Realistic or Modern Bastard's Tale

[ScalpelsNSaws]

"The IED is fine, this mortar is news to me." Shaun said to them, keeping a wider birth from the main group. If he's hit with anything heavy half the block becomes a crater. He was moving from concrete barrier to car-carcass to minimise chances of that.

Shaun swung his Negev round, bipod set on an old car hood and began to suppress the second gate tower using short controlled bursts with the other marksman still inside, the recoil from his shots ,making his shoulder ache and the impacts of the rounds practically melting the sniper's cover.

Shaun called to Jesse and then others, "Cover my approach, I'm gonna go for the gatehouse!"
He swung his Negev back and got ready to run.

 

[TheAdept]

Jesse nodded, then shot the top of the tower guards head, which wouldn't kill him thanks to those damn helmets, but the guard was knocked down. Jesse shot again at someone running to a machinegun nest, then a second later at the tower as he could see the gun rising over. The bullet went through the scope and through the soldier's eye.

Shells continued raining on the main attacking groups of soldier, and Jesse would not be surprised if they retreated soon. Weak, cowardly Nobles, and William's men seemed to be the weakest.

Jesse continued shooting, hitting most of the time despite the range and the chaos. Charles had taught him well, and so this was an easy task he took to automatically.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

Shaun rushed the set of gates, IED in his hands. He crouched under an overturned van and lit the oily fuse, and hurled it over the wall where many men were crouched and shooting over at Jesse, Aurora, Ethan and Shisa.

As soon as the IED left his hand Shaun was running like Satan had a hot poker to his feet and a rager pointed at his back. Bullets peppered the asphalt as he ran, diving behind a concrete wall as the ground shook at its very foundations.

The IED had detonated, collapsing the wall to what seemed to be the main guardhouse and gate control room. The gate fell away from the wall there, leaving the interior of Boulder exposed to attack. A fine yellow mist and red paste could be seen carried by the wind further into the town from the bomb, and very little movement form the 10+ defenders that were there prior to the explosion.

 

[Obsidian]

All through the attack, Ethan stayed close to Jesse, continuing to study him but the chaos and bullets would make it difficult. Ethan fired on enemy positions with his negev machine gun, trying to make precise shots with it in short controlled bursts, though he was still new to this and wasn't as accurate as he would have liked. He did managed to make a few hits, but, with the nobles having their own armor, he doubted whether he made any kills. Not that it mattered, after the wall blew sky high, Ethan crouching behind the ruined concrete wall he was using as cover, debris clattering across the ground all around the area.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa froze from behind the car-cass she was using as cover. She couldn't tear her eye away from the destruction their IED had caused. The men, that were still alive at least, they got off worse then the dead ones. It was, horrific but, captivating. From her angle she could see the yellow mist creeping into the school. The people unlucky enough to be in its path, well.

It was a scene out of a Hellscape nightmare, but.. Shisa was laughing. It started as a smirk of a smile, happy that their IED worked. Then a smile of utter amazement at what it was doing. Then a chuckle at how their skin sloughed off their bodies, coughing up bits of their insides. The chuckle turned into a full laugh, echoing on the inside of her mask. She didn't know why she was laughing, maybe it was seeing such evil people in such agony? Maybe it was seeing the caustic substance in action. She didn't know.

Shaun slid to join her behind her cover after he threw their creation. Shisa held her sides from laughing, and then she saw Shaun's face. A mix of disgust, guilt, worry, adrenaline. Why wasn't he excited? Their bomb worked beautifully. She locked eyes with him, concern filled his eyes.

 

[Lexico]

Aurora hesitantly took some men and was following Jesse. But after Shaun's heroic bombardment, she understood this will be no longer organized. She ran shit crazy, shooting at whatever was moving from what ever was left in the blast. She heard Shisa laugh. A laugh that was so shocking compared to the situation they were facing. She kept on shooting who ever was alive. She was tempted to shoot Shisa not for revenge but simply because the laughter was too irritating.

She broke the ranks and ran towards east. She knew there were more people there. They were soldiers but they had no spirit of soldiers. She ran into the crowd, shooting at each of them. They were scared after they saw the bomb. She took targets one by one.

Not everyone are cowards. Some one some where stopped running and came towards her. She would not shoot everyone. As they got close, she went back to her own weapon, the knife. She started hurting them. But it was like invasion. One by one they jumped on her. She stabbed a few and cut few throats. But she was caught in the pile of bodies.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

Shaun's ears were ringing like churchbells as he retreated back to the group, parking himself next to Shisa, who seemed to be in a bout of hysterical laughter, he wasn't sure why.

He felt worse now than when building the bomb, seeing these men almost fall to pieces...literally. He knew the slow wind wouldn't take the gas far before settling, but he still didn't intend for it to reach all the way to the school down the street. A single tear fell from his eye, fortunately hidden by the mask, probably from the stirred dust from the explosion. His attention was quickly drawn from the maddened woman to Aurora, who was apparently getting her wild woman on, getting caught within a dogpile of soldiers.

"Jesse, eyes on Aurora!" Shaun yelled to the boy, running over to the mass of writhing bodies and began stabbing at exposed skin with his knife, which was still slathered with the Hogweed.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa saw Aurora out of the corner of her eye, she was getting swamped. She may not like the woman, but this mission is for her.

Pulling herself together, Shisa ran to a new piece of cover, another car-cas where she could get a better view of Aurora. Shisa whipped out her crossbow, shooting a man in the neck who was about to jump Aurora. Each bolt was dipped in Newt poison.

After firing a few bolts, ugh. This isn't as helpful as she wanted to be. Shisa slung her bow onto her back, grabbing her knives and joining the fray. Her knives too, she had coated in newt.

Dipping a few fingers of a gloved hand into the newt poison, Shisa simply started sticking said hand into men's mouths as they yelled. They would tense, and swallow their spit, dropping to the ground instantly.

These men began to back away from Shisa and her magic death touch, which Shisa used to keep them away from the others.

"I assume you like living? Then I'd suggest you surrender."

Shisa called this out, knowing it was probably futile. But, maybe they'd surrender? Here's hoping.

 

[Obsidian]

Ethan pulled himself up from his hiding spot, hearing Shaun warn Jesse about Aurora, seeing her run off through the hole in the wall. And then he saw Shisa move, heading off after Aurora. Not wishing to be left out of the fun, Ethan moved too, running from cover to cover, firing on what remains of the defending nobles as he goes, getting closer to the breached wall, following behind Shisa. And then he saw her sticking her hands in the mouths of nobles, seeing them quite literally drop dead. When Shisa offered them to surrender, however, Ethan saw his chance.

While the nobles were distracted by Shisa, Ethan stood, using his piece of cover to rest his Negev, and then he would shoot; punchering four bullets into the first with one bullet hitting his neck, blasting the second off his feet and onto his back, and shooting a third into his side and his arm, making him scream in agony as he drops his gun. Then the clip on Ethan's Negev runs out, with two remaining nobles turning their guns on Shisa.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

Shaun continued to hack, slash and puncture his way through the writhing mass of bodies, eventually ending with a single man, crawling away. Shaun didn't have to do anything, ah he dragged himself over the scorched ground where the IED went off, the residue of the nerve agent sparring against him as he stopped and began to convulse violently.

Rather that watch more of his atrocities, shaun reached down into the pile of bodies and pulled Aurora upright.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, moving himself and her to cover and reloading his Negev. He watched Ethan mow down the men in front of Shisa violently.

 

[Corvid15]

"Hey. I would advise you to put your weapons down. I assume you like being alive."

Two men had their guns trained on her, each about 35 feet from her and moving closer (one on her left, one on her right, flanking her). Dammit. She couldn't really move, move towards one, she'd get shot by the other. So, time to bluff.

"We are just the welcoming party. The true force is following up behind us. You see what we did to your friends?"

Shisa gestured at the man convulsing in the nerve gas, who then died as if on cue. Then to the men she killed with a touch, then to the men Ethan just mowed down.

"This is just a taste. So, I would advise you surrender. If you think we're savage.."

Shisa began to laugh manically, acting it up.

"You have no idea what's coming."

Shisa put an arm behind her back, where the men couldn't see. Shaun was behind her, so he and Aurora could see. She gave a thumbs up, then crossed her fingers. Telling them to just play along, and hope this works.

The men had moved up to maybe 15 feet away from her now. She could just dash and lunge at one of them, and kill him with a touch. But, she would get gunned down. So she hoped they'd buy her bluff.

 

[TheAdept]

The men facing Shisa remained bravely loyal to their Lord, less interested in what she was saying and only hesitating to consider whether they would kill her or capture her. She was a witch, after all, and their general liked to torture rather than simply kill.

"Those men in wooden masks look ridiculous, but you're a real witch aren't you?" A man said, aiming a gun at Shisa "You surrender." He said, his grin hidden behind the mask.

Heeding Shaun's word, Jesse splattered the brains of several of the men attacking Aurora "Pull back and shoot them!" He yelled, irritated she was in a melee with the Nobles.

The mortars had decimated the forces of William's men outside, but Shaun's nerve gas bomb had created a breach so the Boulder Nobles were forced to shift their focus. More of Marcelo's men joined the shootout with Jesse and the new resistance.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa gave another thumbs up behind her back, signalling that she had this.

"I am no witch, just a girl in a mask doing a job. But, I agree. If you think I am a witch, take me."

Shisa put up her hands in surrender, as the men walked up to her. Once they got close enough, she reached out at them. She got one in the mouth, the other in the eyes. The first one dropped dead, the second screaming in pain.

"Shh, shh. Sleep."

Shisa stuck her poisoned finger into the other man's mouth, his dead body falling to the floor. This Newt poison was working a treat. Shisa kicked the bodies away from her, looking back to the group. She gave a chuckle.

"Idiots."

 

[Obsidian]

Ethan managed to get another clip into his Negev, bringing the weapon back up on top of the cover to start firing on the remaining noble defenders, providing what cover he could for the other, with new backup coming in the form of what remains of William's forces. Now the ground was lined with corpses and rubble, the air filled with the scent of blood and the screams of the desperate, and then, before all goes quiet, Ethan would hear a boom. He was thrown back, spinning in place before thrusting his back against his cover, pain throbbing from his shoulder. Looking over, he could see it was a gunshot wound, but, after feeling the area, there was no blood. It didn't get through, but it still hurt like hell.

Pulling himself up, reaching for the Negev, there would be another gunshot that struck the machine gun, knocking it from its perch and dropping it to the ground at Ethan's feet, a nasty looking bullet lodged into the gun. Not going to be much use anymore, except that the bullet was on the right, which means the sniper in on the right somewhere. Ethan circled around his piece of concrete cover to the left, pulling one of his pistols out and readying it to shoot, looking over to the right to find the sharpshooter. Then Ethan saw flash, it was brief but it was there, then instinct pulled him back behind cover just before a bullet grazed the corner of the concrete wall. Now he knew where the sniper was, in the shadows, beyond the breach and behind a small building within the base.

He could do it. He could hit that bastard. But not with a gun. Ethan holstered his pistol before taking out his bow and arrow, readying himself to do this. Once Ethan stands, the sniper will hit him again, but if he was fast enough and lucky, he would be able to get the arrow loose before then, and, if he could, the sniper would be fucked. Ethan braced himself, arrow at the ready, and then he stood. Within a few seconds, Ethan drew the bow, aimed, and loosed just before another bullet struck him again, this time square in the torso. The sniper would suffer the same fate, except Ethan's armor protected him whilst the sniper's would not. Still, Ethan growled in agony, throwing his back against the concrete wall again to get a breather. He reckoned he earned himself a bit of a rest for a few minutes, pulling out his pistol just in case any nobles got any funny ideas about charging at him right now.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

"They keep their prisoners in the old bank a couple blocks over, we can push there and get back out in under 5 minutes." Shaun said to Aurora and Jesse, after watching Shisa drop 2 men using witchcraft and Ethan kill a sniper with a bow and arrow. Shaun pushed from his car-cass and into the Boulder compound, giving the IED blast site a wide birth. He could see the Univerity towering over the smaller buildings. Odds are they wouldn't have long to free the prisoners and get back out without having to fight again.

These streets were familiar to him, after all he had spent the better part of his lifetime there. It was quiet, too quiet. The mortar crew has either run out of shells to fire, or they're on their way over to shoot is in person. Shaun heated his Negev, beginning to pick up his pace and stopping for the others by an old police van.

 

[Lexico]

Aurora nodded to those who helped her. She stepped back and took control of her SMG again. She ran with Shaun hoping he was right and praying Mos have to be here. She was shooting at the other side where few other gunmen were targeting others. She stopped behind the police van. "So your plan is we run two blocks without getting killed and barge into the prison. Am i saying it clearly or getting confused?" She felt her heart beating faster.

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

"That alarm will draw the guards from the Bank to deal with a raid, which is what were going to make it look like it is..." Shaun said to Aurora, gesturing to the tall building down the street with barred Windows. "As we approach, we smash windows and light shit on fire. This will draw them out from the building to defend the area. Ethan and I will make noise while You, Shisa and Jesse sneak out the prisoners and double back to the gate."

 

[Obsidian]

Ethan watched as the others moved up and into the compound, and he could only sigh to himself in exasperation. Dragging himself to his feet, Ethan would follow them, crossing the threshold into the compound and meeting up with the others by the old police truck.

"Will I now?" Ethan said, raising an eyebrow at Shaun, "I'm not going to waste my time here destroying shit with you, Shaun. Everything these nobles ever made or gathered is here, waiting for us to take it, and I'm not going to waste the opportunity."

 

[ScalpelsNSaws]

"Youre supposing we loot the place while we're here eh? Sure, why not. It will make us look more like Looters and not like Jailbirds." Shaun said, responding to Ethan's grievances. "Ok then, Ethan you take the lead while we look for anything we can take that isn't nailed down, the rest of you hit the jails." Shaun said, He nods to Jesse, "Get them out alive or so help me."

Shaun follows Ethan, firing off shots as they go looking for anything worth-while.

 

[Lexico]

Aurora nodded while Shaun spoke but did not clearly understand the plan. "You speak as if it is easy," she muttered. As shaun moved away with Ethan, she turned to Jesse and shisa, "Can we go now?" Her confusion had increased and she wanted someone to take the lead. This is the most important moment for her. She cannot spoil it.

 

[Corvid15]

Shisa gave Shaun a kiss on the cheek for good luck before he left with Ethan. She turned back to her partners.

Shisa nodded, getting out a large wad of Snake Tounge leaves. If they had to sneak people out, it was best if they never made any noise.

"Let's go, you have a date."

 

[TheAdept]

Jesse somewhat reluctantly nodded back "Just don't be trying to drag a vault of shit back through the fuckin warzone." He said, thinking this was no time for too much looting. Now was no time to have a big argument with his fellow resistance members. He could see in the distance purple Nobles, but it wasn't any good news. Most of them were in pieces in the plains outside the town, some were picked off by snipers or mowed down by machine guns. The few that had now breached the town, Jesse knew, continued their hopeless assault only because they had few other options. Running away would only get them shot in the back of the head.

Had Shaun told Jesse to go anywhere besides the bank, however, Jesse would have protested. Aurora was here for her lover, Lord William's men were here for their rivalry, Shaun, Shisa and Ethan were here in hopes to one day see a world with no Nobility. Jesse was here for Santos. He wasn't exactly sure where to find Santos, but Jesse knew Santos...he would be in one of the prisons...

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Years Ago
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"What the hell, since when do we flay random women when we raid?" A younger Jesse was not disturbed by the site of a flayed woman or profuse amounts of blood. He was disturbed to know who had done it, and would continue to be baffled by who allowed it for a long time.

"Still want to fight back?" Asked a young man to the convulsing woman who now had only half her face. With skin anyway.
"Come on...fight." The young man mocked, seeming to have ignored Jesse completely. The man grinned all the while as he watched the woman go into shock.

Then his head turned to Jesse, still grinning his sadistic grin "Don't tell me you're going squeamish on me."

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The Present
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Jesse wasn't surprised to see the bank was still so heavily guarded now with all that was happening. He still couldn't help but shake his head a little. The bank had been partly rebuilt and the newer modifications had been kept up on just like much of William's territory. There was a sort of bell tower which had been fortified to house a sniper. The iron fence around the structure which had piles of sand bags stacked high all around it. There were fully outfitted soldiers with machine guns guarding the entrance and patrolling the outer fence.

Jesse knew what a bank was. People use to store pieces of paper and bits of metal that everyone was obsessed with. They even handed over clean water, food that wouldn't rot for years if kept properly, and large amounts of ammo for this paper and metal. He had even heard old bits of technology with superior brains of their own and made of glass and plastic would tell people how much paper they could trade or receive. These machines lied, Jesse was sure.

Regardless, surely this was it. Adam Santos would surely be inside. With a gunshot from Jesse, the sniper collapsed bleeding and a mess of machinegun fire rained on Jesse's position.

 

[Obsidian]

With Jesse's assent, Ethan grinned and started off, in search for what is most valuable in this world. But first, he would have to retrieve his arrow, heading over to the shadows where the sniper hid, to find the body with Ethan's arrow sticking out of his chest. The arrow was stuck fast, and Ethan couldn't remove it, but he did find something better. The noble's weapon, a long-barreled gun with some kind of seeing glass at the top, and Ethan picked it up. He would remember that the noble was remarkably accurate with this, able to pick off Ethan at a distance, and, somehow, just holding this weapon felt... right. Like it was meant to be. That thought brought a smile to his face. Of course, he had no idea what kind of weapon he was holding.

 

[Lexico]

Aurora was behind the police van. She started running with Jesse and Shisa. After Jesse took down a sniper, they were in the middle of raining gunshots from hungry rival machine guns. "Let's get a cover here," pointing at another abandoned vehicle, She had to shout at Jesse as she was not sure whether she will be audible. If Jesse cannot hear her, she will try drag him to the cover. Hopefully Shisa must follow suit.

She was little confused with their alliance nobility men running randomly on a suicide mission. What were their plan? The smell of death was overwhelming. She held her fire as she did not want to bring more attention on them.

"There are lot of vehicles and items on this way big enough for us to get covered from the gunfire. Only it will be a long route. What say you?" She asked Jesse. She was not interested in retaliation. She just wanted to move in faster.

 

[TheAdept]

Jesse's back was already pressed against a wall, providing plenty of cover from the machine guns around the corner. Aurora was crouched behind a dead vehicle, the paint still clearly that of law keepers from the Old World. It was a strange concept to Jesse every time he heard about it. Did shootouts like those he frequently ended up in happen just as often?

Aurora was urging him to follow her but Jesse shook his head and pointed to the corner of the building opposite the one he was at, then ran that way. Jesse ran around so as to flank the guards of the bank/prison. If everyone hid behind the vehicles, the guards would only need to aim in that general direction.

From the route he took, Jesse was able to sneak around to the back of the bank fence. The iron fence had sharp prongs at the top, but the Nobles here didn't have in mind to keep people out...or seem to have an idea in mind for whoever tried to escape. The sand bag fortifications made it possible to climb over the fence, and avoiding the spikes was a trivial task. With little time or effort Jesse was inside the fenced area, waltzed over behind the machine gunners, and sprayed their brains out all over their position. Jesse remained alert, but was certain there were no other guards in the immediate area. Minding the door to the old place, he waved the others over.