My eyes gradually scanned across the dimly lit cubicles. I remained all but frozen in place, my gun-arm raising, ready to combat whatever was hiding amongst the waist-high walls and computer equipment. With eyes like that, it could be only one of a handful of things. Given that they were currently scurrying about out of sight, that narrowed it down further.
A Ghoul was my educated guess.
An odd choice for security measures, and uncommon in most of the city. Cheap, but unreliable. They hadn’t done a decent job of protecting my target… but I couldn’t be lax and assume it was no threat. If anything, the job was more dangerous now by the process of adding more of the unknown to my contract.
They were often employed to protect inanimate things rather than soft targets… due to the cannibalism. Mutant-adjacent, a Ghoul was a human turned to a zombie by a mixture of different drugs. Cybernetics kept them together and energetic. Able to focus on simple tasks. Not especially intelligent, but cunning and ruthless.
Just the one shouldn’t be too much trouble. Contract was half complete, I just needed to get back to the car. There was enough space between me and the closest cover where, even if they remained hidden until the last moment, I’d still have the time to pull the trigger. HE Shell against whatever sharp melee tools they carried. A done deal.
That’s if there was just the one.
My right boot slid to the side, before my left mirrored the action, drawing me a step closer to the exit. Stepped over the trip-wire from before. Re-breather hummed as I took long, cautious breaths. The scratch of movement pricked my ears, but it wasn’t coming from the wide room I was in. Out of the door to the corridor. The pads of footing against the metal staircase from the below floor. With my exits blocked, combat was now inevitable.
The question of how well I’d fare would be how many there really were. Ten shots in this mag and they didn’t go down too easily. Anti-pain meds that put even my stims to shame. They came at a steeper cost, however. Heard a few tales about Ghouls dying with their victims still in their mouths, after sustaining terrible damage but still functioning enough to get the kill anyway.
We’d just have to see who could outlast who.
I made to run toward the door, but twisted and slid backward across the carpet. Baiting out the one in the wide office. It worked. Like a predatory animal seeing their prey run, the Ghoul leaped from his hiding position and moved to intercept me.
Right into my waiting line of fire.
A click and I bore a crater through his chest, painting the drab office walls behind him in a vibrant shade of red. True to nature, the fact that his insides were now shredded didn’t dissuade him from barreling towards me. Black leather and pale, dried skin. His bright yellow eyes were a match to the twin cannisters embedded into his upper arms, pumping him with whatever drugs kept him functional and ravenous for violence.
Any point of ironic reflection would have to wait until later.
His mouth opened, but with his internal organs leaking onto the gray carpet at record speed, he didn’t have the motor controls to bite at me. Doubly so as I lashed back at his face, the crunch of his jaw vibrating down the side of my gun-arm. Still, he persisted, arms coming around to cling to me.
I turned with him in tow, bogging my left arm down. The open doorway had spawned its first Ghoul eager for a taste, while at least another two pairs of yellowed eyes loomed in the corridor impatiently.
Minor chance we’d all die here.
Aiming for center of mass was the sensible option, but it didn’t stop them quick enough. While the next one near galloped through the office, I took the risk. Trigger pull, and his head exploded, splattering the ceiling with his brain and skull fragments. His body twitched and took two more large steps before tipping over, muscles fully tensed up.
The one on my arm pressed his open mouth against my thick overcoat, but did little except soak the fabric through with blood and spittle.
Next two entered the room, the first coming straight for me, not learning the lesson his predecessor had. Second Ghoul went off to the side to hide amongst the low walls. Pack tactics were rudimentary, but effective - even more so if they had a few more to their number. My shot blew out the leg of the one approaching, causing them to drop and start to crawl after me. Unending desire to try to get something edible.
Racked the empty cartridge away and used the brief space to wedge the barrel into the broken mouth of the one hanging from my coat. Now without a head, the rest of him gave up on the attempt, and he slunk to the floor. Now I had the upper hand, albeit with ringing ears.
Stepped forward and brought a boot down on the outstretched hand of the prone Ghoul trying to reach me. Broken bones didn’t move the needle, but now it was pinned. High Explosive Slug to the top of the head, blowing a hole straight through the carpet and into the lower floor. The cheap material charred around the edges, before soaking through with Ghoul gore, thick globs dripping down into the work space beneath us.
Five shots down, five remaining. Enough, if there was only the one opponent remaining.
My left hand went down to make sure the data drive was still safe and secure. More the fool me if their intention was just to pickpocket me. No, it was there.
I swept around the office with my raised shotgun. Silence had filled the long room once more. Aside from my heart pounding in my head, and the dripping of blood from the surfaces coated in foolish Ghoul, I could be deceived into believing I had imagined the last one. Would be easier if I were hallucinating.
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Still, this had been a lot more of an ordeal than previously thought. There was the chance that someone could have heard the HE Slugs making a mess of the otherwise very mundane office. As much as I wanted to get away from the smell of the corpses and fill my lungs with fresh air, an expedient escape would be a benefit for the contract as a whole.
The thought of being found out and having either the law or a super sent over to see what was up distracted my mind as I moved toward the door. No doubt it would be Rockslide who they sent, if only because someone out there was clearly intending for me to suffer as of late.
I twisted as I met the threshold, aiming back into the office and expecting to have baited this last enemy, just as I had the first. A mistake made, as a jagged blade found its way into my flank.
Sparks across my gun arm as I turned to the Ghoul in the corridor. Sneaky bastard had circled back out of the other door while I was distracted and laid a trap for me. Usually unlike their kind, but I wasn’t opposed to learning a lesson the hard way - as long as I lived to absorb the new information.
While the others had been content to claw and bite at me, this one wore a black leather mask obscuring their lower face. No parallel whatsoever. A jagged blade was strapped to either arm, each a good nine-inches long. Both very painful looking. Ask my bleeding internals how I knew.
Dexterous, too. From this short range, he kept close to my gun as I turned it around, avoiding the muzzle while being able to slash out with his blades. Frenzied, which meant sloppy.
I feigned a grab out towards the Ghoul before leveling a kick into his leg. He stumbled backward but remained standing. Gave me enough range, though.
Click.
An inexpert shot that I’d reflect on later. A spray of blood as one dismembered arm clattered down the hallway, leaving a streak of dark crimson. The bright yellow liquid hissed and smoldered against the fabric of the carpet where it had shattered. He hissed behind his mask, and I felt a small spark of empathy.
I leaped towards him, knocking into him with my shoulder. Received a slash from his remaining arm, but it was mostly superficial thanks to my many layers of clothing. Somehow he kept his footing again, and as the empty shell ejected from my arm, he darted to the side around my left in the hopes of avoiding the barrel end of my pointed accusations.
But I was growing tired of this.
While he expected me to turn to my left to keep a bead on him, I instead flashed to my right, bringing the heft of my arm around in a quick arc. By the time he went to raise his blade to block, I connected with his head. A crack that reverberated through the corridor, and he tipped to then slam his skull against the wall, denting it.
Still, he wouldn’t stay down. Sluggish and limp, he moved away from the wall to glare death at me.
It would take more than that.
Muzzle pushed his chin up so that I could look him in the eyes. They were vacant despite their anger. No living soul truly remained within this shell that was fueled by addiction and rage. Ghoul was pretty fucked, too.
I put to bed the last of the security. Spent shell bounced across the floor and I switched back to the Tazer mag. Better nine shots than three, although I hoped by now I was in the clear. My eyes went up to the stairs leading to the roof. Silence and the absence of Rockslide greeted me. Bliss.
Pain in my side as I walked toward the way out. Stims were lagging, so I gave them a helpful tap with my finger. A rush of painkillers surged through me, making me momentarily lightheaded as my body caught up to the tardy mistake of the small device. Mostly minor injuries, so I wasn’t too concerned - although the amount of blood soaking my right side wasn’t optimal.
My re-breather whirred in lieu of grunting as I made my way up the metal steps, a wave of relief washing over me just as the chill breeze cleared my lungs of the heated struggle. I paused and enjoyed the serenity of it, my body temperature cooling to a comfortable degree as I breathed easy. Gathered my wits, and then went over to the fire escape.
Tapped the data drive to ensure it was still there. It was.
Another couple of agonising and slow minutes passed as I descended the building. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign that my firefight had been noticed. It was still dark, and any roving security guard must not have come this way. Fortune favors the bold... and also the ones who had stolen and memorized the rotas last month.
I stopped in front of my car, a frown pressing against the top of my goggles.
A parking ticket.
The whirr of a sigh escaped my re-breather, and I looked around the quiet streets. No sign of the attendant. It went without saying that I abhorred bureaucracy, being someone disjointed from normal society and laws.
I tore it from my windshield, leaving a square of sticky residue. Stepped over to the bordering wall beside my vehicle and stuck it on the brickworks. Arm up, I placed a Tazer shot in it. There was a fizz of something electrical failing under the arcs of blue, before a powder of gray brick dropped to the ground. Even leaving the notice here, I wouldn’t run the risk of anything tracking my actions.
Breaking the law to save on a handful of credits was perhaps the smallest crime wrought this evening. Necessary, as I didn’t need the law knowing where I lived… although perhaps I could pass on the malady to my neighbor, given that my house looked more like a disused shed.
No. Focus on the task at hand. I shook my head and got into the car, a weird mix of comfort from the seat, and pain from the way my damaged muscles had to bend. Although I gave the stim pack another tap, it didn’t provide me with any more relief. They lasted a lot longer than my nutrition cannisters, but perhaps it was time for this one to be replaced.
Vehicle shuddered into life with as much disdain for existing as it could muster. Drop-off was a good twenty minutes clockwise, slightly closer to the main city. A simple deposit, notification, and then ride home.
So… what was giving me pause?
Despite the simple life that I tried to live, I wasn’t just a blunt tool. I had some smarts. Too much convenience in a super appearing in my life, and then getting a contract that had something to do with the League of Heroes. But what option did I have? If I absconded with the drive myself, Boss would cut me off - and probably send someone after me.
Wasn’t worth me getting assassinated over.
It might not even be something that important. Proof of adultery. Someone sequestering funds that they shouldn’t. Chat logs where people were bad-mouthing their superiors.
Anything more than that was baseless speculation on my part, and it would be a disservice to my exemplary record to go rogue over something so banal. Perhaps it was the small part of me that felt I owed Roxy a favor for beating her to the mob boss… although I wasn’t sure why I believed that.
Before the car had the opportunity to die on the spot from my inaction, I hit the pedal and went forward to my destination. I’d complete the contract - if I still wanted to do something for the annoying super once the drugs flooding my system faded away, then it could be something that wouldn’t be career-ending.
My fingers drummed on the steering wheel as I tried to make sense of why these were my current thoughts. I’d need to do a toxicology test when I got back and make sure the Ghoul’s blades weren’t covered in anything potentially mind altering.
I thundered on through the night, keeping my brain empty so that I didn’t earn myself a headache. Out of all the shifting tides washing fresh debris up on my shore, one thing was for certain.
Those extra rewards Boss had promised better be something good.