The man sweeps his hand across the weapon case, he unlocked it and flipped it open.
"Azk-478M, 7.62x54R, Mag rail accelerated, gets a velocity of about 2,050 m/s, it will punch through any kind of armor plates anywhere in the galaxy. Like they always say, Kalashnikov never dies."
Mana looked at it for a bit, "No, this won't work."
"What do you mean this not work? What are you planning on attacking?"
"That's not your business Jackal, you sell arms, I use them, end of story." She was silent for a another moment, "I need something that has better penetration."
"Ok-ok, fine. What do you need to be able to punch through?"
"An SCI Hercules. Standard armored car. No extra plating."
"The fuck? Why?" Mana glared at him, "Right-right, let me see what I have."
Jackal disappeared back into the warehouse for a while leaving Mana to stand in the alley. He came back out dragging a large crate that he dropped on the ground.
"This is the best I got, its was some R&D Prototype from Archangel before they pulled out of arms. X150 Scythe, 28mm, also mag rail accelerated, gets about 1,390 m/s from its standard round. It's shoulder-mounted. Designed for tanks and heavy mechs, should be able to take out an armored car."
"Never heard of it. Let me test fire it."
"Fuck no Mystic, I'm not going to let you go spend 10k in ammo to test-fire the thing."
Mana put her hand on her pistol, "Fine, I'll pay you in advance to test-fire a shot. How much?"
Jackal's hair rose at her sharp tone, "Um, it's 3,250 per shot, 4 shots to a mag."
Mana's watch face turned into a screen and she tapped at it, receiving a buzz from Jackals' phone. Jackal dragged the crate over to a small car and loaded it up. They drove out of the alley into the desert that surrounded the town in the biodome. They drove in silences for 30 minutes before stopping.
Mana was crouched with the rifle over her shoulder.
"Ok, here's your shot," Jackal hands her the massive round, "Pull the handle on the side, it will open a port on the bottom to load the round into the internal mag."
Mana followed the instructions and Jackal continued,
"Push the handle forward to load the round, next to the trigger is a switch, that's the safety so flip that, place your finger on the trigger to activate the mag fins. Ok, your good to go."
Mana readjusted her grip and leaned forward to brace for the recoil. The gun hummed with energy as arcs of electricity started to jump between the barrel and the fins. She pulled the trigger and the world flashed, neither of them heard the shot. The gun started to rumble as the internally cooling rushed to stop the barrel from melting and the shell rolled out of the gun landing in the sand as it started to deform and break as it melted into slag, glowing bright orange and red. Mana motioned to hand off the weapon to Jackal when she noticed that she was now crouched 5 or so feet from him, the sand had provided no purchase and the recoil had sent her sliding backward.
Standing she hauled the weapon over, she helped Jackal load it into the car. He slammed the trunk closed and turned to Mana, his breath caught before he could speak. Mana removed the blade from his chest causing him to crumple to the sand. She slit the corpse's throat and pulled her pistol and place 2 shots into the corpse's head. She never heard the shots, only feeling the rumble in her arm. Her ears rang for the entirety of the drive back to the warehouse.
Mana gave a deep sigh as she plundered the warehouse 30 minutes later, "I'll need earplugs."
Her car glided towards the airlock of the biodome, making it out of the dome she began her flight to the next target. The surface of Titan faded into the background and looking back at her was the inky black of space. Her phone buzzed, she looked at it the message was from her AI. The message was a picture with a name.
"Christopher 'Grimes' Cartwin, works for the Stellers. Possible tail, threat level 3? Why did you send me this Defrag?"
An automated voice filled the car, "He has been to both of your last hits and has been digging into your bank accounts. So far he has only found the fake data that I planted but he has an uncanny record for catching bounty hunters."
"Ok, but if he's only a threat level 3 why did you make such a big deal about him."
"I have reason to believe he may have been involved in your father's death."
Emotions pulled at Mana's face but she remained monotone, "I'll keep that in mind Defrag."
YOU ARE READING
Hollow Point Happiness
Fiksi IlmiahAn emotionless hitman, trying to understand what it truly means to be human. Through oceans of blood and money, they discover more about their past, their family, and themselves. And a disgraced cop called to back to work a seemingly impossible case...
