Industrial Complex - Outside Main Factory Building
Linking up with the mercs proved to be no big challenge. All they had to do was follow the noise of gunfire as they moved closer to the main factory building, passing by gradually increasing piles of scrapped robots and the occasional dead ganger. It was somehow surprising that they hadn't come across any dead mercs, but it was safe to wager that Jaina's band were collecting their dead as they moved.
Desmond, with his helmet back on and rifle raised, moved from one side, rifle panning left, right and sometimes up as they approached the last location of the distinct noise of an MMG. By then, they were a couple dozen feet from the perimeter of the big building.
The bounty hunter pressed his back against a bullet riddled container once they reached another corner, and carefully poked his head around it. "We're good," he said to Danny, then moved out of cover and lowered his gun, although he still kept one hand on the grip as the rifle hung from its straps in front of him.
Upon turning around the corner, Danny would see the same IFV that had been inside the warehouse, and one of the Outriders right beside it, although it unfortunately had been the one without the electrical turret. The armored vehicles looked like they had seen better days, for they were even worse than when they left the warehouse earlier in the day. The tracked vehicle was pitted and scarred with bullet holes, and there were two small craters on the upper frontal plate caused by somethin that had taken off a large chunk of its armor when it impacted it. The vehicle's engine sounded like something dying horribly, and there was a periodical click to its tune that pointed at one of its components not working as it should.
The Outrider next to it was just as damaged. The windows and windshield were pockmarked and cracked from the bullets they had taken, and with its doors open, both bounty hunters could see the the insides of it. The floor of the vehicle was replaced with a layer of empty brass casing, while the dashboard on the passenger's side was smeared with blood. The group of mercenaries that was grouping behind the vehicle looked just as battered.
The less experienced of the two bounty hunters could be heard swallowing a lump in their throat in worry. They were glad they weren't in the head on force. The imagery he was seeing showed that face first into combat was also face first into flying lead, and sometimes you didn't even get to leave the vehicle - those bloodstains, bullet holes and the cooled brass he was kicking aside spoke for themselves.
The strangest thing to him was the lack of bodies - perhaps there were one or two unfortunate souls lying in the Outriders, bleeding out or dry and dead already if the bullet didn't dispatch them immediately. His gut churned in worry, but he was glad he was light on the meals prior to this excursion. He didn't want to have to see what he'd eaten - much less have the mask block his mouth.
Upon spotting the duo, some of the mercs turned around, starting to raise their weapons in alarm, but then lowered them and turned back around to watch the building. From his position, Desmond could see that the group had encountered some kind of stalemate, since there wasn't really a fight going on, but a slow attrition. Every now and then, fire would come from inside the building, and the gunner perched on the IFV's turret would return it. This would keep going on, however, until the mercenaries consolidated again for one final push.
One ofthe mercenaries broke off from the group in a half run towards the duo. The Nepleslian was wearing a black Everyday vest, and the Durandium armored plate in the front was scratched and dented in some places. "You guys took your time, eh?" He said in a very accented voice, stopping to wipe the scratches and cuts from his face with the thorn sleeves of his jacket. "The boss wants you there, eh? Best not to keep her waiting, yes?" the mercenary said, pointing towards a point further down, where the duo could see the second Outrider parked sideways in at the complex, with a smaller group taking cover besides it.
Desmond nodded at the merc, then motioned Danny to follow him as he, too, broke into a run towards the separated vehicle.
Danny held his tongue for the moment, and nodded with Desmond, following his lead towards the vehicle, putting his gun over his back to focus on running with Desmond. A rendezvous to push in and break the stalemate needed as much manpower as possible and a big enough shock to enemy forces.
There was a moment of silence as the only noise around them were their footsteps, then the concrete around them erupted in small fountains as someone inside the building started to take shots at the two bounty hunters. Desmond heard the bullets impact on the concrete like a whipcrack, as well as heard something hot and angry whistle inches from his head, prompting to start running faster.
Whoever was shooting at them, though, had only a small window to do so, since as soon as they started shooting, the armored vehicle started to suppress the window from where the shots came from, adding more bullet holes to the walls of the big building.
Danny's pace quickened as he heard the bullets whiz past, maybe he saw the tracers go by too. His stride jumped for a moment as his pace quickened to surpass Desmond's, being less heavily armoured and equipped than the bounty hunter. Desmond could hear Danny cursing in Lorath.
"What the hell do you wankers think you're doing?!" Came a sharp female voice from the fireteam-sized group taking cover besides the Outrider once the duo was safe in cover. Looking from the building towards the voice, Desmond instantly recognized the leader of the mercenary band, Jaina.
The group, which seemed to be what passed for the mercenaries' command element, was huddled besides the outrider. Several ammo cans were piled on top of eachother, serving as a table for a PHC, which projected a holographic map of their surroundings.
"Having a good time," Desmond responded casually, patting his chest and arms as he looked down and ignoring the stare that the woman gave him for his reply. "You alright?" he asked Danny, looking at the bounty hunter, and seemingly oblivious to the new gash on his neck, which was only then starting to bleed.
Danny was breathing heavily beneath his mask, each breath distorting the face of it a little, blowing out and receding. Looking at Desmond's gash, he patted his own neck in empathetic pain and said, "You, er, appear to be bleeding," he tapped his index and middle fingers against where Desmond was hit. Danny, meanwhile had a bullet graze his right shin, the suit material spalled apart to show bare skin and a red gash.
He looked down at his new found wound, and his reaction to it seemed distant. The suit didn't seem to agree with it either, material slowly weaving itself back together in front of him and hiding the wound. He could feel something applying pressure to it under the second skin. "Huh, didn't know it did that," he said, as though he'd never bothered to check.
"Hm," the other bounty hunter said, looking at the small red spotches on his gloved hand after he patted the spot around his neck. He always found it interesting that he never really felt it until he noticed it. The pain was manageable, and the wound didn't feel that bad. "What's the plan?" He asked Jaina, occasionally glancing towards the factory building whenever the IFV's machinegun barked.
"Everyone that matters is hiding inside that building now" the mercenaries' leader said, pointing at one side of the building on the map. "That gun run your gunship did opened up a big bloody hole in the place, all the way to the first floor, so that's our best bet of assaulting the place."
Danny meanwhile seemed to be fidgeting with his equipment and taking inventory of it, checking that he had a couple of Ripshot magazines with him, and swapping mags on his pistol - having forgotten to do a tactical reload earlier when the situation changed. He only had one flash grenade left with him.
Desmond briefly looked over the parked Outrider towards the building, not seeing the hole in the building that Jaina talked about, although he could see that the middle smokestack was destroyed, cut almost in half with its top part having collapsed onto the building. The breach on the wall was probably on the other side. To Danny, it seemed as though having two options was better than jumping into the meat grinder that the others had. Maybe he could climb up there.
"Hmm..." he considered as he looked at the collapsed smokestacks with Desmond and wondered, stroking his chin and brows visibly raising beneath the mask.
"Anyway," the woman continued when he was looking back at the map. "That's where we're gonna do our assault. I'll split my group in two and we'll move in a bounding overwatch; that means one group moves while the other covers."
"Desmond," he pointed at the smokestacks and let his finger follow where the collapsed one had travelled.
"What?" The bounty hunter asked, looking at the smokestacks, much to Jaina's frustration at getting interrupted again.
"I wonder if our enemies taken the time to secure any damage that collapsing smokestack has caused?" he said, somewhere between guessing and remembering the sound its collapse made. "Could be another way in to flank."
"The place is locked up tighter than a nun's arse. As soon as they find out you're there they'll just send some people to deal with you," Jaina said. "We need to do a single big push that will break the backs of those sods, then we clear the place out, and that breach is our best bet since we can use the vehicles to give extra firepower."
Desmond kept quiet, shielding his face with one gloved hand as he lit up another cigarette. The bounty hunter let out a big puff of smoke as he returned to look at the display.
Danny considered Jaina's counterpoint, and nodded upwards once he realised that this was one of those situations where being direct was the best option. He held his tongue and waited for further instruction, Ripshot in hand.
Seeing no further replies or questions, Jaina closed the holographic display and collected the small device that had been projecting it. "Get ready to go in ten, there is extra ammo inside the AFV if anyone needs it," she said, putting her helmet on and turning back around.
Nodding at the mercenary, Desmond turned back, trying to figure out how he would make it back to the AFV without getting shot at again.
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Industrial Complex - Outside Main Factory Building - Some time later
"Commence breach in two minutes," came the partially distorted voice on the comms as the mercenaries and bounty hunters huddled behind the vehicles and whatever cover they could find. Behind them were several wrecked combat robots, while further down small columns of smoke rose from where the fight had been the fiercest. To their front was the main industrial building, the last place that still put up some organized resistance in the complex.
While most of the buildings inside the abandoned industrial complex were in an advanced state of disrepair until the gang took it over to themselves, such as that one, it then looked much worse after the damage it took from the fight. Although ti wasn't even the epicenter of it, there were several bullet marks along its walls, and the side which the group was facing had its walls collapsed on the middle all the way from the third floor to its bottom, where pieces of the smokestack that had caused the damaged formed some kind of primitive cover. Despite the huge size of the breach, it still looked small in comparison to the building; each of the two floors after the ground level was easily ten feet tall, while the first one, where all the machines were supposed to be if it were producing whatever it did in the past, was almost the double of that.
It was still possible to see movement inside the massive building every now and then, as its occupants changed position and got ready for the attack that would undoubtedly come, or fired at the armored vehicles in defiance, only to be responded with a burst of fire from either of the vehicles' heavy weapons. If the mercenaries and bounty hunters left then they would leave empty handed. The tension increased as the time passed, becoming thick as a fog while both sides waited for the moment where the stalemate would be broken, for better or worse.
Desmond huddled on the side of the AFV, crouching down on one knee among several empty brass casings as he waited for the signal to move out. Once the two minute mark was reached, he picked his helmet from the ground and put it on before proceeding to do stand up, checking his weapon as he did so. The bounty hunter pulled the operating rod from the weapon, looking inside to check if there was indeed a round ready to go; much to his surprise, the M3 was still working soundly, despite all the using, dirt and soot that both weapon and user had accumulated during the first stage of the fight.
"One minute," came the same voice on the comms. The sound of weapons being readied echoed along the group as they took their positions behind the vehicles, the first group being further on back to give the covering fire and the other more in front to advance towards the cover of the fallen smokestack.
Linking up with the mercs proved to be no big challenge. All they had to do was follow the noise of gunfire as they moved closer to the main factory building, passing by gradually increasing piles of scrapped robots and the occasional dead ganger. It was somehow surprising that they hadn't come across any dead mercs, but it was safe to wager that Jaina's band were collecting their dead as they moved.
Desmond, with his helmet back on and rifle raised, moved from one side, rifle panning left, right and sometimes up as they approached the last location of the distinct noise of an MMG. By then, they were a couple dozen feet from the perimeter of the big building.
The bounty hunter pressed his back against a bullet riddled container once they reached another corner, and carefully poked his head around it. "We're good," he said to Danny, then moved out of cover and lowered his gun, although he still kept one hand on the grip as the rifle hung from its straps in front of him.
Upon turning around the corner, Danny would see the same IFV that had been inside the warehouse, and one of the Outriders right beside it, although it unfortunately had been the one without the electrical turret. The armored vehicles looked like they had seen better days, for they were even worse than when they left the warehouse earlier in the day. The tracked vehicle was pitted and scarred with bullet holes, and there were two small craters on the upper frontal plate caused by somethin that had taken off a large chunk of its armor when it impacted it. The vehicle's engine sounded like something dying horribly, and there was a periodical click to its tune that pointed at one of its components not working as it should.
The Outrider next to it was just as damaged. The windows and windshield were pockmarked and cracked from the bullets they had taken, and with its doors open, both bounty hunters could see the the insides of it. The floor of the vehicle was replaced with a layer of empty brass casing, while the dashboard on the passenger's side was smeared with blood. The group of mercenaries that was grouping behind the vehicle looked just as battered.
The less experienced of the two bounty hunters could be heard swallowing a lump in their throat in worry. They were glad they weren't in the head on force. The imagery he was seeing showed that face first into combat was also face first into flying lead, and sometimes you didn't even get to leave the vehicle - those bloodstains, bullet holes and the cooled brass he was kicking aside spoke for themselves.
The strangest thing to him was the lack of bodies - perhaps there were one or two unfortunate souls lying in the Outriders, bleeding out or dry and dead already if the bullet didn't dispatch them immediately. His gut churned in worry, but he was glad he was light on the meals prior to this excursion. He didn't want to have to see what he'd eaten - much less have the mask block his mouth.
Upon spotting the duo, some of the mercs turned around, starting to raise their weapons in alarm, but then lowered them and turned back around to watch the building. From his position, Desmond could see that the group had encountered some kind of stalemate, since there wasn't really a fight going on, but a slow attrition. Every now and then, fire would come from inside the building, and the gunner perched on the IFV's turret would return it. This would keep going on, however, until the mercenaries consolidated again for one final push.
One ofthe mercenaries broke off from the group in a half run towards the duo. The Nepleslian was wearing a black Everyday vest, and the Durandium armored plate in the front was scratched and dented in some places. "You guys took your time, eh?" He said in a very accented voice, stopping to wipe the scratches and cuts from his face with the thorn sleeves of his jacket. "The boss wants you there, eh? Best not to keep her waiting, yes?" the mercenary said, pointing towards a point further down, where the duo could see the second Outrider parked sideways in at the complex, with a smaller group taking cover besides it.
Desmond nodded at the merc, then motioned Danny to follow him as he, too, broke into a run towards the separated vehicle.
Danny held his tongue for the moment, and nodded with Desmond, following his lead towards the vehicle, putting his gun over his back to focus on running with Desmond. A rendezvous to push in and break the stalemate needed as much manpower as possible and a big enough shock to enemy forces.
There was a moment of silence as the only noise around them were their footsteps, then the concrete around them erupted in small fountains as someone inside the building started to take shots at the two bounty hunters. Desmond heard the bullets impact on the concrete like a whipcrack, as well as heard something hot and angry whistle inches from his head, prompting to start running faster.
Whoever was shooting at them, though, had only a small window to do so, since as soon as they started shooting, the armored vehicle started to suppress the window from where the shots came from, adding more bullet holes to the walls of the big building.
Danny's pace quickened as he heard the bullets whiz past, maybe he saw the tracers go by too. His stride jumped for a moment as his pace quickened to surpass Desmond's, being less heavily armoured and equipped than the bounty hunter. Desmond could hear Danny cursing in Lorath.
"What the hell do you wankers think you're doing?!" Came a sharp female voice from the fireteam-sized group taking cover besides the Outrider once the duo was safe in cover. Looking from the building towards the voice, Desmond instantly recognized the leader of the mercenary band, Jaina.
The group, which seemed to be what passed for the mercenaries' command element, was huddled besides the outrider. Several ammo cans were piled on top of eachother, serving as a table for a PHC, which projected a holographic map of their surroundings.
"Having a good time," Desmond responded casually, patting his chest and arms as he looked down and ignoring the stare that the woman gave him for his reply. "You alright?" he asked Danny, looking at the bounty hunter, and seemingly oblivious to the new gash on his neck, which was only then starting to bleed.
Danny was breathing heavily beneath his mask, each breath distorting the face of it a little, blowing out and receding. Looking at Desmond's gash, he patted his own neck in empathetic pain and said, "You, er, appear to be bleeding," he tapped his index and middle fingers against where Desmond was hit. Danny, meanwhile had a bullet graze his right shin, the suit material spalled apart to show bare skin and a red gash.
He looked down at his new found wound, and his reaction to it seemed distant. The suit didn't seem to agree with it either, material slowly weaving itself back together in front of him and hiding the wound. He could feel something applying pressure to it under the second skin. "Huh, didn't know it did that," he said, as though he'd never bothered to check.
"Hm," the other bounty hunter said, looking at the small red spotches on his gloved hand after he patted the spot around his neck. He always found it interesting that he never really felt it until he noticed it. The pain was manageable, and the wound didn't feel that bad. "What's the plan?" He asked Jaina, occasionally glancing towards the factory building whenever the IFV's machinegun barked.
"Everyone that matters is hiding inside that building now" the mercenaries' leader said, pointing at one side of the building on the map. "That gun run your gunship did opened up a big bloody hole in the place, all the way to the first floor, so that's our best bet of assaulting the place."
Danny meanwhile seemed to be fidgeting with his equipment and taking inventory of it, checking that he had a couple of Ripshot magazines with him, and swapping mags on his pistol - having forgotten to do a tactical reload earlier when the situation changed. He only had one flash grenade left with him.
Desmond briefly looked over the parked Outrider towards the building, not seeing the hole in the building that Jaina talked about, although he could see that the middle smokestack was destroyed, cut almost in half with its top part having collapsed onto the building. The breach on the wall was probably on the other side. To Danny, it seemed as though having two options was better than jumping into the meat grinder that the others had. Maybe he could climb up there.
"Hmm..." he considered as he looked at the collapsed smokestacks with Desmond and wondered, stroking his chin and brows visibly raising beneath the mask.
"Anyway," the woman continued when he was looking back at the map. "That's where we're gonna do our assault. I'll split my group in two and we'll move in a bounding overwatch; that means one group moves while the other covers."
"Desmond," he pointed at the smokestacks and let his finger follow where the collapsed one had travelled.
"What?" The bounty hunter asked, looking at the smokestacks, much to Jaina's frustration at getting interrupted again.
"I wonder if our enemies taken the time to secure any damage that collapsing smokestack has caused?" he said, somewhere between guessing and remembering the sound its collapse made. "Could be another way in to flank."
"The place is locked up tighter than a nun's arse. As soon as they find out you're there they'll just send some people to deal with you," Jaina said. "We need to do a single big push that will break the backs of those sods, then we clear the place out, and that breach is our best bet since we can use the vehicles to give extra firepower."
Desmond kept quiet, shielding his face with one gloved hand as he lit up another cigarette. The bounty hunter let out a big puff of smoke as he returned to look at the display.
Danny considered Jaina's counterpoint, and nodded upwards once he realised that this was one of those situations where being direct was the best option. He held his tongue and waited for further instruction, Ripshot in hand.
Seeing no further replies or questions, Jaina closed the holographic display and collected the small device that had been projecting it. "Get ready to go in ten, there is extra ammo inside the AFV if anyone needs it," she said, putting her helmet on and turning back around.
Nodding at the mercenary, Desmond turned back, trying to figure out how he would make it back to the AFV without getting shot at again.
-----------------------------------
Industrial Complex - Outside Main Factory Building - Some time later
"Commence breach in two minutes," came the partially distorted voice on the comms as the mercenaries and bounty hunters huddled behind the vehicles and whatever cover they could find. Behind them were several wrecked combat robots, while further down small columns of smoke rose from where the fight had been the fiercest. To their front was the main industrial building, the last place that still put up some organized resistance in the complex.
While most of the buildings inside the abandoned industrial complex were in an advanced state of disrepair until the gang took it over to themselves, such as that one, it then looked much worse after the damage it took from the fight. Although ti wasn't even the epicenter of it, there were several bullet marks along its walls, and the side which the group was facing had its walls collapsed on the middle all the way from the third floor to its bottom, where pieces of the smokestack that had caused the damaged formed some kind of primitive cover. Despite the huge size of the breach, it still looked small in comparison to the building; each of the two floors after the ground level was easily ten feet tall, while the first one, where all the machines were supposed to be if it were producing whatever it did in the past, was almost the double of that.
It was still possible to see movement inside the massive building every now and then, as its occupants changed position and got ready for the attack that would undoubtedly come, or fired at the armored vehicles in defiance, only to be responded with a burst of fire from either of the vehicles' heavy weapons. If the mercenaries and bounty hunters left then they would leave empty handed. The tension increased as the time passed, becoming thick as a fog while both sides waited for the moment where the stalemate would be broken, for better or worse.
Desmond huddled on the side of the AFV, crouching down on one knee among several empty brass casings as he waited for the signal to move out. Once the two minute mark was reached, he picked his helmet from the ground and put it on before proceeding to do stand up, checking his weapon as he did so. The bounty hunter pulled the operating rod from the weapon, looking inside to check if there was indeed a round ready to go; much to his surprise, the M3 was still working soundly, despite all the using, dirt and soot that both weapon and user had accumulated during the first stage of the fight.
"One minute," came the same voice on the comms. The sound of weapons being readied echoed along the group as they took their positions behind the vehicles, the first group being further on back to give the covering fire and the other more in front to advance towards the cover of the fallen smokestack.