Jake kept his eyes on the SUV as it drove through the gates of Base Rex. The leader himself was already heading back to HQ, moving quickly as if afraid to linger out in the open for too long.

The SUV turned right and accelerated. Rising from his crouch, Jake turned in the same direction and burst into a run. After reaching the edge of the roof, he leaped across the gap to the next building.

For several minutes, he tracked the car, hopping from rooftop to rooftop and sticking to the edges to keep the SUV in sight.

His Cloak was active, rendering him nearly invisible. However, if one of the occupants of the vehicle stuck their head out the window and looked up, they might detect the air distortions caused by Jake's fast movements.

On the other hand, they might not, given that he was ten stories above them, a considerable distance to spot the slight distortions he was causing. At that distance, he should be barely visible, if at all.

Anyway, none of the four occupants in the car bothered to open their windows or glance up at the skyline.

At last, the team reached their destination. The SUV pulled up near a ten-story building, but they didn't immediately exit the vehicle. Jake was perched on the edge of the roof of the building across the street.

After a minute or so, the doors of the SUV swung open, and the four-person team climbed out. They gathered at the side of the large vehicle, staring at the building before them where they needed to carry out their mission.

The four humans exchanged a few phrases, which Jake couldn't make out, before finally beginning to walk toward the building, weapons at the ready.

Jake knew that if he jumped from the roof to the street below, he wouldn't take any fall damage, but his landing wouldn't be exactly quiet. While he could move almost soundlessly when he needed to, there was no way to avoid making noise when jumping from the roof of a high-rise building to the ground.

So he decided to crawl down the front wall instead. The four bandits had already disappeared inside the building, and not long after that, the rattle of fully automatic assault rifles, the crack of heavy-caliber pistols, and the booms of powerful shotguns echoed from within.

Jake wasn't worried about them getting started without him. He knew he would reach the building before they even cleared the first floor. And above them were several more floors infested with mutants, each subsequent floor presenting a greater threat than the last. So he had plenty of time to fulfill his idea.

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The four bandits were still finishing off the remaining mutants on the first floor when Jake reached the pavement. He jogged across the street, Cloak still active. As he approached the entrance, he slowed down to avoid causing any noticeable distortions in the air.

Through the large opening where the double doors once stood, he could see the four humans dealing with the last of the mutants in an expansive area that had previously served as a lobby. He lowered himself into a crouch, placing both hands on the ground before him while watching the humans.

They quickly looted the dead mutants and then turned toward the side of the vast lobby opposite the entrance. There were two empty shafts that had once housed elevators. Inside one of them, scattered rubble at the bottom began to lift off the ground and assemble itself into a sturdy platform.

Neither Jake nor the survivors were surprised by the sight. They knew exactly what was happening, as all of them had completed tower-climbing missions in the past.

By the time the four bandits reached the elevator shaft, the magical platform had already come together. Its top surface shimmered with magical sigils, casting an eerie green light onto the walls of the shaft. Once all four humans stepped onto the platform, it began to rise, disappearing from Jake's view.

He rose to his feet and jogged across the room, leaping over the dead mutants. Entering the other shaft, he clung to the wall and began to crawl upward. Just when he reached an opening leading to the second floor, the cacophony of gunfire and mutants' screams erupted as the survivors engaged the next wave of enemies.

He crawled through the opening into the second floor of the building and paused for a moment, listening to the sounds of the fight. After determining the direction they were coming from, he crawled to the ceiling and made his way toward the source of the battle. It didn't take him long to find the bandits.

The four humans were engaged in a fierce fight with a swarm of mutants in one of the large rooms, standing back to back in the center, firing at the monsters charging at them from various directions. Jake remained still, clinging to the ceiling with the tips of his fingers and toes. Just below him, only a few feet away, the four survivors battled the mutants, completely unaware that a far more dangerous opponent lurked right above them.

It didn't take the team long to deal with the mutants. Jake noticed that it was a well-organized group, and they operated as a single unit. Clearly, they had spent a lot of time together, completing numerous missions. They worked flawlessly, without needing someone to lead them.

During the battle, each member focused intently on their designated area, without a moment's glance at what the others were doing. They knew they could rely on each other, confident that the rest had their backs. Their actions were well-coordinated, and each team member was an excellent shot.

It was indeed a great team. However, from his own experience, Jake knew that the first floor was the easiest in a tower-climbing challenge, and the difficulty increased exponentially with each subsequent floor. It remained to be seen whether the team would keep their cool when faced with much more dangerous mutants on the higher floors.

Jake watched as the team searched the dead mutants, pulling out spare magazines and stims from their pockets. From his time as a human survivor, Jake knew that the System always spawned useful items on mutants' bodies for survivors to collect.

One member of the team used their PDA to scan the bodies, determining which ones had loot so they could avoid wasting time checking each one. After collecting all the useful items, they moved on to the next floor, with Jake following closely behind.

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