Taric TaiserviKeep on him!
[6]vs[4] - Cain rushes to the end of the platform and grasps the railing, using it to slide himself under and down to the concrete without slowing down. He lands heavily, rolling when he lands. Taric follows close behind, executing an almost identical movement. The bounty hunter launches himself into the air and comes crashing down on top of his target. Cain, still getting up and trying to continue, is thrown down hard by the bulk of Taric's body. The two men roll around in the ground, [5] until Taric gains the upper hand and sits up on top of the ganger boss, locking his arms behind him.
Cain spits curses and pleads for his life, but it falls to deaf ears. Taric lets out a sigh of relief at having finally caught his prey. He toys with the idea of immobilizing Cain with the Beacon and dragging him away for a while, but his employers paid for a kill. Cain is no use to him alive. [Dodge:1-1=1][Damage:35+12=47] Taric drops the Thermal Blade nonchalantly inside the back of Cain's skull. He keeps the screaming man in place until he falls silent, and then pulls out the blade. Hopefully, his next target will not be as keen to immediately flee. As an afterthought, Taric turns Cain over and saves a picture of him with his visor, in case the group that hired him want proof. Finally, the bounty hunter stands up and begins making his way down the platform and back to his bike.
[5] He messages his employers back at the safehouse, telling them the deed is done. The money is quickly transferred to his account. Taiservi lies back in his chair, his first job on the planet complete. There appear to be new messages for him, even though one of the old job offers has been cancelled.
Taric TaiserviHP: 75/75
Equipment: RUS2 Accelerator Carbine
(13/14), Frag Grenades (3/3), First Aid Kits (4/4), Thermal Blade (6/8)
Funds: 16,000¤
Known Perks: Focus Improvement PackageFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Cain (Claymore Gang)
Akhain GazhornAkhain started to reply to his reliable informant. He was low on funds, but this job payed big. He'd earn it many times over soon. Either send the money to the informant remotely, or request a meet for the transfer.
[5] - Gazhorn pays up. If everything goes well, he'll get that back and much more after the mission is complete. The reply comes almost an hour later. Father Kosh apparently resides in an abandoned cathedral in the desert, way outside the city. Akhain wonders for a moment why the previous hunters the Republic sent didn't tell them this. Perhaps they didn't, and that woman was just trying to scare him.
The only quick way to the desert is by shuttle, but those leave only once per week and are hideously expensive. There has to be a better method of transport.
Akhain GazhornHP: 75/75
Equipment: Zuche 3 Cloaking Device (6/6), Zuche 20 Shock Mine (4/4), RUS2 Accelerator Carbine
(14/14), Thermal Blade (8/8)
Funds: 500¤
Known Perks: MultiVision Ocular ModificationFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Father Kosh (Old Regime)
Systar"Someone wants you dead. I don't ask questions."
While saying this, feint away from cover, then dive toward it. Activate the cloaking device, then circle around and attack. Keep moving. Kill the target first. If still cloaked, kill the woman. If cloak drops and she's alive, run. In either case, disappear into the night.
[3] - 'Someone wants you dead. I don...' Systar starts. [2+1=3] Stjepan suddenly opens fire, and he shuts up, jumping for the cover of the bathroom door. [Dodge:1][Damage:12+11=23] There is an explosion of red mist, and Systar is forced to admit this guy is a pretty good shot. Then the pain takes over and threatens to overtake him. Systar drags himself behind the door and forces himself to focus. He's still got a few tricks up his sleeve. [1] Systar fires up the Cloaking Device and waits for it to take effect. It doesn't go unnoticed, but he's already on the move, despite his pain. He tries to stem the bleeding from the wound in his chest so it doesn't leave any visible tracks.
'Shit! Fire a flare!' the woman shouts. [4] Systar moves silently onwards, Blade in hand but inactive to avoid detection.
[2][4] 'I don't have th...' Stjepan says, but the rest is lost when Systar turns the Blade on just below Stjepan's ear. [Dodge:4-2=2] The bigger man tries to counter, but Systar is too fast for him. [Damage:39] Systar executes a perfect executioner's slash and twists into a mock-bow as Stjepan's severed head rolls on past him. Systar notices that his face is now forever frozen into a grimace of shock and surprise. Little good it did to him.
'Shouldn't have interrupted me, huh?' Systar says, picking up the head. [6] He turns to the woman and abruptly realizes the Cloak's effects have already worn off. By the time he realizes this, the woman already has her knife out. [Dodge:6] The bounty hunter doesn't let it distract him and nonchalantly grabs the woman's arm when she charges. He slams her face-first into the ground with one simple movement. She moans in pain, holding her head.
The bounty hunter shrugs and hurries out of the flat, leaving her there. He's covered in blood, which is a bit of a problem if he wants to get out undetected.
SystarHP: 45/75
Equipment: Thermal Blade (5/8), Aurora Revolver
(6/6), Gravity Trap (2/2), Zuche 3 Cloaking Device (5/6)
Funds: 25,000¤
Known Perks: AugeanTech LightningBolt PackFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Stjepan Milic (Bounty Hunter)
GaosaronGao pulled out his Inferno with his top pair of arms and his carbine with his bottom pair. This monster was about find out why other races said the Ventahin's favorite tactic was a 'metal storm.' With all three guns, he opened fire on the beast.
[5] - Both combatants charge forward, Gao aiming a shotgun blast down the beast's skull in the process. [Dodge:2] This time, it doesn't jump away in time. Gao pushes the cold steel of the shotgun against the top of the beast's head and pulls the trigger. Time seems to slow down, and Gao can barely feel the beast's bulk crashing into him again. [Damage:17] The shotgun shells gouge their way across the creature's head, cracking bone and spilling yellowish blood into the air. The bounty hunter wonders if the beast's bones have been inset with something heavier. The skull should've been blown apart by a hit like that.
[6] Then he's back on the ground, trying to keep off the vicious alien. [Dodge:1] It's no use. The beast's jaws snaps closed around Gao's head like a beartrap, teeth digging inside his neck and skull. [Damage:24+7=31] The bounty hunter has never felt such pain. His vision turns red, his mind close to shutting down. He screams, but his voice is lost inside the creature's mouth. The same voice from earlier wonders if it's going to swallow him whole, though there was no sign of that on the earlier victims. If it did, he might very well stay alive until being digested alive in the being's stomach. Or maybe not, it was not large enough to...
'Shut up!' Gao screams at his own thoughts, pushing the beast off him and rolls away. [3] He stares in disbelief as it tenses for another jump, only momentarily confused by the loss of it's food. [Dodge:2] He tries to get up, tries to get away in time. The pain brings him back down. The floor is already wet and slippery from his own blood. [Damage:12] It's impossible to keep the thing off him. He's briefly reminded of an overenthuastic dog, except that most dogs don't try to rip your throat off.
[1] Gao still has the shotgun strapped against his hand, but he can't summon the strenght to turn it towards the creature. He screams in frustration. This isn't how it's supposed to end. He can't die in some forgotten maintenance corridor, against some dumb animal, on his first job on this planet! And still in Caste Twelve!
EnemiesOn top of Gaosaron, Close RangeUnknownHP: 33/50
Equipment: Teeth (
2d12 Damage]
Known Perks: Fast RunnerFaction: None
---
Gaosaron el-Anaula Ra'VantahinHP: 18/75
Equipment: Widowmaker Shotgun
(6/7), Golgo Mechanical Blade, NTT Inferno
(26/26), RUS2 Accelerator Carbine
(14/14)Funds: 20,000¤
Known Perks: NovaCore Electronic ModificationFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Unknown Lifeform (No Faction)
Subject 971"I've still got the target in sight-industrial zone. He's still on the move."
continue the pursuit!
[6] - 'Understood. Don't lose him.' Dalia acknowledges. The two taxis continue on their way, navigating their way across the Industrial District. Then, right before 971's eyes, Fashuk's cab disappears.
'What the hell...' he begins, but the taxi driver simply grins. 'Don't worry. I've got him. They dropped over the Steelworks.' he says happily and opens up a previously-hidden slot near the controls. A strange machine that looks homemade appears. 971's visor translates the words below as 'TURBO'.
'You're the best customer I've ever had.' the driver says, tears in his eyes. Then he turns the device on, and 971 is violently slammed against his seat. Everything outside disappears into a blur and he has to use all his self-restraint not to scream in terror. The driver laughs with insane glee, though 971 has no idea how he's able to drive with this speed. He can't see anything outside, but feels the speed and knows they must be going atleast four times the taxi's old speed. He's pretty sure any modifications like these to engines are illegal.
[1] Then, without any warning, the driver shuts down the device and hits the brakes. Fashuk's cab hovers in mid-air just up ahead. The engine moans like a dying man from the exertion, and promptly shuts down, overheated. Fashuk's driver pulls up and they fly past. The driver goes silent for the first time on the trip. The cab still continues on its way, passing over the Steelworks in silence and gliding onto Upper Industrial. Then it begins losing altitude, at the end of the momentum that propelled it all this way. The street begins growing larger with alarming speed.
[6] 971 kicks the door open and jumps before the aircar hits the ground. The driver isn't as lucky. The cab bounces off the ground, slides down the street and crashes against the reinforced glass of a store. A few seconds later the overheated engine detonates. The wave of heat washes over him, and debris crashes down everywhere around him. 971 waits for a while before getting up. He hears screaming from inside the store, the glass now broken by the explosion. Burning pieces of the car lay everywhere.
971 looks up just in time to see Fashuk's cab appear from the Steelworks and fly off towards the river. He notes that the original driver seems to be unconscious, or dead, his head smashed through the side window.
Subject 971HP: 75/75
Equipment: Flare Gun (4/4), Zuche 13 Gravity Trap (1/1)
Funds: 1650¤
Known Perks: AugeanTech FlexiSpeed AidFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: Fashuk il-Maldas (Sikhet Federation), Fashuk's Files
ZaraNo need to kill him he is not my target. Thought Zara as he snuck into the building silently saying Pslams 23:4 to him self over, and over.
[6] - Zara ignores the guard, and heads for the door. The words of Psalms 23:4 echo inside his head, a reminder of his human christian faith. The open door leads to several other doors. Zara picks one at random, arriving in what seems to have been a break room for the secret police. It's empty now. He continues on, looking for an archive or database of somekind. An old note attached to the wall in the break room mentions something about the upcoming re-organization of the archives in the basement, though they probably didn't get around to it due to the whole revolution thing. Still, jackpot.
[4] After a few minutes of searching, he finds the stairs to the basement guarded by one of the soldiers. He's blocking the way, so he has to be killed or atleast drawn away from his position.
EnemiesAt the bottom of the stairs, Close RangeFuhon yl EosHP: 40/40
Equipment: RUS2 Accelerator Carbine
(14/14), Frag Grenades (1/1), Combat Knife
Known Perks: Training From Hell ---
ZaraHP: 75/75
Equipment: Widowmaker Shotgun
(7/7), Golgo Mechanical Blade, Medkit (1/1), Zuche 3 Cloaking Device (6/6)
Funds: 20,000¤
Known Perks: AugeanTech LightningBolt PackFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: CSC Database
Achutugu-oshaI should get my widowmaker and some grenades from home, and whatever doesn't take any slots.
[5] - Achutugu grabs her shotgun and five clips and [2] two frag grenades. There. She should probably head over to the place the woman mentioned now.
Achutugu-oshaHP: 115/115
Equipment: RUS4 Snaplock
(7/7), Aurora Revolver
(6/6), Widowmaker Shotgun
(7/7), Frag Grenade (2/2)
Funds: 100¤
Known Perks: 'Juggernaut' Athletic GraftFaction: Bounty Hunter
Target: None
---
Well, wow. Gao isn't doing very well. Better think up a cunning plan. And I seem to have written Systar as a psychopath for some reason.