“So, the same programmer friend who did Trace’s arm and NetConnect also created a new form of learning modules? Do I have that right?” Sevorah asked.

  Trace and Ko nodded.

  “And you two are what, beta-testing the program for your friend?”

  “Something like that, yeah,” Trace admitted. “We have been helping him to work through any problems we find. There haven’t been any major ones until now.”

  Ko’s brain scan had revealed that she was on the verge of suffering the same issues as he was. In a strange turn of events, the increased power running through his brain let him use the enhanced learning modules for longer. However, the knowledge pack upgrade that Ko had weathered without a problem was nearly debilitating to him.

  She had only converted a learning module a few weeks earlier. Since then, she had been able to use it maybe a dozen times, due to how late she would sometimes work at the clinic.

  This was an unexpected problem. The knowledge pack upgrades likely had a similar effect on the brain, which is why they could only be performed once a month.

  However, Deckard and Meredith had apparently been unaware of this particular problem.

  “Is there any way to minimize or outright prevent this from happening?” Trace asked Sevorah, leaning back in the chair.

  “I would have to speak with your friend and go over how the program works with him. I’ll be honest with you though; this is more than a little outside my realm of expertise.” The mender admitted readily. “I can offer a few suggestions and look at it for obvious issues. Beyond that, he would need a specialist of some sort.”

  Ko looked more than a little annoyed at the prospect of suddenly losing access to such a valuable resource. Sure, she hadn’t been able to use it very often, but the times she was able to use it more than made up for the lacking number.

  “Alright, well, let’s get that thing stuck in my neck to help control the overall issue, and then I’ll talk to our friend about contacting you. No guarantees, as he is an extremely private person, but hopefully he’ll be willing to show you a few things.”

  He disabled the nanites in the region around his neck, preventing them from healing anything prematurely or processing the local anesthesia as poison. The two women quickly strapped him down and got to work. Trace kept his eyes closed the entire time. He was doing his best to ignore the tugging sensations in his neck as he messaged back and forth with Deckard.

  The other man found it interesting and immediately wanted to run a few tests. He also wanted to start modifying the program and create new iterations right away, but understood that he needed to wait until he had more information.

  It took some work, but Deckard agreed to hesitantly work with Sevorah on the project, though he would remain anonymous the entire time.

  By lunchtime, he was back home, with a slightly sore neck. The new device was slaved to his NetConnect and was in learning mode at the moment, studying the average signals of his brain before it would begin operation. It wouldn’t do to suddenly drop them back to normal levels when his body had adjusted to operating at its current higher level.

  Inside the apartment, he found Deckard’s avatar waiting for him on its screen. “Before you say anything, no, I had no idea this would happen, and I don’t believe my mother did either. There are certain difficulties in testing things when you are inside a braincase, and everything is controlled. For instance, I just used a simulated enhanced learning module, and there was indeed an uptick in electrical stimulation across the brain. However, it was minor, and shortly after, everything returned to normal.”

  The avatar sighed and slumped in its chair. “In other words, this is one of those occasions where a full body, or at least a less controlled environment, is needed for the effect to take place.”

  “Yeah, I sort of figured that would be the case. Well, not for this exact reason, but that it was something outside of Meredith’s and your control. The two of you would have no reason to include something that actively hurts the user. Or at least, the sane version of your mother wouldn’t.”

  Deckard’s avatar waved his comment away. “I already checked the code, and mother didn’t touch any of it. All she changed was the encryption algorithm, and a few other details pertaining to how that side of the program worked.”

  “Wait, I thought you didn’t have access to the servers with all the system information on them?”

  “I didn’t. However, I have been working on getting in touch with my mother on her satellites. It was a disconcerting conversation if I’m being honest. It was as though I was talking to all of her personalities at different times. Regardless, she agreed to give me access to a virtual version of the server. I… I don’t know if she trusts that it is me yet, but I can’t see her giving anyone else even that much access.”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  “When did this happen? How come you didn’t say anything?” Trace wondered, glad for his friend, but also curious why he had kept the news to himself.

  “The day you and Monroe went inside that hole was when I finally managed to get in contact with her. She has been refusing to speak with me ever since,” Deckard muttered darkly.

  “If you have made contact with her once, eventually a second time will happen. Don’t forget, her mental state is extremely fragile at the moment. Just talking to you must have been a huge upset to all her personalities, I would think.”

  They continued talking, eventually drifting away from that particular topic until Monroe arrived a while later.

  Deckard shut off the screen his avatar used as the large man entered the apartment. “I’ve got everything we need. Have you gotten confirmation from the others yet?”

  Trace nodded; he had sent them messages the night before after talking to Monroe. “They’re just waiting for the final details. I can have them over here in twenty to thirty minutes, assuming none of them are busy.”

  “Good, do it. Let’s get all this planned out now. I want to hit both warehouses within the next day or two before they have time to settle in and start preparing defenses.”

  The two of them went over the information he had gathered while they waited for others to arrive.

  “How are your lungs doing? I know I never asked about it, but come on man, you were in the lead. You had to have gotten a bigger dose than the rest of us,” Monroe asked, rubbing his bald head.

  Trace had been struggling to come up with an excuse on how to best answer that particular question whenever it inevitably came up. The best he had come up with was either straight-up lying, something he wasn’t exactly a fan of doing, or deflecting the conversation.

  “I’m fine. I didn’t get as big of a dose as you would think since I was able to notice it somewhat quickly. Anyway, you and Sabrina, huh? I can see why you would need to know a specialized reloader. The guns on her mobile fortress were absolutely massive. Oh, by the way, I still have your assault rifle, fully cleaned and everything.” He spun about and ran back into the apartment to fetch it. They had gone out into the main section of the warehouse to wait for the others.

  When he came back out a few moments later, he found Monroe admiring the stealth suit.

  “When did you make this?”

  “It’s been my project over the last week, though it’s honestly been something I wanted to do for longer,” Trace admitted with a smile. “All that was holding me back was money, and a little know-how, and I wanted to see what a proper wraith suit looked like. I finally got to see that the other day, and well, I have been studying nearly constantly ever since I swiped those learning modules from Pushman’s apartment.”

  “What can it do? I mean, it looks cool, but I know it has to have more than just looks going for it.”

  “It’s a-” A honk outside the warehouse interrupted him, as the first of their guests arrived. “Remind me later and I’ll show you.”

  He opened the warehouse doors, allowing the three vehicles to drive inside.

  A few moments later, everyone was crowded around a long table that he had temporarily cleared. On top of the table were six ink-sheets all linked together to create one large flat screen. It was currently displaying a map, along with several of the photos that Monroe had taken.

  “Just so there is no confusion among anyone here, the blood-dogs are indeed working with the scavs.” Across the screen, a series of photos scrolled, showing them everything that he had witnessed. The gangsters were shown clearly, working with the scavs to load the equipment from their bloody dens. “In other words, we’re not just stealing from a gang that cleared out empty dens. Though, personally, I wouldn’t have any problem with doing that regardless.”

  The others nodded solemnly. None of them had needed the confirmation, but it was nice to have none the less.

  “Now, as I was telling Trace, I would like to hit them as soon as possible, before they have a chance to begin putting defenses around either location. As you can see, both warehouses are within two streets of each other. They are also fairly far away from the blood-dog’s headquarters, which means any reinforcements that aren’t close by will take a few minutes to get there. In other words, the quieter we can do this, the more we can take. Then, at the end, we blow both warehouses to the steel goddess and back.”

  That was the basic outline of the plan. From there, all they needed to do was to hash out the details.

  Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough time to build the explosives themselves, so those would all have to be bought. Unloading the trucks and trailer would also take time, so the more vehicles they had, the better. Thankfully, it appeared as though the blood-dogs had a few of them. It was simply a matter of finding where they were stored, and then gaining control of them.

  That left two issues that they needed to work through, when, and who would take point.

  “I’ll be taking point,” Trace told them when the topic came up. “I want to be a wraith and have been orienting all my gear towards operating as quietly as possible. I also have a new surprise I can debut for this mission.”

  None of the others had a better suggestion or a problem with him taking the risk.

  “I would like to accompany Tune on taking these people down. Someone needs to watch his back, and my sword will be the quietest solution.” Kenshin offered just as they were about to move on.

  “Um, I don’t have a problem with that, but do you have something that will help you blend into the night?” Trace asked. His stealth suit would be almost pointless if someone was standing right beside him, who was plainly visible.

  “In the night I can manage to remain almost invisible,” He replied confidently.

  “Good, all that’s left is a matter of when to do this, then.” Monroe declared. “How long will it take for everyone to buy enough explosives to level the warehouses and their remaining contents?”

  Everyone began to look nervously at each other before GreaseStain finally spoke up. “That’s impossible to say for sure, Monroe. I think we all know where to get them, but I don’t know if any of us have actually ever bought any explosives before.”

  As one, they all shook their heads in the negative.

  “Well, frack, this is a complication I didn’t expect.” The large man muttered.

  “Maybe Pushman knows some people. I know he used to study the topic,” Trace suggested suddenly. He wasn’t going to give the man’s secrets away, but he could certainly say that much without an issue.

  “Contact him, I want a time frame. In the meantime, everyone get your gear ready and be prepared to move. Sonar, can you help me track down where they are storing their trucks?”

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