Another indeterminate amount of time passed while they waited for Rosso's territory to retaliate for the deflected plague of Guard Hounds, but nothing immediately transpired. Rosso had little time for those not strong enough to defend themselves, and certainly gave no thought to revenge on behalf of someone else. The Guard Hound swarm actually thinned out Rosso's border to Shelke's territory considerably, to the point where (other than Rosso herself, of course) there was now less to fear from it.

Azul's border remained strong and threatening, even with the guard hound nest depleted, but in terms of tension things had calmed considerably.

For Delphine's tiny band of devotees, this meant that Gaspar was able to make several more trips to the vending machine on the border relatively unmolested. The Black Widow continued to patrol Shelke's side, appearing to follow a fixed pattern along the edge of their territory, but never interfered again.

1714 was unable to fight or work while healing from her gunshot wound, and spent a lot of this time with 2419 up on his sniper post. 2419 tended to lie prone when he was on watch, and 1719 appeared inclined to lie beside (or on) him on long watches, lacking anything better to do as she healed.2419 never gave any indication that he was not fully alert through his watches, and Delphine never felt the need to mention it.

It was on one of these shopping trips that he next encountered Wells, as the SOLDIER straightened from the piece of debris he was standing behind –on Azul's side of the border.

"Yo," Wells said, quite cheerfully.

Gaspar very nearly snapped back into a stance, but managed to restrain himself. "Been a while."

"Ain't that the truth. Been wondering if you might like to join me for… a chat. Catch up."

"It's Deepground. Not much by way of news."

"True true. Still, for old time's sake. Walk with me?" Wells was gesturing behind him, deeper into Azul'd district. It was not forbidden to cross into another district, because nothing was, but it was considered unwise.

" So you can lure me somewhere to kill me?"

Wells shrugged. "I could kill you right here and now, and no one would give a damn."

While true, that didn't mean it was a good idea to go with him. Gaspar went along anyway. He wasn't sure why. Maybe he just had nothing better to do.

"So, how are you finding your life? Fulfilling? Have you reached the pinnacle of your existence?" Wells kept up his cheerful banter, but his eyes were roving and alert. He was leaner and harder bitten than even the last time they had met. Gaspar was about to comment, but realised just before speaking that he hadn't seen a mirror in whatever time they had been down here, and probably was no picture of good health himself. So instead he shrugged. "It's a life."

"Give or take, yes. Have you thought about what we spoke of last time we met?"

"Going for the throne, or getting out of here? They're both still out of reach."

Wells' eyes were sharp. "Maybe not."

They had apparently reached their destination, some kind of half collapsed apartment building.. Gaspar turned his back to Wells with no hesitation, accepting the logic that he would already be dead if that was on the table.

The building smelled awful, wet fur and blood. It was difficult to even be in here as a SOLDIER, but by the time the smells started to abate on the fifth floor, Gaspar had got the point, even before he climbed the ladder through a trapdoor and found four more SOLDIER lying around inside, mostly doing nothing, but still looking as dangerous as only SOLDIER could.

"This is the Guard Hound nest. You drove them out."

Another shrug from Wells. "Place like this, all the good lairs are taken."

It was a great lair, Gaspar had to admit. Formerly belonging to the Guard Hounds, your average Deepground drone would avoid the place, while the heavy hitters would not think anything worthwhile was in here. High on the fifth floor, there were good sightlines to observe a good chunk of Deepground, with cover from snipers, and if anyone did try to storm the place, there was plenty of space and tight corners for ambushes.

It wasn't just a refuge, though. "The Hounds needed a new lair, so they went looking for one."

Wells grinned. "Gotta get a look at the competition, meet the neighbours. We actually got a pretty good view of it from here. Azul's defences have a lot of gun turrets and rockets, but they were mostly facing the wrong way, so his defences actually took a fair amount of damage from behind. Shelke's border crews were all set up with chokepoints and those EM Barrier things, funnelling the Hounds towards Rosso's territory. Lot of individually good fighters over that direction, but no real organised response, so the houndswarm did more damage than you might expect. In the end, Shelke's borders have been pretty much secured from that direction, so Rosso and Azul will probably test each other out and leave her alone for now. That wasn't the plan, but it worked out."

"You expecting me to be grateful?"

"It wouldn't hurt. But no, I'm expecting you to be interested. We learned a lot about how this place works."

And were able to put their thumbs on the scales without showing their hand. Genuinely impressive, and very Deepground. And yet.

"Missing pieces of your puzzle remain Nero and Weiss."

"True. Our position here doesn't give us an overview of his territory. We haven't even been there. You know anything?"

"Just stories from the locals. Nothing concrete. Rosso is a natural hazard like a tornado, and they respect Weiss, but they fear Nero, and my crew doesn't scare easily."

"Hmm. You really have gone native. As for Weiss, he hasn't been seen since we first arrived. No one knows why. From what little we've seen of it, the reactor's garrison is small but quality, they cover the approaches well and there's no obvious way in."

No obvious way in… "You really are going for the throne!"

Wells grimaced. "We're not stupid and we're not throwing our lives away, but if the opportunity arises, why not? What about you, you in?"

"I… I don't know. I have, uh, dependents now." He wasn't sure if Delphine's crew would laugh or punch him on being described as such, but it was truly how he felt these days.

Wells laughed and clapped his shoulder "Heh, look at you, all domesticated. Alright, well, keep us in mind. And just so you don't leave empty handed, that sniper that shot your friend? She's alive and lives three blocks north… that is, reactorwards, of where she took that shot. Just so you know."

Gaspar absorbed that, and was somewhat surprised to be allowed to leave the building alive. Wells didn't have so many potential recruits that he could afford to throw their lives away.

The Black Widow was still patrolling the border when he returned to Shelke's territory. The turret tracked his movement briefly, but it didn't fire… this time, at least.