The lights within the room went dark and the sound of electricity crackled in front of me, letting me know what the fuck just happened.

A second later, smoke wafted around the room, filling my nose with an acidic scent, whilst my mouth watered from the smoke entering my mouth. “Humph…” I said aloud, “The bastard short-circuited the holographic projector.”

I stimulated my SMB, switching to Night Vision. The only thing that would allow me to see in this atrocious light. “One thing I can say…The man’s fucking theatrical at best.”

A sombre light thrummed to my right, drawing my eyes towards it. I turned, allowing my eyes to meet the light only to find myself looking at the glow-in-the-dark ink. ‘Touch Me.’ Which was spelt out, which only made me roll my eyes.

“As I said…theatrical.”

I pushed myself out of the chair and walked towards the message. I reached out and touched the wall with my normal hand and four snaps croaked around the room.

The wall snapped back, a mechanical sound began roiling in front of me and the wall dropped to the ground with a loud boof, blowing all the dust and grime that was beneath it.

The dust poured into my eyes and nose, making me gawk for a second. I ignored it, then walked into the pitch-black room, noticing arrows spray painted onto the wall, using the same glow-in-the-dark ink.

I followed the signs, which eventually led me to a spiralling staircase that went down. I followed the arrows down and was led to another dark room.

As I walked through the room, I remembered what the cabbie had told me. This building was meant for low-income earners.

The units were skeletal now, but I knew that people would make them into their own once they were purchased.

As I sifted through floor to floor, it was clear. That each room was just a box in design, with additional attachments. It made me think how the Romacellins told their architects to keep it as simple as possible, as long as it passes Antillean Federation Architectural Guidelines for buildings such as these.

The arrows eventually led me to the bottom floor and a shutter door behind the staircase. I stepped forward and a loud cranking noise bellowed from the shutter door. The door split open down the middle, and light beamed through it as if it were a lighthouse, blinding me instantly.

I raised my hand to guard myself against the beam, but it was too late, as my eyes watered in an instant, which was frustrating after drinking all that dust throughout the construction site.

“Cypher!” A familiar voice called.

“Rook?” I said stiffly, noticing the young man wearing his familiar overalls. His glasses gleamed in the darkness, which seemed bigger than the last time I saw them.

“Yeah, it’s me, been a while, glad to see you survived the lunacy in Devil’s Reach.”

“…barely,” I grunted. “I take it you’re my escort.”

“Yea, Mr Black’s orders.”

“Understood. Show me the way.” I said cooly.

The light beaming through the shutter door came from Rook’s vehicle. As I walked by, heading to the door, I felt as though I was into a monster’s mouth, based on how dark the damn place was.

The door for the truck shot open and I climbed in. Rook planted himself into the driver’s seat, tapping an assorted amount of buttons on the dashboard.

Once he was finished, the door slammed shut and the windscreen HUD appeared in front of him, showing an arrow.

Rook followed the arrow through a series of turns, which swerved gently. Eventually, those swerves turned into hard right turns which spiralled down.

I assumed that Rook would’ve taken the sky or surface, but boy was I wrong and badly too. The journey through the catacombs of Old Bridge City was haunting. The only thing I heard thankfully, were the sounds of the wheels crunching stones beneath us as we drove by.

Thankfully though, Here, unlike Xiaohan they were no signs of a burial ground, which didn’t sit well with me when I stumbled across them when I went to meet Akatani when he had Shin-Lee strung up by a rope.

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The bastard, I thought balling my hands into a fist. “Shin-Lee’s home now,” I whispered, trying to calm myself. “Get your head in the game!”

“You say something Cypher?”

“Yeah, Where are we headed, and why the hell are we underground?”

“Mr Black doesn’t want to leave any traces of our exit from the Antillean Federation territory”

“These catacombs put us in the Waste?”

“Catacombs? This is the old sewer system, Cypher, before the Imbibe.”

“I see, but answer my question.”

Rook looked back into the rear-view mirror, smiling. “Yeah, that'll lead us out of the city.”

“I didn’t know a sewer system like this could survive the Imbibe.”

“Surprisingly, and because they did, We made these sewers The foundation for Bridge City and the Federation itself.”

“I see…is that the slogan Mr Black fed you when he showed it to you?”

Rook laughed out loud, shaking his head. “Of course not, but a good one, but let’s look at it this way. We weren’t built on blood and bodies like the Latrina Empire was.” Rook laughed.

“…anything’s better than Latrina,” I said gruffly.

“Have you been to The Doasa Nation?”

“Yeah…I have.”

“What’s it like, I always wanted to go.”

“There’s not much to see to be fair, mostly ruined cities.”

“…like Old Bridge City?”

“No, a lot grander. Imagine Bridge City, but destitute with people living in those said ruins.”

“That bad?”

“It isn’t bad, they live quite comfortably, The Doasian aren’t interested in habitats like we are. They’re a nomadic people, and because of that, their food is everywhere, it’s like a perfect balance between nature and man.”

“That sounds beautiful.”

“It is, the air smelt cleaner over than here.”

“If that’s how they live, how can they survive?”

“I’m sure you know they do have a few habitats, but those have military cities, which sorely focuses on military aspects, that’s why.”

“Yeah, but I don’t see how it’d work.”

“It’s not about seeing how it works, it’s about what they know they can do. Guerrilla warfare is what they’re efficient at, whilst we…are like a hammer, pounding a nail right down to the butt.”

“More brain than brawn.”

“In essence, yes, but they use the landscape to their advantage. It’s not like we are that more advanced than them, they just choose to live differently.”

“Interesting.” Rook said.

“It isn’t but just because they live differently, doesn’t mean they’re backwards…which most people believe. But that’s not their fault. The Federation paints them that way, to keep people from leaving.”

“That makes sense.”

“For us, yes. But the question is, how come you don’t know this, weren’t you a drone pilot for the AFA?”

“Hardly. I was a professional drone racer”

“You raced Drones?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s illegal, especially since the Skylanes have been constructed!”

“I know right?” He laughed.

“How the hell did you get roped up with Mr Black if you used to Race drones?”

“Oh, that’s simple. He got me out of jail.”

“…Jail?” I answered more than asked.

“Yep, forty years for breaking ten traffic laws in a public transport lane.”

“Forty years? That’s a lot Rook.”

“Forty years Cypher!” He laughed.

I let the silence between sat for a while as the truck hopped and swerved its way through the sewer system. I didn’t wanna be an asshole to Rook, I liked him, but he still worked for Black.

I took a deep breath, holding it for five seconds and flashed my best-disarming smile.”Rook.“

“Yeah?” He answered.

“You haven’t told me where we’re headed?”

“Oh, sorry. Saunters Settlement.”

“Saunters? Really?”

“Yeah, The Warden’s familiar with you, it’s the furthest of the settlements we have relationships with, but it’s also one of the closest to Sceletarus.”

“Right. You plan on flying me in on the Kite again?”

Rook sucked in air for a long while, then followed up with a whistle, that indicated he wasn’t sure if it was his place to answer. “Fine.” I said, “It seems I won’t be flown in.”

Rook didn’t answer so I took his answer as is, feeling more bumps and thumps. He took the vehicle up a small ramp, then turned right, passing a limestone pillar that glittered in the dark.

He drove a further two hundred meters and stopped at a large blast door which was ten meters wide and seven meters long. He tapped the purple button by his steering wheel and the blast door groaned so loudly, that my eardrums rumbled from the shriek it howled. The shriek went on for eight seconds, when the blast doors finally stalled open, halfway.

“Welcome Back Cypher,” Rook said, which made me purse my lips in annoyance. I rolled my window down and salt poured through the window, which left my tongue quenching for water. I scraped my tongue against my bottom teeth, relieving it instantly.

“I hate it here Rook, you know that right?”

“So I’ve heard, lost half your body during an ambush right?”

“You’ve read my file,” I said, feeling like an open book these days. I didn’t like that so many people had access to my file or read it. My file was supposed to be highly classified, especially what I’d done for the Federation, despite them throwing me to the curb the moment I walked in with Shin-Lee and Hannah on the way.

Fine, that was OK, in essence, but the mere fact that Mr Black, Colonel Levisay and Commissioner Hexan, reading it, or parts of it did not sit well with me.

It made me feel as though they poured acid all over me, to burn the clothes from my body, but instead, burn my stomach away leaving me to shriek from the pain.

The bastards, I mused bitterly.

“I’ve read what I could, but the entire thing was redacted. I couldn’t understand who you were, and what you did. Crimon, I only knew you assassinated Hortort Calisum and that’s because Mr Black wouldn’t shut up about it!”

“I see.”

“Wait…did you tell him how you did it?”

“I haven’t.” I lied.

I closed my eyes for a second and felt as though someone was staring at me from all sides. I sighed, then felt my eyes drift towards the rearview mirror without my consent.

Rook looked in the rear-view mirror, glasses glaring from the angle he stared at me. “And I don’t plan to tell you either, it’s classified,” I said.

“Can’t stop someone from trying eh?”

“I guess.”

The silence grew between us once more and I closed my eyes, and felt the coral reef of the Waste snap beneath the truck, taking me to my next destination, Saunter’s Settlement.