Chapter Eleven
July 15th, 2077
Night City, Northern California
Badlands, Jackson Plains
The human race is no stranger to war.
No stranger to bloodshed.
When a battle began in antiquity, it was to the beats f war drums pounding in the distance.
As humanity advanced in technology, so did the means and sounds of warfare. Drums turned to trumpets, trumpets turned to whistles, and whistles turned into the crack of gunpowder rifles.
Therefore, it came as no surprise when Cyrus's first confrontation with the Kang Tao Mercs commenced with an ear-splitting explosion.
The transports were dispersed around the desert, forcing Cyrus to navigate rugged terrain to reach the nearest crash site. Off in the distance, the sun broke through the horizon, shining a beaming light upon the land and making a quiet approach impractical.
This would be a straight-up fight, something Cyrus was not used to even giving his adversaries.
Shrubs of grass and jagged rocks littered the landscape providing the Headhunter decent concealment and cover. Chamber went to work scanning local radio waves for the Kang Tao communications network.
While she did her job, Cyrus committed to his.
Minutes after shooting down the struggling AV, he arrived at the first Kang Tao transport. On the other side of a cluster of rocks, his motion tracker identified fifteen contacts.
When it came to 'unplanned' landings, the mercenaries used traditional military techniques. The survivors were already hastening their approach to the other crash sites, seeking to regroup with other friendly assets in the region.
Cyrus was not interested in fighting the ordinary Mercs. If he was going to find Hellman in time, he needed to figure out where the Nightstalkers were located.
'Chamber,' Cyrus called out. ' I need their comms and a fix on the Nightstalkers.'
'Just a moment….' Chamber replied, her eyes scanning through numerous radio channels before finally fixing on the Kang Tao comm channel. '… Done.'
Cyrus's audio receptors came to life as Mercenary voices began filtering into his helmet.
'Viking, this is Hazel 3. We are pushing for Rally Point Omega now. Pilots and Mechs are KIA. Over.'
He trailed after a large gathering of Kang Tao Mercs as they pushed North to a second crash site. Chamber sent Panam and V a data feed, giving them the Kang Tao communication network and troop displacement.
'Hazel 3, this is Viking. Solid copy, Hazel 1 and Hazel Two are already at Rally Point Omega. Double time it to the RV point. Over.'
'Viking, this is Hazel 3. Solid copy, give us five mikes. Out.' Cyrus noted the callsigns in the field, Hazel was the Infantry squads, and Viking was the Nightstalker callsign. No designation or mention of Hellman as of yet.
'Cyrus.' The Headhunter was moving parallel to Hazel Three when Chamber caught his attention. 'V's on comms.'
'What is it, Vargas?' The Mercenary's tone was frantic.
'Cyrus, you need to get to the Rally Point now!'
'I'm trailing a Merc squad to the location. What's the problem?' Cyrus ducked beneath a piece of foliage.
'The Aldecaldos are walking straight into the Kang Tao crash site. They need back up now!' Cyrus cursed under his breath.
'Understood.' Cyrus broke off from the mercenary squad, running at his highest speed to reach the rally point.
'Viking, this is Hazel Two. We have contacts approaching from the south. Please advise. Over.'
'Hazel Two, this is Viking. Take them off the fields, leave no witnesses. Over.'
Cyrus was running out of time.
'Viking, this is Hazel Two. Solid copy engaging now. Out.' An orchestra of gunfire echoed through the desert.
The Headhunter's legs found new life thanks to the sound of chattering firearms. A map of the region popped up in the top right corner of his HUD, mapping out the Kang Tao and Aldecaldo approximate locations.
'Vargas, what's your location?' V got back to him in seconds.
'Four minutes out!' V replied. 'How far are you?'
'Two minutes,' The Spartan answered. 'Do you have the Aldecaldo radio channel?'
'Yeah, Panam's synced in, but we can't reach them. Signal's bouncing all over the valley.' Cyrus switched his attention to Chamber, running past a field of cactus.
'Chamber boost Panam's radio signal!'
'On it!' A moment later, Chamber got back to him. 'Were set. They should be receiving now!'
'Vargas, can you reach them now?' V's voice sputtered over the comm channel.
'Yeah, we're receiving, how did you-.' Cyrus interrupted her question.
'No time. I'm approaching from the south. Make sure they don't shoot at me because I will shoot back.' Cyrus vaulted over a pack of stray coyotes. The mother howled at the Spartan as he came inches from crushing her babies.
It was a race against the clock, the Aldecaldos may not be his friends, but they were not his enemies either.
For Cyrus, that was enough reason to keep them alive.
He just hoped he'd get there in time.
Mitch couldn't understand how this day went so wrong so fast.
He'd been having a good week so far, completed some gigs for the family, he got to see Panam again, Scorpion wasn't a pain in the ass.
So how the hell did he end up in a firefight with Kang Tao Mercenaries. The Aldecaldo supposed it was because of his curiosity.
He and his companions saw an AV being blasted out of the sky and decided to investigate. To either assist survivors or to plunder the AVs of all their expensive loot.
Scorpion took four nomads on ahead to investigate, and it only took a minute to find out why he stopped responding on their comm frequency.
The gunfire was a dead giveaway.
Mitch and the rest of the nomads raced into the gunfire, joining Scorpion and his team in a ferocious firefight with visibly agitated Kang Tao Mercs.
'Get down!'
Mitch dove to his right, face smacking the desert floor-filling his mouth with grains of sand.
An explosion threw up grains of sand and dirt into the sky, covering the Aldecaldo in a sheet of dust. The Nomad who called out the warning was rewarded with a bullet through his right shoulder. Those that managed to survive the fragmentation opened fire on the Mercs who tossed the grenade.
Bolts of tracers flashed above his head, saturating the air with the crack of hot lead.
Mitch drew his Ajax and fired off a burst of rounds at a Kang Tao gunner, blasting the Merc's face in a shower of blood. Scorpion slid next to him, bullets kicking up sand and chipping at the rocks all around him.
'So, we're fucked.' Mitch gave his friend a scathing look. Even if the asshole was right, it didn't mean he wanted to hear it out of him.
'We wouldn't be here if you hadn't run off!' Mitch watched a Nomad shoot down a Kang Tao Merc with a blast from his Nekomata. 'Rick! Rick! Fall back to the rear, see if you can pick these guys off!'
Rick, the group's sniper, beat feet to the rear of the Nomad's staggered formation. He passed a trio of his companions, providing accurate covering fire in return. The Aldecaldo's only numbered ten now, they used to have fourteen, but the Kang Tao Mercs were responsible for the reduced numbers.
'Hey! I didn't know they were Mercs, ok!' Scorpion popped from cover, pinning down a group of Mercs taking cover behind a cluster of rocks.
'Tell that to Jacob and Yurik!' The Veteran scolded. 'Now shut up and keep firing!'
Mitch shuffled to his left, settling his lower body in a kneeling position.
He shouldered his Ajax and fired off another burst of lead, piercing the armor of a Battle Mech.
The Mech's central processor malfunctioned, causing it to fall backward while still firing its rifle and cracking the skull of a Merc before the magazine on its Copperhead ran empty.
The firefight grew in intensity as both sides traded blows.
An Aldecaldo Nomad had their head taken clean off by the M-91 Sentry Gun deployed from the AV-16. When Mitch deployed his men to assist Scorpion and his group, he inadvertently put them in a precarious position.
The jagged rocks served as cover for protection and barriers that made disengagement to their vehicles impossible. The AV-16s turret kept them all pinned in the rocks forcing the Nomads to engage in a brutal slog with the Kang Tao Mercs.
During the gun battle, the mercenaries pushed their position, separating them from their vehicles.
Mitch saw Nightstalkers among their number, but they hadn't committed to the engagement and instead hijacked their vehicles and retreated to the North. The Veteran was confident that they were escorting a Corpo suit, but he had other problems to worry about.
'Mitch, do you copy?!' The Aldecaldo comm feed lit up, and Mitch let out a sigh of relief.
'Panam!' He exclaimed with relief. 'Damn, it's good to hear your voice, girl. We could really use some backup right about now.
'Don't worry. We're almost there!' An explosion forced Mitch to the ground. 'We'll be coming in from the west, but we also have backup approaching from the south. Do not shoot him!'
'What does he look like?' The Veteran inquired, popping out of cover and sending a Merc to an early grave. 'Would be a shame to shoot him on accident.'
Mitch frowned when he heard Panam chuckle at his inquiry. 'Don't worry. You'll know when you see him.'
An incredulous look crossed his face, even as he relayed the information to the rest of the Nomads. Scorpion was grinning ear to ear, having heard Mitch's conversation with his favorite sister.
'Panam's on her way! ' Mitch shouted towards the remaining Aldecaldos. 'Until then, check your fire. Apparently, there's someone else out in this desert coming to help us. '
Mitch and Scorpion both popped out of cover, exchanging another burst of gunfire with the Kang Tao Mercenaries.
Both men were adamant about seeing the light of day again, and they were prepared to kill to do so. Mitch noticed an increase in activity among the Kang Tao Mercs as gunfire and screams broke out from their rearguard.
Something was tearing through the Mercs from the south, and the Veteran could only hope it wouldn't kill them too.
Cyrus fell upon the Kang Tao Mercs with a shower of high-powered projectiles from his SOR-22. The precision rifle was the Spartan's best firearm in his possession, accelerating bullets at exceedingly high speeds.
The rounds tore through three Kang Tao Mercs', leaving fist-sized holes in their bodies and blasting apart their composite armor. The mercenaries quickly responded by dispatching a fireteam to engage Cyrus before he could roll up their flank.
'Viking to all callsigns. Viking is moving the Asset out of the hot zone! Hazel One follow in our wake. Hazel Two and Three hold the rally point. Over. '
'Viking, this is Hazel Two. We've been engaged from the south. Unknown classification. Over. '
'Hazel Two, this is Viking. Hazel Three will reinforce your position in five mikes. Hold them off as long as you can. Out. '
Hellman was being evacuated to a different location, and if Cyrus wanted to catch him, the Headhunter would need to wipe these Mercs off the map.
The only positive outcome to Hellman's departure was the removal of Nightstalkers from the immediate vicinity. They were allowing Cyrus to engage the Mercs and mechs without him needing to look over his shoulder too much.
For now, at least.
Cyrus broke from cover, leaping over a pair of boulders and sprinting toward the closest Kang Tao Merc. The Mercenary's response was hindered by the intensity of their firefight with the Aldecaldo's.
Cyrus bludgeoned a Merc's head with his rifle's stock, cracking the man's skull and making his body go limp. He grabbed the Merc by the scruff of his neck, turning him towards his compatriots and launching him like a missile at the group of Mercs.
The human projectile smashed against a Kang Tao rifleman, knocking out the soldier of fortune. The rest of the Mercs turned their attention to the Spartans but were quickly gunned down in a burst of accurate gunfire.
Cyrus mounted a nearby boulder and took stock of the situation in front of him. The Kang Tao forces ahead numbered twenty-two in total, a mix of BattleMech's and Infantry supported by the M-91 Sentry Gun mounted on the AV the Kang Tao forces were surrounding.
The Aldecaldo's were ten in total, and their presence served as a distraction for a fraction of the Kang Tao forces. Those units that weren't engaged with the nomads were rushing towards his direction. He sighted his SOR-22 firing off two high-powered shots that cut a Merc's torso in half.
Cyrus reacted faster than the Mercenaries could respond, firing fired at the necks of two riflemen and watching mists of blood populate the desert floor.
The Mercs were dropping like flies, and their radio operator was turning frantic.
'Hazel 3, this is Hazel Two. Where's our backup! Over!'
'Hazel Two, we are two minutes out. Hold on!' Cyrus spotted the Mercenary radioman, sighting his SOR-22 quickly and squeezing off the last round in his magazine.
'Hazel Two cop-Arghh!' The Kang Tao Mercs head exploded in an orgy of blood mid transmission.
'Hazel Two, do you copy. Hazel Two, are you there… Shit!'
'Contacts are approaching our six o'clock.' The Headhunter's eyes found his motion tracker, his brows narrowing on the hostile contacts approaching his rear.
Cyrus stood tall and slid down the boulder he was riding on, drawing his Lexington and Kukri. He rushed towards a pair of Kang Tao CQC specialists, backpedaling away from him in fear.
He snatched the helmet of a Merc, clutching a Carnage and crushing the man's head with a simple squeeze. The Merc's head imploded under the intense pressure; blood and bits of brain matter leaked in between the Spartan's fingers.
'Holy Shit! ' His companion dumped an onslaught of rounds into the Spartan's ribs. Watching helplessly as his Saratoga did nothing but bounce off MJOLNIR's energy shield.
Cyrus slashed at the Mercs throat, splattering blood on the rock next to him. He grasped the headless Kang Tao mercenary by his robotic arms and kicked the body towards another squad of mercs.
The flying corpse landed a mere few feet from the Kang Tao squad, caking them in crimson red. In response, the Mercs spread out in a tight formation, surrounding a Heavy gunner sporting an M-60 machine gun.
'Take him down! Take him down! '
A hail of gunfire bracketed Cyrus's position forcing him to relocate behind a cluster of boulders.
'Chamber?' The Headhunter bit out. 'Is that Overheat ready? '
'Ready and waiting!' The AI replied with glee.
'Target the heavy gunner, on my mark. ' Cyrus peeked from his cover, watching bolts of lead fly above him. 'Mark!'
Chamber executed a cyber-attack on the Heavy gunner's neural network. Sweeping aside his cyber defenses with ease and damaging his internal processors, a coordinated strike quickly overheated his body to lethal levels.
Cyrus timed his strike with Chamber's attack, watching the Kang Tao gunner explode in a burst of electricity. The explosion startled his compatriots and left them paralyzed to the Spartans assault.
Cyrus broke through the lapse in organization, quickly slashing through the Mercenary squad leader's jugular while simultaneously smashing the sternum of another Merc.
Morale quickly broke down amongst the remaining soldiers, giving Cyrus little difficulty in ending the skirmish promptly.
Red dots that were converging on the Headhunter's position retreated North.
'Fall back, I repeat, all Hazel squads fall back to RP Omega now! Viking, this is Hazel Actual. We are being overrun!'
'Viking copies all hold your ground, Hazel. Out!'
Cyrus took a deep breath as he removed his Kukri from the left eye of the last surviving Mercenary. 'Chamber, how many Mercs are left?'
The AI's avatar popped onto his screen, expanding the map to encompass the immediate AO. Twelve blue dots were clustered together, engaging the rest of the surviving Kang Tao soldiers.
'Two squads worth, and they still have the AV-16 operational.'
The grunts were still a sizable force, numbering around twenty-five, and they were putting a lot of pressure on the Aldecaldo's position. Holstering his Kukri, the Headhunter's feet shuffled to the north, drawing a Lexington in each hand.
Cyrus was ready to end this charade of a battle with finality.
Panam and V rolled up to the beleaguered Nomad's minutes after contacting them. A ricochet hit Panam in the ribs while fighting off a trio of Kang Tao sentry drones responding to the crash.
Panam's eyes widened in shock as she found Mitch and Scorpion; unfortunately, Scorpion had a gunshot wound in his right thigh.
Even as Mitch applied pressure to the Nomad's wounds, the bleeding continued unabated.
'Scorpion!' Panam rushed to her brother's side, eyes filled with rage-filled sorrow. 'What happened!'
'Fucking Mech caught him in the firefight!' Scorpion screamed in pain as Mitch applied a fresh gauze to his wound. 'Damnit! I think his artery got nicked. I can't stop the bleeding!'
Another screech of pain reverberated through Scoprions throat, forcing Mitch to shove him onto his back. 'Panam, we gotta get him out of here now!'
'We can't leave until these guys are dead, Mitch!' V slid to Panam's left, kicking up dirt as she fired off a pair of shots at a Kang Tao Mech.
The Battle bot felt the first round penetrate its upper cortex shattering its armor, and the second shot landed just behind the first one destroying the mech in seconds.
'Well, then we better get to work,' V patted the Aldecaldo on the shoulder. 'Keep me covered, boys. '
'V!' In an aggressive rush that took the Kang Tao soldiers completely by surprise, the Mercenary sprang out of cover and charged with reckless abandon. The Nomads were similarly taken aback by the action, which temporarily suspended the exchange of gunfire before it erupted again with a vengeance.
V kicked out the legs of a Kang Tao rifleman in the midst of clearing his jammed gun. The soldier fell to his left knee before she shoved a Unity into his mouth and pulled the trigger. A wave of crimson red exited out of the soldier's skull, and bits of brain matter clung to her pistol.
She ducked behind a jagged rock and utilized her cyberware to activate a Kang Tao specialists frag grenade prematurely.
'Grenade!' A few mercs manage to dive for cover, momentarily saving themselves from an early grave. However, the Kang Tao specialist could not save himself when the frag detonated while still attached to his vest, killing him and two of his friends.
V fired off six more rounds, killing three Kang Tao mercenaries, before a Kang Tao Berserker engaged her. She dodged a quartet of swipes from the Berserker in quick succession, frustrating him within moments.
V batted his assault to the side on a fifth strike, sweeping his legs and causing the Berserker to lose balance and fall face-first into the ground. She quickly planted a ballistic shell through the Berserker's head, killing him instantly.
V couldn't savor the kill because a wave of lethal gunfire from a host of Kang Tao soldiers forced her to seek shelter.
The soldiers rose out of cover in waves throwing down a deadly swap of gunfire with V and the Aldecaldos. The firefight had already claimed the lives of many Aldecaldos, shredded by the time Panam finally got involved.
She opened up a barrage of automatic fire on the remaining mercenaries, switching from Mechs and Soldiers based on proximity.
V was chucking grenades to their flanks to thwart the Mercs from reorganizing into a more cohesive force. She was about to pop out and return fire, but a familiar sound of Lexington pistols discharging drew her attention.
A familiar, damn near helpless feeling followed the gunfire, but all it did was lift her spirits.
When she peered out from behind her cover, she observed Cyrus tearing through the Kang Tao rearguard with savage violence. He unleashed a volley of lethal and accurate gunfire, instantly killing 10 Kang Tao soldiers.
'What took you so long, Cyrus?!' She bellowed at her Spartan ally.
'Got held up. ' The simple statement served to make V roll her eyes in exasperation.
She fired from her position once again, but this time her rounds came in bursts of three meant to suppress the Mercenaries. A Kang Tao soldier jerked back from a ricochet shot to his head, the projectile barely penetrating his helmet but still killing him instantly.
Panam moved around the right flank, backed up by an Aldecaldo equipped with a carnage.
She found decent cover and immediately opened fire on the closest Mercenary shattering his larynx and skull in a burst of rifle fire.
The Kang Tao resistance to the three-pronged onslaught diminished, and the remaining Mercs sought to find what little cover was around them.
'Panam, check your right!' V yelled. 'Merc coming up on your left! '
Panam reloaded her Copperhead, sending a spent magazine tumbling on the ground and ducking underneath the Mercenary's gun before jamming the end of her rifle into the Mercs gut.
The rifleman collapsed to the ground after a secondary attack knocked out his teeth. Panam reloaded her Copperhead and fired two more shots, puncturing the man's chest with bullets.
The last Kang Tao squad leader seemed to understand their precarious situation more easily and chose to engage the Spartan head-on.
Confident in his abilities to stem the tide and save his men.
V witnessed the man's attempt to shatter through the Spartan's armor with a concentrated burst of ammunition, but an odd light reflected off the Headhunter's armor.
She could only watch in confusion as Cyrus disregarded the Squad lead as a viable threat, snapping the neck of his companion with a flick of his thumb.
The Kang Tao NCO's rifle ran empty when Cyrus fell upon him, driving his Kukri through the side of his head and wrenching the man's head off with one great heave.
V was stunned to see the soldier's head come clean off and even more bewildered when the Spartan picked up the severed skull and launched it at another Mercenary.
'Oh my god,' V almost threw up in her mouth.
The remaining Aldecaldos watched in silence as Cyrus tore through their adversary with practiced ease. The M-91 Sentry Gun's targeting system could not keep up with the Spartan's incredible speed, explosive shells falling well behind his feet.
Within seconds, he closed the distance between himself and the control console, reaching his right fist back and punching a hole through the console.
As the static emplacement lost its functionality, the Sentry Gun's tremendous firepower was immediately cut. V and the Aldecaldos dispatched the remaining Mercenaries moments later.
Cyrus holstered his Lexington, confident that the skirmish was finished, but his auditory sensors continued to pick up the sounds of combat. The recognizable crunch of a rifle stock caving in a skull arose from the other side of the AV.
Turning the corner, he found Panam straddling a Kang Tao mercenary. Long after the Merc had died, the Aldecaldo continued beating in his fractured skull. Panam's rage poured out of her body with each earth-shattering blow.
'You. Mother. Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit.' A vicious assault accompanied every word upon the Mercenary's skull, and the crunch of shattered bones reverberated throughout the valley.
Cyrus found himself standing a few feet from Panam, unwilling to intervene. V joined his side not long after, unsure how to stop the Aldecaldo's violent reprisal.
A hand grabbed the stock of her rifle, and with unbelievable strength, Panam was slung back to her feet, her weapon removed from her bloody hands. She reared her arm back and tried to take a swing at the perpetrator, but Cyrus stopped her in its tracks.
'Panam,' V's voice echoed through her head. 'It's over.'
Panam was at a loss for words as memories of her friendship with Scorpion rushed through her head. Despair and a crushing feeling of grief-struck her body like a hammer as the fourth stage of grief coursed through her veins.
Panam ripped her limb away from the Spartan, wrapping her arms around herself in anguish.
Cyrus watched V approach the blood-soaked woman, and she wrapped her arms around Panam carefully.
Panam broke down into uncontrollable sobs a few moments later. All the while, V softly murmured into her ear, trying to comfort the grieving woman the best she could.
The Aldecaldo's were everything to Panam, and when a piece of that family was taken, she took it the hardest of anyone.
Cyrus quietly studied the women, appearing more like a watchful protector than the ruthless killer he truly was. He knew they could not loiter here for much longer.
Hellman was on the move and every wasted second allowed the distance between them to grow.
'I'll find Hellman,' Cyrus whispered to V, who glanced at him out the corner of her eye. 'Stay with her. I can handle this alone.'
The Spartan shot off in pursuit of his main target, doing his best to ignore V's gaze trailing his back.
Eyes focused, nerves settled, the Headhunter rid his mind of other thoughts.
Hellman was all that mattered to him now, even if he knew that was a lie.
Night City, Northern California
Jackson Plains, Arnolds Gas Station
Cyrus followed the Kang Tao Mercs' trail to a fuel station two kilometers west of the crash site. The Kang Tao Nightstalkers ordered the remaining infantry squads to act as a rearguard, but they provided little resistance to the Headhunter.
Cyrus posted up on a ridgeline east of the fuel station, marking targets and performing general reconnaissance.
The Kang Tao Mercs remaining strength comprised of twelve Mercenaries and four Nightstalkers that had so far managed to avoid engagement.
Cyrus was confident Hellman was being held at this location.
The Nightstalkers wouldn't risk his safety.
The Mercs were evenly distributed around the station, and two riflemen took up positions on the roof.
Four riflemen were protecting the garage area, making a makeshift barricade out of confiscated civilian vehicles. Two Kang Tao snipers armed with Nekomata rifles were stationed on the scaffoldings attached to the fuel's stations solar tower.
The remaining four were posting security along the perimeter, supported by two security turrets.
The Nightstalkers were split up, with one assisting the mercs on the roof and the other monitoring the station's perimeter from the inside.
Cyrus was convinced his SOR-22 could take down the Elites in one shot, but the moment he fired, they would be all over his position.
Most people would have been startled if they heard footsteps approaching from behind them, but the Headhunter benefited from a motion tracker. A familiar pair of eyes examined him as two bodies crept up on either side of him.
'I told you I could handle this.' V gave him a telling glance.
'You did.' She admitted, turning on her side. 'We chose not to listen to the brain dead advice.'
'So, eat a dick.' Panam's vulgar language had not subsided. 'Now, are you going to tell us how many of these assholes are here? Or am I going to have to beat it out of you?'
Cyrus had to remind himself that he was not dealing with a Spartan Fireteam or even UNSC Marines.
The few times he interacted with the UNSC rank and file were short and to the point. They never argued with him, either out of fear or a simple desire to remove themselves from his presence.
Panam's crass and increasingly unprofessional attitude was always throwing him for a loop. V was even worse, constantly grinning as if she knew something he didn't.
These two were growing into a constant irritation.
Eventually, Cyrus chose the path of least resistance.
'Sixteen contacts insight,' Cyrus informed. 'Three Mercs on the roof, two in the solar tower, the rest are on the ground watching the perimeter. Our Nightstalkers are split. One is providing support from the roof while the other three are inside guarding Hellman. There are more than likely more Mercs inside.'
'So, how do you wanna play this?' The Headhunter tilted his head in thought, observing the main building's structure and the adjacent tower.
V was carrying two Unity Pistols and a confiscated Copperhead while Panam toted an Overwatch sniper rifle. Their armament was sufficient to engage these Mercs; all he needed to do was develop a decent plan.
'Vargas, you attack from the rear. Make sure Hellman doesn't sneak out the back door.' The Mercenary nodded in affirmation, sliding down the rockface before peeling south to her position.
Cyrus turned to his other compatriot. 'Palmer, stay here and provide support with your Overwatch. Aim for the Nightstalker on the roof first. I'll hit them from the front and draw as much attention as I can.'
Satisfied with his battle plan, Cyrus unlatched his SOR placing it to the right of Panam, and she gave him a quizzical look in response. 'You run out of ammo, use this, and keep firing.'
Panam nodded sharply, shouldering her Overwatch and bracing its bipod in a stable position. Cyrus was sliding down the rockface when the Aldecaldo called after him. The Spartans tacpad lighted up as he turned to face the woman, a request for connection emanating from Panam's communications device.
'Just in case you need to talk to me, and V.' Panam's attention remained fixed on the gas station, and without hesitation, Chamber accepted the connection for Cyrus. 'And good luck.'
'Won't need it.' The Aldecaldo felt a ghost of a smile reach her face.
'Asshole.'
Panam's Overwatch triggered the next hostile confrontation with the Kang Tao Mercs. A powerful round blasted into the targeted Nightstalker's sternum, blowing a pink cloud of mist into the air and startling the other Mercenaries.
The Aldecaldo promptly racked the next round, piercing the head of a Kang Tao Mercenary on the roof with a second fatal shell. In sync with Panam's firing, Cyrus began his own assault.
He immediately drew the notice of the Kang Tao Mercenaries on the perimeter. Two Mercs with Ajax rifles opened fire with all the firepower they could muster upon Cyrus.
He ducked in between each barrage of gunfire, shoulder slamming into the nearest Merc, fracturing his collarbone, and knocking him to the ground.
'Die fucker!' The rifleman's partner discharged his Ajax into the Spartan's back, but Cyrus retaliated with a burst of ballistic shells into the Merc's upper face, shattering the man's cranium.
The station's auto-turrets began targeting Cyrus, dumping heavy-caliber rounds into his energy shields.
'Shields at seventy percent!' The AI exclaimed. He rolled behind a civilian vehicle parked in the street and signaled for Chamber to engage. 'Commandeer those Sentry Guns.'
'All over it.' The AI's brute force program penetrated the Stations defense network shattering its primitive cyber program. Within milliseconds Chamber had control of the guns and scrambled their IFF identification tags.
The Sentry Guns seized up for a moment before readjusting their targeting programs and engaging their former owners.
When a Sentry Gun targeted a Kang Tao Mercenary, he was braced against a civilian Thorton. A 7.62 round fractured his left forearm, prompting the Merc to fall to the ground. The second wave of bullets blew off the top of his skull, showering those nearby in a mist of crimson intermingled with bone shards.
Panam steadied her breathing and fired a round into the head of a Kang Tao Sniper in the Solar Tower, her hands firmly clenching the powerful material rifle.
As an Aldecaldo, she had spent years learning the ins and outs of all kinds of firearms.
This Overwatch belonged to Scorpion, and he used to take her out hunting when the Aldecaldos made camp in the Badlands. Panam had to spend years building up the correct amount of strength to tank the material rifle's recoil, but she still felt the painful kick to her shoulder.
The Mercs armor did little to negate the impact, cracking his helmet with sheer kinetic force alone and punching a hole through the man's visor. His body went limp as it registered the death-dealing round before falling onto his back.
Panam immediately shifted her fire onto the other Merc posted in the radio tower. The sniper discharged a retaliating round, missing her by inches and skipping off the rock to her right.
She fired off her own reprisal, watching the material round tear through his sternum and explode out the back of his sternum. Eventually, the final Merc on the station roof fired off a burst of projectiles in her direction, forcing Panam to slide down the rockface for safety.
'I'm displacing,' Panam called over the comm net. 'No Sniper support for thirty seconds.'
'Understood,' Cyrus replied. 'V, what's your location?'
'Breaching the rear now.'
Copperhead raised and waiting. The Mercenary kicked down the rear entrance of the gasoline station. A passage to the right led to a side area where an ancient weapons seller was hiding. When she first arrived in Night City, V purchased an Overture from the old man.
She ignored the side room and pushed into the station's main compartment.
Two Mercs were laying down fire toward the front of the station, engaging Cyrus's hulking form.
V opened fire right as several more emerged from the station's garage. The two Mercs didn't know what hit them until it was too late, bullets perforating their backs and leaving them nothing more than bleeding corpses.
Their fellow Mercs immediately set their sights on V once they fully emerged from the garage area. She rolled over the countertop, barely avoiding a burst of lethal 5.56 to the throat.
One Kang Tao soldier attempted to flan her from the Buck a slice compartment to her front. But he sorely underestimated V's reflexes, receiving a burst of 7.62 from V's Copperhead.
The Kang Tao Mercs opted to trade gunfire with V for a time, but soon they started peeling back towards the garage one by one. After suffering a casualty, the mercs locked the door behind them, separating V from the garage where Hellman resided.
V communicated to the Headhunter quickly. 'Cyrus there falling back to the garage. Hellman might be inside.'
'Gain access to their security cameras.' The Spartan replied. 'I'm breaching the garage now.'
Unperturbed by the Kang Tao tactics, the Mercenary followed the Spartan's instructions. V hacked into the station's security network, taking control of the security cameras within seconds.
She took stock of the Kang Tao layout within the fortified garage.
Four riflemen were taking cover in the service area, mounting their rifles in the undercarriage lever. Two more Kang Tao heavy gunners were posted on the stairwell to the manager's office, fixing their MG's against the railing.
V spotted the Nightstalkers loitering with a contraction near the garage shutters. It took her far too long to realize they had planted a bomb directly upon it.
The same shutter Cyrus was breaching.
'Cyrus, wait!'
Cyrus finished off the rest of the Kang Tao soldiers protecting the station's perimeter. A gun battle had erupted inside during his engagement, signaling to him that V had breached the station's back door.
He was just about to break through the garage door when she called out a warning to him.
His movements halted at V's warning, but an implosion from the garage doors took priority. Metallic shrapnel ripped through the air covering the Spartan's armor in scorching fragments.
Cyrus had little time to recover because a shimmering katana flashed across his visor. Forcing the Spartan to roll backward away from the lethal blow, within seconds, that strike was followed by more impulsive assaults from another pair of Katanas.
He flipped over a civilian Thorton, kicking it on his way down with such force the automobile launched like a missile towards his attackers.
The makeshift projectile gave him the necessary room to observe his adversaries. Three Kang Tao Nightstalkers decked in top-of-the-line composite armor. Two of them were armed with thermal Katana's, while the third, their leader, was sporting a pair of electrified Mantis Blades.
'Cyrus, you need backup?' V inquired with a tone of concern.
'Negative breach the garage and acquire Hellman. Panam and I will deal with the Nightstalkers.'
'Damn right,' Panam interjected. 'Get your boy V. Cyrus, and I will handle these clowns.'
'Are you sure you're ready, Panam?' Cyrus asked.
'Don't doubt my aim, CY. Drag them to the street, and I'll have a clear shot. Either way, these jokers a dead.'
The Headhunter shifted his focus back to the trio of Nightstalkers approaching him. Cyrus noticed V creeping in behind the Stalkers and engaging the Mercenaries still inside the garage as his boots backpedaled slowly towards the highway behind him.
The gunfire or screams did not deter the Kang Tao Elites. Instead, they were entirely focused upon Cyrus.
'Panam?' He intoned under his breath.
'Just a little more CY.' Panam's rifle was able to discern the Nightstalker's feet but still had no kill shot.
'There's a price on your head, butcher.' The metallic tone from the lead Nightstalker caught his attention. 'And we intend to cash in.'
'You're going to have to earn it, Merc.' At that moment, Panam's Overwatch howled, unleashing a devastating anti-material round into one of the unsuspecting Mercs.
The Nightstalker to the leader's left never felt the round's impact, her cranium exploding like a watermelon splattering the surrounding pavement in crimson red.
'KILL HIM!' The Nightstalker Leader exploded into action, her comrade's death kicking off her aggressive assault.
With marginal effort, Cyrus parried a pair of swings from the Kang Tao Elites Mantis Blade. The Blades chipped away at his forearms, slamming into his energy shields with impressive strength.
'Shields at sixty percent!' Chamber informed hastily.
'DIE!' The Nightstalker screamed in fury as her blades scratched along Spartan's cheek sparking off his energy shields once again.
Her companion swiped at the Spartan's forearm, forcing Cyrus to divide his attention between the two combatants and parry a storm of attacks. The two Kang Tao Elites were well trained and moved with enough speed to protect the other when an opening presented itself.
Panam broke the stalemate by firing at the closest one, forcing the Nightstalker leader's survival instinct to kick in. Her round missed by inches, but it did the appropriate job of separating the two Kang Tao Elites.
Cyrus seized the isolated Nightstalker's left wrist and kicked her in the sternum, sending her crashing to the ground. With a heave, he pulled on her arm, tearing it free from the woman's body.
The Stalker screeched in unbearable pain before the Spartan silenced her with his boot.
'NO!' A metallic screech came out from the final Nightstalker as she unleashed a storm of uncoordinated strikes.
Cyrus stood there watching as the Elite seized her blades and slammed them against the pavement, causing sparks to fly as the razors moved into a low sweeping strike. He avoided the swipe by raising his left leg and spinning with his momentum before unleashing a roundhouse kick into the woman's back knee.
As a consequence of the impact, her leg shattered, her bones splitting in two, and her knee went sideways.
Cyrus's Kukri found a temporary home in the woman's throat and pierced out the back of her espohagus. He planted his foot onto her chest, kicking her off his blade and leaving the Kang Tao elite to choke on her blood.
'Jesus CY,' Panam commented grimly. 'You really know how to treat a woman.'
Instead of responding to Panam's comments, the Spartan cleaned the blood off his Kukri. The occasional gunfire from inside the station gradually faded away, leaving just the wind to be the only audible source in the valley.
'Vargas, is the target secure?' Her voice called back a moment later.
'Bagged and tagged. I'm coming out now.'
Cyrus took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. With each passing exhale, his anxieties and adrenaline began to calm down. Panam joined him on the ground soon after, throwing him his SOR-22 with a shit-eating smile on her alluring face.
'Well, that was fun,' The Aldecaldo glanced at the dead Nightstalker. 'For most of us, at least. You ever try MMA, a guy your size and your skill would make a killing in that sport.'
Cyrus only stared at Panam in disbelief. Most people would shrink back in fear at such a glance, but she doubled down, her smile broadening for a few passing moments.
Her expression softened as she gazed off into the horizon, neither of them able to break the awkward tension.
He was turning towards the garage when a hand snatched at his forearm. It took every ounce of strength to prevent his instincts from snapping the offending limb. He returned his attention to Panam, who was adamantly refusing to look him in the eyes.
'Look….' She began slowly. '… I'm not the best when it comes to saying thank you, but. Thanks for saving Mitch and the rest. You didn't have to, but you did, and that means a lot to me.'
His silence made Panam cringe on the inside. She wasn't the best when it came to expressing gratitude to anyone, including family.
However, this was one of those times it was absolutely needed.
'Your welcome,' Cyrus replied carefully. 'I'm sorry about Scorpion.'
Panam only nodded in thanks, letting her hand drop tentatively when V's teasing voice echoed through the station. 'Are you guys bonding without me?'
'Yes, actually,' Panam shot back with faux-venom. 'Then it was ruined by a red-haired hag.'
As she adjusted the body of Anders Hellman hanging over her shoulder, the Merc leered back. Cyrus's gaze shifted away from V and onto the good doctor; a preliminary scan from Chamber revealed that he was still alive, just asleep.
'Well, all's well that ends well.' Chamber's chipper voice startled the Spartan. 'Now, do we get first dibs, or does V?'
The roar of rumbling engines gradually encroached upon their position. Cyrus palmed his precision rifle when V's hand caught his arm.
'Don't worry.' She assured. 'I know those engines well enough. There Aldecaldo vehicles.'
Cyrus relaxed his posture, but V did not release her grip on his arm. Instead, it slowly trailed along his outer arm with subtle squeezes as the Mercenary explored the Spartans physique.
The Headhunter, unable to truly comprehend what was happening, chose to focus on the incoming Aldecaldos.
'V!' Panam's indignant voice joined the roaring engines. 'You fucking whore, quit feeling him up!'
V's smirk only grew in size. 'What you can cop a feel, but I can't. Where's the justice in that.'
Both women fell into a useless argument that soon devolved into insults to one another's bodily features. Neither truly putting any weight into their words. Cyrus knew a tension breaker when he saw one; both of them were distracting themselves from the day's events, even if it was entirely childish in his opinion.
Chamber's voice drew his attention. 'I suddenly dislike them both very much right now.'
'What?' His AI ignored his words; instead, her perception focused on the offending hands of Panam and V.
'No one touches my boy without my permission.' If Chamber possessed a living body, he imagined she would be beating both Panam and V bloody.
Cyrus observed the Aldecaldo and Mercenary closely.
Given their characteristics, he would not have predicted becoming acquainted with either of these women. Conflict and bloodshed, on the other hand, had an odd way of bringing people together.
Cyrus snorted at such a remark because that was precisely how his team came together. The Headhunter stepped past the fighting pair, halting their conversation in its tracks.
'Hey,' V called out. 'Where you going!'
'Don't like crowds. Call me when you're done with the nomads and not before.' The pair could only watch the Spartan disappear into the desert.
Both women held somewhat puzzled looks on their faces, and yet neither was surprised by his departure.
The irony was not lost on either of them, a vicious death-dealing super-soldier who flung bodies around like they were nothing. Was terrified about the prospect of being around too many live bodies in one place.
You could not make that shit up.
'So,' V taunted under her breath. 'Were on a nickname basis now? They grow up so fast.' Panam rolled her eyes at the obvious taunting effort and chose to double down.
'What you think you're the only person that can get a nickname around here? The world doesn't revolve around you, Merc. I thought you figured that out when Cyrus saved your ass in Rocky Ridge.'
'Last time I checked, you were there too. Pissing your pants and crying for mommy.' V shot back.
'Oh, up yours, V!' The argument reached a new intensity in immaturity and viciousness. Cyrus was correct in separating himself from the duo for the rest of the day.
The Spartan's already precarious sanity could only take so much nonsense.
Second largest chapter of the bunch, but that pales in comparison to how many people are interested in this story. As I write this message, there have been over two hundred followers and well over 150 favorites. Didn't think it would get that high, but it has so THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT.
As always reviews and criticism are welcome and very much encouraged.
I have two songs that kind of get my brain moving while writing this fic.
One is a song that is played in Peaky Blinders and I think it epitomizes a Headhunter's demise.
The other is all about crossing a human boundary that cannot be conquered by a single individual such as a raging river.
You get a cookie if you can name them both first try.
Hope you all enjoy and have a great rest of the month.
Reviews:
no169: Chamber has only been in commission for two years, one of those was spent with Cyrus. As for the rest of his team, One has its own destiny with fate on Reach, the other is a possibility.
liuhong2001: No covenant or and other Halo elements outside of Cyrus and his team will make an appearance.
tamagat: He could but it's not a priority at the moment, his resources at his disposal are enough for him.