“I hate that fucking thing,” Stryme growled, pushing the door open to my chattel house. The scent of the desert poured in and Rook and I looked at each other confused.

As Stryme stood by the door I scanned him, noticing how tinged and tattered his fatigues were. He held a permanent scowl on his face, which was matched by how dreary his eyes looked as if he’d just fought off a pack of wolves on his own. No doubt he did, in that quarantine dome, I mused.

“You’re three days late.” Rook said, “this is gonna fuck without schedule”

“Fuck the schedule, The Waste is complete shit now, do you know how many patrols I had to evade to get here?”

“Two.” Rook said.

“If only, triple that.”

“Six?”

“Fuck Yeah, What the fuck is going on in The Waste?”

“One of the powerhouses here died, so everyone’s vying for the power it seems,” I added.

“Over this piece of shit land? How low can you be that you’re fighting for this shit.”

“As low as they come,” I grunted.

“Dumb fucks.”

Stryme strolled into the chattel house, grunting all the way to the fridge. He pulled the door free and began rummaging through like an animal hunting for its next meal. “Where’s the fucking beer I asked for?”

“Black didn’t allow that.”

“The fuck you mean he didn’t allow beer? Are you shitting me right now Rook? I’ve been in deep-cover for months, all I ask for is fucking beer Rook!”

Rook's lips curled into a smile and he blinked at Stryme who just had his teeth gnashed at him.

The staring contest lasted three seconds, as Stryme finally realised what was on our table. Rook tossed a canned beer at him, hot, as the fridge was filled after he packed it with our replenishments.

Stryme twisted the crown of the beer and guzzled it down in two long gulps and bellowed a loud belch. He stalked himself over to the table and down another three cans in a mere minute. The man’s a god damn monster, I thought ruefully.

Once he was finished, he whipped his beer moustache free, then groaned a satisfying shriek, pumping his hands in the air, as though he was ready to conquer the world.

“You were saying?” Stryme grunted, then bellowed another burp that shook the entire chattel house, making it seem that the Imbibe was about to take place once more.

“FUCK STRYME” Rook roared, holding his nose, “YOUR BREATH SMELLS LIKE SHIT!”

Breath? I thought, confused. “What are you—“

A foul rancid scent drifted into my nose, burning my eyes and nose instantly, my stomach convulsed from the scent, which smell like a combination of rotting acid and faeces combined.

What is the Imbibe…holy shit…what the fuck is that smell it’s pissant AWFUL!

Rook scrambled into his bag, which sat on the table in front of him. The sound of dice rattling sounded off from his bag, and then he pulled a small bottle full of capsules, tossing them at him.

Stryme caught it, eyes laced in fatigue, but most uncaring for Rook’s words. He snapped the bottle open, downing a capsule without thought. “You idiot!” Rook barked, covering his nose, “You were supposed to bite that!”

“Do I look like I care Rook?”

“That’s not the point!”

“It is…I’m tired as shit and need a shower!”

“Wasn’t the quarantine scrub enough for you?”

“That’s not a fucking shower Rook, that's fucking torture! No wonder you have trouble getting women.”

“I’m married Stryme, I don’t need ‘women’”

“Bullshit…you believe this shit Cypher?” Stryme said, pointing at Rook with his nose. “Does that scrawny bastard looks as though he could bag a wife?”

I turned to Rook, eyeing the young man up and down, trying to understand what Stryme was insinuating, but it just left me confused. “I don’t think it matters,” I answered.

“You’re weird too.” He scoffed, tilting backwards aghast from my words. He then shook his head muttering something under his breath then walked on over to the wooden tub, where steam waft from.

Stryme pulled off his tattered clothes and hopped into the tub without a care in the world, inhaling wind into his lips, sounding refreshed. At least he isn’t inhaling, I mused bitterly. I turned to Rook, who simply shook his head.

“About fucking time I got a real shower!” …fuck!” Stryme said, turning Rook and raising his middle finger to him.

“Right,” Rook said pushing himself up, then sauntered through the door, leaving us alone.

An eerie feeling resonated within the room instantly, like pins sticking into my hands, then scrapping against my neck.

I was familiar with this type of feeling, the feeling of not being welcomed. It was reminiscent of the first time The Cobra Squad and I met. So this is how it’s going to go down…more hazing I groaned to myself.

“I take it you know why Mr Black wants you in Sceleratus.”

“Exfiltrate the Hedgehog.”

“Good, at least he told you that much. He has a pension for keeping things close to his chest for no reason.”

“So I’ve realised,” I said.

“Right…any questions?”

“Plenty, I have plenty, but I think it’s best you just give me the rundown on what’s going on, that way I won’t waste my questions.”

“Smart man,” He said with a smirk.

Stryme dipped his head in the water and began scrubbing his hair for a full five minutes before finally turning back to me. He rolled his neck, where it popped five times. “The Waste has gone to shit Cypher, I’m going to need you to be prepared. I evaded twelve convoys and five ravagers trying to get here.”

“Convoys?”

“Yeah, none from either the Federation or the Empire.”

“The Nation?”

“Doubtful, they have no reason to come South.”

“True.”

“Right…the debrief isn’t much, but I’ll tell you what I know but the reason why Mr Black’s debrief wasn’t much, is due to not having anything to work with.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Sceleratus is a Fortress. I might be run by a skeleton crew, but these men are professional. The little village on the outskirts is filled with people trying to ween off the Fortress itself, as the men come out for R & R.”

“Stressful?”

“More like Lustful, but they know how to keep it check.”

“I’m in charge of keeping everything up and running whilst Eltessa handles intel gathering.”

“She has anything for me to work with?”

“Sorta…”

Stryme reached for his pants, which were on the left side of his tub. He fished into his left pocket and flicked a square datacube towards me.

I caught it, then slotted the datacube into my cybernetic arm. I opened my palm watching as a holographic projection appeared right in front of me.

“Where are you from?” A man said.

“Antonopo,” A female voice said.

“Never heard of the settlement.”

As the video continued, someone was following a man with broad shoulders, who had two men walking alongside him. The area they were walking was poorly lit, but I could decipher it was a corridor of a military complex, due to the muted colours.

“It isn’t a settlement Sir. It’s a small town in the Federation.” The woman said shyly.

“Ah…you’re from the Federation, no wonder your accent sounds familiar, what city is close to Antonopo from?”

“Which city?”

“Hono.”

“Hono’s barely a city,” He laughed, “If you’re from there, Why in the Imbibe are you out here?”

“To eat.”

“You’re lying, you left The Federation, to eat out here? The Federation has tons of food.”

“Food, that makes you sick!” She said bitterly.

“You don’t like synthetic food?”

“My mother died of cancer Sir.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything, Sir, my mother had olinkirino.”

“What? never heard the term before.” He said.

“There’s a substance in all synthetic food called syrloint, it supposedly provides the nutrients the synthetic food doesn’t have.”

“…and?”

“My mother can’t process it, so because of that, it poisoned her and she died.”

“Sounds like you could’ve got a billion credits from Twin Foods.”

“They bankrupted my family, so not I’m here.”

“Sounds about right, but enough of that.”

The two-man swerved off, and a door was kicked open. The man threw the girl into the room and rushed towards her, blocking the camera with his chin.

A subtle sucking sound chimed off, as if people were kissing, then it stopped after ten seconds. “Why are you stopping?” The woman asked.

“Just checking to see if you were into it.”

“Stop playing and kiss me!”

The video stopped.

“What the hell was that?”

“A video.”

“No shit, is this all you have on the inside?”

“Yes. Lieutenant Ranton stopped his men from bringing women into the base. Now everything else happens outside.”

“Wait, you’ve been using girls to get footage on the inside?”

“Yes…how else do you think we were getting intel?

“I’m not questioning the methods, but isn’t it too risky to use civilians for these types of things, wouldn’t the blowback be too tremendous”

“The civilians on the outside just want food and shelter. Sceletarus is effectively a settlement, but we all know what happens inside.”

“Why haven’t they shooed everyone off then?”

“Because they serve as cover. Officially, Sceletarus is still owned by the Federation, but with a small village outside, they won’t claim it.

“…unless the Third Continental War begins.”

“Right, the village serves as basic camouflage for the experiments that take place. It doesn’t help either the Federation’s drones pass every once in a while, so they try to keep things above book.”

“I see,” I noted, and just like that, that’s my confirmation, Mr Black’s working for someone who’s gone off books. “This op sounds like shit.”

“It smells of it too.” Stryme laughed.

“No…we don’t know who they are till they come back.”

“Ranton takes any girls?”

“Yeah, but unlike his men, he never uses the same girl twice,”

“Any kinks?”

“None, he ain’t one for passion, like our lover boy Rook,” Stryme said smiling wryly.

“Right…but one thing I know for sure, Ranton’s a cautious mother fucker.”

“No cameras we can hack into?”

“They’re on a private network, as these men don’t have any tech on them we can’t install any malware or spyware.”

“What about Hallon, does he entertain any of the girls?”

“Yeah, based on descriptions from the girls.”

“Descriptions?”

“Yeah, he doesn’t leave Sceleratas, someone inspects the girls for him?”

“I doubt, he probably watching the girls through a video stream.”

“I and Eltessa theorised that, but we weren’t able to verify it.”

“I see, how many times have girls visited him?

Stryme snorted and shook his head bitterly. “Three times.”

“Three times?”

“Yeah…”

“When was the last time a girl went inside?”

“Last month.”

“Shit, the man’s a workaholic.”

“Evidently,” Stryme said. “You have any way to get in Mr Black said that you’re smart, so I don’t think it’ll take much for you to deduce anything that I haven’t but I’m not an Infiltration Specialist, so maybe there is somewhere you can sneak in and find out more.”

My anxiety riled up in my chest, feeling like a Wiesel was gnawing away my calmness.

This confidence Mr Black had in me, I’d like to know where it came from because if I were, to be honest, I don’t know how the fuck I would get inside if this was the intel they gave me.

“I’ll figure something out,” I said, which made Stryme look at me quizzically. Yep…I’m not instilling much confidence, am I? I thought bitterly.

“Anything I need to worry about heading there?”

“Just the usual shit, in all honesty.”

“I see…how long before we get there?”

“Six to seven days max, depending on whether.”

“Gotcha, when do we leave, in two days.”

“Good, I’ll be ready.”