"Well, that went better than expected," Boreas mused once we had left Councilman Moran's base.

I grunted in response and returned my attention back to the map that had been loaded into my HUD.

"Honestly, Dad, I almost thought you were going to draw your handgun and put a round in between Moran's eyes," Alex mused.

"I have restraint, kid."

"Yeah, and mom isn't an amorous lover."

I sighed, only to chuckle to myself when I heard Alannah snort.

"Damn Alex, your comeback game is sharp as ever."

"Well, why wouldn't it be? I have to be ready to clap back when Dad or Uncle Boreas come after me."

"Good point," Alannah mused.

"Wait, you consider me your uncle?" Boreas inquired.

"Yeah. You and Cylus are close enough, I could easily consider you both to be brothers."

"Sure, let's forget I exist," Ralph jested.

"Hey, you're cool too...Uncle Ralphie."

"Never...ever say that again," Raphael breathed over Damien's laughter.

After everyone got a hold of themselves, we started exploring the sodden city around us. Given the endless rain and rather drab surroundings, our little expedition wasn't as thrill-inducing as I thought it'd be. Oh well...At least we avoided most of the UTF patrols that prowled the streets.

Even if we had stealth on our side, my crew and I still had to deal with a fair amount of Federation troops. I did notice a common trait amongst the soldiers after I gunned down my fifth target: each of them had red stripes on either side of their mask, and their armor appeared to be darker than usual.

"These are Councilwoman Palmer's thugs," Owen hissed, "Show them no mercy."

I smirked behind my helm. Say no more.

Over the next hour, I fell so far into my killing calm I almost thought I heard an orchestra playing in the background as I gunned down and tore into Palmer's goons. Their screams of pain only added to the euphony of torment, and I found myself enjoying their misery. Since I was too preoccupied to draw Sintel, I worked with my handgun and knife. Before I knew it, we started encountering less soldiers.

"Damn, I think we managed to wipe out most of Palmer's forces," Owen mused, only to flinch when I snapped a soldier's neck, "Jesus fucking Christ! Have you no restraint?"

"When it comes to hunting Federation soldiers, no," I rumbled, brushing past the aghast individual, "Thank whatever god you believe in that I'm on your side."

"You're threats are empty-handed and meaningless."

I made the bastard dance when I rounded on him and shot at his feet. "Tell me that again. This time, say it to my face."

When he failed to reply with a barbed quip, I took that as a reasonable response and turned away from him.

"Let's go pay Ms. Palmer a visit," I stated, twirling my gun, "I'm sure she's already wondering where all of her pawns went."

"F-Follow me. Councilman Moran sent scouts out to map out the Location of Palmer's base. They all lost their lives in the line of duty, but their sacrifices made our job easier."

"Thankfully," I breathed, storing my weapons and drawing Sintel from my back, "Let's move."

And so we resumed our trek through the shadowed, guttered world of Valeryx VII. The rain began to kick up again, and soon we were walking through ankle-high waters.

"Geez, does this city experience serious flooding?" Boreas inquired, stumbling over to walk beside me.

"Every now and then. Thankfully, most of the habitable buildings have several levels to them. People live on the second, third, or fourth floors for a reason."

"Wait...so you're telling me the flooding's so bad an entire first floor can be submerged under water?"

"Sometimes the second floor gets flooded."

"...Fuuuuuck," my friend hissed.

"Fuck indeed. We need to keep moving. If the water level keeps rising, we'll need to fall back to the tallest building we can find and wait for the water to drain."

"Okaaay...duly noted..." Boreas squeaked.

We stuck to cramped and cluttered alleyways that ran between the buildings that towered above us. Like ancient behemoths, the buildings appeared to glare down on us with disdain, and I couldn't help but shiver to myself. This place is hell incarnate...

After another bout of exploring, Owen stopped us. We appeared to have reached an exit in the alley we'd been confined in, and I was more than ready to leave. However, Owen motioned toward the large building in front of us.

"We effectively just ghosted our way through Councilwoman Palmer's turf. Before us is the Citadel–the building that used to be the capital of Valeryx VII. Now, it sits in the shadow of its former self. My suggestion is that we approach with caution–there are still many guards left to deal with."

I shrugged to myself and held my combat rifle at the ready. Doesn't bother me.

When we continued onward, it was with the graceful stealth of a predator. There were several guards stationed outside of what appeared to be a side entrance to Palmer's complex. I dealt with them accordingly. As expected, Alannah helped take out the trash, and the corpses of our enemies laid in the water in front of us before we knew it.

"Damn..." Owen breathed.

Taking my wife's hand and offering her a reassuring squeeze, I stepped away and approached the rusted door in front of us. Testing it, I groaned when I realized the damn thing was locked. I was about to start picking the lock, but I felt Alannah place a hand on my shoulder.

"Allow me," she breathed.

I had enough time to step away before Alannah planted some sort of bomb and hurried away. In the next instant, I was struggling to maintain my balance as the earth shook below me.

"What the hell?" Owen demanded.

"Would've taken too long to pick the damn locks," Alannah grumbled, not turning to face the distraught soldier as she trudged through the steadily-rising water, "Come on."

"She's not wrong. Let's move," I chimed in.

With that, we ran through the smoking entryway and started to explore the dark interior of our destination. Since my wife's explosive was more than a little loud, we had guests coming at us left and right. However, mijn sintel was ready as ever. With each pull of the trigger, she tore through the roughened-up Federation soldiers.

When I tore my attention away from the slaughterfest going on in front of me, I started to take note of our surroundings. Instead of the iron and steel buildings I've seen up to this point, this 'citadel' appeared to be made of some unique alloy.

"What the hell...if I didn't know any better, I'd say we just waltzed straight into an old tower most kids would see in old fairy tail books," Alex murmured.

"What would you know about those?" Boreas inquired.

"Nothing–don't worry about it," the kid replied, his voice alone telling me more than enough. Boreas probably won't let this slide for a long time.

Putting that aside, we made our way through the wide halls of dark, shiny stone.

"Geez, I'm surprised this place hasn't been eroded to shit yet," Alannah murmured, shaking her head in disbelief, "I've seen more than a few light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, so I guess this building is more advanced than I thought."

"The Citadel was around before the endless rains started, and it has stood here in silence."

"There was a time before it rained buckets?" Boreas inquired.

"That's what Councilman Moran told me, at any rate. I don't know the specifics, but someone did something bad and caused the endless rains to plague the entire planet."

"Does this have to do with the experimental weapon that submerged half of Valeryx VII underwater?" I prompted him.

"I...Do not know." Your hesitation is only making me question you even more.

Instead of voicing that thought, I shook my head and focused on making sure we didn't get lost in the stone labyrinth we were currently trying to make our way through. After what felt like a half hour of exploring, we finally found an old elevator.

"I don't trust this," Alannah breathed, staying close to my side, "Water may not be dripping down from the ceiling above us, but I saw next to no doors on this floor."

"The ground floor isn't meant to be inhabited," Owen replied, his voice sharp as a knife, "I'm relieved we managed to find a way to a higher level before the waters got too high."

"This floor was meant to be labyrinthine on purpose, wasn't it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"It was. Countless people have died trying to get at the councilwoman. I...still remember when Palmer's soldiers invaded our territory and captured several of my brothers and sisters. It was said they were trapped on the first floor of the Citadel and left to drown."

"That's...more than a little fucked up..." Raphael breathed.

"Indeed," Owen replied, "Which is why I'm glad you agreed to help put Palmer down. She believes she can rule by force, but she has another thing coming to her."

"Indeed she does," I rumbled, "Well, let's go up and pay the son of a bitch a visit."

"Sounds like a plan to me." 

Piling into the elevator was easier said than done, but we managed to squeeze into the cabin nonetheless. After someone managed to press a button–presumably to the last floor of the Citadel–I felt the elevator lurch to life.

Slowly but surely, we ascended through the ancient building. The odd scrap and screech of metal against metal graced my eardrums, and I couldn't help but cringe in response.

"Yep. What a way to spend a...what day is it?" Alannah inquired.

"Brilliant question," Boreas grumbled, "Alas, we all have the collective memory of a goldfish, so I guess time is just a silly illusion."

"Ain't that the truth," Alex chimed in.

Subdued laughter rippled through my group, only to die away shortly after.

Just when I thought we'd never get off this old fucking elevator, we came to a jarring stop out of nowhere.

"Oh god, we're going to die in here," Raphael murmured.

Before I could reply, the doors slowly opened to display a hallway that was...reasonably illuminated. Shadows still made their homes in the corners of the hall that stretched out before us, but I could at least see a little better. The next thing I noticed was the overall increased quality of the area around me. It wasn't as confusing to navigate, and I almost thought it was set up in the traditional grid-pattern some buildings adhere to.

"Yep, we're definitely in the right place," Boreas murmured, "No doubt about it."

Not having an adequate response to offer up, I could only grunt and motioned for us to continue moving forward.

As we continued along, I started trying to listen for any signs of a conversation. When I heard nothing, I started kicking in doors and gunning down anyone I caught sight of. Apparently, I kicked down enough doors to where I finally found Palmer in a rather extravagant office. The son of a bitch was seated before a large mahogany desk, and her pale green eyes regarded me with cold interest.

"So, you are the one who silenced my patrols?" she inquired, idly messing with her dark brown hair, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"This," was all I said before shooting her in the chest. I didn't aim to kill, but I certainly did catch her off guard.

She gasped in surprise and tried to come to grips with what was currently happening. However, I didn't allow her to do that. Vaulting over her fancy-ass hunk of wood, I knocked Juliana Palmer out of her chair.

"Give me what I want," I growled, picking the heartless monster up by the throat.

She spat blood at me, so I holstered my gun and jabbed her in the stomach with my knife.

A jarring shudder racked her entire body, and I chuckled when the blood drained from her face.

"Wh-What do y-you want?"

"General Maximilan was here," I stated in a blunt tone, removing my knife, "Where is he."

"I don't know what you're–"

I threw Palmer onto the expansive desk and watched as various papers and knickknacks were sent flying. Without missing a beat, I slammed my knife into her calf and pinned the councilwoman to the desktop.

"Answer. Me," I rasped, stalking toward the panicked Federation official.

"Ma-Maximilian left thr-three hours ago–I swear! He s-said something a-about a space station in o-orbit around Val-Valeryx VII. He left it at that–I promise!"

"Do you have the coordinates to this space station?" I seethed, leaning forward until I almost touched foreheads with Palmer.

"N-No, I don't–I'm sorry! The General didn't specify!"

In response, I grabbed Palmer again by the neck and pulled her off her desk. Her agonized screams made me aware of the fact my knife was still keeping her pinned down. Removing it, I stalked over to a wide window behind the mahogany desk and hummed to myself. What a view.

Without a second thought, I tossed Palmer through the window and turned away.

"We need to move," I growled, "If Maximilian and Vallen are still at this space station, we need to catch them here and now before they can leave the system."

"Wait, Vallen? Vallen who?"

"No one of concern," I snapped back, "Move!"

And with that, we hurriedly vacated the area, which was already becoming saturated with water.