So, here be the second Part of chapter 6. Remember that there has been no rolls made, as this counts towards the total for the complete chapter.
also, blatant amatuerish writing ahead. you have been warned.
So. Situation Recap.
We have myself, and ten potential combatants of the House Van Saar, who were supposed to be performing a search and rescue operation in what was at best unexplored territory. That is one side.
The second side: we have an unknown group or groups of equally unknown creatures coming from the underlayers of the hive, and in enough numbers to be concerning despite the ease in which they are being dealt with.
Potentially related is the Ambush force that is presenting itself as being affiliated to House Escher though its gender composition. They have about...twenty-five or so combatants available to them, according to Thoth (thanks for the sensor scan, by the way) and at least two, maybe three snipers armed with what I suspect is a Long-Las. I am hesitant to categorize them as a third side due to the sheer contrivance of them showing up just in time to add to the mayhem.
And then there's the Xenos fuckers over there. Five in all, and they look downright deadly. Again, I have doubts that they are an individual force, but there is an equal doubt that they are allied with anyone or anything over here. Worse, I have absolutely no clue whatsoever what their objective is, and am in no hurry to find out.
The good news: the arrival of the Xenomorphs killed off the second edge that was developing to the ambush that we were caught in, making it a much more easily dealt with single point ambush rather than a layered or even L-Shape, which would have been VERY bad for us. Still, it IS an ambush, and thus by definition the first and most important rule applies: Assault the ambush.
More specifically, the actual step is to assault through the ambush, with the intention of breaking free of the kill zone and applying suppressive fire to the ambushers. Once free this would, in theory allow for friendly forces to counterattack and kill the ambush team.
We had two distinct problems with this, namely the disparity of numbers and the absolutely shitty tactical situation that we were in at the moment, with potentially three axes of attack at any one moment, and an unknown number of potential reinforcements or harassers.
When in doubt, assume worst case.
Now that everyone is back up to speed, let us continue with the shitstorm, shall we?
Being pinned down by snipers is not fun in the slightest, especially since I had a distinct need to not show off Thoth just yet. While Thoth's impeller would be all but impervious to even this level of fire, it would also paint a large target on my back to whoever is trying to make their move here. Information getting out about that would bring down a not insignificant amount of official scrutiny to the area as the Mechanicum tries to track down the Heretek using unsanctioned technology….or at least I thought that's how it would go. It was entirely possible that it would happen in a completely different way. Still, there was no need to show off my capabilities unnecessarily…and Thoth could be deployed and ready to block on basically a moment's notice. As long as I didn't get sniped in the head I was golden, really.
Naturally, because Murphy hates me, this is when the snipers would start going for headshots.
The sheer shock at watching this not happen stalled me for a critical second.
Just long enough for the damned Xenomorphs to make their move.
All five of them tore across the area at speeds that had to be seen to be believed, ripping through anything or anyone that got in their way. That this removed several of the supposed Escher gangers from the battlefield was a plus, as it both got rid of enemy targets and established that the xenos were not on their side.
The problem was that the fuckers were all beelining directly for a single target.
Me.
Now, don't get me wrong. I was a damned good soldier, and the Forge had helped me in that regard immensely, allowing me access to both weapons and disciplines that I had never thought would be possible for a single human being to learn in a lifetime, let alone a military career.
But there was a very distinct difference between "bane of the gangers" good and "sole target of some stupidly fast and close-combat specced xenos things" good. This was going to complicate matters greatly, and basically killed my poor strategy before it even had a chance to form.
Fine, I would improvise. First, a little distraction.
Multiple flashbangs flew out to their targets, blinding and deafening our attackers while I did the sensible thing and unassed the area as quickly as possible. Sure, gutting the ambush trying to kill us was one thing, but if the alien fuckers were after me specifically then I needed to clear out before they fucked everyone else up trying to get to me...or at least kite the bastards long enough to get some fire support.
With that in mind, I rushed the "Escher" lines, popping off as much suppressive fire as I could spare from one of the souped-up lasguns I had available. I didn't even bother to look behind me, knowing all too well that the xenos were gaining...and fast.
This is where step two comes in, and I start really playing hardball.
You see, I had a very unique asset here that no one else on the battlefield had available to them: an engineering-rated Omnitool. Complete with drones, grenades, and the surprise that I was about to drop on these poor fuckers heads right now: A goddamned Sentry Turret.
I tossed the ball it would deploy from off to the side, where it would land in a relatively open area with clear lines of fire on most of the enemy forces. I then kicked out a Combat Drone all but directly above the closest of the poor Escher girls' heads.
And only then did I pull one of the hardest lefts in history, using my arts telekinesis as a budget tractor beam and getting my ass out of the way of the xenos, who were now way too close for comfort. So close, in fact, I had the distinct pleasure of watching the leader of the pack attempt to correct course only to skid helplessly as it failed.
Still didn't do jack shit for the other four, but I had a lasgun for that, which I put to its most effective use...and watched in muted horror as it basically did jack shit. Fighting down the now rising panic, I dropped the lasgun (which Thoth helpfully retrieved and stored) and drew my Eagle, putting the significantly boosted shots on target...and watched in equal horror as they really didn't do much better.
What the hell were these things?
Whatever...I had prepared for this...although I had also thought I would have both more time and space to actually attempt a stunt of this magnitude. Instead, I was going to have to wing it and pray.
And with that minor supplication to Murphy out of the way, I focused my will in the manner necessary to access my Computation Orb.
Power immediately flowed to my command, awaiting a direction for me to exert it in. I kept it simple. I just applied what amounted to a delayed artillery spell to the ammunition block of my Eagle, completely on the fly, and hoped to all hell that it held together for longer than ten seconds.
And then I fired off a NEW shot at the now less than five feet away xenomorph thing.
With a magically-explosive shell.
At what amounted to point blank range.
...I was desperate, okay? Besides, I figured that the mage shield I threw up immediately afterwards would spare me the most of the blast effect, and my kinetic barrier would get the rest.
And I was right...well, sorta.
The Mage shield DID stop the brunt of the attack...after which it failed completely.
The Kinetic Barriers DID work to mitigate the remainder...and failed almost immediately in the face of the sheer power they were redirecting.
Which meant that Thoth had to more or less override everything in order to save my worthless hide from my own panic-fueled stupidity. Fortunately, unlike my other barrier methods, Thoth's impeller field was more than up to the challenge.
Still got knocked completely ass over teakettle though. And with another four of the fuckers still in play. Which meant that I was going to have to either kite harder, beat all kinds of feet, throw my trust behind the shaky mage blade spell formula that I was rapidly constructing, or go for broke and fully express Thoth.
Fortunately, this choice was taken from my hands by the sentry turret finishing it's deployment and proceeding to open fire with everything it had available to it. And there was a LOT.
One of the things that I very much DID spend time upgrading during that 48-hour period was my omni-tool's flash-fabricators for the various drones and turrets that were my bread and butter for infantry work. Notably, I had managed to do something incredible and cram in all of the upgrades that were possible to a field turret, as well as a few minor improvements of my own. As with all of the tweaks of my gear, it was nothing super different from the norm, just a general improvement across the board. And the turret had improved nicely.
A string of fully-automatic fire tore into the xenos with a vengeance, the slivers of metal moving at speeds that were only just short of what a legitimate railgun were capable of, all the while launching enhanced rockets and arcing electrical charges.
The first of my pursuers got caught almost directly in the face with the fire, getting pasted by the armor-piercing rounds even as a rocket closed in to confirm the kill. The second one tried to evade ( and did a damned good job, may I add) before getting jolted by the arc thrower, which stalled it long enough for the AP Rockets to get to its location and teach it the error of its ways. The third one tried bumrushing the turret...only to find out that it, too, had its own kinetic barrier, and patiently used the time to swivel its business end towards the enemy, and put it to good use.
My poor conga line had been introduced to the Pain Train, and they were not liking it one bit.
The last one managed to pull what I still consider one of the fucking greatest moves I'd ever seen in dodging murderous gunfire, and jumped nearly ten feet into the air in a graceful dodge behind one of the old buildings in the area, using it's height to snag a side wall and start crawling around on the building proper. This was not in any way a good thing, but I would take my blessings where I could and no further.
The drone, however, was having a MUCH better time.
The women of the ambush crew were falling like wheat to the scythe, mercilessly jolted down by the arcing electric blasts that fired almost continuously as it circled the area. Every so often, one of the more heavily armed groups would try and stick their heads out from whatever cover they had managed to grab, and would just as promptly eat a rocket for the trouble. Those poor saps couldn't be more suppressed if there was a heavy weapons team zeroed in on their position with infinite ammo.
And the Sergeant was taking full advantage, getting his people--or what was left of them, anyway--into stable positions and laying down even more fire to keep the heads of our guests down. Even with the significant casualties that our side had taken, we were still putting up a damned good fight.
And then the things arrived, and everything went back to shit.
See, in my haste to not die, I had forgotten about the unknown swarm of whatever they were headed our way. Seems that the Sergeant had forgotten too, as the cries of confusion and pain coming from his position was indicating. Whatever the damned things were, they were just annoying enough that we would be distracted at a crucial moment...which would inevitably be capitalized on by our bevy of guests.
And I still hadn't peeled my own ass off of the ground yet. Joy.
Maybe radio works?
The sound of static filled my ears as I tried to send out a message.
So...either Jamming, or the explosion screwed up some of my gear. I'm assuming the first until told otherwise.
Finally managing to get off of my ass and back to my feet, I took stock of my situation. On one side, the ambushers were getting handled in a very amusing way by my combat drone, although it wouldn't last for much longer. The sentry turret was still operational, and could be used for some cover fire while it's ammo reserves lasted.The Sergeant and the remainder of the command team were hunkered down and trying to avoid being bullied out of cover by whatever those weird thingies were, while also trying to protect our wounded. So far, the process was slow going.
And then there was me, the wildcard who could--and had, just recently--change the course of this battle.
As long as I did not get sniped or something. And stopped just standing out in the open like an idiot.
Furiously shaking my head, and finally getting back in the game, I immediately dashed towards the nearest form of cover. Apparently I was finally noticed, because the lasbolts started raining down on me with a vengeance...though fortunately whoever was firing at me lacked knowledge of how to properly lead the target, thus having all of the las landing around me instead of on me and potentially damaging something important. Still was tense as all hell, even though I had a cheat code that I could break out at will..as long as I was willing to accept the consequences of such.
Another howl tore through the night, as yet more of the xenomorph things tore around a corner, tearing apart anything in their wake. A quick look showed me what I had feared: The final member of the original group, the leader no less, had called for backup. And they were rolling hot, it seemed. There were what--ten, twenty? And they just kept coming…
Thoth helpfully pulled up a casual scan of the area, and I paled in horror. There were...at least thirty of the things. And it looked like they were spreading out, moving towards other populated areas. Areas that didn't know that they were here, and likely didn't have the firepower to even make a dent in that damned carapace on those things. Those people were as good as dead.
Unless someone did something about it.
Doing this was going to paint a massive target on my back...but not doing so would condemn thousands, possibly more to death by these things.
Yeah,..no.
Fuck.
That.
Noise.
Thoth. Full Active. We have WORK to do.
James Jarsun was a very uninteresting man. And he preferred it that way.
Being a trooper under the banner of House Van Saar had its share of benefits, but one of the best was the ability to just be a standard nobody in the crowd. Even his recent promotion to a leadership position--even if it was probationary for the duration of this mission--was very much ordinary.
What was not ordinary was the shitstorm that had kicked up as soon as they had really gotten into the groove. And he couldn't even blame the asshat of a VIP that was traveling with them, either, as the weenie had shockingly made the right call.
Now he and his men were surrounded by a fuckton of small xenos, what looked like much bigger xenos that had a disturbing similarity to what he had heard the Tyranid looked like in general, and what was supposedly an Escherite strike team that had tried to ambush them...only to run headlong into the wannabe buggers and get slaughtered.
And his fucking VIP turned out to be a badass, taking out at least four of the xenos things and a smattering of the Escherites in all of a handful of seconds, alone.
Still wondering how the hell he survived that explosion though...or he was until the damned winged rat-things came at them, screeching and biting everywhere. Fucking huge, too, nearly the size of a man's torso, and a fuckton of 'em too. Fortunately they were easy to kill, and his men were doing a very good job of doing so while maintaining cover. Unfortunately, a fucking swarm of the damned xenos showed up, and were killing anything that moved. And a pack of the bastards were headed for his VIP, who was just standing there and NOT SHOOTING.
Dammit, this was not how he wanted to die…
A flash of light drew his attention back to his VIP...or where the VIP should have been.
Instead there was a suit of Very, VERY advanced looking Power Armor sitting there...which then proceeded to lift off of the ground, Draw some kind of riflelike weapon from nowhere, and then opened up wholesale on the fucking xenos.
The xenos fell before the armored one almost effortlessly, the power of whatever that weapon was far too much for even those super-dense hides. The armor moved just as effortlessly, practically zipping from place to place in order to gain the best angle for attack.
And by the Emperor did it attack. Again and again, seemingly without any need for reloading at all, the rifle spat light at the foul Xenos filth and burned them in it's light. Not a one was spared His Fury, not a one allowed to escape His Justice. And James watched as the Xenos turned and ran, attempting to get away from the being that was even now their reaper.
The armored being did not allow it. Flying overhead at speeds that were mindboggling to him, the armor cut the retreating xenos off, and slaughtered them to the last.
And then it moved onward, and the sounds of its weapon discharging and the corresponding death cry of another xenos confirmed that it was now hunting down every last one.
His life had been spared...and now his duty remained.
"MEN!! RALLY TO ME!!"
It was time to finish the cleanup of this mess.
Running down and killing all of these Xenomorph motherfuckers was annoying, at worst. I was simply too fast with Thoth at full expression, even with the reduced speeds we were using to avoid the crazier damage possible with large objects going supersonic within an enclosed structure. Even then, it was mere child's play to run the entire pack down and kill them, even the ones spread across the area and trying to scatter not moving fast enough to escape.
Speaking of, that photon rifle was performing above and beyond all expectations I'd had for it, to the point that it was almost like it was an extension of myself reaching out and cleansing the damned taint of those weird-ass monsters.
And to think that this is only a small part of the capabilities of a Valkyrie Core…
In any case, with the xenomorphs having been taken out with extreme prejudice, it was time for me to refocus on that Escher-wannabe ambush force....but better do an active scan just to make sure. Don't want any of those things escaping--oh damn. Thoth had been busy.
The now expanded sensor range was somehow taking into account all of the extremely shielded materials around us, and had instead worked around it to get me an active updating map of the local area out to at least a good 500 meters...which for a hive city was downright insane. Seems that Thoth was just as pissed about not being able to see anything in tunnel hell as I was, and had adjusted accordingly. Now, we had the best eyes in the area.
And those eyes had found something VERY interesting.
Not only was there a whole set of tunnels that we had missed, weaving around the regular set like some kind of knot, but there was an equally hidden encampment nestled within. And from the looks of it, a pretty big one, too. Getting anything remotely assembling good resolution on the various contacts below was going to be interesting without getting closer, but it was clear that this was the base complex of where the ambush force had come from...and how they were able to ambush us in the first place.
The third set of tunnels leading deeper into the underhive proper I ignored for now, but kept a note of them as the possible insertion point for the xenomorphs. I could check those later on when I had a better loadout.
On the plus side, the scan confirmed that I had cleared out all of the xenomorphs before they could get to civilian targets. Score one for the good guys!
Moving closer to the new set of tunnels and its attendant complex revealed something interesting. There was apparently a pretty good power source down there, one that was specifically NOT drawing from anything the hive offered for power generation. The weird part came from the fact that it was not connected to anything at all, but rather just...there. I would look into it when I got done with the rest of the search in the complex.
Too bad flying was not going to cut it in here…
Finally hitting the ground, I took a moment to settle my own nerves from before, as well as the adrenaline rush that I was currently coming down from, and prepared to breach the tunnels proper. This included scratching a particularly annoying itch that kept coming back between my shoulder blades. Every attempt to scratch it proved futile, even considering the armor.
Was annoying as hell, too.
Another quick scan showed that the ambush crew was getting their shit pushed in by the remainder of our search team, using the combat drone and sentry turret I had left behind as force multipliers to push through. This was good ,as it meant that I didn't have to go back and help them before getting into this complex while it was still a hot find. Still would leave a relay beacon for the entrance, though. Just good sense and manners.
Getting down into the tunnels proper was a trivial affair. The setup was deliberately wide and tall enough to allow for some heavy equipment to pass through, likely some kind of maintenance servitor back in the day. It meant that my frame fit in the tunnels with room to spare.
The layout was deliberately very uniform and utilitarian, as befitting of what used to be old maintenance shafts and air ducts. There was very little in the way of lighting around, and Thoth activated a low-light imaging mode to allow me to see...not that there was much there, anyway.
Not like the Escherites were stupid enough to only have the first entry tunnel hidden, after all.
I moved slowly, cautiously, paying attention to how much sound I made as I traveled. While I had absolutely nothing to fear from the inhabitants of this little outpost, there was the possibility that they had captives of some sort...and they were not anywhere near as durable as I was. Hence the stealthy approach until I could get full bearings on how this place was laid out.
The first secret passageway I approached was very simple, and still would have fooled all but possibly a Space Marine Scout Sergeant with it's placement. Naturally, I cheated and bypassed the spot check entirely thanks to detect secret doors in technological form. And behind door number one…
Was a supply cache. Had all of the usual, weapons, armor, some field rations (which sucked ass, probably would feed them to Thoth to see if he could improve it), the usual. Not many weapons left, though--apparently our friends topside had raided this place for their use before coming after us. More power to them, I guess. I snagged the remainder of the wargear in the room and moved on, continuing my advance.
Wasn't too much longer before I came to the second secret door, hidden if anything even better than the first, which is quite impressive. Still not enough to get past Thoth and his cheat codes, but what is down here?
The second area was what appeared to be a staging grounds, currently empty except for some servitors from the looks of it. There were a few tunnels branching off into the distance from this room, but what I could get on sensors stated that all of the tunnels were moving away from the area, and not towards the central hub of this place, so I Ignored them in favor of advancing.
I still found it weird that I hadn't encountered any kind of real security yet. I wonder why that is? Most people here should be quite paranoid in their defensive arrangements, hell, I expected at least some video surveillance. This place...it seemed almost deserted, for all there was still activity below.
Maybe they're packing up? All the more reason to step in now, then. But enough thoughts. Continue march, HU!
The third of the secret doors in this place was amusingly not very hidden at all. I immediately suspected trap, and trained all available passive and low-observable actives on the breach just to be sure.
Nothing.
Alright then, lets try it...while I'm over there, away from the door, and use my Impeller to gain entry. I needed practice in manipulating it anyway.
So then. Just reach out with extra limb. Grab the appropriate area..gently now...gently..there! Now to move it to where I want. Slowly...slowly...
I heard the click.
I saw, though Thoth' sensors, the Improvised explosive prime itself, ready to cook.
I reacted without thinking and smothered it with my impeller, yanking it away from the tunnel entrance as fast as possible. This maneuver, while successful, had some...side effects.
For one, I now had an exploding bomb in impeller storage, holding steady and somehow not continuing to explode.
Second, I also had a good section of the wall ripped out with it. Fortunately this did not compromise the tunnel entrance, for which I was grateful even as my embarrassment grew.
The third?
I now had the attention of a trio of individuals that I could only describe as...unhinged. And I wasn't sure why.
The three seemed ordinary, all women of varying origins and racial phenotypes, seemingly minding their own business as I went along. But something about them kept drawing me in, wanting me to relax a bit. After all, they weren't going to hurt me, right?
I stepped into the room, giving it another glance around. Seemed the place was some sort of...prison cell? Were they prisoners here? For what purpose? Meh, I could worry about that later. Right now it looked like the ladies wanted to meet their rescuer. Gotta make a good first impression, after all--
My entire thought process jerked wildly as I was essentially pushed into the backseat of my own mind, completely helpless as something took full control of my body. I struggled against it, lashing out wildly in my attempts to break free, and didn't even realize what I was doing until the mental equivalent of a foam bat donked me upside the head. It was then that I realized that I had been fighting for control against THOTH.
Wait, what? Why the hell would I fight Thoth for control of my body? He literally has my best interests at--ohfuck.
There was only one reason that I could think of that would force Thoth to kick me out of the driver's seat the way he did...and that was Psyker Activity. It would seem that one of these ladies, hell, possibly all three, were psykers of some sort, and surprisingly good at it, to boot. Even not I could feel a corner of my mind trying desperately to break free of the iron grip that it was held in in order to join with the women before me. I could also hear some kind of laughter as well, but I couldn't place the origin.
No matter, I'll just handle the problem...and learn the lesson.
I used the small amounts of mental faculty I had available to me though Thoth to give a single command out: kill them.
Thoth did so with an expediency that was downright terrifying to behold.
I did not blame him.
That was twice now that I had been ganked by Psykers. Teaches me to think I'm invincible, huh? A little more, just a little more subtlety, or power, or...whatever, and I would be a puppet on strings. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. They fucking HAD me.
And Thoth had pulled me out.
"Yeah. Anti-Psyker tools definitely on the list."
The rest of the tunnels prior to the big grouping I was working towards were very simple, either acting as supply rooms (which I looted) or transit hubs to what I assumed were other bases. There were even a few sleeping areas set up, complete with cots and bedding arranged haphazardly in the way that usually happens during a scramble deployment. I blatantly looted anything useful or important and moved on.
Finally, I made it to the central chamber, which for some reason was not hidden by a false wall of some sort, but instead was guarded by what looked like a pair of tarantula turrets aimed down the only way into the central tunnels proper.
I had the turrets hacked and under my control long before they even had a proper bead on me.
It was what was inside this chamber that caught my attention.
The place was semi-organized chaos, people and materials moving everywhere at once as what looked like a desperate evac attempt continued underway. It was so frantic that I don;t think anyone even saw me step into the chamber proper.
But that wasn't what drew my focus.
What did was the setup in one of the corners: it was a ramshackle but very effective series of cages, holding multiple individuals who looked to be in very sorry shape, all of them men. I looked back at the chaos, and saw that they were near-universally women.
Huh. Escher it is, then.
I was tempted to head over to the cages and start busting people out, but after the incident with the psykers upstairs I was hesitant to act without more knowledge. Instead, I pulse-scanned the entire fucking room at near max output.
I barely restrained myself from killing them all right there and then.
I had found Harry.
And Harry.
And some more of Harry.
And over there too.
Looked like a bit was..dripping? From somewhere as well.
They had butchered him...were doing things to him that made the concept of inhumanity look utterly peaceful by comparison. How the hell that man was still alive I have no idea, but somehow even missing both arms and a leg, he was holding on. Good news was that the medical module Thoth had available (and fully integrated, unlike a lot of this stuff) was more than up to the task of pulling him from the brink of death.
The mad news was that he was going to have to wait a moment while I cleaned house.
And with that, I properly announced myself...with a bang, of course.
It wasn't even a real fight to be called one-sided. I basically mowed the entire lot of them down like sheep, stunned into unconsciousness by the nifty settings on the lasguns I had available. Didn't even take two minutes, all things told.
After...taking out the trash...I rushed to Harry, quickly starting the setup process for the medical module and getting to work on the worst affected areas. I saw right away that the remaining leg was a wash: he was bleeding out from within and some kind of necrosis had already set in hadrcore in more than 80% of it. For some reason it had skipped the Femoral Artery, or else Harry would be a dead man right now…
The good news is that I could use the combo of the fabricators and the med module to effective flash-clone new limbs for harry to use...as well as all of the missing organs...and the eyes...and the ears...and…
STOP. Just fucking stop.
Harry needs your help now.
You can kill the bitches responsible later.
Medical unit needed a quick DNA scan...and we should be--wait a minute. The fuck is this shit?
Thoth had noted an anomaly in Harry's DNA.
There was some sort of retrovirus running rampant within, modifying the strands willy-nilly and creating something...else. It also jacked up reproductive drive a LOT. I dived in for a closer look, and saw that the changes being thrown about by this DNA modifier were extensive and near total,only being caught because of the process itself not being complete yet. Looking closer, a lot of the amputation work and some other select surgeries were seemingly in an attempt to curtail whatever process this was.
...maybe you girls get to live, after all.
Nope, wait. The work done in this way was a completely different set of marks from the ones that were clear torture.
A wash, I guess?
A Deeper scan found the source of the RNA corruption sequence: some kind of seed-thing, implanted within his chest cavity and somehow VERY well hidden among the other organs.
With most medical technology the patient would be a lost cause, no continues or go.
With what I had available? Child's play. Just counter the RNA Virus with one of my own design, based off the original no less, to counteract the effects and prime the immune system to flush out the other viral agent...and then give it a brief push to get 100% coverage.. And done. Now, use the bio-scrap for repairs...and excise that seed-thing.
Seed-thing removed, moving to treatable major injuries...and the patient is stable.
Harry coughed wetly as the process reached a point where he wasn't dying outright. I watched him try to look up and focus, his eyes searching the semi-opaque visor of my armor, looking for something, anything at all, to see if he was clear of this hell. I 'm not sure what he saw, but he seemed to give a waec chuckle, which prompted more coughs. I quickly got back to work keeping the idiot stable.
"Dammit Cain. you are going to be in such shit with the bosses, you know that right?"
"h...hell...you...you..*cough* came…"
"Stop. Talking. Medic's orders. I'm getting you out of here, ASAP. and then figuring out how in the hell I'm going to fix you up."
Harry quieted down after that, letting me focus for a bit
Now how the fuck was I getting him out? Front door might have been out of the question. Back? Didn't know where it led to. Side? What sides?
Fuck it. Front door it is.
"Wa..wait."
Eh? He tries talking AGAIN? After I warned him to stay quiet? Really?
"People...save them…"
Oh.
The men in the cages were not much better in terms of shape, but at least they had all four limbs and supposedly inner organs as well. Either way, it was probably going to be a nice marketing push for the House if we got them out of there, so...I did.
Using my Impeller as something of a blunt-force object, I tore through the cages almost all at once, freeing the captives and allowing them to make their escape...or at least that was the theory. Instead, they all looked at me.
Oh yeah, I'm the only one who knew the way out...
Outside was quite now, the sounds of battle having faded into nothing. The Sergeant was waiting for us as we left the tunnels, having found my beacon and set up a guard rotation while he tried to contact higher for instructions. I figured I would preempt that.
I stepped directly in front of the Sergeant, making sure he could see though my visor as I started talking.
"Tell them I have Cain, but he's hurt badly. I'm going to get him patched up and we should be ready for debrief within the next 3-4 days, depending on how bad this actually is. There were at least 35, maybe 40 prisoners down there, rescued the lot, will likely feel gratitude to the house as a result. Potential unknown third party involved. I'll be in touch."
The open-mouthed shock on his face was absolutely priceless to behold. Thoth had saved the entire moment to permanent storage. With that, I lofted off, and made for the closest safehouse I could get to using ground-skimming flight techniques to speed my passage without jostling my cargo.
Turns out the safehouse was the same one that I had started out in, and was still needing repair and renovation. No go. Trying the next one...nope, occupied, and they don't need the attention.
Fuck it, lemme get him back to MY safehouse...but with some camo first.
I managed to get Harry to the repair shop proper within about 30 minutes. Long enough to throw off the trail of any watchers, and still short enough that complications would not come calling at the worst time. Setting him on a spare cot/table that I had set up as a makeshift medical gurney, I fully manifested the medical module and connected it to Harry, then set it to get to work.with any luck, the absolute worst of it
In the meantime, I had to consider consequences...because there WOULD be consequences to this mess that I had just caused. Depending on who decided to take offense, possibly severe consequences. As for what I thought of them and their consequences?
TOUGH. SHIT.
At least 30 men are free of whatever the fuck was going on down there in those tunnels. Who knows how many were spared the predation of a blatant xenos attack. And Harry was alive, safe and currently healing. Everything else could be dealt with by future Satori. Right now, I had a friend to put back together.
I'll be blunt: this second part fought me hard as hell for a bit, and even now feels kinda janky with now I handled it. In any case, it is here. Hope you enjoyed it, and please give me any feedback you have.
