Watching and planning

[.308 Headhunting reloading Hunter Rifle *]

[256 atk]

[180 acc]

[Weapond mod: automatic bullet reload on a headshot from over 50 meters]

“Holy shit!” Marika said, covering her mouth immediately before talking once more. “This is a 1-star weapon!”

“You got lucky then, imagine if that bullet hit your head,” Warren said.

With her stats, that might have signified dead in only one shot. There was no need to remind her of that, she was emotionally shaken enough already.

Items, weapons, and armor all had a base and then quality. 1 to 5 stars. Each star added damage in weapons and defense in armor, and other goodies. For example, the Sniper Reload modification. Each star added an unknown chance for a modification, and they can do some crazy stuff. This one, every time she got a clean headshot, meant the weapon loaded a new bullet on any shot over 50 meters. Bullet she needed to have in her pocket. Simple, but it was an edge. The star was already good enough.

They were going up a building, passing by people who lived inside. Seeing someone walking up a building while checking a gun was not rare in town; some gave them glares but decided to look in any other direction when they stared back. Lucy was he most uncomfortable walking inside, and kept beside Warren, close to him.

“Do we really need to get through here?” Lucy asked, holding onto Warren’s sleeve.

“We are just going to observe, don’t worry,” Warren said.

On top of the building, a small 4-story one, they came up to the roof. The first afternoon lights, signaling the progress of the day, were starting to hit the concrete building. Marika moved to the edge, preferring the part with the still in place railing, and crouched by it. Warren followed her, and Lucy sat close.

They could see the desert not far away and a road in a bad state that went through some of the ruins around it, going further into the distance.

“Do you have something to zoom in?” Marika asked.

Warren rolled his eyes and from his bag produced a spyglass. “I could be doing this easily,” He added. Marika took it with a yank and scoffed at him.

“Yes, but you don’t gain XP from this,” she pointed out.

By her logic, if she got the experience points, they would be winning overall because she would be stronger. Better that she worried about it, and then she could scout ahead if they had doubts.

The storage units were on the other side of the road. These were kept by the Gang, so they were in a better condition than the rest of the city, and very hard to miss. Especially seeing the couple of towers with someone manned in them, holding a weapon.

“2 snipers…” she pointed. “In those towers”

The storage units were normally used by people who could afford to keep paying the rent. Basically, an open sky compound with several metal rooms that covered the interior where people were maintaining their secrets and precious items. Originally, it was build to keep some military equipment, like guns, vehicles, but later turned for civilian use. Now, is used by the main gang in the city since last year, and kept a secret what they have there. The big wall around it helped to such a task.

“I see several members… 4…6… 10.” It was a small group, and these were the ones that were visible from her position, there were several blind spots. “No signs of who sees to be leading them or something.

The different gang members were moving around, playing card games, talking with people Marika could not see. Different types of weapons. Guns, swords, spears. One had a piece of wood that was probably a wand to cast spells.

“Magic items are rare,” she commented.

“Probably very few spellcaster items arrive at this town,” Warren explained. “Spellcasters are more common in other cities.”

God dammit, Warren dropped one in the vaccinity of the city, should have taken the wand, probably would have fetched a good price! She complained in her head. She got so happy about seeing a PDTU and the chance to sell the slab that she forgot to loot them. And maybe Dale’s gun was good too!

“Still think you could handle all of that?” she asked, returning to the topic. “I have no clue about this Alice girl. Cannot see anyone that could be considered higher ranked than their common henchmen.”

“Maybe she is out…” Lucy said.

“I probably could just make enough noise to make her come out,” Warren said.

“Is that your plan for everything?” Marika asked. Suddenly, she is afraid he is going to make way too much noise and be more problematic.

“Got any other plan?”

Marika was looking around, managing to see some more henchmen, “12…14…” Some may have been still hiding inside the units. Many had doors open, others doors closed… “huh?” she said when she noticed something odd was happening.

A group of henchmen was sitting around a table. On the other side was a kid, black hair, spiky… Max! He was playing a card game with the soldiers and seemed to be having a good time with them.

“Wha the hell?” Marika said, this is where they brought him? And he is already playing that game he knows to scam people’s money. It is a simple card game but he is too good with his hands that is hard to tell he is cheating. Marika’s tail started to wag, seeing he is okay at least. “One of the kids I said I want to rescue is there!”

“Now this is an extraction mission…” Warren said.

“See? If you went all gun crazy and tried to shoot them without scouting, you might have put Max in danger.” Although… he seems to be enjoying himself, how did he get himself on their good side? He better share how much he took out of them!

“Is there a chance they are keeping other prisoners in there?” Lucy asked, tilting her head.

“Probably… I cannot see every unit, some are closed, some are at an angle that doesn’t allow me to see perfectly fine… but if they have Max, they might have Cinthia there.” But I doubt the slab, but I prefer to focus on those two and get them safe before making any other move.

Then, she noticed something interesting…there was a hole on one of the walls on the right side from their perspective.

“Hole… nice entrance if you ask me… probably would be better than just jumping guns blazing like a jackass” She points in the direcno and passes the spyglass to Warren.

He takes a long look at the entrance, then starts to scout the entire premises.

“What? Don’t trust my assertions?” Marika asked.

“Is not that. I am planning a route, memorizing the place,” Warren answered. “We are going at night. You are right, we cannot go in if there are prisoners, most likely civilians.” He closes the spyglass.

“There are still a few hours before that…” Marika sighs and sits on the floor. “I hate waiting…”

“Well, that is something that usually happens in the field.” Warren did like her and sat, looking at the compound. “Take it, it won’t always be like that.”

Marika’s ears perked up at what he said, as if things were going to get more complicated. “So what, you are considering taking me with you?” Her cat-like smile appeared one more.

“Tch” Is the only sound Warren made.

Well, fuck you too. Marika said, and tood up.She walked towards Lucy, hoping she could have a better talk.

“Miss Marika, aren’t you worried about your friend there?” she asked.

Lucy was messing around with a controller she seemed to have stored somewhere. The parts were in the ground. Circuits, a small board for the inside, cables… she seemed to be calibrating something.

“What is that… and where did you get the controller?” she asked.

“Oh! A little project I am working on!” she said, surprised that Marika approached but was happy she asked. “But, I cannot get everything done at my level… I need better resources, but the System doesn’t allow me to build some stuff without getting some XP…”

“Oh, right, you are level 1,” Marika said, after all, she did show her status screen. “Why aren’t you gaining XP?”

“Well, I have to enter combat to gain it and-”

“And you are not doing it, end of the deal,” Warren suddenly said, while he was still watching the compound.

Huh? Marika said, then looked back at Lucy, who was pouting and crossing her arms.

“Warren doesn’t want me to kill people,” She said, and was angry, “he doesn’t even let me go out to kill monsters for the XP or not even go explore the ruins the System recognizes as dungeons…”

“And that is final, Lucy. We talked about this… You don’t kill.”

“You made her stand in battle earlier.” Marika pointed out.

“She was only a detriment thanks to her robots… sorry, but no, it was decided already,” Warren said once more, bluntly, as if his choice was et on the hardest of stone.

So, he is a fucking killing machine and doesn’t want his sister to fight… sounds weird, but I think I get it… I don’t want either of Max or Cinthia to go through this… but can we keep them away from that? Marika thought. If it were for her, she would make sure both children stay safe, not having to do anything drastic just to survive. But she knew where she lived, she knew the type of society that they were part of.

But once she recovered all, that was going to change; it was going to be different. She would be able to give them a proper home and education. No need to be scraping for food, stealing… or taking someone else’s life. No more need for anything like that.

Hours later, the sun was slowly going down in the sky towards the horizon. Warren was still scouting like he was a statue, focused on the mission. Marika did company him, and she was eating one of the pieces of meat that Jacob gave them.

Marika noticed she was not getting any XP so far, even when she gave him the information. She was about to say something when a new noise called their attention.

That is when they heard some engine noises getting closer. The three looked in the direction to the left of them. It was getting closer. Marika snatched the spyglass from Warren’s hands, to which he groaned, and she looked in the direction she believed they were.

“Military… huh?” she said, noticing the vehicle was again one of the military ones. Then she noticed someone in particular on top of it. A demi-human wolf woman was sitting in the speeding car, legs crossed under her, with a black jacket hanging on her shoulder, flying through the air as they moved at a fast speed. “There’s this demi-human woman on top of the car.”

A weird noise came from Warren’s mouth as if he was about to choke on something, and he immediately threw himself to the ground. Marika looked at him. “That sound is new,” She commented, and was questioning the reasons for the gunslinger's reaction. His eyes were wide like bowls, and trembling.

The car then passed by them. When Marika looked down, she froze. The woman, sitting on top of the car, was looking directly at her as she passed through. Flinching, she lowered herself, feeling a creeping shudder passing by her whole body when their eyes connected.

“Okay, who the fuck was that?” Marika asked, not standing up.

“Believe me, you don’t want to know. I mean it.” Warren answered.

Lucy, seeing the two on the ground, tilted her head, confused and unaware.

“You two are weird,” she said, and both adults just grunted.