“Then fucking get it done. I'm tired of this shit mission. Get us back to fucking civilisation Cypher!”

“Gotcha.”

Eltessa turned, and left the room, leaving me to my machinations, which amounted to me hunting for a damn spoon to guzzle a bowl of soup down.

I found the spoon in one of the wall compartments between the oven and refrigerator. It was as if this room was some special quarters fit for a Commanding Officer, but better.

I mean, during my time within the AFA I was privy to my superior officer’s quarters, but this? This was a step above, bordering luxury and that thought was based solely on the aesthetics of the room itself.

The walls were silver but glossed with a rough edge which made them seem like sand. The sink was silver and sparkled at certain angles whilst the floor was complete concrete but held a Sheen, that wasn't overpowering to sensors within my cybernetic eye.

The bed, which I finally caught wind of was on the right, behind me, but stapled to a wall with a wardrobe sitting at the left of it. Its wooden charcoal stains did make it seem menacing, but not in a negative way.

I found a spoon in the wardrobe, which in my opinion was a dog shit place to have it, but this wasn’t my place so I just grabbed it and rolled on back to the table to start eating my grub.

The broth was filled with chicken chunks, carrots, beets and two dumplings, the size of two thumbs, which had me annoyed because three thumbs would’ve been a perfect size.

I stirred it with my spoon, then dipped it in watching as the broth filled the spoon then sipped it gently.

A tingling sensation erupted from my tongue. The broth was heavily spiced, something I hadn’t realised from the scent, but from the taste.

I could taste the chicken cube marinating on my tongue as I guzzled down a second sip, feeling the air in my stomach dissipate slowly with each belch I bellowed.

Before I knew it, the entire broth was in my stomach, making me feel alive. Even if we're only for a few seconds.

I rocked back in the chair spreading my legs and exhaled, feeling the crotch of my Furtiven Suit begin to cut the supply of oxygen to my balls.

After fighting myself for five seconds, I pushed myself up, turning my left wrist up and decompressing the Furtiven Suit.

A loud hissed groaned out and the suit sagged around my body. I unclipped my flak jacket, pulling it off and tossing it on the ground.

My Furtiven Suit sagged around me as I walked towards the bed. On my final step, I was free of the suit and I plunked myself down on the bed feeling its coolness tingle around me making me feel as If I were him.

I grabbed the right side of the bed, thinking of Shin-Lee and rolled after realising she wouldn’t appear.

As I lay on my back I imagined Hannah jumping on my stomach trying to get my attention. It made me smile despite my body feeling like shit.

I stared at the ceiling for a full hour before my body finally allowed me to rest, because rest was what I needed. After all, only god knew how the fuck I would get into the bunker.

◆◆◆

As I opened my eyes, I realised that not much had changed within the room, despite me still hoping to wake up to find myself back in my apartment.

Shin-Lee wasn’t here nor was my baby girl Hannah. It was downright infuriating, but I let my frustration dissipate as my body felt little respite despite my two-hour rest.

The room was pitch black, but that was mostly thanks to my cybernetic entering incognito mode, a little gift Mr Black gave me.

Incognito Mode was an update provided to allow me to keep my Cybernetics active whilst I slept. However, once my heart rate increased my cybernetics would activate without the feedback from SMB trying to shred my brain into tiny pieces.

A red dot popped up in my left eye, and then light pulsed into existence as my cybernetic eye initialized. My SMB clutched my brain, sending a tingling sensation across my brain in the form of crooked lines.

I grit my teeth in annoyance, feeling as though Incognito Mode was nothing but a joke, but I guess when adrenaline is pumping through your veins you won’t feel that tingle from my SMB.

I pushed myself up and turned and looked around the room. My haversack was on the table next to the empty bowl and a line of empty clothes led to the bed showing my inner sloth. Not like I cared I mused bitterly.

It took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts as I was still lethargic, but after catching myself I finally pushed myself off the bed and finally cleaned up the space.

Once I was finished, I pulled myself together putting the same fatigues I wore whilst traversing the Waste with Stryme. I needed a shower, but I’d save that for another time, I needed to get to work…and fast.

I pushed the door to my quarters, then made a right and began a slow trot as I headed down the corridor.

The computer console’s lights blinked intermittently in the same morse code fashion as they did earlier, this time with a different message. A message that didn’t mean shit. Just another rambling.

“What am I even saying?” I said laughing to myself. “It just lights blinking…it’s not morse code.” I shook my head in shame and bypassed the console leaving its lights blinking to my left.

Metal clashed in the short distance as I encroached upon the hallway. The closer I got to the kitchen, the louder the commotion brewed, which meant one thing. The cooks were up, and it was time to serve grub to everyone here.

I pushed the door to the kitchen and was met with three men and eight women. They all wore aprons which held food stains splashed on them.

The kitchen eyed me looking at each other confused as ever. One of the men moved to his right, inching closer to the knife rack. “Easy, I'm Eltessa brought me here no need to be alarmed.”

“El-who?” a woman asked confused.

“Right...Telia” I answered remembering her alias.

“You’re the man Stin brought back.”

“Aye,” I said with a nod.

The kitchen staff one either nervously, unsure of what to do, so I took the initiative and smiled and continued on my merry way bypassing them, keeping my eyes fixated on the man who reached the knife rack but hadn’t the balls to pull one free.

I reached the door, eyeing them and nodded gently and left them to their machinations. The galley was brightly compared to what it was two hours ago, but it smelled as though it had been cleaned extensively.

As I exited the galley, Dawn sprouted right before my eyes beyond Sceleratus’ wall like a flower, showing a live painting of purple and orange clouds drifting in the distance.

I wasn’t one to be fond of such sights, but this one occurrence did lift my mood. It was a marvel to see clouds shape themselves like that in the distance.

The orange hue of the clouds was on the left, which formed what seemed to be a mountain, collapsing on itself, whilst on the right side was a wolf-like animal with ogled eyes charging towards the collapsing mountain.

My lips curled into a bitter smile, am I heading to a collapsing mountain? I asked myself, finally snapping myself out of my delight. “Pretty isn’t it?” Someone said to my right.

I turned right, noticing a man standing on the wall in brown fatigues, back propped up against the wall. He turned to me showing his haggard eyes. At that second, I compared his eyes to Eltessa’s but quickly realised the difference between the two.

Eltessa's eyes were permanently shrewd whilst his naturally smiled but made his nose seem flattered. His lips were thin but cracked from dryness, which cemented the ghoul-like face he’d established for himself. Hopefully not by choice, I thought.

“Karken is it?” The man said.

“Yeah…that’s me.”

“Good, my name’s Walack. I’ll be your guide around here.”

“Never said I needed a guide.”

The man turned to me, showing me his pistol, which was strapped to his waist. He sucked his teeth and then spat out green slime from his mouth which bubbled as it struck the ground. “But you’ll have one, dontcha think?”

“I guess I would,” I said laughing.

“Good, now that we’re acquainted let's get the show on the road. I need to get back on wall duty.”

“Sure, lead the way Walack.”