Galactic High

“This is the right place?” Alora asked, as they made it through the checkpoint with barely any glances from the bored-looking militia, who were barely lit up by the low, vibrant hues of the neon signs behind them.

“Definitely the place,” Sephy whispered from where she was camouflaged using the Trickster’s Coat, having scooted past the guard when Chiyo had distracted them. “Coordinates provided lead straight to the apartment complex up ahead.”

The neighbourhood of Jholix Heights was a place of classical-looking buildings, but with fairly spartan aesthetics outside of the residences themselves, feeling to Jack like a job done to the bare minimum, exuding an aura of functionality over elegance. Regardless, it was considered a reasonably safe and secure district, sporting visible security systems as they quickly walked down the ever-darkening, snaking streets, and Sephy’s searches revealed it as a typical, boring middle-class district mainly inhabited by sole occupants and small families.

“Hard to believe the client wants to meet at his actual residence.” Nika shrugged beneath her disguise. “They’re probably new to this kind of thing.”

“I mean, if he’s desperate to rescue a family member I can’t blame him,” Jack pointed out, with an unusually girly voice. “Though I don’t know why that means I need to look like a girl!”

The group had been quick to rush home and gear up as quickly as they could, allowing Karzen and Bentom to be in charge of helping organise and escort the rest of their guests back to their home at a normal pace. They only took a few minutes to quickly squeeze into their battleskins, having practised a few times since the Pallid Pit run, and gear up before they were off.

Alora had insisted on obscuring their presence when going through corporate districts in order to avoid any unwanted attention from them packing heat, and while she and Sephy had ways to remain unseen, Jack and Nika did not, and Chiyo’s method could be detected on camera, so Alora suggested they use the three Broaches of Disguise to masquerade as an unassuming group of schoolgirls passing through to avoid attention.

“Because it’s much more believable!” Alora giggled. “All we have to do is act like a bunch of annoying ditzies and the militia won’t bother with us outside of the occasional pervy comment. They won’t look too closely at us as a potential threat, which is what we’re looking for.”

Especially when we have bounties placed on us, Chiyo added. And those desperate enough to try and cash them in.

“Hey, do you think we could disguise Jack like this and go for Whipping Tom?” Sephy asked as Dante suddenly blinked next to them, having been following them from the shadows. “I’d love to see his face if he ever tried to spank Jack’s ass!”

“That…doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Nika spoke up after several moments.

“Hey!” Jack scoffed. “I barely know how this thing even works, and don’t talk about my ass like that! ”

“Heh, maybe say that after you see how much he’s worth alive!” Nika grinned, before her expression got a little more serious. “Main problem is locating the guy.”

“Maybe Vanya could help?” Sephy pointed out after a few moments of thought.

“She did tell me she researches this stuff…” Jack nodded in agreement.

“Researches your ass or Whipping Tom?” Nika chuckled.

“Keep your heads in the game, pretty sure I recognise this place from the photo,” Alora interrupted. “Send Vanya a text once the meet is over if you have to, Sephy. Right now we need to be focussed on the job.”

“Will do.” Sephy nodded. “Our guy is on the 4th floor.”

“Alright, let me do the talking for now,” Alora whispered as they entered the main entrance to the foyer.

The nauseating smell of fresh paint greeted them as they entered, with plain, white walls that gave off a sterile and highly impersonal feel, and grey tiled floor that was completely devoid of any patterns or textures. The lighting was at least functional amid constant brownouts, though it still cast a harsh, white glow throughout the space. Up ahead was a simple, rectangular desk against the far wall, manned by a dour-looking grey-furred mammal receptionist, with six tired-looking eyes in their sockets and a long, spindly tail that idly flicked through the pages of a celebrity gossip magazine.

Let’s just go to the elevator, Chiyo subtly told them as she walked arm-in-arm with Jack to cover the ‘tells’ in their walking, with Jack walking like a guy and Chiyo more used to floating. If we look like we belong here we can just walk on in.

Alora made a slight subtle noise in her throat in agreement as they purposefully crossed the room. Jack carefully looked out of the corner of his eye to see several monitors behind the desk of the receptionist, with half of them either switched off or with heavy static as the alien at the front desk showed no indication of acknowledging their presence.

“Old system, the network around here is abysmal,” Sephy whispered once they got to the elevators and hit the button. “Impossible for me to play with without directly slicing in, but the hardware is so dated it probably isn’t worth it.”

The elevator pinged and the whole group entered the cramped space, with Dante blinking in between Jack’s legs a split-second before the door closed.

“Should have gone for the stairs, it’s only four floors,” Nika whispered under her breath. “This is a deathtrap.”

I detect no hostile intent, Chiyo reassured.

“You can be quite paranoid, Nika.” Alora sighed. “However our cover is intact and we haven’t detected any issues. We can reveal ourselves when the client lets us in.”

The door pinged open, and Nika let out a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding as she and Jack quickly exited and confirmed nobody else was around.

“Apartment 4.89,” Sephy whispered.

“Sign says this way.” Jack pointed to the right.

“Let’s go. Keep alert and don’t make noise,” Alora confirmed as she led the way down the dark, eerily quiet corridor. It had the same monotonous grey and white design as before, and was completely silent apart from the soft tread of their footsteps. To Jack, it seemed like the modern-looking exterior was nothing more than a thin mask to cover the soulless core.

‘Is this where I’m destined to live for the rest of my life if I ever grow up?’ Jack thought to himself. ‘Seems depressing…’

“This should be the right door…” Sephy pointed, sounding sceptical as they walked up to the unassuming apartment.

“Only one way to find out.” Alora sighed, reverting to her original appearance. “Nika, cover me.”

The Eladrie knocked on the door three times as instructed, and waited. Ten seconds later, something slowly clicked, and the door opened a crack.

“Quick, get in!” a man’s voice hissed, and Nika took the lead, ready to draw, with the others quickly following and deactivating their disguises as instructed the moment they went in.

Looking around, the studio apartment was a mess, with dusty piles of clothes, old magazines and other tat littering the ground, as the figure of the client slowly stumbled back towards a large padded chair, groaning with effort as they sat down.

“My apologies…” the man hissed again as Jack got a good look at him, as they leaned their walking stick against the wall. “I would offer you all a seat but I only have one spare….” He ended with a fit of coughs.

The old man was some type of bipedal yellow-skinned amphibian with a thick tail that seemed to drag uselessly behind him. They were wearing several layers of mottled-looking clothing of various shades of beige, brown and dark green and wore a strange set of dark glasses over their collection of eyes, almost like a blind man would. However, they were clearly able to see as he gazed intently at Alora.

“Thank you everybody for coming. I am sorry to call you here on such short notice, but I’m desperate for help.” The old man’s voice quivered as he spoke. “My granddaughter went missing two days ago, and corporate security refuses to do anything about it!”

“That’s terrible!” Alora gasped. “What happened?”

“I don’t know!” The old man sobbed. “My Kirra sometimes works late so I didn’t think anything about it on the first day. I got suspicious on the second and checked in with security who said they’d check but never got back to me, and a few hours ago her emergency beacon activated! Security refused to go to the coordinates saying it’s too dangerous, so I looked for some mercenaries. Kirra told me about a heroic Outsider and his friends who saved a lot of innocent people from the forces of the Killer Klown, so I looked you up and saw your page.”

“I see, we may be able to be of assistance...” Alora began sympathetically.

“Please!” the old man begged, suddenly getting out of his chair and falling to his knees. “I will pay anything you want! I have credits from my retirement fund! Twenty-thousand credits in Silver Pieces, and whatever old belongings of mine you want! Just bring my granddaughter back to me! I have her picture here!”

“We can do that!” Alora quickly told him, getting down on her knees to meet the old man eye to eye. “If you have the location of the emergency beacon and give it to my friend here, we’ll depart immediately!” She indicated Sephy, who immediately began pulling some devices out of her bag.

“Yes! Here!” The old man pointed to a device on the table, which Sephy immediately took and began to work on.

“Thank you!” The old man gasped as he clutched at his chest in pain. “I knew you were heroes I could count on! Please save my granddaughter!”

“Got the location.” Sephy nodded. “It’s ScrapHaven.”

“Alright, that’s doable, but we’ll need to be careful,” Nika added, giving Alora a knowing look. “Are we-”

Alora shook her head.

“In that case we need to get going.” Nika sighed. “We’ll collect our credits on return.”

“Then I hope to see you again soon!” The old man struggled as he got up. “Let me show you the door…”

“That’s okay, we’ll see ourselves out!” Alora quickly indicated for the old man to sit down as Jack and Chiyo led them out, with Dante leaving last, having stared curiously at the old man until he was called to heel by the others outside.

It was not until they reached the elevator again did Alora speak.

“What do you all think?”

“I’m not surprised you decided not to haggle or ask for an advance payment for this one,” Nika finally responded. “Though two days is two days…”

Indeed, I do not like the chances of us recovering his daughter alive and unspoiled, Chiyo pointed out. If she ended up in ScrapHaven, then we need to be prepared for the worst.

“The guy seemed sincere, either that or he’s a hell of an actor.” Jack shrugged. “But I’ll admit that I don’t know what red flags I need to look out for aside from the obvious. I do agree that while we should keep our hopes up, reality may be a cruel mistress, but we won’t know until we get there.”

“I dunno, I got a weird vibe from the guy,” Sephy whispered after a moment as the elevator reached the bottom floor, though she kept her thoughts to herself as they quickly exited the building past the still unattentive receptionist and left via a different militia checkpoint to the one they entered.

“What’s up Sephy?” Jack asked. “You said you didn’t like it?”

“Yeah. It just feels like a few things are weird,” the Skritta tentatively spoke, as if not sure on the matter. “It’s probably nothing, but I think the client didn’t tell us the whole story, and something about the emergency beacon coming online only a few hours ago feels a bit off to me.”

If the client got into an argument with his granddaughter and she ran off or something and he’s too afraid to admit it, then fine. Chiyo shrugged. The only thing that matters is extracting her, argument or no. The emergency beacon indicates that it would probably be a willing extraction if she’s still alive.

“Sephy raises a good point about the beacon though,” Jack interjected. “Only recently activated.”

“Yeah.” Nika nodded grimly. “I’ll admit that worries me. ScrapHaven is a rough area, so I’d say be careful anyway, but fuck knows what she’s doing there…”

“I take it this ScrapHaven is a bad place?” Jack asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

“It’s a mostly abandoned urban wasteland,” Alora began. “The remnants and ruins of industrial areas and residences. Many gangs, cults and other bad guys can be found there, and to date no attempt to tame the anarchy over there has been successful.”

“So the Ring’s equivalent of Detroit or Baltimore?” Jack asked.

“Jack, different Galaxy, remember?” Sephy grinned, flicking the back of his head. “Nobody here gets your weird references! But if you’re asking if ScrapHaven is even more of a shithole than usual? Yeah. Not as bad as the Pallid Pit though, but much bigger. It’s gonna take a while to get there, about three to four hours to get to the outskirts of ScrapHaven, not to mention actually traversing it....”

“Shit…” Nika cursed. “That means we’re not sleeping tonight, and we have school tomorrow…”

At least it is the last day of the week, Chiyo reasoned. But we must focus on one thing at a time. Sephy, is it possible to speed the route up?

“Might be able to traverse through the GeniSythe territory by coach.” Sephy shrugged. “There’s apparently a route that should cut an hour or two off the journey, assuming it’s actually running. I wouldn’t take anything for granted with the current conflicts happening all around the city though.”

“Will it take too long to at least check?” Jack asked. “If it’s not too great a detour we might as well, then we can get what rest we can on the way. Maybe that ring will help?”

“The Ring of Lesser Restoration?” Alora asked. “Yes it would, but it only has three charges, which recharge a day after use.”

“We should only use it if we really need to then.” Nika nodded. “It’s a shame we didn’t pick up any emergency stims, those would come in handy…”

“We’re going to have to suck it up.” Jack sighed. “I just hope we’re not too tired before we even get to the danger zone…”

“Agreed.” Nika sighed. “Let’s get moving.”

For just over two hours they kept travelling, doing their best not to attract any attention and notifying their friends back home that they likely wouldn’t be back until early morning. Vanya agreed to compile her notes on ‘Whipping Tom’ for them, and told them that everyone already living at the homestead had pulled together well to accommodate the newcomers, and Obeda, Karzen and Bentom were busy assigning overnight guard shifts as requested.

The districts they had passed showed many things that Jack had never seen before. One of the first they had entered to get to a major traversal district almost looked inspired by Japanese aesthetics, with towering pagoda-style constructs and sleek, minimalistic designs, like a fusion of old and new. The MegaCorp that apparently ran both it and the neighbouring districts, NeoJoy, were not involved in the current conflicts, instead taking advantage of the situation to organise large parties and events at their gaming and entertainment venues to rake in as many clients as possible, while posting patrols of guards and militia aplenty.

Though there had been a brief scare with a wagemage on the lookout for illusions and astral signatures, they were able to remain out of his line of sight and merge with the crowd to eventually emerge into the desired traversal district, a large area once composed of several districts, but now a seemingly neutral space with paths and roads criss-crossing each other, with many paths leading to all of the surrounding districts. Fortunately, they were able to cut some more time off when they discovered a small clan of Ogar offering a rickshaw taxi service, with Alora paying one of them to ferry them to one of the districts on the other side. As the giant pedalled the tricycle, they were all very thankful for the rest as Alora checked in with their friends at home.

Another set of districts on the other side was owned by EdaGro, another MegaCorp that had a fondness for lush gardens, artificial waterfalls and bioengineered plants of many vibrant colours that dominated the landscape as they travelled through, stopping for a break halfway through for a pack of energy drinks to resupply themselves with. Though EdenNet was currently an active participant in the ongoing corporate war, the conflict had not yet reached the districts the group would be travelling through.

“Coach should be a few districts North of here,” Sephy finally spoke up a while later as they bypassed another checkpoint, with the natural landscape giving way to a much more urbanised residential area. They took note of the fewer people that were now out and about, and knew that they would be under much greater scrutiny on the way back.

“Alright, let’s...” Alora began, but stopped as a young, green, aquatic-looking woman with a large, spiny dorsal fin approached them from the side, where several others in bright green robes had congregated. “Can I help you?”

“You cannot child!” The woman smiled as she stopped. “For it is my wish to help you!”

“Sorry, no thank you,” Nika added, as she tried to lead the others away from the street preacher.

“Wait! Are you not suffering from the ongoing chaos in this city? Do you not want to be able to feed yourselves?” the woman hurriedly asked, pulling out a box of nutrient bars and a leaflet. “The Emerald King is most kind and generous, and it is his wish that the people be fed!”

“How much are you asking?” Sephy asked with sceptical eyes, looking at the offered food.

“No money or service is necessary, save for the wish of the Emerald King for his voice to be heard. Tell your friends and family that if they wish for salvation, the Emerald King is there!”

“Um…okay! Thank you!” Alora smiled, taking the box. “We certainly will! Farewell!”

They moved on in silence for several blocks before Nika spoke up. “That was weird.”

“Weird but useful,” Sephy pointed out. “I recognise this brand of bar, they’re the real thing! Enough to feed most people for a day with the stuff packed into them, but disgusting all the same.”

“Maybe you can dissolve them into a soup or maybe swallow it down with some hot sauce.” Jack shrugged. “What’s the Emerald King?”

I have no idea, Chiyo told them, sounding rather surprised, as the others nodded in consensus that they also had no idea. Probably a new cult of some kind. At least they seem to be one of the more benign ones at least.

“Well if they feed more people like that they’ll get converts quickly.” Alora smiled as she put the box and leaflet into her bag. “Especially with Corvin Enterprises claiming their food production got hit by the Killer Klown, that being the reason for them raising the prices to extortionate levels.”

As they made their way north to where the coach would hopefully be, the group could see several squads of troops occasionally cross their path, heading East to where the nearest conflict was going on. Alora for her part suggested suitable disguises to make it past without attracting any attention, changing into a group of unattractive middle-aged women to avoid any attention from ‘the lads’.

Fortunately for the group, the ‘coach’ was in operation, though to Jack it was actually an automated tram, with a thin rail carved into the main roads with the occasional grid of wires overhead. Surprisingly it was free of charge to board, though technically only for residents and employees of Synthetika Technologies. Naturally, with no driver or conductor around to stop them, they didn’t give a shit about those details, and simply amended their disguises to appear as low-level employees in uniform, with Dante laying down underneath the seats in order to not be seen. Fortunately it was a quiet time in the evening, and so Sephy didn’t need to join him there, instead sitting on the row of seats in front of Jack and Nika, with Alora and Chiyo.

Alora, may I please see that leaflet for a moment? Chiyo asked, and the Eladrie handed it over, with the others taking a look as well.

“‘Enter the Realm of Transcendence. Embrace the Emerald Path…’” Nika read the first sentence and snorted. “What is this crap?”

“Well you can always count on the crazies to be unoriginal!” Sephy chucked.

‘Seek out our brethren in the hidden corners of the city…’ Chiyo read. ‘...the Emerald King’s favour will only be bestowed upon the worthy…’ Yeah. It’s a load of crap.

“At least we got some free food out of it.” Jack shrugged.

The tram journey only took about twenty minutes to get to the end of the Synthetika Technologies territory, then after walking through several districts belonging to DataHeaven, the group found themselves at the very edge of ‘civilised’ territory. The district they were in had an abundance of salvaged scrap, likely from their wasteland neighbour, with scrapped-together robots walking about, either on errands or simply left to their own devices. Finding an entrance to ScrapHaven was surprisingly easy, with a heavy guard posting keeping watch. Getting together on a nearby bench to take a quick rest, they planned their next move as Jack handed out energy drinks to everyone.

“So, the good news is she’s not too deep in. Maybe an hour or two on foot, depending on what’s accessible,” Sephy whispered.

“Either way we’re gonna need to take it slow,” Nika cautioned. “Let’s make it quiet getting in and out. Stay away from people and stay alert.”

“Shit, you kids wanna go out there?” one of the guards asked as they approached. “We ain’t coming after you if there’s trouble”

“We only intend to be a few hours, we’re on a job,” Alora confirmed.

“Have you seen anyone come by here recently?” Jack asked them, showing the photo of the girl.

“Nobody’s come through here in days, not with the current mess,” they confirmed. “And not when there’s that crap out there. We’ll still be here though if you come back.”

“Understood,” Nika agreed as they walked through the checkpoint. “Everyone check your gear and switch to subvocal comms.”

They all did so with now practised efficiency, unholstering their weapons of choice and checking their loadouts with deadly precision, quickly nodding to each other that they were in the clear.

“Activated my auto-mapping program,” Sephy added. “We’ll be able to find our way back a bit easier. I won’t pull the drones out just yet though, they’re more than likely to reveal our position.”

I’ve cloaked us as best as I can, Chiyo added. We shouldn’t be spotted at long range, but it’s much more likely at shorter distances.

“Then let’s get moving,” Alora grimly told them. “Sephy, you have the coordinates so you lead the way. Jack, you go with her. Nika covers our rear. “

“Alright, it should be this way,” Sephy whispered as she led them onward, soon losing sight of the checkpoint and leading them deeper into ScrapHaven.

Nobody spoke as they carefully crept ever onwards, passing dilapidated factories and crumbling buildings alike that dominated the landscape, casting constant shadows over narrow, dark alleyways from the tiniest glimpses of the glow from the city. Though ScrapHaven was a breeding ground for the worst of the worst, the group surprisingly encountered nothing as they carefully moved as a squad, checking around corners and using the buildings as cover all the way.

“Up ahead, I reckon it’s the big red warehouse in the distance,” Sephy whispered after about an hour and a half had passed. “The beacon is still there though. Hasn’t moved.”

“I don’t like this,” Nika growled under her breath. “It’s been far too quiet. I haven’t even heard anything sketchy.”

“I agree,” Jack whispered back. “I don’t see any signs of activity whatsoever, you’d think there would be lights on or something.”

“Chiyo?” Alora asked the Ilithii.

I detect nobody, she confirmed, sounding worried.

“Harden your souls for what we might find,” Alora whispered to them all. “But we have to check. Be ready for anything.”

Jack did his best to try and regulate his breathing, refusing to give in to his creeping dread as he took the lead. His plasma rifle was out, and he knew he could swap to his powerful photon revolver at any time. At that point, he was ready to straight up open fire at anything that moved that wasn’t them, and it made him wonder - How did soldiers in the military back on Earth cope with situations like this?

Crouching behind what looked like a broken-down car, Jack stopped for a moment to watch and listen for any danger, but only heard a slight gust of wind rustling through nearby debris on the ground.

“Shall I risk putting a drone or two up?” Sephy asked.

“Yes,” Alora confirmed. “But let’s get into full cover before we do.”

“That shop over there.” Nika pointed, and they quickly made their way to it, with the Kizun quickly entering first with her shotgun and confirming it was clear. Releasing two of her smallest and hardest-to-spot drones, Sephy spent a few minutes getting a top-down view of the warehouse and the surrounding area.

“Can’t see inside,” Sephy whispered. “And the material is too thick for thermal.”

Are you able to pinpoint all the entrances and exits? Chiyo asked, and Sephy nodded.

“Keep the drones above us, and let us know if anything moves that isn’t us,” Nika whispered, letting out a deep sigh to calm her nerves. “We’ve come too far to turn back now.”

“Agreed. The moment we confirm the target’s status, we leave,” Alora told them. “No sticking around for looting or anything. Just take whatever evidence is necessary for the client and we head straight back out.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“Good.” The Eladrie gave an unconvincing smile. “Let’s go.”

Jack led the way, knowing he couldn’t show his fear as he made his way to the adjacent building to the red warehouse, peering around the corner and looking around for any sign of recent activity, but finding none.

“Beacon is slightly above us,” Sephy shakily whispered to him. “We’ve gotta find stairs.”

“None on the outside,” Jack cursed.

“We’ve got to clear the rooms as quickly and as efficiently as we can,” Nika told them all. “We’re not leaving any potential hazards behind. I’d suggest we go through the staff door over there rather than the main entrance, it’s too exposed.”

“Agreed.” Jack nodded and carefully crept his way to the side door and quietly turned the handle, surprised to find it open with little resistance. He gently pushed it and brought his gun up, though cringed as the rusted hinges gave a loud creak that sounded all the worse amidst the silence of the night. He quickly sliced the pie and checked his angle of sight in increments, confirming that the pitch-black corridor was clear. His Shades of Seeing were already on, which was little comfort as the sights of the warehouse office were still eerie to him, with still no sign of having anyone visit in decades if not centuries.

“Careful how you open the door Jack, maybe switch to your pistol and use your other hand to steady the door,” Nika suggested, to which Jack nodded in agreement.

He cautiously made his way forward, his footsteps muffled by countless layers of dust and the ever-present silence. As they carefully pressed forward, Sephy placed a small device on the wall next to the door before aiming her own plasma rifle up again, using the smartlinked scope to be able to see better. Rooms were quickly cleared as they pushed forward, however, they did not find any stairs going up, which was worrying. Eventually, the end of the corridor opened out into a large, dark and dank space with several long-abandoned containers, and even an old load vehicle of some kind, long dusted over in the corner.

“Stairs on our left,” Jack whispered, seeing the shoddy-looking, rusted metal staircase several metres to the side as he entered. “I can’t see if there’s any on the other side. How far is the beacon, Sephy?”

“Our side,” the Skritta confirmed. “Should be up there.”

Jack crept up, noting that several of the steps were not secure, and noted as such to the others, who being lighter in weight would be less affected by the potential hazard. At the top there was another door, which Jack immediately opened and confirmed it was clear, not wanting to leave his friends exposed on the stairs longer than necessary.

They were met by a long corridor, with two doors spaced apart on the right, and one door on the left, right at the end of the corridor.

“Left,” Sephy confirmed without being prompted.

“Sephy, check the two rooms on the right first,” Nika whispered. “Jack, push up a bit. I’ll hold position here and stay alert, we don’t want anything coming behind us.”

Jack moved forward, with Dante walking beside him, looking up at Jack with a worried expression.

“Clear. Looks like an executive office of some kind,” Sephy confirmed, saying the same with the other right-side door.

“Alright.” Alora nodded, looking to the others. “Be careful.”

Carefully, Jack opened the door, prepared for anything, before immediately recoiling in horror, realising he had not been ready for this…

The spacious room was mostly bare, with the exception of an electrical device with a flashing green light on the ground, winking at them, but the centrepiece of this display of horror was the heavily mutilated corpse strung up to the ceiling, limbs splayed wide. Drawn in blood against the back wall was the familiar symbol of the burning skull, gazing down at them with a wicked, mocking grin.

But the thing that really made Jack’s blood run cold was seeing whose long-dead body it was…

It was the exact same old man that sent them here.

Suddenly, a loud, piercing whine of an alarm screamed out all around them, causing many in the group to cover their ears.

“Shit! Ambush!” Nika yelled from her position, as she opened fire…