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Asuka immediately started when he heard Ms. Bard fire a round. He lunged out of the cubicle and setted his rifle onto a nearby cabinet. Asuka quieted and calmed his heartbeat, concentrating for the slightest noise or movement. Not a sound...

Only moments later, when Ms. Bard's voice went over the earphone that his fear was realized. They were stuck in a room full of debris and infested with hostiles. Not a good thing...
Nudging the microphone closer to his lips, Asuka whispered "Do you have any idea where any of them are? I might be able to get a shot from back here."

If they were lucky, the Ranger's wouldn't have noticed Asuka's position. Unless they were packing night-vision goggles, he thought to himself.

Umi slowly got up, he could feel his muscles rub grind against one another since the morphine, he had taken earlier, wore off after he woke up. He grabbed a bottle of water that was left next to him and downed half of fluid inside. Although he wasn't at one hundred percent, he was much more aware of his surroundings now. Vulcan was still out, he must have had other business to attend to, probably what he was working on before. He had a bad feeling that he would be dragged into something much bigger very soon, and knowing Vulcan, he would be the cause of it. Umi's nervousness was cut short after tuning into Blakely's voice singing in the kitchen, it calmed him down; perhaps Umi wanted to be as upbeat and carefree as she showed on the outside, but Umi always had problems showing his true feelings to people. It was due to that sentiment that Vulcan chose Roman over him, and relationships with others suffered.

He stretched his body lightly, testing his pain threshold. He was topless but half of his body and his entire right shoulder were wrapped with surgical bandages. The doctor had completely destroyed Umi's top that he was wearing before, although it was covered in blood so he would have had to throw it away anyway. "Oh, you're cooking dinner tonight?" Umi sat down at the table, leaning against his elbow. His hair covered half of his face and looked disheveled. This was the first time Umi had had a non-business conversation with Blakely, and he realized he had nothing to say. "... T-Thanks for coming to help me today."


[It'll get more action-like soon, I just figured out a long but worthwhile way to make the traceurs interested in the fight.]
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"I don't know where they are," Sophia whispered back into the mic, she only felt a presence in the air, and he gut feeling was right. She wondered why she didn't hear him earlier, the man was hiding in plain sight but she didn't even notice, and they must have been in the same room for over an hour. "I can't tell how many there are, but I think we're in trouble."
"Ms. Bard, take cover!" A voice screamed through her microphone, knowing the pretext of his comment, the defensive line must have been completed at the security check in. They were able to see every part of the building on the cameras. Reacting quickly Sophia tipped the table over and rushed over to Asuka.

The door to behind them opened up, and CPF K-9 units rushed into the room, followed by half a dozen CPF officers. Immediately after, bullets rained into the room striking behind the table that Sophia had kicked down. The sound of muffled bullets returned fire, taking a peak out of cover, a small group of Rangers were now upright firing back at the CPF officers which had taken cover just in front of the cubicle mess. Nodding to Asuka, she commanded: "Attack!"

Asuka offered a slight salute before complying with the order. Putting his back against the table, Asuka was glad that it was a good few inches thick. Hopefully nothing comes flying through that. Peaking over the top, Asuka could clearly see the line of of Rangers.

The Rangers were all busy confronting the new arrivals of CPF that it seemed they hadn't notice that Ms. Bard and him were so close. And also with a clear line of shot. Asuka smiled to himself.

He proceeded to mount his rifle on the table, only letting the barrel to poke through. Let's hope they do not notice that. Rotating to a Ranger on the far right, Asuka placed the cross hair, on the man's left shoulder.
"I'm going to keep one alive," he stated over the mic. A moment after, he pulled the trigger, and a deafening bang could be heard. The man instantaneously fell down, out of sight.

[Merry Christmas]

"Really? I guess you have a different mindset then anyone else who lives in the city; normally, I would have been left to fend for myself, I guess today is my lucky day." Umi grabbed his fork and poked around the spaghetti, it was a normal habit of his to check his food before eating it. It smelled delicious and didn't seemed to be poisoned. Poisoned? I must be going out of my mind, she could have done him in while he was sleeping earlier. He thought to himself, taking a bite out of the food. "By the way, why were the CPF officers after you earlier? That is... if you don't mind me asking."

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"How did you know they were in there?" Sophia shouted into her microphone, firing two rounds into the crowd of men opposing them. She hoped she was hitting the mark, but it was a pipe-dream if she landed them by will.
"They're using a special type of sneaking suit," a voice replied back through the radio, "it emits a high-pitched frequency that interrupts with our brain. It's kind of like a dog whistle that masks them from our sense of perception, they could hide in plain sight if they wanted to. Now I can expl-"
"That's enough doctor. Essentially they're cloaking devices, we found out that our K-9's can detect them and we've been pushing them back. I'm at the command room, so I can help spot them in the cameras."
"Excellent. Who is this person on the microphone?" Sophia questioned, immediately taking cover from bullets that pierced through the cover next to her.
"Dr. Mobius, at your service. I'm am the head of research and development at the Hessler Corporation. Originally, I was R&D for the CPF HQ, but they moved me to his building after he gained popularity after the first riot. I quickly fled as soon as I figured out what Hessler was trying to do, and took shelter at this branch."
"Anyway, we need to finish this fast, Dr. Mobius also brought terrible news; you're not going to like this Senator."

Sophia looked over the cover, the K-9's had pushed them back and many of the were struggling to stop them from biting their limbs. "Now's the perfect chance!" Sophia stood up along the other CPF officers, "storm the front!"

[I guess I wasn't really clear on explanation, you can see them, but you don't notice them unless you're concentrating very hard.]

"So, why did you choose to be a traceur?" Umi wondered, he knew he was asking too many personal questions but this was one he asked everyone he met. The answers always varied, most of them were forced into the trade due to circumstances -- Umi could still remember the feeling of guitar strings or the smooth texture of piano keys, his past that he locked away after he was forced onto the streets, trying to find a way to survive. The city was harsh, it was a survival of the fittest scenario masked under the the disguise of a perfect utopia. "You could have had a much better life than this, most of us are forced to become traceurs as a last resort." Umi didn't understand why anyone would want to become a traceur, the work was hard, and the training was even harder. There was only a small satisfaction of a so-called freedom that many traceurs try to achieve; however, those are the ones who die first.

Umi had only taken a few bites before the spaghetti had cooled down, but he insisted on finishing it, so became silent after his last words. Partially, he was silent from trying to rationalize her situation in his mind. Umi officially disappeared from the Underground Network many years ago; all traceurs knew of the network, but only a few knew who was running it. To most runners, it was just a source of income -- to deliver a package from point A to point B with no questions asked. It was this mentality that helped the network survive over the years, the less people knew about the network, the less chance the CPF would find out about it. Unfortunately, this also meant that the traceurs were sent on jobs that were extremely dangerous without prior warning -- this was the connection between Umi and the traceurs, he treated them all like family, so he began sheltering and aiding traceurs on missions that seemed impossible.

"One could try to change their surroundings from the inside, I guess it's a difference in perspective." Umi listened intently to Blakely's story, it was different from all the other stories he has heard before. A traceur defecting to become CPF was common, but it was strange to hear that one would become a traceur by choice. Then again, she was raised in a different city, perhaps her upbringing was much different than what it was like here. Umi thought back to the past, trying to remember key points in his life. He vaguely remembered his family, since he was born in the city, he didn't know of how the other cities operated. Of course, he had gone to Underground meetings with Vulcan, so he knew there were traceurs all over the country, but every one of them had a different aura to them.

His eyes snapped back at his food, after hearing Blakely's question, he generally didn't talk about his past unless questioned directly. Every time he looked back, he felt it was a sign of weakness to want what he had lost. "Under different circumstances," Umi replied, finishing the last bits of the spaghetti dinner, "I was at the height of my Indies music career, trying to get a record deal; but, after the business regulation changes, the music industry dwindled and interest in music was slowly disappearing. The big corporations monopolized the industry, making sure only their select artists could broadcast while the little guys were left out to rot, not a single open bar could stay in business and busking was illegal." Umi placed his fork back on the table, and tilted back in his chair, "I was completely broke after a week, living paycheck to paycheck doing odd jobs and eventually hit rock bottom. Luckily Vulcan found me on the street, I was trying to become a traceur on my own, because I thought it was cool, and maybe I could make a living with those skills. Anyway, Vulcan found me at a playground practicing, and said: 'this place is for kids, you're disturbing them!' and shooed me away, but then took me in and trained me to become a traceur."

Umi got up and placed his dish into the kitchen sink, "hey, if you've got some free time, wanna come with me for a while? I got a nice place to show you."

----

Vulcan stood next to a vending machine, it only ran on credit so he couldn't buy anything while he was waiting. He was expecting a message from an old acquaintance, someone who he knew from many years back. A young woman dressed in very loose clothing walked up to the vending machine, her eyes fixated on the machine. "You must be the new call girl, very good tastes if I might add," Vulcan joked.
"And you must be Vulcan, he told me you'd try to hit on me."
"Well, I was never good at remembering passwords, or key phrases."
"I suppose."
"On to business, has the council received my message?"
"Yes, we were actually planning to have the meeting a few days ago, but CPF activity has been off the charts. Not to mention the riot."
"I see, so business is still up and running. Would have never guessed."
"The meeting was postponed for later this evening. It's been a pleasure Vulcan." The woman reached into the bottom of the machine, but left without taking a drink. She was out of sight before Vulcan retrieved the soft drink in the deposit, a sticker placed on the can, it was a marking that only a few runners knew, and only a select few could decipher what it meant.
"Looks like I have dinner plans then... Oh! That reminds me, Blakely was making dinner tonight, I should hurry back."