As I waited for my ankle to be fixed I went over my plan with Dawn and Nova, keeping an eye out for movement.

So, we are aiming to investigate that communications tower. How do we go about that?

<[ We’re still in a warzone, the primary objective of staying alive remains unchanged. ]>

Agreed, but I want to act now… It’s far easier to infiltrate and investigate when the enemy is distracted by another enemy, even if both aforementioned factions are enemies of the infiltrator.

<[ Fair enough. The biggest issue, however, is that we don’t know why this communications facility has sparked this conflict or where it is. I believe that finding out what started everything is more important than knowing the location. ]>

<( I say we start heading towards the tower for now, we can pick up information on the way. )>

<[ The tower is likely being used as a base of operations, regardless of which side has control of it they will have it thoroughly defended. There is also the problem of finding it, how do we go about solving that? ]>

<( Get to high ground; it’s a tower, should be easy enough to spot. )>

That could make us an obvious target, any other solutions?

<[ Whilst not likely, it’s a valid concern. I propose disarming and interrogating someone; it comes with significant risks, but should we find the opportunity we may be able to find out more about the situation… knowing that information may be more than worth the risks. ]>

You have a point. If we get the chance to take a captive, I will.

<( For now, let’s get moving. Head to the upper floors of the building and find some windows. )>

I stood up on my now-fixed ankle and headed for the emergency stairwell nearby.

Clack, clack, clack

Note to self: high-heels are bad sneaking shoes.

As I ascended the stairs I looked over the layout of the building. This is indeed an industrial area; the next room is twice as large and filled with various large machines. One corner of the building consists of numerous desks and personal workspaces spread across several floors to maximise the use of space.

Upon reaching the top floor of the building I once again cursed my heels for their impracticality beyond seduction, I could only sigh as I tried not to stumble along the grated metal walkways.

After a short and arduous, journey I reached a window. Shuffling up to the window, I peered outside while keeping my body hidden. There wasn’t much to be seen: just a massive wall and a dark alley. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust enough to see the bottom of the alley.

On the floor of the alley lay numerous corpses dressed in two distinct outfits. There was also a man in grey uniform and woman in red uniform having sex behind a dumpster, I initially assumed it was rape but the legs wrapped around the man’s waist suggested otherwise.

Figuring that their procreation would provide a more than adequate distraction, I decided to cross the alley and find a better vantage point in the larger building.

Turning around to see the metal grating brought about feelings of frustration, I decided to simply climb down the nearest shelves. This made the trip down to floor level far less arduous than it would have been otherwise.

In a few moments, I reached a door to the alley. It was already open, I presume my aggressor from before used this to make his own entry. I stepped outside and found two pairs of eyes locked on me, I seemed to have interrupted their business. I stopped and looked at the pair for a nice long moment.

“Umm… Hi?” said the man uncertainly with his genitals exposed.

“Hello,” I said with a small wave, “which way to the tower?”

He blinked a few times and slowly pointed to one end of the alley – the side that the red army evidently entered from.

“Can’t miss it.” He murmured before being interrupted by the needy girl beneath him begging for more. I ignored the couple and walked to the end of the alley, siding up to the wall before peeking out.

As the man said, it was hard to miss the tower. Standing twice as tall as any other building in the area the tower was a massive beacon, the pinnacle high in the sky, stretching at least 4km above road level. It stood twice as tall as the massive factories surrounding it in the middle of the region. Since I stand at the edge of the region with all the smaller factories the nearby buildings average at about twenty meters, they grow steadily taller as you near the tower in the distance. Judging by sight, I have somewhere between twelve and fifteen kilometres to travel.

I’ve already come to understand that this area is already under control of someone else. Even if Kyler’s parents zealously protected the area, such meticulous management was lost when Vos took over. It already lies in the hands of either the Skull Clan or the other unknown clan to our south – Viper can be discounted since they wear green and all the corpses around are wearing either grey or red.

I looked in front of me, there was a wide desolate road with more buildings on the other side. This place is mostly deserted due to the warring clans around it, the only people you’ll run into here are street rats and people only passing through, this may be less true nearer the centre. Right now, however, there is more concern of snipers picking me off since this is a warzone.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

There are still gunshots indicative of a warzone coming from the direction of the tower, it seems that whoever is invading is slowly pushing forward. As stupid as it seems, I’m heading towards the warzone.

I sprint across the road to hinder long-range targeting. I keep the pace up as I cross several building blocks without incident, vaulting over various fences and barriers on the way. The buildings gradually grew taller and wider as I ran. The buildings reached an average of about fifty metres before I encountered a problem in a back alley. The ground simply vanished as I turned the corner, the gaping hole was simply too close for me to stop at this speed and the hole was too wide to jump over. The world slowed as my panic spiked my adrenaline, I felt like I was watching my demise in slow-motion.

<[ Use the wall. ]> offered Nova calmly.

With no other options I leapt – my front only foot a few centimetres from the abyss. I was hurtling diagonally towards the wall. I raised my foot and kicked off the wall, throwing myself more across than up. Nova’s guidance allowed my body to stay upright as I flew to the opposing wall, still above the hole I repeated the trick and kicked off the opposite wall. This had far less graceful results as my body spun out of control mid-air. It did its job and landed me on solid ground past the hole, even if I ended up crashing and rolling along the floor like a ragdoll due the direction I was facing on impact.

<( SO COOOOOL!!!... Apart from the crash-landing of course. )>

Unamused by Dawn’s happy-go-lucky attitude, I grunted in displeasure and pulled myself to my feet.

I wondered why such a big hole would suddenly appear so suddenly. I was given an answer a few meters later when I found several more similar holes scattered around a battlefield, notably in the side of several armoured vehicles. These were artillery strikes, and looking at the bloodstains around here it’s likely that this shot wiped out an entire team of foot soldiers.

----------------------------------------

Somewhere nearby stood Tiama’s mentors, two of them gawking at the scene.

“Did I see that right? I mean, she crashed, but even then…” asked a confused and doubtful Nordon.

“Simply ridiculous…” murmured an impressed Grace.

“Told you she was a monster,” stated an indifferent Chesnokov.

“Resisting my mindfray… pulling elite commando manoeuvres as emergency measures… A monster indeed,” said Grace solemnly.

“… did you just say she resisted your mindfray?” asked Chesnokov surprised.

“Yes. That was even before she unlocked her psionic powers.” Replied Grace plainly.

“Holy shit, what a monster!” the men shouted in unison.

----------------------------------------

Looking out onto the battlefield I saw several wrecked vehicles that would make good cover, but instead of rushing out of the alley I hid behind a dumpster and checked my equipment.

I had about half the magazine left, that meant about seven or eight shots before I run dry. Fortunately, I also have a plasma sword as a backup. Things did were not looking great, it’s difficult to shoot accurately while running, even with Dawn’s calculation and correction. I could expect to kill an enemy with every second or third shot. Realistically, I can take out about three more men before running into problems.

The simplest solution would be to salvage weapons and ammunition off corpses. I can expect there to be some uniformity in armaments of each side.

Having concluded my checks I dashed out into the field of wrecks, sprinting into cover behind vehicle carcasses. As I leapt over the centre barrier a door of the opposite building began to open. A man in red leaned out of the opening with an assault rifle in hand, he began firing as soon as he spotted me.

I ducked behind the next vehicle, warding off the rain of bullets behind me. I kept my head low so he couldn’t judge my speed and readied my pistol to return fire. I swapped the pistol to my right hand and raised it. I raised my speed and bolted out, firing three shots in his direction as I did so.

At some point, he had stepped out into the open, forgoing protection in favour of killing his target. Without any sort of cover to stop my bullets he received all three. I failed to land a killing blow but he seemed unable to continue firing nonetheless; two bullets to his right arm and shoulder. Noticing this, I changed directions and sprinted in his direction, aiming to potentially kill him without wasting more ammo.

Turns out that was a bad idea. As I leapt up onto the elevated entrance I spotted several more men in the building behind him.

<( MEATSHIELD!!! )>

I acted without pausing to question the effectiveness of the suggestion.

I punched the man squarely on the jaw, he stepped back to avoid the punch but the hole in his leg stopped his retreat and spun him with the blow. I grabbed the back of his collar and pushed him through the open door while raising my gun under his arm. His leg injury prevented him from resisting my push and his arm injuries prevented him from stopping my gun as I aimed at his comrades.

The inside of the building was a large hall with pillars lining the sides and grand staircases at the far end of the room. The men at ground level hesitated to shoot when they saw my meat shield, but the apparent leader quickly came to his senses as I offed two of the men inside.

“FIRE!” screamed the leader.

One of the soldiers hesitated, “But sir!”

I ended his life with the last bullet in the chamber, I clicked my tongue as my gun stopped firing. The rest of the group quickly prepared to open fire with fearful eyes. Having anticipated this, I grabbed the meat shield’s sidearm and darted towards a pillar on my right. The storm of bullets followed a second behind me. I used my left hand to help nullify my momentum as I reached the pillar, almost slamming into the pillar as I swung to a stop and fired a few rounds at visible enemies.

I ducked back behind the pillar as the storm of bullets caught up with me. The pillar absorbed most of the bullets as the storm passed. I darted back into the centre of the room as the storm continued past the pillar, quickly firing shots at the men in the middle of the room. The few remaining men dove for cover as three more of their comrades fell. I continued my dash to the other side of the room, approaching a faded reception booth. Not wasting any time, I hooked my wrist around the pillar to alter my direction and continued sprinting along the sidewall.

A man popped out from behind a pillar further back and aimed his rifle at me. Before he pulled the trigger, I used the trick I learned earlier and leapt diagonally towards the sidewall. Not expecting the manoeuvre, the man failed to track my movements properly and destroyed the wall beneath me as I kicked off. Still confused by my movements the man tried to correct his aim but missed as I tucked and rolled under the stream of bullets. I threw a straight punch at his nose as I stood up from the roll without losing momentum. I finished the stunned man off by ripping the rifle out of his hands and unloading a short burst of bullets under his chin.

I quickly stepped behind the pillar for cover from the next stream of bullets. I waited a second and the bullets stopped as the last man reloaded. Taking this opportunity, I spun out of cover and killed him with another short burst to the head as he leant back out.

With the battle concluded, I started to relax my shoulders but I was soon interrupted by Nova.

<[ The leader is fleeing. Chase him down. ]>

Immediately heeding her words, I dropped the rifle and picked up the pistol as I dashed towards the stairs. The leader was already at the top of the stairs but he stumbled and fell when he saw me sprinting towards him. A few seconds later I was standing over him with my pistol aimed at his forehead, the man sat whimpering as the crotch of his pants darkened.

“I have questions.”