Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Six - Wake Up

  The rest of the day at work was a little stressful. And yet... not that badly so?

  Unless I was god-awful at reading people--which I'd like to think that I wasn't--then I felt like the chances that Dharti would betray me were rather low. She was kindly and I think I maybe reminded her of someone.

  Still, even with her healing and with me blasting out magic until my core felt a lot more stable, I was still a little out of it. The weird sensation of my core trembling within me didn't fade so casually.

  When work finished, I got on my bike, then sat there for a while before riding off towards home. Then I made a detour to buy groceries and to pick up something to eat.

  Bikes sucked for grocery runs. My saddlebags were filled with guns and I had to awkwardly shuffle things around to make space for like, bread and a few boxes of microwavable stuff. I just hoped that no one noticed what I was moving around in there. It wasn't strictly illegal to carry, but like, there was a certain amount of reasonableness applied to things.

  A young woman with a .36 in her purse was based. A young woman with a revolver designed to take out C-ranked monsters, a shotgun and a bullpup rifle along with ammo and some other suspicious shit was... well, I was pretty sure it would raise a lot of eyebrows, so I tried to be fast about it.

  I still stopped at a fast food place on the way back and sat down within to chew through a burger and fries while keeping an eye on my bike through the window. Screw cooking; not if I could avoid it.

  I made it home about an hour later than I usually would, then went in and just kind of slumped. "Hey Mister Couchtop," I said as the fatty circled my legs and meowled noisily at me. "Are your days filled with stress and worry?"

  He didn't answer, so I picked him up and stuffed my face in his side and rubbed my nose into him until he started to squirm to get free. That was too bad, I needed hug energy and he was my victim of choice.

  I set him down after I'd had my fill, and he gave me a glare until I revealed that I'd bought some wet food while I was out, then I was suddenly his beloved once more.

  "Yeah, yeah, silly cat," I muttered as I cracked open the can and poured it into his bowl. Why did cat food have to smell so good? I'd just eaten, I couldn't possibly be hungry again.

  Anyway, I resisted the urge to indulge myself in snacks. This was a timeline I intended to keep and I was watching my waistline, at least a little. Though... I flexed my bicep, then squeezed it. Harder than it used to be. The D-rank changes were coming in well. And my stomach was a bit flatter too, so that was nice.

  I puttered around the apartment for a bit, putting some stuff back in order because I was a bit of a slob sometimes and there were more dishes at the foot of my bed than in my cabinets.

  Today was Friday. The end of a week. A damned long one as well. Still, that meant that tomorrow I'd probably set a fresh save early in the morning and then live out the next week as a wasted loop. My future knowledge currently stretched out until around tomorrow afternoon, so it was as good a time as any to peek ahead.

  I couldn't complain about my week. It had been a long one, but the gains were fantastic. Lots of magical power, a few long strides closer to C-rank, and I was making friends. Friends who were girls. Girl friends, one might even perhaps mutter.

  I shook my head. There wasn't time for that. The occasional casual fling was good, and nice, and fun, and exciting, and a few other positive descriptors, but I couldn't put that ahead of my goal.

  Once Fortress ENE was saved, then I could think about maybe settling down a little better. By then I'd hopefully be at the cusp of or beyond C-rank. That would be a safer space to be, in many ways.

  Stolen story; please report.

  In other ways not so much. If D-rankers were wanted by every corp and company, then C-rankers were much more so. They made up something like... what, one in ten of every D-ranker? Basically whatever I was paid would have a zero slapped on the end, maybe two.

  I groaned, then stripped down to something comfortable and just laid down on my bed and started to watch shortform slop on my new augmented vision, letting some shitty algorithm decide what would entertain me best.

  It was a good way to pass a few hours, and as those hours trickled by, I could feel my core starting to settle.

  Annoying. I might've wanted to spend some time carving out something new, but I didn't trust myself with that for the moment.

  A video with a nice guitar riff in it had me standing up to pick up my own, and then I was idly strumming along while laying on my bed, not really playing a song so much as making little noises. It probably counted for something.

  Once my magic was calmer, I'd see about practicing. Maybe I'd take this next looped week to learn something new? I was pretty due for that, wasn't I?

  I yawned, then looked at the time. Nine something.

  Stretching, I pulled some blankets over, turned off the lights, then remembered to set a new Save. Starting with much-needed sleep would only help, I figured. It was a good capstone to the start and end of a loop.

  So, with that, I closed my eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

  I woke up to the sound of something buzzing. It was a weird enough noise that I found myself turning around in my bed and looking around my room for the source. Then I blinked and slowly dove back into sleep. I was having a dream of some sort, with Fran and Becky, and maybe Jane, only she was tall? It was strange and disjointed, in the way dreams were.

  The sound of my door exploded and light pouring into my room jolted me awake.

  "Freeze! Don't move!"

  Three men barged into the room. Black gear. Guns.

  I gasped, jumped up and tried to bounce to my feet.

  One of them kicked aside some crap I had laying by the door while the other two moved in, flashlights blindingly bright.

  Mister Couchtop jumped towards one and hissed.

  Then that same man kicked out, faster than normal, and I gasped as Mister Couchtop was thrown back.

  "Hey!" I shouted.

  Light was brought around and flashed into my face. Then, two impacts, and I screamed as something stabbed into my upper chest. A split second later, every nerve in my body was fried.

  A small part of me put two and two together. It was a taser, of some sort.

  I retaliated with a Shadowbolt that punched a hole in my wall. I couldn't help but think that that would raise the rent.

  Someone reached over to me and pulled me forward by the wrist, then threw me down onto the floor. "Hey! Who the fuck are you?" I shouted.

  "Get her restrained, dammit," one of them said.

  My face was pressed down and my arms torn backwards even as I tried to fight it. I remembered some of the martial arts I'd learned, and they did fuck all when I had a fully grown man pressing down on my back with a knee. I didn't have any leverage.

  "Who the fuck are you?" I growled even as I tried to break free.

  "Shut up," the man above me said. "You're coming with us."

  "Fuck off!" I shouted. I managed to turn enough to see a badge on his plate carrier. The Seraph's angelic logo.

  Then, before things could get too hairy, I Reloaded.

  I jolted in my bed, suddenly wide awake.

  Mister Couchtop mewled in protest at the sudden motion. He'd just been settling in for the night and hadn't given me permission to move.

  I grabbed him anyway and hugged him close.

  What had that been? Who were they? And how dare they break into my place?!

  ***

  End Volume Two