Silent Storm — Mission 18, Part 3: Bob’s Bergers

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The winding, labyrinthine halls of Berger’s factory all lead to this last corridor. All his men were guarding this final room.

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At the end of our march, there’s one last turn — before we pass into the bright, steamy chamber.

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ss_portrait_bogeyMan, it’s hot in here. Also, what was that noise?

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ss_portrait_dougBad news.

Bars have flown up over the threshold to block our escape. Doug just barely got through; the bars come up right around his PK, but he’s able to contort its dumb, clunky limbs and get inside.

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You might notice a bigger problem in that picture: Viper, in the only PK armed with a beam weapon… is stuck outside.

An’ this is why we don’t charge blindly inta the bad guy’s lair.

Or you could say we didn’t charge blindly enough. You might have made it in if you were faster.

Stop arguing, you clods. Look!

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It’s Berger.

The huge presses rise up and reveal the sleek, black panzerklein glowing by the light of the fire. He opens up on us before we can react.

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Kate is hit.

ss_portrait_kateAnd I didn’t even get any lines y–

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The second volley incapacitates her.

Then the presses alternate positions.

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When they’ve finished shifting, Berger has disappeared from view.

Ev’rybody okay in there?

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Kate is down and out. Doug was hit and he’s already under 50% HP. Viper himself has a heavily damaged PK (down to about a third HP from that explosion that knocked Zinaida out).

It doesn’t look good.

We’re dead! We’re dead!

Git it together, boss. Ye’ll scare th’ ladies.

We have a single turn to seek cover and move Viper into a slightly more advantageous position, and…

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Heeere’s Johnny!

This time we’re ready.

Lookit all that canned meat over there! Let’s make some Bergers, boys.

I’m the one with the one-liners here!

Viper takes a shot —

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…and hits Kate’s PK.

Dang. Let’s try that agin.

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Direct hit —

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— for… 2 damage? Okay, we’re dead for real. Super, completely dead.

Berger proceeds to sidestep out of sight and take a shot at Viper.

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He makes it out alive, but his PK is about to blow.

Time to switch over. There’s another beam PK right behind us.

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Except once he’s gotten suited up again, we realize the old one is still in the way… and we can’t get a good view of the room. Gosh dangit I keep doing that.

So Viper hops back into the old PK, but before he can move it, Berger comes into view again.

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Now the choice: do we spend a turn juggling the PKs, or take the shot while we have it?

Viper’s definitely got the latter in mind.

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Alright, buddy. I believe in you.

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YES.

That’s more like it! One more shot, Vipes. Make us proud.

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180 damage. And Berger is done.

No! …my moment of glory…

While Bogey has his moment to sulk, Doug heads up to raid the place.

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In a small office above us, we find some documents we were looking for. But the main objective — Berger himself — is still on the other side of the presses. If there’s any glory to be found for Bogey here today, it’s in dragging our nemesis out for questioning.

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Now, you might think that you get over there by waiting for the presses to drop, and then running through the gaps before they oscillate again. But you would be wrong.

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For those counting, this is the second time Bogey has died and we’ve declared it non-canon.

So it turns out that if you try to cross the conveyor belt thing in the middle of the room, you die. It doesn’t matter what position the presses are in; you just die. Seemingly for no reason.

What you actually have to do is get out of your panzerklein and climb over the conveyor belt…

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…and press this tiny, incredibly easy-to-miss red button on the other side.

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Once that’s done, even though nothing changes visibly, you’re now able to walk across the conveyor belt without dying. Which you’ll have to do to lug Berger’s body out of the mission area. (But watch the presses — they’re still chugging away.)

We go to the additional step of walking Berger’s PK across as well. I don’t think it’s better than anything we’ve got, but it’s a nice trophy to make off with.

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Outside, our remaining conscious team members regroup.

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What! We’re leaving with only one PK?

Do you see anyone else with free hands?

Damn it. This will come back to bite us.

We ain’t leavin’ anyone behind, so stuff a sock in it.

ss_portrait_rowdyAnd anyway, ain’t this th’ end o’ line anyway, lads? The Hammer’s factory is kaput.

I’m afraid not. Have a look at this…

Doug unfolds the documents he found, and everyone crowds around.

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Ye can’t be serious.

This is not Thor’s Hammer’s main base. We have one more mission…

One more stop ‘fore we can all take a vacation.

And one more chance at the glory I deserve!

On to the final episode!
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