The Legendary Junkmaster

Jason casually swept a glance over the Arbalest as he checked it for any damage. Since last night had been his first time using it, he wanted to make sure that its power did not cause any damage to its structure. When he saw that the weapon was evidently fine, he turned his attention to considering what his next target should be.

"Is there any point even thinking about it?" Syssie chuckled. "You either hit their headquarters or continue the assault on the camp."

"You're right." Jason shrugged his shoulders as his lips parted into a smile. "But the question is, what one do we hit?"

"That's a joke, right?" Syssie snorted as her nose wrinkled cutely. "There's no way we can hit their base. You already acknowledged that last night. So we only have one option."

"You sure know how to dampen the mood, don't you?" Jason grimaced as he stared back at the bombshell blonde. "There's nothing wrong with fantasising a bit. Hell, it might have even given me some inspiration."

"And did it?" Syssie cocked an eyebrow at Jason as she fixed him with her bright eyes.

"No…" Jason sighed while Syssie burst out into laughter.

"Don't think about it too much then." Syssie lightly rubbed her cheek as her eyes seemed to become vacant. "Here's a question. How can you even attack them this time? I doubt they'll leave that roof unguarded this time."

"You're right. But we have to find a way to keep the pressure up. If we let even a single night pass without incident, then they'll realise they're not as vulnerable as we're trying to make them feel."

A moment of silence descended between them while Jason tried to figure out how to carry out the operation that night. Syssie, on the other hand, chose to read through his thoughts in case she could offer some insight. She suddenly had an idea as she saw that Jason was considering other buildings to attack from.

"Why don't you give up on that?" Syssie suddenly blurted out, causing Jason to raise his eyebrows in confusion. "What I mean is, they'll be expecting you to attack from a long-range, right?"

"Probably…"

"Well, what if you don't? You've still got the other weapon, after all. They'll probably post some men to different rooftops just to catch you before you can get set up. So, there should actually be less of those thugs on the street!"

Jason's eyes lit up at Syssie's suggestion. 'She's right! There's no way to guess what buildings they'll be hiding in, so it's actually better to go for a fast frontal assault!'

"Syssie! You're a genius!" Jason chuckled enthusiastically. 'It's better to leave the Arbalest behind tonight. It will only slow me down.'

With a plan in mind, Jason began to rearrange his supplies for that night. He removed several spare rectangular items from his stash and loaded them into his bandolier. Having removed the Arbalest's heavy bolts first, Jason actually felt quite a bit lighter. He was becoming excited to see how this would play out, especially the Viper's performance.

As night fell, Jason quickly rushed towards the walls of Highrise. He had left his grappling hook attached to the rusted cars during his escape last night so that he did not have to risk firing it again. Scaling the walls this time seemed far more manageable, but that was only because he was carrying less weight.

Jason dashed for a dark corner once he descended into the streets. He knew that he could come across one of the Red Steel Gang's thugs at any moment this time. Since he did not want to be caught unprepared, he unsheathed the compact secondary weapon he had created.

He unfolded the weapon using the hinges he had made to be part of it, giving it its compact form. As he did so, he locked each component in place with the metal catches on its body to make its complete form sturdy. What he held in his hands now was a smaller version of the Arbalest. The Viper, as he called it, was a tactical repeating crossbow.

The rectangular boxes he had picked up before were the weapons magazines that held six smaller bolts each. As Jason slid a magazine into its slot over the top of the weapon, he pulled the underside down and away from his body. Which was a sort of pump motion that not only pulled a bolt from the magazine to load the weapon. But it would also draw back the string to its locking position.

It was needless to say that this weapon exchanged power and range for a faster firing rate. However, its power should still be more than enough for close-quarters combat. As Jason edged his way through the alleys towards his store, crunching noises of boots on glass suddenly came from around the corner.

Jason immediately pressed his back against the wall as his breathing became heavy. With slow steps, he edged through the darkness until he was right next to the crumbling bricks of the corner of the building. Taking a deep breath, Jason peered around the edge as he wished that he would stop sweating.

About halfway down the alley that he peered into were three men sitting on wooden boxes. Their bodies seemed to be quite relaxed as they casually whispered amongst themselves. Jason cursed at the sight of these men. He felt confident in dealing with at least two quickly, but it all depended on if they had any abilities.

Since it seemed like the men had not noticed him, Jason took a knee and pressed the Viper's stock into his shoulder. As the sights on the weapon swayed, Jason took a long breath and held it in. With a twanging noise from the string, the first bolt had been released!

The men reacted to the noise, and as their heads turned in his direction, the bolt he had just fired drove itself into the leftmost man's chest! Directly piercing his heart in the process and taking him out of the equation!

Before the other two could really react to this situation, Jason had already reloaded the Viper and taken aim. Just as the two got their feet, another dull twanging noise filled the air. This time the man on the right collapsed with a bolt protruding from his knee! He cried out in pain as the third man narrowed his eyes in Jason's direction.

Just as Jason had finished reloading again, the man suddenly appeared right in front of him and grabbed him by the throat! The man slammed Jason onto his back and growled in his face. 'Damn! He had super speed!' Although this caught Jason by surprise, he was not worried. In fact, his mouth raised in a smirk as a third twanging noise filled the air.

The man's eyes went wide in surprise before he keeled over. The way he had pinned Jason to the ground left the bolt in the Viper, pointing directly underneath the assailant's jaw. When Jason pulled the trigger, well the man was left with a hole that went through his skull and brains.

Jason heaved in deep breaths as adrenaline coarse through his veins. The man who was only injured began to cry out in a panic. Jason's eyes narrowed as he glanced at his victim, who was making so much noise. He did not want this to alert anyone else who might be close by!

Jason cocked the Viper once more as he slowly paced towards the man crawling on the ground. As Jason's eyes peered out from the gas mask, they appeared to be lifeless and void of emotion. Jason raised the Viper to point at the man's eyeball.

"You should have chosen a different career…" Jason's tone was flat as the Viper twanged for the fourth time already that night.