Darkness.

Darkness and dust.

It had been at least an hour since we had word from Braxton.

In the dim light coming in through the boarded-up windows, I could see the faces of both Guard and Civilians mingled together. Corvan sat poised by the window, while next to him there were several huddled civi's. There was a young man with dusty blue-gray hair. He was dressed in now-tattered work clothes and was cradling his right arm. And next to him there was an older woman, her scraped knees pressed to her chest, sobbing quietly.

Wyler was comforting one of the children we had pulled from the water when the shield wall fell. Tinder and Lark were both nearer the door. There was a heavy feeling in the room that seemed to bring out all sorts of questions. How did they get in? How long would we sit here? Were we safe here? Would they find us?
Though my crew all shared similar questions, I would assume, there was an energy to their faces. I could tell that they were growing antsy. Why weren't we out there fighting?

I placed a hand behind myself carefully so as not to let the tank strapped to my back clank as I rest my back on the wall.

I scanned the room once more, before finally looking at Lark. "No verdict?" I murmured.

He shook his head.

We had made several radio calls to the Palace, asking for reinforcements, but none had come yet. Surely the backup shield wall hadn't taken that long or that many people to set up?

Of course, there would be the initial wave of Metal Heads entering the city, but the backup shield was far stronger. Stronger, but smaller. It would be enough to protect the center of Haven City, probably through the outskirts of the slums.

Corvan shifted slightly in his spot, his eyes intensely staring out one of the larger cracks in the boards.

"The backup is up, sir." He said.

A wave of relief spread over me. "So it shouldn't be long now." I said, half in assurance to my crew, and half to the civilians.

However, Corvan shook his head. "No. The backup has been up for the past ten minutes. I don't think they're coming."

There was a silence.

"What?"

"I don't think they're coming." He repeated.

I slowly got to my feet and moved carefully over to where Corvan sat at the window.

He was right. There were no cruisers coming, despite the electric blue glow that covered the visible area of Haven City.

So that was it. The Baron himself was safe, along with some of the wealthier districts and he shuts the gates? The Baron was just going to let these civilians die?

I chuckled to myself.

"Fine." I said suddenly. I got back to my feet and moved to the center of the room. "If the Baron wants to leave us out here, that's okay. We'll just have to find our own way back."

There were smirks around on the crew's faces. The kind of expression you gain when you know that you only have a fifty-fifty chance of making it back home alive. But there wasn't a single member of my crew that would rather wait in the wreckage for another hour.

"Corvan, how close is the door?" I asked.

Without looking out the window again, he answered. "About 400 meters away, sir."

"Good. That's our target then. Lark, Wiler, and Tinder—you stay back with the civi's until we give the word. Corvan and I will scout and see who else we can find. If we find a closer shelter, we'll radio back and get you there. If any of us happens to meet up with any of the rest of the crew, find out what our losses are, keep them down and report back to Braxton or me. Understood?"

There were a few quiet "Yes sir!"s from the crowd, and slowly, the sniper and I made our way out one of the lower windows, which was instantly boarded behind us.