Chapter 20 – Mudslide

 

My name is Caleb Hayes. I’m a boy (female) whose been purchased in Orchid. Just a few months ago I was an ordinary student in Echostar academy. It’s been two months since I came to this world. I live with various male servants and what suspiciously seem to be prostitutes that also

inhabit this palace in the Imperial city. It's lively with plenty of material comforts, also no upkeep, the only thing required of me is lounging and daydreaming. Insect humanoids and plant ladies also live in this world, the female ones always appear extremely sinister to me, but that seems to be because they control this world as a matriarchy. My life is quite dull here, so I started training some odd abilities I discovered as luck would have it. Some sort of airry energy around my limbs, allowing me speedy bursts of movement. I even found I was able to float above the ground for a few moments. My only concern is that I fear that I’ll be killed off for no reason at all in this world, just like a boy I found on the streets who met ill fortune.

After coming to this world I learnt a lot of things about it, like that a great portion of its female inhabitants are part of a class of matriarchal aristocracy with high levels of magical ability. The

insect humanoids are the owners of the vast majority of the land, especially the Imperial city, after that the flowers are a rival aristocracy. The Gems of this world live in squalor and have a few sole reservations, but most of them and unowned men live underground in what they call the 'Mudlands', or Gaia's bosom as some call it. I was told by Nathan, a leader of a men's

resistance that the Men’s Liberation movement has extensive networks under there. I've joined him as a candidate to be his officer, recruited by him and his lieutenant and logistics hand

Astrid, or Orion as she's known publicly in the capital. Astrid has a highly suspicious nature and she claims to be an Orchid spy, but I think she’s more likely to be an Orchid double-agent. They claim they are trying to bring the capital under men's rule, but I cannot discern their motives.

I’m not sure what I should think about my situation, but as I’m not able to leave the palace, it seems like the smartest course of action to join this movement and help overthrow this world’s matriarchal rule. I just hope I will be able to stay out of this world’s civil war and still live. My most likely fate is likely death, but I have some plans and hopes to avoid this by training as much as possible and earning Nathan's favor. This world I learned, was run by the mother of my friend, Thatti who hopes to see her succeed her. But this world is not perfect. The Empire is a vast network of cruelty, torture and subjugation. That’s enough for me to feel like I’m fighting for something. I'm worried I ruined my reputation with Thatti at a con when she failed to showup for my honorable shoot, and called me an inferior boy. Without doubt her views are as distainful as her mother's, the last time I saw her she tried to purchase me and then treated me coldly. I cannot support her dynasty, so I will help to end their dominion. This has been a short recollection of my current situation and my hopes to be a man and make this world a man’s world- even as a female boy myself.

I hear another noise coming from the balcony wall. I lean over to investigate, in the cracks I notice little metal wires wiggling about, the same ones as a door in my room. I pick one up, and it is surprisingly pliable. It’s just what I’m looking for. I’m going to be able to use them, maybe

even make my own tools and weapons out of the metal. I look around and see the small tools I had earlier. I look at the tools in my hands. They’re all made out of hardened metal, but not from the metal wires, a few look suspiciously like they’re made from some sort of crystal that isn’t

visible from up close, although I’m not quite certain if they are. My hands continue working and placing the parts together, eventually I see the odd glowing silkworms thread through metal and material as if forming its ghost. I lose track of what I’m doing, or how I’m doing it. It’s all quite strange, and I can’t be sure exactly how this is possible, but after 5 minutes I hold up what appears to be some sort of mechanical bird with crystal wings via the pieces I grabbed. Instead of the wriggly lines, it has a whole glowing aura to it. The most incredible thing is when I press the bottom, the wings flap and eyes light up. My impressions were equal part confusion and

amazement at what I’d created, seemingly from nothing but some pieces of scrap I found. I look around at the palace with the mechanical bird fluttering in my hands and wonder how long it took me to create this simple machine and with such ease.

“Amused with yourself are we?” A familiar voice says from behind.

 

I turn to see the face of Winks, who I’d not seen in a few weeks. She's wearing her usual white suit and blue tie. “What are you doing here Winks?” She folds her arms, someone hiding behind her. "Checking on your progress and status. Report." She says coldly. “Well I created this out of nothing but scrap and metal lines.” I say. She looks at the bird and nods, if to say 'very

interesting', but there's a look of cold, callous calculation there aswell. Slowly the figure from behind emerges, I recognize her. One of Thatti's rivals?

"Jetti?" I say. An Xi girl, going off her electric highlights. She's wearing a high collared yellow dress with a blue belt around her waist. I've seen her before, but have no desire to meet her

again. She looks at me with an amused but curious look. “Aren't you the boy that's friends with the girl that had to shoot my sister?” She says coldly. I pause. "What?" She rolls her eyes at me. "Rebecca's friend." She states clearly.

"You didn't know I was here did you?" She says plainly. "No." I mutter. "Well now I'm here." Jetti says.

"How did you two get in here without any of the guards noticing?" I ask. Winks presses her fingers to her glasses.

“I just paused time.” She told me. Of course she can do that, why not.

 

hen Jetti explains the situation, my friend that they were both in school with is in danger. A boy called Nathan. A boy that may be targeted. In what way, I ask? Jetti doesn't know. She just said that he was targeted by their matriarchal system. This already all old news for me. "What are you asking me to do?" I said.

“We’re asking you to join our movement and stop Rebecca.” Winks said. “But we don’t trust you.” Jetti finished.

"We're just asking you to come with us." Winks says.

 

“I’ll need to think about this and get back to you.” I say. Of course, Jetti has been gunning for Thatti and Rebecca's head, why should I help her? Even if me and Thatti are estranged turning them in to her or aiding Jet seems rather extreme. Winks well, winks, her eyes a cold glare. "I've got some quick errands to run. Some old informants to see. Jetti stay here for the afternoon." She says.

"Kay." Jetti sits down on the balcony and kicks her legs, basking in the golden light.

 

 

 

 

I turn and walk down the stairs, thinking about this whole mess. 'What should I do about them?" I ask myself. Tell someone? Who? Astrid, I don't trust. Not really. Nathan maybe, but Jetti is something of a powerhouse onto herself, someone who could spar with Rebecca, could even he

take her on or do anything about her? The Domina? I'd rather not get involved with her. The next thing I hear is Madam Vee and her parade of boys rushing in up the stairs right as I'm going down it. I run up the stairs to escape them, they're not to be taken lightly, but I'm out of time.

The entire entourage sweeps me up and I feel one lady pull me into one of the Sanctuary's huge chambers, odd couches around the perimeter of the room. I'm pushed into one of the couches and forced to sit down, listening to chirps of the ladies. Madam Vee inspects every boy, giving the most attention to me. She looks at me curiously. "Hungry boy?" She says. "Not really." I answer. Tilly picks up an apple from a tray and hands it to me. "Eat." She says. I grab the apple and take a few bites. It is very delicious. "Mmm." I say. "You're going to be stuck here awhile." She says. I look up and notice some of the gems were sitting and standing in the corner,

seemingly waiting for something to happen.

 

I cannot believe how smooth Vee is. The lilting quality of her voice, the seductiveness of her wit, added up to her self-confident posture

 

 

 

"So this is him.. The Boy who flew." Vee licked her lips. Some of her courtesans were a boisterous huddle talking, laughing, and gossiping. Madam Vee herself was always smiling, a huge smirk playing on her lips, the brightest aspect of her expression, as though, in her opinion, what needed to be said would be said and in such a way that it had the power to say a lot more, but in a way that meant so little as if her intent could shapeshift at any time. Madam Vee

continued, "You want to be comfortable in this palace, don't you? You want to feel at home don't you?" She put her hands on my chest, despite my attempts to get up, she pushed me back sitting. "Nuh uh. I've had my eye on you since you first arrived. So you're the Domina's pet? That's adorable, she doesn't know what a treasure she has." Her hands rip at my chest and she molests me, hands feeling up my barely-there breasts. "Nor what she's lost. I could take you out and you'd never know what hit you." She said. "What the fuck are you talking about?" I say. "I'm

getting the idea you've made friends with our dear friend Nathan, or should we keep pretending and call my nephew Goliath? The Domina’s concubine, as if. Hehehe." She laughs hysterically.

"Where is he?" I ask.

 

"He's out in the Capital out with my sister. The boy is an interesting fellow. A little too trusting perhaps?" Madam Vee says. "He's had his fingers in many pies, and has fallen foul of one before." Madam Vee's girls look at me, smiling seductively. "He's a bit unhinged you see, so they say. Regardless.." Vee pinches my nipples.

"So we're making plans, you and I. He's being watched and I've had this gut feeling for a long while that things aren't going to go down quite so peacefully as we'd hoped. The boy has some ambitions and you wouldn't believe the way he's got his hands in the dirt." She says.

"You're talking about the Boys Liberation aren't you?" I ask. Madam Vee nodded. "You know a fair amount about that boy's interests and ambitions, I presume." Her gropes grow more

salacious and unrestrained, I can smell her thick perfume as she breathes down my neck. "You know quite alot for a boy! But then again." She slides her hands up and down my neck, tracing no adam's apple. "You aren't a boy, are you? Tell me, what is your story here?" She says.

 

 

 

I was silent for a few seconds. Did she discover me that easily? I suppose anyone feeling me up

in this uncomfortable way would. "My name is Caleb. I'm a female boy born in Echost region, Xi. I got kidnapped by a crazy gem named Jack and brought here."

Madam Vee analyzes for a second. "Jack.. Jack. Doesn't ring a bell. Did you say female boy? That sounds like nonsense to me, much of Xi’s gender silliness is always nonsense. A lot of your

gender don't seem to get it, but a female boy? That's something." She pondered. "Is it?" I say. I know I must appear as a strange mystery to her, but I'm not a big fan of Madam Vee. Madam Vee's body language changes as she glares at me. "Are you trans?" She says. "I'm not.. I just

consider myself a boy and aren't interested in changing myself, or any physical part of me. But I do consider myself a boy. Everyone else happens to aswell." I say. "Are you trying to tell me there is a political cause or are you a trans male who doesn't know what he wants?" She says. "I don't know, I don't think so." I say. Madam Vee leans back. "So it's just some sort of personal journey for you?" She says. "Maybe." I reply.

 

 

 

Vee waves a fan and looks around the room, the others too dazed to really reflect on or absorb anything I've said. She claps her hands together. "Well whatever, you're a female, you've been bought, you've been rescued, but you're still here. Now what does it all mean? You must mean something to someone if you're still here in this palace." She said. "You were bought as a boy, so a boy you'll be treated as." She snapped her fingers and two Pearls came with vases of oozing, thick brown mud. "And it's no matter, I've helped lots of girls discover what 'boy treatment' entails, and what it can do for you." Madam Vee says. I looked at the mud, it was thicker than the black mud of the earth, and had a rich golden glow to it. "No, I'm a girl!" I say. I looked at Madam Vee, she's glaring at me. "I'm a girl!" I say again. "You are? A second ago you weren’t so sure." She says. I looked up at her and her hand caressed the side of my face. I looked back at her. "Then let's fix that."

 

 

 

The Pearls start to slowly pearl the strange mud on me, and the couch comes to life, a dome atop. They slathered my body in the sludge and pearl it, making a thin shell around my body, I'm trapped in a see-through cocoon from the neck down. Madam Vee takes it upon herself with gloved-hands to grab some of the brown earthy goop and rub it on my face, she grinds it in and feels my chin, spreading the brown stuff on my cheekbones, her finger moving up my legs,

tracing the edges of the ooze that wraps me... "We all know that. I'm wondering what you're

doing here in this Palace. Are you a man, a girl, a woman, a transsexual or something else

entirely?" She says. "I'm a girl, really!" I said. I was starting to panic, I could barely see through the cocoon she'd made for me, it looked like a muddy, rubbery web that had engulfed my entire lower body, my arms trapped at the sides.

My head began to feel dizzy, everything on my body was heavy while my mind was light on thoughts. Something starts to sink into my psyche, deep and barely detected. Subliminal in its infiltration, like worms wriggling deep and deeper still into the dirt. I wasn't sure what they'd done to me, I was having a bad feeling this was an ill-omened mistake. Madam Vee's hand caressed my cheek as she continued talking. "Are you really?" She says. I can feel her hands

tracing the surface of the gooey cocoon on my chest and her hot breaths against my neck. "S- shit, just leave me alone." I say. She looks down at me coldly.

"You want to be left alone?" She leans in close. I smell her breath and the muddy goop on my face. "The palace is an awfully nice place." She said. "But it's only a free stay for boooooooys."

She whispers in my ear with a long drawl, the word worming its way through my head with

hypnotic seduction. She's got me under her spell now, the brown goo all the way down my body, it feels as if I've been sunk into the mud. "It doesn't have to be." She murmurs. Her hands are all over me, and the Pearls have moved to stroke me as well. "Boys~" She says. "Are the most fun when they're freshly minted." My heart races, something's just not right. I can hear a voice in my head whispering to me that I need to calm down. Maybe it would be best for a girl.. for, a person like me to just sink into the mud and relax, right? My burdens feel too heavy to carry, the past too distant to remember, as if its fading into quicksand. I feel like I'm sinking into the mud, and I start to really feel how heavy I am, almost masculine. I feel my eyes go dim. "I'll ask you again? Are you a girl?" Madam Vee poses the words like silk into my nexus, every vibration spinning and throbbing. Throbbing like, something between my legs I'm quite sure I don't have, a phantom sensation of some kind. "I.." My mind reels. "I'm a.." There's a word on the tip of my

tongue, but I can't find it. It's as if it's on the other side of the mud, but I can't reach it. The mud is my own self, my identity. I can feel the goop squishing through my fingers. It feels natural, like a part of my self. "A boy~" I reply. It feels so natural, so right to hear myself say.

"That's the right answer." She purrs.

 

Suddenly the stained glass windows crash, and a figure rolls in. I don't see them at first, I can just hear the girls screaming and Madam Vee huffing and puffing. Before I know it I'm picked up, restraints sliced and I'm carried out of the chamber. I start to feel a lot better, like clarity is returning to my mind. But the thick haze that feels like musk is layered thick in my psyche. It's

five minutes before I'm taken to the topmost rooftop. Vee would pursue me, but Luz and Nathan returning below have her immediately straightening her affairs out and give up her desired prize.

The mud shell begins to crack, I see a figure with jetblack hair and electric blue highlights holding numbchucks. "Jetti!" I yell, sounding abit muffled. Jetti turns to face me, the mud is coming off but I still can't quite feel my body underneath, it's unbelievably thick. "I'm going to take you inside now. She won't try that again, I'll make sure it." She says. The rest of the mud peels off me and I feel a lot lighter. I look up at her and she has a look of coldness in her eyes. "That was close." I say. Soon I look down, and although I feel, abit bulkier and stronger, I can tell I haven't changed that much, enough that could be replicated by a month or five of intense workouts. She starts to walk away.

"Jetti wait!" I say.

 

"What is it?" Jetti says. "Why did you save me just now?"

 

"The goodness of my heart to a fellow Xitizen, what else." She said mockingly, but there's a tinge of truth to it I feel.

"Why?" I ask. She looks at me with a raised brow.

 

"This is the second time you've helped me out, you saved my skin back in Saint Prims." I look around the roof and her hair is glowing in the nightlight, like a halo, the wind sweeping through her hair. She swings her Numb-chucks, Spirit Chaser around her shoulder.

"I owe you one." I say. "Thanks, Jetti." I can feel something warm and tingling my heart, some feeling of friendship or some kind of unspoken closeness.

Jetti snaps. "I'm going to ask you a question. And please try to answer as best as you can." Jetti says.

"Yes ma'am." I say.

 

"I'm going to hunt Rebecca. Do you plan to join my cause and help me take her down?" Jetti says.

I can feel my answer in my stomach, but I'm not sure what's happening. "I- I'm not sure." I say. She stares up at the sky, giving a pause pregnant with thought.

I look up at Jetti and I think about this. I know that Rebecca is not to be trifled with, that she's rather formidable, but also.. there's a part of me that's like, I dunno. A part of me doesn't want to bring on Thatti's wrath or spite her further by teaming with one of Rebecca's enemies.

"Why are you after her anyway?" I ask.

 

Her eyes were overflowing with tears. "It started a lifetime go- literally. I used to be an artifact runner for the Merchant Guild. Over a millennia ago in Xi. Me, my sister, my friends and all my crew. I had a different name, a different life, but I followed the Merchant Guild code of honor. I never shot first, I was a good person. We were all good, I dare say were untouchable, and it got to our heads. One day we were going to raid some railway station that held some rare artifacts,

and we weren't going to just go in and take them, we wanted to sell them to the highest bidder. Some of my crew knew I was a little too full of myself. Anyway, we ran into bunch of thugs who'd steal and kill when the chance presented itself." Jetti said. She looked back to me, it looked as if she was staring down through the ages, ancient memories running through her head.

"Among them there was a blue-skinned runner with green hair. Her crew smoked ours, total overkill. Their leader had some sort of Cascade device. My sister got shot by the green-haired one, I tried to retaliate and got killed by her myself. We were all taken out cold. We.." She folded her arms and sighed. "Died."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, her account was brutal. "You, died? By a blue-skinned girl? You're kidding.." It was all clicking together in my mind.

"The next thing I know was I'm waking up in a bed in an empty white room. "It was hard to know where I was. What was happening, who was there, who I was." She paused. "Until a woman with glasses- 'Winks' as you call her, claimed to be an angel and brought me out, and

took me to someone they called the 'Novus of Clarity and Reason.' Or Granny Grim as the angels jokingly call her. This 'Novus' made a deal with me, She told me Rebecca was alive, because some bastard god had just taken her soul and put her in a wand. That I was 'chosen', and this Novus needed me to protect Xi, to change lives and stop Rebecca before she brings everyone disaster. And so.. I agreed." There was a long pause. "When I woke up I was someone else, somewhere else." Jetti said. "A new girl with different mothers, a new face and body. A little kid, but I had another chance. Soon I was recruited by Glitterkiss, Xi's division and learned from

Winks that Rebecca was held in Orchid's chapter. So I began plotting my revenge hoping to get her for what she did to me and my sister. I always tried, but Rebecca always won. Everytime, she wins."

I can't help but hear Jetti's story, her pain, and the injustice of how someone like her got shot by freaking Rebecca of all things and how it changed her. How someone's life can change in a moment, that something can come in and disrupt your life forever from the crossroads of fate.

---

 

Deep beyond the Imperial city in the mountains, below the tunnels of massive networks

explosions went out. Chiefman Seth, counselors Trey and Matt all looked up, their base shaking. The sound of marching boots, metallic armor and rolling artillery-tanks rolled in passed their barricades. The 3 panicked as soldiers from the Imperial city flooded their base, overwhelming their ranks and surrounding all exits. "We've been compromised!" "W-where's Orion?" "Why is our defense grid down?" "HOLD THEM OFF AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!" "Sectors 17, 19 and 21 have capitulated!" "Communications are down, what's the logistics officer doing?!" The Domina and Astrid watched with binoculars above an airship, seeing the rumbling eruptions in the

mountains one after the next as their forces swooped in. The sunset turns crimson. As the star above descended, so did the fortune of the Men's Liberation Front, bestial cavalry with insectoid soldiers descending and looting the mountains and tunnels below, blasting the resistance down with shells. "C'mon, you fuckin girls can do better than this!" Said the Domina. Astrid said in a metal-braced helmet. "We'll see, I've got our best soldiers down there. No one can withstand that kind of firepower."

The Domina poured a cup of hot tea. "It's taking longer than it should." She turned over to a luxury couch. "Boys shouldn't be out this late, right... Nathan?" She said to her son who sat in silken robes, hands folded together.

Down in the tunnels and bases below, the soldiers were being pushed back, and Seth was cut off from the rest of his forces. He looked up and his eyes bulged. "They're coming in waves!" He says. "Our defenses were breached by multiple assaults." He says. "We've lost the momentum!"

He ran to his office, dozens of female flowered soldiers with rifles wrapping the mudmen in

vines, ragging them around like urchins. They slammed on Seth's floor, arriving hallways from his office as he ran under his desk and curled up. "H-how could this happen? ? We can't stand against an Imperial siege, what can we do?" Trey and Matt said. "We lost our communication to the world, our defense grid was overloaded." "Orion was supposed to prevent this and make sure our network was secure!" "Where is Nathan now?" The situation became dire.

"They're breaking through!" A soldier said. "It's too late!" Matt said.

"What should we do?" Trey says. "We've lost everything!" Seth whimpered in the corner.

 

---

 

Me and Jetti stood A long moment passed where we didn't say anything.

 

"So if you're so deadset on getting revenge on Rebecca, why haven't you killed her then?" I say.

 

"I tried! She's strong, her and her wielder too. Apparently, Headhunter is an S-ranked Perceptcival, a divine weapon. My Perceptcival, Spirit Chaster is only A-ranked. Rare, but I'm

still always at a huge disadvantage." She says. I look down at the ground, I feel for Jetti, but I'm conflicted. "Look, I understand what you're going through here." Jetti says. I look back up at her, she's tearing up. "The same happened to me. I had a name, a life, a purpose. The Merchant Guild was my family, and I loved my sister. It was hard, I couldn't believe what happened to me, it was difficult to adjust being reborn like this. So when I found out you were, bought like some boyservant and nearly sculpted right here, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing." She licks her thumb, then rubs my cheek wiping off some mud, there's a look of sympathy when she looks at me, seeing straight through me.

“Are you asking me to join you just because you saved me? As obliged repayment that feels honestly kind of manipulative.” He said. Jetti shook her head. “What? Nono, that was just my morals acting. I won’t hold it against you if you refuse, honest.” She held his hand. "But I don't care if you're a boy, a girl, a wand or a talking tea-kettle. Will you help me?"

"Won't my freedom of choice become an issue? And my uh, relationship with Thatti?" I say abit hesitantly.

"It's your choice." She says. "I don't want to pressure you into joining my cause, this is your life and your call." I don't say anything else, I still don't know what to do. I know there's something that's tugging at my soul, a decision that feels really important, but I don't know if its the right choice.

Jetti looks at me and it's a look of, what I'd feel, if I'd see someone struggling, fighting their demons. For this moment, I felt her pity me, as a fellow child of Xi. "Just think about it." She says. "You'll make the right choice." I look up at Jetti, and as much as I'd like to help her, I'm

still in two minds about what to do. She swirls her numbchucks by the chain in the swerve of a clock, the two ends becoming minute and hour hands. "Freeze."

The sound of footsteps approaches, and soon 'Orion' yells at. "Caleb, what are you doing on the rooftop?" She says. "Huh?" I look around me and Jetti is gone, "W-where did she go?" "Where did who go?" Astrid asks. "Uh.. Madam Vee." "What happened?" Orion asks.

"I- I'm fine! She tried to, give me abit of a mudbath. I got brainwashed for abit.." I say. Astrid is staring me straight down, like the hawk she is. "Yeah, she'll do that. Need to be careful of her, boys are playthings to her and she takes whatever she pleases. Better lay low." Soon I'm brought back inside and the mud's cleaned off of me, I'm given my new clothes that my captors bought for me. I make a few jokes with Orion and Astrid, laughing and making some cracks and puns. Astrid gives me a stern look, like, why are you laughing? An hour passes. We're talking over a

feast at dinner with her and Nathan, Astrid's cooked it and we're both eating. Soon Astrid turns to me, and speaks.

"The Men's Liberation front has been neutralized. Me and the Domina have taken it upon

ourselves to arrest and take control of the situation. The leadership are all been held prisoner at the Penalty Bastille, though their fate is yet to be seen." Astrid says. "W-what?! Shit, are we cooked?" I stand up.

Nathan swallows a piece of bread and looks at me, urging me to stay put. "Cal.. I know what you're thinking but, this is all going according to plan." He says. "Although.. I forget alot of the details. I know it's a good thing, just trust us on this." Astrid sighs. "I think it's time we start moving forward."

I turn to Astrid, she's looking at me, her hand placed on the necklace, a fanged bone along it. The tension dissipates and we continue to eat, preparing for when the time is right.

Later that night I look at my hands and look at myself in the mirror, I've grown a little bit, my body feels a bit more muscular, abit thicker, tits hidden under strong pectorals, it doesn't feel as if there's something even abit 'feminine' about myself anymore. Not bad though. The mud grew out my muscles, defined and sculpted them with perfectly buff anatomy. I walk outside to the balcony, look at Orchid. The trees are still lit, and the wind is blowing through the branches, a calm and comfortable breeze. It feels as if that gentle breeze is about to turn into an endless

hurricane that the world will get caught up in, wherever you go, wherever life takes you.

 

And the wind begins to howl, howling into the night, my eyes look off the balcony, watching as the clouds dance over the sky, feeling the same, my thoughts turning into action. I hear my inner voice begin to speak. A voice. It feels like a decision, a voice that's been telling me, since I arrived in this palace. And I'm listening to it now, it's time to listen to what it's saying. And I take a deep breath and decide.

I nod to myself, and grin. "Okay Jetti." I say. "I'll help you take down Rebecca."