“Garage door,” Pointed Bob.

I gave a stretch as I climbed out of the… I still don’t know what that thing was called. Heli-plane?

“Why aren’t you coming Bob? Shouldn’t you, like, mediate?”

He called from back aboard the ship, “Nah, nah, you guys are going to have to act friendly once we get to Babel any way. Just… be delicate, she’s shy.”

Clover gave a laugh, “Ok, sure.”

As we walked past the side walk and towards the steel shutter, Clover asked, “What do you think he’s lying about now?”

“Honest guess? He wants a few seconds to clean. If he was worried that we wouldn’t think he was cool, then he’d be really sad if his sister thought he was loser, I’m sure.”

Clover crossed her arms and leaned against the wall beside the door, “I don’t know. They’re siblings. Cut from the same cloth, don’t you think there’s a big chance that she’s like him?”

I scratched the back of my head, “I don’t know. In my experience, it seems like siblings are a little similar, but when they get to nine years old, they meet different people and grow from there.”

I peeked around the corner, “Should we knock?”

That’s when a static voice came from above, “Gi-”

‘Gi?’

It must have been a few minutes before it said anything more, giving me enough time to look up and find the speaker, and a camera looking down at an angle.

Me and Clover just started talking again, “This place is pretty modest, huh? Like, Ae lived in a casino, you live in a villa.”

I looked around the suburb we’d found ourselves landed in the middle of. I’d said at the time it was reckless on Bob’s part to just land us in the middle of the road, he said he did it all the time.

I looked at the bins that had been blown out of the drive next door.

Clover unfolded her arms and started pacing, “It’s off model from the rest of the houses. Gravity-girl has cash to throw around, she’s renovated the whole property by the looks of things.”

I joked, “I didn’t know you were into architecture.”

She smiled back, “I’ve visited people like this before. You sort of get a sense for whether or not a place is a Unit’s because of how much it stands out.”

“Gi-gi-” The voice came through again.

This time I spoke back, “Hey, uh, we’re here with your brother! He says we need your help, and you need a lift, so, he sent us out here to, uhh, get friendly.”

Clover scoffed, “Stutter much?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s sort of weird talking to a door.”

“GI-GI-GIVE ME A M-MINUTE!”

The voice squealed out of the speaker, crashing into our ears.

“Ow, I think I need to pop my ears. That sounded like a cat on chalk. Haha, and you were saying I stutter-”

Clover grabbed my face, “We’re here to ‘get friendly’ remember?? Make a good impression, and try not to insult her”

She let my face go, “You insulted me!”

She shook her head, “I don’t care about making a good impression on you anymore!”

I put my hand up, as if I was signalling to something, “Well your first impression was… well, you shot me for one thing.”

She made a raspberry with her tongue, then called through the door, “Hi, take your time, you’ve got plenty of it. We don’t mind!”

Under my breathe I whispered, “I mind…”

If Clover still had a pan, she’d have hit me with it.

It was maybe thirty more minutes until we heard a creak from the door, not the garage, the front door, way off to the side.

Clover seemed a little confused by what she saw coming out, so I took a step back away from the shudder.

“Uh. Are you… Charlie K. Parker?”

Out of the door came a girl, maybe a woman, though her height made her seem more like a kid. The most striking thing I noticed about her was her brown hair. She had it bundled around two small anti grav disks, the loose strands and her bangs floated around, like they were under water, as she turned to face us, it followed slowly.

In fact, it was as if she actually was underwater, like she was trying to push against the air.

She was outfitted in a blue designer jumpsuit, covering her arms and legs loosely. She was standing on platforms with the same blue glow from the disks in her hair.

It was the sort of thing you might see on a cat walk, but to elaborate to see anywhere else.

Her makeup wasn’t very well done, she had a blue blush that didn’t do much for her.

“I-” She started to say something, standing there she was a leaf in the wind.

“I’m… sorry for keeping you…”

I tried to hide any awkwardness in my smile, “No, no, it’s fine! We’ve got tons of time.”

“Why are you dressed like that?” My lips puckered as Clover dived right into it.

“Bwhu?” The blue girl blurted out, “I’m- but you’re-” She pointed at us.

Clover raised a hand, “Rocky isn’t a point of reference.”

I reminded her, “Clo, you’re wearing sacrificial robes right now. You chose to wear that, after buying clothes in Korea.”

She scoffed again, forgetting the shivering girl now, “You idiot, those were funeral clothes. Besides, it was warm when we left and it’s warm now, this dress was built for that.”

Charlie started towards the ship bringing two suitcases in tow, me and Clover following soon after.

Clover followed her, “Well, I guess that outfit is good for this weather too, but what about… I mean, if you were having trouble with your make-up, I could have helped.”

I chose to believe that Clover was trying to be friendly, just too hard and too fast.

I tried to steer away from that subject, “Don’t mind my friend, she’s crazy, you can call me Shamrock!”

She didn’t reply.

“Uh, we’re from Ireland. I haven’t been abroad before, how’s Cali?

“Eh…” I paused for her to continue, but that seemed like the full answer.

“Oh, you’re the person who made all this anti-gravity stuff, right? That’s pretty cool! So, what’s your other power?”

Clover pinched me, “You’re acting super gross Rocky.”

I wanted to call her out for her earlier attempt, but there was a slight gust of wind, and our escort cried out, tightening her grip to her bags.

She had her eyes clamped tight, freezing up.

Bob called from the door, “Charlie! I told you those shoes were a bad idea, you should have just worn the gloves.”

I tried to think about what was going on. I looked back up to her strangely moving hair

I asked, “Are you weightless? Shoes and hair keep you grounded? Or give you a little control, or something.”

Clover pinched me again, “Don’t ask her weight! That’s really creepy.”

Bob had come down from the ship, “Here, Charlie, let me help you.”

“I’m fine! I’m fine.” Finally, she managed a to speak clearly.

It was a fairly slow ascent back into the ship, and I felt like I’d gotten involved in some family drama.

Charlie asked, a haughty tone in her voice, “Bob, can we talk in the cockpit?”

Me and Clover hung in the hanger, eating some oreos that we found.

“I told you he’d clean-up,” I scanned the slightly cleaner room before someone shouted something from the cockpit.

Clover took a bite, “I don’t think this is going to work out Rocky. She seems a little awkward, and that only matters if she’s even willing to help us out. Why couldn’t you have met a normal International?”

I split my oreo in half, eating the cream first, “I don’t know their relationship, or who she is, but I’m glad Bob’s gotten us this far.”

She was glaring now, first at how I was eating the biscuit, then at me, “He’s brought us further away. It’ll only get harder for us to get home from this territory.”

I muttered, “Then why’d you ask me to phone him? What was up with the portal service anyway?”

I gave the matter some more thought.

“Wait, we were in South Korea. To get back home by foot, we’d have had to go through North Korea and Russia, how’s that better than America?”

She breathed in on the verge of giving me an clue, when the door to the cockpit latched open.

“Ok, lets hash some things out.”

Bob pulled out a folding chair for himself, tiredly sitting himself down.

“You three are going to be friends and you’re going to like it.”

Clover laughed a little, “Listen, we don’t actually know anything about each other, if anyone asks, we’ll be found out,” she spoke to Charlie slowly, “Do you think your invention can fully justify your brother breaking the law? Can it save him from being charged for ‘being an idiot’.

She turned to Bob muttering, “I really don’t think this is a good idea… Can’t you sort something out with the doctor?”

Bob replied, “Nope. She’ll be able to put the matter to rest, she’s not going to be able to resolve things.”

Then he turned an arm to me and Clover, “Charlie, trust me, these are good people- well, the kid in green is. I trust him, can’t really trust Cleopatra over there, she hasn’t even told me her name.”

Clover interrupted, “I did tell you, it’s Reb-”

“Hapupupupa,” He stopped her with an abstract form of shushing, “I know you’re Mountain, no point telling me anymore lies. But do tell me, are you someone important enough that they’ll get real pissed at me?”

“I-” She started, “Yeah. They aren’t going to pull anything against me, whatever happens to you, I’ll get out of it fine.”

Bob pointed to me, “But this guy won’t let that happen, right? Even if you don’t have a conscience, the kid’ll act as your compass.”

He turned back to his sister, “So, for all of us to get out of this peachy-”

Charlie poked him weakly, “I can’t believe you… T-this is the breakthrough of the century, and you’re- you’re going to ruin this for me.”

Bob smiled, his cheeks going rosey, “This isn’t going to ruin anything. I don’t know what you’ve got in there, but I believe it is the breakthrough of the century. Doing your big brother a favour, acting a little selfishly, wouldn’t they let Right get away with worse for less?”

Even with her blue cheeks, her entire face went pink, “Y-you ass…”

He clapped his hands, “It’s settled, I’ll leave you guys to it, get to know each other, make up some crazy sci-fi event you were all involved in, and dark girl-”

Clover turned to him, she was annoyed by his fixation on her hair, “What?”

He put on a ‘PSA’ face, “Open up a little, you don’t need to tell me or anyone else your name, but be cool, alright?”

Then he left, closing the door to the cockpit behind him.

Clover turned to nobody, “I’m cool.”

She turned, about to ask me if she was cool, before stopping herself.

I looked down. Yeah, I wouldn’t go looking for my validation either.

Me and Clover both kept quiet, even as we reached lift off.

Charlie took the initiative.

“Do… uhm, do either of you… play Destiney 2?”

Clover kept quiet, not sure what she was talking about, I’m sure.

I answered, “I don’t play videogames, that sort of thing is pretty expensive.”

She didn’t respond to that.

Clover did, “Haha, this fucking guy, huh? I offered him a job, but he won’t take it. The guy has been working at a gas station for the last few months-”

I managed to quit that job, but didn’t tell her.

“-he’s poor as hell! Haha! He even has a brick phone.”

Charlie was trying to laugh along, not matching Clover’s enthusiasm at all.

“Wh-what do you do for work…?”

Clover’s enthusiasm paused.

“I- uh.”

“She’s a drug dealer,” I answered.

Clover looked at me like it was a sensitive subject.

Charlie didn’t seem to mind though, “I… I used to get into psychedelics with my ex.”

I didn’t really expect that from this meek girl, I had expected for her to shriek at the idea.

Suddenly, something clicked. Some combination of drugs, gravity tech, and the earlier mention of ‘Right’ got me to put the pieces together.

“That wouldn’t happen to be Axel, would it?”

She smiled, as we finally built a bridge, “Do… Do you know him?”

I nodded, trying not to leap at the opportunity, “Yeah! We met back in February. We helped him fight off those Circuit Board guys.”

She went wide eyed, “Oh my god…”

I laughed it off, “No, it wasn’t… well, it was bad, but we sorted it out in the end. I guess you’ve had to deal with them, huh?”

She nodded, “They kidnapped me. T-twice.”

I agreed, “They were pieces of shit, I hated that hologram guy.”

Clover chimed in, “He kicked my shit in,” she leaned in, “on my birthday to.”

Charlie was smiling more, as she strapped herself into a seat attached to the wall.

“I hated Boston the most. He was the one that made me think I’d die.”

The general awkwardness had faded now, I was feeling fine now, Charlie was doing better.

I tried to turn the general discussion away from terrorism.

“So, Axel Right, right? Haha, he seemed pretty laid back, I don’t think anything’d get to him.”

Charlie interrupted, “Except when he doesn’t get what he wants. He told me to build a grav disc, ultra-blue model, the size of a watch, so he could commercialize drones to some foreign government. I explained to him t-that that minimisation simply isn’t possible with the current energy restrictions, he just kept saying higher pay percentages. After I hung up the phone, he didn’t talk to me for a week, he acted like I did something wrong because the technology didn’t exist!”

I nodded silently, what I have written above is simply the quarter that I could understand.

Clover tried to relate to her, “It was tricky, but I managed to piss him off a few times. He does have a pretty childish temper huh? I said he was an idiot and that wipped the smirk from his face.”

I remembered another piece of information, “That’s right, that guy was talking about you!”

Her smile faded, but not in a sad way, “He was?”

I shook my head, forgetting myself, “Uh, sorry, guess I phrased that weirdly, the first-worlder, Brigs, I think was his name, mentioned you were his girlfriend, or maybe he mentioned that you were on a break something along those lines.”

Clover looked at me, her eyes changing, “Sorry, what?”

I thought about it for a second, “Yeah, Axel said…”

I realised the implication.

“…He said they were on an extended break.”

I half expected Clover to go rummaging for the pan.

Charlie sighed, “No. I broke up with him. He really didn’t take It well.”

We held our breath for a few seconds after she’d said that.

Clover at last exhaled, “OhthankGod.”

She looked back and forth, between the me and Charlie, laughing. I laughed less.

“That had me worried for a second, I had no clue. If cement-for-brain had told me-”

She wafted the air, “You’re going to find this really funny, Charlie-”

The balls of hair waved as she shook her head with a confused smile, “What?”

Before I could realise what Clover was going to say, she’d already said it.

“Me and Axel hooked up, and for a second there, because of what Shamrock said, I thought I was like a home wrecker or something.”

Charlie wasn’t laughing. Her smile faded slowly, she said plainly, “Oh.”

I bit my lip, asking what the hell happened to Clover’s social skills?

She was doing worse than me right now.

I looked at the dark veil beside me, behind it was an idiot.

Charlie reconstituted herself, “No, that’s fine, yeah.”

Maybe Clover had caught on now, “It was a one-night deal. I’m not planning on seeing him again, it’s like you said, he gets on your nerves, whether he’s being laid back or… pissy.”

I really didn’t know what to say from here.

Clover’s eyes lit up, “I just had the perfect idea!”

Her enthusiasm… worried me. It scared Charlie.

“Hey, blue, how do you feel about girls?”

.

.

.

Clover finished concealing her tattoo with make-up, packing her bag back up.

I asked, “We’ll be getting there soon, right? I don’t think we can straighten our story out any more.”

Bob nodded overlooking the controls, “You’re right on both accounts, kid. After we clear this ridge, we’ll fly over the national park the city’s built on. And regarding your plan, I can only hope it’s not too convoluted.”

He turned back for a second, “And I don’t see why ‘Rebecca’ is her partner, why couldn’t you have filled that role kid?”

Clover shouted over, “What are you, homophobic?”

Charlie watched with a blank expression, still not processing what she’d been roped into. Her final answer to the question Clover had posed was, “No,” but Clover was insistent.

“First of all, Rocky has never been in a relationship before, someone needs to make it convincing, and that’ll be hard when both of them are stuttering out half sentences.”

Nobody really argued with that point.

“No matter what, I’ll be able to wriggle us out of any shitty situations,” She’d sounded so assured.

“That’s it,” Bob pointed out, changing back to manual flight.

He was directing our attention towards a dark figure stretching out of the forest in the distance, like a tower it stretched out from the world around it, bulging at the top. I had no clue how far away it still was.

Just when I’d tricked myself into thinking we were a few minutes away, I looked at how insignificant the trees in the distance were, we flew another couple miles, and the process repeated itself.

Bob half turned to me, “They built it out here for a reason. The US government gave us this land, protected it as a national park so as to avoid complications. It was largely constructed through anomalous means, so if someone did find it, they wouldn’t be able to properly comprehend it. It’s near a major city and road, so Uncle Sam can pay their tithe. Food, water, electricity, that’s where your tax dollars go. Maybe a third of the US’s military budget, and that’s only the biggest contributor. And we get stuff flown in from Canada and mexico all the time.”

He smiled as I finally understood the scale of the structure.

There were many skyscrapers built around a central building, the aforementioned dark spire I’d seen.

As we finally entered the city, I could see now that it had no roads or divisions between the buildings, though on the surface of the structure you could see cars, people, signs and traffic directions.

“It’s a city…” my breathe escaped with the words.

Bob beamed with pride, “It’s a city. There are five- sorry, four, across the world, it’s not just agents that work here. Unlike under the Mountain, Second-worlders aren’t armed and drugged-”

Clover shouted over from the hanger, “We don’t drug them, they just tend to drug themselves.”

Bob ignored her, “-here, second-worlders are given a window into this world, as just bakers, shop owners, drivers, through normal jobs. And Units are benefitted greatly by the protection provided, I think there are around ten or twenty living around here at any one time. Families are provided with housing, if the Units provide useful services in turn.”

He gave a cough, and Charlie replied, “This place isn’t safe. I-it emits the same hypothetical dark-matter radiation a-as a Unit. That means monsters. And it’s just a bad idea to rely on your w-weird ‘men-in-black’.”

Bob snapped back, “You’ve met Yuki, we’re not weird.”

“No, your relationship is v-very weird.”

He lowered his brow, laughing it off, “Uh, no? We’re work friends.”

Chalie must have said something under her breathe, because Clover laughed out.

If I was guessing? I’d say it was something to do with his pension for… semi nudity.

I’ve encountered a lot of guys who walk around shirtless, and I’ve made it clear that I find it weird, but I’d prefer that over the alternative.

I smiled back at the girls, “I can understand not joining up with the first organisation you encounter. You’d have to be pretty dumb to do that.”

My intention was to throw some shade Clover’s way, but both her and Bob spoke up, “I don’t know, you were in shock and awe when I found you-”

The both paused as they took in the others words.

Bob was the first to argue, “I think you’ll find I was the first to find him, ain’t that right kid?”

Clover laughed at him, “Right, he was living in a remote town with a Bastard crowned for a month, and you thought you were the first?”

Bob laughed, “Come on kid, tell her.”

“Uh, I lied to you Bob,” I at last felt comfortable admitting it.

He checked back with me, “What?”

“I had met a few Units before you. I didn’t tell you, because a certain someone told me not to trust the Internationals.”

“Oh,” A darkness fell over his face, “I think I get it now.”

“You’re the princess, huh? That’s why your guaranteed to get out of this okay?”

Clover still had a smile on her face, but I was sure it wasn’t authentic.

“You could be a P.I. with those detective skills.”

A jolt shot through the ship.

Bob gave us a heads up, “That’s the local landing guide kicking in. They’re going to take me in for questioning. Just stick to the plan, and get to Administration, main tower, Charlie, if you don’t remember the way through, contact the Doc or Yuki, try not to get caught in bureaucracy.”

There was a slight glimpse at his fears, “I’d rather not be detained for too long.”

As we were landing, I noticed armed guards circling us.

Guess we’re really getting into it.

.

.

.

“And that’s how we met!” Clover wrapped an arm around her ‘girlfriend’, much to Charlie’s discomfort.

“With all due respect, that’s not the question I asked.” We were being led through customs by one of the guards, the rest had escorted Bob away.

While the girls were playing house, I was carrying our luggage, two suit cases, two back packs, and a plastic bag.

“Neither of you two have any form of identification. Mrs. Hall, Mr…?”

I was told to keep out of the talking, so I kept it simple, “Rock. Shamrock.”

Clover stifled a laugh.

The guide responded, “Right. You’re claiming that you were relocated by June. There are proper channels for this Ms. Parker.”

She cleared her throat, “I- ahem- My brother made a mistake, obviously, he let his emotions get the better of him when I called him a few nights ago. I- I over reacted when… Beccy, finally called.”

He checked his phone, readjusting his officers cap to block the sun, “Well, let’s hope Agent Parker’s career can still be saved, hmm?”

She nodded, swallowing her words.

Clover again tried to lighten the mood, “Don’t worry babe, I’m sure your bro will get out of this fine.”

She smiled back, attempting affection.

We were led to a descent from the roof we had landed the craft on, a long cue and toll before the door leadin into the interior.

“Okay,” sighed the guard, shifting an arm to the side robotically, “You’ll go through this gate, show them the patent info on your phone, then go to the assigned exit. From there, there will be a car waiting to take you to Administration. Best of luck.” He tipped his cap, and watched us on our way.

Clover waved, “Thank you!”

Charlie finally admitted her true feelings, “Maybe don’t wrap y-your arm around me like we’re going to the freaking ball, ‘princess’?”

Clover laughed pulling her arms away, “Ok, ok! Good job back there, your red ears really sold the whole ‘second relationship’ vibe, all those guys back at the ship bought it.”

“W-why did you have to call my brother out to Asia anyway? You were there for a week since that whatever-it-was ended, couldn’t you have waited?”

Clover nodded, “Yeah, of course, but ‘Rudolph the red nosed’ idiot hung up before we could explain our situation thoroughly. Just like you said, ‘babe’.”

We were waiting in line, making fine head way.

“Actually, Rocky, we need to talk about the other phone call we made on the roof.” Clover lifted a hand to her bangs.

“We’ve been conquered.”

I leaned over, trying to keep my voice down, “What are you talking about? What do you mean-”

“Someone has been officially recognised as being the rightful owner of Ireland. At least by the Ints. With me being gone from the area after June, they’ve probably made an assumption about my well-being.”

She glanced around, “I’d like to keep things on the down-low. If I’d simply stayed in Korea to make any further appeals, I’d be telling whoever contacted them that I was alive, and still willing to resist the conquerors advances.”

Finally, she focused her cat like eyes on me.

“It’s probably the man from up North.”

I strengthened my jaw, “Well, this is the whole point of our… truce, right? Just you and me, we can hit this guy without making much noise. That’s why you don’t call in that Bastard to handle this. He’s the nuclear option, you need a rock.”

“Keep quiet about it. You’re right, calling in a missile would blow things up. Obviously. ‘Skyscraper’ has friends here, and if his claim to Ireland has been substantiated over yours, then he has friends in excess,” she confirmed.

Charlie was left completely out of the loop, which was intended.

There could be prying eyes anywhere.

Even Bob had told us to be careful with who we trust.

There was certainly a tension in the air, and not just between us, it was all around. People were becoming impatient in the line up ahead

A man was thrown to the ground, ahead of us. He was outfitted in the same uniform as the man who’d been our guide to this point.

Another two uniforms came in, pincering the suited man that had thrown their colleague to the floor.

“You Bastards! Take me to Egypt! Fucking-” an elbow was thrown into his gut before he could get another word out.

They started to pull him off to our right, when he caught a glimpse at Clover.

He gained a second wind, charging wildly, “I bet you’ve just been there! Tell me where she is you Bastards!”

He’d managed to break through their hold, before he crashed into us I was hit with a horrible stench, booze and sweat.

He threw an arm out at Clover, causing her to back up into Charlie with a smack.

I dropped the bags, sticking myself between them, pushing him to an arms distance as the guards surrounded him, restraining him with ease after I knocked some wind out of his sails.

After he’d been taken care of, I checked in on Clover.

She looked up and shouted, “Not me, idiot, Parker!”

I turned about to look for her.

Then I looked up.

She’d been blown away. She’d literally been shoved into the sky, reaching around 50 feet into the air and spun about by the gusts of wind.

I threw the back-packs off, “Ah hell, so much for ‘low profile’.”

I ran back out of the line, trying to find a good angle.

“Charlie, are you okay?” I’d been under the assumption that she had some way of controlling her floaty-ness, Bob had briefly mentioned something about her heels. He had implied that they were unreliable.

I observed, trying to register her movements. She wasn’t fixated on her shoes; she was tampering with something by her wrist.

Some sort of control?

I didn’t want to make any assumptions, so after getting a gauge on where she was going, I made a jump.

I was actually more concerned with hitting my mark, more so than missing. If this girl is ‘weightless’, as in she has little mass, or less likely, no mass, then she should be physically weak, in which case throwing the weight of a teenager at her would be a very bad idea.

I’ve been doing this for some time now, so as I was rocketing up, I had aimed to catch her at the pinnacle of my jump.

If I could just get a hold on her, try and cradle her as she’s coming down…

I put an arm around her body from the side, and the other on her nape.

Either her tech or her biology actually managed to slow our descent, though it wasn’t enough to make the fall gentle.

I landed us in a tumble, trying my best to take the brunt of the fall.

“You all right? Hey, are you okay!” I panted, though I hadn’t exerted myself.

For a second, I was worried, she wasn’t responding, she just stared at me blankly.

“Yeah…” She gulped down.

I pulled an arm away from her neck, sighing in relief.

“You sure you don’t want to go to a hospital or something? Or to get some sort of sci-fi scan?”

I held on to her arm, as I walked her back to the line.

A few guards approached us, asking if we would press charges, we didn’t. Clover was waiting for us in line.

She smiled like she knew something I didn’t, “Smooth.”

I grinned back, “Yeah, I’ve been working out. I didn’t just sit in a void like you and everybody else during June.”

She frowned. Tilting her head with a slight smile breaking through, “How are you, Parker?”

Maybe a twinge redder than before, Charlie replied, “Fine…”

She had finally managed to get her feet on the ground, she was shivering a little, she must have been cold from being up so high.

Clover suddenly grabbed her by her other arm, and I let her go in turn, “Come on babe, lets bail your brother out, huh?”

Charlie looked back to me as she slipped away.

I put on a smile, though any cover we’d had was blown away with the wind, I couldn’t catch that.

I slung their bags over my back once again.

After talking to the fat lady in the toll, showing her something on Charlie’s phone, we were sent into an employee’s area of the- I guess this was an airport.

We descended a few flights of stairs before coming back outside again, and I could finally take in the majesty of this city.

And Bob was right, this was an actual city, the fact it was a single structure connected through panels and boards had made me think twice.

But now that I was on the ground, a whole street was on display, and I could see the storied buildings stretching to the sky, there were shielded windows lining the hundreds of floors.

The city was completely man made, and although the architecture was meticulously crafted from the ground up, it wasn’t utilitarian.

As we were walking to a car park, we passed a street with trees planted into dirt patches on the sidewalk. I think they were some breed of cherry blossoms.

The sunlight caught my eye through them, and I looked up through the branches.

I’ve sensed a running theme with this trip.

I kept encountering bits and pieces of iconography that reminded me of Irminsul.

I hesitated before I continued after the girls. This place wasn’t what I’d seen in that dream. The buildings are tall and dark, I’d say the weather is cold, and I’ve already gotten a glimpse at the people here.

They’re on the edge. Bad news overseas has left them restless. A country- a city just like this was wiped out in the blink of an eye. And no clear reason as to why.

How can you possibly ignore that?

Clover yelled out in relief as we came a metre away from the car, “Glass God! My feet are killing me… Let’s get this over with,” she turned to me, “If we’re lucky, we’ll be home this time tomorrow.”

She shifted her gaze, “But good fortune never comes when you’re looking for it, right??”

It was like she knew about what was about to happen next.

I recognised the gushing sound of water, not placing the sound immediately.

I turned around.

All I knew in those first few seconds was that we were in trouble.

That’s what I associated that jet of water with.

He descended slowly. In terms of transport, it conveyed more grace than my bounding around.

It also conveyed power, he remained static, his arms crossed, as he reached the ground.

It took me a moment to recognise him.

I had been intimidated by his size before, when he was lanky. Now, he was taller, his arms far more heavily built, he’d half-stripped the armour from one arm, the other appeared to be entirely engulfed in it, finishing in a jagged gauntlet.

It was worn over the same arm I’d broken.

“Well fancy the odds!” There was a delight in his tone.

I think Charlie recognised him by this point, she let out a discomforted squeak.

He started to walk towards me, “I mean, I’m only here for the week, I’m in the middle of funding a war effort, you know- ahh, let’s not talk about politics, how have you been? It’s been an age since I’ve seen either of you children. Ms Parker especially!”

He raised a hand, stroking a chin that wasn’t there, his neck had grown five times as thick.

“And on further inspection, you’re the Mountain’s girls! Though you’ve covered your mark, your biology is the same. Have you defected? Or- oh, have I spoiled some sort of covert operation?”

I could feel Clover scowling as he let out a laugh.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. Though, I think we should leave that chatter for later, Hm?

He marched up to me, and I got into a stance.

“Now, now! I assure you, I harbour no ill-will towards you. I’m a man willing to forgive quite a lot. Even your part in me imprisonment.”

He lifted a hand.

And brought it down on my shoulder in a pat, “It was a quarter-year I spent their, but as you can see it did me some good. More mental than physical, if you’ll believe it. No, I’ve been meaning to catch up with you on other matters, my boy.”

He tapped his cold, damp fingers on my shoulder.

It was his more metallic hand, and there was a curious slowness to it, as if it was difficult to move.

I knew what he wanted to talk about.

“You see, I’ve forgiven you. But… Is that just? If I was a simple bystander to your assault, then I should think it only fair that the gentlemen you’ve done harm to should repay it. An eye for an eye.”

Clover interrupted, “If you’re going to assault a civilian, someone who’s traveling with a VIPU, I think you’ll find it pretty difficult to get much founding from, let alone access to the administrative building.”

“Yes. That’s true, of course. And for the record, I goaded the boy into fighting me in the first place, it was my fault, really, haha… It would be best we forget about the whole affair.”

He said that, but he kept an icy grip on my shoulder.

“Well, best of luck Mr…”

I was apprehensive to answer, and it seems I took too long.

He shrugged with his other arm, “Ah well, I’ve gone this long without knowing, I think I should prefer to hear your name in some grand event, I have you rated as a world class chap, I hope know.”

I didn’t see it coming.

I was looking up two feet, trying to find something in that black maw.

It wasn’t even a second long sensation, my body numbed as soon as it hit, all I felt was bile shoot up my throat.

My eyes jittered.

It felt like my irises were knocked out of my body, simply by that numb tremor.

If he said something, if anyone said anything after that, I didn’t hear it.

I passed out after one punch.