Kev and the two lieutenants had been following the cavern for a few miles. The cavern may have been natural, but had been reinforced over time. The supports were ramshackle at best but seemed to be doing the job. It did seem to be a little dustier than a cavern should be; there was no visible water either, which was weird considering that the cavern was caused by erosion, which sort of required water.

The lieutenants took advantage of the time to square away some details, figuring that as long as they kept the chatter down to a minimum and in the subvocal range; they still maintained a good grip on their rifles. Kev kept a few paces ahead of them to ensure that he could hear better; every so often he would go a bit further and then wait for the two to catch up; the movement allowed him to be sneak ahead of the two armor-clad women. Without his tattoos active he practically faded into the shadows.

It was after one of these excursions that they came upon Kev listening for something. He motioned for them to be quiet. They slowed down and prepared for action. What they saw as they approached him was a series of lights just ahead of him. A pair of sentries guarded an open door. The sentries were well-armed, but lacked decent armor; they were just boys, maybe thirteen, wearing thick leather armor, jeans, and boots. They were talking, loudly and ignoring the area around them.

Lieutenant Prowse did some quick motions and dropped into a prone position; she quickly had the boys in her sights. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Sawyer grabbed Kev and he quickly fell into position behind her. She approached the door. In a few moments, she was standing before the boys.

They continued to ignore her. She cleared her throat. They grabbed their weapons. Kev tensed but she motioned for him to heel. Kev took advantage of the situation to look over the boys; they were unwashed, thin, and their lips were chapped. He looked inside the door, and the area inside was a bit more subdued than he was expecting.

The taller boy looked at her, then smiled at the other boy. “Wasicus. Heh.” The other boy smiled back. The first boy faced her. “Good thing that you stopped. Your kind isn't allowed inside.”

She relaxed her weapon a bit. “Then get me someone I can talk to. I bring trade.”

The boys shuffled a bit, then turned. After some intense whispering, the smaller boy ran off. “Mike'll bring back Scythe. He's our negotiator.”

“Fine.”

“I like your armor. I hope that's part of the trade.”

"I may be able to get you your own suit.”

"That would be nice.”

The smaller boy returned, an older boy in tow. Behind a dozen boys were following at a distance. They each had a rifle and various melee weapons. The older boy was in jeans and a vest, wiry with a scythe tattoo on his chest. Two blades lay flat on his forearms, ready to spring into position at a moment's notice. The two pulled up to Lieutenant Sawyer. “Nice blades. You must be Scythe.”

He ran his fingers through his copper hair, more to show off the blade on his right arm than anything else. “You're wasicus. As such you're not allowed in the lamptown unless you've won your way in. We can do this the easy way or the hard way?”

She went to subvocal. “How many could you take out?”

There was a meaningful pause. “The first two and this new kid easy. Maybe another three or four before they started shooting at me.”

"Okay. Stay frosty.” She looked at Scythe and returned to normal mode. “What's the easy way?”

Scythe smiled, as did most of the boys. “Me and the boys here spar with the two of you. No weapons, just boxing. If we decide you're tough enough, we let you in.”

“Sound vaguely fun. Fine. The first sign of a weapon and my friend here brings out his sword.”

He inspected Kev. He smiled. “He doesn't look like he has a sword. This should be an easy match; we have an army.”

“We have a Kev. Kev, knock-outs only, and only use weapons if they do.”

She got out of his way as he stepped forward. “I understand, Lieutenant.”

She took another few steps. “This should be fun.”

The boys charged. Kev braced, then practically became nothing but a blur. He merely slapped the boys as quickly as he could; they flew backward but were unconscious when they hit the ground. He grabbed some attackers and pulled them in, slamming them against each other. The smile on Scythe's face quickly faded into a scowl. As the last boy fell, he flexed, his blades flew out, and he grabbed the blades as he charged Kev.

Kev glared at him but the glare disappeared as he took the fight more seriously. He merely hit the younger boy in his solar plexus. Scythe fell to the ground.

Between gasps, he was able to get out a few words. “Trade was mentioned?”

"Yep.” Kev faded into the background as she came forward again. “I'm Lieutenant Melany Sawyer from Fort Solace. I'm empowered to trade on their behalf.” Mike and the other boy were taken aback. Lieutenant Sawyer smiled inside; Scythe tried to act cool but she had caught just the slightest hint of surprise. She went subvocal: “So, think General Martins will back my play?”

She could hear the smile in Lieutenant Prowse's voice. “Depends on what you get, in all honesty. I'm not sure they have much to trade.”

“Not the point, actually.”

"True. Fine; keep in mind that we always have spare camping supplies and the scavenge teams are always finding comics and toys.”

“Roger.” She switched to normal mode. “So, what do you have to trade?” She knew that they didn't have much but she may as well start somewhere.

He looked her over. “We can take what we want from you so don't mess with us.”

She smirked. “Fine, but let's keep this civil. We're looking for information about the general area, and where to find some wizards. We'll accept sorcerers in a pinch.”

“That information is expensive.”

Kev tapped her on the shoulder. She leaned back. He whispered, “Ask if they have an empty pool.”

Intrigued, she stood straight up. “Do you have an empty pool? I think we may have something interesting for you.”

Scythe's eyebrow went up. “Yeah, for the boarders.”

Kev looked at Scythe. “We can trade water for the information.”

Scythe looked hungry for a trade. “Okay. We have information on a couple of bands of sorcerers. We could even hook you up with the Green Skulls.”

"I don't know what a “Green Skull” is, but I'll bet we could talk.” She felt Kev's presence behind her. “Show us where the pool is and let us talk to them and some of your scouts.”

"Fine. Follow me.” He motioned for them to follow. The two followed and she switched to subvocal. “We'll be back shortly. Give us fifteen minutes before asking about an update.”

“Roger.” A moment's concentration and a small stopwatch appeared at the bottom of her vision. “Clock is running.”

They went past several small buildings, apparently garden sheds that had been built right here. There were plenty of tents, but there was also power as evident by the number of lights in play. Kids played on various devices, some of which were plugged in. They followed Scythe to an empty pool. It was deep but had been smoothed; a crowd of kids with skateboards was using it as a miniature skate park. Scythe cleared everyone out. “Here you go.”

Kev looked up, measuring the ceiling height.“Thanks.” He calculated the volume of the pool and turned to Scythe. “This could get messy but it will take about ten minutes.”

Lieutenant Sawyer glared at the boy. “If you could go grab the information requested, please?” He walked off, miffed.

Kev reached behind his back. She could see the outline of a wave. As he touched the tattoo his eyes flashed a greenish-blue and they appeared to become pure fluid for a moment. A cloud formed over the pool and rose just ten feet. It started raining; the kids started whooping and hollering, clothes were shed, and it quickly became an impromptu swimming party.

She looked at Kev. He straightened up. “One of the first tattoos I asked for was for the ability to control water. It is good for waves.” He shrugged as she smiled.

Scythe returned with a couple of other kids in tow. Two were in camouflage from head to toe and the other was a girl with long green hair. “Stance and Lawn are two of our best scouts; they should have the information you need about the local area. She's Glorious; she's a sorceress.” The boys saluted as she curtsied. She returned the salute; the boys stood a little taller. Glorious smiled at Kev; he was flustered.

"One last thing, Scythe: Could you get me a leader? We need to discuss something big.” She took a step closer to him and lowered her voice. “I'm curious about an alliance.”

He smiled. “I figured you would try that. Based on this, however, it could happen.” He walked off.

"Kev, do you mind interviewing Glorious? We need to know what she and the others are capable of.” Kev's eyes rolled as Glorious stepped in his direction. She looked at the two boys. “Just a sec, guys.” The two went to attention. She switched to subvocal. “Jules, you there?”

“Yessir.”

“We should be good. Just hang there for a little and we should be coming out.”

“Roger.”

She focused on the kids next to her. "This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.