"The eggheads call it a 'Navite Warrior,'" the Lieutenant said. "Cybernetic organisms - a meat core surrounded by steel armor and robot limbs, armed with a big damn gun. They've got a couple different load-outs they cycle between - blinding shot, restraining shot, things like that. So stay frosty, kids, watch each other's backs, and put more rounds into it than it puts into you."
He scratched his beard.
"I've been calling in favors, team," he added, sounding older than usual. "You deserve a hell of a lot better than Majestic is giving you. You know that, I know that. You're a damn good team and you're putting the hurt on FORCE better than some of the more militarized fire-teams in the field. And I'm damn proud of you, all of you. Let's kick some ass today, collect some monster samples, and remember I'm doing everything I can to get you the rewards you deserve."
***
The Last Liners converged on a busy city street. The gleaming orange and green metal of the Navite Warrior caught the summer sunlight as it crouched above the failing TeeVeeShak, its optical sensors surveying its surroundings.
The Lieutenant opened fire on the creature, blood and oil spurting as bullets pierced the rubber sheathing covering its mechanical joints. Hank, his hands shaking with nerves, squeezed the trigger on his SAW...and missed! The Navite Warrior responded with its Scatter Shot ability, blazing away at every member of the Last Liners. Everyone took damage, and the creature scored a critical hit on Sarah-Jane, almost killing her. Becky was also temporarily blinded by the creature's attack. Its attack completed, the Navite Warrior leapt off the TeeVeeShak roof and scurried into the junkyard.
Maria darted across the street and, teeth gritted, pulled herself up the drainpipe on to the TeeVeeShak, taking a pot shot at the monster upon reaching the roof. Blinking away her blindness, Becky ran towards the junkyard gates, lining up a quick shot. Sarah-Jane shot the monster with her sniper rifle, then performed some quick first aid on herself.
The Navite Warrior retaliated by firing a Restraining Shot at Becky; she ducked and dodged the spinning bolas of razor-wire, avoiding damage, only to have the monster somersault over her and shoot her in the back from the front steps of the pawn shop with its Focused Shot ability. The Lieutenant and Hank poured fire into the creature, and Maria called in a drone strike on the monster.
Becky wandered into the junkyard, feigning polite interest in the conflict between the yard's manager and an unhappy customer as she collected a sample of the creature's effluvium.
The Navite fired its Scatter Shot again, hitting the Lieutenant and Becky, both of whom successfully resisted being blinded. The monster darted up on to the roof of the doughnut shop, firing its Restraining Shot at the Lieutenant who miraculously managed to dodge (his Dexterity is still low, and all of these attacks necessitated him making Dexterity saves).
The Lieutenant rolled into cover behind the pickup truck (the driver of which was engaged in intense price negotiations with a hooker, and hadn't noticed the monster) and fired at the Navite Warrior. Hank tried to line up another shot, and missed again; the creature activated, firing its Scatter Shot, hitting the Lieutenant and Maria. Maria and Becky shot at the monster, dealing enough damage to send it into Extremis; from here on out it would take additional damage every time it activated.
Sarah-Jane missed her next shot, and the Navite whirred into action, blood oozing from its joints as its servos overheated and systems began to fail. It fired another Scatter Shot, striking Maria and the Lieutenant, who failed his saving throw and was blinded by the attack, and leapt down from the doughnut shop roof, landing hard and spurting hydraulic fluids, its knees buckling from the strain. Activating again, then fired a Restraining Shot at Maria, who failed to dodge. The razor-wire ball struck her and expanded, encircling her and restricting her limbs. Bleeding profusely, she collapsed. The Navite tried to activate a third time, and its systems fully overloaded and failed, shutting down and dying.
***
The Lieutenant blinked sight back into his eyes. The Navite Warrior was quickly slagging itself, destroying all traces of FORCE technology to prevent it from falling into human hands. Hank and Becky were extracting Maria, unconscious, from the tangle of razor-wire as best they could.
He cursed, and pulled out the burner phone. Thumbing a number in, he listened to the buzz as the call was picked up.
"We killed it fast and discreetly. These kids are the best there is in this goddamn fight, so don't tell me you can't give them some answers and some goddamn hope. I've got a soldier down and you're picking up the goddamn medical bill."
He ended the call without waiting for a response.
***
This was the smoothest game I've had yet. The pre-game Bureaucracy roll came up "No Event," I had no "FUBAR" events, and the monster died at the end of turn 3. Granted, I'm probably two games away from the game switching to "Phase 2," where the monsters' stats go up, so the challenge will go up again soon.
Going into post-game...
Maria fully recovered from her wounds, and is ready to go for next game with no new penalties.
I was one building shy of successfully completing the "Alien Tissue Collection" secondary mission I'd rolled up; if the monster had held on for one more turn I would have had enough time for someone to touch the doughnut shop and it would have been a success. As is, everyone but Maria scored 3 XP, and Maria scored 2. This allowed everyone to improve one ability.
The Lieutenant boosted Dexterity again, while Hank, Sarah-Jane, Becky and Maria all improved their Combat ability by 1. Hank's Combat ability is now at 20, meaning from here on out it will cost him 6XP to boost that ability instead of the usual 3.
As for post-battle gear requisitions...
Targeting HUD (second request)? - No.
Drone control pod for the base? - No.
A prosthetic arm for Maria? - No. Apparently United Healthcare is involved with Majestic 13.
***
As the team unwound after the fight with beers, the radio suddenly crackled and switched over from classic rock to a hollow, echoing voice.
"Good evening, Lieutenant! Congratulations are in order for you and your team following today's performance. Majestic is very pleased with your track record against the bioweapons of FORCE. I'm given to understand that your team is dissatisfied with Majestic's dissemination of information, and I'm very sorry to hear that. Please understand that information regarding the ongoing war against FORCE is highly classified, even within Majestic, both for the good of the conspiracy as a whole and for the individual agents on the ground. There's very little I can tell you even if I wanted to. That being said, I do believe your team deserves to be thrown a bone, so to speak. Please be on the lookout; I'm going to provide a date, time and coordinates to you in the very near future through coded channels. Meet me then and there and I'll see what I can do for you."
The radio hissed and returned to playing the Eagles. The Last Liners looked at each other. They could all feel it. Something big was coming their way.
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