He slid from one counter to another. The gunfire was close - closer than before, and he had to move. "Water, water water water..." Empty. The majority of the shelves had been picked clean, but the further back he progressed, the more the shelves seemed to show hope that he would find what he was looking for all along. He tugged at the strings on his hoodie out of a nervous habit. Hope of finding something other than canned food, which he grabbed, was slowly but surely diminishing as he checked coolers and freezers. Empty.

"Hm..." As he walked out, his walkie talkie picked up a stray radio signal. "Help us! We're trapped in the police station, raiders are pickin' us clean!" The walkie talkie ceased suddenly, "Shit, Wilson, hold that fuckin' door!" He had to move, and he had to move fast. The police station was a few blocks away - he had passed it on his scavenging runs more than often enough. "Skylar," A voice in his walkie-talkie picked up. "Police station just went critical. Hurry your ass up."

"Yeah, I'm on it," he replied, picking up the pace into a full-on sprint. The gunfire got louder and louder as he went closer - single shots, followed by a volley of bullets in reply...Semi-automatics coupled with bullet hoses? Possibly.

Finding himself at the doors, he slid behind one of the police cruisers. "Think, think..." He could either go in from the front doors, or...Go in through the roof, but how...? He didn't have time. "Draw their attention and go through the front doors," he muttered. With his plan set out into motion, he walked in, keeping his head low, before firing a few shots from his pistol and shouting, "Hey, over here!" The crew turned to face him, and their weapons followed shortly after. Bullets flew in his direction as he ran out from the doors and jumped over the hood of a cruiser to take cover behind it - as he returned his fire blindly. He only had so many bullets, so he had to make this count…

"I'm fuckin' pinned!" He shouted into his walkie-talkie, "Could use a little help here!" But help would never come. He hoped it would, but the odds were against him.

Austin look at his radio alarmed, and picked it up as he frantically searched his world map for any hostiles on the way there, "Sky! What the fuck did you get into?"

"Police station went critical, I decided to check it out. I'm outnumbered and outgunned! Send help ASAP!" He dug into cover, firing blind shots back into the fray.

"On my way!" He ran towards the door of the safe house and grabbed his Commando on the way out. Rushing to the police station, he contacted the few other members of the crew. "Sky's pinned. Police station critical. Meet there if you can. Austin, over." He arrives with two other members and stacks up on the front door. He let out a faint whistle as a signal before kicking in the doors and running for cover. "HEY SKY!" Austin and his companion laid down suppressing fire as the third went around the left flank to the back.

"Shit! Thank you!" He moved to the left, pulling his trigger once more before reloading. This would be his chance, if any at all, to make a comeback.

"Who's the leader of these assholes?"

"I don't know!"

"Any clue WHY they attacked this place?" Austin leaned to the right and fired a few suppressing shots, completely missing.

"I don't know, either!" He ran from the cruiser down to a roadblock. "I just heard the place was critical, so I came on over!

"That is so goddamn impulsive!" He reached into his pack as he yelled, "Cover me!" A homing mine emerged and he started preparing it to clear the middle of the room.

"There's a reason my call sign is bleeding heart!" Austin primed the homing mine and rolled it. He started firing as the opposing force went into chaos as those who saw the mine tried to escape it.

"Hm..." He reloaded his pistol once more before placing a few well-aimed shots down-range.

"Moving!" He advanced towards a farther up cover as only a few remained.

"Covering!" Bullets grazed his arm, and he flinched, and… Bang. He had no idea where his bullet went, but he heard a few squishy sounds.

The third friend emerged through the back hallway for the finishing blow. "Clear?!" Austin asked as he peeked his head from cover.

"Watch yourself! I can't be sure!" Skylar responded as he started to slowly move up.

"John, clear?" Austin checked for confirmation.

"Clear!" John responded and Austin jogged over to Skylar as he got the confirmation to check on his wellbeing. "Were you shot?"

"I may have been clipped in the arm, but...Egh."

"Nothing fatal right or anything we need to attend to right this instant?"

"No. I'm alright." He climbed to his feet.

"Good. I am going to go let the cops out." He walked to the cells and blasted the doors open with his sidearm.

"Alright." He limped into the police station to see Austin freeing the officers. "Nice."

"Right? Good Samaritan." He turned to the cops, "Uhm.. For saving you guys, could we possibly get some weapons, food, water, stuff like that?"

A police officer responded happily, and relieved, "Yeah. Code to the armory is SO33."

"SO33..." Skylar mumbled. He walked to the armory and input the code. "Oh...My...God."

Austin trailed behind with the rest of the crew, "Mother. Fucking. Jackpot. Dibs on the tear gas."

"Water, food..." He looked at a box. "Yo, that box..."

"Check it. All yours mang. I just want my tear gas and food." He grabbed the tear gas and examined it with a giant grin. Soon after, he grabbed a few packets of food.

"Alright." He opened the box, and… Holy shit! "A PDW!"

"Keep it in your pants, Laverne. You act like you got an RPG." Austin teased.

"This is just as good."

"Those guys, any idea what faction they were from? I may go check for dog tags."

"Do it." Hearing the mention of dog tags, he grabbed for his. Identity? Check. This could seriously determine their enemies. Hell, maybe even a faction war. Austin waltz back into the main room and checked a few bodies for dog tags. "The Fallen!"

"Shit..." This wasn't Skylar's first encounter with them.

"These guys are huge. They have a ton of territory. Vote on whether or not to get payback?" Austin walked back to the armory.

"No. Leave them be. The Cell is too small." Skylar was reluctant but he knew Austin would keep pushing the topic. The Cell division was split into two teams - The Blacklist, and the Alphas. A small group of people, but...They survived.

"Well I mean. We're the Blacklist. We have like 5 guys. We're pretty good at warfare. We've got tactics. We haven't really been beaten too badly."

"Hm. We haven't but...This would be a major faction war. It would be like the ghosts against the federation." Heh. Video game references.

"PSH. And did the ghosts put up a hell of a fight?" I see what that the fuck he did there.

"They won." But they weren't the Ghosts.

"If they can do it, we can do it. Am I right? I think we can do it if we are tactical and think this through."

"You are." But...Scans. Shiiiiet. "What about scans, though?"

"What about them?"

"We'll be spotted."

"They won't think to scan if we are quiet."

"Got a point… Very well." A clan war against the Fallen… A clan war against The Fallen would be like lighting a powder keg. The Cell is barely a division in itself - and now they were taking on one of the largest groups of raiders that existed in the tri-state area. People would hear about it. People would be watching. "If we are not to plan our victory," he muttered. "Then we are to plan our funeral!"

"Let's head back to base, Sky. We should get the rest of the Blacklist over to plan out our tactics." He kicked open the back door to the police station, gun raised, ready for a fight.