When I woke up on the big day, I was greeted by the notification that I had chosen to sleep for.
UPDATE ALERT!
Ver. 1.1.1
Changelog:
-Fixed a glitch that would cause subtitles to display incorrectly.
-Small tweaks to battle notification systems.
-Fixed a glitch that prevented the "Shatter" status effect from being applied.
-Fixed an issue that would cause flavor text on certain items to not show up.
-Fixed an issue that prevented music-stop notifications from showing up.
-Minor bug fixes.
It was… not as exciting as I hoped.
I missed out on several hours of heist training for this?! Damn it, Gaia, I want a refund!
Pick your next words carefully, lest you make me go full Marcus Kincaid on your ass.
On second thought, maybe this isn't so bad.
I'm brave, but I'm not that brave. Going up against somebody used to Pandora would be like walking up to Hazel and practically asking him to beat the shit out of me.
But anyway, if my last comment didn't tip you off, I'd spent the last few days crunching on everything related to the task I would be undertaking today. Acting, lockpicking, drill setup and repairs (so not looking forward to living through Drill Repair Simulator 2), basic computer interfacing, body bag usage, ammo scavenging, basically everything a standard criminal would need to know to rob a Harvest & Trustee bank and get away with it.
The ol' prof showed me to a room that was pretty much every action hero's dream - it was full of nothing but guns, guns, guns. He told me to go ahead and knock myself out concerning my loadout, trusting me not to go with anything too insane. I could only oblige him.
Two days ago…
I was following Mr. Eisenberg down a few more winding hallways. He said that it would be a good idea for me to familiarize myself with the tools I would be using to get the job done, and I agreed.
We eventually came to a stop before a heavily reinforced-looking door. The fact that it was reinforced said a lot about the contents of what was behind it without actually giving away specifics.
"Here we are," he said, going through the motions to unlock it. "Behind this door lies a veritable armory of weapons. Old, new, famous, forgotten, you name it, there's a good chance it's there. Choose wisely, as you will only be able to take a select few with you. Be reasonable, and if something rubs you the wrong way, it might be best to simply find an alternative."
He finished the preparations, the barrier whirring through a series of movements to open itself before revealing the room inside. With his job done, the professor walked away, giving me an "I'll leave you to it" before turning a corner and disappearing from sight.
I hovered in my spot for around half a minute, looking at where he'd gone off to, before turning and walking inside.
And oh, what a room it was.
Now, if you've ever seen The Matrix, then recall for a moment the armory scene. The infinite rack of weapons, stretching on and on forever and holding an endless supply of guns. This room evoked a lot of the same vibes, even without the white space aesthetic or the absurdly large selection. Rows upon rows of guns, grenades, armor, melee weapons, and a bunch of other neat toys filled the place to the brim, laid out in neat patterns that I found a serious appreciation for. I'm not ashamed to say that I spent the first full five minutes doing nothing but wandering around, staring at all my potential possessions, and trying my best not to drool.
And I would have continued to do so for the next five if I hadn't made a shocking discovery.
While I was walking down the rifle aisle, I spotted something that stopped me cold in my tracks.
"Wait a minute. Is that… no, it can't be… can it?"
One lone model was sitting on a display rack, obviously meant to draw attention. It looked heavily modified compared to others of its type sitting next to it - some of the more noticeable features were a changed barrel, stock, grip, magazine, and the addition of a dual laser sight and tactical flashlight setup, along with what appeared to be a bulky Red Dot Sight mounted on the upper rail.
But the thing about it that stood out the most was its striking Royale Blue paint job.
Which I found to be very suspiciously familiar.
No way. Gaia, you didn't…
Oh, yes, I did.
I approached the rifle slowly, and observed it when I picked it up.
SWATsbane (CAR-4)
"Cash is king."
Widely regarded as one of the most versatile assault rifles in the world, the CAR-4 is an incredibly popular weapon of choice for special forces, police, and soldiers alike. While the stock variation may seem average, its real power comes from its unbelievable customization potential, as practically every part of the gun can be modified in some way. This particular model has been in the possession of a certain heister for a very long time, and has seen many modifications over the years, eventually coming to possess nigh-impeccable stability at the cost of some slight degradation to its appearance. Because of this, it is also considered a personal weapon.
Mag Capacity: 34
Total Ammo: 150
Rate of Fire: 600
Damage: 61
Accuracy: 68
Stability: 100
Concealment: 9
Threat: 20
Reload Speed: 3.4
Modifications:
Long Barrel
Competitor's Compensator
Auto Fire
E.M.O. Foregrip
LED Combo
Pro Grip
THRUST Lower Receiver
Expert Mag
Military Red Dot Sight
War-Torn Stock
Exotique Receiver
My god… but wait. If this is here, then that means…!
I leapt away and raced off, scouring the rest of the room to confirm my theory, and lo and behold…
I can't believe it… they're all here!
The madwoman had actually gone and done it.
She'd taken all of my weapons and gear from my old Payday 2 files… and translated them into this armory.
Every. Single. One.
My first AMCAR and Chimano 88. My long-barreled Deagle. My old Interceptor .45. My mint-condition Tenochtitlan-painted 5/7 AP. My Chupacabra Little Friend 7.62 rifle. The Forked Repeater 1874 sniper. The Ancient Cobra submachine gun. Even my unmarked Chopper Krinkov. All of them, lovingly preserved and available for my selection.
This is just… wow.
You're welcome. It wasn't easy, but now you have everything you'll need to get out of this mess in one piece. Sure, there's still a good chance that you'll crash and burn, but at least now you can't say that I didn't give you a fair shot. Now, here's a breakdown of how you're gonna go about preparing for this...
Present day...
I still found it a little hard to believe that Gaia would go through all that trouble for me. But she did, and thank god for that. Anyway, she gave me a bit of a mini-tutorial on what exactly I would do to properly equip myself.
The really cool thing here, however, was that she actually let me bend the rules a little. You see, usually when you play a heist, you pick a primary weapon, secondary weapon, melee weapon, armor, throwable, and deployable, while also selecting from a wide variety of skills, masks, and a perk deck. All that constitutes a profile, and you can only have one active during a heist. But in this case, the system actually allowed me to cheat, by giving me two usable profiles - one for stealth purposes, and the other for use if I got caught and had to go loud. Though I was still restricted to only one mask, but that was fine since that was simply cosmetic and didn't change anything gameplay-wise. I was leaning heavily towards taking my classic Golden Hockey Heat, but eventually opted for my pitch-black Alpha Force set instead.
I won't bore you with the minutiae of what I ended up picking, so here's the gist: my stealth kit featured my Glitch Hunter set along with the Cotton Grips as a stand-in for the "two-piece suit," a silenced Bernetti 9 pistol with a laser sight, a pair of throwaway Deagles, ("throwaway" in the sense that they would remain unused since they weren't modded with suppressors,) a stack of shuriken, a few ECM jammers, and a switchblade. The perk deck associated with it was the Burglar deck, giving boosts to lockpicking speed, movement, and pager answering. My assault kit brandished the Improved Combined Tactical Vest, my beloved Royale Blue CAR-4 rifle, a Ghurka-coated Signature .40 pistol, a couple of HE-FD grenades, two Doctor Bags, and a pair of electrified brass knuckles that acted like tasers. I went with the Gambler perk deck for this profile, granting me the ability to heal myself by picking up ammo packs from fallen enemies.
As was customary for any heister who had been in the profession for at least a year (read: been playing as a heister), all of my guns were heavily modified. The receivers, barrels, ammo storages, and stocks when applicable were all changed from their base appearances, and most of them were equipped with a laser sight, a tactical flashlight, or both. Of course, what use the lights would have were largely situational, but it never hurt to be prepared.
It also went without saying that the two profiles were mutually exclusive. If I ended up getting discovered and set off the alarm, I would lose access to everything that the stealth kit had in favor of the assault kit. This included skills and perk decks, too. The way I'd switch would be via a special bag item contained in my inventory that stored all my big guns, which would let me switch kits upon activation.
Needless to say, it was a massive boon, considering that I would only be getting one shot at this. Specializing for a complete stealth or loud run wouldn't really be very wise without the power to reset the map if something went wrong. With this, even if I screwed up and got discovered, I wouldn't be at a massive equipment disadvantage.
In any case, today was the day that we'd be enacting the plan. We hadn't been discovered yet, but the timetable Gewehr theorized said that we would be found likely before the next time the clock struck midnight. Thus, I was preparing to move out, and running through the plan we had devised over and over in my head, cementing every step in my memory.
Basically, it went a little like this: enter the building, find the security room, open the pathways to the cannon, the file room, and the server room, get to the cannon, render it unusable, find the file room, get rid of the files relating to the cannon, find the server room, upload the program Titania created to wipe out all the digital files on the cannon save for a select few, send those select few files directly to Ironwood, escape. Not necessarily in that order - each of the three main objectives could be completed in whatever order I desired, which I thought would actually give it a lot of replay value if it was a real level. The only ones that couldn't be done out of order were the first three and the getaway, for obvious reasons.
Anyway, I went off to go do some last-minute training. I had a bit of time left before our scheduled departure time, and I intended to squeeze in a last little bit of grinding before the job. But…
When I was walking by Petra's room, I was shown a subtitle that displayed this:
Sigh…
I stopped, transitioned to my idle animation, and stared at her door, left slightly ajar.
Should I be cursing Gaia right about now?
Pondering that for a moment, I eventually went up and peered inside, revealing the daughter to be lying on her bed. Her back was to the floor, her eyes glued to the ceiling, and her legs dangling off the side.
...ahh, what the hell. Might as well do my duty as a Scout and cheer her up. Maybe make up for all the times I failed to do so in my last life. I'll probably fuck it up somehow, but hey, it's the thought that counts? Or something? I dunno.
I opened the door and stepped in.
The room itself wasn't anything special. None of us had really gotten the chance to do any personalizing, on account of the fact that they had left all their stuff at their house and because we were all hard at work preparing for the heist. All it really had to offer was a bed, a desk and chair combo, a dresser, and that was about it.
I made my way over to the desk, grabbed the chair, dragged it closer to the bed, and sat down.
We were both silent for a moment, neither of us really sure how we wanted to start the conversation.
After a minute, I decided that since I was the one who intruded, I might as well finish what I instigated.
"So… what's up?"
Not exactly the best kick-off in history, but I was confident that it at least passed inspection.
"...I don't know."
"You… wanna talk about it?"
She was silent for a moment.
"Not really, but… if the stories I've read have taught me anything, it's that if I do, I'll feel a lot better about it."
"Okay. So what's the deal?"
She lifted herself up, resting her elbows on her legs, and her chin in her hands.
"Well… you remember what I said back when we first met?"
"Yeah. Something about this being the one time both your parents were with you at once?"
"Uh-huh. I guess that's the best place to start. See…"
And then she told me everything. It took the better part of ten minutes for her to get all of it out, which was honestly pretty terrible.
The basic gist was that ever since she was born, both her parents had been focusing more and more on their work. They wanted only the best for her, but they also took care not to spoil her too much. Unfortunately, with the jobs they had, they could never fully commit to that. The best they could do was take turns and try to give their little Iron Girl as much love as they could. In a way, they succeeded, but definitely not as much as they would've liked.
They'd repeatedly expressed their desire to reduce their workload, but Atlas wasn't exactly very keen on letting two of their biggest contributors start slacking off because of a silly little thing like "family."
Sheesh. Commandant Steele must be getting impatient with finding that Vault. Heh.
...I swear, if there actually is an expy of her in the government, I'm murderizing her as soon as possible, consequences be damned.
In any case, that led to poor Petra being a little… I'm not sure if "starved for affection" is the correct term for it. Maybe something a little more along the lines of "affection deficiency," since she still got some, just not as much as she should have.
The problem was made even worse because the school she went to was filled to the brim with classmates taught from birth to be extremely competitive due to Atlas's nature. Everyone else was convinced that the only reason she wanted to be friends with them was so she could obtain information, weaknesses, and blackmail material on them. Personally, I found that strange. I expected them to promote a sense of unity, since, y'know, they're the country with the reputation for integrating huntsmen into their army, but that wasn't important at the moment, and I never claimed to be all-knowing about sociology and other stuff like that.
Thus, we came to the current problem: her conflicting feelings about the current situation. Sure, she was none too happy about being hunted down and forced to stay in an uncomfortable room in a cold, uniform bunker, but this was also the first time she could remember where she really had the chance to bond with her parents, and she didn't want to let go of that opportunity so soon. Once this was all over with, either the status quo would reign supreme and she'd go back to being lonely, or she'd be stuck in prison, or worse.
Jesus… talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"I just… I just want to be with mom and dad, no strings attached. None of this stupid political stuff forcing us together. Is that really so much to ask?"
She flopped back into her previous position, staring upwards with dead eyes.
"Huh… sh*BEEP*t, girl. That's rough."
The sheer hilarity of my censored curse snapped her head back up to focus on me in a severe case of mood whiplash.
"...what in the world was that?"
"Oh, the bleep? Nothing you need to worry about. It's just something I developed to conserve the innocence of anyone I met who still had some. How it works is irrelevant."
She obviously believed otherwise, but smartly elected to drop the subject and let her head fall back down to the bed.
I figured that I might as well get on with what I came here for.
"Alright, here's my opinion on this little dilemma of yours. To reiterate: your parents' jobs leave them with practically no time for you, and your local school environment heavily discourages friendship, meaning you suffer from a lack of companionship and appreciation. Do I have that right so far?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Then here's what I think: you need a bit of a change in setting. A new environment, somewhere without the problems of this one. A place where you can make some real friends, have some good sense of camaraderie."
She lifted herself back up, this time leaning back and using her upper arms as supports.
"What do you mean?"
I could tell that she already had a bit of an idea of where this was going, but I decided to hammer it in anyway, since she asked.
"What I mean, Petra, is that as soon as the opportunity presents itself, you get the h*BEEP*ll out of Atlas. I don't care how, I don't care where, just get off this floating city. If you decide to stay in an environment like this, without any friends and deficient parental attention… well, I think it's safe to say that human nature will eventually force you to self-destruct, and that won't be pretty. What you need is a place where you can be given the proper care and affection that you need to function properly. You get that, and there's a significantly larger chance of you being happy."
"'Significantly larger?'"
"Look, I'm not a psychiatrist, okay? I never took any psychology courses before my home was overrun by Grimm, so I can't claim that my treatment is foolproof. But if you can't get the love you need here, then, well, why not try to find it somewhere else? Does that make sense?"
She sat back up and put her hand to her chin.
"...I have to admit, when you word it like that, yeah, it does kinda make sense."
"You see? I may not be able to fully empathize with you, but sometimes all it takes is an outsider's perspective for you to make a better choice. In fact… you're trying to become a huntress, right?"
"Yeah. Third year at Compass. Why?"
"Well… why not go to Beacon after you graduate? I have a few friends your age who'll be heading there after they finish their fourth year at combat school. In fact, I believe that if you met a certain younger sister of one of them, you'd hit it off instantly."
"Really…? You know, that actually doesn't sound half bad, now that I think about it. Besides, looking back, I don't think I ever really wanted to be a soldier anyway."
I thought for a moment that it was the classic 'doesn't follow orders' problem, but then a different one came to me.
"Boot camp?"
That elicited a laugh.
Seems I was right on the money.
"Boot camp, definitely. Even if Compass's environment is hostile, the rumor mill's still relevant. And with that comes various horror stories of what goes on at Atlas Academy."
"...I feel frightened to ask."
"Oh, believe me, you should. Some of the stuff that people say goes on inside that place is… not suitable for young ears, to put it lightly."
We were both chuckling at this point.
"Something tells me you've already been mentally scarred."
"Totally."
We spent the next few minutes just bouncing off each other like that, trying to make each other laugh. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
"Alright, alright, that's enough of that. I still have things to do, and you need some last few moments of togetherness before the status quo rears its ugly head."
I could tell that upset her, but she did a pretty good job of hiding it.
"Yeah… before everything goes back to normal."
All I could do was offer some last words of comfort before departing.
"It won't be so bad. You just have to last 'til graduation, and then you're home free."
"Home…"
"...anyway, I'm off to go stuff in some last-minute training. See you around. Wish me luck on the heist, maybe pray to whatever gods you have, hope one of 'em listens. If you're an atheist, well… I suppose you could just believe that the Random Number Generator doesn't screw me over. Bye."
However…
"Zeiss, wait."
Turning back, I saw that Petra had stood up and approached me.
"Yeah?"
She appeared to turn over what she wanted to say in her head, eventually settling on a method.
"...thanks. For listening to me vent about all that… and for cheering me up. If what you said was any indication, I really needed that."
I simply offered a smile.
"You're welcome. We future huntsmen have to stick together, after all."
And with that, I walked out and headed for my previous destination.
At the Xiao-Log Cabin…
"Today's the day…"
"Yep. Let's hope Zeiss makes it through."
Alert!
"Huh?"
Spectator mode now available!
Party leader Zeiss Serven is about to begin a heist!
Would you like to activate spectator mode?
Y | N
"Well, well… what do we have here?"
With the protagonist...
When the crosswalk light signaled it was safe, I began making my way across the street.
A few moments later, I was standing in front of the building housing everything responsible for this mess.
Alert!
You have entered a heist area.
The heist [Gewehr: Atlas Mugged] has been initiated.
Track Cue: Break the Rules - Stealth (PAYDAY 2)
Difficulty: ️ ️ ️OVERKILL ️ ️ ️
Casing mode has been activated. Mask on to start the heist.
Here we go.
Before I sallied forth, however, Gewehr's voice crackled in my ear.
"Okay. Zeiss, do you remember the plan?"
"Yeah."
"Good. So, first things first, find the ladder to the rooftop."
Objective activated: Find the ladder
With that clarified, I began walking around the campus.
The building itself had three visible floors, but that was just a cover for everything contained underground. It was about as big as… say, an average hospital. Not as big as a school or university, but not as small as a corporate building.
Right now, I was looking for the ladder that would lead me to the roof, since going through the front door was inadvisable due to all the security. Soon enough, I found it near the back-left side of the structure, guarded by a single security camera.
Huh. Only one? Bit of a pitfall. Have they gotten complacent, or are they just that arrogant that the place could never be infiltrated on account of its location?
"Okay, there it is. Now, get up to the roof."
Objective updated: Reach the roof
Cutting off my train of thought before I went off on another rant, I stepped close to the surveillance device and moved out of its field of vision. After doing so, I reached into my inventory and pulled out my mask, sliding it over my face.
With casing mode now removed, I was free to do what I wanted. So I did the logical thing and put the camera on a footage loop.
First try… looks like the training paid off. I'd better get moving - it won't last forever.
Quickly striding back to the ladder, I began climbing up.
It was a bit of a grind, but eventually, I made it to the top. Peeking over the edge, I saw that the roof was pretty much unguarded.
Wow. That's just… no words. Seriously, guys? Are you trying to get yourselves robbed?
"Good. Go open the door with the code I gave you and get inside."
Objective updated: Enter the facility
Climbing over the safety fence, I leisurely walked up to the door and typed in a five-digit code on the keypad next to the knob. The light on top flashed green, and I pulled it open, revealing a flight of stairs.
After reaching the bottom, I was greeted with a couple of hallways.
"You're in, perfect. Now, find that security door and get it open. If you don't want to use one of your ECMs, I suggest finding the Head of Security's office and swiping his keycard. And remember, watch out for cameras, wandering guards, and civilians. The last thing we need is for someone to raise the alarm right now."
Objective updated: Find and open the security room door
I decided to try going for the keycard. Luckily for me, the office wasn't very far.
However, it did also house the occasional guard, not to mention routine civilians. It took a bit of ninja-ing and exploitation of the detection system, but I was able to make it to the office. Unfortunately…
"The keycard isn't there? Shoot. He must have picked it up when he went on patrol. I don't know when he'll come back next, so I think it might be best for you to cut your losses and just force the door open."
I agreed with the professor. The guy could be anywhere right now, and we were on a bit of a time limit. I exited the room and made began to make my way to the security door.
When suddenly…
YOU'VE BEEN DETECTED!
"Hey! You!"
Shit!
I turned a corner, and came face-to-face with a guard.
Fortunately for me, his weapon was still holstered.
Mine wasn't.
PTEW-PTEW-PTEW!
"Ack-!"
He fell to the ground, three holes in his body. One on the torso, another on the chest, and the last on his head.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…
Then, as was customary for any downed guard, the pager operator called.
"Hey, is something happening down there?"
Quickly grabbing hold of the body, I dragged it over to a nearby supply closet.
Huh… that's convenient.
The pager guy was starting to get annoyed.
"Come on, pick up the pager, you know the drill."
I picked the lock as fast as I could, and swung the door open right when the operator gave his last warning.
"Look, I don't care whose dick you're sucking, pick up the damn pager or we'll send a team."
I silently cursed the fact that I wasn't allowed to laugh at that line as I dragged the guard's body into the supply closet and answered the man in the nick of time.
"Sorry, sorry, really sorry. Was fiddling with the pager and dropped it down the stairs. Won't happen again."
"Oh, I see. Uh, just a second…"
I held my breath…
"Alright, that checks out. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, 'kay?"
I let out a relieved sigh that somehow turned into an aggravated one halfway through.
I haven't even reached the security room yet, and I'm already down a pager. Fuckin' hell…
Shaking away my self-hate, I shoved the dead guard into a body bag and tried my best not to make it stick out in the supply closet.
Thank god for the Burglar deck's bonus to lockpicking, though. If I'd been just a bit slower...
Once that was done, I resumed dodging everything on the way to my current objective.
A minute or so later, I finally reached my destination, and not a moment too soon. Sticking an ECM jammer on top of the keypad (which I idly noted as bearing the brand of a company called MurLoc), the door swung open, revealing a guard standing in front of a wall of monitors.
PTEW!
The brand-new bullet in his brain ensured he was off to the afterlife before he even hit the floor.
It also ensured the reappearance of Pager Man.
"Dispatch here. Is everything okay?"
I was much quicker on the draw this time.
"Yeah, just panicked when I spilled my coffee and accidentally knocked the pager off. You think I should switch to decaf?"
"Ah, just a minute…"
Krschhhhhhh…
"Okay, you're clean. And for the record, you probably should."
That's two pagers down. Two more, and the next time a guard sees me, the alarm's going off no matter what I do.
Just to be safe, I moved the body to a spot that was out of the field of view of anyone entering through the door.
I then received another message from my resident Mission Control.
"Alright, now you need to access the system and open the way to the underground. It's a little complicated, so I'll walk you through it."
Objective updated: Get to the facility's underground level
A streamlined series of instructions later, the door to the stairs leading to the first basement level of the building was unlocked.
"Good job. Now you just have to get there. Should be a bit easier now since the cameras won't be watching your every move anymore."
And what a blessing that was. Not having to worry about setting off the alarm because I stepped into the view of a trollish computer with a lens was quite the load off my back.
A few minutes later, and I was descending down into the cellar without anyone the wiser.
Objective updated: Find the cannon
Objective updated: Find the file room
Objective updated: Find the server room
"Perfect, you're in the restricted area. Remember: burn the papers, delete the files, stop the cannon. You can tackle them in whichever order you want, but try to do it as fast as you can."
Checking the new objectives, I discerned that the file room was the closest, and decided to head there first.
While I was en route, however, I was given another surprise.
"Oh, no… I'd heard they would be integrating AK-130s into the routine patrols, but I didn't think it would be happening this early! Stay away from those things at all costs - they've got built-in cameras broadcasting to an entirely different building, so even if you do take one out, the alarm will still go off. And honestly, do you really think you'd come out on top in a fight with a highly advanced military machine while using only a silenced pistol?"
I was inclined to agree with him. Sure, bullets could penetrate various metal alloys with ease (unlike what Hollywood would lead you to believe), but I wasn't too confident in my suppressed Bernetti's ability to pierce the material of an Atlesian Knight. Muzzle velocity could be a bitch like that sometimes.
Unfortunately, avoiding the AK-130 led to a different problem.
YOU'VE BEEN DETECTED!
"What the-"
Damn it!
PTEW-PTEW!
"Urgh-!"
Because OF FUCKING COURSE there had to be another guard right there.
And right on cue, you-know-who called.
"Ughhh… alright, what is it this time?"
Thankfully, I had arrived at the file room door by that point, and the lock was significantly easier to pick than the supply closet for some inexplicable reason. Placating the irate surveyor was the next item on the list.
"Sorry, just got bumped by one of those mousy interns. Must've hit the pager on collision. I'll try not to let it happen again. And whaddaya mean 'this time?' Bad day or something?"
"No, just… hold on a second."
I had to admit, the poor guy probably didn't deserve all the shit he went through, judging by the limited tone of voice the pager projected.
Of course, that didn't mean I wouldn't stop pinging him. Necessary evils and all that.
"Sigh… You're fine. I've just been getting a lot of accidental calls today because of some really stupid shit. Fuck, payday can't get here any sooner."
I strained myself to the limit trying to hold back a guffaw at his unintentionally hilarious choice of words.
Oh, believe me, it'll be here much faster than you think.
There was a larger chance of someone wandering into the file room than a supply closet, so I bagged the dead guard and inconspicuously shoved it between two out-of-the-way cabinets.
My objective marker changed again, and the voice in my ear came to life.
"That's the file room, nice. Not so nice is the fact that I don't actually know where the cannon's specific files are, so you'll have to manually search the cabinets until you find what you're looking for."
Objective updated: Find the correct files
Tiny interactable icons appeared on every single cabinet in the room upon activation.
You've gotta be shitting me…
A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME THAT THE AUTHOR HAS CHOSEN NOT TO DISCLOSE LATER…
Objective updated: Burn the files
Oh my god, FINALLY!
The stack of papers that was now in my hands was about as big as a small school textbook. Needless to say, gathering them all without letting any slip off to drift to the floor was a bit of a pain.
But the feeling of absolute vindication I received from setting them aflame with a lighter I had stored in my inventory was so utterly worth it.
And then a nameless asshole decided to get suspicious and ruin the moment.
The moment I heard the door behind me open, I spun around and used the momentum to flick a shuriken at where I assumed his center of mass would be.
Believe it or not, my aim was off, and the projectile barely missed his side.
"Whoa!"
However, it also held his attention long enough for me to bring up my trusty sidearm and pop a cap in his ass.
PTEW!
"Ghhk-!"
Quickly dashing out, I retrieved the tiny throwing star from where it had been embedded in the wall, then dragged the body into the file room.
Just in time for the pissed pager operator to call again.
"For fuck's s-are you serious?! What the hell is it this time?!"
Hooo, yeah. He sounded just about ready to snap and murder the nearest person in an insane rage.
"Whoa, hey, no need to shoot the messenger! I was just taking my snack outta my pocket and it somehow brought the pager out and made it fall! What's going on with you?"
"Grrrrmph… ahh, just-just hang on. I need to…"
Krschhhhhhh…
"Gahh, you're good, but you know what? I don't care if it's National Drop Shit Day or whatever. If I hear one more fucking pager go off, I'm sounding the god damn alarm."
Holy wow… that's a man I wouldn't want to cross in the rec room.
I was out of body bags, so I elected simply to stash the corpse somewhere that let it stay as out of sight as possible.
With that finished, I left the file room. Scrutinizing the markers, I determined that the server room was the next closest objective, and began to make my way there.
I suppose this would be the best time to mention that over the course of time that I had been here, I had also been collecting the required materials for my soon-to-be discount Gundam. At that point, I had obtained 7 of the 12 Advanced Cores, 10 of the 16 Upgraded Lenses, and had gotten my hands on 1 of the 8 Knight Control Devices that I needed. I had yet to see any of the 4 Silver-Class Airship Cores, or either of the 2 Prototype Paladin Hearts.
I say this was the best time to mention that because while I was heading towards the server room, I stumbled upon a certain room.
Said room was the main area for weapons development, and lo and behold, it was completely empty.
Every one of the things I needed to build my giant robot was tucked away in there, and I had the most golden opportunity I'd ever get to swipe them all right in front of me.
But, of course, I hesitated.
This seems… well, I'd be deluding myself if I said this didn't look like a painfully obvious trap. I mean, there's no way they'd all just leave at a certain point, right? Yeah, there's definitely something off about this. But… argh, all that loot is right in front of me, and I don't know how I'll be able to get it after all this. I'm not sure what Atlas's stance on me will be after this all blows over, but I can't risk losing this opening on the off-chance that they decide to lock this all away from Gewehr and I once they secure it again.
I would have deliberated a bit longer, but the appearance of another AK-130 made my decision for me. I quietly slipped into the room, and began my looting spree.
One power trip later, I had nicked everything this place had to offer with regards to my little pet project.
Bonus Objective complete: Steal all available resources for Ares 90 construction
I didn't know if the Knight was still hanging around the door I entered through, so I went with a different one.
This door led me to a very… well, special room. One even more important than the last one.
For you see, this room contained something that arguably had as much value as a Skell.
The room itself was almost like the main exhibit of a museum. It was almost as if it was constantly trying to direct your attention to a single point of interest - the sole item sitting on a support in the middle of the room.
Hyperclock Gear
An item created by some of Atlas's best and brightest minds, this strange little gizmo contains an unbelievable power. When it is used, it boosts the combat ability of the user to never-before-seen heights, increasing all parameters way past what is believed to be their limits. However, this comes with a steep price. The power required to make proper use of this boon typically far outweighs the maximum amount that the user possesses, and all tests so far have resulted in the user collapsing long before reaching what has been theorized to be the point where the boost wears itself out. In fact, the input required is so massive that even every machine tested with it couldn't handle the strain and ceased to function. Due to these reasons, Atlas has stored away the technology, and has begun to research a possible method to negate or at least lessen the energy costs before integrating it into anything else.
-Grants the [Overdrive] Skill when used.
Oh…
Oh my…
Oh my fucking god…
This wasn't happening.
This wasn't happening.
This. Wasn't. Happening.
First the Ares 90, and now Overdrive?! Fucking hell, this skill alone had the potential to turn every single boss left into a complete cakewalk! Why was this even here if the admins wanted this game to have even a slight modicum of balance?!
Wait, though. The item description really goes out of its way to emphasize how dangerous this thing is to use. The devs wouldn't just put this in here if it was as broken as its original appearance. There's definitely a drawback… it does mention that there's a major discrepancy between the energy required to maintain the overdrive and the maximum capacity of a typical test subject. Which means it's either cast from mana, hit points, Aura, or some other kind of innate power source possessed both by humans and machines. Judging by what it says happened to all the test subjects though, it seems like it's either HP or AP. And for whatever reason, the system treats those as both, so it's going to be hit points anyway. So… using it will probably come with extreme consequences to my well-being.
Despite this train of thought, I began to reach out to the object.
But… hell if it won't be badass!
CLICK-CHUK!
Only to be cut off by the sound of a door opening.
I immediately whirled around and brandished my pistol towards the entrance…
...only to be stopped dead in my tracks by the realization of exactly what I was pointing my weapon at.
YOU'VE BEEN DETECTED!
"INTRUDER. IDENTIFY YOURSELF."
Ohhhhh, noooo...
A/N: Aaaaand CLIFFHANGER!
Heh. Always wanted to do that. Anyway…
Yeah, this is one huge Payday reference. This chapter covered backstory stuff and the 'stealth' portion of the heist. The next chapter will cover the 'loud' portion of the heist, as well as the escape sequence. The chapter after that… well, you'll have to wait (for my lazy ass to start writing again) and see.
Speaking of backstory stuff, at first I wasn't planning on having Zeiss and Petra converse, but then I realized that what I had planned for the future was going to seem much more out of left field if I didn't give her more screen time and some motivation, so I wrote that scene. I'd like to say that it came out at least passable, but the absolute worst person to ask about the quality of stuff you make is yourself, so I'd like to hear your opinion.
By the way - MurLoc is a parody of GenSec. GenSec's full name is Generic Security, and originally I called the knock-off NorLoc, short for Normal Lock, but then thought of the Murlocs and thought it would be a silly way to reference them if I named the company MurLoc.
In any case, that's all for now. Get ready, 'cause the next chapter features action, drill repairing, hacking, and of course, refrainment from acting dumb! (And breaking the rules.)
See you then!
[TRANSMISSION ENDED]