Legal Problems Require Illegal Solutions (8)

Mark turns to Sasha, "Stay under the radar somewhere, I have something urgent to get back to." Without waiting for a response Mark rushes towards Pacifica using his Grappling Gun and measured jumps with his jetpack. He carefully checks his current arsenal, hoping that it will be enough without dipping into his new weapons.

Mark returns to Pacifica just as fast as he arrives at the Corpo Plaza. He ignores the gangsters shooting at each other in the middle of the "outer shell" of the Starter Base, where he had claimed new land but had yet to build anything, and went straight towards the area with warning signals on his System until the invaders become visible on his minimap.

It was a sight of pure carnage and senseless death, as the gangsters had blew up the outer walls with powerful rocket launchers, then did the same with the nearby defenses. Mark arrived just in time to see the group trying to escape with his assembled items. Without wasting time, Mark cuts off the escape from the gangsters and then deploys his turrets. The gangsters inside the factory are flatlined quickly until none is remaining. After a fast patchwork and reestablishing new supply lines, Mark turns his attention to the gang war ongoing in his backyard.

Jumping away like a famous webslinger, the Engineer finds one of the Posergang kids who were partying nearby some time ago. "Chaos, what the hell just happened here?"

"I don't know!" The nominal leader of the Poser Gang yelled back hysterically, "We were just partying when all those people suddenly came out packing tons of iron!"

"Stay here where it is safe!" Mark yells over the gunfight before rushing towards the front lines. There were only a few people that Mark recognized in the chaotic battlefield, though the Engineer recognized a few gangs in attendance. Mark can see the Animals, the Voodoo Boys, a small Tyger Claw team fighting together, various individual Scavs sneaking around the battlefield to loot the bodies, and finally the Barghest coming in force. Other than the notorious gangs, there are also several Posergangs, Combat Gangs, Go Gangs, the unmistakable remnants of Maelstrom, and finally "the fucking nazis!"

The last group is comprised of several tenuously related Hate Gangs that operate in Night City as a whole and would never ally themselves with any of the previously listed gangs.

"Investigate later, deal with them now." Mark sets up an improvised cover using stone furnaces to protect the armed gun turrets he deploys, using his Grappling Gun to zip through the battlefield and setting similar 'kill boxes.' His form is a blur on the battlefield, made worse for his enemies during the nighttime, as most of the gangsters don't have a form of night vision.

Unfortunately, the gangsters with proper night vision were also heavily armed. When Mark paused for an instant to set up another kill box, the Barghest was ready, and one of their numbers shot a rocket launcher at the Engineer.

*Boom*

Mark flies several meters from the impact of the explosion hitting him in the face. "Argh!" The gangsters don't stop, and continue to fire their weapons at Mark, forcing him to split his focus between evading the heavy ordinance and healing himself, which gives the momentum of the fight back to the gangsters.

In a miracle of Hate and Spite, all the gangs fighting against each other decided to drop their current rivalries and grudges to focus their efforts on the Engineer. As Mark zips through the battlefield toward safer areas, Mark notices that his supplies are running low. Deciding that he needs to resupply, Mark quickly returns to his base.

"I didn't think I would use it this soon," Mark remarks as he drops most of his items and picks up the contents of his War Chest. Mark quickly runs towards the newly installed gates of his Starter Base. Waiting for him, is the Factorio Tank, already armed and fueled for action.

*Cracracracra* *Cracracracra*

From inside the factory, a tank comes out, surprising the gangsters for its presence and appearance. The tank machine guns roar, and more gun turrets materialize at the sides to provide support and stationary defenses. The large turrets whirl towards the Barghest team, firing their precious explosive rounds, taking out the gangsters.

The tank picks up more speed, firing the machine gun while grenades fly from inside the war machine. It doesn't stop when it comes closer to the gangsters, running over the few unfortunates that couldn't run fast enough.

From time to time, Mark leaves the tank and once more zips through the battlefield, setting up more kill boxes, refueling the already present gun turrets, and throwing grenades. The gangsters' actions would become more desperate, as they saw most of their weapons hit the Engineer, with the man faltering at times, however, he never stops firing his weapons, running, and hunting down the gangsters. The coalition that started this war will never know how close they were to killing the Engineer thanks to his sealed armor and the various medical kits in his inventory.

Unfortunately for the coalition, they made the mistake of assaulting the Engineer right in front of his base. The Engineer has a greater chance of dying from his logistic system than he does from external enemies while within reach of his base.

Now, everyone will understand that.

…

The event that would later be reported on the media as "The Pacifica Gang War Massacre" ends after, what to Mark feels like, hours of fighting. Through the fight, Mark sealed the local area with stone walls to keep uninvolved people away from the combat zone. Differently from the assault on the Maelstrom base, Mark allowed the gangsters to flee, until only a few remnant gangsters stayed. Some of them were dying, while others were made prisoners where the interrogation began.

"Why did your gang decide to attack today? Did you idiots decide to start a gang war on a whim, or was it on your agenda?"

"I don't know," the gangsters cried, "the boss said that tonight would be a good chance for us to loot the Engineer hideout."

Mark shakes the unnamed man, "who gave you that information?"

"I, I don't know," Mark aims his machine gun at the gangster's head, and he starts to speak, "It, it was a Ffixer! B-boss said a 'big shot fixer' gave us a nice tip, that's all I know!"

The same kind of response continued with several minor gangs, always a 'big shot fixer' selling hot intel to assault the Engineer holdings. The pattern only broke when the larger gangs got involved.

…

"Who sent you here? Do you think I won't finish the job if you don't answer?"

"Do your worst." The Tyger Claw gangster says and closes her eyes, getting herself ready for torture. She didn't expect Mark's next action, as she felt most of her wounds healed, bringing her back from the brink of death to merely injured. "What?"

"You can go," the Engineer tells the gangster, "your silence answers enough to me about who's responsible for your group tantrum." The female Tyger Claw widens her eyes as if Mark had seen through her. "I wonder, what will your group do when they realize you crawled back to them instead of having the decency of dying for your failure? Will they ask you to commit seppuku or a zako like you isn't afforded that kind of courtesy?"

That mere understanding of Japanese culture was enough for the gangster to flee the area like a woman possessed, never looking back.

…

"Who sent you here?" Mark asks while pointing his gun towards the Barghest gangster. In the Engineer's opinion, the Barghest aren't true 'gangsters' but instead they're paid mercenaries of Militech due to their superior equipment and training. "Are they paying you enough to stay silent?"

"… I'm no snitch, but you don't really need me to tell you who sent me here, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not clueless." The Engineer answers him, "You can leave. I will be keeping your weapons and other possessions as spoils of war."

"You're very generous." The gangster remarks as he slowly stands up.

"If you want me to kill you to wash away the shame of failure, you can just ask."

"Nope, not paid enough to die for those corpo bastards. I will take my leave."

…

"The Night City Corp sent us." The Animal confesses to Mark's shock, "They don't like that you're digging their trash."

"Are they for real?" Mark can't help but ask at the insanity of it, "Aren't they the government? Shouldn't they have at least sent the cops first?"

This time it was the Animal that looked strangely at Mark. "Hello? They're corpos, sending killers to their competition is what corpos do."

"Just, just leave." Mark waves off the Animal, and the gangsters reluctantly leave without causing any further issues.

…

"Who sent you?"

"We're not going to say anything, you bastard!" The Voodoo boy prisoner yells back at Mark, uncaring about his potential survival, "If it weren't for you, we would have taken Pacifica for ourselves!"

Mark makes a show to roll his eyes. "Like the Animals or Barghest…"

The Voodoo Boy spat, hitting Mark's armor. "They are like children to the ones we serve! We have a purpose, a dream, something that goes beyond the petty squabbles of mortal men!"

Mark stares at the captured gangster, then shakes his head. "I can see why you were sent to die. I doubt I could get any useful intel from cannon fodder."

Mark can see the gangster's heart skipping a beat. "What?"

"Oh, you know, if I were in your shoes I would think this setup was abnormal. Consider this: a man that allegedly took down the Maelstrom gang in a single night, killing over a thousand men alone if the rumors are true, and you're asked to assault his alleged stronghold." Mark tilts his head, trying to convey pity through his hidden face, "you clearly have strong faith in your ideology, and looks vocal about it too. I can only imagine that you or your faction has powerful enemies back with your group. Send the troublemakers to die on a suicide mission to clean house, and even if they survive the ordeal their numbers will be too low to be a threat. Tell me, Boy, did everyone that died today was one of your friends?"

The Voodoo Boy sweats, trembling at the imposing figure of the armored Engineer, and the implication of the man's words.

"You, you're wrong! We're united against the filth of this city, even De," the gangster clamps his mouth shut, realizing what he was about to say. Unfortunately for him, it was already too late.

"If you finish that sentence, I will allow you to leave unmolested. Otherwise…" Mark allows his words to hang in the air. The gangster looks away, shame and anger in his expression. "Good answer," Mark says and allows the gangster to leave.

…

"We never should have listened to that," Mark's shotgun rests on the Hate Gangster's head, and he wisely changes his words, "Fat bastard!"

"Good enough for me. Now leave, and if I ever see your gang near here, or harassing someone outside, you will answer to me, get it?"

If the gangster glare could kill, it would still be inferior to the wrath of the Engineer. Wisely, the gangster stands up and leaves the area.

…

After finishing the interrogation, Mark looks around the area to determine the damage. To his anger, the gangs ended up destroying the habitation blocks he created, with several of the homeless population dying in the process. Differently from the other gangsters, Mark decided to properly perform funerary rites on the innocent who died.

"Hey Chaos," Mark approaches the Poser gangster, already back at full health thanks to the shared medical kit, "I'm sorry things ended up like this. I don't think our deal can continue under those conditions. It's simply too dangerous."

"Nah, this is Night City choom, there's a gang war every other month. We got used to it already," the self-proclaimed Toreador reassures Mark, "though it usually doesn't get this big so fast, nor does it end in a single night."

"Yeah, well, I'm still not comfortable allowing you guys near a place that will turn into a warzone at any minute. I will contact you if I ever find a way to set up a safer place for your guys."

"Thanks, choom," Chaos yaws before rubbing his eyes, "I'm going home, this night was terrible for me, and I still have to turn in my assignments at Arasaka Academy."

Mark pats the Poser ganger on the shoulder, before looking for one last place, and his temper once more ignites. The future "Wube Inc." office was completely wrecked and ransacked, with almost every piece of furniture destroyed, the walls damaged, and the PC tower missing. There was nothing important to Mark since most of the valuable items were either on his inventory or were part of the Factorio System, but disproportionate damage was done to something that Mark knows will be useless, however, the stolen equipment was the last straw for the night.

"DeShawn, you're fucking dead when I get my hands on you!"

Taking a deep breath, Mark sits on the only semi-intact piece of furniture and enters the simulation mode. In this mode, Mark's mind is transported to a sandbox world where time passes slowly, which he usually uses to build new factory blueprints and test new equipment. He's going to use that extra time to plan and strategize.

There will be a reckoning, so swears the Engineer.