Heywood

October 22nd

2069

Sophie kneeled on the corridor floor, the M2067 Defender pressed to her shoulder and resting on the attached bipod. Below it was one of the dead teens piled on top of the big scav who’s weapon she now wielded. In front of her was the half-open security room door, somehow still intact. However, her attention was focused past the door, down the hallway to the staircase filled with the sound of movement.

She tensed up, finger resting lightly on the machine gun’s trigger. Someone swore, then shouted. “Gary!?” A pause. “Guys, I think Gary’s dead!” Clearly, they could see part of the corpses past the open door.

“You useless motherfucker! Get out of the way, let me see!” There was more shuffling and uneasy murmuring from the gathered teens. “Oi! Gary!” Obviously, the dead man didn’t reply. Then she heard what she’d been waiting for.

A mass of footsteps, likely from three or four people, entered her ears, heading straight towards her. She angled the Defender upwards and pulled the trigger.

The hallway was instantly filled with the roar of gunfire and screams. The door in front of her exploded into extra shrapnel as she fired and through the chaos, she saw a small group writhing around on the floor in pain.

Ignoring the constant buck of the Defender against her shoulder, Sophie continued the onslaught. With all the immediate targets down, she shifted her aim towards the staircase itself. The attack drew additional screams as bullets bored a hole through the concrete wall.

Before she could get any further however, the Defender clicked, signalling the beginning of her plans for the next phase.

Abandoning the gun without a second thought, Sophie sprinted towards the staircase. Both hands reached to her chest rig, coming away with a pair of grenades. She flicked the pin away from the one in her left hand and threw it into the stairwell. However, she didn’t stop, moving to the other side of the staircase.

She heard the explosion of the grenade, the signal to pull the pin on the second one. She quickly peeked around the corner, into the now smoke-filled stairwell, confirming the situation before pulling her head back to cover and throwing the red canister in her hand. She covered her ears and only a couple of seconds later heard a second, much larger explosion.

The boom was followed by even more screams and shouts. With all her preparation complete, Sophie drew both of her pistols and swept into the stairwell. Her optics immediately locked onto a smoke-shrouded teen, somehow still alive but whose body was shredded and had a missing leg. A pair of bullets punched through his immobile form, ending his suffering.

She heard more shouts, a mix of pain and confusion. She made her way down the stairs, pistols ready. As she stepped onto the platform and turned to face the next set of descending stairs, she spotted one of her targets aiming a Copperhead at her.

She stepped to the side while covering her face with one hand just in case. The netrunner suit she’d been using for months carried damage from previous conflicts despite her best efforts to repair it. Relying on it to protect her was a foolish idea, though the situation didn’t go entirely the way she wanted.

The rifle rounds ripped through the slightly exposed side of the suit, impacting her body and she was immediately glad for the recent subdermal upgrade she got. The new chrome wasn’t able to stop the bullets entirely; they still punched into her body. But it was mostly surface wounds, with only a few hitting slightly deeper. In fact, Sophie could tell it was the force behind the bullets that did the most damage.

She retaliated, sending a series of suppressed shots at him. Three hit the boy in the chest, staggering him and interrupting his attack. The final bullet punched straight through his throat and he collapsed, blood pouring from the wound.

She ducked into cover quickly, taking a moment to reload both pistols. Once done, she swept back down the staircase. Unfortunately, she stepped on a bullet casing she’d missed, slipping slightly before she could regain her balance. However, the small mistake put her in a bad position on the next floor.

All that remained were a trio of heavily injured teenage boys, looking at her with hatred in their eyes. Each of them held a Carnage shotgun and Sophie immediately realised how bad her current position was. However, it was too late for regrets.

She tried to dive away but the boys were faster. A massive force impacted her body and she went stumbling backwards into a nearby wall. The pellets fired by the shotguns created a net of small holes in both her armour and her skin but that was all. Her back ached though, from where she hit the wall.

While her condition wasn’t the best, the trio were in an even worse state. Their already injured bodies had been damaged further by the immense recoil of the Carnages and in her eyes, they were barely holding on. A few rounds ended the threat they still posed and she breathed a sigh of relief.

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She found a small nook and took a knee there, taking a moment to breathe. A Maxdoc appeared in her hand and she jabbed it into her thigh, using one of the newly made holes in her armour. She immediately felt the difference as a surge of adrenaline and energy rushed through her.

Sophie stood and began clearing out all of the rooms on her current floor. However, there was nobody. Unsure where her targets had disappeared to, she dashed down the next set of stairs to the second floor, which is when she finally heard noise.

From the bottom floor of the building, the air carried up a series of unintelligible shouts. She ignored the second floor, suspecting everyone that she had to kill was further down. She was right.

She stealthily made her way down the stairs to the bottom floor, immediately being greeted by the sight of nearly a dozen teens hauling captives out of cages and into any kind of vehicle they could. Their leader, a slightly older boy with a massive chrome arm, barked orders at the group. Although he did his best to show a calm and controlled facade, Sophie could tell he was panicking internally.

Despite her desire to rush in immediately and start killing, she was fully aware that there were innocent civilians spread throughout the area. If she wasn’t careful, they might be caught in the crossfire and that was unacceptable in her opinion.

However, she had one option. It would make things difficult but Sophie had a feeling it would be harder for her targets than it would be for her.

With a resolute look on her face, she gathered as many smoke grenades as she could, both from her chest rig and from her inventory. She began pulling the pins rapidly, throwing each primed grenade into the hostile area. The noise coming from the desperate teens masked the clinking of the smoke grenades. Seconds later, the entire area erupted in a thick cloud of smoke.

As expected, shouts erupted both from her targets but also the captives. Sophie ignored it however, charging into the smoke with her knives drawn. She couldn’t use her pistols as she’d risk hitting a hostage nor could she use her katana. The blade’s eye-catching appearance would make any of her attacks obvious through the smoke.

Despite being unable to use her regular arsenal, Sophie’s knife skills proved themselves effective. The blade in her left hand punched straight through one of the teen’s neck. Her second blade lashed out, slashing through another enemy’s throat who just happened to be too close.

She yanked the knives out with a wet gurgle, blood coating her hands before moving on. The smoke had disoriented her targets and their already lacking skill and experience turned them into a group of headless chickens.

The cries of pain as she swept through the scummy teens continued and soon enough, the entire bottom floor was painted red as the smoke finally dissipated. There were nearly a dozen corpses all up and only a single individual remained standing. The leader.

His face was pale as he stared at her bloodied appearance. He looked around, eyes landing on one of the captives. Sophie recognised her as the girl that was hauled inside during her observation period. Suddenly, the young man moved, lunging at the girl.

Sophie could tell exactly what he wanted and was determined to stop him. With a guttural cry, she leapt towards him, brandishing her blades. One of them sunk partially into his torso just before the pair went down in a tangle of limbs from her leap. She lost her grip on the knife and his superior size and strength quickly gave him the upper hand in the ensuing grapple. He pinned the knife wielding hand down and cocked back his large chrome arm for a punch.

He released it and the arm came down like a hammer. Ultimately though, he was a rookie with little actual combat experience. Sophie’s head moved to the side, avoiding the bone-crushing blow and slamming a knee into his groin. The blow loosened his grip on her arm, which she took full advantage of by ramming her knife into her opponent’s side.

At the same time, her empty hand found the handle of her previously lost knife. She twisted before violently wrenching both blades out, then plunged them into his chest. The repeated attacks caused him to involuntarily let go and Sophie took the opportunity to flip positions so that she was on top.

“Plea..se. Mer..cy..” He tried to beg, blood bubbling out of his mouth as he stared into her angry eyes.

“Maybe be a better person in your next life! Go to hell!” She spat at him before driving her blades into his chest multiple times. Only when he stopped flailing did she pause before letting out a deep sigh. I still get too angry, huh. “Fucking scavs…”

A nearby sound entered her ears and she turned, coming face to face with the girl she’d just saved. She flinched slightly, likely at how much blood had splashed across Sophie’s face and menpo before taking a breath.

“Um…Thank you.” She said softly. Sophie stared at the girl, right in her big blue eyes.

“You’re welcome,” she replied stiffly. It was the first time she’d ever been thanked personally and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it. She stood up, sheathing her bloodied knives while looking around. Her eyes locked onto one of her fallen targets, a boy that should’ve been dead.

She stalked over to him, bent down and snapped his neck. The sound felt deafening in the silence, all of the previously noisy captives staring at her with a mixture of horror and appreciation. She ignored all of it, including the complicated look the blue-eyed girl was giving her and rang Padre. He picked up quickly.

“Is it done?” He asked softly.

“It is. There were some complications, so it was messier than I would have liked but they’re all dead, as you asked.” She paused, then added, “they were keeping people here. They need help. Can you send someone?”

“You’ve done God’s work today Sophie, even if it was messy. I will send some of my people to assist. I hope you’ll protect those you’ve rescued until help arrives.”

“Of course. Anything else you need from this place?”

“That will be all. I’ll be in touch soon. There are always jobs that require someone with your talents.” The call cut out and the world once more fell silent. She found the group of former-captives staring at her and she mentally groaned.

“Alright everyone! There’s some help on the way, so just sit tight. I’ll make sure nothing happens while we wait. For now, I’d like everyone to head upstairs and find somewhere to hide. I’ll wait down here until I confirm there are no issues. Don’t come out until I call for you.”

There was some grumbling but they did as she asked. Meanwhile, Sophie took up position at one of the windows, weapons ready. She didn’t have to wait long before a clearly stolen bus arrived and a small group of mercs poured out. They looked legit, so she cautiously exited the building, standing between the door and the new arrivals.

One of her hands rested on the grip of a pistol as the leader came over, ready just in case there was an attack. He looked inside, then back at her bloodstained appearance.

“You’re Sophie?” He asked.

She gave a slight nod.

“You’ve done a good thing today. The less scavs in the city, the better. Padre sent us, so we’ll take it from here.” He didn’t give her an opportunity to reply, not even to tell the former captives everything was safe, before walking inside, followed closely by his crew. Sophie stood there, frozen and unsure what to make of the strange interaction. It was only when she saw the blue-eyed girl looking at her as she entered the bus that she came back to her senses. She shook her head.

“Today was weird.”