'FOUND VI'
Observing the damage of the entire encounter, well, let's just say it didn't look great. The fact that I had managed to get myself injured already put the chances of survival below any desirable rate, regardless of how good Lila is at patching it.
A cracked rib is still a cracked rib after all. Doesn't change with a few minutes of rest.
But, that's only the beginning, the entire den was damaged, its defences completely spent, all of the possible routes exposed. I have no idea how these assailants operate, but there is probably more of them. That means its time to leave.
Fortunately, enough the reinforcements I had expected to come did not, a reality that is deeply unsettling. None of the dead possess the weapon that could have made that sound. Though their equipment was on its own greatly intriguing.
After Lila had managed to properly stitch up the wound in my shoulder, which by all accounts was far more painful then I expected, but it wasn't too bad for me, obviously. We spent time brushing over the equipment of the slain, their gear was salvageable to repair our own.
They sported a symbol, which I know nothing of, but stars trapped within a ring- strange.
It's not uncommon that particular groups hold some sort of symbol or even ranking to their name, though that's usually pretty foreign to most groups of raiders, in the outskirts especially. Even then, this entire place is spent, what could they have possibly gained from it?
Anyhow, these were no typical raiders, in fact they held more in common with reavers- or even cleaners, but that's a giant tin I can't afford to think about.
"You got any clue why these dickheads did this?" I ask,
I was looking over one of their multi-visions, incredibly well kept, though damaged beyond usage. After which I made sure to plant an extra bullet in their chest, you can never be too safe.
"Ed always told me he only had to worry about it. Even if I asked constantly." Lila scoffed,
"Well, if Ed's the old man, he's currently not got much of a head about him. So if you got anything to spill, it could make this job a whole lot easier." I reply,
"Made it all the way to 47, honestly I thought he'd croak from lung failure, not a bullet." She bleakly commented,
She was sitting on top of the giant slab of metal which was blown off the door, drinking what I can assume was some sort of moonshine.
"Want some?" She asked,
"No. I don't think you should drink it either with a bullet wound." I sharply answer,
She'd shrug at my sentiment, and I had no reason to warn further. I left her some space to think. It was a long night after all.
"There are a few things I went over, got a bit curious from time to time, over in the lab. The kid's addicted to that place, more than the other three podlings at least- but, I don't really care." She awkwardly explained,
She reminded me of the gaggle of podlings for a moment, I look over to find them moving crates in front of the giant hole in the door- like it would stop anything, but what would?
"If you don't care why do you know?" I tepidly ask,
"Shut up. Go." She thornily replied,
"Did you make sure to mark out the route we decided on?" I question,
"Yup, everything's set for us to start moving, so I guess we should." She rudely answered,
I shrugged at her irritation, which was fairly satisfying, and I struggle to lift myself back up to move across the platform. I attempt to cross the bridge without much noise, but manage to attract the kid's attention. Great.
I need to conserve energy, so I might as well sacrifice sanity.
"Hey! Where you going?" He irritatingly questioned,
"SC said there could be some info worth looking at in the laboratory." I calmly answer,
I had timed my answer to waste as much time as possible to reach the door of the laboratory without further prying. Though the kid managed to get in my way just in time.
"Move out the way kid, or I'll just move you." I boringly warn,
"There's nothing worth looking at in there, trust me." He emptily assured,
Somehow a kid managed to bring me to rolling my eyes and I slide him out the way without issue. Information about an opponent is more valuable than anything, especially in this situation.
I then kick at the door to force it open.
I stagger forward into the extremely messy room, it had the makings of some erratic inventor- with devices, folders, designs, and paper everywhere. On first glance it seemed odd that none of it was taken by the SC, but I assume it's because she hollowed them out and left the useless stuff.
There was a barely standing desk, a broken filing cabinet, and strange capsules which took up a majority of the room with little space for an extremely worn chair. Though it'd be fair to say everything in this room was particularly worn, stagnant here for possibly years.
My observation was interrupted by the kid squeezing past my side into the room, preventing any immediate scrounging.
"You're not allowed in here!" He proclaimed,
"Am I not? That's too bad, but I got a job to do kid." I dismissively reply,
I attempt to grab one of the pieces of paper, which was sealed inside of polymer permanently, even so the writing on it seemed to be written oddly. The words didn't look right either.
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"Wait, wait, stop." He bashfully demanded,
"Alright kid, what the fuck are you on about?" I abruptly ask,
"This is my room, well, in a way." He sheepishly replied,
I managed to almost face palm, but didn't want to irritate my existing injury in my jaw- so instead I made the conscious choice to rub my nose in frustration.
"Ok, it's my dad's lab, and it's mine since they're not here. Whatever you want you have to ask for it. Please." He timidly explained,
"I got no use for anything in here kid, just the information on paper." I calmly assure,
"Yeah, that might be a problem." He cryptically admitted,
I decide in that moment to quickly snatch one of the papers off the desk past his shoulder. It was, well, not in the right language- or more accurately, not in an any language I've seen.
The symbols were riddled with harsh corners, compact, and seemed almost printed- but it was so clearly written in pen, purposefully, all in the shapes of sentences.
Though there was one symbol, labelled in the corner of the page, though unlike the rest in was uncharacteristically faded, like someone decided to rub their finger against it intensely.
"What the fuck is this kid?" I vulgarly ask,
"It's a piece of paper." He obliviously answered,
"No shit. Can you read this scribbling?" I ask again,
"Kind of." He happily replied,
"What the hell does that mean?" I harshly question,
"I can figure out some of them, but most of it I don't even know in trade standard." He admitted,
I look at the paper again, isn't that just bloody perfect, but maybe they could be useful later. Might as well get the kid to carry them too if he's so desperate to keep it all together.
"Alright, just get all the paper, and anything else you think's important. We're leaving, soon." I simply command,
I began to walk back over to the SC,
"Why?" He stupidly asked,
"So we can survive kid, besides, you're missing a piece of the front door." I confidently answer,
The kid quickly goes about attempting to gather anything he can up, and I make my way over back toward the central platform.
Lila and one of the three oddly similar podlings was fiddling around with one of the devices present of the dead. Personally, I wouldn't have those podlings mess with anything, but I also don't care if they die.
The device was a transmitter, useful across short distance- I'm talking at most a hundred metres- even then the transmission would be dodgy at best. Most forms of radio are drowned by the endless waves of signals coming from the main spires across this forsaken city.
It seemed damaged, but not beyond repair, though I'd go against using them generally- it's like rust buckets can hear those things. Speaking of which, they'd be coming about sooner or later, they always do when high end equipment is left lying about in broken dens.
I walk up and I'm met with a shrug from Lila, which is expected, she also probably gathered that nothing was to gain from it in particular.
"What are you doing with... That one?" I clumsily ask,
"That one? Oh, yeah, we're just workin' to see if we can get these transmitters goin'. It's a danger but it could be useful if we cover wide ground." She explained,
"We won't be covering wide ground, and ground won't save us." I ominously comment,
"Well it's still worth a shot, no?" She confidently said,
"Sure, could be worth to sell it later, I'd refrain from using it though. It is their transmitter after all." I say, pointing at the corpse on the floor,
She looked at where I pointed, then back at me with a sincere look, maybe she just wants the podling to feel useful. Whichever one it is, I think it's the podling which looks consistently sad.
"Well, carry on then, but we need to check about what equipment we can use." I masterfully segway,
"Oh, yeah. I got plenty of crates to shuffle through for that little issue." She quickly replied,
She then got up with some struggle, and we both began to meander over toward the back end of the central platform- where she had spent precious minutes organising a sort of area of usefulness.
"We have to watch for weight, so I'm hopin' you can carry some stuff as well, and we have all the ammo and weapons we could ever need." She explained,
"Well, I'm down a secondary, and I could use a charge weapon." I say,
"I got a couple of big options for you there, and I can let you lend the charge pistol. Specifically lend." She replied,
"That mean you got something better I can 'lend'?" I boorishly ask,
"Yeah, I got a charge rifle, but that's for me alone. And before you even say anythin', I trust myself infinitely more than I trust anyone else, 'specially a scrapper." She rudely explained,
"This scrapper is your ticket to getting out of here." I rebut, pointing toward myself,
"Charge rifle's worth more than your organs, besides, the pistols easier to carry." She responded,
I decided it wasn't worth dying on that scrap heap, so instead I looked over to some of the secondaries she had laid out on top of one of the larger crates.
"Fine, I'll just take this, and the charge pistol." I said, picking up a revolver-style weapon,
"That ones got some recoil on it, and the pistol should be- ah, right here." She said, picking it out of a box of batteries,
She hands over the pistol to me, and then whistles, after which the other two podlings came rushing down. With simple hand signals they began to fill a wagon with crates.
"I made sure all the most valuable items are in the front crates, everythin' else isn't worth our lives to take along. Got some smaller containers for your pack too." She commented,
"Make sure all the podlings got the proper equipment, I'll sort out the runts', he needs some specialised pieces." I tell her,
I move some of the containers into my pack, and begin to prep up a second one for the kid. Extra oxygen, water, all the necessary pouches. Which I'll store with all that's need for him.
"Do you need a marked map?" She asked,
"What? No, I know the route, but you can take it, if you think you'll use it." I reply, startled,
I make my way out of the back, with Lila trailing behind, looks like the podlings know how to sort out their own kit. At least they've managed to teach them something useful.
Lila came out with the equipment for the sad podling, who was still fidgeting with the transmission. I was under the assumption that the podling had on idea what they were doing, but it seemed it managed to get it to statically come to life.
It shot out a constant irritating ring of static, until it finally calmed down to a crawl of white noise. It managed to attract even the kid over on the other side of the platform, coming over with a small container of all he decided to ransack from that old lab room.
Looks like she has an apprentice of her own, and she handed over all the necessary pieces to the podling- then proceeded to wave the transmitter at me, knowing that I probably didn't believe the podling was even remotely useful. Which to be fair, was true.
"Ah. Oh." The transmitter blurted,
The sudden transmission almost made Lila drop it, and caused the entire operation in the den to completely stop in its tracks.
"Come- In," The transmitter blurted again,
"Uhh-" The sad podling stupidly replied,
In response Lila almost slapped the podling in the face with her finger, beckoning an immediate stop to any noise from the podling. But, it was too late, whatever is behind it must've heard that.
"Oh, I- see then." The transmitter stated, the voice a more clear, booming static,
We would reply with a complete silence,
"It seems- my hounds couldn't catch the prey, but maybe- injured it?" The transmitter stated,
If this was picking up, whoever was talking was close, extremely close. I raised my new secondary weapon with my attention focused at the staircase leading down to the exposed.
"Oh- do not -, I prefer to let the prey bleed, I love- to follow along" The transmitter replied, it managed to pick up the noise of my weapon, it must've heard the entire fire fight.
"You- must have some expertise about you, exciting, but- I must save it, for later. We will meet soon- friend, or maybe- friends." The transmitter continued, it's static becoming lower, closer,
"One dead- one remains- one new face, I have seen you, but I prefer rust-buckets for- practice. Was I anticipated? Maybe you saw me, a good fortune I say." The transmitter cryptically explained,
"The hunt begins- give me a challenge, I will be behind, but a head start should turn you tender rather than bitter." The transmitter stated,
Once it was clear Lila finally decided to disable the machine, leaving it as silent as the rest of us. I half expected to hear boots stroll down the plaza hallway, but it was probably just too far.
"What a freaky dickhead." Lila angrily commented,
The attitude reminds me of a reaver, but it'd be unusual to see one even remotely outside of the centre spire. Perhaps just the lead of this group? Maybe.
We all stood for a moment, then in a sudden unanimous agreement, we all decided it was time to leave.
