Jackie and I dive behind the admittedly comfortable but soon to be bullet riddled couches.
"So much for diplomacy, V!" Jackie yells to me, flatlining the two fanatics to his right.
I decide to forgo cover, throwing the couch I was using as a shield towards Dum Dum and the goon next to him. It knocks both of them flat on their asses.
My boot turns red as it makes its way through the goons throat. Dum Dum gets a round to the head. My next bullet goes for the netrunner to the right as Jackie slams the last fanatic into a wall, breaking his spine. Jack really does have quite the pair of ganic arms. Some Animals would kill for that kinda strength with such little chrome.
"Time to leave V. Grab the bot."
I put the flathead in my bag, making sure to secure it carefully. If this thing breaks, then I just got my boots wet for nothing.
Elevator is a kill box, but the maintenance walkway should be..
"Hey Jack, this way."
Jackie and I make our way into a room with a ladder that'll let us access the maintenance shaft and boy does this room smell things that would make shit vomit.
"Awgh the smell." Jackie says, covering his nose. Oh yeah, probably smells worse for him since I've mostly lost my sense of smell during my Maxtac training. We were sometimes sent to scenes of massacres and losing our focus because of the smell was beneath us.
"Come on Jackie, I thought you loved meat." I joke, trying to get his mind off the smell.
"Still not sure how this slop turns into food."
"Well it's an abandoned factory. No surprise it smells worse than Arasaka's collective dirty laundry."
"That amount of shady corpo stuff would stink all the way to the moon."
"Nah Jack. I mean the literal dirty laundry of every Saka suit. There'd be so much cologne that it could be considered a chemical weapon."
Jackie laughs as we reach a small drop. Welp, back to the fray.
We drop down at a bad time because the camera on the far wall spots us instantly.
The two fanatics in the room start opening fire on us, but they have submachine guns so they really only scratch our skin at this distance. My arms however, have a much higher range. I let loose three rounds to put down the fanatic on the stairs ahead of us. Making our way down Jackie zeroes the guy who was below the platform we landed on. I turn my attention to the netrunner who tries to reboot my optics. Trace indicates he's in the next room so Jack and I make our way through the left door.
I let off a few rounds from my iron into the gonk's head while Jackie does some suppressive fire on the gangoons to our left. I toss out an emp grenade to disorient and we pick them off quick.
"Hey, little help here!"
Who the hell said that? Turning around I see a Maelstromer with a bomb collar around his neck, designed to blow if he moves out of sight of a laser tripwire pointed at his head. Upon closer inspection by my scanner, it turns out that this is the supposedly dead Brick.
"Thought they zeroed your ass?" I ask him through the door.
"Well they didn't so could you let me out of here?"
Well no real reason not too. At least he's a predictable boss for Maelstrom to listen to.
"Detonater is in there."
Making our way to the small room on our right, I see the detonator on a cabinet. Disarming the bomb, I look for a way to get Brick out of his cell. I check the laptop on the table to get the door code, 9691, and I open the door to his cell.
"Well thanks. I ever see you again, I'll do right by you."
"Appreciate it." Jackie says. For all his distrust of Maelstrom, he can at least recognize the less manic energy the guy brings to the gang.
This gives me an idea. A rough idea but an idea non the less