The relentless rain had brushed away the drab mud on the surface of the poorly-maintained grass lanes with hardly any vegetation, revealing the rocky substrata underneath their bear surface and splotching heaps of wet mud on the road stained with of layers of dirt, aggregated through the year.

The street was littered with spoiled parts of outdated drones, squashed cans, torn plastic bags and unidentifiable human discharges.

It was early evening, and the lopsided street lamps were starting to light up in preparation for the events of the night, not that there was any. Catching the last rays of the sun, their dim illumination brought on a strange hue to the dirty streets, making it drearier and uglier then ever. The only sound came from a few stray dogs pelting along the road, there was the noise of someone fighting drunkenly coming from the alleys, that resounded in the streets. Curtains were drawn, doors were locked, and the few empty shops had closed down long before dusk.

After a while, all the noise subsided, and there was no sign of a living soul out in the open.

This is Minkhang, the trash bin of New Quay municipal district, China region of the united government. Where the poor and the out-lawed clustered and fought amongst themselves, where no public services were available, where everyone struggled for life, where the nights are long and full of terrors.

Through his lenses, Caimen Yang could see a light sheen hanging in the air, like mist, but carrying unidentifiable contamination.

He glanced at it, trying to figure out where it came from.

As if to make sure, he took off his lenses and looked again, there was nothing in sight except the empty street and its dark shadows harboring malicious intent.

He put on the lenses again.

In the few seconds he wasn't looking, it had drifted up and permeated the streets at an alarming speed, flooding everywhere within eye view and deepening in color as it concentrated.

"Well bloody hell, t's a f**king disaster. Things are lookin' bad. "He said to himself darkly.

Caimen was standing perched on the top of the highest building over-looking the quarter. He was wearing bright red e-sports attire, a helmet, futuristic looking lenses, and a collection of intricate electronic devices attached to various parts of his body.

Silently, a floating drone materialized from out of nowhere beside his head.

Yang pressed at the button on the helmet at his temple.

"Yang calling Phoenix, very displeased to be pairing with ya, sending estimated coordinate."

"Roger, mute telecommunication for now, preparing blitz." a metallic voice, generated by artificial voice assistants, replied him. The electronic sounds flickered and undulated in tone, emitting sounds like disturbed magnetic fields, and finally snapped to a halt .

"Aye aye, captain, ye stupid thug." murmured Caimen as the line went off.

Down in the sewers, the strange contamination unscrupulously shone bright green, not even bothering to hide itself to the naked eyes. It got denser and denser as a Helina Phoenix, dressed all in black, followed the direction where the strange mist concentrated. Tagging along without a sound after her, was a sleek dark battle drone perpetuated by plasma thrusters.

Helina wore a dark mecha underneath black leather outfit. A metal mask, the color of obsidian, with the delicate embroidery covered her entire face, not even leaving slits for eyes. As she closes in on the coordinates sent to her by Caimen, she watched the green mist flow out from apparently nowhere.

Helina stopped abruptly and gazed hard at the a point in the air for a moment.

"Poorly disguised, the threads of space are not uniformly convergent, your clearance field reveals yourself, amateur." She said.

Somewhere in the dark, a silky, laughing voice responded.

"Nothing escapes your piercing eyes, heir of the Phoenix."

Before the last note of his words faded away, the silhouette of a man, spear in hand, materialized as its shot out from amidst the mist, lunging at Helina with his spear, which was covered in enigmatic inscriptions that seemed like something between pictures and hieroglyphs.

Synchronizing his assault, combat bots sprang from the corners, tearing off their camouflage, their weapons fully charged, gunners preparing to aim, chargers brandishing red-hot polearms with surprising dexterity.

As if in slow motion, Helina watched as attacks from all sides came at her. And the space around her undulated as she vanished into nothingness.

In her place there was only a projection unit, red indicators flashing as it beeped.

The man was ranting on with his self introduction nonstop as he tried to figure out where Helina went all of a sudden.

"Honored to make your acquaintance..."

when a BANG!!! blew up the vicinity.

The explosion tore open the concrete ceiling above him, sending the man and his combat bots flying, smoke from the explosion billowed out of the hole it blasted in the pavement above, enveloping surrounding blocks. Quaking tremors shook the town.

Screams echoed through the air and people stampeded away from the site of the explosion.

As the smoke dissipated, the man's broken corps could be seen, presently hanging on the street lamp, his insides skewered the lamp post, and the green mist poured out of his broken torso.

Tap, tap. There was the sound of leather boots on hard pavement.

Calm footsteps, distinct from the panicking but unscathed crowd approached, Helina had timed time it well.

An iron clad-hand reached into the man's flesh. After squelching and rummaging through the insides of the man, Helina Phoenix, unscathed and composed, withdrew, and retrieved from the corps, a green gem--the source of the contamination, emanating ominous green mist.

A violet-purple fire shot through the gem for just a moment and shattered it into a heap of dust, the emanation gradually stopped. Meanwhile, the man's corps turned translucent and deteriorated into a puff of smoke.

She could hear the siren of police cars, tyres screeching as cars skidded to a stop, and whispers of distress coming from the surrounding houses. She didn't bother to flee, it was Yang's job to clean up after her, her job here was done. And something more serious came to mind as she examined the broken pieces of the combat bots. Odd, she thought, the style and size was wrong.

How could they have gotten their hands on the most advanced military bots? She made a mental note to think it over later and confide in Yang as she heard footsteps approaching her, guns loading, in the distance there was also the sound of helicopters, packs of security drones whizzing, as well as the sound of neatly coordinated steps of a pack of combat bots as they approached.

"Raise your hands and drop your weapons!"

Helina turned and faced the police squad raising their guns at her.

Standing in the center of the explosion unharmed, and covering her face, she couldn't look more suspicious.

Though the police never interfered with Minkhang affaires, as Minkhang was only a district of refugees, not a concern of the government, and thus drugs, prostitutes, murders and mobs were ubiquitous, but never dealt with seriously, such an open sabotage as blowing up the streets was not permitted and would be considered a challenge to the authority and reputation of the security department of New Quay City, and would therefore be taken seriously.

It would be easy to escape, the seemingly flawless and impenetrable besiege could be casually countered with brute force, but Helina thought it better to obey this time.

She accepted the handcuffs and followed the heavily armed policemen, squadrons of combat bots, and the invisible surveillance drones gliding silently over head, preoccupied in thought.