Dex shook his head at the outrageous racket of five Ducati revving up their engines at the same time. He picked his gear and then stepped onto the last circle to load up.

[Honjo Masamune- Sword]

Stiletto’s Modified Demon Code

Range: Melee

Damage: Untested

[Under Armor-Black]

ICE Type: General Defensive

10 YB

[Combat Boots w/side zipper]

ICE Type: General Defensive

5 YB

[Flexible Body Armor-Black]

ICE Type: Electrical 50 YB

ICE Type: Abestos 50 YB

ICE Type: Impact 50 YB

Reserve Bank: 200 YB

[DeVisor]

Description: Works in either real or virtual environments. Enhanced Sight, Night vision, Thermal vision, Vision Sharing.

[Dex-Gloves]

Coding Gloves with spike interface.

Memory Storage: 100 YB

[Shield]

ICE Type: Electrical 10 YB

ICE Type: Asbestos 100 YB

ICE Type: Impact 100 YB

Reserve Bank: 500 YB

Hara moved behind the counter, taking Nix with her. “All of you will be running the same diagnostic when you arrive. So split up, try and break some things. Maybe start a fight or two and see what their response looks like.” She glanced at Nix, who was playing with one of the shields from the rack. “I miss anything, Nix?”

“Hmm?” Nix pushed his arm through the straps on the Shield. “If this wasn’t black, it would look like Captain America’s shield.” He paused for a moment and considered Hara’s question. “If you see anything burning or manage to start a fire. Be sure to analyze it.”

“Nix…” Hara shook her head and powered up the jumpstation’s launchpad. “Ready?” When they nodded their heads, she counted down. “Three, Two, One…. and Launch!”

All six Ducati appeared on the Nav-Platform with Syntax at the controls a moment later.

[I will be monitoring today’s incursion into New England Virtual.]

Syntax set the course for New England Virtual (NEV) but kept the speed down so she could brief them.

[Your defensive ICE will absorb incoming damage but will count down with each hit. When it reaches zero, you will be pushed out of the node.]

“Fuck,” Thumper cursed under her breath. “Can I use your shield, Dex?”

“No.” Dex had the black Shield strapped to his back. “Syntax will be monitoring us. Your armor has a reserve bank; she will use that to recharge your armors ICE when you need it.”

[Additionally, because of the T-6’s resource sharing capabilities, we can utilize anyone’s reserve to recharge any member of the group.]

Gadget was the first to see the dome in the distance. It was the largest single structure any of them had ever seen; v-Earth didn’t really count since it was a virtual world. “How are we getting in?”

[The Nav-Platform has been modified to act as a gateway. Keep two things in mind. One, the time the gateway stays open is limited. Make sure to return before the timer expires.]

Darsi nodded. “Got it. And two?”

[When you enter the node, most likely, you will immediately be noticed as an intruder.]

Quicksilver patted her cased rifle. “That’s why we brought weapons.”

[Perhaps we will be able to develop masking protocols once we’ve completed an analysis of this node.]

Quicksilver gestured toward the dome. “Let’s do it. We’ve all got maps of downtown Boston. Make sure your DeVisor is in virtual mode.” She glanced at Dex, “you with me?”

Dex nodded, “yep.”

The platform moved to the dome’s edge, about two meters off the ground. A short ramp extended until it touched the barrier. Immediately an archway formed.

Darsi revved her bike and shot through the entry point with Dex right behind her. Within seconds, the Nav-Platform was empty.

[Our Entry point is masked, however, I will only be able to maintain that state for 10 minutes.]

“Understood,” Darsi landed softly in the short grass of what looked like a park. “Update my location.” A hud map representing five square blocks popped up in front of her. She could hear the whine of Dex’s machine tailing her. “I see a few people, not as many as I would have thought.”

Dex pulled up alongside Quicksilver; she was grinning from ear to ear. “Many of them might be new to virtual living. It might be months before some sort of normalcy is achieved.”

“Something is chasing me!” Thumper’s voice called out to the rest of the group.

[Sharing her video and audio feed with the rest of the group.]

Dex glanced at the PIP (picture in picture). “It’s a virtual drone.” He tabbed the diagnostic screen on his hud. “It’s moving at 100 kph; find straight away and open it up.”

[The environment has recognized that you are alien entities; all members are taking light damage.]

Dex read his status; it only amounted to a few thousand bytes per second. So it wouldn’t be an issue unless it increased. “Want to help Thumper test that drone?”

Quicksilver waved for him to continue. “There’s a building east of us with a vantage point. Head toward Grensleigh square while I move to higher ground.”

Dex nodded and accelerated away from her when she made a right. “Did you catch that, Thumper? What’s your status?”

“Yep,” Thumper’s audio feed sounded calm, like someone discussing cake recipes. “The drone stayed with me until I topped 250 kph; now it’s losing ground. Heading to Grensleigh square.”

Dex leaned to one side, his knee brushing the ground as he closed on Grensleigh. “ETA is 20 seconds.”

“Heading north on Burro,” Thumper’s voice held a hint of mischief. “No more running, Bitches.”

The squeal of tires followed by the sound of an automatic weapon drowned out the background noises in the shared audio.

Darsi was running across the rooftop of the Rifton Library, a seven-floor structure that looked over the area. Within seconds she was looking through the scope of her rifle; her updated Dragonuv received updates from her hud. “Wind southwest at 4kph, elevation is minus 25 meters, range 414 meters.”

“Show me the quickest route to Darsi’s location.” Dex’s viewpoint changed as his DeVisor extended a navigate line into the distance. “Shit!” He cut through two lanes of traffic and then fishtailed a hairpin turn to stay on course.

[Thumper’s Ballistic Impact damage has decreased the drone’s power by 6 percent.]

[Gadget, the alarm has been activated at the bank you are robbing. You can expect a response.]

Mongoose’s laughter came through the shared audio. “Normally, we would have hacked that, but you did say to break shit and test them.”

Gadget cleared his throat. “Right… We’ll be able to measure response time and see what else they have in their arsenal.”

Dex kept his eyes on the nav-line that his DeVisor kept in his viewpoint. The distance to Thumper’s location in meters was counting down on the bottom-left part of the screen. When it reached 75 meters, he braked hard and hit the ground running.

The rata-tat sound of an automatic weapon echoed in his ears. Dex shifted his Shield to his left hand and drew the sword from its shoulder scabbard. Since Thumper was using the M4A1 carbine, and Quicksilver was using the Dragonuv, it only made sense for him to test the Shield and sword.

The drone was either operated remotely or had an impressive VI program. It fired a three-round burst at Thumper, who was hiding behind a cement retaining wall before dropping down behind a parked car.

The drone was like nothing Dex had ever seen. “Instead of operating on turbine or prop propulsion, it had a single exhaust point underneath it that glowed light blue. It was more than a meter in diameter with a single, laser-sighted barrel.

[Thumper, your ICE has decreased by 30 percent. Rerouting group ICE to increase yours by 15 percent.]

Dex waited until the drone popped up to fire again before sprinting toward it. “Don’t return fire this time, Thumper.”

He was two meters away when the sound of a heavier rifle being fired caused the drone to veer to one side. It dropped down behind cover just Dex vaulted off the curb. Not knowing what to expect, he stabbed down through the top of it. There was barely any resistance as the blade pierced the outer casing, and the inner mechanics before puncturing the sidewalk. The smell of burnt electronics caused him to leap backward, but instead of exploding, it fizzled and smoked before ceasing to function.

[The drone has been disabled. The Honjo Masamune sword removed nearly half of its operational power.]

Darsi’s smiling face popped up on his hud. “That’s what we call a crit, Dex.”

“I know the ter…” Before he could finish the sentence, the area was bathed in orange flames as he was picked up and flung into the air.

[Half of your shield ICE has been depleted, Dextron.]

Dex gasped for air while his ears rang like a dinner bell. After working with Hara for a few days, he understood CER and its modifications. With both his vision and hearing affected, he began to appreciate the possible applications.

“You okay, Partner?”

Dex rolled away from the parked car that was now in flames. “No, that one hurt. Where is it?”

“Thirty meters south of you. The fucker came in stealthed and opened fire. Looked like an RPG-type weapon. Switch to thermal.”

Dex nodded and switched to thermal before low-crawling around the burning vehicle. “Stealthed? Awesome… Fucking awesome. Got any ideas?”

[The entry point will expire in less than three minutes.]