I walked the drab halls of the hidden head quarters deep in the mountainside. The smell had all but vanished now that I was used to it. The people were stacked deep in every avaible crevasse that one could fit.

  I gnced around, worried about what Yeti had said about supplies about to dwindle. If that were to come to pass, all this would be for not. People would turn on each other, and the moon would turn to total chaos, if not just gssed all together by the Gellys.

  This was our st-ditch effort, and I owed it to Gabriel to let him know what his part was.

  The guards were outside the door, pying a game of cards with guns strapped to their backs. I didn’t bme them for passing the time. One saw me coming and stood quickly, almost tipping over their table. He saluted and stood too stiffly for just another merc. His partner turned to see what he was looking and followed in line.

  “Rex, guys, I’m here to see the ‘you know who’.”

  “Head on in, Miss Vixie.” They snapped their salutes as I walked into the room, closing the door behind me.

  Gabriel was sitting on his bed, reading a tablet to pass the time. I felt a little sorry for the guy, going straight from prison to another cell. It must have been rough, but he just turned to me and smiled.

  “Nice to see you again. How long am I gonna be stuck in here? Not that I’m ungrateful, but I feel like I can accomplish more out there than stuck up in here.”

  “Then you’re in luck, you’re getting out tonight.” I pulled up a chair to sit down across from him. His eyes were kind, creased with smile lines.

  “Great, what’s our pn with dealing with the Gellys? I don’t use a gun much anymore, but I’m sure I can help somewhere.”

  “You can help…”

  “With?”

  “Were sending you back up to the Gellys.”

  “Oh…” His lightheartedness faded and his eyes fell to the ground, “I was worried about this. I don’t bme you guys though. You do what you have to, to survive this, and I always knew that one day, I would finally face my past.”

  “You’re not going alone. We’re not giving you up. We’re better than that.” I smiled, “We’re going with you, and then cutting the head off the snake.”

  “Oh!”

  “Yup, you’re the bait for out ship to get up there and then we will kill every Gelly on that ship, then take it for ourselves. This moon needs some defense from the oncoming revenge of Corpos and Gellys. This is our only option.”

  Gabriel hung his head down low, “I get it. This death of every Gellical thing isn’t my favorite. Feels like I’m undoing all the work I did to redeem myself. But I understand that the people of this city were wronged too. It’s a tough choice.”

  “There is no choice. I hate to put you in this position, but we’ve all been fucked tely. You’ve seen out in the halls here. If we don’t do this, everyone on this moon dies. I’m just letting you know the pn, in case you have any insights that we need to know about?”

  “Yes, um,…” he cleared his throat, his eyes darting around his bed, “Um, the ship will have a self-destruct feature, probably tied to Micheal, but they would rather sacrifice thousands than let a ship fall into an Anthro’s hands. Make sure we disarm it before you kill him. Besdies that, be ready to deal with a hundred Missionaries armed to the teeth.”

  “We have a pn to deal with most of them. If everything goes well, we won’t have to fight them all. We’ll just have a big cleanup on our hands.” I stood to leave. I needed to get ready for the fight ahead.

  “Killing them all won’t change anything. It’s a heavy burden on you all.”

  I stopped and turned to face the man, “I’m not a helpless little girl anymore. I’ve changed too. Now, I get things done for my family. If I must wipe out every Gelly bitch to save them, then I will. Taking out Michael will change things. The Gellys will be shaking in their boots.” I smirked at him as I left the room.

  He lost his fight, but I didn’t. Sometimes, we need to fight to change reality for the better. Something many Anthros knew instinctively. Something I had to learn. Something I would never forget.