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Location: Nulline Metropolis, City Docks.

Time: 19:45pm.

Year: 2092, April 9th.

I stepped out of the Militia jet and was now facing Nulline Metropolis; the worst possible place to be transferred to. At least, that's what everyone else thought. I always figured that this place needed cleaning up, and that I'd be the first person to make a start.

Even though the city was under Enforcer control, all they did was let crime prosper and grow. They don't even take notice if one of their soldiers is mugged or killed...or worse. There have been rumors that slavery is often used as a way of getting a quick pay. The slaves consisted mostly of anyone from Vulpine or Reptilian descent since they're either easier to capture or worth more money.

I looked around the dock. All the walls were steel and a shade of dark grey mixed with rust and grime. The whole place looked like a giant box with so many boxes and crates inside that it was almost impossible to fit a jet inside. Around me, I saw the dockworkers patrolling the area, armed with small rifles and pistols. The Enforcers must have encouraged the rights for civilians to carry weapons; if only because there were hardly any Enforcers left.

I brought my head back in front of me, looking head on at a long, smooth black car; it was the Enforcer APV or All-Purpose-Vehicle. The only purpose it served was on the streets, so making it bulky and rough was a waste of time. Leaning on the boot of the car were two men. One was a Dragon, dressed in the usual long, black leather coat that enforcers always wore. The second was a wolf, only slightly shorter than the Dragon, and dressed in a shorter, lime green coat decorated with medals.

"You've finally arrived." The Wolf said, getting up from the boot. "So, you're the Arch-Angel we were expecting?"

"Sure." I said lamely, walking towards them, looking around the dock. "I didn't expect this much...hostility."

"You'll get used to it." He replied. "Come on; let's go."

The car wasn't too large. In fact, it looked as if the shell of the vehicle was at least two inches thick. Not surprising considering what kind of an area the city was. The Wolf was sitting in the back with me. The Dragon was in the front, handling the wheel.

"I'm Captain Vern by the way." He finally introduced. "I already know your name, so there's no need to introduce yourself."

"So I'm assuming you've read my files?" I assumed. "You seem to be nicely organized. Not like the Arpeggio Militia."

Vern managed a short laugh, and turned to me, still smiling.

"I'll take that as a compliment." He replied, putting on a more serious voice and face. "But your humor won't to you any good here. Just keep your ead down for the first few days."

I wondered what he had meant by that. Keeping a low profile would only encourage more criminal activity. We stayed silent for the rest of the ride, giving me time to think about things. What would I be doing? What is the city like? Would I just end up being put under another squad's orders?

The car had slowly come to a halt. Vern and I had stepped out, leaving the driver to speed off. He must have been getting back to work. We both walked across a concrete path, though the building was practically surrounded by brick and concrete. I stared upwards at the building. It was practically a large tower. It was completely circular all the way around, but also wide; almost half a mile in diameter. We both came to a halt at a large, open double door. We both stepped through into the compound.

The building was much different than the Militia compound. All the walls were a light shade of grey, and always arced at the ceiling. They were practically tunnels; but what had caught my attention was the amount of Enforcers patrolling the building; From Felines and Reptiles, to Wolves and Avians. It seemed odd that there was a large amount of variation between species.

It took us quite a while to maneuver through the corridors and stairs to get to one of the many mess halls of the compound. It was filled with the scraping of plates and people talking to one another. The noise suddenly came to a halt, and almost all eyes were on Captain Vern; people were standing up and saluting to him.

"At ease, soldiers." Vern ordered, letting the noise continue. We continued walking down the hall.

We stopped at the empty side of the room. Well, not completely empty. In one of the corners was a medium, plastic table. Around it sat three men, all dressed in a different outfit than the regular Enforcers. There was a Wolf, a Dragon and an Avian, all dressed in the same lime green coat as Vern, but not decorated. Instead, it looked more like a combat outfit. The three-man party nodded towards Vern, who in turn nodded back.

"If you're going to be working with anyone." Vern began; "You'll be working with these soldiers; Elite Enforcer Commandos. The Wolf is Agustus Cord, the Avian is Roland Tohn, and the Dragon is Millard."

They all nodded to me in turn. I nodded back, not saying a word. They all looked aggressive by their colors. Agustus had crimson red fur, which matched Millard's scales. Roland, on the other hand, had a mixture of red and blue shades for his feathers. They had no scars or wounds worth mentioning, which showed that they were as careful as they were unnerving.

We left them to continue talking, and walked back to the other side of the mess hall, and into the noise again. Vern and I had sat down at the very edge of the crowd. I was sitting next to a skinny and nervous looking Fox, trying to look anywhere but at Vern, who was looking directly at him.

"Rookie, what's your name?" Vern asked. The Fox looked directly at him now, and began to tense.

"C-corporal Dane Fey, sir." The Fox replied, saluting. "Do you need anything from me, sir?"

"Yeah, there is, Corporal." Vern replied, leaning forwards and facing the Corporal. "I need you to show our guest around the place. Show him around the block, and don't screw up."

With that, Vern patted me on the back and left me with the Corporal. His fur was cream white, and his tail was flicking around constantly.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Dane saluted, and held out his hand. I gave him a small handshake and introduced myself.

"I'm Kobalt... Kobalt Kaiken." I introduced. "No need to call me sir."

"Sure thing." Dane replied lamely. "I guess I should show you around the neighborhood then. I hope you're well armed."

"I'm always armed." I replied, grinning.

I pulled both parts of my gun from the inside of my coat; the barrel and the handle. I pushed the parts together, making a loud clicking sound to tell me that they were attached. I tied on the leather strap and slung it over my left shoulder.

I was about to experience a night on the town.

*********************************************************

Location: Nulline Streets.

Time: 00:35am.

Year: 2092, April 9th.

I barely remembered anything from the night out. Last thing I remembered was that I was walking through the grimy streets with the Corporal, swaying and moaning. I had obviously drank a lot; but I was starting to sober up pretty fast.

"So this is what happens on the streets all day?" I asked, looking through all the alleyways to see people loitering about, using drugs, and more. "All I see are a bunch of ‘regular guys'. Nothing too dangerous or anything."

"That's the best part." Dane slurred. "You don't have to do nothing. It's all about people respecting you and not wanting to want to kill you."

My head was starting to settle down, and I could think straight. Dane was hardly making any sense, and he was the one who drank less than me. I suddenly stopped and listened to the streets. I felt a small tingling in the back of my neck. I often got that whenever I was about to get into trouble.

"What is it?" Dane asked. "Hear something? If you hear something, it's in your best interest to ignore it. Trust me; you'll get more trouble than you're looking for-."

I put my hand up, signaling him to be quiet. I kept listening to the silence. I heard echoes. People were shouting, and beyond that, guns were being fired. I took a few small steps, and broke into a stride down the nearest alleyway, following the sound. Dane was trailing behind me, telling me to stop and get back to whatever we were doing. I ignored him until I had reached the source of the sounds, where I grabbed the Corporal and hissed at him to be quiet, pressing him up against a wall.

We had arrived at the entrance of a small warehouse. The doors were half open, and we were both edged up against them. I lifted up my gun, and loaded five spikes into the cylinder.

"No." Dane said slowly. "No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going in there. Do you hear how many guns are going off in there? It's like walking into a firing range. There must be at least a dozen people in there!"

"I'm trained to fight these odds." I retorted. "It'll be like me walking into the firing range, but I'm not the one being shot at."

"You only have one gun, though." He whined. "You hardly have enough ammo to take them all out."

I sighed and opened up my coat, revealing over twenty steel spikes all tied up in groups of five. Dane looked at them with wide eyes, and back up at me.

"You're serious, aren't you?" He asked. "Are you sure you can take on that many people?"

"Have you got a weapon with you?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

"Sure, but just a crummy pistol." Dane replied, pulling out a gun around twice the size of his fist.

"I'll step in quietly." I began; "You'll shoot out the lights. Understand?"

Dane nodded quickly. I stepped slowly over to the edge of the door, and prepared to turn the corner. Dane lifted his pistol up and crawled over to the other door, aiming at the large lights in the warehouse. He pulled the trigger, and I stepped inside.

The lights had suddenly crackled, sparked and went out one by one, leaving the warehouse in complete darkness. The shooting and shouting had stopped, and was replaced with confused whispering.

"Who shot out those lights?" Someone shouted. "Who's there? I'm gonna gut whatever idiot decided to do that!"

I ignored all the noises, and focused on my vision. Everything became illuminated, and I could clearly see who and what was where. The whole place was filled with crates and boxes that were stacked into covering positions for everyone. I was disappointed to see that nobody had any ‘real' weapons; just pistols and knives.

I spun around from behind a crate, and was standing right where I needed to be. I was directly to the right of one of the groups of people; all Alley cats. I pointed my gun at the nearest one and pulled the trigger, sending him off his feet and into a stack of crates. I pulled the trigger again, aiming for the next closest person. I repeated the process until all four of them had collapsed in a heap.

I pushed one of the bodies out of the way, and used a stack of crates for cover. I still had to take care of one more group. I loaded four more spikes into the cylinder.

"What the hell is happening?" Someone shouted in confusion. "I can't see nothing. Is everyone else dead or not? I can't see sh-."

I had silenced the person with a spike to the neck, which resulted in more shouts of confusion. I decided to play with my targets and shoot out a few crates, causing the stacks to fall over and confuse them. I was laughing quietly under my breath. I was actually enjoying this. I was either still drunk, or possibly going insane. Either way, It didn't take me too long to impale the rest of the group with more spikes.

I walked out of the warehouse, holding all of the spikes that I was able to recover from the fight. None of them were even dented, but some were still dripping with blood. I saw Dane looking at me, his jaw half open and staring at me.

"That was a good night, wasn't it?" I laughed.