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“No. They let you in, it’s too late to simply kick you out, or they’d have to kick out everyone else too. So let’s use this to our advantage. Go!”
Eden and Crash nodded and got moving immediately, while Nekhbet took her seat and the screen at the bar to resume typing, probably working with the Back Hackers. Crash finished his drink in one go, and suddenly, he began spinning until there was only a large red tornado in the room, making an awful mess wherever he went. Eden jumped on the closest table and began wrecking everything she could under her feet, sending glasses and poker chips flying around. The guards of the System had begun moving to hunt them down, but it was already too late. More and more Dive Hackers were materializing directly in the room and immediately began participating in the rampage.
“Eden, my Kitty,” said Loir. “You shouldn’t stay around too long. They might have identified you as their black cat by now...”
“Don’t worry and go,” nodded Nekhbet, who had gotten close to her as soon as they were done. “This place is already ours to take, but they might try to locate you in the real world, and this time, we won’t be able to help you until our people physically get there. We just opened the doors, so you should meet up with the Zodiacs and the others as soon as you can. Dive again when you reach Arcadia Tower.”
Eden nodded and ran toward one of the doors. The casino was an absolute wreck already. The real guests had probably left as soon as they realized something was wrong, or perhaps they had been warned, while the Dive Hackers were hell-bent on making a mess of this place to overwhelm the System. Some doors she had seen earlier were closed or had completely disappeared. Some strange, large, black boxes had appeared at completely random places, floating or on something, beacons put there by the Back Hackers who were working hard at corrupting as much as they could. The casino itself was being modified as she walked out of there, walls moving and game tables being replaced by weapon units, large stocked chests, or simply deleted.
“Loir, pull me out,” Eden said.
A couple of minutes later, she was back on the upper floor of Charles’ house. Eden let out a long sigh. That had gone better than she thought... Luckily for them. Compared to the Zodiacs and their men fighting to get inside the Core, she’d had it easy so far. In fact, she realized how lucky she was that the path had been paved for her beforehand, both by her father and Pan. Eden wondered when her enigmatic master would make a dramatic appearance. She couldn’t help but think the rest of this whole mission would be far from easy. They were still just getting started.
“Mr. Charles?” she called out while getting downstairs. “I’m done here, but we have to evacuate. They are going to...”
She stopped, shocked by the scene. Everything was just as she had left it before, except for the large, scary explosive device that had replaced the delicious breakfast on the table, and the equally scary jacket full of wires on Mr. Charles’ chest.
“...What is this?” she muttered, her mouth a bit dry.
“Oh, do not worry,” smiled the older man. “I expected them to find this place a long, long time ago. Everything is ready.”
“You’re going to bomb your own house?”
She couldn’t believe it. This place was obviously full of memories and personal, sentimental items; this wasn’t a ready-made house, but a real home, with things that had been accumulated over the years. Moreover, she had seen Mr. Charles’ daughter just a moment ago!
“Yes,” he nodded as if it was a simple question. “Do not worry, it should be contained to this house only. My neighbors will just enjoy the fireworks from their windows!”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Oh, I’m much more than serious, Miss Eden. But I am an old man who is lucky to have survived this far already, young lady. I am glad I was able to help you, it makes living to this age all worthwhile...”
“But you have children!”
“Yes, I do,” he chuckled. “I even have grandchildren! Which makes it all the more valuable. I am happy to leave the next generation to collect the fruits of what we accomplished today. But me? I expect nothing more. All of my things are in order, I can leave as peacefully as I want. The one thing I am afraid of is being captured by them. That, I can’t let happen.”
Eden was torn. She knew she should have said something to stop him, convince him to re-think this, but she just couldn’t. In fact, she could tell it would all be useless. She could see it in Mr. Charles’ eyes. He was determined and incredibly composed. There wasn’t a hint of fear in his eyes. This wasn’t the expression of a man about to commit suicide out of fear; Eden was facing an old man who lived a happy life and knew how he wanted to leave. As she looked around, she realized this place already looked empty. Everything was stored and cleaned, as if he had also wanted to give his house a decent last day before it all disappeared. She tried to think of something to say, but nothing was coming.
“Ghost! The barrier’s down!”
“Anubis here, we’re breaching in too.”
“Same in the south!”
“Watch out for the murder bots!”
“We managed to blow up another door! We need more weapons at the front!”
“Rat, another blast!”
“Eden, hold on. I’ll find you soon. Just a few minutes.”
None of the voices that were pouring in her ears could take Eden out of there. She knew a lot was going on, on all sides of the wall. The city she had been born in was changing forever, their landscape was being rewritten by what would eventually become history. She knew lives were at stake, with an all-out war venturing inside the Core. The Edge’s Back Hackers and Divers were all assaulting the System just as the Zodiacs were leading their armies in. Everything was going fast, big, and hard, but none of that seemed to reach the small room she was in, just yet. There was something unbelievably sad and solemn in this room. Eden was facing Mr. Charles, a man she’d even considered an old friend, and realized she was seeing him for the last time. He had done what he could to help her and even given her a bit of her enigmatic past back. This was a farewell.
With a tight throat and no words coming out, she slowly nodded. She couldn’t find anything else to say, so she just didn’t. He smiled and sat down at the breakfast table from earlier.
“Well, that’s it, young lady. You probably should get going now. It won’t be long before they get here.”
Eden didn’t know if he meant the Core or her allies, but she didn’t have the luxury to wait for either of those. She slowly took a step back.
