Paige POV –

  I rolled my eyes as Ethan tried to convince Alfred he could try and make a new model of skelebud based on the sequel film. “Ethan, as advanced and nifty as Alfred and his creations are, I don’t think he has a way to make them go from bein' molten jelly one moment, to cold and hard steel the next.”

  “No harm in asking!” Ethan shouted. “You just don’t think out of the box enough Paige; Y‘never had much imagination.”

  I gasped. “Imagination? You’d call rippin' off ideas from a movie ‘creative’? What a joke!”

  Julia walked in, interruptin' our conversation. She looked worse for wear, her braids were comin' loose, her uniform was partially unbuttoned, full dark circles under her eyes, and her face was all puffy and red like she’d just finished cryin'. Ethan and I exchanged a worried look.

  “Hey, you two.” She gave a tired smile. “A lot happened over the st day and a half, and we need to talk about it.” She sighed, sittin' on the loveseat left of me and across from Ethan.

  An awkward silence consumed us for a few minutes before she finally began. “I had a pse in judgment regarding our dealin's with Sarah… I was on a ticking clock for our food supply, and ran to the first solution that cropped up; that was my first mistake.” I frowned, she was probably about to get around to why she looked like a total mess, and this time I was at least a bit gd it wasn’t my fault, even if that was a different sort of mess.

  She was givin' off ‘mom cheated on dad’ vibes, the air was thick with guilt. “I underestimated how easily they might get spotted traveling the surface, and because of me…” She started sobbin'. “They’re all dead. Men, women, children, all of them… It was all my fault!” I winced as she began sob yellin'.

  I leaned over, puttin' a reassurin' hand on her shoulder. “Surely not? I can’t imagine the woman who saved a couple of scavs like us bein' responsible for a massacre.”

  She took a second to wipe her tears and took a deep breath before she spoke. “The thing is, I could have helped them when they came under attack… I just sat there and watched, I deemed their lives worth less than revealing our existence to the Klexon.” Her tone was cold, but her voice wavered.

  Ethan’s face was dark. “You thought more than a hundred people were worth less than the xenos ‘knowing’ we exist, despite clearly not having any way to find us here?!” He shouted, Julia flinched at his words before startin' to cry again.

  I gave Ethan an annoyed look and mouthed ‘What the fuck dude?’ before liftin' Julia to her feet and guidin' her to her penthouse. Even if she did make a mistake, she was clearly in no state to argue about it.

  Leadin' her in, I sat down next to her on the edge of her bed, passin' her some tissues. “Don’t mind Ethan too much, okay? He gets fired up really easily, and we didn’t really get the full story anyway.” She nodded slightly.

  She stopped cryin' after a few minutes, and decided she’d shoe me away. “I think I need some sleep... It’s been two days without any.” My eyes went a little wide with the realization that she was just in the command room the whole time Ethan and I had time off even with her eyes corroboratin' the fact, but I left her to it. It’s best she gets some sleep anyway.

  Quietly closin' the door, Alfred called me on my tablet. “Hello, Paige. I need you alone for a minute.” I sighed, but nodded. I didn’t really want any more bad news, and what else but bad news would you get when asked to be talked to privately?

  “I need you to help keep Julia stable. I’ve reviewed her pysch files looking for the treatments she was most receptive to. I’ll send you a report.” Albert forwarded the report, notifyin' me on my tablet.

  I sighed “Alfred, if I know people I’d know that they aren’t gonna like their friend treatin' them like some broken machine to be fixed by a simple set of instructions.”

  Alfred responded. “Good point, you’re probably right. I will still alert you if I notice anything concerning happening with her, though.”

  “Yep, that should be fine.” I agreed with a smile.

  Alfred added. “In other important news, I need you at command now. We received a hail from an unknown source, pinning them dead center of the Mariana’s Trench of all pces.” I stopped in my tracks.

  “Right away!” I turned and hurried to my room to get dressed.

  Makin' my way into the command room, the moment I sat down at my station, Alfred popped up on-screen. “Vice Commander, from some intel I managed to collect; the ones who are contacting us are from a rger settlement, we may need to err on the side of caution, but keep in mind we only have two weeks left of our food supply.”

  “Alright, put ‘em through, just nudge me in the right direction if you have anythin' to advise.” To which Alfred responded with a thumbs up.

  I put on my poker face as a handsome man in a business suit appeared on screen. “To whom do I have the pleasure?” I asked. Alfred had been helpin' coach me on how to talk all formal like.

  The man grinned. “I’m Victor Zhang, an ambassador from Mariana City.”

  Paige nodded. Alfred sent me a text expinin' that we haven’t picked an official name yet so I could just introduce us as D.A.I. Corp. Since that’s what the facility used to be anyway. “I’m Vice Commander Paige Tailor of D.A.I. Corp. I’m curious, how did you manage to find our comms keys?” The only one who should have access to the encryption key in the outside would be Sarah Connor, and I assumed she was dead after the attack the other day.

  He gave a disarmin' smile. “Some surface dweller came to us about it after a video leaked showcasing some of the tech D.A.I. Corp. fields.” I sighed. It was probably some eager frontier journalist that recorded all that. “It seems their information was accurate seeing as you have a simir uniform to Julia, the woman in the video.” Damn, he even knows Julia’s name?

  Hidin' my creepin' nerves, I began to ask. “So, what is it that you want to do with us?” I’d assume he just wants our tech, but we’ll see. Alfred also sent a note tellin' me we should try and get some info on the outside world.

  He rubbed the back of his head in a show of –probably bullshit- hesitancy. “You see, some of the things we heard and saw about D.A.I. Corp. puts you far ahead of most of the Council Nations and even the Klexon. I was hoping we might be able to purchase weapons and technology from you if possible?”

  I paused. I wasn’t sure if this was really my decision to make, I was only Vice Commander. That bein' said Julia was in no state to negotiate at this moment. I decided to dey the actual deal and only gather information for now. “Unfortunately, only my superior, Julia, could make that decision for us… What I will say though is that we are very new to the current state of global affairs, only havin’ just come out of isotion. It would help a lot and buy you goodwill if you’d put together some history of your City and Council Nations.” I expined.

  His face went sour for a moment at the mention of Council Nations. I doubted its existence was a secret, but he probably realized it could have been kept secret to keep us dependent, a mistake I wasn’t keen to make after the Sarah situation. Obviously, us keepin' secret was out of the bag anyway havin’ the skelebuds and Julia on tape for all to see. “That sounds agreeable. On that note, I have another suggestion; our Ministries are holding a party for state officials this week, if you wish, perhaps I could extend an invite for you to attend? We are aware you have precise portal technology that should allow you to attend, do you not?”

  It was my turn to go sour. Knowin' our comm encryption code to contact us was one thing, but to have an information leak about one of our most prized bits of technology was another. “If you would, please. I can have our leader Julia meet you then, at least as a pre-text to future retions. I don’t know that she’ll want to discuss the deal on the spot before we learn more about your people, but there’s a good chance.” I could bring up our food situation but that would make our position appear much weaker, I’d sooner leave that decision to Julia, even if the clock was'a tickin'.

  He nodded, satisfied with my answer. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they used to say. I’ll have my assistant forward you the details and coordinates for your portal given I’m sure you don’t want to just appear in the middle of the street.” He dryly chuckled.

  “Thank you, ambassador. Be seein' you soon.” He responded with a mock salute before endin' the call.

  I slowly spun in my chair as I mulled over the details. Alfred made himself known again. “I might not be the best at reading humans, but this must be what they mean by politicians are snakes.”

  I ughed. “Yup, sadly that’s a big part of negotiatin' with people; s'not my first rodeo. A lot has to go unsaid, and I don’t wanna overstep my station here given Julia is our decision-maker and currently absent.”

  Goin' through the data I learned quite a bit about the other foreign nations. To summarize, there’s over a hundred rge survivor cities located either up to a kilo or more underground, and in deep parts of the sea. Most of these city-state like nations, although some are formed from multiple cities, make up the Council of Nations. The council of nations from what I’ve gathered is a global organization used for information sharin' and international agreements. They never meet physically for the most part given how difficult traversin' between the cities would be for anyone that isn’t a scavver. The Ocean States generally have an advantage in negotiations and trade since they can successfully hide their routes usin' underwater vehicles to deliver to other Ocean States or the occasional coastal Under City which sometimes have a below sea-level port, the retionship between Mariana City and nearby undercity of New Tokyo bein' a good example.

  I sighed. Too much to learn, and not enough time. I might as well make arrangements now for the meeting.

  That night, I was awoken by Alfred. Julia had just woken up in serious distress, Alfred wanted me to check on her. I quickly threw on a housecoat and rushed to her room. Openin' the door, she was clenching her fists to the point her knuckles were blue, screamin', and cryin' her eyes out.

  Alfred had already tried to talk to the poor girl, but he couldn’t get through to her. Now it was my turn to try. “Julia? Are you okay?” I moved closer, leanin' in a bit to try 'n' get her attention. She either ignored me or was so out of it that she didn’t notice me.

  “Julia, can you talk to me for a minute?” I was startin' to get worried, I didn’t have that much experience helpin' people out of panic attacks.

  “Julia?!” I tried to snap out her out of it again, tears buildin' up at the corners of my eyes. Still, no response, and I was gettin' panicked too now after noticin' there was blood poolin' up on her hands and through her fingers. It wasn’t my brightest choice but, I tried to finally snap her out of it with a sp.

  *SLAP*

  She looked up at me, finally realizin' I was there. Without even a second thought I pulled her into a hug. Gently pyin' with her hair. She seemed to calm down with some reassurin' words enough for me to fix up her hands, I had gotten the bandages from the kit Julia had by her front door. It was hard - seein' her usually cheery self like this.

  She gave a quick “Thank you.” and I smiled back at the poor thing. Hard to believe she was ever an old man. I felt she could’ve been like a little sister to me in that moment.

  I took her to wash up in the bath, 'n' even got in with her. She might be petite and admittedly attractive to my sapphic self, but we’re both girls and I wasn’t about to take advantage of her anyway, preferences be damned.

  I gave her another warm smile. This all reminded me of the time Ethan and I nursed a bird with a broken wing back to health, even in spite of the fact we cked in food and supplies, we helped anyway. Ethan had especially insisted we help the bird. Lack of maturity aside, his innocent heroism was always somethin' I admired; especially the fact his moral compass survived through the countless tragedies we’d been through.

  I stayed with Julia that night, givin' her the little motherly love I could.

  Julia asked me to take over for her until she was feelin' better. I had my work cut out for me arrangin' pns with Victor’s assistant, Sebastian. He was a capable guy, givin' us both schematics for a domestically produced vehicle to avoid suspicion as well as some of that same company’s old hovercraft models, that way Albert could combine the two designed and we could traverse their city without raisin' too much suspicion.

  I asked Alfred a lot about Julia’s preferences on how best to prepare for the state party. Alfred was usin' a lot of her old psych testing documentation as reference, from which I learned a lot of about Julia that made me feel like I was diggin' too far into her private life. I learned about her as a person. She was forced over and over in multiple simutions to deal with intense dysphoria, often goin' through the trauma of comin' out to her family and friends, but not bein' accepted; almost made me cry. Several simutions had them actually treatin' her condition too; those st few were the most useful given she had a chance to pick her own wardrobe and develop her sense of self. Alfred offered to help with her mental state usin' the psych simutions on her PTSD issues again as well, but that would’a been goin' way further than I was comfortable with, so I once again declined.

  Alfred helped me put together a dress for her, pickin' somethin' medium red, elegant, and not overly showy. I was gettin' excited. Jules is gonna love it! It’d be a refreshin' change to see her happy for the first time in a while, especially since we’ve gotten to know each other so much better.

  “Why are you doing all this for her? You know what she did.” Ethan grumbled as I discussed back and forth with Alfred.

  “She’s really growin’ on me. I just want her to cheer up right now ‘s’all; which I should remind you, Ethan, she's technically our leader now, her bein' in this state ain't a good thing by any stretch. That’s all not to mention that I actually agree with her decision not to help Sarah’s people.” Ethan rolled his eyes.

  I continued. “Do you really want to risk the Xenos knowin' we have access to so much more than they’ve already seen? That might actually end up doublin' their efforts and end in tens of millions more dead.”

  Ethan crossed his arms, still stuck on the issue. “That still doesn’t make it right.” His arguments were emotional and short-term I knew, but that was part of what made Ethan a good person. I think if he had more of a chance to see how torn up Jules is about the whole thing he’d lighten up a bit, though I don’t know if he’d ever forgive her deep down for her inaction that day.

  I shrugged. “Believe what you want.” They were total strangers, and in my book that meant they didn’t mean much to me.

  With everything ready, I practically burst into Julia’s penthouse, almost skippin' a knock or gettin' permission to enter. She still didn’t wanna talk about the events of the other day, so I decided I’d keep it on the DL. “I have a bit of a surprise that might help. I need you to promise first that you’ll leave everything to me, and just enjoy your night though.”

  She pouted. “I don’t know if I’m up for surprises right now.”

  Of course, she’s goin' to grumble about it, her and Ethan both. I thought they trusted me enough, but I guess the two of them had their points of contention. “Trust me, if I’ve learned anythin’ from you and your past, I’d know you’re gonna have a bst. Just give me a chance, okay?” I gave her a reassurin' pat on the head.

  “Alright, just this once, I guess. I owe you that much.” Darn right you do, I just spent the st two days preparin' this whole fiasco!

  I cpped twice and left the automatons to do their magic on Jules.

  Once they were all done dollin' her up, I walked back in… and… She. Was. Stuh-ning! I almost couldn’t believe it! I waved the ‘princess’ over excitedly. Walkin' through the lobby, and the hallways, I noticed she was surprisin'ly agile in her heels given her what I assumed to be inexperience walkin' in them. With a thoughtful frown I asked. “This ain’t your first time in heels, is it Jules?”

  She blushed. “N-no, I used to sneak my mom’s and my sisters’ growin' up. I always found it fun…” I’d have to ask her a bit about her old family ter, but I’m a little worried it might be a sore spot for her.

  I helped her into the car and we began our journey to the estate where the party was at. Julia was infatuated with the city. I had to admit it was pretty cool, but I’d already seen pictures and learned a decent amount about it before comin' here, a lot less of it was a surprise to me.

  Pullin' up to the estate, I whistled and hummed to myself. “Well if this ain’t the most fancy shmancy pce I’ve ever been to…”

  Once inside, I got us both some refreshments, and expined the bare minimum she’d need to know. I still didn’t want to overwhelm her with details, but Victor might bring some stuff up. I trusted her, but she had to have at least some preparation goin' into this.

  Victor -ever the charmer- approached us, kissin' Jules and I on the back of our hands, it didn’t do much for me given I wasn’t into men, but Julia practically had steam comin' out her ears. I suppressed a giggle at her newfound innocence.

  Victor asked her to a dance, she looked nervous but I whisked her off with a wink. Bah, she’ll be fine!

  AnnouncementI am going to try and keep POV switches to a minimum or to just one POV within a chapter. Jumping back and forth is confusing enough for me writing it, as I'm sure it is for you to read, too.

  Fun fact: Whenever I am writing from Paige's POV I always put on 'dad' country or rock like 'Copperhead Road', for Victor I put on Japanese city pop, and for Julia I listen to a mix of punk, rock, and synth.

  Thanks for reading!