“Hey Aunt Anne,” Zoe greeted her aunt after the other woman answered the call. Zoe started planning her route as the elevator descended to the underground parking garage.

“Hey Zoe. Is everything alright?” Anne asked. “You don’t normally call.”

“Everything is fine. I just wanted to let you know I won’t be back in time for dinner.”

“Going out with friends or on a date?” Anne asked giving Zoe a smile.

“No. Nothing like that. A huge job came in late, and I just happened to be the one free, so I got it,” Zoe answered. She proceeded to tell her aunt about the job.

“Printed or handwritten paper invitations are fancy,” Anne said as Zoe exited the elevator and walked to her bike. “But if this Bowery is an executive, he can afford it. Not to mention having a courier deliver them.”

“That’s true,” Zoe laughed as she mounted her GT4 and put on her helmet. “I’m not sure how late I’ll be, but I’ll be home as quick as I can.”

“I’ll leave you two of the stuffed bell peppers I made in the oven,” Anne promised.

“Thank you! I wish I could be there to eat when they’re done now,” Zoe replied.

Anne laughed and then said, “Be careful Zoe. As the old song goes, the freaks come out at night.”

“Ha!” Zoe laughed as she started her motorcycle. “I’ve already ran into several freaks during the day. I can’t imagine those that come out at night are worse.”

“That might be true,” Anne laughed. “Still, be careful.”

“I will. Besides all the deliveries are in those rich neighborhoods. I’m sure there will be cops and guards all over those places.”

*

“State your business in NOHO,” the cop that stopped Zoe at the intersection of Lafayette and E Houston St said. The intersection wasn’t being used as a traffic stop so much as a barricade barring entry into the neighborhood.

“Delivering party invitations for an EcoFoods executive,” Zoe replied sending the cop her credentials. She didn’t flick them this time since she didn’t think the cop would respond well to that. Zoe hadn’t realized the police were being used as guards for the exclusive neighborhoods, though it shouldn’t have been a shock since off duty police have often been used as guards.

“You’re cleared for entry,” the officer said after checking her credentials.

“Officer, is it always like this in NOHO?” Zoe asked gesturing around them.

“New to the area, huh?” the cop asked. Zoe nodded. “Yeah, it’s always like this in the more well to do neighborhoods. So, expect to be stopped whenever you must enter them. Mind your speed too.”

“Thanks, and I will,” Zoe replied before slowly driving away.

*

Zoe’s angel pinged her to an intrusion attempt as she entered Zachary’s Hardware and Software in SOHO two hours later. The angel showed the attacker was exiting the door she had just entered, which should be impossible. Optic camo was still not a thing after all. She spun around to make sure no one was behind her just in case. She then turned back around and saw the handsome, haughty elf behind the counter grinning.

“Did you just try to slice me?” Zoe asked angrily.

The man held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I just wanted to test my new Fox daemon, which worked since you turned back to the door even though you knew you were the last person to enter.”

“What is a Fox daemon?” Zoe asked despite herself. Curiosity would kill anger as well as the cat it seemed.

“It’s a diversion daemon I wrote,” the elf replied proudly. “The Fox pretends to be the attacker and leads any tracking software away from its user. If it has enough of a lead, it’ll even backtrack along its trail like a real fox does.”

“You seem very proud,” Zoe said. She began slicing his system by using Aperture.

“I am! The market for this is small, but it should sell well to slicers,” the man excitedly replied. It was taking a while to slice into his system. He had a Tate firewall and it was the first time she had encountered it. “Your ICE is pretty good by the way and better than most stuff you see on the streets.”

Zoe made a show of looking around the shop. “Thanks. Nice shop.”

“Thanks,” the man said. “This place is my pride and joy.”

“Oh. You’re Zachary?” Zoe asked as she made note of his cybernetic enhancements after Aperture finished its job. Hearing, vision, and even smell. Perfect. Stinker with a delayed release would be suitable revenge. Let the pretty boy smell rotten eggs for a while. “Yours seems to be corporate level.”

“You’re trying to slice me too?” the man asked in outrage.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” Zoe answered shrugging her shoulders.

“What?”

“That is an old saying. Let’s see if you’ve heard of an even older but more popular one,” Zoe replied. “Does do unto others what they do unto you make sense?”

“Yeah, it does. Alright. I apologize,” the man said. “I’m Zachary, though most people just call me Zack.”

“Ah. Just the man I wanted to see then,” Zoe replied. “I’m Zoe and I have an invitation to deliver to you.”

“Most be for my uncle’s dinner party,” Zachary grumbled.

“If you’re related to Lincoln Bowery, then yes,” Zoe replied pulling the correct invitation from her backpack.

“What are you using to try to slice me? I can’t tell,” Zack said. “It’s not Kunoichi.”

“That’s a secret,” Zoe said handing over the invitation. “Do you want to send a reply back with me?”

“Yeah. Just a moment,” Zack said. “You’re really not going to tell me what you’re using?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll give you a copy of Fox,” Zack said. “You can’t share it though.”

“Tempting, but no,” Zoe replied. “How about I trade you a street traffic monitor for your Fox with the same no sharing provision?”

“What’s it called?” Zachary asked.

“Traffic Cop,” Zoe answered. “It’s something some couriers came up with and had coded a few years ago.”

“Hmmm. I’ll take that deal,” Zack said after thinking it over. He handed Zoe the RSVP card and sent her a copy of his daemon. Zoe scanned it and sent a copy of Traffic Cop to him.

“Thanks. I need to run though. These invitations won’t deliver themselves,” Zoe said turning and heading to the door.

“Don’t forget about my shop. I’ll consider giving you a discount on any software or other electronics you want,” Zack said.

“Alright. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” Zoe replied stopping at the door. She muttered to herself, “3, 2, 1.”

“Ugh! What is that smell?” Zack asked and started waving his hands around him. He looked like he wanted to puke. “Rotten eggs?”

“Gotcha,” Zoe laughed exiting the shop.

*

Zoe had delivered half the invitations by 8PM. She left the rest at the front desks of the different apartment buildings with the staff confirming delivery and promising to give them to the intended guests in the morning before 10AM. That sped things up and Zoe headed home by 9:30PM. The only trouble she ran into was a cop that gave her a warning ticket for speeding after he found out she was a courier that had been delivering something for a corporate executive.

Zoe set her GT4 for auto drive and started modifying Fox by incorporating some of the Archangel code into it. She wanted the upgraded Fox to be able to use her overwatch utilities and intrusion daemons to further confuse and hide from any trackers by slicing into nearby systems. Zoe also gave the daemon the ability to use offensive attacks such as Dazzler on any physical trackers after her. Zoe decided to rename the daemon from Fox to Phantom since it would be more like a ghost in the machine instead of a smart animal.

“That should work perfectly when I finish coding Phantom to help me slice some more funds from the church’s leaders,” Zoe muttered to herself as she pulled into Jimmy’s building’s parking garage. “Nathaniel Wyatt and his ilk shouldn’t be the only ones to enjoy the fruit of our labors.”