The night was calm, and the moonlight poured down like liquid silver, illuminating the vast landscape.
Inside the scrapyard, fires crackled in makeshift iron-barrel stoves, and the scavengers celebrated their weekly haul of fresh meat with loud, boisterous music playing from a nearby radio. It was a wild, chaotic scene of scavenger life.
But all of that was shattered the moment Lin Mo and Brutus clashed in their brutal battle.
Whether it was the scavengers dancing and singing outside, celebrating their spoils, or Maine's team, who had been lying in wait near the gates, everyone felt the distinct tension in the air, like the sound of a battle horn blaring.
The scavengers froze mid-dance, drinks paused halfway to their lips. The music continued, but their celebration was cut short.
Maine was the first to react. With a roar of laughter, full of confident swagger, he emerged from his position near the factory gates. His booming voice rang out, taunting the enemies. He lifted his massive, bear-like mechanical arm, and a brass-colored grenade launcher extended from it, launching an explosive straight into the densest part of the crowd.
The grenade detonated, sending several unprepared scavengers flying in bloody pieces.
The battle had begun.
The most dangerous of the scavengers, those who had speed-boosting cyberware, were quickly picked off. Keita, waiting in position on a nearby rooftop, had already targeted them. Even though their reflexes were boosted by the Kerenzikov system, multiplying their neural reaction speeds several times, they stood no chance against the charged tungsten darts of Keita's Nekomata sniper rifle.
The reinforced metal plating under their skin, tough enough to withstand heavy machine-gun fire, was no match for the sheer piercing force of the Nekomata's darts. Their defenses were ripped apart with ease.
Keita fired four rounds, each one a clean kill, before swiftly reloading his weapon.
Though devastating, the Nekomata's main drawback was its limited magazine capacity. Its power came at the cost of a smaller clip, meaning each shot had to count. Keita was keenly aware of this, working efficiently to reload.
The loud, sudden sniper fire served as a harsh wake-up call for the remaining scavengers. Shouts of "Sniper!" echoed, sending them scrambling for cover.
A few scavengers tried to head toward the underground area to assist their leader, but Sasha had already hacked and sealed the electronic doors. For now, they were stuck, unable to intervene.
Meanwhile, with Maine acting as the spearhead, Rebecca, Dorio, and Pilar also sprang into action.
"Don't you dare steal my kills!"
Rebecca's voice rang out with wild enthusiasm, accompanied by her trademark crazed laughter. In both hands, she wielded two brightly-colored pistols, firing rapidly without much thought to aim. Yet, somehow, every shot hit its mark, each bullet finding a scavenger's skull with deadly precision.
As her magazines began to empty, her laughter only grew louder and more manic.
Despite her small stature, Rebecca moved with speed and agility, darting across the battlefield, completely unbothered by the chaos around her. Fear was nowhere to be seen on her face, only the sheer thrill of battle.
Every time she fired, another scavenger fell, blood painting the ground with each successive kill.
Rebecca's reckless nature, however, was kept in check by Dorio, Maine's reliable and towering second-in-command.
Armed with a Magrail Presto revolver in one hand and an Arasaka HJSH-18 Overture assault rifle in the other, Dorio stayed close to Rebecca, providing cover fire while also watching out for any danger the smaller, more impulsive girl might miss.
Though her shooting wasn't as flawless as Rebecca's, Dorio's sheer strength and steady aim made her a formidable force. She fired continuously, her massive arms easily absorbing the recoil of the high-caliber weapons.
The battle raged on for less than a minute, but the ground was already littered with the bodies of scavengers. Their corpses, riddled with bullet holes, created a grisly scene, with blood pooling and staining the earth in grotesque patterns.
Pieces of flesh, torn apart by the intense gunfire, were scattered across the battlefield. The iron-barrel stoves continued to burn, their orange flames casting eerie shadows on the gory scene.
The radio, playing celebratory music just moments before, had been shattered by a stray bullet, sparking and fizzling out. Nearby, overturned stoves spilled flames onto the ground, adding to the chaos.
The remaining scavengers, those who had survived the initial onslaught, had taken refuge behind whatever cover they could find. Some hid in nearby buildings, while others huddled behind debris, preparing to launch a counterattack.
The momentum of the battle shifted as the scavengers, though fewer in number, began to dig in and return fire. Maine's team, now facing concentrated fire, had no choice but to retreat to cover as well.
Rebecca, still charging forward recklessly, was forcibly grabbed by Dorio, who pulled her into the relative safety of a nearby security post.
"Let me go! I'm not done yet!"
Rebecca thrashed and kicked, trying to escape Dorio's strong grip, her adrenaline still spiking.
"Calm down! Now's not the time to act tough," Dorio growled, pulling Rebecca into a tight hold and dragging her behind the security post.
Finally realizing she couldn't break free, Rebecca's furious energy slowly simmered down, her excitement fading as she caught her breath. The heat of the battle, like the warmth from her pistols, began to cool in the night air.
Maine, crouching behind a building for cover, surveyed the battlefield. The scavengers were returning fire, and while he was well-armored with heavy subdermal plating, the sheer volume of bullets was overwhelming. Even with his armor, getting caught in a full barrage could mean certain death.
"Pilar, what the hell are you doing? What's taking so long?" Maine growled into the comms.
"Relax, relax! Sit tight and watch the fireworks, Maine!" Pilar finally responded after what felt like an eternity.
Almost on cue, a series of massive explosions erupted from a nearby warehouse, setting off a chain reaction of blasts that sent scavengers flying and engulfed part of the area in flames.
Maine peered out from behind cover, pushing up his shades in disbelief.
"You spent all that time, and you only blow up one warehouse? Is that it?!"
The spectacle was impressive, but the explosion was confined to just the warehouse itself. It took out about a dozen scavengers, but the rest were still alive, taking potshots at the team from their fortified positions.
"I told you, this was supposed to be a quick job, didn't think I needed to pack more explosives! You're lucky I even brought this much!" Pilar shot back, clearly irritated.
"Just admit it, you're a scrub, and your explosions are weak!" Rebecca chimed in, never missing an opportunity to mock her brother.
"Yeah, keep talking, little miss popguns! When you run out of ammo, don't come crying to me for more magazines!" Pilar retorted, flipping her off even though no one could see it.
"If you two wanna bicker, do it privately! This isn't the place for it!" Dorio snapped, cutting through their banter. She was trying to get everyone focused again.
"What now? They've dug in, and their firepower's making it hard for us to push through. Should we hold position and wait for a better chance?" Dorio asked, her voice more urgent.
"Wait it out. We'll find an opening soon," Maine decided, scanning the area for potential opportunities.
"Hold on! Heat signatures at nine o'clock! They've brought out heavy weapons!" Pilar's voice crackled over the comms, sounding more than a little alarmed.
The news made everyone's heart drop. Pilar was an expert at detecting explosives, and his warning wasn't to be taken lightly.
"Rebecca, Dorio, get out of that security post now!" Maine barked, his eyes locked on the small building they had taken shelter in. There was no way it could withstand the blast from heavy ordnance.
Dorio's face tightened in resolve as she grabbed Rebecca, ready to make a break for it. Her subdermal armor could take a few hits, but staying inside that building would be a death sentence.
Just as the tension reached its peak, a calm and steady voice cut through the chaos over the comms, like a ripple soothing the troubled waters.
"Don't worry, I'm here," the voice said, completely composed.
It was Lin Mo.