Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Seven - Intrusion

  Some days, I felt like staying in bed, because that was better than any other alternative. I don't know if that was a sign of something like depression, or if that was just normal for a woman living in a capitalist shithole like Fortress ENE. I think it might have been a bit of both?

  I don't know.

  Strangely, I hadn't felt that way since I started looping back. I think... maybe it was the fact that I had a goal, something I was working towards? It kept me focused on something, even when I was goofing off, or spending loops perfecting my flirting game, or just retying a portal over and over to get through it.

  I took a deep breath, the familiar weight of Mister Couchtop on my chest warm and soothing. Slowly, I untangled an arm from my covers, then ran it down the cat's back. It was something I'd done a million times, and yet it always made me feel better. The cat started his engine and was soon rumbling away.

  So, some assholes were going to kick in my door in about, hmm, I hadn't looked at the time, so I wasn't sure how long I had.

  It had definitely been early in the morning, though, before I would have woken normally.

  What else did I know? I had a pretty strong suspicion that they were from Seraph. Why would one of the premier portal-delving corporations in the city want to barge into my little half-bedroom apartment and kick my cat?

  Actually, there were a few reasons why they might be so inclined.

  Had someone at Seraph discovered my looping ability? If so, then this kind of attack was stupid and poorly planned. The best way to take me out would be right after a fresh Save. Though maybe they didn't know that? As it was, their timing was pretty decent. I was mid-sleep when they broke in.

  Okay, so setting that possibility aside, why else would Seraph go after me?

  I yawned and started to play with Mister Couchtop's ears. They were so thin and surprisingly cold.

  I had messed with one of the portals they were after. That little D-rank Kobold portal just two days ago. It wasn't impossible that they had tracked me down from there. A camera catching sight of me, some backtracing, maybe they had a good investigator on their payroll?

  That was plausible, but why take such violent action? They could just as easily send me a strongly worded warning. Kicking in the door, guns drawn was the nuclear option.

  Mister Couchtop stood up, and I grunted as his little needle-legs pressed into my breast with the strength of a stiletto. He hopped off the bed and wandered off to do cat things.

  Grunting, I sat up, then sat on the edge of my bed.

  Okay. First, information.

  Then... then I'd find a nice, clean way to kill the fuckers.

  Was that the wisest thing to do? Revenge was nice and sweet, and I think I'd regret it if I didn't at least try to put them in their place. More importantly, I knew how corporations worked. They were risk averse by their very nature.

  If they sent out a goon squad to capture someone and that squad went down, then they'd know better than to send a second. Oh, they'd want their own form of revenge, but as long as I made a big enough fuss about it they'd back off, at least for a while.

  It would mean blowing my cover, though. It was very possible that I'd no longer be allowed to just be me, I'd have to be Deadline full time, or at least change a few things.

  I stood, picked up some pants from the floor, then slowly got dressed for a night out. There was a cat carrier buried under some junk in a closet. Mister Couchtop was not happy to see it, since that usually meant that he was about to have a vet visit, and he wasn't fond of those.

  Being a D-ranker had some advantages when it came to cat-wrangling, and I could easily ignore his little claws as he tried not to go into the crate. "Sorry, buddy, but I'm not leaving you here."

  Some jerk had kicked Mister Couchtop last time. I wasn't sure they wouldn't do the same again, even if they came in and discovered me missing.

  I looked around my shitty little apartment. If I had to give this place up, would I be willing?

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  I hadn't really considered moving in a while, but yeah, I'd be down for it. Rent here was just barely affordable, but it wasn't exactly luxurious. The water was never hot for long, the apartment was off in a rougher part of the city, the internet kinda sucked, and I think some people had closets that were bigger than my entire living space. Plus the neighbours were sometimes noisy, and with walls this thin I could hear it all.

  It wasn't like I couldn't afford to move. I had a D-ranker's income, plus a fair bit of cash on the side.

  I rubbed at my nose. I'd miss a few things, but, yeah.

  A problem for later. First, I had to find out a few things.

  I picked up a burner phone, slotted in a battery, and sent two texts. They had the same content:

  Deadline: Hi.

  Deadline: My apartment is going to be attacked early in the morning by a corporate hit squad.

  Deadline: I don't have their ID yet.

  Deadline: I need you to send me regular confirmations that you're safe. I need to know if they're only targeting me.

  It was only seconds before Fran called. "Hello," I said as I picked up.

  "Are you certain?" she asked.

  "Very, yes," I said.

  "And you know this how?"

  "Uh, through means that I won't communicate over an unsecured line," I replied. "We can talk about it in person one of these days?"

  There was a long pause. I could make out some noise on her end, chatter, utensils moving, some light music. Was she in a restaurant or something?

  "Fine," she replied. "If you need help now, or later, let me know."

  "Okay," I said. "I might take you up on that."

  "What are you doing now?"

  "I'm going to watch, try to learn what I can. I think it's Seraph, but I don't have confirmation on that yet. I should, soon. After that, I don't know. My plans are rather fluid, I suppose. Revenge, maybe?"

  "Hmm," she replied. "Come to my place at around... ten thirty? I should be home by then."

  "I can do that," I said. Not in this loop, but in a future one, sure. For now, I'd just watch.

  I picked up Mister Couchtop, slung a go-bag over my back, then pulled an energy drink from my mini-fridge. Then a second one, because it was going to be a long night. The last thing I packed was my laptop, just in case.

  I went up to the roof.

  The apartment building wasn't the tallest on the street, but there was still a much better view of things from up there. That, and the cooler air was bracing, even if it stank of hydrocarbons.

  I pulled out my laptop, connected to one of the city's god-awful city-wide internet servers, accepted probably a dozen viruses, and then I started to do some research on Seraph. The corporation's history, its corporate ladder, the rankers it had, corporate affiliations. I had a podcast in one tab called F-ENE Corpwatch running. It was two guys interviewing a Seraph employee. It was one of those yapping podcasts with some corpobros that loved to just go on and on about one corp or another.

  Weird shit to have as a hobby, but who was I to judge?

  A few hours later, I decided to stand up and head down. Not back to my apartment, but to the building's security room. It was obviously off-limits, but when I got there I discovered that the door might have been locked, but it was just a plain door.

  A few good kicks, bracing my back against the opposite wall, and I was in.

  If anyone made a fuss, I'd tell them to kick rocks. I wasn't in the mood for anything. I installed myself in the little room, then took a couple of minutes to figure out how to work the simple security console.

  Every hallway had at least one camera. There were some blind spots, but the entrance lobby wasn't one of them.

  I was fighting back sleep at around six-ish in the morning when movement on one screen caught my eye.

  A few white trucks had parked out front, with the Seraph logo on the side.

  I jolted to full wakefulness and watched. The team that exited was ten members strong, with an eleventh that I vaguely recognized.

  That was that one C-ranker that had been in charge of the Kobold portal, wasn't it? Well well...

  ***