That evening, Melbourne found himself walking through a run down area in the outskirts of Olympia. The buildings were short against the background of soaring neon towers in the distance. Flying cars did not frequent this area and run down highways featured occasional wheeled cars driving across cracked pavement full of weeds growing out from beneath.
The similarly battered sidewalks hosted people in dark hoodies walking around intimidatingly, many with knives sheathed to their hips and a good number also with handguns. Many of the buildings had holes in the windows, some from rocks being thrown into them and others from bullets. All shops in the area were boarded up at this time of day because the neighborhood was full of criminals who wouldn't think twice about breaking in and looting their businesses.
Melbourne had lost the weapons he acquired in space because they were all confiscated upon his return. However, he had used 200 crypts earlier that day after receiving this mission to purchase a decent combat knife and a cheap pistol.
[Inventory:
*Combat Knife: +7 Melee Damage
*MS-20: +2 Ranged Damage
-Ammo: 20/20/80
-3D Printed Silencer – (10% Muffle)
Crypts: 17,620]
Melbourne looked at his Inventory display in the Aclito System to reassure himself. The MS-20 was a weak sidearm but had been the only one the gunshop owner was willing to sell him without throwing a fuss.
"Come back to me when your older, son. Little kids like yourself shouldn't be playing with anything more powerful. You need to practice handling the recoil before I can trust a youngster such as yourself with anything stronger."
Melbourne had no problem putting up the crypts for a stronger gun, but he really didn't want to argue at that time. He clenched his teeth and bought the firearm with 120 rounds of ammunition. He needed to get to his hotel room and print out a silencer before he could continue. The 10% Muffle of his quick job wasn't great, but it was better than nothing. At the very least, his 9mm MS-20 was naturally a very quiet weapon, so the silencer did actually help significantly in this situation. He had expended only twenty rounds in practice at a free shooting range, emptying a single cartridge.
As Melbourne approached the two story warehouse, he noticed a black van pulling up to it and stopping. Melbourne immediately ran for the shadows of a nearby alleyway as two thugs with masks and handguns drawn came out and looked around to make sure nobody was watching them. They then proceeded to open the back of the van and pull out two stumbling people whose screams were muffled from the gags in their mouths.
"Shut up!" yelled one of the guards, kicking the woman of the two in the shins and making her keel over to the ground.
"Hey Jeremy, get a gerny!" called out the other thug towards a guard standing outside the warehouse. "I don't think this 'patient' is going to be able to walk in! I kind of broke her leg just now!"
Melbourne's heart clenched in fury as he watched the scene unfold.
"Aclito, scan the area for any signs of cameras and objects I could shoot to make their destruction look like an accident." thought Melbourne to his system.
[Analyzing…]
Reticles appeared in Melbourne's vision faster than he could comprehend them as the System made thousands of calculations based on his field of vision.
[Two cameras detected]
Two red circles appeared in Melbourne's sight and another two green ones appeared on structural components above that looked like they were going to fall off their hinges within a week naturally.
Melbourne took aim at the first one and a green targeting line appeared to show him exactly what direction to shoot to ensure the object would fall directly on a camera.
Pow.
[Ammo: 19/20/80]
Pow.
[Ammo: 18/20/80]
Melbourne smiled as both cameras were knocked out of commission by falling debris. While he had heard the shot, it was about as loud as someone murmuring in his ear. It didn't get the attention of the thugs outside.
"What happened?" asked someone over a walkie talkie to one of the thugs. "We just lost contact with our front cameras."
"Uh, looks like some of the old debris hanging from the warehouse just collapsed, boss."
"Grrr! Alright, I'll see about getting those fixed tomorrow. You bring in my new patients?"
"Yes sir. I had to cripple one."
"That doesn't matter. It's not like they'll ever need to walk again. I just need them alive."
Melbourne pulled on his own balaclava and looked around to double check that the cameras were indeed all offline before he began firing again.
[Ammo: 17/20/80
Ammo: 16/20/80
Ammo: 15/20/80
Ammo: 14/20/80]
Melbourne furiously shot down the four thugs including the two from the van and the two guarding the front entrance of the warehouse. He then rushed over to the new victims and hurried them into a nearby alleyway to sit behind a dumpster.
"Here, hide here until I return for you." said Melbourne. "I'm going to take these gangsters down a notch and then call the police."
"Just call them now!" screeched the woman.
Melbourne wracked his brain for about ten seconds before he found a lie he could make to sooth her.
"Look, these people have more victims inside and their lives are at stake. I need to conduct this operation in stealth or these thugs are likely to turn them into hostages or even kill every one of them as soon as police sirens start blaring outside this warehouse. Stay here and sober up. They're not going to worry about finding you while they're busy hunting a masked vigilante. Give me thirty minutes and then call the police after that. After that, go ahead and make that call. Understand?"
The woman nodded somberly, tears flowing out of her eyes.
Melbourne hurried back in to find another five thugs rushing out to see what was going on. Melbourne proceeded to fire again.
[Ammo: 9/20/80]
The thugs were easier to kill than the space pirates of the Lunarian Reavers. At the very least, the Reavers had a modicum of training in firearm usage and space combat. It was well known that space pirates were usually more deadly than street thugs within a city. Not always, as there were some crime syndicates that hired very professional and well trained muscle, but usually.
Melbourne took position behind a nearby bush for a few minutes until he was confident that no more thugs were coming out the front door. He then proceeded to leave a hidden camera connected to his Aclito's wireless interface that would inform him if another thug showed up and from where before conducting a perimeter sweep.
He proceeded to hide similar cameras outside every conceivable exit to the building before finding a ventilation duct that he could climb into to infiltrate the complex.
After about five minutes of silent crawling, Melbourne finally identified the room where the hostages were kept. There were roughly fifty people tied to beds, most of them savagely wounded. Many of them were missing limbs and some of them had cybernetic components of varying forms that looked absolutely painful. Melbourne somberly thought that death would be a mercy compared to having to live with the injuries that had been inflicted on about sixty percent of these people.
Melbourne analyzed the room from the shadows of the ventilation for about five minutes before someone finally entered.
Daniel Schoff walked in urgently surrounded by ten bodyguards who seemed to be bodybuilders.
"Alright, men! We're under attack! I don't know if it's the police or a rival gang getting up in our turf. Either way, we can't risk anyone finding out about our operation! Get as many of these patients into the vans as possible so we can scram to a new hideout! We can find out who is cramping our operations later and maybe start a gang war if it's a rival gang! Anybody you can't carry, shoot them! Don't leave any witnesses to be rescued or I'll kill you all myself!"
As Melbourne heard these words, something inside him snapped. Foregoing strategy, Melbourne acted despite being heavily outnumbered.
"Not so fast, Daniel Schoff!" boomed a loud and articulate voice as a slender figure in a black jumpsuit emerged from a ventilation shaft. "You're not going anywhere with those victims!"
Melbourne Acliate took aim and immediately sent a bullet flying into one of the ten bodyguards heads.
[Ammo: 8/20/80]
Schoff and his nine remaining bodyguards turned in shock at the intruder as Melbourne instantly regretted his rashness.