We arrived at the location. The place of the supposed transaction was in the old part of the docks. Years ago the city council decided to improve its naval infrastructure and along with the modernization most of the facilities were moved to a newly erected artificial island network, leaving old infrastructure behind. According to what Eve told me, there were plans to repurpose the old port into a recreational site, but huge costs along with multitudes of criminals using this place in their dealings scared potential investors off.

“Thus leaving this the most wretched hive of scum and villainy, this side of the galaxy…” I murmured.

“You were saying something?” Dia asked, not even looking at me. She was scanning our surroundings, having a rifle at the ready.

“Nothing, just reminiscing my talk with Eve about this place, you know how she is. Always researching places like that, digging their history.”

“Well, she is a history major after all.” Dia replied, visibly relaxing.

“I’m proud of her, despite everything happening, mom and dad disappearing… She still managed to pull through, and get to a decent uni”.

“Well, you are the one paying for it though, that’s also an achievement.”

“Crime lords, killers and other drug dealers are paying for it, I just collect the cash” I winked at Dia. “Besides, I wouldn’t be able to do it if not for you covering my ass, and hiding my true capabilities from your superiors.”

“You know I like that ass, so covering it is my pleasure” Dia winked coquettishly. I was dumbfounded, but soon tried to regain my composure and retort.

“Captain, we are at work. What if the bad guys heard you?”

“I have my personal devil with me. Honestly though Lili, I hate cleaning your mess, but I wouldn’t find anyone who I’d rather protect my back other than you” she smiled, but soon after she returned to her usual stern expression.

“Enough sweet talk now, we are entering the area the deal is supposed to go on.” Dia pointed and gestured to the officers surrounding us to spread out in search.

“Sure, we can pick this up in the bedroom later tonight.” I retorted, getting a little smirk followed by an insincere groan in response.

Dia activated her ear piece. “We are closing in on the location, fan out.” she said, following with some gestures - I never really bothered to learn those since I work alone most of the time.

Squad spread out as we entered an old container field. I double checked my guns, both still in perfect condition; let's hope the gloves help keep them that way.

The place was a maze, it was abandoned years ago and only the containers with the most valuable cargo were moved to the new port, rest was either unpacked and contents moved by land, or simply abandoned and deemed not worth the hassle.

”Thanks for history lessons, Eve…” I muttered to myself, remembering the excitement in my little sister’s eyes when she drilled all this trivia into my head before the operation.

All that selective moving left the place in quite a disarray, with uneven rows, and a lot of passages through empty containers. Even more chaos was brought by looters who tried to access the leftover cargo, their crude cuts and haste made some of the rows collapse under the weight of the top rows.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Truly this was an ideal spot for any shady deal, a myriad of passages and shortcuts made it nearly impossible to find someone unless you knew where to look, not even mentioning how hard it would be to pin them down with multiple escape routes.

We expected that it would take some time until we found our targets in this labyrinth, but we were scouring this place for what felt like ages and there wasn’t even a trace of any human presence.

“I don’t like this Dia, with a deal like this we should be knee deep in goons by now. Something smells here.”

She took a look of concern. “I feel you might be onto something. I should have known this lead was too easy to be real. The real question, decoy or a trap?”

“It’s too quiet for decoy, they would leave some trail for us to keep us busy. As it is, we will close in on the center of this maze, and leave in less than half an hour.”

“So trap then. How do you think we should proceed?”

I was stunned by her question. “Aren’t you the CO here? Why would you ask me?”

Dia looked at me with a serious look. “In the last few months I spent most of the time behind the desk, only taking field to clean up after you. I keep up with my training, but I lack in field practice. You deal with those kinds of situations on a daily basis.”

She hung her head and frowned. “I know when I am out of my element Lil. I am not that prideful not to admit it. So what do you suggest?”

Still a bit dumbfounded I replied: “Normally I would probably bulldoze into the trap, since there isn’t really much they can throw at me I can’t handle.” I thought for a second, looking at the sky and my surroundings. “Though I doubt it’s a good idea right now, not with you and the guys here. On the account of bullet wounds being something of a danger to you and everything.”

“Yes, we cannot shrug heavy gunfire like it’s summer rain” Dia remarked, with her usual sarcasm.

“Hey, gunshots still sting… A little.” - Dia facepalmed. - “But that gives me an idea, since I can pretty much enter into any trap and exit unscathed. Why wouldn’t I go alone, and when I give you a sign, you rush in to capture what’s left.”

“There’s no way I am leaving you alone, what if they prepared Dust junkies?” Dia looked unnerved, it really was a while since her last field case. Even worse - it was the time we encountered properly prepared Dandruff Sniffers; unlike the Ivans last time, those were a challenge even for me. This clearly left its mark on my brave cop.

“That is the more of a reason for you all to stay back. I cannot both fight and protect you all. Not to mention I cannot escape with all of you around.”

Dia was lost in thought for a second, then she faced me. “Then I alone will go with you. If it’s too dangerous you can grab me and we retreat together. I cannot leave you there alone, Eve would kill me.”

Now I ended up facepalming. “You and I both know she will kill ME for agreeing to this idea! But it’s better I take you with me, than leave you to it, I know how stubborn you get. But you listen to me, and if I tell you to run, you run!”

Dia nodded. “Fine”. She pressed the button on her radio. “Pull back and standby on the edge of the container field, do not engage unless ordered. HailFire and I will investigate potential trap. I repeat: do not engage unless ordered.” She waited for confirmations, then nodded. “Okay, we are clear, let’s spring the trap.”

We approached the center of the container field, it was huge clearing in between all the containers. It looked like someone pushed all the containers aside to make this space in the middle, what’s more surprising it seemed recent judging by the shoving marks on the ground.

What was even more surprising we weren’t jumped on by goons the moment we entered this clearing; it was eerily quiet. I scanned the place. At first I thought it’s completely empty but then I noticed: right in the middle of the plaza, there was a man sitting unmoving with closed eyes. He seemed to be in his twenties, slightly tanned, with unruly black hair. He was wearing a regular white shirt buttoned to half length, he had this cheesy tiger pattern jacket wrapped around his waist.

Who is this guy, but before I asked Dia pointed a gun at him.

“Hands where I can see them, state your name and reason for being here.”

Guy’s eyes opened - they were golden with an almost ethereal glow just like min… Oh no. “Keith Dashen…” He stood up nonchalantly, raising both his palms. I blinked and the next moment he wasn't there.

“...I’m here for her.” His voice came from behind me.

“Dia RUN!” Was the last thing I could shout, before a powerful blow knocked the air out of my lungs, sending me flying into the containers across the clearing.