It’s a busy few weeks before Lucas and his group returns. Nearly everyone from the Yellowstone caravan decides to go home, with just two staying. I do my best to help them settle in.

  The Rangers confirm that Yellowstone has received my message, but they haven’t yet responded, and I don’t think they will. I do get some appreciative responses back from cities I delivered letters to at least. I’m not sure how they’ll cope with things if Yellowstone decides to make a move, but at least they can plan.

  I can’t stop myself from asking for updates from the Rangers stationed in Denver every few hours just to make sure Lucas and his family are safe. Thankfully, Blackwell keeps them on nothing more dangerous than guard duty while they get back into the swing of things.

  When Lucas finally returns, I have a video ready and waiting for him of the part of Vince’s story he missed. Not long after getting caught up, all of us find ourselves back in our living room so Vince can continue.

  Mara and I waited out the storm in an empty foxhole along with a small group of fighters we called in. We were surrounded by dead AI, and the humans they fought and killed. It was a grim sight to say the least.

  When the storm passed we got back to work. We turned our attention back to Arc City, trying to stabilize different parts of it. During a fight, Silver eventually caught up with us, stumbling through an open door and taking their place beside us without a word. I think it’s the only time I’ve ever seen them be truly exhausted.

  We just nodded at them and continued fighting.

  It took a few weeks of constant fighting before things started to get under control. A lot of missions were just to get humans out of AI controlled areas of the city. We focused mostly on the top floors, people who could pay for their rescue. Others were less picky, but we could have done more. So many people died, both human and AI.

  A lot of people on both sides ran, made it out of the city on their own. I’m glad some of them made it to Kismet’s city, I just wish more of them could have.

  With Arc City semi-stable, and the job opportunities drying up, we went west. We knew the chaos was spreading, and a lot of places would be entirely unequipped to deal with the fallout.

  For the first time in years, we were headed back to Vegas.

  The roads were the most dangerous they’d been in years, and not just because of rogue AI. Combat just makes more combat. Humans stopped trusting anyone and started attacking anything they saw as a threat, which quickly morphed into anything that moved. The Rangers were doing their best to keep control, of course, but their numbers were just too small to make any big difference.

  All that’s to say, it wasn’t a surprise when we got attacked at the southern pass. It was a couple humans, not AI, that tried to ambush us. They only had small arms, nothing that could get through our car’s armor. Every hit on the windshield did make a small opaque circle though. That quickly became a problem.

  We didn’t stop to tell them we weren’t their enemy. We did stop though.

  It was a short fight. They were scared, desperate. They thought they were doing something good, after all, all the corrupted AI were coming from the east. They thought anyone coming from that direction would be with them.

  We continued on, no better than the AI we were chasing.

  Albuquerque was ruined, as it has been for about half of its life since the world ended. Already weakened by the raiders in the mountains, it couldn’t stand up to a wave of new fighters they didn’t have any experience with.

  Don’t let that make you think it was quiet there. They took over a few skyscrapers, entrenching themselves. I’m not sure if they were trying to kill humans, or if they were trying to escape the madness. We didn’t stop in to check. Not only was it an unwinnable fight for the three of us, but that wasn’t our main thought. They just simply couldn’t afford our help. We kept moving without a second thought.

  We made it to the Little Colorado river, retracing the steps we took when we left Vegas. The town we stayed at that was built at the intersection where the Little Colorado meets the Grand Canyon? That place was prepared for war. Or at least they thought they were.

  Outside the grand wall laid dozens of artificial bodies. It’d be a couple weeks before the AI got enough gear to exploit a fatal flaw in the city. The ceiling being open air, with just a thin metal cover able to be pulled across it to protect from the storms means that anyone with enough explosives who doesn’t care about any of the infrastructure can just lob in explosives from out of sight. And AI aren’t like humans, they don’t need much infrastructure, and they can fix what they break.

  For now though, we stayed in, waited out the storm.

  Naturally, things were tense. The Grand Canyon kept the worst of the storm out of it. AI have tried to make vehicles that can make it through a storm a few times, to varying success. Where they were actually semi-consistant, was in the Grand Canyon. Rumors were spreading rapidly that the AI were on their way with something akin to an old world tank that could drive right through the storm.

  Mara thought those rumors were hilarious. Suspiciously so, although she never gave any hints that she started them.

  I appreciated the rumors, actually. I forced myself to believe them, to stay on the wall and do a job. She definitely didn’t create those rumors for me though, just for her own amusement.

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  When the storm cleared, despite their requests for help, we moved on. I doubt us staying would have prevented the town from being taken over by AI, but it would have saved a lot of people a lot of pain if I did.

  Vince can’t stop himself from glancing at Cassie as he says that.

  The town functioned as a stopper, keeping the rest of the canyon relatively safe. If anyone wanted to get past them, it’d be a long drive around to the other end. Even that entrance was hard to sneak into. As you can probably guess, Zero escaped C-1’s madness, and he’d keep control of the area around Vegas.

  “How come it didn’t affect him?” Lucas asks. “Doesn’t Vegas and here have a direct connection?”

  “Pure software AI don’t absorb information in the same way most mind rips do, even if they run on the same hardware.” I explain. “They have much more direct control over themselves. To massively oversimplify, it becomes a question of who has more processing power to force data into them. The connection between Arc City and Vegas is very limited, preventing either of them from using their full processing power. Neither could touch the other. And even if they could, the connection is trivial to disable.”

  “Gotcha.”

  It was a quiet drive to Vegas. Everyone was on high alert, everyone knew something was happening, everyone knew danger was coming. And they were as prepared as they could get, for however much that would matter.

  We tensed up when we got out of the canyon. The desert was busy. We were radioed by every passing car, asking us to identify ourselves. Mara got sick of that quickly, but Silver kept their cool. They did all the talking. I’m not sure we would have made it through without a fight if it wasn’t for them.

  Vegas had already been converted for war. On every skyscraper, floors had been converted into defensive bunkers. Humans and mechanical bodies both kept an eye out over the horizon. The ever-present line into Vegas was longer than ever, and wrapped tightly around the skyscrapers.

  We went right past, down into the VIP entrance. The camera descended from the ceiling, that same receptionist yelling in our ear.

  “Silver! Mara! Vince! How long has it been? Your room is still prepared and ready. I hope the chaos outside hasn’t been a hindrance to you.” He called out.

  We just continued on to the two open parking spaces. We parked, and rode the elevator into our old home. It was weird to be back. I really never thought we would return.

  Silver stepped out of the elevator and spoke into the room.

  “You sane, Zero?” They asked.

  “Naturally.” His response came out the speaker near the door. “You wouldn’t have made it into the room if I wasn’t.”

  “And how’s Five?”

  “Stable.” Zero answered. “He’s kept his head down since his transition into power.”

  “Good.”

  “Cut the small talk.” Mara said. “We’re here for work.”

  “Of course. Your welcome was not unnoticed by disloyal eyes, and I apologize for that. Seven has received word of your arrival. Deal with him how you will, and I will have work for you.”

  Mara’s eyes lit up at that. Absolute permission to do whatever she wants? That’s a dangerous thing to give.

  “Send him up.” She said.

  “I will forward him your offer. Do not expect him to show up alone, however.”

  “Good.”

  “Don’t stain the carpet." Silver walked forward, heading for the door. “I’ll be back.”

  I was actually the one to speak up.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I thought they were trying to abandon us, and that anger came through clearly.

  “To catch up with Five.” Their annoyance was clear, but they still responded. They didn’t storm out silently. They were patient with me. More patient than I deserved. They did leave without another word though.

  “What do we have on Seven?” Mara took her place lounging across the couch.

  “No direct work for or against. He and his brother, Eight, run Eternity. Assuming nothing has changed, I remember him being confident and rash. No idea what he could want though.”

  “I could do with blowing off some steam.” Mara grinned. That grin didn’t make my blood boil anymore, I was just relieved that grin wasn’t at me.

  I took a seat at the table, close to the door, and waited.

  Mara and I didn’t talk, thankfully. There was nothing to say. We were just waiting, her excited, and me pretending I felt that same excitement. I was pretty good at pretending.

  It wasn’t long before a loud, dull knock hit the door. Mara nodded, and I drew my pistol before approaching and pulling it open.

  Seven stood on the other side, alongside a few guards. The two of us sized each other up, both of us knowing that this would come to blows. He was still visibly organic, he didn’t have Cassie’s second arm yet, although anyone in his position is going to have some internal upgrades.

  I stepped back, not bothering to hide my pistol. He glared at me as he stepped past, his guards close at hand. There’s a difference between cybernetics just for intimidation, and actual practical modifications. These four were entirely for show, far more form over function. That’s not to say they weren’t dangerous, they absolutely were, but they weren’t nearly as scary as they could have been.

  “The fuck do you want?” Mara asked, forcing Seven to look away from me.

  “To make right. You left waves when you abandoned Vegas. You stole a lot of investments when you knocked over Five. A lot of people are going to be looking for your heads. I can make sure nobody comes after you. All I want is my investment back.”

  Mara laughed in his face.

  “Not bad for a jester. You can go.” Mara waved dismissively with her hand. “In the future, respect your betters. You’ll live longer that way.”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Seven moved onto yelling words that I dare not repeat.

  A small device clicked beneath my skin, and both Mara and I moved at the same moment. We drew, we fired, and Seven’s guards stained the carpet.

  I rushed forward, my shoulder connecting with Seven before he could really react. He slammed into the ground, and got hit with my full weight at the same time. I straddled him, pistol in his face.

  “Don’t kill him. Vegas needs to remember who we are.” Mara’s voice was casual, I’ve heard her more interested when discussing dinner.

  The look on his face when I pulled up my knife is something I’ve never forgotten. He fought, but couldn’t get away. I shoved my knife into the underside of his shoulder, severing tendons until it went limp. I stood up, dragged him towards the hallway, and tossed him out the door, where Zero already had bodies waiting. They took him off, already working to fix the damage. A few more came in to take away the guards.

  “Not bad.” Mara nodded approvingly.

  It was a while before Silver returned, and we got to work. We spent a storm working for Zero, rooting out a few AI that were hiding in Vegas. After that storm ended, Zero had a simple mission for us.

  “AI have started attacking villages in the Grand Canyon. I need you to help where you can.”