by Simon Archer
“Sounds like a plan, boss,” Malthe said, and we all rose to embark on our assignments.
21
Malthe left the elevator on the next floor down. When the doors swung open, we could see the crowd of employees who had decided to stay spread out across the floor, waiting for him. Clem and I nodded farewell and rode the elevator all the way down to the main floor.
The crowd outside had not diminished, to our dismay, and when we appeared inside the glass doors, they roared and banged their fists on the glass. Clem and I exchanged a dismayed look.
“We’re going to need those drones, aren’t we?” he asked, his voice grave.
“I’m afraid so,” I said, pursing my lips together.
“What about the foxgirls and their families? It’s going to take them a while to get here.” Clem asked, worry etched across his face. A worry I more than shared myself.
“It won’t take that long,” I answered, trying to convince myself as much as him. “Ten minutes, maybe? It’s not like air traffic. The drones fly above all that, they’re faster.”
“Ten minutes is a lot when your life is at stake,” Clem said grimly. “Plus the ten minutes to get back, and however long it’ll take them to clear up this mess here.”
“I know,” I said, frowning. “But we’re no good to the foxgirls trapped here. We’ll see what we can do with half the drone force that’s down there.”
I pulled up my watch and called Malthe upstairs.
“Yeah, boss?” he answered, and I could tell by his tone that he already knew exactly what I was going to ask of him, and he didn’t like it one bit. Neither did I, for that matter.
“I need you to send half the drone force on the south side over here to deal with this crowd,” I said, hating myself more with each word that came out of my mouth.
“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Malthe sighed as reluctant as I’d expected him to be.
“It is,” I said. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t, you know that.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said glumly.
“They’ll still have the other half,” I reminded him.
“What if that’s why they’re doing this in the first place? To make us leave the south side vulnerable?” he asked, voicing my own darkest fears.
“I don’t know,” I said, exchanging another grim look with Clem. “Then we’ll have to go straight to the south side and fight them for it when we clear things out here.”
“Okay, boss, I just sent the order,” Malthe said, a note of finality in his tone. “There’s no turning back now.”
“You’re right, there’s not,” I said. “Tell the binders that are left up there with you to prepare to head down to the south side after this. Prepare the rest to go down there, too, for that matter.”
“They’re going to want to go home to their families,” Malthe warned. “Not get stuck on the wrong side of the city from them in the middle of a binding civil war.”
“It’s even more important that their families are safe,” I said. “Explain that to them for me, okay? And promise to put a drone on each of their families’ apartments. Or even transport them to the south side to be with us. That’s even better, though the transport itself could put them in danger.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Malthe said. “I’m assuming we can provide housing?” I looked at Clem for the answer.
“We’ll have to use the empty rooms in the houses,” he said, shaking his head. “There are a lot of them, but there’s no guarantee the foxgirls and their families are going to be happy about it.”
“No, I’m guessing they won’t be,” I said. “And we can’t force them. I’ll call Kinley and see what she thinks. But either way, we’re going to need housing of some kind. We can buy a hotel in the suburbs for all I care.”
“We were going to do that anyway,” Clem shrugged.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said. “Now’s as good a time as any, I suppose.”
“On it, boss, I’ll talk to the employees,” Malthe said, though he sounded nervous. “I won’t promise I’ll do as good a job as you would, though.”
“You’ll be fine,” I assured him and clicked to end the call on my watch. Clem shot me a wary look.
“Will he really be fine?” he asked, his eyes darting around nervously. “Or will he just scare off the people we still have left?”
“Only time will tell, I suppose, but it’s where we are,” I said. I couldn’t afford to worry about that shit now. Malthe could take care of himself. Or at least he would have to try.
I pressed a few more buttons on my watch to call Kinley, Lin, and Cindra as more and more fists pounded on the front doors, the crowd of binders and rioters emboldened by our presence there.
“Hey, what’s up?” Kinley answered, to my relief.
“How’s everything going down there?” I asked her. “What’s going on?”
“Well, most of the drones just left, and everyone’s freaking the fuck out. Care to explain what that’s all about?” she asked.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said. “But we’re literally stuck in this building with these rioters outside. There’s nothing else we can do at this point. We’ll send them straight back as soon as there’s a pathway out of there. Then we’re all coming down to join you.”
“And who’s to say as soon as the drones are all gone, the conglomerate won’t swoop in and start snatching up our sisters?” Kinley asked.
“It’s not all the drones, just half of them,” I reminded her. “And besides, we’re going to send them right back. And if that happens… well… we’ll just have to snatch them right back.” Kinley grunted.
“I suppose that’s good enough for me,” she said begrudgingly. “You’re no good to us holed up in there, at least.”
“That’s exactly what I said,” I confirmed, exchanging another look with Clem. “Look, it’s too hostile up here on the north side. We’re gonna have to relocate the whole company down there. Do you think the foxgirls and their families will let our employees stay with them?” There was a long silence as Kinley and whoever else was with her considered this. I heard some murmuring, which confirmed that she wasn’t alone.
“That’s… going to be a hard sell,” Kinley admitted, speaking slowly, which indicated she was thinking this through.
“I know, but can you get it done?” I asked her.
“How many?” she asked. “Every single employee’s definitely going to be pushing it.”
“Well, we lost around half of them,” I said. “A little less than that. So every employee we have left, but that’s less than you might think.”
“What do you mean, lost?” she asked, concern in her voice. “You got them killed or something, Nic? You’ve been busy since we left…”
“No, nothing like that,” I laughed. “They quit. When going got tough, I mean.”
“Ah, right, I figured something like that might happen,” Kinley said. “I’m surprised it was only half, honestly.”
“Yeah, me too, but I’ll take it,” I said. “We’ve got some loyal people. We did good vetting. And we’re going to get them down there to protect everyone as soon as we can get out of here safely ourselves. I promise.”
“Okay…” Kinley said, seeming to decide something. “I suppose I can sell that, at least. I’ll give it a shot, anyway.”
“Well, we’re sending them down there no matter what, so I’d suggest you get working on that pretty quick,” I warned.
“Alright, take care of yourself, Nic,” she said, worry in her voice, which was rare for her. But I knew that beneath that gruff exterior, she really did care.
“You, too, Kinley,” I said, smiling despite myself. “All of you. We’ll be in touch soon.” And with that, she clicked away.
“Alright, what’s the plan?” Clem asked, turning to me.
“The plan is, we wait for the drones, and then we run out there and scatter the crowd, maybe try to get some intel out of some of the stragglers,” I said. “Then we get t
he fuck out of here. Speaking of which, we’re gonna need more than just Gunnar to transport us.”
“How’s that gonna work?” Clem asked, raising his eyebrows. “Not many people are gonna be willing to deal with us, I reckon. Too dangerous.”
“That’s true,” I acknowledged. “But we’ll offer hazard pay. And I’ll message Gunnar and make sure we only use guys he recommends.”
I typed furiously on my watch’s holographic keyboard interface and sent the message to Gunnar. He got back to me straight away.
“He’s gonna get a bunch of drivers and line them up outside,” I told Clem. “In the air, that is. Then, when it’s time to go, they’re gonna zoom down and line up on the ground.”
“Okay, sounds like a plan,” Clem said, nodding and casting another nervous glance toward the door.
Right then, loud booming sounds started to emanate from outside.
“What’s going on?” Clem asked, looking around wildly.
“Good question,” I said, running in the direction of the front doors. When I got there, I grinned and looked back at Clem. “Looks like the drones are here.”
“Awesome,” he said, grinning back at me.
The little charcoal drones peppered the sky in all directions, and Clem and I hung back as we watched them cast lasers down on the crowd below. At first, the gathered binders and rioters from across the north side resisted, refusing to go anywhere. But then, they had no choice but to begin to disperse in all directions, pressing back into the alleys in response to the onslaught from the drones.
Not all of them fared so well, however. The ground became littered with corpses as, one by one, they dropped dead when hit by the lasers.
“Don’t they have drones of their own?” Clem asked, and my eyes narrowed. “This is too easy. They surrounded us and kept us here for hours, but they fall at the first sign of trouble?”
“Yeah, that is strange,” I said, as the drones began to dart off into the alleys after the stragglers. “I’m not sure what to make of that, actually…. C’mon, the drones are dispersed now, and they know not to shoot at us, anyway. Let’s see what we can find out.” I waved for him to follow me out after the dispersing conglomerate binders, and he did.
We pushed out the glass doors and into the open air, but the usual quintessential Termina scent of fresh rain with a slight tint of metal had been replaced by the distinctive smell of smoke from the laser fire and burning flesh. Sure enough, a fallen brawler right next to me literally had smoke curling off his charred chest.
“Ugh,” Clem said, covering his nose and scrunching up his face in disgust. “Jesus, that’s disgusting.”
“Almost as disgusting as that place last night,” I said, remembering the wet, rotting, moldy building where we’d found the tunnel to the underground.
“Aw, don’t remind me, I’m gonna wretch,” Clem groaned, making a gagging noise. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of some guys in long leather binding coats, a greenish color in contrast to Clem and my black and gray, respectively, darting off down an alleyway across from us.
“C’mon,” I called, beckoning for Clem to follow me again. We took off sprinting in the binders’ direction.
They didn’t see us coming at first, but then they did when they heard our footsteps coming after them in the dark alley, even darker than usual from all the smoke, and they looked back to see us coming after them.
“TelCorp!” one of them screamed, recognizing us undoubtedly by the color of our own coats.
That did it. Instead of motivating them to run faster, it just freaked them all out that we were from TelCorp. Proof enough that we were still the fiercest force in this city, as far as I was concerned.
There were three guys. One of them stumbled over his feet, and another guy stumbled over the first guy. The third guy sprinted right past them and kept going, fending for himself as the other binding corps’ binders were apt to do.
“You grab those two, and I’ll get him!” I hollered at Clem, who nodded and sped off in the other two’s direction as I made a beeline for the one who was still running.
He was fast, and I more than worked up a sweat getting to him, but I was faster. By the time I reached him nearly two stretches of buildings later, I had so much momentum from the speed of the chase that I pummeled right into him and knocked him down to the ground.
We skid across the gravelly pavement, and my jacket ripped across it. The other guy was way worse off, however, and his skin got all beat up, his jacket scrunched up so it was revealed and he was vulnerable. He cried out, and the pavement was streaked with blood. I didn’t particularly care.
Barely missing a beat, I jumped up on my feet and stumbled over to him, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and pressing him up against the brick wall of the adjacent building.
“What the fuck is going on?” I screamed into his face. “What’s wrong with you? What’re you people doing to us?”
“We’re setting things right,” he sneered, spitting out a bit of blood as he spoke. “We’re fixing the mess you’ve made of our economy, Joch.”
“I haven’t made a mess, you just refuse to change,” I spat back. “Now I’m just going to ask one more time: what’s going on? Where are your drones?”
“Our drones?” he asked pleasantly, feigning ignorance.
“Where are they?!” I roared, sticking my face right up against his and pressing him so far back and up against the brick wall that his feet left the ground. He dropped the act, then, realizing that I was serious.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “Where do you think they are, dumbass? They’re getting your precious little savages on the south side.”
I dropped him then, not caring all that much about his impending fall. He crumpled back on the ground and cried out in pain again, but I ignored him, already beating my feet against the pavement to get back to Clem and the other binders.
“Nic,” he yelled when he saw me again, his face stricken. “The conglomerate… their drones… they’re…”
“I know,” I said before he could finish, not stopping my sprint to talk to him. “C’mon!”
I heard his feet begin to beat against the pavement behind me, following me closely.
To my relief, when we got back to TelCorp, the air cars were all lined up in front of the building and were taking the employees I’d put Malthe in charge of down to the south side. A steady stream of other employees, the ones who had quit, were making their way through the wreckage in a daze, equal parts trying to find their way back home and exercising their morbid curiosity about what had gone down there.
Malthe and Kira were standing in front of the front doors, overseeing everything and looking around wildly for Clem and me.
“Oh, there you are,” Kira sighed, visibly relieved when she saw us.
“No time!” I yelled. “Get in! They’re attacking the south side.”
“Did you send the drones back down there?” Clem asked. Malthe nodded, his face gaunt.
“Yeah, I did that as soon as I realized the conglomerate was finished around here. They’re right in front of us, so no one should give us any trouble on our way there. Otherwise, the drones will smoke ‘em just like everyone else. They sent their own drones after them, didn’t they?” he asked me. “That’s why it didn’t take long to fight them off here.” All I could do was nod. There was nothing else to say.
“That looks like the last of ‘em,” Clem said, watching as five binders climbed into an air car, leaving just Gunnar’s left for us.
“Okay, get it,” I said, and Clem and Malthe crawled into the vehicle.
I reached out and squeezed Kira’s shoulders. Her small form was shaking in my hands, and I could feel her fear and anxiety through our bond.
“It’s going to be okay,” I told her, looking straight into her eyes, straight into her soul. “We’re going to find them, and we’re going to protect them. I promise. We won’t let any of them down.”
“I know,” she whispere
d, though her eyes were watery as she returned my gaze. “You haven’t let us down yet, Nic, and I don’t expect you’ll start any time soon.” She managed a weak, watery smile, and I pulled her in close to me.
“I’ll never let you down,” I said, burying my face in her hair.
I only held her for a moment, knowing we didn’t have much time, but it was an important moment. We both needed that right then, I think. I know.
When I released her, I helped her into the car, and Gunnar pulled us up into the atmosphere, smoke swirling around the windows, drones buzzing in the atmosphere off in the distance, headed to the south side just like we were.
And just like that, we joined the long line of yellow air cars headed across the city and to the south side to engage in what I knew was likely to be the second battle in the great civil war between the binding corps in Termina. For once, I was glad my dad wasn’t alive to see all this. It would kill him to see this city up in flames. It was killing me, too.
22
We sat in silence in the car for a long time, not knowing what to say to one another. Kira silently cried, and I held her hand tightly.
Finally, I pulled up my watch to call Kinley again, unable to bear not knowing what was happening on the south side any longer. She answered almost immediately.
“Are you on your way?” she asked sharply. “Please tell me you’re on your way.”
“We are,” I said, and my voice came out hoarser and wearier than I’d expected, worn out from all the yelling and probably breathing in all that smoke, too. “What’s going on down there, are you guys okay?”
“They’re everywhere, Nic,” she said, and my stomach sank. Kira let out a sob.
“Everywhere?” I repeated. “What do you mean, everywhere? What’s going on?”
“There are drones,” she said. “And no one down here to stop them other than our own drones, so they’re just shooting at each other. It won’t be long until some of the houses get torn down by all this fighting.”