Chapter Fifty

The black market seemed a lot larger from Annie's current angle. She waddled through the crowds, holding her wings out at her sides awkwardly as she stretched up to her full height in a bid to see just a little bit higher. Only a couple of days ago, she'd borrowed Waveform's computer to do a little research on the extinct pokemon archeops. Allegedly it was meant to be around four foot seven inches tall. She wondered if that was either an over estimation, or from nose to tail, because she certainly wasn't standing four foot tall. The top of her head didn't even reach the decidueye's ribs.

"Grumble all you want," said Waveform. "You're the one who overslept and forgot to take your pills."

Annie bit her tongue and looked up at him with a frown. "I wasn't grumbling."

"You were, I heard you."

"That was my stomach." Annie fluffed out her feathers and looked over at the market stalls. "I'm hungry."

"Then you should have eaten your soup."

"It was gross! Like slimy slop!" She threw her claws into the air. "Besides, who has soup for breakfast?"

Web loomed over her and looked up at Waveform, who met the skuntank's gaze with a frown.

"Someone's clearly woken up on the wrong side of the nest," said Web. "Come on. Let's do what we came here to do then go and get something to eat."

"Yes," said Annie. "Some proper breakfast. Good breakfast. Cereal or pastries or something." She shot Waveform a leer. "Not slop."

With that, Annie waddled through the crowd, shouting 'excuse me!' and 'oi! Watch the tail!' at the larger space pirates. One would have expected her to be stamped on, but the market's occupants threw her concerned or worried looks and stepped aside.

It was almost impossible to find what she was looking for. Somewhere in the market was a pokemon who specialized in 'distributing news'. Unfortunately, the species name wasn't one Annie was familiar with. When she'd asked N0ize for a description, he'd merely shrugged and said, 'I dunno. He's a bird.'

"Bird," Annie muttered to herself. "Feathers. A bird. With feathers."

As she strolled on, scanning over all the tables, the sentence lost all meaning and became more of a habit. The surrounding pokemon threw her questioning looks, but she wriggled past them and craned her reptilian neck as far as it would go. One of the tables was crowded, and plastered with posters. Some of them looked like wanted posters. Why would there be wanted posters for space pirates amongst... well... space pirates?

She narrowed her eyes at one, and a mawile leered back. Fifty thousand credits. How much was that in Sinnohan money?

The crowd parted just enough to reveal the vibrant body of a feathered pokemon. They were considerably smaller than Annie. Small enough to scurry around the table, shouting loudly and gesturing with a bright blue wing. Unlike most space pirates who wore a belt around their waist, he had a small pouch strapped to his scaly, right leg. Although it looked much too small to fit anything in. Atop their black head was a tuft of feathers that looked like they'd been chewed away, resembling a mangled musical note.

Annie's eyes widened. A bird. With feathers. One she did actually recognise from a book she'd been forced to read called 'Perappu Says'.

She strutted over to the stall, forced herself between a rhydon and a scyther, and placed her wing claws on the table. Her eyes went to the posters again and she tugged one free and stuffed it unceremoniously into her bag. The vibrant bird paused mid-sentence to cast her a curious glance. He froze with his wing still spread, and his hooked beak flapped open and closed like a beached fish.

"I think you're who I'm looking for," said Annie. "Do you specialise in 'sending out information'?" She raised her claws for air quotes.

The bird didn't say anything. He continued to stare at her, still unwilling to lower his wing. His eyes then went to the top of her head, and Annie found herself drowned by a large shadow. She craned her neck around to look up at Waveform.

"So you found him," he said. "Pretty good for someone who hasn't a clue what a chatot is."

The parrot pokemon blinked and finally folded his wing neatly at his side.

"Well," he said. "I guess we're even, since I have no idea what you are."

"I'm Annie," she said. "I'm guessing you're... wait... I've got this." She scratched her chin with a claw and looked up at the ceiling.

"Name's Hatter," said the chatot. "Pulse City's very own Information Acquisition and Distribution Entrepreneur. And I'm afraid I have quite the queue so you'll have to wait a while."

Annie's lip curled and she pulled her head back slightly. "A what?"

"It's all fancy talk," said Waveform. "He's a spy."

She let out a long 'ohh'.

Hatter strutted away, commencing his talk once more. It sounded more like the shouts of someone trying to drum up a sale.

Annie leant forward and tapped a claw on the table. "Oi! Oi, bird! We can pay you!"

Hatter turned back to her and fluffed out his chest. "I have a name. Besides, you have to pay me. I don't work for free." He turned away from her and fired a sneer over his shoulder. "Now wait your turn!"

Annie bristled and cast a glance up to Waveform. The decidueye rolled his eyes and reached into his wing, fixing his finger-like feathers over one of his arrows.

She reached up her claws and placed them on his wing, freezing him in an instant. His crimson eyes widened for the briefest moment and locked onto hers. She gave him a playful grin and leant back across the table.

"Oi! Hatter! I ain't done with you!" She reached out her claws and grabbed the chatot by his tail.

A loud squawk flew from his beak and he flapped his wings frantically as she dragged him backwards across the table.

The large pokemon surrounding her leapt into action, drawing lasers and raising fists encased in gauntlet-like weapons. Hot beams erupted from the lasers, narrowly skimming Annie's feathers. She leapt aside with a yelp, bringing Hatter up to her face as a meat shield. He screamed as a laser brushed his wing, searing away a couple of primaries.

Waveform leapt before her, tugging out one of his vines to fire off his arrows, but Annie beat him aside with her wing while clutching the flailing chatot in the claws of the other. As she swung back her free wing, rocks erupted into the air and hovered precariously. Stray laser beams collided with them and evaporated harmlessly, leaving the rocks completely unscathed. The space pirates glanced from the rocks to her, still clutching their weapons.

"Annie!" Web's voice cut through the sudden silence.

A column of flames shot over the crowd, narrowly missing Waveform's head. He ducked aside and quickly re-aimed his arrow at the small crowd gathering behind Hatter's unimpressed clients.

Several of the space pirates span on the spot to aim their weapons at their assailant. Web ducked a brown laser beam then skidded to a halt between Trojan and Zip. The latter let out a nervous squeak and skittered aside to dodge a sparking flurry of electricity. Behind them, Annie could just make out Tracer and N0ize. The delphox had his stick raised, ready to launch another attack.

"Oh no you don't," said Annie slowly. "I'd drop your weapons if I were you. All of you." She lifted the terrified chatot to her face and smirked. "Besides. I think y'all are gonna like what I've got to tell you."

Hatter's eyes lingered over the hovering rocks before the archeops. A strange glow radiated from them in a manner the whole crowd deemed threatening. Annie merely smirked at her audience and lifted the chatot even higher. His wings flailed helplessly against her feathers as he desperately tried to right himself.

"Go on then!" one of the space pirates roared. "What've you got to tell us that involves holdin' our main source of 'secret' information hostage?"

Annie's eyes widened and she nodded to the chatot. "I ain't holdin' him hostage. I'm borrowin' him."

Pokemon from across the market slowly trudged over to the crowd, keeping a watchful eye on Annie while their paws clutched their holstered weapons. While many pirates less inclined to get involved made for the exit, a lot more watched from a safer distance, as taut as coiled springs.

Waveform ducked towards her slightly but he didn't take his eyes off the frightened and angry space pirates. "Get to the point."

"You see. I'm here to make a difference." Annie gestured with the flapping pokemon still clutched between her claws, and placed her other wing on her hip. "Where I come from, pokemon don't eat meat. Gotta say that sickened me when I found out about it. Could one of you nice space pirates please tell me how exactly you fish them up?"

The crowd became a mixture of twisted sneers and frightened eyes. One of the gruffer looking ones - a sandslash with icicles for armour - looked her in the eye.

"We use nets." His raspy voice created a fine mist in the warm air. "Electrified nets to stun 'em."

"Hmm. Seems rather barbaric." Annie glanced up at the ceiling and stroked her chin with a claw. "Don't they scream?"

The sandslash shrugged, as did most of her audience.

"We cancel out the noise with earplugs and headphones," a female voice explained.

Annie snapped her attention back to the audience, spotting the speaker immediately. A yellow and black head poked above the smaller members of the crowd. Ampharos, if she guessed correctly. An electric type.

Electric nets.

So they trapped the fish, electrocuted them, and couldn't even hear their screams? She glanced down at the parrot in her grasp. He stared back out at the crowd, drooling slightly. Well, at least he'd stopped flapping about.

"Yanno what?" She turned back to the space pirates. "I think I need to introduce you to someone. Oi! Little fish!"

The crowd fell silent as mechanical creaks rose into the air. Pokemon leapt aside as Zip slowly crept through the crowd, cautiously watching them as though he was scared they were going to pluck him from his bowl and swallow him in one bite. Looks of disgust and anger crossed their faces, but no one said a word.

"Go on," Annie told him. "Introduce yourself to these nice space pirates."

"Erm." Zip released his controls and turned in the water to look at the sceptical audience. "I'm Zip. Annie rescued me when I escaped from a fishery."

Those angry looks melted away as the crowd stared back at Zip. Jaws went slack, while others tensed and looked away.

"We don't like being eaten," Zip told them. "I tried to beg for my life while a scyther tried to cut me up. But he wouldn't listen. Or couldn't, through his huge headphones. I was lucky enough to escape with my life."

The space pirates looked on in stunned silence, although a couple of them broke away to move into the market. The ampharos had turned deathly pale. She span on the spot and vomited audibly onto the floor. The sandslash leapt aside with a squeak.

"I'd never even spoken to a land pokemon before then," Zip went on. "I didn't think anyone would listen. Then I met Annie and the rest of my friends, and they showed me not all land pokemon want to eat me! In fact, they want to help me!"

The small crowd exchanged glances, muttering amongst themselves. The ampharos looked back up at Zip and wiped a paw across her mouth.

"Are you going to help me?" Zip asked them.

"I... I used to be vegan." The sandslash diverted his gaze to the wall. "But money got pretty tight, you know?"

"I don't know if I can handle this," said the ampharos. "I need a lie down."

Annie placed both wings on her hips and frowned. "You can have a lie down when you've told me why y'all are actin' like you didn't even know fish could speak!"

"I-it's not like we didn't know." The ampharos couldn't even look at her. "In my job, we're told not to speak to them. To not even listen to them. We're given equipment that cancels out their voices. You see... they tell us the sound of a dying fish pokemon is deafening, and that they're persuasive and will lure us into the water. So we have to protect our ears."

Annie creased her muzzle. "Sounds like a load of baloney."

The ampharos shrugged weakly and looked away. "It's protocol."

"Ba-lo-ney!" Annie crossed her arms and looked at the rest of the crowd. "So. Whatcha all gonna do? Help us out, or keep on fishin'?"

A few of the remaining space pirates turned angry again, and a gabite flexed his claws as he sneered at her.

"Is that why you're here?" he scoffed. "To bring this little runt along and convince us to stop eatin' meat?"

Annie shrugged and shook her head. "That's not the only reason. It ties into my big reason, see. You know that mayor who bosses us all about? She's the big cheese around here, right?"

"Not here she ain't," said the gabite.

"No?" Annie looked up at Waveform who shook his head. "Oh, fair enough. But she's mayor of System. She makes the rules. She tells you that you can eat fish, so you eat fish. Well... she's the reason I'm here. Not here in Pulse City, but here in this weird, polluted place you still call System. Air is rancid. Pokemon don't get along. You fly around in these fish-shaped ships, yet you happily eat them off your plates! Well, what if I told you it ain't all roses and wildflowers?"

The angry pirates returned to looking stunned. And somewhat confused.

"You see, that mayor of yours pulled me right out of my own time-line," Annie went on. "'Course, I weren't happy there. I spent my days sat in a cell changing form back and forth. Sure, Socket gave me magic pills and I can stand before you as an archeops rather than yo-yo-ing like some kinda circus freak. Then we've got some monster flying around destroying cities. What part of this sounds like a conspiracy to you?" She stretched out both claws to make her point, Hatter swinging like a pendulum. "I show up, monster shows up. This is her doing. What is she up to exactly?"

"Wait a minute." The gabite was oddly talkative. "You're tryin' to tell us that Socket pulled you from another time-line? How exactly did she do that?"

"She used a Time Onion," Annie said flatly.

The dragon rolled his eyes and looked back at the rest of the space pirates.

"I think this bird's got a screw loose," he said.

"She's a jackin' archeops!" Trojan shouted from behind them. "Aren't they meant to be extinct? Use your brains!"

Annie looked out at the space pirates and grinned widely. The looks of confusion and anger had melted away once more, replaced instead by fear and realisation.

"You got a bone to pick with anyone, pick it with Socket," she said. "I'm gonna go and spread this message throughout System." She nodded at the dazed chatot. "We'll see what colour that mayor really is."

The large rocks she'd been holding in the air rained down like an avalanche, shaking the market's foundations. The pirates ducked and raised their paws as dust trickled from the old rafters.

Giving Waveform a pat on the back, she hopped over the rocks and strolled towards the exit, letting him sandwich Zip between the two of them. The crowd parted, keeping their eyes on her and her odd, aquatic friend. A few of them muttered amongst themselves, aiming leers at the archeops and drawing their weapons, but they didn't pursue. Too stunned by her story, unnerved by her ancient power, or wanting to avoid accidentally killing their 'bringer of secret news and high-paying jobs'.

"Well," she said as she rejoined the rest of her crew. "I don't know about you lot, but I think that went rather well."

"Are you insane?" Tracer gasped, flashing a glance back towards the muttering crowd. "You're going to start an uproar."

"Of course," said Annie. "That's part of starting a rebellion. First everyone gets angry about something, then they rebel!"

Tracer let out a groan and placed a paw over his face. "What are you doing?"

"Starting a rebellion," Annie said, pointlessly.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm kinda curious," said Widget.

"That makes most of us." Trojan looked down at Annie's claws. "What exactly do you plan to do with that pirate?"

"Get him to spread a message," said Annie. "All he has to do is tell each and every city in System exactly what Socket is up to."

"But we don't know what she's up to," moaned Tracer. "We don't even know why she dragged you out of your own time-line."

Annie looked up at him and shrugged. "So? She wants to stick me back in a lab. She likely unleashed that monster thing. I'd say she's not a very good mayor, wouldn't you?"

"But without any evidence-"

"I'm evidence!" Annie thumped herself in the chest. "Besides. You're a detective, right? If you want more evidence, get researchin'. We'll show the whole of System what a rubbish mayor this Socket is."

Tracer stared down at her, his paws and ears twitching. For a moment, she thought he'd broken into a sweat. N0ize erupted with deep laughter and smacked the delphox hard on the back.

Widget looked between them then locked eyes with Annie. "Rubbish mayor, eh? I've been saying that for years."

...

Outside was sheer madness. Tentacled beasts clambered up Meta City's mechanical trees, electricity dancing from their bodies and striking the terrified pokemon below. The streets were swiftly emptying as pokemon fled back to their homes, or from the city altogether.

Socket watched, her mouth wide open in a silent scream, as the mechanical trees failed under the beasts' attacks. Yellow air flowed in from the outskirts, billowing in a victory dance over the trees' defeat. Electrical monstrosities clambered over buildings, attaching themselves to air filters and dangling from street lamps.

BackDoor.

That notorious android had to have something to do with this.

Socket tore herself from the living nightmare and brought up her holoscreen. Before she could even dial out to BackDoor it began ringing, the dancing cartoon phone filling the screen.

She clenched her teeth together and answered, silently willing it to be a useful call and not a panicked Meta City resident.

Yobi's panicked face appeared before her, his ears trembling and his paws free from any tinkering tools.

"M-Madam Mayor," he sputtered. "I... I think-"

She raised her paw to silence him. "I am assuming you've seen what's going on outside?"

"Yes," he said, trying to gather himself. "I think-"

"Is it that disobedient creation of yours?" she demanded.

Before he could answer, she dialled out to BackDoor. The screen split in two, ringing away. Yobi glanced sideways as though he was trying to see the dialling animation. A painful five seconds passed before BackDoor graced the segment with his grinning face.

"Socket!" he laughed. "What can I do for you?"

The gothitelle waved a paw towards the window, and the hoopa's eyes went to the scene. His face split into another grin and he clapped his mitten paws together.

"I see those Ultra Beasts have made themselves right at home!" he said.

Yobi's face paled, and Socket's ribbons stood on end.

"This isn't their home!" she snapped. "What are they doing here?! Why have you let them out?!"

"Me?" BackDoor feigned innocence and placed a paw on his chest. "It wasn't me who did it. It was Zero Day."

"Zero Day can't open dimensional gates," said Yobi. "I didn't program that ability into them."

"Well, it was them." BackDoor drifted upside down and tucked his paws behind his head. "I watched them do it."

"If you watched them do it, then you could have stopped them," said Socket.

BackDoor shrugged. "I wasn't gonna get in the way of those creatures. I watched them fry any porygon z that tried."

Yobi leant forward on his desk, looking in BackDoor's direction. "So Zero Day were destroyed?!"

"Not all of them." The hoopa yawned. "They've split up into little groups."

Yobi fell back into his seat and his jaw went slack. Socket looked from him to the android and back.

"I'm getting the impression this is unexpected behaviour?" she said.

"Yes..." Yobi scratched behind his ear and glanced away from her. "I'm not sure what's going on..."

"BackDoor." Socket snapped her head back around to the android, still drifting upside down with his eyes closed. And was he humming? She frowned and folded her arms, tapping her claws along her fur. "I want you back in Meta City. Round up these creatures before they destroy everything!"

BackDoor cracked one eye open. "You want me to deal with your problem?"

"Is it beyond your capabilities?" she asked. "You can open these gateways. We can't."

"No can do, love."

Socket's spine stiffened and she stared at the android, aghast. He chuckled at her expression and closed his eyes again.

"I won't go anywhere near those things," he said. "I don't want my circuits fried."

Socket seethed and she took a step towards the holoscreen. "This city is swiftly being destroyed! I demand that you do it!"

"Really?" BackDoor's eyes snapped open and he stared straight at her, chilling her through to her bones.

A deep humming filled the room and she felt herself being dragged backwards. She looked over her shoulder, straight into spinning ultraviolet mist. Then another opened beside her, then another at the far end of the room. She felt her ears dragged towards the ceiling and her eye went to yet another spinning below her ceiling fan. Each portal tugged at her, increasing in intensity. She span to grab hold of her desk, but every joint in her body felt like it was being pulled apart. A shrill scream escaped her throat and she reached across her desk to secure her grip.

"What are you doing?!" she screeched at the holoscreen. "Close them! Close them, now!"

She heard BackDoor yawn loudly. "No. I think I'll leave them right there."

"Okay!" she gasped. "Okay, you can leave the ones in Meta City! We'll have Zero Day close them! Just... get these things out of my office!"

"Alright, alright, fine." He sighed and one by one each of the portholes closed with a nauseating sucking sound. "Well, I think you've learned your lesson."

She looked over her shoulder at BackDoor's jovial face, contrasting wildly with Yobi's stunned silence.

"Zero Day are the ones that did it," said BackDoor. "So they can deal with it. Not. My. Problem." He waved, an action submerged in a mask of innocence. "Bye bye!"

His half of the screen blinked out, allowing Yobi to take over it. Socket stared back at the raichu, her chest still heaving as she tried to calm her blazing nerves.

"I don't know what's going on." He answered her unasked question. "Zero Day can now open gateways, and BackDoor's behaviour... I think they might be out of control."

Socket smoothed down her fur and leant back against her desk. Her eyes flit around the room, checking for any remaining pockets.

"You don't say?" she said. "What could have caused that?"

Yobi shrugged and looked down at his desk, absently running one paw over his arm. "I... I don't know. But I think we might have to shut them down. Postpone our plan until we've got them back under control."

"Postpone our plan?!" Socket gasped.

"I'm afraid so." Yobi glanced back up at her then back at the table. "If they're out of control, then they pose a threat to System, and to us."

Socket tapped her foot on the floor and looked over her shoulder at the window. Those electrical creatures. The rapidly discolouring air. She could already smell it drifting through her air filter. She reached across her desk to switch the filter on before turning back to Yobi.

"How do you plan on doing this?" she asked.

"I can create another virus," he explained. "One that can deactivate every android in the BackDoor network. If I had more time, I could create one that would give me remote access and direct them back to me, which would save time in rounding them up. But a program like that is complex... if you're wanting a faster approach-" He looked up to see Socket's nod. "Then I'll need to deactivate them and hunt around System to find them. Collect as many as I can and re-program them back to factory settings."

"That could take months, if not years. How about just one Zero Day model?"

Yobi scratched behind his ear and 'hmm'd'. "I suppose I could do that, but it might be a little more complex. I'd need to get it to just one model, and that won't be easy. Maybe if I just hunted one down-"

"Then do it quick," she said. "I want to leave this place before it gets any more toxic."

...

Defrag leant back in her seat as she sipped a steaming cup of tea. Both feet lay across her desk and one of them bobbed back and forth to the deep beat of the music blaring from her computer's old speakers. As another tune cut through it, her eyes snapped open and tea sloshed over her chest. She yelped and placed the tea down with a clatter, reaching first for the box of tissues before grabbing her phone. She shot Tracer's name a venomous glare then answered it.

"Yes, Tracer?" she muttered as she dabbed at her fur.

"Are you all right, Defrag?" he asked quickly.

"Yes, just a little wet." She paused and narrowed her eyes. "Why? Shouldn't I be?"

"Oh no, you just sound stressed. Anyway, I have a little job for you."

She sat bolt upright, kicking her feet back to the ground. "A job?"

"Yes. Could you please contact Surge?"

Her heart plummeted and she sank back into her seat. "I thought she had a job with the mayor?"

"That's exactly why I need you to contact her," he said quietly. "Tell her we'll pay her double what Socket is. All I need her to do is find out exactly why Socket wants a human, and if she's responsible for that monster."

"Plural."

"Pardon?"

"I said plural." Defrag retrieved her keyboard and turned on her screen. Meta City News was still loaded, filled with ominous photos. "There's been an outbreak of monsters in Meta City. They're draining the city's electricity supply by attaching themselves to the air filters."

She could practically hear Tracer gasp and stutter as he struggled to find words.

"The infestation is bad, too," Defrag went on. "More and more monsters are showing up by the hour. It's only a matter of time until those trees give up and Meta City shares the very same air as us."

"Have they..." He paused to clear his throat. "Have they found out where they're coming from?"

"Yes. Apparently they're coming through some kind of porthole," Defrag explained. "They've also found the remains of destroyed robots in that very same area. Something from the old Porygon line, they believe. But it's difficult to tell which exactly from the burnt and melted remains. Socket has said they were sent in to try and close the porthole secretly, so as not to create an uproar, while her scientists deal with the threat. She claims to know nothing about it, but that there seems to be an outbreak of dimensional gateways opening across System and letting in what she's dubbed Ultra Beasts."

Tracer was silent as he took this in.

"You still want me to contact Surge?" Defrag asked.

"Socket obtained a human," he said. "A human that claims to be from a different time-line. And you're telling me she's calling these anomalies 'Dimensional Gateways'?"

Defrag scrolled through the interview. "That's what it says here."

"I have my doubts," said Tracer. "Contact Surge and ask her to keep an eye open. Quiz her on everything she knows. Call her back to the office if you need to."

"Fine. I'll do just that."

"Tell me exactly what she says," he went on. "And if you find out anything else, tell me. Don't delay."

"You got it."

"Take care, Defrag. Let's hope those things in Meta City stay there." He hung up.

Defrag let out a long sigh and let her arm flop over the arm of her chair. The article stared back at her, depicting a clear image of one of those strange, electrical monsters.

More desk work. And, by the sounds of it, Surge would get all the fun.

She lifted up her phone and dialled the zigzagoon's number. As it rang out, a soft scratching sound filled the office. She turned in her seat to face it, the phone still pressed to her ear. A shadow passed beyond the mucky window. Probably some little goon looking in again. She frowned and turned away, but it moved once more. Jagged limbs stuck out in an almost perfect star shape. It hovered there for a moment, then turned and took off towards the sky.

Defrag stared at the window, her heart racing. Her mouth hung open as she tried to catch her breath.

"...Hello? Defrag?"

Surge's voice snapped her back to reality and she took a few deep breaths to steady herself.

"Oh, Surge. Sorry... I..." She shook her head sharply. "Bad connection."

Surge was quiet for a moment. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes." Defrag turned her chair fully from the window and brought up the Meta City News main page. "I'm just ringing to pass on a message, really. Tracer has a job for you."

"Well, that couldn't have come at a better time." Surge chuckled dryly. "I've just been fired from my old one."

Defrag felt her heart sink again and she released her computer mouse. "I'm not sure how much use you'll be then. He wants you to spy on Socket and see what she's up to."

"Explain."

"You've probably heard about this already, but apparently strange 'Dimensional Gateways' are opening across System, releasing monsters into our world."

"Oh. That." She chuckled again. "I know all about that, hon."

"Seriously?" Defrag raised an eyebrow. "What did Socket hire you for?"

"To take out that nuisance Hunter. He's been all up in her plans lately." Surge laughed again, but it didn't sound remotely jovial. "And so have I. You even seen the news? Check out the wanted posters."

Defrag hesitated for a moment, then opened the news site's Most Wanted link. There, right at the top, were Hunter and the rest of Wildcard Gamma. But beside them was a smiling picture of Surge. All of them were wanted for fifty thousand credits.

Defrag bit her lip and leant back in her seat again. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say I know everything about these 'Dimensional Gateways'." Surge paused, and Defrag thought she heard her smile. "So... what do you need to know?"