Phoenix Phire

Two weeks passed with no sign of the group calling themselves Rogue AI or the person known as Hawk. The general consensus among the Bottom Feeders was that Hawk was probably an Avatar and the person behind it fabricated the organization. More importantly, data nodes surrounding Quebec and New England Virtual went active. Their appearance didn't change much in the outside world, but v-Quebec and v-New England were covered by massive domes that lit up the area around them. In addition, Bottom Feeder Intel said that the other four virtual states (Baltic, Madagascar, Tasmania, and Spain/Portugal) had begun constructing data nodes around their territories.

Dex grinned at the Bottom Feeders when he saw them. He had scheduled the Grand Opening of the Armory for 1000 hours; they were more than thirty minutes early.

Two new faces were hanging out, Nix and Hara. They had no interest in joining the Hive, but since they were given a residence on the 15th floor, Dex invited them to check out the Armory.

Darsi was chatting with her Inferno friends when Dex arrived. She paused long enough to hug him before continuing with her questions. "You have all the Inferno DRP and Players setup at Vasai Virtual?"

Nix nodded. "Many of them were already there, but we convinced the hold-outs. So once Wind joins us, we'll be on board. He is bringing his entire family from Mombassa."

"Tell him to hurry," Dex replied. "The world is changing fast."

Nix looked upward toward the platform near the 10th floor. "That's the Armory? I thought it would be bigger."

Dex grinned at the Inferno Leader. "It is! You and Hara use the jumpers on the 10th floor; I made sure to reserve them. We'll meet you there."

Hara nodded and pulled Nix toward the lift; he seemed reluctant to go. "Don't even ask, Nix."

"Why not! That's the T-6 you mentioned, right? Just think what a raid team could do with just the shared audio and video feeds!"

Nix stared longingly at the T-6. "And it looks fucking awesome."

Dex tried not to laugh as the unwilling Nix was dragged away. "I'll put a tandem jumper in your apartment, fewer bells, and whistles, but way better than what you're using."

"Deal!" Nix stopped resisting when the lift door opened. Instead, he smiled at his companion. "Doesn't hurt to ask."

A few minutes later, Dex fist-bumped Quicksilver after opening the number one capsule on the T-6. "Ride the wave, Partner."

"Ride the wave, Partner," Darsi smiled warmly while secretly patting herself on the back for her foresight in inviting Dex to the Hive.

One by one, the capsules on the T-6 module closed. Within a few moments, each of their occupants appeared nearby as their virtual selves.

"Interesting world set," Hara spoke from above them. She had her hud opened and was running an analysis program that Dex wrote.

Dex pushed off the floor with one foot, feeling a sensation similar to weightlessness. "v-Hive movement rules were written for ease of access. But, as we speak, Syntax is coding an entirely different set into v-Earth."

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Nix hovered above them, noting from the Bottom Feeder's expressions that only he and Quicksilver really realized how brilliant Hara was. "Before Hara became the Director at the Colonial Virtual Labs, she was one of the coders that constructed Colonial's worlds."

"Dibs on Hara!" Thumper grinned at the redhead, "we can partner up!"

Hara offered her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Thumper. I'm already partnered."

Gadget kicked off the floor with a stomp of his foot and joined Nix above them. "She's here as a consultant. The six of us will be scouting New England Virtual (NEV). Hara will be helping us adjust our offensive, defensive, and transport tools."

As the group traveled toward the Armory; many v-Hive residents moved to the railing to watch the show. It was no secret. The Armory was opening today.

Hara grabbed Nix's hand, trusting him to guide her to the platform while she talked. "If you're creating large virtual nodes the size of Quebec or New England. You have to create a set of rules. Expect CER; that's normal for virtual environments." When she noticed the group bringing their huds up, she defined the term for them. "It means Common Earth Rules. Weight, movement, gravity will have to be set. The nodes will become the living environment to millions of people instantly. The amount of work required to monitor and upkeep something like this is similar to a large virtual world like Colonial."

Dex listened while the redhead spoke. He constructed the tools based on a typical CER environment. "It will be our job to test everything in the Node. We can expect some alterations; we just have to find what they are and then adjust our toolsets."

"I love it when you talk like that." Darsi arrived at the Armory walkway first; standard gravity rules took effect when you stepped onto a walking area in v-Hive. Quicksilver walked to the Armory door and waited for the rest.

It resembled a fabricated building, about the size of a single-car garage from the outside. A round wooden door (of course) and a thatched roof made it seem like something out of Middle-Earth.

Dex pressed his hand against the scanner mounted above a large brass knob. The door immediately turned from red to green.

[Authorised User: Dextron] "Will you be opening the Armory today, Dextron?

"Yes. Grant temporary access to the Bottom Feeders, Nix and Hara."

He paused for a moment to glance over his shoulder at his captive audience. "We'll be appointing a full-time armorer after everything is set up properly." Dex nudged the door with his shoulder, causing it to swing inward. "Follow me."

"Holy crap..." Stiletto squeezed between Dex and Darsi before stopping abruptly at the counter. It was three meters from the door and spanned the entire width of the building, which was just a bit over forty by fifty meters. "The armory is an instance within v-Hive?"

Dex nodded and placed a hand on the counter before vaulting over it. When he touched the counter, it changed into a virtual image that was categorized by shape. Behind him were dozens of shelves containing clothes, armor, weapons, and transport. "Darsi goes first."

"Sweet... Tell me what to do, Dex." Darsi noticed six circles that were lit up inside of a rectangle that took up a good portion of the area in front of the counter. "Is this some kind of load station?"

Dex nodded, "something like that. Preferences? Check out the icons on the counter and press what you like."

Quicksilver studied the layout; the icons were grouped into categories. She touched the gun silhouette, which then changed into three choices; handgun, automatic weapon, rifle. She touched the rifle icon, and a shelf rolled forward containing her selection. The ponytailed blond's smile could have melted butter. "You put Dragunovs in the armory."

"I did," Dex admitted. "We don't have much for selections yet."

Quicksilver verified the selection and then quickly made the rest of her choices. As she touched them, their virtual image appeared over the counter.

***Authors Note****

ICE: Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics

Exe: Executive Code

YB: Yottabytes

*******************

[Dragunov- Sniper Rifle]

Ammo Type: Fatboy Exe

Range: Untested

Damage: Untested

[Honjo Masamune- Sword]

Stiletto's Modified Demon Code

Range: Melee

Damage: Untested

[Under Armor-Black]

ICE Type: General Defensive

10 YB

[Combat Boots w/side zipper]

ICE Type: General Defensive

5 YB

[Flexible Boy Armor-Black]

ICE Type: Electrical 50 YB

ICE Type: Abestos 50 YB

ICE Type: Impact 50 YB

Reserve Bank: 200 YB

[DeVisor]

Description: Works in either real or virtual environments. Enhanced Sight, Night vision, Thermal vision, Vision Sharing.

[Dex-Gloves]

Coding Gloves with spike interface.

Memory Storage: 100 YB

Darsi stared at her partner, "Transport ready?"

Dex grinned and pointed to the transport icon. "Not much for choices yet."

"Hmmm." Darsi pressed the icon, her eyes lighting up when a row of Ducati slid toward them. They were modeled after her own bike and ordered by color. "Red is my favorite."

"You sure?" Dex's hand hovered over the colored squares beneath the motorcycle icon. "Let me choose?"

"Or you can surprise me." Darsi watched as he shielded his choice and made the selection. "Step onto the blinking circle."

Darsi stepped onto the circle, her blue eyes watching as Dex finished up the selections. "What if I'm in a hurry."

Dex glanced at the group, all of them were staring at the equipment images. "Once we figure out what works and make adjustments, you can save configurations for quick loads. "Ready?"

Quicksilver nodded, "Prey waits."

Darsi's image blurred for a moment as her equipment uploaded. A moment later, the Hive's 1st Operative appeared. Lightly armored and dressed in black with a sword peeking over the top of her right shoulder.

Thumper clapped her hands excitedly. "Fucking sexy!

Darsi examined her gear. "How do I use the data probe?"

"Flex your right fist," Dex answered.

Quicksilver flexed her fist, smiling as a six-inch steel spike extended. "Fucking Da Vinci... Where's my rifle?"

"On your bike," Dex replied.

A moment later, a Ducati Panigale appeared directly beside her. It was bright silver, reflecting everything in the room like it was a mirror. A rife case was mounted along one side of the bike.

[Ducati Panigale/ Quicksilver's Variant]

Top Speed: Unknown.

Quicksilver let out the breath she had been holding. "Yeah..." She tossed a leg over the bike and touched the handlebars. "You rock my fucking world, Dex."

Stiletto stared at Darsi's layout for a moment before stepping to the counter. "Me next!"