The Prelude to The Gutter

Ash pondered his fate in The Gutter. Would it be one man or would they run in a group? He wondered if shock would set in, if he would go numb before they started to cut into his chest, flaying his torso. He was morbidly curious just what that would be like, watching as some street surgeon methodically cut him open. If he couldn't feel the pain, would he really care? The image of the dull knife forcing itself through his skin was all too vibrant. Would he last long enough to watch them harvest any of his organs or would their search for cybernetic implants kill him first? Try as they might, they would find nothing aside from his law enforcement and birth tags.

That morbid curiosity turned to sudden rage as images of Marie flooded his mind. He had spent those last weeks drinking himself half to death and then waking up the next day to do it all again. Sitting in that corner, shelling out money to kill himself shot by shot. He had lost faith in everything he had believed in when he took his job. He wanted to help keep people safe, he wanted to stop the innocent people from getting caught up in firefights in the low tiers, to stop black market trades, the very harvesting he had just been imagining. He wanted to be respected and lauded for his work, was that selfish?

He served happily, he felt satisfaction as he brought closure to every case, caught every thief or murderer, brought a missing child back to their parents, chased down a fleeing criminal, brought in rapists, gave testimony to ensure that those who had done wrong were punished as severely as the law dictated... and it had all just become a joke in Zero-Five. All the respect and dignity that kept him standing upright with pride was dashed upon the orders he was given. If he had shot that child he would be without all this bullshit pushing down on him? The image and act of killing the child would follow him to his dying day, and that was much worse in some respects. At least he got to fight for his life, right?

"Damnit!" Ash screamed, grabbing the bottle by the neck and hurling it across the kitchen where it busted upon the wall and fell to the floor in a puddle of alcohol and broken glass, streaks of the alcohol running down the wall. He had to force himself not to grab more items to begin wrecking his home with. He could, honestly, knock the walls down with his bare fists if they wouldn't crumble into bloody ruin along the way. He felt he suddenly had an idea of what it was like to live with terminal illness or to be living on borrowed time as some gang kingpin gave you so many days to pay back the money you borrowed before he broke your kneecaps and then let you die on your own in a fucking waste drain.

It was unfair, that was a major factor but the largest part of it all was her. Marie had taken him from the bottom of his depression in one evening and thrown him into orbit. Looking into her eyes, there was nothing that could get him down, the smell of her banished bad memories, her words drowned out all negativity and it was all true. She had just been the right woman in the right place to save him and the fact that he would not likely survive the night made it all the more bitter. He wanted to throw a tantrum like a child and scream about how unfair it was but... he'd just be wallowing alone on his kitchen floor. He didn't have a parent to sway into doing what he wanted, here.

Ash exhaled raggedly and braced himself with his hands on the edge of the counter, hanging his head down between his arms. He could smell the alcohol on himself, now, and sighed. He was sure that was a thing that dickhead Vanderbilt had mentioned. Somewhere in hell there was a spot reserved for him and Ash would find a way from his own spot in hell to kick the living shit out of that asshole. Hell was an outdated concept, honestly, but it remained in the human lexicon for figurative purposes. It had left with the Christians when they had made their march for war. Ash had always known that Juno hid things from the public, every government does because, on the whole, people were panicky animals and the smallest hint of bad news could cause some ridiculous riot. From that riot would come claims of police brutality and from that would come very clear messages from Juno that the citizens chose to be there-- they were welcome to leave if they had issues with it.

Ash couldn't count how many things that had been swept under the rug but he acknowledged some of them were for the good of the city, items not quite worth mention because they would be more trouble than they were worth. For a long time he had only heard of Gutter duty as an outdated thing, some ancient practice too barbaric for the civilized, modern people of today. The fact was, though, troublemakers ended up disappearing and he had not gone on without noticing the mysterious absence of certain people over the course of a night. Some were murders that Juno fast-tracked and declared were simply unsolvable and every bit of evidence collected was suddenly gone. Espher was certainly a damn sight better than living in the outlying settlements but there was no question that when the citizens had voted to bring the Obelisk to a government level they did so without knowing what exactly it could do.

It was funny, really. The city-- at the time it was a large city slowly growing outward to begin consuming surrounding cities-- had lost all faith in human decency (in politicians, at least) and Juno had so reluctantly pushed their candidate to the fore. It was programmed to be perfectly logical, incapable of being bribed, unable to be intimidated, never to be found in a sex scandal, always weighing the city and its population and doing this or that. Everything from public transport schedules to allocating police forces as needed per sector, all the way down to what was or was not available  to experience in the form of art. Countless albums, paintings, sculptures, books, pictures, and other forms of art had been confiscated, put into the vault of Lucretia (or the Library of Lucretia, alternatively) deep in the core of the Lucretia sector, near the Obelisk and heavy guard. People realized, then, they had only traded one devil for another.

Ash sighed as he pulled his shirt off over his head, not wanting to both with the buttons, and entered the bathroom. He looked at the mirror set flush with the wall and appraised himself. He needed to shave, he needed more sleep, he needed to brush his hair, he needed to figure out just what Marie saw in him when it came to looks. He was certainly not ugly but he was certain there were much more handsome men she met on a daily basis, that hit on her or offered her ridiculous endorsements and sponsorships for a date. At least that was how he saw it. Maybe it was different, he could see men being far too scared to approach her. With a heaved sigh, Ash stepped out of his pants and boots until he was naked and stepped into the shower. The pane on the wall immediately lit up and he selected one of his custom entries that set the water temperature and pressure just how he liked it. Then the display shrunk down to the bottom left corner and the pane displayed telepane channels. He wasn't terribly interested so he changed the channel and subchannel to one of a few hundred music stations before he turned and embraced the warm embrace of the water.

Hanging his head beneath the showerhead, holding himself up with his palms against the wall, Ash breathed slow and stead, wanting to wash the situation away like the water running down the drain, to see it all just go away... but things were never that easy. He had just finished lathering his hair up to place it under the showerhead when the pane chimed. His head went under the wash and he blindly tapped the pane. "Yea?" he called out, working his hands through his hair. The voice from the pane excited him and he was instantly free of worry. "Guess who." Marie said, winking at the camera. Ash slung his head out of the wash and looked at her, his face creasing into a smile despite his poor spirits. "The stripper I ordered?" he teased, looking at her, she could see a small vision of him adjacent to the camera and she shook her head. "I put her out of a job. Now are you going to let me in or do I need to break your door down?" she inquired, tilting her head. "Yea, let me key it." Ash spoke, typing in a sequence of numbers on a pad to the left of the pane and unlocked the door. "Thank you, now you better take care of that." she said before moving in.

Ash began to ask her what she meant but the sudden sting in his eyes answered him and he quickly shoved his head back under the flow of water, rinsing his eyes thoroughly and washing his hair thoroughly. The rest of his shower was hasty and bare-bones, wanting to be next to her as soon as possible. He heard her heeled boots clacking against the floor  toward the bathroom. He swept the shower curtain open and stared right into her eyes-- well, he had to look down quite a bit but he made eye-contact. She was wearing a smart black blouse and coat... with denim jeans that looked as if they were molded just for her. "I missed you." Ash said, water running down his form and thumping quietly against the bathtub. She placed a hand on his chest and smiled, running her fingers down, letting her nails scrape his skin. Ash was about to stop her from moving below his hips but she stopped on her own, fingers tracing left and right. "Looks like you need a shave." she spoke, smirking.
"Yeah? Where?" He inquired, grinning.
Marie laughed and shook her head "Honestly? Both."
"Oh yeah? Well I was going to grow it out down here and shave your name into it. Thought you'd be flattered."
"You know, I have to say that is something I've never had a man do for me."
"Yea, it's gonna stay that way." Ash teased and she grinned up at him.

As Ash leaned down toward her she sighed  and placed her hands on the sides of his neck and they kissed for several moments before it broke away and he looked at her with a completely different look on his face. He was happier, brighter, more responsive. She was about to speak but Ash flicked his fingers at her space and sprinkled it with water. Her face scrunched up and she laughed before her hand shot for the pane and she tapped her finger against the pane, rapidly lowering the temperature before slapping the on button and giving him a soft shove to make sure the spray of cold water caught him fully. He cursed and sputtered, shutting the water off with a touch of his hand. "You need a warning label." Ash said, shaking his head so that his hair whipped water in her direction. "You ass!" she shouted, laughing with him as he stepped out of the shower.

"So... you said you needed to see me, your tone was pretty... grave. I was worried if something happened at work." Marie spoke, watching Ash towel off.
Wiping his face with the towel, Ash nodded "Yea, something all right."
"Don't leave me in suspense, Ash. What is it? I'm guessing its the reason there's a busted bottle in the kitchen floor?"
"Yea, I... just kind of threw a fit. Look, I don't know exactly what we have, you know, us... but I had to see you before I went into work."
Marie seemed to weigh his words, not quite sure what they were, herself. "And I'm here, Cherub. Tell me what happened."
"You ever go to The Gutter?"
"I've... been a few times, yes. It was all for charity donations and benefits."
"No, the -real- gutter, the bottom rung."
"I... No, I never have."
"Well, I'm being posted there tonight and for seven days after. I won't be coming home, they've got bunks down there."
"Isn't that place pretty awful?"
"Yea, yea it is. It's been about six years since anyone posted there came back and when they showed up they weren't all there. Literally, like missing limbs and bodyparts."
"Who is going with you?"
"No one. It's just going to be me. I can sleep during the day when patrol runs through regularly but at night I'm going to be the only cop in the sector working in The Gutter."
"This is why..."
"Yea, I … like I said, I don't know what this is but I want more of it, I want to follow it all the way to wherever you and I end up."
"It's only been a day, Cherub but... I know what you mean. We fit very well with one another."

It was true, Marie felt like she fit perfectly into every recess and hole in Ash's life as if she had been made just for that. It was a wonderful feeling, to know someone so well in so short a time. She knew what he was thinking every time he opened his mouth. In all his awkward stories and tangents and difficulty to convey details on certain things correctly, she knew what he meant and it wasn't without it's strange nature, it was very weird but it worked. Ash finished toweling off and dropped the towel in a hamper while Marie forged the path ahead into the bedroom. Ash got his underwear on and sat down with her on the bed, his hand grabbing her own and lacing his fingers with her's. She turned and smiled at him, moving to kiss him for a moment before shoving him onto his back and climbing on top of him. She nestled in against the crook of his neck and he hooked his arm around her slight frame, his free hand holding one of her own. If only he could freeze this moment, to exist here forever...  but the fact was that this might be the last time he ever got to feel her nestled against him, smell the scent of her skin or shampoo, to hear her voice, her laugh-- that laugh that was infectious and almost always present, as if she were in the best mood all the time.

"I just... if there is something I want to do before I'm basically put to death I want to spend time with you. The Gutter is where they put you when they want you to die. I guess the reward of surviving it is keeping your job."
"I'm not going to worry about you." Marie whispered in his ear.
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not afraid you'll die. You'll survive it, Ashley."
Ash was surprised that he didn't flinch reflexively at being called by his full name but she said it with a clear, caring tone. "I'm glad someone believes I will." he muttered somewhat darkly.
"If you just sit there and thing about how awful it's going to be it's just going to be awful. Keep your head up-- well, I guess down is wiser here but just think about everything we'll do when you get back."
"That's a way to look at it."
"That's how -you- should look at it. Listen to me, Ashley, I'm not sure what we have here, either, but I want it just as much as you. I have so many things to show you and things I want to do with you—"
"You're not talking about the same things that your words are putting in my head."
Marie grinned "Bear with me, Cherub. There is a lot to do and I'm certain you'll make it out and come back to me."

Hours passed between the two in conversation and for those hours Ash had completely forgotten the fear he had facing down his own execution. He had curled up with her, embraced her, kissed on her flesh for what seemed like an age. Marie had been growing more bold by the minute and there was a fire in her he hadn't seen before. Looking into her eyes she was hungry, she was ferocious, there was such determination. She had a hidden animal in her somewhere, he could remember seeing it that night they met, not realizing quite what it was until now. There was something coiled in her, ready to strike and it was vicious. Of course, this wasn't something she aimed at him, but he supposed in growing up she had learned a lot about how far people will go to screw you over, how petty and violent they were. He couldn't say that it was something that calmed him but it had been dominating the way toward sex, pawing at his chest, shedding her coat. Much to her surprise, as she went to take the waist of his boxershorts in her hands he stopped her. The look in her eyes could've broken his heart. She was confused, almost hurt.

Ash immediately took hold of her head and pulled her into a kiss. "Not like this I..." Ash sighed, pressing his forehead to her own and closing his eyes. "Not this way, not when I'm facing this. I know it's not some kind of pityfuck or last act of kindness, I know that, Marie. I just... I want to be there to enjoy it, all of me to be there, not to have half my head worried about the next week. I just want to be able to be there completely."
Marie's expression softened and she nodded with understanding, contenting herself to trail her fingernails along his abdomen. Honestly he wasn't sure what her fascination was, he hadn't had an etched abdomen in several years, it'd gone a bit soft. "How much longer?"
Ash craned his head to look at a clock mounted on the wall and sighed. "Five minutes, pretty much."
She nodded and slowly uncoiled herself from him, sitting next to him on the bed. "I mean it, Ashley, you're going to get through it fine."
Ash nodded "I know, I believe you. I need to get to Sector HQ and check in with the Sector Chief. He said something about giving me suitable firepower to hold my own if a group of psychos start shrieking and charging at me."
"Ooh, big guns. Sounds interesting."
"I kinda feel like shit for wanting to have an opportunity to use whatever I get."
"Oh, I totally get that. You're fine."

Ash spent the next few minutes pulling himself away from Marie and getting dressed, she had insisted on buttoning up his uniform so he let her have at it as he began to put on his gear, complete with his hat and recovered badge. He stood and looked at her, looked her over, absorbed every detail he could hold about her in silence. She seemed to understand what he was doing, she was smiling and looking into his eyes with her own. Perhaps she was doing the exact same thing he was? The communication hub chimed in a slot on his belt and he pulled it out, opening it. "That's all the time I have." he said, looking toward the door and then back at her. She nodded and walked with him to the door. "Listen, you can stay as long as you want. I don't care. There's probably food that will be going to waste anyway. "
"I have a lot of things I need to do now that I have the time for them but I'll gather my things and leave a note for you to come home to in seven days, hm?" Marie offered.
"Sounds good. I need to go but I'm going to miss you, Marie. A lot."
"Me too, Cherub. Me too."

Ash kissed her hungrily and embraced her with strength that threatened to practically snap her into pieces but she enjoyed every second. He had said his goodbyes to her as he ascended to the parking structure and fired up his patrol car. The ride to Sector HQ was quiet, he was trying to remember something his dad had said once when he was a child. About how death smiles at everyone and you just had to do the same. It was as relevant as he figured it would ever be. He had to get all senses of compassion of his head for this one. He had to kill all of his kindness, he had to be cold, cruel, brutal. This was a gauntlet to getting back to living and the life waiting for him was worth carving a path through the people of The Gutter should he be in doubt of their intentions. He had to be a monster to stand in a place of monsters, he felt.

Checking in, Ash had eyes on him and re-emergent whispers circulating around. He was without room to care for it now, though. He had met the Sector Chief in the armory and, true to his word, The Chief had a table spread with assault weapons. Rifles, shotguns, grenade rifles, rotary cannons, and dozens more. Frankly, explosives were too likely to harm innocent bystanders so they were right out. Rotary cannons were just too bulky to use in close quarters-- at least for him. He knew there were plenty of muscular and massive officers who could wield them effectively but Ash wasn't able to do that. Ultimately Ash had come down to a ScumThumper, it was a shotgun with a rotating series of four barrels and a large drum magazine. In riots it was idea when packed with non-lethal ammunition, you could spray down an entire crowd with one magazine and have them disperse. He wasn't sure what happened when using lethal ammunition but he expected it to be ugly and messy.

Ash had spoken with The Chief for a half hour before he was ten minutes from his post. With the ScumThumper slung over his shoulder he stood in the core elevator, riding it down until it reached the bottom level (as far as the Obelisk was concerned). As one rode down the tiers of Espher, the differences in the tiers was extremely apparent. Clean and bright slowly gave way to dirt, grime, and unpleasant smells.  He was at least ten tiers from The Gutter now and had to navigate his way to a special freight elevator to resume his descent. In this elevator he could not see outside, he just waited, watching the tier indicators flash by. As the elevator slowed to a halt, Ash took hold of the weapon and disengaged the safety switch, his thumb flicked a switch that caused a quiet whine to spin up as the barrels on the weapon rotated. Bracing himself for some manner of ambush, he held the weapon at his hip and kept his finger flat along the weapon, just above the trigger. The doors groaned and opened suddenly, leaving The Gutter open to see.

Ash Meets Marie pt. 3 + The next day

The light of day broke through the windows, washing over the bed. Ash surfaced slowly toward consciousness and opened his eyes-- he immediately regretted it. Wincing, Ash turned his head from the window to find his cheek press against the skin of another. Slowly opening his eyes, Ash leaned his head back to look down at her. Her skin was washed out with the light from the windows upon it and he moved his head just enough to block the light. Looking over her features he was once more astounded by the sheer beauty of her. He was struck by it fairly often but it was always so strong when it hit-- and now he was actually sober and being struck with it.

She rested silently, apparently having curled up with him at some point in the night, her arm laying lazily across his torso beneath the blankets. Her eyes were closed but he could see they they were not moving about in REM sleep. Her body gently rose and fell with her breathing and he curiously followed her hair. There was such a length to it, how did she manage not to strangle herself in her sleep? He realized, with a bit of a grin, that the solution was fairly simple. She had, apparently, wound her hair around her pillow with a bit of slack to allow her head to move freely. Slowly he brought his hand up to her face and delicately traced her jawline as if she might just be some hallucination or what he remembered of last night was some sort of drunken escapade that he misremembered. The tip of his thumb gently brushed her lower lip and he smiled without realizing it. It had been a long time since he had felt this kind of happiness.

Suddenly it all caught up to Ash, they had somehow gone from the living room couch to his bed. He could not remember a bit of it and that was very very frustrating-- and unfair, as far as he was concerned. Lifting the blankets he glanced down to realize she had apparently worn nothing to bed. Now he was just starting to hate whatever part of his brain wasn't sharing the details of just why she was naked and in his bed, blue-balled by his own damned brain. Still, he could at least admire her form from top to bottom. Just as slight as he imagined, her breasts perfectly placed upon her chest, he was hypnotized, thoughts running wild. He still could not will the memories from his brain's lockbox of memories.

“Staring isn't very polite, you know.” Marie's voice moved through his ears, a slight vibrato within it.

“I don't know if I'm strong enough to look away.” Ash replied, his head tilting toward her but his eyes remaining on her form.

“I suppose it's nothing you would not have seen last night.”

“Wait, did we?” he asked, his eyes breaking away and moving up to her own, yet again struck by how green her eyes were.

“What?”

“I mean, you're naked, we're in my bed, and I sure as hell don't remem--” Ash spoke but Marie cut him off.

“Oh, for hours. You don't remember any of it?” she said, looking into his own eyes. She was so sincere about the fact.

“What the hell... wh-- Agh! No, not a damn bit.”

“Oh it was the best night of my life, it was non-stop, orgasm after orgasm.”

“Okay, now you're fucking with me.”

It took a moment but Marie's expression finally broke and she laughed, reaching out and pulling him to her and laughing in his ear as she moved to kiss his cheek. She held onto him tightly, as she choked down her laughter to try and be a bit considerate. Ash shook his head. “Do you know how much I wanted to kick the shit out of my own brain for not letting me remember something like that?” Ash inquired, his expression slightly upset.

Marie chuckled and shook her head “Easy, Cherub, I was just teasing you.”

The way she spoke made it impossible to keep up any hit of offense and he broke into a laugh. “I know, I know...”

“The look on your face, you should have seen it. I would pay money to see--”

“I get it, I get it. You got your fun out of me.” he spoke, leaning his head forward to press his forehead to her own.

“Tell me it's not funny.” she dared.

“I... yea, it's... it's pretty funny.” he said, chuckling lightly.

“You were a perfect gentleman.”

“I can't imagine it was easy to get me in here.”

“I didn't say it was easy, just that you were very gentlemanly while you fell down. Twice.”

“Shit, did I break anything?”

“I don't remember, I was a bit trashed myself.”

“So why are you in my bed, naked?” Ash inquired.

“This is how I sleep. You said it was okay if I slept here.” Marie answered.

“You really are just... beautiful, everything about you.”

Marie smiled with warmth unbridled, “Thank you, Cherub. You're not so bad, yourself.”

Ash took that moment to close the gap between them, as small as it was, and mashed his lips into her own. She gave a brief sound of surprise but quickly pressed back into the kiss and curled her arms tightly around his neck. The kiss lasted a good while before he broke away and moved his lips to her neck. One of her hands slipped through is hair and he sighed softly, content once more. If only his life could stay like this, if he had Marie to come home to, he could love being alive more than wondering why anyone pitied the dead. His arms wrapped around her and he closed his eyes, tugging the blankets up a bit awkwardly with his hand that could reach them. He wished this moment could last forever but knew, as much as anyone, that the best things in life are fleeting and gone all too quick.

“Stay for at least a few hours more?” Ash asked, speaking against her neck.

“There's nowhere I'd rather be right now.” Marie responded and closed her eyes.

For a while, they were coiled together in the warm wash of light and heat of flesh, the smell of her skin permeated the air and Ash could never have enough time to enjoy it. Then the chirp of Ash's phone broke the silence. “Are you fucking kidding?,” Ash muttered, uncurling and arm and rolling onto his back to grasp at the nightstand. Wrapping his fingers around grooves in the ergonomic rectangular device, Ash brought it up in front of his face and tried to squint and focus enough to read it as his thumb pushed onto a recessed control stick. The side of the phone swinging out into a fan-like shape, the collapsible panes adjusting so that they were all flush and the display came to life. The number was absent, it was simply marked “Espher Police/Defense Communications” in scrolling cyan text. With a heavy sigh and a slight shift away from Marie. Groaning quietly he turned his head away from Marie, as to not disturb her, before pulling the thin earpiece from the bottom of the phone. Placing it in his ear, Ash then used his thumb to key the answer button displayed on the pane. There was a brief click and the voice on the phone was quite depressing.

“Officer Scarborough.” the voice was distinct, it was one of the sour types that he recalled from the last time he had attended a sector meeting.

“You're speaking to him.” Ash replied, his voice clearly irritated.

“Officer Scarborough you are required to report to your sector chief for review of your recent misconduct in the search and retrieve operation in Outlying Settlement Zero Five.”

“No shit...” Ash grumbled, his brows furrowing.

“Come again, Officer?” the voice asked, although he has clearly heard the reply.

“I said I'm on it. I'll be there in--”

“You have twenty minutes, Officer.”

“Understood.” Ash said, disconnecting the call and thumbing a stud that folded the panes back into the phone.

“Doesn't sound like a happy call, Cherub.” Marie murmured in a sleepy voice as she turned over and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his stomach.

“No, not really.” Ash replied, his tone sullen.

“Don't let it stress you, don't give it so much power over you. You did the right thing, don't forget that.”

“I... yeah, I know but doing the right thing can fuck you. A lot.”

“But it lets you sleep at night.”

“So does alcohol.” he countered.

“It lets you sleep -next to me- at night.” Marie intoned, looking up at him with her eyebrows arched.

“Point.” Ash said, smiling slightly as he looked down at her and slipped fingers into her hair. Impossibly soft and delicate while remaining strong and not breaking. Ash figured that she had taken some kind of item she endorsed for Genetic Cosmetics, maybe some sort of injection or slow release implant somewhere beneath her tender skin, expertly hidden amidst all of it he had seen so far. He wondered just how much of their products she used as a part of modeling for the company. Foggy memories of the night before reminding him of two large advertisement-panes she had driven past and pointed out to him at his request.

It was hard to remember it clearly but the more memorable one featured her, and all that hair, walking amidst an immaculate white room toward an open window. She was clad in something gossamer and it was just as white as the room, save where her flesh darkened it ever so slightly. It was akin to some vast amount of fabric wrapped around her, trailing across the floor behind her barefoot steps. The window opened to a beautiful blue sky, spotted with clouds-- a sky he had rarely ever seen in his life in Espher-- and she stepped out upon a balcony set with expensive stonework creating the railing. The camera moved closer and then whisper close along the side of her head before it turned around to look upon her face.

The garment didn't really hide much of her chest, the fabric betraying the coloration of her nipples just slightly. Her lips parted in a broad, beautiful smile and he teeth were just as white as the room behind her. A slow fade of the logo for Genetic Cosmetics faded in and her hair waved in some mild breeze before the image became static for five seconds or so. In his recollection he suddenly remembered, very clearly, how striking her eyes were on such a vast advert-pane that made them as large as the wheels upon his patrol vehicle. Nothing about them looked fake but he was sure people would argue about color adjustments and general toying with footage before it was released. He had only noticed that they had hidden one very minor blemish upon her shoulder, looking back after having seen her nude. He hadn't any idea what the hell was being advertised but he was pretty sure he would buy it anyway.

“See something you like?” Marie said, shattering the memory and returning him to reality.

Ash had been staring at her body, his eyes snapping up to her own. “Sorry, I was just remembering last night, that ad-pane of you in the white... dress-thing.”

“Ahh, they did that one most recently... It was-- Oh, shit, you need to get going.” She suddenly recalled.

“Urgh. Yea... I'm not sure if they're going to put me back on duty or if it's just going to be some bullshit exercise where I do my best to let the sector chief scream at me for hours.”

“You did nothing wrong, Cherub, remember that.”

“Yea, yea... Will you be here when I get back, Marie?” Ash inquired as he moved to his closet and looked through it.

“No. I am sure my phone is full of things I need to take care of. Left it in the car last night because I didn't want to deal with it.” she spoke, watching him with a mild hint of sadness.

“If only you could do that kind of thing forever, right?” Ash mused, pulling a shirt and some slacks from the closet.

Ash began to undress and was struck by the absurdity that he was reluctant to do so. It felt a bit vulgar but she had slept with him all night without a shred of clothing. With a mental shrug, Ash began to peel off the undershirt from the night before and step out of his boxers. Marie made it as uncomfortable as she could, whistling at him and generally giving him a hard time until he began to slip into his clean clothing. He still smelled of alcohol but they didn't exactly give him time to wash up, they could just deal with it as far as it concerned him. Ash looked Marie over with a soft expression as she sat, leaning against the headboard, with the blankets pooling around her hips. Her hair had long-since escaped the spool of the pillow and the the reminder of having found her hair wrapped around that pillow made him chuckle.

“What's so funny?” Marie asked, one thin brow raising upward.

“I was just thinking about how you keep your hair at night. It just amuses me.” Ash replied, finishing the last button on his shirt.

“Well, I don't want to strangle myself in my slee--” Marie spoke, suddenly interrupted by Ash as he dove onto the bed on hands and knees and moved to close the distance between them. She giggled and nearly gave out a squeal in her surprise but it was quickly stifled by a firm, hungry kiss. She melted into it and laced her arms around his neck which prompted his arms to wrap around her torso and pull her in close. It lasted for quite a while but it was, unfortunately, still all too short for Ash. He had gone from the rock bottom of depression to, what seemed to him, the most wonderful time of his life. Marie was invigorating and inspiring in all the best ways and it was inescapable. “Easy, Cherub, you have my number. I'm not going to disappear.”

“I'll call you after I get done with the whole... thing where I get bitched at for hours. Sound good?”

“It does.”

“All right, I have to go now, the door will lock itself, stay as long as you like, there's some decent food in the--”

“Get out of here, already, they're going to skewer you for being late enough as it is.”

“I'm gone, I'm gone.”

Ash had arrived not a second too soon to be herded down the smooth corridors around the staggering number of office units on the third floor of the sector central headquarters. Like a hundred columns holding up the high ceiling, the office cubes were spaced evening and each had a door with panes displaying the name, rank, and current status of the offices and those who were assigned to them. Working his way along the corridors, Ash stopped at the largest office, staring at the pane on the door.

“Sector Chief Matthias Anderson. IN MEETING, DO NOT DISTURB” scrolled across the pane and as Ash moved to take hold of the old fashioned doorknob the door swung open and revealed the very unhappy face of the Sector Chief. “Get in here, Scarborough!” he barked, pointing to a chair before the massive synthetic wood desk. “You're late!”

“Sorry, Chief, I didn't even get a call until twenty minutes before you wanted me here.”

“I had you contacted an hour before this meeting.”

That asshole on the phone had fucked Ash by intentionally waiting until it would be impossible for him to arrive on time. “Who was working the call?”

“It's not important right now, Scarborough. Sit your ass down, we need to talk.”

“Yes sir.” Ash replied curtly, taking a seat.

The Sector Chief moved behind the desk and sat down in his immense chair. “Scarborough, you put me in a very bad position.”

“I--” Ash began to reply.

“I'm not done!” the Chief barked, grunting. “When we get called out of reserve the chain of command becomes a lot more important. You disobey orders and it sends hell up to me. I have enough trouble with the other fuck-ups here, I don't need you adding onto it. You are a good cop, Scarborough, but when we're called out of reserve? Juno calls the shots. I can't do anything then, everything goes way above my level.”

“Sir, the kid was just defending his home, we went in guns blazing and it was completely unnecessary, there was -no- offensive action taken against us, the mission changed half-way to the settlement and the next thing I know the pilot is strafing the damn place and slaughtering them. It was supposed to be a search and retri--” Ash spoke but was then interrupted.

“I've read your statement, Scarborough but that doesn't change a thing. You disobeyed a direct order from well above your rank.”

“So what do I do now? Are you going to fire me or dock me for a ridiculous amount of time?”

“No... there's actually someone from Juno here to speak to you.”

Ash's eyes went wide and his fingers curled into tight fists as irritation threatened to show itself. That was definitely something that was bad. Juno officials generally had little room for sympathy because so much of their personalities were dominated by being complete dicks. “You're fucking with me, right?”

“No, Scarborough. I'm stepping out until your meeting is over.”

“Fuck me. Are they going to try and shove me down to patrolling the low tiers or something?”

“Find out for yourself.” the Chief said, nodding to the door as it began to open.

The man stepping in wore a black suit with a name-tag clipped to the lapel, displaying his information and rank with JUNO dominating the background of the tag. He wasn't exactly tall but definitely not short, his hair was brushed back and as slick-looking as oil. Ash disliked him for his poor choice in hairstyle if nothing else. He looked about the room for a moment with ocular implants the color of dried blood and then at Ash, saying nothing. The Chief stood and excused himself as the official sat down, placing a briefcase on the desk before opening it. A pane quickly extended and began to show information that Ash couldn't read anything due to rear-scrambling on the back of the pane. The man looked up and examined Ash in a way that made him feel unnerved and just a bit nervous, his eyes were normal but the color was just... wrong, somehow.

“Mister Scarborough, I am a liaison for Juno. I'm here to discuss your inability to follow direct orders in a combat situation.”

“Officer Scarborough.” Ash corrected, his eyes leveling and his face going stoic.

“Officer Scarborough, my mistake,” the man said, clearly irritated about that correction. “Regardless, you refused your orders in a situation that could have compromised the lives of you and your squad.”

The stoicism was going thin. “I refused to fire on a child that was just defending himself. There were absolutely no other hostiles, we scoured the parts of the settlement that weren't destroyed or burning. There wasn't much at all.”

“In a combat situation, Officer Scarborough, you are placed under the command of Juno military officers and their superiors. In this situation you are outranked exceedingly, even your Sector Chief would be similarly ranked.”

“The Sector Chief would've been ordered to shoot a child by an asshole Lieutenant?” Ash returned.

“If he were in your squad he would have outranked Lieutenant Green but he would have only done so by an increment of one rank.” The man clarified, seemingly happy to point out how high Juno officers were in comparison to Juno police forces.

“Well, we could've avoided shooting down children, in that case.” Ash grumbled, eyes looking over the name-tag. Vanderbilt, Dane.

“I suggest you take this a bit more seriously, Officer.”

“I'm very serious, this whole thing is a big fucking joke, though.”

“Elaborate.”

Ash sighed, running his hand down his face. “We were sent on a search and retrieval mission, we were about forty seconds away and then our commands changed to wipe the damn settlement out. We weren't given a reason, I -still- don't have a reason, that the settlement suddenly became a threat but If they wanted to fire on us they had plenty of time to prepare for it. There was no warning from the speakers, there was not a warning shot, there was not a single shot fired at us until we had been on the ground -shooting- at them for twenty seconds and even then it was one-sided at best.”

“You lost three men in this 'one-sided' conflict, “ Vanderbilt said “Just what enabled them to do that?”

“A fucking railgun, Juno tech or some really damn precise prototype-- maybe reverse engineered from scrap they found from the conflicts before the Christians left for war.”

“Don't you think that outlanders in possession of this technology is dangerous?”

“Anyone with it is dangerous but they didn't fire on us. Was it possession of a railgun that killed that entire settlement? One fucking railgun that killed only three men in fight that we were dominating?”

“I'm not at liberty to say, Officer Scarborough.”

“Don't give me that bullshit, there wasn't justification for our orders given to us.”

“You -don't- get justification, you -follow- orders.”

Ash growled, simmering in his coupled frustration and anger, the only thing tempering him at the least were the now-distant thoughts of Marie. She was really the only reason he would not mind going to prison for over this. There was no telling what his sentence would be but he would at least be put in prison with other such people, not street crime or murderers but people from the upper tiers of society who had fucked up somewhere along the way. Looking Vanderbilt over Ash studied a bit of skin he could see on the man's forearm, just above his wrist. Although it was upside down, it was some manner of an identification sequence. “What is that, anyway?” Ash asked, moving his hand to tap himself on his forearm for clarification.

“That's a Juno ID Sequence. They didn't cover that in the academy?” Vanderbilt asked, condescension in every syllable.

“No, they also didn't cover killing children either.” Ash shot back quickly.

“I'm don't like your tone, Officer.”

“And I don't like your hair, are we done here? You want to just go ahead and tell me what the hell you're going to slam me with?”

“I recommend you watch your words, Officer, not showing the proper respect to your superiors is a punishable offense.”

Ash forced himself to reign in his frustration. “I'm aware. Can you not see how terrible this is?”

“I am paid to see what Juno sees, Officer, and I see a law enforcer who refused orders in a combat situation and endangered the lives of everyone in his squad. Possibly also allowed the deaths of three of his squad-mates due to reluctance to follow orders.”

“That's bullshit and you know it, I did everything I was told until I was being pointed at a kid who was defending himself and told to shoot him.”

“You were ordered to shoot the child, Officer, you did not follow that order.”

“Could you do it, -Dane-? Could you shoot a kid point-blank in the face who was just defending himself?”

“I don't have to do it, Officer. That's your job.”

“And your job is being a dick, I guess?”

“Officer Scarborough, I'm going to be lenient and not disclose exactly how unprofessional you have been today--”

“And I didn't even get you anything.”

“As I was saying, I cam going to report to my superior and discuss the situation with him before we find out what exact punishment you will receive.”

“I miss you already, Dane.”

Dane Vanderbilt had lowered the pane, closed the briefcase, and slipped out before moving to a private office to make his report. The Sector Chief had moved to stand in the doorway of his office, shaking his head at Ash. Ash gave him a slight shrug and the Sector Chief grinned just a bit. It was likely he had wanted to say some of those words Ash had said to Juno officials himself. As time passed Ash spent the minutes thinking about Marie and the way she smelled, the heat of her skin, the sound of her voice, it was all wonderful. He wished he could just rewind the day and go through the night previous and the morning of the current day over and over. With a sigh, Ash crossed his arms and began to consider how stupid he was to have let his anger to flow from his mouth unfiltered.

Ash was facing a substantial suspension without pay at the least, at the most... well, he was fairly sure he hadn't crossed enough lines for 'that' punishment. The Sector Chief moved from the doorway a few moments later and Vanderbilt returned, sitting down and opening the briefcase again before turning it to face Ash. The pane extended and displayed the face of a Juno official Ash honestly couldn't even recognize, there were no designations upon his attire to show anything of the sort. Vanderbilt leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together, looking into Ash's eyes.

The man on the pane cleared his throat and shook his head. “Officer Scarborough, upon review of your actions we have come to a decision for disciplinary action.”

Ash remained quiet, watching intently.

“Given the circumstances of your refusal to follow orders in a combat situation and your disrespectful attitude toward a Juno official we have come to the decision that you will be assigned to the Gutter for one week.”

Ash's eyes went wide. Working the Gutter was the most dangerous post one could be assigned. The mortality rate was ridiculously high and few came back from the post alive. “Are you kidding me!?”

“No, Officer, you will be starting your assignment tonight at 1700 hours.”

“This is bullshit!” Ash barked, hands smacking hard to the desk. “That's a fucking death-sentence and you know it!”

“Officer Scarborough, we have been very lenient in this decision. You will not be suspended without pay, you will not lose your job, you will not be forced to go through the academy again. This is a very fair disciplinary action.”

Ash seethed, his hands curling into white-knuckled fists as he fought back the urge to beat Dane over the head with the briefcase. The asshole hadn't been lenient at all, he'd most likely told his superior every damn word. “So you're basically saying if I can come out alive, I'm fine?”

The man on the pane cleared his throat, “Officer Scarborough, this post is admittedly a dangerous one but I feel it is more than fair as a punishment for your actions.”

“It's a wonder you didn't just put a gun to my head.”

“We don't believe in such crude punishments.”
Ash could see the irony in that statement like it were a flashing signboard. “Right. You'd take care of things a lot quicker if you just had the balls to put the gun to my head right here.”

“You have until 1600 hours to retrieve your badge, gun, and gear. At 1600 hours you will check in with your Sector Chief and then go to your assigned post in the Gutter.” The man spoke, his face unmarked by emotion.

Ash was staring at the man, wishing he could strangle every bit of life from him. A cop did not live long in the Gutter, if at all. The lawless nature of it all made officers exceedingly juicy targets for harvesting tech. Weapons, implants, even raw organs. He had only seen a handful of officers return from that post and they all looked like hell when they return. It was easy to see why law enforcement was targeted, really, and the thought of working that area for a week was just the same as staring down the barrel of a gun for Ash. Furrowed brows his eyes as his head leaned forward, his mind running through every dead or missing officer put to work in the Gutter. Suddenly it was all overshadowed by the fact that it was very likely that he would never be able to see Marie again after the hours he had left to return home.

Shit always rolls downhill, the saying went, and the thought of not seeing her again was exceedingly unfair. Ash let his anger and frustration clash in his head until the Sector Chief's voice brought him back. The Juno liaison had left and the Sector Chief sat in his chair, his face betraying a bit of sympathy. Ash looked at him with expectations of some sort of good news, something that might make things easier to handle for the next week. The Sector Chief sighed and shook his head. “Scarborough, I would contest it but it's above my reach. I know just as well as your how many officers never return from that post but... I'll see if I can't find you a heavy assault weapon, something to keep you alive.”

“I appreciate that...” Ash trailed off, looking down at his legs.

“I had no control over sentencing.”

“I believe you.”

“So get out of here and go see your fam--” The Sector Chief cut himself off, recalling Ash had no living family. “Just... go and relax. Grab something to drink so you can just get shitfaced the moment you're off-duty.”

“I've got that pretty well covered, Sir.”

“I see. Well, we're all going to be waiting on you to return.”

“Don't get your hopes up.”

“Everyone knows those assholes love fucking us over but you can get through it.”

“What about Stonewright, can he come and assist?”

“Phoenix has been assigned to desk work until the end of the week, he can't join you.”

Ash growled in frustration, he couldn't even have the only man he trusted to watch his back with him in the middle of that shithole. “Juno do that, too?”

“I'm afraid so. They said something about it being a mandatory assignment, how studies show that it's good to take a week off the street every so often. I know he's going to be furious.”

“I'm already there. So what do I do, just... write a fucking will?”

“You go and see everyone you care about and don't let them know a thing. That's my best advice. Go home, take a shower-- because you smell like alcohol-- call or message those who are important to you. Tell them you're on special assignment.”

“I guess that works. I am pretty sure Phoenix will figure it out, though.”

“He already has.”

“Smart son-of-a-bitch.”

“He'd be tearing through the offices if it would do any good. He can't do anything from a desk, we all know that. Just... go home, get a shower, relax a bit. If you have anyone to see, go see them.”

As it turned out, Ash did have someone he wanted to see but he was unsure if he would be able to contact her. If there were one last mercy it would be spending the rest of his day with Marie and forgetting everything if only for a few hours. Ash nodded slowly and stood. “I'm going to get on that, sir.” he said before turning and leaving. Every step he took dragged him further into a special kind of despair that made him want to lash-out at everything and everyone, everyone was now irritating enough to warrant a beating. After spending his time with Marie he had little hope for anything else. The Gutter was a deathtrap and everyone knew it. Word spread quickly enough that people was looking at Ash as he headed out and they were whispering amongst themselves about it. He was sure no one envied him but it was just the same, he didn't need sympathy, he just had to hope he could survive a week of it all and then return to service in a place that was not likely to kill him.

Some time later he had made it to his car and pulled out his communication hub. He dialed the number he had programmed into the device the previous evening, drunk. It took a full minute before there was an answer. Upon the fanned pane the image of Marie smiled at him. It made him forget everything for a few moments and he smiled back at her. Then, reality slowly clawed its way back into his head. Her smile faded when he went over what had happened and her eyes were full of something between sadness and frustration. She had tied to keep his spirits up, to keep his mind out of the dark places but it did little good.

“I need to see you before I leave tonight.” Ash said.

“I'll be there, Cherub.” Marie assured him.

“Thank you, Marie.”

“For coming by?”

“No, just... for everything you've done to help me.”

“I just showed you what you weren't looking at.”

“Still... No one has ever bee able to help me like you have. It means a lot.”

“I'm happy to do it, I'll be over within the hour. I have a small bit of business to settle and then I'll be right over.”

“I'll be waiting for you.”

“I know, Cherub.”

Ash slipped the ID-stick into the steering column and started the engine, pulling out of the parking space he was given and quickly leaving the parking structure, moving through the air without much care for how fast he happened to be going. This could, and likely would, be the last chance he would get to see her and he wanted to make it count. He went over words in his head, things to say to express his gratitude to her for pulling him out of that depression. He could see her in everything at that moment and it was then shattered with the memory that he would likely be murdered and harvested within the next 24 hours. Furrowing his brow and sighing, Ash drove home. He might survive, who knew, stranger things had happened... but surviving gutter detail was one that hardly ever happened. Honestly, if it weren't for Marie, he'd have taken a bullet to the head right there. At least then they could bury him with all his pieces still connected.

Ash Meets Marie, pt. 2

Just hammered this out waiting for the doctor to answer his phone, just some more personal exchange, nothing too fancy.

--

Ash did Marie the favor of not vomiting in her immaculate car and she did him the favor of driving him home instead of shoving him out of the car in mid-air for ruining the interior. Ash's home was humble and by no means opulent but it was definitely better than most of the residential sectors on this tier of Espher. Ash's salary covered everything well and gave him enough money to spend most nights getting shit-faced. As the Nexus W-X came to a quiet, delicate rest on its landing struts, Ash turned to look at Marie while using pure will to force down the nausea. “I... this was a hell of a night. Thanks... I needed--” Ash began but his lips were assaulted by her own for a brief, blissful moment. He presumed she was rolling the dice on his nausea, getting a kiss in before anything came out. He was struck by it, however, and lost his train of thought. “You...”

“Kissed you...” She replied, mimicking his tone perfectly.

“Hell of a night. I.. wish I weren't drunk so I could be a bit more... coherent. Yea, that's the word.”

“You're fine. If nothing else, being in this state shows who you are at heart. You really broke free tonight, it was wonderful.”

Ash tilted his head “I what?”

“Broke free. You had fun, you stopped moping, you lived in the moment and being able to help you achieve that is great.” She replied, turning in her seat, slightly.

“You saw all that -and- drove through all that crazy shit?”

“I have my skills, cherub.”

“I'm wondering how much of an understatement that is.”

“Don't be like that. I just happened to have a sequence of events to showcase my abilities, tonight.”

Ash sighed and shrugged “I don't question good fortune. I was just surprised.”

“Can you make the walk?”

“Yea, no problem.” Ash said, looking outside the car for the first time. Inside, it was so easy to forget everything that was not a part of her.

“Can I at least make sure you don't fall and hurt yourself, Ash?” Marie asked, keying a console which brought the engine to a slow stop and the struts creaked just a bit as the repulsordirve shut off.

“My place is kind of a wreck.” Ash warned, looking at her uncertainly.

“You should see -mine-.”

“I'm not going to pass up a chance to bring a celebrity into my home. Maybe they'll make some kind of tour where they make a big deal about how you helped some drunken idiot home out of the kindness of your heart. Big to-do and everything, selling some cheap alcohol as a souvenir and explai--”

“Ash. Hush. Let's get you inside instead of waking all of your neighbors, all right?”

“Fair point.” Ash muttered, turning as the door began to move and stepping out of the car with only one small stagger.

The doors on the car sealed and there was a faint beep to indicate the security system on the car had been enabled. Marie helped Ash to his home twice, the first had been just a door too far. After returning to his actual home she guided him in to sit on a worn-out couch. She shut, and locked, the door behind her and turned around, smiling. Ash was sprawled out on the couch, looking at her with no attempt to disguise it. She was the kind of beautiful you got angry over, so much frustration building in knowing that someone so beautiful would never be a part of your life and that is where his thoughts lingered. Surely she was stringing him along, there had to be some reason. She walked casually across the room and took a gentle seat next to him, turning to look him over. She smiled that warm, disarming smile and if it were possible, Ash would've melted in the heat.

“Are you feeling okay?” She asked, placing her hand on his.

“Yea, better, just... trying to settle down.” Ash replied, turning to look at her more directly.

“Good. I don't want to watch you ruin your carpet.... any further.” She said, smirking as he was sprawled there and pretty much defenseless. “Do you have anything to drink?”

Ash nearly heaved, alcohol wasn't what he wanted to think about right now. “Kitchen, kitchen. Third cabinet from the left.”

There was a pause and a whistle “Wow, you sure do bring a lot of your hobby home with you.” she called out from the other room.

Ash smiled, furrowing his brows “Yea, been... kinda rough lately. Some really frustrating things.”

“Oooh? Are we reaching 'classified' levels of detail, here?” She called out, glass tinkling lightly amid her words.

“No, not really... It's not really so classified as it is... just... gone.” he said, closing his eyes and reliving the moments all over again. CO Green shouting in his ear, the weight of the rifle in his hands, how completely out of place he felt.

“Not surprising, honestly.” Marie said, stepping into the living room once more and gently slipping around his legs with a subtle grace.

“There's a lot of things they don't show. Bad for the morale of the people of Espher.”

“I've seen it happen. Friends I had that just... disappeared and never existed so far as any record is concerned.”

“That's why I stay out of politics, I don't want to be a part of that kind of thing. It's childish as hell and I can't stand that.”

Marie poured a bit of some amber colored liquor into a small glass and brought it up to her lips “Tell me about it, if you want to get it off your chest.”

“It's just... Things are obviously changing. We were taken off reserve and sent to O-S-Zero-Five to find and confiscate and and all firearms or similar weapons. Half-way there it suddenly changed into 'Kill them all, don't ask why'.”

Marie's eyebrows raised as she took a small drink. “That's... a big change of plans.”

“And we were stuck with it. I... I'm not even 'off duty' right now, I'm on forced leave. There were orders I refused to follow and they slammed me the moment I got back.”

“When was this?”

“About three days ago.”

“If I may ask, Ash, what orders were you refusing?” Marie inquired, tilting her head.

“I was being ordered to shoot a kid. Probably twelve or something, grew up out in the settlements, never knew a life without guns on hand for defense. We come in firing rockets and air-strafing his home, who the fuck isn't going to grab their gun and fight?”

“So they wanted you to kill him for defending himself?”

“No... he killed at least one of our eight-man squad. That was why they wanted him dead but... it was our fault. No one -ever- gave us a reason why the mission changed.”

“So you just didn't feel he did anything wrong?”

“I... no, I knew those guys, all the ones we lost, but we didn't even say anything, we just came in and started blasting the place all to hell.”

“Sounds awful...”

“I'll spare you the details and just say that Espher never gives the whole story, just enough to justify their actions or remove doubt. There's thousands of things I've noticed over the years that escape mention and there's no explanation other than someone actively filtering what is made public... but I think all governments do that.”

“You're right. They all do. I don't think there has ever been a government that gave the people the whole story.”

“I'm just sick of pretending not to notice it. Some people can look it over, some people just don't ask questions and they can just be fine with that-- I can't. It aggravates me to the damned bone.”

“Calm down, Cherub, just try and relax.” she cooed softly in his ear.

Ash had somehow managed to miss the way she shifted her slight form against him and leaned over to partially lay along his side as he slouched slightly. There were all sorts of things buzzing in his head right now and the feel of her against him was not the least of them. Slowly his arm curled around her shoulders and she exhaled against his neck, laying her head there and reaching across to set her drink upon the table. If he could open his eyes he would be seeing what he would presume to be a dream but it was actually happening. What was so appealing about him? Did she just go for the kind of person who feels broken and use their misery as a sort of muse? Did she genuinely care this much about someone she met less then twelve hours ago? He had so many questions and so little nerve to ask them. Slowly he let his eyes open and behold her. Her hair was a wash of deep red spread across their bodies, her arms running from her tee-shirt up and around his neck where he could feel her nails gently bite at his flesh. She had ditched her boots somewhere and had her lower half tucked neatly against her in her slim denim jeans and thin black socks. He pondered what the material was, it looked like silk from his view, and was then struck wondering why he was thinking about that at all.

“Ash...” Marie began, turning her head upward to whisper on his jaw.

“Yeah?” he responded, half-groggy but fully focused on her.

“Do you mind if I--”

“Not at all.”

Marie smiled a bit “You didn't know what I was going to ask.”

“I think I had a good idea.”

“Maybe.”

“Just be quiet and come here.” Ash said, turning slightly to pull her body onto his own as he slipped down to lay on his back.

Marie's slight build was even more apparent in this way, her arms around his neck and her head tucked into the nape of his neck. Her legs had tangled into his own, Ash sighed with plain, simple content. His hands moved down her back slowly, fingers tracing along her spine before resting on her lower-back. One arm curled around her possessively and kept her held snug and he turned his head to press his lips to her hairline, closing his eyes. It was quiet, it was never this quiet when he was home. The was no racket from the television pane, no food cooking or declaring it had been long-since ready to be eaten. He could hear every breath she took and he was unsure if he could hear her heartbeat or if he was just imagining it but in this moment there was a quiet, still world that did not exist anywhere else in his life. As if his home had simply been removed from the world, it was just as it was in the car. Nothing existed outside of her and the room they shared. Ironically they were much closer when they had so much more room to spread out. Ash tried to find the words to say some appropriately pretty or meaningful or... something poignant at all only to find nothing coming to mind. Just the same, he could feel sleep overtaking him and he begrudgingly accepted it as it creeped over him and pulled him into the abyss of slumber.

Ash Meets Marie (First Revision)

FIRST REVISION, oh boy. I took a look at the scene of Marie and Ash (which has not been posted to this blog, not the original rough draft) pretty thoroughly and changed a lot, added more character to the scene, I feel. Helped to grasp why the two of them just connect.

So, here you go:

---
Ash looked back to his fondest memories of her, when he had first met her. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever known. He had no idea why she actually came in to that bar (which he was pretty sure was being kept afloat by his patronage alone), she didn't belong there. It was like putting a ruby in the a puddle of sewage. So out of place that he actually forgot himself and just stared at her. She was not tall by any means, he was certain she wasn't even five feet tall and she could not have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds and that was pushing it. She was mostly swallowed up in a freshly unbuttoned beige-colored coat of NoSoak material and her red hair was tucked down her back and under the it.

A slim, perfect-fit t-shirt covered her torso this only helped to show her chest was not devoid of endowment but she had a more than modest bust. The words upon her shirt were currently too hard to decipher with what little of his brain was not completely drinking her in. Tight jeans ran down right into a pair of beige boots, no doubt they were NoSoak as well. The coat by itself cost more than it would cost to demolish this dive and that was exactly why she boggled him. There was more to her than he could see there, but everything he saw he liked. What he did not like was the risk she took in wearing such an expensive coat in this part of Espher. She bobbed a bit on her heels and scanned the room carefully as if she were here to meet someone.

No doubt an Adonis by means of cosmetic surgery and implants but why would he want to come here? Maybe he had grown up here, in the bottom tier of what was essentially Espher's totem pole in the just-above-The-Cloud list? There was almost no way to discern her age but her brilliant green eyes showed she had been around long enough to know when to be on her guard.

So vibrant was that green that he had dismissed them as implants or augmented with some manner of expensive magic that could be had for the right price. In his head he had been peeling her clothes away and lost in the lurid, beautiful thoughts so intensely that it never registered that she was approaching him.

"It says 'Art is all we have left'." she spoke, shattering his dream-scape with harsh reality. The good thing was that reality was almost better.
His silence prompted her to respond "Saw you eyeballing me when I came in.". Her voice was just as beautiful as the rest of her.
"I-- Shit. I didn't mean to... Fuck, you know... I couldn't help..." he paused, sighing with defeat. "Yea, I admit I was staring. A little."
"Oh-ho, just a little?" She spoke, her smile exposing teeth that were a dazzling white.
"Okay so... maybe a lot. I didn't mean to offend you--"
"Hush. Stop worrying and just relax."
"I... okay." This would have to be the first time he had ever been caught ogling a woman and not been shot a disgusted or angry look. Even before his hair had changed.
"See? Is it that hard to stay calm?"
"Not when you're telling me to." he admitted, flat-out.
She laughed, he smiled involuntarily, and she shook her head. "Why are you sitting in this dirty corner by yourself?"

Why she was interested in him at all was confusing for him. He had to look like a train-wreck. "It's pretty much how I spend all my time off these days."
"Drinking in a dirty corner in a dirty bar just above The Cloud?"
"... Yea, pretty much." he conceded and looked down at his drink. It was much more depressing when said aloud.
"You must be an officer." She said with laser-accurate certainty, raising one brow just a bit.
"I... yeah.," he looked at himself to see if something gave it away but that was not the case, he wore a plain outfit that didn't stand out at all. "That obvious, huh?"
"You have body language a lot of other people don't so you are either a soldier or a an officer of the law. Either way I hear it's pretty much a hell you can't get out of."
"Just where do you hear that?"
"Places."
"Clean bars in clean parts of Espher?"
She smirked "Why haven't you just asked me to sit down already?"

The thought had never even crossed his mind, inviting her to sit down. He was sure she was just wasting time waiting on a boyfriend or fiance. Moving to clear the table (or at least wipe up what he had spilled over the evening) he pushed the empty ash-tray aside only to have her take his hand and guide it right back to the table.

She sat down with a grace he had never seen so close. In fact, this whole situation was surreal to him. She pulled a silver case from her coat pocket and thumbed the latch that held it closed. She pulled a long cigarette from the case and placed it between her immaculate lips. Her eyes flicked upward to look at him expectantly. He stated into them, this close he could tell that they were either complete biological replacements or natural.

In sudden realization he scrambled from pocket to pocket to find his lighter. After a few awkward moments he pulled the thin metal rectangle from his pocket and flicked it open, offering it to her. She leaned in just far enough to place the tip of the cigarette above the lighter. A flame sparked and burned blue, igniting the tobacco as she took her first drag of the cigarette. She exhaled to the side out of courtesy and eyed the three-quarter-full bottle on the table while he put his lighter away.

"How are you not a complete drunken mess right now?" she inquired, laughing in a way that made it impossible for him to be less than cheery.
He grinned and shrugged his shoulders "Maybe it's my form of artistry."
"Oh, I bet. The hangovers must be beautiful to watch."
"Only when I'm smart enough to cut myself off from finishing the entire thing."
"Doesn't look like you're smart tonight, Cherub."
"I'm usually not, no."
"Then you won't mind me helping you finish it?"
As if there were some possibility he could deny this woman anything but his still-beating heart-- and that was just because he was pretty sure blood wouldn't suit her. "Oh ye-yeah, go ahead, it's already paid for."

She reached toward the wall and plucked a glass from a stack recessed in the wall and took the bottle to pour her drink. "Oh, good, that means I don't have to pay anything, right?"
"Wouldn't dream of asking."
She grinned broadly and delicately tapped her finger on her cigarette, sending ashes into the glass tray. "I think you're setting a record, here."
"A record for what?"
"For how long it has ever taken a man to ask me my name."
He had been so caught up in the moment he hadn't even thought of it. "I... err, sorry, what is your name?"
"Marie."
"It's really nice to meet you, Marie."
Marie shook her head and then made an unfurling flourish with her hand just before her chin as she instructed him "'And my name is...'"
"Ash." he said
“Oh, is that short for something?”
“,,, Ashley.”
"Oooh! I bet you got a lot of shit for that in school!" she said, her excitement infectious.
"You have no idea how many times I asked my parents -why- they chose that name. They didn't even bother with a middle name."
She laughed, it was so easy, it seemed, to bring that laughter from her and spread its warmth around. "I like it. It's unusual. Like me. Ashley--"
"Ash, just call me Ash."
"Ash, I really am curious about something but you can't be mad when I ask, all right?"
"I ... guess." he had a feeling which question she wanted to ask.
"What's with the hair?"

He was right and he went on to tell her the truth. Ash had, a few years after puberty, inexplicably had his raven black hair go shock-white. There was no mental trauma in his life outside of dealing with being stuck at the bottom class for the middle tiers. Money was a bit tight in his home but his mother managed to save up enough to take him to a doctor of reasonable standing.

Through testing and examination they had written it off as just some extremely rare genetic fuck-up. What followed for about six years was constant color treatments that never managed to stick. They did, however. slowly manage to darken his hair to something of a deep gray with random streaks of black where some of his hair had actually been successfully treated. He was far ahead of everyone else at the irony of his name and the way his hair had turned out.

“It's like they knew.” Marie said, her smile far too warm for her to be rude.
"I... it's some kind of genetic thing, my mother nearly worked herself to death working odd jobs to get the money for the color treatments and they just didn't really work. Used to be as white as snow." Ash spoke, although it was pretty much a miracle if snow ever fell in any part of Espher, much less being pure white.
"I see... and your name..." she began.
"Yea, I got more hell out of kids for the hair than the name. It was just another place for them to pick at me."
"You could do a scalp replacement, you know. I hear they're pretty well priced now, especially since they've been having to compete with NeuTek's fiber-optic jobs." NeuTek had been transplanting scalps of fiber-optic hair that could adjust color as often as someone desired.
"Eh, everyone already knows me this way, if I change it, it'll just be weird, you know?"
"Aha. So now you're a masochist"
"I live in Espher, don't I?"

She laughed again, taking a drink and smiling at him with blinding cheer. Ashing her cigarette, she looked into his eyes deeply. There was a rush of heat in his cheeks that he hadn't felt since he was in his last relationship... and that was many years past. She crossed her legs and reached across the table, taking his hand which he had no objections to. He was still worried that he was flushed, that he were embarrassed but instead he felt like he had been talking to an angel.

She tilted her head slightly "You have questions, don't you, Cherub?"
Ash furrowed bis brow, "I... well, yeah. I have no idea why a woman so beautiful would ever bother to come to this place at all.".
"I came here, Ash, because I remember how it was when I was a child. I was very lucky to get out of there. I also miss the times when people didn't recognize me."
“Recognize you? Are you famous for something?” he was sure it was modeling of some sort.
“I was wondering if you knew, that explains something ”.
Ash frowned, immediately struck by curiosity "I... I'm sorry but I don't... really know who you are?"
"Oh, go up a dozen levels and you'll see something of mine eventually."
"What do you do?"
She simply shrugged off her jacket and pulled her tee-shirt taut to make it perfectly readable... and her chest all the more apparent. "I'm an artist."
"That's a pretty broad term."
"I do a bit of everything. Music, painting, I've written some things, and I've done a fair share of modeling--"
"I feel like an asshole for not knowing who you are-- wait, I know! I've definitely seen you modeling something... I can't remember but... it was an advertisement...” Ash muttered to himself
"Well, I did do an advertisement for Genetic Cosmetics. When I create my art. I go by Anna. I came in here because something told me to do it and it led me to you. There is something about you that just pulls me in and I can't place my finger on it."
"My winning personality?"
She laughed and gripped his hand tightly. "No, but I can see you as a person. Who you are, I know you're a good person and I see that less and less as days go by.”
Ash wondered, immediately, if she were on the run from someone, if perhaps her last work had been too far over the line and had provoked some sort of threat “I don't know what to say.”
"You don't need to say anything, I know how you're feeliing."
“If that is the case then you've got a really good poker-face going on.” he spoke, self loathing perhaps a bit exposed within his own words.

They continued to drink, she smoked a few more cigarettes and conversation had shot all around various topics but every time he was left feeling a bit better about himself. Ash has began to think she were some sort of roaring, inviting flame in the middle of a very cold world.  Something he would be hate to be without. The fact she was so beautiful was secondary.

She laughed almost every time she spoke, she was so enthusiastic that it was strange. She seemed to just love the moment, to be having a great time just... talking. He had not, before his ex-fiancee had cheated on him, felt so happy in quite a long time. It felt so good to be able to escape the world and curl up next to this source of warmth. It had, however, been four or five hours and last call had been announced.

“Would you like to come to my place? Talk some more?” Ash asked, no idea where his sudden confidence had been born.
“I think that would be all right but you sure aren't going to drive.” Marie said, concern in her voice.
Ash laughed “No, no... I call for a cab. I know the driver for this area better than I knew my cousins.”
“Just ride with me.” she said simply.
“That sounds nice.”
“Come with me, I'm parked over here,” she indicated, pointing “It's the red one.”
Ash looked at the car and widened his eyes a few moments. “You drive a Nexus W-X?”
“Yea, I love it, it's like my baby.”
“Classy car... damn. I was never able to ride in one but we sure as hell gave their drivers a lot of tickets. I always loved this damn car. The design just works for me. Price? Not so much.”
She grinned and keyed small device in her hand, the doors opening slowly. “The prices dropped -a lot- when the W-X-Squared was released.”
“How much?”
“Enough for me to afford it, I forget the price but it was about half of the value it was when they were fresh off of the assembly line.”
“The W-X-Squared looked so stupid. The way they changed the front end. It just looked wrong.”
Moving to slip into the driver's seat, Marie turned her head to Ash as he carefully got in. “We have a similar kind of taste.”
“I guess we do.”

The Nexus automobile company was almost always creating the newest, hottest cars that all the rich people could afford. Their ads made no attempt to appeal to less wealthy individuals and they didn't even bother advertising beneath the cloud. Several years previous the Nexus W-X has been the top of the line, it had been the thing of dreams for several people and they had reduced production upon it due to a financial scandal that had blown up during the time. If there were any sharp angles on the car then one would be hard pressed to find them. It was all curves, even the windows and it seemed as if it had been carved from a solid block of metal, it had no seams aside from the doors, hood, and trunk. Even then those has been almost invisible on the machine.  It was definitely one of his favorite cars.

Marie slipped the ID-stick into the ignition port and it confirmed her thumb-print before it brought the car to life.  “You're off duty, right?”
Ash was so absorbed in looking over the car that he took a moment to answer. “Yea, they, well they don't like us doing anything remotely fun in uniform.”
“Good. Now, if you'll put on your seat-belt, I'll show you a few reasons why I love this car.” Marie said with impish delight.

Ash did as he was told, grinning, and buckled in. The car had come to life but it was impossible to feel, it retracted its landing struts and glided out of the parking slot and headed for the skyway. Ash couldn't even feel the turns she made but dampening devices helped a lot with that. As did the alcohol. What would follow would be more traffic violations than he could count (or remember) but it was one of the most exciting nights of his entire life, escaping notice of police forces because he knew their patrol patterns and happily passed along that knowledge.

Riding shotgun in this beautiful car with this beautiful woman and worrying about exactly nothing at all, Ash was free. He was able to shed all the burdens on his shoulders and exist, for that time, purely to enjoy life. No concerns that existed outside the two of them in that car. It was amazing and it was the first time in his he had ever felt this way.
---

Shadow of a Dead Star and an update on the Prequel

I just finished Shadow of a Dead Star by author Michael Shean. You always hate when a book you enjoy is thinning out. You notice when you're half-way through it and as the pages tick down and the ending nears you start wondering just how much more story there is and if it really can fit those pages. You find yourself wishing there were more pages (at least with a good book) to keep yourself in the story longer but they have to end some time.

I -really- liked Shadow of a Dead Star and I thoroughly recommend it if you've got the slightest shred of noir or sci-fi or cyber-punk within you, others might have to adjust but it's a great read.

I don't think I had even heard of the term 'bio-punk' before this book but I can completely see the genre now. The book, and its author, will have a noted impression upon my own work but as I have finished it I am going to revise some of what I've already written just in case I may have carried some of his writing into my own. It's not really a bad thing but I'd like to make sure my work does not seem as if it were piggybacking another person's own writing. This could also be a complete non-issue for some people (I certainly enjoy his writing) but part of me is just really dedicated to try and see if my style, as it is, works and compels others.

As for the prequel-with-no-name, I have had a friend read over it and corrected some grammatical errors (damn you spellcheck) and some decisions to alter how things play out to be a bit less... overt. I intend to actually give CO Green a rank and make him seem like less of a psychopath. Which might or might not work. Time will tell as I juggle bits and pieces around.

I urge you to go take a look at Michael Shean's work, there are some free short-stories on his site and even a small Shadow of a Dead Star journalism excerpt on what exactly those 'Princess Dolls' are all about, mentioned in the blurb on the back of the book.

A piece of work from my upcoming RFTA prequel.

And here is where you start reading....

Part One

The sirens howled as the lights in the corridor went red and began to rotate, the crimson washing over the body armor of the soldiers as they rushed along, all with one destination. It had taken Ash under ten seconds to put on his gear but Phoenix took twice as long and only when Phoenix sharply nodded did Ash proceed. Running along the back of a line of other men with their rifles and their armor toward the octagonal platform on the roof. Set well above The Cloud and unobstructed by nearby structures, it served as the landing pad for the Espher military. Each platform held a somewhat ovoid tilt-rotor aircraft that all cried out with the same shrill sound of their engines coming to life. Squads were assigned specific landing pads and Ash and Phoenix hooked sharply to the side to rush up stairway to pad six, Haborym squad, as their commanding officer shouted hoarsely hanging off of a tilt-rotor and standing on the skid. It had been a fairly innovative and useful design but it was not the cutting edge of what the military had in their possession. Its body had been painted black with Juno stencils showing its designation in white. Housing three primary weapons, the tilt-rotor's left wing kept a massive Vulcan cannon beneath it while the right held a broad case of missile pods under its own. The chin of the tilt-rotor had two long barrels on a mount that enabled rotation to any direction. The barrels had thick, armored hoses that connected to a recessed pair of openings. The weapons had been dressed up, like all the other tilt-rotors. Haborym squad's paint-job had been stylized with the face of an angry man on the left side of its body that resembled no-one. Upon the right there was the face of some vicious, feline creature was upon the right. Upon the from of the craft a serpent had been painted, maw open around the chin-mounted weapon while its body curled around the length of the aircraft and terminated at the tail of the craft.

"GO, GO, GO, WE ARE IN THE AIR IN SIX SECONDS, GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR! MOVE!" he yelled even as Ash and Phoenix made it to the tilt-rotor and climbed in to strap themselves into their harnesses. "BAKER, YOU ARE CLEAR, LIFTOFF!"

"Where are we headed?" shouted Martin, just loud enough to be heard over the engines spinning up.

"We are to sweep and retrieve all firearms from Oscar-Sierra-Zero-Five. Straight up the chain of command!" the CO responded.

Their CO, Devon Green, did not begin to climb into the aircraft until the skids had left the landing pad. The soldiers stomachs collective lurched as the vehicle took swiftly to the air, climbing high before the wings at either side began to rotate forward and send them on the path to their destination. Outlying Settlement Zero-Five, one of the many clusters of structures that still stood in the outer range of Espher's full breadth. They were hardly ballsy enough to try and attack Espher. Even if they had the weapons they did not have the sheer amount of people needed to get past the fourth gate into the city.

"Sounds a bit off, we sure that Zero-Five has firearms?" Smith inquired, leaning toward the CO.

"Intel says that they have been procuring firearms from the caravans that go between the settlements."

"For what? They couldn't put a dent in us." Smith responded, tilting his head.

"Raiders?" Watanabe offered, looking toward Smith and then the CO.

"Not this close to Espher. They're far out there but the raiders wouldn't do shit to them when they can see The Ob' from the settlement itself!" Cortez interjected.

"Some kind of civil war between the settlements?" O'Neil offered but the look he received from everyone made him hunch and try to shrink into his seat.

"The reason is irrelevant, we are in the business of following orders! We have received orders and we are following them, questioning them will fast-track you to a life in The Gutter's outstanding military." Their CO yelled, ceasing the discussion.

The Gutter had no military, at least not for very long. Initially there were small groups who operated gates and watched the ins-and-outs of the city and more importantly all the ways upward. The soldiers stationed there had been executed and left on display, the Obelisk's neglectful eyes had no video of just what happened. Every soldier stationed there since then had somehow met a painful end, punctuating the statement where The Gutter declared just how much they hated everything above The Cloud, and even some who weren't. It had led to being a post for soldiers put in disciplinary positions to teach them whatever lesson command had expected them to have already learned. Before the reserve was tapped for military action Ash and Phoenix were not strangers to passing through the streets of the gutter, rarely finding reason enough to stop. Still, it was always worth it when they could save lives by culling the psychopaths that tended to come out of the woodwork every so often.

"Baker! E-T-A!" CO Green shouted to the cockpit.

"We are within range in two mikes!" he responded, his bulky helmet covering his head with wires and various connected to matrices of ports that gave him full awareness and ability to fly (and fight) in the machine as if it were his own body.

"Give me a warning when we've got one mike to go!" Green yelled back and regarded each of the men in their battle-armor with their assault rifles housing caseless ammunition.

"Sir, are we expecting resistance?" Phoenix inquired.

"Negative, Stonewright, command says this is a straight search-and-confiscate operation."

"What happens if they see us coming and fear we're going to destroy them?"

"Did you really just ask that question?" Ash said with a mild bit of surprise. It was pretty clear what would happen.

"Shit happens, you know things can turn into a clusterfuck if even one damn round is fired!" Phoenix barked, his hand moving to emphasize his words.

"Don't pretend to be so naive, you're not a complete idiot or I'd have ditched you a long--" Ash was responding before being cut off.

"Scarborough, Stonewright, stow the bullshit for when you go back on reserve, you'll have plenty of time to talk there, now shut the hell up and get focused! We will respond to any threat of force with a show of equal or greater force. We do not flinch in the face of any danger, we are soldiers and we don't back down!" CO Green shouted, shutting down the conversation.

"CO!" Baker yelled from the cockpit "We are E-T-A one mike!"

"Acknowledged!"

"Say again, command?" Baker spoke, his head turning toward the front, his words hard to hear from the bay where the soldiers were strapped in. "Confirming Sierra-Echo, Command? Understood! Altering mission parameters." Baker turned to look at CO Green and half of the soldiers in the bay that could actually see them from where they were secured.

"Don't be in a rush to fill us in, Baker!" Green shouted "We love the suspense! Relay that change in orders to me!"

"We are Sierra-Echo on Oscar-Sierra-Zero-Five. Straight down the chain, we now have a hot L-Z, I am disengaging the safety locks on all weapons as commanded, sir!" Baker spoke as the Vulcan cycled a few times and the missile pods began to click and spread slightly apart.

"How the hell did we go from search-and-procure to kill the fuck out of everything in one and-a-half fucking minutes?" Ash shouted toward CO Green.

"I don't know, Scarborough, but we -will- follow orders. They may have been scoped by another tilt-rotor that passed within range and be preparing an ambush. We're going into a combat zone, make no mistake! Eliminate any and all threats!" Green replied, sounding pleased with the change in orders.

Ash and Phoenix looked at one another with similarly confused expressions before looking back to CO Green. He had a grin forming on his face-- but some men just loved the feel of battle. The fact that his body-armor was likely beginning to inject stims into his system was also likely reason. Ash released the magazine from his rifle and looked in it before slotting it back in position and re-gripping at an angle more ready to respond to incoming fire. There was not much the people could really do to warrant such a retaliation. Sierra-Echo, Scorched Earth, meant the entire razing of the settlement and leaving it to burn for days, leaving only ashes. It was hardly something he or Phoenix could rationalize although no one else really seemed to care as much-or they didn't manage to show it if they did.

"Visual confirmation, Oscar-Sierra-Zero-Five, altering course to lay down a strafing run and then provide covering fire as you rope out, Haborym Squad." Baker shouted as the craft angled sharply and and angled downward. The soldiers all braced themselves in expectation of incoming fire. The tilt-rotor soared down like an angry hawk, closing the distance in seconds. The whine of the Vulcan spinning up drew Ash's attention and he watched as the barrels cycled. Baker yelled out something Ash couldn't make out while next to the Vulcan but it quickly began to pour bullets down into the settlement. Ash risked leaning out to look at the settlement but he could see nothing that resembled even a moderate threat. As the rounds began to stitch across the dry, cracked earth he saw bodies blown apart as if being cleaved in half by some massive blade. The bullets that did not hit anyone were easy to forget about as the pods on the right wing as the caps upon them began to eject and fly away in the decent. Bright flares of light followed by a loud hiss was all he heard as the missiles soared ahead and arced in the air. The aircraft began to pull into an upward turn and Ash turned to the right with all the rest of the soldiers and watched as the missiles split apart and exploded, throwing untold amounts of shrapnel in large bursts. Phoenix saw a man turn to run but he was quickly shredded by steel fragments whickering through the air.

The lights above the doors on either side of the tilt-rotor went from a quiet red to a bright green as the tilt-rotor was maneuvered into drop position, the Vulcan laying out arcs of covering fire while the barrels mounted at the chin of the craft began to spray enormous gouts of flame across the rear of the settlement, cooking people alive, burning up the oxygen before they could use it to scream. Flaming bodies fled in all directions, tripping and falling or rolling in attempts to just put the flames out. Those who could scream were already doing so even before the soldiers freed themselves and hopped off the skids, riding down lengths of rope as if in free-fall only to have their harnesses automatically slow them almost to a complete halt a few feet above the ground. The soldiers unhooked their harnesses and dropped to the ground. The squad dashed in toward the walls of the settlement. It was not particularly large but it would still be extremely risky to try and handle if there were opposition that were waiting to ambush them.

The tilt-rotor overhead began to circle, cutting arcs through the settlement and perforating buildings and people just the same. Ash was hunting for any sign of resistance or hostility but every body he saw was dead, dying, or running for some sort merciful cover from the fire. In the rear of the settlement some flammable container exploded and sent a hard-thumping explosion across the settlement and into the diaphragms of the soldiers who were stalking in with their weapons at their shoulders. A few minor explosions followed before a stream of people fled from a building that was soon demolished by a solid strike by a missile. Debris shot outward and knocked several of the fleeing people to to the floor, mostly the children. Ash furiously searched for some threat, some sign of intent to retaliate, seeking a logical reason the settlement was being torn to pieces.

"CO... I... I'm not seeing any hostiles, sir." Ash spoke, feeling the adrenaline charging through him and completely welcoming the sensation... if only he could find a reason.

"They are -all- hostiles, Scarborough, take your shots!" CO Green shouted at Ash. It was not a second later that others in the squad began to fire. The targets were clearly being picked off in terms of threat level, men were being shot and sent to the ground, a few women caught in the fire either by accident or deliberate intent among the soldiers. The CO's teeth were set tight in a vicious grin as he fired out bursts of ammunition at the people pouring forth from buildings. It was not until minutes after the firefight had begun that Ash saw anyone carrying a weapon and the first was a man brandishing an axe better used upon wood. He was taken down by eight shots nearly in complete unison, his head gone in a mess of gore and holes shot through his chest before he fell to ground, twitching, while blood poured generously into the hungry earth.

Sweeping for targets, CO Green suddenly jerked back, hissing as the impact of solid rounds dissipated across his armor and removed his grin from his face. He began to rapidly search for anyone in his line of sight, the barrel of a rifle, a glint off of a scope, a puff of smoke lingering in the air, a shell casing hitting the ground, anything. He did not find what he was looking for and it seemed that whoever had shot him had either given up or moved somewhere else. The sound of the fight was deafening but among the explosions and gunfire all that Ash could focus on were the screams of those being cut down needlessly. Finally the sounds of opposing fire began to surface and it brought Ash back to focus instead of staring with eyes gone blurry. "Three o'clock high!" someone in the squad shouted and Ash snapped his rifle to the exact direction, hunting down the sights for targets. It was slightly hard to make out but there was half-destroyed building of three stories and in the shadows cast by the sun they had managed to sneak into a fairly well bit of defensive cover.

Shots were exchanged back and forth, rounds bounding off shoulder armor or helmets, sending the aim of soldiers wide or too high as they felt the impacts. As the squad began to focus their fire there was a heavy crack in the air and a faint tingle all around. O'Neil staggered backward, looking down at his chest and found a steel bar sticking out of his chest. It was just as far out of his back, as well. He gasped and tried to find words as he fought for balance but a well aimed shot went right between the armored collar on his body armor and his helmet, tearing his throat out and sending him to the ground. Upon impact the steel bar buried itself in the earth under him and he tried to cover his throat with his hands in some vain hope that the wound was something less than lethal. Ash and Phoenix stared at O'Neil as he looked around, gurgling and gasping, making mortifying sounds as his life was slipping away from him. His hand reached desperately toward Phoenix as if he could somehow help to save him but Phoenix shook his head slowly with an apologetic look on his face before he turned back and began to fire at the hostiles taking cover in the remnants of the building. Another arc of gunfire from the tilt-rotor crawled across the settlement but largely did nothing else.

CO Green was the first to capitalize on the angle O'Neil had been struck from immediately after changing out his empty magazine for a full one. Three rounds sank into the gunman's face and sent him down limp. Going onto the offensive, the squad collectively began to push back the hostiles, working their way into the settlement and beginning to split up. Ash and Phoenix, together as always, ran with Watanabe, checking corners and buildings for any signs of resistance. Out of nowhere that same crack pierced the are amid the gunfire and Watanabe was instantly nailed against a concrete wall. Held fast by the length of steel sent through the side of his head his body twitched and went into spasms as his body hung from his head. The angle of the shot arrived in Phoenix's head before the horror of the sight did and he quickly turned to empty his magazine into the side of an ancient motor vehicle, punching holes through it in hope that he might wound or outright kill whatever the hell was sending these lengths of steel at them, it went through their body armor effortlessly, it seemed. Ash shouted and cursed as he stumbled upon Watanabe and ducked as he saw Phoenix do the same.

“What the fuck is that!?” Phoenix shouted, ejecting his spent magazine and fumbling in a pouch at his side for a new magazine.

“I don't know! For fucks sake it's just shooting steel bars, they're not even fucking sharp!” Ash replied as he had the fortunate position of being able to see the bar on the other side of the wall where Watanabe hanged.

“Where the hell do they get a weapon like that?”

“Espher.”

“You sure it couldn't be improvised?”

“No, there's not shit here they could have to make something like that.”

“But they still have it!”

“They had to have gotten it from Espher.”

“That would make the most sense.”

Maybe someone in intel had caught wind of some black market sale of such a weapon, that made the initial moments of the battle much easier to stomach even as he heard the weapon fire again. Whoever was firing it was moving fast, changing positions immediately after firing or even firing on the move-- but that seemed a bit ridiculous. He had heard of weapons that used magnetism to fire metal projectiles but he couldn't imagine anyone making one unless they were connected in Espher in some degree. Perhaps it had been stolen somehow or maybe someone had actually managed to rig one together out of junk found in the outlying settlements.

“You ready to move?” Phoenix asked, looking at Ash.

“Yea, just... I'm taking a mag from Watanabe, you should too.”

“Good idea... damnit, I'm sorry, man...” Phoenix muttered at the dead body of Watanabe

“As soon as it fires again we're moving.”

As if on command the crack burst into the air again and the clarity of it made Ash realize how little gunfire there was now. Distantly someone was screaming but he could not be sure who it was or what side of the battle lines they were from. Ash and Phoenix dashed down an alley between ruined concrete buildings and came to a fork in the path. Phoenix instinctively went right and Ash followed, watching behind them as they moved. His back collided with Phoenix's own and he turned around in surprise.

“I hate this.” Phoenix admitted, shaking his head.

Ash turned to look in front of Phoenix to find what had clearly been a little girl before shrapnel had rendered half of her into a crimson mess that pooled around her and soaked through her dirty clothing. He held in his words but was no less disgusted.

“Fuck, just-- just go back, go the other way.”

“Yea.”

Ash and Phoenix turned around and jogged their way down the alley as gunfire continued to pop intermittently amidst the mostly silent settlement. A majority of the noise was the crackle of flames burning man and structure alike. Moving down the alternate path in the alleyway Ash brought his sights up and swept the large open area of what was likely a small market before missiles and bullets had torn it all to hell. Looking back to Phoenix, Ash nodded his head and broke into a sprint across the open area as Phoenix angled his rifle around the corner, looking for any sign of movement in the light of the setting sun. Nothing. Ash brought his rifle up in a similar manner to allow Phoenix to break across the open area and then duck into cover with him. As the ache in Ash's muscles began to surface his armor was already on the task. A faint prick into his arm and he was almost instantly able to ignore the pain as his armor injected the stims into his blood.

“How many do you think are left?” Phoenix asked.

“What?”

“How many of us do you think are still alive?”

“Fucking hell, don't go asking shit like that.”

'What? Why?”

“Because it's fucking depressing!”

“And watching all those people burn to death wasn't?”

“I--” Ash began but the crack entered the air again and they both instinctively ducked.

“How the -fuck- have we not found him yet?”

“I don't know but I'm getting really fucking sick of this.”

“Come on, we gotta move, see if we can't find this son of a bitch.”

Running along between ruined and burning buildings (as well as corpses) Ash and Phoenix passed a building where they heard the gasps of others. Stopping instantly they flanked the half-covered doorway and listened. They could hear the breath of at least three people as they panted and did their best to remain silent. Phoenix reached up and turned the light mounted on the side of his right on, kicking the door in and sweeping madly. Ash was right behind him but what they saw was nothing they wished to ever see again. Three children were clinging desperately to the corpse of what was likely their mother before a bullet went through her head. Two little girls shuddered and recoiled in horror, gripping their mother tightly for the fading sense of security it might bring. The little boy looked around franticly before diving into the next room. Phoenix moved to follow but Ash placed a hand on his shoulder, halting him.