And so, less than an hour after arriving back in the City of Wheels, Manny, Sasha, and Roland found themselves seated around the same redwood table where Manny and Reggie had first met Nana Yazzie and Donald Farris. The room was more crowded this time around, with two new people he didn’t recognize. One was a shirtless man with writhing snake tattoos across his chest and a pair of chaps that did nothing at all to cover up his junk. It didn’t help that the man’s legs were spread as wide as possible. He seemed to be deliberately showing off.

Manny looked away and found himself staring at a very tall, very muscular young-seeming woman with a mohawk made from thick chrome spikes. She had light brown skin, and her cheeks were covered in several long, thick, diagonal scars. The woman’s eyes had no pupils. They looked gray at first, until Manny realized that they were actually just filled with static. When Manny finally pulled his gaze away from her, he was met with the biggest surprise of the day.

DeShawn Clark was seated two chairs down from Nana Yazzie.

“Major Clark!”

“Manny,” the Major’s lips cracked open into a wide-mouthed grin. The left side of his face was still covered in hemostatic gauze, and the edges of the skin around the gauze looked black and burnt. His right hand was a smooth, angry pink color, a sure sign it had been severed and regrown in the recent past. Major Clark was bloodied, but unbowed.

“It’s damn good to see you, Manny. I can’t tell you how proud I was to hear you’d volunteered for this mission.”

“Mr. Peron…” Manny started to say, but Major Clark put up his hand.

“I know,” he said.

Donald Farris “ahem’d,” which Manny took as a gentle reminder that now was not the time for personal business. The old Brit gestured first to the man with the writhing snake tattoos.

“This is Jim Shannon,” he said. “He heads up a small mercenary outfit.”

“I’m the guy who roped Roland into helping,” Jim said with a wink.

“And this cheery lass,” Donald pointed to the woman with the chromehawk, “is Kishori. She’s been the city’s elected War Leader for the last three years.”

“And who might this young lady be?” Nana Yazzie asked, nodding at Sasha. The old woman stood and stepped forward to greet Sasha with a hug. Sasha tensed up. She looked scared to return the embrace. So Nana Yazzie backed off and favored the girl with a warm smile.

“I’m sorry, child. I didn’t mean to pressure you. I’m just happy you’re here with us.”

Sasha relaxed at that, but she still didn’t step forward.