Wire 2013/07/14(Sun)18:29 No. 524543 ID: 0eef61
File 137385176539.png - (8.63KB , 800x600 , 165.png )

"sorrysorrysorry." 73-6 as he stumbles into the apartment.

"Hey, hazards of the profession," says Penelope, closing the door again.

Well explain to your hosts the situation. Try and hack that turret to recognize you as friendlies then lets go prep for a long night watching the cameras.

Do you need to eat?

okay, let's get that chilled injector upgrade in us.

Right, apologize to the other girls. You killed the dudes in the building, but the place is still surrounded. So you're stuck, unfortunately.

Make sure to check your security hack for anything new, and to check out this map.

And if we can, updating the friendlies list on the turret so someone doesn't accidentally walk in front of it and get pulped would be nice.

>>524545
Already done.

Wire 2013/07/14(Sun)18:51 No. 524550 ID: 0eef61
File 137385311580.png - (6.99KB , 800x600 , 167.png )

That was awkward. 73-6 says hello to everyone and sheepishly goes to deal with security.

The cams remain clear. 73-6 opens up the turret and tinkers around with it.

With his intermediate hacking skills, 73-6 can:
+Update the IFF to ignore him and the ladies (which he does)
+Overcharge the turret so it fires all 7 of its shells in a split second, making it a one-use but astonishingly devastating attack
+Deactivate the turret and turn it into an improvised, ramshackle shotgun usable as a mobile weapon

>>524544
73-6 realizes he's actually really hungry.
He wonders how exactly to go about asking for dinner and a room.

We could just barge into the next door neighbor's room and steal their food if they don't wanna feed you.

Or you could like, give them some of the money you looted to pay for your food. Either option works!

Pay for takeout?

Hmm. The later two options are interesting, but for the moment, it's fine serving as a sentry watching the door with multiple shots.

>pay for takeout
How's the delivery man going to get past the gangster blockade?

>>524555
Worth a shot?

Just gotta remember to not let the deliveryman catch sight of 73.

Pay them for food. Good thing you looted those corpses. Hopefully they have some stores, 'cuz takeout probably isn't going to work. I don't suppose you can cook?

Also be sure the door's locked. Wouldn't want innocent visitors getting pasted.

I'm pretty sure any delivery guy would be intercepted. At best, we're ordering the gangsters food. At worst, we're getting another civy shot.

Oh, and leave the turret as it is now that you've fixed up the IFF.

"Here's 30 bucks. I'm hungry."

"Okay but we're not letting you sta-"

"You can keep the guns."

"Deal."

Wire 2013/07/14(Sun)19:31 No. 524565 ID: 0eef61
File 137385550331.png - (10.94KB , 800x600 , 166.png )

"okay, guys, here's the thing." 73-6 straightens his trenchcoat, nervously. "i might need to spend the night again. aand i could use a place to sleep again."
"You want a mint on your pillow while we at it?" asks Keisha.
"i'm really sorry for the inconvenience, but there's a blockade around the building."
"Aight," says Keisha, evenly.
"so... that's a yes?"
"We was gonna have to take care of that other one while her leg fixes anyway," says Keisha. "and I guess if there's a bigass army of thugs around, you could stand to have a badass moldy killer around. You kept them from us so far."
"well, uh, thanks," says 73-6, inordinately proud that the untested noncombatant called him badass.

"Ooh, and I can cook!" says Sara. "You like Mediterranean? Tzatziki sauce?"
"tzatwhowhat?"
"You're gonna love it. I have a cucumber I was saving for a special occasion like this."
"i can pay my way."
"No need," says Sara. "You've already supplied such a lovely centerpiece." She pats the shotgun turret. "Besides, how much do they pay you?"
"they don't. i get a stipend."

"Ok, but where he gonna sleep?" asks Keisha. "We got a different spook on the couch."
"I can take the floor," says Penelope, limping out of the bathroom. "Need room to stretch my leg out."
"Oh, no, he can have my bed," says Sara. "I don't need much comfort anyway. I'm a robot thing."

There is a moment of silence. They turn to Keisha.
"Well, what?" she says. "You two offered already."

You are all heart Keisha.

>>524565
If we're looking to optimize things, maybe Penelope as the injured person should have the bed, enabling both room to stretch out and comfort so she gets needed rest. Then you can sleep on the couch and Sara can be a robot.

>>524569
yes, and in the middle of the night as sara if she wants to have some fun.

Sara's bed seems the more pragmatic solution. Penelope can stretch her leg out as she sees fit.

>>524569
Honestly this seems the best way to go about it.

Oh wait. We need someone watching the cameras all night. Maybe we can all take shifts.

>>524585
The bigger problem is the computer is in Keisha's room. :V

>>524569
meh sounds good to me. might want to check up on the computer here from time to time just to check the cameras and such to make sure they aren't trying some kind of night raid to see if they can't catch you asleep.

>>524585
Can't we just put someone back at HQ on that? Surely Monica's not the only one there.

Wire 2013/07/14(Sun)23:10 No. 524626 ID: 0eef61
File 137386863631.png - (10.95KB , 800x600 , 168.png )

73-6 gets in touch with 62 back at HQ.
"i need you to watch some cameras."
"Yessir."
"also, did you eat that egg roll yesterday? i won't tell."
"I did."
"your life is forfeit, you know."
"I do. Let me get those cams for you, sir."
"thanks, 62."


This Tzatziki stuff is delicious.

Wire 2013/07/14(Sun)23:17 No. 524628 ID: 0eef61
File 137386905839.png - (7.54KB , 800x600 , 169.png )

"So what's it like?" asks Sara. Penelope's using her room, so she's moved the tv back and is sitting on the floor in front of the couch. "Merking a bunch of dudes."
"haven't you?"
"Well, yeah. Of course. But the few firefights I was ever in was mostly a bunch of dots shooting at us and us shooting at a bunch of dots and watching them fall over. I never did CQC, and I don't even know for sure if it was me who ever even shot someone. Mostly I just patched people up. There was this guy." She laughs.

"He was a sergeant and this was in Chad, and we were in this village and we came under fire off the outskirts, and a mortar takes a chunk of wall out near us, and he gets a piece of like gravel in his stomach, and it's just shrapnel, really just a flesh wound, obviously, but he gets all pale and gravefaced and he's like flopping all over the place, and he pulls me over and he's being an extra in Saving Private Ryan like, 'Dalton. I want you to give this I forget what it was, this watch to my kid,' and basically he's being this huuge drama queen, and I just I'm looking him dead in the eyes and I reach down and I pull this tiny shard of like dirt out of his tummy and slap like a bandaid on it.

"And he's fine. And the rest of my deployment, we just give him absolute hell for that. Like you stub a toe and you're on the ground being like Get Sgt. Edwall! I need him to hear my last words!" She reaches forward and stretches her back out. "And that's about as harrowing as it got, for me. It was mostly patching other people up, which was yucky, but whatever. Uhh, until I blew up, obviously. But you're right in the middle of it. How many people have you killed? I hate when people ask me that, but one vet to another, right?"

"thirty four. five."

"Dang. That's a lot of guys up really, really close." She rocks backward a little. "What's that like?"

>>524627
Settle down on the couch, get comfy, and tell her. Segue into one of the more interesting of the stories which I'm sure you've accumulated by now--she's told you one of her own, after all. Soldier heart-to-heart time. She'll appreciate the sincerity, and that'll help make up for your imposing on her.

flirt harder!

As far as what's it like, well. After so many there's no real emotional impact, if there ever was any in the first place. It's a contest of skill, and so far you've always been better.

sucks when they manage to shoot you. But most of the time I'm out gunned and out maned so I can't just go in guns blazing... I can end like that but not start. I have to be quite and take them down one by one and have to be quick about it to, someone might not miss johnny if he's gone to take a piss about 2 minutes ago but they might start getting suspicious if he's gone any longer then that. Basically it's trying to take as many of them down as you can before they even realize you're doing it so when they finally do notice someone is gunning them down you've hopefully weakened them enough that you can finish them off even if they dig in or go on the offensive.

So I guess it's just a game of cat and mouse really with who's who is changing all the time.

>>524628
Oh it's pretty fun when there's nothing they can do about it. You can pick how you do it, make it look cool even if you're the only one that can see. When it's more evenly matched it's tense, but satisfying when things go well. You are good at your job and enjoy being good at it.

Oh wait she meant like do we feel anything. Nope, they deserve it. Cept for that civvie that caught some bullets in the face from inside his coffin that soldier was standing in front of.

>>524628
enter flirting montage.

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)00:26 No. 524641 ID: 0eef61
File 137387316563.png - (8.52KB , 800x600 , 170.png )

"after a while there's not really any emotional impact." 73-6 lies down on the couch. "if there ever was, anyway. i can't really remember if there was. which probably means there wasn't."
"Does that bug you, at all?"
"not really. uhhh, yeah. killing people is pretty fun, and i'm good at it."
Sara laughs.
"what? it is. they totally deserve it."
"Oh, no. No, I'm not arguing that. I lost a couple friends in the Albany bombings three years ago."
"usually i'm outnumbered, so it's about thinning the ranks as much as possible without them noticing except at the end. it's a game of cat-and-mouse only the mouse has teeth. so, uh, cat-and-cat. i imagine what you guys did out in chad was a lot more noble."
She snorts. "We were shooting at a bunch of coked-out villagers who were just trying to get us out of their country. I think taking down domestic terrorists beats that."
"does that ever bug you?"
"Sometimes." She shrugs. "I'm not immune to it like you are. But then, like, they did blow me up. So I'm not that tore up about it." She sits back. "I don't think you're a very bad person, 73-6. People say you like doing what you're good at. I guess you're just really good at, uh, taking lives. Do you ever wish you were somebody else?"
"like who?"
"Like not a killer zombie."
"oh. yeah, sometimes, i guess. not looking like a corpse would be nice. but the people i shoot gotta get shot by somebody, and it might as well be somebody who's into it and doesn't have the face for a career in the movies, right?"
She giggles and tilts her head. "In a world as morally grey as the one we find ourselves upon, 73-6, a viewpoint like that is surprisingly refreshing."
"well, i am brainwashed. and i have to say, shooting people rules but getting shot i could pass on."

They keep talking and swapping stories. 73-6 loses track of time.

Eventually Sara yawns, loudly. "That was for effect, because I don't have lungs anymore, but dang, what time is it? Do you sleep in that trenchcoat of yours?"

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)00:27 No. 524643 ID: 0eef61
File 137387324064.png - (10.41KB , 800x600 , 171.png )

"Because I like to be a little more comfy when I turn in, thank you very much."

She reaches up and with a bit of a twist pops her head off.

"Hair really tickles."
"not that i would know."
"Oh, right, this comes off. Sorry if I freaked you out."

Doesn't bother me. Pleasant dreams.

I've seen worst, night.

>>524642
"That's okay, you can take stuff off all you want and I won't complain."

As for sleeping in your trenchcoat, considering the current situation it might not be unthinkable to do so.

Our face is scarier then your decapitation bit by a far mile.

>>524646
yes

maybe take the coat off and flip it so it's a makeshift blanket.

>pulls her head off
>Sorry if I freaked you out
Show her the hand trick!

"Never been bothered by a woman taking things off."

Go to bed 73-6, you're drunk. On murder.

Don't forget to set your alarm clock!
And get the shotgun turret setup or shut down.

>>524654
Seconded.

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)17:22 No. 524744 ID: 0eef61
File 137393415710.png - (8.14KB , 800x600 , 172a.png )

"don't apologize. that's the first time a woman's taken anything off in front of me in forever." She laughs. 73-6 keeps going. "and with a face like mine i don't think i could complain anyway, except to say i wish i could leave my head at home sometimes too. hey, catch."

"Is this your hand?" She pokes it.
"yep."
"I bet that's useful for all kinds of stuff."
"i'll tell you when i find anything. toss it back."
"Say please."
"cmon."
"Because I could always use another hand around the house."
"please?"
"But I haven't even gotten your digits."
"har har har."
"Thank you, thank you. thank you. I'll be here all night. Let's have a big hand for Sara."
"you're slipping. give me that."
"What if I just palmed it off you?" She throws it back. "Sorry. Sorry. I should let you sleep."
"it's no problem."

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)17:22 No. 524745 ID: 0eef61
File 137393416817.png - (10.94KB , 800x600 , 172.png )

"G'night, Sev!"
"night, sara."
"It's cool to have someone else not entirely human around the place."
"yeah."

73-6 turns over and pulls his trenchcoat off, throwing it over himself.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)17:38 No. 524750 ID: 0eef61
File 137393512149.png - (7.95KB , 800x600 , 173.png )

There's a place on the other side of the world that is bright and clear and there's not a skyscraper in sight, and the rushing sound isn't the cheap metal herd of cars but the tide rolling in and out against the shore.

"Graciela?"

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)17:38 No. 524751 ID: 0eef61
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"Que necesitas, Diecicuatro?"

"When I feel the surf on my toes and the wind in my face and I can look out and see the sun shinin' down and a bunch of beauties in bikinis strutting around I think I could maybe just die. But i'd rather not go of thirst. You don't think you could grab me one of those Bronx Cocktails from the bar, could you, hon?"

"You the laziest thing, Diecicuatro."

"When you're retired too, babe, you'll understand. Get yourself something too, on my tab."

"Don't die while I'm out, hey?"

"Don't you worry about me."

Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)17:39 No. 524753 ID: 0eef61
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There is a voice, in a place inside his head.

"Fourteen?"

He starts, a little, then grins and settles back down.

"How long's it been since I heard anything over this rusty-ass piece of metal, I wonder?"

"Five years, four months."

"Sounds about right. And if I recall correctly I only gave one young lady permission to contact me, and only when she really truly needed to. Is that the young lady to whom I am speaking?"

"Yessir, 14. And I promise: I really really need you."

"I know."

Static on the Wire Thread I end Wire 2013/07/15(Mon)17:39 No. 524754 ID: 0eef61
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A grin weaves its way across the pallid lips of the former Bureau agent Fourteen.

"How you been, Monica?"

Oh cool, there's a retirement package? That's nice.

And Monica is pulling in an old-time badass to save our bacon? That's also good.