ManaGun - Stage 02

Stage 2-1

Charlie walked side-by-side with Marcus towards the rundown ticket booth. The carnival grounds had been all too easy to find, lit up at night with bright spotlights that shot up into the sky to attract anyone foolish enough to come. Their airship had dropped them off just a short walk away from the main gate, then left. Marcus had reassured her that another airship would be around to pick them up in 24 hours.

The carnival itself was brightly lit up with lights of all sizes and colors but outside of that, it looked like it had been abandoned for years. The buildings all looked to need serious repairs and dried blood covered all the signage on the surrounding fence. The ticket booth, in comparison, was nearly immaculate. Charlie was convinced it was a trap but Marcus said it would be best to investigate it first regardless. He had said something about 'playing by the rules' that she had honestly tuned out.

"Alright rookie, guns out and stay sharp." Marcus said as they got close.

Charlie nodded and pulled her managun from its holster as playful music suddenly blared loudly from the carnival. Marcus pulled out what she recognized as a submachine-type managun from the inside of his coat and held it in a relaxed position as they stepped up to the ticket booth. Charlie screamed and fired a shot from her gun into the air when something suddenly popped upright in the ticket booth.

"Step right up! Step right up for a frightfully fun night! Wicked delights and sights to amaze!"

The words came from the most unsettling thing Charlie had ever seen in her life. A tall marionette, dressed like a carnival barker with a wide-brim hat, jerked around unnaturally as it spoke to them from a mouth like a nutcracker's. Its eyes were far too realistic, wet and bloodshot with red irises. The only thing that stopped her from shooting it with every shot she had was Marcus's hand, outstretched in front of her.

"Try your luck at our midway games! Test your courage at our haunted house! Experience 12 thrilling rides and our fabulous food court in Scream Alley! Defy death with our performers at the Big Top! For a limited time only, participate in our special rally! Challenge the Performer of the Month at each major attraction and you could win a special prize!" the mechanical marionette barker shouted enthusiastically.

Two blank tickets appeared from a small slot near the barker that Charlie hadn't noticed and as quickly as he appeared, the barker disappeared. Marcus grabbed the tickets and handed one to Charlie. She tucked it away right as the large rickety gates opened to grant them full admission to the park.

"Free admission." Marcus quipped.

Charlie rolled her eyes at his lame attempt at humor but said nothing. The colorful lights and playful music followed them as they entered right into an area filled with all kinds of carnival games. Everything was calm as they advanced together and Charlie wondered if every C-class mission would be so slow.

"Watch out!" an unfamiliar voice shouted.

Charlie barely had a moment to see that the owner of the voice was a human woman before before a demented looking clown popped up behind the woman and dragged her away. Several other clowns, identical to the first one, popped up inside several of the carnival game booths and threw knives.

"Shoot!" Marcus commanded.

Charlie aimed her gun and shot at every clown she could see while Marcus shot nearly every knife out of the air. The last couple knives flew safely past them as Charlie focused on firing at anything with a painted-on face. She shot three of them down before the rest of them ducked back behind cover.

"Reload!"

She growled at her gun as she slammed her clip back into it. She had expected Marcus to laugh but he was totally focused on where the clowns had disappeared. The second the clowns reappeared with new knives, she and Marcus shot them before any new knives could be thrown.

"She had to be one of the missing people. Come on!" Charlie said.

"Hold on!" Marcus shouted as she charged ahead.

He barely managed to grab her shoulder and stop her in time as a giant hammer came down right where she had been about to step. A huge indent was left behind as the hammer lifted. She tried to see who or what had tried to smash her but saw nothing. Even the massive hammer had somehow disappeared into thin air.

Charlie's heart pounded in her chest as she shook her fear away and followed Marcus as he renewed their pursuit towards the woman who'd been taken hostage. They weaved through the maze of carnival games until a howl of laughter caught their attention. More clowns appeared from game booths and tossed various items at them.

She and Marcus shot down every attack and managed to take out three clowns before the rest hid out of sight. Charlie took advantage of the momentary lull to manually reload her managun and waited until they popped back up. The remaining clowns in sight fell easily before the two of them and they returned to their pursuit. Several clowns popped up from behind corners along the way and attempted to harm them with melee attacks but between Marcus rapid fire and Charlie's adrenaline perk, none of them succeeded.

"Who's next?" Charlie said triumphantly after her last few kills.

"Careful what you wish for, rookie." Marcus admonished as they moved forward.

Stage 2-2

The rapid onslaught of clowns had died down to nothing. A new enemy hadn't appeared before them for several moments but Marcus didn't trust it. He led Charlie through the maze of game booths in their search for the woman who'd been kidnapped. Charlie hoped they wouldn't be too late to save her.

"Keep your guard up. This feels like a trap." Marcus said.

Suddenly, iron bars shot up from the ground all around them. Charlie emptied her entire clip at them but didn't even make a dent. Both she and Marcus looked around for enemies but were caught off guard when the game booth nearest them suddenly came to life. Rows of painted targets popped up, some of which beeped and had blinking red lights. An ominous rapid ticking began and Charlie felt her heart race.

"Shoot the targets! Avoid the lights!" Marcus shouted as he began to fire.

Charlie nodded and carefully fired her own shots. The two of them took down target after target in rapid succession but some of the targets popped back up as they shot others down. The ticking got faster and faster as they tried to shoot down every target. Charlie's heart pounded and a clown's laughter was heard as the ticking got so fast it was almost a single long sound.

She sucked in a sharp breath and the world slowed down to a crawl. She could again hear every individual tick and the laughter was distorted. She shot and reloaded as quickly as she could. Every single target fell to a shot from her as she felt herself get lightheaded. She released the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in and the world snapped back to normal speed.

Every single target seemed to fall almost simultaneously as she hyperventilated. Both the ticking and the creepy laughter stopped simultaneously as a banner fell from the ceiling of the booth with 'Congratulations!' written on it. The iron bars that had trapped them retracted into the ground. She and Marcus moved from the spot as quickly as they could.

"How did you know that would work?" Charlie asked as she caught her breath.

"The maniac who runs this place made it an actual carnival, with games and rides that all work. It's important to them, so of course the game would work. Even if it was rigged against us, it was still technically possible to beat it." Marcus said casually as he reloaded his managun.

"That's a lot of words to say you made an educated guess." Charlie snarked.

Marcus snickered and led their way through the maze of booth games. They moved cautiously, paranoid that they would spring another trap. Clown enemies popped up from behind booths as they walked up but were dispatched with relative ease. Charlie had lost count of the number of enemies they had fought and couldn't believe they were still just beginning their mission.

A shrill scream pierced the air and Marcus led the charge towards it. They rounded a corner together and watched a large, insanely fat clown burst through one of the game booths and waddle slowly towards them. Several more regular-sized evil clowns poured out from behind the fat one, armed with various melee weapons.

"Shouldn't you guys be coming out of a tiny car?" Marcus shouted as they fired away.

It took a lot of effort to take down the fat clown but after a moment, they managed to down every enemy and moved on. They weaved quickly through the maze of booths and took out the enemies that would occasionally pop up along the way. A few of the fat ones popped up as well but none of them got close. As frightening as the situation had started out, the mission so far had been far easier than Charlie had expected.

"Where did the hostage go?" she wondered aloud as they carefully moved forward.

The music slowly got louder as they approached what appeared to be the end of the game booth maze. There had been an odd lull in enemy attacks, which left both Charlie and Marcus on high alert. They rounded another corner together and finally found the woman who'd been taken earlier tied to an oversized test of strength game.

"Watch out!" the woman screamed at them.

Her warning gave them just barely enough time to notice and dodge a giant hammer as it slammed onto the ground where they'd just been standing. Its impact left a crater where they'd been standing and a deep, rumbling laugh filled the air. The hammer lifted quickly back into the air and a massive, overly muscled humanoid stepped over them towards the hostage.

The humanoid's head looked like the other clowns but with a comical handlebar mustache and straw flat top hat. It wore bright red overalls with one of the straps unfastened and a nametag that read Hammertime the Strongman. It turned back around to face them with a bloody, toothy grin and laughed again without any movement of its mouth. It carried two of the giant hammers, one in each hand, and pointed one of them towards the two Agents.

"I think we just found one of the Performers of the Month." Charlie said nervously as she levelled her managun at its head.

"Then let's stop Hammertime!" Marcus replied enthusiastically.

The two of them rained bullets on the strongman as it stomped towards them with little visible effect. They dodged out of the way as Hammertime swung one of its hammers at both of them but found themselves separated on either side of the terrifying giant. It turned its attention to Marcus and laughed again as it stalked towards him. She pumped as many rounds into its back as she could but again, there was little visible effect.

She watched in horror as Hammertime raised up one of its hammers to squash Marcus when suddenly, it splintered into a thousand pieces. Hammertime looked at where its hammer used to be with wide eyes, though the same creepy, frozen smile. Marcus took advantage of the momentary distraction to run around Hammertime and rendezvous back with Charlie.

"Aim for the hammer!" he shouted as Hammertime stomped its foot in a tantrum.

The strongman turned back towards them with angry eyes as it gripped its remaining hammer with both hands and charged towards them in a full sprint. Marcus and Charlie dodged together as Hammertime rushed past them and crashed through a booth. They lost sight of the strongman entirely and waited a few moments with their guns at the ready.

When Hammertime didn't come back immediately, they rushed over to where the hostage was tied up so they could free her before she got hurt in the fight. They had nearly reached her when one of the clowns they had mowed down while they'd been working their way through the maze soared over their heads and slammed into the bell on the giant test of strength. Charlie turned around where the clown had come from and saw a bunch of clowns falling towards them.

"It's raining clowns?!" Charlie shouted as she reloaded her gun.

She and Marcus shot them down as quickly as they could as more clowns got launched towards them from somewhere deeper in the booth maze. The clown rain seemed like it would never end but the two Agents managed to blast them all away. As soon as the last launched clown was gone, Hammertime burst through another booth back into view. His deep, booming laugh echoed as he quickly stomped towards them with a brand new hammer in the hand he'd previously lost one.

They focused fire on the two hammers and the first one broke just like before. Hammertime repeated the behavior of looking at his empty hand and throwing a tantrum by stomping his foot. Charlie and Marcus did their best to shoot the remaining hammer as the strongman gripped it in both hands.

They expected Hammertime to flee again to get a new hammer but instead its face started to crack as it laughed maniacally and leapt high into the air. It reeled back for a big swing and they couldn't shoot through Hammertime's body to hit the hammer so they had no choice but to move out of the way. They were thrown backwards from the shockwave and landed roughly in a heap together.

They scrambled back to their feet as Hammertime turned around. Its terrible cracked face fell away completely, which revealed an angry looking face with absolutely no flesh on it. The exposed muscles around its mouth moved unnaturally as it roared its rage at the two of them.

"We've exposed a new weak point! Fire, fire, fire!" Marcus yelled as Hammertime stomped towards them.

Charlie and Marcus focused their fire as best they could on the strongman's grotesque visage as he lifted his hammer high for another strike. Its head snapped back with every shot that connected but its momentum went undisturbed as it stepped right in front of them, ready to smash them to paste. They never stopped shooting and right as it looked like the end, Hammertime suddenly howled in pain.

It grabbed its face and stumbled backwards, which gave Charlie and Marcus the opening they needed to move. They ran to the side to get a better angle and some distance from the hammer wielding monster. They had just gotten into position when Hammertime threw yet another tantrum and began to stomp towards them again.

"Haven't learned your lesson yet?" Charlie shouted as she fired at its face again.

The process repeated again as Hammertime raised its massive hammer to squash them, only for the pain to be too much as they pumped clip after clip from their managuns into it. Charlie followed Marcus as they repositioned once more to get a clear shot at the strongman's face as it threw yet another tantrum. They managed to get a few free shots off before it moved once again.

Charlie had expected the strongman to come after them again but instead it stomped away right behind a booth. She had thought for a moment that it would retreat but Hammertime stayed right where it was as it swung its massive hammer like a golf club. The booth it had taken position behind was launched towards them and she shrieked in panic.

"Shoot it!" Marcus yelled.

It barely managed to snap her out of her panic in time for her to join him in firing upon the oversized projectile. They chipped away at it as best they could with a ridiculous number of bullets but there simply wasn't enough time. It slammed into the both of them hard and splintered into an uncountable number of pieces as she and Marcus were knocked onto their backs.

She barely had time to groan before Hammertime showed up in her field of vision with its hammer raised high above its head. Marcus was already firing at the murderous strongman by the time it swung its hammer down. Charlie's heart raced and the world slowed to a crawl. Her body practically moved on its own as her hand aimed at Hammertime's head and fired as quickly as it could.

She kept firing automatically as the hammer slowly drew closer to her head. Her heart hammered faster and faster until Hammertime's head snapped back. She sucked in a huge breath as their would-be killer stumbled backwards with a long, pained shriek. She and Marcus helped one another get back on their feet as Hammertime finally dropped its massive hammer and held its injured head.

Hammertime let out one final roar before its head exploded. The body fell backwards onto a game booth, which crunched under the weight, and stayed completely still. Charlie still struggled to get her breathing back to normal but wanted to cheer her victory to the heavens after such a close brush with death.

"Looks like our skills blew his mind." Marcus commented as he started to walk towards where the hostage was still tied up.

Charlie couldn't help but laugh, despite it all.

Stage 2-3

Charlie sat on a bench in the central hub they had all reached after Marcus had freed the hostage and they had left the maze of game booths. For some reason, it was completely free of enemies. They saw clowns in the distance but none of them ever even came close to where they were. Mason thought they had reached some sort of accidental safe zone, created to keep the flow of resources free. Charlie was just happy to get a breather after she'd gotten flattened by that booth.

"Hey Charlie, come here for a minute!" Marcus shouted from where he'd been speaking with the hostage.

Charlie groaned in annoyance but willed her bruised, aching body onto her feet. She had no idea how Marcus remained so chipper in light of their injuries. It was probably just his experience but she wasn't sure how she was ever going to handle any other mission if what they were going through was the lowest difficulty class.

"Reporting for duty." she said tiredly once she had reached him.

"Are you okay?" the hostage, Ashley, asked.

"She'll be fine. We're professionals, after all." Marcus insisted, to Charlie's further annoyance.

"Alright, if you're sure..." Ashley replied quietly before she walked off to where Charlie had been recuperating.

"For the record, everything hurts." Charlie groaned once Ashley was out of earshot.

"Not surprising." he replied after a long chuckle, "That's my bad though. Here, show me your score bracer."

Charlie held up her arm as instructed. The once blank jewel in the center of it now had a number lit up in bright white; 1870. She had no idea how it had been measured or what it really meant outside of a vague performance tracker but she had felt a small swell of pride when she had first seen the number. It was her first score, after all.

"You did good, rookie. Most first-timers barely manage to crack 500 their first time in battle. Now let me show you what you can do with your score." Marcus said with a smile.

He gently grabbed her other hand and made her touch the gem on her bracer. She looked at him oddly until he pressed down and it made a tiny click sound. Before she could ask what he'd just done, light beamed up from the jewel. It formed into a flat square and words quickly scribbled themselves into existence in thin air. Her jaw went slack as the entire process completed itself in a heartbeat.

"That... is your score shop screen." Marcus explained.

"Shop...screen?" Charlie repeated, dumbfounded.

"Well, to be technical that's not actually what it's called but it's been so long since anybody's said the actual name of it that nobody can remember it without looking it up." he said casually.

"Okay... so what does it do?" she asked slowly as she looked down the list of the many things the shop screen had written.

"For you? Not much. See how most of the options are written in grey?" he asked as he pointed out the examples on her screen, "Those will unlock as you go up in rank. For now, just go back up to the top and place your finger on the one that says 'First Aid'."