The rabbits have just dropped off the last of the survivors, and Deadbeat has healed those that were injured. I have to say, it doesn’t seem like the survivors were very appreciative of your efforts.
“Eh, I don’t really care what they think about . I sent the rabbits in to pull out the ones in trouble, but I’m not going to babysit them. As long as they don’t try and attack , like their forr leaders were going to do, I wish them luck going forward.”
I jumped down from the IFV I was sitting on, and queried my troops. The two Grizzly IFVs filled with Class I bears were ready to move, and so was most of my squad. Deadbeat and Bandit would be back in a mont, and when they arrived I could begin the operation. Between the foxes in the surrounding areas, and the squirrels that had snuck into the building, I knew exactly where the leaders were located. The three of them were eting in the basent, probably discussing how to breach my defenses. There were a couple of gang mbers rushing down there to warn them of my attack, not that it mattered anymore.
With a single thought I sent Bob and Heavy straight at the fortress’s front gate. It was actually amazing that the rickety structure was in one piece, it was an amalgamation of car parts, appliance doors, and scrap welded together. It was probably effective against small arms fire, but not so much against Bob’s giant thermal claws.
I could see a couple of people running around the second floor, occasionally leaning out to take potshots at the approaching bears, including a couple kids. As soon as Bob plunged his claws into the gate, turning the defense into molten tal in seconds, most of them panicked.
“Nyx, how many kids are still inside? A rough estimate is fine.”
Probably between ten and fifteen, which is thirty percent of the remaining forces.
I gently rubbed my eyes. On the one hand I’d already given everyone a chance to run away, on the other hand… “Nyx, I want to give one bear in each squad a bag with a dozen nano-regenerators, and a dical scanner. I’m going to order the bears to avoid killing, or even injuring the kids if possible, the supplies are for when that’s not possible”
I thought you were trying to send a ssage?
“I am, part of that ssage is: I don’t kill kids unless it’s unavoidable”
So gangs may still see you as soft if you do that.
“Well, fuck them. I’m still going to crush three different gangs today, if that doesn’t cause them to back off, nothing short of direct intervention will.”
As I talked to Nyx, and my two big bears worked on the gate, the IFVs moved up behind them. I considered just leveling the building, then digging through the wreckage for the missiles, but there would be more collateral damage than I was comfortable with. The problem with making a big impression was, I wasn’t as heartless as so of those gang leaders out there. Most of them were used to ignoring any authority, like the police, and doing whatever they wanted. As far as they were concerned, Samurai were just as toothless. The only thing the gangs respected was strength, so I either made an impression, or this entire operation was worthless.
Once the gate was half lted, Heavy grabbed the molten edge and pulled. The tal bent, squealing under the stress, and then a massive human-sized chunk sheared off under Heavy’s might. He casually threw the chunk of tal to the side, before stepping through the gap.
The sound of gunfire erupted from inside. Small arms, nothing too powerful. A quick ntal command sent Heavy, and the rest of my squad, towards the missiles. The other bear squads rushed into the gap after them, splitting up to clear the rest of the ground floor before making their way upwards. Unfortunately the rabbits took a little longer dealing with the survivors than I expected, and were still on approach. I quickly checked to make sure they were set to land on the roof and clear their way downwards before moving towards the gates.
I carefully stepped through the gap, once everything else had piled in. Thankfully, my armor was heat resistant, but I still didn’t want to touch the still glowing tal and risk burning myself. Beyond the gate was the remains of a makeshift barricade. Half a brick wall, which was probably carefully constructed for maximum cover, but not constructed to stop a rampaging big bear. Both Bob and Heavy must have stepped right through the barricade before engaging, based upon the two large holes in the wall.
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Beyond the wall were half a dozen bodies, along with half a dozen immobilized kids. The ones that were awake glared at like I was the devil. I honestly couldn’t bla them, they probably never experienced any sense of safety until they joined a gang, and now I was taking that away from them. They could hate for the rest of their lives for all I cared, at least they’d be alive.
I left the foyer, heading towards the main staircase, when an explosion rocked the building. I quickly pulled up my alerts, looking for an explanation, but none of my squads listed an issue. The only explanation I could think of that would cause an explosion of that magnitude, was the missiles. So, I pulled up Spooky’s POV, concerned that soone had managed to access the missiles before my squad secured them.
Turns out soone had made it to the weapon cache, it just wasn’t an issue. Null had sohow managed to get upstairs, access the missiles, and prepare before my bears got there. Unfortunately for her, Class 0 missiles do next to nothing against Class II armor, and Heavy was the first through the door. The big bear took a missile directly to the chest, and all it did was damage his facade; It didn’t slow him for even a second. Before Null, or any of her subordinates, could recover the bear put his fist through her face. Literally.
The results were grotesque. Living in the undercity had given a strong stomach, but it was still hard for to see soone’s skull flattened and bits of brain matter splattered about. Null’s minions all surrendered after that, and I’d lost all interest in killing after seeing the results of Heavy’s attack, so I just had them restrained. I briefly considered just sending out that image and fucking off, but I also knew that would co across as being soft. If I didn’t at least deal with the leadership, which was the problem, other gang leaders wouldn’t be afraid of .
I redirected a few of the Class I bears to escort the apprehended gang mbers out of the building, and defend the remaining missiles, in order to free up my squad to escort below. Honestly, a large part of just wanted to keep Heavy from punching soone else. I made sure no excessive physical force was a directive for all heavy type bots in the future. The sight of Null’s head would haunt for a long ti, and it was sothing I never wanted to happen again if I could avoid it.
My bears t at the top of the stairs, while I was double checking the location of the other two gang leaders. I wasn’t sure how Null managed to get upstairs so fast, I could only guess a secret passage, and I really wasn’t up for any more surprises today. One of the squirrels had marked Salvador and Ripjack as they entered a secure room, and Bandit was able to track them from the remaining scent and sounds. The pair were attempting to blockade the door with their remaining followers. I couldn’t have that. I wanted this over with.
It took re seconds for to reach their ‘safe room’ in the basent. Rather than spending ti trying to force my way into the room, I simply raised my rifle and fired a burst into the door. The micro explosives completely destroyed both the door and barricade behind it, flinging debris through the entire room.
Before anyone in the room could recover from the shock, my bears blitzed into the room to subdue everyone inside. Most of the gangsters gave up almost instantly, unfortunately one person was still making a fuss.
Ripjack wasn’t known for being reasonable, or stable.
“Bitch! You think you can just storm in here and take on? I’ll end you for what you did to last ti, just you wait…” Even though Heavy was firmly gripping his chanical arm, the maniac still attempted to rush , only to end up on his ass when the arm didn’t budge an inch.
I just shook my head, out of everyone here Ripjack was the one that deserved rcy the least. He was a certified psychopath, who mounted a hydraulic claw on one arm then used it to torture people. Even though he deserved to die, I hesitated for a mont. If I didn’t finish up here, soone would attack the kids, I knew that. With reluctance I sent a command to Spooky, who swiftly put his gun to the back of Ripjack’s head and pulled the trigger.
Every other person in the room, besides myself, flinched.
“I really didn’t want to be here today… I’m actually a really busy person, but you assholes had to do the absolute stupidest thing in the world, and plot to attack .” I locked eyes with Salvador, the big man was calm, considering the situation. “Last ti I sent off a warning it was ignored, so I have to go bigger. Hopefully it’ll get through everyone’s thick skulls this ti.”
“I really should just kill you all in order to send a proper ssage to the rest of the gangs out there, but fuck it, I’ve already had my fill of killing today.” I jamd my finger directly into Salvador’s chest, which was a little difficult, because he was so much taller than I was, ”After today your gang no longer exists, got it. Don’t think you can get away with reforming it under another na either… if I hear your na again, you’ll end up like the last moron who ignored my warning.” I said, gesturing towards Ripjack’s body.
I turned away from the cowering gang mbers, but paused before leaving. “I’m going to level this place in five minutes. If you want to survive I suggest leaving before then." At that point I walked off, leaving the gang mbers cowering on the floor behind their forr boss. This entire situation was fucked, and I honestly didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
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