October 16th
11:45 P.M.
Vigilance Security Production Facility
1215 West Dock Row
Treaft Industrial Park
Reaper cast a glance over the parking lot below him as he secured the climbing rope in place. He was situated on the building opposite the Vigilance-owned factory. For a place that specialized in security systems they were surprisingly lax at the gate. Earlier today, he planted a car on the lot, cut a hole in the fence behind it, and slipped out. It was a late-model 2-door that barely ran, acquired it a little while back and planned to either scrap it for parts or pawn it off to a junker. To the naked eye, it was just a car belonging to an employee. Take a closer look however, and the first thing you'd notice was the smell of gas emanating from a small puncture in the bottom of the tank, through which it had been spilling all day, but the pool of gasoline was far too large to have come from just that little puncture. Indeed, upon further inspection, you'd definitely notice that gas was spilling from similar gas tank ruptures on both cars to the left and right of it, slowly convalescing together into one puddle of flammable liquid. Yet, the smell still seemed... stronger, like perhaps the windows of the 2-door were slightly open, and gas had been spritzed, not just down the side of the vehicle, but dumped throughout it's interior. All except for a few square inches of the center console, where a small object was duct-taped into place. An object known in certain circles as a remotely-detonated incendiary device.
Up on the roof of the neighboring building, a four-story metalworks, Reaper had set up an M60 heavy machine gun. He'd mounted it on a tripod equipped with an improvised oscillating gear, so it theoretically would fire itself along the invisible line between the front of the car and the doorway. A perfect distraction while Reaper got onto the ground, and hey, if it killed off a few Vigilance Lancers, so be it. He was also packing the detonator to his firebomb and a bolt-action sniper rifle for phase 1 of this plan, and of course, he had a pistol holstered at his belt. Lastly, down at the base of his rappel line, he had stashed an Ithaca 37 Stakeout lightweight shotgun, an M4 carbine rifle, and a backpack stuffed with C4 explosive charges.
Everything was set, with a flick of the detonator's switch, his mission would begin.
He sighted up on the gate. Damn, the truck was rolling in early. He'd hoped to have a few more minutes to check everything one last time, but if it was time, it was time. He waited until the truck had stopped in front of the door, the crew of Lancers had jumped out and headed inside. He counted backwards from 10. Flipped the switch.
The ignition was instantaneous. A wave of heat shot upwards past Reaper's position, so powerful it almost knocked him back. The tires popped from the pressure, going off like a gunshot in the night. In a minute or two, they'd hit the peak, and the vehicles would either begin to melt, or explode. Down below, the doors sprung open and the Lancers ran out en masse. Tossing the detonator aside to be collected later, Reaper kickstarted the garage door opener that powered his improvised turret, and brought the rifle up to his shoulder. He began firing on the truck with his rifle, putting a few rounds into both tires that he could see and peppering the engine block. At the same time, the M60 roared to life, peppering the ground below with bullets. A few Lancers dived into cover and began to return fire at their unseen assailant, a few more were cut down in the wake of the hailstorm of 7.62 rounds firing at over 900mph. Satisfied that the truck wasn't gonna take off, Reaper laid the rifle down into its case, popped off a few pistol rounds as he fed the reserve belt of bullets into the M60, and took off for the rappel line. He clipped on and slid down to the ground to collect his gear.
With the shotgun hanging low on his chest, the rifle in hand, and the backpack on his shoulder, Reaper slipped through the hole he engineered and infiltrated the parking lot. The surviving Lancers were still busy shooting at the automated M60 that (they assumed) was their enemy, so he decided to leave them be as he maneuvered his way to the rear of the truck, which he found, was unlocked. He hopped in and quickly planted a pair of charges, then proceeded to the facility itself.
After making short work of the lone guard inside, he found a way down to the basement, where his informant had said the weapons storage was located. Weapons that would find their way into the streets and kill innocents if left alone.
'Not on my watch'
He rounded the corner and saw two more guards waiting for him, they fired on him with automatic rifles, but he was able to slip back into the safety of the staircase. Their first mistake was shooting at him. Their second was doing it at the same time. Both guns clicked empty and Reaper rounded the corner, rifle raised. Two quick pops and both men fell. The door was locked up tight, so he instead went knocking with his shotgun, three well placed shots towards where the hinges would be inside got the job done, he began reloading as he kicked down what was left to enter.
It was a gangbanger's heaven in here. Pistols, shotguns, machine guns, some of it even military-grade, stacked on work benches all throughout the room. Apart from a bit of empty floor space to walk and the work benches, the room was loaded with crates that he assumed was full of weaponry and ammunition. He took a look at a few of them and found manifests labelled with individual gang names and city districts. Vigilance was running guns to nearly every piece of filth in the city, but not for long. Reaper planted the C4 throughout the room, then checked to make sure the fuses were live and the detonator was all lit up like a Christmas tree, then he bolted. He needed to get clear of the building before detonating, that much explosive in the lower section of the building would be enough to knock it unstable, if not topple it completely. The M60 was long empty by now, so the Lancers and reinforcements would likely be waiting for him. His rifle was raised and ready to fire on a second's notice... but the lobby was empty. Emerging from the building, he found no trace of the Lancers, save for the bodies of the few the M60 had cut down. Suspicious, but welcome, Reaper kept up his guard all the way to the security gate. He had his van stashed a block away, he planned to get outside the security gate, detonate the explosives, then swing around with the van to collect the gear he had left on the roof. Movement up ahead caught his eye. A lone man, pale, bald, tall, maybe 6'4, wearing a suit, standing directly in his path.
"One guy huh, what Lancers havin' cutbacks?" Reaper stated wryly as the man started to stomp towards him "Alright buddy, I'll make it quick" He raised up the rifle and sighted in on the man's chest, pulled the trigger twice.
And he kept coming.
The bullets had just bounced right off of him, leaving a pair of small holes in the suit, but nothing else. Reaper shot again, and again, and again, but to no avail. The giant got within an arm's length, yanked the rifle away and tossed it. Reaper stumbled backwards, trying to create space as he brought the shotgun around. He shot once, BAM, racked, and then again, BAM, but again, the buckshot tore wide holes into the man's suit, exposing sections of his chest, but nothing had penetrated. He hadn't even recoiled. He tried one more time, BAM, but again the buckshot connected with his chest, and then fell to the ground, embedding into nothing. Reaper cursed.
"What the f-"
The giant's fist came at him, and connected to the gut. It was if he was hit by a train, all the air just instantly left his body. He crumpled, but before he could hit the ground, two ham-sized hands grappled onto his coat collar, and he felt himself get lifted clear off the ground. Reaper focused in on the man's face, scanning for any kind of weakness, then the world was spinning as he was thrown, like a baseball, a dozen feet or so into the empty streets. He collided hard with the ground, and felt like every bone in his body had crumbled into dust.
Unseen by the combatants, a news crew had arrived to begin broadcasting.
"Channel 5's June Weatherly here reporting live from West Dock Row, where it appears an electronics manufacturing plant is the latest in a rush of attacks by the vigilante known as Reaper. It is not known at this time what provoked the attack, but given the vigilante's known modus operandi, there may be some form of large scale criminal activity occurring here. Reaper is currently wanted by law enforcement on an undisclosed number of charges, many of them for murder, a movement that many citizens, including some known law enforcement officials, find controversial. Wait, I'm seeing something now- Marty, swivel!- that appears to be Reaper in the flesh, a tall man approaching him, unfazed by the vigilante's gunfire. Reaper definitely appears injured, and this unknown individual is not holding back!"
