We’re on a roll!
Barely any touching-up or restocking needs to be done before we head to our next destination. This scientist we’ve just heard is going to be assassinated — Professor Phillip Compton? Being the big dang heroes we are, we might as well check in and make sure he’s alright.
Hey, wow! The facility isn’t under attack when we arrive!
There’s even a welcoming committee!
Greetings, Lieutenant. You will tell me where Professor Compton is.
Great. And how do I get there?
The lieutenant gives us the directions (which we don’t listen to because hey, we already have a 3D map of the whole building). Then Bogey tells him…
“Your cooperation has not gone unnoticed.” That’s like… the actual line your character says. What.
Well, whatever. At least everything’s cool here and nothing’s exploding.
Uh, hold on… What’s that?
Wait, what is that?
W-what?
“Renegade Soldier?” Is he… hostile? Do I shoot him?
Something fishy is going on here. Is this another trap? I guess we’ll find out. I don’t want to break any story triggers or anything, so for once we don’t go shooting indiscriminately. Yet.
The sound of foot traffic picks up above us as soon as we’re inside.
Got a bad feelin’ about this one, boss.
We reach the main hallway. The stairs to the basement where the “archives” are is at the right end. This is a defensible position, though, so we make the effort to set a watch at each entrance just in case.
Doug strides up to the door and–
Ouch. Yeah, so… a trap.
This is one of those times I suppose Doug’s mine-disarming skill probably would have been handy, though I’m not sure how I should have known it was there.
With about a quater of his health left, Doug ducks back into the hallway and Sook immediately starts patching him up. The rest of us brace for an attack.
All of the Allied soldiers come to our aid. Whoever the “renegades” are, I guess they’re not here with the consent of the lieutenant, which is a relief. But how he didn’t notice the giant hole they blew in his wall I will never understand.
The enemy comes from three directions. They filter down from the second floor, using staircases in both the west and east corners of the mansion. The first soldier we see face-to-face, however, looks to have come from the basement where Compton is supposed to be.
Probably not a great sign.
Sook! Check on Compton. We will hold the hallway.
Yes sir!
By the looks of it, the first floor is mostly secure, so we don’t have to worry about the side rooms. Bogey and Ness push west into the larger room where the stairs are located and then hold position. We leave Viper watching the front door in case an attack comes from outside.
Meanwhile, Jerzey is clearing the way into the east room, with Sook and Doug following once they’ve finished healing. From here we can hear at least four guys in the basement — coming up to meet us.
No way we’re rushing into that. We’ll have to make a stand here. Between our three squadies and two friendly soldiers who come to assist, we’re able to mow down everyone who comes at us — from the basement or from the second floor.
Over at the other end of the house, Bogey and Nessie are sitting tight too, waiting for the renegades to come to them. The friendlies aren’t fans of the waiting game, though. They cluster up like a bunch of weirdos and make a move toward the staircase, where one of the enemy soldiers says hello.
Nessie is able to finish the guy off before he does any serious damage, and for the moment it seems fairly quiet over here. Not so much outside, where the guards manning the outer gate spot a group trying to scale the wall.
Four visible, but probably more. They gun down the two Allies at the gate and Viper sets up in the mansion’s doorway to pick them off from a distance. Any who poke their heads over the wall lose them. Their heads, I mean. The rest wisely conclude that that tactic isn’t working and stay in cover.
It’s the lieutenant himself who leads an assault on their position.
He and two other soldiers vault over the fence and surprisingly are able to decimate the enemy squad.
…until one last machine gunner emerges from the shadows and decimates them.
Back in the mansion, we’ve neutralized everyone in sight. The building falls silent and combat ends.
There’s a massacre in the stairwell. Among the bodies, a strange little man in what I’m going to say is… a wizard robe?
Professor Phillip Compton, I presume? The renegade soldiers had knocked him out and were carrying him out of the basement when we interrupted them.
Over in Bogey territory, he and Nessie have fought up to the second floor and are making their way to the opposite stairwell to meet Sook’s guys on the east side.
We go slow and steady. There could still be soldiers up here. Nessie strafes down the hall, peeking into each doorway, ready for anything.
And then…
…gunfire…
Nessie slumps to the floor.
…Nessie? Anyone? I… I need help up here!
Soldiers rush up behind Bogey. Jerzey charges up the stairs.
Even the reinforcements get reamed.
We can’t approach the doorway. Even the glimpse we got into that room didn’t reveal the shooter. Somehow he’s so well hidden that he’s virtually invisible.
Finally, Jerzey gets to improvising.
He doesn’t stop shooting until we see the enemy’s equipment scatter on the floor.
The insane part is that even once he’s dead, we can’t make a spot check on the renegade’s corpse — standing right in front of it and staring at where it should be. What the heck kind of hide skill did this guy have?
But about Nessie…
Everyone gathers around to say farewell, and each takes a share of Nessie’s prized grenade hoard. We’ll give them a good home, buddy.
Comrade, I blow up many Nazi for you.
Jerzey… go get Compton. We’re leaving.
On to the next episode!
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