There was a loud thud followed by the sound of splintering wood as Aiyah crashed through the roof of the market. Razia jumped, basket slipping from her hands as she spun around to the plume of dust. Aiyah pulled herself out of the wooden wreckage.

Aiyah wore a dark, padded vest and a belt lined with pouches. A hefty, black gun was slung over her shoulder; an advanced piece of technology with switches lining one side. She was young for a soldier, but still managed to look the part.

"Sorry about that," Aiyah said, her metallic hands brushing dust out of her hair. "You didn't need those, did you?" She pointed at the scraps of broken crates.

"No," Razia replied, still a little stunned, "they were for show."

Aiyah jumped to her feet and sized up Razia. She was an older woman, possibly in her sixties but she looked to care for herself well. A purple hijab covered her head. Sun from the new skylight glinted off the gold hemming. Aiyah scanned the corridor she had fallen into. Boarded up shops lined the walls with ripped awnings hanging overhead with a sheet of dust coating every surface. Winds howled through the empty corridor. Clearly the market had been neglected for years.

"Show for who?" Aiyah said, turning back to Razia, "I thought this town was abandoned."

"That was our intention. It kept Syntech from interfering." Razia looked to the hole in the roof and sighed, "Until now at least." She picked up her basket and gathered the stray bolts of silk that had fallen out.

"Hey now." Aiyah studied the woman, hands on her hips, "You think I'm with Syntech?"

Razia rose to her feet. "Your gun gave you away," she said, motioning towards the dark weapon.

"What?" Aiyah swung the impressive gun over her shoulder and examined it. "Valkyrie?"

Razia took a cautious step back. "I wouldn't go further into town with that thing. If the militia catch you, they'll take your head."

Aiyah smirked, "I'll be careful." She rested Valkyrie on her shoulder and winked as she spun away. Razia could do nothing but watch in disbelief as Aiyah walked to the exit and out of view.

* * * *

Stepping out from the arched exit of the market, Aiyah paused, picking the last pieces of splintered roof out of her vest. Navigating from the rooftops was never usually an issue, but crashing to the ground had left her more or less disoriented. She picked a direction, called it south, and marched on. The cool shade of the market was already missed as Aiyah walked along. The blistering, warm sun sent beads of sweat rolling down her face.

But she had to press forward.

Movement in a window down the street caught Aiyah's attention. Instinctually, she pulled Valkyrie from her back and brought her hand up to block the sun from her eyes and moved closer for a better look. As she began to squint, something caught her foot, nearly sending her careening to the ground. Aiyah spun around pointing Valkyrie at her assailant: a sign partially buried in the sand.

Aiyah let out a heavy sigh.

With the immediate threat taken care of, she scanned the horizon looking for the movement once again. Nothing but clouds of dust and sand blowing gently past the buildings.

She returned her attention to the fallen sign and kicked aside the blanket of sand. The years had not been kind. A corner had broken away and rust had enveloped the rest, eating holes through it.

It read, '...elco..e to Sha..ah.'

Aiyah bent next to the sign trying to piece together what the rust had left behind. 'Welcome to Sharjah,' she figured. A welcome centre.

Aiyah looked up at the building next to her. The bolts where the sign once hung gripped the wall above the doorframe. The missing corner of the sign still stubbornly held on. Perhaps she could find some information, or at the very least escape the heat inside. Aiyah checked her surroundings one last time, then continued into the welcome centre.

* * * *

The reception desk was left empty, a few aged brochures strewn on top, but nothing of use. Behind it lay a tattered sleeping bag and backpack; the only signs of recent habitation. 'Recent' being used loosely. The occasional window lined the walls, each hastily boarded from the outside; letting in enough sun to highlight the dust hanging in the air, but little more. Benches had been flipped and tossed aside throughout the lobby in a sign of panic from days long past. Towards the rear of the centre, a gaping hole had opened in the ceiling. The fallen chunks blocked access to a large stairway leading to the second floor. Upon closer inspection, Aiyah noticed a decaying leg sticking out amongst the debris. Possibly a scavenger searching for some overlooked goods. Or maybe some poor schmuck trying to escape the heat just like her. Doesn't matter anymore.

Along the western wall, a small nook was fitted with a few powered down information kiosks. Aiyah approached one and tried clicking the screen to life. Nothing. From one of her multitude of pockets, she pulled out a crude looking device: a small casing containing an energy cell, with exposed wires leading to a thick needle on the end. With a quick jab to the side of the kiosk, the needle was embedded and began to hum softly.

Aiyah hunched over the screen, impatiently tapping her finger, "
Come on you fancy typewriter."

A small surge of power flowed through the kiosk and the screen flickered to life, lighting her face with a soft blue tint. Through the thick slab of dust, a brown toolbar appeared at the top of the screen with the greeting, 'Welcome to Sharjah,' filling the lower third. A slideshow of pictures occupied the rest and caught Aiyah's attention.

First: The waterfront: Picturesque with laughing tourists enjoying ice cream and watching boats out on the bay.

Second: A marketplace: Bustling with life and a vibrant selection of goods. Probably the same one she crashed into.

So much has changed here.

Third: A Museum: Artefacts stretched into the distance. At the back of the museum sat a display case with some kind of bust inside. Aiyah poked the image. The screen blinked to white, and a new page loaded.

'Bait Al Naboodah Museum,' appeared at the top.

She skimmed the blocks of information and found a button labeled, 'view location'. With another poke, a map flew into place on the page, highlighting the museum. Aiyah traced her finger along a path from the welcome centre to the museum, then yanked out the battery and went south.

* * * *

The streets were lined with abandoned building after abandoned building. Most of the windows had been smashed and boarded up, their glass littering the streets. Only the odd door had been blocked off, but there didn't seem to be any habitants. As Aiyah came around a corner, she began to notice trails of footprints in the sand. Mostly washed away by the breeze, with the occasional set turning to a door. Aiyah's ears perked at the subtle pattering of footsteps echoing through the alleyways.

Aiyah slowed her breath, listening intently and eyeing the buildings, searching for the source. Up on a roof half a block away, a shadow tucked down behind a ledge. Aiyah pulled Valkyrie back out and continued, keeping her eyes on the ledge and her ears open. She heard the skittering of feet and turned to see another shadow dash across the building in front of her and around a corner. The building looked less disheveled than anything else in the town, and unlike the welcome centre, this sign was still attached and legible.

'Bait Al Naboodah Museum.' Of course.

* * * *

The archway opened up to a small courtyard. Balconies surrounded the lower floor with stone pillars holding them in place. The balconies obscured the sides of the courtyard in shadows, hiding the deteriorated frescoes that coated the walls. Aiyah held at the entrance waiting for any sign of movement but saw none. Before she could finish taking her first step inside, plumes of sand shot up at her feet as a burst of bullets pelted the ground. Aiyah leapt back and her gun snapped up, training her sights on the assailant. Her first victim rose up from behind the cover of a crumbled railing. He stepped onto the balcony in front of her with a makeshift machine gun in hand, and rags instead of armour. There was a pause as he observed her from his high cover. An arrogant look of misguided confidence spread across his face.

"What do you want?" he bellowed.

"I need to borrow a book," Aiyah said sarcastically, keeping Valkyrie trained on his chest.

"Leave now," he brought his gun up and took aim. "Or we'll be forced to kill you."

"I was gonna offer you the same deal!" Aiyah quipped, her composure taking a visible toll on the guard's confidence.

Another pause hung in the air. Two more foot soldiers joined their friend on opposite balconies, flanking Aiyah. They shared the same ragged attire and were equipped with similar makeshift machine guns.

The guard shuffled forward. "If you don't-"

He let out a shrill yelp as two bullets pierced his hands sending his now blood-splattered gun to the courtyard below. Blood poured from his missing fingers as he collapsed to his knees in shock. It happened too fast for the other guards to realize what happened, giving Aiyah the second she needed to sprint for cover behind a pillar.

"Shoot the bitch!" She heard the first guard cry out, and bullets began to tear her cover apart. Chunks of the pillar fell to the ground, rapidly reducing it to rubble. Aiyah rolled over to the next pillar after she heard the telltale click of their empty magazines.

"She's under you!" one shouted, followed by a click from above and a dull thud of a grenade in the sand.

"Cheaters!" she exclaimed as she dove to the next pillar.

The explosion tore the pillar apart and threw up a cloud of sand covering Aiyah in a pile of debris. Chunks of the ceiling started falling away and crashed into the ground where once hid. Aiyah pulled herself up, and as the cloud of sand began to settle, bullets started tearing apart her new pillar. She began to move for the next pillar, but reeled back when she realized she was at the end of the row. As her cover disintegrated she looked back to the mound of debris. With no time and no choice, she threw herself behind it, landed on her back, pointed Valkyrie at the support beam above and opened fire. In a matter of seconds her bullets ate away at the beam. She could hear the guard above her begin to panic as the floor of the balcony began to cave.

"Oh shit! Shit! Shoot her!"

She fired off one more round and rolled to her feet, scrambling across the ground to escape the falling wreckage. Pieces of wood and stone crashed to the ground around Aiyah, and with a final sickening crack, the balcony collapsed, sending the guard tumbling to the ground. With one last roll, she ducked behind an untouched pillar, narrowly avoiding being crushed.

The last guard focused his attention on this new piece of cover, spraying bullets at Aiyah in a desperate attempt to take her out. Bullet casings pooled around his feet until...

...click...click...click...

He ejected the spent magazine, scrambling to get a fresh one in.

Aiyah took advantage of the moment, and flicked a red switch on the side of her gun. Valkyrie's barrel slid into place in the blink of an eye, extending several feet. As a final flourish, the scope extended increasing its magnification, converting Valkyrie from an assault rifle to a sniper rifle. Aiyah took a deep breath and rolled out from behind the chewed up pillar.

The guard slammed the magazine into place and pulled back the bolt, ready to unleash a hail of bullets once again. He raised his gun, prepared to fill her gut with lead, but looked out to see a grin hidden behind the barrel of a sniper. A sharp snap resounded and a hot flash blasted the guard's shoulder. He spiraled to the ground, spraying blood as he went. Aiyah lowered her gun, and looked to the museum entrance.

* * * *

An odd, fetid odour hung in the air, though it was hard to tell through the scent of dust and gunpowder that clung to Aiyah. She sauntered through the museum, checking every room for her prize. The museum was similar to the photo from the information kiosk, but had succumbed to years of neglect. Books were old and musty; the tables in the aisles were littered with torn pages and brochures. Yellowed computer monitors sat at the front of every other room, the metal components suffering from heavy rust. Each room held one or two glass display cases, each with some pre-cataclysmic artefact inside. All the glass was stained and dirty, almost completely obscuring the contents. She passed each one, trying to get a glimpse of what lay inside.

"Vase. Vase. Broken sword. Half a mosaic. Vase. There!" She approached a much larger case. Unlike the rest, this case had been well maintained, the glass was free of grime granting a perfect view of its contents. A small metal bracer sat on a pedestal inside. It wasn't up to today's tech standards, but it was more modern than anything else in this place. She rapped her knuckle on the clear glass twice, each knock resonating around the museum halls.

Pretty sturdy, she thought, taking a step back and stretching her arm in preparation. Won't matter anyways.

She raised her metal fist, and felt the sudden tug of someone's grasp holding it back. She whipped around, "Who the hell-" and after a brief flash of white, everything went black.