Deadman

We made it back to the gas station without any difficulty. Our combined pace was such that the day hadn’t even ended by the time we’d arrived. Leah hadn’t yet returned, but Mercy was still hard at work, a pile of death and destruction slowly being assembled at her work table.

She looked up as we arrived and turned her attention to Graves. “Did it work like I wanted? Lots of fire?”

Graves nodded.

“In the future, I’d like to know when a scouting mission doubles as an assault with explosives,” I said.

Mercy gave a confused smile. “I thought that’s what all scouting missions were?”

I sighed, and found a place to sit and wait for Leah. Our part in the prep was done, and it looked like Mercy was just about as ready with her bombs as she could be.

A few hours later, Leah returned. I didn’t hear her enter the gas station, it was as if she simply manifested inside before anyone could react to her. She looked over at Graves. “Mission go well?”

He nodded.

She gestured to me. “He do alright?”

He nodded again, and threw a thumbs up on top of it.

“I figured you’d have it covered.” She went to stand at the table in the center of the room next to Mercy. “I’ve met with the STAR forces. They’re planning an assault on each of the settlements simultaneously. It’ll occur at 1100 on the dot. I’d like our assault on the facility to coincide with theirs on the settlements.”

Mercy nodded. “What’s the full plan?”

Leah unraveled one of her maps, and placed some debris on each corner to hold it down. It was the layout of the facility. I already had it memorized, but I stood to look over it anyway. “It’s pretty simple. Graves and Donovan, you’re our heavy hitters so I’ll have you two create a distraction with a full frontal assault.”

I gritted my teeth a bit. It made sense based on our skills, but I didn’t exactly love being the ‘distraction’. At least I could use Graves as a shield, considering his armor I doubted he had much to be concerned with. I myself could probably survive a hail of gunfire at this point, but unlike him I’d feel every bullet and they hurt like hell.

“Mercy, you’ll work along the outside of the facility. Placing bombs here, here, and here.” Leah pointed at various sections of the layout. In the meantime, I’ll work on slipping through the defenses and making my way straight to V. If I get rid of him, and Mercy’s bombs do their job, then the threat will be eliminated.”

I picked at my teeth absently for a moment. “I don’t know about Graves and Mercy, but I was promised salvage and tech from this job. I’m happy to earn the points that go with the investigation, and the combat, but that’s not enough for me to risk my life in a full frontal assault. I need guarantees.”

Leah’s smile twitched for just a moment before she reset it. “I know for a fact V has a number of the laser rifles you encountered before in that facility, and after the assault I’ll allow you first pick of anything we find.”

I nodded. She was clearly reluctant to let that kind of tech out, particularly to me, but considering that both she and Graves were using some themselves with little concern, I felt that I was due something for myself. I’ve relied on grit and gunpowder my entire life, it was time for me to have a little more of an edge.

“Alright, with that, is everyone agreed to the plan?” asked Leah.

We all nodded, though mine was hesitant. The group clearly had history, and I hadn’t taken the time to learn what that history was, but they trusted Leah. I found that strange considering everything about her made my teeth itch and told me she wasn’t to be trusted. Nothing she said beyond general advice she gave or whatever she said that would benefit her as much as it did me seemed worth putting faith in.

“Okay. Let’s all get a little bit of rest. We’ll head out as a unit.”

We all broke off into our respective corners. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep, had a meal, and did some reading. Mercy swapped out her book again, but asked if she could keep ‘The Duke’s Hammer’. I agreed…for a handful of explosives.

She brought me to the table and sorted through what she’d made since we arrived. I picked out three bombs covered in old rusty nails and lugnuts. They were meant to tear people to shreds when they went off.

Leah stood from her corner, and we packed up to leave. I was ready for the job. Excited even. I’d changed since I’d become a Marshall. I was stronger, more capable, and with that I was starting to allow myself to do and say what I wanted more. The risks of doing what I believed needed to be done got lesser and lesser as I gained strength. Sure, I wouldn’t be able to change the wastes anytime soon, but a settlement here and there? A group of raiders every once in a while? That was something I could handle.

The trek to the facility was long and made longer by the group’s slow pace and my own excitement. We didn’t encounter any trouble on the way, though we did need to dodge a few areas where the geiger counters spiked. Those kinds of random spots popped up more and more this close to The Cut.

About a half hour before the STAR raids on the settlements were to begin, the facility came into sight. I pulled out the binoculars I hadn’t yet returned to Graves and had a look. As far as I could tell, it was just a big gray square. From what the blueprints I’d seen had told me, I knew that that facility typically rested underground, with massive ramps that led to the surface so that items could be automatically carted out and moved to their target destinations. When the facilities were being operated manually, they were meant to rise out of the ground so that people could more easily enter and leave them, and parts of the facility that would be otherwise inaccessible could be accessed.

Aside from the facility itself I could see more than a dozen guards at the main entrance, along with turrets, and some kind of box. I adjusted the binoculars a little to get a closer look at it. I realized that it was moving. It had treads, and on each of its four corners were guns that were moving slowly back and forth, just as the ones on the turrets did.

I handed the binoculars back to Graves, who had his hand out expectantly as I brought them down from my face. He himself gave a look through them, grunted, and then handed them down the line. Eventually, they reached Leah.

“Ah. I see he got another drone. That’s unfortunate, I’d thought the only one was at the center settlement.” She handed the binoculars back to Graves. “Mercy. Got anything that could dent that thing?”

Mercy smiled. “I do.” She pulled out what looked like a brick and handed it to Leah. Leah tested the weight of it in her hand and then handed it to Graves. “You know what to do.” He nodded and tucked the explosive away somewhere in his armor.

Leah looked over everyone again. “Okay. We all know the plan. Give it fifteen minutes and then head in. Mercy, you and I will break off now and start getting in position. Don’t start moving until you hear shooting over here.”

Mercy nodded, then Leah nodded at Graves and me. After that, she and Mercy broke off and started heading for the other side of the facility. Graves and I did some readjustment of our own, finding a small ruin of an old building to hide behind. I aligned myself just a little behind him, and he cracked his neck armor and started to ready his hammer in his grip

I looked across each of our targets, prepping to activate all of my abilities and start firing as soon as they began to focus fire on Graves. I’d leave the drone to him and the bomb, and focus on getting through the front and finding cover as quickly as possible.

I heard a kind of beeping coming from Graves’ helmet. He turned back to give me a nod, and started sprinting straight for the front gate. When he was about halfway there, I started hearing yells, as the guards reacted to his approach. I started activating my abilities, marking targets, and froze one.

The drone turned around, and I could hear the guns on it begin to rev up to fire. That’s when Graves suddenly disappeared. I heard a crashing sound and strained myself to see where he’d gone. They’d created a trap, just for him. A pit, covered by a massive tarp, and disguised by sand. He’d fallen down, and now I was alone, with a small army’s worth of advanced weaponry turning its attention in my direction.