Invisible Inc. #2: A risky move by Shalem-11
One bullet in the magazine and two stun guns, which won’t work if the guard is wearing any kind of armour. In terms of weaponry, the three Invisible Inc. operators looked terrible. In this situation, their greatest asset was Incognita, but her energy reserves were dwindling fast.
Operators’ empty hands
‘I don’t like it’, burbled Shalem-11, looking down at his empty hands shortly after the successful transfer to the South African outpost.
‘We’d all prefer to come in here with a hand-held grenade launcher, but you know how it is’, replied Decker jokingly. The situation was not optimistic, but the members of the organisation could always count on his black humour.
‘Don’t waste time, find the cybernetic module and get out of there’, HQ radioed.
‘Of course, that’s the plan’, Decker replied with a sneer.
Operatives have begun infiltrating the facility. After the recent outings, the level of alertness of the corporations had risen and they had reinforced the guards at their facilities. Still, to them Invisible Inc. was like a ghost attacking suddenly, leaving a marginal amount of traces behind. The helpless Shalem-11 was very much hoping to find a nanofabricator that would enable him to purchase even a simple stun gun. For now, however, he endured with dignity the role of a lookout who spots threats and opens doors. Operations remained in the hands of Decker and Internationale. It was the former of the two who overpowered the watchman in the corridor. He switched his stun gun mode to keep him unconscious with less energy. He had no other choice in order to guarantee a safe retreat for all three of them. The teleportation points were right next door, and if it got too hot they wouldn’t have time to take out an alerted enemy.
On the trail of the laboratory
Decker was therefore grounded, which meant that further infiltration had to be carried out by Internationale and Shalem-11. The complicated layout of the rooms, with lots of nooks and crannies and doors slowed progress. There was also no shortage of cameras in the facility, so the operators had to constantly expend their energy reserves to capture them by Incognita. Time was dwindling dangerously fast.
Before the operators knew it, the alarm had reached level three. ‘Hurry up’, Decker radioed.
‘We’re doing our best’, replied the Internationale.
‘That bloody device is nowhere to be found!’ – cursed Shalem-11.
Shortly after these words, he opened the door behind which the laboratory was hidden. The long room was rectangular in shape and drowned in the cold colours of lights with a pale blue tint. There was no scientist working after hours and no guard patrolling the area in sight.
‘Eliminated’, Internationale informed her companions. She had just electrocuted another guard in another part of the complex.
Shalem-11 moved ahead and got to the machine. The machine had an unattractive implant program loaded with no combat value. The man felt like destroying it. However, he controlled his emotions. He looked at his watch, which was counting down the steps of the alarm. There was only one line short of level four. He thought, weighing the benefits and risks.
A risky operation
‘Shit, we can’t leave here empty-handed’ he said to himself, and a moment later communicated that he was undergoing a procedure to expand the number of available cyber grafts.
‘What?!’ – you could clearly hear the surprise in Internationale’s voice.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me, we’re already at level four’. Decker threw into the ether, but Shalem-11 couldn’t hear him anymore. The machine was just performing the procedure, and he lay unconscious after the anaesthetic had been administered.
Both operators’ watches vibrated. A level four alarm meant that an extra guard had been directed to the floor. Internationale looked back and confirmed that the lift doors were just behind her. Without thinking long, she grabbed the incapacitated corporate employee and dragged him into the next room. She dumped the body just outside the door.
‘Decker, we are beginning the evacuation process’, she announced.
‘It’s about time, my back already hurts’ – replied the companion.
Internationale was at the second door when she heard the lift entrance opening. She knew they had a while before the knocked out watchman would wake up or be found by a new enemy on the floor. Shalem-11, meanwhile, was just regaining consciousness in the lab. Hearing a gasp on the radio, Internationale hurried the agent away.
‘Alright, alright, I’ll be at the teleports in a minute’, he croaked out.
Evacuation at the last second
Decker and Internationale met in the room. They exchanged communicative glances. The man checked his gun with the last bullet, and his companion took up a position just inside the door. They waited. If they were lucky, Shalem-11 would be the first to appear; if not, the guard.
An operator ran shakily out of the room on the right. He was holding his head, but was conscious enough to see Decker crouching. He moved towards him. Was in the middle of the room, being an easy target. At that point the companions wouldn’t even be able to save him.
The guard, however, was a few seconds late. He ran into the room the moment the Internationale had already closed the door behind Shalem-11’s back in an efficient motion.
‘You missed the adrenaline, huh?’, Decker he threw towards his companion.
‘It’s the weapons I’m missing’.
In a moment all three of them were already in the teleport. The control room activated the transmission and they all got out safely to the ship.
Invisible Inc. had once again prevailed, but no one in the organisation considered it a victory. Incognita may have taken another step towards targeting the corporation’s main database, but the operators were still poorly equipped and lacked the funds to invest in anything. The clock, meanwhile, was unscrupulously ticking down the hours for them. Less than 60 hours remained before the decisive battle.
Invisible Inc. is an intriguing cyberpunk tactical game where stealth mechanics play a key role. Facing the powerful megacorporations controlling the world of the future, we try to execute a plan thanks to which it will be possible for our organisation to survive. You can read an account of my adventure in Invisible Inc. in future blog coverage episodes. Don’t want to miss the next episode? Follow the blog!
