Chapter 12 - Making Progress
Date : 6.24.2167
Location : Zeta District
Everything's falling apart. Every week Don reads more reports wailing about more money lost and comrades slain. His original hunting crew of eighty men has been whittled down to less than forty. The little freak had ambushed his men on four separate occasions, slaughtering each team that managed to catch up with her. How could one human do so much? How had she slaughtered so many veteran mercs with almost no help? He had no idea how to answer that question and Jortan's patience was running out. Don needed to do something, win something if he was going to keep his head on his shoulders. The boss had never been one to make idle threats.
Don's men had spies in every district, watching for signs of the red armored girl. At first he had sent strike teams after every rumor but she had been waiting every time. She was letting them catch a glimpse just to lure them in and it had worked for a while. Half of them were slain before he realized what she was doing. Now, he's desperately scanning the information his sources have gathered, feverishly hoping for a break. As he's pouring over the data his second, a salarian named Morfan, is listening to a new call over the comm. He drops his hand from his aural canal and gestures to Don, "Boss we got another tip. One of the boys in Kima says a red armored girl is walking down the main street. Should we send a team?" Don thinks it over for a bit, but before he can answer Morfan pipes up again, "Got another call, this one from Fumi. Our guy says a human girl with long red hair is eating a diner. She's got the right dimensions for our target. Hold on… another call, someone here in Zeta saying a human female just killed one of our dealers with a biotic attack."
It's been the same for weeks and at first he'd gone after every lead. Most were nothing and he'd killed more than one idiot for giving him crap information. The few that had been legitimate lead right into her waiting blade. She'd played them like chumps. Don needs to change things up before Jortan decides to replace him. "No, don't send any teams out. Send a single guy in disguise to each one and have him report back. I doubt any of them will pan out. We need to shift our strategy. Trying to chase her down'll just get us killed or worse. No, we need to wait until she settles down to rest somewhere. You know, hit where she sleeps." Morfan nods vigorously and sends out three men to check the leads.
"So, how are we going do that. The only times we've found her have been when she's let us." It was almost like this was some kind of twisted game to her.
"We're gonna have to pull a couple tricks to do it. First thing I want you to do is hire a team of freelancers and give 'em some of our armor. Then post them at a junk outpost with orders to guard it. After that, we let some transmissions slip out claiming that we got something critical to the Wake locked up there. Once she shows up to trash the place we make the next move." He's actually getting pumped over the idea. This could really work.
"But won't that play right to her strengths? I mean, she'll wipe out freelancers no problem and we've tried luring her into traps before. She's always played us, so how will this time be different?" The salarian had always been pretty smart but couldn't see where Don was going with this.
The human himself is swiping through a list of low priority bases to use, a twisted smile creeping across his face. "It's simple Morfan. We do it different this time. Before now we've always charged in guns blazing, but like you said that just plays to her strengths. We won't be waiting for her this time, but we will prepare a few surprises for her all the same." They'll need to spend a while setting everything up. If the freak catches wind of what they're doing through her bizarrely powerful network, then the whole thing will be a bust. "After she's done with the faux base, she'll need to rest up and we'll trail her back to her home. Once she's bedded down, we hit her with everything we got."
The last month has been good for Jane. She's destroyed four Red Wake supply caches and taken down three separate slave dens. The Wake has also lost another hundred men to her, with nine of them nailed to walls. Keeva's been selling Jane's loot for her and the two of them have built up a small fortune between them. Jane didn't really need all the money but Keeva insisted on an even split at a minimum. Jane had agreed on the condition that Keeva would start charging for her help.
She was happy to see Keeva's shop expanding. With more than a dozen employees and a brand new vehicle bay, Keeva was now the go to tech expert for a huge chunk of Omega and Jane was more than happy with what she got out of it. Keeva had modded her armor with an advanced med system and she'd upgraded the plating constantly. She now had ports to hold multiple guns, including her new favorite. It was the M-76 she'd pulled from Jorak's hands. Keeva had managed to size it down to fit Jane's frame and she'd made good use of it. She had to put up her sword to use it but it let her cut through an entire squad of Red Wake in her last attack, so it's worth it.
Orb Weaver had given her a whole list of targets and she'd been working her way from one side of Omega to the other. He'd mentioned that the Wake were trying to hide something big and he was working on finding out what it was. She hoped it was something that would really hurt them.
She was on her way to Keeva's to pick up her newest piece of gear. Keeva had talked about it for the last month but had ended up keeping hold of it to 'make it just right'. Afterwards she was thinking about spending a few days resting. She'd found a small alcove hidden away in the Carrd district. It was a nice place to find some peace.
Date : 6.27.2167
Location : Keeva's Shop
"Sorry it's taken so long, but I just had to get it right." Keeva's holding out Jane's long promised helmet. It's got Jane's usual color scheme and is made of the same material as her plating. There are small controls built into the side, each with a unique rune stamped on it. The front looks like a stylized skull and it's most distinguishing feature is the glowing amber visor at eye level. "I'll need to make some changes to the collar of your suit but it won't take long." Once Keeva's got the suit she takes it to her new armor works and makes the needed changes with an hour's work. Once Jane's back in, Keeva hands the helmet to her, "Alright Jane, let's test it out."
Jane slides the helmet over her head and the two over them can hear it's clamps locking it into place. It's dark for moment until the helmet's start's drawing power from the suit. The visor lights up and the shield emitter starts glowing. "So how does it work?"
"There are controls installed in the sides. It has built in optical zoom, upgraded atmospheric filters, and receivers to link with your weapons to monitor heat buildup. Your HUD will still display shield strength alongside that. The simplest way to put it is that this is a major upgrade on what you already had." Jane has already started poking at the controls and Keeva can see her flipping between different display modes by the slight shifting on the visor.
"I know that you can see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums, but this will expand on that. It also has a motion tracking system built in. As you use it more, the software will learn what you want by tracking eye movement and vital signs." Jane turns to her in confusion, at least what Keeva thinks is confusion. The face plate covers Jane's expression. "What I mean is that, in time, you won't even need the controls on the side. The helmet will 'learn' to recognize when you want to change the settings and react accordingly." Jane's hops up and down excitedly.
"Can I disengage the face plate?" She pushing buttons randomly.
"There's a button by your right eye. Press it and the visor and mouth cover will retract." Jane finds the control and presses down. There's a slight hiss of escaping air as the face plating retracts and reveals Jane's wide grin. "The suit will read whoever hits those controls. If it isn't you, they won't work."
"Thanks Keeva. Did you take the cost out of the gun money?" Keeva wishes Jane hadn't insisted on paying for help. She had adamant about it and refused to take her share of the gun sales otherwise. With anyone else, Keeva would be confused at that but she had a good idea why Jane insisted. She doubted that Jane had much else to spend her rapidly growing supply of credits on.
"Yes Jane and here's the rest of the money." Jane doesn't even check her omni-tool as Keeva transfers the remaining fifty thousand into the girl's account. "So what are you doing today."
Jane sheepishly rubs the back of her neck, like she does whenever she's embarrassed, "I was thinking about going back to my place and resting for a while."
"You meet that spot in Carrd, right?" Jane nods and continues looking embarrassed, "That's good Jane. You're always running all over the station looking for a fight. You need to take a real break every now and then."
Jane gives Keeva a small grin before turning and heading out.
Date : 8.17.2167
Location : Zeta District
Morfan scans his strategy table for anything he might have missed. The trap was finally ready and they'd been sending out clues for nearly a month. They would have been ready sooner, but Morfan's predecessor had kept delaying. Don had been so worried about screwing up that he'd held off too long and Jortan had decided to change things up again. Morfan doesn't like to think about what had happened to the human.
Now, the task of taking the freak down had fallen to him. He'd immediately begun putting out the bait and double timing the prep work. It's paid off and now they were just waiting on her.
The best news was that they had managed to narrow down the location of her home to somewhere in Carrd. They had secretly moved most of the hunting crew into the district under various disguises. Morfan knows they're ready and has let Jortan know about their impending strike. He won't end up like Don.
Jane wakes to the sound of her omni-tool's insistent chime. She has a call incoming from Orb Weaver. Hopefully this is the one she's been waiting on. He'd kept mentioning something big but hadn't been able to nail it down yet. She accepts the call and sees the odd image of a spider again. 'Jane, I've got it. I found the place they've been trying to hide. It's in a junk field in Kenzo.'
'What are they hiding there?'
'I still can't get a read on that, but they've been trying to bury this info for months now. They've even executed half a dozen of their own for letting word of it slip out. Whatever it is, it's very important to them. I'm sending the details now.' The coordinates load into Jane's omni-tool and she immediately starts mapping out her potential routes. Once she's chosen one she sends payment and her thanks to Weaver. After gearing up she sets out to hit her latest target.
Date : 8.20.2167
Location : Kenzo District
It's working. It's actually working. Morfan almost can't believe his eyes. The girl they've been hunting is making her way through the scrap heaps of Kenzo, trying to sneak up on the false Wake team guarding their 'precious' cargo. Without turning, he addresses his adjutant, "Send word to the others in Carrd. The plan's going as hoped and they need to be ready for when she gets back. No comm chatter and no moving through the open. If anyone screws this up, I'll make sure Jortan knows exactly who blew our best shot at taking her down." The man gives his affirmative and takes off to deliver the orders.
Morfan hasn't taken his eyes from the scope. The girl is almost to the outer pickets guarding the base and he needs to be ready for the right moment.
The first one never sees her. He has his head turned to the right when Jane hurls her sword from the opposite direction. The blade spears into his throat with almost no resistance. His spine is severed and he falls to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. She quickly moves up, retrieves her blade, and moves on. He's no threat now. The next falls with a single stab to his heart. The third sees her as she strikes but loses his head before he can call out. She spends twenty minutes cutting down mercs one by one, quickly closing on the target.
But something's wrong. She's always been able to slice through them but this time it's too easy. These mercs are lazy, sloppy. They're leaving huge gaps in their patrols and the mercs themselves poorly outfitted. Usually she takes every piece of gear she can get, but these idiots only have a bunch of cheap crap. Their armor is the lowest quality she's ever seen and most of it doesn't even fit. She hasn't taken any loot yet... none of it has been worth anything. Also, none of them have any of the usual tattoos or ritual scars. There's only one explanation. They aren't Red Wake members and this is a setup.
It's not the first time they've tried, but it is the first time that she hasn't known going in. She spends a moment debating her next action and decides to bail out before the trap is sprung. That's when the first charge goes off.
"Shit, she's leaving! Blow the first sequence!" A line of fire erupts in front of the girl and she's enveloped in a wave of fire. Several seconds pass before the fireball clears and she's revealed, safely shielded behind a golden barrier. Morfan can't help but spew out a dozen curses and slurs at his luck. She'd almost been inside the primary ring of charges before she'd found them out. "Blow the rest before she leaves!" A second wave of fire, much larger this time, washes over the girl with similar results. She manages to maintain her barrier throughout the remaining five detonations, but Morfan can tell she's tired afterwards. It'll make her easier to take in Carrd but his decoys still won't be able to stop her. Then again, they were never meant to.
He can see the remaining freelancers moving to engage and can't help but laugh at the sorry sight. Twenty men are charging across an open junkyard at target they know nothing about, thinking that they'll squash this tiny intruder like an insect. They aren't even laying down steady suppressing fire. Hell, half of them have drawn stun clubs and are moving into melee range. Morfan loads his rifle with the most important part of the plan. As the insects rush to their deaths, he gets ready for his own strike.
It's been awhile since she's been this pissed off. These idiots are too easy. Their guns can barely scrape her plates and her shields have only been drained by 3%. She's actually put her sword back in it's scabbard and moved in barefisted, hoping for some kind of challenge as most move to attack with clubs. The first to reach her actually stops his charge and takes the time to build up a full swing before bringing it down on her shoulder. She doesn't try to dodge or even stop the blow.
The club makes contact with her plating, sending a surge of electricity into her armor, and accomplishing… nothing. The charge is so weak that it doesn't even spread to the other plates and her suit blocks the jolt entirely. The rest of the mercs see this and slow to a stop, a mix of befuddled and terrified looks plastered on their faces. She gently takes hold of the club and pulls it from the man's slack grip. Before he can react to being so easily disarmed, she twirls around and slams the club into his forehead. The moron's skull bursts like an over-ripe melon, spraying blood and brain over everyone nearby. The mercs are slowly backing away, some even dropping their weapons from numb fingers.
Her rage at this insult of an attack is close to boiling over. She gathers her power in both hands and raises her arms towards the nearest targets. Waves of energy radiate out and half a dozen men simply dissolve into dust. Eight others turn to run and the remaining five drop to their knees and start begging for their lives.
She draws her rifle and levels it at the fleeing mercs. A stream of high calibre fire tears into their backs, dropping them all. One of the kneeling fools takes her distraction as an opportunity to strike and dives at her. She sidesteps and slams a fist down into his back. The man's back is pulped and he lands in a paralyzed, weeping heap. The rest are too terrified to run and just watch as she slowly walks over to the only one brave enough to try and attack. His broken back has shards of bone sticking out and blood seeping through. She slowly presses her figures to either side of his spine and pushes them through his flesh. His shrieking echoes across the junkyard as she wraps her fingers around his vertebrae and pulls. In a spray of gore, she tears a segment of his spine free.
She walks over to the last four survivors and drops the repulsive trophy in front of them. It's a struggle to force words through her rage but somehow she manages, 'Which Wake member hired you?' These pathetic weaklings just tremble in fear and she decides more motivation is needed. She stomps over to the batarian on the right and places her thumbs over his top eyes and drives them in. The man screams in pain as she stabs her fingers through those tiny globes. 'TELL ME OR I'LL TAKE THEM ALL!'
'Morfan! It was Morfan!'
'What species is he?!'
'Salarian!'
'Where is he?' The man tries to pull away as he answers.
'I don't know. I swear. I swear! They just paid us to guard the junkyard!' She believes him. The Wake isn't stupid enough to tell some throw away freelancers anything about their members.
'Leave all your weapons and armor here and start running. You so much as glance back and rip your heart out!' She plants a boot on the man's chest and shoves as hard as she can. The batarian is sent flying into the nearest junk heap as the rest of the mercs start ripping their armor off as fast as possible. He gets back to his feet and still manages to strip faster than all the others. Once naked he sprints away, screaming about someone named Akshar.
The others are about to follow when a shot rings out. She feels something slam into her shoulder hard enough to spin her around. Turning to the source of the sound, Jane sees a shape almost two hundred yards away turn and bolt from the scene. It's gone long before she reaches the spot. There are now tracks and no scents. Even her enhanced visual filters come up with nothing.
She runs a systems check and sees that the shot failed to penetrate. It barely even scraped her plating. Aside from an odd increase in plate weight, nothing seems to be wrong.
She returns to the yard to find the other mercs gone and a pile of guns and armor where they once were. She digs through, finds a few decent pieces, and then uses a warp to destroy the rest. The entire affair has been a waste except for the name of her next target. She'll give the name to Weaver and when he finds Morfan, she'll make him scream. Holding her barrier through so much fire has been fairly tiring and she heads home to go back to sleep, hoping that her migraine will fade back to its normal level of slightly agonizing.
The plan might not have gone as well as hoped, but he'd managed to accomplish the most important part. The signal is strong but still distorted by whatever jamming tech she uses. They'll need to be close to pick up the tracking signal. Morfan hops in his squad's car and signals his adjutant to take the scenic route to Carrd. On arrival he gets the best news that he's had all year. The girl was spotted moving between two separate ducts ways and the tracking device was still transmitting. They just needed to wait for her to stop and they can finally slaughter this parasite.
It's late when she finally gets to her home. It's not much but she likes it. She has a couple small rooms in the ruin of an old store. She'd found it during one of her hunting trips and had been using it ever since. There were crates to keep her tools and guns in. She'd even found an old bed in the back room. It was built for an elcor and that meant she had lots of extra room. It was the softest thing she's ever slept on and she couldn't wait to get back to it.
She only removes her helmet and flops face down on her giant bed. In moments, she manages to drift off to sleep.
"Everyone stay quiet and move in. We only get one shot at this." She'd finally stopped and Morfan was ready to move. "Torq, take team one thru the front. Basq and Quelt, take teams two and three through the sides. Four stays here and watches the front. This is it boys, let's take this freak down." The three chosen teams move to their designated entrances. The fourth is setting up a heavy support weapon and Morfan himself cracks open a special case he'd called in from the armory. His favorite weapon is inside and he can't wait to use it.
Her dreams are more terrible than she can ever remember. She's standing on a storm wracked plain with lightning flashing down in a torrent. The cacophonous sounds are driving her mad with pain and blood pouring from her ears. Her eyes are scorched by the blinding flashes but she can't close her eyes. Her skin feels like someone is dragging knives across her. The smell of ozone is flooding her nostrils and she is having trouble breathing. She can taste blood at the back of her throat as she feels it filling her lungs. Why is this happening?
Torq is leading from the front. He's going to be the one to cap the little bitch. They've swept all but one room and he's almost drooling over the kill to come.
The storm is getting worse. The lightning is blasting holes in the ground all around her and she's fallen to her knees. The pain is overwhelming her. She's desperate for anything to stop the unrelenting agony. A feeling of intense heat settles on her shoulder. Shifting her gaze up, she comes eye to eye with the her inner shadow.
There she is! She's face down, asleep. He can hear a slight snore drifting from her prone form. Drawing his hand cannon, Torq draws a bead on her head and steadies his aim.
The shadow is staring straight into her eyes and the fire is filling her heart again. It wouldn't have come to her if everything was ok. She focuses on the shadow as carefully as she can, trying to figure out what's wrong.
As she gets back to her feet she finally gets something. She has the overwhelming feeling of another presence in her room. There is someone in her room!
Without trying to open her eyes, she forces out a blast of biotic power. The presence disappears but agony fills her as fire tears across the top of her head. Her eyes snap open and she finally sees what the shadow was warning her about. There are almost a dozen people struggling back to their feet. They're heavily armed and armored in red. The Wake! She leaps up and throws out her barrier just in time to stop a hail of gunfire. She can't hold it forever and needs take the offensive. She floods her barrier with power and lets it blast out. The golden wave flattens her attackers and she launches herself towards the door.
Once outside she bolts to her weapons crate and takes up her blade. As she turns back, a turian rounds the corner and opens fire. Jane dives forward and rolls behind her attacker. As she rises back up, she slashes into his back. The merc falls with his spine severed and she moves out. Her place has no lights and she takes full advantage of the shadows. The mercs fumble about with no light but their own flashlights. She charges down the main hall, swinging her blade in a whirlwind of slashes. Limbs and blood fall like rain as she makes her way through the crowd. She takes dozens of shots, punches, and kicks before she makes it out the front door.
Waiting for her is a heaving support weapon and it's already firing. Every shot hits with the force of a shotgun blast and they're coming three every second. Her barrier has collapsed and her shields are being shredded. She has no choice but to face it head on. At a distance of twenty feet her shields are at half strength. At ten they've failed. At two a shell blasts through her right side, but she is finally in range. A single swing of her blade slices the gunner's head in half. She takes his place and swings the weapon to bare against the gunners squadmates. Where her shields had held for a time, their's break instantly. Each shell blows another merc into gory pieces. In moments the entire squad is shredded and she turns the weapon on her home. The heavy shells blast holes in the walls and after two minutes of constant fire the building finally collapses the rest of the way.
She fires until the barrel of the weapon begins to melt. Once it can no longer fire, she uses a warp to destroy it and moves to the rubble of her former home. There are a few moans issuing from the heap of metal and plastic. She seeks out a survivor and pulls a mutilated batarian from the ruin. His legs are gone and his face is a scorched ruin, but he's still breathing. 'Are you one of Morfan's?!' The broken wretch manages to nod, 'WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS MORFAN?!'
'Over here freak!' She snaps her head toward the sound and sees a lone salarian kneeling by the ruin of the support gun, with a rocket launcher on his shoulder. She lets the batarian drop and sprints towards the salarian as a rocket rips free off the launcher. Her vision narrows and time slows down. She can see the rocket blazing towards her in slow motion and she jerks to the side, swinging her blade as she spins. When the blade makes contact with the warhead it detonates. The explosion hurls her into the air and she slams to the ground more than thirty feet away from the blast site.
Her plates are cracked and she knows dozens of bones have broken. She is barely able to stay awake as the sound of the launcher being reloaded reaches her ears. Jane desperately struggles to her feet and charges at the salarian. He remounts the launcher and readies to fire as she gathers every scrap of biotic power she can. Before another missile can sail out, she slams her fist into the ground and a nova of power blasts out from her body. The wave destroys everything nearby and the salarian is catapulted into a nearby wall. The area goes quiet, with only the sounds of falling dust and moaning mercs filling the air
Jane falls to her knees in absolute exhaustion as her injuries finally catch up with her. Blood is streaming down her head from the furrow caused by the first Wake thug's pistol. She puts a hand to her side and doesn't feel plating or even her suit. Instead, she feels a bleeding mass of muscle and when she looks at it, she can see a hint of intestine poking out. The horror at this is almost enough to force a blackout, but her shadow comes to the rescue. The primal rage that had sustained her in her darkest moments once again comes out to save her. It's helped along by her medi-gel system, which is now in overdrive, trying to save her failing life signs. It gives her the strength to gather the dead and go to work.
She decapitates the underlings and piles the gruesome aftermath into one massive heap and the seeks out Morfan. He hasn't survived his encounter with the wall. A nine foot spur of metal has torn through his chest and his heart is mounted at the end of it. Instead of separating them, she simply tears the metal spur from the wall and carries it to the pile. Once there, she stabs it into the center of the heap and backs away. The salarian is mounted three feet above the pile, with the metal 'spear' stabbed through the grotesque mound. It's good enough for now. She gathers what's left of her gear, slides her helmet on, and stumbles into the ducts. Hopefully Mirdan and Sara can help.
It's pretty much what she expected. Morfan did better than her initial estimate but he was still a ruined corpse and the girl is still alive, although she's been beaten to hell. She has to admire the kids endurance. She'd seen krogan dropped by less.
She follows from a distance, never getting too close. If the girl was in good shape, then she would know she's being tailed. But as she is now, Vira has no trouble staying out of sight. Jortan doesn't just want the girl. He wants her family, her friends, anyone that's been helping her, and now Vira is in a perfect position to find all of them in one fell swoop.