The Heister

Saturday, 24th of October, 198 A.C, 21:10

“According to anonymous eye-witnesses, the commotion at Viridian Academy’s Veil Development Lab included screaming and gunshots. We contacted VA’s own Richmond Woodward after rumors surfaced that the commotion was caused by an attempted robbery. Woodward denied the claims, stating that the sounds were the result of a particularly strong Veiled capable of making illusory sights and sounds. Further investigation into the matter has been inconclusive.” - Spark News Network bulletin

~Loud?

“Advantage number two of a composite bat,” I grunted, “in the event of some idiot with a machete attacking you, you don’t have to worry about chunks getting taken out of it.”

The idiot in question was proving to be rather tenacious. It took me a whole three swings until he went down.

To the rest of the team’s credit, the plan had been going pretty well. The Aegis and the Scrapper had gotten on the roof by way of the Aegis giving the Scrapper a superspeed-enhanced boost up. They then made their way in from there, having the Aegis clear out the entrance while the Scrapper busted out the front door to signal us.

But then the Scrapper had eaten shit over a tripwire and alerted the whole place.

“Hard right coming up!” I yelled, relaying my Veil’s hunch.

The Aegis charged into the door I had indicated, but even she couldn’t bust through it.

~Internally reinforced.

“I got this,” I said, taking a set of lockpicks out of one of the pouches on my pants. “We’ll be able to lock the door behind us this way, give ourselves a bit of extra time with the stash.”

A group of corpo-bandits rounded the corner and barrelled towards us.

~ Click from #1… and #2… #3’s binding… Come on...

The lock gave way and I yanked open the door, ushering the others in before slamming the door behind me.

Once we were all inside, the Aegis braced herself against the door.

“Not sure you have to bother,” I said, tapping my Veil. “Nobody is banging on the door just yet. My guess would be that they’ll gather up their buddies to ambush us when we leave.”

The Aegis relaxed a little, but didn’t move.

With no immediate threat, I took a moment to look around the small room we had just trapped ourselves in. The walls were the same concrete as the rest of the building, and the entire room was bare save for a long table in the middle.

~Bingo.

On top of the table lay our quarry, a respectable pile of weaponry. Some pieces were lying out in the open, but a quick once-over revealed that they were the boring stuff. Handguns, spears, knives, that sort of thing. The real value would be the stuff inside protective cases.

The Aegis, still against the door, gave the command. “Alright, get looting!”

The Duelist took off towards the pile, yanking cases out and sending weapons flying in every direction. The Scrapper was exhausted from running and Veil use, but eventually began picking out a few cases that she could fit in her backpack. I figured I might as well crack a few cases open too, to see if they had anything that’d help us with our escape.

My first pick was a plain, boxy case which popped open easily with a bit of fiddling from my lockpicks.

“Ahh, there we go.”

The case was packed with boxes of Knockout rounds of various calibers. I snagged a handful of 10mm rounds, filling my revolver’s speed-loaders and putting the rest in one of the pouches on my pants.

“Hit the jackpot, everyone. Plenty of ammo here to keep us going for a little while.” Nobody else here had a gun though, so maybe a bit limited in the short term.

My Veil was giving me some juicy info about the next case. I let out an “oohhh” as the lid lifted to reveal a sleek bullpup smg. The gun’s model was printed along the side: SQUALL.

~I want it.

Motivated about 60% out of spite, I tossed the weapon over to the Scrapper, whose initial reaction was to recoil back and fumble it for a few seconds. Eventually she got a hold of it and matched my earlier exclamation with a “woooaahhh!!” of her own.

“Pretty cool, right?” I said. “Damn good work by the MMC on that one.”

My Veil let me know that, under her own Veil, the Scrapper’s eyes had lit up, momentarily forgetting her nerves. “Can I really have this? It’s so coooool!”

I chuckled. “Yeah, sure. Just promise me you’ll take good care of it, and that you won’t accidentally shoot one of us with it.”

The Scrapper nodded emphatically and began trying to figure out the gun’s mechanisms.

I slid the ammo case over to her and gestured to the 5.57mm section. Rather than actually teaching her how to use the gun, I sat back and laughed as she desperately searched around to figure out which switches and doodads on it did what. No need to be *too* easy on her.

All looted up, we decided that it was time to get ready for our escape.

The Aegis was gonna take point. In a calming voice she said, “Alright you two, things are gonna get a bit sketchy for a bit here, but don’t worry. Just follow me, and we’ll get out of here before you know it.”

She pressed her ear against the door. “All quiet here, but we should assume they’re laying in wait for us anyway.” She quietly unlocked the door. “Alright, get behind me. On the count of three we go.”

The Scrapper and Heister nodded.

“Ok… 3… 2… 1… GO!”

We burst out of the room and hung a right. Shouts rang out from ahead - the bandits had formed a wall to prevent our escape. A number of them leveled guns our way.

“Hey Scrapper,” I said, pulling out my revolver, “how about some in-the-field training?”

“Right!” She yelled, and fumbled a bit with her backpack before managing to unstrap her gun.

Just then the bandits began firing. Two shots whizzed past to our left, one to our right, and one caught the Aegis’ cloak and redirected, burying itself into the wall.

I place a shot of my own, my revolver sounding off the characteristic deep TUNK of a Knockout round and dropping one of the gun-wielding bandits.

The Scrapper brought up the Squall, which let out a TAKA-TAK-TAKA-TAK as she squeezed the trigger, dropping several more in a wild spray that left her momentarily off-balance.

The Aegis crouched down in a charge, her cloak flaring out and catching several more bullets headed our way. Despite the best efforts of the bandits, she reached the line and smashed through, sending three or four of them flying away.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Alright you two,” she shouted, “let’s see some cool stuff!”

Not needing to be told twice, the Duelist lept into a dropkick, his Aura flaring up as he pointed to one horribly unfortunate bandit. The two disappeared into a marble centered where the bandit had been standing, which almost immediately burst to reveal a grinning Duelist atop a now out-cold bandit. The Duelist quickly scrambled to his feet and dashed off after the Aegis, his trick having cleverly helped him get past the line.

The Duelist’s spectacle seemed to have gotten the Scrapper pumped up, as she quickly activated her own Veil, falling to a supercharged slide as she stowed her gun. Disoriented by her sudden speed boost, the bandits were left grabbing after her afterimage as she slid between their legs.

Once through she flipped up off her hands and bounced off the back of a confused bandit, launching herself down the hall.

~Left behind.

“Nah, I wouldn’t say that,” I said. “I just get the fun part.”

I charged forward, emptying my revolver into the remaining bandits as I went. One of them surged towards me, which I responded to with a vicious headbutt.

A second one charged forward, but was quickly stopped as I cracked his nose with my revolver, opened the cylinder, and emptied the spent casings in one fluid motion.

I took out one of my speedloaders and fed the rounds into the cylinder, but was interrupted by the final bandit rushing at me with a knife. I quickly disconnected the speedloader from its rounds and flung it at the bandit, causing her to stumble back. She recovered quickly but gave me just enough time to flick the cylinder back and bring the gun up.

A final TUNK accompanied a bit of blue mist between the bandit’s eyes as the bullet disintegrated. She wobbled for a second before falling backward onto the floor.

~Pretty good.

“Naturally,” I said, setting off after the others before any of the bandits could recover.

I caught up just as they were coming up on a 4-way junction. “Alright, straight ahead and we’re home free!” I yelled. Just then the doors on the far end of the hall burst open and a flood of bandits rushed in.

~Ah, reinforcements.

“Aggh,” I muttered, “of course.” I glanced over at the newbies. Yup, definitely Veil-dragging. “Alright squirts, you’ve proven yourself plenty, let us veterans handle this one.”

The Scrapper had other plans. “Are you kidding? This is getting fun!” Before I could stop her, she activated her Veil and dashed off towards the crowd.

“Fuck, get back here!” I yelled. “Aegis, make sure she doesn’t get killed!”

I grabbed the Duelist by the collar before he could activate his own Veil and pulled him off into one of the side junctions.

The Duelist struggled to escape. “Hey, what are you doing?”

I tightened my grip. “I’m trying to save your goddamn life.” Sable must’ve overestimated their current resistance. “Remember those drawbacks we were talking about? You’re both caught in them now.”

The Duelist glared at me. “I feel fine! More than fine, I feel great!”

“Exactly!” I yelled.

The sound of gunfire made me snap my head around. The Scrapper had just bounced off one of the bandits and was whooping as she weaved between bullets.

Her overexertion caught up to her suddenly, and her aura vanished midair. She crashed to the ground, flipping head over tail and sliding to a stop by the junction. The crowd of bandits leveled their guns.

The Duelist strained against me. “Let go of me! I’m gonna save her!”

I yanked him back hard. “What you’re going to do is hide back here while we take care of this mess.”

Just before the bandits could shoot, a white and blue streak surged forward and enveloped the Scrapper. Bullet after bullet slingshotted off the Aegis’ cloak as she shielded the Scrapper from harm, save for a few nasty bruises.

The volley finally ended and everything went silent. The Aegis unfastened her cloak and softly draped it over the Scrapper before standing up to face the bandits.

Her outfit was relatively simple without the cloak, just her Veil, a blue breastplate and light grey t-shirt, black cargo pants, and her dark blue gloves and boots. Her imposing physique, normally hidden under the cloak, was on full display.

I realized I had accidentally loosened my grip on the Duelist, and reigned him back in.

The Aegis activated her Veil, a white aura flaring up and silhouetting her entire body. She glared at the bandits. “Don’t shoot my friends.”

With that she launched forward. As she ran, her legs carried too far and her arms swung too wide, like the reverse of someone running in water. The ground shook with every step and her boots left imprints in the floor.

Then there was the other effect of her Veil. The Duelist stopped struggling, and began looking on in awe. The Scrapper peaked out from under the cloak, seeming to be ignoring the immense pain she must’ve been in.

If I didn’t have to make sure the two newbies didn’t do anything stupid, I would’ve given in to my urge to join her in the fight.

The bandits were feeling the exact opposite effect. They shrunk away, a few completely breaking rank at her mere approach.

One bandit raised a rifle with shaking hands and fired. The bullet struck the Aegis in the shoulder, but the impact was dulled. There was no violent splash of blood, no scream of pain. She grunted and rolled her shoulder back slightly with the impact, but otherwise kept charging forward.

I couldn’t see the wound, but I had worked with her enough to know that the bullet would have barely sunk in, likely still visible from the outside if you wiped away the blood.

She slammed into the crowd, launching bandits to and fro. One came at her with a bat and she responded with a block powerful enough that it splintered against her forearm.

~Let me guess, another advantage of composite bats?

The Aegis grabbed the bandit and swung them around, knocking down anyone else approaching her. She then threw him to the right, collapsing that entire side of the crowd.

Another bandit shot at her as she turned to the left. Her head snapped back as it bounced off, but she quickly whipped back to focus on the shooter. Blood started trickling down her forehead at an unnaturally slow pace.

The Aegis launched towards the now-shaking bandit, pieces of concrete flying off of her boot. She snatched the rifle and cracked it against his head, knocking him out instantly.

Dropping the remains of the gun, the Aegis launched into the remaining enemies, thoroughly pummelling each and every one.

The number of panicked screams and agonized cries quickly diminished, and before I knew it the final bandit tapped out. The Aegis let go of their collar and stood up. She dusted herself off and took a deep breath, her Aura slowly fading away.

When the last of the fiery light faded away she wobbled a bit, but managed to stay upright. The untrained eye wouldn’t have noticed it, but she was thinner than a few minutes ago. Blood began flowing freely down her forehead and out from the bullet wound in her shoulder, staining her shirt.

The Aegis turned and made her way back to the Scrapper. “Alright,” she said, a warm but tired smile visible behind the slits in her Veil. “All’s clear everyone. Let’s head out. Gotta bandage up.”

She extended a hand and helped the Scrapper up to her feet. As she reclasped her cloak, the Scrapper, leaning on her for support, seemed to disappear into its folds.

I let go of the Duelist and smirked. “Fortunately for you two, you’ve got us to bail you out. Nice moves there, Aegis.”

“Thanks, Heister.” The Aegis chuckled, then grimaced and brought a hand up to her shoulder. “Urgh… That’s why we’re here, after all.”

The Duelist spoke up. “Alright, but why do y’all think that Be - er, that the Scrapper and I couldn’t have handled ourselves there?”

“It’s something that comes with experience,” said the Aegis. “Like the Heister said, you two were already at your breaking points, even if it didn’t seem like it.”

I chipped in. “Yeah. There’s a reason most Veiled use their powers in short bursts. Reaching your limit can come very suddenly, and the way Veils mess with your noggin can cause you to ignore the few warning signs there are. We call it Veil-dragging.”

The Aegis glanced at the Scrapper-sized bump in her cloak. “It’s happened to her twice now. Fortunately she just kinda burns out for a while when it happens. Many Veiled, like you, Duelist, can lose themselves as their Veil warps their personality.”

The Duelist looked down at his feet.

The Scrapper’s voice emerged ever-quizzically from the Aegis’ cloak. “Oh… So is *that* why you never seem to use your Veil, Heister?”

I coughed. “Well, my Veil is, let’s say, a bit weird.” I took out my bat and began flipping it around. “I’m kinda always using it. It’s a bit of a long story. Hence why I said ‘most’ Veiled.”

The Scrapper seemed a bit disappointed by the explanation. “Oh, okay. Sorry, I don’t mean to pry.”

“Ah, it’s alright,” I said. “Maybe one day I’ll be able to give you all the boring details. Feel like we’ve kinda forgotten that we’ve got a mission to finish up and a wounded buddy to bandage up though.”

“Right,” said the Aegis. “Time to head home, before any Psychons show up. Would you mind doing the driving, Heister? I’m a bit tired, and I *do* have a bullet or two in me.”

I smirked. “Thought you’d never ask.” Driving duty came with two major upsides: I got to make everyone uncomfortable with my reckless driving, and I got to pick the music.

~Good Job.

I was filled with a sense of satisfaction.

Ah, yes. That was right.

He’d been getting more and more persistent over the past week or two.

I sighed. It *had* been a while. Perhaps it was time to take off the Veil, once I finished up here. Time to let Diz out for his turn.