Instead of logging out like a sane and rational person, I ran while sending rapid fire messages to anyone I could think of. First, to Cale.

Ri0tGrrl: Where r U? How can I pull up footage from the champion match?

I waited impatiently for him to respond while hiding in a mob of people all trying to port back to Lighthall at once. The crowd of panicked spectators pushed their way forward; pressing in on all angles towards one of five travel stations on the island. At least it was safer in the middle of everything while I sent out my messages.

I took a deep breath and told myself not to freak out before typing another message and sending it to both Angel and Ice9.

Ri0tGrrl: Be careful. Attack at champion match. Look up footage if you can and save it.

They both responded quickly and offered their thanks. Ice9 logged off almost instantly. Angel wanted to chat for a while and have some girl time. That would have to wait. Five minutes had gone by without a word back from Cale. The same man who’d never ignored me since the day we met. Either he picked a real shit time to start or something happened.

Also, if Angel wanted to chat, that meant they weren’t doing what I’d expected since they’d left the tavern together. So, what the hell was Cale up to? I started typing, asking her when the last time she’d seen him was, but Salvo waved a hand in front of my face to catch my attention.

“He’s not responding to me either. Let’s check on him at the resort, make sure he isn’t…” He let the meaning settle in, but Cale was still online. Whatever happened to Viv hadn’t happened to him. At least, I hoped.

I hit disconnect and subsequently discarded the message to Angel.

The lid opened on the pod and I jumped out, throwing on a robe before running through the adjoining door. We’d agreed to leave both sides open in case anything happened. While they had each other to check in on, I was on my lonesome.

There was barely any light in their suite, and I had to turn on a few lamps just to make my way to the pod room without tripping over every single piece of furniture. In the game world, my character could see so well in the dark that the sudden change fucked with my equilibrium somehow.

Salvo was stretching to regain his own bearings when I entered the room, and he pointed toward the closed pod.

I took a moment to appreciate how much more ridiculous the crotchless haptic suit looked on men before kneeling next to the pod Cale was in. My fingers searched around the round bottom where the pod met the floor until finding a barely recessed button. One that was right where the safety pamphlet we all had to sign said it would be.

The silent pneumatic hinges rose to reveal Cale, who was a little too quiet for my liking. His eyes wide open, staring blankly into space. I held my breath to listen for his own, but the sound of blood rushing to my head was all I could hear.

“Shit,” I said and slapped his cheek. “Cale, where the fuck are you?”

Life rushed into his eyes, and his lungs sucked in a deep breath. “Liz? Shit, where’s Angel?” His eyes widened, and he pushed me away with one hand while holding the stimulator and sanitary contraption in place with the other.

Salvo crept forward slowly with an arm outstretched. “You’re just going through a little disorientation. The pamphlet said that’d be normal.”

“You actually read through that thing?” I asked, glancing up at him.

“I heard the emergency release disorientation is kinda like a whip-it high, and I’ve been meaning to try it ever since.” Salvo shrugged.

“Wait, emergency release?” Cale frowned and looked back and forth between the two of us. “That was completely unnecessary.”

I closed my eyes and counted backwards to calm myself before saying something stupid. He didn’t know what happened, far as he knew we were just freaking out over who knows what. “You weren’t responding, and we got worried.”

“Liz, I know this may come as a surprise to you, but my life doesn’t revolve around your every whim. Especially when it’s a question that can easily be answered by a quick search on the internet.”

My fists balled, and I shoved them into my robe pockets before I did something stupid. “You are such a self-important asshole sometimes, you know that?”

Salvo rushed to my side and put a tentative arm around my shoulders to calm me down. “What Liz is trying to say is that something happened tonight that freaked her out. Freaked us both out. When we couldn’t contact you-”

The soothing female voice of Eternia Entertainment coming from Cale’s pod boomed out, “Your transfer of 50 credits has been successfully deposited in the account for, Exotic Delights of Arcadia. If you did not approve this transfer, please open a customer support ticket now. Thank you for supporting your local Arcadian businesses!”

“Shit,” Cale said and sighed. “I hate you both so much right now.”

Deep hearty belly laughter erupted from Salvo. He wiped at tears streaming down his face and my annoyance grew.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, but glancing from one shamed face to the other overly amused one, I could build a fairly good assumption. All roads led to porn eventually. “You know what, not my business.”

“Oh, god, it hurts,” Salvo said and took a deep breath between quakes of laughter. “All the times you’ve judged me for sleeping around.” He wiped his face one last time, finally controlling his emotions.

Cale set his jaw and glared at Salvo. “Get it out, that’s fine. At least I’m not the one at risk of catching the complete alphabet of Hepatitis.”

“At least I know what the person I’m fucking looks like,” Salvo frowned and thought about it. “Wait, I’ve asked a few to keep their masks on. I know their actual gender, at least.”

“Angel’s a woman,” Cale said, a little too defensively and crossed his arms. The contraption on his groin moved, and he grabbed it to hold it in place. “Turn around so I can get out of this thing.”

A light went off in my head as I turned my back to him. “About the Angel thing, I’m not sure she’s an actual woman. There’s been something off about her since we met, and that would make perfect sense.”

“And what led you to that conclusion?” Cale asked as he secured the belt on his robe.

I took a deep breath, knowing some of what I had to say might hurt his feelings. “First, nearly every time we’ve met, she’s been hitting on me. It’s possible she’s a lesbian, but I get dude vibes from her approach. Second, the day Salvo was sleeping in super late, and she was literally all over you, fluttering her eyes and jiggling her tits. Women don’t do that shit. That’s all male fantasy come to life or a man’s idea of how a woman behaves.”

Cale scoffed. “That’s the weakest projection I’ve ever heard. Just because you’re jealous of-”

“You know where you can shove the rest of the sentence,” I said, jabbing my index finger into his chest. “Besides, hooker or no, where you’re getting your dick wet doesn’t matter. What does, is getting the footage from the championship fight before it’s taken down. If it hasn’t been already.”

“What happened that was so monumental, and since when do you even care about the championships?” Cale found his glasses and ushered me into the sitting area where both laptops were already setup.

Not able to sit still, I paced in front of the makeshift desk. “Salvo and I competed but didn’t get too far. Still, it was kinda fun. The important part happened after the last match of the night.”

Cale had already started searching while I’d been talking and must have found what we’d been looking for. Tinny cheers turned to screams reverberated from his laptop. “Fuck me,” he said and moaned. “Broad daylight? Static guy attacked in broad daylight this time? And with all those people to see…”

“Yup, so he just turned it up to eleven and we’re nowhere closer to figuring out who he is or what he is even.”

“Wait.” Cale pointed at his screen. “Watch there.”

The static man’s back-to-front transformation played again and again, each time the dagger stuck in his side tumbled to the ground. Cale paused it and zoomed in on the dagger laying in the dirt. Blood was clearly visible on the blade.

“We can hurt this asshole,” I said, and our eyes met. An unexpected warmth crept up in my cheeks and I turned away, yelling, “Hey, Salvo, get your ass in here. Cale found something.”

“Hmm?” Salvo asked as he entered the room, ready for a night out. I guess with a static killer on the loose in the game, it was safe to say we’d be taking a break for the night.

“Static guy left blood on the dagger.” I said.

“We can kill him. Perfect.” He pulled me into a hug. “All right, I’ll be in the lounge if you need me.” He winked and closed the front door behind him. Salvo was going to go do what he did when he was upset, fuck.

For those of us, like me, who didn’t exactly find the act particularly stress relieving, well, I guess I fell back on the emotion I understood better—anger.

Somewhere in my seething haze, Cale’s voice told me he needed to talk to me about something but I ignored him by walking out of the room. Still not thinking clearly, I dressed to go do something I should have done a while ago if I hadn’t been so chicken shit.

Instead of going through the door to Viv’s hospital room, I lingered in the hallway and pulled out my phone to give the driver who’d taken me a five-star rating with a few words praising their knowledge of the area. When the reality was a bit different, a guy with the patience of a saint, talked me through my rage and left me in front of the hospital with a whole new outlook. One a little less angst ridden.

With that done; all I had left to do was the thing I’d been avoiding.

Just as I’d built enough nerve to reach for the doorknob, a familiar voice called out from farther down the hallway. I spun in time to see Mr. Williams racing towards me.

“Eliza, why aren’t you looking for who did this to my daughter?” he asked and grabbed my arm, his fingers wrapped almost painfully tight. I winced and he let go with a defeated expression, emitting a bark of exhausted laughter. “I’m so sorry. It feels like I’m losing my mind these days.”

It looked as though he hadn’t shaved in weeks and smelled liked it’d been the same stretch since his last shower. “I’m sorry for everything you’re going through,” I said and patted his arm. It didn’t come close to good enough, but it’s all I could offer. “I was hoping to see Viv and give you a quick update while I’m here. Something pretty big happened today.”

“I appreciate it.” He nodded and wiped at his eyes. “Go on ahead, I’ll grab some coffee. Would you like some?”

“I would be eternally grateful. It’s been a long day,” I said and tried to smile at him the best I could.

Machines beeped and buzzed inside the one bed hospital room. Viv lay motionless, nearly floating on a pile of pillows. Her copper hair spread like phoenix wings on either side of her head.

I tip-toed up to her, like there was a danger of waking her at any moment, and kissed her forehead; wiping away a drop of snot I’d left behind. I sat beside her on the bed and pulled out some nail polish. While I painted, I told her all the adventures we’d been having and how great Salvo looked while he did them. I filled her in on the gossip, all the juicy bits I’m sure she’d love to talk about.

When I was out of things to say and nails to paint, I stood and nearly jumped from my skin when I noticed Mark standing behind me, his face filled with warmth. Well, crap. How much of that did he hear?

“You might look strange, but I’m glad Vivian has you as a friend,” he said and offered me a Styrofoam cup while he cleared his throat. “Now, what happened today that you wanted to tell me about?”

“Right,” I said and pulled my phone from my pocket, opening the short segment of the fight I’d downloaded before leaving for the hospital. “This is the guy,” I said and hit play, our heads nearly pressed together while we shared the same tiny screen.

“What’s his name?”

“We can’t tell, it doesn’t show up. Until today, we thought he was invincible. But if you notice here”—I opened an image of the enlarged dagger with a ruddy streak—“the paladin got at least one solid hit.”

“Send me both files immediately. I’d like to send that to my analysts and lawyers.” He beamed at me, hope shining through his eyes for the first time since this mess started.

“When I get back to the resort, I’ll send you the full footage of the match. The more people who have copies, the better. I have a bad feeling Eternia is going to try scrubbing this from existence.”

Mark ran a hand through his hair and down the side of his overgrown face. A long sigh escaped him and through a breaking voice he said, “She’s all I have left. Thank you for not giving up on her.” His chin fell to his chest and his shoulder shook with silent sobs.

Oh, crap, I thought and patted his back while keeping the distance between us as far as possible. My eyes gazed longingly at the door but I couldn’t just leave him in shambles. Maybe he wants his privacy, I reasoned, and mumbled some condolences while turning.

He didn’t.

Instead, he pulled me into the hug of a man starved for human affection and the emotional dam broke.

My body went rigid under his messy sobbing embrace. The level-headed and frigid mental image I’d formed of him over the years shattered as I awkwardly patted his back. Unsure how long it would be before I could sneak back to the resort undetected.

Finally, when the sobs into my neck turned to warm, shaking breaths, he straightened and wiped at his face with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry, you didn’t need to see that.”

Free from his grip, I grabbed a box of tissues. “It’s fine. It’s nice to see you’re as human as the rest of us.”

“I… um… I’m not really sure how to take that,” he said, and his brow tightened.

I smacked myself on the forehead and said, “Oh my god, I didn’t mean to make it sound like that. Just, you know…” I spread my hands, hoping he could come to his own conclusion.

A smile edged his lips that touched the corner of one eye, and he nodded. “I’ve been told I can come off a little cold. The term asshole comes to mind.” He drifted a bittersweet glance at his daughter and regained his composure. “You must be exhausted. Go on back to the resort. I’ll contact you if I find anything further.”

I nodded and waved over my shoulder, closing the door to the hospital room behind me.

Instead of calling for another ride, I pulled up the directions on my phone and walked back, letting the chilled night air fill my lungs. Overall, my brain was a scattered mess with thoughts of Viv in the hospital bed hooked up to so many machines. Of why I’d gotten so bent out of shape about Cale and Angel. Most importantly, where I was going in life and how little I wanted to go to Vegas Land.

By the time the resort came into view, my teeth were chattering and a blister formed on my big toe. My head was just as scrambled as it had been before, if not a little more so from the cold. I’d have been better off just calling for a car.

I limped my way to the suite and grabbed a bottle of whiskey I’d stashed behind the bar. Pulled the cork with my teeth and spat it across the room before taking a deep pull. While I sent the files Mark asked for, Cale wandered through the open doors in a pair of flannel sleep pants and a faded LVU t-shirt. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed.

“You could have said something before you left,” he said and took the offered bottle of whiskey.

“I could have,” I agreed. “But I needed to get out and think.”

“And?” he asked and feigned a protest when I took the bottle back.

I scoffed. “Shits still fucked.” I tipped the bottle to my lips, drinking deeply of the golden liquid until my head spun and my body had a pleasant tingle.

“Yeah, well, go figure and it’ll be that way for a while until we can figure it out. In the meantime, there’s a Movie Macabre rerun on and I don’t think it’s one we’ve seen before.” He threw himself on the couch and turned the television to a movie where a bare-breasted woman ran screaming through the woods.

We both jumped as the HoloHome system engaged and a plain-looking armchair beside the couch shifted into a throne of wrought iron, leather, and bone. Perched atop was the buxom bombshell of vampiric proportions herself, Elvira.

“All right,” she squealed, the pronounced curves of her chest wiggled with each movement. “Looks like we’re thirty minutes into the flick. You ghouls want me to rewind?”

“No, thanks,” I said, more than a little distracted. Unaccustomed to the current generation of 3D A/V tech, it was a struggle not to gawk at the hyperrealistic hologram in front of me. What used to be an off blue flickering image, now looked solid and so detailed there were freckles and individual hairs.

“You’re just here for the murder and mayhem then? My kind of people. Who needs boring back story, anyway? Am I right?” A jeweled goblet appeared in her hand, full of dark red liquid. She raised it in cheers and drank before settling in to watch the movie.

A pleasant wave of nostalgia washed through me. Cale and I had spent the first years of our friendship getting to know each other while watching old reruns of horror movies. All the while, a holographic version of Elvira would crack wise in the room with us. We’d even made a drinking game out of each horrible pun and double entendre, getting wasted within the first hour of each showing.

A grin so wide it hurt grew across my face. “Hold the booze while I grab a blanket.” I yanked the top cover from my bed and closed the door between the two suites. The last thing we needed was a drunken Salvo barging in and scaring the shit out of us. Only to brag about his latest exploit.

I’d barely settled on the couch before Cale pulled me closer, leaving his arm draped around my shoulders. The breath caught in my throat and I felt my body go rigid. I’d more or less expected this, hell, wanted it even. But as soon as I sat down? His lips grazed my neck, and I wondered if this was a thing we should even do.

“What’s with the rush?” I asked while his hand worked its way under my shirt. A moan escaped my lips as I melted into him.

“Hoping to get my point across before you run off again.” He held my face in his hands, an expression flickered on his face that both terrified and excited me. “Liz, I lo-”

Panic over the three words that would change everything welled up inside me and I interrupted him by blurting, “What about Angel?”

“Goddammit, Liz. This is why you can’t have nice things.” He pulled away. “We’ve all been stressed and looking for some kind of distraction. I pay for an hour with someone I’ll never meet, and somehow, I’m the bad one? Hell, Salvo has probably fucked half of the greater Las Vegas area by now, but you don’t question him.”

“It’s not Salvo sending me mixed messages. One day you’re interested and the next you’re off to someone else.”

He blinked at me before his lips lifted in an incredulous smile. “Wait, you’re jealous of Angel?”

“Fuck you,” I spat back and focused my attention on the movie as the killer skewered the screaming woman with a pitchfork. Elvira told us how the killer really stuck it to her, and I took a drink before passing the bottle sideways.

Cale drank and let out a sharp sigh, focusing on the television.

Careful not to touch him and my eyes never leaving the screen, I said, “If we fuck, that doesn’t mean we’re a thing. Got it? Don’t get all weird on me.”

“Understood,” he said, and all at once we fell in on each other. By the time we passed out in my bed, each room of the suite had been fucked in, sucked in or otherwise fondled in.

It might have been a mistake, but I had fun making it.