CHAPTER 19
Handguns Only
“Huh? You sure? What?”
Fukaziroh’s surprise spoke for the rest of the group.
Llenn thought that Pitohui’s statement was the most unexpected thing she’d heard all day, but Vivi’s answer was a close second.
“Yes, it’s fine. We’ll let all of you go—on one condition,” Vivi appended.
Ha. I should have known, Llenn thought. She was obviously going to follow this up with a one-liner like You all have to diiiie! or We’ll shoot your asses as you run! Sure, that sounded kinda rude, but Llenn was assuming that Vivi was a typical ZEMAL member. She’d never met this person before, but if she was an old acquaintance of Fukaziroh’s, then she had to be like that. No further explanation was necessary.
“Got something to add, Llenn?” snapped Fukaziroh suddenly.
Damn psychic, Llenn cursed silently.
“Can you guess what my term is?” Vivi asked.
Pitohui’s reply was prompt. “Giving up our main guns?”
“Very sharp.”
“Then that’s what it’ll be.”
Huh? What? That’s what what will be?
Llenn wasn’t following at all. She glanced at Boss and Rosa; they looked just as dumbfounded.
“Ahhh, I see. So that’s the ploy,” said Fukaziroh, the only one who had figured it out. “Wait…what is it, exactly?”
Okay, maybe she hadn’t.
“I’ll explain later,” Pitohui dismissed. “Everybody, drop your primary weapons on the ground over there. You’ve all recovered feeling by now, I trust?”
Boss’s curiosity got the better of her. “Wh-what does this mean? Explain, please!”
“I’ll do it while we’re on the move. Just hurry! It’s nearly after the twenty-ninth minute,” Pitohui said.
That told Boss that it had something to do with the scan. She got to her feet without the Vintorez in her hands.
“You too, Llenn. It’s time to say good-bye to P-chan for a while. Don’t worry; it’ll come back when this is over. Shirley, put down the rifle.”
“I’m not sure what’s going on…but we can keep pistols in our inventory, right?”
“Of course. Time to run!”
“Goddess…did you really mean to let them get away?” asked Peter, watching the other group leave as he stood by the train.
He was the shortest member of ZEMAL, and the piece of tape over his nose was his trademark. There was an ammo box on his back, which ran on metal rails to the Negev machine gun in his hands.
Next to him stood Max, the dark-skinned avatar with a shaved hairstyle. Like Peter, he was equipped with a loading backpack for his Minimi and carefully eyeing his surroundings.
With these two standing guard over her, Vivi watched the Satellite Scanner. Glancing at the weapons the other group had left behind, she said, “It’s fine. They won’t be coming back. I’d guess that all of them are going to die inside that mall.”
“Huh? What just happened?”
Nobody in the pub could explain what they’d just seen.
T-S had been wiped out by a long-range machine-gun attack, a devastating ambush, and a booby trap.
Everyone had assumed that this was the end of LPFM and SHINC. But after speaking with a mystery woman, both teams’ survivors had just taken off running—after leaving their primary weapons behind, no less.
Beside Tanya’s dead body was a pink P90, Pitohui’s KTR-09, M’s M14 EBR, Shirley’s R93 Tactical 2, Boss’s Vintorez, the Dragunov borrowed from Tohma, and Rosa’s PKM.
“Huh? What just happened…?”
The clock on the screens hit 2:30, and the next scan commenced.
“What is this situation, exactly? Oh, poor P-chan…”
Llenn was on the run, and she didn’t know what was going on, either.
The others had told her to rush on, so she’d taken point ahead of them. The single-story residential homes on the east side of the tracks made for a good view, but the lack of a weapon in her hands left her feeling very uneasy.
Still, she was alive.
P-chan sacrificed itself for me, she thought.
Vivi from ZEMAL had promised, “Don’t worry, we won’t use the guns you dropped, nor will we destroy them.” There was no choice but to trust her on that. And for now, it was most important to listen to Pitohui.
“I’m going to explain the situation while M watches the scan. I’m sure I already know what the results will be, though.”
“All right.”
Llenn kept her eyes peeled for booby traps and ambushes while she focused on hearing Pitohui’s voice through the comm.
Far behind her, Boss, Rosa, Shirley, and Fukaziroh followed behind, presumably harboring the same feelings as Llenn. The two SHINC members were close enough that they could hear Pitohui’s voice in person.
“First, we know that woman is a seriously talented, experienced player. I mean, she’s killed Fuka in ALO all those times, so that tells you something.”
“I just wasn’t paying attention!”
All of those times? Llenn thought.
“She’d anticipated that someone would use the train, guessed where it would stop, and put down a triple-part trap to catch us.”
“That’s what I don’t get! How did they know where it would come to a halt?” Boss shouted, cutting Pitohui off.
It was indeed a mystery. They could have surmised that someone would ride the locomotive, but guessing where it would stop would have been difficult.
Pitohui answered that mystery by explaining, “That spot leaves the shortest distance across the map to the mall.”
“Huh? The mall?” Boss repeated.
“Yes, that’s where we’re headed: the giant shopping mall. I wanted us to go there, so I stopped directly west of it so we could run down the big street. Vivi saw that decision coming.”
“Ohhh, got it… So that’s why,” replied Boss, picking up on the logic quickly.
But Llenn was not as fast on the uptake, asking, “Why the mall? Are you going shopping?”
“No! We’re going to fight there!”
“Why?”
“Have you forgotten the special rules, Llenn?”
“About the monsters? Oh, you mean the ammo coming back?” she said, amending her statement after seeing the notice about ammunition restoration at two thirty.
“The other one.”
“…?”
“Pito, she’s completely forgotten,” remarked Fukaziroh.
Llenn quickly grew frustrated. Evidently, she was the only person not getting it. Still, she was honest enough to ask, “Um…what other one?”
“Ahhh, the mall, then…”
Kenta from MMTM was driving a trike. David, the team leader, was sitting on the back. Instead of riding along the highway to the south of the airport, they cruised along an ordinary road farther east.
The pair’s destination was the massive shopping center on the southeast side of the map. This was the answer to the question posed at two fifteen, when they were just hanging out and relaxing.
“The pistol rule,” said David. “That damned author set up a special condition for us to ignore weight to ensure that he could put in a spot where only pistols are allowed. The most obvious place for such a parameter is that mall. It’s the most suited for a handgun fight.”
“What made you think Pitohui would head there?” Kenta inquired.
“It’s an easier battleground for her and the pink shrimp. Plus, it’d eliminate any threat of assault rifle shots that could kill you when your health is low. However, the main reason boils down to her psychology.”
“Ooh. How so?”
“She’s the kind of person who thinks, If they set up a pistol-only area, shouldn’t we enjoy it to the fullest?”
“If they set up a pistol-only area, shouldn’t we enjoy it to the fullest?” Pitohui added at the end.
“That’s your reason?” Llenn demanded, annoyed.
They were running through the town, the dome of the stadium visible on the left. The shopping mall was directly ahead of them, the off-white structure looming beneath the cloudy sky on the opposite side of the highway. It looked like a fortress.
“Well, it does make sense,” said Boss, her braids swaying as she kept pace beside Pitohui. “Building interiors make for very close-range battles, so running and hiding is easier. A pistol’s power with a single shot is limited. It’s much less likely that you’ll die immediately from a sudden shot. That means Fire’s goons will have a harder time killing Llenn. Not a bad call.”
“Well reasoned, Evacchi. Hey, you wanna join my team?”
“I’ll pass.”
“Okay, I get the purpose now,” stated Llenn, “but do you think Fire’s side will play along? The longer he leaves us alone, the higher the chance that he wins without a scratch, right? Would he really get into a firefight at the mall where he’s more at risk?”
M, eyes still on the scan, provided the answer to that question.
“He will. He’s already on his way.”
Spectators in the bar watched the scan as it revealed the locations of the surviving teams.
Excluding ZEMAL, who were still in the crater area, and V2HG, who had passed through the city, every team was converging on the mall. There were no battles underway, so the screens were showing everyone on the move.
Two members of MMTM were approaching fast from the east. They were on a trike, so they were making good time, although they were still the farthest away.
From the west, LPFM’s and SHINC’s survivors were running on foot, albeit from much closer to the mall.
The teams called WEEI and SATOH were traveling south toward the shopping plaza on a single truck. A man dressed in desert camo was driving the rig. They must have found it early in the game and kept it hidden until now.
With things proceeding as they were, it was obvious what would happen next.
Within minutes, five teams would gather at the mall—and rush inside from their respective directions.
“So Vivi decided that if we were going to die inside that mall, there was no reason for them to do the job directly. Instead, they’d be happy if we stayed alive to fight our mutual enemies and weaken them for ZEMAL,” Llenn deduced at last. “I got it. I get it.”
Llenn felt confident regarding her view of Vivi and Pitohui’s assessment. She was quite curious about this Vivi character who had beaten Fukaziroh so often and had somehow reached an unspoken understanding with her. Still, for now, she had to put that feeling aside.
The opponent at hand was more important.
Llenn’s group was likely to run up against MMTM, SATOH, and WEEI inside the mall—the last two being teams under Fire’s control. If they were willing to get into a pistol fight, Llenn wasn’t going to say no.
Even so, the pink-dressed girl wasn’t without her doubts. “I haven’t shot a pistol since the very first tutorial!”
She hadn’t prepared one, either, so she was using Pitohui’s, but Llenn wasn’t familiar with it at all. Could she actually use it? In a close-quarters indoor battle, she was more than ready to fight with the combat knife she had strapped to her back.
“We can figure that out once we get to the mall. More importantly, everyone, take your medicine now, while you can!” Pitohui instructed, ordering the group to heal themselves to maximum health.
They’d suffered a lot of damage from ZEMAL’s gunfire earlier. Llenn had fallen below half, so she used one of her two remaining med kits. She’d take the last one in another three minutes.
That would put her back at full health—but only after six minutes.
Llenn wasn’t the toughest of characters; could she survive that long? Whatever the case, she had to outlast Fire. So long as she lived even a split second longer than he, it was her victory. If he wound up in arm’s reach, she’d bite him if need be.
Fukaziroh had 60 percent left. She was out of healing items, so there was nothing she could do.
Pitohui and M had taken significant damage in the ruined city and had used up all their emergency med kits. Even now, Pitohui was under half health. M was a bit better, at 60 percent.
They would have to make that last. Thankfully, the trio possessed very high base athletic values, meaning there wasn’t too much difference between them at half life and Llenn at max. Llenn would have died several times if she’d suffered as much damage as they had in SJ4.
Shirley had barely been struck at all, by comparison. She had all three med kits left, and her hit points were at 60 percent. She healed once; it would be up to her to decide what to do once she was at 90 in three minutes.
Though Llenn couldn’t see their information, SHINC’s two remaining members had their own troubles. Boss had seven-tenths of her HP remaining and no means of recovery. Rosa was at 80 and had two med kits, but she didn’t use them.
On the opposing side, every member of Fire’s group was likely at max life with all med kits ready. That pair from MMTM had been hurt a bit, but their team’s health pool was undoubtedly still greater than that of Llenn’s side.
Llenn and the others were at an undeniable disadvantage.
A wounded gaggle of seven against an allied, healthy team of twelve, plus two members from MMTM who weren’t likely to render much aid.
Yet there was no giving up, no giving in.
Things looked grim, but it wasn’t over until the fat lady sang.
This Squad Jam had been moving from one danger to the next, but Llenn was still alive.
No matter what happened, she would fight.
If her avatar had actual body temperature, it would be skyrocketing. The domed stadium was to the left and quickly passed Llenn by as she hurried on toward the shopping mall.
“I’ll beat Fire!” she swore as she ran.
Eventually, the obnoxiously massive building came into view.
The off-white structure rose up into the cloudy sky like a giant wall.
What Llenn was looking at was just a part of the mammoth construct. It was the west wall of the exterior. The main building was rectangular, about eight hundred yards east to west and three hundred north to south. An entire residential sector could’ve fit inside that one building.
It was twice as long and over three times as wide as the luxury cruise ship from SJ3.
While Llenn couldn’t tell how many floors it had, the windowless building loomed over the scene like an aquarium. On each of the four corners was an octagonal structure about 150 yards across.
When checking the map at the start of the game, M had surmised that the four corners were four major department stores. He was right; as Llenn drew nearer, she could see the signs. The letters were missing here and there, but Llenn recognized some famous international department store names. Maybe the fact that some of the letters were missing made it okay to use real-world brand names.
On the right was a JCP—NEY and on the left was a SE-RS. Llenn continued alone through the wide-open parking lot until she reached the mall entrance, where the glass doors were broken and scattered across the ground.
The structure’s name adorned the space over the entranceway—MALL OF THE WORLD. A very ostentatious name. However, it might have meant that this was the largest shopping plaza in the world.
Llenn did not immediately enter; she waited carefully next to the doorway. Beyond the doors, which were partially full of jagged glass where they had broken, there was a standing map of the mall, but she did not look at it yet.
“Listen up, everybody. Once we go inside, we won’t have time to sit around coming up with a plan, so I’m going to say everything now while we have time,” said the distant Pitohui. “Once we go in, we’ll be working as a team to an extent, but there’s no saying what might happen depending on the flow of battle. We might end up fighting separately.”
I hope we don’t get split up, Llenn thought, but she knew that there were times when battle made it necessary.
“But at the very least, I want us to work on a buddy system. That way, everyone will have one person to watch the other direction. Turn off your comm to everyone but your partner. Use radios to talk as needed. The pairings are as follows: M and me, Eva and Rosa, Fuka and Shirley.”
“I’d rather be alone!” cried Shirley.
“Nope. Two-player teams at all times. Every sniper needs a spotter, doesn’t she?” Pitohui scolded. Shirley offered no further protest.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll watch your cute ass,” teased Fukaziroh. That was sexual harassment, of course, but it wasn’t the only problem with her statement. Fukaziroh had a reputation for terrible handgun aim.
Llenn felt a bit sorry for Shirley, but the pairings left her with a question. “Pito, what about me?” She had thought for sure that she was going to be assigned a partner.
“Llenn? Isn’t it obvious? You’re on your own.”
“Hey, that doesn’t add up with what you said earlier! How come?” Llenn fumed, stomping her feet alone at the entrance to the mall.
“The reason is simple: Nobody else can keep up with you if you have to go all out. If Tanya were still around, I would’ve paired you up with her.”
“Aw…”
That cut Llenn’s tantrum short. Oh, Tanya, why did you have to die? she wondered, mourning the girl she’d been in a deadly battle against just an hour ago.
“Still, I don’t think this puts you at a disadvantage, Llenn. Just the opposite,” Pitohui stated. She sounded serious. It was an honest remark, not lip service. “This battlefield suits you! Use your advantage in speed among these tight hallways to fight to your heart’s content!”
“G-got it…”
“That’s a good girl. Now you can open your present.”
“Present?”
Aw, I hate to admit it, but…it’s cute! thought Llenn as she materialized the gift from Pitohui. She didn’t want to express as much out loud, though, knowing how much Pitohui would smirk about it.
The motes of light coalesced into a backpack.
It was black, but pink-and-white vertical lines adorned the thing—presumably to match Llenn’s cap.
It was about fifteen inches tall and twelve inches wide. The depth was a bit less, maybe ten inches. It was no larger than a common day pack, but with the tiny Llenn carrying it, the thing seemed comparable to M’s supersize rucksack.
What’s inside? I mean, aside from the pistol.
Llenn set down the backpack and opened the top zipper. She reached in and pulled out the contents.
Llenn’s first thought was that it was cute.
It was a pink-painted automatic pistol that came in a black nylon holster.
The frame and slide were a rose color. The grip and added parts on the front were of a lighter shade.
It was altogether extremely pink, but there were black portions, too. The barrel. The trigger. The hammer. The screws that held it all together. And the dots carved under the sight for better aim.
Llenn hadn’t studied handguns, so she didn’t know the model, but it resembled the gun the female instructor had given Llenn during the tutorial. That one was called a Colt M1911A1—or a Colt Government. It was a large military pistol, one of the most famous and recognizable handguns in the world.
This pink firearm was similar, but it felt smaller. Perhaps it would be considered a midsize handgun.
For one thing, the grip was shorter, but as if to make up for that, there was a little hornlike extension at the bottom of the magazine that Llenn’s pinkie could rest on. It felt both spacious and snug in the girl’s hand.
The gun ran shorter than a Government, too, and something was attached to the muzzle that wasn’t a slide. Llenn couldn’t tell what it was for.
The sides of the frame toward the front were another mystery piece that seemed to pinch the slide from below. She didn’t know what that did, either.
“This part is cute…,” Llenn murmured, because the flared bit of that portion had a white line through it, just like her hat.
As it happened, the streak only ran on the left side of the gun, not the right. Again, just like Llenn’s hat.
“Sounds like you approve,” said Pitohui, who could hear Llenn’s remarks through the comm.
Llenn looked up and saw the rest of the group in the distance, making their way across the spacious parking lot. It would be at least another minute before they arrived.
“I hate to admit it, but it’s adorable… I accept your gift… What’s it called?” Llenn inquired.
“I’m glad you asked! That is…a custom model I created!” Pitohui declared.
“You made this?”
“Yep. You know that there’s a Gunsmithing skill and mode in GGO, right?”
“Yeah. I used it to change my weapon’s color, but that’s it.”
“I had a feeling we’d need handguns this time around, and that got me thinking about what would be best for you.”
“And this is what you came up with…?”
“Yup. The base is a gun called the AM.45, a weapon that only exists in GGO, but it’s basically just a modified Detonics Combat Master with extra parts. It’s fairly popular in GGO for being a compact but powerful backup weapon. Ever heard of it?”
“Nope.”
“That’s all right. It was originally black, so I painted it pink, added the white line, and set it up for you! I decided on a two-tone pink finish instead of a one-color style like P-chan. It took several days before I had it just the way I wanted.”
“Um, thanks…”
It felt like Pitohui could’ve been doing something more productive, especially considering her busy schedule, but Llenn wasn’t going to point that out now.
“And that’s the result! I call it the AM.45 Version Llenn! But its nickname is the Vorpal Bunny!”
Both of those names sounded pretty long to Llenn, and she got to work thinking about what she’d call it. Llenn didn’t know what vorpal meant, but calling the gun Bunny would be easy enough.
On the left side of the slide, the words VORPAL BUNNY were printed in small letters next to the larger AM.45.
Llenn was a pretty good English student, but she still had no idea what vorpal meant, even seeing it written out.
“Hey, Pito, can you define vorpal?” Llenn asked, giving up on interpreting it alone.
She was hoping that her friend would gleefully offer the answer, but instead, Pitohui replied, “Hmm, it’s too long to explain. We don’t have the time right now.” So Llenn made a note to look it up on the Internet later. For now, she’d stick with her usual style and refer to it as Vor-chan.
Pitohui explained, “It’s just a shortened version of the Government, so it works the same way. You remember?”
“I guess…”
Llenn checked to see that there was a magazine inserted, then pulled the firearm’s slide.
It made the sound of metal sliding on metal and loaded the first bullet. In the bottom right of her vision, a gun icon appeared, indicating that she had equipped it as a weapon, along with a 6 to display the remaining rounds—six shots to a magazine.
If it was the same as a Government, then it used .45 ACP bullets. That was the most common kind of .45-caliber pistol projectile. That was quite large, giving the shots a powerful punch.
The Government series placed the safety about where the thumb would rest when one was holding the firearm by the grip. Llenn rarely put the safety of her P90 on, but she decided to use it for her new weapon. This was no time to be accidentally shooting herself. At least with this pistol, the safety was in a convenient place.
“Okay, here’s the lowdown, so listen up! The added parts at the front of the gun are for close combat. The portion on the tip ensures you can still fire the gun even when it’s pressed against your target. The things on the sides ensure the slide won’t be affected if you press the pistol against something for increased stability.”
“I see…”
Llenn brushed the pieces with her left hand. They were firmly fixed to the frame, so even if something was touching the weapon, there would be no effect on its firing.
Many pistols could be rendered inert if you managed to hold down the slide. Other issues with the slide could cause the gun to jam. Pitohui’s customization was meant to overcome those weaknesses.
“So don’t be shy. Get right up in your opponent’s face. Make use of your small size, burst, and speed. There’s nothing more beautiful than pressing a gun against your opponent’s throat and shooting like you’re biting into them! Remember your days PKing with the Vz. 61 Skorpion!”
Llenn thought back on that time fondly. She’d run up on people and kill them without even getting a good look at their faces. At present, however, she wished she could go back in time to apologize for having done so.
“Treat this the same as back then. Get in close, blast them with both, then run away! Good luck!”
Both? Llenn dug deeper into the backpack. Oh my. I didn’t even notice…
There was another gun in the sack, identical to the first. Llenn had two pistols.
That led to a new question: Should she call both of them Vor-chan or just the one? She didn’t have a lot of time to waste on the matter, so she decided that the two of them would both be called Vor-chan.
“Put your P90 magazine pouches in your inventory and attach the holsters I gave you. There’s a right and a left—well, I’m sure you can tell the difference.”
Llenn did as Pitohui instructed. The P90 ammo pouches that ringed her waist like a skirt vanished, leaving room for a sheath to wrap around each thigh.
Llenn stowed her two new firearms in their holsters, then pulled the slide for the left-hand gun to load it. The icon for her equipped weapon doubled.
“You should get some practice shots in now, at least one magazine for each. Make sure to put on your backpack first,” stated Pitohui.
Llenn obeyed, storing both pistols, then shouldering the bag they’d come in. Two buckles on straps ran across Llenn’s chest to hold the thing tight to her back.
Thanks to the rule that kept handguns from adding to your weight, the backpack hardly felt like anything at all. It had little more weight than an empty sack. At this level, it wouldn’t affect Llenn’s speed in the least. However, she’d have to be aware of its wide dimensions if she needed to squeeze through tight spaces.
Llenn reached for the thigh holsters, putting her hands into the so-called akimbo position on her hips. For this reason, dual-wielding pistols in games was often referred to as playing akimbo style.
The rest of the group was much closer now, but still a few dozen seconds away.
As instructed, Llenn drew her handguns and thumbed off their safeties. Like she had with the Skorpion, she extended her hands slightly, as though to catch something with both arms.
This was to minimize recoil with her elbows and decrease the chances of the enemy getting close enough to grab the weapons or knock them aside—both of which would be problems if she simply straightened her arms.
The pistols’ slides would move automatically, so it was dangerous to hold them too close to the face. Llenn made sure both were at least ten inches away.
The guns were inclined slightly toward each other so that they diagonally framed Llenn’s field of view. Not pointing them straight made for a more natural arm angle, which fostered more comfortable shooting and adjustment.
With two handguns, using the sights on one didn’t make sense. Llenn placed her fingers on the triggers, producing two bullet circles. The girl in pink aimed them over a tipped trash can next to the mall’s entrance, a distance of roughly twenty meters.
Dababababababababow!
The pistols blared. Llenn had gotten used to the powerful kickback of a 45-caliber weapon during the tutorial. What’s more, her Strength stat had risen since then. Thus the bullets stayed true and struck the trash can.
“Ooh…”
Twelve shots, six from each pistol, turned the waste receptacle into a shattered mess of polygons.
“These seem pretty easy to use,” Llenn admitted.
The Vorpal Bunny had a very light trigger, activating with only the tiniest bit of finger pressure. The two weapons fired at a comfortable pace, and the slides whipped back and forth tightly.
However, Llenn still had her concerns. The slides of the pistols stayed back, indicating that they were out of ammo. With the P90, she could grab a fresh magazine from a pouch and pop it in, but she had no pouches for the handguns.
I fired off my guns. The next big question becomes: How do I reload?
As Pitohui crossed the last fifty yards to reach the mall, she gave Llenn the answer to that haiku query.
“Drop the empty magazines. Then put your arms behind your back and stick the pistol grips into the holes at the bottom of your backpack.”
“…?”
Llenn pressed the magazine catch buttons on the inner sides of the grips with her thumbs and middle fingers. The empty things silently slid free of the pistols.
Next, she swung her arms behind her back and brought them toward the bottom of the pack, where she found the apertures in question.
Click! The metal popped into place. Llenn felt the small vibration run through her hands.
“Oh?” She pulled her arms forward again and saw that there were fresh magazines in both pistols. The squat, fat bullets were visible through the ejection ports.
Llenn pushed down the top lever of each pistol’s slide with her right thumb and left index finger. The retracted slides grabbed the new bullets and pushed them forward before returning into place. The ammo icons in the bottom right corner of Llenn’s eye informed her that both weapons were now fully ready to go.
“Ooh…”
Pitohui rushed up to Llenn as the latter marveled at her guns. Fukaziroh and the others came shortly after. Llenn made sure to switch the safeties on and stowed the guns in their holsters.
Her benefactor patted the backpack and said, “Pretty cool, huh? It was a custom order! It’s got a big stack of magazines and a gizmo inside that loads them when you stick your grips inside! It’s like a giant ammo supply! There are twenty magazines on each side of the backpack! That’s two hundred and forty shots!”
“I see…”
It was indeed a convenient item. With this, Llenn could shoot all she wanted and quickly reload. It solved the most significant hang-up that dual pistols caused.
Pitohui waved a hand to bring up her game window. When she was done pressing buttons, it spat out another backpack. This one was all black, and it looked much smaller on the taller woman’s back.
“One for me, too.”
Pitohui had XDM handguns on each leg, so she had arranged the same speedy reloading system for herself. Or more likely, she’d developed her own first, then made another for Llenn.
“There’s one more trick to it, too,” Pitohui appended, punching the back of Llenn’s pack. It made a hard, hollow sound. “Every surface of this is lined with thin layers of the same material M’s shield is made from.”
“Pito, isn’t that…?”
“Yep. No pistol bullet is going to break through that bag. If the enemy’s going to shoot you, crouch and turn your back or run and guard your head. Got that?”
“Got it!”
At present, a single shot, even from a handgun, could slay her. Thus, having armored gear to protect her was a tremendous boon.
Weapons and gear that had been custom-tailored to suit the user. Llenn could only wonder how much it would have cost had she tried to arrange for these things herself. She thought it best not to get to the bottom of that mystery.
“Ooh, very nice. Where’s mine?” Fukaziroh asked as soon as she arrived. She only had a single gun on her—the one she couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with.
“Maybe next time,” Pitohui offered smoothly.
“Tch!” snapped Fukaziroh, and she drew her M&P. With her left hand, she opened her item storage. A moment later, Fukaziroh’s pack full of grenades vanished, replaced by a large carrying bag for ammo magazines on her left hip.
There were still explosives packed into her vest, but Fukaziroh did not seem interested in removing them for some reason.
Boss and Rosa both had their official SHINC pistols, Strizhes, at their sides. Both took the time to make sure the weapons were loaded. They also produced a significant number of magazines in pouches that they attached to their hips and chests.
They’d returned the plasma grenades they typically carried back to their inventories. Those could explode if struck by a bullet, taking out their owners and nearby comrades as well. Plus, they were difficult weapons to use in a cramped interior. Instead, Boss and Rosa equipped themselves with standard fragmentation grenades, Russian RGD-5s.
The entire time they exchanged equipment, they made sure their backs were to each other, maximizing their vigilance. It was unlikely there would be any enemies coming this way, but they were ready to dart right into the mall, just in case.
M pulled his shield out of the backpack. He arranged two panels vertically and gripped the portable barricade with both hands. There was an HK45 on his leg, but he didn’t draw it.
The plan was for M to hold the shield up as protection while Pitohui did the attacking from behind. M was a big target, so blocking was a more viable option for him than trying to run and hide.
As for Shirley, she didn’t pull out anything. All she did was adjust the hat resting over her green hair while everyone else got set up for battle.
Fukaziroh noticed this and asked, “Shirley, did you drop your pistol somewhere? I’m afraid I can’t lend you mine.”
“No, I just haven’t taken it out. I’m not showing what I’ve got until I have to. I’ll be the only one leaving this mall alive. Then I’ll go back for my R93 and do whatever is necessary to wipe out ZEMAL, no matter how long it takes.”
“Holy crap, that’s crazy,” marveled Fukaziroh, but Llenn knew that based on Shirley’s remaining HP and med kits, her sniping ability, and her exploding bullets, it wasn’t that far-fetched.
The clock reached 2:38.
“We’re going to watch the next scan, confirm the number of enemies, then go in. Look at this before we go,” Pitohui said, beckoning the group of seven around the entrance to the building.
Through the glass, they could spy a few lights on inside. The hallway stretched straight ahead, and it looked much brighter farther in.
At the entry was the map of the mall that Llenn had ignored earlier. Now she examined it closely to memorize the layout.
The chart was large, about the size of a school blackboard. It was designed for people who were visiting for the first time. While it didn’t have details on every outlet, there were general descriptions of what could be found in each section of the shopping center, all in English.
Simply put, the mall was designed like a donut.
Its enormous rectangular shape was not packed all the way through with stores; there was a large open space at the center. Based on the amount of light coming through, that section likely had a skylight.
That center area alone was six hundred yards across and one hundred yards wide—truly enormous.
Judging by the map, the courtyard area looked to house an amusement park. There were images of old-fashioned cottages and a roller coaster.
A wide path ran in a circle along the outside of the building, with storefronts flanking the trail all the way around. The structure’s exterior surrounded the shops on the outer side of the path, so they had no windows to the outside. The stores on the inner side faced the courtyard and possessed balconies that leaned into the center’s open area.
Escalators and staircases decorated the walkway at regular intervals. Elevators were stationed at the shopping center’s corners and the centers of the corridors, totaling six altogether.
The four corners of the structure were different department stores. The walkways ran diagonally to meet their interior entrances. These larger shops had escalators in their centers and elevators along the walls.
The design was relatively simple, so Llenn had no difficulty memorizing it. Since there would be no landmarks to navigate by, she’d have to keep an eye on the rotating compass that sat at the top of her vision to maintain her bearing.
* * *
“Do we all understand the layout?” Pitohui asked. The group nodded in reply.
“So where can I go to get some cute clothes?” Fukaziroh asked.
“There’s no time for that. Although I do need something for the fall season,” Llenn admitted.
“Looks like the northeast quadrant on the third floor has all the fashion stores,” Pitohui stated.
“Shall we fight there, then?” Boss inquired.
“Take this seriously, dammit,” snapped Shirley.
“I bet that woman’s on the opposite side right now.”
“You seem to be having fun, Leader. Or ‘funlee’ for short.”
While Llenn’s group was prepping at the west entrance, David and Kenta had arrived at the east side of the mall. It looked much the same as the exterior of the other side, with the mall’s name displayed overhead.
The trike that had done so well for them had finally given up the ghost in the road about a third of a mile away due to lack of gasoline. They’d had to run after that.
The two quickly readied their pistols after stowing their assault rifles and backup ammo, which would be useless inside the shopping mecca.
David drew his favorite Steyr M9-A1 9 mm pistol from its holster and pulled back on the slide a bit to check that it was loaded.
The sights on the weapon differed from the standard kind. They had a unique design featuring a sizable triangular divot with a smaller three-sided sight at the front. You wouldn’t find this feature on any other gun.
David always claimed that it was much easier to aim with once you got used to it, but none of his teammates agreed.
Next, David removed a different pistol from his inventory—a Beretta APX. Every member of MMTM was sporting that kind of handgun this time around. It was also a 9 mm, with a seventeen-round magazine.
The APX appeared in its carbon fiber holster, which David equipped to his stomach, right around the solar plexus. As always in GGO, all you had to do was navigate a menu to strap something snugly to your person.
David drew the APX, loaded it, then holstered it again. Then he produced another one and attached that to his left hip.
Kenta, too, materialized two guns he hadn’t been holding earlier, and, like David, attached them to his stomach and left hip.
Lastly, the pair called up some pouches full of magazines for their APXs and stuck them where there was room on their belts and backs.
MMTM’s strategy for the handgun fight in this Squad Jam was to shoot like hell.
If their primary pistols ran out of ammunition and they didn’t have time to pop in a fresh magazine, they’d pull their secondary armaments off their stomachs and continue firing. If those ones were out, they’d reach for the guns on their left sides.
That would allow them to maintain pressure on the enemy instead of running for cover. MMTM’s goal was to close the gap, overpower the opponent, and finish them off.
Once their triple pistols and ammo were all set up, including spare magazines on each one’s back for the other to grab, they added one last detail: ordinary grenades, wherever there was room for them to hang without hitting anything else.
They were down to two at this point, but MMTM was itching to fight.
“All set, Leader. Let’s do this.”
“Yeah. First I’ll kill Pitohui, then we slaughter every other person inside this mall!”
Slightly before Llenn and MMTM were making their preparations, a man from team SATOH was speaking with Fire’s team, WEEI. He was the team leader, and the mustache and beard suited his face.
“Couldn’t we attack them now, before they get into the mall?”
They were in a moving truck. Aside from the SATOH driver, the remaining eleven passengers were facing one another in the bed, beneath a canopy.
SATOH’s members were dressed in the US Marine Corps’ brown desert camo, and their equipment matched. They hadn’t joined the alliance in the beginning like other squads, so they did not have masks and sunglasses like the others.
All of them sported the same primary weapon, the M27 IAR.
At first glance, this gun was similar to an HK416 assault rifle but with a longer, thicker barrel plus a scope and bipod that came attached by default. Its caliber was 5.56 mm.
“I suppose we could,” answered someone in WEEI, not Fire. They were all wearing blue tracksuits with masks and sunglasses, so it was impossible to discern who was who among their ranks.
They were driving down the highway that ran north to south. As the scan had revealed, LPFM was most likely moving toward the mall, and this truck was as well. SATOH had spotted the vehicle just after SJ4 had started, and they’d kept it hidden until now. They were now heading down the center highway at an average driving speed.
SATOH’s team leader suggested that if they picked up the pace and took a longer route, they might cut off LPFM and SHINC before reaching the west entrance.
“But that would be dangerous. They’ll notice us when we approach, and in the open environment of the parking lot, it would be an even fight. They have M’s shield, the sniper with the explosive rounds, and SHINC’s antitank rifle. Fighting with handguns in the mall gives us a better chance,” asserted the man from WEEI.
Naturally, he and the others present had no idea that all the members of Llenn’s group were heavily injured, SHINC was down to two members, and all their best weapons had been taken away by ZEMAL.
The WEEI man continued, “Still, I understand your point of view. You joined our coalition, and we’ve kept you out of the fighting this entire time. I’m sure it’s been dull. If you want to break away and attack LPFM while you can still use your rifles, we won’t stop you. We’ll get off along the way and head for the mall on foot. What’s your call?”
“……”
SATOH’s leader considered this, his bearded mouth twisting with contemplation. In the end, he smirked.
“All right, I get it. We’ll stick with you and fight side by side in the mall. We’ve come all this way together; might as well see it through to the end that way.”
“Thank you. And I have a request.”
“What’s that?”
“When we get to the mall, we want you to engage first. We’ll hang back until your battle is over.”
“So we’re just the warm-up act, eh? And only when we’re all dead will you finally join the skirmish?”
“That’s right. You’ll fight first to ensure Fire doesn’t die. You are expected to lay down your lives for that cause.”
SATOH’s leader chuckled. “If I hadn’t heard about the payment you promised, I would tell you to go to hell,” he said, and he extended a hand to shake—not toward the WEEI man he’d been talking to, but to Fire. “I hear you loud and clear. We’ll enter the mall and attack LPFM and SHINC. I intend to win, of course, but they’re tremendous opponents. I’ll go in under the assumption that my team will get wiped out after dealing as much damage as we can. The rest will be in your hands. Go on and seize that trophy.”
Without saying a word, Fire looked him right in the eyes and clasped his hand. When he let go, the only words he spoke—with great conviction—were “I’m counting on you.”
SATOH’s leader replied “We’ve got this” and patted the holster at his waist. It contained a brown automatic pistol—a Colt M45A1 CQBP.
This, too, was a Marine Corps standard firearm, one of the latest variants of the classic Government model. CQBP stood for Close-Quarters Battle Pistol.
Every member of SATOH had one, the same as the rifles. The holsters were larger than the silhouettes of the guns because the guns were equipped with flashlights. That was a common practice in real life when fighting in darkness was expected.
In GGO, there were no genuinely dark environments, and pistols were not in high demand, so almost no one affixed illumination sources to their firearms. Any team that went out of their way to put flashlights on their pistols already had great respect for, and experience with, handguns.
The man from WEEI remarked, “I suppose we should get ready, then.”
The squad’s five players, aside from Fire, began to work on their game windows.
Soon, each of them was holding a different kind of pistol. Battle loomed, and they were preparing.
“……”
SATOH’s leader swallowed hard as he watched them go about their work.
With sincerity, he admitted, “I’m glad you’re not our opponents.”
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