Hiiro

Before the motorcade got its wheels rolling, they had another ops meeting. I'd been with the Stalking Shadow's outfit for less than a month but I was pretty sure this was well over my fiftieth meeting by this point. If I never attended another round table council again, it'd be too soon. We went over the vehicles we'd be taking, who was riding where and doing what. Then came the route, me and the other two drivers—Tony and Rock—each of us had to memorize the route, getting cuffed upside the head every time we made a mistake in our recollections— Tony got the most of those. When the meeting was winding down, Celio came in with twelve of his Vigia armed with button up shirts, pistols and bulging sacks of small denomination coins, changing everything to suit his whims. Our carefully planned 'smile and wave' drive by became a parade. Celio's Vigia would be our outriders, one car in the lead clearing streets that weren't meant for anything but foot traffic and the other would trail behind making charitable contributions to the public at gunpoint. At Celio's urging, most of our incessant planning was thrown to the ocean breeze.

"My men know the route," He said jovially. "They used to drive it often as part of my… community outreach. You do not need to concern yourselves with all of this scheming that you do. Simply follow my men in the lead car and all will be well, yes?"

Leeroy stepped out from the assembled mercs and lowered his voice enough that most of the room wouldn't heard it.

"Celio, this'll be our first official foray into Crucibab and you've blacklisted half our outfit from riding along for the sake of appearances. I strongly advise against this 'hearts and minds' convoy, at least until we've had some more time t-"

"And I advise for it." Celio countered, refusing to lower his voice in the slightest. "Which settles to matter, yes? Now come my friends! We should hit the road before Totec finds his high throne."

Leeroy masked the worst of his annoyance and spared a knowing glance to Alice, who just shrugged slightly.

"Very well, " Leeroy said. "You are the boss after all. Alright people, you know your jobs so get to it. Hero, Aivery, a word before you go."

The crowding mercenaries became a veritable tide of bodies pressing out of the room. Some were cracking knuckles or loosening muscles in anticipation of the coming work; others wore they're emotions as a kind of grim determination on their faces. Even with Celio's last minute changes, everyone knew their job, and unlike me, they fell into their duties with the indifferent diligence of veterans. As much as all of Leeroy's incessant planning irked me, seeing every single person moving with purpose in unity struck a cord in me— even in my pioneering days, we'd never been such a well-oiled machine as these men and women were. I'd barely finished forming the thought before they had all cleared out of the room, leaving me with Leeroy, Alice, Princess and Aivery.

"I was hoping we'd have some of the Vigia's trained before Celio got itchy feet." Leeroy grumbled absently. "We'll have our asses in the void if anything happens out there. Aivery, take whoever you need from the house and get a quick response team suited, stowed and ready in the back of the Midnight Hound. Don't warm up the engines just yet though, but I want that option all the same."

"Yay, more work for me." Aivery groaned.

"If they bite it out there and Celio dies, you don't get paid." Princess said icily.

"If you love them so much, why don't you go with them? Oh wait, you can't. So how about you back off and let me do my job you bug-eyed freak?" Aivery stomped off with a finger raised in mock salute to Princess.

"Fucking bitch." Princess grumbled.

"What about me?" I asked once the cat fight was clear.

"Right, you. You're driving Celio's car, partially because you know how to drive, partially so Alice here can keep an eye on you and all your passengers in my stead. I'm not expecting our resident devil to be much help in a fight and I have no idea what to expect from her warden, but maybe he'll stop a few bullets from giving our client some new air holes in his head. If this backfires, you'll be a prime target by proximity. Keep low, call out everything you see and if shit hits the vents, get the hell out of there while the rest cover your escape."

I blinked my eyes in a second of stunned silence as I processed exactly what he was implying.

"Are you telling me to run away?" I asked.

"No, I'm telling you to do your job while we do ours. Alice will handle comms, so all you need to do is drive and remember a way back home. Can you do that? If not, too bad, we don't have enough time to find a better option."

"I'll do my best." I said, feigning more confidence than I felt.

"Let's hope that's good enough, firebug." Leeroy stated with a nod before patting me on the shoulder with a heavy hand.

Our half of the convoy was already mounted and waiting when Alice and I jogged into the east wing's garage. The offroad crossovers were fully loaded, small arms bristling from the windows as their passengers sighted down narrowed firing arcs. Tony, a fairly unassuming man just past the prime of his life, was driving our lead car; Rock, a terran big game hunter who'd gotten to like hunting people a little too much, would be following behind me.

Celio's car—my car, as I thought of it—was still caked in dirt from the drive out to our rural estate. I hadn't even had a chance to look at it until now, let alone start on retrofitting the stock model staff car to our theoretical needs. The foldaway sun roof was still just a double layered, insulative canvas spread by some metal ribs. The low-walled doors and sides were already armored, according to the manufacturer specs anyway, but no thought had been put into the windscreen, windows or engine block and all were obvious targets. The tires were unlike any I'd seen before; instead of stiff foam wheels, I found myself looking at a wire mesh more akin to a flexible grate covered in a thick rubbery leather-like skin. I gave the wheel a few experimental kicks and discovered a surprising amount of bounce and solidity to the shoddy looking tires.

I climbed into the driver's seat without opening the door and promptly had a tangle of straps and metal thrown on my lap. I glanced at Alice, already seated beside me and fiddling with the dashboard radio array. She didn't acknowledge me, without looking up from her work she said three words.

"Put it on."

I held up the unexpected gift, a shoulder holster with sewn in ammo loops and a bulky weight of iron slung. It hung a little higher than was comfortable but some fiddling got it settled well enough. I drew the revolver, the lethal heft of it in my hand as familiar as the killing heat in my bones at this point. It was a six-shot cylinder, the action and ejection all much smoother than my old revolver by a wide margin. The weigh of the piece was about the same but it sat closer to my hand and the grip wasn't as rounded as my old tool's, allowing the weapon to nestle snug in my fist. The caliber was identical, the weapon would take low-gauge shotgun shells or high-caliber pistol bullets. All said, the revolver was flexible, reliable and murderously efficient.

"It's beautiful." I said, slotting six cartridges of shot into the cylinder.

"Roy already took it off you pay." Alice said, still fiddling with the radios.

"Tell him I said thanks then."

Alice finally took her eyes off her work, sparing me a glance before fitting a sub-vocal microphone around her neck.

"Tell him yourself when we get back. Now come on, let's get moving."

Our three car convoy pulled out of the east wing garage onto the palace driveway, pausing just long enough at the main hall to pick up Celio, one arm wrapped around a very uncomfortable looking Bim, plus two of his men and Treu. With my precious cargo aboard I poked a button and rolled out the sunroof so they could enjoy the drive in shade. Our Vigia escorts pulled into formation a few minutes later, our lead car identical to the crossovers Tony and Rock were driving save for two vertical black stripes painted on the hood and tailgate. The tail vehicle was a heavy off road cargo truck with nearly twenty men sitting on the back under a tarp roof.

"For a bunch of gangsters, this sure looks like a troop movement." I whispered under my breath.

"I guess this is what passes for community outreach around here." Alice said as soft-spoken as ever.

The point vehicle took off on spinning tires, pelting Tony's car with gravel. There was a bit of a delay before Tony followed, muttering sophisticated and inventive curses over the outfit's radio. Finding our speed took longer than it should have, our Vigia outriders evidently unfamiliar with the basics of convoy discipline, but eventually we found a steady pace and semi-proper spacing between cars.

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I'd forgotten how good it felt to be on the open road, even if the local roads weren't all that open and calling the crushed rock paths roads was a little too generous. In no time at all I was halfway to a meditative zen, the kilometers disappearing under a hypnotic bliss of orchards and vineyards soon to bloom and the tail lights ahead of me. My body was on automatic, driving the somewhat sluggish car as much on instinct as by experience. The rhythm of the road took over, allowing old habits to surface as my eyes started to wander. As relaxing as it was to be driving again, I could feel a long neglected itch building in my throat, my fingers started drumming a lopsided pattern on the steering wheel and my eyes lingered less on the road and more on my surroundings. Mostly, they lingered on my rear view mirror.

Treu was sat with his back to me, watching the other passengers as intently as I was. Celio and his lieutenants—Richardio and Yuan—were locked in a conversation too faint for me to eavesdrop on over the car in motion; I might catch the odd spoken word but not enough for me to follow along. Lastly, wrapped under one portly arm like a living decoration, there was Bim gazing out the window as a prisoner might peer outside their cell while waiting out their sentence. She had her usual aloof demeanor front and center, but there was something in her posture, the way she leaned out of Celio's embrace instead of into it, that spoke volumes.

Would she recoil from me if I was the one who tried to hold her close? Was she enduring her time trapped with Celio by pretending he was me? One look at her face and I could tell she'd rather be anywhere but with him. Was it because he was human, or was it because she didn't think he was attractive?

She thought I was cute. What the hell did that even mean to a devil? I hadn't even thought of her that way until she'd mentioned it. She was a girl and I was a guy, so the possibility should have crossed my mind but it never did. If anything, I might have thought of her as a sheltered, strange little sister who'd taken to following my around while I showed her the world. Now that I knew she thought I was cute, that she wanted to know what being human meant because of me, I didn't know how to deal with her at all. A million 'what ifs' crept into my zen, replacing the calm of the road with the dread of uncertainty.

"Heads up, we've got some locals crowding the road." Tony called from up ahead.

"Drop speed by ten and keep weapons ready out of sight." Alice ordered with a voice of command I hadn't thought to slight woman capable of. I obeyed, keeping our convoy's spacing as I did.

"Driver, why are we slowing down?" Richardio asked from the back of my car.

"There's some people crowding the road ahead." I answered. "Do you want the roof up?"

"Not yet," Celio hollered. "We'll make due with the windows, but slow down some more for them why don't you."

Alice relayed her orders and the convoy slowed to a stately trot. A flash of metal caught my eye in the rear view mirror, then I saw fire and had a moment of panic before I realized it wasn't me this time. Yuan had a coin gripped in a pair of chrome tweezers and he was heating it up with a gold-plated lighter for some reason. With my eyes back on the road, I finally got my first good look at the working class of Crucibab.

Their outerwear wasn't uniformly threadbare or patchwork but there were certainly more wear than there wasn't. The clothes were drab and functional, those who weren't wearing the usual baggy coverage for one reason or another did the best they could with comically large hats that still failed to protect them from the harsh sun. Yet again I found myself comparing this planet and its people to my frigid homeworld; terraforming a planet was nothing but work, and more often than not that work fell to those born into the great labor with little hope of ever escaping it. I saw working men and women reach out with leathery hands burned red as we passed, every so often reaching out to catch something and jolting in pain if they did. A glance back in my rearview mirror provided the answer. Celio's lieutenants were heating up the coins before tossing them out the window for the workers, and they were laughing as they did.

"Community outreach, eh?" I grumbled.

Alice said nothing but shared a knowing glance that kept me from saying more. We weren't here to fix the world or save its people. We were here to do our jobs and live long enough to get paid. But when the time came for us to take our wage and leave, would they take a flame to it too and watch us dance for our coin? For all the similarities between this place and my old home, I was glad my old masters had been focused on our labor, too indifferent of the people represented by all those spreadsheets to be so needlessly cruel.

"Haha! I got that one in the eye!" Richardio cried in sheer delight.

"I'll land my next throw between a pair of tits. Just you watch, Rich." Yuan said as he took his lighter to another coin.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen, please!" Celio said. "Can't you see how my beautiful Bim baulks at such barbarity as yours? Gentle lotus of my arid garden, you must know we do this for their own good."

"You do?" Bim pointedly asked, her question jaded and jagged with accusation.

"Of course, of course! Watch."

Celio reached into Richardio's offered purse and took a handful of coins, dozens spilling between his fingers to the floor. Without turning his head, Celio hurled the spread of coins out the window pelting a pair of workers full on with the glittering pocket change. Within seconds the pair was mobbed by their fellows and fists started flying as the scavengers fought the unlucky onlookers and each other for whatever fraction of the paltry sum they could steal from the melee. The savagery of the sudden mob was horrifying and fascinating, keeping my gaze as they faded into nothing more than a speck in my passenger mirror.

"The beggar's brand is a mark of nobility." Celio explained. "It shows that though they have received the gift of charity, they still earned their coin. None would dare to steal from a branded man, but coins that leave no brand can be claimed by anyone. It is a necessary evil my men undertake for the good of all. How can they help but to enjoy sharing my wealth with those in need?"

I couldn't help but note that Celio's 'necessary evil' was something he himself hadn't partook in, or that the protection of his 'mark of nobility' didn't seem to extend to women. Bim puzzled through his words in her usual way, causing an expectant silence to build before she finally spoke.

"…I see." She said without turning from the window.

There was no noticeable change from her aloof demeanor, but Celio's lieutenants stopped handing out their charity at an unsubtle motion from their boss.

"My estates are quite beautiful, though not nearly as beautiful as you are." Celio said, vainly trying to spur the inhuman woman into conversation.

It was a mistake I'd made in our shared time on the Stalking Shadow. Bim was a deep thinker, which made a lot more sense now that I knew she hadn't really existed until less than a hundred days ago. That fact still boggled my mind, I couldn't imagine what that would be like, how alien and NEW everything must be to her. She wouldn't even know all the things she didn't know, which was a startling realization I'd just recently come to myself. And in all this alien unknown, she thought I was cute.

"If you would like a closer look at my grounds, I could arrange for a private tour in the near future." Celio said.

"What would you desire in return?" Bim asked vacantly.

"Only the pleasure of your company."

"…Your terms are acceptable."

By now the rolling hilly cropland was fully intermingled with houses and utility buildings, the crowds that had been dogging our convoy this entire time thickening exponentially as we drew closer to sprawling Crucibab's city limits. The vibrant green belt around the city gave way to ruddy sun-baked clays, pale sandstones and red granite blocks, all splattered with a thick patchwork of white plaster that reminded me of gypsum. Wherever two buildings leaned close, lines were strung between them with colored sheets suspended to create pits of shade against the harsh light.

Evidently, word of our coming had reached the city ahead of us. Men, women and children rushed out to damn-near mob the convoy, throwing themselves against our cars like a horde of savages. Some were crying out, tears running down their faces as they pleaded— for what, I'd never know, their words lost to the crowd's roar. Others were holding up babies to the merciless sun, the wailing children pot-bellied but stick thin from malnourishment. Sitting on the shoulder's of their friends, I spotted three young women stripped of everything but their sandals carousing in mock battle. A shower of coins was tossed their way and the mock battle suddenly gained a fatal realism as the crowd surged on them.

"Driver! The roof!" Celio hollered, and for a long few seconds I pretended not to hear him. "Driver! DRIVER! The people want to see their savior!"

Alice spared me a glance, an affirmative nod and then started speaking into the radio. I held the steering wheel straight with a knee, found the familiar weight of a revolver in one hand and used the other to retract the roof.

The roaring crowd was deafening. There was no single word or speaker, only the howling full-throated roar of thousands of people. The crowd surged on my car and I thought about how ignoble an end that would make, but the clawing hands and stomping feet never came thundering over my car. No one came closer than an arm's length. The faces around me—what I could see of them behind shawls and veils anyway—were enraptured, as if they'd suddenly found themselves paralyzed in awe.

Celio stood, and the crowd cheered so passionately I felt their wordless joy like a hammer blow to the chest. He raised an arm to wave and manic bliss overcame entire arcs of the masses surrounding us. Wherever his gaze fell, men and women alike wept as if years of doubts were suddenly lifted from their hearts. Further back, I spotted the glint of coins being scattered into the crowd by the shovelful; in my rearview, Celio stood heroic with a backdrop of blue skies, vibrant colors and momentary, dazzling stars in the daylight seared crowd.

I heard my ears ringing and the engine of my car puttering along just above idle. The amassed crowd had fallen into a hush so starkly I was left wondering if my ears had failed me.

"All cars, slow down and stand ready." Alice whispered.

"Working peoples of Crucibab!" Celio called, voice carrying and amplified by means I couldn't immediately identify. "You know me. Your children go to the schools I built, you play in the parks and stadiums I have bought, your homes are kept cool by the science I have brought to this city, and a great many of you survive because of the fair wages that only I pay for your diligent labors."

I was expecting some murmurs, a building undertone of agreement to ripple through the crowd, but they remained silent. No one here would dare to speak while Celio ordered his thoughts to continue his speech.

"But, there is only so much that I can do. I cannot end the corruption that forces destitution upon your families. I cannot destroy the organlegger rings that harvest the flesh of your sons, or the human trafficking syndicates that abduct your daughters. I cannot reform our hospitals that see your parents rotting on the streets or in your homes. My pleas to Vincente Dominar have fallen on deaf ears, and though he was once my friend, I cannot abide by his complacency any more! I cannot save this city, SAVE this world, so long as that man sits on the Throne of Cruz. Which is why I will be humbly offering myself, my influence and my honorable family's wealth to the salvation of you all! I shall contest Vincente Dominar's rule and once I sit upon the Throne of Cruz, I WILL save you all!"

Celio's proclamation rung through the air and the world exploded into cheers that put the earlier celebration to shame. The lead car pressed a leaden foot to the gas and the crowd parted to make way for our convoy. No one would get in the way of Celio, The Savior.