"What do you mean, there is going to be a dungeon surge? What does that mean to us now?" Kate said. "It's like they're taking up every single square foot they can take up here."
"I don't know what the system is going to do but Bagel is trying to cut out the squirrels. So, I need you to be on your guard. We've already lost enough people, and I don't want to have to fight against another sentient species. Like could we just all get along? That would be great."
Ashley held out the phone for a second, closing her eyes. All the posturing of all the deck bearers just felt like high school over again. It didn't really matter who owned Central Park so long as it wasn't freely used by the system to spawn as many dungeons as it wanted.
"But you're going to be okay out there, right?" Kate said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"I don't... Look people are getting stupid here with the water. Bagel has been running himself on fumes to support the adventurer’s guild but if you're not the guild. People are looking at us weirdly as if we are holding all the resources that are available. We're not."
There was a long pause before Kate spoke again. "Look whatever happens, know that I love you and that we're going to make it to Sandy Hook when this all blows over. Shit is getting real here as well; I am about to hit level seventy-five."
They talked for so long about what they were going to do with their third perk but now, they couldn't even have a discussion because everything was up in the air. If the pigeons wanted to join? They might be able to save the day. But if it was just the city and the guild against the squirrels... There were a lot of squirrels.
Ashley fought back against the urge to just say it was going to be okay. It wasn't. Nothing about this. Was going to be okay. She'd seen too many body bags and too many corpse freezers that they couldn't even... They couldn't even move their bodies to a graveyard without clearing a path and having so many people to help. That had been one of the worse new specials she had the pleasure of watching.
"Are you thinking about the body bags thing again?"
"...No," Ashley lied.
"Ok. I know he keeps saying it but when I come back, we're going to plan out what we do after this all blows over okay. We've been saying things for so long, but you deserve a break. We all deserve a break. We can recruit new members to the guild to fill in the gaps as we expand our territory. Ashley. You are not the guild. This doesn’t have to fall on your shoulders all the time."
“I know.” It made no sense for her to hold all of this tension in her shoulders. She needed to unload it somewhere.
“You know that I’m going to give you a nice massage when I get back, right?”
She was aware. It was one of the first things that Ashley tried to do; fix everything. She couldn't even fix herself. But it was OK to just listen and do the best that she could. “I can’t wait. Just do your work and return when you can. This separation is too much for me.”
“We just had breakfast together! But I get your point. Ah… I see the pigeons are paying attention.”
Ashley checked around the various screens in the room. Two drones were providing overwatch over Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island and the entrance to the Verrazano Bridge. A group of roughly ten pigeons were flying directly across the island towards the small enclave of humanity, and Ashley couldn’t even be there to enjoy it.
“I’ll call you back,” Kate said, “They look like they’re looking for a leader. HEY OVER HERE YA GITS!”
The line went dead, but Ashley continued to watch as the pigeons landed near the outer wall of the base. Todd and his team had spent weeks clawing back the area from the various mobs and it showed. Everywhere there was the aftereffects of combat from the large gouges in the ground to the burned out buildings.
It just wasn't so reassuring that she'd be leaving her girlfriend out there. And even if she want to do something, the ferry was docked at Fort Wadsworth for now as it unloaded people and they all hope that they'll be able to just expand a little further.
---
"All right the pigeons just want to talk. We can talk with them. But they need to give us some terms. We don't have a mutual aid pact with them. We just have an understanding of non-aggression. Bagel. If we want to get things done we have to give us something they can't get. There's no precedence for this." Gladys was holding court in the bodega again.
Ashley raised a hand. "Just give them Staten Island. That solves a lot of our problems, doesn't it?"
As he wanted to get rid of Staten Island as soon as possible. He did not want to say no because he wanted a deal. Gladys and Ashley probably had other ideas.
Bagel grimaced. "If we use Staten Island as a bargaining chip?They're going to take it. I don't think the city's going to allow them to have that. I think that they're going to ask for a limited ownership of the island. So long as they're not voting members..."
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
---
There wasn't really a way for them to make it to the only residents of the borough couldn't vote. But there was no law that said that awakened people got a vote. It would be great if they did but that was not in any way guaranteed.
But they didn't need to think about why who was going to get what. They just needed to make sure that somebody got it. And more importantly, they need to make sure that when it got divided up that it was something that all the awakened deck bearers had agreed on. The advantage of a deck bearer over a non awakened human? It was too much.
Gladys nodded. "We have to figure out a way to get that one aside and the easiest way I think right now is to give them free range to do whatever they want at Staten Island. We don't have people to go there and do anything about it." Ashley snapped her fingers.
"And that's why we need to make somebody else's problem. Give them this solves our problem and solves their problem. It's a win-win."
"A win win. Why is the system telling me that it something about synergy? I'm not getting this." Bagel looked between the two women.
Ashley burst out laughing. She didn't stop for a bit, and a when she did had tears running down her cheeks. "Yeah, I needed that."
It hadn't even felt that funny to him. But the humans were weird about too many things by his estimation.
"All right. So if we offer them a cooperation packed and we buy up some more land and kind of hedge the swirls in then maybe we'll be good?" Bagel said.
Gladys shrugged. She cracked open another can of Blue ox. He knew that he was going to try to get the best outcome for him but he didn't know what that was going to be. And there were too many confounding variables. The pigeons wanted something. They wanted a safe space for them to probably call their own. He wanted a place for the cats but he also just wanted to feel safe. He got the feeling that they could be safe and they could keep the gains that they had made throughout the system and initialization. If they were able to come on the other side owning the land as a actual group of cats than he would be okay with that.
But if the humans do the normal thing and just took over and didn't give them an a word edgewise then he couldn't see a future. Well he wanted to see a future but it felt muddy.
He didn't like mud.
"I think this is the best course of action. You've told me many times that it's important for you that the cats have a place in this new world. And I hear you. But have you also considered that the pigeons want the same thing?"
Ashley smirked. "She's right, you know. The squirrels probably want the same thing and they're probably scared of us. They're probably more scared of us than they're scared of the humans because you got humans that work for you."
"Alright. So what do we do then? A three way alliance?" Bagel said. "I feel like we've gotten way past the point here. What are we doing?"
Gladys and Ashley rolled their eyes in unison. Big Latina do it once before and he was not happy. If they wanted to tell him something ridiculous they could tell him but they didn't have to come to his Bodega and be super silly about it. Or at least if they're going to do that they could get on with the head bats. Because after he got his security and safety then it was time to consider other intangibles that made life worth living.
Those were in no particular order: head pats, bak lava and family. Food was in the list in a general sense but Bak Lava was life.
He could worry about the perfect lap to sit in when things had calmed down. And they would calm down someday. He was almost as short of it. Every week brought little challenges but these next weeks would make the difference between humans and awakened deck bearers surviving.
"For securing a spot for us in the future of whatever happens next. We're saving the city," Bagel said.
"That's not the most inspirational speech I've ever heard but so long as you keep paying us what we are worth, we'll stay." Gladys beamed.
"I plan on it. So long as I keep getting investors and the city keeps us going."
And all he really needed to do was get them to buy stuff is at his shop or keep buying credits or cards. If they kept doing that, and he kept making a little profit off each sale, the machine could keep running for as long as there were mobs. And when that ended?
When that ended he would retire, maybe head to that Hoboken place. The sky was limit. He could do anything. There would always be a need for a business cat in the city but maybe he could leave it to meatball or someone else. They might be able to take care of that.
Gladys had that glint in her eye. It was the one that told him that she was working this out. And he was okay with her taking as much time as she needed. Ashley looked tired.
"Is Kate still over at Staten Island?" Bagel asked.
"She still there and I'm still... It's weird that you're able to feel this way about somebody. I mean that anyone's able to feel this way. Maybe I was emotionally constipated for too long."
Gladys snapped back into it. "She helped you with your blockage? Kate does eat a lot of vegetables so I guess that makes sense."
"First off-Kate is better than any one of those fiber bars. Second off, if she was a fiber bar should be one of those deluxe protein bars with three layers and a ridiculous amount of calories. Because she's not just a snack, she's also a meal."
"I understood all those words individually. But I think that the system is trying to not overburden my mind by translating those. I'm just going to pretend that I understand and I'm going to nod and say that I hope she returns as fast as possible. She does have a great lap."
Ashley shrugged. "Kate does have a great lap, but unfortunately she's too busy to let me sit on it."
Gladys giggled. "Oh what a tragedy in these trying times. I hope that your and your star-crossed lover can get back together. But what are we going to do next? Boss? Send someone to speak to the squirrels? Who do you want to send?"
Bagels mine flash through the many options he had. He can send Bagel who was already good negotiator and had dealt with the pigeons one-on-one. He could send Copernicus although Copernicus was kind of like his boss being the president of the board. So that was out. He could send Gladys but he needed her back in Turtle Bay to take care of operations. That left him Ashley, Raul or Khaleesi.
He hadn't sent Raul these kind of quests before, but he had taken Khaleesi around so perhaps she would be the right person for this? Well maybe not.
I had to be somebody that could actually help out and move the needle a little bit. It wasn't going to be him but he knew that somebody was going to be able to get the squirrels.
"I think I need to know what squirrels like. I don't have an understanding of what they eat. The system says acorns but I don't know how to get those and I don't make them the shop."
Ashley flashing absolutely predatory smile at him.
"I think I have a solution to your problem."
For the first time in a while, Bagel brushed up against what was possible as Ashley explained her plan.
