**** Elysium 1986 ****

Anton, the hunting dog they had brought from the underground, slept happily on a thick, wide pillow in the corner of the TRAP agency living room, snoring softly to himself. In front of him was an empty red bowl with not a crumb of food in it. Not far from him, Abigail yawned heartily and pulled the blanket over her ear. Then she stretched out and mumbled a few unintelligible words. Her back ached, and as she was about to roll over onto her side to get into a more comfortable position, she realized something was wrong. This wasn’t her bed, this wasn’t her mattress she was lying on.
“Mmmmh…?” she let out a confused sigh and slowly opened her slightly swollen and red-rimmed eyes.
“Oh hello, you woke up on your own? How nice, I was beginning to think it was time to wake you,” she heard Yanny’s bright voice beside her. Abigail rubbed her face for a moment and looked around. She was lying on the sofa in the living room, wrapped in Ralph’s old, scratchy blanket that he had kept in his car for years until he joined the TRAP agency. Of course, she had given the blanket a full three washes before releasing it for general use.
“Uh… what…? What time is it and why am I lying here like a burlap sushi roll?” Abigail muttered, still sleepy, as she pulled herself out of the detergent-scented fabric and sat up, smacking her lips and almost closing her eyes. “Oh yeah, I remember. We had a few beers last night.”
“I didn’t know you had such soft and warm feet,” a deep voice came up to her from the floor. Abigail’s eyes snapped open and she looked down. Under the half-height living room table, which stood directly in front of the sofa on which she had slept, lay Yuri, dressed only in underpants and combat boots. Her feet, which she had stretched under the table when she had moved to a sitting position, were resting directly on his broad chest, which was slowly rising and falling.
“H-hey, w-what are you doing down there!!!” gasped Abigail, frantically pulling her legs up. “And why do you look like a stripper after a gig? How did you even manage to get your pants off without slipping out of your boots?”
“That I don’t know. Thought would be my bed here probably. Too many beers last night,” Yuri explained, scratching his beard.
“Say, Abigail, I don’t think that’s fair. You’re always saying I have to wear clothes and can’t be naked in the apartment, and now you’re sitting in the middle of the living room with no clothes on,” Yanny said in a slightly reproachful tone. She was still standing next to her, holding a thermos that smelled of freshly brewed coffee.
“What?” Abigail asked stunned, looking down at herself and then letting out a horrified squeak. Yanny was right, she was naked. She immediately grabbed the old car blanket again and wrapped herself in it. “Where are my clothes!!! Oh God, this is so embarrassing!”
“I saw it all, everything!” Yuri grinned broadly, slowly and carefully crawling out from under the table so as not to bump his head.
“And you didn’t even say anything… you… you horrible person!” Abigail growled. Then she spotted a ball of laundry she must have formed while sleeping in the corner of the sofa, grabbed it, and threw it at Yuri. The ball hit him right in the face and shattered. Abigail’s black bra caught over his shoulder as he sat up.
“Heh… it gets better and better,” the giant laughed, taking the garment and demonstratively examining it more closely, taking it by the straps with his thumbs and forefingers and holding it right in front of his eyes. The computer specialist quickly pulled the blanket over her head to hide her red face.
“My co-worker is a pervert and I’m stupid enough to unintentionally arouse his crude inclinations…” she murmured through clenched teeth.
“Aby… If you’re done scattering your underwear around the room, would you like a cup of coffee?” Yanny said, running her fingertips along Abigail’s shoulder, which was once again wrapped in the blanket.
“Yes,” Abigail grunted, then slowly pushed her head back out into the open. “Please, just milk.”
“Where’s Harry anyway?” asked Yuri, who had by now picked up the rest of Abigail’s clothes from the floor and laid them neatly beside her on the sofa before going to find his own clothes. “He was drinking with us yesterday too, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, he was pretty drunk too. No wonder, he never drinks alcohol. I carried him to bed,” Yanny explained casually and began filling the cups on the table with steaming coffee. “The milk will be here in a moment.”
“You carried Harry to bed?” Abigail inquired, confused.
“Yes… He’s… badly injured after all… it’s important for his recovery that he rest as relaxed as possible,” Yanny replied hesitantly, not taking her eyes off the cups. Abigail squinted one eye and watched the cyborg pour. She wore a tight white tank top and black jeans, her freshly washed shoulder-length hair hanging slightly tousled. A little more practice in hair care would be needed in the near future.
“Mhm… True,” the computer specialist said a little skeptically, only to note, “You didn’t put us to bed?”
“You were already so deeply asleep… I didn’t want to wake you unnecessarily,” Yanny replied somewhat evasively, glancing briefly at Abigail, whose corners of the mouth turned up imperceptibly in response.
“I see,” she nodded, pushing a strand of hair still sticking out from her sleep with the flat of her hand.
“What is it?” Yanny asked back.
“Oh, nothing,” Abigail grinned briefly, and then began pulling piece after piece of her laundry under the covers, dressing covertly in the process. As Yanny disappeared back into the kitchen to get the promised milk, the bedroom door opened and Harry slowly shuffled into the living room. He looked as if he had been run over by not one, but several trucks. His short gray pajama pants clung to him in a makeshift fashion, and he wore nothing but the large fresh bandage that gave some stability to his once again broken rib, which had obviously been replaced by Yanny last night. Abigail smiled again as she thought about how quickly the cyborg learned complicated things from the medical field, but supposedly always forgot to put on underwear.
“Good morning, Harry,” Abigail and Yuri greeted the newcomer almost simultaneously.
“Good mor…” the latter began, but he could not finish his sentence because Yanny came rushing out of the kitchen with the milk. She quickly placed the white carton on the table and turned to him.
“Good morning Harry! How are you? How did you sleep? How are you feeling? Is everything all right? Is your bandage still on properly? Do you want painkillers? Did you sleep through the night? Are you well rested? Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee? With milk and sugar? We have sweetener too, if you like. What would you like for breakfast?” she bombarded him with questions and then looked at him expectantly with her big eyes. Abigail’s head disappeared under the covers to hide her wide grin. Yuri, on the other hand, found more and more of his scattered clothes, picking them up from the floor one by one.
“Th-thank you… Well, I… I would like to use the bathroom first…” Harry, completely overwhelmed by all the questions, replied.
“Last week I read an article in a medical journal about an acupuncture point for uncontrollable urination,” she replied cheerfully. “We can try that if you like.”
“I’m just… I’m just going to go to the bathroom in a completely controlled manner, then we can talk more,” Harry said, pointing his thumb at the bathroom door behind him. Then he staggered powerlessly towards his destination, like a question mark made flesh.
“Just call if you need help,” she called after him in a caring voice.
“Y-yeah, okay,” Harry stammered, closing the door behind him. Abigail chuckled softly to herself and slipped out from under the covers, fully dressed by now.
“Helping him in the bathroom, I’m sure he likes that,” she remarked.
“Oh… ooooh… was it possible to take that the wrong way?” Yanny asked, ruffling her hair in embarrassment.
“Maybe a little,” Abigail grinned, reaching for her coffee cup and taking a big gulp.
“Do you think he’s mad at me now?” Yanny looked at her worriedly.
“Harry mad at you? Never. Not in three thousand years,” Abigail replied, still with that hard-to-interpret grin on her face. “You take good care of him, don’t you?”
“You think so? I was very worried when you were down there in the subway shafts for so long. I just don’t want anything to happen to you,” Yanny said, her suddenly serious gaze resting on Abigail, who didn’t lose her cheerful expression and nodded slowly. She had to think again about how close it had been in the fight against the crawlers. The big mountain of muscle standing a few meters away from her, putting his clothes back on, had saved her life at the last second. Abigail walked over to Yanny, set her cup down on the table, and hugged her tightly.
“We’ll always be as careful as we can. Promise,” Abigail whispered into Yanny’s ear, who returned the hug, looking relieved.
“Thank you,” she replied in a soft voice, kissing Abigail gently on the cheek. Abigail – clearly surprised by the gesture – blushed slightly in response and slowly released the hug.
“I’m sorry, was that wrong?” Yanny asked, looking at her worriedly.
“N-no,” Abigail said, quickly picking up her coffee cup again and shyly drinking it all in one go.
“You make the best coffee in town,” she declared, flicking the cup lightly to follow her reaction with as plausible an explanation as possible. It wasn’t a lie; the coffee undoubtedly tasted excellent.
“Thank you! I’ll pour you some more,” Yanny nodded as the apartment door suddenly opened and Ralph walked in with two large shopping bags in his hands. Shopping had become one of his most important jobs at the agency, along with driving, and he still did it with great passion. Yuri’s increased caloric intake meant that a weekly shopping trip was not enough for the small kitchen. By the time the hulking Russian raided the fridge to satisfy his ravenous hunger after his weight training sessions, there usually wasn’t much edible left.
“You guys finally awake? It’s funny how our brutal agency turns into a kindergarten nap room after a few sips of alcohol,” Ralph laughed happily, dragging the bags into the kitchen.
“Brother, didn’t you also drink beer yesterday?” Yuri asked Ralph as he finished adjusting his belt, and the old punk let out a grumbling laugh.
“My boy, I’m not drunk from the twelve beers I had last night. I had two more in the car on the way to the supermarket earlier,” he replied, disappearing into the kitchen with his loot.
“Ralph!” Abigail hissed loudly and indignantly. The punk was silent for a few moments as he remembered that she did not appreciate alcohol consumption in any form during working hours.
“Wow, who did such a great job cleaning the kitchen? It shines and sparkles like the palace of the golden city! You need sunglasses in here,” he tried to change the subject, as if indirectly praising Abigail’s cleaning skills, demonstratively rattling with the fresh cans of food he was shoveling into the cupboards.
“This week it is your turn to clean the bathroom! And thoroughly!” the programmer barked in Ralph’s direction.
“Yes, madam!” his reply came back devotedly.
“Let me get out of here first…” Harry sighed, who had easily heard everything due to the increased volume, and walked over to the table. Yanny approached him with a freshly poured cup and smiled at him. He accepted it gratefully and smiled back as their eyes met.
“Have you guys discussed a plan for POWERS?” Ralph’s voice came from the kitchen again.
“No, we’re about to start,” Abigail replied, sipping her second cup.

Fifteen minutes later, the TRAP agency was gathered around the living room table, fully dressed and ready to go, including Anton, who sat dutifully on the floor next to Yuri, who patted him on the head.
“When we go over all the information we’ve gathered so far, there’s really only one possible next target: POWERS Generating Plant,” Abigail said by way of introduction, summarizing what little they had learned from yesterday’s meeting.
“That’s right,” Yuri confirmed.
“How are you guys going to do that? Just walk in and force the fuckers to confess? Bend their thumbs all the way back to make them admit what they did?” Ralph interjected, getting to the root of the problem with this next step in no uncertain terms.
“Exactly,” Harry nodded, his expression darkening again. The impressions from the Aon-I city of Gwyneran had put the mission on a different, much more personal level for him. The others looked at him in surprise.
“I like that. How’re you gonna do it?” Ralph asked, scratching the back of his head. “The car downstairs is fully fueled and ready to go.”
“We need some kind of reason or permission to talk to the management alone. We can’t let them get suspicious. If we can do that, we’ll try to get them to speak a confession into a voice recorder. We also need evidence from their network. Whether we get the confession or not, we will eliminate the leadership. We’ll do it quickly and cleanly, and we’ll be gone before they know what’s going on,” Harry explained with cold practicality.
“Awesome!” Ralph laughed out loud. “I love it!”
“You want to eliminate leadership?” Abigail asked in amazement. Yanny didn’t know what to make of the suggestion either. It was highly unusual for the usually controlled Harry to suggest such a drastic course of action on his own. It was not directly in line with the mission’s goals, and she could not yet fully understand his motives. Nevertheless, she knew that she trusted him and his judgment beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would follow him. Wherever and however difficult it might be. After a brief pause, Harry explained his thoughts.
“We owe it to the Aon-I to restore at least a little bit of justice. I’m not going to wait for our sluggish justice system to kick into gear and let the bastards walk out of the courtroom with a suspended sentence as if nothing happened. The police will also have their hands full dealing with the company’s hired mercenaries and the radioactive contamination in the underground. They’ll be lucky if they don’t get thwarted by a few multimillionaires trying to cover up the genocide they’ve caused,” Harry replied, tapping the tabletop with his index finger. “Any objections to that approach?”
“Perfectly fine by me,” Yuri remarked approvingly, stretching his hands. Abigail hesitated for a moment, rubbing her nose before replying.
“Yeah, it’s okay. You’re probably right. Compared to the bosses of POWERS, Dennis Dexter was basically a choir boy. We’re not only doing the city a favor, we’re also doing the Aon-I a favor, even if it doesn’t bring back the dead and solve the crawler problem,” she finally explained.
“With that explanation, I can understand your thoughts now,” Yanny nodded to Harry, who was still scowling. “The decision is certainly the right one.”
“At least we have idea how to keep most crawlers out of subway stations,” Yuri commented, scratching Anton behind his ears. “Kennak-Laar said that in Aon-I mythology there are demons that resemble dogs, and that is why crawlers are still afraid of them. Police should send dog teams to secure stations and technicians. Won’t solve problem completely, but will definitely improve the situation.” Anton barked once in agreement and wagged his tail happily.
“That’s a hell of an idea, big guy!” Abigail gloated, rubbing her hands together. “Now all we need is a ticket to POWERS and our next operation can begin.”
“How about press passes?” Yanny asked the group. “Companies are always interested in publicity. If we can credibly assure them that we want to interview company management about their clean and safe energy, and then publish it in the Daily Observer, we’ll probably get an appointment quickly. I did some research on the internet last night while you were asleep. By the way, the head of the company is Dr. Kelly Malcom. Her name is on a lot of charity events for social causes. It’s strange, she only has good press.”
“The perfect cover to distract from your own skeletons in the closet,” Harry nodded. “I think your idea is excellent. Can we get such IDs through Will Morgan at Homicide? Surely they shouldn’t have any trouble forging them for us if we need them for our job? If they’re offering us the prospect of a mansion, a few printed plastic cards shouldn’t be an obstacle.”
“I can call them right now,” Yanny confirmed. “Then you can gear up and prepare in the meantime. I bought you an extra thin armored vest the day before yesterday to better protect your injured area,” she added in a low voice.
“You’re the best,” he replied quietly, smiling at her. Despite the imminent danger and his dogged thoughts of revenge, it was she who softened his features for a moment.
“If the plan really works, how can we re-establish contact with the Aon-I?” Yanny inquired.
“We gave them one of our two radios, so we should be able to find them quickly in the underground city area,” Abigail explained. Yanny nodded, stood up and went to the phone.

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