Chapter 6: 6

Michael had made himself in to as small a target as possible, kneeling down as low as he could and gently placing his hands behind his head much like some of the others had done, though a lot of them were practically in the foetal position, sobbing and wailing. He looked over to Rene who was knelt beside Tammy with an arm around her trying to keep her low. He watched as he could see the hazing and blurring effect of one of the active camouflaged OWLF members stood behind Rene, the barrel of his gun trained on the guards head. He then glanced over to the twins who had somehow managed to sneak their way closer to the ballroom stage where a staff door that lead backstage, where Zeke had informed everyone that some of the camouflaged terrorists had entered through and had their guns pointed in to the crowd of guests and one aiming at Daniel Price who was cowering behind his DJ setup. A few members of the OWLF had started to line up the guests and whatever staff they could find and made them kneel down side by side. Occasionally a guest would get a sharp nudge to hurry them up, or if a certain guest was a VIP or celebrity; they would be swiftly ushered to another part of the room.

'Get ready guys.'

Michael slowly let his hands fall to his sides, keeping his head down slightly but keeping his eyes focused on what was going on. He gently reached his right hand round to the middle of his back where his soon to be used Glock pistol was resting in a belt holster, nestling his hand on the grip ready to release the safety and fire. He glanced around again and in the corner of his eye he could see the guy who was probably the leader of this group continue prattling on about Conner and his malpractices, waving his gun around haphazardly and occasionally pointing it at random guests who would recoil and whimper in fear.

'Zeke as soon as I take out the ringleader, turn the sprinkler system on. If this is the active camo I think it is, it won't last if it gets wet. Half a minute should do.'

'Sure thing Cas.'

Leaning slightly more to the right trying not to bring any attention to himself, Michael got a slightly better view of the ranting madman. He had turned to face another side of the room to preach but didn't notice that Krieger had promptly crept up beside him just a few yards away with a black scarf wrapped around her hands. She dropped the scarf revealing her two guns; the one in her right hand was swiftly brought up and fired at the side of the madman's head. Within a second the rest of her team sprang in to action and fired at their chosen targets. Michael cracked off his shot without hesitation, hitting his mark right in the side of the neck who dropped to the floor with a thud. Rene quickly grabbed the MP5 submachine gun off the now dead terrorist and told Tammy to stay low and hide under the nearest table, just in time as Zeke had turned the sprinkler system on. Everybody else had fired their guns as soon as the first drops of water hit the attackers, the mists of water interfering with the active camouflage like Krieger knew it would. Jess took out the guy who was aiming at the DJ Daniel Price whilst Faye started firing at the few terrorists who were lingering around the stage door, hitting them with precision thanks to Zeke's IR data they had been sent in real time.

Ronson was covering Margie as she quickly tried to hide Mr and Mrs Conner after shooting the man who had been stood behind her and the Conners. She also grabbed the dropped MP5 and quickly extended the retractable stock and flung the sling over her shoulder. Gun fire rang out through every room, drowning out the noise of whatever music Daniel Price had been playing on every shot. The Osiris crew commanded the guests stay as low as possible in between gunfire exchange from the now visible OWLF members. Most of them were male with the occasional female member, it didn't matter though they were all wanted dead or alive and right now, dead was the most likely outcome. It would be up to the police later to DNA identify them all and find out who they all were.

Krieger and Ronson had promptly synced up with each other, taking out attackers left right and centre making sure they had each other's backs; bullets whizzing past them as they participated in their own little gun fight ballet and savouring every minute of the adrenaline and excitement.

'Gary I hope you've stopped shitting. Front reception now mate. We're calling the authorities and we're gonna send through the guests to you and I want you to keep them orderly. Zeke, you know what to do bud.' Krieger announced, receiving a "roger" from Gary and her AI. A short moment later Zeke told her the ETA of the authorities.

'ETA in four minutes Cas.'

'Plenty of time to finish these arseholes off.'

Krieger and Ronson took in turns to check the ammunition left in their guns. Happy they had enough left and happy that they had taken care of all the targets in the bar and buffet area, they made their way in to the main ballroom. They watched as Tony elbowed one of the terrorists in the side of the head before shooting him through the neck, the twins were holding their own; hiding behind the DJ booth popping out only to return fire whilst Daniel Price screamed his head off. Devin and Justin were busy helping a gentleman who had been caught in the crossfire as currently had a bullet lodged in his shoulder. A quick glance at Michael showed he was more than capable in a gun fight; he had tipped over a table for some cover and only fired when he needed to.

Without even saying a word, as soon as Krieger and Ronson entered the ballroom they began shooting at the leftovers. Instantly the rest of their crew fell in to place. Using the door jambs as cover, Krieger and Ronson picked off the remaining attackers as accurately as possible, trying for a one hit kill. They took a second to reload, Krieger raising a hand to which Ronson threw her a spare magazine. She expertly ejected the empty magazine then slammed in the new one ready to fire.

To say there were loads of these OWLF idiots, they weren't very well organised neither were they good at shooting. It was apparent from their firing in to nothingness or only firing one or two rounds meaning they had their MP5's in semi-auto mode. They were either inexperienced or they hadn't stormed the place with intention of killing anyone else but the Conner's, Byron being the main target.

Krieger had to think why they had planned it like this. Either it was a distraction or they genuinely had no idea what they were doing. Previous attacks on Conner and his businesses were mainly bombings and single attackers going straight for him. It didn't make any sense to her as to why they would try this way out. She glanced around the ballroom taking just a second longer to process everything when she saw Frank Da Costa sat down in a corner, ever such the thing with an arm resting on his knee drinking an Old Fashioned without a care in the world. He smiled and winked at her. Instantly wound up, Krieger stopped firing her guns entirely and took off her left shoe, launching it directly at DaCosta whilst mouthing the words "fucking cunt" at him. The shoe hit the wall at the side of his head and bounced off, landing on the floor beside him. He continued grinning at Krieger as she missed which wound her up even more, but she chose to ignore him.

The entire crew took cover and stopped firing for a few seconds to see if anyone fired back at them. All they could hear was the music that was still playing and the sounds of crying and groaning.

'The police should be here soon.' Ronson sighed as he holstered his pistol. He shrugged off his suit jacket then wormed his way out of Krieger's shoulder holster, giving it to her as she hobbled over still only wearing one shoe. She shook it on quickly and shoved her guns back in where they belonged, adjusting the buckles on the leather straps to fit her form better. She felt like herself again with Jake and Elwood on her.

'What the hell was all that about Cas? That was the quickest gun fight I've been in in a long time and there were three times more of them than us.'

'Dude I don't know. At least nobody's dead that's all that matters.'

Everybody had started coming out of their hiding places and steadily up righted themselves as they dusted off their outfits. They reunited with their friends and families making sure they were safe and still in one piece before being directed toward the hotels reception.

'Not how I would've done it but meh, nobody's dead.'

Frank had walked over to Krieger and Ronson to make his remark and give Krieger her shoe back. She snatched it off him and glared as she threw it on the floor and stepped her bare foot in to it. He laughed as he walked along with the other guests to the reception area. As soon as he left, Mr and Mrs Conner had run over to them along with Margie and Erik. The twins had sailed past toward the exit with a red eyed and crying Daniel Price whilst Michael helped some of the older guests up and out. Rene eventually managed to coax Tammy out from the table she was hiding under. She ran over to her parents who embraced her, just as they were thanking Krieger and her team for keeping them all safe. Margie directed the Conner's toward the door.

'The emergency services should be here soon. I'll make sure everyone's okay with Gary.' She stated. 'Come on lets get you checked out.'

Krieger, Ronson, Erik and Rene all stood together as they watched everybody slowly make their way out of the ballroom, sighing in union after the hectic barely fifteen minute gun fight. Erik glanced down at Krieger and started dusting bits of crud off her left shoulder.

'I know you said you were trouble, but is it always this fun with you around?' Erik smirked at her. She just grinned back at him and shook her head.

Then Krieger got a brief pain in her solar plexus along with hearing Michael shouting at her as he walked back in.

'CAPTAIN LOOK OUT!'

It was as if it happened in slow motion, Michael shouting a warning at her whilst simultaneously feeling herself being punched so hard that she was sent flying about six metres in to a nearby table, careering over it with such energy that it was brought over with the force and landed on top of her. The guards dodged out of the way but Ronson sent his fist in to the area where Krieger had just been stood. He hit something hard that he couldn't see.

'ZEKE. IR. BALLROOM. NOW MATE!' Ronson screamed. Zeke instantly brought up a live infa red feed straight to Ronson's HUD, making his eyes glaze over. Whoever or whatever this thing was that just hit Krieger; it was huge, strong and barley showing up on any feed. It barged it's way past everyone and flung Margie aside like a ragdoll, reaching down to grab Conner himself. Erik, Rene, Michael and Ronson flung themselves at the invisible assailant in an attempt to try pry it off Conner who was now turning blue. Whatever the hell this thing was it would not let up. Conner's eyes had started to roll back in to his head as his wife and daughter screamed in fear at the thing that was slowly killing him.

Krieger had somehow managed to get herself out from under the table that had toppled over on her. She shook herself back to reality then set about gathering glasses of whiskey and brandy and any other spirits she found off tables that had survived the previous onslaught along with a pint glass, as well as kicking off whatever shoe was left as apparently neither of them wanted to stay on at all after her flying trick. She dumped the liquor she found in to the pint glass then casually made her way over to the invisible void that was attacking Conner. She threw the entire contents of the pint glass over the back of the behemoth then ignited the liquid with her lighter. It went up like a bonfire laced with diesel.

The fire engulfed the back of this attacker, making him scream in pain. The air was filled with a burning smell and smoke was coming from out of nowhere, whatever was attacking was now on fire and in agony by the sound of it.

A few seconds had passed and he had finally let go of Conner in an attempt to try and pat the flames out on his own back, the active camo had given up as the now visible man's tight clothing and skin had begun to melt and burn.

Krieger and Ronson fell in to place again. It was a partial combat cyborg wearing a strength enhancing exoskeleton suit. The active camo was a type 22BZ which operated through form fitting clothing and could also be hardwired in to synthetic skin and sometimes real skin, providing almost one hundred percent coverage from head to toe that was also resistant to water and nearly undetectable by most IR cameras. Fire however was the camo's weak point and the Captain had figured that out. They gave the cronies the cheap stuff and sent the real threat in with the good gear. The alcohol had eventually burned off leaving the combat cyborg with a charred back and peeling flesh. He was about six foot eight and built like a tank; with hair shaved close to his head, dark bushy eyebrows and tanned skin, his muscles bulging through an official OWLF tank top. The exoskeleton was providing him with a brutish amount of extra strength but he was probably augmented for strength to begin with by the looks of it and using the more traditional style of cyberization.

Krieger jumped on to the cyborgs back and wrapped her legs as tight as she could round his waist so he couldn't shake her off. She yanked and tore at the pipes and cables that were wired in to his body and exoskeleton in an attempt to slow him down while Ronson attempted to keep him from advancing toward Conner who was still blue in the face but breathing. Krieger managed to get a few of the pipes and cables out but not that many as she was eventually thrown off. She skidded across the floor on her side, taking any chairs and abandoned coats and handbags with her; she quickly kicked these aside as she rose to her feet. Ronson was hurled to the side nearly knocking over some of the others who he then shouted at the stay out of the road and leave him and Krieger to it.

The pair un-holstered their guns and readied for an attack, making sure the others were out of the way. Flesh and blood bodies were no match against a combat cyborg and Krieger and Ronson being mainly cybernetic themselves had more of a chance of taking this monster down. Their plan was to attack him simultaneously and go for the common weak points of a cyborg like this. His arms and shoulders were cybernetic and his entire lower body appeared to be cybernetic too meaning his torso and head were most likely still his, but probably with some reinforcement. They had to aim for his head and neck in order to take him down completely or even disney him by going for his joints. Both Krieger and Ronson would have to push their bodies to the limit in order just to land some good hits on the guy, especially with them being a lot smaller in stature and height but at least his disconnected pipes and cables had decreased his speed and strength slightly.

Krieger and Ronson began running toward the cyborg, Krieger at his back and Ronson to the front; both firing their guns as they went before going straight for his head, jumping up and kicking with as much force as possible. The cyborgs head wobbled around a bit like a bobble head figure on the dashboard of a crappy car and their bullets barely sinking un to his body doing a meager amount of damage.

The duo figured they would have to take him by surprise and take him apart piece by piece, starting at his hands. At least if they managed to disable his main form of attacking them then they could knock him out at least, if not kill him. Krieger and Ronson faced the cyborg head on, running toward him at speed; each grabbing one of the cyborgs hands and twisting it around his back with the momentum. Using the man's sheer size and bulky slow movement to their advantage, they managed to topple him over on to his front and using whatever strength they could muster; they pulled his arms as far back as possible. The man groaned and grimaced as the metal joints in his wrists and elbows snapped violently out of place. The pair cackled and grinned menacingly as they finally managed to incapacitate their attacker.

The pair now had a small audience of Michael, Rene, Erik and Frank DaCosta who had wandered back through to watch the fighting, now with another whiskey cocktail in his hand. They just stood and watched some distance away not even bothering to help. It was best they didn't interfere knowing they would probably be more of a hindrance than help.

'Is this normal?' Erik casually asked.

'For these two it is.' Frank answered as he sipped his drink. 'Don't worry it'll be over soon, just enjoy the show.' He grinned.

Michael watched in awe as his Captain and Vice Captain quickly manoeuvred their way around the bulky cyborg who now had limp arms, only just rigid enough thanks to the metal that would have been his bones. He watched as he tried to get up but his failing arms couldn't push his body up and he was struggling to even get to his knees because of his weight and size plus the fact that the floor was somewhat slippy. Krieger and Ronson pulled his arms back even more, nearly wrapping them around him the wrong way till eventually his arms had completely dislodged from his shoulder sockets. They went completely limp, the guy was going nowhere.

Krieger and Ronson dropped the cyborgs arms and stepped over him, walking toward their audience. The emergency services had arrived at some point with their sirens blaring and light flashing, several police cars and ambulances. Police officers and paramedics started rushing around the hundreds of guests, helping whoever they could and sending them out to the ambulances if they needed more treatment than just a foil blanket or a plaster. The Police officers were taking statements off several people and had collard the Conner's to interrogate them.

Krieger and Ronson watched all the people rushing around, knowing they would probably be interviewed at some point too as they were security that evening. Police had hurried round to the downed cyborg and quickly sorted him out enough so they could take him in to custody, making sure he wasn't going to attack anymore by binding him up with cyborg specific restraints and loading him on to a trolley just so they could move him. He glared at the duo who took him down as he was wheeled out.

'Well that was fun.' Krieger grinned as she took Frank's glass of whiskey off him and took a huge gulp before handing it to Ronson who finished the rest. She then reached in to Ronson's inner jacket pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter before she dragged him in the direction of the nearest open door to the outside where some of the guests were stood getting some fresh air. Everybody had to hang around for a while waiting for the police to finish questioning the other guests. It gave them all time to rest for a moment, smoke and grab another drink. Tony, Devin and Justin were all being interviewed as a group by two police officers while the twins were being interviewed by one. Eventually everyone had come to a rest at the bar, all with replenished drinks. Conner had vouched for Krieger and her team explaining how they were brought in as outside muscle. The police had asked Krieger, Ronson, Michael and Erik a few questions; nothing major. It took a little while but the police did finally leave along with what seemed to be the billionth ambulance that had turned up taking away the precious Pacificans who had a tiny scratch on their arm or a bit of a splinter in their finger. All while Krieger and Ronson were walking around with freshly formed bruises and the occasional bullet graze which would heal soon enough. Krieger also had some glass and sharp stuff in her feet which she wasn't really bothered about, her nanomachines were already pushing it all out and had dulled the pain to some extent.

The Conner's had disappeared back up to their penthouse apartment with Margie and Rene in tow. Gary was busy helping people out to their transport or in to the hotel elevators if they were stopping there. Some of the other staff were now attempting to clean up the destruction left by the OWLF idiots. Krieger, Ronson, Michael and Erik who had by now finished his shift decided to hang around a bit longer and have a few drinks at the bar to wind the evening down. Frank had wandered off somewhere, probably chasing some woman. Erik however was fiddling around with his holowatch, sending in his resignation to Conner effective immediately.

'And that is me, done with this place.' Erik announced. Everybody raised their glasses to his declaration and knocked back whatever they were drinking.

'Oh that reminds me, do you need a ride to New Edo? You could catch a lift with us?' Krieger asked Erik.

'Thanks but I got a ride, I leave tomorrow evening.'

'You never told us who you're going to work for; you said they were in the same line of work as us. So who is it?' Ronson asked Erik remembering what he said earlier how he already had another job lined up.

'Oh, my new boss was here tonight, Frank Da Costa I know you know him well. I thought I'd mentioned it.'

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Krieger started grasping on to her glass so tight that it started cracking under the pressure at the very mention of his name, especially as she had been in the same room as him all night and that was more than enough for her. Thankfully the amber liquid wasn't leaking out so she just carried on drinking it now with a sour look on her face. At least one of the remaining hotel staff had thankfully put GNR on over the speaker system and the whole bottom floor was filled with the dulcet tones of Pete Monsoon on the Late Night Show and his three hour long soul and funk set. All the tension could be physically seen leaving Krieger's shoulders as she sipped her brandy and relaxed to the smooth vocals of Al Green's For The Good Times.

'I fucking love Al Green.' She mumbled.

Krieger and Ronson swayed together in time with the music and wrapped an arm around each other as they swayed. Erik had got up from his seat and wandered round to the other side of the bar, picking up a bottle of the good brandy to top everybody's glasses up including his own. He had to smile at Krieger and Ronson, it was blatantly apparent to him that the pair had a close bond. He did admit to himself he was a little jealous, he didn't have anyone he could trust like these two trusted each other. He looked up from the bar as Justin, Tony and Devin had wandered up, finishing up with their interviews with the police. They all then looked at Michael who had his head resting in his hand and was visibly drifting off to sleep. Until Justin rested his hands on the young chaps shoulders which woke him somewhat abruptly.

'Dude, go to bed.' The doctor said to him in a commanding voice. Michael looked around to see the rest of his crew mates just smiling at him, drinks in their hands. The twins had even meandered over and stood at the end of the bar.

'We're heading up. Night everyone.' They said in harmony with each other.

'Me too actually. I wanna get up early so I can go for a run.' Devin announced.

'Same. 'Justin added. 'I wanna get a gym workout in before we leave.'

'Fair enough.' Krieger sipped at her brandy. 'Thanks guys, sleep well.'

Everybody waved and said good night to half of the crew who were going to get some rest. Tony stayed behind.

'Just a few drinks Cas I'm not staying up getting shit faced again.' Tony reminded her not to let him get stupid drunk again which was about as much use as telling water not to be wet.

'If you say so.' She grinned. 'Hey, Mikey did okay for his first job tonight huh?' She said complimenting the crews now absent newbie. 'I mean he fell in to place really quick.'

'Military training. Do as you're told and don't do stupid shit.' Tony added. Ronson nodded at his remark.

'I'm surprised he even saw the man mountain with the camo on, it's near perfect. 22BZ was it Cas?'

'Yep, nearly undetectable. Literally eyes are the only thing that can sorta see it at certain angles. Mikey must have just seen the shift.'

'What the hell are they doing with that kind of active camo though?' Erik asked. 'It's serious expensive military grade gear the 22BZ camo, not like the cheap stuff the others were cloaked in.'

'And it's incredibly hard to get hold of, unless you are military or Galaxy Police. And even then it's rare. They usually use it on combat Aegis and highly cyberized agents, higher percentage than that guy was.' Krieger detailed.

'You seem to know a lot about it.' Erik said smiling at the Captain.

'Yeah well when you hang around black market dealers as much as we do you find things out.' She smiled back.

'And get a few good bargains too.' Ronson added with a chuckle. 'Cheap booze, grenade launchers, voodoo dolls that actually work y'know that sorta thing.'

Tony had left after a few drinks like he said he would and retired up to the suite leaving Krieger, Ronson and Erik sat at the bar. A lot of the staff now had cleared a lot of the destruction up and salvaged anything that was still of use such as a few chairs and tables that hadn't been broken. A lot of the mess had been cleaned and swept up, all the food and glasses that had been left had been cleared away.

'The staff are awfully calm.' Ronson noticed and made comment hoping Erik would answer him as to why.

'Similar events have happened before. Not regular, but regular enough to get used to.'

'You better get used to it happening all the time on New Edo bro.' Ronson continued. 'We have bar fights, gun fights, cat fights, all kinds of fights on tap.'

'And the Convict Chase.' Krieger added.

'Yeah and the Convict Chase. That's in a few weeks. Busy on New Edo soon.'

Silence for just a moment. Erik kept looking at Krieger, sneaking quick little glances whenever she wasn't looking which was most of the time as she was busy swaying along with whatever Pete Monsoon had queued up on his soul and funk playlist this evening; meaning Erik was essentially staring at her.

'Ooookay.' Ronson said as he slid off his bar stool. 'Just going to shake me lettuce.'

He wandered off in the direction of the Gents leaving Krieger and Erik alone for a moment sensing that Erik wanted to talk to Krieger alone. Maybe. Both he and Krieger had agreed that they both weren't the best looking of people, but they weren't complete mingers. But for some reason people were drawn to them; maybe it was charm, maybe intrigue but people did tend to like the pair for reasons unknown. Ronson shook his head as he toddled off knowing damn well he had just lost the bet he made with Krieger earlier, that was him down a few credits.

'So, Krieger. You all ready for the Chase?' Erik asked as casually as he could, topping his glass up with the brandy he'd just left on the side. Nobody seemed to care they were just sat there drinking away without even paying or having it charged to the suite.

'Cas is fine. And yeah I guess so. I don't usually have a plan, you can't really plan for it anyway.'

'I don't think I could do it.'

'Really?' Krieger sounded slightly surprised. 'I must admit it takes a certain skillset and a certain mental state to hunt. Is that in a nice Scandinavian boy like you?' She grinned through her glass as she drunk her brandy.

'Jag kan också vara stygg.'

'Swedish I knew it.' Krieger said aloud. Though in her head her neural mod helped her translate what Erik had just said. He can be naughty too, oh boy.

'I can clearly tell that you're from England, but that family name isn't.'

'Nope. My father was German, from Dusseldorf actually.'

'Well you certainly lived up to your names meaning tonight that's for sure.'

'I try my best.' Krieger stuck her tongue out slightly then finished what was left of her brandy. She had a good buzz going now, considering she had been drinking most of the night it had only started affecting her now.

'Cas can I ask you something?' Erik said seeming slightly apprehensive; he took a brief moment before continuing to talk. 'Once I'm on New Edo, do you wanna... um like go...'

'I'd love to Erik.' Krieger cut him off knowing exactly what he was about to say. He was blushing slightly now, he truly looked quite bashful and a bit cute.

'We'll sort out later.' Krieger said. 'I can hear my brother from another mother coming from a mile away.'

Sure enough Ronson had come flying round the corner whit a look of total shock on his face.

'Cas have you been in the bogs over there yet? Jesus Christ there's like this huge vestibule bit with a fucking fountain in the middle!'

Ronson was a notorious Bog Waller. He had this thing where he was compelled to go have a right good nosey in peoples restrooms, he said it give him a good insight in to how a person was. He always had to go use the restroom wherever he was just so he could have a good root around and come back with a snide remark about their hand wash or the colour of their towels, or lack of. Krieger just rolled her eyes as Ronson wrapped his arms around her, giving her a quick squeeze and a kiss on the temple.

'I'm heading up. Goodnight Erik, thanks again.'

'I'm coming too.' Krieger said as she watched Ronson slowly walking out to the main hall. She slid off her stool, tugged her dress down a touch then rearranged her holsters.

'Goodnight Erik. See you back on New Edo.'

Krieger gave him a swift kiss on the cheek before she started running off to catch up with Ronson. Erik watched as she launched herself on to Ronson's back to carry her in to the elevator as he cried "You clumsy oaf" at her as her shoes had fallen off yet again that night and she nearly took him down with her. The Swede tipped the rest of his drink down his neck. He still had some things that needed sorting out before he left for New Edo.

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