The maglev to Schaumberg seemed to last forever, the handful of minutes stretching out until they lasted months. The landscape hummed by. The neon and bustling streets of Chiwaukee giving way to the bombed out shantytowns of the suburbs. Their residents, little more than ghosts, crowded around the mouths of alleys as they stared warily at the train.

Kat sighed, running a hand through her hair. Given one or two missteps she could have easily become any one of them. A drug addled casualty of corporate infighting, hiding without an identity in the decaying corpse of a dead city.

She owed everything to Xander. When she’d gone wandering, naive and alone, looking to break out of her corporate life, he could have exploited her. Forced her to work for free or so much worse.

Instead, he treated her like a junior samurai. Sure he deducted the cost of her training and equipment from her pay, but that was how all of the crews operated. Even if Xander liked her, he wasn’t going to lose money on a skinny and emotionally lost girl. He was like a father to her, but money was money and you didn’t get between a samurai and a pay day.

The webbing across Kat’s chest bit into her as the maglev slowed to a halt just outside the Schaumberg Arcology. The tower loomed overhead, a gigantic rectangle of gleaming steel and glass that housed an entire self contained city. Home.

She undid the restraints and checked to make sure that her knife was still in its metal detector stealthed sheath. Most weapon scanners were looking for firearms, so it didn’t take nearly as much to conceal an inert but sharp lump of metal. Really, that was the main reason why Kat used the weapons.

Obviously, guns were better in any sort of real fight, but even before she acquired skills that increased the effectiveness of her knife, there was something to be said about concealability. Plus, with the help of a little judo, a knife was quieter and more effective in close quarters than even a handgun.

Kat slung her bag over a shoulder and opened the door to her pod. The rest of the passengers were chatting quietly with each other as they filed off the train. She nodded to a man in conservative business attire, and he nodded back as Kat stepped into line behind him.

One by one, they exited the maglev and into Schaumberg’s processing center. Technically the Schaumberg Arcology was owned by a different company, but Ike Holdings was a wholly owned subsidiary of GroCorp, the megacorporation that ran Chiwaukee. The customs employees would still need to take down Kat’s pertinent information, but there wouldn’t be any of the usual complications when an employee crossed a corporate border.

She followed the line toward the concrete barriers that protected the customs station. A hasty paint job didn’t do much to cover the bullet holes in the barricades and the room’s walls. Even the corporate guards looked nervous and a bit jumpy as they stood their posts around the room.

Kat glanced downward and winced. Despite a fresh coat of paint, they’d missed the corner of a bloodstain on the asphalt walkway away from the maglev station.

All of it was a legacy of her last mission. The stallesp impersonating a GroCorp shareholder had locked down Schaumberg in an attempt to locate and destroy evidence of their misdeeds. In order to draw forces away from Kat’s final attack on the Field Tower, an Ike Holdings executive had staged a revolt.

She’d heard rumors that things had gotten bad during the height of the fighting, but Kat hadn’t really followed up on anything around that time because-

She took a deep breath to steady herself, forcing a smile onto her face as she approached the kiosk and presented the ID on her lanyard to the customs agent working there. Without even looking up at her he scanned the card. His eyes unfocused for a second as he read something on his smartpanel, a rectangular eyepiece connected to a personal computer and the local wireless networks.

He handed Kat back her ID, and she slipped the lanyard under her jacket as the clerk waved her past. She nodded, and made her way through the security cordon toward the massive express elevators.

A security guard, clad in bulky riot armor ran a weapon detecting wand over her. After it didn’t beep, he waved her through, and a moment later, Kat was waiting in the corner with a handful of people as the metal cage descended a couple of floors to disgorge a chatting couple. Three floors down, an overweight man wearing loud and clashing clothing got off, eyes glazed as he composed an e-mail. Then a woman in a suit, nodded politely to Kat and exited on the next floor.

Finally, she was all alone. The sort of people that could afford the maglev didn't travel to the floors that her family lived on. The door to the elevator opened, startling the two guards that were playing cards at the security checkpoint. One glance at her GroCorp College jacket and she was waved through, the mere hint of the authority and privilege that went with her schooling more than enough to waive even the most cursory investigation.

They weren’t doing their job, but Kat was hardly going to complain. She’d been roughly where they were and knew that sometimes, when people of status came through, it was best to simply turn a blind eye to duty. You survived longer that way.

She walked the roads of the floor, her trained eye picking out the hastily painted over bullet holes in brick facades and newly installed windows. Most of the pedestrians seemed fearful and a bit too thin, the foot shortages and over policing of the lockdown having taken an obvious toll.

Broken glass crunched under her foot as she turned down the road toward her mother’s house. A simple metal fence guarded by a pair of unarmored and stun baton wielding guards separated the small community meant for floor administrators, junior managers, and the other comparatively well to do residents.

One of the two stepped forward and opened his mouth to challenge Kat, but she simply glared at him.

Maybe it was the jacket she was wearing. Maybe it was the easy grace with which she carried herself. Hell, maybe he’d just looked into her eyes and seen a hint of who Kat was and what she had done.

He coughed, stepping aside and letting her pass unhindered. She walked the final block or two in silence, taking in the rows of two story houses. They were a welcome change from the drab, high density apartment complexes of the rest of the floor, but even here, Kat couldn’t help but notice the fresh paint around some of the doors, the telltale sign of new construction.

Without even consulting her smartpanel, she knew exactly what happened. Security and their allies with the Millennium corporation kicking in doors in the middle of the night and dragging away ‘potential security threats.’

Then her mother’s house came into view, and for the first time on the entire trip, a smile blossomed on Kat’s face. It was only one story, much bigger than the apartment that she’d grown up in, but still smaller than the two story buildings surrounding it.

That wasn’t important.

Half concealed behind a white privacy fence, Penelope Debs, her mother, was on her hands and knees, weeding a small flower garden. A sharp yapping bark startled Kat as a small fluffy black dog ran toward the fence’s gate, jerking to a stop when it reached the end of the leash tied to a stake in the center of the house’s small yard.

“Rufus!” Penelope scolded the dog. “Stop.”

Her mother wiped her dirty hands on her pants legs before scooping the small yapping ball of fluff up and shushing him. He practically vibrated in her arms with barely controlled excitement as Penlope turned to Kat with a smile on her face.

“There you are Kat! You said you were coming, but I didn’t realize you’d get here this quickly. I’m sorry the place is such a mess-”

“It’s fine Mom,” Kat cut off her rambling. “It’s just good to see you again.”

“Welcome home then.” Her mom smiled. “Don’t mind Rufus here. Ever since you moved out Michelle has been complaining about being lonely, so eventually I broke down and got her a dog. He just wants to sniff you and scritches behind the ear.”

“Home,” Kat chuckled, stepping through the fence and closing the gate behind her. “They say you can never go home again. Even if everything stays frozen in time, once you leave you end up changing so much that you won’t feel exactly the same.”

“Maybe,” her mom reached out with her left hand, pressing it to Kat’s cheek as she held Rufus back with her right. “I know you Kat. You understand how terrible this world is, and despite that you’ll managed to claw out a place for yourself. I can’t imagine what you’ve had to do and the choices you’ve had to make to get where you are.”

“Honestly?” Penelope smiled, moving Rufus close enough that the small dog could excitedly sniff Kat’s face. “It doesn’t matter to me. You’re my daughter. Even if I didn’t have some idea of what you’ve done to carve out this little slice of stability for Michelle and I, well. This might not be your ‘home’ Kat, but you’re always welcome here.”

Rufus struggled free from Kat’s mother’s grip, planting both of his paws on her shoulder before planting his snout onto her cheek, frantically licking the side of her face and snuffling Kat’s hair.

“You weren’t supposed to notice Mom,” Kat replied, shifting her grip on her bag so that she had two hands free to cradle the small, excitable ball of black fluff nuzzling her. “I was trying to keep Michelle and you safe from the shadows.”

Penelope snorted, leaving a line of dirt on her forehead as she brushed a lock of hair from her face with her left hand.

“Kat, there were mercenaries going door to door questioning people.” The older woman shook her head. “Even the managers didn’t have enough food on the table every night. Somehow, despite all of that hardship, Arcology administration dispatched ‘maintenance workers’ to ‘repair the damaged sewer line’ across from our house.”

“Most maintenance workers don’t have chrome limbs and shotguns.” Penelope let Rufus go, allowing the tiny black dog to crawl into Kat’s arms. “Most maintenance workers don’t ‘accidentally pack too much food’ and leave a whole ham in a cooler on my porch when my rich and powerful neighbors were struggling to get kelp wafers.”

“I didn’t even notice the box for four hours.” Her mother stepped back, smiling at Kat she struggled to handle the squirming puppy. “Despite everything that was happening, none of our neighbors even dared to touch it.”

“Good.” There was a hint of steel in Kat’s voice. “I’d have preferred subtlety, but if the guards were going to be obvious about it, at least they made sure that everyone else understood that you weren’t to be trifled with.”

“There you are,” her mother replied with a chuckle. “That’s the Kat that thought I wouldn’t notice when she gave up sleep to run data chips full of blackmail past security guards. I might not approve of each and every decision you’ve made, but at the end of the day, you made them, and I really couldn’t be more proud of you.”

“Thanks I think,” Kat laughed, pulling Rufus away from her face and scratching him behind his ears. The dog’s tail slapped against her chest and bicep, a steady tattoo of joy and excitement as he tried to jump up close enough to her face to lick her chin.

“It’s simple,” Penelope answered, motioning to her house, the small garden and the fence separating it all from the rest of the world. “I know that deep down, this is part of what you want. Something small to call your own outside of corporate control.”

“On the other hand.” Her mother reached forward, picking up Rufus and rescuing Kat from the small, furry terror. “I also understand that the person you’ve become can’t settle for this. You’re plugged into something huge and dangerous, and if you stop moving it will consume you. Instead, you sacrificed your own freedom to create your dream and gave Michelle and I the independence you always wanted.”

“On some selfish level,” Penelope continued, leaning down to unhook Rufus’ leash from the metal stake in the lawn. “That’s never what I wanted for you. I just wanted you to stay home with Michelle and I where I could watch you grow as a woman, healthy and happy.”

“I worry about you,” her mother turned, leading Kat toward the house, “watching you collapse in on yourself like that after your friend died. It was awful to be so far away and unable to help. It’s hard to know that I will never truly understand everything you’ve done for Michelle and I, but still-”

Penelope turned back to her, Rufus squirming in her left hand while her right sat on the doorknob, a warm smile on her face.

“Thank you Kat. For everything.”

She turned back, opening the door and stepping inside before continuing.

“Now come on in. Dinner’s almost ready and Michelle wants to talk to you about the Cybercow liberation arc in Chrome Cowboys.”

The next morning, Kat made her way to the elevator once more. She wasn’t smiling, but her muscles were more relaxed than they’d been in years. The guards glanced at her only to hastily break eye contact.

She rode to the ground floor in silence, stroking the hilt of her knife in its concealed sheath. The doors opened on the hubbub of the ground floor marketplace as the scavengers and survivors of the Shell interacted with representatives of the Arcology’s grey market.

It was a matter of flipping up her collar and changing her pace to slip into the crowd, and about twenty minutes later she was in the streets of the Shell. Despite the summer heat, no one commented on her jacket. In fact, more than one pair of haunted eyes peaked back at Kat atop jackets of their own.

The winter wear might be uncomfortable, but it was easy to weave armor into the bulky jackets, and even easier to use them to conceal a weapon. In the decaying corpse of a city that was the Shell, most people wore jackets.

Finally she reached her destination, a dingy two story hotel covered in a fresh coat of paint. In front of its barred door stood a huge man, chrome arms contrasting with his dark skin as he crossed them in front of his bare chest.

Kat didn’t slow her pace, walking with the crowd until she was just past the building before dodging into an alleyway and sneaking around back. She hoped her information was accurate. Davis Stoller, Jasper’s head of security, owed her more than one favor, but even he couldn’t guarantee the tip he’d passed to her.

Taking a deep breath, Kat cast Levitation. In the real world, all of her Tower granted abilities operated at roughly one third their normal power, but that should be enough. She burned stamina and Leapt, landing on the railing of a second story balcony.

She frowned slightly. Below her, roughly half the tiles of the porch were raised a millimeter or so above where they should have been seated. A sure sign of a pressure activated trap.

A moment of focus summoned her Pseudopod, and the tentacle of water crossed the balcony and pulled the sliding door aside. A needle, likely coated in some manner of poison, slid out of the door’s handle, pushing through the Pseudopod.

Kat gathered herself and Leapt once more, relying on the skill and her reduced weight to clear the gap. As soon as she landed inside, Kat closed the door behind her and activated Cat Step, gliding through the hotel suite’s ‘living room’ en route to the queen-sized bed.

She frowned. Empty delivery food boxes and liquor bottles littered the floor, creating a maze of trash in the dark room for Kat to work her way through.

Finally, she stood at the side of the bed, looking down at the softly breathing lump fully buried under the covers. Kat leaned over, reaching out and pulling back the blankets.

The woman under the covers whipped a handgun out from beneath her pillow, swinging the weapon toward Kat.

Kat’s hands moved in a blur, grabbing her target’s wrist and twisting, forcing the other woman to drop the weapon. There was a flash of pink hair as she looked up at Kat blearily.

“Kat?” Whippoorwill asked, voice still groggy. “How the fuck did you get in here?”

Kat let go of her friend’s wrist, sitting on the bed next to the girl.

“I’m an infiltrator Whip.” Kat wrinkled her nose, once again taking in the trash strewn room. “I infiltrated.”

“You weren’t this good at it last I remember,” Whippoorwill scooted herself backward, sitting herself upright and leaning against the headboard. “What time is it anyway?”

“It’s nine in the morning,” Kat responded. “I’d offer to bring you some coffee and a muffin, but it looks like you’ve had enough junk food lately.”

“You could have just called.” Whip wobbled unsteadily as she tried to blink the sleep from her eyes. “Preferably at a more reasonable hour. I don’t think I’ve been awake before noon in a month.”

“I couldn’t have called because you’ve been screening me.” Kat shook her head. “I’ve reached out to you twice a week for months now. Hell, we both know that if I’d paged you from the front desk you would have gotten that bouncer hurt trying to throw me out.”

“I just need some time Kat.” Whippoorwill pressed her eyes shut, warding out the outside world. “It’s all gone. The ChromeDogs, Nina, our friends. They’ve all either retired or gone off to do their own thing.”

“He’s gone,” the pink haired woman shuddered as she exhaled. “All that’s left is you and me. I just… need a little while to process that.”

“You’ve had time, Whip,” Kat replied with a sigh. “You’ve pushed me away and tried to drown yourself in a bottle. I know that your cut of our earnings is enough for you to retire and live like this until your liver gives out and you die at forty, but is that really all you want out of life?”

“They have cyberlivers now.” Whippoorwill smiled at her weakly. “I could always just chrome up.”

“I suppose.” Kat patted her knee. “Now are you going to sit around here all day, or are you ready to talk about our next steps?”

“Next steps?” Whippoorwill asked, wrapping her hands around her knees and pulling them to her chest. “Xander’s dead and the ChromeDogs are gone. Kat, he was like a father to me. When I was just a hungry orphan digging through dumpsters for my next meal, he took me in. Without him, I’d be nothing more than a statistic. A drugged out zombie or skeletal corpse, dead from exposure when the old space heater I’d been using finally failed.”

“Without Xander,” there was a hitch in the other girl's voice as tears began to trickle down her face. “I’m nothing. He made me into what I am, and the idea of trying to-”

“Shut up Whip.” Kat reached out, putting her hand on her friend’s knee. “We’re his legacy. Wasn’t it obvious? His kids were never worth a damn, so he was trying to leave his mark on the underworld through us. Near the end, we were more his family than his actual flesh and blood.”

“You heard him in those final moments,” she continued, leaning closer to the other girls as Whippoorwill began to shake, sobs wracking her. “He sacrificed himself for three people. You, Nina and me. Tell me, what do you think he’d say if he was standing in this rattrap with us right now, looking at you feeling sorry for yourself in a pile of vodka bottles?”

“He-” Whippoorwill stopped, unable to finish her thought.

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Kat smiled at her. “You’re coming to Chiwaukee with me. You need a change of scenery and something to keep yourself occupied, and I’ve already lined up a new job through an information broker. It’ll be just like old times.”

Whippoorwill looked up at her, brushing a strand of pink hair from her face. Kat could see her mouth moving to form the word ‘no’ only for Whip to catch herself and stop.

“Yeah,” Whippoorwill said shakily. “That sounds nice.”

“Great,” Kat beamed down at her. “There’s only one more thing. I’m not going to let you wallow in your misery any longer. Get ready Whip because I’m not going to leave you with enough free time to feel sorry for yourself.”

She reached deep inside herself, willing the cloud of warmth that she instinctively knew was a subscription to The Tower of Somnus down her arm and into Whippoorwill’s leg. Her hand tingled for a second as Whip jumped with a startled yelp.

“Congratulations,” Kat stood up, offering her hand to the other woman. “You’re now officially a player. Have fun climbing The Tower of Somnus.”