by David Petrie
“You done?” Max wiped a bit of pina colada from his pants.
She threw the empty coconut to the side. “I am, and might I add, what the what?”
Max shrugged again, trying to seem modest. “It just happened. Probably would have gone further if Nix hadn’t walked in on us. Man, that was embarrassing.”
“Damn it, Nix!” Kira shook her fist in the air before letting it fall back down. “So where does that leave you two? Will something, umm, you know, blossom?”
Max smiled. “I don’t know, but it’s time that I finally took a risk. So I’m going to see where things go. I like her.”
“Aww, I’m so happy for you.” She threw her arms around him. “Especially for your penis.”
“Dude, don’t say it like that.” He shoved her away.
She laughed before settling down. “Sorry, but it’s about time you put yourself out there.” Then suddenly, her eyes widened, and she took a sharp breath. “You should take her out right now. To tavern or something, just the two of you.”
Max smirked. “And leave you here to swim alone?”
“Yes.” She pushed at his shoulder. “Get going. I wanted to be alone anyway.”
Max resisted her shoving. “Then you should just log out and go to sleep like Farn did.” His words hung in the air as she froze.
“Never mind me.” Kira looked away, telling Max everything he needed to know.
“Oh, Kira, no.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “You can’t, can you?”
She bit her bottom lip. “I tried, and no, I can’t right now.”
“What the hell, man? How long has it been like this?” He stared down at her.
Kira avoided eye contact. “I haven’t used my Somno headset to connect for a few days. But it hasn’t been a problem. I’ve still been able to log out normally. This is the first night that it’s failed. I think I just have to wait until I’ve slept a few more hours before it lets me out.”
Max shook his head and sighed. “You know you can’t take risks with this stuff. What happened to all that stuff you said the other day about worrying that you might lose yourself?”
“I know, okay,” she snapped before sinking back down. “I know, but I can’t take a break now. Not in the middle of the mission. You heard the Feds. Berwyn is dangerous, and we’re the only ones in a position to stop him. I can’t just quit now.”
Max released her from his stare, then let out a long sigh. She was right. There wasn’t a choice. “One more night. After that, you’re going into quarantine again. I don’t care if you have to go back to the cabin in the woods you stayed in last year. I don’t want you taking any chances.”
She nodded. “I know. I’ll call Alastair as soon as this job’s done.”
“Good, now, how about I call Ginger and we all head to the Frederick for a drink. I’m not letting you out of my sight till this thing is done.” Max picked her gear up off the beach and tossed it to her. “So get dressed. No one wants to see your sparkling ass anyway.”
Kira brushed sand off her dress and let out a huff. “I guess I could be a third wheel for one more night. And I’m sure Kegan and Corvin could use some help getting things ready too.”
“That’s right.” Max pushed himself up from the sand. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate some help. So let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Okay.” Kira threw on her gear and followed him away from the beach. “You’re gonna buy me some a more of those bunny loaves, though. I think they’re my favorite food now.”
Max waited for her to catch up. “I think I can do that.”
Nix watched the pair from where she lurked on the balcony above. The fairy hopped up to Max’s side as they walked.
The view made her smile.
They really were fun. If she was honest, which she rarely was, she hadn’t enjoyed herself as much as she had in the last week in quite some time. She followed them with her eyes as they disappeared back into the main palace, no doubt to pick up Ginger before heading off to prepare for whatever they had planned for tomorrow.
Nix suppressed a laugh, remembering what she had walked in on earlier. Max and Ginger actually made a good couple. Who would have thought a single mom from New England would work so well with a misfit from Florida?
Then she frowned.
The night was still young, but it was about time she logged out. After all, she had preparations to make as well. She tapped the sign off option on her wrist and took a breath as the countdown ticked to zero.
Noctem fell away, throwing her into her bed in the real world with a sudden jolt. She took a sharp breath as her Somno connection skipped the normal waking process that most users experienced.
It was almost painful.
She closed her eye and let out an exaggerated yawn to calm her mind after the sudden leap between worlds.
It worked.
It always did.
She sprawled out in the white sheets that had coiled around her during the night. Taking a deep breath, she pulled her fluffy, white comforter close to her face so she could breathe in its freshly laundered scent.
A smile crept across her face, as thoughts of her night drifted back to her. “House Lockheart,” she mumbled to herself. Maybe someday they would forgive her.
She shook her head. Probably not…
A sigh expressed her feelings as she pushed herself up. “Can’t stop now,” she said before yanking the magnetic charging cable from the base of her skull that plugged into the Somno unit that was implanted directly into her brain. She had been warned repeatedly by one of her techs to stop pulling the cable by the cord, but she kept doing it anyway. If she had been the type to listen to warnings, she wouldn’t have had to have the thing installed in the first place.
Nix stretched before kicking off the sheets, wearing nothing underneath. There hadn’t been time for clothes. There was never enough time.
Obviously, Nix wasn’t her real name. She hadn’t needed one in a number of years, so as far as names went, it suited her just fine. After all, it suited her; the word Nix was slang for nothing, and officially, she didn’t exist.
She had made sure of that.
Blinds that stretched across one wall opened as motion sensors picked up her moments. A view as empty as it was breathtaking, filled the horizon—the ocean as far as the eye could see, the moon hanging in the sky. She ignored it and walked over to a row of drawers next to a mirror. She brushed her messy hair back with her hands the same way she did in Noctem.
She missed her fox ears.
They were cute.
Nix ignored the mirror beyond that, having no interest in seeing the rest of her body. Sure, it was slender and athletic, but the scars didn’t help. With the chemical burn on her shoulder, the bullet wounds below her breast, and the numerous surgical scars, there was always one too many. At least, too many for a body as young as hers to have.
She riffled through one drawer for a pair of underwear and threw on a loose shirt that hung off her shoulder. A mechanical drawing of the Millennium Falcon adorned the front.
Ignoring the fact that she still lacked pants, Nix stepped out of her room and into the large, connected office where she plopped into a chair behind a sleek, black desk. An identical M9 to her in-game weapon lay to the side unceremoniously next to a smartphone. She threw her feet up and selected a number from her contacts labeled Checkpoint Systems.
The phone connected to a monitor mounted on the wall, and Nix turned to face it while resting on her armrest and letting out another long yawn.
“Tired?” asked the serious man who appeared on the screen.
Nix finished yawning. “It’s been an interesting night, Jeff.” She gave a wry smile. “Or should I say, Jeff-with-a-three.”
He groaned. “I can’t believe that name stuck. Alastair has been using it both online and off ever since that damn fairy started calling me that last year.”
“Hey, as long as he doesn’t catch on that you don’t really work for him, he
can call you whatever he wants for all I care. I’m just happy having a man on the inside.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” She gave Alastair’s assistant a smug grin.
He didn’t laugh. Actually, he never laughed. “Should I be thanking you for anything else tonight?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Nix furrowed her brow.
“Oh, so I suppose someone else has a denial of service attack running against our servers right now,” he added.
“Ah. That.” Nix sunk her cheek into her hand with a satisfied smile. “It was unavoidable. Kira had basically thrown herself at Berwyn. What else could I have done? I couldn’t let her go through with that, not with him. That monster doesn’t deserve her.” Nix shrugged and swiveled in her chair. “And it’s not a DoS attack. It just looks like one. I had Carver slip in through a back door and put a temporary block on Berwyn’s account as well as a few hundred thousand others to keep it from looking suspicious. Probably can’t get away with that a second time. So we better get things resolved as soon as possible before Berwyn gets another chance with her.”
Jeff nodded in approval. “Carver’s helping out, is he?”
“Yeah. He was happy to when I told him it was to protect his beta test.”
“He’s full of surprises when Kira’s concerned.”
“It’s the least we could do, considering what we need her to do.” Nix looked away from the screen to hide a frown.
Jeff’s severe expression softened. “Yes, speaking of the beta, should I send in the retrieval team? I have them standing by in Florida already.”
“Yes. If everything goes according to plan, the beta should be ready to harvest.” She cringed, not liking the taste of her own words. “I just hope it works this time. We can’t afford another failure.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
NIGHT SIX: THE TAKE
Farn materialized back in Lockheart’s suite, logging in after a long day of thinking about who she was and what she wanted.
“Hey,” Max greeted as the room came into focus, revealing him sitting alone.
A tension she didn’t realize she was carrying faded. “Oh, it’s just you.”
His face fell. “Thanks, nice to see you too.”
She laughed and dropped into the sofa. “Sorry, I thought Kira might be here, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Honestly, I’ve been terrified that I might blurt out a confession the moment I see her, like a bad romance anime.”
“Go for it. I’ll even be your wingman.” Max gave her a smile.
She snorted at the offer, then sat up straight and cringed as she realized something else. “This isn’t the couch that you and Ginger fooled around on, is it? I know none of this is real, but still, I’m not sure if I want to touch anything your butts touched. Is that weird?”
“How do you know that?” Max’s mouth fell open.
“Kira told me when she messaged me to tell me everything had worked out last night.”
“Damn it, Kira.” Max slapped his leg. “And yes, that’s weird. And yes, that’s the same couch.”
Farn hopped up like the cushions might bite her just as a teleport shell appeared in the room. Max leaned over the back of his chair to yell at the bubble.
“Damn it, Kira!”
“What I do?” The startled fairy froze as soon as the spell dissipated.
“Who else did you tell about me and Ginger.”
Kira let out an adorable laugh. “Oh, like, everybody. It was big news. I even told Alastair and Jeff-with-a-three. I don’t think Jeff cared, though.”
Max groaned and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Kira saluted and threw herself on to the couch only to freeze as soon as she landed. “Wait, is this?”
Farn nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
Kira leaped back up and huddled close at Farn’s side. “Okay, what surface in this room is safe to sit on?”
Max grinned. “Oh, well, now I’m not telling. You can just assume Ginger and I rubbed butts everywhere.”
The fairy glared at him, then groaned and sat down anyway.
Farn sat down beside her, the need to be close to her overriding whatever might have happened on the sofa. Kira gave her a smile that could have melted the ice that surrounded the city of Rend. It cut right through Farn’s armor, straight to her heart. Her mouth moved on its own.
“Kira, I’m in–”
Suddenly, Nix burst through into the room. “Okay! Are you going to fill me in on this plan or what?”
Farn shut her uncooperative mouth and pretended that she wasn’t about to blurt out her feelings. Oh well, at least she was close enough to smell Kira’s hair. She almost wanted to be caught.
“Okay, Nix, I’ll tell you everything.” Max held up both hands as if to say, 'slow down'.
Nix dropped into one the chairs and folded her arms. “Spill it.”
Max shrugged. “We break into the vault and take out the hard.”
Nix narrowed her eyes on him.
“What? I said it was simple,” he defended.
“And how do we do that?”
He grinned. “Well, you and I will take care of the vault’s guard NPCs, and we’ll escort Kira down there to get through the laser grid–"
“Mana fence,” Kira and Farn said in unison.
“Yes.” He continued without skipping a beat, “Then we just move the hard up here to our suite and teleport it out a little at a time in our inventories. We have a place already picked out to stash it. As long as we move quick, we should get most of it out before Berwyn catches on and disables our home point.”
Nix nodded. “And how do we get the hard up here?”
Max held up a finger then gestured to Farn. “Do you want to take it from here?"
“Of course.” She stood up and handed a bracelet to both Max and Kira who slipped them on their wrists. “These are called Shift Beads. They’re a contract item I got last year, and they allow two players to swap places. You can take everything you’re holding with them. The range is limited, so the palace grounds are the furthest we can go. That’s why we have to get it all back up here to the suite.”
“That’s where I come in,” Kira took over. ”I can’t teleport in the vault’s entry corridor thanks to its silence field, but the Shift Beads don’t count as magic, so they can bypass it. Once I’m through the mana fence, I’ll use them to swap you two over to the other side and head back to where I can teleport back up here to the suite.” She pointed up. “The rest of our house is hiding back up on the roof and will move to the suite once I’m back. I’ll hand off the Shift Beads to someone that can lift more weight. Then all you guys have to do is walk into the vault, pick up as much hard as you can carry, and wait for to one of them to switch places with you.” Kira slapped her hands together as if brushing them off after a job well done.
Nix sat nodding quietly for a moment. Then she smiled. “I like it. Simple, sneaky, and profitable.”
Max snapped his fingers. “That’s what we were going for. Berwyn will never even know what hit him.”
“Perfect, and Aawil can keep an eye on him to make sure we’re not caught with our pants down.” She gave Max a wink. “Now when do we start?”
“The last of our house is getting into position now. We should be ready in about twenty minutes.” Max threw his arm over the back of his chair, looking as smug as possible. He raised is house ring to his lips. “Time to get what we came here for.”
A chorus of voices filled the line.
“Hell yeah!” Kegan cheered.
“For Noctem!” Corvin added.
“And for us!” Ginger chimed in. “Let’s take Berwyn for all he’s worth. Then you and I are finishing what we started, Max.”
“Gross, Mom,” Piper added.
“Aww crap, who told my daughter about last night?”
“No one, I understand context.”
Nix glowered at Max. “I assume everyone is gett
ing all revved up, but to me, you’re all just sitting here in silence. So can we cut this short.”
“Oh, sorry.” Forgot you weren’t on the house line. He lowered his house ring and held out his hand. “Bring it in then.
Kira hopped closer and placed her hand on his. Farn couldn’t help but smile as she added her hand on top and gestured to Nix to join them. Kira let out a victorious laugh as they broke away.
Everything was falling into place.
Almost everything.
“Do you guys hear that?” Nix’s ears began to twitch, and she turned to look out the windows.
Farn followed her eyes along with Max and Kira. The room fell silent as a low rumbling grew in the distance, prompting Max to stand and walk out on to the balcony.
Whatever was out there, it was getting closer.
The night sky blanketed Noctem like always, but the foreboding sound drove everyone to squint into the distance.
“Oh my god.” Nix’s jaw dropped as several dozen small ships emerged from the darkness, each painted black to conceal their approach. The crest of House Winter Moon marked each and every one.
“Oh no. No no no no no.” Max shook his head as he spoke as if trying to deny what he saw. “Not now.”
“They’re attacking.” Kira clasped both hands over her mouth.
“This is it.” Farn supported herself on the side of the window, trembling. “Oh god, this is what Amelia was planning. Why she attacked the Catacombs. It was just a trial run for tonight!”
Max took three shaky breaths, then spun away from the window. “We have to move now!”
“But what about the others. They’re not ready?” Kira ran to him.
“There’s no time. They’ll just have to hurry.”
Farn watched as the palace’s energy shield switch from standby to active, light shimmering across the sky to hold the Moon’s attack ships at bay. She rushed to the others as they made for the door.
“Can we even do this?”
Max spun with an intensity in his eyes that she didn’t know he had. “We’re going to have to.”