It had been a couple days since we left that meeting with Sylvia and brought Burnout to Rigoberto's to recover. He said that Burnout should wake up soon, but soon wasn't going to be soon enough. I sighed as I finished the last touches of repainting my van after I'd gotten all the bullet holes repaired and a new set of run flat tires installed. I took my work gloves and then my painting mask off and set them on the workbench before heading inside our apartment. 

Trix was sat in her usual place on the couch, hunched over her deck with her eyes flicking from screen to screen. "Trix, you know you have to sleep at some point." 

She waved a hand at me without looking up. "It's only been—"

"Thirty hours, it's been thirty hours." I walked over to her. "Why don't you get some rest and go see Burnout when you wake up?"

"But I need to get to the bottom of this, I've got a lead on why Lone Star was there. I know it," she protested.

I bent down, putting my face in front of hers. "We both know why they were there."

Trix stopped typing. "Yeah, I know. It just seems like there's more going on here than the cops backing up bigots."

"You mentioned that the Howlers were getting lists of metahumans to target." I pulled myself back to my full height and cracked my back. "I wouldn't be surprised if Lone Star ended up ignoring any calls for help from them."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Trix pulled a thumb drive out of her deck. "This has all the targets names and addresses… and metatype." She handed it to me. 

"I can probably do something with this, thanks, Trix." I started to turn away then stopped. "Are you going to rest now?"

I could hear her sigh. "Yes, I'll rest." She yanked out the cord that connected her datajack to her deck. "Promise me you'll be safe, Dust." She hugged me from the side.

"I promise." I hugged her back. 

Trix headed up to her room and I went to the kitchen. The tea that Burnout had picked up from Jing was still next to my mugs. I set a kettle to boil and stepped out back into the garage. 

I still had connections with the Skraacha from my time in the Ork Underground. They picked me up when my parents threw me down there, practically raised me. They're as good as gangs get, they even act as a citizen militia for the underground. If anyone could help us with the data Trix got, it was them.

With the kettle on I decided to get my gear ready, I wasn't going for a guaranteed fight so the armor stayed home. First thing was my vest, it hadn't taken a shot recently, but I checked each insert to make sure they were in good condition. After that i put on my old leather jacket and stowed the most compact shotgun I had in the internal holster. 

"It feels like going home." The kettle whistled. "I'd better get that."

I stepped back into the apartment only to hear Trix call from upstairs, "Duuuust, kill that noise, please."

I removed the kettle from the heat. "I got it, I got it." 

I took some of the tea from the jar and placed it in my tumbler then filled it with hot water before replacing the cap. With my tea brewing I returned to the the garage and inspected the van, removing the couple blocks I'd used to make sure it didn't move while I had one end jacked up. I pressed the button to raise the garage door and… nothing. I sighed and lifted it up to get the machinery working then grabbed my tea and hopped into the driver's seat.

The drive to the nearest entrance to the underground mostly consisted of me taking sips of the rich black tea and giving a Lone Star cruiser a wide berth. I pulled into a parking structure in downtown Seattle and took one last swig of my tea before hopping out of the van. It was still a little ways to the entrance, I'd have to get out of the structure and walk a couple blocks. 

The trip wasn't too eventful, most other metatypes get out of the way a troll that moves with purpose. I was outside an old chinese place.

I knocked on the back door and waited until a small slit opened. "Skraa Dust, it has been too long. Come in, come in." I could hear the sound of numerous locks and latches being opened.

The door opened inward revealing an older ork woman with her hair pulled back into a severe bun. "Skraa, auntie Klot," I said and bowed.

She frowned. "I assume you are not here for me, but some glok business."

"Apologies, auntie. I am here to see the Skraacha about ujnort zakhan." I saw her eyes narrow and for a moment remembered her scoldings from when I was younger. "Humanis is planning something big and the Skraacha have the resources to help."

Klot lit a cigarette and took a deep drag on it. "Humanis, buunda ujnort. I'll have to keep the shotgun a shelf higher under the register." She sighed. "You're clear to take the lift down, just come by with better news next time. Maybe bring your vruken, Trix next time."

I blushed. "Trix and I aren't a couple, auntie."

She scoffed. "You two act like it, now go, I have customers to deal with."

I turned and went down the hall, past the cleaning supplies and the freezer then to the elevator door. I pressed the call button and waited. Once it arrived I got inside and rode it to the second layer of the underground, Skraacha territory. The doors parted and I stepped out, directly into the sight of someone I really didn't want to see. 

"Skraa Dust," said a male ork with an elaborate facial tattoo and a nose so bent it looked like it had folded in on itself at some point. "You comin' back to the ereth'cerri? Topside as a glok get old?" He postured, showing off his chromed out arms. "Or maybe you wanted some of my hez."

I scowled at him. "No and I'm not in the mood to deal with you, bucket."

"It's Beckket!" He shouted.

I waved a hand at him. "Sure, whatever bracket."

"You're just doing this to rile me up, Dust."

"You caught on much quicker this time." I laughed. 

Beckket swung at me. "Bitch!"

I pulled back, grabbed his arm, pressed him to the floor and twisted it behind his back until the servos in his limb creaked. "Not your smartest choice. You never could beat me, even when we were kids." 

He snarled and squirmed in my grip. "Magic's not fair and you know it."

I twisted his joint just a little harder, making him cry out and the metal whine. "That would have been a valid point before you got all chromed out."

"Hey, don't snap my damn arm you crazy bitch. I give, I give." He slapped the ground with his other hand.

I let him up and offered him a hand. "Buunda." He flipped me off. "What the hell do you want down here anyway, Dust?"

I folded my arms. "I've got to see one of the egrand about something big."

He looked up at my face. "Big? How big?"

"Humanis is plotting something." I sighed. "Seems like they're using the local anti-metahuman gangs to create their own sequel to the Night of Rage."

He raised a brow. "No vut?"

"I wish I was just shitting you." I started walking away. "Best of luck with guard duty, Beckket."

"Yeah, yeah." He flexed his arms, making sure they were working. 

I left Beckket and headed deeper into the ork underground, past the various shops and homes beneath the fluorescent lights. While I walked I reminisced on my years here; I'd been just a scared girl who goblinized and got dumped here. The people were kind and the Skraacha helped keep us safe. I passed the house I'd lived in for the first year, it was a store now. There were a lot of good memories there, mostly of auntie Klot’s cooking and scrapping with Beckket.

“Just a few more blocks,” I mumbled under my breath. 

There was a part of me that wondered what would have happened if I stayed with the Skraacha instead of teaming up with Trix back then. I thought about it as I walked, I’d really only have a different number of scars and they’d probably have been less fun to get. Eventually I arrived at my destination, a large set of doors that led into the HQ for the Skraacha gang I used to run with. Before I could knock the doors slid open revealing a group of five chromed out orks. 

“Welcome home, glok Dust,” said the largest one, a man I knew as Rex.

Dark_Sun_Morrigan

Heads up, I may be taking a small break while I go over the current chapters with an editor. I also am not feeling great as I am in the middle of social distancing and self isolation.