<strong>PFC Yui “Zippo” Sakuraba – 1st Squad</strong><br/><br/>I grinned as I heard something howl in pain. I didn’t know quite what it was, but I thought it might be something that brought down our dropship. And if it was … I was glad the bastard was in pain. Served the son of a bitch right …<br/><br/>My grin vanished fast, though. I heard a strange whistling noise, and suddenly, the barrel of my flamethrower smacked up hard against my chest. I couldn’t move. My arms and legs were bound together, somehow … and I could barely move my fingers. I could see a web-like lattice stretching across the faceplate of my apesuit, and I could hear the plating of my armor actually groan as the web stuff pulled tight against my body.<br/><br/>A thump. Something landed nearby that I couldn’t see. I tried turning to catch a glimpse of it, but I could barely move. Based on the shouting, though, I guessed it might be our new friend. And I guessed he wasn’t quite as crispy as I’d hoped.<br/><br/>There was gunfire. I strained against the netting, but realized pretty fast how stupid that was. I didn’t even think Rome could break out of this stuff unaided. I heard a voice, and realized that DeSilva was next to me, trying to cut the netting.<br/><br/>“Thanks,” I breathed. I watched uselessly for a moment as I saw the knife flash in her hand, straining to cut my bonds. We’d all be dead by the time she finished cutting … I cursed loudly, wishing I could help her.<br/><br/>I glanced down at my flamethrower, still pinning against me.<br/><br/>“DeSilva, get out of the way!” I shouted. “I don’t want to fry your sexy ass!”<br/><br/>I couldn’t quite see her … but I was aware of her presence. I’d gotten good at that in basic, after crashing stupidly into a couple of things while wearing the ape suit. I’d gotten better aware of my surroundings so I wouldn’t move about like such a klutz. Once I felt DeSilva step back, I managed to worm my finger into the trigger guard of my flamethrower and pulled it.<br/><br/>Fire washed over the suit, and I could hear the lovely whoosh of the flamethrower as my world turned red and orange. Sweat dripped down my brow inside the suit as the flames surrounded me. I could hear some of the surrounding vegetation crackle as it blackened … I just hoped the weird netting wrapped around my ape suit burned just as nicely.