The Other Side

Acquisitions

Location: Menagerie, Remnant

A boat sailed under the cover of darkness and landed on the edge of the island, far from any civilization. SDC mercenaries jumped out and started moving through the dense jungle. To guard the ship was a few squads of Atlesian Knights with a few Atlesian soldiers mixed in as commanding officers. The mercenaries started to walk through the dense brush.

Mercenary: Damn, here I though New Orderia was some superpower unable to die.

Beside the mercs was a totaled LAV, the entire thing shredded by an IED. Ahead of it was another wreck that was upside down with the rear blown off. One of the mercenaries slung his rifle and picked up a shotgun from the wreckage and checked to see if it was loaded, surprisingly it was relatively undamaged and had a few shells inside. The mercenary put it on his back and picked back up his rifle. Other mercs looted the wrecks for anything left behind and then they continued into the jungle. 

The jungle was littered with random pieces of debris and the occasional corpse. The bodies were mostly skeletons with any flesh rotted away. A detail they noticed was very few NO bodies or pieces of equipment were found. In total they confirmed 12 NO deaths with a possible 34 recovered. This number was likely lower because some soldiers would have their gear recovered as well, but compared to the 200+ Faunus corpses it was minimal. The mercenaries had gone in here assuming NO forces were Faunus loving degenerates but now they weren't sure. They reported their findings to the ship which it's captain said keep going.

Eventually they reached the city outskirts and it was very different. It had high quality roads, all the houses were modernized, vehicles were common, and the roads were much wider than before. It looked like the overcrowding had been handled as well because the homes had actual yards with vegetation planted. The mercenaries found an issue however, the trees no longer went straight up to the road. The vegetation was cut back 50 feet from the start of the city. This was made for wildfire control but it also made sneaking around harder. The mercenaries were lucky it was still dark as they ran through the small field towards the street which had bushes planted along it. 

They moved along the road and were about to cross a street when they saw headlights. They jumped into cover as a police car drove past on it's patrol. Suddenly it turned on it's lights and turned around. The mercenaries prepared their weapons until the patrol car just drove past. They chose to wait which was smart because not 30 seconds later another police car drove down the same road so fast it jumped on a small hill. They chose this time to cross and began to break into homes because the police was distracted.

They were delicate with their acquisitions, making sure to pick locks and only break into buildings with no security system. Any home they broke into they injected the people inside with a syringe which would keep them unconscious for 36 hours. They then stole a van from one of the houses and shoved their new workers into the back. The bodies were stacked with little care for their well-being, only making sure they wouldn't die on the trip. 

When the van was full they drove it back to the ship and the AK(Atlesian Knights) dragged the Faunus out and shoved them into the cargo hold. When all the bodies were transferred the van drove into the actual city center. They looked for the poorest district, whatever had the most homeless people, and began to kidnap them. They repeated the drop off process from before and returned to the city once again with the van.

Unfortunately for them they encountered the police on their 5th victim. Police officers moved up with their guns drawn and ordered them to surrender. Both officers were Faunus and sirens could be heard from all directions. The mercenaries choose to open fire and escape rather than be captured. The first officer was hit and the second pulled him into cover while radioing about the officer down. A helicopter could be heard in the distance and patrol cars pulled into the street. The mercs jumped into the van with their victim and started to drive evasively.

seeing two police cars down the road from them they turned left and spun around the corner. The police cars behind them managed to make the turn much easier and were gaining on the van. The merc with the looted shotgun threw the rear door open and fired his shotgun into a patrol car. The cars backed off as another merc fired his rifle repeatedly. They didn't stop following but kept some distance. The mercs closed the door and looked forwards only to see an MRAP pull in front of the van. On the roof was a SWAT officer with a rifle, the officer opened fire and rounds tore into the driver causing the van to swerve and crash.

The mercs jumped out and tossed a grenade into the wreck. The police cars screeched to a halt behind the wreck and officers got out as five more patrol cars pulled up behind the MRAP. The police helicopter above shined a spotlight down on the mercs as they looked for a solution. The grenade went off and killed the kidnapped Faunus instantly, the dead merc inside's body was destroyed and the wreck burned.

The mercs began to run towards the patrol cars and away from the MRAP as more units arrived. They turned right onto a side street only to see two police cars stop and officers get out with an MRAP close behind. They opened fire on the officers, hitting multiple, before they ducked into an alley as police officers closed in. The last merc into the alley dropped a grenade and everyone got into cover as it exploded, injuring a few officers and igniting a fire. The mercs climbed a fire escape and broke into an apartment. The frightened Faunus inside watched as multiple armed men ran with a spotlight shined in through the widows.

They ran into a hallway lined with windows and saw the helicopter hovering with it's door open. Two officers with assault rifles sat inside and opened fire on the mercs. The mercenaries ducked into cover as rounds flew over their heads. One was unlucky and got hit in the eye by a 5.56 round, shredding his face apart. The other mercs chose to pull the pin on his grenades and got into cover as the corpse detonated. Smoke billowed out of the building and a large collapse occurred. In the chaos the mercenaries managed to jump the gap to another building and escape through a back door.

They ran through the city, hiding from any police units that went past and reached the outskirts. They prepared to celebrate their escape when a helicopter with two spotlights shining down flew overhead. The sun had risen enough to give them a good view of it and on the tail was text that made them panic: New Orderian Army. The police saw this as a terror attack and called for backup. That backup was the military garrison which was setting up defenses. Roadblocks were set up and every vehicle and person was searched. Military police cars blocked roads with LAVs behind them with soldiers standing guard. Realizing there wasn't a way out the mercs made a simple choice, hide.

They told the ship to escape before the military found it and they broke into an abandoned building. The building was originally operated by the Menagerie government before NO forces invaded and was largely made of wood. The mercs got into the basement and set up camp, planning on escaping when the heat died down. In total 56 Faunus were taken, Menagerie Police units began to look for them and the suspects, none would be located. Army forces would comb the forest and the desert, they also found nothing.