The Underground Railroad

A round of gunfire echoed out just around the street corner, causing several civilians in the marketplace to barely jump as they glanced in that direction with idle curiosity. Soon as it had happened, the exchange concluded and everyone carried on with their day.

"Probably just another little ganger dispute," the barista shrugged as he turned back to face K. "Anyway, the usual for you, right?"

K nodded then leaned down to examine the baked goods inside of the glass display case. "Yeah, and give me a half-dozen of those white donuts there. What's in there, a jelly filling?"

"Yeah. Raspberry," the barista finished pouring the coffee and set it on the countertop of his stand, then leaned down to collect the donuts.

"Not real raspberries, is it?" K blew the steam off his coffee and took a small sip before putting on the lid.

The barista scoffed. "Please, if I could afford real raspberries, I wouldn't be running this rinky-dink coffee shop," he put the donuts in a small box and placed that on the countertop. "It'll be twelve fifty."

"Here's fifteen," K transferred the payment of credits and collected his items. "Keep the change. Thanks, Syed."

Syed waved him off. "Appreciate it. See you around, doc."

With his breakfast in hand, K departed from the marketplace, heading back through the central park apartment blocks of New York to get to the Memory Palace, his workplace. Along the way, a few more gunfights echoed out across the city, followed by police sirens blaring from gunships that swooped in over some of the more chaotic ones.

While violence was quite a regular occurrence in New York, the last two years had seen a notable rise in tensions between androids and humans. Ever since the death of Matilda Rosenthal, the most powerful woman in the city, VanirCorp was dissolved and bought out by Weseltech Dynamics. Shortly afterward, androids were declared illegal and so began their systematic destruction.

Been two years since then, K thought as he walked through the dense city streets packed with civilian foot traffic. Two years since Anna left with her sister. Haven't spoken to her in a month, I should check in with her soon. See how they're both doing. I'd call more often, but these interplanetary data charges, oof. Can barely afford to call once a month as is right now.

As he crossed a narrow alley, a string of shouting and rapid footsteps shook K out of his thoughts. A second later, somebody smacked right into him, knocking his coffee and donuts out of his hands and onto the dirty street. K looked up in indignation and his mood soured but he was surprised when he saw a little girl running away from him.

"Sorry, mister!" the girl exclaimed as she crossed the street into another alley.

Just as K was about to respond, two thugs came rushing past him, chasing after the girl.

"There's the little bitch, we're almost on her!" one thug yelled, forcing his way through the crowds.

"Let's get her," the other thug drew a billy club from behind his back as he followed suit. "Teach her to pickpocket us, the fucking brat."

"What the-?" K looked down at his spilled food, then threw his hands up in exasperation as he gave chase after the men. "Hey, wait up!"

The two thugs were already out of earshot, so K took off running after them into the alley, keeping on their tails. The little girl they were chasing was further ahead, but she had taken a blind turn and ran into a dead end. At the moment, she was scrambling onto some dumpsters to try and climb up to a fire escape when one of the thugs grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her down.

"Now we've got her!" the thug grabbed her by the shoulder and pinned her against the dumpster. "Shouldn't have run. Now you're gonna pay."

"Where's our stuff?" the thug holding the billy club asked, sneering as he held it above his head threateningly.

"What stuff?" the girl struggled to free herself. "I didn't take nothing. You got the wrong person!"

"You lying little shit!" the thug holding her threw her to the ground. "Show her what we do to liars."

The thug holding the billy club delivered a swift blow across the girl's cheek, bruising it and splitting her lip. The girl cried out in pain and shielded her head, but the blue synth fluid seeping out from her skin gave away her true nature.

"Woah, woah," the thug with the billy club gestured to the girl. "She's a fucking andy?"

The other thug chuckled. "This just gets better and better. Now, you give us back our stuff, and maybe... maybe we won't turn you over to the police."

The girl looked up to the men, her eyes wide with fear. Just then, she spotted somebody else fast approaching.

K had finally caught up to them and had seen what just happened. Instantly, he grabbed the first thug by his shoulder, spun him around, and punched him across the jaw, sending him sprawling into a pile of trash bags. The other thug swung his club towards K's head, so he dipped beneath it and delivered two quick jabs into his midsection.

The thug grunted in pain and swung again wildly, which K blocked by catching his wrist before twisting it over painfully. He then ripped the club out of the thug's grasp and struck down on his arm hard, snapping it in half before knocking him out with a quick bash to the head. By then, the first thug had recovered and came rushing at K, so he responded by smashing the club against his nose, breaking it, before repeatedly striking him over the head.

All told, the fight had only lasted a few seconds and once the thugs were disabled, K discarded the club by tossing it into the dumpster. Next, he turned around and found the girl staring at him, her eyes wary and her arms shielding herself. She had a messy head of tousled brown hair, she was wearing a dirty red coat, one of her shoes had a hole in it, and she looked like she couldn't be much older than twelve.

"It's okay, kid, you're safe now," K knelt down and smiled as he extended his hand. "Are you alright?"

The girl gasped and recoiled.

K drew back his hand. "Woah, easy," he said softly. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"You can see what I am," the girl said. "How can you not want to hurt me?"

"Look, I'm not these guys. I'm not one to beat down on a defenseless little girl or an android."

"You're just saying that so you can turn me in."

"I'm not going to do that either."

"Why not? Everybody in this city hates us now."

"Not everyone."

The girl lowered her arms ever so slightly as her expression softened up.

K took a glance behind him to ensure they were alone, then looked back to the girl. "Look, my name is K. I'm a tech-doctor, I can help you patch up that wound."

The girl frowned. "Just K? Is that short for something?"

K chuckled. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure," he ran a hand through his hair. "When they brought me into the orphanage, they gave me a name tag but half of it was ripped off. Only letters on it were K R I, so maybe my name's Kristoff, or Kristopher, or Kristian. Who knows? Simpler to just go with K."

"Orphanage. You were a street kid."

"Yeah, I was a street kid. Got into a lot of trouble just like yourself."

The girl finally lowered her arms as she looked at K with renewed interest.

"What's your name?" K asked gently.

"Lizzie."

"Lizzie, okay," K stood up and took another look around. "Well, way I see it, you can come with me back to my clinic and I'll get you cleaned up. Or, if you're determined to go it alone, don't stir up any more trouble. Stick to the alleys and find someplace safe to hole up."

"Do you have a Geiger counter?" Lizzie asked randomly from nowhere as she fixed him with a shrewd stare.

"Sorry, mine is in the shop," K easily replied with the correct response to the challenge question.

"Whew, that's a relief," Lizzie finally smiled as she loosened up and extended her hand. "I didn't think I'd run into anyone else from Minerva, not out here."

K accepted her hand and shook it. "Things are getting real dicey these days. Can't afford to slip up with all this attention on us now," he said. "You need to be more careful. If you hadn't bumped into me, who knows what these guys could have done to you."

"I know, but I had a good reason to klep those guys," Lizzie slung her knapsack from around her shoulders and opened it, revealing that it was full of narcotics inhalers. "Enough here to shoot you to the moon and back on good ol' puff the magic dragon."

"You lifted fizz off them?" K's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the sheer number of narcotics before him. "Jesus, no wonder they were pissed off at you. What the hell do you need all this for?"

"For those asshole Verenkovs. Their fees just went up again, and we need them to keep paying them off if we want to keep the underground railroad open."

"Right. Okay, we shouldn't talk here anymore. My clinic isn't far from here, what do you say we get you cleaned up?"

Lizzie nodded as she shouldered her knapsack. "Lead the way."

… … …

"So," K started as he used a specialized tool to repair the damage to Lizzie's synthetic skin around her face. "You're an andy, but I'm not sure I've seen kid andys before. You came from Minerva?"

Lizzie examined her reflection in the mirror and nodded. "Yeah. Used to be more like me around New York. Not anymore now," she shrugged. "I guess it's fine. I usually work alone anyway."

"What happened to them?"

"Adjudicators happened. Used to be, nobody paid any attention to us gutter rats, but when they shut down production of the EXG6s and started hunting us down, people started to take notice of some of the street kids who they'd seen running around for a few years without aging. So, most of us had our memories transferred into an older frame to change up our looks."

"Why haven't you made the jump yet?"

"I don't know," Lizzie scrunched up her face. "I was a scrap runner for a while, which was my cover. I had to drop that gig though because it wasn't safe anymore. Now, I just do whatever I can to make sure the Verenkovs are paid off. Usually, that means stealing, and being small and fast helps with that."

"Hmm. Doesn't always work out for you, does it?" K asked.

Lizzie shook her head. "That was sloppy. Those guys got the best of me, so I was lucky I ran into you."

K nodded and continued working. A small silence settled over them, during which Lizzie fidgeted with the ends of her pigtails, still examining her reflection. It was those little small moments of humanity in an otherwise synthetic being that had made K sympathize with the android freedom movement. That, and one particularly memorable encounter with Elsa, the first sentient one he had ever encountered.

Wonder what she's up to, now that she's with Anna, K thought.

Lizzie sighed and blew a tuft of hair off her forehead as she looked into the mirror, focusing on the reflection of a newscast playing on a nearby holo-display for some background noise. The host in question was delivering the news like a game show announcer.

"Gooooood morning, New York City! Yesterday's body count lottery rounded out to a solid and sturdy thirty! Ten out of Brooklyn, thanks to unabated gang wars. One officer down, so I guess you're all screwed because the NYPD will not let that go! Got another blackout in Harlem. Netrunners are at it again, pokin' holes in the power grid. While in Queens, EMTs are scrapin' cyberpyscho victims off the pavement. And Jersey... well, Jersey is still Jersey. This has been your man, Zan! Join me for another day in our city of tomorrow!"

"There ain't many of us left, you know," Lizzie said quietly. "Not in New York at least. Most of us have been scrapped by the adjudicators. Some others were lucky enough to get off-world, but we're running out of time."

"I hope this Caelestis guy has a plan then," K muttered. "Who is this person anyway?"

"Not a person, at least, I don't think it's a single person. Caelestis could be a group of people operating somewhere off-world. Could also just be a bunch of AIs hiding in the dark net or some orbiting satellites. All I know is, whoever they are, they'll only talk to Sinclair."

"I've never met him. Only communicated with him through encoded channels. The whole thing at Minerva is just a big puzzle to me."

"Right, it's safer that way. If one of us is caught, we can't give out information we don't know. Keeps our little operation from being exposed all at once."

"Makes sense. I guess we're risking ourselves just by talking to each other now."

Lizzie tilted her head to the side. "Yeah, but I don't think we can afford to play it safe much longer," she scrunched up her face in thought. "I should give you a heads up. Sinclair is planning something big with Caelestis. Something that will help get the rest of us out of New York and off this stupid planet."

"How?" K paused his work for a moment. "We don't have enough transport. The crew I'm connected with is still en route to the moon with the latest lifeboat."

"I don't know the details, obviously. Whatever it is, we may not need transport," Lizzie looked around to ensure they were alone and still dropped her voice anyway. "There's been talk of escaping into the net."

Given their synthetic nature, it was easier for sentient androids to transfer their consciousnesses between bodies, or even upload or download them from the net. It wasn't possible before given that they had only recently gained their self-awareness. Conversely, the organic nature of humans meant that such procedures were often permanent.

"Into the net?" K rubbed his jaw "Nobody would be able to reach you there. You'd be free. Like, actually free."

"Yeah," Lizzie zipped her lips. "Top secret stuff. Hushity hush-hush. You get nabbed, you never heard it from me, got it?"

"Got it," K nodded and set his tools down. "Well, you're all set now."

"Cool," Lizzie hopped off her stool and grabbed her knapsack, pulling it over her shoulders. "Thanks, K. I'd pay you, but I'm a little light on credits right now. You take IOUs?"

"How about you the next time we meet, you get me some coffee and donuts, in return for making me lose my breakfast today?"

"Deal," Lizzie grinned. "Well, I gotta get going now. I need to get to the drop off point to offload this haul."

K waved her off as she departed. "Go on, you little rascal. Stay off the streets and stay out of trouble, you hear?"

"I hear ya!" Lizzie gave a thumbs-up as she stepped out of the clinic.

With her gone, K heaved a deep sigh and cleaned up his tools. He wasn't expecting any other clients for the day, and with Darla out front handling reception and Frankie handling the bar, he knew the patrons of the Memory Palace were in good hands. So, with some free time, K went over to his terminal and pulled up Anna's contact screen.

K stared for a long time at the call button which would incur a heavy interplanetary data charge, then shrugged as he tapped on it. As the call was being connected, he spun around in his chair lazily until eventually, after a few minutes, Anna's face appeared on the display.

"K!" Anna smiled as she sat down on her chair in her office. "It's so good to see you, how the hell have you been, you old bastard?"

"Anna," K spun around until he was facing her. "It's good to see you as well, I'm doing- wait. What the hell is that?"

"What the hell is what?" Anna frowned, looking around herself.

From the lighting of her office, K could see that it was nighttime in Arcadia due to the time difference. It was still the morning in New York.

"Your hair," K pointed to her head. "What the hell did you do to it?"

"You don't like it?" Anna rubbed the sides of her undercut. "I'm trying out a new style."

"You look like every other cyberpunk out there now."

"God, they really just put the word cyber in front of everything these days, don't they? And fuck you, you're the cyberpunk. I can see you got new chrome in your arms, what is that? You do that yourself?"

"Yeah, so I swapped up some implants. What about you? Are those new ocular scanners in your eyes? I'm hurt. All the years we've known each other, you always refused to get chrome, and as soon as you decide to make the jump, you get them done without me. Me. Your friendly neighborhood tech-doc."

"I know where your hands have been, that's exactly why I didn't want to have you do them for me. Remember when you fixed Frankie's case of hyper-dick?"

K sucked in air through his teeth as he rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, god, don't remind me," he laughed.

Anna laughed as well and leaned on her elbow, revealing another person in the background. Elsa was just behind her in their shared office, but she was currently sitting on her own chair, apparently staring into space.

"Is that Elsa?" K pointed towards her. "What's she doing?"

"Oh, right," Anna glanced in her direction. "She's in the net right now, you know how she is. Elsa, it's K, say hi," she looked back at K and shrugged. "Yeah, she's pretty much dead to the world when she's in there. Busy communing with the machine spirit and all that."

"How have you guys been? Doing well I hope."

"Yeah, things are real good. I'm keeping out of trouble, well, mostly keeping out of trouble. You know me. I still haven't got the staff job at ACN, but what can you do? Elsa, she's still a netrunner for Teng-Lao. Making better credits than I am, that's for sure. How are things back in New York? I keep hearing nothing but bad news back there."

K leaned back in his chair and started rocking back and forth. "Things aren't great, but then again, when have they ever been great?" he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'm doing okay though. Other people aren't, especially the andys. You know they've really started to crack down on them, right? Police are handing out capture or kill bounties left and right. Adjudicators are gobbling them up. People are coming out, making up stories about their neighbors being replaced by an android just to make some scratch."

Anna's expression turned more serious as she glanced at Elsa again. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said in a lowered voice. "Honestly, I... I still don't know which side I'm on with all that. On the one hand, it's awful what they're doing to them, but on the other, I don't really know how to feel. I guess I oppose this synthetic genocide, whatever you want to call it, but not enough to do anything about it. Does that make me selfish?"

K nodded in understanding but remained silent for he himself had stronger opinions on the same matter.

"I mean, really. If anyone should be taking up arms on that sort of thing, it's me, right?" Anna rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I'm just really scared of losing her all over again," she took another glance at Elsa as if to make sure she was still there. "I don't want to do anything to risk that."

"I get it, Anna," K said. "But I don't think anyone will be able to stay on the fence much longer. This is starting to get big. Really big. Sooner or later, you'll have to pick a side."

"I know, I know. I knew there would be another fight coming on the horizon, I just didn't expect it would be this."

"How does Elsa feel about it?"

"She doesn't say much, but I can tell she's worried and I think she wants to do more. What can she do from here though? We're an entire planet away and that bothers her."

What are the odds that Elsa is Caelestis? K thought to himself. It would certainly line up, but Anna would definitely be in the loop with that, and I know she isn't.

"Still, I've been hearing a few things on the grapevine. Some talk going around about a mysterious organization or a person called Caelestis," Anna continued. "Trying to turn a deaf ear to it though. I don't look into kind of stuff anymore, not since I've gone legit. No more gumshoe Anna, no more poking into other people's business. Anyway, what about you? Staying out of trouble?"

"Oh, you know me," K smiled. "My nose is clean, I do what I can to help, but I'm getting by so far," he lied.

He was directly involved with the android freedom movement, but he couldn't tell Anna or Elsa that out of secrecy.

A flashing alert informed K that he was approaching the limit on his interplanetary data. "Damn data limits, of course," he grumbled. "That's me, sorry. I gotta run."

"No, me too actually," Anna frowned as she received the same alert. "I wish we could talk more often, but you know, these fees are ridiculous."

"It was nice talking to you. Same time next month?"

"Same time. Take care of yourself, you big loaf."

"You too, Anna. Bye now."

Once she faded from the display, K spun around a few more times as he thought of his situation. Anna and Elsa were in Arcadia, far removed from the troubles on Earth. Flynn and his crew were currently on the way to Port Armstrong on the moon, a trip that could be made in a day. They had set out yesterday and due to reasons of discretion, they would be radio silent until they returned, flying under the radar as they were.

What's my life turned into? K mused. Two years ago, I was just a tech-doc. Now, I'm some member of some kind of resistance. I can't say I regret it, but everything did start to change when I met Elsa. Well... actually, everything started to change when I met Anna.

Out of idle boredom and curiosity, K decided to revisit his past to the day he met Anna at the orphanage. He stood up from his chair, crossed the room, then settled into his personal memory pod. There, he jacked in using the cord in his wrist then leaned back as the fuzzy, familiar wave of nostalgia passed over him.

K shut his eyes and was transported to a scene fifteen years ago.

… … …

"I saw you steal it!" a boy yelled. "Give it back!"

The red-haired girl struggled against the boy as she tried to yank the ration pack away from him. "I didn't steal anything!" she replied. "This is mine. Leave me alone!"

"You're a liar! Everybody gets one a day and I already saw you eat yours!"

"I said, leave me the fuck alone!"

The boy and the girl engaged in a short tug-of-war, but the boy was older and stronger than she was. After a short struggle, he shoved her down and snatched up the ration pack.

By now, some of the other kids had taken notice, but most knew better than to get involved in a fight. K himself was twelve years of age at this point, but he was the most recent arrival before the girl came along, and he still didn't quite get the rules yet.

K rushed over to help, but just before he arrived, the girl got back on her feet and threw a punch across the older boy's jaw. The boy grunted in shock and pain, then forgetting his own hunger in his anger, he rushed at the girl and tackled her. They crashed into the floor, punching and kicking each other all the while.

Around them, a ring of kids cheered them on or jeered at them, offering little in the way of help.

"Bash him, come on!"

"Kick her scrawny little ass!"

"Winner gets the rations!"

The girl managed to blacken the boy's eye and split open his lip, but he gave as good as he got. In return, he ripped out a handful of her red hair and bloodied her nose, and still, they fought like hungry animals. Eventually, the boy overpowered the girl and trapped her in a headlock, squeezing tight.

"You little thief!" the boy said. "Now you'll be sorry!"

The girl gasped and choked as she tried to pull the arm around her throat off. "Fuck you, asshole!" she wheezed. "That was mine, I didn't even eat yet today!"

K forced his way through the ring and saw that the girl's face was turning red. The boy squeezed harder and shut off her airway completely, and from the savage look on his face, K knew he wouldn't stop until she blacked out or worse.

Taking matters into his own hands, K rushed forward and punched the boy in his nose, breaking it. "Get offa her!" he yelled as he pulled him off and shoved him away. "What's wrong with you, are you trying to kill her?!"

"Agh, my nose!" the boy stumbled back and clutched his bloody face. "This is none of your business!" he lowered his hands and his face contorted with rage. "Fuck off, or your next!"

Meanwhile, the girl panted as she drew in a deep lungful of air. When she finally caught her breath, she snatched up the ration pack and shoved it into her pocket, then turned around.

At that time, K and the boy fell into a brawl. Much like any juvenile fight, they were wild, undisciplined, and fueled only by prepubescent hormones. Punching, kicking, grappling, screaming, and cursing. At one point, the boy had managed to twist K's arm behind his back, pushing it upward to put painful tension on his shoulder.

It was then that the girl came in from behind where she drew back her leg and kicked the boy right between his legs. All wind left his sails immediately as he doubled over in pain, gasping and coughing. However, the girl was out for blood as she descended upon him with a flurry of rapid blows into his face, beating it to a pulp.

K recovered quickly, then looked around and saw that the fight was clearly ended. "Hey, come on now, he's had enough!" he pulled the girl off and was met with a fist in his face. "Agh, shit, calm down!" he trapped the girl in a bear hug and dragged her away.

"Get off of me!" the girl shouted as she thrashed about. "Don't fucking touch me!"

"I'm on your side!"

"Leave me alone!"

"Okay, okay!" K let her go once they were a safe distance away. "There, I let you go. Happy now?"

The girl huffed and straightened out her shirt. She looked past K and saw that the other children were observing her with a healthy mixture of fear and awe. They now knew what she was capable of and on her first day in the orphanage no less.

"Are you okay?" K asked as he rubbed his jaw where he had been struck.

"I'm fine," the girl replied curtly as she sat down on a box. "I could have handled myself. I didn't need your help."

"Sure you didn't. That guy had you in a headlock. You had your ass handed to you."

"Beat the shit out of you too."

"Yeah," K nodded as he sat across from her. "But you sure showed him, huh? I don't think he'll be giving you any crap for a little while."

The girl said nothing as she wiped her bloody nose. After it was mostly clean, she reached up and touched the bald part of her scalp where the hair had been torn out, wincing as she did.

"What's your name?" K asked out of curiosity.

"Why the hell do you care who I am?" the girl glared at him.

"Because you're new and before you came along, I was the newest kid here."

"Hmph."

K offered his hand to shake. "I'm K."

The girl looked at his hand, then his face, and frowned. "Just K? What kind of name is that?"

"They messed up my name when they gave it to me," K shrugged. "I just use K."

"That's stupid."

"Yeah, I know."

The pair were silent for a while as they each nursed their wounds as best they could. Elsewhere, the other kids disbanded and returned to their own business, while the boy in question limped off, quietly sniffling. As they sat across from each other, K studied the new girl. Her hair was red, there was a dusting of freckles across her face, but the most distinguishing features were her eyes. They were teal and for that color, they should have appeared quite lively.

But they weren't. The girl was completely dead and empty behind the eyes.

"So," K started as he reached into his pocket for a small tube of medi-gel he had stolen. "Did you actually steal his rations, or have you not eaten yet?" he squeezed out a tiny amount and applied it to his face.

"Haven't eaten," the girl mumbled. "I saw him hiding some away in a stash he has. I know he isn't as hungry as I am. He's greedy and he keeps it all to himself. I didn't... I didn't want to hurt him, I just wanted him to leave me alone," she glanced up and saw what K was doing. "Is that medi-gel?"

"Yeah," K paused scrunched up his face in thought. "Want some?"

"Why do you want to help me?"

"Because you need help?"

"I can take care of myself."

"So can I. If you don't want this stuff, then that's fine. Your head looks pretty bad though, and good luck trying to get help from the caretakers. Best they can do is tell you to not get into fights."

"Wait," the girl sighed and relented. "Fine. Help me out."

"Okay," K stood up and knelt in front of her, squeezing some into his hand. "Now hold still," he reached towards her head.

"What are you doing?" the girl recoiled and glared at him.

"I'm helping you," K replied. "I'm not gonna hit you. You can trust me."

The girl said nothing as she stared at K, remaining silent until she nodded her agreement.

With her permission, K applied the medi-gel to the wound on the girl's head, easing the pain and accelerating the healing. The girl was still quite tense, but over the next few seconds, as her wounds closed up, she eased off and relaxed. When he was done, K leaned back and put away his medi-gel.

Across from him, the girl reached into her pocket and ripped open her ration pack, tucking into her meager, flavorless meal. As soon as she took a bite, she grimaced at the taste but continued eating anyway.

K chuckled. "Pretty nasty, huh?"

"Uh-huh," the girl nodded. "You said you were new here too?"

"Yeah. Been here for a month now."

"Today is my first day. Moved from LA."

"LA? Wow, you came all that way just to stay in a shitty orphanage in shitty New York? You on your own?"

The girl actually laughed a little bit, but it was the quiet and grief-stricken kind. "Yeah, I… I'm alone," she looked down at her feet as she swung them back and forth against the box. "I'm Anna," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

K smiled and offered his hand once more. "Well, Anna, you wanna stick with me for a bit?" he asked politely. "I can show you around the place. Tell you which kids are assholes, which ones are alright."

"I know one of the kids is an asshole already," Anna glanced at his hand again. "But okay," she accepted it and they shook hands.

"Okay," K grinned.

And so began a lifelong friendship. K and Anna stuck by each other's sides until they both turned sixteen and were forced out of the orphanage. They remained friends long afterward, and it wasn't until a few years had passed that Anna informed K that not long before they first met, she had already lost everything.