We were engaged in many activities such as physical training, where we worked out and took laps, weapons training, where we learned how to handle weapons and leveled up our marksmanship and accuracy, tactical training, which were done in the form of lectures, and most important of all, teamwork. All that in one day. Some agents even took language training and medical training. It was like a fully functional military camp. Most enjoyed it.
Night_
But at the end of the first day of training, when I lay on my bed in my room, tired,
"I wonder what the speakers in our rooms are for. They're not used to waking us up in the morning…"
The alarms went off. So loud, they made the ground rumble.
"Alert! Alert! There is a fire outbreak on the Eastern side of the city on residential buildings. Locals face the danger of losing their lives. Mission: Rescue the civilians, stop the fire and capture the arsonists. According to civilian reports, they were last spotted running towards the Southern side of the Island."
It was announced in every agent's room through the speakers. I peeped through the window of my room.
"Woah."
The fire was massive, a small distance away from my current location.Thick clouds of smoke clouded the entire premises. I immediately grabbed my stuff and left.
Agents ran in all directions, looking for their squadmates. The entire city was well lit since the lights were still functional. One couldn't tell the difference between day and night in that place. Only the Eastern side didn;t have power to prevent obvious electric hazards.
'In such a situation, communication is key. We need to know where the others are. Without communication, we'll do things irrationally. There are obviously no locals or civilians, but they've probably placed dummies.'
I took out my cellphone to contact my squadmates.
"No freaking way."
There was no line service. In other words, there was no way to contact the others. They must have done this to see our reactions.
Flashback, During one of the lectures_
"There are times you will not be able to contact your teammates. It is important to stay calm and collected. Find a way to make them aware of your location. If you can't, proceed to your niche and do your job. The others should find you there already performing."
End of Flashback_
'Proceed to your niche, huh? Most agents are already doing this. However, there is one thing I fear. If we don't stop this fire fast, it might reach our apartments.'
As I was running, I remembered something.
Flashback, During the lectures_
"The list of squad roles for this training period has been displayed above. Make sure you are able to work together with other squads to complete the mission with minimum civilian casualties.
Squad Dalet: Villain Affairs
Squad Alef: Villain Affairs
Squad Zayin: Villain Affairs
Squad Chet: Search and Rescue
Squad Gimel: Search and Rescue
Squad Resh: Search and Rescue
Squad Bet: Search and Rescue
Squad Fay: Information and logistics
Squad Tsadi: Information and logistics
Squad Lamed: Villain Affairs
End of Flashback_
I got to the supposed site where the fire was assumed to have started. Many agents were already there, struggling to extinguish the fire through the numerous fire hydrates.
"Have any agents passed here heading South?" I asked one of them.
"Yeah, a couple of minutes ago. If you hurry, you might catch up to them. They were after the arsonists."
I started running towards the Southern side of the city, and soon caught up to the others. They were facing the arsonists on the road, ready to fight.
'Three arsonists, makes sense since a fire that big couldn't have been started by one person. They can't run since they're outnumbered.'
On our side, Alicia, Lucas, Flora, and the members of Squad Dalet, including Jason. Squad Alef were nowhere to be seen.
"Give up, you idiots, we've already got you. You're clearly outnumbered, eleven to three." Jason shouted.
The arsonists just stood there doing nothing. One of them reached for his pocket.
"He's got a gun, take cover!"
Everyone ran to take cover, but Flora was a bit too slow. She got shot on the upper arm.
"Are you okay?"
One of the Dalet members was helping her patch up her bleeding wound.
"I'll be fine. It's just a rubber bullet, but it hurts like hell. More importantly, the arsonists are getting away."
"Follow them but stay covered." Jason shouted from the other side of the road. We started following them.
'We are at a serious disadvantage right now. We need weapons. I knew they might have weapons, but real guns? Isn't that a bit drastic?"
The arsonist who had fired the gun looked… shocked?
'Why is he shocked? It's almost as if he didn't expect the shot to hurt her. What's going on?'
As we were running after them, I noticed something in one of the dark alleys. There was a person moving around. He was holding some kind of detonator.
"What is he doing here?"
He saw me and immediately started running.
"Lucas, follow me. I've spotted another one."
Lucas followed. We found a bunch of guns in that alley.
"Let's take these to the others. They only have rubber bullets, but they'll still come in handy."
"Should we chase him?"
"No, these guys know this place too well. The others might get outdone without these guns. Let's go back."
We hurried back to the others. "Where are Squad Alef? If they were here, they would have given us some assistance."
'That person who was in the alley holding the detonator, I've seen him before. He's a member of Squad Alef, Fiske's squad. But why'd he run? And why did he have these guns?'
We all suddenly received a message that was announced on all the speakers in the city.
"Attention all agents. This is Blake from Squad Lamed. The fire is spreading too fast. Squads Resh and Bet are requested to take position between our apartments and the fire to make sure it doesn't reach them. All other free squads are requested to assist Squad Gimel and the others in extinguishing the fire."