A/N - For those who've not seen my post, Reboot's update schedule has been revised to Saturdays.

Chapter Forty Seven

Macro felt like he was floating in a cloud. A warm cloud, bathed in sunlight. His mind was filled with a dense fog that refused to clear. Everything was dark.

Then he realised his eyes were closed.

He forced them open and bright lights dazzled him, chasing the fog away. He raised a paw to rub at his eyes, willing them to adjust to the brightness.

"You with us now, Cap'n?" Anchor's voice sounded distant, lost in all that light.

"Hnh?" Macro mumbled.

"Cap'n?" Anchor was clearer this time. Louder.

Wildcard Gamma's familiar cockpit revealed itself around him, and his eye immediately went to the fine crack along the windshield. It all came rushing back and his heart flipped into his throat.

"We're... we're still flying!"

His voice sounded mechanical and he coughed into his paw. A violent, racking cough that caused whatever he'd mistaken for a cloud to shift behind him. He looked down at DL's white paw clasped over his scarf. Her other paw was fastened snuggly around his left wrist. She released his paw as though she expected him to sit back up, but his heart was still racing and he worried if he did he'd just collapse again.

"Thank goodness," said Anchor. "You gave us a right fright. Thought that thing had scared the life outta ya."

"So I wasn't the only one who saw it?" Macro croaked. "How long was I out?"

"About a minute," said Matrix. "So not long."

"Fifty six seconds," said DL.

"Seconds?" Macro ventured to push himself upright but found himself restrained in DL's arms.

"I can't let you up," she said. "You've had a shock. I've every right mind to put you in your bed."

"I'm fine. It ain't the first time I've fainted." Macro wrestled himself free and let himself flop onto the opposite arm of his seat. "Besides. I wanna know what happened. Where are Zero Day? What was that... monster I saw?"

"Zero Day have fled," said DL. "I believe there was more than one of those creatures, and they chased off Zero Day."

"As for what it was..." Anchor raised his paws then let them fall back onto the dashboard. "No clue."

"It looked like something out of a nightmare," said Macro. "All skeletal with no eyes."

"I'd say it looked more like a plant." Matrix wound his antenna slowly as his eyes drifted to the window. "It reminded me of bamboo. A bamboo scarecrow wearing a weird veil-like hat."

"It scared more than just crows," Macro muttered.

"It's gone now, anyway," said Anchor. "Took off like a rocket. Blasted the ship in the process. I thought we were gonna fall."

Macro ran a paw over his face and clenched his teeth together. After everything they'd just been through, he dreaded to think what repairs his ship would need. There was nothing he could do about it now, not when they'd travelled so far across System. Besides, turning around would likely only put them in the thick of Zero Day once again.

His eyes snapped open and he stared out at the vast, black sky. "You said it's gone..."

"Yeh." Anchor was hesitant. "Like I said, I dunno where."

"And there's more than one." Macro bit down on his claw. "They're gonna be attacking cities just like that jellyfish thing, aren't they?"

Anchor bit his lip but he didn't look at him. "Cap'n, I think it's safe to say the end of the world is nigh."

Macro groaned and his head fell into his paws.

"I mean, that thing were huge!" said Anchor. "Half the size of our ship!"

"I'd say it were at least ten foot tall," said Matrix. "And if a number of them could chase off those deranged porygon z..."

"Let's just hope they dealt with some of them," said Macro. "Give us less to worry about."

Anchor grimaced and shrugged his shoulders. "We can hope."

"Anyway." Macro turned his head towards Matrix. "How are we gettin' on following those co-ordinates?"

"We're still going," said Matrix. "It estimates we'll have reached them by about five am."

"All right. If all that's cleared, I guess I'll take DL's advice and lie down."

Macro slipped from his seat, but as soon as his feet hit the floor his head felt light and the whole room began to spin. His paw shot to his head and he staggered backwards into his seat. DL was beside him like a dart and caught him before he fell to the floor.

When Macro opened his eyes again, the room was still spinning slightly and Anchor looked as taut as a spring about to snap.

"I think she's right," said the granbull. "But I think someone should carry you."

"I'm not being carried like some invalid," Macro growled. "I'll be fine. I just need to... go slow."

Anchor frowned slightly. "You're real stubborn, Cap'n."

Macro turned away from him and moved slowly out of the cockpit. He felt Anchor's eyes on him the whole way, and Macro knew if he so much as bumped into the doorway he'd be scooped up in the granbull's arms before he could blink.

DL beat him to the door and slipped an arm around his back. Part of him wanted to protest, but the other wanted to fall into her and let her lead him down the corridor. He didn't think either would go down well, so he settled for an in-between and walked quietly at her side, reassured that there was little chance of him falling over since the ship just wouldn't stop spinning.

"I don't know if you realise this," she said, "but your crew actually care about you."

"Oh, I know," he said. "We all have a funny way of showing it."

"You're saying you care about your crew?" She raised an eyebrow. "About Anchor, Matrix, Cookie...?"

He snorted out laughter, the effort throwing his balance. He had to steady himself against her, and his arm found its way around her back. "Of course I do."

She stiffened slightly and her eyes wandered to his paw fastened around her waist. For a moment he thought he should snatch it back, but she relaxed and continued leading him down the corridor.

"What about me?" she asked.

"DL." He stopped and turned his head to look at her. Man, everything was still spinning. "Do you really think I'd be helping you get your memories, and keeping you away from Socket, if I didn't care?"

She shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "Some of the things you say sometimes make me wonder."

He flinched and looked away from her, and she pressed her paw into his back to encourage him towards his room.

"Come on," she said. "We're almost there."

"Listen," he said. "I honestly don't mean everything I say. I just get... pretty heated sometimes."

"I'm beginning to learn that." She stopped beside his room and nodded to the panel beside it. "Let yourself in. I'm not sure it will recognize me."

He shrugged and placed his paw on the panel. The doors slid open silently.

"It recognizes all my crew," he said. "All the rooms do. In case of emergencies." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he pulled himself away from her to lean against the doorway. The image of a blazing room filled his mind and he rubbed the bridge of his muzzle in a desperate bid to remove it. "I don't take any chances."

She pulled him back towards her and fastened her paw around his waist. The warmth of her body shooed away the awful memory and he let himself lean against her as she steered him into his room.

"Okay," she said. "You get yourself in bed."

She released him and took a step back. He flopped onto his bed, cold in contrast to her warm fur.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked.

He became aware he had his eyes closed. He cracked them open, meeting her chocolate gaze. A strange bubbling sensation welled from his stomach into his chest and he took in a trembling breath as he tore himself away. He pressed one paw over his eyes and waved the other one at her.

"No," he said. "Just leave."

"So... you don't want me here?" she asked.

He shook his head but didn't look back at her. "Don't take it personally. It's just my 'no girls in my room' rule."

"I understand." She crept across his room and paused at his door. "If you do need anything..."

"I'll call you."

His door hissed shut and he rubbed his paws over his face. That strange sensation didn't leave. Every heartbeat felt like a flutter, and oddly enough he didn't hate it.

What he did hate was knowing DL wasn't going to stay on his ship. Sooner or later, she was going to leave. And every second he drew closer to the next disk was another second closer to her leaving. The thought alone felt like a hot blade running through his heart.

And he had only himself to blame.

Well, that put an end to the pleasant flutter.

He took in a few quick breaths as nausea decided to join in with the spinning room, and wiped away a few stray tears from his eyes. Why was he such a jerk?

He rolled onto his side and grabbed one of his pillows, clutching it to his chest. He buried his face into it, trying to stifle out the dizziness and self loathing.

He didn't want her to leave.

He wanted her to stay.

He wanted to make her happy. To see her smile. To hear her laugh.

Somehow, he needed to fix things between them. The problem was, he'd never been all that good at fixing things.

...

"So let me get this straight." N0ize spread his arms, making the little stool he was sat on look even smaller. "You say you came from a different time line, and the mayor wants to stick you in a lab?"

Annie nodded her head, each bob rather over-dramatic although she didn't appear to be aware of it.

The incineroar scratched his nose and gazed up at the yellowed ceiling. "Huh. Not sure if I believe it."

Tracer removed his cigar from his lips and puffed out a ring of smoke. Annie watched it drift in front of her in fascination.

"It is rather hard to believe," he said. "But given the footage Socket sent us, I'm not going to swat it aside so freely. I mean... we have a human sat right here. That's evidence enough that something's amiss in my books."

"Between a form-changing human and a water dweller with mechanical legs, this feels like more of a freak show," said N0ize. "How do we know Socket ain't just toyin' with us?"

"Because we gave Zip his legs." Trojan leant against the door and frowned at the space pirate. "Annie found him flailing in the street and brought him to us."

"Seems an odd thing to do." N0ize nodded at Zip. "Don't take this the wrong way, kid, but I only ever see your kind displayed in meat shop windows." He grinned, flashing two rows of sharp, glinting teeth. "Or on plates."

Zip cowered towards the bottom of his bowl and his bottom lip quivered. "Annie..."

Annie snatched her attention from the smoke ring, locking her eyes on the incineroar's. "Sorry, pussycat, but that little fish is off the menu."

"I weren't gonna eat him." N0ize snorted and looked away. "Not got enough meat on him anyway."

Zip groaned and edged closer to the human, his mechanical legs creaking with each movement and their sharp feet scratching over the wooden floor. The graceless movements reminded Tracer of a drunken hitmonlee he'd had to apprehend once.

"You said the mayor sent you footage?" Trojan shifted his weight, almost stepping on the skuntank curled up at his feet like a rug. "I wanna see this footage."

"You can't take Annie's word for it?" Tracer waved a paw at the human who was more occupied with admiring the peeling wallpaper.

"You initially wanted to apprehend her," said Trojan. "Now you're as baffled and... fascinated... as we are. The difference here is, you have first hand information that we don't. All we know is Socket said somethin' to Annie and she retaliated and gave the mayor what for."

"Oh, I gave her what for all right." Annie grinned and balled her fist. "I weren't goin' back in no lab. So I took my magic pills and booked it."

Tracer met the scrafty's eyes and took a long drag on his cigar, mulling over whether or not to show him the footage. After all he'd heard, he was growing more and more suspicious that Socket was the one in the wrong.

He breathed out a long trail of smoke and said slowly, "There's no sound in this footage, be aware of that."

"Wait." Widget looked up as Tracer removed his computer from his pocket. "Didn't Socket tell you that's confidential?"

"If we're going to get to the bottom of things, we need to be open with one another," said Tracer. "Besides, we've already shown it to N0ize, so we've broken that deal already."

"Yeh but... that was in exchange for..." Widget rolled his eyes and let his ears droop. "Whatever. Why do I even care? It's not as if Socket and I get on anyway."

Trojan took the computer and crouched down so Web could see the screen. Small clicks came from Zip as he strolled over to them, and water sloshed around harmlessly in his glass bowl. The room fell into silence for the whole five minutes the footage played out for, the only sounds coming from Annie as she muttered to herself about the yellowing walls. Tracer thought he heard her liken them to a summer's day.

The scrafty snickered, then burst into fits of laughter. Web shook her head, but a small smile played at her lips. She retrieved the computer and rose up onto her hind legs to offer it back to the delphox, but before he could take it a large shadow loomed in the doorway.

Waveform looked at them each in turn, his wing paw held millimetres from the scarf covering the lower half of his face. When his eyes fell on Tracer and N0ize he froze and his feathers bristled.

N0ize grinned from ear to ear. "The mysterious owl returns."

"Here." Trojan took the computer from Web and held it up to Waveform before he had a chance to speak. "You're gonna wanna see this."

The decidueye took the computer cautiously, giving the detective one last glance before activating the video.

"Pretty interesting," said Trojan. "Know what I think? I think it should be broadcast across all of System so everyone can see what a jackin' mess the mayor truly is."

N0ize threw his head back and roared out laughter. Tracer flinched and pulled his ear back.

"I think that would be incredibly foolish," he said, bringing N0ize back to silence. "Have you any idea of the implications that could-"

"What?" Trojan spat. "'Cos she trusted you with it and you've gone and shown it to space pirates and thugs?"

Tracer opened and closed his mouth as he stared at the scrafty. The only word he could find was a staggered 'well...'

Trojan spat, keeping his eyes on the delphox. "Yeh. 'Well', indeed. Shamus only cares about his own hide. Don't care jack about us livin' hard in the outskirts."

Tracer placed a paw to his chest and lowered his cigar. "I live in the outskirts!"

"So do I," said Widget. "And Defrag."

"Yeh, local coppers," said Trojan. "Fear factor, just like Proxy Prison. Or is it really 'cos Socket don't want you in Meta City?"

He turned that question onto Widget. The eevee's ears drooped slightly but his brown eyes were fierce. Even the fur along his back bristled and his tail whipped from side to side, flicking up dust from the threadbare rug. Tracer began to fear for the scrafty's safety, so he placed a paw on his small friend's back.

"Leave it," he said. "It doesn't matter why we live in the outskirts. But he's not wrong to assume it's a fear factor."

Widget let out a strangled laugh and fixed Trojan with one of his cheeky grins. "You're right. I'm not allowed in Meta City. But it doesn't mean I don't go there."

Trojan's face fell and N0ize let out another roar of laughter.

"He really has got guts!" said the space pirate.

"Anyway." Tracer popped his cigar back in between his lips and turned back to the distracted human. "We've gone wildly off topic. Annie?"

"Huh?" She snapped her head around to look at him. "Have I missed something?"

"Nothing important." Tracer leant back into the rickety chair. "You've not told me why exactly you are in Pulse City?"

"Oh, that's easy." She leant against the wall and tucked her arms behind her head. "We're just recruiting space pirates to take on the mayor and throw her off her high horse."

Tracer's jaw went slack and his cigar bounced off his knee and landed on the bare floor. Had he heard her right? She was basically a catalyst starting off a rebellion?!

Waveform looked up from the computer and stuffed it back into Trojan's paws. He lifted a wing and pulled out a long, slender feather, the end of which glinted dangerously in the low light.

"You've said too much," he told Annie as he strolled into the room.

"Wait!" Web gasped, rising to her feet. "Don't be an idiot!"

Tracer watched Waveform like a hawk as he turned to face the detective, pulling out one of his long vines - a sickly green from spending too long in the outskirts. The decidueye pulled it back like a bow string and aimed the feather right at Tracer's head.

It sprang towards him, whizzing as it sliced through the air. A crack resounded through the room and all eyes were on the delphox. He crouched in his seat, his trusty stick raised above his head. The arrow quivered as it hung embedded in the ceiling, the reverberations slicing through the sudden, heavy silence.

Tracer snapped his head up to meet Waveform's eyes and lowered his stick, holding it defensively before him.

"Sorry, but you're not going to win this one," said Tracer. "Any night when I can't see you, sure. But if you think you can best me in a face to face duel, you are sadly mistaken. And also, outnumbered."

He glanced at his two comrades. Widget was on his feet, his body taught and ready to pounce. N0ize, however, stuck his claw in his ear and scratched it while his other arm was behind his head. He watched the two disagreeing pokemon with morbid amusement.

Waveform snorted and lowered his vine. "When you leave here, you'd better watch your back, detective." He turned to leave the room, pausing to look at Annie. He turned back to Tracer and pointed a feather at him. "No one lays a claw on her, you understand me?"

Tracer raised an eyebrow and lowered his fire stick. "One day, I hope you'll tell me what your fascination is."

Waveform span towards the door, his feathers billowing behind him like a cape. He tucked his wings to his sides and stepped past Web and Trojan effortlessly.

Web looked up at Tracer and let out a sad sigh. "I think it would be safer for you to book a room. He won't let this go, believe me."

N0ize removed his claw from his ear and examined it. "Sounds like a shady decidueye I know. Well... not know personally. But news 'bout bounty hunters gets around here, yanno." He paused and looked at Tracer somewhat aghast. "You don't think it's him, do ya?"

"If he is, he's a dead 'mon walking." Tracer pushed himself to his feet. "Well, I'm going to take Webber's advice. Widget, if you could book us a room?"

Widget looked up at him and smiled. "With a view? Lakeside, park side?"

He laughed and skipped from the room with his tail held high. Tracer looked back at Annie and folded his paws together on his lap, not relinquishing his stick.

"I hope you are aware," he said slowly, "of the repercussions of such an endeavour?"

She blinked at him, still leaning back against the wall. "Pardon?"

Tracer sighed and retrieved his smoldering cigar. It had left a small black patch on the worn wood.

"Your actions," he said. "If you are truly planning on rebelling against the mayor, which is what I took from your statement, then it could go disastrously wrong. She is a force to be reckoned with, Annie, and you are already in her bad books. She hired me to retrieve you."

She shrugged, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Tracer.

"She needs dealing with," she said. "She's allowing pokemon to eat each other, she pulled me from my own time line with some weird time onion, and now she... wait..." She scratched her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "What were we talkin' about?"

Tracer blinked at her, dumbfounded, while N0ize laughed yet again.

Web shook her head and stood up. "I think we all need to get some sleep. Tuck yourself in, dear. The nice detective is done with you now."

"Hardly," N0ize grunted. "I wanna hear more."

"No. She's right. It's very late." Tracer stood up and returned his stick to his thick tail. "I trust you have somewhere to stay, N0ize?"

"Aye. Your room." The incineroar grinned at Tracer's stunned expression. "I ain't done here. I hope you're comfortable on the floor 'cos I don't share."

Widget paused in the doorway with a key fob between his teeth and looked between the two. He sighed and turned to go back the way he came. "I'll upgrade to a family room then, eh?"

...

It was late. Almost three in the morning, and Socket hadn't left her office. She paced back and forth beside the window, occasionally glancing out over Meta City. Lights flashed intermittently as hover cars sped past on their air tracks, and pokemon still trotted along the sidewalks coming from or going to she couldn't care less where.

The only thing that occupied her mind was Surge. Surge the liar. Surge who she'd doubted since she received the photos of the magnezone and his fleet. Their gruesome bodies melted and deformed, sopping wet after their plunge into the lake. Mechanical eyes frozen in fear and shock. She didn't particularly care how the pokemon had felt. What she cared about was that Surge had gone against her orders, and murdered a large number of pokemon. That Surge had hacked into Socket's files and obtained her top secret plan. That, knowing that, Surge may very well tell others her plan. That Hunter obviously knew her plan given he was retrieving memory disks. If Socket's plan got out, the entirety of System would be thrown into an uproar. Pokemon may very well claim Socket's head.

How much did Surge really know?

Socket stopped in her tracks and tapped her claws over her arm for the umpteenth time that night. Her lips pursed together and she looked over at her holoscreen deck. If she were to contact Surge, what would she say? She wanted that zigzagoon behind bars, waiting to fry in her electric chair. But at the same time... something gnawed at her that Surge had a link with Hunter. Why else would she spare his life by melting a magnezone police fleet?

She hit the control on her desk and the holoscreen appeared before her.

"Ring Surge," she said.

The screen rang out, more times than she'd had cared for. Finally, Surge's face appeared on the screen. Her eyes were bloodshot and heavy rings made them look sunken as though she'd experienced years of severe stress.

"Mayor Socket." The zigzagoon yawned widely, flashing two rows of sharp teeth. "It's three in the morning."

"I'm very aware what time it is," Socket snapped. "Where are you right now? You look like you're on your ship."

"I am." Surge vanished off screen briefly and the faint beep of a computer emanated from the holoscreen's speaker. "I was following Wildcard Gamma. But I think I've lost them."

"Lost them?" Socket raised an eyebrow. "How do you lose a ship that size?"

"I don't know. I was receiving electrical interference, and then the ship just... vanished. My navigation system puts me at... the outskirts of System Sky?!" Her yelp of surprise bristled Socket's fur. Surge's voice dropped to a mutter as she spoke more to herself. "Why on earth is he travelling this far out?"

"Well, Surge. I need you back here in my office." Socket tapped her claws against her upper arm. "How long will it take you?"

The zigzagoon raised an eyebrow and scratched beneath her green bandanna. "You're calling me back? I was hot on his trail. Isn't it something you can tell me over the phone?"

"I've acquired some new information," Socket said slowly. "It requires you right here in my office. And if you aren't willing to come to me, I'll send someone to retrieve you, and they won't do it nicely."

Surge's eyes flitted from side to side and her mouth opened and closed like a seaking. "I'm sorry, Mayor, but you've asked me to bring him in, and-"

"Are you actually going to?" Socket's words drew Surge's attention right back to her. "Or are you going to slaughter another fleet of officers to save that pirate's hide?"

Surge stared back at her, dumbfounded. Her expression was even more like that of a seaking. One that was gasping for life, plucked from the ocean and left to dry on the sand.

"I'm sorry," she said carefully. "I don't understand."

"Oh, I think you do." Socket reached behind her for the photos and leafed through them. "A reliable source has told me that you're not just any mercenary. But you are actually a jack of all trades. Does the name Troll ring any bells?"

A flash of realisation flew across Surge's face and she tugged anxiously at her bandanna, desperate to avoid Socket's eyes.

"I see it does." Socket picked out one photo and dropped the others, turning it to face the holoscreen. "I've been torturing myself over these photos, Surge. I didn't want to believe it was you. But when you stab someone in the back, they talk. And Troll talked. A lot. Apparently you know your way around a computer. 'Hacking' being the term I'd like to use here. And I believe it was you who hacked into my systems to obtain valuable information, and then you relayed that back to Hunter. How much did he pay you?"

Surge's face paled with every word. Those heavy rings around her eyes almost vanished and she sank into her seat, fidgeting her paws together.

Socket chuckled and dropped the photo with the others. "A lot, I guess?"

Surge shifted uneasily and her paw vanished out of view. Socket watched her silently, waiting for her to flick off the holoscreen. To prove her guilt. To flee.

She stayed, breathing deeply and smoothing out her bristling fur, still avoiding Socket's eyes.

"May I ask you something, Surge? Why on earth would you risk your own life sparing his, rather than turning him in for the generous reward I was offering you?"

The past tense got the zigzagoon's attention. Or was it something else? Nevertheless, she looked at Socket head on before continuing.

"I don't know," she said. "Something didn't feel right."

Socket raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh?"

"I think you need to ask yourself something, Mayor." Surge leant forward in her seat so her entire face filled the screen. "Who's the guilty party here? You or him?"

Socket's jaw dropped and she staggered back into her desk. Her paws found the edge, stopping herself from slipping to the floor. She knew. The wretched zigzagoon knew!

Surge nodded and fell back into her seat. Her paw vanished from the screen again and she looked Socket in the eye, a smile tugging at her lips.

"I think that answers my question," she said, reaching for the hang up button.

"Wait!"

Surge froze and looked back up at her.

"You're playing a dangerous game," Socket told her. "You hacked into my system, Surge. You've acquired information that you know nothing about. Leaking it could cause a massive uproar. That alone will list you with a death sentence. Then all I have to do is put up a poster and all of System will be on your tail." She grinned at the sullen look on Surge's face. "That's right, little rat. Even space pirates. I'll stop at nothing to turn you in. And him. I know you've told him everything. Why else would he be breaking into government property to obtain little black disks?"

Surge shrugged. "Maybe the living computer he stole told him everything?"

"I've shut her off," said Socket. "Not only is she forbidden access, she's frozen. She's nothing now."

Surge shook her head and sat back in her seat. "Oh my dear Socket. How little you know. If I'm a dab hand at computers, surely a little computer program installed in a pokemon's brain is no problem?"

Socket felt all the blood leave her face.

Surge grinned and once again reached for the hang up button. "Check mate."

The screen flashed off, leaving Socket feeling cold and lost.

That wretched zigzagoon. That wretched Hunter. Oh, she'd catch them. She'd catch them and she'd kill them both. Personally.

She shook out her fur and brought the screen back up, this time shouting for Yobi. The raichu's sleep-deprived face filled the screen, alarming the gothitelle so much she actually screamed.

What was wrong with her?!

"Madam Mayor?!" Yobi dropped whatever it was he'd been holding, creating an almighty clatter as it bounced off the tiled floor. "What's the matter?"

"Surge!" she barked. "I want a wanted poster made for her. Mark it at fifty thousand credits. Do the same for Hunter, and the rest of his crew."

"But..." Yobi scratched behind his ear. "Isn't that usually Tweak's job?"

"He's asleep. I need this doing now!"

"Wouldn't it be better to... just send out your fleet?"

"They're scattered all over System Sky trailing Zero Day while stopping that little tyrant BackDoor from dragging in more aliens!" she spat. "I can't send them out after space pirates and hackers!" She went thoughtful, nibbling on her claw.

The raichu yawned and set aside his project. "All right. I can do it. Just send me the raw files and I'll get it out before dawn."

"Make sure you apply it to all of System. All of it. Space pirates and all."

Yobi looked up with a start, his ears flopping back and forth wildly. "Wait... what?"

"This is urgent. I want them turned in. They know too much, Yobi. Surge, Hunter and most likely the rest of his crew. They know our plan. If it gets out-"

"I understand. I'll do it. But... what if another wanted pirate turns them in?"

Socket laughed bitterly and looked away. "Then we kill them as well. After we've paid them of course. But don't put that on the posters."

Yobi nodded again and the screen flashed out. Socket sank down against her desk, a bitter laugh rising from her throat. It became even more hysterical the more she went over what she'd just said. The day she'd resort to using pirates... she'd never seen it coming.

It tasted vile.