It was the morning. I had held on to Sera the whole night when she cried, I didn't even notice... She looks so peaceful when she's asleep. Then again, I could have a biased opinion. I let her down and head out of the tent into the temporary camp we made in the charred remains of the fortress. The ground was still scarred by the flames, having it basically be black. It was basically a smaller version of Mother Base, having the canteen, armory, barracks, the basic needs of an army. I don't expect us to stay long. It smells of burnt flesh still, it was haunting. Kyle Tann was talking with another officer, reading a paper. He then turned to me, coughing a bit.

He walked up to me, trying to look around the camp. "Morning, Dopeman."

I nod. "Hey."

"We got new orders today."

I roll my eyes. "Ain't that a surprise. Just fill me in."

We walk to his tent and I take a look at the photos tossed around the table. It looked to be a few shots of some old phone tower. it was rare to even see one standing up. It looked to be held up as if somebody fixed it. "That," Kyle points to the picture. "That is the tower we need. We got intel that about seven years ago during the Intro Wars, an old militia group wanted to retore them set up short-range communication around this area to help fight against another extinct group. They didn't have time to finish, as the raging sandstorms and the NRF were gaining strength at this time. They were wiped, and those idiots didn't even take it down. Good for us, because we just figured it out."

I lean on the table. I didn't care for a history lesson. "Cut to the chase, Tann. What I gotta do."

He shrugged and tossed me a walkie-talkie and a small box with a number pad on it, a frequency setter, and a massive mess of wires at the back. "Need you to set this up for us. The process shouldn't be too hard."

I nod and turn, but Tann speaks up. "Dopeman. I have a question."

Odd, He's never asked me a question like that before. "Yeah?"

In a moment of surprise, Tann slightly breaks his usually cold demeanor. "I was following orders. They were going to kill us if we didn't do that last night."

I shrug, turning to leave. Before I fully step out, I turn to him. "Are you convincing me?"

I got on Serena and rode over to the place. It was an old tower, that's for sure. It looked to be on its last legs even. I got off Serena and fed her a carrot. "This looks like crap." She huffs in agreement.

I get to climb the ladders and broken metal. It wasn't too high, It was only half of the tower after all. I see another mess of wires. This is gonna be a long time...

After a bit of jury-rigging and prayer, I finally got the damn thing working. I set it to different frequencies to see if anything will respond. I start to speak on my hand radio. "Testing, Testing. Hellooo...?" Soon, I hear Kyle. "This Major Kyle Tann, over. We hear you, Dopeman."

I smile to myself, we can finally talk without sending letters, or at least in this small area. "Good, so now I can-"

A large boom just interrupted my thoughts. One of the camps just hit with something white that looks like a powder from afar. "Kyle! Mayday! One of the camps to the west just got bombed!"

"Wait what?! Get to the camp immediately! We'll meet you there!" Tann yells to the background to mobilize. I hurried down to get on Serena to race down to the camp. I reach the camp first. It was bad, real bad. The men were writhing in pain, their flesh burning away. The power looked to be acidic to the touch. I've never seen a weapon like this before. A few men including Tann rode to meet me looking at the damage. "Kyle..."

He walked up to me. "Angel Waste. Think of it like white phosphorus on steroids. We don't know who made it. We fought against it ourselves during the Intro Wars. It's not a pretty sight. The only people who used it was the NRF..." Something clicked in his mind. "Don't tell me the NRF is working with the-"

A soldier who was burning up crawled up to us. He was shaking in pain. Before we could do anything, another sudden pop goes off, we see the white ball in the air. All the horses and soldiers run with me, but not Tann. Tann carries the man out of the danger zone and throws him before the bomb hits. After a long shake, We look up to see the burned soldier not moving and Kyle yelling in agony. His left arm was destroyed. I was burned and the flesh was falling off. I ran to his side, picking up Kyle while the others grab the other injured party.

Why did I agree to this?