Case 014- Meet the Cyberpsycho.....client. 

Case 014- Meet the Cyberpsycho.....client.

"The Archangel Team. Client Platinum...Correction. Platinum Clients. Need immediate evacuation. Westbrook." - The dispatcher's voice sounded like thunder in broad daylight and made me wake up and swear at him and all his ancestors up to.....-some knee. Just sat down for a nap and then there's the call.

"Copy that. Send all the information needed. - I replied to the dispatcher and looked at the members of my squad.

"Well, Penguin Commandos. We have a great opportunity to commit another act of motivated, and more importantly, well-paid violence. Everybody get ready."

"'Aye, aye, Skipper!"

Yes. On paper, we're called the Archangel Team, which just made the marketing crew tremble with ecstasy at the thought of how we could be promoted. But among each other, we call ourselves the Commando Penguins. All because of the nicknames I gave the guys. At first the Demidov brothers didn't understand why or what for. I had to tell them more about the hilarious instructors at Fort Grim and their choice of call signs for their students. Then I made the brothers watch a cartoon about the famous penguins and there were fewer questions and more fun moments.

The brothers got nicknames, too, although at first they weren't too happy about them when they learned more about Manfredi and Johnson. They somehow weren't happy about being called by the names of characters that were getting into all kinds of trouble. But the riot on the ship got suppressed by me saying that on the contrary they should be proud of it. After all, Manfredi and Johnson always survive which shows their professionalism. So not only should they be proud, but they should live up to their nicknames. Well, as the cherry on the cake, I told them that I myself went with the call sign Manfredi and survived when there was very little chance. The brothers grumbled, but agreed.

Now I have almost a complete set. All that's left is to find Kowalski. But I still can't find the right person to be him. All right, back to work.

"Archangel Team. Additional correction. There are additional clients who need help."

Shit. What the hell is going on out there. After all, Westbrook has enough rich people who can afford some of the toughest bodyguards in the world, and there's multiple people at once, and they're in critical condition. A mass overdose or a cyber attack?

"Dispatcher. I need information about the enemy."

The silence from the dispatcher didn't put me in a good mood. But ten seconds later he managed to ruin it completely. Because the reason for the call was the twins had become cyber-psychos. And the crappy thing is, they're our clients.

"Okay, everybody, get ready. The task has become more difficult. Just shooting everything that moves isn't an option. We have to neutralize clients who are tearing apart our other clients. So everyone except Rico is switching to non-lethal ammunition. Manfredi, Johnson, you and I take 5.45s instead of 7.62s. The risk to our clients is too high. Rico, aim for vulnerable points that won't kill, but can neutralize the enemy. Is everyone clear? Get ready to move out. Landing in 45 seconds."

Our little birdie landed on the lawn of a fancy mansion. Well, it must have been fancy until a couple of cybercrazy people decided to redecorate it with corpses and blood. Without wasting any time looking around, we ran through the house toward the pool in the courtyard where we could hear shouting and gunshots to the accompaniment of jazz music.

There we saw two Lizzie Weezy fanboys, who were practically covered in chrome, killing everyone by singing Re-start, Re-heart, Repeat. Yeah, the fanaticism of korean idol fans turned up to the max.

One of the cyber-psychos was beating a bodyguard against a barbecue grill. And the other one was drowning a girl in a hot tub with one hand and waving a champagne bottle with the other.

"Um, Skipper. I thought the song said Re-heart, not Re-heat. Why the fuck is he yelling that and hitting that misfit?" said Private. At his words, a psycho turned around who was beating the bodyguard against the fired up grill.

"What did you say?!!! Are you telling me that such a loyal Lizzie fan doesn't know the words to her greatest hits?!!! DIE SCUM!!!! SISTER HERE'S A HATER TROL!!!! "LET'S KILL HIM IN THE NAME OF LIZZIE WIZZIE." - yelled this cyber-psycho getting his sister's attention and then ran towards us.

Damn you Private, I hope you get fucked 24/7 in hell for bringing that lunatic's attention to us. We could have knocked them out while he and his sister were busy with their victims. Gonna have to fight these loonies out in the open.

"Private, you and I take the guy, and the rest of us should capture the girl," - a short order with a distribution of targets, and we split up.

The cyberpsycho guy lunged at Private, who, covered by his shield, tried to shoot him with a submachine gun. But apparently the cyberpsycho still had his brains working since he took cover himself, using the corpse of the bodyguard he'd already beaten against the grill as a meat shield. I decided to flank him instead of looking for his body parts behind the improvised shield. But the guy had time to speed up, and with all his might he crashed into Private. A crunch and there goes the whole of Private's shield, and he himself was covered in blood from the bodyguard's corpse, practically torn in half, whose body could not withstand the blow. Only the psycho didn't let us catch a breath as he rushed at Private, who had wobbled after the blow, trying to throw him to the ground. Private had to let go of his shield and start brawling with the cyberpsycho.

It resembled a fight between two trash cats, neither of them wanting to let their enemy get on top. They kept rolling over and exchanging blows. Finally I managed to anticipate the perfect moment, and I wanted to shoot him in the side. But a champagne bottle hit my helmet at the last moment, and then the cyberpsycho sister came at me herself.

Holy shit! How did the others manage to let her escape?!

She grabbed me by the neck and started strangling me. Where the hell did she get that kind of power? Shit, I hate cyberpsychos. I tried to break the hold, but she managed to do a headlock and there's no way to get out by brute force here.

"Skipper! Don't move. We'll help you in a minute." - came a message from Manfredi and Johnson. The next second I heard something that sounded like a squeak, and the cyberpsycho girl's body arched. But even then she didn't let my neck out of her grasp and I had to tense my muscles to keep her from snapping my neck.

But finally she let go of me abruptly and fell to the ground.

"NO! YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! SISTER!" - yelled the cyberpsycho guy and, with incredible agility and speed, broke free from Private's hold, who had managed to bring him down a few seconds earlier. Only within a couple of meters before us was Rico able to shoot his leg off. But the lack of a leg didn't stop him, and he started crawling toward us.

"Private! Pile on him!" - I gave the order, and together we piled on him. Even our combined weight was barely enough to hold him in place.

"Manfredi, Johnson, knock him out while we hold him." - But the medics didn't need to be urged. In the very next second, a couple of special shots were injected into the guy. And at the end, another squeak and the guy was finally knocked out.

"Report," - I wheezed with a dry throat while rubbing my neck.

"She turned out to have a civilian version of Sandevistan. Wanted to shoot her, but she kept dodging and closing the distance so we had to go in for a melee. We somehow managed to knock her to the ground in hand-to-hand combat and give her a couple of doses of tranquilizers, but when she saw you aiming at her brother she had it fully activated and decided to attack you. Halfway through she got out the monowire but Rico managed to shoot her finger off. Except that she decided to attack you anyway. And there I had to shock her with the defibrillator to knock her out. - told Manfredi injecting another dose of tranquilizers into the guy while his brother did the same thing, but to his sister.

"Won't they die from such massive doses of tranquilizers, and after the shock therapy?" - I asked worried that all the hard work would go to shit just because their hearts would stop working.

"No, as a last resort we'll administer stimulants. Better to be on the safe side. We should have taken them alive with a minimum of trauma and injuries. Especially since they have cyberpsychosis. There's no need for unnecessary risks here." - Johnson said, tossing out the empty syringe.

"Yeah. A missing leg is just like a scratch. Rico, great job. All right, now lock them up and start checking on the rest of the clients." - After handing out instructions to everyone, I checked with the dispatcher how long to wait for extra evacuation squads. We couldn't get all the clients on one bird, and we would have to take the cyberpsychos on a separate flight.

I heard the humming of the engines and only got excited that the more teams had arrived when I was able to make out their markings and the inscription MAX-TAC. Remember the shit, here it comes. A company of gun-toting lunatics in the service of the city had landed next to us.

I told the others to stand by, just in case. Who knows what these maniacs have in their heads. Just as I thought, their commander began demanding that we leave the area immediately and leave the cyberpsychos with them.

"No. That's impossible. They're TT's clients. Especially since we're expecting reinforcements to arrive to evacuate other injured clients. So stay out of the way, or even better, leave the area."

"Aren't you being a little presumptuous? You're just a nurse with a gun."

"Well, risk your life. Here's a couple of crazies I've already been able to take down. I don't think it's gonna be much harder with you. Except you're not a client, so you could just get shot like a rabid dog."

My words must have hit him where it hurt, for he decided to point his weapon at me. Only he was wrong with his objective. I had already activated my implants, and when he first started pointing his weapon I had already aimed and fired next to his head.

"That was the last warning. Do you want to know if you and your mutts have a chance of making it through a fight with me?"

I saw his body tense up and prepared for a heated fight. But apparently his superiors ordered him to stop and leave the place without disturbing the TT. It wasn't until they plunged in and flew away that I was able to let out an exhale.

"Skipper, was it worth it? MAX-TAC, after all, not the usual corpo guards." - Rico asked on the intercom.

"Normally we don't have conflicts. But this time we got lucky and ran into an asshole. Apparently he hasn't been brainwashed enough and now thinks that as a cyberpsycho with a badge he's a fucking superman and master of the universe. Besides, I think we could at least make it a draw, and at best we could take them all down. Yet we might get clients into the fire, even though I don't think he'd have the balls to do it. Surely then he would have been sent straight to the cutting table of the local ripperdock butchers." -I replied, sending the video to headquarters in the meantime. Let them put some manners into this gang of psycho cops. They're used to wiping their feet on everybody, assholes. Serve and protect? No. Kill and maim. Well, fuck them.

I had a smoke while I waited for the reinforcements to arrive. What a day. Beat up and saved clients. Almost got into a fight with MAX-TAC. And it's only Tuesday. All right, when I get back, I'm gonna have to do some training on how to counter cyberpsychos at close range.