"I'm in position." Faith said, hefting the rifle. Damn, she thought, how did that kid get this thing here in one piece?

"Me too." Asa informed them. His job was to recover Kate and take her back to Merc.

"The convoy should be coming into view….now. Go for the second vehicle." Merc said over the radio. Faith saw the lead car turn the corner, and an armored van followed it around the corner. Faith placed her finger on the trigger, and took a deep breath. She waited until the van was about to turn the corner before she pulled the trigger. For one sickening moment Faith thought the van had exploded. Flames shot out the tailpipe, and the van flipped and slid into the building's façade. Asa ran over the van, and forced open the doors. Kate was inside, getting to her feet when she saw him.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, taking a step back.

"No time to explain," Asa said, undoing Kate's handcuffs, "follow me!" They stared towards Merc. "I've got her, we're heading back." Asa said over the radio.

"You get out of there too, Faith!" Merc told her, "The Blues had some major reinforcements on the way!"

"Got it." Faith replied, heading for the roof.

It took some doing to get Kate up to Merc, but they did. "Where's Faith?" Kate asked as soon as she got there.

"She ran into some Blues, but she's on here way back now." Merc said, not looking away from his computers. Asa took the chance to size up Kate. She could have been Faith's twin, but she was also the exact opposite. Unlike Faith, Kate had her hair up in a tight bun, and she also wore a tight uniform, as opposed to Faith's loose, casual style. Kate caught his eye, and he looked away. Those piercing eyes are another thing they have in common, Asa thought.

"How far away is she?" Kate asked, turning back to Merc.

"I dunno," Merc said, wrinkling his brow, "she's dropped out of radio contact, and I'm not picking up her tracer signal. It's almost like….." Merc trailed off.

"Like what?" Asa said, getting to his feet. His heart started to beat faster. "Like what?" He demanded.

"Like we're being jammed." Merc replied. As soon as the words left his mouth, Asa heard what sounded like two metallic clangs on the ground.. He turned, and saw two grey canisters laying on the ground. He was about to ask the others what they were, when both of them exploded. It was the brightest light, and the loudest bang he had ever heard. He tried to blink away the whiteness, but he couldn't. His ears felt like they were bleeding. The white sheet became a fog, and through it he could see Merc pull a gun and start shooting at the cops. He saw him get hit once, twice, three times. The blues started toward him, and he tried to fight them off. Asa wasn't a fighter, he'd never thrown a in anger in his life. He always relied on his skills as a runner to keep him out of danger. But now the blues had him cornered, mostly deaf and blinded. He threw a wild right hook at what he though was an approaching cop. The cop deftly side stepped the wild punch, grabbed his wrist and slammed him in the side of the head with his baton. Asa fell to the ground, knocked unconscious.

When he finally came to, the place was a wreck. All the furniture was overturned, and every computer was destroyed. Asa stood up, and what he saw made his heart stop. Laying face up next to the computers, was Merc. Asa stumbled over to him, and knelt down, feeling for a pulse. But there was nothing. He started crying, resting his head on Merc's massive chest. Merc was somewhere between a brother and a father to Asa. He wasn't sure how long he knelt there, but it felt like hours. Finally, he heard a dull thud behind him. He turned and saw Faith with her hand over her mouth, staring at Merc's body. He ran over to her, and wrapped his arms around her.

"They killed him." He managed to choke out, "They killed him and took Kate."

"Don't worry," She said, hugging him, "we'll avenge him, and get her back." Faith blinked back her tears. I need to be strong, Faith thought, he needs me to be strong. Oh God, Merc, why now? "Come on, now, we need to leave before the Blues come back." She helped him up and out of the exit, the took a look back before leaving. "Don't worry, we'll come back for you."