Stallone, feeling the pressure from Crow's elusive tactics, became increasingly desperate and ordered his soldiers to intensify their search for any traces left behind by Crow. He urged them to be more ruthless in their attacks, hoping to gain an upper hand.
However, Crow proved to be a crafty enemy, concocting elaborate ruses to mislead Stallone. Fake decoys planted by Crow led the soldiers astray, resulting in deadly consequences as the decoys were rigged with explosives. As the relentless pursuit took its toll on Stallone, he found himself veering away from the counsel of his trusted advisor, Harrison.
Ignoring the warnings, Stallone made a grave error in judgment. Determined to regain the advantage, he devised a plan that endangered all eight districts.
His scheme involved planting a devastating bomb on the walls of No Man's Land, intending to create a diversion that would allow a swarm of GMs to infiltrate all eight districts. The reckless decision could have catastrophic repercussions, putting not only his life but innocent lives in jeopardy. But if it meant he could get one step closer to killing Crow, then he was willing to do it.
Returning to Rainfall HQ, everyone apart from Jack was still training to get their strength and speed back, but their training had to be put on hold as Harry arrived to tell the team of a mission they needed to do.
“We’ve located Jackel soldiers. Your goal is to find and stop them. If, and I mean if. Stallone or Crow is there; you are free to attack them.”
Everyone put down the training equipment they were using and made their way to their respective lockers and started gearing up; once finished, they made their way to the helipad, where there was a helicopter ready to take them to the destination. During the helicopter trip, Troy was rather excited; he was hoping that Crow was there, as he couldn't wait to get his hands on him.
“If that Crow freak is here, I get first dibs on fighting him,” Troy said.
“Don’t get too excited, man! What if he isn't there and it’s just a bunch of his goons?” Anakin asked.
Troy laughed, “Anyway to hurt that Crow cunt is good enough for me.”
The helicopter descended into the heart of District 8, its whirring blades slowing to a stop as it landed on the uneven ground. The pilot turned to Jack and explained that they had to venture deep into the dilapidated slums of District 8. With a nod, the pilot left, leaving Jack and his team alone in the midst of the desolate landscape.
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As they strolled through the slums, they were met with the sight of decrepit houses, their wooden doors and walls rotting away, windows devoid of any framing, and roofs riddled with holes. A putrid stench emanated from the dwellings, adding to the grim atmosphere of the area.
"Hard to imagine that this used to be a nice area. What the hell caused this?"
“No idea. Reports suggest that it was the government's fault. They claimed they tried their hardest, but in truth, they didn’t care; they mostly helped the rich and made them even richer and made the poor even poorer. Because of that, people rebelled against the government, but it would take a certain Stallone to make the government understand what they have done.” Anakin explained.
Going deeper into the slums, the group started hearing something coming from the collapsed buildings. Jack instructed Asuka to go and check it out, feeling as though a fight was about to happen as the team readied their weapons. Jack, Troy, Asuka, and Kairi opted for their energy swords. While Anakin and Elie used their firearms.
Asuka checked the building; the thing responsible for creating the noise was a rat. The group ignored the rat and continued with their mission. The group ends up finding a dead Jackel soldier; moving further on, they reach a building with the door open and inside are more dead Jackel soldiers, and the building is completely ransacked.
“What happened here?”
“We’re too slow. It seems whatever happened here happened days ago.” Jack explained before getting a call from Harry.
“Jack... Do you read me?”
"Dad... you're breaking up; we can't hear you.”
Coms between Jack and Harry were cut before Harry could speak.
“Coms are dead. Come on, let's get out of here.”
Before the team could leave the slums, they were attacked by GMs who were wandering the area.
“Oh, great, just the sort of thing we needed,” Troy said before continuing with, “Let’s make this quick.”
Troy rushed forward and sliced one of the GMs in half before moving on to another. He was followed behind by the twins, who quickly worked together, clearing the GMs with precision and speed. Anakin and Ellie used their rifles to take care of any GMs that were in the distance. Jack, on the other hand, looked and his left arm and ran forward before jumping in the air and slamming his left arm on the floor.
This created an electric shock wave that disintegrated all of the GMs in the area. He looked at his arm and smiled; he couldn't believe how effective his left arm was in taking out GMs.
“You always got to have the spotlight, don't you?” Troy annoyingly said before leaving the slums.
“Ignore him. He's just being a dick.” Kairi said to Jack.
After the GM encounter, the group made their way out of the slums. Once out, Jack got on the coms and tried to call his father, thinking that it was the slums that caused the poor connection.
“Dad... are you there?”
“Jack! Jack! Do you read me?”
“I read you, Dad. We checked out the area, and it was the work of Crow and his group as we found dead Jackel soldiers. But the thing is, they’ve been dead for days.”
“Forget about the fucking slums! Get your team over to District 1 now!”