Keep Yourself Alive

The autopilot on Bijou’s ball ship brought us sweeping down over the Bacchus Theater. It did a slow rotation around, spiraling downward from up high, giving me the opportunity to look through the display by the door at the massive waterfall that was plummeting from the land mass above. It was far, far bigger up close than I originally gave it credit. The mass of the great pillar of water was easily as big around as a city block. It spilled into the pink water below and yet the lake remained still like a sheet of glass. The mirror-like reflection of the water was unsettling.

The ship brought us around to the front of the wide open estate giving me a view of how big it was. The Bacchus Theater was easily three times the size of an average shopping mall back home. Tall spires shot up at the four corners of the estate, each one beaming brilliant pink and gold lights, spelling out what enchanting and bewitching promises they offered. Love, Sex, Power, and Greed.

At the very center of all of them sat a sprawling mansion in pink, gold, and white. Extending out in front of the building was a grand driveway and a large pink concrete circle around a smaller fountain. A number of ball shuttles sat parked around it. Out farther from that, a long driveway ran down to a landing pad out on the water.

As our ship spiraled down towards the pad I began to see in better detail. The closer we got the more I could make out, and what I saw down below made my pulse start to rise. That long driveway leading to the landing pad had black armored NEST military standing in a formation of six, waiting for us to touch down.

“Looks like Orcus rolled the red carpet out for you,” Stagger said, looking at the display with me.

“Looks like,” I replied, feeling Bijou’s hand on my shoulder.

“We’re right here with you, Charlie,” She said and I nodded my head.

I felt the ball ship set down with a quiet thunk. I closed my eyes and took a few long breaths, lifting a hand up to ruffle my bangs. Tapping the button by the door, I stepped down that slanted walkway, right down to the round port that led out. It irised open in front of me and I stepped out into that blue eastern sky day.

I practically strutted to the top of the long driveway, the intoxicating smell that came off of that odd, pink water laced with Ambrosia almost brought a moan out of me. It smelled like everything in life I loved, dancing with an erotic, candy-like smell that I couldn’t pinpoint.

It made me hot.

I could feel my temperature threatening to rise. All I could think about was Stagger’s body.

His smell.

“Fuck.”

I had to block out the false notion and focus on the severity of my situation.

The six soldiers that were waiting on me were in side by side formation. From their sides, they pulled six black rods, snapping them out with a jerk of their hands. I heard the electrical crackle from the white-hot channeling forks at the ends of them.

“Siobhan Aoibheann! Stand down! Drop whatever weapons you are carrying and get down on your knees.” One of the six demanded, stepping forward.

A black wing burst from his back, not unlike Stagger’s own.

I squinted at it.

My dark eyes looked up at the man in front of me as he took a number of steps forward.

I did too.

We met face to face right there in front of his small team. I barely came up to his chin.

“Last chance, Siobhan. Do the right thing and let’s all go home safely.”

“Tell me somethin’,” I said, my head dropping, turning my eyes down to the ground. “How long has NEST been using that kinda multi-tool?”

“Standard issue. Long time. Now, do as I say and no one has to get hurt.”

“By long time... y’mean as far back as the celestial uprising?”

“Longer,” He said, his dark eyes boring into my face.

“Y’know... I think my friend stole one of those.”

“Whoever your friend is, it sounds like both of you need to be brought to justice. Down on your knees. Weapons on the ground.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, the fuck I do.”

I spun out wide to his right as he jabbed in at me with his electrical rod. My right arm swung high, feeling the edge of my shield ram into the back of his neck, collapsing him to his knees. Before he could recover, I was completing the turn, hammering him to the ground with the side of my left fist.

His wing moved to try and upright him but I pinned it to the ground and used it as footing to separate him from his multi-tool with a punt. His body scuttled across the pink concrete and splashed into the Ambrosia.

I turned to face the others as they rushed me.

I leaned forward into a full sprint, rushing right back at them. A yell and a short hop sent me spinning through the air into them, not with my shield but my multi-tool. The navy and white wing burst free behind me, flailing out wide into the five of them.

Men scattered amidst the slicing blades of those feathers and I continued the momentum to the ground, dropping to my knees, swinging my shield out as I continued my spin low. I heard it rapidly thump across their knees, staggering the three men attached to them. Instead of springing up to my feet, I leaned forward, pushing myself like a spear into the fourth, leading with my shield.

Continuous motion was what Stagger taught me.

To slam into them hard, use my short height to stay low, immobilize, crush, go for the joints, go for the face, the eyes; never stop moving. Don’t be elegant, fight dirty and brawl.

I could fuckin’ brawl.

My shield sent him off of his feet and ramming into one of the lighted pylons to either side of the walkway. I heard him splash into the water as I rolled forward right into the fifth. Coming up onto my feet in a bounce, I turned in the air so my back was to him, blasting the fifth man to the ground with my body. I rolled over him and back up to my feet with my shield arm high, coming down in a harsh chop with its edge. Once, twice, a third time into his chest, blood bursting from his mouth.

By then the three I had staggered were rushing me again. Still, on one knee having ended the fight for the man beneath me, I shoved off of my anchored foot, barreling into them all. They spilled like bowling pins into a heap of arms and legs.

My wing spun me around on the ground and the spray of blood as I sliced through two of them let me know their fight had ended. The third popped up to his feet to try and back pedal away from me as those two bodies lay bleeding.

I stood as tall as my five feet would let me, marching towards him.

“Back off. Back off!” He roared.

I snatched my shield off of my arm and took it in both hands. Spinning into him, I bashed him off of his feet with the wolf metal, the force of the impact sending his legs in the air and his back and skull smashing into the ground.

My shield was back on my arm and I was sprinting towards the Bacchus Theater.

I felt a blitz of air whip past my left side.

Bijou was off.

I looked up to see Stagger taking to the air. He called down to me.

“That was amazing!”

Breaking my stride to wave up at him, a silly smile on my face, I called back.

“Oh my god, I know right? I can’t believe I just did that!”

I heard him laughing as he smashed through the window at the top floor of the mansion. Alarms blared in the distance and excited voices called from up ahead.

My feet pounded the pavement as I rushed on, crossing the concrete driveway at speed, long strides rendering me airborn more often than not. I skirted around the fountain on the grounds like a hunting cat, hurdled over the well-trimmed bushes, and slipped between the ball shuttles that were parked in a row out front of the theater.

“Hey, hey!” Two NEST soldiers at the door turned on me, bringing their electric rods to bare.

I looked ahead through the glass doors to see more coming. I remembered what Stagger told me. Don’t try to fight them on their terms. Use my speed and my weight.

Without stopping, my feet left the ground and both of my knees rammed into the closest soldier’s chest armor. His electric rod flew out of his hand as his body went smashing into the man moving in behind him. Feet back on the ground, I charged the soldiers coming through the door. I leaned backward, knowing as soon as those doors opened they’d go for my head.

They did.

And they made a mistake.

Rods swung high and I slid low. My left hand hit the ground as an anchor and both of my feet plunged into the ribs of one among them. Pushing off of that hand, my wing burst back out catching the air, and sent me spinning right through the next two, cutting into their armor and setting them back peddling.

My feet touched the ground but only for a moment, vaulting forward, shield leading to bash through bodies. My momentum parted them to the left and right, stumbling them. I dropped low onto my knees again, spinning through the rest, their rods thumping off of my wing and shield as the two created a barrier around me. Sparks flew between us as rods from every direction tried to break my defense.

Between my wing and my shield, the men came on and their attacks fell to nothing. Batted away, swatted aside, or absorbed by the surface of either feathers or metal as I turned this way and that, whirling back and forth like the agitator in an old washing machine, my defense impregnable.

I was a whirling ball that couldn’t be broken.

My shield was an immovable object.

I clenched my arm, using the force of popping to my feet to shove it outward. A great gong rang out and four men were shoved off of their feet from my push. I heard them smash into the front glass doors. I heard groans of pain. I heard bodies hit the ground and roll away. My eyes were back the way I came, standing there like a paragon of my own strength.

I felt infinite.

The NEST soldiers behind me came on in a rush and my wing swatted their attacks aside, giving me time to backspin, shoving my shield into the first of them. He bounced off of the metal and rolled away. I let my shield continue forward off of my arm, it’s edge rupturing the helmet of another soldier. My fingers grabbed the forearm strap to stop it from going too far as I watched the soldier’s head snap back and drop. Yanking my shield back to me, I swung it around to chop another NEST soldier aside, the impact making the shield bounce up into the air. I let it go flying upward, spinning end over end.

The last soldier came on and I dipped my head left, then swayed right to avoid his wild baton swings. My shield came down from the air as I spun to avoid the next attack, rolling around his shoulder to get behind him. I shoved him with my back into my falling shield, smashing his head off of that impossibly heavy metal as it descended. The loud gong let me know he wasn’t getting up again.

He collapsed as my shield flipped forward like a giant coin, slamming through the glass front doors and cracking the marble floor inside.

I was through those front doors in a run, yanking my shield up and stowing it onto my back. I let my travel icon out, that beeping, tweeting golden owl flapping its wings as it painted a picture in the air beside me of Stagger and Bijou.

“I’m on the top floor. Working my way down to you,” Stagger said.

I could see the vague outline of him slashing his way through NEST armor, holding his sword underhand as he cut a path to the stairs. A whirling, deadly and precise machine designed for nothing more than ending lives.

“You’re getting slow, Stag,” said Bijou.

Her image flitted in and out of clarity as she zipped around the battlefield.

“I’ve almost scouted the entire Theater. It looks like we’re going to have to push into the tunnels. I don’t see Hymeris.”

“Right,” I nodded, panting as I rushed the hall, “No sign of her here either.”

Paying customers looked wide-eyed at me as I ran past. People ran and scattered left and right having seen me deal with the greeting party out front.

“What the hell is going on? I paid good money to be here!” A white-haired man in an ornate, gaudy coat bitched, slamming his wine glass down on the ground. “This is ridiculous!”

“Sorry!” I replied as I passed.

The pink marble floors of the mansion were gorgeous. Shimmering chandeliers hung overhead and the smell of wine and decadent food was in the air. I could hear the sound of thrumming music coming from the casino floor and the dance hall. I knew exactly where I was from the blueprints Chroma had made us study.

Hymeris wouldn’t be here. Not enough high rollers. I dipped through the open doors on the casino floor, marching through the crowds of people who were staring at me like I was ruining their good time.

A commotion to my right drew my attention. Four soldiers came charging in from the hall leading from the restaurants. Their armor was sleek and lean, not unlike my own. They lifted their left hands and I saw the leather gauntlets on them shimmer with white light.

“Fuck!”

I yanked my shield from my back and brought it down just in time to intercept streaming balls of energy pelting me. People started pouring out of the casino screaming. They shoved and pushed one another, some of them getting pelted in energy fire and igniting in flames.

I got low and fast, tucking myself down behind my shield. Through the rushing, pushing bodies I stepped back with my shield swatting aside or defending against blasts from those gauntlets, making it back to the door I had originally come in from.

The sudden impact of a large bolt slammed me off of my feet and sent me rolling across the floor. Feeling the buzz of the heat from the blast radiating through my body, I forced myself up to sit on my knees. Looking at those soldiers as they fanned out and rushed me, I got to my feet and ran for it, back to the doors before they could box me out of them. I zigzagged through the casino floor, rolling over gambling tables as blasts pelted the ground and blasted wooden furniture around me.

I spun around the slot machines to get back to my path towards the opposite hall. I made it to the door just as I saw one of the soldiers launch another blast, this one much bigger than the ones before it. My eyes went wide. I brought my shield up to intercept it, groaning as the impact fired my little ass down the hall like a white and blue tennis ball.

“Fuck!” The impact hurt. My arm was aching.

I managed to land on my boots, sliding backward until my back slammed cracks into the wall at the end of the hallway intersection.

Lowering my shield, I saw the soldiers advancing.

“Hud only mode!” My owl that was fluttering around somewhere in the casino disappeared and in my vision I could see Bijou’s face.

“What the fuck do I do about energy blasts!?”

“They aren’t energy blasts. They’re channeling Heart Fire through those bracelets.”

“Gotcha. I thought I ate that stuff?”

“It can still hurt you.”

“Piss.”

I looked to my left, then my right down the narrow hallway.

The four soldiers came on and I saw their gauntlets light up. Squinting, I got a closer look at the bracelets they wore.

My feet killed the distance between us.

The first blast came in and my shield batted it down. Another and I spun hard right, slamming myself into the wall. The next blast came in and missed me by inches as I dipped low, crashing into the closest soldier’s knee with my shield. He buckled and from my low position, I dropped to a knee and spun into the next. Up I shot, my legs pushing, bringing the Nemean gauntlet crashing into his chin, sprawling him.

My shield stopped a pair of blasts from the third and fourth soldiers as I pushed in, chopping down to end the one I’d just laid out with my fist. I flung my shield out hard at the remaining two. One dropped low, ducking the spinning disc, the other taking it’s impossible weight in the chest, collapsing under it.

Standing back up from the ground, the remaining guard leveled his gauntlet at me. I lifted both hands in surrender, knowing I didn’t stand a chance of dodging it and didn’t have my shield to block it.

“Don’t move,” He snarled, marching towards me.

“Hadn’t planned on it?” I said.

He spun me to the ground with a punch.

Surprised he hadn’t shot me I rolled over and looked up at him.

His jaw clenched, his eyes alive with a grim hunger.

I knew that look. He wanted to humiliate me.

“Fuck,” I groaned, trying to crawl up to my knees. He snagged me by the throat and hauled me from the ground. I let out a gurgle as he squeezed.

“Time’s up little girl.” I clung to his hand looking into his helmet visor.

“If you want me to get off, you gotta squeeze harder.”

“What the f-”

My Nemean glove beeped at my side.

He looked down at it.

Two words dominated my vision.

Charging Complete!

My glove gave a loud roar that radiated through my entire body as my knuckles blasted right through the bottom of his helmet. Metal and glass shattered in a spray of blood as his neck gave a crisp pop, both of us tumbling to the ground.

“Son of a...”

I coughed, kicking his body away from me as I crawled to the side of the narrow hall. Swallowing hard, one hand pressed against the wall to support me as I sat up. I looked at that glove on my hand and only then noticed the blinking little red light. Then I looked up at the words at the top corner of my HUD. I recognized them from earlier on Bijou’s ship.

Nemean Glove: Charging...

I panted, looking at the lion emblem on the back of my wrist. I looked around at the bodies I’d left in my wake, turning over to sit on my ass.

“This shit- ..” I dry heaved, my eyes watering hard, “is not like the movies.”

Forcing myself up I blew a hard breath and shambled over to collect my shield.

“Fuck me. Get it together, Charlie.”

I swallowed a few breaths of air and pushed myself on, running down the right fork of the T shaped hall. I slammed my hip into the opulent doors to pop the latch and open them, but jogged to a stop as I was met with three large white staircases. They each led up to the second deck above. Trickling pink water fell down the side of a rock waterfall into a little pond to my left. The sweet smell of Ambrosia wafted my way as I breathed it in, biting my bottom lip, my eyes drifting closed.

Fuck I was thirsty.

Blowing my breath out hard, I looked under the stairs to see a brilliantly lit hall leading to the back of the building where two double doors read Exit to Love Tunnel.

I looked at that pond again and took several slow steps towards it. The smell was intoxicating. I looked around nervously before I got down on my knees and crawled closer, licking my lips.

“Charlie, I’ve got fuck-all up here,” Bijou said through the icon network.

Her voice snapped me out of my trance so hard I snapped back up to my feet, looking frantically around.

“What? Yeah! No,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean, I got nothing. Haven’t seen her.”

“Me either,” Bijou answered. “Have you heard from Stag?”

“Not a word. You think he’s okay?” I asked, embarrassment coloring my cheeks.

I heard Bijou’s musical laugh in my ear.

“Oh, trust me. Stagger’s okay. He’d let us know if he wasn’t.”

“What makes you so sure?” I asked, walking towards those double doors, forcing myself not to look back at that pond.

“Because Stagger hates NEST. If ever you don’t see him, it means he’s off killing entire platoons for fun. Your boyfriend’s a badass.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I whined, but the thought of Stagger out destroying NEST platoons with his sword, throwing grown men this way and that. I’d have to store that image in my Jill Junk for later.

Wish he’d throw me around.

I shook the thought out of my head, realizing the scent of that pink water was still affecting my thoughts.

“Can we focus, please?” Stagger’s voice interrupted, “I’m trying to concentrate.” I heard the struggle in his voice and I imagined him slashing through scores of soldiers as he spoke to us. I could hear his sword clanging against metal, hear screams, panic.

I wanted to open my view of his HUD and watch.

As I got to the double doors, they opened on their own. Five tall NEST agents, each of them wearing the same paladin style armor I had seen in Robin’s apartment months ago, marched in.

They had purple rank braids on their arms. I knew them right away. Not only were they Earth Guard, looking at those purple sashes, they were Lilith’s.

“I gotta go,” I said, closing my comm.

I felt the fear Lilly made me live in every day come creeping back. I felt tiny and marginalized like a Re-Car all over again. A member of an unfortunate group of people that didn’t choose their circumstances, but suffered all the same because of them.

I backed away from the door, looking at those black helmets, those purple bands. Fear had me by the throat but I swallowed my bitter pill and pulled my shield from my back.

“Aren’t you boys a little far from your turf?” I asked, feigning confidence.

“I’m gonna enjoy dragging your little ass back to Lilith,” A familiar voice said, marching out in front of the others.

This one used to like smacking me up pretty good before he dropped me off at Lilly’s interrogation room.

“Been a long time since I beat your ass, Charlie. Where’ve you been?”

“Oh, you know. Getting a life... Sorta like your wife did when she started fuckin’ your friends,” I shrugged.

“Still got that mouth on you,” He smirked, his four buddies lining up behind him.

“I don’t think I like how much attention you’re paying to my mouth, Donahue. Somethin’ you wanna tell me?”

“If you’re offering. Lilith was the only thing keeping your mouth off my dick anyway.” His electrical rod crackled to life as it extended at his side.

“Hey, Donahue... soundin’ a little rapey.” I lifted my hand, my thumb and index finger a small space apart. “Do I need a whistle and a twitter hashtag? Y’know there’s nothin’ wrong with just asking us if we’ll suck your dick.” I made a show of licking my lips.

He pulled his helmet off. Short, sandy blond hair cut in military fashion sat atop his head, his face wide and thick like a professional juicer. His green eyes glared at me as he tossed his helmet aside.

“Hey, Charlie? Suck my dick.” his gruff voice barked, his men circling around me.

“Was that so hard?”

I launched myself to the right, planting my shield in the chest of one of them. He blasted out a loud cough as my wing burst free from my back in anticipation of the sizzling electrical rods I heard behind me. Batons crackled off its feathered surface.

I hopped up, yanking my shield off my arm and brought it down. Both feet landed on it, stomping down onto the chest of the downed guardsman with a final gagging sound from beneath me.

I stepped off of my shield with one foot and slung it back with the other, my shield whipping out to knock the feet out from under one of the four remaining as those electrical rods came whipping in. My right hand swung out to my side, batting away Donahue’s baton. Another slammed right into my chest and my jaw clenched, feeling the surging current rattle my bones.

I crumpled to the ground as they fell over me.

Rods smacked down across my body. I tried to curl into a ball to defend myself but my small frame jerked, spasmed and thrashed on the ground from jolts of electricity.

“Yeah, you remember gettin’ fried don’t you?” Donahue growled down at me as I flopped about, screaming.

I could practically hear his grin. They ceased the beating long enough for me to roll over onto my back, panting.

“Fuck...” I coughed and Donahue grabbed me by my curly hair, hoisting me up onto my knees. I groaned as he stressed my roots, “shit!”

“Where’s that smart mouth now, huh?”

I looked away from him and down at the ground.

“This is the best the great Siobhan Aoibheann has to offer?” He shook me hard, rattling my skull with my bangs.

“Fuck you!” I snarled back at him before his fist split my lip.

“Shut up.”

I shut my mouth and glared up at him, blood dripping down my chin.

“I can’t wait to hear you scream. When she breaks you... and she will. She’ll break you.”

My eyes retreated from his.

“That’s the little coward we all know.” He said.

My HUD flashed.

Charging Complete!

My Nemean glove roared into the hall as it smashed through the armored pad of his knee, buckling it backward.

He howled, stumbling back, my bangs slipping through his fingers save for a few strands he tore free. I hit the ground rolling away from the electric batons slamming down towards me, grabbing my shield that was still sitting feet from the first guard’s dead body.

I scrambled off the ground, my wing whipping out and throwing me upward. Rolling over backward in the air to touch down on the low ceiling, my shield sliding down onto my arm in the same instant, I launched myself back down.

I roared as my shield blasted into Donahue’s face as he tried to swing his baton upward, dropping him beneath me to the ground. I whipped my wing and turned back just in time to deflect a swing aimed for my back with my shield surface. I used the energy from his baton slamming into my shield to sling my arm back, bashing my shield into another guard, sending him to the floor and out of the fight.

Turning full around to bat another attack aside from the guard behind me, I punched a second attack away with my glove then barreled into him, my feet finally touching down on Donahue’s body. I slammed into him, using Donahue for traction as I ran. With my whole body, I bashed him to the floor, snarling as I took him down.

I crawled over him like a wild animal, straddling his middle as my shield came up. I bashed down into his neck once, twice before I slung my arm back behind me, releasing my shield to send it whirling through the air as Donahue managed to sit up. It smashed into his throat, driving him onto his back where the weight of it nearly removed his head.

I fell back onto my back, desperately trying to slow my breathing, to stop the ache in my chest, my legs still laying over the guard I ended prior to Donahue.

“Shit... Fuckin’ shit,” I forced myself over onto my stomach but it took me much longer to find my feet.

I stumbled over to my shield and picked it up, glaring down at Donahue’s body. Exhaustion was burning into my muscles. Swallowing hard, I shoved my shield back onto my right arm and pushed myself into a jog towards the exit doors.

Blasting my way out of them I came to a stop in a small room across from another set of doors. My lungs were burning and I couldn’t catch my breath fast enough. To my right was another single door labeled stairs. I walked over to the double doors opposite me that led out and pushed them.

Nothing.

I brought my shield back and bashed it into them.

They didn’t budge.

“Back door’s locked. I’m comin’ up,” I panted out, activating my comm by looking at the little yellow dot in the top right corner of my vision.

I was still winded when I turned for the stairwell door.

Hip bumping the door open, I jogged inside and forced myself up to the first landing, sweat running down my face.

I looked up to the next set of stairs and my shoulders dropped.

“Aw c’mon, man!”

There were ten NEST guards trundling down the steps towards me. I looked around the landing, analyzing my space. Too tight for my wing. Likely too tight for my shield in a full-on fight. I stowed it on my back looking over the railing to see how far down the stairs went.

All the way to the basement.

Then up. Seven, maybe eight floors.

Wiping my mouth with the back of my glove I watched them crowd the stairs and come to a stop, waiting to see what I was going to do.

Too many of them, one of me.

Still winded, I put my hands on my hips and started pacing back and forth.

“How’s it gonna be, Siobhan?” The guard with the captain rank on her helmet asked.

Batons crackled to life all the way up the stairs.

“Yeah. I’m thinkin’.” I nodded as I stopped in front of the stairs.

I tilted my head, resigning myself to it.

I threw my coffee brown eyes up at the men waiting on me to surrender. For some reason, I hated the fact that they thought I would quit.

“Yep... We’re doin’ this,” I waved them on and sighed, “C’mon.”

Squaring my shoulders, I balled my little hands into fists.

The group of them fell over me like a black armored wave.

I dipped down under a baton and rapidly churned my fists into a set of ribs, shoving my feet against the ground to ram my shoulder into another, driving him up the stairs to knock over a few of the men behind him. I leapt from the ground, growling, clambering over them, my metal armored fists pounding, shoving and blasting into helmets, shoulders, anything I could get my hands on.

They threw me around.

Getting punched and kicked, shoved and smacked with batons, I went at them all the harder. I punched and kicked back.

Whirling into them, I sent my elbow blasting a guard’s helmet off. My spin continued, giving me the momentum to punch another with such ferocity I heard his back buckle. His head hit the stairs and another guard fell over him. Right into my rising knee.

“Fuck you!”

Like a little wolverine. Snarl-snarl-snarl.

I couldn’t let them electrocute me. That was my plan.

My only plan.

Every time I saw a baton come up, I whirled and punched it wide, my elbow snapping back to subdue a fresh helmet. If one did hit me, I only resigned myself to blows from its side, avoiding the end of it, dancing away from the electrical prod. Every time I turned I sent a helmet popping off of a head. Wading into the press of bodies, using my tiny size to my advantage as I ducked under arms and avoided punches, I went on the attack.

I roared in, buckling the sides of knees, kicking out ankles, punching thigh joints. My shield at my back, I shoved myself backward and pressed full grown men against the wall with the shield’s immense weight, knowing they’d push me back, knowing they’d aid me with their strength.

As a group they would shove that heavy shield off of them, throwing me forward. I shoved a man over the banister to fall to the basement steps below using their push to my advantage.

There was nothing elegant here. Nothing beautiful or seamless. It was dirty, tactless and desperate.

It was what I was good at.

I ducked and weaved my frame in and out of bodies, pushing up the stairs. My fists whirled amongst them, peppering faces with those metal bands. I busted noses, lips, anything I could get to that wasn’t protected by a helmet. I punched ears, kicked ribs, bashed knee joints and elbows. I dropped low and let my Nemean glove roar through a pair of testicles.

I even launched myself at a helmetless guard and bit his fucking face.

Elbows and punches were assaulting me from every side. I caught them in the ribs, the stomach, the thighs and chest, my shield absorbing what it could from behind. One among them even stuffed two fingers into my mouth and nearly fish hooked me in the melee. I reached up and grabbed his pinky finger, snapping it at the second knuckle.

As I started to thin the crowd, the movement became easier. I caught a fist in my small hand that was intended for my face and tugged back, stumbling him into another punch destined for me from another attacker.

I ducked a baton, slipped my head past a punch, took another to my jaw that stumbled me into two men who grabbed me by my arms.

I took a few shots to the gut, blasting the air out of me before my feet came up to shove him down the stairs, ending his fight on the concrete below. I then let my legs go weak under me, crumbling down to a sitting position that forced the men holding my arms to fall down the stairs behind him.

Once enough of them were clear, my wing burst to life behind me, shredding through the rest, sending a spray of blood against the wall. I spun hard left, then right, sawing through anyone near me, coming up roaring and punching.

I grabbed the guard at the top of the landing by the collar and repeatedly pumped my left fist into his face plate, again and again, making him stumble backward as I pummeled his helmet into a mess of spiderwebbed glass. I punched and punched and punched until the face behind the helmet was a mask of red, continually pushing him backward until his body slid down the wall behind him.

My arms fell to my sides, my chest heaving as three more guards came running from the door of the landing above. They stared down at me, then the raspberry jam that was their colleague’s face, his body slumped against the wall, crumpled on the floor.

I wobbled on my feet, exhaustion slumping my shoulders and making my head feel like a chore to lift.

But I lifted my little fists anyway.

“Knuckle up, Fucksticks,” I panted out in defiance.

They rushed me. My shield was off my back in an instant. I charged one of them and bashed them right over the banister. My left foot came up and shoved off of the railing, throwing myself with my shield arm leading, back to slam the second soldier into the wall. I felt his ribs give out under his armor.

The third guard cracked his baton across the back of my neck.

My left arm came up to absorb most of the impact, but it hurt. Sparks flew in my vision. I shoved off of the NEST soldier I had almost buried in the drywall and slammed the last one standing into the railing.

I heard him groan. My right arm brought my shield up.

I brought it down fast and in three hard, vicious slams, he stopped moving.

I shoved his body aside and stumbled back onto my ass.

Every part of me hurt. I could feel my skin bruising under my armor. My face felt hot and tight. I tasted my own blood and the tickle on my top lip let me know my nose was bleeding.

Swallowing hard, the back of my throat dry, I wiped the blood off my face and forced myself up. My legs churned as I forced myself on, coughing hard, painful gasps of air from my abused lungs. I took the stairs two at a time, my thighs complaining with every flex of my muscles.

“Fuck. Maybe my ass is too big,” I groaned, pushing through the burning sensation in my seizing hips.

When I got to the eighth-floor landing, I rammed the door open and spilled out onto the carpet, collapsing onto my back.

I was a mess.

My armor was dirty and smudged with burn marks from electrical batons all over, dots and splotches of blood here and there.

But I coughed out a laugh.

I had only gotten my lip split and a bloody nose.

I would have a thousand bruises tomorrow, but for now, I could only revel in the fact that I made it this far.

They didn’t break me.

“S-... Stag... f- fuck,” Coughs blasted from my lungs. “Did you find her?”

I didn’t hear a response.

I let my travel icon out. The golden owl tweeted and beeped, casting light into the air.

“Stag? Bijou!?” I called.

“I’m fine,” Bijou said. Her voice was nearby.

I looked up and around. She was standing by the elevator, the doors rolling closed behind her, her regal frame in her sleek armor with that large sword of hers resting on a shoulder.

“Did you just take the elevator?!” I yelled.

“Well... yeah. Why’d you take the stairs?” She asked, coming over and helping me get me to my feet.

I probably wouldn’t have managed it on my own. My body was weak and sore and more importantly, I turtled myself on my shield.

“I didn’t see the fuckin’ elevator!” The words tumbled out of my mouth, exasperated.

“Is that your blood?”

“What? No- no. It... I mean, yeah. Some of it. I just won my first fist fight.” I pointed over my shoulder with a thumb at the stairway door.

“Right. Well, I still haven’t seen Hymeris,” Bijou said, bringing her bloody sword down from her shoulder to set the tip on the floor.

“Yeah, me either. I will say though,” I said, catching my breath a little, “This is a really nice place. I like the pink marble downstairs. I mean, little much, but... I like it.” I nodded, looking around.

“Hon, are you alright?”

“Did you know,” I swallowed hard, “fighting was so goddamn hard?”

“Uh-huh,” Bijou said, looking at me. “Are you alright?”

“I uh... yeah. Yeah.” I decided, nodding.

“Right,” Bijou smiled, brushing my hair out of my face. “You look exhausted.”

“I got my ass beat down there.”

Bijou put her hand on the back of my neck and started leading us down the opulent pink and golden hallway.

“So many batons. Sooo many. They just kept,” I gestured like I was clubbing the air, “just... over and over.”

“Uh-huh. Sweetie, you’re rambling. Just breathe.” Bijou said, serenity in her voice as we rounded the corner, walking past seashell sconces on the walls illuminated with almost divine golden light.

“Okay,” I said, trying to catch the rest of my breath.

We walked on in silence but we both smelled it at the same time. I looked at Bijou and she looked at me. The unmistakable metallic smell of blood like wet iron in a hot rain. We hurried our footsteps, moving to the next corner. She brought her sword down from her shoulder, I brought my shield from my back.

Blood was spattering the walls. Bodies were stacked on the floor in little piles left and right, all the way down the hall. Bijou and I just stared at the carnage. We walked over puddles of blood leading to deceased NEST soldiers. Some were missing limbs, their hands, arm or leg nearby. Some were surgically cut and left to spray blood all about the floor and walls.

Blood was everywhere.

Whoever had been through here went for arteries and let their enemies bleed out.

Nobody had a quick death.

“Looks like a fuckin’ Joan Mitchell painting in here,” I whispered.

“Shh,” Bijou hissed and I went quiet.

We heard voices coming from the other side of the doors sitting slightly ajar at the end of the hall. One of them was definitely Stagger.

“That’ll be him. I think he’s found her,” Bijou whispered.

As we marched towards the doors, Bijou pushed them open and stepped inside.

I found myself looking around a gorgeous manilla office that looked like something my sister Andy would have paid top dollar for. The only exception would be the fact that cushions were all over the floor and paintings of people in all manner of sexual positions littered the walls. Over by the wide window, actual people stood naked and unmoving despite the slaughter that had just taken place outside of those double doors.

Their eyes were moving around frantically but their bodies were stuck in place.

They’d been petrified. Made into statues. Their skin was painted solid gold.

Stagger stood in the middle of the room across from a woman that looked like she was my size. She was dressed in pink and gold robes, her skin a rich shade of cinnamon yellow. Her almond eyes were painted with deep gold mascara and eyeshadow.

She looked like a living doll, really. So pretty and perfect I wanted to punch her to see if she would actually bruise.

“Meris... come on, be reasonable. Look, we played your game. You had your fun, just give us what we want, okay? Let us on the boat and we’re out of your hair.” Stagger said, exasperation rich in his tone.

“That’s not how this works, Stagger Lee,” Hymeris replied, glancing at Bijou and I as we entered.

We both lifted a hand and spoke together.

“Hello.”

“Wow, you really are short,” I said.

“Told you Stagger likes short girls,” Bijou smiled.

“Ohh, I get it now. Cus we’re both short.” I nodded, stating the obvious while I offered a weak, tired chuckle.

“It’s not funny if you have to explain it, Charlie,” Bijou said, pulling me closer to place a motherly kiss on the top of my head.

“Meris,” She greeted the woman in pink and gold.

“Huayra God. Lovely to see you made it back,” Hymeris returned the greeting.

“No, it isn’t. You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”

“Alright,” Hymeris said, “I hate you and I hope you end up dead again.”

“That’s the spirit,” Bijou smiled, but there was nothing joyful in her eyes.

“So that’s her, hm?” Hymeris asked, looking right at me. “Come here, Siobhan.”

“Nope,” I shook my head.

“It’s fine, Charlie,” Stagger said, waving me over, his hazel eyes reassuring.

I took a few nervous steps closer.

“It’s fine,” Stagger said again, nodding his head.

“I got beat up,” I said, nodding conversationally at Hymeris, “Like two or three times since I got here. I really like your marble floors. I tried not to bleed on ’em too much.”

Hymeris offered me a smile and beckoned me again with one of her small hands. The pained expression on my face only contorted more when I stepped closer and she took my chin in her grasp.

I avoided her eyes.

“Ow.”

“I’m sorry, Darling.” She turned my face left then right, inspecting me, “my word. Aren’t you fetching.”

“I’m not fetchin’ you shit,” I frowned.

“I mean, you-” She started, but I cut her off.

“I know what it means. I’m fuckin’ with you. Look, forgive me for not exactly bein’ happy right now. You ratted us out and now I got full-grown men fuckin’ me up like I divorced ’em without a prenup. I’m in a pretty shitty mood and I just wanna get this shit done. My sister’s in a lot of trouble right now.”

I heard Bijou breathe a heavy sigh.

Stagger glared wide-eyed at me as he mouthed the very clear words:

Shut. The fuck. UP!

Hymeris smiled at me, “is that really the way you talk?”

“Yeah, why, you wanna kiss me? That seems to be a trend around here.”

Hymeris’ eyes flicked to Bijou.

“Guilty,” Bijou lifted her hand, wiggling fingers at our host.

“Focus. Please.” Stagger bitched.

“Penny for the guy,” Bijou said, walking over to stand beside me and Stagger. “That’s what we need.”

Hymeris turned and walked around her desk to sit in her beautiful clamshell chair. She sat back and regarded all of us with her pensive, exotic stare.

“Stagger, was that your mess?” I asked, looking at him.

“What, the guys in the hallway?”

“Yeah,” I said, my lip curling. “Looks like a fuckin’ late night Slap Chop infomercial out there.”

“You’re gonna love my nuts,” Bijou and I said together, quoting the commercial.

“Jinx. You owe me a rootbeer,” I pointed at her.

“Shit,” Bijou cursed, looking over at Stagger and lifting an index finger, “She was one second faster.”

“Excuse me!” Hymeris yelled and all three of us turned to face her.

“What?” I asked, my tone sharp. “I mean- sorry. I keep forgetting we broke in. Look, can we get the change or not?”

“Change?” Stagger asked, confused.

“Yeah, you guys keep asking for money for some guy. What are we buyin’, a bus pass or somethin’? I don’t have all day. Robin’s in trouble. Can we speed this shit up?”

“No,” said Bijou, “A penny for the guy. It’s not money. It’s a specific type of coin that only one person in the world takes.”

“The Boatman,” I said, nodding.

“Ding-ding-ding,” Stagger said, mocking a game show host as he pointed at me. “What do we have for her, Johnny?”

“Enough!” Hymeris roared.

We all snapped to attention. Suddenly that little woman wasn’t so innocent looking anymore. Her voice scared the hell out of me. My bottom lip trembled and I closed my mouth to stop it. She was looking right at me. I turned my eyes to one of the paintings on the wall.

My eyebrows tightened as I studied it.

I didn’t hear any of the negotiations happening around me. The sound of their voices fell into the background like when the adults talk in a Peanuts cartoon. Random noises from a trumpet as I stared.

I snapped my head over to Stagger, then back to the painting, then to Stagger again.

My mouth fell open.

In the painting, Stagger Lee was standing at its center in leather pants with his shirt off, his hard body oiled up and shining. He had a cowboy hat on his head. Three women to his left, three men to his right, all of them dressed in some sexual parody of old spaghetti western fiction. They all had revolvers on their hips. The title card above read:

The Magnificent Seven: A Bacchus Theater Production. Rated XXX, directed by Hymeris the Duchess of Ambrosia, Goddess of Pleasure. Starring Big Stack O’ Lee.

I thought Bijou was kidding.

I thought we were just winding Stagger up a bit, having a bit of fun. I figured when she whispered in my ear back at Chroma’s place that she was having a bit of a laugh at both of our expenses. I thought maybe he used to date Hymeris or something.

“Wait, you really are a pornstar!?” I shouted and everyone looked at me.

“Was. Was a pornstar. Not by choice and not the point,” he snapped, then turned back to Hymeris to continue negotiating.

“Wait, you’re not just gonna run that stop sign like I didn’t already see it.” I yanked his arm, “how many big titty bimbos have you been bangin’ on camera, Stag?”

He blinked at me slowly.

“Can we... not do this right now?”

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me? This is-”

“HELP ME... CHARLIE!” He shouted, eyes wide, hands gesturing furiously at Hymeris.

I jumped and nodded.

“Y-yeah.. Yeah, sure. J- ... bu,” Bijou glared at me. “We’re talkin’ about this later, Stag.”

“Fine!” Turning his head back to Hymeris he huffed. “As I was saying.”

“How have you come to bargain.” She cut him off. “You walk in with your pockets turned out and you come wanting. What do I stand to gain?”

“What do you want?” Stagger asked, twisting his lips.

Hymeris smiled back.

“Uh-uh,” Stagger shook his head. “I’m not your property anymore. I paid my debt, leave it alone.”

“Property?” I asked.

“Oh, Charlie. Stagger here is a real case,” Hymeris waved a hand at me, sitting forward in her seat, “after his parents died he thought he would get back at their killers by infiltrating the NEST Army. Little Malcolm had dreams of destroying them from the inside to avenge his mommy and daddy.”

It was Stagger’s turn to look away.

“Yeah, yeah. Here we go,” he muttered.

“After his intentions were made clear and he murdered the commandant of the NEST Army, he was dishonorably discharged and extradited from the High Moor, branded a traitor. He’s not allowed this far up. Are you, Stagger?” Hymeris said through her wicked grin.

Stagger just blew a scoff and shook his head.

“But before his extradition, he was ordered to serve hard time in the worst prison in the realm.” She wiggled a finger at him in a chastising wave.

“Muspelheim,” Bijou said, her voice grim.

“The valkyrie jail?” I asked her.

“It’s the land of fire, yeah. You’ve been there before.” She said back.

I recalled my dream.

The place I thought was the Underworld.

I sighed at the realization that I had been on a leash there before. My mind had an interesting way of throwing all the things that scarred me into the same pot with all the things that scared me.

I felt the pain of my leash back then, biting into my neck. I felt the pain of the Mad Queen’s boot kicking me along the cobbled, red stones of Muspelheim, on her way to torment a fresh captive. I felt the sting of humiliation as I remembered being dragged by my leash when my strength gave out.

“But I showed him mercy.”

“I don’t wanna hear this again. It wasn’t mercy, Hymeris. Please stop kidding yourself.” Stagger said.

“Whatever you want to call it. I saw what I wanted and I took it. At great cost, I’ll note. Midvalley wouldn’t let him go for any amount less than six-hundred thousand boltas.”

“Fuck me! Six-hundred thousand!?” I blurted out.

“Yes,” Hymeris nodded, “Has anyone ever told you that you have a foul mouth, Darling?”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded my head as we stared at one another, her point missing me.

Hymeris sighed, “I’ve decided what I want.”

“And what’s that?” Stagger asks.

“A little birdie told me...” She started, standing up from her seat and walking around that beautiful desk.

I watched her reflection in its pearl surface, turning my coffee brown stare on her when she set her predatory gaze on me. Her travel icon came out with a gesture of her hand. It was a small moon with its surface sprinkled with diamond dust.

“That you,” she pointed directly at me, then scrolled through her digital menu to select a file. With the whip of a finger, she threw it my way. “Dance.”

“What?” I curled my lip. Then I got a quick look at the picture she threw at me before I snatched my hand up and tore it down. “Who the fuck told you that?”

“Don’t you worry about the source.”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” I lied, my eyes drifting away from her, balling up that digital file, summoning the glowing outline of a trash can in which I threw it.

A swooshing sound signaled it’s deletion.

“I’m talking about the Sugar Shack. I think you went by Mello Yellow?” My cheeks burned.

“Sugar Shack?” Bijou asked.

I sighed, “It’s a club.”

Bijou and Stagger turned their heads to face me.

“You were a stripper?!” Stag shouted.

“Was. Was a stripper,” I glared at him and mocked his words from earlier, “not by choice and not the point.”

My middle finger extended.

“That’s so petty,” Bijou whispered.

“Shut it,” I pointed at her, my expression flat.

Stagger rolled his eyes.

“So what, you want me to dance for you or somethin’? Look, I don’t do that kinda shit. I did it a couple times to pay the rent, that’s all. I got my ass slapped so many times I felt like I was sittin’ on poprocks the next day. Not only that, y’know what they don’t talk about in those places? Fuckin’ papercuts.”

“Papercuts?” Stagger asked, his face wrinkling.

“Papercuts,” I confirmed. “In very personal areas. Lemme shove dollar bills in your ass for four hours and see how you feel after.”

“I don’t want you to dance for me,” Hymeris said.

“What then?”

“I want you to dance in my theater. I have a wonderful cabaret. One that I’d love to feature the beautiful Siobhan Aoibheann in.”

“Not doin’ it. Pick somethin’ else. I don’t have time and I’m not gonna let you pimp me out.”

Hymeris squinted at me with dangerous promise as she glided towards me and I clenched my fists. She looked down at my hands and laughed.

“I don’t fight, Darling.”

“Yeah, well I do. I’ll box the shit outta you, bitch.”

Bijou stepped over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Charlie.”

“What?”

“Charlie...”

“What, Bee?!” I snapped, glaring at her. “I’ve had about enough of this shit. Robin’s in trouble, this bitch is insane. I’m not shakin’ my ass in your fuckin’ theater!”

Hymeris hit the ground before I even realized I shoved her.

Everyone in the room went quiet.

Even me.

Hymeris was glaring daggers up at me.

I fucked up and I knew it.

“I’m ... I’m sorry, I..”

I reached out to offer my hand, realizing who I just pushed. Not only was she a god, she was also the person who had access to the one thing we needed most in this world.

She slapped my hand away.

I felt a stone in the pit of my stomach. I just sealed Robin’s fate.

“I’m sorry, alright?”

“Get out,” she hissed, getting to her feet.

“I’m-”

“Get out!”

“Please!” I begged, stepping closer.

She took a step back, fear in her eyes. I recognized the expression. I had it on my face many, many times before.

“I’m so... so sorry.”

Bijou was rubbing her forehead.

Stagger was already walking towards the door.

“Well, this shit’s over,” he said, disappointment coloring his voice.

I turned to watch him walk away.

“Stag...” I called after him.

“I’m ... I can’t, Charlie. Just-” he lifted his hand and walked out.

“Bee?” I turned to look at her.

“We could have negotiated for something else, Charlie.” She shook her head.

“Get. Out!” Hymeris roared.

I felt myself jump.

“I... I’ll do it,” I said, dropping my head.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Bijou said. “Let’s just go. We’ll figure something else out.”

“It’s for Robin. I’ll do it.” I turned to face Hymeris. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

Hymeris glared at me for a moment, then walked around to sit at her desk. She looked at me with a smug expression on her face. She knew she had me over a barrel.

I blew a sigh and walked over to her desk, sitting down in the chair across from her.

“Just no porn and no weird costumes.” I didn’t meet her eyes, I stared at her desk and clasped my fingers together in front of me.

“Why should I help you? You’ve come to my beautiful theater, you’ve broken my things and you’ve assaulted me.”

“I’m-..” I shrugged. “Look, I... I’m really sorry, alright?”

She looked at me and my eyes still refused to make it to hers.

“Look at me, Siobhan.”

“I...” I brought my hands up to my temples. “I don’t work that way.”

“I know. Look at me.” She said, her tone threatening.

I felt Bijou’s hand on my shoulder, comforting me.

It felt like it took forever to get my eyes to move up Hymeris’ face to meet her punishing stare.

“I’m going to draw up a contract. Whatever it says, you’re going to do.”

“I’m not doin’ porn.”

“Did I ask you to do porn?”

“No... I just...”

“You just... are loud, uncivilized, unladylike, vulgar... But thankfully beautiful and popular among the people. I’m a businesswoman.”

I frowned at my scolding, my eyes retreating from hers.

“Yeah. I get it. You got me.”

“What did I ask you to do?”

“Dance.”

She opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a piece of parchment paper. From the inkwell beside her, she pulled a broad, pink feather quill free and sat it’s tip on the paper’s surface. I watched ink bleed out of the pen and start spilling over the paper in the form of words. The letters were a brilliant pink, flecked with gold.

“And what are you going to do?” She asked, turning the contract around to face me.

I twisted my lips.

“Dance.”

I looked down at the contract and read over it.

“Good girl.”

“Fuck you. Gimme the goddamn pen.” I snatched it from her and she laughed as I scribbled my messy signature down on the line provided.

“I can’t wait to see you in my cabaret.”

I stood up from the chair and glared back at her.

She returned my stare, both of us measuring one another until I couldn’t stand to do it anymore. My eyes retreated. I heard her titter and it sickened me.

She reached into a drawer of that opulent desk and procured a gold and pink handbag. From it, she pulled a single, shimmering coin, flicking it towards me. Its metallic surface sang in the air as it turned end over end.

“Penny for the guy,” she said and I caught it.

“Yeah, whatever. Just make sure you got stilettos.” I headed for the door, muttering. “Try to at least save some dignity in this shit show and pretend to be taller.”

I stopped at the door when I realized Bijou wasn’t beside me.

She actually hadn’t moved. She was standing there glaring at Hymeris.

“We’re not done yet,” she said, sliding into the chair I just got out of. “Go on without me, Charlie. Meris and I need to have a little talk about my son.” The two women were glaring at each other, the tension between them palpable.

“What about the Boatman?” I asked.

“This is where we part ways, Charlie. I wish you the best of luck, Cutie. I’ll be very disappointed if I don’t see you at home soon.”

I wanted to say something. To say goodbye. To thank her.

She looked back at me and our eyes met.

In the short period of time I had known her, Bijou had become something I relied on. She was constant like the wind she represented.

I knew I wasn’t the easiest person to like. I knew I had problems that most people didn’t want anything to do with, even if they acted like they did. I never had any friends, but Bijou had become mine. She liked me for me.

If I died today, I would regret not being able to live long enough to be a better friend to her in return.

“Thanks for bein’ my friend.”

She smiled, “Go on.”

I hesitated, my eyes burning as I felt tears coming.

“Don’t cry, Cutie. The fellas don’t go for that at all.”

She waved at me with a single finger.

I nodded and forced myself out of the door.

Stagger Lee was standing there fuming. He turned to look at me and shook his head.

“Why do you always have to blow up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Fuck that. You killed us in there. What were you thinking!?”

“I don’t know!” I shouted back, looking away from him. “I just get so mad.”

“I know,” He said, his voice soft as he pulled me to him, his hand on the back of my neck. “I know, kiddo. What are we gonna do?”

“Catch a boat,” I said, holding up the coin.

“Holy shit! How did you get this?” Stagger laughed, plucking it from my hand.

“I just signed a contract to star in Hymeris’ cabaret. Six nights. Next summer. Not exactly how I planned on things goin’ but.. Y’know. Not like we got a lotta choices here.”

The two of us started making our way down the hallway avoiding puddles of blood.

“It’s not so bad,” he shrugged, “I did it.”

“You did a lot of things, Stack O’ Lee,” I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice as we rounded the corner at the end of the hall.

Stagger started leading us towards the elevators Bijou had come out of.

“I’m proud of most of it,” he laughed.

“You would be. That picture back there’s kinda hot though.”

“You liked that?” He grinned.

“Yeah, those guys beside you were really somethin’ else. Way better lookin’ than that mugger in the middle.”

“Fuck you,” we laughed together and he gave me a little push.

“You’re kinda dangerous, Stag.”

“What, that back there? I was just playin’ around.” That statement made me look at him sidelong.

“Christ.” I shook my head.

“Where’s Bijou?”

“She stayed to have a conversation with Hymeris. She’s not comin’.”

“She couldn’t come anyway, Charlie.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s not supposed to be here. Last thing we need is Huayra God stepping into the underworld. It’s gonna accelerate our timetable in ways we can’t handle right now.”

“I mean how would it be any different later? Hymeris knows. She’ll definitely rat us out.”

“Maybe. I don’t think so though.”

“Why?”

“Leverage.” Stagger said. “She’d rather hold the threat over our heads.”

“Right.” I nodded, “Well then... Let’s go get my sister.”

“You got it. Wanna ride on the Tunnel of Love with me?”

“We get out of here alive, I’ll give you season passes.”

“Mm. Bijou was right.”

“What?” I asked, looking at him.

“Everything sounds dirtier coming out of your mouth. C’mon.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Stagger sauntered towards the elevator, tapping the button multiple times.

“Nothing.”

“No, it means somethin’. What are you tryin’ to say?”

“Nothing, Charlie.”

“Stag.”

“Nothing.”