Yori probably wasn’t in immediate danger. I doubt they had done anything to piss off anyone, so the only likely option was that some opportunists decided to take advantage of an easy and valuable target.
Despite Yori’s shop being small and local, it was still relatively well known. Their high quality spacesuits and armor were famous in the underbelly of Maralu, and being famous wasn’t necessarily a good thing. People had tried to extort Yori, or even rob them before. Usually the local mercs took care of it, since they were Yori’s best customers. Since I’m a local merc, it was my turn to take care of it.
“Noah, did the kidnappers have any standout features? Matching clothes or tattoos or anything?” I asked, while briskly walking. Noah had to trot to match my pace.
“Uhh… I think they all had a bandana tied around their arms. They were different colors, though.” He replied, worry creasing his face.
“Got it.” I reached for my tablet and sent a message into a chat filled with some of the local mercenaries that frequented The Tavern. I usually had it on mute, since they liked to talk about stupid shit all the time, but one of them would know which gang those hooligans belonged to.
A few seconds later I had a reply.
Bandanas around the arm means they’re Crevice, I think. Why do you ask?
They nabbed Yori. Do you know where they hang out?
They got Yori? Damn. Take care of that please, I’m off station. The Crevice’s base of operations is right up against the station wall, East side. Near the compact apartments. Here, I’ll pin it on a map.
Thanks. I owe you a drink.
No need, just get Yori back. I’m overdue for a new suit, and I just made some money.
I put my tablet away. I felt more buzzing notifications, but I ignored them. I had no time to waste.
With the helpful mercenary’s guidance, Noah and I headed straight towards the gang’s base of operations. We were running, but we had to slow down frequently when I got winded. The Crevice members probably used a vehicle to get away. I should’ve called over an auto-taxi, but I was so riled up that it completely slipped my mind. Maybe I should get a motorcycle or something.
We shoved past slow moving passerby, navigated tight alleyways, and dodged around loiterers. The cityscape became gloomy and dark, marked by the clear signs of poverty and corruption. We were finally at the Wall.
The Wall was just an unofficial term for one of the neighborhoods in Maralu. It was called that because it was right up against a wall that separated the livable part of the station to the mechanical part of the station. It was the equivalent to living next to a gigantic factory that was operating 24/7. The clanging of the machinery and the hum of electricity gave the entire area a constant reminder that you were in the shittest part of Maralu Station.
The Wall was close to lawless, with the local gangs running the area. The law enforcement barely came here because it was a waste of time. This allowed a festering wound to form in the heart of Maralu, wracked with poverty and violence. It was far worse than the old industrial district I visited with Noah last time. However, people quickly averted their gaze when they saw a gigantic Togumo woman sporting a chrome laser shotgun barreling through the streets. People here were very good at minding their own business.
Noah and I were fast approaching the gang’s lair, so we slowed down to a regular walk.
“Noah, there’s a good chance there’s going to be a gunfight. Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s my fault I let them take Yori without any resistance anyways. Let’s get them back.”
Noah’s safety was mostly guaranteed. He still had his suit on, which would be able to take several hits without putting a scratch on Noah himself. Me, on the other hand, did not have any safety guaranteed whatsoever. I left my armor back at Yori’s place, and the only weapons I had were my new shotgun, the handgun I always kept on me, and the knife I bought from a vendor earlier. Under other circumstances I would try talking to the gangsters first, but I was too heated over them taking Yori. The Crevice needed to be taught a lesson.
After a few more minutes of navigating through the damp streets, Noah and I finally arrived within eyesight of an old, musty clubhouse. The clubhouse was made out of slowly crumbling concrete, with no visible openings other than small windows near the top of each wall. One one the sides had loading bays jutting out, and the closed shutters were tattered with rust. The main entrance was just a simple pair of double doors, but it was lightly guarded by Crevice gang members sporting a wide array of weapons. Some of them carried improvised weapons, like old pipes, knives, and batons stolen from law enforcement. A couple others had handguns, but no rifles were visible. Thankfully, it seemed like the gang lookouts couldn’t get their hands on anything better. But it still wasn’t good to underestimate them.
I had to rethink my approach. Going in guns-blazing was appealing, but way too risky. I didn’t have my suit, after all. With that, clearing out this gang would be trivial. Diplomacy was off the table, too. I didn’t want to talk things out with a gang that kidnapped my best friend, and getting Yori out would probably involve making some sort of deal I wouldn’t want to make. Their objective with Yori was unclear, too. They weren’t going to kill Yori, but if I had to imagine, the gang’s goal would be to use Yori’s skill at making suits. They probably wanted an advantage over other gangs. Having a suit that could block bullets was essential in firefights. The last option was stealth. I could do stealth pretty well, Togumo were ambush predators before we formed civilizations. Our best bet was to sneak in, grab Yori, and sneak our way out.
I went over the “plan” with Noah. We would have to mostly improvise, since I had no idea what the layout of the clubhouse was, or any information concerning the gang itself. It wasn’t really a plan, in actuality. Noah would just have to follow my lead.
As for our entry point, the windows at the top of the walls were big enough to fit me, so that should do. Noah and I snuck into an alleyway created by the clubhouse and the building parallel to it, where there were no guards. Once we verified that nobody was around to see us, I scaled the wall with my claws hands and feet, and peered over the edge of the windows and into the clubhouse.
There was no angry shouting, so I assumed that nobody spotted me. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the clubhouse, I could make out the shape of a small storage room, filled with old dusty crates. Apparently, I found a small secluded room that was either forgotten about or not used.
I climbed back down into the alleyway.
“Noah, I’ve found a small room without anyone in it. We’re sneaking into that room, and then we’ll look for Yori from there.”
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Noah frowned. “How am I supposed to get up to that window? I can’t climb that wall.”
I grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll just carry you.”
Noah shuffled his feet in uncertainty. “As long as you don’t drop me.”
I tossed Noah my newly acquired shotgun, and he caught it awkwardly with his forearms, like he was cradling something. Then, I kneeled down, allowing Noah to jump on my back. I reached my back arms under his butt, and lifted him, piggyback style. Once Noah shifted to a comfortable position, I reached forward with my front arms, and started scaling the wall once more. Once we got near the window, I realized that there was a small issue. The window was big enough to fit me, but not big enough to fit me and Noah at the same time.
“Is there a problem?” Noah said, his face uncomfortably close to my ear. “Why’d you stop?”
“Both of us can’t fit in the window at the same time.” I replied, frowning. “I’m figuring something out.”
I positioned my torso above the window, so my legs were approximately where the window opened. Then, I swung my legs into the opening, so I was sitting on the window itself. My legs were inside the building, and my torso (and Noah) were outside. I raised my legs upward so that I wouldn’t fall backwards if I let go of the building with my hands. Once I was properly wedged into the window like a hook, I let go of the building. The muscles in my legs and abdomen strained immediately, and I grunted in pain. Quickly, I grabbed Noah with my front arms, slung him off of my back, and pushed him through the window. He was now hanging on the inside of the building, with two of my arms supporting all of his weight. He looked like he was hanging off of a coat rack.
“Is there anything below you?” I whispered. “I’m going to drop you, so make sure you land on your feet.”
“There’s nothing, but it’s a little high up.” Noah whispered back. “Can you lower me some more?”
While still holding onto Noah, I moved the rest of my body through the window, using my back arms as a hook, on the outside of the building this time. I swung my legs down, and slowly lowered my body until we were a bit farther down the wall. There was no more need to drop Noah down, instead I simply hooked my claws into the wall, and slowly crept my way down, with Noah hanging from my hands the entire time. Once Noah’s feet made contact, I hopped off the wall and onto the ground silently. Noah handed my shotgun back to me.
“That was really creepy. Like watching a spider.” Noah said.
I was offended, even if I didn’t know what a spider was.
I took another look at the room we were in. It was a relatively small storage room, and unopened metal crates spotted the room, covered in a thick layer of dust and neglect. I had to resist the urge to sneeze. There was a single door on the other end of the room, but I had no idea where it led.
I crept over to the door, and cracked it open a tiny bit. I peered through the small light that shone from the slit created by the door. There was a Sabi gangster facing away from the door, a few steps away from the door. He was slightly hunched over, and he was tip-tapping away on his tablet. He looked engrossed in whatever he was doing, which was perfect for me. I opened the door a smidge more, and confirmed that there was nobody else around. I opened the door wide enough so I could slip out, and I crept behind the unaware Sabi. In one quick motion, I reached my front right arm around his neck, and pincered it closed with my front left forearm. My other hands covered his mouth, so any noise he made was muffled. I increased the pressure applied to his windpipe, and a few seconds later, he was out like a light. I quickly dragged the unconscious gangster back to the storage room, and dumped him on top of a crate. I quickly relieved him of his holstered handgun.
Noah poked the Sabi’s face with his finger.
“Out cold?” He asked.
“Yep, but he’s about to wake back up. Choking someone out only knocks them out for around ten seconds.”
Right after I finished that sentence, the Sabi gangster started to stir. I drew my knife, and started playing with it. A little intimidation never hurts. For me, at least.
“Huh… Whuh?” The Sabi gangster said. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Hey, I’m going to be asking the questions here. You’re going to answer them, if you know what’s good for you.” I said, twirling my knife between my fingers.
The Sabis scrabbled his hands on his hip, and his face quickly turned to despair when he realized his gun wasn’t there. He put his hands up.
“Fine. Just don’t stab me with that thing.” His eyes flickered between me and Noah, assessing the situation. He slumped backwards, realizing he stood no chance.
“Great. I’m going to get to the point. Tell me where Yori is.”
“Yori? I don’t know a Yori. Are you sure they’re here?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know some of your guys grabbed Yori the Armorsmith just now. Tell me where they are, and you won’t be losing any fingers.” I twirled my knife to solidify my point.”
“Ohhhh, you mean that Yori, my bad!” The Sabi quickly changed tunes, pretending like he just remembered who Yori was. “I heard some guys grabbed them, and the boss was pretty mad about it. I don’t know where exactly this Yori is, but if I had to guess, they’re probably with the boss. I don’t know where else we’d put them.”
I sheathed my knife. “And who’s your boss?” I asked.
The gangster scoffed. “What, don’t you know? Xeems runs these parts.”
“I’ve never heard of him. Alright, we don’t need him anymore.” I waved a hand towards Noah. “Shoot him.”
The Sabi’s head snapped up in surprise. “What? Don’t! You want mon-”
Noah shot the Sabi with his Fune 2, on stun, of course. The Sabi gangster was once again out cold, but for much longer this time. A stun shot from a Fune 2 was capable of knocking someone unconscious for around an hour.
I took another peek out of the door. Nobody was around, but I had no idea where to go.
“Fuck!” I whispered. “I should’ve asked that chump where the boss was.”
Noah shrugged. “Too late now. We just have to bumble around until we find Yori.”
“Alright, we’ll make our way to the middle of the clubhouse. There’s a good chance the boss is there. Even if Yori isn’t there, we could ask him, and dish out some payback while we’re at it.”
I quickly rehearsed some improvised hand signals with Noah so we didn’t give ourselves away while prowling the gang’s lair. “Stop”, “Go”, “Shoot that guy,” the basics. Once that was settled, Noah and I crept into the dim hallway. I chose a random direction, and we quietly set out to find Yori.
My stealth plan was immediately busted. Noah and I rounded a corner, straight into a pair of ruffians loitering in the hallway.
“Whuh?” I heard one say, fingers scrambling into his waistband. “Who’re you?”
My only reply was raising my energy shotgun, and letting it loose into Gangster 1’s chest. The beam pellets bored holes into him, and the impact threw the gangster backwards. He was dead before his limp body hit the floor. Noah shot Gangster 2 with his handgun. It was still set to stun, so down Gangster 2 went, twitching violently and slamming his head on the wall on the way down. If he wasn’t completely out when he got shot, he would’ve been knocked out from that impact.
Both of these things, of course, created sound. A lot of it. That echoed down the hallway. Maybe it was my fault for bringing a shotgun to a stealth mission, but Noah’s guy also made some noise, like his head was a mallet striking a gong. Therefore, it was both our faults, and neither of us were completely to blame.
“Uh oh, I hear angry shouting.” Noah said. “I think they heard that.”
“Yeah, no shit!” I pumped my shotgun. A faint mechanical whirring sound emanated from it. “We’re going to have to hurry this up.”
We ran down the hallway. A few gangsters armed only with melee weapons charged us, screaming profanities. They stopped charging when they saw the shotgun, but it was too late. My shotgun howled. Two bodies went flying down the hall, and the third one slumped down, folding like a lawn chair.
Noah and I danced in a hailstorm of bullets, knives, and bats. We ducked into doorways, peered around corners, shot from behind cover as we made our way towards the center of the clubhouse. Our enemies utilized the same strategies. A gangster popped out from an adjacent room, and shot Noah’s torso, several times. The flattened bullets clinked to the floor, and the gangster fumbled to reload. I swung my shotgun over and blasted him, tossing him like a ragdoll. Another gangster ambushed us around a corner, swinging a metallic club straight at my head when I stepped into his view. I managed to reflexively catch it on one of my arms, wincing as the club made a “CRACK” sound upon impact. I gritted my teeth and barrel stuffed the club wielder, and squeezed the trigger. His entire abdomen was obliterated. Gore flew out his backside, decorating the floor. I checked my arm, which was already starting to swell up. It was immediately bruised. Fuck.
Eventually, the gunfights grew more and more sparse. Either the gang was running out of fodder, or they realized that risking their life wasn’t worth it. Noah and I finally came across the main hall of the clubhouse. It was cleared out, not a single gangster was in there. Except Yori, who was sitting on top of a table, legs swinging.
“Hey.” Yori said, “I knew it was you.”
“Yori!” Noah shouted. He ran over to the Aeon. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. They didn’t touch me.”
“I’m sorry I let them take you. I should’ve done something.” Noah looked down in shame.
“Don’t stress about it. The culprits were just dumbasses who didn’t even get orders to do that. You should’ve seen their boss’s face. He was shitting himself!” Yori cackled.
I walked over to Yori, and laid a hand on their shoulder. “Alright, let’s get out of here. I don’t want them to come back and try getting some revenge.”
Of course, the moment I said that, I heard shouting from the hallways connected to the hall.
“Fuck!” I knocked the nearby tables over to serve as makeshift cover, and grabbed Yori and threw them down behind one. Noah raised his handgun towards one of the doorways. I took aim towards the other. They came through Noah’s doorway, first. A gangster ran in, flailing his handgun wildly. Noah dropped him, but he had to quickly duck down behind cover. Streaks of light and metal bursted from the doorway. A steady stream of return fire poured into the room, and we were forced to hunker down behind metal tables and concrete pillars. The other doorway also started opening fire. We were pinned. I had no clue why or how the gangsters managed a coordinated attack on us, but we were trapped.