No, this isn't a sudden twist to the ending of Raiders. Just a lazy post about the complex feelings of having finished a story for the first time in a very long time.

The next several days were a whirlwind of paperwork, face-to-face visits, and extemporaneous explanations (aka “lying”). Fortunately, these were all things I'd had a great deal of experience with. It felt good to exercise them on someone else's behalf for a change.

Slaiton nearly dropped his pad. His jaw most definitely dropped. At the moment, he didn't care what his heavies saw. Prepared statements and comebacks fled his brain.

“How?” he choked out roughly. “That would take at least -”

“At least a simple majority of the current corporate council,” Hellard finished.

The streets had been cleared well before Slaiton's ground vehicle roared through them. Less than an hour ago, the general search for Hellard had produced an anonymous tip. He had crept out to some anonymous warehouse of his in the outer reaches. Not only that, but several No-Man cards had used to buy hypers from throughout the city to the same general area. Lines that linked directly back to areas of high suspicion in the most recent assault.

They had the the bastard. Finally. No way was he weaseling out of this.

“Thank you, Mikami-san,” I said to the terminal. “I will keep you posted on events.”

I could check Raijincorp off the list. I was surprised Mikami had taken my call, to be honest.

I was waiting when the first of Dee's “friends” arrived. I wasn't sure how many to expect. I also wasn't sure how far behind the CSO would be. Nobody had asked, but I felt they'd have a much better chance if I was here to take some heat off their backs.

Now there's something I hadn't thought I'd ever consider.

So it turns out you can learn some interesting things working with an AI that's been unshackled across an entire CSO server. Like the presence of idle “black servers” that they've been keeping under wraps. Including some that were, apparently, stored in buildings leased from Persephone.

Ace raced through the long-forgotten panic routine she'd put together years ago. She had it written down somewhere. Had bits of it memorized. When she'd started all this, she would practice weekly. But nothing ever happened with the Raid sim. It was too secure, right?

Ace grinned and stretched. She had pulled her avatar back into the lobby and waited for the others to do the same. One by one, they all came back. Excited shouts and emotes flew left and right.

“That's a wrap, boys and girls,” Ace said.

Over two hours in and no sign of letting up. Slaiton had found himself rolling up his sleeves and dusting off decade-rusty skills from his secminion days. He had never been particularly good at the tech work. But for now, they needed anyone who could read a console.

As soon as Slaiton walked into HQ, he was bombarded on all sides by people shouting, interns running back and forth, and a crowd of people that immediately sought his attention. His anger management classes hadn't prepared him for this. At the moment, though, he didn't particularly care.

“Can somebody please explain to me what the hell is going on?” he roared.

About ten seconds after I finished reading, the pad display switched over to a seemingly endless list of technical data. I wondered if any of it was real.

“I appreciate your giving the tour,” I said. Slaiton and I were walking back slowly to the server room we'd left Satasha in. The man had been adamant at keeping an eye on both of us. For the first half hour, at least. Once the hour mark hit and Satasha was still working, I convinced him it would do us both good to stretch our legs.

“A-25 signing in,” Ace said. It was pure habit. She was the first one here. A few minutes early, as seemed right for her role in all this.

Ace had only been asleep a few hours when the emergency tone on her phone started going off. Which was funny, seeing as she was pretty sure she had disabled it. Emergencies were one thing, but those Raids had been exhausting!

Dee? You in there? Satasha typed.

The server building was much larger than anything Persephone had. But far less fancy. Decades old, Satasha knew. Probably older than her. It cost a lot to replace something this big. And it was only third-tier backup. Nothing important, right?

Guess they were double-thinking that now!

I gritted my teeth and punched in the code for the panic wall to retract. Lying while nursing a hangover. At last, something I had good practice at.