I dropped Angeline off in front of, what appeared to be, a fairly high-class building in the upper city. I saw a couple of her neighbors look at my truck in disgust, so I felt a little bit of satisfaction when Angeline released her pile of squirrels and that look on their faces turned to horror.

As the squirrels swarmed into the building I waved good-bye to Angeline, before turning the truck towards home. The skies of the city were busy, but the entrances to the undercity were not. My little convoy easily slipped through the connector, before heading towards home. It was strange thinking of that oversized monument as home, I’d been squatting in hidden basements and grottos most of my life, so having a little stability, and safety was a nice change. It meant the kids would grow up better than I had, that’s for sure.

As my truck made its final approach towards the shelter it attracted a lot of attention, both good and bad. Some people stopped to gawk at the literal armored column coming down, others ran for cover. I laughed, if this had been even half a month ago I would have been one of those people running for cover, hiding from every threat just to survive. Things had changed.

My truck turned into the east garage entrance, followed by the IFVs. Although the space was still cavernous, it didn’t feel quite as empty with the added troops and equipment. I parked next to the residence, and jumped out. Unpacking could wait until later, all I wanted to do right now was unwind with the kids. As soon as I opened the security door a tiny green missile intercepted me.

“Teddy! Teddy’s back!” Issabelle nearly knocked me on my ass, despite all my recent improvements. The little girl was grinning from ear to ear as she gripped me in a tight hug.

“Hey Issi, have you been a good girl for Jane while I was gone?” As I was petting her hair I finally noticed what she was wearing. “What’s this?”

“Jane got us new clothes! She didn’t even have to patch them afterwards. I’m a froggy!” The little girl was wearing a green hoodie, and when she pulled up the hood there were a pair of eyes at the top. It was very reminiscent of my own jacket, and cloak.

“Animal hoodies are all the rage in the market right now. Guess you’re a trendsetter.” Jane emerged from the kitchen, her previously threadbare outfit replaced by a neat sweater and jeans, sans holes this time.

“Jane, good to…” I didn’t get a chance to finish before Jane’s fist came down on my head.

“You were gone for almost a week and didn’t call ONCE. You know how worried everyone was about you?”

“You could have called me,” I groaned, rubbing my sore head.

“We didn’t want to call at a bad time. I didn’t want to interrupt you while you were in the middle of a life and death fight or anything.” Jane looked at me, slightly disappointed.

“I’ll remember in the future,” I promised.

Just as I made that promise, the garage opened up again and Spooky walked in. “No you won’t, you’re terrible at that sort of thing.”

Jane shot me a look, “It’s my AI, Nyx, using one of my bots as a medium.”

“Nice to meet you,” the bear stated. “If you ever feel like calling Evelyn just do it, and if she’s too busy I’ll take your call and make her call you back later.”

“Great, I look forward to that,” I mumbled, before lifting Issi up and carrying her toward the kitchen, which caused the little girl to squeal in surprise and delight. I wasn’t out of shape before, but I didn’t have the muscle mass to carry her before.

As I walked into the kitchen Eddie and Jennifer were at the table, eating nutrient mush. Eddie, the little snot, just waved and ignored us, but Jennifer gave me a little smile. The girl wasn’t as emaciated as before, and she was out of her room, which was a good sign. “Hey pipsqueaks, how you doing?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Better. Thanks for finding me,” the girl said. She didn’t actually look up from her bowl, but there was a little bit of a smile. Definitely better.

I glanced down at their meals, nutrient mush was better than the bars, and it definitely tasted better, but it was still pretty rough. “Is that what you’ve been eating since I left? I thought I left you money for food.”

Jennifer snorted, “Jane set the kitchen on fire.” I raised an eyebrow and looked past the kids. Sure enough, there was black scorching around the kitchen.

“You could have used the microwave,” I said.

“That’s how she did it!” Eddie piped up.

I slowly turned towards my compatriot, eyebrows raised. “I never used one before, how was I supposed to know I wasn’t supposed to put the metal wrapped leftovers in there?” Jane said, her face turning red.

I laughed, “It’s fine. I’ll replace the broken stuff, or buy a bot that can fix it, later. I made a fair amount of points while I was away, so I can afford to treat everyone to a better meal.”

Issi cheered as I lowered her into one of the chairs, “Nyx, six meals and drinks please.” As a large stack of pre-wrapped meals appeared in my hands the children cheered. Jane helped move the mush aside, and pass out the meals. It was only after everyone had a meal that I noticed someone was missing.

“Hey, where’s Alan?” I asked.

Jane frowned, “In his room. He came back early yesterday, locked himself in, and hasn’t talked to anyone since.”

“Seriously? That’s not like him. He likes to sit in the main area and judge people.”

The entire group stopped eating, and looked at me. “He only does that to you,” Eddie said, a smirk on his face, “He says you’re unreliable.” Jennifer and Issabel giggled at that.

“Well, the feeling’s mutual,” I grumbled. “I better go drag his ass out here before he misses this family dinner.”

Since Alan had claimed the second room in, it only took me a few seconds to reach his door and slam my fist into it. “Alan, stop moping and come out and have dinner with everyone.”

“Teddy? You’re back?” The voice that came from beyond the door was quiet, tired.

“Yes I’m back. Come out.”

“I can’t… I can’t deal with this right now.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, I hadn’t heard Alan this dejected in awhile. The door opened, just a crack, and a paper was pushed out before the door slammed shut again.

“Fricking drama queen,” I whispered before snatching the paper and taking a look at it.

{People of the Under city

It is time for us to rise up and face the gangs that have oppressed us all for so long. These groups have brought stability, at the cost of your safety and freedom. They are a blight upon our city, and must be eliminated if we are to live with our heads held high.

Join The Guiding Light as we strike down these parasites and return the streets to the people.

If you truly wish to end the gangs' tyranny, seek us out, we welcome all new initiates.

May the blessed light illuminate your path}

At the very bottom of the pamphlet, under the text, was an icon which looked like an old lighthouse.

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The Guiding Light were fucking psychopaths. They attempted to eliminate all the under-city gangs six years ago, and almost succeeded before a massive police and military intervention that did as much damage as it did good. In the aftermath brand new gangs just sprang up, fought over territory, and caused more death and destruction than both the previous conflict and intervention combined.

Jane, Alan and I all saw a lot of people die in that conflict, including the people that were watching out for us at that time. Alan was a real wreck after that, so I could understand why he was hiding now.

The unfortunate thing was, even though I liked to believe no one would believe this bullshit and follow The Guiding Light after what happened before, there were a lot of desperate people out there. I needed to treat this seriously, even if it was someone’s idea of a sick joke, the stakes were too high to ignore. Even though I came home for a break, I couldn’t afford to take one anymore. Tomorrow I needed to hit the ground running, figure out who was behind this farce, and stop them.

I wasn’t going to let the streets and canals fill with blood like last time.