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Arbiter Wolf sat on a large loveseat, chewing pensively on a foreign cigar. The music of the Unwise thrummed through the wall behind him, and a series of documents and firearms littered his coffee table. As he saw the elevator door open on the other side, Nekera escorting in the one-legged hare, he waved his hand. “Leave us.” His voice alone demanded service.
The bird-woman’s cheeks turned up in something close to a smile before she closed the door.
Four stood awkwardly. The heady smell of sweat, drugs, and something else clung to her from the club’s entrance- a stark contrast to the old leather of Wolf’s office. She cast her eyes to the floor, all too conscious of the crinkled hem of her dress. “S-sir, I’m sorry. I should have reported sooner.” She stammered. “I failed to assassinate Sleet Scythe. I never meant to-”
His touch paralyzed her. A black nail wiped away the tear she hadn’t known she had begun to shed. He gripped her chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes- slitted and inhuman, the only animal feature of the Arbiter Wolf. “My dearest. I never want you to be afraid of me.”
His voice shook through Four. If he were to let go of her chin, she would not have the strength to keep standing. “Wolf…” His name was a heavy breath.
“Shh.” Creases folded around his sad eyes. “Beech had said you were scared. I’m so, so sorry that you could feel that way.” It was a smooth movement that led the woman to the loveseat beside him. He smoothed out the ruffled fur on her ears. “Four. I didn’t save you to force you into this service.”
In the woman’s mind, freezing chains wrapped around her neck and arms. The whips had stung least of all the tortures in that place. She remembered the hand on her chin snapping the neck of her slaver.
“I brought you here to give you a new purpose. You decided to work so diligently for me.”
Another flash of memory. Too many enemies to count. Her new form- quiet and agile- leapt across rooftops. She kept her Wolf safe.
“And you come apart after just one missed shot? I thought you were stronger than that.” He let go of her chin, but her gaze never fell down.
Four felt hot. Wolf had never sat with her like this. He had never seemed to care so much. “I thought the shot was clear.” She said. “I promise, I will never miss again.”
“Four…” Arbiter Wolf shook his head. “You will miss again. You aren’t perfect- especially like this.” He turned away from her, picking up a manilla file from the coffee table. “Let’s give you some time to relax, alright? I would authorize some time off with Nekera, but she’s needed in the negotiations for Graydock at the moment.” Four blushed. She hadn’t realized that he knew about her personal relationships. He dropped the envelope on her lap. “This is an easy job, instead. A detail for some of my friends’ daughters, coming to enjoy the Dim City. You know the sights, so just show them a good time.”
He smiled. Four didn’t hear the rest of the explanation- she was preoccupied with noticing Wolf’s dimples. The wolf was a large man, his scars from the old country displayed proudly through a translucent shroud of a jacket. They were filled in with green tech strewn with flowery designs, glittering like a web of emeralds across his tanned skin. His short, silver hair neatly framed a strong face.
She froze as his palm engulfed her shoulder, and she snapped back to listen to his words. “Dearest, your first mission here is to relax. Can you do that?”
Now? How could I? His touch was electrifying. “Of- of course, Wolf.” She finally stammered, standing and smoothing out her dress. “On it, right away!”
She was in the elevator before he could try to talk her down some more. The door shut. Nekera was beside her. “So, do we have to run away now?” She cooed.
“Shut up.” Four couldn’t hold back her smile. Her heart was racing. “He gave me a mission. He told me to relax. I’ll relax so good.” She lied. Nekera smiled with her eyes.
She clutched at her dress as she opened the envelope. Inside, the pictures of a couple of women with tattoos on their necks looked back at her. She tapped her foot impatiently on the velvet carpet. “Ms. Lane and Ms. Rosa Sanchez. Okay, okay. From Norleans… tech representatives… Savari magic…” The profile was brief, but gave a pretty clear idea on the kind of people she would escort- rich mages from the southern cities. Daughters of some conglomerate or another, looking to party without their fathers breathing over their necks. She had a day to prepare.
“Just my luck.” Four groaned. “Why are you closed today?”
The tailor’s sign- a needle threaded with yellow light- didn’t answer her. Four only had one day to find something appropriate to wear. She’d have to use her normal clothes- long skirts to hide her legs and cropped shirts to show off her stomach. Not too different from her outfit now. “Honestly, Wolf, you want me to plan all this in an evening? How is that relaxing?”
A train rattled the sheets of glowing panels above, where, in one of the high-rise buildings, Nekera was casually deciding the future of this entire Dim City. The Dim City lay in tunnels below the sun-drenched Alloton streets- it was surprisingly bright today, as the LED panels that gave it its diffuse glow had been fixed a week prior. People, mopeds, and aliens all moved through the streets in a confusing flow. Some people- utilizing magic or their Roots- flew or climbed above the crowd, dodging electrical wires and neon signs. Yet, despite all the chaotic diversity of the Dim City, Four still stuck out like a sore thumb- the girl with the False Root. A mutation that changed her body such that she didn’t even look human. The crowd kept their distance.
Four shook her head. Four-legged aliens with vines for a face shambled across the street, and she was the freak? Leaning against the concrete of the closed tailor, she pulled out her phone from her dress pocket and scrolled through her contacts. “Let’s see…” She tried a few contacts before one picked up.
“‘Ello?” The older man’s voice crackled through his phone. A kettle whined in the background.
“Hey, Mr. Solis, it's Four.” A moment. “The rabbit girl?”
“Ah, Four! Yes! Such a strange name for such a nice young lady.” Mr. Solis grunted as he poured something from the pot. “I haven’t heard from you in a while. How are the studies?”
“Uh, I’m taking the semester off.” The woman lied. “Look, I know you’re probably busy, but I have some friends coming from Norleans. Do you still plan events in Dim City?”
“Oh, dear, you have friends?”
Four scowled. “Don’t act so surprised.”
“Well, you were always so busy with your studies, you know.” A chair creaked in the background. “Well, what are you looking for? I might know something already scheduled.”
Four flipped through the dossier, bending her ear down to listen to the phone pinched at her shoulder. “We’re probably going to go out later tonight- I know a good place. But, they’re into historical stuff- the Savari Empire, specifically. Anything we could do during the day?”
“Hmm.” The old man put down his phone. Muffled, Four heard him shout to his wife. “Cheri! Is the tech show still in town?” Four couldn’t make out the muffled response. He picked up his phone. “There’s a convention being put on by Vigil Gate, about post-war Savari tech- those fancy suits and whatnot. It’s a small show, but I’ve heard good things from Cheri’s collector friends.”
“Sounds dandy.” Four scribbled some notes in her folder. “Grab me three tickets, would you? My card info’s the same. I’ll pick them up tomorrow morning.”
Like most of Alloton, the rail station was a jumbled mess of tunnels, repurposed buildings and spires of gray crystal. Extending from it to the south were dozens of clear, glass tubes with metal tracks, shooting capsule-like trains to and from the other island-cities, utilizing the Railmaster’s Root to travel the length of the now-sunken East coast in minutes. A small, luxury train car pulled into the lowest station, painted green and surrounded by the telltale shimmer of inertia-dampening magic.
Four leaned against a concrete pillar at the station, wincing a bit as she kicked her leg. The new prosthetic didn’t quite fit right, but she was glad that Beech was able to hook her up with another one with a firearm inside. She didn’t like being unarmed here.
The luxury train’s doors slowly swung open, and a dozen posh, older travelers slowly filed out, already talking on their phones or meeting up with their family. They carried document cases and purses worth more than their contents. At the back, two women stood with far less cargo and far more coolheaded curiosity. Four straightened up and walked over, waving for them.
“Oh. My. God. You’re so cute!” Ms. Lane squealed, rushing over to the shorter hare-woman. Lane carried a walking cane with a rounded, marble head, and wore a short dress and tights with patterns of chess pieces printed on them. A tiny, top-hat ornament was almost buried beneath her mess of curly hair. She had painted white stars over her cheeks, contrasting sharply with her night-black skin. “I thought the big boss was sending us a bodyguard.”
“Think more of a guide- though I can easily keep you safe.” Four responded, nodding a bow. “Ms. Lane and Ms. Sanchez?”
Ms. Sanchez nodded. “If you are one of Charlie’s, then I expect good things.” She adjusted her half-moon glasses. “I am famished. If you are such a good guide, I trust your choice of establishment.” She gestured to her clothes- an aviator’s jacket, loose jeans, and steel-boots. “Obviously, I’m not looking for somewhere with a dress code.”
The three women began walking, with Four opening the doors out onto the streets of the Sky City. “Cops and Vigilants have been around more often since a shooting at the theater,” Four explained, hoping to make small talk, “so I think we could go underneath- we call this place Sky or Bright City, and the tunnels beneath Dim City. Here, these are ours.” Four gestured to three motorbikes set up on a rack just outside the station.
Lane’s eyes gleamed at the bike, but Ms. Sanchez looked disconcerted. “No car?” She asked nervously.
Four gestured across the street- the winding cement and asphalt roads that snaked between Alloton’s unplanned and narrow roads- sometimes narrowing to less than two arm spans across. “Next to nobody uses a car here, Ms. Sanchez- and they aren’t allowed in the Dim City.” She unlatched them from the rest. “Charlie had told me you both knew how to ride?” Four recalled the small dossier.
“That was a long time ago… but…” Sanchez looked around, realizing that everyone else was either using bikes, their Root, or just walking. “Oh, fine. Just don’t laugh if I go slow on these roads.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Four assured her, handing the other two their keys.
Traffic forced the three to drive slowly regardless, redirected from a blocked street due to some kind of construction project- and Four wanted to show the two the strange sights of the Sky City at the same time. They passed by the tall pillars of gray crystal that dotted the city, a large bridge with buildings pouring off of it like a frozen waterfall, and the sideways, hollowed-out skyscraper that makes up one of the main streets. Lane was overjoyed, riding fast and nearly crashing more times than Four could count. Ms. Sanchez drove slowly- nervous, but eventually relaxed back into her seat. After a while, they approached a concrete block of a building- a cable car that delves at a slope into the depths of the Dim City.
They stashed their bikes in a side compartment created from an excavator's bucket and shuffled into the crowded tram. “So, what are you two in the mood for?” Four positioned herself between her charges and the seats at the edges of the car. “I know this noodle joint run by an Albera who-”
An elbow smacked into Four’s back. She stumbled forward, and turned to glower at the man in the suit behind her- only to encounter a smooth, white ball for a face. The neat, lined suit that pressed against her was not cloth, but thin sheafs of black mushrooms growing out of the man’s skin. Four tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn’t move.
Sanchez raised an eyebrow, not seeing the man behind Four, but Lane choked her hands up on her cane. A shimmer like heat- inertia magic- surrounded the cane’s marble head.
Then, the car jerked to its first stop. People stepped off, giving room for the mushroom-man to pull away. Four could breathe. He raised his hands in apology, and pointed to his faceless head. He can’t control it? Four wondered, as the man stepped away and off of the cable car. Seeing his condition from afar, it is clear that he was a False Root- just like Four. Transformed against his will. “Be careful next time.” She called out.
The man nodded, and disappeared back into the crowd.
Four turned to Lane and Sanchez. “You both okay?”
The flickering magic dissipated across Lane’s cane. “Yeah.” She couldn’t fully hide her disappointment that things ended amicably. “What’s his problem, though?”
“He’s a False Root. Like me. Not all of us can control our powers.” Four wished she didn’t have to explain it, but these women have clearly never had to willingly interact with someone like her before.
“Well, the threat is gone. To him, as well as us.” Ms. Sanchez said, side-eyeing Lane. “All’s well, and whatnot. Now, you were saying something about an alien making noodles?”
“So, what’s the big boss like, huh?” Lane leaned over a bowl of squirming, blue and purple noodles. The lunch rush- mostly of aliens of all shapes and sizes- had filled the ramen bar and booths. Sanchez was already on her second bowl of questionable food.
Four sat at the edge of their table, looking out over the customers. Nobody was out of place, though she kept her eye on a blue humanoid with black eyes covering his body who had tried to hit on Lane on the way in. “Wo- Charlie is surprisingly kind, despite his work. Most of us are rescues, in a way.”
“Through his Root?” Sanchez leaned back, her lips stained a dark blue.
Four nodded. “It allows him to heal us by inducing a False Root.” She kicked her metal leg out from under the table. “I was bleeding out after a Vigilant had bombed the slavers who kept me. Some others I know were suffering from terminal diseases, or simply wished to serve him better.”
“I heard he was part of Operation Longshot,” Lane twirled her chopsticks. “That he was a Vigilant for a while.”
Four’s ear twitched. “If he was, it was the worst choice he’d ever made. And I’m glad he left that organization. Those so-called ‘heroes’ are the worst thing to happen to people like us.”
“Here, here.” Lane tapped her chopsticks against Four’s glass of water as if in toast. “Fucking hypocrites.”
Sanchez lightly cuffed the woman’s ear. “Language, Lane.”
“Ah, stuff it, Rosa. Your dad’s not here. Loosen up.”
An elephantine alien pushed their way out of the restaurant, making way for a smaller human to step in. Four narrowed her eyes. The man had a round, faceless head and wore what appeared to be a striped suit. He gave a small wave to the hare-woman.
“One sec. I’ll deal with this.” Four said, quickly standing and twisting through the narrow bar to the door. The man, mute as ever, waited patiently for her. “Are you following us?”
The man shook his head. White, silk gloves stretched up to his elbows, and he pulled out a few slips of paper and a thin phone from them. He handed Four the papers as he typed on his phone’s note-app: You dropped these.
Four looked down at the three tickets for the Savari tech show. “Oh!” She checked her pockets, finding them empty of anything other than her wallet. “Uh, thanks for bringing this back.”
He continued to type on the phone. I’m going, too! Came all the way here for the suit demo :)
“You are?” Four tried to hide the suspicion from her voice. “What a coincidence. I only learned about this convention last week. Did you miss its opening night in Atlanta?”
Unfortunately. My family came before hobby. :P
Four glanced at the tickets. The logo of the Vigils was on it, stating ‘One-day event pass: Savari Suit and Technology Expo’. She decided to throw out another trick statement. “Well, I’m glad that Vigil Atlanta had the foresight to run another one here.”
The man nodded in agreement. He tapped away at his phone, then handed it to her. My name is Bryce. What is your name?
“Oh, uh, Alison.” Four lied. “I’m kind of busy right now, but I’ll see you at the expo?”
I’ll see you there :). Bryce stowed his phone in a little slip in his glove, and waved as he left the restaurant.
Four patted down her skirt’s pockets as she walked back to the booth, where the jellyfish-like server was refilling their glasses. Lane raised an eyebrow as she approached. “So, what’s the story with mushroom man?”
Four waited for the server to leave, then leaned in to speak quietly. “He’s following us.” She explained, spreading out the tickets. “He pickpocketed these tickets from us, knew the venue, but didn’t know the right organizer. I should report this to the boss-”
“Hold up, they’re running a what-now?” Lane was holding up the tickets to the flickering overhead light. “A Savari Suit expo? We have to go! Lin would love to hear all about it!”
“Lin?”
“My brother. He idolizes Kitty Laser and her whole, like, cyberpop gimmick.” Lane made a “V” with her four fingers to mimic the famous Vigilant’s Savari gauntlets. “He’s even begun making his own suit.”
Sanchez placed a hand over Lane’s wrist, leaning forward to match Four’s conspiratorial tone. “You say this person is following us. Do you know them?”
“No, and that’s what worries me. Wol- Charlie’s the largest employer of False Roots in the city. Either he’s new in town, or he’s working for a rival.” She sighed. “You two wouldn’t have happened to have made any fungus-themed enemies, would you?”
Lane took a little too long to consider, but both agreed that they wouldn’t have encountered such a person before.
“A freelancer, then.” Four flipped through her phone. She scrolled through, finding Beech’s number. She texted him the information on the guy. “Hmm.” She frowned at the pangolin-man’s responses. “Looks like there’s no info yet. My friend’ll keep looking, but I think we should skip on the expo.”
“What? No way.” Lane loudly tapped her slightly glowing cane on the ground, transferring the momentum to pop her onto her feet. “I’m not running. If he tries anything, all the better. She rolled her tight shoulder. “I’ve been meaning to test out a few spells.”
“Look, Ms. Lane-”
Sanchez placed a hand on Four’s shoulder, shaking her head. Her look told the bodyguard everything- Lane had set her mind to it, and would not be dissuaded. Risks be damned.
Four sighed again. So much for a relaxing job. “Alright, we’ll go. But if it looks bad, you follow my lead, alright?”
Lane’s grin crumpled the stars on her cheeks. “No promises!”
I really liked the detail of only being able to navigate the city via bike. It made the space feel a lot more real and present.