Fire

As soon as Coden stepped outside of the door, the smell of burnt wood assaulted his nostrils. The smell lingered, stinging his nostrils as he moved along, causing him to grimace. The flames must be pretty intense in order to burn such a big building to the ground.

A few moments later, Coden turned a corner and immediately noticed the source of the burning smell. On the wall across from him was a small wooden structure, covered in charred patches of wood and flame. It was difficult to spot in the bright sunlight, but he suspected that the fire had originated from inside the building.

"Oh, shit…" Coden muttered, stopping in his tracks as he stared in horror at the scene of devastation. Although he still couldn't discern much detail with the haze of smoke, he could see several dead bodies lying sprawled about on the floor inside the building – the bodies of some of his subordinates that he himself had sent out earlier. Their faces were twisted into expressions of complete terror. Some of the corpses were clearly missing limbs, while some of them had burned beyond recognition.

He clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth in anger. Those bastards! How dare they try and commit murder on the streets of Flux City?! His subordinates' deaths certainly had nothing to do with him, but the culprit responsible didn't even appear to care! They just killed their way into the city without any hesitation and did whatever they wanted!

After calming himself down for a bit, he walked back inside and headed straight toward the command center. As he reached the building, he realized that a large group of guards and police officers were standing around the place, talking amongst each other nervously. As they were still speaking, they suddenly looked up in unison upon noticing him arrive.

"Sir! Is everything alright?!"

The group of officers quickly came up to him, bowing to indicate their respect.

Coden raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What's the situation? What happened to the buildings?"

"We tried to fight them and kill them, sir. Unfortunately, they were too strong…"

"Did anyone die?" Coden asked, unable to hide the worry in his voice.

One of the officers shook his head in reply. "No, sir. They disappeared just before our troops arrived. We can only assume that they used some method to disable our armor."

Coden furrowed his brow slightly and narrowed his eyes. He then looked over to his other squadmates, who had gathered behind the officer. The rest of them wore identical expressions of concern on their faces. None of the soldiers dared utter a word.

Suddenly, Coden turned and started heading deeper into the building. Before he could say anything further, however, a soldier called out anxiously from behind. "Sir… should we chase after them?"

"Don't," Coden commanded. "They seem to be rather dangerous, and the longer it takes for you guys to catch up to them, the more likely it is that you'll end up dying. If that happens, there won' be any point to killing them; they'll surely escape anyway."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Also, there's no need to hurry; let's wait for reinforcements first. Let 'em come to our assistance." He continued on his way in silence until he reached the base of the stairs leading down. "Let's go. Follow me. Everyone else remain in formation until we're safely on the ground." Once he finished speaking, he proceeded down the stairs.

The rest of his squad followed suit, taking their positions at the front. When they were nearing the bottom of the staircase, a sharp whistle suddenly echoed in the air. Everyone stopped, looking around for the source of the sudden sound. Suddenly, a man in a military uniform ran over to their side, waving a silver metal rod in his hands.

"Sorry, gentlemen. Someone set off this trap by mistake. We managed to destroy most of it before you arrived. I'm sorry to have delayed you." Then he gestured for them to continue forward. "But please don't worry: we'll clear out this area completely and move onto the next section of the city. For safety reasons, we've already evacuated the civilians."

Coden took a quick glance to his surroundings. Most of the houses had collapsed during the initial fire attack. The majority of the debris had fallen to the side, leaving the ground free of rubble except for a large pile of it at the far edge of the street, where some of their patrol squad members were kneeling next to.

"That's great to hear," Coden said. "By the way, who are you?"

"My name is Corporal Gattuso, Sir. I am the chief of security in Flux City."

"Thank you, Corporal." Coden returned his salute as they continued on towards the gate. When they approached it, however, they could tell by the sight of their comrades who' s backs were facing them that something was wrong.

"What's the matter, Major?" one of the soldiers asked.

"There's been reports of a suspicious activity within the city. One of my guards spotted an armored man running through the residential district. Apparently, they were trying to break into a home, but ended up getting chased out when the homeowner retaliated.