Marco walked down the Guerrero building. As long as Don Rodiguez was here, he could walk around the premises. He passed the wondering Guerreros easily. He was out for a smoke. Simple yet effective. He wondered right off the premises, He would have to knock each one out. They were playing the game Chop the Guerrero where you had to be faster than your opponent or it was lights out. He and Isaias had played once. Neither could knock the other fully out but these Guerreros were lightweights, as one dodged right into the other’s chop and collapsed. Marco raised a brow. Well, that makes this far easier. Isaias’s luck must have rubbed off on me.

He used the wind to augment his speed slightly, appearing as a blur, and roundhoused the gun from the Guerreros’s arms before karate chopping him in the neck as he had done to his comrade. He fell to the floor. Marco had to teleport as a beam went crashing into one of the cars sending the alarm shrieking.

“Don’t move,” said the guard pointing his gun at Marco.

Marco tsked and teleported behind the tall male, a small blaster pistol held to the guard’s back.

“Drop the gun,” said Marco twisting the nozzle of the gun into his back.

With a loud clatter, the guard did so and Marco sighed. The alarm was giving him a headache. He sent some sharp wind to cut the alarm cord and looked at the guard. “You couldn't have done that quietly?”

The alarm stopped and the guard shook his head.

Marco shot him before racing across the lawn and finding the gate that led out of the Arrio compound. He began climbing. He didn’t want to use his abilities when he could easily climb the gate. The way it was decorated was perfect for him and crooks everywhere. He stood still at the top as voices became more pronounced. Then he leaped down landing on his feet. He ran off into the night passing the Guerrero compound. The slot scooters came into view and he made a quick derivision to one of them. All that was needed for these was a chip all Guerreros were given at initiation. He pulled his out, a round disk, and inserted it into the ident chip slot before stepping onto the motorized scooter and driving off. He rode the scooter to the entrance that Isaias had shown him, to a sewer system that linked Arco Iris with Villa de Marron. He would have to traverse the sewers on foot.

Marco took the scooter and folded it into his dimensional pocket before removing a flashlight and unscrewing the lid to the sewers. He jumped down into the muck of the sewers and wondered how Isaias with his cleanliness habits could traverse down here. The sewers were deep canals. It smelled of rotten trash and dank, still, dirty water that trickled down the canal from the side pipes. Marco stepped into the ankle-deep water. He assumed these canals flooded when it rained. He could almost hear Isaias’s voice. It was necessary. I had no choice!

Marco grinned and began his trek down the dark corridors. He shone his light catching the rear end of a really big rat. He scooted backward. No sense in running into one of those. Isaias said they could be vicious when pushed. The farther he went, the more he had to hunch down until he was almost crawling through the muck and dirty water that covered the ground. Up ahead, there were voices. Likely one of the neighborhood gangs. A slant of light could be seen coming off two flashlights.

“Alright Johnny Boy hand it over,” said a muscle-bound brute.

“Hand whata over. I ain’t gotta nothing!,” answered the other slightly slimmer boy.

“Android fluid. I know you were hitting it pretty hard back here.”

“Do I looka high to ya!”

“You’re always high Johnny B. That’s the problem.”

“Well, you a got the wrong guy this time.”

Marco sighed. Dumb and dumber were blocking the exit to this hell hole. He had somewhere to be, no doubt Don Arrio had noticed the hurt Guerrero and his absence. He trusted Don Rodriguez to make something up because if not then he’d be a wanted man. Still slightly crouched, he moved gaining two pairs of eyes on him.

“What? Never seen an Arachnid before,” he asked.

“Not in these tunnels,” both boys answered then glared at each other. The muscle-bound brute let Johnny Boy go and exited the sewers.

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“I ain’t getting in trouble,” he said leaving.

Marco smirked. “Good idea although the android fluid was right before your face. Three cans? All empty. Are you trying to kill yourself or something,” he questioned Johnny Boy as he shone his flashlight in his face. The dilated pupils were more than enough to tell him this boy was high.

“Get thata light outa my eyes!” he cried.

“Did you do all three cans?”

“Smy usual dose!”

“And you aren’t dead yet?”

“Uma no?”

“Incredible. Fools do have a higher tolerance on the Android fluid. I can’t believe Isaias was right,” Marco muttered as he walked forward and exited the sewers at last. Johnny Boy followed him.

“Hey am I in trouble?” he asked.

Marco stopped and turned around. “Do you know how to get to the Hormigueros hideout?”

“Surea but it’s completely guarded. Like heavily.”

“Get me there and I won’t tell the guards about the android fluid and breaking of curfew,” said Marco. It didn’t take much for a heavily induced person to agree.

“Ok!”

###

Maco was seriously rethinking letting Johnny Boy take the lead. That was the second road he misjudged. Now, they were going in a different direction. He was debating whether to shoot the boy out of his misery and unlike the Guerrero, he’d make it as painful as possible. His gun was for precision shooting and he damn well could make it very painful. They were wasting time guessing streets! Well, what did I expect from an AF addict? Memory is one of the things impaired by the stuff not to mention common sense. Speaking of, where was mine when I asked for his help?

“Just a little farther up and we can enter the tunnel that leads to their warehouse,” said Johnny Boy as they raced down the streets almost crossing into downtown Puerto Nuevo.

“Are you sure this tunnel hasn’t been found out?” asked Marco not sure whether to trust the guy or not. On one hand, this tunnel could lead him to the Hormigueros’s base. On the other, it could be a giant dead end.

“I used it this week...or last week? Anyway within the last two weeks. How do ya think I a got the stuff? I don’t a own an android to a expensive.”

Marco winced. “You need to lay off the fluid. You’re vowel synching.”

“I’ve always talked like that ain’t known no betta.”

“Like this? Probably, but not by saying A after or before another word. That’s the android fluid working on your brain.”

“You a might a be right but ain’t nothing for it.”

“You can stop and retain the little that you do have?”

“Ha funny! Stop a worrying about me. There’s the tunnel,” said Johnny Boy as he pointed to a manhole.

“Another sewer?”

“Nope. It's disguised as a sewer. C’mon, I promise ya it's bigger than the other place.”

Marco nodded and headed down the manhole. The first thing he noticed was the clean air; the second was the space. There was a bit of light coming from down the tunnel which entertained an escape route but it could also be a cruel joke. He followed Johnny Boy down the clean sewers which opened up to a stocked warehouse. There were barrels of android fluid and other illicit stuff as well as strange plants and even a stockpile of illegal weapons.

“Boy would a the Enforcers have a ball in here,” whispered Johnny Boy

“If the Enforcers were allowed in here at all,” muttered Marco as he took a look at the lock and sighed. It was an ordinary chain and lock. He could pick locks with the best of them. This would be easy. As he made to leave his place, Johnny Boy pointed out something he had missed. A laser camera. The kind that shot first and took pictures after. It had probably caught their pictures already.

“Those things are pretty stupid. Ya just gotta get their attention on somting and they will shoot till they break. Best a thing the guys in charge a of the things don’t a know how to handle them when they go a haywire and all. Just a put one of them barrels in their sight and watch them blow,” said Johnny Boy. Marco didn’t waste time. He positioned two barrels in front of the cameras and used the smokescreen to unlock the chains around the warehouse doors. He moved silently outside while Johnny Boy watched. It was as far as their partnership went. Johnny Boy had gotten him inside the Hormigueros’s warehouse; now it was up to him to find and compulse a member to lead him to Isaias and Zen. Marco sighed he really missed Isaias’s wisecracks at a time like this. Ironic that I’m doing this to save his butt and Zen’s. They both have cute butts I just like Isaias’s more is all. Ah. There’s someone!

He crept up to a male with a tortoise shell on his back. He was smoking a cigar. Marco’s eyes glowed as he approached the male. There was no chance in hell that he was letting this man free. He showed himself to the man.

“Do you know where Isaias and Zen are being kept?” he asked.

In our secret place between here and nowhere,” answered the man his emerald eyes glaze over.

“Can you show me to the place?”

“Yes?”

“How far away is it?”

“Fifteen minutes by car. Ten if you fly.”

“Good. Get your car. You’re driving me there. You will say nothing of this to no one and act naturally. Finish your cigar.”

“Yes.”

The man did as Marco wanted and finished his cigar before walking in and grabbing his keys. Then they walked a few blocks to a brown sedan and pulled away.