The squad steps out of the elevator and walks out onto the Waypoints main floor for the first time. They become slightly overwhelmed as they take in the true scale of the Waypoints operations. Hundreds of different Agents maneuver around various machines and vehicles as the sound of it all blends into an unintelligible mess. After taking it all in, the squad heads toward the exit.
They step out of the large, high-tech doors leading outside as the noise of the Waypoint is replaced by the noise of the City. Thousands of flying machines weave throughout the seemingly endless skyscrapers extending past the dense layer of smog blanketing the city. The light from the setting sun pierces through the smog and creeps its way through what little space there is. Speakers and massive digital displays broadcast a variety of different media as a sea of pedestrians ignores them.
Delaney and her friends are left speechless as they take it all in. After a few moments, they eagerly continue walking away from the Waypoint into the city center.
"This is insane!" Delaney yells, trying her best to be heard over the city noise.
"Where are we going?" Jasper asks, but his voice is drowned out by the noise.
He sighs and follows behind the rest of his friends as they approach the edge of the city center. A massive network of streets and bridges extending in all directions connects the city's buildings. Dozens of street signs pointing in every direction imaginable make it impossible to decipher where they are or where they might be going.
"I guess we go this way," Delaney says as the group watches the majority of pedestrians making their way down one of the larger streets leading out of the city center.
"Maybe we should look at a map," Jasper recommends as they join the stream of people.
Delaney glances back at him, "What's the fun in that? It's not like we would know what we're looking at anyway."
Jasper rolls his eyes and reluctantly continues down the street.
After some time walking, the squad finds themselves at another intersection with numerous directions to choose from. The stream of pedestrians they were relying on before had gradually grown smaller as they walked, and now they are some of the only people around. Again, with no real sense of direction, the group randomly picks one of the many streets and resumes their journey through the city.
As they walk further away from the city center, the streets and areas around them slowly grow more rundown and deserted. After a while, the squad notices they are the only pedestrians left in the area, and they decide not to go any further. They pull out their phones to look at a map, but as Delaney expected, the vast web of unknown streets and buildings on the map offers no real help. The group stands around for a bit as they try their best to decipher the map and find out where to go, but are eventually interrupted by a group of men approaching them.
"We should go," Jasper mutters to the others as the men slowly approach with their sights set on the squad.
The rest of the squad silently agrees, and they start quickly walking back the way they came. The men behind them speed up to catch up with the squad.
"What's the rush?" One of the larger men in front yells as they catch up to the squad.
Brick turns around and steps out in front of the others with Jasper beside him and the girls in the back. "Just heading home for the night," Brick tells the men as they continue to get closer.
The group of men examines the squad closely, "That's a nice phone you got there," says a man in the back as he lifts the side of his shirt, discreetly revealing a pistol stuffed in his waistband.
"We don't want any trouble, guys," Brick says sternly as the men continue to examine the group's belongings.
As the men examine the squad, one of the smaller ones in the back leans forward and urgently whispers something to the men in the front. The rest of the men look around at the squad again and notice the small ports below Brick and Jasper's ears before muttering among themselves and backing away.
"You know what, don't worry about it," says the large man leading the group as they turn around and head back down the deserted street.
"What the hell was that?" Delaney asks nervously as the squad watches the men leave.
"What does it look like, genius?" says Jasper as the group of men turns a corner and vanishes from sight.
Brick nudges both of them on the shoulder, "Not the time guys, let's go."
The squad quickly walks back the way they came until they reach a more populated area.
"Where should we go now?" Delaney asks.
Jasper looks at her like she's crazy, "How about the waypoint where we won't get fucking robbed?"
"Oh come on, we can't just stay cooped up in the waypoint forever, and besides, they clearly didn't want to mess with Brick," Delaney says confidently.
"I'm not sure that's what it was," Brick mutters as he looks around and notices that many of the people walking by them are giving them dirty looks and trying their best to avoid them.
The rest of the squad looks around and notices the dirty looks as well.
"What's their problem?" Delaney asks defensively.
"Something tells me most people aren't too fond of Agents." Brick replies as he pulls his hood over his head.
The others follow his lead before continuing down the street as it starts to drizzle. They walk back to the city center while the sun disappears below the horizon, and the city lights gleam vibrantly as they bounce between the wet surfaces. As they walk deeper into the city center, they hear a faint thumping noise growing in the distance, with a large stream of people gravitating toward it. As they get closer to the noise, it grows louder and clearer until they eventually realize it's music and notice lasers of all colors peeking through gaps in the buildings.
Delaney looks around eagerly, "We should go that way," she yells over the noise.
"You can't be serious," Jasper yells back as more and more people slowly gravitate toward the music.
"You don't always have to be such a downer, you know," Delaney teases Jasper.
Jasper rolls his eyes, "Sorry I'm trying to keep us safe."
"There's plenty of people around here, it wouldn't hurt to just check it out," Brick says.
Jasper looks to Becca, hoping she will agree with him.
Becca shrinks nervously, "Well, I don't think we should split up."
Delaney smiles, "Then let's go," she says before walking toward the music.
Jasper looks at Brick and Becca, they shrug before following behind Delaney. Jasper sighs as he watches his friends walk away before reluctantly following them toward the music.
The squad makes their way down the street and walks past dozens of neon-lit bars and clubs full of people partying. As they walk around, they realize that no one seems to notice them like before, and they gradually get more comfortable.
After some time wandering around, they reach a long line a people waiting around. They walk to the front of the line to find out what it's for, but upon reaching the front, they realize it leads to nowhere.
Delaney works up the courage to ask about the line, "Hey, what's this line for?" she asks a woman near the front of the line.
The woman looks curiously at Delaney with a smile, "It's for the Cloud 9 shuttle," she answers.
Surprised by the woman's friendly demeanor, Delaney inquires further, "Cloud 9?"
The woman points into the sky without a word before turning back around to talk with her friends. Delaney and her friends look to see what she was pointing at and see a massive floating platform with laser lights shooting off of it.
"We gotta go up there guys," Delaney says excitedly.
"Sorry to burst your bubble but..." Jasper replies as he points to a small sign near the front of the line that reads, "Cloud 9 Shuttle - 100 credits per person."
Delaney's excitement fades as she reads the sign, "Dammit, well, we should come back after our first paycheck."
The rest of the squad agrees before heading back down the street toward the city center. The group pushes their way through the seemingly endless sea of people and eventually finds themselves back at the waypoint. The waypoint shines as the colorful lights of the city bounce off its wet metal surfaces. As the squad walks inside the waypoint, they find it just as hectic as when they left. They take the elevator up to their rooms and get settled in for the night.