FSE

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Location: New Vega, Club Phymn, Room 172.

Time: 11:30am.

Year: 2245, January 11th.

I cursed under my breath slowly as I walked across the room facing a bare, sky blue section of wall right next to my double bed. Once there, it didn't take long for me to feel out a large groove and remove the section, revealing a hollowed out space; inside were around three things; first was a dark grey pistol, already loaded with a clip. Nowadays, all clips used small pellets; each clip held around thirty shots, which was useful in long firefights.

The second item was a belt, meant for slinging over one's shoulder; I picked that out along with the pistol and undressed the upper half of my body, hiding the clips inside and zipping my jumpsuit back up. The third and last item was a small wrench, made for prying even a metal door from its frames -with the right skill and strength, of course. I strapped the wrench onto my left leg and holstered my pistol in the second belt that I was wearing across my waist.

I replaced the section of wall and walked up to a tall mirror on the opposite side of the bed; I met my own eyes, which looked like they were starting to look somewhere else. I shook off the thought and backed away from the mirror, starting to tremble and clench my hands; it felt like the calm before the storm, only it felt like there was a lot of pressure trying to force me to the ground. It felt odd and uncomfortable; I was used to being in violent or dangerous situations, so what was the problem?

When I couldn't take such a feeling anymore, I just pushed everything out of my head, sending shivers through my body. Now, there was nothing to think about but what was in front of me. I often did so to calm myself down and see things from a calm and collected view, though anytime I tried to remember such experiences, it often came back as fragments. I do remember some things, though.

My eyes begin to blur and regain focus. I stare at two empty glasses on the bedside table, empty, and reflecting light into my eyes. I twist away slowly and look out of the window at the balcony, separated with a glass door. I walk up and slide the door open, revealing the city to me. Beyond the bright and towering buildings, I see something below; a much smaller building, dark grey bricks, worn over the years. Everything started to come back to my head.

The abandoned building! The Administrator said that it was close by. My heart began to beat hard so that I could hear it in the silence; I immediately twisted around and strode out of my room, determined and focused on what I had to do.

Now I knew where the place was; all I had to do was know how to get down there.

Location: New Vega, Club Phymn, Rooftops.

Time: 11:40am.

Year: 2245, January 11th.

I opened the door that led onto the roof of the club, keeping my breaths short and rapid; it was a kind of reflex whenever I was about to do my day-job. My body felt a little heavier from all the equipment I was carrying, but not so much that I would falter whilst jumping from roof to roof. The best part was that I would have almost no trouble at all other than the Scarecrows; even if I did run into them, I could take them out easily, and if they tracked me down to the club, The Administrator would easily point them in another direction. It was foolproof.

I stared into the great expanse of the rooftops; only a few were tall enough to block my vision. My hood was drawn all the way over; so far that it had met with the collar of my jumpsuit; I had to cut out a small section and replace it with plastic to make it look like more of a mask with goggles rather than a hood. The tips had binds that would attach both the collar and hood to each other, meaning it would not accidentally draw back during the time I had to wear it over my face; hell, there was even a small section for my muzzle to stick out so that I could breathe, and holes for my ears to stick out of. I started to wonder if it helped hide my appearance at all.

I pushed the thoughts out of my head and focused on what was in front of me; I began by taking a look over the edge, taking a quick look at my surroundings to remind myself where the abandoned building was; fortunately, the club had arranged a few notes on every building that surrounded us, giving them names such as 'Office Complex 13', and what building was to the east, north, west, and almost every direction possible. It was completely organized, except for the few times that Scarecrows removed the notes; even then, we kept replacing them anyway.

The abandoned complex lay to my right, leading east, right past Office Buildings Five through Eight; though it seemed odd that an abandoned building was squatting whilst being surrounded by all the other Office Buildings. Maybe since it was surrounded by such buildings, people had forgotten about it; either that, or it was too dangerous to tear it down, incase any other buildings were being supported by it, somehow; but it seemed so stupid to not re-use it for something else...

"They really like to piss me off." I growled bitterly, clenching my teeth softly and walking to the other side of the rooftop, preparing for a run up; luckily, the rooftop was wide enough for me to take three steps walking, then another five jogging, and finally breaking into a sprint, preparing to jump across to the other rooftop, which was squatting under the club's.

I leapt forwards head first, stretching my arms out and looking down at the five-meter gap that separated the buildings. It looked like an alleyway, though all gaps between these buildings were always like such; it scared me to think that people walk down these every day, and not be afraid of being killed or murdered. Maybe there were too many people for crimes to go unnoticed, maybe no one would bother with an office complex; but it still made me feel nervous when walking around the streets, which, luckily, I hardly ever had to do.

I felt my hands make contact with the hard concrete on the other rooftop, by which time I had tucked into a roll and kept my balance in doing so; I got back up quickly and began looking for one of the notes planted on the rooftop. It didn't take long before I saw a few directions scratched onto one of the few metal vents that projected from the floor. It read out:

OFFICEBUILDING FIVE: HERE.

OFFICEBUILDING FOUR: NORTH.

OFFICEBUILDING SIX: EAST.

I immediately stopped reading and pulled out a small compass from my left pocket; all Seekers had one as a secondary guide across buildings; unfortunately, east was pointing right at a much taller building; if construction workers had any sense, they would have made all buildings the same height. It didn't bother me much, though; it just made the job that more exciting. I saw a length of pipe running up along the building, along with a few bricks that would make good footing positions; I took my chances and walked up to the edge, which was practically attached to the other building.

Luckily, the pipe was slightly rusted, providing the friction I needed to get a good grip; it hardly took me five minutes and a bit of struggling to reach the edge of the roof, where someone was unfortunately waiting for me. The person hadn't seen me yet, but I could see him clearly; a single Scarecrow, usual black bulletproof leather, looked like a Wolf by body structure, as usual; they were usually all the Enforcers took on as soldiers.

I slowly pulled myself up and rolled onto the rooftop, making as little noise as possible; unfortunately, the Scarecrow had already noticed me and brought up his large rifle, cursing out loud. I was already up and aiming my pistol at his head, though we were a good five meters apart, and trying to circle around each other. The Wolf looked like he was about to holster his rifle, pulling out a large knife from his belt and looking as if he was ready to lunge at any moment; I almost figured that this was the same Wolf that I had given a beating to the other day.

"You shouldn't be up here." The Wolf said calmly, keeping his knife at his waist. "Just get lost and I'll pretend that nothing happened. If not, I'll just have to kill you instead"

"I need you to get out of my way." I hissed, ignoring his offer and pulling out my crowbar slowly with my right hand. "I'm not exactly breaking any laws; and I don't plan to today. There's something I need to sort out, and I'm running out of time talking to you."

I instantly strode forwards and swung my crowbar backhand, catching the Scarecrows knife and dismissing it onto the floor whilst bringing my left palm up to his face, sending him back into one of the metal vents that surrounded the rooftops. By then, his face was starting to trickle with blood, and I was already looking at more directions scratched onto another piece of vent.

"Lets see..." I muttered to myself, staring at the directions carefully; "Office Building Seven; North."

I pulled out my compass again and looked to the east, making out a slightly shorter building, and to the left of it, the abandoned apartment complex, which had to be another two stories shorter. Again, I stepped to the opposite edge, preparing for another run up, leaving the unconscious Wolf behind; but before doing so, I picked up his knife and strapped it onto my right leg, and unloaded his large rifle, tossing the clip over the edge of the building and down the alleyway below.

"Hopefully that won't come out of your paycheck." I said amusingly, jumping over the edge again head-first with my arms outstretched.

It was a long five seconds before my hands had made contact with the other roof, which had taken me by slight surprise and caused me to falter and roll clumsily until I had slammed back-first into another vent shaft, taking most of the breath from my lungs. It took me another few minutes before the pain that shot through my back had subsided, and my body had stopped shaking; though I did curse out loud from the slight ache that still ran through my back.

"God damn it." I grunted, lifting my right side, then my left until I was up-straight. "That's just what I need; an injured back. I'd much rather take the alleyways."

I was, of course, lying. Alleyways always frightened me a little; I was used to being in open air and open skies; not being in a cramped, dark, dank hole that you could barely breathe in. The worst part was that it was full of people; I wouldn't say I was the anti-social type, I was just used to being around one person...mostly during the night...and there were occasionally more than one...

I pushed all distractions out of my head again and focused on what I needed to do; I didn't need to search around for directions again, as I already saw the abandoned building below me. My pistol was already drawn, and it looked like I was about to assault a heavily defended safe-house. There were three large figures placed on the roof; one was a standard Scarecrow, thought most likely a bear of some kind. What had really caught my eyes were the other two figures, that were much thinner -thinner than any person should be; and their clothes looked like they were pieces of metal wrapped around their bodies, with a couple of skulls placed on top. I kicked myself almost instantly after I realized what they were.

They were mechs! Standard, white-metal, skull-headed, easy-to-destroy mechs; Scarecrows and Enforcers never used them; they were only ever used by the Falsetto Militia over sixty years ago. By now, they should have been altered, but they seemed as familiar as when I last saw them. Now they were only used as self-defense models or defense for shops and markets; it was expected that they would be used by thugs or crime-lords, though it still took me by surprise.

I had enough experience with thugs, more-so with mechs; the only thing that was separating us was a small gap.

I walked to the other side of the building, preparing for another run up...