1 Why did I take this job?

"Flesh rippers, Jack, you know I hate Flesh rippers!" Raven roars at her soon-to-be ex-partner while she changes the ammo for shard gun in her hand. 'Gonna need the armor piercing rounds'

"Weren't you the one complaining about how boring all our jobs are lately?" Came the chuckled reply, yelled over the incessant clatter of the enemy cyborgs weapons. Ignoring her partner's antics Raven considers how they got into this mess, and as with all great stories, it started with a girl.

"Please find my daughter." The client's tearful begging sounding in Raven's ears as she and Jack approached the door. Wrinkling her nose at the smell of the squalid apartment complex, she checks out the security on the apartment they'd tracked the girl's cyber-ware to.

"Bio-chip locks? In this part of town? Looks like we got ourselves a professional outfit this time

Ray-Ray."

"What were you expecting Jack? These guys nabbed a girl with platinum grade cybernetic implants, they obviously aren't your run-of-the-mill flesh peddlers. Probably fucking Flesh rippers after the tech for its resale value."

"Well no turning back now girl, give me a minute to hack the lock."

"Fine but if there really are Flesh rippers in there, I'm gonna kick your ass for getting me to take this job."

Raven checks her gear while Jack works on the door. Res-plated jacket to handle low grade impacts to the chest, two fighting knives strapped to her legs, and her trusty shard gun in her hand, loaded with standard flechette rounds to deal with any low level goons coming her way. Of course against Flesh rippers she'd probably have to switch to armor-piercing, fuckers are more metal than man so standard loads aren't exactly gonna do much.

"Lock's cracked, you good to go?"

Raven nods, the two going silent with the mutual understanding that all experienced runner teams develop. Jack slides open the door, with Raven moving in, shard gun raised to confront any threat. Seeing the living room, clear of hostiles she heads in completely, leaving space for Jack to bring up his rifle beside her. The room has been stripped bare by the apartments inhabitants, what should have been a living room now a conglomeration of junk cybernetics, flesh still attached.

"That's it Jack, Flesh rippers, I'm kicking your ass." Raven murmurs, voice barely above a whisper. Her partner glances at her sideways, amused grin on his roguishly handsome face. The moment doesn't last long as the two hear a voice in the next room. Raven leads on, seeing a teched out skinhead, carving into a body ahead of her, luckily with his back to the front room. His implants gleam in the surgical lights, while Raven checks the rest of the room. Similarly to the front room, this one had been stripped out and re-purposed, tarps covered the walls while lights had been mounted to give a clear view of the operating table the ripper was at. A foul parody of surgeon's operating theater, this was the place were the rippers dismantle their victims for scrap after removing any useful cybernetic implants. Choking down her horror and disgust Raven carefully draws the knife from her left sheathe and holsters her shard gun, stealthily approaching the singing butcher. Holding her breathe she takes the last step quickly, rising from a semi-crouch to cover his mouth with her right hand as her left plunges the knife into back of his neck. In spite of her pale face, the movements are practiced and easy, a combination only possible in someone with vast experience in killing. Putting the body down gently, Raven replaces the knife with her shard gun and gestures for Jack to move into the next room. He moves swiftly, rifle sweeping forward to ensure no-one gets a free shot at them. They pass through a hallway, next area will be the main room, definitely more than one in there. The 2 take a moment to center themselves, knowing that this next part will be neither quiet or easy. As Ray steps into the room, the first thing she sees, is 4 flesh rippers, 2 dragging a body to her right, 1 sitting on the couch not 4 metres in front of her watching television, and the last coming in from a back room on her left. The next thing she notices, is the alarm she just tripped, a laser tripwire along the base of the doorway. The 4 rippers react quickly immediately grabbing rifles, as she and Jack dive for cover, him taking the back of the couch as Raven dives behind a pillar, taking a few shots at the slowest of the rippers as she does. Tv ripper, as she likes to think of the unfortunate soul sitting on her partners cover, didn't quite move as fast the others barely managing to stand up before copping a face full of plasteel shards.

"Flesh rippers, Jack, you know I hate Flesh rippers!"

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