Ricky fled through the opening to Sector 4, just as several residents were beginning to come outside of their habitats trying to see what was going on. He did not stop to make pleasantries with any of them, but he did keep a keen eye on which doors were still closed. He ran down another street and made a random left. He soon slid to a stop, not believing his luck.

A few apartments down on the left side of the walkway was a deactivated science bot, a Marshall Industries science bot. Ricky noted groups of Titans gathering far in the distance and pulled out his sidearm. Then, without further delay, he kicked in the front door.

In front of him seated around a table were a gathering of Titans who stopped what they were doing to stare at the sudden intrusion. None of them looked familiar, but he leveled his gun at them anyway. He did not have time now for subtlety.

“Where’s the girl?” He demanded in the most aggressive tone he could muster.

Though afraid to move, several of the Titans at the table pointed to a room off to the side. A young Procyon girl came out wearing next to nothing. Ricky scowled.

“The Foxen!”

Most of them seemed genuinely confused and it took several moments before one of them nodded knowingly and whispered something. The one who received this whisper stood up with his hands in plain view.

“You’re looking for the con-artists.” He said with an understanding smile.

“Yeah, I reckon that’s right.”

Ricky did a double take. All of the Titans seated at the table were old, much older than him, and the girl was so young. He shook his head and frowned, many unsavory things happened in these types of places, and he could not bother to try and right all the wrongs here. It would probably take a lifetime. A lifetime and a hell of a lot of bullets.

“Where are they?”

“They sold me the ‘bot out front. Processing core was removed, probably sold to someone else.” The Titan frowned. “I’ll be happy to tell you where to find those two. They guy they’re staying with has a hideout on the third story of Bagger Street.”

Ricky turned a suspicious glare on this Titan, but the story did make sense.

“Which one is Bagger?”

“Out here and make another left at the fork. I forget the room…” He looked around for help.

“I know them.” Another one of the assembly also stood up. “Check the numbers up top. You want forty-four.”

Ricky turned to leave, but before he did, he remembered something. He reached into a pouch and drew one of the processors he had stolen from Marshall Industries. He laid it on a counter next to the front door. He did not know much about electronics and he thought that those were cybernetic processors, but maybe they could make use of one anyway.

Ricky then nodded and left without another word. No apologies or explanations. But the look on several of their faces when he implied he was going after that pair told him he did not need much of one. He followed the directions he was given, made a left and saw a hab-block of forties. He scanned the area with his eyes, looking for a way up, and saw a stairwell.

The Procyon was not as young as he used to be, but was still young enough, and in better shape than most of those much younger than him still. He managed to bound the stairs two at a time, reached the top and followed the numbers above the doors that eventually led him to forty-four. He began to rear back, gathering force to kick the door open, but the door came open on its own. He half-stumbled inside.

“Well what do you know? My old friend!” Atani was reclining on a couch, holding a remote control that had opened the door.

“You were expecting me?” The Procyon looked confused.

“Of course, we were! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“You must not have been.” Ricky snarled. “Or you would have run.” With that he launched himself on top of the larger Canid, who tried his best to intercept the fists now raining down on him.

“Hey! No need for violence!” Atani gasped in between strikes, his forearms covering most of his face.

“Oh, I need violence right now!” Ricky screamed. “I need it!”

Suddenly he was lifted and thrown across the room. His head slammed against the far wall and he saw stars swimming in his vision. Looking up expecting to see someone larger than Rocco, he instead saw Amiga. The tall, slender Foxen with a feminine figure stood there and put a hand on her shapely hip.

“Settle down jack.” She stated flatly.

Ricky blinked. This was unexpected. How had she tossed him across the room with such force? And with such little effort to boot?

“Ricky.” He corrected. “Let’s see you try that again.” He replied stubbornly coming forward.

Atani seemed to brighten at this and watched intently. Ricky dove low for a double leg takedown, a basic move he had learned in his youth. Instead of buckling to the leverage he applied, she stood unmoving as a statue. In fact, he smacked painfully against her legs, and more or less bounced off, without her doing much at all to repel him.

“That’s the spirit man!” Atani cheered mockingly. “Not very bright this one, is he?”

“What the hell?” Ricky stared up at her.

Amiga offered a hand which he warily accepted, and she lifted him up to his feet effortlessly.

“We should talk, Gunrockian.” She said, waving a hand to another seat next to Atani.

“Are you a cyborg?” Ricky asked as he took the seat offered to him. At this point he did not dare argue with her. “Then why did you need us to…?”

“Not quite.” She replied in a husky tone. “I’m something else entirely, and Zenith Corp can’t know I’m still alive. That’s why we needed you earlier. If I would have fought back against that Warlord and his merry group of Titans, I wouldn’t have been able to risk any of them being alive to tell the tale. And think what you want about me, but I am no mass murderer.”

“Well Zenith followed us here. I don’t think you have much time before that’s going to be forced on you.”

Amiga looked away sadly, and Ricky actually found himself feeling sorry for her, even though she had been a part of the swindle yesterday. He knew he should not feel anything towards her at this point, that it was only her good looks and his hormones that made him a chump for her. Still, the sadness in her eyes he had previously noticed was real…

“I can’t believe you followed us here.” She said. “What kind of Titans are you?”

“I could ask the same thing! Tell me what’s going on. If you aren’t a cyborg, then what are you?”

Amiga exchanged a pained look with her brother on the couch. It did not seem like a subject she liked to revisit, but she began her story anyway with a heavy sigh.

“I was part of a secret experiment Bio-Dynamics conducted a few years ago on behalf of Zenith Corp. I’m a living weapon, stronger than a cyborg.”

“How is that possible? Do you have implants? Bionics?”

“It was mostly nanobots and some type of serum that facilitated the nanos. The nanos rebuilt my body from the inside out. My bones are stronger than steel, my muscles…well, you had a taste.”

Jardan the Entertainer entered the room from a different section through a door to the side. He was changed out of his street clothes now, and looked much like any other Titan Canid, though he was colored different than the Foxen. Now that he got a good look at him in the light, Ricky figured him to be a mutt of some kind, being only around the same size as the other two, probably a coyid.

“That was brave what you did earlier.” Jardan spoke with a sly smile. “Brave, but rather stupid. You weren’t aware of her capabilities. She’s nearly invulnerable to all forms of ballistics and you, who almost got killed, are not.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that.” Ricky scratched the back of his head. “But we better come up with a plan to get the hell out of here. They’re going to be here soon.”

“Relax.” Jardan pulled up a holodisplay and opened it up in the middle of the room between them all. “Even with those numbers, they’re bluffing when they say they’ll find anyone in here. There’s four-hundred thousand Titans living in this AstroBloc alone, going door to door would take years.”

The holo-display showed alternating images of security cameras, showing different sections and the hundreds of bots that had flooded in, being directed by Titan soldiers. They were all still on the lower floors.

“You tapped into the building’s network?” Ricky asked, but it was really more of an observation than a question.

Jardan nodded and looked towards the other two.

“So, what exactly are you three on about? Was that performance you gave meant to incite a riot?” Ricky asked Jardan.

“That’s the idea, mostly. The three of us work together when occasion permits. We are trying to wake up the Titans here. For too long have they been asleep, blindly following the orders given to them by Zenith and the corporations. We’re a subversive group, we sow little seeds here and there, hoping to grow a rebellion.” Jardan explained, leaning forward in his chair.

“We’re also at the same time, looking for others like her.” Atani added. “Our hope is that they will eventually send one in if the city grows too rebellious.”

“Others? There are more like you?” Ricky blinked.

Amiga nodded. “I don’t know how many. Most are probably just like me, hiding. Trying to stay off the Empire’s radar. The ones that survived and made it out. Most didn’t.”

“What about you Gunrockian?” Atani gestured toward him. “What brings a naïve trio of Gunrockians all the way to the glorious capital of Kallerish City?”

“That’s a long story for another time.” Ricky responded. “For now, we gotta come up with a way out of here. On lockdown mode, my net-comm is telling me we’re surrounded by ten inches of concrete, and another six inches of steel. There’s a real chance this place could run out of oxygen if the indoor plants aren’t enough to manage the supply.”

“It’s enough to supplement but not to completely sustain a population this size.” Jardan replied. “The AstroBlocs are not a true arcology, despite what they say. While most are equipped with several entire floors of hydroponic farms, even with the cloning techniques it’s not nearly enough to support a community of this size and scope.”

“If we could make it up to the roof, we could find a way through to the space-walk.” Amiga plotted out loud.

“Space-walk?” Ricky asked curiously.

“They’re the walkways that connect several of the AstroBlocs together. They’re assisted by zero-grav engines and wind propellants, so it feels like you’re flying through space.”

“Ah. Well, sounds like as good of a plan as any, and I haven’t heard any so far, so let’s get stuck in, shall we?”

* * * *

Ricky followed the procession of Canids through the darkened hallways. A natural leader and a little bit of a control freak, he was not used to following but conceded this time. The others knew the area while he did not. They had first made their way to the elevators and found them all shut down and inoperable. They had no choice now but to go on an exceptionally long hike. He followed the others to an out of the way maintenance area that led to the stairwell.

After ten floors Amiga was not even breathing hard, she said she would scout ahead and disappeared up the stairs, bounding entire sets of stairs at a time. The rest of them were tired after they had climbed fifteen floors. They were now on floor forty. Ricky paused for a moment to catch his breath, though when he looked back at the others, they were in much worse shape than he.

“How many floors does this thing have again?” He asked.

“One hundred and fifty.” Jardan replied, far more out of breath than him.

“Damn.” Atani sat down. “This isn’t gonna happen. It’ll take all night for us to get to the top.”

“Probably half of tomorrow too.” Jardan agreed grimly.

They sat in silence for a little while before Ricky pressed on. The other two grumbled but followed. He kept a driving pace, stair after stair, flight after flight for what seemed like forever. Lactic acid burned in all their leg muscles, begging them to quit. Ricky did not accept this and would have pushed on another twenty floors, until he died from exhaustion if that be the case but knew the others would not do the same. By the time they reached floor fifty-six the others were ready to give up. That is when a sprightly figure came down the steps and landed so lightly, she barely made a sound. Ricky took the opportunity to rest for a moment.

“What did you see?” He asked.

“There are Imperials guarding the roof. We’ll have to fight through them.”

“Great.” Ricky looked back at the other two, after climbing thirty-one flights of stairs, they both looked pale. “The problem is, by the time we get up there, none of us will be in any shape to fight. We’re not even halfway there.”

“Yeah, it’s funny, even before the procedure I seem to remember it feels like I still would have been able to go a lot further than you guys are.” Amiga laughed. “Either I can’t remember what it’s like to be a normal Titan anymore, or you guys are horribly out of shape.”

“A little bit of both dearie, a little bit of both.” Atani smiled cheerfully through deep gasps for air.

Ricky snarled at her. She had no idea the depths of reserve energy he could summon upon based purely out of stubbornness when needed. Jardan looked about ready to collapse. Then suddenly, an idea came to him.

“Since you seem to have an inexhaustible supply of energy compared to us, go find a long rope.” Ricky said.

Amiga half-closed one of her eyes suspiciously at him. She did not move.

“Trust me, I have a plan.”

Amiga shrugged and did as instructed. She disappeared for what seemed like a long time but was probably only about a half-hour. The others rested for that time. Atani took out a tobacco stick and lit it, filling the stairwell with its burning fumes. Jardan bummed one eagerly from his friend and the two sat smoking for a time.

“That can’t be good for you.” Ricky remarked off-handedly.

“Better for me than climbing a hundred stories in a single night.” Came the dry response.

“Fairplay.”

Eventually Amiga returned, and instead of rope it looked like she had found a long length of chain. It was louder and clankier than he would have liked, but Ricky smiled when he saw it. It would work.

“Now go up a few floors and lower it down.” He directed. It took several moments before the dawning of realization came across Amiga’s pretty face. Then she moved without further words. She lowered the chain down, and Ricky took hold of it tightly. Then with a mighty heave, she lifted him up three stories in little more than a second. They then repeated the process with the others.

It seemed to take forever, but it was still much quicker and less exhausting on the three Titans in the group that had not been genetically modified for super strength and endurance. For her part, Amiga did not seem to run out of energy for the labor, and in fact only seemed annoyed that they could not all fit on the chain at once. They finally saw their destination and decided to ditch the chain routine five floors from their target and leg it the rest of the way.

“Not a bad idea for a stupid Gunrockian.” Amiga quipped over her shoulder coyly.

“I have my moments.” Ricky grumbled though smitten by the fires in her eyes. Her eyes turned to linger on him for a long moment before she continued without reply.

On floor one-forty-eight they came around a corner and ran directly into the path of a descending squad of Zenith Corp battle units. They must have been trying to cover as much ground as possible, by coming from below and above as well. That could possibly mean that not all of the exits were closed to them. Ricky snapped his Axiom out of its holster and was surprised when a blur of female Foxen sped past him.

“Full auto.” Ricky commanded his sidearm since the rear facing display still showed that it was on semi-mode.

Amiga smashed into the group like a battering ram, sending a dozen robots flying in all directions with a single blow. Ricky thought fast, leaned over the railing and aimed up to see if any more were following. He did see a few more and fired a random burst up at them. A few shots came back down at him, but every time a target presented itself, Ricky took the shot and did not miss. A few moments later he looked back to see Amiga had annihilated the group and was pressing forward. He leaped past the other two Titans to follow her.

Another wave met them when they reached the next floor, and Amiga kicked and pounded away at these too. She was amazing in action, breathtaking. Ricky took aim over her shoulder or across her side every time she moved, putting down several himself. He was at this point more used to being a team fighter and took to the combined effort easily. Amiga however did not, and after the second wave had been vanquished or thrown down the shaft, she turned to scowl at him.

“What are you doing Gunrockian? You’re getting in my way.”

“I’m helping.” He shrugged. “Maybe you’re used to traveling with males who don’t exactly pull their own weight in a fight. Maybe they’ve gone a little soft because they know they have your strength to fall back on, but I never had a safety net.” He glanced back at the others working to catch up. “I’m a fighter. That’s how we are in Gunrock. And I sure never had an invincible tower of might like you between me and the bad guys before.”

The side of Amiga’s maw curled into a smile, barely perceptible, but not to the observant Gunrockian.

“Fine, do what you want normie, just don’t get in my way.”

“Normie?” Ricky repeated. “Are you so outside the realm of normal now that you call other Titans normies?” She did not answer.

“Well?” Ricky finally asked after waiting for some time. Maybe she could throw him through a wall like he was nothing physically, but he would not allow a female to have the upper hand mentally.

“Well what?” She finally turned and replied with a sigh.

“You didn’t answer me. Are you so outside the realm of normal? Just because they gave you a little extra strength?”

“Yes.” She finally replied with a modest smile. “I am far from normal now and can’t even relate to you little Titans anymore.” There was a hint of playfulness to her tone, one that was instantly attractive. “And it’s not a little extra strength.”

“I see a very normal girl who was put through something terrible.” Ricky kept his tone professional, despite her attempt to deflect with sarcasm and humor.

Amiga caught his eyes and held them for a period of time before continuing toward their goal. He decided to leave it at that and follow.

They made it to the top where a few more bots and soldiers were waiting. They opened fire as soon as a target presented itself, hearing the commotion and carnage coming up the stairs. To Ricky’s surprise, the bullets seemed to deflect off Amiga’s skin and fur with no adverse effects. He remembered the others talking about that, but it was another thing to see it firsthand.

Ricky made use of the situation and used her as moving cover, firing from behind her as she charged. He targeted the bots since the soldiers’ combat armor was more durable to bullets than the basic model MV1 Delta Zenith Corp Battle Unit. Amiga took care of the rest, grabbing one soldier and smashing his head against the wall. No, through the wall, he realized a moment after it had happened. The other one she punched in the chest and collapsed the tank-like armor.

The super-Foxen stopped at the doors and waited for the others to come up. When they arrived, she looked to Ricky.

“Well, ladies first.” He gestured at the door. “After you, luv.”

Amiga let loose a feeble looking kick, but even with a fraction of her leg muscles behind it the double doors smashed open and broke off their hinges. The shudders that had closed elsewhere on the building in lockdown mode were not down here, probably to let more troops in. More gunfire hit the doorframe from the other side as soon as the doors flew off. Ricky leaned his gun out and fired blindly.

Amiga walked right through, and a few seconds later had taken care of the rest of the resistance. The others came out and she led them to the spacewalk, which was a transparent tube that disappeared into the horizon from their vantage point. Ricky stepped up onto the platform.

“I’ll go first.”

Amiga looked surprised that he was not hiding behind her in this situation. She waved a hand in front of her in a mock gesture that she conceded to his terms. Ricky stepped inside the large tube and looked around.

“Okay now how do you work this thing?” He began looking for a button or a switch but saw nothing. He began to look behind him at Amiga. “How do I work it?”

Amiga pointed a finger in the direction the tube was going and wagged her eyes at him, a playful smile playing on her face.

Then a force lifted Ricky and sent him flying down the tube. The sound of his voice shouting curses traveled back to her for several seconds even as he was thrown through the tube at a hundred miles per hour.