“Not really,” Rhea said. “I’ll tell you all about it when I’ve had a chance to… recover.”
Renaldo nodded, and led her into Aradne proper.
She walked beneath those shimmering, crystal towers, and as usual, couldn’t help the awe she felt. It was a truly beautiful city. But her heart belonged to Rust Town.
“The mayor has kept his word?” Rhea asked.
“We’ve had uninterrupted water service ever since you and the mayor had your little talk,” Renaldo said. “There have also been a few high-profile arrests. Councilors charged with collaborating with organized crime gangs to stage the bioweapon attack against Rust Town. Oh, and Sheriff Astor was jailed for his part in the attack.”
Astor had recalled the sentry robots from the outskirts of Rust Town ahead of the Hydra attack, which allowed the bioweapons to approach without resistance. The bastard definitely deserved to rot in a cell.
“Good,” Rhea said. “I don’t need to have another little talk with the mayor, then.”
“Not yet at least,” Renaldo agreed.
Ahead, past the towers, she could see the glistening sheen of the tall, metallic wall that enclosed Aradne. As she proceeded, she pulled her hood even lower, and kept a watchful eye on her surroundings, wary of assassins. Will and Horatio did the same; the Wardenites picked up on her caution, and they, too, surveyed the immediate area. They enveloped her, forming human shields, and regarded the approach of any passersby—man or machine—with suspicion.
Her small group wended between the buildings, and after only a few short minutes, reached that wall.
The sentry robots at Entrance C let her leave unmolested: the mayor had instructed them to let her pass without question, regardless of whether she was traveling in or out.
She emerged into the lean-tos and cargo containers of Rust Town. The settlement was very quiet. The last time she was here, the street was busy with construction. A month had passed, so she supposed it wasn’t entirely unexpected that the rebuilding had finished, at least in this particular neighborhood. However, at the very least she expected to find a few fans waiting to greet her, but there were only a couple of kids playing nearby. They looked at her without recognition, and quickly returned to their augmented reality game, playing hide and seek with friends only they could see.
She gave Renaldo a curious look. “No crowd of onlookers?”
Renaldo shrugged. “We thought you’d prefer a more low-key arrival.”
“Kind of you,” she said.
They retrieved their weapons immediately on the other side, courtesy of the waiting sentry robots. Ordinarily, armaments of any kind weren’t allowed among the denizens of Rust Town, but since the settlement was still rebuilding after the Hydra attack, and the security forces were severely lacking, open carry was tolerated. In fact, most security was handled by the Wardenites themselves these days. Or at least it had been, before she left.
She was relieved to find her Ban’Shar among the set.
“What’s that?” Miles asked as she slid the knuckles onto her hands.
“A new toy,” Will said.
Rhea raised her eyebrows twice in implication.
She grabbed her pistol from the mix, which Will had retrieved for her on Ganymede. She slid it home into the holster at her waist.
“I assume you want to proceed to headquarters?” Renaldo asked. “Or would you prefer a tour of the settlement? We can show you how the rebuilding has gone.”
“I’m going to have to take a rain check on that,” she replied. “I’m sure you can get me caught up via digital maps anyway.”
“Understood.” Renaldo warily studied the streets. “Probably safer to go direct to the HQ anyway.”
“Yes,” Rhea said. “And I’d like you to summon the Wardenites for a meeting as soon as we arrive. I have a new mission.”
13
That same day found Rhea headed north into the barren rocky plains of the Outlands. She sat in the passenger seat of an SUV. Will resided behind the wheel, though the vehicle was currently in self-driving mode. The vehicle had gimbaled shock absorbers installed, but they weren’t super-gimbaled, so while she was mostly prevented from being tossed about by every small bump in the terrain, she still felt the occasional impact as the vehicle drove over the bigger snags.
Horatio sat in the back seat with Miles and Brinks. Renaldo wasn’t with them—he had grown accustomed to his leadership role among the Wardenites, and he had stayed behind to manage the day to day operations of the headquarters. The group had become the biggest driving force behind the rebuilding of Rust Town.
Renaldo had suggested she take a few days off before embarking on a new mission so soon after arriving, but she explained to him that she’d just spent the last two weeks cooped up in a transport ship. Spending even a few more days locked away in the headquarters didn’t appeal to her in the least. She wanted to get out there and do something to feel useful again; and mostly, she just wanted to pulverize the guillotine of assassination that constantly hung over her head.
Then again, Veil was only one of many who hunted her, if the four-armed assassin who killed Chuck was to be believed. That particular assassin had claimed to be an independent, pursuing a bounty posted by some third party. While dealing with Veil would eliminate he who hunted her most arduously, it still meant others would remain at large, looking for her. This wouldn’t be over until she tracked down whoever posted the original bounty.
“You think you’ll be able to convince Veil into revealing the mystery person?” Will had asked when they were alone, earlier.
“I hope,” Rhea replied distractedly.
“You speak as if you already have an idea of who it is,” Will pressed.
She nodded. “Obviously someone rich, to afford the assassins of the caliber of Veil and Scorpion. Someone powerful.”
“Let me guess, you think it’s Khrusos himself…” Will said.
“He would be the most obvious choice,” she agreed. “The mayor claimed to have seen me at the table of Khrusos during a dinner. And the Scorpion called me the
