“Rocco has joined the room.”

“Rocco! It’s about time ya big lug, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you now for hours.” Rocky spoke into the Net-Comm private server.

“Yeah, I’ve been a little busy. The Trade Alliance has shut the building down. Complete lockdown.”

“We’re working on a way to get to you now. It may take a little while.”

“We? Is Ricky up already? I thought the healer said it would take a full twenty-six hours.”

“Yeah, it’s not Ricky it’s…” There was a pause in the transmission as Rocky looked to his new companion. “A new ally. Or at least I think he is. I’m still not sure yet.”

“You’re not sure if he’s an ally or not?”

“Well, besides trying to kill me a few hours ago, he’s promised to help me get in. And when this Titan says he’s gonna do something, I believe him.”

“Well watch your back out there, I’ve found an ally too. We’re working our way back to his hab so we can arm ourselves. Then I have to hurry back to the Union hab. I want to make it back and hopefully get everyone out before the Alliance finds it.”

“All right, I’ll be in touch.”

Rocco swiped the chat box overlay that provided details on whom he had been speaking with and for how long away. He then changed displays to bring up his combat HUD.

“Intra, track and show all Trade Alliance targets in the area.”

Immediately clusters of diamond shapes showed up in the overlay, most of them far below. He did see that there were several groups that were on different floors, and when he looked up, there were many above his head on the upper floors as well.

“We’re surrounded.” He remarked to his Felid companion.

“This way.” Gunner replied, running past another group of Titans that were trying to make it to their units as well.

The pair of Titans made it to a neighborhood district and Gunner slowed their pace. They wound through a few streets until finally coming upon a housing unit that Gunner identified as his. He led the pair up a flight of stairs and rapped on a door insistently.

To Rocco’s surprise, a small Puma cub answered the door.

“Daddy!” She called out, opening the door and flying straight into her father’s waiting arms.

“Cubby-girl. How have ya been?” The Felid smiled as he embraced the little cub. “Daddy’s missed you.”

“Missed you too daddy.” She stopped in her tracks and looked up at the large stranger her father had in tow. “Who’s he?”

“That’s a friend Caelia. I’ve got to help him get to his people. There are bad Titans on their way here right now and daddy had to help stop them.”

“I’m Rocco.” Rocco bend down and extended his great meaty paw.

Caelia examined it dubiously for a moment, but with a sideways glance at her father, she put her tiny palm in his and shook it vigorously. Her father trusting this Titan was good enough for her it seemed. Rocco gently accepted the shake and then was led inside by Gunner.

“Why isn’t she in a nursery?” Rocco whispered, following him in. It was customary in most Titan cities for nurseries to care for the young, until they were almost of a mating age, and Rocco was a little surprised to see a cub. Most Titans didn’t have much interactions with their young at all after the nursing phase, since most of the nurseries day to day operations were run entirely by SRE robots.

“I couldn’t bear to be apart from her.” Gunner replied, watching wistfully as his daughter ran back into the hab-unit. “I met my mate in space, and when she gave birth…well we kept her at first because we were in space but after we settled here in Kallerish…”

Rocco nodded and clapped a hand on the Puma’s shoulder. He need not explain more. It was actually touching to see a parent care for their young in such a way. A female Puma in the other room called out then.

“Gunner, darling. Are you ready for supper?”

Gunner came walking into the kitchen then, and Rocco stopped awkwardly in the doorway. He saw a tawny brownish orange female Puma with shoulder-length hair standing at the stove with her back turned to them. The female Felid dropped a spatula on the ground in surprise when she turned towards her mate and saw the other Titan standing there. She recovered quickly, bending to pick it up.

“Oh dear, you didn’t tell me we would have company.”

“Baby, this is my friend Rocco.”

“G’day sir. How do you do?”

“Cheers.” Rocco nodded.

“Pleased to meet you, my name is Katlina. Care to stay for supper?”

“We don’t have time dear; the Trade Alliance is here. They’ve locked the whole Bloc down.”

“Is that what that awful racket was all about? I thought something was off about it. Imagine the Titans trying to sleep right now with all that ruckus going on.”

Gunner moved over her shoulder and pulled a large piece of meat out of a pot on the stove. It smelled like a meat stew. Gunner popped the piece of meat into his mouth and then jerked his head towards a back room. Rocco followed him into a bedroom den. Gunner immediately began to rifle through his belongings under the bed and in the back of a tiny closet. He emerged minutes later with a long black case.

Rocco caught the case when the Felid tossed it to him and set it on the bed, pushing the two buttons inward to release the standard locks. A light turned on and revealed a digital display in the front of the case.

“Dina scanner.” Rocco remarked, using the nickname for the frequently used DNA biometric locks.

“Just a second.” Gunner was pulling things out of the cramped closet so that he could get to the things behind them. After it seemed like he pulled the entire contents out into the room, he eventually emerged with a similar case, and dropped it on the bed alongside the other one. He pushed the two buttons together, unlocking the other case and bringing up the scan.

Gunner bent down to allow the two-part verification scan to commence. The first was a laser scan on the Puma’s iris, while an olfactory sensor took in his unique scent. A moment later and the lid to the case popped open, and he traded positions with the Procyon to repeat the process on the other case. Rocco moved around the bed and flipped the lid to the now unlocked case. A smile played across his mouth and he moved quickly to scoop up the contents laying within the charcoal colored polyurethane.

“Is this a plasma gun?” Rocco asked excitedly as he handled the protracted gunmetal rifle, squared on both ends with a long, fat cylindrical canister in the middle.

“Aye. You’re darn right it is, mate. I’m not gonna face a bunch of bloomin’ battle robots with just my claws and a smile.” Gunner replied, pulling another one out of his case.

“I’ve never actually seen one before.” Rocco held the rifle with the barrel facing up, examining the exotic craftsmanship. To the weapons-enthusiast Procyon, the utilitarian yet complicated design was a work of art.

“Uses magnetic fields to accelerate a pulse of superheated gas at whatever you want to destroy. It has a few settings there, maser, greyser and plasma.” Gunner flipped a switch on the side and his rifle turned on, he pointed to a bluish LED screen on the side. “Maser setting shoots microwaves, greysers shoot gamma rays and plasma just shoots a pulse of pure nastiness. Watch out for everything around the target.”

“Cheers. Which is most effective against the ‘bots?”

“Gamma isn’t going to do much against them. Most of the ‘bots have enough lead in them that it would take too long to fry them. Microwaves can disrupt their operating systems. And plasma will pretty much destroy everything.”

Rocco flipped a switch to turn his on as well, still marveling at the design. It was not a light gun to handle, but he was not a weak Titan, and neither was his Puma companion, but he could imagine other Titans not being able to field the rifle effectively.

“Can’t wait to see what it can do. Did you use these in space?” Rocco asked.

“These rifles are not smart weapons, no voice activation or any of that. This button here is the safety and will turn on the tank. When the tank is active it will glow like a beacon.” Gunner reached over to point out the button on the side of the upper receiver on the Procyon’s rifle. “Aye, I did use them in space. Good area denial weapons for boarding parties. Not to mention the psychological effect. These here are just plain nasty. You won’t look at a conventional slug thrower the same way again.”

“Right, I can imagine. Who needs smart rifles and rounds when you can just melt the entire area? I can get behind that.” Rocco chuckled.

“Well lad, ready? Let’s go get your mates.”

Rocco followed the Puma out through the kitchen. His mate saw the pair carrying the rifles through her space and began “tsking” them both.

“Where do you think you boys are headed? Are you off to make trouble again dear?”

Gunner one-handed the rifle and wrapped his other muscular arm around her, pulling her in tight. He gave her a few affectionate licks on the top of her head, and she closed her eyes and began to purr. She stood on her toes and licked the side of his face before he released her and began striding towards the door.

“You boys stay safe out there!” She called after them.

“Love ya dear.” Gunner called back over his shoulder as he stepped out the door.

Katlina went back to the stove and began stirring the meat stew, shaking her head lightly and still purring.

“Boys will be boys.” She muttered under her breath. “Caelia, food’s on, suppertime!”

* * * *

They were being followed. This much Rocky was sure of, his Net-Comm HUD overlay was blinking to alert him of the fact. Who it was and why they were being followed was still a mystery. His new Wolverine partner was equipped with the latest Titannet technology, including cerebral implants with no need for the old headsets and eyepiece displays. Instead, his unit could display an overlay in real time, and could react to his mental commands. Rocky used his EEG thought to speech function to communicate with the Titan who was driving a hard pace through the concrete streets.

“We are being followed.” He informed the seemingly oblivious Wolverine, who appeared to be single-mindedly pursuing something he did not bother to explain fully yet.

“Did you need your Comm-set to figure that out, you pillock?”

“No.” Rocky returned impetuously, but then added “Well, yes I mean. Of course I did. I’m not a cyborg.”

“You normies are a real bowl of laughs. I could smell them, even without the olfactory implants.” The Wolverine tapped the side of his nose but did not slow down. “Don’t worry about it kit. We got more important things to spend our attention on.”

They were now a few blocks away from Towerview Center, and Rocky could not help thinking that they were going the wrong direction. He thought about saying as much, but every time he did, he felt intimidated by the fierce little pred. He still was not entirely sure he was doing the smart thing by putting his trust in the Titan, but he walked with a driven purpose and was at least putting on a confident show of it.

Suddenly an SRE appeared in the alley they had turned down moments earlier, and Rocky seriously contemplated shooting first and asking questions later. Enough automated units had tried to kill him in the last few days that he was beginning to see them all as threats. There was a big difference in the programming and capabilities of a SRE and a Zenith manufactured combat robot, but it still felt like in these circumstances it made sense not to take a risk. What if the Trade Alliance had taken over the local SREs to increase their eyes and ears?

“Hey you!” The Wolverine called out, making Rocky uneasy. “Got a question for ya.”

“Greetings Titan, how might I assist you this wonderful evening?”

Rocky looked to the sky which had now passed twilight and into night. The drizzle that had begun several hours ago was picking up and turning into a heavier downpour. There were several overhangs in the buildings high above them to block most of it now, however.

“Need to know where the local water tunnel access is located. My map says it should be right back there.” He pointed the direction they had come from, probably to the area he had searched thoroughly without telling Rocky anything, leaving the Procyon to guess at his intentions.

“The access hatch was moved at the beginning of summer due to a gas leak. It is now located at the end of this alley.” The social robot turned and presented the direction with its hands.

“Thank you.” The Wolverine spoke while striding past. Rocky moved to catch up. “It’s official Repossession business.”

“Always glad to help an agent of Bio-Dynamics. Happy Repossessing!”

“I just realized I don’t even know what to call you.” Rocky said as they moved away from the SRE.

“You don’t need to call me.” The Mustelid was now focused on a small domed concrete structure ahead of them.

“If we’re going to be working together here, I need to be able to call you something. Hey, sport. Hey lad. Hey superchief. Something like that.”

The Wolverine turned suddenly, with a frightening speed that made Rocky gulp hard.

“You call me sport or any of those other names and we’re fightin’. You got that?” He poked his clawed finger into Rocky’s chest, and his alphaness dropped a few notches as the simple jab drew his breath from his lungs and left a stabbing pain that hurt as though he were just a fragile female.

“Well I’m Rocky. I think you knew that but still. That’s how normal civilized Titans get on.” The Procyon responded while rubbing his chest. “Formal introduction and all that. We’re still civilized Titans after all. We’re not some bleedin’ scoundrels from the Wildlands.”

The Wolverine stepped over and tore the door open with a snarl. Rocky had a feeling that the heavy door was not meant to open so easily, but there was a sound like a locking mechanism bursting under stress that led him to believe the little pred had broken it.

The Mustelid stepped inside and found a hatch that he quickly moved to open. Rocky stood at the entrance to the tiny shelter looking over his shoulder. His HUD had not picked up any targets yet with its predictive software, but it was still flashing a warning to him that something was there. When the hatch opened, the Wolverine climbed down without even bothering to look towards his follower. Rocky moved quickly to follow however, feeling extremely exposed on his own.

When Rocky reached the bottom of an old steel ladder, the overpowering scent of mildew and other less pleasant things shocked his nose. He sneered as he began to realize the other smell that was nauseating him.

“This is the sewer!”

“Yeah, boy. Where didja think we were going, the circus?” The Wolverine laughed and plodded ever onward into the pitch-black darkness beyond the circle of light the open hatch was casting down at them.

“Bingo.” The Wolverine spoke over his shoulder as Rocky moved to follow him into the darkness.

“Did you find something?”

“It’s my name, hoser.” The Wolverine growled back at him. “You asked fer it.”

“Oh!” Rocky’s brain pathways lit up at the realization. “It’d say it’s been delightful to meet you, but to be honest mate, it hasn’t been so far.” Rocky quipped nervously.

Bingo the cyborg Wolverine snarled and turned on Rocky with such a ferocity in his eyes Rocky thought his last moment was upon him.

“I…I just meant…” Rocky stammered.

Bingo pushed him aside and produced a big armor piercing Etcher handgun, leveling it in the direction they had come from.

“They’re cloaked.” He spoke silently through their Net-Comm, and then out loud he growled. “Show yourselves primates!”

A shimmer appeared in the air like a heat haze, and two shadowy figures materialized as their light bending tech canceled. Before Rocky could process what was happening, a fight was on them.