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“Because I knew too much, dear. It’s as old as the world; one man can know too many secrets for his own sake! As soon as I realized they’d come for me too, I reached out to your father. He was one of the few they couldn’t do without, so he helped me plan my escape. We completely changed my identity and used one of the very few advantages we had over the System to manipulate it to save my life. After that... I hid, for as long as I could, until our mutual friends found me.”
“They led the Edge to you...”
“Exactly. Sir Prometheus gave them information about me and let them find me...”
“Wait. ...Prometheus did?”
“Of course. He was also working on the Core with us, for a long time. Although I never personally got to meet him, he was your father’s very best assistant. He most likely was hidden for his own safety, which I surely can understand...”
Eden frowned. Hidden from the Core? She had a feeling he had always been within their sights, though. He had mentioned several times himself that he was in the Chicago Core... or was he deliberately working for them, as a double agent? There was still so much mystery about her master who had yet to appear, she was growing nervous. What if he had been caught and this was all a trap? Or if he had been working for the Core all along, merely playing around with her and the Edge?
“Marilyn!” Loir suddenly shouted in her ear. “Welcome to Loir’s playground, my beauty baby! We’re ready to roll, my Kitty!”
“Sorry,” said Eden, standing up and grabbing another bite. “I have to go back upstairs, we’re ready.”
“Of course, dear. I’ll clean this up, don’t worry and go!”
Eden smiled and nodded, a bit embarrassed to have to leave in a rush when she had eaten almost all of it so fast, for free, and without helping out in any way. She gave back the picture hurriedly, trying not to think twice about it, and ran back upstairs.
As Loir had said, this old thing was now pretty much up to date, and already seemingly working on its own. She could recognize Loir’s characteristic hectic style in the lines of codes that were appearing on the screen.
“Are we there yet?” she asked.
“Almost ready to jump, my Kitty! I hope you’re ready for your first thrill ride behind enemy lines!”
“Ghost, we’re ready for you,” added Nebty. “Prepare yourself, though, this might be quite different from what you usually see. Just stay long enough to get us all in, and get out as soon as you can. They might not be able to find your SIN here, but in the System, you’re going to pop up like the biggest anomaly they’ve seen that’s escaping their grid...”
“Crash, Nekhbet?” she called out, getting a bit nervous.
“Ready to Crash the party! I’m almost there!”
“I’m with you guys,” added Nekhbet.
Eden nodded and sat in front of the screen, jumping into the code to enter her own, typing fast on the keyboard. Loir was excited, and she could see it. Hacking the Core’s System from the inside ought to be the boldest thing they had ever done... and the whole success of this war would depend on it too. If they failed, everyone would stay locked out of the Core, in a war that would go on until they were all suppressed. Plus, all three hackers would be in more danger than usual. They had to make it in and out through the System, and if it found them, they’d simply die right there. Brain dead.
She took a deep breath and relaxed, closing her eyes for a few seconds.
Once Eden opened them again, she was far from Mr. Charles’ house. She blinked twice, looking around her cautiously. Loir did mention things would be different, but she had never expected something as simple as a waiting room. The velvet furniture and bottle-green walls with strange paintings all around showed terrible taste. She grimaced slightly, looking around her. There were a lot of other people seated just like her, on a comfy armchair, waiting patiently. Eden counted twenty armchairs, in rows of five, half of which were occupied. Those people looked normal for people from the Core. Her appearance as Ghost wasn’t making her stand out in any way, which was a good thing. A lot of them had their eyes on a screen, the only thing to look at in the room. Eden glanced up. It showed numbers... Twenty-four, then twenty-five. Someone in the room stood up and went past a curtain of beads leading to somewhere she couldn’t see. Eden hesitated. No one had stopped that person or checked anything, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t get checked later. Maybe there was some sort of security behind that curtain... She glanced around, and there was an android on her right, looking at something on a screen. Eden hesitated. She couldn’t wait until someone missed their turn, and she didn’t have a number! Should she ask anyway? The robot hadn’t even seemed to see her arrive. When someone else landed in the waiting room, the android went to them, greeting them by name and giving them their number.
Eden suddenly wondered. If that robot was part of the System, was she invisible to it too? ...It was worth trying. After someone else stood up, she counted to ten, and went after them, walking as naturally as possible. No one in the room reacted, and neither did the android. She walked past the curtain of beads, her heart beating insanely fast. She was so nervous, she could almost feel the sweat from her real body.
“Steady, my Kitty, you’re playing in kindergarten right now! You should be fine...”
Despite his words, Eden could tell when Loir was nervous as well. They were both on a different field than their own, like in a foreign land. All their experience would be close to useless here; this wasn’t the Dark Reality.
She kept walking down what seemed like a very long corridor. She would have been worried if she hadn’t heard noises coming from the end of it. Could it be that easy? Just as she was about to enter, she heard voices on the other side. She tried to listen but quickly realized this corridor was made so she couldn’t hear until she was actually at the entrance. She could see, though. It looked like a playroom. A place very loud, with lots of people, movement, and bright lights.
“...Loir,” she muttered. “I might need something a bit more dressed up.”
“Coming right up!”
Eden took a deep breath and looked down. She was now wearing a short and sexy black dress that hugged her curves, with a decent amount of cleavage and, for once, nothing was too insane about the outfit. She touched her head, and as she suspected, Loir had given her a little black headband with two triangles, probably meant to be cat ears... There was a scarf of soft and thick fur on her right shoulder too, and lace gloves on her hands, everything in a velvety black.
“Let’s hope that’s fine...”
“Getting kicked out because of the dress code would be a first!” chuckled Loir.
Eden was still much too nervous to laugh. At least, everything about her should pass as a member of the Core...
