Almost forgot this is supposed to be writing set in a game universe, time to get those games in! It's a pity the models that started it all are OOP or limited, but they are the spark that created these characters.
20 – The Raid: Contacted Yue stormed into Mao Cong's Shack even before Unit 3-8 could open the door completely. She found herself in a massive room filled with exotic, most certainly illegal military materiel. She could identify several pieces of gadgetry that were clearly outlawed and dangerous, and for such devices to be carelessly tossed into boxes and hung on the wall with no regard for security protocols made her skin crawl. All the contraband before her evoked Yue's older memories, back from the times when she raided illegal hangouts and arms dealers as a security officer. To be caught possessing these items would mean incarceration many lifetimes over. "YAN?" she shouted. "Where are you?" A remote dog responded to her voice as it hopped into her view. It was a Yue Minerals remote, an older model. Despite its worn and shoddy appearance, it was surprisingly articulate and almost life-like. "VISUAL SCAN COMPLETE. YUAN YUE. YU-JINGESE. MOTHER OF YUAN YAN. AGE: –" "Hold it! What are you?" Yue grunted and raised her pistol. "No, Ma, please don't shoot! This is… QQ. I built it with Mr. Mao's help." Yue holstered her pistol as soon as she heard her daughter's voice in the shadows. Yan emerged. Close behind her was an older man wearing a pair of goggles. QQ rotated its rear sensor tail and responded upon seeing its master, "YAN IS MOTHER. SO YOU ARE… GRANDMA!" Yue was at a loss for words while the rest tried their hardest not to laugh. "BAD DOG!" Yue shouted. "Come on, Yan, let's go before it's too late!" "They've already landed," Mao Cong said as he broadcast his camera feeds to everyone's overlays. Yue's eyes traced one of the feeds on her overlay, and watched a dropship land to deliver a fire team of soldiers. Fusiliers armed with combi rifles and submachine guns disembarked rapidly as soon as the ramps hit the ground, their short bursts of well-coordinated movement put them well above the competence of an average soldier. Following closely behind were a couple of Orc Troops, one of them sporting an especially large ordnance weapon. As they advanced towards the hidden cameras, their voices boomed on her overlay. "Hey… the commander mentioned a woman and a remote. What about them?" "Our top priority is the target, alive. The rest are to be terminated." "Why aren't we negotiating with them at all? If the commander weren't so –" "Need I remind you guys who's listening in on the line? Keep quiet and stay on the mission!" Silence returned to Yue's overlay. "Someone saw us? But how…?" Unit 3-8 asked, looking at Yue. "Tsk… that Zulu Cobra…" Yue realised. "The special forces from Varuna are no joke," Mao Cong warned. "You would be safest here, where my defences are." "What have you done to incur the wrath of these people?" Yue asked. "That doesn't matter now! If none of us live, it's pointless to know anyway," Mao Cong barked. "Why my ex-employer is after me is my business and I never meant for it to come to this!" "Well, tough luck. Looks like we're trapped here," Yue said. Yan wrapped her arms around Yue and tightened her grip. The anxious expression she wore reminded Yue of the time the Elders passed judgement during the Fenghuang incident. "Ma, I don't want Mr. Mao to be taken away! I… I want to fight too!" Yan said with a nervous but determined tone. "YEP! YEP!" QQ barked. Yue shook her head and replied sternly, "Stop being so childish! Did you not hear what they just said? Listen to me… They don't know you are here, so stay out of sight and don't do anything foolish!" Yan loosened her grip on her mother's arm, but Yue secured it. She looked at her mother and frowned in protest. "The bad guys are coming, and I'm scared, but I'm also done hiding. Doing nothing and watching everyone I love get killed or taken away… I hate that kind of future!" Yan gritted her teeth. "If you don't let me help, then what is the point of this family?" "When was Mao Cong family?" Yue's reckless reply made her realise she had unsettled her daughter and Mao Cong. She winced at the old man with a disappointed look on his face and quickly pulled Yan to her chest and embraced her. "I understand how you feel, and I am proud that you want to do your part. But I cannot risk you out there at all." "You are the point of this family." Yan tried to break away from her mother, but Yue refused to give in. "Ma, please!" Yan pleaded. She wants me to let her go. If I do, things may never be the same… "If you die protecting me, there will be no family!" Yan cried. Yue's grip trembled. Then she let go. Yan accepted her new-found freedom, but she remained close to Yue. "Let me show you what I can do!" she said, with her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hands trembling. Looking into her daughter's eyes, Yue held Yan's hands tightly, transferring warmth and calm. I must be her pillar of strength. "Yan, when we are out there, listen to my every word. If you stop hearing my voice… think fast, act fast… trust your own judgement!" "I know you girls are having a moment, but they are closing in on us! The turrets and remotes should be able to hold them off for now, but we need to get ready!" Unit 3-8 said. "Sync up your GEISTs. I will be sharing my network's tactical overlay." Mao Cong then pointed to a yellow box labelled "my stuff" in Yan's handwriting. "Yan, your things are over there. Ms. Yuan, please follow me!" Yue tailed Mao Cong as she looked back at her daughter, who was pulling out what looked to be some sort of grenade and hacking device from the box. What stuff did Mao Cong give her? It'd better not be anything dangerous! They stopped at the corner of the Shack where firearms and weapon crates were stacked against the wall. Unit 3-8 grabbed himself a Spitfire. "Ms. Yuan, I believe you know this kit…" Mao Cong singled out one of many crates and cracked its case open to reveal a full set of Beast Hunter equipment that looked all too familiar to her: the gauntlet with flamethrower, camouflage mantle, panzerfaust, armour-piercing mines… Sticking both hands into the case, she lifted the massive dual-handed blade; it had the same make that she cherished as her workhorse as a Beast Hunter. She tested the grip and balance of the weapon with a brief bout of swordplay. "You trained under Suwanna, didn't you?" Mao Cong watched as Yue moved. "She and I go way back…" This man is more complicated than I thought… "You know Suwanna? How did you –" Yue asked as she donned her gear as quickly as possible. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions for me. I promise you I will answer every one of them if we get through this," Mao Cong said while tucking a marksman rifle under his arm. More turrets sounded off as the enemy entered his well-prepared kill zones. "ZERO SECURITY CERTIFICATES DETECTED! DIE MEATBAGS!" echoed ad nauseam. "There's plenty more where that came from, but it won't hold them for much longer. Hopefully they didn't bring their biggest guns, otherwise…" Mao Cong's ill-timed words followed through with a massive explosion. A mist popped from above like a rolling cloud, and shattered debris rained onto the ground like spears from an angry heaven. Yue ran for her daughter and led her away from the centre while Unit 3-8 sheltered Mao Cong from the smaller pieces of the falling rubble. The interior structure of the Shack groaned with the loss of integrity, signalling it was about to collapse at any time. When the clouds dispersed, the silhouette of a sleek flyer cast a long shadow into the Shack. The engines on its wings emitted an ominous hum as it hung in the sky, painting the ground with its targeting laser like a finger of doom. "A Redeye, fantastic…" Mao Cong scoffed. "The Shack is busted, everybody out!" Unit 3-8 said, taking some potshots with his Spitfire. A gentle sway was all it took for the Redeye to make Unit 3-8's efforts futile. On the ground near the entrance of the Shack, two scavenged remotes armed with heavy machine guns engaged the aircraft, peppering the sky with their bullets. The Redeye was pushed back, but not before it launched a parting gift from its grenade launcher. Without the layer of armour most typical gun remotes possessed, one of the remotes was annihilated by the explosion. "Unit 3-8, get to the vehicle graveyard. I'll cover you!" Mao Cong shouted. Yue kept her distance behind Unit 3-8 so that she could keep her daughter in front and in view at all times. She gripped her camouflage mantle, its highly reflective material allowing her to blend into the background and started running. Occasionally tapping into the tactical overlay shared by Mao Cong, Yue caught glimpses of video feeds displaying unsuspecting enemy soldiers coming under fire from turrets and sudden ground explosions from tripped mines. She remembered Unit 3-8 leading her through the maze of abandoned vehicles earlier, and how she had complained about the difficulty of navigating it to reach the Shack. Now the same maze had flipped on its head, standing as an unmoving defence against the enemy. Deeper in the labyrinth, beyond the Shack, stood the vehicle graveyard. As soon as Unit 3-8 entered its safety zone, he ushered Yan and QQ into a small opening where the shell of a massive, derelict tank sat in the middle. Its turret and armour plating were intact, but everything else was picked clean. "You'll be safe inside here," Unit 3-8 said after settling Yan and QQ inside the turret. "Watch your HUD very carefully. Use your hacking device when a target presents itself. And don't forget your EMP grenades! Hopefully you won't need to use them unless it is the final resort!" "This… this is too much to handle! I'm worried about Ma…" Yan looked up at her godfather, shedding a tear in her eye. "I'm worried about you too, godfather!" Unit 3-8 placed both hands on her arms and sparkled his sensor. "I'm a remote, so they can't kill me. But if I'm destroyed, I can no longer protect you. Calm down, feel the battle… I promise you will be fine, my dear goddaughter." Yan wiped the tear and nodded sharply at his promise. "GODFATHER?" Yue shouted. "Oh no. I'm dead already," Yan said to herself. She smiled wryly at her angry mother. "Hey, Ma, didn't see you back there…" "ZERO SECURITY CERTIFICATES DETECTED! DIE MEATBAGS!" The distant responses from the automated turrets at the perimeter of the vehicle graveyard sounded off as the ominous hum of the Redeye's engines returned. Shots rang out continuously, but the aircraft was more agile. "Incoming!" Unit 3-8's speakers blasted at maximum volume as he pushed Yan deeper into the turret and leaped off the vehicle, hunkering down behind it. Yue took cover behind the nearest scrap pile and checked her overlay. Yan is safe inside the tank with QQ. Unit 3-8 has taken cover behind the same vehicle. Some hostile blips are closing in… Wait, where's Mao Cong? *** "Unit 3-8, this is Mao Cong." "What's going on? Why are you using the encrypted channel?" "I'm going to draw them away. Don't tell Yan or her mother!" "Mao Cong, are you doing the sacrificial play here? If they find the rest of us first, they will kill us!" "Exactly. I'm taking a huge risk here, friend. I'm betting everything here that once I'm taken, they will leave immediately and spare you all. If I'm right, whatever's in front of you is all you'll have to deal with. If I'm wrong… I'll SEE YOU IN HELL!" Mao Cong laughed, and that was the last thing Unit 3-8 heard as the comms went dead. The Redeye's fusillade of bullets lifted soil and scrap from the ground, reminding him he was still in battle. Mao Cong, you are as mad as the day I met you… *** "Yan! Spotlight the Redeye!" Yan heard Unit 3-8's voice in her HUD. "How? I can't see it in the network!" Yan gasped, trying to find the Redeye in her overlays. "Over here, flyboy!" Unit 3-8 opened fire at the Redeye and started retreating from it. The Redeye tilted its fuselage and engaged its engines to close in on Unit 3-8. Yan's visor lit up with the Redeye's information almost immediately. I can see it now! Okay, remember the steps… Now what are they… "EEK!" Yan shouted when her doodling was interrupted by the Redeye executing a strafing run across the tank, raking its armour. Come on… I can do this… I MUST do this… Yan concentrated harder, doodling again despite the Redeye's second strafing run rattling the hull again. Finally, the target lit up. Success! "Nice one, my Little Swallow!" Yue's voice sounded in Yan's HUD. A rocket whizzed towards the Redeye from Yue's position and flashed. The explosion ruptured the wing engine, sending the aircraft spinning out of control. The Redeye crashed into a pile of scrap, which collapsed like a deck of cards and buried the aircraft. "Great shot!" Unit 3-8 said over the comms. Yue managed a grin as she lowered her smoking panzerfaust, wiping the sweat from her brow. "The soldiers are retreating. Looks like the turrets are doing their job!" Unit 3-8 said while observing the map on his battle overlay. "Hmm. Something odd is going on…" "ZERO SECURITY CERTIFICATES DETECTED! DIE MEATBAGS!" echoed from a different corner of the vehicle graveyard with another turret locked onto its potential target. Yue noticed a shimmer in the distance and slight vibrations beneath her feet. She flinched when a thunderous sound roared across the graveyard. After opening her eyes, she saw a mangled turret. "Did you see that?" Unit 3-8 asked Yue on the comms. "There's something else out there. Yan, keep quiet! Unit 3-8, can you cover the other side?" "Will do, Ms. Yuan." Yue watched Unit 3-8 break cover for just over a second when a thunderous roar sounded off again. Bright flashes of light streaked across her view and shredded Unit 3-8 into several pieces. Yan screamed into her comms for Unit 3-8, but he was gone. Yue craned her neck to take a quick peek and saw a massive silhouette shimmer and fade to match the background. It was too large to be a mid-sized TAG. "Mao Cong, do you read? MAO CONG?" Yue screamed into her comlog. No response. "THERE'S A CUTTER ON THE FIELD!!"
