An hour or so passed before Diamo and some other Union men appeared. Of course, by that time, any member of the posse who wasn’t bleeding and bloodied had run off. Stamos himself included. This left the action of witness testimony on behalf of the sheriff and the whole deal with how they would be taken care of.

“I can’t say that we can simply get them in one fell swoop.”

“Why not? They attacked you, Lucia! That has to be grounds for something. No offense, newbie.”

Diamo, Lucia, and Rhys stood around arguing over the details of what constituted assault and if cursing Frida counted as reasonable debate. Over the minutes that Diamo had been there, it had been a spirited debate. With Brocktree giving witness testimony and Shoa uploading the case for the Notary, it had been left to Rhys to argue on behalf of the duo.

“Lucia, you can’t seriously be saying there can’t be issues with that.” Diamo extended his arms towards the men getting put in the arresting carriage. “You had three coworkers under you targeted with intent to kill and they had brought the rope to fucking hang you!”

Lucia put her hand up. “I’ll bring it up with Frida but unfortunately, the Union voted in the past that you can’t punish a person for accused sympathies. If it was as simple as people openly identifying with the Vegas brigade, a good chunk of people would’ve been arrested already. Not to mention that it wasn’t even Harris who led to them.”

Rhys however, felt it was needed to interject. “Harris talked all that shit to your face. And now one of his guys came through to follow up! You know what he wants! Why don’t we go there and take him down already?

“They could say it was a splinter group that did the deed. Could even deny culpability entirely. Shitty excuses but still one he could use.”

“Christ Lu. At this point, it's like you’re defending him.” Diamo pushed his hand through his hair, up to his ponytail. As much as Lucia felt that accusation, she had to keep it clear.

“Too many people are on their side already for it to be a clean arrest. Too many men of influence trying to rail against them already. We’d basically be giving them fuel for the government conspiracy if we overextend. We have the video and we’ll deal with it when we can.”

However much reason this compromise made, Rhys still felt it important to argue the value of raiding their entire compound and keeping them under lock and key.

Shoa kept their arms to themselves as they sat seated on the stoop steps. He stared at the assortment of men strewn across the neighborhood. The ones who got off cleaner than the others were hauled away in the arresting wagons while those less fortunate were put on gurneys, some with blankets to hide the gashes upon their body. To see men and women drag corpses out of the wood and lay them down in rows as though it was just another day. A few days ago, he was atop the mountain of this place.

Scanning the remains of who was left.

Watching as the hero of the New World burnt the monster to smithereens while everyone else watched.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

A sense of repulsion seemed to overcome him but what disturbed him wasn’t the sensation.

It was the familiarity.

A second day of work that ended in blood. Just another day, isn’t it?

Rhys however was not burdened with such emotional quarrels. While Lucia had better things to do with her time than relive the same argument, Diamo was more than welcome to relate and address her concerns.

“We’re seriously just gonna let them go?”

“Of course not, they still assaulted you. It's just that we have to deal with this the boring and official way.”

Rhy’s looked over the carnage. The broken homes and the broken parts scattered across the town. It could’ve been her wasted on those steps. She turned back over to Diamo. “So what, am I just supposed to watch by in case one of your boys isn’t as kind to the guy I have to work with?”

“Technically, you don’t have to work with him.”

“Look, Vig said the both of us were doing this so I’m seeing this shit through. And while I do that, I’d rather not roll the dice with people I don’t know.”

“That’s up to your robot friend as well. You’ll have to see if he still wants to work with you too.”

“Whatever, can you at least say whether or not we’re gonna run out of the Union cause of this?”

Diamo gave her a thumbs-up and a devilish grin. “Trust me, newbie, we’ll have your back.”

An hour or so later…

The plains turned less dusty as the three drove towards the inner sphere. A stop off at Kanasa. A bit away from Reaseano but Rhys requested it. She would’ve asked Shoa but he seemed less than willing to start a conversation. As they stepped out and grabbed their (more Rhys’s) things, Lucia looked at them from the side view of their car. “You guys sure you don’t want me to drop you off further in the sphere?

“Nah, there’s an inn for me. You got a place to sleep or whatever Tinhead?”

Shoa stayed silent.

Rhys eyed the robot before meeting Lucia at her eyes.

“I’ll take care of him. No worries.”

“Alright then. Was nice working with you.”

With a nod, Rhys rolled her windows up and drove off on the main road, leaving the lady and the robot standing just outside the city barriers.

“Well wasn’t that fun? Only a bit of fighting and we got home clean.”

Shoa remained silent. The red flickers on his screen remained emotionless. Eyes looking forward.

“Dude, what’s up?”

“Is this all there is?”

“What?”

“Our first proper job as a part of this organization and it ends with bloodshed.” Though the red beads that made up his expression, Shoa’s face was one of scarlet exasperation. “ All because of these idiots! Now we’re on the bad side of every common offender who thinks what they did was right. We’re stuck here! With their assurance that we’ll be fine but it's not going to be. The report said that there’ll be more of them. And now we’re stuck with them!”

“...So?”

“So?!”

“So what, man? You’re getting real worked up over some stuff that isn’t much of our business.”

“Did you not hear what I just said about the people who are minded to undermine us?”

“Yeah. And we’ll deal with it.”

The ruby flickers moved in disbelief. “How are you ok with this?”

Rhys shrugged. “Cause that’s life. People hate you for who knows how many reasons. If I let everyone who hated me get on my mind, then I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”

“.... you people are insane.”

Shoa couldn’t take such flagrant disregard for normalcy. Even if it was for a second he needed some space. As he walked deeper into the city proper, he left his assigned partner behind to question his actions.

“Where are you going, dude?”

“Away from you! From this! Just to think like a normal being for once!”

“Do you even know the way?”

Shoa waved her off angrily as he made his way towards the city’s proper borders. Leaving Rhys to wonder.

“The fuck is his problem?”