“Every city thrives upon its residents. Some live the high life near the city center, some have to make do on the outer edges of the inner city. Some are less lucky, often ending up in the outer districts. And some… well. Some life in the worst place any city has to offer. In most cases they are the beating heart of the underground. Without them the trash would pile up indefinitely.”

- Random Citizen in an interview about the lower levels

The gate, as I had said earlier, was giant. Incredibly gigantic. It could easily fit four trucks through, side by side. Behind it was an equally giant lift that led further down. It looked to be about as much in shape as the gate did, which did have me pause for a moment, wondering if it even worked. I needn’t have worried, when we all stepped on, it rumbled before it slowly descended. To my surprise the descent was even quite smooth, despite the condition the lift looked to be in.

Truth be told I had kind of expected the ride down to be boring, but to my surprise soon after it had started the walls gave way to giant windows, allowing us to see the mess of the undercity below us.

There was a city there, between all the trash piles and abandoned buildings, rubble and ruins from the time this was supposed to be the infrastructure hub.

Giant towers of steel and concrete connected the ground to the city above us, most of them empty and dilapidated. Streets snaked their way through the jungle of buildings, bridges span far and wide, leaving little actual room to manoeuver. Few cars were driving around, most people walked wherever they needed to go.

This was a place built by the poor and forgotten, for the poor and forgotten. Down here there was no megacorp keeping things repaired and in check. Groups of people had taken over buildings close to where they made their living, salvaging, stealing, maybe some black market work, this wasn’t a planned city, it was an organically growing collection of people.

It was rundown, yes, defunct in many places, with some buildings coming apart. The trash littering the spaces between buildings and empty lots added to the ambiance of dilapidation, yet somehow, despite all of this, it had a certain magical quality to it. A hidden gem, nested in rot and debris.

With my new eyes I could see it all into the far distance, only blocked by towering mountains of concrete and steel.

“Wow…” I couldn’t help but mutter, stunned at the sight below. The only other time I had been here we had taken a small service elevator, which hadn’t allowed me this view.

“Yeah… For a place this shitty it looks kind of magical, doesn’t it?” Chloe agreed with a shake of her head.

Of course the further down we came, the more the misery came closer. The magic only really worked from up high, when you couldn’t see the people suffering in the streets below. Dirt and trash piling high enough to block some second floor windows.

This was, after all, the last place in the ecosystem of this city, where all the garbage landed.

Our ride stopped with a soft thud and another set of giant doors opened. Before I even had the time to think about anything else, a wave of stink rolled over us, smothering every last bit of my sense of smell in hideous, gaseous, nope. I tried waving my hand in front of my face, suppressing my urge to hurl, but it didn’t do much. Well, this was the undercity, the city's final trash heap. Trying to ignore it as best as I could I stepped out of the elevator, Chloe and Jenna behind me.

What awaited us just outside was not what I had expected. The area probably had once been made to load and unload things, but now it was a giant plaza littered with tents, shelters, half-built stands with goods. It looked like some common area where those that had barely anything at all bartered away even that.

From the looks of some people with weaponry walking about I was pretty sure the area was protected by a gang of some sort, not that I knew which one it was. Most people here seemed to be a bit better off, at least compared to the few keeping to the shadows of corners. Not that it meant much, the goods displayed weren’t some kind of luxury goods, they were half-broken things, stolen or salvaged from the garbage piles.

And of course, not that it was any surprise, most people’s attention went to us. Even if most of them did seem to keep an eye on their meager belongings.

We were very obviously Samurai and it seemed like this elevator usually wasn’t used by people just coming down. And the horde of alien things behind us wasn’t exactly what I would call subtle.

I was just taking in the area, nested between a couple old skyscrapers holding up the city above, when a group of three people came up to us. They all looked like they had spent their entire life here and held themselves with a bit more confidence. All had generally the same look about them, even if their clothing did differentiate, and all had some old rifle’s with them.

Once they got closer I stepped forwards, “Yo.”

The three, two men and a woman, stopped a pace away from me, with the shorter man speaking. “Hey. You Samurai?”

I simply looked at him, then at myself, then at Chloe and Jenna, before I glanced at my Hatchlings. “No, we’re Santa Claus’ elves.”

The woman snorted, then lightly bonked the shorter man on the head, “Fucking course they are, idiot,” she shook her head, then looked at me, “Welcome to the undercity. We appreciate you coming down here. Blitzer’s been doing what he can but he can’t solve all our problems himself and with the xenos showing up down here he’s been spread incredibly thin.”

I nodded at that. One person helping the entire undercity, he would need to be a very busy beaver. The outer city was vast, and taking care of a single district would already be a monumental task; the undercity was much, much bigger than that.

“No worries, that’s what we are here for. What’s the sitch?”

The taller man motioned behind us, “What say you we get someplace more out of the way, then fill you in? Would love to have Blitzer there, but he needs some sleep. Been running around for days, wired on whatever bullshit his weird AI gave ‘im.”

Chloe and Jenna both nodded when I glanced at them, so I nodded in turn.

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“Sure, let’s do that. Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t mind getting this done with quick, could use some rest myself.”

It was a sentiment shared by everyone present, and with a nod the taller man turned around, motioning us to follow. While we walked I kept an eye out on our surroundings.

“So… Who’s keeping these folk safe?” I asked, inspecting the gear of one of the probable gang members.

“We do,” the woman said, “Sweeping Dragon is responsible for the south side of this sector. Luckily this area is relatively safe, the problem are the eastern and northern areas. Not sure what it’s like west of here, that’s Wasp territory, they don’t really talk much and are too prideful to ask for help.”

That had me frowning. People who thought they could deal with everything themselves often made life a nightmare for everyone around them, especially if they fucked up.

“Grand…” I muttered.

The woman nodded, “Yeah… Blitzer told us to keep an eye on their turf, in case shit goes sideways. He generally helps everyone if he can, but Wasps don’t like him snooping around their turf.”

“Idiots,” Chloe muttered, shaking her head, and I really couldn’t disagree.

The taller man led us around a corner to the far side of the plaza, then into one of the taller buildings. It looked like the first three or four floors were occupied, but everything above that seemed run down.

“It is what it is,” shorty said with displeasure in his voice, “Tension’s been high lately. Grey Wolves are trying to get into our turf since we are too busy protecting the normies from xenos. Only one that’s helpful is Napalm.”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “Gateguards told me Napalm was trying to get into your turf too?”

The woman glanced at me and shook her head, “No, Napalm is keeping Wasps in check. Allows us to focus more on internal affairs. They’re a smaller group, but their boss is smart enough not to try and start a huge fight when aliens are at our doorstep.”

That at least would make things a little easier. Not that I had any plans to butt into their little dispute, but knowing that at least one group was trying to help instead of hinder was making me hopeful.

Finally we were led into what looked to be a kind of… I didn’t want to say a motel, that would be an insult to even the most dingy motels, but it had much of the same flair. The room itself was decorated like I would imagine old fantasy taverns to be decorated, tables all around with a couple people sitting and eating or drinking, while there was a counter at one end next to two flights of stairs.

With a wave to the man behind the counter, a pudgy fellow who seemed to be getting on in years, they led us up to the second floor and into a rather small room with a big desk and some computer equipment. The computers in question looked like they were mashed together from different pieces of salvage, not a single one had a uniform look to it, and from the amount of cables laying around most of the innards were a patchwork of fixes and workarounds.

The taller man walked over to one of the computers, while shorty motioned us to sit on a couple of chairs on one side of the table.

“Okay,” the woman said, “We’ll connect with the boss, she can fill you in on what needs doing.”

She nodded to the guy at the computer and soon a screen embedded in the table winked to life. It wasn’t a good screen, hell, it looked to be one of those old ones from 2025 or so, with only a 4k display.

On the screen was shown a… calling her a woman would be wrong, she looked more like a girl. Younger than me by probably two or three years, dressed in a hodgepodge of different clothes, all dark colours and blacks. Her hair was also black with neon pink highlights, styled in a sidecut. Her expression was hard to describe, she looked like she wanted to look like a hardass, but she really didn’t have the face to pull off that kind of look.

My eyebrows slowly rose as I took her in. Then she cleared her throat.

“I am Omega, the leader of the Sweeping Dragons. I’ve heard you came here to help?”

Her voice was… Did she try to make her voice sound deeper?

“Uh… Yeah? I am the Crimson Princess,” I began, not quite sure how to take this, “These are Jenna and Chloe. Not sure if they have names yet.”

Omega nodded, “Good. We have issues. A lot of issues. Blitzer is doing what he can, but there are aliens coming from the north eastern junkyards, and some from the west side. We have more wounded than we can treat and with the Grey Wolves trying to start trouble I’m missing the manpower to do much about the outer edges of our territory. Power has started to collapse around parts of the city, the net is patchy at the best of days, and we lost contact with our patrol on the north eastern edges.”

I held up a hand, “I don’t mind helping and all, but we ain’t gonna butt into your little gang dispute. I have meds I can hand out, maybe some other gear, but mostly we are here for the xenos.”

She nodded again, “I thought as much. We appreciate any help we can get. Cassiopaia can show you where the Doves have set up a makeshift hospital in the area. We’re working on excavating more room for more wounded as fast as we can, but there are too many to treat properly, much less the equipment needed to do so.”

“Sounds good. What do you know about the xenos?” I asked.

“Not much. In that case you might best speak to Blitzer, he has a better idea of what’s going on there. I just know where they are coming from and that their number has increased over the last couple hours. Things are heating up.”

That did mirror our experience up top, although it made me curious how they had ended up here in the first place. From what I knew the Incursion was only up top. Something to investigate later.

“Alright, I’ll start with the Doves then. Means they can start helping people while we try to deal with the xenos. Hopefully that takes the pressure off a bit.”

“Thank you. We really appreciate that. Cassiopaia can give you my contact information. Oh, and here. That is all the data we have on the area and the problem spots. Our network isn’t what it used to be, so coverage is a bit spotty in places, but hopefully it will help you. Give me a call if you have questions or need help, we’ll try to do what we can.”

Before I had any time to say anything else the connection cut out. I blinked at the black screen in front of me.

“Well, that was faster than I anticipated,” I muttered, then checked the data I had received from Omega, putting it on in my Virtual realm. At this point Chloe and Jenna were connected at all times, since it did make disseminating information a lot easier, and together we quickly skimmed over the reports.

“Okay, let’s start with the Doves. Afterwards we should check in with Blitzer and see what we can do about the aliens.”

“Follow me then,” the woman who had led us here, Cassiopaia, said with a smile. She also sent me some contact information via her augs, first of Omega herself and then a couple that were tagged with various leadership positions.

Not wasting any more time we followed her out of the room and back downstairs again.

I had to stifle a yawn, then was overwhelmed by another. Rubbing my eyes and smacking my cheeks lightly I tried to stay awake. Things had been kind of intense the last couple of hours.

“I think I need something to stay awake,” I muttered, “Something more tasty though. Not that shit from earlier.”

Very well. Please hold out your hand. The effect will be a little weaker than the previous drink, but it should at least help you keep going.

I did as she told me and a moment later a can popped into my outstretched hand. Of course it was decorated with some Kitsune looking woman, but I ignored it for the moment, too tired to care about what kind of decoration Kaysa had come up with this time.

With a fizz I opened it and took a large gulp before sighing with content. It tasted a lot better, as I had requested, sugary sweet to the point it nearly hurt, fruity and delightful. A definitive step up from other energy drinks.

After I was done with my own can I got two more for Chloe and Jenna, no point in being frugal, this stuff cost like 1 point or so.

Now refuelled and ready once more I focused back on the task at hand. Time to see what we could do to help the White Doves.