Chapter 8

Sutter Warehouse, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
November 3, 3067

The dawn was breaking, and the warehouse complex was still asleep. Only a small number of thugs with Rorynex SMGs roamed the warehouse, waiting for the sun to come out and their shift end. If it was not because of them, it was impossible to imagine that this complex housed one of the leading underground mafias in Montenegro.

Behind the bush in front of the complex, Stan, Jenny and Jeremy crouched silently, observing the thugs that loitered about like busy bees patrolling their hive. The darkness gave them advantage, but they took their time. They knew they had at least 1 hour before the sun came out.

"I see three guards on the front," Jeremy whispered. "Another one smoking at the left side."

"Take out the three and snatch the smoker?" Jenny suggested.

"Right," Stan nodded. "I'll take the one on the left. You get the one in the middle. Jeremy," he shot a firm stare, "take out the right one. Do not make a sound."

"Relax," Jeremy snorted. "I know how to do this!"

Stan led the three crawled out of the bush. He hadn't crawled on the ground since his days at Free World army, and he felt his joints were rusty. Fortunately, Montenegro was saddled with large areas of abandoned industrial districts, and Sutter Warehouse was no different. Industrial wastes littered the ground, and the mafia never cared to clean them up, and Stan easily moved from debris to debris, taking advantage of the darkness.

The smoking guard suddenly decided to quit and joined the guard on the left, the one Stan supposed to attack. Now Stan had to deal with two guards instead of one. He cursed, realizing how much fight he had to put up to knock one out and disable the other. In his glory days, he might be able to do it. But now, he was way past his prime. He had to find a way to do it.

Stan's military mind kicked in. If Jenny and Jeremy attacked first, the two guards might get distracted. It would give Stan a second to launch his attack. But if he was late, Jenny and Jeremy would get hurt. He didn't care much about Jeremy, but he didn't want Jenny to be harmed. The painful memory of him dragging Major Tom out of his burning mech quickly came back and tortured him. No, he couldn't let it happen again.

But Stan saw no other choice. Jenny and Jeremy were in much better shape than him, and they had to fight only one guard. He needed that diversion. He needed that extra second. Stan scanned the area and watched Jenny and Jeremy in position, ready to attack. Reluctantly he gave the signal to Jenny, while preparing himself.

Quick as a cat, Jenny jumped out of her refuge and landed a hefty kick to the unsuspecting guard in the middle. The black-suited man flew some feet behind and crashed into a garbage can. The guard on the right widened his eyes in surprised, but Jeremy leapt and swung his sheathed katana at the guard's head. Blood sprayed from the man's nostrils as the katana's handle ruptured his nose bone. He staggered to keep standing, but Jeremy followed up with a back kick to his jaw. With a loud crack the man stumbled to the ground.

The two guards in front of Stan quickly readied their sub-machine guns, but Stan jumped as fast as he could, then slammed the butt of his pistol at the back of a guard's head. The guard sloshed to the ground as if his bone turned to mush. The last one, the smoking guard, turned at Stan but Stan's pistol was already pointing at his forehead.

"Drop it," Stan hissed between panting. "Drop your gun."

The guard dropped his Rorynex, just as Jenny and Jeremy arrived. They helped Stan drag the guard back behind the bush. Stan took some time to regulate his breathings, then shoved his pistol under the guard's chin. "Where's the girl?"

"What girl?" the man cringed.

"I don't have time for a game," Stan cocked his gun. "I'll ask you again..."

"You're not gonna shoot me," the guard grinned. "Your bang will wake the entire complex. You'll have to deal with the entire Bertoli clan."

"Ah," Jeremy unsheathed his katana, "then you have to deal with this." He pressed the tip of the long blade on the guard's belly. "Your scream will wake the entire complex, and we still have to deal with the rest of you. But you... you'll have to pick up your guts..."

"Alright, alright," the guard caved. "I don't know what you're talking about, but we don't do hostages here. Hired gremlins do that kind of works."

"Give us the name," Jenny interjected.

"Are you kidding me? There are dozens of them!" the guard bemoaned.

"Which one deals with Mac Storm?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know the name, but he's the best hire," the guard replied. "90 West and 210, The Wasteland."

"There. Was it so hard?" Jenny winked, then butted her Mydron at the guard's head, knocking him unconscious.

"I told you this would come in handy," Jeremy smiled while slinging his katana back on his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, big deal," Jenny took the guard's Rorynex and tossed it to Jeremy. "Here, use this. Give me back my pistol."

Stan looked at Jeremy and wondered why he couldn't like the young man. He was efficient in and out of a mech, and he got along fine with the rest of the stable members. Maybe he was being prejudiced about Jeremy's past as some kind of an heir to a periphery warlord. There was something about Jeremy that he didn't like, and he didn't know what it was.

"The Wasteland," Stan said, referring to the deadly abandoned industrial area of Montenegro. "Stay sharp, people. This is gonna be tight."

The Wasteland, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Alliance,
November 3, 3067

Amber felt her head was about to explode. She didn't know where she was. She lost track of time. All she knew was this hideous headache. Every time she felt better, some guy put something in her vein that made her head throbbing with pain. She couldn't even open her eyes. Her lids felt like bricks.

Today was a little better. She could see blurred images inside the room. It was a typical room with scattered things... some things... everywhere on the floor. She could see things, but she couldn't see what they were. And she could see that she was not alone in the room. A dark shadow walked back and forth across the room.

Was it the same shadow that she saw in the stable? Amber couldn't tell. She vaguely remembered what happened, but she could remember that she was fighting something... somebody... inside Ground Control hangar, before everything turned into a haze. Amber started to recall things, but she was too weak to sew everything into a solid event.

Then something rang. It must have been a comset or a telephone line. Amber heard the shadow picked up the receiver and talked, "Yeah... hm... hm hm... what? Am I compromised? Damn... alright!"

Amber knew that voice. She had heard the male voice before, but she didn't remember when or where. The man slammed the receiver and rushed to do something... she couldn't see what he was doing, but she could hear bangs and things being knocked over and something heavy getting dragged across the room. She tried painfully to open her eyes, but all she could see was shadows zipping left and right.

Suddenly a large glass exploded, and something like a door blasted. Machine gun rattles echoed in the room, while something like a large-bored pistol barked intermittently. Ricochets reverberated all over the place, and Amber could tell even more things got knocked over.

What the hell is going on? Amber fought her headache and opened her eyes, watching three more shadows hoping around with muzzle flashes, while the fourth shadow moved erratically from corner to corner. It jumped from one corner and attacked a man carrying an automatic weapon with 3 consecutive kicks. The man blocked two of the kicks, but the last hammered his knee. A loud crack ensued, followed by the man's agonizing cry. He dropped to his knee, and the shadow sent its fist into the face, sending the gun-wielding man to the ground.

Another shadow lunged and fired a punch at the shadow in the middle. It ducked hard to avoid the attack, then got up and scored a good jab at its attacker's solar plexus. The attacking shadow doubled in pain, and the shadow in the middle grabbed its collar then swung its club-like fist into the man's temple. The shadow teetered in its feet before slumping to the floor.

Yet another shadow fired its gun 3 times. Amber heard the shadow in the middle groaned, but it managed to recoil to its right and sank an elbow into its attacker's ribcage. A muffled scream escaped the shadow's mouth, and Amber heard a female's voice. The male shadow fired a hard knee into the female shadow's face, sending her crashing to her back.

The sudden burst of action awakened Amber a bit, and now she could see things a lot better. The shadow in the middle was a tall man in dark apparel, while the other three wore lighter clothings. One of the light shadows got up and drew some sort of a long, thin blade. This shadow was clearly the leader of the pack. His move was more precise, more accurate than the other two. It swung its blade, but the dark shadow picked up another blade and blocked the attack. The sound of the blades bashing each other roared.

The light shadow retracted its movement and stood with its blade pointing forward. The dark shadow lunged and swung hard. Its blade was bigger and heavier, and the impact almost threw the light shadow off its feet. The dark shadow attacked again, and the light shadow was pinned on the wall. The dark shadow raised its feet and decked the light shadow with its knee. Amber heard a painful groan, which she assumed coming from the light shadow. It slumped to the ground, and the dark shadow raised its wide blade to make the final thrust.

Should I cheer or should I be afraid? Amber didn't know which one was the good guy and which one was the bad one. Perhaps both were bad guys who were fighting over something. She didn't know it for a fact, so she blinked several times to get a clear view. Her vision went better and better, and now she could see that the dark shadow was a bald man, while the light shadow on the ground had long mullet. But she still couldn't see their faces.

The bald man thrust hard but the mullet guy blocked the attack with his thin blade. Again a loud clang echoed, followed by grunts and intelligible curses from both men. The mullet man kicked the bald man's knee, sending him spiralling into a cupboard. As the mullet man dragged himself up, the bald man came back and made a hasty swing. The mullet man blocked the attack while pivoting, then thrust his thin blade into the bald man's midst.

Amber heard a muffled gag as the thin blade went through the bald man's back. The bald man shook and trembled while trying to grasp the mullet man. The mullet man retracted his blade and made a wild swing. Amber saw a lot of fluid splattered onto the wall, before the bald man fell to the floor.

Now what? Amber watched the mullet man leaned on the wall, taking several breaths, before helping the other two get up. She heard a lot of 'Are you OK' among the three, then the mullet man approached her. Amber didn't know if he was going to kill her or release her, so she tried to find a better look at the man's face. It wasn't necessary. The man held her shoulders and put his face closer to hers, until Amber could see his face clearly.

"Jeremy?"

"Hang in there, girl," Jeremy used his long blade to free her. "We'll get you out of here."

That was the last thing she remembered. Her effort to follow the action scene was too much for her weak body. She lost consciousness as Jeremy and the other two shadows hauled her out of the place.