have to do!” she gave him another jolt of her stun-prod, earning an agonised scream from her prey. Doug gritted his teeth, attempting to move his human arm to grip feebly at her knee, pushing her off his throat ever so slightly.
“You’re…so sure you’re…the good guy in this? You ain’t even…looking around!” Doug sneered between intakes of breath. His muscles ached, his side felt like it was being ripped open all over again and Harper was putting her full weight on his chest whilst pressing against his throat.
“You…have no idea…what’s even happenin’ here… do ya?”
“I don’t care, I’ve got my job to worry about and you’ve pissed me off!” Harper snapped at him, pressing down harder. Doug glared up at her for a moment before laughing uproariously as it occurred to him that she just paraphrased something he had said only an hour or so ago. There were tears in his eyes and his injuries didn’t find this particularly amusing but still he cackled like a madman, Harper easing off a little, perturbed.
She didn’t have a chance to work out what had tickled the merc, Doug gripping her ankle with his bionics and tugging it with all the might he could muster, his human arm pushing up against her thigh, sending her off balance and toppling her off of him. She rolled into a position that she could easily pounce from if needed to, her prod ready to attack if McCracken came for her. Doug was finding it difficult just to get up, it taking a monumental effort to climb onto one knee. He tried not to let it show, the laughter still flowing out of him.
“Think I just got a… taste of what those… Dark Worlders probably thought of us. Ta for that,” he wheezed as he managed to fish his cigarettes out of his pocket. He casually lit one up as Harper waited for the fight to continue, a mixture of confusion and anger on her impish face as she tried to understand the man in front of her. They were surrounded by a mass gunfight, his friends were pinned down behind him, he was clearly more injured then he would care to admit and yet here he was, talking nonsense whilst he attempted to have one last smoke. He took a moment, enjoying the breather before lurching forward suddenly to try and grab her, Harper easily dodging, turning on her heel and spin kicking his injured side.
Doug gasped, gritted his teeth and lashed out. Harper hopped backwards, darted left and jabbed the shock-prod into a spot just under his ribs. Doug let out a roar, Harper removing her weapon and following up by ramming her knee into his gut. Doug staggered backwards and began to chuckle, forcing himself to fling his bionics towards her. It was a feint attack, Harper moving into the path of an incoming kick. She grabbed it as his shin struck her torso, Doug now off balance as she tugged backwards pulling Doug with her. She let go as he began to fall forward, the Scouse deftly sidestepping and burying her shock-prod into his back. Doug seized up, collapsing to his knees as Harper kicked the back of his legs. He was too slow, too injured and too tired. Harper in comparison was as fresh as a daisy, the traitor having not expended herself even half as much as Doug had throughout the evening. She was clearly enjoying this, it now being her turn to chuckle.
“You really are a mad bastard,” she said, “why are you even still fighting? You can’t honestly think you can win this?” she gestured towards all the Salmanic security. The ones entering the door behind them were leaving Doug to Harper, more concerned with the Mage and the Gunslinger. Kate and Gratin were still taking cover in the small connecting corridor between this chamber and the next. They were fighting back to back, Kate firing at the security approaching them from this side whilst Gratin tried to defend them from the security entering via the other chamber, a few having decided to try and flank the mercenaries. It wasn’t going well, Doug just about being able to see Gratin on his knees, having set the far end of the corridor on fire to keep the flanking soldiers out whilst maintaining a shield to protect them from gunshots which looked close to failing due to the Mage being so low on energy. The barrier was far paler than it ought to be, thin cracks beginning to appear like splintering glass.
Kate was beginning to run low on rifle ammo to boot. She had swapped to her pistols in order to lay down suppressing fire but they lacked the stopping power of her rifle. They were barely denting the armour, Kate being forced to rely on grenades to take out the Security that strayed too close. Their only saving grace were the mysterious G-men that were in the process of climbing the ladder. They were splitting the security’s attention, the intruders seemingly hell-bent on preventing the Salmanic forces from reaching the corridor first. Doug could hear someone below shouting orders.
“Safeguard GR4!”
“Get that AMD set up now!”
Despite all this, Doug still found himself chuckling, smoke wafting out in front of him.
“I do my best work when the shit hits the fan and this is some of the foulest shit I’ve ever smelt,” he forced himself back into a standing position and turned to face his opponent, “Did you even follow us into that other room? Or are you such a selfish bitch that you’re more concerned with getting paid than what all this is about?” he waved a hand towards the array of stasis pods plugged into the wall.
“I don’t have a death wish, McCracken. No one’s supposed to see inside here without permission! My only hope now is taking you and your mates down!” was the reply. This only served to make Doug laugh harder, the soldier adjusting his footing to give himself a stronger stance, planting himself firmly in front of her.
“You’re so full of it. You ranted and raved at me about how much of a scumbag Blaise was ‘cus of her background. You were spitting with rage yet she left those arseholes and you’re chomping at the bit to work for the cunts that’d commit genocide if they thought there was a profit in it!” Harper glowered at his words and flung herself forward, crying out in fury.
“Fuck you!” Doug was expecting it, leaning to the left and fighting through the pain in order to deliver a blow to Harper’s jaw as she blindly attacked. She staggered backwards from the force, rallied enough to jump backwards before the bionic arm could follow up with an uppercut. The limb wasn’t as fast as an organic one, Harper aware that if she was on the move then Doug would struggle to grab her with it. She stayed on the balls of her feet, bouncing slightly as she waited for Doug’s follow up attack. He seemed more intent on waiting for her to come to him, pressing the attack having done him little good so far in this fight. He kept talking, keeping his stance wide and low, his arms up ready to defend anything else Harper threw at him. If it weren’t for the leathers, he would look like a boxer most of the way through a particularly gruelling match.
“You got a high opinion of yourself, don’tcha? You think you’re some kinda hero: the last line of defence to keep out the terrorists. You were even hoping to win the boy like this is some kinda movie, right? It’s bloody hilarious!”
“You’re the one that can’t even see he’s losing!” she danced around him, looking for an opening. It was his right side that was injured and it was the one that wasn’t attached to the bionics. Easy pickings in theory but Doug was well practised at forcing himself to ignore pain. She went for a body blow, he slapped it away and lashed out with his left leg, kneeing her in the hip. She sidestepped just as he threw a second jab at her and jumped backwards as the bionics swung at her again, the two combatants returning to their starting positions. It was a test of wits at this point but she could see he was hanging on by a thread. She only needed to get a few decent blows in and she could down him. He was sporting a grin despite it though, his whole demeanour resembling a man having a friendly spar in the park rather than a death match in battle zone.
She was starting to really hate that grin.
“Don’t talk to me about losing. You barely know what losing is, pet,” he jeered.
“Don’t you talk to me like that! My dad-”
“He’s still around, ain’t he? What’ll he think of you if he knew what exactly you were defending? If he knew where the money for his shiny new legs came from?”
“Leave my dad outta this!” Doug was clearly pressing her buttons, Harper lashing out wildly. Doug leant aside for the first swipe, sidestepped the second and grabbed the third, his bionic hand wrapping around her fist, dwarfing it.
“But me?” he carried on as if she hadn’t tried to interrupt, “I’ve known nothin’ but loss! Most of the people I care about ain’t here any more. So I say not again. It stops here,” she tried for another body blow with her free hand, which Doug caught, Harper responding by burying her shin into his injured side, causing Doug to gasp in pain and his knee to weaken, his whole right side sinking down. She used his lowered leg as a boost to jump up and ramp her knee into his jaw. His grip loosened in his human hand, Harper reclaiming her wrist but the bionics stubbornly held on.
“The only way outta this without anyone else dyin’ is for you and your friends to give up and surrender!” Harper growled through grit teeth. Doug chuckled, forcing himself to straighten up, raising Harper’s arm as he went and ramming his human hand into her throat, grabbing it as he lifted her up into the air.
“I said not again and I bloody well meant it!” he heaved her around, towards the railing. Harper’s eyes went wide as she realised what was about to happen.
“Doug! Don’t you dare!” she pleaded, clawing at his organic wrist in an attempt to wrench him off. This only made him laugh.
“Who needs saving now?” He boomed as he sent her flying over the side of the gantry and hurtling towards the floor of the chamber far below them. There was a scream and a horrific cracking sound as she landed on her head.
Doug braced himself on the railing, taking a deep drag from his cigarette as he tried to refocus himself. He felt like he was on his last legs and yet the night wasn’t over. He and his friends needed to get out of here alive. He pushed off the barrier and took stock of the situation around him.
The G-men had come armed with machine guns and collapsible riot shields. Those that had reached the top of the ladder had formed a wall to protect their fellows and were currently gunning down the confused Salmanic security. Those that had come in through the main doors were being forced back into the lobby. The security that had been entering via the side door had been wiped out, the lack of cover on the small gantry combined with the bottleneck on the stairs being their undoing. A few of the G-men were breaking away to cover the side door in the event that more security approached from that direction but the majority were focusing on the ones that were still here. There weren’t many left now but Doug knew this was only the first wave; more would be on their way and if the mercs didn’t clear off soon they were bound to be overwhelmed.
It looked as though all the G-men had exited the vents now – twelve total – and had clambered up to this level. Two of them marched past Kate and Gratin, shields raised to protect against incoming projectiles as they opened fire on the security hiding within the main power chamber.
Seeing the tide of battle turning in their favour, Kate helped Gratin to his feet, the two cautiously backing out into the storage chamber to meet back up with Doug, the trio reuniting. Doug quietly urged his friends away from the G-men, quickly checking his companions for injuries as they edged towards the stairs. Kate seemed fine but Gratin had seen better days, the mage clearly exhausted, a trickle of blood seeping out from under his mask where he had been over exerting his powers. He waved off any concerns thrown his way, his masked face focusing on the stairway.
“The majority of Salmanic’s forces are approaching via the lobby, that way is relatively clear from what I can sense,” Gratin said as he pointed towards the stairs, “I think it best we leave quickly-”
“Hold it!” a portion of the G-men had turned their attention onto the mercenaries, weapons raised. Doug casually raised his hands to show he was currently unarmed.
“Easy there, we ain’t here to fight you lot,” he assured, “you guys carry on, we’ll just be on our way!”
“Hand over GR4-71N, then you may leave,” the one Doug assumed was the leader of the G-men announced. There wasn’t much in way of distinguishing features among the group, all wearing the exact same uniform. Now he was close up, Doug could take in a lot more details regarding their appearance. They were wearing more traditional riot gear, bulky armour making them appear larger than they actually were. Every inch of their skin was covered, a mask covering the lower half of their face that doubled as an air filter and a visor covered their eyes. A little bit of light could be seen leaking out from underneath the eye piece, suggesting to Doug that it was more than just eyewear; some sort of digital display? It looked to be top-notch equipment which suggested a lot of money was involved, someone with riches to burn no doubt paying them to be here.
“I dunno what a GR-whatsit is,” began the soldier slowly. The G-men didn’t seem particularly interested in him, instead focused on Gratin who in turn seemed to be far more tense than his compatriots.
“Stand down!” the leader commanded. Gratin responded by wreathing his arms in flame in an attempt to make himself seem more intimidating.
“I suggest you ask yourself if this is really the place you wish to have an altercation,” calmly stated the mage. He could feel his friends becoming nervous beside him, both preparing for a fight.
“Stand down or we will make you stand down,” the leader reiterated, clearly not in a negotiable mood.
“More security will arrive imminently,” Gratin informed him, causing the man to grunt.
“Then you force my hand,” he gestured to one of his subordinates with a flick of his fingers, a person stepping forward carrying a small speaker – a thin cylinder roughly 20 centimetres long – that was housed within a mesh cage. The carrier flipped a switch on the device’s underside and began to turn a small dial built into its base.
At first the mercs were unable to tell what the device was supposed to do. Nothing really changed but soon they became aware of a mounting pressure inside their own heads. To Doug and Kate, it felt like dozens of little pinpricks running across their brains in waves. It wasn’t particularly painful, more irritating, like a million tiny prods trying to pull their attention away from the matter at hand.
Gratin however was having a very different experience. Instead of a million pinpricks, it felt like someone hit him with a pickaxe, a horrible stab of pain reverberating through his head. He stumbled backwards, the flames around his arms extinguishing, his comprehension of the world around him turning fuzzy as his perception shrank, leaving him in total darkness. He let out a scream as the pressure built and built, the stabbing sensation rolling over him again and again, Gratin grasping at his head as his knees gave out. The last thing he was aware of before unconsciousness took him was his friends’ cries of alarm.
Post by Sam | September 24, 2022 at 12:01 am | The Mercenaries' Tale | No comment
Tags: AMD, Anti-Magic, Blaise, Doug McCracken, Genetix, GR4-71N, Gratin, Jessie Harper, Kate O'Donnell, Power Plant, Salmanic Incorporated, the Mercs