Equipment jammer one hundred meters away.

Dan had been trying to access his HUD’s other menus, such as his map. Unfortunately, his map, which would have had all the landmarks on it, was disabled. He wasn’t going to get anywhere without locating that jammer.

He spotted a small tower on top of a shop down the street. His HUD placed a flashing blue icon on the tower, signaling the equipment jammer.

He grabbed the grenade launcher off his back and fired two grenades at it, toppling the jammer and destroying it.

Jammer destroyed. You may now access your map.

Bonus experience rewarded.

Dan immediately ran inside the nearest building. He smashed his way through the front glass of a shop and stepped inside. He hopped over a counter and crouched down, pulling up his HUD menu to check his map.

He ignored all the digitally reconstructed blocks and buildings and focused on the colored dots and arrows placed by his HUD. He noticed the green dots represented his teammates. Dan was alarmed to see only two remained.

Ben had been killed. Kate was a traitor. That meant another member of their team had died. Dan didn’t know who, as his map wouldn’t specify which green dot represented which teammate. He focused his attention on the blue blinking dot, which marked the main hideout where the rebels were stationed. That was where presumably all the higher-ups of the rebels were. Kodak’s leadership was probably there as well, which only filled Dan with more dread. Just him alone against an entire hideout’s worth of enemy soldiers and agents would be too overwhelming to him.

Dan narrowed his eyes and considered his options. If he couldn’t take over the hideout by himself, then he needed to regroup with of one his teammates.

He swapped over to the private channel and tried contacting Jane. To his surprise, she responded.

“Dan, good to see you’re still alive. Any injuries?”

“No, I’m fine,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. “We lost Ben. Kate killed him.”

“I know. I saw his status update. An unfortunate loss. Regardless, we must push through. Let me guess, you’re trying to go solo?”

“Yeah, and I realized it’s a bad idea. Maybe we should meet up and storm that hideout together.”

“I’ve already sent Allen to meet up with you. I need time to recover from my injuries. And I have a target painted on my back.”

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Dan wondered what kind of injuries Jane had that she needed time to recover. He assumed that her having a moderate healing factor would mean injuries would no longer be an issue.

“What about your healing factor? Isn’t that supposed to heal your injuries?”

“It’s not instant, Dan. As much as the Alpha Corp’s marketing tries to push it, I’m not a comic book character. Even my body can’t heal instantly from two broken arms and organ ruptures throughout my body.”

“The fuck? Where the hell have you been?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Jane said. “But listen to me, do not take any unnecessary risks. There are Kodak agents in the area that will crush you in an instant. Sit tight and wait for Allen to meet you.”

Dan double-checked his map again and saw the two other green dots. One of them, the farthest away, was presumably Jane. The other was slowly moving, but directly towards the hideout. This green dot was around nine hundred meters away from him and heading away from him and the hideout.

“I don’t mean to panic, but I’m looking at the map and see two green dots. One of them is far away from me and the other is moving directly to the hideout. Wouldn’t Allen at least contact me and set up a waypoint?”

“That’s not good,” Jane said. A brief silence filled the channel before she returned with even more distressing news. “I just contacted Allen and he’s been captured. He’s being dragged away by Kate.”

If Allen wasn’t going to be any help, then Dan was screwed. His only hope was to meet up with Jane somehow.

“You want me to go at this alone anyway?”

“Absolutely not,” Jane snapped. “I’ve lost half of my team already. Allen is being dragged away by that traitorous bitch and you’re all I have left. Stay put and wait for me to come to you.”

Dan looked down and stared at the grenade launcher in his hands. Just being told to sit and wait around felt contrary to his training and how he did things. Maybe he could try to intercept Kate and rescue Allen.

He also recalled that cowardly Kodak agent Samantha who had fled and evaded him killing her. It would be satisfying to pay her a visit and get payback for all of her shit-talking. If he could, he wanted that agent dead.

“Alright then,” Dan lied. “I’ll keep my head down. But I don’t like to think what they’re going to do with Allen.”

“Me neither, but we can’t be reckless. Jane out.”

The channel shut down and Dan was left on his own. As much as he wanted to do something, storming the hideout on his own was off the table. He would be killed trying to take on both the rebels and Kodak at once.

Dan’s only chance was to intercept Kate and Allen and rescue him. He watched as the green dot slowly made its way through the streets. If he hurried his ass, he might make it to them before that traitorous bitch took Allen to the hideout.

A message popped up in front of him.

New objective: intercept Kate Razor and rescue Allen Draco.

Optional objective: kill Samantha Striker to satisfy your revenge.

Warning: pursuing these objectives will contradict orders from Jane Sunheiser. Proceed at your own risk.

He exited out of his map and a yellow arrow in his peripheral vision pointed him towards the moving position of Kate and Allen.

“Great, now how the hell do I get there?” he asked himself.

Dan stepped outside and felt the familiar heavy rain hitting his face and coat. He looked at the abandoned vehicles parked along the street and immediately got his answer. If he was able to take control of a Kodak jeep, then he should have no issue hijacking a civilian vehicle.

“Time to hotwire a car,” Dan said.