“Whatever you see out there, try not to let your emotions take over. We got a job to do. If you let your emotions control you, you end up getting killed, or you end up getting one of us killed. You need to take all that sadness, anger, revenge, everything else and bottle it up until you get back safely, then you let it out when the time is right, or you can drown it in a bottle of booze, either way, follow my orders, and you will get back in one piece.”

  Ash’s ears were pressed down on her head, her face scared and worried as I spoke to her. She needed to hear it though. I wasn’t going to let her slide through this mission without learning a thing or two the easy way. I never had the chance to learn it this way. The pirate life had me learning it the hard way, always.

  “Okay, I think I got this.” Ash’s ears perked up. “I’ll follow your lead.”

  I nodded at her, looking over her outfit. It was a collection of brown and grey street clothes that made her blend in with the environment quite well. She sported some jewelry on her hands and neck.

  “You packing?” I rose an eyebrow at her.

  “Always.” She pulled a pistol out from her waistband behind her back.

  It wasn’t an ideal weapon holder, but it’d do for now.

  “Good. And keep the safety on. I don’t need you blowing your ass off.”

  “Oh, shit.” Ash flicked the safety, chuckling nervously, “Got it.” She slid the gun back into her waistband.

  I rubbed my temples, letting out a small sigh as I started to head out into the city, “How did I get roped into this?”

  “Because I’m just too cute to pass up.” The small, Japanese-accented gecko peaked over my shoulder and smiled at me. “Just try not to bounce so much, it makes typing harder.” Her small hand patted my red hair before she snk back into the backpack I was reluctantly carrying.

  It was big and bulky, heavy and cumbersome, and I hated lugging around the small techno-wizard, but it beat having to wait for her small steps to catch up to you when you’re trying to get somewhere in a timely manner.

  “Alright, everyone just be quiet and keep your head on a swivel. Make sure we don’t get caught up in any checkpoints, or we’ll be just another body to count.” I adjusted my backpack and crossed the street.

  There was no point in taking a pulse-car. The streets were ragged with damage. Some untouched, while others were filled with potholes, rubble, and bodies of the unfortunate souls from st night’s invasion.

  Our footsteps were pounding out into the eerily silent cityscape. Lame fires crackled out as they burned through the st of their fuel. A cold breeze cut into the city streets every now and then, forcing the fires to dance to it’s will and whims. Ash shied her eyes away from the bodies left out to rot, no one around to care to put them to rest. If something wasn’t done soon, this city would smell like death with a hefty ounce of shit and piss.

  I shifted my backpack nervously as I spotted a rge mound of bodies up the street. I pulled my hood up, zooming in on the activity. Some Gelly Deacons were standing with their guns at the ready, while some Anthros were piling up the bodies, presumably to burn.

  I gnced back at Ash. I didn’t need her freaking out, plus the I wanted to avoid the Deacons. I caught what looked like a subway entrance to our left, but I hadn’t spotted anyone using or talking about it since we nded here.

  “Is there a subway to use?” I ushered Ash over to a small alcove out of the street.

  “There used to be, but the Corpo government let it slide into ruin. Then pulse-car sales sky rocketed, prices went crazy. So, most of us just end up walking. It can take hours of your day just to get around.”

  “Pity.” Chirped in Sucker from my back.

  “The only trains that still run are the ones that commute to the powerpnts, prison, and manufacturing pnts. Their shifts should be ending soon…” Ash shook her head and scoffed, “Just in time for the press release.”

  I looked down the tunnel entrance. Boards covered some of the entrance, some tattered, yellow tape cautioned us not to enter, but it looked like someone had used it recently.

  “What’s down there now?”

  “Just a bunch of junkies, creeps, anyone who doesn’t want to be found. I don’t recommend going down there. If you thought the alleys were bad, it’s cranked up to eleven down there. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”

  “Does this line lead to the city center?” I was hoping for a yes. I’d much rather be out of sight from the Gellys, a handful of junkies I could handle, but a Deacon patrol was another can of fuckery I didn’t want to open.

  “Yeah…” Ash rubbed her head, “I think it does. Wait, you don’t pn on going down in there, do you?”

  Some gun shots rang out, echoing amongst the buildings. We both flinched reactively. I bet it was those Anthros finishing up cleaning the bodies out, only end up face down on the pile themselves.

  “I sure do. Let’s go.” I pushed aside an old, crusty board, making enough room for us to squeeze in. I took each step with care, swallowing the lump in my throat as I stepped in puddles and rocky debris. I made it to the station nding, avoiding the piles of trash and random heaps of old clothes.

  I activated the lights on my hood, scanning the nding. I found an old map, a bit dusty, but it lined the route to exactly where we were going.

  “Come on, this way.” I waved for Ash to follow, but she hesitantly joined me on the ptform. “I will protect you from all harm, my dy.” I jumped down on the tracks, holding my hand for her to take.

  Ash folded her arms and scowled at me, “I don’t like this one bit. Who know what’s down there?”

  “That doesn’t matter, because we already know who’s the most dangerous thing down here.”

  “And that is?” Ash took my hand, jumping down the ledge and smming into my arms.

  Our faces were inches apart, her eyes kept scanning my face, nding on my eyes. I smiled at her, “Me.”

  “Ugh, so cringe.” The pip-squeak piped up again from behind me.

  I ughed as we stepped down the tracks, dodging puddles that formed around the floor. The air was warmer here, stale and stinky, but warmer than the surface.

  “That heat’s from the geothermal powerpnt. It heats up every building here on Meowlith. It used to be cranked up high, keeping it a cool 70 all year around, but when the Corps took over, they cranked it down to save on costs.”

  I turned as I heard Ash yelp, grabbing my gun. I looked on at her stepping into a puddle, shaking the dirty water off her boot. I shook my head and continued walking.

  “Now, everything is wet. Ugh.”

  I slowed down when my scanners picked up some movement ahead. Some people shambling around in the dark around a decommissioned passenger car. There were some faint lights, here and there, floating around.

  “Keep close and keep moving.” I had some run ins with junkies before. Most of them were down and out, mentally ill, or just down on their luck. They usually kept to themselves, but it was never wrong to be cautious.

  As we got closer, I realized the floating lights were the faint yellow glow of eyeballs, shambling about, muttering to themselves.

  “So beautiful.” A gasping voice pulled my attention.

  I looked on a man sitting against the stone wall of the tracks, his eyes aglow with yellow light, his arm outstretched, trying to touch us. He bent down and sniffed a faint yellow mist out of a gss container. He looked back at us, eyes glowing brighter. He stunk to high hell of shit and piss. He was sitting in a puddle of liquid. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was.

  “Beautiful. So beautiful.” The gss bottle slipped from the man’s hand, rolling away into the dark. “No, no, no!” The man began to squirm away, trying to grab at the bottle before another figure swept it up and escaped into the tunnel’s dark confines. The man began to cry, slumped over in the puddle.

  I shook my head. I’d have to talk to Noodle about this Huff when I got back. It seemed like it was doing more harm than good in the city. These poor people were left to the devices of their surroundings, no help to be found.

  I stepped over a body that was as still as the rocks around it. Flies buzzed about down here, swarming bodies here and there, floating around the eyes of addicts trapped in this bleak existence.

  “Come on, let’s hurry.” I took off in a light jog, leaving the poor souls behind. None of them even knew what was happening to their moon, let alone their city. If only they could get some help, but that wouldn’t come until we took this moon back for the Meowtw Stars, and even then, who knew if the new regime was going to make good in their promises?

  We made our way up to the exit ptform, heading up to the stairs.

  “That’s so horrible, those people are in such misery.” Ash shook her head while staring at the ground.

  “Keep it bottled up.” I stopped and looked her in the eyes. “This is what I meant. You can think about this ter. For now, bottle it up, because we’re about to get to the important part of our job. I can’t have you distracted. We can hate the Corpos and Gellys ter, for now, you must focus.”

  Ash nodded, although it was a lighthearted nod. Her ears pressed down against her head again. I wasn’t so sure her head was in it.

  I made my way up the stairs. I could hear voices outside, cmoring about. We were close now. Little rays of light shone through the cracks in the boarded-up entrance. I grabbed one board up powered up my gauntlets, breaking it away with ease.

  Light cascaded around us. Cold, moist air raced around us and into the tunnel.

  “You ready?”

  Ash nodded at me, her hand slid around to her back, checking on her gun.

  I nodded at her, “Let’s do this.”

  We entered the surface once more, not knowing what we were to expect there. Not knowing what Saint Admiral, Michael the Pious was about to do.