Luxurious Anarchy (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 16: Sniper

Lailha nodded, eyes hooded behind her respirator's goggles, "Fresh paint, gotta do it every few days or the Gray makes the tag look like a pile of dogshit. That's our gang sign Sheriff, and if they're anything like the boys I left behind when I went and got clapped in irons, they'll pop as many dickheads as they can before vanishing like dust in the wind."

Caitlyn squatted low, eyeing the length of the slopped avenue with a defeated air, the graffiti tags of dirty white whirlwinds mocking her. "Carlson, get them to back up, we're gonna have to go around."

Special Enforcer Lenn let out a muffled string of curses behind his respirator, but turned around and started jogging back to the First Company, head low and rifle tucked to his shoulder. Caitlyn took a moment to look at the other three members of her vanguard unit, Special Enforcers all, and said for what was likely the tenth time that day, "Thank you all for doing this."

One of them, Camron, shrugged his massive shoulders. "If Vi knew we let you go all by your lonesome, I'd rather take a skinny dip in the sump than deal with her reaction," he rumbled, shivering slightly in spite of the warm undercity air. Him, his twin sister Abigail, and the last member of their little troupe, Lailha, were all undercity born and raised.

Caitlyn had only held her position as Sheriff for all of two months, but promoting the three of them to Special Enforcer to force the pay raise they'd been due for years had been one of her earliest actions. Vi had been a late, and slightly nepotistic, addition to the roster of Special Enforcers, but she'd quickly won the hearts of everyone she'd rubbed shoulders with, especially those from the undercity.

A moment later, Camron's words hit home, and Caitlyn sputtered, "Hold on, what did you mean by that? Vi hasn't been-"

Abigail slapped her twin upside his head before turning to her boss, "Ignore him, Sheriff, Vi wouldn't do anything improper. But we all look up to and respect her. The two of us at least," she said, gesturing to Camron and herself, "joined the Enforcers, looking for a way out of the undercity, but Vi's fresh out of the clink, and she's diving back in to try and help stabilize things? How could we not follow that charge?"

"It's laudable, and like, hard not to admire," mumbled Lailha. "She's newer, younger, but maybe that's it. We lost that spark a while ago, getting stepped on and stepped over. But even after all she's gone through, she still shines. Her flame, that light? We'd follow it, and through her, follow you anywhere."

"Uh, yeah, what they said," muttered Camron, rubbing the back of his head, "I'd hate to disappoint the kid, is what I meant."

Another slap from Abigail, "Don't be callin' Vi 'kid' we're not even thirty, cripes, makin' us both sound like old ladies."

Camron bristled, "Oi, you're the lady here, I'm a dude!"

"It's an expression, calm your tits Cam!"

"Oi!"

Lenn slid to a stop next to Caitlyn, who was holding her face in her hands, "The twins at it again? Err, the Colonel wants you to tell him to back up, not and I quote, some errand boy."

Caitlyn sighed for what was likely the hundredth time that day, "Very well. Squad, form up."

A quick double march, but low, eyes up and fingers resting on trigger guards. This was not a test, or a stroll along the upper lanes. Lately, the various baron-funded gangs were sparking off each other like brandished blades, small gunfights and back alley shankings all around the undercity. What few Enforcer patrols still ventured into the lower lanes went at double strength, and many had come back with compromised armor from some opportunistic pistolero. Now, they were deep in chem-baron territory, deep in the fissures. And Special Enforcer or otherwise, it was only through dint of being followed by a literal army that they'd avoided many casualties.