Darsi smiled sweetly like she was discussing plans to order a pizza. "Yulime Garrotte is the dregs of humanity. She traffics in anything that will make her money; drugs, weapons, people. This will be a straight-up robbery."

The newly minted partners were playing cards on Dex's bed; both sat cross-legged and facing each other. ​​

Dex didn't state the obvious; banks had some of the best countermeasures in the world. Otherwise, their money would have already been stolen. "Which bank? If it's Heltier & Fianti, you should pick another target."

Darsy winced slightly. "It's H & F… You could be the door breaker; let me worry about search and retrieval."

"Show me the brief, but no promises." Dex waited a moment for his hud to pop up.

[Yulime Garrote aka Yuli]

Age: 33 years old. Gender: Female

Nationality: French.

Criminal Background. Kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal weapons dealing, murder.

Current Warrants: United States, Great Britain, France,

Misc: Interpol has named her to their top ten most wanted.

Estimated worth: 730 million Euro.

Banking: Heltier & Fianti, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nothing in the brief caused him to change his mind. "Maybe we could do it, but not in the short term."

"Do you think Yuli is pretty?" Darsi sent a few more pictures of the target to his virtual interface. They were from her social pages, apparently being an international criminal gave her a large following.

Dex ignored the bait and closed his hud. "Do you really want to hit H & F?"

Darsi paused for a moment before shaking her head. "No… I was testing to see what your judgment is like. Frankly, I'm surprised that you didn't outright reject it."

Dex shrugged slightly. "A company like H & F is always upgrading their firewalls; they have some of the best in the world. However, that doesn't mean they are untouchable."

"Does Sexy Dexy have an idea?"

Dex nodded. "It would take a while to implement. Before I was arrested, I was doing some work on a firewall security buffer. I called it Armageddon."

Darsi gathered up the cards and reshuffled them. "I like the name. How does Armageddon help us?"

"It isn't quite finished, but H & F might be interested in the software when it is. So that would be our way in."

"How long will it take you to finish?" Darsi's hud buzzed, but she ignored it and dealt the cards.

"One week if I focus completely." Dex paused to consider the long term. "I'd need some alternate identification."

Darsi nodded. "No worries, I've already worked up three sets for you. Going in hard or soft?"

"Neither... We go invisible and lay the blame on someone else."

"Let's start prepping! First, I'll dive deep into this bitch's financial and business transactions." Darsi glanced up from her cards. "You never answered the question. Do you think she's pretty?"

"I guess… But just on the outside." Dex' glanced toward the stealth pod. "I'm going to need a pod to jump with."

Darsi brought up a hud window that was labeled as Hive Inventory. There were nearly two dozen pods in storage, everything from the current standard to older 1st gens. "Pick one you like, and we'll get it installed up here."

"I'll take those two Brandish pods." Dex zeroed in on the pods that were top-end right before he was arrested. Brandish pods were easy to modify, and they could be installed in either the horizontal or the vertical position. There was a small alcove opposite his bed, plenty of room for them to remain upright.

"Really? I thought you'd go with something newer." Darsi keyed her hud a few times before closing it and sliding off the bed. "Let's keep moving forward. Gotta make you some money."

The Brandish pods were brought up within the hour; Dex helped the two men pull the dolly up the stairs to his bedroom. The alcove was indented about a meter and could easily store anything up to three by three meters in height and width. Judging from the space, Dex guessed some sort of built-in shelving unit had once been there. He stood both pods upright in the Alcove and started to disassemble them.

A few hours later, Dex's hud buzzed. He stepped out of the Brandish pod with an NTI (Neural Transfer Interface) in one hand. Thumper's face popped up in front of him when he answered.

"Hey Dex, got some parts that you ordered." Thumper's dark eyes watched him from his hud.

"Come on in; I'm upstairs." Dex dropped the NTI onto a pile of components he had already removed.

Thumper paused at the top of the stairs; she was carrying a large box that was filled with parts. "Where do you want it?"

"Right there is fine." Dex helped her sit it down and then started digging through it.

"Did the inventory myself, Dex. Two extended splicers and a 12-line NTI." Thumper removed the components one by one while Dex gathered up the parts he removed from the Brandish pods.

"Thanks for bringing it. I meant to head up to the 10th floor, but I lost track of time." Dex sat on the floor and immediately started to disassemble the 12-line NTI (referred to as 12'ers).

"Those 12'ers were fucking useless. I remember when they came out." Thumper glanced from the Brandish pods to the component he was already taking apart.

A standard NTI offered six connecting points within the neural net. When the 12-line came out, it promised a drastic increase in performance. Unfortunately, any short-term use of more than a few hours led to disabling side effects. Headaches, nausea, and in some cases, temporary loss of cognitive functions.

Dex nodded his head in agreement but continued to work. He separated the 12 lines and used the splicing extender to divide them into two sets of six. "You're not wrong; one of my friends lost his vision for half a year. That being said, there's nothing wrong with Brandish quality; they used platinum wiring for everything and invented the syncing protocol that's still being used in the new stuff."

"Darsi told me that your bio and chrono age are both eighteen. You're the first hacker I've ever met that had matching stats."

(Author's Note)

Biological age is how old your cells are. While in deep stasis, cell aging is suspended. Chronological age is the current year minus your birth year.

Dex smiled slightly; in some circles, the ages could be drastically different. It wasn't considered impolite to ask. "What's yours?"

"About twenty years difference; twenty-five and forty-six." Thumper's dark eyes studied the two brandish pods. Dex had a sidewall removed so that the two pods could be attached together. "You're splicing the 12'ers into sixers. Hey… This is a tandem jumper?"

"Yeah." Dex brought up a large schematic. "I'm going to directly link virtual communication between the pilots."

"Don't even ask, Thumper…You don't get to ride." Darsi's voice interrupted before the conversation progressed any further; she stood at the top of the stairs with two cups of coffee. "What about the memory cache? These brandish neural links have advanced memory functions."

"It'll be a shared resource; I allocated the overflow data through the NO (Neural Occipital) pathway as a pip (picture in picture)." Dex finished the last of the connectors. "Not sure it will even work; we might both end up with hangovers."

Darsi shrugged slightly. "Couple bottles of wine will fix that. Let's jump into the v-Hive and test it out."

Thumper picked up the box of parts and headed toward the stairs. "I want to see how this works, going to jump into the v-Hive from my pod."

The ability of the Hive to support long-term deep-stays was enhanced by an exact virtual mock-up of the facility that the members called v-Hive. Many of the residents lived in the v-Hive like they would any virtual world; they worked, interacted, slept, and even ate.

"Did you see that?" Darsi waited until Thumper exited before speaking further. "When you used the term pilots, she blushed like she was having an orgasm."

"Maybe I should have said jumpers."

Darsi's pretty face wore a playful smile. "Pilot sounds way sexier."

"Give me a sec." Dex grabbed some fresh clothes and walked through the closet into the bathroom. Splashing some water on his face made him feel like a new man. His reflection stared back at him while he dried his face. He looked different somehow, skipped meals and days full of stress had given him a lean, hungry look. "Still can't grow a beard…." Despite being eighteen, there wasn't even a hint of facial hair on his face.

Darsi was already in the left pod when he returned to the bedroom. "I brought some info on Yuli's inner circle. Let's do a quick tandem hack and fuck with them."

"Sure," Dex agreed. He slid into his chair and slid his glove on. The standing brandish pods were built differently than normal. When used in the upright position, the user would wear a shoulder harness. Once the door was closed, the seat would rotate from vertical to horizontal.

"Ride the wave, Dextron." Darsi held up her fist to be bumped.

Dex fist-bumped her. "Ride the wave, Co-Pilot."

Darsi's pretty face split in a wide grin. "I should have said that… Let's dial it back and try again."

Dex shook his head and engaged the neural net. "Nope."