It was even worse than Chip had described. The outskirts of Battery City were disgusting and rubbish-strewn. One could almost see the pollution and smell hanging in the air. Between the industrial waste, Sky could spot body bags, left out here with their contents to rot. She saw body parts that hadn't been bagged, guessing they had belonged to droids. After about 15 minutes, the scenery changed. Tall buildings started to emerge and although the dirt stayed, Sky could see things looked more organized. The lights behind the windows scared her and she had to remind herself over and over again that she looked like a draculoid now, wearing the uniform and the mask. It was an eerie feeling posing as one of their enemies but she kept envisioning the truck as their Trojan Horse while she squeezed Poison's hand harder.

'We're almost there. Get ready.' Chip said, slowing down the vehicle.

'We're as ready as we're gonna get.' Jet replied and everyone nodded in response.

Finally, the car stopped. Chip had found a back alley to park the truck and they all took a deep breath. At least it was already after midnight and no one except the porno droids were roaming the streets. To the outside, they would look like a group of dracs looking for fun after a hard day at work for BLI.

As they stepped out of the van, Sky's knees were shaking and she kept feeling for her gun, safely tucked away under the loose jacket of the drac uniform. She looked down on her legs, covered in the same white pants and her feet, now on their territory.

'Follow me.' Chip whispered and lead the Killjoys out of the alley, onto a street.

It felt like Sky was trapped in a nightmare as they wandered through the streets, blindly following Chip. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to hold Poison's hand but she couldn't. She tried to be brave and reminded herself that this was her purpose, what she had been born and bred for. She was strong, she was capable, both physically and mentally, to do this. She even felt slightly selfish when she realized that neither Chip nor the rest of the group were as prepared for this as her and Poison were. Get it together, she thought, trying to focus.

She gasped when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a woman, her hair a bright green color and her body merely covered by a corset, a pair of stockings and a see-through plastic cape. The woman seemed to ignore them but Sky couldn't help but stare.

'Sky! Don't. She's a porno droid. Don't pay her any attention or she'll start trying to talk us into a purchase.' Chip whispered as he turned around, grabbing her arm harshly which made Poison hiss at him.

'Hey!'

'Shut up and keep walking.' Chip just said and Sky lowered her head.

'What do you mean, trying to talk us into a purchase? What is she selling?' Poison asked, staying close to Sky. She got sad because she already knew the answer.

'Herself.' Chip replied.

*

Poison felt disturbed. He had heard about porno droids and he wasn't naive. Things were different here. But still, seeing it with his own eyes was a shock. He couldn't believe that Battery City actually created droids to provide these things. And that they called it services. He was thinking about what Sky and him had shared, how special it was and how it was something they did because they loved each other and enjoyed it. Now they were in a society where people paid a disposable, battery-operated droid to just offer their bodies to whoever was holding the cash. It made him feel sick. He didn't understand the point of making love to somebody you didn't even love.

Suddenly, Chip stopped, causing Poison to discard his thoughts. They were in front of a tall building, looking almost like a tower. Around it, several signs were warning about danger, a lightning bolt symbol signaling that a high level of voltage could kill anyone who dared to come closer. As they lurked around the corner they could see two dracs guarding the entrance.

'We have to take them out and get their IDs to access. But there's a security camera.' he pointed at the little white camera above the draculoids. 'We need to be quick about it. There's-'

He hadn't even finished talking and the dracs collapsed on the floor. Next to Poison, Kobra was slinging his sniper rifle back over his shoulder and everyone was staring at him in surprise.

'Well he said we need to be quick about it.' Kobra just said and Poison raised a brow at him.

They approached the entrance, looking up at the camera which Kobra had also destroyed. Chip leaned down to take the dead dracs' IDs, giving them to Poison and Sky while Jet helped Kobra hide the smelly drac corpses. After gaining access and deactivating more security cameras, they had no trouble finding the generator and Ghoul turned it off, making sure to manipulate it enough to make it difficult to turn it back on again. Around them, the lights went out and they all grabbed their flashlights.

'Okay, let's get out of here. Find a safe place where we can work on the hack.' Poison said and they left, relieved to see that no one had shown up yet.

Chip managed to find a good spot under a bridge from where they could still watch the tower and Ghoul took out his notebook and started typing furiously. They all knew better than to interrupt him so everyone kept quiet, looking around nervously. For the first time since their arrival, Poison noticed the bright neon signs, displaying words in a language he didn't know. The smell was somewhat mechanical, mixed with the usual disgusting stench of everything that came out of Battery City. Then, his eyes focused on the graffiti on the opposite side of the pillar.

'B.LIES. Die BLI. No hope. No future.' it read and Poison tugged at Sky's sleeve, pointing over at the writing.

'They hate them as much as we do. I never knew.' he whispered.

*

Sky stared at the words, sharing Poison's realization. The people living here in Battery City were victims too. Trapped by the corporation. Trapped by BLI. They wanted to leave this place as much as the rebels wanted to leave the zones. It wasn't just as simple as good vs evil, it wasn't as black and white as they had thought, not as easy to distinguish. These people, even the droids, probably wanted to be freed, escape across the border just as much as they did. But would they be able to help them? What if they were far too brainwashed to actually leave if they were given the chance? And would they even survive? They relied on Battery City, whether they admitted it or not.

'I'm in. Security is down. Back-up generator is down. We're ready to go.' Ghoul said, interrupting Sky's thoughts and Poison stood, pulling out his radio.

'Stargazer, this is Poison. Their systems are down. Stand by.' he said and the man copied.

The group hurried back to the van, trying their best not to act suspicious. Ten minutes later they were on their way to BLI headquarters. The city was dark and quiet, the only light coming from the cars that were undoubtedly on their way to the tower to check on the generator. They didn't have much time. Although Ghoul had pretty much destroyed the generator and had taken control over their systems, it was only a matter of time before they figured out what was going on and how to fix it.

The inner city was almost beautiful compared to the Lobby. It scared Sky how peaceful it all seemed, as though the surroundings were trying to lure them in. She had to remind herself that it only looked that way because the people living here were being controlled by BLI. Manipulated into complete deference, scared into following the rules.

'There.' Chip said, slowing down the van. In front of them, a huge building appeared, the white background with the black BLI symbol plastered in the middle of it. Sky could feel the goosebumps creeping over her body like an icy hand.

'Fuck. There must be hundreds of agents in there. How are we ever gonna take them on, there's only six of us.' Jet muttered, looking up at the BLI building.

'Two.' Poison just said and Sky looked at him, frowning under the mask. She thought she had convinced him.

'You can't go in there alone!' Kobra argued but Poison motioned him to be quiet.

'You just said it, there are only six of us. Six, two. It doesn't matter. We're outnumbered. This is something only Sky and I can take care of and we need you out here, when shit is going down in there. It's the only way. Please.' he handed him his radio and then hugged his brother. 'Take over for me while I'm in there.'

As much as Sky wanted to protest, when she saw that Kobra, Jet and Ghoul had already accepted, she couldn't.

*

They had been able to enter the building without any problems. Since all the power was out, swiping their IDs for access hadn't been necessary although they encountered a woman, sitting at the front desk, upon their entry. Poison could feel Sky stiffening next to him, holding back a gasp.

'IDs.' the woman demanded, blinding them with a flashlight and they both held up their cards. 'Proceed.' she said after studying them for a moment.

Poison let out the breath he had been holding and followed the sign that directed them to the staircase since the elevators were useless. It had surprised them to see a seemingly normal person working here, he had always assumed that everyone working for BLI was either a draculoid or a scarecrow. It made him feel uneasy. They had forced humans into submission and created droids programmed to do whatever they asked of them. Did their power even have a limit?

'Floor 22. It says Standard Services. I think we should check there first.' Sky whispered, reading over the building's directory and Poison nodded.

They climbed the steps without making a sound, listening for potential threats. Even though they were disguised as dracs, they weren't prepared for questions in case they encountered an agent or someone else working here.

But when they stopped in front of the door that read 'Standard Services', it opened and two scarecrows looked at them, making Poison feel sick with fear.

'What are you two doing here?' one of them asked and grabbed Sky while the other one grabbed Poison before either of them could answer. 'Boss. We got them.'

'Bring them in.' a woman's voice said and they were led into a big room which was brightly lit by what seemed to be battery powered lights.

The woman was small but looked determined. Her delicate features were covered in a business attire, her pale face framed by black hair. She was asian and about ten years older than Poison and Sky. Authority was radiating from her. Was she the leader of BLI?

'You have undoubtedly heard that there has been a security breach at the power station. And according to the schedule, you two were supposed to be working there tonight. So tell me, what are you doing here?' she said, pointing at a file in front of her. Poison didn't speak and neither did Sky. 'Your ID numbers gave you away at the front desk. We've been looking for you. Someone corrupted the generator and hacked into our system and you two are responsible for that.'

Poison was looking over at Sky who was shaking, not daring to look back at him.

'Were you sneaking around with some whore droids? Instead of doing your bloody job?' she screamed, stepping closer to them. 'Got nothing to say for yourselves, huh? Did you not take your pills this morning? You know the punishment for that, right?' she eyed Sky, looking her up and down before getting even closer, taking a sniff.

Oh fuck.

'What's that smell? You don't smell like a drac.' and with that, the woman grabbed the mask, ripping it off Sky's head, her wild curls coming loose, as Poison froze in shock. It was over.

Notes

there's only one chapter left...as sad as I am but this story is coming to an end.
I'm thinking about a sequel but I'm not sure how to go about it...I also don't know if it's a good idea since I might just write it because I can't let go of the characters just yet. Hmm

what do you guys think?