Samurai are a constant source of profit in any way that you get to interact with them. Their bodies and minds have been so warped by alien technology that they don't even realise that every piece of equipment they drop has a wealth of information and scientific progress that we could advance our companies technology division away above our competition.

  -Evelin Vance in a meeting explaining why the company would benefit from making a division to reverse engineer Samurai technology, CA 2048

  I turn the little crystalline blade around in my hand, marvelling at how real the thing feels. The projected blade created by the little nano machine in the middle shines with a silver shine that you could almost believe was real metal, not some hard light projection. Wait, is it still a nano machine if it is not actually as small as a nanometer? A centi machine… yeah, that just sounds stupid.

  I consider the blade some more; it and its brethren have been a great help in getting rid of any flyers, but that is about the limit of their use. Sure, I could turn them against the bigger creatures lumbering about on the ground, but the blades really are not made for it; they're basically fancy panes of glass, wicked sharp, but ultimately very brittle, like throwing a piece of glass at the creature. My blades' brittleness, however, is not my main concern, no; that is my inability to give control of the blades to Evelin, having her participate in the fight in a meaningful way as well.

  I look back out over the darkness of the Undercity, letting go of the short sword and letting it hover in front of me. It has been a few weeks since the kid and I started traveling the underworld together, and we have fallen into a steady rhythm. We find a site that needs more structural support, look for a place where we can easily build it, and then kill everything around there.

  After all the crops have been burned and the soil salted, Justin could start construction while I kept watch. Wait, could you salt the earth? Does something like that actually work? I shake my head. Probably not. If salt was detrimental to the fuckers there wouldn't be that many of them in the oceans.

  Wow, I must be getting really bored. Luckily, Justin and I agreed to return to the city and rest for a few days before finishing the other half of the underworld. Just as I am considering buying some more drugs to keep me awake and concentrating, Justin floats down.

  “What are you doing?” Justin asks innocently.

  “Messing around with the flying blades, and contemplating whether it's still a war crime if it's committed against a plant.”

  “So, a usual Thursday then?” he says with a big smile.

  “It's Sunday.” I say with a small chuckle.

  “Yeah? How am I supposed to know what day the sun comes out? I have never seen the damned thing.” he says, with some mirth.

  “Wait, you have never seen the sun?” I ask. I'm curious and a bit concerned.

  “I have seen pictures, but my brother and I grew up down here. You have to pay a special toll to go topside, and we never had enough money to do that, so we were pretty much stuck down here.”

  “I'm sorry to hear that.”

  “Not really your fault. You’re like Katelyn, some personal slave to some high up corporate fuckwit.” The words said in a cold tone. Then he smiles. “Unless you actually like your master and they like you back, I guess then you could've done something.” He start to laugh slightly, like he just told a funny joke.

  I pointedly look the other way.

  “Wait, you actually did?” I can practically feel the smugness from his voice. “How did that happen?”

  “Quite simple. Once I understood what was going to happen to me, I made sure that I was given to someone that was sad and lonely, so I could fill their void and become indispensable Sometimes, things don’t work out like that.”

  “They weren't as sad and lonely as you thought?"

  “No, she was. It's just that I was more sad and lonely than I thought. She made me feel safe. I still hate certain parts of how our relationship went, but I also know that I love her deeply, and I wouldn't be here, if she hadn't been there for me.” I give the kid a self-deprecating smile. “Guess I'm kind of stupid sometimes.”

  “It’s not that stupid… I mean, I know nothing of love, but still being in such a tough situation and trying your best to survive, I can imagine you would latch on to anyone who gives you some warmth.” As I look at the boy, I have a hard time deciphering the look he is giving me

  “Well, enough talk about feelings and all that yucky stuff.” I say as I stand up, “I want to get this thing to Ashley and sleep in a real bed for once.” I swing the small yellow device around. The triggering mechanism for the machine we set up in the middle of the shield, which hopefully would crack it open.

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  “Are you sure about giving that thing to her? It is a lot of responsibility.”

  I sigh, “Yeah, it is, and I hope she doesn't have to use it, but if the worst happens to us, I want someone who can still trigger the machine and take down the shield.” I look back up at the ceiling, “And she is one of the few people I trust not to trigger it as soon as she gets it”

  Justin slowly nods. “You don’t think Katelyn could be trusted?”

  “Sadly, I am unsure, so I'd rather not risk it.” I say with a wince. “Anyway, are you done? Ready to go?”

  He nods vigorously. “Yes, I am. Honestly, this project was a lot easier than I expected.”

  I smile, “I'm sure it looked like that behind your little walls, but let me assure you, from the frontlines it wasn’t all that easy.”

  He just shrugs, “With the way you fight, it is hard to tell if you're having difficulty or just having fun.” he turns around and starts flying in the direction of the city.

  I follow the guy, running across the barren wasteland of the undercity, while keeping the conversation light. We keep a lookout for any stray alien that might still be around. Somehow, even the plants have decided to take a break, and we are met with barely any resistance until we reach the wall of the surviving city.

  As soon as I see Justin clear the wall on top of his flying drone, there's no more reason for me to stay behind, and I teleport myself on top of the wall as well. Back to the relative safety of the wall, I put my swords away and stretch out the kinks in my body that had formed from constantly fighting for weeks, with only the bare minimum amount of break time.

  I look around, spotting Justin already talking with one of the guards stationed on the wall. One of the other guards looks at me and gives me some kind of salute before coming over.

  “Welcome back, ma’am.” He says, looking incredibly uncomfortable. “Miss Lameach has asked you to wait here until she arrives.”

  I cock my head a bit at the statement. “Why?”

  “She just said that she needs to talk to you and that it's urgent. Everyone on the walls has gotten specific orders to inform her when you are back, and hold you here until she arrives.”

  “Hold me here, huh.” I chuckle, “And how are you planning to achieve that, exactly?”

  The young soldier starts to sweat even more. “I don’t know, ma’am. We had hoped that you would see reason.”

  “I'm not a reasonable person, though.” The man stiffens ,unmoving. “But seeing that she's already here, I guess you got really lucky.”

  The man lets out a big sigh of relief as the girl in question comes closer, and to everyone’s surprise, including my own, she throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. Her hands go up momentarily, stopping as they hover over my mask. As I nod to the silent request, she takes it off slowly, my hoodie disappearing and turning into the somewhat rumpled suit I had worn before.

  If my dress sense bothers her she doesn't show it. She almost instantly puts her mouth against mine, not in a sweet and tender way, but in a hungry and needy way that makes me groan in delight. Once we finally separate, I make a small whimpering sound, as my girlfriend?… yeah, probably still my girlfriend, catches her breath.

  “So, if this is what I get when we are fighting, I am really curious what the make-up sex is going to look like.”

  She snorts loudly, cupping my face in her hands, forcing me to look up at her. “Who says you're getting any sex at all?” Her eyebrow is raised, but there is this twinkle in her eyes that makes me think that the chances are actually pretty high.

  “Hmm, because you came looking for me as soon as I was back, kissed me so impatiently, and that look you're giving me.” I count on my fingers. ” I think my chances are pretty good.” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively.

  She smiles, leaning down and putting her forehead to mine. “I guess that's true, but we should probably talk first.”

  I nod, but before we actually start what is probably a very uncomfortable talking session, I steal her lips again, leaning into their sweet taste as I let my entire body relax. We stay like that for a while until we finally have enough and we head back to her house.

  “So how have you been?” she asks as she gives me a glass of something red that smells slightly of alcohol.

  “Fine, I guess, just a lot of darkness and plants out there. How about you?” I ask, looking at her carefully, trying to judge how angry she is.

  “It was...” She lets out a big sigh, “not great. Everyone is on edge, we have this thing above our head, and we don’t know when it's going to drop, so people are putting a lot of pressure on me.”

  I nod, “Not to be rude, but was that not already the case? I mean, the thing has been up there for a while.”

  “Yeah, that's true, but now that you have pointed out that fact, everyone is freaking out. I feel the only reason I could keep them in line was because Jojo almost instantly started working on reinforcement around the city.”

  I nod, “It's good to see that he had enough points for all of that.”

  “Well, since he and his brother share an AI, they also share points, and someone has been feeding Justin a lot of points.”

  “You're welcome.” I say with a broad smile.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re amazing.” She says, smiling back at me.

  “So you're not angry at me?” I ask, feeling both relieved and disturbed by the lack of shouting.

  “I was at first, but then, when you didn't come back after a week, I got more concerned instead. Then, at some point, I realised I should probably apologise when I saw you again.” she says, looking at the floor.

  “Apologise?” I ask, confused, “Why do you need to apologise?”

  “Because I should have supported you instead of going against you.” she says, looking slightly ashamed. “You’re a hero, so I should help you save people instead.”

  I scoff, “I'm not a hero, but I still appreciate that very much.”

  She smiles, “If that's what you think.”

  As she leans in closer to me, we continue to make out. Honestly, this has all gone a lot smoother than expected, to the point that I feel slightly suspicious, but I am not sure what I should be suspicious of.