Sitting on the couch in the apartment with almost seven thousand credits, I almost thought that I’d be able to set up the raid, until I remembered Bastion coming down on everyone like a ten ton anvil at the mall. Without a reasonable escape plan beyond the sewers I doubted I’d be getting my hands on more than a few duffle bags of gear out of what was likely several trucks worth.

Thinking about it, I realized I had absolutely no idea what I was actually getting into. I found a place to plug in the flash drive Duveen had given me, seeing images for a warehouse that had been converted into a non-stop weapon manufacturing plant. There were images of trucks rolling out of loading docks with full crates of what was likely guns and various munitions.

There were even images showing the relative quality of equipment the NPC guards had, and it was formidable to say the least. Solid body armor from head to toe with semi-automatic rifles, along with enough ammunition to hold off a persistent strike team for at least half an hour. That was just the outside guards, too. The inside guards were worse, though slightly less numerous. They were outfitted with basic exo-suits and heavy weapons powerful enough to punch through concrete. This was looking like it’d be a tough battle even if I managed to scrape together another ten thousand credits for funding.

While I had a basic idea brewing in the back of my mind, I figured I might as well be as prepared as possible. So naturally I rang up Hugh and asked if he’d like to join me for some light recon related to the next big job. He was thrilled, saying that he was more than happy to drop the transport quest he’d been taking care of. He even sent me an image of a smashed crate on the sidewalk, then a bit of advice saying that if you smashed the crate you were transporting, you lost twenty five credits. I chuckled a bit as I began gathering the needed supplies.

Gone was the broken pair of binoculars, replaced with a fully functioning pair that I promised never to take for granted. We’d use the grappling hook to get up to the roofs if we had to, though we wouldn’t be getting very close this time as I was fairly certain we would be shot on sight. When Hugh finally showed up he placed a rifle of his own on the counter, grinning from ear to ear as he introduced it as a green quality firearm.

------------------------

Bastion Series R23 Carbine

“Get the most bang for your buck with the R23!”

Green Uncommon Firearm

------------------------

I looked at it for a solid minute while trying to remember what a carbine rifle was, until finally I had to ask Hugh to explain it to me. Apparently his R23 was capable of shooting smaller caliber rounds than regular rifles, making it more compact and typically easier for use by highly mobile combatants as he was hoping to be in the future.

The shortened gunmetal black barrel didn’t inspire much confidence in me until he told me that it was the same thing that special forces tended to use. Everything about the weapon seemed lighter and more compact compared to other rifles, from the stock to the magazines filled with 9mm ammunition. It seemed reminiscent of the tube-like guns I’d used on the beach, though this version seemed to have been upgraded by quite a lot. The firing chamber and frame of the gun was now octagonal like the Echelon grenade launcher I had, though the stock had been filed down at the back to fit against the shoulder a bit better, looking less like a trapezoid and more like a triangle with a curve at the end.

Hugh had even managed to get himself a license to carry a firearm openly, something I’d been forgetting to do, while also putting it off. This made it easier for us to travel around town without having to hide our guns in our waistbands or behind jackets. I envied Hugh a bit as we drove to a parking garage in the north west district, just three streets away from the warehouse. He’d taken the initiative to do something that had repeatedly slipped my mind. I’d have to make an actual note of getting a license of my own.

I hadn’t realized before just how big Bastion was, though now that I’d been getting around the city for some time the sheer number of buildings I saw shattered my preconceptions about how large a virtual city could be. I’d been to the walls themselves in multiple areas of the city, though I kept discovering new areas. First it was the market, then the many abandoned buildings in the south, then the megabuildings and restaurants everywhere else. I was even now seeing supermarkets, and I wondered if I’d ever get used to the city’s vastness.

From the top of the parking garage we could see just enough of the warehouse to get an idea of how security was on the rooftop. I spotted two teams of two patrolling while there was also a lookout at every corner. The lookouts were at least attempting to act like they weren’t armed, their rifles laid on the ground beside them, out of view of anyone at street level. At another glance, I realized they weren’t actually acting that way for any reason. They were all just bored. Two of them were smoking, one of them was dozing off, and the fourth was just lazily scanning the area every now and then.

I decided to get a closer look at the ground level as it was blocked by the view of it was blocked by the building across from us, taking the stairs down and getting some concerned looks from a pair of new players, both of which wore the standard bright orange pants and grey shirts. I paid them no mind. Even if they went after Hugh I trusted him to take care of himself, though I did send him a message to be on guard.

As I slipped between an alley on the way to the target building, I wondered if NPCs could see through a change of clothes. Instead of taking the risk I stuck to the shadows despite the sun being high in the sky. Peeking over the top of a dumpster I observed the ground level, where I saw several NPCs hanging around like they had nothing better to do. All of them were armed with the rifles and body armor I’d seen earlier, standing at attention in front of doors and other positions around the area.

I guess you can have anything if you pay off the right people.

After watching for five minutes I saw a garage door open on the far right side of the warehouse, a lightly armored truck driving out with a few crates, though from the small glimpse I got there was a lot more in the loading docks it had just left. I decided if we were going to hit anywhere, we’d have to hit there. If we were fast enough we might even be able to get away before Bastion’s police could arrive, though I doubted we’d manage it.

Hugh messaged me not long after, as I continued watching the area with my binoculars, saying that he’d seen all he felt he was going to see there, and that he was going to move to the restaurant situated behind the building on another street. I didn’t even realize there was a restaurant that I could’ve sat inside, the smell of garbage reinforcing my feeling of superb intellect and not at all making me feel stupid.

It didn’t take too long for the truck to return to the warehouse, the door opening up for it on arrival. Getting as good a look as I could manage, my eyes stopped on the interior guards. The exo-suits from the images were there, but what I hadn’t seen were the dual chain guns attached to both arms, reinforced belts of ammunition feeding out of a massive ammunition box strapped to the back. The NPC wearing it was slow, but easily the most intimidating of those I'd seen so far. The frame had armor plating bolted onto the torso and the NPC’s head was behind what I could only guess was bulletproof glass. I thumbed the grip of my Recycler Pistol, thinking about how much of an impact my grenade launcher might have.

The moment passed and the door clanged down into place. I messaged Hugh to get what information he could and then meet back at the parking garage. I myself got out of there before anyone could recognize me, wondering where I might be able to get my hands on an anti-tank rifle. I wasn’t going to go back to the broker to find allies, though I definitely couldn’t attack with just myself, Hugh, and a plucky attitude.

By the time Hugh made it back to the truck I was already drafting a message to Valentine, smiling to myself about what I viewed as my own cleverness. It took some negotiating, but Valentine eventually agreed to talk to the rest of his guild about considering lending us some manpower for the raid. I’d proposed fifty percent of everything found there, and he had negotiated things up to sixty percent since they’d be doing a large amount of the heavy lifting. It was a simple arrangement for the moment, with details being finalized later on. I was going to be providing as much information as possible so that things would be taken care of quickly and easily.

I had to clip a few things from my recordings, but in the end I came up with a few decent pieces of information to go along with the flash drive I’d been given. Hugh had even found a sewer entrance that could be used for the less heavy items. The only hiccup was finding an actual escape route.

While I didn’t know how well Bastion police could keep up above ground, I could only assume that we wouldn’t be able to outrun them, which meant we’d need one of the gates to be open, and the closest one to the warehouse was the north gate. It would be possible to hijack it, but from previous experience I knew it’d only be for a moment, and unless we stopped to pick everyone up, whoever did the task would be killed. Part of me wanted to volunteer, always happy to fight against the impossible The other part of me was reminded of how hard my heart beat every time I got into a fight.

Instead of thinking about that, I used the map of the city to create a route from the warehouse to the gate, with Hugh programming the driving AI so that it would avoid the warehouse as we mapped everything out. We got a few looks from passing players and a few even openly ran away after seeing us for the third time, but eventually after several adjustments to the route to ensure both speed and safety, both Hugh and I were almost certain we’d get out alive. I didn’t doubt it, though Hugh kept sarcastically reminding me that he'd been shot while throwing a grenade the last time I’d made a foolproof plan. I elected to ignore him.

On the way back to the apartment to compile everything Valentine sent me another message, detailing that some of the guild leaders wanted to talk with me about the raid, and were even thinking about signing an in-game contract. I hadn’t even known those existed but apparently they did, and they were fairly strict. On the bright side, there was nothing about the contracts banning people or locking their accounts if you violated the terms. Instead it was just a hefty fee, or spending time working off your debt in a Bastion jail cell if you couldn’t pay said fine.

Hugh didn’t want to deal with negotiations, instead choosing to drop me off wherever the meeting would be and going off to do a quest or two. Ten minutes later I was sitting in the ramen shop front owned by the black market arms dealer, and Hugh was off to find a bounty quest. I figured it was the perfect place for the meeting. The ramen even turned out to be fairly delicious, despite it being entirely simulated.

I need to go grocery shopping soon.