In the dark basement were 6 figures, including myself. Max and I were on the floor prostrating, while a person of short stature loomed in front of us. On the couch there was one person with their nose in the Iliad, another giggling at our imminent doom, and the last one was dozing off while taking up half of the sofa.

"Mei, I'm sorry! We were only 5 minutes late! It's not as bad as someone who will be remained nameless," Max said, nearly growling the last part while peeking up from her arms to glare at the sleeping person. 

She has a point. Rhett is sometimes an hour late...

We hoped that Mei would've been in a good mood. She's a stickler for punctuality and says that five minutes early is still too late. Normally she's a bubbly, adorable, midget of a person. If you're ever late by any amount of time though, beware of the devil's incarnate.

"When I say 7, I mean 7. Not 5 fucking minutes after!" You could nearly see the steam coming out of her ears. We assume that she has OCD or something because she's always going on like this. Despite her nonbelligerent looks, she has a nasty kick that could knock the wind out of you and stay out. "But I guess you are right when it comes to that certain someone who will remain nameless."

All eyes were now on the unsuspecting, innocent looking victim with the name of Rhett.

Mei glowered at us while saying, "I'll excuse it, for now. Just don't do it again," 

I mentally exhaled a breath of relief and relaxed. We really just dodged a bullet.

"Any-who, back to our meeting! Got the ring, Ash?" The sadistic bastard that was so keen on us getting kicked rose from the couch. 

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Eh? W-well... about that," All I could do was stammer out a few words. This is exactly the position Nick dreamed of me to be in. 

"No way! Don't tell me that you, the amazing Ash, failed?" Nick chirped.

What the fuck is wrong with you? I know you want to be better than me, but we were going to split the reward. This also affects you too!

"Shut up," my rage towards boiled over and made me spit that out and I continued, "I do know who does have it though. A hacker named Flynn and-"

I was cut off by Rhett, who abruptly shot up and he said, a bit too loudly, "Did you say Flynn?"

So he's not that heavy of a sleeper after all. And what does he mean?

"Yeah? Do you know him?" Rhett was the central point of all of our stares once again, including Aaron who looked up from his book.

"Oh boy! I feel so useful for once. I have info that you don't!" We looked at him with a fire of irritaion that screamed "Get on with it". "Sheesh, you all look so scary. Anyway, Flynn Gunn, if it's the one that I think you're talking about, is like a God figure in the world of hacking, or at least to me."

This could be it!

"Does he have a partner or do you know what he looks like or anything at all?" This could be the end-all or be-all.

"I know he has a partner and his name is, uh, I forget. And about what he looks like, well... I forget that too," Rhett looked embarrassed for forgetting what his idol looked like, but he gave us more than enough information and I felt like I could kiss him... well, probably not.

"Thank you SO much Rhett!" If he has a partner, there's a greater chance that "Flynn Gunn" is the Flynn we're looking for and we're a step closer to finding him.

Max was already taking her laptop out of her bag and looking up "Flynn Gunn hacker".

There were links leading to chats talking about different hackers. I pointed to one the had "Flynn Gunn" in the description.

When Max clicked onto the link, it sent her to some site and both of our faces contorted in suprise. His partner was Blake Kingston.