-----25
Three gangs were involved in the overall situation. All three were enemies, and allies at once. The police had them all surrounded, but they had tricks up their sleeves. Cluster drones were there as well. However, Skyway Patrol and the XJ-9 were elsewhere on other duties. After all, just about all of the ARKS were there.
Drawl nodded to Philip as he ran off to return to Time. Orange was posted on a building, armed with sniper rifle. High Hopes was perched out of harm's way. Orange was trying to pick his targets, but no shots came out.
Jakob and Terrace were both at a set of double-doors. Jessie had a plasma-based submachine gun, walking along the windows. Police armed with their own combat gear had everywhere else covered.
Terrace remained motionless, but he still acknowledged Philip's arrival. Jakob nodded, and Philip nodded back.
"Your parents are in there somewhere. We need a course of action."
"Take to the roof," Philip said, "Better vantage point, and make sure they don't see us. Have the cops pull off a distraction while we work."
Terrace nodded and rodie-ran to a Lieutenant, who was crouching behind a wall. After a brief exchange that Jakob and Philip never heard, the El-Tee nodded and moved to spread the word. Terrace beckoned the other two to follow.
---
Units 6, 7, 9, and 10 from Squadron Q were in position. The Warden remained low with a high-powered laser rifle, complete with scope. He was four blocks away, but he could not see the ARKS' own helicopter. The Captain was his spotter. Binoculars in one hand and a pulse rifle in another. He was the one to point out the low arrival.
They could have tried doing damage, but Warden was not particularily that good of a shot. His sniper rifle could not pierce an entire buildings-worth of cinderblocks and still be able to nick the helicopter. The ARKS couldn't have known the duo were there, especially with their camouflage sensors turning them into chameleons on the rooftop.
It was luck that they landed the helicopter on the far end of a lower building. The higher building blocked off his view.
The Warden slowly side-crawled to a closer corner. The Captain followed. Both were perfectly prone. After hearing no commotion, the Captain slowly rose to peek over the parapet. The binoculars amplified his vision.
"Well I'll be damned," the Captain whispered.
"Who'd you spot?" Warden asked.
"Code-name Orange- their specialist sniper. He's laying very low. Would be difficult to hit."
Warden hefted his sniper rifle, made sure a shot was chambered, and slowly rose and levelled the rifle onto the parapet. He fiddled with the scope until a clear image showed Orange scanning the building across the street from his own.
Warden grinned before he pulled the trigger.
---
The fire exit was still busted. Scaffolding platforms were still there; the previous attack by the Custer from a few days ago remained half-fixed. It was good enough for the trio's purposes. Jessie remained outside, scanning the windows and watching for potential WIAs.
The building was a hollowed-out workhouse, filled with assembly lines and tall machinery on the ground floor and catwalks hanging above on cables. Terrace peeked through the fire escape, then shot back outside again.
"Four on the catwalks, patrolling. The rest are on the ground floor," Terrace said.
"Can Orange spot them? Does he have any thermal visors or anything?" Philip asked.
"Maybe. I doubt his shots can pierce the brick as it is."
"How about other kinds of sniper rifles?"
Jakob took a look as well. Two of the catwalk guards were conversing.
"All four... They're Cluster robots."
"Confirms their involvement as well. We'll need the XJ-9's help for this. She usually doesn't deal in typical "small matters" like this. Now that we have confirmed extraterrestrials, she can legitimately roll in."
A distant shot suddenly rang out.
---
Orange heard the whiz before the sound of the shot came to his audio sensors. He swore and moved out of the way in a panic. His treads whirred like a jet turbine. That's how fast he moved.
He continuously swore. Never has he experienced such an unexpected shot. Despite that, he found where the shot came from. Four buildings away. Someone was there. Someone with a spotter. No one could have seen him otherwise.
His goggles slipped on, and switched between different scopes until he settled on a magnified X-ray visor. He looked through the building to find two figures. Magnification increased, and Orange seemed to gain far more interest than he already had.
He cursed once more as he hit the button on his own radio.
---
"Damnit, it's the Warden. He's here!" came Orange's voiced. He seemed to take effort in trying not to panic. Both expressions on Jakob's and Terrace's faces changed from grim thinking to shock.
"How'd he dodge the sensors? A stealth craft?"
"No idea. They have camouflage sensors like Terrace. Can't see them with anything other than the X-Ray."
Philip noticed that Orange was speaking in more complete sentences. Maybe he does that when he needs to try. One hell of a sniper nearly getting hit without knowing what was coming. The Warden was better than he thought even with the story of Solo Op Transluscent.
Jakob turned to Philip. "You got Jenny's number?"
Philip shook his head. "No phone. Lost it at paintball."
Jakob muttered something Philip did not hear. After a few seconds of thinking, Philip got a new plan. "We'll need to cause enough of a commotion that'll get the attention of her. Odd behaviour by the police would definitely do that.
Jakob nodded and climbed down to tell Jessie the plan. Philip turned to Terrace, who had his own rifle.
"Once the distraction comes up, we take shots at the four guards on the catwalks. Make two shots, and make them count," Philip said.
Terrace got to the other side of the opening. Both he and Philip got prone and poked their rifles through the door. They were effectively invisible to all but the most observant.
Soon, the collective fire started to fill the air with noise. Terrace immediately took four shots and downed all four. Philip didn't even blink before taking his own shots.
"Sorry if I stole your kills. You're too slow so far," Terrace said, crawling through the doorway, followed by a slightly shaken Philip.