Bit of everything in this chapter. Action, sadness, fluff. It's all here. This one took a lot longer to get started, I just couldn't get into the flow of it. We do get our first look at the Rais of this world in this chapter, so there's something.

I feel I should also point out the Rahim in this story is less of a prick to Jade than he is in canon.

Still don't own Dying Light. Everyone should know this by now.

"And just what are you doing to my little brother?" I jumped back with a yelp, staring fearfully at Jade.
"Uhh… Sorry?"

At least, I tried to jump back. Rahim still had his arms wrapped around me. Jade just stood there for a moment, before breaking out into laughter. It wasn't happy laughter, it was relieved laughter. She rushed forwards and wrapped me in a hug as well, crushing me between her and Rahim.

"What the hell did I say about doing stupid shit on me?" She whispered into my hair. We stood like that for a while before Jade spoke again. "Okay Rahim, girl time. Get out before I make you." He almost ran from the room.

"Okay, see you later Jade, Sunflower." And left. I was about to speak when Jade held up a finger to silence me. Seconds later Rahim rushed back in, picked me up and kissed me again. I squeaked in surprise. "Okay, sorry, bye." Jade shook her head as he left again.

"I've be never seen him like that." She turned back to me. "Now, what did I say about not doing stupid shit?" I tried to make myself as small as I could.

"I know, but we were right there, and by the time we'd reached the drop and packed all the Antizin away it was night. Then we were running and my foot slipped and I landed on an awning and blacked out. I woke up, came straight back, and you know the rest."

"That's no excuse, my little brother was tearing himself up over you being out there. How do you think he would have handled you being dead?"

"I didn't think I was that important to him…" I whispered. Jade grabbed hold of the sides of my head, making me look directly at her.

"You have no idea, do you? While you were out there unconscious, Rahim was here going absolutely crazy, he wouldn't stop talking about how we should be going out to find you. I kept him back, I knew you wouldn't want him to die looking for you." I nodded my head. "Look, you need to understand, you aren't alone anymore. I know that it was just you and your sister for a long time, but I also know that until you were old enough to fend for yourself, Nadeau out there was looking out for you. And now… now you have me, Rahim, shit, even Brecken looks out for you occasionally. You need to start thinking about how your actions will affect others now, not just how they'll affect you." With that, she let go of my head, and walked out the door.

I walked into the planning room on the 19th floor. I'd gotten a call from Brecken telling me we had a meeting. We only met to discuss important missions. This time looked to be no different. Inside the room Jade, Rahim, Nadeau, and Brecken were already waiting. Brecken coughed and clapped his hands once.

"Now that we're all here, let's get started. First off, Nadeau. Grab two more men and head down to Zere's truck, tell three of the guys down there to head back up here. Jade, I need you to keep a watch for any more airdrops that might contain Antizin, we need all that we can get. Rahim, focus on training more runners, that's your main job. And finally, Ardelis. I'll need you to head over to Rais' compound-" That was met with sounds of disagreement from everyone else present. "If you would shut up, and let me finish. We need someone to go over there and strike up a pact with him. His patrols have been getting too close for comfort lately, and we need to ask him to back them off. Ardelis, because you know how to deal with people the best, I'm sending you. Don't fuck this up." He leaned back against the desk. "Well? Get to it!" The three of us left the room and went in our separate directions. I headed to my room to pack up supplies for the trip, it would take almost half the day to reach the compound. I shoved several sets of clothes, a few cans of food, a medkit, and my canteen into the bag. I reached over to the desk and opened the draw. Sitting in the middle was the handgun from Crane. I reached out, my hand hovering over the grip. Letting my hand drop, I picked it up and sat it in the holster around my shoulders. With everything ready, I slung my bag onto my back and walked out of my room. I saw Rahim waiting in front of the elevators, leaned casually against the wall. He looked up as I stopped in front of him. He pulled me into a hug, just holding me against him. It made me feel safe.

"Be careful Sunflower." His voice was barely a whisper.

"I will." I kissed him softly, and backed up into the elevator. As the doors closed, I almost missed the look of worry that crossed Rahim's face.

Rais' compound loomed in front of me, an old apartment block on the far side of the city. Yellow banner streaked with black hung from several balconies. Guards stood on scaffolding in pairs, rifles held in their arms. This was it. I took a breath, and walked forwards with my hands raised. One of the guards saw me and nudged the one next to him. By the time I reached the fence, six or so rifles were pointed my way.

"I'm here to talk with Rais!" I said loud enough to be heard. "No bullshit, just business!" The one in the middle, probably the leader, raised a hand held radio and spoke into it. After a moment he waved a hand at me.

"You got 15 minutes, then you get the fuck out!" I nodded my head and went to the gate. It slid open with a groan, admitting me into the garden out front. There was a group of bandits huddled around a burning barrel, all of them shooting me dirty looks. Walking into the small hallway, I could feel their eyes follow me the whole way. I was about to knock on the metal gate at the other end, when it slid open in front of me. Standing right there was Rais. His arms were open wide. Behind him stood two of his men, each holding another man in place, probably a survivor.

"Welcome Blondie! I hope my men outside weren't too rude. Come on in and have a seat, you're just in time for the show." He threw his hands over towards a stack of crates. I held my head high and sat down on the smallest one. My feet still couldn't touch the ground. Rais turned back to the survivor. "Now, I seem to remember you owe me something? What was it now? I think, yes, I think it was money." The man spat in Rais face. "That is no way to treat your hosts!" He brought a machete down onto his wrist, severing the hand. "Take him away. See that he doesn't die, he still has another hand." He turned back to where I was sitting. "Now then Blondie! What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"I have a request. From Brecken." He rolled his eyes.

"What could that tower trash want from me?"

"He wants you to pull your men back from around the Tower." He perked up at this.

"My my, that is a request. Of course, I am by no means inclined to accept it, and in fact I probably won't. However, if you were to complete a few jobs for me… then, I might accept your request. Let's say, you do a job for me, and I'll pull my men back to this half of the slums. You get that side, we get this, everyone's happy!" He threw his arms wide. Half the city. It would make patrols safer, the new runners wouldn't have to be scared of getting shot.

"Okay, fine. What did you have in mind?"

"Ah, but I am a busy man, no time for menial tasks you see. Go talk to Karim inside, he'll give you something." And with that, he turned and walked away. Sighing, I stood up, and headed to a door on my left. Before I could get anywhere near the door, a two-handed sword cut in front of me. I followed the arm holding it and saw Tahir, Rais main bodyguard. He was at least four heads taller than me, and probably twice as strong, but there was no way he'd be able to even land a hit on me.

"Hold on for a second little girl, just gonna walk away without even looking at me?" He smiled lecherously. His breath reeked, and his teeth were rotten. I took a step back. "What's the matter?" By this time, a circle had gathered around us. "Come on, scared you couldn't handle me?" He reached out and grabbed my arm. I threw it off and spun on my heel, bringing my foot around. It smashed into the side of his head, catching him off guard. The force of the kick knocked him to the ground. I leaned over him and smirked.

"What's the matter? Couldn't handle me?" I used his own line against him. It drew chuckles from the men around me. I turned and started walking to the door again. I heard a yell of rage from behind me. I'd been expecting this. In one motion, I drew the handgun from its holster, and turned my waist, aiming it as I went. It rested against his neck, his arm was raised, sword ready to strike. The men around me looked on in shock, I doubt they'd even seen me draw.

"You wanna be the smart one here, or do I have to make the decision for you?" My voice was low, but filled with as much venom as I could muster. Tahir hesitated for a second, before placing the sword into the sheath on his back. He leaned down low to me.

"This isn't over Blondie." He growled.

"Good. I look forward to beating you again." And with that, he stalked away. I waited 'til he was out of sight before I put the handgun away.

"You want me to what?" I yelled, my voice echoed around the inside of the building. Karim sat in front of me, still typing at his computer as if nothing had happened.

"Climb to the top of an antenna and switch it back on. Shouldn't be too hard for someone like you." I stared at him incredulously. He looked up when I hadn't moved. "Well? Get going. It ain't fixing itself." He turned back to his computer. The conversation was over. I walked back through the hallways, ignoring the stares of the bandits. Word of my fight, if it could even be called that, with Tahir had already spread through the compound. Everyone steered clear of me, some of them not even looking my way. Walking back out to the front garden, my headset pinged. As I walked back through the gate, I pressed the return button.

"Talk to me."

"Is that any way to greet me?" Nadeau. I'd been ignoring him for no good reason the past few days. Looking back, I had no idea why.

"Hey Nadeau. Sorry about not actually talking to you. At all really." He laughed, his deep voice booming over the headset.

"It's all good Lis. You must have had your reasons." I winced. "You'll still always be like a sister to me. So how did it go? I'm assuming that's why you didn't answer any calls before?"

"Yeah, I've gotta say, the man's a fucking psycho. He cut off some guy's hand, then told his bitches to keep him alive so he could cut off the other one. Like, Jesus Christ, who even does that?"

"A very sick man. At least they gave you a chance. Too many have gone there to reason, and have ended up dead." He paused for a second. "They didn't… you know, force themselves?" I gagged at the thought.

"Fuck no. I mean, the big one, Tahir tried to."

"And?"

"I kicked him in the head, pointed a gun at him, insulted his mother. The usual." He laughed again.

"Good to hear you haven't lost your touch with the fairer sex. Speaking of… I heard a rumour about you and Rahim. Care to elaborate." A biter stumbled out of a nearby shack, it zoned in on me straight away,

"Hold that thought for a second." I pulled out my machete and swung. I hit low and took off its right arm. It lunged, and I dodged back, swinging my weapon as I went. This time, I struck true, slicing through the neck with a wet squelch. The body stumbled forwards a few more steps before collapsing, unmoving at my feet. "Sorry about that, what was it you were saying?"

"I was asking about those rumours between you and Rahim. How much truth is in those?"

"Depends on what they say. If they say we just got together, then you're bang on. If they say we're dancing around each other with lots of tension, sexual of course, then they're right as well."

"That's... actually exactly what they're saying. How did you know?"

"Please, I'm a woman. We practically run on rumours." The radio tower loomed in front of me. "Anyway, gotta go. Rais' dirty work awaits."

"Don't fall to your death. I'd hate to have to recover a Lis sized splatter."

"How did you… Never mind. Talk later."

"Sure will." The channel died. I switched to the channel Karim used and called.

"Karim." He was obviously not one for formalities.

"Hey, I've reached the tower, what now?"

"Are there little flashing lights running up the side?" I waited a moment, trying to see. Sure enough, there was a trail of lights flashing up the side.

"Indeed there are."

"Then half your job is already done. Now you just need to climb up to the access level and flip the transmitter switch. Call back when you're done." And the channel went silent. I jumped over the fence that surrounded the tower and utility buildings. Jogging across the gravel clearing, I reached the bottom of the tower. Looking for the ladder, I found it caged and locked. A quick strike with the handle of the machete saw the lock falling to the ground. Three times, the process was repeated. Climb, bash, climb, bash, climb, bash. At the top of the final ladder, I could feel the tower swaying slightly in the wind. Said wind whipped through my hair. I walked to the edge and spread my arms wide. I let out a whoop of joy, not even caring how the sound would carry. The wind blew my clothes, causing them the whip around. The zips on my bag jingled, my machete whistled. I stood like that for several minutes, not wanting to ruin the moment. It was shattered anyway by not so distant gunshots. I could see muzzle flashes at a petrol station nearby. Turning back to face the control box, I quickly realised I had no idea what to look for. I had the option between fuses, a series of lights and buttons, or a big lever that practically said 'flip me.' Going with my instincts, I reached out and grabbed the lever.

Here goes nothing. I pushed it down. Almost immediately, the tower began to vibrate slightly. I dialled Karim again.

"So did it work?" There was a pause, as all I heard through the speaker was a keyboard tapping.

"Perfectly, we could hear all the way out to the countryside if we needed to. I need you to check out a petrol station nearby, one of my patrols went missing around there about four minutes ago with some sensitive blueprints. Find out what happened to them and get those designs back." And once again, the channel died. All I had to do was find a way down.

I unsteadily climbed to my feet. Riding the support cable down like a zipline probably wasn't the smartest idea, but it was the fastest. I stumbled forwards, tripping over my own feet, and leaned against the concrete base. I caught my breath for a few minutes before the world stopped spinning, everything righting itself. I shook my head to further clear the fog and kept walking to the petrol station. Surprisingly, there were no infected around. The bodies of Rais' men were littered about underneath the roof cover, all of them riddled with bullet holes. Cautiously, I flipped them over one by one, and rifled through their pockets, trying to find the mysterious blueprints. As I walked towards the last bandit, the one closest to the building, a voice yelled at me.

"Hold it right there!" So I stopped. "I don't wanna shoot you, so if you came here for supplies, you can just fuck right off!"

"I didn't come here to steal your stuff. I just need a blueprint off one of these bodies, and then I'll be gone!" There was a pause.

"You got three minutes, then I shoot!" Moving as quickly as I could, I rolled the last bandit over, took the envelope from his pocket, and jogged away. As I ran down the street, past the supermarket, I heard a girl scream. Long and high pitched, followed by a roar. Without even thinking, I pulled my machete off my pack, and burst into the building.

Just want to take a moment to thank the people who have reviewed. I will be continuing this story through to completion. I won't just abandon it without any warning. Also, I haven't quite decided if I should split the parts into different stories, or keep them all in this one. I'm sure I'll work it out eventually.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope to see you all for the next chapter.