Heist with Explosions
Short message from author.
Dear Readers. I know that Phantom Liberty is out soon. So to celebrate that and let you have some good time before launch this is chapter comes out early. Due to health and other reasons I can't enjoy game myself so do me a favor - have an amazing gaming experience and enjoy DLC.
Abi.
Sighing and stretching my shoulders, I close my equipment locker. My shift's over and I can go home now. I just have to pick up VJ from the finance department, according to the tracking chip.
I've been taking my cat to work since I noticed the sadness and depression in his behavior. I can't just let him out for a walk, not in Night City. He'd either get stolen or eaten by local junkies and other trash. And the apartment, though big, is still too small for my lazy fat boy. So I started taking him to work with me. Now he is always walking around the office, although most often he can be found in the financial department or on the training ground.
The finance department was just ecstatic about the fat cat with ginger-gold coloring. He reminded them of Maneki-neko, the symbol of luck and money. So they constantly fed him and scratched him, so much so that they even had an expense line for him under the heading of expenses for good luck. The funny thing is that the head of the finance department insisted on that.
And on the range he was basking on the grass or just watching guys training. Just the sight of him helped the guys de-stress a little bit. So he always had food and slaves...people ready to scratch him. But most importantly, he was safe. All right, I gotta go get this fat guy.
"Uh-huh. You look a little heavier or is it just my imagination?" - I asked picking him up.
"Meow!" - he replied making himself comfortable in my arms.
"Yeah yeah. You're just growing still. Alright let's go home." - humming I walked towards the exit.
But before I could get out, I got a call from Yerinobu.
"Hey Yerinobu. How are you?"
"Good evening to you too, Marcus. Marcus can you come to a restaurant, I'll send you the coordinates. We need to talk. "
"Hmm. No problem. Just make a reservation for one more person."
"I'd like to meet privately."
"Don't worry. It'll just be me and VJ and it's soon time for his favorite dinner so I'll feed my big guy at the same time."
"Hahaha. No problem then. Although I thought breakfast or lunch was his favorite meal time. "
"He likes breakfast, second breakfast, third breakfast, first lunch, second lunch. You get the idea. "
"Ha. I'm not even surprised. Okay. I'll be there in an hour or less."
"Okay."
I had to order a cab and drive to Heywood, a club-restaurant called Embers. Expensive place. I wonder if they'll let me and VJ in. Of course they would, just one call to Yerinobu and the whole management would know what it was like to annoy Arasaka's heir with petty things.
Getting out of the cab and approaching the entrance I was stopped by a security guard.
"Excuse me. The restaurant is by appointment only and no pets allowed."
"Marcus Berkut. Meeting for three. And VJ is one of the guests. Check the list. "
"Ahem. Please come in and sorry for the wait." - quickly checking the list and seeing our IDs he, a little surprised that the cat had a personalized invitation let us inside.
At the restaurant, I was ushered straight to a private table. Having settled down with the cat and ordered appetizers and drinks, I started waiting for Yerinobu. About 15 minutes later Yerinobu arrived. Half an hour passed during the meal and light conversation until he called me to smoke in a special room.
Having activated the ventilation and hidden devices to prevent wiretapping and surveillance, Yerinobu lit a cigarette. The smoke from his cigarette made VJ wrinkle his snout and meow disdainfully.
"What's wrong with him?" - Yerinobu asked surprised to see such a reaction.
"He doesn't like the smell of your cheap cigarettes. Here, try these ones they are much better." - I take mine out and hand him one.
" Oh, my goodness. A cat who lives the life of an aristocrat." - his words made us laugh. But enough of chit chat.
"Yerinobu what's wrong? Are you in some kind of danger?" - letting out a ring of smoke I asked.
"I need some help. And no I'm not threatened by anything, but there's a very important and valuable opportunity I don't want to miss."
"Tell me."
Sighing, he briefly outlined that another confrontation between factions within Arasaka had started. And Yerinobu is starting to lose in it. There are too few trusted men and too few resources available. His faction is being pressured by the other factions conspiring with each other on a temporary alliance. The only thing that can turn the board of pieces is a successful and very profitable operation for Arasaka.
And recently he's gotten some information into his hands about Militeh's new development of heavy equipment weaponry and possibly light hand weapons. From the scraps of information alone, this is something really big and important that could change a lot of things in the Arasaka-Militech conflict. Yerinobu wants to get this technology and most importantly, there are already prototypes that if they fall into his hands could make him the winner in the faction clash.
There's just one fucking thing. Yerinobu doesn't have any available men whose movements won't attract the attention of his opponents within Arasaka. And if he does decide to use them, there is a possiblity that other factions may decide to interfere and sabotage his plans.
"Uh-huh. I see. Now you want to ask for my help right?"
"Yes. Sorry Marcus. There's just no one else. And I'll be honest. I don't really trust the people in my faction. So I'm going to ask for your help." - Yerinobu said with a sigh.
"Well. I can tell you one thing. I'm in." - my answer made him surprised.
"Just like that?" - Yerinobu asked looking into my eyes searching for a catch.
"You're my friend. Maybe a lot of people in the corpo world don't believe in that. But I'm not one of them. I can help a friend as I have earned freedom to do so by my own blood and sweat. So don't be nervous. I just need to call my guys. I don't think they'll mind either. At the very least, we can find mercenaries who can be later killed or brainwashed into forgetting everything after the mission. Though the latter is no better than being killed." - I put out my cigarette and started thinking about what I needed.
" So. Yerinobu I need your help with equipment and ensuring anonymity. It doesn't take a lot of brains to find traces leading back to you from us in case of a leak. It's one thing for all of Arasaka to counter Militech, but it's another for just your faction facing them. In case everything goes well Militech will just blame Arasaka as a whole rather thank picking on you or other factions. Do your best to ensure no leakage. Also, it will be good idea to provide good reward for my boys. They can do a lot of things for me if I ask them, but money wouldn't hurt."
"No problem with that. Anonymity. No issues with that either. We have a couple gadgets that will make it impossible for you to be tracked. Also, you'll be issued very expensive suits that won't allow you to be traced by DNA in case of injury or any other incident. Just promise me you'll do whatever it takes to keep this technology out of Militech's hands. "
"Phewt. How much do they cost?"
"Let's say such suits cost as much as ten state-of-the-art tanks each. The suit will render any bodily fluids leaving the body useless, like pouring a couple liters of bleach into a drop of blood. Oh, and they provide a pretty good protection themselves."
"Well, no problem then. I'll go talk to the guys and take a little vacation. It's a perfect time. Just in time for the guys to make some money. "
"Okay. Let's go. I don't want to attract any attention. - returning to the table we sat for another half hour and then we each went home. "
My penguin commandos didn't mind helping me, and when they found out that they would be paid a very large sum of money for it, they were ready to fly to rob one of Militech's labs right away.
But preparation and planning were important. First, we got a map of the lab and the approximate location where the prototypes of new weapons and the server room where important technical documentation is stored.
Then there was the security analysis. And the worst part is that even this lab wasn't too far behind Fort Knox in terms of security. I'm exaggerating, but the lab was a tough nut to crack. There was even information about a special Borg guard, so I had to take some heavy weapons with me.
The last step was to train with the suits that Yerinobu had sent. The suits were similar to the ones worn by the netrunners, but they had more hidden features. The level of protection from bullets was on par with a medium armor vest at the weight of normal clothing. There was even some protection against EMP and thermal damage. And the level of concealment provided was awesome. Hell, maybe I should ask for one for my birthday. Nah. I'm more of a stormtrooper than a 21st century ninja, so I'll pass.
We spent a couple days practicing heist in virtual and in real life conditions. Everything that could be done before the mission was done. It remained only to wait for the night and give the go-ahead for netrunners to launch an attack through the net.
At exactly 12 o'clock at night, a horde of viruses and demons flooded into the lab's network. The security servers went down, unable to withstand the pressure. Guards tried to break through blocked or malfunctioning doors. The scientists locked themselves in a special shelter. But instead of safety, they found themselves in a real concrete coffin when one of the viruses damaged the ventilation system. Instead of circulating air, it started pumping out and people simply suffocated.
Realizing that the lab was in disarray and chaos, we went on the attack. The guards turned out to be quite good, but the lack of normal communication and the lack of opportunity to coordinate work due to viruses and demons in the network did not give them the opportunity to take advantage of the advantage in numbers. Plus, our netrunners tried to organize a green corridor for us by opening all the doors on our way and blocking the guards by sealing whole departments of the complex, and by faking voice orders they forced the guards to chase the ghosts.
""Passage!" - shouts Rico loudly as he finishes attaching an explosive charge to the wall.
Activating the flash protection and taking up defensive positions we prepared to detonate and then break through to the last room before the lab we needed. The explosion was quite powerful, but thanks to the armor and especially the suits from Yerinobu we started throwing grenades inside the breach almost immediately after the explosion. Stun grenades, fragmentation grenades, EMP grenades, everything was in play. Immediately after the cascade of explosions we moved, activating the chrome we went on the attack.
The Private took rare shots from more or less intact guards on his shield. But they were no problem for us. Time slows down and here I see a couple of men behind overturned tables shooting at us. Abruptly I raise my rifle and send two bullets into each of them, sending them to their deaths.
"Kill all survivors." - I repeat the order that my team has heard often enough during the attack on the lab. A few short bursts and the room is completely cleared. All that remains is to enter the lab and retrieve the prototypes and research files.
""Check!"" - another order for a quick check for wounds and the amount of ammo left.
The answer was that on average everyone had about half ammo left. Some had armor pierced through their vests, but the suits underneath resisted. Not bad for our wild blitzkrieg. Having finished with the check and quickly loaded the magazines we got ready for the last dash. We have to make it in 10 minutes or we'll be in big trouble.
With a hiss the door opened, and only we got ready to attack as some large-caliber gun started shooting at us. Looks like a machine gun. Shit. We're gonna have to take our chances. We can't use grenades now, we might damage what we came here for.
"Give everyone a shot of stimulants for acceleration and antishock with blood coagulants." - I pull out syringes and inject through a special port near the neck. After waiting for the stimulants to take full effect, I command everyone to get ready to suppress the shooter.
After waiting for the machine gun to reduce in intensity from overheating, I give the signal to attack. As I peeked out from behind the entrance, I noticed that our enemy was a half-assembled Borg. He was missing one arm and had a machine gun attached to the other. The Borg was clad in strange armor that looked like a brigantine. Fortunately, there were some missing elements, but knowing the Borg's survivability, we'll still have to stuff him with bullets until his life support systems fail.
I give the command to focus fire on the machine gun in hopes of damaging it and it works. A couple of bullets hit the ammo belt damaging it and the machine gun goes silent. While there's a pause we two threes start flanking it. I'm lucky and I see a gap in his defense, illuminating it with laser we start shooting there, chewing through the Borg's defense.
The Borg turns to us, cursing, but it doesn't help. The other crew members have managed to get into comfortable firing positions. It was similar to the way cavemen in ancient times would kill a mammoth. Wherever he moved he was encircled on all sides.
"Private! Take a crowbar and break his spine while we distract him!" - I said to the Private and he nodded and took out a shotgun with slug shells and after waiting for the Borg to turn in our direction gets as close as possible to the Borg's back from which several plates of armor had come off and shattered during the firefight. Without any hesitation he starts firing, the bullets like vicious wasps start tearing the Borg's insides so that it is noticeable how the plates on the opposite side vibrate.
The Borg screams and starts to stagger, but keeps firing until finally we've done enough damage that he just collapses on the floor like a puppet that's had its strings cut.
"We have too little time left! Kowalski, start collecting data. Manfredi and Johnson start looking for prototypes and other stuff. Rico, start planting explosives, especially at the servers. Private, you're with me. We'll do a quick sweep, then help Manfredi and Johnson. We are out of schedule!" - together with Private I begin to inspect the lab for any survivors and potential enemies. But when we reach the shelter we find no one. Apparently everyone had time to get away only this Borg was apparently not among those to be evacuated.
Then the vandal's paradise began. Computers and all the important servers marked Kowalski, we break them down at the same time, pulling out the hard drives. Rough work, but Kowalski's already managed to collect most of the data we need, so it's no loss if we damage one of the data banks.
Finished with the looting and pillaging, I order everyone to prepare for retreat and simultaneously activate the timer on the explosives.
Only apparently at the last moment I was too relaxed or fate decided to throw shit on the fan.
As I passed near the defeated Borg, I heard a strange muttering and a sharp sound like a microwave being turned on. Borg abruptly rose up and grabbing me by the neck with his hand began to activate some beam emitter embedded in the center of his chest previously hidden by armor.
"This is my death! I choose it. I deny you your victory.!" - he yelled, ignoring my rifle held to his eye and the fact that I pulled a trigger.
His head exploded like an overripe watermelon, but it was too late he was able to activate the device in his chest, from which a bright blue light burst out.
The last thought I had that made me laugh before the flash engulfed me was, "Fuck, did I forget to feed my cat?