Chapter 1, Part 2: It always starts in a bar
*BANG!* The Black Talons and everyone in the bar flinched and turned to the door at the sound of a gunshot before the door was slammed open and a bloody woman holding a revolver staggered in, wild eyes searching the bar before spotting, "MIRANDA!"
Miranda blinked as she recognised the woman and immediately shot to her feet and dashed over to grab the woman as she collapsed, "Jan? Jan!" She turned to her pilots, "Snake, get your med-kit out, she needs to be stabilised! Argo, Wolf, head out back and find out if she was followed!" She immediately lifted the limp body and carried it over to the table as it was cleared and Snake pulled out a field surgery kit as Argo and another pilot, a slender woman, vanished out the back door. Snake turned to the bartender, "Alcohol! Highest Proof you have!" The bartender nodded and tossed a bottle that Rhino caught and handed to Snake as he got to work.
Satisfied that Snake would take care of their old friend, Miranda drew her gun and took up a position covering the door, "What the hell is going on?" She muttered to herself as she took aim. She could hear the screams of people from outside, before her eyes widened as she recognised a sound and turned to the rest of the bar, "Cover!" She dived to side as a van smashed into the bar as people dove for cover. It slid to a halt and Miranda was already opening fire on the rear doors with her pistol as they were kicked open and two people stepped out armed with AK's. Miranda dove to the side as they opened fire, Rhino tackling the driver and slamming her against the side of the van, the big cyborg's frame tipping the vehicle over as patrons moved away and the two other shooters turned their AK's to help their partner, just in time for Argo to bound through the ruined front door and slash with her machete, the catgirl showing that she was stronger than she looked as the blade took off the head of her target in a spray of blood and a...shower of sparks?
Miranda shook her head and fired into the other shooter, punching holes in his clothing and spraying blood out his front, but the man didn't flinch and simply turned to open fire on her, before his head exploded in a spray of gore and Miranda saw full-wolf biomod aiming a smoking gun at the corpse, "Thanks for the assist." She said before drawing her knife and cutting open the corpse's shirt, "Now why the hell did he...the fuck?" She pulled off the jacket and shirt off the corpse and stared.
There, for everyone to see, was a cybernetic frame. An extensive array of advanced hydraulics and what appeared to be sophisticated machinery literally screwed and bolted into place across the man's body. Frowning, she cut off the clothes of the other two and grimaced further at seeing the cybernetics, "So...they finally did it." She said to herself, uncaring that everyone could hear her as she got to her feet, "Where's Wolf?"
"Here commander." The woman appeared at the entrance, "Argo and I encountered another one in the back, but he fled. We need to get out of here. Fast."
Miranda nodded before turning to the situation at hand, "Snake, is Jan stable?"
The Black Talon medic looked up from his work, "She's not going to make it. I've bought her maybe a few minutes, hopefully it'll be enough." The woman in question looked around weakly as Miranda came close, "She was hit several times. Explosive Shredder Ammo like what we use for the wetwork contracts, she wouldn't have stood a chance even if she was standing next to a hospital."
Miranda sighed, "I thought they were gone. Silus, Ilya, Nicholas, we burned that place to the ground, we thought we'd destroyed them when we escaped Georgia." The wolf bio-mod have moved closer as Snake nodded.
"You said you were the one who grabbed the stuff on their computers right? Maybe they had backups. Would make sense..." Snake started to hypothesise before Jan weakly grasped Miranda's hand.
"Mir...I'm so glad...Silus and Ilya can't help me. Silus is going down their route and Ilya...Ilya..." Miranda squeezed the woman's hand.
"I know Jan. You don't have much time left. What happened?"
Jan sniffled, whimpering in pain, "They took Alek, and Natasha, Gregori and the others!" She sobbed, "We had heard rumours, rumours about some Russian entrepreneur, some new money billionaire buying habitats in Fenspace as investment properties. Let the people living on them keep living there but he would invest money in making them better. We didn't believe it, not with the Belt Alliance enforcing their own protection racketaaah!" She hissed in pain as Snake kept working on her, but forced herself to speak, "We refused the first offer, then they asked again, and again, and again, each time getting more aggressive and hostile. Until one day...they came. People wearing combat spacesuits and armed with AK's. Those who fought back were killed, the rest were taken. I managed to flee, used the hab's only remaining ship to try and get help, but Silus and Ilya wouldn't help me. But I remembered that you were still free, that you hadn't fallen in their trap. So IAAAAAGH!" She screamed as Snake yanked out a long piece of metal.
"Shit, they had Needle Guns as well. No wonder she's in a bad way, she's been running on adrenaline and stims ever since she escaped." Snake reported as Miranda nodded.
"We'll get to the bottom of this Jan." She vowed, and Jan smiled weakly.
"We managed to save some money in a private habitat account, it's yours. Please Mir, stop them."
Miranda nodded, expression hard, "Black Talons never leave the job until it's done. We'll take the contract."
Jan smiled weakly, "Thank you...my ship...the old clunker from when you...last visited...secret compartment...all the...info...now...please...give me some...peace."
Miranda nodded and before anyone could react, drew her pistol and fired a single shot into the woman's head before turning away from the lifeless body, "Joker, Crow, police those Shredders but leave the guns. Rhino, Argo, Eagle, head the spaceport and locate a ship under the name of Martina Anastasia Stanovich, if it's the ship I remember then the secret compartment is in the engine space, behind an electrical warning panel with a kilroy painted on it. Go!" She finished with a snap of her fingers and the mercs vanished out the door as Joker and Crow started grabbing the rifle clips.
Miranda turned to the others, "We're leaving, get the Tarantula prepped for departure and the Gears ready for a combat drop." They nodded and dashed out back entrance to vanish into the streets of Marsbase Sara as Miranda grimaced and began splashing Jan's body with the alcohol used by Snake to disinfect her wounds, "Sorry Jan, I can't risk having anyone identify you." Her hand snapped up with the gun in it to aim at the wolf bio-mod, who had gotten too close, "Stay the fuck back."
"You know the cops have ways to confirm the identity." The wolf stated as Miranda smiled thinly while tossing the bottle away, before pulling out a cheap lighter and igniting it.
"I know." Her gun suddenly whipped down to press against Jan's cheek as Miranda emptied the magazine, obliterating the woman's upper and lower jaws before she tossed the lighter on the body, setting it alight, "But its not the cops or Great Justice I'm worried about. This should buy a few days at least, they shouldn't have anyone in Star Patrol or Great Justice." She grimaced to herself, "I hope."
Before the bio-mod could reply, she was already leaving, the burning and mutilated body of her oldest friend behind her as Miranda Petite snarled.
They would pay for this.
All of them.
*BANG!* The Black Talons and everyone in the bar flinched and turned to the door at the sound of a gunshot before the door was slammed open and a bloody woman holding a revolver staggered in, wild eyes searching the bar before spotting, "MIRANDA!"
Miranda blinked as she recognised the woman and immediately shot to her feet and dashed over to grab the woman as she collapsed, "Jan? Jan!" She turned to her pilots, "Snake, get your med-kit out, she needs to be stabilised! Argo, Wolf, head out back and find out if she was followed!" She immediately lifted the limp body and carried it over to the table as it was cleared and Snake pulled out a field surgery kit as Argo and another pilot, a slender woman, vanished out the back door. Snake turned to the bartender, "Alcohol! Highest Proof you have!" The bartender nodded and tossed a bottle that Rhino caught and handed to Snake as he got to work.
Satisfied that Snake would take care of their old friend, Miranda drew her gun and took up a position covering the door, "What the hell is going on?" She muttered to herself as she took aim. She could hear the screams of people from outside, before her eyes widened as she recognised a sound and turned to the rest of the bar, "Cover!" She dived to side as a van smashed into the bar as people dove for cover. It slid to a halt and Miranda was already opening fire on the rear doors with her pistol as they were kicked open and two people stepped out armed with AK's. Miranda dove to the side as they opened fire, Rhino tackling the driver and slamming her against the side of the van, the big cyborg's frame tipping the vehicle over as patrons moved away and the two other shooters turned their AK's to help their partner, just in time for Argo to bound through the ruined front door and slash with her machete, the catgirl showing that she was stronger than she looked as the blade took off the head of her target in a spray of blood and a...shower of sparks?
Miranda shook her head and fired into the other shooter, punching holes in his clothing and spraying blood out his front, but the man didn't flinch and simply turned to open fire on her, before his head exploded in a spray of gore and Miranda saw full-wolf biomod aiming a smoking gun at the corpse, "Thanks for the assist." She said before drawing her knife and cutting open the corpse's shirt, "Now why the hell did he...the fuck?" She pulled off the jacket and shirt off the corpse and stared.
There, for everyone to see, was a cybernetic frame. An extensive array of advanced hydraulics and what appeared to be sophisticated machinery literally screwed and bolted into place across the man's body. Frowning, she cut off the clothes of the other two and grimaced further at seeing the cybernetics, "So...they finally did it." She said to herself, uncaring that everyone could hear her as she got to her feet, "Where's Wolf?"
"Here commander." The woman appeared at the entrance, "Argo and I encountered another one in the back, but he fled. We need to get out of here. Fast."
Miranda nodded before turning to the situation at hand, "Snake, is Jan stable?"
The Black Talon medic looked up from his work, "She's not going to make it. I've bought her maybe a few minutes, hopefully it'll be enough." The woman in question looked around weakly as Miranda came close, "She was hit several times. Explosive Shredder Ammo like what we use for the wetwork contracts, she wouldn't have stood a chance even if she was standing next to a hospital."
Miranda sighed, "I thought they were gone. Silus, Ilya, Nicholas, we burned that place to the ground, we thought we'd destroyed them when we escaped Georgia." The wolf bio-mod have moved closer as Snake nodded.
"You said you were the one who grabbed the stuff on their computers right? Maybe they had backups. Would make sense..." Snake started to hypothesise before Jan weakly grasped Miranda's hand.
"Mir...I'm so glad...Silus and Ilya can't help me. Silus is going down their route and Ilya...Ilya..." Miranda squeezed the woman's hand.
"I know Jan. You don't have much time left. What happened?"
Jan sniffled, whimpering in pain, "They took Alek, and Natasha, Gregori and the others!" She sobbed, "We had heard rumours, rumours about some Russian entrepreneur, some new money billionaire buying habitats in Fenspace as investment properties. Let the people living on them keep living there but he would invest money in making them better. We didn't believe it, not with the Belt Alliance enforcing their own protection racketaaah!" She hissed in pain as Snake kept working on her, but forced herself to speak, "We refused the first offer, then they asked again, and again, and again, each time getting more aggressive and hostile. Until one day...they came. People wearing combat spacesuits and armed with AK's. Those who fought back were killed, the rest were taken. I managed to flee, used the hab's only remaining ship to try and get help, but Silus and Ilya wouldn't help me. But I remembered that you were still free, that you hadn't fallen in their trap. So IAAAAAGH!" She screamed as Snake yanked out a long piece of metal.
"Shit, they had Needle Guns as well. No wonder she's in a bad way, she's been running on adrenaline and stims ever since she escaped." Snake reported as Miranda nodded.
"We'll get to the bottom of this Jan." She vowed, and Jan smiled weakly.
"We managed to save some money in a private habitat account, it's yours. Please Mir, stop them."
Miranda nodded, expression hard, "Black Talons never leave the job until it's done. We'll take the contract."
Jan smiled weakly, "Thank you...my ship...the old clunker from when you...last visited...secret compartment...all the...info...now...please...give me some...peace."
Miranda nodded and before anyone could react, drew her pistol and fired a single shot into the woman's head before turning away from the lifeless body, "Joker, Crow, police those Shredders but leave the guns. Rhino, Argo, Eagle, head the spaceport and locate a ship under the name of Martina Anastasia Stanovich, if it's the ship I remember then the secret compartment is in the engine space, behind an electrical warning panel with a kilroy painted on it. Go!" She finished with a snap of her fingers and the mercs vanished out the door as Joker and Crow started grabbing the rifle clips.
Miranda turned to the others, "We're leaving, get the Tarantula prepped for departure and the Gears ready for a combat drop." They nodded and dashed out back entrance to vanish into the streets of Marsbase Sara as Miranda grimaced and began splashing Jan's body with the alcohol used by Snake to disinfect her wounds, "Sorry Jan, I can't risk having anyone identify you." Her hand snapped up with the gun in it to aim at the wolf bio-mod, who had gotten too close, "Stay the fuck back."
"You know the cops have ways to confirm the identity." The wolf stated as Miranda smiled thinly while tossing the bottle away, before pulling out a cheap lighter and igniting it.
"I know." Her gun suddenly whipped down to press against Jan's cheek as Miranda emptied the magazine, obliterating the woman's upper and lower jaws before she tossed the lighter on the body, setting it alight, "But its not the cops or Great Justice I'm worried about. This should buy a few days at least, they shouldn't have anyone in Star Patrol or Great Justice." She grimaced to herself, "I hope."
Before the bio-mod could reply, she was already leaving, the burning and mutilated body of her oldest friend behind her as Miranda Petite snarled.
They would pay for this.
All of them.