บท 37: Ambush #37
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I took a deep breath as I opened the window and attached my steel wire to the edge, slowly descending toward the warehouse's exterior after spending a minute memorizing the layout of the area and the number of people inside, armed or otherwise.
Not everyone inside the warehouse was armed, and they weren't all thugs either. Most of the people hauling the crates and moving them around the warehouse were just regular people who do odd jobs like this for gangsters to earn some money.
'I'll steer clear of the poor bastards unless they get in my way...' I mused as I slid down my wire into the warehouse, taking cover behind a shelf packed with crates and barrels.
I had no intention of going out of my way to harm those people, but I won't hesitate to beat the crap out of them if they interfered, and I won't try to save them if they were stupid enough not to run once shit hits the fan either. I don't know them, and their well-being isn't my responsibility.
'Time to get to work...'
I let out a deep breath as I started climbing onto the shelf. There were five gangsters wielding machine guns and assault rifles on vantage points across the warehouse, and I needed to take them out before I took out everyone else.
Their strategic high ground positions allowed them to look over almost every possible piece of cover, and they'd be able to pin me down with a hail of bullets if I didn't take them out before making my presence known.
I stuck to the ledges, jumping from shelf to shelf until I reached the first lookout. I sneaked behind the thug and wrapped one arm around his neck, the other reaching for his rifle.
Storing the rifle into my inventory, I squeezed his neck with my wrist until he fell unconscious, but I didn't let go and eased his fall to avoid making any noise.
I only let go of the lookout once he was on the ground and moved on to the next target, quickly managing to take out two more in the same way, but one of the thugs patrolling down below noticed me before I could get to the last two near the entrance.
"There's an intruder!" the thug shouted, quickly taking out his gun to shoot at me, alerting the rest of his friends. Everyone turned to me, and I immediately ran toward the last two lookouts as fast as I could.
I sprinted, swung, and jumped from cover to cover towards the last two lookouts, dodging bullets while shielding my face since it was the only part of me that the trench coat didn't cover.
However, I was only halfway through before the warehouse gates exploded with a loud bang, sending a shock wave of searing heat that sent the two lookouts tumbling to the ground from their vantage points.
"Attention, losers...! Ya'll gone done messed with the wrooooong gal! So says Harley Quinn...!" I heard Harley's voice echo across the warehouse, accompanied by a loud, cheerful cackle. "And I'm gonna show ya why ya don't mess with Harley's babies!" the crazy blonde exclaimed, and there was no accompanying mad cackle this time. It was the deafening echo of gunshots instead.
I shrugged and immediately jumped into the action while the gangsters were still in shock, charging the nearest thug and tackling him into the nearest shelf, causing it to fall on two other gangsters nearby.
I head-butted the thugs I'd tackled into unconsciousness and jumped on top of the collapsed shelf, stomping with all my might to make sure the two gangsters underneath it stayed down. The gangsters quickly got back into their senses and immediately turned to me with their weapons, while the hired labor began running in all directions to steer clear of the danger.
My eyes darted around, my brain going overdrive, noting the gangster's locations, the trajectory of their bullets based on where they were standing, and the way they held their guns as I quickly planned a route and began running.
I picked up a metal barrel while sprinting and raised it to my left to block several bullets fired at me by the only gangster who had a clear shot at me and immediately hurled it at him once he ran out of bullets and stopped firing.
Have I mentioned how convenient having superhuman strength was? I'm hurling barrels at people like I'm Donkey Kong or something, for fuck's sake!
I turned a corner around another shelf and found myself staring at two gangsters, who immediately reacted by aiming their guns at me once our eyes met. I put my 100% muscle usage to good use and closed the distance with one leap before the gangsters could fire, ducking as the first gangster leveled his gun at my head and fired.
Slapping the gun away, I kicked the other gangster before he could fire and sent him flying towards the large wooden crate, which he smashed into headfirst, sending wood shards flying.
I turned to the other one and punched him in the throat, holding back so as not to crush his windpipe. I finished him off with a kick in the stomach and sent him flying to join his friend in the now-demolished wooden crate.
I kept weaving throughout the warehouse, from one cluster of thugs to the other, dodging bullets while trying to avoid using my steel wire as much as possible since it wouldn't be much of a training mission otherwise.
Richard gave me the task of clearing the warehouse, so I could gain experience and learn how to deal with large groups of enemies and relying on my steel wire too much would make the whole thing pointless.
It took almost thirty minutes of moving from cover to cover, breaking bones, and knocking people out until the gunfire ceased, and I could hear nothing but grunting.
I inspected the area and saw no one standing or moving other than a few gangsters trying to crawl away, causing me to let out a drawn breath as I quickly knocked out the few remaining thugs that didn't stay down.
'Well... that's that...' I sighed in relief as I turned to my quest tab, frowning when I saw the quest wasn't over. 'Maybe I need to take care of the gangsters outside too...?' I mused as I made for the exit.
I frowned under my mask as I exited through the demolished warehouse doors, watching as Harley smashed her baseball club into the knee of the last standing thug, forcing him to his knees as she put a bullet in his head.
'She's not taking any prisoners... Richard will be pissed...' I sighed as I looked around and saw nothing but unmoving corpses strewn around the vicinity, all with gunshot wounds or bashed skulls.
There were a couple of "lucky" gangsters, who weren't killed by the crazy, but looking at their crushed, deformed limbs, they might have been better off dead.
I came here fully knowing I might have to kill, if need be, so I didn't really care for the lives of Black Mask's goons. I didn't know whether they were full-fledged psychopaths or just people who turned to crime because they had no other choice, and I didn't care either.
I might sympathize with such people, but if it came to a choice between my life and theirs, I wouldn't hesitate for a second before putting them, down, so I had no moral ground to judge the crazy blonde, even if she might have taken things too far.
Still, seeing so much carnage did make me feel uncomfortable, and it brought back memories of Firefly's massacre flashing in my mind. I pushed down the discomfort and inspected the area with the pigeon drone.
'What's going on...?' I wondered as I found no one still standing, inside and outside the warehouse, and turned to my quest, seeing no quest completed prompt.
"There ya are!" Harley said, spreading her arms apart as she approached, and I had to grit my teeth and push down the urge to attack her after seeing her bloodied appearance and demented grin.
"The losers inside give ya any trouble?" Harley asked, peeking past me into the warehouse, but I didn't pay her any attention, focused on the pigeon drone's video feed as I was. "Are ya listening!?" Harley exclaimed, sounding extremely offended at how I ignored her as she stood in front of me, waving a bloody hand in front of my face to get my attention.
"Look out!" I exclaimed, my eyes widening as I spotted some movement in the shadow of a container nearby through the pigeon drone, causing me to push Harley to the side as I lunged away.
I adjusted my posture mid-air and landed on my feet two meters away as I heard a loud bang, and a wave of searing heat hit my back.
Quickly turning around, I saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with bulging muscles walk out of the container's shadow. He wore a tight black and red sleeveless spandex suit with a similarly colored mask, and his most distinguishing feature was the large gun on the end of his left arm.
"I am not remembering you. You must be a new face. No worry I be killing you anyway."
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