First The Thugs, Then The Mercs

I pulled Faye along as Amber started firing at the thugs gathered in front of the door, accurately taking out several thugs even at this distance.

While most of the remaining thugs sought cover, a few of them raised their guns and fired back at us.

I used myself as a shield and blocked a few bullets for Faye, my personal shield materialising to absorb the bullets for me.

In retaliation, I also lifted my blaster and fired a few shots, nailing a few of the thugs that had opted to shoot at us out in the open instead of finding cover.

I managed to reach the second floor with Faye, the poor girl practically shivering in fear at what was happening.

I doubt she would be able to run while like this…

I lifted her up with a hand, letting her sit on the crook of my left arm which left my right hand free to hold my weapon in case we met any more thugs on the way.

Amber still covered our rear and followed me after firing a few more shots, taking the opportunity to reload as well.

"Hold on tight Faye!" I cautioned, picking up speed as the girl did as I asked, her arms wrapping around my shoulders.

She let out a soft squeak of surprise as one of the thugs leapt up from the first floor and landed in front of us, a manic smirk on his face like he had just caught us.

He must have modded his legs or something to be able to jump that high without aid.

Unfortunately for him, he was so caught up in that moment that he probably forgot that we were also armed so I simply pointed my gun at him and shot him twice.

He fell back and ended up tripping over the railing and falling back down to the ground floor below with a loud splat, clearing the way for us to continue forward.

At least that's what I thought until three more thugs leapt up from the floor below, one of them with his gun already pointed at me.

I half turned my body to hide Faye from view and let my shield tank the bullet that the thug shot at me, the projectile burned away by my shield harmlessly.

I lined up my gun with the thug and pulled the trigger before he could fire again, shooting him between the eyes.

The other two thugs were still in the midst of lifting their own weapons when two gunshots were heard from behind me.

The heads of both of the thugs snapped back from the impact before they fell on the ground, dead.

I nodded a thanks at Amber who still had her arms raised in their previous shooting positions before I continued to run towards the stairs that would lead to the roof.

Already we could hear stomping from the thugs chasing after us from below as they raced towards the stairs.

As I ascended the stairs, I noticed that there was a metal graille similar to the one I saw at Mara's clinic trying to drop down from the ceiling. But because someone had left a metal pole leaning against the wall, it ended up preventing the graille from actually dropping down.

"Amber!" I called out, gesturing to the pole with my gun.

She realised what I wanted immediately and gave me a nod to show she understood.

I burst out onto the roof and I looked behind me as Amber followed me right after, the blonde Merc already turning around to brandish her guns just as a few thugs appeared at the staircase.

She fired both her pistols at the pole, the force of the projectiles hitting against the object sent it rolling down the stairs and for the metal graille to crash down behind the door, blocking the way out for the thugs.

I let out a sigh of relief, but tightened up once again as gunshots came from over the roof's ledge.

That's right, the Mercs that had been distracting these thugs are still here… We're not exactly in the clear yet.

Amber and I made our way to the emergency ladder at the side of the warehouse.

I looked down before turning to Faye, "Do you think you can climb down on your own?"

She shuddered, which told me all I needed to know so I didn't force her. Instead, I holstered my blaster and started descending the ladder with her still clinging to me.

Just as I reached the second floor however, I heard a soft buzzing noise and turned to see a drone hovering just out of reach, its gun trained on me.

Amber reacted immediately and fired several rounds of her W2 Magnum at the drone, completely blasting it apart and sending the machine crashing against the side of the warehouse.

Ah fuck, the guy controlling the drones must have been using it to search for another way into the building and found us.

He definitely also saw me carrying Faye so they must know that there's another Merc team here if those two girls haven't told them already.

I was hoping that they might prioritise freeing their comrades that were still trapped inside the warehouse over chasing us but I'm not going to bet on that.

I quickened my descent and reached the bottom just as the second drone appeared from around the corner to speed towards us.

This time, I reached for the shotgun that I had slung on my back and pulled it out with my free hand before firing at it.

The slug round that I had loaded beforehand punched a hole through the drone and the machine fell out of the sky before crashing onto the street in a ball of fire.

Amber tugged on my arm, "Come on! This way!"

We entered a side street just as I heard the roar of a car engine from around the corner, the Mercs already hot on our heels.

Great, now we have to run two kilometres to get to the dropoff point while those Mercs chase after us in their car…

Fucking hell, go rescue your trapped girls instead! Don't come after us!!

Amber reached out to me, "Let me carry her! Cover our retreat!"

I did not argue and passed Faye to her, though the girl seemed quite reluctant to leave my arms.

I knew Amber wanted me to cover the rear because I was the one with the bigger gun here and could deal with the power armour guy should he chase after us.

To prepare for that, I unloaded all the buckshot rounds still in my shotgun and replaced them so that the gun was loaded with slug and shield buster shells in an alternating order.

I heard the screech of tires as the car stopped at the street we were running, the Merc's car drifting in to turn after us.

Amber made the snap decision to turn into an alley and I followed after her, ignoring the shouts coming from the occupants of the car chasing after us.

She turned around another corner and when I made the same turn, I found myself face to face with a tall fence.

Wait… Amber's already on the other side? How did she climb this so fast even with Faye in her arms?

Deciding not to question it, I jumped up on the fence and grabbed onto the top, pulling myself up and over it before dropping down on the other side.

I could already hear the car stopping in the alley behind us and a door being slammed as they started to chase us on foot.

Fucking hell, just give up already! This isn't worth it for you!

I continued running after Amber just as the unmistakable stomping sounds of a power amour came from behind.

I peeked behind me and saw the power armour guy stop to regard the fence blocking his way before ramming himself into it, completely tearing the flimsy obstacle off the wall and sending it crashing down.

He then started to raise the hand that was carrying a machine gun to point down the alley.

Woah, woah, woah! Wait a minute!! Was he really going to light us up?! Does he not care about hurting the girl as well?! What the fuck?!

I reacted immediately by kicking off the ground and spinning around in midair to point my shotgun towards him, firing the slug round directly at the power armour guy.

There was a loud 'ping' sound and I saw sparks fly from the shoulder I was aiming at, seems like he didn't activate his shields which was a godsend for me.

At this distance, the slug round did not penetrate the power armour but the force of the blow was enough to send him stumbling backwards and prevented him from firing at us.

I landed on my feet and continued to run, turning another corner after Amber as she did so to try and lose our pursuers.

We continued to run for a while more and soon enough, we could no longer hear any sounds coming from behind us.

I guess they must have finally given up.

Fucking hell… And here I thought this would have just been a simple rescue mission…