“Hey Nora, what’s up?” Jennifer asked as she came wandering down into the kitchen.

The tall girl at the table looked up from her tablet. She brushed her curly brown hair out of her heart-shaped face and smiled. “Hey squirt, long time no see. Just doing some samurai work, very important,” Hoppy replied with a crooked grin.

“It can’t be that important if Teddy’s involved,” Jennifer snorted.

“I heard that, you brat! You keep that talk up, and there’ll be no samurai-grade desserts for you tonight,” I called from where I was, eyes closed, collapsed on the couch.

I didn’t have to sit up to know that Jennifer was rolling her eyes. We both knew it was an empty threat. “You want to have a quick self-defense lesson?” Hoppy asked. “I think we’re due for a break anyway.”

“Can we?” Jennifer was trying to play it cool, but I could hear the excitement in her voice.

“Fine,” I conceded. “We’ve made some decent progress.”

“Yes! I’ll go get changed and see if the others want to join,” Jennifer cheered before charging down the hallway.

“You know, before you came around, that girl only used to get excited about dinner and disassembling engines,” I said as I sat up, looking over the back of the couch.

Hoppy, or Nora Thatcher as my family knew her, smirked. The two of us really hadn’t had much of a chance to get to know each other in the caverns, not with all the fighting and surviving we had to do at the time. After we got back though, I opened my doors to the girl, in case she ever wanted to talk about what happened or wanted samurai-related advice. I don’t think I ever said anything to help her deal with the trauma of what we faced down there. Her talks with Jane probably helped more, but I liked to think I gave her decent samurai-related advice, and she liked the kids, so she popped by fairly regularly.

“That’s because both you and Jane are boring adults,” Nora laughed.

“I really wish that I could dispute that,” I muttered back.

“How many more of these weapons do we have to check for sabotage anyways? I’ve done over a hundred already,” Nora asked as she stood up, put her arms above her head, and stretched. Her well-defined arm muscles twitched for a few seconds before she lowered them again.

“Over the entire city? Thousands, but we’re not in any rush.” I pushed myself to my feet and stared up at the much larger girl. Nora was pushing nearly six feet. I guess that was a result of a lifetime of kickboxing practice and good genetics. It was still annoying to have to crank my neck so much to talk to her face-to-face when we were standing. She was nearly twice my height, for fuck’s sake. I much preferred when we were all crouching and cowering in the tunnels. “I’m not even sure what we’re looking for. Broken wires? Ripped out servos? Fucked if I know. I’m sure that if I didn’t connect the beavers to our session, I’d never notice any issues.”

“At least we can do most of the work from your place, and don’t have to travel to each individual emplacement. That’d be hell.”

I nodded and wandered over to the fridge. Thanks to the hydroponics lab and food processors built up in the tower, we had a steady source of decent food now. It wasn’t the five-star, fru-fru stuff you could get in the upper city, but it was still better than the kids were used to before. I browsed for a minute before grabbing a nutriblock and a couple bottles of water before flipping one to Nora.

She rolled her eyes when she saw what I was snacking on. “How can you still eat that shit? All that’s in that is the food waste the corps literally can’t sell anywhere else. It has no nutritional value.”

“Empty calories,” I nodded before taking another bite. “I know it’s bad for me, but I survived on these things for years. Every once in a while, I still crave the unique texture.”

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Nora frowned. “That’s disgusting.”

“Both I and the kids take samurai-grade nutritional supplements, so I can afford to treat myself every once in a while,” I insisted.

Nora cracked her water bottle. “Most people crave candy, or ice cream. You’re the very first person I’ve ever met that craved dirt,” she said before taking a sip.

“There’s no point in arguing with her, she just wont stop eating that junk,” Jane declared as she stepped out of the hallway, followed closely by all the kids. I didn’t see Alan, but everyone else was dressed in quality exercise clothing, a present from Nora. Turns out when even a small-time sports star becomes a samurai, a lot of corporations jump all over themselves to give them a clothing label.

I was super-suspicious when she first announced the deal, but apparently both Nora and her AI had gone over all the offers with a fine-tooth comb, until they found one they liked. It took less than four months for ‘Hop Around’ to become the most popular sports clothing brand in the city.

“Kick time! Hoo Hah!” Issi yelled, as she jumped out of the corridor and punched the air.

“Only for self-defense!” I called to the tot, who immediately nodded. Eddie snickered, so I shot a look his way. He immediately stopped.

“Are you going to join us today? From what Jane’s told me you’ve never had any serious self-defense training,” Nora asked me.

I shook my head. “Naw, although what you teach is impressive, it’s not that practical for fighting antithesis. At least, not unless you have a pair of combat-grade cybernetics, like you,” I said, purposefully looking at her legs. “Besides, I wouldn’t trust myself during a sparring match. The last time my adrenaline spiked, I accidentally ripped a doorknob off.”

Nora looked at me suspiciously, “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely! I’m going to continue checking the emplacements for now. Still a lot of work to do,” I insisted.

“Alright… if you say so. Come on, crew! Time to work out!” Nora cried as she led everyone into the garage. A couple months ago I totally would have prevented that, but after a while I softened up and put a small play area right next to the residence. It’s not like anyone could sneak away with that many bears watching the area.

Once everyone stepped out, I wandered into the living room, slipped into the chair closest to the bedrooms and closed my eyes. It was only a minute or two until I heard a door open, and someone slowly made their way towards the kitchen.

I waited until Alan had passed me before I spoke up and let him know I was there. “Still avoiding me? I told you to stop that,” I said softly. Despite doing my best not to startle him, Alan still jumped and turned on the spot.

“I’m not avoiding you. I’m just busy lately,” Alan replied, head down.

“Bullshit, you waited until you thought everyone was outside before you came out. Still avoiding me!” I insisted. “When are you going to stop this? I know you’re ashamed that you got caught by Helen and her goons because you went out despite my warnings, but you can’t live in your room forever. Didn’t you learn your lesson?”

“I did, that’s why I’m not going out anymore,” Alan mumbled.

I sighed. “That’s not the lesson you should have learned,” I growled as I bounced to my feet. “The lesson is you need to listen to me! I’m doing my best to look after all of you. I told you months ago it was safe to go out again. It’s safer than it’s ever been, but you continue to mope.”

Alan mumbled something under his breath, so I moved closer and held a hand up to my ear. “What was that?”

“I don’t deserve it! I screwed up and I should be punished for what I did. If you didn’t find me, one of the others could have gotten hurt!” Alan snarled before turning away in shame.

I stepped right up to him, reached up, and bopped him one. “I don’t know exactly what sort of punishment you expect me to give out, but it seems like you’ve punished yourself enough, you moron,” I grumbled.

Alan shied away slightly but didn’t move far.

“You want a punishment? Fine! From now on, you’re not allowed to skip any of Nora’s workout sessions or say no when Issi asks you to play,” I declared. Alan looked at me in horror. “If you refuse, I’ll remove the door from your room so EVERYONE can come see you whenever they want,” I threatened.

Alan looked at me suspiciously for a minute. “Fine, I can do that,” he finally agreed.

“Good.” I smiled. “Everyone’s outside working out with Nora right now, and you’re late, so hurry up and change!” I yelled, shooing Alan back down the hallway. He was bewildered at first, but finally headed to his room on his own. Once the door was closed, I hopped back over the back of the couch and laid down again.

“If only all my problems were so easy to solve,” I grumbled as I pulled up the squirrel feed again.