Arron and Kix showered before walking to the officer’s barracks feeling somewhat refreshed from the long day of patrolling the grimy streets and alleyways.
Every field agent from ERF 3 was already resting inside the common room which was connected to the cramped bunk rooms on either side.
“Yo!” said Kat with a grin. “You guys finally arrived.”
“I was starting to think you guys had been captured by a loan shark or were in hiding,” said Ward.
“The only person here that would have that happen to them is you,” said Knox, shooting a glare at Ward.
“Get something to eat and then I can start explaining everything I know right now,” said Captain Pointer while pointing to a nearby worn parasteel cupboard.
Unsurprisingly the only thing for them to eat were several dozen pouches of synth-energy jelly.
Since Arron actually wanted to sleep a few hours to be ready for whatever it was they had to face later tonight, he sorted through the many packs until he found the decaffeinated pouches and grabbed one for himself and Kix.
When they sat down on empty parasteel hover chairs and started sipping on their simple dinner, Captain Pointer began to talk.
“The information given to me by Chief Chesty was not much. But what I did find out was that this will not be a small-time raid. We are to go fully armed, equipped, and ready to fight a full-fledged battle.”
The last sentence, especially the word battle, made Arron feel weird.
He was supposed to be just a regular civilian police officer but in his time as an M1 officer, he had seen and participated in more combat situations than his entire time in the military. The fact that Captain Pointer used the term showed how volatile the situation on the first level could get.
“We will be joining up with a larger force to provide the heavy manpower needed for this raid. Since this is the case, I will not be in charge and our usual partnering might be disrupted based on the raid leader’s whim. I’m sure all of you can handle something simple as a mix-up between partners,” said Captain Pointer.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“That’s about it, make sure you get some rest as we will have a major role in the raid and can not mess up in front of the other forces that will be there.”
The team split up with the girls heading to the room on the left while the guys went to the room on the right.
Arron and Kix quickly finished their dinner before following the others to the bunk room and plopping down on a random bunk bed and quickly dozing off.
***
A little past Midnight.
The entire ERF 3 units field agents were waiting at the front entrance of M1’s main parking lot.
“Who do you think it will be that we are teaming up with?” asked Arron while he tightened his Electro-Shock gloves. He and Kix were standing next to their APC ready to greet the main raid force which was on its way to join them.
“Probably the usual suspects who have the power to force the Chief to send his people over to them…” said Kix as he inspected the system readouts from his light-exoskeleton case.
Ward and Knox were already inside their Exoskeletons and were letting them idle in low-power mode. They were standing next to a new large boxy APC variant which the rest of the team would be riding in.
In the distance, the almost empty road was now filled with flashing lights of six speeding red and yellow armored hover-vans which quickly made their way down the street only stopping directly in front of M1 HQ’s front entrance.
The door of the first hover-van opened and a first-level police officer hopped out. He was wearing one of the more modern and expensive red body armor that covered his body from his feet up to his neck. He held his helmet in his left arm as he walked toward the waiting ERF 3 M1 officers.
Seeing the yellow holographic badge on his chest, Arron understood that his man was a captain.
“Captain Fealzit,” said Captain Pointer as he stepped forward with his hand outstretched to greet the man.
“Good to see you again Pointer,” said Captain Fealzit, grabbing the offered hand and vigorously shaking it.
“Are you guys going to be in command of this raid?” asked Captain Pointer.
“Nope, I thought it was you,” said Captain Fealzit, shaking his head.
“Then my guess was right. It’s ‘them’ who are behind this gathering.”
The two shared silent knowing glances.
Seconds later, as if to confirm their speculations, three hover-copters could be seen making their way toward the M1 HQ.
The three hover-copters expertly landed on the open landing pads behind the waiting ERF 3 and Armored police vehicles.
The hover-copters did not turn off their engines and kept them at low power as this was only a quick pit stop.
The door of one of the hover-copters slammed open. A single gray-suited male with a gray visor covering his face stepped out and walked over to the combined raid force that was waiting near the entrance.
Captain Pointer and Fealzit stepped forward to greet the gray-suited agent but did not bother to offer a hand to shake as it would be ignored.
“These are your coordinates. We expect you to get there on time. As for your orders, you will receive them when you arrive at the destination,” said the gray-suited agent in a cold voice.
As expected he ignored the greetings of both the captains and only flicked the needed information over to their wrist-datapads before turning around and returning to the waiting hover-copters.
When the door was slammed shut the three hover-copters took off towards the new coordinates.
“As expected. It’s the gray suits from the Office of Reason,” said Captain Fealzit.
“Everyone! Let’s move out! We can’t make them wait for us,” shouted Captain Pointer.
Arron and Kix entered their APC while the others entered the boxy variant. Both Knox and Ward stepped onto the side platforms on the left and right of the new APC and grabbed onto the large handholds built for exoskeleton hands.
Captain Fealzit and his six armored vans led the way to the destination while the two M1 APCs followed behind.
The small caravan of hover-vehicles did not travel with their sirens or lights flashing, seeing as such a racket would alert their targets if they were to show up anywhere near them.
When they reached the coordinates given to them by the Office of Reason agents. Arron saw it was a small park in sector three that they had passed by earlier in the day.
The three hover-copters had already landed with 9 young gray-suited male and female Office of Reason agents impatiently waiting near them.
Standing guard around the agents and the hover-copters were six blood-red exoskeletons. On each of their metallic chests was a gray badge with the black words [Office of reason: G.A.].
The police and ERF 3 Officers all exited their vehicles and gathered in front of the young Office of Reason agents.
There were a total of 60 police officers, each wearing the expensive and modern full body armor with regular bulletproof helmets. In comparison to them, the ERF 3 were a poor sight to be seen with each of them wearing a mismatch of prototype equipment, most of it being old models and precursors to the modern equipment the police officers wore.
With his several encounters with the Office of Reason Arron felt that these 9 gray suit agents were some of the youngest he had ever seen, far younger than any of the white and black suit agents.
The 9 agents ignored the gathered police and ERF officers and turned around to watch as the last young gray-suited agent stepped out from inside the center hover-copter.
Everyone was quiet as they instinctively knew that this person was the leader of the gathered raid force.
“I won’t waste everyone’s time and I’ll get straight to the point. I have called all of you here to help with crushing a DEN OF EVIL AND VILE people that are cancerous to the Megacity Neo-Tokeyo and all who live here,” said the young agent, strongly emphasizing a few of his words.
With a flick of his hand, he sent out the information on the Den of Evil doers to everyone gathered in front of him.
The target was a small ten-story building with no roof access. It was only a few blocks away from this small park.
“Alright! Time to give out your individual orders. You, you, and you will lead the charge into the building through the front entrance,” said the commanding agent pointing at Ward, Knox, and Kix who all had regular and light exoskeleton prototypes.
“You, you, and you will cover them.” Arron, Captain Pointer, and Bishop were pointed out.
“Captain Fealzit chose 10 of your men to support them. You and the rest of your men will surround the building and make sure no one can escape from any type of exit. And You will help them,” said the commanding agent pointing at Priss, who was holding a metal case that held her sniper rifle.
Captain Fealzit quickly picked out ten police officers and sent them to stand next to Arron.
“Who’s your hacker?” asked the commanding agent.
Captain Pointer pointed to Kat who did not have her usual grin on her face.
“I give you permission to hack into all of the building’s systems and take control of it,” said the commanding agent with a wave of his hand.
Kat only nodded letting him know she understood her new orders.
“Remember, this is not a game or one of your fake training missions. If there are any issues you may inform me of them when they pop up. We expect you to obey and fulfill every order given to you without any comments. In short, do your duty for Mother and Father.”
While saying the last sentence the young commanding agent looked at both Arron and Kix who the Office of Reason had several recent encounters with. It seemed the Office of Reason agents did not forget them and would be keeping a close eye on them.
“Move out and get into position!”
