The sun beamed through the clouds momentarily, streaming into Abi's ward. Even through the glass she could feel the warmth on her hands as she wrung them nervously. Peering out over the cityscape she noticed how the partial sun illuminated some areas while other parts remained in shade. Lightness and darkness, the nature of the Old Cities revealed in ever-changing patches, moving and morphing endlessly. Shadows chasing light, light chasing shadow. It gave her a chill.

Today she was being released from hospital and she was more than eager to get home to her flat. She gathered a few personal items and sat on the bed waiting. Sean entered the room with a wheelchair and a friendly smile.

"Your chariot awaits." He said. She rolled her eyes.

Sean and Abi had seen each other every day since her hospitalization, it was day 8. In those few days they had become close friends. Sean would come in early, go home late and visit throughout the day. They talked a lot, all topics. They had a natural openess with each other. She took the opportunity to retell the story of her attack, she had to stop several times to regain her composure, but carried on bravely until the end. Sean admired her for her strength and spirit and the courage it must take to relive the experience. The retelling helped her process the trauma, according to her counsellor, who she would continue to meet with regularly for the next few weeks.

He wheeled the chair over to her, "Hospital policy, you have to be wheeled out. I called a taxi." Abi took a seat and put her feet up. "You got everything you came with?" Sean asked.

"Pretty sure, except my clothes." Her blood-spattered clothes had to be cut from her body and disposed of. She was wearing an outfit Sean bought for her at an nearby trendy outlet. It was not exactly her style, but she appreciated the gesture.

"Well, let's get going then." Sean wheeled her out to the elevators. It seemed to take forever to get to the ground floor, with so many people getting on and off at every other floor. Being on nineteen north, Abi did not realize how busy this hospital was. They stopped at a small office to process her discharge, a few minutes later she was released. An AutoTaxi was waiting at the curb, Sean walked her to the car and opened the door and helped her in, he then went around the other side and got in, she gave him a strange look.

"What? There's no way I'm sending you back to your flat by yourself" She did not expect an escort, but she was greatly relieved, the prospect of going home alone was suddenly frightening.

"You don't have to, you've done so much already."

"I want to." Sean admitted.

Abi moved over a bit and placed her head on his shoulder. "Thank-you." She whispered.

It was a long ride back to her place, a lot of time to talk. Abi shared more about her deceased brother and Sean reluctantly talked briefly about his childhood. Abi was fascinated, she couldn't imagine growing up without parents or siblings. For a while they road in complete silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The Sun rode low in the sky this time of year, but its rays were still warm through the car windows, it felt good on Abi's face. She fell asleep leaning against Sean and had a dream about him which was a welcome change from the nightmares that terrorized her sleep more recently. He nudged her awake when the taxi pulled up to her flat, her dream slipped away as they often do.

"You're home Abi." Sean said softly. "I'll walk you to the door."

"Oh, alright." She answered, still partly asleep. Things were a bit foggy in her head, she thought it might be the pain medication, but she expected to get much better rest now that she was home. However, instead of feeling relieved to be home, she found that she was anxious. An amoprhous fear gripped her. The sense of safety she was hoping to have was not there and she felt threatened, the thought of spending the night alone was terrifying for her. Abi wished she could asked Sean to stay, but did not know how to ask it. She did not want to appear frightened, she did not want to appear weak. but she was terrified.

"Is anyone here?" Sean asked, not knowing for certain if Abi had a roommate or not. It had not occurred to him to ask before.

"No, I have the place to myself." Abi replied, clasping her hands together when she noticed they were trembling.

That was all Sean needed to hear, as he helped her up the steps to her door. She began punching in the keycode and paused, putting her fist to her mouth, in thought.

"Are you okay?" Sean asked. He didn't like key code security, Trey had personally demonstrated on more than one occasion how easy these systems were to circumvent. At least the security in Sean's building was CIT-based, which Trey said was "pretty good", which made Sean think that it was far from impregnable.

"Yes, my head is just fuzzy from the medication, forgot my code." She lied.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Sean began "but, would you like me to come in?" He asked, sensing her trepidation.

"Please. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm usually not so nervous" Abi said, immediately feeling some relief, she punched the code in again and the door locks released allowing them entry. Sean held the door for her and turned to see the AutoTaxi drive off before heading in himself.

"I don't think anything is wrong with you, Abi. I just think you have been through a lot and maybe you just need some company. It's understandable."

It was a small, cosy flat, smaller than Sean's by half. It consisted of one large room that served as kitchen, living and sleeping quarters and an adjoining bathroom. Abi had decorated the small space well, it was adorned with contemporary art, family photos and some plants that looked a bit worse for wear, likely due to her hospital stay, Sean reasoned. The kitchen area was spotless, not a single dirty dish and the entire room had a faint pumpkin spice aroma.

"Nice place." Sean nodded, noticing a deco-display presenting various pictures of a young man in a strange MCSF uniform. "Your brother?"

"Yeah, those were taken just before he died, when he made it into that elite unit. He was so proud. I've really been missing him lately."

"Your place is so clean. Such a cosy pad." Sean changed topics to try to lighten the mood.

"Thanks, it's small, but I like it." Abi said looking about. "I'm going to take a shower, I feel disgusting. Can you stay until I get out of the shower?"

"No problem." Sean said.

"Thanks, make yourself at home."

"Okay, take your time, I'm not in a rush, I have a couple days off." He wasn't sure why he added that last part.

Abi went to the bathroom and got in the shower, the hot water felt so very good after the stay in the hospital. She let it wash over her, she relaxed a bit now that she felt a bit safer and the inevitable overtook her. She crumbled as waves of emotion broke over her leaving her curled up and sobbing on the bathtub floor. The counsellor had told her this would happened, but the foreknowledge did not lessen the pain. She cried for James, who died in the street for nothing, she cried for his parents and his little brother, and she cried for herself, for the sense of safety she felt she could not regain, and the feeling that things would never be the same.

Sean poked around the kitchen a bit, checked the fridge, it had little food and the cupboards had more of the same. He plopped himself in a recliner and flipped on the news. They were running a story on the Southern Desert war, which was followed by a recruitment add for MCSF. It kind of turned Sean's stomach. The next news bit was a report on the continuing terrorism problem the Core was having, with the usual Meta spin. In truth, it bordered on an all-out insurgency and it was being waged by those who opposed the oligarchs. The often referred to themselves as freedom fighters, but the media only used one label for them. Terrorists. There were numerous groups involved in the insurgency, the most prominent and most ruthless being the Red Sabre. That group was responsible for a variety of heinous acts, bombings, hostage takings, assassinations and guerilla-style attacks on Core facilities and personnel. Or at least that is what the media reported. Sean had never actually witnessed any terrorist activity himself. The Mag-Lev explosion was probably them, but they had not come forward to claim responsibility for that.

The various factions formed loose relationships with some of the smaller nascent groups, sometimes absorbing them into the fold, other times using them for missions that would compromised the integrity or secrecy of the group. In other words, cannon fodder. Sean knew the Stephen's Cell was one of the latter, they had been like his own little group for a while, a young bunch poking around looking for information on the Plague. When the answers failed to materialize, the Stephen's Cell leadership got antsy, wanting more data, more truth and they became impatient and sloppy. They started to get more aggressive in their operations and Nic, who had been feeding them intel for some time, helped them get in touch with Red Sabre, through an acquaintance. Red Sabre, in turned, saw an opportunity, the Stephen's Cell was a collective of unknowns, no previous relationship with Red Sabre, no significant record with Core authorities, and they were chomping at the bit to get involved in riskier operations. They got what they wanted. They exercised an armed raid on a data warehouse facility that they were told housed significant data on the Plague. It was a lie. The data exfiltrated was from a weapons manufacturer and was only useful to the Red Sabre - the entire Stephen's Cell disappeared after that raid. The rumour was that they tried to escape through the sewers and met a MiST kill squad. Sean and his group steered clear of terrorist factions as well as MiST.

Abi exited the bathroom followed by a wispy cloud of vapour, she was now wearing a white bathrobe and her hair was still wet. "That feels so much better!" She said, rubbing her head with a towel. She excused herself as she passed in front of Sean, "Sorry, all my clothes are in my dresser." She picked through her drawers grabbing all her comfort clothing, sweats and a jersey that belonged to Daniel. "I'll be just a minute." she headed back to the bathroom. Sean's eyes followed her.

"I noticed you're just about out of food, when your done, I'll run to the grocery store and grab some stuff. Make me a list if you want." Sean called after her.

Not wanting to stay in the flat alone, she countered. "I'll come too, I'd like to stretch my legs a bit." She knew she would not have ventured out on her own, but this was a good opportunity for some fresh air and exercise. She wondered if she would ever feel safe enough to go running again.

When Abi was ready, they headed out to the store and had some simple fun just lazily strolling up and down the aisles, buying things she never would have bought on her own. Sean found a beer he had never tried and they decided they would have an impromptu movie night and try to cook something exotic. They ended up burning the dish, setting off the environmental alarms in her flat, consequently, they ordered out. A drone delivered hot food in fourteen minutes.

The rest of the evening involved junk food, laughter and a classic movie marathon during which they both fell asleep nestled cosily on her couch. When they awoke, the movie was over and Abi convinced Sean it was too late to go home and that he should spend the night. He conceded with no protest and slept at her place, in the recliner. That night Abi slept soundly for the first time since the attack.

In the following weeks, Abi and Sean spent a lot of time together, and they grew closer with each passing moment. Sean accompanied Abi to James' grave, where they laid flowers and stood in silence for some time, before visiting James' parents to give their condolences. Sean helped Abi get a new job at the hospital where he worked, she landed a position in administration. The work was often repetitive and tedious, but it was a much safer environment than Weltschmerz and she would still make enough money to afford her flat. They attended a Solstice party together, as a couple, where they ran into Trey who had come stag but was certain to leave with someone. Sean took the opportunity to talk to Trey about the coming operation at the Institute. Abi overheard some of the conversation, she later asked Sean about it. Sean decided he would let her in on his extra-curricular activities, she listened intently as he explained how he got involved in the Plague conspiracy. In the end Abi revealed she too was curious about the origins of Susan's Plague and how she had become especially untrusting of the Core authorities since Daniel's death.

The New Year came and went, the whole team, now including Abi, met via secure virtual conference for introductions, a briefing and news on the upcoming operation, which Nic nicknamed Manor Cat.

"First off, looks like everyone including the new girl," Nic started a little sardonically, "is in on this operation, hopefully you all have kept quiet on this. As we all know, gathering in public is risky, but in this case having everyone participate should make for a smooth operation. We have set a date, this coming Saturday, we will meet on campus in the Turing building at 1 A.M. - please don't be late. Make sure you all arrive alone from different origins, do not all arrive on the same Pod for crying out loud, be smart. Katherine is going in ahead of all of us to do a little reconnaissance. If and only if she gives the all clear, will be proceed. We will move into the lab at 2 AM." Nic brought up a three dimensional building plan. "Katherine will be on the roof here," he indicated the south-west corner "Sean, you get up there with Katherine and patch in the cable, rappel down and feed the other end through the upper window of the second story, here. Miller will patch that to the gear in the switching closet and we should be good to go. Trey, you hang back at the Turing building, that should give you a view of the street coming on campus from the south, make sure your Netpod is in full spectrum scanning mode, any MiST comms detected and we abort. Abi, you're belaying for Sean, but stay alert as well, if you see anything suspicious, send the alert. You have all memorized your escape plans, I assume?" Nic asked the group. They all replied in the affirmative but without much enthusiasm.

"This has been well-planned and researched, but there is still a big unknown - the mystery contact." Nic continued, "I have had no other contact from this person since the coded print out. It is possible they got tired of waiting and we'll get nothing, maybe not even a connection. If so, we'll wrap things up in a hurry and get out of there. If we do establish a connection, I'm setting a hard limit of twenty minutes - regardless of what happens, at the twenty minute mark, you all execute your egress plans and go. Any questions?"

No response came back from the group, they all wore very serious looks, this operation was, by far, the riskiest thing they had planned to date. It was easy to see everyone was nervous, they were crossing a line and everyone knew it.

"If anyone wants out, now is the time to say so." Nic added, followed by more silence.

Sean finally spoke, "We're all in Nic, I think it's just hitting everyone that we are really going to go through with this, it's a bit overwhelming. I think I speak for everyone when I say this seems to be a little outside the scope of our Plague research, but we also understand this is important to you."

"I know, I'm pretty anxious about it. Just remember the plan, stick to your tasks and stay alert. If no one has anything else to add, I'd like to disconnect this conference, secure or not, we've been connected longer than I'm comfortable with. Nothing? Okay, see you all Saturday." Nic disconnected followed shortly by everyone else.

"You ready for this?" Nic looked up at Katherine who was standing still as a statue nearby. "Guess I should upload all the instructions and map data to you. Just remember if things get out of hand, you come back here to Simon, you understand? You run and you hide - got it?"

Katherine flicked her head, Nic took that as a yes.

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