After a bit of small talk with Michael and Angie, Dan replicated Li’s way of thinking and dozed off for the rest of the trip into Kodak territory. A sudden and forceful tap on the shoulder woke him up and Dan looked up to see Michael standing in front of him.

“We’re here, my boy,” Michael said. “Follow me and I’ll get you and Li to put on your disguises.”

“Where are we in relation to the hotel?” Dan asked.

“If we could land on their rooftop without drawing suspicion, we would have done it. We’re about a half an hour drive away. If we tried landing any closer we would have drawn a lot of suspicion, even with all the comm and radar scrambling Tim has done to confuse Kodak’s local airspace.”

Dan unfastened his straps and saw that Angie and Li were already up and awake, carrying their briefcases in their hand. He grabbed his too and all three of them walked out together with Michael. Once they stepped off the ramp, Dan could immediately tell something was seriously wrong with this place.

Irritation and tiredness already struck both his eyes, even though Dan felt well rested after his short nap during the ride. A single glance up caused Dan to stop in his tracks. Instead of the serene blues or the overcast cloud cover from Cerulean city, Dan saw nothing but a blood red skyline. He looked around and was unsettled to see that he and his team were the only ones around. The dropship had landed them in an empty lot in some suburban section. Dan made a quick dash across the lot and glanced down the street.

“Hey,” Michael said sternly. “We’re in enemy territory, remember?”

The scenery Dan saw down the street wasn’t any better. Half the buildings on one side of the block were demolished and the other half were abandoned, featuring smashed windows, boarded up front entrances and juvenile graffiti art. On the road, Dan saw a giant sinkhole and fumes rose from the small crater in the pavement.

A hand slapped Dan’s shoulder. “It’s a dump, I know. You grew up in a similar shithole as this one, so I think the scenery can speak for itself,” Michael said.

Dan stepped back and returned to the group with Michael.

“I don’t blame him,” Angie said. “I wish I could take pictures of how much of a hellhole this place looks. I don’t think I could last a week waking up to a red sky everyday.”

Li nodded silently. The group unanimously agreed that this wasn’t exactly a vacation spot.

“Kodak’s urban planning leaves much to be desired, I will admit. But everyone stay on task. We won’t be here for any more than a few hours,” Michael said. The agent pointed his finger at a store at the end of the lot. “In that building, you’ll find packages that contain your disguises right behind the cashier counter. Put those on and you’ll have your rides waiting to take you to the hotel.”

The three of them headed towards the abandoned shop and Li opened the unlocked front door. Not even a few steps in, all three stepped on shattered glass and had to carefully move around hanging electrical wires from a gutted ceiling panel.

“I pity the average Kodak citizen if this is what a typical suburb looks like,” Li remarked.

Dan glanced at the counter and saw the smashed glass that would have displayed products. He was the first to hop over the counter and spotted three small boxes each with written names belonging to each of them.

He set his briefcase on the countertop and crouched down to pick up his box containing his new outfit. Opening it, he saw a fancy business attire that consistent of black dress pants with matching dress shirt. The extra accessories such as the the tie and sleeveless vest were red.

“Huh, not bad,” Dan said.

Dan and the others began putting on their new disguises. Since they still had to wear their armor underneath the new threads, it didn’t take too long. Dan wasn’t ashamed to ask Li’s help in getting his red tie on correctly.

“You seriously don’t know how to put on a tie?” Angie asked.

“You would be surprised how much of a shithole the U.S. is,” Dan replied.

“The U.S.? You mean the badlands?”

“Badlands?”

“Yes, that’s the nickname a lot of the agents use when they address the Americas,” Li said. “The U.S. government doesn’t even try to hide their totalitarian ways. Even the worst of the shards here at least put a happy face on for its people.”

Dan got a good look at both his teammates and saw they both featured matching outfits. Black business attire with red accents. All three grabbed their last accessories, a pair of sunglasses and a mask, both of which would cover their faces and further conceal their true identities. Dan folded his long coat as best he could to fit the empty slit along the bottom of his briefcase.

A notification reached Dan’s HUD and Michael voice immediately filled in his head.

“We got a severe thunderstorm approaching this entire city,” Michael said.

“How bad is it?” Li asked. “And will it affect our mission?”

“No. Even when we extract, our dropship should be able to handle anything short of a severe tornado. Your rides will be waiting outside. Dan and Li will take one car and Angie will ride another vehicle taking a different route.”

“We’re not arriving at the hotel at the same time?” Angie asked.

“No. Usually most meetings that Kodak has with Cresh arms dealers involve no more than one or two representatives. If you’re having a meeting about weapon shipments or development updates on prototypes, you usually don’t need an entire crew to convey such details. Having a trio of them walk into the hotel might draw suspicion. Dan and Li will arrive first and get themselves set up to find and steal the container. Angie will come in at a later time right after a shift change with the receptionist and a few of the guards to further anyone asking questions.”

“You took a look at the work schedules for some of the staff? That’s super intricate,” Angie said.

“It’s standard procedure when stealth is needed to complete a mission,” Li said. “Knowing all the stats such as when, where and how many enemies there will be in an area goes a long way.”

Angie frowned and scoffed. “Okay, I can accept being lectured by the legendary Michael Cynosa but I don’t need any from a ‘specialist’ like you.”

For the first time, Dan heard Li snicker underneath his mask.

The team walked around the hanging wires again and stepped out of the shop. Dan spotted two vehicles parked on the lot, both of them matching vehicles that had the familiar aesthetic of all black bodies with red trimmings, bumpers and rims. The doors on both automatically opened for them to enter.

“We’ll see you at the hotel, Angie,” Dan said.

“Good luck you two,” she said. “Sounds like you guys have the harder part of this mission.”

Dan hopped onto the driver seat while Li entered and rode shotgun. Both tossed their briefcases in the backseat of the vehicle and the doors closed beside them. The car reversed and pulled out of the driveway on its own.

“Well, at least we can enjoy the ride in peace,” Dan said.

“You have an interesting definition of ‘peace.’ If I was a passenger looking out my window and I had to look at this dump…” Li said while pointing his thumb outside. The abandoned or demolished buildings combined with the red skies were far from pleasing to the eyes.

“You have a point,” Dan said. He noticed the car had taken a route that involved taking the same road where he spotted the sinkhole. Luckily, the on board self-driving gently swerved to the side and avoided the sinkhole in the road.

After about ten minutes of awkward silence between the two, Dan finally saw activity outside the vehicle, though only just barely. He didn’t know if what he was seeing could be quantified as actual civilization. Dan saw a random citizen here and there, but it seemed like there was only a dozen people per block.

“Isn’t it supposed to be the evening right now?” Dan said.

“It is,” Li said.

“Then why aren’t there more people out? I would assume people are heading to bars or something. There’s only three other cars with us on this road.”

“I haven’t heard much good about the quality of life in Kodak-owned territory. That’s all I can say. From what I’ve seen with how they treat their citizens, I don’t feel one bit sorry whenever I put a slug into an Kodak agent’s head or slit one’s throat,” Li said.

Dan watched as a poor old man limped along the sidewalk while grabbing into the walls with his hand to maintain balance. A mother and her infant child frantically ran past that same old man. Dan swore he saw tears running down her cheeks.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The vehicle made a turn and Dan saw a trio of Kodak agents. All three were dancing and waving their guns in the air like hooligans. Dan recalled during one of Jane’s training sessions where she always drilled trigger discipline within him. Playing with guns and getting injured or killed because on negligence was the most embarrassing blunder for an agent. He watched as one of the Kodak agents waved around a CMA rifle with his finger still on the trigger. Dan never recalled that rifle having a safety switch and winced.

It didn’t take long for the car to reach the end of the street and turn right. Along the sidewalk, Dan saw another patrol of Kodak agents. He used the term patrol loosely as he saw the same ridiculous and obnoxious dancing and posing from this group just like the last one. This time, all three of them discharged their weapons into the air while screaming and laughing.

Li scoffed at this display. “Animals. They’re just wasting their resources. I could never look at myself if I just wasted my bullets on shooting air for fun.”

“No kidding,” Dan said. “I had to fight for food back where I came from. Talk about being so spoiled that shooting guns in the air on the street is somehow fun.”

“That’s Kodak for you,” Li shrugged.

Dan took his eyes from the side window and simply focused straight ahead. The outside views was just depressing. Not only was the scenery and architecture rundown and poorly kept, but Kodak agents acted like belligerants and the regular citizens for just trying to make the best out of their circumstances.

An odd pressure inside his head began gradually building up. Now his head was pounding.

Ah shit, Dan thought.

He remembered being unexpectedly knocked out by a strange headache during a training session with Allen. Dan assumed it was simply exhaustion from being drilled by Jane for a month straight without a break.

Luckily, the headache waned and faded into a dull ache in the back of his eyes.

The car stopped behind a line of vehicles ahead. Dan press and held a button to roll down the side window and poked his head out to see what was up ahead.

“That doesn’t look good,” Dan said.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s another group of Kodak agents. This time, it looks like some armed checkpoint.”

Dan saw three cars ahead that a few obnoxious brats in Kodak armor were shouting and heckling some poor driver ahead. Dan’s ears picked up the screaming match between one Kodak agent and the driver.

“My daughter has a surgery she need to go to. Leave me the fuck alone!” was what Dan heard.

One agent walked near the backseat of the car and punched the side door, leaving a sizeable dent on the side. The group finally stopped their harassment of the driver and allowed the vehicle through the checkpoint.

Dan leaned back in his seat and rolled the window back up.

“Relax. They don’t know who we are. As long as we don’t give them any problems, we should be good,” Li said.

“And what if they do?” Dan countered. “They punched some poor guy’s car ahead and left a nasty dent before letting him go. He had a kid that needed to get to the hospital. I’m not so sure about us not having a problem. We don’t have all day to get that container.”

Li crossed his arms. “We’re Cresh arms dealers. They won’t mess with us. Even if they tried, we can simply just kill them.” Li reached toward the back seat and opened up his briefcase. He took out the handgun along with the silencer attachment.

“In that case, I counted four of them. All of them without helmets,” Dan said.

“Perfect for headshots then,” Li said. “I’ll get yours too. If it really comes down to it, you kill two and I’ll kill two.”

Li gathered and readied both handguns, passing one over to Dan. He looked around for a spot to conceal the pistol and found a gap between his seat and the door.

The two cars ahead were “inspected” and allowed passage through the checkpoint before Dan’s car finally rolled up. He took a deep breath before he lowered his side window and looked at the Kodak agent.

Up close, the agent wasn’t anything noteworthy. Dan had gotten used to the general look these Kodak agents adopted. Pale almost ghostly skin with bloodshot eyes. The wicked grins all for had on their faces didn’t help their appearances either. Even the corrupt cops Dan had ecnountered in his home town could at least put on the front of being professional.

“Well, what do we have here?” The agent said. The only thing differentiating this one from the other three was the nose piercing and gold teeth. “You really think you’re hot shit or something.”

Oh great. A roasting session, Dan thought.

“Guy check this man out,” the agent said pointing his finger at Dan. “This guy is wearing a fancy business outfit and the guy looks as average as he can get. You think you’re gonna pull bitches looking like that? You think those sunglasses look cool on you? The dude’s a fucking poser.”

Dan wasn’t exactly offended. Honestly, he wasn’t impressed. This asshole barely looked any older than he was so he could understand the jokes not landing so well.

“Tell you what. Why don’t you give me those sunglasses and I’ll let you be on your merry way, hmm?”

Dan didn’t have time for this shit. He simply reached into his pocket and brought out his fake ID card. “Look asshole, I don’t have time for games. I’m an arms dealer who’s going to be talking to VIPs from your shard. If I’m late for my meeting, I’ll report you and your buddies for disrupting our operations. I see to it that you’ll be scrubbing toilets for the rest of your career.”

The agent dropped the grin immediately and so did his other three associates. He looked to his other teammates and only get a few shoulder shrugs and confused looks in response.

“Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that?” the agent spat. “I can drag you out of this car and crack your skull open like an egg.”

Dan narrowed his eyes at this asshole. “I just told you who I am and where I need to be headed. Maybe I should step out of this vehicle and pick out the wax from your ears.”

“Try it,” the agent seethed.

Dan had heard all the usual taunts and obnoxious comments from gang members and other degenerates growing up. In his younger years, he had always bitten his tongue at his mother’s request to prevent himself from getting into trouble. Once he turned thirteen or fourteen, he finally grew a backbone and would answer back to those losers, even if it put his life in danger. He got sick of letting these assholes getting away with taking shit to his face.

These Kodak agents were no different. Dan reached for his silenced pistol with intentions of settling this situation, permanently. But something grabbed his other wrist. He glanced and saw Li had grabbed him. The serious gaze told him everything.

“That’s enough of this,” Li said. He shifted his gaze towards the Kodak agents outside. “What my friend failed to mention is that we’re arms dealers from Cresh manufacturing, a sister company owned by Kodak.”

The Kodak agent with the gold teeth stared at him along with the others.

“We design the armor you wear and the weapons you carry. We have an important meeting to attend with you bosses. It would be ashame if new deals couldn’t be made if we were late due to your actions. Think before you act, agent. Or else your career will be cut short by your bosses for such a major disruption to our operations.”

Das was impressed. Li articulated himself better than he ever could. He realized that it wasn’t enough to simply look like the person you’re impersonating. You had to put on a convincing act as well. He wasn’t surprised, as Li was a stealth specialist and was probably experienced in entering enemy territory with a disguise to blend in. Dan gritted his teeth. He almost started a fight with this batch of Kodak assholes and lost sight of the mission.

“Fucking idiot,” one of the other agents said. “Let them go or else we’re all cooked. I don’t wanna be a fucking janitor.”

The agent with the gold teeth looked back at Li, then fixed his gaze at Dan. While he was obviously still seething at Dan’s insolence, he knew it wouldn’t be wise to start an altercation with Cresh arms dealers, regardless of who started it first.

Dan got to see a rare moment of victory, one that was crushing to any enemy. The agent forced himself to calm down and swallow his pride. He didn’t carry out his threat to whoop Dan’s ass. Just to be spiteful, Dan grinned fully underneath his mask.

“So it finally sunk in? How long did it take you?” Dan said.

The Kodak agent blared his gold teeth at him, but knew he couldn’t do anything now. “You can leave. Get the fuck out of my sight.”

That earned him an elbow jab to the head from one of his teammates. “He meant to say have a safe trip, sir,” one of them said. Dan could tell the agent who hit him was merely covering his own ass but he appreciated the sentiment.

“Thank you,” Dan said. Just to be petty, he added, “I saw the way you heckled one of the cars that was ahead of me. Make sure that’s the last time you do any of that bullshit. You were put here because you have a job to do, punk. Don’t you forget that.”

Dan rolled up his window and the car accelerated past the checkpoint and down the road.

“Thanks for descalating Li,” he said. “That could have been messy. You have a way with words.”

Dan’s partner chuckled. “So do you. You lack subtlety, but I can respect your way of twisting the knife, for lack of a better saying. He knew his position was at risk and couldn’t say anything back to either of us. That Kodak dunce had to stand there and take it. And don’t think I missed that last comment you made.”

“Which was?”

“You ordered him to stop fooling around and to leave the civvies alone. You made this place just a bit more tolerable for the people, even if it was just one percent. Good to see you’re throwing you weight around like a true businessman.”

Dan gave Li and polite nod. “Maybe it’s best you do most of the talking from now on and I’ll only interject if the bravado is needed.”

“Agreed,” Li said.

As the car continued through the neighborhoods, though Dan used the term loosely, the scenery didn’t get any better after the checkpoint. Dan only saw more and more regular people in the sporadic crowds going about their day. He hadn’t seen a single smile or anyone looking at anything other than down.

“I can’t blame these people for being miserable,” Li said. “I've accessed the local news feeds in this city. It’s…”

“It’s what? What’s been going on around here?”

“The red sky is artificial. Kodak chooses to make the sky this ugly and displeasing color as a punishment to its citizens.”

Dan looked at Li as if he was telling him he shot an elderly woman. “The fuck? What kind of punishment is that?”

“According to the latest article, this city is under punishment because thirty-five percent of its citizens didn’t pay their taxes on time. So Kodak artificially changed the sky to be this blood red shade to ruin the mood and atmosphere of this city. I would assume it’s working since I can’t imagine being motivated to go outside and do anything if just looking and anything makes my eyes bleed. If you noticed, I’ve had my eyes shut for most of the ride. Looking outside bothers my eyesight a bit too much.”

Dan leaned back in his seat and wondered about the twisted logic Kodak had in governing its people. While doing so, Li grabbed both of their pistols and disassembled the silencers. He placed the weapons back into their respective briefcases.

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s like you caught your kid stealing from the cookie jar, and your punishment is to beat the life out of him until near-death. It’s a sick punishment that doesn’t fit the crime. I’m sure somehow it makes perfect sense for Kodak to further crush the morale of its citizens which will surely motivate them all to pay their taxes on time. This is why I don’t take this shard seriously.”

Dan didn’t have a response to Li’s grim explanation of Kodak’s motives. He glanced outside and regretted that choice. He watched as two Kodak agents kicking and stabbing what appeared to be a stray dog on the sidewalk.

“For once, I sympathize with Angie,” Li chimed in. “I wish we could inflict as much destruction on Kodak as possible, whenever I see needless cruelty as that.”