Harem Hero

The Quick and the Cloned - Part 3

BEEP!

A loud alarm blares through the underground kill house as you finally reach across the red line. You collapse down onto your hands and knees, sweat dripping down onto the floor below. You finally did it. You managed to clear the entire course in time without killing anything you weren't supposed to!

Motoko was bursting at the seams with praise as usual, "Hm. You're a pretty quick study when you want to be."

"But?"

She rolls her eyes, "You're good enough to be a cop, but not in Section 9."

"If that's the standard we're using, I don't think I'm ever going to get there," you pat your chest, "I'm all flesh. No cyberbrain here."

Motoko checks her sports watch, "That's enough for today. I have to get back-"

But before Motoko can make plans to return home, your bracelet rings out.

Mitsuru's voice is emitted from the internal speaker, "Hey, you two – the invaders are attacking a local area. It looks pretty bad."

You grunt, "Damn it."

Motoko flashes the pistol held in the holster against her left side, "I'll give you a hand with this one."

You hurry back to the elevator and ascend back onto the main floor of the garage, Lala and Mitsuru are watching the news with a worried look on their faces. "Of all the days to do this," Mitsuru complains, "We were just about to finish it too."

You stop by the couch and ask, "Finish what?"

"I'll show you later. Get down there and destroy that drone."

You press the button on your bracelet and summon the armour, "Alright. Let's go kick some ass."

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

When you and Motoko finally arrive on the scene (by foot) it's clear that all hell has broken loose beyond the police cordon. A huge crowd of people have gathered and are trying to push and shove to get a look at what's happening beyond. Looks like you aren't getting through that way. Motoko pulls you into a nearby alleyway and leaps up the fire escape. You do the same using the hydraulic system in your legs.

You continue to climb up the rooftops of several other buildings until you pass the police blockade and get a clear view of the area below. It's a public park. The green space is protected on all sides by tall stone walls. A new type of enemy soldier guards the main gate – a mechanical biped body wielding a gun and utilizing body armour. They have strange, thin rectangle shaped heads and a red visor running down the front.

Motoko peers through a pair of collapsible binoculars and scouts the area, "Robotic soldiers, and they're armed. I'm counting twelve and that's only what I can see from here. We should assume that they have three or four times that number to cover this area."

"What's the plan?"

Motoko doesn't answer right away, she continues to observe the area. You press a button on the side of your helmet and zoom in using the built-in telescopic visor. In the tree in one corner of the park, an unseen family of four cowers away from the gunmen.

"Hostages."

"That's right. They've brought the fight to a populated area to make things more difficult for us – it shows a callous disregard for their lives." Motoko's mind is working at its maximum capacity to come up with a plan, she points to the two gunmen by the front gates. "Those two are likely on watch, if we destroy them, they'll know we're here."