When I came back to the kit the kids were already finished with their meals, and Jane eg at hers. The kids looked up at me, or more specifically the two boxes still in my hands, lig their lips.

  With a sigh I opehe two packages, split them betweehree of them, and while they were occupied, grabbed Jane and pulled her to the side. The nky brue shot me a dirty look, but mao snatch her meal off the table before she followed. “What the hell, Teddy? If you needed something you could have asked me at the table.”

  “No, I couldn't.” I replied, pulling out the pamphlet. “Have you seen this?”

  Jane eyed me up suspiciously, stuck her fork into her mouth, and opened up the paper. A momehe fork fell to the floor. “This is a joke, right? Tell me this is a joke?”

  “I got it from An. Based upon your rea I’d guess you haven’t seen it before.”

  “Of course not, I would have been ranting to you the instant you walked through the door.” She leaned against the wall, “You think it’s real?”

  “I fug hope not.” I pulled the paper out of her hands again and tucked it away. “But we ’t take any ces. I’ll go out and ask around about this ‘Guiding Light’ tomorrow. I need you to talk to An and find out where he got this.”

  She nodded, before leaning down to pick up her fork. “What are you going to do?”

  “Tonight, I’ll py with the kiddos, aomorrow? I’ll probably head to the Terminal. I think, out of everyone in the district, the Brokers probably have the best informatiowork. They don’t really owe me anything, but they have a lot to lose if this threat is real.”

  “Makes sense.” Jane wiped her fork on her shirt, then stuck it bato her meal. “I really hope this is a joke.”

  “Me too.”—

  Although the kids were happy to have me around, they obviously could sense something was wrong. They were smart enough not to ask, and I didn’t volunteer any information, so we ended up having a retively stress free night h-housing, story-telling, and plush animals.

  The m I woke early, snuck out to the garage, and prepared to go out. While I was unhooking the trailer I sent orders to my bears: they were to patrol the premises, double the prote on my family, aain anyone passing out ‘Guiding Light’ paraphernalia. I holy didn’t think they’d be stupid enough to be just walking around the street in gaory, but I wasn’t going to miss my ce if they were stupid.

  Ohat was set up, I piled into my truck with my squad and headed off. Sihe uy existed iual twilight, the Terminal was always open, and always busy. Since w vehicles, especially hover vehicles, were so rare in the uy my truck attracted a lot of attention. Mostly gawkers, but I knew from experience more than one person was eyeing my ride up for parts. Since I didn’t have the time, or patieo deal with unnecessary deys today I had Dusty and Deadbeat wait by the truck, ons on dispy. Hopefully that would be enough to keep people away; most people around here were desperate, not stupid.

  As I strode towards the entrahe crowd parted. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had a reputation around here now, or it was because I had a terrifyi foot tall killer bear following me arouher way my path was unobstructed right until I ehe main doors to the market, when a well-dressed man approached me and bowed.

  “Wele, Miss Samurai, how the Brokers help you today?”

  I looked him up and down, probably someone low oem pole around here, but hopefully he’d be able to get me where I wao go. “I’d like to talk to Mr. Jessup. It’s rather urgent.”

  “Of course, follow me.” The man quickly led me through the promenade, which, u time I was here, was absolutely packed. People were bartering for everything from low quality fabrics, to eleic scrap, typical uy fare. After a minute of passing through the crowd, my guide ended up leadio a well-guarded staircase on the east side. Although the well-dressed guards turned most people away, they didn’t even look our way as we passed them.

  As soon as I stepped out onto the sed floor I was amazed at how quiet it was pared to the level below. It appeared the Brokers did some renovations sihe st time I was here, as all the higher css stores had been rebuilt on this sed level. All the patrons on this level were well-dressed and had Broker escorts. None of them looked like the typical uy citizen, I wasn’t sure if they were people from the upper city looking for a thrill, or if the upper crust of the uy all shopped here.

  Sihere were no crowds on this upper level, we made our way swiftly to the end of the upper baly, where there was a heavy metal door set into the wall. My guide knocked, waited for a reply, then opehe door aured for me to enter.

  Ihe room was a well-furnished office, a massive desk sat in the middle of the room, and the back wall was full of security monitors. At the desk sat a man I was familiar with, Mr Jessup, head of security for the Brokers. The rge man looked up, and me. “Tiny Teddy, good to see you again.” He closed the puter that he was w on and sat straight, giving me his full attention. “I’m guessing this isn’t a social call.”

  “ly,” I said with a smirk as I pulled the flyer out of my pocket. As soon as he saw it he frowned.

  “Of course, it would be those jokers. I’m gd we’re not the only oaking them seriously. With your help we may eventually figure out who's behind this.”

  “So you already know about them?” I asked, colpsing into one of the chairs oher side of his desk.

  The big man snorted, “The sneaky fucks were right outside, iacks, passing out leaflets right on our doorstep, and we didn’t even find out about it until the less fortunates out there got uppity and attacked some patrons. Started looking into them right after that.”

  He pulled a folder from under his desk and passed it over to me. While I looked it over he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Our plete findings, but I summarize.” He took a quick drag, “As soon as we found those pamphlets, the boss asked me to track down whoever was responsible. It doesn’t matter if it’s really the Guiding Light or not, these nutjobs could cause some real damage if they mao get enough support. So we hired the Ravens to keep a.”

  I raised an eyebrow at that. The Ravens were a gang in the loosest sense of the word. They were more juhat abahe upper-city and found a pce down below. I’d never worked with them, why would I? They had enough skill to do dirty jobs for corps f bucks, and pay for people to guard their territory. Hiring them couldn’t have been cheap.

  “They got bae withiy-four have me a location, and I assigned a team to catch a few of the lunatics.” He took another puff of his cigarette, “What a shitshow that was. When we arrived there was a group in robes, very religious or cult looking, and as soon as they saw us they piled into an a looking car and started driving off. My boys opened up on the car, tried to disable it before they got away, but failed.”“I have a feeling it was more than bad luck,” I said.

  “Bullet proof car. No fug idea where they found something like that, but it was enough to allow them to escape despite our heavy ons.”

  “Fuck…”

  “Yeah. We tried to chase them, but quickly lost the car. You want to know the worst part? After we got back, and prepped for atempt I got a call from the Ravens, they told me someone broke into their base and pletely wrecked their setup. tract celled.” He put out his cigarette in an ashtray on the desk and looked me straight in the eyes. “I don’t know who’s behind this, but they’re not just trying to stir up trouble. They have some sort of bag and skill. Unfortunately, without someoo track these guys down, our iigation is at a standstill, but maybe we could make some progress with your help.”

  I nodded, “Maybe. Let me think about it.” I stood up and held out the folder to him.

  He just held up a hand, “Keep it, I have extras.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be in touch if I find anything.”

  I left the office a little more informed, and a lot more fused than when I went in. If Jessup’s information was correct, the Guiding Light had a backer, but who would want to cause that much chaos down here? If the Brokers had hit a standstill in their iigation already, then I’d have to do a lot more footwork.

  Guess it was time to head home and figure out my steps.