Which just left the awkward question of, how does one find a clandestine resistance movement, so capable of hiding that they haven't been discovered and wiped out by the military which built and manages the very city in which they hide?

Under ordinary circumstances, I'd say, go to the XPCA. They might have a lead, and we had some pull with them. But being on Targa's shit list, interacting with them wasn't anything I wanted to do unless we had to. Couldn't hurt to do our own investigation first, and with our little group now twice as large, we had a lot more eyes and ears open for tracking them down.

Lia and AEGIS were on their devices, doing what they did best. Karu got in contact with one of her, err, contacts, and was seeing what the association knew about any New Eden underground.

Which left me sitting on the couch feeling useless.

"Hey, I have a question," I asked, interrupting Lia talking about something I hoped wasn't too important.

"Yo," she said. A very versatile word.

"Where's Tem?"

AEGIS and Lia shared an uneasy glance which changed my level of concern from 'curious' to 'peril-fraught'.

"Well...not here. We don't really know," Lia said, and suddenly found a piece of her thumbnail which needed chewing on. "Um, she uh…" She looked back at AEGIS like she didn't know how to break the news to me. "I guess...it's fair to assume you've never seen her when she's not around you?"

"Like...on a camera? How would I have done that? I am usually there when I'm seeing something."

"Yeah. Okay. Well...she's kinda...probably worse...than you think she is."

"Worse how? She doesn't threaten to kill everyone does she? I hate it when she does that. One of these days, I'm worried she's just gonna snap before I can calm her down."

"No...nothing that intense. She just uh…"

"Exists?" contributed AEGIS. The conversation had finally turned interesting or odd enough to entice Karu to look up, but she was still staying out of it.

"Exists is a word for it, I guess. I don't know what you did to her bro, but when you're gone, she's sort of...dark side of the moon."

"Is that a reference?" I asked. She was picking her words so deliberately, I was having a hard time understanding what she meant.

"No. She's off. Like, a light, off. Still, barren, lifeless, dark. Dark side of the moon."

"She just turns off? Tem?"

"Yeah."

"That's impossible. She's constantly up in...everyone's business. She's always there, underfoot, jumping into conversations and apologizing at random. So air-headed and bouncy and vacant and...volunteering herself for weird things."

"Yeah, but uh...you've never considered that the reason you always see her that way is because that's the way she is around you?"

I scratched my head. "No?"

Lia chuckled. "Well, she is. When you're gone, she's like a dog waiting for master to come home. It's actually really depressing."

"And...you don't know where she is. Meaning...she's doing that right now."

"Yeah, uh…"

Lia started to fade guiltily out of the conversation so AEGIS sighed and stepped in.

"We didn't talk about our plans to come out here out loud at all. Did it all over messenger so she couldn't hear. She just sat somewhere moping in your house, and we left. Maybe to the store, maybe to dinner...maybe to the airport, not to return for a few days. She doesn't know, and what she doesn't know won't kill her."

"Does she literally just sit there all day?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Kind of obnoxious when she sets up somewhere in the way and you trip over her all the time. Wish she'd stay visible at least."

"Does she...eat?"

And that's where Lia gave the guiltiest face of all and I realized I'd hit on it.

"We feed her, usually," AEGIS said. "But she barely touches anything if you're not there. I think she's been gaining weight recently because she feels like you're there for her and won't abandon her for being fat, or whatever's going on in her mind."

"...except, I'm gone," I concluded. "For three days now. She probably hasn't eaten."

"I made sure there was food in the fridge!" Lia argued, but didn't seem convinced herself. "I should probably call Tower or something to check on her, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe," I said.

I didn't quite know what to think. It was hard to imagine Tem just...being shut down. If anything, I found her utterly irrepressible. I couldn't keep her away from me or hardly control her. I certainly felt bad about her current state, and didn't want her starving or hurting herself…

...but at the same time, she just pissed me off. We were out here trying to help people, in a city under some crazy underground war, with missing people and Exhumans killing each other, and we have to stop what we're doing so someone can call home and remind a friend to feed the dog. Force-feed the dog, because it won't feed itself. Tem just knew how to piss me off like none other.

"Um, maybe Jack," AEGIS said.

"Good call," Lia agreed. "He's probably all cooped up right now and going crazy with Steffie missing still."

"Ah yeah, good point," AEGIS agreed. I got the feeling there was more to that but didn't care.

"Well, sorry for bringing it up," I said. "Just a random thought. I'm gonna go talk to some of our neighbors. Hopefully they know something about the resistance, and aren't idiot anorexics like some Exhumans I know."

"Hey," Lia said, glaring. "It's a mental disorder. Would you make fun of her for schizophrenia or something?"

"Maybe if it somehow made her this obnoxious," I said, heading to the door.

"Well then, you're just a jackass," she huffed "as in, male donkey," and went back to her phone.

I wasn't the biggest fan of pissing off Lia, but I had some three-hundred Exhumans here to worry about without adding one more back in D.C. who couldn't take care of herself. I'd thought I might try to find Trish and piss off her boyfriend some more by pumping her for information about the resistance, but I was interrupted just a couple minutes into my walk by a broadcast on the PA system.

It wasn't broadcasting up in the northern part of the city, for...reasons...but I hadn't made it up there yet and could clearly hear Targa's irritated-sounding voice ringing over the city.

"Attention residents of New Eden. Pursuant to clause blah blah blah of article blah blah of my ass, the XPCA has such-and-such rights to make and have observed notices of blah blah blah."

She didn't really say that of course, but seriously. The first entire minute was just her listing off obscure articles and treatise, citing more sources than a dissertation as she rattled on and on about why I should listen and care. Eventually, she got around to it.

"On the precedent and authority of the aforementioned, all New Eden residents are thus considered both informed and aware of the following: A special inspection will be conducted in two days time, the minimum duration stipulated in blah blah blah...and presiding over the inspection will be one of the XPCA's ranking officers. All behavior conducted within the city during this inspection is expected to be by the book with no exceptions. Any individuals in violation of this verbal missive will be subject to massive penal repercussions which will be delivered to the furthest possible extent."

There was a few seconds of relative silence where all I could hear was her breathing over the comms. She sounded either worn out by just how many friggin' words it took her to say a simple thing, or she'd gotten herself very excited by just how hard she'd hit the rulebooks. Girl was a freak...and she called me a perv?

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Written notices will be posted and official notices in English and other languages may be requested at the gate for the hearing-impaired and non-English speakers. Two days. By the book. That is all."

Yeesh, I thought. By the book, by her definition was some thin ice indeed. I wondered just how many violations I was making just by standing here. Dozens probably. We needed to be finished with all of this before then, or I'd be thrown out for sure.

Still, an inspection by a higher-up, that'd stress out any official, not just the rule-fetishizing insane ones. I couldn't blame Targa for trying to make a production of this and scare her residents straight for a few hours or however long it'd take...if she was interested in ever getting promoted out of her, she'd need that kind of thing to go flawlessly.

Of course, being honest with myself, I hoped the whole thing went up in flames a little bit. Targa was a blowhard, and didn't deserve to be promoted over anyone. I just didn't want to be in the middle of it.

An hour later, I was back in the same spot coming from the other direction. Trish and her boy had been less than useless, and after talking me in circles for a while to let me know just how much they didn't owe me anything and how I should be grateful for the kindness they've already shown me, ultimately revealed they knew nothing about the resistance of any use. I'd even gone back down to the arena, now that I knew a faster way down than the stupid path they'd first set me on, and tried to talk to the Exhumans there, but again, everyone seemed irritated by me trying to talk with them, and claimed to know nothing anyway.

It was frustrating, and doubly so because I was sure thirty seconds with Saga on hand would have cleared this up for me. She just had to continue her streak of never being around when needed, and showing up when it'd be most inconvenient. If Blackett's word was to be trusted, she was in Florida or Cuba or something now. Even if she did have a phone, I was briefly amused by the hypothetical notion of calling her up to help me here, and her walking up over the course of a few months, swimming across the Caribbean and all.

I came back to find the girls mostly in the same state I'd left them all, just with more mess and devices sprawled on the table, and Lia working on her back on the couch with her legs floating in the air, her comfy sweatshirt riding up to show off a sliver of her 'tummy', as she called it.

"Lia, dude, put your legs down or put on shorts. You're flashing anyone who walks through the door," I said, censoring her from view with an outstretched hand.

"Hey! That doesn't mean you should look, stupid!" she shouted, dropping her mobile on her chest in her panic to pull up her skirt, and generally just being a mess of flailing legs.

"How are we doing on finding Steffie?" I asked. Without waiting for a reply, I went first. "I talked to Trish and some at the Arena...nobody seems to know how to find the resistance. Disappearances like hers are kind of the norm sometimes around here it seems, and people only discover the disappear-ees joined the resistance when they show up wearing red and killing XPCA at some point. That or they come back from XPCA custody."

"Sounds lovely," said AEGIS, chewing the back end of a stylus with her front teeth. "Surprisingly, we haven't found much either. There's hardly anything on the 'net about it...your friend Captain Targa's being a serious pain in the ass in how well she's locked down any data they have, and even Lia's having problems getting info from the guards. She gets them sympathetic to her, asks for something simple and reasonable, and they ask her for a written request, notarized by an officer and submitted in triplicate."

"The association has little information on the resistance as well," Karu added. "They are more interested in those Exhumans who pose a threat to society. While they have documented potential dangers and key targets of an Exhuman uprising, that still provides us with no concrete data of locations or modus operandi."

"So we have nothing?" I asked, sitting at the table. "I sort of expected more from you guys. Uh, in a good way. Not blaming anyone," I added as AEGIS' yellow eyes fixed on mine with a death glare. "I just meant, I assumed if you could break down the whole XPCA, it couldn't be too hard for you to find out something as simple as where to find a resistance member."

"Well, we did that over months and it's been an hour, so cut us some slack," AEGIS said, her voice as sharp as the daggers she was glaring into me. "We also have some more difficulties here given the nature of the location. I can't very well authorize myself XPCA satellite or drone access to do aerial sweeps of their own secure facility without it being pretty suspicious."

"And taking down the bigger XPCA was soooooo much easier," Lia complained, just a voice on the far side of the couch, her legs back in the air again, toes curling like her feet were putting on a puppet show to talk to us. "We just had to find a few weak links in the whole organization, and they were full of holes. Targa runs such a tight ship, though. She doesn't have a hole on her anywhere. So frustrating trying to get in."

And then, into the silence her proclamation created, she added. "I'm hungry. I want curry."

I put my face in my hands, but to my surprise, Karu stood up and smiled.

"I believe making a meal is the least we can do to repay your diligence in coming out here. And borrowing the host's foodstuffs is the least she can do to repay our efforts to find her. I can promise no curry, but there must be something edible on-hand."

She made it halfway to the kitchen before AEGIS caught up to her. "Maybe leave the cooking to me, I've been working on it," she said.

"I don't believe preparing nutrition is a difficult process. I have already exhausted my well of contacts, it would do for you to continue while I perform the menial chores I am able to contribute."

"Preparing nutrition? Menial chores? Just what the heck are you planning on cooking?"

"Beans, most likely. Imperishable, cheap, a good source of protein…"

I shook my head as the two debated their way to the kitchen. There was a knock on the door and Lia squealed as she inverted herself, gripping her skirt. It certainly was never boring with these guys around. I'd definitely missed them.

By all appearances, the guy at the door was the same beleaguered XPCA NCO who had come to serve me papers once before at Targa's behest. He looked equally haggard and harassed as last time, though the group of Exhumans following him around and victimizing him had changed, at least.

"Hey, good to see you again," I said. He gave me a small confused smile and then continued as though I'd said nothing.

"I am looking for an Exhuman named Athan Ashton, is he here?" he asked with a sigh. Kinda blinked at him, since I think that was the identical opening line he'd used on me last time. Sorta hurt that he didn't remember me, but maybe that was just my ego talking.

"Yeah, that's me. What's it this time? Parking ticket? Moving violation? Breathing violation?"

"Nothing that simple, sir," he said with a wry smile that vanished before I could be expected to see it. "Official written notice of orders to leave the facility," he read off the clipboard. "Or...here, read it yourself."

He handed over a clipboard with a sheaf of papers on it seemingly identical to the one I already had abandoned on the floor nearby from last time. I took it, glanced at it, and then threw it on the floor with its partner.

"Thanks," I said. "Need anything else? Cup of coffee? Escort to the gate?"

"I'll endure," he said, again with the flicker of a smile. Maybe smiling for more than a quarter of a second wasn't allowed by some obscure XPCA proviso. "Good day, sir," he said, and stepped off, the Exhumans following like a cartoon cloud of stink.

"What was that about?" AEGIS asked from the kitchen.

"We're getting thrown out of New Eden. Targa wants us gone before the inspection," I sighed.

"Then we have two days plus today?" Karu's voice called.

"No, before the inspection means by the end of tomorrow, looks like," I said.

"Well that doesn't seem very reasonable," Lia frowned, already working her way to being upside-down on the couch again. "Maybe we could get an extension if we promise to stay indoors for the whole thing or something?"

"Doubt it," I sighed. "That would probably constitute some kind of violation or exception, considering written notice has already been served listing this date."

"Then I suppose if we cannot locate your friend in time, we will have to return after the inspection," Karu said.

"Yeah, don't think so on that one either," I said, throwing myself into the couch next to Lia's head. "Pretty sure once she gets me out, she'll never let me back in."

"My, aren't you defeatist," Lia said.

"Just trying to be realistic here. Targa hates me."

"What'd you do to her anyway?"

"Nothing!"

She looked at me like she was sure she hadn't heard that right.

"Okay, on her first-ever op, she was my CO and...things didn't...quite go how she wanted them to."

I heard something crash in the kitchen, and then AEGIS swore. "Ashton," Karu's voice came from the next room, followed by the rest of her as AEGIS pushed her out. "Did you do anything untoward to your commanding officer?"

"No! Nothing like that. She just...she's a blowhard. You guys have all seen that firsthand by now. She wanted me to kill some kid who wasn't even an Exhuman and I said no. Scared him straight, but apparently it was something of a black mark on her record, and she blames me for winding up here."

"Ah. I suppose that is more noble than I had initially assumed. My apologies."

"What? What did you initially assume?"

"Nothing," Karu said, wiping her hands on her jeans and looking around. "You merely have...a way, as it were, with women."

"I do?" I asked. A way with women? Coming from a real-life woman, that was a pretty awesome compliment.

"Yes. You tend to make them want to exterminate you. Have you not noticed this?"

I thought about it, and then thought a little more. I turned to Lia once my brow started hurting from my eyebrows crossing too much.

"Lia, I think you're the only girl I know who hasn't tried to kill me in some way or who I haven't massively pissed off."

"Oh no, you've massively pissed me off," she laughed. "Yeah, you do have that effect on people, don't you? Funny."

I didn't actually see anything funny about it, more like troubling.

But I didn't have too much longer to fret over it before AEGIS started putting hot plates of food on the table, and the rest of us naturally gravitated towards the warm yummy aroma.

"So if we're going to do something about Steffie, it's either today or tomorrow," Lia said, heaping so much curry onto her plate, I had to wonder how she was still so thin. She'd gotten tall and long but hadn't filled out much, but she was still just a kid. I'm sure her body would catch up soon.

"Yeah," I said as the bowl was passed to me. "I don't know what we're going to do though."

"Well," Lia said, her eyes sparkling mischievously, and I knew she was up to something since talking had become a higher priority than shoveling down food. "You said you wanted to follow the rules and play it safe so Targa didn't throw you out, right?"

"Right…"

She bent down and picked up the clipboard. "Looks like you're already being thrown out. Kinda means we've got no reason to play by the rules anymore, huh?"

I felt a grin spreading on my face before Lia even finished, and AEGIS gave my expression a small double-take as she put a small pot of beans down in front of Karu. "Uh-oh," she said.

"I think I know how we can find the resistance," I said.

"This doesn't sound good," AEGIS said, looking warily at me.

"Oh, it's not. We're gonna get in a whole heap of trouble."