0011: Rooftop Gardens

Roman had woken up early and began to prepare breakfast. He knew that it was going to be a rough day and he was concerned with Kim. She was a competent Agent, but he felt that she didn't have the killer instinct that was necessary for the situation. He thought about his previous experiences and knew that he could handle whatever happened. He would need to handle his mission promptly and go support Kim.

After a short, playful breakfast, the two Agents got ready for their respective missions. Roman didn't expect there to be any survivors at the library, but he was hoping that he was wrong. He didn't know if Kim had seen some of the horrific sights that he had witnessed. If she broke down, then she would die.

Kim headed out the East Exit while he headed out the West Exit of the Last Epiphany safe house. He went through the broken fence and headed to the right down an alley. As he reached the street, he ambushed a pair of Hyenas. It was over quickly and they never knew what had hit them.

He made it up the street another block before running into a civilian in a gun fight with a pair of Hyenas. He smiled as he got to ambush and eliminate more of the gang. The civilian was walking with a limp and he sat down behind some road barricades. He thanked Roman and the Division Agent continued on his way.

He didn't make it halfway up the next block before he encountered a group of Hyenas. Roman silently chuckled to himself. Maybe fate was throwing all the garbage at him so that Kim would have an easier time. Roman quickly dropped two of the Hyenas with his KSG before one rushed him. He blocked a baton strike with his shotgun before kicking the Hyena in the stomach. He grabbed them by the back of the neck and slammed their head through the back glass of a parked DCPD SUV.

Roman found another trio of Hyenas down another block. He engaged them. One surprised him with a grenade launcher, but he didn't remain flatfooted. Roman finished off these three, then went back the way he had been going. He ambushed a group of Hyenas scavenging components with a grenade.

"Perhaps my callsign should be Shadow because I'm sneaking all these bastards today," Roman thought to himself.

Roman's ambush streak ended as he was nearing the back of a Catastrophic Emergency Response Agency semi. As he walked past the back of the trailer, a Hyena walked around the front of the truck. There was a short pause before the KSG laid the Hyena down and more of the gang members scattered. Several rounds later, all of the Hyenas were dead.

As Roman neared his point of ingress for the mission, he spotted four Hyenas down the street. They were too close for comfort. Roman decided to remedy that. He tossed a grenade which eliminated two of the Hyenas. He hit a pouch on the hip of one of the Hyenas and it erupted in cloud of green fumes. The Hyena began to stagger around confused.

"I know what to do. Leave this one to me," the remaining Hyena said.

Three seconds later there was a hole in his chest. Roman pumped the shotgun ejecting the spent shell before finishing off the dazed Hyena. Since ISAC was still showing an enemy presence, Roman advanced to take cover behind a dump truck. He moved to a red car and ducked beside the engine. He could now hear a sound system blaring what sounded like some kind of Hyena propaganda.

Another Hyena came from a deep ditch and that made shutting down this propaganda broadcast a priority. Roman fought his way to the sound system and killed a dozen Hyenas in order to shut down their broadcast. Once ISAC indicated that the area was clear of Hyenas, Roman headed back towards his true objective.

"All right, drive out the Hyenas and secure the rooftop gardens," Manny said.

"I got this. Hey Manny, has Kim made it to the library."

"The last I heard from Cindy, Kim was engaged in a battle on the roof."

Roman entered through the broken window and worked his way through the building to a large courtyard. There was a group of Hyenas roaming around on the ground and a single sniper on a second story roof overlooking the courtyard. Roman tossed a Cluster Seeker Mine into the middle of the courtyard. The Seeker Mine split into four homing orbs of death and eliminated all of the Hyenas on the ground.

The Hyena Sniper began to look for their attacker. Roman activated his Striker Drone and sent it after him. Three Hyenas burst out of the Meret store into the courtyard. Roman had to shift position to remain out of the line of fire. Roman switched to his P416 as his drone took out the sniper. Roman set his drone after the nearest Hyena as he targeted the one in the back.

"Damn drone," the Hyena said as he left cover trying to get away from it.

Roman scored hits on his target and the drone's target. Both men fell to the ground. The Striker Drone automatically targeted the last Hyena and chased them back into the Meret store. Roman moved closer into a better position. He fired a couple of shots while the Hyena was in sight. The Striker Drone returned after finishing the last target off.

"I'm seeing hostile activity around a pool on the roof. Looks like the Hyenas are running their operations inside one of the neighboring apartments," Cindy said.

"All right, Agent. Get up to the roof and continue the sweep from there," Manny said.

"Yeah. I'm on it."

Roman deactivated his drone and entered the Meret store. He walked through the open door that the Hyenas must have come from. The elevator shaft was open with a rope suspended inside. Roman thought that it was convenient, as he pulled out his ascender and climbed upstairs. He found himself in a Meret break room.

Roman was heading for the open door when he saw two Hyenas jump out of the windows of the nearby building onto the roof where the sniper had been. Roman quickly dove towards the wall and rolled into cover. He came up with his KSG and let the shotgun open up the chests of both Hyenas. He sprang onto the roof and looked at the trio of dead Hyenas.

Roman looked down into the courtyard to make sure that no stragglers had showed up. He walked to one of the windows and pulled himself into the next building. He made sure that the room was clear before he opened the door of the apartment. As he stepped into the hall, there was a huge explosion.

"You idiot! Don't give me the silent treatment, Pattie. I'm not taking the blame for this one," a Hyena shouted.

"Hey, c'mon Pattie. Answer me! Pattie?"

Roman hopped over a sofa placed in the hallway to slow access to the elevators. Roman saw that the first elevator was stuck between floors. He entered the second elevator and climbed on top of the first elevator to reach the next floor. As he emerged from the open elevator doors, he spotted the body of what was probably Pattie along with fire and debris blocking the rest of the hall beyond.

Roman entered a room to the right. There were several mattresses along the walls laying on the floor. There was also graffiti on the walls of what was probably a nice apartment before the Green Poison. He peered around the corner before continuing. He looked out one of the windows trying to find the Hyena that he heard speaking.

"When in doubt, use a seeker," Roman said under his breath.

He pulled another Cluster Seeker Mine from his backpack. He tossed it out the window. He tapped his watch to let it seek any potential targets. The Seeker Mine was motionless for a moment before it split into multiple seekers. Screams and explosions followed shortly afterwards. Roman hopped out of the window into the raised flower bed beneath it. He moved to the corner of the wall to assess the situation.

He saw a Hyena running through a breezeway on the left of the area. He activated his Striker Drone and it mercilessly gunned down the Hyena. Roman moved into a defensive position to scout the next roof. A sniper was in a position to rear of the right side while two Hyenas remained in the center of the neighboring rooftop.

The Striker Drone began attacking the Hyenas that weren't in cover. This allowed Roman to finish them with his P416. He even managed to hit the sniper a couple of times before putting him down. More Hyenas rushed out to help their fellow gang members, but they were too late. Roman picked off one of the Hyenas as she took some Spice.

This left another sniper and a veteran Hyena. As the Striker Drone kept the tougher Hyena busy, Roman shot the sniper as they tried to get to cover. With only one target left, Roman and the Striker Drone combined fire to turn the Hyena into swiss cheese. Roman deactivated the drone as he crossed the breezeway to the next building.

After ensuring that everyone was dead, Roman headed through the broken glass doors into the next building. The elevators here had been disabled too. Roman hooked his ascender to the rope and began to ascend up the elevator shaft to the open door. He heard a couple of Hyenas talking as he ascended to the fifth floor.

"Did we miss em," a male Hyena asked.

"Nah, they can't have gone past us yet. Just wait," a female Hyena responded.

Roman eased out of the elevator shaft and took cover behind the nearest wall. He looked outside the door to the roof and saw one of the Hyenas. He made sure that the KSG was fully loaded as he prepared to make his next move. He ducked into cover on one side of the doorway.

"Hostiles near your position," Cindy said.

"This must be where most of the Hyenas are holed up. Make your way though this side of the complex and secure it," Manny added.

"Don't worry, Manny. I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of bubble gum."

"Did you just quote Roddy Piper?"

"Manny, I'm impressed that you knew that. You have earned my respect right now."

Roman leaned out and fired the KSG. He hit the female Hyena, but the spread didn't kill her. He fired several more times. The male Hyena rushed to aid her. The KSG was spent when the female Hyena finally hit the ground. The male Hyena was crouching behind cover.

Roman drew his Magnum. The revolver was heavy in his hand and its power was unquestionable. When the male Hyena tried to leave cover to advance on the doorway, Roman hit him with two shots. The first shot hit the Hyena in the shoulder and the second grazed his side. The Hyena dropped back into cover. Roman waited patiently for him to make another move. When the man came up with his submachine gun, Roman hit him with two to the chest.

Once Roman knew that there was no one else outside, he moved into cover by one of the walls. He shifted to a wall on the south side of the pool. There were Hyenas coming out of a building to the southeast. Roman activated his Striker Drone.

As the drone flew into the air one of the Hyenas said, "Oh great. A fucking drone."

Roman smiled as the drone surged forward. He changed the drone's target to the sniper positioned on the awning over the door. He hurled a Cluster Seeker Mine onto the other roof. Several Hyenas went ragdolling through the air. Roman switched to the P416 for the long range battle as the Striker Drone finished off the sniper.

A Hyena jumped out of a window to the right of where the sniper had been. A sniper started shooting at Roman from one of the windows in the other building. The drone drove the Hyena that jumped out of the window into cover, then switched to another Hyena inside the building. This gave Roman the chance to eliminate the sniper. The Hyena on the roof tried to attack Roman, but the drone immediately returned to finish him.

A Hyena Engineer hopped out of the window as the Striker Drone reentered the building after another Hyena. Roman opened fire on the engineer and took a couple of shots to his armor. He spotted another Hyena using the window where he had just killed the sniper. Roman fired in short bursts until he managed to kill that Hyena. His drone chased its target into sight and Roman finished him too.

A Hyena emerged from the building behind Roman and shot him twice in the back. Roman's body armor held up and he used two shots from the Magnum to put the Hyena down. Roman silently cursed himself for being sloppy and allowing himself to be flanked. He had been concerned about Kim, but if he didn't focus he would be the one needing help.

Roman entered the building and headed down the hall to the left. He backtracked through the building that he assumed the Hyena had used to flank him. As he was going through an apartment, one of the walls exploded. A Hyena rushed in. He fired the KSG and turned her into his latest victim.

"I've still got some movement in the eastern apartment building," Cindy said.

"Get over there. Let's wrap this one up," Manny urged.

Roman carefully advanced through the rest of the building. After making his way through the building to the final window, he peered out and spotted the sniper that he killed on the awning. Roman sprang onto the awning. When he looked to the east he spotted two snipers. He opened fire with his P416 to keep them off balance until he could drop to the ground below.

He took cover behind the large stack of crates beside the door. He leaned out once to check the positions of the snipers. The second time he leaned out he scored a headshot on the first sniper. He moved to the wall and traded shots with the remaining sniper until he was able to kill them.

Roman went to the door under the awning and opened it. He travelled through the apartment building until he reached the roof where he had just killed the two snipers. Roman prepared for this final assault.

Cindy contacted him again, "There's water purification equipment on the rooftop opposite your position."

"Could be something for the Theater," Manny said.

"I'll try not to blow it up then," Roman said as he rushed outside to engage the Hyenas.

Roman tossed his last Cluster Seeker Mine onto the opposite roof. The seekers did their job quickly. Three explosions and three Hyenas were sent flying through the air. Roman activated his Striker Drone as more Hyenas emerged. The drone killed one of the new Hyenas as Roman concentrated his fire to kill another one.

"Here comes a grenade," Roman heard a Hyena say before a grenade flew from one building to the next.

Roman wasn't pleased that one of the Hyenas had a grenade launcher. He dove to get away from the second grenade. As he rolled into cover a bullet hit the ground where he had been. He spotted another sniper on a ledge above him. His Striker Drone finished off the Hyena that was inside the building with grenade launcher Hyena.

"All you bitches die," Roman said.

He sent the drone to attack the sniper while he tried to spray the Hyena with the grenade launcher. The Hyena dodged into cover allowing Roman to finish off the sniper with assistance from the drone. Now there was only one threat left. The Hyena was preparing to fire another grenade when the drone shot the grenade launcher out of her hands. Roman rose and caught her with a hail of bullets. The Hyena fell against a wall and slid down leaving a trail of blood.

"All right! The apartment complex is ours. These gardens should provide the Theater with a steady source of food and water. I'm sure Odessa will be pleased," Manny said.

"I just killed a shitload of Hyenas, got her some water purification equipment and reclaimed the gardens. Odessa should dance at my wedding," Roman said before pausing. "How did things turn out at the library?"

"Agent Rollins managed to save a few survivors, but it was bad. She's at the Theater. You should probably meet her there," Manny said.

"Thanks Manny."