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RP: Bounty Hunts [Bounty 2] Castle Crashing

"Right," Desmond responded to Jaina, staring at the two other mercenaries that she had volunteered. He jumped off the crate he was standing on, taking a time to think about what he would say next; Calling the shots wasn't something he exactly found to be within his comfort zone. "Alright, you, you and you too," He said, pointing to Tannozako, Danny and the two mercenaries, one hand resting on his hip, "You're coming with me, so you won't be riding in the APC," he continued, looking at the armored vehicle in the back end of the warehouse. He was going in with one person short, but that wouldn't make much of a difference in the end after all, they would be disrupting things instead of doing damage and if they were spotted before and the plan failed they were simply done.

His gaze turned back to the assembled group after a second, "The rest of you though, will. Which will be thirty minutes for now, so make any last checks or stock-ups you need, 'cause we're already heading out," the bounty hunter said, fishing for something in one of his pouches as he motioned for the other two hunters, Danny and Tannozako, and the two mercenaries to follow him. He eventually found what he was looking for, plucking the cigarette between his lips, and after another moment of pause he also produced the lighter to ignite it as he walked out of the warehouse through the opposite side from where everyone else had come from.
 
Danny flexed his fingers under the skin suit he was wearing and heard the knuckles crack a little. Was it tension in his hands of the task that was ahead of him or the suit wrapping around his knuckles, small panels clicking and interleaving as they hugged them tight? He looked at the box of Styrling Ripshots and realised that if all else failed, he'd need something that packed more punch than a pistol. He grabbed one, and three magazines of ammunition. He put the SMG on his back, anticipating that if all went according to plan, he wouldn't have to fire a single shot from it.

Desmond would notice that as Danny was handling and inspecting the weapon, he kept looking in the box of them and looking sideways at the barrel, feeling it with his finger and sighing. There was no thread or clip to accept a suppressor, or a suppressor in the box - but beggars couldn't be choosers and Danny seemed to suck it up and get on with it. Subtlety was not a Nepleslian trait after all, but sucking it up certainly was.

He took a moment to inspect the rest of his gear. The 10mm pistol was in working order, clean as a whistle inside and the suppressor was fresh enough. Then, when there was enough room to move freely, Danny put his hand to the grip of the hiltless sword and drew it in a smooth motion. Running along the cutting edge was a neon blue for assisted cutting power against heavy armour and flesh alike. Where the blade waved, a trail of blue persisted for a moment before fading. It was nowhere near as sharp (or heavy) as Zesuaium, which left similar trails by itself just by displacing the oxygen molecules in the air.

Satisfied by the smoothness of the draw, Danny slid the blade back and started heading towards Desmond, armed and ready to go without a further word or expression, other than a nod of acknowledgement to his handler's order.
 
Tannozako nodded, checking the magazines which she currently carried, though she was quite certain they were accounted for. She carried four magazines for her CompacTen's, including the ones in the pistols already, plus ten magazines for the Ripshot, including the one in the weapon, and to top it all off, she kept a box of thirty extra 9mm rounds for the little SMG, just in case. She did note that while she did not feel encumbered by the weight, they did fill out all her pockets quite a bit, so she would have to adjust her gait in ordeer to keep the pockets from swinging around.

"I am ready to go," She told Desmond. "Lead the way, and I shall follow." Tannozako's face remained pleasantly blank throughout all of these proceedings, which, for one who spoke so plainly in such a businesslike tone, was rather odd. She also decided to look over this Danny character, as he was quite intriguing. She could tell by his physique, which was not much hidden, that he was quite flexible, and that he could probably keep up with her in an unarmed fight.
 
Raven hefted his rifle and nodded to Desmond and his new spotter before pointing towards his destination. "We should probably get moving so that we're in place before the rest of these clowns get their thumbs out of their third point of contact" he said while double checking his gear one more time and making sure everything was set up in the way that he needed it to be. He slapped a magazine of I-APE rounds into his rifle and charged it. He had the B module installed onto the rifle and had the A module on hand for if he had to switch from utilizing it as a sniper weapon to using it as a battle rifle. "We should probably hit the smokestack about 10-20 mikes ahead of the rest of you so that we can get set up in a hide and prepare to deliver fire on the guard posts when the APC begins its run." He remarked as he looked over their motley crew.
 
"All right, we will have some fun. Okay, you apes get in the APC!" Jaina shouted at her mercenaries then walked closer to the Desmond. Her thumb pointed over her shoulders at two mercs that were about go with the bounty hunter.

One was a big man, not exactly tall, but his shoulder were obviously broad. How much muscles he had though, no one could knew thants to armoured west and arm-guards he wore. On his chest were several grenades, ammo and a pistol. On his thigs were holstered two short Fat-boys and he had twin-swords behind his shoulder, easy within his reach. In his hands was a carbine. But what caught most eyes was the mask. He had black mask without any picture or colouring, only eye-slits which were darkened a bit so you could not see his eyes. The mask made him look emotionless and kind of scary.

Seconds was a woman in wearing a black bandana, that kept most of chestnut-coloured hair back. Her face was coloured in camouflage colouring, made for urban area. Like her face even her uniform was bearing urban camo. She wore a chespiece from Muur armour set, except it was remade to fit better and lacked the shoulders. Only other parts of her body there were protected were her elbows and shins. She seemed like a person perfering speed and tactics over brute force. On her chest was a large tanto-style combat knife and she had silenced pistol in thigh-holster. In her arms was an SMG with silencer. And on a sling a sawed-off pump-action shotgun hanged.

"Careful," Jaina said to desmond as she pointed at two mercs, who were making their way to Tannozako and Danny. "I think they are ex-IPG or something. They are good soldier and follow orders, just a bit happy about killing, if you catch my drift? If you want someone alive, you got to tell them, they are used to taking any bugger for a prisoner. Got it?"

Two mercs meanwhile reached the android and young man who were readying themselves. "I am Anna, he is Thanos." The woman told to the duo. "Looking forward to working with you." She added, the man in his mask just nodded at Danny and then Tanno.
 
==== Warehouse – Inside ====

"Yeah, man, we were told to drop whoever was going to that smokestack before the main thing." Came a reply from Helric, who was poking his head out through the gunner's hatch. By that point the other mercenaries were also left to their own devices, waiting and preparing during the preliminary time to give the other group the chance to get in position and spring their maneuver before the main assault began, and Jacob was also gone, moving towards the shuttle and getting ready in case he was called.

Meanwhile, the ammo crates were also slowly diminishing as Jaina's band helped themselves quite generously to whatever was in there, and soon the small pile of ammo and weapons crates were slowly being replaced with a small pile of empty boxes. Desmond exchanged a brief handshake with one of the mercenaries, the female, and then walked off with them in tow.

====Warehouse– Outside ====

Already outside, the group -or at least the ones that were organic- could already feel the effect of the delsaurian sun, which was at its apex and seemingly flaring brighter than ever. "This is what we're using." Desmond said, already breaking into a sweat under the heavy clothing as he pointed to a smaller and faster vehicle than the APC that they had seen inside. Although the car was supposed to be faster, it was still considerably armored since it was, after all, a Nepleslian vehicle, and just like the APC. Just like the other armored vehicle, it was also courtesy of their 'friend' Bob Burdo and the NPF.

As they got closer to the vehicle, anyone in the group could notice that the vehicle didn't have any weapons on it like the other, and was considerably more worn out in the appearance, with a lot of scratches on the surface and rust already eating out the edges of the armored plates. Although Desmond requested that it had a weapon just to be on the safe side, he was denied since he could only ask so much for favors without giving any money up front. Despite that, the armored car would serve its purpose, which wasn't to lend fire support but to simply get the bounty hunters there faster and safely.

Desmond was the first to hop in, taking the driver's seat with an 'oomph', while the two mercenaries took up space back. The bounty hunter waited for all the occupants to enter before he started the vehicle then flicked the cigarette butt out through the open window and drove off, making the Outrider leave a small trail of dust behind it as it started to speed up.
 
Tannozako Nodded at the introduction by the two new Mercenaries, responding in kind. "I am Tannozako, Likewise" she responded, eying the two up and down for a brief moment before the group started to head outside.

following swiftly and quietly behind, Tannozako entered the battered armored car, rather daintily, none of the weapons and ammo seeming to bother her gentle grace much. She held the door open for Danny6, and then focused out the front window as the vehicle began to move. Unlike many mercenaries or bounty hunters often did at the beginning of a Job, she showed no signs of stress, nor excitement, just a simple honest focus on the task ahead.
 
Danny gave Tannozako a nod as she left the door open for him. He bowed his head under the doorframe and sat down inside the van, grabbing his sword and placing it between his legs, keeping it pinned there between his knees. "Oh, just call me Danny," he replied stiffly to the two other mercenaries that'd piled in. His guess at their first impressions were that they were the damage control, or perhaps the distraction in addition to whoever was hitting the front of the base.

He drummed his fingers along the grip of his sword and his toes against the floor of the van in tandem. Tannazoko could see that there was some sort of nervousness about him as the van proceeded to its objective. It was anticipation, but what sort? Nervous? Giddy? Curious? He rarely looked ahead to see where the van was going. He looked at the urban camouflage he'd patterned onto his skin suit's hand, then grabbed the back of his neck and appeared to pull a sort of hood over his head and down to his throat before it tightened and encompassed his whole head in the camouflage pattern.

Perhaps the strangest thing of it was that there were no lenses or holes in the eyes - it just seemed to be bare material rendering him blind, but he was still able to see through it. The facelessness of the design could've been for shock value. He yawned and rolled his shoulders, and his mask stretched with him as he yawned. Tannazoko could see him smiling for a moment before his face returned to its natural, neutral visage.
 
Raven shrugged and clambered into the APC, he set himself up at the back of the vehicle so when they got to the smokestack he could unass as rapidly as possible. "Ready" was all he said as he started his prebattle checks of his weaponry and gear.
 
Outrider

The vehicle slowly traversed the streets of the urban areas around the maharombi spaceport, slowly picking up speed as the vicinity became less and less urbanized. Despite the speed, the vehicle was still a fuming oven, much like the warehouse, and since the temperature of the planet was so high it would do little help to actually open the windows, leaving only the overtaxed air conditioning trying to keep the insides cool, but it was as comical as someone trying to stem the tide by bucketing the water away, and just as hopeless too.

With a sharp turn that sent whichever occupants who didn't have a firm hold on anything wobbling around their seats, the vehicle suddenly went into an area that was -in contrast- way less populated with civilian buildings, but instead by all sorts of industrial ones, from factories to warehouses. As the Outrider moved further, the buildings progressively showed more and more signs of decay, until it thankfully came to a halt after a few minutes of shitty driving.

Desmond couldn't help but smirk from where he was sitting, seeing at least the two mercs stumble on each other after each sharp turn, before taking another deep inhale from the new cigarette that he had plucked in the corner or his mouth. Despite that, he had his reservations about the group, since he hadn't actually worked with either of them before. Furthermore, the longer he was driving in the car the weirder things got for him, one of the occupants seemed to be wearing a suit that had come out from a very kinky porno, while the other didn't seem to sweat in spite of the vehicle being a sauna.
"This is it," He said in a firm tone as his gaze set, looking to the occupants of the vehicle through the rear-view mirror.

Weird things indeed.

The bounty hunter kicked the door of the vehicle open, jumping out with his M3 Rifle in one hand and the helmet of his Muur armor in the other. He quickly donned the helmet, plucking the cigarette out with his then free hand and flicking it away. He slowly worked the clasps of the helmet with his one free hand, grunting between breaths as he tried to work his gloved fingers through the clasps and finally turning back to the group once he was done.

They were standing next to a drainage ditch, which had clearly dried out several generations before. The ditch was about four meters wide, shaped in a U pattern and about as deep as that in its deepest point. The fact that it was dry didn't hide the stench of decomposing matter from it, while several bits of machinery dotted the bottom of it, some tall enough to actually offer good cover. Added to that, the cracked and sloped concrete surface was also periodically cut by several drainage pines on either sides, some small, but others tall enough for someone to crouch into, or even stand.

"This is where we're going," Desmond started to say, putting a fresh magazine with green tape into the rifle's well, "About a couple hundred yards from here there's a pipe that leads straight into the industrial complex. The metal bars are already cut and the way in is already scouted, so we get there and sit in tight until the other team hits the gates," he added, slapping the bottom of the magazine in to secure it and then pulling the rifle's operating handle backwards, feeding a fresh round into the chamber.

"Any last minute questions?" He asked, staring back at the other bounty hunters and mercenaries.

AFV

The trip in the armored vehicle was much less eventful than in the Outrider. The second group had to wait a while to give the other one a head start so that they could get in position early, and by the time everyone had climbed into the APC it had been several minutes since the departure of the five bounty hunters. The interior of the vehicle was dimly lit by a single emergency red light, since the other had malfunctioned and decided not to work. Courtesy of the NPF.

Despite that, there was little for any of the occupants to see other than the red-bathed faces of each other as the vehicle rumbled and shook while it made its way through the streets. The only clue that it had stopped was when the tune of the engine changed and the AFV stopped shaking, which was when Helric turned around from his seat to stare at Raven and Svante. "That's your stop!" The bounty hunter yelled through the noise of the engine, pointing with his thumb backwards at the vehicle's exit ramp, which lowed with a dry thud onto the asphalt.

Once outside, the duo would find themselves next to a walled factory building, which showed to have a tall smokestack protruding from it. While unknown to Svante, that was the same smokestack that had been used by Raven in his little scouting trip a few days before. It wouldn't be hard for him to find his way back to the top again.

The back ramp of the vehicle slowly closed with a loud click as it locked into place, and the APC's engines revved once more as the vehicle picked up speed and moved away from the duo.
 
Svante stared at the cherry of his cigarette in the dark of the AFV's troop compartment. It was roughly ten degrees above the melting point of everything and somehow he didn't cringe at the idea of lighting something on fire. Then again he couldn't help it. They were about to head out into combat and he specifically was part of the group's sniper support. Maybe Nepleslian media had fallen in love with the "glint of a scope" trope but a good soldier knew there were many more things that could get you exposed and killed if you were not careful. Best a man of the vices get his fix in before it was too late. After all, everybody was going to die eventually. Svante just wanted to be one of those lucky fools who got to choose how and maybe when. So he puffed on the cigarette while he had time - until the AFV's tracks made a sound like something dying painfully, he felt his whole weight shift for a few moments before settling again, and the bounty hunter committing road rage he attempted to pass off as driving told him he had to get out.

One last draw for good luck and Svante cast the smoldering remains of the cigarette out onto the asphalt through the now open ramp-way. Stepping out, he crushed it under his heel while taking in his surroundings. Open street, high buildings. Not a fun place to be standing around when a rumbling old armored vehicle just announced your presence to - well - everybody. Svante double-checked that there was a round in the chamber of his assault rifle and then waved for Raven to follow him. He'd been given a good enough brief of how to reach the hide-site on the way there and since he was technically the spotter of the pair (as the scope neatly tucked on his belt would prove), he also had to act as security to make sure they weren't getting stuck in any sooner than they needed to.

Not that it wasn't fun to watch an entire city block descend into some sort of bloody chaos.

With his rifle in a low ready, Svante kept his eyes up on their surroundings, and led the way for the entrance into the building he'd been told would get them access to the stack from where they'd be firing.
 
Outrider

Two mercs rode silently, holding on the the carriage of the vehicle as they were tossed about. They sat in the back, their weapons in their laps, and both were looking around, covering the area. As the Outrider came to stop, they both hopped out, weapons aimed up and around, looking for any danger. Professionalism poured out of them and it was easy to see they both were used to working together.

"Just want to know if you want us to handle rear?" The woman said back to Desmond. "And what kind of opposition should we expect."

APC

The mercs have went inside the APC, stacking by what appear to be fire-teams. Jaina herself moved into the front and one of mercs moved into the turret automatically. Last in the APC were duo of mercs with machineguns and teams marksman. They moved in before Svante and Raven as they would be first to get out of the vehicle. As they stopped the mercs gave Raven and Svante a nod.

"Give them hell sniper-boys," said the machinegunner in the back with a grin. A big black man with shiny white teeth.
 
Danny was the last to step out of the vehicle with his sheathed sword back on his belt and his pistol in his hands. He examined those around him: Tannozoko, Stroud and the two mercenaries; Thanos and Anna. "I'm comfortable with moving ahead and providing forward observation," Danny stated to the assembled mercenaries. His voice was still clear and unmuffled, the featureless face still quite expressive with the man beneath it.

He tapped the radio that was in a compartment on his webbing's butt-pack with his spare hand before examining the ditch. "Radio test, one, two, three..." Danny rattled off and took a low stance, fiddling with his earpiece and then nodding that the radio was satisfactory. He then examined the grime and dirt at the bottom of the ditch. After some consideration, he racked the slide to chamber the first round in the magazine and seemed to be ready to move ahead on Desmond's order. "Coming in clear?" he asked over radio to the others to complete the check.
 
Raven shrugged, hefting his rifle and his gear before giving the machinegunner a thumbs up and trotting along after Svante. He was watching the area as well and made for the smokestack that was going to be their hiding spot, he started digging out his ghillie suit for camouflaging him into the material of the stack.
 
Outside Drainage Ditch

"A lot if we don't pull it off," Desmond said, turning back around to the mercenary. He hunched down in the edge of the ditch, staring at the mess of industrial, mechanical, and who-knew-what residue below. The place was bad enough at night when it was cold, and he didn't even want to begin thinking about how worse it would be when it was daytime, making him scowl involuntarily, then scratch his chin once the sweat and the strap from the helmet started to irritate the skin underneath.

"I read you. Go ahead, we'll be right behind," the bounty hunter said, turning towards Danny and getting up, gesturing towards the ditch. "The pipe you're looking for is right besides the industrial complex, and the metal bars were already removed. You can't miss it," he said, emphasizing the last part as he pointed towards the general direction of where the other hunter was supposed to head to,, which was some good four hundred meters from where they were, way further back from where he had entered the ditch in his little scouting trip. "There might be a sentry outside near the edge too, since there was one last time, so try to disable it or sneak past if you can," he added hastily as he turned around.

"Jaina, start things on your end in five, we're moving to position," Desmond said through his helmet's communicator once he had given all the instructions, and hefted his M3 Rifle one last time as he waited for the other bounty hunter to start moving.


Outside Smokestack

The duo made it up the smokestack with no complications after going through the same way Raven had done during the scouting assignment. Since it was daytime, the were able to see the industrial complex much clearer from where they were, albeit it was somewhat distorted from the heat haze, much like what the other group was faring. The complex seemed to be going on about its usual business, and at first glance it wasn't possible for them to determine any of the usual patterns that would give away that the place was on alert; No one was running, or looking alert, or moving frantically about the place.

It was also possible for them to see the AFV, which was parked just around there corner beside an abandoned office building, but didn't seem to be moving, although the engine was clearly on since it was possible to see the exhaust coming out of the vehicle.
 
Outside Drainage Ditch
"Understood, moving ahead." Danny nodded to Desmond before turning around and stepping down the right side and stepping closer to the accumulated grime with his pistol raised and finger off the trigger. The mercenaries could see him with his head up and on the alert. The way he moved seemed to be watching, waiting and moving between hard cover and softer concealment, on the lookout for possible sentries.

His stride seemed to be as though he were wearing heels though his shoes (or what could be seen of 'shoes') were mostly flat-soled. The larger pieces of hard rubbish like car hulls, corroded factory machinery or musky-smelling refrigerators and the occasional hill of refuse provided him with hiding places in addition to the drainage divots cut into the ditch on either side. Occasionally, Desmond would see him get down and crawl without a trouble in the world if the situation demanded it. Maybe that silly looking mask doubled as a gas mask too.

He wasn't far from the industrial complex's drainage hole after a couple of minutes. Danny found himself in the middle of the ditch and looking at it from about fifty metres away. "I see it," he said looking ahead to move over to the side closer to the industrial complex, perhaps hide in another drainage divot and move in if the coast was clear.
 
Outside Smokestack

"Roger, tally ho in five!" Jaina responded to Desmond and turned to her soldiers. "Hokay you apes, we are bringin out the fireworks in five minutes. We do this the good old way. Fireteams move together, fire of effect. MGs cover everyone and blast new arseholes to those wankers. Enemy is just bunch of gang bangers, but big facility means a lot of them. As usual we can excpect ex-soldiers among them so do not take it lightly. Derrick you know what to do."

"Yeah I do, kill all the asseholes." The sniper in her team responded.

"That is right, kill all the arseholes." Jaine responded with grin, then turned to Helric. "Hokay, ready. I hope this thing can get through that bloody gate Mister."

__
__

Outside Drainage Ditch

Two mercs were closing up the rear as they said so. Thanos being in front of Anna, who covered the rear and made sure, no one would drop on the infiltration team. "I can drop the bastard sentry if he is there," Thanos spoke for first time as he screwed a silencer on his carbine. His voice was coarse and hard, with very little emotion behind it. For someone like him, killing a man was a thing they do every day without a single thought.
 
Outside Drainage Ditch

Waiting a bit so he could give Danny some distance, Desmond looked around just like the mercenaries, panning his gun left and right as he searched for something that could potentially ruin the whole plan. He caught himself quickly and quietly musing at how fragile the whole thing was, at least at that point, since it would jut take something like a shout of alarm to make it all go up in pieces, but he quickly brushed the thought aside, quickly blinking as the sweat started to run down his face and sting his eyes. He was unusually apprehensive.

The bounty hunter quickly turned his head around to regard the male mercenary, weighing the possibility of risking detection by eliminating the sentry or by having their lead infiltrator detected. He quickly gave a thumbs up with his left hand once he made up his mind and turned his gaze back down to the ditch, they would just have to hurry up. His eyes kept following the other man down there, sometimes the task itself was hard from the heat haze and the fact that the suit concealed him from head to toe; if he wasn't moving Desmond was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to notice him from all the trash down there.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Desmond dropped over from the lip of the ditch and slid his way down to the whole new world of filth and stink below.

Drainage Ditch

As expected, Danny could see the sentry standing over the ditch next to the drainage pipe that led into the complex, not being able to see much of the complex itself other than the top floor of the main building poking out from behind the walls. What he could see, however, was that the figure seemed to be perpetually still, much like a statue, with a very short weapon pressed against its chest, it was also easy to notice that it wasn't human from how thin its limbs were and the V-shaped head. The metallic head slowly panned left and right as the combat bot scanned the ditch.

Whatever other things that Danny had to notice about the sentry, though, would be naught, as the bot suddenly snapped its head back, followed by a sharp cracking noise that came from behind the hunter. The sentry toppled down the ditch, coming to a sudden rest on top of a pile of scrap metal.

"you're clear," came the half-distorted reply from Desmond as he made his way towards Danny, moving with a noticeable lack of grace in comparison to the latter.
 
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Danny froze when Desmond took his shot and watched the robotic sentry topple over and make themselves at home amongst the rest of the scrap with a clatter. "Understood," he replied back before heading towards the grate. He looked over at the fallen bot, grabbed its gun and carried it with him for a few moments before removing the magazine, unchambering the bullet from the gun and tossing it into a pile of refuse. What he was going to do with the magazine was for now unknown to all parties.

He then walked towards the pipe that the sentry was standing over and hopped in, over the sliced bars and into its blackness. He stroked the side of his head and mumbled something in Lorath before proceeding after the sound of a familiar whirr, raising his pistol. He hadn't turned any flashlights on but his stride seemed confident in the darkness. Nightvision too; what other surprises were in that suit?

"We're proceeding into the tunnel," he radioed back to Desmond. He knew that going further into the tunnel could make the communications scramble due to geological or metal interference.
 
"Shall I follow him, or would rather I stayed nearer you?" Tannozako asked Desmond, approaching the Bounty Hunter after the sentry had been shot and then Danny had gone into the tunnel. She held her SMG at the ready, calmly taking in everything that was going on, but waiting patiently for orders from their leader.
 
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