“How is she holding up? I know she wouldn’t take the news lightly.”

“She was doing ok, but I feel like the longer she’s separated from Yadon the deeper the reality will sink.”

“There’s so much out there that we don’t know. What if there’s no cure…?”

“That could be a possibility, but let’s keep our heads up high. I knew things would be serious, but I never thought we’d lose someone so soon.”

Isaac and Junji were seen walking along the sidewalk of their city, getting off the bus to the Seer HQ. The place was an urban area where civilians wouldn’t be allowed to explore. Guards were all around keeping watch and welcomed the two soldiers.

“That’s all we can do right now, hope. In the meantime let’s try to help other people who need it.”

Junji nodded before the two entered the building. Upon entering they walked along towards the mission board, surprised to find that a certain someone was seen reading through the board.

“Is that…! Yo, Grey!” Junji called out, startling the girl.

“What?” She said in a soft voice almost too soft to hear.

“Funny seeing you here by yourself. Looks like great minds think alike. Are any jobs worth a three-man team?” Junji shot her a playful smile.

“Let’s see… oh, I found one.” Isaac mentioned moving his index finger to touch the screen, changing it into a more detailed view of the information presented.

Junji peered in over his shoulder to get a closer look before he seemed surprised by the contents of it.

It was requested by a homeless person who was growing tired of all the violence that was brewing in the lowest sector of Terra. A lot of people lived in poverty down there and so it was the breeding ground for violence and anarchy. He supposedly had information about the whereabouts of a trade-off. It was posted yesterday so it seems people had skipped over it.

“This seems a bit sketchy. There’s not even a reward.”

“We don’t need one Junji, just knowing that we were able to clean up the city a bit is all the reward we need. Don’t you agree, Grey?”

“No.”

Junji couldn’t help but chuckle and pat his friend on the back. “Since you’re my buddy I’ll agree to it. You never know it might even be fun. Still down to tag along, Grey?”

“I don’t care.” She replied nonchalantly before shrugging.

“Then it’s settled today, we'll be the three amigos. What could go wrong?” Junji cheered.

Once they accepted the mission it transferred onto their S-COMM. Isaac and the others were able to use this information to locate the man at the meetup spot. Someone like this would be harder to contact, so he had described himself and the general area he normally hangs around in.

The trio took a bus down towards the lower sector. It was far off from where they all lived so it took them around an hour and a half to enter this part of town. Immediately it was easy to tell that it was marginally different from what they were used to.

Buildings were close together and they appeared to be rundown and in need of refinement. But, they would often go overlooked due to the stigma that came with this part of town. The people were mostly rough looking and dirty and didn’t take too kindly to the soldiers walking around their turf.

Junji and Isaac were easily seen sweating a bit as they walked around town, but Grey didn’t seem to mind this kind of atmosphere.

“Man I didn’t expect things to be this frightening. Everyone we pass by looks like they want to stab a knife in our backs!” Junji complained.

“We can’t blame them though… these guys have it rough which is why we have to show them that we’re here to help.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Easier said than done. But, we should be nearing the location he said he’d be around.” Junji mentioned as he pointed up at a sign. It read Dock’s Bar.

“He did say that he normally sticks near this route. Do you guys want to split up? We can cover more ground that way.” Isaac suggests.

“Normally, I’d be down… but this isn’t the kind of place where we should leave a lady as innocent as Grey.”

“I’ll be fine,” Grey muttered as she already appeared to be walking off on her own down the block.

“For some reason, I think she’ll be fine. Junji, let’s head down south and see if we can spot him.”

“Yeah, right.” Junji shoots one last glance towards her before he and Isaac head off.

The city was rundown so a lot of places easily blended into the background. Since they were near the bar there were a lot of drunk people goofing around as well. Surprisingly enough when they passed by a group of four it caught the men’s attention.

“Whoa… look at those armbands… Seer?”

“They look a little young. Are they that desperate? Hiring a bunch of children?”

The group snickered but soon started to follow behind them, making it easily known. Isaac and Junji glanced at each other before the two slowly picked up the pace. They didn’t want any trouble with the locals.

“Hey, wait up you, damn kids!”

“Yeah, don’t go running off. We just wanna chat!”

The two broke into a sprint as did their pursuers, they continued along the path until someone was stumbling out of the alley corner, knocking into Isaac as he fell onto the man.

“Ow, my hip!” The older man said.

Junji came to a halt as did the pursuers. The soldier picked his friend up before apologizing to the man, but once he saw their armbands he gasped.

“Are you here for the mission I placed?”

“That was you, old man?” Junji took a deeper glance at the man and saw that his clothes had a few holes in them and he was holding what he assumed was a bottle of alcohol in a brown paper bag. “You do look kinda homeless.”

“Guys it’s ok. These kids here are here to deal with the problem at hand. They can be trusted.”

The other group that was chasing the kids sighed before giving the kids a hard stare. “Fine, but if they don’t live up to their name then they won’t be welcomed here. We’ll remember their faces.”

The group went about their business while the older man chuckled and then scratched behind his back.

“So old man, you said you had information on a drug trade-off, right?” Junji questioned.

“Absolutely. But, how about we talk somewhere more private?”

“Sure thing. I’ll go ahead and let Grey know we found our man.” Isaac said as he started playing with his S-COMM, pressing buttons on it as he sent Grey a message.

Isaac and Junji were seated against a table near the back window of Dock’s Bar. The old man was filling them in on what he had gotten himself into. He informed them that at first he was desperate and just wanted to earn the gang’s approval but eventually knew that it was a mistake. One that he wasn’t willing to live with.

“It’s kill or be killed out here. I don’t have anywhere to stay, so I’m always on high alert. These guys were willing to give me a place to stay and free food if I could rock with them. To prove my loyalty they had me kill a man who defected from them a while ago.”

Hearing his Junji and Isaac’s expression changed as the man had just confessed to murder. If what he was saying was true they wouldn’t let him get away with that, but right now they had more pressing matters to deal with.

“So, you want to repent now? That’s why you want our help?”

“Yeah. I want to correct a few of my wrongs.”

Eventually, Grey could be seen entering the bar, looking around until she saw the people she was looking for. She took a seat beside the boys and looked at the old man. “I ran into some trouble. But, I took care of them.”

“Trouble? You didn’t kill them, right? Grey?” Junji seemed concerned.

“No, just maimed them.”

“Dang… she’s scary.” Isaac mentioned as he chuckled nervously.

With Grey present, the man went back into detail with the gang known as the Moles who were preparing an exchange. Drugs for money. He informed them that although the name was silly their leader Warren was responsible for causing so much needless destruction and chaos among this sector.

“This is stated to go down tonight. Which is why it was so urgent. I’m glad you guys took heed of my call instead of putting it on the back burner. I do intend to pay for my crimes as well, I won’t run from it anymore.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. You aren’t a bad person, you just were desperate for change. Hopefully, with the info you provided us we’ll be able to change this town for the better.” Isaac said with a smile.

With this being said Isaac, Junji, and Grey then decided to arrive early at the place where the meeting was said to happen. It was an abandoned factory where a manufacturing company used to work before they got shut down. This seemed to be the go-to spot for dealings and shady business.

On the inside, there was rusty equipment that hadn’t been used in perhaps years. The ceiling looked moldy and parts of the roof were gone. Right now this building was more of a safety hazard than anything.

“All right, this seems simple enough. We catch them in the act and whack them out. I already have the rest of the squad on speed dial when we subdue them.” Junji proclaimed.

“This should be simple. But, always be on guard, we don’t need any more accidents.” Isaac warned.

“I hear someone... “ Grey mentioned.

“Huh? Already? Crap let’s hide…”

“Where, Junji? Oh, look!” Isaac pointed to a pile of wood that was stocked near the back of the warehouse. The trio quickly rushed back and hid behind it as the doors to the warehouse were opened by a young man.

He looked around before entering, carrying in his hand what was a black briefcase. He came about an hour earlier than scheduled, but maybe the old man’s info was a bit misleading.

“Well, I didn’t expect him to show up this early. Maybe something happened and they changed the times?” Junji whispered.

“Maybe… this doesn’t change the plan though. We just gotta be quiet.” Isaac whispered back.

The man was on high alert, checking his surroundings. He paced back and forth before checking his phone every so often. Time went by and soon another person entered the warehouse dressed in all black with a hoodie.

“You alone?”

“As promised.”

“Good.”

The person walked in and pulled out a bag filled with money. “Show me that you have it and this will be yours. Do with it as you will.”

The man dropped the briefcase on the ground and opened it, revealing which contained a white substance. “It’s all there… just like we talked about.”

The man in the hoodie smiled, dropping the money on the ground before revealing a loaded pistol before holding it at the guy’s head. “Sadly… we don’t pay for stuff like this. We just take it.”

“Hey… hold on, man!”

The man had his finger on the trigger, but before he could pull it the gun was forced out of his hand… and into the hands of Grey…

“Sorry, but you’re all under arrest,” Isaac said as the three of them stood on top of the pile of wood.