800 Ruby Is Here

A few minutes later, Jake appeared alone in a dark alley in the Outer City. A chubby black man with a military haircut and a black uniform was fidgeting with a cigarette, spacing out as he stared at the black clouds above him.

The man wore a bulletproof vest and anachronistic gear by the standards of the Ret'Asi Empire, but what caught Jake's eye was the Earth patched on his right shoulder pad, which gave away his affiliation.

"I didn't expect to meet a New Earth soldier here on Quanoth." Jake abruptly cut off his musings in a not-so-friendly voice. "But if I remember correctly, you're a friend of Ruby's. I should have known she wasn't sent to this Ordeal alone.

"Are you aware of her true nature, Craig?"

Craig looked him straight in the eye, his customary jovial attitude gone, and answered with a wry smile,

"If you hadn't made that grandiose speech a few minutes earlier, I would have found it hard to recognize you."