“These days shelters are a fact of life. Typically every large city block has at least one public shelter, although the number of private shelters inflates the statistic a little. In addition to that each city has at least one Megashelter, although depending on the size of the city, there might be more. While public shelters and Megashelters are typically financed and run by the city government, sometimes big corporations get in on the deal for marketing purposes. In those cases it is usually the Megashelter that gets the biggest cut of the money, which means that in most cases it is the most comfortable and best equipped out of all the Government run shelters in any city.”

- Flyer about the realities of today's world, 2039

When we stepped outside, Myriad following directly behind us, we were greeted by a group of soldier looking types, eight in total.

Three looked to be a bit more important, standing in front. One was an older man that looked to be the kind of guy that you find in any action flick roughly growling orders and generally with a rather pissy attitude.

The second was a young man, quite handsome although with a chin that was a tad too pronounced to properly fit his face. He seemed to me the new recruit type of person, probably the least ranking of the three, with an expression that screamed ‘Textbook soldier’.

The last was an older woman who, for all intents and purposes, looked like the perfect depiction of badass milf. The kind of woman that every army had and that had worked her way up to the top by knowing what she wanted and telling people to piss off or die in a ditch somewhere if they tried to cross her. She was also quite muscular from the looks of things, which just helped sell the look that much better.

They all gave us a sharp salute that would make any drill sergeant proud.

I in turn gave them the sloppiest salute I could manage, that would still fit the descriptor of salute instead of an obscene gesture.

“Ma’ams!” the woman said, standing straight as a pole and showing very clearly where the expression ‘stick up ass’ originated from, “Welcome to the New Savannah megashelter. We were informed of your arrival and have already informed your associates!”

I smiled at her, “Thanks, I guess. We’re just here to check in with them, see what needs doing once this all blows over. Anything happen that I need to know about?”

“No, ma’am! We have made sure they wanted for nothing, even if that sometimes meant… bending regulations a bit.”

I chuckled at that, “I appreciate it. Although I do hope you made sure nobody could do something stupid, yes?”

“Of course. The one incident we did nearly have has been resolved without issue.”

I dropped my smile, worry gnawing at me. “Incident?”

For a moment the woman looked… uncomfortable, but she continued regardless. “One of your associates was quite… insistent about seeing a specific Samurai. We had to inform her about his demise, which left her quite heart broken. Luckily we realised in time what she was doing and managed to stop her.”

“Wait, who died?”

“Samurai Patrick, ma’am, I thought you were informed. He was ambushed by a group of model Nines. They have since been taken care of, but most of his body couldn’t be recovered.”

I swallowed, then closed my eyes.

Patrick had been helpful. Very helpful. He was a bit of an oddball, but who wasn’t? Nobody deserved to go out like that.

“Chances he’s alive?”

“Zero, ma’am,” the answer came almost immediately, dousing my hopes in ice cold water, “We found what remains of his head.”

Being a Samurai was dangerous business, of course, we all could die at any time. The rookie Samurai that had been with Shrapnel and the others died pretty quick. It still didn’t make it suck any less.

Part of me had hoped that maybe Patrick could have helped Sarah a little. Castas had mentioned that she was quite enamoured with him. Fat chance of that now.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “How is Sarah taking it?”

“Not well,” the woman replied, voice sympathetic, “Her friends were helping her adjust, last I checked, but it will probably take some time until she comes to terms with it. For the moment they thought it best if she had some room for herself.”

I nodded at that. Tina knew how to cheer people up, so maybe she could help.

“Good. I was worried she might have OD’d or something. She tends to overdo it when she’s under a lot of stress.”

“That was a worry, ma’am. We placed her in a different group for the time being on the recommendation of her friends. She isn’t cut off from her own, but it's harder for her to get her hands on anything and we are keeping an eye on her.”

I nodded at that, then shook the funk off.

“Good. Let’s see how they are doing then. Any other conflicts between the groups?”

As I spoke I started to walk, and the soldiers fell into step around us easily, with the woman staying next to me. Some did eye Myriad suspiciously, but nobody commented or showed any obvious indication of being uncomfortable.

“Some minor ones, ma’am, but we have it in hand. The man you put in charge was exceedingly helpful in calming those down.”

I chuckled at that, trying for some humour. I wasn’t sure how well I managed. “Yeah, I think Castas realises that the best way to remain in charge is to make sure I’m happy. And I’m happy when everyone is cared for.”

“That seems to be an accurate assessment,” she replied, then after a moment continued, “Permission to speak frankly, ma’am?”

“Sure, go for it.”

She nodded. “I wasn’t sure how things would go when we got the order to keep those people happy, even disregarding the regulations about drugs. I’ve seen too many groups like that before, gangs that rule their little part of the anthill, and that think that that gives them authority over others. Castas seems different. He’s greedy and selfish, as bad as the rest of them, but he knows how to play the game to get what he wants, even if that means putting himself under someone else. As one ex-gang member to another, make sure he remains in charge as long as he stays that way.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

I looked at her sideways, reevaluating her in my mind. “That was the plan,” I said eventually, “I’m not going to take over the redlight district, but I will make sure it’s safe enough for people living there.”

“Good. From what I heard about you, I thought that’d be the case. The outskirts are a cesspit of bullshit, they need a firm hand to stay orderly. But they also aren’t inner city, you can’t just pull up with a convoy of tanks and expect people to follow along.”

I nodded at that, following the logic.

“Agreed. So, ex-gang? Who you run with?” I asked when we arrived at the incline leading down to the main gate of the shelter.

She snorted, “Blue Moon, long ago. Later became Gray Wolves when they moved into the redlight district, but before that they had a hand in the industrial district, closer to the inner city. Their boss had some deals with the people higher up the ladder, until they made one mistake too many and got thrown out of the business. I had left by then, but I kept an eye on things.”

“Oh wow,” I muttered, surprised, “That’s been a while. I heard of Blue Moon, but I wasn’t alive then. I came up with Crescent Thorn before they killed themselves by fucking with Purple Haze.”

“So I’ve heard. I knew Crescent Thorn well. At least the leadership.”

“You did?”

She chuckled with an amused smile on her face, “Yeah. My son was part of the upper echelons. Tried to convince me to use my military rank to get people down there to deal with Haze. I refused and told him to get out while he could. He didn’t listen” Her humour vanished and she grimaced, which on her face was quite the potent expression. After a moment she dropped it, making a visible effort to smile at me, “When I heard you were Thorn I was quite surprised.”

A fleeting memory of a half overheard conversation snaked its way into our mind. Trying to figure out what it was I immersed myself in the chorus for a moment and together we managed to pull up the memory that didn’t quite want to show itself.

“Wait, hold up. You’re Jeremy’s mom?” I asked in shock, when we finally managed to figure out what had played at the edge of our recollection.

“Indeed. Knew him well?”

“In passing. Someone else was in charge of my group, but I’ve seen him about. I knew he had some kind of connection to high up, always wondered why he stuck with us.”

“Vice leader had his heart firmly in hand. She was a snake, I tell you.” Her scowl said all that was needed about her opinion of the woman.

I shrugged, “Honestly I can’t remember her much. Spent too much time drooling in some corner. Best I can recall is spending a night with her at some point for some hits of shiver, but I couldn’t even recall her face if she stood in front of me.”

The older woman nodded with a sigh, “That’s the story with most lower Thorn members. Too busy fucking around high as a kite. Part of the reason they went to shit.”

We had arrived at a door next to the giant gate, and she motioned for someone to open it. One of the soldiers with us quickly stepped forward and did as instructed.

“Vice wanted to move up. That started the whole trouble, but the boss wasn’t having it, kept snorting cocaine from the asscrack of any whore he could find. Stuff like that was the reason I originally got out, realised that nonames stayed nonames until you either die or leave.”

The door now opened, we continued our trip, walking into the well kept hallway that formed the main entrance and split into many different smaller hallways along the way.

While we walked I glanced at her, “And so you ended up in the military.”

“Indeed,” she said with a fierce smirk, “Started as some poor fuckwit recruit, then slowly worked my way up. I knew my way around my gun and I knew how to follow orders. Bit of luck on my side and here we are,” she smiled, “Been trying to keep an eye on things, make sure shit isn’t going too badly, but we are only so many and I can’t very well send armed soldiers down there to clean up. Glad to see someone else is trying to take care of things.”

“Castas told you anything?”

“He didn’t, but Tina did. She told me you were planning on rolling up the entire district, get some order in there. We didn’t talk much, only in passing when I first came in to check. Smart girl, wasted on her job.”

I shrugged, “She’s smart, but also easily frightened. She gets anxious quick, and then she goes where we all go to calm the mind.”

She nodded sadly, knowing all too well how those things went, “Yeah. Still, it’s good that she has something to do. From what I hear she’s been quite the busy bee, setting everything up for the return to the district. Castas seems quite smitten by her, and I’m not entirely sure it's only one way.”

I snorted a laugh at that, trying to imagine the two together.

Then I stopped, recalling the way they had been standing close together in the shelter. Maybe it wasn’t so outlandish.

“Well, that would be something,” I muttered, then shook my head, “Anyways. She’s quite good at that. It’s part of why she excels at her job. Her job is to satisfy the client, thoroughly if possible, and that often means being the one in charge. I’m a bit surprised you spent the time to talk with her though. Aren’t you busy enough?”

Her smile was the one you gave someone who wasn’t yet in on the joke, “That is my job. I was specifically sent here to make sure they are happy. Higher ups want me to coddle you however you want, make sure you look at us favourably. ‘I don’t care what it takes, if she bends you over you best have lube ready. Only thing that matters is that the Samurai doesn’t come knocking’,” she imitated a gruff old voice, “Or something along those lines.”

We both snorted at that, and even Jenna joined in.

“That why you tell me? To make sure I’m happy with the service?”

“We were taught never to lie to Samurai, ma’am,” she explained, “SOP is to make sure you’re as happy as could be, to follow your orders exactly how they are given, get the fuck out of your way and if we can manage pick up whatever fancy gear you leave behind. It doesn’t matter how I make it happen, the only thing that matters is to make sure that you walk out of this building with a smile on your face.”

“Damn,” I said, a bit surprised, “I mean I knew Samurai were a pretty big deal, but I didn’t think we were that high up the food chain. At least not me. I’m so green behind the ears you could mistake the back of my head for a flower garden.”

“There are some nuances of course,” she conceded, “But effectively any Samurai outranks any of us. If only because you don’t want a pissed off Samurai to come after you. We’ve had people run in circles around cities for hours simply because they were told to.”

That imagery had me giggling, “There have to be some limits though, right? Can’t imagine everyone would willingly pull down their pants and bend over just because some Samurai decided to have a laugh.”

She gave me a thorough once over, originally probably to prove a point but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she didn’t entirely dislike what she saw, even if it was clear that I wasn’t who she would typically go for, “I could imagine worse fates,” she said with a grin, then laughed, “And maybe. As long as we’re in the field we have to follow orders. Of course we can disagree with you, personally. Although, realistically I have yet to hear about any Samurai who actually decided to be a massive set of cock and balls just for the sake of it.”

“It’s kind of in the job description,” I said with a smile, “Assholes usually don’t get the offer.”

“Indeed,” she agreed, then turned towards the end of the hallway as we walked around a corner.

“So, so far everything is fine and dandy. Any word on when you can send them all home?”

“Probably tomorrow, depending on how the district looks,” she replied, “Usually we only keep them until the aliens are confirmed dead, but again, boss wants me to flick your bean. They will probably be the last to leave, if only to make sure they have something to go back to. Outside of that, we’ll know more after that fancy Samurai meeting in the evening. You should be invited, yeah?”

“Yeah, we were,” I said with a nod to Jenna, “Not quite sure what it’s about to.”

“No clue either,” she said with a shrug, “I’m too far down the ladder for that kind of info. Probably important though; from what I hear they pulled in all Samurai in the city. Not that we have that many.”

We stopped in front of the door that marked the end of the hallway.

“In here,” she said, then motioned for the soldiers to open the door, which wasn’t locked.

Nodding, I prepared myself. Time to see what the district needed.