Chapter 74: Open Door
Berzerker, being the physically toughest out of all of us, and the one with the biggest guns, led the way as the van doors closed behind us. We walked up to the scrap metal garage door, and Berzerker banged on it three times with her fist. “Open up in there!”
A crude panel in the door flips down on the inside of the door, revealing a brown-skinned ork with a black helmet on his head looking at them. “Whatever you selling, we don’t want none. So scram.”
Berzerker’s Intimidation roll: 13d6 = 6 hits, 1 Miss
Headbreaker’s Opposed Intimidation roll: 4d6 = 3 hits, 0 Miss (3 net hits)
Berzerker growled as he shoved the muzzle of her submachine gun (and the attached grenade launcher) through the opening, into the ork’s face. “Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. Open the damn door.”
Sexkitten subvocalized into the group network, “Wow, making sure everyone got that Empathy Software was a good call, Master. Especially since the new commlinks can support the Rating 5 stuff.”
I smiled as the ork hurriedly opened the door, and we stepped through the door, into the building. As I expected, the place was mostly devoted to the industrial air movers and battery systems, with a clear area in front of the ramp heading down, underground, where the mining would have happened. Six orks were up here, all armed with Mars Predator IVs, and a small collection of melee weapons and grenades. Only obvious cyberware were some cybereyes, but they were wearing lined coats, and had ballistic shields, which massively boosted their armor, in exchange for taking up one hand and causing a small penalty to things like attacking.
Now that we were in the door, the six orks were looking like they had gotten second thoughts about letting us in. I saw the watcher manifest, and start screaming about intruders as it flew down, into the mine. The whole place would know, soon enough. But that was the price of trying to make sure you weren’t burning down an orphanage by mistake, or something worse.
I stepped forward, one hand on my blade. Not drawn, yet. “The legal owners of this mine want to open up business, but they can’t do that with squatters in the way. So, there’s two good choices. Either sign up, and work for them, or clear off. You don’t like those choices, then we can dance, but just remember, the rigger out there with all the heavily armed drones? Collapsing the mine to deal with troublemakers is still inside the grounds of our contract.”
It was a provocation, sure. But that provocation had a reason behind it. There were only two ways this confrontation was going to go. First option was that they submitted, either signing on with the mining company (if it was real), or leaving for different some other place to call home. Second option was that we fight until the survivors go back to option one, or none of them are left breathing. Given that we were dealing with gangers, I was betting on a healthy dose of option two.
“Fuck you, keeb!” One of the gangers, not the one who had gotten the SMG put in his face, spat, and lifted a heavy spiked mace, moving forward. Option two it was.
Initiatives:
Iceblade’s initiative: 9d6 = 4 Hits, 3 Miss (Initiative 13, 3 Passes)
Berzerker’s initiative: 9d6 = 2 Hits, 2 Miss (Initiative 11, 3 Passes)
Sexkitten’s initiative: 9d6 = 4 Hits, 1 Miss (Initiative 13, 3 Passes)
Shadowgirl’s initiative: 9d6 = 5 Hits, 0 Miss (Initiative 14, 3 Passes)
Headbreaker 1’s initiative: 9d6 = 1 Hits, 3 Miss (Initiative 10, 3 Passes)
Headbreaker 2’s initiative: 9d6 = 4 Hits, 1 Miss (Initiative 13, 3 Passes)
Headbreaker 3’s initiative: 9d6 = 3 Hits, 1 Miss (Initiative 12, 3 Passes)
Headbreaker 4’s initiative: 9d6 = 3 Hits, 0 Miss (Initiative 12, 3 Passes)
Headbreaker 5’s initiative: 9d6 = 0 Hits, 2 Miss (Initiative 9, 3 Passes)
Headbreaker 6’s initiative: 9d6 = 3 Hits, 1 Miss (Initiative 12, 3 Passes)
Pass 1:
Shadowgirl’s attack roll (Headbreaker 2): 13d6 = 6 Hits, 2 Miss
Headbreaker 2’s Defense: 6d6 = 2 Hits, 2 Miss (4 Net Hits)
Semi-Auto: 10S(e), -half AP (Impact Armor)
Headbreaker 2’s damage resistance: 17d6 = 4 Hits, 1 Miss (6S)
Headbreaker 2: 6/10 Stun Monitor
Shadowgirl’s attack roll (Headbreaker 2): 13d6 = 5 Hits, 3 Miss
Headbreaker 2’s Defense: 4d6 = 1 Hits, 1 Miss (4 Net Hits)
Semi-Auto: 10S(e), -half AP (Impact Armor)
Headbreaker 2’s damage resistance: 17d6 = 4 Hits, 1 Miss (6S)
Headbreaker 2: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (2 Overflow)
Headbreaker 2: 2/12 Physical Monitor
Iceblade’s Spellcasting roll (Headbreaker 1): 16d6 = 5 Hits, 1 Miss
Stunbolt, Force 5: 10S damage
Resist Drain (1S): 13d6 = 5 Hits, 2 Miss (No Drain)
Headbreaker 1’s Resistance: 3d6 = 0 Hit, 0 Miss (9S)
Headbreaker 1: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious)
Sexkitten’s Attack Roll (Headbreaker 3): 13d6 = 7 Hits, 2 Miss
Headbreaker 3’s Defense: 6d6 = 1 Hit, 5 Miss (6 Net Hits) (Glitch)
Short, Narrow Burst: 14S(e), -half AP
Headbreaker 3’s damage resistance: 17d6 = 2 Hits, 8 Miss (12S)
Headbreaker 3: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (2 Overflow)
Headbreaker 3: 2/12 Physical Monitor
Sexkitten’s Attack Roll (Headbreaker 4): 11d6 = 4 Hits, 3 Miss
Headbreaker 4’s Defense: 6d6 = 0 Hit, 2 Miss (4 Net Hits)
Short, Narrow Burst: 12S(e), -half AP
Headbreaker 4’s damage resistance: 15d6 = 5 Hits, 3 Miss (7S)
Headbreaker 4: 7/10 Stun Monitor
Headbreaker 4’s Stun Resistance (Threshold 3): 9d6 = 2 Hits, 2 Miss (Fail, Incapacitated 6 Combat Turns)
Shadowgirl, already prepared for this, snapped two rounds off at the ganger before he could take a full step, much less strike. Two shots with the Stick-n-Shock, and he was down. Not dead, but down for the count. Not a threat anymore.
I drew my blade as I cast, hitting the closest ganger, the one who’d let us in, with a Stunbolt. The ork dropped like a marionette with its strings cut, crumpling to the floor. Two down.
Beside me, Sexkitten snapped off two quick bursts with her machine pistol. The first hit her target straight on, causing the ork’s mace to fly from his hand, knocking away the shield of the one standing next to him. The first target went down, lights out. The second target, despite losing his shield, remained conscious, though not standing. The electric bullets made his muscles seize, and he went down, twitching, unable to move. Four down, or at least removed from combat for the moment.
Headbreaker 4: Incapacitated
Headbreaker 6’s attack roll (Iceblade): 8d6 = 2 Hits, 2 Miss
Iceblade’s Parry roll: 14d6 = 4 Hits, 1 Miss (No Net Hits)
Berzerker’s attack roll (Headbreaker 5): 11d6 = 3 Hits, 2 Miss
Headbreaker 5’s Defense test: 6d6 = 2 Hits, 0 Miss (1 Net Hit)
Short, Narrow Burst: 9S(e), -half AP (Impact)
Headbreaker 5’s Damage resistance: 17d6 = 8 Hits, 4 Miss (1S)
Headbreaker 5: 1/10 Stun Monitor
Headbreaker 5’s Stun Resistance (Threshold 3): 9d6 = 3 Hits, 2 Miss (Success, -2 to all actions for 3 Combat Turns)
Berzerker’s attack roll (Headbreaker 5): 11d6 = 3 Hits, 2 Miss
Headbreaker 5’s Defense test: 4d6 = 0 Hits, 1 Miss (3 Net Hits)
Short, Narrow Burst: 11S(e), -half AP (Impact)
Headbreaker 5’s Damage resistance: 17d6 = 2 Hits, 3 Miss (9S)
Headbreaker 5: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious)
Everyone ignored the guy twitching on the ground. He wasn’t a threat, and wasn’t in the way, so he wasn’t a problem, to either side. One of the gangers, a woman, snarled at me, “Mage! Geek him first!” She tried to do just that, swinging her mace at me. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad call, usually. Most mages were not up-close fighters, and blunt trauma to the skull tended to keep them from thinking clearly enough for casting. Her target selection this time, however, was poor, as I easily deflected her strike with my blade.
Berzerker leveled her SMG at the other ganger still standing, and sent two quick bursts into him. The first put him on the ground, twitching like hiss buddy. The second put him out. Only two left, and one of them was too busy twitching to act up.
Pass 2:
Shadowgirl’s Attack roll (Headbreaker 6): 13d6 = 4 Hits, 3 Miss
Headbreaker 6’s Defense: 6d6 = 0 Hits, 0 Miss (4 Net Hits)
Semi-Auto: 10S(e), -half AP (Impact)
Headbreaker 6’s Damage Resistance: 17d6 = 1 Hits, 2 Miss (9S)
Headbreaker 6: 9/10 Stun Monitor
Headbreaker 6’s Stun resistance (Threshold 3): 9d6 = 4 Hits, 1 Miss (Success, -2 to all actions for 6 Combat Turns)
Shadowgirl’s Attack roll (Headbreaker 6): 13d6 = 7 Hits, 1 Miss
Headbreaker 6’s Defense: 3d6 = 0 Hits, 0 Miss (7 Net Hits)
Semi-Auto: 13S(e), -half AP (Impact)
Headbreaker 6’s Damage Resistance: 17d6 = 8 Hits, 0 Miss (5S)
Headbreaker 6: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (4 Overflow)
Headbreaker 6: 4/12 Physical Monitor
Iceblade’s Spellcasting roll (Headbreaker 4): 16d6 = 5 Hits, 2 Miss
Stunbolt, Force 5: 10S damage
Resist Drain (1S): 13d6 = 1 Hits, 1 Miss (No Drain)
Headbreaker 4’s Resistance: 3d6 = 3 Hit, 0 Miss (7S)
Headbreaker 4: 10/10 Stun Monitor (Unconscious) (4 Overflow)
Headbreaker 4: 4/12 Physical Monitor
Shadowgirl put two in the chest of the last ganger standing, and he was down for the count. Given the way he was smoking a bit, might have been a bit too much juice, but he was still breathing, which meant that he should be counting his lucky stars. When he woke up, at least.
One target left, the one twitching on the floor. A Stunbolt took care of that. No need to use more bullets on this guy. Down, and out. And… well, I probably overdid it a bit, too, if the blood leaking out his ear was any indication. But he wasn’t dead, so we could still say we were trying to do this clean, instead of just randomly slaughtering people.
Berzerker was already kneeling next to one of the orks, checking their gear. “Nonconductive weave in the jackets. Dermal plating as well, and probably wired reflexes, given how quickly some of them moved. We’re looking at tens of thousands in nucred for each of these guys, and that’s not counting the rest of their gear. Ballistic shields are not standard go-gang loadouts. Helmets, forearm guards, and shin guards. These guys aren’t set up like gangers. This is a militia trying to look like a gang to the outside.”
“Fuck,” I said, and meant it. Keying the comms, I said, “Babydoll, Twilight, keep an eye out for vehicles. I’ve seen something like this in the beta. They’ll probably be coming up soon. Full contact, no holds barred. They can think about their poor life choices in the next life.”
“Got it, Boss!” “As you say, Master.”
Shadowgirl looked at me. “What are we looking at, Boss?”
I took a breath, and said, “Don’t know if it is exactly the same, but you know how there are a lot of racist shithead NPCs in the game? Well, some of them go full human supremacist, in the worst ways. Because of that, some communities band together, work to defend themselves. This annoys the shitheads, because they can’t stomp on the metahumans as easily.”
Sexkitten frowned. “So, if you’re saying these shitheads are the ones who hired us, wanting us to go and wipe out the militia protecting whatever group is here why hire a team with metahumans on them?”
“False flag operation,” Berzerker spat. “That’s why our Master is telling the others to be on the alert. Send in a team to stir up trouble, and then someone else can come in and ‘save the day’ by putting down ‘gang violence’ and the like. And if an entire metahuman community ‘disappears’ in the chaos, well, that’s the savages fighting each other for you.”
“Exactly,” I nodded. “The job I was on in the beta ran about the same. Shadowmen and militia stuck in and fighting, and then the assholes showed up and hit both sides. Turned into a three-way free-for-all, with everyone attacking everyone else, but with only the assholes ready for it, and the other sides already bleeding. Got sent for a reroll, along with all but one of the team, a magician who managed to turn himself invisible and slip away.”
Berzerker nodded. “So, counting on Twilight and Babydoll’s drone army to take them on, while we try and convince the people underground to not be stupid?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, this’ll be a bitch.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. Nothing more needed to be said.