Kurt got out of the vehicle and turned to face them, hands on his hips. “Right, good. OK guys, listen up. That vehicle we hit was Russian. I found THIS on one of them.” There he un-holstered his Maxim 9 and held it up by the trigger guard to show them the unique looking firearm. “You know what this means?!”
Jimmy casually swiveled the machine gun around, making it look like he was trying to pay attention to Kurt. “No sir, what’s it mean?”
“It means the Ursa was behind the hit on our bank job yesterday!” Kurt slid the gun back into his holster. He scowled in what he hoped was an authoritarian manner, glaring at each of the GoonStorm players and NPCs gathered in front of him. When none of them said anything back, he nodded sharply. “Who wants some payback??”
The NPCs raised a fist and cheered, Kurt’s dishonesty skillset apparently enough to convince them he was authentic. The players looked to each other, the idea of actually doing something instead of patrolling empty streets beginning to excite them. One of the gunners cheered alongside the NPCs, and the other players moved to get in their vehicles.
One of them stopped half way into his seat. “Excuse me, sir?” He raised a hand slightly before realizing how it looked and lowering it.
Kurt looked around as if annoyed, focusing on the man who spoke. “Yes soldier?”
“Will we have to pay for ammo?” He squinted, partially confused and partially hopeful.
Wasting no time in answering, Kurt slapped the door after he closed it. “On an official op? Hell no soldier! Free fire is in effect!”
Jimmy whooped and fired off a burst at the ceiling of the parking garage, causing concrete chips and dust to rain down between their vehicles. The other vehicles gunners wasted no time joining in, cheering and firing their own weapons. Gadot snickered to herself, shaking her head slightly as she put the Humvee in gear and lead the GoonStorm players out of the parking garage. She had set a waypoint as Kurt addressed the GoonStorm players and NPCs, and followed it west out of the Downtown Cluster to a neighborhood named Primrose.
Primrose was clearly meant to be the upscale neighborhood in Illusion, just off the Downtown Cluster and bordered by its own amusement park. The spiraling arcs of rollercoasters and strange formations of themed buildings loomed in the background of a spread-out community populated by large expensive looking houses and immaculately maintained businesses. The freeway arced around businesses and homes to cut between the amusement park and a series of mansions nestled into the nearby hillsides.
Jimmy peeked between his armored vest and the machine gun at Gadot. “You sure are taking us deep.” He looked around nervously, hands resting on the guiderails of his mounted gun turret. “Haven’t been to Primrose in years…”
Gadot ducked her head, looking at the amusement park as it loomed to their left off the freeway. “Yeah, sorry. I only actually know of a couple fronts, and they’re both near the park. Don’t sweat it, I have a plan to get us out.” She cut the wheel then, leading them to an offramp and towards a business park a few blocks north of the amusement park. Turning to glance at Kurt’s confused expression, she elaborated briefly. “The Russians own most of Primrose, and they are not exactly welcoming to other crews.”
“And we stick out like a blue digital camo sore thumb.” Jimmy muttered mostly to himself.
Their small convoy pulled into an almost empty parking lot at the edge of a huge field of flowers. Several types of blooming plants sprawled across a nearby hillside, creating a patchwork of colorful waves. A large glass fronted florist was the only building in the parking lot, tucked away into a corner near the hillside of flowers. The florist had a large backlit sign declaring it to be ‘Poppy’s Arrangements”, directly above the only door facing the parking lot.
“This is the place.” Gadot put the Humvee in park and opened her door, leaning her long barreled sniper rifle between the door and body of the vehicle and ducking down to sight through her scope.
Kurt got out and drew his Coonan magnum, walking back towards the other vehicles as they parked and doors opened. “OK gentlemen! This is our target, a front for the Russians. Spray it down good, when all the NPC’s are dead, get in there and steal anything worth taking. Today we show them who runs Illusion!!”
With that, Jimmy opened fire on the businesses front doors. The other two gunners wasted no time joining in, and the glass front building was torn to shreds, multicolored petals mixing in the air with shards of glass. Keeping to appearances, Kurt took a shooters stance behind his door and fired his weapon into the store front, not aiming at anything in particular.
The fields behind the business lit up in returning gunfire, several NPC workers having picked up rifles to defend the front. Gadot began to pick her shots, slowly and carefully sniping the NPCs one at a time from her defensible position. Bullets sparked off the armored Humvees and spattered into the asphalt around them. The Goons took cover and mimed the actions of Gadot and Kurt, firing from behind the safety of armored doors.
Within a handful of seconds of their arrival, they had devastated the store front and flower fields behind it. NPC bodies were scattered in the flower fields, and the store front was nothing but a gaping maw of broken glass and shredded floral arrangements. The sign spit out an eruption of sparks and slumped partially off the building, crashing to a lilt in front of the shattered doorway with a scream of twisting metal as the Goons cheered.
Stepping out in front of the vehicle, Kurt reloaded his magnum and waved forward, leading the other goons into the building while they all shouted. As they reached the doorway, he took cover behind a nearby counter and peeked over it before waving the other players deeper into the building. Gunfire erupted from deeper in the florist’s shop, and Kurt adopted a bored expression as he walked back out to the parking lot. He glanced at his phone to see a new skill front and center on his home screen.
Specialist
Magnum Force Rank 1. (Combat)
“There is no such thing as overkill.” -Unknown
Firearms using magnum load ammunition compromise handling for sheer power. Each level reduces recoil of magnum load firearms by 1% and increases overpenetration chance by 1%
Gadot pulled the Humvee up to him and he jumped into the passenger seat to the sound of Jimmies laughter and the Goons trying their best to organize an offensive against the remaining NPCs in the building. Gadot glanced at her phone. “Well, that’s not good…”
Jimmy checked his before shaking his head and turning the .50 around to face the road with a chuckle. “Hope your escape plan is a good one.”
Confused, Kurt looked between them and checked his own phone. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “I don’t get it, what’s the bad news?”
Gadot started driving towards the freeway, moving the Humvee in a quick circle. “No Heat.” She glanced at Kurt, nodding at his confused expression with a small sigh. “No Heat means the Ursa is responding. They’re on their way to us right now.”
12. Getting away with it.
Chapter 12
Getting Away With It
“Yeah, we should go.” Gadot spoke while driving past the other two GoonStorm vehicles in the lot, now empty. She was moving towards the freeway again when a Humvee blossomed into flame, launching into the air as it exploded to their side.
Gadot floored the accelerator, driving them over a nearby curb and down a grass embankment towards the freeway as an olive drab BPM-97 armored personnel carrier slammed through civilian vehicles on the overpass. It was somewhat larger than their Humvee, with an elongated front end and a bulky square backside covered in armor plating. A thin looking 30 mm cannon was being manned by an Ursa player on top of the vehicle and turned towards them as they ran down a chain link fence to get on the freeway.
The road beside them blew apart from a shell, chunks of asphalt raining across the windshield as Gadot swerved to put their truck under the overpass and get a little breathing space. “We can’t fight that thing.”
Jimmy
hauled on the .50 cal, turning it to face the rear of the vehicle as the Russian APC slammed into the guard rail above them and tumbled to the road directly behind them in a shower of concrete and torn metal. It bounced hard on its oversized tires, throwing up sparks from the strike plate on the bottom of the armored truck. “Cheap ass Goons don’t even blast plate these things. Go!” He opened fire on the APC, causing their gunner to duck as rounds sparked off the armor all around him.
The driver of the APC pressed on the gas and drove straight into the back of their Humvee as Gadot pulled away. The rear end caved in from the impact and Gadot struggled to keep them on the road, smashing into a civilian vehicle and shoving it out of their way. The gunner of the APC managed to blind fire a round, blowing up a trio of civilian vehicles in front of the Humvee and causing Gadot to slam through the pile up and accelerate away.
Kurt gripped his Glock, dropping the magazine out and replacing it with his drum mag full of Ratshot. He popped his door open slightly and reached the gun out, aiming it to the side and firing blind as they accelerated past civilian vehicles. Several vehicle’s tires burst and they began to swerve into the lane behind the Humvee, forming an effective blockade of panicked civilians and allowing Gadot to pull out ahead of the APC.
He closed his door as his magazine went empty, glancing behind them to see the APC bashing its way through the civilians in its path. “We can’t lose these guys like this!”
Gadot nodded to Kurt with an impressed frown, cutting the wheel to climb the other side of the freeways embankment while Jimmy fired careful bursts in an attempt to keep the APCs gunner pinned. “Agreed.” As if to emphasize the point, a series of multi-colored flares shot up into the air from the APC, clearly a call for re-enforcements. Jimmy poured on the fire, shooting the fifty cal at full auto and keeping the APCs gunner pinned until his gun clicked empty. He ducked down in the cabin, scrambling for a fresh box and finding none before sitting calmly and grabbing at his seat belt. Jimmy looked up to notice Kurt staring at him from the front seat, an amused expression on his face. He scowled, before making an intense face at his friend and letting go of the dangling buckle.
Snorting laughter, Kurt turned and shouted a warning as he noticed three oversized black dots on the map moving in a triangle formation down a side street directly towards them. Shaking her head in frustration, Gadot dodged back down onto the freeway, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic as the cannon behind them shelled the road seemingly at random. The desired effect seemed to be causing a massive civilian pileup, as that was exactly what they were getting bogged down in. Gadot grunted in frustration as they plowed into a subcompact car and shoved it to one side, the civilian NPC inside cursing and screaming at them.
“I have a way out.” Gadot shook her head as she spoke, a look of obvious concern on her face. She pointed ahead of them, at a series of towering structures behind an encompassing wall. “My plan.”
Jimmy leaned ahead to see where she was pointing, moving his BAR out of the way. “HAHA! Sure, why not. I didn’t plan on living through this anyway.”
A grim expression planted on her face, she floored the accelerator and launched the Humvee up the slope of the freeway again, driving in a straight line towards the amusement park. “You know… There’s a saying in Illusion we probably should have shared with you before we agreed to this plan.”
Jimmy grabbed a handle on either side and laughed as they flew through the parking lot directly towards the parks’ entrance. “Oh right! Something about messing with the Russians, I can’t remember what though.”
Gadot attempted to lay on the horn as they approached the crowd of civilian NPCs, but the only sound it emitted was a clown horns high pitched honk. Her shoulders slumped and she shook her head. “Fucking Goons…Jimmy?!”
“On it.” He popped his door open and braced it that way with one foot while leaning his BAR out of the doorjamb so he could fire it into the air. Several loud cracks from his weapon had the crowd scattering while they approached, the majority of them moving to get out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. As they began to move through the crowd, a loud thud struck Jimmies door and he closed it with a chagrinned look on his face. “Oops.”
Kurt glanced back and rolled his eyes at his friend before he noticed the APC behind them smash its way into the parking lot through a concrete and chain link wall. It approached them at an angle, having come from further down the freeway than them, and its line of fire was still blocked by the majority of the parking lot. The approaching MI-24 HIND attack helicopter had no such difficulties, and it displayed that fact by opening fire on them with its underslung minigun. Jimmy saw it coming and hauled himself up over Gadot’s seat in an attempt to protect their driver.
He needn’t have worried, as the helicopters target was their wheels. It strafed past them, tearing up concrete and civilian NPCs alike as it made an attack run, shredding both of their driver’s side tires. Gadot clung to the wheel as it began to fight her, the rims throwing up sparks while they slid towards a ticket booth. She gave a short scream of frustration as they slammed into the flimsy wooden shack, sending bits of it flying into the air as the NPC inside it bounced past their windshield.
The Humvee slid into a concrete fountain and stopped with a thud as Kurt stumbled from its interior. He shook his head clear and looked over to see Jimmy and Gadot already running deeper into the amusement park. Running around behind the fountain, Kurt hurriedly stripped off his GoonStorm outfit, revealing his black jeans and a simple black t-shirt beneath his light armored vest. His weaponry and holsters were visible, but he figured better that than the light blue GoonStorm stuff. He ducked down, keeping out of view as the HIND made its return, hovering in sideways over the park’s entrance.
It had two bubble-like canopies, but Kurt could only see the vague outline of a single pilot flying the monstrous vehicle as it swooped back in, allowing him a splendid view of its slim profile and plentiful weaponry. The HIND came to a stop before a jet-black streak shot away from one wing into the front of the fountain, causing an explosion that sent what was left of their Humvee tumbling in a gout of flame. Hesitantly, Kurt raised his magnum towards the cockpit of the helicopter.
Gadot grabbed his arm, forcing his gun down. “Don’t. You’ll just piss him off, and show him where we are.” She had also removed her helmet and vest, and was wearing her standard slim armor over a fitted black top with floral print leggings. Her UMP 45 was strapped to one thigh, with a large black pistol strapped to the other, and her Styer Scout in a harness across her back. She had let her hair down to wreath around her shoulders and was wearing a burgundy masquerade mask, complete with lace trim around its edges.
Jimmy was behind her, still in full GoonStorm colors and pointing his M60 up at the helicopter. “Go! I’ll get his attention and meet you guys in the giant clothes store!” He fired off a burst from his garishly painted machine gun and started running. The helicopter responded immediately, its underslung minigun shredding the crowd and concrete as it ineffectively chased Jimmy around the corner and out of sight. He was ducking low, keeping under the cover of rooftops and awnings as he ran.
The amusement park’s main entrance was split into two long roads with shops along either side, one heading directly out from the gate and the other veering off to the side. The shops boasted era appropriate confections, clothing, and collectables; all from the amusement parks film based theme. Jimmy whooped and fired his M60 into the air as he ran, scattering the horde of panicked civilians and giving his friends a nice thick crowd to hide in.
Gadot lead Kurt along the sidelines of the crowd where it was easier to get through, moving towards a bulky store front. Kurt frowned when he saw that it was the first store in the line heading back into the park, but chose to trust his friend as they ducked inside. Gadot peered back out, noting the position of the HIND before moving towards the back of the store.
“Kurt.” She waved him over towards an area separated from the rest of the shop b
y a curtain that had been embroidered with an Employees Only stamp. “Pop this door?”
He scowled in confusion for a moment, looking at the locked security door she indicated before remembering his lock pick gun. “Ah! Sure.” He got to work on the door while Gadot covered him, her rifle barrel peeking out from behind the curtain.
Kurt inserted the thin pick end into the lock and held down the trigger. A hushed grinding vibration entered his hand and his wrist projected an empty circle into the air. He turned his wrist and allowed it to splash onto the door itself, and watched as the circle steadily filled. Before it became half full, he let off the trigger to experiment. When he reapplied pressure, the circle began to fill again from the start, and he pursed his lips in mild annoyance.
Jimmy burst into the store, knocking over a clothing rack as he ran while looking over his shoulder. Vintage sweatshirts scattered in all directions as he tumbled over the rack, tucking into an abrupt and graceless roll, and landing hard with his M60 pointed towards the doorway between his legs. Seeing nobody immediately behind him, he scrambled to his feet as the door clicked open in front of Kurt.
“Hi!” Jimmy was somewhat out of breath, and wearing a bulletproof mask with a smiling cracked marble appearance in addition to the GoonStorm helmet. “Ow. We should run.” He spoke cheerfully, and was clearly having fun.
Gadot rolled her eyes. “How many?”
“Ohhh, we’re in SO much trouble.” Jimmy still sounded cheerful. “Eight of em rappelled out of the chopper and are pretty much right behind me. AK12’s and Saiga’s, almost positive one of em had a Dragunov. So…that should be fun.”
Kurt swung the door wide, and Gadot wasted no time in running down the hallway behind it. It was a security hallway, and was populated by a single confused guard. Gadot drew her pistol and shot him as she ran past, not bothering to slow down. Kurt looked over his friend’s shoulder to see a squad of heavily armed men wearing obvious body armor and a variety of tactical gear moving rapidly in a wedge formation towards the shopfront. Jimmy saw the concerned look on his face and giggled while he swung the door closed behind them, nodding at the loud click it made upon closing.
The Life- Illusion Page 18