Martin - Are you sure?
Nita - Martin. You are the only human over here. As far as this goes, you would be the main concern of safety here. It would be much more simpler to let me handle it.
While Nita were taking the last bag filled with explosives from the trunk. Martin looked around one more time. This time they came up at an plant that were supposed to be abandoned, but whenever his gaze would land at nearby trash and street art, he got the feeling that something was off...
Nita - Okay... *sigh* I will be back in ten minutes or so.
Martin - Be carefull out there. Don't want to gather you back from scraps!
Last remark, went un answered, as Nita climbed the tall stone fence of a plant with just a single jump and an pull-up. Despite the sign "private property", it looked like nobody ever cared about that, as even that sign were painted over with warious street art.
Martin - Yeah... I wonder who does it belongs too...
Caught in a question, Martin pulled out his terminal, only to find out that it was out of power.
Martin - Really now? Okay... Where is my power bank?
In the mean time. Nita were wandering the halls of a plant. It was a dark and humid place. A small puddle splashed in every direction under a Nita's heavy step. Corridors, machinery, huge tanks were still there, waiting for their moment. This whole place looked like a remnant of old age.
Going futher and futher into a plant, Nita started placing charges as per plann that were presented to her by Zed. Two charges on a huge collum, one more at the wall behind a small cabin, place some on a bearing wall. As Nita kept walking and placing charges, she noticed somthing among the office rooms. Some kind of light source were present among the many walls. And it looked like she had to place few charges in the office area.
To a Nita's surprise. The light source turned out to be a iron barrel filled with holes and inside of it, was raging fire. An unknown man were trying to warm himself up... And not just him. The whole office area were rebuilt into a sort of camp. Nita walked among the cubicles in confusion, her loud footsteps attracted everyones attention. People used old cubicles as their living places. Someone were hanging their courier uniform just outside the cubicle. Woman and man, old and young, they all were gathered here... For some unknown reason.
Old man - Hey! Doll! What are you doing here?
Some old man suddenly called out to Nita. Sudden call for her almost made Nita jump.
Nita - Nothitng... Who are you people?
Old man - What does it looks like to you doll?
Nita - I... I don't understand...
Even more in confusion. Nita looked around as she approached the old man. More and more people were fixing their gaze on a sudden 'walk-in' doll. The attention made Nita feel uneasy.
Old man - You are in place where people don't have anything to their name, but a still alive and trying to find a way for themselves. Or in other words... The poor...
Nita - But... This is Odesa. Why?
Old man - Why you ask? Don't a doll like you should know? What will happen if you fail to meet the demands of your owner? What will happen when you get rejected by everyone?
Nita - I... I don't know...
Old man - Well... But this is what happen to a working man that lost his job. A family woman when she lost her family. A student when he didn't get his education. And a celebrity when they are made a smallest mustake in their careet. We all endup here. But as much as I love to give you a lecture on a matter of why we end up where we end up. Why are you here doll?
Nita - You... You should get out of here...
Old man - And why is that? You came here to expell us again? Are you some kind of security doll? Then again, you don't look like a police or any kind of law enforcer. So why are you here?
For a long moment, Nita wasn't able to give an answer. She just kept looking around. Neural cloud were stuck in undertanding something. "We are in a safe zone. This is not a yellow zone. So why are people stuck here? Why are they still here?" and many more questions appeared. As she kept looking around, her gaze fell onto a bag, that was still hanging of her shoulder. Not much charges left, only for this room. Everything else were already planted.
Old man - If you don't want to fight, and if you can't arrest anybody. Then just let us be and leave. This is a place for broken people. Not for a broken dolls!
Once again... Nita wanted to say more, but found unable to find any words to say. So she just started walking backwars. At firts slowly... And then turn around and hasten her pace. Nita hurryed to get back to the car... Back to Martin.
When Nita got outside, she quickly jump and vaulted tall fence. Martin were already talking with someone on a phone.
Martin - Oh... Nita! Right on time! Did you pace all charges?
Nita - No... I havent planted the one for the office area. Thouse charges are still with me!
Martin - Why?Nita - Because there are people living inside! What are we going to do about that?
Martin - What? Wait a moment! *pressed a button on terminal* Kilmure! I will talk with you a little bit latter! An urgent matter on hand, I will call you back a little bit latter.
The audio call ended with another press of a button on a terminal. And then Martin turned his attention on Nita. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped him self for a moment.
Martin - How many?Nita - I haven't counted... Somewhere among fourty and fifty.
Martin - Bloody hell... I probobly should call Zed about this. Wait a moment.
In a slight state of panic, Martin failed to type Zed's number a few times, but managed to type in a right sequence of numbers to call the desired contact... which is Zed. Few dull rings, Zed answered.
Zed (Audio call) - Oh, Perfect. I just finished planting the bombs at substation. Are you finished?
Martin - We have a problem. The plant is used by some people to live there.
Zed (Audio call) - Oh... Well... That happens. Just get rid of them!
Martin - How? Fifty plus people are stuck there. It's not like we can kill each and every single one.
Zed (Audio call) - I don't know, figure something out. And better do it fast. We have an hour before the sunrise, and you better plant the bombs and get away from there.
Martin - You're not making it easy Zed.
Zed (Audio call) - Nothing is easy Martin. Just get this over with. I will be waiting you at the park in thirty minutes, or I am going out without you! Nothing personal kid, just the way it is.
Martin - Yeah. Figures... I'l meet you at the park.
On a sad note. The call ended and Martin stared at the bag hanging from Nita's shoulder.
Nita - So... what now?Martin - Let me think a little...
Falling on a seat. Martin started thinking. Nita stood nearby, looking at the plant and Martin, switching her attention back and forth. Time kept tiking. Martin were trying to come up with plan or just anything. As the five minutes passed, Nita's gaze finaly stopped on the plant... And she matched back to the plant.
Martin - Nita? What are you doing?
Nita - I will just move the charges to a diffrent spot. Maybe they would get scared and run away or something, but the explosion won't hit them? I don't know.
Martin - Yeah... But the comission?
Nita - If your guess is correct... Richard just trying to buy off the ground for a cheapest price possible. And who cares if whole plant is in ruins or just a part of it?
Martin - Okay. Just be carefull!
Again, Nita got on the other side of a fence. Martin came up to a closed and chained gates. Through iron bars of a gate, Martin saw Nita's back, who walked inside the plant. She walked the same way as before, through the maze of corridors and machinery. But Nita didn't touch any charges that she placed beforehand. Instead, she walked right to office area. Once again, the old man appeared nearby and fixed his gaze on a 'hard to NOT notice' doll.
Old man - Again? Did you lost something doll? | Nita - Yeah. I won't be here for long.
It took her a few moments. Nita walked through a whole area, place one charge after the other. One behind a vent, one high on pillar. All under a sharp gaze of an old man. And a Final charge was placed in a wrong spot, just for everyone to see. On high wall, amost under a ceiling.
Old man - What are you doing? | Nita - Think fast old man. Everyone here should just leave.
There were no panic. Nobody even raised a voice. And while walking back to Martin, Nita opened her journal and took out the pen. A new line appeared on a page.
"The poor = Those who don't have anything to their name, but a still alive and trying to find a way for themselves."
==== Somewhere in Yellow Zone ====
Beda - They went this way... Damn... They are a tough nut to crack.
A small bullet shell in the arms of a doll. Beda took a look at the scene in front of her. A group of Varjagers were not just rolled over... They were destroyed in a most gruesome way possible.
Nomomo - Yeah... It was an ambush, and it looks like they dozered through them. Quick... Efficient... Damn... If only my guard team was this good. I wouldn't have ended up here.
With disapointment, Nomomo threw away the bullet shell. Beda kept looking and crouched near a small puddle of blood mixed with dirt on a ground. And few bent metal were lying along the road.
Beda - One of them was injured. And it looks like their robots took some heavy beating too. There is blood, metal and bullets, but no body or damaged frames. Maybe they did lost some firepower?
Nomomo - That would be a good news. That would mean they are worn out. If we hurry up. We can catch them off guard. And who knows... But where the hell is Blaze and a team?
Beda - Should be here in a five or ten minutes... Or maybe right now. Look!
Slight nood, to give a direction. A single car were approaching Beda and Nomomo. They were expecting a little bit more then just one car, so Beda and Nomomo shared a concerned look.
Blaze - Here we go! Nice to meet you once again. And this is all that left from Urmat's team...
Nomomo and Beda - What?
Blaze - Well... Urmat kind of lost his life and most of his team too... So this is all we have to work with right now. Not a great exposition, but we can manage that.
Nomomo - Manage what? Walking corpses? Are you mad or something?
Veteran Merc - We still have a job to do.
Nomomo - And how much do we have? Where all of your assault robots?
Veteran Merc - We have a team of six plus you three. What do we have here? Is that Darryl's work?
The mercenary looked around and made a small hand gesture over the battle site. It was at that moment, that Beda noticed something mooving in a distance, she quickly snatched a binocular from Nomomo's, who had her back turned to her.
Nomomo - Hey!Beda - Get DOWN!
Even though, Beda looked only for a half a second, it was enough to understand what is about to happen. She Jumped at Nomomo and Mercenary, pushing them to the ground. In a next moment, a sound of machine gun fire filled the area. Storm of bullets rained upon a car. One of the bullets hit the driver in a head. His bran were splatered all over inside the car, and his leg flinched, pushing a gas pedal. The car, with everyone inside went forward. For everyone inside the car. It was a death trap. Olny Blaze and newbie merc were riding in a trunk of a car. Newbie instantly hunkered down
Using this moment, Blaze hopped off the car, pulled out her grenade launcher and followed near the car, using it as a cover. Few seconds latter, she made one shot... and then another, into the air. She couldn't see the machine gun nest, but she doesn't need to. Two explosion errupted among the rocky hills, and machine gun stopped it's fire.
The car crashed into another damaged car from a previous gun fight. And from behind of this car, a soldier with a shotgun jumped out, pointing his gun at Blaze, and before he was able to pull the triger, a bullet pierced through his head. Beda moved her aim slightly higher and made another shot. This one forced another man get back behind his cover, and let Blaze get some free space.
Nomomo - Beda, cover me and Blaze. You! Cover her six and get a better position.
Veteran Merc and Beda - Got that!
While Nomomo rushed forward, Beda stood up and took another shot, this one hit some small robot right in its leg. Despite her walking in direction of nearby cover, Beda never stopped looking through a scope of her rifle, and took another shot. This one made it's way through a head of a gunner that were shooting a Nomomo, who were still running up close.
And Nomomo on the other hand, were running under heavy fire from multiple directions. Despit that, she kept side stepping, made dashes or just crouch for a moment. All that in perfect combination to just get as close as possible without ever being as much as grazed by any bullet.
Before the opposition even realized it, Nomomo were among their lines and going through a rampage. Two shotgun shots made a hole in the upped body on her enemy, and she pushed barrel of a gun through it, using the body as a meat shield. One, two, four, seven. Her kill count were once again getting higher.
The last shot was made by Beda. She noticed someone trying to run away, and he reieved a shot right in a back. And finaly, whole place became much more quiet. Beda one more time looke around through her scope. Looks like it was the end.
Despite that whole fight laster a little bit more than just a two minutes. I felt like forever for a newbie who were holding his gun in both hands, pointing it in a direction of Nomomo, who were covered in blood and comming closer.
Nomomo - Relax... First time? | Newbie Merc - No... *uh* it's just... You alright?
Nomomo - *huh* You asking me that? Maybe you should check on your partners!
The newbie looked at the car they arrived in... It was filled with bullet holes, and it's insides were colorer in bloody red. It was obvious that nobody made it out alive...