Lola didn’t even glance up at me, her eyes locked to the pale-blue glow of her holo-tablet. “Damon is in the reception.”

  I groaned, already scanning the crowd for a convenient excuse to vanish. “Okay, I’ll deal with him later…” Most people were actually paying attention to Llama’s big-map presentation, which meant I could slip away without starting a rumor storm.

  “No. Now.” Lola’s voice clipped off the end of my sentence. She looked up, and the expression on her face hollowed my stomach out… genuine fear, wide eyes that didn’t blink. “He has… United Earth Enforcements with him.”

  It felt like I’d downed a triple whiskey without breathing between sips. “UEE? They can’t be shutting us down, can they?” My mind spun. “Okay… contact Lucas; is he still here?”

  She nodded, clutching her holo to her chest like a shield. “Lady… what do I do?” Her voice cracked. “They… can’t! This is our building.”

  Time for Crisis Charlie.

  No hesitation, I pulled her into a hug, ignoring the fact that seconds were bleeding away. “Okay, Lola. Here’s the play: go to your office and open your favorite spreadsheet.” I waited for the flicker of recognition… she had a dozen favorites. She told me something about a very complicated report with some scripts. “While you’re going, ping Lucas and tell him to meet me and Damon downstairs. Then find Iraklis; I saw him somewhere in here. I’ll grab Riker, and we’ll solve this. Got it?”

  Her hands tightened on my arms, and some of the panic drained from her eyes. “Yes, Lady!” Determination snapped back into her voice. “I will do your orders!”

  I rolled my eyes but let it slide. “Jerry?”

  “Slightly right and straight,” he answered in that smugly helpful tone. “Riker’s there. I’ve also contacted Pearl… she’s on standby.”

  “Good thinking,” I murmured, already cutting through the press of bodies. Champagne fizz clung to the air, mingling with too-sweet perfume and the low buzz of mingled conversations.

  I found Riker exactly where Jerry said he’d be, holding court with a knot of VIPs whose names I’d already forgotten five minutes after greeting them. His easy smile didn’t falter as I approached, but one eyebrow twitched like he’d just spotted a plot twist.

  “Mister Riker. I—” I gave a slight bow, because this was still public space and, unfortunately, I had to play the part. “—I’m sorry to intrude on your fun, but something urgent’s come up. Would you offer me your assistance…” I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice. “…now.”

  “Naturally! Your wish is my command!” Riker swept into a half-bow so deep it might’ve stolen the air from the room, then pivoted to his little circle of VIPs with a flourish worthy of a royal decree. “My esteemed colleagues, forgive me… duty calls!”

  His laughter rolled out like a cue for applause, rich and performative, and I had to resist the very real temptation to pinch the bridge of my nose. Or punch his.

  Say what you want about him, but when the curtain goes up, Riker shows.

  Especially when he’s not hiding under a billion lumen coat.

  We slid into my private elevator. The closet door hissed shut, it wasn’t wooden at all and sealing out the champagne chatter and glitter of the crowd. His voice dropped at once… smooth, measured, the stage mask tucked neatly away. “So,” he said, tilting his head toward me, “what… exactly… is the urgency?”

  “Nathanco. Damon. With UEE.” My voice was low as I stepped to the closet panel, pressed the red button, and watched it glow green. Whether it recognized me or Jerry was being helpful, I didn’t care.

  The hidden elevator door slid open.

  Riker’s eyes followed the motion, a flicker of interest brightening them. Then… as if someone had flipped a spotlight, his grin snapped back on. “Ahhh… inspiration!” He tapped the frame like a proud parent. “You’ve taken a page from my own elevator design. Flattery, my dear, will get you everywhere.”

  The grin melted back into calculation. “UEE, you say? That… complicates matters. They never arrive without an invitation from someone with reach. Which means…” He let the sentence hang, smirking faintly. “Our friends have been very naughty indeed.”

  “Iraklis is heading for the VIP elevator, Lucas is already coming down,” Jerry chimed.

  “I hope this can be smoothed over,” I muttered. “I heard UEE is like—”

  “—whatever the court decides,” Riker finished, eyes narrowing. “And they have the authority to enforce it by any means necessary.” He lifted a finger, with the faintest glimmer of a smile playing there. “Almost. There are asterisks… but precious few worth exploiting. Bureaucracy may be glacial, but when they move?” He made a little slicing gesture. “They carve deep.”

  We stepped into the hidden elevator, but his gaze lingered on the cramped space we’d emerged from, then into ordinary looking elevator, tracing its lines like a critic sizing up a new set piece.

  “You should decorate,” he mused. “Something with presence. Suits, perhaps… or better yet—” his smile sharpened “—a cloak, a crown, a tasteful display of ominous weaponry. Let people step inside and know they’re about to meet the villainess.”

  “I’m not a villainess!” I said through clenched teeth. “Everyone else is just… making me one. It’s annoying.”

  The smirk softened, just enough for his eyes to narrow in something almost… sympathetic. “Masks pinch. They itch. They make us sweat. But the ones that truly fit us?” He touched his chest lightly. “Those are priceless. They’re worth keeping.”

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  “I embraced mine,” he added with mock solemnity. “Haven’t looked back since.” The elevator chimed. The doors slid open… to another hidden closet. Riker beamed.

  “Very on-theme.”

  Damon was parked dead-center in the lobby, hands loose at his sides like he owned the place, while my poor secretary hovered nearby with the kind of wide-eyed panic usually reserved for building fires and surprise audits.

  She looked halfway between bolting for home and fainting on the spot.

  Behind him, the United Earth Enforcers stood in a neat line. All black suits, visible holsters, expressions flat enough to double as granite slabs. No smiles. No glances. Just a row of holoscreens glowing faint blue as they tapped away at whatever Very Important Business Enforcers tapped at.

  Uh… intimidating, but also weirdly anticlimactic.

  “Damon!” I forced my mouth into a smile and turned the dial up to Inner Riker. “What a delightful surprise! To what do I owe the pleasure at my humble little home?” Out of the corner of my eye, Riker’s approving smirk said yes, good, keep the theatre going.

  “Few things,” Damon said, his voice clipped. “First, these gentlemen and I are here to confiscate what’s dangerous and rightfully ours. By this court order—” he produced a folded sheet like a magician’s reveal, “—you are required to return the Gen Three capsule.”

  “Uhm… hi, guys?” I gave the enforcers a cheery little wave. “Don’t mind the outfit; we’ve got a party downstairs. Full cosplay theme. Champagne, small talk, possibly a duel later. You can join, if you aren’t busy later.”

  “Charlie.” Jerry’s voice buzzed with an edge I didn’t like. “Stall. They want me. Pearl’s working. Maybe a fix. Just stall. Tell them you burned me like Lucas asked… but stall.”

  The enforcers finally glanced up from their holos, offering a collective, murmured “Ma’am,” before sinking back into their scrolling. Not exactly the strike team of nightmares. Maybe this really was overblown—

  An older man stepped out of their line. Hair silver at the temples, posture military-straight. He extended a hand, which I accepted more out of reflex than trust.

  “Lieutenant Edris Vann,” he introduced himself. His voice was the kind that could push through wind and rain. “It is as Mr. Damon says, though with a distinction. We have orders to locate a Mark Three… not a Gen Three. The distinction matters.” His gaze sharpened. “Gen three, yes, but officially known as Mark Threes may be… unstable.”

  I forced a flicker of recognition onto my face. “Dangerous?” I echoed, almost laughing when a flash of memory hit… Jerry’s little gender-swap prank, back when I thought that was the peak of chaos. “Well… there was an accident.”

  Edris’s spine straightened another millimeter. “What accident?”

  Damon groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose like he’d been bracing for this derailment since breakfast.

  “Is this really necessary?”

  “Yes. It is.” Edris didn’t even blink, just turned that officer’s stare on me. “What accident? Was anyone hurt?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, Riker leaned in to murmur something to my secretary. Whatever it was, she stopped pacing and went still, nodding faintly.

  Have to thank him later. Probably with something alcoholic and called whiskey.

  “Not exactly. Something… changed. And something grew.” I let out a light giggle and placed my hand over my chest, breast, technically, so I wasn’t lying. His gaze flickered down and back up, just long enough to confirm he’d misunderstood completely.

  There it was…the tiniest twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Ah,” he said, as if that explained everything. “But it is still dangerous. So I must ask for your assistance in recovering it.”

  “Of course,” I said smoothly. “I’ll help however I can. But you should know… I was scared when it happened. And… I may have done something.”

  “Pearl hacked a high-speed drone. It’s en route. Stall,” Jerry reported.

  “Naturally,” he said with a nod. “What did you do? Report it? We’ve found no record of a distress call.”

  I lowered my voice, adding a blush for good measure. Okay, that was not my plan, but I was trying to lie to his face and was not great yet. “I… uh… yanked the chip and threw it into the microwave? Then put it back, but it didn’t work.”

  One of his men actually barked out a laugh. Edris turned his head toward the offender, but instead of reprimanding him, looked back at me with the kind of smile that could sell a confession as clever. “You did well. It was dangerous. Where is it now? We still need to recover the fried chip.”

  “Bullshit!” Damon snapped. “She was still using it before we banned her. I have proof!”

  Jerry’s voice cut in, smug and faintly amused. “Without me, the capsule’s basically a Mark One.”

  “Of course I kept using it,” I said sweetly. “Why would I buy a Gen Two if I had one at home? It still worked without the hunk-of-junk chip.”

  “Good job stalling,” Jerry muttered. “But that felt personal.”

  Edris lifted a hand, silencing the entire exchange. “These details are irrelevant to our order. Miss?” His attention snapped back to me.

  I blinked innocently. “Last time I used it was in my old apartment.”

  “We’ve already been there,” Edris said. “It’s not on-site.”

  I put on my best thinking very hard face, then brightened slightly. “Then… I don’t know. Maybe my secretary knows? I think we moved it as a backup.”

  He nodded without hesitation. “Naturally. Thank you for your cooperation.”

  I strolled toward the secretary, still locked in quiet conversation with Riker. Damon, of course, stomped after me like an eight-year-old chasing a stolen toy. “She’s just playing you! She knows exactly—”

  Edris cut him off with a polite but iron-edged tone. “Mr. Damon. You were permitted to arrive with us as a courtesy. You are now interfering with our investigation.”

  “Yeah? And so is she!” He jabbed a finger at me.

  “I’m not,” I said flatly. “I genuinely have no idea where it is.” Which was true… the last time I’d seen the thing, it really had been in my apartment.

  “No, she’s using it to hack our game despite being banned! We must confiscate it!” Damon was practically vibrating with fury.

  Over that? He was this mad just because I was still playing?

  Is he eight?

  “The drone is en route. ETA two minutes,” Jerry said, sounding almost… relieved.

  I made my way back to Riker, catching his eye. “Have you heard?”

  His gaze flicked toward the enforcers, then back to me, all showman’s charm. “I presume you have a plan?”

  “Three minutes,” I murmured in a low voice.

  “And here I was, bracing for another tedious corporate ribbon-cutting…” He gave an exaggerated sigh before bowing slightly, the grin satisfied. “Yet you walk in and turn the entire evening into something worth remembering. Truly, Miss Charlie, your talent for surprise is… endlessly useful.”

  A pointed throat-clear from Lieutenant Edris broke the moment. Definitely a warning.

  I turned toward my secretary and leaned in, speaking just loud enough for Edris to catch every word. “Can you send a message to Lola on your holo? Ask her where my old capsule is.”

  Edris gave a curt, approving nod.

  The secretary’s fingers flew over her holo-tablet. Barely a heartbeat later, she let out a long sigh. “Chief Lola says she knows where it’s stored, but the biometric isn’t keyed to you yet. She’ll have to come open it.”

  I turned back to Edris. “Is that a problem?”

  He checked his holo-watch with military efficiency. “How long until she arrives? We still have two more to retrieve.”

  “Oh, she’s at the party,” I said with a calm smile. “A minute at most.”

  That earned me the faintest upward twitch at the corner of his mouth and a nod. “Drone’s almost here,” Jerry reported in my ear, the edge of panic finally receding from his voice.

  “Good job. I might survive.”

  Patreon

  Discord! Do you want to join ranks of Scamantha, Lunaris or Llama and have your own reader character? Patreons have the first pick, but if they don't want I ask on so come and chat about your favorite exploit or what would you like to see. Is there enough Gatei, or Lucas? No? Want more Irwen? Tell us on discord and future may be changed! :)