A few days later, all the fines were paid, the surviving Rebellion soldiers and sailors were returned to the Wandering Gypsy, and X and Ema had secured a cargo of fine incense. They had bought it themselves, since it was manufactured in Hell's Mouth and always fetched respectable prices at their next stop, Tartoga Bay.
"You see, Tartoga bay is very religious, mostly Hinduism. But they have Christian churches, too. Either way, incense is important to them and they never have enough of it." Axl explained as he supervised the Mets. With the leisure time at the harbor, they were industriously checking over the ship and patching a few places. Zero frowned, glancing over at the Wandering Gypsy. Leviathan had returned to her own ship, to supervise and protect them in case of disaster. But Ciel had insisted they stay on the Bad Penny and bring her equipment to the other ship, which was far more lightly loaded. The whole thing was eminently logical and reasonable, but it had the side effect of separating Zero and Leviathan. Leviathan hadn't protested, since the plan was that if pirates appeared, the Wandering Gypsy would add sail and make for cover while the Bad Penny dealt with the problem. The Bad Penny was a wonderful ship, but when it came to speed it plodded. Any pirate ship would naturally go for the slower, easier target, so it made sense to put most of the firepower on the Bad Penny. Still…
"If that's so, why did they kick out Gate?" Zero asked absently, watching some of the dock workers loading Ciel's equipment for them. A few links of silver, each, had cheerfully bought their services for a few hours. X was also helping out, and they were almost done. Zero might have felt badly about not helping out, but he and Axl were acting as lookouts. Ema was worried that someone might decide to take revenge for what had happened last time.
"Probably because he's a pretty charismatic leader," Axl replied, scanning the docks. "Tartoga Bay is afflicted with a caste system, but Gate's old, older than I am, and we both come from a time when caste systems were considered the Devil's work. The Tyrant probably wouldn't have cared if he'd stayed within his own caste, but Gate had a genius for attracting people from all the Reploid castes and getting them to mix. That's anathema, for Tartoga Bay. The only thing that could have been worse would have been if he'd gotten some humans. Reploids and humans don't socialize at ALL, there." Zero blinked at that verbal word portrait of the place they would be going.
"Have they partitioned half the city for Reploids, and half for humans?" He meant that as a joke, but Axl smiled grimly.
"Almost. If you live in the Reploid quarter, and your caste duties don't call for any mixing, you can live for years without even seeing a human. And vice-versa." Axl suddenly spotted someone in the crowd, and hissed. "Oh hell."
"What is it?" Zero tried to follow Axl's gaze, and spotted a dark skinned Reploid in bright orange armor, glaring virulently at Copy X. X hadn't noticed yet, but the Reploid was coming closer so he undoubtedly would soon.
"Raphael's brother, Lorentino. Damn." Axl pulled out his guns. "I was hoping he'd be smart and not show up. M-3, activate program E-2." One of the Mets beeped acknowledgement, and ran over to the controls. Zero wasn't entirely certain how it would activate the defenses without hands, but then its helmet popped off and a little tendril unfolded, quickly tapping the keys. Zero heard the soft whirr of the generator spooling up, as Axl shouted to X and the dockworkers to stop loading. They wouldn't be able to get through the force field. X immediately turned to meet the threat, and Axl and Zero could hear the shouted words. Most of them were unprintable… and ended in… "Dear lord, that idiot is challenging X to a duel?" Axl exclaimed. "X'll make mincemeat out of him!" Zero could only agree, looking the two Reploids over. Lorentino looked like a combat model, but not on par with the Guardians and certainly not up to Copy X's standards.
Copy X accepted cheerfully, and a crowd started to form, interested in seeing some blood. Leviathan was in that crowd, although not because of bloodlust… she had missed the beginning of the trouble and wanted to see what was going on.
"Can we get off the ship?" Zero asked Axl, who hesitated, then nodded. Soon, they were on the dock, and Axl pushed his way roughly through the crowd, ignoring any protests. The two Reploids were already circling each other, and X was using a light purple beam saber instead of his cannon. It was pretty obvious why… neither of them could fire a gun without possibly taking out the crowd or a ship. "He knows how to use a saber, right?" Zero hadn't seen Copy X use one before this. But his question was answered a moment later, as both of them moved, their sabers clashing with a violent sound.
"Oh, of course. Sabers are the weapon of choice for duels, what with spectators, and X has been in dozens of duels," Axl answered absently, watching the progress of the fight. "Mostly outraged fathers- X! DOWN!" He suddenly screamed, his voice cutting over the cheers of the audience. Copy X reacted instantly, without question, and fell down just as a crossbow bolt whizzed by where he had been standing. There was a scream as it hit someone in the crowd.
The crowd roared in disapproval at this cowardly, cheating tactic, and there was a flurry of activity as they turned against the man who had fired the bolt. He went down with a scream, and X surged to his feet, his eyes blazing with fury. The rest happened so quickly it was hard to follow. X rushed at his opponent, they exchanged a flurry of blows… and X viciously kicked him in the crotch, then beheaded him. Blood splattered everywhere, spraying over the crowd. The head also disappeared into the crowd, to a few horrified shouts and scattered cheers. Ordinarily, that low a blow wouldn't be applauded, but right after an attempt to cheat anything was acceptable.
Axl swore, kicking his way through the crowd as he tried to reach the place the crossbow bolt had hit. People were already backing away from a young Reploid girl, who was lying on the ground and whimpering, her hands around the bolt, which was lodged deeply in her shoulder. She was clearly a civilian model, wearing peach colored armor and cat-like in appearance, but still humanoid. Axl kneeled down beside her, frowning. Her position was slightly unnatural. It was like she had stumbled, collapsed, and couldn't move to make herself even minimally more comfortable. Zero looked around for Ciel, and spotted her trying to force her way through the crowd, but not having much luck. But the onlookers were already dissipating… Zero managed to reach her, then get her to the girl's side.
"Honey, can you move?" Ciel asked the girl softly, who managed to shake her head.
"N-no… it burns…" She moaned, a hand plucking at the bolt feebly. Axl gripped the bolt, then jerked it out with one sharp yank. "Oh!" The girl shivered as Ciel went to work on the wound, and scowled as she scraped away a greenish residue.
"What is this?" She demanded, holding up a smeared finger. Axl examined it closely, then the bolt, before passing them to Ema. She knew poisons fairly well, unlike the rest of them.
"I think it may be Jumli juice, mixed with a catalyzer." She said, then carefully tasted a very tiny bit of it. She grimaced in pain, and spat. "Yes, that's what it is. Don't worry about it… it's just a mild paralytic. A few hours off her feet and it will be out of her system." The girl looked extremely relieved to hear that. "More than enough to let that bastard kill X if it had hit him, though."
"Cretin," X snarled, eyeing the headless body. He'd finished looting it, and come over to hear the last of her words. "I killed him too quickly." Ciel ignored him, rapidly working on the young girl. Then she looked up at the Rebellion Soldiers that had joined them.
"Could someone get my tools?" She needed more things to fix this properly. A few of the soldiers immediately scampered off to fetch them.
"Thank you," the girl said, pathetically grateful. "Thank you so much." Ciel waved it away, but Axl knew why she was so grateful… injuries to Reploids were expensive to fix. If this girl was low in station, which she appeared to be, without their help she would probably have to get the wound patched and endure the pain as her nanites attempted to slowly fix it. They might never succeed, which would leave her with chronic pain and a stiff arm. Something occurred to Axl, and he grinned.
"You know, Ciel, if you guys need to make some money, you could hire yourself out as a Reploid doc when we get to Tartoga Bay," he said conversationally. "There's never enough skilled repair techs around." Ciel looked up at him, startled.
"Really? I hadn't thought of that." It was an appealing thought, though. The Rebellion had nothing to pay, nothing to trade for Zero's generator. Gate had been very nice, giving them the B class generator for free, but it still made Ciel uneasy. They had lost almost all the earlier profits bailing out their soldiers. Ciel returned her attention to the young girl as she talked. "How much does that pay?"
"Quite well, actually." Axl grimaced. "Maybe a little too well. Most people can't afford it." That made all the Rebellion soldiers look at him, startled. Neo Arcadia was short of energy, but not short of basic parts or the skilled hands to put them in. Axl shrugged, a little uncomfortably. "There are ways around that, though."
"Like what?" Leviathan questioned him. Axl hesitated, then answered.
"Well, most combat Reploids insist their contracts cover repairs. And a lot of employers will make that a perk, if they can afford it… the guys loading our ship have that in their contract with the harbormaster." They had gone through the harbormaster to hire the dockhands, an arrangement that pleased everyone. "And if a Reploid is badly injured, they can basically barter away their freedom for repairs. Indentured servitude, it's called… it's a little like slavery, but it usually doesn't last as long as debt slavery. Just a year or two."
"Barbaric," Leviathan muttered, and Axl shot her a sharp look, before looking down at the girl.
"Oh? Like retiring Reploids so they won't be a strain on the power grid?" He asked politely, not glancing at Leviathan. "Myself, I would call that barbaric."
"They're Mavericks!" Leviathan hissed at him, her eyes narrowing. Axl slowly turned to look at her, his expression cold.
"You don't even know the meaning of the word. Reploids in Neo Arcadia go into rebellion because of your rules, because of hate, anger, envy, greed, or the simple desire for freedom. In my time, Mavericks were Reploid who went mad on the street and decimated population centres, killing hundreds of thousands of people. And you never knew who would be next. Your best friend one day might try to blow out your brains the next, and you knew, you knew it could be you someday, turning on your own friends. So don't talk to me about Mavericks, Fairy Leviathan. I haven't the patience." Axl stalked away, his back straight. They watched him go, stunned. X blinked.
"Oh… I think you hit quite a nerve." No one had expected the normally cheerful Axl to react that strongly to anything. It was really quite a shock.
A week later…
"Hmm, a nice, uneventful trip and this at the end of it." X looked over the dock with a professional eye. "Why do I think we're about to get a kick to the crotch?"
"I don't know," Ciel said, mystified. "Why?" Axl and Ema exchanged a concerned glance, as X answered with a grin.
"Well, to start with, there's a certain dearth of shipping. I'll admit Tartoga Bay isn't as busy as Hell's Mouth… they can be total pissants to traders… but still, there ought to be more than this. Then there's the way the dockworkers are walking around. Sort of like they expect someone to shoot them in the head at any minute. I smell civil unrest in the air."
"Um," Ciel and Zero both looked over the city, and could only agree with Copy X's assessment. In most ways, Tartoga Bay was far more pleasant than Hell's Mouth. The sewage system was obviously more advanced, the avenues were more spacious and the buildings were made out of pretty red bricks. Also, the activity wasn't as hectic, which was pleasant in a way. Sometimes, the constant sound and bustle of Hell's Mouth could get wearing. Tartoga Bay was also quite a bit larger than Hell's Mouth, and seemed to be more technologically advanced. Even from the docks, Zero could see a few serious industrial factories in the distance.
But X was right. The lack of activity wasn't really restful, when you paid attention to the posture of the few people out and about. Human or Reploid, it didn't really matter… they were afraid. Zero tilted his head as he saw how accurate Axl's earlier description had been, as well. Humans and Reploids all wore caste marks on their faces, on the forehead or cheeks, and they always examined another persons' marks before speaking to them. Several times, he saw people examine the marks then simply walk away. And Reploids and humans rarely spoke to each other at all.
"Whatever," Copy X said with a shrug. "We don't know what's going on, and we won't find out up here. Can you call Levi over and anyone else who'll be going into the city? We need to give you a crash course on the castes and put a few markings on you."
"Won't they know that they're not real markings?" Ciel said, taken aback. The humans' markings were tattoos, while the Reploid ones were inlaid into their skin. The best they could do was makeup, which wouldn't look at all the same. Ema nodded.
"Of course they'll know. But that's fine, they just appreciate the effort. It makes them feel so much better, being able to conveniently pigeon-hole us in their own minds." She said with a cheerful smile. "It's a bit of an ice breaker, actually, as long as you don't do something stupid like putting Amaru marks on yourself. That's the ruling caste," she added when they looked confused. "We'll be sticking with the Ratha, Marsing and Yavana castes." Zero decided not to ask, and jumped onto the dock to go fetch Leviathan and some of the Rebellion soldiers. They would all need to hear the explanation.
Soon enough, they were all in the Bad Penny's hold. Ema had set the lights as high as possible, and was already applying some purple marks to Axl's face. They looked like three wavy lines on each cheek. She glanced up as they came in, and smiled, giving them a running commentary. "This is the Ratha mark. It's for low level warriors, the sort who do bodyguarding and whatnot. Not too accurate, but I'm going to be wearing the Yavana caste mark, and that's for middling level merchants. About the lowest caste that can employ Ratha's." She finished Axl's marks, then motioned to Ciel to sit down. She paused a moment, thinking, then pulled out a pot of black makeup. "I think I'll give you the Tamarli mark. That's for skilled technical workers. If you want to repair Reploids here, you'll need it. And it's one of the few human castes that routinely associates with Reploids."
"What marks are you going to give me and Leviathan?" Zero asked, curious. Ema glanced up at him with a frown.
"Well, technically, you should be Amartasu caste. But then, so should X and Axl. I think I should just give you Ratha marks, for now at least… we don't need people to think we're getting arrogant, or worse, report us." She grimaced. "Especially with people acting so odd." Soon, all the marks were applied. Most of the Rebellion soldiers got Marsing marks, which was a simple green circle on the forehead and denoted basic servants. X's mark was similar to Ema's, but with a slightly different design that made it the comparable Reploid caste. That would allow him to conduct business with Reploid merchants, while Ema handled the human ones.
Soon, Ema, Axl, Zero and three of the Rebellion soldiers were heading out to sell the incense and secure a new cargo. X was going out with Leviathan, Ciel and two more soldiers, to try and drum up business for her. And they all were going to ask around about buying an A class generator, under the pretext that they had an injured Reploid who needed one. That was very close to true, and Ciel's marks would support the story.
Ema led them to a large shop that seemed to specialize in perfumes, silks and a great deal of incense… but most of the bins were almost empty. A wizened old man was manning the counter as they came in, and he brightened as he saw them.
"Ema! It has been too long!" He climbed off his stool, wincing faintly. "I hope you've brought some incense again? The festival of Eternal Lights will be soon."
"Indeed we have," Ema said brightly. "And from the condition of your bins, I expect some good prices for it!" She gestured at the half-empty containers, then lowered her voice. "And I was wondering if you could tell me why they're so empty?" The little man's face turned grim, and he waved to a young girl.
"Take my place, Sharri. We should talk in the back." Once they were out of sight of the customers, he was all business. "What do you want to know?"
It came out that Tartoga Bay had been the victim of a recent military coup. That was nothing unusual, Tyrants came and went quite regularly. The fact that the instigator and current Tyrant was a Reploid was a little unusual, but also not unknown. The highest Reploid caste was eligible for the position.
What was very unusual was how brutally he was suppressing any dissent. The main threats to Tartoga Bay came from outside its own borders, and usually Tyrants were indifferent to protests by the common man. Unless the concerns were truly pressing, like food riots, any trouble would blow over fairly quickly. But the current Tyrant thought otherwise, and he'd dispersed a crowd who had marched in support of the previous Tyrant, who had been in jail at the time, by liquidating it.
"Butterfly rounds?" Axl said, shocked, as he heard the news. "In a crowd of humans? That's madness!" The little man nodded grimly, and Ema was looking pale.
"What are butterfly rounds?" Zero asked uneasily, with the feeling that he'd really rather not know. Ema answered, her expression composed.
"They're sort of like fragmentation grenades, if you know what those are?" At Zero's headshake, she frowned and tried to explain further. "Little explosives that propel shrapnel into the crowd. Butterfly rounds use special ceramic pieces that are thin as needles but hard as titanium."
"They were invented to discourage Reploid riots," Axl took over the explanation. "Way, way back during that time you can't remember, Z. Non-Maverick riots sometimes happened, and nothing could take the starch out of a crowd of Reploids as fast as a few canisters of butterfly round. I got on the wrong end of that, once… friendly fire isn't… and believe me, getting inch long spikes imbedded past your armor all over your body isn't fun at all. Not fatal, but sure not fun." Zero imagined the weapon he was describing, and winced. "And it didn't even work as well on me as it would have on civilian Reploids. That was a long time ago, but the canister force has improved to match armor improvements."
"You can imagine," Ema said grimly. "What that would do to unprotected human flesh. They must have used hoses to clean that square, when they were finished." Everyone blanched at that image, but Axl nodded.
"I saw Mavericks use those rounds once, on a crowd of fleeing humans and civilian Reploids," he said, his tone bleak. "It was just… a haze of blood. Everything was mush."
"And to use that in the middle of the city!" Ema chewed her thumbnail, and looked back at the shopkeeper. "What happened to the previous Tyrant?"
"Executed, in the same square." The shopkeeper said with a tinge of regret to his tone. The previous Tyrant had been no saint, to put it mildly. He'd been a hard man, fully capable of issuing orders for torture and death, and had made some significant mistakes with his handling of the military Reploids. But the current situation was making him look like a saint. "Before it was cleaned. Beheaded, I think. No one went to see." Everyone shuddered. There was a strange kind of humor, irony, something in executing the Tyrant among the remains of the people who had been protesting for him. But it was the humor of a madman.
"Is he crazy?" Axl said softly, and the shopkeeper clapped his hands with a sigh.
"We think maybe so. It is a hard time… and he is certainly paranoid. I only talk to you because I know you will not tell anyone… but you be careful. He is very suspicious of everyone, which is why there are so few ships right now. He ordered several destroyed and the crews taken as spies."
"Will Leviathan and Ciel be alright?" Zero asked, suddenly worried. This situation was sounding more and more volatile by the minute. Ema tried to give him a cheerful smile, but it fell a little flat.
"I'm sure they will be! X knows what he's doing," Ema said, but mentally added 'I hope.' Normally, they would probably have taken one look at the dock and kept sailing, or stopped only long enough to sell the supplies and scoot. But Ciel's desire for business was a lot more unusual than selling incense, and questions about A class generators would be more so.
She could only hope that no one would take it the wrong way.