My knees wavered the moment they touched the ground, but I was more pissed than weak. I stimulated my SMB, switching my vision to night vision.

An avalanche of trailers surrounded me, folded and bent around each other. They looked like a mountain of cardboard that had been squashed, re-purposed and tossed in the trash bin from overuse.

The scent of the rain had faded, leaving the metallic taste of the taste of rust floating around.

I hopped to the top of one of the crushed trailers and leapt to. I skidded, fell and climbed over one trailer after another, making my way towards Naedon. I didn’t know which direction Stelig had taken, but with all the rattling sound of guns blazing. I could only hope he’d reached Naedon and the rest.

Naedon’s position pulsed into existence once more within my Contact Lens and Cybernetic eye Pistols and Assault Rifles shots grew louder with each step I took.

My feet felt as if I’d be trudging through molasses for days, but once I reached the highest possible peak on the trailer yard, I finally saw what was taking place.

A firefight.

Naedon and Tryzer were pinned down between a group of trailers. It was the best makeshift cover they could find, based on the overlooking angle these kidnappers had on them.

The skirmish within the looked like a ravine of trailers, with The kidnappers having the high ground. My eyes traced down the bottom for Rynord and Stelig, but they were nowhere in sight.

“I’m here, where are you Stelig…Rynord, where are you?” Naedon asked through the comms.

“To your left, there’s a small space they’re trying to push through but I’m plugging it,” Stelig answered.

“Above you. Plugging the same hole.”

Three assailants charged towards Rynord and Stelig through a small path. However, based on how Rynord and Stelig were hunkered down behind a series of broken trailers it was safe to say they would be fine, thanks to the makeshift bottleneck created from the explosion.

Four shots cracked the air with the assailants falling to the ground. A wave of bullets fired towards both of them, forcing them back into cover

“We can’t keep this up for too long Cap. I lost a couple of my mags, I only have three mags left.” Stelig spat.

”Same Cap, not enough to keep these bastards back.” Tryzer said

“Shit! Cypher where are you?” Naedon hissed.

“Right here,” I said, squeezing the trigger of my pistol, dropping the kidnapper with a shot to his head. I pivoted behind a dark blue trailer, feeling as a wave of bullets aimed at me, hit my cybernetic arm, ricocheting and fizzing across my body.

When the bullets eventually stopped, I knelt, spun out of cover and returned my wave of bullets, hitting three assailants in the neck, chest and head with burst shots.

Another assailant slowly crept out from cover, aiming his gun towards Rynord and Tryzer’s direction. “There’s one in the far left, five meters from the broken crane, should be in your view Tryzer,” I said, jumping to the ground.

I dated off, slid and skated across the gravel, scraping my knees in the process and a loud broke through the air with a screaming moan followed after.

I fired my pistol at an assailant, who tried creeping up behind me on a trailer that towered me. He fell to the ground with a loud smack, bullet pressed into the middle of his skull. Idiot, I thought, noticing him a mile away.

I skipped up three trailers, taking the former’s position and I unclipped my AR-BZ-459 from my flak jacket. The moment I did so, a wave of bullet pounded my cover, rattling non-stop.

“Stelig!” I shouted through the comms. Three shots followed along with three deathly moans. “Tryzer, do I have a clear path?”

A rattle of bullets in the form of three burst shots chugged from Rynord’s position. “Your clear Cypher!” Naedon said. “Keep my flank clear, or I won’t be able to relieve you Stelig!” I shouted.

Leaping over a bent trailer door and saw a crater about twenty feet wide with black smoke wafting to the sky. Behind that, a dozen…no two dozen men, peeping with flustered expression flashed across their faces.

I landed on one a white trailer and slid down bullets following me behind me. I leapt in the air firing two bullets from my pistol, hitting another kidnapper in his chest.

A bullet cracked the air once more, and another man dropped with a thud. I flicked my AR-BZ-459 back into my hand, spun, and fired above me, killing two more assailants who weren’t aware of their surroundings.

“LEFT SIDES CLEAR” I spat through the comms, “Stelig…you’re free to move clearly. Tryzer. I’m gonna need you to them on the right…I need someone to draw their fire whilst Stel and I try to swarm them.”

“I only have a sidearm and a Sniper Rifle, that’s not enough.” Tryzer countered.

“It is. I just need them to think more people are here than what’s happening.” I answered.

“Do as he says Tryzer, once you start flanking, Cypher let us know when we can join the fray.”

“Will do Captain.

I reloaded my pistol, dropping the last clip I had and backed myself up against the trailer. I scotched down, and ducked over and capsized the trailer snapping left and right, ensuring no one could surprise me from behind. I went down a pathway to my right, rounding the trailer and darting up the side as fast as I could.

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“Cypher your left!” Stelig shouted, I spun around pistol brandished, squeezing upon seeing a figure wielding a gun. The bullet grazed past my left eye, whilst mine, buried into his throat. “Shit, that was close,” I said, catching my breath.

Stelig fired three shots, hitting three targets encroached between trailers I didn’t bother to check. “I’m out, gonna have to shoot our way through.” He said, snapping the safety off from an assailant Assault Rifle.

“Like that wasn’t the plan,” I answered.

We made our way on towards the other half of the trailer ravine, backing our attackers, and watching for their movement. As great as night vision was, it did very little when the wind blew smoke in the direction I was heading.

I forced my night vision off from my contact lens and cybernetic eye and felt as my SMB’s clutch on my brain wane. “You up, I go down,” I told Stelig, who nodded in agreement.

I ducked in between trailers, feeling as claustrophobia was about to drive me crazy. I never had it, but being in tight spaces such as this would’ve driven anyone crazy.

The sound of dripping water hit the ground as if no one was there. New strategy? I asked myself.

“Tryzer…how far are you?“ I whispered.

“In position.” He answered.

“On my mark!”

I charged through, footsteps thumping across the metal surface of the trailer. I leapt onto another collapsed trailer, sliding across its surface. Then, jumped down creeping over another three.

Eighteen men, nestled behind cover laid before me above the trailing smoke of the crater. The surroundings of the explosions weren’t scorching hot, which meant one thing. Sonic Bomb? I asked myself, still unsure, but it was the only way to make Belleview Port look like this.

The crater itself wasn’t as big as I expected. It was several feet wide in diameter and based on the way the trailers gaped it was a guarantee this was made by a Sonic Bomb after further inspection.

Thousands of questions poured into my mind. Why a Sonic Bomb and not a traditional bomb? Were they trying to send a message? If they were, who was the message for? Who did they kidnap?

Not having much choice, I forced these thoughts into a corner and suppressed them. “Stelig you ready?”

“Ready Cypher.”

“Alright.”

I slid a magazine into it and shouldered my AR-BZ-459. I loosed a burst shot, hitting an assailant in the leg, then stomach. My aim drifted left, firing at another assailant, bringing him down with one shot. I took down another then dove to my right, hearing the bullets rattle against the trailer, and tasted rusted bits as they flew into my mouth.

“NOW!”

A wave of bullets stormed through the right side of the fallen trailer section. Tryzer and Naedon finally left their position, assisting with suppressive fire.

The assailants dropped back behind cover, leaving them open for Stelig to pick them down, one by one with what little ammunition he had.

Twelve men were left, whilst three, advanced towards Rynord. Each one that stepped into my sight got a bullet to the shoulder as I wasn’t at the right angle, leaving Tryzer to finish them off with his pistol.

Stelig weaved through the above section, trying to reach the highest peak of a fallen trailer, this side of the skirmish. Bullets followed him, leaving him to scramble back down. Which, allowed me to fire my Suppressive fire, for a few seconds, before a wave of bullets throttled towards me.

“This isn’t looking good Cypher.” Stelig hissed. “SHUT IT STEL…!” Naedon roared. Bullets rattled from my right, hitting metal and wood, to my left. I slowly peeped out to see the leader of the Cobra Squadron was providing suppressive fire.

I spun out of cover, hearing a bullet crack pass me and ducked underneath another fallen trailer. The space was small, but I had no choice if I wanted to get to another side, where I had a better chance at clearing out the remaining assailants with Stelig.

It was the best thing we could do, at this point. It was that, or watch my make-shift team die. I picked up a pistol, checking its magazine, hoping it was a fit for my own. It wasn’t, so I holstered it in my belt.

The crawl space came to an end, and I scooted myself three, shots fired from all around me, but none from Rynord and Naedon’s position. Shit…” are you still with us Naedon?”

“I am, but Rynord has a flesh wound, I’m, down to my last clip. It’s now..or never Cypher!” Naedon spat.

“Understood…Stel, I’m under them, I need you to distract them, Tryzer…suppress them.”

“Already on it,” Tryzer said. Bullets rattled above, hitting the trailers and a few men that stood above me. I stimulated my SMB, switching my sights from night vision, to X-Ray.

Eight men pulsed into existence in the form of skeletons. I made a mental note of their positions, one by one. Two to my left, three in front of me, one behind and four more to my right.

Shots fizzled, striking the one behind me, making me jump from between the trailer. I fired a wave of bullets to the men in front of me, bringing them down one by one, whilst Tryzer took out two of the four on my right.

I skidded behind cover, clipping my AR to my flak-jacket and whistling bullets into the skulls of the remaining men. I came out of cover, brandishing my AR once more and sweeping through the area, using my X-Ray vision, ensuring one was left hiding behind the trailers.

“Clear!” I shouted. “Clear!” Stelig then added. Naedon and Tryzer came charging up alongside us, Whilst Rynord jumped from a small ledge above us.

“REPORT!” Stelyne hissed into our coms, clearly aggravated by Naedon’s orders. “No need to shout Stelyne. We’re all accounted for.” Rynord answered, annoyed, clearly still suffering from the effects of the Sonic Blast.

“Assailants have been Neutralised, we lost the white van after the explosion, we’re looking to canvas the area to see if we can find it. But I need answers Stelyne, who in the IMBIBE was taken? I need to know what the hell is going on, or my team can’t get this job done!”

“Naedon…Cobra Squad.” Colonel Levisay said, “Glad to see you’ve pulled through.”

“Sir b—“ Naedon said but was cut off by the colonel. “No need to be antsy Captain. We did find out who was kidnapped. Elhisia Weitson”

“Who the hell is that…Sir?” Stelig asked.

“Heiress to the Weitson Group.”

“You’ve gots be shitting me!” I hissed, quite annoyed.

“What?” Tryzer asked.

“Weitson Group owns 80% of the Industrial District.”

“You mean…”

“YES, the kidnappers are more than likely part of the rioters than razed the Industrial District a few months back,” I growled. “Colonel Levisay put Commissioner Hexan on the line.”

The colonel gave a dry life, then cleared his throat. “Stelyne, you heard the man.” A few seconds passed and Commissioner finally spoke.

“Hexan…” The Commissioner said, characteristically cold. “Were you aware of the Kidnapping…beforehand?” I asked firmly, trying my best to hide my disdain. “Humph…now you want to speak me?” Hexan sarcastically asked. “Speak? We have nothing to discuss Commissioner. Now. Answer my question, were you aware of a possible kidnapping?”

The Commissioner groaned a disdainful chuckle, that made my eardrum vibrate annoyingly. It filled me with disgust, frustration and most of all helplessness. She was in a position of power and I couldn’t do anything about it.

“No.” The Commissioner finally said after her theatrics. “I’m here for another matter, Cypher.”

“That’s right Cypher” Stelyne confirmed. “She’s here on an unofficial Capacity. The Romacellin’s wanted her here, with me.”

“Whatever,” I said, silencing myself.

“Right.” Colonel Levisay said, bringing himself back into the conversation. “Cobra Squadron spread out to see if you can get find some clues to where they went. Our friend The Commissioner will be retrieving the security footage of the Port, so we’ll have eyes on everything, alright?”

“Yes Sir,” Naedon answered.

“Cypher.”

“Copy that sir,” I answered.

“Alright. Dismissed.”