Zuri sat gracefully as she dried herself with some hyperabsorbant napkins a waiter had helpfully brought us, seemingly unfazed by the spectacle I had made of myself. The waiter looked at me with faint distaste as I slowly got on my feet, head dripping with beer. I rubbed both sides of my head, the right side where I bounced off of the plasteel floor, and the left side where my glass of beer bounced off of my temple before it spilled its contents all over me. The waiter gave me a stack of napkins to clean myself up, and returned to work.
“Fucks sake Zuri, are you trying to kill me?” I asked her as I set my chair back upright and sat on it. Her silence was suspicious. I turned to look at her with narrowed eyes as I patted myself clean.
She was the very picture of poise, grace, and beauty. Not a single drop of beer on her as she looked at me with the most serene expression I’d ever seen. Then, her bottom lip trembled. I thought she was going to start crying until a snort escaped out of her nose.
“Oh, I am…” she desperately fought to keep her face neutral. “So sorry.”
“Are you though?” I asked, narrowing my eyes even more.
“No,” she squeaked out as she tried to fight back the laughter.
I exaggerated my scowl, playing it up. “You owe me a beer. And a painkiller.”
That broke her, and with another snort, she doubled over and started howling with laughter, occasionally glancing at my face, where I was exaggerating my scowl even more for comedic effect, and every time she’d look at my expression, her laughter would redouble.
“You..” she took a shuddering breath as she fought to speak between gales of laughter, “You should have seen... Your face.”
Then this little shit had the gall to make an exaggeratedly surprised and stupid expression and started flailing. “Bwuaaahh”.
“Are you mocking me?” I asked, widening my eyes, expression slack with shock and indignation as the heiress continued making fun of me.
She grinned, tears running down her face, and nodded before doubling over again and continuing to laugh.
“It wasn’t that funny,” I grumbled, crossing my arms and slumping in my chair. Of course, that only made her laugh harder.
“Stop, stop. I can’t…” She gasped. “It’s just… I haven’t gotten the jump on you for so many years.” she took another shuddering breath as she started calming down. “I forgot how funny you look when you’re surprised.”
“So you remember that little habit of yours, huh?” I said, smirking at her. “I hated that you could do that, you know?”
Zuri took another deep breath and let it out slowly, finally calming down. Then she gave me an over-the-top, haughty look. “You were just jealous that you never managed to beat me if the arena we fought in allowed me to get stealthy.”
“Yeah, but you never managed to beat me in a straight-on fi-” I caught myself before I continued our age-old argument. “You know what? That doesn’t matter. How did you find me, Zuri?”
She straightened, getting serious, and looked at me like she couldn’t believe I asked that. “You have a time-limited task, and you just got a bunch of [Ruby Tokens]. Doesn’t take a tracking prodigy to figure out where you’d go next.”
“Fair,” I conceded the point. “And why did you track me down? Missed me already?” I asked with a slightly mocking smirk.
“You wish.” She said and rolled her eyes. “I’m here to help.”
“What about your mission?” I asked, my eyebrows climbing a little higher.
She waved my question away. “Already done. It was an easy three-hour job. Had enough time to get home, wash the blood off, and come here.”
“Why?” I asked with suspicion.
“Why what?” She looked at me in confusion.
“Why help?” What was her angle here?
Zuri looked hurt by my question. “Razel, you had the look of a man staring down the barrel of a loaded gun when you talked about rescuing the kid. Yes, things between us got a little weird, but that doesn’t erase years of friendship. I don’t want you to die.”
I winced; her words stung far more than I expected. “Right, sorry,” I said, running my hand through my hair in frustration. “Spent the past few years around too many opportunists. Thank you. I would be glad for your help.”
My words seemed to mollify her as she nodded and waved at me to follow her. I got up, smiling apologetically at the waiter, and followed Zuri through a nearby door into a corridor with a red velvet carpet and dark gray walls.
“When did you book a VIP room?” I asked, surprised.
“Right before I scared you half to death.” She said, chortling. “Come, it's here.”
We entered our VIP room, and the door sealed itself shut behind us with a loud hiss. The room itself was more of a booth, with a table in the middle and a set of comfortable chairs set around it. Zuri sat with her back towards the door, and I sat opposite her.
“So, what’s the plan,” She asked eagerly.
“None, so far,” I said with a grimace.
Zuri blinked at me and tried again, “Okay, well, how many people did you recruit?”
“None, so far,” I repeated with an even bigger grimace.
She didn’t miss a beat. “That’s fine. We can look at the list now.”
I opened the list and made it visible to both of us. Zuri hummed pensively as she scrolled through, then opened the filter, hiding everyone offering their services for a single [Ruby Token].
“Quality over quantity?” I asked her.
“Yes.” She nodded. “A team is as strong as its weakest link, and we won’t need more than two more people for this unless you’re trying to get into a Clan compound. You’re not trying to do that, right?” she said, momentarily alarmed.
When I shook my head, she visibly relaxed. “It’s a club, the Neon Gridlock. I looked it up. It’s somewhere in the 4th quadrant’s Otherside.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Oh!” Zuri exclaimed. “I’ve heard of the place. I've even got an invite to it. Apparently, it's a super-exclusive place where only the rich and powerful get an invite.” She snorted derisively. “At least those who fancy themselves rich and powerful. Nobody truly influential would be caught dead in a place like that.”
I nodded slowly, the puzzle pieces starting to come together. “The guy picked a public location full of people just influential enough that I can’t afford to start a firefight but insignificant enough that if he has to use force, he won’t have to worry about collateral. He obviously has enough backing to get out of trouble and settle grudges.”
“Why do you say that?” Zuri asked, her eyes unfocused as she did something with the Novas.
I sighed and sent her the [System Enforced Protection Order] notification. Instantly, her eyes focused, and she looked at me, her face pale. “Who is this person?”
“That’s what I’m hoping to find out. He gave me that, and he said he’ll have his own,” I grunted.
“Okay. So we have an invincible foe, but you are invincible too.” Zuri said, rubbing her chin. “That’s a start. I found the club’s layout, so we can start formulating a plan of action, figure out what we need to do to get the kid and ourselves out alive.”
I nodded back as I absently scrolled through the list.
“Razel,” Zuri said, and I turned to see her looking at me with concern. “How are you so calm? If I didn’t know better, I would think you didn’t care much about the kid.”
I gave her a shrug. “Truth be told, we were only on a single mission together, so it’s not like we bonded. But I hate the fact that he is hurt and in danger because of me.” I hesitated, struggling to get the words out. “Okay, fine. I started liking the bugger, even if he is a bit of an asshole. Reminds me of me when I was younger.” before my mind could wander off, I looked back to the list and continued scrolling.
“Besides, this isn’t the first hostage situation I had to deal with. Panicking or obsessing over it will serve no end. Remaining calm and taking whatever steps you may take is paramount. Haste leads to mistakes, and we can’t afford any of those, not with the people we’ll be facing.” I said and dismissed an application from a Ringshaper whose bio was just the word “Kill” repeated 16 times. Yikes.
“... Raz,” said Zuri in an oddly hesitant tone. I looked back at her, the single spark of annoyance at the constant interruptions extinguishing at her expression. She looked me straight in the eyes with a mixture of hesitancy, fear, hope, resolve, anger, and resignation etched on her features.
“Yes?” I asked, straightening myself up and looking at her thoughtfully.
She opened and closed her mouth several times before getting the words out. “... Are you sorry?”
I blinked at her, taking her in. Sitting with her fists balled on her lap, she looked at me with a grave expression, and immediately, I knew what she was asking about.
I couldn’t meet her eyes any longer. “Yes. I am. I am sorry. I shouldn’t have disappeared like that. I know I hurt you.”
She let out a hoarse bark of laughter. “Damn right, you did. But at least that whole thing helped me get over the crush I had on you since we were like… 15.”
I blinked at her in surprise. “You had a crush on me back then? I thought it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
She shook her head with a smile. “I did. But you and Silver were inseparable, so…” She shrugged. “Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. We have a job to do.” She took a deep breath and nodded as if trying to reassure herself. “I only do this because I know [Ruby Token] missions are strictly confidential. And… Because I trust you.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked her, intrigued.
“The secret of the Molten Fist’s power. Why our squads are so powerful.” She waved her hand, and a window opened in my vision.
----------------------------------------
[PARTY INVITE]
Zuri Hiwara invites you to a party.
Accept?
----------------------------------------
I looked at the notification, slack-jawed. “No way,” I muttered and mentally accepted the invite.
New elements appeared in my UI. Zuri’s name and HP appeared at the top right of my vision.
“Behold the secret weapon of the Molten Fist Clan.” She said gravely. “You might be the first outsider to know of it. Don’t tell anyone about this. It will inevitably leak to the public; we expect it to happen any day now, but there’s no reason to put a target on your back.”
I let out a bark of a laugh. “Another one, you mean. What does it do?”
“It allows for medium-distance communication without the use of a terminal.” She said, puffing out her chest. “My mother’s dream realized.”
The mention of Yuki made my blood run cold. So this is what it was all for. “So, like the messaging system but with a longer range?” I asked.
She smiled smugly. “It’s better than that.” She closed her mouth, and her voice sounded in my head. “It’s real-time voice communication.”
“Wah!” I said, not expecting to hear Zuri’s voice in my head.
“Wah!” Hob said, not expecting to hear Zuri’s voice in my head.
“Wah!” Zuri said, not expecting to hear Hob’s voice in my head.
“What was that?” she asked, turning to me with wide eyes. “There’s only two people in the party right now. I can see it in my interface. Who was that third voice? Why do you have two voices in your head?”
I opened my mouth, hoping momentum would give me the right words, but I had nothing. “So, remember when I told you I had a pangolin living in my head?” was all I managed to get out.
“Yes?” she said, her voice cautious as if she was talking to someone who had lost their mind.
I hesitated and looked at the window that housed Hob. He looked thoughtful but then nodded at me. “Well…” I said and sent her a live feed of Hob’s window. “I wasn’t lying. Zuri, meet Hob. Hob, this is Zuri.”
Hob gave Zuri a polite little wave. “Hello, it is nice to make your acquaintance.”
Zuri, for her part, looked incredulous. She glanced at the corner of her vision and then at my face several times before speaking.
“What?” was all she could ask.
“It’s a long story,” I responded with a sigh.
“If it helps, you may consider me a digital companion of sorts.” He said with a hopeful smile.
“Like… Like those terminal pets that people have?” Zuri asked with trepidation.
“Exactly,” Hob said with a satisfied nod. “Instead of being a pet that wanders around Razel’s terminal screen and helps with administrative tasks, I am simply a significantly more advanced companion software he can access through his NovaSight to assist Razel in various tangible ways.”
Zuri spluttered at my little friend's calm demeanor. “But access to the party… And NovaSights don’t have enough computational power to…” She cut herself short and glanced at my right arm, then rubbed her eyes with her right hand. “You know what? Whatever, I don’t care. There’s more pressing matters at hand.” She turned to me with an accusatory stare.
“Look, I will tell you everything I can when I can. Okay? I promise. I owe you at least that much.” I said with a resigned sigh.
Zuri nodded firmly at me, “You better,” and then pulled up the list of applicants.
I looked back at mine and hummed. Fieldsensers could help us detect hidden guards, but their ability took time to spool up, and they couldn’t move an inch while using it. That alone could make them suspicious enough in a club to ruin the plan. So, they were out.
“I don’t think we need Magdrivers,” Zuri hummed. I raised an eyebrow at her. “Magdrivers are terrifying and powerful, but they are also the most likely to cause collateral damage. They throw something big, and a group of people die. They throw something small, and a line of people die. A Magdriver would turn the Club into a charnel house in moments.”
“Right. No Magdrivers.” I nodded. “Good points all around. Besides, if we need someone to cause damage, we have you,” I said, giving her a grin. She fought it down, but I saw she smirked at me for an instant.
“Ringshapers are no good, either,” said Hob with a hum. “Their powers cause widespread destruction. We can’t have that.”
Zuri waved her hands in the air. “Wait, wait. Instead of approaching this from who we can’t use, how about we first look at who we need? A Codebreaker is necessary, for example, if the rest of us enter from the front. They need to hack us into the guest list. I have a pass, but I doubt both people you hire will have one, too. A Metalweaver could help us pick locks, infiltrate the club's back-rooms, and pose as staff. ”
I nodded in agreement as I skimmed through the list. Then, a name caught my attention. “Hold that thought,” I told Zuri. “I think I have the potential first member of our little group.”
“Who?” Zuri and Hob asked at the same time, excited.
“Some call him…” I paused for dramatic effect. “Purple Lightning”
“Who?” Zuri and Hob asked at the same time, confused.