8: Zion

Octus stood on his miraculously healed leg, testing it with his weight. He gave it a few little hops and seemed satisfied with what he felt. He turned to Sabine with a goofy, lopsided smile on his face. Seeing that Octus could move, Miko began to walk in a seemingly random direction, indicating for them to follow her. Sabine and Octus did, taking up position next to the bunny girl while the rest of the gang followed behind them.

"All good. I bet it wasn't even broken," Octus reassured Sabine.

Sabine rolled her eyes, "I know what I saw. But I also know a miracle when I see one, Octus. You truly are closer to the Emperor than you think."

Octus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I didn't even pray though…"

Sabine changed the subject, addressing the bunny girl who had been intently watching them interact, "So, Miko, tell me about yourself."

Miko quickly descended into flustered mumbling, "Ahhhhh~ A Sister knows my name! And she wants to get to know me! What do I do?! What do I do!?"

"Compose yourself, Miko," Sabine chastised lightly.

It was strange to see what Sabine assumed to be a hardened Underhive ganger blush so thoroughly, "Sorry, Sister Sabine. I just really don't wanna mess this up."

"You will not, my child," Sabine said, even though Miko looked to be older than her. "I am genuinely interested in your life. You live a lifestyle that I am unfamiliar with and I would prefer to educate myself so that I do not make any unnecessary or incorrect assumptions about you and your fellows."

Miko was still blushing but she seemed to calm down at Sabine's reassuring explanation of her intentions, "Ah… In that case, I guess I should start with me bein' born. My parents were put in an… unfortunate situation. They weren't born as Underhivers like the rest of the people down here. They were forced to live here because of things they couldn't control.

"I have a lot of siblings. And, uh, something must've been wrong with my parents 'cause we all came out… well, lookin' like this… My parents weren't Abhumans but every single one of their children was. To top it all off, they wouldn't do what others would consider the 'right thing' and abandon us when they saw our mutations. They moved down here and raised us as best they could until they died…

"And when they were gone… my brothers, sisters, and I did what we had to do. We formed a gang to keep ourselves safe — the Jackalopes. Even down here, Abhumans aren't the most well-liked people. We've all done some things we hate but I doubt any of us are ashamed of what we had to do. Nor do we regret it. It's just the way of life down here. And none of us were content to give up and die after all the work our parents put into raising us…"

Miko fell silent and tense like she was waiting for the judging hand of the Emperor to fall upon her. The others with her — who Sabine now knew to be her brothers and sisters — did much of the same. But Sabine could only look at them with respect in her eyes.

"You say you've done many terrible things…" Sabine said. "But you still seem to hold a healthy respect for the Emperor. Even to the point of staying loyal while your whole world turns against Him."

Miko blinked at the seeming non sequitur, "Well, yeah, 'course. The Emperor protects."

The simple certainty in her voice as she stated those hallowed words so matter-of-factly told Sabine all she needed to know about the bunny girl ganger. Despite her appearance and her environment, she was a faithful and true servant of the Emperor. So clear was it that Miko believed in the Imperial Truth that Sabine would not hesitate to fight beside her.

She smiled at Miko, "Indeed he does. But he also redeems. I see your faith and I find it admirable, especially given your circumstances. I shall not judge you for actions you deemed necessary, Miko."

"Yeah," Octus agreed. "You did what you had to. And ain't nothing wrong with a pair of bunny ears. What's that old sayin'? Gap moe?"

Miko blushed with confusion on her face. She could tell Octus had said something favorable about her but she could decipher the meaning. What was 'gap moe'? She shot Sabine a questioning look.

In response to the unasked question, Sabine shook her head, "I do not know what he is talking about either. It seems that my Guardsman has taken to speaking nonsense recently. Still, he's the kindest man I've ever met and I've only ever heard him speak the truth. This 'gap moe' must be a compliment of some kind…"

"Well, I reckon it goes something like this," Octus immediately launched into a lesson on 'gap moe'. "So something cute is obviously cute, right? And then something you don't expect to be cute is even cuter. With me so far? So gap moe is basically when something that shouldn't be cute is cute. Something like a hardened ganger with bunny ears who's easy to make blush, for example. Or, like, a serious Sororitas who's willing to show she cares about you."

Octus gave the second example with a slight blush painting his cheeks. Sabine and Miko just stared at him with flat looks in their eyes. Miko's brothers and sisters were nodding earnestly and seriously as if Octus had just cracked the code for them. One or two of them looked like they were seconds away from kneeling and praising him for his cultured enlightenment.

"Right…" Miko drawled. "Movin' on… What brings you two down here, Sister Sabine?"

"As much as I'd like to defend and endear you to my companion, I have to thank you for changing the subject — oh, do stop pouting, Octus," Sabine said.

"'M not pouting," Octus grumbled. Sabine thought it was adorable and barely kept her giddy swooning on the inside.

Sabine rolled her eyes at him and answered Miko's question, "We were separated from our regiment earlier today. From there, we fell into the Underhive, only surviving thanks to a miracle. We've been rather lost since then. You and your siblings are the only loyal and, more importantly, reasonable people that we've come across down here."

Miko noticed the way Sabine grit her teeth when she said 'reasonable', "But we're not the only people you've met?"

Sabine snorted, "Obviously not, considering the attack we were repelling when you stumbled upon us."

"Cultists?" Miko asked, getting a nod from Sabine. "Thought so… They've been gettin' out of hand lately. Taking advantage of the rebellion, I bet…"

"Based on the information Octus and I have, that does seem to be accurate."

Miko perked up at the opportunity to help, "You know what they're up to? Most of us down here have just been stumbling around in the dark. All we can do is react and I know a bunch of us are getting sick of it."

"Not as much as I would like to. Just something vague about sacrifices, assassinations, and a ritual… They almost seem to be putting on a performance for some reason…" Sabine shook her head regretfully.

"Ritual? That can't be good," Miko mumbled to herself before standing straight with determination in her spine. "I think it's about time we did something about them. I'll call a conclave when we get back and see if we can't get you some backup, Sister Sabine. I know the others will want to help in any way they can."

"Your support will not be forgotten… Where is this 'last holdout' anyway?" Sabine asked curiously.

"Not far now…" Miko said hesitantly. "I doubt it'll be very impressive to someone like you, Sister, but it's all we have."

Sabine sighed, "I'm sure you're exaggerating. Besides, I am already impressed by your loyalty and faith. Material things will not sway me."

"Emperor, I hope so…" Miko whispered softly.

Sabine and Miko fell into silence after that. Miko's ears were drooping from the weight of her nerves and she was fiddling with her hands as they walked. Sabine kept her face forward, knowing that nothing she could say would calm the bunny girl down. Her gaze did occasionally shift to where Octus seemed to be making fast friends with the rest of Miko's gang though.

It was amazing to watch him appear so unaffected by everything that had happened. Sabine knew it wasn't all a mask. Octus was simply in his element, spreading the torch of the Emperor's light that he carried inside him.

Their environment shifted around them as they walked. The industrial section of the Underhive fell away as they reached something that resembled a road. Unlike the network of tunnels Sabine and Octus had worked their way through earlier, this road was well-lit and well-kept. The walls still looked like they were a shout away from crumbling down but it was still easily the nicest place Sabine and Octus had seen down here.

They followed the road until they came to a gate with two people guarding it. The guards were relaxing, playing some sort of card game with each other. When they saw Miko approaching with her gang and an honest-to-Emperor Sister of Battle, they shot to their feet, saluting Sabine with the sign of the Aquila. Sabine returned their salute with a sober nod.

"Hey, Mikey," Miko greeted one of the guards. "Think you can raise the gate? We've, uh, got something important to take care of."

The guard — Mikey — stuttered, "R-Righto, Miko. A-Anything for a Sister."

The other guard was already moving to let them pass. He threw himself against a winch off to the side and the gate slowly raised under his effort. Sabine stayed silent as the group made their way through the gate, a familiar mask of formality falling over her. She was still a Sororitas after all, and as much as she'd changed in the past day and a half, she still had a part to act.

"Welcome," Miko said as the ceiling and walls and even the floor fell away before them. "To Zion. The last bastion of Humanity in this shitty backwater world."

A grand cavern stretched in front of them and hanging in the center of it over a river of toxic waste was the city of Zion. Sabine found herself honestly impressed. She made an appreciative hum as she took it all in and Octus was struck into silence. Individually, nothing in Zion was all that impressive to look at. But when it all came together, it reached a sense of scale and accomplishment that Sabine hadn't seen anywhere else in this Hive.

She could tell that everything here had been built by the bare hands of the people who lived down here. Houses and buildings were slapped together with whatever people could find. Zion was a patchwork labyrinth of scrap metal and scavenged materials. It looked almost like a beehive the way the whole city seemed to hang there in mid-air.

The cavern itself looked to have been excavated over centuries, getting larger and larger until it stretched for miles underneath the Hive City. In the center of Zion, a thick spire reached up to the cavern's ceiling. Made of rockcrete and scrap like everything else in Zion, it was a statement of what even the worst off of Humanity could achieve if they came together.

The whole city-compound structure hung from the spire, connected to the cavern's walls by a web's worth of bridges and walkways. Numerous chains offered the appearance of additional support but Sabine suspected they ultimately did very little to hold Zion's structure aloft. The hive-like structure seemed to almost pulse with energy as it hung there like a great heart, supporting the loyal and faithful that called Zion home.

"You were worried about showing us this?" Octus asked incredulously. "This may be the coolest city I've ever seen!"

Miko blushed but preened at the praise of her people's accomplishment, "I mean… It's okay. It's still made of scrap though…"

Octus looked at her queerly, "You live in a floating city and you still care that it's made of scrap? Who cares? Be proud of where you come from, bunny girl."

Sabine nodded, "I have to agree with Octus here, Miko. Zion is an impressive achievement of Humanity. Much more impressive than the rest of this cookie-cutter Hive City."

"Hmm, shame we don't have enough time to really explore it," Octus hummed. "You gotta call that meetin' thing and all that."

Though he concealed it well, Octus' disappointment was still practically palpable. Sabine's heart ached at his lost opportunity and she was sure the same happened to everyone else with them. No one could resist Octus' magnetic aura. He'd already sucked Miko's brothers and sisters into his orbit by accident. He seemed perfectly ready to accept the fact that he wouldn't be able to explore the floating city of his dreams but that just made Sabine and the others want to let him even more.

"… Sabine and I can probably handle that on our own," Miko offered hesitantly. "And I'm sure my siblings would be willing to give you a tour while we do…"

Miko's brothers and sisters instantly jumped at the chance to spend more time with their new favorite Guardsman. Sabine had to crush a grimace. She still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of Octus being away from her. But she could feel the faith imbued in Zion. Like the whole city was already almost holy for how its residents had held out against the rebellion and tide of cultists. If she couldn't trust that he would be safe here, then she couldn't trust that he would be safe anywhere.

Sabine let out a shaky breath, absently noticing Miko noticing her struggle. She just had to have faith that the Emperor would protect him. That He would bring Octus back to her. It was a leap of faith but one Sabine was willing to take for Octus' sake.

"I believe that is a good idea," Sabine said, forcing her voice to remain steady.

The way Octus lit up made all her worries and fears worth it, "Really?! Hell yeah! Let's go boys!"

He darted in to lay a quick kiss on Sabine's cheek, not thinking about what he was doing in his excitement. Then he was gone, running down the bridge into Zion with the rest of the bunny boys and girls hot on his heels. Sabine all but spontaneously combusted. Her blush was legendary and Miko could only watch the Sister of Battle go "Waa~… waa waa wa~…" as her brain was forced into a flustered bluescreen.

It took nearly two minutes for Sabine's brain to reset. Her fingers lightly brushed over the spot Octus had kissed and her cheeks never lost their crimson hue. Still blushing, Sabine cleared her throat and tried to act like nothing had happened. She motioned for Miko to lead the way and the bunny girl did, thankfully not saying anything yet.

They were halfway across the bridge before the silence became too much for Miko and she had to say something to break the awkwardness, "So… Octus, huh?"

Sabine's blush, which was just starting to die down, redoubled in an instant, "Ahem… I don't see how that is any of your business."

Miko hurried to clarify herself so she didn't make an enemy of the Sororitas, "No, no, I totally get it! He seems great! Handsome, loyal, easy-going, and even good with my brothers and sisters. I can see why you like him. I just didn't expect to see this side of you…"

Sabine cleared her throat and put up a false front that even she knew was paper thin, "I have no idea what you mean. Octus Humblestock is a valuable companion to me and nothing more. I-I certainly don't… like him… The very idea is preposterous!"

Miko looked at her skeptically, "And that's the story you're going with?"

"It is," Sabine said firmly, nodding and doubling down.

There was a moment of silence as Miko processed that but she shelved it and changed the topic, "… Right, why not. I'm not about to argue with a Sister of Denial."

Sabine bristled slightly at the bunny girl's snark but Miko continued before she could speak, "Anyway… We gotta put the word out about the meeting. The guilds will want to be there. Probably the gangs and clans as well. And before the meeting, I wanna take you to meet a friend of mine. She'll probably know something useful about what the cultists are doing. She's usually on top of things like that, even if she doesn't usually share with anyone else… I'm hoping she'll make an exception for you."

"And why do you believe your friend will know something useful?" Sabine asked with a raised, slightly suspicious eyebrow.

Miko shrugged, "She's the mistress of the Guild of Coin. She's got her finger on the pulse of everything that happens in the Hive. She even knew about the rebellion way before it kicked off. She's the main reason Zion is still standing."

"Very well… If you say she does not consort with Chaos, I shall reserve judgment for now. Let us handle this quickly though… I already find myself anxious without my Guardsman by my side…"

Miko wisely reined in her snark, "As you wish, my lady."