“Teddy! Teddy! Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!” the hyperactive seven-year-old blur yelled as it rocketed down the hallway.

  “Issi!” I held out my arms to catch the seven-year-old as she launched herself at me.

  “You weren’t here when school was out,” the girl pouted. “I was going to tell you what I learned in school today.”

  Sharron chuckled and petted Isabelle’s head before slipping past us and heading towards the kitchen.

  “You can tell me now,” I told the girl seriously, before carrying her to the living room and depositing her in the big chair at the end. The ‘explaining’ chair, as Isabelle called it.

  “Today I learned about the different types of plants and what kind of foods I can grow in the future. You’re growing a very limited selection up in hy-dro-pond-ics,” the girl told me sternly even when stumbling through the last word.

  “I was just trying to produce enough to feed everyone at first, but I guess we could afford to branch out into new vegetables,” I said, nodding.

  Satisfied, Issi leaned back a little and started rocking back and forth. “After that, I joined the big class, and Lulu and I learned maths. She’s very good at it and helped me finish the entire sheet! I even got most of it right,” she announced proudly.

  “Well done,” I said, giving her a quick pat on the head. “You’ve been talking about Lulu a lot lately, do you like her?”

  “Yup! She was very nervous when she came to class the first time, so I had to protect her from the scary parts, but after she got used to things, I learned she’s smart and funny. She’s great to hang out with!” Issi declared.

  “I’m glad, kiddo,” I said quietly. Lulu’s full name was Lucille, and she was Angeline’s daughter. Once Angeline found out about the personalized school program, she bothered me to allow her daughter to attend. I’d offered her a private bot, but she kept insisting that ‘socialization’ was important and ignored me when I reminded her that all the kids that would be learning with her were from the undercity.

  She persisted, and once I expanded the school, I finally relented and let her give it a try. To my surprise, she and Issi grew quite attached to one another.

  “Did anything else happen today?” I asked.

  Issi leaned back, tented her fingers, and narrowed her eyes as she thought for a moment, then shot forward excitedly. “It was spaghetti for lunch!” she declared, before bouncing down from the chair.

  “I have to do homework and check on my plants. I’ll tell you about it later!” she yelled as she took off back down the hallway.

  I shook my head and headed to the kitchen, where Sharron was eating a carrot. I searched through all the cabinets for a minute before stepping back, confused.

  “Where are my Nutriblocks?” I asked.

  “Jane finally got tired of watching you eat them instead of something nutritional and threw them out,” Sharron said. “I’m honestly surprised they survived as long as they did.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “But they’re my favorite snack,” I pouted.

  Sharron scowled. “They literally had a negative nutritional value,” she said. “I checked into it. They were literally made of all the waste products from creating real food.”

  “I survived for years on them, and I’m fine,” I insisted.

  “You literally had your growth stunted by lack of nutrition,” Sharron replied in a deadpan tone.

  “Minor detail. Nyx, please get me…” I started.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Jane’s voice cut through the residence.

  I turned slowly towards the garage, where I found Jane standing in the door, staring at me angrily. “You promised that you’d eat healthier and act as a good role model for the kids. Eating that crap violates both those promises,” Jane reminded me.

  “But Protector grade ones WOULD be good for me, right, Nyx?” I asked.

  “I think if you want to dig yourself a hole, you can do it yourself. I’m not going to get involved,” Nyx declared, using the security bear in the living room.

  “Traitor!” I declared.

  Jane just stepped past me, took a carrot out of the fridge, and shoved it into my hands. “Eat this, similar texture to your bars, far superior flavor,” she said before stepping away.

  I took a quick bite of the carrot, instantly missing the bland flavor I was familiar with, before following Jane into the dining room. “Why are you home so early anyways? I thought you were doing some career counseling today.

  “That was the plan, and I did talk to a few,” Jane told me, “but the last one came to me in tears, saying he wouldn’t be able to go to school for much longer.”

  Sharron came out of the kitchen and stood next to me, carrot still in hand. “Did he give you a reason?” she asked.

  “From what I made out between the sobbing, his family had to move out because they couldn’t afford to stay in the district anymore,” Jane explained. “He ran off before I could find out more.”

  I snorted. “Couldn’t afford to stay here? What the hell does that even mean? Now that the gangs aren’t extorting everyone in the area, most people should essentially be living rent free. Which is good, because there are still a lot of people still working as scrap collectors.”

  “He seemed pretty certain,” Jane mumbled unhappily.

  I scratched my chin. “In that case, maybe I’ll go out and check out the situation,” I said. “Although most of the gangs have given up on the protection racket, there might be a few idiots running around thinking they can extort whoever they want,” I said. “Nyx, can you tell me where…” I glanced at Jane.

  “Marcus Teller,” Jane said.

  “Marcus Teller is living?” I asked.

  The bear from the living room wandered over and joined our conversation. “He lives in the complex three blocks north of here,” Nyx reported. “The bears haven’t reported any fights or vandalism in the area lately, but…” My AI paused for a moment.

  “But…” I prompted.

  “A hovercar started stopping by that and several other complexes over the last few days. It’s registered to Tri-Active Incorporated,” Nyx finished.

  I just stared at the bear for a minute “What the f…rick is a corp doing down here?” I asked, just barely stopping myself from swearing in front of Jane.

  “They’ve spent the last couple of weeks tracking down and buying up the rights to those buildings,” Nyx reported.

  I felt my eyebrows raise. “Really? Have they?” I said incredulously. “Maybe I should go have a talk with these fine people about their intentions.”

  Jane sighed. “Please don’t do anything stupid,” she said.

  “You know me,” I replied cheerfully.

  “That’s why I’m worried,” Jane grumbled.

  “Nyx, where is this car right now? Is it still in the undercity?” I asked.

  “They aren’t, but according to the car's autopilot, they’re heading to a building approximately two blocks to the north of here,” my AI reported.

  “Thanks!” I replied before placing my carrot on the table and heading towards the door. “I’ll call the guys together, and we’ll sort this out. Want to come, Squiddy?” I asked over my shoulder.

  “I’m good,” Sharron said with a wry smile, “have fun!”

  “You know it!” I shouted back as I slipped out the door. As soon as I was back on the street, I sent a quick request to my squad to assemble.

  Bob was just wandering around the streets, saying hello to people. Despite being, hands down, the most frightening thing in my arsenal, most people that hadn’t seen him fight thought he was just a friendly fellow. He liked to meander around, talking to people, and had become a good mascot and spokesbear.

  Bandit had been running around, organizing security. I’d offered to let him and Spooky swap the long-range patrol job, but Spooky really enjoyed the challenge, and Bandit did not. Instead, he liked to keep an eye on the local area, making sure everything was calm. More than one former ganger had been intercepted by a squad of rabbits directed their way by Bandit.

  The others spent most of their time either escorting the family or in the garage. The Class II bots could handle some fairly complex commands, but they were still a long way from the self-directed, colorful personalities that the Class III ones had. I really needed to get my hands on enough points to perform the upgrade on the rest of them.

  As the squad gathered around me, I stretched out, loosened up my shoulders, and put on my most disarming smile. I was ready to have a nice, calm discussion.

  I’m SURE whoever this corp was wouldn’t regret messing around in my neighbourhood by the end of the day.

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