As I scanned the Fortress, I could feel hostility, reservation and slight comradery emanating from everyone who gazed upon me the moment I left the staircase that took me to the inner workings of the Sceletarus.

I ignored it as best as I could. Then watched as children sat in their mother’s laps watching the rest of the village fight off the Doasians with the spooling sound of the mini-guns barreling off above me.

A boy and a girl ran past me, heading towards their mother’s arms. The reservation she held on her face, said everything she needed to say. Freak, like I cared enough.

I hope to God…that Hannah has to EVER live life as such as this, I thought sourly.

The camp was centred in the middle of one of the Fortress’ hangars. Eltessa then finally took me to the galley, which had a standard design.

The serving section was on the right, immediately as we entered whilst the benches and tables were on the right.

She made a right, walking through the serving section of the galley then trodded down into another door which was on the left.

The kitchen was surprisingly odourless as I entered, but I spied a huge bucket sitting in the middle stove island as if it were a lighthouse within the kitchen. Baking soda I thought, even Shin-Lee does that.

My eyes traced the kitchen like a hawk hunting for sustenance, but with my luck, I didn’t find shit. The only thing I found, was a kitchen lacking anyone or any signs of food.

My stomach was on the brink of starvation as the supplies Stryme and I had left, were on the brink of exhaustion, even with the pit stop we talk under the tent. I wasn’t complaining, as the extra would’ve slowed us down.

I swallowed my saliva, hoping to quench a bit of dryness that spiralled at the bottom of my throat, but quickly realised there nothing was available for me to scavenge. Unless I showed depravity and downed a hand full of seasoning salt that lay on the right counter right next to a sack of potatoes. “You could’ve at least had the kitchen make some grub for me,” I said bitterly.

Eltessa turned to me, shaking her head at me without a word. “Whoever said I don’t have something sorted for you Cypher? You take me for Stryme?”

“Well, it’s hard to know, the man’s

“An ass? I know. Don’t worry, you have civilised company for now.”

“For now?”

“Yeah...why the fuck would I be civilised if you can’t get The Hedgehog?”

“True,” I grunted.

The first time I met Eltessa, she was abrupt, angry and borderline bitch, but I guess that’s due to working with Mr Black. The scoff she gave me upon sight, I could never forget. She patched me up after a torturing session with my good old friend The Mangol, something I hoped to repay one day to that salty bitch.

My lips curled into a smile reminiscing on how Eltessa scoffed at my existence, patching me up after she had examined the wounds I'd received from the Mangol’s torture. Humph, something I hoped to repay, I mused bitterly.

The Eltessa now was completely different to the one I'd met on the Landing Pad. Her face was haggard but held a warmth to it. It made her seem gentler. It was as if she’d become a completely new person after living in the desert. Like that could be fucking possible in the fucking Waste I thought sourly, reminiscing about the day I lost my arm.

“I hate it here,” I whispered, hoping she didn’t hear, but as she didn’t turn around it was safe to say she didn’t. I hope.

Eltessa led me through the kitchen to a door, on the right, behind the pantry. As the door swung open, a wide corridor was twelve meters wide. The lights stapled across the walls lacked enough luminescence to light the corridor properly, but it was good enough for me to stroll down without worrying about an attack.

The further we went, the colder the corridor felt. A subtle humming sounded off, matching the cadence of a lawnmower. The warmth left my fingertips, forcing them stiff and also stifling the air around my nose. “If you wanted to put me in a body bag you could’ve done so back in the City.”

“Har Har, funny Cypher.”

“I try,” I said shrugging.

After walking fifty meters, A white trailer with over a dozen rust spots appeared in front of me. It was seven feet wide and five feet long. The rusted spots splotched across its surface made it seem as though it had a story to tell, whilst the growling sound emanating from it made it seem like a guard dog on duty.

“Strange place to keep a freezer,” I said.

“Very, it doesn’t open though, we’ve tried everything. Hell, it’s even bulletproof.”

“Bulletproof?” I asked confused. “Why the fuck would a trailer be bulletproof!?” Then it hit like me brick. “Holy shit, this is where the bastard’s disappeared through!”

“Yeah, I hypothesised that. The corridor’s big enough for a regiment to retreat through, but look at the ground.”

I turned right, looked at the ground and released that they were mould spots. I walked up, to a wet spot in front of me, dabbing it with my natural hand. A green liquid sparkled on my fingertip as waved my fingertip. “Is this Salent?”

“Yeah, this is the Salent Compressor housing Salent Coolant,”

“No wonder here is so cold.”

“Right, they didn’t come through here,” Eltessa said.

“This is a black site, a Eliqris Cooling System is fucking overkill,”

“By the millions Cypher, by the millions.”

“The Federation has to be in on this, there’s no way they’d allow one of their Disaster Proof Generators to be up and gone, just like that.”

“Not our business Cypher”

“Right,”

“let’s go.”

As Eltessa led me past the trailer, I noticed red lights flickering from a console. “There’s a console there, can’t that hack it open?”

“That’s a temperature monitor. We’ve tackled it, but it doesn’t open the Saton Generator.”

My X-Ray vision pulsed into existence at a thought, and I turned around looking at the console hearing Eltessa’s footsteps leaving me behind.

The console was rectangular. The upper section had a touch screen which gleamed at a certain angle. The lights fixated at the bottom of the console were yellow, green and red, which blinked intermittently. As I eyed the lights, I realised they didn’t just flash but held a rhythm to them. “Interesting,” I said aloud. “But not interesting enough to keep me here.”

I did a 180, leaving the console behind me and increased my speed to catch up to Eltessa who had reached the end of the corridor. She stood beneath a light tapping her foot waiting for me. “Finished your inspection?”

“Now who’s the one with jokes?”

She shook her head, walking up to the door that was opposite her. She pushed it open. “Your quarters” she mumbled.

At the centre of the room was a table, with eight chairs surrounding it. A sink was stapled to a wall on my left, with a mop and broom propped up against it.

On the right, there was a brown comforter that had seen better days. The sponge within the chair was bursting through the upholstery, despite the cabling that had been wrapped around it to keep it in control. “Let’s get this debrief over with ASAP. I need to head back up on the wall and make sure things are running smoothly.” Eltessa said.

I sauntered off to the closest chair, plunking myself down. Eltessa walked to the left and tapped something on the wall. A loud click echoed through the room and more light poured into the room. White vapour poured into the room which was followed by the temperature dropping.

She walked into the fridge and exited after ten seconds holding something that looked like a bowl in her hand, then pressed a button on the fridge door, then sidestepped to her left. She pressed another button on the wall and slid it open. She slid the bowl into the wall and closed it, sliding her hand down the wall, then typed in some sequence.

“Alright, pose your questions,” She said pulling up her chair.

“I have thousands, but I’ll ask the most important one since I'm in the dark. You have a way for us to escape?”

“Of course, but all exfiltration information is handled by Stryme.”

“What? What do you mean all exfiltration information is handled by Stryme?”

“It’s as I said Cypher,” Eltessa said with a sigh. “He’s our ticket out of here and before you start, I know how anal he can be but I guess when you’re a genius that tends to happen.”

“Genius?”

“Yeah…His IQ is over 167”

“Kudos to him.”

“Kudos?” Eltessa said turning to me, “It’s a curse. Do you even know what Black put him through for this mission?”

“He’s told me a bit. He’s had to put in a few thousand hours of VR. He knows the Waste like the back of his hand.”

“That’s not even half of it, Cypher. It’s a lot more than that. He’s been pushed to the limit, mentally and physically for this mission. Black likes to ensure nothing goes wrong in any aspects of his jobs.”

“I guess that’s why he’s so anal,” I said.

“Anything else regarding Stryme? Good, let’s get down to business” Eltessa said firmly, showing her will to change the topic. “I’ve been looking into the ins and outs of Sceleratus.”

“Great, I'm sure what you match could explain why the fuck Doasians are on the doorstep.”

“Pretty much.”

“Have you told whoever leads this band of villagers?”

“I haven’t,”

“You should.”

“Not. My. Fucking. Job. Cypher.”

“Right, get the Hedgehog and leave.”

“Right, I’m not a fucking paragon, assassin.”

Icy, I guess Eltessa never changed, she was just wearing a mask I mused.

“Are you going to tell me why the Doasians are here?”

“The worst thing possible that could happen. Someone within Sceleratus has been abducting kids.”

Eltessa’s jawline went stiff, she opened her mouth but silenced herself. She sat in front of me for thirty seconds, then composed herself. She turned to me, painting the best uncaring face she could muster. “Sounds run of the mill.”

“It doesn’t. No one in their right mind would fuck with Doasians, especially their kids.”

“Ok, fine. You’re right, but what does that have to do with anything.”

“Everything, has anything changed here in the past few months?”

“Things here run like clockwork, new guards come in every few mon--” Eltessa said, catching herself. She pulled her right ear, and then sat back in her chair. I was about to say something, but the gears in her mind turned, stopping me. After thirty seconds, Eltessa finally nodded as if she’d come to some type of conclusion. “Yeah, something did change, but it was so minuscule it didn’t register as odd.”

“What changed?” I asked.

“Guards”

“Guards?”

“Yeah, guards switch out everything six months. But a change happened three months earlier.”

“They brought in a new scientist?”

“Possible.” Eltessa said.

“you’re thinking what I'm thinking?”

“Geneticist?”

“Only reason they’d want the children.”

“Fuck!” Eltessa hissed.

She closed her eyes and began rubbing her temples as if she were trying to relieve a migraine. She then sat back and began shaking her head. “I’ve spent months here Cypher. MONTHS! and haven’t been able to get into the bunker. Do you know frustrating that is?”

“Yeah…” I said, “Sometimes things don’t usually go the way you want.”

Eltessa sat back in her chair rubbing her chin with her palm as her eyes showed the gears of her mind turning whilst she computed when the disappearances started.

A bitter smile flashed across her face and she began tapping the desk with her hand, showing her annoyance. “You need to get in that fucking bunker Cypher!”

“Already on it Eltessa, already on it.”