Well shit some corp must really want to die.
Yeah, firing artillery at three Samurai while one happens to be streaming is not good for your customer base, or life expectancy.
This is getting out of hand.
Anybody know what those companies sell? Cause the markets just opened for new competition in New Pittsburgh for whatever it was.
It could be worse.
NO ONE SAY ANYTING.
Antithesis, Tornadoes, Fires, Woodland Sasquatch Wraith, PMCs, and now two OTHER PISSED THE FUCK OFF SAMURAI. How could it POSSIBILY GET WORSE?
WHAT PART OF NO ONE SAY ANYTHING DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?
The actual military hasn't shown up yet.
I GIVE UP! IT'S LIKE YOU FUCKING WANT THE DEMON MURPHY TO DESTROY THAT CITY!
Demon Murphy is a figment of the world's collective imagination and doesn't exist.
Oh, SHIT someone went TOO far.
RUN.
******************************************
WRAITH
"Mara, what the hell would I need, to make and survive a trip, to the Lurkeroff Estate?"
Now that you have the second class of the Sasquatch catalog unlocked, and a considerable number of points I would recommend the following:
A hard light barrier system that will not interfere with your stealth capabilities but give you more protection than the armor alone has.
A further upgrade to your shoulder mounted missile launcher. It would allow you to fire up to twelve missiles, in one volley or individually as needed, and also cuts reload time down to five seconds, while upgrading the payload of the missiles.
A system that allows the application of medical treatment without removing the armor. Also, once this is installed, there are several items needed to bring you back to top shape, as you have been thrown around quite a bit recently.
A limited flight system to cover ground more quickly both on the ground and through the air.
"I can get all of this right now?"
Yes, and you would still have enough points to get the personal upgrades that will take time to integrate later.
"Alright let's get this done."
Purchased
Supplemental High Impact Electrokinetic Light DefenseS
I Need a MEDIC
T's MORE EXPSLOSIONS. BIGGER EXPSLOSIONS. FASTER EXPSLOSIONS.
Flight System
Hydration and Nutrition solution, Nano regenerative
Points Remaining: 2,380
"Wait, hydration and nutrition? The regenerative makes sense because I am feeling pain, but the other two?"
You haven't had anything to eat or drink since the sandwich and two cups of coffee at Winston's place a couple of hours ago. You could also use some proper rest soon. You left your cabin before dawn, in order to make to the Greasy Kettle before Janelle had her lunch hour rush.
"Once I'm done with Thergood I'll think about it."
Speaking of Thergood Lurkeroff are you aware of his more recent activities?
"He's done something else other having a god damned PMC firing fucking artillery at Liza and me?"
He married Melissa Lockhart one year ago. Three months ago, her family declared her dead. There was no memorial or funeral service.
If I had to guess from the reactions of the people around me, the eyes on my helmet went red. "That explains 'do whatever I see as I see necessary.' "
Corps, can't live with'em, but ya can't fucking live without'em, either. They currently run the god damned world, but very few are fucking benevolent. Someone would've told Liza, who would then try to tell me at this point, that the 'devil you know Is better the devil you don't'. Once the upgrades to the armor activated, I disappeared in the middle of Matchbook apparently asking what the plan is. I turned on the external speakers.
"The plan is to show Thergood the devil he hasn't known." I shut off the speakers and started jogging toward the inner city. Being in nine-foot-tall power armor means covering ground very quickly when not traveling with others.
MATCHBOOK
Why? Why does this have to happen here? Why couldn't they have stayed the fuck in New Harrisburg? Why do they have destroy my city? I have to go after that asshole Thergood as well. DAMN IT. He ordered his men to attack not just Sasquatch and Steampunk Shotgun Sally, but Voretexia and myself as well. Three whole blocks reduced to rubble. Why?
WRAITH
I found a group of 5s moving toward the PMC line. Using the flight system, I made it to a nearby roof and shot two with my rifle then switched roofs. This allowed me to lock on the remaining 5s. Three missiles and six kills later I moved on.
The closer I got to the fucking inner city the greater the number of god damned antis and larger model numbers as well. I was about halfway to the shithole known as the Lurkeroff Estate, when I came across another 12. With it were two 6s, three 5s, and numerous 3s and 4s. I selected the 5s and 6s as targets for my missiles, then designated the 12 to take three, and selected a 3 and three 4s that were in the middle of groups. I released a full volley of 12 missiles. There were some 3s and 4s left after the missiles, as they were on the edges of the explosions. The 12 was gone. A few quick bursts from the smg and I moved on, as I let the Antithesis flesh-eating chemical that coat my rounds and packed in the missiles do its job. As I continued on towards the fucking estate, I found another 12, with only 3s and 4s around it this time. I selected the 12 to take only two missiles this time. There was nothing fucking left to fight, with how close the 3s and 4s had been to the 12. This time there was a corpse for the 12. Further down the street, I saw an 11 cross above the buildings, its claws empty. It reappeared even further down the street, this time there was a hover car in its claws. It continued to circle around the block ahead. I carefully made my approach, and let a group of 3s and 4s pass unharmed, so the 11 wouldn't see fresh corpses nearer to its territory. I got close enough that my missiles tried to lock on, but it wasn't visible long enough from street level when it passed overhead.
I entered the second tallest nearby building. I got to the fucking tenth floor, then waited for the damn 11 to pass. Once it did, I broke the window and brought out my rifle. There was something I wanted to see, which is why I hadn't used the flight system to get to the roof. If the fucking thing survived it wouldn't be able to get to me. The round in the chamber was a hollow point and also coated with a substance that would eat away only at Antithesis flesh. I saw it coming from the north and as it banked to make its turn, I noticed it no longer had the car. I lined up the shot, lead the target appropriately, and fired. The round entered through the underside of the jaw. As it fell, I saw that the back of its head and a portion of its neck were missing. I jumped out of the window planning on using the awesome flight system to land safely. Without having to turn my head, because of the sensor upgrade, I saw that I was going to have to learn how to use the rest of the damned flight system in a fucking hurry. To my right a tornado was merrily traveling its fucking way down the center of the street. GOD DAMN YOU DEMON MURPHY!
SALLY
With Reckoner's and Voretexia's aid, I was able to snap myself out of the funk I had been in since I had heard the name Lurkeroff. I sent Woodland after him, knowing Woodland still held a grudge for what happened in New Harrisburg. Voretexia talked to Matchbook and found out Woodland was heading for the Lurkeroff estate. We decided to head there as well. The quicker Thergood was detained, the sooner he wouldn't be able to order PMCs to attack us. The shelling had stopped, because my father's men had opened fire on Thergood's, and the arrival of Vortexia's tornado had destroyed the armored vehicles. Men and women in Thergood's uniforms were still moving about the incursion zone and firing at us.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
So far, none of them had carried anything powerful enough to hurt me in my class one armor, let alone Voretexia. When they took cover my cannon, which had an artillery mode, would lob rounds over their cover to land on top of them. After seeing the aftermath of Woodland's raid on the LFC facility (which we had covered Haley's eyes for while walking out), the sight of the aftermath of my own weapons didn't unsettle my stomach. That or Voretexia sent a miniature tornado through.
While in route to the estate, we came across a shelter that had not been compromised, but was in need of evacuation. I called my father and inquired about possibly getting our family's PMC here. Voretexia called Matchbook to see about getting more Samurai support. Both Informed us that it would take some time but that reinforcements were on the way.
I bought a fast-learning program for marksmanship. Then I removed the aim assist function from my blunderbuss and added a function that would charge any round fired from it with electricity. I also bought another floating cannon. I upgraded both so that a 12 wouldn't be able to shut them down. There was a steady stream of antis to make up for the purchases fairly quickly. I ended up buying a few clockwork soldiers, some that had blades instead of hands, (out of jealousy of Billy's chainsaw blades and kickboxing) and others that carried blunderbusses of their own. As our siege defense continued, we started to get swarmed by model 1s. So, during a lull in the action I upgraded my hat so that a turret could emerge from the top of it. We also attracted the attention of an 11. It circled out of range of the weapons my clockwork soldiers and I carried. It tried dropping a car on us. Voretexia, who had been using her miniature tornadoes to block access to the shelter in her half of the defensive line, got fed up and sent a monster tornado down a street that would intercept its observed flight path. When the 11 started an uncontrolled fall for some unknown reason she shrugged.
"At the very least we won't have to worry about antithesis attacking from that direction anytime soon."
Not long after, a Samurai showed up, not with my dad's PMC, but tanks and soldiers wearing the unforms of the Pennsylvania Army.
"Greetings, fellow Samurai, on behalf of the city of New Pittsburgh and the Commonwealth I, Red Lancaster, ask you to end your selfish vendetta and help us escort these civilians to safety."
Voretexia grabbed my shoulder, looked at me, and shook her head, so I stayed silent. As we were loading the civilians into transports, Lurkeroff's PMC attacked again.
"So, this is MY selfish vendetta, is it?!" I proceeded to unload on the Lurkeroff troops, as did one of the tanks. Then I started my trip to the Lurkeroff estate again.
"Next time get your facts straight, Red Lancaster. Steampunk Shotgun Sally, wait up! Red was right that the civilians need to be escorted." Voretexia said, in an effort to get me to stay and help. I saw things differently.
"Not by me! As long as I'm nearby, you will all come under fire from Lurkeroff's forces. Good Luck!" I said and then I activated my stealth systems. The floating cannons, clockwork soldiers, and I disappeared. Voretexia, not having a way to see that which is invisible, turned to the Samurai that had shown up with the army.
"Great job Red Lancaster, now we'll never be able to get her to trust the Army."
"Comrade Govenor-General assured me that Sasquatch and herself were the ones at fault and in the wrong."
"This is why I hate working with you, Red, you never get the whole story and believe whatever the politicians tell you blindly. No matter how many times it has come back to bite you, you never ask your AI to verify the information they give you!" I heard as I walked away.
"Reckoner, I need to up the defenses of my armor. What options do I have? You said power armor. Could I see what those would look like?"
Reckoner will gladly show you some of the designs for the power armor.
Several designs appeared in my vision, but I didn't see any that called to me. "Sorry, Reckoner, I don't see any that look like something I'd wear."
In that case, Reckoner would suggest an upgrading your dress itself. A class two version will come with an interdimensional pocket that can store any weapons or items you do not wish to carry on your person. Your clockwork solders and cannons wouldn't fit, but your sword and gun will. It will also be able to take a larger hit before you would be injured, with all the perks you currently have, included as well. If you wished to add features later, without buying a new dress, that would be possible as it is a modular design. Most other recommendations Reckoner could make, have to deal with upgrading your musculature, skeleton, and internal organs, all of which requires time and peace.
WRAITH
So, the flight system is not as fucking complicated as I feared, but it did take a few moments of pure hell to get out of the damn tornado's way. I found out that my missile volleys work while flying and, of course, I could still shoot from the sky. I had gone two blocks to get away from the tornado and found some antis to shoot.
I flew in the direction the tornado had come from and found Liza, walking away from fucking army tanks and transports. Along with two floating cannons and four bots of some kind, two with blades where their hands should be, and two carrying blunderbusses. I landed a block ahead of her and waited. When she noticed me, she started running and attempted to hug me.
"I missed you too, Sally."
"Woodland, I need your help. Thergood is trying to kill me. He even ordered his troops to fire on me while I was trying to evacuate a shelter."
"I was on my way to pay him a visit anyway, until a tornado decided to try and throw me around."
"OH MY GOD. Sorry, an 11 tried to drop a car on us, and Voretexia sent one after it. So, it falling from the sky was your doing?"
"Yes, and why are you apologizing? You aren't the one who uses tornadoes. It wasn't your fault. Now shall we see about removing Melissa's killer from the world's misery?"
Sally froze for a moment.
"You know about that?" She asked quietly.
"I learned about it a short while ago. Not sure why no one told me about it though. Some of what we are now dealing with could have been taken care of already, had anybody back home told me." I said gently, even though I was upset. Melissa had been a friend of mine as well. I didn't want to upset Sally by making her think I was blaming her. My parents, my siblings, or some others could have told me.
"That's why we all agreed not to tell you. We didn't want you to go after them alone, again." Liza said, looking as if she wanted to cry. I hunkered down and hugged her.
"Thank you for worrying about my safety. Now we're losing daylight. Do you have a way to transport your toys?" I picked her up in a princess carry and took off.
"NoOOOOOOO. Why didn't you warn me?" She exclaimed, while we flew and landed on the roof of the building, we had been standing next to.
"Well, I could have flown us all the way to Lurkeroff's, but this seemed a good way to break it to you easy."
Reckoner suggests that for transport, if the two of you plan to continue to work together, that you should combine your points and catalogs to buy something that would be suitable for you both. William's catalogs for stealth options and long-range firepower, Elizabeth's for actual vessel and short-range defenses. Especially if you both plan on returning to New Harrisburg, this will make the trip much easier.
"Sally, what do you want? I have no problem with the idea of continuing to work together, or sharing points and catalogs to get a decent transport."
"I'd like that very much."
So, we spent ten minutes or so to discuss what should go into the transport. We ended up with an armored airship that looked reminiscent of a zeppelin, with one or two major differences. It was made of metal, and had turrets and guns, placed in such a way that there were no gaps in its fields of fire. It was also painted the same color green as Liza's dress. I activated my flight system and landed on a small flight deck designed to be able to hold three or four hovercars.
I walked through a lounge type of area, it had windows on both sides of the room that were floor to ceiling and let you look out at the sky. One of the panes could be lowered as a ramp with a pull of a lever, which I pulled lowering a ramp to the roof so that Liza, her floating cannons, and her clockwork soldiers could board. We took some time to familiarize ourselves with the layout. There were two sets of stairs that lead from the lounge to the upper decks. One set was for any passengers we may or may not have in the future. It led to a deck that was nothing but twenty hotel rooms basically. The other set was only accessible to Sally and I, for now. It was behind a door that remained locked unless we unlocked it with our augs. It led to all the other decks; an armory/manufacturing deck, a gym deck, a deck which held private rooms for Sally, Haley, me, and another in case we found someone we trusted, and didn't want to be traveling with everyone else. Then we activated the stealth functions and got underway.
On our way to Lurkeroff's estate Liza bought an umbrella. I decided that instead of asking I'd find out later. Five minutes later we were on the border of the Lurkeroff estate. We scanned the premises, found all the anti-air guns and other various gun turrets; we marked them for destruction. We also found something we were not expecting, and did not find something we were.
Bill, it seems Thergood left, after leaving orders to ignore you, and eliminate Elizabeth by any means possible. He seems to be heading to Europe. There are basements connected to the main house and various outbuildings that are not on any blueprints for the compound. Those basements still have occupants, even though everyone, including the staff, have evacuated. The network shows the doors are locked.
Mara said this over the speakers we had placed in the control room, so that if we had passengers, they would be able to communicate with us without having to call our augs.
"Then there is no fucking reason to wait." I said as I opened up with every weapon that could shoot at the estate.
SALLY
The eyes on Woodland's helmet were red again at Mara's announcement and remained so after the guns of our airship stopped firing. We walked to the flight deck. Woodland went to pick me up again, but I opened my umbrella and stepped off the flight deck and just hovered in the sky. He chuckled and the eyes in his helmet changed to a light blue for a moment. Then he approached the edge of the flight deck himself and looked down at the estate. His eyes were red again. I left my cannons and clockwork solders, as I needed to upgrade them so that I could get them back on the airship. We descended to the ground and checked the closest outbuilding with a hidden basement. There, surprisingly, weren't any turrets inside the building. Woodland had to rip open a wall so we could access the stairs to the hidden basement. I started to feel an anger rising as I heard a woman crying and realized what the hidden basements were. No wonder Woodland's eyes were red. He activated his stealth and ripped the locked door out of the wall. I saw a woman with a metal collar that had a chain attaching it to the wall. Woodland had returned upstairs. He asked me to wait until he made sure of something.
Reckoner wishes to inform you that all explosive charges, that had been implanted in the captives, have been deactivated. You can free them from their prisons safely.
Now I wish that we could chase Thergood, or that whoever does end up dealing with him, won't be gentle or quick. We made our way through thirteen more outbuilding basements. Some held grown men, others held underage boys. Woodland dealt with freeing those. Some held underage girls, most were filled with women. We reached the main house and its hidden basement. As Woodland ripped open the final door, I saw a face, framed by red hair, that I have cried myself to sleep over for a year. I freed her from her chains, and she backed away from me, scared.
"You're safe now, Melissa, he can't hurt you anymore!"
"Eli- Elizabeth? This isn't some trick, is it?" Her blue eyes met my brown.
"Melissa, this isn't a trick. Reckoner, get me whatever medicine she needs." A bolt of inspiration courtesy of Woodland and what he had done for Haley hit me. "Also get her a dress like mine but without the hidden blades, in blue."
After the boxes appeared she came over to me. Hugged me and started sobbing. Once I got her healed up and dressed, we got everyone on the airship. I had all of them stand by the windows and they got to watch as Woodland destroyed every single building. I got them settled into rooms, while we headed toward my Uncle Winston's place after we got his okay. We could have gone to his actual home, but I doubt our guests would have felt comfortable going to another mansion. Woodland was the pilot this time. As we flew, we happened to pass the convoy evacuating the shelter. I gave them cover fire from the air until they reached a safe zone. All of our guests, except one, wanted to be let out here instead, so we did as they asked. I called Uncle Winston to tell him of the change in number of guests and that we would be returning shortly.
3,015 PEOPLE SAVED
POINTS AWARDED 3,015
TOKENS AWARDED