Who's tougher?

Who's tougher?

Spring. For some, it's a time to be out enjoying life. But for TT, it's a time to go out and kill. Why? Because the warm weather becomes a trigger for all kinds of psychos to start freaking out and doing all kinds of shit. So the number of calls where we're either beating or rescuing lunatics goes up dramatically. That's only part of the problem, because there's also cyberpsychosis when it gets bad for everyone, especially us if the cyberpsycho tries to kill our client or in the shittiest case he is our client.

So we fly to rescue a cyber-psychotic client in a small park full of people. We have to tie him up before he goes berserk and scatters the guts of the losers next to him into the nearest trees.

- Pilots, pick up the pace. Or Christmas will come early . - I'm contacting them on the intranet and I can feel them activating the boosters.

- What are you talking about, Skipper? What Christmas? - asks Kowalski with a look that says it looks like the commander's mind is beginning to go crazy.

- There's a theory that the tradition of decorating trees for Christmas comes from an ancient ritual of sacrifice or feast during which a prisoner or volunteer is taken, killed, and the entrails scattered on the branches. I don't remember the exact description. - I answered him, simultaneously loading a magazine with armor-piercing rounds into my rifle.

- Oh, well. We better hurry up, or we'll arrive and there'll be a scene worthy of a horror movie about ancient bloodthirsty gods. Blood, guts, corpses and trees. Brrrr.

Our bird started to descend, hinting that soon we would be on the place, but at the last moment we had to leave sharply aside and only the fact that we were buckled up saved us from flying inside the aerodyne.

- Pilots what...

- A couple of Max-Tacs appeared in front of us! They came down on us like a snowball, and we almost ran into a neighboring building.

- What the hell are they doing there?!

- They're chasing our client.

- Shit! Drop us off now, then push them aside and don't give them a chance to fire on our client!

- Copy that.

The bird descends sharply, and when it's a couple meters to the ground, we all quickly jump straight down onto the hard asphalt. It's another hundred meters to the target and we have to do it as fast as possible. Two Max-Tac aerodynes are already circling around him like scavengers. I hope they haven't had time to drop off the executioners with their badges.

When we got to our client's location, my worst guesses came true. The legal cyberpsychs had managed to land and were trying to make Swiss cheese out of our client.

- Rico and the Medics fire on the Max-Tac fighters, pin them down and buy us some time. Kowalski try to break through our cyberpsych's defenses and limit his combat potential. Private, you and Mort should use your armor and shield to try to tie him up and knock him out with tranquilizers. Let's go! - I quickly issue commands and move with Private and Mort towards the client.

Halfway through I take cover behind a concrete bench, so I can more or less control the situation and provide fire support for the assault team. I've only managed to empty one magazine when I hear a loud pop, and then I'm hit. I was toppled onto my back, and there was a hole in my makeshift shelter.

- Rico! They got a heavy sniper! Find him and take him out. I give the go-ahead for a lethal response. - With a groan, I stand up and pull out a smoke grenade.

Quickly pulling the pin, I throw it in front of me and, using the smoke, make a sharp dash to one of the columns. I take a breath and examine myself, my vest is scratched, but that's all, at most there may be a small bruise, and even then I doubt it.

- Minus one Skipper. Tore the bastard's hand off, but it looks like it's about to get hot. - Rico's report was proved prophetic.

The enraged Max-Tacs opened fire and began to close in on us. And Private and Mort are still busy with the client. What sucks the most is Max-Tac seems to have decided that playtime is over and activated their chrome at full blast judging by the frantic spurt of some of their members.

Well, you can play this with just the two of us. Bringing my chrome to full power and time slowed down for me. Now I could see the sprinters who wanted to take us down in close combat. They were moving fast enough, but to me they were no faster than a normal human, the difference in implants was telling. If we were regular Trauma Team members, it would be a one-sided beating, but this would be a fight between predators of equal rank.

The muzzle of my rifle lit up with flashes and powerful armor-piercing bullets began to fly out of it, piercing the armor of the Max-Tac operatives. But that wasn't enough to stop these freaks, who had so many implants that they were only a small step away from the Borg. I keep firing at one target until I see it start to drop and bleed out from a pile of wounds, only then do I change targets.

It takes half a magazine for each target, and I manage to take out three of them before the Max-Tac aerodyne machine guns start working on us. Apparently, the rest of them had also beaten up their opponents pretty good, since they decided to call in air support.

The situation became very hot and not good for us. Two enemy aerodynes against one of ours. Even if we manage to divert the attention of one, the other will keep firing at us. Shit, we need to call for support.

- Archangel One requesting backup! Code Vermillion! Repeat Vermillion! - I'm transmitting a message to Dispatch, in which Vermillion means we need immediate assistance from another Archangel squad or at least two regular TT squads.

- Copy that! The nearest Archangel squad is a minute and a half flight away! - The dispatcher answered me almost immediately.

- Rico! Kowalski, take the fucking aerodyne! We need to hold out for a minute and a half! Medics, we're moving into close quarters! We're closing in! On three! Grenades on you! - I've got a baton in my free hand.

From the outside, the decision to go practically hand-to-hand doesn't look optimal, but in a situation where the enemy has superior firepower and no good cover, the only option is to move in close. The enemy won't want to risk hitting their own with friendly fire and will switch to other targets or simply stop providing support. Rico and Kowalski have good cover from where they can't be easily taken out, unlike me and the medics who can be outflanked.

- Stimulators! - Manfredi yells.

- Damn, I forgot about them. - I send a short order to use the most powerful stuff and, clutching my baton under my arm, I take out a syringe with the deadliest stimulant and inject the entire dose into my neck through a special port in my armor. I'm overflowing with energy, and judging by the growling and gnashing of teeth over the intercom, the medics seem to have taken some of their special cocktails.

- Three! Kill the bastards! - I give the command, and the three of us go on the attack.

Boosted chrome plus stimulants is the perfect combo. Max-Tac doesn't have time to respond when we're halfway through. With my assault rifle, I fire, aiming for the head, neck, or upper torso, trying to knock them down or prevent them from returning fire.

- Grenades! - yells Johnson along with Manfredi, and they toss customized fragmentation grenades.

- Two of the grenades explode on contact with the ground behind enemy cover. This gives us extra time to get close enough to do some damage to the Max-Tacs. Here, there are only a couple of meters left between us, but at the last moment the enemies decide to go into close combat as well.

Three against five, that's a lousy score. We gotta even it up. I reload the chrome and open fire, trying to make the most of the accelerated reaction.

One bullet hits the helmet visor of the operative closest to me and gets stuck in it, I have to fire a couple more to neutralize it. I manage to get another shot at the other operative before the dirty melee begins.

I use the muzzle of my rifle to fend off the Mantis's blades, but it turns out the enemy is not so simple and wants to put me on the blade in his other hand. I hit his hand with my baton, but he's also speeding up and manages to put the blade in front of me, so it makes a small cut on my leg. And then I'm attacked from behind by another Max-Tac fighter, barely dodging, and a combat knife flies over my head. Two on one. Well, I'm not gonna let you bitches get the best of me. I drop my rifle and attack the guy with the Mantis Blades with just my baton in my hand.

I intercept his hand and snap it, hitting him in the neck with the baton, forcing him to cover himself with his free hand. I can almost feel the knife of the enemy operative's knife coming toward my neck from behind, and I make a sharp jerk with my body. Almost managing to dodge the knife, it hits my shoulder instead of my neck, and with enough force to lodge in the subcutaneous armor. Only my goal wasn't just to dodge, but to use the Mantis Blade in the enemy's front hand caught in the grip. The jerk provided enough force to put the bastard attacking me from behind on the blade. So at the cost of a small pool of blood, I was able to lock them in place. Now it's time to finish them off.

- Praise the sun, you bastards! - I quickly ripped the pin from the flash-bang grenade in my load and before the fuse went off, I pulled it out and pulled it up.

The loud pop and bright light was an unpleasant surprise for the two Max-Tac operatives. But not for me, I had managed to activate the helmet's built-in defense beforehand. The back of the baton handle hits the freak behind me, aiming for his head. He falls to his knees, releasing the knife stuck in me from his hands. I decide to take advantage of this, grabbing the knife with my free hand and pulling it out of his shoulder. In a sharp upward motion, I drive the knife into the head of the guy with the Mantis Blades. The point of the knife reaches the brain and after a couple of wheezes, the enemy dies.

I quickly look around and see that the medics are busy finishing off their opponents. Manfredi was using his rifle butt to finish off a man lying on the ground, and his brother, Johnson, was choking a trapped enemy.

He probably wanted to use the Max-Tac operative as a human shield, but after a while that was no longer necessary. Aerodyne, who was providing fire support jerked sharply to the side and hit the building next to him. The force of the impact was enough to damage one of the engines, so it went into an emergency landing. Though it was more accurate to call it a poorly controlled fall.

- Skipper, we've dealt with the enemy bird. Are you all right? - Kowalski's voice led me to believe that while Rico was distracting the pilot, he'd done something to the aerodyne controls over the network that caused it to crash.

- We are good. We've got one. - looking at the cyber-psych cop I stunned first with a grenade and then hit hard on the head, knocking him out.

I wonder if I should kill him or not. Let him live, I've already killed a lot of his buddies today. Two more hard punches send him to sleep. Seeing my actions, Johnson decides not to kill his opponent either, he continues to hold him by the neck in a grapple until he loses consciousness.

- We have two prisoners. How are you two doing? By the way. Private, are you done with your client? - I'm reminded of the partially forgotten Private and Mort.

- The client's unconscious. Mort's bringing him in. You guys had a lot of fun, Skipper. - Private and Mort, with a well-tied client on his back, came into my field of vision.

- Yeah, took out a bunch of Max-Tac guys and practically shot down one of their aerodynes. Client wasn't too problematic?

- No. EMP grenade at his feet and Mort's ramming was enough to knock him out. Then I gave him a bunch of tranquilizers. But you guys sure made a mess.

- Tell me about it. I'm surprised those nutjobs with badges would do something like that.

The engines are starting to rumble. Here comes the cavalry. Only there's a lot more of them, judging by the noise. My suspicions were correct. Not only the TTs had arrived, but additional Max-Tac forces. Fighters began to unload from the aerodynes and prepare for battle.

- This is Max-Tac! Put your weapons down now! - But none of us thought to listen. On the contrary, I pressed a picked up rifle to the head of one of the captives.

- You tell your mad dogs to put their guns down immediately or have their buddies shot in the head. And then we'll take care of you. - I say briefly, using the maximum volume on the outer speakers.

The response was silence. The situation was escalating, no one was going to back down. We were ready to shoot when an expensive police car appeared, from which some high-ranking officer got out.

He ordered Max-Tac to lower his weapon and not to respond to provocations. Then he went to us and asked to contact my superiors to find a solution to the current situation. Deciding not to escalate the conflict, I called Jeremiah and Ron.

After a short negotiation, the conflict was resolved. After handing over the prisoners and returning to our birds, we left the policemen behind. Let them clean up the place.

 That same evening.

 The Ruth Dzeng News.

- Hello, everyone! I've got some incredible news for you! Max-Tac got their ass kicked today! No. No. I'm not exaggerating, they got their ass kicked, and you won't believe who did it. You're probably guessing and thinking they got one or more of the particularly hardcore cyber-psychos or Borg? Hahaha! That's what I thought when I heard about it, but I was surprised when the ones who wiped the floor with Night City's scary bogeyman turned out to be the TT Archangels! Yes! Yes! The very Archangels whose services very few people can afford. There was a lot of controversy and criticism about them. Some thought they were just another advertising project to inflate prices or just a status thing. But they have proven time and again that their services are worth every spent eddie, making many critics shut their mouths. And today, they have scaled new heights. They didn't just save a client that Max-Tac was chasing, they defeated an enemy that outnumbered them and outgunned them. We even have footage from one of the cameras showing the climax of the confrontation....

- What do you think, Marcus? - Jeremiah turns around in his chair, looking at me drinking coffee.

- The marketing department should make a solid gold, life size statue of me.

- Hahaha. I agree, you've once again done them a big favor. Okay, all kidding aside. What do you think of the situation.

- That it was bound to happen sooner or later. And we passed the test brilliantly and showed that we're not to be trifled with.

- You think they're just gonna roll over and turn a blind eye to being beaten like bitches in public?

- I doubt it. But they won't be allowed to run wild. Unlike us, they are officially recognized cyberpsychos and under constant suspicion. So they're on a pretty short leash with the police and the city, which has no reason to fight us. Especially since they buy their health insurance from us.

- I'm thinking the same thing. I'll just tell all the regular TT squads and Archangels to be on the lookout for Max-Tac anyway.

- If they want to play dirty or give us a hard time they are in big trouble. No one has cancelled working under someone else's flag. Take it up with the higher-ups. I don't think they'll want to lose their expensive toys.

- Already did. They told me they'd like to set up a backup channel to prevent a situation like today.

- That's great. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go celebrate my victory with the rest of the guys in Afterlife.

- No offense intended. You've earned the right to celebrate your triumph.

After saying goodbye, I left the office, and the last thing I heard were the words of the announcer.

- ..... The Archangels have shown everyone that there's a new predator in town to be feared....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey guys. I have new fanfic - Old Scar of Terra. 

You saw the birth of the Imperium. You saw its dawn. You saw its agony as the fires of betrayal consumed Terra.

But even in your darkest hour, you did not give up and you fought on. Even when it seemed there was no hope. The Imperium has survived, albeit at great cost. But your enemies will not give up and want to bring the flames of war back to Terra! Fulfill your duty! Fight and defend her! Do not shame yourself or your legion! Awaken the White Scar!

Give it a try and let me know what you think. 

Abi.