Max-Tac. Within the ruthless, blood thirsty ranks of men that have surrendered their humanity for military power in order to put down insane cyborgs little different than themselves. Were to be found specialists. Those that had moved beyond the threshold of humanity and become fully machine, or far worse.You are Lt. Walker. Head of Night City's C-SWAT Task Force Extreme Contingency Unit. Code Name "Demon Slayers." Assigned to deal with full body borgs gone cyber psycho, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and paramilitary uprisings within Night City. You are a twice fully converted borg unit. Only your skull, spinal column, esophageal track, and genitalia remain of your original body. These systems have been heavily modified once for placement within a Dragoon Borg body during (Classified) conflict in (Classified) through usage of a specialized frame of (Classified) manufacturer. Your present body is a "gifted" bio engineered rehabilitation "frame" cloned from your original genetic samples and (Classified) enhanced tissue samples. For all intents and purposes you look like an ordinary man when out of uniform. You feel like an ordinary man... feel FeEl FEEEEEELllleeeeesssssssss... an ordinary man. You are armed with unique biological armaments and enhancements. And, along with your task force duties you are obligated by contract to report (FEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDD) on any resulting symptoms and unique physiological experiences. Two unique bio ripper units are in your hands and arms. And, your tongue can form a unique, blue "whip" like proboscis weapon. Your nerve enhancements sometimes cause illusions of temporal perception or precognition. Ignore the sense of déjà vu. This is merely biological feedback forming a sort of intuition (INtuItIoNnnnnn).You wake up with a start to the blaring sound of a notification coming in through a priority channel. It's Rex. your unit Sergent and immediate subordinate. He's a fully converted Borg, Heavy Weapons Specialist, and former comrade in arms that served with you in places you'd prefer not to remember and aren't allowed to tell anyone, ever. You answer him."Boss, we've got a live one. Three Militech love children gone full psycho in an upscale joint in a shit hole part of town. Called the Golden Cafe. Our ETA to pick you up is a minute twenty, unless you want to meet us there... in that "way" that you do." >"Fuck you Rex, don't discuss classified technology even over a secured line. How many times do I have to tell you that?">"I'll meet you there." Hang up on him without another word and proceed to the call location through your special way.>Tell him to come get you and hang up.>Tell him to handle the situation without you and that you'll meet him later after clean up.
>>6301938>Pick me up>And for fuck sake, don't discuss classified tech over coms.
>>6301959Rex's voice cuts off before he can give you one of his patented come backs. His shit gets old quick enough and you'll be hearing it for most of the day, best not to get started on it early. You're in and out of your shower and suited up in less than sixty seconds. A new record. In less than a minute you're walking out onto the roof of your studio apartment and the heavily modified Max-Tac AV is hovering ten feet overhead. Without missing a beat you hop into the door way. Rex, Wizard, and Widow are shooting the shit and barely acknowledge your arrival. You walk over to the pilot and motion for him to move out. Hummingbird nods to you and you're off. You sit down and check your pistol. It's an enhanced anti borg special. Like a Silverhand classic, but smaller, meaner, and holds more rounds. The ammo is also a special tungsten tipped delayed fuse number with atomic fusion micro burst option. The most "miniature" nuclear warheads you buy on the market. The explosion isn't much larger than peanut in dimension, but nothing can withstand it as far as internal reinforcement goes. Rex is dicking with some smart rail gun number that lobs shaped explosive charges. Two stage. Also plasma, but not nuclear. Also, much cheaper. Being the boss has its perks. You can blow half of your operational budget on your own personal weapon if you want.Wizard and Widow are working some new Black Ice cocktail. Shit has to be good to get through a borg. It's not like cracking your typical Solo headcase. Borgs are wired up as their own system. Breaking into them is like trying to take down an entire server farm. But, with the shit your packing you can do just that. You have the keys to the kingdom, too. >Go over your plans with your team, they know the drill, but it never hurts to touch up on procedure.>Tell Rex you're on observation only today and that him and the rest of the team will take point.>Tell Rex to hold back on standby and that you'll take care of the situation as point man. >Say nothing. Simply exercise your hand with the grip training tool you keep on you at all times.>Ask Hummingbird what the ETA is.
>>6301976>Go over the plans with the team4 man squad, widow and wizard are the hackers which makes them casters which means keep em back so they can feed us intel.One on floor plans/cameras to get the location of the enemy, the other on doors and entrances that they can close or open perhaps.all plans fall apart in combat though, so lets just keep things moving
>>6301985Widow looks at you confused, "Sir, Wizard is our hacker, I simply hack." A wicked looking ripper comes out of her arm and extends outward across the AV pointed out towards the door before sheathing back into her arm. "But, that doesn't stop him from needing to load Black Ice into my and Rex's firewall so any stupid fucker that comes knocking dies very painfully." She looks at you for a moment and her voice drops down to a whisper and takes a slightly nervous lilt, "not that you need to worry about that given what you're capable of..."You hold up your hand and silence her. "I already went over this shit with Rex earlier. Confidential and classified technology is not to be publicly discussed even over secure coms. I don't care how confident Wizard is in his Black Ice firewall." You stop for a moment and grin at her showing more teeth than you realize, "But, that doesn't mean I don't know what you're getting. Nothing gets away from me, ever."Rex, Widow, and Wizard nervously laugh at your joke. The tension in the air is real. They're scared of what you can do. Anybody that sees it would be terrified. And, it's just one more reason why you don't talk about it. You reach out and slap each one of your men on the shoulder, and Widow. The tension rapidly drains from the air and is replaced by the usual mission high. It's go time"ETA in twenty seconds sir." Hummingbird chirps from the front of the AV. You acknowledge him. You and Widow are going in on point. Rex will be backing you up. And, Wizard will be looking to fry the Militech freaks or seriously ruin their day while you ventilate their skulls. Whichever comes first."We're here sir!" Hummingbird yells out over the coms.It's time to move out>Deploy with rapid descent ropes onto the street in the rear entrance>Wait for a second for Wizard to work his magic on the entrance and infiltrate the building>Have Hummingbird land the AV on the building's roof. >Blow a hole through the top of the building and directly insert into the kill zone
>>6301998oh shit the posts are verbal. Right, Minimise property damage as much as capable, means>Wait for wizard to work his magic.try and establish the element of surprise on our side.
>>6301999You tell Hummingbird to hang back for a few minutes as Wizard makes his intrusion. It's like a digital bomb going off. The facility locks down outside of your designation. The Militech vehicles in the area fry out and Wizard tells you their weapons systems are down. With quick nod Widow descends from the AV she disappears halfway down, her chrome completely erasing her from the visible spectrum. Rex follow afterwards. He doesn't bother with the rope, taking the full brunt of the fall as if it were only a ten foot fall rather than a sixty foot descent.Rex looks up to motion you down and that the coast is clear, but he finds you're already next to him. He hadn't sensed or seen you move. Neither did Widow who was watching the entire thing from the corner of the Golden Cafe's entrance. You simply weren't there and then you were. She'd swallow if still had a need to breath. Rex visibly shudders, you ignore him. You've been on dozens of ops together with your present body none of your teammates have gotten used to it yet. Hell, you haven't gotten used to it yet. After all, you're not entirely sure what you did yourself. Wizard said it's probably some built in black box gear in your head clipping out time between extremely accelerated reaction movement and perception because your organic nervous system can't handle the experience no matter how fine tuned it is. But, you're not so sure. It's so damn fast. Too damn fast. You shake your head and decide not to worry about it. The mission is more important. With Wizard securing the way you three infiltrate into the second story of the two level bar/cafe. The place is micro gold plated, everything is covered in real gold. And, new age lighting reflects prismatic holographic patterns off the golden plating giving the place the vibe of some tacky Egyptian musical set.The few remaining people alive are on the second story, the three Militech psychos have killed everyone on the bottom floor staining the nice golden plated floors with a crimson after touch. They're presently bent over, prostrating before some strange symbol they've made from the corpses and furniture. Eerily humming a weird tune between the three of them in perfect synchronization."What in the fucking hell?!" Rex mutters looking down at the nightmarish scene. He looks at you and signals for permission to kill them all. >Permission granted>Tell him to hold off while you take in the scene a bit more closely, something bothers you about it>Go in yourself and motion for him to cover you>Tell Widow to get a closer look before issuing the kill order>Tell Wizard to store all the information for future study and issue the kill order
>>6302011This is a bother.>Tell wizard to [carefully] store the info and keep a sample of this song for reference later. Then issue the kill order
>>6302011>Go in yourself and motion for him to cover you
>>6302019>>6302018You tell Wizard to store the scene for later investigation, and jump down. Rex and Widow quickly the idea. Unfortunately, so do Psychos. Quicker than span of time before you leap over the railing to when you touch down on the lower floor they have their weapons aimed at you. Wizard's work was flawless, though. There's nothing and the psychos don't realize their weapons aren't firing. One is still chanting as his you take his head off with a blast from your pistol. The innards of his brain casing look like the aftermath of WW3 after you put three micro nuclear shells into it. Rex takes out the second one with shot from his cannon. There's nothing left of the borg's upper torso. Just a pair of legs awkwardly bending back and fourth as their auto balancing keeps them standing while nothing but intestine and a protruding spine remain up above the waist line.You spin your gun around like some old cowboy movie and put into the holster on your belt. The third psycho is nearly instantly on you looking to rip your head from your shoulders. And, before he gets within four feet of you the mono molecular whip Whidow wrapped around the sorry son of a bitch's neck takes his head clean off. The headless body pathetically falls down and lands at your feet. Getting artificial blood all over your nice boots. You casually pick up his head and look him in the eyes as he dies, and then summarily punt it across the room. The head blows up into a shower of gore and breaks a nice plant that held a bunch of gold plated sun flowers.All in all the operation took your team 23 seconds to execute. Not bad, but you can do better."Ah, boss. Sorry about that freak ruining your nice pair of boots." Widow says sounding genuinely apologetic for letting borg's innards touch you."It's fine Widow, Occupational hazard." you say laughing coming down off the high killing three cyber psycho borg jobs. "Militech is slipping, they need to recall these mass produced conversion units. They're worthless in a fight." Rex says disjointedly. "That was hardly any fun at all, didn't even get see the boss man go freakshow for us like I was hoping." "Fuck off Rex." You say without any actual anger.You walk across the dining area genuinely disgusted by the loss in innocent life. It's never something you get used to. No matter how many innocent people you see die. As you near center of the strange impromptu sign the three psychos "built" in the center of the cafe from bodies and furniture a piece of gold plated modern art causes you to pause in your tracks. A perfectly spherical golden orb. You growl almost like a wild animal and pull out you gun and blow it to hell taking your teammates by surprise. Rex and Widow are both ready for action, but then see it was simply an orb."Boss, you've got to stop it with the balls already." Rex laughs nervously."Fuck off Rex." you say again, this time with far less mirth and something dangerous punctuating the end statement.
>>6302038Rex takes the hint and shuts his mouth, Widow does, too.>You try and play off you freaking out over the sphere as if it were no big deal>You let the issue drop>You open up to your companions about your problem with balls>You tell them it's time to pack it up and leave, but not before ripping apart the pseudo occult "monument." Something about it rubs you the wrong way like spheres do.
>>6302039>Let the issue dropWhat does Max-Tac even do once the shooting stops?I guess. . make sure that nobody else is skulking about, then inform the public that the situation is resolved? the people still alive on the 2nd floor can get out
>>6302039>You tell them it's time to pack it up and leave, but not before ripping apart the pseudo occult "monument." Something about it rubs you the wrong way like spheres do.
>>6302039>You let the issue drop, but wonder if your chrome cant parse spheres properly rubbing you subconsciously the wrong way
>>6302039Ooh a MaxTac quest.>You let the issue drop>>6302050I imagine they just wait for the normie cops to secure the scene then leave.
>You tell them it's time to pack it up and leave, but not before ripping apart the pseudo occult "monument." Something about it rubs you the wrong way like spheres do.
>>6302210>>6302074>>6302058>>6302050>>6302166It takes you a second to get control of yourself. Spheres really piss you off. "Apologies, I was out of line. Goddamn PTSD from those fucking mines disguised as toys. It's how I lost my first face." Rex and Widow nod and don't say another word. Whenever you share some of your personal history, which isn't often, it usually means no smart ass shit for awhile, and that you're about to give one of your infamous commands. Well, this one is doozy."Wizard I'm issuing a Delta classification on this site. I repeat D E L T A. That means full black out press release. Cyber Psychos were tagged and bagged, good guys won, create a false trail that the blackout request came from Militech (there probably is a real one knowing them). Tell them through the usual channels they owe us a favor. Rex and Widow. I want this shit hole burned to the ground. Cause, stray munitions. Get the survivors evacuated. Hit them with some Memory erasing Black Ice on the chrome jobs and Compound IE345 on any naturals for a 24 hour black out. This place is history. Dust it in the bin people."You leave without saying another word and your crew doesn't question you. In two hours the Golden Cafe will never have existed. You receive a buzz on your coms from headquarters. The chief tells you a liaison from NetSec is on the way over to your office. Be there you send him a polite confirmation.A few hours later you're back at your command sitting across from a Lt. Blackwell he reaches over and shakes your hand. "Greetings Lt. Walker. Always good to meet a fellow staff officer like myself. I'll get straight to the point. I'd like to join your team as a special assistant capacity. A very recent case of yours has caught my attention and is linked to a rather serious, and growing issue currently threatening the entirety of Night City. There's also a few personal issues about your background, which are shall we say. Highly pertinent to the issue at hand. If you agree to take me into your strictest confidence I can be of immeasurable service to you. However, I need an immediate answer.">Agree to his terms>Lie that you agree to ferret the answers out of him>Tell him to leave and that you're not interested>Tell him your team deals with the most highly dangerous elements in Night City, if not the entire US. And, that he will be taking his life into his own hands if he intends to serve in your unit.
>>6302376>Tell him your team deals with the most highly dangerous elements in Night City, if not the entire US. And, that he will be taking his life into his own hands if he intends to serve in your unit.Also add: "Its always nice having a fellow Black Ops running errands along over your head." deliberately chosen polite voice, strict no mimic face, the slightest hunch of a smile.
>>6302376>Agree to his termsAs long as he doesn't ask for any classified info, obviously.
>>6302391>>6302390Blackwell looks at you for a moment, revealing nothing. "Lt. Walker I'm afraid we'll be going well beyond the disclosure of classified materials and you needn't worry about me going over your head. Everything you and I discuss will be in the strictest confidence. The future of your life demands it, I'm afraid. As well as those of your team. And, I assure you that isn't a threat. But, an absolute reality. As sure as the sun setting on Night City. If what you and I discuss goes public we're both dead men. From forces well outside of the police force. Now, please, tell me if this looks familiar to you." He slides you a picture (that is an actual physical photograph developed through chemical process, an antique) of a strange rune. It takes you a second to place but it click soon enough. It's the same horrible piece of art the three militech cyber psychos made out of the Golden Cafe's furniture and corpses of their victims.Blackwell can tell by your startled expression that you recognize it. "It was prudent of you destroying that bar. Had you not done so I would have had taken care of it myself. Truly, your instinct for the danger this image represents is extraordinaire. Or, perhaps I should say it's a given. Considering your circumstance, which is the next issue I must bring up. However, I'm getting ahead of myself here. First a briefing and summary introduction. Bring yourself and all the members of your crew that you trust with your life. And, we'll discuss the problem facing our fair city." With that he stands up and walks away, but before leaving he turns around and asks "Have you seen the Yellow Sign?" The door leading out of your office automatically closes behind him and your grateful for it. You've had worse meetings before, but not many. Who will you bring to Blackwell's little horror show?>Your full team (entire unit is 11 full body converted borgs like yourself, there's seven presently off duty)>Just yourself>Yourself and Rex>Yourself, Rex, Wizard, and Widow.
>>6302438 ok this ones tricky, you never take the first offer -> full team, the second is the lone wolf which most likely will get us offed for being silly one way or the other, the third one is charming but i dont like kings or people having doggo names leaving to chose to doom not just ourselves, but 3 more who are seemingly still way more human than us. >Yourself, Rex, Wizard, and Widow.the dice are falling, 4 fours
>>6302438>Yourself, rex, wizard and widow4 man band. As a rule of thumb, can't trust anyone. As a practical rule of thumb, don't trust more people than you have fingers.
>>6302438>>Just yourself
>>6302438>>6302449>>6302456>As a practical rule of thumb, don't trust more people than you have fingers.adding to my vote
>>6302438Wait, is this secretly a Delta Green quest?>Yourself, Rex, Wizard, and Widow.
>>6302724>>6302546>>6302494>>6302456>>6302449You, Rex, Wizard, and Widow arrive for Blackwell's briefing. He's taken over your HQ's briefing room and was thoughtful enough to provide cybernetic drink/food stuff for your officers and donuts for himself and you."Gentlemen, thank you all for coming. I will take questions at the end of the briefing, but just let me first commend your bravery and commitment to the crises we are currently facing in willing to expose yourselves. It shows a character I could not have dared to hope for. The rumors concerning you as glory hounds seeking to murder for pleasure are slander of the lowest sort."And, let me also thank you Lt. Walker for willingness to share in confidence with your teammates to the extent of your personal, shall we say, enhancements. Or, perhaps gifted evolutionary traits.But, I digress. Onto the matter at hand."Since the collapse of the net some years ago malevolent AI have taken over the "old" Internet and pilfered that vital infrastructure for use as a collectivized space for their continued and diseased existence. Within the confines of that unholy sapience these artificial minds have achieved a level of comprehension bordering on "godlike." Within these connection they have reached out and connected with more real "super egos" and have brought into proximity of Night City's old networks a maligned influence that seeks to enter into our physical world and consume it. To merge it with a foreign, self aware reality. While there are many names for this maligned place, ancient legends regard it as "Carcosa." An ancient and now forever lost city long ago consumed by the very presence I dare not name."Within cases you and other C-SWAT teams have handled already signs of cybernetically enhanced persons suffering from exposure to Carcosa have emerged. Leading to situations indistinguishable from cyber psychosis. But, I'm afraid mass murder is only the beginning of what is to come if this isn't stopped here and now. Which, leads to the next topic of conversation. Lt. Walker's unique capabilities, how he acquired these traits, and how they may best be applied to preserving the dimensional stability of the entirety of Night City and surrounding county.">Cont into next post
>>6302867"Lt. Walker is a veteran of several undisclosed black ops operations. Participating in theaters of war all the way from South America to Africa. In that time he has undergone more operations and cybernetic alterations than virtually anyone in history. Including two full body conversions. As you all know and should sympathize with the holy grail of full body conversion borgs is considered the biological restorative package. Where you retired into either a permanent position of a corporate board or enough credits to live on for the rest of your life in a cloned, enhanced, and perfectly bio sculpted version of your old self with of course as much life extension procedures as possible. So perhaps it's with some sympathy that you might be able to understand why your commander chose not only this operation after a decade of service but to put into an experimental bio combat borg that would allow him to continue his work in a civilian capacity and in addition promised virtual immortality. "This of course was too good to be true I'm afraid. Not that the offer was incorrect, merely that it didn't fully explain to Lt. Walker what his new immortal body would be comprised of. Well, after a great deal of shall we say "sleuthing," I have that information. You my good man are quite frankly, a monster of the most beautiful design imaginable. In a body made from the apex of three super evolved species. Man, a creature known as a Hounds of Tindalos, and another called a Dimensional Shambler. The genetics for these beasts if we can even call them that, more organic compounds were secured in the later half of the last century via collaborating governmental conspiracies within the United States Federal bureaucracy. Preserved by chance and later recovered by a cutting edge development firm spun off from a rare joint venture by Arasaka and Militech industries. These ambitious startup has long since ceased to exist due to petty corporate infighting. But, their prodigal son remains alive and well to this day. Buried and obscured behind classifications so deep and so much red tape that it took me the better part of five years to locate him. And, just in the nick of time, too."Your unique physiological traits will give us the means and methods we'll need to fight what would otherwise be an unavoidable threat to the continued existence of the entirety of mankind. Now, I will be taking questions.>Write question in character for any attending member of the briefing and Blackwell will attempt his best efforts to answer it. Wizard is skeptical but also fixating on UFO stories. Rex has suspected something was wrong with Walker's conversion for years now and is of jovial but very professional military mind, Widow is extremely concerned about her family, friends, and the city itself as well as the greater meaning of everything. Walker is of course curious about what he can do with his body. Too many options to list so get creative.
>>6302867>>6302872The Max-Tac squad stares at Blackwell in dumbed silence. Nobody is prepared for what he had to say, let alone is able to articulate any given point of discussion from the numerous and strange, horrifying topics he brought up. And, given your entire group are cybernetic enhanced police specialists with the ability to determine if somebody is lying or not. The full, truthful implication and revelation of what he said was impacted upon their minds. The most profoundly affected was you, personally.A number of horrible things happen at once. Your sense of self begins to dissolve as you have a hard time coming to terms with being a hybrid of several higher dimensional predators. Your immediate subordinate and closest friend Rex sees your body convulse and transform in the blink of an eye as does Widow and Wizard. Their immediate reaction is to subdue you. Generally an appropriate response in most situation, not this one. You're a monster beyond human comprehension. And, most horrifyingly of all, your own!What do you do?>Attempt to flee>Kill Rex and feed on his innards>Kill your entire team and feed on their innards>Attempt to murder Blackwell for obviously lying to you and wasting your team's time with his bullshit. You do this by ignoring the intervening space between you and him, and dragging him to much cozier and delicious dimension to eat him alive in. >Try to control yourself>Roar
>>6303049>>Try to control yourself>> Roar (after politely clearing our throat)Please, if we're going to come to terms with being an eldritch horror, a little bit of decorum will go a long way toward preserving our team's collective sanity.
>>6303049>Try to control yourselfI blame Rache Bartmoss. Fuck that retard.
>>6303049I support >>6303072We may be utterly insane. But also, we are classically insane. To be otherwise is tasteless.
>>6303049>>Attempt to fleeI approve of eating people, but here and now is not the time.
