Save Scumming Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Seven - Intrusion

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Seven - Intrusion

So days, I felt like staying in bed, because that was better than any other alternative. I don't know if that was a sign of sothing like depression, or if that was just normal for a woman living in a capitalist shithole like Fortress ENE. I think it might have been a bit of both?

I don't know.

Strangely, I hadn't felt that way since I started looping back. I think... maybe it was the fact that I had a goal, sothing I was working towards? It kept focused on sothing, even when I was goofing off, or spending loops perfecting my flirting ga, or just retying a portal over and over to get through it.

I took a deep breath, the familiar weight of Mister Couchtop on my chest warm and soothing. Slowly, I untangled an arm from my covers, then ran it down the cat's back. It was sothing I'd done a million tis, and yet it always made feel better. The cat started his engine and was soon rumbling away.

So, so assholes were going to kick in my door in about, hmm, I hadn't looked at the ti, so I wasn't sure how long I had.

It had definitely been early in the morning, though, before I would have woken normally.

What else did I know? I had a pretty strong suspicion that they were from Seraph. Why would one of the premier portal-delving corporations in the city want to barge into my little half-bedroom apartnt and kick my cat?

Actually, there were a few reasons why they might be so inclined.

Had soone at Seraph discovered my looping ability? If so, then this kind of attack was stupid and poorly planned. The best way to take out would be right after a fresh Save. Though maybe they didn't know that? As it was, their timing was pretty decent. I was mid-sleep when they broke in.

Okay, so setting that possibility aside, why else would Seraph go after ?

I yawned and started to play with Mister Couchtop's ears. They were so thin and surprisingly cold.

I had ssed with one of the portals they were after. That little D-rank Kobold portal just two days ago. It wasn't impossible that they had tracked down from there. A cara catching sight of , so backtracing, maybe they had a good investigator on their payroll?

That was plausible, but why take such violent action? They could just as easily send a strongly worded warning. Kicking in the door, guns drawn was the nuclear option.

Mister Couchtop stood up, and I grunted as his little needle-legs pressed into my breast with the strength of a stiletto. He hopped off the bed and wandered off to do cat things.

Grunting, I sat up, then sat on the edge of my bed.

Okay. First, information.

Then... then I'd find a nice, clean way to kill the fuckers.

Was that the wisest thing to do? Revenge was nice and sweet, and I think I'd regret it if I didn't at least try to put them in their place. More importantly, I knew how corporations worked. They were risk averse by their very nature.

If they sent out a goon squad to capture soone and that squad went down, then they'd know better than to send a second. Oh, they'd want their own form of revenge, but as long as I made a big enough fuss about it they'd back off, at least for a while.

It would an blowing my cover, though. It was very possible that I'd no longer be allowed to just be , I'd have to be Deadline full ti, or at least change a few things.

I stood, picked up so pants from the floor, then slowly got dressed for a night out. There was a cat carrier buried under so junk in a closet. Mister Couchtop was not happy to see it, since that usually ant that he was about to have a vet visit, and he wasn't fond of those.

Being a D-ranker had so advantages when it ca to cat-wrangling, and I could easily ignore his little claws as he tried not to go into the crate. "Sorry, buddy, but I'm not leaving you here."

So jerk had kicked Mister Couchtop last ti. I wasn't sure they wouldn't do the sa again, even if they ca in and discovered missing.

I looked around my shitty little apartnt. If I had to give this place up, would I be willing?

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I hadn't really considered moving in a while, but yeah, I'd be down for it. Rent here was just barely affordable, but it wasn't exactly luxurious. The water was never hot for long, the apartnt was off in a rougher part of the city, the internet kinda sucked, and I think so people had closets that were bigger than my entire living space. Plus the neighbours were sotis noisy, and with walls this thin I could hear it all.

It wasn't like I couldn't afford to move. I had a D-ranker's inco, plus a fair bit of cash on the side.

I rubbed at my nose. I'd miss a few things, but, yeah.

A problem for later. First, I had to find out a few things.

I picked up a burner phone, slotted in a battery, and sent two texts. They had the sa content:

Deadline: Hi.

Deadline: My apartnt is going to be attacked early in the morning by a corporate hit squad.

Deadline: I don't have their ID yet.

Deadline: I need you to send regular confirmations that you're safe. I need to know if they're only targeting .

It was only seconds before Fran called. "Hello," I said as I picked up.

"Are you certain?" she asked.

"Very, yes," I said.

"And you know this how?"

"Uh, through ans that I won't communicate over an unsecured line," I replied. "We can talk about it in person one of these days?"

There was a long pause. I could make out so noise on her end, chatter, utensils moving, so light music. Was she in a restaurant or sothing?

"Fine," she replied. "If you need help now, or later, let know."

"Okay," I said. "I might take you up on that."

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm going to watch, try to learn what I can. I think it's Seraph, but I don't have confirmation on that yet. I should, soon. After that, I don't know. My plans are rather fluid, I suppose. Revenge, maybe?"

"Hmm," she replied. "Co to my place at around... ten thirty? I should be ho by then."

"I can do that," I said. Not in this loop, but in a future one, sure. For now, I'd just watch.

I picked up Mister Couchtop, slung a go-bag over my back, then pulled an energy drink from my mini-fridge. Then a second one, because it was going to be a long night. The last thing I packed was my laptop, just in case.

I went up to the roof.

The apartnt building wasn't the tallest on the street, but there was still a much better view of things from up there. That, and the cooler air was bracing, even if it stank of hydrocarbons.

I pulled out my laptop, connected to one of the city's god-awful city-wide internet servers, accepted probably a dozen viruses, and then I started to do so research on Seraph. The corporation's history, its corporate ladder, the rankers it had, corporate affiliations. I had a podcast in one tab called F-ENE Corpwatch running. It was two guys interviewing a Seraph employee. It was one of those yapping podcasts with so corpobros that loved to just go on and on about one corp or another.

Weird shit to have as a hobby, but who was I to judge?

A few hours later, I decided to stand up and head down. Not back to my apartnt, but to the building's security room. It was obviously off-limits, but when I got there I discovered that the door might have been locked, but it was just a plain door.

A few good kicks, bracing my back against the opposite wall, and I was in.

If anyone made a fuss, I'd tell them to kick rocks. I wasn't in the mood for anything. I installed myself in the little room, then took a couple of minutes to figure out how to work the simple security console.

Every hallway had at least one cara. There were so blind spots, but the entrance lobby wasn't one of them.

I was fighting back sleep at around six-ish in the morning when movent on one screen caught my eye.

A few white trucks had parked out front, with the Seraph logo on the side.

I jolted to full wakefulness and watched. The team that exited was ten mbers strong, with an eleventh that I vaguely recognized.

That was that one C-ranker that had been in charge of the Kobold portal, wasn't it? Well well...

***