The contents of the letter were just a simple set of coordinates and a symbol. Another person might gloss over them, believing them to be worthless or a joke.

But not me. The symbol was self-explanatory, a crown resting on a shield, the most common marking of the King's Guard. It would take little effort if someone wanted to recreate it and use it against me. However, it wasn't the symbol that stood out to me, but the coordinates.

You see, the coordinates led to an abandoned fishing port east of Camulodunum. Years ago, it was used as the King's Guard central cell in the city. Its location was always kept secret, even after it was destroyed, the Incendium Medicus ensured that no one outside of the top levels knew where it was hidden.

If you couldn't tell, that meant whoever sent this letter was a member of the King's Guard who was high enough up the ladder to know the exact coordinates. In other words, this was a genuine meeting with the new Camulodunum cell.

There were, of course, a few questions. For one, the method of contact drew some attention. It was unlikely the rebels would do something as brazen as just walking into your house and hand you a letter, especially when you considered where I live.

The second concern I had was why did they use Felix to deliver the letter? Usually, you would establish contact with an unknown face. That way, if the person did go to the authorities, they wouldn't be able to give a name to the face. But all that assumed that this was a usual contact, and one only needs to look at my past to see that isn't the case.

A car was waiting outside for me. It was one specially provided to me by Praetor Acisculus, something I had arranged after last night's call.

While I would have loved to use the Uzbera, I wanted to avoid alerting my family of what was happening. And asking Charles to drive me would most certainly do that.

I left my room and ran down the stairs. My clothes were similar to the training outfit from yesterday. The reason why was because I needed something that was both inconspicuous and usable in a fight as I had no idea what I was walking in to.

The driver was outside and waiting, the rear door of the white sedan open and ready. I climbed in and he shut it after me. Then he entered himself, started the engine and set off.

The destination was the industrial district to the south of the city. My plan was to be dropped off and then walk the rest of the way towards a small storage depot I acquired while in the King's Guard.

Inside that depot was a Kimina 200SX sports car from the 70s and made up until 2002. She was a classic beauty I'd sourced with my own money in private from an old car dealer I knew from the King's Guard.

The car might stand out a bit considering it was one of the few non-energy cars remaining. But she more than made up for it in style. My only hope was that after two years of neglect, she could still run.

The driver pulled up to a corner at the edge of the industrial district. I hopped out, waited until the car was gone, and then continued towards my location.

It was just under a half-hour walk before I arrived at my storage depot.

I was greeted by three men, likely modern-day bandits. It was strange, I know. But during the massive reconstruction period, large amounts of houses were knocked down to make way for military and government buildings.

This resulted in a significant homeless problem and thanks to the lack of regular law enforcement outside of the city's main sections, they often turned to looting or other criminal activities to make a living.

You'd think the Government wouldn't tolerate criminals in any manner. Yet, in reality, as long as they didn't support the rebels or commit anti-government actions, they were left unbothered.

However, the moment they decided to violate these unspoken rules, the military clamped down on them hard, and in the most serious cases, they'd raise entire blocks to ensure everyone got the message.

One of the men looked at me. I'd have loved to ignore them but they were blocking the entrance to my depot, so they had to leave.

"Oi oi, look what we have here boys. What are you doing in these parts missy? Here to look after us?"

I readjusted my cap. I debated pulling out my UXT Tactical Smart Pistol but decided against it as it wasn't exactly quiet.

Instead, my hand went towards a six-inch long razor-sharp blade I had strapped to my hip.

The man continued to walk towards me with wide bold strides. He spoke with arrogance, he must have believed my silence was an indication of fear.

"Well missy, cat caught your tongue? Can't say a word? No worries, this uncle here will look after you."

He stepped within my range. I pulled the blade and sliced it across his neck as I ran past him. Narrowly avoiding the spray of blood that sprouted out from his opened artery.

The other two men were stunned and I left them no time to recover as my blade punched into each of their guts and twisted. They fell to the floor, one after the other, blood oozing out of their newly made wounds.

I walked towards the door of my storage depot, leaving them to slowly bleed out. Trust me when I say death was less than they deserved; they would have done far more heinous things to me if I'd lost. Plus, a few bodies won't raise alarm in this part of the city.

The door was rusted shut, making it a challenge to open. In the end, that was probably a good thing as it stopped anyone else from getting inside. Fortunately, I didn't have that issue as my fist effortlessly smashed the lock wide open.

I mentally noted to replace the door later before entering the depot. The midnight blue Kimina 200SX came into view, its beautiful body still pristine and untouched even after all these years.

My hand slid across the car as I moved towards the door. Reaching into my pockets, I grabbed the key and unlocked it.

From inside the car, I could tell that everything was still in place. Even my old backup pistol was in the glovebox. After a quick final check, I inserted the key and activated the ignition.

The car roared to life and the dashboard lit up, displaying the near-perfect status of her.

I couldn't contain my joy. After so long, I was finally back behind the wheel.

I pulled out a remote and pushed a button, thankfully, the large garage door to the depot began to open without issue.

My foot pressed down on the pedal and I shot off onto the road.

Usually, I had to be very careful driving the Kimina as it wasn't registered and would trip every scanner in a hundred-metre radius. But Acisculus had supplied me with a vehicle identification tag, so any scanners or checkpoints would read me as a military transport.

Driving through the residential parts of the city brought me more attention than I was expecting. But then again, who wouldn't want to see a petroleum engine sports car race down the empty road at nearly eighty miles-per-hour.

I drove up to my first and final checkpoint that led out of the city. Judging from the panicked guards rushing to their positions, they must have thought I was attacking them. Fortunately, one of them hit me with the scanner before opening fire and allowed me to roll up to the gate.

A female guard walked up to the side of my window and motioned for me to roll it down.

I did as asked and flashed her a warm smile which caught her off-guard.

She took a moment to recover and did not look amused by my action as she spoke.

"Special Agent Adams. May I know why you are attempting to leave the city?"

My mind went blank for a minute, then it clicked. Acisculus had set the VIT as the fake name I'd used in the Crossdon attack. I had to suppress a laugh at his cunning thinking, but who'd have guessed that I'd still be using a name I made up on the spot.

"Not your concern..." I glanced at her rank insignia, ensuring it was as obvious as possible before continuing. "... Sergeant."

However, it was the truth. She had no right to hold up or question me, she was just mad.

Her face scrunched up and she stared me down for a minute, before finally she conceded.

"Open the gate. Let her pass." She relented.

Slowly the checkpoint entrance opened and as it finished, I raced forwards and out of the city.

Now on the open road, time passed quickly as I sped on by woodlands and the occasional patrol.

It wasn't long before I pulled off the main road and down a neglected side path that hasn't been used since the cell's destruction.

I pulled up opposite a black car marked with maintenance symbols. A common tactic to get past patrols that I was surprised to see still in use. But then again, if it isn't broke, why fix it?

The abandoned dock was to my left. You could find similar ruins all across the country, deserted shortly after the First Knight placed a ban on all travel outside the country.

Back then, the First Knight hadn't yet formed his new Government and the people were less than pleased about their former conqueror turned ruler. So it was he himself who enforced the ban, matching forth in his massive Goliath and obliterating any and all boats attempting to flee. Sure it wrecked the fishing industries, but it achieved what it was meant to; total containment.

Nowadays, you'll never see the First Knight nor his Goliath taking down fishing boats, instead that job is now left up to the navy.

I took one look around my car before getting out. It was a strange change of circumstances. In the past, I'd used this car for the rebels and now I was using it against them.

A large metal door powered by an electric lock was in front of me, clearly a new addition to the building. As I went to knock, the intercom next to it lit up and an impatient male voice came through.

"Name?"

"Vale-...Phoenix." I corrected myself.

In the moments it took to unlock the door, I hesitated going inside. But I quickly overcame any last-minute reservations, there was no going back now.

A man inside was waiting for me, likely the same person I’d heard over the intercom. His eyes looked over me and he nodded before leading the way towards an aged office that I'm guessing was once used by whoever ran the dock.

Inside the office was a metal desk and two chairs on either side. A boy roughly my age was sitting down. Upon seeing me, he smiled and stood up.

"Phoenix, it's been a long time. Ah, you might not remember me, I was a lot smaller back then. I'm Alexander, it's good to see you again."

The name rang a bell, but it wasn't exactly an uncommon one, so that was no shock. However, I couldn't place his face, which was more unusual as I've always had a good memory with those.

"Hello Alexander. Would you mind explaining how you are?"

"So you don't recognise me. Yeah, I knew this would happen. Do you by any chance remember that little nine-year-old boy who'd always ask you about your missions? Well... that's me."

That did ring a bell. I remember there was this little boy who'd always follow me around HQ asking for details of my missions. He was annoying but bearable. However, whenever he got too irritating, his parents would take him away. I don't think they ever liked me, thought I was a bad example for him to look up to.

"Let's not draw this out any more than needed. Why am I here?"

"Alright, sorry. Down to business then, just what I would expect from the legendary Phoenix, no nonsense whatsoever. Ok, here it is; I want you to rejoin us."

"Why now? After all this time."

"Well, we only just recovered somewhat from the raid a few years back. Also, I'm the only one who knew of your real identity, so it's only thanks to me that I can hand you this wonderful offer." Alex paused for a second before adding. "And... we need you."

"What about Felix? Why did you use him to contact me? Surely there were better ways?"

"He wasn't our first choice, I can guarantee you that. Originally we opted to have the Tutor contact you, but that backfired."

"Mr Wilson?"

"The very same. After that was the Crossdon raid, which I might add, was my own design. The goal of that was you and much needed medical supplies. However, the Op had gone bad from the start. A guard on our side gave us faulty information about you, which led us in the wrong direction and so we completely missed you."

"Seriously? You authorised a raid on Crossdon to contact me?"

"Officially it was for the medical supplies. You were more like a secondary objective."

"And so you arrived at Felix because you assumed us close?"

"Not close, I thought a known face would prove easier to get in contact with you. Clearly I was correct."

"What do you need me for?"

"Me? Nothing, I only want you back in the King's Guard. If it were up to me, we'd be meeting at the new HQ, but according to Napoleon, he's our new leader by the way, you have to prove your loyalty."

"And how exactly would I prove my loyalty?"

"There's a weapons factory in Illonsi Sector. Destroy it."

"Illonsi Sector is mainly used for military industries. The whole place is filled with weapons factories."

"Correct, the one we need to be destroyed is manufacturing Type-Lancer Goliath Armours that are going to be supplied to the Citizen Security Bureau. As you can imagine, the police having Goliaths, even if they are light ones, would make our activities a lot harder."

"You didn't say how I'd find it?"

"Goliath factories have never been modest; look for a big fuck off building with a few platoons of soldiers and you've found it."

"Glad to see this has all been planned out to the perfect detail."

"Yeah, sorry, but as I said, this is all to convince Napoleon. If I had-"

I cut him off and continued his sentence mockingly.

"If I had my way, we'd be at HQ already. I get it Alex, you can stop saying that."

"Right, I'll stop. Any questions or are we all good?"

"I'll get it done. Expect to see the fireworks soon."

"Haha, that's the Phoenix I know."

With that, I left the office, got inside my car and drove off.

I continued down the road for a few minutes before pulling off to the side and dialling a number.

Acisculus picked up, his voice asking with curiosity.

"Lady Valentina, did anything noteworthy happen during your little meeting?"

"I met with a young boy named Alexander, someone I knew from the old cell. Don't bother trying to look him up in the system, he was born and bred in the King's Guard."

"A no-namer in Camulodunum, How interesting. But surely there's more?"

"A man going by the codename Napoleon was mentioned, apparently he's the new leader, he wasn't there but according to Alexander, he doesn't trust me and requires I prove my loyalty before anything else happens. He wants me to take out a military factory in Illonsi Sector, specifically the one that's creating Lancer Goliaths for the Citizen Security Bureau."

"That will be no issue. Give me two days and I'll have you put on a little play at the factory. Shoot off some blanks, blow up a few walls, that kind of stuff. We'll then put it all on the front pages of the news and claim everything's been destroyed."

"You sure that'll work?"

"Undoubtedly. I'll replace the factory guards with my men, you shoot your blanks and they'll drop to the floor. No deaths on our side and the rebels will believe they've gotten a win. Sure the Bureau will complain about their delayed shipment of Goliath's, but that'll cease once I've explained delayed is better than cancelled."

"Great, contact me when all is ready."

With that, I put the phone down and began to drive. I decided to go home rather than the depot. If I parked the car around the back and made sure the servants kept quiet about it, then my mother won't find out immediately.

Of course, she'll find out sooner or later. Honestly, I'm betting the military guards will inform her near-instantly, but she won't be able to do anything till she returns from her trip to the capital, which is enough time for me to finish and move it away again.

It took me one hour to return home. It would have been quicker but I was held up at two checkpoints, one into the city and another close to my house.

After pulling into the driveway and parking up my car, I then picked up my phone and shot off a quick text to Cecilia asking for a meetup.

A reply came through just after I'd shut the car door and was heading into the manor.

"Tomorrow at 11am sound good? xxx" The text read.

I sent back a simple "Yes" as my answer as I entered my room.

Throwing my clothes to the floor, I began to prepare for bed. First placing my pistol and personal shield on the bedside table. Then I dressed and climbed into bed.

My final thought before sleep took me was of goodbyes for those I never should have met. Perhaps their lives would have been different, perhaps it would have been better; All I know for sure, is that it would have been longer.