Miki was in her apartment, pounding out code for a new
client, as usual. Miki preferred to use a kit-bashed HMD and data gloves
that she said she built herself. Misty felt sure that the only reason Miki
was not a millionaire was because she didn't have the discipline and
motivation to get there. Misty also guessed that Miki was not a social
butterfly, in the real world. She seemed to favor the electronic world
over the real one.
Sometimes Misty wondered if Miki and Draxx were the same person. Draxx
was the only one of her online friends that she had met in real life. She
would've probably have had a crush on Draxx, except that Draxx wasn't
really a "he". Draxx was a woman in her mid 20's, named "Beverly" and had
a medical condition that made her severely overweight.
"So... how'd you like
the emp grenade I cooked up"? asked Miki
"Oh my god!" said Misty, "That was just too funny. I can't
believe it knocked out all of them".
"Hehehe... I heard it
all the way back here. You have to be carefull
with them, though. NetCops are not crazy about things like that".
"So... D wants to meet
in UA tonight... you wanna come"?
Misty caught a sudden wave of emotion from Miki, a sort of... grief? Well... that was odd. She was used to
reading people in the real world but had never done it online before.
"Sorry," said Miki, "I
really have to finish this project".
"Ok.. well, I have to scoot if I'm going to get there on time".
Miki waved farewell and went back to coding. Misty went out the window
to the fire escape, and pulled her board out of her bag. It was kind of a
skateboard without wheels. Misty balanced on it and zoomed off down the
alley. As she did so, she saw one of the bangers just coming back.
"Hmmm..." she thought, "his home point must be fairly close, have to remember that".
She didn't need to be psychic to tell he was pissed. Even so, the raw anger that welled out from him almost made
her loose her balance. She chuckled to herself as she pulled her wakazashi
out her bag. Boy, he was gonna be really pissed after this.
He stopped short when he saw her come zooming down the alley. He turned
to run when he saw the flash of steel but it was too late. She stopped
long enough to see his head hit the ground and his avatar start to derez.
