Continued From Part 3
It was getting dark as he exited the public parking garage and walked out onto the streetside. There was an absence of foot traffic that left him feeling exposed. This close to the industrial zone at this time of the night wasn't a place people generally wanted to hang out and so he started down the sidewalk alone with Caesar at his side. Looking at her he asked “Can you sense anything that might be them?” he grunted in annoyance as she shook her head at him and turned her nose back to the ground.
Balinski watched as she tracked around for a scent. She knew what she was looking for and after a few minutes of walking she perked up and turned to look at him. Crouching and speaking softly he asked "You catch a whiff of the drugs?" When she raised her right paw he nodded. "Alright show me where, but don't get caught. I'll be right behind you."
Caesar started trotting down the sidewalk, stopping to sample the air or ground every few meters, he followed along behind her nonchalantly. To anyone observing, they would look like a man walking his dog, albeit a bit late at night. He noticed they were moving towards the end of the wall and sighed. He was glad they had not set up shop in the tourist-heavy zone, it would make it much safer for the public if something went wrong.
As they crossed one of the deserted streets Caesar stopped and bolted for cover in the shadow of a nearby alley. Balinski swore under his breath and clunked after her on heavy feet, his boots making considerably less noise on the duracrete walkway than his metal feet would have. He whipped into cover just as the sound of low voices carried to him over the wind. Hunkering low and pulling Caesar close, he spread his heavy trench coat across them to shield them from detection.
Moments later a voice was heard "No man I'm not hyped up, I swear I heard some shit over here. Sounded like footsteps."
After a moment of nothing but the sound of rustling clothes another voice spoke, this one a much lighter voice suggesting the owner was Nerivith. "Well whatever it was, it's gone now. C'mon let's keep moving, I'm starving and they have sandwiches in the mess hall."
Balinski risked a peak before the two thugs left and saw a tall Nerivith man, slender and graceful. Next to him was a shorter Human man, obviously built to fight with his heavy gravity muscles and squat brawlers build. They walked out of line of sight of him and he sighed a little. While he and Caesar could have easily taken those two assholes out, they would have lost the element of surprise as they would likely be missed. While criminals weren't always the brightest bulbs, it was a mistake to treat them as buffoons.
He had been surprised once before when a criminal who had made various mistakes caught him off guard and out of position. It was only his internal bionics and inhumanly quick reflexes that had saved him that day. A mistake he was not keen to repeat.
After counting to sixty to be sure the coast was fully cleared, he stood and crept to the edge of the alley. Looking both ways he was pleased to see the thugs nowhere in sight. The patrols must be sporadic, intended to catch large movements, not single covert operators.
This was a large boon to him as it meant he didn't have to worry about large amounts of reinforcements flooding in from the perimeter when he began his assault. "Alright, time to pin them down." He said to Caesar as she exited the alley next to him.
She gave a snort and started tracking again, within minutes she had followed the trail to a cookie cutter complex, the large warehouse looking almost identical to those around it to the uninitiated. He noticed the barred windows and shored up walls however. This place was designed with a siege in mind, probably made to hold just long enough for the drugs to be ferried away in some secret tunnel system. Possibly even the sewers.
He couldn't account for every possible point of entry and so his plan was simple, hit them hard and fast enough that their only option was to fight back. If he could take them quietly by surprise he should be able to clear the majority of them out before they even knew what was happening. Leaning down to Caesar he outlined the plan, as she acknowledged her role he signaled to move out. They sprinted across the empty road as fast as they could go, which considering they were both enhanced, was quite rapid indeed.
Slamming against the near concrete wall of the warehouse he caught his breath and began to move around the side of the structure. The lower windows were barred and it would take more than muscle to get through them. The front door was a bad idea and therefore not an option. That left two reasonable points of entry, the sewers, and the roof. He wasn't sure how to access the sewers, there might be a manhole nearby, but if they were monitoring the sewers they would be sitting ducks. That and he wanted to avoid wading through shit like that again if he could.
He walked quietly around the edge of the warehouse and peeked around the far back corner. He immediately ducked back out of sight, there was a single guard on the back door. Thinking quickly, he reassessed his options. Accessing his stored visual memory file from his left eye, he reran the instant peek of footage he had. The man was Human, tall and wide. He had an AP-6 on his hip, a very dangerous submachine gun. It was unsuppressed, if he fired a single shot then Balinski's element of surprise would disappear instantly.
Crouching down he thought quickly and smiled as the solution came to him. Turning to Caesar he whispered "I'm going to get him to turn, when he does, take him out. Quietly." She gave a small nod and he reached down for a small rock. Finding one that would do what was needed he whipped it around the corner towards the metal container to the man's other side.
The rock impacted the container with a muted clang and fell to the ground. The man standing watch was distracted for a moment as he turned away to see what the source of the noise was. A moment was all Caesar needed.
Like a bolt of gray lightning she tore around the corner and covered the ten meters to the man. He heard her coming and instinctively reached for his gun but fell back silently as her cybernetic jaws locked around the man's throat. Her flying leap carried her into the man and bore them to the ground where she proceeded to tear the man's throat out with a single twisting motion.
Balinski gave her a thumbs up as he passed the dying man, his hands trying desperately to stem the flow of blood from the gruesome wound. It wouldn't be near enough as the majority of his throat had been torn away entirely.
Moving to the door the man had been guarding, he tried it and swore. Locked. Luckily he had a few tricks up his sleeves, or rather, fingers. Balinski deployed a small lock pick from one of his fingers and started to undo the lock. While electronic locks were far more common, for cheap industrial structures like this, the general security and low cost of mechanical locks were usually preferred as a cost saving measure. Luckily for him, the thugs in charge hadn't seen any reason to upgrade their security.
Saying a quick praise to Luck, the lock clicked and he finished up and opened the door. It creaked slightly and he winced before pushing inside and activating his cybernetic eye. Caesar had bionic implants to help her see in the dark, but he had a full multispectrum replacement eye. He had lost his left eye in the same accident that had claimed his limbs, and the new eye was his compensation for giving so much of himself to the cause.
Immediately after entering he rushed into cover and waited to see if anyone had noticed the door opening. After a full thirty seconds of silence he decided he was good. Looking to Caesar he made a hand gesture to stay low and quiet. She moved off a ways from him, she would alert him to danger before anyone saw him coming.
Balinski was a large man, standing slightly over two hundred centimeters in height and wide at his cybernetic shoulders, he was an impressive figure. It was always a wonder to him that people could be so blind he was able to sneak up on them. These were the thoughts passing through his mind as he passed his wrist blade through the mind of the first person he found. The man's gun fell to the floor as it slipped from his spasming fingers. He dragged the still jerking corpse out of the light and into the darkened shadows between the boxes lining the hallway he was in.
Laying the body down he checked both ways. Seeing nothing he scooped up the man's fallen weapon and smiled as he saw it was a fully loaded MR-12. This would come in handy if things went loud, slinging it over his shoulder he continued moving through the lower floors around the circumference of the building.
Caesar perked up alerting him to potential threats around the next corner. Up ahead he saw light spilling from a doorway, slowing and then stopping at the edge of the doorway he peeked in and saw the two thugs from outside bickering over a small box. Nodding to Caesar and signaling for her to take the man on the right he rushed into the room and made for the big man holding the box. The man did not comprehend for a second what was happening, and that was all the time they needed.
As Caesar leapt onto the Nerivith man with the same deadly attack as before, he unsheathed all twenty five centimeters of his wrist blade and slashed it through the throat of the large man. The man gurgled and dropped the box which spilled open to reveal several assorted sandwiches as his hands flew to his throat. His eyes bulged and he gagged as he choked on his own blood and staggered away only to collapse onto a nearby table knocking it over with a clatter. The Nerivith died almost instantly as Caesar tore his throat out with practiced ease, blue blood mixing with the red that already stained her face.
Balinski cleaned his blade on the shirt of the dead man and then moved over to the door. The table had made a considerable amount of noise when it had fallen, it would likely have drawn the attention of someone. He waved at Caesar and motioned for her to hide next to him. She darted over to his side and stood there, panting slightly, blood dripping from her metal maw. He took a second to give her a thumbs up before standing back at attention.
He tensed his muscles as footsteps could be heard from the hallway outside. He would have loved to switch off the lights if it hadn't been likely to garner suspicion. While comfortable in their hideout, criminals were a notoriously skittish lot and a large deviation from the norm would likely tip them off to his presence. While he could handle a live fight, he would prefer to take at least several more of them down before it ended up coming to that.
The footsteps drew closer and he got ready to subdue the person. As they rounded the corner they started to say "What the hell are you two doing…" but cut off as the two corpses made the reason for the disturbance obvious.
He only had time to see long blond hair before he grabbed the intruder and wrapped his arm around their throat. A high pitched squeak escaped them and he saw it was a terrified young woman, not more than twenty most likely. 'She was surely too young to be a part of this' a small piece of his mind thought. Before he could think more either way something wanged off his arm and he realised she had attempted to stab him. Unluckily for her his arms were knife proof and he quickly crushed her throat before dropping her limp body to the floor. She twitched slightly as the last vestiges of life left her and he walked to drag the other bodies out of clear line of sight. He couldn't do anything about the blood but it would be much less noticeable at a glance than two dead bodies.
Shaking his head at the waste of life he moved out of the room and towards the stairs she had come from. Balinski moved up the metal grate stairs slowly, wary of any creaks or clangs that might give him away. As he neared the top he saw another long hallway, this one suspended over the bulk of the main storage room. He would have to be doubly careful here, to get caught out in the open could mean death.
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He scooted along the walkway quickly and quietly till he again saw a lighted room with voices coming from it. Nearing the door he heard someone say "She should have chewed them out and returned by now. Go check and see what she's doing now."
The other voice cut in and said "Just because the boss likes her we gotta babysit her all the time? I'm sick of it. Why doesn't she just stick to her post like she is supposed to."
The other voice answered "Who the hell even knows, just go check on her."
Balinski swore as footsteps sounded, he needed to act fast. Jumping around the corner he saw two men, one walking towards him and the other on the far side of the room. He rushed the first who didn't even have time to react before Balinski smashed his jaw with a cross punch that sent him straight to the floor. The other man swore loudly and drew a pistol from his belt. Knowing he wouldn't be able to reach the man in time before he fired he dove to the floor.
That was the right move as a series of shots tore through the air right where he had been a heartbeat before. Still, one of the rounds impacted his shoulder and he grunted in pain as the impact was absorbed by his cybernetics. Pulling out his ThunderEagle as his cover was now well and truly blown he rolled to his feet and lined the barrel up on the man's torso before he pulled the trigger.
The ThunderEagle was an overwhelmingly Human design, using the long standing 50 BMG cartridge, it was a three shot revolver with a ten inch barrel. To contain the gas within the gun the shells were loaded one at a time through a breach in the solid shell that enveloped the rotating cylinder. The breach was then closed and locked to prevent the gasses from escaping. The new materials the gun was made from allowed for the containment of such massive pressures in such a small package. The recoil was ferocious however, even with an internal gyroscopic stabilizer and barrel compensator. Once spent, the shells had to be extracted one at a time, assisted by a small lever built into its design that helped to hook the spent casings. Generally only used by specialists or those with a cybernetic advantage, the firepower it gave to its wielder was little short of monstrous.
This was once more made evident to Balinski as he watched the man get thrown back, a massive cavity blown out of his chest and all his internal organs turned to pulp. As the corpse flopped to the blood splattered ground he heard shouts and cries of alarm from out in the warehouse. Moving quickly to the door he looked out and saw he was still clear for the moment. He waved Caesar to move out and they rushed headlong towards the end of the suspended walkway. The last place he wanted to be trapped was up on the second story without a means of escape.
He and Caesar reached the solid ground at the end of the hall just as a figure crested the top of the stairs where they had just been. Sighting through the small scope on the top of his revolver, he fired off a shot at the man and was rewarded with the man’s heart being pushed out of his back at over 1,200 meters per second. There were further shouts of alarm as the thug toppled back down the way he had come.
He fell back and dry cycled his gun once before opening the breach. He pulled out the two spent cartridges and reloaded before closing the breach again with a practiced hand. He had spent hours on ranges going through the same motions in order to get it down to muscle memory. He could load the ThunderEagle in his sleep or the middle of a firefight with the same cool movements. It helped that the power of the gun was on par with a large bore rifle and so many who saw only the aftermath might assume he was more heavily armed than he actually was. It usually bought him a few extra moments before they would realise he had stopped shooting. By the time they mustered the courage to rush him he would have reloaded and they would join their friends in oblivion.
Moving low, he crouch walked to the other side of the warehouse, he noted with satisfaction that there was only one room on this side of the building. Motioning to it he signaled Caesar to check it out. As she moved towards the open door he turned his attention back to the other walkway. He had the high ground, but that was only the advantage when the enemy wanted your land. He needed to move quickly on their position before they had the chance to move the drugs or call in reinforcements.
Trusting that Caesar was alright on her own he did the unexpected. He sprinted out onto the open catwalk as if he was attempting to make a run for it but a meter in he grabbed the guardrail and, using his forward momentum, swung himself over the edge to fall to the floor below. His legs absorbed the brunt of the impact but his breath was still knocked from his chest. Aiming on the surprised thug who was staring at him open mouthed he put a round straight into her scaled head. As her surprised expression turned into a rapidly expanding cloud of pink mist he rolled into the relative safety of a nearby crate. A flurry of shots impacted the ground where he had been and the side of the crate he was using for shelter.
He got to his feet with a mild wheeze and unslung the MR-12 from his back with his left hand. Normally a two-handed battle rifle, it was light enough that he could aim it one handed and he made use of the fact as he dove out from behind cover. He fired off a spray of shots at his assailants and was rewarded with a line of bloody blue craters stitched up the chest of the nearest Nerivith. As the Nerivith fell in a bloody heap the other man rushed him with a knife drawn.
Balinski barely had time to get to his feet before the man knocked his pistol from his hand with a surprisingly strong blow. It was in that moment that he realised the thug was enhanced as well. He leaned back instinctively as the knife whistled past his throat, close enough to nick the skin and draw blood. Balinski swung the now empty MR-12 at the thug’s head as hard as his cybernetics would allow and was disappointed as the thug caught the blow on his forearm, the gun splintering into a thousand whirling pieces that showered them both with chips of polymer and aluminum.
Backing up a pace and putting his arms up in a fighting stance he and the other man circled each other. The man was large and heavily tattooed, a Human too. As they looked at one another the thug spoke “Balinski, the paladin of vengeance himself. I'm surprised you would stoop so low as to kill us silently from the shadows, like a coward. I was always told you like to strike from the front, loud and proud.” The man mocked.
As Balinski and the man stared each other down he responded “And you believe everything you hear?”
The man shrugged slightly and said “I don't believe you are as tough as they say you are.”
“Bring it on then and see for yourself.” he said before lashing out with a quick jab towards the man’s face. The man dodged out of the way as he was expecting, but also dodged his follow up leg sweep. As Balinski regained his footing the thug struck, it was all he could do to block the flurry of lightning blows, damn the man was fast. He was too fast. There must be some illegal modifications going on to make his reaction times this good, and with that much modification there were always downsides. Vastly increased metabolism, shortened lifespan, and heart failure were common side effects of such nerve tampering. In the moment however, potential side effects were the last thing on his mind as he blocked blow after blow. Finally, inevitably, one of the blows connected and he was launched back from a solid hit to the chest. Only his ballistic vest saved him from having his chest caved in, but that was still going to leave one hell of a bruise.
He groaned and got to his feet. The thug was grinning widely and bouncing on the balls of his feet like a boxer. Then it hit him, the man was likely a trained fighter, he was going about this brawl the wrong way. He couldn't strong arm this man, he had to bob and weave, meet his speed with flexibility. ‘This was going to hurt’ he thought to himself grimly as he walked back towards the man.
“You liked that one huh? Are you ready for round two, this time I'll aim for your head, see if you can get up from that.” he cackled.
Balinski just crouched into a fighting stance and raised his hands protectively. The man advanced on him quickly but Balinski sidestepped him and landed a glancing blow across the thugs' back. The thug danced away rolling his shoulders while he taunted “Not too bad grandpa. Not too bad. Now let me show you what I got.” He stepped in close and sent a flurry of blows towards Balinski’s middle but he managed to block or evade them all and the two broke apart again.
Balinski was gasping for breath, his bruised ribs hurt like hell and he was having trouble filling his lungs. He raised a hand and said “Hey, you might have been right about me not being as dangerous as you were expecting.” The man looked at him and smiled cruelly before advancing. “Hang on.” Balinski gasped out “There is one thing you are wrong about.”
The thug looked at him, only a meter away and almost passing out from lack of oxygen. He sneered and asked “Oh yeah? And what's that?”
It was Balinski’s turn to smile as he answered “I never work alone.”
The thug’s eyes widened as he started to turn, the sound of rapid footfalls growing behind him. He only achieved a half turn though before a gray flash arrowed out of the darkness and clamped down on his leg. Balinski rushed forward as the sounds of screeching metal bore testament to the bite strength of Caesar’s new jaws. As the man lined up a blow on her, Balinski unsheathed his wrist blade and rammed it through the man's temple in one fluid movement. The man went limp almost immediately, his body spasming slightly as the randomly firing neurons in his dying brain willed his body to fight on for life. Caesar let go of the man’s now crumpled cybernetic leg and whined as Balinski fell to his knees with a thud.
She scooted over to him as he wheezed, he leaned on her for support as he said “I'm fine girl, just a little short of breath. Thanks for saving my bacon there, Ima buy you a steak dinner tonight, hows that sound. He grinned widely as she barked happily and gave his face a series of brisk licks. “Auughgh, bleh. Thanks I love you too.” he said as he wiped his face on his sleeve.
Standing slowly to his feet he let out a large shaky breath. That was much closer than he would like to admit, even to himself. He thought about looking into that nerve jacking stuff but then decided it wasn't worth the side effects.
He walked around the corpses of the two thugs he had shot and picked up his revolver. He then moved to the original stairway he had used. Climbing the stairs slowly he reached the top and walked into the room at the top. The dead man in the corner was still dead, but the man he had knocked out was still alive. Pulling a set of plasteel cuffs from his pocket, he cuffed the man's hands to a nearby post. ‘There, now he wouldn't be causing any mischief’ Balinski thought with a slight scowl.
Only after the man was secured did he allow himself to sit in one of the padded chairs. He let out a huge sigh and lifted his wrist. He started to type into his assistant and after a moment of waiting for a connection Siyel’s face appeared.
Her smiling face was almost immediately replaced with one of concern. “Balinski, what the hell happened to you, where are you? Dont tell me you went and did something stupid all by yourself.” she scolded.
He mustered a smile and said “Of course I didn't. Caesar was with me the whole time.”
Siyel gave an exasperated noise and the feed flailed as she moved around a bit before it settled back on her face. “Okay, what did you do, and where are you?” she asked him.
He nodded his head sympathetically as he answered “Man, I am really glad I don't have to deal with me, I hope that isn't too on the nose of me to say.” she gave him a stern look and opened her mouth but he continued saying “Ayyee, okay, I’m at this warehouse on 327th, near stonewall. About sixty meters past it actually. I'll send Caesar out to meet you, please don't shoot at her this time.” he added.
Siyel snorted, a strange sound coming from her. “It was one of my newer officers and they had never seen an Earth dog before. They thought she was some sort of wild animal. And I assure you they were duly reprimanded.” she added.
He nodded thoughtfully and said “I got a live one, they might be willing to talk now that they have just inherited the family business if you know what I mean.” he said with a wink.
She smiled and said “Oh, a single survivor, you must be getting soft.”
“Ha ha, you know as well as I do that these guys aren't worth the taxpayers dollars to send through trial, and the big ones get out on bail anyways if we can't pin them for life.” The system was supposed to protect the rights of the citizens, but sometimes it offered too much protection and to the wrong people. That's when he stepped in.
Siyel sighed and said through the link “Okay then, I'll take what I can get I suppose. We will be there in twenty minutes, don't move a muscle, I'm getting para to come check you out. You look like you fought a Drawsherk all by yourself.
He laughed and then cursed as he doubled over holding his chest. “Fuck, I think you might be right about that. Cracked a rib at the very least.” he saw her looking at him curiously and he added “I'll tell you all about it when you get here. I promise.”
“Good, I always love to listen to your stories of misguided heroism. See you in twenty.” She said with a wink. He stared at the screen for a long time after she severed the link. ‘What had she meant by that’ was all he could think.
Continued in Part 5