CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Me?”

  Dante looked at Pluto as though he were insane, as though what he were suggesting were nothing more than a bad joke. The longer he stared, however, the more affirmed he was that Pluto was being truthful.

  “Yes,” Pluto said with conviction, his eyes focused solely on Dante. “Unfortunately there isn’t much time for you to think about it so you’re going to need to make your decision fast.”

  Dante wasn’t sure what it was that pushed him, then. There was no immediate danger before him, and despite all that was said of Pluto he had been a hospitable and intriguing man to say the least. To at least consider what was being proposed would be the least Dante could do. But the fact that the proposal was the destruction of the Hell reactor—the very thing which powered 999, the contraption whose existence was the very reason for his own existence—was too much for Dante to handle. He couldn’t think about such a thing, refused to consider such a proposal at all. Instead he started running.

  Now Dante was never a very athletic man. His job was largely sedentary, his position allowing for him to enjoy a diet more plentiful than most, and there were few occasions where Dante had ever utilized his physique for more than a slow stroll around 999. That being said, knowing who he was running from—what he was running from—he put every ounce of energy into his legs, each step more powerful than the last. The air around him began to cut as his run became a sprint, his lungs compressing and decompressing relentlessly to allow for such activity. And all of this was very well, and perhaps if Dante had practiced such movements before he may have been able to outrun Pluto and Cat, been able to reach 1000 without anyone following him, where he could have waited it all out and returned in a few weeks time. Instead, his body couldn’t handle the tremendous pressure he was placing it through and because of that his legs became jelly, his breath became sharp and insufficient, his head became too light to lift, and his body fell with a loud crash and a skid across the steel, leaving his body bruised and scraped up more than it ever had been before. A whimper escaped his lips, and he wished for nothing more than to be killed so that it would all be over.

  “This is who you’ve chosen?” Cat said to Pluto in hushed, angry tones. “You’ve made mistakes in the past, don’t get me wrong, but this…? Him?!”

  “Quiet, Cat,” Pluto chided. “We both know that this is the most difficult part of our journey. He may lack the physicality of those who came before, but I believe he makes up for it in who he is, his intelligence. His cunning.”

  “His worthless bravado you mean?” she snapped back, obviously angry with his decision. “Whatever, do as you will. I’ll love you either way. Just know that I disapprove. Were it me I’d go for his leader, or maybe even higher up than that.”

  Pluto shook his head. “The only one in charge I’ve seen is that Giovanni guy, and I highly doubt he would be quick to take up the offer. Besides, you may think it’s not a good metric but I do like the guy.”

  Cat rolled her eyes.

  “Right, well go take care of him. I’ll be waiting at the elevator in the event more Nanos decide to show themselves.”

  They shared a quick kiss and Pluto was soon above Dante, a hand held out to the wheezing Recorder.

  “I wasn’t expecting such a question, I guess.” Dante sounded embarrassed. Defeated, even. Yet Pluto still looked confident in his decision.

  “I understand,” he said to him. “You didn’t need to run, though. I’m not going to hurt you if you decide not to take me up on my offer.”

  “Good,” Dante said as he stood up and brushed himself off. “Then the answer is no. I cannot in good conscience destroy the very thing that keeps us alive.”

  Pluto shook his head. “Look, we haven’t got a lot of time here—”

  “As you said before, which is why I’ve answered you.”

  “I haven’t even finished my proposal,” Pluto said, his voice becoming harsh, his eyes becoming hard. Dante gulped and nodded.

  “Right, go ahead. Propose to me.”

  “You should think before you speak sometimes,” Pluto said with a subdued laugh. “Well then, where to begin?” He stared at the floor, at the ceiling, at the Hell reactor and its great pylons surrounding the intense flame; he stared everywhere but at Dante himself. “You know,” he eventually started, “I’ve done this a number of times already and it never seems to get easier. Maybe it’s because each and every time is the actual first time, but it truly is the what… fourth time? Fifth time? I’m unsure. In any case, I’ve come to you for more than just your aid in destroying the Hell reactor. In all honesty I could simply do it myself and be done with it, but there’s a reason I need you specifically to do it.”

  “Forgive me for interrupting,” Dante said, his voice a grave reflection, “but why me then? Couldn’t you find someone better? I don’t want to do it. I couldn’t possibly…”

  Pluto held up a finger indicating silence. “Look at me, Dante. When I was a younger man, a more healthy man, I was much like you. Much more like you than even you could possibly realize. I worried ceaselessly over inadequacies, I thought long and hard about easy decisions, I stayed put more than I moved forward. But one day I was presented with an opportunity much like this one, and I became the man you see before you. A man of action, a man of change. Kinetic. I’m giving you that opportunity now.”

  “By destroying the Hell reactor?”

  “No,” he said, losing patience. “By becoming the next Captain Pluto.”

  Dante once again was at a loss for words.

  “What do you even mean by that?”

  Pluto folded his arms and groan so forcefully it made Dante gasp in worry.

  “Look, I would have proposed this before had things gone correctly. But it appears that the proverbial gun has been jumped, so to speak, so I have to ask now instead. My sentence would have involved the removal of the chip in my CMP unit, which would effectively kill me. I was going to ask you to place the chip in your own CMP unit and carry on my mission for me, as you are the only one I can trust to do so.”

  “No I am not,” Dante said, his voice subdued. He wanted to yell, but it was as though all the energy had been sucked from him. “I cannot stop you, so you can still do what you want. But leave me out of it. I have to become a Recorder again, I have to return once everything is back to normal—”

  “Your plan is foolish, Dante.” Pluto placed a firm hand on his shoulder and held his gaze as well as he could. “I understand your feelings. Trust me. I mean you heard me speak, I wish nothing more than to find a quiet place and relax. But I am not allowed to, not so long as Mobius continues its chaotic continuance. I am the one who must halt its production by any means necessary, over the course of as many lifetimes as it takes.”

  The line about lifetimes was when Dante truly understood. The man before him was merely acting captain. The real Captain Pluto had long since been dead, at least biologically speaking. It explained how his story could be true. Pluto would find a replacement whenever his own body was failing him, and the adventure would continue with a new Captain Pluto at the helm.

  Dante understood, but he wished to have no part of it.

  “How do you even know I have a CMP unit?” he asked absently, trying not to agree to anything.

  Pluto smiled at him slyly. “Well actually I asked you, and you told me. Remember?”

  Dante didn’t, but he nodded anyway.

  “Alright look, I get that this is a major decision but there’s one last thing I should tell you. It’s the only real benefit to you becoming Captain Pluto, but it’s a benefit I think you’ll like.”

  “What, will everything suddenly go well for me? If I remember correctly you said that the removal of your CMP drive alerts Mobius that you’ve gone rogue. So won’t I just be followed endlessly by killer Nanos?”

  “You will,” Pluto said with a nod. “But you will also have access to every single memory I’ve ever made, from Strata 56 to now. You would have the ultimate recording. It would make the files you’ve made with me obsolete.”

  He would hate to admit it, but Pluto knew him extremely well. Or at least well enough to know just how to bait him into accepting the offer. Everything about 999 was falling apart around him—God only knew what was going on below them at that moment—so the thought of being a Recorder in a few weeks again, returning everything to normal, just didn’t sit well with him. He knew deep down that there was no chance of that happening. So the thought that he would be able to hold the memories of a man—well, men—who had traveled across Mobius, scaling nearly a thousand strata, was enough for him to deeply consider the opportunity being presented him. Ultimate knowledge, endless experience. Technical immortality. All for the price of his compliance in explicitly criminal activity.

  “One last question,” Dante said, his voice revealing to Pluto that the bait had been taken.

  “Go right ahead,” Pluto said, happiness written all over his face.

  “If I become you, will I become as strong as you? As good with the Hellwhip as you are? Will Dante disappear into Pluto?”

  “Dante, I’ll be honest with you. If I place this drive into your CMP unit, there is a strong chance that you will become as Poe was to me. Your body will merely be the house in which Pluto lives. But if things go as I believe they will, Dante will be in control as the new Pluto, and that shall be that.”

  “So I’ll be stronger?”

  “No,” he smiled. “It’s still your body. We’ll be weak as shit. You’ll get stronger as we move forward, though. You’re more of an investment.”

  Dante nodded, then walked away, once more finding himself at the guard rail. He knew he wouldn’t have much time to think, but he needed to take at least a moment to consider now. Sure, he would need to do unsavory things as Captain Pluto. Many unsavory things indeed. But there was also a strong chance that he would be able to get to experience more than ever, not only by moving upward but by seeing the life of the many Plutos. Each one saw most of Mobius. Each one had experiences to share. Were Dante to accept the offer, he would have access to knowledge of any strata he thought to look into, from 56 to 999. And he would have access to the experiences of the companions as well. Cat seemed rather interesting, for example. Dante was certain she would have an interesting perspective, a story to be recorded. The only issue Dante saw was the criminal aspect. The very idea of pointing a weapon at anyone—even a Nano—was disturbing. He couldn’t see himself doing it.

  A loud boom interrupted his thoughts, and spinning around he saw that more Nanos had followed them up the elevator. Cat and Pluto took quick care of them, Cat dismantling them with her strange pitchfork of lightning, Dante disintegrating the remainder with his Hellwhip.

  “Fine!” Dante yelled.

  Both Pluto and Cat turned to him in surprise.

  “You’ll do it then?” Pluto asked fervently, eyes wide with excitement.

  “I haven’t much of a choice,” Dante said. “But I’ll only do it on one condition.”

  Pluto nodded. “What is it?”

  “We have to save Giovanni.”

  The three of them traveled down the elevator, the tension awkward due primarily to Cat and her continuous display of outward anger. Whether it was to Dante, Pluto, or both, neither could say. The anger was palpable, though, and Dante could do nothing but remain quiet and as far away from her as he could within that small confined space.

  “So,” Pluto said in hopes to cut the tension, “You know where Giovanni will be?”

  “Not exactly,” Dante said with mild embarrassment. “He never said exactly what was happening, but I figure he must be in his office. I would imagine much of the upper brass are in their offices.”

  Cat made a defiant noise which Dante and Pluto did there best to ignore.

  Something about it triggered a thought in Dante’s mind.

  “Hey, wait a second. Giovanni was talking about an attack on 999. Said something about having to stay behind to go down with the strata. You two wouldn’t be the ones responsible, would you?”

  Pluto gave him a look Dante had become familiar with, one which meant he was about to say something that was meant to make him angry so that Pluto could get a kick out of it.

  “What if we are?”

  “Cut that shit out,” Dante said. “Just tell me if you know anything about the attack. Is it the Nanos that are here?”

  “You didn’t explain fuck all to him, did you?” Cat said without looking at anyone, a playful smile pulling at her lips.

  “Didn’t exactly have time, what with all the recording sessions being about my past and my sickness taking a major toll on me.”

  Cat gave him a sly glance before continuing in her silent judgment.

  Pluto nervously examined his Hellwhip before entering his explanation. “You probably haven’t heard since you’re so far up, but something went wrong about ten strata below. The Nanos here, as I’m sure you’re aware, are docile and human loving. They work together with you and you work together with them in a beautiful symbiosis that was seen as the dream amongst men centuries ago. However, there is a being which has broken through the systems governing the Nanos of these strata, and in doing so they have altered their programming so that they are to corral all humans and murder them in cold blood.”

  “Why?” Dante was repulsed by the thought.

  “Because there is a group of Nanos, of AI systems, who want nothing more than all humanity wiped out. They see them as an ecological problem.”

  Dante wished to argue but saw Pluto was in no mood for such things.

  “Well then, what will destroying the Hell reactor do to stop them?” Dante asked, curious.

  “Honestly? There’s a chance it won’t work.”

  Pluto’s words made his blood run cold.

  “The chances of it not working are minimal, however, and the rewards greatly outweigh the risks. If you take out the Hell reactor, power will cease from here downward. This would remove the pathways of the rogue AI. The Nanos would shut down as well, go into hibernation. This would give us a chance to either destroy them all or find a way to reprogram them before the AI could find them.”

  Dante nodded but was still confused as the elevator door opened.

  “There’s flaws to that logic, though.”

  “Oh?” Pluto asked him to explain.

  “Well, this solution doesn’t get rid of the AI, it merely stops its progress and allows us to alter its own alterations. The only real way to stop it with your proposed solution is to kill all the Nanos, which would result in a dismantling of the way we live here. It would be as catastrophic as killing us all.”

  Sighing, Pluto gestured for Dante to walk with him while he talks.

  “There are no other solutions, Dante. We’ve thought this over for a long time.”

  “He’s right,” Cat said. “There are many decisions we hate to make, but we make them because we must and the alternatives are worse.”

  “Well being stupid is a bad decision no matter how you present it to me.”

  Cat looked at him like she was ready to kill him, but Pluto gave him a quiet nod, as though Dante’s words confirmed his decision in a successor were correct.

  “Then come up with something better,” Pluto said. “We are always open to new ideas, so long as they aren’t any dumber than our own.”

  The two continued forward as Dante slowed his walking speed, focusing all his mental energy on solving a problem he had no business solving, searching for solutions among the extraneous knowledge he had slowly accumulated over the years. He feared he would come up short.

  “He’s not here,” Pluto said, the look on his face one of worn out aggravation. Cat’s was no better.

  Dante glanced around the room as though he might find a clue hidden within the mostly empty office, then he perked up. “Right. He said he would go down with the strata, that means he’s more than likely—”

  “Further down,” Cat said as she stomped out of the room, her weapon ready in her hands.

  Pluto nodded at Dante and the two followed her in a loud silence. Dante continued searching his thoughts for solutions not involving the Hell reactor.

  Just as they were about to hear the audio cue for the elevator opening, there was a bang on the double doors, then another, then another, and the doors were forced open through blunt trauma. Before Dante could even see what was waiting for them, Cat leapt through the opening, the sound of her battle cries causing his heart to beat faster than he wanted it to.

  “She is absolutely terrifying,” he said without thinking. Pluto smirked at him.

  “She wasn’t always. Living as we do, you sort of become terrifying.”

  Pluto set his Hellwhip to level one or two—Dante couldn’t quite tell—and blasted the doors forward so that they could escape more easily. The sight they were greeted with was more than Dante could have imagined; countless Nanos were in combat with men Dante recognized—Recorders, Politicians, Leaders, Security, even the Cooks were fighting the Nanos on this level using whatever they could find, makeshift weapons and stolen ones alike. Pluto began picking the Nanos off with calculated shots that never seemed to miss, localizing the damage only to the Nanos doing all the attacking. Cat was mowing down Nanos with such ruthless aggression it was hard for Dante to watch.

  While Pluto was picking the Nanos off, he glanced at Dante and said, “We’re going to be a little busy with all this. Any way you can see if Giovanni is here?”

  Dante looked around. It was hard for him to tell if any specific person was anywhere in all the pandemonium, and the bright blue light of the Hellwhip’s shots kept blinding his eyes. He persisted in his search but shook his head.

  “I don’t see him at all,” he said too quietly, having to repeat himself louder for Pluto to hear.

  “Right, well then follow me. I’ll carve a path for us and we can see if he’s here.”

  Dante wished to protest but Pluto took a few steps to the right, lined up a shot, and pierced through three Nanos simultaneously without hitting any humans. With awe in his eyes, Dante followed Pluto forward.

  “Don’t watch me!” Pluto barked over the sound of a shot. “Look for Giovanni!”

  Nodding, Dante did his best to continue his search. They walked for a while and just as he was about to give up he realized where he might be. It had taken him a while to remember where he was, but they were in the lower regions of the apartment complex. His eyes wandered upward, searching the upper balconies, and sure enough he saw that there was struggling above.

  “I think he’s up there,” Dante said, pulling on Pluto’s arm to show him.

  “You see him?” Pluto asked as he picked another Nano off with casual ease.

  Dante shook his head. “No, but I don’t see him down here either and I feel like he might want to be higher up for the vantage point.”

  Pluto shrugged and asked him which way to the stairs was. It wasn’t too far off from where they stood, so Pluto picked off a few more Nanos and they were running up the steps. Dante worried that they might be followed, but saw no one behind him whenever he took a peek over his shoulder. Instead what he saw before him was a line of carnage, Nanos having killed just about everyone on the level. A wave of nervous nausea struck Dante and he worried he couldn’t continue.

  “Well, that makes things easier,” Pluto said to no one in particular. Dante heard the click of the setting change on the Hellwhip, and suddenly a blast louder than any he had ever heard emitted from the deceptively small pistol, the force knocking Dante to his backside despite not having shot it himself. Once he could stand again, he immediately began yelling at Pluto.

  “You arrogant fool! What if people were up here? What about Giovanni? If he was there he’d be dead!”

  Blowing on the smoke rising from the Hellwhip, Pluto shrugged. “I saw no sign of biological life on this level, therefore I deemed it easier to take them out with one shot.”

  “Saw no signs…! You saw nothing! How could you figure that out but you require me to see if Giovanni is here?!”

  Pluto sighed. “Look, I haven’t got time for you to be acting like this. Either help me find Giovanni or go run and hide somewhere. I know what he looks like anyway, I can probably just do it myself.”

  “Then why did you want me to help?”

  “Because he’s your friend. I just thought you’d want to find him yourself.” Pluto shook his head and continued forward. The sight of his back walking away from him etched itself in Dante’s mind and he growled a noise of frustration before trotting along to follow him. He was only a few steps behind Pluto when he felt his leg become caught on something. His knee twisted, there was a shout of agony, then he hit the steel with a loud thump, sending his head into a dizzy pain. He tried to stand, but not only was his leg not cooperating, something was also gripping it tightly. Scared to turn his gaze backwards, Dante glanced and saw the mutilated body of a Nano, its face nearly gone, instead just a series of open wires fraying like Medusa, two red cameras acting as her eyes and turning him to stone. He tried to scream but couldn’t.

  He didn’t need to.

  A sharp, pinpoint blast from the Hellwhip pierced through the Nano with ease, allowing Dante to free himself and stand awkwardly on his now twisted leg. Pluto was there in a flash.

  “You okay?” he asked, eyes still searching around for more stragglers.

  Dante nodded, his expression revealing his true feelings. Quickly, Pluto knelt down and grabbed Dante’s leg. “Hold onto that railing. Relax your leg for a second.” Doing as he was told, Dante’s breathing drew shallow and rapid. He had no experience with such things, but even he could tell what Pluto was about to try and do. There was a quick snap, a shot of split second agony, followed by relief.

  “Any better?” Pluto asked, stepping away and once again resuming his scan of the area.

  Putting a little pressure on his foot at first, then more, Dante nodded in amazement. “All better, somehow.”

  “You’ll be all better in a few days, right now that’s just gonna help for a bit,” Pluto said.

  Making a pained noise, Dante looked down and saw Cat in her continued onslaught of Nanos, a sight more frightening than anything he’d seen Pluto do. Her weapon, her movements, and her guttural shouts were all so visceral that he could do no more than be shocked and terrified. Pluto smirked when he saw what he was looking at. “Come on,” he said, “let’s find Giovanni without anymore distractions. And stay by me, that way stupid shit like this doesn’t happen again.”

  With that, Dante was in step, following close behind Pluto as they rose to the next level. His steps were still very uncoordinated and it was difficult to maintain a good pace, but there wasn’t too much pain. He knew that it was going to be possible to follow for at least a while, though he was sure he must look strange with his awkward limp. Pluto lead him through the Nanos, blasting pathways through them like ripples in the water, all while calmly motioning and calling out his, “Come ons!” and “Let’s gos!”

  It took a little time and a lot of destruction, but eventually Dante saw Giovanni. He was, unfortunately, not where they had been going; Dante had chanced a glance over the edge of the railing and saw that Giovanni and a number of other men were on the ground. They had shown up as reinforcements, Dante assumed, and they joined the battle with Cat and the others, taking down Nanos with gusto. Giovanni stood in the back, his face a difficult thing to read.

  When Dante told Pluto where he was, Pluto frowned and took a deep breath.

  “Is he safe?”

  “Relatively,” Dante said as he watched from above. He found that seeing the battle from such a vantage point was a little more relaxing. It was obvious to him that the Nanos, while great in numbers, were severely outclassed by the likes of Cat and her pitchfork.

  Pluto stomped next to him and holstered his Hellwhip. “Right, well grab onto me then.”

  “What?”

  “Just hold on, I’m going to take us down there.”

  Dante suddenly felt a lurch of vertigo induced nausea seeing the view from that same vantage point. “Can’t we just walk down? There’s no way we’ll survive such a fall!”

  Pluto merely grinned. “Come on now, Dante. Surely you know the strength of a skinsuit. We’ll be safe, trust me. I’ve fallen from higher places—by accident, even.”

  Dante was about to argue but Pluto saw his chance and instead hoisted him over his shoulder, planted one foot on the railing, then pushed off with all his strength. In a matter of seconds, Dante was falling through the air, his only view a shaky one of the floor they had jumped from and Pluto’s legs. For a moment it felt like nothing would be fine, that they would tumble to the ground and either be pulled apart from the sheer force of the fall, or they would be taken out by any number of Nanos on the ground.

  “Shit, hold on!” Pluto yelled just before they landed.

  “Not one for—!” Dante started to say, but couldn’t finish what he was trying to say, “—instilling good faith, are you?” Instead he felt the quick rummage for the Hellwhip, then suddenly heard the click and smash of the weapon being used, the force of which actually halted their momentum, causing them to instead land gracefully among the many strewn about Nano corpses. Surely there were dead men and women as well, but Dante wished not to think about those.

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  Pluto unceremoniously dropped Dante, leaving him in tears on the ground while he searched around for Giovanni once again.

  “What the hell just happened?” Dante asked through grit teeth.

  “We were about to land very badly,” Pluto said, his focus still on the location of Giovanni.

  Dante saw his trouble and found Giovanni immediately. “There!”

  The two of them ran over to him, Pluto taking care of anyone in their way while Dante merely tried his best to keep up. Despite not physically taking part in the jump from above, his fear as they fell was more than enough to sap what little energy he had.

  Giovanni saw them coming quickly. Dante wondered why at first before realizing that he must have noticed the Hellwhip. As a weapon, its piercing blasts were difficult to miss, and the noise accompanying it left little room for stealth.

  “I told you to leave,” Giovanni said to Dante in a confusing way, somewhere between anger and relief.

  “Once I saw all this, I couldn’t just run away,” Dante said, the his voice sounding all wrong.

  Giovanni finally looked at his friend and saw how bad he was. “Are you alright?”

  “He’ll be just fine,” Pluto said, stepping between the two men. “He twisted his leg at the knee. Might be sore for a few days but otherwise he’s fine.”

  “Right,” Giovanni said, his look one of amazement. Dante was sure he hadn’t expected to see Pluto like this. “Well what exactly are you doing here? Give me a real answer, this isn’t the time for fun and games.”

  Dante took a deep breath. “Of course,” he said, “well, we’re here to save you.”

  The look Giovanni gave Dante was unexpected, to say the least. It looked to Dante as if his statement was a blow to his friend’s pride.

  “You don’t think I can handle myself against some rogue Nanos?” he asked, his voice a commanding whisper. “We’ve got the best squad there is here taking them on. Mr. July has taken measures to ensure our victory here. We don’t plan on losing the strata, Dante. So if that’s all there is, you can either start helping us destroy these rogue bastards or you can remove yourself from the area as I said to before.”

  “No,” Dante said, shaking his head. “You misunderstand me here. The Nanos aren’t the thing that’s dangerous. It’s us.”

  Giovanni looked from him to Pluto with a confused frown.

  “Here, let me explain,” Pluto interjected. “Your Hell reactor is about to expire. When it does, this strata as well as the two hundred below will lose all of their power and begin running on reserves. When this happens you won’t survive for long. There will also be a large explosion when the Hell reactor is destroyed. There will most likely be casualties. Dante here just wanted to make sure that you survived and came with him—with us.”

  For a moment, Dante thought that Pluto revealing his plan to escape meant he would certainly die. There was a weapon on Giovanni, though it was concealed partially by his overly long sleeves.

  “If that’s all you have to say, then leave,” Giovanni said.

  Both Pluto and Dante shared a look.

  “We came all this way to save you,” Dante said, moving forward slightly, his knee twinging just enough to cause him pain. “You can’t just stay here and die.”

  “I won’t die,” Giovanni said, taking a few steps past them and pulling out his weapon, some antiquated pistol that might have looked like the Hellwhip but packed far less punch. He aimed it and shot a Nano that was running towards them directly through the head, then again through the chest. This was a classic double tap and for normal weapons was the fastest way to destroy a Nano. “I’ve got enough experience and firepower here to keep us all alive for a while. Now I’m not going to ask you again, Dante, but please get out of here. Go to 1000. We can take care of all of this.”

  Dante looked downward. His leg was straight but it felt crooked. His first time trying to save his first friend from his first real, life threatening danger had gone completely wrong. Without realizing it, his face became wet with tears.

  Pluto shot a Nano from long distance, more of a nervous tic than a shot of defense. “You don’t need to take him with you,” he said, his words as deliberate as Dante had ever heard him. “Not everyone is cut out for what we’re about to do.”

  There was a pain in his words that was familiar, and Dante knew Pluto spoke from experience. A sob escaped his lips. He hadn’t cried since his father had died.

  “Was there anything else you wanted to do?” Pluto asked him. The question went into Dante but was never processed for further inspection. Dante’s focus was on Giovanni, and he saw that his friend was in the process of reloading his weapon with a cartridge with a Nano rushing him, ready to spear him with a bayonet of pure energy. Dante’s frail body was without a weapon, and he could barely walk let alone run, but he had come all this way to save Giovanni. Pluto’s attention was elsewhere, he wouldn’t save him in time. With tremendous will, Dante began running, rushing to save his friend.

  Pluto saw this and immediately switched to shoot the Nano with his Hellwhip, but by the time he raised the weapon he saw that Dante was already in the line of fire. It would be too dangerous for him to shoot.

  Dante rushed with agonizing steps, each one sending vibrations of pain upwards. It was obvious that whatever Pluto had done for his leg was temporary and not something that would totally fix him. He would need days of rest and possibly a real medical professional to take a look at his leg to make sure it wasn’t broken. None of that mattered, however.

  Without thinking of the consequences, Dante tackled the Nano and stopped it in its tracks, both beings momentum canceling each other out with a resounding thud. Both Giovanni and Pluto stared in frantic worry, Giovanni stumbling and messing up the placement of the cartridge as the nerves got to him. The Nano rolled over on top of Dante and drew back the bayonet, then went to slam it downward on his had. Dante wished only to slip his head to one side and grab the weapon, disarm the Nano and possibly stab it himself. But he was too awkward, too unused to combat for such things. Instead, he swung to one side so hard that the Nano was then beneath him, the weapon faltering in its hands. Dante then forcefully placed his left hand on the elbow joint of the arm holding the bayonet, then began pummeling the Nanos face with his bare fists. It was a useless, primal attack, a desperate maneuver in the face of his friend’s possible death.

  Pluto walked over to him and said, “Dante, that’s enough.”

  Dante looked up at him, his body filled with chemicals he seldom felt before.

  Then Pluto shot the Nano in the face with a low level blast, just enough to shut it down. Shrapnel still flew in all directions, some of it getting into Dante’s face and eyes, but otherwise he was kept safe.

  Giovanni finally got the cartridge into his weapon with a frustrated sigh of relief. Pluto walked over and pat Giovanni on the back.

  “You can get up now, Dante. We have to get out of here.” Pluto pulled Dante to his feet, helping to make sure he was able to stand and walk. “Obviously your buddy Giovanni here has everything under control.”

  It looked as though Giovanni wished to speak but held his tongue.

  Dante knelt down and yanked the bayonet from the Nano’s hands. It was a strange weapon, a long rifle with energy emitting beneath it in mimicry to an ancient Earth weapon. Dante wasn’t sure he should—or could—use it effectively, but holding it made him feel better. He propped it under his elbow and used it as a makeshift crutch, though he was worried he might injure himself so he was careful in how he walked with it.

  The two of them went for a couple of steps before Pluto spoke to him.

  “That was extremely reckless of you. Especially dangerous. You could have died.”

  “I know,” Dante said weakly. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Pluto said with a smirk. “You continue to prove to me that I was correct in choosing you as my successor. Punching a Nano in the face? That’s some spirit. You showed the same spirit when you attacked me before. I think you’ll go far as the next Captain.”

  A swell of pride filled Dante, and it became a little easier to walk.

  “Wait!” Giovanni called out. Both men turned to see him jogging over to them.

  “Change your mind?” Dante asked, knowing his friend more than likely hadn’t.

  Giovanni shook his head. “No, but I think you should know something. Mr. July specifically wanted you to be in charge of the Captain Pluto case.”

  A strange shiver went down Dante’s spine. Pluto made a look Dante had never seen before. Was it shock?

  “Who is Mr. July?” Pluto asked the two of them, voice shaking mildly.

  His face grim and his eyes darting about to ensure either no one was listening in or that no Nanos were about to attack them, Giovanni explained: “Mr. July is the man in charge of the entire Hegemony of the 990s. He is the man who keeps all ten strata as a single colony, and has been the reason behind why we are attempting to move further down. His wish is to unite all of Mobius under one strict governing body.”

  Pluto made a noise of disgust. “That doesn’t sound right.”

  “Pardon?” Giovanni asked. Dante might have smiled had the subject matter been different, for he could see his friend conflicted over the fact that he wished to attack Captain Pluto but couldn’t knowing he would lose.

  “I don’t mean that you’re saying something wrong, Giovanni. I’m just speaking from my experiences in coming upwards from the lower strata. In my time below, never once has anyone said anything regarding a single leader over multiple strata. No one has mentioned a man by the name of ‘July’ either. So forgive me if I find it difficult to believe what you say is true, as it’s not necessarily your fault. There’s the possibility that I never encountered someone who would have brought it up, as though I travel far I tend not to stay in places for very long.”

  “Or else this happens,” Dante said sullenly.

  Pluto nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, Mr. July isn’t one for giving out his name,” Giovanni said, his voice becoming harsher, more like the friend Dante was familiar with. “He’s not even well known here. Only those who need to know, know of Mr. July. His word goes above everyone else in the Hegemony. No one even knows what he looks like! Yet we all would put our lives before his, as he is the only one capable of uniting the us.”

  Dante could see Pluto becoming angry, and he heaved a sigh before attempting to calm him. “Mr. July is an idealist, Pluto. I highly doubt he’ll achieve his goal.”

  “I know something of that myself,” Pluto muttered. There was sweat on his forehead. “In any case, why would he want Dante to be on my case? Does he have some higher plan?” Pluto’s brow furrowed. “Is that why he is meant to go to 1000?”

  Giovanni looked as though he were about to answer when Cat came near like a meteor, smashing a Nano that was closing in on the group with vicious imprecision. “You guys done with the small talk, or do I need to keep this up for a while longer?”

  It was obvious to even Dante that though she was incredible, there was no way she could keep fighting for much longer. Sweat was dripping off her body as though she had been in a shower, and her eyes were flickering like a dying star.

  Pluto altered the setting on his Hellwhip and blasted a group from far away, destroying a wall behind them for good measure. “Give us one more second.”

  Cat glared with one eye open.

  “To answer your question,” Giovanni said, “I have no idea what the purpose of sending Dante to 1000 could mean. All I know is that it is more likely than unlikely that Dante is meant to continue upwards in the hopes that he can bring together everyone from above as well, perhaps even halt the continued building and disruption that Mobius has been known for for the past few centuries.”

  Dante couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “Why not choose you?” he asked Giovanni.

  “He did, actually.” Giovanni gave a wry smile. “I declined. Said maybe you would be a better choice.”

  There was an explosion and they all turned to see what it was. Smoke billowed out from a hole made from beneath them, and suddenly a number of shapes appeared in the smoke, one by one leaping upwards or climbing up from where ever it was they came from. Giovanni pointed his weapon towards them but Pluto held out a hand.

  “No, don’t shoot,” he said calmly, his satisfaction evident. “These are with me.”

  Throughout all of this—the recordings, the fights, the last few days as a whole—Dante had slowly been warming to the idea that perhaps Pluto really was the actual Captain Pluto the myths had been about, a man who had come from the lowest of strata to save the poor humans who happened to be stuck here from the rogue entity they themselves had created. For a time, to Dante it was merely a good story to tell the young children before bed, to allow for them to enjoy good dreams before adulthood stole those away. When Pluto asked Dante to continue his legacy, be the next Captain, part of Dante still regarded the whole thing as a mere ruse, a last ditch scam by the criminal he recorded. Even the Hellwhip, powerful as it appeared, lacked the oomph he had come to expect from the mythological weapon of yore, the tool he’d heard described by the criminal himself. Sure it hummed, and it certainly destroyed, but there wasn’t any indication it could decimate an entire strata.

  The moment Dante saw the group of ruthless vagrants walk through the smoke, all manner of folk from humans to Nanos, all wearing a cornucopia of colored garments no doubt stolen across the vastness of Mobius slowly but surely as their adventure progressed, all using weapons they had stolen from Nanos, all of them lead by a single Nano who no doubt must have been the Tom Captain Pluto had spoken of—that was the moment that Dante believed without a doubt that Pluto must be the real thing, that he truly was the Captain Pluto his father used to tell stories about, the one who would save us all from the evil emitting from our very house.

  The lead Nano walked over and gave Pluto a swift hug, a strange display of emotion to see from a being of steel and wires. Yet immediately Dante could see that Tom was of a different ilk, that were it not for his physical makeup it would seem that he was absolutely human in terms of his being, his soul. The smile on his face may have been made through programming, but the emotion it displayed was pure.

  “You’re still alive,” Tom said with a hint of playfulness.

  “And you’re still always late,” Pluto replied, a grin on his face. Then he turned and introduced everyone. “Giovanni, Dante, this is Tom, my right hand and the one who leads the Lost.”

  Tom held out a hand to shake Dante’s, and it was clear to Dante that Tom knew who he was shaking hands with. “Nice to finally meet you. Are you prepared?”

  Dante wasn’t sure what he meant exactly, but he said, “As I’ll ever be.”

  “Good,” Tom said with a quick nod. “Well, where is the Hell reactor? Is it higher up?”

  “Yes,” Pluto said. “We have to go up there, to the sixtieth floor. There we should be able to figure out a way to destroy it safely, though it’s going to be a lot harder than I thought initially.”

  Tom smiled, showing silicone teeth. “Well we already figured it was close to impossible. Let’s get going then.”

  They all gathered themselves and began leaving, but Dante and Giovanni stopped to speak one last time.

  “You know, you can still come with us,” Dante said, his attempt at a smile stopped by a sharp pain in his leg.

  Giovanni shrugged. “I’ll think it over. Maybe I’ll come after you at some point.”

  Dante shook his head. “I know you won’t. Mr. July probably wants you to stay, doesn’t he?”

  Giovanni clasped Dante’s hand and they parted ways.

  “You’re sure you want the kid to do this?” Tom asked, his body glowing from the flames of the Hell reactor.

  Everyone had gathered on the sixtieth floor, with Cat leading a group of about two dozen of the Lost soldiers to guard the elevator door, and the remainder of them all congregating near the guard rail, with Dante, Tom, and Pluto all discussing the Hell reactor. Dante had initially wondered why they hadn’t gone higher, but Pluto had explained that it simply was easier to see the entire thing from the sixtieth floor, which is true. It’s the entire reason why Dante would go up there in the first place, the view was special. Still, even with such a great view, none of them could seem to figure out a way to destroy the monstrous reactor.

  “Well it’s not that I want him to do it,” Pluto said. “It’s that he has to do it. I’m going to be gone soon and if he can’t do it on his own then there’s no way he’ll survive moving upward.”

  Tom emitted a strange noise that Dante could only interpret as a sigh. “Right, then if he fails and you’re gone, we go to our second plan.”

  “Right,” said Pluto. “So we need to figure this out now otherwise we’re screwed for at least a while.”

  Tom used this time to scan the reactor for weak points, and Pluto seemed to be doing something on his own, possibly navigating the network though that was difficult to surmise merely by sight, and this left Dante alone in his own quiet, a place he often was but disliked in times such as this. He couldn’t sit still. He’d move, fidget, and stare at the Hell reactor with a stern look as though his mind could will it to stop its production. Then, as with all things in this way, through his bored fidgeting an idea emerged and he became more excited and animated than he had been in a long time.

  “The pylons!” he exclaimed, his grip on the guard rail showing the whites of his knuckles.

  Pluto looked at Dante with fierce interest. “What about them?”

  “Well, it’s crazy—ridiculous, even—but the entire premise of destroying the Hell reactor is ridiculous so I began to think of ridiculous things. When you shot the Hell reactor itself, it ate up the blast as though it were made of the same substance. But the pylons are made of steel, and they raise up higher than the actual reactor, see? So if we hit the pylons just right—”

  “We could knock them into the Hell reactor, disrupting it and ceasing its production,” Pluto finished. He appeared interested but was shaking his head anyway. “Tom, what do you think? Is that feasible?”

  “Absolutely not,” Tom said without hesitation.

  When he didn’t continue, Dante pressed him. “Can I ask why?”

  “Certainly,” Tom said. “For starters, the odds of you striking any of those pylons in the right spot are slim. You would need to place the shot correctly so that the pylon would fall over and strike the reactor instead of merely disintegrating the pylon itself, which also means you would need to set the Hellwhip to… level 2 or 3, approximately. Then you would need to make the perfect shot. After this, however, there is a strong chance that the Hell reactor wouldn’t stop right away.”

  “What do you mean?” Dante asked.

  “I mean that the pylon would knock over the Hell reactor, but that thing is a veritable sun. If that thing is knocked loose, there’s no telling what would happen. It’s held together in that space so that it doesn’t destroy everything around it, so one can assume that if it were set free it would begin destroying absolutely everything here, possibly even sucking us up with a massive pull that we cannot feel due to its current safe, docile circumstances.”

  Dante was about to ask further but Pluto placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Tom is always right, Dante. Always. If what he is saying is what will happen, then we should move on from that idea and explore others.”

  And that’s what they did, but to no avail. Tom proposed that they shoot up above it to bury the reactor, but this would more than likely force the reactor downward onto people below, and with its weight and possible gravity it could fall for a lot longer than a single strata. Pluto found that there was a way into the system of 999, but it was heavily encrypted and with little time to spare the idea of making his way into the system and shutting the Hell reactor off wasn’t plausible. On top of this, as he kept saying, he wished Dante to do it himself, and this would prevent him from solving the issue. A feeling of immense pressure was on him, but Dante didn’t wish to give up.

  “Is there absolutely no way we all survive if we knock a pylon into the Hell reactor?” he asked Tom.

  Tom seemed to mull it over. “No, there is a small chance everyone can survive. Certain factors increase the chances, however.”

  “Such as everyone evacuating the area?” Dante said.

  Tom nodded. “Yes, but that would mean that only the person shooting the pylon would be in the vicinity. That means you, Dante.”

  It was a frightening thought, but Dante limped to face Pluto and said, “Well, give me the Hellwhip. You get everyone out of here, up to 1000. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Whoa, whoa!” Pluto reeled back, waving his hands. “You can’t mean to do all of this on your own. I mean, sure I wanted you to physically do it by yourself, but to be absolutely alone with this in your condition is suicide. That defeats the whole purpose.”

  “May I interject?” Tom said with sincerity. Dante had already begun to like Tom. He was easier to get along with than most humans he had known. “Why not just stay here with him and we’ll all pave a path upward, Pluto?”

  "Out of the question,” he said. “I’m not leaving you guys behind like that. Besides we might need to stay to fight more Nanos.”

  “Actually, we destroyed a lot of them on our way up,” Tom said. “If you couple our numbers with those of 999 who also aided in the fight, then we have no reason to continue being here. In fact the longer we stay, the more likely it is that more Nanos show up. So it is better if we all move upward and you two finish this.”

  Pluto continued to protest but Tom grabbed Dante and began moving him carefully before placing him down specifically in front of a pylon. “This one is the most likely candidate to strike the Hell reactor and also give you both a chance to escape,” he said. “When you strike it, the Hell reactor will stop powering everything so you must move upward using the emergency stairs to the right, that way,” he pointed towards them. Dante was already aware of their existence but nodded anyway. “The spot you will want to strike is right about… there, just above the ground.” The spot Tom pointed to was low on the pylon, perhaps a full story above the ground level where the pylon began.

  “Level two?” Dante asked him.

  “Perhaps. Level three might work better but it would be safer to try two first,” Tom said. “Now stay right here, don’t move or else you’ll be out of the correct spot.”

  After that, Tom went to the elevator and told the Lost the plan, sending some of them up the elevator and the rest up the stairs. Pluto was left speechless, shaking his head in a way that told Dante this was a common occurrence.

  “Like I said,” Pluto said, “Tom is effectively the leader of the Lost. I’m more of a figure head at this point. Just the guy with the dumb gun.”

  Walking up next to him, Pluto handed the Hellwhip to Dante and leaned over the guard rail as though they were there for a conversation, not a veritable heist, one of stealing energy away from hundreds of thousands.

  The gun was much heavier than it had felt before. Much shinier, more deadly looking. Dante didn’t wish to hold it.

  “Tom told you where to point it, right?”

  Dante nodded, his gaze never leaving the weapon in his hands. He would periodically feel the urge to sway, to walk, but would stop his legs from moving so that his spot would remain as perfect as possible.

  They waited a moment and heard a soft crunch of metal from afar, a noise Dante had never cared for before but now did as it was the indication that the elevator had stopped. That meant it was safe to shoot.

  He held the gun up but Pluto laughed and came over to him.

  “No, no. Not like that at all. Here, keep your elbows bent more, if you lock them like that your arms might splinter off. Then you click this—” he clicked the circular slide on the side of the barrel, “—into place, now its set to level two. Use the top of the barrel to gauge where the blast will go. It’s been serviced recently so it won’t deviate at all, but after a while of shooting the blasts tend to deviate to either the right or the left. The beam it shoots will not fall at all so just point and shoot, but again keep those elbows bent. Take deep breaths, too. You’ll be fine, just relax.”

  All of this was meant to help Dante, but the more Pluto spoke the more the nerves rose in Dante’s heart, the more he became ultra aware of every little issue he was forcing upon the weapon, every little problem his body placed on the weapon. He began to wonder if he was even going to be able to pull the trigger.

  “Good, now you remember where Tom said to shoot?”

  Dante nodded wordlessly.

  “Good, aim, place your index finger over the trigger, take a deep breath and—whoa shit!”

  Dante had done as he was instructed, but he had no way of knowing the trigger would be so light, so free. His finger had slipped and the shot was off, the knock back sending him to the ground in pain, not from his arms but from his legs, the ache from before becoming familiar. Pluto watched in excited horror, waiting to see if the blast would knock the pylon over.