The flames of the fire licked at my face as I was lowered down into the burning Sector. As I neared the ground, I did a 180 turn to land on my feet. I balanced myself and took off running in a random direction. The suit protected me from the fire but it did very little to protect me from the heat. Beads of water dripped down my back, my shirt already sticking to my skin.

Shrill cries and deafening screams cut through the fire. I turned sharply to the direction I heard them from and ran towards it as fast as I could. It was two mothers, protecting their children from the flames. They were huddled against a building that was surrounded by flames, which were making their way towards them. Skidding the last few meters to them, I placed a hand on one of the mothers.

"I'm here to help you." I pointed up to the sky which was painted red, orange and grey. "Hovercraft waiting."

The other mother understood my intentions and forced her daughter into my arms. Shocked, I stumbled slightly to balance myself with the added weight. I balanced her onto one arm and motioned that I can take the other child too. The first mother seemed to snap out of a daze before she handed her son over as well.

The little girl was asleep and had snuggled close to me, while the boy was crying and screaming, reaching out towards his mother. I hugged both of them close. "I'll be right back." The two of them backed up to the concrete wall and nodded. I pressed a button on the side of my neck and the rope began to recoil, tugging my up towards the sky.

I clenched my teeth and focused on staying upright, instead of tumbling into a face-down position. The trip upwards was much faster than I had anticipated. Within seconds, I had delivered the two children to the waiting paramedics and dropped back down to get the mothers. I told them both to hold onto the rope and me as the smoke was already getting to them. On the way up, one of the mother's hair caught on fire. When we reached the hovercraft, she immediately reached over for a sharp object and cut her hair off.

Once I made sure that they were secure in the hovercraft, I dove back down to look for more people. Some people were huddled together, waiting for the imminent death, when I found them. Others were alone, a few had even caught on fire. Those who had just caught on fire were immediately blasted with water when approaching the hovercraft.

At one point, I realized that there were two more metal ropes set up and thrown over the side of the hovercraft. "A girl named Vanessa, and a boy named Kyle, showed up a few minutes ago on hover boards to help. Both of them are in the same Syndicate as you, right?" One of the people managing the recoil machines said as he noticed my confused look. I nodded before diving back down.

As I ran, I noticed a section of fire seemed to be flickering and wilting before replaced by the fires behind them. Curious, I ran towards it to be blasted in the face by water. I pushed forward until the water stopped.

"Amelia?"

Christopher stood there disheveled, black marks around his face and body, and had a giant hose in his hands. Behind him stood a group of people, most of whom were injured and curled on the floor in pain. Dr. Rau was crouched in group, helping the injured in any way he can. I ran forwards towards him and pointed upwards.

"Hovercraft waiting. I can bring up the injured. Paramedics are in the hovercraft."

Christopher nodded, "I'll keep the fire back."

I nodded back to him and ran towards the group of injured. I repeated the same words to Dr. Rau, who immediately pointed to an old man who was deathly pale and was covered in burns. Dr. Rau helped the man up and I grabbed onto him. As soon as I had a steady grip on him, I pressed the button and sped up towards the hovercraft. I dropped the man off, shouting the word 'critical' before dropping back down.

One by one, I moved the individuals in the group to the hovercraft. Once the entire group was up, I took Dr. Rau who was called to help the paramedics the moment he appeared in the hovercraft. I jumped back down to the ground below. The fire was no longer being pushed back when I got back down. I pushed through, looking for Christopher.

I found him close to collapsing. Seeing me approaching, he dropped the hose and balanced himself. Once I reached him, he brought his arms around me to hold onto the rope. I held the rope with one hand and wrapped my other arm around his waist to support him. As we shot up into the sky, Christopher's grip loosened as he lost consciousness. I released my grip on the rope as well to help support his weight. He had fallen forwards instead, his arms over my shoulders and his throat resting at the slope of my neck.

The trip back up seemed to last longer than the other times. As we reached the hovercraft, Dr. Rau came over and pulled Christopher off me, another paramedic coming over as well to lift him over to an empty space. I prepared myself to drop back down into the fiery hell below but Vanessa stopped me before I could.

Her curly ringlets surrounded her head like an untamed lion's mane, and she was walking around barefoot, her injured foot still in bandages.

"I switched with Max," she started as I took off the fireproof suit, "I couldn't run as fast as I could with my foot like this, and it made it worse so Max went in my spot and I took control of the craft. He's back now and in the pilot's chair. We're currently waiting on Kyle to return with the last batch of people he finds and we're pulling out. We've been given the orders to do so."

Just as she finished talking, the sound of the metal rope recoiling sounded. The last rope that was still thrown overboard was one that was stretched diagonally downwards, instead of straight down. The next second, Kyle flew in, carried by the speed and momentum of the recoiling system. He landed on his feet and placed a girl down. I recognized her immediately.

"Cossette?"

Cossette had another girl in her arms, someone much smaller and very still. She ran towards me as soon as she heard my voice. "Amelia! Please, please, please, please save Mia!" She rushed out as she held Mia out towards me. Waterfalls of tears spilled from Cossette's eyes, her curly hair was drastically shorter, after being burnt off from the fire. Her skin was scattered with burnt skin and she was covered in dirt. Taking one look at Mia, and I knew immediately that there was no way to save her.

The girl's face was burnt to the point that she was unrecognizable, the smell of burning flesh coming from all over her body. The nonexistent movement on her chest told me she was no longer breathing, but I placed a shaky finger under her nose to check. No air. Not breathing.

"Please, Amelia. Please." Cossette begged, "She's the only one left. Mama, Papa, Darriel, and Jesse... they're all dead." Her crying switched to a wail. "Please."

I stood there in silence. I didn't know what to do. Mia was already dead, yet telling Cossette that will drive her over the edge. A paramedic walked up to us and gently pried Mia out of Cossette's arms. She stared at him with tearful, yet hopeful, eyes. The paramedic bowed his head and walked towards a group of people who were all laid down on the floor.

"Mia..." Cossette whimpered as she limped after the paramedic. I made the move to follow and stop her, but Vanessa placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her, and she shook her head in return.

The doors of the hovercraft had closed shut and we had started to fly back towards Sector 3. We hovered the craft a few feet above the hospital and lowered a slope towards the roof. Doctors and nurses, with easily transported medical equipment, were all waiting on the roof. Vanessa switched places with Max again, who helped Kyle and me with transporting all the people in the hovercraft to a waiting doctor. Those who died on the hovercraft were laid on top of a black sheet on the roof. Among them, lay Mia.

Cossette limped off the hovercraft, guided by Max. Tears still flowing from her eyes, she kept her head down, arms at her side. She was sat down onto a wheelchair before being whisked away by one of the nurses. I watched until they disappeared into the building. I was worried about her. I didn't want what happened with Lindsey and Vincent to repeat.

"The firefighters are at Sector 12 right now, trying to put the fire out before it spreads even further." Vanessa informed us as we boarded the hovercraft again. "And we've been called by Mrs. Miller to attend a conference regarding the fire."

We had just finished getting all the previous residents of Sector 12 all into the hospital and into the care of the nurses and doctors. Max, Kyle, and I all moved towards the front and sat in the free chairs behind the pilot's chair. Kyle activated something on one of his armrests which made a metal barrier slowly appear from the sides, closing us off from the rest of the craft.

Mrs. Miller was waiting for us out in the field when we landed. Beside her stood her secretary with a tray of cups in his hands. As we walked out, she rushed over to us and ordered her secretary to give us the cups. "It's cold water. You must be exhausted." She began to walk back towards the building as we took a cup of water each. "It'll be a very quick meeting, and you will be awarded for your actions accordingly."

"Now then," she started as we seated ourselves in the meeting room, "this bombing is related to the mission that we have given your syndicate to do. Why did you not act immediately after receiving the mission?"

"I wanted to investigate them first." I spoke up before anyone else had the chance to do so.

"Investigate? We've already provided you with all the information you would need."

I shrugged, "something seemed off."

A silence settled in the room before Max spoke up, "regarding the suspect list that we were given, five of the six died in the fire today. The sole survivor of that family is Cossette. She's currently being cared for at the Foscarian Hospital in Sector 3."

"About that," I piped in before Mrs. Miller replied to Max, "I would like permission for Cossette to stay with us for the time being. There are some things I want to ask her."

Mrs. Miller gave me a pointed look before sighing. "Very well. But do keep in mind that she is the prime suspect of this case, and with the inferno happening today, it is very likely that she is the mastermind behind all of the recent bombings and the fire today."

I frowned. I wanted to ask her what solid evidence she had on it but held my tongue. I had no solid evidence that she didn't do it either, but if I can get the answers I need, then I might be able to figure this whole thing out.

"As for your awards, you are already ranked number 1 among the Syndicates in Foscario and have the most privileges too at the moment. The most we can award you guys now is an increase in salary. All of your individual salaries have increased by 25%, you will get a message confirming the increase later tonight. If you have any needs or requests, let us know and we shall try our best to provide it."

Vanessa raised a hand to catch our attention, "Can I get a better selection of medical supplies?"

Mrs. Miller smiled at her and nodded, "of course. We will drop it at your house tomorrow morning."

Vanessa nodded, thanked her and leaned back into her chair. Kyle stood up, "would that be all? I believe we are all tired and would like to go home and rest." I saw Vanessa shoot Kyle a grateful look as Mrs. Miller nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course. There will be a limo waiting at the front to bring you home. We will clean the hovercraft you used today and return it to the police department in Sector 3 when the cleaning is complete."

Max and I stood up as well and we walked out of the conference room. Mrs. Miller walked us to the front door before bidding us farewell and walked back into the building. As I sat down in the limo, the cold air and comfortable seats relaxed my muscles and a wave of exhaustion washed over me. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.