The city was cold at night, so bitter and frigid that my poncho had done little to keep me warm. Standing out there in front of an abandoned building, waiting for Josie, had me wishing I was allowed to cover my belly. It felt nice and cool having my abbs out in the blistering heat of the daytime sunlight, but the balls cold temperatures once both the suns went down were enough to freeze your guts. This particular night felt especially cold, maybe cause I wasn't used to being this far into Haven. 

“She better hurry up and get here,” I wrapped my arms around my belly, and began rubbing furiously as I stood there. 

“Wish you had a fire familiar?” Gabby asked, not hiding her self imposed jealousy.

“Nah, just wish mine knew she was enough for me.”

“Aw, I know. I’m just teasing you.” Yeah, sure you were. I rolled my eyes and continued to rub my belly.

As bad as it was for me, I’m sure others had it worse. Spending time in the wastes has certainly toughened me up a bit. I can take a little cold, though damn it I was near ready to just up and leave until I heard a loud “Pssssst!” Spinning around towards the noise I caught a glimpse of Josie as she stepped out of the shadows.

“Hey I thought you said dress inconspicuously,” I cracked a grin eyeing her up and down. She was wearing a big blue dress coat, with white fur trim, and a big pink ribbon tied around the chest. 

“This is conspicuous for me,” she rolled her eyes, “I’m not the one who needs to stay hidden here.” She pursed her lips and pointed at me, “So that was your poncho I sewed up, huh?”

I cocked my head, “Bombs, drugs and sewing huh? Girl, you can do everything can't ya?” 

“Hell yeah I can,” She smirked, “but don’t you think you should hide that?” She was pointing at the purple mark around my navel, my brand.

“You know I can’t, right?” This wasn’t news to anyone, it's the law. Same reason her coat had a big patch missing in the center acting as a window to her belly.

“I know that, I mean hide the brand itself.” She walked over to me and touched her finger to my abbs.

“Hey, ask first!” I was half joking, though it did catch me off guard.

“It’ll probably only work in the dark or at least dim lighting, but I could cover your brand with makeup.”

“But it glows,” as if no one had ever thought of that before.

“I know, like I said, it will work best in bad lighting. Maybe also if some ones drunk or drugged too.”

“So what? Those seem like very specific situations.” I shrugged. “I’d be better off dressing up as a man.” I said knowing that had just as bad a penalty as hiding your stomach, death.

“Anyways, nothing we can do about that now. Follow me, we’re running behind.” And just who's fault ya think that is girly? I wanted to ream into her, but instead I bit my tongue and followed behind her. 

She instructed me to keep my distance, and stay in the shadows as much as possible. Any other part of the city and I’d say that was impossible, but not there. Gold City was far from perfect, but this part of the city stood in stark contrast to the rest. The lights and flashing signs were largely absent there. Each building we’d pass had it’s windows either protected by metal bars, or boarded up. Very few street lamps seemed to work, leaving us to rely heavily on the light of the three moons. It was hard to believe that a place like Gold City could actually have a side that you’d consider the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ and yet here we were. 

“Hey, why did you have me meet you back there anyways?” I asked Josie as she walked several paces ahead of me. 

“I’m not supposed to come to this side of town alone,” an answer I was certainly not expecting. 

“Mamma Kara got you on  a tight leash?” I teased her. She extended her fingers in a vulgar gesture in return.

As we were coming up to an intersection she motioned me to stop. “We’re getting close to the meeting spot. Remember, tail us to the bar, and wait till I’ve got him drunk enough before you make your move.” 

Yeah, yeah I got it. I simply bowed my head and gave a thumbs up. 

She walked over to a big black diesel cart that had a fat ashen man sticking his head out the window. He was pastier than the white silt we used back home to build our houses, yet his saggy eyelids were redder than a cattle brand hot off the fire. I cringed as I watched Josie stroke his wrinkled face, giggling and flirting with him. Girl had to have a strong gag reflex, or just horrible taste in men. And believe me, I know a thing or two about good taste. I prefer women, but I’ve fancied a man or two before. 

After chatting him up, she entered the car, and they began to drive off. The speed of which the car could drive was not impressive, especially when you considered how much money this guy apparently had, so it wasn’t really hard to follow them on foot. The bar had only been a couple blocks away, though a couple blocks in that neighborhood was enough to even make me feel uncomfortable. I kept my hand on my revolver, ready to draw at a moment’s notice, as I passed by leering eyes around every corner. What the hell was a rich dude like that doing in a shit hole like this? I wondered as I stepped over broken glass for the umpteenth time. Couldn’t he have met with her in a nicer part of town, like the manor?

After passing the tenth shop covered in graffiti, I saw the car pull into a lot beside a seedy little establishment. I ducked behind some bins and watched as Josie and the walking corpse entered the building together. On the outside, the building was as ugly and decrepit as Josies ‘date’, I feared to see what the inside was like. After waiting a few minutes, as to not look suspicious, I moseyed up into the joint. It was a cheese bag factory, not literally of course, although that would have been better. Nah, it was full of grody Ashen’s, with a sprinkling of Goldies, lounging about at a hookah bar, while being entertained by what felt like Angel Kiss Manor rejects. Though that’s a bit harsh, Kara wouldn’t reject someone looking for work, even if they were well....like these people. It wasn’t so much their outer appearance that I was wary of, but the energy they gave off, you get me?

Anyways, I watched as Josie was fluffing the man’s feathers, buttering him up, stroking his ego, are these all just sounding like euphemisms? She was flirting with him. There, that’s better right? I sat at a nearby table, wondering which would happen first, he got drunk enough to make my move, or he crumbled into dust already. A crappy radio was playing right next to me, making it hard for me to hear their conversation. Instead I heard the local news. Six dead in house fire. Witch suspected. Bank robbed the next city over. Witch suspected. Prostitute found dead by outer gate. Witch Suspected. It seemed even here, it was no different. Though I suppose that was to be expected, the church controlled all major news outlets after all. Even with the ‘Decriminalization’ of witches the former high priestess brought, nothing really changed. You can’t get executed just for being a witch, but you can get executed for being a witch, and committing a crime. I’m lucky my bounty is in the outer circles, where the church seems to care a whole lot less, because otherwise, I’d probably be dead.

I almost nodded off, by the time I noticed Josie give me the signal. A tug on the ribbon wrapped around her left ear. Nothing too obvious, and yet just unnatural enough to catch my attention. I rolled my eyes and stood up, grabbing a drink randomly from a table, I staggered over to their table. Reaching the table, I ‘tripped’ spilling the contents of my glass on the old guy's lap. 

“Watch it you wretched whore,” the man shouted, and stood to meet my eye level.

“Oh geez mistah, I didn’t mean nothin by it,” I threw in a hiccup for good measure, “here lemme clean you up.” I began to pat him down with a cloth.

“Stop it, stop it right now!” he swatted at my hands, though his own drunkenness made his strikes weak. 

“Hehe, sorry looks like Imma just make things worse, Ah’ll get out of yer hair now.” I gave a crooked shit eating grin, then belched in his face. 

“Away with you witch!” he tried to push me, but his hands missed completely. 

“Daneld come back, don’t pay that bitch any mind,” Josie pawed at him, beckoning him to sit back down.

“Of course my sweet angel,” his face went from red with anger, to red with…well a different kind of passion. 

I gestured at the cheesebag, and stumbled out the door. The item we sought firmly within my hand. After another ten or so minutes, Josie came out after me, reeking of russelweed and booze. A lingering effect of being in that densely packed place. 

“How’d you get away?” I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew.

“Thimblesnap in the tea, he’ll be out for quite a while,” she gave a devious grin.

“So why not just rob him yourself when he was out cold?” I ask, handing over the small silver key I swiped off the crusty old fart.

“That would have been way too suspicious, besides, I needed your company anyways.” She pressed her lips thin, and took the key from me. “Phase one complete, time for phase two.” She grinned.

“The hell is phase two?” 

“Remember that bomb I was making?” She said with a devious glint in her eyes.

“Not sure I like where this is going,” Gabby whined. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew my love.”

“Alright, start explaining,” I crossed my arms and furrowed my brows.

“Talk and walk. It’s better we don’t linger here for too long.” She grabbed me by the arm, holding her body close, and began to lead me away. She clutched onto me, like she would one of her ‘dates’ holding tight. I never noticed, but feeling it pressed against my elbow now I could tell she didn’t seem to have breasts. Like at all. Poor girl was flatter than Reli. My ever blushing cheeks turned a deeper pink, as we walked like this.

“Hey, is that necessary?” I groan a little.

“It’s safer for me this way, and it’ll be easier to talk quietly if we’re this close.” Safer, damn girl are you that paranoid? I thought, though as I looked around I did notice that there were more eyes on us now, then there were before. I had never been in a city as big as this before, and to see such a lively night life was still odd for me still. I hadn’t left the manor at night before, so I was unaware of just how many people took to the streets. In the outer circles, most places didn’t have all these gas powered lights, so it was rare for people to stay out past sunsets. Though like I said before, there was less lighting here, but that didn’t stop all sorts from scurrying around like roaches. 

“Okay, so talk.” I tried to relax myself, look more natural as she clung to me, but it felt odd. Sure I’m used to pretty girls clinging to me, well sort of, but something felt very different with her. Was it because I hated her? No I don’t think so, in fact, I had been feeling less animosity towards her every day. So what was it then? She began to explain to me her plan. That man we had just pilfered the key from owned a Malecite refinement plant here in the city. It used to be a brass refinery, but they found supplying malecite for the church was more profitable. The key would allow us to get into the building, so she could plant the bomb and bring down the whole establishment. As she gave the details, I found myself fixated on her soft shiny pink lips.

 Damn, am I falling for this girl now too? I swallowed a lump in my throat. Wait, no that’s not it. My eyes drifted from her mouth, towards her neck. It was a little bit wider than most girls, especially considering her lack of muscles. The fur trim at the top of her dress coat hid a good portion of it, but I could still see the nape. Something’s off, I thought, my gaze now tracing the curve of her body, or lack of curves. It was hard to tell when she was wearing the coat, but I distinctly remember her being a little squarish. She’s just a kid, that’s it! Well not a kid, but she had to be younger than Reli. Her body was not mature like a woman's would be. Then again, would Kara let someone so young do the things she does? 

“Hey umm, Josie,” I mumbled.

“Huh? What is it, Shana?”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-nine, why do you ask?”

What? Older than me? “Oh, well I was just curious is all. I guess I’m just surprised cause you... don’t have any boobs.” A sharp pain shot into my arm as she pinched me hard. “Ouch! Hey!”

“I was starting to like you, try not to ruin that okay?” She huffed, furrowing her brow.

“Sorry,” I guessed that really was a sensitive topic for her. Makes sense, I’d be embarrassed too if I was that flat when I was almost thirty. I was only twenty just to remind you. Ignore what Gabby said.

“For a second there, I thought you were asking because of Lady Reli.” 

“Lady Reli? Also what about Reli?” I gritted my teeth, You better leave my little buddy alone!

“Oh nothing, we’ve just been bonding over our morning meals together.”

“You better not be corrupting my innocent little Reli!” I threatened her.

“Oh I couldn’t corrupt what was already so mature.” She gave a sly grin. I was about to say something, when she stopped me, “we’re here,” she said as we approached a large rectangular building. It had many smokestacks, all releasing a thick smog, and pipes that emptied an unidentifiable black liquid into a refuse pool behind the building. I heard stories from people who ventured out of the outer circles, looking for factory work, only to come back with missing limbs or scared faces. They never painted a pretty picture of this kind of place, and honestly I think they were underexaggerating. A chain fence surrounded the factory, with a locked gate in the front.

“So what, we’re gonna go in through the front door?” I asked my arms crossed.

“No dummy, we’ll climb the fence around the back, less likely to be spotted there.”

“Then what’s with the key?”

“It’s to open his office. Before I plant the bomb, there’s some documents I need to get.” 

“You didn’t mention this before!” I objected.

“What? Yes I did, were you not listening?” 

Oh, yeah she got me, I guess I was more distracted than I thought. Damn, was I now captivated by her beauty? Normally Goldies aren’t my type, though I guess she was cute. Nah, it’s got to be something else. That wasn’t important though at that moment, I had to focus on the task at hand. I gave in, and followed her around the perimeter, making sure to stay low so as to not draw any unnecessary attention. We reached the back side, close to that gross refuse pool, which upon closer inspection smelled like a pit of pure death, and looked like a cross between a pile of manure and an oil spill. I fought back the retching, doing everything I could to keep myself from blowing chunks, and listened as she instructed me. 

“Once we climb the fence, We’ll sneak in climbing up that pipe,” she pointed to one of the pipes that had been expelling the shit water.

“Hahahahaha, you’re joking right?” I laughed nervously, though the stern look on her face told me otherwise. Fuckin hells! Kara better pay me extra for this one! I bit my lip, and relaxed my tense shoulders, “Okay, let’s get a move on.”

Josie stood there, staring at me, her face reddening. “You’re joking now right?”

“Huh, what’s up?”

“I’m wearing a dress, I’m not climbing first.” 

“Oh goddess, girl is that your problem? Fine, then I’ll lead.” I rolled my eyes, and began to scale the chain link fence. Luckily the top was free of barbed wire, though perhaps the height was enough to keep any sane person from climbing the damn thing. The climb was more difficult than it should have been, but eventually I was able to slip over the top, and descend. On the ground I gave a mocking bow, letting her know she could climb now. 

“Look the other way please,” she said, her face still glowing a deep red as she stood there holding her arm. Damn where’s all that bite you had earlier?

I turned on my heel and waited for her to make her climb. It took her a lot longer than me, not surprising though, her arms were like twigs compared to mine. She cussed a little, and let out a yelp. I had turned just in time to see she lost her grip going over. Gabby blew a gust of wind, to slow her fall, and I reached out my arms to catch her. Her priorities had gotten all tangled up though and she held her dress down, instead of trying to catch onto anything. She landed on top of me with a thud, bringing us both to the ground. 

“Damn it girl, why’d you do that?” I complained while pushing her off me. 

“I’m sorry, I slipped, and then I panicked.” Her face had grown so red at this point that even I felt like I could feel her blood warming. “But,” she paused, “thank you.”

“Hey don’t mention it, just maybe try and have a little more sense next time.” I lifted myself up, then extended a hand to aid her.

Smiling, she took my hand, and I hoisted her to her feet. Her pretty dress coat had gotten muddied up a little, and I could tell that bothered her. She frantically tried brushing it off, her eyes big and watery like a sad puppy. 

“Why did you wear that thing anyway?”

“I had to look nice for my ‘date’, and also it’s very warm.” She said matter of factly. “It’s my favorite outfit, it hides my less desirable features.”

Less desirable? The hell you’re talking about, you’re gorgeous. Well, I mean... Shit I’m glad I didn’t say that out loud. Okay, I’ll be honest, she was pretty, though I didn’t envy her if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m pretty sexy myself, I’m proud of my body. Still it felt weird hearing the same girl who’d seduce men so easily talk about herself like she wasn’t the prettiest thing in the bar. “You’re fine,” I said, patting her on the back, “maybe you should be focusing on the mission though, and not your vanity?”

She sighed a heavy sigh, “I know. To tell you the truth, most of the clothes I own are more suited to working inside the manor, more so than field work.”

“This your first time going out like this?” 

“Sort of, I used to be a bank robber before I joined the manor, but I was a different person back then.”

“Sounds like we have more in common than I once thought.” I shrugged, “why’d we fight again?”

“That’s not really important. We need to hurry, night only lasts so long.” She finished dusting herself off, and walked off towards the sludge pipe. She stood in front of it, hesitant, biting her lip hard. 

“Didn’t think that one through eh, girly?” I chuckled as I slapped her back again.

“Don’t tease the poor darling,” Gabby chastised me. 

“I guess I didn’t...” Her eyes were  sullen, and she drooped her head down. “I really love this dress too.”

“Damn girl, can’t you get a new one?” 

“It was a gift from Lady Kara, it’s special to me.” She shook her head wildly. “I can’t just replace it.”

“Guess you live and learn then,” I said, stepping up to the pipe. I bobbed my head around, trying to figure out how to even climb up into the nasty sludge that it constantly spewed, and just came up blank. “Hey yo, Josie, how the hell are we doing this?”

“Wait, did you think I meant climb into the pipe?” She giggled slightly, “No dumb ass, I meant climb the outside of the pipe, like use the segments for grip.” 

Now I just felt plain stupid. I grabbed onto the sides and firmly planted my foot into a rivet. Sighing I began my ascent, praying that I didn’t lose my grip and fall. Going against every sense I had, I looked back to see Josie struggling to climb up after me. Poor girl was in over her head, though she was determined, I’ll give her that. I was starting to get the sense that she wasn’t the type to back down, no matter how impossibly stupid the odds were against her. Guess that’s the type of attitude you need to survive being an orphan, I wouldn’t know, even after I lost my mother I still had my dad. Yeah he left me with my aunt for a couple years, but once he came back we were inseparable till the day he died. Josie didn’t have that kind of companionship with her father, even when he was alive. Thinking back on what she said, I cringed in regret for how I spoke to her. Guess you can never tell the life someone lived just by looking at them, even a pretty little Goldie like her could have a rough life. Whether we were becoming friends or not, I was at least starting to feel a sense of respect for her. 

The climb was unbearably long, but eventually we made it to a platform in front of an open window. I shimmied on from the pipe, and breathed a huge sigh of relief as I sat my feet down on the metal walkway. Josie reached her foot out, just barely touching the ledge, and tried to throw herself over. I leapt forward as she lost her balance, and grabbed her hand just in time to pull her over to my side.

“Thanks, again.” She panted, doubled over on the floor. 

“Don’t mention it, I’m not gonna let you die like that girl.” I shrugged with a smirk, “who would I bicker with if you died?”

“Ha, yeah.” She stood up tall once she caught her breath, and once more began wiping the dirt her dress coat had picked up. Once she was satisfied with a level of cleanliness, she took the lead, as we crawled in through the open window together.

The inside of the factory was surprisingly new looking compared to its exterior, with almost shiny pristine equipment that was more advanced than anything I’d ever seen. I had no idea what any of it did, all I knew was it had something to do with Malecite, and that was enough to make me hate it. I noticed my body felt weak, as we scurried across the scaffolding, high above the production floor. We may have been several stories up, but the amount of malecite in the building was enough to dampen my magic, and fill my body with pain. My muscles strained with each step, as if I had just been running for hours, and my head began to pound with the sound of a million swarming Beezles. Josie had better hope we didn’t run into any trouble while we were here, because my magic would do very little in this awful place. 

We crossed from the scaffolding to a concrete walkway that led us away from the main production room, into a hall. Immediately Josie pushed me down and around a corner, as a guard manning the night shift turned the opposite corner from us. He hadn’t seen us, and simply walked down the hall, and turned again till he was out of sight. She tugged my hand, and pointed down the direction the guard had come. I nodded and we crept along, trying to not take loud steps. I was glad I wore my moccasins, and not one of the numerous pairs of boots Kara had provided for me this past month, and I was glad Josie had discarded her heeled sandals back at the bar, in favor of flats. I guess she had some sense, though I still wouldn’t have worn that fancy dress coat if I were her. 

As we passed the hall, and avoided more patrolling guards, we came to a stairwell and Josie pointed up. Higher and higher we went, till we reached what seemed to be the top floor. Having gained some distance from the production floor, I felt less of the effects from the malicite, but wasn’t completely feeling better yet. The new floor we entered had a long rectangular hall, with doors on each side. Whatever she was looking for had to be here I was guessing. Just as we began to explore the long hall, another security guard stepped out from one of the doors.

“Hey, the hell are...” he didn’t get to finish his sentence before Josie kneed the man in the groin, sending him to the ground with a loud groan. She pulled a syringe out her pocket and stuck it in his neck. 

“That should keep him down for now,” she said, tossing the needle to the side. 

“You didn’t just poison him did you?”

“Of course not, just tranquilized him.” She grabbed a small leather slugger from his side and swung it a couple times. “This should probably come in handy.” She said placing it in her own pocket. She grabbed the man under his arms, and dragged him back into the room he came from, before closing the door. “Right, let’s continue.” 

“Better at handling herself than we thought, hey love?” Gabby chuckled. 

“Guess she’s not as helpless as she looks.” I followed behind her, ducking low so my shadow wouldn’t be seen through the windows at the top of each door. At the very end of the hall was a door marked “Admin” with a lock just above the knob. Josie fished the key from her pocket and unlocked it, turning the knob slowly and opening the door with as little noise as possible. 

“Wait out here and keep watch,” she instructed me, then she shut the door behind her. 

“Guess I’m on guard duty,” I sighed, and turned my back on the door. It took several minutes of me standing there twiddling my thumbs before she came back out the door, a satisfied grin on her face. “Good to go?”

“Not yet, got to set the bomb, remember?” Oh yeah, guess that makes sense.

“Where are we placing this thing then?”

“The production floor, where else?” I dreaded returning there. I was sure she was aware of what Malecite did to witches, but I asked her anyway. “Yeah of course I know. You’re just going to have to tough it out. You got anything other than your magic to fight with?”

“Just this,” I said, pulling a knife from its sheath on the back of my belt.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, “Guess that’s good enough. Though maybe you should invest in something more reliable. Never know when an Inquisitor will show up.”

“Hey don’t lecture me, who’s the witch here?” Honestly running was always the best policy when dealing with Inquisitors. I had lied and made it sound like I fought a bunch of them before when Kara asked, but really I only ever came face to face with a few out in the outer circles. I guess I’d have dealt with many more if I was living this far inside Haven, but out there they only went after the truly dangerous witches. I had to worry way more about bounty hunters and the local militia groups than I did Inquisitors. Though she was right. One of these days I knew I’d have to fight an inquisitor, and when I did, I’d have to kill the bastard. In fact, I had a particular couple of inquisitors in mind, that I would have loved the chance to kill. 

Getting back to the subject, we had to return to the first room, and get down to floor level. We debated whether taking the path we took to get there, and looking for a way down would be better than taking the nearby stairs all the way down. We decided to go with the unknown, at least that way we’d be on the ground level and not up on some scappling looking for a ladder or ramp. We descended the stairs we had climbed, and continued past the floor we started, till we reached the end of the steps. We got lucky, no guards were patrolling the stairwell, honestly I would have set up guards there, but not everyone thinks like me right?

On the bottom floor, the machinery looked even more impressive. Massive contraptions that towered over us, sputtering and roaring as they turned the raw malicite ore into refined ingots that would later be smelted and fashioned into goddess knows what. Inquisitor armor if I had to guess. The excess liquid created by the refinement was gathered in a vat, where it was filtered into crude oil, and the rest was discarded via those pipes we saw outside, no doubt polluting one of the few water sources this city had. Reli had actually explained to me that the oil we made diesel fuel from was actually a byproduct of Malecite production, but this was my first time seeing it in action. Guess that made malecite a double edge sword. And also explained why I hated traveling inside diesel carts.

The machines were pretty damn efficient,  If I wasn’t in so much pain I would have been able to admire it more. I could tell by the markings on the metal that it was Mestael made. We had a habit of marking our creations with special characters, and I’d have been a lot more proud of my people if their technology wasn’t being used to hurt witches. Then again, it was more likely that the technology was designed by someone else, and the Mestael’s were just hired for the labor of building it. Either way, the machines were a good example of just how much tech was advancing since the calamity had first wiped the world back to nothingness.

Ducking down around the machines, and watching for guards to pass, we skittered along the ground level, till we found a place Josie deemed perfect for setting the bomb. Right by the oil output, that is the vat I had mentioned where they filtered the stuff. Made sense, oil was highly flammable, so even with a small bomb, we’d be doing a lot of damage. She set the charge, and held up five fingers. I took that as meaning we had five minutes. Yikes girl, that’s pretty close. I thought to myself. At this point, I guess she was less worried about stealthily making our escape, and instead going for the mad dash. That’s probably what would have happened too, had I not been struck by a searing nearly indescribable pain all of a sudden.

“Got two witches!” A guard shouted as he pinned my body to the ground, pressing a Malecite club to the back of my neck.