-Last time I checked it was about two hundred meters from the coast. - Answered Ray edgily -But I can't find it. Wait a sec... I have a very faint signal. It has been moved. I hoped we won't have to enter that fraking lab. But it seems like they found it somehow. Okay, let's head to south-southeast. This says it's near the south building.
Lana didn't cared to answer just started running lightly towards the destination.
After five minutes Ray halted the girl.
[color=#33CC00]-It's moving. What the hell... I lost it! They must have taken it inside. We better hurry, before they manage to open.
The building was actually a very small one. It wasn't even precinct. Ray dropped on the ground and looked through his gun's scope.
-We have two guards at the door. And one on the roof. What the... that one has just dropped. -he looked questioningly on the girl, who laid near him, aiming with her sniper rifle. Two more silent shots. All the guards were dead.
-What are you waiting for?
Ray knew that the girl was professional, and although they worked a lot together, he still couldn't see her as a murderer without soul.
As they entered the building they found out that there is nothing there, just a room for the guards, where they could sleep, a little kitchen and a bathroom. It didn't seem like a lab or anything like that.
-There must be a secret door somewhere... Somewhere in that room, as the plans say.
Entering the room Ray kicked away the rug in the middle of the room. There was a trapdoor hidden there.
-Quite obvious. I thought it will be harder.
He opened the door, which led to a dazzlingly white corridor. At the end of it Ray dropped his teeth.
-Now this will be hard.
In front of them there was a crystal wall. And behind them at least ten level of pure science at a gigantic territory, with a huge hall. They could see at least a dozen of guards on every level.
-Okay, seems like my informant gave me a bit outdated plans. When we finished with this I'll talk with him...
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
"This place doesn't look like a simple energy production research facility at all!"Ray exclaimed.
"Well, my role as a guide ends here until I can hack a console in here," Lana said, "for now you'll take point, looks like they've done some renovations to this place."
Lana peered down a glass window near her and saw a bottomless pit of lights and technology. She instantly knew that to extrapolate the geographic and structural data of an underground facility of this size would even take a team of expert geo-engineers days.
She had no choice but to follow her partner blind and knew the dangers in doing so. Throughout the years of her criminal career, her ability to trust had been violated numerous time to a point where she began to doubt her own actions. To put the success of the mission, not to mention her own life, at the hands of an experienced crook with a questionable morality was unthinkable.
But Lana had no choice.
Lana accessed her holo-com's positioning routines and marked her current location, a possible exit. Then she found a corner to hide her sack of equipment and drew her rifle. With some light button presses, she changed the rifle's firing mode as well as the targeting module to mimic that of an assault rifle.
-I need one like that. Or a dozen. Anyway, I have the signal, let's go and try not to attract the attention of the guards.
Ray set his submachine gun into burst mode, and checking again the position of the crate he started running towards a big metallic door.
[color=#33CC00] -There must a control room, or something nearby. -he quickly checked the electrical lock of the door. -This uses an electrical card and fingerprint identification. Can you hack the card part?
The girl nodded at him, and started working on the device. Ray ran back up to the guards. First they thought it will be very fast, so they didn't even think about hiding the bodies. But the situation has changed. He pulled the two bodies to the bathroom, and readied his knife.
It took only a few moment, before he arrived back to the door.
-I'm done with the card, but I can't do anything with the finger... Do not tell me, that you...
-Exactly. -Ray put the small red thing to the input screen. A low beeping, and the small flare changed to green.
The room was exactly what they were searching for. As they opened the door, two man stared at them. Ray opened fire. The two bodies fell to the ground from the chairs. There were everywhere different monitors, most of them scientific related, but there were a small part of the room, where the monitors were showing the different parts of the facility. Fortunately the guards were not observing these, as on one showed exactly the door, where they came in.
-There is it- pointing at one of the upper monitor- They have already deactivated the cloaking device, but they couldn't open it. We have to hurry. Let's destroy all evidence, and make sure they won't be able to use these any more.
Ray started formating the memory of the computer, while Lana put down a few explosives.
-We have 30 minutes, so let's hurry.
They left the room on the other door, which led straight into the facility complex. Thanks to the signal, they were on a trail. Stepping into another corridor, they faced with four scientist. They started running towards a door, but Ray and Lana opened fire at them. One managed to reach the door, kicking it open. Ray followed him. The room was a laboratory with different equipment.
-I wouldn't fire here, if I were in your shoes. A loose shot and the whole place is blown up -shouted the scientist. Ray couldn't see him, he must be hiding under one of the desks.
-It doesn't really matter. Sooner or later this place will be blown to hell.
The man grabbed something from one of the desks and threw it towards the observation room's glass wall. The glass broke immediately, and he jumped into the room pushing a button. The alarms sounded, but it was too late for the poor guy. Ray let a burst into his back.
-We're running out of time, we have to get the crate! -shouted Ray to the girl.
They reached the room, where they saw at least a dozen of men and women working around the crate. Now it was empty. The alarm even helped Ray and Lana, to reach the crate. Opening it with the codes, Ray get the cardamine out, and put it in his backpack.
-We're done here, let's move out.
Lana nodded at him. They ran towards the exit.
Turning around a corner shooting welcomed them. They dropped on the ground. Lana moaned. Her upper clothes were pierced at several points. But no blood could be seen.
-I told you this armour is good, but it hurts as hell when you're shot.
-At least you're alive. -told her Ray, and dropped a flashbang around the corner. When it exploded he ran towards the guards, and killed each of them with a head shot. They didn't found any resistance more resistance on the way out. -Time?
-Five mins.
They were already far away from the building, when it exploded. This made sure they won't be followed by the guards of the facility. Jumping on the boat Ray turned on the engine, and they said a quick goodbye to the island and the dark smoke coming from there.
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
Isaac Sexton's usual nightly activities were uninterrupted when a pair of apparent thieves promptly stole the boat he had been staking out from his nose. "Bastards," he thought to himself. He'd had a ship ready to lift it. It would be worth a few thousand credits on the market offplanet. Then he had seen them go to work. High profile explosives. Remote detonation. Body armor. These were no normal criminals. They might be worth something. Or even better, they were looking looking for something that was worth something.
Without missing a beat, Isaac hot wired a slightly less secure, older model nearby. Killed the running lights. Followed the fast boat's obvious trail in the water. To his surprise, they lead him around the water, seeming lost for a few moments, before turning decisively towards the island. They got off their boat. Onto land. They needed a way back out didn't they? He'd wait here for them, and jump them on their return. But just in case that didn't work out, a few precautions.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a roll of EMP tape. Nothing subtle about it, but he doubted anyone would notice until it was too late. Wrapping a single line of it around the fast boat, in such a way it appeared to be a decal, he settled down nearby to watch from behind some foliage. His own boat had been tied down a little ways away, out of site.
A while later, they emerged. Carrying a large container. He had been right about something. Perfect. Tonight was going to turn out well after all. He waited until they were a safe distance away before following. Then the building behind him exploded. A piece of shrapnel embedded itself in his rented boat, but he more or less ignored it. Quickly, before the sports boat and its two occupants got out of sight, he grabbed the detonator for his emp tape, and pressed the button. He grinned in satisfaction as all lights and sound suddenly cut off on his quarry.
"Let's see how those rifles work with no power. And that electrorepulsive armor she had had," he thought to himself. He powered his own boat alongside his fallen prey.
"I've fecking got you, so better not even move, you bastards. Now leave the crate in the boat, and you two take a swim. You can have this boat when I go."
To make his point, he grabbed his own pistol and let a quick beam of coherent light off across the bow of other boat.
"Main power failing, propulsion system shutting down." The on-board system of the speedster reported the power failure from the EMP attack, along with various warning beeps and alarms.
But Ray and Lana's ship's critical situation pales against the fact that the attack caused their weapons to malfunction, especially Lana's armour - which was reduced to nothing more than some useless strips of fancy metal. The air around the two boats froze briefly, with the two operatives who did not dare to move and the cunning pirate who grew more and more impatient by the second. The two knew that refusing the pirate's demands meant death, worthless deaths. Lana was caught off guard, the very one thing she swore to prevent. The only light source under the obsidian sky came from the pirate's boat, which increased Ray and Lana's feelings of futility and made the situation seem even more fierce.
"I want everything you have. NOW!" Isaac threatened and pointed his gun at the two. He then took a ladder he prepared from his boat and bridged the gap between the two boats, allowing the transfer of his newly acquired loot.
Lana was the first to move, she slowly made her way towards the storage compartment at the back of the ship. Ray followed closely.
Ray whispered, "plan?"
"We give him what he wants," Lana replied with a murmur, "he doesn't know you put the package in your bag."
This little exchange was met with another bolt of energy shot into the night sky from the pirate's pistol, along with its deafening sound.
"HEY! Shut up and hurry up!" Isaac bellowed from his boat.
Just as Ray and Lana gathered their equipment and was about to push them with the crate onto the ladder, the sound of an approaching boat was heard.
The sound of what appeared to be a police interceptor became louder and louder. Isaac gestured the two to put the pace into their futile actions. Ray and Lana struggled to push the reinforced orbital drop crate together onto the ladder, they grunted with strain and sweat rolled down their foreheads. As the mysterious interceptor cut through the waves and got closer and closer to the two boats, Isaac realised he could no longer get away in time. He must kill all witnesses. He must leave nothing behind. Isaac went for his rifle as the boat sped into rifle range.
A shot from a plasma weapon came from the interceptor. The large ball of super heated gas vaporised volumes of water as it traveled across the sea and impacted just between the two boats, creating a shock wave blasting the two boats apart. The boats rocked under the violent force such that their occupants almost went overboard.
Ray and Lana were knocked back from the near miss explosion and they fell to the floor. Lana hit a bulkhead and was rendered unconscious. On his ship, Isaac was also stunned but not enough to lose his footing. Steam rose around the two ships due to the shear heat energy that was transferred from the military grade destructive device to the sea. The steam created the perfect screen for the incoming hostile's next attack and put Isaac in disadvantage.
"Whoo! I LOVE this baby!" Tyler Vaughn cheered and put down his plasma launcher with a still steaming barrel.
He took the controls of his interceptor, "Plunderer's Greed", and circled his helpless prey once before stopping. Realising one of them possessed means of retaliation, he quickly drew his automatic shotgun from its rack and pointed it at Isaac.
Ray lost his consciousness for a few seconds. When he got up saw Lana near him, and he quickly pulled her to a better covered place. He blessed himself, for taking his old submachine gun. It was fully mechanical, without any electronics, so the EMP did nothing to it. He loved the older weapons, as he thought they're more reliable. In this case it proved right.
Peering out from the cover he saw two boats, shooting at each other. As they saw him, someone started shooting at him too. Bullets hit the ship's hull, but none of them could cut it through. He quickly responded to the fire with a few bursts towards the interceptor, than a few towards the other ship. He raced towards the control, just to see, the ship is beginning to work again. But still, he couldn't start the engines.
The two boats were circling them but they were shooting at each other, so Ray could concentrate on the gaining back the control.
We only have to hold out for a few more seconds...
He tried to start the engine again, but still he only received a few moans from the engine. He aimed his gun at the interceptor's rear, and fired. Little smoke started to emerge from the engine and it slowed down a bit, but it still continued to chase the other boat. Ray switched his gun, to full automatic, and started firing all the 300 bullets he had in one magazine. He decorated the other boat's hull with lots of pretty holes, but it still seemed useless.
He checked again the engine. It almost had enough energy.
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
Crap. Isaac killed power to his boat. After a partial hit, it could explode any second. And that gave the newcomer a chance get a clear bead on him before he could move.
That couldn't have went from perfect to ugly much faster than it had. And that shotgun he didn't have a chance of avoiding at this range. Slowly, he held his gun out to the side, removing his finger from the trigger.
"And who the hell are you?" he spouted at the newcomer. As he said it, his mind was working to find a way out. A flick of his eyes to his chrono indicated only a few seconds until power came back to the other boat, if he estimated its revival time correctly. If he could just stay armed a few more seconds, this sonofa might get distracted enough to make a mistake. Two seconds were all he needed...
[color=#33CC00] -Yes, there you go, baby. -shouted Ray, as the boat's engines roared. He quickly throttled it, and sat the autopilot back to the capital. He ran to the back of the boat, just to see the that the first pirate was on the loosing side. He wanted to buy some more time, so he opened fire at them.
Both pirates ducked as they heard the machine gun's bullets hitting the hull of their boats. They were so distracted that they even forgot about their prey, which was already racing away from them.
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
"God dammit!"Tyler cursed out loud as he noticed his prey getting away right under his nose.
Bursts of gunfire came at him from both the rival and the prey, which only regained power moments ago for its escape. The light arms fire they had could not put a dent in his reinforced boat, obviously, but the combined firepower still pinned him down. Tyler peered at the other pirate and emptied the remainder of his magazine at him. The fully automatic shotgun spat a hailstorm of buckshot at its target, drilling small holes in the thin hull of the old boat and forcing its combatant duck behind what little cover he had. When the weapon clicked empty, Tyler quickly ejected the drum and slapped on a fresh one. He listened, the sound of gunfire stopped. The only sound that broke the silence was the sound of the prey's engines.
The pirate was no longer returning fire, after taking almost all of Tyler's firepower at point blank range. Tyler quickly rose and aimed at his booty, which was joyously escaping his weapon's range. He lowered his shotgun and looked at the plasma launcher below him. "If I'm not getting that loot," Tyler clenched his teeth and murmured to himself, "then nobody is!" He picked the launcher up and prepared its targeting module to compensate for a moving target. Then he found the escaping boat in its optics and began charging the weapon.
Just as the energy charge level reached 83%, Tyler heard the sounds of sirens. He determined the distance and, in horror, found it within a 2 mile radius. 'The cops are getting smart these days, they must have been watching us all along.' Tyler thought. It was impossible to escape now, as the police most likely detected the huge energy fluctuations from his plasma launcher and mobilised since then. His only options were to take his shot and get arrested for possession and discharge of destructive energy weapons or...
Or... He could play a reckless bounty hunter with a criminal record who wanted to make some quick cash by taking this pirate, who most likely has a price on his head, into custody - getting to go free and whatever the reward along with it.
Tyler dropped his launcher and raised his hands to welcome the searchlights and sirens of the surrounding police patrol boats.
Isaac returned bursts of fire, but it was immediately obvious that he stood no chance against his better armored and equipped rival. And then he heard the sirens.
"Fantastic. How the hell did they get here so fast?" he asked himself. "Unless.. this whole thing was a fecking setup... and then... by god.." The implications swirled in Isaac's head as he thought about it. He had one chance to make a clean escape. He'd make it count either way.
Reaching deep into a pocked, he pulled out a small explosive from his pocket. He pulled the pin and lobbed it. Of course, it hit the water and sank.
Four seconds later, a massive cloud of superheated water vapor rose around his rival's ship. The dense fumes (hopefully after peeling his skin off) quickly began to condense into a thick fog, which spread in all directions. Soon, Isaac could not see a thing. His only response, the only response possible, was to pick a directions based upon the last known positions of his attackers, and gun it.
Unable to see more than a few meters ahead of him, he could do nothing to stop his boat as it crashed headlong into a Police boat. Isaac's old boat's hull split wide. He took a mouthful of water, and began desperately treading. His artificial fog quickly began to burn off, with no self renewing supply of power. A few seconds, and he would be dead. The cops would have him. A life of hard labor... He continued to sputter water for a few seconds, before a spotlight hit him full in the face.
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