This time Dex entered the stealth pod by himself. The rest of the Bottom Feeders felt that he was the best candidate for proposing a more active alliance with Syntax. While he jumped into what they were now referring to as v-Earth, Darsi began tagging low-orbit satellites for Thumper and Stiletto to commandeer. Gadget and Mongoose were using the tandem jumper for a quick cash grab on some low-level Floridian drug dealers.

Dex laid out his plan in detail since Syntax's retention abilities were a hundred percent. During the course of two hours, they were able to work out several kinks while coming up with viable alternatives. To his surprise, the AI had approached the navigation platform, sitting in one of the empty chairs while they formed the framework for the Hive Alliance. ​​

[I will have to allocate a large number of my personal resources while I am actively engaged in the net.]

From talking with Syntax, Dex discovered two things. First, it was very curious about the world and people in general, and although Syntax was scared, it really wanted to be plugged in.

"It will take the Bottom Feeders a few days to prep everything. After that, we'll need you to create the software necessary for the T-6 overflow." Dex considered their plan as a whole and went through the details in his head.

Syntax would use v-Earth to assist real-world missions by streaming the mirror reality in real-time during their operations. In return, the Bottom Feeders would start unraveling the mystery of the Gladis Corporation and their surviving affiliates. The Hive's highest priority would be the protection of Syntax. Only the Bottom Feeders were aware of its existence. In the event of a security breach, a fallback plan was already in development.

[Your defensive ICE is very impressive, Dextron. I don't believe anyone could break it apart without a lot of effort.]

Dex smiled at the compliment; Syntax had blasted his ICE apart within a few seconds. It came as no great surprise, but he was confident that he could last longer if he applied his trump cards. "We plan on being up and running in ten days. So whatever preparations or safeguards you want to employ should be in place by then."

[I understand. Ride the wave, Dextron.]

"Er… Ride the wave, Syntax." Dex logged out of v-Earth, the last words of Syntax echoing in his ears. 'Ride the wave' was a friendly greeting among the hackers. It was kind of like 'Aloha' and could be used when arriving or leaving.

Since the Tandem jumper was being used by Gadget and Mongoose, Dex had used a general-community jump capsule on the 10th floor. He pushed open the door, only to find someone waiting for him.

"All done?" A young woman with dark hair and even darker makeup leaned against a nearby wall, obviously waiting for the capsule. She was dressed entirely in black, a condition that only amplified her pale skin.

Dex glanced up at her words. Every room in the Hive had at least one capsule, so if she was waiting for this one, then something was wrong with hers. "Yeah…"

She moved to the guard rail, giving him more space to exit the capsule. "The neural to network interface (N2N) on my room's jumper is bad."

Dex didn't comment; the N2N was a fairly easy fix.

"I'm Nova, by the way." The goth-looking hacker smiled slightly.

Dex pointed a thumb at his chest, "I'm Dex; nice to meet you." Normally meeting an attractive female would cause a countdown to start running in his head. He referred to it as the 'clock of inevitable awkwardness'. But, since it didn't seem to engage, he didn't retreat the way he normally would have. "The N2N is a fairly straightforward fix."

Nova nodded with a frustrated sigh. "That's not my specialty. I'm an infiltrator."

Dex paused to reevaluate the goth hacker. The Bottom Feeders could be categorized as all-rounders, meaning they are good at everything. Within the Hive, various specialists were peerless experts within their focused fields. "Infiltrator? Like breaking into systems?"

Nova shook her head. "I hide in systems for the long term, watching, evaluating, and recording."

Dex smiled politely. He couldn't think of anything more tedious than that. "I see…"

The young woman's dark eyes narrowed slightly. "You think it's boring…."

"Yeah. No offense." Dex found her easy to talk to, and because of that, was able to speak bluntly. Unfortunately, the words escaped before he had a chance to censor them with tact.

Nova crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Sure… Why would I find that offensive?"

"Shit," Dex muttered a curse. It had to be a personal record, two minutes of conversation with a pretty nerd without falling on his face. "Can we forget I said that? It was going so well."

"What was going well?" Nova grinned at him, obviously not offended despite his faux pas.

Inwardly Dex cursed again; his personal narrative was going to make him seem crazy. "Nothing. How about I take a look at the N2N on your jumper?"

"Deal!" Nova's face lit up, and she dropped all pretense of anger. "How will you get parts? The Hive is currently under a 'parts freeze' while one of the geniuses finishes up a pet project."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Dex kept his face free of expression. He actually managed to ease back from the abyss of awkwardness. "I can take a look now."

Nova grinned at him. "Don't change your mind when you see my pod! It's old as dirt." She held the elevator open for him and offered a handshake. "Official introduction, I'm Nova, 9th floor."

Dextron shook the offered hand. "Dextron, Bottom Feeder."

The goth hacker froze in place, effectively blocking his entrance to the elevator. "Oh shit… I'm sorry!" She covered her face with both hands for a moment before peeking through her fingers. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Please don't blitz me!"

"Blitz?" Dex wasn't aware of the term.

Nova grimaced slightly, there were only a few Bottom Feeders in the Hive, and they barely ever came to the 10th floor. She sighed heavily while recalling the rumors of the past few weeks. A Fucking Da Vinci had joined the Hive; she hadn't been able to remember his name until now, Dextron. "It means adding a level onto my current residence. I fought so hard to beat the 10th!"

Dex shook his head slightly; apparently, the Bottom Feeders could be a bit heavy-handed. He'd seen Darsi 'blitz' a group for breaking the 10th-floor rules. But, he considered it acceptable; without stringent guidelines, the Hive would descend into chaos; hackers loved to push limits and bend the rules. "I'm just trying to hang out; if you don't want me to fix anything, I won't."

"Oh…" Nova blushed slightly and unblocked access to the elevator. "Want to see my place?"

"Sure." Dex stepped in and waited for the elevator door to close. He felt her eyes on him; obviously, he had said something weird. He brought up his hud as a distraction and used his status as a Bottom Feeder to order a new N2N. Three individual parts made up the N2N component. The quickest fix was to swap out the entire assembly rather than running diagnostics on each part. "I'll order an N2N; by the time we get your pod disassembled, we should have it."

Nova faked a smile and nodded her head. Apparently, Dex didn't know how things worked in the Hive. Getting parts was sometimes like pulling teeth. Gunner was notoriously tight-fisted when it came to swapping out entire components. Unless, of course, the request came from a Bottom Feeder. In that case, he would just shut up and color.

Three hours later, Dex returned to his residence. He had just entered when Gadget and Mongoose were coming down the stairs from the Tandem jumper. Stiletto, Quicksilver, and Thumper were talking over coffee at the kitchen counter. Somehow or another, everyone always ended up at his place.

"Dextron!" Darsi smiled when she saw him, noting that he was carrying a pod component. "Something wrong with your N2N?" She easily identified the assembly he held in one hand.

Dex shook his head slightly. "Was doing a bit of work on Nova's pod to clear my head."

Stiletto raised an eyebrow. "Nova? She's good people." Tesla's descent to the lower levels had taken a few years; she knew many of the Hive members that resided between the 10th floor and the bottom.

Darsi's expression was non-committal. She also knew who Nova was. Dex had probably said something awkward and then covered it up by offering to fix something. Although their partnership was relatively new, she understood his motivations. Still… she found the idea mildly disconcerting. "We were waiting for you. What did Syntax have to say?"

"To sum up, Syntax agreed to everything." Dex pulled up the remaining chair before Gadget or Mongoose could claim it; after all, this was his place. "The simulation program for the T-6 is complete; now we just have to build it."

Gadget helped himself to the coffee pot and poured both himself and Mongoose a cup. "We pretty much bankrupted our drug dealer target, splitting it six ways since the four of you are actively working on the T-6 project."

Dex was suddenly tempted to check his account but decided to refrain until later. Since he'd seen the warehouse garage above them, he knew that they didn't lack funds.

Darsi caught Dex eyeing the half-sandwich she'd been unable to finish; she pushed it toward him with a sly wink. "No need to ask, Partner. I'll assist Dex in constructing the T-6 while the rest of you bat clean up. There are more satellites to be commandeered. We also need to get some parts that aren't available through standard channels."

Mongoose gestured toward Gadget. "The two of us will get those; it shouldn't take more than a few days."