The Rocket launcher hissed across the road, colliding right beneath gate. A large explosion bellowed across the yard, filtering into the abandoned room I was in. Flames, shards of metal flakes alike swelled up into the atmosphere leaving fury and conundrum in its wake.

I tossed the rocket launcher to the side with a thunk and hooked my flack-jacket to the line dangling from the window. I zipped down the line with a buzz and clunked to my feet.

A spray of bullets zipped above me, flaking pieces of concrete coming from the window I just zipped down. It seems the men had recovered faster than I anticipated.

That’s fine.

I dashed across the open yard, scaled a fence and scampered across the desolate road and hugged my back against the concrete wall to the right side of the old cinema complex.

“Taking out the guards on the right side.”

“Not yet…Rex?

“One second…there.”

“AKATANI, OF THE HANNYA BOYS!” My voice groaned from the speaker attached to the drone that Rex flew. I slide across the back of the wall, keeping as close to it as possible. “YOU MADE A MISTAKE!” I said through the recorded message. I reached the guard hut, peeked inside, noting the guard didn’t survive the blast.

“A VERY BIG MISTAKE. I’M NOT ONE FOR WORDS, BUT I’M ONE FOR ACTI—“

A Gunshot sounded off and a loud crack groaned from within the yard. “What happened?” I whispered.

“Akatani shot the drone down.

“Good.”

I unclipped my Carbine AR 47.6 from my flack-jacket and raised it to my shoulder, making my way through the broken window, climbing over shattered glass and a burning corpse. The door for the hut was slightly open with wisps of smoke trailing in.

“Now Jix!” I roared, kicking the door open, squeezing two bullets from my carbine hitting two men in the head and chest, dropping them like flies. Three men dropped from the guard towers above on my right and I slid across the ground scraping the gravel as I hunkered behind an inflamed vehicle. I proned and fired an array of bullets at whatever feet lay before me, sending three Hannya Boys to their knees, then burying bullets into their head.

“SHOOT THAT BASTARD!” Akatani roared from the centre of the parking yard, a few meters off from the flaming trailers.

“How many men left?” I asked Jix, flinching from a bullet that zipped past my face.

Not wanting to get shot, I dove across to another lamented car, skidding across the ground, getting hit in my side, feeling like my skin pinch underneath the body armour as it stopped the bullets from penetrating.

“Fifteen,” Jix said firmly.

I rose from the ground raising my carbine to my shoulder and peering through the sight. Akatani, dead to rights. “Why don’t you shoot me yourself…bastard!” I shouted. The man’s eyes widened in shock, so surprised at where I sprang from that the epicanthic folds of his eyelids seemed as if they were gonna bleed from stretching.

I sprayed a wave of bullets at his head; chest and stomach, almost emptying the clip into him, but the bullets ricocheted off of him as if they hit an invisible wall and sprung loose.

The bullets didn’t do shit.

“DAMN IT” I hissed, hiding back behind the car. “He has a Lodestone Shield!”

“Taking the shot.”

“NO!” I roared, “he’s mine, take out his men. I just need a clear shot.”

“Roger that.”

I heard the rampant squeezing of Jix’s high calibre rounds clicking through the comms.

Wailing screams echoed across the yard, mixing affectionately with the snaps, cracks and pops of the flames from the scattered fires fluttering around the old cinema complex.

The sound of glass crunching groaned to my right, drawing my attention in that direction. A Hannya Boy appeared. I squeezed the trigger of my carbine, missing him point-blank.

Five shots from his submachine buried into my chest and chest, but then his head melted into two. Pieces of the Hannya Boyz metallic tongue split into five pieces before splattering across the ground.

“That was a close one,” Jix said.

“I owe you one.”

“More like five at this stage.” He quipped, “but who's counting.”

He sauntered to the right, fired an array of bullets at the centre of the yard, hoping to draw out Akatani, but only succeeded in emptying the magazine.

“IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO…HIDE BEHIND YOUR MEN?” I shouted.

“CYPHER?” He shouted. “YOU CAME OUTTA THAT HOLE YOU WERE HIDING…JUST TO DIE?”

Not Today.

I primed two grenades, twisting the crown and lobbing them in the direction of Akatani’s voice. I hugged the car which arched against the wall at an obtuse angle. On the other side of the car, I saw one of the bodies of the wall guards, but his gun wasn’t to be found. I pressed myself against the ground and waited for the grenades to go off.

The cries of shredded metal rang true in the winds, signifying another vehicle had blown up. I didn’t hear any wails, meaning I didn’t get Akatani…or any Hannya Boyz for that matter, but snapping glass and cracked mirrors continued bellowing from the flames that singed the air.

“CLEAR!” Jix Shouted, “

I crept up, carbine shouldered, eyeing my surroundings and caught Akatani pointing his submachine gun towards me. Shit.

A wave of bullets hit me in the chest and neck, sending me back into cover with a skipping heart and pinched skin.

“Suppressive Fire,” Jix added. I heard the bullets hitting the ground sending Akatani back into cover, or that’s what I hoped for.

“SNIPER! I NEED BACK UP OUT HERE, YOU LITTLE SHITS!” Akatani hissed.

I hugged the inflamed car. “Where is he?” I asked Jix.

“Two O'Clock.”

I quarter spun, aiming my carbine around a trash skip, firing a wave of bullets into it, only to hear my bullets swerve off target and hit the wall behind.

“Shit, men coming from your Eleven and Three O'Clock.”

“Damn it, which side has the least cover?”

“Left.”

I turned left, charging to my Eleven O'Clock, hugging one of the blown-up trailers. I twisted the crown on my last grenade, lobbed it blindly and snapped back, firing another burst of bullets at the trash skip once more.

“NO!” Jix screamed through the comms, “I have your six damn it, stop wasting bullets and clear out your side before they flank you!” A loud boom followed by a shockwave, shaking the trailer I hid behind. Groans of pain and cries followed and I snapped out of cover, downing three men stunned from the explosion.

I clipped three more Hannya Boyz in the chest, and another two in the face. I dove behind a cylinder-like box adjacent to the wall and hunkered down as the wave of bullets struck me.

“Have you gotten the second drone up yet, Rex?”

“Not yet, a few more minutes.”

A Hannya Boy rounded one of the trailers, creeping up behind me, flanking me perfectly but fell with a thud after getting shot in the head. “That’s four, Cypher.”

“Keep counting…where’s Akatani?”

“I don’t know…lost him taking down the entire right side.”

“Damn it, how many are on my side now?”

“Two, one’s there behind the engine block of the trailer sitting in the middle whilst one’s crept back to the side of the building. I’ll take him.”

“Don’t! I’ll take care of him.”

“I have one more shot left.”

“Doesn’t matter…let's go.

I darted from behind the cylinder box, charging towards the middle trailer, passing hunched over carcasses and leaping over boxes. The smug taste of the smoke made my throat itchy, but it was better than smelling blood by the pint.

The Hannya Boy from the side of the building fired an array of bullets, missing me with each one. The poor bastard was shooting with his pistol angled. It didn’t matter though, I put one through his eyes before spinning in a semi-circle and emptying my pistol’s clip into one that hid behind the engine block.

He sagged as he fell to a thump, and all that was left was the sound of fire snapping and cracking around me. I wanted to feel relieved but knew it was too soon.

As the flames raged around me, sweat trickled down my forehead and neck. “Amateurs,” I whispered, noting these Hannya Boys knew nothing of warfare or tactics. I clicked a magazine into my carbine AR 47.6.

The sound of gravel scraping groaned to my left, drawing attention from fatigue that lingered. A blinking grenade rolled into view and my heart stopped beating instantly. Shit. The grenade exploded, but not before I turned, allowing my body armour to absorb the entire thing.

The explosion sent me flying across the yard, back pinching erroneously as I floated through the air before crashing into a crate of Haze. The synthetic scent from the artificially made weed made me gag. I pushed myself up lethargically whilst the microfibers of my body armour painfully continued to pinch my skin. It had gotten to the point of me considering taking the body armour off, but that would be suicide.

“Body Armor efficiency is down to 30%,” Nova said, giving me an instant headache.

An array of bullets followed, but I anchored my right foot and pivoted to my right, firing three bullets into a Hannya Boy’s chest, leg and neck. His gun smashed against the ground with a clank. “Bastard,” I whispered, breathing heavily.

“What the hell was that?” Jix shouted through the comms.

“Explosion,” I answered

“I know that much, Cypher, are you alright!?” he asked, voice strained.

“Never better…” I lied.

Lucidity washed over my body, starting from my back, it crept up my shoulders, then trickled down my legs, straining what little energy I had left in my muscles, making them stiff. The natural eye was cloudy, but with my cybernetic still fully operational, I could only feel my SMB clutch my brain even more from the overuse. I was pissed…royally pissed.

I wiped a gash of blood away from my temple and looked around for my pistol and carbine, hoping no one else would come from the building.

They never came.

“On your six,” Jix sounded off from behind me.

“About time…” I added.”

“Hey…you had me in the bleachers.”

“For a moment.”

“Yeah…you look like shit.”

“…and I feel worse.”

Jix tossed me a new pistol which I holstered. I found my carbine in the middle of the yard, whilst Jix covered my back. I re-clipped it to my flack-jacket and counted my magazines. Five left, thanks to the three Jix brought.

“Rex…you’re taking too long, we’re going in, once we clear the lobby, we’ll call in the drone”

“Fine…” Rex answered.

The side of the building was empty, with shattered glass, broken stones, shattered crates and a large pipe burrowing into the ground, forming into the cylinder-like Box I took cover at a few moments ago. The outer design of it made it seem like a large shaft they built to take things to and from underneath the cinema.

On the side of the building was a slightly open door. I pulled it up whilst Jix went through, assault rifle raised, checking corners, ensuring everything was clear.