Once Reggie and Archie returned and debriefed Betty, we headed back to our home, girding our loins for combat. They had managed to meet up with other pockets of the city guard. Evidently Ethel and Veronica had already made it back into the city to bolster the fighting forces, to Betty’s surprise.

“Really? They weren’t helping attack from the outside? Typical. I’m always doing the dangerous work.”

I considered suggesting that fighting the enemy combatants was dangerous no matter what, but something told me better than to bother poking that bee’s nest. Something like a self-preservation instinct that I thought had vanished by this point in my life.

From what Archie and Reggie could tell, the enemy was using the slums as their operating quarters. Not great for the residents, nor for our own attacking. Those who lived there would most certainly not be pleased with any additional damage to the area, nor would they have any place to go if we destroyed their homes. It was a line in the sand, drawn up by the enemy. A provocative statement wondering what we valued more.

Eradicating the enemy at any cost, or ensuring that those who lived there would be able to return to their homes once it was all done.

The efforts in restoring the slums paled in comparison to the rest of the city after the spike feeder attack; those that lived there weren’t given the same measure of belief in restoring their homes to their former status. It was easy for those who were contributing to dismiss the lives of those who lived in the slums. Their homes were already ruined. The city-tier spike feeder did little further to contribute to that cause. Restoring those homes took away effort from the other broken houses in more affluent parts of the city. It was an element that was easy to ignore, easy to forget. Easy to pretend it didn’t exist, because acknowledging it was a reflection of the evils that still persisted when we believed we were recovering from our wounds.

As it was, it seemed like the Malagost forces were content to have the city guard waffle about uncertainly, slowing expanding their dominion. It was foolish for our allies to come to inaction, but not unexpected.

“More likely, they’re still devising a plan,” Betty noted. “We could join them, but that’s not quite an efficient use of our positioning. We’re a stealthy bunch. I say we try to drive them out. Teach them the meaning of fear. They thought they were safe once they entered the vestiges of civilization, but we can easily pull that way from them.”

“Is it alright to do this without Amalary’s awareness?” I asked, hesitant to suggest anything further.

“She’s already aware that if we’re out here, we’re doing things on my terms. This was an arrangement we agreed upon prior. The ramifications of it will follow after. And honestly, war doesn’t come without a price. If I need to rebuild the slums brick by brick afterwards, I will. But I’d rather escort those monsters out our home first, even if it’s limb by limb. Understood?”

I swallowed any more thoughts I had and curtly nodded.

“Great. Let’s get going. The day is young, but our enemy is not.”

We left behind the slightest traces of our presence within the woods, unable to erase our footsteps as we fled from the ashen barriers. It was odd to feel uneasy entering Titan City, but it wasn’t the city we knew. Perhaps it had never been, but this time it was bearing the darkness that laid inside, so that we could root it out.

It didn’t matter how I thought about it, as long as I came to terms with what needed to be done. I needed to excise the threats that remained, the forces who chose violence instead of peace. I needed to stop choosing life, for my enemies had already chosen death.

Our steps took us through the broken wall, following the trail of destruction the enemy had wrought in their entrance to the city, signs of the skirmishes with our guards evident in the damage to the buildings. Collateral damage to the city was incidental for our enemy. Perhaps even a bonus. Their invasion of our home was meant to harm— why would the very walls that contained it be spared? Everything was equally opportune to the Malagost invaders, wasn’t it?

I filtered through my electroreception, scanning the vicinity for signs of activity, as I was often wont to do. There were plenty of people within their homes, but no major amounts of people near us. That didn’t mean that it was our civilians though, hiding from the war. It could have just as easily been enemy combatants awaiting our arrival. In this circumstance, I was lost. There wasn’t a good way for my senses to filter out who was who. I felt lost, perhaps just as others did when I normally divined information.

“I honestly don’t know who is who, Betty,” I said.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got my own plan for this. Take it easy. I’ll tell you when your talents are needed.”

I shrugged and nodded, falling to the back of the pack. Up in the front she brought other scouts from our mission, their noses and ears filtering out information that my own mind couldn’t discern the fine details for. I couldn’t begrudge them. This was just my own weakness I would have to learn to rely on others for, if I couldn’t overcome it.

Betty motioned for us to continue down the streets, confident in the reports of the others near her that we weren’t in danger of the people in the nearby houses. Whoever they were, they evidently didn’t give off signs of being related to Malagost, which meant we could continue filtering on deeper and deeper into the city, until we got to the outskirts of the slums.

Our progress was stop-and-go, taking to the shadows, our own group splitting up into groups of four as though to suggest a conventional family unit rather than an accumulation of guards ready to evict the hostile forces entrenched in their city. We couldn’t have the enemy aware of our movements if we wished to surprise them. That was our greatest weapon, for they were surely amassed in greater numbers than our guerrilla force.

But by the time we made it to the slums, it was clear where the enemy was. They spilled out into the streets, many finding no difference between the broken houses and the refuse on the road. Presumably their leaders took up space in the more guarded positions, but the endless minions on the street didn’t care. They were nominally on guard, some laughing too carelessly, as though they thought they couldn’t end up being attacked in that position. It wouldn’t be so funny once we proved them wrong.

“What’s the call?” I whispered, hoping Betty’s ears could hear it. Or at least, one of the others she had by her if not her, herself. I was going to have the same difficulty, given I wasn’t the one relaying the messages across the squads with my inadequate hearing.

One of my ally’s ears twitched, and he pulled up next to me. “We’re picking off stragglers,” he said. I could tell from his confidence that it was a directive straight from the boss.

This part, I could easily do. I could find those who were alone, perhaps taking a necessary break from their companions putting themselves into a more vulnerable position. Whoever was left here had to be from Malagost, unless they were doing some even more unethical acts— I could only hope they wouldn’t stop so low. Death had an end. Some acts continued to reverberate in one’s mind for years to come.

Our feet made muffled steps on the dirty cobblestone, weaving from corner to corner, taking care to not speak lest we drew any potential attention from the more proactive Malagost forces. I found us a path free of life, traversing alleyway to ruined building to broken door, until we alighted upon a man taking care of his business on the opposite wall.

He was so immersed in the act of relief that he didn’t even hear our approach, let alone my brass knuckles infused with electricity slamming into his back. His body convulsed as the high voltage cascaded through his system, his mind flooded with quantities of electricity it wasn’t meant to take, his body unable to articulate any response to the agony I was inflicting upon him. He crumpled to the ground, no longer giving any signs of life to my electroreception. It wasn’t an honorable kill, but what was honor to an invading force? This was an act of reclamation, a warning to avoid splitting up, an instance of proof that paranoia was merited. This was to be the first of many such attacks.

Of course, the body would be found soon enough. There was only so long someone could go off alone before their comrades would search for them in conditions like these. The question was how much fear could we put into our enemy? My method of killing was fairly clean, but clean wasn’t the most intimidating method. We could go worse. We could incite terrors to linger in their sleep.

My comrades tore the body to shreds with their claws, honed razors ripping chunks of flesh out of the corpse, desecrating the form that once held thoughts. The blood splattered over the alleyway, careful precision taken to ensure the traces of life didn’t land upon their skin. We were trying to leave traces, not carry them with our departure. Perhaps Betty wouldn’t approve, but in her absence we had come to our own consensus, needing to take the initiative for the reclamation of our shared home.

We fled, leaving the body to be discovered soon thereafter. We wove through the alleys, diverting at the last moment to avoid running into an errant patrol, because getting caught would ruin the effect of our brutal act. We were creating terror, trying to punctuate how poor a decision it was to invade Titan City, even if we were weakened at this time. Just because our walls were down didn’t mean we were going down without a fight. Whatever the main forces were doing had no impact on our campaign of savagery.

Another set of buildings and alleys to dive through and we ended up seeing a straggling soldier, failing to keep up with the ones ahead of them. My tail parted the earth and we crept beneath the body, until I upended the ground below him, my knuckles slamming into his ankles. The stored electricity dispersed through the frame, tongue unable to articulate. The ground closed up above, leaving us in the darkness of the earth. I finished the job, unwilling to prolong the suffering of the soldier. No unnecessary pain while alive, for it was certain that they didn’t choose to come this way. They were roped into it, pulled by the powers greater than their own. They didn’t desert their task, and for that they still had to die, but they didn’t need to be punished for the sins of their superiors.

As soon as the victim crumpled, my allies leapt upon the corpse, ripping out the organs from the face until an empty husk remained. We coughed up the corpse back into the alleyway and continued on underneath, moving away from the enemy. My listener indicated it was time for a strategic retreat way from the slums. Our work was starting to get noticed, and Betty wanted to regroup and discuss what our actions had wrought.

I guided us to the designated position, our group emerging from the ground with ease, eyes readjusting to the overcast sky above. It burned to look towards the light.

We had emerged in a cellar of a merchant’s house, long since emptied in the aftermath of the spike feeder attack on our city. Whether it was looted or just emptied in response to the damage was unknown. The only part that mattered now was that we could all gather there, confident that the enemy forces weren’t aware of our presence.

“I think we’ve done enough for the moment,” Betty said. “We’ve shown their vulnerability. We’ve shown them that as long as they aren’t cautious they’ll continue to suffer losses. I think we’ve pushed them to the point where they have to commit. They have to accept violence as the path towards victory. No more holding out in the slums. They’ll need to crush our resistance if they wish to succeed. Well done. I hope your acts haunt them, for whatever few survivors they may have must carry the weight of their sins in their heart. They didn’t need to attack us, but they committed to their course, and their actions have consequences. Let’s reconvene with the main forces. I’m sure we’ll be needed with updates as to the state of things. We wouldn’t want to miss the end, after all.”

She brimmed with confidence, certainty flooding her cheeks. Whatever it was she knew was sufficient to carry her forward. It was that confidence that gave all of the forces assigned to her the surety that our actions were right. Without that measure of confidence we may have faltered. She proved her leadership capabilities with ease, something Alain would yet to reach, but there was still time for him to climb to those heights. He was untested compared to Betty. He still had years to grow.

The scouting party broke apart out of the cellar, my tail essential in delivering us into small groups once more as we fled the outer perimeter of the enemy’s territory, certain that we were going to reconvene at the city’s bastion, the barracks, where the rest of our friends resided. We would learn all that we had missed and perhaps most importantly of all, gain a proper night’s sleep.