"Good morning, Corvus!" A Chosen chimes as she enters my bedroom. I frantically hide my Lori plush under my pillow.

"Uh... Hi."

"I'm Magdalene," she plunks her ass on the left side of my bed, seemingly intentionally letting her skirt flare up as she lands. Approaching me further, she lies prone, brushing up right next to me, resting her chin on her palms, brimming with excitement.

"Nice... to meet y-"

"Oh, what's that under your pillow?" she points where I stuffed the plushie. I didn't hide it too well. There was quite the bulge coming from the pillowcase.

Magdalene only gives me maybe one second to react before she reaches over my chest to grab Lori from under the pillow.

"This is so cute! Oh my God, I love her hair," she says while stroking the big ponytail, eyes lit with excitement. "But who is it?"

"T- n- nobody," I stammer, grabbing it from her.

She tilts her head in a brief moment of confusion. "Oh, it's that Jackal Hunter girl! That's what's-her-name, Kruger? Lori?"

"N- Okay, yeah," I say in defeat.

"She's so scary!"

"Y-yeah, she is."

"You seem scared, I hope I don't scare you as much as she does," she tosses Lori to the side, and starts to put both her hands on my chest, and begins to straddle me.

Little Cory already responds, but I'm not as excited.

"Oh?" her eyes widen as she feels it beneath her, rubbing her hands from my chest to my arms.

I stare blankly, feeling again at a loss. She dives in for a kiss. I reflexively grab her by her waist. "Can you find the zipper?" she grins, with heavy breath.

~~

"Bro, that Maggie girl is cute, why the long face?" JJ nudges me in my shoulder as we walk into the gym.

"Shut up."

"What, you gay now? You know how that will go down here."

"No. She's just okay. Can respect the effort."

"Bro, I wish she'd come into my room like that. She's hot. Lucky you, she never picked me once."

"Maybe because you run your mouth too much."

"I run my dick too, and sex speaks louder than words," he smirks.

"We all do, that's our job-"

The coach interrupts me with his whistle. "Straighten out! Phase one!"

We start with high knees.

"I'll trade you Mags if you get me out of here," I turn to JJ and say, not sure if I'm even joking anymore.

"I'll take Mags but I'll pass on the goodbye gift from the Directors."

"What? Gift?"

JJ rolls his eyes as we continue the exercise. "You'll see later today."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

~~

On the catwalk over the Fence, we stand to look down at some guy making a frantic run from outside the Fence. It's so far down we couldn't tell exactly who it was.

The others all gape and stare, muttering among themselves.

"Mm, what a shame," Elin mutters, dull, almost bored, looking downwards to the helpless soul.

He screams as three Jackals chase after him. "Perhaps he was inspired by the Boilers," Elin adds.

"Who?" A Last Man in the crowd asks.

"Some terrorist cabal roaming Cauldron and Hedonia as a whole," she adds. "That's all we know as of now."

Bullshit. She's too smart, clearly she knows more than just that.

"You believe that?" I whisper to JJ. "'That's all we know as of now'?"

He's staring at Elin.

"Hey, cum-for-brains," I elbow him in his rib.

"Ach, dude, I was busy spectating, what's your problem?"

I give him an annoyed look. "You act like she owns you, all she has to do is be all sexy and you're happy to be her tool-"

"You aren't even ogling her, and are you any higher up on the stack than me?"

Fuck.

I sigh.

"In any case, I know you gentlemen are wiser than that poor fellow below," Elin flips her hair, walking like an elegant cat in an unbelievably straight line past us. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"Oh damn, she smells good," JJ mumbles.

Ugh. She does. But I'm fucking trapped here.

Back inside, the Directors ordered us to lay down some new cable for the server rooms. Robots dug up most of the wire but we're told to straighten the cable as the bots lower it into the path in the ground. Almost as if, it's some kind of team building activity rather than actually the most productive way to repair whatever broke. For at least a few meters around the cabling itself, the area reeks of burnt plastic.

"What the hell happened here?" I ask an older, graying fellow.

"Prolly some deliberate overload attack melted a bunch of wire and shorted a bunch of shit out."

The "Boilers"? I guess they cook all kinds of stuff. What a smart name.

"Who? Why?"

The older guy shrugs.

"Maybe if you stopped dreaming about Lady Dog Catcher you'd know what's going on," JJ quips, smirking.

"Oh, shut it, cum-for-brains. Can you tell me?"

"Hey, man, you just told me to shut it."

"Now you may speak, Prince."

"Well, Boilers, I'm told. They don't like us."

"They want us, you mean?"

"Hey man, I won't stop 'em if they're hot. But yeah, all kinds of retards want to break in. And of course all the sentry bots outside keep all the door-knocking remote. So I wouldn't be so worried if I were you."

"Yeah, but wasn't this a cyberattack?"

"So?"

Nah, time to shut up, Cory. You aren't gonna get answers, only more questions.

"Ugh, God."

JJ looks up at me. "What now?"

"You know."

"What, you want out?"

"Brilliant hypothesis, Doctor."

"Look, Cory, let me break it down for you." JJ pantomimes a box on his left side. "Here, you've got food, shelter, endless sex, a gym, a library, and bros." He points to the window. "What's out there? Fuckin' Lori? Jackals? 'Adventure'? Do you really think that's within your reach?"

"Not in here."

"I don't think out there either, dude," he wipes a lick of sweat from his forehead. "If you think otherwise, you can talk to the Jackals out the North door, I'm sure they'd help you out to get into Lori's pants."

I stop pushing the fat anaconda of wires and turn to him.

"Hey, try riding one of them, bring some, like, reins or something, and ride them to Lori while she waits in a princess dress or some shit, calling 'Oh, Corvus, Corvus, where art thou?'"

"Hey, you two, keep rolling!" The director shouts from the end of the wire. "Walk away if you want a break."

I give him a few more seconds of stare before we keep pushing.

"Look, I'm not trying to be a shitstick, I'm just keeping it real with you," JJ mutters.

"As am I. I know what I want."

"Same here, bro. But I'd kinda prefer not to see you die or get taken to the Q."

"I wonder what's worse to you, death, or freedom?"

"What freedom is there when you're dead?"

"Freedom isn't free."

"If you're calling me a slave, you're shackled with the same chains here, buddy."

"And you just seem okay with it."

"Yep, I sure am. You're not, I take it?"

"Men want freedom."

"Sorry, Mr. Manly Man, but we're not fuckin' movie characters."

"Because nobody is going to solo some Sentries. It takes a team."

"Get the fuck outta here," he rolls his eyes. "You're on your own with your death wish. Who the fuck's gonna sign up for your Lori Fanboy Army?"

"If we can come together to-"

"Bro, get real, seriously," he stops and looks at me this time. "I'm not here to stomp on your dreams unless it's going to crush everyone else's."

"And what's yours?"

"I have my own, I just don't-"

"Hey!" The Director shouts.

We shut up and keep pushing again.

"Tell you later," JJ says, facing the wire bundle.