Chapter Ninety-Four - Gun's Blazing

I entered the portal, then checked the area. Already, I could hear some sounds from further in, fighting, screaming, both orc and human, and the occasional shot that echoed through the stone-lined corridors.

A few dead orcs were left on the ground, heads blown off. Since I was alone, however, I decided to be careful, at least for now.

The room was relatively large, and a bit echo-y. A tap of my foot on the ground bounced off the walls, so whatever stone they were made of carried sound well. A short whistle did the same. It'd be tricky to stealth in here, then, but not impossible.

I found a pair of dead Synthcorp security personnel to one side, both of them laid out with straight arms and eyes closed. They'd been laid to rest, then. Their gear was stripped, but I couldn't tell if that was by orcs or the other troopers that came in here.

The sounds cooled off, and I went on alert, then ran to cover as I heard shuffling coming from deeper within.

An orc stepped into the room, followed by a half-dozen others. It was slightly larger than the rest, half a head taller, and wearing both a gambeson and more intricate armour. It had a breastplate on, with a tasseled skirt made of leather straps with metal disks and an all-metal helmet that covered much of its face except for the mouth and eyes. Judging by the dents and pockmarks, someone had shot at him a few times already. The armour had a hole to one side, where some buckshot had blown past the metal, but the wound beneath didn't seem to bother the orc much.

A boss? No, bosses didn't usually breach, or leave their room. So a sub-boss, then.

He grunted to his pals, gesturing, and a couple more entered the room, dragging bodies with them.

One handed the sub-boss a shotgun. Not a tube-fed one, but a large combat shotgun with a boxy magazine.

Yeah... no good.

I stayed behind cover, waiting. The orcs looked over the guns, and one of them shot into a corpse on the ground. They grunted, pleased at figuring it out, though judging by how they didn't pick up the ammo left on the dead guards, they hadn't figured it all out yet.

I was starting to really hate fighting tool users. I waited a few minutes, and eventually three of the orcs stepped out, and two more left with the sub-boss, going deeper into the portal world. That left four of them lingering around the portal room. They left soon after, but returned pulling dead humans along after them.

So, the clean-up crew? I could take them.

Sliding out from behind cover, I raised my new gun and fired. Ten shells, plus one in the tube, was more than enough to really mess up a few orcs who weren't expecting it. The last of the four gave me some trouble when he dove behind cover, but his knee stuck out, and it didn't handle a slug well. When the orc fell, I walked over and finished him off, then started to reload.

It wasn't fast enough. A new orc ran in before I was halfway done, and when I put him down, he was replaced by two more, then the sub-boss returned, and he wasn't alone. He came with a dozen more orcs, in half-worn armour, some only carrying what they could grab.

I swore up a storm, backing up and shooting where I could until I had to drop my gun to pull out my revolver.

Then one of them shot me. It was mostly a whiff. Mostly. I screamed as I felt my sides torn into by a half-dozen pellets and the punch sent me tumbling back.

I fired upwards at the nearest orc, but soon they were on me and--

I Reloaded.

"Dammit," I swore.

Going in gun's blazing was not going to work. Not while I was alone, in any case.

The Storm Chasers had likely managed it because they were a team of sixteen. At that rate they were probably only outnumbered three to one, and they had six D-rankers and plenty of guns.

Solo? Yeah, there was no way I was going to work through that portal solo if I went loud.

So, what was my other option? Going in stealthily?

It... might work, maybe.

I worked my jaw as I started to ride, eschewing the stop at Jane's place this time. Instead, I went home, walked into my apartment, and collapsed onto my bed. I was exhausted. This was only my third attempt, though. I had time... but it was better to not let that fatigue grow.

So, I took a three hour nap, woke up as the sun was rising, and then changed and headed out.

This time, I took the shortcut over, saving myself a half hour and getting used to the road.

Instead of heading to the Synthcorp compound, though, I moved into town and to that little cafe. When I arrived, I ordered more carrot cake, a large coffee, and then started to chat with the locals.

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I was... maybe a little forward and too straight with what I was looking for, but I got the answers I needed.

Mostly, I wanted to know who was in charge around here.

As it turned out, that was a more complicated question than I was prepared for. There were a few prominent people in town, but for what I was looking for, Gabby the friendly community centre lady who ran the local daycare and who did a bunch of seasonal events was probably not the person to ask.

Eventually I settled on the fire chief. One Marilyn Chen. The old lady used to work in Fortress ENE but semi-retired to run the local fire department, and when it merged with emergency services for budget reasons, she stayed in charge.

She had a rep for chewing nails and not taking shit, and that seemed like exactly what I wanted.

But it was Saturday morning, and she wasn't fond of visitors.

Sighing, I paid for my food, then rode over to her place. It was just a couple of roads down, unsurprisingly right across from the fire department. A little one-story bungalow, with a picket fence and a well-manicured lawn.

I walked up and knocked, then came face to face with Marilyn in a bathrobe. "Yes?" she asked tersely.

"Hello," I said, putting on a friendly smile. How was I going to tackle this?

Well... screw it.

"I'm Deadline. A D-ranker with no particular affiliation. And I'd like to talk?"

"I'm not buying anything," she said.

"I'm not selling," I replied. "I'm... fuck it. I'm a pre-cog."

Marilyn blinked. "Pull the other one, kid."

"It's true. In a few hours the portal in the Synthcorp compound here is going to breach fully, and you're going to have a heap of orcs on your hands. If you don't start prepping right now, a lot of people will be dead."

She glared. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"Can you afford it to be?" I asked. "If I'm wrong, I've ruined your Sunday. If I'm right, people die."

She stared, then grunted and closed the door. I was almost insulted, but I heard her running through the house, and in under five minutes she was stepping out, stomping a foot into some big black boots and shrugging a hi-vis jacket on. "Yeah? Yeah, right now. I don't care if no one's called it in. I'm calling it in right now, dammit," she said. It took me a moment to realize she wasn't talking to me.

Then the sirens went off in the fire department, and I was jogging after her as she crossed the street.

"You'd better not be bullshitting me," she said.

I got to ride the firetruck, which was very cool. Unfortunately, it was only up to the Synthcrop compound where the truck stopped. I was proven to not be a liar as someone from the corp ran out, sweating and pale-faced, and already telling us that everything was under control.

The cops showed up three minutes later, and then the first orc.

Everyone there froze up as the monster came out of the compound, clearly shocked, but I decided to start acting first and shot the orc dead.

This time, the barricade was right up against the entrance of the compound, sealing in more orcs from escaping, though a larger number of them were gathered within already.

The fight was a bit of a bloodbath. The cops only had peashooters and the firefighters weren't armed except for axes and in one case a pressurized stream of water that sent some orcs stumbling back.

By the time that helicopter from Synthcorp came in, the situation was only deteriorating. I was out in front, sword in hand, chopping at some of the braver orcs while the cops shot at any that didn't want to just charge to their deaths. Two firefighters were dead. A third was injured. A cop had been taken out by a shotgun blast from one of the orcs.

The area we were in was not favourable for a fight. And yet... even as I fought, I was starting to have ideas.

The helicopter dropped off some Synthcorp troopers, and unlike last time, most of them charged in, laying into the orcs with assault rifles and clearing out the entrance in a matter of minutes.

And then the arguing started.

There was no denying anything now. The cops, the firefighters, some surviving members of the company... too many witnesses.

Still, the corporate goon in the nice suit insisted that we wait for reinforcements from Fortress ENE before going in.

And eventually, they arrived, a little sooner than the first time, even. The Storm Chasers moved in, clearing the space out, and a few hours later, after everything had calmed down, they broke the portal. This update is available on novel✶fire.net

I Reloaded.

I had a lot of the pieces of the puzzle, just not all of them, and what I lacked most of all was practice. That... well, that I could get a lot of, couldn't I?

***