The shots buzzed through the woods as they left Tellie’s extended barrel and the light flashes from the rifle were not seen until the Rebel Mechanoids heard the first few shots above them.
By the time they were able to react to search for their enemy sniper, Tellie had already leapt to the next tree branch to reposition herself again for the upcoming fight regardless of the fate of the snipers that she had targeted previously. This confusion allowed the ground defenders to take advantage of it and slaughter a few more rebel Mechanoids.
It wasn’t until Yinn gave the Grey Bears an affirmation that the enemy snipers had been taken down that Tellie was able to have a look of relief on her face. Yet, she did not allow herself to celebrate as the Tactical System Buffs were still active and she intended to use all of them to the best of her abilities.
Enemy Mechanoids returned fire at her position, but they had forgotten that they were also being suppressed from the Cabin side and by Jin. This gave the Grey Bears, with the exception of Yinn, the opportunity to give the remaining Mechanoids a taste of hell.
With the Grey Bears having the tactical advantage once more, the rest of the Mechanoids believed it was futile to stay and probably were ordered to retreat.
“Continue to press on the targets to the best of your abilities, but do not advance any further than a hundred meters from the cabin,” Jin ordered, and the rest acknowledged.
In a shootout that lasted no more than 30 minutes, the cabin finally fell quiet and the rest heaved a sigh of relief. They did not expect to get out of this mess in the first place, and the result they had gotten was surprisingly shocking to the entire squad.
It could have been worse, but they got away with just a few grazes, damaged armor plates, and Diaz’s broken leg.
Jin continued to breathe heavily as he tried to recuperate all the Maqi he had expended. It was not easy to maintain it with all his cultivation force stripped away from him, but his foundation was solid enough to last this long, enabling them to achieve victory with the power of information on their side.
“What are we going to do next?” Yinn asked as the Grey Bear Squad congregated near the cabin since Diaz was immobile.
“Salvage what we can from the dead enemies. Replace our existing armor plates, collect the working rifles, refill our ammunition,” Jin said as he started to pull the armor plate from one of the dead Mechanoids who was killed with a headshot and place it in his empty vest. He even pulled out armored kneepads and found a pair of gloves that fit him comfortably.
What was more important was that he could finally get a decent weapon from this impromptu graveyard: a p90 submachine gun and a bag full of its associated magazine clips. Inside that bag were other items that were useful for combat purposes, such as a quick nanomachine healing patch for Mechanoids who suffer injuries, and combat supplies suitable for both Mechanoids and humans to consume.<.com>
But what he found in that treasure trove was an item that might potentially change the whole scenario in their fight at Artbridge.
A working communicator.
Thinner and smaller than a standard military radio, this heap of green metal was still working perfectly despite the shootout that they had had with the Grey Bears. And more importantly, there was a notebook with all the radio codes that had been used by them. It looked like this Mechanoid could have been a messenger or used as a mobile ‘item carrier’ by their commanders and they had been used for this fight as a way to have more manpower or perhaps to gain experience.
However, the rebels might not have expected a major loss on their side with the turn of events, and this allowed Jin to gain access to the most important piece of equipment that could be vital for their turnaround.
But as elated as he was, he suddenly remembered that he was talking through the Tactical System Console and the enemies could be doing the same as well. Why would they need a military radio? Yinn managed to notice the perplexed look Jin was showing and explained well ahead that not every commander would use the Tactical System Console like Jin did.
“When you turn the tactical console on, it takes up most of your concentration to handle it because you will be the sole communication point for the entire team. Not to mention, these console systems only have a maximum of 10 slots. While it can be upgraded to accommodate more, any extra Mechanoids would not have access to the Tactical System Console.” Yinn reasoned out.
“But what makes me more curious is how LT is able to use the Tactical System Console without any burden. I have never seen any commander using that bulky system without taking a major strain on their willpower.” She added, and the rest eventually had their realization upon assessing Yinn’s explanation. “Not to mention, I saw LT use the Tactical System Console before he lost his memories and he hated it a lot, complaining how lackluster and resource heavy it was to his computation processor unit in his head. And he is already using one of the latest chips despite our debts.”
“That explains where all our money went…” Diaz said as she was hopping around with the help of Click.
“More importantly, you are saying that this LT is not exactly the same LT we know?” Tellie inquired as she too felt uncomfortable with how competent Jin was compared to the one she had previously known.
“Yes, it could be that we might have an imposter in the squad.” Yinn said as she drew her pistol out quickly. To her amazement, Jin had done the same. His pistol was drawn at her direction, and he had a grenade on the other hand, which he looted from the dead Mechanoids. Seeing how they were in an impasse, Yinn asked a very simple question.
“Friend or foe?”
