“Where are we going again?” Issi asked as she bounced around the backseat of the truck.

  “To the Indianapolis Family Headquarters,” I replied. “We’re only going to stop long enough for me to drop off all the equipment I promised Spark. Once that’s done, we’ll be heading to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, which is why it’s just you, me, and Bob today.”

  “What about Jane? And Eddie? And Jennifer? And Alan? And Mr. Froggington? And…” Issi asked. I knew the list would continue for quite awhile, so I decided to interrupt her.

  “They’re taking Jane’s new car into the city to do some shopping with Deadbeat and Bandit,” I explained.

  “They didn’t want to come? But you told me the museum had an exhibit on Am-Finnigans and another one on pirates! It’s exciting, right, Bob?” the seven year old prompted.

  Bob nodded his massive head slowly. “Very exciting. I can’t wait to learn more about the scurvy landlubbers.”

  “No no no,” Issi exclaimed. “That’s what we call the people that pirates raid. Pirates are the scurvy sea dogs!”

  “Oh, my mistake! I’m sure I’ll get it right by the end of the day,” Bob replied.

  I shook my head. When I had first suggested going to the museum, I’d expected either Jennifer or Eddie to want to come too. Unfortunately for me, I’d made the mistake of deciding to use a couple of the points I’d earned out in the Badlands to buy Jane her own vehicle.

  Nyx had provided her with a massive catalog of models, which she’d picked through over a couple hours before choosing a massive sleek hover sports utility vehicle. The kids, of course, immediately wanted to go for a ride and weren’t that interested in the children’s museum. Most of them, anyways.

  As I drove the truck over the city’s outer wall, the first thing I noticed was that Indianapolis wasn’t a megacity. It lacked the usual hexplate architecture and megabuilding core that every other city I’d visited relied upon. It looked like a lot of the buildings were old, very old. Some of them were probably even pre-antithesis. I’d heard there were a couple old-school cities still around, but this was just my first time seeing one.

  After we passed over the massive agricultural complexes just inside the city’s perimeter, we came upon a massive low-density housing area. Back home, in Calgary, only the super rich would have been able to afford a private domicile inside the walls. Space was a premium after all. This area was so wide, however, that there had to be at least middleclass families living there.

  The city’s core contained a number of traditional skyscrapers surrounding a massive, more modern-looking building made of metal and crystalline glass. Instead of having a single parking structure at the building’s base or being connected to an independent parking structure, the massive building had a parking garage every few floors. It kind of made the structure look like some sort of hive, with a steady stream of vehicles coming and going.

  “Cool! It looks like a superhero building,” Issi exclaimed once we got closer.

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  “It’s all shiny and the center of attention!” she chirped.

  “What’s that make the Shelter? It’s the complete opposite of that!” I exclaimed.

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  The girl thought for a moment. “Supervillain lair. Still respectable.”

  “I don’t know if I should be proud or insulted by that comparison,” I muttered.

  As we got closer, the truck received a tight beam message, which directed us up to one of the garages near the top. Unlike the other garages, there wasn’t much traffic in this area. In fact, it looked like most people were giving this area a wide berth.

  When we got closer, the heavily armored door smoothly slid open, almost like it was inviting us in. Once we passed into the fortified hangar, it was apparent why.

  This was definitely a samurai-only area. There was a massive futuristic dropship on one side of the area and several high-tech vehicles that were beyond anything commercially available. As I and the small convoy of Kodiaks following closely behind me came in for landing, I noticed a small group of women heading towards the dropship.

  “Evie, Superheroes!” Issi squealed as she saw the group.

  “I’m pretty sure those are just samurai, Issi,” I replied. “Just like me and my friends.”

  Issi looked towards the small group, then at me, then back at the group again. “You and your friends are pretty boring,” she mumbled.

  “I run around in armor with a bear muzzle and wear a cloak with bear ears,” I replied indignantly. “We’re only boring compared to other samurai.”

  The group members crossing the garage were far from boring. The woman in the lead was wearing a heavy firefighting outfit with a lizard-like tail sticking out the back. She had what, at first glance, appeared to be an extinguisher on her back, but on closer look appeared to be some sort of flamethrower. Directly behind her was a woman in a full parka and cold weather gear, and bringing up the rear was what I could only describe as a vaguely humanoid liquid shape whose arms extended and contracted as they swung them back and forth.

  “Do you know them?” Issi asked excitedly.

  “I don’t know every single samurai, Issi. I don’t think I even know every samurai in Calgary,” I replied.

  “So you dun know Bulwark?” the girl pouted.

  “No?” I said, confused. “How do you know them?”

  She pointed towards the back of the garage, where an absolutely massive set of power armor squeezed out of the elevator. The armor looked hunched over, even when standing straight up, with a large rounded head sticking out the front. If I squinted the armor almost looked like…

  “He's a froggy,” Issi declared before I could finish the thought.

  As it crossed the garage, the color of the armor shifted subtly, matching the color of the surrounding environment. Despite being so large, the armor was surprisingly agile and cleared the gap between the elevator and my truck before I’d even left the cab.

  “Are you the welcoming committee?” I asked as I jumped down.

  The big suit managed something similar to a nodding motion.

  “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” I joked.

  “Actually, Bulwark’s vocal cords were crushed along with a number of their other organs when they were buried alive after a battle with the Antithesis in Brazil,” a voice announced, echoing out of the suit. “They only managed to survive with the help of the suit’s life support systems. I’m Dys, Bulwark’s AI, and I’ll be talking for them.”

  “Ahhhhh…” I said, wincing slightly. That was probably the absolute worst thing I could have said. I couldn’t have made a worse first impression if I tried. “That sucks, buddy. I’ve been there, had my chest completely caved in by a vehicle during a hive assault. I could lend you the catalogs I used to fix the damage, if you wanted.”

  Bulwark didn’t move for several seconds. Which made me worry that I had insulted the mysterious pilot even more. I just clamped my mouth closed, afraid that if I said anything else I’d just dig myself deeper.

  “Although Bulwark appreciates your offer, they decline. They have grown fond of their armor and are not willing to abandon it anytime soon,” Dys declared.

  “Suit yourself,” I muttered before wincing again. “Sorry, that wasn’t intentional.”

  “It happens. Ms. Spark has invited you up to the living area so she can show you around, introduce her family, and discuss when would be the best time to visit the grove,” Dys declared.

  I glanced back into the truck. Issi had undone her belt and was leaning over the front seat. “What do you think, Issi? Can you wait for a couple minutes, or do you want to head right to the museum?”

  “Can I talk with Mr. Bulwark about froggies?” the girl asked.

  “Of course young lady,” Dys replied nearly instantly. “Bulwark would love to.”

  “Huzzah! Come on, Bob, we are going visiting,” the girl declared as she disappeared back into the truck.

  I glanced back at the big suit, which shrugged. “Bulwark likes kids,” Dys said.

  “What should I do with all this equipment I brought?” I asked. “I assume that Spark would like to take it apart in a lab somewhere. Although, I guess that’s not strictly necessary, since she was taking stuff apart on my hangar room floor yesterday.”

  “She does get excited,” Dys agreed. “You can have your bears pile it up in the corner over there. She can retrieve it when she’s ready.”

  When Issi jumped down from the truck, the big suit crouched down slightly and extended a hand, a single finger extended so she could grab it. Despite only being able to see the hard metal exterior of the suit, I could imagine a smiling face deep within.

  “Shall we go?” Dys asked. “Spark awaits.”

  This arc features Spark from 'A Spark of Sylvan Flame' - Go give them some love!

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