The next morning, Frank was suddenly woken up by a commotion outside. He looked out of the tower to see what it was. There were some cars—non-hovering cars—which Frank hadn't seen in a long time. He saw a woman in robes yelling frantically at what seemed to be Tanian police... oh no! Frank quickly grabbed his rifle, loaded the ammunition, and woke the others up.

  "Psst!" he hissed. "Hey, wake up!"

  Reagel suddenly woke up slowly, his eyes still half asleep. It was still dark.

  "What's wrong?" Reagel asked blindly.

  Frank panickingly went to wake up Eimer too. He wasn't so hard to though.

  "Wait, what's happened?" he asked.

  "The Tanian police," Frank answered.

  "What?!" Eimer exclaimed in disbelief.

  "Yeah, I know," Frank replied. "The hostage, the Tanian woman. Remember?"

  Eimer seemed to remember.

  "She escaped?" he asked.

  "I think so," Frank answered.

  Frank looked back at Reagel. He was about to go back to sleep.

  "Go wake Reagel up," Frank ordered. "I'll find a way out of here—"

  A loud knock on the door at the bottom of the tower echoed throughout. It shook Frank. A loud voice shouted from below

  "We need to go now, we need to go now!" he thought.

  Frank worriedly looked out of the tower again. He saw the policemen armed with pistols.

  "How will we get out of here?" he thought.

  Frank looked back and saw Reagel wide awake now.

  "We might have to fight our way through," Frank spoke.

  Eimer's expression told Frank that he wasn't so sure about that idea.

  "How many are there?" Reagel asked.

  "Five, six?" Frank answered.

  Eimer was now looking for any way out without a fight. There weren't any ladders or ropes they could climb down.

  "Alright," Eimer spoke. "Get your guns ready."

  Reagel panickingly reloaded his submachine gun.

  "Ready," he spoke.

  Frank scanned around their hideout.

  "Grab any explosives you can," Eimer ordered.

  "The rations too?" Reagel asked.

  "Yes, the rations too," Eimer answered. "Anything you can carry and run, take them with you."

  Frank and Reagel complied. Then, the three slowly went down to the bottom of the tower on the stairs. The knocks got louder as were the voices of the police. At the very bottom, Frank, Reagel, and Eimer waited patiently. Then, Frank swiftly opened the tower door, creaking with rust. Then, it was immediately followed up by a grenade throw by Reagel. Frank slammed the door shut and turned on the deafening mode of his headphones. The explosion was loud. The door was dented and swung open.

  "Alright," Frank spoke. "On with the submachine gun!"

  Frank opened the barely functioning metal door as Reagel opened fire. He shot for two magazines until he stopped to reserve the rest. Eimer ran out to the wrecked police car and hid in the bushes. Frank and Reagel did the same. Due to the smoke and panic, none of the policemen could get their shots off. Frank told his squadmates to run to the gate as time was running near to assault.

  "This is Wraith, do you copy?" he spoke into the HoloCom. "This is Wraith, do you copy?!"

  There was static for a moment.

  "Affirmative, Wraith," the radio replied.

  Frank took a sigh of relief.

  "If you see a red flare signal at the water gate, radio in the assault immediately!" he yelled.

  "Roger that, Wraith," the radio replied.

  "Over and out," Frank ended.

  Frank looked up the bushes and a policeman opened fire. Frank ducked to the ground and aimed his rifle.

  "That was close!" he thought.

  He breathed heavily. He waited patiently for the policeman to peep.

  "Time to put this rifle to good use," Frank thought.

  Frank pulled back the scavenged rifle's bolt to load a round into the breech. He lifted it and waited patiently. Then... bang. Frank fired his rifle the moment the policeman peeped above the bushes, hitting him straight in the head. The recoil was stronger than anticipated.

  "Traitor!" he yelled.

  Frank stood back up and fired two more rounds at the policeman to make sure.

  "Die, you rebel scum!" he hysterically yelled. "Get a taste of your own medicine!"

  Frank's shoulder was already starting to hurt a bit due to the strong recoil.

  "What type of semi-automatic rifle is this?" he thought.

  Then, Frank saw some policemen trying to get back up and a woman crawling away.

  "She might alert more policemen," Frank thought.

  He lifted the rifle and prepared to shoot.

  "Screw you too, woman!" Frank yelled as he fired a bullet at the Tanian woman, killing her instantly.

  Then, he started to make a run for it. He sprinted along the dirt road to the water gate as fast as he could. He sprinted like he'd never before. The entire mission depended on it. Then, he saw a red flare go up into the sky. It was beautiful. It lit up the surroundings alongside the sunrise. It was windier than yesterday. The wind kept pushing against Frank. He didn't have enough time to waste, though. When Frank finally reached the water gate, he saw Eimer and Reagel waiting patiently for the assault to begin. Suddenly, the air raid sirens began to blare. Frank looked into the distance and saw hundreds of hovercrafts and Vtols flying. The assault had begun.

  "So, what's our job now?" Reagel asked.

  Frank glanced at him, the wind, so strong that the uniform was being blown erratically.

  "I guess we should hold off the Tanian forces that might come to the gate," he answered.

  Eimer looked up at the city wall.

  "We could go up there," he suggested.

  Frank saw Eimer pointing at an elevator of sorts to get up the city wall. Frank liked the idea. It would give them a vantage point. The high ground as some might even say. They went onto the platform and began ascending to the top. Once they got up there, Eimer pulled out his sniper rifle.

  "Was wondering when you'd use that!" Reagel chuckled.

  Frank looked at the sniper rifle intensely. It was gorgeous, decorated with all sorts of paint, and camouflaged.

  "Sad thing I don't have a ghillie suit on right now," Eimer joked.

  Reagel wheezed.

  "I don't think you'd blend in well with the colour scheme of the city wall!" he cried.

  Eimer had a small laugh.

  "The Alarics used to call me 'Bane of Death'," Eimer bragged. "Now, I'd rather be called 'The Man in a Plight'."

  Frank was also prepared to throw grenades if he had to. He had only six of them, so he had to use them sparingly.

  "Should've carried more with us," Frank thought. "Though it'd weigh us down way too much for a three-mile run."

  Frank looked down to the bottom of the wall. He then realized how high up they truly were.

  "We're fifty, sixty, maybe even seventy meters high," he calculated aloud. "I would not want to fall now."

  "Me neither," Reagel added. "I don't think I'd even be recognizable anymore if I'd fallen!"

  Frank smirked.

  "Well, you have your dog tags—" he was cut off.

  "Enemies, enemies!" Eimer shouted. "It's time to execute the plan privates!"

  Frank immediately went prone and prepared to pull the pin of the grenade.

  "Wait, don't you think it might explode too soon?" Reagel asked.

  Frank didn't know.

  "Well, three of these are contact grenades," he assured. "And the other three are frag grenades, so I don't think they'd be inefficient."

  Frank wasn't sure. Reagel seemed to swallow his worries. Eimer started opening fire to sway the enemies and stall them.

  "How many, sir?" Frank asked.

  "Uhh, ten, fifteen?" Eimer answered without assurance. "I'm not sure. I'm still counting."

  Eimer reloaded and fired another bullet. Reagel searched for enemies with his binoculars. Then, through Frank's HoloCom, the radio turned on.

  "Wraith, do you copy?" the radio spoke. "This is Eagle Eye, do you copy?"

  Frank was caught off guard.

  "Uhh, yes, affirmative," he answered.

  "The assault has begun, open the gate in less than an hour," the radio ordered.

  Frank looked at Reagel.

  "Hey!" Frank yelled. "We've got to open the gate!"

  Reagel slowly crawled towards Eimer.

  "Take my binoculars!" Reagel yelled. "Tanian reinforcements won't come anytime soon. They're too distracted by the diversion back at the trench lines!"

  Eimer glanced at the bottom of the wall.

  "You'll have to climb down and open it using the terminal on the left!" he explained. "We should've opened the gate before we went up the wall, but forget it! We'll give you covering fire!"

  Reagel looked nervous.

  "Are you sure about this, sir?" he asked.

  "Yes," Eimer answered. "Private Richardson will throw some grenades first to force the Tanians to go to cover! You're the one with the submachine gun!"

  Eimer spoke as loud as he could as the barrage of bullets got louder. Meanwhile, Frank saw a terrifying sight.

  "Look!" Frank shouted. "Reinforcements!"

  Eimer looked through the binoculars towards the direction Frank pointed.

  "We've got to do this quick!" Frank spoke. "Alright, fire in the hole!"

  Frank threw a grenade as hard as he could to the bottom of the wall.

  "Now we wait," he thought. "Hopefully the wind direction didn't change its course."

  Then, a bright flash and then an explosion rang out from the ground.

  "Alright, the second one!" Eimer shouted.

  Frank took out another, pulled the pin, threw the grenade and waited whilst looking down. The second grenade exploded and the flash was so bright Frank had to cover his visor which had a slight magnification as designed.

  "Why is that so bright?" Frank thought internally.

  He looked down again at the ground and saw a few Tanian soldiers dead and a few more hiding.

  "Alright!" he yelled out loud.

  He turned towards Reagel.

  "Go now!" he ordered.

  Eimer immediately started rapid firing his sniper, keeping pressure on the ground soldiers.

  "Suppressive fire, suppressive fire!" Eimer yelled.

  Reagel got up and went to the elevator to begin descending. As Reagel lay on the descending platform behind the railing, Frank began firing his rifle alongside Eimer. It was sketchy but it was their only choice. Frank's bullets were nowhere near close to hitting the hiding Tanians but Eimer's shots certainly were with small clouds of dust that flew up with every shot. Frank saw the shots hit the enemies directly in the head through the binoculars. It was a brutal sight. Frank looked down the wall once more.

  "He's nearly down there," Frank thought impatiently.

  Frank pulled his trigger one more time but no bullet came out. Frank searched his ammunition pouches, hunting for any bullet left. There were no more sniper shots as Eimer was already out. Frank began to panic and looked down again to the ground to see how Reagel was doing.

  "He made it!" Frank thought.

  Reagel was at the bottom and he was accessing the terminal. Frank pulled out his pistol from his holster. It was a scavenged nine-millimetre pistol, the one he got from the dead Tanian conscript he killed yesterday. It looked slightly bulky. Eimer saw what Frank was doing and did the same. They laid even more suppressive fire upon the enemy, although, this time they had to be careful not to hit Reagel. Then, suddenly, everything started to shake.

  "What's happening?" Frank thought worriedly.

  He looked down at the ground as he put another magazine into his pistol.

  "The gate's opening!" he uttered in surprise.

  Eimer looked surprised.

  "He did it!" Frank yelled.

  Frank turned the radio mode on his HoloCom.

  "The gate has been opened, I repeat the gate has been opened!" he shouted into the radio.

  "Copy that," the radio responded. "All units are free to move in. Eagle Eye, over and out."

  Frank took a sigh of relief and laid on his back.

  "What about Reagel?" Eimer asked.

  Frank jolted back up and looked down the edge of the wall.

  "Reagel!" he yelled as loud as he could.

  Reagel, who was crawling to cover looked up confused. Frank connected to Reagel's HoloCom.

  "Go to some cover!" he yelled once more. "Our troops are nearly here!"

  The frequency remained static until a voice could be heard.

  "O-okay," Reagel replied. "I'm shooting at whatever moves right now! Can you try finding where they are for me?"

  Frank was suddenly met with a barrage of bullets so he had to back away from the edge of the wall.

  "The Tanian reinforcements have arrived," he thought fearfully.

  Frank pressed the radio button again.

  "Uhh, no, negative," he answered.

  "Ah, god damn it!" Reagel groaned from the other side.

  Frank stared blankly at Eimer who had run out of ammunition for his pistol.

  "What should we do now, sir?" Frank asked.

  Frank peeked down the edge to check up on Reagel. He was behind a slight change in terrain deep enough for him to hide in, a ditch if you will. Frank hoped for the best and waited for friendly troops to arrive. Luckily for Frank, a hovercraft suddenly landed near the wall the moment he relaxed. Frank looked down the edge of the other side of the city wall. He saw many soldiers in black armour jump out and approach the gate. Frank gave Eimer hand gestures to look down at him. Eimer crawled to the other side of the wall and looked down the edge as well.

  "Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten," Eimer counted. "There are ten elite troopers."

  Frank looked in awe at the elite troopers. He hadn't seen one in person.

  "What's the Elite Echelon doing here?" Frank asked Eimer.

  Eimer looked back at Frank.

  "Your guess is as good as mine," Eimer answered. "It probably has to do with calming down revolutionist tensions in the area."

  "You mean eliminating important rebellious figures?" Frank asked.

  "Yeah, that and probably taking care of Denizens," Eimer answered. "Though, that's mainly the job for the Reactance Paragons."

  Frank went to the other side of the wall as the elite troopers went inside the gate. He saw Reagel still hiding in the ditch. Then, the elite troopers opened fire on the remaining Tanian soldiers. Just as that was happening, more Quadaric troops began to show up with more and more hovercrafts. The air raid siren went off. Frank saw some poor Quadaric soldiers stepping on landmines. He felt bad for them. He was surprised there weren't any flak guns firing. He was especially surprised there weren't any defences built on the city wall. Anyhow though, the Quadaric soldiers quickly overwhelmed the Tanian reinforcements. Frank and Eimer decided to climb back down. At the bottom, Frank told Reagel to join the assault.

  "Let's just follow the others on their way to the main city," Frank said to Reagel. "We might get in some shootouts as well."

  Reagel didn't seem all too happy.

  "I think I got shot in my leg," he told Frank.

  Frank looked at Reagel's left leg. It was pretty torn up.

  "Woah, what happened?" Frank asked.

  Reagel paused for a moment.

  "Actually, I think a grenade exploded near me," he spoke in agony.

  Frank held up Reagel's shoulder and helped him get to a medic. There was one saving some injured soldiers. Frank looked closely at the medic.

  "Amelia?" he asked.

  The medic looked up at Frank while crouched.

  "Frank!" the medic shouted in amazement.

  Frank laid Reagel on the ground for Amelia to operate on. Frank looked at his watch as Amelia sewed Reagel's wounds.

  "This thing's broken now," he spoke.

  Amelia struggled to talk to Frank as she had to focus. Frank didn't mind though. He was disturbing her while she was operating.

  "Hey, look at my fingers," Amelia spoke to Reagel. "How many am I holding up?"

  Amelia held up two fingers. Reagel, without his face armour, squinted his eyes confusedly.

  "I... I think it's four?" he answered.

  Amelia seemed to have taken note of that.

  "Don't worry," she comforted. "It was two but you're close enough."

  She continued to cleanse Reagel's torn leg as he groaned in pain due to the alcohol being poured on it.

  "What were we talking about again?" Amelia asked and looked up.

  "Oh, uhh," Frank tried to remember.

  "Oh, your watch right?" Amelia recalled.

  Reagel was holding his pain. Frank could see that he was in agony.

  "You finish?" Frank asked worriedly.

  "Yep, he's all bandaged up now," Amelia answered. "The bleeding's stopped."

  Frank glanced at the other soldiers.

  "I think they're going to move on with their assault on the capitol city," Frank said. "We might need to hurry up and get ready to follow along soon."

  Reagel tried to get up for a moment but couldn't.

  "Woah, woah, easy now," Amelia stopped Reagel's attempt.

  "But we'll have to hurry!" Reagel excused.

  Frank suddenly remembered something.

  "Wait a minute, where's Eimer?" he thought.

  He looked around but couldn't find him anywhere.

  "Maybe he regrouped with Lieutenant Ferguson," he thought. "Better go join him."

  Frank hung his rifle strap over his shoulder.

  "I'm going to go regroup with the lieutenant," he told Amelia.

  Amelia stood up tired from rescuing the wounded.

  "You do that, I'll meet back up along with Reagel," she added.

  Frank nodded and walked off. He walked along with some soldiers.

  "Do you know where Lieutenant Ferguson might be?" Franka asked.

  The soldiers looked at him, confused.

  "G-glory to the Federation!" a soldier yelled drunkenly.

  Frank ignored that one.

  "Wait, you mean the one in charge of the 50000th Infantry Platoon?" one of them asked back.

  Frank nodded.

  "We got in contact with some in the field," the soldier spoke further. "They said they'd go to some regroup point in the city to meet up with their commanding officer."

  Frank realized that the soldiers he was talking about were the lookout team, Eagle Eye.

  "Alright, thanks," Frank thanked. "But where's that though?"

  "Go northwest, you'll see some wreckage of buildings and homes," the soldier answered. "Then, if you follow the street from there, you'll probably meet up with your company."

  Frank started running in that direction. He ran as fast as he could. He saw some shapes of skyscrapers in the distance. He ran along the dirt road where the tanks were going. He wanted to get there as fast as possible. Then, he saw a hoverbike. It wasn't occupied by a rider. The rider was lying on the grass, dead. It seemed to be a Tanian police hoverbike.

  "I could take this and arrive within minutes!" Frank thought.

  He got onto the riderless hoverbike and activated the motors. He turned it to manual mode, took control of the handles, and sped off. He rode as fast as he could, blitzing above the ground, and leaving high smokes of dust.

  After a few minutes, Frank could see some buildings. He arrived on the road, got off the hoverbike, and began walking. It was past morning now, nearing midday. He prepared to be attacked by Tanian resistance but there weren't any yet. Then, he saw the Q.A.F. banner hanging up on a tall wrecked building.

  "This reminds me of the old times," Frank suddenly had a flashback of his childhood when the Alarics attacked. "Focus, Frank, not the time to freeze up now."

  Frank walked along the street and saw more Quadaric symbols and flags including the red phoenix emblem. Then, he saw a tank. It was a heavy tank. It wasn't Quadaric. It had Tanian and Alaric letters on it. It was also on fire with a burning corpse of a tank commander at the top. Frank walked further. It seemed that the assault had been more successful than he'd imagined. They had taken all this in less than five hours. Frank turned around a corner of a house and saw a body pile. It hadn't been burned yet. Then, he saw Quadaric soldiers.

  "So is this the point that the assault had rested at?" Frank wondered.

  He went to ask an officer.

  "Yes, this is where our soldiers are currently resting," the officer answered. "If you want to see the executions, go to that tall building over there."

  The officer pointed at a building further up the street. Frank had no interest in that.

  "Do you perhaps know where Lieutenant Ferguson is?" he asked.

  "Oh, him?" the officer replied. "He's over there, along this street, to the right."

  "Thank you, sir," Frank thanked.

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  Frank stomped his left foot into place and saluted.

  "Glory to the Federation!" he yelled.

  Then, Frank started running. He ran to his right. He saw a bunch more soldiers eating lunch. It got more and more crowded as he ran until eventually, he spotted Lt. Ferguson.

  "Lieutenant!" Frank yelled. "Lieutenant!"

  Lt. Ferguson turned to him with his face armour.

  "Who are you, private?" he asked in a slightly muffled voice.

  Frank straightened his posture immediately and saluted.

  "I'm Private Franklin H. Richardson," he answered.

  "Oh, the infiltration squad?" he asked.

  "Yes, sir, Wraith," Frank added.

  Lt. Ferguson looked surprised.

  "I didn't think your team would survive," he said.

  Frank was surprised by this.

  "What do you imply, sir?" Frank asked curiously.

  "It was a suicide mission, private," Lt. Ferguson explained. "And we assumed you and the rest were dead as we received no more updates."

  Frank was shocked. Lt. Ferguson looked at his watch.

  "You should go join with the other soldiers," he suggested. "We'll move further into the city soon. The division to the southeastern side of the city walls has broken through with our help and has already started advancing inward. And if you're wondering, 'Operation: Southern Demons' was indeed a success. Get ready to be promoted after this, private."

  Frank liked the sound of that.

  "Don't die before that though," Lt. Ferguson added.

  After that, Lt. Ferguson pointed to a general direction and Frank started walking towards it. He saw some soldiers that were a part of his platoon. He sat on a solid platform near an underground. He pondered for a bit. He couldn't do anything too exciting. So he just sat there and waited for their troops to start advancing once more. He looked around the dusty and broken remains of houses and restaurants. Their strange Tanian architecture didn't sit well with Frank. As Frank scanned his surroundings, he started seeing fear posters. These were fear posters used by the Federation to suppress dissenters during the fighting in the Tanian frontline. Words such as 'THE FEDERATION IS WATCHING YOU' and 'Glory to the Federation!' were written. Due to the high winds, there were constant gusts of dust. Five minutes passed like nothing. Then ten minutes. Then twenty. There was word that the other troops had made it to their regroup point but he hadn't seen Amelia yet. He drank from his canteen to ease his thirst.

  "Hopefully nothing bad happened..." Frank thought in worry.

  Suddenly Frank was spooked.

  "Hey!" a voice came from behind.

  Frank jumped up and spat out water.

  "Woah, easy there!" the culprit spoke.

  "Hey, that was uncalled for!" Frank argued rubbing his mouth with his hand.

  Frank saw the unmasked face and realized that it was Amelia who'd spooked him.

  "Amelia!" he yelled angrily.

  Amelia chuckled.

  "I'm sorry for scaring you," she apologized.

  Frank felt bad for yelling.

  "I-I shouldn't have yelled," Frank tried to apologise.

  "It alright, I was the one who spooked you," Amelia replied.

  Frank looked at Amelia's face again. She had a scratch on her face.

  "Where'd that come from?" Frank questioned and pointed.

  "Oh, it's nothing," Amelia answered. "It was a shrapnel."

  Frank looked more confused.

  "We got ambushed along the way here," she explained. "I think it was local civilians."

  "I guess those Tanians truly are relentless," Frank thought.

  Then, a soldier bumped into Frank.

  "Oh, sorry!" the soldier apologized. "Lieutenant Ferguson's preparing to take out some civilian defences up ahead the street!"

  Frank grabbed Amelia's hand and followed the soldier. Amelia struggled to keep up with Frank's grip but got used to it. They ran for a while until they reached Lt. Ferguson who was briefing on their mission.

  "The buildings are filled to the brim with armed civilians and there is an evacuation happening to the north," he briefed. "Use what you learned about CQC[Close-Quarters Combat] to clear those buildings. We've got to make way for the convoy to arrive at the city square safely."

  The soldiers seemed to chatter but they all understood him well. Frank and Amelia also heard the briefing.

  "Do we arrive there in Vtols?" a soldier asked.

  Lt. Ferguson looked at the soldier.

  "No, we won't, soldier," he answered. "The buildings are too dense and there isn't enough space for a hovercraft to land. Well, unless you're saying jumping down ropes, double-Es style[Elite Echelon], private?"

  The soldiers seem to laugh at that. Amelia chuckled. Frank turned to Amelia to ask a question.

  "Hey, where's Reagel?" he asked.

  Amelia glanced at Frank.

  "He's over there," she pointed.

  Frank looked in the direction she pointed. There he saw Reagel holding crutches with his left thigh wrapped in bandages.

  "Oh, there he is," Frank thought.

  "I think he'll be out of commission for this one," Amelia joked.

  "Yeah, you're right," Frank agreed.

  Frank saw Reagel simply cheering on others as he helplessly watched.

  "He wanted to contribute, you know," Amelia spoke.

  "Yeah," Frank replied.

  He glanced at her.

  "I could see that..." he thought.

  "A-anyway, let's start moving along," Amelia suggested.

  "Right," Frank added.

  The two went on top of a tank with some other soldiers and waited to arrive at their position to begin the mission. It was slowly turning nighttime as the sunset was on the horizon. The tank drove for a couple of minutes until it stopped for infantry to clear the path. Franka jumped off the tank. Amelia did too but she didn't stick her landing.

  "Oh!" Frank panicked.

  Luckily, Frank managed to stop Amelia's fall.

  "Th-thank you," Amelia spoke in embarrassment.

  Frank didn't bother talking about it. They started walking towards a bombed building. It seemed to be a cafe but obviously, it was in ruins. The duo got up to the roof of the cafe and looked through the binoculars.

  "There are lights," Frank spoke.

  Amelia took the binoculars out of Frank's hands.

  "That's a pretty big walk for us," she said. "We'd be in trouble if we were the only ones doing this. But, luckily, there are about a thousand soldiers around here," Frank scoffed.

  Amelia smiled.

  "How should we go about this though?" she asked.

  "Well, we're the reconnaissance but we can do a little side mission of our own," Frank suggested.

  Amelia wasn't so sure.

  "Maybe we should give what we've found to our superiors, like Lieutenant Ferguson," she disagreed.

  Frank didn't seem too happy about that.

  "He did send me on a suicide mission without telling me," he thought. "But, I guess I did volunteer."

  Frank looked at Amelia.

  "Let's find a route that could be cleared so it'll be safe for convoys to go through," he suggested. "That'll be what we'll be trying to find."

  Amelia seemed to like that.

  "Great," she agreed. "Let's do that first."

  The duo took turns to look for any route that the convoy could take that would be safe. It was a hard task considering that the entire place could've been crawling with local militias and resistance groups.

  "Hey, do you see that straight path?" Amelia asked.

  Frank took the binoculars.

  "Huh," he thought. "It's not too dangerous as there aren't any buildings civilians could throw grenades nor Molitovs from. It is also a pretty heavily bombed area and located near what I believe to either be a park or presumably the city square."

  Frank looked at Amelia.

  "Alright, let's report that in," Frank ordered Amelia.

  "On it," she replied.

  Amelia radioed in about the route and gave the exact coordinates. The HoloCom wrist device responded with delight. 'Glory to the Federation!' a message blinked inside the visor. It seemed that they'd been waiting so long for a safe route that they'd lost hope of ever getting a report.

  "Also, when did you get so good at reconnaissance?" Amelia asked.

  Frank wondered about that himself.

  "I... have no idea," he answered. "I just have a keen eye, I guess. And, besides, recon isn't all about just scouting out places."

  Frank stood up from the rooftop.

  "Glory to the Federation!" he shouted.

  After the duo successfully found a safe route, they decided to join in with the night raid on the buildings. It was dark at night and all they could see was the lights from the buildings.

  "Alright, let's go the stairs and search for any Tanians," their team leader ordered.

  The team of ten soldiers went up the stairs of the building. They searched room after room until they arrived at the upper floor.

  "Halt," the team leader in front of Frank, Sgt. Critovsky spoke. "I hear noise from the door."

  Frank listened closer.

  "There is!" he thought.

  There were loud voices from the room behind the door. It almost sounded like an argument.

  "Hey, Amelia," Frank whispered.

  Amelia, who was right behind Frank up against the wall got closer to Frank.

  "We're going to bust down the door and throw in a grenade," Frank explained.

  Frank grabbed a grenade from his rucksack and prepared to throw it into the room.

  "Wait!" Sgt. Critovsky whispered. "Don't throw that."

  Frank was confused.

  "We're supposed to do this quietly remember?" the sergeant explained.

  "R-right," Frank stuttered to speak.

  He wanted to throw the grenade so badly.

  "Alright, watch," Sgt. Critovsky ordered.

  Frank watched as the soldier effortlessly lockpicked the door and opened fire with his silenced gun.

  "Well that's a way to do it, I guess," Frank thought.

  Frank and Amelia followed Sgt. Critovsky into the room. It was an apartment of sorts. There were study books, most likely belonging to the dead Tanians they just killed. They searched around the room and the sergeant went to open the bathroom door. Suddenly, he was shot by a shotgun round to the chest. The sound banged loudly, breaking the silence and waking up whoever was sleeping next door or maybe even the entire complex. Sgt. Critovsky's body fell to the floor.

  "Amelia, cover!" Frank yelled.

  Amelia dived behind the kitchen counter while Frank hid next to the bathroom door. The silence was intense. The two were nervous as they anticipated the shooter to come forward. Then, the shooter ran out towards the room's door. That was when Frank opened fire. He shot five bullets, killing the shooter instantly. Frank went to assess the man who lay dead on the floor.

  "I think he's dead," he spoke. "Go check up on Sergeant Critovsky."

  The young dead Tanian man weirdly looked like a teenager. And there were also school books all over the place. That was when the realization finally hit Frank.

  "Wait, are we in a dorm complex right now?" he thought.

  He didn't have time to think about it so he took the shotgun away from the dead man, potentially a student. Amelia came out of hiding to Frank.

  "We clear room by room right?" she asked.

  "Yeah, and also this is a dorm complex," Frank added.

  "This place?" she questioned whilst assessing the fallen sergeant. "It looks nothing like one."

  "I guess the graffiti and the debris made it look different," Frank thought.

  Amelia stood back up.

  "The sergeant's dead," she said in dismay.

  Frank knew they had to hold the conversation for another time.

  "Hey, Amelia, let's talk about this later—" Frank was cut off mid-sentence.

  Suddenly, the sirens started blaring.

  "Oh no!" Frank thought worriedly.

  They had to hurry up. Frank ran out of the room and to the next door.

  "Amelia?" he asked.

  Amelia stood next to the door.

  "Yeah?" she replied.

  "You'll fire the shotgun to open the door, okay?" Frank requested. "Then I'll throw in the grenade. This is the final room we've gotta check. The other team members have probably already finished."

  Amelia grabbed the shotgun.

  "Alright," Amelia accepted as she held the shotgun tightly and stood in front of the door. "Here goes nothing."

  Amelia pulled the trigger and fired the shotgun round into the door handle, opening it immediately. Then, almost in sync, Frank pulled the grenade pin and threw it into the room. Amelia moved to the side of the door. The grenade exploded but bolts of electricity bursted out and burned through everything.

  "Woah, what was that?!" Amelia asked.

  Frank wasn't so sure either.

  "I think that was a plasma grenade I threw in there," he spoke.

  "What, why?" Amelia questioned. "Why do you have plasma grenades?"

  Frank thought about that as the fire burned brighter inside the room, turning wood to ember.

  "I may have mistakenly collected them when I was back at the trenches," Frank answered. "That's probably why."

  Then, there was an awkward silence until Amelia burst out laughing. Frank joined in too.

  "I think they definitely know that we're here now!" Frank joked.

  Amelia laughed a little more.

  "Right, so, mission failure?" she asked.

  Frank chuckled.

  "Well, we do have plan B," he explained.

  Amelia looked at Frank.

  "And what might that be?" she asked.

  Right as she said that there were loud explosions in the distance.

  "An all-out attack?" Amelia spoke.

  The two went up to the windows inside the burning room. Some vehicles rolled in as Quadaric soldiers dropped out with incendiary grenades. They began throwing them at buildings, through windows, kicking down doors, and firing up places. It was absolute chaos. Flamethrowers were burning down buildings. Some burning Tanian fell out of them. The Quadaric soldiers went inside the residents, took the men, and put them into trucks to be transported to training camps. Frank saw families being torn apart in front of his eyes. Then, a bullet whizzed past the two, through the window.

  "Jesus!" Frank panicked.

  Amelia moved away from the windows. Frank too did the same.

  "Let's go down," Frank suggested. "I'll request a different team to clear out this building. The other team members probably heard the siren and panickingly called for Plan B."

  Frank ran down the complex's stairs and walked to the road.

  "Hey!" a voice shouted in Dinen. "Help me out over here!"

  Amelia ignored it.

  "D-do we have to do this?" she asked Frank.

  Frank aimed his rifle towards the door of a building. A soldier with a flamethrower suddenly shot flames through a window. Three men on fire came out of the door. Frank immediately fired his rifle killing one of them.

  "Frank!" Amelia shouted angrily and pulled Frank's right shoulder.

  Frank looked at Amelia with a surprised face under the face armour.

  "That was unnecessary," Amelia questioned.

  Frank looked down at Amelia.

  "I got a little too trigger-happy, I guess," he nonchalantly answered.

  Amelia looked down as if she had lost all the motivation suddenly.

  "Look, these Tanian scums were the reason all this fighting is even happening," Frank tried to comfort. "They deserved this, Amelia."

  Amelia didn't seem okay with what Frank was saying.

  "Besides," Frank spoke again. "The shot put the man out of his misery."

  Amelia was still unsure.

  "Some of these people, I've probably met them before," Amelia said.

  Frank was confused.

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "I've visited Tegresse multiple times in my childhood, Frank," Amelia explained.

  Frank put his left hand over her shoulder.

  "Look," he reassured. "In a few minutes, we'll be searching for any remaining Tanians, okay? In the time being, go help that man over there."

  Amelia walked off.

  "She's not happy about this, is she?" Frank thought.

  Just as Frank turned to aim his rifle, shots were fired in their direction. Frank quickly took cover behind a wall. He reached into his pouches for more ammunition but he was out.

  "Uh oh," Frank thought in fear. "I've gotta use this wisely, then."

  The magazine in his rifle was the only one left. Frank prepared for the worst. Then, as he turned the corner of the wall, the side of a building was hit by a tank shell. The debris scattered about, and the glass pane shattered into a million pieces.

  "Holy cow," Frank thought.

  Frank covered his visors against the gust of dust.

  "I know for a fact they aren't surviving that one," he thought optimistically as his integrated gas mask filtered out the dust.

  And just as that had happened, a rocket came out from the smoke and rubble, hitting the tank that had fired the shell, much to Frank's optimism. That was when Frank spotted the rebels.

  "Gotcha," Frank thought.

  He aimed down his sight and pulled the trigger as a sweat dripped down his face. The bullet had hit its target. The rebel with a rocket launcher fell off of the building's second floor, splattering on the ground.

  "Good shot!" a voice from behind shouted.

  Frank turned around and saw Reagel with an exoskeletal leg.

  "Reagel!" Frank gasped.

  Reagel waved his hand to Frank, gesturing him to follow. Frank ran up to him as the torching and incineration of buildings continued.

  "Where are we going?" Frank asked curiously.

  Reagel was looking at a tablet.

  "And what's that?" Frank asked further.

  Then, the walk came to a stop.

  "I've gotta tell you something," Reagel said.

  This piqued Frank's interest.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  Reagel laughed slightly.

  "I'm a licensed wartime videographer," Reagel revealed.

  Frank was dumbfounded.

  "Wait, what?" he said in confusion.

  "Yeah, it's a long story," Reagel explained.

  Frank continued walking with Reagel.

  "That shot was fabulous," Reagel added. "It probably looks so good on video!"

  Then, a loud commanding voice called out.

  "Hey!" the voice yelled.

  Frank turned his head immediately.

  "Private!" the voice yelled again.

  Frank saw an officer standing. He saluted and so did Reagel. The officer walked up to them.

  "I need you two over here," the officer demanded.

  "Yes, sir!" Frank shouted instinctively.

  Frank followed the officer behind a wrecked building. He looked in front to see a row of unarmed unionists and a firing line. Frank knew what was about to go down.

  "Go in formation!" the officer yelled again.

  Frank went in line and held up his rifle. Reagel began recording the execution. Frank was aiming his rifle at a frail old man. Frank's hands were trembling. He didn't feel like shooting. No, he didn't want to shoot at all.

  "Glory to the Federation!" the voice of an officer yelled.

  Frank heard the other shots ring out before he too anxiously pulled his trigger. The body fell limp as the blood stained against the grey wall. The soldier next to him had his rifle jammed. Then, the Tanian in front of the soldier started sprinting.

  "Don't let that one escape!" the officer yelled.

  Frank turned to aim quickly but hesitated to shoot as he realised the runner was a young boy.

  "What are you doing soldier!?" the officer shouted. "Shoot! He's about to get away!"

  Frank didn't know what to do. He didn't want to shoot. Reagel was still recording the whole thing. Then, the officer pulled out his pistol and fired two bullets at the Unionist escapee. The body collapsed to the ground. Then, the officer turned to look at Frank.

  "What do you think you were doing, private?" the officer asked.

  Frank couldn't answer. His hands trembled in fear.

  "Are you disobeying my orders, private?" the officer asked again.

  Frank's eyes darted over the place. He couldn't focus under stress. His breathing got heavier. His body visibly moved as his air circulation changed drastically. He gritted his teeth under the helmet.

  "Sir," Reagel spoke. "His closest friend just died in a shootout earlier. He can't think properly right now."

  Frank looked in awe at a blatant lie.

  "Is that so?" the officer turned to Frank.

  Frank gulped.

  "Y-yes, s-sir," he spoke stutteringly.

  The officer seemed to not believe it. He stared down at Frank.

  "You should get going, sir," Reagel persuaded. "Better not waste your time here."

  The officer looked at Reagel and turned back to his men.

  "Get in the marching line!" he yelled. "And get your rifle unjammed, Private James!"

  The soldiers hung their rifles on their shoulders and lined up to march.

  "All hail the Federation!" the officer yelled.

  "All hail the Federation!" the soldiers yelled too as they made the red phoenix salute.

  The troops quickly left the scene. Frank bent his knees and gasped for air.

  "Well," Reagel spoke in relief. "That was a close one, wasn't it?"

  Frank looked at Reagel.

  "Yeah," he agreed, panting. "That was a close call."

  After a few hours, the initial massacre had ended. The Quadaric troops raided house after house, taking the men to be conscripted, the women and children for work and labour, and burning the rest, though most elders and more importantly Alarics were sent to different specialised labour camps. They burned building after building. That was to ensure no one was truly left alive to survive and hide from the Federation. This was what Frank wanted to fight for, right? The screams of terror and shouts of the pain of the enemies of the Federation, just like the enlistment commercials. They were going to be heroes once they returned home. They were the ones who fought in the Final Battle of Tennissis.

  Once the raids calmed down, Frank and Amelia regrouped and joined a search team for remaining Tanians. The anti-partisan patrols had already been set up. Near a fallen building. Vines and lushes of nature enveloped the structure. Amelia and Frank were resting after a long patrol.

  "Hey, Amelia," Frank spoke.

  "What?" Amelia responded.

  "A-are you still bitter about what I told you?" Frank asked.

  Amelia pouted.

  "I-I apologise about that," Frank said unapologetically. "I don't know what got me to say such harsh words. I just wasn't in the right mind—"

  As Frank was talking, Amelia cut him off.

  "You know, Frank," Amelia spoke. "Maybe you should try having more respect towards other soldiers."

  Frank looked confused.

  "W-what do you mean?" he asked.

  "Do you not have empathy?" Amelia asked further.

  Frank didn't know how to respond.

  "I get that you're patriotic about the Federation," Amelia spoke. "But that doesn't mean you have to ignore other problems that other people have. You know all of these soldiers have their own life right?"

  "Well, of course, but for the greater good of the Federation, an individual's rights don't-" Frank was cut off again.

  "Are you reciting a slogan?" Amelia asked.

  "And are you questioning the Federation?" Frank asked back with malice. "You know you—"

  Frank was cut off again.

  "Frank, your life isn't the only one that's important..." Amelia explained.

  "W-will you stop cutting me off ?!" Frank angrily shouted.

  Frank's tone turned to anger.

  "Don't you understand that we're going to be war heroes after this?" he asked in annoyance.

  Amelia suddenly stood up.

  "I'm just gonna go," she said.

  "Hey, don't just ignore me now—" Frank tried to speak.

  Then, the ground suddenly started shaking as cracks began to appear.

  "Frank!" Amelia yelled as she turned back.

  Amelia caught Frank's hand in time as the ground broke and caved in. Frank's grunt echoed and reverberated throughout the newly formed hole. Frank's eyes darted around him and saw that there was a long dark tunnel.

  "Why is there an underground tunnel under a random building?" Frank thought.

  Amelia tried her best to pull Frank up. Frank managed to get his left hand up to the edge and pulled up alongside Amelia's help. His legs pushed against the edges of the stone sidewalk as his knees touched the pieces of rebar. The grip of Frank's hand was just enough to get him out. He climbed with his arms as Amelia sighed and fell on her back after the struggle. Pieces of fibre were torn on Frank's uniform with scratches all over.

  "What's the cave-in about?" she asked.

  Frank was also lying on the ground.

  "I don't think it's a cave-in," he spoke.

  "Well, then what is it?" Amelia asked.

  "I mean, it is a cave-in but it led to an underground tunnel," Frank explained.

  "Oh," Amelia understood.

  "Do you want me to check that out?" Frank asked while looking at Amelia.

  Amelia nodded.

  "Alright," Frank spoke.

  He got up from the ground and started walking towards the pit. Near the edge, he shone a flashlight and saw the crumbled rocks from the small cave-in that happened. The pit was quite deep but not deep enough as he could easily see the bottom. Then, he spotted some letters written on the side of the tunnel. 'T.U.T. - 10' was written.

  Frank wondered what the words meant. They were written in Dinen too. Then, as Frank lowered his guard, Amelia suddenly crept up on him and scared him. Frank jumped in fear and nearly fell into the pit again. Luckily, Frank maintained his balance and Amelia caught his hand.

  "What is wrong with you?!" Frank exclaimed.

  Amelia burst into laughter. Frank chuckled too.

  "What'd you find?" Amelia asked.

  "Well, it's an underground tunnel and I saw 'T.U.T. - 10' written on one of the sides of the tunnel walls," Frank explained his findings.

  "Oh!" Amelia sounded surprised. "That's the Trenidus Underground Tunnels!"

  "The what?" Frank didn't understand.

  "The underground tunnels were built for people to escape the war in case of an emergency!" Amelia explained. "Unfortunately, Maximilius Trenidus, the man who created these tunnels, turned to the Alarics' side."

  "So we just stumbled upon one of the tunnels?" Frank asked.

  "Yep," Amelia responded. "Also, I believe he recently attacked the supply lines between Quadaria and Eulero. He's more of a vigilante than anything."

  "Oh, what?" Frank said in sudden amazement.

  "Yeah," Amelia continued. "He attacked the central spaceport of Eulero and cut off some supply routes and also delayed others."

  Frank had never heard of this crisis before.

  "I'd like to imagine that he just boarded the transport ships and just took the steering wheel," Amelia added.

  "That sounds weirdly comical," Frank joked.

  Amelia chuckled.

  "Although," Frank continued. "I can see why most would romanticize such a rebellious scum!"

  Amelia burst out into laughter with tears as Frank grinned widely behind his visor. Her voice was slightly muffled by her speaking module behind her face armour. Frank looked as Amelia's dark hair flew softly with her rapid movements.

  "How have you even caught up with the news?" Frank asked Amelia.

  "Through the local holoscreens," Amelia answered with a smug look. "There are plenty of untouched pieces of communication, Frank."

  "Anyhow," Frank averted attention. "Are these tunnels a part of our patrol?"

  "Well, yeah, I guess," Amelia answered.

  "Alright, I'll report this through the HoloCom," Frank spoke.

  Amelia looked at Frank's left arm.

  "Oh god," she gasped in horror.

  "What?" Frank asked.

  Frank looked down at his left arm and saw scratches and cuts. Amelia rushed to his aid.

  "Shrapnels?" she asked as she took out morphine.

  "Possibly," Frank answered.

  "How long has it been bleeding?" Amelia asked more as she injected the morphine.

  "I.." Frank struggled to come up with an answer. "I believe it was when a Tanian rebel shot a rocket at a tank just a few hours ago. Maybe the shrapnel from that?"

  Amelia immediately took out an antiseptic bottle and opened the lid. Frank smelled the awful alcoholic substance, accompanied by a chill down his spine.

  "Alright," Amelia warned. "It's only going hurt for a while."

  Then, Amelia began to soak cotton with the antiseptic. She then began cleaning Frank's wound. Frank, on the other hand, felt immense pain but held it in as best as possible.

  "A-are you doing this because of the argument earlier?!" Frank thought sporadically in his head. "Are you doing this with malice?!"

  Thankfully, the cleaning ended as fast as Frank's fear did, though the pain still lingered.

  "There doesn't seem to be any fragments," Amelia spoke with curiosity. "It's just a flesh tear, but since it's been quite a while since the wound happened.."

  Amelia paused to think.

  "How have you not passed out from the bleeding?" she asked Frank.

  Frank simply shrugged as he didn't know either.

  "It's also a surprisingly small tear too," she continued.

  Amelia took out bandages.

  "You'll still be in fine condition to continue service then," she emphasized.

  Amelia began wrapping the wound with the bandage. Frank didn't say much as didn't want to piss off Amelia while she was helping him out.

  "I'm in such a vulnerable situation right now," Frank thought embarrassingly. "God damn it!"

  Luckily for Frank, despite all his worries, all things went fine and Amelia yawned as she felt sleepy. Amelia went against a wall, spray painted with the words 'Glory to the Federation'. Frank joined in with her after reporting the discovery. Amelia laid her head on Frank's left shoulder and folded her legs into a fetal position. It was getting extremely dark so Amelia started to snooze off.

  "Frank, I want to sleep," she spoke softly and seepily.

  Frank yawned.

  "Alright, don't worry, I've got you accompanied," Frank allowed.

  This was the closest he'd ever been with Amelia. He could even smell the perfume. Though, that was the least of his priorities as Frank stayed awake for a few more minutes. He looked around the dark, dimly lit surroundings.

  "The salvaging teams are gonna have a field day with this," Frank thought as he stared at a pile of scrap.

  There was a mountain of it, from precious metals to goods. It seemed almost like a scrap yard. There were some hovercar parts, too.

  "I should rest," Frank thought as he dozed off.