Kat opened her eyes, letting the riot of sights, scents and sounds of Humbrass Atoll fade from her senses. She sighed, the white plaster of the hotel ceiling returning her gaze as she shifted slightly in the twin bed.

Whippoorwill groaned slightly, rolling to the side and dragging a pillow over her head on the bed to Kat’s left. Near her feet, Emma was curled up in a ball on a tiny futon, pulled out of the hotel room’s couch. She slept soundly, one of the room’s blankets tucked in just under her chin.

Quietly, Kat rolled out of the bed, pushing the blankets aside. She stood up in the dark, pajamas whispering against her skin as she stretched. A moment later, she tiptoed to the suite’s coffee maker, picking her way past the collection of unopened bags that commemorated Emma’s many purchases from the previous night.

Removing the coffee pot from the machine, Kat turned the tap halfway and angled the glass container as she filled it with water. Outside their room, the early morning sounds of the Vegas strip filtered in, the honking of horns coupled with some shouting and the occasional gunshot.

She slipped the pot back into the machine, pressing a button to dispense the Dark Peruvian roast. Back on the nightstand, her smartglass vibrated as the hotel’s network charged her for the coffee.

Kat leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes as the machine went to work with a burble and hiss. She yawned, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. It was barely 5 a.m., and more than anything she wanted to return to The Tower of Somnus.

Dorrik, Kaleek and her had been killing time, finalizing their equipment while they enjoyed the Atoll’s shopping district on the fourth floor. The rest of the higher leveled avatars were still filtering down from the upper floors while desoph scouts tried to narrow down and identify the stallesp base of operations.

Honestly? Even with Emma’s highjacking of their trip to Vegas, it felt like more of a vacation than her current circumstances. Kaleek had managed to find a string of three phenomenal street vendors in a row, and they had spent most of the night drinking surprisingly good fermented seaweed while eating any number of fried and grilled foods.

Unfortunately, she needed to cut her fun short. Davis had been clear in their meeting that Neon Dome’s night shift left around 6 a.m., and even though the morning shift checked in around the same time, it didn’t look like they properly got up to speed for an hour or so.

In short, if they hit the circus now, they would only have to contend with electronic security and groggy guards clustered around their own coffee mugs. They only had a day and a half of records on the patterns of the Neon Dome guards, Kat wasn’t sure she could have survived much more time than that shopping with Emma, but the information they did have was top notch.

Most of that was due to the quality of the gear they were using in the mission. The procurer that Belle had put her into contact with was a consummate professional. He didn’t ask any questions beyond curt inquiries into the specifications that she would need. Whip handled most of those questions, and as a result they had crystal clear maps of the guard's routes and posts.

The entire rig had cost them a pretty penny, but the two of them were flush with cash from their recent sales to Belle. Any impulse to purchase cheaper gear was stifled almost immediately but Whip’s excited expression as she explained all of the use they would be able to get out of the remote imaging and intrusion hardware.

Kat could have sworn that the dealer broke his unaffected facade for a fraction of a second to shoot her a pitying smirk when the payment finally came due. Still, despite the unfamiliar design and tighter than expected fit of the new infiltration suits, she couldn’t find any reason to take issue with the quality of his goods.

She poured three cups of coffee, finishing up just as Whippoorwill yawned and stretched herself awake. Kat flowed across the room, taking advantage of her Tower granted agility to help her pick her way across the debris strewn hotel’s darkened floor.

Just as Whippoorwill fully extended her arm, Kat placed a steaming mug of coffee in her outstretched hand. The other girl squinted blearly up at her, trying to make Kat out in the dim neon light filtering in through the hotel windows from the street below.

“Kat?” Whip croaked, blinking as she scooted up in her bed, clutching the mug of coffee protectively to her chest. “Whatsit happen”

“It’s time to wake up sleepyhead,” Kat replied with a chuckle as Whip tried to slur through her words. “We’re going in right after sunrise, remember?”

She took a sip of her coffee, using the cup to hide a smile as Whippoorwill brushed a lock of pink hair from her face, trying to make sense of the situation.

“I told you and Emma to go to bed last night, but you insisted on having a couple of drinks and talking about intrusion software.” Kat took in another mouthful of the coffee. It was synthetic, more hot than good, but it had more or less the right aroma and more than enough caffeine. She’d had better, but for a quick pick-me-up it was more than enough to do the trick.

Rather than respond, Whippoorwill took a gulp from the mug. Her throat bobbed once before she broke down coughing, eyes watering.

“It’s literally steaming Whip,” Kat shook her head. “Little sips. Don’t try to chug scalding liquids, it won’t end well.”

Emma yawned, drawing Kat’s attention away from Whippoorwill. She sat up, pushing the blanket off of herself and unfolded off of the futon.

“There’s a coffee on the counter for you,” Kat called out, before taking another sip of her own cup. “We need to be at the target in a little over a half hour so there isn’t all that much time to waste. Drink up, use the bathroom, and then everyone needs to get into their infiltration suits.”

“God damnit,” Whippoorwill grumbled as Emma walked over to the coffee machine, cheerfully grabbing her own cup. “Why in the hell did we agree to run a mission at such an ungodly time?”

“Because we’re in the middle of a tourist destination that has about as much neon lighting as the advertisements outside a cheap brothel,” Kat riposted, finishing off her coffee. “Day or night we’re going to be visible, but early dawn syncs well both with crowd patterns and the circus’ internal security. Some people are going to see us no matter what, but this is our best chance at flying at least somewhat under the radar.”

“Oh wow,” Emma’s voice was distressingly perky despite the ungodly hour. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like this. This brand of coffee is so unique.”

Kat looked over just as the other girl took another sip from the mug. Emma smacked her lips thoughtfully.

“Usually there’s so much more aroma and body to the coffee,” she continued excitedly, “but this is almost like drinking colored water. There’s barely any flavor to it other than ‘hot’ and ‘wet’ with hints of plastic.”

“You don’t drink hotel coffee for the taste,” Kat replied with a snort, grabbing one of the infiltration suits from an open suitcase and tossing it at Emma. “You drink it because it has enough caffeine in it to wake the dead.”

Emma caught the wadded up mass of clothing with her free hand, still sipping from her coffee.

“Remember to use the bathroom both of you,” Kat chuckled, picking up her own suit en route to the washroom. “The coffee will go right through you and we are NOT stopping to pee in the middle of an operation. I have no idea what these suits smell like filled with urine, but they’re watertight and I wouldn’t want to go through that.”

She closed the door on Whippoorwill’s groans, cranking the hot water on in the shower as she prepared for her own ablutions. A quick visit to the toilet and a shower later, Kat stepped out into the main hotel room, zipping up her infiltration suit.

Fifteen minutes later the three of them were walking outside the towering circular colosseum where Neon Dome held their shows at night. Kat, Emma and Whippoorwill managed to avoid the isolated clusters of stragglers in the early morning light, their infiltration suits covered under cheap tourist clothing they’d purchased the day before.

Kat checked the time in her smartpanel one last time before elbowing Whip. The pink haired girl nodded and led the way, swerving off of the main strip and onto a secluded side driveway that led toward the building’s loading dock.

Just as they turned the corner, tires squealed behind them as a van slid off of the road, smashing into the side of a building. The actual impact didn’t do all that much damage, but it produced an impressive amount of noise and drew attention from tourists up and down the strip.

The vehicle’s door crunched open with a jerk, and Iris stumbled out, heavy makeup and cosmetic contact lenses concealing her true appearance from the crowd. She wobbled back and forth, pretending to be drunk as she staggered to the curb in ‘shock’ before plopping herself down and feigning tears.

It was honestly a better performance than Kat expected out of her friend. Davis/Merrimac refused to let Iris or Jasper actually break into the arena with them. Still, their two friends wanted to help and after wearing the stoic man down for hours, he finally consented to let them handle a distraction and getaway.

In a minute or two Jasper would be arriving in a ‘utility truck’ to scream at Iris and make a commotion regarding her ‘drunken and negligent damage’ of privately held power lines. The two of them had excitedly scripted and planned out almost thirty minutes of commotion to keep the public eye away from any noises or disturbances caused by the infiltration team.

A quick glance behind her assured Kat that no one was watching their progress as Whippoorwill approached a wrought iron gate. By the time Kat looked back, the heavy lock, designed to withstand a car trying to batter the reinforced fence down, chunked to the side. A second later, the barrier began sliding to the left with a quiet groan of straining gears.

The three of them hurried inside, letting the gate grind shut behind them. Thirty or so seconds later, they arrived at the building’s dumpster. The large red metal box, constructed cheaply from partially corroded steel, assaulted the entire alleyway with its rank odor.

“Seriously?” Emma muttered, glaring at the pile of quietly fermenting trash in distaste. “I know I agreed to the plan, but that was in a hotel room. I had no idea that the execution would be so… colorful.”

“I’ve dug through worse to survive,” Whip replied, shrugging off her street clothes to reveal her infiltration suit underneath.

“She’s joking right,” Emma asked Kat worriedly as Whippoorwill tucked her pink hair into the hood of her suit before pulling the stretchy fabric over her face. “K- Erinyes, please tell me that she’s joking.”

“Maybe?” Kat answered unhelpfully, stripping off her outer clothes as well. “I grew up in the arcology, but I spent enough time in the Shell to know that things were pretty rough there. Chiffon didn’t have it easy growing up. I try not to talk about it with her, but when you go to bed hungry every night, you’ll do what you have to in order to survive.”

Emma’s response was swallowed up by the loud grind of machinery as Whippoorwill triggered the trash processing system. Above them, a large metal hatch opened, dumping the small amount of refuse that had collected since the system had last been triggered into the dumpster.

The doors automatically began closing only to stop with a scream of metal on metal when Whip triggered a subroutine she’d pre-programmed into her smartpanel. Then, the alleyway lapsed into silence, leaving the three of them peering up at the yawning entrance to the Neon Dome building.

“Ladies first,” Kat said, bowing with a flourish as she cast Levitation on Whippoorwill. She could almost feel Whip rolling her eyes before the other woman clambered up the metal plates of the dumpster.

As soon as Whippoorwill disappeared into the building, Kat turned to Emma. She had transformed completely from her normally bubbly self, replaced by a camouflage silhouette in an infiltration suit, a metal rod strapped to each leg.

“You’re next,” Kat finished, letting her previous casting of Levitation lapse in order to save mana. She repeated the spell on Emma.

The other girl hopped from one foot to the other on the balls of her feet, testing out the limits of Kat’s spell before nodding appreciatively and clambering up the side of the dumpster. She shook her head before repeating the spell, biting her lip at the mana strain of keeping two instances of the same spell active at once.

Once Emma was safely in the building, Kat followed her. Even in the shadows of the alley, the metal was hot from morning heat through her suit, but years of experience and the increased power of her magic made the climb fairly short.

A handful of seconds later, Kat joined her companions on her hands and knees in the darkness of the trash chute. She activated her night vision, illuminating the narrow passageway in greyscale before pushing her way past Emma and Whippoorwill to take the lead.

They clunked along the metal tunnel in silence for almost a minute, Kat keeping her eyes peeled for a threat as they worked their way toward one of the building’s waste stations.

Suddenly, she froze. The clatter of metal on metal pulling Kat’s attention in front of her down the tunnel as Whippoorwill ran into her from behind. Quickly, she prepared Gravity Plane, ready to ward off an attacker just as a torn garbage bag full of food wrappers and aluminium cans tumbled down the inclined passage and slammed into her.

The cheap plastic bag ripped apart, spraying the three of them with refuse before it continued downward toward the dumpster below. Behind her, Emma sputtered in angrily.

“God,” Kat heard the girl mutter. “I thought this smelled bad on the outside.”

“Quiet,” Whippoorwill hissed back. “We should almost be out, and I don’t want to blow this entire mission over you alerting the janitor that just used the trash disposal station.”

“I don’t know,” Emma mumbled menacingly. “I think I’d like to find them. A mild concussion seems like a fair price to pay for forcing me to discover all of these incredible smells.”

Kat struggled to keep her face straight, opting instead to continue forward without comment. Barely a minute of uphill crawling later, she came upon an upward shaft, a hint of fluorescent light leaking downward around a hatch.

“Chiffon?” Kat asked, torquing her body to look back at Whip. “Do you have eyes on the room above us? Are we clear?”

“Just a-” Whip’s muffled voice filtered back to Kat. “No, we’re good. There’s only two security guards on this floor and both of them are currently in a monitoring station drinking coffee and watching CCTV feeds. I’ll just loop a couple seconds of ordinary footage, and unless one of them gets a lot more alert out of nowhere, we should be fine.”

“God,” Kat remarked ruefully. “This really is easier with proper preparation. Usually I would have had to stab someone and stash their body in a stairwell en route to the first surveillance hub so that Chiffon could take over the monitoring systems. This is almost too easy.”

“Don’t jinx it asshole,” Whipporwill replied playfully. “They have flesh and blood guards to back up their electronic security for a reason. Any security planning has to take into account that a proper electronic intrusion team is almost unstoppable once they get hooked into the system. Once those guards get off their asses and start actually walking the halls, we’ll have to be a lot more careful.”

“Still,” she continued wistfully. “That is why we hid the remote hookups when we visited last time. They’re expensive and it’s a shame we’ll have to self-destruct them at the end of the operation, but remote access to the security network from the beginning of a run is a luxury I’m glad to have.”

“That reminds me,” Kat continued, crawling into the shaft and standing up. “How is Merrimac doing? I know his weapons wouldn’t fit in the trash chute, but it feels strange to be infiltrating the building without him.”

“He’s in,” Whip answered. “A worker noticed something was off about the weight of the barrel of animal food he was hiding in, but he managed to take care of the problem before anyone noticed. Still, we only have until someone notices that one of the stevedores has a broken neck before this entire thing goes belly up.”

“Well,” Kat replied, pushing upward on the hatch above her. Light poured into the dark trash chute from the sterile janitorial room above them. “It sounds like we have a ticking clock then. Let’s get you to the mainframe so you can pull Neon Dome’s archives before they call in backup.”

“And me to the animal chambers so I can get a puppy,” Emma mumbled behind them.

“And if there’s time, yes. We’ll get Emma a puppy,” Kat finished with a sigh.