Once upon a time Turnit & Scott serviced the entire area with everything from groceries to guns. Now it was one more crumbling example of the old world, back before people could throw cars or create fires hot enough to melt concrete. The store had been at risk of flooding long before Huitzilopochtli started trying to melt what was left of the ice caps, so the store was built atop an artificial hill. Now it was a collapsing building on a quickly eroding island, too far out of the way to be useful to anyone honest.
Mooring the Santiana near the collapsed western wall, Victor and Lucas hauled the rail rifles off the boat and into the delipidated remains of the store.
“Ok, that should be all of the rifles. Let me go get the target out of the boat and then we can get to making sure these things don’t explode when someone pulls the trigger.”
Lucas immediately seemed more nervous about the prospect of firing one of the rail rifles “Should we be standing behind something when we test these things Chief? I’d rather not be involved in any explosions if I can help it.”
Suppressing a chuckle, Victor attempted to quell Lucas’s concern “I meant explode in a more metaphorical sense. My tech is solid, no doubt about that, but I didn’t exactly build everything from scratch. I need to make sure these surplus rifles aren’t going to fall apart after the first few shots because Dimitri decided to phone it in on the production line 120 years ago.”
Despite his joking tone Victor did have some minor concerns about the surplus rifles holding up. The stresses from Victor’s modifications were theoretically within the rifles tolerances, but those weren’t factoring in a hundred and twenty years of potential use. There simply wasn’t enough time to create the rifles entirely from scratch, so Victor had to take shortcuts whether he liked it or not.
Resigning himself to the reality of the situation Victor cranked the wheel lock on the suit and pulled himself inside. After picking up the steel block they’d be using as a target Victor carefully maneuvered his way off the boat and back to Lucas.
“Man, that’s one badass suit you’ve got there chief. You ever thought about signing on with the gang as muscle? You’d probably make way more working for Junkie then you do running the T&R.”
That wasn’t an unfair question, and Victor took a moment to consider his answer. “It’s a matter of freedom. I need to know that I can survive alone, even if I don’t necessarily have too. I could sign on with Junkie and make a bunch of cash short term, but if the work evaporated, I’d end up reliant on the gang. By running the T&R I know that my future is my own responsibility, whether it brings famine or fortune, the end result lies squarely on my shoulders.”
The answer was a bit more in depth than the normally private Victor had intended to go, but it seemed to mollify Lucas.
Placing down the makeshift target upon the counter of a rotting sunglasses stand, Victor picked up the first of the rail rifle. After a moment spent grappling with the unfamiliar hand control software of the suit, Victor managed to fire off three shots in rapid succession.
Of the three shots Victor fired only one managed to land on target. Despite his subpar marksmanship the crater in the lower left-hand portion of the target spoke volumes about the effectiveness of Victor's creation. After a brief visual inspection, Victor was confident that the weapon would hold together for the immediate future. Setting it back in the crate, Victor moved to test the remaining rifles…
Once everything was said and done only two of the fifteen rifles proved to be unusable for Saturday’s presentation. The eighth rifle’s trigger assembly was mangled after Victor accidentally routed too much power to his suits grip servos during testing, and the eleventh rifle shook itself apart during the firing process, likely the result of a manufacturing defect in the original weapon.
It happened while Lucas and Victor carried the rail rifle’s crates back to the Santiana. A loud crack rang out from the upper level of the old department store as Victor suddenly felt as if his suit had been roughly shoved from behind. The truth of their predicament only registered as warnings began to flash across the inside of his visor. Someone had just shot him in the back with a large caliber rifle; someone had just tried to assassinate him.
Quickly searching for Lucas, Victor spotted the young man hunkering down behind a patch of rubble only a few feet from where Victor was standing. Quickly enabling the armors shields Victor was able to block the second round moments before it connected with his helmet. Scanning the upper level of the mall, Victor spotted his assailant quickly loading another cartridge into the cobbled together mess of a sniper rifle. It was pretty clear whoever was shooting at them wasn’t some international ninja assassin, unless fashion in the super-assassin community currently favored a sleeveless t-shirt, sweat pants, and shaved head.
Charging up the suits MAZER cannon Victor let the targeting software take over, pulling the trigger once he had a clean shot on the would-be assassin. A common misconception about energy weapons is that they burn a clean hole through when striking organic matter. The reality is unsettlingly akin to what happens when an egg is microwaved for too long. On a conceptual level Victor understood what would happen if someone was hit by a MAZER weapon, but he hadn’t exactly prepared himself to splatter a man’s innards across the walls of a crumbling department store that morning. And dear god the sound. That would be center stage in his nightmares for years.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Just as Victor was beginning to wrap his head around the fact that he’d just killed another sapient being in perhaps the goriest way possible, he was snapped back to reality by an increasingly panicked Lucas.
“Hey Chief, I know you want to revel in your victory or whatever, but I could really use some help right about now!”
Tamping down the growing urge to vomit, Victor turned to see a behemoth of a man firing on Lucas’s position with what appeared to be a large caliber automatic pistol. Refocusing, Victor fired a second shot directly into the large man’s chest, fully expecting to witness another human detonation.
Rather than the wet pop he was expecting, Victors ears were instead delivered an angry sizzling noise as Lucas’s assailant staggered backward with a spherical, weeping burn in the center of his chest. The man immediately shifted focus from Lucas to Victor, his eyes filled with rage.
“Oh you little fucking cunt!” Suddenly the giant meta gave a furious bellow and charged at Victor while firing wildly.
Victor was beginning to regret only installing one main weapon in his suit, as the bulky meta took another two shots without even slowing down. Finally within range, Victors attacker began to rain down blows strong enough to shatter concrete. With his options quickly depleting and little idea of how to hurt the meta, Victor desperately clawed at the man’s face with his right hand.
Just as the meta was about to shatter Victor's shields, he was peppered with shots from behind. Lucas had grabbed one of the rail rifles from the Santiana and was firing shot after shot into the man’s back.
The meta turned towards Lucas with a savage grin and a crazed look in his eyes. “No need to cut in line kid, I’ll make sure everyone gets a tur-“
It had been just the opportunity Victor needed. While his assailant was distracted taunting Lucas, Victor had rerouted all the suit's power to the MAZER cannon and fired it directly into the man’s head from just inches away. For a single, terrifying moment it looked like it wouldn’t be enough, but as the ruby red beam flickered and died Victor was treated to the view of the enormous man's blackened, charred skull smoldering on the ground.
Hoisting the massive corpse off himself and staggering to his feet, Victor began to get his brain back into gear. Victor had just killed two people. FUCK, he killed two people! God, what would his family do if they ever found out? Christ, what would Andra say? Victor was glad he had a helmet on right now, or else Lucas would be getting a front-row seat to Victor’s impending panic attack.
“Hey Chief, we gotta get out of here, like, right now. I don’t think any capes are gonna show, but honestly, I’d rather not tempt fate right now.”
That was right, Victor thought. The capes likely wouldn’t haul them in for what was a clear case of self-defense, but with all the rail rifles still in the Santiana he and Lucas weren’t exactly projecting an air of innocence.
“Agreed, there could be others on the way as well. We’ll hunker down in the T&R until tomorrow's demonstration, but in the meantime, you should call Shiv and let him know about the attack. I’m guessing the guys who attacked us were with Gator, but I don’t know enough about gang politics to be sure.”
Lucas seemed to gather himself when Victor laid out their next steps. Victor was worried about Lucas’s mental state following the fight. Even though he was putting up a brave face Victor could tell Lucas was shaken by the attempted assassination by the way he fidgeted in the cabin of the Santiana.
It wasn’t like Victor blamed the kid, he couldn’t have been older than seventeen and just had to fight for his life. Victor wasn’t doing so great himself, but one of the benefits of wearing a suit of power armor was that you always looked calm and collected.
After rushing back to the T&R as fast as they dared Victor unloaded the rail rifles and locked up the Santiana. Rushing onto the floor of the store Victor pulled down the security shutters over the windows and locked all the windows and doors. Lucas immediately dialed Shiv’s number as Victor hastily exited his armor to repair the damage to its torso caused by the burley assailant.
Lucas paced around Victor’s workshop until he finally got through to Shiv. “Elliot, Victor and I just got jumped by some guys while we were out testing some of his gear- Yeah we dealt with them but- Fuck dude just shut up and let me speak! These weren’t just some random guys, they brought a meta with superstrength and some guy with a sniper rifle to take us out.”
Lucas took a deep breath before continuing. “We’re pretty sure it was Gator trying to take out Victor, but they didn’t exactly stop and monologue about their evil plans before trying to kill us. You gotta send some more guys down here or something, because I’m not sure if I can make it through another fight like that one.”
Whatever answer Shiv gave it seemed to startle Lucas, although whether that was good or bad Victor couldn’t say.
“Shit man, OK. If that’s the way you wanna play this that’s cool with me, just try and get here before whoever sent those guys figure out Victor is still alive.”
Hanging up the phone and turning to Victor, Lucas began to explain the severity of their situation.
“Looks like we weren’t the only ones who got hit. Gator took a swing at Junkie’s place and the power station. Sounds like the guys posted with Junkie are going to need a mop to clean up whoever they sent after him, but our guys over at the power station weren’t so lucky. The guards managed to drive Gator’s crew off, but they did a number on the place. If we can’t get the power flowing again soon things are going to get rough.”
Victor knew how much reliable power meant to the people in the stilts. It was one of the real public services provided by the gang and was the only reason people didn’t complain too much when the gangs came around looking for money. A gang’s reach was usually only limited by how much power they could provide and how much infrastructure they could reliably protect; as long as the power flowed people in the Stilts didn’t really care too much who they paid.
Victor grimaced “That’s not good. What’s our play then? If we go too long without getting the power flowing it leaves an opening for Gator’s crew to roll in, and I doubt he’d let me keep running the T&R after trying to kill me once already.”
“Shiv’s moving his cutter out to us, that much I know. You’ll have to wait to hear it from him if you want specifics, but I’m guessing you just became a lot more important to both sides.”
Victor bristled at that, but ultimately kept his mouth shut. On any other day he’d have a conniption if a gangster wanted to drop anchor right out in front of his shop, especially Shiv. Right now, however, Victor knew he couldn’t say no to any additional firepower, even if it was coming from that asshole.
Victor just hoped it would be enough, because he really, really, didn’t want to have to call his sister.