Interlude - A Rat and a Mouse - Part One

Interlude - A Rat and a Mouse - Part One "C'mon, c'mon," she said as she tapped the Find Vanguard button. Her phone screen lit up as a visual of the plant appeared, glowing bright and shiny as it was scanned, then the camera zoomed in, past clouds and across a huge city. She recognized it from the marketing material and got a little excited. "C'mon, gimme that Deus Ex!" she muttered. And then the camera panned to the side, showing her... a high-tech crossbow against a crate. "Come on!" she grumbled. That was her sixth pull today, and all of them had been weapons. Not even 5 stars either! It was almost as bad as spending a pull to get a booster or something. Stupid gacha games. Why was her luck this bad all the time? Was it rigged? All she wanted was nice PNGs of cute girls, was it too much to ask? Becky grumbled some more as she left the pull screen and then checked on her various dailies. The menus were a confusing mess of buttons and shiny gifs and she kind of loved it. It was chaotic, but it tickled her brain in just the right way. It took forever to load some pages though. Not that she could complain... wait, no she totes could, and would. Internet access in a portal was basically impossible, but 'basically impossible' never stopped Mouse. There was a gizmo-doodad by the portal's entrance, a little box filled with wires and wi-fi router bits, all soldered together and connected to a boat battery. There was a wire running into the portal from it, and somehow Mouse got the internet working through that. Becky's boss was a grade-A genius. She wondered if Mouse could hack the gacha servers to get her more pulls? Wait... could she hack the server to make her luckier? Oh shit! Genius idea! She was considering giving Mouse a call to ask when she heard a scuff nearby. Shoe on gravel, movement. Becky looked up, expecting one of the gang to be up and checking on her, or maybe here to let her out because this job was booooring, but no. There was a woman there. Tallish, short black hair squished under a baseball cap, gasmask, glowy mage eyes, and... oh, wow, she had a really nice stomach. Becky figured that the leotard was helping a lot, like wearing a pushup bra to make things look more bouncy, only it was more about making things look flat in this case, but like, damn. She blinked and forced herself to refocus. Right right, scary person who wasn't meant to be here. Very dangerous. "Who're you?" she asked. The woman paused, keeping a few metres between them. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword (oh shit, she had a sword, that was baller!) but like, on the pommel bit, like a knight at rest or some shit. "I'm Deadline," the woman said. Her voice was muffled by the mask, made deeper... cooler. Shit, this bitch had some aura going on. This book was originally published on novelhall. Check it out there for the real experience. "Cool, cool," Becky said. "So, uh, the fuck?" Deadline looked away from Becky and deeper into the portal. "This one's about to breach," she said. "If we don't do something about it a lot of people might be hurt. You seem strong enough. Would you help me?" "I dunno, I was told not to follow strange women that show up at night," Becky said. Deadline returned her gaze onto Becky. "Very well. A deal, then. What would you want for my assistance?" "Your assistance?" Becky asked. "Yes. Unless you'd rather I pay you?" "Yeah, no shit I'd rather that!" Becky said. She jumped to her feet. "I don't work for free." "Fine then. You can keep all of the rewards that this portal offers. Every chest reward and anything you find within or on the dead. Is that fair?" "Nu-uh," Becky said. Always ask for more. It was good advice. "More." Deadline didn't seem surprised at all. "What were you doing on your phone there?" Becky blinked, taken off-guard for a moment. "Uh, playing a gacha, why?" "How about a gift-card, then?" "You have one just on you?" Deadline shook her head. "No. Of course not. But I can find you one after this. The cost will be little, I imagine, compared to the loss of life when this portal breaches." Becky worked her jaw, then shrugged. Fuck it, she was bored. "Okay! Enough for one hundred pulls on the Super Starlight Mega Standard Banner." "Deal," Deadline said. Becky couldn't tell if she was stupid, rich, or both, but there was this whole thing about gift horses and mouths that she was real fond of. "So, how're we doing this?" she asked. "I'll go in first. I think I can clear the goblins I see in that atrium without raising the alarm. Then we work together and kill everything that stands in our way." Fuuuuck, that sounded metal as hell. Becky had to wonder if this chick was that hardcore or if she was full of it. "How'd you get in here, anyway?" "I walked in," Deadline said. "But to answer your real question, no, your companions didn't notice me. Shall we start?" "Yeah, sure, take the lead," Becky said. Her thumb was moving already, closing out of her game and opening Chaos, the communications app that the gang used. She started a call, then muted it and herself. While Deadline was walking ahead of her, seeming entirely unbothered that Becky was there, she rooted around in her pocket and got out some earbuds. Little ones, that Mouse had gifted her, with decent sound and, more importantly, a microphone that didn't blow. She looked down, and started linking her phone to her eyes. A moment later there was a stream on there, of what she was seeing. There were only two people in the call. Herself, and Mouse. "Hmm, you're gonna wanna see this, Mouse," she hummed. "Pardon?" Deadline asked. "Nothin'!" Becky said. "Don't you worry about it!" ***