The Sector 3 Warehouse District was a maze of shipping containers stacked five stories high. The fog here was yellow, imbued with the chemicals runoff from the illegal chop shops operating in the shadows.
"Stay close," Sarah muttered, with her hand on the gun in her coat. "The Butcher doesn't like unexpected guest. He's a Ripper Doc, an unlicensed surgeon. He makes a living taking bodies apart."
"Sounds charming," I replied, scanning the shadows with my Network Sense.
The signals here were weak and messy
SIGNAL: PAIN INHIBITOR (ACTIVE).
SIGNAL: LIFE SUPPORT (FAILING).
SIGNAL: UNKNOWN BIO-SIGNATURE.
We stopped in front of a rusted sliding door marked MEAT PACKING AUTHORIZED ONLY. The stench coming from inside was a mix of bleach and copper.
I knocked three times, hard.
No answer. Then, a small slit opened at eye level. A cybernetic eye whirred and focus on us.
"Closed," a voice growled from a speaker. "Come back when you have a corpse to sell."
Silas sent us, I said, holding up a credit chip. "We're buying. Not selling."
The eye zoomed in on the chip.
Click-Clack.
The heavy locks disengaged. The door slid open with a screech.
We stepped inside.
The room was freezing cold to preserve the 'stock'. Meat hooks hung everywhere, but they weren't holding meat. They we're holding cybernetic limbs, chrome arms, wired legs, and eyes still had nerves hanging from them.
The Butcher stood in the middle of the room under a bright light.
He was huge. He wore a heavy rubber apron stained dark red. His face was covered by a welding mask, and his arms... His arm were modified into surgical tools. One hand was a bone saw; the other, a laser scalpel.
Silas usually sends a delivery guy, the Butcher grumbled, still dissecting a robot drone. "You don't look like delivery guys. You look like trouble."
We need a Logic-Core, Sarah said. "Level 5. Military-grade."
The Butcher stopped. The bone saw stopped. He turned slowly to us.
"Level 5," he laughed. "That's rare. That comes from a tactical droid. Or a high level Technomancer."
He pointed the laser scalpel at me.
"You have a nice hum, boy. I can hear your bio battery from here. Are you offering a Trade?"
I'm offering credits, I said, my hand hovering near my weapon. "Forty grand. Take it or leave it."
The Butcher tilted his head. "Forty grand is good. But parts are better. I have a client who needs a fresh liver. And yours looks... healthy."
He took a step forward.
The shadows around the room moved.
Three figures stepped out from behind the limbs. They were "Frankensteins" hodgepodge cyborgs made of mismatched parts. One had a camera for a head. Another had legs that was clearly from a construction droid. They were armed with rusted pipes and stun batons.
"It's a trap," Sarah hissed.
"This isn't a trap," the Butcher sneered. "It's a harvest. Get them!"
The cyborgs charged at us.
"Sarah, get back!" I yelled.
I didn't draw my gun. I didn't want to damage the merchandise in the room.
The first cyborg, the one with the camera head, swung a heavy wrench at my skull.
Skill: Overcharge (Reflex Boost).
I channeled energy into my legs. The world slowed down. I ducked under the swing.
And i grabbed the cyborg arm.
Skill: Energy Siphon.
DRAIN.
I sucked the power straight out of his hydraulic joint. the cyborg stiffened as his power cell died instantly. and collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
XP GAINED: 50.
The second cyborg went after Sarah. She was quick. She shot two shot into his knees. It went down screaming.
That left the Butcher.
He roared and charged at me, with his bone saw spinning.
REEEEEE.
The saw blade spun at 5,000 RPM. If that touched me, it would cut through my armor and my ribs like paper.
I backed up, dodging a swipe that tore a metal table.
"Hold still!" the Butcher yelled. "I need a clean cut!"
He charged again.
I was backed into a corner. I had nowhere to dodge.
"Use the environment," I said to myself.
I looked up. The meat hooks on the ceiling were on a moving track.
I reached out with my mind.
Network Sense.
I found the control box on the wall.
ACTIVATE.
I sent a pulse of energy into the switch.
WHIRRR.
The track roared to life. Then a heavy steel hook swung down the line at high speed.
It hit the Butcher's head.
CLANG.
He staggered, stunned. And his mask cracked.
I quickly tackled him.
I slammed him onto the surgical table. I found the power port on his chest, and the socket that powered his monstrous arms.
"Let's see what you're made of!" I yelled.
Skill: Energy Siphon (Max Output).
D R A I N.
The Butcher screamed. Not in anger, but in terror.
I felt his energy flow into me. It was thick, oily, and disgusting. It tasted of death, but beneath it, there was power. Lots of it.
XP GAINED: 100... 100... 100.
His bone saw stopped. The laser flickered out. He fell to his knees.
I kept draining until he was paralyzed, and his system in emergency shutdown mode.
"Stop..." he cried. "I surrender."
Then i let go of him. He slid to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.
"The Core," I demanded standing over him, with my eyes glowing blue. "Where is it?"
The Butcher pointed to a heavy safe at the back of the room.
Code... 7... 7... 1...
I walked to the safe, and i typed in the code.
The door opened.
Inside, was a small chip resting on a velvet cushion, glowing a blue soft light.
ITEM: LOGIC-CORE (LEVEL 5).
STATUS: PRISTINE.
I grabbed it.
"We got it," I told Sarah. "Now let get out of here."
Sarah was pointing her gun on the cyborgs. "What about him?"
She looked at the Butcher.
"He harvest people," she said coldly. "If we leave him, he'll just keep on doing it."
I looked at the Butcher. He was a monster and he deserved to die.
But I checked my energy. It Was full.
"Killing him doesn't give me xp," I said. And the Triad runs this sector if we kill their surgeon, They'll hunt us down. Leaving him broken sends a message.
I leaned down to the Butcher.
"Tell Silas the deal is done," I whispered. "And tell him, If he sends anyone after us... I'll come back and finish my meal."
We walked out of the chop shop, back into the fog.
I held the Logic-Core tightly in my hands.
"One down," I said. "Now we just need the Uranium."
The Nuclear Plant, Sarah said, checking the map. "Glitch said it's full of Ferals. That's won't be a quiet mission. That's going to be war."
"Good," I said, feeling the energy from the Butcher thrumming in my veins. "I'm ready for war."
My wrist-comp beeped.
QUEST UPDATE: THE BLACK MARKET (DONE).
REWARD: 1500 XP.
LEVEL UP!
YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 11.
NEW SKILL: [DISRUPT].
(Description: You can now emit a short-range EMP blast that disables all electronics in a 10-meter radius.)
I grinned. An EMP blast. That was exactly what I needed for a power plant full of robots
"Let go home," I said. "ARES is hungry."