Cass weaves through broken ruins like a leaf upon the wind. Effortlessly weaving in between long abandoned vehicles, Cass feels his legs tense as each step launches him faster and farther than he has ever moved before until he finally stops at the top of a bus with the town of Trash Heap in view. 

“Woah! It should’ve taken a few hours but it only took me less than one! You can already see that giant neon sign that hangs over the entrance of the town.” Cass says as he hops in place, still naturally high from the new power. “I can definitely get used to this.”

Smiley glitches into view beside him. “Should you go into town like that?”

Cass looks at him then himself before sighing and reverting back to basic. He takes the cassette and puts it away in his pocket. 

“You aren’t going to toss that one too?”

Cass pats his pocket and says “Something tells me that these can come in handy so I wanted a scraper to take a look at it. Oh and while I have you here, as I was running there, it felt very real. Are you sure that it’s all cybernetics?”

Smiley looks at him with slight confusion. “I’m not a god or anything. Cold Light can do amazing things but no, it didn’t turn you into a real half cheetah man.” he says with a small chuckle.

“I looked at the code for it and it seems to be a total physical alteration with incredibly high tech synthetic tech. Synthetic all the way from the bones to the hairs. The only unchanged parts are the organs and brain.”

“Okay, that leads into my next question. How am I able to alter and revert at all, let alone to that extent?”  

Smiley rolls his eyes, “look, I’m not going to explain all this again.”

“I understand that there is a Cold Light engine in my chest but that doesn’t really make sense.”

“Oh I see what is wrong. You misunderstood what I said before. You are the engine. I placed your brain into a synthetic skull I created and placed it in a Cold Light engine.” Smiley walks up and points at his head. “That is all that’s left of your original body. I know it is a lot but we should be moving.”

Cass looks at Smiley with a straight face which confuses Smiley. “You seem remarkably calm about that.”

“You saw my body before. I was eighty percent cybernetic and old cybernetic at that. Well, old in general to be fair. I checked out of life a long time ago so this has done nothing but breathe life back into me so we’re good.” Cass says with total sincerity as he hops down from the bus and heads toward the town.

Trash Heap, a small but bustling town. Each building is littered with graffiti and all sorts of neon signs. Holograms advertising the newest SixShotSurplus weapons and the latest convenience appliances from Aquatech. Cass stops just short of the entrance as the front gate has a new security structure built in the place of the old gate. Standing guard are the same black and gold uniformed soldiers that were with Quinn.

‘Shit. play it cool. I’m sure that it’s fine.’ Cass thinks to himself as he walks up to the line leading to the entrance just to be blocked by four massive buses as they speed around him and loop around to encircle the entrance and all the citizens in line, already waiting to go in.

Large modified school buses, painted blue with the word slaughter with the S crossed out, painted across the tops. A voice speaks out from the speakers bolted to the front of each bus.

“Ladies and gentlemen! I’m proud to welcome you to the fabulous and fantastical $laughter show!” As he speaks the three buses unbuckle and fall open to form a circular stage and rows of seats as performers of all sorts come spilling out. A massive clown that towers over Cass comes over to the crowd and a small man leaps off his shoulder, wearing a ringmasters coat and a face full of clown-like makeup.

“I am Ringmaster Jim and if you’d be so kind as to allow us, we’ll show you marvels and magic beyond your imagination!” he says as he moves aside and points to the seats with a cane and a massive grin.

Most of the people outside and a few from inside filter in as the show begins. Cass figures that he may be able to slip in during the end commotion but decides to wait till after the show and stands off to the side of the seats.

The show starts off slow with a few novel acts. Acrobatics, clown shows, robotic animals jumping through hoops, until the second to last show plays and Cass notices that the guards are more focused on the show and not the gate and he starts to slip away. 

As he does, he runs into one of the clowns. He apologizes and the clown goes to shake his hand and Cass returns the gesture. Cold ice runs through his body as his head grows heavy and two massive tentacles grow from his head and the tips swell until they resemble bells and he falls over. 

The clown grabs him and pulls him behind the bus. “I have no idea what’s going on but it’s probably best to get you out of eyesight.”

Smiley pops into view. “Did you forget that you assimilated cyberware?”

The clown sits down with Cass. “It takes some getting used to but it looks like you are a Bell Clown.” he points to the tentacles, “you walk on those.”

Cass slowly pushes himself up and hovers in a leg crossed position as his ‘hat’ holds him up. “Interesting, what is your guys’ deal? Aside from the animals, you all look non cybernetic.” 

The clown chuckles and stands back up as the Ringmaster calls for the last act. “Find us sometime later and I’ll tell you all about it and I expect you to tell me about your deal in exchange.” he holds out his hand. “The names Top.” 

Hesitant but returning the handshake. “You got yourself a deal, Top. My name is Cass.” 

Cass waits for Top to leave before reverting. 

Smiley looks around the corner and says the coast is clear.

Cass turns around the corner and comes within inches of one of the guards back and silently turns back around the corner and glares at smiley who is laughing to himself. “In my defense, it was a fifty-fifty shot. I’m a mental projection, I can’t see what you can’t.”

Cass slowly moves around the back end of the buses until he gets up to the unguarded gate, slipping past a few bystanders enjoying the show. Making his way through the litter covered streets until he comes to a ramshackle, run down building with an old fashioned sign that says “Trash Heap Multi Guild.” 

He pushes open the creaky and massive door. Inside are a few chairs and a woman at a desk, fully asleep.

Cass walks up to the desk and says, “Excuse me?” 

The woman launches from her chair, “I wasn’t asleep again, Stone!” She looks up at Cass. “Oh my! A person! How may I help you today, sir?”

“I was looking to become a Multi and get a pass.”

Her eyes light up as she starts shuffling through piles of papers and takes out a tablet and hands it to Cass before grabbing his arm. “Oh! You’ll need to meet Stone. He is the guild leader here.” she says as she drags him to the back office and barges in.

Standing by a massive desk is a man who looks similar to how Cass looked before. Eighty percent cyberware, massive, square brick-like head with a tank top and camo pants on.  

“Don’t just barge in, Lila.” he says with clear exasperation.

“We have a new person, Stone!” She says as she pulls Cass into his office.

“I can see that, Lila. What’s your name, kid?”

Cass straightens up, “Cass.”

“Well, Cass, are you familiar with the process at all?”

“Vaguely, I believe I have to complete two jobs before 

I can be fully licensed. A job requested by the town and one by the guild itself.”

Stone looks slightly impressed, “That is exactly right. I have one’s that are perfect right here. First one is a request from the local doctor for a few Cold Star herbs. Go fill out the little amount of paperwork while Lila gets you a temporary card.”

“Sounds good to me.” Cass says as he takes the tablet Lila handed him and fills out the forms and hands it back to her.”oh right, can I ask you something?”

Lila perks up again, “of course!”

“Who are the military guys out in front of the gate? They weren’t here last time I stopped here.”

“Those are the Z.M.G. The Zodiac Military Group. A new mercenary group.” She says with a hint of venom on her tongue.

“Not a fan?”

“They’ve been recruiting multi’s and it’s really eating into our ability to do our job. We can’t be a guild with no guild.”

“I see. Well I better pass my exam so you have a new member.”

“Good luck!” Lila calls after Cass as he leaves the Guild.