Rena fixed the silencers onto her guns as Anne sat on the bench, tapping into her phone quickly. Another girl materialised before her, looking around with bleary eyes and yawning. Rena stared at the new girl blankly, her red eye taking in the blonde wavy hair and the over the top magician get up. The girl took in her surroundings before spinning her cane and tipping her hat.
"Don't even try pulling a rabbit out of your hat," Anne was quick to say and the girl sighed.
"If magic isn't what you wish, then why have you summoned me?" the girl looked irritated as she crossed her arms.
"Sabrina," Anne raised an eyebrow.
Sabrina stared at her for a moment before clenching her fists.
"I am not stealing diamonds and pearls anymore, that was just a little teen phase!"
"Yes, but you have the skills to enter a building with people patrolling about without being seen," Anne crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lap "We're just asking you to be a scout, Sabrina. You just need to get into the apartment block where Rika's flat is, assess the situation then get out to report."
Sabrina looked really upset at this idea, folding her arms.
"Can I at least just do one trick?"
"You are not summoning Jaehee…"
Anne went silent when Sabrina produced a very large cup of passion fruit flavoured bubble tea with extra tapioca. Extra, extra tapioca. Sabrina smirked as Anne stared at it long and hard before taking it.
"Just go," she mumbled before sticking the straw in her mouth.
Sabrina bowed before tapping her cane on the ground. A puff of smoke covered her figure and once it cleared she was gone. Neither woman looked impressed as Rena took out her phone and Anne took a long, loud slurp of bubble tea.
Your bladder will burst.
"Worth it."
I doubt that.
Anne stuck her tongue out at her.
"You're a psychopath, you're not meant to be concerned about me," she said.
Must be a bug in my programming.
Anne rolled her eyes as they waited patiently, Rena looking at her phone and gathering up the girls who were already active in the world. Anne continued slurping the bubble tea, using her phone to browse through the girls that might be helpful to break into Rika's apartment.
"Try seeing if Gwen can come round, she'd be great for the first line," Anne said "Amber too, Flo can just hover and prance in whenever."
She won't stay still, so it'd be best for her to be in the front line and Amber can join us as backup.
"No, Amber's good in the front line but maybe I could summon Serenity and hopefully have her appear as Mikaela…"
Programming that should be easy.
"Oh shut up, I'm still only a student, you Mary-Sue."
Oh. My feelings.
The dictator app didn't have a sarcastic tone to it but Anne could still hear it nonetheless. She kept her lips around the straw and sucked in another mouthful of tapioca. She really wasn't in the mood for Rena's sass, or what passed off as sass anyway.
Fifteen minutes passed and Gwen had turned up, sitting next to Anne whilst twirling a handgun carelessly in her hand. Rena made a casual remark of the lack of safety but that was it, Gwen ignored her anyway.
Anne had finished off sorting out her list when Sabrina appeared in a puff of smoke. Gwen coughed and waved it away, looking rather unimpressed.
Theatrics are unnecessary here.
Sabrina stuck her nose up in the air at Rena's comment.
"And here I was, ready to tell you the info I gathered after my hard work," she said.
"You will anyway, I command you," Anne said bluntly.
Unamused, Sabrina twirled her cane and adjusted her pristine top hat.
"Four Rika clones, four V clones, Saeyoung, at least two Saerans, one Zen, four Jaehees, three Yoosungs, two Jumins and four of those security guards that work for Jumin but judging from their eyes, they're clones," she listed and Rena was quick to type that down on her phone "At least twenty five people to go through, the four security guys guarding the lobby, Saeyoung, a Jumin and a Zen in Rika's apartment itself so that leaves eighteen clones more or less evenly spread out between the twelve floors between those groups."
"OK, Saeran is dangerous, so is Zen, Jumin's tall and Jaehee knows bloody judo," Anne grimaced "Yoosung arguably is the least of a threat and maybe V because of his sight and then Rika's…"
"Armed, she's armed with guns, at least two of them I counted had guns anyway."
"…Damn."
"The V clones had earwigs so I assume they're taking directions from Saeyoung," Sabrina folded her arms thoughtfully "There is at least one Yoosung and V clone in the lift so either we deal with the guards and take the clones out for the lift…"
Negative. Using the lift will alert the others to cluster at Rika's apartment. We're taking the stairs.
"Fucking stairs!" Anne yelled in frustration as many memories of walking up flights of stairs flashed through her head.
"Oh, so it's alright for yer to swear," Gwen grumbled under her breath.
"So frontline take on the security guards," Anne murmured and Rena nodded "That would be Amber, Flo and Gwen…"
"The Jaehees are quite close, you'll need someone to be able to handle them," Sabrina advised.
"You could disorientate them but how long would you last?" Anne frowned and Sabrina sighed.
"I was hoping Rena would help?"
I need to be alongside her so she can administer the hard reset without fail.
"Serenity, or Mikaela, could take on a V clone or two," Anne hummed as she scrolled through her list "Mana might be able to handle a Jaehee, at least one anyway."
We need to move now.
Anne yelped as Rena grabbed her by the back of her shirt and dragged her off.
Plan on the way.
Anne pouted, bubble tea in one hand and phone in the other as she walked along. The world felt empty as the ladies made their way to the apartment building. It seems like Saeyoung has deactivated all the pointless characters that built up this virtual world. It was like the calm before the storm, before war. Anne felt her heart racing in anticipation. It was all or nothing, she will return home no matter what.
The girls hung out outside of the apartment building, out of the view of the security cameras. Amber stumbled upon them after about ten minutes, out of breath and looking quite relieved. Anne glanced at her mid-slurp. The albino then glared up at her.
"I hate that you had to pair me up with the lunatic ballerina!" she said angrily and Anne raised an eyebrow at her "She's out of control! I won't even begin to explain why she is currently not here and probably won't be here for about another half hour!"
Anne and Rena blinked slowly as Sabrina and Gwen exchanged a look.
"So that leaves Gwen and Amber for the security guards," Anne said dismissively "Are we ready?"
"You sure Serenity as Mikaela will be able to handle Jaehee?" Sabrina asked.
"I'd give it fifteen minutes, we just need to get into the apartment, barricade ourselves in and just give me enough time to fix things," Anne shrugged then glanced at Rena "Lead the charge."
Rena nodded to her before glancing at Gwen. Gwen sighed as she pulled her guns out and Amber tightened the bandages on her fists. Anne glanced at Sabrina.
"Smokescreen, that way we can get the upper hand."
"It's like we're playing Pokémon," Sabrina grumbled before following the girls into the building.
Anne waited, browsing through her phone and finishing the last of the bubble tea. She tossed the plastic cup over her shoulder and ran into the smoke as gunshots were fired. She felt Sabrina's gloved hand grab her wrist and guide her to the staircase where they proceeded to run.
Once out of the smoke cloud midway up the first flight of stairs, Anne noticed Rena ahead of them, guns out. Sabrina had a hand keeping her hat in place, despite Anne saying that she should take it off.
It was the fifth floor that had the Jaehees and Rena needed to reload whilst Sabrina could only distract them for a few minutes. Anne swiped on her phone and held it up. A tall girl with long blue hair materialised in the centre of the Jaehees, two of them already targeting Sabrina. She looked up at them with a sadistic smirk before lifting her skirt to grab the daggers strapped to her thighs. Rena grabbed Anne to hike up more stairs, despite her complaints on how her knees were hurting.
The ninth floor…
"GOTCHA!"
Had a hyperactive, psychotic ballerina with a bloodlust that could rival Hannibal Lecter's. Anne practically jumped into Rena's arms when Florence smashed her way through the corridor window and wrapped her legs around the Saeran clone that awaited them. She then twisted her body to wrap her arms around the Yoosung clone to strangle him and they all fell into a mess of limbs. Rena didn't hesitate to carry Anne the rest of the way up to the fourteenth floor. Meanwhile Anne was murmuring under her breath about the slim possibility of Florence being able to smash into the ninth-floor window like that.
Jumin and Zen stood outside Rika's apartment and Rena tossed her guns, apparently she had run out of magazines. Anne stood to the side, finding the chance to rush into the apartment. However, whilst Rena was wrestling with Jumin with her heel blades, Zen was quick to restrain her wrists. She couldn't use her phone efficiently and most of the girls who could fight were preoccupied anyway. Anne struggled with Zen who easily had her above his head with her wrists and ankles held together.
"You really are a beast and not in a good sense," she snarled as she tried to flail.
Rena was still tussling with Jumin as Zen moved to go back down the stairs, probably to find another clone to help recapture her. He stopped when the lift opened and Anne yelped when she was abruptly dropped as he was punched in the face. She landed in a pair of strong arms and she stared up at Jumin, the real Jumin, in alarm.
"What…?"
Jumin set her down before the apartment and looked at her with and expressionless face.
"I had my men follow you."
Anne still stared at him as the ongoing fight between the Jumin clone and Rena went on in the background.
"Your happiness…is all that I wish for," he looked a little pained by this and Anne sighed sadly.
She turned her back to him and punched in the code. The door swung open and Anne stepped in cautiously. Her eyes widened when she saw Saeyoung at the computer and she lunged for him. She was quickly strong armed by a Saeran clone that had been hiding out of sight. She froze when she felt the barrel of a gun pressed to her forehead.
"It was cute to see the magician play spy," Saeyoung said as he didn't once look up from the screen "So I knew I needed to change up a few things. Hello, Jumin Han."
Jumin had stepped in, hesitating as he saw Anne with the barrel of the gun to her head.
"I wouldn't try anything, unless you want her to die," Saeyoung said with a soft smile but a dark tone in his voice.
"A bit pointless considering your ultimate goal," Anne hissed as the Sarean clone gripped her wrists tightly behind her back.
Saeyoung simply smirked as Anne's eyes darted around the room.
"You can put up all the defences you want, I will be able to take them down."
"You won't be able to come near this computer," Saeyoung said as his fingers continued tapping away at the keyboard "Especially since we need to find a better prison for you."
"I'll still find ways…"
"Without monitors and your little playthings."
Anne glowered at him as Jumin took another cautious step towards her.
"Luciel, won't this put our existence in danger?" he tried reasoning.
"I can fix it."
"You can't," Anne said "Luciel, I understand your own coding got damaged when I arrived. I can fix that and you'll be able to see reason then."
Saeyoung ignored her and Anne glanced at the Saeran clone from the corner of her eye.
"I have tricks up my sleeve too," she said.
"You're terrible at bluffing," Saeyoung said with a shrug.
"No, you keep forgetting that I have characters with that one trait that always makes my readers facepalm one way or the other."
"They're probably facepalming now," Saeyoung muttered under his breath as Jumin stared blankly.
"Dramatic entrances!"
POOF!
Smoke flooded the room and Anne heard the dull hit that struck the back of the clone's head. She grabbed the gun before it could fall with the body and heard the crash of glass when someone came flying through the window. The smoke cleared and she handed the gun to Rena who had Saeyoung pinned. Gwen was standing in front of Jumin, gun pressed under his chin.
"Gwen!"
"Sabrina said that there was a Jumin clone around on this floor!"
"He's the real one!"
"Seriously?!"
"Just put that down!"
Gwen grumbled as she lowered her gun from the disgruntled Jumin and Anne sat in the seat in front of the computer. Awkward silence filled the apartment as Sabrina sat on the Saeran clone and Rena pressed Saeyoung more into the floor. Gwen had her guns put away but was still glaring at Jumin suspiciously. Jumin returned the glare with a condescending look.
"Bloody hell, five encryption keys, five!"
Anne looked stressed as she continued typing away, bits and bytes of data in binary scrolling up the screen.
"Wait, no, six?!"
She sighed and Sabrina produced a cup of bubble tea which Gwen handed to her.
"Thank you."
"You really shouldn't drink that," Jumin sighed and Saeyoung made a noise of agreement.
"Shut up, virtual body, doesn't affect my original one."
Anne slurped the bubble tea and tapioca up, eyes watching the data fly by.
"Jumin," Saeyoung croaked underneath Rena's weight "You could lose all the memories of her."
Jumin stayed silent as Gwen cocked one gun at him.
"One wrong move ends with a bullet through that robot heart of yers."
"Gwen!"
"Focus, ya damn teen!"
"I'm twenty-one!"
"Then start acting like it!"
"Tch!"
Anne growled then perked up.
"Got it!"
Saeyoung struggled as his eyes widened. Rena watched as his body glitched in and out of existence, little zeroes and ones appearing around him.
"Don't…"
He suddenly froze up and disappeared into pixels. Rena looked around as the girls began disappearing one by one. Jumin didn't even have time to react as he disappeared and then Rena herself was gone. The environment disintegrated slowly save for the desk, chair and computer and Anne. Anne pouted when her bubble tea disappeared but shrugged, continuing her work. She then slammed the enter key and everything save herself was gone. She just stood there in the empty whiteness, sighing in relief.
Anne turned, her heart racing as she saw a small screen that was glowing with information. She smiled in anticipation and began running towards it.
"Please don't go!"
She nearly slipped when a voice echoed in the digital wasteland and turned sharply. Jumin's image was still there, flickering as he stood, reaching out for her.
"Please…don't go…" he whispered as his body glitched and Anne stared at him with wide eyes.
"Jumin…how?"
"I can't go on…please…"
Anne shook her head.
"Jumin, don't make this any harder than it should be. I have to leave."
"I want to keep the memories! All the good, all the bad, just please don't make me forget everything!"
"With those memories, you'll want me back! You'll be lovesick all the time and it's heart-breaking because you won't be able to follow me…"
Jumin's eyes threatened to spill tears as he gave her a pleading look.
"Please come back…to the reality that allowed us to meet."
Anne's bottom lip wobbled as she shook her head.
"Jumin…"
"Please come back, I can't go on!"
"Shut up! You have to go on! Just let everything go! Let yourself forget! I have to go!"
"Anne!"
Anne ran off towards the screen, eyes spilling over with tears.
"Anne, I love you!"
She couldn't bring herself to shout back her reply as she dove headfirst into the screen.
CRASH!
Anne blinked slowly as she registered her glasses first before seeing the ceiling and three concerned looks staring down at her.
"You OK, there?" one asked and she blinked a few more times before sitting up to see she had fallen backwards on her chair.
Anne scrambled up to her feet, patting herself down and sighing in relief.
"Oh my God," she sighed as she crouched and held her head "I'm back…"
"And this is why we don't swing on chairs in the ludo labs," the lecturer came by with a smirk and Anne gave him a sheepish look.
He walked off as other students asked for her wellbeing. Anne looked at her work monitor and smiled bittersweetly as she saw what was on her screen.
BEST END