Chương 141: Chapter 140 – Interlude – Howie, Besson, Roxy, and Alexa

"Oh fuck off!" said Howie. He tossed his controller down in disgust.

"Fucking ladder combos. If I even get touched it's basically a full stock."" Why you haeff to be mad?" said Hector, grinning. Dan and Jerry just laughed.

"Hey get me a DP since you're up."" I've got a DP for you, jackass," muttered Howie. But fair was fair. Howie grabbed the drinks as his old unit shouted back at him and loaded his plate with more pizza, juggling the armload back to the couch and dropping it on the coffee table. His buddies from the Marines had rotated back just over a month prior, so they were already finished with their own leave.

Driving down and renting a house near the base to party before his trip to primitive survival school had been a breeze.

"I'm out of practice. Haven't had the time."

"Haven't had the time?" said Dan, giving Howie a friendly elbow.

"You were back here while we were sweating our asses off, fuck off you haven't had the time."

"Just cause I PCSed back to the States doesn't mean I stayed here. If you saw some of the places I've been, you'd be begging for OIR."

"Like where?" asked Hector.

"You know I can't say," said Howie.

"Its SAP level stuff."

"Source: I made it up," said Jerry. Howie grinned and reached across Dan to knock Jerry's controller out of his hand.

"Aye, fuck you!" said Jerry. Howie just laughed. The Brave Sir Robins were a fine enough team, even if only Howie and Beth called them that. But Roxy was the only other one on the team who even played video games. Sometimes you just needed the old crew. Well, Alexa might game. She was going to Comicon after all. Something he'd have to check into later. Howie selected a new character and readied himself for another ass-whooping. It was going to be a long night, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

* Besson wound up the Chuckit and hurled the rubber ball with all his might. From his feet, four dogs went from a dead stop to a full dash, churning up dust and dirt in the forest. Watching them chase the arcing ball, he settled back into his lawn chair and took a sip of beer. This was definitely what he needed. Four weeks of zero human interaction aside from food delivery drivers and maybe the occasional app hookup. Few things drove girls more wild than a tall, dark guy with dogs. The team was good.

Better than he would have ever expected a team to be. Every mission he told himself he was getting strong enough to quit and go solo, and every mission, the others just kept getting more ridiculous. If there was one thing David Besson hated, it was being behind the power curve. Besides that, he'd found few things in life more thrilling than standing shoulder to shoulder with Roxy and Nutmeg, hacking or gunning down monsters while their attacks literally bounced off his skin. Roxy. Now there was a hard-assed woman.

While he'd planned to tailor his evolution paths and gear sets around scouting and recon, he'd found himself instead choosing frontliner paths just to make sure he could keep up. Next mission, then. That would definitely be the last one. *"No, Baba, I'm not seeing anyone. Also, hello." Roxy Squeezed her dad tight, caught somewhere between exasperation and love. Her old man squeezed her back and then pulled back and squeezed her shoulders.

"You come home with more muscles and no man. I'm not getting younger, you know. I'm running out of time for grandkids."

"Baba, I'm only twenty. And you're only thirty-nine. There's plenty of time. Besides, you're being rude." Roxy moved to the side a bit and her father spotted their other guest for the first time.

"Ah, welcome. Who is this?" This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"This is Beth Black, she's one of the kids I helped," said Roxy.

"Beth, my dad, Niko."

"She is like you?" Asked her father. Roxy nodded. Beth stepped up and offered a hand.

"Hey. Nice to meetcha, Roxy's dad." Niko Doukas ignored the offered handshake and pulled Beth into a hug. Beth shot a look to Roxy for help and Roxy pulled the two apart.

"Alright, alright. Not everyone is a hugger like you, Baba. Give her a minute to get settled in."

"Yes, yes," said Niko. He pulled back, blushing slightly.

"Our home is your home, Beth. Anything you need, just say so. I'll get the guest room made up." He disappeared around the corner and Roxy could hear the footfalls as he climbed to the second floor of the townhouse. He called back to Roxy from up the stairs.

"Your mother is still at work. When she gets back, I am thinking we go out for dinner, yes?"

"Sounds good," Roxy shouted down the hall. She rolled her eyes at Beth.

"Sorry. He's got golden retriever energy. Loves everyone."

"Kinda weird. Not what I'm used to. But I don't hate it." Beth kicked off her boots and nudged them over to the shoe rack before launching herself over the armrest onto the couch. Well, so much for taking time to settle in. The girl already acted like she owned the place. Roxy circled around and dropped her keys and wallet in the bowl by the kitchen.

"You, uh, not gonna tell him about Cole?" Roxy grimaced. Cole… well, she wasn't even sure about Cole herself. Sometimes she wanted to kill him, sometimes she wanted to drop the L-word. But at least he was never boring. She hadn't trusted him at first, but she was also a terrible judge of character. Had been ever since her first boyfriend in junior high school. But she could see herself bringing Cole back home. Eventually. Definitely not now.

"That is a nuke going off. I couldn't even bring guys over all throughout high school without them getting the third degree. I'm putting it off as long as I can because I don't want Cole to get pressured." She moved over to the couch beside Beth and tapped her shins. Beth drew her legs up long enough for Roxy to sit down, then put them across Roxy's lap. The girl already had her phone out and held up over her face as she spoke.

"My parents know about the Department from when I was reintegrated, so don't feel like you have to walk on eggshells around them."

"Uh huh."

"You still salty about being pulled out of Babel?" Beth looked at Roxy under her phone.

"Nah, not really. Besides, once I join the Department I'm back to kicking ass. I'll be eighteen in like a year and three months and then I can join your team."

"And then you can apply to the Department," said Roxy.

"But you won't get in right away." Beth lowered her phone.

"You're kidding me, right? Aren't I like, super powerful? Don't they need people like me?"

"They do. But we didn't save you just for you to throw your life away somewhere else. We just lost…" Roxy swallowed.

"One of the strongest guys in the whole Department died during our last mission. In a really stupid way. He thought he was invincible. Got cocky. It doesn't matter how high level you are, you can still die like that if you stop respecting the danger." Roxy snapped her fingers. Beth sat up.

"Shit. Like, as strong as Hard Tone?" Roxy nodded.

"They were neck-and-neck. Hard Tone is taking up the slack, picking up extra rescues because of it. I think it pissed her off so bad that she's getting even with otherworlds. There's a waiting list for the training, too. People with military, search and rescue, or EMT experience get priority. Cole looks at military and combat experience especially." Beth wrinkled her nose "I don't want to join the Army."

"There's the Navy, too," Roxy reminded her.

"Wink, wink, nudge nudge,""Blegh. Cole won't make an exception?" Roxy giggled.

"Does any part of his personality suggest flexible or compromise to you?" Beth giggled back.

"I guess not." She leaned back down.

"So joining your team is probably out. Search and rescue, though. I think I could do that."

"I think you'd be good at it," said Roxy. She tilted her head up at the sound of a Mazda engine pulling up and cutting off.

"Come on, sounds like my mom's home."

"Is she like your dad?"

"Nah. She's way worse. You'll love her." *"Can I get it signed? Make it out to Alicia," said Alexa. Not currently Hey, Alexa, at any rate. Technically she wasn't Alicia right now, either. Her cosplay game had stepped up thanks to an almost unlimited budget. She reached up, straightening the white-gold horns poking out of her red wig while one of the artists she religiously followed signed his print for her. She took it back, careful not to scratch it with the fake pointed nails she'd had done for the costume.

Those had been tricky to get used to, as well as her colored contacts.

"Nice Arkelai. Hey, you, uh, gonna be at the VIP party tonight?"

"Yep. Don't ruin it for me," said Alexa. She turned on her heel to visit her next booth on the list. Her merch haul was as impressive as her cosplay budget. Tons of prints, stuffies, limited editions, and memorabilia weighed down her bag, and she already had another in the hotel room just as full. The bonus from Hexighast had hit her account, and this whole trip barely dented the LF residue they'd siphoned. It was still a downgrade from Moriarty's team, in terms of raw cash output.

Moriarty made time every mission specifically to farm up some monsters for enhancement level and LF residue, making sure not a single drop went to waste. He had some expensive vices. Being on Cole's team… well, the whole crew wasn't beating the wrecking ball allegations. They threw themselves at Hexighast like a cruise missile and left a trail of destruction. More LF enhancement progress, but less residue.

Cole was on track to be the next Deadlight in terms of raw combat power, except he could move like a speedster and had eyes like a hawk. The kid was going to be an absolute monster in another ten or fifteen levels. Alexa didn't see him going on Hiatus until he'd surpassed the late Kicker, either. But hell, it was still a novel concept having a team lead that actually listened to her input. Alexa shook her head. She was supposed to be on leave. No more thinking about work. It was time to think about collectibles.