As I continually scanned, I finally found the area where Elhisia told me where the armoury was. It was on the left side, close to one of the main generators with four guards stationed right in front of it. It was a refurbished house, sitting off from everything else, and three black power cables snaking towards the room itself,

“Is that it?” I asked, pointing towards the section.

“Yeah…” The foreman asked.

“Good, lead the way.”

A figure appeared on the western side of the camp sight, walking promptly. I zoomed in on them and saw the red and plaid shirt. It was Elhisia with anger flashed across her face.

“What’s the meaning of this!?” Elhisia snarled through the com, pouncing herself up to Rikor. “What it looks like Ms Weitson…I’m checking your people!”

“Why?” She growled.

“ Two of my men are dead and forty-seven o’ yours are missing!”

An older man with a short grey and a stocky build stepped forward from amongst the crowd. “None of us killed your men Haek!” The Old man shouted. The way his voice echoed from such simple made it clear, he was used to shouting in a factory. He had a commanding presence similar to my old Drill Sergeant, from back in my camp days.

“Who’s that over there?” I asked, pointing down the camp. “That’s Unar,” Huono answered. “Vice President of The Union.”

“Union VP?… Ahh…that’s him.” I answered, realising who it was.

“You know him?”

“No…but Elhisia tasked me to find him.”

“What for?”

“The princess wanted me to speak with him directly about The Armory, gather some people. Rikor’s up to something and she’s trying to figure it out.”

“What do you mean up to something?”

“I’m not sure foreman, I just arrived, everything’s new to me. But Elhisia asked me to look into things,” I said, lying through my teeth.

“I see…why?” Huono asked, eye concerned.

“I don’t know why, but she believes Rikor’s been in contact with her father.”

“That’s not good.”

“It isn’t”

A loud gush of wind pummeled through the camp flapping the tarpaulin vigorous. The shouting match between Rikor and Elhisia had grown from just them to opposing forces.

“Oh really?!” Rikor snarled, scar pulsing down his face. “I KNOW THEY ARE HERE…COME OUT SLIMY SCRUM.”

Two guards came roving through, pulling two carcases behind them. The men tossed the bodies in front of Unar and the man didn’t flinch. Elhisia, however, squirmed shrieking from the sight of the blood oozing from their heads and sides.

“Why are you showing me this?!” Unar asked.

“Because if you don’t bring me your people. They’ll end up like mine.”

“Is that a threat?!?” Elhisia hissed.

Rikor paused as if he was stumped by the question. Then, curled his lips into a smile. “Take it as you wish. But mark my words. This. Will. Not. End. Well!”

“Come on…we gotta get to that armoury.” I said. “This place is a bubbling pot ready to explode!”

As the atmosphere grew tense so did my concern. The growing fury from either camp was all thanks to me, but I had one mission. This is not what I wanted, but for christ's sake, if this turned out bad I don’t know what I’d do. Hell, I was already having trouble functioning knowing the men we killed had nothing to do with Rikor’s squad. If they did…we would’ve probably never made it out of Belleview Port.

“Where are Jez and Frad?” Unar asked, tone sharp.

“WHO?” Rikor spat.

“Two of my men, they’ve been missing for the past two hours.”

“How would I know where they are?”

“Isn’t this your camp? Don’t know who comes and goes? I never said anything when Sero and Rewa went missing because they wanted to explore but u forbid it, but the moment Jez voiced his annoyance with you because NO ONE CAME BACK ALIVE, you scoffed. Is this how you handle your business…Rikor?”

“How I handle my business, is none of your concern,” Rikor said after a full minute of silence. “You handle yours…I handle mine. The forty-five men you seek are out searching for them. Rikor.”

“What?” Rikor hissed. “I’m baring my fucking balls right now Old Man. You disobeyed my curfew by sneaking out all the time. Do you think I wouldn’t notice? I let it be because we are in the FUCKING WASTE everyone hates it here. But you see…forty-five you are missing and I could only think of one reason why you’d ‘go missing’. Hell, one a’ you bastards killed two of my men and did so…professionally. I should’ve never trained ya’! Because alls you are dogs looking to bite me back for all I’ve done for ya. I told you the risks of wanting to go back to the city, but did they care? Hell Old man you didn’t stop them, did you?”

Murmurs and grunts all bellowed through the crowd. Rikor had struck a chord, a very divisive one. Elhisia was quiet, which made me believe she was unaware of the tension between these two factions.

The challenge though for both of them was. The Weitson Employee had more people, whilst Rikor’s own was professionally trained for cases such as this. However, Weitson, too, was trained but not for a while. It may not be enough, but it would be a concern for Rikor.

I zoomed left, noticing someone in the crowd a white cloth wrapped around his arm, just like Huono. “I see…” I said aloud. “What?” Huono asked. “The white cloth, that’s how you plan to distinguish yourselves”

“Yes,” Huono said.

“Interesting…We have to hurry Foreman, I don’t like how the negotiations are playing out right now” I said. “It’s getting bad…and quickly.”

“As expected,” Huono said coldly.

Huono brought me back down to the ground and flashed a mirror in the opposing direction. “Why are you doing that? We haven’t secured anything yet??” I asked, annoyed.

“…because we can’t wait for that!”

We passed a section with at least four dozen cigarette butts littered on the ground. We then made a left, hopping over a broken wall then spilling onto the campsite.

I would’ve liked to charge onto the open field, but the camp sight had too many lights, forcing us to stick to the shadows, which, thankfully had little to no guards patrolling the area.

I lowered the volume from Elhisia com because it was distracting me. The negotiation between Elhisia. Unar and Rikor had come to a stall mate and was nothing more but a shouting match.

“We’re here,” Huono said, pointing with his nose. “What’s the plan here?” The foreman asked.

“Bait…” I answered gruffly

“What?”

I gun butted the foreman in the side, forcing him into the open. The man flailed to the ground with a grunt of exhaustion and snapped his head towards me, annoyed.

“What are you doing here Huono?” A guard snapped. I came around the corner, noting the four guards that protected a large trailer that sat on the floor compared to the rest.

The four guards were in tactical gear, but no armour plating, based on how smooth their clothes seemed. Each had a pistol at their waist, but not a submachine nor an assault rifle. Cosy, I mused.

“I saw the fool running around the circuit breaker, so I brought him here,” I said, walking out. The guards eyed me down as if I were some stranger dressed in a clown suit. I guess they never saw Furtiven suit before…figures. “Huono? On the Eastside? That doesn’t sound right…does it.” One of them said, walking up.

A gunshot cracked the air, drawing everyone’s attention to where everyone else was located. DAMN IT! I groaned. My eyes drifted towards the guard’s fingers, watching as excitement caught their fingertips. One of the guards tried to say something, but Elhisia’s voice caught my attention, drawing my attention to her heightened tone. “Canari…” Elhisia said.

Shit…I flicked my submachine gun up into my hands, centring myself, squeezed the trigger four times, burying each shot into the shoulders, neck and head of the guards that protected The Armory.

They dropped to the ground like a bag of onions with the knot ruptured, spilling their blood across the dead soil. “Holy Shit,” Huono whispered, shocked.

The air was filled with gunshots, wails and shrieks smothering the air around us. The once dead night was now filled with cries of death and bullets, filling me with anger and anxiety. I hated this feeling, especially when I was in The Carib Waste …it was like hearing the screams of my men dying all around me when I lost half my body in that crevice all those years ago.

Not. Now!

“Get up!”I growled to Huono shaking off my anxiety. “Pandemonium is about to reign in on This Camp!”

I darted past Huono and skipped over the two dead bodies, I fired two headshots into the remaining guards, ensuring they were dead. Then drew my attention to the Armory. I tried forcing the door down with my left shoulder, only to feel my intestines shift slightly from the weight of my cybernetics. “Damn it.”

A keypad panel on my left with numbers from 1 to 9 were there. It had red, yellow and green dots blinking above the numbers. I pointed my submachine gun at it. “STOP! I know the code!” Huono shouted!

I released my hand from the trigger and watched as Huono typed in the code. The approval ding went off and the man pushed himself inside the door.

Huon’s men appeared out of nowhere and sprung past me with anger, viciousness and anticipation painted onto their faces. They filled The Armory like a lion to prey, teeth bared and ready to put an end to all this. This is what they were waiting for I thought, they planned this…this coupe.

The clicking, snaps and cracks of loaded magazines frolicked through the door. I turned to Huono, whose face was written with concern. At least he’s smart enough to know he should be scared. I mused.

“That’s it?” Huono asked.

“Yes…that is it. I have a job to do…and so do you.”

“…and that is?”

“Keep my client alive,” I said walking away.

“Wait, what’s your name?”

I didn’t answer, I simply smiled and darted off into the mayhem of the open field, hoping to find a way to Elhisia…and fast.