Double Or Nothing: A Coin Flip Away

The Stealth Operation

The world spun and shook in the portal's enveloping swirl when Wrench was slung out from the glowing pink wavelength, rolling from his back to his feet while his artificial arm snapped into the air, its tracing technology rapidly firing off three shots and capping three bodyguards in the abandoned warehouse he had been tossed into. Wrench stopped himself, lowering his arm to catch his breath. A service drone clicked to life from behind his backpack, swirling out into the dark loading bay with a spray of white light coating the floors and ceiling to scan the perimeter. Wrench inhaled slowly, bringing himself upright before stepping into the loading bay with his rifle arm raised.

"Zhat vas a fine thing you did zhere, my mechanical masterpiece," Wrench complimented, patting the steel plates on his external limb. The arm replied with the faint but promising hum of beautiful red and gold wires pulsing under their blackened steel frame. Wrench lifted himself over a large crate by the back wall, using his hand to grab the top rail of the floor above him. Kicking his feet forward, the reverse thrust was enough to lift the Nazi engineer from his grip on the ledge to the top bar of the hand rail. Sweeping over the ledge and rolling across the floor, Wrench was greeted with two more heavily armored guards.

Flashlights spun and guns were reloaded while Wrench threw small packages from his backpack onto the floor. From the circular disks, tiny pistols emerged, locking onto the faces of the guards and firing single shots. The bodyguards, although coated in thick armor, crumpled to the floor with blood oozing from their dismembered skulls. Relieved of duty, the disk-engraved sentry turrets retracted into their shells for Wrench to scoop up from the floor. Sliding the disks into his backpack, Wrench struck the opposite end of the wall with his mechanical arm. Small, teeth-grooved blades extended from his arm, propelling Wrench up the wall at a manageable speed.

While airborne, Wrench swept over his watch on his organic arm, rolling back his swastika patch and gold-trimmed sleeve to reveal a sharp-outlined watch of brass and copper with deep red highlights. The watch snapped open, and Wrench's silver bulb of an artificial eyeball whirred with lights flickering in projection proportion. In the outline of his eye's projection, the shimmering figure of the Sin Hunter appeared with his arms crossed and something pooling at his feet, presumably water. "Jackson! Thank goodness you are alright! I haf some not very fortunate news for you and your end of zhe conflict!"

However, Jack waved his glove up, shaking his fedora back and forth. "No need to warn me, Wrench. I've intercepted Lucifer's message and am proceeding to Greed to accompany you now. Where are you at?" Wrench, having stopped at the top floor of the abandoned warehouse, positioned himself on the handrail where he could leap away from the wall and retract his climbing equipment. "I am positioned in an abandoned warehouse across zhe street from Mammon's central agency, directly correlating vith Lucifer's instructions." Jack gave a subtle nod, a hologram on the Nazi engineer's shoulder.

"Good to hear. Should I meet you halfway, or do you want to set up shop and get a good firing range in case things get hectic?" Wrench clenched his jaw, the wires in his scowl feeding through flesh and blood along his veins as he lined up his rifle accessories with a broken glass frame at the edge of the warehouse. From inside, a fractured view of the sparkling Big House, the largest casino in Greed, flashed like a Christmas tree through a fogged window. "I am fine vhere I am at. If you require my assistance later, zhen gazher zhe crew vhere zhey can do zhe most damage.

"However," Wrench concluded, bringing a scope from his back pocket and strapping the attachment to his eye socket where it spun and locked into the circuitry, "I do not believe Mammon vill be so qvick to show his ugly green rear anytime soon. I expect company from zhe ozhers vith zheir completed missions before ve make any sudden moves." Jack tapped his boot on the ledge of the positioned roost, crossing his sleeves. "So you want us to wait here and set up shop to let everyone else get here first?" Wrench nodded, tracing his rifle scope across the plaza to a glowing building beside the casino.

"Correct. And besides, ve must be wary of Mammon's dealing in zhe Living World now." While Jack continued with something indecipherable, Wrench watched through his vision extension as a group of masked guards had begun to push through a door into the glowing building across from the Big House, closing it shut behind them. Wrench lowered his rifle arm, his scowl set and fierce. 'Zhat must be zheir gate between zhe Living and zhe Damned. I haf to shut zhat down, but vith all of zhe security around zhe Big House it vould be foolish. I need zhe rest of zhe team to be here for a glorious Blitzkrieg.'

Returning to his radio in the nick of time, Jack had concluded his speech. "And that's the game plan, Wrench. Any questions?" The Nazi engineer scoffed, removing his backpack to further assess the contents of his pack. "Zhat all vorks for me, Sin Hunter. Keep your eyes sharp on zhe roads leading to zhe Big House. Zhe guards won't be too pleased to see you roaming freely." Jack tipped his fedora and tapped his boot, swinging a revolver around his right finger. "Thanks for the warning. If you stay in Hell or choose to come with me I could care less, but I'm stepping through that rift and closing the gate off from the Living World's side."

Wrench raised his hand to the side of his head to shut off the earpiece when he hesitated. 'To see my glorious Germany once more...no, I can not. Zhe temptation must be averted.' Wrench swallowed back saliva and copper before coughing. "Very vell, Sin Hunter. I'll cover your fire leading into zhe warehouse beside zhe Big House." Jack nodded, reaching for the switch to turn off communication. "Good work Wrench. I'll see you in a few hours then. Best of luck, bud!" As the Sin Hunter switched his radio off, Wrench shuffled in his chair, setting his open palm with the rifle barrel in his sleeve poised and locked on the warehouse entrance across the road.