The Neo-Metropol Heist

33: Jaeger

Jaeger bit her lip as she ducked to avoid a bullet that tore over her head and struck a wooden beam beside her in a spray of splinters. She took cover behind a wall she hoped was thick enough for cover and tasted the blood she'd drawn.
She realised that this wasn't how she had originally planned to spend her evening. She didn't really know how she had originally planned to spend her evening, but it definitely hadn't been 'get shot at for a while'.
Of course, she was trained in combat, but that didn't mean she particularly enjoyed it - violence was a necessary means to an end sometimes and she accepted it.
People like Oscuro enjoyed violence, she couldn't quite fathom that.
A spray of bullets from automatic gunfire struck the wall she was using for cover and chipped away at the edge. To her far left, she saw Ferenzi crouching behind the same half-wall with another officer.
When there was a lull in the gunfire, Jaeger took her chance and rolled across the gap in the wall between them.
She tried to take in as much of the casino floor as she could before reaching the other side - at least thirteen men, all hiding behind slot machines and game tables, two of them behind the shattered remnants of the bar.
They were still pinned down at the front entrance after Long's men had greeted them with shrapnel and fire over the heads of guests. In the initial engagement, Jager had seen one officer taken down - Muller, who now slumped behind the wall next to Ferenzi, and a guest who didn't have the initiative to duck.
Over her combat HUD, Jaeger could see that Stewart was still going at the rear of the building, but he hadn't made contact in over fifteen minutes. She wasn't worried, the rookie could handle himself and letting yourself get distracted about others was how you got gutshot.
"Ferenzi," Jaeger said loudly over the noise, "status."
The young officer looked at her. Her mask had been shattered by a stray bullet, but it still seemed functional - as far as Jaeger could tell, she hadn't been shot in the head, although the young officer was damn tough so she wouldn't have put it past her.
"Muller is down, shot to the abdomen," Ferenzi replied, "it's not fatal, for now, but we need to clear the room to get him out safely. There's still civilians on the casino floor, we can't move in with heavy tactics until they're free."
So, Ferenzi didn't think innocent civilians were a means to an end. That was good.
The Morning Guns were all well entrenched and the shots from the six or so officers behind the wall bounced harmlessly off their cover, even less useful due to the fact that they were still using stun rounds, not live ammunition. Jaeger was glad, but even she knew there would come a point when staying alive became a more appealing prospect to the officers around her than righteousness.
One of the men leaned out from his cover an inch too far, and Jaeger took the risk. The kickback from her gun was slightly more severe due to the strange angle she was at, but the AP burst struck the shocked MG in the shoulder, and he fell back against the bar twitching.
"We have flashbangs that can clear the room, but we need time to get the last three civvies out," Ferenzi shouted, "any ideas?"
Jaeger sucked on the sore wound on her lip and then stole a glance from around the corner.
She could see the civilians, a man and a woman in business dress and one of the greeters, a man in a colourful red and yellow frock. He would be a running target.
"Leave it with me," Jaeger said, cycling through her HUD to Stewart's name, "rookie, still alive?"
There was silence for a minute, then a crackle, Stewart's voice following.
"Just about," he said, "for some reason, the guys shooting at us weren't happy about that. We're en-route to the next floor."
"Yeah, about that, can you spare some guys?" Jaeger asked, "we need bullet sponges so we can extract the citizens left in the casino area," between the bad signal over the comm-link and the chaos around her, she could hardly hear Stewart's muffled reply.
Her answer came when Stewart's blip on the visualised 3D floor-plan of the building diverted with four others from Beta and headed towards the front of the building.
A few moments later, from the doorway at the back of the room, a new chorus of guns joined the orchestra.
The men in cover hadn't planned for this, so they quickly scrambled to adjust themselves to the new enemy group, but some of them just couldn't do it in time, dropped to the ground either by Stewart's force or Ferenzi's.
Jaeger couldn't see Stewart, merely figures in the loose dust at the other end of the room. As the MGs were distracted trying to match the new players on the field, Jaeger leaned out and gestured to the civilians, who sat under a ruined grand piano.
"Move," Jaeger yelled to them, "now!"
They scrambled like terrified rabbits, throwing themselves through the gap in the cover and out into the foyer.
"Room is clear," Ferenzi said, "everybody keep your masks down, here come the fireworks."
Jaeger realised she had no mask only at the moment Ferenzi and two other officers lobbed a handful of silver canisters over the wall and into the room. She clamped her arm over her eyes and clenched them shut and she heard the flashbang grenades go off.
The light burned through her pathetic attempt at blocking it like wildfire, white flecks marred her vision. More incredible, though, was the noise the things made, an explosion and a buzz that threatened to burst her eardrums.
She had been far enough away to avoid being incapacitated, but the same couldn't be said for the Morning Guns on the casino floor. Some of them had been thrown out of cover by the shock and lay on the ground writhing like injured worms.
"Move in," Ferenzi said on the main squad chat, "Allison, get Muller to a medic. Jaeger, with me."
Jaeger stayed close to Ferenzi as the remaining officers spread out across the room, checking that the MGs were out of the game for good. One tried to sit up and raise his gun, only to receive a stun round to the chest from Ferenzi that made him twitch and go silent.
Stewart appeared from the doorway and Jaeger gave him an impressed nod.
"Nice work," she said. He gave a subdued smile and then followed Jaeger as she headed through the doorway, out into the main corridors of the casino.
They found an elevator, but the main keypad had been shot to pieces and the doors wouldn't budge.
"Ferenzi," Jaeger said over her earpiece, "the elevator to Long's office is out, the ground floor is clear, though, me and Stewart are going to go on ahead and rejoin Beta."
"Got it," Ferenzi replied, "Alpha will stay here and cover the ground floor in case anybody tries to make a break for it this way."
Jaeger clicked off the comm-link and gestured down the hallway, the two setting off with their weapons drawn.
Every few metres the corridors were littered with new bodies, some that were MGs, still twitching from the stun blast, and others that were civilians and staff, with actual bullet wounds.
Jaeger tried to step over them with all the respect she could manage.
They found an ornate marble staircase that led up to the next floor and carefully but quickly climbed it. When they reached the top, they heard nothing but silence. Either Beta squad had dispatched all the remaining MGs, or...
"Boss, look," Stewart said quietly, gesturing along the new hallway they found themselves in.
Jaeger followed his eyeline to the end of the corridor and found what he was looking at. Strewn along the corridor, laid out haphazardly and in awkward positions, were the remaining members of Beta squad.
Jaeger's HUD read out scans of the bodies. Two were dead, the other six were alive but unconscious.
Stewart was about to step forward when Jaeger stopped him with a firm hand. There were no MG bodies on the floor - anywhere. It hadn't been the gangbangers that had done this.
She felt her tuned senses twitch, her ears pricked up and the hairs on the back of her neck stood. Jaeger turned on her heel and pushed Stewart out of the way as out of nowhere, a hulking man in mock Old West attire charged at them like a raging bull.
Blackjack.
Jaeger stumbled out of his path, only just managing to keep her balance as the mercenary stormed past at the speed of a freight train, roaring.
Jaeger kept her balance and just managed to get within range of the man with an awkward leap as he drew his twin pistols and raised them. She grabbed one arm with each hand and pushed them away as they fired shots into the roof above.
As Blackjack fought against her, she drove her knee into his crotch and swung a palm into his solar plexus. The man didn't even flinch.
She ducked under a strike from him and again slammed her palm into his elbow, managing to knock one of the pistols from his grip. It flew away with a clack along the ornate stone flooring.
Trying to stay close enough to avoid the remain pistol, Jaeger tackled the cowboy but achieved nothing more than what charging a steel wall would have. Combat training or not, he had at least a hundred pounds on her, and modifications at that.
The man felt like he had bones of metal, he caught her and pushed her away, a blow from his meaty paw catching her jaw and sending her stumbling back.
Jaeger grabbed at her pistol, her own, live ammo pistol, but couldn't manage it in time before Blackjack ploughed into her, driving them both into the nearest wall.
Jaeger could see Stewart, dazed and confused on the floor as she was thrown into the plaster, willing him to get up.
Before Blackjack could land another hit, Jaeger grabbed out wildly with her hand and grasped a fire extinguisher, heavy and outdated. She slammed it into the mercenary's head with a roar, throwing his hat away.
The man stumbled back and went went to draw his remaining pistol, but suddenly began to jolt and stutter. Stewart had managed to fire off a shot, but it had only been a stun blast, and it hadn't been enough.
Blackjack recovered quickly and calmly turned to Stewart, raising his pistol. Stewart's gun had another four seconds left in its recharge cycle.
Without hesitating, Jaeger hefted the fire extinguisher with as much force as she could muster into the mercenary's face. The blow caught him off guard and he flinched, so Jaeger swung it again, and again.
The parts of Blackjack's face that were organic were bloodied, his nose broken and possibly his cheekbone.
When Jaeger went to strike him again, however, he caught the extinguisher and tore it from her grip, the canister flying away and catching Stewart on the side of the head, dropping him to the floor.
In one movement, Blackjack grabbed her by the neck with his other hand and lifted her from the ground.
Jaeger kicked out but her boots simply simply bounced off the man's reinforced abdomen. She felt his hands tighten as she coughed and gasped for air.
The man's face was still and calm, no expression. He wasn't angry, or snarling like a wild dog, just calm.
Jaeger, as she felt herself begin to black out, quickly recalled the pistol at her hip and drew it, aiming it at Blackjack's stomach. It clicked harmlessly and she struggled to thumb the safety, cursing herself.
When it was free, she clumsily aimed it at the man's hulking mass and fired.
The shot tore through his leather jacket and Jaeger didn't know whether it had even done anything until he dropped her and stumbled back clutching his torso. Lucky shot.
Jaeger fell to her knees and tried to draw air in before she lost consciousness, raising her pistol awkwardly and trying to find Blackjack with blurred eyes that felt too big for her head.
She only caught the tail end of his coat as he disappeared around the next corner. She lowered the gun and holstered it, slowly getting to her feet and going to check on Stewart.
The rookie lay on the tiled floor, a gash on his forehead but his eyes open and confused.
"You all right?" Jaeger asked, offering him a hand. He took it and she pulled him to his feet.
"Yeah," Stewart replied, holding up a finger and going a pale white, "no, actually."
He buckled over and vomited, trying to aim it away from Jaeger. He hunched over for a moment and then straightened out, wiping his mouth.
Jaeger checked the gash on his head. It wasn't bleeding much but that wasn't always the best way to tell how severe a head injury was.
"Go and find Ferenzi and get the medic to check that out," Jaeger said firmly.
"No thanks, boss," Stewart replied, dabbing the cut with the back of his hand and checking how much blood there was.
"You could be concussed," Jaeger reasoned.
"I could have cancer," Stewart said bluntly, "if it's not killing me in the next half hour, with all due respect, boss, it's not my priority."
Jaeger smiled at the young detective's tenacity. She nodded in reluctant concession and moved down the corridor after Blackjack, finding nothing.
"You think he's coming back?" Stewart asked.
Jaeger shook her head.
"He'll probably want to stop himself bleeding to death first," she said.
They moved along the corridor and found more of Beta squad. One of them was conscious and Jaeger ordered him to return to the casino floor and help Ferenzi secure the exits.
Round the next corner, they found the elevator and stepped inside, tapping the button labelled 'office'. When the doors opened, they found a room with two bodies, neither of which were Mr Long.
One was a man in a suit with an MG tattoo on his neck, lying unconscious under an array of surveillance cameras, most of which were now nothing but scrambled static.
In the chair, a dead corpse was bound with leather strapping. The man's head was at an awkward angle and a slow stream of blood dripped from a wound in his forehead.
Jaeger's HUD tagged him as Chen, the undercover officer they had come here to rescue, and immediately struck off the mission from the squad tasklist.
"Shit," Jaeger said as Stewart checked the man over.
"Ferenzi," Jaeger said over the comm-link, "we found Chen," she said slowly, "he's dead, executed."
She heard Ferenzi sigh angrily.
"Fuck," the officer spat, "any sign of Long?"
"Nothing," Jaeger replied, "we had a run in with Blackjack though, watch if he comes your way."
Trailing off, Jaeger noticed the fire door on the far side of the office. It was unlocked and ajar.
"Detective Jaeger?" Ferenzi asked. "what is it?"
"Get a team up here for Chen, I'm in pursuit of Long," Jaeger said, tapping off the comm-link before Ferenzi could respond.
"Boss?" Stewart asked, as Jaeger pushed the door open and stepped out into the cold air, onto a metal catwalk.
The catwalk led to a staircase that disappeared into the alley below. Long could have gone that way. Into the waiting patrol guarding the exit? If Long had gone that way, the patrols on point would have reported it.
Turning to her left, Jaeger noticed a walkway that extended across to the warehouse next door, a large, foreboding steel structure that was little more than a construction site. That way.
Jaeger climbed over the handrail and onto the walkway, the wooden planks less secure that the metal fire escape. The warehouse wasn't illuminated beyond the catwalk, so Jaeger had to watch her step.
They came out onto an unfinished storey of the building that had no walls, and Stewart struggled to keep up with Jaeger as she followed an invisible trail like a hunting bloodhound.
"Boss," Stewart said, "how do you know he came this way?"
Before Jaeger could respond, there came a noise from the other side of the warehouse, and out of nowhere, a figure emerged and ran in the opposite direction.
Jaeger's HUD tagged the figure as Long, but she was already chasing him.
The man seemed old, but fit, he vaulted a cache of construction equipment that Jaeger had to go round.
Stewart followed at a pace, but Jaeger didn't slow to let him catch up, following Long through the darkness and out into an open rooftop space, obviously reserved for a rooftop garden.
Between the warehouse and the roof of the next building along, there was an extendable construction ladder, and by the time Jaeger had slogged through the waterlogged soil that had been laid down for planting later on, Long had already crossed it.
Before she could follow, Long hit the 'retract' switch and the walkway split with a groan, both buildings devouring an equal piece of it as it disappeared.
On the other rooftop, Long grinned slyly, then waved.
"Bài bài la," the old man chuckled, turning to flee.
"Shit," Jaeger growled, glancing first at Stewart and then to a line of power cables linking the warehouse to the next building over.
Stewart saw the quickly forming plan in her eyes and raised his eyebrow.
"Seriously?" He asked.
Not giving him an answer, Jaeger removed her jacket and looked over the fifteen or so foot gap between the building. It was a sheer five storey drop to the street below.
Taking a deep breath, Jaeger stepped back, then ran forward towards the ledge, holding out her jacket.
In the air, she slung her reinforced jacket over the power cables, momentarily hoping that they were protected and she wasn't about to be electrified.
She wrapped the jacket around the cables and held onto one end with each hand, forming a makeshift zipwire.
Dangling over the abyss, she became stuck for a moment before the angle finally allowed her to slide across the wires. When she was across the gap, she loosed one end of her jacket and dropped onto the rooftop, rolling to a stop.
She looked back at Stewart, who returned a look that mostly consisted of awe.
Not wasting time, Jaeger jumped to her feet and slipped her combat jacket back on, finding the roof door that Long had disappeared through, finding herself in a concrete staircase.
The building had a strange blue tinge to it, much like the whole of Little Wuhan, but it also had a familiar musk, sort of like a pet shop.
Reaching the bottom of the staircase, she found herself in a huge, wide open room with rows upon rows of glass tanks filled with illuminated blue water.
Jaeger's comm-link came to life as her HUD informed her that the building she was in was Koi Shen Vertical Fishery, a building reserved to breed genetically modified fish and sealife for consumption.
'Vertical fisheries' were very common, as space was at a premium and there weren't many fish left in the sea - at least, not tasty ones.
"Jaeger, you all right?" Stewart asked.
"I'm fine," Jaeger replied, "you coming over?"
Jaeger could hear Stewart's hesitation on the other end of the link.
"I'm going back to Long's office, I'm pretty sure you've got this," Stewart said, "I'll help Ferenzi secure the casino."
Jaeger grinned, she didn't blame him, even she didn't think she would make it over the gap.
"I'll get Long," Jaeger said, and clicked the comm-link off.
Jaeger flicked the torchlight on her gun and aimed it ahead of her, the dim blue light apparently perfect for breeding fish but not for locating triad mob bosses.
She walked slowly through the rows of tanks, the fish, totally apathetic to the plights and battles of humanity, swam around their enclosures. There were all sorts of species, from simple cod and tuna to specialised enclosures for tropical fish.
Turning a corner, Jaeger found a window that looked out onto the square below. People had gathered around Long's casino to see what was happening, and a sizeable crowd had formed.
Around the next corner, she found a long row of taller tanks. She saw no fish in there for a moment, until she looked closer. A long, black shadow glided through the water like a ghost.
On its back, a pointed fin gave it a silhouette that anybody could recognise. Jaeger didn't know what kind of breed or species it was, but she knew a shark when she saw one.
"Not one more step, detective," came a voice.
Jaeger looked up the row to see Long at the end, stood on a raised catwalk with his hands clasped in front of his stomach.
Jaeger raised her gun.
"On the ground, you're under arrest," Jaeger said firmly.
Long laughed and shook his head.
"I do not think so, detective," he said, "do not let it be said that I am not a fair man, however. You and your thugs have destroyed my business and terrorised my men, and I will exact my vengeance in due course.
"But as of now, however, I am willing to allow you to leave with your life, if you allow me the same courtesy."
The man smiled with yellow teeth, a man obviously used to getting his own way and being surrounded by yes men. Jaeger wasn't fazed.
"That's not happening, Long," Jaeger said. From what she could see, he was unarmed, but he seemed too confident for a man without a plan.
"As you wish," Long said, bowing almost politely. He held up his palm and gestured around with it. For a moment, Jaeger didn't understand what he was doing, then, she heard an ominous click.
To her left and right, the tanks started flashing with a loud, red warning. Emergency tank open override.
"Ah, crap," Jaeger said, turning to run as she heard Long cackling with laughter.
Either side of her, there came a click and a whirr followed by the sound of rushing water as the front of the tanks opened and the contents came rushing out like a tidal wave.
Jaeger ran at pace towards the window at the end of the room, unsure of her own plan but deciding that currently, getting away from the pissed off shark that had just been thrown unexpectedly out of its tank was the best bet.
She couldn't outrun the water, however, it rushed at a speed she couldn't match, let alone beat.
Glancing what appeared to be a giant pump between the rows of tanks, Jaeger desperately lunged towards it in an attempt to get out of the swell, feeling the water rush at her legs as she threw all her force forward and grabbed onto it.
Hugging it tightly, Jaeger felt the spray of the water as it rushed past her, the violent but futile splashing of the shark amongst the fish as it was sucked along with the rushing water.
The water, moving at tsunami speed with nothing to stop it, hit the window on the far wall with incredible force and shattered the glass, launching the sea-life out into the night and onto the street below.
Panting to catch her breath, Jaeger ducked behind the pump as she heard Long's laughs echoing in the distance. Did he even know she hadn't been sucked out through the window too?
Either way, he'd know soon.
Keeping low behind the next row of tanks, still sealed and sans sharks, Jaeger headed towards the catwalk where Long had been stood. Spying a ladder, she quietly vaulted up it and came up behind Long, who turned to leave only to meet her stony gaze.
"Oh," the small man said quietly.
"Yup," Jaeger said, hitting him in the jaw and dropping him to the floor. She knelt on his back and pulled his arms back, cuffing him with a pair of magnet cuffs she pulled from her pocket.
"Hao Long, in the name of the peace I charge you with the murder of Patrol Officer Bruce Chen, numerous illicit activities related to drug smuggling, gun smuggling, human trafficking, illegal money lending..." Jaeger swept her wet hair out of her eyes and sighed, "you know, we can finish the rest up at the station. You have the right to remain silent and anything you do say may be used against you in any court jury trial that may be held by the state."
Jaeger pulled Long to his feet and pushed him along the catwalk and back out onto the rooftop. As she pushed him towards the catwalk and forced him to extend it, she caught sight of a figure on the rooftop on the opposite side. Blackjack.
She reached for her gun but the man simply turned and walked away.
"Looks like your guard dog doesn't really understand loyalty," Jaeger said as she guided Long across the walkway with a firm shove.
Long laughed.
"He was as much my jailer as he was my guard dog," he spat.
Jaeger raised an eyebrow but didn't press the issue - there would be plenty of time for that at the station.
Chen's body had been removed from the straps and taken away, and the other man was gone too. Long didn't seem fazed, just maintaining that constant smirk. A bruise started to appear on his left cheek.
Stepping back through the chaos of the casino and out into the crowds gathered outside, Jaeger handed Long off to an officer waiting by the nearest patrol car. Ferenzi stood next to Stewart with her helmet off.
Jaeger looked around at the damage the free-flowing water had done - the entire street was drenched, several parked cars had been swept onto their roofs and the crowd had been moved away, the piles of fish being cordoned off, a slight waterfall still pouring from the gaping hole in the building next door.
Next to one of the overturned cars, the shark writhed as it suffocated on the pavement. Jaeger watched as it went still.
"Detective Jaeger," Ferenzi said, "thank you for the help."
Jaeger shook her head.
"We weren't quick enough to save Chen," she said. Stewart frowned.
Ferenzi nodded and sighed, "I know, and that's a damn shame. I liked Chen, he was a smart kid, but he knew what he was getting into. We've got Long, that's a win."
Jaeger agreed solemnly with her and shook her hand as the officer returned to her squad. Stewart turned to her and they began to head back towards their patrol car.
"We should get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow with Captain Garistag," Jaeger said.
Jaeger knew 'rest' was unlikely - the adrenaline of having a shark thrown at her wasn't something that was easily shaken.
"I'm not sure what paperwork we have to fill out for 'shark launched at civilians after raid on gangster den' but I'm sure there's a lot of that, too," Stewart reasoned.
Jaeger nodded and then said, "we could always just go and get a drink?"
Stewart nodded and grinned, "excellent idea, boss."
They reached the patrol car and Jaeger unlocked the doors, but Stewart leaned onto the roof before climbing in.
"You know, what you did with the power lines?" He said, "that was Riggs."
He grinned and climbed into the car, as Jaeger stood there for a moment, pleased with herself.
"You're damn right it was," she said, under her breath, following him.