Marcellus saw Tivon’s parachute sink to the ground below not too far off. Ava joined him in orienting themselves towards him. It was long before they pulled their chutes and floated gently down. Not many people bothered to pay them any heed and those that did only bothered with side glances.

It was a badly kept secret that Tivon’s paramilitary group, Miracle, operated out of the slums of Zone 9. In fact the only thing that really kept the soldiers of Caelum from coming after them was one simple fact: nearly everyone in the slums hated them. Those who did not either did not care enough, know enough, or knew and were scared of Tivon and his group. Supposedly Miracle used to be significantly more volatile in their approach but ever since the previous leader died Tivon had dropped the group’s intensity a gear or two down. Regardless, their reputation stayed the same: freedom fighters willing to go at any length to bring down Caelum and their thugs.

Touching down was uneventful. Dawn would not have been far from the horizon if this city had afforded them the view. Dust kicked up around them as their boots hit the ground causing Ava to cough for a moment.

“I have never seen a place covered in so much dirt,” Marcellus said, more to himself than anything else.

“That’s because of the never ending pollution from the factories. It doesn’t help that the land under and surrounding Urbium is long dead,” Ava responded morosely.

Kneading the heel of his boot into the ground, Marcellus saw that she was right. No soil. The ground was completely composed of sand, grit, gravel, rock, and dust. Looking toward the city above him the thought crossed his mind that it did not matter much anyways. Even if the land was alive not enough sunlight could ever reach down here and help things grow – patches during noon if they were lucky.

The thought also occurred to him that he was essentially employed by eco-terrorists. Regardless of the nobility of their cause they still amounted to being tree hugging hippies with guns and bombs. Marcellus could care less about whether there was grass growing here or not.

Marcellus sighed. He definitely was not being paid enough for this. But he supposed that this was more a favor than a job to begin with. Ava needed his help. Marcellus needed credits. She got the “old time’s sake” discount. He got a fairly easy job. It was a win-win all around.

The junk yard they landed in was piled high enough so that any onlooker from the outside would have no idea precisely where they landed, and more importantly where they were heading. Most times after each job each of the group would split up and head back to the hideout separately so as to not attract suspicion. Tivon was already on his way before Marcellus waylaid his progress.

“My pay,” he stated flatly.

“Yea, yea pretty boy. Your pay’s waiting for you back at the cave,” Tivon said dismissively.

This irked Marcellus who wanted to be paid and gone. He did his favor and wanted to keep moving. Being in Urbium was never something he ever expressly wanted to do again. And being here any longer then was necessary was not an option for him.

“It better be,” Marcellus said as he stood out of Tivon’s way.

“Hmph,” Tivon responded nearly shoving past Marcellus.