“The Ruby Dreams Casino,” the Major said.
Taylor had eyes on the building from two points of view plus five body cameras. Given she was participating as both The Major, and Cyber, she needed to keep those identities separate in her own head or risk answering someone with the wrong body. Lisa had found it amusing the first time it happened back at Toybox, but out on a mission it would jeopardize everything they had planned.
“Yeah, I heard it’s a Nazi front,” Regent added. “Lung’s gonna be pissed, because this is technically his turf.”
It was disputed grounds, right on the edge of the no man’s land between the ABB areas of the city, and those who frequented it tended to be of Asian descent. It hadn’t taken much hacking to see that the payouts were heavily skewed based on racial profiles either. It was more of a surprise that Lung hadn’t torched the place himself.
“What’s the expected take?” Grue asked. “You said you wouldn’t know for sure until we were prepared to move.”
“Potential is at least a million,” Tattletale said with a grin as she put away her binoculars. “If I had to guess, we’ll get about seven, maybe eight hundred thou.”
Regent whistled.
It was a damn good haul, if they could pull it off, but Taylor wasn’t in it for the money. The main point was showing that The Major and Cyber were active and separate people to Coil, and proving that they were both assets to his organization that he could manipulate. The Major especially, as she was going to have an argument with the Undersiders after the mission that led to animosity and brought her into Coil’s circle.
It felt weird having so many plans within plans running at once, but they needed every contingency they could muster until they were ready to make their own moves. The Major performed a rifle check, using one of the weapons that the Undersiders had recovered from the Empire, but Coil had allowed them to keep. It wouldn’t do their little conspiracy any favors if Coil suspected the weapons that had been paid to Cyber had somehow been gifted to the Major after all. Luckily Grue had been insistent they keep a few of those weapons as a contingency and Coil agreed. Using the stolen gun was meant to send a message all on its own.
“Two guards at the rear doors,” Cyber said. “Both are discreetly armed. Internal security is sparse, but present. The computer systems are a joke, however. I already have all their account numbers and will hand them over to Tattletale upon completion.”
Translation, she was going to take them to Kurt and ‘hack’ them so the funds vanished without Coil being aware of it aside from linking the numbers back to the Empire. He wouldn’t need to know that they had already emptied them. A rather enjoyable bait and switch if Taylor was ever asked.
It was a shame that Riley had been called in to heal in the aftermath of another Nine strike in Louisiana, she would have enjoyed watching along. Still, Surgeon had a reputation to uphold and there were heroes and civilians that would need to be patched up. Taylor wouldn’t dare ask her to do otherwise, though it was a surprise she hadn’t talked Amy into helping on those just yet. Taylor would share the footage once that crisis was over and hopefully have a good laugh with her friend.
“On your call, Grue,” Tattletale said.
“Bitch, wait until the guards up front react, then bring the dogs in,” he ordered. “Everyone else, with me.”
“Finally,” Bitch grunted.
Her dogs began to grow larger as Grue motioned for the ground team to follow. The Major kept to the rooftops, providing overwatch as they came out of the alley behind the casino. The guards began to move, but both spasmed, dropping to their knees. Grue covered both in darkness and the Major dropped into it.
Immediately all her cell connections cut off, but the quantum bullshit link between her and Cyber remained completely intact, and thus she maintained her full net connection thanks to the backup connections built into Cyber’s communication suite. Contingencies in the event Dragon ever tried to cut her off at Arcadia, well worth the millions it had cost her to source from the affiliated Tinker.
Still, her sensors were more than enough to deal with the loss of sight and sound and internet. She had a wireframe overlay using prediction software as well as what little she could feel to read things. She kicked the legs out from one man, then drove her elbow into the sternum of the other.
Grue’s darkness cleared away, and the Major stood, rifle back in hand as she quickly broke the lock.
“Alarms are disabled,” Cyber said.
“Combat Thinkers are bullshit,” Grue grumbled. “I can see through the darkness and don’t think I could have managed such clean takedowns.”
“Experience,” the Major lied. “My own powers are a tool, not a crutch.”
Grue grunted, but did not argue. As agreed, the Major took point, popping the door open and moving swiftly. Her rifle was for show, meant to intimidate, that was what she had told Grue. What she hadn’t told him was that if an Empire cape came after them, she would go full lethal.
And Lisa expected at least three capes to respond to such a brazen attack.
Security was alerted to their incursion despite Cyber taking the radios down and killing all the cameras. They couldn’t do anything about verbal or visual communication after all. Still, Grue flooded the main floor with darkness, and most of the people were smart enough to get down and stay down.
The darkness settled at about knee height, and few remained above. She fully expected at least one idiot to play jack-in-the-box and try to shoot one of them. So of course Bitch burst in at the same moment two near the front door tried just that. They fell back, the dogs tackling them back into the inky black.
Content that things were in hand, Tattletale grabbed two of the dogs and moved back to where the floor plan indicated the vault would be. Cyber of course had identified the false wall that led to the true vault down below that was kept hidden from the masses. What she hadn’t managed was identifying the mechanism to open it.
Tattletale was on it with a grin, and after flipping over a potted plant she triggered the false wall. Another code was entered on a keypad and she disappeared down the elevator with Regent. The Major kept eyes on the room while they worked in the basement. Grue had added darkness to all the doors and windows, as well as the ceiling. Cell signals inside were once again good as dead.
Bitch had moved behind the counter, grabbing all the loose cash she could as well as the money in the vault that was visible for the public benefit. There would be maybe a hundred grand in that at most. If it hadn’t been for Cyber’s support and Tattletale’s uncapped potential, they would have missed the true vault.
Down below, Cyber was assisting Tattletale with the locks, which much to her chagrin, were completely analog. Cyber had to hack the hardline net connections and was relying on the internal wifi and cell signals to maintain contact with the Undersiders. A low tech solution, but she needed plausible deniability if Coil asked how she managed that despite Grue’s darkness.
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“I’m telling you, I’ve got this,” Tattletale said as she clicked another tumbler into place and moved to the next.
“Sure you do, Tats,” Regent said
The worst part about it, she could see the piles of cash, bundled and ready for transport just waiting for them to claim. Another click came as Cyber watched through Tattletale’s eyes and the lock gave in. With a resounding cheer, Lisa swung the door open.
“Load the cart and get it to the lift,” Tattletale ordered.
Regent flipped her off but didn’t argue as they moved. Cyber ran the calculations on the stacks and didn’t bother to redirect the grin that grew on both of her faces. Their calculations had been conservative, but there was well over a million in the vault, likely closer to a million and a half. The question was if they would be able to get all of it out, because even with the dogs, bundles of twenties were still bulky.
“Leave anything smaller than twenties,” Lisa said. “Not worth the space.”
Regent had been sliding a few bundles of tens in his pockets just shrugged and shoved them deeper before moving to the bigger stacks. The pair worked quickly, and once loaded, Regent would move them to the elevator before returning for the next set. The elevator was rather full when Cyber noticed movement on one of the outside cameras.
“Trouble,” Cyber said over their comms. “Rune and two others on approach.”
“Finally,” the Major said, rolling her shoulders. “Moving to engage, I’ll keep them busy while you retreat.”
“Give us five minutes,” Tattletale said. “We still need to load the dogs.”
The Major rolled her eyes as Cyber watched Tattletale toss the last bags of cash into the elevator and start their ascent. One last check of her rifle and the Major began her walk towards the front door. Grue’s darkness flooded forth, billowing out the door as she exited. Rune had stopped across the street and she could now see that Crusader and Krieg were with her.
Krieg was the Empire’s contact with the Gesellshaft, which made him a priority, yet his power was a hard counter for anything she could bring to bear against him. Even her few explosives would barely amount to a warm breeze to the man. Well, she had an idea but it would be risky and highly lethal, making it a last resort.
Rune would be the easiest target, but she didn’t want to kill a girl who had barely turned thirteen, even if she was waving a Nazi flag. Indoctrination was a bitch like that and she had been born into it, even if her parents had left and she remained.
Crusader then, he would be the one to make an example of. The Major took a deep breath, not that it was needed, then kicked the door open. The trio of Nazis had barely reacted before the first bullet shot across the street and hit Krieg’s field, slowing to a crawl before it impacted Crusader’s armor.
That would be an inconvenience, she decided as two more bullets impacted the man. He looked down, his armor scratched from where lead had hit. Two to the chest, one to the head. Professional and lethal, the message delivered in full.
“Major!” Cyber barked across the Undersider’s shared channel, not that they were likely to hear it but it would be on the recording and Coil was listening in as well. “What the fuck do you think you are you doing?”
“Solving the problem,” she answered.
Clones exploded from the platform as Rune set it into motion. Bits of cinder blocks and other debris began to orbit the platform briefly before they rained down. The Major was already in motion, the beginnings of a plan forming in her mind. She took careful shots, shattering cinder blocks between her and them as she closed the distance.
She was moving above human limits, but only just, then she hit the alley between two buildings and bounded up to the wall, kicked off and cleared to the rooftop. She felt the thrill of free running where the world was your playground and gravity was a mere suggestion. The look of shock on Krieg’s face was likely mirrored by the concealed faces of the other two racists.
She landed in a crouch on Rune’s platform and dropped a small surprise as she rolled between them and let herself fall back to the streets. Just as her feet touched solid ground, the platform exploded. Grenades tended to do that when left sitting around without a pin.
Rune fell to the rooftop while Crusader was caught by one of his ghosts. Krieg landed in a smoking heap on the ground not even a dozen feet away from her. Three more bullets hit his prone form before he could even begin to stir. They bounced harmlessly off of him which did little more than serve to piss the Major off.
She closed the distance, taking pot shots at Crusader who flew into cover, leaving her alone with the Empire lieutenant. The Undersiders were underway, Grue’s darkness cutting them off from Cyber’s support for a moment, but that was as planned and would last less than a minute. Lisa didn’t have a multi-million dollar point to point communication system like Taylor had to overcome that.
She dropped the magazine from her rifle and reloaded. She then let her rifle drop and drew her handgun. If she wanted to put the man down, she would need to do it up close and personal. Krieg pushed himself up just as the Major felt her joints and muscles begin to strain against the pressure of his field.
It was interesting, seeing the output readings she needed to combat the effect. It was exponential the closer she got and it soon became clear that even at full output her prosthetic body wouldn’t be enough to overcome Krieg’s power. Knowing she couldn’t win once he got back on his feet, she reached for a second grenade from her belt, pulled the pin and let it drop to his feet as she quickly backed away.
The grenade detonated, covering Krieg in a thick, yellow, foam. Content that he was contained, she put it out of her mind that the PRT would be wondering just how she had gotten her hands on one of those. Coil had men on the inside, she knew that, but it was still disconcerting how easily he had gotten her a dozen of them.
“Oh, thank god,” Cyber said. “I thought you were going to kill him.”
The Major huffed, checking her pistol. A bullet point-blank would probably do it, but the foam had covered him completely. It wasn’t worth the attempt.
“I was,” she said as she slid it back into her holster.
“The hell is going on?” Grue demanded. “We don’t need the kind of heat that killing brings.”
“Grue’s right,” Tattletale said. “Major, if you can’t play by our rules, we’ll have to cut you loose.”
“You’re not the one signing my paycheck, Tattletale,” the Major said. “Your boss had other plans.”
“Fuck,” Cyber said. “I’m not going to be a part of this.”
Rune burst back into the air, with Crusader beside her, the man himself was barely on his feet, using Rune as a crutch. She brought her rifle back up and took aim, the first shot burst one of his ghosts and one of Cyber’s eyebrows raised. His ghosts were supposed to be incorporeal to anything non-organic and yet that one had taken a bullet for the man.
She grinned as more rounds were sent down range, ghosts bursting as quickly as he could summon them. Rune began the retreat, yet the Major didn’t let up despite the Undersiders yelling at her to do so. Just as it looked like they were out of range, she adjusted the angle of her gun and fired one last round, the ballistic arc already calculated for the wind.
Another ghost popped up to intercept, but the bullet sailed over its head, slipped through the eye slit of Crusader’s helmet and dropped the man. The Major was too far away to gauge the damage done, but she knew what kind of damage a round entering through an eye could do. There was a chance they would get him to Othala in time, but the odds were against the man.
There would be no going back to her former innocence, and justifying the next kill would be even easier than that first had been. If she was going to save the Bay, steps would need to be taken that nobody following the so-called rules could take. She would do it, however. Taylor had likely just taken her first life, her soul forever tainted by the murder of a monster, all to earn the approval of a monster.
The Major looked off into the distance, a shudder running down both of her spines.
“Just as planned.”