The steady sound of Quicksilver's sniper rifle and Thumper's automatic weapon let Dex know that they were covering his retreat as he low crawled toward his bike.

"How are you hitting that from so far away, Quicksilver?" Thumper's voice sounded frustrated. "I'm missing more than half my shots."

"You'll improve with practice," Darsi replied. "The Fatboy ammo is definitely affecting it. Watch out, Dex! It's coming for you."

Dex rolled to his feet and flung his shield toward the approaching drone. Two steps later, he kicked his Ducati into gear and squealed out of there in a cloud of burnt rubber. He raised his left arm a few seconds later and caught the shield before slinging it onto his back.

"Fucking hell, Captain America!" Thumper shouted while racing toward her bike. "How'd you make that shield boomerang like that?"

Quicksilver continued to lay down cover fire as Thumper tailed the drone chasing Dextron. "You coded a return feature? Yeah, that's cool."

Dex swerved through two cars and ran the red light before cutting down a side alley just as an RPG slammed into the corner of the building, pelting him with pieces of brick and mortar. "Show me a direct route to Quicksilver's location."

Dex's DeVisor plotted a navigation line as his Ducati flashed between two buildings before power braking into a series of turns that had him brushing against cars parked on either side of the road. "Think you can hack this thing, Quicksilver?"

"I can try, heading down to the second floor. Lure it into the east courtyard of this building."

[Environmental damage to our team is increasing exponentially. Additionally, I'm sensing search queries; I suggest a tactical retreat before the gateway is discovered.]

"Agreed, everyone head toward the gateway," Quicksilver ordered. "Dex and I will follow after we take a shot at hacking this thing."

"I'm still trailing Dex," Thumper replied. "Want me to back you guys up?"

"No, head back and grab the drone that Dex stabbed. We need to develop more tools for operating in these nodes." Darsi sprinted down the stairs four and five steps at a time; she kicked the door open on the second level before running down the hall.

Dex eased back on the accelerator; the Fatboy ammo was taking a toll on the drone. Its movement speed had slowed to 50 kph while it hovered less than five meters off the ground. Nevertheless, he kept just far enough ahead to swerve away from any RPGs. "Incoming in five seconds. Where do you want me?"

Darsi pulled open the large window at the end of the hall. In the background, she could hear the whine of Dex's Ducati. "There's a large window above the east entrance."

"Understood." Dex skidded into the courtyard seconds later, flashing under the window Darsi mentioned before clutching the front brake hard enough to cause the back end of the bike to lift off the ground. He spun the ride one hundred and eighty degrees before sitting it down and cutting the engine.

Darsi watched as he stepped off the bike and sprinted toward the far corner of the building. "Seriously... You're going to tell me where you learned to ride!"

Dex moved around the corner of the building and equipped both his sword and shield. "I should have uploaded some sort of ranged weapon."

[I estimate that the drone following you is operating at less than half capacity. Its power function had dropped to thirty percent.]

Dex got his first good look at the drone in question. It was roughly twice the size of the one he destroyed with his sword. This one had two barrels and three exhaust ports on the bottom that glowed light blue; two were no longer operational. Fortunately, his Fatboy Exe had a multiplier virus attached; given enough time, it would render it unable to move.

Quicksilver watched the drone move into the courtyard from the second story. "It has to be manned remotely. As I expected, it's hugging the building for cover."

Dex waited until it moved below Quicksilver's position before charging it with his shield raised in front of him. The barrels adjusted slightly to target him just as his partner landed on top of it and stabbed her data probe deep into the steel casing that protected the drone.

The drone fired both barrels into the air over Dex's head; a moment later, both shots exploded against the side of the building across the courtyard.

By the time he arrived at the drone, the barrels lowered and were no longer tracking movements.

"It's ours, Dex!" Darsi used the virtual keyboard from her gloves and placed the drone in 'follow' mode.

Dex and Quicksilver enjoyed a leisurely ride on the way back to the gateway. Unfortunately, they were forced to keep their speed down since the drone was in bad shape. Darsi steered with one hand; the other caressed the smooth silver surface of her Ducati. "I can't wait to see the analytics onto today's run."

Dex nodded in agreement. "A few things I noticed. While response time is good, their equipment seems very limited."

"Right, we should have been facing a dozen or more drones. Everything you see here requires resources from the node. Taking their satellites and burning down their facility set them back."

Dex turned left; the gateway was less than four hundred meters ahead. "I'm surprised there weren't more people. Ideally, Boston at midday should be much more crowded."

"They're adjusting to virtual living, probably going through some training to make everyday life tolerable." Darsi favored him with a sexy smile. "We're going to have a nice chat about this bike later."

A few moments later, Dex followed Quicksilver through the gateway. It was then that he noticed that someone was unaccounted for. "Hey... Anyone seen Stiletto?"

"Almost there! Sorry I got held up." Stiletto drove through the gateway a moment later. Her bike was completely overridden with dozens of Macy bags.

[Disconnecting Gateway, returning to base.]

Thumper stared at the diminutive hacker. "The hell? Did you go shopping while I was getting my butt shot at?"

"Shopping?" Stiletto gave her an innocent look. "Goodness, no. It's not shopping if you don't pay. When I got to the checkout, I just pointed my carbine at the ceiling and let loose a few rounds."

Thumper frowned disgustedly. "Did you get me anything?"

Stiletto nodded, "Of course."

**************

[A few hours later.]

Hara glanced up at the younger man. "The analytics look really good. We'll be able to recode the armory tools with this."

Dex swiped his screen, sending the display to the kitchen island's larger hud. "Take a look."

[Offensive]

Impact damage

Fire damage

Electrical damage

Ballistic damage

RPG Rounds

RPG launcher

Dragonuv Range/Damage

M4A1 Range/Damage

Honjo Masamune Damage

[Transportation]

Ducati speed and maneuvering

Drone A flight speed Drone B flight speed

Drone propulsion system

Car Door (common sedan)

[Defensive]

Drone A Armor

Drone B Armor

Armor resistance magic

Shield Resistance

Under Armor Resistance

[Miscellaneous]

Stealth Code

High heels

Dress (silk)

Underwear (silk)

Hat (straw)

Concrete

Steel

Hara grinned at the last few items on the list; Stiletto went shopping while the rest were starting trouble. "It's an excellent idea. Common goods like clothing can help us understand the node rules better. Ideally, one of you should have shot someone."

Dex raised an eyebrow in surprise. "It's scary when you can say that so calmly, Hara."

Hara shrugged slightly, "I suppose that some of Nix is rubbing off on me. Injury and death rules are a big part of CER modifications."

Dex gave her a deadpan expression. "I know... I was making a joke." He turned at the sound of laughter coming from his living room. Nix was entertaining the rest of the bottom feeders.

The redhead smiled warmly. "Your delivery makes you sound serious."

"True. Now that you've seen the overview of the analytics. What do you think, Hara?"

Hara realized they were looking at the basic report, but her expression couldn't contain her excitement. "We have enough here to improve everything: Weapons, Armor, Flight, and even Stealth capabilities."

Darsi cleared her throat from the kitchen's entrance. "Enough for one day, time to join the party."

Hara stretched her hands over her head before standing up. "It's been so long since I worked on world environments."

Darsi held a finger to her lips. "No more shop talk, or I'll break out the hard liquor and invite Pon."

"I surrender!" Hara squeezed next to Nix, much closer than a normal relationship would permit.

***Author's Note***

The Dex Arc was meant to introduce a spin-off story taking place about a decade after the world started going virtual. However, since both the plot and storyline are undeveloped, it makes no sense to continue past this point. The new story will transition fully to a Cyberpunk story set in a world dominated by AIs. The characters introduced in this arc will return as well as the familiar faces of Nix & Hara.

Any future additions to Phoenix Phire will come under the guise of 'past adventures' and be inserted sometime between Nix's arrival in Colonial and the defeat of Khione.

*****************