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Alliances were made to be broken. At least, that’s what Helex usually said. Tesarus didn’t much agree, not when it came to this. This being his gaming group. Though he’d never met any of his teammates in person—to his knowledge, anyway—but the thought of turning on any of them was absolutely wrong. Like turning on the DJD, but somehow worse.
He grabbed up a handful of calcite crisps and shoved them into his mouth, shaking away the crumbs before wrapping his fingers back around his controller. “All right, guys,” he said across the team chat channel, “Are we gonna do this or not? I don’t got all night to wait around for you loose valves to decide whether we’re doing this raid.”
::Cheaps isn’t here yet, Seesaw:: replied a teammate he knew only as Hot Stuff, a real cool guy. Tesarus figured he was probably as big a go-getter outside the game as he was in it. ::Promised him after last time we wouldn’t start without him, remember?::
“Well, why the frag isn’t he here, then?” Tesarus grouched. He rolled his many optics behind his X-visor, one clamp-hand coming forward to resettle the visor as it has gone a smidge crooked over the bridge of his nose. He really needed to let Nickel take a look at it—one of the tiny and unfortunately delicate latches seemed to have been busted during the last List R&D—Retrieval and Dispatch. It had somehow gotten missed in the standard checkup afterward. “I mean, everyone knows the time we set, right? We made a point of discussing it before we logged off, even!”
::Stuff happens, mech,:: said KeenEdge. He was a fun mech when he got riled up in the game, but kind of a dud when he wasn’t. Tesarus knew he hung out with Hot Stuff a lot in real life, though, so he couldn’t be that bad in person. ::Probably got caught by Enforcers optics-deep in a—::
::What the slag?!:: piped up their fifth, a femme that went by RadioControl. Now she was DJD material, if her in-game attitude translated to real life. ::That fuckwad just drained our stash!::
Tesarus frowned, took a moment to check their communal goods, and gaped as he watched the last of the loot and creds slip away like granules of silicon from a shaker with the lid popped off. “What…? Why would anyone do that?”
A message flashed across the screen in front of him, just the same as it obviously did for all the others.
[CHECK YA LATER, CHUMPS. — Cheaps]
Cursing and wondering if there was anything that they could do (besides having Kaon add the fragger to the List, right at the top!), Tesarus held on tight to his controller so as to avoid throwing it at the vidscreen. Tarn wouldn’t be happy about have to requisition another one so soon. Instead, he settled for stuffing his intake full of more calcite crisps and noshing hard and furious at them. “What the frag are we gonna do?”
::Hunt him down and scrap him, that’s what we’re gonna do, Saw,:: Hot Stuff said, sounding angrier than Tesarus had ever heard him. ::And don’t you ‘it’s just a game’ me, Edger.::
He could only imagine the sigh from KeenEdge was accompanied by a shake of the helm. Tesarus grinned. There was a reason he’d stuck with these guys. Well, except Cheaps, now. Alliance over with his soon-to-be-scrapped aft. “I’m in. How about you, RC?”
::Oh, you don’t even have to ask,:: she declared. ::I’ve already found where he’s hiding.::
In-game coordinates flashed on his screen. Tesarus grunted and punched them into the fast transport portal. His thumb hovered over the “go” button. “Everybody ready?”
::Damn right, we are,:: Hot Stuff said. ::Let’s go.::
::Count of three, everyone,:: KeenEdge said, as usual the one making certain they were tightly coordinated. Tesarus was sure Tarn would love a guy like him, always on top of things, even when slag got rough. And, oh, KeenEdge was starting to sound like he was going to rip some holes in some digital plating. Very nice, that little rumble that skirted into his vocalizer as they set out to take on the next challenge, be it player or dungeon. Oh, yes, Tarn would like him very much. ::One… two… and three.::
Tesarus mashed the button and grinned viciously as Cheaps’ in-game avatar appeared on the screen in a far distant land from their shared base. The unfaithful sneak’s now former teammates ported in all around him, weapons out and ready to slash and bash. “Game over, Cheaps.”
The rogue shrieked and dived for cover. Right into RadioControl’s short, thick framed, axe swinging, deepminer avatar. Then, with a round of gleeful whoops and hollers across the group chatline, the pile on commenced.