We slowed down at we reached the entrance to the corridor, the high speed meant we got there a full four hours ahead of schedule, we plonked the driver back in his seat to finish the journey, the two other passengers eyed us warily.

"So what's the plan?" KC asked

"Since when did you put me in charge?" I asked, as if I had any better of an idea what was going on than she did.

"Since you seem to know what you're doing and I've not seen daylight in 5 years, so I'm a little behind on the times" she said, good point

"We're getting off at the first check point, we'll catch an inner train to the west gate"

"But wont the drake know we're getting off at the earliest opportunity?" Geraldine asked

"Probably" I said

"Fair enough"KC shrugged

The bus rattled as it pulled into the south gate platform

"Everybody off" I said, I put a hand on the driver's shoulder "Thank you, I'll make arrangements that the drake doesn't come looking for you" he simply nodded at me, I think he was just happy that I was getting off and taking my menagerie with me. No sooner had we stepped off than he put his foot down and sped off away from us, one of the passengers still on board, having huddled in the corner since I had blasted the drake.

"Papers" the guard at the corridor gate asked

"Oh sure, sorry, we were kind of let off here, we're suppose to be at the West gate, I assume we can catch a tube from inside?" KC purred, the guard simply grunted, I handed him our papers, he combed them through carefully, if we were denied access now we'd be screwed, I looked at the guard closely, clean shaven, ironed shirt . . . no wait, only the cuffs and collar were pressed, what little of his uniform beneath his blazer was visible was crumpled, I could just make out the mis-match of his socks. He was quite young, his jaw hardened, he was single, but tough, maybe too tough for the women he knew. His name tag flashed "Cody" a young man's name. I nudged KC and nodded at him, it took her a moment but she cottoned on quick.

"If you would do me a favour actually Cody" she said drawing up beside him "I have a friend who will be arriving here shortly, quite a powerful guy, high up the chain if you know what I mean, you'll know him the second you see him, I need you to let him know that we came through here instead of our original plan, but if you could be extra polite to him, he looks highly on people who call him sir" she lightly touched his collar and gave him a smile "Would you mind Cody?" he looked up from the papers and gave a slight blush, the colour just grazing his cheeks

"Uh, sure I guess I could" he said

"Thank you very much" she pushed a strand of black hair behind her ear "Soooo, what time do you finish your shift?"

"I uh, I just started, so not until 06:00" the faint blush grew a little

"Hmmm such a shame" she said with a smile, lightly fingering the edges of his collar "Maybe I can catch you when I'm next passing through" she gave him a wink and gently pulled the papers from his unresisting fingers

"Uh huh . . . "he trailed off leaning on the uplift button for the check barrier

"Thanks Cody" she said taking a slow walk off, I and the rest already walking on ahead

He gave her a numb wave before we disappeared in the crowd

"Did I execute the plan to your satisfaction?" KC asked

"Sure, we get a slightly loved up guard to tell Drake man that we came this way, no way he's going to believe him, if we're lucky he'll chase the bus further up to the other gates, hopefully slow him down, should take him the full tour of the gates before he realises that we did actually get off here"

"Or so you hope"

"Yup, I'm hoping his keen senses will still be dulled somewhat, make things a bit easier, nice line by the way" KC shrugged liked she didn't care, she gave me a sly grin and handed me a card, Cody's ID badge and tube card. "Nice lift" I told her, at least we wouldn't have to worry about getting cash to move around, at least until the end of Cody's shift. I looked around for the tube lines "K people lets get moving".

Following the instructions KC received over coms the whole party managed to traverse the underground network, trying to fit through those tunnels into the tiny carts with a huge unconscious cat creature was damn hard, The Gnome in particular had the hardest time, her height made her difficult to see in the crowd, in the end she clutched at my hand like a child to prevent from getting swept away. Finally back on street level we could breathe again, Cakador stirred

"Lets see if we can't get him somewhere in door's, he might bolt if he wakes up here"

"How far to where Lathain is hiding?"

"Who says I'm hiding?" a voice called, I turned to see Lathain walking towards us, he was bashed up pretty badly, but still grinning

"Damn what happened to you?" KC asked, genuine concern laced her voice.

"Started and won World War IV" he replied "That General Napper bitch is dead"

"Dead?!" KC and I echoed

"Yup, swallowed a whole host of missiles, tried coming after the train but we caught up and blasted her ass sky high, should have seen it"

"Yeah wish I'd been there" KC said, huh? Was it just me or did she seem to be warming up to Lathain? I felt a small stab of jealousy, but then since Tibet there had been nothing between us, he'd back pedalled so fast, that is of course assuming he'd actually been interested in the first place, maybe it was all in my head and I'd just imagined the whole affair to begin with. I watched as the two of them conversed, Lathain animatedly describing how they'd stolen the chopper which had swung by the train, then blasted Napper and her troops out of the desert before coming to land here, the military registration on the chopper meant they could land here without the usual crap.

"Anyway we'd better get everyone inside" I interrupted, Lathain kept talking but stepped aside and pointed down the street to where Whisperer stood leaning lazily against the doorway of a building watching the reunion unfold. He was observant, exceptionally so, he saw me staring and walked over to lend a hand carrying the semi conscious cat into the building, I took one end of the stretcher from the Ghoul in the hopes that by appearing busy he'd leave me be, but to my dismay he simply took the other side from Mannery. The elevator in the building was only big enough for the two of us with the stretcher, Whisperer told the group which floor since Lathain was still attending to his devoted audience . . . devoted audience? Geez I sound hung up on the guy, I shook my head at myself.

The lift doors closed leaving us alone, Cakador had ceased his fidgeting

"Are you alright?" he asked

"Fine"

"Ah, like that then" he said

"Like what?"

"You say fine and I'm supposed to press for an answer but you wont tell me anyway so I just flit through the possible excuses in my head and come up with the most likely one, only for it to be right in the end" he said as if stating a fact, those eyes of his levelled on my face "You're not fooling me, so why don't you just tell me?"

"Because I don't trust you" I said simply

"You don't trust anyone" he commented "Not even Lathain"

"How would you know?" I asked sharply

"Because he didn't turn the chopper round to look for you"

"I can take care of myself, Lathain knows that" I defended, Whisperer shrugged as the doors began to open

"I wanted to turn back" he said

"What?" but he didn't answer me back, simply smiled and guided his end of the stretcher out of the lift.