The musk in the air was heavy here onboard the cramped railcar. Shoulder to shoulder, ass to face, dick to butt, everyone was cramped and crammed in the metal box, flying at incredible speeds towards the power pnt.

  There was nothing to see out the windows; the whole line was underground. Just grey walls and orange lights every so often. The chair Echo and I sat in was stiff and hard, and not the good kind that I like. This was giving me back pain after a handful of minutes. I covered my mouth as someone ripped ass and released a cloud of silent death in the car. If I had to take this ride to work every day, I would have blown my brains out after a week.

  The car finally began to slow and vibrations shook out over the muttering crowd inside until we slowly came to a stop.

  “Welcome to Praxis Power, and remember, a hard worker is a proud worker. We’ll see you again in twelve hours.”

  The doors shot open, but everyone stood still, peeking out of the doors. I looked out the window behind me. The Gellys left the lead car and charged up the stairs to a small cadre of Corpo guards and a Suit who greeted them. The Suit held out his metallic hand for the Missionary to take, only for it to be swatted aside. The Suit didn’t miss a beat or let his pleasing smile slide, probably some cheek impnts for customer service; he just ushered the Gellys onward.

  “Get your asses off the car, or I’ll dock your pay an hour!” A Corpo guard stepped forwards with a shock baton, threatening the crowd, waving it in the air at the workers. “Come on, maggots! Get to work!”

  The crowd rushed forward, pouring from the railcar, heading off in different directions. Uwu and Speck got separated by the crowd surge. I slowly followed along, not knowing what to do here. I had to rely on my instincts. Echo kept to my backside, his ears twitching about.

  The lights flickered about and the ceiling was a bit droopy here and there. Cameras were pstered to the walls every dozen feet or so, scanning the crowd, watching our every move. The floors were clean enough, though. The janitorial staff were doing their part at least.

  We came up to a line in a hall filled with vid screens showcasing various ads and reports.

  “Invest in the company, earn an additional 5 minutes of break.”

  “Report waste and fraud, gain an additional 5 minutes of break.”

  “Buy meal rations to stay strong on the job, only 50 crypto per ration!”

  An Anthro-Cat ahead of me scoffed, he spoke in a hushed tone to the person behind him. “Fifty crypto, it was thirty yesterday. What the hell?”

  The loudspeaker chimed up, “Worker 699. You have been found guilty of speaking ill of the company. You have been docked 2 hours of pay. Any further negative words spoken about the company will result in punitive measures.”

  I could see the cameras turn this way, watching him like a hawk now.

  The Anthro-Cat threw his hands up, “That’s bullshit! Two hours! Just send me home now, I’ll come back in two hours to this shit fest!”

  Some guards came forwards, shock batons in hand. “Come with us for punitive corrections or face termination. You’re choice.” They stood there with batons in hand, sparking with electricity. One held out some open cuffs.

  The Anthro-Cat stood silent for a second. I could tell his thoughts were rolling between going crazy and giving in. Finally, he held his hands out and the cuffs were spped on him. He was drug away, head down, sobbing slightly, defeated.

  I gave a wary gnce back at Echo as we moved forward in the line. The guards at the front of our section were scanning over each worker with a handheld. A red ser zapped over the bodies. The guard waved them on one at a time.

  It came to me. The ser wiped over my body. I tried to contain my anxiety as I wondered if the vest really would hide all my gear beneath. The handheld chimed and the faceless guard waved me on, “New hire, eh? Looks like you’re on Janitor duties. Not surprising after the st guy’s accident. Not the companies fault though. Negligence was found on his part through the internal investigation. His family had to pay Praxis damages to equipment but enough of that, head that way, we’re not paying you to stand around. Your mentor will train and guide you for one day of training, then you’re on your own.”

  The guard pointed me down the way to a small room with Sanitation written on it.

  I nodded, “Just happy to do my job. Praxis is a great company.”

  The guard spped me on the shoulder, “That’s the type of attitude we like to see. I think you’ll go far here. Now, get your ass to work.”

  I smiled at him and continued down to the sanitation, gncing behind me, wondering where Echo was going. We had already lost sight of Uwu and Speck. The guard pointed him along with me, “Catch up to the pretty dy. You’ll be scrubbing toilets with her.”

  Great. Just what I wanted to do. Hero of the rebellion, scrubbing toilets for some shitty corp.

  Echo ran to catch up. He leaned in to say something to me, but he paused as we walked by a camera that followed our every move. “I’m new here too. Nice to meet you. He shook my hand as we continued to the sanitation room.

  Vid screens pyed the same ads as before on rotation, mixed in with motivational messages about putting yourself second to the company. We finally entered the sanitation room. A burst of steam hit us in the face. We covered our eyes until the steam stopped.

  “Watch it there, or you’ll go blind.” A voice spoke out to us, “The company did the math, and it would cost more to fix that pipe than to let it run for 10 years, so until then, it does what it does. Smart thinking by the company.”

  What kind of hell was this? Who was this guy praising the company?

  We stepped inside once the steam stopped. The small room was filled with pipes running off into different pces and shelves of cleaning supplies and a small shower to dump chemicals and spray out buckets.

  An Anthro-Mole was standing there. The same one we were supposed to meet with. The same one I had seen before in the crumbling building. His eyes gnced upwards behind us. We turned back to see a camera positioned above the door, watching everything in the small room.

  “I’m Donald, nice to meet you. I extend a Praxis welcome. So, what we need to do here is…” The steamy pipe burst again, spraying a misty fog along with a sharp hiss. “The pipe blocks out the camera and microphones, we’re headed to the manager’s office, down the hall to the manager is the security room. We’ll pass by it on our way back. There’s where you can take out the comms and let in the Meowtws. Your partners should meet you there.”

  The steam stopped abruptly, letting out into a small drip.

  “To recap, we need to load up this cart with cleaning supplies, head off to the manager’s office, and fulfil his request ASAP. So, start loading up the essentials here.” Donald went into a long, in-depth expnation about the different cleaning supplies.

  I wanted to gouge out my eardrums with boredom. The Corpo life definitely wasn’t one of gmour or even life. It was monotonous and drab, sticking to carefully id out instructions to the T. This was a life I’m gd I was able to avoid. I could have easily ended up here, just like all these other poor souls.

  The steam burst again.

  “Your heroism has sparked me into action, Vixie. I’ve got a bunch of others on board here. We are ready to fight. To do what we can to help pitch in. You’re giving it all for us, we’re here to give it all for you. I’ve got explosives to break into the security room here.” He tapped the cart, “To the stars.”

  “Thanks, Donald. Once the shooting starts, get to somewhere safe. It won’t be pretty around here. I can’t guarantee your safety.”

  “It’s alright, I can watch myself. You just be safe. I don’t want to patch you up again. I thought you were a goner for sure.”

  “Thanks for that, by the way.” I smiled at him; he returned the nod.

  The steam stopped and Donald began pushing the cart out. “Follow me this way, and keep your head down around your superiors. It’s the company way.”

  Echo and I followed Donald out into the drab facility, winding through corridors and up an elevator to the office floor.

  The Manager’s office was ahead of us. I didn’t know what to expect of a Corpo manager. I wasn’t prepared for what came next.

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