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I sat on the forum’s sofa, watching FragQueen as she scrolled through different options for her avatar’s hands, finally settling back onto her usual cat’s claws. Smiling, she extended and retracted them. “Perfect.”
“Looking good, Frag.” I offered her a smile.
“You know, I was thinking we should probably grind.”
“Excuse me?”
She blew me a kiss and winked. “Build up our stats again.”
“Of course.” I let out a long sigh. “I could craft some weapons again, do some of the training sessions.”
Socko turned his gaze from the game feed. “Bro, this isn’t just about you. We’re all vulnerable here.”
Harley brought up R2’s stats again and shook her head. “He’s been back in the game as long as we have. There’s no way he could have built his stats up like this.” She turned to us with a frown etched on her face. “I think he’s cheating.”
Socko sniffed and sunk down onto the sofa. “So much for the unhackable system.”
“Wait, what if he wasn’t cheating?” FragQueen sat up. “They froze out his account. What if they froze his stats too?”
Socko stared at her, mouth gaping. “Bro, what the hell? That actually makes sense.”
“I’m not just a pretty face.” FragQueen folded her arms and huffed. “You always underestimate my subtle genius.”
“Bro, take the compliment.” He showed her his open palms. “I’ve never known you to come up with a good idea before, that’s all.”
FragQueen glared at him. “I have ideas. It’s just some people don’t listen.”
“Good work, Frag,” I said. “I listen.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“What we going to do about it?” Socko gestured to the stats. “The guy’s a freaking tank.”
“I’ll speak to Dalton Jones,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll be able to sort it.”
“Oh yeah, bro. I forgot you guys are tight now.”
“I wouldn’t put it like that exactly.”
FragQueen barked out a single laugh. “Has he even talked to you since the stuff with the hacker?”
I squirmed at that. “No. Not exactly. I’ve had a thing from his lawyer about making a statement. But that’s about it.”
Harley shook her head. “He’s going to be all wrapped up in this court stuff. We’re on our own.”
I let out a sigh. “There’s no way we can catch up. It’ll take months.”
“We don’t know if his stats are static,” FragQueen said. “They might have just locked him at that level. We should keep an eye on them to see if they improve.” Socko blinked at her. “That’s twice in one year, bro.” He moved close to her, studying FragQueen’s avatar. “Is someone else behind there? Who is this?”
“Get bent, Socko. You pathetic, lonely...I don’t know...incel, oddball freak.”
“There she is.” Socko clapped his hands and grinned. “Bro, you were beginning to worry me there. Was thinking we’d been infiltrated.”
“Whatevs...” FragQueen tossed back her hair and examined her claws. “You’re not going to trigger me.”
I raised my hands. “Guys. Please.”
Harley turned from the array of player stats and frowned.
“What is it, bro?”
“Everyone else has been flattened.” She shook her head. “R2 is like a god now.”
“Bro, what’s new? He thinks that about himself anyway.”
I stared at his stats. “This is bad.”
Harley nodded. “We need to take this fool out.”