The Blue Scare

"Okay, let's see what's ailing you," K plugged in a cord to his patient's neural port on the back of her neck. "Now, tell me again how you caught this malware?" he wheeled over in his chair towards his terminal, looking at the diagnostics screen.

"Must have been that chip I slotted in. It was supposed to be an ArmaRex training program to help me tune up my knife work, but I guess it had some kind of bug on it," the patient replied, shrugging her shoulders as her cybernetic eyes began to flicker. "How bad is it?"

K located the infection in her operating system and whistled in awe. "Pretty bad. You caught a soul reaper," he isolated the malware and performed an advanced virus wipe routine. "If you waited any longer before coming to me, it would have fried your circuits. Pure neural napalm this stuff, cooked up by some freaks in the dark net."

"Fuck. I knew I shouldn't have trusted that twitchy, little guy."

"I see this problem a lot. Always, always, always, and I cannot stress this enough, always make sure you buy data shards from a reputable seller, and always make sure it's clean before slotting it into your skull. Never know what's out there. Soul reapers, tracking vectors, trojan horses, you name it."

"Yeah, guess I had to learn that lesson the hard way," the patient sighed. "Thanks, doc. I really owe you one."

"Uh-huh," K adjusted his glasses and typed in a few more command lines. "I'm running a scrubbing program through your system right now, should clean you right out and make you fit as a fiddle again. You'll need to reset for a little bit, probably an hour while it does its thing, but don't worry. I'll be here watching over you."

"Alright," the patient nodded as she settled in her seat more comfortably. "Ready."

"Sweet dreams," K hit enter and shut her down.

The patient's eyes flickered, then closed as she lost consciousness and slumped over slightly. Just as soon as that had happened, K heard a commotion of voices out in the lounge area of the Memory Palace.

Before K could react, the string of angry voices stopped right outside the door to his clinic, which was when two police detectives burst in through the door. Darla was storming after them in a huff.

"K, I told 'em!" Darla intercepted the path of the detectives and placed one hand on her hip while with her other, she pointed in their faces. "I told 'em they can't come barging in here like this, but these lumbering palookas wouldn't listen! You need a warrant, you assholes! Can't just kick in our door and-"

The two detectives looked around, unperturbed by the haranguing from Darla. Clearly, they were here on some sort of business, and K had an inkling as to what that was.

"We're with the ARB, ma'am," one detective reached into his coat and flashed his badge, indicating that he was a member of the Android Retention Bureau. "Official police business. We're performing a random spot check for suspected android hideouts. We don't need a warrant."

"Andys?" Darla crossed her arms and scoffed. "We ain't got no andys here," she looked over to K. "I tried telling these guys-"

"Darla, it's fine, I'll handle this. Don't worry," K took off his glasses and set them aside as he stood up. "Why don't you head back out? Help Frankie with the bar."

Darla opened her mouth to say something, then glanced between K and the detectives before finally relenting. She threw one last dirty look at the detectives, then promptly departed.

"So," K started. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

The first detective put away his badge. "I'm Reed," he pointed to the other detective. "That's my partner, Graham. Are you K, the local tech-doc? This your clinic?"

"Yeah, that's me, this is my practice," K replied. "And, hey! Be careful with that, that's sensitive equipment!" he pointed across the room.

Graham, who had been looking at a cybernetic foot, shrugged and set it down.

"Who's she?" Reed pointed over to the patient in the chair. "What's with her?"

"My patient. Running some antivirus software to clean out her operating system," K replied, crossing his arms. "Is there a specific reason you're hassling me?"

"No, no reason," Reed shook his head. "In light of some recent events, we're stepping up our measures to apprehend all illegal androids, enemies of the state, and other undesirable types. Going block to block, door to door, looking for any signs of them or the android freedom movement. Wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

A short volley of gunshots echoed outside, but neither K nor the detectives flinched.

"No, I don't," K said, keeping his voice even and his expression calm.

"Of course not," Reed smiled. "Then you wouldn't mind if we take a look around then. We'll also have to verify that you're actually, you know, human. May I?"

K tensed up as he scowled, shaking his head from disbelief. He didn't like this one bit.

"Doctor K?" Reed pressed, still smiling. "May I?"

"Yeah, yeah," K said. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"Good," Reed reached into his coat and produced a small scanning device. "Look up and to the left."

K did as he was asked and while Reed was scanning his eyes to confirm that he wasn't actually an android, across the room, Graham was ripping open cabinets, tossing over shelves, and scattering their contents all over the place. Gunshots continued to echo outside. Some close. Some distant.

After Reed finished his scan, he smiled again. "Thank you for your cooperation," he walked over to the patient and reached over to the plug at the back of her neck.

"Wait, wait! Don't do that!" K stopped him.

Graham paused what he was doing and reached for his gun.

Reed tilted his head to the side. "Why not?"

"Because, you unplug her now and you'll flatline her," K said, then pointed over to his terminal. "You want to find out that she's human? Just look at her diagnostics."

"Alright," Reed shrugged and took a seat, scrolling through the screens.

Graham relaxed and resumed tearing apart the clinic.

"It's a massive breach of doctor-patient confidentiality, but I guess the law doesn't apply to you, does it?" K asked, scowling.

"We're just doing our jobs," Reed replied tiredly, having recited it many times that day already. "I'll have to scan your employees now, as well as the rest of the patrons of this establishment of yours," he started heading out. "Graham, when you're finished here, come and help me out."

For the next half an hour, Graham turned the clinic completely upside down, barely leaving an inch that wasn't thoroughly searched. When he finished up with that, he joined Reed in the memory palace where they performed the same eye scans of everybody there. Of course, they found no androids, but the message had already been received.

It wasn't just androids that were being hunted down and destroyed now. Anybody who sympathized with them, anybody who gave them safe harbor, anybody who helped them in any way, or anybody who so much as spoke of them in a manner that didn't advocate for their destruction was promptly branded as a public enemy and dealt with accordingly. By the time the detectives were finished, they cleared out of the memory palace, leaving behind their mess to carry about their business.

K sat in his chair, looking around at the trashed interior of his clinic. All the while, his patient remained peacefully asleep, completely unaware of what happened.

"Jesus, K," Darla returned, looking at everything. "They do anything to you? Are you okay?"

K looked over and smiled. "I'm fine, don't worry about me," he stood up and held Darla by her shoulder. "What about you? Did they give you more trouble?"

Darla nodded. "Yeah, but I'm okay. Frankie, he's okay too. Gave us a good shakedown," she sighed heavily and sat on a counter next to K. "But why the hell were they picking on us?"

"They're picking on everybody these days," K said. "Not much we can do, unless you want to end up in front of a firing squad."

"They can try," Darla raised her right hand and extended the raptor blade that was stored within the inner components of her cybernetic arm.

Raptor blades were the newest cyberware for concealed weaponry. They were an improvement of the old pulse blade designs that preceded it, and like before, they were stored within the forearms. When they were extended, synthetic skin and muscle would split apart easily and the long, curved blade would slide outwards. Unlike before, instead of just coming in a single flavor of steel, they came in electrified, thermal, cryo, neurotoxin, and serrated variants.

To say the least, they were exotic as they were deadly.

"You know, things were already bad enough with the corps, but now we got the fucking Gestapo breathing down our backs?" Darla retracted the blade into her arm. "And on top of all that, the world's supposed to be ending too!"

Usually, K was quite optimistic but even now, he was feeling completely helpless at the rapidly deteriorating state of the world around him. Not that it was any better before or any less deteriorated, but it seemed that the slow death of humanity was beginning to accelerate again.

"You know what they're calling it? Everything that's been going on?" Darla asked. "The blue scare. Who would have thought that America would be the bad guy now, instead of the commies?"

K laughed. "I don't think anyone is surprised by that," he sighed. "Between that and the synthetic genocide, I don't know what's worse."

"Shit. It's really come down to this."

"Welcome to the twenty-second century. Anyway, you can go ahead and take the rest of the day off. I doubt we'll be getting any more business today."

"Sure, but let me help you clean up this mess first," Darla pushed herself off the counter. "Come on."

After spending the next while cleaning up the clinic, K's patient eventually awoke and looked around in confusion. Once he explained everything to her, she cursed the corporate gods, thanked him for his help, transferred her payment, then went on her way. When they finished up, they met up with Frankie to close down the rest of the memory palace.

"Hey, man," K waved as he approached the bar. "Those guys give you any good tips?"

Frankie scoffed and draped a rag over his shoulder. "Nah. They did confiscate a few bottles of liquor though," he emphasized the word confiscate with air quotes. "Said that since this place didn't technically have a license to serve alcohol, they were well within their rights to do that. Cops, man. Bunch of crooks."

"Ugh," Darla leaned against the bar counter and sighed. "New York was always a shitty place to live, but now it's even shittier. Think I might finally up and quit this stinking city and move back to Portland with my parents. I hear things are getting better over there."

K sighed and sat down on a stool. "I think that's exactly what you should do," he chuckled. "Beats working here, that's for sure."

"Oh, you're not so bad," Darla smiled. "Working here was one of the few good things that happened to me, so I oughta thank you," she turned to Frankie. "What about you? Ever think about getting out?"

Frankie shook his head. "What, and go back to turning tricks in Hell's Kitchen? Nah. Between this and my side hustle at my ma's restaurant, I got a pretty good thing going."

"Well," K rubbed his forehead. "Don't know how much longer we can stay open what with everything going on and all. We're getting less and less business every day," he paused for a long moment. "Why don't you guys take the rest of the day off?"

In truth, K was trying to find a way to say goodbye without saying goodbye. Darla and Frankie were good people, but they weren't involved in the android freedom movement nor did they know that K was. He didn't want to put them at any more risk than he already had.

"You sure?" Darla asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure," K nodded. "Maybe take the rest of the week off too while you're at it. Here's an advance payment for the month. I'll give you guys a call if I decide to open up again," he transferred a hefty sum of credits to both of them.

"Everything okay, chief?" Frankie asked.

"Don't worry about me," K said. "Go on you two. Get home before the curfew kicks in."

"Guess this means I can pull extra shifts at my ma's," Frankie said as he started heading out. "Thanks, K. Appreciate it."

K waved him off, then glanced at Darla who still lingered. "Portland is nice this time of year, at least, nicer than here," he turned to her. "I heard the EDEN initiative is finally gaining some steam. Things'll be better there. I think you should make the move."

The EDEN initiative was an ambitious effort to restore the landscape around the Pacific Northwest region of the former United States through reconstructive geoengineering. Portland and the free state of Oregon were spared from much of the fires that scorched the country during the collapse, but even so, the once lush and vibrant forests no longer existed. Healing the earth was the top priority for the scientists behind the initiative, headed by the Sierra Geotech corporation.

"I think I will," Darla smiled a bit sadly and knowingly as she stood up and cupped K's cheek, staring into his eyes. "Why don't you come with me? You and I... maybe we could give this whole thing another shot."

"I wish," K returned the smile. "But I still got things I need to take care of in this city. Some things I gotta finish. I'm sorry."

"You're a good guy, K. Selfless. That was always your problem. Trying to fix the whole world, make everything right, when maybe you can't."

"Can't help it. I gotta try. It's just what I have to do."

"I know," Darla rubbed her thumb over K's cheek. "You know I'll miss you."

"Yeah, me too," K said quietly. "I'll miss you too, toots."

With a final hug and a kiss on the cheek from Darla, she waved goodbye and made her quiet exit, leaving K alone in his memory palace.

He didn't feel like returning to his apartment, so instead, he aimlessly wandered the streets of New York. His little slice of the city, situated nearby the central park apartment blocks, was usually bustling with civilian foot traffic. Now, it was completely empty. Everything was eerily still and silent, and K wandered the neon night alone.

Police gunships hovered above, buzzing like an insectoid swarm. Here and there, some civilians were seen walking the empty streets, but they were few and far between. K crossed a street, then jumped over a puddle, only it wasn't a puddle of water. Just a few feet away, nestled among a pile of trash were six dead bodies, each one shot in the head.

Their crime was unknown, but the fact was they were dead. Their blood pooled in the gutters, mixing with the refuse and the filth of the city.

God. They couldn't even give them a proper cremation, K shuddered at the sight, unable to resist taking a closer look.

At least four of the bodies were human, evidenced by their red blood. At the far end were two other bodies that were different from the rest. One appeared to be a child. However, the blue synth fluid that leaked out from the hole in the back of the child's head testified to the fact that it was no child at all, but an android. The sight of their dirty brown hair caused K to tense up in apprehension.

"No, that can't be," K knelt and gently turned the child's body over, revealing their face.

It was a young girl, but not the same one that K had encountered some time ago. Her blue blood mixed with the red blood on the top of a white cobblestone; a color palette of the shattered American dream.

Wherever you are, Lizzie, I hope you're alright, K thought as he closed the girl's eyes, giving her what little decency he could.

That tiny gesture alone would have been enough to earn K the same fate had anyone seen him, but thankfully, nobody took much notice of him. Unable to stomach the sight any further, K kept on walking, keeping his head low with his hands shoved into his coat pockets.

The thought of the scrappy little android freedom fighter reminded him of something, so he decided to visit some old friends.

… … …

A drizzle had started and fat water droplets were rolling down the window as K gazed out from within the mag-rail train. He was heading out of Manhattan, crossing through Brooklyn to get to Queens, and everywhere he looked, adjudicator death squads and police forces were patrolling the streets in large numbers. The train passed over a bridge, and at the bottom, there was a spillway canal that had been turned into a massive garbage dump.

Sitting on top of the piles of filth and refuse was a score of dead bodies. Garbage barges hovered above, dropping them in by the dozens while street kids and scavvers alike were looting the remains. Elsewhere, sanitation workers were dousing sections in flame with industrial flamethrowers to scorch away the remnants. Smoke and ash and toxic smog filled the air above the burning pyres.

From his distance, K couldn't tell whether the corpses were human or androids. Not that it made any more difference to the dead. Across New York, similar mass graves like that were cropping up all over. Unable to stomach the sight any further, K looked away and instead adjusted the badge he wore on his coat that identified him as human.

After a little while, the train pulled into a station and K stepped off. He found himself near the remains of the JFK international airport. After the collapse, it saw less usage for what it was originally intended for, but in the time since, several extensions had been added on. K was heading towards Heinlein Station, a small spaceport where Flynn and his crew would come in for refueling, repairs, and recuperation when they weren't on smuggling runs.

While the periphery boroughs were not as densely packed as Manhattan, New York was still a megacity confined by the rising floodwaters, making dry real estate hard to come by. The seawalls were less extensive and less maintained across Brooklyn and Queens, so certain parts were essentially turned into floating settlements. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was out in the flood zones, but it wasn't much of a step up either.

K navigated through a crowded marketplace, eventually exiting out into a wide street that led into Heinlein station. A madman was wandering up and down, shouting to nobody in particular while true to New York fashion, everybody else was ignoring him.

"The end of days is nigh!" the madman cackled. "God's wrath will be released unto the sinners, those who would pervert the sanctity of his church by laying with the machine! Yes, my children! They walk among us! The infidels, the defilers, the heathens, the blasphemers, and the heretics who would shield their synthetic brethren and remake us in their shape! They have mocked the design of our lord, he who created us in his image. Their profane worship of a false machine idol has led them astray, and they will be baptized in fire! Judgment is at hand and there will be a reckoning!"

At the checkpoint, a squad of police officers was standing guard alongside an ArmaRex panzer assault mech, essentially a robotic walking tank. The mech had two arms. One held a tri-barreled minigun and the other held a plasma cannon. Its shoulders were adorned with rocket pods, its body was plated in ballistic armor, and the trifocal optic scanner in its head was lit up with blue lights, indicating its idle, but vigilant state.

Indeed, security across New York had been ramped up higher than it ever was before.

"Stop right there," a police officer held up a hand to K as he approached. "Commercial traffic only. All civilian flights have been grounded. What's your business here?"

K brought up his omni-pad and transferred a set of falsified documents, courtesy of Flynn. "Here to check on a shipment of medical supplies. I'm a tech-doc."

The police officer scrutinized the documents. "This is form 202, valid for class one pharmaceuticals only. It's out of date."

"Out of date? That can't be right, I just got it last month."

"New policy from the city council. You'll need to apply for permit A38."

K scoffed. "Come on, this is ridiculous."

"If you got a problem, you can take it up with the suits," the police officer crossed his arms. "Or, you can pay us the visitor's tax, and we can take care of that for you."

"This is obviously a shakedown," K stood his ground. "I need these supplies for my clinic, and you're trying to squeeze blood from a stone."

In response, the assault mech turned its scanners on him, the lights flashing yellow in warning.

"I think you need to leave now," the police officer laid a hand on his gun.

Just before things escalated any further, Flynn arrived on the scene, passing through the checkpoint from within Heinlein station. "Woah, now, there's a misunderstanding here," he held his hands up as he stepped in between K and the police officer. "Flynn Fitzpatrick, cargo hauler. I'm bringing in the supplies for Doctor K here."

The police officer made a gesture with his hand and the assault mech returned to its idle state.

"Here are my documents," Flynn presented them. "Got your form 202, your permit A38, and your ordinance N60 which should clear this all up. Everything should be in order."

The police officer glanced back to the others then hardened his expression. "Not just yet."

"Ah, of course," Flynn nodded and transferred over a sum of credits. "There, that ought to keep your palms nice and greasy."

"Hmph," the police officer stepped aside and permitted them entrance. "Next time, I won't be so generous. Head on through."

Flynn waved to them as he started walking. "And a fine evening to you as well, officers," he gestured to K. "Come on, doc, let's start unloading your stuff."

K walked alongside him and once they had passed out of sight and beyond earshot, he still threw a cautious look around. "Jesus, these cops aren't any better than the gangers."

"Nah, they're worse. At least gangers have the decency to kill you before they rob you blind," Flynn replied. "Between the cops and the Verenkovs, I don't know how much longer we can keep bribing them both off. Anyway, where the hell have you been? I was expecting you hours ago."

"I got held up," K said. "Couple of ARB spooks tossed up my clinic. It's getting worse out there. I didn't send word because there's eyes all over the net these days."

"True. You're here now, that's what counts. Did you get the intel from the latest dead drop?"

"Yeah, I did. Something big is going down, and lucky us, we're the ones to help make it happen."

"Any idea when?"

"Soon, real soon, that's all I know. So we better make sure we're ready to move out at the drop of a hat."

Flynn nodded and pointed towards a hangar they were heading towards. "Alright, come on. Not much further now."

The pair arrived at the side entrance by the main doors to the hangar. Along the way, the steady drizzle of rain developed into a downpour, bringing with it an electric tension in the air that promised a thunderstorm. Even so, Heinlein station remained buzzing with activity as shipping freighters took off into the night sky, bound for Port Armstrong.

Flynn knocked once on the door, waited a moment, then knocked three more times. "It's me, come on. Open up!"

A sliding viewport opened up, revealing a woman with a set of dazzling green eyes. "What's the password?"

"Agnus dei," Flynn replied.

Rapunzel shook her head. "Nope. That was the old one, we changed it. What's the new password?"

"Seriously? It's me and I've got K here with me, so just open up."

"Not until you tell me the right password!"

K sighed and leaned against the wall next to the door, crossing his arms.

"Are you kidding me? I was out here for five minutes. You're telling me you changed the password without me?" Flynn said. "Then how am I supposed to know?"

Rapunzel slid the viewport shut then proceeded to unlatch multiple locks, taking quite a while to do so. Meanwhile, K maintained a careful watch on their surroundings ensuring that they weren't being observed. Eventually, the door opened and Rapunzel appeared, her hands placed on her hips.

"The new password is ad astra," Rapunzel stepped aside, gesturing them inside. "Now get in here before somebody sees you," she yanked Flynn in by the arm.

K followed behind after him, then straightened out his coat, brushing off the rain as he looked around the interior of the hangar.

Ahead of him was the Maximus, a light cargo freighter and Flynn's personal ship. Off to one side, set against the far wall of the hangar was a living area with beds and a small kitchen. To the other was a bunch of crates and shelves, loaded with supplies and other goods.

"Good to see you again, K," Rapunzel gave him a quick hug and a smile. "Hope you didn't run into too much trouble on the way here."

"You too," K returned the gesture. "And I actually did, sorry to say."

"Police were giving him the runaround at the checkpoint," Flynn said as he walked into the open cargo hold doors of the ship. "Had to bribe 'em just to get 'em off his back. And speaking of that, why is it always me who has to go out and talk to the cops? Why can't one of you people risk your necks for once?"

"What do you mean, you people?" Rapunzel asked, hopping up to sit on a pile of crates.

From an open hatch in the floor of the cargo hold, a woman poked her head out. "What do you mean, you people?" she asked.

"Hey, Mouse," K waved to the woman, then nodded to another man kneeling by a toolbox near the hatch. "Augur. Looking strong. Tak, you too."

Takahashi, an android who was sitting at a nearby terminal, looked over. "Pleased to see you again, K-san."

"Hey, brother," Augur waved.

"Sup," Mouse returned a nod to K, then looked back at Flynn. "Was that a real question?"

"Was what a real question?" Flynn crossed his arms.

"Asking us to go out there."

"Why not?"

"Why not, I'll fucking tell you why fucking not," Mouse snapped. "I'm Latina, Augie bear is black, and Tak is a fucking andy!" she pointed to herself, to Augur, and to Takahashi. "We're minorities. If we go out there, we got shot. You're a white man. The police don't bother you none."

Mouse, whose real name was Samantha Perez, was a small woman of Colombian descent with olive complexion, black hair done up in a bun and covered with a bandana, and was usually dressed in a mechanic's jumpsuit. Her sleeves were rolled to her elbows, showing that her forearms were covered in intricate tattoos. Augur Obesca was a large and burly man of Haitian descent, usually dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, likely to show off his synthetic muscles. Takahashi was an android who had come from the ruins of Chicago, skilled in languages as well as cooking, and was dressed in a techweave bodysuit.

As for Flynn Fitzpatrick, he was a nomad, born on the road in the ruins of America, and usually wore a padded vest, a shirt, and cargo pants. Rapunzel Zoller was an immigrant from West Germany and usually wore a Bundeswehr military field jacket and jeans. Altogether, this merry band was certainly an odd bunch of smugglers, driven together by circumstance.

"What about Punzie?" Flynn pointed to her. "She's white too."

Rapunzel scoffed and smacked Flynn on the arm. "Don't drag me into this!"

"She's right, you know," Augur said. "We go out there, we're more likely to catch a bullet talking to the cops. Boom. No questions asked."

"Okay, okay," Flynn held up his hands submissively. "You're right, I was wrong. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Hmph," Mouse dipped back down to resume what she was doing. "Sorry, my ass."

"I can see things are holding up fine around here," K remarked. "How'd your last run go?"

"Oh, smooth sailing," Rapunzel replied, adjusting her hair casually. "Well, at least until-"

As if on cue, a small explosion came from within the hatch where Mouse was working, followed by a cloud of smoke. "Ah, chingada madre!" she cursed, poking her head out again. "It's the fuel injector! Augie, hand me that torque wrench."

"Oh, damn, alright," Augur started rooting through the toolbox until he retrieved the tool in question. "How bad is it?" he tossed it over.

Mouse caught it easily then dipped back down into the hatch. "If we wanna live, not good!"

Flynn, Rapunzel, and Takahashi all seemed unphased by what was happening. K continued to look on in idle curiosity.

"Uh, yeah, so we ran into some pirates on the way back, just after we left Port Armstrong," Rapunzel resumed where she had left off.

Flynn chuckled. "Space pirates of all things, can you believe it?" he sighed and shook his head. "Oh, man."

"The Maximus took a beating, but we've been through tougher scrapes," Rapunzel added, then nudged Flynn with her elbow. "Remember that run we did over the Korean exclusion zone? Nearly got cooked alive from all that radiation."

Mouse poked her head up again. "Helix driver, hurry," she said to Augur, then turned to the others as they were speaking. "Whatcha guys talkin' about?"

"Uh, shit, helix driver... what's a-" Augur started rummaging through the toolbox.

"No, that one there," Mouse pointed to the tool in question. "No. No! Ai, cabrón! The one I'm pointing to! If we don't patch this up, the propulsion tank will overflow and flood the whole fucking hangar with poisonous gas!"

"Here, got it," Augur handed the tool to Mouse, who dipped back down and resumed her repairs.

"K just wanted to know how our last run went, Mousie," Rapunzel said. "Normal, more or less."

"Which is to say batshit insane and damn near got killed again? I told you, Flynn. I told you not to fly through that garbage field, but you just don't fuckin' listen," Mouse replied from below. "Ugh, hijo de puta," she hissed to herself as she bumped and clanged around to make the repairs. "And who has to fix your fuck up? Me! Ugh, I should've gone back to finish college," she grumbled.

"Had to lose them somehow," Flynn said quietly.

Augur peeked down the hatch to observe what Mouse was doing. "We find out when our next gig is?"

Everyone glanced over to K, who was their go-between for them and the rest of Minerva. Having their delicate operation so close to a major center of traffic was risky, but then again, the closer they were to danger, the further they were from harm in a sense.

"That's why I'm here," K said. "I can't say when, but I do know the next move is gonna be a big one. Maybe even our last before getting the hell out of dodge."

"Your little friend from Minerva didn't say more?" Rapunzel asked.

"Nope," K shook his head. "Safer that way. Still, we need to be ready at a moment's notice. How are the tunnels?"

"Clear, for now. I'll show you," Flynn gestured for him to follow, heading down from the ship and towards the back of the hangar.

K followed close behind until they reached the far wall. There, they stopped by an unremarkable pile of crates sitting on top of a pallet.

Flynn came to one side of the crates, laying his hands against it. "Help me move this."

Together, they both pushed the heavy obstruction out of the way, revealing a metal sheet which they also slid out of the way. Hidden just beneath was the entrance to a secret tunnel that provided access to the underbelly of the city. The tunnels in question were connected to the maze of subway lines that ran beneath New York, though by now, they were sealed up and abandoned due to the floodwaters. Many of them were virtually impossible to navigate, given that they were submerged in pitch blackness and toxic sludge.

Still, the underground railroad literally made usage of underground railroads to safely get androids of the city. From Minerva, they maintained a network of passageways that were safe from prying eyes which led to various transport stations or spaceports across New York, but there were two catches.

The first was that given that most of them were flooded, the tunnels could only be traversed during low tide when the waters receded, thus limiting the traffic that could pass through. The second was that to gain access to them, the underground railroad had to pay off the Verenkov crime family which had been previously using the tunnels to smuggle illegal goods.

It was certainly not ideal, but it remained the most efficient and effective way to allow androids to escape to the stars. The only question was how long it would remain that way.

"Oof, that smell," K waved the air in front of his face. "When was the last time any of you went down there?" he moved the metal sheet back over.

"Not since our last run," Flynn started pushing the crates back over with K's help. "Verenkovs like to jack up their tolls each time we use it."

"What choice do we have? Gotta keep paying them off or they'll turn us all in."

"Yeah, or they could just pocket our credits and turn us all in anyway. This next one had better be our last. We're risking enough just by staying here as it is."

"Cops give you any trouble?"

"Not yet. Transport authorities come around from time to time to do checkups on our cargo, but other than that they're staying out of our business. But with the ARB tossing the city upside down, we can't keep this up forever."

"I know," K nodded and turned back the way they came. "Let's get back to the others. Still some things we need to discuss."