Aurelia saw on her HUD that she was still a good thirty minutes away from the meeting point when she suddenly stopped as if rooted to the ground.

"Aurelia? Is everything okay?" "I know it." "You know what now?" "I know what bothers me about the plan. And I know how to fix it. But that would mean I would have to be selfish and take a risk." Raya didn't answer for a moment. "Raya?" "Yes?" "You're surprisingly quiet, is there anything going on?" "No. I'm just not sure how to deal with this situation. I know you can be very cold when human lives are at stake, but at the same time, the exact opposite is also true."

"Fair. But it doesn't matter. I thought about our conversation again and you were right. It bothered me that one component would be missing. I will meet the seller together with Blurr and make the deal, but Blurr, if she does the job at all, is only a fixer. So I'm basically going in there without any real backing that I can trust." "I'm sure Blurr is capable enough in a fight. Besides, she won't risk her entire organization to betray you." "Yes, that's true, but it's about the feeling of security of having someone who has your back in view."

After a short moment, Raya asked, in a slightly curious voice: "So what are you going to do?" Aurelia smiled and opened the HoloCall app in her HUD. "I'm calling a crazy maniac with whom I fought side by side. I will be able to trust her!" "Oh, you're talking about Anarchy Mary. I think that's a good idea."

The call rang for less than five seconds until it was answered and Mary's voice rang in Aurelia's ears "AH AURELIA, HOW ARE THINGS GOING, WHAT'S GOING ON, WHERE ARE YOU, IS EVERYTHING OK?!"

Mary had a voice that could not be forgotten, rough and deep, but now it sounded like a caricature of herself. Aurelia couldn't help laughing: "Hey Mary, nice to see you. I'm fine and I'm still in a fracture wall. And... Mary, I'm sorry I left this way. I should have at least said goodbye. But you would never have let me go." "Damn right! I know why you're gone, but we all miss you. You gave us the opportunity to defend ourselves and you took out the Playaz. And you were a friend to me. Everyone would immediately agree to take you back here."

Aurelia saw the desperate look in Mary and forced herself to ignore it: "Mary, I will not put the Children in danger again. But..." Mary looked like she wanted to throw something in, but Aurelia was quicker: "I'm ready to meet with you, OUTSIDE of your camp." Mary's eyes lit up: "Fuck yes! When?"

"It will be a little while before I can meet with all of you, but I want to meet you. Even today. It's about a gig where I need someone I can trust."

Mary's appearance changed abruptly when she heard the word. With a serious expression and a tense voice, she asked: "Where and when?" "I'll send you a ping, in half an hour, if you can make it." "Huh, it's a long way gone. But no thing Deus Ex" she said Aurelia's Operator name with a kind of reverence, which was really uncomfortable, "I'll see that I get a vehicle and meet you there. What weapons do I need?"

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

Good question. The meeting with Blurr was just to work out the details for the gig with her. But one thing was certain: "Your fattest weapons. The meeting is harmless, but what comes afterwards could be tricky." "Got it!"

With that, Mary abruptly cut the connection and left Aurelia puzzled. It felt that way when she did that with others. Wow. Not pretty. Deep down, she could feel that she wanted to laugh about it, but it was somehow... false.

"Raya? Do I feel you laughing right now?"

The feeling stopped immediately. "I'm sorry, Aurelia."

"I didn't know you could do that..." Again something new about Raya to rack his brain. But she didn't have the time for that. She had to stay focused and couldn't slip into an existential crisis again. But it was hard to ignore that Raya and Aurelia seemed to be so close that Raya could use her body to laugh.

"Argh. Raya, damn it." "Aurelia. What exactly can I do to appease you?" "Soothe?! You literally take over my body. What if you make sure that I lose more and more with every little bit more presence? You may not care, but... Shit man, Raya. That scares me." "Oh, I didn't know you were so bothered by it. I am sorry. The bond between entity and AI grows over time, but you don't lose anything from yourself, you only gain me." "Oh, and that's supposed to calm me down? If 50% of me is made up of you, I've still lost half of it, even if I theoretically still have 100% of myself!"

"I'm sorry. Aurelia. I don't know how to proceed now. The entities were always happy to get the support of the AIs-" Aurelia stopped and interrupted the voice in her head: "You said the stargazers always sent you when a world was in danger, right? So it's logical that people are happy and they don't care what happens to them! But I'm not in a war that can possibly wipe everything out!

That's not even true... I have to experience the crap with the war again and again, thanks to you." "War? Aurelia, what do you mean by that?" "The dreams of the guy with the fireteam fighting the alien things called me boss and in the last dream we saved rich sacks." Raya remained silent for a second. "Aurelia. This is not through me. At least not on purpose. I think," Raya hesitated, "I think you see my partnership in front of you. But that shouldn't be possible."

"Aurelia. That scares me," she added. Aurelia rubbed her temples and crouched down. That was all too much. "Why just before I have to do something important?"

Raya didn't answer.

It took almost an hour until Aurelia was able to get up again, Blurr and Mary had called her constantly, she had accepted Mary's last one and added Blurr. It was only thanks to them that she was able to think a little normally again. She hadn't told everything, but she had talked about Raya and that she didn't know if she was still herself. At some point, even Raya herself had come forward and inserted herself into the call. Aurelia didn't care that she was revealing way too much, but she couldn't help it.

"Ok, now you come here first, then we'll talk about it over a beer," Mary finally said worried and Blurr agreed with her. The two had sat down in the bar shortly after the call began and had a seat ready for the nun with existential horror. "Yes, ok. I'll be there soon." came from Aurelia exhausted and she closed the call.

It took just under twenty minutes until she finally stood in front of the fake wood door of the meeting place. The bar was not completely full, but well attended. But it only took one look to find Blurr, as well as Mary.

One was dressed in a bright pink combat suit and purple combat jacket, the metal ears on her head, the other had badly cobbled together improv armor over old worn-out clothes with pink hair. Funnily enough, it was almost the same tone as Blurr's suit. Aurelia walked up to her and, to her relief, saw a beer glass and a shot waiting for her. She urgently needed that now.