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The city had been opened and his friend had been freed, but B-12 still had work to do. One task in particular which absolutely could not be left undone. That thing in the sewers had to be dealt with. And now that B-12 had entered the city’s systems, he could handle it. B-12 remotely accessed all the sentinel drones, re-activated them, and piloted them towards the location of the giant eye. ‘It should be directly beneath this area....hopefully’ B-12 thought to himself. He set the drones up in formation in a circle over the concrete and made them open fire, firing their lasers on full power. It took a long time, but eventually the laser fire breached the concrete and a hole opened up in the ground. A hole directly above the main sewers, and the giant eye within. Once the sunlight touched the eye, it began to dissolve, burning away. B-12, watching through the drones’ cameras, watched in fascination as the main eye crumbled into ash and all the other eyes followed suit, as though the main eye had been the lifeline for all the others. A sense of great relief washed over B-12, but he couldn’t stop just there was still one more task he wanted to attempt. He hoped one of the companions could help him. ---------‐‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------Momo and Clementine had been the first to make their way into the newly opened wall. “Doc and Zbaltazar still not here yet?” Momo inquired, stroking the orange cat in his arms, the other three rubbing against his legs and head butting his shins. Clementine shrugged, “I guess we should have waited for them.” A shy expression flickered over her faceplate. “Honestly I just couldn’t contain my excitement, I started running up here as soon as the ceiling opened.” Momo nodded, and looked behind Clementine at the giant, now opened doors that had once been the entrance to the city. The two of them looked out the door. The view of the world outside was vast, exposing lush fields of flowers, and thick forests for miles away. And the only thing separating them from it was an incredibly steep downsloping ramp, with a track running down the middle, which had once been used for a transport system of some kind. They stared in awe for several minutes before Momo broke the silence “So should we just...slide down?” he asked, letting out a staticky chuckle. Clementine groaned and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “Of course not, we’ll need to make a rope ladder or stretch some wires or something. If we just slide down, we might never get back up, it’s so steep.” Momo stared at her, a look of confusion crossing his faceplate. “You think we would have to come back?” He paused. “Actually that makes sense, we don’t really know what’s out there yet, there could be something dangerous.” Clementine nodded “Let’s just wait here a while and see who arrives and then we can maybe get some volunteers to help us gather materials.” They retreated from the door and sat down amongst the group of cats, hearts on their faces. Several minutes passed before Doc, Seamus, and another random companion made their way out into the wall. Doc rushed over eagerly, “Oh my, you found more furry outsiders.” Clementine beamed at him. “They’re a family.” Momo stood up and glanced at Seamus and the other companion. They were making their way over slowly, the other companion unsteady on his feet. It was one of the strange companions from inside the control room. Seamus brightened his faceplate into a smile, “Don’t you know who this is?” Question marks crossed Clementine’s and Momo’s faces. Doc blurted out suddenly, “This is B-12! I plugged him into one of those old coded assistants companions!” He tilted his head up, clearly proud of himself. B-12, as if on a cue, called out in that strange language that they recognized as “cat language”. Whatever he said sent the little orange outsider sprinting towards him, leaping up into his arms. The other three cats followed immediately and B-12 sank to his knees trying to hold them all, and became smothered in small furry bodies. ‐----------‐-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few days later, and with the help of nearly everyone in the city, a system of ropes and pulleys and platforms had been set up in order to climb down and then back up the steep incline that led to the “real” outside. The Outsiders were finally able to set foot in grass for the first time. No one had started building shelters yet, and everyone was still wary of what mysteries might await in the outside. However, the general atmosphere of joy could not be denied. B-12 craned his head back to look up at the sun in the bright blue sky, then looked back down at his orange friend cradled in his arms. “You saved us all, I hope you know that.” The cat meowed loudly, and B-12 laughed. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”