As the Institute operatives stormed in, Sy immediately dropped into stealth. Of course there was a chance for them to see him even with his cloaking activated, so he had to act fast. Staying behind other people, he made his way to the back door down a corridor not visible from the main area of the bar.
"Wyatt, I'm making my way out of the bar, through the back door." Sy messaged to Wyatt over the radio, "Do what you can to blend in and get out before those guys come after you. I'll be ready outside, and I'll step in if you need a hand."
Wyatt had no time to reply to Syderis' message, instead he focused on trying to not stand out, while also trying to get as close as an exit as possible.
Meanwhile, the AI got ready to take its form at a position a bit away from Wyatt, to make it less obvious that it belonged to Wyatt when it takes form to act as a distraction so that Wyatt could get away. It at the same time send a message to Wyatt reading: "Ready to distract them, sending message to Syderis checking if he could help with it". It at the same time send one to Syderis reading "Ready to distract them to get Wyatt out. Bullets would help. No action taken yet."
"Let's not blow our cover yet - if we can get out without them knowing we're here, then we won't be on the run from them. Just use your AI to distract them while you make your way to me out the back door. Don't let it attack them, or it'll just let them know that you at least are here. Make it distracting and bright I guess, something other than its usual form, that they'd recognise."
"Prepare to run" the AI send to Syderis and Wyatt right before taking on an quickly modified form to try and look more like a tiger but due to the lack of time to work on the 3D model its appearance is rather rough.
Not able to really change the amount of light it gives off the AI decides to make it look like it protects someone else to further pretend it has no connection to Wyatt.
Meanwhile, Wyatt is taking advantage of any distraction that has occurred thanks to the sudden appearance of the AI to get to the backdoor and while he makes his way to it Wyatt also makes his shield ready to be deployed in case shots will be fired at him.
As the digital construction of a tiger began to move, one of the operatives merely glanced its way. His eyes glowed briefly, and the materialised AI dissipated. A burst of static arced through Wyatt's head as the tiger dissipated, causing him to stumble. This served to make him stand out to the others, who swiftly closed on him, the one with the staff pressing a button that caused a glowing axe blade to project from the side.
As the pair closed in, the other operative pulled out a small pistol, training it on Wyatt. "Don't move. Power down all implants both authorised and unauthorised and keep your hands where we can see them."
Sy stepped in just as he heard the AI fizzle out, still in stealth. Taking in the team, they seemed to consist of a hacker, a damage dealer with an axe, and one unknown. He surmised that it'd be best to take out the hacker first, as the firewalls that he had in his implants were a little weak, and it seemed like he might start targeting Sy's secondary systems, so he decided to take him down ASAP.
A full metal jacket round loaded, a loud crack resounded throughout the bar as he fired the shot.
The bullet lodged firmly in the hacker's chest, blood fountaining from the wound.
Wyatt quickly used the sudden distraction by Syderis shot to be able to grab his knife without directly getting shot and quickly made his way to the hacker to try and get him out of the fight. His knife caught on armour plating sewn into the uniform and bounced off. The hacker turned to face Wyatt and once again, his eyes shone with an eerie light. Wyatt just managed to throw himself out of the way in time, foiling the attempt.
Sy found himself in the unenviable position of having the large axe-weilder bearing down on him with a mighty swing. The blade tore through his clothing, leaving a deep wound. Meanwhile, the third member of the team moved to the hacker and slapped their hand over the wound. A faint whirring could be heard and the wound began to close.
No response from either Sy or Wyatt. Jerana was really worried now. Could they have been fighting, do they need help...?
She crept into the bar, through the front entrance. The spectacular view beheld her: a bloodbath, right in the middle of this quaint looking bar. Crimson spots dotted the place, and she could see her two comrades on the floor, one appeared to be attacked by a patrol officer, wielding a giant axe. Two more seemed to be together, probably getting healed. Her partners weren't in good shape. She decided to take the chance. Loading up a round, she fired a shot at the two officers huddled together, hoping it'll hit either one of them. The shot flew wide, failing to connect.
It was obvious to Sy that killing the axe wielder was a priority, now that he was bleeding heavily from one shoulder. He backed up, lined up a shot and fired straight at him. The shot punched in, and blood started flowing heavily, though the axe-weilder seemed almost unfazed by the damage.
Looking at the wound Syderis got from a single swing by the axe wielding guy Wyatt decided that putting a shield around Syderis was the best thing he could do. Hoping that the shield would be strong enough to keep him safe for a while.
As Wyatt's attention was elsewhere, the enemy hacker turned and focused to him once more. Wyatt felt an intense pain in his head as several of his implants briefly shorted, causing electrical pulses to course through his head.
Wyatt's shield hit Sy just in time, as another huge axe swing cleaved in. The shield intercepted the blow, leaving Sy unharmed. The one that appeared to be a medic smirked at Wyatt, extending a hand. A shield materialised around the hacker, just like Wyatt's.
A miss, Jerana curses to herself. Despite her steady hands when working with the droids, strangely enough she could never handle a firearm without her palms quivering.
It seems like the officers aren't caring about the shot ringing out, buying her at least some time, unless she blows her cover. Probably a risk worth taking, she aimed her pistol at the axe-wielding one, firing off other shot and praying to God she didn't shoot nearby Wyatt out of friendly fire. The shot flew wide.
Sy readied his rifle once more, levelling it straight at the chest of the man wielding the axe, hoping this would be the last shot the man could take. Again, the shot punched in, knocking the axe weilder back. Again, he continued his grim advance towards Sy.
Wyatt said nothing about the missing shots from Jerana, knowing that he wasn't the greatest with guns either and instead focused on Syderis' health and the shield around him as the shield got weaker every attack that landed on it.
Knowing that the shield wouldn't last much longer Wyatt wished he could make another one however sadly enough the implant that was responsible for it still needed to charge more as it needed to unleash quite a bit of power to create the shield.
Because of this Wyatt was forced to try and take someone out and send a blast of electricity towards the axe wielding guy, not really wanting to close into someone with an axe with just a simple knife. His target jerked and spasmed as the charge pulsed through his body.
Meanwhile, the hacker continued his onslaught on Wyatt, attempting to hack his systems. Wyatt felt his implants being forced into a low power state as his opponent's code coursed through them. Meanwhile, the axe crashed down once more on Sy, breaking the last remnants of his shield. The shielding operative however had quickly rushed up behind the axeman and lunged in to deliver a punch to Sy's face, though it was easily sidestepped.
Jerana grunted, now concerned enough about her comrades' plights to actually step in. She lunged towards the axe-wielding officer, attempting to disable him. The attempt failed, as he moved out of the way.
Loading in a full metal jacket round, Sy took yet another shot at the axe wielder. The man had so far shrugged off everything that both Sy and Wyatt had thrown at him - he must have been wearing some serious armour, or have some kind of other system beneath the skin keeping him going. The shot punched in. The axe-wielder dropped to his knees, before collapsing to the floor.
Now that the axe guy was on the floor Wyatt's attention shifted towards the healer in the hopes that his attack would at least be a good enough distraction to make him unable to get the axe guy back up.
As such, Wyatt ran towards the healer and tried to stab him with his knife. The medic easily sidestepped his attempt. Meanwhile, the hacker took advantage of the confusion to focus his efforts onto Sy, though his hack attempt failed to connect. Meanwhile, the healer continued the motion that had taken them away from wyatt's thrust, slapping their hand down on one of the many bullet wounds that now riddled the axeman. Moments later, the axeman began to rise back to his feet - somewhat unsteadily, but with definite purpose.
Jerana was disgruntled as she noticed the rising body of the axeman. After collapsing clumsily on the floor, she cannot have any more failures, as least not more without any kills. Unleashing a primal yell, she pierced both her knives straight into the back of the axeman. The axeman moved forwards, resulting in her wild thrust missing.
This motherfucker just wouldn't die. Sy could tell the healer was a problem, but he reckoned that healing like that couldn't just be done constantly, it'd need a moment to charge back up. Besides, the motherfucker might well be the biggest danger to Sy and the rest of the team right now. If he could keep him down for long enough, even the healer wouldn't be able to revive him.
Not even bothering with entering stealth, Sy took aim and fired at the axe wielder's head, this time hoping that he'd stay down for good. The bullet hit home, but into the shoulder, reducing the potential lethality of the hit.
With the axe guy back on his feet and Syderis still wounded Wyatt was happy that his shield was once again ready, though due to the attacks from the hacker it would probably be weaker then he would have liked.
With that, Wyatt deployed the shield back on Syderis, hoping that despite it not being optimal it would still be strong enough. The shield formed around Sy, though this drew the attention of the hacker who focused back onto Wyatt. Wyatt quickly realised that a secondary firewall had been formed around some of his implants, restricting his ability to further use his shielding implant. The axeman, now fully on his feet, swung down heavily at Sy. The shield absorbed the blow, buckling but staying active. Yet even as Sy breathed a sigh of relief, a mirror of his shield formed around the axeman, the medic smirking as he did so.
"Wyatt, Jerana, I don't think we can win this. We need to retreat, now." Sy radioed to his allies, realising quite how strong these three institute bastards were.
Jerana muttered some curses. Her nervousness was getting the best of her. She needed to bail -- her comrades needed to bail. "Alright", she radioed back, "But how do we escape? Don't think they'll let us bail -- they're gonna arrest us for sure."
"I can drop into stealth for a bit, you two are going to have to run like hell. Split up so they can't all come for all of us, then we can meet back up once we're safe."
Sy turned on his active camouflage, and hurriedly made his way out of the bar, sprinting away through the back door.
"Got it" Wyatt send back to Syderis after he got his message. It wasn't hard to convince Wyatt that staying to fight wouldn't exactly end well for them. Especially now that his shield was disabled, which seemed to be pretty much the only thing that kept them going.
"RUN" He sent to Jerana, waiting for her to start running to make sure that she would get out, despite the AI constantly telling him to move.
A derisive snort cut through the panicked comm messages. "So, let me get this straight. You encounter a group of opponents that, shock horror, actually work together and you all piss yourselves? Were it not for how depressingly pathetic this is, I'd be laughing my ass off at you shit-for-brains. You're lucky I could really fancy a drink right now, and that a bar brawl is the perfect accompaniment a lady could ask for." The door, hanging loosly on its hinges, was sent flying by a strong kick, followed by Natalya nonchalantly strolling in, idly twirling a knife in her hand. "So here's the deal. I help clean up the super-scary bad guys, and you all clean the stench of wet piss outta this place so I can enjoy my fucking drink." Her words were accompanied by a vicious slash to the nearby hacker, shattering the shield that encased him. "Sy, stay hidden to give yourself a breather and line up a killshot on that medic! Wyatt, pile the shocks on the big dumb guy. Newbie, try not to die." She sighed. "Ain't it a tragic shame that I got to do all the thinking for you shitheads."
The hacker, stunned by the sudden appearance and attack, stumbled away from Natalya, frantically launching an ineffective cyberassault as a counter. The axeman, losing all trace of his target, turned to face the new threat. "Gamma, fall back. Don't try to deal with Godetzka head on!" Charging forwards, he interposed himself between the two, swinging powerfully at Natalya. The axe bit in deep, though her grin only widened as small tendrils of blood began to push the axe back out from her wound. The healer moved into position to support, firing a few bullets at Jerana that failed to connect.
Despite all the mixed signals coming from everyone, they all had a resounding message for her to run. It was not of her to disobey commands and all, so she ran. Hugging tight against the walls, she crept swiftly towards the exit, leaving no trail in sight.
Sy thanked his lucky stars Natalya had come just in time. Hell she was harsh, but he was starting to get used to it - not to mention, she was saving their arses on this mission.
"Understood. Charging up now." He radioed over to Natalya. Following through, he flicked two switches on the left side of the rifle, and heard the characteristic whine of the capacitors charging, the sound becoming gradually higher-pitched over time.
Wyatt quickly did what him was told and fired a bolt towards the axeman. He was thankful that Natalya showed up and didn't mind Jerana running away, so far fighting didn't seem like something she was particularly good at and it would be one less person to worry about. The bolt struck hard, and the axeman dropped to the floor again, unmoving. A very faint hum could be heard from his prostate body. Natalya spat. "As I suspected, a Lazari suit. Wyatt, knock him back down every time he pops back up!" she called, turning and hurling a combat knife across the room.
As Jerana made her way across the room to the door, a knife flickered across her vision and stuck into the wall mere centimetres form her face, vibrating in front of her eyes. "I said stay alive, not run away!" Natalya shouted across the room. "If you're going to start sucking less, time to get a little practise in!" That said, she lashed out across towards the medic, extended tendrils of blood extending her reach and force. The medic was knocked off his feet, blood oozing from a series of parallel cuts to his body where the tendrils had struck home.
The terrified hacker continued to throw further attacks towards Natalya, though he continued to miss. Natalya merely snorted in return. "Newbie! Think this one's about as close to pissing himself as you are. Play nicely now!" Meanwhile, the medic rushed over to the axeman again, pumping yet more nanobots into the seemingly broken body. Once more, the seemingly dead axeman stirred back to life, and began to clamber to his feet.
Jerana stumbled back abruptly as Natalya called out to her. Following her orders, she eyed the hacker like a hawk, before leaping towards him into a pounce. Her knives struck home, leaving him staggering away with a deep wound in his shoulder.
Sy remained hidden, and continued to charge his rifle for his shot on the medic.
As the axeman rose again, Wyatt fired another bolt of electricity at him just him was told to do so. The axeman staggered, but remained standing. Natalya, disregarding all else, was putting heavy pressure on the medic, flinging a tendril back to retrieve her knife, before hurling it from an unexpected direction. The medic twisted away from the throw, allowing the axeman through. Elsewhere, Jerana suddenly froze as her implants began shortcircuiting, sending wracking pains all through her body. The hacker smirked nervously, as if to try and regain the composure that Natalya's arrival had shattered. The axeman however continued his wild rush at Natalya, swinging down hard. The axehead thumped into the floor as Natalya lithely danced around him, tapping him gently on the back as she did so. The medic tried to land a bullet, but all flew wide.
Fighting back the pain that was seething inside her, Jerana attempted to wipe that sly smirk off the hacker's face. Without breaking a sweat, she pounced and attempted to lodge her knife into his chest. The knife caught on his armour and slid off.
A small warning light flashed on the visor of Sy's helmet. It was now or never, to have the luxury of invisibility to allow him to line up his shot, before his cloaking was dropped and the institute agents would be moving, making it harder to aim for vital areas and deal greater damage in a single shot.
One eye closed, the other down the scope of his rifle, Sy aimed and fired at the medic. The round blasted into the medic, leaving a vicious spray of crimson and knocking him to the floor. Nevertheless, it wasn't long before he started to climb to his feet.
After Syderis shot on the medic Wyatt considered to put some pressure on the medic as well. However as he seemed to be able to move away from other peoples attacks with relative ease Wyatt decided against it and instead threw another bolt at the axe guy, just as he was ordered to do. The bolt dropped the axeman to the floor, the faint hum of his armour starting up once more.
As the medic struggled to rise to the floor, Natalya gathered pointed tendrils around her foot and delivered a vicious kick to his side, puncturing in to his guts. She smirked maliciously as he cried in pain. The hacker slowly stepped back from Jerana, slowly raising his hands. "Please, don't do it...I was forced into this, I never had any choice! Mercy, please!" Natalya shot a disgusted look towards him. "You know what you've gotta do, Newbie. No survivors. They know we're here now, and that rat could call in reinforcements the moment he leaves."
The medic struggled to his feet, coughing up blood. "Fuckin'...craven bastard", he spluttered, throwing a wild swing that Natalya easily sidestepped.
Jerana gave the hacker a glum look that matched his own. "I never had a choice either," she muttered before pushing both her knives into his chest. Blood oozed from around her knives as the hacker looked at her, a blank, stunned look on his face. He coughed weakly, a spray of blood accompanying it as it flew into Jerana's face. He collapsed backwards, his motion pulling her knives from his body as he collapsed motionless to the floor, eyes staring blankly. Natalya grinned wolfishly. "There we go, newbie. Maybe I'll bother to learn your name now." "It's Jerana, ma'am," she replied without lifting her head.
Sy caught himself staring as Jerana ended the hacker's life, the white of his armour now soaked crimson as his life left him. He'd begged for his life, and she'd killed him in cold blood. The newbie was going to do well, if she could do that with abrely a second thought. Still, she must have been through a hell of a lot to manage something like that, which didn't sit well with him.
Snapping back to reality, Sy realised that the medic was still standing, if only barely. Unlike the hacker, he was still fighting to his last breath, and couldn't be allowed to keep going. Loading an FMJ round, he took aim, and fired straight for the medic's chest. The medic, staggering around, managed to evade the shot.
Wyatt was just like Syderis, caught off guard by how easy the decision seemed to be for Jerana to kill someone who was begging for his life.
With the axeman still laying on the floor Wyatt decided to throw a bolt to the medic. The bolt whizzed past harmlessly, though the distraction it provided gave Natalya an opening to punch several tendrils clean into the medic's chest. As he began to choke on his own blood, she grabbed her knife from where it had fallen and slashed his throat open, eliciting a final burst of crimson. She froze, seemingly luxuriating in the spray, before dropping his lifeless body. The tendrils dangling from her wounds began to recede and seal the openings as she vaulted nimbly over the bar, grabbing a bottle and pouring some into a glass. "Now, you had better go see Wolff...if you bitches dare. I understand that giving his sister to an Institute spy has made him pretty fucking pissed off at the lot of you." She took a hefty swig. "But hey, that's not my problem. Neither was all of this-" she gestured at the lifeless bodies, "but I ain't digging your ass outta this shit, Have fun."
Sy breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, those three bastards were down and out, and wouldn't be troubling them any more... though he still glanced at the axeman every now and then. It paid to be sure.
"Thanks for coming Natalya. We might be in the shit, but it'd probably be far worse if we'd have had to retreat." She chuckled softly as she poured another. "I'd save those thoughts if I were you. Not sure you'd want to think about worse once you find out what he's planning to do."
Now that the gravity of the situation began to kick back in, Jerana felt a slight pang of guilt for the dead guy. He could've had a family, safe in the Institute. Someone could wake up the next day without a husband, or even without a father. Still, these were the same guys who programmed the bots that killed her two parents, even set to keep her in captivity in the Institute. Led her to fear for her life, fear the Institute. Now that she'd killed one of their operatives, it gave her a temporary sense of vigour. Dawning on her that, for once, she became the predator, instead of the prey.
She gave her former adversary one last smirk glance, before approaching her comrades with a yell, "We gonna bury these guys, or what?"
"I'd like to see you try," Sy commented, "unless you've got a shovel and a convenient area with a few feet of actual dirt. The owners of this place will get that covered, if they come back. I doubt this'll be the first time they've had to do it, in a place like this."
Sy did his best to stay calm on the outside, but his mind was broiling from what Natalya had said. He'd expected a thorough dressing-down, an incredibly harsh one, but nothing that would deal lasting harm. What Natalya has said though, that had set his thoughts racing. What he was planning to do? Some sort of punishment? Their squad's performance had been... poor, to say the least, but they'd been up against harsh odds.
He decided that there was essentially nothing he could do right now, short of running away again - and he remembered how that had gone.
