Lost Rain
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Outrun - Chapter 284
🕑 Added 2025-08-01 22:04:01 +0000 UTCWhile plummeting through the air, I adjusted myself to land at the back door. There were two goons on it, and another couple inside. Not to mention the cameras probably linked up to a security room. Unfortunately, I never did manage to find the security room with my Dragonflies. No matter. My Blinder would take care of any unfortunate cameras.
The plan was relatively simple here. I just needed to get into the boss’s office, barricade the three of us inside, and wait for the Crusade to bail me out. I had no empathy for human traffickers, but I couldn’t let the boss slip past me. I couldn’t risk letting him get out, suicidal via Crusade, and then leak everything for Visceral to go clean up their mess.
I shifted midair, throwing two knives down at the guards on either side of the door. I wasn’t confident in my aim, so knives it was. The Drop Chutes kicked on, killing my downward momentum. The knives, however, kept flying. Without even a hitch, both slammed into the guards at the door.
One of the guards kept standing, though staggered as the handle hit with the full force of gravity. His SMG slipped out of his hands and clattered to the floor. The other guard dropped like a sack of bricks, going unconscious immediately.
I landed on the roof, pulled my Coil-pistol, and fired two dead-silent shots into the back of the guard’s heads. Little bits of gore flung out the front of their faces, and they dropped regardless of what my knives did. I slid off the roof and dropped down to the back door, landing right between both the downed guards. Note to self; invest in a helmet at some point.
I grabbed my knives and disabled the dead ganger’s guns. Step one complete. It was a bit messier than I would’ve liked… had I always been this down to kill? Hmm… no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t bring myself to care about human trafficking scum like these guys. I flicked open the door and easily slid into the building’s back rooms.
My posture stayed low while I slunk around, carefully watching my Dragonflies for any hint of a guard patrol. With the added intel, it was all too easy to slip through the cracks in the security. I didn’t gun down anyone else. As much as I was tempted to, doing so in here would be too risky with security cams around.
It wouldn’t matter once the guards out back were found. I could go fully loud then and blitz through this place. For now, it was silent with the hopes that I could reach the boss before anything went wrong-
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Of course something went wrong right as I thought about it. An alarm blared loudly, and lights kicked on across the building. I ducked into a storage room to dodge a group of rushing gangers. I pulled up the Dragonfly’s perspective into my HUD and checked up on Saint’s situation.
”Is this you?” The boss glared at Saint, drawing a revolver.
”No?” Saint looked genuinely confused, albeit extremely calm. “If this was me, my operatives would’ve gotten here without setting off an alarm like a bunch of amateurs.”
”I was in a hurry!” I reflexively defended myself.
Of course, the boss couldn’t hear me. He eyed the reporter suspiciously, though took his hand off his revolver. The Red Veil leader reached for a walkie-talkie on his desk and called into it. “Report? What’s going on? Another uprising?”
The walkie talkie crackled to life. “We don’t know, Sir. Two found dead at the back. We’re sending people down to control the lower-levels.”
Lower-levels? I didn’t see anything like that with my Dragonflies. And there wasn’t supposed to be anything underneath the Red Rocker according to my intel… must’ve been new. I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Shilling, informing him this might be quite a bit bigger of an operation than I first thought.
”Should I make the call to corporate?” Sain put some pressure on the leader. He causally leaned back on the sofa and crossed his arms. “Or wait for you put a leash on this… issue.”
The leader’s face flared red, matching the name of his group. “Just give me-“
The door into the storage room opened up. Someone flicked the light on, sending piercing rays throughout the entire room. I slunk back, ducking into the shadows cast by the tall shelves. Illusive pulled my form further into the shadows, making me one with them.
A group of gangers entered the room. Just like the rest of their brethren, they mostly had small caliber weapons. Protective gear was frankly nonexistent, though three of them had subdermal armor. Low quality by the looks of the severe warping underneath their skin.
One of them looked around the room, hefting his SMG. “You sure someone’s in here?”
”I used Detect Life! Of course I know someone is in here.” A snide voice called out. It came from an lanky Magus-
Shit. I met the eyes of an alligator sprite. Its snout popped open in surprise, somehow seeing me through my Perks like it wasn’t even an issue. The next moment, the alligator’s face twisted into dozens of expressions. Guilt and remorse were the most predominant of the bunch.
I likewise froze up and stared at the alligator. Was this the first time I’d ever seen a sprite as an enemy combatant? Really? In all this time… to be fair, I guess I did spend a while chasing after a group of exclusively Adepts. The circle wasn’t very sprite or eidolon friendly.
What did I even do in this situation? This was so weird. At least it wasn’t a sprite belonging to one of the eidolons I usually interacted with. Still, attacking it just felt wrong. Shooting the little guy was the tactically sound decision, but… the real question was what would the alligator sprite do?
I got my answer a few moments later. The alligator looked at me and then casually looked away as if it hadn’t seen anything. Phew- guess I was in luck. So even as combatants, the sprites still liked me. I guess I didn’t have to worry about attacks form a Magi-
“Cast Detect Life again, Bruce.” One of the three brutes that entered the room alongside the Magus said. “Boss just put a ten thousand Rayn bounty on the intruder’s head.”
The Magus shot his companion a glare, though backed down almost instantly. “I’m going.”
The Aether trembled. I watched in horror as the alligator’s expression twisted into unwillingness. It seemed it didn’t have a choice in the matter though. Magic rippled out of the beast, shuddering through the space. I was confident in hiding from eyes and tech, but magic? I didn’t have anything in my bag of tricks to-
“Over there! Behind the shelf!” The Magus pointed right to me. It proved to be the last thing he’d ever do.
With my position exposed, there was no point in just sitting around and waiting to be attacked. Before the group could even turn to me with their guns, I threw three knives. All three slammed into weapons, disarming the slags. My hand dropped to my pistol’s grip, slowing time thanks to Dexterity.
The Magus started to cast something-
I flashed forward with Arc Flash, appearing before him fully energized. Lighting equivalent to a flashbang arced off of me, blinding two of the brutes and stunning the last. I point blank pulled the trigger on my coil-pistol, firing several rounds into the guy’s face and rearranging it so horribly not even his mother could love him. If she ever did in the first place.
The dead Magus dropped before he could do anything else. The alligator’s head twisted toward me for a moment before it was banished back into the Aether. Without a summoner keeping it in this dimension, it couldn’t stay of its own will. Not like this, anyway.
I shifted, firing the rest of my mag into one of the other blinded guards. Most of the shots caught on subdermal armor as he threw their arms up to block the shots, but one managed to get through and flatline the guy. There were just two left.
”Southwestern supply room!” The guard who hadn’t been blinded shouted into a walkie-talkie and lunged at me.
Well… no point in going quiet anymore. I backstepped with Burst Step, putting significant space between us. With the sudden gap of time, I reloaded my coil-pistol, channeled electricity to recharge it, and swapped off of Whisper mode.
I aimed at the gangers again. The guard sneered at me and crouched to grab his dropped SMG. “You can’t punch through-“
I pulled the trigger, firing just two shots off. Whisper mode worked by suppressing the velocity of the projectile fired from the coils to keep it from going supersonic. Without it limiting my gun’s power? The velocity, force, and damage of my projectiles jumped drastically.
The metal frags cracked through the air loud enough to bruise ears and slammed into their targets. If the gangers had some better quality subdermal armor, it wouldn’t be an issue. As things stood, even just armor-piercing AR rounds could’ve popped them like bugs. My projectiles weren’t necessarily armor-piercing, but they hit like a truck.
Both gangers, confident in their subdermal armor, hit the floor before they even realized they were dead. Easy. A bit more of a challenge then the Scavs had been, but still not enough to actually pressure me. The Magi took me by surprise, though as long as I had time to engage the same result would’ve played out a dozen times.
I darted out of the room, sprinting down the halls to the boss’s office. I ran into three other groups of gangers, ending each of them just as easily as I had the last. My speed, power, and surprise attacks were just too much for them to handle. I left a trail of corpses behind me.
I arrived before the boss’s office and checked the Dragonflies once more. I had about thirty seconds until reinforcements came from both sides and blocked me in. The boss himself sat across from Saint with his hand idly dragging along a heavy revolver.
“Close your eyes, Saint.” I took a breath and pushed open the door-
“Who-“
I teleported forward with Arc Flash once more, driving the Jade Dagger into the boss’s chest-
Bang!
A massive impact hit me center mass, causing me to fly backward and crash onto the coffee table. It shattered beneath me, crashing to the ground. The paralysis fully kicked in and the Red Veil boss dropped before he could do anything else.
Ugh- what happened? I played through it all in my head again as I squirmed on the ground and held my stomach. In the split second before the paralysis could go off, the boss reacted and pulled the trigger, firing a shot dead center into my chest. He must have some kind of high-end speedware to keep up with my teleportation like that.
”You okay?!” Saint immediately crouched by my side and looked me over.
”B- huuuh- block- agh- door.” I managed to get out through ragged croaks. Thankfully, he got my message and stopped fussing over me. He pushed and pulled furniture, making an instant barricade on the door.
I shifted to get a better look at my injuries. Unsurprisingly, I guess, my custom plate carrier from the Blue Crusade held up. The projectile was stopped by it, though it definitely pierced into the plate carrier’s ballistic weave. Not to mention I still took the residual effects of the shot.
The impact of such a heavy round on my chest would definitely cause severe bruising and some organ damage even through the protection of my armor. Felt like at least a couple broken ribs on top of that. Shouldn’t be anything that Quick Healing couldn’t fix with a bit of time. Sure felt awful. I could hardly breathe through the pain, not to mention the other impact against the table.
“Argh!” I forced myself up, groaning in pain as I felt the armor pull at my newly forming wound. I allowed myself a moment longer before flicking on Cold-Blooded. The pain slowly faded under beat after slowing beat of cold blood through my body. I plucked a massive splinter out of my neck from the coffee table and tossed it to the side. “Bastard.”
I snatched the Jade Dagger back and stared at the boss in frustration. I’d been doing so good recently in fights, and then this happened. I shuddered to imagine what might’ve happened if he had more time to fully attack me and not just an instantaneous reaction. His next shot definitely would’ve been somewhere more lethal.
I hesitated a moment longer before slamming his head into the ground. Repeatedly. There was no point in keeping him awake. I didn’t really have questions I wanted answered, and he’d be easier to move unconscious.
“Um- Shiro? You alright?” Saint asked. His eyebrows were knit tightly together in worry and he shifted around like he couldn’t sit still.
”Y-ugh… chek, I-I’m fine.” Still having a bit of a hard time breathing, but that was as could be expected.
“What’s the plan then?” The reporter pushed another filing cabinet in front of the door. He was oddly chill about all of this. I half expected him to freak out, but he looked completely calm and collected. “I can’t help but notice both of us are here, locked into the middle of extremely hostile territory with no way out. And, might I add, you were just shot.”
“Chek- I know. I can still feel it.” I carefully pried the round my plate carrier and dropped it to the ground. “Just- just wait. Backup is on the way.”
The handsome reporter dramatically wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. ”Crusade?”
“How’d you- right…” I looked down at myself.
”So… you’re a Squire? You never told me.” Saint looked a little distraught like I was busy passing secrets around behind his back. From the tone of voice though- was he just trying to distract me from the pain?
”Never- ugh- asked… and we aren’t e-exactly close.” Hell, closeness didn’t matter. Even Mira, wherever she was at, didn’t know I’d ‘joined’ the Crusade.
“Is Shiro even your real name?!” He put on an expression of mock sorrow.
”Is Saint yours?” I rubbed lightly at my chest and settled back down on the couch. “Look- just calm down? Why is this such a big issue?”
”Because I thought you were Shiro, my badass suave thief friend! Not Shiro, my badass suave Crusader friend! Those are two completely different vibes, man!”
I… did he just call us friends? Wow, he really knew how to guilt trip me, didn’t he? I suddenly started to feel bad about a bunch of stuff, like using him as bait. Worse of all? I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely upset or not anymore. He was just so genuine it was hard to tell for sure. “Sorry?”
”Haah…” The drama immediately died down as he sighed. “I’m just messing with you, kiddo... Oh, but is your name actually Shiro?”
Figures. I collapsed back onto the couch fully, taking some of the weight off my chest. “Chek. C-call me- ugh- Zuku around the Crusade though.”
”Zuku. Got it.” Saint nodded his several times. “Is there anything I can do for you? That was a heavy hit.”
”Quiet down and let me sleep? The- argh- Crusade is on their way.” They were a couple minutes out at most. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Waymakers were already circling the area.
”Sure. I’ll- uh- I’ll threaten to kill the boss if anyone tries to come in. Sweet dreams.” Saint reliably moved to the door and started barricading it even further.
I closed my eyes and laid back, enjoying the calm in the middle of the storm. Or, more accurately, the only relatively calm spot in the entire Red Veil HQ. I could tell from my Dragonflies just how bad things were getting out there. They’d only get worse when the Crusade dropped down in force.
Comments
UnderwhelmingBird
Well hey, this has been a great example of how having all of this snazzy gear is important. Even with all her advantages she still got foiled twice over. Her newer additions were a good part of why she was able to get to the Bossman before Saint got into actual trouble, and why she's likely got a bruised diaphragm and cracked ribs rather than a massive hole in her tummy. (something something dont eat lead, it'll go right thru ya!) I'm surprised she had the mental space to ponder Saint's words during his teasing. Cold-Blooded and basic willpower doing some serious work there. Speedware is wild and wacky stuff. I'd be concerned it'd do stuff kinda like her Burst Step though, where by using it you're liable to inflict harm on your body. Thanks for the chap!
Findell
Its cause the system is the mark of a holy child what ever that ends up being.
Lost Rain
He was knocked uncon by her before names came out.
LostinLimbo
I wish saint would stop calling her kid. Can the boss hear when he is paralyzed? Cause she just outed both her names to him if so.
Gardor
Why do all the sprites like her? Just cuz of the system? That seems like a pretty over powered invisible passive. If every system user had it, theres gotta have been a lot of abuse of it. I originally thought it was just sprites related to perks/skills shed taken, but its more widespread than that.
Gardor
Yeah, carrying around medical supplies does seem like it should be a fairly obvious addition to her kit...
Findell
MM she probbaly needs some type of quick heal option like a stimpack or adreno thingy. Maybe even a healing potion.
