I get to the electrical room that once stored generators for those nasty little subway cars. The metal door swings open easily, the hinges kept in tip-top shape.
The generators stored here were removed by the city—funny, that, since thecitydoesn’t seem to give a shit about anything else—and repurposed after the gang war spilled over to the water plant at the edge of the reservoir up in West Falls.
It took out running water for almost three days to half its citizens.
But does anyone care about that?No. Not hardly.
With the room free and clear of all except dust, I felt obligated to take it over. Give the dust a new home, carry in my equipment, and set up a secret shop.
It’s dark and creepy down here, and it reminds me every second that I could easily be swallowed by tons of rock and dirt. I could get trapped in this room, suffocate and die. I could be buried and crushed, then die. I could starve, go wild with hunger or thirst, and die.
Die, die, die.
The laptop in the corner is hard-wired into the power source, a delicate ethernet cable run down through some venting and attached to Madness. A concealment, I think, if anyone were to come looking.
The laptop is also connected, by a nifty invention, to the toll building at the edge of Sterling Falls. Bit of a fun turn of events, Artemis discovering that password.
Who would’ve thought to lookunderthe desk?
Not me!
But she did, proving her worth.
Would you believe me if I said giving her the drugs makes me sick?
But also… Sort of happy, too.
Heroin is a nasty business. As long as it has her in its grip, she’s off the chessboard. She’d do anything, even betray her brother. She didn’t think about it like that, but that’s what it is.
Twisting up her insides, making her do things she’d normally never cave on… theoldArtemis was so righteous. She was confident in her morality. She would’ve been a crusader for honesty and ethics.
Ethics. Gah. They’re so boring.
But now I have access to the scanner. I replaced the plastic I broke—my rage might be vapor, but it ignites at the slightest spark—and now I have a record of all the vehicles entering and exiting Sterling Falls.
And the income to boot.
With a few keystrokes, I up the tolls a fraction. I divert the payments into a new account, one that will fund Kade and all his toys.
An alert pops up, and I pause. I duck forward, clicking the notification, and my blood goes cold.
There’s not much that can do that nowadays, but…
My pretty little nemesis has flown the coop. Who said she could leave Sterling Falls?
That just won’t do.
Closing the laptop with a slam, I move to the far side. The metal wire shelving that houses my fun supplies. Plastic explosives, wire, random bits and bobs to use as detonators or filling to cause damage. I don’t do that so much, preferring the sheer brilliance of fire to lead the way.
It’s peace, as I said earlier. A single spark, a timer running out—okay, sure, that part might not be relaxing—and then it’s justover. It burns too hot for anyone to consider running, especially if they’re up close and personal.
I set to work crafting the perfect bomb to draw my dear Artemis back to Sterling Falls. She left? She’s not allowed to leave. It’s an unwritten rule, and maybe even unspoken. But that doesn’t mean shit.
She’s never left before, has she?
An entire life spent within the confines of this city.
What happens if she likes the outside better?
