Bullets and Thorns

* Title screen
* Original title card

**Bullets and Thorns** introduces players to the title character, John Mason, as he engages Delta Seven and the Replacer Syndicate.

## Synopsis

> *John Mason, a cash-strapped one-man mercenary operation, accepts a risky job from a shady client. A clue about his brother, who died unexpectedly, is why he takes the job.*
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## Appearances

* John Mason
* Zhang Wei
* Jane Doe
* Ian Mason
* Tommy and the Losers
* Jake Walker
* Replacer Pawn
* Replacer Queen

## Plot

### Act 1

While John fights an Corrupted Objects outside his office, Zhang Wei tells her boss to stop paying so much for special bullets, but John protests that he needs them for killing C.O.s. At John's request, Wei looks through John's inbox and finds a new job offer by Jane Doe.

As John is finishing up his current job, he is ambushed by a C.O. but is quickly saved by Jane, the woman who made the offer. Wei scolds Jane, thinking she's there to take credit for the job, while John is trapped under the killed C.O.'s body. Jane introduces herself to the two as she helps John up. Jane then admonishes John for ignoring her mail and tells him to check his bank account. Wei looks at it and sees a deposit of 10,000 credits. John is hesitant to accept the job, but Wei pushes him to accept due to their dire financial situation while Jane convinces him to cooperate by showing him his brother's necklace. John tries to snatch it away, but Jane says she will only hand it over if John agrees to help.

### Act 2

Jane and John are preparing to take off on a dimensional ship at Finely Mining Industries. A hologram notifies them that they will be diving to Depth 3. John turns off the intercom and points out the other mercenaries nearby to Jane, suspecting they are actually military troops. He also asks Jane what she's looking for here, but she ignores him. Jake Walker, who is commanding the mining operation, talks through the intercom and informs the crew that he will handle any large C.O.s that wander into the area as he is a Grade B Counter. However, he also reminds the crew that they are still responsible for their own safety.

After the crew reaches the Depth 1 and secures the surrounding area, John is still concerned about the soldiers but Jane tells him to stop staring at them so much. Jake walks about the area and thanks the two of them for their assistance. John and Jane believe Jake is not trustworthy and probably much stronger than a Grade B Counter.

The crew re-enters the ship, and the ship dives to Depth 3. Tommy, Jerry, and Mickey discuss the situation, noting that the C.O.s are much more powerful than they expected. The hologram announces they've reached Depth 3, but John thinks they're actually at Depth 5 due to the Eternium shield's unusually high energy consumption. He sends out a drone he named Ian Jr. to find out what Jake is looking for. After exiting the ship, John realizes the C.O.s are guarding something and head over with Jane to see what it is.

The two find an abandoned ship and are about to enter but are ambushed by Jake and a contingent of troops. Tommy and his friends arrive as well while John accuses Jake of bringing the ship to either Depth 5 or 6. Jake loses his patience and orders the troops to attack. In order to turn Jake's attention away, John activates an handmade Eternium Resonance Pulse Generator in order to lure C.O.s to their area. John, Jane, and Tommy's group all head into the abandoned ship while Jake and the soldiers fight the C.O.s outside.

### Act 3

Jane observes the ship is barely operational and tells they could use it to surface in Normalside. John heads to the engine room alone tries to repair the engine as Jake's troops enter the ship. Jane hides from Jake's troops while Tommy's group rejoins John. Knowing that Jake will find him soon, John powers up the Eternium Resonance Pulse Generator substantially, luring in even more powerful C.O.s.

Jake manages to defeat all the C.O.s between him and John regardless. The two realize that Jane lured the two together inside the engine room while she went off to accomplish her true goal. Jane contacts Jane from the ship's main bridge, and John tells her that, while the ship's power has been restored, attempting to surface will cause the engine to explode. A bomb set up by Jane on the radio then explodes, opening a hole in the wall. Tommy and Jake are sucked through, and Jake's troops to focus on saving Jake. As John and the remainder of Tommy's group takes cover, the engine explodes.

### Act 4

In a flashback, John is in the hospital after crashing his father's car into a lake. John tells his brother Ian that their father is probably disappointed that John couldn't get into college, but Ian offers to convince their father to give John some time to figure out what to do with his life. John tells Ian that he wants to be a mercenary because of all the Eternium mercenaries can get.

Later, John is informed that Ian was killed in a traffic accident. A mysterious woman then orders all of the documents belonging to Ian be sent to her.

Back in the present, Jane tells John that she brought him up to the bridge and that they successfully surfaced into Normalside. However, they are soon ambushed by Replacer Hybriders. Among them is Jacob Finely, now transformed into a hybrider called Replacer Pawn after the previous destruction of his original body. Jake and his soldiers reappear, having barely hung onto the ship's plating, and fight their way to the bridge. With Jake focused on Replacer Pawn, John and Jane take the data involving Project Terraside from the ship's databanks. After Replacer Pawn retreats, Jake loads the ship's databanks but finds the data gone.

John and Jane retreat in different directions. Replacer Pawn catches up with John, and John realizes that Jane had planted the stolen data onto him so she could get away. After Replacer Pawn is defeated again, Replacer Queen interrupts the fight over a communicator, telling Pawn that he is a disappointment after he had two chances to prove himself. Jane reappears, and John tries to shoot her, but she dodges his shots. John exchanges the Terraside data for his brother's necklace, but Jane accidentally throws the necklace out of the ship, forcing John to chase after it just before the ship crashes.

Back at the Mason Mercenary Office, John inspects the necklace and finds a flash drive inside. Reviewing it, he learns the details of Project Terraside. Elsewhere, Tommy is found to have survived, and he and his group leave the crashed ship, stepping on an exhausted Replacer Pawn in the process.